History Main / ICannotSelfTerminate

* In ''[[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} Uncanny X-Men]]'' Annual #6, Rachel Van Helsing (from ''Comicbook/TheTombOfDracula'') is turned into a vampire by {{Dracula}}. Throwing off Dracula's mind control long enough to (temporarily) kill him with a spear, she then asks {{Wolverine}} to kill her with a wooden stake. He does so.

* In NeilGaiman's short story "Feeders and Eaters", a man crushes a literally half-eaten cat with his boots; he says "It may have been a cat, but I knew what it wanted. It was in it's eyes." And then later on this character seems to imply that he's in the same position.

** In the storyboards for the unused version of ''Meet the Medic'', BLU Spy's head is not nearly so deadpan, frantically begging the RED Medic to MercyKill him. It's phrased very similarly to the [[Film/TheArcOfTruth]] example in Film, most likely a ShoutOut:

** In the storyboards for the unused version of ''Meet the Medic'', BLU Spy's head is not nearly so deadpan, frantically begging the RED Medic to MercyKill him. It's phrased very similarly to the Film/TheArcOfTruth example in Film, most likely a ShoutOut:

** In the storyboards for the unused version of ''Meet the Medic'', BLU Spy's head is not nearly so deadpan, frantically begging the RED Medic to MercyKill him.

* A variation occurs as part of a minor quest in the Shivering Isles expansion of VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion, where an Imperial named Hirrus Clutumnus in Crucible asks you to kill him. He's perfectly capable of doing it himself and would be happy to, but doesn't want to end up on the Hill of Suicides like the others before him. Fortunately, he happens to spend time on the rail-less staircase to the New Sheoth palace grounds...
** Unfortunately, like many other characters, he responds to being pushed out of his scripted position by trying to return to it, making it more likely that the player character will slip past him and fall off the stairs himself.

* ''Series/{{The X-Files}}''

* In ''KamenRiderOOO: [[TheMovie Nobunaga's Desire]]'', Nobunaga is given three black Core Medals and sent out of control. He manages to hang onto himself long enough to beg Eiji to kill him before he goes out of control. Eiji ultimately defeats him, allowing him to die peacefully.

* In ''KamenRiderKuuga'', Yuusuke requests that if he cannot control the power of Ultimate Kuuga and becomes the '[[UltimateEvil Ultimate Darkness]]', his friend Ichijo to shoot him through the [[TransformationTrinket Arcle]] and kill him. Thankfully he doesn't become evil, just {{Badass}}.

** Yomi also repeatedly tells [[spoiler:Noriyuki]] to kill her to prevent her from [[spoiler:killing Kazuki.]] At first it seems like she might just be taunting him, until she starts crying while she screams this.

* Early in the Marvel run of Comicbook/TheTransformers, [[spoiler: the Space Bridge does this, as the bridge itself is the [[BodyHorror horribly twisted body]] of its designer, Spanner. He begs Blaster to kill him, considering life as an immobile transporter for the Decepticons AFateWorseThanDeath.]]

* Early in the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' series, [[spoiler: Visser Three]]'s host is briefly freed from the AndIMustScream state of Controllerhood and asks [[spoiler: Aximilli]] to kill him before he can be recaptured. Ax refuses.

* In Creator/JulieKagawa's ''Literature/TheIronDaughter'', [[spoiler:Ash]] under Virus's control, pleads this.

* In AntonyAndCleopatra [[spoiler: Antony]] asks his loyal subordinate to kill him when it's clear he's lost and [[spoiler: Cleopatra]] makes him think she's dead. The man in question kills himself rather than kill his general, and is posthumously commended for being "thrice-nobler" than [[spoiler: Antony]]. Unfortunately, when [[spoiler: Antony]] tries to follow his example, he botches it and dies in protracted agony, with other soldiers being as unwilling as the first to strike the final blow themselves.

* At the conclusion of ''VideoGame/{{MOTHER 3}}'', the Masked Man regains his old identity whilst battling [[spoiler:his brother, Lucas]]. After [[DramaticUnmask removing his helmet]], he directs a bolt of PK Lightning at Lucas' Franklin Badge (an accessory which deflects electric attacks), killing himself in the backfire.

* In ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'', the noble dragon Belial's heart was cursed by the Three Wise Men, forcing him to serve them. Even though he really doesn't want to hurt anyone, he's forced to be their attack dog. [[spoiler:In the final battle of Cornelius' chapter, Cornelius mortally wounds Belial by piercing his heart. When Urzur investigates the aftermath, Belial reveals that he is free of the Wise Mens' spell since his heart was pierced. It ends badly for Urzur.]]

* In LarryNiven's novel ''[[RingWorld The Ringworld Engineers]]'', Teela Brown has become a Protector whose descendant-protecting instincts are paradoxically making her try to stop the main characters from saving the Ringworld. She is, however, just rational enough to provoke the main characters into killing her so they can get on with the job.
** It helps slightly that Louis is literally the only creature on Ringworld who is technically the same species as she is, so her protective instincts are ''slightly'' stronger towards him then they are towards the humanoid-but-not-quite-''human'' Ringworld natives. She doesn't feel any instinctive compunctions to keep Chmeee alive, though. Luckily he's a half-ton of obligate carnivore from a ProudWarriorRace, and therefore no slouch himself.

