History Main / FateWorseThanDeath

Think death is the cruelest fate? Think again. There are several things much worse: [[ColdBloodedTorture torture]], [[TheThreeCertaintiesInLife taxes]], [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking and tofu]], to name but a few. And more often than not, some unlucky soul will experience it. Originally, this phrase meant [[SexualHarassmentAndRapeTropes rape]]; that's still one possible meaning. [[MindRape And now there's]] [[AndIMustScream even worse than that]].

This phrase is usually used in a JustBetweenYouAndMe moment by the EvilOverlord as he boasts about the agony-inducing DeathTrap that awaits the hero for [[DisproportionateRetribution delaying his plans]]. It's also fairly commonly used as a warning to the hero [[YouAreNotReady against seeking forbidden power or knowledge]], and consequently to foreshadow the particular KarmicDeath the villain will suffer because of meddling with the universe's CosmicKeystone.

If the victim is immortal, this fate may even ''[[WhoWantsToLiveForever replace]]'' death, which might suck royally. See AndIMustScream.

{{Mercy Kill}}ings are common when heroes find anyone in this state. It is rare for them to accept it. If the character can beg for help, ICannotSelfTerminate occurs; if they can act on their own, they are often DrivenToSuicide. Indeed, since all involve choosing death over a given fate, all logically entail that ''that'' fate is worse than death. Contrast CruelAndUnusualDeath, for when the victim instead gets a gruesome death that sucks beyond telling.

See also: CruelMercy, EmptyShell, ToThePain, ThePunishment and, very often, CoolAndUnusualPunishment. {{Tailor Made Prison}}s may be this by nature or design in order to torture its prisoner. Not to be confused with AFeteWorseThanDeath, though the two can occasionally overlap.

** Worse still may be the fate of those [[spoiler:trapped in the philosopher's stones. The stones can only be made by trapping the souls of murdered people inside to be consumed as energy. The victims spend centuries trapped, tortured, and steadily driven mad in their less-than-being state.]] Ed's extremely reluctant to harm them during his fight with Envy, despite the fact that they are in fact ''begging'' him to kill them.
*** Well, in fact, Ed did not use a philosopher's stone. A philosopher's stone is made of [[spoiler:souls]], while [[spoiler: Envy]] is made of the [[spoiler:bodies and minds of the dead people of Xerxes]]. The body is material, the mind acts like a bridge between the soul and the body, so the body and the mind technically cannot suffer. What we see is just the remains of the minds, but those are not actual people, at least in the universe.

** What King Yomi did to the demon who [[EyeScream blinded him]], can we? [[spoiler:Yomi ''nailed'' the guy to a ''wall'' for five hundred years, then finally killed him in one hit by ''stomping on his face'' so hard that ''his head exploded''.]]
** Being a koorime (ice demon) and living on their floating ice mountain. No, seriously. [[spoiler:Hiei was thrown off the mountain the day he was born for the crime of being male. Having found the mountain again, he doesn't carry out the plan to slaughter them all that has become one of his life goals... because he considers their pathetic lives a crueler punishment for their crimes.]]
** In the first episode/manga, [[spoiler:Yuusuke says he doesn't want to be resurrected; he doesn't believe anyone will miss him so he doesn't have anything worth living for. That changed after he saw the wake.]]
** Hiei's "birthday gift" to a depressed [[spoiler: Mukuro]] near the end of the manga. [[spoiler:He finds the evil slave dealer who owned and brutalized her as a child, and fuses the guy to a parasitic plant that will keep him alive and heal all injuries unless his brain is destroyed. Hiei demonstrates this by sticking his sword into the slave dealer's fat thigh.]]

* In ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'', Shikamaru faces off against Hidan, an immortal ninja [[spoiler:who had killed Shikamaru's teacher, Asuma. He easily defeats Hidan, and in vengeance, cuts off Hidan's (still living) head and buries it in a hole where nobody would ever find him.]]
** Databook 3 partially negates this by stating that the "secret Jashinist experiment" that grants Hidan his immortality only makes him immortal as long as he continues to kill people. So [[spoiler:Hidan's head will eventually die, though it's not certain how long it takes for his immortality to wear off.]]
*** [[FlipFlopOfGod Kishimoto changed his mind]]. According to the new Fanbook, he's still stuck down there though it hardly makes anything better for him. Regardless of how you view it, that guy probably wishes to Jashin he was dead.
** Earlier in the series the Third Hokage removes Orochimaru's ability to perform jutsus; in the ''Naruto''-verse [[MagicAIsMagicA local magic]], this leaves Orochimaru's arms paralyzed for normal use as well... [[spoiler:for about three months]]. Even then he never fully recovers, and has momentary moments of complete agony. Not like he didn't deserve it...
** Even worse than all this is the fate of the first four Hokage, all of whom are stuck in the stomach of the {{Shinigami}} where they will suffer for all eternity. Or so we're told; how anybody can actually ''know'' the final results of that technique is unexplained. To make matters worse, they're stuck in the stomach of the shinigami with [[MemeticMolester Orochimaru's]] arms. Forever. [[spoiler: Until Orochimaru comes back yet again and *cuts open the Reaper's stomach*.]]

** What happened recently to [[spoiler: Anko Mitarashi]]. Imagine if you have something in your body that [[spoiler: Kabuto Yakushi]] wants and can't take from you if you die [[spoiler: (the remains of Orochimaru's chakra, more exactly)]] [[http://mangastream.com/read/naruto/49041835/7 What will he do to you?]] [[spoiler: Beating the shit outta you, then keeping you alive and carrying you around with one of his snakes wrapped around you, slowly draining said chakra from your almost lifeless body to absorb it better.]] [[EvenEvilHasStandards Not even MADARA liked that!]]
* In ''ShakuganNoShana'' demons known as Tomogara have to eat the existences of human beings. Flame Hazes such as Shana then "fill" these empty space with "Torches" which act and feel like real people, but are in fact just empty shells of the people who died (not that all torches are willing to believe this, and the responses to discovering they're just shells which will soon fade away range from denial to suicide). These torches will eventually burn out and the person will cease to have ever existed. And don't expect any sympathy from Shana, either. After all, Torches are merely "shells" and not real people.
** This is worse than it sounds as, once the torch dies, the world forgets the person ever existed.

* In ''Anime/CowboyBebop'', a group of crazy eco-terrorists are trapped when the authorities close the hyperspace gates with them inside. Their fate is to drift around the universe in a half-phased state, unable to interact with the physical world.
** Though they would reasonably run out of air eventually and suffocate. So it's worse than death, but only for a while.
** In addition, a vial of the virus they were about to unleash crashed to the floor as this was happening, ready to turn them into de-evolved ape things.

** ''Film/Gundam00AWakeningOfTheTrailblazer'' gives us [[BodyHorror assimilation]]. Your body is slowly converted into an alien crystalline substance starting with your limbs and ending with your still-alive head... which you can feel happening around you as your nerve receptors are still registering your muscles and tissue changing form. Worse still this happens from the inside out, as you can see the blood-covered crystals making their way through the skin. Not even Katejina deserves that end.
*** Subverted in the end, [[spoiler: as it turns out that this was only because the ELS had no real idea how to properly assimilate a human body. By the end of the movie they've got it right, and even the victims from earlier are shown to be fine.]]

** Made even worse by the fact that the punishment is for being [[spoiler:a SchmuckBait]].
* ''Anime/CodeGeass'': After Mao gives a BreakingSpeech to Suzaku, Lelouch activates his Geass and tells him to "never speak again." The result? Mao tries to speak, but chokes on his own saliva and makes all manner of groans and gurgles and other disgusting noises. Scared shitless, he runs out of the church he and Lelouch are in, and finds C.C. waiting for him, who comforts him... [[DeathByIrony and then shoots him in the head with a silenced pistol]].
** Lelouch calls upon the when he tells C.C. that rather than abandoning Mao [[spoiler:when he couldn't bring himself to kill her and [[WhoWantsToLiveForever take on her immortality]]]].
** Arguably, [[spoiler:Suzaku Kururugi]]'s final fate. [[spoiler:While his tombstone praises him as a loyal defender of Emperor Lelouch, given that Lelouch will (by his own design) be remembered as the worst tyrant ever, it is likely that Suzaku will go down in history as TheQuisling where Japanese people (except for Kallen, and ''maybe'' Todou and Kaguya) are concerned, and as TheDragon to a deeply evil ruler for everyone else. Also, throughout the series, he always argues for change within the system rather than through revolution- while he gets to change the system from within, it is through becoming Zero who will be celebrated as a hero for working outside of the system. And to make matters worse, ''he will never be able to be anything but Zero for the rest of his life'', as only [[SecretKeeper a small handful of people know who's under the mask]], and they aren't stupid enough to spill the beans and ruin the plan]].
*** Adding even more irony to it [[spoiler:Zero was the one thing he hated and fought against all this time, and he had just become it.]]
*** ''And'' [[spoiler:Suzaku]] is now known to the world as the man who [[spoiler:killed the woman Suzaku loved]]. On the other hand, having to spend the rest of his life as the ''most beloved and admired person in the history of mankind'', kinda takes the edge off. In fact, since [[spoiler:Suzaku]] has always hated himself anyway, being reborn as someone else is almost a gift really, especially considering who he gets to be.
** And to another extent, Schneizel el Brittania, whose final fate is becoming geassed by Lelouch rather than dying an honorable death. As Lelouch steals THE "honorable" death for himself later, it is clear that Schneizel is destined to remain mind-controlled by Zero forever.

