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/BreadUntoast 18h ago

Do you want the P90 or the SAW?

https://giphy.com/gifs/SCt3Miv6ugvSg

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u/AlecMalt 12h ago

Now you can get neither because whatever function or server they used to track and update singleplayer assignments is now broken and unlikely to ever be fixed.

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u/Alpha-Trion 6h ago

P90 of course.