History Main / UndignifiedDeath

* Hundreds of people die each year by straining so hard to get a poo out, they burst a blood vessel in their brains.
** [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfHanover George II]] of Great Britain died roughly in this manner: after having his morning hot chocolate, he went to the royal loo to work on his morning exertions (which were always rather difficult, as the royal diet was rich in meats and low in fiber). However, instead of bursting a blood vessel in the brain, he blew out his aorta. This is because some things like major heart attacks or pulmonary embolisms can cause the sensation of urgently needing to defecate, causing the victim to retreat to the toilet without realizing the real cause immediately. By then, it's too late.

* Another famous conquerer, UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, is said to have died from injuries caused by falling off his horse after drinking too much. For a culture like the Mongols where you are BornInTheSaddle, this was viewed as a very embarrassing way to go out.

* There are more rumors surrounding UsefulNotes/AttilaTheHun's death than fan-rumors about deaths on ''Series/GameOfThrones''. Most historians agree he died during his wedding feast to his latest wife, Ildikó. (Far from his first.) While some claim she murdered him and as a result, was killed by his soldiers, this is unlikely. (Given the ruthlessness the Huns show to traitors, her fate would have been far worse.) A more likely reason was that he ate and drank too much at the feast and later suffered from internal bleeding or choked on his own blood, or maybe injured himself while drunk and bled to death. The most undignified rumor, however, was that he was into a CasualKink, and that Ildikó playfully punched him in the nose during sex, causing a nosebleed that made him choke until he choked to death. If true, this means one of the most dreaded and feared barbarian lords in history died after being punched in the nose. [[IWasBeatenByAGirl By a girl.]] During sex.

* Another famous conquerer, UsefulNotes/GenghisKhan, is said to have died from injuries caused by falling off his horse. For a culture like the Mongols where you are BornInTheSaddle, this was viewed as a very embarrassing way to go out.

** ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceDualDestinies'': Rex Kyubi/Ginji Kyuubi was not only was he drugged by Tenma's aide so he would be fast asleep and unable to defend himself, but the killer used his one of his spears from his weapon collection to kill him with. Not to mention his death was used to frame his own friend.

* ''Franchise/{{Danganronpa}}'': Each execution is specifically designed with the verb "humiliating" in mind... along with "[[DeathByIrony ironic]]", "[[BlackComedy outlandish]]", and of course, "[[CruelAndUnusualDeath brutal]]". Of course, this isn't to say that some of the murders don't apply, as to be expected of a DeadlyGame.
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc'':
*** Mondo gets tied to a motorcycle which moves so fast the g-forces turn him into about the consistency of ''butter''. Which Monokuma then eats on pancakes.
*** While Kiyotaka's death- being bashed on the head with a large wooden hammer- isn't humiliating, he's killed ''right'' after getting some character development, and the circumstances surrounding Hifumi's death quickly draw his classmates' attention so he's [[ForgottenFallenFriend barely even mourned]].
*** Hifumi gets clobbered on the back of the head after being played like an absolute fiddle by Celestia, who tells him a blatantly transparent lie to get him involved in the cover-up of his own death... [[SuperGullible which he never once questions]].
*** Celes is supposed to be [[BurnTheWitch burned at the stake]], and is even seen standing at her own pyre... and then Monokuma denies her the sort of dramatic death she would have wanted by [[DeathByAmbulance running her over with a firetruck]].
*** Mukuro's death is this with the advantage of hindsight. The Ultimate Soldier who survived dozens of battles without ever once being wounded and who can fight on par with the likes of [[WorldsBestWarrior Sakura]] and [[MasterSwordsman Peko]] dies like a chump because she never expected her sister would murder her ForTheEvulz, and her classmates don't even ''know'' she's dead until Chapter 5 (as she was impersonating Junko when she was killed), by which point [[DesecratingTheDead her corpse has been blown up]].
** ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'':
*** Teruteru, a chef, is executed by being battered and deep-fried. [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill In a volcano.]]
*** Mikan gets one of the most bizarre executions in the series, being injected with something and then shot into space while tied to a giant phallic rocket arm.
** ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': In what might be the series' greatest example, Miu dies by [[ItMakesSenseInContext being strangled with toilet paper]].[[labelnote:Explanation]]The cast is inside a virtual reality simulator in which, in an ultimately unsuccessful attempt to ''prevent'' a murder, had the following safeguards in place: there were no obvious weapons available, all objects were unbreakable (so you couldn't make a sharp edge by breaking something), and everyone's strength is set to be equal. Thus, the murderer resorted to toilet paper (present in the virtual house's bathroom) as an improvised garrote because they couldn't strangle Miu with their bare hands and the toilet paper wouldn't break when wrapped around Miu's throat.[[/labelnote]]

