"My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials. Can you say the same?"
— A Stormcloak soldier to his executioner, The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim
Before a character dies, they fire off a line essentially saying "I'm going to die, but our fight goes on," or otherwise demonstrating their continued defiance toward and disdain for their killers. Usually included in a Last Stand.
Can be the last line of an entire series if it's a Bolivian Army Ending. The Doomed Moral Victor is... fond of this trope. A specific take is Regret Eating Me as well as See You in Hell. Very very often a Dying Moment of Awesome. Some do manage to live, which The Cavalry can help along, but there's significant overlap with Final Speech. A subtrope of Gallows Humor.
See Face Death with Dignity. Similar to Defiant to the End, but employs humor rather than treating the situation with contempt or rage. See also Dying Declaration of Hate. Contrast Pre-Mortem One-Liner for when the giving end of the death blow does a one-liner.
As this is a Death Trope, unmarked spoilers abound. Beware.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- Kaji in Neon Genesis Evangelion: "You're a little late, aren't you?"
- Ritsuko: "Liar." We never find out what lie prompts this accusation.
- A version in another language says that she was told by Gendou, "I've always loved you." Maybe that's not what was said, but It Makes Sense in Context.
- Spike Spiegel in Cowboy Bebop. "Bang."
- In Fullmetal Alchemist, Greed gets one when he is about to be melted down and reabsorbed by Father. His last words are "I hope you get the shits."
- In the official translation, he talks about how good the fires of Hell will be when he sees his siblings there with him.
- That's how Kagari goes out in Psycho-Pass: "Man, this bites." Ouryo Rikako also gets one.
- And then there's Masane Amaha, from Witchblade with "LET'S BLOW SOME SHIT UP!"
- In Umineko: When They Cry, at the end of the second arc, Rosa gives a heart-wrenching last line as she faces down a garden full of Mooks, reaffirming for the audience how much she loves her daughter. "Come on! Let the one of you who wants to eat this bullet Maria chambered for me come forward!" In the anime, that line is cut, and the One-Liner becomes "Maria, let's go together. Always together. You'll always be together with your Mama!"
- In a less heartwarming and more straight out awesome example, Will in episode 7. He is facing the strongest witch in the world who has vowed to kill Lion no matter what he does. He raises his sword, points it at the witch, and says a combination of three awesome one-liners, as his situation gets progressively worse, ultimately concluding with both him and Lion about to be killed before Lambadelta steps in.
"Will: It's about time someone trimmed your claws! My name is Willard H. Wright, this will be the last time I will draw my sword!"- A literal one from Ep 6, Dawn of the golden witch: "Hi, pleased to meet you! I am Furudo Erika, the detective! I may be an uninvited guest, but please, welcome me! I am the visitor, the 18th human on Rokkenjima!"
- In Code Geass R2, Lelouch gives an insulting one to the Black Knights after they betray him designed to drive Kallen away from him to have her spared from the crossfire. The movie version has them suspect he's just saying it and don't want to shoot yet, but they're ignored by Schneizel's men.
- Hellsing: Jan Valentine does it twice in under ten minutes. First when he breaks into the round table meeting to find the entire room full of people aiming guns at him ("Oh, fuck me,") and then one that's more fitting for him when he's outlived his usefulness.
- One Piece:
- Late Pirate King Gold Roger moments before his execution, "You want my treasure? You can have it! I left everything I gathered together in one place. Now you just have to find it!" This prompts many young adventurers to become adventure-seeking pirates, and kicks off what is known as "The Great Pirate Era".
- As Whitebeard faces death at the hands of the Marines and Blackbeard Pirates, he loudly and proudly declares that "[The treasure of] The One Piece is real!" once again reigniting the flames of adventure and romance.
- Wano Country sees Kozuki Oden fire a zinger that's a variation of his catchphrase. He was being boiled alive for a whole hour before his execution: "Oden wouldn't be Oden..." Unfortunately, he didn't get to finish, forcing his retainers to deliver the punch line. "...if it wasn't boiled!"
- João Rebelo in Legend of the Galactic Heroes: "Very well then. Shoot me. And buy your security."
Comic Books
- In the Sin City book "The Hard Goodbye", Marv says "Is that the best you can do, you pansies?" while being executed by electric chair.
- These also may be the last words of Serial Killer Albert Fish.
- Toward the end of "That Yellow Bastard":
Hartigan: An old man dies, a young girl lives. Fair trade.
BANG!
Hartigan: I love you, Nancy.
- A classic one at the end of Red (2003).
Paul Moses: I'm the monster. Do your best.
- The second Blue Beetle gets one in Countdown To Infinite Crisis, where a villain has captured the Beetle, threatening to kill him unless he teams up with him. The Beetle's response? "Rot in hell, Max."
- The cover to the issue featuring the death of the third Blue Beetle has him echoing the line when placed in an identical situation by a different villain. He manages to survive it this time.
- In the Grendel Tales: Devil' Choices, main bad guy, captured and facing firing squad yells at the squad: "ATTENTION! As you were! That was lousy, soldiers. Next time it better be perfect. At-ten-tion! Aim! FIRE YOU FUCKS!"
- In Daredevil, the Kingpin tracks down one of his lieutenants who had betrayed him. Knowing he's dead meat anyway, the underling proceeds to point out Kingpin's failings as a father and a husband before uttering his epic final words: "L'chaim, fat ass!"
- In Fantastic Four:
Johnny: A billion to one? You think I'm afraid of that? YOU THINK I'M AFRAID OF THAT?! FLAME ON!
- Lobster Random, as he is about to be executed at the beginning of the story, asks his executioners to hurry up as "[he's] got things to do, being dead and all." Luckily, he is rescued before the terminal regression fully takes effect.
- The first issue of Marvel Zombies has Magneto fighting an army of zombie superheroes. Just as he's cornered and the zombies are about to eat him Magneto yells: "I hope you choke on me!"
- "A ninja's duty in life... is death!" said in Usagi Yojimbo by Shingen of the Neko ninja clan, whose last chance to sabotage an armory is to light a pile of black powder while he and the corrupt government member he's shouting at are inside the building. Overlaps with Not Quite Dead and adds a hint of irony because that ninja had been struck down earlier.
- From Nextwave: "My name's Dirk Anger and I say ☠☠☠☠ all of you."
- In Batman's Detective Comics Issue #64, "The Joker Walks the Last Mile", the Clown Prince of Crime says this line to a cop who is leading him to his execution: "So this is the famous Last Mile, eh? Don't cry, boys...this will hurt me worse than it'll hurt you! Ha! Ha!"
- From Atomic Robo and the Knights of the Golden Circle when Robo's fighting a mechanized Butcher Caldwell:
Robo: I already know how it ends. You don't win.
- The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Century has Severus Snape giving one to Harry Potter/The Anti-Christ during the Hogwarts massacre
Severus Snape: Go ahead, you little shit! You always were a little shit!
