History Main / SoleSurvivor

* Cases of straight Sole Survivorship have also been noted.

** In TheStand it's Stu Redman. There are others in Boulder and there's Tom Cullen, but Stu was the only survivor of the four sent to face Flagg.
*** Well, the dog lived too...

* ''Barrett's Privateers'' by Music/StanRogers, about a disastrous expedition during the War of 1812.

** PlayedForLaughs with mercenary squadmate Zaeed Massani. Talk to him on the Normandy and he'll share some of his many war stories. An uncomfortable number of them end with the mission going [=FUBAR=] and him being the only one to make it out, getting to keep his dead comrades' pay in the process. His dossier in the Shadow Broker DLC attributes this partly to the fact that he was TheNeidermeyer. [[spoiler:This is a hint that he's actually a poor choice for a Squad Leader in the end game.]]

* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'' game, this is actually a recommended way to win - you can blame all the bad stuff on the dead, and take credit for all the good stuff "without fear of contradiction"

* ''Barrett's Privateers'' by Stan Rogers, about a disastrous expedition during the War of 1812.

** Although not named explicitly, the Colonist background also has Shepard as the sole survivor of a batarian slave raid that kills his or her entire family.

** This is one of 3 possible backgrounds you can pick for your character in the series - being the Main/SoleSurvivor of a team of marines who got wiped out by Thresher Maws (who are 'bout as nasty as they sound). Can lead to an interesting scene later in the [[VideoGame/MassEffect original entry]], [[spoiler:when you run across another survivor, who had been hunting down a group of scientists responsible for setting up the attack, in order to study the Thresher Maws. If you fail to 'talk him down', he'll execute the last of the scientists, and then say "The vids say that you're the only survivor... who am I to argue?" and then shoot himself]]. Very dramatic.

* DogSoldiers also ends like this, together with the dog.

* Mau and Daphne of Creator/TerryPratchett's ''Nation'', A tidal wave both destroys every person on the island of Nation and causes the wreck of the ship ''Sweet Judy''. Mau is the SoleSurvivor of the former, since he wasn't on the island at the time, and Daphne of the latter, because she wrapped herself in a mattress.

* In ''The Scar'', Hedrigall is found adrift at sea, and tells a story of being the SoleSurvivor of [[spoiler: the destruction of Armada. An in-universe subversion, as he's telling it ''to'' the occupants of Armada. Except he may not be lying. It's complicated.]]

* In ''Crusade'' (the short-lived ''Series/BabylonFive'' Main/{{Spinoff}} series), Captain Matthew Gideon was the sole survivor of the destruction of the EAS Cerberus. This is also an example of government coverup -- the official story is that the Cerberus was destroyed by a jump engine failure; however, [[spoiler: then-ensign Gideon (who was outside doing an EVA mission) saw the ship being attacked by a ship with obvious Shadow technology.]]

* In the Paranoia game, this is actually a recommended way to win - you can blame all the bad stuff on the dead, and take credit for all the good stuff "without fear of contradiction"

* Another Nasuverse example, Tohno Shiki, from Tsukihime, is the sole survivor of the Nanaya demon hunting clan. Not counting his TATARI clones.

* In ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarezBoundTheCartel'', DEA agent Eddie Guerra is the sole survivor of the bombing incident of the DEA office. Also upon catching up to Alvarez in the final chapter, depending on who you are playing as, if you choose the option of [[spoiler: killing your team mates]], you will end up as the sole survivor.
* In the beginning of {{Crysis 2}}, protagonist Alcatraz was the sole survivor of the United States Marine Corps Force Recon unit when the Ceph attacked the submarine that his unit is on.

* A distressingly common way for Charr to become gladium, usually either by being badass enough to survive the SuicideMission, or by becoming a DangerousDeserter when confronted with something so risky. The player characters don't quite hit this mark, as their sparring partner and only their sparring partner survives the game's intro, but players can recruit gladium of the first type and talk gladium of the second.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Uryuu Ishida is the last survivor his kind in the world. [[spoiler: Six years before the manga begins, the [[TheEmperor Quincy King]] carried out ThePurge which killed all mixed-blood quincies in the world. Uryuu is the only mixed-blood in history to have survived Selection. As a result, he's the last mixed-blood quincy alive in the world. Yhwach is determined to make use of the mysterious ability that Uryuu possesses that allowed him to survive something that should have killed him.]]

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Uryuu Ishida is the last surviving quincy. [[spoiler: Six years before the manga begins, the [[TheEmperor Quincy King]] carried out ThePurge which killed all mixed-blood quincies in the world. Uryuu is the only mixed-blood in history to have survived Selection. As a result, he's the last mixed-blood quincy alive in the world. Yhwach is determined to make use of the mysterious ability that Uryuu possesses that allowed him to survive something that should have killed him.]]

It could happen in a lot of ways. Your family picnic is gunned down by TheMafia. Your platoon is ordered to do something suicidal by GeneralRipper. Your ship goes down. Your DoomedHometown has a volcano erupt on it. You were PlayingPossum when wounded. You were knocked unconscious during the LastStand. You were sent to BringNewsBack. But somehow you alone survive this horrible event. You've become a SoleSurvivor.

* In JohnMilton's ''ParadiseLost'', Abdiel is the only member of Satan's forces who sees through his lies and revolts against the revolt.

-->-- Job 1:19 (Later, ''Literature/MobyDick'')

* In CallOfJuarez The Cartel, DEA agent Eddie Guerra is the sole survivor of the bombing incident of the DEA office. Also upon catching up to Alvarez in the final chapter, depending on who you are playing as, if you choose the option of [[spoiler: killing your team mates]], you will end up as the sole survivor.

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ger%C3%B3nimo_de_Aguilar Gerónimo de Aguilar]], in practice, of a Spanish shipwreck off the coast of Yucatán in 1511. The only other survivor, Gonzalo Guerrero, [[IChooseToStay chose to stay]] among the Mayas and even ended [[MightyWhitey leading a native army against the Spaniards decades later]]. Aguilar instead joined Hernan Cortñes' expedition to Mexico and was the one to write their story.

* In the BadFuture of ''Manga/DragonballZ'', Gohan was the sole survivor of the first battle with the androids. He spends the rest of his life (nearly two decades) fleeing, training, fighting the androids, and looking after Vegeta's son, Trunks, in the hopes that eventually one of them would grow strong enough to end their reign of terror.

* In Creator/StephenKing's ''TheDarkTower'' series, Roland is the only survivor of the battle on Jericho Hill.