History Main / TheRemnant

* The Kraken Fleet from ''TabletopGame/FiftyFathoms''. Their only city has been destroyed, their once proud navy is down to one Great Ship, and their leader, Grand Admiral Caspian, was crippled in the last fight against the BigBad. It hasn't stopped the remaining Kraken from trying to find ways to fight the BigBad, and win this time.

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'' supplement ''South o' the Border'' includes the San Patrico Battalion: a group of Americans who fought for Mexico in the UsefulNotes/MexicanAmericanWar and who now roam the badlands of the Confederacy and northern Mexico.
* In the ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' setting of ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'', some warforged (sentient soldier-golems) act like this after the end of The Last War has left them without a place in the world. All the sides are technically at peace, but one of the main aspects of the setting is that the peace is so fragile that any kind of major incident (which the player characters will no doubt get involved in) could start another war. The biggest Remnant among warforged is led by the charismatic Lord of Blades.
** Also in Eberron is [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Order of The Emerald Claw]], Karrnathi zealots that were once the pride of Karrn's military but have now been branded outlaws and terrorist. This is also a {{Subversion}}, as the Order is actually the military arm of [[PathOfInspiration the Blood of Vol]] and are used as spies, saboteurs, and agents provocateur throughout Khorvaire. And then DoubleSubverted, as some supplements point out that much of the Order's rank-and-file don't realize just ''how'' strong the ties to the [[CorruptChurch Blood of Vol]] really are, and genuinely believe they are Karrnathi patriots continuing to fight the war on Karrnath's behalf even if the Karrnathi state refuses to (or in some cases believes that the Karrnathi state's public opposition to the Order is all a case of PlausibleDeniability to allow the Order to strengthen Karrnath's position without inviting reprisals against Karrnath).
** In the ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'', the Shade Enclave of Thultanthar is an interesting example. The Netheril Empire pretty much collapsed entirely in the event known as Karsus' Folly, which destroyed all their major cities. Thultanthar survived by being thrown into the Shadowfell, where it remained for millennia, until events preceding the cataclysmic Spellplague shifted it back. Being an Empire, they went to work rebuilding in the most imperialist fashion. The enclave was destroyed permanently by Elminister during the Second Sundering.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': as revealed in the "Storm of Magic" book, the Fimir were once the primary servants of Chaos, only for the Dark Gods to switch their attention to the humans and leave the Fimir hanging. As a result, the most Fimir you are ''ever'' likely to see in an army is two, and that's only in Storm of Magic games.

* ''Webcomic/TheBMovieComic''[='s=] this movie features an old Nazi garrison on the island of Toblerone.

* Common, but usually not very important in ''Literature/AdAstraPerAspera''. The Batavian Soviet Republic is the main remnant of the USSR, and the Platte system is home to various German successor states.

* In ''Literature/RedsARevolutionaryTimeline'' the US government tried to declare the election which saw the American Worker's Party win void and arrest all members of the AWP. This resulted in an armed insurrection which turned the United States of America into the United American Socialist Republic. The USA is, in the "now" of the alternate timeline, a BananaRepublic controlling Cuba and a few small islands, firmly in the hands of a quasi-fascist military junta.

* The Heartland Wrestling Association is the last remaining remnant of what was once the largest pro wrestling promotion in the world, Wrestling/{{WCW}}, sending trainees that would have gone straight to WCW out to the wider world.
** HWA folded in 2015, so WCW is officially dead.

* Hilariously [[InvertedTrope inverted]] in the ''Radio/TheMenFromTheMinistry'' episode "Something About a Soldier": General Assistance Department finds out that the demobilization order of Burgenhead Light Infantry was accidentally lost under the file cabinet in 1945, and that 20+ years later the troops, located deep in Welsh wilderness and having their communications cut off, are still under the belief that the Second World War is going on and that a German invasion might be imminent. [[spoiler:When the Bavarian Birdwatching Society arrives from the west at their stations the Major of the unit immediately assumes that rest of Britain has been overrun and tries to assault the German tourists.]]

* TheRemnant/Literature

* TheRemnant/AnimeAndManga

* {{TheRemnant/Literature}}

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* The ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' Season 6 opener, appropriately enough titled "The Holdout", has Archer encounter Kentaro Sato, a Japanese officer defending an isolated island in the South Pacific decades after the Second World War ended. He only finds out the war has ended by stealing Archer's smartphone and looking up old newsreels which displayed the dropping of the bombs on Japan, although Archer reunites Kentaro with his still-alive family.
** When trying to convince him, Archer shows him, among other things, an episode of ''Series/TheSixMillionDollarMan'' dealing with the exact same situation, [[LampshadeHanging even saying that it's "this exact thing we're doing right now."]]
* A variation in ''WesternAnimation/Ben10AlienForce'', in the episode "If All Else Fails": a Highbreed commander had been chosen when the war still raged to stay in a hibernation-like state on Earth, to awake only should his kind lose the war. An earthquake awoke him however, and thinking he was woken up due to the Highbreed losing the fight (which was actually resolved peacefully), the commander unleashed a fail-safe doomsday weapon on all of humankind. It wasn't until the new Highbreed Supreme briefed him on the situation and ordered him to stop the weapon that he ceased acting as an antagonist to the main cast.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'' episode "Mission to Save Earth", the Planeteers come to an island and stumble upon Commander Clash. This soldier had been assigned to guard the island and prepare for a possible invasion of America by the Soviets. After they manage to convince him that the UsefulNotes/ColdWar has been over for a while, he goes into a HeroicBSOD when he realizes his superiors had long forgotten about him and he had been fighting for nothing. Clash eventually finds a new purpose in helping the Planeteers protect the Earth from pollution and such.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "Launchpad's Civil War" similar in plot to ''Series/TheMagnificentSeven'' example given above. Re-enactments, Launchpad [=McQuack=], and hot air balloons are involved.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ExoSquad'', after Terran retake Venus, some of the Neosapien garrisons become guerrillas, hoping that Phaeton would send more reinforcements to rescue them. The reinforcements never reach the Venusian surface.
** More directly, the Exo Fleet itself, having been deployed to the Outer Planets when the Neosapiens launched their conquest of the Homeworlds, continues to carry the fight for several years after the government they were loyal to had been disbanded, despite suffering several major defeats in their early attempts to liberate Earth.
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'': In "[[Recap/FinalSpaceS3E2TheHiddenLight The Hidden Light]]", it's revealed that the Arachnitects (the benevolent engineers of the universe's creation) send hundreds of their own kind into Final Space to act as sentries against [[SealedEvilInACan Invictus]] and the [[SealedArmyInACan Titans]]' efforts to get out. But the Titans broke through their defences and slaughtered them, leaving only three Arachnitects alive in hiding, [[spoiler:and the Lord Commander kills them too when he finds them]].
* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'':
** "The Great Alaskan Land Rush" features a HiddenElfVillage of Alaskan cossacks, descended from the crew of a ship that got lost when Russia owned Alaska and later decided to remain separate from the outside world. They initially take the Joes prisoner in the name of the long-dead Tsar Alexander II, but ultimately work with them to thwart Cobra.
** In "Raise the Flagg", a Cobra cook has spent months trapped in the eponymous sunken ship, managing to recycle air and grow food with the help of several robotic soldiers. He believes that he is the last survivor of Cobra and is determined to keep the organization alive. This goes out the window when he learns that 1) Cobra still exists at the same strength as before and 2) they never sent any rescue parties to see if there was anyone left alive on the ''Flagg'' (only diving down to the wreck for an unrelated salvage job). His dedication to preserving and following Cobra rapidly vanishes.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGodzillaPowerHour'': The Calico discovers a perfectly preserved [=WW1=] era U-Boat trapped in Arctic ice. The crew, upon exiting suspended animation sometime after the ship is freed, still think the Great War is still happening and fire upon the marked American vessel. The usually villainous aspect of the trope is averted soon after however, after the U-Boat captain and first-mate board the surrendering Calico and are shown future technology. While shocked, they realize the Calico crew is telling the truth, immediately call off hostilities and apologize for the misunderstanding. The ending of the episode has them looking forward to returning to a new peaceful Germany.
* ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'': In "The Spectre of the Pine Barrens", it is revealed that during UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution, a Redcoat named Rodney stole the original Declaration of Independence and demanded a ransom of 12,000 pounds from General UsefulNotes/GeorgeWashington. The Founding Fathers didn't tell Washington about this, but sent a Minuteman named Williams to steal the document back (not knowing that he was sent on a suicide mission by his superiors to keep him from revealing the truth while they copied the Declaration). Williams and Rodney began a feud in the Pine Barrens, cut off from civilization and unaware that the war ended. To keep their family lines and feud going, they would dress up as TheJerseyDevil and kidnap children once in a while. In the present, Team Quest gets involved and attempts to convince both sides that the war is over and their feud is pointless. In the end, the Minuteman Josiah's wife, Sarah, who was weary of the neverending war, ends up TakingTheBullet for a Redcoat. She survives, and the act causes both groups to reconcile.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'' cartoon "Southern Fried Rabbit", Yosemite Sam was told to guard the Mason-Dixon Line and is still doing so... in ''1953''. On being told by WesternAnimation/BugsBunny that the War Between the States has been over for nearly 90 years, he responds "I'm no clockwatcher!" and that he will never stop unless he gets new orders from General Robert E. Lee (which is of course impossible as Lee is long dead) before trying to blast the rascally rabbit.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'': Queen Solaria's army was enchanted with a spell to make them stronger in order to fulfill her goal to destroy all monsters. However, this enchantment also suppressed any fear, foresight or conscience, which led to these super-soldiers recklessly throwing themselves into deadly situations. Mina Loveberry is the last surviving member of the Solarian army, and she's determined to complete their mission.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': The third season episode "The Last Battle" centers on the Rebels of Phoenix Squadron going to the abandoned planet Agamar, which had been a base during the Clone Wars, in search of munitions they could use to help the Rebellion. After arriving, they find an army of still-operational battle droids led by super tactical droid General Kalani, who refused the shut-down order issued to the droid armies at the end of the war and is still fighting for the Separatist Alliance. He forces Ezra, Kanan, and Rex to fight him in a staged battle to finally decide the true victor of the Clone Wars, but they join forces when the Empire shows up.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'': The Foot Clan are seemingly reduced to this during the 7th season, as they display none of the massive resources they had in earlier seasons. During Seasons 1-5, the Foot frequently used vehicles, mecha and scientifically created mutants. In ''Back to the Sewer'', all that remains are Khan, a bunch of Foot Ninja and a digital clone of the Shredder. To add insult to injury, even Karai and Chaplin turned their backs to the organization.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'': 16 years before the start of the series, the Shredder rebuilt the Foot Clan by convincing most of the Hamato Clan members, sans Splinter and their father, to join the Foot. By present day, the Hamato Clan now consists of Splinter and the Turtles, with April and Casey becoming allies and honorary members. [[spoiler:With Splinter's death, Leo heads the clan now.]]
** Interestingly enough, it was heavily implied the Hamato Clan was this regarding ''shinobi'' in general, especially with their victory over the Foot Clan. Tang Shen even notes the end of the age of ninja clans. This certainly casts a new light on why many likely sided with the Shredder.
** Ironically, the Foot Clan themselves are mostly reduced to this by the end of the series. More specifically, it's been divided into two factions, with Tiger Claw trying to take over Shredder's forces [[spoiler: after the latter's death]], while Karai established [[RenegadeSplinterFaction her own faction]] with Shinigami and hired several mercenaries, intending to regain the Foot Clan's honor (although Tatsu briefly tried to take them from her). For his part, Tiger Claw decided to make a truce with the Hamato Clan [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere once the other remaining lieutenants bail out]].
* In an odd twist on the usual show theme, the ''Decepticons'' are the outnumbered LaResistance in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'', fighting to retake their homeland after losing the war the first time around. However, it is AllThereInTheManual that they technically left by choice, because doing that gave them amnesty for the war-crimes they committed during said war.
* The QuirkyMiniBossSquad Knights of Vengeance in ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'', at least until they try to free Phobos and end up in prison.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* ''ComicBook/TheAvengers'':
** The first Baron Zemo sought to kill Captain America and anyone who stood with him to avenge Germany's loss in World War 2. Unlike fellow Nazi villain the Red Skull, whose genuine loyalty to the "third Reich" varies from writer to writer, Zemo was totally sincere. While Zemo died, he unfortunately managed to imprint some of this insanity onto his son...
** The Supreme Intelligence of the Kree destroyed his own Empire with a Nega-Bomb, and the Avengers executed him for that. Still, a small group of Krees, called the "Lunar Legion" (because they set their base on the blue area of the moon) blame the Avengers for the destruction of their Empire and their beloved Supreme Intelligence, and try to kill them. Of course, the SI turns out to be less dead than they thought.
* In "The War That Never Ended!" in ''ComicBook/AdventureComics'' #255, ComicBook/GreenArrow and Speedy are stranded on a Pacific island that is still inhabited by Japanese soldiers who do not know that WWII is over.
* The "Peekaboo Bandit" from ''ComicBook/{{Airboy}}: Deadeye'': a Japanese aviator who kept fighting a one-man war against the Allies in the Pacific after the surrender of Japan until capture by Airboy.
* ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'':
** Gaul has surrendered to the Romans, but one UndefeatableLittleVillage still lives like it's the Iron Age and holds out against the invaders! ...or not, as they never engage in LaResistance-type action, preferring mostly to get on with their own, usually quite petty lives, and beat up any Romans trying to tell them what to do rather than attempting to liberate Gaul. The story clearly establishes that legally, the village is Roman, and the characters even exploit this when being part of the Roman Empire would be helpful to them. They also adopt Roman technology, such as the use of sestertii as currency, wax tablets, Roman numerals and writing, and so on, and everyone's bilingual Gaulish and Latin, though some are better at Latin than others. Caesar even says that the Roman government pays a peace settlement to their chief, as agreed upon in the terms of surrender, and the chief's wife is angry that the Romans haven't made him a senator. And yet, they proudly refuse all Roman identity, did ''something'' to the Roman taxman so he would never come back there again, and any Romans approaching the village get beaten to a paste. They have no interest in being seriously liberated and are well aware the war is over, but continue fighting it because [[BloodKnight it's fun]], they hate the Romans on principle, and they just don't care.
** ''Obelix All At Sea'' and ''The Secret Weapon'' suggest Asterix's goal is for the Romans to grant them peace with honours, but if they tried to negotiate surrender as it is all the warriors would end up in prison, so fighting until the Romans get the message is the only option. Obelix is horrified by any suggestion of compromise and considers it trampling on the memory of [[HistoricalDomainCharacter Vercingetorix]], with the implication that most of the other villagers agree with this. Of course, this is all PlayedForLaughs.
** In ''Vercingetorix' Daughter'' the ''actual'' remnant shows up: Vercingetorix' most trusted lieutenants, who, on his orders, had left Alesia with his daughter before the surrender, hoping that one day they would launch a rebellion capable of expelling the Romans. [[spoiler:They eventually abandon the plan in the face of the sheer impossibility when [[IJustWantToBeNormal Vercingetorix' daughter herself just wants to stop the insanity and live like a normal girl]]]].
* ''ComicBook/AtomicRobo: The Flying She-Devils of the Pacific'' has CHOKAITEN; a rogue Japanese military unit that has been waiting six years since the end of the war to unleash a devastating super weapon that will sink the North American continent.
* In early 1995, when Bruce Wayne finally returned to Gotham City to officially be ComicBook/{{Batman}} again after a two-year absence [[ComicBook/{{Knightfall}} (it's a long story)]], the first enemies he found himself and ComicBook/{{Robin|Series}} having to combat were the Troika, a faction of three (technically four, but one of them defected to the West) ex-Soviet terrorists unwilling to admit that the Cold War was over.
* ''ComicBook/{{Crossed}}'': Various surviving military units appear from time to time. Most are just holed up behind their forts, or on patrol ships, hiding and vainly hoping to ride things out, but the San Diego Naval Base puts a real effort into evacuating survivors from infected zones and getting them onto ships heading for somewhere safer, although they're gone by the first month of the apocalypse.
* Subverted in the ''Magazine/DoctorWhoMagazine'' comic strip "Lunar Lagoon". The Doctor arrives on a Pacific island in 1963, and is attacked by a Japanese soldier. The Doctor tries to explain that the war is over ... and then learns he's in a parallel universe where it ''isn't''.
* ''ComicBook/ElfesEtNains'', the kingdom of Eysine has been invaded by an alliance of rival kingdoms and all that remains of it are a handful of citizens and soldiers led by their aging king.
* In ''ComicBook/{{Empire}}'', they're the good guys. What's left of them.
* In ''ComicBook/GIJoe2016'', splinters of Cobra that survived their collapse at the end of [[ComicBook/GIJoeIDW G.I. Joe vol. 4]] pose a constant threat.
* According to ''ComicBook/HaloEscalation'' #5, the Covenant has fractured even more than anyone previously thought.
