History Main / RunOrDie

* The first two ''VideoGame/PaperMario'' games have Clefts. If examined, you'll be warned that sometimes there's no shame in running. There's one fight in the second game you can't win, though losing that one instead of running away doesn't result in Game Over anyway.

Sometimes our heroes are faced with a foe they simply cannot withstand. Not only is it a fight they cannot ''win'', it's a fight they have no hope of even ''surviving''. They have two options: run away, or fight and die.

This enemy is usually rare and always notorious. Its very presence may inspire panic. Perhaps they're TheDreaded. Perhaps it's not an individual, but TheSwarm or TheCorruption. In any case, anyone who fights it is screwed, and anyone who could possibly end up fighting it ''knows it''.

The key to this trope is that the threat is very powerful, but also impossible to predict. After all, if you can see it coming and avoid it, then it's not very scary, is it? But when it could show up almost anywhere, virtually without warning, and there's nothing you can do but hope to escape, then ''that's'' terrifying.

In VideoGames, may be a HopelessBossFight where dying doesn't result in the plot continuing.

* During ''{{Manga/Bleach}}'''s Soul Society arc, Yoruichi advises the protagonists to run if they meet up with a Soul Society captain. Chad ignores the advice and ends up getting captured.

** Done to a less extent with [[SuperSmoke Smoker]]. Before the timeskip his intangibility made him invulnerable to the Straw Hats and a very dangerous threat to them, so much that they just ran whenever they encountered him.
* High-ranking demons in ''{{LightNovel/Slayers}}''. Short of employing a DangerousForbiddenTechnique, they're {{Physical God}}s that can shrug off any attack and kill you with a snap of a finger.
* Serena Rinnen from ''TowerOfGod'' gives Phonsekal Laure this gem:

* In ''{{Manga/Naruto}}'', during the Third Ninja War there was a "Flee on sight" order on the Fourth Hokage, with RunOrDie heavily implied.
* Invoked in ''{{Manga/Sekirei}}''. When the [[RedBaron Black Sekirei]], [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Karasuba]], decides to fight the weaker duo of Mitsuha and Akitsu, the latter tells the former to run or she'll die. Mitsuha ignores the warning and is [[CurbStompBattle quickly killed]] while Akitsu [[KnowWhenToFoldEm ran away and lived]].

* An early [[TheSilverAgeOfComicBooks Silver Age]] ''CaptainAmerica'' story has Rick Jones seeing Cap is in trouble and a {{Mook|s}} tries to silence him. Rick manages to take him down and a mate with a club as well, but as others are approaching, Rick remembers Cap's lesson that only a fool fights impossible odds. So, Rick decides he must make a break for it to get help and manages to escape. Just as the goons decide that they can subdue Captain America and get away before TheCavalry can arrive, Cap appears and takes them on considering for a OneManArmy like himself, two dozen to one is hardly impossible odds to him.

* In the original ''{{Film/Terminator}}'', though the sequels tend to focus more on the Terminators fighting ''each other''.

* In RobertEHoward's ''Literature/IronShadowsInTheMoon'' and ''Literature/ThePoolOfTheBlackOne'', ConanTheBarbarian faces this. But then, both times he was dealing with what were effectively {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.

* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' two-parter "Silence in the Library"/"Forest of the Dead", this is all you can do against the Vashta Nerada. Seriously, the characters are never once able to take offensive action against them. The Doctor only gets them to back off by ''threatening'' to do something unpleasant based on his reputation, with no evidence in sight of how he would actually make good on it.

* In ''TheSarahConnorChronicles'', at the start of the second season, [[RobotGirl Cameron]] takes damage to her processor and reverts to her default orders to kill John Connor. Through the entire episode, the only thing the Connors can really do is run the hell away from her as she doggedly pursues them. [[spoiler: The only thing that ''stops'' her is pinning her between two tractor trailers and cutting her central processor out of her head.]]

** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIII'' has at least two examples:
*** The spider robot during the Dollet mission, which appears unexpectedly and chases the party all the way back to the evacuation point. It doesn't have a particularly powerful offense, but it's impossible to kill (except at [[GuideDangIt one point]]) and it appears during a TimedMission so you can't waste too much time fighting it.

