History MurderByInaction / WesternAnimation

** In a flashback showing parts of Roku's life, Sozin leaves Roku to die when Roku accidentally inhales toxic fumes from an erupting volcano, realizing with the Avatar out of the way, Sozin can proceed with his plans of world conquest unopposed.
** In the season one finale, Zuko briefly considers doing this to Admiral Zhao when Zhao is attacked by the (giant, enraged) spirit of the oceans. After a moment's consideration, [[PetTheDog he holds out a hand to save Zhao]], but the admiral refuses to allow his despised rival to save him, and is swept away to what was presumably his death. It turns out Zhao ''really'' should have taken Zuko's hand since he reappears in the second season of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', which shows that he was transported to the Spirit World where he became a prisoner in [[PsychologicalTormentZone the Fog of Lost Souls]] for killing the Moon Spirit. Zhao [[FateWorseThanDeath has been driven to utter insanity]] there, and will apparently remain a prisoner [[AndIMustScream for all eternity]].
** Avatar Kyoshi let Chin the Conquerer fall to his death when she split her home peninsula off from the mainland. Aang points out to her towards the end of the series that she didn't actually kill him, since all she did was take a defensive action by partitioning the peninsula from the surrounding area, and Chin chose to remain on what had become an unstable cliffside afterwards until it gave way beneath him. Kyoshi replies that she sees no difference between letting him die and killing him because while his death might have been an accident, she ''was'' willing to kill him if that was what it took to stop his reign of terror or if he had taken any further action against her or her people.
** Kyoshi's friend Yun got killed in her [[Literature/TheRiseOfKyoshi tie-in novel]] by his [[DishingOutDirt earthbending]] teacher, Jianzhu, in the same manner. Yun was believed to be the Avatar, so Jianzhu offered them both up to a spirit to see who it truly was. He chose to save Kyoshi once it was confirmed that she was the real Avatar but left Yun to be taken by the spirit, fully expecting it to kill him. Yun ambiguously CameBackWrong at the climax, just to return the favor, a lot more directly.

* In the ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' episode "Send in Stewie, Please," Stewie lets the preschool therapist he was talking to slowly die from a heart attack because he doesn't want his secrets getting out.

** In "Twilight", {{ComicBook/Darkseid}} shows up in the Watchtower and asks for the League's help since Brainiac is attacking Apokolips. Superman, having suffered a lot at Darkseid's hands and expecting [[TheFarmerAndTheViper that Darkseid has an ulterior motive]], only says, "[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness Good.]]" Superman turns out to be right.
** In "The Enemy Below", Aquaman confronts his evil brother Orm who stole the Trident of Poseidon, tried to overthrow him, and put him and his baby son near a submarine volcano to kill them both off. When Orm ends up hanging over an abyss during their last fight, [[VillainsWantMercy he shamelessly begs Aquaman to save him.]] Aquaman just picks up his fallen trident while coldly saying "I believe this is mine" and [[DisneyVillainDeath lets him fall]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': A disputed occurance is seen at the end of [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS3E3WatchingAndDreaming the series finale]] once Belos is ripped from the Titan's heart. It is [[AmbiguousSituation unknown if Luz summoned (consciously or otherwise) the boiling rain]] that ended his attempt to convince her she had freed him from a curse and highly uncertain if she ''could'' have protected him, healed him, or stopped his deterioration; but it is made absolutely clear [[AllLovingHero she]] had not the slightest inclination to ''try'' offering any manner of succor (including [[MercyKill hastening an end to his final agonies]]) as he rotted alive before her. And even when Eda, King and Raine decided to stomp his remains until he's nothing but dead goo out to self-satisfied payback, she didn't intervene and just stared at him with contempt.

!!As a DeathTrope, all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse'': A disputed occurance is seen at the end of [[Recap/TheOwlHouseS3E3WatchingAndDreaming the series finale]] once Belos is ripped from the Titan's heart. It is [[AmbiguousSituation unknown if Luz summoned (consciously or otherwise) the boiling rain]] that ended his attempt to convince her she had freed him from a curse and highly uncertain if she ''could'' have protected him, healed him, or stopped his deterioration; but it is made absolutely clear [[AllLovingHero she]] had not the slightest inclination to ''try'' offering any manner of succor (including [[MercyKill hastening an end to his final agonies]]) as he rotted alive before her.