-->'''Zef 'Trahl:''' What does it mean to be "Covenant" today? A hundred warlords claim they rule the Covenant, but each of them leads only a small faction
* In ''G.I. Combat'' #235's cover story, ''ComicBook/TheHauntedTank'' is ambushed by a German tank crew from World War I who cravenly hid out in a forest and seemingly never came out for 30 years. Their weathered faces and tattered uniforms starkly contrast their spotless tank that never saw combat. When they capture a fancy new-model American tank, the TC is sure the Kaiser will pin their medals on himself.
* The Fort Charlotte Brigade from ''ComicBook/JonahHex'' are confederate veterans who refuse to accept the authority of the North (although they're more deeply defined by the personal axe they have to grind with Jonah).
* Colonel Quantrill in B.A.'s ''Cattlepunk'' campaign in ''ComicStrip/KnightsOfTheDinnerTable''.
* Colonel Augustus Barton and his renegade Confederate bushwhackers in ''Radio/TheLoneRanger and Franchise/{{Zorro}}: The Death of Zorro'' from Dynamite.
* The ''ComicBook/LuckyLuke'' episode ''Joss Jamon's Gang'' has Luke dealing with the eponymous gang which consists of six ex-Confederates turned outlaws after Usefulnotes/TheAmericanCivilWar ended.
* In ''ComicBook/TheOrder2007'', one of their first battles is against a nuclear-armed team of Russian supervillains who are completely unaware that the Cold War has been over for two decades.
* ''ComicBook/ScarletTraces'': The "Martians" are on the verge of extinction after the events of The Great Game have rendered all life on Mars eradicated, and all that is left of them are those living on Venus. By 1968, the aliens are starting to die out and they have become desperate to finish off their human enemies by planning to destroy the entire Solar System.
* The ''Film/{{Serenity}}'' comic book introduces the Dust Devils, extremist former Browncoats continuing to wage a terrorist war against the Alliance, and reveals that [[spoiler:[[WrittenByTheWinners technically]], Zoe was once one of their number -- she participated in a battle where neither the Alliance nor the Independents had been informed that the Alliance had won.]]
** From the point of view of the Alliance, Mal Reynolds could be seen as The Remnant, though he mostly resorts to brigandry like his 19th Century counterpart Jesse James.
* ''ComicBook/SgtRock'': In ''Our Army at War'' #170, Easy Company is held hostage by a 2nd Lieutenant from WWI who lost all his men trying to take a hill and [[ShellShockedVeteran snapped from the grief.]] He’s been hiding out in a farm on the French countryside this whole time waiting for “reinforcements” to give it another go, and now that fighting has actually kicked up again in the area ’’and’’ a bunch of G.I.s fell into his lap, he finally has his chance. [[spoiler:He’s mortally wounded in the firefight and buried on the hill.]]
* Parodied in one of the "Tales of Irony" in ''Snake & Bacon's Cartoon Cavalcade'', a Japanese soldier on a Pacific island is discovered to still be fighting World War 2 -- by a Confederate soldier that still thinks the Civil War's on!
* ''ComicBook/StarWarsPurge'': Roblio Darte, a Jedi fugitive asserts that they still serve The Republic and should try to restore it, although the others point out the Republic became the Empire by choice.
* ''ComicBook/TeenTitans'': Most of those recruited by the original Wildebeest leader were former H.I.V.E. agents who believed their main goal was to take [[AvengingTheVillain vengeance for H.I.V.E.]]
* ''ComicBook/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtlesTheLastRonin'' centers around the titular last ronin, SoleSurvivor of the Hamato Clan after his turtle brothers were slain by Oroku Hiroto, so he takes on the Foot Clan by himself to avenge them.
* A recurring trope in ''ComicBook/TexWiller'', with Tex encountering the survivors of a number of native civilizations.
** In one particular occasion the US Army called him and Carson in to find if what they suspected was a Confederate remnant was indeed this or just a group of bandits that happened Confederate soldiers and ''presented'' itself as this to be helped by the locals, as they operate in Virginia, the Army turning to Tex because moving with enough strength to comb the area they believed the bandits hid into would likely cause rebellions. [[spoiler:The "bandits" turned out to be the scouts of ''a fully equipped regiment of Confederate veterans and new recruits led by '''Stonewall Jackson''''' (who in this universe survived the war), with their attacks on banks and arsenals being aimed to procure weapons to eventually resume the Civil War - and Tex and Carson have to find a way to stop him without causing a full-scale rebellion]].
* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersMoreThanMeetsTheEye'': With the disbanding of the Decepticons by their leader, their forces are thoroughly shattered. Several just shrugged and moved on with their lives, while others tried for a resurgence of their once mighty empire. Tarn and the Justice Division seek out what might be the largest remnant, a band of Mercurial Decepticons 500 strong, and ally with them to bring forth a new order of Decepticons with their first act of business to hunt down the very one who disbanded the original regime, Megatron.
* ''ComicBook/TheTransformersRobotsInDisguise'': Presents a more conventional example with Soundwave gathering up many of the A-lister cons, including the remaining members of the Earth Infiltration team, throwing their lot in with Galvatron, and heading to earth to ally with the humans and get in the Autobot's way. They claim to be the Decepticons, following their principles in the absence of their founder, even if their ranks only have a few dozen members.
* ''ComicBook/UltimateXMen'': Magneto seems to die at the end of the first arc, and in ''ComicBook/{{Ultimatum}}''. Still, the Brotherhood remains a threat.
* In the Creator/AlanMoore run of ''ComicBook/WildCATSWildStorm'', this happened to ''both'' sides. The Khreubim/Daemonite war has been over for a long time, with the Daemonites falling to the Kherubim and effectively being subjugated. Unfortunately, neither side bothered to send an envoy to Earth, so the war continued to rage here for ''centuries''
* Pointed out in the first ''ComicBook/XWingRogueSquadron'' comic.
-->'''Tycho:''' Wait, slow down. A week ago, Wedge vaporized the Emperor and half the Imperial High Command -- I know that Imperials tried to [[ContinuityNod stab us in the back]] after Literature/TheTruceAtBakura, but isn't the war basically over? Why won't the Imperials just surrender?\\
'''Luke:''' Would you stop fighting if Wedge was killed? Or me? Or Senator Organa? The Battle of Endor will always be a turning point in this war, but there are millions of Imperials scattered across the galaxy, and we can only assume that they will fight to the end. And they probably have orders to do just that.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'' has the New Earth Federation start to make trouble about a third of the way through as they campaign to "unify" (read: conquer) the emerging new nations. They're surprisingly effective and achieve their goal quickly. Meanwhile, around the Moon, the Space Revolutionary Army is doing the same thing. Both sides are enemies and both lost because of the mass ColonyDrop that wiped out Earth and Spacenoids alike... and both of them still want to kill each other.
* In ''Manga/AttackOnTitan'', the Walled City is pretty much all that's left of human civilization (at least as far as it's known) after the Titans ate everyone else.
** The big reveal in the basement is [[spoiler:that the Walled City is ''not'' the last bastion of humanity; every other human civilization is doing just fine and is (at least mostly) free of Titans. However, the city ''is'' the last "free" remnant of what was once the Eldian Empire; in the rest of the world, the Eldians are second-class citizens who live in segregated ghettos, due to their connection to the Titans]].
** [[spoiler:''Half of the survey corps'' are turned into this following Eren's insurrection, with the Titans destroying the countries of the world and enslaving what's left of Paradis]].
* The last prime minister of Japan in ''Anime/CodeGeass'' is treated somewhat like this trope... [[spoiler:But he never got to go through with it because his son Suzaku killed him. It's heavily implied that Britannia would have eradicated Japan utterly if he had.]]
** The Japanese Liberation Front was the remnant of the old Japanese army until the Black Knights absorbed them.
** What is left of the old Japanese military is killed off by Britannia ''and'' the Black Knights, as they crossed the MoralEventHorizon by throwing hostages off a building in the name of the 'glory of Japan'.
* The character Grenadier in the Creator/LeijiMatsumoto series ''Cosmo Warrior Zero'' (an AlternateUniverse spinoff of ''Anime/CaptainHarlock'') starts off as one of these, despite being a [[PrivateMilitaryContractors mercenary soldier]] hired by LaResistance; blame HonorBeforeReason, a group of refugee children to protect, and a very open-ended contract.
* ''Franchise/DragonBall'':
** In ''Anime/DragonBallZ'', Dr. Gero and his Androids are technically this -- the Red Ribbon Army is long defunct as an organization, but Gero, one of its founding members, tries to continue the cause, though with a heavy focus on killing Goku, partly because Gero wants revenge because Goku is responsible for the Army's defeat in the original ''Manga/DragonBall'', though it's also out of practicality, since Goku would likely interfere anyway. [[spoiler:In both Trunks' timeline and in the regular timeline, his plans [[GoneHorriblyRight are a bit too effective]] in so many ways, but he never lives to see it happen.]] It's not drawn attention to, but the Red Ribbon Army iconography is notable on all of Gero's androids except Cell. The Red Ribbon Army as an organization also are the main antagonists of ''VideoGame/DragonBallFighterZ'', even if [[spoiler:it's basically just Android 21 at that point.]] They fully make a comeback in ''Anime/DragonBallSuperSuperHero'' under the leadership of OverlordJr Magenta, [[TheManBehindTheMan who's revealed to have been bankrolling Gero's experiments this entire time]] and recruits his grandson to continue his work.
** In ''Anime/DragonBallZResurrectionF'', and the corresponding arc of ''Anime/DragonBallSuper'', Frieza's Empire has been reduced to a shell of its former self after King Cold and Frieza were killed along with most of their high ranking minions. The remnant of his empire is losing planets at a rapid rate to the point that what little is left decides to [[SwordOfDamocles resurrect him as a last resort to restore the fear of them they need to keep the Empire afloat.]] Unfortunately for them, [[RevengeBeforeReason Frieza is more focused on revenge on the ones who defeated him than doing that.]] [[spoiler:This results in Frieza being killed again and the rest of his army being killed as well.]]
* The Kiheitai in ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'' is a revolutionary army that seeks to violently drive the Amanto aliens out of Japan, even if it means that Japan will be destroyed in the process. In fact, the complete and total destruction of Japanese society under Amanto influence seems to be the desired goal of this group's leader, Takasugi, who has shown both a willingness and a creepy enthusiasm to do the destroying himself. Then again, Takasugi is also a NietzscheWannabe and seems solely interested in [[spoiler: destruction and avenging his teacher's death]].
* The Millennium Group from ''Manga/{{Hellsing}}'' is a single battalion of Nazi soldiers who have voluntarily undergone [[OurVampiresAreDifferent artificial vampirification]] in their mission to give World War II another go. They're a variation on the usual type, since they're not fighting for Nazism, but because they ''[[BloodKnight really]]'' [[BloodKnight like war]]. Especially the Major, their mad leader. There used to be some actual Nazi die-hards in charge of the organization, but the Major had them all killed.
* Diana in ''Anime/{{Jewelpet 2009}}'' turns out to be this after her big brother Dian's backstory is revealed (he was a MalcolmXerox-flavored rebel). She managed to escape Dian's fate and many years later saw an opportunity to unseal him using the power of the Jewelpets who got lost on Earth; this is what the heroes try to stop during the first half of the show.
* Hegemon Heidi Einhard Stratos Ingvalt of ''Manga/MagicalGirlLyricalNanohaVivid'' is a subversion. Nove assumes her reasons for wanting to fight Vivio and Ixpellia is because to her the wars of Ancient Belka never ended, but Einhard denies this saying she only wants to prove the superiority of her Kaiser Arts. Once she actually meets Vivio, she quickly becomes TheRival and doesn't hold any grudges against her ([[LesYay quite the opposite actually]]).
* The Principality of Zeon, from ''Anime/MobileSuitGundam'', has scads of these; there are at least five separate groups that appear in the animation, and it's implied that there are more. The single largest one fled to the asteroid base Axis and became the first Neo Zeon movement in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]''; the others include the Delaz Fleet, Cima's marines, and the Kimbareid force (all in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundam0083StardustMemory Gundam 0083]]''), as well as Rommel's force (in ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ Gundam ZZ]]'').
** The furthest extension of this appears in ''Gundam F90'', centering on Zeon remnants who've been hiding on Mars for nearly fifty years before making their move.
** The second Neo-Zeon movement in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack'' isn't really composed of remnants from the Principality of Zeon but is rather composed of ex-AEUG and other spacenoids who have taken a radical bent, though it ''is'' led by Char Aznable, a Zeon war hero and prince of its usurped royal family. It gets its ''own'' remnant in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn'', in the form of the Sleeves, led by CharClone Full Frontal.
** In addition to the Sleeves, ''Gundam Unicorn'' also has the Zeon Remnant, both of who manage to eke out livings in various isolated places on Earth, and who band together to continue the war against the Federation in an ambitious attack on Torrington Base while also living out in space on the asteroid Palau. They're not exclusively military either, as many of their Earth camps include numerous civilians.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam'': After the defeat of the Titans at the climax of the show, their remnants occasionally pop up in Gundam canon, though not nearly as often as Zeon. InUniverse it's established that many Titans either rejoined the Federation or defected to Zeon. Though Zeta's sequel ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamZZ'' notes that several Titans still hold political seats in government, the faction itself is too beaten down to be of any real threat to the protagonists and they only return in expanded material. ''Mobile Suit Moon Gundam'' featured a remnant fielding the Psycho Gundam Mk. IV while ''Manga/GundamSentinel'' featured a group called The New Desides and their attempts to rebel and fight the Federation.
* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': The Shie Hassaikai is one of the last remaining {{Yakuza}} organizations in the setting. As explained, after the rise of [[TheParagon All Might]] and the era of heroes, the yakuza were labelled as villains and were thoroughly eradicated to the point that most of society has completely forgotten about them: when the Shie Hassaikai led by Kai Chisaki AKA Overhaul faced the League of Villains, not only had Magne never even seen one before Overhaul, but Toga didn't even ''know'' what a Yakuza was and Mr. Compress derided Overhaul as "an endangered species left over from old times".[[spoiler: Overhaul eventually revealed the objective of the organization is to revert society to pre-quirk times and to bring the Yakuza back to its former glory for the man who brought him into the group.]]
* Fate Averruncus of ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi''. Manga only though, [[OverTookTheManga the anime renders this impossible for plot altering reasons]]. Fate was second in command of a group called Cosmo Entelecheia, a group that was trying to bring about the end of the world A.K.A. "The Ritual To Return The World To Nothing". The group was lead by someone who was only known as "The Life Maker" and "The Mage of the Beginning". They fueled a war in order to accomplish this. It was the war and the defeat of The Mage Of The Beginning that made Nagi Springfield (protagonist's father) a legend. After that he was known as "The Invincible Thousand Master" or just The Thousand Master for short. Fate hasn't given up. Or he might be the [[ArtificialHuman newest version]] of the second in command of Cosmo Entelecheia.
* Many antagonists of ''Manga/PumpkinScissors'' are this type.
* ''Literature/RebuildWorld'':
** The NeglectfulPrecursors known as the Old World left behind ArtificialIntelligence and several sorts of monsters which serve as their security systems, usually trying to fulfil some half-defunct purpose (like making factory items and then [[GrailInTheGarbage storing them away]] because they're "out of season" despite being precious LostTechnology to humans). The A.I.s each have their own objective, Tsubaki trying to protect her sector of an otherwise ruined city, Olivia being a RobotMaid gun for hire under her company, and Alice trying to rebuild the Lion Steel MegaCorp. And Alpha's objectives [[MysteriousBacker are mysterious.]]
** A new RenegadeSplinterFaction forms over the course of a story that's the remnant [[spoiler:of Katsuya's CultOfPersonality and BattleHarem, led by Airi under Alpha/Alias' influence, and seeking revenge on Akira, Airi having taken the rest out of Drankam and vanished.]]
** The remains of the Ezont and Hauritas NGOSuperpower gangs that Akira took down in a RoaringRampageOfRescue, join in on the enemy's side in TheSiege arc, to try and claw back their previous domination [[WrongSideOfTheTracks over the slums]] from Sheryl.
* In ''SOS! Tokyo Metro Explorers: The Next'', taking place roughly in our time, an old man living under Tokyo still believes WWII continues, and is obsessed about the mission given to him. Other underground dwellers consider him dangerously crazy, but he is quite likeable.
* Viral in ''Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann'' fits this role early on after the TimeSkip, although subverted in that while being classified as a terrorist and gets told several times that his fight is pointless, he still insists that he does it for a noble goal. [[spoiler:It is later revealed that he did, in fact, fight for a good cause; he was fighting not out of revenge, but on behalf of humans who actually wanted to live underground in defiance of Rossiu's commands to come up to the surface. He does grow out of this role when he [[HeelFaceTurn joins up with the heroes]], and eventually ends up as the supreme commander of the galactic federation fleet]].
* ''Literature/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': Most life traces back to one of two sides to a genocidal GreatOffscreenWar between {{Transhuman}} New Mankind and Old Mankind, ancestry of the former being how humans can use magic. Monsters and ArtificialIntelligence of a robotic nature, are from Old Mankind, while OrganicTechnology ones are from the New Mankind AbusivePrecursors.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Blog/AskAPony'': Zathir, an ArcVillain from ''Ask Genie Twilight'', is a descendent of a RenegadeSplinterFaction of a previously well-intentioned regime. To say he has well intentions would be a sad mistake to make.
