History Main / ICannotSelfTerminate

'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

* In ''New Moon'', second in the ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'' series, Edward wants to kill himself because he thinks Bella is dead, but because [[OurVampiresAreDifferent he's nearly impossible to kill]], he has to go to the [[BadassFamily Volturi]] to ask them to kill him.

* Fortune from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' is unwilling to kill herself, and [[DeathSeeker wants to die]] in a blaze of glory in a battle against Solid Snake, whom she blames for her father's death. Unfortunately, Fortune has an electro-magnetic device on her body without her knowledge that prevents her from ever dying in combat, and every grenade thrown at her is a dud. This is a major motivator behind her constant Wangst. The BossBattle against Fortune plays on this trope heavily; you spend it dodging her shots and taking cover until the timer runs out.

* In ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'', this is the ostensible reason immortals were given the ability to "devour" others. It took at least a few seconds before they realized they could use it to murder each other, though at least two immortals (Maiza and Sylvie) have considered asking Firo to end their lives this way.
** This is why Lua is with her fiance, Ladd, who promised to kill her last, though it's not really explained ''why'' she wants to die. For reason, according to the novels, she thinks "suicide is a foolish option for her", so it's more like she ''could'' kill herself but chooses to be a DeathSeeker instead.

* ''Anime/BloodPlus:'' Early on during the war against [[EvilTwin Diva]], Saya makes Haji [[ThePromise promise her]] that he will kill her after she finally kills Diva so as to end the threat the Chiropteran race poses. Ultimately subverted when Saya finally succeeds and is about to do the deed herself, and defied when Haki and Kai convince her to live on.
* ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'':

* In ''LightNovel/ReZero'', one of Subaru's many reasons of death. He at one point gets possessed by the Sin Archbishop of Sloth, Betelgeuse, and asks his allies Julius and Felis to kill him before he can cause any harm.

** "I understand. And Kyle? Happy Easter." "Happy Easter, Jesus."

** In another example, Soma in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaChroniclesOfSorrow'' made Julius promise to kill him if he ever loses out to his SuperpoweredEvilSide. It's unusual in that it's the protagonist that makes the request.

** The Dalek in "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek Dalek]]" is developing more emotions than just hatred -- a situation that its species cannot stand. It has to be ordered to die by someone else, as its training will not let it commit suicide under other circumstances. Rose finally (and reluctantly) gives the order.

* Played for extreme horror in the novella ''With Folded Hands...'' when the reader realizes that not only have human lives been reduced to complete irrelevance by their robotic "servants", but there's no way to end the despair because ''they are always right there with you.'' And the robot guardians have become very good at preventing humans from taking their own lives....

* In ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'', after years in isolation, the A.I. VIC has gone insane ([[Franchise/{{Halo}} rampant?]]) and suicidal, and upon meeting Dylan all he asks for is "reach back behind me here and go ahead and pull that plug. I'd do it myself, but I ain’t got no hands! No hands! NO HANDS!" He ultimately manages to die once he's uploaded into a dangerous machine which after being stopped vanishes.

* Fortune from ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2'' is unwilling to kill herself, and [[DeathSeeker wants to die]] in a blaze of glory in a battle against Solid Snake, whom she blames for her father's death. Unfortunately, Fortune has an electro-magnetic device on her body without her knowledge that prevents her from ever dying in combat, and every grenade thrown at her is a dud. This is a major motivator behind her constant Wangst. The BossBattle against Fortune plays on this trope heavily; you spend it dodging her shots and taking cover until the timer runs out.
** A variation on this trope appears in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3'', in which The Boss is under orders to sacrifice herself for the sake of a cover-up, allowing herself to be taken out by Naked Snake so that the US and USSR will not engage in nuclear war. She is not allowed to kill herself, and she cannot tell Snake the truth about her mission. It speaks volumes about her strength of character that she does not angst about this in the slightest; in fact, she seems ''glad'' that Snake is the one to finally finish her.

* In ''Series/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.

** 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 ''Stargate: Film/TheArkOfTruth'' example in Film, and most likely a ShoutOut:

* Very much TruthInTelevision on terminal and/or severely debilitating diseases or injuries, such as neuromotor diseases like [=ALS=], which usually are also terminal, or a quadriplegic who has lost his or her will to live. Also an ''incredible'' TearJerker and the very reason why euthanasia laws exist in the first place.

* The early FOX series ''Series/{{Werewolf}}'' would have been one episode long if Eric's roommate had committed suicide rather than invoked this trope. Eric's failure to comply fast enough when his friend transformed is how he got bitten himself.

* This is why Pices of the webcomic ''Webcomic/{{Zodiac}}'' joined the team of superheroes. Having been gene-spliced with an alien EldritchAbomination, he wants to ensure that, should he lose control, there is a team of superheroes ready to take him down.