- Hitman (1993) does this with Nate The Hat during the Bolivian Army Ending. This is after he's already been shot once!
Nate: You think you bad?! YOU THINK YOU FUCKING BAD?! *grabs the gun and shoots the mook back*
- In The Amory Wars: In Keeping Secrets of Silent Earth: 3, Wilhelm Ryan is captured and being sentenced to death by a council of 78, with only one of them refusing. When the representative explains his refusal and leaves, Ryan makes this declaration:
Wilhelm Ryan: Remember the words of the 78th man. They'll come back to you... Right after I do. Kill me if you can.
- Strikeforce: Morituri: According to the government-sponsored comic book about the Black Watch's final mission against the alien Horde, the last two members face their imminent death with a defiant speech about humanity's inevitable triumph. Too bad that's not what really happened.
Fan Works
- Neon Genesis Evangelion: Genocide: Before Kluge shoots her brains off, Ritsuko glares at him and snarls: "Fuck you".
- And So We Fight gives us this final excange between Ganondorf and Zelda:
Ganondorf: For your kingdom, princess?Zelda: No. For me.
- Dominoes (Star Wars: The Clone Wars): Slick, right before being killed by Ventress after betraying the Separatists.
Ventress: Traitor!
Slick: Triple crosser. - REUNION (G-Go): When Kim Possible's fiance Ray Beam is revealed as the villain Deathray, who plans to freeze Kim in a cryogenic chamber, Ray asks Kim if she has any last words. She answers, "The wedding is so off!"
Films — Live-Action
- In the film, The Alamo, Davy Crockett is left the only survivor of the entire battle. Santa Anna offers him a chance to live by formally surrendering for his army, but Crockett rejects it and demands that Santa Ana's army surrender to him instead. Furious, the enemy commander orders him stabbed with bayonets, to which Davy's only reply is a warning that "I'm a screamer!"
- Private Hudson's death scene in Aliens. Even as the monsters are pulling him through the floor, he's firing and screaming "Come on! Let's go, yeah! YEAH! Come on! Come and get it, bastards! Come on, you too! Oh, you want some of this? Take it! Yeah, fuck you!"
- In Alien³, Dillon gets the last laugh. "Is that all you can do?"
- At the beginning of The Battle of Algiers the random Algerian nationalist being executed gets this, thereby inspiring Ali La Pointe.
- Braveheart: FREEEEEEDOOOOOOOM!!!!!
- Breaker Morant: "Shoot straight, you bastards - don't make a mess of it!"
- There is speculation that the real quote was simply "Shoot straight" - that is, "tell the truth about why you're shooting us."
- Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid: "For a moment there, I thought we were in trouble."
- Bert's one badass moment in Cabin Fever; he's at death's door from the virus, and, right before being gooified by shotgun fire, barely conscious, he says, "Goodnight, fucker..."
- Cliffhanger
Hal Tucker: "Delmar, from me to you, you're an asshole."Delmar: Yeah? And you're a loud-mouth punk slag, who's about to die."
- In the John Wayne movie The Cowboys, Jebediah Nightlinger (the inimitable Roscoe Lee Browne) is about to be lynched. He is granted permission to make his peace with God and says:
I regret trifling with married women. I'm thoroughly ashamed at cheating at cards. I deplore my occasional departures from the truth. Forgive me for taking your name in vain, my Saturday drunkenness, my Sunday sloth. Above all, forgive me for the men I've killed in anger ... and those I am about to.
- The horror film Dog Soldiers features the dying words of Spoon to the werewolf about to eat him: "I hope I give you the shits, you fucking wimp."
- In the fantasy movie The Fall: "Shoot, you animals. They'll pay you well for Darwin's hide."
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. He escapes.
Irina Spalko: Any defiant last words, Dr. Jones?Indy: I like Ike.
- Inglourious Basterds: Say "Auf Wiedersehen" to your Nazi balls!
- Jurassic Park: Robert Muldoon gets one before being mauled by the "Big One."
"Clever girl..."
- Two in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe:
- A talking fox to the White Witch, who has Edmund, one of the prophesied kings of Narnia, captive.
Fox: Forgive me, your majesty.
The Witch: Don't waste my time with flattery.
Fox: Not to seem rude, but I wasn't actually talking to you. - Tumnus' last words before being turned into stone: "I believe in a free Narnia."
- A talking fox to the White Witch, who has Edmund, one of the prophesied kings of Narnia, captive.
- Napoléon (1927): "Don't forget to show my head to the people. It is well worth the trouble." — Danton
- Saw VI: Josh is left without a chance to survive in the Shotgun Carousel due to William saving two other victims, and when his turn comes round, he tells William (as the end of one long Final Speech) "When you're killing me, you LOOK AT ME!"
- Seven Psychopaths: Myra, when Charlie is about to shoot her and asks where her husband is.
Myra: You figure it out, dumbass.
- Watkins in the Starship Troopers movie gets "Just trying to kill some bugs, sir!" before setting off a nuke to bring down as many bugs as he can (as he is too badly wounded to run with the main characters).
- Although really his last words are something along the lines of "want some? WANT SOME?" with added swearing and shooting thrown in (possibly as a nod to Aliens, see below), which might, in fact, be even better.
- Star Wars: "You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down, I shall become more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
- In V for Vendetta, V is facing down a squad of enemies:
Creedy: You've got nothing. Nothing but your bloody knives and your fancy karate gimmicks...we have guns!
V: No, what you have are bullets... and the hope that when your guns are empty, I am no longer standing because if I am, you'll all be dead before you've reloaded.- And when their guns were empty, he was still standing.
V: ...My turn.
- He delivers one final one when only he and Creedy are left standing:
Creedy: Why won't you die?!
V: Beneath this mask, there is more than flesh. Beneath this mask, there is an idea, Mr. Creedy, and ideas are bulletproof.
- And when their guns were empty, he was still standing.
- The Wicker Man (1973): Sgt. Howie is being dragged to be burnt alive as a human sacrifice, but defiantly affirms his faith in the face of the murderous villagers. The Affably Evil Magnificent Bastard Lord Summerisle immediately turns this around and reminds him it's that very piety that makes him such an ideal candidate for sacrifice - and that the only reward for his faithfulness is to die a martyr's death. Howie, shaken to the core, opts to pray aloud: "Dear God, I humbly entreat thee for the soul of this thy servant, Neil Howie, who will today depart from this world. Do not deliver me into the enemy's hands or put me out of mind forever. Let me not undergo the real pains of hell, dear God, because I die unshriven. And establish me in that bliss which knows no ending, O Christ, Our Lord..."
- Sabretooth gets a good one in X-Men Origins: Wolverine as both Logan and Creed are facing a firing squad. Subverted in that he knows he isn't going to die, so it's more of a mocking one-liner.