* The ''Fanfic/AzulaTrilogy'''s StarterVillain, General Azun, is the leader of a portion of the Fire Nation's military that refuses to accept the end of the war and Zuko's ascension as Fire Lord, and intend to "rescue" Azula so that she can lead them in retaking control of the Nation.
* ''[[https://www.fimfiction.net/story/334078/the-bridge-a-shimmer-in-the-dark The Bridge: A Shimmer in the Dark]]'', a crossover between ''Fanfic/TheBridge'' and ''Fanfic/TheShimmerverse'', features as its main antagonist Countess Mircalla, the last remaining one of Nightmare Moon's Generals, leading a reserve force that is all that's left of the latter's shattered army. Notably, she's lost faith in the cause, but keeps going [[MyMasterRightOrWrong out of debt to her former master]] (and because she knows that if she doesn't, the AlwaysChaoticEvil Nightmare forces will tear her apart for disloyalty).
* ''Fanfic/ChasingDragons'':
** After Rhaegar flees Westeros, all the Targaryen loyalists unwilling to yield to the rebellion follow him, establishing a court-in-exile that briefly has enough of a power base to rule Myr in all but name. After being defeated by the Sunset Company, however, they're significantly reduced in power, with a large chunk of their men defecting back to Westeros [[spoiler: and Rhaegar being fatally wounded]], leaving what's left to flee to Volantis and becoming a sellsword company to earn their stay in the city.
** The Sunset Company's victory also sees them conquering Myr and purging most of the old aristocracy in the process of freeing all the slaves. Those who survive, either by fleeing or having been coincidentally elsewhere at the time, regroup and establish a GovernmentInExile in Tyrosh, determined to eventually reclaim their city. [[spoiler: When Tyrosh likewise falls to the Abolitionist Alliance, these "True Myrish" flee again to Volantis, where they pledge themselves to the Targaryen forces for protection. Meanwhile, the Tyroshi who manage to escape the destruction of their city establish exile communities in Lys and Oldtown.]]
** After Khal Drogo conquers Qohor and razes it to the ground, those Qohori who weren't living in the city itself are scattered. While many settle in the Norvoshi territories [[CivilWar rebelling against Norvos proper]] after the reactionary [[TheCoup coup]], others emigrate to Westeros and set up exile communities in Duskendale and King's Landing.
** The Grand Army of Volantis was a coalition of that city-state's militia, their Unsullied corps, the Exile Company (a merger of the Targaryen loyalists and the Golden Company), the True Myrish, and the Tattered Prince's sellsword forces. They marched out of their city numbering nearly fifty thousand and boasted themselves as being the mightiest army on Essos since the Doom of Valyria. After [[BigBadassBattleSequence the Battle of the Agneiat and the Battles of Ghoyan Drohe]], they're reduced to a fraction of the Exile Company sneaking away on river barges after they left the Volantene Militia to the abolitionists' fury, the Unsullied and True Myrish having been wiped out and the Tattered Prince [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere having fled]].
* '''Fanfic/CheckmateAnlaShok'': Mags and the other tributes in the 9th Hunger Games are marooned to fight for survival in a war zone between the Citadel, a Rebel stronghold that has held out for almost a decade after the defeat of the Districts but falls as Mags becomes a victor. Mags uses a mixture of truth and lies about her encounters with those rebels (who did have some ruthless figures among their numbers) to convince the PresidentEvil that she sees how the Capitol is necessary to keep the rebellion down, putting her in a position to start her own Rebel LongGame.
* ''Fanfic/CodeGeassPaladinsOfVoltron'': After the Galra arrive and occupy Earth, the European Union is defeated within a week. The [=wZERO=] Unit is one of the few military units that survives the invasion, and continues to fight back against the Galra Occupation.
* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': [[spoiler:When the Decepticons begin their takeover of the world, the first thing they do is completely uproot the Britannian Empire, killing or capturing any of the major leaders and royals. After a six-month TimeSkip between ''R1'' and ''R2'', all that remains of the Empire are Euro-Britannia, which declares independence and is currently fighting the EU, and the Glinda Knights led by Princess Marrybell, who go into hiding before eventually joining Euro-Britannia.]]
* ''Fanfic/CyclesUponCycles'':
** Even months after the defeat of [[spoiler: Saren and Sovereign]], the Council and the Alliance are shown to still be moping up units of their forces.
** Cerberus turns out to be all that's left of [[spoiler: the UED]] after the latter was destroyed by Amon.
* ''Fanfic/EarthsAlienHistory'':
** At the end of their failed invasion of the Milky Way, a group of fifty or so Reapers who survived flee to the Andromeda Galaxy in order to start over. And separately from them, the Reaper ''Odium'' goes into hiding and starts upgrading itself with [[TheAlliance TeTO]] technology in an attempt to start over on its own, until the ''Enterprise'' discovers and kills it seven years later.
** After the Cybertronian Civil War ends with peaceful reconciliation between the factions, a group of Decepticons led by Scorponok refuse to accept the peace and [[RenegadeSplinterFaction go rogue]], making war on Autobots and organic life.
** A heroic example in Katie's BadFuture, where after the Empire conquers the Milky Way, portions of [=GaTO=] ([=TeTO's=] successor state) manage to flee to the Pegasus and Ida galaxies.
* [[https://www.fanfiction.net/u/298709/Fabius-Maximus Fabius Maximus]] has created a SharedUniverse of ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' fics that uses this trope to apply some SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome, on the grounds that as the Twelve Colonies were a fully developed FTL-capable spacefaring civilization, there must have been more survivors that the ''Galactica's'' fleet or the few scattered resistance fighters shown still living on the planets:
** ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10139626/1/The-Pirate-King The Pirate King]]'': A pirate organization which was secretly building its own fleet (in order to privately colonize territories on the other side of the Armistice Line) uses that fleet to evacuate as many civilians and military personnel as they can rescue during the destruction of the Colonies, then flees into space to find new worlds to rebuild on.
** ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10165280/1/The-Last-Imperial-Fleet The Last Imperial Fleet]]'': Virgon's planetary fleet (which is separate from the overall Colonial fleet) evacuates as many civilians as they can during the Cylon attack, including the sole surviving member of the Virgon Imperial Family, who is automatically crowned Empress. They hook up with some Colonial forces, which agree to submit to their authority, rescue some civilian ships, then flee the system.
** ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10190878/1/Exiles-on-the-Wind Exiles on the Wind]]'': A Colonial squadron overseeing an asteroid belt mining colony evacuates the population, hooks up with a Marine regiment in the area and some civilian ships, and flee. While the squadron's Commodore is in ''de facto'' supreme control, a provisional civilian government is assembled by means of voting in a group of representatives from each ship; when the squadron eventually meets up with ''Galactica'', this assembly is folded into Roslin's government by becoming a lower house to the Quorum of Twelve.
** It's also mentioned throughout all the stories that numerous other small groups of survivors (civilian and military) all also fled the Colonies' system to rebuild elsewhere.
* In the ''Manga/OutlawStar'' fanfic ''Fanfic/AFistfulOfDragonite'' the Kei Pirates/Bandits are re-imagined as this, having fought on the losing side of an unnamed war, which is a loose {{Expy}} of the US Confederacy. Their leader, Colonel Hazanko, still holds their loyalty, and their influence is felt throughout the western frontier.
* In the ''Fanfic/HalloweenUnspectacular'' series, the main antagonists of the second MythArc are an organization called PURITY, which has its origins in a group of Nazi military officials who fled to a secret base in Alaska after losing the war. Notably, the original leadership of the group wanted to continue fighting the US directly (even planning U-Boat attacks on the West Coast), but [[BigBad General Rausseman]] realized this was moronic, [[TheCoup took over]], and reorganized the group to abandon Nazism as an ideology. Instead, they now focus their hatred on [[FantasticRacism nonhumans and people with superpowers]].
* The main antagonists of ''Fanfic/IWarrior'' are a group of renegade [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Yuuzhan Vong]] who refuse to accept the end of [[Literature/NewJediOrder their war]] with the Galactic Alliance. To this end, they've allied with the enigmatic Sith Lord known as [[BigBad the Master]], who has promised them revenge and power in exchange for aiding him [[FindTheCure find a cure]] for his [[BodyHorror illness]]. [[spoiler: In the end, however, he was just using them, and they surrender to the GA after the Master's defeat.]]
* Heroic variant (but not quite meeting the description of LaResistance); in ''Fanfic/NarutoTheSecretSongsOfTheNinja'', [[spoiler:Konoha is destroyed and most of its population killed in the Sand/Sound attack, forcing the few hundred survivors to fall back to the Senju clan's hidden fortress, led by Jiraiya]].
* ''Fanfic/{{Paradoxus}}'': Whatever remains of the once-powerful kingdom of [[WesternAnimation/WinxClub Solaria]] has sought refuge in Snorx, one of Domino's moons. Courtesy of the [[VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft Burning Legion]] and their plot to assassinate Queen Stella. Fortunately, King Brandon and Crown Princess Stacy are still alive to lead their people.
* In ''Fanfic/RepairsRetrofitsAndUpgrades'', Kuvira's supporters continue to uphold the ideals of the Earth Empire and defend its territory despite her being captured and abandoning her ambitions. They're still extremely well trained, armed, organized, and equipped; enough to [[spoiler: oppose the United Forces on even footing and attempt to "rescue" Kuvira]].
* ''Fanfic/SeventhEndmostVision'' has the Western Alliance remnants, most of which went underground in the wake of Shinra winning the War. [[spoiler: Barret has mentioned that he has specifically recruited those he could find into the ranks of AVALANCHE.]]
* ''Fanfic/SixesAndSevens'': The Romani population of Latveria is described this way. They've been scattered and decimated after generations of oppression, which unfortunately reflects real-life events as well. When the Invaders meet Victor von Doom and Djordji Zindelo Hungaros during WWII, they believe themselves to be the last survivors of Zefiro village after the royal family had it razed. [[spoiler: In the final chapter Victor learns that Boris was also born in Zefiro, and the two decide to work together in the hopes of uniting the rest of their people and making Latveria a safe haven for them once again]].
* ''Fanfic/SummerCrowns'': After Lys conquers Tyrosh, the Archon and the surviving magisters manage to escape to several of the city's tributaries with a chunk of its military forces, before dividing over disagreements on the best way forward. The Archon, who wants to reclaim Tyrosh and his power, camps out in the trade port of Bluestones, while the magisters, who want to maintain what power they have left, shore themselves up in the lesser cities of Berosh and Vakar and give up on Tyrosh, focusing on conquering the mainland.
* The main antagonist of ''[[http://mega-poneo.deviantart.com/gallery/62840836/Tomica-Hero-Rescue-Pups Tomica Hero Rescue Pups]]'' is a group of surviving Neo Terror Axto from ''Series/TomicaHeroRescueForce''. Led by a Sith Lord named Darth Longinus, they now have lightsabers, blasters, AT-[=ATs=], TIE Fighters, buzz droids, and episodic super-droids.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Film/April9th'': the main cast keep trying to HoldTheLine against the invading Nazi's for several hours after their government has actually surrendered. TruthInTelevision.
* ''Film/AirForceOne'': BigBad Ivan Korushnov and his henchmen are former soldiers of a deposed dictator who refuse to accept the collapse of his regime and try to force his release by hijacking Air Force One.
* In ''Film/{{Apache}}'', Massai refuses to surrender when Geronimo does, and escapes to wage a one-man war against the US Army. He regards himself as the last Apache warrior, and even refers to himself as "the last true Apache" at one point.
* ''Film/AtHomeAmongStrangers'' involves a White Russian bandit gang, some time after the Whites have been decisively defeated by the Bolsheviks in the Russian Civil War, still roaming the Russian interior, robbing trains. There are still some true believers, but bandit leader Brylov recognizes that the war has been lost, the Bolsheviks are victorious, and there's no point fighting them anymore.
* In ''Film/TheBurmeseHarp'', a Japanese POW is tasked by his British captors with getting a Japanese unit holed up in a cave to surrender, since Japan has surrendered and the war is over. [[DownerEnding The POW fails, the Japanese in the cave refuse to give up, and they are annihilated]]. The POW eventually stays in Burma as a monk, helping locate and bury ''all'' Japanese dead, vowing to only return to Japan once he's finished.
* ''[[Film/TheDamned1947 The Damned]]'' is about a group of Nazis and Nazi collaborators who flee to South America in a U-boat in April 1945, hoping to set up TheRemnant as German defeat looms in Europe. When a German cargo ship encounters the sub and tells them that Germany has surrendered and the war is over, the Nazi Party fuctionary in charge of the submarine promptly torpedoes the cargo ship.
* Bane's army in ''Film/TheDarkKnightRises'' represents the remnants of the League of Shadows, a sinister organization decimated by Batman in the [[Film/BatmanBegins first movie of the series]].
* ''Film/TheDayOfTheTriffids'': The crews of several navy submarines avoid being blinded because they are submerged when everyone else loses their sight and broadcast radio messages to alert survivors that they're willing to ferry people to safety.
* Franchise/DCExtendedUniverse:
** In ''Film/ManOfSteel'', Zod and his followers position themselves as the sole remnant of the Kryptonian civilization and seek to restore it. They're also the only ones left of Zod's CivilWar army, the Sword of Rao.
** In the BadFuture seen in ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'' and ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'', Batman, Cyborg and Flash are the only Justice League members who are still alive (Darkseid and/or evil Superman wiped out the rest). They are joined by Mera, and even by two members of Batman's RoguesGallery, Deathstroke and the Joker. It is safe to assume everyone else that they knew has perished.
* ''Film/TheDead'': Several African army units continue operating, trying to gather survivors to take to various citadels, or protect their home villages, well after central authority has collapsed.
* The villains in ''Film/DeadAgainInTombstone'' are Col. Jackson Boomer and his gang of Confederate renegades who are seeking the horn of Lucifer in order to raise an undead Confederate army.
* ''Franchise/DieHard'':
** Col. Stuart and his team of mercenaries from ''Film/DieHard2'' who think their government backed the wrong side.
** Another example would be Simon Gruber's unit of East German Special Forces from ''Film/DieHardWithAVengeance'', who were trained to speak fluent English for infiltration operations and were disbanded after the Soviet Union fell.
* In ''Film/{{Gladiator}}'', the Germanic tribes who refused to bow before the might of the Roman empire's legions. Unusually for such a trope, though they are clearly the antagonists to Maximus' protagonist, [[Film/{{Gladiator}} Maximus]] shows [[WorthyOpponent respect for their capabilities]], [[SympathyForTheDevil sympathy for them]], and seems to hope that Rome wouldn't give up even against such hopeless odds. Also is TruthInTelevision.
* In ''Film/GunFury'', Frank Slayton's gang is made up of former members of the Army of Northern Virginia. Slayton tells Jennifer that, unlike for her fiance Ben Warren, for him the war never ended.
* In ''Film/HangmansKnot'', a Confederate Major and his troops are falsely led to believe the Civil War is not over, and become wanted men after they attack a Union Army wagon train in Nevada.
* ''Film/TheHorde'': There’s mention of a French military base holding out and taking in survivors in the countryside that the character talk about reaching during the ZombieApocalypse, although they spend all of the plot busy trying to break out of the apartment building their trapped in, so we never actually see it.
* ''Film/IndianaJonesAndTheKingdomOfTheCrystalSkull'' was originally supposed to feature a team of Nazi die-hards as its villains. After directing ''Film/SchindlersList'', Spielberg didn't think he could feature ThoseWackyNazis as villains again, prompting him to change the villains to Soviets.
* ''Film/IronSky'': The antagonists comes from a Nazi moon base that emerges to attack Earth during the 21st century.
* Quentin Turnbull and his Southern terrorists in ''Film/JonahHex''.
* ''TheLastFlightOfNoahsArk'' has two Japanese soldiers on a lost island.
* ''Film/LastOfTheDogmen:'' The Cheyenne Dog Soldiers have been living in the unexplored Montana wilderness for 128 years since they fled the Sand Creek Massacre, and have had no contact with the modern world beyond a few violent encounters with intruders.
* ''Film/TheLastSamurai'' has Nathan and Katsumoto's samurais fighting against the Meiji government.
* In ''[[Film/TheLibrarian The Librarian: Curse of the Judas Chalice]]'', the bad guys are ex-KGB, who are pissed at the fall of the USSR and seek to revive the old superpower by raising a vampire army. [[spoiler:Little do they know that the old decrepit professor they're dragging along is Dracula himself.]]
* The ''Film/LivingDeadSeries'':
** ''Film/DawnOfTheDead1978''. A National Guard unit is briefly seen intact in the countryside, effectively fighting the zombies alongside of the local farmer. There also appears to be some form of central authority (represented by Dr. Rausch) giving emergency broadcasts to anyone still listening for several weeks after the initial outbreak overruns the cities.
** ''Film/DawnOfTheDead2004''. Local military base Fort Pastor holds out for a while, providing a SafeZoneHopeSpot.
** ''Film/DayOfTheDead1985'' features a handful of soldiers still guarding the SoleSurvivingScientist team, but by the movie's beginning, their are fed up by the lack of progress, and almost all of them turn on their civilian charges by the end.
