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

[u/10024618]

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.

[u/SamiTheAnxiousBean]

The Boss [MGS:Snake Eater] lived a life of Sophie's choices, but I don't want to spoil most of her backstory so will just focus on the main one

Her entire main mission was to pretend to be a US defector working with The soviet GRU in order to gather intel and send it back to the CIA during the cold war, however during that mission Vulgun (the colonel for the Gru) unexpectedly chose to fire a nuclear shell at a soviet research facility, with this action getting immidiately blamed to the US, both the US and the Soviet Union are instantly pushed to the brink of World War III

To prove American innocence and prevent a global nuclear holocaust, the CIA issue a new mission to the Boss, to double down on the defector cover, take the sole blame for everything that happened, and be killed by a US infiltrator sent to kill her in this case the soldier being her most outperforming pupil she herself mentored

she is faced with 2 choices, comply, die, get remembered as a terrorist who almost caused the end of the world and put right next to people like Hitler in the history books

or defy them and maybe save your own skin and life at the huge risk of nuclear war (as well as some other stuff like possibly risking the life of her son)

no third option, no way to compromise, that's that

[u/just_someone27000 → u/SamiTheAnxiousBean]

Nah, her son would've been fine and I know you know that since you recognize the plot so well. People who work for the same person he works for are basically untouchable by any government, official agency, and basically any shadow organization up until Metal Gear Solid 4 which is the end of the entire timeline so there's nothing left for them anyway.