History Main / InvoluntarySuicideMechanism

An espionage/science fiction trope, this is where agents/those who know important information are wired so that if they are interrogated, they will die instead of divulging any information. Generally a sign of having a BadBoss who doesn't care about the lives of his subordinates, although at least in theory, it could be a somewhat humane way of allowing the captured agent to escape some amount of torture.

Compare with CyanidePill which is more "voluntary" and the related concept of the ExplosiveLeash. The equivalent for inanimate secret storage is SelfDestructingSecurity.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'', Para Ventura's handlers in UNS InternalAffairs implanted a remote bomb in one of her cervical vertebrae. She seems rather disturbed after Petey removes it and informs her of its presence -- and of the fact that her handlers just tried to trigger it.

* Gorilla Grodd remotely shuts down Metallo after he is captured in ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague Unlimited'', but it isn't made clear whether this kills him or simply leaves him out of commission until someone can figure out how to fix him.
* One villain in ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'' turns out to be an android who's only following the programming of the scientist who created him, who is also evil. He seems to be the scientist until the very end, at which point he has a RoboticReveal and explains everything, including that he's programmed to self-destruct if he ever reveals that he isn't human... and so he does.

* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': [[BigBad Muzan Kibutsuji]] doesn't allow the demons under him to say his name. The reason is that he puts a curse on them that will make his cells [[BodyHorror rip them apart very painfully from the inside out]]. [[spoiler:A demon tricked into saying it learns this the hard way, and the results are ''graphic''.]]

* ''LightNovel/TheTestamentOfSisterNewDevil'': The Master-Servant pact has an automated self-destruct option if the servant breaks a fundamental law. Like ratting out their conspirator master.

-> '''Gunther Hermann:''' Eet ees a simple message I am demonstreting. Ve know vere you are going and vat you intend.\\

'''Gunther Hermann:''' You kno you vill be defeeted.\\

'''Gunther Hermann:''' I am ''not'' a mashee-- \\

[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/SuicideSquad https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/suicide_squad_bomb.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:They don't call it the ComicBook/SuicideSquad for nothing!]]

[[folder:Film]]

-> '''Gunther Hermann''': Eet ees a simple message I am demonstreting. Ve know vere you are going and vat you intend.\\
'''JC Denton''': And I know something about you.\\
'''Gunther Hermann''': You kno you vill be defeeted.\\
'''JC Denton''': I know your UNATCO killphrase: "Laputan Machine."\\
'''Gunther Hermann''': I am ''not'' a mashee-- \\
(Gunther seizes up and spasms)\\
'''JC Denton''': Sticks and stones...
-->--''VideoGame/DeusEx''

[[folder: Anime and Manga ]]

* The mooks in ''Manga/UntilDeathDoUsPart'' have explosives in their molars that they themselves can activate and that can be activated from afar. Soon enough Mamoru just cuts their jaws out.
* In ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'', Jan Valentine falls victim to one of these: a chip implanted in his head sets him on fire (one of the few surefire ways to kill a vampire) when his mission fails and he is captured. He knew it was going to happen and was happy when it did.
* ''Manga/DemonSlayerKimetsuNoYaiba'': [[BigBad Muzan Kibutsuji]] doesn't allow the demons under him to say his name. The reason is that he puts a curse on them that will make his cells [[BodyHorror rip them apart very painfully from the inside out]]. [[spoiler: A demon tricked into saying it learned this the hard way and the results are ''graphic''.]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

* ''Comicbook/{{Watchmen}}'' has a lowtech version of this, where Veidt pretends to be stopping a would-be assassin [[spoiler: he hired himself]] from taking a CyanidePill, [[spoiler: but actually had the pill himself, and shoves it down the other's throat.]]
* Members of the ''ComicBook/SuicideSquad'' each have explosives inside their bodies to detonate if they either (A) get captured, (B) [[YouHaveFailedMe fail their mission]], or even (C) defy ComicBook/AmandaWaller.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Judge Dredd}}'' Mega City One Blitzers are hitmen with implanted explosives wired to detonate with the stress of capture.

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

* In the ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'', Imperial Security agents are doctored so that they will have a fatal allergic reaction when given the universe's TruthSerum, which ironically was intended to prevent torture, but obviously, most people who know anything couldn't be given it. The protagonist was too politically important to be doctored in this way, but because of his odd medical history, he has an unusual reaction to fastpenta (becoming a TalkativeLoon), and is able to exploit this to beat one interrogation he's subjected to in the series. His clone brother Mark, who has an undamaged metabolism, does have the standard allergy to fastpenta and would die if he received it. This usually doesn't become a suicide mechanism in the current era in-universe. It is standard policy for professionals to first test for a fastpenta-induced allergy before using the drug. In practice this usually means the important operatives get to enjoy the old fashioned interrogation methods.

