History Main / SomeoneHasToDie

* Played with in ''Film/Sunshine''. During a journey to the sun that will ultimately save humanity, [[spoiler:due to a mistake by one of the crew, the ship's generator of oxygen gets destroyed. The ship lets the crew know there isn't enough oxygen to support everyone until they reach their destination, so one of the crew must die. Most of the crew accepts this as the fate of the earth is much more important than any one of them. However, it's played with as they all know they are all going to die ultimately as even with one of them dead, there is only enough oxygen to reach the sun and complete their objective.]]

* The fourth chapter of ''VisualNovel/SuperDanganRonpa2'' revolves around a variation of this being forced on the human characters. [[spoiler:The students are trapped inside a funhouse and deprived of food and water until one of them murders another (at which point, as per standard Danganronpa rules, the surviving students have to convict the "blackened" responsible in a class trial-- if they succeed, the killer is executed and in this case are set free from the funhouse, but if they convict the wrong person, everyone but the killer is executed instead and the killer is allowed to leave the game's ClosedCircle entirely). In other words, for most of the students to survive, at least two people need to die-- a murderer, and the person/people they kill. This ends up being the motivation behind the chapter's murder, as the eventual killer realizes that the other students would rather die from starvation or thirst than kill each other and decides to take matters into his own hands, and it's heavily implied that both the killer and victim agreed upon a SuicidePact (where the murderer would be the winner of a DuelToTheDeath) in order to ensure that everyone else would survive.]]

May, occasionally, diverge from a HeroicSacrifice by way of FridgeLogic, in one specific situation: Everyone is doomed unless one character makes the sacrifice. However, only one character is capable of making the sacrifice, and unless they do, everybody (including them) is doomed. Sometimes, the story plays it as a HeroicSacrifice anyway. Only later does the audience realize that, wait a minute--he didn't make a HeroicSacrifice after all; he just decided he wasn't going to take everybody else with him when he inevitably kicked the bucket. Although not quite a HeroicSacrifice, going through with it still proves that the character is a basically decent person who can FaceDeathWithDignity, or at least refuses to act like a DirtyCoward.

May, occasionally, diverge from a HeroicSacrifice by way of FridgeLogic, in one specific situation: Everyone is doomed unless one character makes the sacrifice. However, only one character is capable of making the sacrifice, and unless he does, everybody (including him) is doomed. Usually, the story plays it as a HeroicSacrifice anyway. Only later does the audience realize that, wait a minute--he didn't make a HeroicSacrifice after all; he just decided he wasn't going to take everybody else with him when he inevitably kicked the bucket. Although not quite a HeroicSacrifice, going through with it still proves that the character is a basically decent person who can FaceDeathWithDignity, or at least refuses to act like a DirtyCoward.

May, occasionally, diverge from a HeroicSacrifice by way of FridgeLogic, in one specific situation: Everyone is doomed unless one character makes the sacrifice. However, only one character is capable of making the sacrifice, and unless he does, everybody (including him) is doomed. Usually, the story plays it as a HeroicSacrifice anyway. Only later does the audience realize that, wait a minute--he didn't make a HeroicSacrifice after all; he just decided he wasn't going to take everybody else with him when he inevitably kicked the bucket. Although not quite a HeroicSacrifice, going through with it still proves that the character is a basically decent person who can [[FaceDeathWithDignity]], or at least refuses to act like a [[DirtyCoward]].

May, occasionally, diverge from a HeroicSacrifice by way of FridgeLogic, in one specific situation: Everyone is doomed unless one character makes the sacrifice. However, only one character is capable of making the sacrifice, and unless he does, everybody (including him) is doomed. Usually, the story plays it as a HeroicSacrifice anyway. Only later does the audience realize that, wait a minute--he didn't make a HeroicSacrifice after all; he just decided he wasn't going to take everybody else with him when he inevitably kicked the bucket.

[[folder: Live Action TV]]

* The Visual Novel/Puzzle Game hybrid ''VideoGame/NoOneHasToDie'', in a twisted inversion of the game's name, forces the player to kill one character per level. On several instances these characters will explicitly ask the player to sacrifice them so another character can live. [[spoiler:Subverted in the MergedReality true ending, in which the survivors of each ending come together in an AlternateUniverse and you're able to save them all. Zig-Zagged, though, in that the characters you killed in each ending's respective universe are KilledOffForReal.]]

