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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"[[Trope Namer|I cannot self-terminate.]] '''You''' must lower me into the steel."''
|'''The T-800 cyborg'''|''[[Terminator]] 2: Judgment Day''}}
Perhaps the [[Body Horror]] has almost completely taken over a person and with their last ounce of humanity, they beg to be killed. Perhaps they've just been wounded in a vital area and know they are going to die slowly and in agony, and just want to die with dignity/end the pain quickly. Perhaps they're losing the battle with an [[Enemy Within]] and they need the hero or sidekick to [[Thrown Out the Airlock|throw the airlock switch]]/fire the [[Forgotten Superweapon]] at them/lower them into the steel. Perhaps they are prisoners and being [[Cold-Blooded Torture|tortured]], and the hero cannot break them free but could shoot them. In any case, while they're ready or even eager to die, they cannot do it on their own. This can also count as a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], sometimes.
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If, like the page quote, the character is robotic, this may occur due to influence from [[Three Laws of Robotics|Asimov's Laws]]. Specifically, a robot may not harm itself, or through inaction allow itself to be harmed, unless it is in direct opposition with the first two laws. Even when not following the hierarchical laws of robotics, it could still occur if a robot is simply programmed for self-preservation.
In a series set in [[Jidai Geki]], this trope may appear when a [[Samurai]] character commits ''[[Seppuku]]''—ritual
[[Instant Death Bullet]] is likely. Then, usually the killer has no difficulty getting to a position and attacking in a manner that would cause quick death. When the character is [[Fighting From the Inside]], but not very effectively, the death can be long and gruesome. (See page quote.)
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The victim may ''plead'' for death even when it is possible for them to be saved, owing to the pain. The hero is likely to [[Override Command|override]] that, often saying [[No One Gets Left Behind]].
Compare to [[Mercy Kill]], when the target cannot even request death; [[Death Seeker]], where the target can't even find anyone willing (or capable, if the [[Death Seeker]] still wants to fight to the best of their ability); and [[Driven to Suicide]], when they ''can'' self terminate. Also compare [[Trial
{{deathtrope}}
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* {{spoiler|The Original Reinforce}} in the second season of ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' has Nanoha and Fate <s>kill</s> seal her program because if they didn't, her Self-Defense Program that killed would regenerate itself.
* The [[Half-Human Hybrid|half-demon warriors]] in ''[[Claymore]]'' eventually reach a state where they can no longer contain their demonic side. At this point they send a "black card" bearing their personal symbol to another Claymore as a personal plea for that particular warrior to kill them while they still have their humanity.
* Ellis in ''[[El Cazador
* At the very heart of ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]],'' {{spoiler|in which which the Pillar of Cephiro, who supports the stability and peace of her entire world, is no longer able to bear the burden of her responsibility. She must summon the Magic Knights from another world, for nobody in all Cephiro can kill the Pillar. After learning of the true situation, the Knights reluctantly accept what must be done,}} setting the stage for a truly heart-breaking climax {{spoiler|as well as for the second season, where the Knights must defend Cephiro from the foreigners who want to take over and become Pillars.}}
* In ''[[Ga
* In ''[[Yami no Matsuei]]'', Tsubaki Kakyouin begs Hisoka to kill her {{spoiler|after Muraki injures her fatally, since she (or better said, her alter-ego Eileen, created by another girl's anger at how she was murdered to give her heart to Tsubaki) is to blame for the murders that had just taken place, and she wants to die in peace.}} Hisoka tearfully complies to her wish and shoots her to death, then cries in Tsuzuki's arms.
* In ''[[
* Very cruel example from ''[[Saint Seiya]]'': {{spoiler|An Ansgard warrior named Volker abused his adoptive son Mime for years and once taunted him with the fact that he had killed Mime's biological parents, which sent Mime in an [[Unstoppable Rage]] and made him his father. What seemed to be a case of revenge is actually one where Volker, [[My Greatest Failure|haunted for years]] for ''accidentally'' killing Mime's parents during a civil war, wanted Mime to punish him. (Mime's dad was [[The Rival]] and [[Don't You Dare Pity Me!|refused to be spared because of his family]], and when Volker attacked him in self-defense, he hit both him ''and'' his wife who [[Go Through Me|was trying to stop them]]). Volker couldn't be easily killed by anyone in Ansgard since he was the top [[Retired Badass]] there, so he played a [[Thanatos Gambit]] to have his wish to die honorably at the hands of someone who'd take his place in the top ten of Ansgard's military force, while also atoning for a double kill that he never truly intended to commit.}}
* In ''[[
* In the end of ''[[Code Geass]]'', {{spoiler|to keep the world form discovering that he is Zero ''and'' the Emperor, Lelouch asks his [[The Dragon|Dragon]] Suzaku to dress up as Zero and kill him ''in public''. Suzaku tearfully does so, and after Emperor Lelouch is out of the picture in a very dramatic way, ''he'' becomes Zero and aids Lelouch's little sister and successor, Empress Nunnally.}} However... {{spoiler|the last scene hints that Lelouch ''may'' be still alive and [[Walking the Earth]] with C.C. }}
** [[Word of God|The writer has stated that]] {{spoiler|he's dead, and is listed among the dead in the Death List for R2.}}
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*** Poor Suzaku, who wants to die so badly… in ''Suzaku of the counterattack'', at one time the easiest way to save the universe is him absorbing immortality power!
** C.C., being immortal, fit this trope until near the end of the series. In fact, the "contract" she makes turns out to be {{spoiler|"evolve your geass fully so you can kill me and take my code", the same as the witch before her did to her}}.
