History Main / TemporalSuicide

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndThePrisonerofAzkaban'': While using the Time Turner, Hermione has to keep Harry from meddling with their past events, explaining that some time-traveling wizards have even killed/been killed by their past or future selves.

* In the ''WebAnimation/EddsWorld'' episode "[=WTFuture=]", Edd gets a visit from his future self, who reveals to have traveled to the past with the intent on killing his past self to spare himself of living in a future where cola is outlawed as a drug.

* In ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'', Booker Dewitt and Father Comstock are the same man, the only thing separating them is a decision. After the battle of Wounded Knee Booker refused his baptism while Comstock went through with it. Near the end of the game Booker drowns Comstock on his airship before allowing himself to be drowned moments later to kill Comstock in other timelines where he exists.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1995'' episode "Tribunal" features a NaziGrandpa who is punished by being sent back in time to the concentration camp he used to work at, [[ColorMeBlack dressed as an inmate]]. He tries to convince his younger self that they are the same person but is simply shot in the head instead.
* In the ''Series/RedDwarf'' episode "Tikka to Ride", the Starbug crew travel back in time and unwittingly prevent the JFK assassination. They find out that as a result, Kennedy's womanizing is revealed and he's impeached and disgraced; furthermore, J Edgar Hoover is blackmailed into letting the Soviet Union re-install nuclear missiles in Cuba, so most major US cities are evacuated. The group go to 1967 and encounter Kennedy as he's about to be transferred to a prison, and give him the chance to fix the timeline by taking him back to 1963 to [[WhoShotJFK shoot his past self from the grassy knoll]]. This fixes the timeline, and Kennedy thanks the crew for letting him save his legacy before he fades away.
* In ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'', one episode involves Picard meeting his past double and killing him with a [[RayGun phaser]] set to "kill" to keep the timeline smooth.

* In the 2012 film ''Film/{{Looper}}'', criminal syndicates send assassination targets back in time for past assassins, called loopers, to kill. However, if a Looper lives to the point of Time Travel's invention, then they are sent back in time to be killed by themselves, "closing the loop".

* In the 2012 film ''Film/{{Looper}}'', criminal syndicates send assassination targets back in time for past assassins, called loopers, to kill. However, if a Looper lives to the point of Time Travel's invention, then they are sent back in time to kill themselves, "closing the loop".

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%% Image selected and old image moved to KillingYourAlternateSelf per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1660585411090877800
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[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/YoungAvengers https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/temporal_suicide_young_avengers_1.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:"Would it be in poor taste to [[AttendingYourOwnFuneral attend my own funeral]], given I'm also the murderer?"]]
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* The ''Series/DoctorWho''/''Series/{{Smallville}}'' crossover "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5381560/1/The-Clinton-Street-Car-Crash The Clinton Street Car Crash]]" concludes with [[spoiler:Chloe Sullivan causing the titular crash to kill her own past self; through a complex temporal paradox, the General Zod of Superman's era created the ''Smallville'' timeline by saving Chloe from a childhood accident to start a chain of events that would lead to Lex Luthor arriving in Smallville during Clark's childhood and thus essentially retard Clark's growth into Superman. Chloe's sacrifice to cause that same car crash kills her own past self, but also restores the original timeline with Clark as Superman, as Lionel was now never able to find someone to run the Luthorcorp plant in Smallville and thus had no reason to send Lex there]].
* The ''Series/{{Friends}}'' fic "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13574811/1/The-One-Where-Heckles-Has-An-Existential-Crisis The One Where Heckles Has An Existential Crisis]]" is based around the idea that Mr Heckles, the group's downstairs neighbour, is actually a version of Chandler who never got over his commitment issues and ended up driving the others away after his fear of long-term relationships drove Monica to break up with him. When Heckles finds himself in the past, although he never reveals his true identity to the group, he [[spoiler:chooses to kill himself after altering his belongings just enough to hide his identity while affirming what he was like as a person, in the hope that seeing these assorted relics will inspire his younger self to overcome his own fears and commit to Monica]].

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'': The unfortunate fate of [[spoiler: 2014 Nebula]]. Because of an unexpected side effect of the Avengers time traveling ''really'' screws with Nebula's cybernetic enhancements (of which she is almost completely composed of), [[spoiler: 2014 Nebula starts receiving the recorded memories of her present day self, up to when the team uncovers the locations of every Infinity Stone throughout the years. When 2014 Thanos watches the memories played back before him, he immediately sets out to capture present day Nebula and sends her 2014 self in her present self's place. Lacking her present self's character development and any bond she eventually would have had with 2014 Gamora (who herself was growing ever more horrified by Thanos' actions and already planning on defecting), 2014 Nebula enthusiastically embraced her mission, very nearly costing the Avengers a second, much ''worse'' defeat when she successfully brought 2014 Thanos and his forces into the present day and tricked Hawkeye into giving her the complete Infinity Gauntlet. She does end up cornered by her present day self and 2014 Gamora, the latter of which tries to reason with her and get her to abandon Thanos for good. Sadly, the present day Nebula shoots her 2014 self before she could even have the chance, knowing full well how desperate her 2014 self was to please Thanos, how terrified she was of him then, and knowing that they can't risk Thanos winning again.]]