* In ''[[Literature/ThursdayNext The Eyre Affair]]'', when an associate of Acheron Hades started to tell the authorities what he knew, he spontaneously combusted.
* In the Literature/OnyxCourt book ''Midnight Never Come'', Invidiana has put a spell on Tiresias that will kill him if he tells what he knows about her. [[spoiler: He decides it's worth the price.]]
* There's a fairly complicated version of this in the Literature/XWingSeries novels by Stackpole. There's a drug called [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Skirtopanol skirtopanol]] that is used in interrogating prisoners, since it lowers their defenses and makes them more sensitive to pain. But if someone's been taking [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Lotiramine lotiramine]], the chemicals react, sometimes fatally. An Imperial gave lotiramine to someone he'd used, telling the man that it would protect him from a plague that was going around. When the local villain caught up with the Imperial, he told him that the man had gone into convulsions and died after being dosed with skirtopanol. The Imperial was surprised. He'd have had to have been taking four times the recommended dosage to go into convulsions.
* Actors in ''Literature/TheActsOfCaine'' are conditioned so that they cannot (on Overworld) admit they are Actors, speak Earth languages, etc. Approaching the topic can give them fits. They will die before they can say it.
** This only holds for the first book. This backfires when the natives of Overworld realise that the Aktir (as they call the Actors) cannot say the word, so between the first and second books the Actors have their conditioning removed.
* In the Literature/TortallUniverse, a death spell can be used for this purpose. It doesn't save the victim from torture/TruthSerum interrogation, but it kills him if he tries to give up accurate information. Aly comments to a captured spy that "if someone put three death spells on me, I'd wonder whether they trusted me at all".
* In ''[[Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge]]'', when the local Resistance question under hypnosis one of the sinister "Gray Men" who have invaded their world it turns out the invaders have all been implanted with an "irresistible order" to die rather than reveal the name or location of their true home planet.
* Creator/OlegDivov's ''Brothers in Reason'' starts with an unknown cabal kidnapping random (or so we think at first) people in Britain and trying to use a mind-reading machine on them, only for them to have a fatal heart attack just when the machine starts receiving data. They try a different approach with the wife of an influential politician, who is caught in bed with one of the protagonists. Instead of using the machine, the cabal members show her the photos of her affair and then start asking questions. Just as they're getting to the interesting parts, she also croaks. It turns out they were all members of a sister secret organization that the other protagonist works for, all members of which have mentally-implanted "kill switches" that are activated if unauthorized access is detected. It fails, however, when an extremely-powerful psychic uses his abilities to disable the kill switch in one of the operatives, allowing the mind-reader to work.
* An occasional plot device in ''Literature/PerryRhodan''. Usually employed by villains, one pretty grim example actually repeatedly used by the ''protagonists'' during the Hetos occupation of the Milky Way Galaxy (though with no instance of it triggering ever shown) was an acid capsule implanted in the brain of members of LaResistance on missions where they might fall into enemy hands, designed to dissolve and release its contents under torture or upon death; justified by their enemies' technology potentially still allowing them to retrieve information from ''dead'' brains as long as those were still reasonably intact.
* ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'' has this as a side effect of trying to defy a security geas. "The Concrete Jungle" features an interrogation running up against a tightly-wounded geas that ends up cooking the subject's brain.
* ''Literature/{{Declare}}''. Elana's handler uses one to try and kill her when she announces she's defecting to the French. Fortunately she was praying when the hypnotic "kill command" was implanted, and this somehow disrupted it.
* The [[AncientConspiracy Mesan Alignment]] in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' books use these on their [[{{Mook}} lower ranking security officers]], not only failing to tell them that they've put the implants in, but going so far as to have the implants kill in lots of different apparent ways so there aren't any statistical anomalies when [[spoiler: Operation Houdini results in all of the non-expendable members of the Alignment having been extracted from Mesa and the Alignment gets to clearing up after themselves]].
* [[spoiler:Wormtail's metal hand]] in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books turns out to be this, ultimately [[YouHaveFailedMe killing its owner as punishment for hesitating to kill Harry]].
* In ''Literature/StarshipTroopers'' navigators who know the location of Sanctuary, the Navy's secret base/emergency backup homeworld, are hypnotically conditioned to suicide if captured.
* In ''Literature/ChildrenOfDune,''some people are implanted with a "heart-stopper" that will activate if they say the word "Jacurutu" (a place where people who are relevant to a certain plot live).
* From ''Literature/TheForeverWar''.
-->We were under no circumstances to allow ourselves to be taken alive, and the decision wasn't up to us. One special pulse from the battle computer, and that speck of plutonium in your powerplant would fizz with all of 0.01 percent efficiency and you'd be nothing but a [[DeusExNukina rapidly expanding, very hot plasma]].

[[folder: Live Action Television ]]

* The Priors in ''Series/StargateSG1'' are genetically programmed to burst into flame if they ever lose faith in their gods, [[ScaryDogmaticAliens The Ori]]. Though, Priors are so fanatically devout that this is hardly ever an issue, it's more common for them to trigger it intentionally.

* A possible example occurs in ''Series/{{UFO}}'', though it could also be a fatal reaction to the truth serum due to the alien's different biology.
* An episode of ''Series/AgentsOfSHIELD'' dealt with a master thief who was being manipulated by an unknown party who had given her an artificial eye that functioned both as a camera and an explosive to be detonated in the event of her being compromised or disobeying an order. [[spoiler:Her handler]] turns out to be under the same control and is killed this way when SHIELD catches up to him.

