->''"This is where '''I''' live. This is me. I will not allow violence against this house."''
-->--''Straw Dogs''

Good guys hold off an overwhelming enemy threat against impossible odds. Note this has nothing to do with the Denzel Washington / Bruce Willis film [[Film/TheSiege of the same name]], [[UnFunnyAneurysmMoment made in 1998 and featuring Arab terrorists attacking New York]].

The opposite of StormingTheCastle.

Compare HoldTheLine and AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs.
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!!Examples:

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[[folder: Anime ]]


* In the final mission of ''MagicalGirlLyricalNanoha [=StrikerS=]'', any mage who wasn't helping in {{Storming The Castle}}s was defending the TSAB headquarters from an invasion force comprised of a good portion of the [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Numbers]], [[SuperSoldier Zest]], Lutecia and [[SummonMagic her summoned monsters]], and a massive amount of {{Mecha-Mooks}}.
* ''TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' combines this with DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu!

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[[folder: Film ]]


* Since ''NightOfTheLivingDead'', this has been a staple of horror movies, especially zombie movies. TheEvilDead series loved this trope (especially Army of Darkness).
* Common either as the plot or the climactic sequence in many war movies. One of the few criticisms of ''SavingPrivateRyan'' was that it could not figure out a way to conclude the movie without going to this tired old trope. The movie's primary "find Private Ryan" plot line was based on a real incident, but the paratrooper who was the family's only surviving son was retrieved by an army chaplain, not a patrol of rangers.
* While it isn't technically a "siege", the movie ''[[ThreeHundred 300]]'' definitely counts when it comes to the idea of greatly outnumbered heroes attempting to defend something.
** Also the real defense of Thermopylae during the First Pelopponnesian War. Even though 1,500 holding off 250,000 isn't quite as impressive as 300 holding off 1,000,000, and there's a good chance that Herodotus jiggled the figures a bit, it's still pretty impressive.
* The climax of ''Straw Dogs'' has a microcosmic siege, when five thugs try to break into Dustin Hoffman's house, and he proceeds to [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass not allow violence against his house]].
* John Woo's ''TheKiller'' features one of these as its final shootout, with the title character and his CowboyCop ally defending the Killer's last place of sanctuary, a church, against a virtual army of assassins sent by his ex-boss to murder them all.
*''Small Soldiers'' had a siege near the end.
* Pretty well the entire premise of both versions of "Assault on Precinct 13", with a small twist: [[EnemyMine good must align itself with evil to defend against an enemy that threatens them both]]. In the original and the remake, a small roster of police officers and civilians must team up with the criminals under their watch to defend the titular Precinct 13.
* ''{{Scarface}}'' ends with a siege by assassins working for Alejandro Sosa against Tony Montana's mansion, which doesn't really get going until Tony takes up an M-16 with a grenade launcher with a cry of "Say hello to my little friend!"
* The Siege, usually involving a Town Boss being held in a city jail, was the climactic event of four John Wayne movies, including ''Rio Bravo'', ''El Dorado'', ''The Sons of Katy Elder'', and ''Rio Lobo''. Apparently Duke liked this story line even more than he liked stalking and spanking beautiful women (three different movies!).

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[[folder: Literature ]]


* Used ''twice'' in ''TheLordOfTheRings'', first at Helm's Deep, then again at Minas Tirith. Both times, the siege is broken when TheCavalry arrives... literally.
* The entire ''{{Warhammer 40000}}: [[GauntsGhosts Gaunt's Ghosts]]'' novel ''Necropolis'' is one prolonged siege battle, with the Chaos-corrupted hive city Ferrozoica hurling their entire population at the much larger but much less-militarized hive city Vervunhive. Think Minas Tirith, but with tanks and a good hundred times the manpower. It occurs again in ''Sabbat Martyr'', with Gaunt explicitly comparing and contrasting the two situations, noting that this second time around the "good guys" were even worse off.
** Also in the game background the Ultramarine's defence of their polar fortress againt the Tyranids that had invaded their home planet. Most of their 1st company died holding the place untill the Imperial Navy could drive off the Hive Fleet by having a battleship perform a HeroicSacrifice and explode it's warp core right in the middle of the fleet.
* Noticeably averted in ''WarAndPeace''. Kutuzov abandons Moscow despite everyone on his staff and his emperor demanding that he hold Moscow against a siege.
* A mainstay of [[SienkiewiczTrilogy Henryk Sienkiewicz's ''Trilogy'']], set in the 17th century Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Each of the books in the trilogy has a climactic siege featuring the defenders fighting against great odds.

