Too Cool to Live: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"There he goes. One of God's own prototypes. A high-powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live, and too rare to die."''|'''[[Hunter S Thompson]]''', referring to his [[Heterosexual Life Partners|Hetero Life Mate]], '''Oscar Zeta Acosta'''.}}

Let's say a character is a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Ninja Pirate]]. Let's say he also has a [[Humongous Mecha|giant robot]]. Let's say that giant robot also has an [[Infinity+1 Sword]]. Let's further say that said sword is actually a [[Katanas Are Just Better|katana]]. No, make that a [[Chainsaw Good|chainsaw]] katana. Hell, let's say it's [[Dual-Wielding|two chainkatanas]]... attached by a chain to make chainkatana[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|chucks]].

This is what happens when somebody is '''Too Cool to Live'''. This character is often relegated by [[The Plot Reaper]] to the job of being a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], or the [[Sixth Ranger]]. Many a [[Mentor Occupational Hazard|wise and awesome mentor has fallen victim to this trope]].

Sometimes, a ''main character'' is '''Too Cool to Live''', and so performs a Heroic Sacrifice at the end of a movie or television series. Apparently there was just [[Put Onon a Bus|no bus service]] in the area.

It may be justified as it allows the next generation, mainly the hero, to [[Took a Level Inin Badass|improve greatly]] to make up for the loss of this person.

See also [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth]] - a—a character who is just too gentle to stay in the story and [[Too Powerful to Live]] - a—a villain who is just too dangerous. Also tends to cross over with [[The Obi-Wan]]. Compare [[Too Happy to Live]]. When this is about works rather than people, it's [[Too Good to Last]].

* As mentioned lower, almost any character played by [[Sean Bean]].

* STRAIGHT FUCKING COUGAR from ''[[ScryedS-Cry-ed]]''. Especially jarring as his defeat made no sense, but still.

* {{spoiler|Hughes, Hohenheim, Fu, and Buccaneer}} in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', the latter three in the manga and ''Brotherhood''.

** Don't forget {{spoiler|[[Evil Is Cool|Kimblee and King Bradley]]}} in Brotherhood.

* Kamina in ''[[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]]''. Though, Simon {{spoiler|becomes ''[[Took a Level Inin Badass|more]]'' [[Took a Level Inin Badass|awesome]] after the [[Time Skip]]. Kamina himself admits this in the [[Lotus Eater Machine]]}}. But hey, [[The Obi-Wan|that comes with the job description]].

* [[Darker Thanthan Black]]: Lives and breathes this tropes. First season had {{spoiler|November 11, Mai}}, and countless others. Second season has had: {{spoiler|Tanya, April, and Goran}}. July however has made it.

** {{spoiler|July died as well in the second season finale.}} In general, if you are attached to a character in [[Darker Thanthan Black]], flip a coin to see if they die or become horribly traumatized.

* {{spoiler|Neil Dylandy, the first}} Lockon Stratos in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]''. Also played with [[Super-Powered Evil Side|Hallelujah]], but [[He's Just Hiding]].

** {{spoiler|Sergei Smirnov}} and {{spoiler|Ali Al-Saachez}} in season 2. [[The Movie]] added {{spoiler|Graham Aker}} to the list.

* Archer in ''[[Fate/stay Stay Nightnight]]''. Many say the same of Lancer. Heck, pretty much every Servant qualifies.

* Naomi Misora in ''[[Death Note (Manga)|Death Note]]'', although the makers' reason was different; [[Word of God]] was that she figured out stuff about Kira too quickly. L was way more cool than the main character.

** Even the [[Warhammer 4000040,000|Space Marines]] could be killed.

* Mu La Flaga in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam SeedSEED]]''. Then [[Fan Nickname|"Bring 'Em Back"]] Fukuda lived up to his nickname and brought the character back in ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]],'' but really [[Fanon Discontinuity|he might as well not have bothered]].

** Only Nishi? Perhaps the more obvious case of [[Too Cool to Live]] in Gantz would be [[The Messiah|Kato]], who quite a few people preferred to [[Jerkass|Kurono]] before the latter's [[Character Development]] (thankfully, he comes back in the manga as well). [[The Obi-Wan|Sakata]] and [[Badass Grandpa|Suzuki]] easily qualify late in the manga as well.

