History Main / WhatIsOneMansLifeInComparison

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}'', Fry was originally frozen so he'd survive long enough to save the universe in the year 3000, but because [[spoiler:the Nibblonians]] were afraid he'd say "no", they never gave him a choice in the matter.

** The next time was when [[NewGods Mister Miracle's]] friend Oberon was kidnapped by Granny Goodness and Miracle asked help from the League. J'onn refused because it would only help to put order into Apokolips, thus risking them turning their attention to Earth. Apparently he thought Flash wasn't looking at the big picture when he wanted to help. Flash thought the league was all about helping.

* In ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'', J'onn Jonzz, the MartianManhunter really seemed to have taken to using this trope. When Doctor Fate attempted to reason with AMAZO, who had been walking all over the entire League, J'onn pulled this trope. And Fate's response?

* At the end of ''BloodOmen: VideoGame/LegacyOfKain'', Kain is given the choice between sacrificing his own life to restore balance to the world, or using the power he has accumulated to "rule the world in its ruination" - and furthermore, he had been deliberately manipulated towards this end, by someone who expected him to make the 'selfless' choice. He refuses, and so the sequel ''Soul Reaver'' kicks off in the CrapsackWorld that results. As the MindScrew threads of the TimeyWimeyBall are slowly unravelled, and the true identity of TheManBehindTheMan is revealed, however, it turns out that Kain's decision was the ''better'' option for the world. If he DID sacrifice himself, it would only condemn the world to dance at the strings of an unknowable EldritchAbomination. After Kain learns this, he chose to appear as a villain, while carefully engineering the timestream, pushing it to the point where he could "make the coin land on the edge", creating a [[TakeAThirdOption Third Option]] for the dilemma.

* At the end of ''BloodOmen: LegacyOfKain'', Kain is given the choice between sacrificing his own life to restore balance to the world, or using the power he has accumulated to "rule the world in its ruination" - and furthermore, he had been deliberately manipulated towards this end, by someone who expected him to make the 'selfless' choice. He refuses, and so the sequel ''Soul Reaver'' kicks off in the CrapsackWorld that results. As the MindScrew threads of the TimeyWimeyBall are slowly unravelled, and the true identity of TheManBehindTheMan is revealed, however, it turns out that Kain's decision was the ''better'' option for the world. If he DID sacrifice himself, it would only condemn the world to dance at the strings of an unknowable EldritchAbomination. After Kain learns this, he chose to appear as a villain, while carefully engineering the timestream, pushing it to the point where he could "make the coin land on the edge", creating a [[TakeAThirdOption Third Option]] for the dilemma.

* In ''{{Marilith}}'', one corrupt cop says this about letting [[PsychoForHire Valentino]] [[note]]who's busy killing other gangs[[/note]] roam free:

* In ''JusticeLeague'', J'onn Jonzz, the MartianManhunter really seemed to have taken to using this trope. When Doctor Fate attempted to reason with AMAZO, who had been walking all over the entire League, J'onn pulled this trope. And Fate's response?

* In ''{{Bokurano}}'', the pilots of Zearth, once chosen, have 48 hours to complete their battle- [[spoiler:the loser's universe is destroyed]], and the chosen pilots die even if they win, from having their life force drained to power Zearth. Naturally, some of them do not take this well, especially not [[spoiler:Chizu]], who, learning that she is going to die, [[spoiler:plans to kill the men who gang-raped her, having planned on a murder-suicide until she discovered she was pregnant]].

A character is expected to make some sort HeroicSacrifice for the greater good, either BecauseDestinySaysSo or UtopiaJustifiesTheMeans. The only problem is... nobody ever told him. When he disagrees with his apparent fate, whoever expects him to give up his life ''willingly'' expresses the sentiment of "What is one man's life worth when weighed against the entire world?" or something similar.

* ''[[VideoGame/FireEmblemAwakening Fire Emblem: Awakening]]'' puts this trope's words in [[spoiler:the Avatar's]] mouth near the end, to [[HeartwarmingMoments powerful]] [[TearJerker effect]].

'''Optimus:''' You'll never stop at one.