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[[folder: Live Action TV ]]


* The new ''DoctorWho'' series ended its first season with a Siege, though it was slightly subverted in that the good guys do not actually end up holding off the evil Daleks, and by the end of the episode, every main ''and'' minor character, with the exception of Rose Tyler, has been killed. Two get better.
** "The Base Under Siege" is a standard ''DoctorWho'' plot, especially in Pat Troughton stories, such as "The Wheel in Space"
** [[spoiler: "The Waters of Mars" subverts a number of conventions in this regard.]]
* ''{{Firefly}}'' had the episode "Heart of Gold", in which the crew defend a whorehouse from an evil tycoon.
** It happens again in [[TheMovie Serenity]], but with an onslaught of Reavers assaulting the heroes' ship instead.
* The first-season finale of ''StargateAtlantis'', named appropriately enough "The Siege", shows the main characters defending Atlantis from a Wraith assault.
* Most TV series set in war zones, and many western series, eventually use this plot.
* ''DeepSpaceNine'': "The Siege" (natch), "Way of the Warrior", and others. Since the setting was a station, this was a natural plot idea. Speaking of which...
** "Siege of AR-558" (''not'' to be confused with the above episode) is particularly gruesome.
* ''BabylonFive'', "Severed Dreams".
* ''{{Andromeda}}'': "Last Call At the Broken Hammer", "Its Time Come Round Again", "The Dissonant Interval" (they don't exactly win those last two).
* ''TwentyFour'': At one point in Season 4, Jack Bauer and three civilians must hold a sporting goods store against a squad of heavily-armed commandos until help arrives.

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[[folder: New Media ]]


* Happens surprisingly frequently in ''ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum'', as the titular organization has managed to rack up quite a few enemies in its history, and almost all try to invade at one point or another. The most notable have been the 2003 Mary Sue Invasion, the Crashing Down crisis in 2006, and the 2008 Mary Sue invasion (covered in the story and animated film ''[There Will Be Glitter]''), and it's possible that more may occur in the future. Of course, to this point the PPC has [[ForegoneConclusion always won]], otherwise the series would [[DownerEnding end, and on a downer note, too]].
* Basically the entire plot of ''FanFic/EnemyOfMyEnemy''.

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[[folder: Tabletop Games ]]


* Many of the scenarios in the board game ''House on Haunted Hill'' are variations on TheSiege with different [[MonsterOfTheWeek Monsters Of The Game]].

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[[folder: Videogames ]]


* Too many {{First Person Shooter}} and {{Real Time Strategy}} to list. Usually includes a timer to let you know exactly when the defending stops and counter-attacking starts.
* Happens in ''{{Neverwinter Nights 2}}'' when the hero's castle is besieged by the undead army of the King of Shadows. The already problematic odds take a turn for the worse when one of the hero's companions turns out to have betrayed them by sabotaging the gate and when the undead, including the vampires, turn out to be unaffected by sunlight.
* UrbanDead ''is'' this trope.

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[[folder: Webcomics ]]


* In ''{{Order of the Stick}}'', Azure City, a bastion of good partially ruled under the watch of paladins, is attacked by a massive army of hobgoblins led by an evil goblin cleric and an evil human lich sorcerer. The protagonists find themselves defending the city alongside the paladins. [[spoiler:The good guys actually ''lose'' with heavy casualties, including the leader of the protagonists. A very, very long arc was dedicated to the fallout of the battle, including the only recent resurrection of said leader.]]

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[[folder: Western Animation ]]


* On parallel terms, the first two-part season finale of ''AvatarTheLastAirbender'', appropriately enough entitled, "The Siege of the North," has the main protagonists aid the Northern Water Tribe in staving off a Fire Nation assault.
** Before that, there was "The Northern Air Temple," wherein said protagonists defend the titular temple... from a Fire Nation assault (the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Fire Nation]] [[PlanetOfHats does a lot of assaulting]]). Also, [[BadassGrandpa Iroh]]'s legendary six-hundred day Siege of [[TheFederation Ba]] [[StepfordSuburbia Sing]] [[TheWallAroundTheWorld Se]].
*Though its largely off screen, [[BumblingDad Jack]] and his reluctant daughter are the only two to defend their home from an invasion of mutant ghosts in one ''DannyPhantom'' episode.
**A more straightforward example made be "Reign Storm" where only a handful of [[StrangeBedfellows good guys, enemies, and ghosts]] battle against thousands upon thousands of armed force.
* The climax of ''TheHunchbackOfNotreDame'', of course. "SANCTUARY!"
** In the novel, Esmeralda's friends' tragic attempt to rescue her.

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[[folder: Real Life ]]


* This trope is a case of TruthInTelevision. Sieges have been and remain a common military strategy and a good number of movies and television programs base their siege plots off of real life sieges like Stalingrad and the Alamo. [[ShadesOfConflict Natur]][[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism ally]], [[YourMileageMayVary who's the good guys depend on your opinion.]]
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