* A more humorous example would be Russia's kolkolkol chant in ''Manga/AxisPowersHetalia'' which he uses to threaten his fellow nations, most notably [[ChewToy Lithuania]].
** [[MotherRussiaMakesYouStrong "Eventually everyone will become one with mother Russia, da?"]]
* This happens a lot in the manga ''FrankenFran'', because (as WebVideo/YRulerOfTime put it) to her, there '''is''' no fate worse than death. In one chapter, [[spoiler:Fran catches several people attempting to break into her lab and steal her medical research. At the same time, she had been pondering a question proposed to her by a friend, and so decides to test it by surgically altering the men into dog beasts, grotesque mockeries of canines which look rather like the Egyptian Ammet. She then uses them to point out the lady who hired them (who happened to be her friend's secretary), and then drags her off screaming and surgically alters her into another dog beast.]] It is unknown what their final fate is, but it is certainly worse than death.
** And it happens again in a later chapter, [[spoiler:when Fran's "little sister" blows up a nearby family gathering, thinking they are going to attack the lab. The only way Fran could "save" them is to merge all of their bodies together into a living human latticework. This prompts the response from Fran's little sister "shouldn't you just let them die?" It should also be mentioned that Fran's little sister was built to be a living arsenal and an assassin with no remorse, and this gives her {{squick}}.]]
** Another one: Fran saves a wealthy young businesswoman after her entire body is burned by using artificial skin made of cockroach shells. Guess which insect the OCD businesswoman ''utterly loathes''? Ironically, she looks perfectly normal, but the concept of being skinned with cockroaches completely [[BreakTheCutie breaks her mind]] and it's implied that she started tearing off the skin on her face. A short omake in volume 2 showed that she takes the operation again, gets over the creepy feeling, and admits to Fran that she overreacted. Then, when she removes the bandages, it turned out that the genes fused weirdly during this operation and cockroach legs are now growing out of her face, breaking her mind again.

* ''VisualNovel/HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi'': [[spoiler:[[DeliberatelyCuteChild Rika Furude]] has been stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop for somewhere between a century and a millennium. In most iterations, one of her friends will [[HatePlague go insane and kill a bunch of people]]. In every iteration, Rika is murdered, usually disemboweled while she's still alive, and most or all of her friends die within a few days. Then she's resurrected in the past, and goes through it all over again, and she's the only one who remembers what's happening, but enough important details keep changing that she can't manage to stop it. This GroundhogDayLoop is actually propagated by a deeply sympathetic character who wants Rika to find a way to solve the mystery and stop the killings, but the BigBad's conspiracy goes deeper than anyone imagined, and the situation causes unimaginable despair for Rika due to the pain of repeatedly losing loved ones, the feelings of isolation from not knowing who to trust and not having anyone who would believe her story, and the feelings of hopelessness brought on by failure after failure]].
** ''Higurashi'''s [[VisualNovel/UminekoNoNakuKoroNi sequel]] inflicts a similar but even worse fate on Battler, since the loop is much shorter and between "games" Beato spends her time having the Stakes reduce him to a pulp over and over. ...Which is ''nothing'' compared to [=EP6=], where [[spoiler:he gets trapped in a closed room/horrific logic error and spends years trying to escape. A lot worse than it sounds.]]

** So she gains emotions, and proceeds to {{Retcon}} reality so that Kyon can decide whether a world without Haruhi is better. [[spoiler:He decides against it. Her boss isn't happy, and starts deciding whether to kill her. Kyon threatens to annihilate them using Haruhi with his [[TrustPassword "I am John Smith."]] line. They decide not to kill her. Instead, they use a fate worse than death. They elect her to be the ambassador to the Sky Canopy Domain; exposing her existence and sanity to something which is as alien to her as the Data Overmind is to humans.]] A lesser being would GoMadFromTheRevelation.
* A certain AlternateCharacterInterpretation of Sebastian from ''Manga/BlackButler'' has this as the ultimate fate for Ciel -- [[WhoWantsToLiveForever making him a fledgling demon and granting him eternal life]]. Which will ultimately make Ciel watch all those he cares about pass away. Given that Sebastian is AffablyEvil and has quite a bit of affection for his young master (not that way... maybe), we might indeed get this instead of Sebastian's eating his soul, especially given the GeckoEnding of the anime.
** [[spoiler:[[IKnewIt And look what happens in]] ''[[Manga/BlackButler II]]''!]] Not quite the same, though - [[spoiler:Hannah turns Ciel into a demon so Sebastian can no longer eat his soul. Ciel doesn't seem to mind too much, though; he has no qualms about leaving anyone behind. The catch is that because of an order he gave in an earlier episode, Sebastian can't stop being his butler until he eats him, making him Ciel's servant for all eternity. So, really, it's a Fate Worse Than Death for poor Sebby, if anybody.]]

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' had the TropeNamer for MindRape. Yes, it does count because of who was the recipient. If TheFightingNarcissist FieryRedhead {{Tsundere}} gets reduced to a sobbing wreck in a minute, exposing her tragic FreudianExcuse, something's seriously messed up. Granted, to some she might have had it coming but still! Her CruelAndUnusualDeath in ''End of Evangelion'' doesn't help things either.
** And then Anno goes and does it '''again''' in ''RebuildOfEvangelion'': Asuka gets to be [[BodyHorror the test pilot of the Angel-infested Unit 03]]...

* Arguably done with the MagicalGirl anime ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' where [[spoiler:becoming a magical girl is a DealWithTheDevil. Every time a magical girl uses magic or suffers negative emotions, her Soul Gem becomes more and more corrupted. The only way to keep the corruption at bay is by killing witches, horrible {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that can and will kill you horribly if you make even the slightest mistake, and using their Grief Seeds to cleanse the corruption from the gem. But this is a stopgap measure at best, because sooner or later, no matter what the magical girl does, the gem will darken completely and become a Grief Seed itself, and [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie she will become the very thing that she is fighting]].]]
* The second ''MacrossFrontier'' movie does this to [[spoiler: [[BigBadWannabe Grace]], and (possibly) [[BreakTheCutie Sheryl]]. The former, a cyborg, is reduced to a sentient torso and interrogated for a '''long''' time. The latter gets cured from her [[IllGirl illness]], but by then she is in coma after watching her LoveInterest disappear. It is then stated that she will wake up only when(if) said LoveInterest comes back, and the chances for that are zero, so she is [[FridgeHorror condemned to spend the rest of her life in coma]]. Ouch.]]
** The last part was actually averted from WordofGod or if you paid attention to the end credits.

* All this way and nothing about ''{{Slayers}}'', how sad. The Raugnut Rushavna curse is a VERY horrible curse, as it makes the victim immortal until the one who cast the curse is killed. It doesn't sound so bad until the horror of the curse sets in.
---> Lina: "I was staring at an enormous lump of flesh. It was writhing---the arrangement of its internal organs and the pulsing of its veins fully visible."
---> "As we watched, a snaked sprang forth from the top of the lump. The snake, borne of the hideous meatball, grew into an arch half the size of the clump. It swallowed the mound of flesh, essentially consuming itself, and then sunk back into its fleshy mass."
--->"Those that fall victim to this ritual are cursed to die over and over until the demon that cast the curse is destroyed."

** Technically, he could be freed if someone wished it with the Dragon Balls, but the odds of that are nonexistent.

* In {{TsubasaReservoirChronicle}} it could be argued that this is [[spoiler: what happens to Yuui and Fai. Being imprisoned without food, water or any means of sheltering themselves, being separated from each other (and thereby from the only person who ever loved them) but still having to witness their twin suffering. And on top of this being utterly unable to die because their magic keeps them alive. All in all, pretty damn grim. And considering it results in Fai eventually chanting "I want to die" over and over to himself, we can safely say that at least HE thought it was a fate worse than death.]]
* PlayedForLaughs in the FilmNoir world of AbenobashiMahouShoutengai, where getting shot doesn't kill you, but instead transforms you into a [[SuperDeformed chibified]] comic relief character that no one can take seriously.
* In {{A Cruel God Reigns}}, Ian tells his step-brother Jeremy that in order to be punished for [[VehicularSabotage sabotaging his step-father's car]] and killing him, and by accident his own mother, he must live with his guilt. The night before Jeremy [[spoiler: [[BungledSuicide attempted to drown himself in the lake]] but was pulled out by Ian after confessing that he killed his step-father, Greg, because he was being physically and sexually abused by him.]]
** Jeremy later invokes this trope after [[spoiler: [[EmbarrassingOldPhoto finding the photos Greg took of him after each time he assaulted him]]]], which Ian [[CruelToBeKind kept in case anyone else ever found out Jeremy committed murder]].
--> '''Ian''': If you have these photos, with a good lawyer you can be declared innocent under reasons of legitimate self defense. It's in the American trial records.
--> '''Jeremy''': You-you said since I confessed to you about what happened to me- If someone finds out I will kill myself! I will never let that happen!

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' by NeilGaiman: After the first Despair was killed (in a vain attempt to remove despair and suffering from the world), the man responsible was put into a state of perpetual suffering from which he could not die -- he would suffer for all eternity until time ended. In the first issue, Dream of the Endless punishes the ''son'' of the magician who sealed him away for seventy years (the magician having already died by that time) by trapping him in an endless DreamWithinADream -- while he might eventually die, he will suffer for an eternity in his head first. (Although [[spoiler:after Morpheus' death on the hands of the three "Kindly Ones", his successor, the new Dream, shows mercy and lifts the curse. So, the man "only" had to spend six years or so in a coma, hallucinating the most torturous horrors his mind could devise.]])

** He's imprisoned in the Source Wall [[spoiler: by ''{{Superman}}'' of all people]], [[spoiler: for trying to capture and corrupt {{Supergirl}}]]. He gets out [[spoiler:because Superman rescues him after making a deal to save the universe with an alternate future version of Darkseid himself]].

