History DyingMomentOfAwesome / VideoGames

* Following that, SEGA in sense went through this during its Dreamcast Era. This would be the company's swan song as a First Party developer and player in the console wars before reviving itself solely as a Third Party. Considering this was the period they had a massive surge of great ''new'' output with [=IPs=] that would live on today (like SkiesOfArcadia, JetSetRadio, CrazyTaxi, SambaDeAmigo, and many many more) and the Dreamcast itself was accepted very well in sharp contrast to its immediate [[SegaSaturn predecessor]]; critics, fans, and some non-fans would agree that they went out with a bang. To this day, although still successful, SEGA hasn't hit a home run quite like they did back then.

* Sagacious Zu in ''JadeEmpire'', taking down Death's Hand.

** Before that, Gadolt saves Shulk and company from the transforming Mechonis by deflecting a laser beam using his Jade Face mech. He dies with one parting word, "Believe!"

* ''HaloReach'': '''Every''' main character except [[SoleSurvivor Jun]] and Kat. [[KilledMidSentence Kat's death]] averts this trope hard.

* Misson: Fall of Reach. Objective: Survive. Briefing: Spartans. Never. Die.

* Even if he is the BigBad of the game (and a true bastard to boot) Luca Blight's demise in ''SuikodenII'' in which he battles practically your entire army almost single-handedly while covered with arrows and finally dueling the main character after all of this. Then he rubs it in your face with a BadassBoast.

* Subverted in ''ModernWarfare2''. Soap is stabbed in the chest, which puts him out of action while the BigBad beats up Captain Price. Then Soap yanks the knife out of his own chest and chucks it into the BigBad 's eye. The subversion is that he's still alive when he's loaded into the chopper at the end of the game.

* In ''Videogame/XenobladeChronicles'', Egil puts his differences aside with Shulk and goes down fighting against Zanza, both of them controlling the Mechonis and Bionis.

* The deaths of Shaak Ti and Starkiller in TheForceUnleashed.

* In ''Videogame/{{Xenoblade Chronicles}}'', Egil puts his differences aside with Shulk and goes down fighting against Zanza, both of them controlling the Mechonis and Bionis.
-->'''Egil]''' I'LL SHOW YOU THE MEANING OF WRATH!

* Usually Ganondorf in every ''Zelda'' game he's been in has a profound effect. Most notable are his death scenes in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker'', where Link ''impales'' his forehead with the Master Sword, he says his final line, then turns to stone. And ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', where Link stabs him through the torso where the Sage's Sword had impaled him, Ganondorf stands back up, then dies on his feet, Master Sword stuck straight through him.

** However, this didn't stop him from coming back to life in [[VideoGame/SonicHeroes the next game]], having been resurrected by popularity.

-->'''Egil]''' I'LL SHOW YOU THE MEANING OF WRATH!

* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyI'' offers a meta-subversion. The game was ''supposed'' to be the last game made by {{Squaresoft}} before it went bankrupt, and HironobuSakaguchi retired from the gaming industry. [[CashCowFranchise Look at what it is now]]. [[AndKnowingIsHalfTheBattle Now you know]]. [[SincerityMode How's that for encouraging]]?

* In ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', [[spoiler:one will occur at the end of the Grey Warden arc. It will either be Alistair/Loghain/Stroud or Hawke. When the absolutely gigantic Nightmare demon blocks the path of the Inquisitor, Hawke and the Warden ally from the Fade's exit, one of them will stay behind to distract it. The Warden ally decides to do it to redeem the Wardens from the mistakes they made, and Hawke will do it because s/he was the one who awakened Corypheus, the one responsible for the entire mess, and also to have a senior Warden alive to help them rebuild. Either one ends with them futilely slashing at the Nightmare demon, but giving the Inquisitor and the other person time to escape.]]

* Grom Hellscream in [[VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} Warcraft 3]] has one of the most epic deaths of any major character in the game. To save his clan from their demonic bloodlust and free them from Mannoroth's control, he and Thrall track down the demon. Grom's axe splits the demon's armour and chest in half, killing him in a burst of flame.

