History Main / DoomedProtagonist

* ''Webcomic/TwistedTropes'': [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Zeus]] describes to Poseidon how he've flirted with women transformes as different animals, and by the suggestion, next time Zeus flirts as a snail.

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

[[folder:Films]]
* Pick any {{Biopic}} or film about a historical event and chances are a lot of them will have doomed protagonists in them, because [[ForegoneConclusion we as the audience have the advantage of knowing these people died]] because of...
** A tragic accident: Claude-François in "Clo-Clo" (died of trying to fix a light bulb while sitting in a bath), Music/BuddyHolly in ''Film/TheBuddyHollyStory'', Music/RitchieValens in ''Film/LaBamba'',...
** Suicide: UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler in ''Film/{{Downfall}}'', Ian Curtis in ''Film/{{Control}}'', Creator/VincentVanGogh in ''Film/VincentAndTheo''
** Murder: UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln in ''Film/{{Lincoln}}'', UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi in ''Film/{{Gandhi}}'', UsefulNotes/MalcolmX in ''Film/MalcolmX'', Oscar Romero in ''Film/{{Romero}}'', Steve Biko in ''Film/CryFreedom'', UsefulNotes/CheGuevara in ''Film/{{Che}}'', Bugsy Siegel in ''Film/{{Bugsy}}'', Harvey Milk in ''Film/{{Milk}}''...
** Execution: Sophie Scholl in ''Film/SophieSchollTheFinalDays'', UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc in ''Film/ThePassionOfJoanOfArc'',...
** Nature: Robert Falcon Scott in ''Film/ScottOfTheAntarctic'', Timothy Treadwell in ''Film/GrizzlyMan'' ,...
* ''Film/Alien3'' has Ripley with a queen's embryo inside her. Granted, we learn this approximately halfway through.
* This is the premise of ''Film/{{Crank}}''. However, it's subverted, as he ultimately survives.
* The original ending of ''Film/TheCrazies2010'' remake had avid getting a nosebleed, this showing that both him and Judy were actually infected with [[TheVirus Trixie]].
* ''Film/District9'' plays with this trope. It may not be the best example, since the moment of realization occurs halfway through the film, and no one prior to Wikus had experienced it before. However, it definitely counts. He isn't going to die, though, he is just turning into an alien. And Christopher said he would come back for him.
* Max of ''Film/{{Elysium}}'' is given 72 hours to live after getting doused with radiation. And if that wasn't enough, the [[NeuralImplanting brain-encrypted data]] he steals is designed to instantly flatline anyone who uses it.
* The premise of the classic FilmNoir ''Film/{{DOA}}'' and its 1980s remake.
* ''Franchise/FinalDestination'' is basically ''[[TheProblemWithFightingDeath Doomed Protagonists: The Movie Series]].''
* Seth Brundle of ''Film/TheFly1986'' knows that he's screwed the moment he realizes that his transporter merged him with an ordinary housefly. It's only a matter of time until he mutates into something unrecognizable and inhuman.
* Franchise/{{Godzilla}} in the film ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah''. He dies of nuclear meltdown due to radiation overdose.
* This is the very idea behind Jean-Pierre Melville's ''Film/LeSamourai'', but in a simple crime drama. You know what's coming. And so does he.
* [[InMediasRes From the beginning, you know that]] the entire cast of ''Film/{{Melancholia}}'' is going to die as soon as the titular planet destroys Earth [[HowWeGotHere in both the first scene and the ending.]]
* The heroine of ''Film/TheRing'' (the U.S. version at least), when she realizes that she only has a few days to live after watching the tape.
* ''Film/SevenPounds'', in a rare, self-inflicted version.
* The title character of the movie ''Film/SimonBirch'' is going to die. You know this from the beginning, as the FirstPersonPeripheralNarrator is narrating the entire movie over his grave.
* It's revealed halfway through ''Film/{{Synchronic}}'' that Steve has an inoperable brain tumor.
* ''Film/ThisGunForHire'', another classic noir, features a [[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.
* Everyone in ''Film/{{Threads}}''. It doesn't look like humanity, at least in the UK, will last beyond a few generations.
* ''Film/WithnailAndI'' ends with Withnail alone, in complete and utter despair, still unemployed, and on the brink of getting evicted. It's not a question of ''whether'' his self-destructive lifestyle will kill him, but a question of ''when''. (Withnail's real-life counterpart, the little-known actor Vivian [=MacKerrell=], never found success in life and died fairly young of throat cancer).
* ''Film/TheWolfman2010'' ends with most of the characters dead or infected by lycanthropy.
* In ''Film/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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter''. About thirty minutes into the game, protagonist Ryu is "infected" with the dragon power. At no point in the game does he even think about trying to find a cure or a way of fixing his condition. You do the math. Then subverted in the final cutscene when, at the end of his life, Ryu is granted a second chance by Odjn.
* Promotional material for ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaLordsOfShadowMirrorOfFate'' makes it clear from the start Trevor never makes it out of Dracula's castle.
