History Main / HeroicSuicide

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease

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[[folder:Real Life]]

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* ''Film/Dragonheart'': At the climax of the film, Draco lifts up his chest scale, so that Bowen can kill him with an axe, killing Einon in the process.

* [[VideoGame/XenobladeChronicles3 Xenoblade Chronicles 3]]: When the gang encounter M and N while trying to escape prison, [[spoiler: M switches bodies with Mio during their battle, knowing very well that her body has [[YourDaysAreNumbered only has about a month left]] before it [[DisappearsIntoLight disappears.]] When the gang are imprisoned for a month and Mio’s old body vanishes, M dies along with it so that Mio can continue to fight alongside her friends. She also did it in an attempt to show N the error of his ways and that [[HeelFaceTurn he needs to start charging]].]]

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
* {{UsefulNotes/Christianity}} generally treats suicide as a sin. However, some have argued that Jesus' death is also a suicide (in the same manner as the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' [[MessianicArchetype example above]]). Being God, Jesus obviously could have saved himself from crucifixion, yet this was also necessary in Christian belief for humans' salvation. A form of heroic {{suicide by cop}}, arguably. For some, it's not the act of killing oneself that is the sin but the despair that leads to it. Despair is a sin to them because it denies the goodness of God. Logically then somebody who only kills themselves not in despair but to save another, preserve the timeline, protect the Earth, etc. has not sinned. However, many (for instance Catholicism) recognize that illnesses such as clinical depression can cause a despair that is not under someone's control and thus lessens or perhaps expunges any moral responsibility for suicide that results from this. While direct suicide hasn't been discussed yet, Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan friar, volunteered to die for another man in Auschwitz, saving the other. As you'd expect, far from being considered sinful, he's since been not only lionized for this by the Church but declared a saint. This is because Catholicism considers martyrdom to be inherently heroic. Catholicism recognizes two basic types of martyrdom. The best-known is the martyr of the faith, someone who dies because of expressing and/or refusing to renounce their Christianity. The second type (as exemplified by Saint Kolbe) is the martyr of charity, someone who dies in or because of an act of Christian charity. Some martyrs of course are both at once, such as if they sacrificed themselves to save fellow Christians. Most other branches of Christian see it the same way, even if they don't use the specific terminology. In the past however some martyrs were deemed as a bit ''too eager'' to die, even directly inciting their deaths, which is why the original formal condemnation of suicide by the Catholic Church occurred. They judged this was akin to SuicideByCop basically, saying one should not seek out death, though accepting it heroically was praiseworthy.
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* In ''Manga/RGVeda'', Ashura's EnemyWithin took control of the body to [[OmnicidalManiac destroy everything]] but to do that it needed to kill Yasha, Ashura's most important person. So in the last moment, [[ThePowerOfLove their bond of love give Ashura enough willpower]] to re-take control and kill himself, not only saving Yasha but their whole world.

* [[spoiler:Ryo Urawa (Greg in the [=DiC=] dub)]] of the '90s ''Anime/SailorMoon'' anime, forewarned by his precognitive visions that the Dark Kingdom is coming to extract the Yellow Rainbow Crystal from him and transform him into one of the Seven Great Youma, plans to die to keep the Dark Kingdom from obtaining the Yellow Crystal and unleashing the youma (which his visions show will also cause the death of Sailor Mercury, the girl he likes). When Ami finds out about his plan, she's very displeased, and ultimately manages to talk him out of his plan.

* Basically, what [[spoiler: Hokuto Sumeragi]] did at the end of ''Manga/TokyoBabylon''. [[spoiler: Knowing that Seishirou would come to kill her twin brother Subaru, [[TwinSwitch she dressed up as him]] and went to face "Sei-chan", both to get killed in Subaru's place and, as she lay dying, execute a ThanatosGambit to try helping the two.]] [[spoiler: Subverted in that Seishirou was perfectly aware of what she wanted to do, but went along with it anyway ''and used this in his own ThanatosGambit''.]]
** Similarly, the TV series has [[spoiler: Hinoto]] invoking the trope [[spoiler: by committing the female version of {{seppuku}}, to stop the machinations of a SuperpoweredEvilSide that has [[SplitPersonalityTakeover almost completely taken over her body]]. By [[TakingYouWithMe killing both sides of her]], Hinoto manages to both release [[BashBrothers Sotara and Kamui]] who have been petrified by her Dark Self, ''and'' stop said Dark Self from continuing to manipulate both sides of the conflict to her own benefit.]]
* Cruelly weaponized by BigBadDuumvirate Dino and Yau-Si in ''Manga/BananaFish''. Yau-Si hands Ash a pistol and says if he blows his brains out right there, they'll leave Eiji, [[YaoiGenre Ash's innocent young friend]], alone for the rest of his life. [[spoiler:Ash immediately takes the pistol, puts it to his head, and pulls the trigger. It's empty. He asks for a bullet.]]
* In ''Manga/SnowWhiteAndSevenDwarfs'', this appears to have been [[spoiler:Shirayuki's intention when she attempted to kill herself after having been recaptured, as the BigBad's plans would fail without her, the LivingMacguffin / ApocalypseMaiden / etc., around and she likely felt she was running out of options. She's stopped, however, and told not to give up on [[TheHero Takeru]], who could still pull through.]]
* In ''Manhwa/ShinAngyoOnshi'' Kye Wol Hyang was a victim of a vicious sadistic choice by resident BigBad [[PhysicalGod Aji Tae]], either she got to live as a zombie and serve him while he committed untold horrors, or she killed her beloved Munsu, and Aji Tae restored her to normal. She took a third option and killed herself in front of Munsu a second time, pulling Munsu out of the HeroicBSOD he was in, causing a massive failure in the curse that Munsu was suffering, making him invincible against Aji Tae, and ensuring that in the long run, the former would bring down the later.
* In ''Manga/FairyTail'', [[spoiler:[[AnIcePerson Invel]] uses his [[MindRape mag]][[PeoplePuppets ic]] to force Gray and Juvia to [[InvoluntaryBattleToTheDeath fight to the death]], with Grey being the obvious victor. Seeing no other way out, as Invel outright states the only way they'll be free is when one dies and they can't attack him, they simultaneously muster the last of their resistance to kill themselves, Juvia in order to spare Gray from living with the sin of killing her, and Gray in order to save Juvia's life. However, both of them survive; Gray because Juvia gave him an emergency blood transfusion before collapsing, and Juvia because her and Gray's guildmate Wendy managed to heal her in time]].
* In ''Literature/FromTheNewWorld'', a character tells the story of Izumi Kutegawa, a sweet and kind young girl [[spoiler: whose Cantus goes out of control and causes fatal mutations in everything around her. The village leaders give her a batch of pills, telling her they will cure her condition. However, she soon realizes they are actually poison - but takes them anyway, since she is too dangerous to remain alive. Shun ultimately faces the same fate, except he develops an immunity to poison and apparently kills himself using his Cantus]].
* In the finale of ''Anime/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaAs'', Reinforce has Nanoha and Fate seal her away in order to ensure the permanent death of her EnemyWithout. Made more tragic by Hayate showing up at the last second and trying in vain to convince her not to go through with it.

