Line #3 Main/SurvivalThroughSelfSacrifice


1	One of the great constants of human behavior is that, to some degree, human beings fear death. This isn't simply a matter of courage vs. cowardice; the will to live is one of our basest instincts, and outside of certain special cases (such as mental illness), it's not one that's easily overcome. This is reflected in our fiction as well; the central conflict of many (if not most) stories is the attempt to avoid or prevent death. Needless to say, ''choosing'' to lay down one's life willingly is not a choice that most people would ever want to make.
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3	Yet sometimes this choice is thrust upon certain individuals. A character may be presented with the choice to go quietly in atonement for some wrong or be killed in some extreme fashion. Circumstances may force them to make a HeroicSacrifice to save the lives of many others. Or they may be faced with a deadly bargain: trade their life for that of another person. Whatever the specific circumstances, the character chooses to give up their life and accept their own death.
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5	And then, much to their surprise, they are spared or resurrected because of their choice. They've just experienced '''Survival Through Self-Sacrifice'''.
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7	The Survival Through Self-Sacrifice trope refers to situations where a character chooses to give up their life, only to be spared from the death they just chose for themselves. There's a number of reasons why the condemned character may be spared, but most commonly, it's because the whole thing was a sham execution [[SecretTestOfCharacter intended to test a character's true motivations]]. In other cases, the character's willingness to die may cause their would-be executioner to have a change of heart. In still other cases, the character may make a HeroicSacrifice, only to be resurrected as a reward for their selflessness.
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9	While this trope can play out in a myriad of different ways, it does have two core requirements to qualify as Survival Through Self-Sacrifice: the character must ''choose'' to lay down their life and accept their death, and they must be spared or resurrected as a ''direct result'' of that decision. Moreover, the character's choice to forfeit their life must be genuine: if the character expects to be spared, they're instead pulling a form of BatmanGambit. Another twist is that the character has secretly ''planned'' a way to survive their own sacrifice - see NegateYourOwnSacrifice.
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11	The Survival Through Self-Sacrifice trope has various other uses in fiction. Many stories use it as a form of TwistEnding, though it mostly serves to close out subplots, character arcs, and occasionally short stories. While it can also play a part in the resolution of a long-form narrative, it's almost never the actual climax by itself, simply because that would lead to a somewhat [[{{Anticlimax}} unsatisfying ending]] much of the time.
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13	Related to WhatYouAreInTheDark. May take the form of (or at least accompany) a HeroicSacrifice or HeroicSuicide. Instances may also involve NotAfraidToDie, FaceDeathWithDignity, GetItOverWith, and PleaseKillMeIfItSatisfiesYou.
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15	For more broadly defined cases where a character's HeelFaceTurn saves their life, see RedemptionEarnsLife. Contrast AintTooProudToBeg, where characters beg for their lives, and RedemptionEqualsDeath, in which a character's HeelFaceTurn results in their death. If the character chooses to die because they really are just suicidal, see DeathSeeker.
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17	For a more general, less death-centric take on the "character is rewarded for giving up" concept, see SweetAndSourGrapes. For situations where choosing to stop fighting a dangerous enemy is a winning video-game strategy, see SheatheYourSword.
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19	----
20	!!Examples:
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22	[[foldercontrol]]
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24	[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
25	* Ladd Russo of ''Literature/{{Baccano}}'' has no qualms about killing anyone he wishes. However, when Graham Specter attacks him and loses, he spares the guy because he doesn't kill those who have a death wish. Shortly afterward, Graham becomes one of his top henchmen.
26	* In ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', [[TokenEvilTeammate Frieza]] is brought in as the final member of Team Universe 7 for the Tournament of Power. He's initially only out to manipulate everyone and get the wish on the Super Dragon Balls so he can wish himself back to life. However, as things get more desperate he's forced to put aside his animosity and cooperate with his uneasy allies. In the finale, Frieza puts full trust in Goku and both of them perform a HeroicSacrifice to ring out Jiren, with Frieza knowing fully well this will cost him his wish and he will be returned to hell. To his surprise, thanks to Frieza's crucial efforts in helping Universe 7 survive, Beerus asked Whis to resurrect Frieza and he is returned back to life.
