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4[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/{{Sinfest}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/death_by_despair.png]]]]
5[[caption-width-right:350:Crushed by the weight of his own personal hell.]]
6
7-> '''Citizen One:''' Indeed and it was at that very moment that Rachel Jackson began to die of grief.\
8'''Citizen Two:''' Grief?\
9'''Citizen One:''' It’s the nineteenth century. That’s the kind of shit that happened then.
10-->-- ''Theatre/BloodyBloodyAndrewJackson''
11
12Sometimes, life sucks. People go bankrupt. Plans go awry. People we love die. Terrible things happen to people. And sometimes the poor, unfortunate people to whom terrible things happen just... stop. Death by Despair is what happens when someone loses the will to live, and as a result, just dies. There's rarely a readily apparent medical cause for it. Just a broken heart, or a broken soul for those cases not caused by the loss of a loved one.
13
14A SubTrope of DespairEventHorizon, since this is the result of despair that severe.
15
16A SisterTrope to DrivenToSuicide (especially since "died of grief" is sometimes a euphemism for that trope) and DeathSeeker (when simple self-preservation instincts are ignored). Also see VictorianNovelDisease, of which physical suffering and illness from a moment of great psychological trauma may eventually lead into a case of this.
17
18TruthInTelevision, to an extent, in that someone who doesn't care whether he lives or dies may start neglecting his health and slip into a downward spiral leading to death. A mirrored version is also noted in elderly couples in ill health where both will [[NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow seem to stave off terminal conditions]] and endure uncomfortable treatments [[WorthLivingFor for each other]], but [[TogetherInDeath "let go" when the other has passed]]. Also, there is a phenomenon known as "Broken Heart Syndrome" (or, [[SesquipedalianLoquaciousness to use the technical name]], "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takotsubo_cardiomyopathy Takotsubo cardiomyopathy]]") where sudden, excessive stress can weaken the cardiac muscle, which can lead to heart attacks and acute heart failure. It's rare, but not impossible. There is also a similar phenomenon called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voodoo_death voodoo death]], where a strong enough emotional shock causes the brain to release massive amounts of adrenaline-like nerve chemicals and stress hormones, which has the potential to cause various complications, including death. That said, Administrivia/NoRealLifeExamplesPlease
19
20Compare AngstComa.
21
22!!'''As a {{Death Trope|s}}, many Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''
23
24[[noreallife]]
25----
26!!Examples:
27[[foldercontrol]]
28
29[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
30* In ''Anime/CControl'', Entres who go bankrupt lose their future and usually commit suicide afterward.
31* Tomoya Okazaki of ''Anime/{{CLANNAD}} ~After Story~''. When his daughter, his new reason to live after Nagisa's [[DeathByChildbirth death]], dies in his arms, he collapses in the snow, presumably dead from a broken heart. But he gets better. [[GainaxEnding Really]].
32* In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', the stress of his people being slaughtered by [[BigBad Frieza]] and his forces causes this to happen to the Grand Elder of Planet Namek. To be fair, he was ''extremely'' old and had been dying slowly for quite a while, so it amounted to dying a matter of minutes before he would have died 'naturally'. It nonetheless becomes a critical plot point because Planet Namek's Dragon Balls disappear when he dies. Luckily, when Kami and Popo use Earth's Dragon Balls to resurrect everyone Frieza's forces murdered, this brings back the Elder for the amount of time his life was shortened by.
33* ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'':
34** Shou Tucker's first chimera dies this way by ceasing to eat and eventually dying of starvation. This makes more sense when it's later revealed that this chimera was ''his wife''.
35** Also, it's implied that this is what happened to Ed and Al's mother Trisha. Yes, it's true, she got sick, but it was stated that she was just never the same after Hohenheim left and that the lack of self-care between being a single mother and her broken heart weakened her enough to die from an illness she probably should have recovered from.
36** It could also be said that this is what almost happened to Riza. When Lust made the BadassBoast that she had killed Roy Mustang, Riza went on a brief RoaringRampageOfRevenge until she ran out of bullets... then slumped to the ground, weeping and ''waiting to be killed.'' She only recovered the will to live when she realized that [[NotQuiteDead Roy had survived]].
37* Heavily implied to be the fates of the protagonists of ''Manga/GirlsLastTour''. After a perilous journey through their AfterTheEnd world, they reach the top of their LayeredMetropolis and find...nothing. The two eat their last bit of food, go to sleep and are heavily implied to pass on during their slumber from the reveal that their journey was ultimately pointless.
38* Almost happens to Liechtenstein in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'', after UsefulNotes/WorldWarI destroys her lands and kills a good part of her people. Fortunately, Switzerland finds her when she's about to give in and let herself die, and takes her in into his home (symbolizing the union between both countries, which still survives to this day).
39* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'':
40** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'': Proscuitto [[VillainousValour willingly keeps his powers]] and himself alive after surviving getting tossed out a train in order to make sure that Pesci stays focused. He then lost his remaining will after seeing Pesci [[DeathOfAThousandCuts torn to pieces]] by Bucciarati.
41** ''[[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureStoneOcean Stone Ocean]]'': After Weather Report manages to use Ungalo's own Stand powers to [[HoistByHisOwnPetard negate itself]], Ungalo was overcome with despair at the thought of regressing back into his previous drug-addled life and fell into a catatonic state.
42* Parodied in ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'' with [[ClassRepresentative Emily Sevensheep's]] mother. After she hears about her [[FanGirl idol Nagi's]] death, we see her in her apparent death bed, telling her daughter that, just once, she wanted to see Nagi in person... then [[MoodWhiplash we cut to the doctor sweatdropping and saying that she only has a cold]].
43* ''Manga/OnePiece'':
44** Barely averted in Bellemere's backstory. She had fought in a terrible battle that destroyed a coastal city and was just waiting for her almost sure demise... then she saw little Nojiko carrying baby Nami in her arms and regained the will to live, taking the little girls in.
45** Also averted by [[WorldsMostBeautifulWoman Boa Hancock]]. After she spares Luffy's life and allows him to leave [[LadyLand Amazon Lily]], she comes down with a bout of illness that her doctor cannot treat or explain. Elder Nyon slowly realizes that she's suffering from Love Sickness, a condition that killed several empresses of Amazon Lily across generations when they fell in love with men and suppressed their emotions in order to stay with their people; the pain of being separated from the object of their affection proving so strong that eventually it killed them. Elder Nyon herself and a few of the empresses survived by taking the opposite approach: leaving Amazon Lily and pursuing their lovers across the sea. Hancock's health improves when Luffy requests to speak with her, and she recovers completely [[DefrostingIceQueen once she admits to herself that she's fallen in love with him]].
46* Invoked in ''Literature/{{Overlord|2012}}''. The {{Lich}} protagonist has a skill called Despair Aura. It has 5 levels of intensity, each inflicting increasingly debilitating StatusEffects. The fifth level [[OneHitKill instantly kills]] those who fail to resist.
47* Literally occurs in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' in the new world in the endings. A Magical Girl's magic is somewhat based on her level of hope, so if they run out of magic (or hope), they die, and it's speculated that they might [[AscendedToAHigherPlaneOfExistence ascend to Goddess Madoka's Plane of Existence]]. This is a step up from the original timeline, where they turn into the very {{Eldritch Abomination}}s that they fight.
48* ''Anime/RevolutionaryGirlUtena'' was close to this after her parents died but thankfully her prince (or Touga) saves her.
49* The succubi of ''Manga/RosarioPlusVampire'' can literally die of heartbreak. Considering that Kurumu is in love with Tsukune who's in love with Moka, this can potentially happen to her as well.
50* In ''Anime/SCryed'', Ayase Terada goes out this way when she learns that her brother is dead (through a wireless heart monitor on her wrist). It might be justified since she went through a process to refine her power which is said to drastically shorten lifespan in some cases, but aside from some scarring looks perfectly healthy. Kazuma, who she was fighting, didn't even get a chance to land a hit.
51* Subverted/Averted as all hell in ''Manga/SayonaraZetsubouSensei'', much to the (non) consternation of Itoshiki, a man so steeped in despair that he will {{Wangst}} himself [[DrivenToSuicide to suicide]] over the most outlandish theories and observations.
