History Main / DoomedHurtGuy

The Doomed Hurt Guy is a trope that mainly shows up in war, horror and adventure fiction. It more or less stipulates that a character (usually a minor one) is injured badly and the heroes can't do much for him. This presents them with a SadisticChoice, wherein they must either choose to abandon him or bring him with them. Despite them trying to save the guy, the poor bastard eventually dies anyway. The reasons for this vary from example to example. Sometimes it's just for pure AnyoneCanDie shock value - the audience may not be willing to believe that injured Bob (or whoever) will bite it. Other times, it's to elicit a strong emotional reaction - the death of an injured or sick character who the story has invested a lot of time in can really pull at those heart strings. Also, it can be used to show the futility of the characters' situation, the hopelessness they face, that after all that, the person they've tried so desperately to save ends up perishing anyway, proving that fate is entirely out of their hands.

* Andy Stevens in ''Literature/TheGunsOfNavarone'' is hurt during the climb up the cliff. He later sacrifices himself to hold off the pursuing German soldiers so his comrades can get away. This is averted in the film, wherein Roy Franklin (as Stevens is so christened) manages to actually get medical treatment - from the Germans! - and survives.

* Thomas Blanky, the ice master, is a rare survivor of an encounter with the tuunbaq in Dan Simmons' ''Literature/TheTerror'', but throughout the rest of the journey believes he's destined to be killed by it (and is).

* In ''Film/{{Rovdyr}}'', Roger, Camilla and Jorgen find an AlmostDeadGuy tied to a tree when they wake up in the forest. However, his ability to give them any kind of message about what is coming on is severely hampered because [[TongueTrauma his tongue has been cut out]]. To their credit, Camilla and Jorgen attempt to take him with them when the run, but he is soon caught and killed by one of the hunters.

[[folder:Film]]

* In the movie ''Film/TheLostContinent'', the ship's cook is injured by mutineers, receiving a nasty head wound. He's tended to by his shipmates and a shelter is built for him in the lifeboat after the passengers and crew are forced to abandon the ship in a violent storm. When they become briefly trapped in a vast expanse of flesh-eating seaweed, the cook suffers some kind of fever-induced freakout, stands up in the boat, and promptly falls overboard and is dragged down and devoured.

* The [[DisposablePilot helicopter pilot]] (named Huntoon in the {{Novelization}}) in the mutant bear movie ''Film/{{Prophecy}}''. He gets injured during said bear's attack on the Indian village, and so the good guys have to carry him through the forest, eventually strapping him to the top of a truck they find. When the bear attacks again and overturns the truck, John Hawks makes a rather halfhearted effort to free him from the stretcher, then runs as the bear comes along and gobbles up the poor pilot's head.
* Fred Clarkson in both 1943 and 1995 versions of ''Film/{{Sahara|1943}}''. Injured in von Schletow's attempt to strafe the tank, he lasts long enough to get to Bir-Acroma and then bites it.
* German tourist Matthias in ''Film/TheRuins''. Possibly one of the nastiest and cruelest examples. There's an extended sequence of his friends crudely amputating his legs and burning the stumps to cauterize them, but a few scenes later, he gets strangled by the killer vines while the other campers are arguing and not paying attention to him.
* Purvis in ''Film/AlienResurrection'' [[spoiler:although he at least gets a really badass (if somewhat out of left field) HeroicSacrifice to kill the main human villain, Dr. Wren.]]

