I Cannot Self-Terminate: Difference between revisions

* ''[[Starship Troopers (film)|Starship Troopers]]'', Rasczak, the leader of the Roughnecks, informs all of his new recruits "I've only got one rule: everybody fights, no one quits. You don't do your job, I'll shoot you myself." Later, during a battle he is being consumed from the waist down in a pit he's been sucked into. He tosses his rifle to Rico and screams for him to "Do it!" which prompts Rico to empty the magazine into Rasczak.

** 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...

* 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 (film)|The Descent]]''. After being {{spoiler|accidentally stabbed by Juno, Beth gets Sarah to kill her, rather than die slowly and painfully or be ripped apart by the Crawlers.}}

* 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.}}

* 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 ''[[Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' novels, {{spoiler|Soric}} is [[Fate Worse Than Death|handed over to the Black Ships]]. Several books later, he communicates with Hark, who finds him, [[Manly Tears|cries]] (which all the deaths in all the books have not drawn from him), and at his request, kills him. (He makes it look like an execution at {{spoiler|Soric's}} request, to save himself.)

* Self-preservation is [[Isaac Asimov]]'s [["Three Laws"-Compliant|third law of robotics]], making it the third-most-important moral imperative for a robot. Unfortunately for the robot, it's overridden by one and two, so a robot can kill itself if ''ordered'' to do so.

** 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 ''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' ''[[The Squire's Tales]]''. After Sir Gawain accidentally kills a man's wife, the man falls to his knees and begs Gawain to kill him. Gawain doesn't, instead forcing him to go to Arthur's court.

** 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 [[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.

* 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]].

* Mitchell, in ''[[Being Human (UK)]]'', ''begs'' his best friend George to stake his heart before his [[Horror Hunger]] makes him kill anyone else. After they introduce the next season's [[Big Bad]] by way of him threatening to kill George if Mitchell doesn't leave with him (and help him commit further horrible crimes), George does it. Of course, [[Contractual Immortality|he'll probably be back]]...

* 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.

* 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."

** 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.

* Shadow's flashback dreams in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' shows him being asked by his partner Baram to kill him, as he was mortally wounded and couldn't do the deed himself. Shadow freaks out and runs away, leaving Baram to die slowly and painfully.

* General Pepper in ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star FOX]] Assault''. The Aparoids have taken over his ship and threaten to take over himself as well. During the fight, he keeps asking to be killed before that happens. Subverted in that Peppy dives in to soften the ships fall and Pepper survives in the end. Also later in the game, {{spoiler|Peppy sacrifices the infested Great Fox to break through a defensive shield}}.

* 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.

[[Category:Choosing Death]]

[[Category:Friendly Fire Index]]