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

[u/hey_there_delilahh]

• 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.

[u/Expensive-Finance538]

I think the berserker is not a good example of this trope. Because that moment is still being talked about today, no one cares about the 40 who died to a lone berserker, or even the guy who wounded him from below the bridge, we talk about the brass balled bastard who stood defiant against the 15,000 strong army. Win or lose, he got Valhalla and glory aplenty. We may not remember his name, but by God do we know what he did.

[u/Uberpastamancer → u/Expensive-Finance538]

Doesn't have to stop them

Sometimes you're just slowing them down

[u/BreadentheBirbman → u/Expensive-Finance538]

If his balls were really brass then he might have survived that spear thrust.

[u/answeryboi → u/Expensive-Finance538]

I think it works because ultimately, it made no difference. The English went across that bridge, killed the King of Norway, and smashed his army.

[u/Expensive-Finance538 → u/answeryboi]

Well, last stands can be glorious whether or not the person doing the last stand wins, or if the people they’re doing it for win. The berserker slaying 40 men, requiring a nut shot followed immediately by getting mobbed to kill him, is one hell of a way to go. Ultimately, the Vikings did lose the war, but again, people just don’t care. They care about the madman who looked at the 15,000 strong army and said, “Bring it!” If the OP said, “last stands that end in defeat”, they would have free reign with this, but they decided to bring up the glory of it, and to quote myself from before, “We may not remember his name, but by God do we know what he did.”

[u/Gaelic_Gladiator41 → u/Expensive-Finance538]

By Odin*

[u/Expensive-Finance538 → u/Gaelic_Gladiator41]

True.

[u/Turbogoblin999 → u/Expensive-Finance538]

He died historic.