History Main / DeathByDespair

* Almost happens to Liechtenstein in ''AxisPowersHetalia''.

* In ''{{Dragonball Z}}'' the stress of his people being slaughtered by [[{{BigBad}} Frieza]] and co. causes this to happen to the 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 became a critical plot point.

* Shou Tucker's first chimera in ''FullmetalAlchemist'' dies this way.
** However, it ''was'' explained that the chimera stopped eating and died of starvation.

* The Anti-Spiral tried to do this to humanity in TengenToppaGurrenLagann. It didn't work.

* Almost happens to [[spoiler: Liechtenstein]] in ''AxisPowersHetalia''.

* Padme in ''StarWars: Revenge of the Sith''. Watching her husband become Darth Vader was too much and even giving birth to twin future heroes of the galaxy wasn't enough to salvage her will to live.
** ...prompting the ''RobotChicken'' quote seen above.
*** Although Force-choking by her husband may have made dying easier.
**** You'd think the doctors would have noticed if she was dying of damage to her throat. On the other hand, in StarWars the Force is an ''explicit'' connection between your state of mind and the physical universe. So if we're looking for a setting in which losing the will to live could kill you, StarWars would be a good candidate.
*** One of the [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse EU books]], something in the Coruscant Nights Trilogy, has her examined before the funeral itself, and it's found that her hyoid bone was cracked, and she had all the signs of death by strangulation ''except'' bruises on the outside of her throat. This is what drives her BodyguardCrush to assume that she was killed by the Force, which means that her medical droid was pretty incompetent -- "there is still good in him" isn't the kind of thing someone who is giving up says, as fans point out.
******* Kicks in FridgeBrilliance when you remember Obi-Wan and Dexter's talk in the Attack of Clones: DROIDS ARE STUPID! Just look at C3PO, the Separatists' Droid Army! They only grow sharp if they don't get memory wipes, like R2-D2. Heck, even Grievous, a cyborg, hates working with them!
*** One of the WildMassGuessing theories that makes a lot of sense given KnightsOfTheOldRepublic was that Padme was a latent Sensitive, and had a [[MindlinkMates Force Bond with Anakin]]. The sheer amount of pain he was in was causing him to siphon her life to keep him alive. Given that, the Force Choke, the strain of a high-risk childbirth, and losing the democracy she literally spent her life working for was too much.

* Finny in ''ASeparatePeace''.
** I don't think "some of the marrow must have escaped into his bloodstream and gone directly to his heart and stopped it" counts as "losing the will to live," although despair did cause him to run down a flight of steps, where he fell, causing the injury that resulted in his death. So, an indirect example.

* In ''WorldWarZ'' people so traumatized by the [[ZombieApocalypse horrors]] and hopelessness sometimes just go to sleep...[[NightmareFuel and never wake up]].

* In ''More Scary Stories To Tell In The Dark'', 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 isnt surprised when the farmhand arrives at her door to take her home...some time ''after'' his death.

* Tristram of ''{{Tristram and Iseult}}'' fame.
** Actually, he was poisoned. Iseult would be a better example.

** A RedShirt in "[[Recap/StarTrekS1E4TheNakedTime The Naked Time]]" tried to commit suicide, [[InterruptedSuicide was stopped before he seriously hurt himself]], but died anyway, because he couldn't summon the will to fight off the minor infection of the wound.

** [[{{Scrubs}} "He's coding!]] [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SVebMKT3uDs Get me a box of kittens, STAT!"]]
*** [[DudeNotFunny Oh, Silence You]]
** This can also happen to animals who have lost a loved one.
* TruthInTelevision to a degree: Depression, stress and lack of "will to live" do appear to weaken the immune system. Mortality rates for the sick and elderly are lower just before birthdays, anniversaries and other events that they want to see - they manage to "hang on" by increased will to live - but worsens afterwards.
** Special mention must go to TheodoreRoosevelt, who was actually quite sickly and in very poor health, but overcame with with [[{{Determinator}} pure]] {{Badass}} and force of will. When one of his sons died in WorldWarI, that will failed, and years of poor health hit him like a sack of bricks. He died less than a year later.
*** Which proves that no matter how unbelievably tough and manly you are, there are some things that people just cannot endure... Like when your child dies. [[TearJerker And what reason does a parent have to live, if his/her child will never get to grow up? :(]]

* Babies can possibly die if not held enough... Seriously. Since they're babies it's hard to get concrete evidence as to why this happens, but many people think that it's because they don't feel loved.
** The experiments that proved this (made, of course, ''long'' before modern ethics standards) dubbed it "failure to thrive".
* Some believe that this is what ultimately killed JohnnyCash. The fact that his death came mere months after [[HappilyMarried June Carter Cash]] passed on doesn't hurt this theory.

* Some believe that this is what ultimately killed JohnnyCash. The fact that his death came a mere two weeks after [[HappilyMarried June Carter Cash]] passed on doesn't hurt this theory.

* 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 [[YouShouldKnowThisAlready Juliet isn't dead]] [[ItWasHisSled and wasn't grieving that much over Tybalt anyway.]]

* Oswald from ''OdinSphere'' is actually ''taken by a Halja'' ([[TheGrimReaper grim reaper-type]] servant of the Queen of the Dead) after concluding 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 [[IGotBetter he's saved]] when Gwendolyn, [[PoorCommunicationKills who really does love him]], invaded the Underworld and rescued him.

*** One of the [[StarWarsExpandedUniverse EU books]] has her examined before the funeral itself, and it's found that her hyoid bone was cracked, and she had all the signs of death by strangulation ''except'' bruises on the outside of her throat. This is what drives her BodyguardCrush to assume that she was killed by the Force, which means that her medical droid was pretty incompetent -- "there is still good in him" isn't the kind of thing someone who is giving up says, as fans point out.

* ToshiroMifune reportedly got a Heart Attack or Stroke from Karōshi, also known as "Death by Over Work," but did not Die. He did however spend his life after that in the care of his estranged wife, until she died from Pancreatic Cancer. He would die Two years later from Multiple Organ Failure. Before she had been diagnosed, it was reported his health was returning, but after her death, his health quickly and rapidly declined. Some believe that he did eventually die because she was no longer with him, and he lost the will to live.

* In ''{{Dragonball Z}}'' the stress of his people being slaughtered by Freeza and co. causes this to happen to the 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 became a critical plot point.

*** Which proves that no matter how unbelievably tough and manly you are, there are some things that people just cannot endure... Like when your child dies. And what reason does a parent have to live, if his/her child will never get to grow up? :(

*** Which proves that no matter how unbelievably tough and manly you are, there are some things that people just cannot endure... Like when your child dies. :(

* Oswald from ''OdinSphere'' was actually ''taken by a Halja'' ([[TheGrimReaper grim reaper-type]] servant of the Queen of the Dead) when the realization that his love for Gwendolyn, the only thing he lived for, was truly unrequited caused him to lose the will to resist them any longer. Fortunately [[IGotBetter he was saved]] when Gwendolyn, [[PoorCommunicationKills who actually loved him after all]], invaded the Underworld and rescued him.