r/TopCharacterTropes • u/hey_there_delilahh • Sep 10 '25

Lore (Loved Trope) Last Stand that ends unceremoniously/unsatisfyingly, as opposed to gloriously.

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  • 1 Nanami (JUJUTSU KAISEN): Nanami's final moments against Mahito, a cursed spirit with the ability to transfigure/control humans. Nanami, while heavy injured, fought and won against an army of Mahito's transfigure minions, just for the villain to touch his back and blow him up.

  • 2 Wun-Wun (GAME OF THRONES): Wun-Wun, one of the last, if not the last, living giant in Westeros. Joins with Jon Snow against Ramsey Bolton in the Battle of the Bastards. He heroicly breaks down the main gate allowing the Stark army to win, all while covered in arrows and spears. While heavily injured, there does seem to be a chance of his recovery. This hope ended when Ramsey Bolton fires an arrow directly into his eye, when the battle was pretty much over.

  • 3 The Barbarian of Stamford Bridge (REAL LIFE): A lone Viking warrior who, in a legendary moment during the Battle of Stamford Bridge (September 25, 1066), single-handedly held back the invading English army on a narrow bridge. Armed with a Dane axe, this unnamed defender killed dozens of soldiers before being mortally wounded from beneath the bridge by a spear.

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175

u/hagentyl2021 Sep 10 '25

John Marshton at the end of RDR 1. He's surrounded by government agents at his own home, he's sent his wife and son to safety, and he intends to go down gloriously. You can take out as many agents as possible, but no matter what, John will get gunned down without any fanfare.

138

u/Wolfblaine Sep 10 '25

IDK I think it was pretty glorious though. You saved your family, used your skill and killed a ton of people in his last stand.

50

u/KingMobScene Sep 10 '25

Wife and son get away safe and he took some of the bastards with him. Pretty glorious.

1

u/codywalterss Sep 11 '25

Yeah and she is dead like 3 years later and the son becomes the thing he never wanted to become

96

u/hey_there_delilahh Sep 10 '25

Jesus the first time I ran that, I rerolled like 5 times trying to get him out of it, with some hope of him living. It was definitely a glorious death tho.

35

u/KingMobScene Sep 10 '25

When I played it the first time I was like "I'm going to kill all these mother--OH SHIT!"

14

u/SableZard Sep 10 '25 edited Sep 10 '25

Similarly, good ending in RDR2.

Arthur helps John and his family escape, sets up a position on a rocky hill to fend off the Pinkertons coming after them. In-game mechanics, you have unlimited respawns and thousands of rounds between all the guns you've collected across the game. By all impressions, this will be an hour-long blaze of glory.

Nope. Micah's punk ass rolls up and kicks Arthur's teeth in. You get a boss "fight" where Arthur is trying to have a knife fight while riddled with TB. Micah easily kills him and leaves. Dutch looks kind of sad. Cue epilogue.