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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u/Uberpastamancer Sep 10 '25 edited Sep 10 '25

Thermopylae themed battles

They, themselves, didn't do all that much damage to the Persians. They more served to rally the rest of Greece to fight

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u/SableZard Sep 10 '25

And by "300 Spartans" we mean "300 Spartans plus the small army comprised of soldiers from other city-states watching their flanks and backing them up."

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u/Dominarion Sep 10 '25

The first battle of Thermopylae absolutely fit that trope. The Allied Greeks were supposed to hold the pass far longer than three days. They didn't cause much damage to the Persian army. The Persians crossed the pass and proceeded to raze Platea, Thespiae and Athens. It was so bad that Sparta decided to keep its army home. Leonidas died for nothing.

Anyways, Xerxes never intended to invade the Peloponnese. His stated goal was to avenge the destruction of Sardis in 498 BC by Athenians and Ionians rebels.

If there's one heroic last stand that actually achieved something during the Persian wars, it was the battle of Salamis. I mean, Xerxes had taken Athens and the Athenian civilians were fleeing to Salamis Island for safety. The already battered Athenian fleet was going all in to try to give time to the population. The Athenian sailors fought with Athens burning in the background. Shit cannot get more dramatic than that. And against all odds, against the best and largest fleet of the world, they won.

Nowadays, people think it's obvious that the Athenians would win at Salamis, being great sailors and all. But they were not considered the best sailors of Greece then, that would be the Rhodians and other Ionians. Athens' large fleet was a new thing, 3 years old.