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I Cannot Self-Terminate: Difference between revisions
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{{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
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.
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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 By Friendly Fire]].
{{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
* Ellis in ''[[El Cazador De La Bruja]]'' asks Nadie to shoot her so she she can avoid being enslaved by the [[Big Bad]]. Nadie {{spoiler|does so and dies herself shortly thereafter of undisclosed reasons. Luckily, both characters are [[Death Is Cheap|resurrected]] a few minutes later}}.
* 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.}}
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* 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]].
* 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).}}
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* ''[[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.}}
* Another horror film example. In the remake of ''[[The Texas Chainsaw Massacre (Film)|The Texas Chainsaw Massacre]]'', Andy was hanging on a hook in the basement, missing a leg and with salt pressed into his wounds. {{spoiler|When Erin happened across him, he didn't waste much time in getting her to finish him off.}}
* In ''[[X-Men (Film)|X-Men]]: The Last Stand'', Jean Grey asks Wolverine twice to kill her as she senses the [[Super
* 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 Till Dawn]]'' has {{spoiler|Scott}} do this. Injured, immobilized, and vampires already feeding on him, he asks Kate to kill him.
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* 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
* 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, {{spoiler|the source of the haunting is the ex-friend's ghost, out to for revenge because he'd been captured by the enemy and tortured for weeks.}}
* 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 [[HP Lovecraft]], Henry Akeley, who has been reduced to a [[
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* 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 ''[[Gaunts 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.)
* In [[JRR Tolkien (Creator)|JRR Tolkien]]'s ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', when Fingon tries to rescue Maedhros from Morgoth after [[Cold
* 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.
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** 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 Squires Tales|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 [[Graham McNeill]]'s [[Warhammer 40000]] [[Ultramarines (Literature)|Ultramarines]] novel ''Nightbringer'', when Uriel finds a victim of [[Cold
** 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.
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* Subverted in ''[[Supernatural (TV)|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 (TV)|Angel]]'', the titular character asks {{spoiler|his son}} Connor to kill him if his [[Super
** 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 ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]''. They tried to do this to the marshal, but the one bullet they had left missed the heart, and it would have taken him hours to bleed out, had Jack not euthanized the marshal some other way (offscreen.)
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* In ''[[Killer 7]]'', {{spoiler|Ulmeyda publically challenges the titular assassins to kill him. When they reach him, he reveals that he's terrified at the thought of becoming a Heaven's Smile and called on them to kill him in case he becomes one. He promptly does when the Army intervenes, and his Heaven's Smile form is the [[Boss Battle]] of the chapter.}}
* 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
** 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.
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* ''[[Deus Ex (Video Game)|Deus Ex]]'' - A secret room in Morgan Everett's compound reveals his ageing predecessor, Lucius [[De Beers]], sealed in a life-support system and acting as an advisor for the Illuminati. [[De Beers]] is under the impression that, when he recovers, Everett would allow him to return to power. The player has the choice to inform him of Everett's true (and rather bastardly) intentions. [[De Beers]] promptly pleads Denton to pull the plug as he'd rather die than divulge any more wisdom to his usurper. [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|You don't have to, though]].
* ''[[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 [[
** A good example is the final boss of the Nexus, Keristrasza. She's a Red Dragon captured by Malygos, the leader of the blue dragon-flight, after she aids the players in a quest chain and is bent to his will and he takes her as an unwilling consort eventually driving her insane. During the fight with her, she'll at one point say "Finish it! Finish it! Kill me, or I swear by the Dragonqueen you'll never see daylight again!"
* In ''[[Prey]]'', Tommy finds his girlfriend Jen but she has been fused onto a monster and he is forced to fight her. In the end, she begs him to kill her.
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* In ''[[Venture Brothers]]'' episode "Midlife Chrysalis," when Rusty has been turned into a giant caterpillar due to an injection Dr. Girlfriend has given him, he tries to get Helper to shoot him. Helper refuses.
** 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 ''[[Adventure Time (Animation)|Adventure Time]]'', there's a conversation where Finn thinks Jake (in the throes of the Lumps) is about to request this of Finn, should he go completely Lumpy. Yes. They actually got away with referencing this. It's never actually stated, and it turns out that Jake just wanted Finn to still be friends with a Lumpy Jake. "What did you think I was saying?"
* ''[[Gargoyles]]'' never directly brings up the issue of suicide, but the reason [[Anti
== 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
** 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]].
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