I Cannot Self-Terminate: Difference between revisions

Line 6:

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 suicide -- to~~ redeem himself. Traditionally, a person committing seppuku, after disemboweling himself, was allowed to have a "second" (kaishakunin) behead him before the pain would destroy his composure. (Itto Oogami's original position in ''[[Lone Wolf and Cub]]'' was as an official "second" for the Shogunate.) Sometimes, the "second" will volunteer for the job, as a token of respect for a friend or [[Worthy Opponent]].

In a series set in [[Jidai Geki]], this trope may appear when a [[Samurai]] character commits ''[[Seppuku]]''—ritual suicide—to redeem himself. Traditionally, a person committing seppuku, after disemboweling himself, was allowed to have a "second" (kaishakunin) behead him before the pain would destroy his composure. (Itto Oogami's original position in ''[[Lone Wolf and Cub]]'' was as an official "second" for the Shogunate.) Sometimes, the "second" will volunteer for the job, as a token of respect for a friend or [[Worthy Opponent]].

[[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.)

Line 52:

* A similar example to the above occurs in ''[[Lucifer (comics)|Lucifer]]''. Due to a promise she broke as a temple maiden, a Babylonian woman is punished with immortality; as a particular condition of the immortality, every day for the last four thousand years has featured her miscarrying her fetus. She ends up seeking out a bargaining chip for Lucifer, who revokes the immortality and watches as she blows away to dust.

* 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]]."

* ''[[2000 AD|2000 AD's]]'' ''[[Rogue Trooper]]'' encounters a subverted version of this trope. Having thought that he was the last remaining super-soldier, he is amazed to find a much older prototype living as a hermit on the poison-choked planet Rogue roams. The old man says he is waiting to die and that he feels like nature is going to take its course very soon. When enemy troops approach, Rogue's friends - personality-chips of fallen comrades embedded in his helmet and ~~gun -- vote~~ to leave the old man to his fate. Rogue ~~declines -- the~~ old man wants to die with ''dignity'' ~~-- and~~ his already impressive abilities are ramped up to eleven in order to massacre the enemy patrol and give the old man something Rogue hopes to have himself one day.

* ''[[2000 AD|2000 AD's]]'' ''[[Rogue Trooper]]'' encounters a subverted version of this trope. Having thought that he was the last remaining super-soldier, he is amazed to find a much older prototype living as a hermit on the poison-choked planet Rogue roams. The old man says he is waiting to die and that he feels like nature is going to take its course very soon. When enemy troops approach, Rogue's friends - personality-chips of fallen comrades embedded in his helmet and gun—vote to leave the old man to his fate. Rogue declines—the old man wants to die with ''dignity''—and his already impressive abilities are ramped up to eleven in order to massacre the enemy patrol and give the old man something Rogue hopes to have himself one day.

* ''[[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 ~~him--that~~ is to say, kill Ben. Ben manages to wrest just enough control to tearfully tell Reed to do it. For once, Reed gets stuck in a situation where he can't [[Take a Third Option]].

* 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 him—that is to say, kill Ben. Ben manages to wrest just enough control to tearfully tell Reed to do it. For once, Reed gets stuck in a situation where he can't [[Take a Third Option]].

* 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]].

Line 92:

== Literature ==

* In ''[[Callahan's Crosstime Saloon|Callahans Crosstime Saloon]]'', Michael Finn was sent by an alien force to determine whether Earth is so dangerous that it needs to be destroyed; however, he's decided (after an evening at Callahan's) that he likes us [[Puny Earthlings]]. Should he fail to report in, they will assume we destroyed him and stay well clear of ~~us -- but~~ it's impossible for him to ''intentionally'' fail to report, as long as he's properly functioning. When he gives his name as Michael Finn, Callahan the bartender takes the hint and [[Slipping a Mickey|slips him a "mickey"]], which renders him unconscious during the assigned reporting period. (Also of note here is that Michael himself refers to his mission as a "geas.")