** In the season one finale, Zuko briefly considers doing this to Admiral Zhao when the latter is attacked by the (giant, enraged) spirit of the oceans. After a moment's consideration, [[PetTheDog he holds out a hand to save Zhao]], but the admiral refuses to allow his despised rival to save him, and is swept away to what was presumably his death. It turns out Zhao ''really'' should have taken Zuko's hand since he reappears in the second season of ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', which shows that he was transported to the Spirit World where he became a prisoner in [[PsychologicalTormentZone the Fog of Lost Souls]] for killing the Moon Spirit. Zhao [[FateWorseThanDeath has been driven to utter insanity]] there, and will apparently remain a prisoner [[AndIMustScream for all eternity]].

** In a flashback showing parts of Roku's life, Sozin leaves Roku to die when the latter accidentally inhales toxic fumes from an erupting volcano, realizing with the Avatar out of the way, Sozin can proceed with his plans of world conquest unopposed.

* It is implied in the first few episodes of ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'' that Viren acted so that Harrow get killed. Harrow was the king, and Viren was his wizard, and once his oldest and closest confidant. When Harrow learns that elfish assassins want to kill him, Viren offers him to save his life with dark magic. For unknown reasons (it won't be revealed until several seasons later that Viren's clever plans involving dark magic [[spoiler:is what got Harrow and elves caught in a CycleOfRevenge in the first place, and that one of Viren's plans resulted in Harrow's wife dying while they attempted to carry out the plan]]), Harrow does not want to have anything more to do with dark magic, and [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic reacts very coldly and dismissively]] to Viren's offer. When Viren tries again, Harrow [[BullyingADragon forces Viren to kneel in front of him while humiliating, taunting, and offending him]]. As a result when the elven assassins defeat the king's bodyguards, Viren does not lift a finger to rescue Harrow. He even stops Callum from coming to the aid of the king. Both certain members of the court and [[FourStarBadass General Amaya]] either suspect or outright accuse Viren of allowing the elves to kill Harrow so he can become king himself. It should be mentioned that it is uncertain if Viren could have successfully fended off the elven assassins because they were [[EmpoweredBadassNormal very good assassins with magical powers and abilities most humans lack]]. But due to the way Harrow inflamed his pride, Viren did not do anything to protect him.

* It is implied in ''WesternAnimation/TheDragonPrince'' that Viren acted so that Harrow get killed. Harrow was the king, and Viren was his wizard, and at the same time his only friend, or at least his oldest and closest confidant. When Harrow learns that elfish assassins want to kill him, Viren offers him to save his life with dark magic. But Harrow, who for some unknown reason does not want to have anything more to do with dark magic, [[UnintentionallyUnsympathetic reacts very gruffly]]. He forces Viren [[WhatTheHellHero to kneel in front of him while humiliating, taunting, and offending him]]. When the elven assassins finally defeat the king's bodyguards, Viren does not move a finger to rescue Harrow. He even stops Callum from coming to the aid of the king. Later, General Amaya also accuses him of allowing the elves to kill Harrow so he can become king himself. It should be mentioned explicitly that it is unknown if Viren could have fended off the elven assassins because they were simply [[EmpoweredBadassNormal very good assassins]]. But because Harrow treated him so badly, of course, Viren did not do anything to protect him.

** In the season one finale, Zuko considers doing this to Admiral Zhao when the latter is attacked by the (giant, enraged) spirit of the oceans. After a moment's consideration, [[EvenEvilHasStandards he holds out a hand to save Zhao]], but the admiral refuses to allow his rival to save him, and is swept away to what was presumably his death. It turns out Zhao should have taken Zuko's hand since he reappears in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra's'' second book as a wanderer in the Fog of Lost Souls for killing the Moon Spirit, [[FateWorseThanDeath which has driven him to insanity.]]
** Avatar Kyoshi let Chin the Conquerer fall to his death when she split her home island off from the mainland. Aang points out to her towards the end of the series that she didn't actually kill him, to which she replies that she sees no difference between letting him die and killing him because she was willing to kill him if that was what it took to stop his reign of terror.