** ''Film/DiaryOfTheDead''. All of the military officials who the main characters encounter in the film have deserted by that point, with one group being holed up inside a warehouse of food. Another group is driving through the countryside and robbing the main characters, possibly due to believing that they've been looting themselves. A more traditional group, containing four men wearing Hazmat suits and plexiglass masks posts a video online of themselves searching houses for survivors, and gunning down some {{Zombie Advocate}}s they encounter.
* ''Film/LongJohnSilver'': When Silver and Jim arrive return Treasure Island, they find Israel Hands and a handful of pirates who survived the events of ''Film/TreasureIsland1950'' are still stranded on the island, and out for revenge.
* ''Film/TheMatrix'': the second movie reveals that Zion has repeatedly been wiped out, save for a few dozen survivors who are allowed to become this, rebuild and go to war with the machines all over again.
* In ''Film/{{Outpost}}'', a team of mercenaries are hired to scope out an old UsefulNotes/WorldWarII bunker in war-torn Eastern Europe at the behest of a mysterious scientist. It soon becomes apparent that the bunker was a secret research facility into reality-bending experiments done by the [[ThoseWackyNazis Nazis]]... and that the bunker's last garrison might not be as dead as they should be.
* In ''Film/TheScavengers'', a gang of Confederate renegades takes over a frontier town two months after the war has ended, intending to rob a Yankee gold shipment. It seems most of the men are not aware the war has ended, but their commander Captain Harris certainly is.
* The First Order in ''Franchise/StarWars: Film/TheForceAwakens'' is a successor of the original Galactic Empire; note that the ''Legends'' continuity already had done something similar, as shown in the Literature folder below. Thanks to some drastic actions on their part, the First Order manages to step out of this shadow by [[Film/TheLastJedi the sequel]]. It's strongly implied that they were deliberately playing this up so the New Republic wouldn't realize they were a genuine threat until they'd already finished their build up and attacked their now-demilitarized conquerors. In a twist to this, [[spoiler:the First Order wasn't simply a remnant, but rather, [[ThoseWereOnlyTheirScouts a shadow of an even greater threat]]--Darth Sidious' Final Order, a new Empire under Sith rule]].
** Confirmed in the ''Literature/BeforeTheAwakening'' novel that says the New Republic know that the First Order are villainous but can't legally attack them without proof so they secretly funnel resources to Leia's Resistance group.
* The aptly titled ''Film/TheUndefeated'' starring Creator/JohnWayne and Creator/RockHudson dealt with a group of Confederate soldiers who chose to move to Mexico and offer their support to Emperor Maximillian.
* Captain Jim West fights ex-Confederate terrorists at the start of ''Film/WildWildWest''.
* ''Film/{{Willow}}:'' Airk is introduced leading the remaining soldiers of a kingdom (which has been conquered by Bavmorda) in a last ditch battle. Many scenes later, it's revealed that he lost that battle and has gone into hiding with his last few dozen soldiers before Willow recruits them to help fight Bavmorda in the climax.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/NineteenEightyThreeDoomsday'', the Union of Sovereign Socialist Republics is formed from what remained of the Soviet Union that survived Doomsday.

* ''Literature/AubreyMaturin'' offers various iterations of this, particularly involving the British-American War of 1812 -- sailing ships may have been at sea for months, and not be aware of current events; this can be further complicated by two ships having different sailing dates, and hence different notions of the situation. Averted, in that this is a well-known problem and sometimes results in awkward stand-offs while the situation is resolved.
* In Creator/AndreNorton's ''Literature/TheBeastMaster'', the villains turn out to be a detachment of the same aliens who found out too late that [[ApocalypseHow nuking Terra into radioactive sterility]] wouldn't save them from Terra's ''colonies''. The war's been over for a year or so, but they're trying to make new trouble on a colony planet.
* In Creator/DavidEddings' ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', the country of Arendia has been torn by civil war for millennia, largely due to their [[PlanetOfHats race's absurd devotion]] to HonorBeforeReason. The Asturians continue to mount pointless insurrections against the crown, despite the fact that the Mimbrates won the war long ago and the Asturian Duchess is also the Queen.
** The main problem with the Mimbrates and Asturians, aside from the Mimbrates treating their landed gentry opposite numbers as no better than serfs, is that neither side will ''talk'' to the other. When, after some outside prodding, they do, and the point of the queen also being Asturian nobility is mentioned, tensions ease noticeably.
--> '''Queen''': "You mean that there have been centuries of strife over a ''technicality''?"
--> '''Noble''': "[[TooDumbToLive ... It]] ''[[IdiotBall is]]'' [[ConflictBall rather]] [[HonorBeforeReason Arendish]], isn't it?"
* In ''Literature/BrothersInArms'', the villain is one of these for the Komarran resistance, rather to Miles Vorkosigan's frustration:
-->'''Galen:''' The revolt must not die.\\
'''Miles:''' Even if everybody in it dies? 'It didn't work, so let's do it some more'? In my line of work, they call that military stupidity. I don't know what they call it in civilian life.
* James Blish’s ''Literature/CitiesInFlight'' includes the Vegan Orbital Fort, a hold-out from a long-past war which has become a sort of legend in its own right.
* ''[[Literature/TheDemigodDiaries Son of Magic]]'' (a short story in Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries) tells us what happened to the leftovers of Kronos' army after the events of ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. Alabaster is one of the few pro-Kronos demigods that doesn't regret their choice to serve the Titan King and as a result he's excluded from Camp Half-Blood. He still hasn't given up his fight with the Olympians and Percy (even if he never sees them in the story).
* ''Literature/ChallengersOfTheUnknown'': The antagonists are a few hundred Nazis who fled to a South American country and want to conquer it for a new Reich.
* In ''Literature/CthulhuArmageddon'', the government of New Arkham styles itself as the official United States Remnant. However, since its control only extends to New Arkham itself (a pre-[[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt Rising]] military base converted into a burgeoning city) and the surrounding territory (some small towns and villages), no one really takes the claim all that seriously.
* ''Literature/TheDivide1980'': In an AlternateUniverse where the Axis powers won UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, a group of soldiers and scientists have spent decades in hiding working on a super weapon to defeat their occupiers. However, they've become more complacent and stagnated than the other LaResistance groups and are reluctant to use their weapon.
* ''Literature/DownToASunlessSea'': A civilian version is featured. When word of the nuclear war is announced to the passengers on the plane the main action takes place on, two diehard Soviet diplomats and their KGB bodyguards take the news of their country’s fate poorly and try to hijack it. For added irony, the actual military forces who survive (most notably some SAS soldiers also onboard the plane, two Russian aviators who picked up the population of the home village of one in cargo plane and then tried to fly somewhere safe, and the soldiers at the soldiers at the Antarctic [=McMurdo=] station who weren’t DrivenToSuicide by despair) all avert this by being helpful and sympathetic characters who never entertain any delusions of grandeur or ideas of continuing their old government.
* In ''Literature/TheDreamsideRoad'', the Liberty Corps is partially the militarized remnant of [[GovernmentAgencyOfFiction the IHSA]]. Some of its officers are survivors from the earlier organization and most of their technology and gear was scavenged from the ruins of the International Hierarchia or [[TheGovernment the League of Earth's Nations']] other assets. Only their armor is new.
* ''Literature/{{Emberverse}}'' features the United States of Boise, founded by U.S. Army officer Lawrence Thurston, which is the only major faction trying to preserve the old system of government. Thurston considers Boise to the "provisional Capitol" of the country, but none of his neighbors acknowledge Boise's authority and, to their credit, Thurston and his government don't try to force it on them.
* ''Literature/{{Evolution}}'':
** "The Last Burrow" depicts the Antarctica ecosystem 55 million years after the Cretaceous impact, where small lemming-like primates compete with the last non-avian dinosaurs to have survived the Cretaceous impact, including the descendants of ''Muttaburrasaurus'', ''Leaellynasaura'' and ''Allosaurus'', with a ''Koolasuchus'' thrown in somewhere.
** In "The Kingdom of the Rats", Eastern Africa is the last place where the animalistic posthumans exist, which in turn are the last primates. In most of the world, they were outcompeted and driven to extinction by the increasingly dominant and diverse rodents; in Eastern Africa, which had rifted off from the rest of the continent before the rodent radiation fully took place, was the only place where they had enough time to adapt into new niches and compete efficiently with the rodents when these eventually arrived there as well.
* ''Literature/ExHeroes'': A few military units survive the zombie apocalypse.
** Cerberus is the inventor and pilot of a [=DARPA=] suit of PoweredArmor and, along with the survivors of a platoon of marines that were escorting her (including MauveShirt Billie Carter), take part in the defense of the Mount and the fight against nearby zombies.
** The Unbreakables are a unit of {{Super Soldier}}s in training, accompanied by lots of regular soldiers, including another Cerberus-trained pilot. They have evacuated thousands of civilians, but only in a regional area, and are also taking orders from a presidential bunker. [[spoiler:Actually, they're only being brainwashed into thinking that their corrupt superior is saving civilians and taking orders from the president. Once the brainwashing is shaken, the remaining soldiers join the survivors at the Mount.]]
* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/FoundationSeries'':
** "Literature/TheMerchantPrinces": Trader Mallow is curious when he notices the sun-and-spaceship symbol of the Galactic Empire in a nation called the Republic of Korell. He goes off on his own to establish how close the Foundation is to the [[VestigialEmpire collapsing empire]]. The old empire is [[ProxyWar using the buffer of nations to attack the Foundation]].
** "Literature/TheMule": The first Galactic Empire used to rule every inhabited planet in the galaxy. By the time of this story, 300 years since the founding of Terminus, their rule has been [[VestigialEmpire reduced]] to twenty agricultural planets, and lost even the capital planet of Trantor. When the story's protagonists visit Neotrantor, the new capital, the senile [[KingBobTheNth Emperor Dagobert IX]] is under the impression that his Empire is as strong as ever, treating the Foundation as just another world within the Anacreon Province of a galaxy-spanning Empire. It's implied that this is the final end of the first Galactic Empire, being absorbed offscreen by the Mule between this story and [[Literature/SearchByTheMule the next]].
* In ''Literature/{{Gimlet}} Mops Up'' by W.E. Johns, Gimlet and his crew take on the Werewolves, Nazi terrorists continuing to fight after the end of UsefulNotes/WorldWarII.
* By the end of ''Literature/GunsOfTheDawn'', [[spoiler:the army in which the protagonist is fighting]] has become this without realising it. Fighting in an inaccessible area, they don't realise that their forces elsewhere have collapsed and that they are now encircled. They're persuaded to surrender, but still gain a lot of praise from the citizenry for being the last survivors -- which becomes important when [[spoiler:the fugitive king tries to use the protagonist, now as much of a war hero as you can get in a defeated country, as the centre of an uprising. The king's own band, however, is not so much a remnant of his old forces as a new gang of bandits he has recruited through bribes]].
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Most of the GovernmentInExile forces of the People's Republic of Haven are really a cross between this and pirates. Haven itself had to deal with a few remnant forces themselves while it was conquering its neighboring star systems. Henri Dessouix, a prominent member of the GreatEscape from the PrisonPlanet, was a heroic version of this, having served on a ship that refused to surrender after their planet was enslaved and spent the next few months attacking Haven ships before being captured.
* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': District 13 is a morally grey version of this, having avoided subjugation along with the other 12 rebelling Districts through the threat of their nuclear arsenal, and bidding their time for the next 75 years, waiting for an opportunity to go to war with the Capitol again.
* The Creator/HarryTurtledove ShortStory "The Last Article" (where TheBadGuyWins UsefulNotes/WorldWarII) begins with the British troops in India surrendering and being rebuked for fighting four years after the Nazis conquered England.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'':
** Saruman qualifies in a round-about sense, in that he is a former 'EvilOverlord' , but reduced to a pathetically small scale after his armies are routed and he is cast out from Isengard. He spends the remainder of the series running the Shire into the ground, turning into a sort of bandit leader with a mob of 'ruffians'. He is stabbed in the back (completely literally) by his servant at the end.
** It's also said that after Sauron's defeat, his human allies such as the Haradrim and the Easterlings continued fighting against Gondor for at least a while, although it's less out of loyalty to their old boss and more out of fear and hatred of Gondor, over the actions of their Numenorean ancestors, who ruthlessly colonized them as described in ''Literature/TheSilmarillion''.
** While hard to believe given the threat they pose to the Middle Earth, Sauron is this to his former boss, the Dark Lord Melkor/Morgoth. While Mordor's army of hundreds of thousands of orcs, plus trolls, wargs, easterlings and the nine Nazgûl might seem impressive, it's nothing but a sad shadow of Morgoth's forces of ''billions'' of orcs and entire ''armies'' of balrogs and dragons.
* In ''Red Justice'', a book set in the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' franchise, the Justice League ends up facing Red Justice, a group of superpowered Soviets who had been in hibernation and believe The UsefulNotes/ColdWar is still going on when they awakened.
* In [[Literature/{{Okuyyuki}} "Okuyyuki"]], Captain Reilly goes to Iraq expecting to fight Saddam's army, but ends up facing these instead: diehards, Islamic volunteers and various disorganized remnants. However, he [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor sort of gets his wish]] eventually when he runs into an unusually well-equipped and powerful stay-behind unit.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' by Creator/GeorgeRRMartin:
** House Targaryen is this at the beginning of the series, after the Targaryen dynasty was dethroned fifteen years earlier in a civil war.
** The Brotherhood without Banners, the pro-Robert splinter cell encountered in ''A Storm of Swords''. An interesting case as they start off as LaResistance, but become The Remnant after [[spoiler:their principled leader dies and they get a [[KnightTemplar vengeance crazed]] replacement.]]
** The Sons of the Harpy wage a shadow war against Dany's rule because she outlawed slavery in Meereen and they want it back.
** The Free City of Volantis sees itself as the Remnant of the Valyrian Freehold and once tried to restore it under its leadership but failed.
** The Golden Company are mercenaries composed largely of descendants of losers of the Blackfyre Rebellion.
** The Targaryens themselves are merely the only survivor of forty dragonlords, the nobles who presided the Valyrian Freehold. They were also far from the most powerful, [[NormalFishInATinyPond but the extinction of the other dragonlords enabled them to prosper]]. The only other known dragonlord family name is Belaerys, mentioned briefly in ''Literature/TheWorldOfIceAndFire''. Houses Velaryon and Celtigar, who also live in Westeros, are descended from Valyrians but not dragonlords.
* Once you get past all the SweetPollyOliver spoofing, the main protagonists of the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/MonstrousRegiment'' discover that they almost qualify as this trope due to their army being on the verge of defeat and arguably in the wrong of the conflict.
** They then use this discovery in a very effective ruse involving a press release.
* ''Literature/OutOfTheDark'': the aliens who eliminate Earth's central authority in a DecapitationStrike have to deal with numerous factions of lingering military forces (sometimes joined by civilian survivalists) around the globe for the rest of the novel, eventually getting so fed up with them that they're preparing to just destroy the planet before being defeated by an OutsideContextProblem [[spoiler: vampires]].
* A central trope in the ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'' series:
** The title character is the legitimate Rajah of Lake Kini Balu, who lost his throne, his father and entire family due a British-supported rebellion. After barely surviving he assembled a pirate crew and brought it to Mompracem, quickly becoming UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire's chief annoyance due his success in raiding their trade and the increasing power of the Tigers of Mompracem.
** The Tigers of Mompracem become their own remnant ''twice'': first near the end of the first novel ''The Tigers of Mompracem'', when the British and other European states with holdings in the Indian Ocean, having decided the Tigers were becoming an actual threat, launched a joint expedition that decimated the pirates and chased them off their island; after Sandokan returned to Mompracem with a new and stronger crew off-page he eventually abandoned piracy, but halfway during ''The King of the Sea'' they're once again attacked by the British (manipulated by [[spoiler:Suyodhana's son]]) and chased off Mompracem, though this time they're in the state to fight back with the title ship (the mightiest warship in the world, that they aquired too late to defend Mompracem) and spend most of the novel attacking British trade. By ''Sandokan Fights Back'' they have retaken Sandokan's ancestral homeland, and after the British sell it to the Sultan of Varauni they retake Mompracem in ''[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Return to Mompracem]]''.
** In ''The Pirates of Malaysia'', having entered in conflict with James Brooke the Rajah of Sarawak, join forces with the nephew of his dispossessed predecessor Muda Hashim to depose the White Rajah. Brooke also left behind a remnant, who by the time of ''The King of the Sea'' has put his nephew Charles (Brooke's actual successor in real life) back on the throne.
** After the destruction of the Thuggee cult at Sandokan and Tremal Naik's hands in ''The Two Tigers'', a handful of survivors, armed with their immense treasure and led by the son of their defunct leader Suyodhana, acts to take their revenge on the Tigers. [[spoiler:They're the ones who bribe and threaten enough British officials to have them launch the attack on Mompracem in ''The King of the Sea'', and show up in person with a flotilla of warships crewed mostly by mercenaries at the end of the novel, defeating Sandokan... [[LoveRedeems Only for Suyodhana's son to disband the group due falling in love with Tremal Naik's daughter]]]].
