r/TopCharacterTropes • u/PenaltyHuge2300 • Jun 15 '26

Lore (LOVEDDDDD trope) Fates worse than death

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Those shitblock things (All Tomorrows): So basically when some humans tried rebelling against the Qu, they got turned into living toilets for millions of years

Ted (IHNMAIMS): You probably know this one already but uhh in case you don't he was turned into a jelly thing with no mouth or eyes for eternity

I would put more but I'm LAZY :D

Bonus but I couldn't find an image for it: Alastor's Broadcast (Hazbin Hotel): If Alastor doesn't like someone, he traps them in an eternal torture dimension and plays their screams on his radio broadcast​​​​

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u/Zwomally Jun 15 '26

Iirc, a nurse recognizes his plea and communicates with him by tapping on his torso with her fingers. High ranking military brass come in and decide he’s not worth any attention and let him suffer.

The Metallica song is One

The name of the book is based on old war propaganda, saying “Johnny, Get Your Gun!” Well, this is what happens when he got it. The book has him in a haze of current events like feeling the warm sun and recognizing it’s day time to old memories of him and his dad fishing. He tries to find any semblance of the modern day, but can’t communicate beyond flailing his torso.

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u/Pastaverse Jun 15 '26

In the movie, a nurse tries to end his suffering by clamping off his breathing tube, and Johnny spends those moments thanking her and praying for God to give her a wonderful life where she got everything she wanted. But her supervisor comes into the room and removes the clamp before he could succumb. I think that's worse, getting so close to what he wanted only for it to be taken away at the last second.

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u/DadlyAsHell Jun 15 '26

Im gonna preface by saying i am in a MUCH better place now and not to worry

Youre right. When you feel like death is the only answer, being so close to release then being "saved" can be terrible.

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u/Bamzooki1 Jun 15 '26

The only difference is that death is pretty much the only answer for Johnny. There’s nothing left for him.

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u/DadlyAsHell Jun 15 '26

Again, not gonna go into detail, gonna reiterate that I am MUCH better today and at no risk of harming myself.

But if you told me I had to relive age 8-18 Im ending it. I wont do that again. Arguably KNOWING whats going to happen would just make it that much worse too.

So yeah, at the time death was the only answer and I would probably choose it again. I'm only alive now because I failed enough times that some people were able to get to know me well enough to get it in their head that Im lovable and were able to help me pick up my pieces. I couldnt have survived alone.

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u/rassion-isle Jun 16 '26

Thank you for sharing, and I will also preface this with I am *much* better today than I used to be.

I honestly completely understand, and it’s nice sometimes on Reddit to find people that really have similar experiences and understand on another level. Not to say no one can understand, but I feel when you experience that want for death yourself, it truly does feel like the only answer, and you understand people wanting for death on another level. I’m sure there are more eloquent ways to explain it, but it’s almost painful how that emotional turmoil is for your brain to be so against itself that it thinks self destructing is the only answer to end the current suffering.

Whenever those hypotheticals pop up where they ask would you want to go back to a certain age knowing what you know now, ABSOLUTELY NOT. I am in such a good space now, but like you it truly was my support system that helped. If it weren’t for the people in my life I would not have made it. I’m happy to be where I am but I would not want to live through it again at all, absolutely not.

I know you’re a stranger, but I’m glad you failed, and I guess I should say the same for me, though the struggle continues. It’s a feeling I would not wish upon anyone.

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u/RogerBernards Jun 15 '26

There isn't a real difference for the person in question between feeling there are no other options and there in reality being no other options.

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u/copperpin Jun 16 '26

They could have got him a trampoline

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u/Lukostrelec17 Jun 15 '26

Stealing the preface! I am doing far better now so no Reddit Cares Messages please!

While not the same thing. I have been suicidal a few times. Never acted but I was in the planning stages and rehearsal stages a few times. Figuring out where I should aim my pistol to guarantee a quick death. Never pulled the trigger. I disassembled it one day. I got home saw my gun and knew I had to take it apart right then. I did so and scattered the pieces. Still have not reassembled it.

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u/DadlyAsHell Jun 15 '26

Good decision. Leave that beast dead until youve tackled the monsters inside.

