View source for Run or Die

{{trope}}
{{quote|''A little piece of advice. You see an [[Hero-Killer|Agent]], you do what we do. Run. You run your ass off.''|'''Cypher''', ''[[The Matrix]]''}}

Sometimes our heroes are faced with a foe they simply cannot withstand. Not only is it a fight they cannot ''win'', it's a fight they have no hope of even ''surviving''. They have two options: run away, or fight and die.

This enemy is usually rare and always notorious. Its very presence may inspire panic. Perhaps they're [[The Dreaded]]. Perhaps it's not an individual, but [[The Swarm]] or [[The Corruption]]. In any case, anyone who fights it is screwed, and anyone who could possibly end up fighting it ''knows it''.

The key to this trope is that the threat is very powerful, but also impossible to predict. After all, if you can see it coming and avoid it, then it's not very scary, is it? But when it could show up almost anywhere, virtually without warning, and there's nothing you can do but hope to escape, then ''that's'' terrifying.

Of course, none of this will keep our heroes from fighting it sooner or later. If encountered early in the story, it may require a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] from one character to allow the rest to escape. If the sacrificial character is wounded, he may insist that [[I Will Only Slow You Down]]; either way, expect him to tell the enemy that [[You Shall Not Pass]] before making his [[Last Stand]]. If no sacrificial characters are available, then [[Big Damn Heroes|someone may show up unexpectedly]] and tell the heroes to [[Come with Me If You Want to Live]]. If the foe isn't fought until later in the story, it will probably be after the heroes have discovered its [[Achilles' Heel]], or somehow dramatically increased their [[Power Level]] (though a [[Super Mode]], [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]], or whatever), and it will ''still'' be a difficult fight. If it's fought both early and late, then the latter fight will be a [[Heroic Rematch]].

In [[Video Games]], may be a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]] where dying doesn't result in the plot continuing. See also [[Fear Is the Appropriate Response]].
{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==
* During ''[[Bleach]]'''s Soul Society arc, Yoruichi advises the protagonists to run if they meet up with a Soul Society captain. Chad ignores the advice and ends up getting captured.
** During the {{spoiler|Fake Karakura Town}} Arc, {{spoiler|Gin Ichimaru}} informs Ichigo (who's been in a quite a bit of a slump up to that point) that he's in one of these situations.
** This is the Karakura crew's entire strategy when Aizen busts into the real Karakura Town. With no spiritual powers whatsoever, Tatsuki, Keigo and others have no option but to run as Aizen slowly chases them down. Worst part? The only reason they survived was because Aizen was toying with them. If he had decided to kill them instantly, ''they would be dead''.
{{quote|"You. '''Run.'''"}}
* ''[[One Piece]]'' had one of these come out of virtually nowhere during the Saboady Archipelago arc. It was probably the biggest [[Plot Twist]] ever seen since the manga started back in [[The Nineties]].
** Done even more significantly in the following arc, Impel Down. Luffy and the prisoners he's broken out are making their escape. Hot on their tails is the prison warden, Magellan. Normally taking on one guy wouldn't be a problem for Luffy and his allies, except Magellan's power is generating poison, so fighting him is suicide no matter how strong you are.
** Done to a less extent with [[Super Smoke|Smoker]]. Before the timeskip his intangibility made him invulnerable to the Straw Hats and a very dangerous threat to them, so much that they just ran whenever they encountered him.
* High-ranking demons in ''[[Slayers]]''. Short of employing a [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique]], they're [[Physical God]]s that can shrug off any attack and kill you with a snap of a finger.
* In ''[[Kenichi: The Mightiest Disciple|Kenichi the Mightiest Disciple]]'', Kenichi's masters are furious when Kenichi tries to take on a [[Lightning Bruiser|Master-Class sword-fighter]] by himself, claiming that the only acceptable course of action in that situation would have been to run for his life. Seeing as how even the most worthless Master-Class fighter could easily [[One-Hit Kill|kill Kenichi in one hit]] and that he survived that fight mostly through sheer luck, this is an understandable reaction on their part.
* In ''[[Naruto]]'', during the Third Ninja War there was a "Flee on sight" order on the Fourth Hokage, with Run or Die heavily implied.
* Invoked in ''[[Sekirei]]''. When the [[Red Baron|Black Sekirei]], [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Karasuba]], decides to fight the weaker duo of Mitsuha and Akitsu, the latter tells the former to run or she'll die. Mitsuha ignores the warning and is [[Curb Stomp Battle|quickly killed]] while Akitsu [[Know When to Fold'Em|ran away and lived]].