* ''VisualNovel/RagingLoop'': Tokuji Kida, the "Old Man who Cried Wolf", is a SerialKiller with decades of experience under his belt. How does he go out in the true ending? By tripping on a grass knot and falling on his own knife while trying to stab Haruaki with it.

** Part of the BittersweetEnding of ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth'' is the implication that this will happen to [[spoiler:Kazuma Kiryu -- wasting away in a hospital, [[TheTopicOfCancer wheelchair-bound due to terminal cancer]], after around 35 years of adventure and many missed opportunities for a DyingMomentOfAwesome. Though possibly subverted with another implication that he can now peacefully FaceDeathWithDignity]].

** Part of the BittersweetEnding of ''VideoGame/LikeADragonInfiniteWealth'' is the implication that this will happen to [[spoiler:Kazuma Kiryu -- wasting away in a hospital, [[TheTopicOfCancer wheelchair-bound due to terminal cancer]], after around 35 years of adventure and many missed opportunities for a DyingMomentOfAwesome]].

* The climax of ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'' creates a stark contrast between [[Characters/GravityFallsBillCipher Bill Cipher]], who goes out [[ImmortalsFearDeath panicking and begging for his life]], and Stanley, who [[FaceDeathWithDignity accepts the erasure of his mind with dignity]].

** Joffrey Barathron's death is extremely humiliating as it is grotesque, especially since it occurs on his wedding day. To recap, Joffrey chokes on his own vomit until his face turns purple, bleeds out his eyes and pores, and violently flails in his own vomit and blood before finally dying in broad daylight where all of his subjects can witness (and [[AssholeVictim enjoy]]) his death, while his corpse looks like a bloated fish out of water.

** Joffrey Barathron's death is extremely humiliating as it is grotesque, especially since it occurs on his wedding day. To recap, Joffrey chokes on his own vomit until his face turns purple, bleeds out his eyes and pores, and violently flails in his own vomit and blood before finally dying in broad daylight where all of his subjects can witness (and [[AssholeVictim enjoy]]) his death, while his corpses looks like a bloated fish out of water.

* ''Myth/ClassicalMythology'': The tradition says Perseus died of old age, but the ''Suda'', an ancient Byzantine encyclopedia, claims he died when as an elderly man with failing eyesight, he mistakenly looked at Medusa's head.

** [[Characters/ASongOfIceAndFireTywinLannister Lord Tywin Lannister]] kills his father, Tywin, while the latter is on the privy. He even [[NoDeadBodyPoops shits himself when he dies]]. Making it worse, Tyrion killed him by shooting him in the bowels with an arrow. The dead prostitute in his bed didn't help.

** Tyrion Lannister kills his father, Tywin, while the latter is on the privy. He even [[NoDeadBodyPoops shits himself when he dies]]. Making it worse, Tyrion killed him by shooting him in the bowels with an arrow. The dead prostitute in his bed didn't help.

** Like in the book series, Tywin Lannister, one of the most powerful and feared men in Westeros, [[CampingACrapper is fatally shot with a crossbow while he's using the privy]]. It doesn't help that there's a dead prostitute in his bedroom.