* Wally West, also known as TheFlash, returned from hiatus in an alternate dimension to find that the supervillain Inertia had murdered his cousin, Bart Allen, who had been serving as the Flash in Wally's absence. This, naturally, made Wally ''mad as hell'': his response was to hunt Inertia down and use his powers to rob the villain of all his speed, rendering him an immobile (but fully conscious and completely aware) statue... which he then placed in the Flash Museum, to stare at a statue of the man he killed for all eternity (his situation has since been reversed). Which leads one to wonder: why do so many superheroes with ThouShaltNotKill policies have no problem giving their enemies fates ''worse'' than death?
* Speaking of comic worse-than-death fates, a rather bizarre one happened between {{Spider-Man}}'s villain Carnage and [[spoiler:the Silver Surfer]] several years ago. After trying to possess the latter, the Carnage Symbiote is tossed back onto the original host and [[spoiler:is then encased in an unbreakable shell of energy much like the Surfer's own shell of silver.]] It's stated he's stuck like that for all eternity, but he apparently got better [[spoiler:just in time for Venom to devour the Carnage symbiote. He got better from that too. He was later ripped in half by The Sentry.]]
** He got better again.
* The SilverSurfer also encountered, at one point, a hideous mutation run rampant on Earth. It began to absorb all the living matter it could find (including people), growing larger and more repulsive at a constant rate until the Surfer flew it to a desolate moon where it could be properly destroyed. Unfortunately, at the last instant before he would have disintegrated the abomination, a coherent facet emerged and explained that at its core it was a thinking human being who had become the victim of an experiment gone awry. Though he begged him to end his suffering, the Surfer refused, since to kill a sentient being was anathema to his moral code. Thus, the Surfer regretfully left the creature to its interminable fate, isolated and alone. Bet the poor guy wishes he had just kept his mouth shut.
* In the ''StarWars'' series ''DarkEmpire'', Darth Sidious and Jedi Empatojayos Brand [[spoiler:end up bound to each other for all eternity. But it was a HeroicSacrifice on Brand's part.]]
* In other sources from the ExpandedUniverse, Palpatine has his too-valuable-to-kill engineer Bevel Lemelisk (who designed the Death Star with that airshaft) killed in some Horrible way, then brings him back as a clone. This happened seven times, including flesh-eating beetles, being blown out an airlock, and being lowered inch by inch into a vat of molten copper ("It was what the smelter was making that day"), before the New Republic finally executes him for good.

** Played straight in book 6, which introduces the concept that [[spoiler:a sizeable minority of superheroes are left undead after being killed, as a result of Faustian Bargains they made to gain their powers. Besides being forced into hiding and having to deal with their mutilated bodies, many of them also end up getting buried alive while fully conscious.]] It then gets made ''even worse'' when it is revealed that a certain villain [[spoiler:likes to kidnap the SuperDead and super-science them into zombie slaves, still fully conscious but incapable of controlling their bodies... and those are the lucky ones.]]

* In the Comicbook/GreenLantern series ''SinestroCorpsWar'' we learn that Hank Henshaw loathes his own [[WhoWantsToLiveForever seeming immortality]] and wants nothing more than to finally die, demanding his own death as payment for aiding the Sinestro Corps. At the war's conclusion he is horrified to discover that he has, once again, survived what should have been complete destruction.

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'' makes Loki's punishment mentioned in the Mythology folder below ''even worse'' by breaking his neck and ''[[EyeScream ripping out his eyes]]''.
* ''NemesisTheWarlock'' does this twice. Firstly the completely evil Torquemada is briefly trapped in a time-loop where he is burnt at the stake again and again and again. He gets better. The saga concludes with [[spoiler: Nemesis forcibly merging with his enemy to prevent a planet exploding. They become a sort of living ship that can do nothing but travel on an infinite loop around the planet. Nemesis doesn't seem to mind, but Torquemada is heard saying ''When does it end??'' (To which the reply is ''Never!''). The very last panel shows the 'ship' alone in space with the caption ''A million years later...'']]
* Mr. Immortal. It turns out that since he is immortal, he will be the last being in the universe and watch our sun go out.
* From ''Website/{{Cracked}}'', we have a list of [[http://www.cracked.com/article_19736_6-psychotic-punishments-doled-out-by-famous-superheroes.html 6 Psychotic Punishments Doled Out by Famous Superheroes]].
* In the ComicBook/{{Warrior}} comic book, the titular character (former WWE wrestler the Ultimate Warrior, real life name The Warrior) vows to deliver "a pain that not even death will end" to those who seek to get in his way of obtaining the philosophical virtue known as destrucity.
* In the commentary section of the Warrior comic book, the author talks about how the system in real life "it's like when the shit starts to dribble into your mouth for all eternity, like quicksand it gives you stable footing, no quick kills"
* The Phantom Zone from {{Superman}}. Trapped for all eternity in a featureless white void, never aging, never dying, unable to touch and feel. In ''ComicBook/ActionComics'' #13 we see the reaction of Xa-Du. the first prisoner in the Phantom Zone. It's pretty much AndIMustScream:
-->''Xa-Du'': What's happening? Why can't I see?! I can't hear! Why can't I feel anything? Isn't anyone there? Won't someone talk to me? Please.

** The times it's used optimistically (following a [[NotQuiteDead revival]], for example) just makes Jafar's use of it as a threat that much creepier.
** Jafar also uses this trope's title, saying "There are things so much worse than death." (He intended for Aladdin to not only die, but die on the orders of Princess Jasmine. Which isn't really a fate worse ''than'' death so much as it is just a ''worse death''. Except for Jasmine.
** Iago literally survives being blasted and nearly roasted alive in magma instead of having a convenient Disney-heroic death. Which makes you wonder if genies ''[[FridgeLogic literally]]'' [[FridgeLogic cannot kill anyone]] -and the [[FridgeHorror implications]].

** {{Pixar}} seem to be aware of this trope as well, and are rectifying it in the next movie. Plus, considering they are "abandoned" with all of their good friends, they're hardly alone with no-one to love them.
** Even worse is to be tossed into the garbage, and, as [[KelseyGrammer Stinky Pete]] says, "spending eternity rotting in some landfill." Conscious the entire time, until finally all your plastic parts degrade into a puddle of goo...

*** The worst fate worse than death was, thankfully, avoided, but brought up on the FridgeHorror page. If the toys hadn't been saved, then they would have been almost instantaneously incinerated ... except for one. Mrs Potato Head was still missing her eye, remember? That eye, that single fragment of toy, would have survived. Mrs Potato Head, would have known what happened not only to her body, but to her friends. She would also be trapped in that little piece of plastic. [[AndIMustScream ''Forever'']]. Eventually, yes, she would have been found. Then what? Several thousand years at the bottom of a landfill? Probably.

* ''Film/ParanormalActivity'', a haunted house story about a young couple, ends with [[spoiler:Katie becoming fully possessed by a demon and killing her boyfriend. The police found Micah's body, but Katie's whereabouts are unknown.]]

* ''Film/MontyPythonsLifeOfBrian'' [[ParodiedTrope pokes fun]] at this trope:
-->'''Prisoner''': Oh, you'll probably get away with crucifixion.
-->'''Brian''': Crucifixion?!

* Any Germans who survive attacks from the Bastards in the Quentin Tarantino movie ''InglouriousBasterds'' (in other words, are let go) are heavily implied to receive this sort of fate. The only way to survive an attack from the Bastards means giving up your fellow German's locations and plans, and also renounce ties to the Nazis, even declaring to burn the uniform. Even then, Aldo Raine, the Bastards' leader, will carve a swastika on the survivors' foreheads as it is the only thing they ''can't take off''. In other words, they are going to be identified as a Nazi and disgraced for the rest of their lives. On the other hand, that's nothing that a good skin transplantation couldn't solve, even in 1940.
** Or even just further scars to obscure what was already there, if you were truly desperate.

* In ''Film/GIJoeTheRiseOfCobra'' after the Paris incident, Breaker [[spoiler:is exiled from French soil for as long as he lives]].

* In Stephen R. Donaldson's ''[[TheMirrorOfHerDreams Mordant's Need]]'' series, the protagonists come upon an empty town, then find a huge pile of people and horses that were burned to death. Geraden ponders if they're the ones who didn't escape. Terisa wonders if they're the ones who ''did'' escape. Turns out Terisa [[FridgeHorror was right]].

** Hermione Granger in ''[[HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndThePhilosophersStone Philosopher's Stone]]'':
--->"I hope you're pleased with yourselves. We could all have been killed — or worse, expelled."
** Considering that those expelled from Hogwarts have their wands broken and are forbidden to use magic in a world where magic-users rule and those without it (Squibs/Muggles) are treated as second-class ''at best'', and the best possible outcome is re-integrating into Muggle Society all the while *knowing* that there's a magic world that you can never access again...Hermione likely has the right of it.

** Though he doesn't experience this trope directly, it's eventually learned that Voldemort's greatest weakness is that he cannot conceive of a worse fate than death, meaning his obsession with becoming immortal renders him vulnerable to other, equally or more unpleasant fates; [[spoiler:see the "King's Cross" chapter of ''Deathly Hallows'' for the one that he fell prey to after his death.]] At the end of the fifth book, Dumbledore fires a very powerful spell. It is blocked, and we never see what it does, but when Voldemort mocks Dumbledore for not seeking to kill him, Dumbledore merely responds, "We both know there are other ways of destroying a man, [[FirstNameBasis Tom]]." This is [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] by Harry Potter himself... [[WiseBeyondTheirYears in the first book.]] "If you're going to be cursed forever, death's better, isn't it?"

** What's become of [[spoiler: Theon Greyjoy]] in ''ADanceWithDragons.'' Could also be a case of BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor for the fans: how many of them wanted to [[spoiler: see Theon suffer horribly after he sacked Winterfell and murdered two children to trick Westeros into thinking he's killed Bran and Rickon Stark.]]

