Stupid Sacrifice: Difference between revisions

[[File:loveblind03 924.jpg|link=Superman|frame|Protip: [[Superman]] can probably [[Immune to Bullets|survive that gun]] [[Taking the Bullet|better than you can]].<ref>Now, is his [[What an Idiot!]] expression intentional or not?</ref>]]

 

 

[[Heroic Sacrifice|We all know the trope]]. Everyone's caught in a life-or-death situation. One of the characters hedges their bets, steps forward so the others survive, and ends up on the "death" side of the equation. Pathos is obtained, tears are shed, etc., etc.

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Played for laughs in Yang Young Soon, in which one escaped prisoner sits on the tracks to break the chain connecting him with friend. [https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/236x/71/14/dc/7114dc6ad551d05b030aa74384dd06f3.jpg]

* In the beginning of ''[[Code Geass|Code Geass R2]]'' Urabe impales his own Knightmare with his Katana to land a surprise attack on the Vincent which nobody can hit, blowing himself up. Not only does it only leave just a tiny scratch on the thing, but 10 seconds later, proves completely pointless. ''Especially' considering his ejection system wasn't even damaged.

:Never mind the fact that Dende had to recreate the regular dragon balls because Kami wasn't around anymore, which means that the black dragon balls shouldn't be active either.

* Lampshaded in ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]''. Yusuke tries to prevent Kurama from sacrificing his life to save his mother's life, saying it doesn't make logical sense because Kurama's mother would be condemned to a life of grief. So in turn, Yusuke offers up his life instead. Eventually they both live and the wish is granted anyway, but only then does the [[Fridge Logic]] kick in for Yusuke: if he'd done that, his ''own'' mother would've been condemned to a life of grief. He prevents this (in some translations and adaptations) by suggesting that the mirror take '''part''' of his life, so Kurama won't have to die and his mother will be saved. Then again, the act is reckless enough to impress the Forlorn Hope into not taking either of their lives.

* In the 2003 ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', Scar jumps in front of Lust to protect her from a hail of bullets. She's a homunculus who can't be killed that easily, and Scar ''knows this'', but he takes the bullets anyway. And there's an emotional element as well: the body Lust was made from was the woman Scar's brother loved - and Scar as well, as he later confesses.

* In ''[[One Piece]]'', four Alabasta warriors in the Kicking Claw Squad drink a potion known as the "Fatal Fuel", which apparently increases their physical strength but kills them in minutes. Unfortunately, Crocodile can turn into sand and avoid their attacks, an ability he seems to have displayed in front of many people on at least one occasion that they should have known about.

* ''[[Blue Drop]]'' does this at the ending. It conveniently takes away any means of plot exposition and therefore ironically covers up a severe lack of justification for the situation in general. Creates a downer ending, except for Hagino who is, along with her entire race a firm believer of ''[[Warrior Heaven]]''.

* ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' has at least one example of a self-admitted stupid sacrifice: {{spoiler|Lockon Stratos (Neil)}} towards the end of season 1. He is very much aware he is stupid and selfish and should NOT do what he does but does it anyways, quite ready to die in the process. In season 2 {{spoiler|Patrick pulls a rather heroic one throwing himself in front of a suicide MS instead of shooting at it. But being the Immortal Colasour be probably knew he was going to make it.}}

* Nuriko, unfortunately, did this in ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]''. After getting seriously injured in his fight with Ashitare, Nuriko decided to move the boulder that had fallen over the entrance to where the Shentso-Pao was. Doing so, however, worsened his injuries and caused him to die...right as all his friends, including one ''who has healing powers'', arrive to see what happened. Miaka even laments "If only he'd have waited for Mitsukake to get here!". It obviously wasn't intended to be an example, but it was, in that he ''could'' have waited for his friends to get there before moving the boulder.

:It's also stupid for another reason: the boulder ''wasn't'' blocking the entrance. When the boulder is actually shown, there's clearly enough room for someone to walk around it. When the Seishi get inside, there are skeletons of dead thieves who were killed {{spoiler|by Hikitsu and Tomite}} who presumably did exactly that!

* In the prologue of ''[[Twister]]'', the man sacrificed himself trying to hold the cellar door shut to protect his family from the tornado, getting sucked into the storm when the doors gave way. But even after the twister forced the cellar open, his family remained unharmed. So was it really necessary?

* In ''[[Star Trek: Nemesis]]'', was Data's [[Heroic Sacrifice]] even necessary? Did he have to fire the phaser himself, instead of setting the phaser to overload and beaming out? [[Character Aged with the Actor|Brent Spiner felt that he could no longer convincingly play an ageless character and demanded that Data "die" in]] ''[[Character Aged with the Actor|Nemesis]]''. Curiously, they still introduced an identical twin, who is left alive. And gets all of Data's memories.

