History Main / DyingAsYourself

** In book 8, Visser Three's body was bitten by a rattlesnake and then attacked by the Animorphs, so he bailed out into the stream. Alloran, too weakened by venom to morph or to kill himself, told the Animorphs he would be healed and reinfested and [[ICannotSelfTerminate begged them to kill him]], but the team were still unhardened and couldn't do it.

* ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'': [[spoiler:Inazuma dies like this in her brother's arms]] after months of FightingFromTheInside.

* After one of their fights, the Literature/{{Animorphs}} demanded that a Yeerk leave a fatally-injured Controller, so that "he can live his last moments as a free man" -- but the Yeerk ''can't'' due to the body's damaged state. Other Controllers ''do'' get this, at least, usually because the Yeerk is running for it in its natural form. Notably, this happens to [[spoiler: John Berryman, AKA Visser Four]].

* WebAnimation/WolfSongTheMovie: [[spoiler: Damien's ultimate fate. At the end of the movie, he is possessed by the Death Alpha, but Kara, his daughter, manages to albeit momentarily bring him back to his senses, but he instructs her to kill him to avoid a FateWorseThanDeath for him and the rest of the pack. She reluctantly obliges]]

* In the ''{{VideoGame/Warcraft}}'' fanfiction [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/6981143/1/Coup-de-What Coup de What]], [[spoiler:Deathwing regains his mind as Neltharion]] after being mortally wounded. [[spoiler:Despite knowing that Alexstrasza could heal him, he asks her not to, preferring to die as Neltharion rather than inevitably being corruped by the Old Gods again]].

* ''Literature/GrandmasterOfDemonicCultivationMoDaoZuShi'': In the middle of a fatal (both to himself and others) qi deviation, Nie Mingjue snaps out of his murderous rampage at the sound of his younger brother's scream after injuring him with a wild saber swing. The flash of sanity only lasts long enough for him to collapse and die. The manhua adaptation plays the scene the same way, while the donghua makes it more nebulous whether or not he hurts his brother first, or manages to dredge up just enough control to kill ''himself'' instead.

* ''Literature/MoDaoZuShi'': In the middle of a fatal (both to himself and others) qi deviation, Nie Mingjue snaps out of his murderous rampage at the sound of his younger brother's scream after injuring him with a wild saber swing. The flash of sanity only lasts long enough for him to collapse and die. The manhua adaptation plays the scene the same way, while the donghua makes it more nebulous whether or not he hurts his brother first, or manages to dredge up just enough control to kill ''himself'' instead.

** After Madame Rouge is fatally wounded by Beast Boy in ''ComicBook/NewTeenTitans'' #15, the mental conditioning that she'd been subjected to by the Brain finally wears off. With her dying breathe, she expresses regret for her actions, and urges Beast Boy to escape her exploding fortress before it's too late.

* ''Filom/TheFly1986'' features a {{double subver|sion}}sion of this as Seth Bundle doesn't think he can die as himself before the Bundlefly persona can take over. However, given he does silent request Veronica to kill him with the shotgun, Seth did die more human than monster on the inside.

* In ''Film/KingsmanTheSecretService'', Arthur, who throughout the movie has been the epitomal snob, curses Eggsy in purest Cockney as he's dying from the poisoned brandy.

** ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'': Ganondorf is depicted in ancient legends as [[PigMan a monstrous pig demon]] known exclusively as Ganon, and his Triforce of Power makes him an immortal sorcerer capable of plunging the Great Sea into eternal darkness. By the end of the game, Ganondorf gives up his Triforce of Power in a failed attempt to make his wish to restore Hyrule, making him mortal once again. He ends up dying in the final battle as a human, not a pig demon, remembering his once noble goal before his corruption.

* ''Filom/TheFly1986'' features a {{double subver|sion}}ts this as Seth Bundle doesn't think he can die as himself before the Bundlefly persona can take over. However, given he does silent request Veronica to kill him with the shotgun, Seth did die more human than monster on the inside.

