List of suicides in fiction

The following lists incidents of suicide or attempted suicide depicted in fiction. Actual historical incidents of suicide are listed at List of suicides. CatAZ

uicides in fiction

A

* Ward Abbott ("The Bourne Supremacy"), self-inflicted gunshot
*John Abruzzi ("Prison Break"), suicide by police
* Aegeus, a character from Greek mythology, drowned himself after mistakingly believing that Theseus (his son), was dead.
*Ajax the Great, a character from the Greek mythology, stabbed himself with a sword [his death is described by Sophocles, Pindar and Ovid; the suicide is, however only implied in Homer when, in the Odyssey, the ghost of Ajax refuses to speak to Odysseus in Hades]
* Alia Atreides, a character in the "Dune" universe, becomes possessed and after temporarily regaining control, leaps out of a high window. [Herbert, Frank: "Children of Dune", page 394. Ace Books, 1987]
* Misa Amane ("Death Note"), unknown cause. In the anime, she was last seen standing at the top of a very tall building; it is assumed that she jumped.
* Anna ("Possession"), while mortally injured by gunshots, she shoots herself
* Ansem ("Kingdom Hearts II") willingly remained to be caught in machine explosion

B

*John Barton ("Looking For Alibrandi"), slit his wrists
*Regulus Black ("Harry Potter"), allows himself to drown after becoming disenchanted with Lord Voldemort.
*John Billings ("The Patriot"), 2000 film - shot himself in the head
*Woodrow "Woody" Blake ("Mission to Mars"), exposure to the vacuum of space
*Bob the Cucumber ("Drawn Together"), self-inflicted gunshot wounds
*Larry Bodine ("New Mutants")
*Emma Bovary ("Madame Bovary"), arsenic poisoning
*Toot Braunstein ("Drawn Together"), hanging, self-inflicted beheading, defenestration
*Hecky Brown ("The Front"), jumped out of a window
*Richard Brown ("The Hours"), defenestration
*Billy Bibbit ("One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest"), slit his throat with a piece of broken glass.
*Legato Bluesummers ("Trigun"), forces Vash to shoot him in the head.

C

*Billy Canfield ("Last Man Standing"), suicide by shotgun
*Juliet Capulet ("Romeo and Juliet"), knife wounds [Shakespeare (1936), pg 349.]
*Carol ("The Walking Dead"), allows herself to be bitten by a zombie.
*Sydney Carton ("A Tale of Two Cities"), guillotine
*Ryan Chappelle ("24"), allows Jack Bauer to shoot him to prevent a bio-weapon release on Day 3, despite being unable to kill himself.
*Marjorie "Maude" Chardin ("Harold and Maude"), drug overdose on 80th birthday
*"Morgan Clark", ("Babylon 5"), gunshot to the end.
*Adrian Chase, a.k.a. ("Vigilante"), published by DC Comics,shot himself
*Harold Chasen ("Harold and Maude"), various faked suicides throughout film, including hanging, gunshot, immolation, severing of the hand, drowning, seppuku, and driving a hearse off a cliff.
*Cio-cio san ("Madama Butterfly"), seppuku
*Princess Clara ("Drawn Together"), defenestration
*Vera Claythorne ("Ten Little Indians"), hanging
*Quentin Compson ("The Sound and the Fury"), drowning
*Clyde Connolly ("Dream Team"), jumped off of the Dragons Lair Stadium
*John Constantine ("Various comic books and a movie") slit his wrists
*Richard Cory ("Richard Cory"), gunshot to the head [Barnes and Noble: "The Treasury of American Poetry", page 327. Barnes and Noble Books, 1993]
*Suzie Costello ("Torchwood") A shot through the bottom of the head.
*Nadine Cross, ("The Stand"), jumps off the balcony (depicted as suicide in miniseries; in the book it is depicted as murder by Flagg)
*Steve Crosetti (""), suicide by overdose and drowning
*Rohit Chopra (Based Of Woo-Jin Lee) ("Zinda"), he jumps to his death
*Chloe ("Buffy the Vampire Slayer"), the "First Evil" taunted her, resolving in hanging herself.