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebellion'', Homura realizes [[TomatoInTheMirror she's the Witch]] whose barrier the cast is all trapped in, unable to be taken away by the Law of the Cycle (a.k.a., Madoka) because of the Incubators' machinations trapping her inside her own Soul Gem. The Incubators intended to use Homura as bait in order to draw out Madoka so that they could observe, then affect, and eventually control her powers for a more efficient approach to combating universal entropy. Homura refuses to play along and instead aims to intentionally become a Witch so that she'll be defeated and killed by Mami and Kyoko like how it was in the previous Magical Girl system, choosing total annihilation rather than let the Incubators get their grubby furry paws on Madoka.

* John Hartigan from ''ComicBook/SinCity'' kills himself so that no one will hurt Nancy to get at him.
* In the ''ComicBook/IronMan'' storyline "Execute Program", a villain remotely hijacks several of Tony's Iron Man suits, causing them to go on a rampage all over the world. Tony takes down four of the five but is unable to defeat the last one, which is about to crush Captain America. Because the suit is controlled through software that's plugged directly into Tony's brain (long story), he realizes that he can deactivate it by killing himself. Which he does, by using his suit's power source to give himself a massive electric shock (don't worry, [[OnlyMostlyDead he gets better]]).
* [[DownerEnding At the end of]] ''ComicBook/JourneyIntoMysteryGillen'', the all-powerful Fear Crown falls into Mephisto's hands and he's poised to bring all the Nine Realms under his rule in Hell. Because the Fear Crown was created from Kid Loki's worst fears, if he stops existing it will, too. Even though Kid Loki's certain there must be another way to stop Mephisto, he knows that it would take too long to figure out and billions of people would suffer and die in the meantime, so he completely annihilates himself and lets his older self return.
* To defeat Shuma-Gorath, ComicBook/DoctorStrange absorbs a portion of his power. Once Shuma-Gorath is dead, Strange knows he will become Shuma in turn, so he kills himself. (He survives, devoid of any memory or sense of self -- his ally Kaluu manages to bring him back to reality).

* ''Franchise/XMen'' - A vaccine for the deadly Legacy Virus is created by Henry [=McCoy=]. If an unaffected mutant were to inject himself with this vaccine he would die, but an anti-virus would be created and spread throughout the world, curing mutants infected with the virus, and make the rest immune. Colossus (Piotr Rasputin) makes this sacrifice. And then he got better. It should be noted that Colossus is very prone to depression - maybe even bipolar.

* [[Series/{{Supernatural}} Dean]] does this in the fic ''[[http://amagicbeyond.tumblr.com/post/81933485147/reverse-crypt-scene-version-1-0 Reverse Crypt Scene (1-0)]]'' to prevent the demon possessing his body from getting out.
-->Dean's eyes meet his. There's an apology there, and a terrible finality. There's so, so much more.\\
Dean turns the blade toward himself.\\
Cas isn't strong enough to stop him.
* ''Fanfic/TheRigelBlackChronicles'': When she doesn't see any other way to stop Voldemort's Diary from possessing her and using her body to pursue its agenda of violent segregation and oppression, Harry deliberately stabs herself with a basilisk fang. (Subverted when [[TheCavalry Fawkes]] arrives JustInTime to heal her, after the Diary-construct has fled.)
--> '''Rigel''': Good luck...possessing...me now.
* ''Fanfic/TheSecretReturnOfAlexMack'': When Shar's body is infected with GreyGoo, she can feel that they're going to take over her mind and body and make use of her powers to help them spread -- so she uses her CompellingVoice to keep Alex away, then flies off and unleashes her full [[PlayingWithFire fire]]power, incinerating herself and the nanobots. Later analysis suggests that she managed to set off a nuclear fusion reaction in ''ordinary air''.
* Chara in ''[[Fanfic/YouCanOnlyUseYourOwn someone else's fire]]'' is suicidal anyway, but they frame poisoning themself as a heroic act, enabling Asriel to gather the power necessary to break the Barrier, so that he doesn't try to stop them despite knowing full well what's going on. Subverted in that their primary motivation really is ending their own life, the Barrier breaking is just a nice bonus, and also in that Asriel eventually can't bear seeing them dying anymore and gets his parents to intervene.

* ''Fanfic/AFrozenFlower'': Although it doesn't happen in-story, this is Orchid's ultimate fate as an awoken ''[[PersonOfMassDestruction lambero]]'' with a short lifespan. By the end of the story, she is in possession of a FantasyKeepsake, a white circle with a red button that will end her life when it's pressed and that she chooses not to look at unless she has to. She tries to kill herself a couple times before she grabs ahold of the keepsake, but fails each time. Up until the time comes, she will live the best life she can working at Odd Squad as an Investigation agent and with Grimes and his group no longer a threat.

