History SadisticChoice / Literature

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', making these sort of decisions is part of being a witch. In ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'', Granny Weatherwax makes an emergency visit to a very pregnant young woman who's been kicked by a cow, a situation the local midwife can't handle on her own. [[TheGrimReaper Death]] is in the background while Granny's working, and suggests that [[BalancingDeathsBooks one life might be saved]], but it'll be up to Granny to decide which one. She ultimately saves the young mother, since she'll be able to recover and have more children in the future, and Death is decent enough to take the other soul and leave without a word. Afterward, the local midwife suggests that Granny should have asked the husband which one to save.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** In ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'', Granny Weatherwax faces a complicated birth that could either kill the mother or the child; she saves the mother because she is still young and will be able to have children in the future.
** Mrs. Patternoster, the Slice midwife, posits that the choice should have been up to the husband/father; Granny retorts that he's done nothing to deserve being hurt so badly (reasoning that she is better able to bear the burden of a Sadistic Choice than he is). Meanwhile Death quietly takes the soul of the baby and makes a discreet exit.

* In Creator/StephenKing's short story, ''Riding the Bullet'', the protagonist has to make a decision: either him, or his mother will die soon. [[spoiler:He saves himself and chooses his mother. She doesn't die, but he still knows that his choice was to let her die]].

* Creator/KurtVonnegut's short story "All the King's Horses" has U.S. Army Colonel, Bryan Kelly, whose plane has been shot down in the Asiatic mainland. With him are his two sons, his wife, the pilot and co-pilot, and ten enlisted men. The sixteen prisoners are held captive by the Chinese officer Pi Ying, who forces Kelly to play a game of chess — using his family and men as the pieces. If he can defeat Pi Ying in the battle of wits, then the sixteen captives are free to go, except there is one catch: every American piece who is captured will be executed immediately. This leads to a moral dilemma for Kelly as he is forced to make decisions with the lives of everyone hanging in balance. At the climax of the story, the end position is one in which Kelly has one of two moves that will assure victory, while every other move will result in defeat. The problem is that the two moves that will assure victory require Kelly to sacrifice one of his two sons. [[spoiler: Luckily for him, Pi Ying is murdered by a concubine before ordering the child's death, and the remaining Americans, including both of the twins, are spared.]]

* Creator/KurtVonnegut's short story "All the King's Horses" has U.S. Army Colonel, Bryan Kelly, whose plane has been shot down in the Asiatic mainland. With him are his two sons, his wife, the pilot and co-pilot, and ten enlisted men. The sixteen prisoners are held captive by the Chinese officer Pi Ying, who forces Kelly to play a game of chess — using his family and men as the pieces. If he can defeat Pi Ying in the battle of wits, then the sixteen captives are free to go, except there is one catch: every American piece who is captured will be executed immediately. This leads to a moral dilemma for Kelly as he is forced to make decisions with the lives of everyone hanging in balance. The climax of the story is this trope up to eleven -- the end position is one in which Kelly has one of two moves that will assure victory, while every other move will result in defeat. The problem is that the two moves that will assure victory require Kelly to sacrifice one of his two sons. [[spoiler: Luckily for him, Pi Ying is murdered by a concubine before ordering the child's death, and the remaining Americans, including both of the twins, are spared.]]

* In the second ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'' book, ''Blue Adept'', Stile's [[TrueCompanions oath friend]] Neysa the unicorn received an official summons to rejoin the herd for breeding season - something Neysa had been previously excluded from because of her small size and horse-normal coloration. But she had already [[ThePromise pledged herself]] to Stile's cause[[note]]Who killed Stile's other self, the previous Blue Adept, and was trying to kill him[[/note]]. Either she answered the summons, leaving her oath friend without her help and protection or she defied the summons, risking going from "herd outcast" to "herd exile." When Stile intervened on her behalf, that generated a choice for Stile:

