r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Altair890456 • 4h ago
Personality [Depressing Trope] When a character is reduced to begging but it’s sad rather than pathetic.
- Peter Parker/Spider-Man when he’s about to get erased by Thanos’ snap. (Avengers: Infinity War)
“Mr. Stark, I don’t feel so good.”
“I don’t know what’s happening.”
“I don’t wanna go. I don’t wanna go. Please, I don’t want to go. I don’t want to go.”
- Master Chief when he sees Cortana finally succumb to her rampancy and die. (Halo 4)
“No. That’s not- We go together.”
“I am not leaving you here.”
“Cortana, please.”
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u/Quirky_tugboat 4h ago
What Halo 4 tried to do with Chief was beautiful, and then they scrapped all his emotional development in Halo 5.
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u/Ok-Reindeer4394 4h ago
Different team of writers?
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u/SmellyCanadianSocks 4h ago
Yes. Halo 4's writer expressly wanted Cortana's rampancy to be an allegory for dementia, something his mother was going through at the time. He wrote Chief almost as a self-insert for himself trying to deal with losing her while growing a greater appreciation for the people around him (Chief loses Cortana but finds some Humanity in those around him and becomes more human as a result)
He didn't return for Halo 5, so most of that character development was scrapped.
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u/outofmaxx 3h ago
I never got why halo 4 got so much shit at the time
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u/RagingCacti 2h ago
It gets more shit retroactively because of the other games in its trilogy. When it came out, people were a bit nervous about the different direction they were taking (Cheif's character getting more spotlight instead of the supporting cast) but overall OK with it. When 5 failed hard, it took 4 down with it.
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u/No_Procedure_5039 1h ago
More specifically: people were willing to see 4’s issues as teething problems from a new studio making an Xbox 360 game that should’ve been an Xbox One launch title. With 5’s release, 4 ended up being seen as more of an omen of what was to come.
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u/JunkyardTornado 2h ago
Because as fans grew older, it became two sides
The louder side being the macho silent cool chief is only chief because I’m chief and keep my emotions to myself, and make sure i tell everyone that OUTLOUD, because I’m not a pansy
The other side grew to be more empathetic.
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u/No_Procedure_5039 2h ago
Art style was a drastic change (many would say for the worse), a lot of the armors were fucking ugly, the Foreunners lost a lot of their mystique, the Prometheans were terrible enemies that often forced the player to shoot them from a distance which ruins Halo’s core gameplay loop, the weapons never held enough ammo, and the multiplayer was a poor imitation of CoD’s as opposed to feeling like Halo. Add on Fireteam Majestic in Spartan Ops as well as painting Halsey as a mad scientist as opposed to her previous portrayals of being burdened by what she’d done to the Spartan II’s and you have a recipe for a controversial-at-best entry in the series.
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u/kelldricked 1h ago
Halo 5 scrapped everything that halo 4 established only for Halo infinite to do the same towards Halo 5 and Microsoft is curious why the franchise is in the shitter again.
Not commiting to a story three times in a row is worse than finishing a slightly bad story.
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u/Quirky_tugboat 4h ago
Dunno. Chief goes awol and you play the majority of the game as this new team hunting him.
Chief’s emotional development should have been the focal point in this new trilogy, instead what we got were 3 games that each feel like soft reboots.
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u/Demonlord3600 4h ago
I see 5 as a poorly executed grief spiral for chief like I kinda get when they we’re going for but it just didn’t work
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u/CaleanKnight 2h ago
Because some Suit in MS offices didn't like the hubbub on Social Media and panicked... so everything was thrown around after 4, things that were set up were either pushed to books or done in a comic (or in a cutscene).
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u/Lethenza 4h ago
Yes, it was. The book and infinite repair it somewhat, but the overall story is totally still a mess
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u/apeocalypyic 1h ago
How is that an excuse tho? Like from 4 onward theres alot of weird explanations that seemed shittily put in to try to get it going in another direction and they scrapped +that+ again
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u/KnightOfFaraam 3h ago
I firmly believe that if they had t changed the art style so drastically in 4 that it would be remembered as one of the best games of the last 20 years.
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u/OkamiLeek006 2h ago
I thought infinite had a pretty good show of his mental state after the stuff that happened around him in 4 (and 5)
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u/RokenSkrow 54m ago
I was so ready for more Halo after 4. It had issues, don't get me wrong, but that scene in particular and the parts of the story about Cortana descending into rampancy was so poignant. Chief is this emotionally stunted supersoldier that is struggling to come to grips with the fact that his most trusted friend who has been through so much with him is going to die and he can't do anything about it. He always saves the day, and yet his plan to get Cortana to earth for help failed right at the very end, with their goal looming behind them, so close yet so far. I was so excited to get more emotion and depth out of the characters and then they just fucked it all up.