[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]

* Explosive brain implants are a not-uncommon method for maintaining loyalty in ''TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'', notably employed (without disclosure) by [[spoiler: the Shmegegi in ''Clones in Space'']].

** Occurs in the adventure T1-4 ''{{TapletopGame/Temple of Elemental Evil}}'':
*** Senshock, one of the demon lord Iuz's minions, knows some of his master's secrets. If anyone (such as a group of {{PC}}s) uses Charm or any other MindControl effect to make him reveal these secrets, Senshock will suddenly and mysteriously die, slain by luz himself.
** Module [=DA1=] ''Adventures in Blackmoor''. All of the Iron Duke's agents in the Comeback Inn (as well as the Warden in the Prison Out Of Time) have a special Geas placed on them. If anyone uses torture or magic to try to force them to tell about the plan to kidnap King Uther, the Geas will kill them.
** Module [=OA5=] ''Mad Monkey vs. the Dragon Claw''. If the {{PC}}s capture any Dragon Claw monks while in the nation of T'u Lung and try to interrogate them in any way, the monks will burst into flames rather than reveal any of the secrets of their master. This effect is created by the demon Lung Jua (AKA the Dragon Claw) himself.
* Just one of the many occupational hazards of being a mook for the Eaters of the Lotus for TabletopGame/FengShui — if you do or say anything contrary to what your EvilSorcerer master wants you to do or say, the magical ward that he put on you will make YourHeadASplode. A very nice example of this is what happens to any Poison Thorns your characters interrogate (which can only be done through magical compulsion because of their fear of this) in the adventure "Baptism of Fire," which features an evil Lotus sorcerer as the main villain.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Mentioned in the ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' games in regards to Cerberus lackeys taken in for questioning...whereupon their [[YourHeadAsplode heads explode]]. [[CombatMedic Mordin]] actually makes a joke about neural implants being more effective than explosives lodged in the teeth, as the latter [[TheToothHurts can just be yanked out]] in case of [[HeelFaceTurn defection]].
* This is the fate of [[spoiler:Vinceborg]] In ''VideoGame/BarkleyShutUpAndJamGaiden''.
* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' you can activate one by researching Heresy, which causes your units to die if they're converted by enemy monks instead of actually going over to the other side.
* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'': All augmented UNATCO agents have one. Paul and JC, being {{Nanomachine}}-augmented, can be remotely induced to suicide by giving their nanobots a command to grow uncontrollably and essentially giving them both super-cancer that kills them in hours. The previous-generation mechanical augments have implanted bombs with a TriggerPhrase, which JC can turn against them when he gets on UNATCO's bad side.

[[folder: Web Comics ]]

* In ''Webcomic/SchlockMercenary'' Para Ventura's handlers in UNS Internal Affairs implanted a remote bomb in one of her cervical vertebrae. She seems rather disturbed after Petey removes it and informs her of its presence - and of the fact that her handlers just tried to trigger it.

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/TotallySpies'', one Big Bad turned out to be an android who was only following the programming of the scientist who created him, who was also evil. He seemed to be the scientist until the very end, when he had a RoboticReveal and explained everything, including that he was programmed to self-destruct if he ever revealed he wasn't human. Which he promptly did.

[[folder: Video Games ]]

* Mentioned in the ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' games in regards to Cerberus lackeys taken in for questioning...whereupon their [[YourHeadAsplode heads explode]]. [[CombatMedic Mordin]] actually makes a joke about neural implants being more effective than explosives lodged in the teeth, as the latter [[TheToothHurts can just be yanked out]] in case of [[HeelFaceTurn defection]].
* This is the fate of [[spoiler:Vinceborg]] In ''VideoGame/BarkleyShutUpAndJamGaiden''.
* In ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' you can activate one by researching Heresy, which causes your units to die if they're converted by enemy monks instead of actually going over to the other side.
* ''VideoGame/DeusEx'': All augmented UNATCO agents have one. Paul and JC, being {{Nanomachine}}-augmented, can be remotely induced to suicide by giving their nanobots a command to grow uncontrollably and essentially giving them both super-cancer that kills them in hours. The previous-generation mechanical augments have implanted bombs with a TriggerPhrase, which JC can turn against them when he gets on UNATCO's bad side.
[[/folder]]

* A particularly horrifying example early on in ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution'' has a hacker who's [[spoiler: being used as a remote-controlled puppet]] and forced to shoot himself in the head when Adam catches him.
** Also done in the original ''VideoGame/DeusEx'', as a possible way of dealing with the cyborg Gunther Hermann. If you make the correct choice earlier in the game, you'll be given Hermann's killcode, which can be used when you meet him again in Paris. The phrase "Laputan Machine" activates Hermann's killswitch, causing him to explode.
--> '''Gunther''': I..am not... a mach- *BOOM*
** A different phrase "Flatlander Woman" can be learned to use against Gunther's partner Navarre.

* Happens to one of the Grey Men in ''[[Literature/TheStainlessSteelRat The Stainless Steel Rat's Revenge]]''.