* Minato Namikaze from ''[[Naruto]]'' is a particularly notable example. He was hailed as one if the strongest shinobi ever, saved the Leaf village from the Nine-Tailed Fox's attack, was shown to be able to wipe out whole platoons of shinobi in the ''blink of an eye'' (to the point where enemies were ordered to flee on sight from him), [[Story -Breaker Power|and could teleport anything, even a Spirit Bomb level chakra blast miles away without breaking a sweat]]. Needless to say, a lot of potential threats to the Leaf would not be deemed so dangerous if he was still alive.

* Max Kaien from ''[[The Five Star Stories]]'', except that [[Subverted Trope|he isn't dead]]. He was indeed too much of a [[Game Breaker]] to disrupt the plot, but the point itself was so [[Anachronistic Order|tangled]] and [[Mind Screw|complicated]], that Mamoru Nagano simply had no need to kill him. Instead, he [[Put Onon a Bus|threw him away]] into the [[Alternate Universe]], where he found at least some match to him, and surfaced only in occasional episodes ever since.

* Ken from ''[[Shinkon Gattai Godannar]]''. What can go wrong with a [[Badass]] pilot who has a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot]] for a mecha? Obviously, they had to take him out. Unless he's in the [[Super Robot Wars]] universe.

** But like darn near everything else in this series, it's a [[Tear Jerker]] anyway.

* [[Trickster Mentor|Cross]] Marian in ''~[[D.Gray-Man~]]'' necessitated a hunt across half of Asia by the Black Order, then sauntered in and saved Allen's ass on the Ark. His superiors at the Black Order were not amused by his tendency to go truant and put him under house arrest, and he spent quite a while lounging around headquarters, [[Casanova|seducing women]], racking up insane amounts of debt on the Order's tab, and [[Cool Mask|completely]] [[Badass Longcoat|outshining]] [[Nice Hat|every]] [[The Gunslinger|damn]] [[Asskicking Equals Authority|person]] [[Revolvers Are Just Better|in the]] [[Four -Star Badass|whole]] [[Heroic Sociopath|place]], as was aptly demonstrated when {{spoiler|Lulu Bell attacked.}} But then, he suddenly, mysteriously disappeared with very little evidence how; they [[Never Found the Body]], and it's undoubtedly going to factor into the plot later, as it's well established that he's [[Badass|hard to take down]].

* [[XXX Holic×××HOLiC|Yuuko]] is so cool that {{spoiler|[[A Wizard Did It|Clow Reed]] warped reality to delay her death}} before she died for real.

* This was almost played straight with {{spoiler|Joe Asakura aka Condor Joe}} in ''[[Science Ninja Team Gatchaman (Anime)|Science Ninja Team Gatchaman]]''; he would have died and stayed dead if there wasn't a second series in the works, and early planning for the second series had him [[Killed Off for Real]] and replaced by an android. In the end, the trope was subverted by having him just barely survive, then implanted with cybernetics.

* {{spoiler|Reinforce (Eins)}} from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha (anime)|Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]''. She's [[NoWon't Work On SellMe|untouched]] by Nanoha's point-blank [[Deadly Upgrade|Excelion Buster]] ''and'' shows the girl a '''real''' Starlight Breaker. Clearly too awesome to be allowed to stay alive.

* [[Claymore]] gave us Teresa of the Faint Smile.

* Vegetto (Vegerot in the VIZ translation) from [[DragonballDragon Ball]] Z. Yep. Guy comes, dominates Buu-Gohan (In his base form in the anime, he just transformed for kicks.), even when turned into the world's most powerful candy, he lets himself get eaten by Buu so he can go save his friends. Unfortunately, he unexpectedly lets down his protective barrier and defuses.

* Cho-san from ''[[Twentieth20th Century Boys]]'', the detective so awesome had he not died he would have resolved the plot of ''the entire manga'' 21 in-series and 7 real-life years earlier than without him.

** But wait! {{spoiler|She and Kyouko are [[Back Fromfrom the Dead]] in the last episode, thanks in no small part to Madoka's [[Ascend to Aa Higher Plane of Existence|ascension to goddesshood]]}}.

* Anubis from ''[[Ronin Warriors]]'' who had the most [[Character Development]] to boot.

* Commander Daguza [[Fan Nickname|McAwesome]] from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam Unicorn]]''. Even his death was awesome: {{spoiler|He jumps out of the Unicorn with a rocket launcher, shoots the Sinanju in the head in an attempt to blind it, and salutes to Banagher one last time before being incinerated by the Sinanja's beam axe.}}

* Fujimoto of ''[[Blue Exorcist (Manga)|Blue Exorcist]]'', despite only being there for a two episodes/one chapter. He was the most powerful exorcist in the world, holding the rank of Paladin before he died. And he has a cute familiar that looks like a cat.