* In ''VideoGame/CorpseParty'', even if one avoids all the [[BadEnd Wrong Ends]] and follows the True End path, [[spoiler:four of the main characters die, along with a plethora of other victims]].
* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': V gets shot in the head while they have the personality biochip slotted into their head. Their death activates the chip, [[BackFromTheDead bringing them back to life]], but also causes their brain to get slowly overwritten by the personality on said chip, belonging to Johnny Silverhand. V is slowly losing their sense of self, and the entire second and third act of the story revolves around V's race with time to find a way to separate themselves and the personality on the biochip. It turns out that, while V and Johnny can be untangled, the chip has degraded V's brain beyond repair, and they only have six months to live. They can also give their body to Johnny, but that involves them being forever trapped in the virtual space, essentially stuck in limbo forever.
* Nearly every ending in ''[[VideoGame/{{Darius}} G-Darius]]'' ends this way. Even the best ending is a little [[AmbiguousEnding ambiguous]].
* In both ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' 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 (and in fact may [[FromBadToWorse speed up the process]]). In the first game the protagonist doesn't even try to save themself, merely following the advice of others in the hopes of doing something meaningful with their remaining time. In the second game the protagonist is lured to Drangleic with rumors of a possible cure that doesn't exist. Ultimately, they don't go Hollow, though their fates at the end of each game are arguably worse.
** However, if you complete the DLC of ''Dark Souls II'' you actually ''do'' find something that can stave off hollowing indefinitely, but if they choose to stay alive this way or sacrifice themselves is up to the player's imagination. Also, the "cure" is not permanent and only affects one person at a time, meaning the player [[BlessedWithSuck can do nothing but watch everyone]] ''[[BlessedWithSuck else]]'' [[BlessedWithSuck they might have met die and turn hollow]]. [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Possibly forever.]]
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', the GrandFinale of the series, it is ''averted''. By taking certain steps, there is a way to survive the inevitable end of the Age of Fire. However, doing so pretty much requires sacrificing your moral compass by siding with the Pilgrims of Londor and becoming the Lord or Lady of Hollows who Usurps the Flame. You essentially become the First Flame and the Dark Soul incarnate.
* Might be the fate of the two lead protagonists in ''VideoGame/DeadRising''. Even the fate of the survivors are in question, well in Otis' opinion anyway. Also, at the end of the "real" ending, the message "And yet he complained that his belly was not full." is shown.
* The ending to the original ''VideoGame/DiabloI'' has your player character, after defeating the title archdemon, sticking his soulstone into his or her own head to attempt to contain his evil. Come ''Diablo II'', this turns out to have been a very bad idea, and not only did the player character become the new host for the Lord of Terror, but the others were also corrupted by the other Evils and your new protagonist has to kill them.
* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. At the end of the game just before the final battle, you find out that in order to kill the Archdemon, a Grey Warden has to strike the final blow and will die in the process. You can choose to sacrifice yourself or ask the other Grey Warden in your party to do it, or TakeAThirdOption.
** The joining ritual that the wardens undergo is itself a death sentence. You die 30 years or so later, as your body finally succumbs to the taint.
* Damn near every playable character in ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness''. Which, you know, is inspired by Lovecraft, so...
* Shirou during the Heaven's Feel route in ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', after 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 ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' begins.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. At first, Yuna is doomed as were all the summoners before her to die after the Final Summoning is performed. 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.
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'': Serah. The game also reveals that ''all the player characters except Fang and Vanille'' were supposed to be this for the previous game.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/HaloWars'', this is the fate of Sgt. Forge when he volunteers to take the slipspace "bomb" into the shield world's sun.
** Noble Six from ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', after staying behind to cover the ''Pillar of Autumn'''s escape. The game doesn't even ''attempt'' to hide it, with the first view of the titular planet focused on their broken helmet in the middle of a burned-out wasteland.
* The protagonist of ''VideoGame/{{Heretic}} 2'' contacts an incurable virus early in the game and is looking for a cure (and the source) for the most part of it.
