History Main / FaceDeathWithDespair

* Film/AirForceOne: The hijackers hold a gun to the head of the president's Deputy Press Secretary to force him to come out of hiding. She cries and begs for her life until the moment they shoot her.

** Played with in the final execution. [[Characters/DanganronpaJunkoEnoshima Junko Enoshima]], after failing to convince the survivors to vote for Makoto and stay in Hope's Peak Academy, decides to execute herself so that she can feel the "despair of death"... except that her brain is so warped that despair causes her what can be observed as absolute joy and glee, and faces the execution with a constant maniacal grin on her face, which only vanishes moments before her end.

-->'''Jigsaw''': Most people are so ungrateful to be alive... but not you. Not anymore. ''[Walks out the bathroom's door as Adam screams incoherently]'' [[PreMortemOneLiner Game over!]] ''[Shuts the door]''\\

'''Adam''': DON'T! DON'T! NOOO! ''[more inchorent screaming]''

-->'''Jigsaw''': Most people are so ungrateful to be alive... but not you. Not anymore. ''[Walks through the bathroom's door as Adam screams incoherently]'' [[PreMortemOneLiner Game over!]] ''[Shuts the door]''\\

** PlayedForHorror in the first execution during the killing game (after the one from the prologue). Leon Kuwata, having just been found out by the rest of his class for killing a classmate, is dragged away to be executed, but not before he breaks down into screaming and tears, complete with a BigNo. As the first execution in the game, none of the other students have precedent for what to expect, so Leon's death is made as painful and cruel as possible to show just how the stakes are for everyone.

** PlayedForHorror in the first execution during the killing game (after the one from the prologue). Leon Kuwata, having just been found out for killing a classmate, is dragged away to be executed, but not before he breaks down into screaming and tears, complete with a BigNo. As the first execution in the game, none of the other students have precedent for what to expect, so Leon's death is made as painful and cruel as possible to show just how the stakes are for everyone.

* Most people faced with the horror that is Alucard unleashed in ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' do not go out with any kind of dignity, but special mention has to go to [[spoiler:Enrico Maxwell, who goes out crying out for Anderson, who betrayed him in true Iscariot fashion by destroying the glass box protecting him from Alucard's ravening familiars]].

* ''Manga/DeathNote'''s [[Characters/DeathNoteLightYagami Light Yagami]], who has spent the entire series killing people with the Death Note without so much as batting an eye, is entirely undignified when it's his turn to go out at the very end, reduced to abject terror and begging for his life when Ryuk puts Light's name into his own Death Note, as he told Light he would do at the very beginning of the series.

Oftentimes, when characters realize they are about to die, they FaceDeathWithDignity, calmly accepting their fate. Other times, not so much. This trope is when a character completely breaks in the face of death, [[AintTooProudToBeg pleading for their life]], reduced to InelegantBlubbering, or expressing a [[IDontWantToDie complete lack of desire to die]]. Some choose to completely shed any trace of dignity as they're about to die.

Oftentimes, when characters realize they are about to die, they FaceDeathWithDignity, calmly accepting their fate. Other times, not so much. This trope is when a character completely breaks in the face of death, [[AintTooProudToBeg pleading for life]], reduced to InelegantBlubbering, or expressing a complete lack of desire to die. Some choose to completely shed any trace of dignity as they're about to die.

* ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons]] has Amy, one of the Poe Sisters in the Explorer's Crypt, who reacts thus, when defeated a second time [[DualBoss alongside her sister Margaret]]:

-->-- The last words of the Ninth Man, ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors''

!!As this is a {{Death Trope|s}}, all spoilers will be unmarked in the examples below. ''Beware!''

* ''Series/JuliusCaesar2003'': When Senator Tallis is going to be executed, he's frantically crying and begging that he wants to see Sulla (who ordered said execution) right until the moment his head falls off.

** Subverted in the season 3 finale when Gus orders his hitmen to [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness kill Walter and dispose of his corpse at the superlab]]. Mike and Victor think this is a straight example as Walter completely loses his cool at the prospect of his own death, begging to be spared and offering them Jesse, who is also on their hit list. It's only when Walter calls Jesse that it turns out to be a ploy to [[spoiler:eliminate their replacement cook]].

* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar:'' Once Peter Parker realizes that he's being turned to dust by Thanos's snap, he starts crying, embraces Tony Stark and pleads, "I don't want to go. Please, Mr. Stark, I don't want to go." Considering he's a 16-year-old kid, this is a perfectly understandable reaction.

* ''Film/SawI'': At the end of the film, Adam breaks down screaming when the actual Jigsaw killer closes the door to the Bathroom and leaves him to die from hunger or dehydration.

** [[WellDoneSonGuy Syura]] [[AssholeVictim gets a wonderful comeuppance]] at the hands of [[CasanovaWannabe Lubbock]] and dies trying to deny that he's just had his neck snapped, that he can't die until he's made TheEmpire his hellish playground.

* ''Anime/CrossAnge'': Poor, ''poor'' [[RedShirt Miranda Campbell]]. [[CruelAndUnusualDeath Her last minutes of life are not pretty]], so it's easy to see why she'd go out screaming and crying. Not only does she watch her friend Coco [[SurprisinglySuddenDeath so suddenly]] [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe die in brutal fashion]], but she then gets knocked off her [[HoistByHisOwnPetard Paramail]] and caught in the jaws of a ravenous [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent DRAGON]], as several more come to [[EatenAlive eat her alive.]] All she can do is scream for [[FallenPrincess Ange]] -- who is [[DirtyCoward attempting to leave Arzenal]] because [[IRejectYourReality she doesn't think she's a]] [[AntiMagic Norma]] -- to come and save her before the [=DRAGONs=] [[DevouredByTheHorde tear her limb from limb]]. There are even TearsOfFear shown in Miranda's eyes as she falls, right before the [=DRAGONs=] get her. Ange sees Miranda's horrible death as well, and then the [=DRAGONs=] attack ''her,'' sending her into a hysteric panic as she tries to get away from the man-eating beasts, not wanting to share the same fate.

* A variation is seen in ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride''. At the very end, after Lord Barkis, who tricked Emily, the titular corpse bride, into stealing her family's jewels and eloping with him so that [[TheBlueBeard he could kill and rob her]] is defeated, [[KnowWhenToFoldEm he decides to walk away from Victoria]], his recent ImpoverishedPatrician wife (whom he likely would've killed once he received his dowry, or in a fit or rage since her father couldn't afford it), as well as Victor and Emily's wedding, the residents of the Land of the Dead want to punish him, but [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Elder Gutknecht]] holds them back saying that as they're in the Land of the Living, they need to follow their rules. When Barkis gives [[SmugSnake a sarcastic wedding toast]] [[IShallTauntYou that lambasts Emily]], he drinks the poison wine meant for Victor and dies, Gutknecht realizes that the rules of the dead now apply to Barkis as well, and tells the others "[[DoWithhimAsYouwill he's all yours]]." As the crowd of the Dead slowly approach Barkis, he screams in a panic and desperately tries to open the door behind him to escape, which is eventually opened by the group of dead spirits that drag him off to a gruesome FateWorseThanDeath.

** In his debut episode "[[Recap/BreakingBadS2E8BetterCallSaul Better Call Saul]]", [[Characters/BreakingBadSaulGoodman Saul Goodman]] is kidnapped by a disguised Walt and Jesse and brought to an empty hole in the desert where it appears he'll be tossed in if he doesn't comply. This is one of the few times where Saul shows pure fear and despair, begging for his life as he thinks he's about to get disposed of.