* In Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's ''Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark: The Gates of the Galaxy'', the Mark Valdez is one of the twelve Arbiters of Justice, whose duties include mediating inter-species disputes. They are trusted as always making the moral and just choice, even if it's not in humanity's favor. Earth has been at war with the [[LizardFolk Dromi]] for over 50 years with millions dead on both sides. Humans get a chance to end the war in one fell swoop by taking out the Dromi homeworld. They use a PortalNetwork to get to the Dromi system without detection and proceed to depopulate one of their worlds before moving on to the homeworld. However, the Dromi figure out what's going on and land all orbital hatcheries on the planet, hoping that the humans won't harm "children". While the fleet officers claim that the Dromi larvae are not children (they're non-sentient), Mark realizes he has no choice but to abort the mission, even if his own daughter has to join the fight. The epilogue states that the war goes on for another century.
** It's heavily implied to be a SecretTestOfCharacter for humanity at large by those seeking to make humans the stewards of the galaxy. Humanity passed.
* Opal Koboi gives one to Holly in the fourth book of ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'', forcing her to choose between saving Commander Root and Artemis. She then compounds the sadism by offering Holly a false third option. [[spoiler:And to add more insult to injury, Opal didn't give Holly enough time to save Artemis even if Holly ''had'' left immediately.]]
* One is offered to Lena near the climax of ''Literature/BeautifulCreatures''. [[spoiler:Choose the Light, and every Dark Caster in the family dies, never to harm anyone ever again -- but Macon will die as well, and Lena will never be able to have a physical relationship with Ethan. Choose the Dark, and every Light Caster in the family dies -- but Macon will survive, and Lena will be given the means to be together with Ethan physically ''and'' emotionally]].
* In Tolkien's ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'', Túrin is given the choice by Glaurung the dragon to either save his sort-of LoveInterest Finduilas, who has just been dragged off by orcs, or his sister and mother who are currently suffering under the torment of the Easterlings. Túrin chooses his family. [[spoiler:It turns out that the whole thing was a lie by Glaurung; Túrin's family were actually safe, having fled the Easterlings a while back, and when Túrin realises this it is too late to save Finduilas, who is murdered by her captors.]]

* ''The Devil's Alternative'' is a novel by Frederick Forsyth in which the president of the United States is forced to do this. This is the Devil's Alternative, sadistic choice.

* In the Literature/DresdenFiles novel "Literature/GravePeril", Harry is faced with one of these. Should he rescue [[spoiler:Susan]] and, in doing so, start a full-on war with [[spoiler:the Red Court]] due to violating SacredHospitality? Or, do nothing and also allow the destruction of [[spoiler:one of the three Swords of the Cross]]? Harry weighs the choices and decides to [[spoiler:save Susan]] because he believes he has to do what's right, even though the consequences of his choice ripple onward for many novels.

* ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'': After the new ultra-conservative government is established, the new army rounds up women who have “lived in sin” by the country’s new Christian standards, like being divorced, a lesbian, having had an abortion. Women who are still fertile have two options—either be declared an Un-Woman and get sent to a concentration camp to mop up toxic waste and die a slow, agonizing death as they rot from the radiation exposure; or become a [[BreedingSlave Handmaid]], and be ceremonially raped once a month by some rich old dude and [[BabyFactory forced to carry and give birth]] to his [[ChildByRape child]].
* ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' series by Creator/RickRiordan:

** Jason and Percy become possessed by ghosts and attack each other. Piper is ordered to decide which one will survive.
*** Also keeps with the HistoryRepeats theme of the series, as Hercules/Heracles was offered essentially the same choice.
** Several characters outright state that Percy’s gonna have to make another one sometime in the future, but likely won't be able to, due to his fatal flaw: loyalty to his friends above all else.

* Both Nita and Kovit are subjected to this in ''Literature/MarketOfMonsters'':

* Literature/TimeScout: Here's your choice, assassin, you can stay here in downtime London where they'll lop your damaged hands off, or you can come home with us and receive the best of modern care and tell us all about your criminal bosses.

