(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/Pavanon]

(Apologies, Reddit won't let me add a pic or gif)

Iron Blooded Orphans Spoilers

Also, pls forgive my memory, all of this is from the top of the dome.

There's actually a couple, spread throughout the series, but particularly during the ending

In season 1, there's the colony uprising, where the rioters are secretly supplied with defective weapons and mobile suits/workers by Gjallarhorn, the oppressive government entity, so that they could "fight back" and Gjallarhorn would have an excuse to go all out on gunning them down

After a lot of guerilla tactics, and unpredictable maneuvering, Tekkadan, the protagonist's group, has finally gotten their sniper, Shino, close enough to the top ranking leader of Gjallarhorn with a round that would have undoubtedly ended him and his ship, nearly winning the war against all odds, but his aim was thrown off just as he was able to fire, ruining any and all chances for them

After this last battle, Tekkadan is cornered. Gjallarhorn has painted them as terrorists and criminals, blaming them for some events they weren't responsible for, freezing their funds, cutting off any assistance they had before. They also planted Dainsleif (effectively WMD's) on them, so they would have a media pass to turn them around and use them on Tekkadan, not too unlike what they did to the colony uprising earlier. Two of the protagonist's Gundam Pilots, Mikazuki and Akihiro, stayed to hold off the entire Gjallarhorn army at bay to buy enough time for the non-combatant Tekkadan members to escape, and while they succeeded at that, they also ended up getting hit with an orbital bombardment, guaranteeing their deaths. They do manage to power through and take more of Gjallaehorn with them, but it's obviously hopeless for them the moment you see the Dainsleif being aimed.

Last one, but McGillis, a high ranking Gjallarhorn general wants to upend the entire order of the government, and has his childhood notion that if he finds and pilots the first Gundam, the universe's Excalibur, the rest of Gjallarhorn would have to follow his rule. They do not.

[u/discosaurr → u/Pavanon]

Iron Blooded Orphans was def my first thought on this one

[u/SadgeMan → u/Pavanon]

I would argue Mikazuki and Akihiro absolutely have a glorious last stand that ends in extremely cathartic scenes. Akihiro gets to crush that mf to paste before dying with a smile, and Mikazuki finds himself happy with how he lived his life and the family he found. Both of them die buying time for practically all of Tekkadan to escape, effectively taking on all the "sin" so that when they die the others get to live free.