History HeroicSacrifice / LiveACtionTV

** No Gabriel?! [[spoiler: He decided that he was on humanity's side (eventually); went up against Lucifer and tried to kill him (even though he still loved all his brothers and left because he hated watching them fight); gave them a DVD which told them how to put Lucifer back in the cage and was killed by his brother. Particularly heroic as he told them before that he'd 'skipped ahead' and knew how it would all end, so it's very possible that he knew that he would be killed and still did it because his death would be the only way that Sam and Dean could save everyone.]]

* [[Series/PowerRangersInSpace Zordon]], who, after being held hostage and drained of energy for a year, begged the man that had finally arrived to rescue him to stab his [[SealedGoodInACan can]], which was done after some convincing. The resulting [[DeusExMachina magical explosion]] destroyed the enemy army throughout the universe, turned three villains human, and brought the rescuer's recently deceased sister back to life.

* In season two of TheVampireDiaries, Stefan Salvatore sacrifices himself by handing himself over to Klaus in order to get the cure for Damon when he is dying from a fatal werewolf bite. During this process, Stefan is forced by Klaus to shut off his humanity, become the blood addicted Ripper and to torture and kill innocents.

** Sam in season five finale Swan Song: [[spoiler:Throwing himself [[FightingFromTheInside (and Satan,]] who's [[HeroicWillpower possessing him)]] into [[SealedEvilInACan hell's solitary confinement]] in order to [[SelfSacrificeScheme prevent]] the planet from [[DidGodzillaJustPunchOutCthulhu being razed]], with certain knowledge that Lucifer's going to [[FateWorseThanDeath spend eternity torturing him]], is a pretty [[MustMakeAmends heroic]] thing to do.]]

* Writers must love writing this trope for ChronicallyKilledActor Creator/JamieBamber. Tony Dewhurst was shot and killed trying to protect TheScarletPimpernel from being gunned down (adding insult to injury is that Dewhurst ''lived'' throughout the series of books the miniseries is based on), and DS Matt Devlin of ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'' was shot protecting his friend Alesha Philips (along with the young witness in their case) from a hail of gunfire.

* Writers must love writing this trope for Creator/JamieBamber who can be counted as a ChronicallyKilledActor. His DS Matt Devlin of ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'' was shot protecting his friend Alesha Philips (along with the young witness in their case) from a hail of gunfire.

** In the first episode "The Duel", Midshipman Clayton takes Horatio's place in a duel and as one episode guide described it, "becomes the first in a long line of people to cheerfully die for Horatio".
* Writers must love writing this trope for Creator/JamieBamber who is ChronicallyKilledActor. His Matt Devlin of ''Series/LawAndOrderUK'' was shot protecting his friend Alesha Philips (along with the young witness in their case) from a hail of gunfire.

** Simon Tam in ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' was a very good one. He does not just die quickly as in most Heroic Sacrifices. He gives up his life, fortune and safety and lives the life of an outlaw just to be able to comfort his little sister in her distress.
** Topher has stepped up to join the ranks by going out with a very literal bang to save the world in ''{{Dollhouse}}''.