* In the second ''Literature/ApprenticeAdept'' book, ''Blue Adept'', Stile's [[TrueCompanion oath friend]] Neysa the unicorn received an official summons to rejoin the herd for breeding season - something Neysa had been previously excluded from because of her small size and horse-normal coloration. But she had already [[ThePromise pledged herself]] to Stile's cause[[note]]Who killed Stile's other self, the previous Blue Adept, and was trying to kill him[[/note]]. Either she answered the summons, leaving her oath friend without her help and protection or she defied the summons, risking going from "herd outcast" to "herd exile." When Stile intervened on her behalf, that generated a choice for Stile:
** The Herd Stallion agreed to settle Neysa's case via TrialByCombat within a unicorn circle[[note]]Enough unicorns in a ring generated enough AntiMagic to nullify even an Adept's power.[[/note]]. But in the time before the trial was to take place, Stile gained possession of the Platinum Flute, an artifact that could boost his power to the point where even a unicorn circle couldn't suppress it. This left the honorable Stile with two equally unpalatable options: Fight without the flute and get humiliated (The Stallion's true goal) or use the flute and humiliate the Stallion (potentially making a powerful enemy of the Stallion and making things even harder on Neysa in the long run). Thanks to some advice from a [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampire elder]], Stile managed to TakeAThirdOption.[[note]]Using the power of the Flute, Stile put on a magic display, showing that he still had his magic and giving the Stallion a chance to concede without losing face. When the Stallion insisted on fighting, Stile used the Flute to give himself equal physical power to the Stallion, ensuring a fair fight. The Stallion won but was so impressed that an Adept would give up a sure win to play fair, he yielded the issue back to Stile, freeing Neysa.[[/note]]

* In the Creator/FrederickForsyth novel ''The Devil's Alternative'', set during the UsefulNotes/ColdWar, terrorists have taken an oil tanker hostage, demanding two of their comrades be released from prison. If they don't get released from prison, the terrorists will let the oil tanker leak into the Mediterranean Sea, causing millions of dollars of environmental damage that will affect all of the countries bordering the sea. If the men do get released from prison, this will cause the current Soviet premiere to back out of an arms treaty with the U.S., which will also cause him to be toppled, and his successor will invade the rest of Europe, leading to World War III. (not helped by the fact the two prisoners will reveal they murdered the head of the KGB, which will also cause the Soviet premiere to be overthrown). The President of the United States has planned to TakeAThirdOption [[spoiler:destroy the tanker before it can cause any damage]], but Adam Munro, a British agent, comes up with a better option - [[spoiler:have the prisoners released, but have them killed with a time-delayed capsule before they can broadcast to the world what they've done, which keeps the terrorists from emptying oil from the tanker while also keeping the Soviet premiere, and the arms agreement, in place]].

* Creator/KurtVonnegut's short story "All the King's Horses" has U.S. Army Colonel, Bryan Kelly, whose plane has been shot down in the Asiatic mainland. With him are his two sons, his wife, the pilot and co-pilot, and ten enlisted men. The sixteen prisoners are held captive by the Chinese officer Pi Ying, who forces Kelly to play a game of chess — using his family and men as the pieces. If he can defeat Pi Ying in the battle of wits, then the sixteen captives are free to go, except there is one catch: every American piece who is captured will be executed immediately. This leads to a moral dilemma for Kelly as he is forced to make decisions with the lives of everyone hanging in balance. The climax of the story is this trope UpToEleven -- the end position is one in which Kelly has one of two moves that will assure victory, while every other move will result in defeat. The problem is that the two moves that will assure victory require Kelly to sacrifice one of his two sons. [[spoiler: Luckily for him, Pi Ying is murdered by a concubine before ordering the child's death, and the remaining Americans, including both of the twins, are spared.]]