* In the Tournament arc of ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', {{spoiler|Yuusuke faces three [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] fighters who have beaten up Kuwabara brutally. Upset at Kuwabara being injured for trying to [["I Know You
** Well, to be fair, {{spoiler|they weren't actually [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] so much as just [[People Puppets]], although given that their bodies only followed orders rather than being controlled directly, that definition is not true either. The end result was that they were almost entirely locked inside their own mind, with their bodies outside of their control, rather than simply being conditioned. Genki just managed to destroy the [[Puppeteer Parasite|control devices]] implanted on them without killing them.}}
* Early on in ''[[Bleach]],'' Orihime's Hollow-fied older brother Sora has a flash of [[Heroic Willpower]], removes his Hollow mask and asks Rukia to perform konsou on him before he hurts anyone else. (Mild subversion, since technically he's already dead, but the afterlife concept in ''Bleach'' is weird as hell anyway.)
** And later, we learn that this is ''not'' the first time Rukia has done that. {{spoiler|The guy she had to kill back then was actually her [[Big Brother Mentor]] and first love, Kaien Shiba, whose body had been taken over by the same Hollow that had just killed his wife Miyako aka Ruki'as [[Cool Big Sis]]. Poor Rukia was so badly traumatised that she saw her upcoming execution in Soul Society as a way to get a [[Suicide
* ''[[Gungrave]]'': In the anime {{spoiler|1=Harry McDowell begs Brandon/Grave to kill him that because he can't live in disgrace}}
* In ''[[Gash Bell]]'' the demon-bookkeeper pairs cannot burn their own books; therefore there were many cases of demons(or their bookkeepers) asking others to burn their book for them. It could be either because any more damage to the demon could actually kill the demon(their bookkeepers would rather have the demons sent back to the demon world than having them die) or because they do not feel like participating in the battle anymore. {{spoiler|Examples include Koruru, Rein, Wonlei, Leira, Bari, and Umagon.}}
* In ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', doctor Marcoh is being held prisoner by the homunculi and made to work for them under threat that if he doesn't cooperate or dares to run away or kill himself they will obliterate the village where he spent the last years in hiding. {{spoiler|When Scar sneaks into his cell, he begs him to kill him, thinking the homunculi wouldn't take revenge on the village if he was killed by another, apparently against his will}}.
* Kaworu Nagisa of ''[[
* In ''[[Baccano
* In ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure]]'', when Jupiter is about to blow up the Galactic base and tells Mitsumi to get out with everyone else, {{spoiler|Mitsumi says she can no longer live with the memory of what she did as a Team Galactic agent and asks Jupiter to blow her up too. Jupiter is taken aback but is ultimately convinced to do so.}} Of course, this being Pokemon at heart, {{spoiler|[[Disney Death|it's revealed in the next chapter that]] [[The Rival|Jun]] saved her. }}
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'': Done in a weird way in the series finale. {{spoiler|Atem, in order to finally [[Ascend to
* {{spoiler|Zeref}} from ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' seems to be counting on Natsu to come and kill him.
== Comic Books ==
* In part two of the classic Alan Moore "Imaginary Tale" ("...Aren't they all?") ''[[Whatever Happened to
* In ''[[The Sandman]]'', retired DCU hero Rainie Blackwell (AKA Element Girl), who feels alienated from humanity due to her transmutation powers, longs to kill herself but can't because regardless of the method she chose her body would automatically transmute itself into another substance. Death of the Endless, having failed to talk Rainie out of dying before her time, suggests she ask the Egyptian god Ra, the source of her superpower, to handle it. Ra silently tells her to look directly at him, whereupon she disintegrates.
** At the end of the series' take of the tragedy of Orpheus and Eurydice, Orpheus is beset upon by the furies and reduced to an [[Oracular Head]]. He requests that his father Morpheus kill him, because as a divine being he can't die naturally or be killed by a mortal. Morpheus denies him and leaves him alive as a severed head. {{spoiler|The two eventually reconcile some two-and-a-half thousand years later and Morpheus fulfils his request, in the process setting in motion the events of the comic's final arc.}}
* In an old [[Batman]] comic, Batman is possessed by Manuel, a dead Satanic-worshipping pirate, who's trying to bring himself and those stuck in purgatory back to the real world. Batman pleas with [[The Flash]] to kill him before that happens. Luckily, the Flash chooses to [[Take a Third Option]].
* A similar example to the above occurs in ''[[Lucifer (
* In ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'', Professor X had been mostly transformed into an alien Brood (the Brood life cycle: an implanted embryo takes over the host's mind and eventually transforms their body) but when the X-Men managed to take him down he had enough control to beg Cyclops to kill him. Cyclops' response was essentially "Screw that, I'm [[Take a Third Option|Taking A Third Option]]."
* ''[[
* ''[[A History of Violence]]''.
* A story arc of ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' has the Thing, being possessed by Dr. Doom, put the Torch in a death hold. Doom is laughing that the only way to stop him is to kill
* In ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|Uncanny X-Men]]'' Annual #6, Rachel Van Helsing (from ''[[The Tomb of Dracula]]'') is turned into a vampire by [[Dracula]]. Throwing off Dracula's mind control long enough to (temporarily) kill him with a spear, she then asks [[Wolverine]] to kill her with a wooden stake. He does so.
* In X-23 #11, [[X-23]] asks [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire|Jubilee]] to kill her if she succumbs to the "trigger scent" to prevent her from killing innocent people. Predictably, Jubilee doesn't follow through and it leads to an [["I Know You're in There Somewhere" Fight]].
* Inverted in French comic ''[[Les Légendaires]]''. The [[Big Bad]] points out that he's a god. In this verse, only gods can kill gods, and other gods have deserted this planet. So, he states that the only hope for the heroes is that he would suicide. {{spoiler|The loophole was to kill him with a sword forged with his own blood (actually the blood of the guy he possess the body).}}
* This occurs twice in ''[[
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* ''[[Kyon
▲* This occurs twice in ''[[Stray (Fanfic)|Stray]]''. {{spoiler|Adamska does it at Shadow Moses for his older alternate-future self, who had [[And I Must Scream|spent three years after his supposed "death" being used in the Patriots' Cyborg Ninja project]]. Esau later requests this of Otacon after he's gravely wounded.}}
* ''[http://fav.me/ddaajka After Case Report]'' has {{spoiler|Melanie C}} being showed what was done to her. Since she was the first person at the scene, the narrator is asked by her to [[Mercy Kill|end her suffering]]. {{Spoiler|The narrator doesn't go with it because of the backlash that would be waiting, even if she can reason.}}
▲* ''[[Kyon Big Damn Hero (Fanfic)|Kyon Big Damn Hero]]'' has {{spoiler|Ryouko Asakura}} asking Kyon to kill her, mentioning the trope name word by word, because [[First Time Feeling|she can't stand feeling guilty]] due to putting Kyon's sister in peril.
