Doomed Defeatist - Television Tropes & Idioms

That's it man. Game over man, game over!

— Hudson, Aliens

The cast is surrounded by monsters, killers, and all manner of deathtraps, but the hero's got his head on his shoulders, and the determination to hope that everything will turn out fine. Unfortunately, not everyone shares his belief. In every group there's the one guy who's quick to insist that they're all doomed, to complain that there's no way to survive their predicament, who is the first to completely lose their head as the weight of the danger they're in starts crushing down. And he's right, for himself at least. The moment you get so scared you become a defeatist, you're marked, and might as well have shown off a family photo for all the good it'd do you.

Surrendering is not an option either, and will only serve to demonstrate that the enemy doesn't accept surrenders.

Basically, you panic, you die. If you're a defeatist or fatalist, then you also die. Vaguely related to Death By Pragmatism, and The Complainer Is Always Wrong.

Yet another reason why you shouldn't tempt fate.

Examples:

Anime and Manga

Ron from King Of Thorn decides to split from the rest of the survivors because he figures that it's no use going on now that they've seen the condition the rest of the world is in. He later changes his mind and, surprisingly, lives to tell the tale.

Film

In Aliens, Private Hudson dies soon after saying, "That's it man, game over man, game over!"
- Interestingly, within the Aliens Colonial Marine squad, it's actually Frost who takes up this role:
  Frost: I'm telling you, man, I got a bad feeling about this drop.
  Wierzbowski: You always say that, man, "I got a baaad feeeling about this draaahhhp."
  Frost: Okay, but when we get back without you, I'll call your folks.
  - That said, only one marine out of the entire squad survived. And Hudson actually lived on for a fair amount after the quote, and went down fighting.
  - Actually, they all die, if you count the beginning of the next movie. They all die, and everyone else along for the ride, if you count all of the next movie.
  - And that's a big "IF."
Averted in The Dark Knight. One of the cops on Harvey Dent's prison transfer, as soon as the Joker attacks, never shuts up about how nothing's going as planned, how they're sitting ducks, how they're all going to die, and how things are generally not going well. However, he is one of only three cops who actually survive the attack without a scratch.
Toyed with in the House on Haunted Hill remake, where Prichard knows about how the house is completely fricking evil and is fully aware that he, and everyone else in the house, is probably going to die. He spends the majority of the movie drinking and making dark, fatalistic quips about how everyone is doomed and there's no escape. The movie almost fools you into thinking he might be one of the few to survive after he starts actually helping to get everyone out, and then he gets the quickest death in the whole movie. At least he gets to save the ones who are left as a ghost at the end.
Guy Fleegman from Galaxy Quest is a spoof of this.
Subverted in Undercover Brother. Lance falls apart when the island base's Self-Destruct Mechanism is activated, but he survives the movie (it helps that it's a comedy).
Lance: We got to get the hell out of here, man. We're gonna die! We're all gonna die!
Independence Day: When the jet fighters come across the fleet of alien attack ships Hillard tells everyone to just punch through that line. The one who says "There's too many!" is the only one to die on that particular maneuver.
The Lady Vanishes: A man tries to surrender, with white flag and all, and is promptly shot on sight.
Fortress during the big escape scene, one of the convicts decides to surrender. He slowly rises from behind cover, hands first, and is shredded by bullets.

Literature

Anluan from Juliet Marillier's novel Hearts Blood. His response to every threat is to throw his hands in the air and admit defeat.

Video Games

In Gears of War, a member of Alpha squad, after getting trapped and surrounded in an abandoned warehouse, panics, runs for his life, and is instantly killed by the Berserker the Locust have just unleashed.
The fossil Pokémon Archeops has good speed and awesome attack power, allowing it to function as a sweeper in-game. However, its Defeatist ability makes it lose confidence and halves its attack power when its health drops below half. After that, it's pretty much fodder unless it's healed.
- Alternately, have it smack a Yamask or Cofagrigus or have another Pokémon use Entrainment on it. This replaces the crippling "Defeatist" ability with something much more useful, making Archeops dangerous until it's forced out.
Who could forget Xan from Baldur's Gate.
"We delude ourselves to think that our pitiable band will stand up to our enemies."

Western Animation

Parodied in Futurama when the crew shrinks themselves down to fight worms inside Fry's body. Whenever a minor setback comes up, Bender panics and yells at everyone to abandon ship. Happens no less than three times.
- Also, completely pointless. As they are using virtual reality controlled robotic miniatures of themselves and are never in any danger whatsoever.
Star Trek The Animated Series episode "The Jihad". Subverted with M-3-Green, who despite calling their mission "mad" and saying "We're all going to die", makes to the end alive.

Doomed by Canon

Doomy Dooms of Doom

Doomed Hometown

Don't You Dare Pity Me!

Characters as Device

Doomed Protagonist

Doom Doors

Added Alliterative Appeal

Doomsday Device