** A particularly sadistic variant happens in the novella ''[[Literature/ArchmaesterGyldaynsHistories The Princess and the Queen]]''. A pair of assassins, Blood and Cheese, who were hired by Rhaenyra Targaryen to carry out a revenge killing, demand that her half-sister, Helaena, choose which of her two sons, Jaehaerys and Maelor, will be killed, with Cheese hinting that if she doesn't choose quickly, Blood will rape her young daughter, Jaehaera, out of boredom. When she picks Maelor to die, Blood tells the boy his mother wants him dead, then murders Jaehaerys instead.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the short story Literature/TheLadyOrTheTiger by Frank R. Stockton. A king has a "justice" system where he puts criminals in the arena and makes them choose between two doors, one of which has a beautiful woman behind it and the other a vicious tiger. Normally that would just be a sick game of chance, but the story is about a particular criminal whose offense was having an affair with the princess, who knows which door is which. She comes to watch him in the arena, he looks to her to save him, she gives him a tiny signal telling him which to choose... [[RiddleForTheAges so the question is, is she giving him up to another woman, or killing him?]] Further complicated by the fact that she knows which tiger and which woman are behind the doors. The tiger is an especially vicious one, meaning her lover would suffer an excruciating death if she picks the tiger. The woman is one whom the princess believes is the third leg in a LoveTriangle with herself and her lover. So the question is, is she giving him up to a romantic rival whom she deeply loathes with all her being, or subjecting him to a horrific demise?

* In ''Under the Yoke'', a character suffers flashbacks to a Draka brainwashing technique that was used on him: being given control of the switch that directed current into one of two electric chairs, he being sat in one and his father in the other, so that he could only save his own life by committing patricide.

* Sara Douglass's ''Wayfarer Redemption'' sextet ''subverts'' this trope, in-universe and out. Hero [=DragonStar=] has the choice to save Faraday, the woman he loves (who in a previous life died this way) or Katie, a little girl who supposedly holds the key to victory against ultimate evil. He chooses Katie to die (against Faraday's protestations), but BigBad Qeteb -- who'd been itching to slit Katie's throat for the whole novel -- discovers almost immediately afterwards that he's played straight into the hands of destiny by doing so and is now thoroughly fucked.

* ''Literature/TogetherlyLong:'' Chiisai's best friend is on the ground dying. The evil [[BigBad Emperor Von Mal]] offers to save his life by turning him into a {{Cyborg}} on the condition that Chiisai will serve him forever as his slave. Choosing her freedom would mean more than losing her friend, but it would also mean returning to a life spent alone. Meanwhile, Choosing to save her friend would mean betraying her heroic ideals, because as a hero, she's supposed to do what's right no matter what, and joining the bad guys is wrong.

* A particularly sadistic variant happens in the Creator/GeorgeRRMartin novella ''[[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire The Princess and the Queen]]''. Two men hired to carry out a revenge killing demand that a mother choose which of her two sons will be killed, with one man hinting that if she doesn't choose quickly, the other man will rape her young daughter out of boredom. [[spoiler:When she picks the younger of her two sons to die, the knifeman tells the boy his mother wants him dead, then murders the other son instead.]]

* ''Literature/WingsOfFire'': Queen Scarlet ordered Kestrel to kill one of her newly hatched children so that the other wouldn't die. She killed the male, who didn't have enough fire and was more likely to die anyway. Scarlet then changed her mind and ordered the female killed. Kestrel tried to escape with her daughter, but she had too much fire in her and burned her mother. Kestrel dropped her and Peril was left to live with Scarlet.

* ''Literature/TheHandmaidsTale'': After the new ultra-conservative government is established, the new army rounds up women who have “lived in sin” by the country’s new Christian standards, like being divorced, a lesbian, having had an abortion. Women who are still fertile have two options—either be declared an Un-Woman and get sent to a concentration camp to mop up toxic waste and die a slow, agonizing death as they rot from the radiation exposure; or become a [[BreeedingSlave Handmaid]], and be ceremonially raped once a month by some rich old dude and [[BabyFactory forced to carry and give birth]] to his [[ChildByRape child]].

* ''Literature/NightfallSeries'': [[spoiler:Myra has to choose if to help Vladimir capture Bastien. If she refuses, Serena will die and Myra will lose her chance to get information on the Weather Wizard. If she agrees, she needs to lie to Serena, Bastien will die, and the Farm humans will lose all hope that they can escape.]]
* ''Literature/TheRadix'': Brynstone encounters this during his showdown with Erich Metzger. He has Radix, and there are [[HostageForMacGuffin two people who want it]]. One is holding his daughter hostage, another has his wife. Both try to reason why he should save one, and let the other die.
* ''Film/SophiesChoice'' by William Styron. (See SadisticChoice/{{Film}}.)