* '''Played for Laugh'''... ''[http://fav.me/dd5rggt Spice Fortress: Is There a Medic in the House]'', [[Spice Girls|Geri]] asks Victoria to just to kill her after getting [[Losing Your Head| decapitated]] yet surviving a run-in. Victoria just denied this offer as she works on Melanie.
== Film ==
* ''[[Terminator (
** As a nod, in ''Terminator 3'', when Katherine Brewster (whom, unbeknownst to herself and the audience at that point, the T-850 must obey), says "Drop dead, you A**HOLE," the T-850 responds: "I am unable to comply."
* ''[[Starship Troopers (
** Not that bad as a rule, considering the alternative to being shot in the head by the teammate is getting slowly devoured and/or brain-sucked by aliens...
* ''[[Dawn of the Dead (2004
* In the most tragic scene of John Woo's ''[[The Killer]]'' (besides [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|the ending]]), the title character's best friend Sidney, after delivering the money he needs to have Jenny's eyes fixed and being shot by the main bad guy's men, asks for a last bullet from his friend so that he doesn't die like a dog, because he didn't save his own last bullet for himself. The Killer tearfully complies.
* ''[[The Descent (
* Another horror film example. In the remake of ''[[
* In ''[[X-Men (
* The quote above comes from the film ''Stargate: [[The Ark of Truth]]''. Merrik, possessed by replicator, is briefly given back his free will after being electrocuted. He begs Mitchell to kill him, as he can't do it. Seeing as Mitchell is unarmed, and Merrik is now (literally) [[Made of Iron]], possessing [[Super Strength]] and [[Immune to Bullets]], this proves to be easier said than done.
* ''[[From Dusk
* In the end of ''[[The Fly]]'', Seth Brundle, now fully transformed into a [[Nightmare Fuel|hideous fly/human hybrid]] is trying to get out of a telepod after Stathis managed to free Veronica, but he gets teleported along with bits of the broken pod and emerges as a fly/human/metal thing, dying and in agony. He, or rather, ''it'', crawls up to Veronica and gently directs the shotgun she is holding to his head so she could end his suffering.
* Subverted for the ending in ''[[
* In ''[[
{{quote|
* Inadvertently applied to David from ''[[An American Werewolf in London]]'', because the restless spirits of his victims waste so much time ''dreaming up ways for him to kill himself'' that he runs out of time to act on their advice and succumbs to another transformation.
* ''[[The Great Waldo Pepper]]'' has the title character's friend trapped in a burning airplane after a crash. When Pepper is unable to free him, he begs, "Don't let me burn!" Pepper then euthanizes him with a blow to the head.
* The 1990 comedy ''[[Short Time]]'' stars Dabney Coleman as a police officer who erroneously finds out he has a terminal illness. The problem is, his wife ([[Hey, It's That Guy!|Marge]] in [[Mom and Dad Save The World]]) only gets his pension pre-retirement if he is killed in the line of duty. Since suicide is also out of the question, he starts taking massive risks on the job in an effort to get a perp to kill him.
* Debatable in the case of ''[[The Hitcher]]'', in which serial killer Ryder keeps asking protagonist Jim to "stop me", and gives him several opportunities to kill him. Questionable as to whether Ryder is simply [[Death Seeker|looking to die]], as per this trope, or if he's specifically trying to [[My Death Is Just the Beginning|make Jim into a killer like himself]].
* The protagonist in the 1986 horror/comedy ''House'' is troubled by memories of Vietnam, and especially his own failure to carry out a [[Mercy Kill]] when a trap-snared friend invoked this trope. Sure enough,
* An outtake from the first ''[[Alien]]'', cut because it broke the pace of the finale, shows that {{spoiler|some of the crew are still alive after being implanted, and they beg Ripley to kill them. She obliges.}}
* In ''[[Kamen Rider OOO]]: [[The Movie|Nobunaga's Desire]]'', {{spoiler|Nobunaga is given three black Core Medals and sent out of control. He manages to hang onto himself long enough to beg Eiji to kill him before he goes out of control. Eiji ultimately defeats him, allowing him to die peacefully.}}
* In the 2011 film adaptation of ''The Whisperer In Darkness'' by [[
== Literature ==
* In ''[[
* At the end of [[Terry Pratchett]]'s [[Discworld]] novel ''[[
** Also, in another Discworld novel ''[[
** One of the creepier parts of ''[[
* In the short story ''[[I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream]]'', the survivors of the apocalypse caused by [[Master Computer]] AM eventually realize that while they cannot kill themselves, they can kill each other. Unfortunately, this leaves one of them alive to suffer a [[Fate Worse Than Death]] at the hands of AM by being turned into [[And I Must Scream|a 'soft jelly thing']] that can't harm itself.
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s ''[[
* In [[
* Self-preservation is [[Isaac Asimov]]'s [["Three Laws
** In Asimov's short story "All the Troubles of the World," the computer Multivac, which manages all of humanity, tries to use a [[Thanatos Gambit]] to arrange for itself to be destroyed.