* The old martial arts film, ''Film/TheAssassin1967'', ends with the titular character's SuicideMission to kill the corrupt Emperor, knowing full well he's not likely to survive the mission. After killing the Emperor and fighting off dozens and dozens of guards, surrounded by his enemies, the assassin then chose to {{Seppuku}} himself on the spot, so he won't be captured alive and interrogated on the LaResistance's whereabouts.
* In ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'', the T-800 ally must kill himself at the end to destroy the last possible source of Terminator technology that could let people reverse-engineer Terminators and Skynet.
* ''Film/{{Constantine}}'':
** Angela Dodson's identical twin sister Isobel kills herself when she realizes that the BigBad plans to use her as part of a ritual to release Hell on Earth. She sends a psychic message to Angela from beyond the grave to tell her to find Constantine and leaves a message for them so that they can stop the BigBad from performing the ritual on Angela. Isobel gets extra points for not just dying, but voluntarily damning herself (a highly devout Catholic who had never done anything wrong to anyone) to an eternity of pain and suffering in the process.
** Then Constantine kills himself at the climax because he knows that the only being with both the power and the motivation to stop the ritual, Satan himself, will personally come up to claim him. After Mammon is stopped, Satan admits that he owes John a favor, which John uses not to extend his own life but instead to let Isobel get into heaven. However, because of his self-sacrifice, John's own soul is now redeemed as well. So with this one act, [[SweetAndSourGrapes he is able to save both of them]].

* In ''Film/GranTorino'', after his previous attempts to stop a gang from harassing his neighbors failed, Walt Kowalski taunts them so that they will kill him. [[ThanatosGambit Thinking he was grabbing a weapon, they gun down an unarmed old man in front of an entire block worth of witnesses and are sent to prison.]]
* ''Film/{{Looper}}'': At the end, Joe realizes that his older self's attempts to [[SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong prevent the rise of the Rainmaker]] will instead [[NiceJobBreakingItHero lead to]] his StartOfDarkness. With only seconds to stop Old!Joe and his only weapon too short-range to hit him, Young!Joe shoots himself, thus [[{{Retgone}} retgoning]] Old!Joe out of existence and presumably changing the future.
-->'''Young Joe:''' ''[voiceover]'' Then I saw it. I saw a Mom who would die for her son; a man who would kill for his wife; a boy, angry and alone, laid out in front of him the bad path. I saw it. And the path was a circle, round and round. So I changed it.
* In ''Film/ScannerCopII'', Sam Staziak's real mother kills herself by jumping off a balcony, to prevent Volkin from absorbing her power so he can use it against her son.
* ''Manga/DeathNote'': Once your name is written in a Death Note the first occurrence takes precedence and any later instance is invalidated. In the live-action films [[spoiler:L takes advantage of this by writing his own name in the Death Note while giving himself the maximum amount of time to live, dying when the moment comes but preventing anyone else from killing him with a Death Note in the meantime. This allowed him to fake his death when Rem writes his name in the Death Note, and prove once and for all that Light was Kira when Light gloated about his victory on camera. He considers the sacrifice mostly worth it, but regrets that Watari became collateral damage in the process]].
* ''Film/HappyDeathDay'': Protagonist Tree is stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop where she is killed on her birthday by a masked figure and comes back to life that morning; at a point when she has recently learned that she has [[ContinuingIsPainful accumulated damage from her previous loops]], suggesting that she may eventually 'run out' of second chances, she manages to get the drop on her apparent killer. However, because he just killed Carter, a boy she only met the night before the loops began, because Carter [[HeroicSacrifice tried to save her life]], Tree, despite not knowing if this will be the loop where she takes too much damage, kills herself so that she can reset the day and bring Carter back.
* ''Film/JohnQ'': John planned to shoot himself so his son could get his heart, but another was found at the last minute by his wife.
* ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'': Khan implants alien creatures in Chekhov and Captain Terrell's brains that allow him to MindControl them. When Khan orders Captain Terrell to kill Captain Kirk with a phaser, Terrell manages to overcome the MindControl, vaporizing himself with it to save Kirk's life.
* In ''Film/EndOfDays'', when Jericho is possessed by Satan, he gets enough willpower to impale himself. Satan doesn't have enough time to go to another host before he is forced to return to Hell.
* ''Film/TheExorcist'': Father Karras kills himself to save Regan and get rid of Pazuzu, after getting the demon to go into him. HarsherInHindsight if you accept ''Film/TheExorcistIII'' as canon.
* ''Film/{{Fallen}}'': Realizing that Azazel will never stop tormenting him and that the demon will target Gretta and Sam next, Hobbes plots to lure Azazel to the remote cabin Milano killed himself at, then poison himself and trick Azazel into his dying body so that the demon will die, too, without any other host in the area. Although he does succeed in setting all aspects of his plan into motion and dies thinking it worked, Azazel manages to survive by finding a cat to possess. He speculates this was what Milano wanted to do too.
* ''Film/HongKong1941'': The final scene of the film has Fay blowing up himself with a grenade to take out a Japanese ship, so that his friends and fellow refugees can escape.
* ''Film/SpaceBattleshipYamato'': In the live-action version of the anime (known in the US as Starblazers), the acting ship's Captain Kodai, unable to stop the Gamilas from destroying Earth because their wave motion gun is plugged - which would cause it to blow up the ship if fired - decides to do just that. He evacuates the surviving crew and flies the damaged Yamato into the center of the Gamilas super missile (while seeing visions of the other crew members who gave their lives on the mission.)
* ''Film/SevenPounds'': Tim killed himself to give the woman he loves his heart (and his other organs to different worthy people). FridgeLogic sets in, however, when you realize that his chosen method (jellyfish venom) would leave them unusable.
* ''Film/{{Doom}}'' has a character called Goat, who is bitten by a demon, which dooms him to be turned into a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil mindless demonic mook]]. Realising that he only has seconds before he turns, Goat heroically bashes his head against a wall until he dies. The heroism of this gruesome self-termination becomes more apparent later when we discover that the virus has differential effects depending on whether someone is genetically predisposed to Good or Evil; bad people become demons, while good people become {{Super Soldier}}s. Goat knew that he was genetically predisposed to be a bad person, but acted against this to sacrifice himself for the greater good.
* ''Film/TheThing1982'': {{Implied}} with Fuchs, who is found as a charred corpse. There was no reason for the Thing to kill him off instead of assimilating him, so it's safe to assume that he did it to himself in order to avoid being assimilated and thus being used to assimilate the rest. [=MacReady=], Nauls and Garry later decide to destroy the camp and themselves with it to prevent the alien infection from spreading to the rest of the world.
-->"Whether we make it or not, we can't let that thing freeze again. Maybe we'll just warm things up around here. We're not getting out of here alive... but neither is that thing."

