History Main / StopOrIShootMyself

* In ''Literature/{{Shatterpoint}}'', Mace Windu takes himself hostage to coerce [[spoiler:his renegade padawan Depa]], referring to himself as "the only hostage a Jedi could legally take". He comments on it, later:

* On ''Series/BreakingBad'', Walt and Jesse tell Gus that, if he kills one of them, the other will force Gus to kill him as well.

* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', [[spoiler:Serini Toormuck]] [[https://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots1250.html holds herself hostage]] in a bit of an interesting way. [[spoiler:She's brewed up a cauldron of amnesia potion and threatens to immerse herself therewithin unless the Order throw down their weapons. Haley, being a rogue, immediately starts with the IKnowYouKnowIKnow game, until Lien [[CuttingTheKnot just decides to throw a shark at Serini.]] ]]

* A variation is tried in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. The Blue Spirit and Aang were trying to escape a Fire Nation base but where surrounded and about to be killed. The Fire Nation commander, Admiral Zhao, warned his soldiers that they needed Aang alive...and the Blue Spirit immediately put his swords at Aang's neck, even though he needs Aang alive too. At first it looked like it worked and Aang and the Blue Spirit left the base, but as soon as Zhao's elite archer wa in position the Blue Spirit got an arrow in face for the trouble (luckily, Aang can run ''really'' fast and saved both).

* After the emergence of the Omicron COVID outbreak in South Africa that led to widespread travel bans against the country, Tulio de Oliveira -- the director of South Africa's Centre for Epidemic Response & Innovation -- wrote on Twitter that soon South African biotech companies would run out of reagents used to detect and study the disease that was growing rapidly in the country. When others immediately pledged that flights of critical supplies will be continued, he responded, "Nope, I will not accept reagents without releasing the travel ban!"[https://twitter.com/Tuliodna/status/1465407098574061571]

* In early ''Manga/OnePiece'', [[IllGirl Kaya]] threatens to cut her own throat with a chakram if [[TheDragon Jango]] doesn't spare the children he's currently pummeling. Since he needs her alive, it works.

* ''Film/BlazingSaddles''. See the above picture. "Hold it! The next man makes a move, the nigger gets it!" What makes this especially funny and awesome is that when Bart takes himself hostage, the townspeople were about to ''lynch'' him! Moments later, they are suddenly saying things like "Won't someone help that poor man?".

* In WebAnimation/HunterTheParenting, [[spoiler:Officer Guy Chapman]], a man addicted to vampire blood(a "ghoul" as the setting describes them, servants to vampires in exchange for the blood), admits he is willing to go to any lengths to get his fix, to the point where he will take suicidal action to get it from the vampire Big-D has locked in his house. And [[spoiler:since Chapman is a cop]], his death would not go unnoticed, giving him real leverage in the situation.

* ''Film/FlirtingScholar'': The main character's mother and eight wives threaten suicide unless he changes his ways, definitely a RuleOfFunny example.

SuperTrope to BreathHoldingBrat.

* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'': Kilgrave takes a police precinct hostage and orders the officers to point their guns at each other or their own heads.

* Max in ''Film/{{Elysium}}'' holds a live grenade to his head and threatens to detonate it to destroy the valuable [[HollywoodCyborg implanted information]] in his head, in order to force the Elysium mercenaries to allowing him onto their shuttle.

* This is one way emotional DomesticAbuse can manifest. For instance, if the victim is about to leave the relationship with the abuser, the abuser may respond by threatening to either badly maim or outright kill themself, frequently on the spot. From the victim's perspective, the choice becomes staying, or risking the abuser actually going through with their threat and feeling responsible for the consequences. It's basically a variant of a WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou situation that can be summed up as "Why are you making me hit me?"

* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ty62YzGryU4 Malk.]]
* [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0XfBoBgqtO4 MAKE ME A SANDWICH!]]

** Parodied in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries''. Yugi's friends start cheering him on at the idea of killing Kaiba. Tea talks him out of it by saying he might ''live''.

* ''Film/LesMiserables2012'': Marius threatens to torch the gunpowder, blowing up everybody there including himself, in order to get the police to back off.

!!Examples

[[folder:Recorded Comedy]]
* National Lampoon's 1974 LP ''Missing White House Tapes'' is a series of vignettes patterned as a standard broadcast day on TV with the "shows" referencing the Watergate scandal. One show ''The FBI'', features this from then FBI director L. Patrick Gray, who was up on some charges from the scandal:
-->'''Gray:''' (''through bullhorn'') All right...this is L. Patrick Gray of the FBI. Now, I know I'm in there. If I don't come out with my hands up, I'm coming in after me.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': Doctor Bowman has [[http://freefall.purrsia.com/ff2500/fc02469.htm set up his lab]] so that if anyone enters without permission it triggers biological sterilization (read: KillItWithFire).
--> '''Doctor Bowman:''' Of course, I'll have rushed in to save my work.\\
'''Commander:''' Doctor, are you holding yourself hostage [[OhNoNotAgain again]]?