52* Kaede Fuyou from ''Anime/{{Shuffle}}'' was close to this as a young girl, after her mother's death in an accident. Rin had to lie to her by putting the blame on himself so she'd recover the will to live.
53* In Episode 10 of ''Anime/SpacePatrolLuluco'', Nova tears out and shatters Luluco's Aflutter Jewel (which is the physical embodiment of her love for him), causing her to [[LiteralMetaphor die of a broken heart]]. Amazingly, she comes back to life after regaining her hope.
54* The Anti-Spiral tries to make the whole of humanity suffer this in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann''. It doesn't work.
55* This is what killed Allen Schezar's mother in ''Anime/TheVisionOfEscaflowne'' after she lost both her husband Leon (disappeared without a trace) and daughter Selena (kidnapped). Allen is ''deeply'' angry at his father for that. It's later explained that Mrs. Schezar's depression became worse when she learned that Leon ''was DeadAllAlong''.
56* Barely averted in ''Anime/YuGiOh5Ds'' by Ruka and invoked by Aporia. In this duel, the hero's lives are connected to their life points and vice versa. When Ruka thinks her twin is dead, she falls to her knees, clutching her heart, as her life points ebb away... (They get better.)
57[[/folder]]
58
59[[folder:Comic Books]]
60* ''ComicBook/{{Fables}}'': According to Bigby, his mother died of a broken heart after his father abandoned the family.
61* ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogIDW'': Starline crosses the DespairEventHorizon as part of his VillainousBreakdown. Seeing as he makes no attempt to save himself after being beaten, he lost his will to live.
62* This almost happens to Jonathan Kent in ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' as the stress of his son's death caused him to have a near-fatal heart attack.
63[[/folder]]
64
65[[folder:Fairy Tales]]
66* Betta of ''Literature/{{Pintosmalto}}'' predicts she will suffer this fate if her abducted husband doesn't answer her for the third and final night. Fortunately for her, he does.
67[[/folder]]
68
69[[folder:Fan Works]]
70* In Creator/{{Earthsong9405}}'s headcanon, Bright Mac was killed by timberwolves while Pear Butter was pregnant with Apple Bloom. Lingering trauma over the death of her husband is one of the reasons Pear Butter couldn't recover after birth, leading to her death.
71* ''Blog/BetterBonesAU'': Larkstripe dies shortly after her son Ripplekit is taken from her as punishment for her stand against [=SkyClan's=] exile (with the excuse that she is breaking the cleric code by having a kit), supposedly due to her grief at what happened.
72* ''Fanfic/TheBridge'': Queen Amatheia's daughters were taken away by invaders and enslaved. After Amatheia used powerful magic to set up The Shroud to prevent future invasions, she passed away from both her exhaustion and her depression over the loss of her daughters.
73%%(ZCE)* In ''Fanfic/DestinysKiss'', the unnamed woman who becomes the Blue Fairy died soon after her aging father did.
74%%(ZCE)* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/5374656/1/Fly_Fly_Little_Wing Fly, Fly, Little Wing, Fly]]'': [[spoiler: 4's]] death, after [[spoiler: 3 was killed by the Cat Beast]].
75* ''Fanfic/GhostsOfEvangelion'': [[spoiler:Shinji's]] heart simply gives out less than three days following the passing of [[spoiler:Asuka]]. They'd been inseparable for over sixty years by then, and people that knew them were not surprised he couldn't go on without her.
76* In ''Fanfic/{{Handmaid}}'' Cecily believes this is how her mother [[spoiler:Anne Boleyn]] died, as she lost both the woman she loved and the man she came to care for in quick succession a year before.
77* ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainBlossomingTrail'': A denizen by the name of the Curry Prince/Clockwork Prince turns out to be [[spoiler:a reincarnated Soma from ''Manga/BlackButler'', who go onto the Train after the death of Agni. He ended up dying in his sleep, cradling Agni's urn.]]
78* ''Fanfic/MindBrigade'':
79** Jamie's mother died of a sudden stress-induced heart attack that is described similarly to a Takotsubo cardiomyopathy.
80** [[spoiler:Jamie]] dies of a sudden heart attack after he freaks out, believing that he [[spoiler:gave the dying Jill a fatal heart attack after yelling at her]].
81* ''Fanfic/NotOldAloneOrDoneFor'': Mrs. Darling died soon after her husband. The doctors say it was a combination of fever and heartache.
82* In ''Fanfic/QueensOfMewni'', while it was ultimately DeathByChildbirth that got Sky the Weaver, there's an element of this trope as well as her health had already declined significantly after the death of her husband, to the point that her family had to force her to eat so she didn't lose the baby.
83* ''Fanfic/PurpleDays'': In this ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' fanfiction, it's heavily implied that at least one of Joffrey's deaths after [[spoiler:learning of his parentage]] was this, in Chapter 7.
84* In ''Fanfic/{{Recoil}}'' after Lisa died in the ruins of New Delhi, Taylor was entirely willing to sit next to her cairn until she died as well. [[spoiler:Phir Sē discovered her corpse there before traveling back in time to recruit her before her death]].
85* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/11301117/ Sunshine]]'': Satsuki's death of leukemia in is implied in part to be this after Ryuuko had died in the previous story, ''Raindrops''. The story was even tagged as such.
86* In the ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'' fic ''Fanfic/TheVow'', this happens to Lord Shen's parents when there isn't any more news of their son -- whom they had to banish for committing mass murder -- being alive somewhere.
87[[/folder]]
88
89[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
90* Evelyn in ''WesternAnimation/Incredibles2'' implies that this was how her mother died after her husband, Evelyn’s father, was killed by criminals.
91* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda2'', this is the implied fate of the villain's parents, who were heartbroken at being forced to exile their son.
92--> '''Shen:''' My parents hated me. They wronged me and I, I will make it right.
93--> '''Soothsayer:''' They loved you. They loved you so much that having to send you away killed them.
94* In ''WesternAnimation/LovingVincent'', Pere Tanguy says this happened to Theo; after Vincent's death, he lost his will to live.
95* This is what took Chef Gusteau in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ratatouille}}'' after getting his rating shot down to four stars by Anton Ego. This may come across as an overreaction on his part to much of the audience, but keep in mind that high cuisine is highly competitive. Anything less than the maximum rating will ''destroy'' a fancy restaurant, and sometimes even the chef; such was the case of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bernard_Loiseau Bernard Loiseau]], the chef Gusteau was modeled after.
96* A variation happened to Spinel, the main antagonist of ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverseTheMovie''. A long time ago, she was created to be a cheerful, cute playmate to Pink Diamond. However, when Pink was finally given the chance to have her very own colony, she decided that she no longer needed Spinel, and [[InnocentlyInsensitive ordered her playmate]] to stay still in their special garden until she came back. [[AndIMustScream Six thousand years later]], Steven's special universe-wide broadcast managed to reach the garden, and Spinel realized in the span of one moment that not only did Pink abandon her, ''she's now effectively dead.'' The resulting emotional turmoil broke Spinel so badly that she "poofed" (a process that {{Word Of God}} has directly compared to broken-heart syndrome), and in her place, a [[BreakTheCutie completely snapped]] {{Axe Crazy}} Gem emerged.
97[[/folder]]
98
99[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
100* Reverend Sayer in ''Film/TheAfricanQueen'' is left utterly traumatized when the German army rounds up and drives off the natives he has been preaching to before firing their village, burning down all their homes and even his church and punching him out when he tries to stop them. The shock leaves him in a near-catatonic state, barely cognizant of his surroundings, and he swiftly dies, apparently from grief at losing everything he had.
101* In the novel ''David Copperfield'', David's mother Clara dies giving birth to Murdstone's child. In the film any reference to her being pregnant is dropped, and she simply dies from despair caused by Murdstone's mental cruelty and ill treatment.
102* Possibly Illanka in ''Film/HouseOfFrankenstein'' after she shoots Lawrence Talbot with a silver bullet after he attacks her as the Wolf Man. She shows no signs of injury afterward, and since she can move, her neck was clearly not broken, but she dies on top of Larry's corpse.
103* In ''Film/ImitationOfLife1934'', Delilah the black housekeeper weakens and dies of nothing more than despair after her passing-white daughter, Peola, cuts Delilah out of her life so she can continue to pass as white. In the book, she actually has cancer, but still dies shortly after Peola abandons her. Heartbreakingly, the movie has Peola having a HeelRealization after her mother's death.