* In William King's [[Warhammer
** In ''Wolfblade'', when they find a mortally wounded but not yet dead Eldar, she asks them to kill her, and they do.
* A nice spin on this in Gerald Morris' ''[[
* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s [[Warhammer
** In ''Dead Sky Black Sun'', Uriel {{spoiler|breaks into the [[Evil Tower of Ominousness]] and finds that at least one of the daemonculaba is still aware. He assures her that he will end her sufferings, and though she is incapable of speech, she indicates that she is grateful.}}
* In Lee Lightner's [[Warhammer
* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Chalion]] novel ''The Hallowed Hunt'', {{spoiler|Wencel kin Horseriver}} is perfectly capable of killing his current
* In ''New Moon'', second in the ''[[Twilight (
** Specifically, he was going to reveal his [[Bishie Sparkle
** Which is [[Fridge Logic|a bit confusing]], since the vampires of that series are described as basically stone statues with lighter fluid for all bodily fluids and immolation as the only surefire way to kill one of them. He should have been able to just set himself on fire to kill himself.
* Horace McCoy's ''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' ends with Gloria asking Robert to shoot her because she can't bring herself to commit suicide. He complies, and later when the cops ask him why he did it as they're taking him away, he [[Title Drop|offers the title phrase]] in reply.
* An interesting example occurs in the young adult novel ''The Crossroads'' where Billy O' Claire is possessed by an evil spirit who is trying to force him to murder his own son. This leads to a half-tragic, half-comical three-way exchange between Billy, ''the spirit inside of him,'' and the cop trying to stop them both.
{{quote|
'''Billy:''' Shoot me! Please? Stop me!
'''Hargrove:''' Drop the knife and no one needs to shoot anybody.
'''Billy:''' You don't understand. It's the only way.
'''Clint:''' (through Billy) Don't listen to this coward!
'''Billy:''' I can't take this anymore!
'''Clint:''' Shut up!
'''Billy:''' ''Shoot me!'' Shut up, shut up, shut up! }}
* [[Deltora Quest|Doran the Dragonlover]] can't die since he's {{spoiler|the Guardian of a Sister, the very thing he goes out to destroy many years ago}}, therefore asked to be killed to end his suffering. Fortunately, [[Let Them Die Happy|he dies with great relief]] once he saw that {{spoiler|the Diamond Dragon's egg hatch, therefore will continue to live in its mother's place}}.
* Early in the ''[[
** In one of the special additions, an Andalite gets [[Body Horror|trapped in Taxxon morph]] and asks a comrade to take his life. When the aforementioned comrade refuses, the trapped individual tries to trick him into killing him, without success.
* In the climactic scene of ''[[Memory,
* In [[Neil Gaiman]]'s short story "Feeders and Eaters", {{spoiler|a man crushes a literally half-eaten cat with his boots; he says "It may have been a cat, but I knew what it wanted. It was in it's eyes." and then later on this character seems to imply that he's in the same position.}}
* In [[Larry Niven]]'s novel ''[[
* In Andy Hoare's [[White Scars]] novel ''Hunt for Voldorius'', the Bloodtide tells the Raven Guard and White Scar scouts that it can not kill itself, but they can [[Kill It
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "The Devil In Iron" Octavia beg to escape an unspecified [[Fate Worse Than Death]].
{{quote|
* The fate of Mishra, brother of the planeswalker [[Magic:
* Played for extreme horror in the novella ''With Folded Hands...'' when the reader realizes that not only have human lives been reduced to complete irrelevance by their robotic "servants", but there's no way to end the despair because ''they are always right there with you.'' And the robot guardians have become very good at preventing humans from taking their own lives....
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story "The People of the Black Circle", the king demands this of his sister before his soul is trapped.
{{quote|
* In ''[[Gone (novel)]]'', {{spoiler|Hunter, who is being slowly eaten by parasitic wasps, begs Sam to kill him.}}
* {{spoiler|Denna}} in [[The Sword of Truth|Wizard's First Rule]] states that {{spoiler|she tortured the protagonist worse than she did anyone else, suspecting he's the one a prophecy says will kill her, and thus trying to push him to do so. In the end, he kills her ''out of love''.}}
** Also applies to the victims of a Mord-Sith. They're held so that they magically cannot kill themselves, even though the Mord-Sith let them keep their weapons.
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* At the end of [[The Draka|Under The Yoke]], the heroine is trapped in a nuclear bunker with her ally and a member of the Domination's secret police. As a member of [[La Résistance]], her duty is to detonate the bomb she is carrying, thus destroying the experimental nuclear device and setting [[The Empire|the Domination's]] nuclear arms race back several years. Regrettably, that will kill everyone in the bunker, and as a devout Catholic nun she cannot commit the mortal sin of suicide, nor can she allow her ally to commit it for her. [[Noble Demon|The secret policeman]] {{spoiler|solves the problem for her by remarking that there's no way he's getting out of there alive, and though he has contempt for her religion he respects her faith in it... so he kills her, thus detonating the explosive and in so doing, saving both her and her ally from the sin of suicide.}}
* The Dalek in the ''[[
▲== Live Action TV ==
* Beth, in the ''[[
▲* The Dalek in the ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'' episode "Dalek" was developing more emotions than just hatred - a situation its species could not stand. It had to be ordered to die by someone else, as its training would not let it commit suicide under other circumstances. Rose finally (and reluctantly) gave the order.
* The humanoid Cylons on ''[[Battlestar Galactica
▲* Beth, in the ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'' episode "Sleeper" couldn't actually kill herself because of her position as a sleeper, but because of the grief she'd caused herself, she {{spoiler|took Gwen hostage}} to force the team to kill her.
▲* The humanoid Cylons on ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (TV)|Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'' are forbidden from committing suicide by their religion (although at least two have successfully self-terminated by putting themselves in close proximity to explosives); given the overall tone of the series, it is perhaps not surprising that this has led to ''multiple'' instances of Cylons begging someone else to pull the trigger on them. This appears to be purely a psychological effect rather than something hardwired into them - Brother Cavil, the one Cylon who doesn't believe in the Cylon god, is shot by the underground resistance on New Caprica in the third season, and, upon coming back sometime later, casually mentions that he had to cut his jugular vein open with a shell casing to kill himself. And he does it again in the final episode as well, {{spoiler|shooting himself in the head after Tyrol makes resurrection impossible by killing another one of the Final Five.}} "Frak!" * bang*
** Keep in mind that "real death" is clearly regarded differently from being killed and resurrected. Once the resurrection ship is destroyed, Gina hands Baltar a pistol and tells him to shoot her, as suicide is a sin. On the other hand, Doral has no problem carrying out a [[Suicide Attack]] as he'll simply be downloaded into another body.