** In ''Quest for a Throne'' Sandokan and the Tigers depose Sindhia, the mad rajah of Assam, and put in his place Surama, Sindhia's cousin and the wife of Sandokan's pal Yanez. Some of Sindhia's followers survived, helping the White Rajah of Lake Kini Balu in ''Sandokan Fights Back'' (and proving far more effective than the now senile White Rajah) and attacking directly Surama in ''The Brahman''.
* In ''[[Literature/LineOfDelirium Shadows of Dreams]]'', a Psilon battleship from the [[TheGreatOffscreenWar Vague War]] days arrives to a small human colony, having spent the intervening century or so at relativistic speeds (its hyperdrive was damaged in the previous battle). Since the crew isn't aware that the war is long over and that the rest of their race have isolated their area of space and refuse to interact with outsiders, they intend to complete their original mission: to capture the military outpost that used to be where the colony is now. The colony has almost no means of defending itself, especially from the most advanced race in the galaxy. Later on, though, the protagonist realizes that the crew must be aware of how much time has passed and that their orders no longer make sense. And yet they fully intend to continue, possibly as a sort-of last hurrah (plus, the fact that there's a human colony there likely means that their side didn't win).
* ''Literature/SixthColumn'': The book follows four soldiers and three army researchers safely hidden in a research bunker during the invasion of the United States. They consider a series of hit-and-run attacks with the weapons in the bunker before realizing this would get thousands of hostages executed. Instead, they scheme to undermine the new regime with a ScamReligion.
* In the ''Literature/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineRelaunch'', a small fleet of Jem'Hadar warships, led by Kitana'klan, continue to wage war on the Dominion's rivals for several months after the peace treaty is signed. Ashamed of their species' failure to take the Alpha Quadrant, they're determined to renew the fighting even against the will of the Founders. Three months after the conflict's conclusion, they attack Deep Space Nine, destroying the starship ''Aldebaran'' with all hands and damaging the starship ''Defiant''. They are in turn attacked by the loyal Jem'Hadar Taran'atar, who was en route to Deep Space Nine as an envoy on the orders of Odo. He defends the station with his own warship, and eventually foils a secondary plot by Kitana'klan to destroy the reactor core.
** In the pre-relaunch series of books, ''Station Rage'' involves Sisko and Odo stumbling upon a hidden room on Deep Space Nine containing the last surviving members of the Crescent Order, an old Cardassian military unit left over from a war that ended eighty years earlier. After Garack revives them from stasis, the holdovers mistakenly believe that "Terok Nor" has been occupied by a hostile force, and set about trying to force Sisko and his crew out.
* In the Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse novels set in the ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]'' continuity, the Empire (referred to as the "[[VestigialEmpire Imperial Remnant]]") continues to be the major antagonist despite the Emperor himself dying in the Battle of Endor. (When people wonder why in various ExpandedUniverse stories, it's pointed out that if the entire ruling council of the New Republic was killed in an attack...they'd be replaced by people who probably wouldn't be as good at the job; hardly a crushing blow.) [[Literature/HandOfThrawn Fifteen years later]], they are reduced to less than a hundredth of their former strength, and there are ''still'' politicians and commanders who refuse to give up -- even though the Supreme Commander notes that the average Imperial citizen probably realized it years ago, and decides on his own to arrange for {{Peace Conference}}s with the New Republic so that the Empire could survive to rise again, one day.
* ''Literature/TheSympathizer'': South Vietnamese anti-Communist expatriates living in California after the fall of Saigon decide to raise an army to reconquer their homeland (briefly seeking recourses from another South Vietnamese officer who refused to flee with the Americans and have also been fighting a minor guerrilla war) . It's made clear that they are driven by unhappiness over their newly reduced status as refugees in the United States. Their tiny little band is wiped out as soon as it crosses the Mekong River from Laos into Vietnam.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Tarzan}} Tarzan, Lord of the Jungle]]'', Tarzan encounters two feuding groups of Knights Templar, neither of whom know that the Crusades are over.
* Creator/HarryTurtledove
** The short story "After the Last Elf is Dead" has the garrisons of several fortresses remain loyal to the elven king and continue to fight back against impossible odds long after their liege's demise. All of them are defeated, but they instill some VillainRespect in the NobleTopEnforcer.
** The short story "The Phantom Tolbukhin" has former Soviet general Fyodor Tolbukhin leading a small, desperate group of Russian soldiers in guerrilla resistance actions against the Nazis several years after the Nazis win UsefulNotes/WorldWarII (in an AlternateUniverse).
* The linked novels ''To Arms! To Arms in Dixie!'' and ''The South Will Rise Again'' by Creator/JTEdson feature US secret agent Belle Boyd encountering a conspiracy by the Brotherhood for Southern Freedom--a sinister band of renegades--to restore the South to its prewar glory.
* Captain Nemo, the villain/AntiHero of ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'' and ''Literature/TheMysteriousIsland'' is an exiled Indian prince continuing to fight the Sepoy Mutiny.
** ''ComicBook/TheLeagueOfExtraordinaryGentlemen'' has him continue this, despite ostensibly working with British intelligence; his descendents continue this, to the point that his grandson Jack is his universe's equivalent of Osama bin Laden.
* In ''Literature/{{Victoria}}'', elements of the old regime's military forces hold out slightly longer than the Federal Government itself, but soon cease to offer any meaningful resistance to the victorious rebels. Many of their personnel are then implied to join the New Confederacy and other successor states, once the collapse is complete, where they continue to cause trouble for the heroes.
* In the novel ''Warday'' by Whitley Strieber and James Kunetka, published in 1984 and depicting a future which seemed plausible at the time, the United States and Soviet Union destroy each other in a nuclear war. Britain, which emerged unscathed, proceeds to re-establish itself as a major world power and in effect re-create UsefulNotes/TheBritishEmpire. Five years afterwards, a Captain of the British Royal Navy, patrolling the Pacific, tells the protagonists: "There are still submarines at sea, carrying nuclear missiles and loyal to non-existent governments. They are extremely dangerous and if they don't surrender we have to destroy them."
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': After their defeat, the remainder of [=BloodClan=] is one of these for a while, going through a succession of wannabe-tyrants, but none of them can really replace Scourge, and the group eventually scatters.
* In ''Literature/TheYearsOfRiceAndSalt'', although Western civilization is all but destroyed, a few fragments remain such as Georgia and New Norway.
* ''Literature/YoungSherlockHolmes'': In ''Red Leech'', Duke Balthasar is the self-appointed head of the 'Government in Exile of the Confederacy', and plans to rise an army to conquer Canada and transform it into a new Confederated States of America.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/The100'':
** Mount Weather (which houses the descendants of the members of the U.S. Government who survived the end of the world) provides a TragicVillain example of this for the first two seasons, referring to their leader as “President”, and generally acting like they’re the legitimate authority.
** Defied at the start of season 5, when Octavia [[spoiler: forcibly merges the survivors of all twelve tribes into Wonkru, preventing any of them from continuing on as separate factions]].
** Another (rather extreme) example occurs at the end of season five, where [[spoiler: the last know survivors ''of the entire human species'', numbering less than 500, flee Earth aboard the ''Eligius IV'']].
* One episode of ''Series/TheAdventuresOfSirLancelot'' had a remnant of the Roman colonial government of Britain hiding behind a section of Hadrian's Wall, pretending to be ghosts.
* Dylan Hunt is this for a while in ''{{Series/Andromeda}}'', trying to restart the Commonwealth despite being the last soldier of the High Guard in existence.
* ''Series/AroundTheWorldIn80Days2021'': While taking a stagecoach to catch up with a Transcontinental Railroad train, Phileas Fogg et al. become entangled with a black US Marshal pursuing a gang of Klansmen composed of ex-Confederate Army soldiers, led by a former colonel named Abernathy, who fled west after being driven out of Tennessee where they were conducting a terrorist campaign against freedmen.
* The crew of the Minbari warship ''Trigati'' in ''Series/BabylonFive''.
* The crew of the Battlestar Pegasus in ''Series/{{Battlestar Galactica|2003}}'' continued their war against the Cylons long after (as far as they knew) the government was completely wiped out and their warship was the only human fighting force left in the galaxy.
** The Galactica herself is also an example, though for the most part, they tended only to fight the Cylons when escaping wasn't immediately possible. They do spend most of the MiniSeries trying to figure out who is in charge and getting the ship re-armed so they can get back into the fight, it isn't until the end that Roslin convinces Adama that running away is the better option.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': The Order of Aurelius has existed for centuries as a {{cult}} of vampires who [[ReligionOfEvil worship]] the Old Ones and wish to bring them back. Initially the main threat of Season 1, after the Master's death and their failed attempt to resurrect him, only the Anointed One and a few others are left by the time of Season 2's "School Hard," and they decide that whoever kills Buffy will take the Master's place. When their plot is ruined due to Spike's impulsive tendencies, he decides to simply kill the Anointed One and takes control of what's left of the order, dissolving it completely.
-->'''Spike''': From now on, we're gonna have a little less ''ritual'' and a little more ''fun'' around here!
* ''Series/DayOfTheTriffids2009'': A group of soldiers and government officials who retain their sight are seen in the first half of the series preparing to retreat to the countryside to try and reestablish society away form the dangerous triffids and scores of blinded people.
* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS12E5RevengeOfTheCybermen Revenge of the Cybermen]]", the Cybermen encountered are small group of stragglers from the Cyber War reduced to skulking about the galaxy in a worn-out warship.
** In "Remembrance of the Daleks", the Seventh Doctor destroys the Daleks' home planet and then persuades the lone surviving Imperial Dalek to kill itself as it has "no superiors, no inferiors, no reinforcements, no hope, no rescue!"
** When the Ninth Doctor attempts a similar tactic on another lone Dalek in "Dalek", however, he only succeeds in making it angrier.
--->Then I shall follow the Primary Order! The Dalek instinct to ''destroy'', to '''''conquer'''''!
** Most Dalek factions in the revival (or at least the RTD era) were this, as the scattered survivors of the apocalyptic [[GreatOffscreenWar Last Great Time War]]. The revival's first season ended with the Doctor facing a two-hundred-ship Dalek fleet... after establishing the Time War had ended with ten ''million'' ships being wiped out.
** This seems to happen throughout history with the humans and the Cybermen. One destroys the other, but not quite, then the other recovers and comes back, rinse and repeat.
* ''Series/FearTheWalkingDead'': The Stalkers, the secondary antagonists of Season 7, are the remaining members of [[DarkMessiah Teddy's]] ApocalypseCult from the previous season, who blame the protagonists for the failure of his promised vision from coming to pass.
* In ''Series/{{Firefly}}'', Malcolm Reynolds, on the losing side of the Independents' revolt against the Alliance, still believes that he was on the ''right'' side, and ekes out an existence on the outskirts of civilization with a few like-minded comrades.
** Played with throughout the series. While everyone ''thinks'' that Mal is The Remnant -- ready to take the fight to the Alliance again on behalf of the Independents -- he really just wants to forget the Alliance exists and live his own gorram life. The mistaken belief that Mal is still fighting the war is invoked in "Bushwhacked" and several times during [[Film/{{Serenity}} the movie]].
--> '''Trade Agent''': You all are Browncoats, eh? Fought for independence? Petty thieving ain't exactly soldiers' work.\\
'''Mal''': War's long done. We're all just folk now.
** Note that for a while, he ''was'' The Remnant -- it's mentioned in various sources that he fought on at Serenity Valley with his troops for several weeks after the leaders of the Independents stopped fighting and began negotiating terms of surrender.
** As was Zoe, who joined a group called the Dust Devils when she was released from the Alliance prison camp.
** Other remnants show up in the comics as well.
* Jess Evans and his Confederate renegades in the ''Series/FrontierCircus'' episode "The Hunter and the Hunted". Refused a pardon after the Civil War, they moved west and have been living as outlaws. Several are StillWearingTheOldColors.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** The Wildlings have become this by late Season 5, when anywhere between 50,000 to 100,000 of them are massacred at Hardhome by the White Walkers. Only a small fraction of that number manages to escape with the Night's Watch fleet and then, even more of them are killed while fighting in the Battle for Winterfell. However, they're now at least somewhat safe south of the Wall, mostly because of their service and sacrifice to Jon Snow, who as [[spoiler: King in the North]], has placed the [[DyingRace surviving Wildlings]] under his banner and protection.
** The Stark children become this early in the series when their most prominent members are either dead or missing, their army is scattered, their household is ruined and family members are exiled by the crown, and their family name is also almost extinct in the male line. As Bran tells Rickon, if anything were to happen to him and Robb, he is the heir to Winterfell. With Bran going beyond the Wall, Sansa and Arya trapped in the South, and Jon being an [[HeroicBastard illegitimate]] son in the Stark family, Rickon is the only one with the Stark name left in the North -- one who Bran expects will be fostered with the Umbers, loyal bannermen.
** Daenerys is the last known Targaryen. House Targaryen themselves are The Remnant of the Valyrian dragonlords.
--> '''Maester Aemon:''' A Targaryen alone in the world is a terrible thing.
** Stannis is this as far as the War of the Five Kings is concerned, as of Season 4. He is the only original rival claimant to the Iron Throne who hasn't bent the knee to Joffrey at King's Landing. Balon Greyjoy has presumably not bent his knee yet, but he is not considered a threat like Stannis is.
* In one episode of ''Series/GilligansIsland'', a demented Japanese soldier who doesn't realize WWII is long-over arrives on the island and begins ambushing the castaways one by one.
* ''Series/{{Jeremiah}}'': The militaristic Valhalla Sector is made up of government members who avoided dying with the rest of the world's adults by withdrawing to a bunker until the initial plague died out.
* ''Series/Jericho2006'': Hawkins, Chavez and Cheung are unusual intelligence operative versions of this, trying to achieve their original mission as their country becomes the DividedStatesOfAmerica.
* ''Series/KamenRiderDecade'': Super Shocker in the GrandFinale movie ''Final Chapter''. It's the remains of [[LegionOfDoom Dai-Shocker's]] massive MonsterOfTheWeek army after the really big fight at the end of ''All Riders vs. Dai-Shocker'', rebranded under Narutaki (whose hatred of Decade has evolved from {{troll}}ing to outright villainy) and a revived [[Series/KamenRider Doctor Shinigami]].
* ''Series/KungFu1972'': In "The Last Raid", Kwai Chang Caine must rescue people who have been kidnapped by a Confederate soldier who still thinks the Civil War is going on.
* The American [=POWs=] in the ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' episode "Apocalexx Now" -- the Fighting 78th, a Marine Platoon that was captured during the Vietnam War and released during the episode, circa 2001 AD, under the impression that the war was still raging.
* ''Series/TheLastShip'' features plenty of these, both positive and negative throughout the series given how many nations get ravaged by the Avian flu. The main characters arguably provide an example of this themselves for the first season or two that actually succeeds in their mission. Villainous counterparts include Ruskov, Peng Wu, and Granderson’s mother.
* In the ''Series/MacGyver1985'' episode "Humanity", [=MacGyver=] tangles with the K-Force, a group of PraetorianGuard still loyal to Romania's dead tyrant Ceauşescu.
* Col. Emmett Anderson (played by Kurtwood Smith) in the pilot episode of ''Series/TheMagnificentSeven'' [[RecycledTheSeries TV series]], "Ghosts of the Confederacy," who leads a group of ex-Confederate soldiers who roam the west preying on isolated towns.
* The main antagonists of ''Series/TheMandalorian'' are a faction of former [[Franchise/StarWars Galactic Empire]] military units who refuse to acknowledge the Empire's collapse, and are rampaging across the Outer Rim (where the New Republic's [[AuthorityInNameOnly ability to enact its authority is fairly limited]]) as they try to gather the resources needed to retake control of the galaxy. Season 3 reveals that they're actually part of a larger Imperial Remnant controlled by a [[ShadowGovernment Shadow Council]] of high-ranking officials which presents the facade of being reduced to fragmented warlords to lull the New Republic into false security while they slowly regain their strength.
* ''Series/TheNewAvengers'': In "K is for Kill", a cadre of Soviet soldiers are accidentally awoken from their cryogenic sleep and embark on following their original Cold War orders; attacking several former military targets that have been abandoned for decades.
* ''Series/NorthernExposure'' featured one of these guys in one episode, from when Japan controlled the Aleutian Islands.
* The last surviving generals of the [[Series/PowerRangersZeo Machine Empire]] attacked Earth in the ''Series/PowerRangersWildForce'' episode "Forever Red", four years after the Empire, and other forces of evil, were destroyed at the end of ''Series/PowerRangersInSpace''.
* Pompeii's army in ''Series/{{Rome}}'' is reduced to this after he loses a great battle and he is dumped as its leader. Cato and Scipio take over but they are defeated in Africa.
* The first episode of ''Series/RutlandWeekendTelevision'' has a sketch about a group of British soldiers who remain unaware WWII is over... and who are stationed on the Isle of Wight, a couple of miles off the English coast. It also has a Major who ''has'' been told the war is over, but is incapable of understanding the concept.