* This tropes serves as the basis of ''VideoGame/HeroMustDie''. The protagonist dies shortly after defeating Satan, [[BackFromTheDead but is granted an extra five days to live by an angel]] to see the world that he saved. No matter what you do over your last five days, the protagonist is always fated to die and be taken to heaven, leaving his companions and lover to mourn his loss during his funeral.
* ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'': After [[PlayingWithSyringes being experimented on]] for two years, Jak has become [[TheCorruption corrupted]] with [[AppliedPhlebotinum dark eco]]. He is repeatedly assured that there is no good waiting for him at the end of the tunnel: first he'll go insane, after which he'll die a slow, painful death. There is no way of taking away the eco, but luckily the Precursor entity within the stone is able to balance him out, halting the effects.
* The ''VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'' series has 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 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.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': By the time the First Day dawns, Mikau is mortally wounded. No matter how quickly you reach the appropriate spot, it's already too late to do anything but play the Song Of Healing and get the mask left behind.
* ''VideoGame/MadRatDead'': The titular Mad Rat is killed by a scientist during a dissection in the opening cutscene, but is granted a chance by the Rat God to turn back time and relive his last day as he wishes. However, the "dissection" performed on Mad Rat was actually a failed heart surgery, and the Heart currently in his chest came from a cat. He's doomed twice - he either follows the Rat God's directions towards cheese and is eaten by a cat, or he defies the Rat God and dies from heart failure. In the end, he decides to turn back time to before his surgery so that Heart can live on, even if it means dying alone... that is, until Heart turns back time to stay with him a little while longer.
* It looks like [[VideoGame/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.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', Old Snake, having survived fighting numerous Metal Gears, [[SerialEscalation 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.
* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' ends this way. All the heroes know that it is futile to fight Nyx Avatar. Sure enough, after fighting it, TheBattleDidntCount. Shouldn't be all that surprising because it's a [=MegaTen=] game and "Memento Mori" shows up quite a bit in the intro. It's ultimately subverted by the protagonist making a HeroicSacrifice to contain Nyx Avatar.
* The Nameless One is damned even in the best endings of ''VideoGame/PlanescapeTorment''. 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.
** And you've worked for that damnation almost the entire game - the quest for your mortality (and death) began right at the end of the first "dungeon". On a happier note, depending on who you have with you at the end and whether they survive said end, they promise to come for you.
* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'': In an early Chapter 2 mission, protagonist Arthur Morgan goes to retrieve a debt from a very sick looking man. He eventually loses his temper and beats said man down, who then coughs right into his mouth. It's then revealed later on that the man passed his Tuberculosis onto Arthur, and since the game takes place in 1899, roughly fifty years before the development of antibiotics, this ultimately seals his fate by the end of Chapter 6.
* ''VideoGame/{{Resistance}} 2'', where Hale has indeed been corrupted by TheVirus, and fully transforms at the end
* A couple of ''VideoGame/RType Final'''s endings leave the pilot disabled and floating in space.
* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' subtly plays this with E-102 Gamma, the WhiteSheep of Eggman's [[UnwillingRoboticisation animal-powered robot army]] who ends up on a path to [[GottaKillThemAll hunt down and destroy his E-100 series brethren]] in order to liberate the innocent animals inside. It isn't highlighted until he's gone through most of his list that ''it includes himself'' -- he goes into the final battle with his older brother, E-101 Beta, fully aware that even if he wins, [[DeathSeeker he has to die too so the bird inside him can be freed]]. [[MutualKill He gets his wish]].
* In ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' ''[[VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonOne Season One]]'', Lee Everett gets ambushed by a walker and is quickly bitten on his left wrist near the end of Episode 4. The entirety of Episode 5 is then focused on rescuing Clementine before Lee dies from the bite's infection. Although you can choose to [[AmputationStopsSpread cut off Lee's arm]] in an attempt to stop the infection, Lee will still die by the end of the game.
** ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonFour'' seems to be shaping up in a similar way: Clementine gets bitten by a zombie on the leg. Her protege, AJ, manages to amputate her leg, ultimately leaving her crippled, but alive. Before we know she survives, she still manages to take AJ to safety. There's multiple factors that likely contributed to Clementine surviving while Lee didn't; she's younger, likely has a better immune system due to living in the apocalypse for longer, her leg was amputated sooner after the bite and cauterised with fire, and she passed out and got to recover in peace, unlike Lee.
[[/folder]]