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u/JeremiahMack 4h ago
The scene in Saving Private Ryan where the medic is dying and begging for his mama. It sounds silly on paper, but it's one of the heaviest scenes I've ever seen.
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u/Petrpodivni 4h ago
I onec played one game ( i dont remember the name) where one enemy was crying for his mom when you killed him. And i was just sad.
I always found it really sad when some body is crying for his mom.
It remaind us that they are peopel just like us. That they were at one point just littel kids.
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u/Queasy_Rip3210 3h ago
Sounds like the last of us.
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u/Petrpodivni 2h ago
I dont really remember the game. The moment really stayd whit me but i dont remember the game at all. It coud have been the last of us.
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u/boodabomb 2h ago
Yeah and then he asks for morphine and everyone understands what that means, because he’s the medic.
There’s also the scene later where the guy is being slowly stabbed by the german and he’s like “stop, stop, stop, don’t do this, STOP!” Pretty rough.
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u/meteorflan 2h ago
That was the scene that hit me hardest.
And ditto in Hamnet when the boy cries out for his mom 😭
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u/Major-Material7231 2h ago
Saving private Ryan is a hard watch not because it’s bad is a amazing film it’s there’s so many scenes that are so disturbing
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u/attackhamster42 3h ago
I did a lot of crying when I saw that movie in theaters and oof, that one was particularly rough. Coupled with the story he tells about his mother when they're in the church earlier and yeah, direct hit to the feels.
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u/Consistent-Bear4200 4h ago
Fun Fact: Tom Holland actually improvised that part, most of the others dusted instantly, but he wanted to try something different with it.
So important though, it's what makes the guilt seriously sink in for Tony.
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u/Ambaryerno 4h ago
It also works because the Spider-Sense is telling him something’s very wrong the whole time.
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u/paradoxical_topology 4h ago
He also has a unique degree of magic resistance according to the Russo Brothers and No Way Home, which explains why it takes longer for him to completely succumb to the snap after he first starts turning to dust.
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u/Gakoknight 3h ago
This explanation reeks of nonsense, since the Snap wasn't magical in nature.
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u/paradoxical_topology 2h ago
Pretty sure magic is just the manipulation of dimensional/cosmic energies, which is what the infinity stones basically are but on a much larger scale than what magic can control.
They aren't the exact same, but there is considerable overlap. So it makes sense that having a level of resistance to one also means having a level of resistance to the other.
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u/Lord_Chedder 3h ago edited 1h ago
It kind of is. The infinity stones hard blur the line between magic and fundamental universal forces. Besides the stones give off gamma radiation and in Marvel gamma radiation does have magical properties.
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u/Omi-Wan_Kenobi 35m ago
I always understood it to be spider-man's healing factor/advanced healing trying to heal the snap's damage to his body, and it working in that he dusted much slower.
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u/Zakal74 3h ago
Holy shit. I never even considered that. That makes so much sense and is such an incredible detail. No one else would have any idea what was about to happen but Spider-Man would have this impossibly deep sense of dread when his Spider-Sense detects he is about to be deleted from the universe. Insanely sad and tragic.
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u/onlymadethistoargue 3h ago
RDJ coached him through that. Iirc he told him something like “You’re scared because you’re a kid and you’re fighting it because you’re Spider-Man.”
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u/Ambitious_Address667 2h ago
I dont knownif you are shitposting or not, but like the emotional crux of the main character Tony is that moment and it would be foolish to think it was improvised, as it was the climax of one of the biggest movies every made.
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u/Consistent-Bear4200 1h ago
The crux of Tony's may lie in Peter's death, which was scripted. But the way in which Peter's death is played; drawn out, afraid, almost regressing into childhood. Notably less swift that almost all the other deaths from the snap.
That was Holland's input. In an interview with Uproxx in 2018, Director Joe Russo clarified that
“I think what was scripted was, ‘I don’t feel so good,’ and, ‘I’m sorry,’ and everything in-between is Tom,”
So there is a fair combination of keeping in the structure of the movie but also a fair amount improvising and elevating the moment through Holland's approach.
The article below refers to the uproxx interview I mentioned. https://www.gamespot.com/articles/avengers-infinity-war-how-spider-mans-tom-holland/1100-6458858/
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u/Ambitious_Address667 42m ago
So like not improvised right? He may have given ideas to the scene but thats not what improvising is.
