History SadisticChoice / Literature

* {{Hexwood}}: At the culmination of his TrainingFromHell, Mordion is given the choice between killing his final remaining classmate -- whom he loved like another self -- or allow her to be tortured for a year in a way ''worse than anything a trained assassin could imagine.'' He takes the first option. It wasn't a hard choice.

* In Creator/DrewKarpyshyn's ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Expanded Universe}}: VideoGame/TheOldRepublic: Annihilation'', a joint SIS-Jedi-Army operation results in the Republic getting their hands on a Black Cypher, a Sith decoder used to send secure messages between the Sith leadership and their capital ships. This is used as part of the mission to take out the latest Sith superweapon - the destroyer ''Ascendant Spear'', which can singlehandedly destroy entire Republic fleets. While the joint team is preparing to infiltrate the destroyer to sabotage its systems in order to cripple it in preparation for an ambush, the Republic intercepts a message using the Black Cypher indicating a number of attacks on key worlds deep in Republic space. They decide to allow the attacks to take place, secretly dispatching relief ships for ''after'' the attacks. Why? Because if even one attack is averted, the Sith will know their messages are being intercepted and will reprogram all their Black Cyphers, and the ''Ascendant Spear'' will continue to wreak havoc on the Republic. The protagonist decides to try to [[TakeAThirdOption avert one such attack without compromising the mission]].

* In Tolkien's ''TheChildrenOfHurin'', Túrin is given the choice by Glaurung the dragon to either save his sort-of LoveInterest Finduilas, who has just been dragged off by orcs, or his sister and mother who are currently suffering under the torment of the Easterlings. Túrin chooses his family. [[spoiler: It turns out that the whole thing was a lie by Glaurung; Túrin's family were actually safe, having fled the Easterlings a while back, and when Túrin realises this it is too late to save Finduilas, who is murdered by her captors.]]
* In DrewKarpyshyn's ''Franchise/{{Star Wars|Expanded Universe}}: VideoGame/TheOldRepublic: Annihilation'', a joint SIS-Jedi-Army operation results in the Republic getting their hands on a Black Cypher, a Sith decoder used to send secure messages between the Sith leadership and their capital ships. This is used as part of the mission to take out the latest Sith superweapon - the destroyer ''Ascendant Spear'', which can singlehandedly destroy entire Republic fleets. While the joint team is preparing to infiltrate the destroyer to sabotage its systems in order to cripple it in preparation for an ambush, the Republic intercepts a message using the Black Cypher indicating a number of attacks on key worlds deep in Republic space. They decide to allow the attacks to take place, secretly dispatching relief ships for ''after'' the attacks. Why? Because if even one attack is averted, the Sith will know their messages are being intercepted and will reprogram all their Black Cyphers, and the ''Ascendant Spear'' will continue to wreak havoc on the Republic. The protagonist decides to try to [[TakeAThirdOption avert one such attack without compromising the mission]].

* A perfect example is in ''Pawn in Frankincense'', the fourth book in Dorothy Dunnett's ''Lymond Chronicles''. Lymond is forced in a game of HumanChess to choose between two small children, one of whom is his own son and one who is the villain's son, without knowing which is which. He tries every possible TakeAThirdOption (bribery, self-sacrifice, escape) but [[spoiler: the writer doesn't cop out. Lymond chooses the one he believes to be his own son; fans still debate why and whether he was right]].

* One is offered to Lena near the climax of ''[[Literature/TheCasterChronicles Beautiful Creatures]]''. [[spoiler:Choose the Light, and every Dark Caster in the family dies, never to harm anyone ever again -- but Macon will die as well, and Lena will never be able to have a physical relationship with Ethan. Choose the Dark, and every Light Caster in the family dies -- but Macon will survive, and Lena will be given the means to be together with Ethan physically ''and'' emotionally]].

* In ''[[Literature/VampireAcademy Frostbite]]'', Isaiah the Stringoi gave his captive Moroi, Christian Ozera and Mia Rinaldi, a sadistic choice. They could starve to death or drain the blood of their dhampir friends and turn into a strigoi. In addition the one who chose this path condemned the other Moroi to death.

* In MikhailAkhmanov's ''[[ArrivalsFromTheDark TheGatesOfTheGalaxy]]'', the Mark Valdez is one of the twelve Arbiters of Justice, whose duties include mediating inter-species disputes. They are trusted as always making the moral and just choice, even if it's not in humanity's favor. Earth has been at war with the [[LizardFolk Dromi]] for over 50 years with millions dead on both sides. Humans get a chance to end the war in one fell swoop by taking out the Dromi homeworld. They use a PortalNetwork to get to the Dromi system without detection and proceed to depopulate one of their worlds before moving on to the homeworld. However, the Dromi figure out what's going on and land all orbital hatcheries on the planet, hoping that the humans won't harm "children". While the fleet officers claim that the Dromi larvae are not children (they're non-sentient), Mark realizes he has no choice but to abort the mission, even if his own daughter has to join the fight. The epilogue states that the war goes on for another century.

