History Main / DoomedProtagonist

* At the end of the uncensored version of [[WebOriginal/SCPFoundation SCP-835's]] [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/835aarfull uncensored after-action report]], it's revealed that [[spoiler:the hero has been infected with TheVirus and will soon go into containment with the other victim]].

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<<|EndingTropes|>>

* {{Godzilla}} in the film ''Godzilla VS Destoroyah''. [[spoiler:He dies of nuclear meltdown due to radiation overdose.]]

* Hibiki of ''SenkiZesshouSymphogear'' is going to die. The opening scene of the show is Miku visiting her grave. The rest of the show is functioning as a HowWeGotHere to this.

** WordOfGod confirms that no matter [[spoiler: what timeline it is, Sayaka]] will ''always'' die. No exceptions. [[color:white:Even in Goddess Madoka's universe, she dies.]]

* At the end of ''MetalGearSolid4'', [[spoiler: Old Snake, having survived fighting numerous Metal Gears, [[BeyondTheImpossible walking through a microwave chamber]], and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown fighting Liquid Ocelot]], knows that he only has about six months to live before his [[CloningBlues artificially accelerated aging]] finally kills him.]] But it's okay, because he's happy.

* At the end of the uncensored version of [[SCPFoundation SCP-835's]] [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/835aarfull uncensored after-action report]], it's revealed that [[spoiler:the hero has been infected with TheVirus and will soon go into containment with the other victim]].

* [[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. Whether this is a subversion or not depends on the ending; in the True End, [[IGotBetter he gets better]], in the Normal End, [[DownerEnding he doesn't]].

* Did you play FinalFantasyVII? Yeah, you know how CrisisCore ends.

* None of the protagonists in ''KingdomHearts: BirthBySleep'' 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.]]
** Similarly, anyone who has played ''[[KingdomHearts Kingdom Hearts II]]'' knows how ''358/2'' is going to end.

* The protagonist of ''{{Heretic}} 2'' contacts incurable ''{{Virus}}'' early in the game and is looking for cure (and the source) for the most part of it.

** The prequel, ''FateZero'' has this happen to Kiritsugu, who is cursed by the Grail, and dies a few years later, before ''FateStayNight'' begins.

* This is the premise of ''Film/{{Crank}}''. [[spoiler:However, it's subverted. HeGetsBetter.]]

* [[spoiler:All the kids]] in ''{{Bokurano}}''.
* In ''PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', [[spoiler:the magical girls are doomed to become witches--if they don't die first]].
** WordOfGod confirms that no matter [[spoiler: what timeline it is, Sayaka]] will ''always'' die. No exceptions. [[color:white:Even in Goddess Madoka's universe she dies.]]

* 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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->''"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.]]"''[[spoiler:it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* {{YMMV}}, but at the end of ''TwinPeaks'' 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.
[[/folder]]

Either way, by the end of his story, it's revealed that he's screwed. Unless he can FindTheCure, fight off his fate or have some miraculous DeusExMachina save him, all he can do is sit back and accept that he doesn't have much longer. And since it ''is'' the end of the story, he's not going to find the cure or get rescued. (Except maybe in FanFic. [[AliensMadeThemDoIt By aliens.]])

* This is the premise of ''{{Crank}}''. [[spoiler:However, it's subverted. HeGetsBetter.]]

* At the end of ''MetalGearSolid4'', [[spoiler: Old Snake, having survived fighting numerous Metal Gears, [[BeyondTheImpossible walking through a microwave chamber]], and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown fighting Liquid Ocelot]], knows that he only has about six months to live before his [[CloningBlues artificially accelerated aging]] finally kills him.]]

* At the end of ''MetalGearSolid4'', [[spoiler: Old Snake, having survived fighting numerous Metal Gears, [[BeyondTheImpossible walking through a microwave chamber]], and [[NoHoldsBarredBeatdown fighting Liquid Ocelot]], knows that he only has about six months to live before FOXDIE finally kills him.]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* Commonly used by HPLovecraft, for example, his story ''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.
* ''{{The House on the Borderland}}'' by WilliamHopeHodgson
* Several stories by ClarkAshtonSmith including: ''The Double Shadow'', ''Genius Loci'', ''The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis'', and ''The End of the Story''.
[[/folder]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:LiveActionTV]]
* {{YMMV}}, but at the end of ''TwinPeaks'' 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.

[[folder:NewMedia]]
* At the end of the uncensored version of [[SCPFoundation SCP-835's]] [[http://scp-wiki.wikidot.com/835aarfull uncensored after-action report]], it's revealed that [[spoiler:the hero has been infected with TheVirus and will soon go into containment with the other victim]].
* Two of [[BenCroshaw Yahtzee's]] Fully Ramblomatic stories, ''[[spoiler:The Hopeless Endeavour]]'' and ''[[spoiler:The Expedition]]'', end this way: one with the main character discovering that he's [[spoiler:the latest in a series of thousands of clones infected with a terminal disease that will kill him within a few days and cause him to be replaced with another clone]] and the other with [[spoiler:the main character becoming a prisoner of [[ChzoMythos Chzo]].]]

*** Although everyone DOES die eventually and in a society like their's most people wouldn't live much longer than that anyway.