== Comic Books ==
* An early [[The Silver Age of Comic Books|Silver Age]] ''[[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]]'' story has Rick Jones seeing Cap is in trouble and a [[Mooks|Mook]] tries to silence him. Rick manages to take him down and a mate with a club as well, but as others are approaching, Rick remembers Cap's lesson that only a fool fights impossible odds. So, Rick decides he must make a break for it to get help and manages to escape. Just as the goons decide that they can subdue Captain America and get away before [[The Cavalry]] can arrive, Cap appears and takes them on considering for a [[One-Man Army]] like himself, two dozen to one is hardly impossible odds to him.

== Fan Work == 
* Episode 2 of ''[https://my.w.tt/JTyRFCy6EU Final Stand of Death]'', [[Blink-182| Mark]] is told do this after he [[Too Dumb to Live| made some chainsaw noises, just as Spur was getting up.]] This trigger the events that had led to her "human" death and current stage, which the in-story viewers [[Captain Obvious| points out ''Deathbowl 98'']] to be exact. When Mark learns that Spur, who [[KISS| Gene]] figure it was {{spoiler| Emma}}, was [[Right Behind Me| right behind him]], Mark and his crew realizes they should make a run for it.
** Episode 5 has Evander yelling at the crowd to run as a wave, caused by the shenanigans of Fusion Gundam and Spur not realizing how fast she was going. Many at the prier, [[Unusually Uninteresting Sight| doesn't seems to be bother]] as they were engaged an arm wresting match between [[The Undertaker]] and [[Jack Nicholson]].

== Film ==
* The Agents from ''[[The Matrix]]'', providing the page quote. The sequels [[Villain Decay|downgrade]] most of them to [[Elite Mooks]] at best for Neo after he's become The One, though they still remain significant threats to protagonists other than him and [[Big Bad|Smith]] remains the most dangerous of them all.
* In the original ''[[Terminator (franchise)|Terminator]]'', though the sequels tend to focus more on the Terminators fighting ''each other''.
* In the original ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', Gandalf simply says of the Balrog "The counter-spell was terrible. It almost broke me... swords are no use here!" and a little later "this foe is beyond any of you." In [[The Lord of the Rings (film)|the film]], [[Talking Is a Free Action|after explaining to them]] [[Mr. Exposition|what a Balrog is]], he helpfully adds ''"...RUN!"''
* Phantoms from ''[[Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within|Final Fantasy the Spirits Within]]''. They're limitless in number and their touch is instantly lethal (via ''pulling out your soul''); any fight against them is necessarily a delaying action until you can retreat... or a [[Last Stand]].
* In ''[[Spice World]]'', the women encounters aliens, Geri tells the others to ''MAKE A RUN FOR IT'', [[Oh Crap| only for Emma to tell her]]  [[Deer in the Headlights| none of them can move,]] [[Mass "Oh Crap"| as they're in fear, even Melanie C]]. Luckily for them, the aliens were friendly.