- Day of the Dead (1985). "Choke on 'em!
"
- In Red Dawn (1984), the executed civilians sing America the Beautiful just before being gunned down.
- In Disturbing Behavior, Mr. Newburry has this to say just before his Heroic Sacrifice:
- Dong-Soo in Friend, upon being ambushed and stabbed dozens of times by a young and seemingly terrified henchman of his arch-enemy:
Dong-Soo: You've stabbed me enough. You can go now.
- In The Prestige, one of the many dueling main characters is about to be hanged.
Guard: Any last words?Alfred Borden: Abra Kadabra. *the trap door of the gallows opens*
- A villainous example: Apophis gets one in Stargate: Continuum, shortly before being executed by supreme System Lord Ba'al:
Apophis: May your reign be measured in days, and your death in years.
- Ghostbusters
- Ghostbusters (1984): Ray and Peter have this little exchange right before they cross the streams in a desperate, almost certainly suicidal gambit to stop Gozer:
Peter Venkman: See you on the other side, Ray.
Ray Stantz: Nice working with you, Dr. Venkman. - In another villainous example in Ghostbusters II, the Big Bad was poisoned, shot, stabbed, hung, stretched, disemboweled, drawn and quartered.note Just before his head died, he said: "Death is but a door, time is but a window, I'll be back!"
- Ghostbusters (1984): Ray and Peter have this little exchange right before they cross the streams in a desperate, almost certainly suicidal gambit to stop Gozer:
- Children of Men: Pull my finger.
- Valkyrie: LONG LIVE SACRED GERMANY!!!
- Abraham Whistler in Blade: Trinity.
SWAT Cop: Move a finger and you're dead!Whistler: How's about this one?
- While a bit tricky on the heroic part, it's hard to fault that considering the nature of Full Metal Jacket. Namely, the drill sergeant staring down the barrel of a loaded M-14 being held by a visibly deranged recruit that had just that day gotten word that he made it through to proper infantry. He may have thought "Private Pyle" wasn't going to shoot at all, or that yelling him down would work as it always had, but you have to have a set in order to look your potential murderer in the eye and scream in a rage "WHAT IS YOUR MAJOR MALFUNCTION, NUMBNUTS?! DIDN'T MOMMY AND DADDY SHOW YOU ENOUGH ATTENTION WHEN YOU WERE A CHILD?!?!"
- Patriots Day, during the shootout with the Boston Bombers:
Police Sgt. John MacLellan: "WELCOME TO WATERTOWN, MOTHERFUCKERS!"
- In The Last Starfighter, from the villains:
Kodan Officer: We're locked into the moon's gravitational pull! What do we do?Commander Kril: We die.
- Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country: General Chang (who has been endlessly quoting Shakespeare as his cloaked Bird of Prey hammers the Enterprise) realizes the end has come when the Enterprise fired a modified torpedo to home onto his ship's gas emissions and sees it coming straight for the screen.
Chang: ''To be... or not... to be...
- Star Trek: First Contact, delivered by Worf: "Then perhaps today is a good day to die! Prepare for ramming speed!"
- Amon Goeth in Schindler's List at his hanging.
Goeth: Heil Hitler. <Thunk>
- The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring has Gandalf's last words, "Fly, you fools", before he falls to the abyss dragged by the Balrog. The trope is subverted since Gandalf does not die right there and keeps on fighting but his fellowship and the audience doesn't learn that until much later.
- In Shaun of the Dead, Ed ends up in the basement of a bar that is burning down on top of him, mortally wounded by a zombie with only two bullets left in his gun. As Shaun and Liz make their tearful farewell...
Liz: Goodbye, Ed. Love you.Ed: Cheers!Shaun: I love you too, man.Ed: Gaaayy!
- From Sophie Scholl - Die letzten Tage, just before Hans Scholl is beheaded.
Hans: Es lebe die Freiheit! (Long live freedom!)
- In Django Unchained, Dr. Schultz is bested and humiliated by Mr. Candie, only for Candie to demand he shake his hand like a partner lest everything be undone. Schultz, despite being in the room with an armed mook, instead opts to draw his gun, kill Candie, and shrug:
Dr. Schultz: (smiling) I'm sorry. I couldn't resist.
[He is Blown Across the Room] - In Prisoners, Holly Jones gives one to Detective Loki as he enters the room where she is about to murder Anna Dover.
- Downplayed in Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, since Ron doesn't actually get killed, but near the end of the chess game, he had every reason to believe that he would be...
Ron: Check.
- An intersting version happens at the end of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince where Dumbledore, at the mercy of the Death Eaters and Snape, says "Severus... please..." However, this was Dumbledore asking for the Mercy Kill they had agreed to months before.
- In Krampus, Aunt Dorothy gives a resigned See You in Hell right before being dragged off by Krampus' dark elves.
Literature
- In One Hundred Years of Solitude, Arcadio is executed by a firing squad after the town of Macondo is attacked by conservative forces. His last words are "Bastards! Long live the Liberal party!".
- Moist von Lipwig aka Albert Spangler's last words before being hanged in Going Postal are "I commend my soul to any god that can find it", which everyone later agrees are pretty good as last words go. He doesn't actually die, but it's still a pretty cool line. Rather against tradition, and with a little huffiness from the executioner, he had been allowed an opportunity to improve on his original last words: "I wasn't actually expecting to die."
- In Blood Meridian, John Joel Glanton says to a Yuma Indian who has him pinned down and is about to kill him: "Hack away, you mean red (N-word)!"
- In the Expendables series, Admiral Chee is assigned to "explore" a Death World. Knowing that the so-called mission is just a pretense by the High Council to get him killed in the line of duty, Chee submits a survey report consisting solely of "The High Council commits unnatural acts with poodles". He dies shortly afterward.
- James Thurber's short story "The Secret Life of Walter Mitty" ends with Walter Mitty leaning against a wall and imagining himself facing a firing squad, saying, "To hell with the handkerchief."
- The Finnish war epic The Unknown Soldier has several cases where people defy the enemy guns, but one literal case of a man facing execution who refuses a blindfold. "I've seen more rifles up the muzzle than you down the sights."
- Les Misérables has Enjolras against a wall, flinging his gun away and baring his chest to the firing squad, saying "Shoot Me" and defying them to shoot him. Then Grantaire, having been completely cynical about the Republic cause Enjolras has been fighting for, picks this moment to wake up from a drunken slumber and shout "Vive La Republique! I'm one of them!" He deliberately puts himself in front of the squad and reconciles himself with Enjolras.
- Cyrano de Bergerac, after the death of Christian, walks out into a battle between the French and the Spanish, rearing for a fight. His last words before they’re lost in the noise of battle: “They’re the Cadets of Gascony, of Carbon De Castel-Jaloux! Fighting and lying shamelessly ...” At which point falls the curtain. He gets better, if only for one more act, at the end of which he dies again—for real.