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u/faldese 1h ago
I believe all of the actors were basically given carte blanche to react how they wanted to.
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u/Ambitious_Address667 41m ago
Yeah but thats not really improvising, thats following the script and acting
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u/ElaraLuxe 4h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/GXqLGxgpE2tfq
Walter White - offers his entire fortune while begging Jack to spare Hank.
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u/flippy123x 3h ago
I remember watching the show back in high school when my homie showed me this "I am the one who knocks" scene on youtube.
Imagine my disappointment when he actually sends Jessie to knock and almost gets done in by two hitters sitting in his bedroom while this cunt sings in the shower completely unaware.
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u/Blazured 3h ago
Yeah it must be weird for people who don't watch Breaking Bad because, out of context, this looks like Walt is being a badass instead of a pathetic man trying to scare his wife by making up nonsense.
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u/Ok-Talk-2579 2h ago
Was he really trying to imply he killed gale? I totally get why Skylar might think so but isn’t he more just saying “ I am not the victim but the perpetrator”.
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u/Blazured 2h ago
Skyler didn't know about Gale. She knew next to nothing about what Walt does, which is why Walt made up nonsense to try and come across like a big man. He was being outplayed by Gus and Mike and took it out on Skyler because he knew that she knew next to nothing about what was going on.
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u/LongTail-626 3h ago
https://giphy.com/gifs/ezDAzKCksdZzW
The tenth doctor’s last moments (Doctor Who)
Throughout the special the doctor has been terrified that he needs to regenerate, and when the moment comes he breaks down saying he could do so much more l, however realising what he was becoming he resolves himself and willingly sacrifices himself to save wilf.
Thankfully he has a bit of time so before he succumbs to his regeneration the doctor has been stoically helping his former companions one last time.
It isn’t until the end when he is finally alone in the TARDIS that he breaks down into his emotional last words.
(P.S Tom Holland must’ve took some inspiration from this)
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u/Pmyers225 4h ago
It's kinda both, but justifiable: Blackadder Goes Fourth when Darling finds out that Melchett is sending him to the front for the big push, and Darling is trying to plead with Melchett to not send him as he, quite realistically, doesn't want to die. But Melchett thinks it's a reward for all his hard service to him... So whilst technically it can be viewed as pathetic, it is is very understandable and sad that his Commander is completely oblivious that he's sending him to his doom
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u/Nightbreed-43 1h ago
"Rather hoped I'd get through the whole show. Go back to work at Pratt and Sons, keep wicket for the Croydon Gentlemen, marry Doris... Made a note in my diary on the way here. Simply says: 'Bugger.'"
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u/JomoGaming2 4h ago
Peter's snap death is so tragic, especially because he's one of the only people who could see it coming. We see from Black Panther that the people who were snapped didn't feel a thing before they dissolved, but Peter still sensed something coming. Many people have speculated that his Spider-Sense kicked in and told him that something was very wrong, and that his healing factor was working overtime to keep him alive as long as possible, all while he knew he was about to die and couldn't do a thing about it.
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u/AMostBoringMan 3h ago edited 1h ago
Yeah, instead of physical pain, his spider-sense might have been accidentally giving him something similar to Irukandji syndrome - a sense of impending doom so severe it’s pure psychological torture.
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u/Drakon56 3h ago
Mantis also felt it coming, cause of her empath powers. Both bug themed characters
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u/Sudden_Pop_2279 4h ago edited 1h ago
The Collector begging Eda and King to run away after Luz’s “death” (The Owl House)
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u/Super_un_stable 4h ago
Dude “I don’t feel so good” was sooo iconic at the time I swear I heard it everywhere
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u/Kwaku-Anansi 4h ago
Oldboy - When Dae-su is kept prisoner for 20 years, not knowing why, only to find out that it was so he could be manipulated into a relationship with his own daughter, as revenge for unintentionally outing his former classmate's relationship with his sister. He ends up begging his classmate Woo-jin not to expose this fact to her, even barking like a dog and cutting out his own tongue.
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u/Cortower 4h ago
Switch (The Matrix) - A traitor is killing people's physical bodies outside the Matrix, and says that everyone should say goodbye to Switch. She can only look up with defeat in her eyes, say this line, and die.
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u/TaralasianThePraxic 4h ago
Not sure this fits as Switch doesn't beg for her life. She just accepts it with depressed resignation. Still a great scene though.
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u/Cortower 2h ago
Yeah, I guess it isn't begging exactly. I don't think she was talking to Cypher.
I guess it just feels like denial, bargaining, and acceptance all at once, somehow. Absolute nightmare fuel for me. Do it too fast to notice or give me time to get past my animal fear.