27	* A BlackComedy example played straight in ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureBattleTendency''. Stroheim tells a group of prisoners that includes women and children that he needs a HumanSacrifice to awaken one of the Pillar Men. When a child offers himself, Stroheim spares him for his guts and orders his men to kill the rest.
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30	[[folder:Comic Books]]
31	* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'' was once accosted by Black Crow, a Native American champion who demanded his life as punishment for the US government's treatment of indigenous people. When Cap willingly offered himself up, Black Crow spared him, impressed with his conviction.
32	* In one arc of ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'''s ''ComicBook/JudgeDredd'' series, Dredd is given the ultimate test of assessing whether his own clone, Cadet Kraken, is fit to pass out as a Judge after seven years at the Academy. Mindful of the way previous clones of Dredd have not only failed but turned out to be mortal threats to the Mega-City, Dredd convinces himself he has seen a fatal flaw in Kraken and fails him. However, the hierarchy really, really want Kraken to pass as a Judge. [[note]]the game plan is to "retire" Dredd and discreetly replace the aging Judge with a younger body double [[/note]]. Kraken is told of the Judgement on him: as he cannot be allowed to go into civilian life with a Judge training, the sentence is Death. Kraken steels himself and administers his own lethal injection. When he wakes up, he is told the lethal poison had been replaced with a strong sedative. The fact he accepted the sentence so uncomplainingly, in the eyes of the Chief Judge, is evidence of his fitness to serve as a Judge. So put this uniform on, you've passed the test.
33	* ''ComicBook/RichardDragon'': When Richard dies at ComicBook/LadyShiva's hands, Neron finds that he has to prevent the death from sticking. This is because Richard was only there due to a deal he made with Neron, and not only did he not attempt to find any loopholes, subvert or alter the deal. The initial deal was entirely selfless and gave Richard no benefits (as a demon defines them), as it was for the life of a child Richard barely knew. This really annoyed Neron, as he thought he'd come up with a way to nab the souls of both Richard and Shiva.
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36	[[folder:Fan Works]]
37	* ''Fanfic/DearDiary'': Opal attacks and nearly kills Morta in a rage, asking her to beg for her life. Morta instead says that she understands why Opal would want her dead and that she accepts it, and Opal responds by relenting and sparing her life. She later says that she would have probably killed Morta if she had actually begged for her life.
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40	[[folder:Films — Animation]]
41	* In ''WesternAnimation/Frozen2013'', rather than getting a TrueLovesKiss from Kristoff to thaw out her own frozen heart, Anna chooses to sacrifice her own life by throwing herself in front of Elsa just as Hans is about to kill her. She turns frozen solid moments after, however since it counts as an ActOfTrueLove, she thaws out moments later and returns back to life.
42	* ''WesternAnimation/SinbadLegendOfTheSevenSeas'': Sinbad, a notorious pirate, is framed by the chaos goddess Eris for stealing [[MacGuffin the book of peace]], but his childhood friend, the prince of Syracuse, lets himself be imprisoned in Sinbad's place and becomes living collateral while Sinbad goes to retrieve it, agreeing that if he doesn't get the book, he'll be executed for Sinbad's crime. When Sinbad and his crew find Eris, she tells him that his heart "is as black as mine," and offers him a deal: she gets to ask him a question, and if he answers honestly, she'll give him the book, and if not, she'll cast him out of Tartarus where he stands, and takes an oath as a goddess to honor their deal. She asks him if he would still go back to Syracuse, free his friend, and let himself be executed if he were to fail his mission; he answers yes, but she says that he's lying, and casts him out. He decides to return to Syracuse empty-handed, and everyone tearfully watches as he solemnly lays his head on the executioner's block, but Eris appears in the nick of time, furious, claiming he's lying to everyone by making himself look like an honorable man instead of the "selfish, unprincipled liar" she believes him to be, but [[IGaveMyWord reluctantly returns the book]] when he reminds her that she took an unbreakable oath to do so if he were to make good on his word to let himself be killed to save his friend.