* ''Film/MissionToMars'': Woody, an astronaut, is blown off his spaceship too far out for retrieval. His wife tries desperately to save him, endangering herself doing so. At last he kills himself by taking off his helmet, rather than watch her make pointless attempts to save him, and possibly doom herself at the same time.
* ''Film/TheLedge'': It turns out this is Gavin's motivation be up on the eponymous ledge. He's been blackmailed by Joe into killing himself, in return for Shana living. In the end, he does.
* ''Film/CruelAndUnusual'': Edgar takes Doris' place, which spars not only her but Maylon from condemnation in the afterlife.
* ''Film/TheDevilsAdvocate'': Kevin kills himself rather than become the father of TheAntichrist. Later it's revealed to be just a dream, or possibly Satan turning back time to try another way. Or, it could be that God turned back time in order to give Kevin another chance to make the right decision.
* ''Film/{{Selfless}}'': Damien eventually stops taking his medicine and lets himself fade away so Mark can come back and be with his family.
* ''Film/TheWolfman2010'': {{Discussed}} when Lawrence asks his father why he didn't kill himself to prevent anyone else's death when he became a werewolf. However, he couldn't do it even knowing what would happen. In the climatic battle it's revealed that he even removed the powder years ago from the silver bullets his manservant was supposed to use if he escaped his confinement.
* ''Film/FemaleAgents'': Pierre slits his throat, preventing Heindrich from taking him to Rommel for proof that the invasion will be in Normandy.
* ''Film/{{Logan}}'': Caliban gets a hold of some grenades to kill himself and his captors with at the first opportunity, which prevents him from being coerced into helping them track down the last mutants any more (it doubles as a {{suicide attack}}).
* ''Film/{{Circle}}'': A few characters volunteer to be killed to buy the others more time.
* In ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy'', the elf princess kills herself to save Hellboy from her brother, since given their {{psychic link}} this kills him as well via {{synchronization}}.
* ''Film/KingArthurLegendOfTheSword'': Uther throws Excalibur up and impales himself, turning to stone in the process, so Vortigern can't have the sword.
* ''Film/AmericanAssassin'': [[spoiler:Annika]] shoots [[spoiler:herself]] in the head to deprive Ghost of his hostage, allowing Rapp to take him out. The circumstances quickly turn it into a SenselessSacrifice as far as the mission is concerned, but since the person is also heavily implied to be a DeathSeeker by that point, at least they got what they wanted.
* ''Film/CrookedHouse'': Lady Edith learns that she is dying of cancer, and decides to kill herself by driving her car off a cliff. She takes Josephine with her because she knows that Josephine has committed two murders and, if not stopped, will commit more. If she is caught, Edith knows Josephine will spend her entire life in an institution. Edith leaves behind a note confessing to the murders so that Josephine will go to her grave with her name unbesmirched.
* ''Film/{{Mythica}}'':
** In ''The Necromancer'', [[spoiler:Teela tells Marek to take her life energy so that Marek will have the strength to save the others from certain death]].
** The Hammer of Tek is needed for them to destroy the Darkspore. However, it's now in the underworld. The only way to enter the underworld is to die. Dagen and Marek thus kill themselves to go retrieve it.

* ''Film/EnemyAtTheGates'': "I want to help you, Vasily. Let me do one last thing, something useful for a change. [[spoiler:''[takes off his helmet]'' Let me show you where the Major is."]]
* ''{{Film/Allied}}'': Marianne turns out to be an enemy spy after all, but Max is unwilling to carry out the order to execute her. When they're caught trying to escape, Marianne shoots herself to make sure their daughter Anna doesn't grow up an orphan and Max isn't executed along with her.
* ''Film/HongKong1941'' does this in the ending when the Hong Kong refugees, led by the resistance leader Yip (played by Creator/ChowYunFat) leaves the country and is on its way to South-East Asia, only to be detained by a boat full of Japanese soldiers. Yip, acting as a representative, offers to go on board the Japanese boat to negotiate, but he had a potato masher grenade tucked in his shirt, and as soon as he's in the ship's deck he deliberately pulled the cord and blew up himself with all the Japanese soldiers.
* ''Film/ItChapterTwo'' reimagines Stan's suicide as this instead of being a DirtyCoward, recognizing that he's too scared to face Pennywise, but knows that the Losers Club might lose if one of them is missing, so he removes himself from the board with the hopes that his friends will keep him in spirit when they confront It.

* Briefly occurs during the infamous page 250 sequence from the film adaptation of ''Film/MazeRunnerTheDeathCure'', when Newt, succumbing to the effects of the Flare, briefly regains control to find himself in the middle of strangling his friend, Thomas, after which Newt tearfully apologizes, before grabbing Thomas' pistol and attempting to shoot himself in the head, an act which Thomas narrowly prevents.
* ''{{Film/Maggie}}'': [[spoiler:Maggie]] kills herself in part to prevent the possibility she would be unwilling to infect her father or anyone else if she attacked them after becoming a zombie.

* ''Film/{{Bataan}}'': Late in the film, the mortally-wounded [[spoiler:Lt. Bentley]] loads up his plane with dynamite and flies it into the bridge the Japanese army is trying to cross, destroying it.

* ''Film/GhostbustersAfterlife'': [[spoiler:Egon]] kills himself by inducing a heart attack with the PKE meter's new taser function when Zuul tries to possess him to undo his successful capture of Vinz Clortho, after his follow-up with a field of buried traps failed due to power issues. [[spoiler:[[UnfinishedBusiness But death won't stop him from completing his business...]]]]