* In Creator/DianeDuane's novel ''Literature/SpocksWorld'', the BigBad sways Vulcan towards secession in order to force Spock to make one of these - his planet or his ship?

* ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'':
** In the first book, ''Wizard's First Rule'', the plot revolves around the three Boxes of Orden, which can be opened by a special ritual with different results depending on which one you open: one makes you omnipotent, one kills you, and one kills everyone in the entire world. Richard is the only one who knows which box is which. Towards the end, Darken Rahl informs him that he's managed to identify the box that kills him, so on a particular day he is going to open one of the others at random. Richard can either let it be an even toss between Rahl winning and the end of the world, or tell him which Box is the right one and thus ''ensure'' Rahl's victory. [[spoiler: Richard of course finds a way to [[TakeAThirdOption trick Rahl into choosing the Box that will kill him anyway.]]]]
** In the second book, ''The Stone of Tears,'' Kahlan encounters a man who had just tried to kill her hanging from a ledge, about to fall to his death. She gives him the choice of taking her hand and living the rest of his life as an essentially brainwashed slave, or falling to his death. He chooses the latter.
* In the Literature/DresdenFiles novel "Literature/GravePeril", Harry is faced with one of these. Should he rescue [[spoiler:Susan]] and, in doing so, start a full-on war with [[spoiler:the Red Court]] due to violating SacredHospitality? Or, do nothing and also allow the destruction of [[spoiler:one of the three Swords of the Cross]]? Harry weighs the choices and decides to [[spoiler:save Susan]] because he believes he has to do what's right, even though the consequences of his choice ripple onward for many novels.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'':
** In ''Literature/CarpeJugulum'', Granny Weatherwax faces a complicated birth that could either kill the mother or the child; she saves the mother because she is still young and will be able to have children in the future.
** Mrs. Patternoster, the Slice midwife, posits that the choice should have been up to the husband/father; Granny retorts that he's done nothing to deserve being hurt so badly (reasoning that she is better able to bear the burden of a Sadistic Choice than he is). Meanwhile Death quietly takes the soul of the baby and makes a discreet exit.
* Creator/DeanKoontz's ''Velocity'' revolves around this concept. Throughout the novel, protagonist Billy Wiles is sent notes from an unknown serial killer offering him two choices, both of which will cause the killer to kill someone, the victim being determined by the choice Billy makes. As the book continues, things get worse - the killer ''will'' kill the woman no matter what, the only question is whether or not Billy will say "Waste the bitch,": because if he doesn't, the woman will suffer needlessly.

* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' novel "The Ellimist Chronicles", Crayak presents the Ellimist with three inhabited planets. Each planet has an enormous asteroid hurtling towards it. One asteroid is laced with explosives such that it will self-destruct before reaching its planet. The Ellimist can only destroy one asteroid (and thus can only save one sentient species). Which does he save? Which world would Crayak have chosen to save in advance? If the Ellimist chooses the mined asteroid, he's wasted his shot and two worlds die. If he chooses correctly...one world dies. Crayak does this to him a ''lot'' until the Ellimist finally [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere gets too beaten down to play the game any more]]. Then he realizes his mistake was playing on Crayak's terms in the first place, and just starts seeding life on every world he can find.
* In ''Under the Yoke'', a character suffers flashbacks to a Draka brainwashing technique that was used on him: being given control of the switch that directed current into one of two electric chairs, he being sat in one and his father in the other, so that he could only save his own life by committing patricide.
* In Creator/StephenKing's short story, ''Riding the Bullet'', the protagonist has to make a decision: either him, or his mother will die soon. [[spoiler:He saves himself and chooses his mother. She doesn't die, but he still knows that his choice was to let her die]].
* In one of the ''Literature/LegendOfTheFiveRings'' official stories, Dragon Clan champion Togashi Satsu was captured by the mad monk Kokujin and asked which of his two followers would be sacrificed. Satsu initially offers himself but Kokujin refuses saying he'd kill both of Satsu's followers if he didn't make a choice. Once the choice gets made, Kokujin starts preparing the other guy.
* Creator/KurtVonnegut's short story "All the King's Horses" has U.S. Army Colonel, Bryan Kelly, whose plane has been shot down in the Asiatic mainland. With him are his two sons, his wife, the pilot and co-pilot, and ten enlisted men. The sixteen prisoners are held captive by the Chinese officer Pi Ying, who forces Kelly to play a game of chess — using his family and men as the pieces. If he can defeat Pi Ying in the battle of wits, then the sixteen captives are free to go, except there is one catch: every American piece who is captured will be executed immediately. This leads to a moral dilemma for Kelly as he is forced to make decisions with the lives of everyone hanging in balance. The climax of the story is this trope UpToEleven - the end position is one in which Kelly has one of two moves that will assure victory, while every other move will result in defeat. The problem is that the two moves that will assure victory require Kelly to sacrifice one of his two sons. [[spoiler: Luckily for him, Pi Ying is murdered by a concubine before ordering the child's death, and the remaining Americans, including both of the twins, are spared.]]
* ''The Devil's Alternative'' is a novel by Frederick Forsyth in which the president of the United States is forced to do this. This is the Devil's Alternative, sadistic choice.

