History Main / SomeoneHastoDie

* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' does this in the episode "The Gift". Not as much forethought as some examples, but there is still the dramatic pause, the weighing, the decision, the FinalSpeech and then Buffy's leap.
** In the spin-off ''Series/{{Angel}}'', the Season One episode "Hero" features a cult of Demon-Nazis, possessing FantasticRacism towards humanity and trying to murder a group of half-blood demons using a machine which would kill anyone exposed to its light if they have (enough) human ancestry/blood. Angel is prepared to make this, but Doyle pulls a MoreHeroThanThou - he knocks Angel out, gives Cordelia their first-and-last kiss, and then leaps upon the glowing machine, disconnecting it just as the light disintegrates him.

* [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] is always volunteering, although it [[TheNthDoctor usually]] doesn't turn out to be necessary.
** [[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.
*** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone Later/earlier]], they both try to out-sacrifice each other before they [[TakeAThirdOption find a third option]].
* The series finale of ''{{Series/Dollhouse}}'', when Topher must trigger the mind-restoring machine himself - and be killed in the resulting explosion - so that the imprinted people outside can have their selves returned to them.
* 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 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 ''{{Series/Fringe}}'' 2X23, "Over There Part 2," William Bell realizes that in order to have enough power to return the group to their own universe, he will need to create a nuclear reaction using the instability of his body's molecular state.
* At the end of the first season of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'', Shawn gives the four humans-- Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason-- a choice: two of them must go to the [[{{Hell}} Bad Place]] (they're all already dead but still), and the other two can stay in the [[{{Heaven}} Good Place]]. If they can't decide, all four will go to the Bad Place. The four bicker about who will go and who will stay, but then [[spoiler:Eleanor realizes they already are in the Bad Place, and this is their torture for eternity]].
* On ''Series/{{Haven}},'' a notable aspect of Duke's [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Trouble]] is that he can end Troubles in entire families, including preventing them from being inherited. But it involves killing the oldest male relative with that Trouble. Since Troubles in Haven aren't [[BlessedWithSuck fun]] or [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway useful]], this trope comes up more than once, each time with the person who must die coming to the realization it's the only way to stop the death and destruction caused by their or a relative's Trouble.
* Comedically invoked in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' in "The Gang Gets Held Hostage." They huddle up and agree to stick together and that no one has to die; immediately cut to Dennis and Dee separate from Mac and Charlie, agreeing that someone has to die.

* Parodied by Creator/MontyPython in both the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sljSf7KVlQ lifeboat sketch]] and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJE7uJyHJ3k one about Ypres]].
* ''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.]]
* ''Series/SleepyHollow'': Abbie gives a good speech about this in "The Akeda", telling Crane that they both have to be willing to sacrifice not only themselves, but each other, to win this war. This is how she convinces him to let her wield a sword that would allow them to kill any demon, but would take the soul of the user. She also acknowledges that he'll probably get a chance to risk his life after she dies since none of them expect to survive for long during the battle.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "The Quest" had a good speech by Mitchell about it.
** Happens ALL THE TIME in both ''SG-1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', often with characters arguing over who gets to risk their lives this time.
--->'''Mitchell''': Well now you know that the hard part about being part of this team is not risking your own life. It's watching your friends take chances with theirs.
* The subplot for the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "Thine Own Self" revolved around Deanna Troi realizing that this situation pops up and that ordering someone to their death to save the ship is something a commanding officer has to do at times. She eventually accepts this, leading to her promotion to commander.
* 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 [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third option]]). 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.

** ''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 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]].

*** On the other hand, Luke, and it's implied Asch as well, soon find out [[PlayerPunch the phlebotinum in their bodies is dissipating, leading to their own eventual death-by-dissipation.]] Funnily enough, neither of them last long enough for said dissipation to kick in, as they both end up performing more standard HeroicSacrifices by the time the credits roll. [[MindScrew And one of them comes back. Who knows which one?]]

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

* The ''ComicBook/XMen[=/=]Franchise/SpiderMan'' crossover novel series ''Time's Arrow'' resulted in an interesting double example. At the beginning of the series, ComicBook/{{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 fulfill this trope, 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.

* ''Fanfic/AFrozenFlower'' plays this trope straight, in a sense. Orchid was never meant to be alive to begin with and must perform a HeroicSuicide in order to save the world so she doesn't destroy it as a PersonOfMassDestruction. She knows that she has to die and even tries to commit suicide thrice because she knows that she doesn't have a whole lot of time left to live and figures that she should end her life before her time is up. By the end of the story, she comes to terms with knowing that she has to perform a HeroicSuicide and decides to live her best life at Odd Squad up until her "expiration date", as Till so calls it.

** A particularly [[TearJerker poignant]] part of ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' invokes this trope: the only surefire way to neutralize the poisonous miasma covering the world is to cause a "hyperresonance" so powerful that it would take the user's life and the lives of ''thousands of willing sacrifices.'' The thousands of sacrifices are supplied by eventually-[[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman all-too-willing replicas]], and [[CloningBlues Luke and Asch]] argue for a while over who should be the one to instigate the hyperresonance. It eventually ends with [[MessianicArchetype Luke]] trying to do so, but Asch needing to contribute a bit of his power anyway because Luke isn't strong enough on his own. Possibly for this reason, though it's never quite explained, both of them survive.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

This is OlderThanFeudalism, as it is the reason why Christ had to die in Christianity.

!!'''DeathTrope. Spoilers ahoy.'''

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Transformers}}'':

* The main characters of ''Manga/NurseAngelRirikaSOS'' spend the show searching for the Flower of Life, and the situation gets so bad that the flowers are their only hope. It turns out that they couldn't find them because they are [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong they are sealed in the heroine]], and the only way to release them is for her to sacrifice herself. After a HesitantSacrifice moment, she resolves to GoOutWithASmile in the knowledge that her loved ones will be safe.

* An unusual villainous example in ''ComicBook/ContestOfChampions1982'': 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]].

* ''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]]]].

** Clearing the graphite off the 'Masha' roof. The debris was blown straight from the core and was so radioactive that it outright fried the robots that cleared off the less-radioactive roofs. The 'Bio-robots' they had to resort to ''could'' survive- ''if'' they spent no more than 90 seconds on the roof, wore the best protective gear available, and didn't look directly at the core. [[spoiler: It's implied that the nameless soldier the camera follows will die from radiation poisoning or cancer after he had a small hole ripped in his boot.]]

* ''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.]]

* The door holding back [[EldritchAbomination the Nameless God]] in ''Podcast/DarkDice'' can only be sealed with blood--specifically enough blood and life force to kill a person. At the end of the first season, [[spoiler: party ranger Soren Arkwright]] stabs himself in the heart in order to seal the door, [[spoiler: although dialogue early in season 2 implies that the sacrifice might not have been as willing as it was presented.]]

** 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. [[SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration Which explains why you couldn't revive him with the Aum staff.]]]]

* In ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'' the titular characters are being pursued by [[KnightTemplar Kore]]. Their only escape is to flee into a dungeon crawl, but the approach will leave them wide open to attack from his ranged weapons. [[spoiler: Chief]] stays behind to delay Kore long enough for the others to reach safety, [[spoiler: claiming ([[FailureKnight falsely]]) that his spine is shattered and would only slow the others]].
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', someone has to set off a supernova to trigger the "Scratch" that will [[ResetButton reset]] their [[UnwinnableByDesign unwinnable]] session. The original plan to sacrifice a dreamself has been sunk by [[spoiler:all four losing either their dreamself or realself to Jack Noir]], so someone has to die.
** [[spoiler: Turns out to be a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] when both Rose and Dave end up sacrificing themselves, but then [[CameBackStrong reach godtier in the process.]] ]]

* Egg volunteers to be the Liaison Officer between the eponymous ''Roleplay/{{AJCO}}'' and everyone else, who have been forced into sheltering in AJCO's nuclear bunker after missiles were fired at Pi-TEC. It becomes this trope when A_J reveals that any misbehaviour by any of the Crew or neutrals will mean that ''Egg'', who is almost universally liked, will be the one who takes the punishment. Following a failed rebellion, she is eventually expelled out of the bunker to die either to a lethal dose of radiation, undispersed chlorine gas or [[LeaveBehindAPistol the single bullet she is gifted]]. By agreeing to sacrifice herself and become an example, her allies trapped in the Hangar are saved from starvation.
** 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]].

* ''[[VideoGame/StarshipTroopers Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy]]'' has a level where the remote detonator of the SelfDestructMechanism of a research facility that must be destroyed has been disabled by [[HordeOfAlienLocusts bug]] attacks. SergeantRock Major Bishop has the player select one of his men to stay behind and manually trigger the bomb while the rest of the strike team abandons the planet before it is overrun. This troper would have found it difficult to choose, if it weren't for the fact that he had just rescued and taken command of a [[RedshirtArmy squad of extras]] during the mission, none of whom were of [[RankScalesWithAsskicking high enough rank]] to use [[SortingAlgorithmOfWeaponEffectiveness more powerful weapons]] or wear a [[PoweredArmor Marauder Battlesuit]].

[[index]]
* SomeoneHasToDie/AnimeAndManga
* SomeoneHasToDie/ComicBooks
* SomeoneHasToDie/FanWorks
* [[SomeoneHasToDie/LiveActionFilms Films - Live-Action]]
* SomeoneHasToDie/{{Literature}}
* SomeoneHasToDie/LiveActionTV
* SomeoneHasToDie/VideoGames
* SomeoneHasToDie/WesternAnimation
[[/index]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* Amazingly, this was the case in a Disney movie, the DarkerAndEdgier ''WesternAnimation/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.]]
* After Miles gets written off as not ready to take part in the final run in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'', the other five run their ColdEquation and conclude that ''someone'' is going to have to stay behind and make a HeroicSacrifice in order to destroy the collider. Then they practically ''fall over themselves'' to volunteer, because they are, after all, superheroes.