* At the climax of ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'', [[spoiler: Luke]] has been irreversibly possessed by Kronos, and manages to stop fighting in order to let himself be killed.
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', [[spoiler:Harry]] lets Voldemort kill him after discovering that [[spoiler:he is one of the [[SoulJar Horcruxes]], and that Voldemort cannot be killed as long as he survives]]. In this case, ''how'' he dies matters a great deal and has consequences reaching far beyond the immediate aim. Since he died for others despite having a choice to flee, [[spoiler:the magic that shielded him because of his mother's sacrifice returns and effectively renders ''every single Hogwarts defender'' invulnerable to Voldemort. Whether Harry realizes this at the time is uncertain, but at least it keeps them safe from the one enemy they themselves can't kill.]]
* In the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' novel ''Oathbreakers'', Jadrek drugs himself asleep with the intention of dying quietly of cold rather than continue to be TheLoad to Kethry and Tarma if they're unable to find shelter from the bitter mountain winter weather they're lost in. Fortunately, they ''do'' find shelter and he sleeps the medication off without further complications, although Tarma at least suspects what he was trying to do.
* Numerous priestesses in ''Literature/ChantersOfTremaris'' poison themselves so their bodies can be sealed into the wall of ice in an attempt to stop the spread of the illness killing magicians. [[spoiler:However, they were forced by the High Priestess. It's unclear whether they would have sacrificed themselves given any actual choice in the matter.]]
* In the ''Literature/HaloEvolutions'' short story '' Midnight in the Heart of Midlothian'', Michael Baird and the AI Mo Ye need to activate the self-destruct of their ship, but can't because Mo Ye [[ThreeLawsCompliant is restricted from harming a human]]. (As a warship AI, she can usually just ignore the Three Laws, but currently, she's damaged.) Thus, Baird lets an alien invader kill him so that Mo Ye is no longer restricted.
* At the climax of ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'', most of the kandra pull out their Blessings, turning themselves back into the non-sapient mistwraiths from which they were made and stopping Ruin from taking them over.
* In ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'', the Returned can magically heal one person at the expense of their own life, and Lightsong does so at the climax to restore Susebron's tongue, which allows him to use a FunctionalMagic awakening.
* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
** [[spoiler:Lord Ingtar]] faces an enemy army alone in ''The Great Hunt'', in part to give the protagonists time to escape and in part to [[DeathSeeker atone]] for becoming a [[CardCarryingVillain Darkfriend]] and betraying his country.
** [[spoiler: Verin]] has to do this. A member of [[SecretCircleOfSecrets the Black Ajah]], she wants to become TheMole, but is held by a binding oath that she "not betray [[SatanicArchetype the Great Lord]] until the hour of my death". Recognizing the [[LoopholeAbuse loophole]], she takes poison and spends her last hour giving details of the Black Ajah's membership and weaknesses.
* In ''Literature/VillainsByNecessity'', the [[HellGate Dark Gate]] requires a death to open it. Sir Pryse thus kills himself by jumping in, saving the world from destruction.
* In the Literature/KrisLongknife series, upon learning of the existence and coming into conflict with the omnicidal aliens, the crews of the human warships have a policy of blowing up their own vessels if disabled, ensuring the aliens learn as little of human technology as possible and, more importantly, cannot discover the way to human space.
* In the ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' novel ''The Needs of the Many'', Geordi la Forge and the Soong Foundation are able to unlock the "Data Matrix" hidden inside his "brother" B-4 and bring Data back within B-4's body. However, Data refuses to let him replace B-4 and proceeds to write a program that would erase himself and the matrix. This is a bad thing as there's an Undine threat that needs Data and, despite Geordi giving B-4 information about what's going on, Data refuses to stop. However, B-4 realizes that [[TheNeedsOfTheMany the lives of millions are at stake, and Data is needed more than he is]]. He takes over the program to delete himself so that Data can live and save the day. Data isn't happy with this.
* ''Literature/TheSwordOfTruth'': Wizard's Life Fire can be this, when done to protect another person. It requires that a wizard [[CastFromHitPoints put all of his life force]] into a spell that consumes everything surrounding them in a last act that also kills him. In the first book, Kahlan's former wizard does this to ensure that Darken Rahl cannot [[spoiler: use magic to learn who has made off with a Box of Orden]]. Zedd tastes the ashes left on the wall and notes that they are sweet, the sign that it was done to protect another person. [[spoiler: This is also the first indication they have that he was acting on some greater plan, rather than just abandoning Kahlan for the money and power of his new post.]] Zedd later attempts it to stop the chimes, but survives and is revived by Richard. In the prequel book ''Warheart'', Barracus uses Subtractive Magic to insure a war wizard will be born when a dream walker is and counter it, then kills himself to keep the secret. In ''The Pillars of Creation'' Althea poisons herself to prevent not only her husband's suicide out of grief if he found her brutally murdered instead, but chose death to begin with rather than living when this would mean the Keeper winning.
* ''Literature/SchooledInMagic'': Sergeant Harkin willingly offers himself up for death when Shadye forces Emily to choose one of the prisoners to kill to take his {{mana}}. Except he had none, since he's not a sorcerer, and this surprise distracts Shadye long enough for Emily to get the vial of her blood that [[BloodMagic he's using to control her]] from him, and save the school. It also doubles as a BatmanGambit.
* ''Literature/TheHanSoloTrilogy'': Bria and Red Hand Squadron take suicide pills to prevent the vital information they have being tortured out of them by the Imperials if they're captured.
* In "The Word of Unbinding", a short story by Creator/UrsulaKLeGuin which became part of the foundation for her ''Literature/{{Earthsea}}'' series, the good wizard Festin is entombed by the evil Voll, and after trying every means he can to escape but failing, ends his life with the titular word. This sends him into the afterlife, in which he can find Voll's corpse and seal him to it, which prevents him from harming any more of the living.

* A major plot point in the second book of ''Literature/YoungWizards'', ''Deep Wizardry''. [[SatanicArchetype The Lone Power]] once approached the ten greatest wizards of the sea, offering them gifts in exchange for allegiance to him. Three accepted it, three rejected it, and three made no decision. Rather than break the tie, the tenth threw herself to the Master Shark, binding the Lone Power. The story is known as the Song Of The Twelve, and due to recent events ten whale wizards, the Master Shark, and the Lone Power must repeat it, with [[spoiler:Nita]] taking the role of the Silent Lord who sacrifices herself. [[spoiler:It goes south, however, when the Song breaks, but the Master Shark allows himself to be killed in order to bind the Lone Power anew]].
* ''Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy'': Pulled off by Zaknafein in order to spare Drizzt's life in ''Homeland'', and again in ''Exile'' when Matron Malice tries to possess him by [[MoreThanMindControl removing his soul from his dead body.]]

* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'': Elven Dragon Rider Thuriel set off the [[FantasticNuke magical equivalent]] of a nuclear bomb by releasing the energy of his body, which required him to die in the process, saving dragon eggs from Galbatorix on Vroengard.
* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': A necro priest can kill themselves to absolve another of their Death Violations. This is part of Lord Death's mercy.
* ''Literature/TheSilerianTrilogy'': Tashinar kills herself to stop Kiloran torturing vital information from her that would endanger the rebels.
* ''Literature/TheExpanse'' has a somewhat different one in Cibola Burn. [[spoiler: The Investigator connects himself to Ilus's planetary network while pulling along every mind [[AndIMustScream trapped in the Protomolecule]]. He then dives into a "bullet" left by the PrecursorKillers to "kill" the Protomolecule and everyone that's been trapped in it at the cost of his own existence. He's not saving their lives, but he's instead ending their suffering.]]
* ''Literature/GodsOfJadeAndShadow'': Casiopea [[SlashedThroat cuts her own throat]] and [[HumanSacrifice dedicates her death]] to the dying PhysicalGod of TheUnderworld, whom she was representing in a contest that she was about to lose. The primal forces of the Underworld itself declare her the winner in respect for her sacrifice; the god is restored; and he brings her BackFromTheDead in gratitude.
* ''Literature/TheLockedTomb'': At the end of ''Literature/GideonTheNinth'', both Palamedes and Gideon end up killing themselves to try to stop Cytherea. Palamedes detonates his [[LifeEnergy thanergy]] reserves in a FantasticNuke, and Gideon skewers herself in the heart so Harrow can [[MergerOfSouls extract her soul]] and become a Lyctor powerful enough to kill Cytherea and save both Harrow and Camilla.
* ''Literature/AMemoryCalledEmpire'': Faced with a civil war from a pending SuccessionCrisis, a looming AlienInvasion, and his own failing health, the Teixcalaanli Emperor publicly performs an ancient rite of [[HumanSacrifice self-sacrifice]], blessing his chosen successor and the war against the aliens with his death. It ends the civil war on the spot.
* ''Literature/DarkPlaces'': Horrifyingly subverted. Patty [[spoiler:intends to do this by arranging her own murder, knowing that the money will be able to provide Ben with a competent defense after he's railroaded for child abuse. However, it's interrupted by her daughter Debby, who is violently killed in front of her by the hitman.]]

* ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment'' ends with [[spoiler:its immortal protagonist [[KilledOffForReal killing himself permanently]] because every time he "dies" and comes back to life, someone else dies in his place (and the spirits of the people who've died for him stalk and torment him).]]

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' has a somewhat less heroic, but still important, example. Alistair reveals to the [[PlayerCharacter Warden]] early on that a Grey Warden, as a result of drinking darkspawn blood, modified or no, will eventually succumb to the taint of it. This doesn't necessarily kill the Warden, but it will cause them to lose their free will to the Darkspawn - or even worse, the Archdemon leader, if one is active at the time. This gets worse if your Warden is female, and you've played through the Deep Roads section: [[spoiler: If your character were to lose her will to the Darkspawn, they'd bring her down to the depths, mutating and raping her until she became a Broodmother, which is what gives birth to new Darkspawn in the first place.]] The final burden of being a Grey Warden is kind of a mix of Heroic Suicide and HeroicSacrifice - [[spoiler: a Grey Warden must be closer to the current Archdemon as it's slain than any Darkspawn (usually meaning the Grey Warden has to do the slaying themselves) otherwise the Archdemon's soul will jump into the Darkspawn, and it'll regenerate in its original form - a massive freaking dragon. The soul will then instead jump to the Warden - which kills them both]].
* [[spoiler: The PlayerCharacter]] ultimately does this in the true ending of ''VideoGame/DragonsDogma''. It turns out there is a cycle going on in the gameworld. It basically is that the Seneschal (this game's equivalent to God) wants to quit with his job and needs to find a successor. To find someone worthy of such a position, the Seneschal sends down a huge dragon to terrorize the land. The one who manages to slay it is worthy to become the new Seneschal. It turns out that the previous Seneschals were all humans once, who walked the same path. After [[spoiler:the PlayerCharacter]] becomes the new Seneschal, he kills himself, breaking the cycle and freeing humanity from the dragons.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/{{RefleX}}'', the ZODIAC Ophiuchus takes the cores of the other 12 ZODIAC units and activates its seal program, shutting itself down in order to bring about a peaceful future safe from ZODIAC harm.
* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIV''[='=]s Law ending, you and Merkabah reach the Yamato Perpetual Reactor one last time and activate it to have Tokyo obliterated once and for all, as the citizens of Tokyo, known as "Unclean Ones", are deemed unworthy of existence. Merkabah points out that you and him also must die because they have been affected by the "Filth" of Tokyo. Indeed, you both perish in order to secure the utopian future of the Eastern Kingdom of Mikado: a kingdom where Filth and sin are not known and the peace lasts for all of eternity.
* In the ending of ''VideoGame/GodOfWarIII'', Kratos realizes that his quest for vengeance against the gods has seriously messed up the world. To make things right, he stabs himself with the Blade of Olympus to release hope back into the world. Subverted with {{The Stinger}}, which suggests that Kratos survived; this was finally confirmed with the release of the fourth game.

* In ''VideoGame/SandsOfDestruction'', Kyrie is a PersonOfMassDestruction with some pretty bad PowerIncontinence. Naturally, this makes it dangerous for others to be around him, and when he both accepts that [[WhereIWasBornAndRazed he's the one who's caused the death of everyone in his hometown]] and that he can't be rid of these powers, [[ICanNotSelfTerminate he asks Naja to kill him]]. [[spoiler:It doesn't work, though: as the Destruct, even if he's killed, he can be resurrected. Morte sets out to do just that, and happens to unlock the key to controlling his powers in the process.]]

