History Main / DoomedProtagonist

* 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. [[spoiler:And then it's subverted when we get past that point.]]

* In both ''Videogame/DarkSouls'' and ''Videogame/DarkSoulsII'', the player character is one of the Undead. Sooner or later they ''will'' go Hollow -- using Humanity and Effigies only delays the inevitable. Due to the nature of the Curse, even death is denied to them. In the first game the protagonist doesn't even try to save him/herself, merely following the advice of others in the hopes of doing something meaningful with his/her remaining time. In the second game the protagonist is lured to Drangleic with rumors of a possible cure [[spoiler:that doesn't exist.]] Ultimately they don't go Hollow [[spoiler:though their fates at the end of each game are arguably worse.]]
** However, if you complete the DLC of ''Dark Souls II'' [[spoiler:you actually ''do'' find something that can stave off hollowfication indefinitely, but if they choose to stay alive this way or sacrifice themselves is up to the player's imagination.]]

* It looks like [[MegaManLegends Rockman Trigger]] will remain stuck on Elysium. He's been up there for over a decade, and all of Roll and Tron's attempts to bring him back to Terra have failed.

* The LegacyOfKain series has [[spoiler:Raziel]]. Pain, betrayal, torture, humiliation and death? Oh yes, he has that coming in spades, but his is a more brutal kind of doom: After being executed by his master Kain, he's resurrected as a soul-devouring entity. Later, he becomes bound to a spectral blade known as the Reaver. After traveling back in time [[spoiler:he learns that the Reaver is in fact the soul of his own future self, once imprisoned within the blade and driven insane after millenia, and that it is his destiny to suffer the same fate.]] He resists at first, but by the end realizes it ''has'' to happen and accepts it.

* The original ending of ''TheCrazies'' remake had [[spoiler: David getting a nosebleed, this showing that both him and Judy were actually infected with [[TheVirus Trixie]]]].
* Everyone in {{Threads}}. [[spoiler:It doesn't look like humanity, at least in the UK, will last beyond a few generations.]]
* This is the very idea behind Jean-Pierre Melville's LeSamouraï, but in a simple crime drama. You know what's coming. [[spoiler:And so does he.]]

* The title character of the movie ''SimonBirch'' is going to die. You know this from the beginning, as the FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator is narrating the entire movie over his grave.

%% * TheHeroDies in ''Film/TheWolfman2010''.

* Seita from ''GraveOfTheFireflies'': The first scene is him dying in the streets and then it flashes back to the past.

* [[spoiler:All the kids]] in ''{{Bokurano}}'', due to [[spoiler:the way that mecha battles in this series generally work -- if you win, you die. If you lose, ''everybody in your universe'' dies]].

* ''FinalDestination'' is basically ''[[TheProblemWithFightingDeath Doomed Protagonists: The Movie Series]].''

* Light Yagami of ''DeathNote'' is confirmed by WordOfGod to have effectively ruined his life the moment he picked up the titular ArtifactOfDeath. That [[TheGrimReaper Ryuk]] told Light as early as their first meeting that ''he'' would be the one to ultimately kill him should be more than enough indication of this.

* The original ending of ''TheCrazies'' remake had [[spoiler: David getting a nosebleed, this showing that both him and Judy were actually infected with [[TheVirus Trixie]] ]]

* Might be the fate of the two lead protagonists in VideoGame/DeadRising. [[spoiler: even the fate of the survivors are in question,]] well in Otis' opinion anyway. Also, at the end of the "real" ending, the message [[spoiler:"And yet he complained that his belly was not full."]] is shown.

->''"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.]]'' [[MadnessMantra it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts]]"

->''"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:[[MadnessMantra it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts it hurts]]]]"

* [[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, he gets better, in the Normal End, [[DownerEnding he doesn't]].
** The prequel, ''Literature/FateZero'' has this happen to Kiritsugu, who is cursed by the Grail, and dies a few years later, before ''FateStayNight'' begins.

** Suicide: UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler in ''Film/TheDownfall'', Ian Curtis in ''Film/{{Control}}'', Creator/VincentVanGogh in ''Film/VincentAndTheo''

* Light Yagami of ''DeathNote'' is confirmed by WordOfGod to have effectively ruined his life the moment he picked up the titular ArtifactOfDeath. That [[TheGrimReaper Ryuk]] told Light as early as their first meeting that ''he'' would be the one to ultimately kill him]] should be more than enough indication of this.

* Light Yagami of ''DeathNote'' is confirmed by WordOfGod to have effectively ruined his life the moment he picked up the titular ArtifactOfDeath. That [[Shinigami Ryuk]] told Light as early as their first meeting that ''he'' would be the one to kill him should be more than enough indication.

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

* Seth Brundle of ''Film/TheFly''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Final Fantasy XIII-2}}'': [[spoiler: Serah. The game also reveals that ''all the player characters except Fang and Vanille'' were supposed to be this for the previous game.]]

* ''FinalDestination'' is basically ''Doomed Protagonists: The Movie Trilogy.''

* Guts from ''Manga/{{Berserk}}''
** Well, the manga is still ongoing, so this hasn't happened yet, but it is heavily implied to be his eventual fate. Guts is a person who was "Born to fight against Causality", but he is unable to keep it up indefinitely.

* ''This Gun For Hire'', another classic noir, features a betrayed [[ContractOnTheHitman betrayed hitman]] out for revenge against insurmountable odds. Along the way, he makes a friend and [[CharacterDevelopment ascribes greater meaning]] to his goal, but it is clear that there is no real way out for him.

* In ''TheWrestler'', the protagonist collapses due to a heart attack and his doctor tells him in no uncertain terms that he has to stop wrestling or he will die. But after he messes things up with his daughter, wrestling is all that he's got.

* Several stories by ClarkAshtonSmith including: ''The Double Shadow'', ''Genius Loci'', ''The Vaults of Yoh-Vombis'', and ''The End of the Story''.