History Main / ConvenientTerminalIllness

** In ''The Conqueror of Shamballa,'' TheMovie of [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime]], Hohenheim does this incomprehensibly.

So something bad is about to happen; a nuclear weapon is about to go off, or an asteroid is about to impact the planet and the only way to avoid this is if [[SomeoneHasToDie someone stays behind]] and [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices themselves to stop it.]] But who will go? All of these characters are life long friends. There's no easy way to decide. Or is there? One of the characters has an IncurableCoughOfDeath and only a few months to live. He'll do it - after all, he's dying anyway, and in a [[DeathIsDramatic far less dramatic and spectacular way]].

* In the novel ''Literature//TheWishsongOfShannara'', the Borderman Helt is attacked by a huge bat creature that scratches his face. He insists that he's okay, but not long afterward, he [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices]] himself to buy time for his comrades to escape from a horde of enemy Gnomes. Garet Jax later explains that Helt had been poisoned by the bat creature and knew he was dying.

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/MadagascarEscape2Africa'' with Melman also going to jump into a volcano. Also never sick.

* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}: Escape 2 Africa'' with Melman also going to jump into a volcano. Also never sick.
* There's an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' with Raphael as the one who heads inside a volcano to keep a bomb from being set off in it while (falsely) believing himself to be dying. More than likely as a ShoutOut to ''Film/JoeVersusTheVolcano''; the title of the episode is "Raphael Versus The Volcano."

* Near the beginning of ''SpaceCowboys'', Creator/TommyLeeJones' character is told he has pancreatic cancer with only eight months to live. The only way to save the world from a Russian satellite armed with nuclear missiles is for somebody to fly it into the moon. Since he ''is'' dying, and going there has been his lifelong dream, guess who volunteers.
* At the end of ''GranTorino'', Walt [[ThanatosGambit tricks the local street gang into shooting him to death]] in front of all the neighbors so that they'll all go to prison. Earlier, Walt is revealed to have a serious but unnamed condition that causes him to cough up blood.
* After Snape kills Dumbledore at the end of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', readers are informed in ''Deathly Hallows'' that the curse on Dumbledore's hand was slowly killing him. He had ordered Snape to kill him so that Draco wouldn't have to do it, thus saving Draco's soul. Interesting in that the character is not revealed to have been critically ill until after his death.
* Another example where readers find out after the fact: In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' (''Literature/DeathMasks''), Harry is being held in a completely inescapable position by the DangerouslyGenreSavvy Nicodemus, who offers him a choice between joining him or being killed. That's when [[ThePaladin Shiro]] barges in and [[HeroicSacrifice offers himself in Harry's place]], letting the Denarians torture him to death. A couple weeks after everything goes down, Harry gets a letter in the mail: Shiro had terminal cancer and only a few months to live.
* The entire point of ''Film/JoeVersusTheVolcano'', with a twist: he was never sick.
* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/{{Madagascar}}: Escape 2 Africa'' with Melman also going to jump into a volcano. Also never sick.
* There's an episode of ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987'' with Raphael as the one who heads inside a volcano to keep a bomb from being set off in it while (falsely) believing himself to be dying. More than likely as a ShoutOut to ''Film/JoeVersusTheVolcano''; the title of the episode is "Raphael Versus The Volcano."
* Early in the ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'' comics, Professor Xavier died. Then he returned. It was explained via flashback that a terminally ill mutant scallywag calling himself the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Changeling]] offered to [[RedemptionEqualsDeath pose]] as Xavier so the Prof could prepare for an imminent invasion. Jean knew, so as to help the shape-shifter better pass off as the X-Men's mentor.