104* In ''Film/ImitationOfLife1959'', much the same happens to Annie, the analogous character to Delilah. In this version, Annie agrees to let her daughter Sarah Jane go because she comes to understand why Sarah Jane wants to pass (so that she can live her life unimpeded by racism), but the emotional impact of this kills her shortly thereafter. It is foreshadowed when Lora alludes to "those spells" Annie has been having once there's a TimeSkip of a few years, implying she has heart problems anyway.
105* ''Film/{{Incendies}}'': It's implied that this is the cause of Nawal's death, after a life of being a {{determinator}}. Her daughter suddenly finds her catatonic, and she dies soon afterwards. Her will refers to a mysterious "broken promise" and asks to be given a pauper's unmarked grave until her promise can be upheld by her children. At the end of the film, we discover what drove her into sudden despair -- namely, the discovery that [[spoiler:her long-lost son (the much-older brother that Jeanne and Simon never knew they had) and the man who raped and tortured her in prison (the father they never knew) were one and the same]].
106* In ''Film/{{Jumanji}}'', Alan learns that after he disappeared, his father gave up everything he had to try to find him. His eventual death of a broken heart likely wasn't helped by rumors that he himself had murdered Alan and hidden the body.
107* ''Film/NoTimeToDie'': The death of [[spoiler:Franchise/JamesBond]] at the end could be interpreted as this. [[spoiler: Even if he miraculously survived the multiple gunshot wounds he's received, he's been injected with a virus that will be lethal to his love and to their daughter, meaning he can never see them again. It's very likely that his devastation at realizing this is why he positioned himself to take the missile strike.]]
108* Contact with the "ghosts" of J-Horror film ''Kairo (Pulse)'' results in this. The ghosts don't even ''do'' anything, they're just there; but coming face to face with one results in the victim realizing that, [[AuthorTract even in death, everyone is completely and utterly alone]]. The soul-crushing despair from this revelation causes the victim to simply shrink away, their will to live fading, until they literally become [[CessationOfExistence nothing but an eerie stain of soot on the wall]].
109* Lisa, from ''Film/LetterFromAnUnknownWoman'' almost immediately dies after the death of her son, and finding out that her one true love never knew who she was.
110* Possibly George in ''Film/ASingleMan''. Eight months after the death of Jim, his lover of sixteen years, George has been so ground down by grief (which he can't outwardly show, because it's the 1960s) that he decides to commit suicide... which turns out to be an unnecessary decision, since he dies of a heart attack instead, having been shown throughout the film to be [[ChekhovsGun nursing a chronic heart condition]]. DiabolusExMachina, or stress-induced cardiomyopathy?
111* Padmé in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' suffered this according to the medbot attending her. Watching her husband turn evil and everything she worked for come crashing down around her as she witnesses the rise of a totalitarian government, combined with the stress of an impromptu and messy child birth, was likely too much for her (although it's unclear how much her husband Force choking her had to do with it).
112* ''Film/{{Tevya}}'': It's even explicitly stated that Mama Golde's grief over her daughter converting to Christianity and getting married to a Gentile is what ruined Golde's health. Sure enough, she croaks.
113* In ''Film/WrittenOnTheWind'', Marylee's father dies after finding out from one of his daughter's sexual partners that she had a habit of instigating such encounters.
114[[/folder]]
115
116[[folder:Literature]]
117* ''Literature/TheAdventuresOfPinocchio'': After rescuing and healing Pinocchio from being hanged, the Blue Fairy tells him that his dad Geppetto is arriving, but he decides to go on his own to reach him faster. He ends up derailing himself through another series of misadventures, and when he returns to the house of the Fairy in the woods, it has disappeared and the only thing in its place is a marble tombstone that reads: "Here lies the girl with turquoise hair who died from the sorrow of being abandoned by her brother Pinocchio". Thankfully it turns out to be a SecretTestOfCharacter and the Fairy returns a few chapters later.
118* In ''Literature/AmericanGods'', a funeral director observes that an elderly man whose wife just dies will most likely be dead himself in about eight months. In his experience, elderly women who lose their husbands are usually able to live on, but elderly men can't handle it and will stop taking care of themselves and lose the will to live.
119* In ''Literature/AndThenThereWereNone'', General Macarthur's wife Leslie died of a broken heart after her lover, Arthur Richmond, fell victim to her husband's UriahGambit in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI. Macarthur himself loses the will to live and so [[spoiler:is easy prey for the murderer]] (it helps that was did feel quite guilty over the whole thing, unlike most of the characters).
120* ''Literature/AnnaKarenina'' subverts this, along with [[{{Deconstruction}} along with many other common tropes of romance novels]]. Anna does go into a period of fever and delusion when her adultery is exposed, but when her husband manages to forgive her and her lover, she recovers. In a further subversion, however, she and her lover are both so ashamed by his magnanimity in contrast to their own behaviour that the latter (unsuccessfully) attempts suicide, and the former still can't bear to be in her husband's presence. She later commits suicide for real, when she realises that even though she got what she wanted, her life still wasn't the fairytale romance she anticipated.
121* In most versions of ''Literature/BeautyAndTheBeast'', the Beast nearly dies of despair when Beauty fails to come back from her visit home at the time she promised and he thinks she's abandoned him. Only her belated arrival and AnguishedDeclarationOfLove save his life (and turn him human again).
122* In ''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} The Bishop's Heir]]'', when Caulay [=MacArdry=] learns of Dhugal's capture, he clutches at his heart and dies within seconds. The news was the last straw for Caulay's already failing health.
123* Creator/IsaacAsimov's "Literature/BlindAlley": The unnamed aliens were rescued from a dying planet, and are now kept in a gilded prison, with every necessity provided for them with no effort. When Antyok is assigned a job that is effectively their warden, he realizes that they have collectively given up on life because they have lost all agency. They cannot meaningfully affect their future as long as they are tied to humanity. So Antyok subtly arranges things to allow [[GreatEscape the aliens to escape to an entirely different galaxy]] without getting into trouble himself.
124* ''Literature/TheBronzeHorseman'' by Paullina Simons. An elderly man tells Tatiana how he spent hours trying to repair a faulty generator, with the [[SecretPolice NKVD]] standing over him ready to execute him for 'sabotage' if he didn't. He succeeds, but asks if it isn't bad enough with starvation and the Nazis trying to kill them. Tatiana finds him dead the next day.
125* In ''[[Literature/JackRyan The Cardinal of the Kremlin]]'', after both of Colonel Filitov's sons died young, one while fighting counterrevolutionaries and one due to his tank suffering a critical defect, his wife faded away. The loss of his entire family is what inspired him to start working for the CIA, becoming the title character.
126* In ''Literature/TheColdMoons'', particularly grief-stricken badgers are known to die of a "death-wish". They long to be with their recently deceased loved one so much that they eventually die of unknown causes. It's not starvation or illness and no healer can help them. After [[spoiler:Eldon's]] HeroicSacrifice, the badgers have to help [[spoiler:his adopted son Titan]] from dying of the wish of death.
127* ''Literature/DaddysLittleGirl'':
128** Genine Cavanaugh technically died of liver failure caused by [[TheAlcoholic excessive drinking]], though her daughter Ellie states in her opinion she really died of "a broken heart", given that the tragic loss of her eldest daughter and her failed marriage [[DrowningMySorrows was what drove her to drink]].
129** Near the end of the novel [[spoiler:Dorothy Westerfield has a fatal heart attack shortly after Ellie publicly reveals proof that her grandson plotted to kill her decades ago. It was rumored for years that Rob was behind the near-fatal shooting of his grandmother in a supposed burglary gone wrong, but Dorothy was in denial over this until Ellie's research removed her doubts. The realization that her grandson [[AwfulTruth truly is a monster]] (and that her son likely helped cover for him) is evidently too much to bear for Dorothy, who is already in her nineties]].
130* ''Literature/DaystarAndShadow'': Robin's mother Marge withered away and died after being forced to abandon him in the desert, saying life had no meaning for her. His father worked himself to death over the loss of Marge, Robin, and their other son Gregory, who was killed by a fireworm.