* One episode of ''[[Star Trek:
* Subverted in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''. In season two episode "Born Under A Bad Sign" Sam has just killed a hunter and is pleading with Dean (who [[Big Brother Instinct|obviously]] can't) to kill him before he gets any worse. It turns out that {{spoiler|Sam is possessed and the demon inside him just wants to break Dean as much as possible and hopefully get Sam killed in the process}}. At the end of season four in "When the Levee Breaks", {{spoiler|while suffering withdrawal from demon blood}}, Sam tells Bobby to shoot, moving the gun's muzzle to his own heart, if Bobby wants to help him.
** Played straight in "Heart." Sam's one night stand was a werewolf, but they cured her... except not. There's no cure and she'd already killed a few people, so she asks Sam to shoot her instead. Ouch.
* In season 4 of ''[[
** Angel has pretty much asked this of anyone who's ever worked for/with him. Most of them kind of suck following through on it.
* BRUTAL subversion in ''[[
** Richard enlists Jack's help in committing suicide in "Dr. Linus," since he cannot do it himself. {{spoiler|It turns out that Jack can't commit suicide either, so he stays by Richard to stop either from dying.}}
* In the fourth episode of ''[[Dead Set]]'', {{spoiler|Alex is attempting to open a lock gate so that she and Riq can escape further down the river, when she is suddenly attacked by a zombie, and is bitten in the struggle. After she kills it with an axe, and knowing that she will soon turn into a zombie herself, she quietly hands Riq the axe, their only weapon, and he agrees to kill her with it}}.
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* In ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'' episode "Ourselves Alone," Cameron's continued uncertainty about her own ability to control her actions following the damage to her chip prompts her to {{spoiler|build a self-destruct device. She gives this to John, saying that she can't self-terminate, so she'll trust him with the device in case she goes rogue again.}}
* The early FOX series ''[[Werewolf]]'' would have been one episode long if Eric's roommate had committed suicide rather than invoked this trope. Eric's failure to comply fast enough when his friend transformed is how he got bitten himself.
* Near the end of the second season of ''[[
* Over the events of ''[[
** Only to [[Subverted Trope|subvert]] this trope when he explains that he just wanted to try whether he really was indestructable and goes [[Ax Crazy]] for good after the confirmation.
* The insurgent prisoner from ''[[Over There]]'':
{{quote|
* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', Londo, under the long-term control of an alien mind-controlling parasite, gets it drunk and asks his old foe to kill him, preventing the alien from forcing him to thwart the heroes' daring escape. "I am as tired of my life as you are."
* In ''[[Kamen Rider Kuuga]]'', Yuusuke requests that if he cannot control the power of Ultimate Kuuga and becomes the '[[Ultimate Evil|Ultimate Darkness]]', his friend Ichijo to shoot him through the [[Transformation Trinket|Arcle]] and kill him. Thankfully he doesn't become evil, just [[Badass]].
* In ''[[
* Mitchell, in ''[[Being Human (
* An episode of the ''Outer Limits'' remake featured a scientist who tinkered with nanotechnology, and made himself nearly invincible. Unfortunately, the techniques his body used to protect him gave him a monstrous appearance, and proved potentially harmful to those around him.
* In ''[[
* In the ''[[Criminal Minds]]'' episode "Reckoner," a judge suffering from terminal cancer hires a [[Career Killers|hitman]] to carry out a series of [[Vigilante Execution
== Music ==
* [[Franz Ferdinand]]'s "Take Me Out" at least ''sounds'' like it's describing such a situation.
{{quote|
''[If] I wane, this could die''
''I want you... to take me out!'' }}
* Ice Age's "Dead But Wide Awake" very clearly describes this
== Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends ==
* In Roman mythology, a famous Sybil (please note, that's the title of a seer/oracle, and is not yet used as a name in Rome) from the nearby city of Cumae was turned into a cicada by Apollo when she refused to sleep with him. Cicada!Sybil was ostensibly kept in a cage in the temple of Apollo at Cumae, where people would continue to ask her questions; one day a young child asked what she wanted, and she replied that she wanted to die.
== Radio ==
* The Dalek in the [[Big Finish Doctor Who]] audio ''Jubilee'' had had its self-destruct system disabled and, more than just ordering it to self-destruct, the Dalek demanded that Evelyn actually shoot it with its own gun.
** The Eighth Doctor himself in the audio play ''Zagreus'', echoing Charley's request in the previous story.
{{quote|
"I can't!"
"Kill me."
"I love you!"
"Kill me." }}
*** {{spoiler|She does.}}
== Tabletop Games ==
* Dwarfs in ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' are an interesting example, in that their culture allows for death to atone for a terrible shame or failure, but is strictly opposed to killing oneself- according to some sources, dwarfs are mentally incapable of suicide. Instead, a suicidal Dwarf becomes a ''Troll Slayer'', which mostly entails dyeing their hair and beard, cutting it into a mohawk, and going out to [[Death Seeker|find something really nasty to kill them in battle]]. And since Dwarfs are similarly opposed to throwing a fight, the more successful (or ''un''successful, depending on how you look at it) Slayers are fearsome warriors indeed.
** Amusingly enough, the normally-branching "career paths" detailed in the Warhammer RPG handbooks break down slightly for Trollslayers. A Trollslayer's only "exit career" is "Giantslayer," and a Giantslayer's only possible exit career is "Daemonslayer," each one describing a correspondingly higher level of Awesome. And under the listing for "exit careers" for Daemonslayers...? "A glorious death."
