History Main / LeftForDead

* ''Literature/FracturedStars'': Shortly after the protagonists arrive on Frost Moon 3, someone manages to escape from the underground prison and onto the landing pad. The four guards all shoot him with [[StunGun blazers]], then leave him to die in the subzero temperatures on the moon's surface.

* Morto does this after a round with the titular hero in ''WesternAnimation/{{Birdman}}''.

* 006 in the pre-credits sequence of ''Film/GoldenEye''.
** This is a [[PlayingWithATrope weird example.]] 006 was shot point blank in the head by [[TheDragon Ourumov]], so Bond was really only leaving a dead body behind in the explosion. [[spoiler:Or so he thought. 006 had Ourumov fake his death, a plan which almost went off the rails when 007 not only escaped, but set the timers on the planted explosives for three minutes instead of six, nearly killing them both. In the end, 006 was only LeftForDead by accident and unknowingly on Bond's part.]]

* In the original fake trailer of ''Film/{{Machete}}'' in ''Film/{{Grindhouse}}'', the narration says about [[Main/CharacterTitle Machete]]: "Set up, double-crossed, and left for dead."

* ''Franchise/StarWars: Episode III — Film/RevengeOfTheSith'':
** Clone troopers shoot at Obi-Wan — who falls into water and is left for dead (despite knowing that Jedi can both fall any distance and breathe underwater (via what Kevin Murphy calls "his trusty 'air-monica'" in ''Rifftrax''). The clones simply remarked (literally): "[[NoOneCouldSurviveThat No One Could Have Survived That.]]" Their GenreSavvy commander told them to continue searching. In the novelization, said commander at the same time laments that the order to kill Obi-Wan hadn't come just one minute sooner, ''before'' he'd returned Obi-Wan's lightsaber.
** Had Obi-Wan just Force-pushed the limbless Vader into that lava pit, the entire original trilogy would never have happened. Of course, that would have been worth several Dark Side points for Obi-Wan, so it's somewhat justified that he wouldn't.

* Desconocida shoots El Topo and leaves him for dead in the desert and the end of part 2 of ''Film/ElTopo''.

* Robin from ''Literature/DaystarAndShadow'' was left in the desert at age three to be killed by fireworms, as was [[AbandonTheDisabled his hometown's policy for autistic children]].
* This happens quite a bit across the entire ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' series, though most notable when [[TheHero Paul]] and [[ActionMom Jessica]] are left for dead after flying right into a sandstorm that should have [[NoOneCouldHaveSurvivedThat carved the flesh off their bones and then destroyed the bones]]. Justified as it is an InvokedTrope. The [[BigBad Baron]] has to maintain PlausibleDeniability in case he's questioned by a [[LivingLieDetector Truthsayer]]. So [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim rather than kill them on the spot]], he orders his soldiers to abandon Paul and Jessica in the desert where they'll die of exposure or be swallowed by a sandworm. Being killed while trying to escape is the [[SureLetsGoWithThat next best thing]].

* Managing an intentional version of this is a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for (Sir!) Horace Harkness in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series. As a result of hacking an entire enemy battlecruiser, he sends out a decoy shuttle ahead of their actual escape shuttle, which is destroyed with a nuclear warhead. Between the sensor blindness of the nuke's EMP and the fact that after they leave, Harkness arranges for the ''Tepes'' to tear itself apart when he activates a nearby pinnance's gravity wedge inside the boat bay remotely, Haven notably assumes that he, his fellow captives, and most importantly his commanding officer Honor Harrington are all dead.
** Notably, the Peep tactical officer on the scene, Shannon Foraker, is good enough that even this doesn't fool her entirely. Both she and her commander, Vice-Admiral Tourville, simply fail to voice any suspicions to their superiors, and delete the data in question that might lead to a more in depth investigation.
*** Closer to the trope, Haven's leadership as a whole has a colossal backfire from this when not only does Honor come back, but comes back after they broadcast her faked execution over every major network. It's hard to say whether the people she rescued or her own survival hurt Haven more.