** The worst part of that example is it's partly real. [[SchmuckBait Don't read this next part]]. [[spoiler:The sequence of removing a subject's limbs was practiced on those prisoners of Japanese Army Medical Unit 731 who were selected for biological and chemical weapons testing. Since they would need to be kept in reasonable health until death, it was deemed easier to provide for subjects with less body mass and therefore needed less nutrients. That said there was as with many if not all WWII medical experiments, an element of simple sadism involved in this calculation.]]
* In the same vein as ''Dexter'', SerialKiller Patrick Bateman from ''AmericanPsycho'' commits some of the most sadistic and gruesome tortures ever conceived by the imagination. In fact, Bateman actually keeps his victims alive intentionally longer, just so they can experience more agony.

** Another Stephen King short story (turned [[TheMovie movie]]) is ''Literature/FourteenOhEight''. The protagonist is tortured by a "fucking evil [hotel] room" (think the hotel from ''Literature/TheShining'' but concentrated) before [[spoiler:''setting himself on fire'', escaping, and possibly [[KillItWithFire destroying the room to boot]]. However, ''no one'' escapes 1408, not even survivors: he's still haunted by his experiences - he feels uneasy in his own house, he has to find something else to write about now that he can't handle "haunted houses", and he has to cover the windows during sunset, which reminds him of the fire - and it's fairly certain he's going to be like this for the rest of his life.]]
** In TheMovie, here's how the room works: [[spoiler:Nobody has survived more than one hour in the room. During that hour, the room will physically and emotionally torture you. And if you somehow manage to survive and not commit suicide, it will begin all over again until you decide to do it. "You can choose to repeat this hour over and over again, or you can take advantage of our express checkout system".]]
** King's ''TheStand'' gets brought up a lot with this. This quote is a good one, in the crucifixion scene of one of the Vegas characters. "There were worse things than death. There were teeth."
* The novelette ''[[http://www.infinityplus.co.uk/stories/colderwar.htm A Colder War]]'' (Go now! Don't read the spoilers, read the story! It's free!) by CharlesStross details an alternate-history ColdWar where the Soviets have retrieved the sleeping Cthulhu and entombed in it in a silo as the ultimate weapon of Mutually Assured Destruction. Things get out of hand. [[spoiler:Cthulhu is deployed and the United States' entire [[http://www.merkle.com/pluto/pluto.html XK-PLUTO]] arsenal fails to stop it. The protagonist, a few politicians and a small military force are all who manage to escape, through an [[ImportedAlienPhlebotinum eldritch stargate]], to a dead, frozen world. The story ends with the tiny shellshocked population, going through the motions in a domed compound under an alien sky, unable to do anything. The protagonist is unable to bring himself to commit suicide. And it is implied that he [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness may never have escaped at all.]]]]

* The newest novel of the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' has two examples of this:
** On the one hand, Eragon's punishment for [[spoiler:Sloan is to be consigned almost to a FlyingDutchman curse: forced "To Walk the Land Alone", driven by a constant compulsion to seek out the land of the elves, there to remain 'even unto your dying day', living with the knowledge that he can never see, touch, or talk to his daughter Katrina ever again, and that she is with Roran and happy, without him--even though Eragon ''explicitly says'' he knows Katrina is more important to Sloan than anything else. Granted, Sloan did turn against Carvahall which caused death for one of its citizens, and Eragon has promised that if Sloan truly repents of his misdeeds and becomes a better person, the elves will restore his sight and he will be released from his oath due to his True Name being changed.]]
** The fate of the dragons belonging to the Forsworn is even worse: [[spoiler:in the Banishing of the Names, they were stripped of any means of identifying themselves--given names, nicknames, true names, titles, until they could not even make 'I' statements since these named themselves. Nor could they be called dragons. Reduced to little more than animals, the spell obliterated everything that defined them as thinking creatures, until they descended into complete ignorance. No one can remember their names, utter them, or even read them anymore.]] As Arya herself says, "The experience was so disturbing, at least five of the thirteen, and several of the Forsworn, went mad as a result." [[spoiler: Those dragons turned against the Dragons and the Riders and willingly aided in the slaughter of both parties, to the point where the Riders were whittled down to Eragon, Brom, and a severely-weakened Oromis. The Dragons, meanwhile, numbered five at the beginning of the series: Shruikan, Galbatorix's enslaved dragon, Glaedr, Oromis' also-crippled dragon, and three eggs. So one could say that this Fate Worse Than Death was actually too ''lenient'']].
* In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', Winter Knight Lloyd Slate suffers a particularly gruesome example of this at the hands of Mab - he's entombed in ice, crucified on a tree of the same, until he's almost dead from frostbite and exhaustion... at which point Mab takes him out, feeds him, heals him, and takes him to bed with her, only to return him to his torture when we wakes up. Mab has stated that the only way from him to be freed, and subsequently die, is to have Harry take over his position as Winter Knight. And Mab wonders why Harry doesn't want the job.
** [[spoiler:Well... Lea did mention the possibility that if Dresden continues to refuse the title long enough, Mab might kill Slate when he's completely and utterly broken... that is, when he's gone so completely insane that he starts to look forward to his crucifixion with joy because of the kindness Mab shows him after she takes him down.]]

* In ''Literature/TheEdgeChronicles'', anyone who wanders into the Twilight Woods is immortal as long as they stay there. However, the woods also make any unsuspecting travelers go insane, and despite the immortality, you can be very much hurt, more or less rotting away while unable to die or even go comatose, and also completely insane and lost. In the series, this fate is indeed actually inflicted on some characters, with no evidence as to if they ever escape, [[spoiler:except Tem Barkwater, who makes it out due to Shrykes capturing him.]]
** Also there's the prisoners in the Tower of Night. They are imprisoned on ledges inside the Tower, waiting for a trial that will probably never come. Many seem to have lost their sanity. Rook is told by one prisoner to shove the door open, when he does the prisoner falls of the ledge and thanks him, saying he lacked the courage to jump.
* Carrie Vaughn's ''[[KittyNorville Kitty Raises Hell]]'' deals out such fates to three of the villains (which for two of them is [[KarmicDeath deliciously karmic]]): [[spoiler:the ifrit, the vampire priestess, and Nick, [[SmugSnake the smug]] [[CatsAreMean weretiger]], are tricked (in the case of the first two) and outright thrown into Grant's magical cabinet. The priestess, at the time, ''is on fire''...and all of them are presumably doomed to be trapped in this world's version of [[EldritchLocation Cthulhuverse]], imprisoned, tortured, or [[GoMadFromTheRevelation otherwise driven mad]], ''forever'']].
** But like the above poster said, it's only karmic for two of them. Those are [[spoiler:the priestess and Nick, not the ifrit. Even though the ifrit was the killer, he was just enslaved and forced to kill all those people throughout the book by the other two. His last words before imprisonment were ''begging to see his wife and children again'']]. Talk about a DownerEnding.

* Being separated from your [[OurSoulsAreDifferent daemon]] in ''HisDarkMaterials''.
** also having your mind and soul eaten by a Spectre.

* Or rather 'undeath' in TheWitchWatch's case. An abomination could have there head cut off and buried underground and you 'could dig his head up today and still find him screaming for release.'
** Also the people who crossed Lord Mordaunt were also threatened with a fate worse than death.

* The entirety of "MogWorld", has Jim trying to kill himself as he has become an immortal zombie.
** Everyone has also become immortal and a lot of people aren't too happy about it.
* In Dan Simmons' "Literature/HyperionCantos", a symbiote called the cruciform makes his bearer immortal (you don't age and you resurrect in case of violent death) but gradually affects his body and mind, ultimately turning him into an asexual and retarded moron. It also causes excruciating pain if you try to remove it or to run away from the remote village (populated only by immortal, asexual morons) where it comes from.
** In the first book, it is revealed that [[spoiler: one of the main characters, Father Hoyt, wears ''two'' cruciforms, his own and his former master Duré's, enduring twice the pain, which is considerable since he left not only the village but the planet itself and travelled to a world several light years away.]]
** Worse, in his tale, [[spoiler: Hoyt explains that after receiving his cruciform, Duré crucified himself to a Tesla tree (a local lifeform generating electrostatic discharges powerful enough to cause thunderstorms) in an attempt to die. He spent ''years'' tied to the tree, being constantly electrocuted, killed and resurrected by the cruciform, as well as tortured by the symbiote itself for trying to get away. He finally manages to die...]]
** but in The Fall of Hyperion, [[spoiler: years later, he finally resurrects when father Hoyt dies.]]

* The ''premise'' of ''Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000''.
-->'''Crow:''' ''(despairing)'' To be dead, to be nothing... to watch ''[[InvasionOfTheNeptuneMen Neptune Men]]'' no more...

** In "Objects in Space," this is Jubal Early's specialty. He threatens to rape Kaylee (as well as implying that he'd do the same to River if he caught her) and forces Simon to help him try to capture River by, ironically, exploiting Simon's need to protect her.
** Also, in ''Film/{{Serenity}}'', River asks Simon to [[ICannotSelfTerminate kill her]], partially to protect the crew, but also because she ''does not'' want to be taken back to [[SchoolForScheming the Academy]].
** And then there's how the very first Reavers were created: [[spoiler:they were the very, very small percentage of the people of the planet Miranda who had the opposite reaction to the Pax, the experimental chemical that the Alliance seeded the planet with which ended up causing nearly the entire planet to simply lay down and die]].