* ''World of Warcraft'' has two in ''Warlords of Draenor'' in the finales of Frostfire Ridge and Shadowmoon Valley.
** [[spoiler: The Draenei leader, Velen, releases an ''enormous'' burst of [[LightEmUp Holy magic]], purifying the Naaru Ka'ra from its void state, and the light that ''didn't'' purify the Naaru washed over the valley and empowers the draenei fighting the Iron Horde.]]
** [[spoiler: Ga'nar of the Frostwolves, who was stated to be one of their greatest warriors, proves he is indeed, when he charges into an enemy army, armed only with a pair of axes, and holds them off ''[[BolivianArmyEnding by himself]]'' long enough for Drek'thar to collapse the pass on top of them [[HeroicSacrifice and him.]]]]

** In ''Videogame/MassEffect3'', [[spoiler:Thane Krios]] takes on Cerberus assassin Kai Leng and takes a sword through the gut while preventing Leng from killing the salarian councilor. The fight is badass enough to qualify on its own - but [[spoiler:Thane pulls it off in spite of the fact that he has a terminal illness that interferes with his ability to breathe, and was given three months to live ''[[{{Determinator}} nine months ago]]''.]]
*** [[spoiler: Thane also asks Shepard to tell the assassin that he should be ashamed at having been prevented from killing his target by a terminally-ill opponent.]]
** Also [[spoiler: Mordin Solus, who calmly sings to his KarmicDeath or crawls, bleeding, toward it after Shepard betrays him.]] All to save a race that wanted [[spoiler: him]] dead.
** Also [[spoiler:Lieutenant Tarquin Victus, who rips the detonation charge out of a massive bomb and is either crushed or killed when the charge explodes]].
** Also, [[spoiler:Rila, one of Samara's daughters]]. Fighting off Indoctrination ''and'' a horde of Banshees (Husks of [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Ardat-Yakshi]] Asari), [[spoiler:she]] survives being impaled through the chest by one long enough to set off the huge bomb that's right behind [[spoiler:her]], obliterating the Banshees.
--->[[spoiler:'''Rila''']]: "We... are ''not'' your slaves!"
** Also, [[spoiler: Legion, who willingly sacrifices himself to give the Geth true sentience.]]
** And lastly, [[spoiler: Shepard themself. Having barely survived '''a direct attack from a Reaper''', Shepard continues fighting their way to the Crucible, ultimately confronting the intelligence controlling the Reapers and putting an end to the cycle once and for all before dying. Played the most straight in the Synthesis Ending, where Shepard performs a HeroicSacrifice to bring about TheSingularity and unite the galaxy in a new form of life. Potentially subverted however in the Destroy Ending, as with certain conditions fulfilled, Shepard is shown to survive the explosion on the Citadel. The Control Ending likewise has Shepard's essence survive as the new controlling intelligence of the Reapers, [[FriendToAllLivingThings benevolent]] or [[KnightTemplarParent otherwise]]]].

** [[spoiler: The Protagonist him/herself, transforming his/her own life into the Great Seal that will seal Nyx, the universal embodiment of Death itself, away once more. And managing to hold on for the next two months to Graduation Day on the sheer strength of a promise made to his/her friends.]]

* THE ENTIRE CAST of ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga 2''. [[spoiler: Heat's death begins it all as he chooses to go by HeroicSuicide against Serph. Argilla and Roland stay behind to lure the NighInvulnerable EldritchAbomination Meganada to an exploding reactor core and give the others the chance to reach the Airport. Gale confronts Jenna Angel at the Airport, giving the other three the time to reach a plane capable of reaching the last functioning HAARP facility and escape Karma City. Cielo dies taking down a squadron of Karma Society fighters to allow Sera and Serph to reach the facility. Serph and Sera give their lives to activate the facility one last time to speak with God / Brahman to halt the ''already ongoing'' Apocalypse.]]
* PlanescapeTorment has this regardless of which way the player ends the game. The Nameless One is determined to either destroy or reclaim [[spoiler: his mortality]], even though the former means instant death and the latter means death fairly shortly, as centuries of life suddenly catch up to him. He also knows that death means an eternity in Hell. So does he back down and remain immortal? No, he either destroys [[spoiler: his very mortality]] in a battle of [[PhysicalGod Physical Gods]] or he overwhelms the being of superhuman intelligence and wisdom with logic and force of will and [[spoiler: pulls it back into himself]].

