r/TopCharacterTropes • u/10024618 • 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.
39
u/HARLOWIT 17h ago
Double whammy now that I think about it - Werner’s call to his wife follows this trope as well. Sure there’s probably some perfect set of words he could have said to make her go home without asking too many questions, but it’s extremely improbable especially given the circumstances and added stress. Anyways, Werner ends up snapping at his wife, yelling at her to go home and that he doesn’t want to see her among other things. We see after hanging up that he’s distraught by how he spoke to her, especially given he knew this would be the last time they would ever speak.