* Tatsugoro, {{spoiler|Otose's late husband,}} in ''[[Gintama]]'' who was an honorable, upstanding, all-around-awesome guy who fiercely defended his town, who got the girl and who was able to fight the baddest punk in town (who later became the yakuza boss and one of the four emperors of Kabukichou) to a draw. Of course he goes and dies, taking the bullet for that punk (who was also his friend and rival for the girl), which set in motion opposing set-in-stone promises from two of the series' most stubborn characters, Jirochou and Gintoki.

* Rorschach from [[Watchmen]], who would prefer {{spoiler|that Dr. Manhattan vaporize him}} rather than let himself willingly abandon his moral code.

* ''[[Transformers: Last Stand of the Wreckers]]'' is an [[Anyone Can Die]] series, so of course it offers up one of these to die before the rest of the cast. Rotorstorm is [[The Ace]], able to simultaneously pilot two spacecraft and use both to hit small targets, and always ready with a [[Facing the Bullets One-Liner]]... and he dies first.

** Apparently, while everyone agreed with "cool" describing Fett, they took issues with the [[Back Fromfrom the Dead|"to live" part]].

{{quote| "[[Facing the Bullets One-Liner|All this intravenous stuff is no good for you. You should stick to smoking."]]}}

* Hoban Washburn in ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]''. It's near the end, but...why?!?

* Captain Kaneda in ''[[Sunshine (Filmfilm)|Sunshine]]''. He's professional, he's pragmatic, and he cares deeply for the success of his crew's mission. Plus, he's played by Hiroyuki Sanada. If he hadn't died within the first half-hour, he'd probably have broken the plot.

* ''[[Inglourious Basterds]]'': Let's face it--asit—as soon as you saw {{spoiler|Hugo Stiglitz and the Bear Jew in all their badassery}}, you knew that they wouldn't make it out alive. They are both awarded with a [[Dying Moment of Awesome]].

* Subverted in ''[[Zombieland (Film)|Zombieland]]'' when it looks like resident [[Badass]] Tallahasse is going to be killed off during the shootout at Pacific Playland. Instead, [[Beyond the Impossible|he's too cool to be too cool to live. His coolness wraps around itself to defy trope conventions.]]

* Raze from ''[[Underworld (Filmfilm)|Underworld]]''.

* Sgt. Brodski from ''[[JasonFriday Xthe 13th (film)]]''.

* ''One'' from ''[[Resident Evil (Filmfilm)|Resident Evil]]'', The character was in the movie for all of fifteen minutes (and the evil AI had to cheat to kill him), but the actor's strong performance made a lasting impact.

** The fifth movie revisits the cloning subplot, so apparently both One and Rain (who was also [[Too Cool to Live]]) may be coming back.

* Inigo Skimmer is the best damn character in [[Discworld (Literature)/The Fifth Elephant|The Fifth Elephant]] (beyond Vetinari, who is, to be fair, employing him). He's also an absolutely superb fighter and Assassin. Sadly, when he's attacked by a large group of werewolves, not superb enough. One of the best Discworld characters, and he only got through half a book. Tragic.

** And {{spoiler|Khal Drogo.}} His actor in ''[[Game of Thrones]]'' was so upset that the character got killed off that he proposed to the showrunners that a [[Backup Twin]] could show up in the second season.

* Primus and Septimus, from ''[[Stardust (Literaturenovel)|Stardust]]''.

* Talaan, the main [[Action Girl]] from ''[[The Acts of Caine (Literature)|Heroes Die]]'', who, if this editor's memory serves correctly, may have been a better fighter than ''Caine''.

* Rachel from ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]''. Though she does last quite a while (she dies in the final book).

* [[The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (Literature)|The Wicked Witch of the West]] and her [[Alternate Continuity|counterpart]] [[Wicked (Literaturenovel)|Elphaba]].

* {{spoiler|Shiro Yoshimo}} of [[The Dresden Files]]. He's a [[Badass Grandpa]] with A [[Cool Sword|FREAKING]] [[Forged Byby the Gods|HOLY]] [[Katanas Are Just Better|KATANA]]... Although it turned out that he was {{spoiler|diagnosed with cancer, and was going to die anyway}}, but he instead went out with A [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Crowning moment of awesome]] crossed with a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]

* In the timeline of ''[[World War Z]]'', [[Badass Normal|General Raj Singh]] narrowly escapes this trope (unwillingly--heunwillingly—he rediscovered tactics that would have worked against the Zombies with enough ammo, and has to be punched unconscious to be 'coptered to safety), only to play it straight during an evacuation--byevacuation—by [[Heroic Sacrifice|manually detonating the bomb on a mountain pass]], so that the safe zone remains ghoul-free.