- The Lord of the Rings has Gandalf's last words, "Fly, you fools", before he falls to the abyss dragged by the Balrog. The trope is subverted since Gandalf does not die right there and keeps on fighting, but his fellowship and the reader doesn't learn that until much later.
- In chapter 84 of the epic Romance of the Three Kingdoms, badly injured Shu-Han general Fu Tong is called upon for his surrender by Wu after being defeated at Yiling. Fu Tong's response? “No Han general would ever submit to the dogs of Wu!”
- Cpt. Ahab's Dying Declaration of Hate directed at the titular Moby-Dick qualify too; also a prime example of Defiant to the End and Revenge Before Reason.
Ahab: To the last, I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee.
- In Artemis Fowl The Last Guardian, a dwarf finds himself facing Opal alone, who's brimming with power. Knowing he's probably about to die, he proceeds to tell Opal "I always thought you'd be taller. Plus, your hips are wobbly."
Live-Action TV
- American Horror Story: Coven: Myrtle in her final death by burning at the stake: "BALENCIAGAAA!"
- Angel has one as part of the Bolivian Army Ending. The heroes are facing an army of demons, including a dragon, and someone asks what the plan should be.
Angel: Well... I kind of want to slay the dragon.
- And the last words of the show: "Let's go to work."
- In The Avengers (1960s) episode "The Living Dead", Steed is put up in front of a firing squad with (seemingly) no help coming:
Executioner: Do you have any last requests?
Steed: Yes, could you cancel my milk? - Battlestar Galactica. When confronted by Cylon agent (and ex-lover) Gina, Admiral Cain's last words are short and rude, as befits her character.
- Boomer's death in the Grand Finale. She rebelled against Cavil and saved Hera from being experimented on in an attempt to bring back resurrection. She then returned Hera to Helo and Athena. Boomer then allowed Athena to execute her.
Boomer: We all make our choices. Today, I made a choice. I think it's my last one.
- Boomer's death in the Grand Finale. She rebelled against Cavil and saved Hera from being experimented on in an attempt to bring back resurrection. She then returned Hera to Helo and Athena. Boomer then allowed Athena to execute her.
- In the Blackadder Goes Forth episode "Corporal Punishment", Blackadder comes up with some snappy one-liners when he's facing the firing squad ("This side of the wall or the other side?"). However, when it starts to look like his planned last-minute reprieve isn't going to happen, his nerve breaks and his actual last words (had the reprieve not happened anyway) would have been "Okay, something's gone badly wrong here. Baldrick, you're mincemeat!"
- Played straight in "Goodbyeee"; just before Blackadder and his men go over the top, Baldrick comes up with a cunning plan to escape. Blackadder muses "Well, I'm afraid it'll have to wait. Whatever it was, I'm sure it was better than my plan to get out of this by pretending to be mad. I mean, who would've noticed another madman around here?", followed by him wishing the others good luck - a surprisingly warm statement, coming from our favorite Magnificent Bastard.
- Subverted in the Blackadder II episode "Head"; Percy says, regarding one of the day's executions:
Farrow was rather moving, my lord. A great strong man, he stood there gaunt and noble in the early morning mist, and in a loud clear voice he cried out, "My wife might have bloody well turned up."
- In ''Blacksails ", Charles Vane last words are a good example of this. Facing the gallow, instead of cowering in fear, he uses the moment to inspire a rebellion. This is what he has to say:
Charles Vane:These men who brought me here today do not fear me. They brought me here today because they fear you... because they know my voice - the voice that refuses to be enslaved - once lived in you, and may yet still. They brought you here today to show you death and use if to frighten you into ignoring that voice. But know this. We are many. They are few. To fear death is a choice... and they can't hang us all... Get on with it, motherfucker!
- In "Prophecy Girl", the Buffy first-season finale, Buffy prepares to face her prophesied death and succumbs to her own Buffy Speak when trying to make up a noble last line: "When Giles wakes up, tell him ... oh, I don't know. Make up something cool, tell him I said it."
- The Community Paintball Episode "For A Few Paintballs More" has Troy running around a corner, only to stand face-to-face with a squad of City College students aiming directly at him, where he simply says:
Troy: I had a dream it would end this way.
- Doctor Who:
- In "Day of the Daleks", the Controller (the human leader of a Dalek puppet government who switched sides to aid the Doctor) says "Who knows? I may have helped to exterminate you," just before he gets, well, exterminated.
- Leela's response to imminent and agonizing death at the hands of Magnus Greel in "The Talons of Weng-Chiang" says rather a lot about her (she does, however, survive).
Leela: When we are both in the Great Hereafter, I will hunt you down, Bent-Face! And put you through my agonies a thousand times!
- Echoed in "Bad Wolf", after the Controller (the human controller of a Dalek puppet corporation who switched sides to aid the Doctor) says "Oh my masters! You can kill me, for I have brought your destruction!" just before she gets, well, destroyed.
- The Daleks elicit this type of reaction very, very often:
- "Tooth and Claw": Sir Robert MacLeish, while facing down an alien werewolf armed with nothing but an ornamental sword:
"I committed treason for you. Now my wife will remember me with honour!"
- "Last of the Time Lords": Once again delivered by Jack Harkness (who, by that point, has become immortal): "Ah, here we go again..."
- "The Stolen Earth": Harriet Jones, having had her location exposed to the Daleks while helping the Doctor's companions find him, is immediately faced by a squad as they crash into her house. Staring death in the face, she uses her last seconds to tell them who she is:
Harriet Jones: Harriet Jones. Former Prime Minister.
Daleks: Yes, we know who you are.
Harriet Jones: Oh, you know nothing of any human. And that will be your downfall.
- Farscape: in The Peacekeeper Wars, Ka'Dargo finds himself mortally wounded by a Scarran attack, but true to his Luxan heritage, he opts to go down fighting. Crichton offers some words, "The first Scarran you see, you tell him who his daddy is!" As the Scarrans pour into the scene, he grimly says, "I'm your daddy!" before unloading with two plasma rifles, providing cover for the others to escape on Moya.
- Game of Thrones:
- Rodrik Cassel:
Rodrik: He who passes the sentence should swing the sword. Coward.
- The Master Torturer: "You little bastard". In retrospect, it's obvious why he called his killer a "bastard". Ramsay Snow is one and hates being reminded of it.
- Rodrik Cassel:
- Get Smart has plenty of these comebacks in the face of danger such as Smart saying "And loving it!" when told of the dangers he's faced. One particularly good line is when he's told that if captured he'll be tortured. "Well, I can stand the pain if they can stand the screaming."
- Lost: Ben and a man pretending to be Locke have finally found Jacob. After Ben recites his list of grievances about how Jacob always ignored him even though Ben dutifully followed his orders, and that Ben has never been allowed to see him but Locke is marched straight to him, Ben asks "what about me?" Jacob replies "what ''about'' you?" Ben stabs him to death.
