History Main / BettertoDiethanBeKilled

* In the Music/SetItOff song '' Partners in Crime'', the female half of a Bonnie and Clyde style couple claims in the chorus "They'll never take us alive". After the couple is gunned down in a shoot-out with the police and are bleeding out on the ground, she practically boasts to the cops who shot them that "you never took us alive." In the music video, they're so badly outgunned (all they have is a single snub-nose revolver between the two of them, while all of the police have at least their service pistol) that it borders on the SuicideByCop variation.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

!!'''As a DeathTrope, expect unmarked Spoilers ahead. Beware.'''

* Inverted in ''Webcomic/TheWarriorReturns''. Dohoon knows that he has little time left and that his health is bound to decline due to his RapidAging. So he spends his remaining lifespan attempting to strike down Minsu for the sake of his parents and the world, reasoning it would be better to die this way than to become a burden on his already grieving parents.

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[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_allergy.png]]]]

-->I got one round left, a hunnid cops outside
-->I could shoot at 'em or put one between my eyes
-->Chose the latter, it don't matter, it ain't suicide
-->If if the news say it was, that's a goddamn lie
-->I can't let the pigs kill me, I got too much pride
-->And I meant it when I said it, never take me alive

* In ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'', there is a spell called Unconquerable Self - it burns the person casting it, their possessions, and any artifacts attuned to them to ash. It requires no words, gestures or components to cast, making it useful if one were taken prisoner, for example. It also directly sends your soul to Heaven, preventing any form of [[SoulJar soul trapping]] or other mystical enslavement.
* Every single Infernoid in the ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh TCG'' share an effect that allows you to Tribute an Infernoid during either player's turn to some effect, mainly disrupting the Graveyard. This includes the effect's user himself, which means they can suicide at any time, dodging many nasty effects from your opponent.

* In ''Freud's Last Session'' UsefulNotes/SigmundFreud tells Creator/CSLewis that he plans to kill himself because he has a horrific case of oral cancer, forcing him to wear an ill-fitting prosthesis; the disease is causing him great pain and is slowly killing him.
* In ''Theatre/{{Tamburlaine}}'': Agydas.
* In Seneca's version of ''The Trojan Women'', the child Astyanax jumps from the battlements of Troy before he can be thrown from them.

* One ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' [[http://i.imgur.com/z9JR7Tm.png comic]] has a prisoner about to be executed. He gets out of it by requesting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as his last meal due to his peanut allergies. Unfortunately (or fortunately?) [[https://www.quora.com/If-you-are-on-death-row-are-you-allowed-to-request-a-meal-that-you-are-allergic-to this wouldn't fly in real life.]]

* ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'': During his fight against Kore, Forgath is grievously wounded and about to be killed by the cursed paladin, [[spoiler:who at this point has lost his helmet and is revealed to be an HumanoidAbomination with the face of his previous victims embedded in his own. By now convinced that his very soul is in danger]], Forgath choose instead to die by dropping from the very high bridge they were fighting on.
-->'''Forgath:''' I'm willing to die, but you can't have my soul.

The most common places that Better To Die Than Be Killed shows up are stories where people face a FateWorseThanDeath in either the classical sense or in a BodyHorror / TheVirus sense, such as in a zombie movie where being taken by the zombies means being eaten alive or joining their number. In the older stories, such as westerns, samurai, and kung fu stories, a woman faced with rape and death at the hands of her enemies would often choose to die by her own hand rather than suffer this fate.

This trope may derive from Real Life. Many cultures that are primarily based around personal glory and honour, including that of AncientRome, held that suicide was an acceptable form of death: to a Roman, suicide was not just a way to avoid experiencing perpetual dishonour or humiliating punishments such as Crucifixion, but a noble deed meant to demonstrate one's own stoicism and honour in the face of adversity. Emperor Otho was considered a weak, luxury-loving sybarite until he committed suicide shortly before a plot to assassinate him could be put into effect; his self-inflicted death changed Romans' minds, leading them to see Otho as a greater man than he perhaps really was. Feudal Japan had many similarities with the Romans in their opinion about "honourable suicides": see also {{Seppuku}} and [[SuicideAttack Kamikaze]]. For other comparable examples, see MartyrdomCulture. The Christians were seen as depraved and disgusting by Romans such as Tacitus in part because they would rather accept fates worse than death instead of committing suicide, which the Romans interpreted as almost obscene (as was the Christian willingness to be crucified or dismembered by wild animals, literally the two most dishonourable methods of death a Roman could conceive of). They were widely disdained and mocked for worshiping a [[UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} crucified god]] because of this at first, as ancient graffiti attests to (eventually, some came to admire them for [[FaceDeathWithDignity nobly facing a horrific death rather than give up their faith]] and convert in many cases, though it took a long time for this attitude to change).

This trope may derive from Real Life. Many cultures that are primarily based around personal glory and honour, including that of AncientRome, held that suicide was an acceptable form of death: to a Roman, suicide was not just a way to avoid experiencing perpetual dishonour or humiliating punishments such as Crucifixion, but a noble deed meant to demonstrate one's own stoicism and honour in the face of adversity. Emperor Otho was considered a weak, luxury-loving sybarite until he committed suicide shortly before a plot to assassinate him could be put into effect; his self-inflicted death changed Romans' minds, leading them to see Otho as a greater man than he perhaps really was. Feudal Japan had many similarities with the Romans in their opinion about "honourable suicides": see also {{Seppuku}} and [[SuicideAttack Kamikaze]]. For other comparable examples, see MartyrdomCulture. The Christians were seen as depraved and disgusting by Romans such as Tacitus in part because they would rather accept fates worse than death instead of committing suicide, which the Romans interpreted as almost obscene (as was the Christian willingness to be crucified or dismembered by wild animals, literally the two most dishonourable methods of death a Roman could conceive of).

