History Main / DeathSeeker

At some point in the past, some characters have had a [[DespairEventHorizon traumatic experience]], found themselves dishonored, committed a crime they could not repay, lost everything worth living for, [[ConvenientTerminalIllness caught an incurable disease]] or just became bored with continued existence. For [[ICannotSelfTerminate whatever reason]], rather than [[DrivenToSuicide turning to suicide]], they went off [[TheBerserker seeking battles to fight]], hoping to find an [[SuicideByCop enemy who would kill them]], and achieve an [[RedemptionEqualsDeath honorable]], {{heroic|Sacrifice}}, [[DyingMomentOfAwesome awesome]], or otherwise acceptable death, sometimes going as far as outright [[PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou surrendering and offering their life to their enemies]]. {{Martyrdom Culture}}s may regard such a character as a role model, even if upon closer examination he or she might seem like a MartyrWithoutACause. In cases of cruel {{Irony}}, Death Seeker characters who snap out of it and find something to live for often end up dying or getting killed shortly afterwards anyway.

* Music/JoyDivision's Ian Curtis told his wife Debbie when they were teenagers that he didn't plan to live past 25. He didn't -- he hanged himself on the eve of the band's first American tour in 1980 at the age of 23.

* Siegfried Sassoon, the poet, during the First World War. Along the way, he picked up an MC, and the title of "best war poet to survive the war". Detailed in ''Literature/TheRegenerationTrilogy''. He had to choose between guilt over leaving his men on the battlefield and guilt over not continuing to protest against the war and ended up going on patrol without a helmet after going back to the front. [[spoiler: But he lived.]]

'''Rick:''' I don't know Morty! Maybe I hate myself?! Maybe I think I deserve to die, I-I don't know!

* According to WordOfGod, Eddie Brock's reckless heroics in ''WesternAnimation/TheSpectacularSpiderman'' (before he became Venom) were a sign of this subconscious desire.

-->'''Cartman:''' You piece of crap, I'll kill you!!!
-->'''Grandpa:''' That's the spirit, tubby!

--->'''Grandpa''': I loved that dog. She always made me so happy. When she died I didn't let myself get too sad, because I thought I'd always have the memory of her slobbering, happy face... I can't remember what she looked like, Billy.

* The [[SuicideAttack Banzai charges]] of World War Two by Japanese soldiers who had found themselves in a desperate situation.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'' has [[spoiler:Ryoma Hoshi, the Ultimate Tennis Pro. Since he became a death row inmate, he thinks his life is worth less than anyone else's, and after Monokuma announces that everyone will be executed if murder isn't committed in 48 hours, he volunteers to be the first victim (and is disappointed when he isn't). He tries to find a reason to live, but in Chapter 2, he learns that nobody from the outside world misses him, [[DrivenToSuicide causing him to lose his will to live and therefore allow himself to be murdered by Kirumi.]]]]

* Aristodemus was one of only two Spartan survivors of the 300 Spartans' famous defensive battle at Thermopylae. He had been temporarily blinded by disease and was sent home by Leonidas (another spartan, Pantites, had been sent on an embassy and failed to return in time for the battle). Back home in Sparta, both men found themselves disgraced. Pantites hanged himself, but Aristodemus endured being called a coward and humiliated at every turn and bided his time. Next year, the Spartans faced the Persians again at Plataea, and Aristodemus was in the front line. As the armies approached each other, Aristodemus broke ranks and charged the Persians by himself. He fought furiously and killed several Persians before being cut down. Afterwards, he was cleared of all accusations of cowardice (but he was not awarded any honors since he had left the phalanx to fight on his own, which was considered dishonorable and unfitting for a Spartan soldier).

* Whether or not he's oblivious to what it entails, but [=StarKist's=] Advertising/CharlieTheTuna actively seeks out their tuna scouts to be captured, only to constantly get denied because he has good tastes rather than tasting good. Either Charlie misunderstands what [=StarKist=] is saying, or he actively seeks out death.

* ''Podcast/TheMagnusArchives'' has a few of these, most notably
** when planning for their attack at the end of series three, it becomes very clear that Tim doesn't intend on coming back from the Unknowing [[spoiler:and in the end, he doesn't]]

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Atropus, the moon-sized, undead remnants of the universe's creator, has long since given up on the hope that it might return to its original state of being, and now mostly hopes for the only thing that can grant it release from its torment -- the final cessation of its existence. Most its followers follow suit, as they tend to be beings who despise their own existence or no longer see worth in life, and hope to simply take down as many others as they with them when they go.