* ''Series/SirArthurConanDoylesTheLostWorld'': In "Tribute", Malone, Marguerite, and Summerlee are taken prisoner by a World War I pilot, Hans Dressler, who still thinks WWI is going on.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' "Let That Be Your Last Battlefield", the crew encounter an alien fugitive with the right side of his body colored white and the left colored black. Eventually his pursuer, who has the same colors but reversed arrives to capture him for causing "race riots". Eventually, the pursuer hijacks the ''Enterprise'' to try to return the fugitive to their home planet to face trial only to find that the planet had destroyed itself in the race war. Despite being offered a place to live by Kirk, both of them blame each other's race for what happened and start fighting, eventually taking their fight to the destroyed planet below.
-->'''Sulu''': But the cause they fought about no longer exists. Does it matter now which one was right?\\
'''Spock''': All that matters to them is their hate.\\
'''Uhura''': Do you suppose that's all they ever had, sir?\\
'''Kirk''': No, but that's all they have left. ''[dejected]'' Warp factor 4, Mr. Sulu. Starbase...4.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' episode "The Emissary", the ''Enterprise'' is sent to intercept a Klingon warship whose crew has been in [[HumanPopsicle suspended animation]] since the Klingon-Federation war 75 years ago and will awaken in range of Federation outposts. Despite fears that they might have to destroy the ship to save the outposts, Worf saves the day by assuming temporary command of the ''Enterprise'', tricking the Klingons into thinking the Klingon Empire won the war ([[ExactWords without ever exactly saying so]]) and convincing them to stand down.
* In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager,'' a member of the Maquis used a plan too complicated to describe here ([[{{Brainwashed}} Brainwashing]] was involved) to cause the Maquis members of the Voyager crew to mutiny. This is really a subversion; the guy in question was in reality never a part of the Maquis [[EvenEvilHasStandards because his more questionable methods of freedom fighting disgusted them]], and was trying to revive the Maquis through his brainwashing partially to get back at them for rejecting his help.
* In Season 3 of ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'', it's revealed that a galactic cataclysm called "The Burn" damn near ended interstellar civilization. TheFederation has been reduced from 350 members at its peak to just 38, and the seceeding worlds include three of its founders. The eponymous ship proves key to determining the cause of The Burn and bringing the Federation BackFromTheBrink.
* The [[GrandFinale final two episodes]] of ''Series/StarTrekPicard'' reveals the ultimate foe of the series to be [[spoiler:the Borg Queen and what's left of the Borg Collective, completely and utterly ravaged from what Admiral Janeway did in the GrandFinale of ''Voyager''. They attempt to rebuild their forces by forcefully assimilating young Starfleet members, but Picard and his old crew are able to stop them and destroy the Collective as we know it]].
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** After Lucifer was thrown back into his Cage during the Apocalypse, thanks in part to the help of the demon Crowley, who subsequently took over Hell, there remained a remnant of demons who were still loyal to Lucifer and seeking to release him again, which the reigning Kings of Hell never quite managed to stamp out.
** Henry Winchester was briefly this to the [[spoiler: American branch of]] the Men of Letters, being the only member to escape the massacre of the group and coming to the present as a FishOutOfTemporalWater, who becomes desperate to restore them (and his relationship with his family) being willing to go back in time to achieve that even though it could retcon his grandsons Sam and Dean out of existence.
* ''Franchise/SuperSentai'': Most crossovers involve remnants of the previous villain group teaming up with the current one.
** ''JAKQ Dengekitai vs. Gorenger'' involves remnants of the Black Cross in various Zolders joining up with CRIME to avenge their organization against their nemesis.
** ''Film/GekisouSentaiCarrangerVsOhranger'' has Bara Mobile, the last of the Bara Machines, who plans to restart the Baranoia Empire from the ground-up as the "Car-Human Empire" by fusing humans to cars by making them biologically compatible; after initially being protected by the Carrangers due to them mistaking him for a good guy, he teams up with Bowzock once everything is clarified to realize his mad goals.
** ''Film/NinpuuSentaiHurricanegerVsGaoranger'' involves the last two Orgs: Tsuetsue and Yabaiba, teaming up with the Jakanja to destroy the Hurricaneger, Gouraiger, Shurikenger and especially the Gaoranger by stealing the latter's powers to use them for evil, both are destroyed midway through the film by the combined finishers of the team.
** ''Film/BakuryuuSentaiAbarangerVsHurricaneger'': Wendinu and Furabijo show up alive and well despite their apparent onscreen deaths and free a lost member of the destroyed Jakanja Ninja Clan: Janil Iga, who teams up with the Invasion Garden Evolian to help them conquer the world and destroy both Hurricaneger and Abaranger.
** After the Zangyack Empire is defeated in the FinalBattle of ''Series/KaizokuSentaiGokaiger'', it's stated in a newspaper later that the Empire has split into multiple warring factions. One remnant faction, led by the deceased emperor Ackdos Gill's nephew Bacchus Gill, shows up in ''Film/TokumeiSentaiGoBustersVsKaizokuSentaiGokaigerTheMovie'' as the main antagonist though he has already beaten the Gokaiger and strong-armed them into service when he shows up.
*** An episode of ''Gokaier'' also features remnants of the Gaiark from ''Series/EngineSentaiGoOnger'' getting into conflict with the Zangyack over who gets to conquer Earth.
** A stageshow for ''Series/DoubutsuSentaiZyuohger'' had the team teaming up with Red Falcon of ''Series/ChoujuuSentaiLiveman'' to battle a surviving Armed Brain Army Volt robot.
** After the Gangler Crime Group is defeated at the end of ''Series/KaitouSentaiLupinrangerVsKeisatsuSentaiPatranger'', the ICPO turn their attention to hunting the "Gangler Remnants" that have managed to outlast the organization and are still causing trouble. One Gangler Remnant teams up with the remnants of the Jark Matter in the {{crossover}} movie with ''Series/UchuSentaiKyuranger''. Another Remnant teams up with the Druidon Tribe in ''Series/KishiryuSentaiRyusoulger''.
** SuperHeroMamaLeague implies ALL Sentai enemy groups never fully die out and every Sentai team despite mostly going back to their former lives occasionally have to suit up again to mop them up once in a while.
* In ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'', the Torchwood Institute was once a massive organisation with access of powerful aliens weapons and talking about rebuilding the British Empire. After 2007 it's half a dozen people in a ElaborateUndergroundBase under Roald Dahl Plass. It became defunct in 2010, when [[spoiler:Jack left Earth]], and by 2011, it was four people on the run, basically running under Torchwood as a codeword. [[spoiler:With the death of one of its remaining four members, its status as of the end of ''Series/TorchwoodMiracleDay'' is unclear]].
* ''Series/TruthSeekers'': The ghost of Private Adkins believes that World War II is still ongoing, and jams all communications signals near the Portland Beacon in an attempt to frustrate German air raids.
* An episode of ''Series/VoyageToTheBottomOfTheSea'' dealt with a Japanese holdout (see RealLife examples below).
* ''Series/{{Westworld}}'': The Confederados are a group of hosts in the role of ex-Confederate soldiers who roam the outer lands of the park, and are a part of the War storyline. They are known as the "Army of New Virginia", but most people simply call them "Confederados". They are described as not willing to surrender at the end of the Civil War, and now work as mercenaries south of the border.
* ''Series/ZNation'':
** Both regular versions of this and more sympathetic ones appear from time to time, but the most notable is General Arthur [=McCandles=], who commanded the infection response forces in Virginia, and still broadcasts as if he's in command of a major force, but by the time they main cast encounter him, he's a bedridden ZombieInfectee who only has a single, neurotic living soldier left under his command.
** The first few episodes of Season 4 feature a Marine lieutenant and a few soldiers (one of whom is his daughter) running a benevolent refugee camp.
** The penultimate episode of Season 4 reveals that the remains of the federal government have survived a decade into the apocalypse by holing up in the Mount Weather facility. By the time the protagonists stumble on them though, everyone's died off except for one bureaucrat who has become President by default and two Secret Service agents protecting her.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
[[/folder]]

* The Eruseans from ''VideoGame/AceCombat'' do this twice. The first time, after sacking their capital Farbanti and splashing the [=V-22s=] carrying their military leaders in the penultimate mission of ''[[VideoGame/AceCombat04ShatteredSkies Shattered Skies]]'', a group of officers and the last 15 members of their pilot corps takes over the last trump card, Megalith, prompting the final AirstrikeImpossible. The second is covered in the Arcade Mode of ''[[VideoGame/AceCombat5TheUnsungWar The Unsung War]]'', where a force calling itself "Free Erusea" attempt an uprising. The Leasath also do this after their commanding officer is defeated in ''[[VideoGame/AceCombatXSkiesOfDeception Skies of Deception]]'', though our IntrepidReporter narrator notes that they shouldn't last long.
* In ''VideoGame/AlphaProtocol'', this is an almost-inevitable consequence of the Alpha Protocol system, because there are so many layers of deniability built into the program that each agent can become an organization unto himself, and when the program is exposed, it just shuts down and the government denies everything, leaving its remaining agents completely unattached. Conrad Marburg's Deus Vult is one such organization, and though it's not outright stated, it is strongly hinted that [[spoiler: [=G22=] is actually the remnant of a previous iteration of Alpha Protocol known as [=G19=].]]
* In ''VideoGame/BaldursGateSiegeOfDragonspear'', the necromancer Korlasz leads the remnants of Sarevok's followers after Sarevok's defeat. Taking her out is the first mission of the campaign, before the new threat emerges.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty''
** The Loyalist faction from the first ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare Modern Warfare]]'' is reduced to this by ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare3 Modern Warfare 3]]'', where they act as a PMC who helps the player (themselves acting as the remnant of the disavowed Task Force 141 from the previous game).
** The [=OpFor=] fought in the US Marine campaign of the first game is also reduced to an insurgency by the start of ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare3 Modern Warfare 2]]'', lacking all the heavy equipment they once had and forced to fight like guerillas.
** In "Project Nova", in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOps'', the German forces fought in the Artic circle count, as Nazi Germany practically ceased to exist in May, 1945, while the mission itself takes place five months after the end of the War in Europe.
* From ''VideoGame/CallOfJuarezBoundInBlood'', Colonel Barnesby and his Confederate remnants are undaunted by the end of UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, and start up a gun-running operation in the hopes of putting together enough money to finance a second rebellion.
* The player could actually become a remnant soldier in the online mode of the game ''VideoGame/{{Chromehounds}}''. If your nation was the first to be taken over, you could then elect to either join one of the remaining two nations or strike out on your own, fighting against both in hopes of liberating the conquered third.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' features a few incarnations of forces from the past in later eras. The [[LizardFolk Reptites]] of the Giant's Claw cross over into LostWorld, while the only way to improve relations between the Humans and Fiends in 1000 AD is to take out Magus' surviving generals in 600 AD. [[spoiler:Doing this with [[SixthRanger Magus]] in your party [[EasterEgg leads to some rather rewarding special dialogue.]]]]
* In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', it's shown that after the death of GreaterScopeVillain [[spoiler: Junko Enoshima]] at the end of the [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaTriggerHappyHavoc previous game]], her ApocalypseCult Ultimate Despair [[spoiler: and their grip on the VillainWorld she created]] is on the decline thanks to the efforts of [[BigGood Makoto]] and the [[LaResistance Future Foundation]], with its members now referred to as "Remnants of Despair". [[spoiler: ZigZagged by the fact that while things aren't as bad as they once were, it's still AWorldHalfFull since [[AfterTheEnd about half of the human race is still]] BrainwashedAndCrazy with no end in sight after the failure of the Neo World Program. Calling them "Remnants" seems more optimistic than anything.]]
* In ''VideoGame/TheDarksideDetective'', the gravedigger in the cemetery took the job after crashing his plane there during the War. He doesn't get out much, and is apparently unaware that the War is over.
* In the Tau campaign of ''VideoGame/DawnOfWar: Dark Crusade'', when the Imperial Guard are defeated, the narrator mentions that many of the survivors continued to stage guerrilla attacks against the aliens. Also, in the actual game, the forces remaining in any enemy-controlled province after their main headquarters on the RiskStyleMap has been captured probably count.
* During the ''Franchise/DeadSpace'' series, [=EarthGov=] serves as the government of Humanity. However, they are shown to be willing to torture people who have come into contact with [[ArtifactOfDoom the Markers]] in order to create even more of them because of the promise of creating a new energy source, including series protagonist Isaac Clarke who ended up tortured by them for three years following the events of the first game. By the beginning of Dead Space 3, the once powerful [=EarthGov=] has been totally wiped out by the Unitologists uprising, with the platoon that you work with being the last remnants of their military. [[spoiler:By the end of the main game and it's awakened DLC, sergeant John Carver is the only member of the platoon that survives to the end.]]
* In ''VideoGame/DirgeOfCerberus'', the organisation named Deepground appears and wreaks havoc on the world. It soon turns out they are a little-known experimental group from within Shinra's group SOLDIER and were kept hidden underground. It's stated that in the handover between President Shinra and his son Rufus that Rufus was never informed about the group, so by the time they see the surface in Dirge of Cerberus 3 years have passed since the end of the original game and they have been preparing for their mission without knowledge that the Shinra company that caused their formation is basically no more.
* ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'': [[spoiler:The Deserter, the true culprit behind the murder of the Hanged Man, is this. He is a Communist commissar that kept fighting the war, hidden in the island from civilization, ocasionally going into Martinaise to get food and supplies, and spying on the city from afar, plotting his revenge on the bourgeoisie, the foreign occupiers, and the working class traitors who've allowed the Revolution's legacy to to die, although the true reason he killed the Colonel was a fit of jealousy, as [[StalkerWithACrush he was sleeping with Klasjee]].]]
* ''VideoGame/Dishonored2'': The Regenters are believers of the former Lord Regent Hiram Burrows from the first game and people that hates the Empress Emily Kaldwin, enough that they were alright at the idea of assassinating her and her friend when the former was just 14.
* ''VideoGame/DragonQuest'':
** Grandmaster Nimzo from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'' is heavily implied to have been a follower of Aamon from ''VideoGame/DragonQuestIV'' who managed to complete his master's goal of achieving godhood through the Secret of Evolution long after Aamon's defeat.
** ''VideoGame/DragonQuestBuilders2'' starts when the Builder is found by survivors of the Children of Hargon, who fled when their god Malroth was defeated by the heroes of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestII''.
* In ''VideoGame/DungeonKeeper2'' the Sylvan Elves formerly under the command of Lord Ronin continue to fight against Keeper Asmodeous. Interestingly, and very unusually for this trope, if left to their own devices they'll actually ''win''. Granted it won't resurrect their commander, but they'll get their territory back. Of course, the mission objective is to kill Asmodeous yourself in order to prevent this, with the assumption being that the player has destroyed the remaining Elves in the process. Later, the remainder of Lord Bramble's forces don't give up either, but they're more interested in surviving in what remains of his fortress than actually aggressing against the two Keepers in the area.
* In ''VideoGame/DynastyWarriors 8'', the Jin Campaign's AlternateHistory storyline sees them defeating Shu and Wu halfway through... and then spend the other half dealing with an incredibly stubborn [[TheRemnant Remnant]] of Shu's old military, Jiang Wei, who rallies various allies (including remnants of Wu's forces) in a bid to retake Shu.
* ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'':
** Following the events of ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIIIMorrowind Morrowind]]'', the [[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion Crisis]], the [[ColonyDrop Red]] [[ChekhovsVolcano Year]], and finally the subsequent [[LizardFolk Argonian]] [[TheDogBitesBack Invasion]], [[OurElvesAreDifferent Dunmer]]-controlled Morrowind has become this. What little habitable land was left was mostly taken over by the Argonians, while only a few northern areas of [[ProudWarriorRace House Redoran]] territory remain. Most of the Dunmer people were forced to flee to Solsthem (a frozen over, barren rock of an island) and Skyrim (where they are treated as second class citizens to the native Nords). [[TheClan Great House]] Indoril is a particular example, following the fall of the [[CorruptChurch Tribunal Temple]], with which House Indoril was [[ReligiousBruiser heavily intertwined]]. While still better off than [[ProudMerchantRace House Hlaalu]] (which was scapegoated and {{Unperson}}ed by the other Houses), the Indoril are one of the weakest Council Houses as of the 4th Era.
** ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'':
*** The Blades, an AncientOrderOfProtectors who have long served the emperors of Tamriel as [[PraetorianGuard bodyguards]] and [[SecretPolice spies]], were decimated during the [[GreatOffscreenWar Great War]] and officially disbanded by a term in the White-Gold Concordat, which is enforced by the [[ANaziByAnyOtherName Thalmor]] ruthlessly hunting down the surviving Blades. The remaining Blades have been forced underground to await the coming of a new Dragonborn to follow, which is precisely what happens during the main quest. You can further assist them into becoming an OrderReborn by recruiting new members.
*** The [[MurderInc Dark Brotherhood]] has only one Sanctuary remaining in all of Tamriel, in a remote forest in Skyrim, [[spoiler:and the Legion already knows its location and could wipe out the Brotherhood at any time.]] They also don't have [[MouthOfSauron a Listener]], so they can't even pick up the contracts that reach the Night Mother via Black Sacraments and are forced to rely on the rumour mill to find jobs.