* ''Film/FromDuskTillDawn'': After he is bitten by the vampires, Jacob makes his children promise him to put him down before he turns. Unfortunately, when that time comes Scott hesitates and he gets himself killed, requiring Kate to finish the job.

** Inverted in [[Recap/Supergirl2015S2E7TheDarkestPlace "The Darkest Place"]]. [[DefectorFromDecadence M'gann M'orzz]] asks a [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge vengeful]] [[ComicBook/MartianManhunter J'onn]] that if he's going to kill her, she wants to die in the [[VoluntaryShapeshifting human form she's chosen]], rather than her original White Martian form.
** Played straight in "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S2E18AceReporter Ace Reporter]]", where Jack turns out to be both mind controlled and kept alive by a nanobot swarm.

* An early [[UsefulNotes/TheGoldenAgeOfComicBooks Golden Age]] Franchise/{{Batman}} ''Detective Comics'' story featured a man named Lamb, who after falling down stairs and hitting his head gained a split personality named Wolf, who would awaken at midnight and commit the crimes from the book he was reading at the time. At the end he is chased by Batman through the museum and fell down the same stairs, breaking his neck, and reverting to Lamb as he died.

* In ''Comicbook/JusticeLeague2018'', a future version of Comicbook/{{Cheetah}} alludes to this just before pulling a HeroicSacrifice to help the Justice League escape.

* In ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'', when Lucifer kills the demon Musubi, he asks her if she's sure she wants to die wearing the form of a Heian lady and she replies that it's easier to kill.

* In the ''ComicBook/RedDaughterOfKrypton'' ''ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'' storyline, [[spoiler:a body-surfing enemy is taking over Supergirl's mind]] so she [[spoiler:removes her [[Franchise/GreenLantern Red Ring]] -even though Red Lanterns die if they take their rings off-]] as a last resort to kill it while she can still think for herself.
* In ''ComicBook/RevolutionaryWar'', Killpower shakes off Mephisto's conditioning for a moment and asks the assembled heroes to kill him before that personality returns. [[MercyKill They oblige]].
* Towards the end of Darwyn Cooke's run on ''ComicBook/TheSpirit'', the titular vigilante evokes the trope by name after being nearly beaten to death by BigBad El Morte, ripping his mask off while saying "I want to die as me".... He doesn't actually die, but it does invoke this trope.
* In the ''ComicBook/SwampThing'' story "The Curse," a young woman's repressed anger at her misogynistic husband causes her, under occult influence, to transform into a werewolf and attempt to kill him. However, even in her frenzied state, she can't bring herself to do so. Upon hearing from the Swamp Thing that he can't release her from her "cursed" state, she impales herself in despair. She then transforms back into human form and, before dying, asks the Swamp thing if her husband's okay. When he assures her so, she dies happily.

** After Madame Rouge is fatally wounded by Beast Boy in ''New Teen Titans'' #15, the mental conditioning that she'd been subjected to by the Brain finally wears off. With her dying breathe, she expresses regret for her actions, and urges Beast Boy to escape her exploding fortress before it's too late.

* In ''ComicBook/UsagiYojimbo'', [[spoiler:Inazuma dies like this in her brother's arms]] after months of FightingFromTheInside.
* Possibly in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'', when [[spoiler:Rorschach dies at the end of Chapter 12, he takes off his mask and is killed while he has his human face visible, rather than, what he refers to as his "real" face, which is his mask. He said earlier that the mask is a face he can tolerate, face of someone who sees no grey areas in world. In the end he is killed by his friend, because he refuses to hide a terrible secret. Thus he gives up, abandons his face and tells his friend to kill him. [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation Alternately]], he doesn't need the mask to be his face; he is Rorschach through and through, sticking to his principles by accepting death rather than compromise, so it doesn't matter what face he wears on top anymore.]]
* ''Franchise/XMen'':

** Karima, under the control of her Sentinel programming, attacks Utopia and is disabled during the fight by Hellion. When she briefly reasserts herself over her programming, she ''begs'' Hellion to kill her to prevent her from attacking everyone again, and he complies.