* In ''Film/{{Triangle}}'', the main character is stuck in a time-loop that keep sending her to different places in the movie's time-line, dealing with a version of her murdering all the others. This means that in one time-line, she's the one murdering her past and/or future selves, while in every other time-line, she has to try and ''stop'' the killing.

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%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!

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[[quoteright:350:[[Film/{{Triangle}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jess_vs_jess.jpg]]]]

* In ''[[ComicBook/Extermination2018 Extermination]]'', [[{{ComicBook/Cable}} Cable]] is killed by his own past self for his failure to properly protect the timeline by not immediately returning the [[ComicBook/AllNewXMen time-displaced original X-Men]] to their proper time. The younger version of Cable then takes over as the main version of Cable appearing in the comics.

* In the ''Videogame/LegacyOfKain'' series, Kain raises several Sarafan vampire hunters from the dead and transforms them into vampires so that they can serve him as lieutenants. One of these vampires, Raziel, eventually travels into the past and comes into conflict with the Sarafan Order when he learns that they [[KnightTemplar were a lot less noble than they'd like people to believe]], and ends up slaying several of the Sarafan's prominent members, including the hunters whose corpses he and his brothers will one day be raised from.

* Rohen Tahir from ''Videogame/{{Spellforce}}'' is trapped in a StableTimeLoop in which his younger self travels forward in time, unknowingly murders his older self, and becomes the BigBad of the game, while his older self does a HeelFaceTurn and travels back in time to [[TheAtoner right the wrongs his younger self caused]], becoming the BigGood and setting in motion the events that lead to his murder.

* In ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' Booker Dewitt and Father Comstock are the same man, the only thing separating them is a decision. After the battle of Wounded Knee Booker refused his baptism while Comstock went through with it. Near the end of the game Booker drowns Comstock on his airship before allowing himself to be drowned moments later to kill Comstock in other timelines where he exists.

Sister trope to KillingYourAlternateSelf. This action may result in a StableTimeLoop if the past kills the future, or a TemporalParadox if the future kills the past. Not to be confused with GrandFatherParadox, where one kills their ancestor, ending their own existence.

* In ''[[ComicBook/Extermination2018 Extermination]]'', [[{{ComicBook/Cable}} Cable]] is killed by his own past self for his failure to properly protect the timeline by not immediately returning the [[ComicBook/AllNewXMen time-displaced original X-Men]] to their proper time. The younger version of Cable then takes over as the main version of Cable appearing in the comics.

* The ''Series/DoctorWho''/''Series/{{Smallville}}'' crossover "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5381560/1/The-Clinton-Street-Car-Crash The Clinton Street Car Crash]]" concludes with [[spoiler:Chloe Sullivan causing the titular crash to kill her own past self; through a complex temporal paradox, the General Zod of Superman's era created the ''Smallville'' timeline by saving Chloe from a childhood accident to start a chain of events that would lead to Lex Luthor arriving in Smallville during Clark's childhood and thus essentially retard Clark's growth into Superman. Chloe's sacrifice to cause that same car crash kills her own past self, but also restores the original timeline with Clark as Superman, as Lionel was now never able to find someone to run the Luthorcorp plant in Smallville and thus had no reason to send Lex there]].

* In the ''Videogame/LegacyOfKain'' series, Kain raises several Sarafan vampire hunters from the dead and transforms them into vampires so that they can serve him as lieutenants. One of these vampires, Raziel, eventually travels into the past and comes into conflict with the Sarafan Order when he learns that they [[KnightTemplar were a lot less noble than they'd like people to believe]], and ends up slaying several of the Sarafan's prominent members, including the hunters whose corpses he and his brothers will one day be raised from.
* Optional and PlayedForLaughs in ''VideoGame/EscapeFromMonkeyIsland''. In the Mists of Tyme Swamp, Guybrush encounters his future self who gives him a few items, including a gun. The player can then use the gun to kill the future Guybrush, but this results in time resetting itself.
* In ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'' Booker Dewitt and Father Comstock are the same man, the only thing separating them is a decision. After the battle of Wounded Knee Booker refused his baptism while Comstock went through with it. Near the end of the game Booker drowns Comstock on his airship before allowing himself to be drowned moments later to kill Comstock in other timelines where he exists.

* ''WebAnimation/BonusStage'' ends this way, due to a CreatorBreakdown: Phil steals a time machine and goes back to the first episode, where he kills his past self and his costar, Joel, and then hangs himself, causing the entire show to be removed from existence (and the hosting website).

* In the first book of ''Literature/TheLicaniusTrilogy'', Caedan sees Davian come back and give him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech. Caedan kills Davian, but this speech nevertheless sparks a HeelRealization. Near the end of the third book, Caedan and Davian have become friends, and Caedan begs El for the chance to take Davian's fated death on himself. It's at that point that he realizes that since he technically killed Davian as a baby ([[ItMakesSinceInContext in a way that the latter was able to come back from]]), he can take Davian's shape (shapeshifters in this setting can only take the shapes of those they have personally killed), go back in time in his place, deliver the speech that will start his redemption, and die at the hands of his own past self.