* ''Literature/{{Hexwood}}'': At the culmination of his TrainingFromHell, Mordion is given the choice between killing his final remaining classmate -- whom he loved like another self -- or allow her to be tortured for a year in a way ''worse than anything a trained assassin could imagine.'' He takes the first option. It wasn't a hard choice.
** His master then explains to him that he will face this choice every time he is ordered to kill someone: either he kills them immediately, usually as painlessly as he likes, or the master will take this revenge. Thus completing the transformation of a fundamentally gentle man into a remorseless killer.
* Chauvelin is notorious for his merciless "either...or" ultimatums in ''Literature/TheScarletPimpernel'' and its sequels. His first target is Marguerite Blakeney, who has to choose between helping Chauvelin arrest and execute the Scarlet Pimpernel (aka her husband) or letting him arrest and behead her brother. Thereafter, Chauvelin usually holds Marguerite as the hostage and gives the choice to [[ItwasHisSled Sir Percy Blakeney]] -- for example, in ''The Elusive Pimpernel'', he threatens to kill the breadwinner in every family in Bologne if Sir Percy tries to rescue his wife.
* In Creator/MikhailAkhmanov's ''[[Literature/ArrivalsFromTheDark The Gates of the Galaxy]]'', the Mark Valdez is one of the twelve Arbiters of Justice, whose duties include mediating inter-species disputes. They are trusted as always making the moral and just choice, even if it's not in humanity's favor. Earth has been at war with the [[LizardFolk Dromi]] for over 50 years with millions dead on both sides. Humans get a chance to end the war in one fell swoop by taking out the Dromi homeworld. They use a PortalNetwork to get to the Dromi system without detection and proceed to depopulate one of their worlds before moving on to the homeworld. However, the Dromi figure out what's going on and land all orbital hatcheries on the planet, hoping that the humans won't harm "children". While the fleet officers claim that the Dromi larvae are not children (they're non-sentient), Mark realizes he has no choice but to abort the mission, even if his own daughter has to join the fight. The epilogue states that the war goes on for another century.
** It's heavily implied to be a SecretTestOfCharacter for humanity at large by those seeking to make humans the stewards of the galaxy. Humanity passed.
* In ''Literature/TheRomanMysteries'' Nubia has to choice between freeing her brother and her freeing her friend from slavery.