** Gilbert is a former Hunter who's one of the first friendly characters the player meets and gifts them with the Flamesprayer after defeating Father Gascoigne. He reveals that he came to Yharnam seeking aid for his illness and doesn't have much time left, but expresses gratitude that he'll at least die human. Ultimately subverted as it's revealed that he contracted the Ashen Blood and transforms into a beast after defeating Rom, the Vacuous Spider, requiring the player to put him down.

** WordOfGod reveals that [[spoiler:the Lord Ruler had been corrupted, though not directly controlled, by Ruin through Hemalurgy, which was how he went from {{Jerkass}} to evil. However, we see in Secret History that this is another subversion; 1000 years of Ruin's influence has left Rashek permanently altered, and he coldly insults Kelsier and Preservation before passing on]].

[[folder:Film — Animation]]

[[folder:Film — Live-Action]]

* In ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'', The Professor has a lapse of humanity shortly before he dies in order to deliver the ArcWords to Jason: "Look at us. Look at what they make you give."
* Alia in the ''Series/ChildrenOfDune'' miniseries. Possessed by Baron Harkonnen, her suicide breaks his hold over her, returning her to her normal self.
* [[spoiler:Russell]] in ''Film/TheCrazies2010'' realizes that he's going to succumb to the craziness soon and goes down in a HeroicSacrifice to buy time for his friends.

* ''{{Film/Doom}}'': [[spoiler: Goat]] realizes he's turning into a zombie, and kills himself. [[spoiler: He crosses himself]] before bashing his head fatally against the wall, showing that he was still himself at the time.

--->'''Damien:''' BILL NOW! SHOOT NOW! KILL ME NOW—!

* In ''Film/TheReturnOfTheLivingDead'', [[spoiler: Frank]] does this by turning on the morgue crematorium and climbing inside, having just seen [[spoiler: Freddy]] give in to the pain and become another brain-eating zombie. That he's doing this to try and preserve his humanity through his destruction is obvious; he solemnly removes his wedding ring, kisses it and hangs it up, then offers a short prayer to be forgiven before immolating himself.

* ''Film/Warcraft2016'': Before dying, [[spoiler:Medivh]] returns to his human form and has a final chance of redemption by [[spoiler: opening a portal to Stormwind in the middle of the orcs' camp, allowing the human prisoners to escape.]]
* At the end of the 2010 version of ''Film/TheWolfman2010'' Gwen fatally shoots Lawrence. As he lays dying [[ThisWasHisTrueForm he reverts to human form]] and thanks Gwen for doing what needed to be done.

* Violently subverted in George Orwell's ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour''. Might also be seen as an {{Inversion}}. Winston's old self has to be completely obliterated before he can be killed.
--> ''"But it was all right, everything was all right, the struggle was finished. He had won the victory over himself. [[spoiler:He loved Big Brother]]."''

* In Creator/StephenKing's "Literature/{{Cell}}" [[spoiler:Ray]] shoots [[spoiler:him]]self in the head to avoid having [[spoiler:his]] mind controlled by the Raggedy Man.
** Actually, it was so [[spoiler: the Raggedy Man wouldn't discover Ray's plan to blow up all the Phoners (which he hadn't told anyone else and hoped they'd figure out on their own).]]
* In Creator/PeterFHamilton's Literature/CommonwealthSaga, [[spoiler: Bruce]], the Starflyer Assassin, has a brief [[DyingAsYourself moment of clarity]] after having his mind taken over, where he asks Gore to MercyKill him.

-->"There was, on the face, a look of peace."
* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', [[spoiler: Penrod]] regains his true personality after Tosten stabs him because he was trying to murder Ward. He smiles, happy that his body didn't succeed, and apologizes for not having successfully fought the mind control.

* Mentioned by Peeta in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': "Only... I want do die as myself. Does that make any sense? I don't want them to change me in [the arena]. Turn me into some kind of monster that I'm not."
** Brought up again in ''Mockingjay'', where [[spoiler:the hijacked Peeta fights against his bouts of insanity and begs the other members of the Star Squad to kill him while he's lucid, implying that he wants to die as himself and not as what Johanna Mason calls the evil version of himself.]]
* One of the ''Literature/JediApprentice'' novels featured a world where [[MindRape amnesia]] was a common punishment by the government. [[spoiler: It turns out TheDragon is the sister of two rebels who Obi-Wan and Qui-Gon teamed up with, only mindwiped and basically turned all-out evil. When she takes a blaster bolt, she suddenly regains her memory.]]

