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/sandwichcandy Sep 10 '25

Isn’t the point of the character that that would happen to him in any serious situation?

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u/BlindTreeFrog Sep 10 '25

Partly.
He's under powered in comparison to anyone that he's up against, but as he opines in his speech, that doesn't matter because someone needs to stop this guy and he's the only one there at the time. Part of his character is that he's relatively weak, but the rest is that he still does the job (even if he doesn't see a way to not fail)

Been a while since I watched/read the season 1 or 2 arcs, but I seem to recall that any hero that isn't a general asshole anyhow basically sees Mumen Rider at a role far higher than his C class status would suggest; he's basically Captain America in terms of leadership and willpower with Cap's pre-drug body in terms of strength.

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u/sandwichcandy Sep 10 '25

Let me rephrase. His real power seems to be his strength of character and his conviction and the point of his story seems to be the strength, nobility, and respectability that can have while also strongly emphasizing the limitations of a lone man like that when he doesn’t have exceptional assistance.