"Not How I'm Dying" Declaration

Syrio Forel: What do we say to the god of death?
Arya: Not today.

— Game of Thrones

There's no shortage of ways to die in this world, or various worlds in the various multi-verses found on the various pages of this very site.

Some methods of dying, like Go Out with a Smile, Face Death with Dignity, or Heroic Sacrifice are more dignified and respected than others, such as Senseless Sacrifice or Undignified Death.

When confronted with a possible means of death, either in a practical situation or a hypothetical discussion, one character will protest the means of death confronting them, declaring firmly that they will NOT be dying that way. Often as a means of Badass Boast, though it could simply be a protest at how ridiculous or ignominious that particular form of death might be. A character may also feel they Must Not Die a Virgin.

In some cases, it may result in someone concluding Better to Die than Be Killed. It can also lead to a Heroic Second Wind.

It may overlap with The Determinator, though tragically (or in some cases comically), the character making the declaration isn't always right about their proposed survival.

Not to be confused with someone knowing they will die at a later date. Although it can overlap with this trope.

Related to Never Tell Me the Odds!. See also "Too Young to Die" Lamentation and A Good Way to Die. Compare Mortality Phobia when they're afraid to die, period

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• My-HiME: In the first episode, Mai is moving through corridors and crawlspaces trying to escape the bifurcated and sinking ferry she's on, saying, "There's no way I'm going to die in a place like this!"
• Ranma ½: Ranma's enemies, eager to claim the lead as Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, go to extreme measures to stop Ranma from participating. But, as Ranma himself puts it:
  Ranma: Did you really think sealing me in concrete and burying me in the yard was even going to slow me down?!
• Wasteful Days of High School Girls: After Majo makes a Ghost Leg Lottery on ways to die, Baka gets "bludgeoned to death". An eager Wota asks Robo if she has any blunt instruments on her, and Robo suggests that the edge of a desk or chair might do the trick. Baka literally bends over backwards to confront her "friends", saying, "I ain't goin' out like that."

Audio Dramas

• In one Big Finish Doctor Who drama, the Seventh Doctor is facing a deadly situation while light opera is playing in the background. Seven defiantly shouts "I refuse to die to elevator music!" Also counts as a Continuity Nod, as his regeneration, broadcast years prior in Real Life, showed him essentially doing exactly that.

Comic Books

• In Avengers Disassembled, Hawkeye is fighting a group of Kree when his quiver of arrows is struck with a laser blast and catches fire. Realizing it's too late to get rid of his quiver before the more explosive arrows go up, he grabs hold of a Kree and uses his rocket pack to shoot himself towards a Kree ship declaring "Not like this! Not like this! LIKE THIS!"

Fan Works

• Dungeon Keeper Ami: In the first chapter, Ami, when facing possible death, has thoughts that she's "not going down without a fight".

Films — Animated

• Finding Nemo: Marlin and Dory have finally made it to Sydney to find Nemo when they are scooped up by a pelican. As the bird starts swallowing them, Marlin declares "I didn't come this far to be breakfast!" and holds on to its throat. The pelican starts choking, which gets the attention of another, Nigel, who knows about Nemo, and after rescuing them, helps the two fish get to him.
• The LEGO Movie: As the submarine used to escape Bad Cop's assault on Cloud Cuckoo Land begins to fall apart and fill up with water, Batman declares "This is not how Batman dies.".
• Toy Story: Several times (in the first movie, in Lightyear, etc) Buzz will respond to someone saying they're about to die with "Not today!" He notably says this right before his famous scene in the first movie where he and Woody "fall with style".

Films — Live Action

• Big Fish: Edward Bloom, as a boy, had a witch show him how he'd die, as he realized that, if he knew how he'd die, then there was nothing else in life to scare him because he knew he'd get through it. Thus, whenever confronted with a situation many would regard as hopeless, he'd simply shout "This isn't how I die!" and find a way out.
• Black Adam (2022): Karim gains the confidence to fight back against Sabbac's army of zombies as he tells his family that Doctor Fate predicted he would actually die by electrocution.
• In The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug, after Bilbo and the Company have narrowly escaped being burnt alive by Smaug, Thorin suggests that they retreat to Erebor's western guardhouse to try finding a way out of the mountain. Sadly, when they get there, they find that the exit to the guardhouse was blocked off, and even worse, the entire room is filled with the mummified corpses of the last Dwarves left behind in Erebor, who died after retreating there from starvation and suffocation. Balin, disheartened by this discovery, starts commenting on how they might be able to last a few days at best, only for Thorin to interrupt, "No. I will not die like this. Cowering. Clawing for breath." He then instructs his True Companions to split up and lure Smaug into Erebor's old forges so they can try to kill the dragon: "If this is to end in fire, then we will all burn together!" (Of course, those who have read the books know that the Dwarves won't succeed at killing Smaug this way)
• Serenity (2005): During the Final Battle, Kaylee is despondent with grief and hopeless for the fight ahead... until Simon finally, finally confesses his feelings to her. After a moment of confusion, Kaylee grabs a gun and proclaims: "To hell with this — I'm gonna live!" Both survive and are last seen having passionate Glad-to-Be-Alive Sex in their bunk.
• Star Trek III: The Search for Spock: A more somber version. The Enterprise has been crippled by a shot from Kruge's Bird-of-Prey, and Kruge is demanding their surrender. Kirk quietly tells his friends "I swear to you, we're not finished." He then comes up with a plan to take out the Klingon crew while saving his own, activating the Enterprise's self-destruct mechanism and then beaming out just as the Klingons are beaming in.

