"...T-This wasn't supposed to happen! This is wrong! This is wrong! O-O-O-Open the door! Please! I'm begging you! Help me! Please, get me out of here! Get me out of here! A-Ah... Oh my God, oh my God, there's no time left...! A...Aahh... Aaahhhh... Gyaaaaaaaaaaaaaaht—!"
— The last words of the Ninth Man, Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors
When some characters realize they are about to die, they Face Death with Dignity, calmly accepting their fate. But other characters... not so much. This trope is when a character completely breaks in the face of death, pleading for their life, reduced to Inelegant Blubbering, or expressing a complete lack of desire to die. Some choose to completely shed any trace of dignity as they're about to die.
This trope can be used to invoke different audience reactions depending on how it applies to your characters. On a sympathetic or likeable character, it becomes a tool used for horror, shock, and tragedy as said character suffers in their final moments. A strong audience reaction often happens if the likeable or sympathetic character about to die is a young child. If your character is a Hate Sink or otherwise unsympathetic, it can be a source of satisfaction, letting karma play out for everything that character's done. The latter is more likely to go out with an utter lack of dignity. Often this is the prelude to a Cruel and Unusual Death.
The trope can be indicative of a Hesitant Sacrifice. After all, someone who dies unwillingly is prone to panic in their final moments. This can be a Karmic Death for those who kill or cheat in cold blood. Ain't Too Proud to Beg is a very common overlapping trope because times are just that desperate. The people who beg the most tend to be those at their most vulnerable, like felled villains or innocent normies caught in a bad spot. Of course, there's the possibility those who care little about dignity are stalling for time, or lowering their executioner's guard for a counter of their own.
The character doesn't even have to die in the end for the trope to count, just their reaction to facing death can warrant this kind of response. This is different from Oh, Crap! in that in the former, a character simply realizes that things are about to get really ugly.
Often overlaps with Villains Want Mercy; Please, I Will Do Anything!; Oh, Crap!; This Cannot Be!; Tears of Fear; and Villainous Breakdown. Compare Undignified Death, which has to do with deaths that are embarrassing or ridiculous.
Not to be confused with Death by Despair.
As this is a Death Trope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Akame ga Kill!:
- Chelsea breaks down in silent, defeated tears after suffering fatal wounds from Kurome's puppets, right before she is cut to pieces by Natala. Noticeably, she is the only Night Raider to not Go Out with a Smile.
- Seryu breaks down more noticeably as she lays blown in half, right before her Taking You with Me towards Mine. She starts sobbing noticeably loud when she sees her Imperial Arm and dog, Koro, is mortally damaged and can no longer regenerate, and that they're both going to die alone in the middle of nowhere. In the manga, she also thinks of Esdeath, whom she has feelings for and now will never see again.
- Run is ready to Face Death with Dignity after he suffers mortal injuries killing Champ, but his teammate, Kurome, refuses to let him die; she stabs him with Yatsufusa to bring him back to life, and Run can only react with heartbroken shock. After all, Yatsufusa cannot bring back the dead; it only reduces the people killed by it into People Puppets. But Kurome is pretty messed up mentally, and she personally believes she's saving Run. Run, meanwhile, can only express his lament that Kurome was warped to this extent to not just let him die with dignity.
- Syura gets a wonderful comeuppance at the hands of Lubbock and dies trying to deny that he's just had his neck snapped, that he can't die until he's made The Empire his hellish playground.
- As Izou lays dying, mortally wounded by Akame, he asks her to take up his sword, Kosetsu, and use it to cause even more bloodshed and destruction. Akame refuses to honor Izou's last wish and leaves him to die in despair.
- Dorothea, Syura's top subordinate, is outright pathetic when Leone is preparing to smash her to paste with a huge boulder, and she spends her last moments screaming and crying about not wanting to die, due to her Mortality Phobia.
- Prime Minister Honest, the Big Bad, goes out screaming and begging for his life as he faces a particularly cruel, unusual, and undignified death at the hands of a bunch of very angry Revolutionaries.
- This trope is extremely common in Attack on Titan, to a point where you could pick out more examples where this trope was averted than played straight. Justified in that this is a setting in which humans are tasked with slaying hordes of mindless giants with a taste for their blood, so watching comrades die horribly is the norm for these characters.
- Blood-C: This is very common given that all of the Elder Bairns' victims died in very gruesome deaths with some begging for help. It doesn't help that the mastermind behind this doesn't care at all while the heroine, Saya, tries her best to save them only to fail horribly.
- Chrono Crusade: Towards the end, Chrono and Rosette are waiting for their impending deaths as the sun sets. They're both calm at first, but Rosette eventually breaks down in tears and admits that she doesn't want her life to end yet. Chrono tries to keep it in, but he ends up weeping as well.
- Cross Ange:
- Poor, poor Miranda Campbell. Her last minutes of life are not pretty, so it's easy to see why she'd go out screaming and crying. Not only does she watch her friend Coco so suddenly die in brutal fashion, but she then gets knocked off her Paramail and caught in the jaws of a ravenous DRAGON, as several more come to eat her alive. All she can do is scream for Ange — who is attempting to leave Arzenal because she doesn't think she's a Norma due to barely having any time to realize the fact having been Locked Out of the Loop for so long — to come and save her before the DRAGONs tear her limb from limb. There are even Tears of Fear shown in Miranda's eyes as she falls, right before the DRAGONs get her. Ange sees Miranda's horrible death as well, and then the DRAGONs attack her, sending her into a hysteric panic as she tries to get away from the man-eating beasts, not wanting to share the same fate.
- Episode 13 has Chris undergo this as well, when an army of Mana soldiers is sent to exterminate the Norma. She is paralyzed with fear when she and her allies encounter a squad, but Hilda covers for her and kills one of them. Tragically Chris suffers a shot to the head as she begins to launch, crashes into a pillar, and then her Paramail explodes, killing her, before her friends can save her. Embryo teleports in and revives her.
- Death Note's Light Yagami, who has spent the entire series killing people with the Death Note without so much as batting an eye and has developed quite the god complex, is entirely undignified when it's his turn to go out at the very end, reduced to abject terror and begging for his life when Ryuk puts Light's name into his own Death Note, as he told Light he would do at the very beginning of the series.
- In Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba, it is the certified behavior of most demons in the series with zero sympathetic traits as they are about to die, some of the most vicious demons did have a final moment of clarity where they retract to a more fragile or self-reflecting state, earning a moment of pity from Tanjiro Kamado who does offer his final sympathy as the dying demon can no longer hurt anyone else as they pass on; those who don't act that way, however, die cursing everything in their vicinity and aren't given a shred of pity, notorious examples include: the Big Brother Spider Demon. Enmu, the Lower Rank 1. Gyokko, the Upper Rank 5. The biggest of all, of course, is Muzan Kibutsuji himself, the leader and progenitor of all demons dies by the end of the series throwing what can only be described as a child tantrum, begging Tanjiro not to leave him alone, the absolute monster who ruined countless lives was reduced to such a state.
- Fist of the North Star: Usually, Kenshiro makes the deaths of his enemies as painful as possible, but these people would not realize that they're already dead, so they face their deaths with surprise and disbelief. However, if they're hit with "Hokuto Zankai Ken/Fist of Penitence" or any of his techniques that specifically give them several seconds to think about what they have done before death claims them, then these enemies will end up begging for mercy and to be saved, while Kenshiro may remark that they probably would've spared no mercy or salvation to the weak innocents who begged for it as they bullied and killed them. Some of the most notorious examples of those receiving this fate are Shin's early two lieutenants: Spade and Club.
- In the 2016 remake of Doraemon: Nobita and the Birth of Japan, Gigazombie's dragon Tsuchidama realizes he's about to suffer the consequences of failing to deliver Gigazombie's slaves on time, and immediately panics while pleading for his life. It doesn't work, cue Gigazombie melting Tsuchidama into a mud puddle mid-begging.
- Fullmetal Alchemist:
- Gluttony, who is betrayed and devoured by his fellow homunculus Pride, spends his last moments crying out how it hurts, begging not to be eaten, and calling out for the long-dead Lust to save him. Gluttony's death is a case of this trope played for sympathy, as all the heroes who witness it are shocked and disgusted by Pride's actions.