* Sara Douglass's Wayfarer Redemption sextet ''subverts'' this trope, in-universe and out. Hero [=DragonStar=] has the choice to save Faraday, the woman he loves (who in a previous life died this way) or Katie, a little girl who supposedly holds the key to victory against ultimate evil. He chooses Katie to die (against Faraday's protestations), but BigBad Qeteb - who'd been itching to slit Katie's throat for the whole novel - discovers almost immediately afterwards that he's played straight into the hands of destiny by doing so and is now thoroughly fucked.
** The only people for whom it plays straight are Qeteb and Faraday. Katie has always known exactly what has to happen and why. [=DragonStar=] has long since realised that she's not a weapon; she's a ''sacrifice''... and saving her is pointless. It doesn't play straight for the astute reader who realises just before Katie dies that her final emotion (aside from stoic acceptance) is relief.
* In Tolkien's ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'', Túrin is given the choice by Glaurung the dragon to either save his sort-of LoveInterest Finduilas, who has just been dragged off by orcs, or his sister and mother who are currently suffering under the torment of the Easterlings. Túrin chooses his family. [[spoiler:It turns out that the whole thing was a lie by Glaurung; Túrin's family were actually safe, having fled the Easterlings a while back, and when Túrin realises this it is too late to save Finduilas, who is murdered by her captors.]]
* ''Literature/LifeAndDeathTwilightReimagined'': At the end of the book, [[spoiler:Beau is bitten by a vampire and his transformation is irreversible. He now has to choose between dying on the spot or continue turning into a vampire.]]
* In Creator/DrewKarpyshyn's ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Expanded Universe}}: [[VideoGame/StarWarsTheOldRepublic The Old Republic]]: Annihilation'', a joint SIS-Jedi-Army operation results in the Republic getting their hands on a Black Cypher, a Sith decoder used to send secure messages between the Sith leadership and their capital ships. This is used as part of the mission to take out the latest Sith superweapon - the destroyer ''Ascendant Spear'', which can singlehandedly destroy entire Republic fleets. While the joint team is preparing to infiltrate the destroyer to sabotage its systems in order to cripple it in preparation for an ambush, the Republic intercepts a message using the Black Cypher indicating a number of attacks on key worlds deep in Republic space. They decide to allow the attacks to take place, secretly dispatching relief ships for ''after'' the attacks. Why? Because if even one attack is averted, the Sith will know their messages are being intercepted and will reprogram all their Black Cyphers, and the ''Ascendant Spear'' will continue to wreak havoc on the Republic. The protagonist decides to try to [[TakeAThirdOption avert one such attack without compromising the mission]].
* In the ''Literature/NewJediOrder'' novel 'Star by Star', the three Solo kids are captured by the Yuuzhan Vong and they keep pushing Jaina to choose which of her brothers will be tortured. Anakin ends up telling her he can withstand it, though he ultimately gives his life helping others escape.
* Invoked in the ''Literature/ThursdayNext'' series, when in ''First Among Sequels'', Thursday is dropped into the BookWorld and ends up on a boat where sadistic choices occur non-stop. They have to rescue some shipwreck survivors who are carrying a contagious disease, there's only enough food for half of the passengers, etc. Thursday keeps making choices to stall for time before eventually leaving the boat in a lifeboat, reasoning that the choices occur because she is somewhere in the Oral Tradition, and they'll stop once there is no one to make them. However, in this case TakingAThirdOption may result in the actual speaker in the real world suffering an aneurysm (which makes the third option itself a Sadistic Choice).
* Opal Koboi gives one to Holly in the fourth book of ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'', forcing her to choose between saving Commander Root and Artemis. She then compounds the sadism by offering Holly a false third option. [[spoiler:And to add more insult to injury, Opal didn't give Holly enough time to save Artemis even if Holly ''had'' left immediately.]]
* One is offered to Lena near the climax of ''Literature/BeautifulCreatures''. [[spoiler:Choose the Light, and every Dark Caster in the family dies, never to harm anyone ever again -- but Macon will die as well, and Lena will never be able to have a physical relationship with Ethan. Choose the Dark, and every Light Caster in the family dies -- but Macon will survive, and Lena will be given the means to be together with Ethan physically ''and'' emotionally]].
* A particularly sadistic variant happens in the Creator/GeorgeRRMartin novella ''[[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire The Princess and the Queen]]''. Two men hired to carry out a revenge killing demand that a mother choose which of her two sons will be killed, with one man hinting that if she doesn't choose quickly, the other man will rape her young daughter out of boredom. [[spoiler:When she picks the younger of her two sons to die, the knifeman tells the boy his mother wants him dead, then murders the other son instead.]]