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[[quoteright:300:[[ComicBook/WhenTheWindBlows https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwtb_1.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:There are no winners in a nuclear war.]]

%% Caption selected per above IP thread. Please do not replace or remove without discussion in the Caption Repair thread:
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* ''Film/WithnailAndI'' ends with Withnail alone, in complete and utter despair, still unemployed, and on the brink of getting evicted. It's not a question of ''whether'' his self-destructive lifestyle will kill him, but a question of ''when''. (Withnail's real-life counterpart, the little-known actor Vivian [=MacKerrell=], never found success in life and died fairly young of throat cancer).

* Pick any {{Biopic}} or film about a historical event and chances are a lot of them will have doomed protagonists in them, because [[ForegoneConclusion we as the audience have the advantage of knowing these people died]] because of...
** A tragic accident: Claude-François in "Clo-Clo" (died of trying to fix a light bulb while sitting in a bath), Music/BuddyHolly in ''Film/TheBuddyHollyStory'', Music/RitchieValens in ''Film/LaBamba'',...
** Suicide: UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler in ''Film/{{Downfall}}'', Ian Curtis in ''Film/{{Control}}'', Creator/VincentVanGogh in ''Film/VincentAndTheo''
** Murder: UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln in ''Film/{{Lincoln}}'', UsefulNotes/MahatmaGandhi in ''Film/{{Gandhi}}'', UsefulNotes/MalcolmX in ''Film/MalcolmX'', Oscar Romero in ''Film/{{Romero}}'', Steve Biko in ''Film/CryFreedom'', UsefulNotes/CheGuevara in ''Film/{{Che}}'', Bugsy Siegel in ''Film/{{Bugsy}}'', Harvey Milk in ''Film/{{Milk}}''...
** Execution: Sophie Scholl in ''Film/SophieSchollTheFinalDays'', UsefulNotes/JoanOfArc in ''Film/ThePassionOfJoanOfArc'',...
** Nature: Robert Falcon Scott in ''Film/ScottOfTheAntarctic'', Timothy Treadwell in ''Film/GrizzlyMan'' ,...
* It's revealed halfway through ''Film/{{Synchronic}}'' that Steve has an inoperable brain tumor.

* At the end of ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'', [[spoiler:Winston and Julia are slated for execution by the Party, and they know it]].

* In ''VideoGame/CorpseParty'', even if one avoids all the [[BadEnd Wrong Ends]] and follows the True End path, [[spoiler:four of the main characters die, along with a plethora of other victims]].

* ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' subtly plays this with E-102 Gamma, the WhiteSheep of Eggman's [[UnwillingRoboticisation animal-powered robot army]] who ends up on a path to [[GottaKillThemAll hunt down and destroy his E-100 series brethren]] in order to liberate the innocent animals inside. It isn't highlighted until he's gone through most of his list that ''it includes himself'' -- he goes into the final battle with his older brother, E-101 Beta, with the implication that he fully knows that even if he wins, [[DeathSeeker he has to die too]]. [[MutualKill He gets his wish]].

* Nearly every ending in ''G-VideoGame/{{Darius}}'' ends this way. Even the best ending is a little ambiguous.

* In both ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' 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 (and in fact may [[FromBadToWorse speed up the process]]). 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 that doesn't exist. Ultimately, they don't go Hollow, though their fates at the end of each game are arguably worse.

** Noble Six from ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', after staying behind to cover the ''Pillar of Autumn'''s escape. The game doesn't even ''attempt'' to hide it, with the first view of the titular planet focused on his/her broken helmet in the middle of a burned-out wasteland.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': By the time the First Day dawns, Mikau is mortally wounded. No matter how quickly you reach the appropriate spot, it's already too late to do anything but play the Song Of Healing and get the mask left behind.