* Invoked in ''{{VideoGame/Halo}}'' when you first encounter [[TheVirus The Flood]]. After the cutscene introducing them, the game changes your mission objectives to, quite simply, "Escape!". You can ''try'' to kill every Flood you see, but the cost in health and ammo will be high; you're better off running from most of them and fighting only when you can't avoid it.

* In ''{{VideoGame/Metroid}} Fusion'', the SA-X is ridiculously overpowered compared to Samus, being comparable to your power level at the end of ''Super'' and Samus being gimped by her new weakness to cold and a suit that doesn't protect her much. Your friendly AI commander actually gives you this instruction in as many words. As you progress through the game, you go from hiding, to running from, to preventing from following, and finally combat at the very end of the game.
* True to the film series, the video game adaptation of ''{{Film/Terminator}}: Salvation'' treats the T-600 series like this, especially the first few times you run into them. They're insanely durable, have [[GatlingGood mini-]][[MoreDakka guns]] as their default weapons, and just ''keep coming''. If you try and stay and fight the first time just ''one'' shows up, it ''will'' kill you. Later battles are only possible to win because you have lots of cover, [[StuffBlowingUp explosives]], and [[MoreDakka gun emplacements of your own]].
* Every enemy in ''[[VideoGame/AmnesiaTheDarkDescent Amnesia: The Dark Descent]]''. You have no means of self-defense, so if you encounter a monster, your only hope is to run as fast as you can and hide until the monster stops chasing you.

* ''{{VideoGame/Pikmin}} 2'' features the [[MurderWater Water Wraith]] in one dungeon, which cannot be killed except with a Pikmin variety that cannot be brought in and can only be created at the last floor. Once it drops down, you haul ass to the exit.

* ''{{Webcomic/Goblins}}'' - When facing down [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/03252011/ Mr. Fingers]], a [[EldritchAbomination monstrosity]] from whom [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04082011/ one touch]] will [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04152011/ melt you]] [[BodyHorror to purple goo]], there's really only [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04262011/ one]] [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04292011/ response.]]

* ''{{Webcomic/Roza}}'': [[http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/?date=2007-05-08 "You can't beat this guy. Just run!"]]

* Serena Rinnen from ''TowerOfGod'' gives Phonsekal Laure this gem: ''Because I am not great or powerful like you, I spent 80% of my life just running away. Hundreds, no, thousands of times I have run, and because I have, I can be even more sure: Now is the time to run!"

* Phantoms from ''FinalFantasyTheSpiritsWithin''. They're limitless in number and their touch is instantly lethal (via ''pulling out your soul''); any fight against them is necessarily a delaying action until you can retreat... or a LastStand.

* In the PS2 remake of ''TalesOfDestiny'', if you run around in one place with all your party members set to Auto for grinding purposes, bonus boss and ''Tales Of Destiny 2'' antagonist Barbatos Goetia will eventually show up and exclaim that he's giving you the choice to run away or die. He's not kidding, since even if you ''do'' somehow manage to get his HP to zero, he'll just keep on fighting.

----

** The battle against Ba'gammnon in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXII'' in the Lhusu Mines. His crew is too powerful to take on at this point unless you've done insane amounts of LevelGrinding or get ridiculously lucky with Quickenings, so running away is the only practical course of action.

-->-- '''Cypher''', ''TheMatrix''

* During ''{{Bleach}}'''s Soul Society arc, Yoruichi advises the protagonists to run if they meet up with a Soul Society captain. Chad ignores the advice and ends up getting captured.

* ''OnePiece'' had one of these come out of virtually nowhere during the Saboady Archipelago arc. It was probably the biggest PlotTwist ever seen since the manga started back in TheNineties.

