History Main / DeterminedDefeatist

* Rincewind in the later ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels, in particular, just wants to head home and be safe. And yet, because he's among the worst wizards on the Disc, he constantly finds himself as the ButtMonkey, facing threats ''way'' beyond his level of power to face, including shadow monsters, dragons, and things that even the most hardened warriors would think twice about facing. And yet, Rincewind keeps going anyway no matter what he finds himself stuck with, if only because he manages to [[CowardlyLion consistently impress himself with his courage with his back to the wall]]. Or at the very least, [[IndyPloy his ability to somehow pull a solution out of thin air]] and escape to safety.

* Rincewind in the later ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels, in particular, just wants to head home and be safe. And yet, because he's among the worst wizards on the Disc, he constantly finds himself as the ButtMonkey, facing threats ''way'' beyond his level of power to face. And yet, Rincewind keeps going anyway, if only because he manages to [[CowardlyLion consistently impress himself with his courage with his back to the wall]]. Or at the very least, [[IndyPloy his ability to somehow pull a solution out of thin air]].

%%* Rincewind in the later ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels, in particular ''Literature/TheLastHero''.

* After the HeelFaceTurn of ComicBook/HarleyQuinn, Harley drops a lot of her HeroicComedicSociopath schtick and reveals a deeper self-loathing over the things she did as a minion of ComicBook/TheJoker, turning her into a ByronicHero. She's intelligent, athletic, and conventionally attractive. But she's also ''extremely'' psychologically warped and damaged by her past relationships. She knows that she can never make up for the atrocities she helped him commit or all of the lives she helped destroy, but tries regardless because it's the only way she can live with herself. This vulnerability is what allows people, even someone like Batman, to take pity on her, and make her a tentative unofficial member of the extended Bat-Family.

* In the ''VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy'' series, this is the position the Warrior of Light ultimately takes in regards to the cycle of conflict. It may be a ForeverWar, it may be a HopelessWar, it might be ruled and controlled by forces way beyond his potential understanding. But that doesn't mean he'll ever stop fighting or trying to break the cycle to send everyone home. This puts the Warrior of Light in stark contrast to Garland, who has given up on escaping and decided that [[ThenLetMeBeEvil he's going to just revel into the cycles of endless battle]] since it's all that they have left.

* Mumen Rider of ''Webcomic/OnePunchMan'' is little more than a bike cop who rides around doing minor good deeds and trying to stop petty criminals, like purse-snatchers and such. Still, he chose to go up against the Sea King, a Demon-level threat who had already completely demolished several A-rank heroes and a couple of S-rankers. He's fully aware of his weakness and acknowledges it, but is determined to fight to the last anyway even though he knows he won't even slow the beast down. Best exemplified by his speech in the anime version:

* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing,'' King Theoden has this attitude towards the battle in defending Gondor. Essentially, the armies of Rohan going to ride out to meet their deaths against the armies of orcs, and Theoden is well-aware that it's basically hopeless. But even so, Rohan is going to ride out anyway, because the only other option is to just lie down and die while Sauron conquers the world, and Theoden is having none of that.
-->'''Gamling:''' Too few have come. We cannot defeat the armies of Mordor.\\

* UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} traditionally had this as a center of struggle, especially Calvinism and Roman Catholicism, before Vatican II. Even if the doubt of God's salvation was a serious question, even if you're guaranteed a place in {{Hell}}, you should still live life by Christian virtues. Christian religious doctrine holds that attempting to live by the rules. no matter how unguaranteed salvation. is what makes you a good person. Because even though you can never be sure what's going to happen, you still tried your best. And on top of that, there's a few schools of thought that the sheer fact you kept being good despite being assured you were going to Hell [[SweetAndSourGrapes might just make you worthy of Heaven after all]].

* UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} traditionally had this as a center of struggle, especially Calvinism and Roman Catholicism, before Vatican II. Even the doubt of God's salvation was a serious question, even if you're guaranteed a place in {{Hell}}, you should still live life by Christian virtues. Christian religious doctrine even holds that attempting to live by the rules no matter how unguaranteed salvation is makes you a good person, because even though you can never be sure what's going to happen, you still tried your best.

* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing,'' King Theoden has this attitude towards the battle in defending Gondor. Essentially, the armies of Rohan going to ride out to meet their deaths against the armies of orcs, and Theoden is well-aware that it's basically hopeless. But even so, Rohan is going to ride put anyway, because the only other option is to just lie down and die while Sauron conquers the world, and Theoden is having none of that.