*** The ''Literature/GotrekAndFelix'' novels, in particular, tell the story of Felix Jaeger, a young poet who finds himself honor bound to accompany a Slayer and record his heroic doom. Unfortunately for Felix, Gotrek Grunnisson just happens to be the worst Slayer in history, on account of him being the most badass Dwarf, if not being, on the planet. He has killed everything from incarnations of rage and blood to dragons the length of football fields. Even if anything ''could'' kill Gotrek, Felix has no illusions about the fact that it would kill him soon after. [[spoiler: The closest Gotrek gets is at the end of ''Slayer'', during the End Times, when he meets the God of Slayers Grimnir who easily slaughters him... before resurrecting Gotrek so he can replace Grimnir as the God of Slayers. This ends up not sticking as Gotrek resurrects in the mortal realms in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerAgeOfSigmar'', setting out to find Felix and perhaps ''finally'' find something capable of killing him for good.]]
*** Troll Slayers are a player career path in ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay'', though after advancing through the Giant and Daemon Slayer stages their only exit career is "Glorious Death," so a note advises players to "think it over carefully" before picking the class. The class evades GameBreaker status because anyone playing a slayer is expected to act like one; you are supposed to pick fights even when the odds aren't good, sleep deprivation, mental instability and rampant alcoholism is the best way to spend your downtime, and armour is for people without a death wish (i.e. people who are not you). Your impressive combat prowess is there to make the party want to hang out with you anyway. Their only non-combat abilities are limited to "resistance to getting drunk" and "scaring people," so the only thing a Slayer is good for outside of a fight is ''starting'' one.

** From the [[AmazonBrigade Adepta Sororitas]], Sisters Repentia are disgraced Sisters of Battle who have taken an oath of redemption, forsaking their armour and normal weapons for [[{{Stripperiffic}} rags]] and a [[GirlWithPsychoWeapon really]] [[{{BFS}} huge]] [[ChainsawGood chainsword]]. Any who survive a battle are allowed to rejoin their normal squads.

** Played with for the Dark Eldar. The Haemonculi have mastered the art of resurrection to explain how they keep up usable numbers with the all [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder backstabbing]] going on. Some Dark Eldar actually have become addicted to dying, constantly trying to find new and interesting ways to kick the bucket, with one Haemonculus eagerly awaiting the new and bizarre mutations the process will inflict on him.

** In the White Scars chapter when a battle brother has done some thing dishonorable they will become ''Sagyar Mazan''. Where they will be exiled from the chapter, and seek death in battle wash away their sins.

** There's also a [[PointBuildSystem disadvantage]] called 'On The Edge', that basically allows you to play your character as a Death Seeker. It makes you passively suicidal. You won't off ''yourself'', but if you're, say, [[CurbStompBattle facing down an entire biker gang while armed with a toothbrush]]...

** The Apprentice Tanner from Bonus Pack 2 normally tries to help the Tanner get killed, but becomes a Death Seeker if none of the other players are a Tanner.

* The Goomba in ''Mario Pissing'' begs Mario to jump at him while Mario's urinating, [[spoiler:after The Goomba reveals Mario that hes very suicidal, Mario then sends him to a psychiatrist which luckily cures his depression.]]
* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Jaune's willingness to put his friends lives ahead of his own is not seen as heroic by the villains. When Cinder defeats him during the battle of Haven, he tells her that dying doesn't matter to him if it buys his friends a little time because their lives matter more than his own. Cinder angrily states he's just a failure with a death wish. His teammates later address this attitude in Volume 6, insisting they love him like family and don't wish to lose him; this helps break him out of the mentality.

* ''Webcomic/ImTheGrimReaper'': Chase is hinted to be one when Scarlet returns his gun after apologizing for using it. He reveals that there was only one bullet anyway. [[spoiler: Later confirmed after Scarlet takes a bullet for him, he admits that the reason there was only one bullet was because he figured “one shot would do it.”]]

-->'''Mr. Meeseeks:''' I've been alive for two days! It's getting ''WEIRD''!