* ''Film/IndependenceDay'' - Russell Casse's kamikaze attack with its characteristic moment of decision before stepping up to the plate.

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' almost had this with virgin Nancy in "Jus in Bello." Supposedly ripping out her heart would have saved everyone else. She volunteers and much moral debate ensues. Subverted when Dean says screw it and they go with a more risky (but arguably more heroic) plan, one without any VirginSacrifice. Doubly subverted when most of them die anyway, Nancy included. Unless Ruby was lying and ripping out Nancy's heart wouldn't have worked. It's a little confusing.

* In a second-season episode of ''Series/TwentyFour'', CTU discovers that the bomb they've been chasing all day has begun its countdown, which can't be stopped. Jack Bauer volunteers to fly it out into the desert, where its explosion will at least do less harm. Then George Mason, dying of radiation poisoning, stows away in the plane and at the last minute gives Jack a parachute and volunteers to crash the plane himself.

* In ''Series/{{Farscape}}'', Stark decides to die, as the method by which the execution is carried out gives him--but none of the others--a chance to survive.
** Or in Season 3 when Zhaan chooses to board the doomed Pathfinder ship, knowing that it will die with everybody on board, as she is already dying and will not allow Crichton to sacrifice himself. This is made even more heroic since there was a planet nearby where she could have healed, though she denies it would have worked, this was likely an attempt to make them feel better.
*** And, the reason Zhaan was dying in the first place: she used up her own life energy to bring Aeryn back from the brink of death. Zhaan knew it would kill her but did it anyway "Because I love you. More importantly - Crichton loves you. You must take this gift, not for my sake, but for his."
* In an early episode of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'', Hera binds Prometheus to a rock (apparently, in this reality, that didn't happen to him already) which robs humanity of the gifts he gave them, including fire and the ability to heal themselves (meaning even a wound as small as a paper cut could be deadly). Xena gets ahold of a sword capable of severing the chains, but then [[Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys Hercules]] suddenly shows up to try to stop her, insisting on doing it himself. Gabriel and Iolaus think at first that the two are trying to show each other up, but then the true reason comes out: If the sword strikes something forged by Hephaestus, like the chains binding Prometheus, the one striking it is burned to ashes, meaning it can't be done without someone sacrificing himself. Xena is willing to knock Hercules out to prevent him from doing it, as she sees herself as more expendable, but [[spoiler:they are able to do it without either of them actually holding the sword, because ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks; well, actually, the only reason they managed to do it that way was because Hera sent some flying monsters to try to stop them, the fight giving them the right angle, so NiceJobFixingItVillain]].

** [[spoiler:River Song]] as well in ''Forest of the Dead'', after punching the Doctor in the face and knocking him out to prevent him from doing it.
*** [[DoctorWhoS31E05FleshAndStone Later/earlier]], they both try to out-sacrifice each other before they [[TakeAThirdOption find a third option]].

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' drives most of its entire plot on this trope. Even though every member of the party (minus [[TheUndead Auron]]) volunteers to become the Final Aeon, Yuna won't let any of them die, and they end up killing [[{{Undead}} Yunalesca]], who offers this, along with the MacGuffin. Zig-zagged at the end of the game: [[spoiler:permanently putting an end to Sin means putting the fayth to rest, including not only the ones who create the aeons but also the multitude of fayth whose dreams create the illusory Zanarkand which Jecht and Tidus came from. This causes Tidus to disappear after the final battle, a fate he accepts]].
** {{Defied}} come the sequel, where everyone brings it up as a solution at one point or another. Yuna puts her foot down and announces that the whole idea of someone dying so that others can live is bunk, and that she's so angry and tired of having to "lose to win," that she is going to [[TakeAThirdOption force a third option]] to save the world without having to sacrifice someone's life.

** And later on, all supporting characters left in the cast do this as a part of the sequence of false [[HeroicSacrifice Heroic Sacrifices]] that reduces the party to Lloyd alone, while climbing the Tower of Salvation. Only in the cases of Raine and [[BrattyHalfPint Genis]] does it seem a knowing choice of unavoidable death, the other cases looking more like accidents with a possibility of survival ("I'll get out of this mess on my own, you hurry on, you can't afford to lose any time !"), but a Z-skit springing up right before the first "sacrifice" shows Regal and Raine calmly discussing this, acknowledging the fact that they're [[MoreExpendableThanYou more expendable than Lloyd.]] Right before that whole sequence, Zelos invokes this if you follow Kratos' path.