* In the ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'' prequel novel ''Edge of Destiny'', Logan Thackeray has to choose between staying with his [[RagtagBunchOfMisfits band of adventurers]] to fight the Elder Dragon Kralkatorrik, or leaving to save Queen Jennah. He chooses the latter -- and with his departure, dooms the fight against Kralkatorrik, resulting in the dragon's escape, the death of one of his comrades, and general fallout and bickering in the group for years to come.
* In ''Literature/MoreThanThis'', the prisoner made Seth choose who (out of him and his brother) was to be taken as hostage.
* In ''Literature/{{Frostbite}}'', Isaiah the Strigoi gave his captive Moroi, Christian Ozera and Mia Rinaldi, a sadistic choice. They could starve to death or drain the blood of their dhampir friends and turn into a strigoi. In addition the one who chose this path condemned the other Moroi to death.
* In ''Literature/TheMoteInGodsEye'', [[spoiler:Whitbread]] realizes he faces the choice between the sin of committing suicide and capture, which risks his knowledge falling into Motie hands and endangering the human race.
* ''Literature/SanoIchiro'': Poor, poor Lady Nobuko. Two men are vying for control of Japan after her husband's death; one had her kidnapped and raped to discredit his rival, the other was behind the plot that caused the death of her only child. After the shogun dies, she's confronted with a chance to inflict revenge on either [[spoiler:Yanagisawa or Ienobu]]. She snaps, unable to kill or take sides with one lest the other rise to power.
* In ''Literature/OneTwoBuckleMyShoe'', Poirot is forced to choose between uncovering the truth and arresting someone who, aside from their crime of murder, [[AffablyEvil is a perfectly pleasant and unassuming person]] who stood for Poirot's own ideals and [[spoiler:a man of great political influence whose removal may lead to national instability and political unrest]], or keep silent and let the scapegoat, an insignificant figure who represents everything Poirot hates and whom he considers a waste of space the country can do without, go to the gallows. [[spoiler:He has the actual murderer arrested.]]
* In the ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'', the Crippled God is poisoning Burn, [[GeniusLoci the incarnation of existence]], in ''Literature/MemoriesOfIce''. He hopes that, in order to stop him, ''someone'' is going to free him from his chains, thereby releasing him from his long imprisonment -- which would mean that he is free to roam the world as he wishes and end civilisation as they know it. If no one frees him, then Burn's poisoning will mean the slow death of the entire world.
* “Cutting all of a man’s fingers off aint hurt half as much as asking him which.” From the ''Literature/PareidoliaAndTheGildedScar'' story ''Domestication''
* ''Literature/WingsOfFire'': Queen Scarlet ordered Kestrel to kill one of her newly hatched children so that the other wouldn't die. She killed the male, who didn't have enough fire and was more likely to die anyway. Scarlet then changed her mind and ordered the female killed. Kestrel tried to escape with her daughter, but she had too much fire in her and burned her mother. Kestrel dropped her and Peril was left to live with Scarlet.
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'': When Jean Valjean learns that another man has been mistakenly arrested in his place, he has to choose whether to stay silent and let an innocent man spend the rest of his life in the hellish galleys, or confess his identity and not only go back there himself, but let the factory he owns be closed, the entire town fall to ruin as a result, Fantine die without ever seeing her daughter Cosette again, and little Cosette be left at the mercy of the villainous Thénardiers. He ultimately chooses to confess and free the innocent man, but while he's unable to save the factory or Fantine, he does manage to [[TakeAThirdOption escape from prison and save Cosette.]]
* Both Nita and Kovit are subjected to this in ''Literature/MarketOfMonsters'':
** ''Not Even Bones'': To teach Nita who's in charge, Reyes tells her she can either turn her pain receptors on and let Kovit torture her for an hour, or let him cut off three of her fingers.
** ''Only Ashes Remain'': Kovit is devoted to both his father-figure Henry and his... well, at this point, friend Nita. Henry manages to capture Nita with the goal of killing her and selling her body. Which ConflictingLoyalty will win out...?

* In the second book of the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series, ''The Stone of Tears,'' Kahlan encounters a man who had just tried to kill her hanging from a ledge, about to fall to his death. She gives him the choice of taking her hand and living the rest of his life as an essentially brainwashed slave, or falling to his death. He chooses the latter.