* Literature/{{Parker}} is left for dead when he is betrayed by his wife and his partner after TheHeist in ''The Hunter''. He wakes up inside a burning house. Managing to escape, he goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* [[spoiler:Sandor Clegane]], of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', ''might'' apply here -- it's still not for certain if he's alive or dead, though there is evidence for either.
** Looking more likely that he's alive, considering that we're ''told'' he's dead but shown ''evidence'' that he's alive. This is ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', you don't take ''anyone'' at their word, even priests. At any rate, just the fact that Arya left him assuming he'd die is enough to qualify for the trope.

* In the ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' season 1 finale, Sylar is Left for Dead after being run through with a samurai sword... and at the very end, no one seems to notice his body has suddenly disappeared, with a trail of blood leading to an open manhole nearby.

Closely related to NotQuiteDead and NoOneCouldSurviveThat. See also UnexplainedRecovery.

* Happens ''twice'' in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', first when the Archangel is blown up just as it goes underwater and Kira's Freedom is run through by the Impulse and dumped in the ocean, second when the GOUF that Athrun and Meyrin were escaping on is sliced in half by the Destiny and ''also'' dumped in the ocean.

* Subverted in ''Anime/SonicTheHedgehogTheMovie''. Metal Robotnik shoots a bridge out from under Sonic and Tails. They grab bridge girders just out of sight, and make gurgling sounds to convince Metal Robotnik that they're drowning. Metal Robotnik isn't fooled, and mocks them for thinking that the ruse would work. And resumes shooting at them.
* Played two times in ''Manga/OnePiece'' by Crocodile:
** In his first fight with Luffy, he impaled him in the chest with his hook and buried him in quicksand. Luffy survived thanks to the help of Ms. All-Sunday.
** And in the second fight with Luffy, he drained all the moisture of Luffy's body, leaving him as a mummy. He still survived thanks to having [[ItMakesSenseInContext shot water]] to Crocodile before, falling into his dehydrated body and saving him.

* What Gin and Vodka do to Shinichi Kudo in the first chapter/episode of ''Manga/CaseClosed''. Not wanting to make noise due to police being close by, they opt to force feed Shinichi an untraceable poison to kill him. Because they left him to die, they never knew it instead shrank him to the size of a six year old.
* In the rebooted graphic novel retelling of ''Manga/{{Cyborg 009}}'', Joe uses this phrase exactly to describe what Kai's goons did after severely beating him for [[MySisterIsOffLimits planning to elope with his sister]]. It's implied that the only reason Joe survived was because the Black Ghost abducted him not long after.
* Midway through ''Manga/{{Arachnid}}'' the protagonist of the then new ''Caterpillar'' prequel, Imomushi, comes to the school where the battle royale is happening and after a brief scuffle with heroine Alice Fujii walks off to wring information out of yakuza front man Suzumebachi. He orders another antagonist to kill Imomushi and then backstabs her with a needle while she was busy fighting, seemingly but not explicity killing her instantly. The idea of Imomushi dying like that feels unbelievable because both her and most of the cast can endure much more punishment, but the plot completely forgets about her from that point on.
* In the American version of ''Anime/TransformersArmada'', Wheeljack was pinned under rubble during a fire on Cybertron. His best friend, Hot Shot, ran off, saying he'd get help, but his superiors pulled this trope, saying it was too dangerous to go back in. In the Japanese version, Hot Shot ran off scared, and only tried to go back when he realized that no one else was going in after Wheeljack. In both versions, Wheeljack's Spark is saved by [[spoiler:Megatron]]. Believing that the Autobots (especially Hot Shot) betrayed him, [[AbandonmentInducedAnimosity Wheeljack defects to the Decepticons and renounces his friendship with Hot Shot]].