* In ''Series/TwentyFour'', CTU Director George Mason gets a fatal case of radiation poisoning while searching for a nuke in Day 2. At the end of the Day, Jack flies an airplane carrying the nuke on a suicide course to the desert to prevent it from killing anyone, only for a stowaway Mason to reveal himself, convince Jack to not throw his life away and take his place at the controls while Jack parachutes to safety. It helps that while Mason was dying, he looked back on his life and [[HeelRealization realized]] how much he had made everyone close to him dislike him, which caused him to try make amends with his remaining time. Being poisoned not only gave him a reason to sacrifice himself in another's place (he says that he'd rather not suffer the end stage poisoning effects), but most likely was why he would even consider doing so.

* In ''Film/RepoTheGeneticOpera'', Rotti Largo is told that whatever illness he has is terminal, so he sets the movie's plot in motion, namely naming Shilo as the heir to Gene Co. He dies at the end of the movie.
* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', Seymour's mother indirectly cites this as being part of her willingness to sacrifice herself to become his [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting Final Aeon]], with which he could destroy [[BigBad Sin]] and save the world. Uniquely for this trope, it manages to backfire ''spectacularly'', because what any outcast HalfHumanHybrid needs is for his mother to lay the weight of saving the world on his shoulders as she kills herself/leaves him forever. Is it any wonder he winds up a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds?

* In ''Webcomic/GeneCatlow'', a boy with brain cancer who [[FantasticRacism hates furries]] frames them with his suicide. [[OhCrap It doesn't]] [[TheGrimReaper end well]] [[{{Hell}} for him.]]

* In the novel ''Book/TheWishsongOfShannara'', the Borderman Helt is attacked by a huge bat creature that scratches his face. He insists that he's okay, but not long afterward, he [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices]] himself to buy time for his comrades to escape from a horde of enemy Gnomes. Garet Jax later explains that Helt had been poisoned by the bat creature and knew he was dying.
* The very first SherlockHolmes story uses this- the murderer has Watson confirm his fatal heart condition after he's captured and dies before facing trial. Since the victims are [[spoiler:responsible for the murder of his fiancee and her father,]] and were horrible human beings in general, little is made of the case.
----

----

* ''Manga{{Naruto}}'':

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Hohenheim offers to do this to bring Alphonse back since his [[NoOntologicalInertia ontological inertia]] has been broken down in the battle and he is dying anyway. Ed refuses and sacrifices his own ability to do alchemy instead. Hohenheim went and died smiling on his wife Trisha's grave instead.

* Another example where we find out after the fact: In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' (''Literature/DeathMasks''), Harry is being held in a completely inescapable position by the DangerouslyGenreSavvy Nicodemus, who offers him a choice between joining him or being killed. That's when [[ThePaladin Shiro]] barges in and [[HeroicSacrifice offers himself in Harry's place]], letting the Denarians torture him to death. A couple weeks after everything goes down, Harry gets a letter in the mail: Shiro had terminal cancer and only a few months to live.
* The entire point of ''JoeVersusTheVolcano'', with a twist: he was never sick.

* There's also an episode of ''[[TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles1987 Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' with a similar case, this time Raphael as the one who heads inside a volcano to keep a bomb from being set off in it while also believing himself to be falsely dying. More than likely as a ShoutOut, the title of the episode is "Raphael Versus The Volcano."

* ''{{Naruto}}'': Played straight with Kimimaro, who dies with his weapon just centimeters away from [[EyeScream piercing Gaara's eye]].
** If he was that fast and strong when he was dying of terminal illness, then think about how fast and strong he was when he was ''healthy''.

* In ''[[Series/TwentyFour 24]]'', CTU Director George Mason gets a fatal case of radiation poisoning while searching for a nuke in Day 2. At the end of the Day, Jack flies an airplane carrying the nuke on a suicide course to the desert to prevent it from killing anyone only for a stowaway Mason to reveal himself, convince Jack to not throw his life away and take his place at the controls while Jack parachutes to safety.
** It also helps that while Mason was dying, he looked back on his life and [[HeelRealization realized]] how much he had made everyone close to him dislike him, which caused him to try make amends with his remaining time. Being poisoned not only gave him a reason to sacrifice himself in another's place (he says that he'd rather not suffer the end stage poisoning effects), but most likely was why he would even consider doing so.

