History Main / SomeoneHasToDie

* ''Fanfic/AncientSins'': In order for the plan to kill The Noting/Tadmir to work, It has to possess a physical body. However, if Tadmir is killed, so is the vessel. Dante immediately volunteers, but is beaten to it by The Shadow/Batil, who does preforms an ''HeroicSacrifice'' for all of existance.

* In ''Anime/SonicX'': Cosmo does this during the big [[WhamEpisode series finale]], requiring Tails to shoot the Sonic driver, [[AbnormalAmmo which uses Sonic and Shadow as ammunition]], into her while she is attached to Dark Oak in her adult tree form, thereby weakening him to a point at which he could be destroyed. Whether or not this was considered or spur of the moment is debatable, but it is said that this was supposed to have been her [[BecauseDestinySaysSo destiny all along]]. Cosmo, however, chooses to die not simply to fulfill her purpose, but because she wants to save her friends.

* In ''Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehog'', Dr. Finitevus uses magic and the Master Emerald to turn Knuckles the Echidna into Enerjak, a godlike being bent on cleansing the earth with fire... an effect that can only be reversed by someone giving up their life. Several of Knuckles' loved ones immediately volunteer, but it's his father Locke who ultimately goes through with the sacrifice.

* ''[[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai]]'', in ''Matsuribayashi-hen'', it happens twice. The first time is when Shion and Kasai choose to sacrifice themselves so that her friends can escape from the Yamainu. The second time is when the villain is holding the heroes at gunpoint with only one bullet, and asks them to choose who will get shot to save everyone else. Subverted when EverybodyLives. "This world doesn't need a loser. That is the answer Furude Rika reached at the end of her thousand year journey in search of a miracle."

* ''[[VisualNovel/HigurashiWhenTheyCry Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni Kai]]'', in ''Matsuribayashi-hen''. The villain is holding the heroes at gunpoint with only one bullet, and asks them to choose who will take the bullet to save everyone else. Subverted when EverybodyLives. "This world doesn't need a loser. That is the answer Furude Rika reached at the end of her thousand year journey in search of a miracle."

* 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 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 than kill each other and decides to take matters into his own hands, and it's heavily implied (and, while not confirmed, speculated by two of the other characters, including the protagonist) 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.]]

* One of the season finales of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' sees Archer, Lana, Cyril and Ray trapped in a room at the bottom of the ocean that's quickly filling with water and only three submarine suits available to swim out and to the surface. The dying station captain they're with tells them that one of them will have to drown and die, hopefully temporarily, while the other three get themselves the safety and try to resuscitate the volunteer. [[spoiler: Archer [[HeroicSuicide immediately volunteers]] after Lana [[ImperiledInPregnancy reveals she's pregnant.]]]]

* One of the season finales of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}]] sees Archer, Lana, Cyril and Ray trapped in a room at the bottom of the ocean that's quickly filling with water and only three submarine suits available to swim out and to the surface. The dying station captain they're with tells them that one of them will have to drown and die, hopefully temporarily, while the other three get themselves the safety and try to resuscitate the volunteer. [[spoiler: Archer [[HeroicSuicide immediately volunteers]] after Lana [[ImperiledInPregnancy reveals she's pregnant.]]]]

* One of the season finales of ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}} sees Archer, Lana, Cyril and Ray trapped in a room at the bottom of the ocean that's quickly filling with water and only three submarine suits available to swim out and to the surface. The dying station captain they're with tells them that one of them will have to drown and die, hopefully temporarily, while the other three get themselves the safety and try to resuscitate the volunteer. [[spoiler: Archer [[HeroicSuicide immediately volunteers]] after Lana [[ImperiledInPregnancy reveals she's pregnant.]]]]

* Comedically invoked in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' when the gang gets held hostage by the {{McPoyles.}} They huddle up and agree to stick together and that no one has to die; immediately cut to Dennis and Dee away from Charlie and Mac, agreeing that someone has to die.

* Comedically invoked in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' when the gang gets held hostage by the McPoyles. They huddle up and agree to stick together and that no one has to die; immediately cut to Dennis and Dee away from Charlie and Mac, agreeing that someone has to die.

* Invoked in ''Series/ThirtyRock'' when Jack sets out to prove that no one could be [[IncorruptiblePurePureness as selfless as Kenneth seems to be]]. He pulls the emergency brake on an elevator carrying them and a bunch of others, tells Kenneth that there are nine people aboard and only enough air for eight, and reveals that he has replaced the phone with a gun containing one bullet. Not only does Kenneth question none of this, he immediately grabs the gun and tries to use it on himself, and when that doesn't work, takes off his belt and instructs the other passengers to strangle him with it. By this time the elevator has arrived at its destination and Jack is stepping off, whispering, "What is wrong with you?"

->'''Spock:''' Do not grieve, Admiral. It is logical. The needs of the many... outweigh...\\

'''Spock:''' ... Or the one.

*** In a ''WhatIf'' story where Jean never became Phoenix, the Shi'ar want to destroy Earth's sun, where the Phoenix has settled. To avert this, Cyclops volunteers to become the Phoenix's host and then let the Shi'ar kill him; just before he can go through with it Nightcrawler [[MoreExpendableThanYou knocks him over the head and takes his place as the sacrifice]].

* In the Season three episode of ''{{Series/Eureka}}'', 'I Do Over', Stark Sacrifices himself to stop a time loop that threatened to destroy the universe. [[KickTheDog On his wedding day]]!

** In season 8, we find that this is required for the trials to close the Gates of Hell. [[Dean talks Sam out of finishing the last trial for this reason. It takes some persuasion, even after Sam knows the price he would pay.]]

In contrast to TakingTheBullet this is not a spur of the moment decision but one where the person making the sacrifice has time to think through a decision, or make up his mind long in advance, and usually give his FinalSpeech before making his sacrifice. Typically the speech includes the hero expressing that he knows exactly what he is doing and is willing to pay the price. [[MoreHeroThanThou Sometimes the hero even has to fight his own team for the right to die.]]

'''Spock:''' Or the one.

* 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 Gurgi 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 Gurgi.]]

** Played completely straight when the MainCharacter sacrifices himself to stop said AnthropomorphicPersonification from killing everyone.

* At the end of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', [[spoiler: Tony]] grabs the nuke and flies it into space in spite of Natasha's warnings that anything going out of the wormhole is on a "one way trip" because everyone on Manhattan Island would've been killed otherwise, even if Natasha managed to close the portal in time to stop the rest of the invading army. It's unsaid, but notable, that [[spoiler: Thor]] also had the capability to do this, and [[spoiler: Tony]] could've refused to catch the nuke and instead [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere flown away from the city in time to save himself]], yet chose not to.
** Much later, in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', the Soul Stone can only be claimed through a human sacrifice. The two sent on the Soul Stone mission, [[spoiler:Black Widow and Hawkeye]], are the two Avengers with [[DeathSeeker the most pronounced death wishes]], leading to an actual ''fight'' over which of them will be able to die [[spoiler:which Black Widow "wins"]].