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* The door holding back [[EldritchAbomination the Nameless God]] in ''Podcast/DarkDice'' can only be sealed with blood--specifically enough blood and life force to kill a person. At the end of the first season, [[spoiler: party ranger Soren Arkwright]] stabs himself in the heart in order to seal the door, [[spoiler: although dialogue early in season 2 implies that the sacrifice might not have been as willing as it was presented.]]

[[folder:Religion & Mythology]]
* Literature/TheBible: UsefulNotes/{{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.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* One of the six possible endings to the original ''TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}}'' adventures for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' stipulates that one of the player characters must throw himself into a portal to the Abyss in order to seal it from the inside, and thus stop the dark goddess Takhisis from returning to Krynn. Another of the endings is that Berem, an NPC who carries a piece of one of the foundation stones from Takhisis' temple in his chest, making him immortal, must return the stone to its rightful place, which would seal the portal but cause his own death. The latter ending was eventually used for the novelization of these adventures, the ''Dragonlance Chronicles'' trilogy.
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering:'' The Trial Of Ambition on the plane of Amonkhet is built around this trope, as fits the ideology of its patron God. Each challenge in the trial is designed such that one or more of the initates ''must'' die if the rest of the Crop is to advance, and the final trial requires each initiate to bring Bhontu the heart of one of their fellows if they wish to receive her cartouche.
* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' campaign, there is the House of Lament, a very dangerous variation of the HauntedHouse theme. The curse placed on this house started when a poor young girl was kidnapped by bandits, then boarded up in a room and left to die in loneliness and isolation. Soon after, the bandits were found dead and horrible mutilated, but the young girl's restless and eternally lonely spirit now seals the house anytime a group enters, making escape impossible (windows cannot break and doors cannot be knocked down, even with magic) and trying her best to kill them, forbidding anyone in the group from leaving until she succeeds in killing at least one. The guidebook where the House is detailed recommends to the Game Master that the actual victim should be an NPC, but it is said, however, that her spirit [[CurseEscapeClause can be laid to rest forever]] if a selfless hero [[HeroicSacrifice volunteers to be the victim]], but as yet, no-one (at least canonically) has offered.

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In the ending of Creator/GilbertAndSullivan's ''Theatre/TheSorcerer'', one of either Alexis or Mr. Wells must be sacrificed to nullify the effects of the LovePotion. Of course, the sorcerer who made the DealWithTheDevil is the one supposed to go down to hell, but many audiences today would rather have DesignatedHero Alexis be the one to die.

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* The fourth chapter of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' 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.]]
* 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.]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'' the titular characters are being pursued by [[KnightTemplar Kore]]. Their only escape is to flee into a dungeon crawl, but the approach will leave them wide open to attack from his ranged weapons. [[spoiler: Chief]] stays behind to delay Kore long enough for the others to reach safety, [[spoiler: claiming ([[FailureKnight falsely]]) that his spine is shattered and would only slow the others]].
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', someone has to set off a supernova to trigger the "Scratch" that will [[ResetButton reset]] their [[UnwinnableByDesign unwinnable]] session. The original plan to sacrifice a dreamself has been sunk by [[spoiler:all four losing either their dreamself or realself to Jack Noir]], so someone has to die.
** [[spoiler: Turns out to be a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] when both Rose and Dave end up sacrificing themselves, but then [[CameBackStrong reach godtier in the process.]] ]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Egg volunteers to be the Liaison Officer between the eponymous ''Roleplay/{{AJCO}}'' and everyone else, who have been forced into sheltering in AJCO's nuclear bunker after missiles were fired at Pi-TEC. It becomes this trope when A_J reveals that any misbehaviour by any of the Crew or neutrals will mean that ''Egg'', who is almost universally liked, will be the one who takes the punishment. Following a failed rebellion, she is eventually expelled out of the bunker to die either to a lethal dose of radiation, undispersed chlorine gas or [[LeaveBehindAPistol the single bullet she is gifted]]. By agreeing to sacrifice herself and become an example, her allies trapped in the Hangar are saved from starvation.
** 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]].

[[folder:Other]]
* Subverted in ''{{Toys/Bionicle}}'', when the Toa Inika are told they have to sacrifice one of their own to get to the powerful Mask of Life. Matoro takes the hit, feeling he's [[MoreExpendableThanYou not action hero material like the rest of the team]] - but he's OnlyMostlyDead and quickly brought back, as the ''willingness'' to sacrifice was what mattered and the actual death was irrelevant.
** Later played straight when the Mask of Life actually had to be used, in order to revive the Great Spirit Mata Nui (the user would be sacrificed and his body converted into the life energy needed to do so). Matoro steps up again, but this time he's KilledOffForReal.

!!'''Examples:'''

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The entire last half of the first ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'' movie focuses on this.
* Happens with twists in ''Anime/DragonBallZ'' at the end of the Cell arc when a depowered Cell tries to blow himself up and take Earth with him. Goku is the only one who knows a teleportation technique that could get rid of Cell, and if he doesn't do it, everyone is screwed. Subverted when Goku realizes that he died for nothing since Cell regenerates... FromASingleCell and CameBackStrong to boot.
* At the end of ''[[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Farewell Space Battleship Yamato]]'', [[TheCaptain Wildstar]] convinces the scant other surviving crewmembers - Venture, Homer, IQ-9 and some Redshirts - that they do not need to die with him in the final attack on the Comet Empire, and they leave on a medical shuttle. It's implied their spirits or wills to live died with him, however, as the final scene of the movie is [[MindScrew Wildstar totally hallucinating orange images of all his friends, dead or alive, on the bridge]].
* ''Manga/GirlsGoAround'', the final chapter reveals that on their graduation day, one of their group ''will'' die whether it is by accident or [[DrivenToSuicide planned]]. Causeing a time loop and trying to save the one that died last time results in a different one dying. They just can't avoid it.
* Penwood from ''Anime/{{Hellsing}}''. As England is being obliterated by Millennium, he comes to the resolution (even though a little persuasion helps) to stay behind and fight to the end with the rest of his colleagues, just to take out however many vampires they can. With him soon being the only living person in the army HQ, he holds a detonator in his hand and looks at a gun Integra gave him so that he could commit suicide. Choosing the more heroic option, Penwood waits until the vampires burst through a barricaded door, whereupon he adamantly answers their leader back in the face of death, and, even after being shot ''thrice'', manages to detonate a huge stockpile of C4, taking the vampires and the entire building with him.
* ''[[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, since she realized that the last couple of people in the group wouldn't be able to make it in time. 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."
* ''Manga/FutureDiary'', 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.
* The main characters of ''Manga/NurseAngelRirikaSOS'' spend the show searching for the Flower of Life, and the situation gets so bad that the flowers are their only hope. It turns out that they couldn't find them because they are [[ItWasWithYouAllAlong they are sealed in the heroine]], and the only way to release them is for her to sacrifice herself. After a HesitantSacrifice moment, she resolves GoOutWithASmile in the knowledge that her loved ones will be safe.
* ''Manga/OnePiece'': During the prison break out of [[TheAlcatraz Impel Down]]. Someone had to stay behind to make sure that the final obstacle, the Gates of Justice, would be open to let everyone else through to escape. Mr. 2 Bon Kurei volunteers for the role, using his Clone-Clone Fruit powers to pose as the prison's warden, and gets everyone out just as the real Warden confronts him.
* In ''Anime/{{Robotech}}: [[WesternAnimation/RobotechTheShadowChronicles The Shadow Chronicles]]'', Alex Romero flies his fighter with overloading Synchro-Cannon on board into a bunch of pursuing Shadowfighters. Later Markus throws escape capsule with Maya towads safety and stays behind(rather than call for help) to deter enemy fighters, though this borders with YouShallNotPass situation.
* In ''[[Anime/SailorMoon Sailor Moon S]]'', Saturn uses her power to stop Pharaoh 90 even though it will kill her. Of course, Sailor Moon saved her in the end.
* 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.
* A variant of this trope happens in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'', when the team in trapped in the ocean of despair with two minutes 'till they all get crushed to death. At first Yoko tries to volunteer for the suicidal mission to destroy the Death Spiral Machine that maintains the Ocean, but before she can get the words out, Kittan volunteers, and shares a LastKiss with Yoko, before going on to do his DyingMomentOfAwesome. He dies without regrets, his last thoughts being that going out in a blaze of Spiral energy is "not bad at all."