- Though these aren't actually his last words; those would be "they're coming" as he lies bleeding to death.
- Luther: Benny to Luther, over the phone, while held at gunpoint by an assassin. “Boss, I need you to kill this prick for me”
- Orphan Black: Kendall Malone. "No tears, Cosima. These shites aren't worth the salt."
- Person of Interest:
- Snow, strapped into a bomb vest he can't deactivate, decides to take Kara with him, and faces their imminent death with absolute calm.
Snow: You were right, Kara, about me being dead. I'm gonna be great at it.
- The Special Counsel in the season 2 finale is executed by his former subordinate after completely failing his task of protecting the Machine. His last words to his killer are an even "Fair enough."
- In the same episode, imprisoned mob boss Carl Elias is taken from the prison and driven out to the middle of nowhere by a pair of Dirty Cops. His first words when the bag is taken off his head?
Elias: Oh, that kind of "prisoner transfer."
- Scarface, right before a bomb goes off that will kill him and a bunch of Dominic's guys who were beating him to get to Elias:
Scarface: As the Romans said, morior invictusTranslation .
- Snow, strapped into a bomb vest he can't deactivate, decides to take Kara with him, and faces their imminent death with absolute calm.
- Paul Kellerman in Prison Break. When he is sitting in the prison van that "just happens to pull into the side of the road" he starts talking about how the French considered it an honour to face execution with a smile. Then the doors are opened by a masked man with a sub-machine gun, and Kellerman says "Took you long enough?". Cue the gunfire, This is subverted when he wasn't the one who got shot.
- Rome has something similar for Brutus' death. "Tell my mother... tell her something suitable."
- Salem: True to life, Giles Corey merely says "More stones" when being pressed to death.
- Before Danny was shot dead in Spooks, he went into a rant, calling his Iraqi captor a "death-worshipping fascist". Arguably a case of "provoking the bullets one-liner", as he went on the rant specifically in order to get shot dead and thus save his companion's life.
- Stargate SG-1's most memorable example is when There But For the Grace of God, AU Sam is trying to prevent a Goa'uld invasion of Earth/the SGC. When some Jaffa corner her in the briefing room, she at first claims to surrender and that she has valuable technology she's willing to share with Apophis. They cautiously lower their weapons, expecting this weak human woman to show them the tech, giving her time to pull out a grenade and say "Thank you. I also wish to blow us all to hell." Cue massive explosion.
- Every free Jaffa: "I die free!"
- Colonel O'Neill has some good ones: "Now what?" "Now we die." "Well, that's a bad plan."
- Hathor's last lines and O'Neill's response are pretty good. Colonel O'Neill grabs Hathor from behind.
Hathor: We will destroy you for this!
O'Neill: And we would just like you to go away! - Ma'chello's very bittersweet goodbye. "Thank you, for my holiday."
- A slight subversion, O'Neill THINKS he and Teal'c are about to bite the big one.
O'Neill: Mayday, mayday. We are so goin' in!
- Subverted in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. When Damar is about to be executed, he goes into the whole "you can't kill the movement" speech before a Jem'hadar cuts him off by saying that last words are not permitted. His final speech ends up consisting of "keep..."
- Star Trek: The Original Series: In "Space Seed", Khan wakes up when nobody is watching, pilfers a scalpel, and when Bones returns grabs him by the neck while threatening him with the blade.
McCoy: Well, either choke me or cut my throat. Make up your mind! note
- Star Trek: Voyager: the Vidiians have invaded and captured the duplicate U.S.S. Voyager and burst in to take control. Captain Janeway turns to them, smiles pleasantly, and says, "Hello. I'm Captain Kathryn Janeway. Welcome to the bridge." Cue the autodestruct.
- Supernatural: In Season 5, Jo and Ellen die blowing up hellhounds with a homemade bomb—it was Jo's idea. Jo gets a Final Speech, while Ellen, right before she pushes the button, sneers at one of the hellhounds, "You can go straight back to Hell, you UGLY BITCH!!!"
- And:
Dean: [after hunters shot Sam] You go ahead and kill me. But when I get back... I'm gonna be pissed.
- And:
- The Walking Dead (2010) has Abraham in the Season 7 opener, "The Day Will Come When You Won't Be", after he is struck once by the barbed-wire covered bat "Lucille", all while its owner, Negan, states that the victim is "taking it like a champ". You go, Abe.
- The Wire:
- Stringer Bell gets a matter-of-fact one of these as he is cornered by Brother Mouzone and Omar Little: "Well get ON with it, motherf-". This becomes a moment of Fridge Brilliance when you realise that Bunny Colvin utters the very same words as he feels the fallout over "Hamsterdam".
- Bodie also gets a good one: "This is MY corner! I ain't goin' NOWHERE!"
Music
- Evillious Chronicles: In "Daughter of Evil", when Riliane is at the guillotine, she looks to the crowd and says, "Oh, it's time for tea", her signature line aside from "Bow down to me". "The Servant of Evil", however, reveals that it's actually Allen, Riliane's servant and twin, up there, disguised as her, with Riliane in the crowd, bawling her eyes out.
Mythology and Religion
- Older Than Feudalism: The Bible:
- When the crowd led by Judas comes to arrest Jesus, he says: "Am I leading a rebellion, that you have come out with swords and clubs to capture me?" Later, he says "Into your hands, I commend my spirit" and also "It is finished".
- When Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego refuse to bow down to Nebuchadnezzar's golden idol, their response is "O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer you in this matter, for if so it must be, our God whom we serve is able to save us from the burning fiery furnace, and He will save us from your power, O king. But even if He does not, be it known to you, O king, that we will not serve your god or worship the statue of gold that you have set up."
- The Book of Deuteronomy is almost entirely comprised of Moses' last speech to the Israelites. He concludes with a blessing which ends "Thus Israel dwells in safety, untroubled is Jacob's abode, in a land of grain and wine, under heavens dripping dew. O happy Israel! Who is like you, a people delivered by the Lord, your protecting Shield, your Sword triumphant! your enemies shall come cringing before you, and you shall tread on their backs." There are no bullets, but Moses knows that he is about to die, and chooses to go out blessing the people who will enter the Promised Land without him.
Podcasts
- In Wolf 359 Isabel Lovelace drops the only F-bomb ever used in the otherwise strictly PG-13 show.
Lovelace: Fuck you.
- Discussed in Fat, French and Fabulous: Some of the best last words come from people about to be executed, because they have a clear expectation that they are about to die and have time to consider what they want to say compared to someone who dies in an accident.
Theatre
- The musical Les Misérables gives one to Enjolras: "Let others rise to take our place until the Earth is free!"