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' episode "Flesh and Stone", Amy is forced to make her way through a forest full of Weeping Angels, with her eyes closed, to escape a crack in the universe. When she protests, the Doctor’s reply is: "The Angels can only kill you." [[spoiler:If she is caught by the crack, it will erase her entire existence.]]
** The Master's life could be seen as this--having drums inside your head for a thousand years would drive anyone mad!
** Donna's initial fate: [[spoiler: Because a human mind cannot handle Time Lord knowledge, she was in danger of dying. To save her, the Doctor had to erase all her memories of her travels with him, erasing all her CharacterDevelopment, ''just'' as she realized she was important (and right as she saved the universe).]] Things get better for her, but this is probably one of the sadder fates for a companion ever.

** Not to mention the Cybermen. Their goal is to "upgrade" every human being on Earth into copies of themselves. This entails surgically ripping out the human's brain and central nervous system and implanting it into a mechanical body- in a very rapid, completely automated process with no anasthesia. Converted humans are equipped with emotional inhibitors to wipe out feelings, gender, independent thought, etc. Cybermen are very strong, impossible to dissuade from their goal, and neigh-invulnerable as far as ordinary humans are concerned. Pleasant dreams...
*** That's the NEW series ones. The original ones turned to cybernetics for survival - rotting meat threaded with electronics and held together in perpetual agony...

* In the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode ''Children of Earth'', Jack got [[spoiler:trapped in cement]] until his boy toy came to the rescue. Then the show proceeds to painfully remind us why [[WhoWantsToLiveForever being immortal sucks]]. Like [[spoiler:watching your love die in his arms, knowing he himself can never die permanently]]. Really, this show has worked hard to assure viewers that Jack's brand of immortality would be utterly ''agonizing''.
** Before his [[spoiler:entombment]], Jack underwent the prolonged and (judging from the screams) extremely painful process of [[spoiler:regrowing his body]] after being [[spoiler:blown up by a bomb implanted in his lower torso]]. [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]] when a witness to this resurrection comments that he'd have been better off staying dead.
** "Adrift", where [[spoiler:they introduce Flat Holm, a place for people who had been taken by the Rift and returned. They suffered horrors and can never see their families again. Then you have Jonah, who had been trapped on a burning planet, saw the destruction of a solar system, and looked into a Dark Star. Which drove him insane. Now he screams for Twenty. Hours. A. Day.]]

** The experience of being used as a host by a Goa'uld for thousands of years, a meat puppet with no control of their body whatsoever, forced to endure both the atrocities the Goa'uld commit ''and'' their GeneticMemory (filled with innumerable other atrocities), will drive humans insane. Despite this, [[spoiler:Ba'al]]'s host seems to be okay after being separated from the symbiote. Technically both the host and the symbiote [[spoiler:were clones of the original Ba'al and his host, and only a couple of years old. But the clone host would still (due to the GeneticMemory of the Goa'uld and the fact that freed hosts retain their symbiotes' memories) ''remember'' being a host for thousands of years. However, Ba'al is implied to be an AntiVillain. Vala Mal Doran seems to be doing alright as well.]]

* One episode of ''TheTwilightZone'' had a Nazi war criminal be tortured by the angry spirit of a Holocaust victim by experiencing the pain his victims felt before they died. He was eventually driven insane before being found by authorities, and the spirit warned that it would continue to haunt him for the rest of his life.
** The end of the infamous "Time Enough at Last" always seemed like this trope. (Spoilers just in case) [[spoiler:Imagine this: you're the last person alive, with enough food to last you a lifetime and all the books you could ever want to read and no one will make fun of you for it. You pick up the first book... and your reading glasses fall off and break. No more ability to read.]]
** The IronicHell episodes also count. You love gambling? Great. You'll ''always'' win.

* Vic Mackey of ''TheShield'' ... Oh, dear, Vic Mackey. Specifically: He cuts a deal with the feds - specifically, I.C.E. - that he helps bring in a major drug lord in exchange for immunity for past crimes (And Vic has A LOT of them) just as Claudette and the LAPD were about to close in on him. Looks like he's pulled a KarmaHoudini and is about to start his dream job with Homeland Security. [[spoiler:But then, best-friend turned fugitive Shane kills himself and his family, and leaves a suicide note blaming everything on Vic. Claudette reads the letter to the dumb-struck Vic. Then, while he's still reeling from that, arrests the last remaining Strike Team member, Ronnie, for all the stuff Vic had already copped to. Vic had lied to him about including him in the deal with the Feds. Ronnie proceeds to let the entire Barn know exactly what kind of bastard Vic was. And he screwed over Ronnie for nothing. Part of the deal was protection for Vic's estranged wife, Corrine. But she'd cut a deal with Claudette to try and snare Vic. So she was never in danger. AND she's put an order of protection out against Vic and took the kids into Witness Protection. With his reputation in shreds, Vic goes back to ICE headquarters to settle into his new life... only to be informed that he'll be spending the entirety of his ICE tenure as a paper pusher, assigned to fill out ''daily ten-page reports'' and if he quits or doesn't live up to expectation, his deal is voided and all the stuff he confessed to - up to and including murdering a fellow cop - comes into play. Worse than prison for a CowboyCop like Vic. Family gone, friends dead or betrayed, and career in tatters, the last scene of the show shows Vic seriously contemplating eating his gun, but deciding to soldier on.]]

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'''s version of Hell. You're tortured, daily, in unimaginable ways, for decades on end, unless you agree to do the same to others. [[spoiler:Main character Dean is able to hold out for thirty years before giving in.]] Although [[spoiler: his dad, John, held out for one hundred years, and never gave any sign of giving in]]. "Stuff legends are made of," indeed. [[spoiler:John ''might'' have had the benefit of knowing the purpose of his incarceration. Once he or Dean were to give in, the first seal is broken on Lucifer being able to walk free.]]
** To take it up a notch, the end of season five had [[spoiler:Sam throw himself into hell's solitary confinement with vengeful archangels FallenAngel [[ArchangelLucifer Lucifer]] and [[ArchangelMichael Michael]] to lock them away so they didn't [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt raze the world]]. He thought they'd get to spend eternity torturing him creatively for this, but lucked out and was freed after ''only a hundred and eighty years or so''.]]

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': In "Across The Sea", Jacob provides [[NoNameGiven his brother]] with one of these when [[spoiler:after his brother kills their Mother, Jacob shoves him into the light of the world that the brothers are tasks to protect and creates the Smoke Monster. Having your soul separated from your body and chained to the Island as a pillar of black smoke strikes me is the ultimate fate worse than death.]]

** "Loved to Death" has essentially a StalkerWithACrush pining away for a neighbor. A LovePotion gets her interest and he's happy at first, but she becomes increasingly obsessive and clingy. [[spoiler: It gets to the point where poisoning a drink becomes an option. However, he winds up drinking the poison and dies. In the afterlife, he thinks he's going to get some peace, but then the girl shows up. She says she couldn't live without him, so she killed herself by jumping out a window, which disfigured her. She happily announces they'll be together forever - a sentiment he clearly doesn't share.]]

*** Unlike most examples of the trope, this example is very specific to the character in question.

** In the Season 4 finale, House wants to [[spoiler:stay on the Limbo-bus with Amber]] instead of waking up.
** In Season 5, House offers to teach a patient with locked-in syndrome to spell "KILL ME" by blinking.

* ''Series/BlackMirror'' has the episode ''White Bear'' [[spoiler: about a woman who watched (and recorder) her boyfriend burning a kidnapped child to death. Her punishment is to relive a single day of being chased around by manics while be recorded by 100's of onlookers who stand around and do nothing to help. Then at the end of the day her mind is wiped and she gets to do it [[AmnesiaLoop again, and again]]. Apparently the last thing she says every day is that she wants to be killed.]]
* On ''Series/BreakingBad'', [[spoiler:Gus subjects Hector Salamanca to one of these. As he systematically wipes out the Juarez cartel, he pays frequent visits to Tio to fill him in on the deaths of his family members, and to threaten to kill him. It gets so bad that Hector agrees to [[EnemyMine team up with Walt]] to suicide-bomb Gus.]]

* {{Hell}}. Without even getting into the specifics of Hell itself, a simple logical deduction demonstrates that it is far, ''far'' worse than a CessationOfExistence.
** Some atheists have suggested that any afterlife would eventually become worse then CessationOfExistence via boredom. Unless your mind was re-wired, which is also kind of terrifying in itself.

* This is OlderThanFeudalism: Prometheus was chained to a rock to forever have his ever-regrowing liver eaten by an eagle. Since he was a god, he could not die. Fortunately, he was later freed by Heracles, who took pity on his plight.
* NorseMythology has a similar fate for Loki (chained to a rock with the entrails of his slaughtered sons, and tormented by a snake perpetually dripping poisonous saliva into his eyes) although, being a {{Trickster}}, he escapes after a while... just in time to take part in TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt.
* GreekMythology is full of these, Prometheus simply the most famous. Tantalus, for example, killed his son Pelops and tried to feed him to the gods when they came over for dinner. In response, the gods killed Tantalus and sentenced him to forever be cursed in the underworld. He was placed in a pool with water up to his chin and delicious fruit dangling above his head, but whenever he tried to bend down and drink the water or reach up and grab the fruit, the water would drain away and the fruit would be blown just out of reach by a gust of wind (hence the word "tantalise" entered into the vocabulary). Sisyphus, punished for cheating death, was [[SealedEvilInADuel forced to roll an incredibly heavy boulder up a steep slope]]. When he was about to reach the top, the rock would slip out of his hands (or he would run out of energy and the boulder would roll overtop of him) and tumble back down the slope, forcing him to start over. The Danaeids were also punished with a fate worse than death for murdering their husbands, as they were forced to try and fill a water trough using jars with no bottoms.
** The only relief that the three mentioned above got was when Orpheus arrived. The song that he played asking for Eurydice's soul back not only melted Hades' heart, but quenched Tantalus' thirst, halted Sisyphus' boulder, and kept the water inside the jars... [[SnapBack until he left]].
** And then there's Atlas, who has to hold the Earth (or the sky, according to TheOtherWiki) on his shoulders from the beginning of the world until a few thousand years ago, when the Greek hero Heracles, better known by what the Romans called him (Hercules), builds "the pillars of Heracles" to carry Atlas's burden.

