History Main / YouShouldHaveDiedInstead

* ''Series/HometownChaChaCha'': Do-ha's father’s death is revealed to be part of the tragedy that caused Du-sik to leave his high-paying job. At the funeral, the wife, blaming Du-sik, told him that he should have died instead.

* ''Series/NeverHaveIEver'': Hours before her dad died, Davi heard her mom tell him that she was tired of putting up with Davi and she was through with her, [[IHaveNoSon saying she was no longer her child]]. A year later, a fight with her mom triggers the memory, and Davi tearfully tells her that she wished her mom had died that night instead.

* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Bambi II}}'', after Bambi learns that his father was planning on sending him away to live with another doe (a deal that his father was about to cut off from), he angrily snaps at his father, going as far as to say that he wish his mother with him instead of his father.

On the other hand, if you, DirtyCoward that you are, survived by sacrificing the other character, expect no mercy. Compare IWishedYouWereDead. Saying this can occur during a MomentOfWeakness.

* In ''Fanfic/ArcCorp'', Jaune gets this sentiment from his family in regards to his mother's death, as she died while saving him during a mission when he was younger. To Blake's dismay, even [[spoiler:Juniper blames him, as her first thought every time she's revived is that she probably would have lived and not succumbed to the Mountain Glenn anomaly if anyone else was with her that day]].

* In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7775877/10/Lily-Potter-s-Biggest-Secret Lily Potter's Biggest Secret]]'' [[RonTheDeathEater Ron]] tells some vicious lies about Harry, Hermione, and Snape to a ''Daily Prophet'' reporter in a bid for attention. Mama Weasley is Not Happy.

* Played with in the ''Manga/MagiTheLabyrinthOfMagic'' fic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12180569/1/Where-I-Reign Where I Reign]]. Arba, who is trying to complete her GrandTheftMe on her daughter Hakuei's body, tries to torment her into giving up the will to live and stop fighting her for control. This includes telling her how inferior she is to her dead [[TheGoodKing father]] and [[WarriorPrince brothers]], and how little her life is worth compared to theirs. Hakuei...''agrees.''

* In ''Fanfic/InfinityTrainKnightOfTheOrangeLily'', [[spoiler:Grace kills the kind leader of the 400 Rabbits Car, Utahoshi, and didn't feel sorry about it. Tokio is in tears and wishes that ''she'' died instead of him for being an unsympathetic apathetic ''bitch'' who only thinks about herself and not others. Then two stories later, he gets his wish as Grace gets murdered by a denizen.]]
* In Creator/SetaSuzume's ''Your Own Kind'', the fianceé of Beto's district partner unsubtly indicates that he wishes she'd lived and Beto had died. Beto himself seems to agree (in an InsaneTrollLogic way), and feels that he needs to save a District 3 female tribute to restore the balance and make it feel as if his district partner were alive again.

** In fact, Bruce had ''tried'', yelling out "Harvey! I'm Batman!" just beforehand, but no one could hear him over the screaming of the others.
--->'''Batman''': If Bruce Wayne could have given his life for your family, he would have.

* In ''Series/{{Awake}}'', Rex says this of his father, though, in a realistic spin, he's ashamed of it.

* In ''Series/TheHauntingOfHillHouse'', Hugh's attempt to tell his kids the supernatural reality they're living under during the funeral of [[spoiler: Nell]] causes Steve (who believes it's hereditary mental illness rather than a haunting that caused their mother to commit suicide) to snap and scream at him that the wrong parent died that night. [[spoiler: Nell's ghost seemingly shoves her own casket to the ground to shut them up.]]

* In ''[[VisualNovel/ItLives It Lives In The Woods]]'', Noah's mother frequently tells him that he should have died instead of his twin sister Jane ever since they went into Mr. Red's house.

* ''VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony'': [[spoiler:During the final battle between Shuichi and the Audience, it keeps being mentioned that Shuichi should have died instead of Kaede]].