D

*Daisy ("Girl, Interrupted"), method was unknown in the novel [Kaysen, Susanna: "Girl, Interrupted", page 35. Vintage Books, 1993] while in the movie, she hung herself and cut her wrists.
*Lt. Commander Data ("Star Trek Nemesis"), dies aboard the Reman flagship "Scimitar" as he sacrifices himself to save the "Enterprise" crew.
*Jack Dawson ("Titanic"), hypothermia from freezing water to sacrifice himself to save Rose DeWitt Bukater.
*Dido ("The Aeneid"), Aeneas' lover in Carthage stabs herself when he leaves her on his quest to found a new nation in Italy.
*Maya Driscoll ("24"), daughter of CTU Director Erin Driscoll slits her wrists on Day 4.
*Albus Dumbledore ("Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"), arranges for Severus Snape to kill him, knowing his death is already imminent.

E

*Jimmy "Thunder" Early ("Dreamgirls"), heroin overdose
*Nat Emmet (the opera "Mr Emmet Takes a Walk") lies in the path of an oncoming train
*April Ericcson ("Rent"), slits her wrists after finding out she has AIDS, and has infected her boyfriend, Roger.
*Anne Ervin ("The Chrysalids"), hanging
*Jimmy Edwards ("One Tree Hill"), shot himself in the chest

F

*Father Time ("Jude the Obscure"), hanged himself
*C. T. Finney ("Third Watch"), carbon monoxide poisoning
*William Foster ("Falling Down"), suicide by cop
*Frankenstein's monster ("Frankenstein"), jumped into a frozen lake
*Rika Furude ("Higurashi no Naku Koro ni"), stabs herself multiple times in the head
*Fuyubachi ("Happy Family Planning" episode of "Paranoia Agent"), overdosing or carbon monoxide poisoning

G

*Michael Garfield ("Hallowe'en Party"), swallows the poison he had intended for his illegitimate daughter Miranda Butler to drink.
*Merope Gaunt ("Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince"), allows herself to die in childbirth, knowing she has the means to save herself.
*George Wilson ("The Great Gatsby"), shot himself in the mouth after killing Gatsby
*Hans Giebenrath ("Beneath the Wheel" by Hermann Hesse), drowning (suspicious circumstances)
*Seymour Glass ("Nine Stories" by J. D. Salinger), gunshot wound
*Gilda ("Rigoletto"), allows herself to be stabbed by the assassin Sparafucile to save the life of the Duke of Mantua
*Cynthia Swann Griffin ("The First Wives Club"), jumped from her high rise apartment building

H

*John Hartigan, ("Sin City"), gunshot to the head
*Sakumo Hatake("Naruto"), attempting Seppuku after being looked down on after saving his comrades instead of completing the mission.
*Brooks Hatlen, ("The Shawshank Redemption"), hanging
*Sir Hercules ("Collected Short Stories" by Aldous Huxley), slashing of wrists
*Captain Hero ("Drawn Together"), self-inflicted beheading
*Betty Heslop ("Muriel's Wedding"), overdoseage on sleeping pills
*John Hobbes, ("Fallen"), after smoking cigarettes laced with poison
*Seth "Cherry" Hoffner ("Prison Break"), hanging
*Sadojima Hoji ("Rurouni Kenshin"), slits his throat
*Midshipsman Hollom (""), drowning
*Amanda Hunsaker {"Lethal Weapon"), jumps off her apartment balcony
*Waring Hudsucker ("The Hudsucker Proxy"), jumping out the window of a building
*Hizashi Hyuga ("Naruto"), substitutes self for brother, who is to be killed

I

James Orin Incandenza Jr. (Infinite Jest) uses a drillbit, hacksaw, and aluminum foil to microwave his own head.