** Pirithous and Theseus won the idiot award by trying to carry off Persephone, wife of Hades. Hades invited them to a feast and tried to dissuade them, and when they refused to give up the plan, the bench fused to them. Heracles was able to save Theseus (who was only there to help Pirithous), but Pirithous was trapped there for eternity for his impiety and unquestionable stupidity.

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', this happens to ''everyone'', one way or another, who runs afoul of [[TheCorruption Chaos]], whether it's being consumed by its [[TheHeartless endless hordes of daemons]], a "mishap" while [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace traveling though the Warp]] or going anywhere near one of its {{Negative Space Wedgie}}s. (Unless you're an Ork, in which case it's the best afterlife ''[[WarriorHeaven ever]]''.) Even its servants don't avoid it, as their final fate is either dying (and then a daemon or five comes to collect on [[DealWithTheDevil its contracts]]), transforming into a mindless, deformed Chaos Spawn, or achieving immortality as a [[OneWingedAngel Daemon Prince]], only to spend the rest of eternity fighting the Endless Game between the Chaos Gods.

** Getting captured by Necrons. One ''BattlefleetGothic'' entry describes guardsmen finding a single boy from a colony, the other inhabitants having been taken by Necrons. The boy died several hours after they found him. The Necrons had very carefully cut out no less than 30 of the boy's glands and left him there. The fate of the other colonists is best left unsaid...

* The disembodied head of the [[Videogame/TeamFortress2 BLU Spy]] suffers this in the [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=36lSzUMBJnc "Meet the Medic"]] [[SupplementalMaterial/TeamFortress2 video]], having recently been [[PlayedForLaughs a living table vise]] for the RED Medic while he tinkered with his Medigun. Spy seems rather calm about it though, especially compared to [[LosingYourHead his initial reaction]].
** [[WordOfGod According to]] [[http://www.tf2.com/post.php?id=5816 the outtakes]], BLU Spy's severed head got somehow permanently Übercharged, and now spends [[BlessedWithSuck his invulnerable days]] mostly [[VisualPun having a smoke break and chillin']] [[FridgeHorror in RED Medic's fridge]].
** He takes it rather well, so while the general situation fits this trope, it may not be so bad for the Spy. Though he does ask the Medic to kill him every time the Medic opens the fridge.

* [[StarCraft Zerg]] [[TheVirus infestation]] usually alters your mind into conformity with the collective will of the [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Swarm]] and its [[HiveMind Overmind]]. However, ''VideoGame/StarcraftII'' shows that this is not always the case. Some infestees end up ''fully aware'' of their miserable condition, and only have enough control over their bodies to ''beg'' other people to kill them.

** The manga adaptation indicates that she ''[[ColdBloodedTorture freezes]] [[AndIMustScream them alive.]]'' If that's not horrific enough, read Dante's ''DivineComedy'' about the very last circle of Hell, and ''imagine experiencing that, while ALIVE''. Another theory asks you to look at what Mitsuru does to enemies when she scores a critical hit in battle. And with ''high heels''.

* Upon completing the original ''{{Half-Life}}'', Gordon Freeman is made to choose between being frozen in time or "A battle you have no chance of winning." The latter choice essentially ends the game with your unarmed character presumably killed by the enemies, though the former (and canon) choice forces your character to become a pawn for the G-Man. Not a particularly ''horrifying'' fate, though it does indeed suck. Though since the series is still ongoing, whether or not Gordon will eventually break free of this remains to be see.
** [[PersonalSpaceInvader Headcrabs]] are small (about the size of a domesticated cat), aggressive aliens that attach themselves to a viable host and [[PuppeteerParasite commandeer its nervous system]], creating what are cheerfully named Headcrab Zombies. Said host is ''still alive'' and ''[[AndIMustScream still aware]]'' even as its body rots, it ''tears off all of its skin'' (Fast Zombies) and/or is injected with so much neurotoxin it bloats to about twice its width (Poison Zombies). And as of ''Half-Life 2: Episode Two'' there are ''hundreds upon hundreds'' of these things roaming in and around [[spoiler:the ruins of]] City 17. It's become an infamous fact that when you reverse a Headcrab Zombie's cry, you can hear the human screaming for mercy...
** ''Half-Life 2'' also has the less commonly seen Stalkers - humans surgically altered by the Combine and forced into slavery. They more or less look like emaciated humans with [[BodyHorror most of their internal organs, muscle, and fat removed, and their limbs replaced with metal stumps]]. What makes this even worse is that not only are they forced to into slavery, they're also dependant on the Combine to survive, living on some sort of provided saline solution.

* The good end to the "Tranquility Lane" quest in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has you [[spoiler:condemning Braun to spend the rest of eternity trapped in his vault with no possible way to leave or interact with the outside world. Rather fitting him.]]
** Considering the state of the [[spoiler:bodies of Braun and the other vault dwellers when you arrive, it seems the machines can't sustain them forever, and his real body will eventually starve. It will be a loooong time until that happens, though.]]
** From the same game, there's [[spoiler:Harold. When you find him, he's been turned into a tree and cannot grow or die. He, naturally, [[MercyKill begs you to kill him]].]]

* ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' gives you the option of doing this to [[spoiler:Mr House, if you release him from his life-support unit. Even though exposing him to the outside world ensures his eventual death, his longevity treatments will keep him alive for, he estimates, about a year. If you put him back in the life support unit, he gets to spend that time without any contact with, or influence over the outside world...]]

** Also, [[spoiler: [[ColdSniper Craig Boone]] views what would have happened to his wife at the hand of the legion as this. [[NoWomansLand He may not be that far off]]. So he [[MercyKill took the shot]]]].

* ''VideoGame/ChronoCross'' gives us the Abyss Beyond Time. [[spoiler:Whenever a world's timeline is changed, the world, and everyone in it, are instantly transported to a dark, empty void to make room for the new, altered world. Let me repeat that: ''TimeTravel causes billions of innocent people to become trapped in an endless void for all eternity everytime its used.'' Kinda gives a darker light to the events of [[VideoGame/ChronoTrigger the last game.]]]]
* Being turned into a Nobody in ''KingdomHearts'' could qualify. Firstly, your heart is either stolen or corrupted, turning you into [[TheHeartless a mindless heart-collecting creature]]. Then ''what's left behind of you'' starts to move around on its own will and - if you're lucky - it'll still look human. If you're not so lucky, you'll look like some [[BodyHorror vaguely-human twisted-like thing]]. It gets worse because not only will you technically ''not exist'', you'll also have no emotions, and when you eventually get done in with [[ImprobableWeaponUser a giant key]], you'll [[EverythingFades leave nothing behind to show that you ever existed]]. Thanks Disney!

** You think being turned into a Nobody and disappearing as such is bad? Try [[spoiler:discovering that you're an imperfect replica of the wielder of said giant key and go insane from being brainwashed by the BigBad in order to become a true clone of the wielder of said giant key, only to end up being killed by the ''Nobody'' of [[OverlyLongGag the wielder of said giant key]]. And then try to handle the reality that upon dying, no one will remember you, not even your two best friends. You die, but people do not mourn. In essence, you will be the only person who knew you ever existed.]] Please pass the tissues...
** All three protagonists of ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' get their own tailor-made Fate Worse Than Death in the DownerEnding. [[spoiler: Aqua is trapped in the Realm of Darkness for more than a decade, not knowing if she succeeded, failed, or anything about what was happening to her friends- only knowing that she had failed to return to help Ventus. Ventus is comatose, his body dormant and deep within mazelike Castle Oblivion, accessible only by the trapped-far-away Aqua, while his heart rests deep within Sora, sleeping, but possibly dimly aware and unable to interact at all with even Sora. Terra is trapped in a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind, and has been for over a decade, as his on-autopilot-body is amnesiac and acting more like the body's invader than him, its rightful owner, causing all the problems of the rest of the series as he's too caught up not fighting to not cease to be entirely to do anything about it]]. Not for nothing does the ending drive ''MickeyMouse'' into a HeroicBSOD for his failure to save them.
* From ''VideoGame/DevilSurvivor'', Naoya [[spoiler:AKA Cain, as in the biblical CainAndAbel, has been cursed to remember every single memory from all of his previous reincarnations, including the first one where he murdered his brother, resulting in him living non-stop for thousands of years constantly tormented by far too much information for one brain, never being allowed to forget his greatest sin. He can still die, but since he then reincarnates almost immediately with all memories intact, this just makes things ''worse''. What makes it so sad is that he could get out of this; God didn't 'curse' him, this was a genuine attempt to give him time to reflect on his sin and repent. All he has to do to be forgiven is to admit he was wrong and sincerely apologize for the fratricide... but by this point, he's ''far'' too bitter to even consider that.]]

* In ''MassEffect'', the BigBad possesses the ability to brainwash sentient beings so they will follows its orders without hesitation. The downside is that too much use of this ability turns them into mindless husks, incapable of doing anything without an order from their controller. The player character eventually encounters some people that have reached this end-stage, and has the option of performing a MercyKill.
** It can be even worse to people with strong mind and psychic talents. [[spoiler:Matriarch Benezia, who qualifies for both requirements, sealed a part of her consciousness away out of sense of duty to use her free will in some critical moment, was effectively trapped in her body in the meantime, unable to prevent herself from committing heinous acts under the Sovereign's control.]]
** Also, in the second game, we find out [[spoiler:that this fate was inflicted upon a species. The Protheans were transformed into the Collectors - the Reapers had mutated them beyond recognition, and reduced them to withered, mindless slaves. They're little more than empty vessels to be possessed by Harbinger. So, not only are they forced to serve the beings that destroyed their civilisation, but they are little more than disposable hosts that can be taken over at any time against their will, if they even have a will to speak of...]]