* The Sisters Repentia from ''[[Warhammer
** Then there's "the Emperor's Peace," which is simply a mercy killing, used In-game by [[Super Soldiers|Space Marine]] medics on other members of their squad; the rest of the squad just forgets about them.
* Young Erasmus van Richten of ''[[Ravenloft]]'' invoked this trope, begging his father Rudolph to drive a stake through his heart before vampirism could extinguish his compassion and make him a killer. Justified in that, while Erasmus could theoretically have committed suicide by sunlight, he was only a kid and probably couldn't have endured the 10 rounds of agony then required under D&D rules.
▲== Theater ==
* In [[Shakespeare]]'s ''[[Julius Caesar]]'', Brutus asks for one of men to hold his sword so he can run himself on it, as his Stoic philosophy forbids him from directly committing suicide.
** Either a case of [[Did Not Do the Research]] or [[Science Marches On]] however, since Stoic philosophy actually ''prescribes'' suicide as an honorable death (second only to death in battle) and that allowing someone to commit suicide rather than execute him was oft reserved for the [[Worthy Opponent]] as a way of letting him go out on his own terms. The offer was more often taken than rejected.
** Brutus does a similar thing after the Battle of Phillipi in the series ''[[Rome]]''. He dismisses his guards, takes off his armor and marches straight at the advancing enemy soldiers, sword in hand. At first the soldiers just block or dodge his attacks, but when he wounds one, they stab him to death.
== Video Games ==
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* In ''[[Half-Life]] 2'', Gordon comes across humans who have been taken over by headcrabs. They beg for death even as the headcrab forces them to attack the player.
** They're actually whimpering, [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XhD-vd7PXY4 "GOD HELP, HELP ME!"] backwards, and damn if it isn't [[Nightmare Fuel|creepy as hell]].
* Shadow's flashback dreams in ''[[
* General Pepper in ''[[Star Fox (
* In an astonishing example of loyalty, {{spoiler|Asgard [[Suicide
* In the 3D shooter game ''[[Duke Nukem]]'', Duke comes across various attractive young women with [[Body Horror]] problems who beg you to kill them.
** Given the nature of Duke to "borrow" lines from other sources this is very likely a "shout out" (cough) to Aliens.
* In ''[[Breath of Fire]] 2'', the main character will discover his long-lost father attached to a machine in the bowels of a dungeon. He asks you to kill him which you can do during the boss fight immediately after his request but the game also subverts this trope by allowing you to solely attack the machine during the battle instead. This will result in the machine destroyed, the father saved, and you on the path towards the best ending.
* In ''[[
* Happens in ''[[Castlevania]]: Harmony of Dissonance'' in one of the bad endings. Juste finds Maxim barely holding on to himself, and Maxim begs Juste to kill him before his [[Enemy Within]] takes over. Juste refuses, and (predictably) Maxim's evil side ''does'' take over, and you have to fight him.
** In another ''[[Castlevania]]'' example, Soma made Julius promise to kill him if he ever loses out to his [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]. It's unusual in that it's the protagonist that makes the request.
** Yet another ''[[Castlevania]]'' example: In Lament of Innocence, the origins of the Belmont family whip are revealed, as Leon {{spoiler|finds himself being asked by his fiancée, who has already begun the irreversible process of turning into a vampire, to kill her. He does.}}
* In ''[[System Shock]] 2'', the annelid hybrids (humans who have been assimilated by The Many) will often beg you to kill them, even as they attack you.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[
** Nobody is mentioning {{spoiler|Agustus Sinclair? Changed into a Delta Big Daddy, and forced to obey her every command. He begs for you to stop him, and apologizes for not being able to help you anymore. This troper shed [[Manly Tears]] when he put him down.}}
* In [[Oni]], {{spoiler|Shinatama}}, after being {{spoiler|put back together as a Deadly Brain after having her Xiox destruct mechanism}} activated, she repeatedly says things like "I'm so sorry!" and "Konoko, kill me, please!" while trying to shoot you. After breaking free, {{spoiler|she walks towards Griffin. He tells her to stop, but, of course, she doesn't due to the fact that Griffin sent the security department way over budget after ordering a lift to be made on his office, so they disabled a few low-level overrides, such as "Griffin Alpha Zero", and Shinatama ''wants'' to die. He shoots her, Konoko disarms Griffin, and the player has a choice of whether or not to shoot him.}}
** {{spoiler|If you choose to walk away and not shoot Griffin, not only does Mai/Konoko make a comment about "being better than that," Griffin will have a [[Redemption Quest]] later on by leading reinforcements that cover her ass near the end of the game.}}
* ''[[
* Happens twice within the ''Path of Radiance/Radiant Dawn'' continuity of ''[[Fire Emblem]]''. The first time is when Bertram, a boss in Path of Radiance, enters battle with incoherent babbling that seems to be a plea for death. {{spoiler|They don't comply, and in Radiant Dawn, they are able to free "Bertram" from the influence of the same [[Psycho Serum]] that produced the Feral Ones--he's really Elinica's uncle, Duke Renning, who was thought to be dead.}} The second, more notable one, is {{spoiler|Lehran}}, who set up the entire scenario with Tellius being subjected to Ashera's judgment because he wanted to be destroyed with the rest of the world.
** Also a third time with {{spoiler|Pelleas, who has to be killed by someone else in order to nullify the Blood Pact.}} Notable in that {{spoiler|while at first you're only given the option to have Micaiah kill him herself or make Tauroneo do it, on your [[New Game
* In ''[[Thief]] 2'', you encounter a near dead and more then half frozen Pagan. After speaking to the Pagan, he asks you to do one last thing for him: end his pain. In a moment that touched my heart, Garrett called the Pagan his friend just before he killed him.
** He obviously has a death wish, since he'd prefer freeze to death rather than drink any healing potions dropped into his lap.