* Another notable aversion is in ''Film/CreatureFromTheBlackLagoon'' with Dr. Thompson.
* ''Film/{{lifeboat}}:'' Gus has an injured leg which becomes infected. They have to amputate it to save his life (which pains Gus, due to his love for dancing) [[ShootTheShaggyDog only for Willi to murder Gus]] because HeKnowsTooMuch.
* Karen in ''[[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night of the Living Dead]]'' is possibly the world's first ZombieInfectee version of this trope.
* The poor elderly hermit in ''Film/{{The Blob|1958}}'', although he's an example where, debatably, it's needed for the plot to progress (although subsequent BlobMonster stories and films managed to do without it).
* Linda in ''Film/{{Proteus}}''. Injured by Charlie's claws, she's put in the rig's infirmary where she gets taken over (a la ''[[Film/TheThing1982 The Thing]]'') by a tendril that oozes down from a vent above her head. Similar to Matthias in ''Film/TheRuins'', the other characters are busy talking about something unrelated to Linda, and by the time they notice the frantically beeping heart rate monitor signalling her demise, she's already been completely taken over.
* Pancho in ''Film/{{Predator}}'', although the time from his injury to his death is unusually short for this trope.

* The pilot in ''Film/TheGiantClaw'' who bashes his head against the control panel. Mitch drags him from the wreckage after making an emergency crash-landing, but the poor guy dies anyway.
* Jake in ''Film/EvilDead2''. All that effort to (very painfully) drag him through the house after accidentally stabbing him, and he winds up being lain down right next to the trapdoor leading into the basement. Henrietta then gets 'im.
* German officer "Heine" Schwaffer in ''Film/TheEnemyBelow''. Badly wounded when the American destroyer collides with the German submarine, Captain von Stolberg manages to get him safely to the top deck. Murrell assists him in rigging a rope to pull Heine over to the American ship so they can be rescued, but poor Heine ends up dying from his injuries later anyway. Notably, Murrell tells von Stolberg that Heine is probably fatally wounded, but the German sub captain refuses to abandon his subordinate (and lifelong friend).
* Bob's assistant Stephen in ''Film/TheEdge''. Severely cutting his leg when they're lost in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness already cuts his survival chances in half at best. Naturally, this makes him the [[BlackDudeDiesFirst the first]], or rather the only, of the three plane crash survivors to fall prey to the film's [[BearsAreBadNews man-killing Kodiak bear]] despite the other men's attempts to drive it off and save him.
* One of the explorers in ''Film/AnacondasTheHuntForTheBloodOrchid'' gets bitten and paralyzed by a poisonous spider, thrown onto him by his business partner to keep him from calling off the expedition, and is later EatenAlive by one of the titular snakes while in this state as their colleagues are confronting said partner over what happened to him.
* George Ritchie in ''Film/TheBeastFromTwentyThousandFathoms''. Upon encountering the titular dinosaur, he falls into a crevice and severely injures himself. His colleague Tom Nesbitt eats up quite a bit of screentime in an heroic attempt to rescue him. But, alas, the Beast returns, and as soon as Tom lays eyes on it, it causes an avalanche that critically wounds him and also kills George. As in ''Film/{{The Blob|1958}}'', this is an instance of the trope being required to further the plot: George ''had'' to die so that Tom would be the only person aware of the dinosaur.

* Captain Atherton in ''Film/DeepRising'' is among the survivors after the ''Argonautica'' gets invaded by a bunch of bloodsucking tentacles ([[spoiler:which all belong to one single monster]]). Like Acres, Atherton is wounded but manages to limp along with everyone else without too much effort, but his injury is plot-speak for "dead man walking" (well, limping) and he's eventually killed by a tentacle all the same.
* ''Film/JurassicCity'': Possibly, Stephanie is unable to go with the others after a raptor slashes her shoulder and the tourniquet they make for her isn't too stable (causing her to stay behind with Manny), and CO Armstrong is left badly injured and abandoned by Doyle. Both of them are [[UncertainDoom probably killed]] when the doors unlock and raptors come charging into the wing before the camera cuts away.

* ''Series/TheXFiles'':
** Deputy Greer in the episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS06E13AguaMala Agua Mala]]", although mainly due to interference from Dougie the looter.
** Gary Sacks in the episode "[[Recap/TheXFilesS08E19Alone Alone]]". Despite being the person Doggett is searching for, the poor guy ends up getting dissolved and slurped up offscreen.