** The Grey Wardens have learned how to weaponize this taint: by drinking the blood in a special mixture, they transform only partially, and end up able to hear the Darkspawn [[HiveMind collective thought]] without actually having to obey. It also cuts their life down to a maximum of thirty or so years. ''If'' they survive the initiation.
** It turns out that the most important part of the Grey Warden taint is not the advantages that it gives in fighting regular Darkspawn troops, but rather that it allows them to permanently kill an Archdemon. [[spoiler: Normally when an Archdemon's physical body is destroyed its soul jumps into the nearest still-living Darkspawn and continues controlling the Blight. If a Grey Warden is the nearest creature - presumably due to having [[HeroicSacrifice delivered the deathblow]] - the Archdemon's soul jumps into him instead. But since he's not actually a Darkspawn, it can't use the Grey Warden as a proper host. Both the Grey Warden's soul and the Archdemon's are destroyed in the process and the Grey Warden's body dies.]]
** Also in ''Dragon Age'', mages are prone to demonic possession. The exact effects vary but it generally seems to be pretty bad. As a way to "protect" vulnerable mages from possession, Templars sometimes perform a process that severs their connection to magic - and also destroys their ability to feel emotion or dream. These "Tranquil" mages don't seem to mind, at least not after the fact... [[spoiler: There was one case of a tranquil mage being temporarily cured by direct exposure to a Fade spirit. He begged his friend to kill him rather than be allowed to become tranquil again.]]

* ''VideoGame/MOTHER3'' provides an incredibly literal example: [[spoiler:[[BigBad Porky Minch]]]] hides inside the Absolutely Safe Capsule when things start falling apart for him. [[spoiler:Dr. Andonuts]] tells the heroes that it's "absolutely safe" in an incredible literal way: [[spoiler:Porky can't be harmed at all in it nor can it be destroyed, so it's "absolutely safe" for him, but since he's permanently locked inside with no escape at all, everyone else is also "absolutely safe" ''from'' him (the worst he can do is stick his tongue out at people from inside it). This means that one will have to wait until time does the killing and he dies of old age... except Porky can't die of old age, as his time travel abuse made him immortal. Therefore Porky, a frail and decrepit old man (if with a child's mind) is condemned to living forever locked inside the tiny Absolutely Safe Capsule; this means that he survived the apocalypse which happened immediately thereafter completely unscathed, and that he will still be alive even after the sun experiences heat death. He will survive all that and more for eternity, in absolute safety. His fate worse than death? '''''Life.''''']]
* Given you have multiple lives in many games, there is much scope for a fate worse than death... For example, in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'', if you are arrested, you multiplier is halved. Given the choice you might prefer just to die and lose a life rather than get arrested, since having a high multiplier is important for completing the stage... Though arguably, losing one of many lives isn't really ''death'' as such.
** In that same vein, in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIV'', the penalty for being caught by the police (losing all your weapons) is often more expensive than the hospital bills that you pay for dying. Many players choose to die rather than have to buy all their weapons again.
** A more serious example comes in GTA 4 when you finally find the man who betrayed Niko years ago. When you find him, he has a heavy drug addiction and is ridden with guilt, and begs you to kill him. Here you are given the option of killing him or letting him live with the guilt. [[spoiler: Niko finds more satisfaction in letting him live.]]
* Raziel from the ''LegacyOfKain'' series doesn't have one of these. He has ''three''. At the start of ''[=LoK=]: Soul Reaver'' on seeing his new misshapen body he claims "Death would be a release from this travesty" and "I would choose oblivion over this existence". At the end of ''Soul Reaver 2'' he learns his fate is to have [[spoiler:his soul imprisoned in a sword where he would be reduced to a mindless hunger devouring the souls of those the sword is used on. He would remain trapped for thousands of years.]] Finally at the end of Defiance he is left trapped in a room with no way for him to escape and the only thing to look at is a mural showing not only is he [[spoiler:not TheChosenOne, but that he killed the real Chosen One shortly before getting trapped.]] Said [[spoiler:Chosen One]] turns out to be NotQuiteDead, and (accidentally) allows Raziel to escape the room - at which point Raziel finally ends up [[spoiler:imprisoned in the sword.]] Poor Raziel.
** The Hylden race also collectively suffers one of these as their war with the Ancients ends with [[spoiler:their banishment in the demon dimension, which keeps them immortal, but deforms their bodies and drives them insane.]] The Ancients themselves suffer similarly when the Hylden [[spoiler:retaliate by cursing them with vampirism, which ends up severing their connection to their god.]] Most chose to kill themselves rather than live on like that.
** Also happens with Janos Audron, the last living Ancient, when [[spoiler:the Hylden [[BodySurf hijack his body]] and imprison him for 400 years to feed their machinery.]] At the end of ''Blood Omen 2'' he [[spoiler:even ends up trapped in the demon dimension with the Hylden.]] There's good reason why he's widely regarded as TheWoobie.

* ''VideoGame/MortalKombatArmageddon''. Mileena's ending. [[spoiler: in Mileena's ending, Mileena, the half deformed [[EvilKnockoff clone]] of the Stripperrific [[HelloNurse sexy princess]] Kitana, manages to swap her body with her original, thus ridding herself of her grossly disfigured face and ascending to the throne of Edenia in her name. While the ending doesn't expand much about Mileena's rule, it's fairly explcit in stating that Kitana, [[OlderThanTheyLook the former ageless princess of her kingdom, still considered a young girl at the tender age 10.000 years]], is now trapped in Mileena's private dungeon, [[BodyHorror with two rows of misshapen, exposed, razorsharp teeth instead of a mouth]], kept in a dark, isolated cell. Owing to Mileena letting her know that no one is going to search for her, and to her impressively long Edenian lifespan (at the end of Armageddon, Kitana looked no older than a girl in her early twenties-late teens), there's no wonder if the poor girl went insane in no time]].

** At one point GLaDOS says that death is too good for Wheatley, and she muses about all the things she could do to them. One of them includes locking him away for a hundred years where "all the robots scream at you".

* WorldofWarcraft gives us the Lich King. Either being forced to spend eternity keeping the undead in check [[spoiler: like what happened to Bolvar Fordragon]] or finally dying and moving on to a fate like this. [[spoiler: Arthas Menethil dies as the Lich King]] and ends up in a Purgatory-like area where he is reduced to a sobbing, crying, tormented child. Sylvanas even almost pities him for the monstrous fate he was doomed to, but admits that she herself is too far gone to honestly feel anything for other people. A FateWorseThanDeath is to be her fate if she runs out of Valkyr and dies for good.
** This troper always considered what happened to Neltharion to be absolutely awful. Forced to take on a task he didn't want by his lazy makers, corrupted by the Old Gods, abandoned by his siblings, doomed to DeathBySex...poor Neltharion. No wonder he went insane. It was almost a relief when Thrall finally put him out of his misery during the Madness of Deathwing.
** Sindragosa...she knows what she's doing as a Dracolich and as she is finally dying, she admits that she is relieved to be free of the Lich King at long last.

* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'': BigBad Xykon does this in StartOfDarkness to [[spoiler:Dorukan and Lirian]] by binding their souls into a black gem he still carries with him, keeping them from the Afterlife. But it sort of backfires, since though they're not in the afterlife, they ''are'' [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming together.]] The spell Xykon uses (appropriately called Soul Bind, by the way) is an actual ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' spell, so you can pull this one off yourself if you're feeling particularly evil.
** The Snarl also falls into this trope, as it obliterates the souls of its victims, also erasing their chances of an afterlife. ''Even gods.''
** Also PlayedForLaughs when Belkar describes what he plans to use his captive Eye of Fear and Flame for [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0469.html in this strip]].

** In Act 6 Act 5, [[spoiler: going Trickster Mode gives you powerful RealityWarper powers, but at [[{{Brainwashed}}the cost of all your negative emotions and inhibitions]], as well as a [[TheVirus compulsion to hunt down and convert your friends]].]]

** The best part is that Raimi immediately chimes in afterward, saying that would be too kind. What does ''he'' have to say to Mars? See the ''BrokenSaints'' entry in PrisonRape.

** This actually shouldn't be possible; Starscream's spark should be the same size as Rainbow and thus too big for her to eat. Don't worry, Rainbow only got a bit of indigestion.

** Many fans believe that taking Ozai's firebending can't be called mercy, as it was shown that benders are extremely emotionally and spiritually attached to their element.

** It's later revealed that Gentleman Ghost was doing this as revenge for [[spoiler:his own fate worse than death. Even though Batman actually tried to ''save'' him from his own self-destructive actions which truly caused it. Due to TimeTravel, Batman knew exactly how the whole thing would turn out, but the soon-to-be Ghost refused to listen to him.]]
* One Static Shock villain, after stealing a belt Static was using to speed himself up to match the villain's technology, ends up using it . . . and ends up stuck at super-slow speed; the last scene in the episode shows him trying to run from Static in slow motion.