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45	[[folder:Films — Live-Action]]
46	* In ''Film/Constantine2005'', John Constantine has been destined for {{Hell}} ever since [[SuicideIsShameful a failed suicide attempt in his childhood]], but at the end of the film, he attempts to commit suicide again, knowing that [[{{Satan}} the Devil]] will come to earth to personally claim his soul, [[VillainousRescue screwing up the Big Bad's plan when he arrives]]. This, plus John negotiating with the Devil to have another soul released from Hell, is judged [[HeroicSacrifice selfless and heroic]] enough for his soul to enter Heaven... until the Devil, furious at losing his right to John's soul, [[ReroutedFromHeaven brings John back to life and cures his cancer]], hoping that he will screw up at some point and get condemned to Hell again.
47	* In the Disney version of ''Film/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'', Nemo is ready to spare Arronax but not Conseil or Ned Land, leaving them to drown when the Nautilus submerges. Arronax goes back to die with his friends, leading Nemo to spare all three.
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50	[[folder:Literature]]
51	* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Harry ultimately discovers he is the seventh Horcrux and it is his fate to be killed so that Voldemort can die. Rather than running from death as he had previously done so, Harry walks straight to the Death Eaters camp and allows Voldemort to kill him. In doing so, Harry [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind goes into his mind]] where he finds the fragment of Voldemort's soul that had latched onto him, along with a manifestation of Dumbledore. Finally here, Dumbledore explains that by allowing himself to be killed, Harry's soul was freed from Voldemort's, and his soul finally belonged to himself - though the trope is [[PlayingWithATrope played with]] as what actually lets Harry survive is a magical side-effect of Voldemort sharing his blood; his self-sacrifice just adds some emotional resonance to this. Dumbledore also adds that the "Master of Death" did not find a way to escape death but to accept it, which is ultimately what Harry had done.
52	* In the middle of ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan'', Darren is condemned to death for failing to complete the vampires' Trials of Initiation. He runs away, but on his way out, he witnesses one of his friends conspiring to betray the vampires. He goes back to Vampire Mountain to inform the other vampires and the conspirators are killed. Even though he has committed a heroic deed, the Vampire Princes are unwilling to bend their laws to spare him. Their solution? Place him above the law -- the entire council of vampire generals votes to make the young, half-blooded vampire a Prince.
53	* In ''Literature/ThePilgrimsRegress'', John meets Death in a mountain pass on a stormy night. John realizes that the fear of Death has motivated his entire journey, while Death hammers home that dying is inevitable, and John only has two choices: accept it or fight against it futilely.
54	-->"What am I to do?" said John.\
55	"Which you choose," said the Voice. "Jump, or be thrown. Shut your eyes, or have them bandaged by force. Give in or struggle."\
56	"I would sooner do the first, if I could."\
57	"Then I am your servant and no more your master. The cure of death is dying. He who lays down his liberty in that act receives it back."
58	* In one ''Literature/TheSecretsOfDroon'' book, [[spoiler:Neal]] accomplishes the "Four Genie Wonders", one of which is "to die for another and yet live", allowing him to become a genie. Though the reason he survived seems to be that he was destined to become a genie all along, and in the process fulfilled a StableTimeLoop.
59	* ''Literature/TheSight'': After Larka defeats and pins down [[WellIntentionedExtremist Gart]] in a fight, he decides to FaceDeathWithDignity, and Larka so respects him for this and how ultimately heroic he is, despite his cruel methods, that she spares his life.