*** The Skyrim ThievesGuild branch is reduced to a single tavern in a sewer, their connections are all but gone, and they are considered little more than petty hired thugs with a veneer of civility. The Guild's sorry state is due to [[spoiler:Mercer Frey's betrayal. He stole Nocturnal's Skeleton Key (draining the Guild's luck since this upset their patron Daedra Nocturnal), embezzled the Guild's fortune using the Key, and murdered the Guild's charismatic leader Gallus when he got too close to the truth (which cost the Guild all of Gallus' connections).]]
*** Once you've completed the Civil War questline in favor of either the Imperial Legion or Stormcloaks, the other side becomes this. Though despite what your commander says, you can't wipe them out without a GameMod since their outpost officers are still flagged as "Essential" characters.
*** The Empire itself is a mere shadow of its former glory. Summerset Isle, Valenwood and Elsweyr have seceded and become the Aldmeri Dominion, Black Marsh and Hammerfell have become independent states (and Black Marsh has expanded to include some of southern Morrowind) and only Cyrodiil, Skyrim and High Rock remain under Imperial control. Of these three, only High Rock has been untouched by war and disaster and it is only tangentially aligned with the Empire as of the events of the game. A Stormcloak victory in the Civil War would see Skyrim secede from the Empire and the Empire perhaps fatally fractured for good.
*** At the start of the ''Dawnguard'' DLC, the Hall of the Vigilant, the headquarters of the [[ChurchMilitant Vigil of Stendarr]], [[spoiler:gets wiped out by the Volkihar vampire clan]]. This leaves the wandering Vigilants throughout Skyrim as the remnant of the order.
* ''VideoGame/TheForceUnleashed'': Jedi survivor Rahm Kota and his militia, who go from fighting the separatists to fighting the Empire, and are still around over a decade after Order 66.
* In the PlayableEpilogue to four of six plotlines in ''[[VideoGame/EscapeVelocity EV Nova]]'', [[StateSec the Bureau]] is ousted from their control of {{the Federation}} and its lawfully elected government is restored to power. But you periodically run across Bureau remnant forces flying their trademark [[CoolStarship RAGE Gunboats]], battling Federation Navy ships.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' series has plenty, since it takes place AfterTheEnd.
** The series' recurring villainous faction is the Enclave, éminence grise members of the pre-war U.S. government who rode out the apocalypse in their bunker before emerging to retake the wasteland. Responsible for unscrupulous projects such as the Forced Evolutionary Virus and Vault Experiment, over the course of ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 2}}'' they try to kill everyone that doesn't match their criteria of "pure" human, which considering all the radiation is pretty much everybody except themselves and Vault Dwellers who have never left their vaults (which doesn't stop them from coming in and killing them anyway). They get defeated. So when you encounter them in ''VideoGame/{{Fallout 3}}'', you're fighting the remnant of The Remnant, and then in the ''Broken Steel'' expansion you fight the remnants of ''that''. As of ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' the Enclave is all but extinct, but you can convince a handful of survivors to rally for one last hurrah at the Second Battle of Hoover Dam, where they'll become the stuff of legends. That said, [[SequelHook the game hints that there are probably more Enclave holdouts in the Midwest, such as the Chicago outpost visited by ED-E.]]
** Many members of The Master's super mutant army survived his death, and by the time of ''Fallout 2'' eighty years later, the smarter ones have settled in peace in the city of Broken Hills. While super mutants can be encountered as [[DemonicSpiders particularly dangerous]] raiders, ''New Vegas'' reveals that most are happy to readjust to a peaceful life. Unfortunately, the [[EliteMooks Nightkin]] have had their sanity shattered due to use of their stealth technology, and still wage war on non-mutants for various crazy reasons, even as their non-nightkin brethren are working to cure them of their afflictions.
** The Brotherhood of Steel technically qualifies, as they're descended from a group of former United States Army soldiers. In a twist, it's revealed in the first game that the soldiers were ''mutineers'' and the Brotherhood was effectively a secessionist movement. Unlike most examples on this page, they're [[BlackAndGreyMorality relatively]] heroic, if rather racist and exclusionist.
*** The Brotherhood of Steel itself seems to be heading this way after the events of ''New Vegas'' and ''Fallout 4'', potentially much more so if the players don't like the Brotherhood. First ''New Vegas'' canonized the NCR-Brotherhood war, which either eradicated most West Coast chapters or drove them into hiding like the Mojave chapter. The tone of Elder Maxison's terminal entries make it sound as if the East Coast chapter of the Brotherhood is by far the most active chapter and that the Brotherhood as a whole depends on them.
** ''Fallout 3'' features the Chinese Remnant, [[OurGhoulsAreDifferent ghoulified]] pre-War Chinese infiltrators lurking in the ruins of Washington D.C.
** The ''Point Lookout'' DLC also has Desmond Lockheart and Professor Calvert, two high-ranking pre-War intelligence officers who have carried on their old rivalry for two hundred years, even though the nations they once represented no longer exist. And it's implied that there are others like them still playing the "Great Game."
* Many un-updated RandomEncounter zones can produce an effect similar to this after external plot changes, such as TheEmpire's troops in South Figaro's secret tunnel after the Floating Continent in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI''.
* ''VideoGame/FireEmblem'':
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBindingBlade'', defeating King Zephiel with all legendary weapons available and intact unlocks the chapters leading to the true ending of the game. The very first of these, "The Ghosts of Bern", pits Roy against the remnant of the Bern army, led by the final Wyvern General under orders from her deceased king.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'' pits Eliwood and Hector's army against the remnants of the Black Fang. By that point in the game, nearly all of the founding members are dead, with only one of the two Reed brothers left to carry the name of the Fang. All of their other leadership and members have been replaced by [[BigBad Nergal]] and [[ArtificialHuman his morphs.]] After "Cog of Destiny," the enemy forces cease being human.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'' has it again: Even after the Grado Empire is defeated by Prince Ephraim's forces, the Grado ''Remnant'' remains a persistent foe. Of note, Grado's [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend prince]] is still alive, and is the one giving the orders.
** On most routes of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'', there will be at least one commander from the opposing faction remaining for the final battle after their leadership is crushed:
*** On Crimson Flower, [[spoiler:Ashe and Annette, if not recruited, are the last two members of the fallen Holy Kingdom of Faehrgus still fighting after the death of King Dimitri.]]
*** On Azure Moon and Verdant Wind, [[spoiler:Myson and Odesse, two sorcerers working for "those who slither in the dark", are on hand to reinforce [[OneWingedAngel a transformed Edelgard]] and [[TheBerserker a resurrected Nemesis]], respectively. Defeating either of them causes their remaining forces to vanish.]]
* In ''VideoGame/FreedomPlanet2'', it’s revealed that [[spoiler:when Brevon, the BigBad of the first game, was defeated, some of his forces were left stranded on Avalice. These forces are lead by General Serpentine, Brevon's right-hand man, who still swears loyalty to his master]].
* In ''VideoGame/{{Freespace}}'', we get two factions of Remnants.
** In the first game is a Vasudan group calling themselves "The Hammer of Light" who refuse to accept their government's cease-fire with the Galactic Terran Alliance, and believe that the genocidal Shivans are a prophesized god-race. The Vasudan Empire declares them a terrorist group and they are believed to have been wiped out some time after the formation of the Galactic Terran-Vasudan Alliance.
** In the second game, the Terran Admiral Bosch forms a Polaris-based militant group called the Neo-Terran Front. Their aims are to overthrow the current Terran government and break ties with the now-friendly Vasudans, motivated mainly by good old-fashioned racism (speciesism in this case). They are declared a rebel group and wiped out over the course of the game. [[spoiler:It was actually all a front by Bosch, who really wanted an excuse to plunder some Vasudan ruins and revive an abandoned Terran project to communicate with the Shivans. He is successful in this endeavor, and survives the game... albeit in the custody of the Shivans, and who knows what they intend to do with him.]]
* ''VideoGame/GalaxyAngel'': The second game begins with a series of attacks perpetrated by a fleet of raiders on the borders of the empire, which are quickly revealed to be led by an admiral who survived the war against Eonia. Unsurprisingly, he's just being manipulated by the game's true antagonists and disposed of once he's no longer of use.
* ''VideoGame/TheGodfather: The Game'' counts an enemy Family as wiped out once you bomb and take over their Compound, but any {{Legitimate Businessmens Social Club}}s that you have yet to take over still shows as under their control, plus in certain spots even in Corleone turf you may still find pockets of enemy mobsters.
* In ''VideoGame/GuildWars: Prophecies'' after the Charr invade the Ascalonian capital, Prince Rurik realizes his people are fighting a HopelessWar and choose to lead the majority of the remaining population to Kryta. His father, King Adelbern, refuses to surrender his homeland and continues fighting against the Charr as did the Ebon Vanguard to the far north. Between games Adelbern's war ended with a LastStand in Ascalon City where he invoked the Foefire, killing the remaining Ascalonians and binding them as ghosts to continue fighting.
* ''VideoGame/GuildWars2'':
** The Flame Legion are the descendants of the Shaman caste which once ruled over Charr society. Long since cast out by the rest of Charr society, they continue to wage war on the other Legions in an attempt to impose their beliefs.
** The White Mantle ruled over Kryta for a few years before they and their Mursaat masters were defeated and driven out. Centuries later the cult lingers in secret, stirring up political dissent and funding bandits to harass the Krytan rulers they view as usurpers.
** Ebonhawk was the last bastion of Ascalonians against the Charr conquest of their nation. This ended when the threat of the Elder Dragons forced the races to unite. The people of Ebonhawk are bitter about this betrayal with many forming the Separatists, a band of outlaws intent on sowing discord between Charr and human.
* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'': One of the enemy factions in ''VideoGame/{{Halo 4}}'' and ''VideoGame/Halo5Guardians'' is a Covenant remnant led by religiously fanatical Elites who disregard the Arbiter's peace treaty with humanity. [[spoiler:The Covenant fighting on the planet Genesis are the remnants of the remnant, with the Arbiter having rooted them out of their last stronghold on Sanghelios. ]]
** The Didact, the BigBad of ''Halo 4'''s main campaign, is leading the remnants of his Promethean Warrior-Servants in tandem with the Covenant remnant against the UNSC, despite there being no plausible means of restoring the Forerunner Ecumene to its ancient glory.
** The ExpandedUniverse and gaiden games include several ''other'' Covenant remnants unrelated to the one we see in ''4'' and ''5'', such as the Keepers of the One Freedom (who are unique in their relative tolerance towards humanity).
* ''VideoGame/HeartsOfIronIV'' {{Game Mod}}s:
** ''VideoGame/KaiserreichLegacyOfTheWeltkrieg'':
*** The Entente is almost an entire alliance composed of this trope:
*** The British Empire has become an InNameOnly institution after radical socialist revolutionaries toppled the government in London. Canada (now the home of the exiled British monarchy), large parts of the Caribbean, Australia and New Zealand (now united as the “Australasian Confederation”), and a democratizing rump of British India continue to identify as parts of “the empire”, but in reality they are a coalition of independent states.
*** The remnants of the Third French Republic’s military managed to hold on to much of Northern Africa after socialist revolutionaries seized mainland France, forming the second major arm of the Entente.
*** Lastly, there’s the Kingdom of Sardinia, the last territory ruled by the House of Savoy, the former reigning dynasty of the now-dead Kingdom of Italy.
*** If Germany is overrun during the Second Weltkrieg, but still holds its African colonies, the German monarchy and government can flee to them and attempt to keep fighting. The Netherlands can do the same if they still hold Indonesia.
*** Several examples in China:
*** After Chiang Kai-shek’s defeat in the Northern Expedition, the Kuomintang has been scattered, but remnants of their forces survive in Yunnan and Fujian provinces, waiting for their chance to rise up again.
*** After the German-backed restoration of the Qing dynasty in Beijing, the Fengtian clique in Manchuria is now the last remnant of the Xinhai republic.
*** During the course of the game, if one of China’s major factions is defeated, but has allies in the [[WildCard Sichuan Clique]], they can retreat there and form a last redoubt.
** ''VideoGame/TheNewOrderLastDaysOfEurope'', set in an AlternateHistoryNaziVictory, features numerous examples:
*** Several remnants of the Soviet Union and the Red Army:
*** [[GeneralRipper Genrikh Yagoda]] has relocated the remnants of the Soviet government to the Siberian city of Irkutsk, but controls only the surrounding area, with the rest of Russia crumbling into warlordism.
*** The West Russian Revolutionary Front was formed by surviving Red Army divisions west of the Urals. It saw some success, briefly re-starting the war with Germany and nearly seizing Moscow. However, their offensive ran out of steam, and the Front became a remnant of ''itself'', holed up near Arkhangelsk and only surviving because the Germans were too exhausted to keep pursuing them.
*** East of the Urals, there’s also the Central Siberian Republic, a democratic state founded by prominent Soviet intellectuals with dissident sympathies. It saw some brief success, but also collapsed when its own generals ([[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome being former Red Army officers with no loyalty to democratic institutions]]) mutinied at the first sign of trouble. It now only controls the minor city of Tomsk.
*** The Pacific Fleet in Kamchatka are the last remnant of the Soviet Navy. They were forced to turn to piracy just to survive in one of the harshest peninsulas in the world with no supplies. They get an AlasPoorVillain moment if they are wiped out.
--->''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain Their sorrow scattered to the heartless sea.]]''
*** The Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Chinese Communist Party were nearly annihilated after the Japanese sacked Chongqing. However, some warlords in the mountains loyal to the KMT were never fully defeated, and there’s still some scattered bands of communist guerrillas in Shanxi.
*** The very last Free French garrison continues to cling to the Ivory Coast.
*** Whenever one of Nazi Germany’s [[FascistButInefficient far-flung, poorly managed, guerrilla-laden]] colonies [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome inevitably collapses]], there’s often a faction ([[EnemyCivilWar or two]]) representing the stranded German settlers and garrison personnel.
*** The Southern Urals is home to Magnitogorsk, which houses [[MadScientist Trofim Lysenko]] and whats left of his clique.
*** ... and this isn't even ''counting'' the various resistance fighters who don't have their own country at the game's start! Seriously, ''[=TNO=]'' has tons of characters.
*** Chita ruled by Mikhail II stands out for being a remnant not of the Soviet Union, but of the ''White Army''. They've been holding out for a long, long time.
*** Nowa Polska is a homeland in Russia for what's left of the Polish nation after Germany wiped it off the map. It's the last Polish nation left.
*** There are many people from the old British Empire still fighting on. The royal family has fled to Canada, while on the island itself several members of [[LaResistance HMMLR]] were old United Kingdom officials.
*** There are several more Chinese examples who are remnants of the Kuomintang. Most of them were Chiang-aligned warlords. These include the Ma Clique, Xikang, Guangxi, and Xinjang. All of them are still resisting the Japanese.
*** In the Philippines, what's left of [=USFIP=] (US Forces in the Philippines) is led by colonel Wendell Fertig and still fighting the Japanese. They work with the Filipino natives to chase out the Japanese.
* ''VideoGame/HeroesOfMightAndMagic IV'': most of the nations on the new world of Axeoth are survivors who escaped from the Armageddon on the world of Enroth. One such nation is the kingdom of Palaedra made up of former Erathians and ruled by the just Lord Lysander, who refuses to accept the crown because he's not of Gryphonheart blood. [[spoiler:He learns at the end of the campaign that he is, in fact, a Gryphonheart and says ruefully that he won't have an excuse not to accept the crown anymore.]]
* ''Homeworld: Cataclysm'' with the Taiidani empire. In the original ''VideoGame/{{Homeworld}}'', exiles literally march to the heart of their very empire. There was already rebellion, and the rebels found it very useful that exiles took the capital of TheEmpire and killed the emperor. In the time of the expansion, the Imperial capital is controlled by the exiles, and the rebellion is establishing a new government. However, this fails to stop several Taiidan warlords and splinter factions from trying to attack the still vulnerable ex-capital and try to establish the empire again. By the time of the full sequel, what’s left of the Taiidani joins the Vaygr in trying to destroy Hiigara.
* The primary active threat in ''VideoGame/HorizonZeroDawn'' is the Shadow Carja, the survivors of the losing side of a civil war who enjoyed the conquering, enslaving, and mass human sacrifice policies of the late Sun-King that inspired the rebellion that got him killed and want to go back to it. The true BigBad is the ManBehindTheMan who is puppeting them.
** This continues to an extent in the sequel, ''VideoGame/HorizonForbiddenWest'', with a couple side-quests focusing on Shadow Carja who survived the final battle of the previous game and still refuse to accept that they lost and seek to build up their strength and rise again. There's also an additional side-quest about a group of peasants from Shadow Carja territory who refuse to bow to the new Sun-King of the Carja because he's a patricide and regicide (no matter how much his father deserved it), but have no intention of continuing the war and just want to find some unclaimed land where they can be left alone.
* In ''VideoGame/JustCause2'', Rico can take a mission to find a missing pilot that ends up leading him to an island populated with ''hundreds'' of Imperial Japanese soldiers manning and using a [[WeatherControlMachine towering machine that generates thunderstorms to shoot down planes and sink boats]].
* ''VideoGame/TheLastOfUsPartII'': Abby, Owen, Manny and a handful of others were former Fireflys who are now part of the Washington Liberation Front (WLF). While they have assimalated into the WLF and are aligned with their goals, they (and especially [[VillainProtagonist Abby]]) still want revenge over what happened at the end of [[VideoGame/TheLastOfUs the first game]]. Them executing their revenge is the catalyst for most of the second game's plot.