- There's a musical adaptation of the Bible called both "The Toymaker's Dream" and "The Masterpiece" which has a song titled 'You can be bought at any price' play during the shenanigans of Judas betraying Jesus. Jesus belts out "Then let this cup of poison pass; if not, then let your will be done!" right before getting captured.
- The titular character of Macbeth gets his when he realizes the prophecy that he could "not be slain by any man of woman born" won't protect him (Macduff, the man he's fighting, was born of a caesarean section).
Macbeth: Lay on, Macduff. And damned be him that first cries 'Hold, enough!'
Video Games
- Zack in Crisis Core, facing down half the Shinra army on his own -
Zack: Boy oh boy, the price of freedom is steep.
- ...plus, his war cry of 'IRASSHAIMASSE!'/COME AND GET IT! has the added connotation in Japanese of being shouted out by staff at every shop and restaurant, and would probably be better translated as 'COME GET SERVED!'
- Darkest Dungeon: Each of the hero classes has a unique response to being chosen as a target for "Come Unto Your Maker", the One-Hit Kill attack used by the Final Boss. While some will express fear (like the Grave Digger or the Jester) or beg for their lives (like the Arbalest or the Vestal), most will react stoically (like the Bounty Hunter or the Highwayman) or defiantly (like the Crusader or the Hellion).
- Tidus in Final Fantasy X having his last battle after confessing he is about to disintegrate. "I know this is selfish... but this is my story!"
- Phantasy Star II has one for every single party member, except the protagonist who just strikes a cool pose in the Bolivian Army Ending.
- In the PS2 remake, Nei is similarly silent in the ending.
- Ogre Battle 64 has one with almost every stage boss who dies.
- Suikoden II:
Luca Blight: "It took hundreds to kill me, but I killed humans by the thousands! I am sublime! I am the true face of evil!"
- Essentially every named character in Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon.
- Essentially every Fire Emblem character you bring into your final battle sequence delivers some kind of one-liner.
- Devil Survivor 2: When going through the optional scenes of Dera-Deka, the final scene has him summoning a powerful demon to control, but ends up mortally wounded. After the protagonist cleans up the demons, Dera-Deka lampshades this trope. "I always had a line... in case I was ever killed on the job... But I can't re... mem..."
- Tales of Vesperia: Thinking he's about to be eaten by a monster (after collapsing after a long traversal of a desert and a tough battle on top of that) Yuri says: "Heh... go ahead. Hope you choke... on my bones..." Lucky him this isn't the end and it's heavily implied said "monster" actually is the one to get him and the group to safety.
- Most of the Player Character's companions in Planescape: Torment get to toss one off at the end game when facing the Physical God Big Bad.
- Mass Effect 3:
Emily Wong: You want to see how a human dies? At ramming speed.
- Grunt has a good one too provided you didn't earn his loyalty in 2.
Grunt: My turn. Heh heh heh.
- Grunt has a good one too provided you didn't earn his loyalty in 2.
- In The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, a Stormcloak soldier in the opening cuts off his own last rites and defiantly steps up to the chopping block.
Stormcloak: My ancestors are smiling at me, Imperials! Can yours say the same?
- Ulfric himself gives one at the end of the Imperial route to the Civil War plot:
Ulfric: Let the Dragonborn be the one to [kill me]. It would make for a better song.
- Ulfric himself gives one at the end of the Imperial route to the Civil War plot:
- In Crysis, Major Strickland has this to say on the Hunter bearing down on him:
"I'm a Marine, son! I'll walk on water if I have to! Now get off my fucking island while I draw its fire!"
- In Star Wars: The Old Republic, near the end of the first act of the Jedi Knight storyline, Darth Angral asks if Orgus Din has any last words. Din recites the final line of the Jedi Code ("There is no death, there is only the Force").
- World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria has the boss Xin the Weaponmaster, whose dying action is to hock a bloody loogie in the players' faces and say this:
"You call that a fight?"
- In the original Saints Row, the final mission ends with the Playa cornered on the yacht of Alderman Hughes, who proceeds to exposit on his Evil Plan to wipe out the Saints and gentrify Saints' Row, starting by killing the new boss, the Playa. Our anti-hero gives one of his few spoken lines in the game to tell Hughes "Can we hurry this shit up?! I wanna go to Freckle Bitch's!"
- In the last Ronin mission in Saints Row 2, Kazuo Akuji has just been impaled with his own katana by the Boss, onto the deck of a burning ship loaded with fireworks that are about to explode. Even as he bleeds out, Kazuo boasts "When I escape, the world will not be big enough for you to hide in!"
- In Prototype2, the last boss, Alex Mercer, gives this to the protagonist.
"Welcome to the top of the food chain."
- In Invisible, Inc., you can have your last remaining agent give one of these before they are shot to death. As appropriate for a Rogue Like, every agent has multiple possible last words.
- In Until Dawn, during one of Mike's possible deaths, when he uses his lighter to ignite the gas-filled lodge, killing the wendigoes and himself, he delivers this line to the main villain.
"Ha! Ha! How's that feel you fuck?"
- Starcraft has Fenix delivering one to Kerrigan in Brood War:
"The Khala awaits me, Kerrigan. And although I am prepared to face my destiny, you'll not find me easy prey!"
- Starcraft II: Legacy of the Void has one dropped by Zeratul. After receiving a Curb-Stomp Battle from a possessed Artanis, Zeratul prepares to free him by sacrificing himself, reciting the Protoss Battle Cry: "My life... for Aiur!"
- Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order has Cal give one at the end of the game when confronted by Darth Vader and knowing he has no chance to win having just watched Vader brush off Cere, a Jedi Master, off like she was nothing and into a pit of lava.
Vader: You would be wise to surrender.
Cal: Yeah... probably. - Dhurke gets one reminiscent of this trope in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney – Spirit of Justice, except it was after being shot. It's enough to make his killer freak out and run away in terror.
- In Sakura Wars, Sakura Amamiya responds to Xiaolong Yang's ultimatum to give up her dreams with "So as long as I can move, as long as I can fight... I won't give up!"
Web Animation
- After Oran wipes the floor with his two Giant Mooks in Chapter 19 Act 3 of Broken Saints, Mars pulls a conspicuously long gun at the back of Oran's head. Oran, completely still, merely says, "I am waiting", and then begins to pray. Unlike more commercially-run series, Like You Would Really Do It doesn't apply in Broken Saints, so a lot of people thought Oran was gone when Mars pulled the trigger. But Kamimura, Badass Long Robe that he is, takes the opportunity to take Mars down before the trigger is pulled.
