History Main / SinisterSuffocation

* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainSeekerOfCrocus'': Chloe goes through this ''twice'' in Act 1. The first time it happens, it's through a PsychicStrangle when Dr. Yung commands his Mirage Mewtwo to do this to shut her up. The second time this happens, it's in the form of a ChokeHold [[spoiler:by an Unown version of her father ''fused with her real father'' and under the commands of her bully turned maniacal Unown wielder.]] It basically is short-hand of saying "If you want to prove you're an irredeemable villain, command your minion to strangle Chloe to death".

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': During the "Battle City" arc, Marik brainwashes Joey and forces him to duel Yugi, with the loser being dragged to the bottom of the ocean. This is one of the few instances where the possibility of death was ''not'' censored in the English dub, to the point the other characters' panic is much more pronounced, with [[BrattyHalfPint Mokuba]] in particular begging his brother to do something to help Yugi.

* ''ComicBook/ThePlagueOfTheAntibioticMan'': [[BigBad Amalak]]'s energy creature puts its hands around ComicBook/{{Supergirl}}'s throat and tries to choke her when they fight.

Let's be honest, there are probably just as many ways to hurt or kill others as there are people to hurt or kill. Some of these ways, while painful, don't last very long – [[OffWithHisHead removing the head]], for example, is a gruesome but quick way to die. Other ways are a bit slower, and it's pretty much agreed that intentionally dragging out a person's suffering is a crueler thing to do than just ending it on the spot. One particularly painful way of doing things is by suffocating the victim.

While this can just be done with ChokeHolds, the victims can also be drowned, smothered, [[HangingAround hanged]], or starved for air in any other way, such as locked in a room with a depleting oxygen supply. The villain will also typically have some evil fun doing it – they wouldn't do it if they didn't get a kick out of watching their victim suffer. If they're ''particularly'' cruel, they'll draw it out even longer by giving their victim a few seconds of air in between the suffocating – if they're planning to keep the victim alive, this makes for an effective form of torture. As a matter of fact, the real-life act of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_torture Water Torture]], or Waterlogging, typically involves simulating the feeling of drowning. It's just a brutal thing to put someone through, and even if they're intending to leave their victim alive, it's all too easy to go too far and accidentally murder the poor guy.

Of course, villains who cross this line will be portrayed as particularly horrible. Even if they're just a schoolyard bully, putting their victim through this makes them more monstrous and cruel than just being the kid who steals your lunch money- they're someone who'd be fine with [[BullyBrutality outright murdering their victim]]. Witnesses will be shocked and horrified, and it'll force the hero to work even harder to stop them. If the ''hero themself'' engages in this, even as an act of pragmatism, it'll mark them as a dark AntiHero at best and someone undergoing a FaceHeelTurn at worst.

'''Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease''' - While [[TruthInTelevision this sort of thing can be common in real-life]], especially as a form of torture, we're not going to discuss that here for [[NoRealLife/MoralityTropes moral reason]].

-->The hunter's mother was an evil woman who disliked Katie. She was constantly scolding the young woman and making her life miserable. When the time came for Katie to deliver a child, she bore a son, whom the old woman took and choked to death.

* ''Film/TheBatman2022'': [[spoiler:Falcone]] begins to strangle [[spoiler:Selina]] after being confronted. They start out using a stick, and when that's shoved away, they just start strangling them with their bare hands, and would've gotten the kill if Batman hadn't shown up. What sells this is [[spoiler:Falcone taunting her about how she brought it upon herself, just like her mother.]]

* In ''Film/{{Deadpool}}'', one of the tortures Ajax puts Wade through is to be locked in a machine that slowly suffocates him, only to eventually give him enough air to keep going. This torture is the one horrible enough to unlock Wade's superpowers, but Ajax also decides to just keep him in there afterwards while he leaves, cementing him as a cruel sonofabitch.
* In ''Film/TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo2011'', this is suggested to be one of the serial killer [[spoiler:Martin Vanger's]] favorite techniques due to ageing and that the victims are usually younger and stronger than him. He knocks out [[spoiler:Mikael]] with gas and then tortures him by putting a bag over his head.