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* An unusual villainous example in ''ComicBook/ContestOfChampions1982'': 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]].
* In ''Comicbook/{{Fables}}'', Toyland's ability to sustain life can only be rejuvenated if someone of sufficiently potent lineage sacrifices their life and blood to a magical cauldron. [[spoiler:Sadly, this is the only way Darien can save his sister Therese from starving to death in Toyland, since they have no means of escape.]]
* Thanks to TimeTravel, this makes the HeroicSacrifice of the first ComicBook/{{Hourman}} Rex Tyler even more complicated. Hourman ''must'' die fighting against Extant to prevent time and space from collapsing. Rex was given extra time in a time bubble by the third android Hourman Matthew so that he could spend some time with his son Rick the second Hourman. Rick tried to take his father's place in that moment in time so that his mom and dad could have a second chance at happiness. He and his dad then beat the hell out of each other trying to stop the other from giving his life. Ultimately, the android Hourman sacrifices himself so that the Tyler family will remain together.
* ''ComicBook/LegionOfSuperHeroes'':
** Ferro Lad sacrificed himself to destroy the Sun-Eater. This happened in both in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}} comic book and [[WesternAnimation/LegionOfSuperHeroes the animated series]]; he also attempted it in the post-Zero Hour continuity but was intercepted.
** Saturn Girl secretly attempts to do this in two early Legion stories; both times someone else figures out what she's doing and manages to die in her place.
** In the last few stories before the five years jump, the Legion finds a mystic seal that must be opened by such a sacrifice. One of them Magnetic Lad, younger brother of Cosmic Boy volunteers and dies indeed. It did the trick, though.
* In ''Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', 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.
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** Kinda subverted in the unpublished ending to ''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]].
** ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'' has the Aequitas judgment computer, which has a failsafe in case the passwords to its core are lost or compromised--a Cybertronian must willingly offer their spark to it to reset it to an active state. As MissionControl, [[TheChessmaster Prowl]] is distinctly aware that this is how it works but does ''not'' tell the Wreckers that the system is already compromised and that the failsafe is now their only way into the system. He'd been intending to exploit the fact that Springer had recruited the resident AscendedFanboy Ironfist (who was SecretlyDying) in order to have ''him'' be the spark-donor to unlock the Aequitas failsafe. [[spoiler:The donor eventually ends up being Topspin, as a true HeroicSacrifice]].
* ''Comicbook/XMen'':
** When Beast 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. ComicBook/{{Colossus}} took it and died. Don't worry, he got better.
** The Phoenix storyline started out with ComicBook/JeanGrey 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.
*** In a ''WhatIf'' story where Jean never became Phoenix[[note]]Because Polaris had never left the X-Men in this universe, and with her magnetic powers she was able to bring the shuttle back to Earth without needing to leave the shielded passenger chamber.[[/note]], 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]].
** Nine X-Men had to die in ''Fall of the Mutants''. Needless to say, DeathIsCheap.
** Subverted and combined with TonightSomeoneDies 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.]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/AFrozenFlower'' plays this trope straight, in a sense. Orchid was never meant to be alive to begin with and must perform a HeroicSuicide in order to save the world so she doesn't destroy it as a PersonOfMassDestruction. She knows that she has to die and even tries to commit suicide thrice because she knows that she doesn't have a whole lot of time left to live and figures that she should end her life before her time is up. By the end of the story, she comes to terms with knowing that she has to perform a HeroicSuicide and decides to live her best life at Odd Squad up until her "expiration date", as Till so calls it.
* {{Inverted}} for Cadence in the ''FanFic/TriptychContinuum''. While we don't know the exact story behind her ascension, it's implied that she and an unknown number of friends were somehow placed in a situation where they could only save one of their number by the rest sacrificing themselves to provide the essence necessary to fuel an ascension without the Elements.

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* Amazingly, this was the case in a Disney movie, the DarkerAndEdgier ''WesternAnimation/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.]]
* After Miles gets written off as not ready to take part in the final run in ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'', the other five run their ColdEquation and conclude that ''someone'' is going to have to stay behind and make a HeroicSacrifice in order to destroy the collider. Then they practically ''fall over themselves'' to volunteer, because they are, after all, superheroes.

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/TheAbyss'': Bud and Lindsay Brigman are trapped in a broken-down submarine with only one functional set of diving gear. Every option they come up with for getting them both back to the drilling rig would mean one of them drowning so the other can survive. In the end they settle on Lindsay ''intentionally'' drowning so Bud can carry her back to the rig where the crew uses the MagicalDefibrillator to revive her.
* ''Film/Alien40thAnniversaryShorts''. Subverted in "Harvest", when the computer refuses to launch the EscapePod because there's only two unoccupied seats, the wounded Alec urges his pregnant wife Hannah to leave him behind so the two women can escape. However the other woman Mari is able to manually override the LockDown so the pod will launch regardless. [[spoiler:Turns out Mari is a Company synthetic who has already planted two alien eggs in the 'occupied' seats so the two survivors will be impregnated by the time they're rescued.]]
* ''Film/{{Armageddon}}'' - Harry Stamper makes this choice when he defies the drawing of the lots to sacrifice himself, as the crew broke their remote detonator earlier in the movie.
* Pretty much the whole premise of ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'', [[spoiler:at least four of the five protagonists must die in order to save the world]]. Mostly inverted in that [[spoiler:Marty refuses to let himself die in order to save the world]].
* ''Film/DeepImpact'' - The entire crew of the Messiah decides to take one for the team, but it is still so everyone else can live.
* ''Film/K19TheWidowmaker''. If the first men going in weren't sure what was going to happen to them, those who saw them afterwards pretty much knew.
* 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]].
* ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'':
** At the end of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', 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 Thor also had the capability to do this, and 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.
** Happens twice in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'':
*** The Soul Stone can only be claimed through by someone sacrificing a person they love. The two sent on the Soul Stone mission, 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 which Black Widow "wins".
*** Once everyone who got dusted in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' gets snapped back at the beginning of the third act, Tony asks Dr. Strange if this is the one scenario in which they defeat Thanos. Strange tells him that if he knows it won't happen. Once Thanos is preoccupied, Tony looks at Strange again and realizes that the way to win is for someone to wear the infinity gauntlet and kill Thanos and his forces which will kill said person in turn. Tony decides he's going to be the one to do it.
* ''Film/NationalTreasure2BookOfSecrets''. With the cavern flooding, the only way to escape drowning is for one person to hold the drainage door open long enough for the rest to escape. Mitch specifically invokes this trope.
-->'''Mitch''': It's not a puzzle! No more puzzles Ben! We're all gonna die, or it could just be me!
* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' - Spock's FinalSpeech comes after he saves the day, but he knew going into the radiation flooded engine room was certain death.
** And in ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' where Data shows up at the last moment, transports Picard back onto the Enterprise, and blows up the Big Bad's ship immediately before the organic-matter-disintegrating-superweapon fires.
* 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.]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''{{Literature/Animorphs}}'': Crayak is very pissed at Jake for having rendered his Howler shock troops inoperative, and repeately tries to get him indirectly killed.
** In one book, he tries to tempt Rachel to his side with Jake's life as the payment. Rachel refuses, but the fandom has noted the wording Crayak used ("Your cousin's life is your passport to salvation in Crayak's arms") and the fact that [[spoiler:Rachel kills Tom (Jake's brother, who is still her cousin) and the Yeerk parasiting him]] at the end of the series.
** In another, the team are sent back in time because of a Controller having found the Time Matrix and using it to alter history to be more favorable to the Yeerk invasion (and succeeding). Jake is shot during Washington's crossing of the Delaware, and after that the rest of the team can't be killed (Rachel is cut in two at Trafalgar but returns alive and well). He's eventually returned after [[spoiler:Cassie figures out the only way they can avoid the damage done is by making the Yeerk's host RetGone]].
** Twisted in the 3rd ''Megamorphs'' book: The deal struck by Ellimist & Crayak to allow the Animorphs to fix a Yeerk's time-machine meddling requires one of the team to die. Jake agrees, clearly expecting himself to be the doomed one, since [[ItsPersonal Crayak personally hates him]]. Marco & Cassie both suspect this and secretly agree to jump in front of any bullet Jake plans to take. Jake ''does'' die on the mission, but not in the HeroicSacrifice way anyone expected. Also, his death triggers the Ellimist's terms of the deal: the other Animorphs become invincible for the remainder of the book. Then, when they recover the Time Matrix at the end, the Animorphs [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu flip off Crayak]] by using it to stop the entire crisis from happening in the first place, which means they never had to leave, which means Jake never had to die. One * POP* later, Jake's alive again.
* At the end of ''Literature/TheAtrocityArchive'', someone has to stay behind to blow up the nuke manually [[spoiler:and cause a "fizzle". At the end of the book, he's suffering the effects of radiation poisoning and the outlook is not the best, but then]] ''Literature/TheJenniferMorgue'' 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...
* ''[[Literature/TheChroniclesOfPrydain The Black Cauldron]]'' - The undead-creating cauldron in the book can only be destroyed by a living person willingly crawling into it, shattering the cauldron and killing themselves. In the Disney film (very) loosely based on the book, they manage to [[DisneyDeath bring back the one who made this sacrifice]].
* In ''Literature/DarkReflections'', the only one who can defeat the BigBad is the Flowing Queen- in her true body( she's been sharing the main character, Merle's). the gang finds her true body, that of a Sphinx, but the Queen tells Merle the catch- in order to return to her body, the life force of her host must be exchanged with the form she takes on- and since her body is dead, it means Merle will die. Merle makes her peace with this, but the Queen tells everyone else that someone else can become her host and die in Merle's place. the love interest, Sarafin, offers his life, but Merle refuses to let him die. They Kiss and Sarafin uses the moment to take the Flowing Queen into his own body, then makes the transfer.
* In ''[[Literature/DarthBane Darth Bane: Path of Destruction]]'', General Hoth and 99 other Jedi sacrifice themselves to get the Brotherhood of Darkness to detonate the thought bomb that they had prepared, which would trap the souls of all involved for eternity. Hoth reasoned that the Brotherhood would only detonate the bomb if doing so would trap a large number of Jedi, and that the Brotherhood would otherwise escape and continue to plague the galaxy. Every Jedi present volunteered.
* ''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 ''Literature/TheLangoliers'', by Creator/StephenKing, they figure out that everyone has to be asleep when they make the return trip, but the only effective method is lowering cabin air pressure. This is going to require someone to stay awake, using an oxygen mask, to be able to turn the air pressure back up to keep from killing everyone via hypoxia. That someone will not survive the return trip.
* In ''Literature/TheObsidianTrilogy'', the price for some of the greater spells is the life of the caster, though they are always given the chance to turn down the deal, and it has nothing to do with life force, just that how they die advances the cause of the Wild Magic in some fashion.
* ''Literature/PriscillaHutchins'': In ''Omega'', when a ship is disabled by a too-close encounter with an Omega Cloud, the only plan they can come up with for getting the escape pod free is to blow up the ship to provide a distraction. But someone has to remain behind to destroy the ship.
* In ''Literature/TheRestaurantAtTheEndOfTheUniverse'', the only way our heroes have of getting off the Sun Diver spaceship is if one of them operates the manual controls. Marvin the Android gets the call.
* ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' - Sydney Carton's switching places with Charles Darnay with one of the most memorable final lines in English literature, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known."
* The ''ComicBook/XMen[=/=]Franchise/SpiderMan'' crossover novel series ''Time's Arrow'' resulted in an interesting double example. At the beginning of the series, ComicBook/{{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 fulfill this trope, 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.
* In ''Literature/{{Xenocide}}'', Planter volunteers himself to test the hypothesis that the pequeninos can remain intelligent even without the descolada, knowing that it's likely to kill him. The hypothesis is confirmed, but Planter soon dies, and the tree that grows from his corpse has no consciousness. He is nevertheless venerated by his race for his noble sacrifice.
* ''Literature/YoungWizards'':
** ''Deep Wizardry'', the second book in the series, features this as a major plot point. A magical song/play must be sung/performed or the ocean will be corrupted, and Nita volunteers to play the part which is KilledOffForReal at the end of it, a fact she doesn't realize until she's well and committed. The Shark King (who is supposed to eat her) sacrifices himself to prevent Evil from interfering, and is eaten by all the sharks in the ocean, getting her off the hook (no pun intended).
** In fact the first book explains that defeating [[{{Satan}} The Lone Power]] is perfectly possible but most of the time, someone has to die (although sometimes it is in fact a different variation of HeroicSacrifice involved, one death is inevitable when you oppose the Lone Power).
*** In the fifth book, Nita's mother is dying of brain cancer, and defeats the Lone Power by acknowledging her own death. Book six takes place after her funeral. And book eight, no one dies.

