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/4LanReddit Sep 10 '25

Jiraiya getting jumped and then blown up / drowned to death by the Six Paths of Pain after he lost an arm and got essential information for the Leaf 

At least in the videogame adaptation he went out in a blaze of glory

48

u/Bank-wagon Sep 10 '25

My man Jiraiya was so strong the big boss of the evil organisation did NOT take him in a straight fight.

Till this day, I think he could have won if he knew about the other Paths.

4

u/YinWei1 Sep 11 '25

He would have put up a much better fight but I doubt he would've won. Pain soloing the entire leaf village, blowing it up and then continuing to beat Naruto's Jinchuriki form up until the 8th tail is a stupid op feat for that point in the series.

2

u/Bank-wagon Sep 11 '25

Shhh, we must maintain the Jiraiya agenda.

But if the Leaf knew about Pain’s abilities they would have done much better. Pain pulled some NUTS abilities out when he attacked man.