{{quote|'''Data:''' The transporters conveniently failed after sending Picard, so I'm going to leap across space to get to Shinzon's ship.

'''Geordi:''' What about the transporters in the shuttles?

'''Geordi:''' What about the transporters in the cargo bays? They're independent units, remember?

'''Data:''' What part of "shut the fuck up" do you not understand? This is my big heroic exit, asshole. Don't fuck it up. }}

* In ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]] 3'' Harry jumps in front of the glider Venom is about to use to kill Peter, but given that he died facing Peter, he must have either spun in midair as he jumped, or ran past him between Venom and Peter to get impaled. Couldn't he have tried to ''grab'' the glider? Or just given Venom a shove? This is particularly bad when Peter breaks out of Venom's restraints a few seconds later, so if he'd tried fighting Venom instead of sacrificing himself he'd have had Peter helping him too.

** It's a curse inherited from his family. They are compelled to be impaled on their own Glider for reasons that are inconceivable except to [[Stan Lee]]. Hell, their chests might be magnetically attracted to their Gliders for all we know.

** In a deleted scene he asked her to, but she refused. However, why did he need anyone to begin with? If he was powerful enough to pick up the Golden Gate Bridge off its struts, and bring it to Alcatraz, couldn't he have just crushed the entire island and everyone on it with the bridge or at least form the metal of the bridge and cars into a swarm of lethal shrapnel and eviscerate all the guards?

** It was ''supposed'' to be a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] showing the strength of Mutant-kind as a "whole". Magneto fully expected to be able to stop the darts and guns being used... Except they were made out of [[Oh Crap|very not-magnetic plastic]]. He wasn't entirely unprepared for such an eventuality, however, notable due to his comment to the Juggernaut "allow [[Cannon Fodder|the pawns]] to move first".

** Also Harry himself. Although he realises that he has little to no chances against the thief, be it Voldemort or Snape, he doesn't consider simply sending an owl to the absent Dumbledore until well into the "obstacle course". Neither does he heed McGonagall's assurances that the Stone was perfectly safe, which, big shock, it actually was.

* The 2007-version of ''[[I Am Legend]]'' has a particularly bad example of this, when the main character spontaneously decides to blow himself and all the vampires up while a perfectly fine escape route was available. Some times you can rewrite the script's ending at last minute without any ill effects. Other times, not so much.

*** While using the terrain to survive was part of her strategy, she was also presenting herself as the most dangerous target, being the only one with missiles. If she was just slipping in and out of cover, the gunship would have had time to take out other targets. She was, in essence, drawing its fire away from the Na'vi (read: Jake) so he could do his job.

* A mild and non-lethal case happens to Kevin's mom in ''[[Home Alone]]''. She goes to a lot of trouble and extra expenses to get home to her abandoned son as soon as possible, but only gains a few minutes ahead of the rest of the family who arrive by plane she refused to wait for. Not to mention that Kevin was perfectly fine, and there was no need to hurry at all. [[Justified Trope]], because reason doesn't apply to mothers when it comes to care for their children.

 

== Literature ==

** Invoked in ''Traitor General''. When the hounds find their scent, Landerson sees that his fall had torn off his bandage, and tells Gaunt that it's his blood, and he will try to draw them off. Gaunt refuses to let him because they would still be chased "no matter how heroic and stupid you decide to be."

** Likewise invoked in ''Guns Of Tanith''. After being shot down while inserting the Larisel teams, Jagdea has to be rescued by the same teams from a Blood Pact patrol looking for downed pilots. She volunteers to stay behind and let the next patrol capture her (after a suitable fight). Mkvenner and Domor shoot this plan down on the grounds that a) the bad guys are very good at torture and b) the only way to make it vaguely plausible that Jagdea'd killed the patrol would be to leave the kind of weapons that would cause those wounds, and a 'downed pilot' toting a sniper rifle and the signature combat knife of a different regiment just raises more questions. Not to mention that they'd need those weapons themselves.

* In [[Harry Harrison]]'s ''The Daleth Effect'', and Israeli scientist figures out the secret to [[Anti Gravity]]. Fearful of others using this knowledge for war, he flees his wartorn country to Denmark of all places, believing this peaceful country will protect the knowledge and use it for good. Mind you, this is in the middle of the [[Cold War]]. Why neither super-power tries anything earlier is a mystery. In the end, they build the first interplanetary cruise liner and launch it. While en route, the ship is attacked by two separate teams: one American, one Soviet, both seeking the device. [[The Captain]] gleefully reveals that the ship is equipped with bombs set to go off in the event of just such an attack to keep the secret. The bombs go off, killing most of the named characters, including the inventor, and hundreds of innocent passengers. The widow of the captain (who was partly responsible for the Americans sneaking onboard) then finds out that 4 countries (including US and USSR) have already figured out [[Anti Gravity]] but kept it a secret out of national security concerns. Furthermore, they have already filed for patents, while Denmark has never done that. [[Bittersweet Ending]] indeed (the "sweet" part comes from humans getting the means to go into space).