* High-ranking demons in ''TheSlayers''. Short of employing a DangerousForbiddenTechnique, they're {{Physical God}}s that can shrug off any attack and kill you with a snap of a finger.
* In KenichiTheMightiestDisciple, Kenichi's masters are furious when Kenichi tries to take on a [[LightningBruiser Master-Class sword-fighter]] by himself, claiming that the only acceptable course of action in that situation would have been to [[RunOrDie run for his life.]] Seeing as how even the most worthless Master-Class fighter could easily [[OneHitKill kill Kenichi in one hit]] and that he survived that fight mostly through sheer luck, this is an understandable reaction on their part.
* In ''{{Naruto}}'', during the Third Ninja War there was a "Flee on sight" order on the Fourth Hokage, with RunOrDie heavily implied.

* An early SilverAge ''CaptainAmerica'' story has Rick Jones seeing Cap is in trouble and a {{Mook}} tries to silence him. Rick manages to take him down and a mate with a club as well, but as others are approaching, Rick remembers Cap's lesson that only a fool fights impossible odds. So, Rick decides he must make a break for it to get help and manages to escape. Just as the goons decide that they can subdue Captain America and get away before TheCavalry can arrive, Cap appears and takes them on considering for a OneManArmy like himself, two dozen to one is hardly impossible odds to him.

* The Agents from ''TheMatrix'', providing the page quote. The sequels [[VillainDecay downgrade]] most of them to {{Elite Mook}}s at best for Neo after he's become The One, though they still remain significant threats to protagonists other than him and [[BigBad Smith]] remains the most dangerous of them all.
* In the original ''{{Terminator}}'', though the sequels tend to focus more on the Terminators fighting ''each other''.
* In the original ''LordOfTheRings'', Gandalf simply says of the Balrog "The counter-spell was terrible. It almost broke me... swords are no use here!" and a little later "this foe is beyond any of you." In [[Film/LordOfTheRings the film]], [[TalkingIsAFreeAction after explaining to them]] [[MrExposition what a Balrog is]], he helpfully adds ''"...RUN!"''

* In RobertEHoward's ''Literature/ShadowsInTheMoonlight'' and ''Literature/ThePoolOfTheBlackOne'', ConanTheBarbarian faces this. But then, both times he was dealing with what were effectively {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.

* The Labyrinth dragons in the ''DeathGateCycle'' are so dangerous (Even by the standards of a DeathWorld where the inhabitants face EverythingTryingToKillYou - including the geography) that most people run for their lives if they even ''think'' that there's one in the area. If they do fight, it isn't to kill the dragon, it's to force the dragon to kill them quickly instead of slowly torturing them to death. The only Patryn in the history of the Labyrinth to fight a dragon and ''win'' is Xar.

* Near the end of {{Buffy the Vampire Slayer}} season 5, the Scooby Gang decide this is all they can do against [[PhysicalGod Glorificus]].

** Your odds against the Weeping Angels from "Blink" and the "The Time of Angels"/"Flesh and Stone" two-parter, also StevenMoffat episodes, are only slightly better. By being very lucky, our heroes trick them into being stuck in the former and being destroyed in the latter.

* CyranoDeBergerac: At act I, [[GiftedlyBad Actor Montfleury]], who has dared defy Cyrano prohibition to act, makes his choice after [[HeroicSociopath Cadet]] [[JerkAss Cyrano]] claps a third time: He runs for his life. Later, The Bore also makes his choice, when after bothering Cyrano too much, he literally kicks his ass. It was the correct choice for both of them.