-->'''Zeus:''' Well...I have a ''theory'', but she probably wouldn't want me to...\\

--> '''Marin:''' Are you holding yourself hostage?!
--> '''Weller:''' Maybe..? [[SureLetsGoWithThat Yes, yes, I- I think I am!]]
* Done to retrieve SCP-105 in [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/incident-zero-part-1 this]] Wiki/SCPFoundation tale. For context, 105 a.k.a. Iris Thompson can use photos to manipulate whatever object or location the photo is of, literally reaching into the picture to change reality. When she tried to escape and claimed to have lost her abilities, a Foundation agent gave her a photo of the inside mechanics of his gun and shot himself. She deactivated the gun before he fired.

* In 1968, Ludvik Svoboda, a veteran of both world wars, was the president of Czechoslovakia, which was a completely powerless position because the country was controlled by the Soviet Union. He marched into the office of Leonid Brezhnev, the general secretary of the Soviet Union, and demanded the release of 26 Czechoslovakian political prisoners. When Leonid told him no, Ludvik pulled out a pistol and said: "If I kill myself, my blood will be on your hands, [[ThatLiarLies and no one in the world will believe you did not murder me]]." Everyone in the room knew he was right, so rather than face the political fallout from his "murder", they released the political prisoners.

* After the emergence of the Omicron COVID outbreak in South Africa that led to widespread travel bans against the country, Tulio de Oliveira - the director of South Africa's Centre for Epidemic Response & Innovation - wrote on Twitter that soon South African biotech companies would run out of reagents used to detect and study the disease that was growing rapidly in the country. When others immediately pledged that flights of critical supplies will be continued, he responded, "Nope, I will not accept reagents without releasing the travel ban!"[https://twitter.com/Tuliodna/status/1465407098574061571]
* This is one way emotional DomesticAbuse can manifest. For instance, if the victim is about to leave the relationship with the abuser, the abuser may respond by threatening to either badly maim or outright kill themself, frequently on the spot. From the victim's perspective, the choice becomes staying, or risking the abuser actually going through with their threat and feeling responsible for the consequences. It's basically a variant of a WhyDidYouMakeMeHitYou situation that can be summed up as "Why are you making me hit me?".

## Might be because the baddies [[IWantThemAlive want the hostage alive]] (perhaps because the hostage's death [[CantKillYouStillNeedYou would ruin the bad guy's plan]])
## The user is dealing with [[EvenEvilHasStandards a principled enemy]] who just doesn't want any casualties.
## The character is confronting law enforcement officers or other authority figures [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure who'd rather prevent deaths if possible.]]
## They are dealing with a robot that is ThreeLawsCompliant.
## RuleOfFunny, especially if InsaneTrollLogic is at play.
## Threatening suicide is sometimes a tactic used by an EntitledBastard to demand (and get) what they want.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/TomAndJerry'' short ''The Missing Mouse'', Tom hears news of an escaped white lab mouse who has swallowed a powerful explosive. Jerry, who has been painted white when shoe polish falls on him, pretends to be the mouse, trying to hurt himself and forcing Tom to stop him. Eventually, Tom figures it out, and that's when the ''real'' lab mouse appears...

* In the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Cracked}}'' Detective Aiden Black puts a gun to his own head in order to get the attention of a schizophrenic SerialKiller who was now trying to kill himself. By drawing attention to the fact that they were NotSoDifferent (Aiden suffers from PTSD after a fatal shooting) Aiden is able to convince the killer to put down his knife and seek help.

* A variation is tried in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. The Blue Spirit and Aang were trying to escape a Fire Nation base but where surrounded and about to be killed. The Fire Nation commander, Admiral Zhao, warned his soldiers that they needed Aang alive...and the Blue Spirit immediately put his swords at Aang's neck, even though he needs Aang alive too. At first it looked it worked and Aang and the Blue Spirit left the base, but as soon as Zhao's elite archer wa in position the Blue Spirit got an arrow in face for the trouble (luckily, Aang can run ''really'' fast and saved both).

* In ''Series/BurnNotice'', Michael does this in the first season finale. The Organization is trying to take him in but he needs time to save Sam's life so, knowing the need him alive, Michael puts a gun to his head and tells them to back off. It works. It's one of the few times the trope isn't played for humor; it's actually plausible.