* In ''RepoTheGeneticOpera'', Rotti Largo is told that whatever illness he has is terminal, so he sets the movie's plot in motion, namely naming Shilo as the heir to Gene Co. He dies at the end of the movie.
* In ''FinalFantasyX'', Seymour's mother indirectly cites this as being part of her willingness to sacrifice herself to become his [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting Final Aeon]], with which he could destroy [[BigBad Sin]] and save the world. Uniquely for this trope, it manages to backfire ''spectacularly'', because what any outcast HalfHumanHybrid needs is for his mother to lay the weight of saving the world on his shoulders as she kills herself/leaves him forever. Is it any wonder he winds up a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds?

* In ''GeneCatlow'', a boy with brain cancer who [[FantasticRacism hates furries]] frames them with his suicide. [[OhCrap It doesn't]] [[TheGrimReaper end well]] [[{{Hell}} for him.]]

* After Snape kills Dumbledore at the end of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', we are informed in ''Deathly Hallows'' that the curse on Dumbledore's hand was slowly killing him. He had ordered Snape to kill him so that Draco wouldn't have to do it, thus saving Draco's soul. Interesting in that the character is not revealed to have been critically ill until after his death.

* Near the beginning of ''SpaceCowboys'' Creator/TommyLeeJones' character is told he has pancreatic cancer with only eight months to live. Naturally the only way to save the world from a Russian satellite armed with nuclear missiles is for somebody to fly it into the moon and since he ''is'' dying and going there has been his lifelong dream, guess who volunteers.
* At the end of ''GranTorino'' when Walt [[ThanatosGambit tricks the local street gang into shooting him to death]] in front of all the neighbors so that they'll all go to prison. Earlier Walt is revealed to have a serious but unnamed condition that causes him to cough up blood.
* After Snape kills Dumbledore at the end of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', we are informed in ''Deathly Hallows'' that the curse on Dumbledore's hand was slowly killing him, and he had ordered Snape to kill him so that Draco wouldn't have to do it, thus saving Draco's soul. Interesting in that the character is not revealed to have been critically ill until after his death.

* Another example where we find out after the fact: In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' (''Literature/DeathMasks''), Harry is being held in a completely inescapable position by the DangerouslyGenreSavvy Nicodemus, who offers him a choice between joining him or being killed. That's when [[The Paladin Shiro]] barges in and [[HeroicSacrifice offers himself in Harry's place]], letting the Denarians torture him to death. A couple weeks after everything goes down, Harry gets a letter in the mail: Shiro had terminal cancer and only a few months to live.

* Another example where we find out after the fact: In ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' (''Literature/DeathMasks''), Harry is being held in a completely inescapable position by the DangerouslyGenreSavvy Nicodemus, who offers him a choice between joining him or being killed. That's when Shiro barges in and [[HeroicSacrifice offers himself in Harry's place]], letting the Denarians torture him to death. A couple weeks after everything goes down, Harry gets a letter in the mail: Shiro had terminal cancer and only a few months to live.

* Subverted in ''DragonAgeOrigins''. Near the end of the game it's revealed that only a Grey Warden can kill the Archdemon, and only at the cost of their own life. Riordan volunteers, reasoning that he has been a Grey Warden for much longer than Alistair, [[spoiler: Loghain]], or the PlayerCharacter, and only has a few months left before the Darkspawn Taint takes him anyway. The other characters seem to agree with this. However, [[spoiler: Riordan ultimately fails to kill the Archdemon, leaving you in the same SomeoneHasToDie situation you were in before.]]

* After Snape kills Dumbledore at the end of ''HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', we are informed in ''Deathly Hallows'' that the curse on Dumbledore's hand was slowly killing him, and he had ordered Snape to kill him so that Draco wouldn't have to do it, thus saving Draco's soul. Interesting in that the character is not revealed to have been critically ill until after his death.

* Played with in ''{{Madagascar}}: Escape 2 Africa'' with Melman also going to jump into a volcano. Also never sick.