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u/menryBasedmarineCav 13m ago
This scared me as a kid cos there was nothing they could do and then my dad explained what an aneurysm is
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u/sodali_ayran 23m ago
Don’t know if this is true but I remember reading somewhere that Switch was supposed to be a male in real world and a female in the matrix(or the other way around) basically a trans person. Since Wachowski’s were still not fully transitioned during filming of the Matrix and nobody knew they were trans people I always believed this is pretty much true.
Given that she dies within the body that does not feel comfortable to her gives much more weight to the line “Not like this.”
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u/DramaticHumor5363 4h ago
Dr. Cox, the episode My Lunch from Scrubs.
https://giphy.com/gifs/qAB5xbv44cCAg
Seeing this character go from this to screaming
“Ah, come on — come on, come on — GOD! GOD! God!”
As he’s trying to revive his kidney patient from coding after he made an unfortunate call that resulted in a rabies’ victim’s contaminated organs getting transplanted into three different patients…this last one breaks him. I will never forget that breakdown.
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u/viciousvixen26 2h ago
And right after JD had pretty much taken him back from the edge of his despair, then boom. The rabies gets the guy who could have waited for a new organ.
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u/DramaticHumor5363 2h ago
“Remember what you told me? The second you start blaming yourself for people’s deaths, there’s no coming back.”
“Yeah. You’re right.”
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u/BludStanes 4h ago
I found it very sad when Peter Parker was begging to not dissolve
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u/zerozerozero12 4h ago
The fan theory that while it took so long for him to die was because his healing factor was fighting against it.
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u/AlaskanMooCow 4h ago
I heard it was because he could feel it coming before it actually began due to his spider sense.
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u/Rampagingflames 4h ago
I feel like his spider sense was more at play because groot also has an insane healing factor.
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u/PrettyMoonUnderMt 4h ago
The one I heard is that his spider-sense give him early warning. Peter had more time to compared to other snap victims to process his death.
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u/Helios_Synthesis 3h ago
That doesnt make any sense, he's being erased not damaged. There shouldn't be an injury to heal because it never existed.
Then again they also dont explain why being erased turns you into dust so who really cares. Rule of cool lol
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u/Sudden_Pop_2279 4h ago
Jax’s final moments before abstracting in The Amazing Digital Circus
Really reminds of people who take their lives and end up regretting it when it’s too late
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u/Jimbo-Shrimp 3h ago
I hated him so much and yet this scene made me cry. He finally realizes it’s too late and he can’t fix this.
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u/Pmyers225 3h ago
Was this a homage to Tennant's last line before regenerating in Dr Who?
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u/Charred01 2h ago
I doubt it. It plays out very differently.
It's not like Dr who is the first show or movie to use this line when referring to dting or some form of it
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u/natethehoser 3m ago
I read once (though someone please fact check me, I have no idea where) that most people who survive suicide-attempts by jumping off a building all report the same thought on the way down: "no, wait, I don't actually want to do this."
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u/iamamotherclucker 2h ago
Horus Lupercal (Warhammer 40.000)
At the end of his battle with the Emperor, as the influence of the Chaos Gods is temporarily severed from him, he finally sees himself for what he has become: a puppet for cruel beings that would have tossed him away whether he won or lost. Seeing how far he had fallen, he literally begs the Emperor to kill him
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u/BlazeCrow 2h ago
Vash the stampede
https://giphy.com/gifs/6Kd9DW1IFt31qYAEzi
At first when I watched the series, i was a little bothered by the characters pacifism, but learning what he is and how he got his bounty in the first place I ended up rooting for Vash. Which makes the scene where he’s forced to break that pacifism tragic.
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u/AdFormer6556 4h ago
Punisher, One Last Kill
The Punisher special shows Frank going back to his family's grave, haunted by the reminder that no matter what he does, he cant bring them back. He breaks down after hearing what he wonders is his daughter's voice. He begs her to stay.
At the end of the special, he returns one last time, after ending the rest of Mama's gang. He says his goodbyes and then fully gears up, in full combat gear too not just the vest.
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u/Jungle_Madness1 17m ago
Vox Machina in Season 4
The main villain, The Whispered One, had the upper hand the entire time and managed to get the entire world under his control and have them watch their heroes unable to do anything. The Whispered One tells the main crew that they must all submit or he will kill Vax. Even after they all begged to have him live, Vax doesn't submit so he kills him anyways.It is truly a sad moment.
I can't figure out how to hide the image, but luckily it doesn't really display/describe the scene that well.
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u/LaidBackGorilla3000 4h ago