* ''Film/StrangersOnATrain'': Discussed. The antagonist playfully asks two women what they would consider to be the best way to murder a person. He then dismisses all of their guesses and replies that strangulation is the only correct answer, as it leaves no bloodstains, produces no noises, and causes death in a relatively quick timeframe

* In ''Literature/TheGraceYear'' Tierney finds a set of female skeletal remains with a red hair ribbon wrapped around the neck, indicating that whoever killed her choked her with the ribbon. Later, she wakes up with ''her'' ribbon wrapped around her neck in a knot that becomes tighter the more she tries to removed. [[spoiler: At first she thinks this was done by one of the poachers trying to hunt down the girls, but later learns that it was Hans, [[IfICantHaveYou who killed the first girl and now wants ''her'' dead]]]].

* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'': The Medusoid Mycelium is a parasitic fungus that rapidly grows on the victim's airways, obstructing the throat and causing death by suffocation. Following its introduction, the bioweapon has proven to strike fear into everyone's hearts, and preventing the BigBad from unleashing it upon civilization is a major plot point in the final three books.

* Played with in "[[Recap/ColdCaseS3E16OneNight One Night]]" in ''Series/ColdCase'', where a murderer's [=MO=] is to [[BuriedAlive bury alive]] adolescents. He claims he doesn't want to cause pain, and that the idea is to give them a prolonged death to see them go through the stages of grief for their own life and to eventually accept death as inevitable.

* ''Anime/YuGiOh'': During the Battle City arc, Marik brainwashes Joey and forces him to duel Yugi, with the loser being dragged to the bottom of the ocean. This is one of the few instances where the possibility of death was ''not'' censored in the English dub, to the point the other characters' panic is much more pronounced, with [[BrattyHalfPint Mokuba]] in particular begging his brother to do something to help Yugi.

* In ''Literature/TheGraceYear'' Tierney finds a set of female skeletal remains with a red hair ribbon wrapped around the neck, indicating that whoever killed her choked her with the ribbon. Later, she wakes up with ''her'' ribbon wrapped around her neck in a knot that becomes tighter the more she tries to removed. [[spoiler: At first she thinks this was done by one of the poachers trying to hunt down the girls, but later learns that it was Hans, [[IfICantHaveYou who killed the first girl and now wants ''her'' dead]].

* ''Film/GoldenEye'': Xenia Onatopp's sociopathy has been shown to frighten even her closest allies. Her favourite killing method involves wrapping her legs around the victim's torso and constricting them until the target cannot breathe.

* ''Literature/TheKingstonCycle'' by C.L. Polk: The villain of ''Stormsong'' commits one murder by [[SupernaturalSuffocation magically]] forcing the victim to stop breathing. Grace talks the victim's father into an EnemyMine arrangement by describing what a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath slow, torturous death]] it was.
* ''Literature/{{Kane}}'': In "Lynortis Reprise", Sesi is tortured by being hanged with a rope around her wrists and around her neck, so that she either suffers the pain of dislocated shoulder joints or slowly suffocates.

* Played for pitch-black comedy in the ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' episode "[[Recap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS09E06TheGangSavesTheDay The Gang Saves The Day]]": Dennis's ImagineSpot sees him shot in the head by a robber and nursed back to health by sexy reporter/nurse Jackie Denardo. Ironically, after they fall in love she's hit by a bus and comatose. Rather than return her favors (and upon learning "her breasts were obliterated") Dennis smothers her with a pillow with a disturbing look on his face... while "Walkin' On Sunshine" plays in the background.

* ''Centaurworld'': When the elk half of The Nowhere King is trying to reason with his human half of the mistake he made separating them into two different beings, his human half attempts to drown him in a nearby lake. Unfortunately due to them being linked, his human half cannot kill him or they both will die.

* ''WesternAnimation/Centaurworld'': When the elk half of The Nowhere King is trying to reason with his human half of the mistake he made separating them into two different beings, his human half attempts to drown him in a nearby lake. Unfortunately due to them being linked, his human half cannot kill him or they both will die.

While this can just be done with ChokeHolds, the victims can also be drowned, smothered, or starved for air in any other way, such as locked in a room with a depleting oxygen supply. The villain will also typically have some evil fun doing it – they wouldn't do it if they didn't get a kick out of watching their victim suffer. If they're ''particularly'' cruel, they'll draw it out even longer by giving their victim a few seconds of air in between the suffocating – if they're planning to keep the victim alive, this makes for an effective form of torture. As a matter of fact, the real-life act of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_torture Water Torture]], or Waterlogging, typically involves simulating the feeling of drowning. It's just a brutal thing to put someone through, and even if they're intending to leave their victim alive, it's all too easy to go too far and accidentally murder the poor guy.

Overlaps with BuriedAlive, when the burial is intentional. Another common method is the VorpalPillow or being ThrownOutTheAirLock. This is one way to end up with BloodlessCarnage, as suffocation victims don't usually end up covered in gore. Can occasionally overlap with NeckLift.