** The Outlander in ''Knights of The Eternal Throne'' gets their own "Vermire moment" when Vette and Torian are pinned down by enemy fire, and you have to pick which to save. [[BigBad Valkorian]] has the gall to taunt you about it, and the game even gives you an HopeSpot. The one you fail to save is captured, but then [[DaddysLittleVillain Vaylin]] kills them in front of you when she comes to "negotiate." It's bad enough for any class, since the expansion spent a lot of time developing both, but if you are a Sith Warrior or a Bounty Hunter, it's double the PlayerPunch since Vette and Torian are original companions (and potential love interests) for those classes.

* At the climax of ''VideoGame/BatmanArkhamOrigins'', Bane and the Joker challenge Batman's no-killing moral code by forcing him into a fight to the death. A heart monitor is attached to Bane, which is slowly charging an electric chair that the Joker is sitting in, so that in a few minutes, the voltage will be fatal. The heart monitor will explode if Batman (or Bane, as the Joker notes) tries to remove it, [[SadisticChoice so the only way to stop the Joker from getting electrocuted is killing Bane]]. The stakes are then raised when Joker takes Jim Gordon hostage, so now when the chair is fully-powered, both of them will fried. Batman being Batman, opts to TakeAThirdOption, using his MagicalDefibrillator gloves to stop Bane's heart, and then restart it again.

* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}''

** The Trooper gets a nasty one. On a space station, they are faced with a dilemma. They can save 300 Republic prisoners of war, but they will have to vent part of the station's air and suffocate anyone inside that area. And standing right in the middle of said area is Sgt. Jaxo, who the Trooper has been working with for most of the story up until that point. worse, she's begging you not to kill her, even if it would save those people.

One of the most important aspects of this trope, it only works if the person ''volunteers''. If anyone is ordered to be the sacrifice, then either someone's a villain or you're watching a dark comedy. Occasionally, [[MartyrWithoutACause a hero will volunteer]] and someone [[MoreExpendableThanYou more expendable]] will stop them.

** Ferro Lad sacrificed himself to destroy the Sun-Eater. This happened in both in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} comic book and the animated series; he also attempted it in the post-Zero Hour continuity but was intercepted.

* ''Comicbook/XMen''
** When Beast of the discovered the cure to the Legacy Virus, for some reason the first person to take it would die, but then it would spread throughout the world via air. Colossus took it and died. Don't worry, he got better.
** The Phoenix storyline started out with Jean Grey volunteering to get the X-Men back to earth by piloting an unshielded space shuttle through a lethal solar flare. What happened at that point is [[RetCon subject to debate]], but it's fair to say only a miracle kept her alive.

** Subverted and combined with Tonight Someone Dies in ComicBook/XStatix. The Anarchist chooses to stay behind on a shuttle (because only two people could escape from it) by using his sweat to manipulate a die roll. The subversion comes when they rescue him anyway. [[spoiler: Then The Spike and U-Go Girl die anyway]].
* An unusual villainous example: the alien Grandmaster once played a game (involving hero proxies fighting it out) with the incarnation of Death in order to bring his fellow Elder of the Universe, the Collector, back to life. Death didn't bother to inform him until the contest was over that the method involved required the Grandmaster to [[BalancingDeathsBooks die in his place]]. Being the universe's ultimate game addict (and a pretty good friend of the Collector), the Grandmaster went through with it.
* The whole deal was (or was later retconned into being anyway) part of a plan on The Grandmaster's part to ultimately [[spoiler: obtain true immortality for all of the Elders]].

* Kinda subverted in the unpublished ending to ''[[{{Transformers}} Transformer: Universe, Featuring the Wreckers]].'' When their ship has been shot and is going down, Rodimus tells everyone to get out while he takes the controls. He gets knocked out by Skywarp, who then takes the controls instead while everyone else gets out. When the ship crashes they mourn the now dead Skywarp[[spoiler:...only for him appear behind them because he teleported out.]]

* ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' - Spock's FinalSpeech comes after he saves the day, but he knew going into the radiation flooded engine room was certain death.

