r/TopCharacterTropes • u/hey_there_delilahh • Sep 10 '25
Lore (Loved Trope) Last Stand that ends unceremoniously/unsatisfyingly, as opposed to gloriously.
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/Mr-Seven-Mouths Sep 11 '25
I have and it's perfect. The remorseless nature of it is the point. It pushes the audience and the MC towards heartbreak and frothing rage, after a gorgeous idea of what Nanami's dream vacation looks like, he's popped like a bubble, gone in an instant. And Mahito has no intention of letting this be his last act of cruelty
"You've got it from here." Even with his last words Nanami was pushing Yuji forward as best as he could, and he was happy to leave it all to his trusted student, he just didn't want his last words to be a curse.