* In the [[Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt Drizzt Do'Urden]] novels, his sister Vierna was probably most sympathetic to him -- this was implied to be [[LamarckWasRight because she was Drizzt's full-blooded sister, not just Malice's daughter but Zaknafein's too]]. However, Drizzt escaped, most of the rest of the family was killed, and Vierna became a houseless rogue, she became ever more desperate to regain the favor of the drow goddess Lolth, becoming more like their late, vicious elder half-sister Briza, but with all of Malice's cunning. She decided to try one more time to bring Drizzt back and sacrifice him to Lolth. It didn't work, and Drizzt, despairing at how she'd changed, was forced to kill her. In death, he noted she seemed to be at peace, and gained some of her softness back.

* King Elias in Creator/TadWilliams' ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'' gets a moment like this, when [[spoiler:his daughter Miriamele is forced to kill him to prevent the [[SealedEvilInACan Storm King]] from [[DemonicPossession possessing his body]]]].
* In the ''Literature/{{Mistborn}}'' series:
** [[spoiler: Marsh regains his identity a few times throughout, but most importantly at the end, to remove Vin's earring which was the last of the power that kept Preservation from her. Subverted, as he loses control right after, and although she effortlessly kills all the other Inquisitors, her body evaporates from the power before she can finish him off. He ends up regaining control of himself permanently, but only after Ruin has been killed, resulting in him appearing in Era 2, 300 years later, as a supporting character]].
** Word of God reveals that [[spoiler: The Lord Ruler had been corrupted, though not directly controlled, by Ruin through Hemalurgy, which was how he went from Jerkass to evil. However, we see in Secret History that this is another subversion; 1000 years of Ruin's influence has left Rashek permanently altered, and he coldly insults Kelsier and Preservation before passing on.]]

* In ''Honor's Knight'', second book of the ''Literature/ParadoxTrilogy'', Ren seems to regain some memory of her former identity as Yasmine just before dying.
* Apparently inverted in Creator/CSLewis ' ''Literature/{{Perelandra}}'', where MadScientist Weston appears to break free of [[DemonicPossession Satan's control]] and begs Ransom for his life. Ransom promptly bashes his head in with a rock. Readers cried [[ValuesDissonance What The Hell, Ransom?]], but it seems Lewis intended it to be a fakeout on Satan's part.

* Londo's death in ''Series/BabylonFive''; he's had a keeper on his neck keeping him controlled for the last 18 years or so. Only in rare times does it let him free as himself for a few minutes or hours, usually if he gets drunk. Takes the form of ProphecyTwist as he had a vision when he was very young of him being strangled to death by G'Kar, as shown in the first episode, but rather than being an act of hatred it's an old friend carrying out a MercyKill.
** A variation in "The Deconstruction of Falling Stars": A 1984-style dystopia is using holographic simulations, endowed with the forms and (initially) the personalities of Sheridan, Delenn, Franklin and Garibaldi, to make a propaganda film discrediting the Interstellar Alliance. Rather than allow the film to be released and tarnish the legacy of his long-deceased friends, the Garibaldi hologram hacks into the system and broadcasts the plan, as well as the location of the secret base where the film's being made, to the enemies of the people making it. Unfortunately, [[spoiler:this starts a nuclear war, although it was implied to be about to start anyway, and Garibaldi made sure the good guys got the first shot]].
* In ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'', [[spoiler:Lauren]] begs for an [[ICannotSelfTerminate assisted suicide]] with this as justification. She says that pretty soon the girl who was afraid her parents catching her smoking won't be there anymore.

** Spike's Mum, in the much, much later (Season 7, near the end) ep "[[Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS7E17LiesMyParentsToldMe Lies My Parents Told Me]]". With particular reference to the moment of grateful self-recovery.