131* ''Literature/DonQuixote'':
132** Parodied by the "resurrection" of Altisidora, a girl who claims to love Don Quixote and invokes this trope (it’s really a prank). Don Quixote and Sancho didn't believe it for a minute (this was at XVI century). When Don Quixote rejects her again:
133--->Hearing this, Altisidora, with a show of anger and agitation, exclaimed, "God's life! Don Stockfish, soul of a mortar, stone of a date, more obstinate and obdurate than a clown asked a favour when he has his mind made up, if I fall upon you I'll tear your eyes out! Do you fancy, Don Vanquished, Don Cudgelled, that I died for your sake? All that you have seen to-night has been make-believe; I'm not the woman to let the black of my nail suffer for such a camel, much less die!"\
134"That I can well believe," said Sancho; "for all that about lovers pining to death is absurd; they may talk of it, but as for doing it-Judas may believe that!"
135** Forced to return to his hometown and lay down his arms by his defeat to the Knight of the White Moon (really his friend Sansón Carrasco), Don Quijote falls seriously ill. His friends believe he is dying of despair over his defeat, but unexpectedly the sickness snaps him out of his delusion, and he expresses relief that he has regained his sanity before dying.
136* In Anne Mcaffrey's ''[[Literature/DragonridersOfPern Dragonflight]]'', we learn that, when a rider dies, his/her dragon goes Between (a bitter cold, blackness through which dragons teleport), never to return. Likewise, dragon riders whose dragons die can succumb to this.
137** In ''Moreta, Dragonlady of Pern'', Moreta dies Between because she has borrowed the elderly dragon of another rider, Leri, and the dragon couldn't make the jump; both Leri and Orlith, Moreta's own dragon, sense the instant their mental bonds are severed. The only thing preventing Orlith from immediately going Between is that she has recently laid a clutch of eggs who need her to incubate them. Leri is persuaded by another rider to remain because "You're all Orlith has now." Once the eggs have hatched and the new dragons are impressed by future riders, Leri bids everyone farewell and rides Orlith into Between so they can both give in to this trope.
138* In ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'', Marinell grows increasingly sick and nearly dies of a broken heart upon learning that Florimell is captured by Proteus.
139* Common in the works of Creator/VCAndrews, notably Cathy in the ''Literature/FlowersInTheAttic'' series, who dies of a broken heart after Chris is killed in a car accident like their father. In the Literature/LandrySeries, Gabrielle's DeathByChildbirth is suggested to have happened because of her despair at having to give up another of her children.
140* In Creator/GeneStrattonPorter's ''Literature/{{Freckles}}'', Freckles's conviction that he is unworthy of Angel is killing him after his injuries.
141* An old legend is told in ''Literature/GalaxyOfFear''; in it, a witch boasted that she was a {{Necromancer}} until people killed her son and challenged her to [[UndeadChild raise him]]. Instead, she cursed them before dying of despair.
142* TheCaptain of ''Literature/HMSUlysses'' in the novel of the same title, the first published work by Alastair [=MacLean=] of ''Literature/TheGunsOfNavarone'' fame, suffers a variant of this. Soon after passing over his own personal DespairEventHorizon as his increasingly battered command limps towards the relative safety of Russia along with the dwindling remains of the convoy she and her crew have been struggling to protect, he's found on deck in nothing but his pyjamas and bare feet, [[BodyHorror horribly stricken by frostbite as a result.]] As the narration puts it (paraphrased from memory):
143--> ''The formal cause of death was "post-operative shock and exposure", but in truth, the captain died because he didn't want to live anymore.''
144* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheHalfBloodPrince'' presents [[PosthumousCharacter Merope Gaunt]], who is a StalkerWithACrush to a man whom she eventually [[SlippingAMickey tricks into drinking a]] LovePotion in order to become married to him and whom she rapes into pregnancy with their [[ChildByRape son]]. She eventually stops giving him the LovePotion, either due to her believing he has fallen in love for her in return or in the hope that he'd remain for their son's sake. He runs away from her instead, which causes her such a deep depression she loses all of her will to live, ending with her [[DeathByChildbirth dying soon after giving birth at an orphanage]]. That boy eventually grew up to become the most dangerous Dark Wizard of all time, Lord Voldemort. Albus Dumbledore surmises that if Merope had hung on and raised him with love, Voldemort might never have come to be the homicidal monster he is.
145* Ford's father died from despair over the fact he [Ford] never learnt to say his real name in ''Literature/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy''. Like everything else in the series, it's PlayedForLaughs.
146* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Katniss attempts this during her confinement after [[spoiler: Prim's death and her subsequent assassination of Coin.]] [[SubvertedTrope It doesn't work.]]
147* Michael Henchard, the title character of ''Literature/TheMayorOfCasterbridge'', leaves the town where he was once mayor and a successful businessman for the last time after his stepdaughter Elizabeth-Jane rebukes him for lying to her about her true paternity, then lying to her real father, Richard Newson, about whether or not she was still alive. He loses the will to live and lingers on for a few weeks in an abandoned house found for him by a former employee before dying alone and miserable. His last wishes are for a LonelyFuneral and for everyone to forget him.
148* ''Literature/LesMiserables''
149** Fantine dies when Javert barges into her hospital room to arrest Jean Valjean – she was already near death from [[IncurableCoughOfDeath tuberculosis]], and because Valjean was her only hope of ever reuniting with her daughter Cosette, the horror of his arrest kills her.
150** In the end, Jean Valjean dies like this after he is separated from Cosette, whom he's raised as his adopted daughter. Since Cosette is the novel's symbol of hope, it makes sense that both of her parents die when they think they'll never see her again – though unlike Fantine, Valjean at least gets to see her in his last moments.
151* In ''Literature/OttoOfTheSilverHand'', Baron Conrad is badly wounded in battle, and when he's carried into the castle, his wife Matilda thinks he's dead. The shock sends her into premature labor. She gives birth to Otto before dying of grief.
152* In the novel ''Literature/ThePaintedVeil'' by W. Somerset Maugham, after Walter dies of cholera, Kitty says that he really died of a broken heart.
153* The eponymous Phantom dies of a broken heart in ''Literature/ThePhantomOfTheOpera.''
154* In Sir Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's "A Physiologist's Wife", the eponymous physiologist dies of this in the end, much to the disbelief of those examining the body.
155* Occurs at the end of ''Literature/ThePigman'', where the eponymous character (having suffered a very ''long'' series of sad events) has a heart attack and dies after finding out that his best friend Bobo died.
156* Happens to Zilpah in ''Literature/TheRedTent'', after she witnesses Jacob destroying and urinating on the last of her household idols. She becomes both physically and mentally ill for a few hours or days, then just up and dies. It was said that [[LiterallyShatteredLives her body broke into many pieces]].
157* Zhuge Liang in ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' has the ability to ''cause'' this. Several other people die of this naturally as well.
158* ''Literature/TheSagaOfTheFaroeIslanders'': When top villain Thrand hears that his nephews Sigurd, Thord and Gaut have all been killed in the FinalBattle, he dies of grief. According to the internal timeline, he must be beyond 80 years of age at the time.
159* ''[[Literature/TheIcelandicSagas The Saga of Gunnlaug Wormtongue]]'' (implied): After Helga's husband Hrafn and her former fiancé Gunnlaug have killed each other in single combat, she marries another man, Thorkel, "although she did not really love him", but she cannot stop thinking about Gunnlaug ("She could never get Gunnlaug out of her mind, even though he was dead.") Though Helga has several children with Thorkel, her "greatest pleasure" is to a unfold a magnificent English cloak which Gunnlaug gave her as a present at her wedding with Hrafn (implying that he had intended it to be his present for his ''own'' wedding with Helga), and then just look at it "for a long time". One evening, when Helga is sick from disease, she lies in the main room with her head in Thorkel's lap, she has the cloak brought to her and spreads it out. After sitting up and looking at it for a while, she drops back dead into Thorkel's arms.
160* In ''More Literature/ScaryStoriesToTellInTheDark'', the story ''Cold As Clay'' involved this, when a farmhand "wastes away" after his employer moves his daughter in order to keep the two apart. The daughter is never told about this, however, which is why she isn't surprised when the farmhand arrives at her door to take her home... some time ''after'' his death.