* ''VideoGame/DragonsCrown'' has the revelation that the Phantom Knight [[spoiler:(who is actually the late King of Hydeland)]] did this to [[spoiler:prevent the Morneon cult from capturing him and fulfilling the requirement of a sacrificed king for releasing the Ancient Dragon.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'', [[spoiler:the primal Alexander, summoned to create a perfect world, looks at all possible timelines and determines that anything it could possibly do to improve the world would be more than undone by the massive aether drain it causes just by existing -- all primals are {{Magic Eater}}s, but Alexander is far bigger and more powerful than most, and drains an accordingly excessive amount of aether.]] For this reason, they manipulate events to ensure that the [[PlayerCharacter Warrior of Light]] not only destroys them but makes sure they can't [[BackFromTheDead come back]].
* In ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfHeroesTrailsOfColdSteel IV'', [[spoiler:the default ending has [[TheHero Rean]] forced to go outside of the world into space and to destroy himself and Valimar to save the world since Ishmelga is already corroding his mind and making him give in to temptation especially since Rean has completed the Great One and Ishmelga wants the power of the combination of both Fire Sept-Terrion and Earth Sept-Terrion. He's joined by both Crow and Millium whose lives are also tied to the Great One.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'', during the final boss fight, [[spoiler: the Heart of Darkness will kill two of your heroes at preset points when its health gets low.]] When this happens, you have to choose who takes the hit. While some of your heroes will balk at being chosen, [[DeathSeeker a couple will welcome death as a relief]], other heroes - particularly [[TheGoodKing the Leper]] - will willingly let themselves die to protect their allies.
* ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'': [[spoiler:GAIA, the ArtificialIntelligence in charge of terraforming the planet, had to do this twenty years before the start of the story. She was designed with everything she would need to restart the planet after the [[GreyGoo Faro Plague]] ate all life--including a subfunction called HADES that would undo the terraforming if she made a mistake since she's too much of an AllLovingHero to give up on even an obvious failure. She did in fact get it right on the first try, and everything was mostly going fine for a thousand years, until an outside signal caused HADES to activate unnecessarily. Since she had no way to actually stop him from taking control of the terraforming system and resetting everything (which would, in addition to killing millions of people, have been the final end of life since all the genetic stocks were depleted), she detonated her primary facility, leaving nothing for him to control. She also had a different facility begin making a clone of her creator, who would be able to bypass genetic locks and eventually reboot GAIA. That, of course, is Aloy, the protagonist]].

* In ''VisualNovel/LittleBusters'', [[spoiler:Kyousuke pulls off a successful non-permanent one in order to help Riki and Rin save the victims of the bus crash. In the fake world he created to build up Riki and Rin's strength, whenever he sleeps he finds himself at the moment of the crash and desperately tries to drag himself over to the oil leak so he can block it with his body before it catches fire and explodes, killing everyone. However, whenever he wakes up his position is reset. The day he finally reaches the leak, he realises what he has to do: reset his starting position. Since that is based on the moment he died, he needs to kill himself here so when he wakes up the next time he'll start there and be able to block it, saving everyone. He does it without hesitating, and it works.]]

* Defied in ''VisualNovel/ZeroTimeDilemma''. [[spoiler: When Phi gets infected with [[ThePlague Radical-6]] she demands to be killed and her body burned to make sure the virus won't get out. Diana then tazes her and gets her and Sigma out]] which leads to the events of ''VisualNovel/VirtuesLastReward''.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' this is one way of reaching God Tier, which is the highest level a player can reach. For a player to achieve God Tier, they must [[spoiler:die on their quest bed]]. Obviously, a player usually chooses to reach god tier in pursuit of a heroic goal, and since this is one of the ways to go about it, it counts as a Heroic Suicide. It's implied that it's meant to test the player by challenging them to accept and overcome the fear of their own demise. So far, the only character we've seen knowingly attempt this is [[spoiler:Dave Strider.]] However, [[spoiler:he finds himself unable to go through with it]].

** Episode five of ''VideoGame/TalesFromTheBorderlands'' has one during its climax. [[spoiler: Fiona and Sasha are inside the vault monster that the rest of the team is fighting to buy the two of them time while they plant an explosive inside of it to finish it off. Fiona is at the wheel of their caravan, driving at breakneck speed, but when they try to pull the detonator's trigger, she realizes it's out of range and that they'll have to get closer to the bomb itself to make it go off. Her and Rhys try to figure out how to get to the bomb, and you can see Sasha slowly look at Fiona, and then the detonator. Fiona tells Rhys they'll have to turn back, but the camera slowly pans over to Sasha, standing in the open doorway, detonator in hand, and before Fiona can stop her, she smiles, tells her it's okay, and jumps out, flying backwards towards the bomb. It works, and she's on death's door after the monster dies, but the regenerative device Felix gave Fiona for safekeeping brings her back to full health.]]

* Invoked [[spoiler: and then defied]] in ''LightNovel/{{Orphen}} Revenge''. [[spoiler: Licorice is a girl [[BarrierMaiden whose life and death can determine]] how a massive gambit from an EldritchAbomination will develop or not, and both her {{Anti Villain}}ous family and her TrueCompanions are fighting it out. She then takes a piece of a broken sword and says that since they're fighting for her, ''[[ImpromptuTracheotomy she will cut her own throat]] and keep them from fighting to the death because of her''. Right when she's about to kill herself, however, Cleao's magical pet Lucky uses his powers to vanish the weapon away and undo Licorice's desperate gambit.]]

* In ''LightNovel/RakuinNoMonshou'' the sorcerer Garda captures Emperor Guhl with the goal of possessing him in order to ruin Mephius. Rather than allow his empire's destruction, Guhl chooses to commit suicide before his will is broken.

* ''Film/{{Doom}}'' has a character called Goat, who is bitten by a demon, which dooms him to be turned into a [[AlwaysChaoticEvil mindless demonic mook]]. Realising that he only has seconds before he turns, Goat heroically bashes his head against a wall until he dies. The heroism of this gruesome self-termination becomes more apparent later when we discover that the virus has differential effects depending on whether someone is genetically predisposed to Good or Evil; bad people become demons, while good people become [[SuperSoldier Super Soldiers]]. Goat knew that he was genetically predisposed to be a bad person, but acted against this to sacrifice himself for the greater good.