* In ''Film/MadMaxFuryRoad'', [[spoiler: Nux ends up being the one to make a HeroicSacrifice to kill [[TheDragon Rictus]] and block the pass, trapping Joe's army in the process.]]

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'': Harry learns that in order to defeat [[BigBad Voldemort]] he has to [[spoiler: sacrifice himself, as he has part of Voldemort's soul in him, and if he does not die then Voldemort will never be truly gone.]] Subverted in that he manages to do this but [[spoiler: [[NotQuiteDead doesn't stay dead]]]].

** In fact the first book explains that defeating [[{{Satan}} The Lone Power]] is perfectly possible but most of the time, SomeoneHasToDie (although sometimes it is in fact a different variation of HeroicSacrifice involved, one death is inevitable when you oppose the Lone Power).

* The ''ComicBook/XMen[=/=]SpiderMan'' crossover novel series ''Time's Arrow'' resulted in an interesting double SomeoneHasToDie. At the beginning of the series, Cable is searching the timelines for his wife, dead in his own timeline, to have survived in a timeline where he didn't, so they can be together. He finally finds one. When the time comes to do the SomeoneHasToDie thing, he volunteers. His wife, of course, is the last to go, wanting a private moment...and then knocks him out, noting quietly how he never knew she was a "coward" who would take the easy way out in such a situation.

* At the end of ''Literature/TheAtrocityArchive, someone has to stay behind to blow up the nuke manually [[spoiler:and cause a "fizzle"]]. [[spoiler:At the end of the book, he's suffering the effects of radiation poisoning and the outlook is not the best, but then ''The Jennifer Morgue'' confirms he survived; he shows up again as the leader of TheCavalry after the cat dies. Lampshaded in the RPG, where Bob notes that there had to be some potent magic involved to keep him alive, and wonders just what the cost was...]]

* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'': Has this big in their series finale. [[spoiler: Finch volunteers to do this to take out Samaritan, but is unknowingly directed to the wrong location, so that Reese can do it instead]].

** In Season 7 it's less about someone having to die and more of someone having to go insane, but [[spoiler: Castiel finds out that Sam is too far gone for his powers to heal, so instead transfers Sam's insanity onto himself.]]

* In an early episode of ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'', Hera binds Prometheus to a rock (apparently, in this reality, that didn't happen to him already) which robs humanity of the gifts he gave them, including fire and the ability to heal themselves (meaning even a wound as small as a paper cut could be deadly). Xena gets ahold of a sword capable of severing the chains, but then [[Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys Hercules]] suddenly shows up to try to stop her, insisting on doing it himself. Gabriel and Iolaus think at first that the two are trying to show each other up, but then the true reason comes out: If the sword strikes something forged by Hephaestus, like the chains binding Prometheus, the one striking it is burned to ashes, meaning it can't be done without someone sacrificing himself. Xena is willing to knock Hercules out to prevent him from doing it, as she sees herself as more expendable, but [[spoiler:they are able to do it without either of them actually holding the sword, because ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks; well, actually, the only reason they managed to do it that way was because Hera sent some flying monsters to try to stop them, the fight giving them the right angle, so NiceJobFixingItVillain.]]

* In Season 4 of ''Series/BabylonFive'' Sheridan comes up with a way to draw the Shadows and the Vorlons into the same place, forcing a final confrontation between them (which would allow him to start another chain of events to end the war by TakingAThirdOption). The crux of the matter is luring the Shadows into the same place as the Vorlons. He needs a bait, and that would require someone to be destroyed while carrying fake plans to lure the Shadows. Thankfully, the Rangers fully understand the concept of sacrifice for the greater good, and one ship volunteers for the mission. They're allowed to put their affairs in order, and they carry out the mission exactly as planned, and the ruse works.

*** [[DoctorWhoS31E05FleshAndStone Later/earlier]], they both try to out-sacrifice each other before they [[TakeAThirdoption find a third option]].

* Literature/TheBible: Jesus had to die and suffer punishment for mankind's sins, in order to make it possible for people to be saved and not have to suffer punishment for their own sins. [[BackFromTheDead His resurrection]] is proof that his sacrifice was sufficient.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' drives most of its entire plot on this trope. Even though every member of the party (minus [[{{Undead}} Auron]]) volunteers to become the Final Aeon, Yuna won't let any of them die, and they end up killing [[{{Undead}} Yunalesca]], who offers this, along with the MacGuffin. Zig-zagged at the end of the game: [[spoiler:permanently putting an end to Sin means putting the fayth to rest, including not only the ones who create the aeons but also the multitude of fayth whose dreams create the illusory Zanarkand which Jecht and Tidus came from. This causes Tidus to disappear after the final battle, a fate he accepts.]]