J

*Javert ("Les Misérables"), jumped off bridge and drowned
*Dayna Jurgens ("The Stand"), breaks a window and impales herself on the broken glass
*Julie ("The Walking Dead"), shot as part of a suicide pact

K

* Kamome ("Happy Family Planning" episode of "Paranoia Agent"), jumping or carbon monoxide poisoning
*Anna Karenina ("Anna Karenina"), by throwing herself in the path of a train
*Charles Kingshaw ("I'm the King of the Castle") drowned himself because of relentless bullying by Edmund Hooper.
*Aleksei Kirillov ("The Possessed"), self-inflicted gunshot wound
*Yoji Kuramoto ("Battle Royale"), in the film, hangs himself alongside Yoshimi Yahagi
*Raiga Kurosuki ("Naruto"), uses lightning to incinerate himself
*Kusakabe ("Code Geass"), commits suicide while under the influence of Lelouch's Geass

L

*L ("Death Note"), in the live action movie writes his own name in the Death Note
*Harold Lauder ("The Stand"), shot himself
*Lee Woo-Jin ("Oldboy"), shot himself
*Lee Soo-Ah ("Oldboy"), threw himself into river
*Leonard "Gomer Pyle" Lawrence ("Full Metal Jacket"), shot himself
*Ling-Ling ("Drawn Together"), seppuku, defenestration
*Bonnie Lisbon ("The Virgin Suicides"), hang herself
*Cecilia Lisbon ("The Virgin Suicides"), jumped from second story window onto spiked fence.
*Lux Lisbon ("The Virgin Suicides"), carbon monoxide poisoning
*Mary Lisbon ("The Virgin Suicides"), inhaled gas by placing her head in the oven
*Therese Lisbon ("The Virgin Suicides"), overdosed on sleeping pills
*Little Bill ("Boogie Nights"), shot himself
*Willy Loman ("Death of a Salesman"), exact method not specified, car related
*Mary Ann Lomax ("The Devil's Advocate"), slit her throat
*Foxxy Love ("Drawn Together"), defenestration
*Vesper Lynd ("Casino Royale"), locks himself in underwater cage and drowns

M

*Lady Macbeth ("Macbeth") - the actual information about her demise is nebulous [Shakespeare (1936), pg 1053.]
*Keiichi Maebara ("Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni") - in the Onikakushi-hen arc, he claws out his throat, although this is debatable since it was caused by an injection of a drug.
*Lee McCall ("Stander"), suicide by cop
*Madame Akkikuyu ("The Crystal Prison"), throws self on bonfire
*Mark ("Possession"), jumps from a high floor
*Lt. Col. Matthew Markinson ("A Few Good Men"), self-inflicted gunshot
*Habib Marwan ("24"), falls from a multi-story parking garage to escape Jack Bauer on Day 4
*George Mason ("24"), nuclear explosion on Day 2
*The Master ("Doctor Who"), allows himself to die of a gunshot wound when he could easily save his life by regenerating
*Eden McCain ("Heroes"), self-inflicted gunshot
*Sean McTaggert ("The Believers"), shot himself
*Owen Meany ("A Prayer for Owen Meany"), sacrifices himself to save children from a grenade and fulfill a prophecy
*Teru Mikami ("Death Note") stabs himself in alternate ending
*Julia Miliken ("24"), self-inflicted gunshot to head after murdering Sherry Palmer in Day 3
*Jacob Mitchell ("A Simple Plan"), begs his brother to shoot him
*Fernand Mondego ("The Count of Monte Cristo"), gunshot wounds
*Romeo Montague, ("Romeo & Juliet"), takes poison after finding Juliet whom he believed to be dead. [Shakespeare (1936), pg 348.]
*Jerome Eugene Morrow ("Gattaca"), self-immolation
*Moritz Stiefel ("Spring Awakening"), shot himself

N

*Samuel Norton ("The Shawshank Redemption"), self-inflicted gunshot
*Narrator of the Rush album "2112"

O

*Conan O'Brien, a real life persona whose fictional counterpart kills himself out of remorse in ""
*Sakura Ogawa ("Battle Royale"), jumps off of a cliff in a suicide pact with Kazuhiko Yamamoto
*Ophelia ("Hamlet"), drowning (ambiguous) [Shakespeare (1936), pg 770.]
*Othello ("Othello"), stabs himself [Shakespeare (1936), pg 979.]
*Keiko Onuki ("Battle Royale"), forces Shogo to shoot her