* One ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' [[http://i.imgur.com/z9JR7Tm.png comic]] has a prisoner about to be executed. He gets out of it by requesting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as his last meal due to his peanut allergies. Unfortunately (or fotrunately?) [[https://www.quora.com/If-you-are-on-death-row-are-you-allowed-to-request-a-meal-that-you-are-allergic-to this wouldn't fly in real life.]]

Compare IDieFree and SpitefulSuicide. Contrast FaceDeathWithDignity, MercyKill, ICannotSelfTerminate. In video games and some other media, this could be considered a case of [[KillSteal self-kill-stealing]], especially [[DefiantToTheEnd to stop]] experience or a reward being gained by the kill. Has nothing to do with [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight the fact that]] "[[MemeticMutation People die if they are killed]]".

** Tuuri commits suicide when she finds out she has come down with [[ThePlague the Rash]].

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The [[WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes Sylvester the Cat]] cartoon "Life With Feathers" starred a lovebird who tries to get Sylvester to eat him due marital troubles, but he thinks the bird is poisoned (the bird never thinking to say ''why'' he wants to be eaten). The bird taunts him with a radio cooking show and pictures in a cookbook to the point where Sylvester, now skin and bones, finally caves in:
-->'''Sylvester:''' All right. I'll do it. I'd rather die than starve to death!
* Zig-zag: [[WesternAnimation/BozoTheWorldsMostFamousClown Bozo the Clown]] is making a movie. The scene he's in calls for him to be in a desert dying of thirst, and the director tells him "put some life into your dying!"
[[/folder]]

* Zig-zag: [[WesternAnimation/BozoTheWorldMostFamousClown Bozo the Clown]]Clown is making a movie. The scene he's in calls for him to be in a desert dying of thirst, and the director tells him "put some life into your dying!"

* Zig-zag: WesternAnimation/BozoTheClown is making a movie. The scene he's in calls for him to be in a desert dying of thirst, and the director tells him "put some life into your dying!"

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lastmeal.png]]]]

!!Example Subpages:

!!Other Examples:

* In a subversion of the usual DisneyVillainDeath seen in other movies, the [[HateSink Lord Protector]] from ''WesternAnimation/{{Wolfwalkers}}'', while being dangled precariously over a river with a bunch of spiky rocks at the bottom by the protagonist's father, chooses to loosen his breastplate armor and fall on his own accord rather than be thrown in.

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/z9JR7Tm.png]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness https://i.imgur.com/z9JR7Tm.png]]]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rsz_allergy.png]]]]

This trope may derive from Real Life. Many cultures that are primarily based around personal glory and honour ("shame societies"), including that of AncientRome, held that suicide was an acceptable form of death: to a Roman, suicide was not just a way to avoid experiencing perpetual dishonour or humiliating punishments such as Crucifixion, but a noble deed meant to demonstrate one's own stoicism and honour in the face of adversity. Emperor Otho was considered a weak, luxury-loving sybarite until he committed suicide shortly before a plot to assassinate him could be put into effect; his self-inflicted death changed Romans' minds, leading them to see Otho as a greater man than he perhaps really was. Feudal Japan had many similarities with the Romans in their opinion about "honourable suicides": see also {{Seppuku}} and [[SuicideAttack Kamikaze]]. For other comparable examples, see MartyrdomCulture. The Christians were seen as depraved and disgusting by Romans such as Tacitus in part because they would rather accept fates worse than death instead of committing suicide, which the Romans interpreted as almost obscene (as was the Christian willingness to be crucified or dismembered by wild animals, literally the two most dishonourable methods of death a Roman could conceive of).

!!'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

!!Example subpages:

!!Other examples:

[[folder:Film — Animated]]

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'':

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* One ''Webcomic/CyanideAndHappiness'' [[http://i.imgur.com/z9JR7Tm.png comic]] has a prisoner about to be executed. He gets out of it by requesting a peanut butter and jelly sandwich as his last meal due to his peanut allergies.
** Unfortunately (or fotrunately?) [[https://www.quora.com/If-you-are-on-death-row-are-you-allowed-to-request-a-meal-that-you-are-allergic-to this wouldn't fly in real life.]]
* In ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', destroying the Gates - dimensional barriers keeping [[EldritchAbomination the Snarl]] from destroying all that exists - is actually regarded as a superior alternative to allowing them to fall into the hands of Xykon, but is only halfway this trope: the reasoning behind that if the gate is destroyed, the Snarl will not come out immediately and in full force and said gate can be rebuilt later. While if it is knowingly summoned through one of them, the end of the world will be imminent.
* Averted in [[http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0215.html this comic]] of ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure''.

* ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'': During his fight against Kore, Forgath is grievously wounded and about to be killed by the cursed paladin, [[spoiler:who at this point has lost his helmet and is revealed to be an HumanoidAbomination with the face of his previous victims imbedded in his own. By now convinced that his very soul is in danger]], Forgath choose instead to die by dropping from the very high bridge they were fighting on.