[[folder:WebOriginal]]
* [[OmnicidalManiac The Blood Red King]] is one of two [[PhysicalGod Omega Level Metahumans]] in the ''GlobalGuardiansPBEMUniverse''. Being the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Terror and Fear with NewPowersAsThePlotDemands, he's the one foe no one '''''ever''''' wants to engage in a standup fight. The only ones who have knew they were making a HeroicSacrifice so other people could get away. The only hero who ever succeeded in beating him was Amnesty, the AnthropomorphicPersonification of Kindness and Mercy. She is the setting's ''other'' [[PhysicalGod Omega]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:WebComics]]
* ''{{Goblins}}'' - When facing down [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/03252011/ Mr. Fingers]], a [[EldritchAbomination monstrosity]] from whom [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04082011/ one touch]] will [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04152011/ melt you]] [[BodyHorror to purple goo]], there's really only [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04262011/ one]] [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04292011/ response.]]
** Ironically it does end up being fought... and goes down. [[spoiler: At a tragic cost.]]
-->[[spoiler: "I... told ya... I... do... the eating."]]
* ''{{Roza}}'': [[http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/?date=2007-05-08 "You can't beat this guy. Just run!"]]
* DoubleSubverted in AnotherGamingComic, during a Matrix-pastiche arc. The Agents are hyped up as unkillable, unstoppable monsters who, if you do somehow manage to kill them once, will just come back again. Since the protagonists are highly talented power gamers, their first encounter with an Agent results in the agent getting one (high-damage) hit in and then getting [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome vaporized.]] The heroes then proceed to run away very quickly, [[ConversationalTroping explaining it]] to [[TheLoonie Nuclear Dan]] as they go.
-->'''Joe Chaos:''' He will win eventually, [[ImplacableMan if only by attrition.]]
* In ''Webcomic/NoRestForTheWicked'', [[http://www.forthewicked.net/archive/01-44.html Perrault's reaction to Red's appearing.]]
[[/folder]]

* Quite a few from the FinalFantasy series:

*** A minor example is the T-Rexaur, a ''[[TyrannosaurusRex goddamn T. rex]]'' encountered in Balamb Garden's training center and the forest nearby, which you are repeatedly warned about by various characters. It ''will'' kill you early in the game (unless you've already abused the Junction system to GameBreaker levels). The first time you encounter one with Quistis in your party, she even tells you to run away, just in case you missed the other warnings. [[ZigZaggedTrope She also tells you exactly how to defeat it (junction Sleep to your status attack), as the T-Rexaur is absolutely vulnerable to the Sleep effect.]]

* Invoked in ''{{Halo}}'' when you first encounter [[TheVirus The Flood]]. After the cutscene introducing them, the game changes your mission objectives to, quite simply, "Escape!". You can ''try'' to kill every Flood you see, but the cost in health and ammo will be high; you're better off running from most of them and fighting only when you can't avoid it.

* Guild Wars has a few examples

* ''PrinceOfPersia: Warrior Within'' has your encounters with the Dahaka [[spoiler:except in the true ending, by which point you'll have a weapon that can kill it]]. All you can do is run away and try to find somewhere where it can't get to you.
* In ''{{Metroid}} Fusion'', the SA-X is ridiculously overpowered compared to Samus, being comparable to your power level at the end of ''Super'' and Samus being gimped by her new weakness to cold and a suit that doesn't protect her much. Your friendly AI commander actually gives you this instruction in as many words. As you progress through the game, you go from hiding, to running from, to preventing from following, and finally combat at the very end of the game.
* True to the film series, the video game adapatation of ''{{Terminator}}: Salvation'' treats the T-600 series like this, especially the first few times you run into them. They're insanely durable, have [[GatlingGood mini-]][[MoreDakka guns]] as their default weapons, and just ''keep coming''. If you try and stay and fight the first time just ''one'' shows up, it ''will'' kill you. Later battles are only possible to win because you have lots of cover, [[StuffBlowingUp explosives]], and [[MoreDakka gun emplacements of your own]].

* The "Tycoon Wil" scenario in ''SagaFrontier2'' - it's a HopelessBossFight in which all you can do is defend until the "Run" option comes up enough times for the ending cutscene to trigger.