- While he can't die due to being immortal, Homunculus/Father's final fate is essentially to return from whence he came: beyond The Door to Truth. Upon being condemned, even as the hands from within lash out to pull him inside, he cries out and panics as Truth fixes him with the same usual blank grin, and even remarks that his final punishment is "despair for the conceited", indirectly invoking this trope by name.
- Most people faced with the horror that is Alucard unleashed in Hellsing do not go out with any kind of dignity, but special mention has to go to Enrico Maxwell, who goes out crying out for Anderson, who betrayed him in true Iscariot fashion by destroying the glass box protecting him from Alucard's ravening familiars.
- JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
- In Part 3, DIO dies in the midst of a Villainous Breakdown, screaming in denial of his fate before his head violently explodes.
- Part 4's Big Bad, Yoshikage Kira, initially denies having been killed, but even after realizing that he's a ghost, he's oddly cool with it. His despair comes when the hands of the Ghost Alley grab him and drag him off to Hell.
- Enrico Pucci, the main villain of Part 6 and the Final Boss of the first continuity, also goes out during a Villainous Breakdown, as his plan to create Made In Heaven and rewrite reality are rendered moot, and he's about to die to Emporio using Weather Report to pummel him out of existence.
- Maria no Danzai: Maria's targets break down once their fates are sealed, exactly as she intended.
- Left with no other options, Kowase tries to use the cleaver Maria left him to cut off his own hand. The blade breaks because it's an old cleaver and Kowase puts too much force while trying to cut the bone, leaving him to drown helplessly as he flails about.
- Shikimi initially doesn't even react to being dropped down the well... until she notices that she's surrounded by a swarm of insects, that is. Once they start crawling all over her and entering her orifices, she breaks down screaming and begging for mercy.
- After subjecting Kinugawa to a Rasputinian Death that leaves him too exhausted and injured to fight back, Maria decides to finish him off with a chainsaw, the sight of which is enough to terrify Kinugawa into feebly attempting to crawl away from her once he internalizes the fact that she's about to kill him. When that fails, Kinugawa tearfully begs Maria to show him mercy and swears to become her slave if she will spare his life; Maria refuses and keeps going until Kinugawa blacks out to the point he can't hear his own voice as he admits he's afraid of dying and begs for Okaya to save him.
- Mobile Suit Gundam 00: This is usually what Allelujah Haptism's Split Personality Hallelujah did to his enemies where he tortures them before killing them out of their misery. One example is when he kills the HRL soldier who expects to die a swift death after helping Sergei and Soma escape. However, Hallelujah prolongs his agony by slowly piercing the cockpit causing him to beg Hallelujah to stop. Another example is when Allelujah merged with Hallelujah to defeat the Innovator Hiling Care. After Allelujah slices her Mobile Suit in half, Hiling begs Ribbons to save her before her cockpit explodes.
- In episode 15 of Nadia: The Secret of Blue Water, after Nemo orders the lower decks to be closed due to Deadly Gas being present, Ensign Fait, one of several crewmembers trapped inside, tries to Face Death with Dignity if it means everyone else survives, only to break down in his final seconds.
- The last twist of the knife regarding Akemi's death in Saikano (more so in the anime than the manga) is that Shuji did his utmost to let her Go Out with a Smile by holding her in his arms in response to her Dying Declaration of Love, only for her to be overcome by the fear of her imminent death and break down hysterically crying and sobbing about not wanting to die, before suddenly violently retching up blood and going limp. It drives home that there's nothing pretty or peaceful about death in this series.
- Sailor Moon:
- Sailor Lead Crow has been on edge ever since Sailor Galaxia murdered her rival/partner Sailor Aluminum Siren right in front of her. Just when it seemed Lead Crow had a chance to survive thanks to Siren's diary having Sailor Moon's secret identity written in it, she's stabbed in the back by Sailor Tin Nyanko. Lead Crow is thus trapped inside a miniature black hole she was using to threaten the Sailor Senshi, and when she realizes she can't escape she finally gives in to despair. The black hole instantly consumes her the moment she stops fighting back.
Sailor Lead Crow: I'm sorry, Siren. So sorry...
- Sailors Uranus and Neptune pull a lengthy fake betrayal, which involves murdering Sailors Pluto and Saturn to make it look real, so they'll have an opening at Sailor Galaxia. They try to attack Galaxia and remove her Star Seed with the bracelets she gave them, only for them to be horrified when it doesn't work as Galaxia has no Star Seed. Galaxia laughs at the two for having enough willpower to resist her control and how low they sunk to achieve their goals, removing the bracelets and letting them slowly fade away knowing they damned themselves for nothing.
- Sailor Lead Crow has been on edge ever since Sailor Galaxia murdered her rival/partner Sailor Aluminum Siren right in front of her. Just when it seemed Lead Crow had a chance to survive thanks to Siren's diary having Sailor Moon's secret identity written in it, she's stabbed in the back by Sailor Tin Nyanko. Lead Crow is thus trapped inside a miniature black hole she was using to threaten the Sailor Senshi, and when she realizes she can't escape she finally gives in to despair. The black hole instantly consumes her the moment she stops fighting back.
Comic Books
- Beast Wars: Uprising: When the Vehicons turn on the Builder Assembly, Knock Out's last words before he is transformed is to wail that he's "too beautiful to die".
- At the end of Creature Tech, when the revived Giant Space Eel is reunited with its original, revived, (alien) rider, Jameson, who wanted to use the eel to destroy the world, tries to kill Dr. Ong for ruining his plan. When Ong manages to get the Symbiote that Jameson is wearing, which gives its host superpowers, to kill him, it rejoins him (the Symbiote liked Ong better). As Jameson brags that his demon hand, which he got for selling his soul, would keep him from going to Hell for his sins, Ong uses the Symbiote to chop off the hand. When the demon shows up with several companions, Jameson's taken to Hell, and he fearfully states "I regret" as he's about to be eaten.
- Judge Dredd has the story arc "The Day The Law Died" in which the Ax-Crazy and narcissistic Chief Judge Cal orders the execution of everybody in Megacity One. The first poor wretch queued up for execution is Aaron Aardvark, who'd changed his name to be first in the vid-phone book. When Aaron protests that he doesn't want to die, he gets slapped for such truculence and gets hauled away sobbing.
- Masters of the Universe: During DC's He-Man: The Eternity War, when the heroes manage to free Eternos from Hordak's clutches they also manage to capture "Lord" Imp, who is acting as governor of the city. Almost immediately the snakemen want to cut off his head and Imp, in a display of what a craven coward he is, immediately begins blubbering for mercy despite having spent his tenure as a villain with 0% approval rating.
- The Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers: This shows up a lot, as the miniseries is a deconstruction of the portrayal of heroic portrayals of warfare. The Decepticon Borehole pleads for his life and attempts to flee before being torn apart by Kickoff. Pyro spends the entire series searching for the perfect, glorious death but when he actually tries to make a Last Stand he winds up whimpering in fear as he's overwhelmed by a horde of angry Decepticons. Skyfall is Driven to Suicide when he finds out that all the crimes he's ever committed have been broadcast to all of the Autobots. And then realizes that the method he used to kill himself is neither fast nor painless.
Fan Works
- Androgyninja's A Drop of Poison: During the Konoha Crush attempt, Sakura teams up with Shikamaru, who holds a unit of Oto-nin still with his Shadow Pin while she slits their throats. Some handle this better than others; while the last to die looks her in the eyes the whole time, one of the other Oto-nin spends the whole time desperately sobbing, clearly terrified at watching their teammates die one by one.
- The Boys: Real Justice: The last thing Homelander feels just before Butcher starts killing him in the final chapter is utter fear that his death is assured.
- Danganronpa: Camp Kuma!:
- While the first culprit tried to Face Death with Dignity, their whole attitude shifts dramatically once Monokuma reveals that their actions were All for Nothing and all of their loved ones were already dead. Their despair is coupled with an all-consuming RAGE that actually terrifies Monokuma.
