10 Video Game Heroes Forced To Die For The Greater Good

I know this has since been remedied through the Broken Steel DLC, but for a moment, let's consider the original ending Fallout 3 launched with.

Fallout 3 opens with the events of Vault 101: James suddenly leaves the vault, and as his son, the Lone Wanderer, you promptly begin the search for him.

The Lone Wanderer discovers that James had intended to finish a project he had been working on to purify the long-radiated water in both the Tidal Basin and the Potomac River. His research facility is built in the Jefferson Memorial, but after resuming work on the project, a military unit named the Enclave arrive to claim the research for themselves.

James floods the control room with radiation, leaving it impenetrable to anyone and killing himself in the process.

Tasked with completing the project, the Lone Wanderer - with the assistance of Sarah Lyons and the Brotherhood of Steel - defeat the Enclave and are ready to complete their father's work. With the control room irradiated and the activation code having the be entered manually, whoever enters the room will be killed.

Whether it be the Lone Wanderer or Lyons that launches the project, their sacrifice will not be in vain, as thousands of residents in the Capital Wasteland will have constant access to clean water for the first time in their lives.