P

*Charles "Haywire" Patoshik ("Prison Break"), jumping
*Frank Pentangeli ("The Godfather Part II"), slit wrists
*Arthur Petrelli ("Heroes (TV series)"), unknown method
*Petunia ("Happy Tree Friends"), slit wrists
*Edna Pontellier ("The Awakening"), drowning
*Ryan Francis Purdy ("Stripper"), jumping
*Neil Perry ("Dead Poet's Society"), gunshot
*Phaedra ("Phèdre"), poison
*Hercule Poirot (""), died of a heart condition after having deliberately stopped taking medication for it.
*Madelyne Pryor, villainess in Marvel Comics, telepathically shuts down her mind

Q

* Quasimodo ("The Hunchback of Notre Dame"), exact cause is unknown as his remains are not found until many years later, with his skeleton hugging the skeleton of Esmeralda. [Hugo, Victor: "The Hunchback of Notre-Dame", page 458. Tor, 1996]
* Quentin ("The Sound and the Fury"), drowning
* Quinn ("" episode "Death Wish"), poisoning

R

* Luke Rattigan ("Doctor Who"), blows himself up to save the world from the Sontarans
* Ellen Ripley ("Alien 3"), throws herself into a gigantic furnace.
* Rumpelstiltskin, dwarf/fairy tale character who "in his rage drove his right foot so far into the ground that it sank in up to his waist; then in a passion he seized the left foot with both hands and tore himself in two."

*Yuko Sakaki ("Battle Royale") jumps to her death from a lighthouse
*Reverend Frank Scott ("The Poseidon Adventure"), jumps to his death in the capsized Poseidon's engine room as a "sacrifice" to God
*Eva Smith ("An Inspector Calls"), poisoning
*Saga ("Saint Seiya")
*Gary Searle ("Give A Boy A Gun"), self-inflicted gunshot
*Hazel Shade ("Pale Fire"), drowns herself in frozen lake.
*Anakin Skywalker ("") sacrifices himself by being electricuted to save his son Luke from Emperor Palpatine.
*Smerdjakov ("The Brothers Karamazov"), hanging
*Wooldoor Sockbat ("Drawn Together"), defenestration
*River Song ("Doctor Who"), burns out her mind to save the people trapped in a cyberspace universe.
*Mr. Spock (""), dies of radiation burns when he sacrifices himself to save the USS|Enterprise|NCC-1701|2 crew.
*Harry Stamper ("Armageddon"), sacrifices himself in a nuclear explosion to destroy the astroid heading for Earth.
*Nikolai Stavrogin ("The Possessed"), hanging
*Terrence Steadman ("Prison Break"), self-inflicted gunshot wound
*Grace Stewart ("The Others"), self-inflicted gunshot
*Edgar Stiles' mother ("24"), unknown method to avoid radiation poisoning
*Seth Stone ("Dallas"), an oilman that bought leases of overseas oil from Ewing Oil. The oil became nationalized, causing him to lose everything. Method unknown.
*Holly Summers ("No More Heroes"), places a grenade in her mouth
*Arkady Svidrigailov ("Crime and Punishment"), self-inflicted gunshot wound

T

*Beatrice Taylor ("Ten Little Indians"), drowns herself in the river
*Captain Clark Terrell (""), self-inflicted phaser shot
*Floria Tosca ("Tosca"), opera heroine leaps to her death from the walls of the Castel Sant Angelo in Rome to escape Scarpia's henchmen
*Claude Tanner ("Degrassi High"), shot himself in the head after being rejected by Caitlin.
*Jiro Tomitake ("Higurashi no Naku Koro ni"), dies in six of the eight story arcs in the series, each time his death results from clawing his throat out, although this is debatable since it was caused by an injection of a drug.