** Padmasambhava in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS5E2TheAbominableSnowmen "The Abominable Snowmen"]], released from the grip of the Great Intelligence and finally able to pass on in peace...
--->"At last... my soul is freed. Thank you for returning, Doctor, and... saving me from myself."
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS9E4TheMutants "The Mutants"]], Varan and his warrior clan choose this rather than await the mutation that has taken over the other inhabitants of their planet, charging the Overlords' space station to certain death.
** [[CatFolk Cheetah Person]] Karra in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS26E4Survival "Survival"]] reverts to human form as she dies, and has time for a few last words with Ace.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel "The Age of Steel"]], the Doctor destroys all the Cybermen's emotional inhibitors, causing them to remember their humanity and realise what they've become, which in turn causes their heads to explode.

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E9TheSatanPit "The Satan Pit"]]: After the Beast is flung into the black hole, the Ood trapped on Krop Tor as it falls in after him are freed from his control, looking very confused.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E6TheLazarusExperiment "The Lazarus Experiment"]] averts it: although Lazarus returns to his original human form when he dies (both times), his personality was the same throughout, even when he was in his monstrous form.
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E7TheUnicornAndTheWasp "The Unicorn and the Wasp"]]: The villain is brainwashed to kill thanks to an ExpositionBeam informing him of his heritage getting mixed up with the murder mysteries his birth mother is a fan of. At the end, when he drowns, it's implied he may have returned to normal when he releases Creator/AgathaChristie, who was mentally linked to him, from the link before she would have died.
** A heroic variation is basically {{invoked}} on the Doctor by each of their regenerations, made visible at the end of [[Characters/DoctorWhoTenthDoctor Ten]] and [[Characters/DoctorWhoEleventhDoctor Eleven]]'s respective lives: the first phase of regeneration is that the Doctor's current body "resets" before the Doctor changes into their next self (Ten losing his facial injuries and Eleven resetting from his advanced age back to his original youth).
** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E12TheDoctorFalls "The Doctor Falls"]]: What the Twelfth Doctor tries to do in lieu of regenerating. He doesn't want to go through the agony of becoming a new person all over again because he's at last content with the man he currently is. Instead of regenerating, he stops the process and allows himself to die. Only his companion, Bill, and her lover Heather have something to say about this. Moreover, while he still manages to stop it in the final scene of this story, [[Creator/DavidBradley his first incarnation]] suddenly arrives on the scene...

--> '''Arbiter:''' [[spoiler: I will have my revenge on a Prophet, not a plague.]]

* In ''Literature/TailchasersSong'', Scratchnail spends the latter half of the book in a state of insanity due to brain damage received after he [[YouFailedMe failed Hearteater]]. Scratchnail has a moment of clarity ''just'' before he is killed by a boulder.

--> '''[[spoiler:Bruce]]:''' Do it. Kill the alien.
--> '''Gore:''' Good for you, son.
* In the [[Literature/{{Dracula}} original novel]] of ''{{Dracula}}'', this happens with each of the vampires, including Dracula himself (in the moment before he crumbles into dust). It happens in the first stage adaptation as well, but for some reason tends not to happen in movie versions.

* ''Literature/TheEdgeChronicles: Stormchaser]]'' features an interesting variation during Twig's fight against Screed. Just as Screed is about to kill Twig, the professor yells the name "Screedius Tollinix!", which causes Screed to pause. Twig immediately stabs Screed through the heart, realising only afterwards that Screed's demeanor has been completely changed by the memory of who he once was.

* In ''Literature/UnfinishedTales'', we catch a glimpse of what [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Isildur]] was like with the Ring. He is in immense, constant pain from carrying it due to it having burned him when he first touched it, and, despite having maintained his faculties, he's already well on the way to the toxic obsession that most bearers have towards it. However, when the Ring finally slips off his finger in the river, he feels a great sense of loss and considers drowning himself--and then, suddenly, the mood passes and he feels better than he has in some time, knowing in his heart that he's no longer carrying a great burden. Unfortunately for him, the Ring's invisibility was also the only thing saving him from being shot to death by orcs, and those orcs are still close by...