- Red vs. Blue:
- Reconstruction
- Episode 9:
"Grif, I think this is it. Listen, there's something I always wanted to tell you"
"I have something I wanted to say to you too buddy"
"You first"
"It was me that stole your identity and ran up all those credit card charges at all those pawnshops and peepshow... sorry" - In the finale: "When it goes off, I'll be fine. It only affects computers, remember? And I, am a motherfucking ghost" for Church, and for Washington: "Emp? You have got to be fucking j-"
- Episode 9:
- Recreation
- When cornered by the Meta in the 16th episode, Simmons stated that he would die as he expected, "Under-equipped and surrounded by people I hate? Yeah, that's pretty much how I pictured it since I got assigned to this unit"
- Additionally 2 episodes later, Sarge told Grif about his measures in the event of his death, finishing with the words "-and always remember: Somebody hates you"
- Reconstruction
- In RWBY, Pyrrha has one last thing to say to Cinder before she dies:
Pyrrha: Do you believe in destiny?
Webcomics
- In 8-Bit Theater, Thief's last line before being killed by Black Mage is "my only regret is that I didn't hate you more."
- The Onion Kid, being faced by a barrage of arrows. "Guess I ran out of parents."
- In Ansem Retort, Zexion, after being cornered by two werepires, proudly declared to Sho that he banged the Contessa, flipped them off, and said: "I shall die as I lived: a complete and utter tool". Granted, Axel intervenes and Zexion survives, but still.
- Darths & Droids has one for Obi-Wan at the end of Episode 2. It links to this page.
Count Dookû: Now, tahm for ze coop-de-grah!
Obi-Wan: You mean coup de grâce. Which is already French, you realize. - Croona Travoria from Dominic Deegan invokes this trope against Lord Siegfried, declaring that he 'Would not take her alive.' She was right.
- King Radical from The Adventures of Dr. McNinja starts with a Big "NO!" but then changes to a smiling "Wait. Yes. This will be so ra-"(-dical) when he dies from a double Grievous Harm with a Body, first with Dracula (vampirizing him), then with Pope Francis (who's "holyness" blows him up).
- Girl Genius: When Lucrezia undergoes a second breakthrough and is in the middle of becoming a Immortal Queen she restrains Wooster and tries to threaten him into capitulating to her and defying his queen Albia. His response despite knowing she's about to kill him is "Albia...is eternal".
- Guilded Age: End of Chapter 8:
Syr'nj: You all have a choice. Remember that.
- The Order of the Stick:
- He gets saved at the last second, but Belkar spouts one when very recently Fallen Paladin Miko Miyazaki bears down on him.
Belkar: Funny. I always figured I'd be killed by a paladin.
- Lord Shojo delivers one to that same paladin right before being cut down for "treason".
Shojo: Everything I did, I did for my people.
- Even better are his actual last words after being mortally wounded, causing the gods to remove the paladin's powers for committing an evil act.
It appears...not everyone...agrees with your...analysis.
- He gets saved at the last second, but Belkar spouts one when very recently Fallen Paladin Miko Miyazaki bears down on him.
- Unsounded: The last Secret Keeper in Grenzlan glares up at the Aseptick Irma when he's surrounded with his allies left as bloody smears around him and spouts a vicous quip, though she responds with "I don't think so." and kills him only after he questions her queen.
Alderode stands the gods' chosen country, whore. 'Til chaos quenches the watching sun, she will endure.
- Mike in It's Walky!.
- Yan from Ying & Yan responds sarcastically when his conjoined twin brother Ying offers to take a bullet for him during an apparent holdup.
Web Original
- Survival of the Fittest; when Eve Walker-Luther is about to be killed by Sarah Atwell:
- Eve Walker-Luther: "Come on! I deserve better than this! Kill me properly!"
- In Worm:
- Regent does this just before getting swallowed by Echidna, who can create evil clones of the people she consumes. As he's getting swallowed he shouts "Do you think when you make my evil clone, you can give him a goatee?" Although it turns out this wasn't his death, as he's pulled out of Echidna's body later with no permanent harm done.
- Regent's last words when facing Behemoth are "Hey, shitcrumb! Easy-" He does this in an attempt to direct Behemoth's attention away from his implied romantic interest Imp, and probably an intentional sacrifice. Just before this quote, he says "Fuck it" and marches into the open.
Web Video
- In AFK, Steven is about to be executed by the Devil's Cheerleaders on Clint's orders. When asked if he has any last words, Steven responds by calmly directing a stream of expletives at Clint.
- In Doomsday Arcade, after Kratos stabs Bruce with his chained blades, Bruce draws him in and pulls the pin on his grenade heart, shouting "By the order of sweet mother Australia, I'm placing you under CARDIAC ARREST!"
- There Will Be Brawl: "Survive this day, and tell your brother that no one ever made a trophy of the king!"
Western Animation
- In Beast Wars, as Ravage stared down the explosion that was about to consume him: "DECEPTICONS FOREVER!"
- Everything Dinobot says after the first act of "Code of Hero" qualifies:
Quickstrike: What's a warrior without his... weapons, eh?Dinobot: A warrior still! (punches out Quickstrike)
- Later:
Megatron: Hmm, my ears are burning, yessss. Why, Dinobot! What a delightful surprise! Let's see, where are we now? I have the Golden Disk. I have the power to change the future. And the only remaining obstacle in my path to unimaginable glory... is yourself. Exhausted. Damaged beyond recovery. DEFEATED.Dinobot: Not... just... YET!
- And finally:
Megatron: Really, Dinobot. A stick? Against a Transmetal? Oh please. (laughs) What can you possibly do?Dinobot: Improvise! (smashes stick into a rock for a makeshift hammer, then proceeds to attack Megatron with said-hammer)
- Everything Dinobot says after the first act of "Code of Hero" qualifies:
- In the classic Looney Tunes short The Great Piggy Bank Robbery, Daffy Duck is a detective, surrounded by dozens of Dick Tracy-esque goons. When all hope seems lost, he shouts at the top of his lungs, "YOU'RE ALL UNDER ARREST!" Eventually subverted; he won.
- Sheldon from The Replacements: "I'm in love with your mom!"
- Shadow Raiders: "For my planet's sake, I spit my last breath at thee!" You don't get too much more awesome than quoting Moby-Dick as you're about to ram your doomed homeworld into the Planet Eater's face.
- Justice League: "Gentlemen, it's been an honor." Spoken by Batman as he's manually piloting the Watchtower on a crash course with the Thanagarian hypergate during the series finale. Subverted in that Superman saves him at the last nanosecond (as usual), but though he claimed he "knew" Supes would pull through, he was obviously willing to go down with the ship to save Earth.
- Batman: The Brave and the Bold: The Lighter and Softer Animated Adaptation of Emperor Joker has one. Batman is bound and dangling on a rope over an Acid Pool, Facing Death with Dignity, and the helpless, powerless Bat-Mite sadly apologizes to him, saying that he feels useless without his powers. The Dark Knight uses this one-liner as a response to try to encourage Bat-Mite: "The measure of a hero is his heart, not his POWERS!" As Batman is finishing his sentence, a blade cuts the rope, dropping him into the acid, where he gets Stripped to the Bone to Bat-Mite's horror. As the Joker laughs in glee on seeing this, he brings his nemesis back to life just to kill him all over again in a Death Montage.