* In ''FullmetalAlchemist'', the same character does it in two different ways.
** In ''The Conqueror of Shamballa,'' TheMovie of the first anime, Hohenheim does this incomprehensibly.
** In the manga and ''Brotherhood'' adaptation, Hohenheim offers to do this to bring Alphonse back since his [[NoOntologicalInertia ontological inertia]] has been broken down in the battle and he is dying anyway. Ed refuses and sacrifices his own ability to do alchemy instead. Hohenheim went and died smiling on his wife Trisha's grave instead.

* Another example where we find out after the fact: In ''TheDresdenFiles'' (''Death Masks''), Harry is being held in a completely inescapable position by the DangerouslyGenreSavvy Nicodemus, who offers him a choice between joining him or being killed. That's when Shiro barges in and [[HeroicSacrifice offers himself in Harry's place]], letting the Denarians torture him to death. A couple weeks after everything goes down, Harry gets a letter in the mail: Shiro had terminal cancer and only a few months to live.

* Near the beginning of ''SpaceCowboys'' Creator/TommyLeeJones' character is told he has pancreatic cancer with only eight months to live. Naturally the only way to save the world from a Russian satellite armed with nuclear missiles is for somebody to [[spoiler: fly it into the moon]] and since he ''is'' dying and going there has been his lifelong dream, guess who volunteers.

So something bad is about to happen; a nuclear weapon is about to go off, or an asteroid is about to impact the planet and the only way to avoid this is if [[SomeoneHasToDie someone stays behind]] and [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices themself to stop it.]] But who will go? All of these characters are life long friends. There's no easy way to decide. Or is there? One of the characters has an IncurableCoughOfDeath and only a few months to live. He'll do it - after all, he's dying anyway, and in a [[DeathIsDramatic far less dramatic and spectacular way]].

Occasionally, the doctor will burst in just a second too late to explain that he TestedTheWrongVial and the character isn't (wasn't) going to die. Oh well, it's too late now!

Obviously, this is a DeathTrope so spoilers abound.

* Near the beginning of ''SpaceCowboys'' [[spoiler:Creator/TommyLeeJones' character]] is told he has pancreatic cancer with only eight months to live. Naturally the only way to save the world from [[spoiler:a Russian satellite armed with nuclear missiles]] is for somebody to [[spoiler: fly it into the moon]] and since he ''is'' dying and going there has been his lifelong dream, guess who volunteers.
* At the end of ''GranTorino'' when [[spoiler: Walt [[ThanatosGambit tricks the local street gang into shooting him to death]] in front of all the neighbors so that they'll all go to prison. Earlier Walt is revealed to have a serious but unnamed condition that causes him to cough up blood.]]
* After [[spoiler:Snape kills Dumbledore]] at the end of ''HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'', we are informed in Deathly Hallows that [[spoiler: The curse on Dumbledore's hand was slowly killing him, and he had ordered Snape to kill him so that Draco wouldn't have to do it, thus saving Draco's soul.]] Interesting in that the character is not revealed to have been critically ill until after his death.
* Another example where we find out after the fact: In ''TheDresdenFiles'' (''Death Masks''), Harry is being held in a completely inescapable position by the DangerouslyGenreSavvy Nicodemus, who offers him a choice between joining him or being killed. That's when [[spoiler:Shiro]] barges in and [[spoiler:[[HeroicSacrifice offers himself in Harry's place]], letting the Denarians torture him to death.]] A couple weeks after everything goes down, Harry gets a letter in the mail: [[spoiler:Shiro]] had terminal cancer and only a few months to live.
* The entire point of ''JoeVersusTheVolcano'', with a twist: [[spoiler:he was never sick]].
* Played with in ''{{Madagascar}}: Escape 2 Africa'' with Melman also going to jump into a volcano. [[spoiler: Also never sick.]]