- The second culprit goes through an extensive Villainous Breakdown as the others figure out they were responsible, unleashing a Cluster F-Bomb that devolves into a Rapid-Fire "No!" before the vote. They unleash a wrenching Skyward Scream upon being convicted, and frantically attempt to convince the others that it was a Mercy Kill. As Monokuma starts their execution, they try making a break for it, shrieking about how they don't want to die.
- Danganronpa: Komm Susser Tod: The third murderer, a very Sympathetic Murderer, goes to their execution screaming that they don't want to die and pleading for their parents to help them.
- Danganronpa: Memento Mori: The second murderer deliberately targets one of their weakest classmates, all for the sake of getting her collection of medals back. They're dragged off to their death screaming and crying the whole way.
- A Darker Path: Jack Slash keeps trying to negotiate and bluster and otherwise remain Defiant to the End — until Atropos promises to tarnish his memory and tear down his reputation, so that "not even the edgiest of edgelords will want to be you." Then he breaks down.
Jack Slash: No. You wouldn't. You can't.
- Final Danganronpa 3: The End of Hope's Peak Academy: Prior to their execution, the second blackened, Daisaku Bandai pleads with Monokuma for mercy, receiving none in return.
Monokuma: Mercy? That word isn't in my vocabulary. Now then, I've prepared a very special punishment for Bandai Daisaku, the Ultimate Farmer!
Daisaku Bandai: NO! I'M BEGGING YOU! I DON'T WANNA DIE! PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE! - Here Comes the New Boss: As Elpis moves to kill him, Jack Slash nearly finds some dignity in his death as he beings to relish the idea of his mind joining the Butcher collective so he can spend the rest of their existence tormenting Taylor. However, Glaistig Uaine intervenes and kills Jack instead. Realizing he has not only lost the chance to get revenge but that he'll be reduced to a powerless shade, he dies screaming.
Jack Slash: NO! NO! NO! FUCK YOU, NO, YOU CAN'T DO THIS TO ME!!-
- A Hunter or Something: Kalie ends up pretty badly injured after she and team RWBY are ambushed by grimms in the night. As the team attempts to remove the nevermore quill from her body, Kalie suffers a panic attack as she realizes that this may be her final moments, so she frantically apologizes to her family and friends and vows never to hunt again.
Kalie: I'm sorry I'm sorry I'm- I I just wanted to prove a point! I'll never hunt again, I swear I swear I swear so please oh please just make it stop!
- I'd Trade My Life For Yours: Miu Iruma is horrified when Kaede figures out that she killed Kiibo in the virtual world. When she's correctly voted as the killer, she begs someone to Mercy Kill her before attempting to attack Monokuma by hijacking an exisal. But despite all her efforts, she's still dragged to her execution, where she's screaming to Kiibo for help the entire time before getting beheaded by a guillotine.
- Island of the Slaughtered: Every single one of the fifteen campers who got killed went out this way. When Chris, who abandoned the campers in order to save himself, returns to the island hoping to engage in some Engineered Heroics, the Narrator makes a point of mocking his cowardice and promising that he will suffer a Fate Worse than Death for his crimes.
- The Mountain and the Wolf: Most of the Wolf's victims do not go gently at all, especially as he's just delivered a brutal Curb-Stomp Battle (the Mountain (twice) and Littlefinger) or is torturing them to death (Ramsay and Euron). The few exceptions actually earn his respect and a swift death (commending one Lannister soldier for spitting on him, telling him he's a better warrior than the Mountain, and notably not taking his skull as a trophy after decapitating him).
- My Hero Academia: Unchained Predator: In Nine's final moments, he is filled with the very same state of helplessness and terror he brought to all the heroes and civilians he killed as everything he has done on I-Island to defeat the Slayer was All for Nothing: The Bane of Hell destroyed his organization and made a mockery of him and his friends before coldly offing them one by one. All he can do is look into the eyes of a merciless Slayer before the trigger is pulled.
- No One Is Untouchable: Once it hits Katsuki that he's about to die, the Nominal Hero who'd casually killed countless civilians as collateral damage starts begging for help, even addressing Izuku by his name for the first time in his life. Not that Izuku cares, as he's the one who fatally poisoned him in the first place. Izuku merely taunts his former tormenter, taking pleasure in his suffering.
- Pokeronpa: Legendary Killings!:
- When the first Battle Trial concludes and Groudon learns that they're going to be executed for their crime, they promptly lose their cool and beg for mercy.
- Ho-oh attempts to flee the Battle Arena once their crime is exposed by flying away. This doesn't work.
- Untethered: When Merciful of Heart tries to kill Five Pebbles for causing Looks to the Moon's collapse, Pebbles sends a message to the friends he's alienated to ask for help, and then begs Mercy to spare his life and that he'll do anything to help Moon. It works and Mercy spares him, but right afterwards Pebbles admits he doesn't have the means to help Moon.
- War of Remnant: A RWBY Anthology: While Raven tells Ruby that Summer faced her death with dignity, taking a fatal blow to protect Raven and spending her last breath proclaiming how much she loved her children, this was all a lie. In truth, Summer died crying in utter terrified agony, pleading about how she didn't want to die.
- To You of the Future - I give you every song...: At her last moments, Miku despairs over the fact her body starts to shut down and undergoes full factory reset despite her trial period being supposed to end in the next day. She eventually gets better.
Films — Animation
- Bambi: When the birds are hiding from the hunters, one pheasant gets so freaked out at the prospect of being killed that she tries to make a break for it, only to be shot instantly.
Pheasant: He's almost here! I can't stand it any longer!!
- Beauty and the Beast: When Beast grabs Gaston by the throat and threatens to drop him, the hunter immediately freaks out and clings to Beast's paw, begging for his life. Later, when he falls from the tower after backstabbing Beast, Gaston goes down squirming and screaming his lungs out, his eyes showing skulls in his pupils if one pauses the screen at the right moment.
- A variation is seen in Corpse Bride. At the very end, after Lord Barkis, who tricked Emily, the titular corpse bride, into stealing her family's jewels and eloping with him so that he could kill and rob her is defeated, he decides to walk away from Victoria, his recent Impoverished Patrician wife (whom he likely would've killed once he received his dowry, or in a fit of rage since her father couldn't afford it), as well as Victor and Emily's wedding, the residents of the Land of the Dead want to punish him, but Elder Gutknecht holds them back saying that as they're in the Land of the Living, they need to follow their rules. When Barkis gives a sarcastic wedding toast that lambasts Emily, he drinks the poisoned wine meant for Victor and dies, Gutknecht realizes that the rules of the dead now apply to Barkis as well, and tells the others "he's all yours." As the crowd of the Dead slowly approaches Barkis, he screams in a panic and desperately tries to open the door behind him to escape, which is eventually opened by the group of dead spirits that drag him off to a gruesome Fate Worse than Death.
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney): In his final moments, Frollo fails to kill Quasimodo and Esmeralda and loses his balance when the gargoyle he previously damaged begins to break down due to being unable to hold Frollo's weight, with Frollo screaming in horror as he hallucinates the gargoyle coming to live with a devilish glare to drag him to Hell as both fall to the molten lava below.
- The Iron Giant: After Kent orders the ship Nautilus to launch a nuke at the Giant, General Rogard makes him see that since the Giant is standing in the middle of the town - where they are, too - both of them, the rest of the army, and innocent citizens are going to die because of his idiocy. Freaking out, Kent steals a jeep to drive away but is stopped by a contemptuous Giant and held at gunpoint by the entire army.
General Rogard: Hold him, men! Make sure he STAYS here, like a good soldier.
- The Lion King (1994): In his last moments, Scar calls the hyenas his "friends" as he hadn't tossed all the blame on them shortly before and they didn't hear him. The hyenas, of course, won't buy that and jump over Scar as he cowers, begs, and tries to make excuses for his betrayal. However, the shadows show that he does at least go down fighting.
- The Nightmare Before Christmas: After Jack pulls the thread that keeps Oogie-Boogie's cloth body closed, the latter berates him and whines "my bugs, my bugs" as the insects that stuffed him fall in the same lava pit he wanted to throw Sally and Santa Claus.
