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"Facing the Bullets" One-Liner
Sejanus: "I have no need of a trial to prove your guilt."
Gallus: "A song sung by every small-town corrupt policeman, which is what you are and what you should have stayed. There's no escape in sight."

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.

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 Crowning Moment of Awesome. Some do manage to live, but there's significant overlap with Famous Last Words. 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.

Death Trope, et cetera, Spoilers, et cetera.

Examples

    open/close all folders 

     Anime and 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." YMMV
  • 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 Psychopass. And Ouryo Rikako too.
  • And then there's Masane Amaha, from Witchblade with "LET'S BLOW SOME SHIT UP!"
  • In Umineko No Naku Koro Ni, 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.
    "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!"
    • That scene in episode 7 is made even greater in that Despite what episode 7 implied, Will actually defeated(or at least tied) with Bern, and managed to save Lion. That's right. The Witch Of Miracles told him that there was no chance for him to win, but did he listen? Hell no!
      • Depressingly, no. Willard got curb stomped by Bernkastel, and both were about to die until Lambdadelta rescued them.
    • A literal one from Ep6, 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.
  • 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.
  • Gold Roger from One Piece, moments before his execution, "My wealth and treasure? If you want it, I'll let you have it. Search for it! I left everything at that place." This prompts many young adventurers to become adventure-seeking pirates, and kicks off what is known as "The Golden Age of Piracy".
    • As Whitebeard faces death at the hands of the Marines and Blackbeard Pirates, he loudly and proudly declares that "[The treasure of] One Piece... it exists!" once again reigniting the flames of adventure and romance.
  • Although not technically compliant with this trope, the line given by Mr. Yagami in the english dub of Death Note was "From one murderer to another, I'll see you in Hell!"
  • João Rebelo in Legend of Galactic Heroes: "Very well then. Shoot me. And buy your security."

    Comics 
  • 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.
    Paul Moses: I'm the monster. Do your best.
  • The second Blue Beetle gets one in Countdown to Final 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!"
  • Recently, on 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 entire 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 Next Wave: "My name's Dirk Anger and I say ☠☠☠☠ all of you."

    Film 

    Literature 
  • 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. Of course 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 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 afterwards.
  • 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 stared more rifles down the barrel than you down the sights. And you are an executioner."
  • 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.

    Live Action TV 
  • 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 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.
  • 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."
  • In the Doctor Who story 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.
    • 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:
    Dalek: EXTERMINATE!
    Jack Harkness: I kinda figured that!
    • Also in Doctor Who, and once again delivered by Jack Harkness (who, by that point, has become immortal): "Ah, here we go again..."
    • Harriet Jones having her location exposed to the Daleks to help the Doctor's companions find him, is immediately faced by them, as they crash into her house. Staring death in the face, she uses her last seconds to tell them who she is:
      "Oh, you know nothing of any human. And that will be your downfall."
    • Leela's response to an imminent and agonizing death at the hands of Magnus Greel in The Talons of Weng-Chiang shows a marked difference in attitude to that of previous female companions (she does, however, survive).
      "When we are both in the Great Hereafter, I will hunt you down, Bent-Face! And put you through my agonies a thousand times!"
  • 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.
  • 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 the final episode of the same series; 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 Blackadder II; 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 The Avengers 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?
  • 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.
  • 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.
  • Battlestar Galactica. When confronted by Cylon agent (and ex-lover) Gina, Admiral Cain's last words are short and rude, as befits her character.
    Gina: Can you roll over, do tricks, beg?
    Cain: Frak you.
    Gina: You're not my type. (shoots her)
  • The Wire: Stringer Bell gets one of these as he is cornered by Brother Mouzone and Omar Little. 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!"
  • 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!!!"
    • Don't forget:
    Dean[after hunters shot Sam]: You go ahead and kill me. But when I get back...I'm gonna be pissed.
  • Angel has one as part of the Bolivian Army Ending. The heroes are facing an entire 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."
  • 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. One of my favorites: "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 bitter sweet 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!
  • 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 face. My personal favorite is when he's told that if captured he'll be tortured. "Well, I can stand the pain if they can stand the screaming."
  • 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..
  • 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.
  • The Special Counsel in Person of Interest 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."

    Music 
In Vocaloid's Daughter of Evil/ Servant of Evil, when Rin is at the guillotine, she looks to the crowd and says:
"Oh, it's time for tea."
Then in Servant of Evil you learn that it was actually Len, Rin's servant and twin, up there, disguised as her, with Rin in the crowd, watching with teary eyes. Actually, she was bawling her eyes out. Nobody cared.

    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 do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold 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.

    Theatre 
  • The musical Les Misérables gives one to Enjolras: "Let others rise to take our place until the Earth is free!"
  • Theres 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.

    Video Games 

    Webcomics 
  • Mike in It's Walky!.
  • He gets saved at the last second, but Belkar of The Order of the Stick 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.
  • 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."
  • 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 Obiwan 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.

    Web Original 
  • 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, Bad Ass Long Robe that he is, takes the opportunity to take Mars down before the trigger is pulled.
  • 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!"
  • "Survive this day, and tell your brother that no one ever made a trophy of the king!"
  • 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!"
  • When cornered by the Meta in Red Vs Blue's 16th episode of Recreation, 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"
  • And in Reconstruction-> "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" (episode 9)
    • and 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-"

    Western Animation 
  • In Beast Wars Transformers, as Ravage stared down the explosion that was about to consume him: "DECEPTICONS FOREVER!"
    • Just about everything Dinobot says after the first act of "Code of Hero" qualifies:
      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 remaning obstacle in my path to unimaginable glory... is yourself. Exhausted. Damaged beyond recovery. DEFEATED.
    • Later:
      Quickstrike: What's a warrior without his... weapons, eh?
      Dinobot: A warrior still! (punches out Quickstrike)
    • And finally:
      Megatron: (laughs) What can you possibly do?
      Dinobot: (smashes stick into a rock for a makeshift hammer) Improvise!
  • 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!"
  • In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Discord has a couple when confronting the ponies who wield the only artifacts that could seal him back.
    • "You've clearly out-dueled me, and now it's time to meet my fate. I'm prepared to be defeated now, ladies. Fire when ready." Complete with him drawing a bullseye on his stomach. And because four of the ponies have been altered enough not to channel said artifacts, not to mention the fifth pony is absent, the artifacts don't work in sealing him.
    • "Fine, go ahead, try and use your little Elements. Friend me. Just make it quick. (teleports to his throne) I'm missing some excellent chaos here!" Though this time, the Elements do work, and thus, he gets Taken for Granite.
  • "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.
  • "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.

    Real Life 
  • 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."


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