** Subverted later in the Sasuke vs. Itachi fight. Itachi appears as though he's about to kill Sasuke, when he keels over dead after [[BloodFromTheMouth coughing up copious amounts of blood]] throughout the fight. But then it's revealed that [[spoiler: even if he hadn't died from his illness, he wouldn't have killed Sasuke anyway]]. Especially convenient for anybody standing in Itachi's way; when he was healthy, he completely ''wrecked'' two of Konoha's strongest shinobi without breaking a sweat.

** In the manga and ''Brotherhood'' adaptation, Hohenheim [[spoiler: offers to do this to bring Alphonse back]] since his [[NoOntologicalInertia ontological inertia]] has been broken down in the battle and he is dying anyway. [[spoiler: Ed refuses and sacrifices his own ability to do alchemy instead. Hohenheim went and died smiling on his wife Trisha's grave instead.]]
* In ''RepoTheGeneticOpera'', Rotti Largo is told that whatever illness he has is terminal, so he sets the movie's plot in motion, namely [[spoiler: naming Shilo as the heir to Gene Co]]. He dies at the end of the movie.
* In ''FinalFantasyX'', Seymour's mother indirectly cites this as being part of her willingness to [[spoiler:sacrifice herself to become his [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting Final Aeon]], with which he could destroy [[BigBad Sin]] and save the world]]. Uniquely for this trope, it manages to backfire ''spectacularly'', because what any outcast HalfHumanHybrid needs is for his mother to lay the weight of saving the world on his shoulders as she kills herself/leaves him forever. Is it any wonder he winds up a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds?
* In Fanfic/MGLNCrisis, [[spoiler:the clones of Miyuki and Kyouya]], according to Shamal, have about a year to live. They make a HeroicSacrifice toward the end of the fic.
* In ''GeneCatlow'', [[spoiler:a boy with brain cancer who [[FantasticRacism hates furries]] frames them with his suicide]]. [[OhCrap It doesn't]] [[TheGrimReaper end well]] [[{{Hell}} for him.]]
* In the ''Series/{{JAG}}'' episode "Enemy Below", the Russian crew aboard the diesel submarine Al-Qaeda bought from Iran succumbs to radiation poisoning because the dirty nuke is un-shielded

* Near the beginning of ''SpaceCowboys'' [[spoiler:TommyLeeJones' character]] is told he has pancreatic cancer with only eight months to live. Naturally the only way to save the world from [[spoiler:a Russian satellite armed with nuclear missiles]] is for somebody to [[spoiler: fly it into the moon]] and since he ''is'' dying and going there has been his lifelong dream, guess who volunteers.

* Early in the ''{{X-Men}}'' comics, Professor Xavier died. Then he returned. It was explained via flashback that a terminally ill mutant scallywag calling himself the [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Changeling]] offered to [[RedemptionEqualsDeath pose]] as Xavier so the Prof could prepare for an imminent invasion. Jean knew, so as to help the shape-shifter better pass off as the X-Men's mentor.

* In ''FinalFantasyX'', Seymour's mother indirectly cites this as being part of her willingness to [[spoiler:sacrifice herself to become his [[InvoluntaryShapeshifting Final Aeon]], with which he could destroy [[CosmicHorror Sin]] and save the world]]. Uniquely for this trope, it manages to backfire ''spectacularly'', because what any outcast HalfHumanHybrid needs is for his mother to lay the weight of saving the world on his shoulders as she kills herself/leaves him forever. Is it any wonder he winds up a WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds?

So something bad is about to happen; a nuclear weapon is about to go off, or an asteroid is about to impact the planet and the only way to avoid this is if [[SomeoneHasToDie someone stays behind]] and [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices himself to stop it.]] But who will go? All of these characters are life long friends. There's no easy way to decide. Or is there? One of the characters has an IncurableCoughOfDeath and only a few months to live. He'll do it - after all, he's dying anyway, and in a [[DeathisDramatic far less dramatic and spectacular way]].

This trope is about when a character gives his life for something based on the reasoning that he's going to die soon anyway. It's a favorite for when a writer wants to make a bittersweet ending less bitter.