** A particularly infamous incompetent executioner - to the point that his name became a euphemism for '''the Devil''' - was Jack Ketch, Charles II's incredibly incompetent headsman. He became notorious after taking a four chops with an axe to kill the condemned Lord Russel - some of which missed his neck entirely and hit his ''shoulders'' - which [[EveryoneHasStandards so horrified the normally bloodthirsty crowds]] that he had to issue an '[[YeOldEnglish Apologie]]' which consisted mainly of [[NeverMyFault blaming Russel for it.]] Later, Ketch was tasked with killing the rebellious Duke of Monmouth, who asked him to [[TemptingFate be quick about it and spare him the same horrible death as Russel]], even paying him a bribe to try and convince him. [[EpicFail Ketch took eight hits with the axe that completely failed to sever Monmouth's head, attempted to give up in frustration halfway through, and eventually abandoned the axe and took out a]] ''[[EpicFail butcher's knife]]'' [[EpicFail to finally saw his head off]]. He then had to [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere run away]] to avoid being murdered by the furious crowd. Not exactly dignified for Jack Ketch, or his victims.

* Incredibly ignoble botched executions were a common enough occurrence in pre-modern history that Henry VIII was noted for his particular mercy towards his wife Anne Boleyn by having her killed by a specially brought in French executioner, using a sword rather than an axe, to make it as quick and painless as possible. Having to take multiple hits to the neck before death was *not* unheard of.
** A particularly infamous executioner - to the point that his name became a euphemism for ***the Devil*** - was Jack Ketch, Charles II's incredibly incompetent headsman. He became notorious after taking a four chops with an axe to kill the condemned Lord Russel - some of which missed his neck entirely and hit his **shoulders** - which [[EveryoneHasStandards so horrified the normally bloodthirsty crowds]] that he had to issue an [[YeOldEnglishe 'Apologie']] which consisted mainly of [[NeverMyFault blaming Russel for it.]] Later, Ketch was tasked with killing the rebellious Duke of Monmouth, who paid him to [[TemptingFate be quick about it and spare him the same horrible death as Russel]]. [[EpicFail Ketch took eight hits with the axe that completely failed to sever Monmouth's head, attempted to give up in frustration halfway through, and eventually abandoned the axe and took out a **butcher's knife** to finally saw his head off]]. He then had to [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere run away]] to avoid being murdered by the furious crowd. Not exactly dignified for Jack Ketch, or his victims.

* William The Conqueror’s son and 2nd heir, King Henry I of England fell ill on a hunting trip after necking too many delicious sucker-faced eels against the advice of his personal physician, and posterity has recorded his demise as the result of being greedy at the all-you-can-eat seafood buffet. No, but seriously, it’s more likely the 67ish-year-old monarch passed away as a result of vomiting and diarrhoea from food poisoning. So make sure your eels are fresh!

* Louis X of France, known as '''the Quarrelsome''' (French: ''le Hutin'') and one of the last kings from direct male line of Capetian dynasty, was a keen player of '''jeu de paume''', or real tennis, and became notable as the first person to construct indoor tennis courts in the modern style. Louis was unhappy with playing tennis outdoors and accordingly had indoor, enclosed courts made in Paris. In due course this design spread across royal palaces all over Europe. [[spoiler:On 5 June 1316 at Vincennes, following a particularly exhausting game, Louis drank a large quantity of cooled wine and subsequently died of either pneumonia. ]] Because of the contemporary accounts of his death, Louis is ''history's first tennis player'' known by name.

* Boeing engineer Kenneth Pinyan had an unfortunate fatal accident at a ranch offering... [[BestialityIsDepraved very unusual services]] in Washington State, demonstrating that a) going OutWithABang is not ''always'' a GreatWayToGo and b) it's surprising what there AintNoRule against in some jurisdictions. (Though the state government [[ObviousRulePatch fixed that]] ''very'' soon afterward.) To add insult to injury, videos of his sexual escapades [[MemeticMutation went viral on the Internet]] after his death, causing him to become infamous as "Mr. Hands". The documentary ''Film/{{Zoo}}'' covers his untimely demise, and the eponymous event in ''Film/TheDeathOfDickLong'' is based on the circumstances surrounding it.

* King John ''Lackland'' of England, whose violent and autocratic reign earnt him his status as one of the big bad villains in Robin Hood lore and English history, died due to dysentery, while fighting rebel barons, and losing belongings, including the English Crown Jewels, as he crossed one of the tidal estuaries which empties into the Wash, being sucked in by quicksand and whirlpools.