* In Nikolai Gudanets's ''Supreme Commander'' (which is loosely based on ''[[X-COM (Video Game)|X-COM]]''), the final mission of the international task force involves the raid of the aliens' base on Earth. A four-man squad enters the central area, where the [[Big Bad]] is swimming in his pool (he's a squid). Using his immense [[Psychic Powers]], he takes control over one of the soldiers, who primes and drops a grenade. Another team member (and a possible [[Love Interest]] of the protagonist) decides that the best course of action is to fall on top of the grenade instead of kicking it into the pool with the [[Big Bad]]. The water would contain most of the blast, and the [[Big Bad]] wouldn't have used the distraction to escape. Although, {{spoiler|he does get immediately eaten by a shark}}.

 

 

* ''[[The X-Files]]'' episode "[[Jumping the Shark|Jump the Shark]]". The Lone Gunmen, who for the run of the series had been Mulder's well-meaning conspiracy theory sidekicks, charge into a room filling with poison to stop the evil plot from going off... when the police could've shown up in a matter of minutes and taken care of everything. They also clearly had enough time to run out of the room once the blast doors started coming down.

* Charlie's death in the third season finale of ''[[Lost]]'' has elements of this. If he could swim down into the Looking Glass station, why couldn't he swim back up? There is no reason he couldn't have simply closed the door from the outside. Or just used the scuba gear to escape before the (rather large) looking glass was filled with water.

** On the other hand, {{spoiler|Sayid's sacrifice was utterly stupid, since he could have just as well taken the bomb immediately instead of waiting for his turn to speak to Jack, and close a door behind it. He could have made time.}}

* The first episode of the ''[[Tek War]]'' series has the [[Robot Girl|robot girlfriend]] of the hero spy another robot approaching them, recognizes it as filled with explosives somehow, says some dramatic last words, then runs over a block away towards the killer robot so that she can throw herself at it and cause it to explode. This is done solely to give the hero something to be really mad about to power his [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge|revenge moment]] against the [[Big Bad]]. The distance between the hero and evil-bot presents hundreds of alternatives to her throwing her life away. It's not like they haven't been dodging deadly attacks for the whole of the episode so far.

'''O'Neill:''' Well, ''that's'' a bad plan. Where's the glider bay? }}

* Subverted with Topher's sacrifice in the series finale of ''[[Dollhouse]]''. It is quite obvious that Topher could simply set a timer on the pulse-bomb. It is just as obvious that he wants this to be his final act.

* The death of the Senator in the ''[[Stargate Universe]]'' pilot was rather senseless. Air is slowly leaking out a damaged porthole on a shuttle attached to the main ship and the control panel to close the door is in the shuttle. The Senator sacrifices himself to save the rest of the crew, but given an hour or two (which they had) any decent engineer could have built something to press the button remotely. A lever on a string for instance. Or a flying remote-controlled camera drone, available from a vending machine aboard the Destiny.

** The Senator was already bleeding internally without proper medical facilities to treat his injuries and his own daughter was one of the lives he was able to save with his sacrifice. Solving the leaking air problem also let them focus on the next immediate crisis of actually purifying the air to keep it breathable.

** In ''[[Power Rangers in Space]]'' they send Karone on a high risk mission to infiltrate the enemy base to stop an asteroid from hitting earth, immediately after she was exposed as a [[Heel Face Turn|traitor]] and before they try to stop it with their [[Humongous Mecha|Megazords]]. This is a rare-overlap with [[Senseless Sacrifice]], because they end up using them anyway.

** In ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'' Tommy orders all the Zords to be sacrificed even though they still had two Super-Megazords that had not been used on the final [[Monster of the Week]]. It's worse when you watch the episode and realize it was a case of [[Executive Meddling]] creating a case of [[Only the Author Can Save Them Now]].

{{quote|'''Jayne:''' Don't make no gorram sense. Those mudders knew what I was. Why'd that kid have to jump? Don't make no sense!

'''Mal:''' Nope. But I reckon that every man what had a statue of himself was a som'bitch one way or another. It ain't about you, Jayne, it's about them, and what they needed.

* ''[[Fallout 3]]'':

** By the end of the game, you (or a teammate) are asked to step into a chamber to complete the project your father started to bring clean water to the wasteland. Thing is, the chamber is bathed in radiation. You can't send in the rad-resistant Super Mutant, the Ghoul who is ''healed'' by radiation, the robot that is completely unaffected by radiation, or a slave with an explosive collar around her neck that is completely subservient to your whim in every other way, and no reason is given in any case bar "no, fuck you." Your rad-resistant armor fails, your anti-rad meds do crap. You (or the likewise unprotected team mate)'' have'' to go in and die horribly of radiation poisoning.