[[folder: Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TwentyFour'':
** In a second-season episode, 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 season 5, CTU is successfully hit with nerve gas attack, and the few survivors safe in some sealed rooms learn that the gas has an acidic substance that is slowly eating those seals away. Since outside help can't arrive in time, the only person close by to ventilate the place but also contaminate the room is Lynn [=McGill=], [[RedemptionEqualsDeath who somewhat does this as a way to make up for]] his own mistake allowing the attack to occur in the first place.
* Comedically 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 the two of them and seven others, tells Kenneth that there's only enough air for eight people, and reveals that he has replaced the emergency 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 steps out, angrily whispering, "What is wrong with you?"
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' does this in the episode "The Gift". Not as much forethought as some examples, but there is still the dramatic pause, the weighing, the decision, the FinalSpeech and then Buffy's leap.
** In the spin-off ''Series/{{Angel}}'', the Season One episode "Hero" features a cult of Demon-Nazis, possessing FantasticRacism towards humanity and trying to murder a group of half-blood demons using a machine which would kill anyone exposed to its light if they have (enough) human ancestry/blood. Angel is prepared to make this, but Doyle pulls a MoreHeroThanThou - he knocks Angel out, gives Cordelia their first-and-last kiss, and then leaps upon the glowing machine, disconnecting it just as the light disintegrates him.
* In ''Series/{{Chernobyl}}'', this happens ''all the time''. The high levels of radioactivity near the destroyed core make even going near the building a chancy affair, but if they do nothing, ''all of Europe'' could be rendered uninhabitable. For more specific examples:
** The three Chernobyl Divers went into the deeply contaminated basement to drain the bubbler pools and prevent another explosion, knowing that it would surely lead to a lethal dose of radiation. Legasov even describes the situation to Gorbachev as "I'm asking for your permission to kill three men." [[spoiler:Subverted; ''[[EverybodyLives all three]]'' lived through the disaster and into old age.]]
** Clearing the graphite off the 'Masha' roof. The debris was blown straight from the core and was so radioactive that it outright fried the robots that cleared off the less-radioactive roofs. The 'Bio-robots' they had to resort to ''could'' survive- ''if'' they spent no more than 90 seconds on the roof, wore the best protective gear available, and didn't look directly at the core. [[spoiler: It's implied that the nameless soldier the camera follows will die from radiation poisoning or cancer after he had a small hole ripped in his boot.]]
** Installing the heat exchanger. It required long hours of mining directly underneath the core ([[NakedPeopleAreFunny naked]], because it's too hot to wear the protective gear and a fan would just blow in radioactive dust), but if the radioactive 'corium' lava melted through the concrete of the plant's basement and there was no heat exchanger, the radiation could contaminate the groundwater. Around 100 miners are thought to have died from cancer. [[spoiler:It turned out to be AllForNothing because the corium never got through the concrete, but since there was a 40% chance that it could, better safe than ''really'' sorry, and the surviving miners agree.]]
** Subverted with Akimov and Toptunov's mission to turn the coolant valves. It's a SuicideMission and they both know it, but it's also ''completely pointless'' since the core just blew up; there is ''nothing there'' to cool. Both men died shortly afterward of acute radiation syndrome.
* [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] is always volunteering, although it [[TheNthDoctor usually]] doesn't turn out to be necessary.
** [[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.
*** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone Later/earlier]], they both try to out-sacrifice each other before they [[TakeAThirdOption find a third option]].
* The series finale of ''{{Series/Dollhouse}}'', when Topher must trigger the mind-restoring machine himself - and be killed in the resulting explosion - so that the imprinted people outside can have their selves returned to them.
* 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]]!
* ''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.
** 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 ''{{Series/Fringe}}'' 2X23, "Over There Part 2," William Bell realizes that in order to have enough power to return the group to their own universe, he will need to create a nuclear reaction using the instability of his body's molecular state.
* At the end of the first season of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'', Shawn gives the four humans-- Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason-- a choice: two of them must go to the [[{{Hell}} Bad Place]] (they're all already dead but still), and the other two can stay in the [[{{Heaven}} Good Place]]. If they can't decide, all four will go to the Bad Place. The four bicker about who will go and who will stay, but then [[spoiler:Eleanor realizes they already are in the Bad Place, and this is their torture for eternity]].
* On ''Series/{{Haven}},'' a notable aspect of Duke's [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Trouble]] is that he can end Troubles in entire families, including preventing them from being inherited. But it involves killing the oldest male relative with that Trouble. Since Troubles in Haven aren't [[BlessedWithSuck fun]] or [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway useful]], this trope comes up more than once, each time with the person who must die coming to the realization it's the only way to stop the death and destruction caused by their or a relative's Trouble.
* Comedically invoked in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' in "The Gang Gets Held Hostage." They huddle up and agree to stick together and that no one has to die; immediately cut to Dennis and Dee separate from Mac and Charlie, agreeing that someone has to die.
* ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'': Rip Hunter's team try to destroy the Oculus, but it has a failsafe. In order to bypass it, one of the team has to hold the switch down and be caught in the explosion. Ray volunteers, gets knocked out by Mick who takes his place, who is then knocked out by Leonard who takes his place.
* At the end of season 3 of ''Series/{{Lost}}'', someone must swim into what they think is a flooded station to stop jamming the signal from the radio tower. Though Sayid and Desmond both volunteer, Charlie accepts that he is destined to die and takes on the mission.
* Parodied by Creator/MontyPython in both the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sljSf7KVlQ lifeboat sketch]] and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJE7uJyHJ3k one about Ypres]].
* ''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.]]
* ''Series/SleepyHollow'': Abbie gives a good speech about this in "The Akeda", telling Crane that they both have to be willing to sacrifice not only themselves, but each other, to win this war. This is how she convinces him to let her wield a sword that would allow them to kill any demon, but would take the soul of the user. She also acknowledges that he'll probably get a chance to risk his life after she dies since none of them expect to survive for long during the battle.
* ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "The Quest" had a good speech by Mitchell about it.
** Happens ALL THE TIME in both ''SG-1'' and ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', often with characters arguing over who gets to risk their lives this time.
--->'''Mitchell''': Well now you know that the hard part about being part of this team is not risking your own life. It's watching your friends take chances with theirs.
* The subplot for the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode ''Thine Own Self'' revolved around Deanna Troi realizing that this situation pops up and that ordering someone to their death to save the ship is something a commanding officer has to do at times. She eventually accepts this, leading to her promotion to commander.
* 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 [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third option]]). 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.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** ''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.
** Also with regards to Dean's DealWithTheDevil. He brings his brother back to life, but in return he will die (and go to Hell) in a year. But, if he tries to "welch or weasel his way out" of the deal, then Sam drops dead again. Naturally this creates conflict between the two brothers, and in the end, Dean is the one who dies.
** 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 season 8, we find that this is required for the trials to close the Gates of Hell. [[spoiler: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 the ''Series/Warehouse13'' episode "Buried", Warehouse 2 is awakened because it detects intruders. As a penalty, the Warehouse demands that "one must die". [[spoiler:Valda volunteers.]]
* 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)]].

[[folder:Podcasts]]
* The door holding back [[EldritchAbomination the Nameless God]] in ''Podcast/DarkDice'' can only be sealed with blood--specifically enough blood and life force to kill a person. At the end of the first season, [[spoiler: party ranger Soren Arkwright]] stabs himself in the heart in order to seal the door, [[spoiler: although dialogue early in season 2 implies that the sacrifice might not have been as willing as it was presented.]]

[[folder:Religion & Mythology]]
* Literature/TheBible: UsefulNotes/{{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.