* ''[[
* ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' : Tidus' father, Jecht aka the monstrous Sin, although it doesn't come as a surprise to Tidus, who spent most of the game coming to terms with the fact that he'll have to kill his father. Still, even though Tidus always claimed his dad was an idiot, it hurts him when Jecht asks him to do it quick, because there's not much of his own mind left.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' features a couple of bosses that are under the effects of [[Mind Control]] or, in the case of Thaddius, are a [[Frankenstein's Monster|horrific patchwork construct]], and either before, during, or after the fight, beg you for death or thank you for killing them.
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* In ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'', {{spoiler|Feinne}} ends up asking the main characters to do this, as the alternative is {{spoiler|to be consumed by Drazil, which would not only strengthen your enemies but also deny her the ability to return to the cycle of death and rebirth}}.
* Fortune from ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'' is unwilling to kill herself, and [[Death Seeker|wants to die]] in a blaze of glory in a battle against Solid Snake, whom she blames for her father's death. Unfortunately, Fortune has <s>luck</s> {{spoiler|an electro-magnetic device on her body without her knowledge}} that prevents her from ever dying in combat, and every grenade thrown at her is a dud. This is a major motivator behind her constant Wangst. The [[Boss Battle]] against Fortune plays on this trope heavily; you spend it dodging her shots and taking cover until the timer runs out.
** A variation on this trope appears in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]'', in which {{spoiler|The Boss is under orders to sacrifice herself for the sake of a cover-up, allowing herself to be taken out by Naked Snake so that the US and USSR will not engage in nuclear war. She is not allowed to kill herself, and she cannot tell Snake the truth about her mission. It speaks volumes about her strength of character that she does not angst about this in the slightest; in fact, she seems ''glad'' that Snake is the one to finally finish her.}}
** Vamp starts displaying signs of this trope in the fourth game, but it's not due to any sort of moral dilemma; he is ''literally'' unable to kill himself, since he instantly recovers from any wounds, {{spoiler|due to nanomachines that enhance his natural [[Healing Factor]]. He eventually dies when he injects himself with nanomachine suppressants before the wounds he received from his battle with Raiden can heal.}}
* In ''[[Star Ocean]]: The Second Story'', Philia's programming makes it impossible for her to commit suicide.
* Prometheus repeatedly begs Kratos to kill him to end his cycle of torment in ''[[God of War (
* One [http://www.game-ism.com/2008/04/04/still-alive-shes-free/ theory] states that [[Portal (
* Miang, the quasi-[[Big Bad]] of ''[[
* Rita from ''[[Galerians]]'' is unable to kill herself and begs Rion to do it for her, likely for reasons similar to what a robot's would be, though she's not one.
* This trope is built into the gameplay mechanics of the 2008 ''[[Prince of Persia]]'' reboot. The Prince cannot die either in combat or during the [[Le Parkour|acrobatic sections of the game]]. Even if you intentionally throw yourself of a cliff, Elika will save you and take you back to the last flat ground you stood on. Even when facing off with the dark god [[Big Bad|Ahriman]] he cannot die because Elika will save him. It's even used as a story element at one point: in order to beat the Concubine's illusion, he tosses himself off the top of a tower because he knows Elika is compelled to save him.
* In ''[[Deadly Premonition]]'', the shadows will sometimes shout "Please kill me!" or "Make me die!" when attacking.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[The Suffering]]'', Torque finds a prison guard- or more accurately, the torso and head of a prison guard who has had his limbs and tongue chewed off by rats, locked in a padded room. You can either leave the blood-gurgling man there to suffer, or kill him, whereupon your dead wife will applaud your decision and grant some karma points towards your ending.
* A variation occurs as part of a minor quest in [[The Elder Scrolls Four|the Shivering Isles expansion]], where an Imperial named Hirrus Clutumnus in Crucible asks you to kill him. He's perfectly capable of doing it himself and would be happy to, but doesn't want to end up on the Hill of Suicides like the others before him. Fortunately, he happens to spend time on the rail-less staircase to the New Sheoth palace grounds...
** Unfortunately, like many other characters, he responds to being pushed out of his scripted position by trying to return to it, making it more likely that the player character will slip past him and fall off the stairs himself.
* In the ''[[Morrowind]]'' expansion Bloodmoon you find a Nord looking for a path into Sovngarde, the Nordic version of Paradise. As it turns out, {{spoiler|the only way into Sovngarde is to die in battle.}}
* At one point in the ''Meet the Medic'' video for ''[[
* Shining Force II's Lemon, who goes on a killing spree as the Red Baron, snaps out of his trance and now wishes to atone for his sins. However, since he is no longer human {{spoiler|but now a immortal vampire}}, he finds that he can't kill himself. The first time he attempts suicide, he tries jumping from a cliff, with Astral commenting "That couldn't have felt good".
* In Warhammer 40,000: [[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]] {{spoiler|Admrial Constantine (voiced by [[Brian Blessed]]!) begs you to shoot him before he turns into a Chaos Sawn. Demon-possessed [[Brian Blessed]] just asked you to shoot him.}}
* In ''[[
* In [[Neverwinter Nights 2]], the dragon Nolaloth has spent millenia 'living' as a ghost, bound to the Prime Material Plane by an artifact called the crystal heart. He asks you to destroy the heart so he can finally make his way to the afterlife.
* In ''[[
=== Visual Novels ===▼
* ''[[
▲== Visual Novels ==
* ''[[Fate/stay
▲* ''[[Saya no Uta (Visual Novel)|Saya no Uta]]'', with {{spoiler|your former girlfriend}} whom Saya has... modified.
▲* ''[[Fate Stay Night (Visual Novel)|Fate Stay Night]]'' has {{spoiler|Saber Alter, corrupted and controlled by Dark Sakura,}} lose in a fight to Shirou. She calmly asks to be finished off, warning that she will likely heal in time to stop him should he not. If you choose to spare her, she does just that.