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts358DaysOver2'', [[spoiler:Xion is sapping LifeEnergy from Roxas (through no fault of her own, it's because she's his OppositeSexClone) and if it continues he'll die. She ends up committing SuicideByCop to save him.]] Later, in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII'', [[spoiler:Roxas has to [[SplitPersonalityMerge merge]] with Sora so Sora can wake up from his year-long sleep. In this case it isn't really death, exactly, but he still treats it like one.]]

** And in the prologue of ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemShadowDragonAndTheBladeOfLight Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon]]'', you have to sacrifice one of your units to [[YouShallNotPass decoy Jiol away from Marth.]] [[spoiler: However, the sequel reveals this was actually {{subverted|Trope}}: Frey (who was the canon sacrifice) was attacked and LeftForDead, but survived and was rescued by nearby villagers. [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration Which explains why you couldn't revive him with Aum staff.]]]]

** You can also TakeAThirdOption by impregnating Morrigan, who can transfer the soul (cleansed of the taint) into her unborn child. Provided you trust the the shifty, unscrupulous witch with raising a baby god, this choice ranging from a no-brainer if you're already romancing her to a PlayerPunch if you're a female romancing Alistair (who'll have to be the father).

** In ''VideoGame/HaloWars'', the ''[[CoolStarship Spirit of Fire]]'' finds itself inside a Forerunner shield world. In order for them to prevent the Covenant from using the shield world's advanced technology to destroy humanity, someone from the crew has to take the ship's {{FTL}} Drive and use it to destroy the planet's artificial sun. This is combined with MoreExpendableThanYou when [[SergeantRock Sergeant Forge]] tells Spartan-II Jerome that humanity will need every [[SuperSoldier Spartan]] they can get to fight the war and so decides to take the latter's place.
** Happens again in ''VideoGame/HaloReach'', also involving an {{FTL}} drive turned into a bomb. In this case it's the "damaged detonator" scenario, leaving Jorge to toss the player character out of the ship they were trying to teleport to oblivion so he can detonate it himself.

** It is then [[spoiler: averted when it turns out [[MillionToOneChance that she survived]] - but as she, along with everyone else in the Silo, believed that she would die it still qualifies.]]

* In the original ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' finale, "Starcrossed", the League decides to [[ColonyDrop drop the Watchtower on top of the enemy's main base]] and Franchise/{{Batman}} realizes that without manual steering, the station would miss the target. Instead of telling this to [[ComicBook/TheFlash Flash]] and [[ComicBook/MartianManhunter J'onn]], he jettisons them in an escape pod and takes over the controls himself (FridgeBrilliance: [[TheCaptain he is the creator]] [[GoingDownWithTheShip of the Watchtower]]). He doesn't die, as he is bailed out by Franchise/{{Superman}} just moments before the impact.
* Name any variation of Optimus Prime/Primal from ''{{Transformers}}''. Chances are he's offered himself up to die.
** A case could also be made for [[spoiler: Dinobot in "Code of Hero". He goes into the battle knowing he won't survive.]]

* In the WesternAnimation/AdventureTime episode "James", the titular character, Jake, Finn and Princess Bubblegum get trapped in a broken ship and surrounded by zombies. PB purposely sabotages multiple escape attempts, realizing they were doomed to get everyone killed, and instead realizes that one crew member must act as a suicidal distraction. She asks James to do it (knocking Finn and Jake out so they wouldn't protest), and he agrees. Although [[spoiler: she makes a memory-less clone of James]], neither Jake nor Finn are sure how to feel about this pragmatism.

* In ''FatalFrame'', every 10 years a young woman is brutally killed in order to seal a gate to Hell. While the victim has no choice in the matter, refusing to accept their fate results in the seal being too weak to hold the gate shut.
** The HeroicSacrifice of Kyrie at the end qualifies too.