- In The Princess and the Frog, Dr. Facilier begs for his life as he gets dragged off into the underworld for failing to pay his debt to the Voodoo spirits by shouting "No! I'm not ready at all!", an ironic reference to his earlier Villain Song "Friends on the Other Side" where one of the choruses was "Are you ready?"
- Soul (2020): Upon realizing he'd died just after landing the gig of his dreams, Joe refuses to go to the Great Beyond, running away, insisting it's not his time, and pretending to be a mentor to get out of dying.
Films — Live-Action
- In a variation, in 8mm Dino Velvet is shot on the side of the neck with a .22, severing his carotid artery and making him bleed to death. Velvet, a demented film director, spends his last moments whining that he wanted his death to be something more spectacular.
- Ace Ventura: Downplayed in that Ace doesn't die, but when he encounters the Big Bad, we cut to Ace's Friend on the Force who is driving with the rest of the police to the location and assures Melissa Robbins (Ace's employer) that Ace is cool under pressure. Description Cut to Ace on his knees and crying to the Big Bad not to kill him.
- Air Force One:
- The hijackers hold a gun to the head of the president's Deputy Press Secretary to force him to come out of hiding. She cries and begs for her life until the moment they shoot her.
- Gibbs, the traitorous Secret Service agent spends his last seconds before Air Force One crashes in the Black Sea (after he's been left behind to die by President Marshall) moaning in despair.
- Alien (1979): Lambert is a Deer in the Headlights as the eponymous alien approaches. Even as Parker takes him on to distract it, she is unable to take his advice and run. After Parker is killed, the alien comes for her, and she can last be seen blubbering in terror before cutting to Ripley, who can only hear her dying wail.
- Andersonville: This made-for-TV Civil War film focuses on a group of Union soldiers interned in the titular P.O.W. Camp. In the camp, a gang of soldiers called the Raiders controls much of daily prison life, using their position to rob and murder fellow prisoners. Eventually, the other prisoners rebel and subdue the raiders, put them on trial (with approval from the Confederate commandant overseeing the camp, and the jury being a new arrival of prisoners unfamiliar with the raiders), and are proven guilty, and sentenced to be hanged. As the execution is about to be carried out, two of the raiders utterly snap when they see the gallows they will be hanged from, and desperately try to flee. They are then dragged, literally kicking-&-screaming and begging for their lives at the top of their lungs, to the gallows. One of them can be heard weeping as the sack is placed over his head and the noose tied on his neck, and doesn't stop until he's finally hung.
- Avengers: Infinity War:
- When Thanos takes Gamora to Vormir to get the Soul Stone, the Red Skull says that in order to get it, whoever seeks it must sacrifice the person they love most. Thanos sheds tears upon hearing this, and Gamora, who was abused by Thanos most her life, laughs at the revelation that he will never possess the stone since he didn't love anyone, only for Red Skull that he cries not because he can't have the stone, but what he must do to get it, and Thanos softly tells Gamora: "I'm sorry little one." As he sadly drags her to the edge of the cliff, she tries freeing herself and begs him not to throw her off by desperately crying out: "This isn't love, This isn't love!"
- Once Peter Parker realizes that he's being turned to dust by Thanos's snap, he starts crying, embraces Tony Stark, and pleads, "I don't want to go. Please, Mr. Stark, I don't want to go." Considering he's a 16-year-old kid, this is a perfectly understandable reaction. Made even worse by the fact that Peter's Spider-Sense was going off like crazy, so he could feel his imminent demise coming.
- The Ballad of Buster Scruggs: In Near Algodones, when the Cowboy is on the gallows again at the end of the story, an old man next to him is blubbering incessantly. The Cowboy jokes, "First time?"
- Lavrentiy Beria goes out this way in The Death of Stalin. As NKVD chief he arranged the death, imprisonment, and suffering of countless people without batting an eye, but when it's his turn to be executed, Beria breaks down into a blubbering coward and begs for mercy up until the moment he's silenced by a bullet. The circumstances were even more pathetic in Real Life: Before killing him, Beria's executioner ended up shoving a sock into his mouth just to stop his incessant groveling.
- Near the end of Casper the antagonist Carrigan was so determined to get Casper's treasure that she turns herself into ghost to get into the vault. Thinking she can be brought back to life with the Lazarus Machine. But then she is reminded that she doesn't have any unfinished business and hence must pass on to the afterlife. Her final moments has her yelling she isn't done, before disappearing in a puff.
- Django Unchained: Invoked by Django in the final act when he confronts Stephen after he kills the remaining members of the Candie organization. Stephen tries to Face Death with Dignity as the last member standing, but Django blows away his kneecaps and leaves him screaming in agony and uselessly swearing Django will suffer for this as the dynamite Django set in the Candieland manor goes off.
- Final Destination: Given the film's premise and Death's tendency to carry out creative, drawn-out, and horrible deaths with almost no chance of survival, someone is usually going to go out terrified and pleading not to die (or at least, not in the way Death has intended for them).
- The disasters that lead to the premonitions frequently showcase one or several characters in extreme panic and fright as it becomes apparent how they're utterly screwed by the utter impossibility of surviving such catastrophe, be it the panic and screaming of the many hapless to-be victims in Flight 180 and Devil's Flight or the uncontrollable mayhem going on during the Route 23, McKinley Speedway, North Bay Bridge, and Skyview Restaurant disasters.
- Final Destination 2: Nora Carpenter finds herself trapped by the closing elevator doors from the neck and her final moments are pleading in desperation how she doesn't want to die just moments before she is decapitated. Even worse, she admitted before how she wanted to die after seeing her son Tim get pulverized by a falling glass pane.
- Final Destination 3: Ashley and Ashlyn scream in howling agony as they are burned alive while trapped in malfunctioning tanning beds and are thrashing wildly in an attempt to free themselves.
- Final Destination 5: Despite everything they went through, Sam and Molly still end up dying horrific deaths in a plane (Flight 180, in fact), and their reactions are understandably shocking and distressed. As soon as Sam finds out that the boy who was taken off the plane was screaming that said plane was going to explode in flight, that exactly happens. And once Molly is thrown off the plane and bisected by the plane's wing, Sam could do nothing but reel and cry in panic as the plane explodes, and he dies screaming in agony.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: At the end of Part 2, Lord Voldemort is killed by his own Killing Curse spell when it rebounds after his final Horcrux is destroyed. But unlike in the novel, where he instantly drops dead, Voldemort lives long enough to see his body disintegrating into dust and his final emotion is one of pure fear and agony as he realizes his worst fear coming to life.
- Hot Fuzz: When Professor Tom Weaver, one of the members of the Sandford Neighborhood Watch Alliance, is two seconds away from being accidentally blown up by a sea mine, his act is to have a huge Oh, Crap! look on his face and whine out an "Oh, God, no!"
- It Follows: In the film's prologue, we follow Annie Marshall, one of the curse's latest victims. After escaping it one time too many, she is completely Driven to Suicide, so she goes to the beach, calls her dad to give her (tear-filled) goodbyes, and then sits on the sand crying and waiting for the beast to finally catch up. And when it does, it's not pretty.
- Jaws:
- Chrissie Watkins (the shark's first victim) spends her last moments before being dragged down and eaten crying and screaming for help. She even says loudly to herself when the shark seems to leave her alone for a second after she grabs a hold of a buoy "I'm panicking!".
- Captain Quint mentions to Brody and Hooper that he'll never put on a life jacket after spending six days adrift at sea after the sinking of the USS Indianapolis, all but stating his greatest fear is being Eaten Alive by a shark. Sure enough in the film's climax, the Great White shark leaps onto the boat they're on, causing it to sink slowly into the ocean. Quint helplessly slides down towards the stern where the shark's jaws wait for him. The gizzard, sea-hardened sailor breaks down in terror even before the shark finally bites him, and he spends his last moments screaming as he tries in vain to kill the shark with the machete before the great fish finishes him with a Sickening "Crunch!".