* ''Film/NightmareAtNoon'': [[spoiler:Riley shoots the scientist in the leg, forces him to eat some of the substance he created that turns people into mindless killers, and leaves him in the desert as he starts to lose his mind.]]

* [[spoiler:Sandor Clegane]], of ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', ''might'' apply here -- it's still not for certain if he's alive or dead, though there is evidence for either.
** Looking more likely that he's alive, considering that we're ''told'' he's dead but shown ''evidence'' that he's alive. This is ''A Song of Ice and Fire'', you don't take ''anyone'' at their word, even priests. At any rate, just the fact that Arya left him assuming he'd die is enough to qualify for the trope.
* Managing an intentional version of this is a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for (Sir!) Horace Harkness in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series. As a result of hacking an entire enemy battlecruiser, he sends out a decoy shuttle ahead of their actual escape shuttle, which is destroyed with a nuclear warhead. Between the sensor blindness of the nuke's EMP and the fact that after they leave, Harkness arranges for the ''Tepes'' to tear itself apart when he activates a nearby pinnance's gravity wedge inside the boat bay remotely, Haven notably assumes that he, his fellow captives, and most importantly his commanding officer Honor Harrington are all dead.
** Notably, the Peep tactical officer on the scene, Shannon Foraker, is good enough that even this doesn't fool her entirely. Both she and her commander, Vice-Admiral Tourville, simply fail to voice any suspicions to their superiors, and delete the data in question that might lead to a more in depth investigation.
*** Closer to the trope, Haven's leadership as a whole has a colossal backfire from this when not only does Honor come back, but comes back after they broadcast her faked execution over every major network. It's hard to say whether the people she rescued or her own survival hurt Haven more.
* In the novel ''Literature/{{Relentless}}'', Morgan's lover Payton pushed her out of the way of a cave in. Unable to find help or to free him on her own, she held his hand until [[HesDeadJim it went cold]], and then left. When he shows up years later [[spoiler:as The Thresher]], she is understandably astonished, and he, of course, resentful that she didn't try hard enough to save him.
* This happens quite a bit across the entire ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' series, though most notable when [[TheHero Paul]] and [[ActionMom Jessica]] are left for dead after flying right into a sandstorm that should have [[NoOneCouldHaveSurvivedThat carved the flesh off their bones and then destroyed the bones]]. Justified as it is an InvokedTrope. The [[BigBad Baron]] has to maintain PlausibleDeniability in case he's questioned by a [[LivingLieDetector Truthsayer]]. So [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim rather than kill them on the spot]], he orders his soldiers to abandon Paul and Jessica in the desert where they'll die of exposure or be swallowed by a sandworm. Being killed while trying to escape is the [[SureLetsGoWithThat next best thing]].

* Literature/{{Parker}} is left for dead when he is betrayed by his wife and his partner after TheHeist in ''The Hunter''. He wakes up inside a burning house. Managing to escape, he goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.
* ''Literature/NinaTanleven'': ''The Ghost in the Big Brass Bed'' has Cornelius Fletcher suffer this after being beaten by a mob. He survives and manages to crawl home, but can’t get into his home because of the stone wall and iron gate around it, resulting in his being trapped outside overnight and consequently losing his legs to frostbite.
* In ''Literature/ThePlaceInsideTheStorm'', Loki and his sister were given brain implants that were supposed to [[ThrowingOffTheDisability cure their autism]], but instead gave them seizures and brain damage. When it became apparent that their implants weren't working properly, they were both dumped on an abandoned street to be eaten by dogs. Aeon found them and nursed Loki back to health. His sister didn't make it and was buried in the [[AbsurdlySpaciousSewer sewer]].