* ''Literature/{{Stormsong}}'' by C.L. Polk: The villain commits one murder by [[SupernaturalSuffocation magically]] forcing the victim to stop breathing. Grace talks the victim's father into an EnemyMine arrangement by describing what a [[CruelAndUnusualDeath slow, torturous death]] it was.

Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease While this sort of thing can be common in real-life, especially as a form of torture, we're not going to discuss that here.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film-- Animated]]

[[folder:Film-- Live-Action]]

While this can just be done with ChokeHolds, the victims can also be drowned, smothered, or starved for air in any other way, such as locked in a room with a depleting oxygen supply. The villain will also typically have some evil fun doing it- they wouldn't do it if they didn't get a kick out of watching their victim suffer. If they're ''particularly'' cruel, they'll draw it out even longer by giving their victim a few seconds of air in between the suffocating- if they're planning to keep the victim alive, this makes for an effective form of torture. As a matter of fact, the real-life act of [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Water_torture Water Torture]], or Waterlogging, typically involves simulating the feeling of drowning. It's just a brutal thing to put someone through, and even if they're intending to leave their victim alive, it's all too easy to go too far and accidentally murder the poor guy.

Let's be honest, there are probably just as many ways to hurt or kill others as there are people to hurt or kill. Some of these ways, while painful, don't last very long- [[OffWithHisHead removing the head]], for example, is a gruesome but quick way to die. Other ways are a bit slower, and it's pretty much agreed that intentionally dragging out a person's suffering is a crueler thing to do than just ending it on the spot. One particularly painful way of doing things is by suffocating the victim.

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': Thanos [[NeckLift lifts Loki up by the neck]] and starts to choke him. He draws out the strangulation a good while, with Loki desperately struggling, while also making sure that Thor [[ForcedTooWatch is watching]]. Eventually, he squeezes even harder wearing a PsychoticSmirk and [[breaks Loki's neck]], killing him.

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'': Thanos [[NeckLift lifts Loki up by the neck]] and starts to choke him. He draws out the strangulation a good while, with Loki desperately struggling, while also making sure that Thor [[ForcedTooWatch is watching]], until he squeezes even harder wearing a PsychoticSmirk and [[breaks Loki's neck]], killing him.

* Played for pitch-black comedy in the ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' episode "[[hRecap/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphiaS09E06TheGangSavesTheDay The Gang Saves The Day]]": Dennis's ImagineSpot sees him shot in the head by a robber and nursed back to health by sexy reporter/nurse Jackie Denardo. Ironically, after they fall in love she's hit by a bus and comatose. Rather than return her favors (and upon learning "her breasts were obliterated") Dennis smothers her with a pillow with a disturbing look on his face... while "Walkin' On Sunshine" plays in the background.

* Played with in "One Night" in ''Series/ColdCase'', where a murderer's [=MO=] is to [[BuriedAlive bury alive]] adolescents. He claims he doesn't want to cause pain, and that the idea is to give them a prolonged death to see them go through the stages of grief for their own life and to eventually accept death as inevitable.

* Played for pitch-black comedy in the ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' episode "The Gang Saves The Day'': Dennis's ImagineSpot sees him shot in the head by a robber and nursed back to health by sexy reporter/nurse Jackie Denardo. Ironically, after they fall in love she's hit by a bus and comatose. Rather than return her favors (and upon learning "her breasts were obliterated") Dennis smothers her with a pillow with a disturbing look on his face... while "Walkin' On Sunshine" plays in the background.

* ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'': "Franz Hopper" is one of the few episodes in which the villain displays genuine fury towards the heroes. After falling for Jérémie's trap, X.A.N.A.'s spectre suffers a VillainousBreakdown that causes its body to degenerate into an amorphous smoke cloud. Rather than try to reassemble its physical body like in previous episodes, the spectre impulsively invades Jérémie's body and clogs his airways, in a desperate and maddened attempt to kill the boy.

** Discussed in "The Simpsons Guy". Though Peter is prone to violent outbursts and rarely displays empathy, he is genuinely appalled when he finds out that Homer regularly strangles Bart as a form of discipline.
** In "Excellence in Broadcasting", Brian joins the Republican Party and tries to waterboard Nancy Pelosi. This extremist act disgusts Rush Limbaugh, who tells Brian that he is not a true conservative.

AlliterativeName.TropesSToZ, MurderTropes, ATorturedIndex, SadismIndex
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