* [[Dark Action Girl|Faith]] from ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. Actually she was lucky -- shelucky—she got off with eight months in a coma and then most of the rest of the series in prison.

** Doyle from ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'' also fits this.

* Curtis from ''[[Twenty Four|24]]''. Whom TWOP calls the show's "Handsome Black Agent", who teams up with Jack and [[Red Shirt|dies ignominiously]].

** And President Palmer.

* Gordon Walker from ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''

* The BBC's ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' introduces Meg, a smart, spunky girl who shows intelligence, compassion and an endearing sense of entitlement that gets Guy of Gisborne to stop moping and rethink his priorities. Meg's counterpart Kate spends the entire episode sulking and moaning (as per usual) and tops it off by trying to manipulate a dangerous situation so that her romantic rival is killed off. Now, guess who dies and guess who survives the ''entire show''.

* Victor from ''[[Burn Notice]]''. He's as intelligent as Michael, he plays off Michael's personality very well (as well as providing copious amounts of [[Ho Yay]]), he would be very useful and interesting in Michael's day-to-day jobs, he is funny, he is played by [[Stargate SG -1|Michael Shanks]], and he dies in the episode where he teams up with Micheal. Damn it.

* [[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (2004 TV series)|Alas, poor Peggy.]] When the battlestar ''Pegasus'' shows up halfway through Season 2 of ''[[Battlestar Galactica Reimagined (2004 TV series)|Battlestar Galactica Reimagined]]'', she was doomed from the start by virtue of being a more advanced and awesome battlestar than the ''Galactica''. And so, alas, she was taken from us far too soon, at the hands of recently-promoted (idiot) Commander Lee Adama - after only appearing in any significant roles in a couple of episodes before her demise. Because [[Ramming Always Works]].

** I'd also throw in Kendra Shaw, the badass (and [[Hot Amazon|smoking hot]]) Major from the Pegasus who only shows up in the extended episode Razor. When I realized that despite being much farther along in the continuity, we'd never seen her before, and thus [[Doomed Byby Canon|she was on her way out by the end of the movie]], I shed a [[Single Tear]].

* ''[[Game of Thrones]]'': Khal Drogo, just Khal Drogo...

* Seems like a fate of a member of the [[Super Sentai]] who got [[Ensemble Darkhorse|too cool]] for their own good. Examples include ''[[Choujin Sentai Jetman]]''{{'}}s [[The Lancer|Gai]] and ''[[Kyoryu Sentai Zyuranger]]''{{'}}s [[Sixth Ranger|Burai]].

* The [[White-Haired Pretty Boy|white-haired British guy]] in [[Stephen King]]'s ''[[Rose Red]]''. Level-headed, brave, not too bad-looking, and friendly with the rest of the characters, even the crazy leader who, like a certain [[The Shining|Jack Torrance]] was ''way'' too comfortable in the sapient, giant, evil house -- yuphouse—yup, he was doomed.

* Adam Monroe from ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' definitely fits this trope.

* The Ninth Doctor from ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'', who's the second most short-lived Doctor after the Eighth Doctor (who has the excuse of being in a TV movie), in spite of being concentrated amounts of eccentric awesomeness.

** Really, all the Doctors, being [[Crazy Awesome]], qualify to a certain extent. They all get replaced by another awesome incarnation right after regeneration, though, so it's all good.

{{quote| '''Rory''': Every time the Doctor gets chummy with someone, I have the urge to inform their next of kin.}}

* An episode of ''[[Eerie, Indiana]]'' featured a classmate of Marshall's named Devon Wilde. His name alone tells you what was in store for him.

** {{spoiler|Until he's [[Killed Off for Real|killed off for real]] at the end of season 2.}}

* Lawrence Kutner from ''[[House (TV series)|House]]''.