* Hibiki of ''Anime/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. And then it's subverted when we get past that point.

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[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/WhenTheWindBlows https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/wwtb_1.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:There are no winners in a nuclear war.]]

That's because the rest of the plot is going to be about screwed this guy is, and unless he can FindTheCure, fight off his fate, or have some miraculous DeusExMachina save him, it's gonna be a long, slow, death march. In most cases, he's not going to find the cure or get rescued. (Except maybe in FanFic. [[AliensMadeThemDoIt By aliens]]. [[AWizardDidIt Or wizards]]. Or[[BreadEggsBreadedEggs wizard aliens]].) But this does not preclude moments of false {{hope| spot}}.

[[quoteright:350:[[VideoGame/Persona3 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/54_038jpeg_4.jpg]]]]

That's because the rest of the plot is going to be about screwed this guy is, and unless he can FindTheCure, fight off his fate, or have some miraculous DeusExMachina save him, it's gonna be a long, slow, death march. In most cases, he's not going to find the cure or get rescued. (Except maybe in FanFic. [[AliensMadeThemDoIt By aliens.]] [[AWizardDidIt Or wizards.]] [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or]] [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark wizard aliens.]]) But this does not preclude moments of false {{hope| spot}}.

* Chtholly's fate in ''LightNovel/WorldEndWhatDoYouDoAtTheEndOfTheWorldAreYouBusyWillYouSaveUs'' had already been sealed since the first episode's ColdOpen, and one of the series' [[WhamEpisode whammies]] after TheReveal only hammered the point further, as fitting for the [[TearJerker series']] [[{{Tragedy}} tragic]] genre.

** However, if you complete the DLC of ''Dark Souls II'' you actually ''do'' find something that can stave off hollowing indefinitely, but if they choose to stay alive this way or sacrifice themselves is up to the player's imagination. Also, the "cure" is not permanent and only affects one person at a time, meaning the player [[BlessedWithSuck can do nothing but watch everyone]] ''[[BlessedWithSuck else]]'' [[BlessedWithSuck they might have met die and turn hollow.]] [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Possibly forever.]]

!!Since this is a form of foreshadowing and an EndingTrope, ''spoilers abound!''

* At this point in time, [[spoiler:Eren and the rest of the current titan shifters]] in ''Manga/AttackOnTitan''. [[spoiler:A shifter will die 13 years after inheriting their titan powers if they're not passed down beforehand. This is known as the Curse of Ymir, after the first person to wield titan powers died 13 years after acquiring them: the idea is that nobody can possess the powers for longer than Ymir did. [[note]]Eren currently has 4 years left, Armin has 9, Reiner has 2 (theoretically so does Annie if she's aged), Zeke has less than 1, Porco has 13, and Pieck most likely has 2.[[/note]]]] The plot currently involves [[spoiler:trying to save Eldia and Paradis Island before Zeke's term is up.]] Currently, there's no cure.

* [[spoiler:All the kids]] in ''Manga/{{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]].

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', [[spoiler:the magical girls are doomed to become witches -- if they don't die first]].
** According to WordOfGod [[spoiler: Sayaka is doomed to become a witch in ''every'' timeline that she makes a contract]].
* Hibiki of ''Anime/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.]]
* [[spoiler: Chtholly's]] fate in ''LightNovel/WorldEndWhatDoYouDoAtTheEndOfTheWorldAreYouBusyWillYouSaveUs'' had already been sealed since the first episode's ColdOpen, and one of the series' [[WhamEpisode whammies]] after TheReveal only hammered the point further, as fitting for the [[TearJerker series']] [[{{Tragedy}} tragic]] genre.

* ''ComicBook/TheMask'' had Stanley Ipkiss turning more psychotic as a result of all the murderous release [[JekyllAndHyde the evil alter-ego brought by the mask]] gave him. His girlfriend doesn't like it, and eventually kills him to stop him from continuing his killing spree. (this was changed in [[Film/TheMask the movie]], as Stanley's inhibitions lost by wearing the mask are much less evil)
* The comic version of ''[[ComicBook/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 strapped to the electric chair, which is his inevitable fate -- but not before he takes down both Kevin and Cardinal Roark, the ones responsible for Goldie's death]].