Compare AMillionIsAStatistic and WhatYouAreInTheDark

-->'''[[spoiler:Nibbler]]''': What is one life, when weighed against the entire universe?\\

* ''{{Naruto}}'': The Fourth Hokage [[spoiler:discusses this with Kushina about]] sealing the Nine-Tailed Demon Fox into [[spoiler:their son]] Naruto, damning him to a childhood of loneliness and misery, in order to protect the village and country.

* In ''StrangerThanFiction'', the protagonist is told that he should allow the writer to kill him off, as the contribution to the world's literature as a whole is more important than his own life. It's implied that he [[spoiler: ultimately decides to sacrifice himself, not to for literature's sake, but to save a little boy. This ends up prompting the writer to rethink her whole approach.]]

* In ''{{Futurama}}'', Fry was originally frozen so he'd survive long enough to save the universe in the year 3000, but because [[spoiler:the Nibblonians]] were afraid he'd say "no", they never gave him a choice in the matter.

* In an old ''Comicbook/SpiderMan'' comic he ends up fighting over an antidote against the Inhumans. Spider-Man needs it to save the life of a man who saved him and MJ from being hit by a truck, the Inhumans need it to prevent a doomsday device from destroying the world. After they fight Spidey finally explains why needs it and Black Bolt flies to the hospital with the rest of the antidote. In the end Gorgon tells Spider-Man that saving the entire world was important enough to risk the death of the man, since what is one life compared to all others. Spider-Man's reply is along the lines "If you have to ask, you will never know the answer."

* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Doctor leaves a lot of people as necessary victims of history, time or (in)convenience, sometimes directly against their will. He gets the other part of the rope in ''[[Recap/DoctorWhoNSS4E17E18TheEndOfTime The End Of Time]]'', where he [[ScrewDestiny revolts against destiny]] as being more important and having the power to do much more before [[spoiler:entering into the ready-to-kill chamber]].
** And occasionally, and memorably, he'll absolutely ''refuse'' to make the sacrifice: one example is Pete Tyler, Rose's father, whose rescue from his would-be death upsets the timestream to the point that the entire planet is apparently on the brink of destruction, and the Doctor ''refuses'' to kill Pete again--even at the cost of his own life.

-->'''[[spoiler:Nibbler]]''': What is one life, when weighed against the entire universe?!\\
'''Fry''': ''(distraught)'' BUT IT'S ''MY'' LIFE!

* In ''Babylon 5'' this is invoked to G'Kar by Ambassador Kosh (appearing as G'Kar's father, "Some must be sacrificed so that all may be saved." The encounter changes G'Kar from a revenge-driven Narn patriot into a self-sacrifical warrior.

-->''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}

-->'''[[spoiler:Nibbler]]:''' What is one life weighed against the entire universe?
-->'''Fry:''' But it was ''my'' life!
--->--''{{Futurama}}'', "The Why Of Fry"

* In ''{{Marilith}}'', one corrupt cop says this about letting [[PsychoForHire Valentino]] [[hottip:*:who's busy killing other gangs]] roam free:

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', [[spoiler: Kyubey has this mindset, which is pretty much a requirement when it's your job to harvest the despair of those that become Witches and die doing so. In fact it can't think any other way: it has no emotions, and therefore sees everything through logic and reason. Sacrificing one life for the good of many others is a ''logical'' (if not always moral) thing to do, so naturally it views this as acceptable.]]

* In ''BeastWars'', Megatron asks Optimus Primal if one life isn't worth the salvation of their kind. Optimus gives a very simple answer: ''"You'd '''never''' stop at one!"''

* In ''ASongOfIceAndFire'', this is [[WellIntentionedExtremist Melisandre's]] justification for wanting to sacrifice Edric Storm. She says that the sacrifice is necessary, and if they don't do it, Edric will die anyway along with everyone else when the [[EndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Long Night]] comes.

* In EnchantressFromTheStars, if a Federation agent is captured, and it stands to reason that he or she will cannot prevent divulging the information about TheFederation, the agent is supposed to commit suicide. Of course Elana, the main protagonist is only told this ''after'' she is captured during the action which she probably wouldn't undertake had she known this beforehand.