161* In ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' when Daylen first bonds [[{{Mana}} Light]] to his memory, he remembers his entire life, and the pain of [[TheAtoner all his crimes]] causes his mind to break and him to die. His HealingFactor brings him BackFromTheDead shortly after, with the unbearable memories safely tucked back away.
162* ''Literature/SheWhoBecameTheSun'': In the protagonist's childhood, when her famine-stricken town is attacked by bandits and her father killed, her brother loses the will to live and dies overnight. Given how hard [[TheUnfavourite the protagonist]] had to [[{{Determinator}} fight for survival]], she finds this fairly pathetic, so she steals his identity and his [[HijackedDestiny prophesied destiny]].
163* In the ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'' continuity, this occurs with Tusken Raiders because they and their banthas are so closely linked to each other. If a rider is killed, the banthas will go insane, often attacking anything around them in a frenzy or committing suicide. If a bantha is killed, the rider falls into a deep despair and is turned out into the desert to most likely wander until they die. Tusken culture supports this, as they believe that bantha and rider should always die together. [[note]]There is a rare aversion, though, for riders. Tuskens believe that if the spirit of the dead bantha is generous, it will lead the rider to a new wild mount. If that occurs, not only will the rider be welcomed back with open arms, but held in great esteem.[[/note]]
164* "Literature/TalmaGordon":
165** Jeannette dies a year after the murder trial, the stress having taken its toll on her.
166** Isabel died after birthing her third child. [[spoiler:Captain Gordon's raving accusations upon seeing the child's appearance were apparently too much for her after the stress of childbirth -- she fell into convulsions and died soon after.]]
167** Near the end, [[spoiler:Talma comes close to this; her emotional suffering causes her health to fail rapidly.]]
168* ''Literature/TheThreeMusketeers'': In the book ''The Vicomte of Bragelonne: Ten Years Later, Part Three: The Man in the Iron Mask'', Athos dies of a broken heart when he learns his son Raoul has been killed.
169* Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium:
170** Not a few cases in Creator/JRRTolkien's Middle-earth (''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', etc.), both Elven and Human. Specifically notable as a way of death for the immortal Elves. Elven spirits are noted to have a much greater influence over their physical bodies, so if they have the appropriate willpower and determination they can live and pull through almost anything; however it also works the other way round - if they lose their hope and will to live, their bodies just give out. In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' there almost seems to be a tradition for the men to be killed and their wives dying of despair shortly afterward; this happening to Rian, Gloredhel, and Lúthien (although Lúthien's case is [[BackFromTheDead rather special]]).
171** According to the appendix, Arwen eventually suffers this fate after Aragorn's death. Having chosen mortality, she is fated to die, but it's noted that, as a former immortal, [[BeautyIsNeverTarnished she stays young and beautiful]] even as her husband ages. However, she does not live long after Aragorn dies, apparently retreating to her grandmother's long deserted domain of Lothlórien and dying of a broken heart, alone.
172* Iseult of ''Literature/TristanAndIseult'' fame doesn't live long past Tristan's death.
173* ''Literature/TheVillainessLivesAgain'': It's implied that the devastating illness that killed Lisia Morten in the previous timeline was partially psychosomatic, brought about from the despair over the death of her child and the stress of having to deal with her husband [[TheCaligula Laurence]]'s DomesticAbuse. It's for that reason that Artezia ardently hopes that Lisia ''doesn't'' regain her PastLifeMemories, for fear of the illness's return.
174* Happens to the Aboriginal boy in ''Literature/{{Walkabout}}''. He believes the girl's fear of him is because she's seen the spirit of Death on him (in fact, she's just afraid because she's been taught that Aboriginals are savages and has never actually met one before). Because he thinks death is coming for him, he then more or less wills himself to die. More precisely, he catches the flu from the girl's brother, but has neither the inherited resistance nor the will to fight it. (The movie is more explicitly DeathByDespair: he hangs himself after the failure of his courtship dance.)
175* In ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' people who lose the ability to [[FunctionalMagic channel]] do this as well as Warders with dead Aes Sedai who aren't killed trying to avenge them. Warders who outlive their bonded Aes Sedai and can't avenge their deaths (if the Aes Sedai wasn't killed by someone, or died in an accident, or someone else gets there first, etc.) more become {{Death Seeker}}s By Despair -- they'll continuously throw themselves at Shadowspawn and dangerous problems until they finally get killed.
176* After the dog Old Dan dies of injuries in ''Literature/WhereTheRedFernGrows'', his companion Little Ann gradually wastes away (her owner literally has to pry her jaws open to force her to eat something) and joins him in death.
177* The iconic story of ''Literature/WildAnimalsIHaveKnown'', "Lobo, The King of Currumpaw", ends with Lobo captured and his mate dead. A few hours later, he dies despite no one touching him and without a mark on his body.
178-->A lion shorn of his strength, an eagle robbed of his freedom, or a dove bereft of his mate, all die, it is said, of a broken heart; and who will aver that this grim bandit could bear the three-fold brunt, heart-whole? This only I know, that when the morning dawned, he was lying there still in his position of calm repose, his body unwounded, but his spirit was gone—the old kingwolf was dead.
179* Milly in ''Literature/TheWingsOfTheDove'' is ill throughout the book but eventually dies due to a broken heart.
180* In ''Literature/WithATangledSkein'', we see this is apparently the reason people die after Atropos cuts their life's thread.
181* ''Literature/WolfHall''
182** Implied to be the cause of Cardinal Wolsey's sudden decline and death. After an extended and humiliating fall from Henry VIII's favor, he was exiled to York. Being ordered back on the way there with charges of treason and probable execution was the final shock that finished him.
183** When one of Anne's "lovers" claims he might die of this, Cromwell reflects bitterly that it's not that easy; ''he'' wanted to die after the deaths of his wife, his daughters, and Wolsey, but his body kept on breathing anyway because "God takes your heart of flesh and replaces it with a heart of stone."
184* In ''Literature/WorldWarZ'', some people are so traumatized by the [[ZombieApocalypse horrors]] and hopelessness that they sometimes just go to sleep... and never wake up.
185* Catherine Earnshaw-Linton of ''Literature/WutheringHeights'' -- although the literal cause is premature childbirth while suffering from BrainFever, her despair is what causes those two things. Nellie Dean personally believes Heathcliff died of this too and was not DrivenToSuicide -- she sees his refusal to eat or sleep for days as a ''result'' of his illness, rather than a cause.
186* In Creator/MadameDAulnoy's FairyTale ''Literature/TheYellowDwarf'', Toutebelle dies of a broken heart after the titular villain murders her fiancé.
187[[/folder]]
188
189[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
190* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
191** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E6TheAgeOfSteel "The Age of Steel"]]: This is how the Doctor deals with the Cybermen. After their "upgrade", an emotional inhibitor is installed to keep them from freaking out or caring about how much it hurts to be [[UnwillingRoboticization unwillingly roboticized]]. Shutting off the inhibitor causes the Cybermen to go into WhatHaveIBecome-mode, which overloads their systems and causes [[YourHeadASplode their heads to blow up]].
192--->'''Cybercontroller[=/=]Lumic:''' [[AC: What have you DONE?!]]\
193'''The Doctor:''' I gave them back their souls! They can see what you've done, Lumic! AND IT'S ''KILLING THEM!''
194** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E11TurnLeft "Turn Left"]]:
195*** The episode is set in an alternate timeline where the Doctor dies [[Recap/DoctorWho2006CSTheRunawayBride underneath the Thames]] because he never met Donna Noble. It's implied that he was so depressed after [[Recap/DoctorWhoS28E13Doomsday losing Rose]] that he didn't really care whether he lived or died, hence his death. Meeting Donna helped him reconnect with the world, which is why she was able to snap him out of it and convince him to escape.
196*** When the TARDIS appears near the end, it's all but said that, after the Doctor's death, she's going the same way.
197* In series two of ''Series/DowntonAbbey'', Lavinia develops [[UsefulNotes/TheSpanishFlu Spanish flu]] before her wedding to Matthew, forcing them to cancel. While Matthew thinks she is in bed, she witnesses him and Mary kiss, with Matthew explaining that Violet asked him to marry Mary. Lavinia [[IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy tries to convince him to go back to Mary]], but then her condition inexplicably worsens and [[DeathOfTheHypotenuse she dies suddenly]], leading Matthew to conclude that she died of a broken heart because she believed he did not love her.