* Gigi Cestone from ''Series/TheSopranos'' suffers a heart attack while constipated on a strip club toilet and surrounded by porn magazines. The series finale puts it best:
-->'''Tony''' ''(to Agent Harris):'' Gigi died takin' a shit!

** ''TabletopGame/WarhammerFantasyRoleplay:'' The Knights of the Everlasting Light, after committing an atrocity during a holy war, were cursed with [[BornUnlucky supernaturally terrible luck]]. While their history boasts its fair share of bravery and heroism, those same heroes inevitably go on to die in humiliating fashion outside of battle, such as by choking on food or falling down flights of stairs.

* Kimura's death in ''ComicBook/AllNewWolverine'' isn't particularly ''embarrassing'', but it's not pretty, and certainly not a grand final struggle between her and Laura. Instead, Laura takes advantage of the fact that for all her modifications and immunities, Kimura still needs to ''breathe'', and unceremoniously drowns her in the ocean off Madripoor.
* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':

* Few would have called ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}}'s death undignified; he died with every important hero in the Marvel Universe, and even his [[ArchEnemy hated enemies]] the Skrulls at his side, mourning and paying their respects. However, when his spirit was met in the afterlife years later, he was rather upset to have died of cancer and not having fallen in battle, being a ProudWarriorRaceGuy.
* Cyclops, the first [[Franchise/XMen X-Man]], leader and revolutionary, is believed by some to have died in his attempt to stop the Terrigen Mists from killing Mutants. ''ComicBook/DeathOfX'' reveals that he actually died by M-Pox, suffocating when he first encountered the Terrigen Mists. His death horrified ComicBook/EmmaFrost so badly that she essentially created that lie.

* Creator/GarthEnnis likes these:
** ''ComicBook/{{Preacher}}'':
*** Marseille, having learned that the organization he's been serving most of his life is a sham, and the heavily inbred descendant of Jesus dies when the Allfather, a man so enormously fat he caused a plane to fail a landing because he wasn't sitting in the middle is pushed from a helicopter, landing on them.
*** The racist asshole sheriff was forced by Jesse's voice-of-God command to "go fuck himself", and committed suicide after he severed his penis and, well, [[NotHyperbole fucked himself]].
*** UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}} did not die on the Cross. His resurrection and ascension into Heaven is a well-fabricated lie to cover up his escape. He lived until he was 48 years old and was run over by an offal cart and then, in fact, died.
*** Tulip's father Jake was shot in the back of the head while taking a shit in the woods. A fellow hunter mistook him for a deer.
** ''ComicBook/ThePunisher'': The Russian is ([[WhyWontYouDie eventually]]) defeated when Frank manages to trip his morbidly obese neighbor onto him and weigh him down for twenty minutes. His second, final death is better, dropped out of a plane while chained to a nuclear bomb, laughing all the while.
** In the side-story to ''ComicBook/TheAuthority'', Kev, [[AuthorTract an important British government official]] (actually an alien in disguise) demands to be given a prostitute. Kev's team takes him to one of their houses, where the girl freaks out and runs away to reveal the guy wearing garters, tights and an orange shoved up his ass. The team shoves him into the basement as they've been followed by paparazzi. Unfortunately, it also turns out the house's owner had rescued and kept an adult male tiger in the basement...
** ''ComicBook/TheBoys'': Butcher reveals the less flattering details of superheroes' deaths, including one who drowned in jizz. Another had a live hamster in his rectum.
*** UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush decapitated himself in a bizarre incident involving a chainsaw at his ranch in Texas.
*** Incumbent President Robert "Dakota Bob" Shaefer was killed by a rabid wolverine released by Vic the Veep (he thought it was a pet rabbit). A Vough executive was chewed out for joking the animal was "[[ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} the best at what he does]]".
*** Fanatical Nazi superhero and [[ComicBook/{{Shazam}} Captain Marvel]][=/=][[ComicBook/TheMightyThor Thor]] knockoff Stormfront was stomped to death, in true Skinhead fashion, by people representing the allied forces during UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
** ''ComicBook/JenniferBlood'': An AmoralAttorney is killed dressed in, again, tights and with an orange up his ass, and seemingly while engaged in autoerotic asphyxiation.
* During the climax of the Eppy Thatcher arc of ''ComicBook/{{Grendel}}'', villainous TortureTechnician and IgnoredEnamoredUnderling Mother Aimee is shot in the back, falls into a giant vat of crushed bananas, and drowns. (Yes, there was a plot reason for the bananas.)
* When ''ComicBook/JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'' isn't giving a CruelAndUnusualDeath, it's this. In his Twitter, he mentions he killed someone with a [[NoodleImplements cheeto]].
* ComicBook/JonahHex's death is almost deliberately anticlimactic--he was shot by a no-name robber in the middle of a card game while putting on his glasses--but not particularly silly, as an homage to the death of "Wild Bill" Hickok. However, the final fate of his corpse certainly is: he was embalmed, stuffed, put in a goofy outfit, and turned into a roadside attraction.
* It's hard to imagine a more undignified death than having your gonads bit off by ''ComicBook/LesbianZombiesFromOuterSpace''.
* Cypher getting shot in ''ComicBook/NewMutants'' had shades of this. He died in the background from a gutshot while a massive battle was being waged.
%%* Baron Strucker in ''ComicBook/SecretWarriors''.

* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': Carl King/The Thousand, one of Peter's bullies who became a HiveMind of spiders. He shows up, talks a big game... and then Spider-Man electrocutes all but one to death. That final spider escapes, vowing revenge- only to immediately get stepped on by a bystander. And that was the end of Carl King, no clones, alternate universe counterparts, or resurrections of any sort.
* In ''ComicBook/SpiderVerse'' an alternate version of Spider-Cat is drained of its life force by Bora after [[PeoplePuppets being used to taunt Brix that she got the kill and he didn't.]]
* Almost every death scene in ''ComicBook/TheTransformersLastStandOfTheWreckers'' is undignified, as part of the comic's {{Deconstruction}} of WarIsGlorious. [[spoiler:Rotorstorm]] gets his brains blown out about ten seconds into the mission. [[spoiler:The Jumpstarters]] die switching on a computer. [[spoiler:Snare]] is shot in the head and spends a few moments rolling in agony before being {{Mercy Kill}}ed. [[spoiler:Pyro]] makes a stand against a Decepticon horde [[HeroicSacrifice to save his friends]] and gets [[{{Gorn}} graphically]] ripped to shreds in lieu of a glorious LastStand. [[spoiler:Ironfist]] survives the mission... just to [[YankTheDogsChain die of a brain aneurysm a day later]]. These are just the main characters that die; many of the supporting cast and extras get even worse.

* Some characters in ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' die within some inconvenient ways. Dollar Bill was killed by a regular thug when his cape got stuck in a revolving door. The Silhouette was found dead with her lesbian lover hacked up in their bed. Masochistic supervillain Captain Carnage (who gets his kicks off of provoking superheroes into [[TooKinkyToTorture beating him up]]) died when [[TooDumbToLive he tried this tactic]] on [[SociopathicHero Rorschach]], who promptly dropped him down an elevator shaft.
* In Silver Surfer (1999), after battling with one of Thanos's monsters, it is transformed into a tiny furry creature. Later, when encountered by Nebula, she notes how the pathetic creature at her feet had fought well for her father, and then nonchalantly crushes it beneath her boot.

* PlayedForDrama in FanFilm ''The Death Of Batman'', where [[Franchise/{{Batman}} the titular character]] is chained to a bar by a lowly thug, then beaten, drugged, violated, and [[spoiler:ForcedToWatch the thug [[DrivenToSuicide commit suicide]]]]. This pushes Batman past the DespairEventHorizon, and [[DeathByDespair he overdoses himself]]. This is an especially bad way to go as Gotham's HopeBringer.

* In ''VideoGame/Yakuza1'', Sohei Dojima is shot in his own office by his own underling while in the midst of raping a woman.

* Robert P. Wadlow, the tallest documented human in the world (Just under 9 feet tall!), required leg braces and a cane in order to walk. In July 1940, one of his leg braces was not put on properly and gave him a nasty infection that killed him about a week later. He was only 22 years old.

* In ''[[Webcomic/JackDavidHopkins]]'', a soldier is said to have died after accidentally taking a shit on a landmine. [[BlackComedy The one telling the story finds it hilarious.]]