- Lethal Weapon (1987): General Peter McAllister spends his last seconds on Earth freaking out at the fact that he is trapped in his car, which is upside-down and on fire, and said fire is about to set off the handful of grenades he brought with him.
- Miller's Crossing: Bernie Bernbaum tearfully begs on his knees for Tom Reagan not to kill him: "I can't die out here in the woods, like a dumb animal!...Look in your heart!" It actually does work in getting Tom to spare his life... The first time.
- Nine Dead:
- Christian starts begging and pleading when he is told that he will die first.
- Eddie breaks down into tears when the captor tells him he is going to die next. Father Francis sacrifices his life to save Eddie.
- The Other Boleyn Girl portrays Anne Boleyn's execution this way, with Anne shuddering, hyperventilating and crying throughout her last moments. This tends to annoy historians, since the real Anne famously Faced Death with Dignity.
- The Quick and the Dead: The Kid, after being mortally wounded in the stomach during his gun duel with Herod who may or may not be his father, loses his usual bravado and tearfully exclaims he doesn't want to die. He spends his last moments crying and silently begging Herod to acknowledge him as his biological son just once - which is the reason he entered the quickdraw contest in the first place. Herod, while visibly shaken, doesn't.
- Saving Private Ryan: Steamboat Willie is forced under guard to dig graves for the dead Americans killed by his machine-gun nest, and he realizes he's digging his own grave (literally Digging Yourself Deeper!) as The Squad debate whether to shoot him or not, so he begins babbling in heavily-accented English:
Willie: Please! I like American! Fancy schmancy! What a cinch! Go fly a kite! Cat got your tongue! Hill of beans! Betty Boop, what a dish! Betty Grable... Nice gams! [tries singing the national anthem] I say, can you see...I say, can you see...I...say... Fuck Hitler! [in tearful hysterics] FUCK HITLER!
- Saw:
- At the end of Saw I, Adam is shell-shocked when the Jigsaw Killer reveals himself before him. After being electrocuted by Jigsaw and watching him shut the bathroom lights and walk out the door, Adam breaks down screaming in despair as the killer seals the door and leaves him to die.
Jigsaw: Most people are so ungrateful to be alive... but not you. Not anymore. (Walks out the bathroom's door as Adam screams incoherently) GAME OVER. (shuts the door)
Adam: DOOOOON'T! DOOOOOOOOON'T! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! (more incoherent screaming)'' - In the opening scene of Saw II, Michael gets terrified and can only let out Rapid-Fire "No!" just before the Death Trap he's in kills him.
- At the end of Saw I, Adam is shell-shocked when the Jigsaw Killer reveals himself before him. After being electrocuted by Jigsaw and watching him shut the bathroom lights and walk out the door, Adam breaks down screaming in despair as the killer seals the door and leaves him to die.
- Smile (2022) and its sequel end with both protagonists realizing how screwed they are when they realize the Smile Entity got the upper hand on them, and and can scream and cry in terror as the Entity reveals its true form, before subjecting them to a hefty dose of Demonic Possession.
- Star Trek Into Darkness:
- When Admiral Pike is mortally wounded by John Harrison's attack, Spock mind-melds with him and senses his confusion and fear as he dies.
- When Kirk is dying of radiation poisoning after saving the Enterprise, he freely admits to Spock that he's scared.
- Star Wars: Darth Sidious/Emperor Palpatine, the Big Bad of the Skywalker Saga, is usually calm and collected in his grand scheme to rule the galaxy and crush opposition to his rule with sadistic glee. But being a Sith Lord who hungers for immortality and believes that becoming one with the Force is a Cessation of Existence, he genuinely fears death and unlike his many apprentices who all Face Death with Dignity, he ends up screaming in terror when he's about to die in both Return of the Jedi and The Rise of Skywalker.
- Train to Busan: When Yong-suk is infected by one of the zombies, he looks at his hands and shakes his head before screaming, "It can't be!" The transformation is then complete, and his former personality is gone.
- V for Vendetta:
- When Sutler is about to die, he's a wailing mess. Creedy, who has been treated like mud by Sutler the whole movie, makes his contempt known before blowing Sutler's brains out.
- When Creedy's time comes, he proudly states that he's not going to weep uncontrollably like Sutler. That much is true, but Creedy still loses his shit when his bullets (initially) fail to kill V, giving the dark hero the time he needs to break Creedy's neck, before succumbing to the shots himself.
Literature
- According to America (The Book), this was how Nathan Hale's final moments played out:
Before his execution at the hands of British authorities, patriot Nathan Hale said, "I regret that I have but one life to give to this country." Continued Hale, "...but what I really regret is that I'm giving it now." And then began the begging.
- Fred Atkins, in Batman: Revolution, reacts to his impending demise in this manner, being carried off by his soon-to-be former business partner's lackies screaming in utter terror. Given that he's been taken to a slaughterhouse, he has every reason to be terrified.
- In both the book and the Film of the Book for Stephen King's Firestarter, Orville Jamieson, one of the Shop agents, cries out as he realizes Charlie is about to kill him.
- Harry Potter
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince: Just before Dumbledore is murdered by Snape, he feebly pleads to be spared. This is wildly out of character for Dumbledore, who had long lectured about there being no need to fear death. It turns out to be a clue that he and Snape were still allies and had planned his being "murdered" together in secret, and Dumbledore was merely pleading with Snape to go through with it since he could see the hatred and revulsion on his face and he'd already been complaining he didn't want to do it. The film adaptation, being written after the completion of the books, provides more explicit foreshadowing with Snape looking more clearly apprehensive and scared.
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: The flashback to the night that Voldemort killed Harry's parents shows that Lily sadly went out in a mixture of fear and despair. James died trying in vain to hold off Voldemort without a wand, but only succeeded in buying Lily a little time for it to sink in that her baby is probably going to die in mere moments, and she dies begging and pleading for him to be spared. However, Lily still lays down her life for her son, refusing to stand aside, and likely unintentionally invoked the ancient magical protection caused by her love to protect Harry, meaning her death still was vitally important to the end.
- The death of Miss de Saint-Yves in The Ingenue (1767) is not described by the author as being pretty but rather filled from the shame of submitting to what was needed to save her lover.
- Safehold: Just before his death, Merlin and Nimue secretly visit Zhasper Clyntahn in prison and show him the evidence proving that the Church of God Awaiting is a giant lie, a lie for which he had torn the world apart and caused millions to die. When he is taken to the gallows the next morning, Clyntahn's previously unbreakable composure is shattered and he can do nothing but cringe and desperately insist that it wasn't his fault because he believed the Writ was true.
- The Saga of the People of Laxardal: Thorkel of Hafratindar sees the sons of Osvif lying in ambush for Kjartan, but does nothing to warn Kjartan, and passively watches Kjartan die. Afterwards he adds insult to injury by badmouthing Kjartan and mocking his death throes. For this Kjartan's brothers seize him in his farmhouse and "when Thorkel was brought outside to be killed, his behaviour was anything but courageous."
- Secret Vampire: Poppy is absolutely terrified when she finds out she's got terminal cancer; she's only sixteen years old and naturally assumed she'd have her whole life ahead of her, she felt perfectly fine a few weeks ago and now she's only got about three months left to live. When James says he can save her by turning her into a vampire, she weighs up her options and quickly agrees, wanting to keep living even if she wouldn't be human anymore. She subsequently feels guilty when people praise her for being so brave and calm about her diagnosis, because she feels she's only able to cope with it because she knows she has a chance to be saved, and that she'd be a lot less calm if she didn't.
- Sherlock Holmes: At the end of The Valley of Fear, it's mentioned that McGinty, who had ordered men murdered without a second thought, went to the gallows cringing and crying.
- The Stormlight Archive: Wind and Truth revisits the events of King Gavilar's assassination from his perspective, showing him to be a massive megalomaniac who was trying to become immortal. When he took a fatal wound and realized he was going to die, he falls into complete panic, trying to salvage the situation somehow, before realizing that he had utterly failed in his ambitions and endangered the entire world in the process, with his legacy being one of bringing everyone to ruin.
Live-Action TV
- Breaking Bad: Invoked at several points when you have characters who completely crumble under pressure when faced with death.