* [[http://www.badassoftheweek.com/tlahuicole.html Tlahuicole]] was the chief of the Tlaxcalan tribe when the Aztecs decided to conquer them. He fought bravely by DualWielding a set of hatchets that were supposedly too large for ordinary men to even lift, but the rest of his tribe didn't make it and he ended up being captured and brought before Montezuma. The Aztec leader offered him mercy after hearing how much of a face-wrecker he was (the Aztecs kind of valued that sort of thing), but Tlahuicole believed that since he had disgraced himself by letting himself get captured, he should be sacrificed as punishment for his dishonor. Montezuma basically told him to chill out and had him serve as a war-chief in an ongoing struggle against another tribe. He completely slaughtered them, so Montezuma wanted to make him a full member of Aztec nobility. Tlahuicole felt that doing so would be a betrayal of his people, so he refused. Montezuma ordered him bound to the Stone of Combat, where he would basically act out the end of ''Film/TheOne'' by getting swarmed by Aztec warriors until he died (ordinarily the ritual was designed to let captured soldiers gain their freedom, but he didn't want to take that route). He killed seven of Montezuma's best Jaguar warriors and wounded over twenty more before finally falling, and an Aztec priest finally sacrificed him right as he was about to die anyway.

* "Doc" Holliday, a dentist turned infamous gunfighter and gambler of the old West is a perfect real-life example of this trope. Diagnosed with tuberculosis in his early twenties Doc Holliday went out west, hoping the drier climate would ease his ailment. However, his hot temper and belief that death by gun or knife was far better than by tuberculosis, led him to a life of adventure, taking part in many shoot outs including the famed OK Corral and Wyatt Earp's Vendetta Ride. Despite this lifestyle, his extreme skill, and more-so his reputation of extreme speed, with a revolver kept him alive, he eventually died of his illness at age 36 in the bed of a sanitarium. His supposed famous last words, upon looking at his bare feet in bed, were "[[BeamMeUpScotty Now, that's funny]]."

* Music/JoyDivision's Ian Curtis told his wife Debbie when they were teenagers that he didn't plan to live past 25. He didn't--he committed suicide on the eve of the band's first American tour in 1980 at the age of 23.

* [[ImAHumanitarian Jeffrey Dahmer]] frequently expressed his [[TheAtoner wish to die for his crimes]] while in prison. When he was attacked by another prisoner who attempted to slit his throat, he refused to press charges and requested to be returned to the general prison population. Only a few months later, he was beaten to death by another prisoner. His [[FamousLastWords last words]] were, reportedly: "I don't care if I live or die -- go ahead and kill me."

[[quoteright:334:[[VideoGame/{{Gungrave}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bunji_3945.png]]]]

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': Jaune is implied to have developed a complex by Volume 4 [[spoiler:out of (what he perceives to be) his failure to protect Pyrrha. In the ambush at Haven Academy, when he's fighting Cinder, he outright says he doesn't care if he dies if it means giving his friends a chance]]. It's not that Jaune ''actively'' wants to die, but that he clearly doesn't value his life very much. [[spoiler:When Cinder mocks this DeclarationOfProtection by skewering Weiss in front of him, the trauma is enough to unlock his Semblance (which is functionally HealingHands) and this seems to have pulled him out of this.]]

[[quoteright:335:[[VideoGame/{{Gungrave}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Bunji_3945.png]]]]

* The name comes from Death Seekers of the Lion Clan in ''TabletopGame/LegendOfTheFiveRings''. These are Lion samurai who failed the clan in some grave fashion, but not to the point that only immediate seppuku would exonerate their kin. Rather, they throw themselves into self-chosen [[UriahGambit Uriah Gambits]], figuring that one of them ''will'' kill them off soon. In the meantime, the immediate wreckage they inflict on the Lions' enemies (they want to die, so the ''only'' time they'll hold back is if it will let them do even more damage within the next twenty minutes...and maybe not even then) will compensate for most of their crime--the actual honorable death in combat will compensate for the last few bits.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}} Fantasy'':

** There's also the Death Korps of Krieg, Imperial Guard regiments from the world of the same name whose world rebelled against the Imperium and only was brought back after hundreds of years of nuclear and trench warfare. They specialize in defensive battles, sieges, and wars of attrition, and have no regard for casualties because they see their deaths as a way of atonement for their world committing treason against the Imperium hundreds of years earlier.