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* One of the six possible endings to the original ''TabletopGame/{{Dragonlance}}'' adventures for ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' stipulates that one of the player characters must throw himself into a portal to the Abyss in order to seal it from the inside, and thus stop the dark goddess Takhisis from returning to Krynn. Another of the endings is that Berem, an NPC who carries a piece of one of the foundation stones from Takhisis' temple in his chest, making him immortal, must return the stone to its rightful place, which would seal the portal but cause his own death. The latter ending was eventually used for the novelization of these adventures, the ''Dragonlance Chronicles'' trilogy.
* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering:'' The Trial Of Ambition on the plane of Amonkhet is built around this trope, as fits the ideology of its patron God. Each challenge in the trial is designed such that one or more of the initates ''must'' die if the rest of the Crop is to advance, and the final trial requires each initiate to bring Bhontu the heart of one of their fellows if they wish to receive her cartouche.
* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' campaign, there is the House of Lament, a very dangerous variation of the HauntedHouse theme. The curse placed on this house started when a poor young girl was kidnapped by bandits, then boarded up in a room and left to die in loneliness and isolation. Soon after, the bandits were found dead and horrible mutilated, but the young girl's restless and eternally lonely spirit now seals the house anytime a group enters, making escape impossible (windows cannot break and doors cannot be knocked down, even with magic) and trying her best to kill them, forbidding anyone in the group from leaving until she succeeds in killing at least one. The guidebook where the House is detailed recommends to the Game Master that the actual victim should be an NPC, but it is said, however, that her spirit [[CurseEscapeClause can be laid to rest forever]] if a selfless hero [[HeroicSacrifice volunteers to be the victim]], but as yet, no-one (at least canonically) has offered.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Theatre]]
* In the ending of Creator/GilbertAndSullivan's ''Theatre/TheSorcerer'', one of either Alexis or Mr. Wells must be sacrificed to nullify the effects of the LovePotion. Of course, the sorcerer who made the DealWithTheDevil is the one supposed to go down to hell, but many audiences today would rather have DesignatedHero Alexis be the one to die.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/AtelierTotori'' has a sealed tower that can only be opened with a human sacrifice and needs to be entered to defeat the BigBad. [[LoopholeAbuse Rorona promptly recommends sacrificing]] [[CuteGhostGirl Pamela]]
* 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 be fried. Batman being Batman, opts to TakeAThirdOption, using his MagicalDefibrillator gloves to stop Bane's heart, and then restart it again.
* ''Franchise/DragonAge'':
** With all the focus the Grey Wardens of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' place on sacrifice, this was pretty much inevitable. Turns out the [[BigBad archdemon]], when killed, can simply possess the nearest darkspawn (which are soulless) and be reborn. The Wardens, however, have darkspawn taint within them but so if one of ''them'' kills the archdemon, the archdemon's soul or essence will try to possess the Warden and both it and the Warden in question are annihilated due to the fact that two souls cannot exist in one body.
*** You can also TakeAThirdOption by impregnating Morrigan, who can transfer the soul (cleansed of the taint) into her unborn child. Provided you trust 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).
** Happens again in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''. The player's party is facing a massive Fear demon inside the Fade alongside Hawke and a Gray Warden (usually Stroud, but it can be Alistair or Loghain with the right OldSaveBonus). Unable to destroy the demon, both Hawke and the Gray Warden will offer to stay behind and distract it while the rest of the party makes a run for the portal back to the real world. No third option this time, you have to sacrifice one of them.
* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''. What would have otherwise been a TearJerker turns into a Crowning Moment of Stupid when you realize that you [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption probably still have your radiation-immune Super-Mutant]] in your party, who [[FridgeLogic just did this same thing mere hours ago game time,]] but he opts out BecauseDestinySaysSo. You can also have [[ButThouMust another ghoul or a robot]] with you, both of whom would presumably be immune to radiation. To top it off? [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Rad-X magically stops working the moment the final cutscene happens]], and this came at the end of what was - up until that point, a ''damn good'' third act.
** Changed in the Broken Steel DLC to fix those complaints of the fridge logic.
*** You also survive in the DLC, when the Brotherhood pulls you out of there. The cutscene is unchanged, though, still showing how you died...before you open your eyes again.
* ''VideoGame/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.
* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has another subverted example. The gang discovers that an ancient temple is in fact the MacGuffin they need and transforms into it by solving various puzzles, which can only be done inside. Meaning that whoever is inside to activate it will be crushed and die. The subversion comes when Cait Sith volunteers as his body is just a toy being remote controlled and thus it can be done with no death. The result is a fairly [[{{Narm}} Narmy]] scene when it plays out acting as if it is some sort of noble HeroicSacrifice when he does so even though his replacement comes around immediately afterwards.
** ''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 [[TheUndead 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|Trope}} 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.
** At the end of the ''Rise of the Zilart'' expansion for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'', Lion uses her body to stop a chain reaction that would destroy all of Vana'diel. After the end of the next expansion she got better.
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** 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. [[SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration Which explains why you couldn't revive him with the Aum staff.]]]]
** At one point in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', Julius and Ishtar run out onto the field to see who can kill one of Seliph's troops first. They won't leave until they kill someone or you manage to defeat one of them. Considering their godly stats and super powerful tomes, if you're not extremely careful, you might find your little guys pulling straws.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** 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 {{F|asterThanLightTravel}}TL 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.
* 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]].
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'': at the end of "The Sacrifice" campaign one player must jump off of the bridge, back into the swarm of zombies, to reactivate a failed generator and allow the remaining players to escape. In-game, the sacrifice can be anyone. Canonically, the one to die is Bill.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** In the first game, part of what makes the Virmire mission such a WhamEpisode is its implementation of this very trope. Basically, Shepard and his/her squad have to plant a nuke at a research facility in Virmire that's creating an army of genophage-less krogans for Saren. Unfortunately you can't save your entire party (since either Ashley or Kaidan is with a salarian force creating a diversion while Shepard sets the nuke) and you only have time to rescue either Kaidan or Ashley. While it's you who makes the final call, both are willing to die for the cause and tell you to save the other.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': The entire galaxy is fighting against the Reapers, who are technologically superior and almost completely unstoppable (you can destroy them individually, but there's too many to kill them all). People will die. A ''lot'' of people will die. [[PlayerPunch And you're going to regret every single one you didn't save, even if there was nothing you could do about it.]]
** ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'': A mission requires either saving the salarian Pathfinder or some krogan scouts from a kett warship. Don't save the krogan scouts, and you not only have to deal with your krogan partymember being ''extremely'' pissed, but some of the fights later in the game will be tougher, [[spoiler:what with them being exalted into Behemoths]]. Comparatively, leaving the salarian Pathfinder behind results in far less recrimination.
* ''VideoGame/Persona3'':
** A rather sadistic twist on this trope: Ryoji, who turns out to be the herald of the AnthropomorphicPersonification of death, willingly offers to let SEES destroy him -- an act that will rob you of all your memories of the Dark Hour and allow your deaths to come instantaneously, painlessly and unexpected when said personification finally descends to Earth and annihilates all life upon it -- in order to save you all from what he views as needless suffering from futilely trying to ScrewDestiny.
** Played completely straight when the PlayerCharacter sacrifices himself to stop said AnthropomorphicPersonification from killing everyone.
* Subverted at the end of ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryV''. The prophecy says that someone must sacrifice his life to seal the [[SealedEvilInACan Dragon]] back in the can. If the hero volunteers, he will likely get a MoreExpendableThanYou. But a proper hero will decide to ScrewDestiny and just [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu slay the hell]] out of the BigBad.
* ''[[Franchise/StarshipTroopers Starship Troopers: Terran Ascendancy]]'' has a level where the remote detonator of the SelfDestructMechanism of a research facility that must be destroyed has been disabled by [[HordeOfAlienLocusts bug]] attacks. SergeantRock Major Bishop has the player select one of his men to stay behind and manually trigger the bomb while the rest of the strike team abandons the planet before it is overrun. This troper would have found it difficult to choose, if it weren't for the fact that he had just rescued and taken command of a [[RedshirtArmy squad of extras]] during the mission, none of whom were of [[AuthorityEqualsAsskicking high enough rank]] to use [[SortingAlgorithmOfWeaponEffectiveness more powerful weapons]] or wear a [[PoweredArmor Marauder Battlesuit]].
* ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'':
** 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.
** Another one for the Trooper. You meet a former Havoc member who went traitor, but he only did so out of loyalty to his commander and greatly regrets the decision. The Empire is using his demolitions experience to make bombs and plan to test them on civilian targets. They also plan to bomb his jail and kill him to tie off the loose ends. You can free him, but you won't be in time to stop the bomb aimed for a housing development if you do. If you stop them from bombing the civilians, it will be too late to stop the bomb headed for the jail.
** 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 a 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.
* ''VideoGame/StringTyrant'': The only way to escape the mansion you are trapped in is to feed someone to the unnamed evil that created the mansion and run away while it's full. The player gets to pick who is the sacrifice, which in turn decides the ending.
* ''VideoGame/TalesSeries'':
** A particularly [[TearJerker poignant]] part of ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' invokes this trope: the only surefire way to neutralize the poisonous miasma covering the world is to cause a "hyperresonance" so powerful that it would take the user's life and the lives of ''thousands of willing sacrifices.'' The thousands of sacrifices are supplied by eventually-[[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman all-too-willing replicas]], and [[CloningBlues Luke and Asch]] argue for a while over who should be the one to instigate the hyperresonance. It eventually ends with [[MessianicArchetype Luke]] trying to do so, but Asch needing to contribute a bit of his power anyway because Luke isn't strong enough on his own. Possibly for this reason, though it's never quite explained, both of them survive.
*** On the other hand, Luke, and it's implied Asch as well, soon find out [[PlayerPunch the phlebotinum in their bodies is dissipating, leading to their own eventual death-by-dissipation.]] Funnily enough, neither of them last long enough for said dissipation to kick in, as they both end up performing more standard HeroicSacrifices by the time the credits roll. [[MindScrew And one of them comes back. Who knows which one?]]
** In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', that's the entire purpose of the Chosen. Also, at one point, [[MauveShirt Botta]] and two [[RedShirt nameless]] [[LaResistance Renegades]] trap themselves in a flooding room in order to stop the self-destruct sequence of an underwater Desian Base. Yuan doesn't seem surprised, hinting that at least someone was expecting this.
*** And later on, all supporting characters left in the cast do this as a part of the sequence of false {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s 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.
* Subverted in ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' Episode I, in which KOS-MOS volunteers to stay behind and manually operate the procedure that will break the giant space weapon up into pieces small enough to burn up in the atmosphere. She ends up not dying, but it's a very, very near thing.
** Played straight in Episode III, when Jin leave Shion to assist chaos, KOS-MOS and Fei (sorry: Abel). The problem is, while the three characters are the messiah, his female equivalent and god, and are actually able to survive the last battle, even if is means taking A LOT of damage. Jin, on the other hand is just a former soldier with a cool looking sword...
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Visual Novels]]
* The fourth chapter of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' 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.]]
* 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.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* In ''Webcomic/{{Goblins}}'' the titular characters are being pursued by [[KnightTemplar Kore]]. Their only escape is to flee into a dungeon crawl, but the approach will leave them wide open to attack from his ranged weapons. [[spoiler: Chief]] stays behind to delay Kore long enough for the others to reach safety, [[spoiler: claiming ([[FailureKnight falsely]]) that his spine is shattered and would only slow the others]].
* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', someone has to set off a supernova to trigger the "Scratch" that will [[ResetButton reset]] their [[UnwinnableByDesign unwinnable]] session. The original plan to sacrifice a dreamself has been sunk by [[spoiler:all four losing either their dreamself or realself to Jack Noir]], so someone has to die.
** [[spoiler: Turns out to be a [[SubvertedTrope subversion]] when both Rose and Dave end up sacrificing themselves, but then [[CameBackStrong reach godtier in the process.]] ]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Egg volunteers to be the Liaison Officer between the eponymous ''Roleplay/{{AJCO}}'' and everyone else, who have been forced into sheltering in AJCO's nuclear bunker after missiles were fired at Pi-TEC. It becomes this trope when A_J reveals that any misbehaviour by any of the Crew or neutrals will mean that ''Egg'', who is almost universally liked, will be the one who takes the punishment. Following a failed rebellion, she is eventually expelled out of the bunker to die either to a lethal dose of radiation, undispersed chlorine gas or [[LeaveBehindAPistol the single bullet she is gifted]]. By agreeing to sacrifice herself and become an example, her allies trapped in the Hangar are saved from starvation.
** 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]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* 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.
* The season four finale 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.]]]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Yue does this during the first season finale, choosing to sacrifice her life in order to give it back to the Moon Spirit, which had been killed by Zhao. Sokka of course begs her not to, and the two of them have a nice tragic farewell moment. In the movie, her farewell speech is even more drawn out... and starts to get into the DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment, unfortunately.
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': In the Season 2 finale, the heroes have gathered all the Dimensional Keys needed to free the titan Bolo from his prison, but in order for the keys to work, a sacrifice is needed. Nightfall volunteers, and thus dies.
* 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 [[Franchise/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.
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** Name any variation of Optimus Prime/Primal. 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]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
* Subverted in ''{{Toys/Bionicle}}'', when the Toa Inika are told they have to sacrifice one of their own to get to the powerful Mask of Life. Matoro takes the hit, feeling he's [[MoreExpendableThanYou not action hero material like the rest of the team]] - but he's OnlyMostlyDead and quickly brought back, as the ''willingness'' to sacrifice was what mattered and the actual death was irrelevant.
** Later played straight when the Mask of Life actually had to be used, in order to revive the Great Spirit Mata Nui (the user would be sacrificed and his body converted into the life energy needed to do so). Matoro steps up again, but this time he's KilledOffForReal.
[[/folder]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has another subverted example. The gang discovers that an ancient temple is in fact the MacGuffin they need and transforms into it by solving various puzzles, which can only be done inside. Meaning that whoever is inside to activate it will be crushed and die. The subversion comes when Cait Sith volunteers as his body is just a toy being remote controlled and thus it can be done with no death. The result is a fairly [[{{Narm}} Narmy]] scene when it plays out acting as if it is some sort of noble HeroicSacrifice when he does so even though his replacement comes around immediately afterwards.