** {{spoiler|Sakura herself}} realizes that she needs to be stopped, but will only allow Shirou to do it.
== Web Comics ==
* The [[Fan Nickname|so-called]] Suicide Fairies from ''[[
▲* The [[Fan Nickname|so-called]] Suicide Fairies from ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic)|Gunnerkrigg Court]]''. Upon meeting Antimony, they almost immediately ask her squish them flat with a rock. As it turns out, dying is a test they must pass to [[Voluntary Shapeshifting|gain new bodies]] and enter the Court. Outright killing themselves (or each other, apparently) constitutes cheating.
* [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/07/21 This] [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/07/28 series] of ''[[Penny Arcade (Webcomic)|Penny Arcade]]'' [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/07/30 comics] utilizes the trope in a very efficient fashion. The Cardboard Tube Samurai must kill one of his oldest friends when he becomes possessed by an evil sword.
* ''[[Vexxarr]]'': [http://www.vexxarr.com/archive.php?seldate=013111 ...and now] they cannot.
* This is why Pices of the webcomic ''[[Zodiac (
== Web Original ==
* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' Version Three, this happens with {{spoiler|Will Sigurbjornsson and Christian Rydell.}} {{spoiler|Christian}} is severely wounded by {{spoiler|Bobby Jacks}}, and pleads for death after the wound worsens when another creature rips it apart. {{spoiler|Will kills him.}}
* In ''[[
* In the [[SCP Foundation]] SCP-735 is unable to move. It torments people, using words, possibly in an attempt to get destroyed. Unfortunately for it, if this is its goal, it probably isn't going to happen. the Foundation likes to horde SCPs that it doesn't consider to dangerous, and it is robust enough to withstand any personal that attempt to destroy it long enough for that personal to be stopped.
* Micro-fiction [//twitter.com/ctrlcreep/status/738833026176684032 from @ctrlcreep]:
{{quote|As of patch 7.822, androids can no longer shut themselves down. Reason: they just kept doing it at the slightest inconvenience }}
== Western Animation ==
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** Sergeant Hatred also begs Doctor Venture to kill him after his wife hints at wanting to leave him, and can't do it himself because he is "a warrior, and will die by the hand of [his] archenemy". He eventually pulls himself together and {{spoiler|replaces Brock as the Ventures' bodyguard}}.
* In the ''[[Samurai Jack]]'' episode "Jack And The Lava Monster," the titular "monster" turns out to be a norse warrior who was [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|cursed]] by Aku; placed in a [[And I Must Scream|crystal prison]]. He eventually gained the power to control the earth around him, and created a [[Death Course]] for the purpose of finding the warrior who could defeat him in battle, allowing him to finally pass on to Valhalla with the rest of his [[True Companions|comrades]]. Most telling is his anguished cry of "I ''must'' be defeated honorably! I ''cannot'' let up!" during his fight with Jack.
* In the episode "Trouble in Lumpy Space" of ''[[
* ''[[Gargoyles]]'' never directly brings up the issue of suicide, but the reason [[Anti-Villain|Macbeth]] keeps [[Death Seeker|picking fights with Demona]] is because she's the only one who can [[Who Wants to Live Forever?|cancel out his immortality]]. The thing is, ''she's'' fated to die too if she ever kills him, leading to an awkward situation whenever he forces her into a battle.
== Real Life ==
* Interestingly, while Seppuku is frowned upon now, there is still a large cultural mindset in Japan towards self-punishment for dishonor. Although it doesn't usually reach
** The ''kaishakunin'' or "second" in a seppuku ritual has a role somewhere between this and [[Mercy Kill]]. He decapitates the person committing seppuku after the cut is made, to kill the seppuku performer before the pain becomes so great that he cannot help but dishonor himself by showing pain.
** [[Japanese Christian|There were quite a few Roman Catholic samurais during]] [[Jidai Geki|the Sengoku period]]. As a result, they cannot commit seppuku due to religious reasons even it would be culturally appropriate to do so. The alternative is [[Suicide
* The case of Sue Rodriguez, a landmark decision in the Canadian euthanasia debate. Rodriguez suffered from ALS and feared that by the time she reached the point of wishing to die, she would be unable to carry it out herself; she took her case to the Supreme Court twice but was struck down both times. (She eventually died in 1994 with the assistance of an anonymous physician.)
** Similarly, the case of Ramón Sampedro in Spain. He became paralyzed from the neck down after breaking his neck in an accident as a young man. Unable to commit suicide on his own, he spent years fighting for the right to assisted suicide, and was repeatedly denied by the Spanish government. He eventually died in 1998 with the help of friends, each of whom performed a single act so minor that they could not be charged with a crime.
* In a weird way, this trope is why people get cancer. Normally, once a cell becomes cancerous (i.e. its DNA has mutated to the point where the cell cannot control its growth), the immune system will recognize that this happens and will essentially force the cancerous cell to self-destruct. The Warburg Hypothesis is based on the observation that most tumor cells have damaged mitochondria, which then disables the cell's ability to destroy itself. As a result, it can continue to grow unabated and cause problems while the body's defenses are unable to stop it.
* A real life example, one of the theories behind the Malaysian phenomenon of "running amok," was that it was a suicide attempt. Because of the taboo towards suicide, a man would retain his honor by attacking as many people as he could until someone who finally kill him, since he could not kill himself.
* [[Truth in Television]] example: The phenomenon of "[[Suicide
** Historically, dueling probably served the same purpose.
*** Actually dueling was never meant to be lethal, men dueled because it was "cool" and because they wanted to have battle scars. (And was we all know Chicks Dig Scars)
*** Perhaps for sword duels in some countries. Pistol duels were rather more dangerous, though.
* Serial killer James French was sentenced to life in prison. He wanted to die, but was afraid to commit suicide - so he murdered his cellmate, and subsequently, was executed. He also had some hilarious [[Famous Last Words]]:
{{quote|
* Filling out a living will may invoke this trope, depending on what criteria are incorporated into it.
* The purpose of the Dignitas clinic in Switzerland.
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{{reflist}}
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Choosing Death]]
[[Category:Friendly Fire Index]]
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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