* In one of the third round of missions in ''JediAcademy'', a mutated rancor appears and you have to run away from it through the entire level (while fighting dozens of dark Jedi) until you can achieve an environmental kill. In an earlier level, you have to help prisoners escape from a rancor pit, usually by leading the rancor away from their group while they RunOrDie.
* The first two ''PaperMario'' games have Clefts. If examined, you'll be warned that sometimes there's no shame in running. There's one fight in the second game you can't win, though losing that one instead of running away doesn't result in Game Over anyway.
* Mother 3. The Chimera Factory. The [[OneHitKill Ultimate Chimera.]] If it touches you or any member of your party, that's it. No HopelessBossFight, just a cutscene where the Chimera chomps down and the screen quickly turns red before you get to the Game Over screen.
* ''FatalFrame'' final boss ghosts are like this whenever you encounter them prior to the end of the game. All of the games have a sequence where the main character must just run the hell away from the invincible ghost, lest she catch you and end your game instantly (interestingly, with the exception of the Kusabi, all of these ghosts are female). The third game has the FinalBoss as a RandomEncounter throughout (hint:RUN!), and also reintroduces the Kusabi from ''II'' in the [[NostalgiaLevel Minakami Village]] areas. Though you can fight him off once or twice, it's really a better idea to just flee. [[BossInMookClothing He's freaking tough.]]
* WorldOfWarcraft: In the dungeon Halls of Reflection, after beating a couple preliminary bosses the final "boss" consists of running from the Lich King until help arrives.
* {{Pikmin 2}} features the [[MurderWater Water Wraith]] in one dungeon, which cannot be killed except with a Pikmin variety that cannot be brought in and can only be created at the last floor. Once it drops down, you haul ass to the exit.

* The [[ImplacableMan Hunter]] in ''DeadSpace''. You can attack it if you want, but it won't have any effect beyond briefly slowing him down. In order to escape, you have to lead it to the appropriate place to turn it into a [[HumanPopsicle Mutant Alien Zombie Popsicle]]; later on you have to do the whole thing ''again'', but this time you get to KillItWithFire.

* In RobertEHoward's "Literature/{{Shadows in the Moonlight}}" and "Literature/{{The Pool of the Black One}}", ConanTheBarbarian faces this. But then, both times he was dealing with what were effectively {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.

* In RobertEHoward's "Shadows in the Moonlight" and "Pool of the Black Ones", ConanTheBarbarian faces this. But then, both times he was dealing with what were effectively {{Eldritch Abomination}}s.

* ''{{Goblins}}'' - When facing down [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/03252011/ Mr. Fingers]], a [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel horrific]] [[EldritchAbomination monstrosity]] from whom [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04082011/ one touch]] will [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04152011/ melt you]] [[BodyHorror to purple goo]], there's really only [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04262011/ one]] [[http://www.goblinscomic.com/04292011/ response.]]

* Mother 3. The Chimera Factory. The [[OneHitKill Ultimate Chimera.]] If it touches you or any member of your party, that's it. No HopelessBossFight, just a cutscene where [[AccidentalNightmareFuel the Chimera chomps down and the screen quickly turns red]] before you get to the Game Over screen.

* ''{{Manga/Sekirei}}'': When the [[RedBaron Black Sekirei]], [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Karasuba]], decides to fight the weaker duo of Mitsuha and Akitsu, the latter tells the former to run or she'll die. Mitsuha ignores the warning and is [[CurbStompBattle quickly killed]] while Akitsu [[KnowWhenToFoldEm ran away and lived]].

->''A little piece of advice. You see an Agent, you do what we do. Run. You run your ass off.''

The key to this trope is that the threat is very powerful, but also impossible to predict. After all, if you can see it coming and avoid it, then it's not very scary, is it? But when it could show up almost anywhere, virtually without warning, and there's nothing you can do but hope to escape, then ''that's'' goddamn terrifying.

* Every enemy in ''[[AmnesiaTheDarkDescent Amnesia: The Dark Descent]]''. You have no means of self-defense, so if you encounter a monster, your only hope is to run as fast as you can and hide until the monster stops chasing you.

* Every enemy in ''[[AmnesiaTheDarkDescent Amnesia: The Dark Descent]]''. The game has no combat, so if you encounter a monster your only hope is to run away and hide until it wanders away.

*** A minor example is the T-Rexaur, a ''[[TyrannosaurusRex goddamn T. rex]]'' encountered in Balamb Garden's training center and the forest nearby, which you are repeatedly warned about by various characters. It ''will'' kill you early in the game (unless you've already abused the Junction system to GameBreaker levels). The first time you encounter one with Quistis in your party, she even tells you to run away, just in case you missed the other warnings.