* ''Film/Alien3'' has [[spoiler:Ripley with a queen's embryo inside her]]. Granted, we learn this approximately halfway through.
* This is the premise of ''Film/{{Crank}}''. [[spoiler:However, it's subverted, as he ultimately survives.]]
* The original ending of ''Film/TheCrazies2010'' remake had [[spoiler: David getting a nosebleed, this showing that both him and Judy were actually infected with [[TheVirus Trixie]]]].
* ''Film/District9'' plays with this trope. It may not be the best example, since the moment of realization occurs halfway through the film, and no one prior to Wikus had experienced it before. However, it definitely counts. He isn't going to die, though, he is just [[spoiler:turning into an alien. And Christopher said he would come back for him.]]
* Max of ''Film/{{Elysium}}'' is given 72 hours to live after getting doused with radiation. And if that wasn't enough, [[spoiler:the [[NeuralImplanting brain-encrypted data]] he steals is designed to instantly flatline anyone who uses it.]]

* Franchise/{{Godzilla}} in the film ''Film/GodzillaVsDestoroyah''. [[spoiler:He dies of nuclear meltdown due to radiation overdose.]]
* This is the very idea behind Jean-Pierre Melville's ''Film/LeSamourai'', but in a simple crime drama. You know what's coming. [[spoiler:And so does he.]]

* ''Film/SevenPounds'', [[spoiler:in a rare, self-inflicted version]].

* Everyone in ''Film/{{Threads}}''. [[spoiler:It doesn't look like humanity, at least in the UK, will last beyond a few generations.]]
* ''Film/TheWolfman2010'' [[spoiler:ends with most of the characters dead or infected by lycanthropy]].

* Music/TheCaretaker's ''Everywhere At the End of Time'' is this trope in audio-simulation form, putting you in the shoes of someone who's going through all the phases of dementia, from the beginnings of memory loss through confusion, panic, and the inevitable ending of brain-death.

* Two of [[Creator/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 [[VideoGame/ChzoMythos Chzo]].]]
* At the end of the uncensored version of [[Wiki/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]].

* ''VideoGame/BreathOfFireDragonQuarter''. About thirty minutes into the game, protagonist Ryu is "infected" with the dragon power. At no point in the game does he even think about trying to find a cure or a way of fixing his condition. You do the math. [[spoiler: Then subverted in the final cutscene when, at the end of his life, Ryu is granted a second chance by Odjn.]]

* ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077'': [[spoiler:V gets shot in the head while they have the personality biochip slotted into their head. Their death activates the chip, [[BackFromTheDead bringing them back to life]], but also causes their brain to get slowly overwritten by the personality on said chip, belonging to Johnny Silverhand. V is slowly losing their sense of self, and the entire second and third act of the story revolves around V's race with time to find a way to separate themselves and the personality on the biochip. It turns out that, while V and Johnny can be untangled, the chip has degraded V's brain beyond repair, and they only have six months to live. They can also give their body to Johnny, but that involves them being forever trapped in the virtual space, essentially stuck in limbo forever.]]

* In both ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsI'' 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 (and in fact may [[FromBadToWorse speed up the process]]). 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 hollowing indefinitely, but if they choose to stay alive this way or sacrifice themselves is up to the player's imagination. Also, the "cure" is not permanent and only affects one person at a time, meaning the player [[BlessedWithSuck can do nothing but watch everyone]] ''[[BlessedWithSuck else]]'' [[BlessedWithSuck they might have met die and turn hollow.]] [[WhoWantsToLiveForever Possibly forever.]]]]
** In ''VideoGame/DarkSoulsIII'', the GrandFinale of the series, [[spoiler:it is ''averted''. By taking certain steps, there is a way to survive the inevitable end of the Age of Fire. However, doing so pretty much requires sacrificing your moral compass by siding with the Pilgrims of Londor and becoming the Lord or Lady of Hollows who Usurps the Flame. You essentially become the First Flame and the Dark Soul incarnate.]]
* 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.

* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins''. [[spoiler: At the end of the game just before the final battle, you find out that in order to kill the Archdemon, a Grey Warden has to strike the final blow and will die in the process. You can choose to sacrifice yourself or ask the other Grey Warden in your party to do it, or TakeAThirdOption.]]
** The joining ritual that the wardens undergo is itself a death sentence. [[spoiler:You die 30 years or so later, as your body finally succumbs to the taint.]]

* [[spoiler:Shirou during the Heaven's Feel route]] in ''VisualNovel/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]].

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX''. [[spoiler: At first, Yuna is doomed as were all the summoners before her to die after the Final Summoning is performed. 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.]]
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'': [[spoiler: Serah. The game also reveals that ''all the player characters except Fang and Vanille'' were supposed to be this for the previous game.]]

** In ''VideoGame/HaloWars'' this is the fate of [[spoiler: Sgt. Forge when he volunteers to take the slipspace "bomb" into the shield world's sun]].
** Noble Six from ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', after staying behind to cover [[spoiler:the ''Pillar of Autumn'']]'s escape. The game doesn't even ''attempt'' to hide it, with the first view of the titular planet focused on his/her broken helmet in the middle of a burned-out wasteland.

* This tropes serves as the basis of ''VideoGame/HeroMustDie''. The protagonist dies shortly after defeating Satan, [[BackFromTheDead but is granted an extra five days to live by an angel]] to see the world that he saved. No matter what you do over your last five days, [[spoiler:the protagonist is always fated to die and be taken to heaven, leaving his companions and lover to mourn his loss during his funeral.]]
* ''VideoGame/JakIIRenegade'': After [[PlayingWithSyringes being experimented on]] for two years, Jak has become [[TheCorruption corrupted]] with [[AppliedPhlebotinum dark eco]]. He is repeatedly assured that there is no good waiting for him at the end of the tunnel: first he'll go insane, after which he'll die a slow, painful death. There is no way of taking away the eco, [[spoiler:but luckily the Precursor entity within the stone is able to balance him out, halting the effects.]]
* The ''VideoGame/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.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask'': By the time the First Day dawns, [[spoiler:Mikau is mortally wounded]]. No matter how quickly you reach the appropriate spot, it's already too late to do anything but play the Song Of Healing and get the mask left behind.

* At the end of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4'', [[spoiler: Old Snake, having survived fighting numerous Metal Gears, [[SerialEscalation 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.
* ''VideoGame/Persona3'' ends this way. [[spoiler: All the heroes know that it is futile to fight Nyx Avatar. Sure enough, after fighting it, TheBattleDidntCount]]. 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 to contain Nyx Avatar.]]

* ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'': [[spoiler: In an early Chapter 2 mission, protagonist Arthur Morgan goes to retrieve a debt from a very sick looking man. He eventually loses his temper and beats said man down, who then coughs right into his mouth. It's then revealed later on that the man passed his Tuberculosis onto Arthur, and since the game takes place in 1899, roughly fifty years before the development of antibiotics, this ultimately seals his fate by the end of Chapter 6.]]

* In ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead'' ''[[VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonOne Season One]]'', [[spoiler: Lee Everett gets ambushed by a walker and is quickly bitten on his left wrist near the end of Episode 4. The entirety of Episode 5 is then focused on rescuing Clementine before Lee dies from the bite's infection. Although you can choose to [[AmputationStopsSpread cut off Lee's arm]] in an attempt to stop the infection, Lee will still die by the end of the game.]]
** ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDeadSeasonFour'' seems to be shaping up in a similar way: [[spoiler:Clementine gets bitten by a zombie on the leg. Her protege, AJ, manages to amputate her leg, ultimately leaving her crippled, but alive. Before we know she survives, she still manages to take AJ to safety. There's multiple factors that likely contributed to Clementine surviving while Lee didn't; she's younger, likely has a better immune system due to living in the apocalypse for longer, her leg was amputated sooner after the bite and cauterised with fire, and she passed out and got to recover in peace, unlike Lee.]]

* ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': In that universe, PlagueZombie bites can take anything from a few days to a couple weeks to start showing consequences. The small chance of not being infected after all means it's worth waiting to see if symptoms appear or not, but once they do, the only possible outcomes are being killed by ThePlague or becoming a zombie. This "showing symptoms" scenario eventually happens with [[spoiler:Tuuri]].