- Archer: Sterling is about to be shot by the KGB. After he's given a cigarette and a blindfold, he is perfectly content with his final words on this world being "F**k you, you douchebags."
Real Life
- James French, a convicted murderer scheduled to be executed via electric chair, suggested to a reporter interviewing him: "How's this for tomorrow's headline? 'French Fries!'"
- Hugh Latimer, Bishop of Worcester, was burnt at the stake in 1555 along with his friend Nicholas Ridley. His last words are reputed to have been, "Be of good cheer, master Ridley, and play the man; for we shall this day light such a candle in England, as, by God's grace, shall never be put out."
- As C. S. Lewis pointed out in his sermon "Learning in Wartime," "Men propound mathematical theorems in besieged cities, conduct metaphysical arguments in condemned cells, make jokes on the scaffold, discuss a new poem while advancing to the walls of Quebec, and comb their hair at Thermopylae. This is not panache; it is our nature."
- There is a Mexican legend collected in Artemio de Valle-Arizpe's seminal works on Mexico City's colonial legends about a man who was judged by The Spanish Inquisition and found guilty of heresy: He was a Jew trying to pass as a Catholic. All his money was confiscated at the Auto de Fe they told him to abjure his faith. Knowing his life and money were lost, he was Defiant to the End and mocked his tormentors every way he could, and when they burned him at the stake he cried: Put more firewood! I already paid for it!
- Similarly, Giles Corey from the Salem Witch trials and his famous reply to being asked to confess (while being purposefully crushed by rocks) - "More weight."note
- Nathan Hale is a famous American patriot for exactly one reason; his last words before being hanged by the British for being a spy:
"I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country."
- According to surviving accounts, Fr Mariano Gomes, one of the Gomburza trio of Filipino native priests executed by the Spanish colonial regime in 1872, was recorded as saying these last words:
"“Dear Father, I know very well that a leaf of a tree does not move without the Will of the Creator; inasmuch as He asks that I die in this place, may His will be done."
- With him for the ride was Fr José Burgos, who after a brief protest of his innocence, then had this conversation with his executioner, who was to kill all three priests by garrote method:
Executioner: “Father, forgive me if I have to kill you. I do not wish to do so.”Fr Burgos: “My son, I forgive you, comply with your duty.”- The third priest, Fr Jacinto Zamora, apparently didn't say anything that was recorded, however.
- José Abad Santos, Filipino lawyer and jurist executed by the Japanese occupying forces in World War II, had this to say:
"Not everyone is given the rare opportunity to die for one's country."
- He also told his son (who was present) to stay strong.
- Zoya Kosmodemyanskaya was a Soviet partisan in WW2, arrested by the Germans for setting fire to several bunk-houses they had occupied in her village. As she was led to the gallows, she exhorted her countrymen to carry on the fight, with the pointed observation that:
"There are two hundred million of us. You can't hang us all."
- Harry "The Breaker" Harbord Morant's last words, while facing a firing squad are the epitome of defiance: "Shoot straight, you bastards! Don't make a mess of it!"
- Che Guevara's last words before his execution:note
"I know you've come to kill me. Shoot, coward, you are only going to kill a man."
- Supposedly, Jose Rizal, one of the Philippines' national heroes, directly quoted from (presumably some Latin translation of) the Bible for his final words during his execution:
"Consummatum est!" ("It is done!")
- Other accounts say he didn't actually say anything intelligible, and that the Bible quote was merely attributed to him by cults that later worshipped him as effectively a god (alongside if not in spite of the Christian God, in a very heavily Catholic/Christian country)—as well as by the vast legal and institutional cult of personality that blew up his reputation all out of proportion and forced future generations of Filipino students to learn every little insignificant detail of his life, regardless of its actual relevance to nation-building or historical study, or the regions, provinces and ethnolinguistic or cultural groups those students are from.
- Sometimes, if a military officer noted for bravery is to be executed by firing squad, he may give the order to fire. This happened to two of Napoleon's marshals - Marshal Ney said, "Soldiers, when I give the command to fire, fire straight at my heart. Wait for the order. It will be my last to you. I protest against my condemnation. I have fought a hundred battles for France, and not one against her ... Soldiers, fire!". Murat cried, "Soldiers! Do your duty! Straight to the heart but spare the face. Fire!"
- During Saddam Hussein's execution, a heckler in the crowd told him to go to hell, and he reportedly responded, "The hell that is Iraq?"
- During the Arauco War, a notorious Mapuche warrior named Galvarino was captured by the Spanish after he attacked their settlements in retaliation for them having previously dismembered him, though Galvarino attached blades to his missing stumps to kill his enemies. Impressed with the native's ferocity and taking pity in his condition, the Spaniards offered to spare him and let him go, but Galvarino refused, preferring death instead. Though his last words aren't recorded, the legend says that Galvarino told them more-or-less "If you let me live, I will tear you apart with my teeth".
- As he was about to be executed, Giuseppe Zangara, the would-be assassin of FDR, shouted, "Goodbye to poor people everywhere! Push the button! Go ahead, push the button!”
- Joe Hill, famous leader of the IWW, had about as literal a one of these as you can get. Facing a firing squad, as the executioner called ‘ready... aim...’ Joe cut in with ‘Fire!’.
- Nguyễn Thái Học, Vietnamese revolutionary, read out some poetry in French (presumably to make sure his defiance would be understood by his enemies) as his last words on his way to the guillotine for plotting to overthrow the colonial French government. " Dying for his homeland is the most beautiful fate, the most worthy of envy. Long live Việt Nam!" note His comrade and schoolmate, Phó Đức Chính, yanked the blindfold off and demanded to be turned facing up so he could see the blade descend.
- Doubling with Defiant to the End: Võ Thị Sáu pinned a flower to her hair and sang revolutionary songs in prison, on the way, and on the execution grounds itself, right in the face of the firing squad. As she became a mythical local and national figure, records vary on what she actually said.
- Before being shot, she looked straight ahead (having refused a blindfold, so that she could "look on my beautiful homeland to the last, and to have the bravery to stare straight down the barrel of [the executioners'] guns") and yelled, "Down with the French colonists! Long live independent Vietnam! Long live President Hồ!"
- When ordered to kneel by the executioners, she allegedly retorted, "I only know how to stand, not to kneel!"
- During the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, when told to surrender by a superior Russian force, the 13-man garrison on Snake Island told the invaders "Russian warship, go fuck yourselves". The initial reports claimed the Ukrainians were then killed, and by the time more reputable sources confirmed they were captured instead, the line was already entrenched as a memetic example of the trope and made it to postage stamps that sold like hot cakes.