- Walt and Jesse's final confrontation with Tuco kicks off when Tuco holds Jesse to the ground at gunpoint and the latter begins crying and panicking as he's seconds away from being shot to death. Though with some quick thinking, Jesse is able to knock away Tuco with a rock to the head and regain his footing, ultimately subverting his own death.
- In his debut episode "Better Call Saul", Saul Goodman is kidnapped by a disguised Walt and Jesse and brought to an empty hole in the desert where it appears he'll be tossed in if he doesn't comply. This is one of the few times where Saul shows pure fear and despair, begging for his life as he thinks he's about to get disposed of. Better Call Saul added a Blindfolded Trip, as he begs and pleads to kill or torture him anywhere but the desert.
- Subverted in "Full Measure", the season 3 finale when Gus orders his hitmen to kill Walter and dispose of his corpse at the superlab. Mike and Victor think this is a straight example as Walter completely loses his cool at the prospect of his own death, begging to be spared and offering them Jesse, who is also on their hit list. It's only when Walter calls Jesse that it turns out to be a ploy to eliminate their replacement cook. Once the ploy is initiated, Walt drops the act and starts acting self-assured and confident again.
- Then when Jesse goes to Gale's appartment to carry out the hit, Gale is clearly trying not to cry when he realizes he's a dead man. It doesn't make the job easier for Jesse, who's on the verge of tears himself being forced to kill a good-hearted man whose worst crime was cooking meth under Gus, and his death haunts Jesse for half of Season 4.
- In "Ozymandias", Jesse is dragged out of his hiding spot by his would-be killers kicking and screaming, and when he's brought forward to be executed, he can only look up with watery eyes at the birds in the sky as he waits to be shot. Then one of them suggests they put his execution on hold to see what he told Hank and Gomez, and he goes back to kicking and screaming as they begin dragging him to their car. Then Walt stops them... only to twist the knife further by telling Jesse that he watched Jane die and he could've saved her but chose not to, which takes the fight right out of Jesse. Then after his captors finish torturing any information out of him, instead of killing him like they promised, they put him to work in a meth lab as a slave, threatening his girlfriend and her son of he refuses. At this point, he would've preferred death.
- Doctor Who:
- In "Genesis of the Daleks", when Davros is confronted and about to be executed by his own creations, the titular Daleks, he starts breaking down and shouts about how, as their creator, they should be taking orders from him. The Daleks ignore his angry pleas. As a last act of desperation, Davros tries to use the cut-off switch he installed in his chair to shut down their production line and they promptly exterminate him. It would later turn out that he was put into stasis by his life support mechanism rather than killed, but at that moment it appeared he was going to die.
- Discussed in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang". While they are being held captive by the followers of Weng-Chiang (AKA Magnus Greel) Jago tells Litefoot that he's "not all that brave when it comes to it", meaning being confronted with the prospect of one's own death. Litefoot says he doesn't suppose anyone is particularly brave under those circumstances, to which Jago says he thought he should tell him anyway in case he "lets the side down" by losing control of his emotions when the time comes for them to be killed. Litefoot assures him that he won't, though it never comes to that.
- In "Resurrection of the Daleks", Davros appears to be killed off again by a virus that the Movellans created to destroy Daleks, owed to the fact that he, as a Kaled, shares much of his genetic code with his creations. As soon as he realizes what's going on, he freaks out and angrily shouts that it shouldn't be happening to him, as he isn't a Dalek. Once again, he gets better.
- In "The End of Time", the Doctor initially rages at the cosmic unfairness of having to save Wilf at the cost of his own life, protesting that it's a terrible reward for all the good he has done over the centuries, and that he could do so much more. After saving Wilf, the Tenth Doctor's last act before regenerating (which he regards as a kind of death) is to whimper "I don't want to go."
- In "The Big Bang", when the stone Dalek confronts River Song and realizes who she is, it immediately starts begging for mercy, understanding that, since she's much more ruthless than any of the Doctor's other allies, it's far beyond screwed.
- Game of Thrones: Being in a Crapsack World that has a Zombie Apocalypse around the corner, there would be, at least, several characters facing their demise in despair:
- The Red Wedding shows Houses Bolton and Frey massacring the Stark bannermen. Catelyn Stark and her son, Robb, watch the entire thing happening including the brutal death of Robb's pregnant wife, Talisa. Towards the end, Catelyn takes Lord Walder Frey's wife at knifepoint and begs him to spare Robb, who she tells him to flee. However, Robb is in a state of hopelessness after witnessing the deaths of his wife and his unborn child. Then, Lord Roose Bolton stabs him in the gut while delivering the words, "The Lannisters send their regards." At this point, Catelyn loses it after seeing her son die and lets one of the Freys slash her throat, believing that everything that she and her son fought for is gone.
- In season 4, King Joffrey Baratheon begins coughing after drinking wine on his wedding day. Upon realizing that the wine he drank from has been poisoned, he panics as he begins to choke, vomit, and bleed horrendously before he finally dies with his last expression being that of pure terror.
- In season 5, Lord Janos Slynt disobeys a direct order from recently-elected Lord Commander Jon Snow. Since Slynt is a Dirty Coward who hid during the previous battle against the Wildlings and only got his "Lord" title by dishonorably betraying Lord Eddard Stark (Jon's father), he starts to blubber and beg when Jon Snow sentences him to death in a pathetic attempt to save his own life.
- In season 6, Lord Ramsay Bolton looses to Jon Snow in the Battle of Bastards where he's given to Sansa Stark to decide his fate. Sansa decides to have Ramsay's hounds devour him as punishment for the atrocities that he's committed. Though initially confident that his hounds won't eat him, he breaks down and spends his last moments terrified before hounds decide to eat him.
- In Season 7, Euron Greyjoy captures Ellaria and Tyene Sand during his raid on his niece's fleet. Then, he brings them in front of Cersei Lannister who is angry at them for the murder of her daughter. Cersei has them locked up in a cell, chained up, and gagged. As she remains furious at them for what they did to Myrcella, Cersei gloats about giving them a cruel punishment. Then, she gives Tyene a poisoned kiss using the same poison that killed Myrcella. When Tyene finds out what poison it is, she looks at Ellaria and tearfully cries, "Mama". Ellaria looks on in despair, knowing that she would watch her daughter die and rot for the rest of her life. As Cersei leaves, Tyene tries to reach out to her mother who also tries to comfort her as they remained chained up and gagged.
- In Season 7, Lord Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish gets exposed as the one who betrayed Ned Stark which kickstarted the War of the Five Kings. During the trial, he kneels down and begs Sansa Stark to spare him because he loves her. Sansa, who had been his pawn for most of the series, refuses and lets her sister, Arya, execute him.
- Queen Cersei Lannister does not handles herself any better, either: when Dany decides to finally embrace the Targaryen madness (because of Cersei's machinations) and orders her troops kill everybody on King's Landing, Cersei spends the whole sequence on a big state of Oh, Crap! that only deepens when she tries to escape and discovers the palace's escape tunnel caved in. She spends her last seconds before the ceiling falls on her and flattens her holding on to her brother, all while she cries and whines how she doesn't want to die.
- The Good Place: Played for Laughs; Janet (the Good Place's AI avatar) is programmed to plead for her life when someone threatens to push her kill switch. When we see this in action, she follows the pleading with something to the effect of "Just kidding".
- El internado: Las Cumbres: Pax gets separated from her friends and is abducted by ritualistic serial killer El Verdugo ("The Executioner"). After failing to escape, all Paz can do is sob and beg for mercy. The others get there before El Verdugo kills her, but cannot stop him before he finishes the job.
- Julius Caesar (2003): When Senator Tallis is going to be executed, he's frantically crying and begging that he wants to see Sulla (who ordered said execution) right until the moment his head leaves his body.
- How Kazumi goes out in Kamen Rider Build. He tries to Face Death with Dignity, but is clearly struggling to hold it all in since he knows his death will only hurt his beloved Misora.