60	* In ''Literature/SirGawainAndTheGreenKnight'', a strange [[AmazingTechnicolorPopulation Green Man]] shows up at the court of Myth/KingArthur and challenges the knights to cut off his head, and in a year's time, they must allow him to do the same. Eventually Gawain takes up the challenge, [[OffWithHisHead cuts off the Green Knight's head]]...and the Green Knight's body calmly picks it back up, reattaches it, and reminds Gawain of his promise. A year later Gawain finds the Green Knight and flinches at first from the blow, but then makes himself stay still without moving as the Green Knight goes to cut his head off with an ax... and the Green Knight only gives him a slight nick on the neck for flinching at first.[[note]]In other versions he's nicked for diddling around with the Knight's wife.[[/note]] Because Gawain kept his word and showed his courage, the Green Knight spares him.
61	* ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'': The Hallandren priesthood maintain that anyone who dies a sufficiently heroic death will Return. This is only proven in the case of one character: [[spoiler:Lightsong is ultimately revealed to have died trying to save his niece from drowning.]] The trope is PlayedWith, however, as this does come at the cost of one's explicit (i.e. personal, not skill-based) memories, with Returned only gaining sometimes-metaphorical glimpses of their pasts through dreams. This principle also doesn't apply to every Returned, as even stillborn babies, for example, can Return.
62	* In ''Literature/TheWinterQueen'', a young Literature/ErastFandorin is manipulated by Count Zurov into playing a card game for his life -- which he loses, because Zurov cheats. Nonetheless, Fandorin decides that since he was dumb enough to fall for that trick, he doesn't deserve to live, and shoots himself in the head with Zurov's revolver. However, this turns out to be a SecretTestOfCharacter from Zurov, who, upon seeing that Fandorin really intends to kill himself in self-punishment (rather than in a fit of hysterical bravado, as he was expecting him to), has his manservant surreptitiously remove the bullets from his revolver before handing it over to Fandorin.
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65	[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
66	* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS36E9EmpressOfMars "Empress of Mars"]], Colonel Godsacre negotiates an end to hostility between the Humans and the Ice Warriors by offering Empress Iraxxa the right to execute him if she will spare the lives of his men. Impressed by his sense of duty, Iraxxa tells Godsacre that he "will die with bravery and honor... [[BaitAndSwitchComment but not today]]", and that she wants to recruit him into her own army instead of killing him.
67	* In ''Series/LegendsOfTomorrow'', the episode "[[Recap/LegendsOfTomorrowS3E11HereIGoAgain Here I Go Again]]" has Zari stuck in a GroundhogDayLoop, where she has to relive the same hour over and over before the ship gets destroyed by a bomb. In her many attempts to stop the bomb from exploding, she learns about the Legends and gets closer to them, and values their presence. Ultimately, she breaks the loop, but at the cost of the bomb exploding being final. Zari, deciding to be selfless for once, takes the bomb and seals herself in the forcefield of the Captain's quarters while using her [[BlowYouAway wind powers]] to form a vortex to contain the explosion. As the timer counts down and the explosion resounds, Zari wakes up and everything is revealed to be a simulation and a SecretTestOfCharacter by Gideon.
68	* ''Series/HighlanderTheRaven'': One episode had a soldier/vigilante immortal pursuing Amanda because when she once stole some loot from soldiers, included were written orders to evacuate a doomed position, their theft causing the death of everyone there. When Amanda learns his actual motives, she's wracked by guilt and decides to let him behead her; seeing this, he merely shoots her, causing a temporary death, and announces she died with honor.
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71	[[folder:Toys]]
72	* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'': One of the obstacles the Toa Inika are forced to go through to get to the Mask of Life was one where one of them had to sacrifice themself in order to allow the others through to the next section. Jaller attempts to offer himself due to having already suffered through a HeroicSacrifice but Matoro offers himself up first due to Jaller hesitating just long enough. The others try to protest this, but Matoro reaffirms his decision and is killed, but quickly brought back, granting the Toa Inika access further towards their goal. [[spoiler:This itself was a SecretTestOfCharacter as it's because of this sacrifice that Matoro was chosen by the Mask of Life to be its host and revive Mata Nui, which would ultimately cost him his life.]]
