# Video games where the protagonist dies at the end (spoliers ahoy!) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [October 27, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244 "2007-10-27T18:02:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/1 "2007-10-27T18:02:51Z")
Space for the mouse-over More space. More space. More space. End space. So I finished playing Portal (which is an excellent game) but felt kind of depressed at the end, because after all I’d done, Chell still dies. This got me to thinking: are there any other games where the main character who you’re playing as dies at the end of the game? I don’t mean the “I got shot too many times and died, and turned the game off and never played again, so the main character died.” I mean it as an inevitability: no matter what you do, you still die at the end. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/2 "2007-10-27T18:07:33Z")
The main character in _Final Fantasy X_ doesn’t so much die at the end, as find out he never was really alive in the first place. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 6:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/3 "2007-10-27T18:08:53Z")
Peseant’s Quest ---
**Author:** ![ultrafilter](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/3d9bf3/32.png) [@ultrafilter](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ultrafilter)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/4 "2007-10-27T18:32:09Z")
Shadow Hearts: Covenant, but only if you choose the good ending. ---
**Author:** ![Malodorous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e47774/32.png) [@Malodorous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malodorous)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/5 "2007-10-27T19:06:32Z")
Diablo kinda sorta ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/6 "2007-10-27T19:08:52Z")
The protagonist in _Grim Fandango_ dies long before the game even starts. ---
**Author:** ![Ferret\_Herder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e47774/32.png) [@Ferret\_Herder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferret_Herder)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/7 "2007-10-27T19:17:05Z")
Baldur’s Gate 2, sorta/sometimes - Instead of being cleansed of your evil taint and returning to the world, you can choose to ascend to godhood and take over the role of your dead father, God of Murder - which will earn you a tearful/angry/cold/whatever goodbye from your lover if you’ve gotten involved romantically during the course of the game. Planescape: Torment - The **good** ending is you dying and being sent to hell to fight in an eternal battle, to atone for the sins you committed in previous lives. :eek: IIRC the endings do actually get worse from there… ---
**Author:** ![Anastasaeon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/73ab20/32.png) [@Anastasaeon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anastasaeon)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/8 "2007-10-27T19:19:40Z")
If you manage to drudge through the thing, \*\*Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life \*\* (the boy version) - you die! It’s the only Harvest Moon (to my knowledge)where you cannot continue playing infinitely after the main storyline has ended. They released the girl version, and she doesn’t die at the end, but I just don’t feel like drudging through what is more or less the same game again. Plus, I think the marriagable men in that one are icky. ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/9 "2007-10-27T19:35:42Z")
[QUOTE=Anastasaeon] If you manage to drudge through the thing, \*\*Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life \*\* (the boy version) - you die! It’s the only Harvest Moon (to my knowledge)where you cannot continue playing infinitely after the main storyline has ended. [/SIZE] [/QUOTE] You couldn’t continue playing after the ending of the very first Harvest Noon either, on the SNES (1997). Although you didn’t die in that one… ---
**Author:** ![Red\_Barchetta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/da6949/32.png) [@Red\_Barchetta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Red_Barchetta)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/10 "2007-10-27T19:39:01Z")
[QUOTE=Electronic Chaos] So I finished playing Portal (which is an excellent game) but felt kind of depressed at the end, because after all I’d done, Chell still dies. [/QUOTE] Does she? That’s not the impression I got at all… ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Carrot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f0a364/32.png) [@Captain\_Carrot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Carrot)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 8:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/11 "2007-10-27T20:25:04Z")
Yeah, neither did I. I thought GladOS’ point was that since Chell was a human, she would eventually die, and GladOS would not. To elaborate on what Malodorous said, the protagonist in Diablo becomes the end boss of Diablo II, so in that sense he dies at the end. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/12 "2007-10-27T21:04:17Z")
I think technically, the protagonist in D1 didn’t die until the end of D2, although he was probably glad by then, as his short life since that time had been composed of fighting Diablo in a terrible battle of the mind until he could no longer hold out. ---
**Author:** ![DJ\_Motorbike](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/90ced4/32.png) [@DJ\_Motorbike](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DJ_Motorbike)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 9:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/13 "2007-10-27T21:42:11Z")
The end of **Phantasy Star II** was left somewhat ambiguous. I was left with the impression that the characters were left to fight a hopeless battle to the death. ---
**Author:** ![thelurkinghorror](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/7c8e57/32.png) [@thelurkinghorror](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelurkinghorror)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/14 "2007-10-27T22:12:26Z")
Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, although you can pretty much see that one coming. ---
**Author:** ![Baine](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Baine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baine)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/15 "2007-10-27T22:12:32Z")
Maybe not quite the same thing, but in Chrono Trigger, at one point the main character dies, and you can choose to finish the game without reviving him. ---
**Author:** ![FilmGeek](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b19c9b/32.png) [@FilmGeek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FilmGeek)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/16 "2007-10-27T22:19:45Z")
The character doesn’t die in Portal. The computer doesn’t die either. I think that’s the point of the catchy little song. I came in here to say FFX, but I was beaten to it. ---
**Author:** ![Malvert\_P.Redd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Malvert\_P.Redd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malvert_P.Redd)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/17 "2007-10-27T22:40:27Z")
Can’t remember if you die at the end of _Postal_ but you have a suicide option throughout the game. ---
**Author:** ![smiling\_bandit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e9a140/32.png) [@smiling\_bandit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/smiling_bandit)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/18 "2007-10-27T22:44:24Z")
[QUOTE=thelurkinghorror] Call of Cthulhu: Dark Corners of the Earth, although you can pretty much see that one coming. [/QUOTE] IIRC, aren’t there multiple endings to the game? I never got the good ending so I don’t know what happens in it. ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2007, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/19 "2007-10-27T22:45:32Z")
In **Soldiers of Anarchy** , if you choose to help a group in an earlier mission, you end up with a choice in the final mission: Become one of the mindless supersoldiers in the organization trying to bring order to the world. It is noted that you still have enough of a mind to hate your masters. Refuse, try to fight them and get destroyed. Since the dialog and other interactions take place within the game, you can actually have some fun with this - call in an airstrike on your position just before the group arrives to give you your choice. The explosion will take out everyone. But you still get the same message that they took control, even though you presumably just took out their leader. If you take the alternate earlier choice, the state of things isn’t much better than before (post-apocalyptic chaos), so things are not all that rosy either. ---
**Author:** ![Garula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ea666f/32.png) [@Garula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garula)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2007, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244/20 "2007-10-28T01:03:35Z")
It’s certainly not quite the same thing, but things don’t end well for the protagonist in _Fallout_ : [spoiler]Upon returning to Vault 13 after first recovering the waterchip and then saving the world from the Master and his super mutant army, the Overseer tells you that if you were to return, your presence would encourage other vault dwellers to leave. Soon, as the best and brightest leave, the vault will no longer be able to function. So, to prevent this and save the vault, at least in his view, he refuses to let you back in. “You’re a hero, and you have to leave.” The last scene shows the vault dweller wandering off into the wastes. Of course, in Fallout 2 we find out that s/he went on to lead a pretty good life afterwards, but the ending of the original still has an impact.[/spoiler] [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/video-games-where-the-protagonist-dies-at-the-end-spoliers-ahoy/424244.md?page=2)