* ''SophiesChoice'' by William Styron. (See film, above.)

* One is offered to Lena near the climax of ''Literature/BeautifulCreatures''. [[spoiler:Choose the Light, and every Dark Caster in the family dies, never to harm anyone ever again -- but Macon will die as well, and Lena will never be able to have a physical relationship with Ethan. Choose the Dark, and every Light Caster in the family dies -- but Macon will survive, and Lena will be given the means to be together with Ethan physically ''and'' emotionally]].

* TheNewHeroes novel "Sakkara" plays this terrifyingly straight, to one of the teenage heroes, with no third choice. In a young adults novel.

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] in the short story "The Lady, or the Tiger?" by Frank R. Stockton. A king has a "justice" system where he puts criminals in the arena and makes them choose between two doors, one of which has a beautiful woman behind it and the other a vicious tiger. Normally that would just be a sick game of chance, but the story is about a particular criminal whose offense was having an affair with the princess, who knows which door is which. She comes to watch him in the arena, he looks to her to save him, she gives him a tiny signal telling him which to choose... [[RiddleForTheAges so the question is, is she giving him up to another woman, or killing him?]]

* A particularly sadistic variant happens in the George R. R. Martin novella ''The Princess and the Queen''. Two men hired to carry out a revenge killing demand that a mother choose which of her two sons will be killed, with one man hinting that if she doesn't choose quickly, the other man will rape her young daughter out of boredom. [[spoiler:When she picks the younger of her two sons to die, the knifeman tells the boy his mother wants him dead, then murders the other son instead.]]

* In the DresdenFiles novel "Grave Peril", Harry is faced with one of these. Should he rescue [[spoiler:Susan]] and, in doing so, start a full-on war with [[spoiler:the Red Court]] due to violating SacredHospitality? Or, do nothing and also allow the destruction of [[spoiler:one of the three Swords of the Cross]]? Harry weighs the choices and decides to [[spoiler:save Susan]] because he believes he has to do what's right, even though the consequences of his choice ripple onward for many novels.

* In DrewKarpyshyn's ''StarWars: TheOldRepublic: Annihilation'', a joint SIS-Jedi-Army operation results in the Republic getting their hands on a Black Cypher, a Sith decoder used to send secure messages between the Sith leadership and their capital ships. This is used as part of the mission to take out the latest Sith superweapon - the destroyer ''Ascendant Spear'', which can singlehandedly destroy entire Republic fleets. While the joint team is preparing to infiltrate the destroyer to sabotage its systems in order to cripple it in preparation for an ambush, the Republic intercepts a message using the Black Cypher indicating a number of attacks on key worlds deep in Republic space. They decide to allow the attacks to take place, secretly dispatching relief ships for ''after'' the attacks. Why? Because if even one attack is averted, the Sith will know their messages are being intercepted and will reprogram all their Black Cyphers, and the ''Ascendant Spear'' will continue to wreak havoc on the Republic. The protagonist decides to try to [[TakeAThirdOption avert one such attack without compromising the mission]].

* In {{Diane Duane}}'s novel ''Literature/SpocksWorld'', the BigBad sways Vulcan towards secession in order to force Spock to make one of these - his planet or his ship?

* One is offered to Lena near the climax of ‘’Literature/BeautifulCreatures’’. [[spoiler:Choose the Light, and every Dark Caster in the family dies, never to harm anyone ever again -- but Macon will die as well, and Lena will never be able to have a physical relationship with Ethan. Choose the Dark, and every Light Caster in the family dies -- but Macon will survive, and Lena will be given the means to be together with Ethan physically ''and'' emotionally]].

* In {{Diane Duane}}'s novel Literature/SpocksWorld, the BigBad sways Vulcan towards secession in order to force Spock to make one of these - his planet or his ship?

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Carpe Jugulum'', Granny Weatherwax faces a complicated birth that could either kill the mother or the child; she saves the mother because she is still young and will be able to have children in the future. There is some unrelated but great moral concerns given during her explanation.

* In Tolkien's ''TheChildrenOfHurin'', Turin is given the choice by Glaurung the dragon to either save his sort-of LoveInterest Finduilas, who has just been dragged off by orcs, or his sister and mother who are currently suffering under the torment of the Easterlings. Turin chooses his family. [[spoiler: It turns out that the whole thing was a lie by Glaurung; Turin's family were actually safe, having fled the Easterlings a while back, and when Turin realises this it is too late to save Finduilas, who is murdered by her captors.]]

* In {{Diane Duane}}'s novel [[Literature/SpocksWorld]], the BigBad sways Vulcan towards secession in order to force Spock to make one of these - his planet or his ship?