* In ''[[Callahan's Crosstime Saloon|Callahans Crosstime Saloon]]'', Michael Finn was sent by an alien force to determine whether Earth is so dangerous that it needs to be destroyed; however, he's decided (after an evening at Callahan's) that he likes us [[Puny Earthlings]]. Should he fail to report in, they will assume we destroyed him and stay well clear of us—but it's impossible for him to ''intentionally'' fail to report, as long as he's properly functioning. When he gives his name as Michael Finn, Callahan the bartender takes the hint and [[Slipping a Mickey|slips him a "mickey"]], which renders him unconscious during the assigned reporting period. (Also of note here is that Michael himself refers to his mission as a "geas.")

* At the end of [[Terry Pratchett]]'s [[Discworld]] novel ''[[Discworld/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]]'', Angua's (a werewolf) {{spoiler|brother (the main villain of the novel) goes batshit insane after his plans are foiled and goes on a rampage. When he is dead she makes Captain Carrot promise to kill her if she ended up in a similar state.}}

** Also, in another Discworld novel ''[[Discworld/A Hat Full of Sky|A Hat Full of Sky]]'', {{spoiler|The Hiver}} cannot die {{spoiler|because it literally does not know how. However, it does know that it wants it, and Tiffany helps it find the gate to Death and the next world.}}

Line 107:

** 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 40000]] [[Space Wolf]] novel ''Wolf's Honour'', on the [[Shadowland|shadow planet]], they find [[Garden of Evil|crops that have human faces]] and beg for release. What is worse, the Space Wolves can not burn them, though they wish to. The Inquisitor explains that they stem from the [[Blood Magic|sacrifices]] used to make this duplicate planet.

* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Chalion]] novel ''The Hallowed Hunt'', {{spoiler|Wencel kin Horseriver}} is perfectly capable of killing his current ~~body -- too~~ bad his soul and consciousness will simply jump to the body of his next living heir, devouring that individual's mind in the process. Actually ''dying'' requires two other people and a lot of magical oomph. His plan to arrange just that is, it turns out, his primary goal.

* In [[Lois McMaster Bujold]]'s [[Chalion]] novel ''The Hallowed Hunt'', {{spoiler|Wencel kin Horseriver}} is perfectly capable of killing his current body—too bad his soul and consciousness will simply jump to the body of his next living heir, devouring that individual's mind in the process. Actually ''dying'' requires two other people and a lot of magical oomph. His plan to arrange just that is, it turns out, his primary goal.

* In ''New Moon'', second in the ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'' series, Edward wants to kill himself because he thinks Bella is dead, but because [[Our Vampires Are Different|he's nearly impossible to kill]], he has to go to the [[Badass Family|Volturi]] to ask them to kill him.

** Specifically, he was going to reveal his [[Bishie Sparkle~~|Bishie Sparkles~~]] to the city, somehow revealing the existence of vampires and forcing the Volturi to kill him.

** Specifically, he was going to reveal his [[Bishie Sparkle]]s to the city, somehow revealing the existence of vampires and forcing the Volturi to kill him.

** 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.

Line 170:

* 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 ''[[Community]]'', Abed is incapable of stopping himself from humiliating others, he has too give out "destruct codes" for himself.

* 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~~|Vigilante Executions~~]] on people he considered [[Karma Houdini~~|Karma Houdinis~~]] (mostly for crimes against children), culminating in the man who killed the judge's wife while driving drunk. After the last criminal is killed, he admits to the BAU that there is still one more name on his hit list...and is promptly shot dead by the hitman.

* 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]]s on people he considered [[Karma Houdini]]s (mostly for crimes against children), culminating in the man who killed the judge's wife while driving drunk. After the last criminal is killed, he admits to the BAU that there is still one more name on his hit list...and is promptly shot dead by the hitman.

Line 260:

* 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 ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' you come across a woman who is dying of a painful illness but whose race has a taboo against suicide, and who requests that Dak'kon (a ~~priest~~ ~~-- sort of -- of~~ that same race) end her suffering. You can use this as an opportunity to [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|psychologically torture him]].

* In ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' you come across a woman who is dying of a painful illness but whose race has a taboo against suicide, and who requests that Dak'kon (a priest—sort of—of that same race) end her suffering. You can use this as an opportunity to [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|psychologically torture him]].

* 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...

Line 303:

== 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 [[I Cannot Self-Terminate]] levels, it can result in an odd (for Westerners) predeliction towards redemption.

* 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 I Cannot Self-Terminate levels, it can result in an odd (for Westerners) predeliction towards redemption.

** 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 by Cop|suicide by opponent soldier]].