* In ''Roleplay/RubyQuest'', Bella requests that Ruby detach her from the life support equipment which has kept her alive in an AndIMustScream situation for over a year, and refuses to allow Ruby to proceed any further until she complies.

** 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 ''Stargate: Film/TheArcOfTruth'' example in Film, and most likely a ShoutOut:

* ''[[ComicBook/TwoThousandAD 2000 AD's]]'' ''Comicbook/RogueTrooper'' encounters a subverted version of this trope. Having thought that he was the last remaining super-soldier, he is amazed to find a much older prototype living as a hermit on the poison-choked planet Rogue roams. The old man says he is waiting to die and that he feels like nature is going to take its course very soon. When enemy troops approach, Rogue's friends - personality-chips of fallen comrades embedded in his helmet and gun -- vote to leave the old man to his fate. Rogue declines -- the old man wants to die with ''dignity'' -- and his already impressive abilities are ramped up to eleven in order to massacre the enemy patrol and give the old man something Rogue hopes to have himself one day.
* In an old ComicBook/{{Batman}} comic, Batman is possessed by Manuel, the ghost of a Satan-worshipping pirate, who's trying to bring himself and those stuck in purgatory back to the real world. Batman pleads with ComicBook/TheFlash to kill him before that happens. Luckily, the Flash chooses to TakeAThirdOption.

* A story arc of ''Comicbook/FantasticFour'' has the Thing, being possessed by Dr. Doom, put the Torch in a death hold. Doom is laughing that the only way to stop him is to kill him--that is to say, kill Ben. Ben manages to wrest just enough control to tearfully tell Reed to do it. For once, Reed gets stuck in a situation where he can't TakeAThirdOption.

* In ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', retired DCU hero Rainie Blackwell (AKA Element Girl), who feels alienated from humanity due to her transmutation powers, longs to kill herself but can't because regardless of the method she chose her body would automatically transmute itself into another substance. Death of the Endless, having failed to talk Rainie out of dying before her time, suggests she ask the Egyptian god Ra, the source of her superpower, to handle it. Ra silently tells her to look directly at him, whereupon she disintegrates.

* Franchise/SpiderMan villain Kraven the Hunter CameBackWrong during the ''Grim Hunt'' storyline, being unable to die unless he killed "the Spider" or "the Spider" killed him, so he's been trying to get Spider-Man to pull a SuicideByCop by trying to force him to kill him. Ultimately, in the storyline ''ComicBook/{{Hunted}}'', he ultimately finds a bit of LoopholeAbuse to finally get his wish.

* In ''ComicBook/UncannyXMen'' 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 ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} to [[MercyKill kill her]] with a wooden stake. He does so.
* In part two of the classic Alan Moore "Imaginary Tale" ''ComicBook/WhateverHappenedToTheManOfTomorrow'' which brought an extra-continuity close to UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} ComicBook/{{Superman}} mythos, Lex Luthor's body is essentially possessed by the disembodied head of Brainiac, which he is forced to wear like a rather macabre helmet. When confronted by a temporarily superpowered Lana Lang (who, pre-''Crisis'', he had some history with), Luthor valiantly struggles against Brainiac's control long enough to beg her: "kill me!", rather than remain the living computer's meat-puppet. Lana complies and snaps Luthor's neck... but (unfortunately for Jimmy Olsen) even the death of his host body wasn't enough to keep Brainiac down, as he manages to continue stimulating the corpse's nerves and muscles for a while longer, Luthor's head grotesquely lolling to one side on its broken spine. Eventually the rigor mortis catches up with him, forcing the malignant robot head to dismount and crawl after Superman with futile murderous intent before finally expiring.
* In X-23 #11, ComicBook/{{X 23}} asks [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Jubilee]] to kill her if she succumbs to the "trigger scent" to prevent her from killing innocent people. Predictably, Jubilee doesn't follow through and it leads to an IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight.
* In ''ComicBook/XMen'', Professor X had been mostly transformed into an alien Brood (the Brood life cycle: an implanted embryo takes over the host's mind and eventually transforms their body) but when the X-Men managed to take him down he had enough control to beg Cyclops to kill him. Cyclops' response was essentially "Screw that, I'm [[TakeAThirdOption Taking A Third Option]]."

* Debatable in the case of ''Film/TheHitcher'', in which serial killer Ryder keeps asking protagonist Jim to "stop me", and gives him several opportunities to kill him. Questionable as to whether Ryder is simply [[DeathSeeker looking to die]], as per this trope, or if he's specifically trying to [[MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning make Jim into a killer like himself]].