* Brain Cooper was considered the car-fixin' [[Big Brother Mentor]] to pretty much every kid on the block. He was even one of the few people to [[Pet the Dog|tell Wayne to stop beating up on Kevin]]. He gets shipped off to [[The Vietnam War|'Nam ]] and dies in the first episode of [[The Wonder Years]]

* Pearl from ''[[Vampire Diaries]]'' was a 400something year old Asian vampire who [[Lady of War|kicked all sorts of ass]], put the series' biggest [[Jerkass]] in his place and still managed to be pretty high on the [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire|Friendly]] side of the [[Sliding Scale of Vampire Friendliness]] despite being introduced as an antagonist. And then a few episodes after she's introduced she gets [[Dropped a Bridge Onon Him|a bridge dropped on her]].

* Travis in ''[[Blake's Seven (TV)7|Blakes Seven]]''.

* Kristina Kell in ''[[Survivor]]: Redemption Island'' was probably the ''only'' player besides Rob on the Ometepes who had a brain. First thing she thought upon seeing the return of [[Creator's Pet|Boston Rob and Russell Hantz]]? Rob's gotta go ASAP. She proceeds to find a hidden immunity idol ''before the first tribal council'' with ''no clues''. A show ''record''. Unfortunately she's voted out fourth and booted early, ending hope of anyone ''interesting'' from the Ometepe tribe going far.

* Several characters on ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]''. {{spoiler|Mr. Eko}} steps out though because he died so early on and with so little time on the show.

* Pretty much all the Planeswalkers in pre-[[Crisis Crossover|Time Spiral]] ''[[Magic: theThe Gathering]]''. Planeswalkers, previously, were godlike beings of immeasurable power over not just one world, but all worlds, and the games were supposed to represent their duels (which were more like petty games than actual wars, since they could not be truly hurt). However, [[Wizards of the Coast]] realized that this meant that any time a character became [[Popularity Power|popular/powerful]] enough, they could no longer [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence|write stories or make cards about them,]] and also made it difficult for the players to relate to them. So it was decided to tone down the power of Planeswalkers, and in the process the board was wiped clean, with virtually every existing Planeswalker destroyed.

** [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|Gray FoxFOX]] from the original game fits the above description almost to the letter.

** Zack Fair from ''[[Final Fantasy VII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VII]]'' and ''[[Crisis Core]]'' (also [[The Ace]]).

** Auron from ''[[Final Fantasy X (Video Game)|Final Fantasy X]]'': [[Badass Longcoat]], check... Ronin style, complete with katana, sake bottle, and arm-in-coat, check... [[The Stoic]], check... Auron is so undeniably [[Too Cool to Live]], he's been [[Dead All Along|dead since before the game started!]]

** [[Badass|Judge Magister]] [[One-Scene Wonder|Drace]] from ''[[Final Fantasy XII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XII]]''.

** ''[[Final Fantasy XIII (Video Game)|Final Fantasy XIII]]'' got a rare female example in [[Fetish Fuel Station Attendant|Oerba]] [[Tall, Dark and Bishoujo|Yun]] [[Launcher of a Thousand Ships|Fang]]. Her Australian accent in the English dub only increased her already considerable [[Badass]] quotient. Fortunately for the shippers, she only goes into crystal stasis. [[Fix Fic]] here we come!.

** Come now, this trope has been in ''Final Fantasy'' since the early days. Tellah from ''[[Final Fantasy IV (Video Game)|Final Fantasy IV]]'', Galuf from ''[[Final Fantasy V (Video Game)|Final Fantasy V]]'', General Leo (and possibly Shadow) from ''[[Final Fantasy VI (Video Game)|Final Fantasy VI]]''... but the champion of this is ''[[Final Fantasy II (Video Game)|Final Fantasy II]]''. Scott, Josef, Minwu, and Richard Highwind... so [[Badass]], they made a bonus mode starring them in the afterlife!

* Kratos, of ''[[Tales of Symphonia (Video Game)|Tales of Symphonia]]'' decides to accompany a giant comet made of mana into outer space at the end of the game, never to be seen again. The big bad is dead, there's no reason for him to go, but he does anyway because he's "A relic of the past."

** ''[[Mega Man X Command Mission (Video Game)|Mega Man X Command Mission]]'' has Spider, {{spoiler|who's so cool that he died before the game even ''started.''}}

** On contrary of the usual routine of [[Super Robot Wars]], in [[Super Robot Wars Z|Z2: Hakai Hen]], you cannot bring back {{spoiler|[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00|Neil Dylandy/Lockon Stratos I]] and [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann|Kamina]] from the dead}}. That's right, someone's Too Cool for [[Super Robot Wars]] to resurrect.