* A particularly [[TearJerker poignant]] part of ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'' invokes this trope: the only surefire way to neutralize the poisonous miasma covering the world is to cause a "hyperresonance" so powerful that it would take the user's life and the lives of ''thousands of willing sacrifices.'' The thousands of sacrifices are supplied by eventually-[[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman all-too-willing replicas]], and [[CloningBlues Luke and Asch]] argue for a while over who should be the one to instigate the hyperresonance. It eventually ends with [[MessianicArchetype Luke]] trying to do so, but Asch needing to contribute a bit of his power anyway because Luke isn't strong enough on his own. Possibly for this reason, though it's never quite explained, both of them survive.
** On the other hand, Luke, and it's implied Asch as well, soon find out [[PlayerPunch the phlebotinum in their bodies is dissipating, leading to their own eventual death-by-dissipation.]] Funnily enough, neither of them last long enough for said dissipation to kick in, as they both end up performing more standard HeroicSacrifices by the time the credits roll. [[MindScrew And one of them comes back. Who knows which one?]]
* In ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', that's the entire purpose of the Chosen. Also, at one point, [[MauveShirt Botta]] and two [[RedShirt nameless]] [[LaResistance Renegades]] trap themselves in a flooding room in order to stop the self-destruct sequence of an underwater Desian Base. Yuan doesn't seem surprised, hinting that at least someone was expecting this.
** And later on, all supporting characters left in the cast do this as a part of the sequence of false {{Heroic Sacrifice}}s 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.
* At the end of the ''Rise of the Zilart'' expansion for ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXI'' Lion uses her body to stop a chain reaction that would destroy all of Vana'diel. After the end of the next expansion she got better.
* ''Franchise/MassEffect'':
** In the first game, part of what makes the Virmire mission such a WhamEpisode is its implementation of this very trope. Basically, Shepard and his/her squad have to plant a nuke at a research facility in Virmire that's creating an army of genophage-less krogans for Saren. Unfortunately you can't save your entire party (since either Ashley or Kaidan is with a salarian force creating a diversion while Shepard sets the nuke) and you only have time to rescue either Kaidan or Ashley. While it's you who makes the final call, both are willing to die for the cause and tell you to save the other.
** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'': The entire galaxy is fighting against the Reapers, who are technologically superior and almost completely unstoppable (you can destroy them individually, but there's too many to kill them all). People will die. A ''lot'' of people will die. [[PlayerPunch And you're going to regret every single one you didn't save, even if there was nothing you could do about it.]]
** ''VideoGame/MassEffectAndromeda'': A mission requires either saving the salarian Pathfinder or some krogan scouts from a kett warship. Don't save the krogan scouts, and you not only have to deal with your krogan partymember being ''extremely'' pissed, but some of the fights later in the game will be tougher, [[spoiler:what with them being exalted into Behemoths.]] Comparatively, leaving the salarian Pathfinder behind results in far less recrimination.
* With all the focus the Grey Wardens of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' place on sacrifice, this was pretty much inevitable. Turns out the [[BigBad archdemon]], when killed, can simply possess the nearest darkspawn (which are soulless) and be reborn. The Wardens, however, have darkspawn taint within them but so if one of ''them'' kills the archdemon, the archdemon's soul or essence will try to possess the Warden and both it and the Warden in question are annihilated due to the fact that two souls cannot exist in one body.
** You can also TakeAThirdOption by impregnating Morrigan, who can transfer the soul (cleansed of the taint) into her unborn child. Provided you trust 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).
* Happens again in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition''. The player's party is facing a massive Fear demon inside the Fade alongside Hawke and a Gray Warden (usually Stroud, but it can be Alistair or Loghain with the right OldSaveBonus). Unable to destroy the demon, both Hawke and the Gray Warden will offer to stay behind and distract it while the rest of the party makes a run for the portal back to the real world. No third option this time, you have to sacrifice one of them.
* ''Creator/BioWare'' makes a habit of it. In ''VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic'':
** 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.
** Another one for the Trooper. You meet a former Havoc member who went traitor, but he only did so out of loyalty to his commander and greatly regrets the decision. The Empire is using his demolitions experience to make bombs and plan to test them on civilian targets. They also plan to bomb his jail and kill him to tie off the loose ends. You can free him, but you won't be in time to stop the bomb aimed for a housing development if you do. If you stop them from bombing the civilians, it will be too late to stop the bomb headed for the jail.
** 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 a 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.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'':
** 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 {{F|asterThanLightTravel}}TL 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.
* ''VideoGame/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.
* ''VideoGame/Left4Dead'': at the end of "The Sacrifice" campaign one player must jump off of the bridge, back into the swarm of zombies, to reactivate a failed generator and allow the remaining players to escape. In-game, the sacrifice can be anyone. Canonically, the one to die is Bill.
* ''VideoGame/AtelierTotori'' has a sealed tower that can only be opened with a human sacrifice and needs to be entered to defeat the BigBad. [[LoopholeAbuse Rorona promptly recommends sacrificing]] [[CuteGhostGirl Pamela]]
* 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 be fried. Batman being Batman, opts to TakeAThirdOption, using his MagicalDefibrillator gloves to stop Bane's heart, and then restart it again.
* Contrary to the title, for most part of ''VideoGame/NoOneHasToDie'', you have to make a SadisticChoice over which of the four in the main cast that you have to let die, due to the game restricting how well you can control the fire. It's not until you're on the way to the OmegaEnding where you gain the ability to control the fire well enough such that [[TitleDrop no-one has to die]].
* ''VideoGame/StringTyrant'': The only way to escape the mansion you are trapped in is to feed someone to the unnamed evil that created the mansion and run away while it's full. The player gets to pick who is the sacrifice, which in turn decides the ending.

