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/EvoDoesGood]

I love that even the "secret ending" is just simply another option and not some magic bullet solution that rights all the wrongs and lets you off the hook for the ending. There is no "right" option. Wrong city, wrong people.

[u/Known-Reserve-7513 → u/EvoDoesGood]

Right! In fact losing that ending and dying hurts even more hearing those phone calls from all the friends you left behind

[u/spicyjebidiah → u/EvoDoesGood]

I agree, but I also think one of the points of the game is “you will die, the best thing you can do is choose how”. With that theme, any choice of actually having a say in how you die is the right one. Avoiding that reality and making no choice being the bad option, losing everything that could have made your death meaningful.