U

*Stan Uris ("It" by Stephen King), slit wrists in bathtub

V

*Vegeta ("Dragonball Z"), blew himself up in an unsuccessful attempt to kill Buu
*Camerlengo Carlo Ventresca ("Angels and Demons"), self-immolation
*Veronica Harnden ("Children of the Dust"), drug overdose taken to end her suffering from radiation sickness. Her son, William, and stepdaughter, Sarah, later die in the same way.
*Sibyl Vane ("The Picture of Dorian Gray"), poisoning
*Private Vasquez ("Aliens"), she and Lieutenant Gorman kill themselves with a grenade.
*Jordy Verrill - ("Creepshow", segment entitled "The Lonesome Death of Jordy Verrill") - shoots himself
*Heloise de Villefort ("The Count of Monte Cristo"), poisoning

W

*Toby Jay Wadenah ("The Pledge"), shoots himself
*Judge Lawrence Wargrave ("Ten Little Indians"), shot himself
*Werther ("The Sorrows of Young Werther"), shot wounds (caused by borrowed pistols)
*Xandir P. Wifflebottom ("Drawn Together"), stabbed self with sword
*George Wilson ("The Great Gatsby"), gunshot wounds
*Dallas Winston ("The Outsiders"), suicide by police
*Henry Winter ("The Secret History") gunshot
*Charles "Corky" Withers ("Magic") knife wounds
*Frank Wolff ("Explorers on the Moon", The Adventures of Tintin), jettisoned himself out of a rocket in outer space.
*Sid Worley ("An Officer and a Gentleman"), suicide by hanging
*Frank White, shot himself

Y

*Yoshimi Yahagi ("Battle Royale"), in the film, hangs herself alongside Yoji Kuramoto
*Kazuhiko Yamamoto ("Battle Royale"), jumps off of a cliff in a suicide pact with Sakura Ogawa
*Mary Alice Young ("Desperate Housewives"), shot herself in the head
*Adam Yates ("The Innocent"), shot himself

Z

*Dr. David Ziegler ("The West Wing"), Communications Director Toby Ziegler's younger brother, is a mission specialist at NASA who commits suicide by gas exhaust inhalation after learning that he has terminal cancer.

Attempted suicides in fiction

*Francis Abernathy ("The Secret History") slit his wrists, but is discovered and rescued by a maid.
*George Bailey ("It's a Wonderful Life"), is about to jump off a bridge, but his guardian angel stops him from doing so.
*Edmond Dantès ("The Count of Monte Cristo"), attempted starvation
*Woo-Sup ("Merry Go Round")
*Liane d'Exelmans, when Gaston Lachaille breaks up with her ("Gigi")
*Maureen Coyle ("Psycho III"), slit her wrists in bathtub, but is rescued by Norman Bates/"Mother".
*Phil Connors ("Groundhog Day"), various including wounds from gunshots and knives, poisoning, freezing, hanging, electrocution and immolation; saved because of the repetition of February 2.
*Dale Putley ("Father's Day"), is about to shoot himself, but then his phone rings, and he decides to answer it.
*Nozomu Itoshiki ("Sayonara Zetsubō Sensei"), various including attempted hanging and throwing himself in front of a speeding train, among others; occasionally saved by Kafuka Fūra, one of his students.
*Mike Kellerman (""), is about to shoot himself with a gun when he is talked out of suicide by his partner Meldrick Lewis.
*Martin Riggs ("Lethal Weapon"), after losing his wife to an automobile accident, attempts to shoot himself, but decides not to due to a change of heart.
*Sam ("He Died with a Felafel in His Hand"), slit his wrists in bathtub, saved by Danny
*Rose DeWitt Bukater ("Titanic"), is about to jump off the doomed ship, but is rescued by Jack Dawson.
*Alex DeLarge ("A Clockwork Orange"), jumps out of a window
*Nanaka Yatsushiro ("Myself; Yourself"), slit her wrists in bathtub, discovered and saved by Sana.
*Sana Hidaka ("Myself; Yourself"), slit his wrists in bathtub, presumably discovered and saved by his parent.
*Roy Mustang ("Fullmetal Alchemist") attempts to shoot himself, but is stopped by Tim Marcoh.
*Ukifune ("The Tale of Genji"), drowning
*Lisa ("Girl, Interrupted"), in the movie, she attempts to stab herself with hypodermic needle, but is stopped by Susanna Kaysen.
* Eric van der Woodsen ("Gossip Girl"), slit wrists
*Beyond Birthday ("Death Note") attempted to burn himself to overpower L, but failed after being caught and arrested. Died two years later in prison.

Notes

References

* Shakespeare, William. (1936). The Complete Works of Shakespeare, New York: Doubleday.