* The fourth chapter of ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'' 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.]]

* Egg volunteers to be the Liaison Officer between the eponymous ''Roleplay/{{AJCO}}'' and everyone else, who have been forced into sheltering in AJCO's nuclear bunker after missiles were fired at Pi-TEC. It becomes this trope when A_J reveals that any misbehaviour by any of the Crew or neutrals will mean that ''Egg'', who is almost universally liked, will be the one who takes the punishment. Following a failed rebellion she is eventually expelled out of the bunker to die either to a lethal dose of radiation, undispersed chlorine gas or [[LeaveBehindAPistol the single bullet she is gifted.]] By agreeing to sacrifice herself and become an example, her allies trapped in the Hangar are saved from starvation.
** 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]].

** A case could also be made for [[spoiler: Dinobot in "Code of Hero". He goes into the battle knowing he won't survive]].
* In ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'', Yue does this during the first season finale, choosing to sacrifice her life in order to give it back to the Moon Spirit, which had been killed by Zhao. Sokka of course begs her not to, and the two of them have a nice tragic farewell moment. In the movie, her farewell speech is even more drawn out... and starts to get into the DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment, unfortunately.
* 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.
* The season four finale 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.]]]]
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': In the Season 2 finale, the heroes have gathered all the Dimensional Keys needed to free the titan Bolo from his prison, but in order for the keys to work, a sacrifice is needed. Nightfall volunteers, and thus dies.

* At the end of ''[[Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato Farewell Space Battleship Yamato]]'', [[TheCaptain Wildstar]] convinces the scant other surviving crewmembers - Venture, Homer, IQ-9 and some Redshirts - that they do not need to die with him in the final attack on the Comet Empire, and they leave on a medical shuttle. It's implied their spirits or wills to live died with him, however, as the final scene of the movie is [[MindScrew Wildstar totally hallucinating orange images of all his friends, dead or alive, on the bridge.]]

** Subverted and combined with TonightSomeoneDies 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 in ''ComicBook/ContestOfChampions1982'': 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]].
* In ''Comicbook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', 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.
* Thanks to TimeTravel, this makes the HeroicSacrifice of the first ComicBook/{{Hourman}} Rex Tyler even more complicated. Hourman ''must'' die fighting against Extant to prevent time and space from collapsing. Rex was given extra time in a time bubble by the third android Hourman Matthew so that he could spend some time with his son Rick the second Hourman. Rick tried to take his father's place in that moment in time so that his mom and dad could have a second chance at happiness. He and his dad then beat the hell out of each other trying to stop the other from giving his life. Ultimately, the android Hourman sacrifices himself so that the Tyler family will remain together.
* 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]].
* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'' has the Aequitas judgment computer, which has a failsafe in case the passwords to its core are lost or compromised--a Cybertronian must willingly offer their spark to it to reset it to an active state. As MissionControl, [[TheChessmaster Prowl]] is distinctly aware that this is how it works but does ''not'' tell the Wreckers that the system is already compromised and that the failsafe is now their only way into the system. He'd been intending to exploit the fact that Springer had recruited the resident AscendedFanboy Ironfist (who was SecretlyDying) in order to have ''him'' be the spark-donor to unlock the Aequitas failsafe. [[spoiler:The donor eventually ends up being Topspin, as a true HeroicSacrifice]].
* In ''Comicbook/{{Fables}}'', Toyland's ability to sustain life can only be rejuvenated if someone of sufficiently potent lineage sacrifices their life and blood to a magical cauldron. [[spoiler:Sadly, this is the only way Darien can save his sister Therese from starving to death in Toyland, since they have no means of escape.]]

* ''Fanfic/AFrozenFlower'' plays this trope straight, in a sense. Orchid was never meant to be alive to begin with and must perform a HeroicSuicide in order to save the world so she doesn't destroy it as a PersonOfMassDestruction. She knows that she has to die and even tries to commit suicide thrice because she knows that she doesn't have a whole lot of time left to live and figures that she should end her life before her time is up. By the end of the story, she comes to terms with knowing that she has to perform a HeroicSuicide and decides to live her best life at Odd Squad up until her "expiration date", as Till so calls it.

* Amazingly, this was the case in a Disney movie, the DarkerAndEdgier ''WesternAnimation/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.]]

* ''Film/DeepImpact'' - The entire crew of the Messiah decides to take one for the team, but it is still so everyone else can live.

* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
** ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' - Spock's FinalSpeech comes after he saves the day, but he knew going into the radiation flooded engine room was certain death.
** And in ''Film/StarTrekNemesis'' where Data shows up at the last moment, transports Picard back onto the Enterprise, and blows up the Big Bad's ship immediately before the organic-matter-disintegrating-superweapon fires.

* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
** At the end of ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}'', 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 Thor also had the capability to do this, and 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.
** Happens twice in ''Film/AvengersEndgame'':
*** The Soul Stone can only be claimed through by someone sacrificing a person they love. The two sent on the Soul Stone mission, 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 which Black Widow "wins".
*** Once everyone who got dusted in ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' gets snapped back at the beginning of the third act, Tony asks Dr. Strange if this is the one scenario in which they defeat Thanos. Strange tells him that if he knows it won't happen. Once Thanos is preoccupied, Tony looks at Strange again and realizes that the way to win is for someone to wear the infinity gauntlet and kill Thanos and his forces which will kill said person in turn. Tony decides he's going to be the one to do it.
* Pretty much the whole premise of ''Film/TheCabinInTheWoods'', [[spoiler: at least four of the five protagonists must die in order to save the world]]. Mostly inverted in that [[spoiler: Marty refuses to let himself die in order to save the world]].
* 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]].
* ''Film/Alien40thAnniversaryShorts''. Subverted in "Harvest", when the computer refuses to launch the EscapePod because there's only two unoccupied seats, the wounded Alec urges his pregnant wife Hannah to leave him behind so the two women can escape. However the other woman Mari is able to manually override the LockDown so the pod will launch regardless. [[spoiler:Turns out Mari is a Company synthetic who has already planted two alien eggs in the 'occupied' seats so the two survivors will be impregnated by the time they're rescued.]]
* ''Film/TheAbyss'': Bud and Lindsay Brigman are trapped in a broken-down submarine with only one functional set of diving gear. Every option they come up with for getting them both back to the drilling rig would mean one of them drowning so the other can survive. In the end they settle on Lindsay ''intentionally'' drowning so Bud can carry her back to the rig where the crew uses the MagicalDefibrillator to revive her.

* ''Literature/ATaleOfTwoCities'' - Sydney Carton's switching places with Charles Darnay with one of the most memorable final lines in English literature, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to, than I have ever known."

* ''Deep Wizardry'', the second book in the ''Literature/YoungWizards'', features this as a major plot point. A magical song/play must be sung/performed or the ocean will be corrupted, and Nita volunteers to play the part which is KilledOffForReal at the end of it, a fact she doesn't realize until she's well and committed. The Shark King (who is supposed to eat her) sacrifices himself to prevent Evil from interfering, and is eaten by all the sharks in the ocean, getting her off the hook (no pun intended).
** In fact the first book explains that defeating [[{{Satan}} The Lone Power]] is perfectly possible but most of the time, someone has to die (although sometimes it is in fact a different variation of HeroicSacrifice involved, one death is inevitable when you oppose the Lone Power).
*** In the fifth book, Nita's mother is dying of brain cancer, and defeats the Lone Power by acknowledging her own death. Book six takes place after her funeral. And book eight, no one dies.

* Twisted in the 3rd ''[[Literature/{{Animorphs}} Megamorphs]]'' book: The deal struck by Ellimist & Crayak to allow the Animorphs to fix a Yeerk's time-machine meddling requires one of the team to die. Jake agrees, clearly expecting himself to be the doomed one, since [[ItsPersonal Crayak personally hates him]]. Marco & Cassie both suspect this and secretly agree to jump in front of any bullet Jake plans to take. Jake ''does'' die on the mission, but not in the HeroicSacrifice way anyone expected. Also, his death triggers the Ellimist's terms of the deal: the other Animorphs become invincible for the remainder of the book. Then, when they recover the Time Matrix at the end, the Animorphs [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu flip off Crayak]] by using it to stop the entire crisis from happening in the first place, which means they never had to leave, which means Jake never had to die. One * POP* later, Jake's alive again.
* In ''Literature/TheObsidianTrilogy'', the price for some of the greater spells is the life of the caster, though they are always given the chance to turn down the deal, and it has nothing to do with life force, just that how they die advances the cause of the Wild Magic in some fashion.
* In ''[[Literature/DarthBane Darth Bane: Path of Destruction]]'', General Hoth and 99 other Jedi sacrifice themselves to get the Brotherhood of Darkness to detonate the thought bomb that they had prepared, which would trap the souls of all involved for eternity. Hoth reasoned that the Brotherhood would only detonate the bomb if doing so would trap a large number of Jedi, and that the Brotherhood would otherwise escape and continue to plague the galaxy. Every Jedi present volunteered.
* In ''Literature/DarkReflections'', the only one who can defeat the BigBad is the Flowing Queen- in her true body( she's been sharing the main character, Merle's). the gang finds her true body, that of a Sphinx, but the Queen tells Merle the catch- in order to return to her body, the life force of her host must be exchanged with the form she takes on- and since her body is dead, it means Merle will die. Merle makes her peace with this, but the Queen tells everyone else that someone else can become her host and die in Merle's place. the love interest, Sarafin, offers his life, but Merle refuses to let him die. They Kiss and Sarafin uses the moment to take the Flowing Queen into his own body, then makes the transfer.
* In ''Omega'', one of the ''Literature/PriscillaHutchins'' novels, when a ship is disabled by a too-close encounter with an Omega Cloud, the only plan they can come up with for getting the escape pod free is to blow up the ship to provide a distraction. But someone has to remain behind to destroy the ship.