* Done rather problematically in a recent episode of ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|Reimagined}}'': after having her criminally shady past revealed, the pilot Kat voluntarily exposes herself to lethal levels of radiation while guiding a passenger ship through a star cluster. The episode was well-written and actually made sense, as well as providing an unexpected degree of depth to a heretofore slightly two-dimensional character, but... given that Kat had not only served quite adequately as CAG for the last year, but was one of maybe two or three pilots who'd never actually committed mutiny during the run of the series (and that one of the others was a ''Cylon''), would anyone other than [[{{Jerkass}} Starbuck]] actually have cared ''that'' much?
** Might even count as DrivenToSuicide.
*** She's already taken too much radiation when she decides to fly the last mission. For her it's a choice between staying behind and probably dying anyway, or going out there, ''definitely'' dying, but making a difference, atoning not only for her past but for losing the other ship earlier in the episode.
*** People other than Starbuck would care because [[Series/StargateSG1 Fifth]]... [[HeyItsThatGuy I mean Enzo]]... suggested they may have (inadvertently) helped the humanoid Cylons get into the Colonies. A lot of people, including some recurring characters, would want them ThrownOutTheAirlock over that.
** Also, in the BSG DVD movie Razor, [[spoiler: Kendra, who shot some civilians under direct order of her commanding officer, [[GeneralRipper Helena Cain]], and was troubled with guilt over it ever since. This trope was invoked extremely obviously - someone had to stay behind and manually trigger a nuke, she forced the team at gunpoint to let her be the one to do it, and after her death, she was awarded a frakking medal. Also, the Cylon ship she died to destroy ''told'' her, specifically, that it knew what she had done and she was absolved, right before the nuke went off.]]
* The Fifth Doctor at the end of "The Caves of Androzani", which is seen as one of the best ''Series/DoctorWho'' stories. Both he and Peri (a DamselScrappy if there ever was one) were suffering from fatal poisoning, and the Doctor gives the antidote to her. He then collapsed, and willed on by his past companions, regenerated into a new body in the best such sequence in the series.
** The Ninth Doctor performed a similar feat in "The Parting of the Ways", when he absorbed the energies of the spacetime vortex from his companion, Rose Tyler, so that they would not kill her. Instead, they killed him, forcing him to regenerate. (Actually, this episode has lots of HeroicSacrifices, including the one made by the Doctor's other companion, Jack Harkness. It's kinda a [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome cool moment]] as he stands there and [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu flips off]] his enemy before giving a "come and get me" type gesture (he gets [[BackFromTheDead brought back to life]], though.)
*** Brought back to life, yeah, but also CameBackWrong. The event made him physically ''incapable of death'' [[spoiler:for a few billion years, at least]]. He has it tough after that.

* HoratioHornblower: in the episode "Retribution," Archie Kennedy takes sole blame for a mutiny in order to save Horatio from being hanged. Interesting in that it wasn't his life he was sacrificing -- he had been wounded in a battle shortly before and was dying anyway -- but his reputation and his good name, which would have meant a great deal at the time. Also, in the first episode "The Duel," Midshipman Clayton takes Horatio's place in a duel and as one episode guide described it, "becomes the first in a long line of people to cheerfully die for Horatio."
** Jamie Bamber must love this trope, as his Matt Devlin of LawAndOrderUK was shot protecting his friend Alesha Philips (along with the young witness in their case) from a hail of gunfire.

* On ''BurnNotice,'' [[spoiler: Ian]] sacrifices himself to stop a rogue diplomat.

*** [[spoiler: Matt Anderson]] does one in the climax of the episode, but...[[spoiler: he lives]].
* GameOfThrones: "What do we say to the God of death? Not today! Now go!"

* ''Series/LastResort'': Captain Marcus Chaplin makes one of these to make sure the Colorado and its nuclear weapons do not fall into Chinese hands and explicitly forbids his second-in-command from joining him.

* [[PowerRangersInSpace Zordon]], who, after being held hostage and drained of energy for a year, begged the man that had finally arrived to rescue him to stab his [[SealedGoodInACan can]], which was done after some convincing. The resulting [[DeusExMachina magical explosion]] destroyed the enemy army throughout the universe, turned three villains human, and brought the rescuer's recently deceased sister back to life.

* ''PowerRangersInSpace'': Andros destroys Zordon's tube so Zordon's energy will be released, stopping the attacks on the world by destroying the villains or turning them good.

* ''Series/LastResort'': Captain Marcus Chaplin makes one of these to make sure the Colorado and its nuclear weapons do not fall into Chinese hands, though he forbids his second-in-command from joining him.

* ''Series/LastResort'': Captain Marcus Chaplin makes one of these to make sure the Colorado and its nuclear weapons do not fall into Chinese hands.

* ''{{Choudenshi Bioman}}'': After being hit with a ray that was already starting to kill her Mika/Yellow Four 1 took the rest of the shots saving the other four team members as well as rendering the weapon useless.