* ''Videogame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' has [[spoiler:Emperor Titus Mede II]] at the end of the Dark Brotherhood questline. While in-game he's considered a rather controversial figure, [[spoiler:when you finally confront him, Titus faces his assassin with remarkable grace, refusing to show fear (at worst simply being annoyed if you act like a psychopath). He calmly accepts his fate, with his final request simply being to consider killing the one who ordered the hit on him in the first place.]]

** Also, if you side with the Empire during the Civil War questline, [[spoiler: Ulfric Stormcloak]] gets one. He accepts his defeat and has one final request: at least have the Dragonborn kill him so that it would be a better story.

* ''Videogame/{{Fallout 3}}'' has whoever you let trigger Project Purity, at least without the add - ons. In the vanilla game, either you or [[spoiler: Lyons]] can do it, and you can be assured that whoever walks in that room isn't ever getting out, dying from immense amounts of radioactivity in order to create a supply of clean water for the Capital Wasteland. Basically, you die so that everyone else doesn't. Broken Steel does change that though if you choose to do it.

* In ''Videogame/{{Xenoblade Chronicles}}'', [[spoiler: Egil puts his differences aside with Shulk and goes down fighting against Zanza, both of them controlling the Mechonis and Bionis.]]
-->'''[[spoiler: Egil]]:''' "I'LL SHOW YOU THE MEANING OF WRATH!"

* Axel's death in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsII''. He puts all his remaining strength into an attack to save Sora, and pays the price for it.

* THE ENTIRE CAST of ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga 2''. [[spoiler: Heat's death begins it all as he chooses to go by HeroicSuicide against Serph. Argilla and Roland stay behind to lure the NighInvulnerable EldritchAbomination Meganada to an exploding reactor core and give the others the chance to reach the Airport. Gale confronts Jenna Angel at the Airport, giving the other three the time to reach a plane capable of reaching HAARP and escape Karma City. Cielo dies taking down a squadron of Karma Society fighters to allow Sera and Serph to reach the HAARP facility. Serph and Sera give their lives to activate the HAARP facility one last time to speak with God to halt the ''already ongoing'' Apocalypse.]]

* THE ENTIRE CAST of ''VideoGame/DigitalDevilSaga 2''. [[spoiler: Heat's death begins it all as he chooses to go by HeroicSuicide against Serph. Argilla and Roland stay behind to lure the NighInvulnerable EldritchAbomination Meganada and give the others the chance to reach the Airport. Gale confronts Jenna Angel at the Airport, giving the other three the time to reach a plane capable of reaching HAARP and escape Karma City. Cielo dies taking down a squadron of Karma Society fighters to allow Sera and Serph to reach the HAARP facility. Serph and Sera give their lives to activate the HAARP facility one last time to speak with God to halt the ''already ongoing'' Apocalypse.]]

* THE ENTIRE CAST of ''DigitalDevilSaga 2''.

-->'''Soldier:''' "Hurry up, I haven't got all day."

** Commander Shepard's death at the start of ''Videogame/MassEffect2'' counts as well, his/her last act is to save Joker, even though he/she is fairly sure they're about to die. Don't worry, Shepard gets better.
*** All it did was piss Shepard off.

--->[[spoiler:'''Rila''']]: "We... are ''not'' your slaves!" *click, BOOM*

** And last but certainly not least, [[spoiler: Shepard him/herself. Having barely survived '''a direct attack from a Reaper''', he/she continues fighting their way to the Crucible, ultimately confronting the intelligence controlling the Reapers and putting an end to the cycle once and for all before dying. Played the most straight in the Synthesis Ending, where Shepard performs a HeroicSacrifice to bring about TheSingularity and unite the galaxy in a new form of life. Potentially subverted however in the Destroy Ending, as with certain conditions fulfilled, Shepard is shown to survive the explosion on the Citadel. The Control Ending likewise has Shepard's essence survive as the new controlling intelligence of the Reapers, [[FriendToAllLivingThings benevolent]] or [[KnightTemplarParent otherwise]]]].

* [[ByronicHero Kenny]] of ''VideoGame/TheWalkingDead''. Especially so if Ben died in Episode 4. He performs a HeroicSacrifice to save a trapped and pregnant Christa from [[OurZombiesAreDifferent walkers]].