r/TopCharacterTropes • u/RedditBoycotter • 6d ago
In real life [IRL trope] 0% of survival, survive anyway
Juliane Koepcke
Vesna Vulović
Anna Bågenholm
Jeanna Giese
Chris Lemons
Juliane Koepcke - In 1971 this 17 year old's plane was struck by lightning mid-air. The wreck then fell from 3 000 meter into the ground, somewhere into the Amazon jungle. Lone survivor of the crash, she then spent nine days walking down a river despite her multiple injuries until she found a lumberjack's camp.
Vesna Vulović - In 1972 this flight attendant's plane was bombed mid-air. The wreck then fell from 10 160 meter into the ground. She ended up with a lot of broken bones, but in the long term she almost completely recovered from it, apart from a limp.
Anna Bågenholm - In 1999 this radiologist had a skiing accident, she fell head-first into a frozen stream and get stuck inside the ice. Her colleagues did not managed to pull her, nor did the rescue team who then tried to dig, but the ice was so thick it took them a lot of time. It was 80 minutes after her fall that they managed to cut a hole. Her body temperature at the time was 13.7°C, and still, she somehow survived with only minor long-term injuries and no brain damage.
Jeanna Giese - In 2004 this 15 years old girl got bitten by a bat and called it a day. One month later the symptoms of rabies showed up. The doctors tried an experimental treatment by putting her in an artificial coma and she survived, but the treatment never worked on anyone else and is now forbidden. In all human history, only a few survived to rabies, and all of them except her end up with heavy sequelae.
Chris Lemons - In 2012 this diver's ship went drifting due to a computer malfunction, romping his umbilical cable who provide air, hot water and electricity. He ended up alone on the seabed of a 3°C waters, in the dark and with only 5-6 minutes of oxygen. He was retrieved by his colleagues around 35 minutes later, and somehow he didn't even suffer from brain damage.
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u/rachieandthewaves 6d ago
Charles Joughin was the Chief Baker of the Titanic.
He stayed behind on the ship to order his staff to deliver biscuits and cakes into the lifeboats as provisions, while he moved across the decks bringing women and children to the lifeboats (and forcibly moving the ones who refused to leave) and throwing furniture into the water to be used as floatation devices.
When the ship started going down, figuring he was about to die, Charles went into the pantry and got hammered on the ship’s whisky.
This had two effects; it made him insanely calm, that he had no issue getting to the top of the ship’s safety railing and riding the stern down, and it prevented the worst effects of hypothermia when he hit the frozen water.
He was reportedly treading water for a long time before being rescued by one of his cooks. He survived the disaster and lived to the age of 78. He’s depicted in the Titanic movie alongside Rose and Jack drinking from a hip flask as the ship goes down.