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Anime & Manga
Freeza: Someone of my strength could never fall to the likes of you. I'll die by my own hands before I let that happen!
Goku: What are you waiting for?
Goku: What are you waiting for?
"It appears that my time has come...even still, I refuse to die by your hand! Farewell, Kenshiro!"
— Shin, Fist of the North Star
"But if I'm going to be tortured to death by the likes of you...I'd rather make my exit here..."
—Rika Furude, Higurashi: When They Cry
Fan Works
"I know an example: when faced with the prospect of dying by the hands of his own general, the esteemed warlord Nobunaga Oda chose death on his own terms. He and his trusted page set the temple they were in ablaze, then took their own lives to deny their treasonous enemy the satisfaction of killing them. Brave men, they were."
—Masao Mifune, Danganronpa: Memento Mori
Film — Animation
"They ain't gonna get Honey Mustard twice... FUCK YOU, GODS! I've got a date with oblivion!"
—Honey Mustard, Sausage Party
Film — Live-Action
"I'm sure she hoped they would let her live, but she must have known she was going to her death."
—M about Vesper Lynd, Casino Royale (2006)
"ERASE ME!!!"
— A captured program, TRON: Legacy
Literature
This death...This death is ours. We choose it. We deny you your victory.
—Huron-Fal, Flight Of The Eisenstein, shortly before overloading his internal reactor rather than succumb to a viral weapon
The teeth of his old enemies, these ancient brothers and sisters of a thing which had called itself Kurt Barlow, sank into him like stingers. Callahan felt them not at all. He was smiling as he pulled the trigger and escaped them for good.
— The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower
"I have never surrendered."
— General Namen, The Grace of Kings
Live-Action TV
"You can't have me."
— Chloe, Harper's Island
Music
I would rather go out in a blaze, than give 'em the glory...
— MF DOOM, Deep Fried Frenz
And no one is ever gonna take my life from me
I lay it down
A ghost is born
A ghost is born
A ghost is born
I lay it down
A ghost is born
A ghost is born
A ghost is born
— Wilco, "Theologians"
Poetry
"When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains,
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier."
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains,
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier."
— Rudyard Kipling, final verse of "The Young British Soldier"
Tabletop Games
Urian's cruelty was as legendary as his skill: his foes said that he had the heart of a daemon, and that if you were captured by him, it was better to swallow your own tongue and choke to death than survive the horrors the following hours or days would bring. When Urian learnt of this, he made sure that, in future, his prisoners had no tongues to choke on.
— Warhammer: Dark Elves Army Book (4th Edition)
Video Games
"I choose death!"
— Garrosh's Concede quote, Hearthstone: Heroes of Warcraft
Dearest Helena,
By now, the news of our defeat has reached the Earth. The creatures we were sent here to tame... are untameable. And the colonies we were sent to reclaim... have proven to be stronger than we anticipated.
Whatever you may hear about what has happened out here, know this: Alexei did not die gloriously in battle. I killed him... my pride killed him. And now my pride has consumed me as well.
You will never see me again, Helena.
Tell our children that I love them, and that their father died in defense of their future.
Au revoir
By now, the news of our defeat has reached the Earth. The creatures we were sent here to tame... are untameable. And the colonies we were sent to reclaim... have proven to be stronger than we anticipated.
Whatever you may hear about what has happened out here, know this: Alexei did not die gloriously in battle. I killed him... my pride killed him. And now my pride has consumed me as well.
You will never see me again, Helena.
Tell our children that I love them, and that their father died in defense of their future.
Au revoir
— Admiral DuGalle's final letter, StarCraft: Brood War, shortly before he self-terminated
"You have no idea how this ring works, do you? Why the Forerunners built it? Halo doesn't kill Flood, it kills their food. Humans, Covenant, whatever. We're all equally edible! The only way to stop the Flood is to starve them to death. And that's exactly what Halo is designed to do: Wipe the galaxy clean of all sentient life."
— Cortana, Halo: Combat Evolved
"It is inside me. I feel it spreading, clawing at my will, tearing at my thoughts. It moves me against my will, to this cavern. Here it will end. I do not wish this, do not want my body to become a weapon for the Ing within me. It hates. It demands obedience. I will fight to the end. I shall self-terminate before I will become a pawn of a filthy Ing."
—D-Isl's Testament, Metroid Prime 2: Echoes
Morninglight are worse than vampires: they don't just suck you dry and let you go, that's too easy. They change you, empty out your mind and body, fill what's left of you with nightmares, strip you down until you're just a thing, and it's still not over. There's no release. Only the changing. It's best when the eyes are gone: you can't look into a - what do you say, tentacle? - and see what's trapped behind it. I'm not ending up like that, no way. I won't have the oblivion I dreamed of, but I'll take death cheap and dirty over the Morninglight.
—Alina Florea, The Secret World
"It doesn't matter. Nothing matters—not anymore. The time is now... I can still save Hoshido, even without the blade of salvation... You can't keep me prisoner... See? Do you see?! You shouldn't have left me a way... a way to escape..."
— Takumi, Fire Emblem Fates: Conquest
"Unfortunately, I will not let you do as you wish. I will issue... my own death."
— Kai Satou, Your Turn to Die
"Defeated by [Arete] after all these years... I wanted to create a better world. Who knows what she wants? No, I won't give you the satisfaction of the final blow. Farewell."
— Director Steele, Cosmic Star Heroine
Jensen: "We can avoid another unnecessary tragedy." Isn't that what you said? You surrender now, I will give the kill switch to you. You'll spend the rest of your days in prison — but the hold your masters have on you will end.
Marchenko: A nice dream... But we both know there is no escape from these men. I am a soldier, Brother. I accept my fate.
[Marchenko brandishes his bomb detonator, and Jensen triggers the kill switch]
Marchenko: A nice dream... But we both know there is no escape from these men. I am a soldier, Brother. I accept my fate.
[Marchenko brandishes his bomb detonator, and Jensen triggers the kill switch]
"When the barbarians are at the gate, the truly noble may choose to find an honorable way out; and so the crude and lawless find they have arrived too late. And thus, the weave of history may disguise a cunning victory as a defeat."
— Executor Nihil, Warframe, Nightwave Series 3: The Glassmaker
Webcomics
"If it's the only way, you can leave my body behind.note But please put a bullet in my brain, I don't want my body to be ripped apart by them."
— Lalli to Emil, Stand Still, Stay Silent
Western Animation
This is no time for suicide! We're about to be killed!
— Uncle Gabby, The Drinky Crow Show
"You have no idea what you've unleashed here today. There are some things far more frightening than death."
— The Grand Inquisitor, choosing to fall to his death rather than face the wrath of Darth Vader, Star Wars Rebels
Real Life
Suicide is man's way of telling God, "You can't fire me - I quit."
— Bill Maher
I just drank poison, I am not a war criminal. I oppose this conviction.