== Literature ==
* Steel Inquisitors from ''[[Mistborn]]''. Nigh-invincible [[Blood Knight]]s who are definitely fighting at a higher [[Super Weight]] than the protagonists. The fight against one at the end of the first book is a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], and they remain the single biggest threat for the rest of the trilogy.
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''[[Iron Shadows in the Moon]]'' and ''[[The Pool of the Black One]]'', [[Conan the Barbarian]] faces this. But then, both times he was dealing with what were effectively [[Eldritch Abomination]]s.
* The Bugs in David Weber and Steve White's ''In Death Ground''. Given the colonies the military had to protect, [[To Serve Man|running was the worst option.]]
* In some version of ''The Silmarillion'', King Finwe was the only inhabitant of Feanor's fortress of exile who did not run for it when a hostile Melkor approached to steal the Silmarils. He is slain for his trouble, and no surprise, since Melkor is the ''most powerful being ever created by God''. Fighting him, for an Elf or a Man, is a losing proposition.
* ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'' introduces ''several'' enemies like this in the first book alone. People don't enter the abandoned city of [[I Don't Like the Sound of That Place|Shadow's Waiting]] unless they're forced to, because the evil that killed it is still trapped there and looking for new victims. People don't enter [[Portal Network|the Ways]] unless they're desperate, because the magic that created them was corrupted, and now they're haunted by the Black Wind That Steals Souls. And people don't enter [[Garden of Evil|the Blight]] unless they're suicidal, because, [[Everything Trying to Kill You|well...]]
* The Labyrinth dragons in ''[[The Death Gate Cycle]]'' are so dangerous (Even by the standards of a [[Death World]] where the inhabitants face [[Everything Trying to Kill You]] - including the geography) that most people run for their lives if they even ''think'' that there's one in the area. If they do fight, it isn't to kill the dragon, it's to force the dragon to kill them quickly instead of slowly torturing them to death. The only Patryn in the history of the Labyrinth to fight a dragon and ''win'' is Xar.
* The orc army plus Balrog in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. "Fly, you fools!"


== Live Action TV ==
* Near the end of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]'' season 5, the Scooby Gang decide this is all they can do against [[Physical God|Glorificus]].
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' two-parter "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", this is all you can do against the Vashta Nerada. Seriously, the characters are never once able to take offensive action against them. The Doctor only gets them to back off by ''threatening'' to do something unpleasant based on his reputation, with no evidence in sight of how he would actually make good on it.
** Your odds against the Weeping Angels from "Blink" and the "The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone" two-parter, also [[Steven Moffat]] episodes, are only slightly better. By being very lucky, our heroes trick them into being stuck in the former and being destroyed in the latter.
* In ''[[The Sarah Connor Chronicles]]'', at the start of the second season, [[Robot Girl|Cameron]] takes damage to her processor and reverts to her default orders to kill John Connor. Through the entire episode, the only thing the Connors can really do is run the hell away from her as she doggedly pursues them.  {{spoiler|The only thing that ''stops'' her is pinning her between two tractor trailers and cutting her central processor out of her head.}}


== Theatre ==
* [[Cyrano De Bergerac]]: At act I, [[Giftedly Bad|Actor Montfleury]], who has dared defy Cyrano prohibition to act, makes his choice after [[Sociopathic Hero|Cadet]] [[Jerkass|Cyrano]] claps a third time: He runs for his life. Later, The Bore also makes his choice, when after bothering Cyrano too much, he literally kicks his ass. It was the correct choice for both of them.