* ''Series/TheWalkingDead'':

* ''VideoGame/PokemonMysteryDungeonExplorers'' brings this up without flat out saying it. [[spoiler: After the world is saved from time freezing to a stand-still which created a BadFuture thanks to the protagonists, Azuril goes through a nightmare that he can't wake up from which Cressila states is caused by the space-time distortions that are created by the heroes who dabbled with time to save the world. She says that they must "[[NeverSayDie disappear]]" to stop the distortions which would end up destroying the world; the partner character was beginning to wonder if they should do as she said, but the player character convinces them to think of another way out. It eventually turns out that "Cressila" was actually a disguised Darkrai who was lying to them about the distortions and planned on the heroes dying to get themselves out of the way of its plan to puts the world's inhabitants into an eternal nightmare.]]

** Rin Nohara. The [[TurtlePower Three-Tailed Beast]] had been sealed inside her by agents of Kirigakure and intended for Rin to return to Konoha, where the beast would break out and rampage, destroying the village. Instead, when Kakashi tried to kill one of the Mist-nin pursuing them, Rin chose to save her village from this fate by putting herself in the way of his attack, which resulted in both she and the Sanbi (temporarily, in the Sanbi's case - Tailed Beasts cannot truly die, being living chakra, though they take some time to reform after their host dies with the beast still sealed in them) dying and thwarting Mist's plan. Cue Obito undergoing a FaceHeelTurn out of grief over her death, and the rest is history.

* ''Film/TheWolfman2010'': {{Discussed}} when Lawrence asks his father why he didn't kill himself to prevent anyone else's death when he became a werewolf. However, he couldn't do it even knowing what would happen.

* The old martial arts film, ''Film/TheAssassin1967'', ends with the titular character's SuicideMission to kill the corrupt Emperor, knowing fully well he's not likely to survive the mission. After killing the Emperor and fighting off dozens and dozens of guards, surrounded by his enemies, the assassin then chose to {{Seppuku}} himself on the spot, so he won't be captured alive and interrogated on the LaResistance's whereabouts.

* In ''VisualNovel/HatofulBoyfriend'', [[spoiler:Nageki's death turns out to have been this. He was carrying the Charon virus, which was harmless to birds like himself but very lethal to humans, and Dr. Shuu planned to use this virus to wipe out humanity. To prevent this, he burned himself alive... but part of his liver didn't burn and was still infected with the virus, meaning that his sacrifice only delayed that plan rather than completely stopping it.]]

* Attempted by Hoshi Sato in ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' when the [[ReptilesAreAbhorrent Reptilian Xindi]] have captured her and pumped her full of [[{{Brainwashed}} mind-control parasites]] so she can crack the codes of the [[EarthShatteringKaboom superweapon]]. When they let their guard down, she breaks free and tries to throw herself to her death. The Reptilians grab her before she can succeed, but they are impressed by her willpower.
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In ''[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS2E1TheChild The Child]]'', Ian wills himself to death in short order once he realizes that he is the source of the danger to the ''Enterprise''.
* In ''Series/StarTrekStrangeNewWorlds'', [[spoiler:Chief Engineer Hemmer realizes he's infected with Gorn eggs and can feel them growing inside him. Knowing there's nothing that can be done for him away from the ''Enterprise'' and that Gorn are extremely dangerous even as hatchlings, he locks the doors to prevent the others from stopping him, gives a final piece of advice to Uhura, and steps out through the shuttle bay force field to the winter storm outside. He once more compares it to Andoria before turning to look back and letting himself fall off a cliff]].

* {{UsefulNotes/Christianity}} generally treats suicide as a sin. However, some have argued that Jesus' death is also a suicide (in the same manner as the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' [[MessianicArchetype example above]]). Being God, Jesus obviously could have saved himself from crucifixion, yet this was also necessary in Christian belief for humans' salvation. A form of heroic {{suicide by cop}}, arguably. For some, it's not the act of killing oneself that is the sin but the despair that leads to it. Despair is a sin to them because it denies the goodness of God. Logically then somebody who only kills themselves not in despair but to save another, preserve the timeline, protect the Earth, etc. has not sinned. However, many (for instance Catholicism) recognize that illnesses such as clinical depression can cause a despair that is not under someone's control and thus lessens or perhaps expunges any moral responsibility for suicide that results from this. While direct suicide hasn't been discussed yet, Maximilian Kolbe, a Polish Franciscan friar, volunteered to die for another man in Auschwitz, saving the other. As you'd expect, far from being considered sinful, he's since been not only lionized for this by the Church but declared a saint. This is because Catholicism considers martyrdom to be inherently heroic. Catholicism recognizes two basic types of martyrdom. The best-known is the martyr of the faith, someone who dies because of expressing and/or refusing to renounce their Christianity. The second type (as exemplified by Saint Kolbe) is the martyr of charity, someone who dies in or because of an act of Christian charity. Some martyrs of course are both at once, such as if they sacrificed themselves to save fellow Christians. Most other branches of Christian see it the same way, even if they don't use the specific terminology. In the past however some maryers were deemed as a bit ''too eage'' to die, even directly inciting their deaths, which is why the original formal condemnation of suicide by the Catholic Church occurred. They judged this was akin to SuicideByCop basically, saying one should not seek out death, theough accepting it heroically was praiseworthy.

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagicaTheMovieRebelliom'', Homura realizes [[TomatoInTheMirror she's the Witch]] whose barrier the cast is all trapped in, unable to be taken away by the Law of the Cycle (a.k.a., Madoka) because of the Incubators' machinations trapping her inside her own Soul Gem. The Incubators intended to use Homura as bait in order to draw out Madoka so that they could observe, then affect, and eventually control her powers for a more efficient approach to combating universal entropy. Homura refuses to play along and instead aims to intentionally become a Witch so that she'll be defeated and killed by Mami and Kyoko like how it was in the previous Magical Girl system, choosing total annihilation rather than let the Incubators get their grubby furry paws on Madoka.

* In ''VideoGame/Persona3'', [[spoiler:Shinjiro Aragaki's]] HeroicSacrifice bleeds into this; while he did shield [[AdorablyPrecociousChild Ken]] from being shot by Takaya, he was also, for a long period of time, taking Persona-suppressing drugs that have [[IllBoy degraded his immune system]], combined with an IncurableCoughOfDeath, to the point that even had he ''not'' been shot, he likely would have died not long after. The suicide portion, aside from the suppressants, also draws from the fact that the date of his death [[spoiler:(October 4)]] is the same day that he accidentally murdered Ken's mother via losing control of his Persona, and he [[TheAtoner wanted to atone]] for it.