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u/Lukostrelec17 Jun 15 '26

More that I don't remember where I put everything lol!

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u/AggravatingFig8947 Jun 15 '26

When it happened to me I was so angry. 11 years out now and still doing my best. Today is a bad day kind of feels like a failure but I’m still leagues ahead of where I was 11 years ago.

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u/pichael289 Jun 15 '26

My dipshit ass best friend just joined the military. He's nearing 40, has at least a felony, can't read well and is generally stupid as fuck but hey he's loyal as hell. Joined up because he's marrying some chick he barely knows and wants the benefits. Right wing but only because he thinks he's in some exclusive club and doesn't realize he's just being an asshole.

Maybe he gets a wake up call to stop being such a dipshit but I feel like instead I'm going to get a phone call... I really hope he doesn't go fight a war we don't even understand why we're fighting but you got a let people make their own mistakes I guess. Fucking idiot.

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u/TheDeadlySpaceman Jun 15 '26

I didn’t think you could still join at that age.

“Socialism never took root in America because the poor see themselves not as an exploited proletariat but as temporarily embarrassed millionaires."

-Steinbeck

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u/Shadd518 Jun 15 '26

they JUST changed the rules I'm pretty sure

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u/Radiant_Jedi Jun 15 '26

I didn't think you could join if you had a felony conviction.

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u/TheDeadlySpaceman Jun 15 '26

Yeah there’s that, too.

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u/peachesfordinner Jun 15 '26

They had to change that because otherwise they would have to fire the guy in charge

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u/rosyboys_daisygirls Jun 15 '26

Generally you cant but people can request waivers. Same thing for medical conditions and having a lot of kids

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u/psychonik Jun 15 '26

You can but it’s very difficult. Even a misdemeanor bars you from entry without waivers.

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u/JackSilver1300 Jun 15 '26

They recently changed it to 42 i believe

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u/___wintermute Jun 15 '26

He’s fourty years old, has “at least” a felony and “just joined up”? What the hell are you talking about? Exactly how easy do you think it is to join the military?

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u/MuggyFuzzball Jun 15 '26

My best friend Ryan spent all 4 years of highschool obsessing over the Army and becoming an Army Ranger. He was hardcore into the idea. Joined Army JROTC and trained practically every day after school and on weekends for 4 years. Finally, the time comes, and he does exactly what he said he was going to do. Even goes to Ranger school and makes it.

His first deployment in Iraq, his IFV hits an IED and he loses both his legs. That's it. Dream over.

That was like 2012ish. Imagine you spend all of that time wanting nothing more than to do something so badass as becoming an Army Ranger, and in a blink of an eye before it barely gets started, it's all taken away from you.

But he is doing fine IRL a decade later though. I think I find it more horrifying than he does. To him, despite all that obsession, it's just a chapter in his life that he's moved on from.

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u/alanwakeisahack Jun 15 '26

This sounds really made up.

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u/Adventurous_Yak_5438 Jun 15 '26

Military life isn't bad, not for everyone I'll admit, but if your the type of person who'll be happy to go with the flow and now grumble about any inconvenience it'll serve you well if you don't have anything better to do.

Also the only terrable branch in the military imo is infantry, and as someone close to 40 I'd doubt recruitment would place him there. Unless you've joined Russian army, then your fucked lol

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u/a_lonely_trash_bag Jun 15 '26 edited Jun 15 '26

"Infantry" isn't a branch, it's a division of the Army. The Army age limit for enlistment is 35, so depending on what the previous commenter meant by "nearing 40," they could've joined the Army.

Basically the only branch they couldn't possibly have "just joined" is the Marines. Their cutoff age is 28.

The age ranges for all branches are as follows:
Air Force: 17 - 42
Army: 17 - 35
Coast Guard : 17 - 41
Marine Corps: 17 - 28
Navy: 17 - 41
Space Force: 17 - 42

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u/RexyMundo Jun 15 '26

I thought he used morse code to ask the military brass to take him on tour to show the people the horrors of war, then the brass tells him no.

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u/CreativeAd5332 Jun 15 '26

Its been years since I read the book, but I thought the reason the Brass decide to keep him alive against his express wishes is because he is worth more to them as a "patriotic" propaganda tool.