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' drives most of its entire plot on this trope. Even though every member of the party (minus [[{{Undead}} Auron]]) volunteers to become the Final Aeon, Yuna won't let any of them die, and they end up killing [[{{Undead}} Yunalesca]], who offers this, along with the MacGuffin. Zig-zagged at the end of the game: [[spoiler:permanently putting an end to Sin means putting the fayth to rest, including not only the ones who create the [[SummonCreatures aeons]] but also the multitude of fayth whose dreams create the illusory Zanarkand which Jecht and Tidus came from. This causes Tidus to disappear after the final battle, a fate he accepts.]]

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' drives most of its entire plot on this trope, but subverts it. Even though every member of the party (minus [[{{Undead}} Auron]]) volunteers to become the Final Aeon, Yuna won't let any of them die, and they end up killing [[{{Undead}} Yunalesca]], who offers this, along with the MacGuffin. But at the very end of the game, [[spoiler: the Fayth that dreamed Zanarkand can finally go to rest, which in turn dooms Jecht and Tidus, as they are part of that dream.]]

* Amazingly, this was the case in a Disney movie, the DarkerAndEdgier ''Disney/TheBlackCauldron'', to be precise. The only way to destroy the evil magic possessed by the ArtifactOfDoom the movie is named after was for a living being to ''willingly'' climb into the Cauldron, but whoever did so would sacrifice his life in the process. (Which the three witches who give it to the heroes [[EvilGloating gleefully tell them.]]) At first, none of the heroes were willing to do so - or demand such a sacrifice of anyone else - but when the [[BigBad Horned King]] unleashes its power, Taran tries to do so, but Gugri stops him, and does it himself. [[spoiler:The movie has a happy ending however; when the three witches reclaim the now-worthless Cauldron, Fflewddur goads them into demonstrating their power, and SwissArmyTears are able to revive Gugri.]]

* ''Manga/MiraiNikki'', Yukiteru and [[{{Yandere}} Yuno]] combine this with StarCrossedLovers, as they are two contestants in a survival game in which twelve people attempt to kill each other in order to ascend to the throne of God, using future-telling diaries. There can only be one winner and if a winner isn't decided by the time the current God dies (in a few months), the universe will destroy itself. The wrench in those works is that the two of them form an attraction to each other and begin dating, knowing full well that it could very well (and does) come down to one of them needing to kill the other and that there was no way they could really end up together.

* ''Comicbook/{{X-Men}}''

* The ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}[=/=]SpiderMan'' crossover novel series ''Time's Arrow'' resulted in an interesting double SomeoneHasToDie. At the beginning of the series, Cable is searching the timelines for his wife, dead in his own timeline, to have survived in a timeline where he didn't, so they can be together. He finally finds one. When the time comes to do the SomeoneHasToDie thing, he volunteers. His wife, of course, is the last to go, wanting a private moment...and then knocks him out, noting quietly how he never knew she was a "coward" who would take the easy way out in such a situation.

** Or in Season 3 when Zhaan chooses to board the doomed Pathfinder ship, knowing that it will die with everybody on board, as she is already dying and will not allow Crichton to sacrifice himself. This is made even more heroic since there was a planet nearby where she could have healed, though she denies it would have worked, this was likely an attempt to make them feel better. (Best Death Scene ever as well.)

* In Season 4 of ''BabylonFive'' Sheridan comes up with a way to draw the Shadows and the Vorlons into the same place, forcing a final confrontation between them (which would allow him to start another chain of events to end the war by TakingAThirdOption). The crux of the matter is luring the Shadows into the same place as the Vorlons. He needs a bait, and that would require someone to be destroyed while carrying fake plans to lure the Shadows. Thankfully, the Rangers fully understand the concept of sacrifice for the greater good, and one ship volunteers for the mission. They're allowed to put their affairs in order, and they carry out the mission exactly as planned, and the ruse works.

* In the original ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' finale, "Starcrossed", the League decides to [[ColonyDrop drop the Watchtower on top of the enemy's main base]] and Franchise/{{Batman}} realizes that without manual steering, the station would miss the target. Instead of telling this to [[TheFlash Flash]] and [[ComicBook/MartianManhunter J'onn]], he jettisons them in an escape pod and takes over the controls himself (FridgeBrilliance: [[TheCaptain he is the creator]] [[GoingDownWithTheShip of the Watchtower]]). He doesn't die, as he is bailed out by Franchise/{{Superman}} just moments before the impact.