== Video Games ==
* Quite a few from the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series:
** Bahamut from ''[[Final Fantasy III]]''. You encounter him very early in the game, and if you don't run then he'll kill you on turn one.
** The "Guardian" mecha in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' is used as [[Border Patrol]]. You can finally fight and defeat it in the endgame.
** ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' has at least two examples:
*** The spider robot during the Dollet mission, which appears unexpectedly and chases the party all the way back to the evacuation point. It doesn't have a particularly powerful offense, but it's impossible to kill (except at [[Guide Dang It|one point]]) and it appears during a [[Timed Mission]] so you can't waste too much time fighting it.
*** A minor example is the T-Rexaur, a ''[[Tyrannosaurus Rex|goddamn T. rex]]'' encountered in Balamb Garden's training center and the forest nearby, which you are repeatedly warned about by various characters. It ''will'' kill you early in the game (unless you've already abused the Junction system to [[Game Breaker]] levels). The first time you encounter one with Quistis in your party, she even tells you to run away, just in case you missed the other warnings. [[Zig-Zagging Trope|She also tells you exactly how to defeat it (junction Sleep to your status attack), as the T-Rexaur is absolutely vulnerable to the Sleep effect.]]
** The battle against Ba'gammnon in ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' in the Lhusu Mines. Some members of the party suggest fleeing from him and his gang, as beating them all in a head-on fight is extremely difficult without level grinding. If you exploit their weaknesses to certain status ailments, however, it's possible to win at a normal level.
* Invoked in ''[[Halo (series)|Halo]]'' when you first encounter [[The Virus|The Flood]]. After the cutscene introducing them, the game changes your mission objectives to, quite simply, "Escape!". You can ''try'' to kill every Flood you see, but the cost in health and ammo will be high; you're better off running from most of them and fighting only when you can't avoid it.
* Anyone who's played the ''[[Etrian Odyssey]]'' games long enough to encounter a [[Beef Gate|FOE]] (which [[Nintendo Hard|isn't very long]]) will tell you that unless you're massively overleveled for the floor you're on, you ''run the hell away'' from them. One particular case in ''Heroes of Lagaard'' is [[Bonus Boss|Salamox]], who's nest you need to steal a [[MacGuffin]] from for a mission early on in the game. The chancellor, as well as the game itself, warn you that if you try to fight past it, you will die. [[Curb Stomp Battle|They aren't kidding.]]
* The ''[[Silent Hill]]'' series' infamous Pyramid Head is an example in all of his incarnations.
* ''[[Guild Wars]]'' has a few examples
** In Prophecies, the last part of the "Great Northern Wall" mission has the character running away from a large group of Charr.
*** Later, one mission has you running from an army of Mursaat. If you attempt to fight, the party will die in ''seconds'', due to the Mursaats' ridiculously powerful Spectral Agony attack. It is only after you have your armor "Infused" with spells to neutralize that attack that you can fight them on equal terms.
** In Eye of the North, the quests in Kamadan, Kaineng, and Lion's Arch that take the character to the Eye of the North areas end with the player running away from destroyer groups.
* ''[[Prince of Persia]]: Warrior Within'' has your encounters with the Dahaka {{spoiler|except in the true ending, by which point you'll have a weapon that can kill it}}. All you can do is run away and try to find somewhere where it can't get to you.
* In ''[[Metroid]] Fusion'', the SA-X is ridiculously overpowered compared to Samus, being comparable to your power level at the end of ''Super'' and Samus being gimped by her new weakness to cold and a suit that doesn't protect her much. Your friendly AI commander actually gives you this instruction in as many words. As you progress through the game, you go from hiding, to running from, to preventing from following, and finally combat at the very end of the game.
* True to the film series, the video game adaptation of ''[[Terminator (franchise)|Terminator]]: Salvation'' treats the T-600 series like this, especially the first few times you run into them. They're insanely durable, have [[Gatling Good|mini-]][[More Dakka|guns]] as their default weapons, and just ''keep coming''. If you try and stay and fight the first time just ''one'' shows up, it ''will'' kill you. Later battles are only possible to win because you have lots of cover, [[Stuff Blowing Up|explosives]], and [[More Dakka|gun emplacements of your own]].
* Every enemy in ''[[Amnesia: The Dark Descent]]''. You have no means of self-defense, so if you encounter a monster, your only hope is to run as fast as you can and hide until the monster stops chasing you.
* The "Tycoon Wil" scenario in ''[[SaGa Frontier 2]]'' - it's a [[Hopeless Boss Fight]] in which all you can do is defend until the "Run" option comes up enough times for the ending cutscene to trigger.
* The [[Implacable Man|Hunter]] in ''[[Dead Space (video game)|Dead Space]]''. You can attack it if you want, but it won't have any effect beyond briefly slowing him down. In order to escape, you have to lead it to the appropriate place to turn it into a [[Human Popsicle|Mutant Alien Zombie Popsicle]]; later on you have to do the whole thing ''again'', but this time you get to [[Kill It with Fire]].
** Even before that, in both games, you're attacked by a swarm of Necromorphs without any weapons, stasis, or kinesis. Your only hope is to flee.
* After the planetary shield drops in ''F.A.K.K.<sup>2</sup>'', tough new enemies appear and Julie straight up declares that fighting them with her current weapons is futile. They technically can be killed, but it requires the better part of your current arsenal's ammo cap to down even one, so it's pretty awesome when [[So Last Season|your shiny new toys later in the game can grind them to hamburger]].
* In one of the third round of missions in ''[[Star Wars: Dark Forces|Jedi Academy]]'', a mutated rancor appears and you have to run away from it through the entire level (while fighting dozens of dark Jedi) until you can achieve an environmental kill. In an earlier level, you have to help prisoners escape from a rancor pit, usually by leading the rancor away from their group while they Run or Die.
* The first two ''[[Paper Mario (franchise)|Paper Mario]]'' games have Clefts. If examined, you'll be warned that sometimes there's no shame in running. There's one fight in the second game you can't win, though losing that one instead of running away doesn't result in Game Over anyway.
* ''[[Mother 3]]''. The Chimera Factory. The [[One-Hit Kill|Ultimate Chimera.]] If it touches you or any member of your party, that's it. No [[Hopeless Boss Fight]], just a cutscene where the Chimera chomps down and the screen quickly turns red before you get to the Game Over screen.
* ''[[Fatal Frame]]'' final boss ghosts are like this whenever you encounter them prior to the end of the game. All of the games have a sequence where the main character must just run the hell away from the invincible ghost, lest she catch you and end your game instantly (interestingly, with the exception of the Kusabi, all of these ghosts are female). The third game has the [[Final Boss]] as a [[Random Encounter]] throughout (hint:RUN!), and also reintroduces the Kusabi from ''II'' in the [[Nostalgia Level|Minakami Village]] areas. Though you can fight him off once or twice, it's really a better idea to just flee. [[Boss in Mook Clothing|He's freaking tough.]]
* In the [[PlayStation 2]] remake of ''[[Tales of Destiny]]'', if you run around in one place with all your party members set to Auto for grinding purposes, bonus boss and ''Tales Of Destiny 2'' antagonist Barbatos Goetia will eventually show up and exclaim that he's giving you the choice to run away or die. He's not kidding, since even if you ''do'' somehow manage to get his HP to zero, he'll just keep on fighting.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'': In the dungeon Halls of Reflection, after beating a couple preliminary bosses the final "boss" consists of running from the Lich King until help arrives.
* ''[[Pikmin]] 2'' features the [[Murder Water|Water Wraith]] in one dungeon, which cannot be killed except with a Pikmin variety that cannot be brought in and can only be created at the last floor. Once it drops down, you haul ass to the exit.