** Mr. Freeze, then known as Victor Fries, was trying to commence an experiment involving cryogenetics to cure his dying wife, but then his boss, [[CorruptCorporateExecutive Ferris Boyle]] shut down the project without even caring if shutting it down would also kill his wife. Disaster ensues, and Fries' body is altered to become incapable of surviving outside of a sub-zero environment, forcing him to don a protective cryogenic suit. Much later in life, it was later revealed that the very same accident also resulted in most of his body deteriorating to the point that his head was the only part of his human self that remained intact, meaning he can't even live a normal life with Nora Fries, his wife, who was revived and cured. [[spoiler:Even worse, the technology to cure him (by cloning him) is invented ''50 years later'', meaning that his wife is an old woman if not already dead and thus robbing him of the only reason he really wanted to be cured. When they finally use it on the poor guy, it works and he begins to live a normal life - for about a week, after which it starts failing, condemning him to the same fate as before. Since there's nothing that can be done, Derek Powers's company, who performed the cloning, ''tries to kill him''. Understandably he gets angry and tries to kill Powers, and finally blows himself up to both spare himself the emotional agony of a ''second'' AndIMustScream scenario and to prevent himself from hurting anyone else.]]
** The episode about Baby Doll. A child actress that kidnaps and plans to kill her shows old case members for helping blackball her out of television. Granted she was an [[BitchInSheepsClothing egotistical bitch]], who thought no one could replace her. [[spoiler: However, her tortured mine is revealed at the end, when Baby Doll looks at the fun house mirror and sees what could have been if she grew up properly into an adult woman, instead of permanently being stuck with the body of a child due to a disease. You realize then, that she's living a fate worst than death. In the end, Batman even felt sorry for her.]]

* [[VileVillainSaccharineShow Discord]] of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', as punishment for TheDarkTimes he inflicted on Equestria, was turned into [[TakenForGranite an immobile stone statue]] for more than one thousand years. [[AngstWhatAngst He didn't seem to mind much]], but it is ''very'' telling that two of the literal handful of times he loses his cool was insulting Celestia for her part in his imprisonment ("It's quite lonely being imprisoned in stone, but you wouldn't know that, would you, because ''[[EvenEvilHasStandards I don't turn ponies into stone]]''."), and then later [[spoiler:when he's turned back into stone and his facial expression is one of unrestrained horror.]]
** Though somewhat subverted towards the end of the third season [[spoiler:when Celestia has the Mane Six free him again in hopes that he can be redeemed after all.]]
* Baxter Stockman of ''[[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' was suffering this trope every time [[YouHaveFailedMe he failed the Shredder]]. He would lose a piece of his body until all that was left of him was his head, brain and left eye. In one episode he tries to repair himself by cloning his old body, which ends up failing after a few months and he eventually suffers a VillainousBreakdown.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaIsland'' [[spoiler: In the final episode of Revenge Of The Island it's shown that Fang had a little too much fun with Scott and left him crippled with the only way for him to comunacate with anyone is by flashing a red or green light. Just to rub it in everyone other then Brick and Cameron then laughs at him in his crippled state, causing him to shead a single tear.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfTheGummiBears.'' Seen in Season 6's episode Thornberry To The Rescue. [[spoiler: An evil spider The Spinster escapes from her underground prison. She kidnaps gummi bears but they are rescued by Sir Thornberry and Cavin. To make sure that The Spinster never bothers them again, they leave her tied up in an underground cave, which entrance is later boarded up by Gruffi. It is also implied in the episode that the Spinster might be immortal as she was imprisoned first time by the ancient Great Gummis, which makes her fate even worse.]]

** In "Roger Ebert Should Lay Off the Fatty Foods," Officer Barbrady is hypnotized into thinking that he's really ElvisPresley. When he is cured, he explicitly calls it a FateWorseThanDeath.

** Some of them have the ThouShaltNotKill policies mostly to stay in line with other heroes. {{Batman}} and BlackCanary have both threatened other heroes who have killed, though both of them are double standardizing. Wally thought several times about killing Inertia, including contemplating leaving him to burn in the Flash museum.

** This is the moral of the tale of the Deathly Hallows, and that of the Master of Death. If one cannot accept the futility of escaping death or accept the passing of a loved one, death will be a grueling bastard. However, if one accepts death as inevitability, and that there are far worse fates than dying, death will greet you as an old friend. The Master of Death, the one who gains possession of all three of the Deathly Hallows, does not become immortal, but instead accepts that death is inevitable [[spoiler:- like Harry did.]]

:: Considering that those expelled from Hogwarts have their wands broken and are forbidden to use magic in a world where magic-users rule and those without it (Squibs/Muggles) are treated as second-class ''at best'', and the best possible outcome is re-integrating into Muggle Society all the while *knowing* that there's a magic world that you can never access again...Hermione likely has the right of it.

* In ''Film/AdeleHasntHadHerDinnerYet'', The Gardener plans a great revenge on his old Professor. His main minion is promised to get Kvetuska, the Professor's beautiful granddaughter, and is allowed to do whatever he wants with her. He says he's going to prepare for her such a fate that is worth than death for a chaste woman like her. He plans to have his way with her, and then sell her to a South American brothel.

* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' losing the ability to channel is considered a fate worse than death, as channeling is shown to be quite pleasurable and addictive. One character who temporarily loses the ability to channel compares it to losing the sun. The general rule is that the person will lose the will to live, and die. One character was famed, as having brought a country to his knees, and the next book has him guarded by one girl, whose job is to prevent him from committing suicide. Lady Colavaere hangs herself rather than live the rest of her life on a farm, powerless. Tuon, after returning from being kidnapped and [[spoiler:marrying her kidnapper]], sentences Suroth, who tried to order her death, to become a Da'Covale (a slave that wears see through fabric), Suroth's only thought is of the knife in her bedroom that she now can't use to cut herself. Semirhage specialized in this; getting sexual pleasure out of torture, some captives were known to use their teeth to open the veins in their wrist to escape Semirhage's tortures since she would occasionally keep them alive.

->''"[[ExaggeratedTrope A fate WORSE than a fate worse than death]]? That's pretty bad."''
-->-- '''Edmund Blackadder''' from ''Series/{{Blackadder}}''

** This refers to being thrown into Bane's prison, but it is hard to understand why it is so horrible. The conditions don't seem worse than in most real life prisons, and the guys Bruce Wayne meets there are rather friendly and helpful people.
*** Except that while he is in jail, Bruce watches Bane destroy the city he gave his bodily health to protect and kill/terrorize everyone he had ever loved. Bane also probably thought that Bruce was permanently paralysed, as with most people who break their backs, and figured that Batman would be immobile, physically incapable of walking, and forced to watch Bane destroy Gotham.

** This troper always considered what happened to Neltharion to be absolutely awful. Forced to take on a task he didn't want by his lazy makers, corrupted by the Old Gods, abandoned by his siblings, doomed to Can'tHaveSexEver...poor Neltharion. No wonder he went insane. It was almost a relief when Thrall finally put him out of his misery during the Madness of Deathwing.

* The now immortal Garlic Jr. from the ''Manga/DragonBall'' movie ''The Dead Zone/Dragon Ball Z: Return My Gohan!!'' gets trapped and escapes the eponymous Dead Zone only to be trapped there again FOREVER in the anime's Garlic Jr saga.

* It happened in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', during Mayuri vs. Szayel. Mayuri created a drug that makes a person experience his surroundings in slow motion, and uses the special undiluted version of the drug on Szayel - which makes him experience the pain of being stabbed through his hand and eventually, his heart through a hundred years. Which granted is actually ''[[CruelAndUnusualDeath death]]'', but considering what comes before, the eventual end will be a blessing.

** In Season 8, this is [[spoiler:Wilson thinks wasting away from cancer in a hospital or dying in an ambulance]] would be this.

** "Planet of the Ood" has a ruthless CEO personally market the peaceful, squid-like Ood as slaves worldwide. The CEO's fate? [[spoiler:He gets turned into one of the very creatures he's been mistreating]].

->''"A fate WORSE than a fate worse than death? That's pretty bad."''

* The ''mal'' in ''[[http://thesickland.blogspot.co.uk The Sick Land]]''.

* In Act 6 Act 5, [[spoiler: going Trickster Mode gives you powerful RealityWarper powers, but at [[{{Brainwashed}}the cost of all your negative emotions and inhibitions]], as well as a [[TheVirus compulsion to hunt down and convert your friends]].]]

* PlayedForLaughs in the FilmNoir world of AbenobashiMahouShoutengai, where getting shot doesn't kill you, but instead transforms you into a chibified comic relief character that no one can take seriously.

** Another Stephen King short story (turned [[TheMovie movie]]) is ''FourteenOhEight''. The protagonist is tortured by a "fucking evil [hotel] room" (think the hotel from ''Literature/TheShining'' but concentrated) before [[spoiler:''setting himself on fire'', escaping, and possibly [[KillItWithFire destroying the room to boot]]. However, ''no one'' escapes 1408, not even survivors: he's still haunted by his experiences - he feels uneasy in his own house, he has to find something else to write about now that he can't handle "haunted houses", and he has to cover the windows during sunset, which reminds him of the fire - and it's fairly certain he's going to be like this for the rest of his life.]]

** King's TheStand gets brought up a lot with this. This quote is a good one, in the crucifixion scene of one of the Vegas characters. "There were worse things than death. There were teeth."

* Subverted in ''Anime/CodeGeass''. After Mao gives a HannibalLecture to Suzaku, Lelouch activates his Geass and tells him to "never speak again." The result? Mao tries to speak, but chokes on his own saliva and makes all manner of groans and gurgles and other disgusting noises. Scared shitless, he runs out of the church he and Lelouch are in, and finds C.C. waiting for him, who comforts him... [[DeathByIrony and then shoots him in the head with a silenced pistol]].
** Lelouch perhaps calls upon the trope earlier on, when he tells C.C. that rather than abandoning Mao [[spoiler:when he couldn't bring himself to kill her and [[WhoWantsToLiveForever take on her immortality]]]].