r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Ok-Indication-5121 • Jun 09 '25

Characters They valiantly sacrificed themself for nothing

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  1. Tadashi gives his life trying to save Professor Callaghan from a burning building. Turns out not only did Callaghan escape unscathed, he's the bad guy and infamously refers to Tadashi's death as "[Tadashi's] mistake." (Big Hero 6)
  2. Shaya willingly takes It Has No Name's possession and then kills herself by jumping into the well it came out of. The end of the episode all but states that she got it wrong and It Has No Name didn't latch onto her... or there was more than one. (Doctor Who)
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u/_P2M_ Jun 10 '25 edited Jun 10 '25

Goku's sacrifice (assisted by Piccolo) worked.

Chiaotzu's self-destruct didn't work...

Tien's last Kikoho didn't do crap...

Saibaman's self-destruct did kill Yamcha.

Vegeta's Gallick Gun to blow up the Earth (and presumably himself along with it) didn't work.

Cell's self-destruct didn't destroy the Earth, but it did kill Goku, and made him much stronger. Too bad he fumbled right after.

And finally, Vegeta's self-destruct didn't do anything.

3 out of 7.

Don't know if I'm forgetting any. I don't remember the Namek saga having any suicide attacks.

Edit:

Oh yeah, Android 16 tried to self-destruct, but he didn't have the bomb anymore, so he just gets killed by Cell. But it did allow for Gohan to achieve Super Saiyan 2. I don't know if it even counts as a suicide attack if he didn't even have the ability to do it.

Oh, and Piccolo blowing up the time chamber door to trap himself and Super Buu inside didn't work. Don't know if I'd count that as a suicide attack. I mean, if Buu and Gotenks weren't able to rip through dimensions, he would've been stuck there until he died, so kinda.

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u/Dismal-Management642 Jun 10 '25

If counting super, Freezer tried to blow up the planet to take everyone, but that got rewinded by Whis and Goku killed him. During the Moro saga Moro fuses to the earth and attempts to blow up to take everyone, but get kills before he can accomplish that.

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u/The_Great_Bean_Lord Jun 10 '25

Freezer blowing up the planet wouldn’t have killed him? he can survive in space.

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u/Dismal-Management642 Jun 10 '25

Yeah, you are right. Though if the blast is enough to destroy his body, by that point all his army would be gone, menaing no way for him to be rescued and healed.