* In ''Series/{{Peacemaker}}'' Auggie repeatedly compares his surviving son unfavorably to his brother and says he should have been the one that died. What we see of him suggests that had he lived he would have been just as big a disappointment to his father, sharing many of the traits he considers Peacemaker's flaws (such as a love of [[SexDrugsAndRockAndRoll rock and roll]] and [[RightWingMilitiaFanatic not being a white supremacist]]).

** Van also picks this up from other characters. He'd been doing an ObfuscatingStupidity routine, playing up a sneering brat persona and pretending violent homophobia towards Tylendel to hide their SecretRelationship. As a consequence almost everyone who liked Tylendel hated Vanyel's guts. Knowing only that the two had been in some dramatic incident that ended with Tylendel dead and Vanyel alive, empowered, and Chosen, people who would normally have been sympathetic to Van were horrified and angry. They all had, again, enough manners not to tell him this but, again, he'd just been [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead made extremely psychic]].

* Played with in the ''Manga/{{Magi}}'' fic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/12180569/1/Where-I-Reign Where I Reign]]. Arba, who is trying to complete her GrandTheftMe on her daughter Hakuei's body, tries to torment her into giving up the will to live and stop fighting her for control. This includes telling her how inferior she is to her dead [[TheGoodKing father]] and [[WarriorPrince brothers]], and how little her life is worth compared to theirs. Hakuei...''agrees.''

Sometimes used in family situations to {{lampshade}} that the target of the comment is TheUnfavourite. A variation might be "I should have aborted you," [[AMistakeIsBorn "You were an accident"]] or something similar. An easy KickTheDog (or MoralEventHorizon) line. On the other hand, there are cases when Bob is right, and that if Carol had died, Alice would have lived (and, on occasion, that Carol should have died instead). This can lead to a WellDoneSonGuy relationship when it comes to a father-son dynamic.

Sometimes used in family situations to {{lampshade}} that the target of the comment is TheUnfavourite. A variation might be "I should have aborted you," "You were an accident" or something similar. An easy KickTheDog (or MoralEventHorizon) line. On the other hand, there are cases when Bob is right, and that if Carol had died, Alice would have lived (and, on occasion, that Carol should have died instead). This can lead to a WellDoneSonGuy relationship when it comes to a father-son dynamic.

** Van also picks this up from other characters. He'd been doing an ObfuscatingStupidity routine, playing up a sneering brat persona and pretending violent homophobia towards Tylendel to hide their SecretRelationship. As a consequence almost everyone who liked Tylendel hated Vanyel's guts. They were horrified and angry to hear that Tylendel had died and Vanyel had lived and been Chosen. They all had, again, enough manners not to tell him this but, again, he'd just been [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead made extremely psychic]].

* In Creator/MercedesLackey's ''Literature/LastHeraldMageTrilogy'', Vanyel, who is grieving and shocked from the loss of his lover Tylendel and being landed with half-a-dozen psychic gifts at once, gets this reaction from the Herald who is watching over him. While the man would never have said it out loud, Vanyel has just become an ''extremely'' powerful telepath and hearing those thoughts pushes him over the edge and into a suicide attempt.
** Van also picks this up from other characters. He'd been doing an ObfuscatingStupidity routine, playing up a sneering brat persona and pretending violent homophobia towards Tylendel to hide their relationship. As a consequence almost everyone who liked Tylendel hated Vanyel's guts and were horrified and angry to hear that Tylendel had died and Vanyel had lived and been Chosen. They all had, again, enough manners not to tell him this but, again, he'd just been made extremely psychic.

* In ''LightNovel/NoGameNoLife'', near the start of Volume 6/the movie, Riku orders Ivan, a fellow human, to make a HeroicSacrifice to enable everyone else to escape. When Riku gets home and [[BearerOfBadNews delivers the bad news to Ivan's daughter, Nonna]], Nonna bursts into tears and says Riku should have died instead.

* ''Film/AvengersEndgame'' reveals that [[spoiler:[[ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}} Clint Barton]]]] lost his entire family to [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar the Decimation]], and is coping with it by traveling the world butchering criminal groups who ''weren't'' dusted. When a {{yakuza}} boss asks for his motive, [[spoiler:Clint]] responds with this trope.