* ''Literature/TheWhiteBone'': When Mud was born, her mother was bitten by a cobra and collapsed on top of her. The other elephants tried and failed to free her from under the corpse, and eventually gave up, sang their mourning songs, and then went on their way. Later rain softened the ground, allowing Mud to get loose, and she wandered until she was discovered by the family that adopted her.
* ''Literature/TheBridgeKingdomArchives'': In her BackStory, king Silas Veliant of Maridrina killed Zarrah's mother and left her tied under the woman's dead body in desert heat, presumably to die of dehydration.

* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'' was NAMED for this trope. In both games, the setup is that the army had been evacuating survivors of the ZombieApocalypse, and the two groups of four immune survivors in each game got there too late, and were therefore ''Left 4 Dead''.[[note]] Also cleverly played with on its cover art. A left hand, that has four fingers, and is dead. ''Videogame/Left4Dead2'''s cover features a hand with four fingers, two pointing up, and two curled down.[[/note]]
** While plot-wise it makes sense, leaving someone for dead in gameplay is one of the worst mistakes one can make, since many situations require a helping hand out of (getting pinned by a hunter, strangled by a smoker, hanging off a cliff, etc.).
** Depending on the situation, sometimes it is better to defy logic and leave incapacitated survivors to die outside the safe room/rescue vehicle since sometimes going back to help can result in you getting in trouble or getting the whole team wiped out, forcing a restart of the map.
* Amanda Evert in ''VideoGame/TombRaiderLegend''. Lara Croft was convinced she was dead... until an antagonist drops her name in conversation.
* This happens to the main character at the beginning of ''VideoGame/FableII''. The rest of the game is, of course, a quest for revenge.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyIV'' places the NotQuiteDead blunder on the heroes' shoulders - when [[spoiler:protecting the Dark Crystal in the Dwarven Castle]], Cecil and company are taken out one by one from Golbez's Shadow Dragon. [[spoiler:Rydia]], previously thought dead ([[ArbitraryHeadcountLimit not uncommon in this game]]), appears and takes out the dragon just before it can kill Cecil, allowing them to turn the battle around and fell Golbez. The party is so overjoyed that [[spoiler:Rydia]] is still alive that they start to leave [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim without checking how alive Golbez is]] ''or'' [[spoiler:grabbing the [[MacGuffin Dark Crystal]] themselves]] - he manages to get up, grab [[spoiler:the Crystal]], and warp out.
* In the first ''VideoGame/{{Overlord}}'' game it is revealed towards the end that [[spoiler:the player was left for dead in the Tower by his companions, the fallen heroes you've been killing]].

* ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'':
** In [[VideoGame/MaxPayne1 the first game]], Nicole Horne leaves Max to die at the Punchinello Manor after injecting him with an OD of Valkyr. He not only manages to survive the overdose (though it takes a journey through a rather messed up mindscape), but tracks her to Cold Steel, which she mentioned just before leaving, and while he doesn't find her, he ''does'' learn the crucial clue that sets his RoaringRampageOfRevenge into overdrive.
** [[VideoGame/MaxPayne2TheFallOfMaxPayne The second game]] has [[spoiler:Vladimir Lem]] shooting Max in the head with a Desert Eagle (which would be fatal in any other universe) before leaving him. Once again, Max survives through going through his mindscape before going after [[spoiler:Vlad]] again.
* ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' DLC party member Zaeed Massani was betrayed by his former partner, who had six mercs hold him down while he shot him in the face and then left him to die. Zaeed [[UnexplainedRecovery got better]] and has been hell bent on getting his revenge for 20 years. Whether or not he goes through with it is up to you.
** A less obvious one happens ''with the main character''. At the beginning of Mass Effect 2, your galaxy-saving badass (who by now has a bodycount roughly equal to the Battle of Stalingrad) has their ship blown out from under them, is spaced with multiple suit breaches and undergoes an uncontrolled re-entry into the atmosphere of a deserted ice planet, perhaps to remind you where you lie on the food chain. For two years, Shepard is clinically dead, but the Collectors (responsible for their death) either didn't stick around to find the body or didn't have time to do so (which it is and why is discussed on the work's Headscratcher page), although it is mentioned that they do try to get their hands on Shepard's body, only to be stopped by Liara, who defies them and [[spoiler:the Shadow Broker]] to get said body back. Needless to say, Shepard comes back.
* An unusual example in ''VideoGame/BioShock2'''s introduction. The baddie doesn't leave the main character alive; in fact, he's quite clearly dead... in a setting with resurrection chambers behind every corner.

