History Main / DoomedProtagonist

** WordOfGod confirms that no matter [[spoiler: what timeline it is, Sayaka]] will ''always'' die. No exceptions.

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* The comic version of [[SinCity ''Sin City: The Hard Goodbye'']] shows Marv realizing that he was going up against the Roark family: a powerful crime family with many connections and no morals. Marv realizes that he's as good as dead but soldiers on anyway. [[spoiler: He even surmises that he'll probably end up straped to the electric chair, which is his inevitable fate.]]

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* [[spoiler:Shirou during the Heaven's Feel route]] in ''FateStayNight'', after [[spoiler:having his arm removed by the Shadow and getting Archer's grafted onto him.]] The DangerousForbiddenTechnique that comes from using it would be survivable (though with a reduced lifespan) if he had years of gradual training to ease into it and did not have to overuse it -- unfortunately, he hasn't got the luxury of either.

Or the character learns that everyone who has come before him to a certain place, looked at a particular BrownNote, or performed a certain action has suffered a horrible and irreversible fate. Alternately, their death may be assured by getting lost at sea, [[ClosedCircle locked in an airtight coffin]], seriously injured or catching/developing an incredibly deadly illnesses or disease.

* [[spoiler:PuellaMagiMadokaMagica: Every single Magical Girl]].

* ''The House on the Borderland'' by William Hope Hodgson

* A couple of {{R-Type}} Final's endings leave the pilot disabled and floating in space.

* ''{{Final Fantasy X}}''. [[spoiler: At first, Yuna is doomed as were all the summoners before her to become the next Sin after the calm. Once the cycle is broken, Yuna is no longer doomed, but it becomes clear that Tidus is now doomed because he only exists as a dream of the Fayth and will fade once Sin is destroyed and the Fayth awaken.]]

* None of the protagonists in ''[[BirthBySleep Kingdom Hearts: Birth By Sleep]]' appear in any of the chronologically later games. At least, not in any recognizable form. [[spoiler:By the end: Terra is possessed by Xehanort, Ventus is in a coma, and Aqua is doomed to wander the Realm of Darkness until Sora can bust her out.]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* {{YMMV}}, but at the end of {{Twin Peaks}} season 2, we are left with a shot of [[spoiler: Cooper looking into the mirror and laughing, and BOB reflected back at him - Cooper is his new host.]] This counts as Doomed Protagonist because the series was cancelled, so this is the only ending we're given.
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->''"When I am taken, all my memories will fade, crowded out by [[FateWorseThanDeath eternal suffering.]] My imagination takes over and I see myself struggling through the body of the King, wracked with agonies and unable to remember any other existence. I know that I will have no more thoughts of freedom or safety or home because my very understanding of the concepts will be lost to me and [[ArcWords it hurts.]]"''[[supersecretspoiler:it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts]]

* PuellaMagiMadokaMagica: [[spoiler: Every single Magical Girl]].

* This is the very idea behind Jean-Pierre Melville's Le Samouraï, but in a simple crime drama. You know what's coming. [[spoiler:And so does he.]]

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Since this is a form of foreshadowing and an Ending Trope, spoilers abound.

* HPLovecraft's ''Shadow over Innsmouth'' may count. In the very end the protagonist realizes that he shares ancestry with the people of Innsmouth, and is destined to eventually turn into a Deep One.
** About 75% of other HPLovecraft's stories qualify as well.

* Several stories by ClarkAshtonSmith
** ''The Double Shadow''
** ''Genius Loci''
** ''The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis''
** ''The End of the Story''

* [[spoiler:All the kids]] in ''{{Bokurano}}''. [[spoiler:The [[HumongousMecha Humongous Mecha]] they have to pilot drains all the life energy of the one who pilots it. If they dont do it, [[ApocalypseHow bye bye universe.]] Once a pilot is chosen, they know they wont be coming back.]]

* Might be the fate of the two lead protagonists in DeadRising. [[spoiler: even the fate of the survivors are in question,]] well in Otis' opinion anyway.
** At the end of the "real" ending, the message [[spoiler:"And yet he complained that his belly was not full."]] is shown.
* In [[{{Halo}} Halo Wars]] [[spoiler: this is the fate of Sgt. Forge when he enters the sun's core of the shield world]]. Could also be the fate of [[spoiler: the crew of The Spirit of Fire, as they have no way home]].
** Regarding the [[spoiler:ship's crew - "Theoretically, no harm would come to any subjects who were in cryogenic suspension for hundreds of years or more", says the Halo Encyclopedia. Unless the ship smacks into a sun or something, they'll be all right. It may take half a millennium or more to get home, but they should eventually be okay.]]

* ''{{Persona 3}}'' ends this way. [[spoiler: All the heroes know that it is futile to fight Nyx Avatar. Sure enough, after fighting it, [[TheBattleDidntCount The Battle Didn't Count]]]]. Shouldn't be all that surprising because it's a MegaTen game and "Memento Mori" shows up quite a bit in the intro. [[spoiler: Its ultimately subverted by the protagonist making a [[HeroicSacrifice Heroic Sacrifice]] to contain Nyx Avatar. However, [[DoubleSubversion He can never return.]]]]
** [[spoiler: Persona 4 suggests otherwise.]]
*** [[spoiler: To make it more obvious, [[BonusBoss Elizabeth]] decided to go find a way to make the seal unnecessary. Knowing the [[BerserkButton penalties for breaking]] [[UnstoppableRage her rules of engagement]], the odds are in her favor.]]

* Ashitaka in ''PrincessMononoke'', who kills a boar god who had become a demon, and afterwards starts to become a demon himself. [[spoiler:By the end, however, he is healed by the forest spirit]].

* The Nameless One is damned even in the best endings of ''Planescape''. Somehow it's not a DownerEnding, as Nameless is at peace with himself, and battling in the Lower Planes is old hat to him by now.

->''"When I am taken, all my memories will fade, crowded out by [[FateWorseThanDeath eternal suffering.]] My imagination takes over and I see myself struggling through the body of the King, wracked with agonies and unable to remember any other existence. I know that I will have no more thoughts of freedom or safety or home because my very understanding of the concepts will be lost to me and it hurts."''

** At the end of the "real" ending, the message [[spoiler:"And yet he complained that his belly was not full."]] is shown. SoYeah.

* None of the protagonists in ''[[KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep]]' appear in any of the chronologically later games. At least, not in any recognizable form. [[spoiler:By the end: Terra is possessed by Xehanort, Ventus is in a coma, and Aqua is doomed to wander the Realm of Darkness until Sora can bust her out.]]