* In ''TabletopGame/BattleTech'', the Clans tend to have a lot of these types. Clan [[DesignerBabies Trueborn]] value youth and innate ability over experience and believe that a warrior is past their prime by the age of 30 if they haven't done something notable enough to earn a [[MeaningfulRename Bloodname]] (which is needed to enter Clan politics and higher command). If an unblooded Trueborn reaches 30, they tend to get transferred to a ''Solahma'' unit where they're expected to act as cannon fodder with outdated weaponry if they're lucky. If they're unlucky, they'll get used as target practice for live-fire training by the next generation of warriors. Most warriors are expected to seek a glorious death in battle before they reach this point.
* The Neverborn of ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'' are a variant. As Primordials, they [[CompleteImmortality could not die]], so when [[BeyondTheImpossible the Exalted killed them anyway]], they ended up trapped between life and death, stuck in excruciating agony. Now they work to tear down Creation in hopes that this will allow them to finally ''cease''.

* Contrary to what the ending of ''VisualNovel/TheLabyrinthOfGrisaia'' would have you believe, in ''VisualNovel/GrisaiaNoRakuen'' Yuuji has basically given up on life and is actually looking forward to dying, feeling that he has no reason to go on at this point. After a meeting with [[spoiler:Kazuki]] and DeadPersonConversation with Asako, he decides to hold off on blindly awaiting death for the moment, though he's still a prisoner.

* ''VisualNovel/GrisaiaNoRakuen'': Protagonist Yuuji becomes this, after being haunted by his past for too long, [[spoiler:especially since his promise to his master, that he is not allowed to die until he is saved five people, been fulfilled.]]

* Contrary to what the ending of ''VisualNovel/GrisaiaNoMeikyuu'' would have you believe, in ''VisualNovel/GrisaiaNoRakuen'' Yuuji has basically given up on life and is actually looking forward to dying, feeling that he has no reason to go on at this point. After a meeting with [[spoiler:Kazuki]] and DeadPersonConversation with Asako, he decides to hold off on blindly awaiting death for the moment, though he's still a prisoner.

->'''Paul''': On the day of my judgment, when I stand before God and He asks me why did I kill one of his true miracles, what am I gonna say? That it was my job? My job?
->'''John''': You tell God the Father [[MercyKill it was a kindness you done]]. I know you hurtin' and worryin', [[TheEmpath I can feel it on you]], [[DontYouDarePityMe but you oughtta quit on it now]]. Because I want it over and done. I do. I'm tired, boss. [[WalkingTheEarth Tired of bein' on the road]], [[TheAloner lonely as a sparrow in the rain]]. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why]]. Mostly, I'm tired of [[HumansAreBastards people being ugly to each other]]. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?
-->-- ''Film/TheGreenMile''

->''"You tell God the Father [[MercyKill it was a kindness you done]]. I know you hurtin' and worryin', [[TheEmpath I can feel it on you]], [[DontYouDarePityMe but you oughtta quit on it now]]. Because I want it over and done. I do. I'm tired, boss. [[WalkingTheEarth Tired of bein' on the road]], [[TheAloner lonely as a sparrow in the rain]]. Tired of not ever having me a buddy to be with, or [[DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife tell me where we's coming from or going to, or why]]. Mostly, I'm tired of [[HumansAreBastards people being ugly to each other]]. I'm tired of all the pain I feel and hear in the world everyday. There's too much of it. It's like pieces of glass in my head all the time. Can you understand?"''
-->-- '''John Coffey''', ''Film/TheGreenMile''

->'''Morty:''' Why do you keep doing this to us?!\\
'''Rick:''' I don't know Morty! Maybe I hate myself?! Maybe I think I deserve to die, I-I don't know!
-->-- ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty''

* While they weren't exactly looking to ''die'', in the ''{{Popeye}}'' short "Hospitaliky", Popeye and Bluto compete with one another to get injured and have Olive Oyl nurse them to health, who in this short works at a hospital. Any one of the stunts they try to pull could easily have killed them, such as purposely crashing a motorcycle, laying down in the middle of a busy intersection, and laying down on train tracks, however, they keep miraculously surviving unscathed, to their own annoyance.

*** The ''Literature/GotrekAndFelix'' novels, in particular, tell the story of Felix Jaeger, a young poet who finds himself honor bound to accompany a Slayer and record his heroic doom. Unfortunately for Felix, Gotrek Grunnisson just happens to be the worst Slayer in history, on account of him being the most badass Dwarf, if not being, on the planet. He has killed everything from incarnations of rage and blood to dragons the length of football fields. Even if anything ''could'' kill Gotrek, Felix has no illusions about the fact that it would kill him soon after.

* Kei Okazaki from ''VisualNovel/CollarXMalice'' embodies this trope. Kei hopes he can die while protecting someone he himself believes to be important. He easily puts himself in harms way and does not care very much about his injuries or personal safety. This becomes a major source of tension with the heroine in Kei's route.