** Lone Wanderer's dad's [[Heroic Sacrifice]] could also be this, as he lets out radiation into said chamber to keep the Encave from using it and buy his son/daughter and the rest of the science team time to escape, when, by that time, the Lone Wanderer may have enough skill, weapons, and decent armor that he could wipe out the Enclave so his dad wouldn't have to do it.

* In ''[[Age of Mythology]]'', Chiron offers to slow down the oncoming horde of bad guys, by standing under a precarious pile of stones and kicking them. Never mind that he could have easily, you know, kicked them over from the other side, or even gotten out of the way of the path blocking the rockslide. And for that matter, there wasn't even that many bad guys. They could have ''fought'' their way out!

** Snake, walking down a corridor that is basically a giant microwave, sure it looks badass, but when you reach the room at the end of the corridor, Snake doesn't do anything. Otacon, by way of his robot, just uploads the virus and they get out of there.

* [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|Good job sticking a soulstone into your head,]] warrior from ''[[Diablo (series)|Diablo]]''. Wrestling against the lord of Terror, yeah right. Take the damn soulstone to the Horadric mage, who can send you back down to ''destroy'' the thing. Admittedly, he was kinda messed up by this point and it's pointed out that this was a very [[It Got Worse|very]] bad idea. Still, why would you think your willpower can stand up to the devil, who also happens to be immortal so he'll win anyway?

* ''[[Lost Planet]]'': Extreme Condition. Paraphrasing lightly:

{{quote|'''Wayne:''' Basil, come with me in my better-than-anything-the-enemies-have [[Humongous Mecha]] and let's blow this joint.

* In ''[[Space Quest]] 6'', Lieutenant Santiago teleports in to help Roger escape from a room filling with deadly gas, throwing him into the elevator as the piston keeping it open collapses and traps her in an exploding room {{spoiler|it was a ruse to kidnap her}}. Ignoring the question on why they didn't just teleport Roger out, if she hadn't appeared, they wouldn't have wasted precious seconds talking to each other about how they need to escape the room he was already trying to escape.

* According to Ammon Jerro in ''[[Neverwinter Nights 2]]: Mask of the Betrayer'', the previous campaign's [[Spoony Bard]] [[Our Gnomes Are Weirder|Grobnar Gnomehands]] threw himself in front of a falling stone pillar to save the Construct. The Construct happens to be an eight-foot-tall metal golem. Anything big enough to smash it would turn Grobnar into jelly. [[Alas, Poor Scrappy|And it did.]]

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* Miko from ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', when she destroys Soon's Gate. It also doubles as a [[Diabolus Ex Machina]].

 

== Western Animation ==

* [[Played for Laughs]] in the Slurm factory episode of ''[[Futurama]]'', the Slurm mascot does a [[You Shall Not Pass]] with his boombox, bringing the tunnel down to cover the Planet Express crew's escape. But what made the tunnel go down was the vibrations from his boombox. Instead of standing next to it, continuously "rocking out" until the rocks crush him when he simply could have left the box and ran. Though at the time he mentioned he was [[Driven to Suicide|tired of life...]]

* The TV special ''[[Garfield Specials|Garfield in Paradise]]'' ends with Odie and a mechanic Monkey driving a [[Cool Car]] into a volcano to prevent it from erupting. The tribal chief [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshades]] the foolishness of the sacrifice by pointing out that they could have just pushed the car in. This is subverted, though, as Monkey and Odie climb out of the volcano alive.

** Further subversion: Monkey states after climbing out of the volcano, "We've gotta fix those brakes." Apparently, the plan was to just push the car in, but they were driving the car up the volcano as fast as they could, and apparently, the brakes didn't work, so the car went over the edge.

* In the last episode of ''[[Frisky Dingo]]'' as the Antbaby is attacking everyone, Taqu'il decides to leap into the maw of the Antbaby with a bomb. He does so, gets eaten, and nothing happens. Xander's response, "What do you think his overall plan was?"

* In the second episode of ''[[X-Men (animation)|X-Men]]'', Morph, a scrawny puny shapeshifter [[Taking the Bullet|pushes]] the [[Nigh Invulnerable]] [[Healing Factor|Wol]][[Wolverine|verine]] out the way of a Sentinel laser beam.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Death Tropes]]

[[Category:Bad Writing Index]]

[[Category:Contrived Stupidity Tropes]]

[[Category:Stupidity Tropes]]

[[Category:Unexpected Reactions to This Index]]

[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]