- Midnight Mass: Bev Keane, a recently turned vampire, spends her final moments desperately trying to dig a hole in the beach to save herself from the rising sun, crying in fear before the sunlight kills her. This is in sharp contrast to the rest of the turned townsfolk, who calmly await their fate with their loved ones. It would almost invoke pity were she not so reprehensible.
- Our Flag Means Death: Played for Laughs; after he and his crew are captured by the navy, Stede looks like he's prepared to Face Death with Dignity. But then he's brought before a firing squad blindfolded and hilariously begging for his life. Thankfully Ed is there to save him before any shots are fired.
- The Sopranos: Happens frequently on the show when they're about to be whacked and know it's coming, which helps make the murderers (frequently one of the protagonists), look less sympathetic and more cruel.
- Tony catches Fabian, a former mobster turned informant and starts to strangle him. Fabian pleads and begs for his life, trying to weasel out of his fate, first pretending that he doesn't know who Tony is, and then lying through his teeth saying he could've killed Tony earlier but didn't because his daughter was there (in reality, it was because there were witnesses).
- When Mikey is cornered by Chris and Paulie in the woods, he starts crying and begs for mercy, pinning his murder of Brendan on Junior in a futile attempt to bargain for his life. Even as he's riddled with bullets, he's screaming and struggling for life.
- When Matthew is dragged out to be executed by Big Pussy and Tony, he pleads for his life, pinning his attempted murder of Chris on Sean and wetting himself. Tony makes him think his pleading is working, only to tell him it didn't, at which point Matthew is reducing to crying and screaming for his "mommy".
- Attempted to be defied by Big Pussy, when the others confront him over being a rat. He realizes there's no way he can escape with his life and calmly asks that they at least keep his face intact. However, when he sees his former cohorts pulling their guns out, he loses his nerve, starting panicking, and tries stalling his end as long as he can.
- Adriana, who has been revealed to be a rat, spends her last moments before being executed in the middle of the Pine Warrens dragging herself away from her executioner and repeatedly moaning out a pitiful "no!".
- When Christopher has captured the Dirty Cop who he's told murdered his father (we never find out for sure and even Chris isn't actually certain it's the truth), the man at first attempts to bargain and reason for his life, but is eventually reduced to screaming and begging for forgiveness, even though he adamantly denies actually doing the act.
- In an early episode, Chris himself is subject to a mock execution by Uncle Junior due to him robbing his trucks. As he's beaten and dragged out to a pier by a pair of Russian gangsters, he begs for his life, starts crying and apologizing (incorrectly assuming it had to do with selling Tony's daughter drugs), and craps his pants in terror. Interestingly, in all later instances where Chris' life is threatened, he's much more confident in the face of possible death.
- When Lorraine is murdered by Phil's hitmen for refusing to kick up to him, her last act is futilely trying to crawl away while crying and begging. Previously she was subject to a mock execution, where she begged for her life and even saying she'd give them all blowjobs, much to Phil's ghoulish amusement.
- Vito is caught by Phil and his underlings, and then is brutally beaten to death for being gay. Although he has duct tape wrapped over his mouth, his face is an expression of absolute terror and he's shaking his head frantically trying to change Phil's mind, to no avail.
- Squid Game:
- As a Deadly Game, many of the titular contest's participants face immense despair in their final moments as they're at the mercy of the game's guards, sobbing, begging, or otherwise showing a complete loss of hope. One such Player is Park Ju-un or Player 369, who provides the Image Source for this page.
- One of the most poignant examples comes from the death of Jang Deok-su in "VIPS". After spending the whole game killing, stealing, and being a complete piece of shit to get ahead, Deok-su is put in a position at the fifth game that all but guarantees certain death for him, and decides to hold up everyone else so that they can die before him. One of his victims, Han Mi-nyeo, decides to pull a Heroic Sacrifice by falling with him to their deaths, giving everyone else a chance to live. Deok-su breaks down into pathetic begging and screaming as Mi-nyeo prepares to drag him off the bridge.
- In Star Trek: Deep Space Nine, In "What You Leave Behind", the final episode, Legate Broca asks that he be allowed to speak to the Cardassian rebellion to get them to stand down before the Dominion commits genocide against the entire planet. The Founder Leader says it's equally likely that they will get Broca to defect, so she orders his execution. As the Jem'Hadar guards take him away, he begs to be spared and cries that he is loyal to the Founders, and is gets stabbed to death.
- Kai Winn attempts to unleash the Pah-wraiths to gain their favor. But she is cast aside in favor of Dukat, whom they chose as their emissary. In her last moments, she tells Sisko to destroy the book to defeat the Pah-wraiths, only to be incinerated by Dukat.
- Stargate SG-1: Apophis finally meets his end, when he is trapped in a ship that's about to crash on a planet at full speed, surrounded by Replicators. And he can do nothing but scream at his impending demise.
- Torchwood:
- When Owen learns that he is about to die (this time for good) by irradiated coolant in a nuclear power plant in "Exit Wounds", he panics about not wanting to die, shouts at Tosh to try to find a way out for him, and intends to rage his way to oblivion. He does eventually exhibit the opposite trope, but only after Tosh tells him that he's breaking her heart by panicking like that.
- In the Torchwood: Children of Earth episode "Day Four", Ianto dies from a virus released into Thames House. Whilst he tries to be calm about it, reassuring Jack that their time together was good, Ianto is visibly crying and breaking down the entire time he is dying.
- The Twilight Zone: "The Obsolete Man". Romney Wordsworth is sentenced to death for being obsolete, but invites the Chancellor who sentenced him to participate in his execution. Wordsworth locks the door, and announces there is a bomb that will kill both of them. Wordsworth calmly accepts his fate and reads his Bible, while the Chancellor pathetically begs for his life. Wordsworth lets the Chancellor go at the last second. The Chancellor is himself found obsolete by the tribunal, and is beaten to death by its members.
- The Walking Dead Television Universe: Many, many characters are shown to be in complete despair and agony as they die throughout the franchise since death by walker is not a fun way to go, and most of them are slowly and painfully Devoured by the Horde while they're still alive.
Music
- The titular song of Iron Maiden's Powerslave is a pharaoh on his deathbed despairing that he's worshipped as a god but in the end he's a "slave to the power of Death".
Mythology & Religion
- The Book of Mormon: The Nephites were supposed to be gathering to Cumorah for a Last Stand, but when they actually see the endless Lamanite hordes coming for them, Mormon records that "every soul was filled with terror" and they proceed to fold like wet paper.
- The Four Gospels:
- Prior to the crucifixion, Jesus is said to have prayed overnight in the Garden of Gethsemane, and was so overcome with stress and fear that He sweat blood (a condition called "hematidrosis", which has been documented in people facing overwhelming stress or terror, such as those about to be executed). Given that He was to be tortured to death, this serves as a way to remind readers that Jesus was still susceptible to human failings and emotions, despite His divine nature.
- A famous passage of the crucifixion in is about Jesus agonizing on the cross, calling out to God, who He feels has abandoned Him.
My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?
Video Games
- At the very end of Bravely Second, this is how Providence goes out, panicking as it understands the concept of despair for the first and only time in its existence.
Providence: Aaaaaaaaaiiiigh! What is... this? I don't want to... disappear... so this... this... is... DESPAIR!!
- Fate/Grand Order: Towards the end of the Singularity F, Olga Marie Animusphere gets tossed into the CHALDEAS by her former mentor, Lev Lainur Flarus. In her final moments, she begs anyone to save her and laments that she never got praised and everyone hated her.
- The Legend of Zelda: Oracle of Seasons has Amy, one of the Poe Sisters in the Explorer's Crypt, who reacts thus, when defeated a second time alongside her sister Margaret:
Amy: Aaaahhhh!!! I don't wanna...
- Kingdom Hearts III: Xemnas faces his final defeat at the hands of Sora and begins fading away so he will return to face his proper death in Kingdom Hearts II. Unlike many of the other Seekers of Darkness, Xemnas's last moments are spent in almost complete despair, realizing that he does finally have the heart he always wanted and it's only making him feel pain and loneliness since he's mistreated his comrades so badly that nobody is lifting a finger to help him as he dies.