* Muradin in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'' was hit by... something (a shard of ice?) when Arthas took [[ArtifactOfDoom Frostmourne]] despite the dwarf's protests. After that scene, Muradin is left in the snow and Arthas tells his men that he died. In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: Wrath of the Lich King'', he turns out to have survived with [[EasyAmnesia amnesia]].
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'': Lilian Voss gets left for dead by the player in the Scholomance dungeon, but turns up alive in ''Warlords of Draenor''.
** In Warlords, the player defeats Teron'gor in the Auchindoun dungeon, but instead of killing him, he falls off a ledge at 10% health, leaving a huge puddle of blood behind. [[spoiler:Sure enough, previews for Patch 6.2 show that he survived the fall, spent the last few months feasting on the souls within Auchindoun, and will be fought again in the Hellfire Citadel raid as the Monstrous Gorefiend.]]

* It is [[https://www.thezorklibrary.com/history/krill.html confirmed]] in ''VideoGame/{{Enchanter}}'' (Creator/{{Infocom}}'s InteractiveFiction game) that [[spoiler:Krill has left the protagonist for dead after stabbing him in the chest with a dagger in a HumanSacrifice ritual. Thankfully, Krill's henchmen are too busy chanting to notice that the OZMOO spell the protagonist has prepared beforehand works wonders on him as an AutoRevive spell]].

* Morto does this after a round with the titular hero in ''Birdman''.

* In ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'', [[spoiler:Dr. Mann]], who has [[GoMadFromTheIsolation gone mad from the isolation]], does this after [[spoiler:admitting to Cooper that he lied about the planet being habitable and plans to hijack their ship and maroon him and the other two scientists there in favor of finding the next Earth on his own. He discards Cooper's radio to keep him from calling for help, then cracks his helmet so that he'll eventually die from the poisonous air. Luckily, Cooper manages to get his radio back and call Brand]].
** [[spoiler:Also, though Mann does manage to kill the third scientist on the team, Romilly, his attempt to steal the spaceship--and leave Cooper, Brand, and the robots stranded--fails when he accidentally blows himself up due to docking improperly]].
* ''Film/KillBill'' has the Bride being Left for Dead after a truly vicious NoHoldsBarredBeatdown courtesy of her four former partners, followed by a bullet in the head from Bill himself. She survives the entire thing, though it takes her four years of lying in a coma to recover from the ordeal.
** ''Kill Bill 2'' likewise features the Bride being Left for Dead -- ''literally'', by being BuriedAlive in an actual grave and coffin... apparently ''many, many'' more than 6 feet underground; but she is somehow able to break out of her coffin and burrow upwards through apparently 20-30 feet of solid earth, to come back and Film/KillBill.

->[[AC:For the video game, see ''VideoGame/Left4Dead''.]]
->[[AC:For the 2007 western-horror film, see ''Film/LeftForDead''.]]
----

'''Amy:''' Left her for dead?\\
'''Abed:''' Sounds bad when you put it that way. Can you put it a way that sounds good?