* Nihlus Kryik from the first ''[[Mass Effect 1 (Videovideo Gamegame)|Mass Effect]]''. [[Badass]] Spectre, intrigued by the potential of the human race, clearly established as a mentor for Shepard, dies thirty minutes into the game. Samara (from the second game) describes how he outwitted her after a ''two week'' game of cat and mouse: namely, turning her own Code against her. Bear in mind that Samara is a thousand year old asari [[Warrior Monk|Justicar]] that started fighting injustice around the same time Napoleon was marching on Moscow.

** Thane Krios and Mordin Solus from ''[[Mass Effect 2 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 2]]'' are both very popular with fans and highly likely to die during ME2's suicide mission; Thane is [[Dead Man Walking|terminally ill]] and Mordin is [[Cool Old Guy|at a fairly advanced age]] for a member of a race with a 40-year lifespan, and neither character's skillset is well-suited to front-line combat. If they make it to ME3, Mordin {{spoiler|is all but guaranteed to die during the mission on Tuchanka unless a [[Guide Dang It|very specific set of requirements]] (one of which is killing off ''another'' former squad member) is met}}, and Thane {{spoiler|inevitably dies stopping Kai Leng from assassinating the salarian councilor}}.

** Also in ''[[Mass Effect 3 (Video Game)|Mass Effect 3]]'', {{spoiler|[[Badass Automaton]] Legion}} dies no matter how the situation on {{spoiler|Rannoch}} is resolved, either committing a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to help save {{spoiler|the geth}}, or going berserk and forcing {{spoiler|Tali}} to kill them in order to save Shepard.

* [[Guest Star Party Member|Teddy]] from ''[[EarthMOTHER Bound Zero1]]''. Appropriately enough, his appearance in the popular ''[[EarthboundEarthBound]]'' fancomic ''[[The Chosen Four]]'' is a hillariously blatant [[Captain Ersatz]] of [[Gurren Lagann|Kamina]].

** It should be noted that Teddy doesn't die, but the fact that he's injured to the point that he can't fight (or even speak) until the ending sequence still makes the trope applicable.

** In ''[[Suikoden III]]'' Jimba bites it, moments after revealing who he really is to his oblivious daughter, who'd spent a sizable portion of the game searching for him.

* Starkiller from ''[[The Force Unleashed]]'' because [[Doomed Byby Canon|logistically]] he just can't be around to kick the Empire's ass for the rebels.

* Your [[Deadpan Snarker|snarky]] [[Bishounen|prettyboy]] [[Glass Cannon]] [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] teammate Leon, from ''[[Tales of Destiny (Video Game)|Tales of Destiny]]''. In the remake, he got a nice [[Obi-Wan Moment]] [[Heroic Sacrifice]], staying behind to activate an elevator allowing the rest of the party to escape a flooding abandoned mine.

** Since Namco enjoys teasing their fans, the [[Updated Rerelease|director's cut]] of the remake includes a [[New Game Plus+]] option to play through the game following Leon as the main character instead of [[Idiot Hero|Stahn]]. Fans were hopeful that there would finally be a story path where he wouldn't be [[Too Cool to Live]]. Nope, he still dies, and the game ends there.

** If that weren't enough, [[Idiot Hero|Stahn]] himself dies between ''[[Tales of Destiny (Video Game)|Tales of Destiny]]'' and ''Tales of Destiny 2''. (Although due to messing around with the timeline, in the end [[Unexplained Recovery|he gets better]].)

* ''[[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|The World Ends With You]]'': [[Crazy Awesome|Sho]] [[Mad Mathematician|Minamimoto]]. Zetta duh.

* ''[[Advance Wars]]: Days of Ruin'' features the grizzled, experienced, charismatic, and tirelessly selfless Captain Brenner, the undisputed commander of his unit of heroic soldiers, and, for all intents and purposes, the protagonist of the first half of the game. Since the younger, far more [[Bishonen]] [[Wide -Eyed Idealist]] newcomer Will has to have some plausible reason to take the mantle from Brenner....

* E-102 Gamma from ''[[Sonic Adventure (Video Game)|Sonic Adventure]]''... and then his parts are used to create E-102r, a.k.a Chaos Gamma... and then he gets an extremely badass "younger brother" E-123 Omega (who was first voiced by [[Duke Nukem|Jon]] [[The Conduit (Video Game)|St. John]], of course.)

* Jet in ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender (Animation)|Avatar: The Last Airbender]]''.

* Tigerhawk in ''[[Transformers]]: [[Beast Wars (Animation)|Beast Wars]]'' is also the latest of latecomers, being only in a handful of episodes. Sell those toys!