* In the ''Series/GameOfThrones'' episode "[[Recap/GameOfThronesS7E6BeyondTheWall Beyond the Wall]]", [[spoiler:Thoros of Myr]] becomes the Doomed Hurt Guy after getting attacked by an undead bear north of the wall. While the party is initially able to tend to his wounds and get him up and moving, he ultimately freezes to death in his weakened state later that evening, after the party gets trapped and is forced to spend a night out in the frigid elements.

* Tom in ''VideoGame/DinoCrisis''. The player can avert this with [[spoiler:Gail]] after he's seriously injured by a falling computer tower by [[PercussivePrevention knocking him out and dragging him to safety]] before he can continue on the mission and get himself killed.

** In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvilContainment:'' (a fan game), Ghost encounters a wounded scientist in the mansion who specifically asks him for a medical kit to heal himself. [[spoiler: Giving it to him nets Ghost a map that lets him cross a booby-trapped floor to acquire a MacGuffin necessary to leave the mansion, after which the scientist is [[KilledOffscreen shot to death offscreen]].

* A rare example of a non-physical sort of injury, there's Otto Grunstadt in ''Literature/TheKeep''. He survives the Germans' initial encounter with Rasolam, but is left [[GoMadFromTheRevelation insane]]. Captain Woermann makes plans to send him away from the keep for mental treatment, but Rasolam comes for him the next night.

* Bob's assistant Stephen in ''Film/TheEdge''. Severely cutting his leg when they're lost in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness cuts survival chances in half at best. Naturally, this makes him the [[BlackDudeDiesFirst the first]], or rather the only, of the three plane crash survivors to fall prey to the film's [[BearsAreBadNews man-killing Kodiak bear]] despite the other men's attempts to drive it off and save him.
* One of the explorers in ''Film/AnacondasTheHuntForTheBloodOrchid'' gets bitten and paralyzed by a poisonous spider, thrown onto him by his business partner to keep him from calling off the expedition, and is later EatenAlive by one of the titular snakes while in this state as his colleagues are confronting said partner over what happened to him.

* Speaking of short time-from-injury-to-death ratios, there's Udesky in ''Film/JurassicParkIII''. Injured by raptors and left out as bait for the other characters in a tree, when they realize it's a trap (mostly due to the raptors jumping the gun and attacking ''before anyone is even completely down'') and don't come down, the raptors finish Udesky off and depart.

* Bob's assistant Stephen in ''Film/TheEdge''. Severely cutting his leg when they're lost in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness cuts survival chances in half at best. Naturally, this makes him the [[BlackDudeDiesFirst the first]] to fall prey to the film's [[BearsAreBadNews man-killing Kodiak bear]] despite the other men's attempts to drive it off and save him.

* One of the explorers in ''Film/AnacondasTheHuntForTheBloodOrchid'' gets bitten and paralyzed by a poisonous spider and is later EatenAlive by one of the titular snakes while in this state as his colleagues are trying to figure out what happened to him.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/ResidentEvil3 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mikhail.jpg]]]]

[[folder:Live-Action Television]]