* Inverted in French comic ''ComicBook/LesLegendaires''. The BigBad points out that he's a god. In this verse, [[TakesOneToKillOne only gods can kill gods]], and other gods have deserted this planet. So, he states that the only hope for the heroes is that he would suicide. The loophole was to kill him with a sword forged with his own blood (actually the blood of the guy he possess the body).

* Inverted in French comic ''ComicBook/LesLegendaires''. The BigBad points out that he's a god. In this verse, only gods can kill gods, and other gods have deserted this planet. So, he states that the only hope for the heroes is that he would suicide. The loophole was to kill him with a sword forged with his own blood (actually the blood of the guy he possess the body).

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ConanTheBarbarian story "The Devil In Iron" Octavia beg to escape an unspecified FateWorseThanDeath.

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's ConanTheBarbarian story "The People of the Black Circle", the king demands this of his sister before his soul is trapped.

** Agustus Sinclair, changed into a Delta Big Daddy, and forced to obey her every command. He begs for you to stop him, and apologizes for not being able to help you anymore.

-->-- '''The T-800 cyborg''', ''Terminator2JudgmentDay''

!!Examples:

* ''Film/{{Terminator}} 2'', where the quote for this trope comes from, has the title character insisting on this, in order that the technology inside him be destroyed completely.
** As a nod, in ''Terminator 3'', when Katherine Brewster (whom, unbeknownst to herself and the audience at that point, the T-850 must obey), says "Drop dead, you A**HOLE," the T-850 responds: "I am unable to comply."

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* Horace [=McCoy=]'s ''They Shoot Horses, Don't They?'' ends with Gloria asking Robert to shoot her because she can't bring herself to commit suicide. He complies, and later when the cops ask him why he did it as they're taking him away, he [[TitleDrop offers the title phrase]] in reply.

* In an old {{Batman}} comic, Batman is possessed by Manuel, a dead Satanic-worshipping pirate, who's trying to bring himself and those stuck in purgatory back to the real world. Batman pleas with TheFlash to kill him before that happens. Luckily, the Flash chooses to TakeAThirdOption.

* In Dean Koontz's Frankenstein, the New Race of Dr. Frankenstein/Helios's creation can't commit suicide, or allow themselves to be killed, or do anything that would force Helios to kill them. This isn't because he values their lives, but because he's a control freak that wants total control of them from life to death. Several of his creations ask to die at a couple of points, and others want to, but can't, driving them into greater fits of rage and making them rather psychologically messed up.

* In Warhammer 40,000: FireWarrior Admrial Constantine (voiced by BrianBlessed!) begs you to shoot him before he turns into a Chaos Spawn. Demon-possessed BrianBlessed just asked you to shoot him.

** Well, to be fair, they weren't actually BrainwashedAndCrazy so much as just PeoplePuppets, although given that their bodies only followed orders rather than being controlled directly, that definition is not true either. The end result was that they were almost entirely locked inside their own mind, with their bodies outside of their control, rather than simply being conditioned. Genki just managed to destroy the [[PuppeteerParasite control devices]] implanted on them without killing them.

* The Dalek in the BigFinishDoctorWho audio ''Jubilee'' had had its self-destruct system disabled and, more than just ordering it to self-destruct, the Dalek demanded that Evelyn actually shoot it with its own gun.

* In a possible future shown at the beginning of the BelisariusSeries, Belisarius and Justinian want to die to avoid being captured by the Malwa soldiers who are overwhelming the city but don't want to commit the mortal sin of suicide. A Hindu slave, whose religion doesn't have the same prohibition, is given the task of pushing them into a pit of molten metal before killing himself.
* In Literature/TheDresdenFiles, Lloyd Slate to Harry once Mab begins torturing the former. Harry eventually does, but for ultimately selfish reasons.
* At the end of [[TheDraka Under The Yoke]], the heroine is trapped in a nuclear bunker with her ally and a member of the Domination's secret police. As a member of LaResistance, her duty is to detonate the bomb she is carrying, thus destroying the experimental nuclear device and setting [[TheEmpire the Domination's]] nuclear arms race back several years. Regrettably, that will kill everyone in the bunker, and as a devout Catholic nun she cannot commit the mortal sin of suicide, nor can she allow her ally to commit it for her. [[NobleDemon The secret policeman]] solves the problem for her by remarking that there's no way he's getting out of there alive, and though he has contempt for her religion he respects her faith in it... so he kills her, thus detonating the explosive and in so doing, saving both her and her ally from the sin of suicide.

* In ''[[Comicbook/{{X-Men}} Uncanny X-Men]]'' Annual #6, Rachel Van Helsing (from ''TheTombOfDracula'') is turned into a vampire by {{Dracula}}. Throwing off Dracula's mind control long enough to (temporarily) kill him with a spear, she then asks {{Wolverine}} to kill her with a wooden stake. He does so.