== [[Web Comics]] ==
* ''[[Goblins]]'' - When facing down [http://www.goblinscomic.com/03252011/ Mr. Fingers], a [[Eldritch Abomination|monstrosity]] from whom [http://www.goblinscomic.com/04082011/ one touch] will [http://www.goblinscomic.com/04152011/ melt you] [[Body Horror|to purple goo]], there's really only [http://www.goblinscomic.com/04262011/ one] [http://www.goblinscomic.com/04292011/ response.]
** Ironically it does end up being fought... and goes down.  {{spoiler|At a tragic cost.}}
{{quote|{{spoiler|"I... told ya... I... do... the eating."}}}}
* ''[[Roza]]'': [http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/?date=2007-05-08 "You can't beat this guy. Just run!"]
* [[Double Subversion]] in [[Another Gaming Comic]], during a Matrix-pastiche arc. The Agents are hyped up as unkillable, unstoppable monsters who, if you do somehow manage to kill them once, will just come back again. Since the protagonists are highly talented power gamers, their first encounter with an Agent results in the agent getting one (high-damage) hit in and then getting [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|vaporized.]] The heroes then proceed to run away very quickly, [[Conversational Troping|explaining it]] to [[The Loonie|Nuclear Dan]] as they go.
{{quote|'''Joe Chaos:''' He will win eventually, [[Implacable Man|if only by attrition.]]}}
* In ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (webcomic)|No Rest for The Wicked]]'', [http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/01-44.html Perrault's reaction to Red's appearing.]


== [[Web Original]] ==
* [[Omnicidal Maniac|The Blood Red King]] is one of two [[Physical God|Omega Level Metahumans]] in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]''. Being the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Terror and Fear with [[New Powers as the Plot Demands]], he's the one foe no one '''''ever''''' wants to engage in a standup fight. The only ones who have knew they were making a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] so other people could get away. The only hero who ever succeeded in beating him was Amnesty, the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Kindness and Mercy. She is the setting's ''other'' [[Physical God|Omega]].

{{reflist}}
[[Category:Characters As Device]]
[[Category:Combat Tropes]]
[[Category:Run or Die]]