198* ''Franchise/KamenRider'' examples:
199** One way to interpret Fumine Sonozaki/Shroud's death on ''Series/KamenRiderDouble''.
200** The Phantoms of ''Series/KamenRiderWizard'' are born this way. Despair given birth to Phantoms from within a Gates (humans with high magic potential). The Phantoms then burst out of those Gates, killing them in the process.
201** Almost happens in ''Series/KamenRiderFourze'' where Jiro Iseki, who has just woken from a coma, loses his will to live and becomes close to death after he learns that Ryusei killed Gentaro and collaborated with Aries Zodiart to save him. The trope is ultimately averted when he does recover.
202* Seen in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' in the episode "My House", when a patient whose husband had just passed was suffering from "Broken Heart Syndrome" (see above), though she didn't die from it. This happens to lead to one of the show's all-time great {{Imagine Spot}}s: [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVebMKT3uDs "Get me a box of kittens, STAT!"]]
203* In an episode of ''Series/SixFeetUnder'', a woman died and her husband died a few days later, sitting beside her casket at Fisher & Sons.
204* ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'':
205** Larry Marvick in the episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS3E5IsThereInTruthNoBeauty Is There in Truth No Beauty?]]".
206** A RedShirt in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime The Naked Time]]" tried to commit suicide, [[InterruptedSuicide was stopped before he seriously hurt himself]], then died anyway because he couldn't summon the will to fight off the minor infection of the wound.
207** Depending on how you interpret his comment that he would "neither [live long nor prosper]", Spock (during "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E1AmokTime Amok Time]]") may have expected to die of despair over apparently murdering Kirk. He certainly seemed to have lost his will to live.
208[[/folder]]
209
210[[folder:Music]]
211* The subject of "W" by Music/VanDerGraafGenerator. A man is described as being twice as unhappy as he's been in his life and wakes up one morning to find that he's dead.
212* Music/TheWallflowers' "One Headlight" has the protagonist talk about losing a friend to exactly this.
213-->''That's when they say I lost my only friend.\
214Well they said she died easy of a broken heart disease.''
215* In possibly the most depressing song ever (according to Tom Reynold's book ''Book/IHateMyselfAndIWantToDie''), the infant protagonist in Music/HarryChapin's "The Shortest Story" dies of despair after days of starvation and neglect.
216-->''It is twenty days today\
217Mama does not hold me anymore\
218I open my mouth but I am too weak to cry\
219Above me, a bird slowly crawls across the sky\
220Why is there nothing now to do but die?''
221[[/folder]]
222
223[[folder:Myths & Religion]]
224* Literature/TheBible:
225** In [[Literature/BookOfGenesis Genesis]], the chapter immediately after the Binding of Isaac concerns the death of his mother Sarah. The actual text doesn't link the two events, but Literature/TheTalmud says that after Sarah was informed by an angel that Isaac was to be sacrificed, she became so overcome with grief that she died.
226** Later on in Genesis, Jacob's son Judah, after seeing that the youngest son Benjamin has been implicated in a theft he didn't commit and was subject to becoming Joseph's slave in Egypt, feared that if he and his brothers didn't return with Benjamin, their father Jacob would die of despair, and so offered himself in place of Benjamin to spare his father of that fate.
227** Some argue that a broken heart, in addition to crucifixion, was responsible for the death of Jesus. He died within just three hours, unusually quickly for a crucifixion victim, and this could be a possible explanation.
228** Despair, the [[SevenDeadlySins eighth deadly sin]], is a variant of this. If one manages to convince themselves that IveComeTooFar to seek forgiveness, then they won't find it and [[HisOwnWorstEnemy are condemning themselves to Hell by rejecting Christ's sacrifice for their sake]].
229* Myth/ClassicalMythology: In the story of Queen Niobe, the titular hubristic fool claims that she is greater than Leto, mother of Artemis and Apollo, because she has 14 children, 7 children and 7 boys, while Leto only had two. [[TemptingFate All of them are instantly struck down by celestial arrows on the spot.]] Niobe is so full of grief that she flees to a mountaintop and weeps until she [[TakenForGranite turns to stone]], and [[NotQuiteDead then some]]. A real-life rock formation exists on Mount Sipylus, near modern-day Manisa in Turkey, where she reigned, that looks similar to the face of a woman protruding from the rock. This rock does indeed "weep" when it rains on Mount Sipylus, thanks to its porous limestone composition.
230* Myth/NorseMythology:
231** ''Literature/ProseEdda'': When Baldur is laid on the pyre, his wife Nanna dies of a broken heart.
232** ''Literature/TheSagaOfArrowOdd'': When Odd tells Ingibjörg that Hjalmar is dead, Ingibjörg looks silently at the bracelet that was Hjalmar's last present to her, then dies.
233* According to ''Literature/GestaDanorum'', aged king Gorm the Old of Denmark died from grief after he was told that his favourite son Knut had been killed.
234* Myth/CelticMythology: Queen Medb's daughter Findabair was fought over by many for her beauty. After over 700 men were killed in battles over her, she dropped dead of shame.
235[[/folder]]
236
237[[folder:Radio]]
238* One of the regular "callers" on ''The Coodabeen Champions'' was Digger, an aged fan of the [[UsefulNotes/AustralianRulesFootball Collingwood Magpies]]. On one show, Tony asks him if there is a Mrs. Digger, and he reveals that she died "In 1970, around this time of year (late September), about halfway through the last quarter, trying to ram a can of Fanta down her throat." The implication is that it was at the 1970 Grand Final, where Carlton staged a MiracleRally to defeat Collingwood. "They told me it was asphyxiation, Tony, on the can of Fanta, but I knew. I knew it was the 'pies letting us down what had done it."
239[[/folder]]
240
241[[folder:Roleplay]]
242* ''Roleplay/InkCity'': while not explicitly played out, [[WordOfGod Word of Mundane]] gave this as the reason for [[WesternAnimation/RubyGloom Misery]]'s departure: the horrifying fashion in which her best friend departed from the City and the {{Awful Truth}}s he unintentionally shared with her beforehand caused her so much grief that she curled up and wasted away.
243[[/folder]]
244
245[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
246* ''TabletopGame/DeadOfWinter'': Some traumatic events cause survivors to [[DamageTyping take Despair tokens]], which count against their HitPoints just like physical Wounds and can cause their death. Despair also tends to be trickier to heal.
247* [[OurElvesAreDifferent Elves]] in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' who have formed an empathic bond with another person can fall to the [[DespairEventHorizon depths of despair]] when that person dies. The shock and grief of the bond breaking can sometimes kill the elf in question, and vice-versa. Likewise, if confined away from nature itself and other elves for a long time, elves can simply literally lose all hope and force their own death.
248* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'':
249** [[OurGnomesAreWeirder Gnomes]] who become too bored/depressed suffer from the bleaching, which, in addition to turning their skin and hair white (hence the name) drains their mental abilities until they die. Some gnomes survive but are known as "bleachlings" and are still distrusted and seen as freaks by other gnomes.
250** Characters may follow Sifkesh, the [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Demon Lord]] of despair and suicide. To her Demoniacs and Exalted, one of the abilities she grants is Mass Suicide, allowing the caster to compel a group of people to commit ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin, noting that "if no method of suicide is available for one who succumbs to this effect, the victim simply dies outright of sadness." Likewise, her Sentinels can cause a creature's body to "lose the drive to maintain life", which makes "its body’s life-sustaining autonomic processes irreparably and lethally shut down" if it fails to resist the ability.
251* ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'':
252** This sometimes happens when a human crosses the DespairEventHorizon, if that human doesn't commit suicide first. Either way, as the despairing soul departs the Darkness floods in to fill the hole left behind, creating a [[MonsterLord Cataphract]].
253** This is the best-case result for a Princess who hits zero [[KarmaMeter Belief]]. If she can regain a dot of Belief before running out of Willpower (which will require aid from friends and fellow Nobles), she dies in her sleep and her soul returns to the Light to be reborn. But if she does not escape before it's too late, then the last glimmers of her Light ''invert'' and she becomes one of the [[FallenHero Dethroned]].
254* In ''TabletopGame/RoleMaster'', critical hits on the "depression damage" table can cause the target to assume a fetal position on the floor and literally lose the will to live, dying by despair.
