History Main / SuicidalSadisticChoice

* This was known as 'obligatory {{Seppuku}}' in medieval Japan, and was a way for doomed nobles or samurai to die with some dignity. Samurai who chose not to kill themselves this way would normally be executed anyway.

* ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'': In the flashbacks when Madara has been defeated by Senju Hashirama at the end of the clan wars. Hashirama, Madara's childhood friend, wants to end the feuding between their clans with a peace treaty. Madara, now jaded after the deaths of his brothers, says he doesn't trust the Senju, and Hashirama can only earn his trust, and therefore his co-operation with the peace treaty that would bring about Hashirama's lifelong dream of building a village where children could be kept safely away from war, is by either murdering Hashirama's only living brother Tobirama or committing suicide. When Hashirama chooses to kill himself while ordering Tobirama not to take revenge and instead work with Madara towards peace, Madara stops him and agrees to the treaty while together they create the Hidden Leaf Village. [[FromBadToWorse And then things took a total nosedive from there]].

This is a SadisticChoice where one option - often the "better" option - is that the victim kills themselves. Usually this is the preferred outcome for the one presenting the choice, making it a roundabout and particularly cruel method of murder, but at other times they could be attempting to prove that the victim isn't so good after all.

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* ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'' features a rare example of the ''hero'' giving the ''villain'' a SadisticChoice. At the climax of the film, Mater, having had a TimeBomb strapped to him that only the BigBad can deactivate, quickly works out that the BigBad is [[spoiler:Miles Axelrod]] and confronts him in public while the timer is still ticking down. [[spoiler:Miles]] is thus forced to choose between deactivating the bomb and [[EngineeredPublicConfession outing himself as the villain]], or dying a very fiery death. He chooses the former option ([[JustInTime at the last second]], naturally), and is arrested.

* Field Marshall Erwin Rommel was "allowed" to commit suicide by Hitler's orders instead of being executed for his suspected involvement in the July 20 Bomb Plot. The alternative would have been his execution along with that of his family - which would have been bad for morale and publicity, as Rommel earned himself [[MagnificentBastard quite the reputation]] both among the German people and with the Allies.

* In the fourth arc of ''VisualNovel/UminekoWhenTheyCry'', Kinzo Ushiromiya decides he's going to test which of his grandchildren is most worthy to become his successor as head of the family. The contents of the test, you ask? [[spoiler:"In order to gain two, sacrifice one." A) Your Life B) Your lover's life C) everyone else's lives. George and Jessica actually do make somewhat shocking (albeit convincing) choices with their own brand of justification...only to take the bad guy by surprise by [[TakeAThirdOption deciding to sacrifice none of the above]] and ''[[BadassNormal fighting]]'' ''[[ActionGirl back]]'' instead. But this being Umineko, they die horribly anyway.]]
** [[spoiler:This is then averted in the seventh novel where its shown the test was used again by Kyrie and Rudolf but only to lure the cousins to where they would be killed one by one.]]

* In Volume I of the ongoing fanfic [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5973337/1/Dragon-Ball-X-Volume-I-Eternal-Protectors Dragon Ball X]] [[BigBad Denkuma]] offers Korros to kill himself to save Haven or let it be destroyed.

* ''FanFic/SplitSecondMyLittlePony'' has Discord give one to Sparkle: [[spoiler:Kill Fluttershy, and get a book with a spell that ''might'' save her life, kill her sister, and get her leg back so that Sparkle doesn't bleed to death, kill all 12 of mares present to get both, or do nothing and die.]] She [[TakeAThirdOption takes a fifth option]].

* A fanfic for BBC's Sherlock [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6608483/1/Your_Words_Are_Gelignite here]] the horrific cliffhanger ending of the series was continued upon in such a way that Moriarty offered this sort of choice to Sherlock, only instead of having him choose between two people, he was forced to choose between himself and John (with the threat of the full extent of Moriarty's madness hanging over John's head if he [[TakeAThirdOption takes the third option]]). [[spoiler:Being Sherlock, he takes the third option.]]

* ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'': Episode 5: [[spoiler:[[MortonsFork Morton's Suicidal Fork]]: At the end of the episode, you either let Clementine shoot you when you're about to succumb to the infection/blood loss, or just tell her to leave you for dead.]]

* The High Brahmin from ''Theatre/LaBayadere offers this to temple dancer Nikea. She can take the antidote to her snake bite but must give up Solor and love the High Brahmin instead, or she can succumb to the poison and die. [[spoiler: Nikea chooses death over living without Solor.]]

** Later in ''Literature/TheOleanderSword'', as revenge for this and having drugged her into submission, Malini gives Chandra poison, saying it's his choice to drink it and die then, or be slowly poisoned over many months before he finally dies.

* The first episode of ''{{Series/Sherlock}}'' revolves around a serial killer who apparently never directly kills their victims, but merely talks them into killing themselves, at gunpoint. [[DownplayedTrope However]], there was technically a chance for them to survive the game.

If the victim chooses to kill themselves rather than make a choice, that's a HeroicSacrifice TakeAThirdOption to a regular SadisticChoice. If they don't realize that the choice they make will kill them (a door with a pit on the other side, for example), that's TrickedToDeath.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2021'': After Skeletor [[spoiler:destroys the Sword of Power and [[DePower De-Powers]] them, he has Masters of the Universe chained to a platform and submerged in a pool of [[TheDarkSide Havoc]]. His ultimatum is that they embrace the power of Havoc and serve him as Dark Masters, or drown. Eldress, Krass, and Ork-0 are able to save them in time.

* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2021'': [[spoiler:After Skeletor destroys the Sword of Power and [[DePower De-Powers]] the Masters of the Universe, he has them chained to a platform and submerged in a pool of [[TheDarkSide Havoc]]. His ultimatum is that they embrace the power of Havoc and serve him as Dark Masters, or drown. Eldress, Krass, and Ork-0 are able to save them in time.]]

* When Prometheus first fought the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica, [[CrazyPrepared he had a plan to take out each of them.]] One of the few he could never kill on his own was, of course, ComicBook/{{Superman}}. And Superman was [[DorkAge in his electric form at the time,]] so kryptonite was out of the question. But Prometheus knew that Superman could destroy himself by removing his energy containment suit, so he contrived a situation where innocent civilians were trapped on a satellite with a dwindling oxygen supply, destroyed all of the escape shuttles, and claimed to know the location of a secret teleporter that would take them back to Earth if Superman killed himself. He even declared that Wonder Woman's lasso wouldn't work on him - he wouldn't try to lie, he'd just stay silent until he was brain-dead. While the situation was resolved through the intervention of other heroes, there was no indication that Superman would refuse if it came to it; he stated plainly that he'd do anything to protect innocent people, but he'd need more than a mere promise on Prometheus's part.

* The team in ''Podcast/TheWhiteVault'' find themselves in this scenario at the start of the second season. They can either stay at Outpost Fristed, with no food, knowing perfectly well that no one can hear their {{distress call}}s, and that a malicious, intelligent monster knows exactly where they are, how to cut their power, and how to open the door... or they can take their chances out in the arctic wasteland in the middle of a seemingly unending storm, travelling at ''least'' twelve hours in subzero temperatures (on foot, because the monster already sabotaged their vehicles), before they ''might'' reach civilization -- and that's assuming the monster, the polar bears, or the storm doesn't finish them off before they get there. The first option is certain death, but the second offers the absolute slimmest chance at survival, and they all know it. [[spoiler:They opt to leave the Outpost and everything that can go wrong immediately does. The monster takes one of their own, they're attacked by a polar bear, one member of the team gets frostbite, and they soon realize they've been GoingInCircles, and end up right back at the Outpost.]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/HeManAndTheMastersOfTheUniverse2021'': [[spoiler:After Skeletor destroys the Sword of Power and [[DePower De-Powers]] the Masters of the Universe, he has them chained to a platform and submerged in a pool of [[TheDarkSide Havoc]]. His ultimatum is that they embrace the power of Havoc and serve him as Dark Masters, or drown. Eldress, Krass, and Ork-0 are able to save them in time.]]