* In ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheReturnOfTheKing,'' King Theoden has this exchange:

* Most of the main characters (especially Frodo) in the later parts of ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''. Several people get speeches to the effect of "We're pretty much finished at this point, but we're going to carry on because what else can we do?"

-->'''[[spoiler:Death]]:''' I came here for an arrogant little ''[[AwesomeEgo legend]]'' who thought he was ''[[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll immortal!]]'' ''({{beat}})'' *sigh* [[HumblePie ...But I don't see him anymore]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'', following his CharacterDevelopment, Puss is all too aware that he can never defeat [[spoiler:[[TheProblemWithFightingDeath Death]]]], but decides to die fighting anyway. Seeing that he has finally learned to appreciate the value of his own life and internalized his own mortality, [[spoiler:Death]] [[GracefulLoser begrudgingly lets him go]].

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': Ulquiorra spends the latter part of his fight with Ichigo attempting to show him how outclassed he is and how hopeless it is to continue fighting a battle he has absolutely no chance of winning. But Ichigo doesn't care; [[{{determinator}} he decides to keep fighting even if he can't win]]. This makes Ulquiorra [[NotSoStoic briefly lose his temper]], to the point that he decides to force Ichigo to give up by [[TorsoWithAView killing him]]. [[spoiler:[[SuperpoweredEvilSide With mixed results...]]]]

* The titular character of ''LightNovel/GoblinSlayer'' is incredibly pessimistic about his mission. While he sincerely believes in his goal to [[GuiltFreeExterminationWar exterminate the entire goblin race]] and his capacity to achieve it, he believes that "nothing has changed" until he's done it, no matter how many goblins that he's slain or how many people he's saved from them. Goblin Slayer also gives up every opportunity presented for him to try to make people outside his inner circle take goblins seriously, [[IWorkAlone thoroughly set in his outlook that everyone else in the world will brush his concerns off until it's too late]]. This is in spite of a growing amount of contrary evidence that shows people ''will'' care, given the opportunity.

* In ''LightNovel/SoImASpiderSoWhat'' [[spoiler:Gyurie]] goes into his fight with [[spoiler:Shiraori]] already certain he will die in the end. Despite this, he fights to the bitter end so that others will have a chance of changing the world's path.

* Touma from ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'' has terminal bad luck and a negative outlook, but will fight until the end for anyone he cares about (which might be someone he befriended minutes ago).

* Just about ''everyone'' in ''Literature/TheOverstory'', but especially Patricia Westerford, who becomes convinced that humanity won't be able to save the trees, but devotes herself to trying anyways. Despite her NotGoodWithPeople tendencies, she deeply admires humanity because of this trope.

* VideoGame/MaxPayne goes through the entire first game knowing perfectly well that there are only two outcomes for him: either being killed during his RoaringRampageOfRevenge or being put away for life upon completing it. In fact, after he goes free thanks to The Man pulling a few strings, he considers himself to be a KarmaHoudini.

--->[[TryNotToDie "Stop them? This isn't about strategy or tactics, this is about survival."]]

--->"We face the unending, undefeatable, undefiable darkness... [[TrueCompanions together."]]

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* In ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar,'' Loki swears fealty to Thanos whom he failed and left years ago and tried to lure into a trap ''moments ago,'' gets close and then attacks the towering purple giant who has two Infinity Stones [[UnderequippedCharge with an ordinary dagger]]. He is frightened and fully aware that his chances are next to none. But he does it anyway because he has nothing left to lose. [[spoiler: Thanos doesn't fall for his pretend devotion, easily thwarts his attack and kills him.]]

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': [[spoiler:Sans is a FourthWallObserver, allowing him to understand that the PlayerCharacter is being driven by an entity on a completely different level ([[MediumAwareness the player]]), which he refers to simply as "the Anomaly". Sans is fully aware that thanks to the power of [[AppliedPhlebotinum Determination]], the Anomaly has total control of the timeline, resetting, restarting, and destroying timelines at will (through the Save/Reset/Erase game functions), which renders him a little hopeless with the knowledge that everyone's life is ultimately just a plaything for an entity on a level of existence he cannot even conceive. However, when you, the Anomaly, finally go too far and initiate a [[KillEmAll No Mercy run]], Sans will still actively stand up against you to prevent TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. Sans knows that no matter how many times he kills your PlayerCharacter, he ultimately cannot directly do anything against you - but maybe, just maybe, [[ThatOneBoss if he tries hard enough]], he '''might''' make you RageQuit.]]