Literature

• Ciaphas Cain: At one point in For the Emperor, Cain, Amberley, and a recon squad have a quick meal of guard-issue ration bars before heading into Gravalax's undercity. Amberley takes one bite of hers, makes a face, and announces she's definitely surviving the mission because no way is that going to be her last meal.

Live-Action TV

• The Big Bang Theory: A passive example in "The Launch Acceleration". Howard appears to be bummed when his trip to the International Space Station gets cancelled, but the minute he gets off the phone, he is relieved, crying, "I'm not gonna die in space! I'm gonna die the way God intended: In my late 50s with a heart full of pastrami."
• Daredevil (2015): While hiding in an abandoned building from cops on Fisk's payroll, an injured Vladimir tells Matt twice that this will not be how he dies: first while fighting back against Matt (whom Vladimir believes killed his brother Anatoly), and second as an Ironic Echo when he joins forces with Matt to escape into underground tunnels. Eventually, however, Vladimir decides to stay behind in the tunnels and hold off the ESU pursuing them while Matt escapes, knowing full well that he will indeed die in the shootout.
• Game of Thrones: Invoked by Syrio, who teaches Arya to respond to death by saying "Not Today".
• Inverted in Ressha Sentai ToQger. Sixth Ranger Akira Nijino has as his Character Catchphrase different variations of "So this is the place I'll die..." often in innocuous or mildly inconvenient situations. He's a comically serious Death Seeker due to the atrocities he committed as a former minion of the Shadow Line, namely ruining pleasant days by summoning rainstorms.
• Godless: Anytime Frank Griffin is faced with a potential lethal danger, he will boldly state that he has "seen his death, and this is not it", so he knows he will survive. Which he does, up until the series finale where Roy Goode shoots him death despite Frank's claim, and even tells Frank that he saw wrong.
• Star Trek:
  • Star Trek: The Next Generation: Subverted by the Klingon phrase "Heghlu'meH QaQ jajvam" (It is a good day to die). Klingon culture values going out during a ferocious battle, especially against mightier foes. However, that's the only death they consider honorable; any other forms of going (such as through disease, natural causes, etc) are seen as horrible ways to die.
  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine: The DS9 crew are on a joint operation with the Jem'Hadar, whose leader gives a fatalistic speech about how the Jem'Hadar are all dead and go into battle to reclaim their lives. Chief O'Brien counters with his own speech, short and to the point.
    Chief O'Brien: I am Chief Miles Edward O'Brien. I am very much alive, and I intend to stay that way.
    Sisko: Amen.
  • Star Trek: Voyager: In "One", when the crew enters a nebula that kills whoever stays in it for long enough, Captain Janeway says, "We've come fifty thousand lightyears. We haven't been stopped by temporal anomalies, warp core breaches, or hostile aliens. And I am damned if I'm going to be stopped by a nebula."

Video Games

• Darkest Dungeon II: If one of your heroes becomes Resolute instead of having a Meltdown, the Academic can sometimes have this to say, in direct opposition to a similar quote the Ancestor says in Darkest Dungeon:
  The Academic: Many fall in the face of Chaos, but not this one. Not today.
• Left 4 Dead 2: One of Nick's voice lines when he's on his last life and bleeding out is a strained "I did not come this far to die now."
• Marvel's Spider-Man 2: Kraven is rather adamant that he will not die of cancer. It is, in fact, the entire motivation driving his attack on New York.
• Mega Man ZX Advent: In the climax, after the Final Boss is defeated, the Biometal Model Z is seemingly intent on keeping the Enemy Mega Men stunned with his power, even as the boss' lair is collapsing around them. He sternly says "Today's not my day to meet my maker."

Web Animation

• Hello Kitty and Friends Supercute Adventures: "Night of the Living Candy" has Pompompurin saying he smells taffy and fears that the "taffy zombies" from their tabletop game have come out of their imaginations to get them. Kuromi goes to grab her Mix-and-Match Weapon, calmly saying, "No pumped-up processed sugar is gonna take me out."

Web Comics

• The Order of the Stick: When Miko frees Samantha the bandit sorceress and her father from being tied up, Samantha tries to recruit Miko as a minion to replace her recently disbanded bandit clan. Miko politely declines, and the conversation gets more and more aggressive until Samantha declares "You'll serve me or you'll die!" Miko calmly responds "Then I will die. But not today." and kills Samantha with her sword.

Western Animation

• DuckTales (2017): In "The Impossible Summit of Mt. Neverrest!", when Launchpad thinks he's dying of Ice Fever, he declares that he will either die by plane crash or not at all.
• Futurama: In "That's Lobstertainment!", the Planet Express ship sinks into the La Brea Tar Pits with Fry and Leela inside. Leela complains, "I always knew I'd die at the bottom of a pit, but a pit full of tar?!"
• Hazbin Hotel: In the Season 1 finale, Alastor fights and is defeated by Adam, with him barely escaping the battle alive. Later in the song "Finale", he expresses his anger that, after spending almost a century building up his reputation, he came so close to dying in what all of Hell would perceive as a Heroic Sacrifice.
  "Great Alastor, altruist, died for his friends?
  "Sorry to disappoint - That is not where this ends!"
• The Simpsons: In "At Long Last Leave", the Simpsons go into the cellar for a nuclear war drill, and Homer tells everyone to let their farts out now. An unamused Marge asks Homer how he'd feel if those turned out to be his last words, and he responds that he wants them to be "I can outrun that lion!"

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