* In ''ComicBook/{{Invincible}}'', [[spoiler: Thragg and his children Onaan and Ursaal attack Invincible and his family to punish his perceived treason. The fight ends with Oliver and Onaan dead, Mark ripped in half, Eve with her back broken and her mandible crushed, and [[HarmfulToMinors little Terra]] with a broken leg. Thragg stops Ursaal from finishing them so that Mark and Eve will die knowing that their daughter will soon follow as she can't fend for herself or look for help on a desert planet. However, Thragg doesn't know that [[DeathActivatedSuperPower Eve's full power activates when she is on the brink of death]]: shortly after their enemies leave, Eve's mental block gets disabled and she instantly restores herself, Mark and Terra back to full health and [[CameBackStrong stronger]] so that [[NeutralNoLonger they can fight alongside their allies]] [[NiceJobFixingITVillain and defeat Thragg once and for all]].]]

* In ''Fanfic/AFrozenFlower'', after Oz shells out and goes unconscious, Oprah tells Orchid to leave the Medical Bay. She refuses, stating that she believes she can save Oz, and Oprah concedes, leaving Oz for dead and branding him as a "lost cause". Unfortunately, while Orchid does try her hardest to save him, he ends up dying.

* ''ComicBook/SherwoodTexas'': Rob Hood is shot, dumped in an abandoned mine and has the mine collapsed on top of him. He comes back.

** In ''ComicBook/StarfiresRevenge'', the titular queenpin's gang shoot ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} as her powers are fading and then they leave her lying on the ground instead of putting one bullet in her head just in case. However, Kara survive thanks to her healing factor returning.

* At the start of ''Film/RoboCop1987'' the bad guys pretty much dismember officer Murphy in a brutal fashion and leave him to die with a gunshot in his head, believing (quite understandably) he's dead. Even though the quick medical response can't save him in the end, he only dies at the hospital. They do not know that OCP has new experimental technology that can bring him back as the titular cyborg policeman.

* From ''VideoGame/MaxPayne'':
** In the first game, Nicole Horne leaves Max to die at the Punchinello Manor after injecting him with an OD of Valkyr. He not only manages to survive the overdose (though it takes a journey through a rather messed up mindscape), but tracks her to Cold Steel, which she mentioned just before leaving, and while he doesn't find her, he ''does'' learn the crucial clue that sets his RoaringRampageOfRevenge into overdrive.
** The second game has [[spoiler:Vladimir Lem]] shooting Max in the head with a Desert Eagle (which would be fatal in any other universe) before leaving him. Once again, Max survives through going through his mindscape before going after [[spoiler:Vlad]] again.

* Muradin in ''VideoGame/WarcraftIII'' was hit by... something (a shard of ice?) when Arthas took [[ArtifactOfDoom Frostmourne]] despite the dwarf's protests. After that scene, Muradin is left in the snow and Arthas tells his men that he died. In ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft: Wrath of the Lich King'', he turns out to have survived with [[EasyAmnesia amnesia]].

* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': Lust stabs Roy and Havoc through their lungs and leaves them to bleed to death. [[spoiler:Roy is able to burn their wounds closed and returns to totally curb-stomp Lust. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome It was ''awesome''.]]]]

->'''Troy''': We kind of... left her.
->'''Amy''': Left her for dead?
->'''Abed''': Sounds bad when you put it that way. Can you put it a way that sounds good?

* Happens TWICE in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEEDDestiny'', first when the Archangel is blown up just as it goes underwater and Kira's Freedom is run through by the Impulse and dumped in the ocean, second when the GOUF that Athrun and Meyrin were escaping on is sliced in half by the Destiny and ''also'' dumped in the ocean.
* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'': Lust stabs Roy and Havoc through their lungs and leaves them to bleed to death. [[spoiler:Roy is able to burn their wounds closed and returns to totally curbstomp Lust. [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome It was AWESOME.]]]]

* What Gin and Vodka do to Shinichi Kudo in the first chapter/episode of ''Manga/CaseClosed'. Not wanting to make noise due to police being close by, they opt to force feed Shinichi an untraceable poison to kill him. Because they left him to die, they never knew it instead shrank him to the size of a six year old.

->''For the video game, see ''VideoGame/Left4Dead''.''
->''For the 2007 western-horror film, see ''Film/LeftForDead''.''