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': It's eventually revealed in Season 6 that not only did Bojack wait seventeen minutes to call 911 when he discovered Sarah Lynn was dying from a heroin overdose at the planetarium in order to create an alibi for himself and make sure the police didn't discover he was the one who gave her the heroin in the first place, but that she didn't actually die until after she was taken to the hospital. There's no way to know for sure whether immediately calling for help would have made any difference, but once some reporters discover evidence of the incident and make it public, almost everybody, including many of Bojack's close friends and family, considers him to be responsible, especially considering that because he gave her the heroin she overdosed on, her death is still at least partially his fault even if he ''had'' called 911 straight away. He manages to avoid serious legal ramifications (the worst that happens on that front is that Sarah Lynn's parents sue him for his involvement in her death and he has to give them 5 million dollars for the settlement), but [[HatedByAll he becomes a pariah in Hollywood and among the public at large]] as they're [[EveryoneHasStandards all disgusted]] that he was willing to let somebody die to save his own ass. Even his friends (except for [[UndyingLoyalty Mr. Peanutbutter]]) keep their distance from him in the fallout, and [[spoiler: Hollyhock cuts him out of her life with a non-romantic DearJohnLetter in response to what happened]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': It's eventually revealed in Season 6 that not only did Bojack wait seventeen minutes to call 911 when he discovered Sarah Lynn was dying from a heroin overdose at the planetarium in order to create an alibi for himself and make sure the police didn't discover he was the one who gave her the heroin in the first place, but that she didn't actually die until after she was taken to the hospital. There's no way to know for sure whether immediately calling for help would have made any difference, but once some reporters discover evidence of the incident and make it public, almost everybody, including many of Bojack's close friends and family, considers this trope to be in effect, especially considering that because he gave her the heroin she overdosed on, her death is still at least partially his fault even if he ''had'' called 911 straight away. He manages to avoid serious legal ramifications (the worst that happens on that front is that Sarah Lynn's parents sue him for his involvement in her death and he has to give them 5 million dollars for the settlement), but [[HatedByAll he becomes a pariah in Hollywood and among the public at large]] as they're [[EveryoneHasStandards all disgusted]] that he was willing to let somebody die to save his own ass. Even his friends (except for [[UndyingLoyalty Mr. Peanutbutter]]) keep their distance from him in the fallout, and [[spoiler: Hollyhock cuts him out of her life with a non-romantic DearJohnLetter in response to what happened]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': It's eventually revealed in Season 6 that not only did Bojack wait seventeen minutes to call 911 when he discovered Sarah Lynn was dying from a heroin overdose at the planetarium in order to create an alibi for himself and make sure the police didn't discover he was the one who gave her the heroin in the first place, but that she didn't actually die until after EMS arrived and tried to save her. There's no way to know for sure whether immediately calling for help would have made a difference, but once a couple of reporters discover the incident and make it public, almost everybody, including many of Bojack's close friends and family, considers this trope to be in effect, especially considering that he gave her the heroin she overdosed on, making her death at least partially his fault even if he ''had'' called 911 straight away. He manages to avoid serious legal ramifications for that (the worst that happens on that front is that Sarah Lynn's parents sue him for his involvement in her death and he has to give them 5 million dollars for the settlement), but [[HatedByAll he becomes a pariah in Hollywood and among the public at large]] as they're [[EveryoneHasStandards all disgusted]] that he was willing to let somebody die to save his own ass. Even his friends (except for [[UndyingLoyalty Mr. Peanutbutter]]) keep their distance from him, and [[spoiler: Hollyhock cuts him out of her life in response to what happened]].

* ''WesternAnimation/BojackHorseman'': It's eventually revealed in Season 6 that not only did Bojack wait seventeen minutes to call 911 when he discovered Sarah Lynn was dying from a heroin overdose at the planetarium in order to create an alibi for himself and make sure the police didn't discover he was the one who gave her the heroin in the first place, but that she didn't actually die until after EMS arrived and tried to save her. There's no way to know for sure whether immediately calling for help would have made a difference, but once a couple of reporters discover the incident and make it public, almost everybody, including many of Bojack's close friends and family, considers this trope to be in effect. He manages to avoid serious legal ramifications for that (the worst that happens on that front is that Sarah Lynn's parents sue him for his involvement in her death and he has to give them 5 million dollars for the settlement), but [[HatedByAll he becomes a pariah in Hollywood and among the public at large]] as they're [[EveryoneHasStandards all disgusted]] that he was willing to let somebody die to save his own ass. Even his friends (except for [[UndyingLoyalty Mr. Peanutbutter]]) keep their distance from him, and [[spoiler: Hollyhock cuts him out of her life in response to what happened]].