- Metal Gear: Ghost Babel: In his final moments after you beat him, the psychotic serial killer Marionette Owl is at first happy because he thinks he sees his beloved dead sister in heaven... but then he notices the afterlife feels a little... warm.
Marionette Owl: WHY IS IT SO HOT?!
- Poppy Playtime: When Mommy Long Legs's arm gets caught in the grinder, she utterly panics and screams, "HE'LL MAKE ME PART OF HIM!!" before her torso is crushed. The "he" she refers to is the Prototype, which reaches under a door and gathers her remains shortly after she's dead.
- ULTRAKILL:
- Upon a Game Over, V1's last thought before shutting down is repeatedly exclaiming, out of panic, "I DON'T WANT TO DIE".
- In contrast with his fellow Superboss Sisyphus Prime, Minos Prime's last words are of utter despair. Not because he himself is afraid to die, but because in reaching his final end so soon he has failed to bring salvation, or even avenge, his beloved subjects and mankind as a whole.
Forgive me, my children... for I have failed to bring you salvation, from this cold, dark world...
Visual Novels
- Danganronpa: Trigger Happy Havoc:
- Played for Horror in the first execution during the killing game (after the one from the prologue). Leon Kuwata, having just been found out by the rest of the class for killing a classmate, is dragged away to be executed, but not before he breaks down into screaming and tears, complete with a Big "NO!". As the first execution in the game, none of the other students have precedent for what to expect, so Leon's death is made as painful and cruel as possible to show just how the stakes are for everyone.
- ZigZagged in the final execution. Junko Enoshima, after failing to convince the survivors to vote for Makoto and stay in Hope's Peak Academy, decides to execute herself so that she can feel the "despair of death"... except that her brain is so warped that despair causes her what can be observed as absolute joy and glee, and faces the execution with a constant maniacal grin on her face, which only vanishes moments before her end, when the crusher that should be killing her malfunctions and replaces her despair with confusion.
- Danganronpa 2: Goodbye Despair: Like in the previous game, the first blackened, Teruteru Hanamura, doesn't take his impending death too well, crying and begging Monokuma to tell what happened with his mother (part of the reason he even committed a murder in the first place was to see her). His last words is him crying out for his mom.
- The Letter: The Stinger has the 6-year old Kylie attacked and killed by the ghost. Predictably, her last words are terrified pleas for her Honorary Uncle Luke to help her.
- Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors: Within the first twenty or so minutes of the game, the Ninth Man dies after locking himself behind a door from the rest of the main group. His final moments are spent in utter panic, confusion, and terror as he's about to be exploded by a bomb in his stomach, as a demonstration to the rest of the cast of what awaits them if they disobey the rules of the Nonary Game. Of course, given that he was just holding a terrified girl at knifepoint a minute ago, and acted like a complete Jerkass before then, you don't really feel too bad for him. You'll feel even less bad once you learn just how evil he actually was about 20 hours later.
Web Animation
- Something About: In "Something About Kirby's Adventure", when Kirby corners Nightmare on the moon and prepares to kill him, Nightmare frantically tries to bargain with Kirby, offering him a domain to rule (or a house in Boca Raton) if he spares him, only for Kirby to ignore them all and summon Jesus to destroy him with the power of scripture.
Webcomics
- Unsounded: Stockyard starts off as an imposing and dignified crime boss. He dies while blubbering about his father and begging for a child to save him while the smoke eels in the area mock him using his own memories.
Web Original
- In Dragon Ball Z Abridged, this is Played for Laughs as Vegeta is finishing off Android 19. After Vegeta pulls off the clown bot's hands, he again asks, "Do you feel fear, android?" Unlike the previous response, 19 panics and replies in a deadpan robotic voice, "No. Please. Get away. Leave me alone." Vegeta's response before he Big Bangs the bot to bits? "All I needed to hear."
- Nearly every character that dies in Escape the Night spends their final moments begging, sobbing, screaming or panicking. The only noticeable exceptions to this are Timothy, DeStorm, Alex, MatPat and Rosanna.
- In season 1, Justine already is having a mental breakdown when she realizes that someone will be Buried Alive due to her Claustrophobia. She attempts to run away and is last seen crying and yelling for Joey to save her.
- In season 3, Colleen similarly breaks down upon discovering that she is going to be put inside an Iron Maiden by her 'friends'.
- The Onion: Loved Ones Recall Local Man's Cowardly Battle With Cancer
is a subversion of the usual "dignified cancer survivor" stories, centered around a man so weak-willed he dies of cancer in a month rather than fighting it and gaining a few months, even asking his wife never to remarry.
"They say it is in times of great trial that a man's true colors show," said Russ' best friend, Larry Ahrens, summing up the feelings of those who knew the man. "And in Russ' case, he had a yellow streak a mile wide."
Western Animation
- Zig-zagged in Around the World with Willy Fog. During the journey across America, Rigodon and Tico are captured by a band of Sioux Indians and are seen tied up inside a teepee. Tico is worrying about what the Indians are planning to do to them and Rigodon tries to reassure him, telling him to think about something more pleasant, such as Fog winning his wager. However, when two of the Indians, including the tribal chief, approach them, the two friends panic at the thought of being killed. Tico wails that he's "too young to go", and Rigodon yells "please don't" over and over as an Indian approaches him with a knife, closing his eyes and turning his head away, only for the Indian to cut his bonds. It turns out that the chief merely wants to question them.
- Gravity Falls: Once Bill Cipher realizes that Stan is pulling a Heroic Sacrifice in order to ensure he's erased, Bill begins frantically begging Stan to call the whole thing off, offering him anything he wants. Stan, who had watched Bill torment his family several times before, doesn't budge.
- Codename: Kids Next Door: On Operation: E.N.D., Numbuh 274 launches the KND Moon Base to crash into the sun. Numbuh 86's plan on the moment is run around and panic.
- My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic: Lord Tirek and Cozy Glow cower in despair as they are Taken for Granite by Celestia, Luna and Discord. Chrysalis, on the other hand, still tries to run to attack her enemies before being frozen forever in that position.
- The Owl House: In Season 3, Emperor Belos/Philip Wittebane faces the prospect of dying as his decaying body is falling apart and he is nowhere close to completing his goal of wiping out the witches of the Boiling Isles. He is genuinely afraid of death because he knows deep down he is guilty of murdering his brother Caleb and the many Grimwalkers based on him, and doesn't want to die without performing a "heroic" deed to override his sins. After he's defeated by Luz in the Grand Finale, Belos ends up melting in the boiling rain and the former Emperor ends up begging Luz to save him, claiming that they are both humans and are better than the "evil" witches. He ends up getting an Oh, Crap! moment when he sees those "evil" witches ready to stomp him into paste.
- The Simpsons: The Halfway Plot Switch of "The Fat and the Furriest" begins with Homer encountering a bear when he goes to the dump yard and him breaking down in horror (curling up, crying, screaming, apparently wetting himself, etc.). This actually saves Homer because it annoys the bear into walking away. But then it turns out a hunter caught it on camera and gave it to the news, which leads to the whole town mocking Homer for his lack of bravery in the face of a horrible death, which leads to Homer becoming obsessed with fighting the bear so he can regain his manliness.
- Played for Laughs in Smiling Friends when Grim is preaching that life is pointless until he's held at gunpoint, then immediately turning into a blubbering mess. This causes all of his followers to leave in disgust after seeing that he was a fraud.
Real Life
- While cockpit voice recordings naturally capture all kinds of emotion (both positive and negative) in the lead-up to aviation accidents (whether fatal or not), special mention goes to the sheer horror despair experienced by the crew of Western Airlines Flight 2605, which crashed in Mexico City after accidentally landing on the wrong runway, which at the time was closed for maintenance. Shortly after touching down, the plane struck several construction vehicles, killing the driver of one of them. Immediately after this, the captain, realising that someone had just died, but also that he could no longer control the stricken plane as it careened towards a set of buildings, began screaming in utter terror as there was absolutely nothing he could do to save himself or his plane, and continued to scream until the moment the plane impacted a hangar, killing him, as well as the First Officer and 70 others.