* At the end of ''Literature/TheAtrocityArchive'', someone has to stay behind to blow up the nuke manually [[spoiler:and cause a "fizzle". At the end of the book, he's suffering the effects of radiation poisoning and the outlook is not the best, but then]] ''Literature/TheJenniferMorgue'' 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...

** The three Chernobyl Divers went into the deeply contaminated basement to drain the bubbler pools and prevent another explosion, knowing that it would surely lead to a lethal dose of radiation. Legasov even describes the situation to Gorbachev as "I'm asking for your permission to kill three men." [[spoiler: Subverted; ''[[EverybodyLives all three]]'' lived through the disaster and into old age.]]

** Installing the heat exchanger. It required long hours of mining directly underneath the core ([[NakedPeopleAreFunny naked]], because it's too hot to wear the protective gear and a fan would just blow in radioactive dust), but if the radioactive 'corium' lava melted through the concrete of the plant's basement and there was no heat exchanger, the radiation could contaminate the groundwater. Around 100 miners are thought to have died from cancer. [[spoiler: It turned out to be AllForNothing because the corium never got through the concrete, but since there was a 40% chance that it could, better safe than ''really'' sorry, and the surviving miners agree.]]

** 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 season 8, we find that this is required for the trials to close the Gates of Hell. [[spoiler: 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.]]
* ''Series/TwentyFour'':
** In a second-season episode, 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 season 5, CTU is successfully hit with nerve gas attack, and the few survivors safe in some sealed rooms learn that the gas has an acidic substance that is slowly eating those seals away. Since outside help can't arrive in time, the only person close by to ventilate the place but also contaminate the room is Lynn [=McGill=], [[RedemptionEqualsDeath who somewhat does this as a way to make up for]] his own mistake allowing the attack to occur in the first place.
* ''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.
** 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."
* At the end of the first season of ''Series/TheGoodPlace'', Shawn gives the four humans-- Eleanor, Chidi, Tahani, and Jason-- a choice: two of them must go to the [[{{Hell}} Bad Place]] (they're all already dead but still), and the other two can stay in the [[{{Heaven}} Good Place]]. If they can't decide, all four will go to the Bad Place. The four bicker about who will go and who will stay, but then [[spoiler: Eleanor realizes they already are in the Bad Place, and this is their torture for eternity]].
* 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 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]]!
* At the end of season 3 of ''Series/{{Lost}}'', someone must swim into what they think is a flooded station to stop jamming the signal from the radio tower. Though Sayid and Desmond both volunteer, Charlie accepts that he is destined to die and takes on the mission.
* The subplot for the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode ''Thine Own Self'' revolved around Deanna Troi realizing that this situation pops up and that ordering someone to their death to save the ship is something a commanding officer has to do at times. She eventually accepts this, leading to her promotion to commander.
* 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 [[TakeAThirdOption taking a third option]]). 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 ''{{Series/Fringe}}'' 2X23, "Over There Part 2," William Bell realizes that in order to have enough power to return the group to their own universe, he will need to create a nuclear reaction using the instability of his body's molecular state.
* Comedically invoked in ''Series/ItsAlwaysSunnyInPhiladelphia'' in "The Gang Gets Held Hostage." They huddle up and agree to stick together and that no one has to die; immediately cut to Dennis and Dee separate from Mac and Charlie, agreeing that someone has to die.
* Comedically 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 the two of them and seven others, tells Kenneth that there's only enough air for eight people, and reveals that he has replaced the emergency 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 steps out, angrily whispering, "What is wrong with you?"
* Parodied by Creator/MontyPython in both the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8sljSf7KVlQ lifeboat sketch]] and the [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZJE7uJyHJ3k one about Ypres]].
* [[Series/DoctorWho The Doctor]] is always volunteering, although it [[TheNthDoctor usually]] doesn't turn out to be necessary.
** [[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.
*** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E5FleshAndStone Later/earlier]], they both try to out-sacrifice each other before they [[TakeAThirdOption find a third option]].
* ''Series/SleepyHollow'': Abbie gives a good speech about this in "The Akeda", telling Crane that they both have to be willing to sacrifice not only themselves, but each other, to win this war. This is how she convinces him to let her wield a sword that would allow them to kill any demon, but would take the soul of the user. She also acknowledges that he'll probably get a chance to risk his life after she dies since none of them expect to survive for long during the battle.
* ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'': Rip Hunter's team try to destroy the Oculus, but it has a failsafe. In order to bypass it, one of the team has to hold the switch down and be caught in the explosion. Ray volunteers, gets knocked out by Mick who takes his place, who is then knocked out by Leonard who takes his place.
* In the ''Series/Warehouse13'' episode "Buried", Warehouse 2 is awakened because it detects intruders. As a penalty, the Warehouse demands that "one must die".[[spoiler:Valda volunteers.]]
* On ''Series/{{Haven}},'' a notable aspect of Duke's [[DifferentlyPoweredIndividual Trouble]] is that he can end Troubles in entire families, including preventing them from being inherited. But it involves killing the oldest male relative with that Trouble. Since Troubles in Haven aren't [[BlessedWithSuck fun]] or [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway useful]], this trope comes up more than once, each time with the person who must die coming to the realization it's the only way to stop the death and destruction caused by their or a relative's Trouble.

* ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering:'' The Trial Of Ambition on the plane of Amonkhet is built around this trope, as fits the ideology of its patron God. Each challenge in the trial is designed such that one or more of the initates ''must'' die if the rest of the Crop is to advance, and the final trial requires each initiate to bring Bhontu the heart of one of their fellows if they wish to receive her cartouche.

* ''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 [[TheUndead 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]].

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'' has another subverted example. The gang discovers that an ancient temple is in fact the MacGuffin they need and transforms into it by solving various puzzles, which can only be done inside. Meaning that whoever is inside to activate it will be crushed and die. The subversion comes when Cait Sith volunteers as his body is just a toy being remote controlled and thus it can be done with no death. The result is a fairly [[{{Narm}} Narmy]] scene when it plays out acting as if it is some sort of noble HeroicSacrifice when he does so even though his replacement comes around immediately afterwards.

* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** 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. [[SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration Which explains why you couldn't revive him with the Aum staff.]]]]
** At one point in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', Julius and Ishtar run out onto the field to see who can kill one of Seliph's troops first. They won't leave until they kill someone or you manage to defeat one of them. Considering their godly stats and super powerful tomes, if you're not extremely careful, you might find your little guys pulling straws.

* Subverted at the end of ''VideoGame/QuestForGloryV''. The prophecy says that someone must sacrifice his life to seal the [[SealedEvilInACan Dragon]] back in the can. If the hero volunteers, he will likely get a MoreExpendableThanYou. But a proper hero will decide to ScrewDestiny and just [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu slay the hell]] out of the BigBad.

* ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}''. What would have otherwise been a TearJerker turns into a Crowning Moment of Stupid when you realize that you [[StupidityIsTheOnlyOption probably still have your radiation-immune Super-Mutant]] in your party, who [[FridgeLogic just did this same thing mere hours ago game time,]] but he opts out BecauseDestinySaysSo. You can also have [[ButThouMust another ghoul or a robot]] with you, both of whom would presumably be immune to radiation. To top it off? [[GameplayAndStorySegregation Rad-X magically stops working the moment the final cutscene happens,]] and this came at the end of what was - up until that point, a ''damn good'' third act.
** Changed in the Broken Steel DLC to fix those complaints of the fridge logic.
*** You also survive in the DLC, when the Brotherhood pulls you out of there. The cutscene is unchanged, though, still showing how you died...before you open your eyes again.

This is a specific variation of the HeroicSacrifice where someone has to volunteer to die so that everyone else can live. This is taking one for the team turned UpToEleven. Common reasons may involve LifeEnergy released upon their death, invocation of a CurseEscapeClause, an attempt to [[YouShallNotPass delay an powerful enemy]], or fixing a machine in the process of GoingCritical.

** Brought UpToEleven when nine X-Men had to die in ''Fall of the Mutants''. Needless to say, DeathIsCheap.

** ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'' turns this UpToEleven. The entire galaxy is fighting against the Reapers, who are technologically superior and almost completely unstoppable (you can destroy them individually, but there's too many to kill them all). People will die. A ''lot'' of people will die. [[PlayerPunch And you're going to regret every single one you didn't save, even if there was nothing you could do about it.]]

* An unusual villainous example in ''ComicBook/ContestOfChampions'': 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]].

** 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.]]

This is a specific variation of the HeroicSacrifice where someone has to volunteer to die so that everyone else can live. This is taking one for the team turned UpToEleven. The reason may involve LifeEnergy released upon their death.

* ''ComicBook/{{Legion of Super-Heroes}}'':

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* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': In the Seaon 2 finale, the heroes have gathered all the Dimensional Keys needed to free the titan Bolo from his prison, but in order for the keys to work, a sacrifice is needed. Nightfall volunteers, and thus dies.

* At one point in ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemJugdral Fire Emblem 4]]'', Julius and Ishtar run out onto the field to see who can kill one of Celice's troops first. They won't leave until they kill someone or you manage to defeat one of them. Considering their godly stats and super powerful tomes, if you're not extremely careful, you might find your little guys pulling straws.
** 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. [[SlidingScaleOfGameplayAndStoryIntegration Which explains why you couldn't revive him with Aum staff.]]]]

* The door holding back [[EldritchAbomination the Nameless God]] in ''Podcast/DarkDice'' can only be sealed with blood--specifically enough blood and life force to kill a person. At the end of the first season, [[spoiler: party ranger Soren Arkwright]] stabs himself with his cursed dagger in order to seal the door, [[spoiler: although dialogue early in season 2 implies that the sacrifice might not have been as willing as it was presented.]]