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75	[[folder:Video Games]]
76	* ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsX'' gave this to Sylvia Ikaruga Misurugi as a change to the ''Anime/CrossAnge'' plot. Unlike in canon and her brother Julio, [[DirtyCoward who still begs for his life after making a living hell for her sister]], Sylvia [[spoiler:learns the truth about Embryo and stands up by her own will]]. When the two sisters reunite, Sylvia tells Ange she is free to kill her. However, Ange is admired for how Sylvia has matured and thinks nothing of it. Instead, [[spoiler:she offers to help her group rebuild Misurugi while she establishes Cafe Ange within its territory]].
77	* The experiment in Vault 11 in ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' is an inversion of this. The dwellers are told that they would have to sacrifice one person every year or else the vault's automated systems would kill everyone. Of course nobody would willingly sacrifice themselves, so an election system was put in place where the one with the most votes would be the one to bite the bullet. This led to a lot of corrupt politics followed by a civil war, leaving only 5 survivors out of the original population of 1000, who went to the computer and told it to just GetItOverWith and kill the rest of them already. Instead, the computer congratulated them on their selflessness for refusing to sacrifice their fellow man and rewarded them by unlocking the vault door so that they could come and go as they pleased. The whole thing was a SecretTestOfCharacter all along. Four of the survivors then committed suicide due to guilt over the fact that they had sacrificed so many people for no reason, while the fifth guy left the vault and most likely got himself killed out in the wasteland somewhere.
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80	[[folder:Western Animation]]
81	* In ''WesternAnimation/Ben10UltimateAlien'', the episode "[[Recap/Ben10UltimateAlienS3E07TheUltimateSacrifice The Ultimate Sacrifice]]" has Ben discovering that a glitch in the Ultimatrix caused the Ultimate form aliens to be sentient, and whenever he uses them they feel like slaves being controlled. The Ultimates wish to kill Ben so that his control over them will be broken. After failing to reason and escape them, Ben ultimately decides to perform a HeroicSuicide so that the Ultimates can be free. It turns out Ben's selflessness was recognized by the Ultimatrix and spared his life while freeing the Ultimates.
82	--> '''Ben''': What happened?
83	--> '''Azmuth''': Your sacrifice reset the Ultimatrix. The flaw that generated the self-actualized Ultimates has been corrected. Any Ultimates generated from this moment forth, will simply be reflections of you, as was always intended.
84	--> '''Ben''': But, I jumped into the pit. Why am I still alive? Not that I'm complaining, mind you.
85	--> '''Azmuth''': Your intention was what mattered to the Ultimatrix. The fact that you were willing to sacrifice everything in order to set them free. Genuine self sacrifice, more rare than astatine or francium.
86	* In the episode "[[Recap/TheSimpsonsS6E14BartsComet Bart's Comet]]" from ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', a comet is heading straight for the town of Springfield and the people can't be evacuated due to events of the episode. The only possible chance for survival is a bomb shelter belonging to Ned Flanders, but the shelter rapidly runs out of space when the entire town piles in. After a bit, Ned is voted out of his own bomb shelter to free up more space, but his bravery in facing certain death causes everyone else to have a HeelRealization, and they leave the bunker to join him. Fortunately, most of the comet is broken up by the atmosphere, resulting in it being reduced to a small size... and striking directly on the Flanders bomb shelter, which immediately collapses from the impact. This means that only those who left the bunker, fully intending to die, lived, while anyone who might have theoretically stayed behind would have been killed during the collapse of the bunker.
87	* In ''WesternAnimation/ThunderCats2011'', after Lion-O dies and fails his tests to earn resurrection, he is told he can be brought back to save his friends one last time, in return for CessationOfExistence. He agrees, saves them, and remains alive.
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