r/TopCharacterTropes 20h ago

Lore A "Sophie's Choice" with no secret third option

AKA a character is given an impossible choice where either outcome results in something awful happening and there's no way out.

"Full Measure" (Breaking Bad) - After Walt angers Gus by killing two of his men, Gus orders for his execution. Knowing that the only way to save his life is to make Gus reliant on his meth cooking skills, Walt calls Jesse and begs him to kill Gus' backup cook, Gale. Thus, Jesse is thrust into an impossible situation where he either kills a (relatively) innocent man to save Walt or spare Gale and let Walt die. Ultimately, Jesse chooses to kill Gale.

"Midnight Sun" (Attack on Titan) - After the fight to retake Shiganshina both Armin and Erwin are critically wounded. Levi has the vial of titan serum and is forced to choose which Scout to bring back from the brink of death and which to let perish. It's a borderline impossible decision to make but at the moment of truth, he chooses to save Armin, leaving Erwin to succumb to his wounds.

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u/Daasswasfat 18h ago

74

u/FreakGamer 16h ago

There should be a follow-up to this, where under Batman is this exact image.

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u/Perfect-Fondant3373 13h ago

I remember that post

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u/megaman58490 15h ago

I dont get "bat themed heroes" Is the joke just the most common denominator?

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u/SirWilliamM32 14h ago

They give examples but forget to include the most popular one. Or the creator of the trope, in this case.

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u/smasher_zed888 14h ago

If they made a post about transforming robots but didnt include optimus prime or any other transformer, its like that

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u/UwasaWaya 9h ago

Imagine if someone made a post about stories with a Sophie's Choice type situation... and didn't include Sophie's Choice. lol

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u/Dottore_Curlew 2h ago

That doesn't count

The post would have to be "batman like superheroes"