255* The Villain Iron Legacy from ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'' can cause this with the Demoralizing Presence card. Not only does it increase the damage Iron Legacy deals by 1, but at the end of each of his turns, all of the hero targets deal 1 Psychic damage to themselves. It's especially dangerous if any hero has damage buffs up (such as Legacy, Naturalist, Chrono-Ranger, and Knyfe).
256* Durthu from ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasy'' has weaponised his own despair and self-loathing, projecting it as a missile attack called "The Lamentations of Despair". The sheer force of his grief kills anyone who comes into contact with them.
257[[/folder]]
258
259[[folder:Theatre]]
260* Lots of characters in Shakespeare, especially:
261** ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'' contains two examples, one played straight and one subverted. Lady Montague is said to have died of despair after she learned about Romeo's banishment. Also, Juliet is believed to have died of grief over the death of her cousin Tybalt. Subverted because Juliet isn't dead (she wasn't at that level of grieving over Tybalt anyway), but rather is FakingTheDead to run away with Romeo... though despair ''does'' drive her to kill herself when she finds Romeo dead upon waking.
262** Enobarbus in ''Theatre/AntonyAndCleopatra'' after he realizes betraying Antony was too much for him. Manages a long monologue before he dies (and there's also an opera of the play, where he sings an aria in good ol' operatic tradition).
263** John of Gaunt in ''Theatre/RichardII'', when his son is sent into exile.
264** Falstaff in ''Theatre/HenryV'' after Hal breaks off contact with him. Arguably the most poignant death in the play, despite its being the offstage death of a character who never appears in this play, as we hear Mistress Quickly describing his death. Perhaps it had to be unseen to be believed - if we actually watched Falstaff die, we would probably assume he was faking again, as in ''Theatre/HenryIVPart1''
265** Prince Mamilius in ''Theatre/TheWintersTale'' after his mother is accused of adultery and thrown into prison.
266** In ''Theatre/KingLear'', the titular monarch collapses and dies of a broken heart when his daughter Cordelia, the only one who ever truly loved him, is executed as a political prisoner (although he does get one last PapaWolf moment by murdering her executioner with his bare hands). It's [[InvertedTrope inverted]] with Gloucester, who, upon discovering that his son Edgar is alive after mistakenly believing him dead, is so overcome with joy that his heart bursts, killing him.
267* Isolde of ''Theatre/TristanAndIsolde'', after a long monologue.
268* Elsa of Brabant in ''Lohengrin'' is tricked by her WickedStepmother into learning her beloved husband Lohengrin's true name and revealing his origins -- which means that he must leave and never return. Once Lohengrin does this and takes off, [[spoiler: releasing Elsa's younger brother from the spell that [[ForcedTransformation had turned him into a swan in the process]],]] Elsa's grief and guilt reach a breaking point and she drops dead.
269* Elisabeth in ''Theatre/{{Tannhauser}}'', most likely. She dies without a physical reason. Tannhäuser himself does this too when he sees Elisabeth dead.
270* Also happens to Gudrune in Theatre/TheRingOfTheNibelung, who collapses when Siegfried dies and Hagen kills Gunther.
271* Rachel Jackson in ''Theatre/BloodyBloodyAndrewJackson'', after her bigamy is made public by Congress. As quoted above, play even calls out how ridiculous such a death sounds.
272* In ''Theatre/TheYeomenOfTheGuard'', this [[FlipFlopOfGod may or may not happen]] to Jack Point after he loses Elsie to Fairfax for good.
273* It could be argued this is how Elphaba's and Nessa's father dies in ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}''. According to Nessa, he was "embarrassed to death".
274* In ''Waterfall'', after Noppon leaves Katherine and marries his [[ChildhoodFriendRomance childhood friend Pree]] instead, Katherine succumbs to the same heart condition that befell her mother - in other words, a literal broken heart. Similar to ''Tristan & Iseult'', Katherine's maidservant Nuan summons Noppon to her deathbed, where they confess their love for each other before she dies.
275[[/folder]]
276
277[[folder:Video Games]]
278* [[PunnyName Minnie 'Stronie' Goodsoup]] from ''VideoGame/TheCurseOfMonkeyIsland'' died of a broken heart after her fiancee (revealed to be [=LeChuck=]) left her at the altar.
279* Oswald from ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'' lets himself be carted off to the underworld by a Halja (a [[TheGrimReaper grim reaper-type]] servant of the Queen of the Dead) after his [[PoorCommunicationKills mistaken conclusion]] that Gwendolyn doesn't feel anything for him and that he is imprisoning her in their marriage causes him to lose the will to live. Fortunately, he's saved when Gwendolyn, who really ''does'' love him, invades the Underworld and rescues him.
280* In ''VideoGame/TheSims2'', Sim children who are left alive, after their parents die, eventually die due to despair, even if all of their other needs are addressed.
281* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'', it is heavily implied that Tidus' mother died this way after Jecht vanished and that this is one of many reasons that Tidus hates his father so much.
282--> '''Yuna:''' She must have...accepted death while she was still alive.
283* ''VideoGame/NoMoreHeroesIII'': After Travis beats Velvet Chair Girl at musical chairs, she kills herself out of shame of being surpassed as the champion.
284* In ''VideoGame/MagiaRecordPuellaMagiMadokaMagicaSideStory'', this is implied to be how Ui Tamaki died in every timeline that ''isn't'' the one the game takes place in. After hearing about the death of [[spoiler:her older sister [[TheHero Iroha]]]], it's implied that her previously-existing illness became so bad that she died of it. [[spoiler:And the only reason she survived in the game's timeline is because Iroha [[LifesavingMisfortune tripped on a pebble on her way to school and avoided the car accident that killed her]], which allowed her to form a contract with Kyubey and wish for Ui's illness to be cured.]]
285* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', you can inflict this on your enemies: The [[UrineTrouble Jarate]] weapon causes anyone hit by it to "lose the will to live" and take more damage from you and your allies' weapons. Played entirely for laughs- this ''is'' [=TF2=].
286* ''Franchise/{{Persona}}'':
287** The Apathy Syndrome victims in ''VideoGame/Persona3'' suffer from this after Shadows from humanity's Collective Unconscious feed on their sense of "self." All they do is shamble around and vegetate, doing nothing but wait to die while letting out the occasional moan if you try to talk to them. In the Bad Ending of the game, Nyx inflicts this upon ''everyone and everything on Earth, including the main characters''.
288** Despair is a status effect in ''VideoGame/Persona5''. Anyone who's inflicted with it will be unable to act and lose SP for three rounds, then automatically die on the third round. This makes curing it quickly rather important if a party member gets hit by it. During days when the Flu Season status is active, enemies in Mementos may randomly start the battle afflicted with it, even [[OptionalBoss The Reaper]].
289* ''VideoGame/TheLordOfTheRingsOnline'', possibly uniquely among fantasy {{MMORPG}}s, replaces the admittedly conceptually illogical "hit points" most games use with "morale points." The general idea seems to be that the ''only'' way to die is literally from despair, though this despair is most commonly caused by the pain of being surrounded by enemies and stabbed repeatedly. Given the legendarium of Tolkien, mentioned in the Literature section of this very page, it's actually harder to argue against this being canonical than you'd think.
290* ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'':
291** King Endrin Aeducan goes through this when his eldest son is murdered, his middle child (the player if the Dwarf Noble origin is chosen) is exiled and possibly killed, and his youngest is behind it all. This becomes a major problem that the player has to deal with, as his line of succession is now in question.
292** The Dalish Elf Warden's mother is implied to have done this as well as AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence shortly after giving birth to her child shortly after her husband was killed by humans. She simply "vanished into the forest".
293* ''VideoGame/{{Ib}}'' herself, during the final scene of the 'Welcome to the World of Guertena' ending, after soaring over the DespairEventHorizon, she seems awfully still.
294* The Chao from both ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'' and its [[VideoGame/SonicAdventure2 sequel]] will go into a grey cocoon and die if it was treated badly during most of its life.
295* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'' gives this as the demise of [[spoiler:Tailtiu, a seemingly bright and cheerful young mage in the first generation, by having her survive the horrific Battle of Belhalla which took the lives of many of her friends and (likely) her possible husband, get separated from her son and then endure physical and mental abuse by her completely evil sister-in-law to protect her infant daughter. All these took such a great toll on her psyche that she degraded to a sorrowful woman that went no day without crying until at one point she succumbed to illness after losing her will to live.]]