* Londo Mollari, one of the most complex characters on ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'', saves his people from complete annihilation by allowing himself to be implanted with a mind-controlling alien symbiote.
** Years later, in the future of the TimeTravel sequence, Londo, under the control of the symbiote, has the heroes at his mercy. In a moment of lucidity, he lets them go, then asks G'Kar -- either his sworn enemy, his best friend, or both -- to kill him so the symbiote won't alert anybody to the escape. This G'Kar does, in a manner which Londo had foreseen decades earlier in a prophetic dream -- which at the time he took to mean G'Kar would eventually murder him in cold blood. Londo is therefore an example of HeroicSacrifice, RedemptionEqualsDeath ''and'' ProphecyTwist.
*** The symbiote then wakes up, kills G'kar, and fulfills the rest of the prophecy.

*** And to lure the Vorlons and Shadows into the battle, a shipfull of Rangers (led by Bryan Cranston!) have to die protecting a piece of misinformation, so it will be convincing enough.

** Sinclair also deserves a mention, [[spoiler: in that he travelled back in time to live out the rest of his life as Valen. Though he got to assume the role of a venerated, messianic figure among the Minbari, in doing so he left all he knew in his life as a human (including his beloved Sakai) with no hope of ever returning to it, leaving the familiar for an alien society in a different age. Plus, to avoid disrupting the timeline in any way, he sort of had to follow a script laid out by history. In the final farewells before this time travel ("War Without End Part II"), clearly Sheridan and the others recognize that this ''is'' a big sacrifice on his part, some trying to talk him out of it.]]

** {{Deconstructed}} in the episode "Lazarus". Clark Kent finds himself in the afterlife after dying in the previous episode to stop Zod. Jor-El calls him an idiot for not realizing that even though he did save the day, he's now left Earth vulnerable to future threats. Fortunately, Lois manages to revive him.

* {{Deconstructed}} in the ''{{Smallville}}'' episode "Lazarus". Clark Kent finds himself in the afterlife after dying in the previous episode to stop Zod. Jor-El calls him an idiot for not realizing that even though he did save the day, he's now left Earth vulnerable to future threats. Fortunately, Lois manages to revive him.

** Spike's ultimate sacrifice in the ''{{Buffy}}'' series finale.

** [[spoiler:Rory]], who [[TakingTheBullet takes a shot]] meant for the Doctor in "Cold Blood". [[ItGotWorse It Gets Worse]] though, because [[spoiler:his body is very near one of the Cracks in time, and it starts to erase him from existence]]. Even worse, [[spoiler:Amy]] forgets all about him.

* In ''{{Primeval}}'', Series 5 Episode 6, Phillip Burton realises that his anomaly chanelling power station is out of control. Matt is with him in the control centre when Phillip tells him to leave, and that he will shut down the machinery holding the artificial anomaly open. He says "Hey, I'm the bad guy." He shuts down the machine, but the artificial anomaly no longer needs it, and it is large enough that it destroys the building. Phillip is killed as the building collapses. This is distinct from a Redemption Equals Death because Phillip neither intended the destruction, nor did he die following rather than during it.

* Done rather problematically in a recent episode of ''BattlestarGalactica'': after having her criminally shady past revealed, the pilot Kat voluntarily exposes herself to lethal levels of radiation while guiding a passenger ship through a star cluster. The episode was well-written and actually made sense, as well as providing an unexpected degree of depth to a heretofore slightly two-dimensional character, but... given that Kat had not only served quite adequately as CAG for the last year, but was one of maybe two or three pilots who'd never actually committed mutiny during the run of the series (and that one of the others was a ''Cylon''), would anyone other than [[{{Jerkass}} Starbuck]] actually have cared ''that'' much?

*** People other than Starbuck would care because [[StargateSG1 Fifth]]... [[HeyItsThatGuy I mean Enzo]]... suggested they may have (inadvertently) helped the humanoid Cylons get into the Colonies. A lot of people, including some recurring characters, would want them ThrownOutTheAirlock over that.

* In ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'', [[AdventurerArchaeologist Dr. Jackson]] exposes himself to a fatal dose of radiation to deactivate a nuclear device and dies. Dying has never actually stopped anyone in the ''Stargate'' universe (and most especially not Daniel Jackson, to the extent that other characters joke about it while he's alive and wait expectantly for his return when he's not), so one year later, he was BackFromTheDead.