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

!!Examples

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]

* Music/TheCaretaker's ''Everywhere At the End of Time'' is this trope in audio-simulation form, putting you in the shoes of someone who's going through all the phases of dementia, from the beginnings of memory loss through confusion, panic, and the inevitable ending of brain-death.

Or could be that he's adrift in the remotest part of the Pacific Ocean with a storm coming; [[ClosedCircle buried alive in an airtight coffin]]; has a badly-infected wound; or the doctor's just told him he has [[MemeticMutation testicular ligma]] and three months to live. No matter which one, DownerEnding, huh?

That's because the rest of the plot is going to be about screwed this guy is, and unless he can FindTheCure, fight off his fate, or have some miraculous DeusExMachina save him, it's just gonna be a long, slow, death march. In most cases, he's not going to find the cure or get rescued. (Except maybe in FanFic. [[AliensMadeThemDoIt By aliens.]] [[AWizardDidIt Or wizards.]] [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or]] [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark wizard aliens.]]) This does not preclude moments of false {{hope| spot}}.

--Wait, why is the progress bar only halfway through the movie?

That's because the rest of the plot is going to be about screwed this guy is, and unless he can FindTheCure, fight off his fate or have some miraculous DeusExMachina save him, it's just gonna be a long, slow, death march. In most cases, he's not going to find the cure or get rescued. (Except maybe in FanFic. [[AliensMadeThemDoIt By aliens.]] [[AWizardDidIt Or wizards.]] [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or]] [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark wizard aliens.]]) This does not preclude moments of false {{hope| spot}}.

Or could be that he's adrift in the remotest part of the Pacific Ocean with a storm coming; [[ClosedCircle buried alive in an airtight coffin]]; has a badly-infected wound; or the doctor's just told him he has [[MemeticMutation testicular ligma]] and three months to live. No matter what, DownerEnding, huh?

Or could be that he's adrift in the remotest part of the Pacific Ocean with a storm coming; [[ClosedCircle buried alive in an airtight coffin]]; has a badly-infected wound; or the doctor just told him he has [[MemeticMutation testicular ligma]] and three months to live. Either way, DownerEnding, huh?

Or could be that he's lost in the most remote part of the Pacific Ocean with a storm coming, [[ClosedCircle buried alive in an airtight coffin]], has a badly-infected wound, or has just been diagnosed with [[MemeticMutation testicular ligma]], three months to live. Either way, DownerEnding, huh?

Or could be that he's lost in the most remote part of the Pacific Ocean with a storm coming, [[ClosedCircle buried alive in an airtight coffin]], has a badly-infected wound, or has just been diagnosed with [[MemeticMutation testicular Ligma]], three months to live. Either way, DownerEnding, huh?

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 illness or disease.

DownerEnding, huh? --Wait, why is the progress bar only halfway through the movie?

That's because the rest of the plot is going to focus on how screwed this guy is, and unless he can FindTheCure, fight off his fate or have some miraculous DeusExMachina save him, it's just gonna be a long, slow, death march. In most cases, he's not going to find the cure or get rescued. (Except maybe in FanFic. [[AliensMadeThemDoIt By aliens.]] [[AWizardDidIt Or wizards.]] [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or]] [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark wizard aliens.]]) This does not preclude moments of false {{hope| spot}}.

Let's say a character comes across something that WasOnceAMan and, after discovering the source of TheVirus that made it that way, looks in the mirror to find that he shows all the signs of being infected with it. Cue "OhCrap." [[DownerEnding Roll credits.]]

Either way, we know he's screwed. And unless he can FindTheCure, fight off his fate or have some miraculous DeusExMachina save him, all he can do is sit back and wait to die. In most cases, he's not going to find the cure or get rescued. (Except maybe in FanFic. [[AliensMadeThemDoIt By aliens.]] [[AWizardDidIt Or wizards.]] [[BreadEggsBreadedEggs Or]] [[WesternAnimation/SouthPark wizard aliens.]]) This does not preclude moments of false {{hope| spot}}.

* Music/TheCaretaker's ''Everywhere At the End of Time'' is this trope in audio-simulation form, putting you in the shoes of someone who's going through all the phases of dementia, from the beginnings of memory loss through confusion, panic, and the inevitable ending of brain-death.