296* In one of the endings for ''VideoGame/DisgaeaD2ABrighterDarkness'' Sicily sacrifices her life for her older brother Laharl ([[HisStoryRepeatsItself much like how their mother did when he was a child]]). The narration states that Laharl was so overcome with grief that he simply waited at the spot where she disappeared until he eventually died.
297* Defied in ''Videogame/DeusEx'', in which Nicolette muses that mansions don't crumble to dust because their beloved owner (in this case her mother Beth) dies tragically.
298* In Rain's ending in ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'', [[spoiler:it is revealed that his father, the Edenian God Argus, had an affair with a mortal woman, Amara. After Rain's birth, Argus gave a newborn Rain away to a poor family while telling Amara that Rain was stillborn, she died from grief. Upon learning this, Rain gets even by killing Argus and his sons Taven and Daegon, and allows Argus' wife Delia to live so [[RevengeByProxy she could experience the same pain and despair his mother did]].]]
299* ''VideoGame/KnightBewitched'': Alduin's mother, [[spoiler:who also turns out to be Gwen's mother, died from heartbreak after her husband died protecting her while she fled from a city that found out she was a witch, and couldn't bring Alduin along, believing he might have died with his father.]]
300* If [[spoiler:Sergei Taboritsky]] unites Russia in ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', this is his ultimate fate. [[spoiler:A new item is added to the info screen, a clock counting down to Midnight. When it reaches Midnight, Taboritsky has a vision of Tzar Alexei... that melts into a picture of his corpse as he ''finally'' admits to himself that Alexei is dead. This is too much for Taboritsky's already-shattered psyche to take, and he dies screaming of a massive stroke.]]
301* Happens in the worst ending of ''VideoGame/DeadRising2''. Having lost his young daughter Katey, Chuck ends up so broken that he does nothing when zombies break in to devour him.
302* At the very end of ''VisualNovel/ApolloJusticeAceAttorney'', your defendant is in hospital while you establish the verdict. Get a Not Guilty verdict, and she lives. They vote Guilty or the jury is hung, and she dies before court reconvenes.
303* ''VisualNovel/CorpseParty'' features [[TheCorruption The Darkening]], which takes over a person completely when they lose all hope. While they don't technically die, they're made into mindless slaves of [[spoiler:the StringyHairedGhostGirl]] and can never leave [[DarkWorld Heavenly Host]], so it's as good as death for them. Notably, this is arguably a ''better'' option than dying, as death causes your spirit to feel the pain you felt at death for all eternity.
304* In the [[WhatCouldHaveBeen beta]] of ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' Shizune ends up [[HeroicBSOD horribly depressed]] after Misha's death. She ends up in the hospital due to dehydration and in the BadEnd (which occurs if Hisao leaves the hospital) you learn she removed her IV and she ended up dying of dehydration.
305* One possible ending for Kara's story in ''VideoGame/DetroitBecomeHuman'' sees her and Alice crossing the Canadian border via boat only for a patrol boat to fire on them and hit Alice, who dies just as they reach the other side. Kara can choose to give up living and shut down on the spot if this happens.
306[[/folder]]
307
308[[folder:Web Animation]]
309* This is how ''WebAnimation/NyanNekoSugarGirls'' ends. Raku-chan dies of a broken heart due to a failed LoveConfession, because her crush Hitoshi-san had entered a homosexual relationship with his [[AbductionIsLove kidnapper]].
310[[/folder]]
311
312[[folder:Web Comics]]
313* In ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'', this possibly happens to Dirk in the Game Over timeline. After finding the session destroyed and his friends dead, and believing himself to blame, he apparently allows himself to be dissolved into the cloud of glitches that's slowly overcoming the remains of the session. Only a possible example because it's ambiguous whether this actually "killed" him (though, given the dead-end nature of the timeline, it's arguably more depressing to imagine that he survived), as well as whether his glitching out was partly caused by his "soul-splintering" powers and triggered by the despair he was feeling (thus fitting this trope) or just an accident that happened to conveniently mirror his state of mind for symbolic purposes.
314* ''Webcomic/LovingReaper'': The mother swan whose eggs were crushed by teenagers is so heartbroken that she dies and welcomes death without any hesitation.
315* In ''Webcomic/NoRestForTheWicked'', [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/02-43.html Beauty sees the Beast down]] and is convinced that it's this, and agrees to marry him.
316* ''Webcomic/TwistedTropes'': The strip shows [[Film/TheNeverendingStory Artax]] choosing to drown in the Swamps of Sadness because Atreyu didn't give him enough sugar cubes.
317[[/folder]]
318
319[[folder:Web Videos]]
320* After realizing the painful truth that he's a waste of space whose life has gone nowhere, ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' [[TearJerker slumps over his chair to eventually die alone]]. Luckily, he then gets some confidence back with an awesome song.
321[[/folder]]
322
323[[folder:Western Animation]]
324* Occurs in-universe in ''WesternAnimation/BoJackHorseman''. In ''[[ShowWithinAShow Horsin' Around]]'', the series finale has the Horse dying of a broken heart because his adoptive children didn't appreciate him enough.
325--> '''Bojack:''' Yeah, we might have gone a bit too dark for the series finale.
326* This is the origin story of the ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' villain, Desiree. Who, after being denied her hearts desire promised to her by her lover, and then being driven away from him by his jealous wife, died of a broken heart (and old age).
327* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'': A criminal in Republic City's past, specifically [[spoiler:Yakone]], died a broken man after his son [[spoiler:Noatak (Amon as he would later be called)]] ran away, thus robbing him of his petty revenge against Aang.
328* In ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'' [[spoiler: the Beast breaks down the hope of his victims until they reach the DespairEventHorizon and turn into Edelwood trees]].
329* ''WesternAnimation/{{Primal|2019}}'': When the Chieftain sees his son's bloody corpse sprawled before him on a rocky island in the middle of the river, he just collapses and lets the water drag him away. [[spoiler:He doesn't get the chance to visit the afterlife upon being dragged to the underworld by [[BigRedDevil The Demon]]]].
330* ''WesternAnimation/RobotChicken'' mocks Padme's death in the ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' with Dr. Ball, M.D.
331-->"She's ''lost the will to live''?! What is your degree in, '''poetry'''?!"
332* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'':
333** Parodied in "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS2E17OldMoney Old Money]]":
334--->'''Abe Simpson:''' They may say that she died from a burst ventricle, but I know she really died of a broken heart.
335** In "Curse of the Flying Hellfish", this is implied to be the cause of Asa Phelps' death:
336--->'''Reverend Lovejoy:''' He worked at the United Strut and Bracing Works as a molder's boy until he was replaced by a Molder-Matic and died.
337** Parodied in "C.E.D'oh" where Mr. Burns talks to Homer about how he was so busy working to build his career that he completely neglected his fiancee, and missed their wedding, anniversary and ''divorce proceedings''.
338--->'''Mr Burns:''' She died of loneliness. [[BaitAndSwitch And rabies]].
339** Homer's mother Mona returns in "Mona Leaves-a", where she wants to become a part of Homer's life again. Because she has left Homer so many times, he refuses and says he doesn't forgive her. Later that night, when Homer changes his mind and prepares to apologize, Mona dies.
340* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
341** Almost happens to Kyle when Cartman receives $1,000,000 from his grandma upon her death and buys a failing amusement park with it, and keeps it all for himself, having the time of his life and gaining national fame. This causes Kyle to have a hemorrhoid in his ass that is slowly killing him because he loses faith in God and the will to live. But at the end of the episode, when a series of hardships causes Cartman to lose his park and be utterly miserable, Kyle's hemorrhoid vanishes and he instantly becomes better, realizing that there ''is'' a God.
342** Kenny's only death in Season 16 was the result of terminal boredom induced by crappy ziplining and horseriding experiences topped off with a tedious boat trip.
343** Parodied in "Stanley's Cup", where the LittlestCancerPatient's health is tied to the fate of his peewee hockey team. When he sees his team of kindergartners getting brutally beaten by a professional team on live television, he immediately dies with his final words being "No hope... no hope...".
344[[/folder]]

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