** Deputy Greer in the episode "Agua Mala", although that was mainly due to interference from Dougie the looter.
** Gary Sacks in the episode "Alone". Despite being the person Doggett is searching for, the poor guy ends up getting dissolved and slurped up offscreen.
* ''[[Series/Combat1962 Combat!]]'' did this a few times, with both Allied and enemy personnel on the receiving end:
** In "I Swear by Apollo," two people are badly injured by a German grenade. One of them is a member of LaResistance with important intel, and the other is American G.I. Wayne Temple (who'd previously appeared in "Rear Echelon Commandos"). To save them, the squad goes and captures German medical officer Captain Belzer. But Belzer is only able to save the Frenchman, as poor doomed Temple dies from his injuries.
** In "Masquerade," German infiltrators posing as "Corporal Kanger" and "Lieutenant Comstock" get behind enemy lines disguised as American G.I.s with a "captured" German colonel. However, they overturn their Jeep. ''They're'' fine, but the colonel is badly hurt. The Americans, being good guys, try and help him, and he makes it to almost the end of the episode, but dies shortly after it's revealed the guys who "captured" him are Nazi spies. The poor guy goes through so much throughout the episode that when he ''finally'' bites it from his injuries, even Saunders feels bad for the guy despite the fact he's a Nazi.
** Intelligence officer Captain Thorpe in "The Mockingbird." German infiltrator Asher shoots him in the back during a firefight, but he survives, long enough for the squad to get him to an abbey for medical treatment, but despite the best efforts of Doc and the monks, Thorpe lapses into complete delirium. At one point Asher tries to smother him with a pillow, but is stopped by Caje. Despite this last-second reprieve, Thorpe ends up dying anyway.
** In "Retribution," badly wounded French civilian Andre is the only witness to SS officer Colonel Bruener's torture and murder of Kirby's friend Eddie Kopicek. Doc treats him as best as he can, before they bring him to his house so his wife Micheline can get the local doctor. Alas, when they return later with the captured Bruener, Andre has shuffled off his mortal coil in their absence.
** In "More Than a Soldier," Saunders, NewMeat Carey and a nameless German sergeant become trapped in a collapsed mine. The German ends up buried under some rubble and badly hurt. Carey wants to abandon him, but Saunders insists it would be tantamount to murder, so the two risk their lives by digging him free. He ends up dying from his injuries anyway.
** In "Headcount," the squad ends up with a buttload of German prisoners, among them the Schiller Brothers, Karl and Kurt. Kurt is injured, suffering from some kind of unspecified injury. However, there's nothing Doc can do for him in the field, so all they can do is try to make it back to their lines. But Kurt dies on the way, much to his brother's anger.
* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': in the episode [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E02TheShip "The Ship"]], one of Sisko's men, Muñiz, is shot during an engagement with the Jem'Hadar. Unfortunately, Jem'Hadar disruptors leave anticoagulants in their victims' bloodstream, inflicting a WoundThatWillNotHeal. Without access to proper medical treatment, O'Brien is forced to use parts of his uniform as bandages in an effort to slow the bleeding, while Worf believes Muñiz will not survive and that he should be ready to face the end, to O'Brien's chagrin. Ultimately, Muñiz bleeds out from his wound.

* In the ''Series/GameOfThrones'' episode [[Recap/GameOfThronesS7E6BeyondTheWall "Beyond the Wall"]], [[spoiler: Thoros of Myr]] becomes the Doomed Hurt Guy after getting attacked by an undead bear north of the wall. While the party is initially able to tend to his wounds and get him up and moving, he ultimately freezes to death in his weakened state later that evening, after the party gets trapped and is forced to spend a night out in the frigid elements.

* ''Film/{{lifeboat}}:'' Gus has an injured leg which becomes infected. They have to amputate it to save his life (which pains Gus, due to his love for dancing) [[ShootTheShaggyDog only for Willi to murder Gus]] because HeKnowsTooMuch.* Karen in ''[[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night of the Living Dead]]'' is possibly the world's first ZombieInfectee version of this trope.

** Marvin Branagh in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil2''. He turns into a zombie.

* Karen in ''[[Film/NightOfTheLivingDead1968 Night of the Living Dead]]'' is possibly the world's first ZombieInfectee version of this trope.

* Bob's assistant Stephen in ''Film/TheEdge''. Severely cutting his leg when they're lost in the middle of the Alaskan wilderness cuts survival chances in half at best. Naturally, this makes him the [[BlackDudeDiesFirst the first]] to fall prey to the film's [[BearsAreBadNews man-killing Kodiak bear]].
* One of the explorers in ''Film/AnacondasHuntForTheBloodOrchid'' gets bitten and paralyzed by a poisonous spider and is later EatenAlive by one of the titular snakes while in this state.