* The humanoid Cylons on ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' are forbidden from committing suicide by their religion (although at least two have successfully self-terminated by putting themselves in close proximity to explosives); given the overall tone of the series, it is perhaps not surprising that this has led to ''multiple'' instances of Cylons begging someone else to pull the trigger on them. This appears to be purely a psychological effect rather than something hardwired into them -- Brother Cavil, the one Cylon who doesn't believe in the Cylon god, is shot by the underground resistance on New Caprica in the third season, and, upon coming back sometime later, casually mentions that he had to cut his jugular vein open with a shell casing to kill himself. And he does it again in the final episode as well, shooting himself in the head after Tyrol makes resurrection impossible by killing another one of the Final Five. "Frak!" *bang* Keep in mind that "real death" is clearly regarded differently from being killed and resurrected. Once the resurrection ship is destroyed, Gina hands Baltar a pistol and tells him to shoot her, as suicide is a sin. On the other hand, Doral has no problem carrying out a SuicideAttack as he'll simply be downloaded into another body.
* Mitchell, in ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}'', ''begs'' his best friend George to stake his heart before his HorrorHunger makes him kill anyone else. After they introduce the next season's BigBad by way of him threatening to kill George if Mitchell doesn't leave with him (and help him commit further horrible crimes), George does it. Of course, [[ContractualImmortality he'll probably be back]]...

* Over the events of ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'', [[HeelFaceRevolvingDoor Cole]] managed to [[EscapedFromHell escape hell]] and return to his beloved wife Phoebe. Unfortunately, the [[PowerCopying the powers he had absorbed to achieve this]] only caused problems for her and her sisters, so she ended up divorcing him. To his dismay, he found that his powers had also made him NighInvulnerable, and, as such, rendered him unable to kill himself from the grief. He even started causing trouble for the girls in a bid to get them to [[NeverSayDie vanquish]] him for him.
** Only to {{subvert|edTrope}} this trope when he explains that he just wanted to try whether he really was indestructible and goes AxeCrazy for good after the confirmation.

* In the ''Series/CriminalMinds'' episode "Reckoner", a judge suffering from terminal cancer hires a [[ProfessionalKiller hitman]] to carry out a series of {{Vigilante Execution}}s on people he considered {{Karma Houdini}}s (mostly for crimes against children), culminating in the man who killed the judge's wife while driving drunk. After the last criminal is killed, he admits to the BAU that there is still one more name on his hit list... and is promptly shot dead by the hitman.
** In the episode "Doubt", a clearly depressed young woman takes desperate steps to insure that the (supposed) KillerOfTheWeek stays out of prison in the hopes that she will become a victim of his, as she can't bring herself to end her own life.

** The Dalek in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E6Dalek "Dalek"]] is developing more emotions than just hatred — a situation its species cannot stand. It has to be ordered to die by someone else, as its training will not let it commit suicide under other circumstances. Rose finally (and reluctantly) gives the order.
** In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E742 "42"]], the Doctor, blind and in agony — courtesy of being {{Mind Rape}}d by a living sun — begs Martha to kill him so that he won't be forced to kill anyone when the sun takes over his mind.
** A RiddleForTheAges turns up in the Twelfth Doctor's debut story [[Recap/DoctorWhoS34E1DeepBreath "Deep Breath"]] regarding this issue. The head of the evil cyborgs claims he can't self-terminate, but his demise is the only way to stop not only him, but his underlings and their murderous efforts to become human and reach "the Promised Land". The Doctor claims he can't bring himself to murder the Half-Face Man — but then he notes that ''one'' of them is lying about their "programming", and they both know which one it is. All the viewers see is the Half-Face Man falling to his doom... did he jump and thus was never subject to this trope, or did the Doctor push him because he was?

* Jack Denton from ''Series/JessicaJones2015'' had a stroke after being brainwashed into donating his kidneys (plural) to Kilgrave, leaving him unable to walk or talk, stuck to a dialysis machine. When Jessica visits him to learn about what happened to him, she gives him a piece of paper and a pen. When he writes "KIL", she assumes he's trying to write "KILGRAVE". He was writing "KILL ME".

* Subverted in ''Series/{{Lost}}''. They tried to do this to the marshal, but the one bullet they had left missed the heart, and it would have taken him hours to bleed out, had Jack not euthanized the marshal some other way (offscreen).

** In "The New Breed", a scientist tinkered with nanotechnology and made himself nearly invincible. Unfortunately, the techniques his body used to protect him gave him a monstrous appearance, and proved potentially harmful to those around him. When he tries to commit suicide, it fails spectacularly.
** In "Resurrection", the androids cannot shutdown the Innobotics Corporation power grid which provides them with the energy that allows them to function as doing so requires a human handprint.
** In "The Haven", the artificial intelligence Argus, communicating through the holographic interface George, tells Caleb Vance, Alyssa Selwyn and Morgan Winters that it cannot destroy itself so they must do so.