* Ganon's followers on several occasions in ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'':
** ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' is the series' TropeCodifier for this. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' ended on a happy note: Ganon's dead, Link has the Triforce, Zelda's free, and Hyrule is back under its original rulers. But the sequel keeps the camera running. Ganon's warriors have regrouped and summoned up new allies, and now they're harrying the countryside and making reconstruction impossible. They have two objectives: to keep Hyrule weak enough that it can be reconquered easily, and to draw out Link so they can sacrifice him and get their master back. It doesn't work in the actual story (Link was just that good), but Ganon's return is the Game Over screen, so you'll be seeing it happen [[NintendoHard a time or two]].
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames''. This time it's [[Characters/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Koume and Kotake]], the Gerudo witches who brought Ganondorf up and made him everything he is today. [[CameBackWrong It doesn't go so well this time.]]
* ''VideoGame/MetalGear''
** ''VideoGame/MetalGear2SolidSnake'': Despite losing Mother Base, the Metal Gear, half the army's aces, most of the army, ''and'' [[spoiler:Venom Snake]], Big Boss reconsolidates his forces in Zanzibar Land ''using the very hostages Outer Heaven took in the first game''. In essence, they used to think that Big Boss was only a deluded war maniac (which he may or may not be from all the brain damage) and his war against the secret robot leaders of the United States was just the insanity talking... until said leaders ordered a missile strike on the hostages to eliminate any witnesses, killing some of their families. The survivors enlisted under Big Boss' dying army to fight his losing secret war as one final spiteful revenge.
** In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' and its sequel ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty Sons of Liberty]]'', the terrorists joins forces with a renegade Russian outfit led by Col. Sergei Gurlukovich. A most sympathetic character, the Colonel took Cold Warriors who had nowhere to turn after the Wall fell and made them into a mercenary force. Sergei's top guy, Ocelot, hints that certain corners of the Russian armed forces are disgusted with the current state of their country. The Colonel himself has a personal motive: After the USSR collapsed, his hometown was bought up by the U.S. and turned into an atomic testing site. Gurlukovich is delusional enough to think that if he can steal Metal Gear and deliver it into the Russians' hands, it will mean a renaissance for his country.
* In ''VideoGame/MetalSlug 3'''s fourth stage, a large hideout teems with scraggly, demented, though [[EliteMook dangerous]] enemy soldiers. These are said to be holdouts from an old war. [[PlayedForLaughs Humorously]], their hardware is so trashed they have to improvise: they "fly" planes by rigging them to pulleys on the ceiling, and use "tanks" that are just hollowed out vehicles carried by two men.
* ''VideoGame/NeoContra'' has [[AntagonistTitle the titular organization]] Bill and Jaguar battle throughout the whole game. They are apparently the political rebels who are trying to defy the governments by setting up their powers.
* The [[TheEmpire Terran Republic]] we see (and play as) in ''VideoGame/PlanetSide'' is the tiny portion of the Terran military that was stranded alongside everyone else when the [[LostColony wormhole to Auraxis abruptly closed]]. In ''Planetside 2'', they're the military command that took over the Auraxis colony fleet after much of it was damaged or destroyed passing through the Auraxis wormhole. Despite being separated from their command, the Terran Republic is still a powerful force that equals the [[MegaCorp New Conglomerate]] and [[MachineCult Vanu Sovereignty]] in strength.
* ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'':
** In ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'', the remnants of Team Rocket from Giovanni's sudden disappearance in the last game are the main antagonists, trying to call Giovanni back to them. [[spoiler:In the DS remakes, there's also an event involving TimeTravel where it turns out Giovanni ''was'' going to come back to lead them, but a combination of the signal suddenly stopping and the player soundly thrashing him along the way convince him to go back into exile.]]
** ''[[VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl Platinum]]'' also has Team Galactic turn into this after their leader Cyrus is beaten, though the new guy in charge outright tells you that they're not going to be quite as bad as they had been.
** A small group of Rockets post-disappearance are fought in the ExtendedGameplay of the ''[[VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue Red and Blue]]'' remakes, ''[=FireRed=]'' and ''[=LeafGreen=]''; it's implied that the last ones you fight are the same people who go on to lead the efforts in ''Gold'' and ''Silver''.
** And again in ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' where after [[spoiler:Ghetsis, the true leader and mastermind]] is defeated [[spoiler: he and his son N]] vanish, leaving behind the seven sages, and a couple of random Team Plasma members. The sequel, ''VideoGame/PokemonBlack2AndWhite2'', sees the organisation fully rebuilt after a two-year TimeSkip... into ''two opposing factions''.
** In one of the post-game downloadable missions in ''VideoGame/PokemonRanger: Shadows of Almia'', ex-Team Dim Sun members form a new team called Team Debonairs lead by DragonAscendant [[spoiler:Kincaid]].
* A RandomEncounter in ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption2'' has Arthur stumble across a lone Union soldier patiently awaiting orders. Except the game is set in 1899, meaning he's been waiting for orders from a long over war to come for ''34 years''. [[spoiler:John can encounter him as well in the PlayableEpilogue 8 years later, and he's ''still'' waiting.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SidMeiersAlphaCentauri'', the Peacekeepers under Pravin Lal are all that remain of the United Nations. In fact the crew and refugees aboard the ''Unity'' are all that remain of the human species, as the Earth is destroyed in a nuclear holocaust not long after the ''Unity'' leaves.
* The player can unintentionally become this in ''VideoGame/SidMeiersPirates''. The four European nations that have established colonies in the Caribbean go back and forth between being at war, peace and alliance with each other at random, so it's entirely possible to have a letter of marque from nation A, raid a city ruled by their enemy nation B, and then learn that the war ended before you launched the attack. Of course, since it's possible to be a chartered privateer in the service of all four nations simultaneously, once you're far enough along in the game, it doesn't really matter.
* In ''VideoGame/{{StarCraft|I}}'', the Confederacy just won't seem to go away after being defeated by Arcturus Mengsk. One remnant group joined the United Earth Directorate shortly after they invaded the sector.
** The Confederacy appears in a cool map, Deception, having made strange alliances.
** Ironically, there are UED remnants left in the K-Sector after their defeat, some of them serving as mercenaries; in fact, a lot of the remnants of old Terran factions appear as mercenaries that can be hired in ''VideoGame/StarCraftIIWingsOfLiberty''.
** Mengsk himself spent a few months as a remnant force between the sacking of his capital of Augustgrad and being able to reclaim it from Kerrigan's Swarm. There are also several prominent protoss examples (ranging in size from "the majority of the Fleet of the Executor" to "a couple dozen civilian refugees") on Aiur following the zerg invasion of that world; though most of them escape sooner or later and are absorbed into (or found, in the case of Artanis's group) the Daelaam Protoss government on Shakuras.
* The opening mission of ''VideoGame/StarFoxAssault'' has you destroying the last remnants of the Venom army before you move up in the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil.
* ''VideoGame/StarTrekOnline'' has the True Way. They're a terrorist group composed of rogue Jem'Hadar and Cardassian soldiers that wants to overthrow the civilian-dominated Cardassian government that came into being post-''[[Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine Deep Space Nine]]'' and resume the Dominion War.
** ''The 2800'' mission arc is a time-travel twist on the 'holdout that haven't heard/refuses to believe the war is over' variant -- the eponymous 2800 are 2800 Dominion warships that disappeared in the wormhole in 2374, at the height of the Dominion War... only to emerge in 2409, 34 years after the War ended, quickly capturing Deep Space Nine. It even goes so far as to have the solution be an analogue to bringing in the old commanding officer (the Federation brings out the Female Changeling imprisoned after the war, and gets her to co-operate by offering to return her to the Dominion for her assistance). [[spoiler: That is to say, the ''intended'' solution. Unfortunately, while the Vorta falls in line, the Jem'Hadar First goes nuts and decides that a suicidal last stand is preferable to surrender even against a Founder's orders.]]
** While the Tal Shiar starts out as StateSec crossed with de-facto rule of the Romulan Star Empire [[note]]it's not really TheManBehindTheMan since it's common knowledge that the relationship between the Tal Shiar and the Empress is more akin to untrusting allies than a ruler and her subordinates[[/note]], by the end of the Romulan storyline they have been reduced to this, having splintered from the remnants of the Star Empire in the wake of [[spoiler: Sela's disappearance]] and reeling from [[spoiler: Hakeev's death]]. What remains of Imperial loyalist forces are almost too ''weak'' for this trope -- when [[spoiler: Sela returns]] the escort force they manage to gather consists of an armed freighter and a Mogai warbird (a mid-size warship).
** While there have been no story effects of it -- WordOfGod have indicated it was mostly an excuse to keep related PVE queues running[[note]]which looks odd in light of [[VoodooShark all the other PVE queues the story has gone past but still remains available]][[/note]] -- this happens at the end of the Iconian War. [[spoiler: The surviving Iconians decide to withdraw to Iconia with their forces and remain there if they're allowed to do so undisturbed... except for T'Ket, who swears she will continue to fight against the Klingon-Federation-Romulan Alliance (and since the Heralds are all sworn to one specific Iconian or the other she does have an army to continue to fight with).]]
* In the ''Franchise/StarWars'' games set in the ''[[Franchise/StarWarsLegends Legends]]'' continuity, the remaining Imperials after the Battle of Endor are literally known as [[TropeNamers The (Imperial) Remnant]]. That's what happens when you cut off the head of the snake...
** As the page quote suggests, the Empire itself has to deal with a couple of these in ''VideoGame/StarWarsBattlefrontII'', with early missions past the events of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' involving a Geonosian restarting a Trade Federation droid producing plant on Mustafar and then the cloners on Kamino restarting production of Jango Fett clones to oppose the Empire.
** The ''VideoGame/DarkForcesSaga'' had the Empire Reborn faction, created by a former student of Darth Vader by the name of Hethrir, which was confusingly ''also'' referred to as the Imperial Remnant despite having no ties to the main one.
** The Old Republic era had the Sith Triumvirate of ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'', a terrorist organization made up of remnants of Darth Revan's Sith Empire. Unlike other, similar factions throughout the ages, their focus was less on restoring TheEmpire and more on killing Jedi wherever they could find them [[GenreSavvy so they could do whatever they wanted virtually unopposed]]. The result became known as the First Jedi Purge, with [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith Order 66]] being the Second.
** Furthermore, a solid chunk of [[VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic Darth Revan's forces]] were remnants of the Exar Kun Sith Empire ''before that'', so Darth Sion and potentially a few other Sith had served in ''three'' [[ForeverWar almost back-to-back wars]].
* The Divine Crusaders in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars OriginalGeneration'' show up again in the sequel as the Neo [=DC=], and then ''again'' in the GaidenGame. It helps that the Divine Crusaders are a walking ShoutOut to [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Zeon]], and that they had help from another faction.
** The Divine Crusaders example happened earlier in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars3'', with the Principality of Zeon reforming the group as the Neue DC.
** ''VideoGame/EndlessFrontier'' also has a variant with [[spoiler:the Einst, who get bonus points for being the remnant of a ''eldritch abomination'' faction]]. Remnants of this faction also appear in ''OriginalGeneration [[GaidenGame Gaiden]]'', but not as examples of this trope.
** Despite their usual splinter group not showing up, the Titans from ''Zeta Gundam'' will play this role whenever Bandai Namco decides to go post-series. A straight example comes from the ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha'' series as the Titans are given a thourough ass-kicking in ''Alpha Gaiden'', then their remains show up in ''Alpha 2''.
* According to the official bio for ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'''s Soldier, after being rejected from all branches of the military he flew to Europe on his own and embarked on a 'Nazi killing spree', which ended when he heard news of the war's end. In 1949.
* ''VideoGame/TotalAnnihilationKingdoms'' ''Iron Plague'': After Lokken was defeated in the first game, a small band of cultist called The Cult of Lokken still fight to restore Taros's former glory, [[spoiler:and they are successful in reviving Lokken from the dead.]]
* Abundant in the ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}}'' universe -- enemies are never fully killed off, they periodically return after slowly rebuilding. Arthas, [[{{Irony}} of all]] [[OurLichesAreDifferent people]], lampshades this at one point by complaining "Doesn't anyone stay dead anymore?"
** The early missions of ''Warcraft III'' feature orcish holdouts from the Second War, clinging to "dying traditions" and using armies evocative of ''Warcraft II''. Later expansions, including ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'', turn the tables by featuring a xenophobic Alliance admiral campaigning against the (reformed) orcs even after a truce between the Alliance and the Horde.
** The upper reaches of Blackrock Mountain are ruled by the remnants of the "Dark Horde," the few ogre, troll, and orc clans that fell under the rule of [[DragonTheirFeet Rend Blackhand]] decades ago, and who feel that the [[VideoGame/WarcraftII Second War]] has never really ended. What makes this self-proclaimed "true Horde" dangerous is that [[DeterminedDefeatist they know their ongoing battle is largely hopeless, but they keep fighting anyway]].
** Meanwhile in Outland is the "Fel Horde," demon-corrupted orcs left behind following the destruction of the Dark Portal. They've since thrown their lot with Illidan after he conquered Outland from the Burning Legion.
** The trollish tribes such as the Amani or Gurubashi are actually the remnants of ancient, mighty empires. Thousands of years later, their capitals are mostly ruins, and their (cannibalistic) culture and technology are primitive compared to the rest of the world. As of the "Rise of the Zandalari" patch, these remnants have united under the Zandalar tribe, the oldest troll civilization, in a last-ditch effort to reverse their race's decline and build a civilization capable of surviving their island home's destruction.
** When Arthas rolled into Quel'thalas at the head of the Scourge forces during the events of ''III'', 90% of the High Elf race was slaughtered. The survivors, few in number and cut off from the Sunwell, took to naming themselves Blood Elves in remembrance of their fallen. The Scourge not only devastated their population but their cities and their culture as well; Blood Elves use different magic (fire rather than frost or water, and more Blood Elves are becoming warlocks, something inconceivable to many High Elves), and they dress differently. Taking this further, the Blood Elves have thrown their lot in with TheHorde, and the scant handfuls of High Elves who still cling to the old culture and TheAlliance view them as race traitors.
** After Arthas' death at the end of ''Wrath of the Lich King'', Bolvar Fordragon becomes the new Lich King in order to [[SealedEvilInACan keep the Scourge in check]]. However in the subsequent ''Cataclysm'' expansion it's revealed that Darkmaster Gandling took advantage of the new Lich King's weakness to take control of the Scourge forces in the Plaguelands.
** The [[KnightTemplar Scarlet]] [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Crusade]] see themselves as righteous successors of the kingdom of Lordaeron, which was destroyed by [[ZombieApocalypse the Scourge]] in ''Warcraft III''. This naturally brings them into conflict with the Forsaken, the Horde-aligned faction of free-willed undead that the Crusade [[VanHelsingHateCrimes sees as indistinguishable from the non-sentient undead Scourge.]] But with [[FantasticRacism both]] [[ColdBloodedTorture factions]] [[AxCrazy using]] [[PlayingWithSyringes rather]] [[ThePlague questionable]] [[CameBackWrong methods]], their conflict can be seen as {{Black and Grey Morality}} at best.
*** The Scarlet Crusade is a particularly enduring Remnant as well. Over ''Wrath of the Lich King'' it lost its leadership in Northrend, and by the ''Cataclysm'' expansion their forces in the Eastern Plaguelands were turned into undead, their fortress in the Western Plaguelands was taken over by the [[LawfulGood Argent Crusade]], and they're basically down to the Scarlet Monastery and some scattered holdings in Tirisfal Glades. The game attributes their continued survival to High Inquisitor Whitemane -- [[GameplayAndStoryIntegration as a Priest, she can revive the fallen.]]
** The Twilight Hammer cult served the BigBad of ''Cataclysm'' and by the final raid of the expansion, their numbers were supposedly down to only a few dozen. They nonetheless continue to show up in both ''Legion'' and ''Battle for Azeroth'', albeit as minor enemies rather than a significant faction.
* ''VideoGame/{{Warframe}}'': At the end of "[[SeriesFauxnale The New War]]", [[spoiler: the new Narmer empire carved out by the [[AIIsACrapshoot Sentients]] upon their conquest of the Origin System is shattered, as most of their [[LivingShip Murex]] fleet is destroyed and their leader Ballas finally killed off. While the Origin System returned to [[StatusQuoIsGod its original state]], Narmer continues to exist, now led by [[SinisterMinister Archon Pazuul]] in its mission to rebuild itself.]]
* Any time a faction is defeated in ''VideoGame/WarlockMasterOfTheArcane'', all their cities and units remain in the game as "Neutrals". These cities do no longer play to win and are hostile to everyone, except other neutrals.
* ''VideoGame/WingCommander'': Played straight then averted in ''Prophecy''. The rag-tag Kilrathi band you encounter is this at first, carrying on the war against the Terran Confederation even after the rest of Kilrathi society has accepted its defeat in the third game. Later they ally with you against the new alien menace; how much aid they offer depends on the player's choice whether to [[spoiler: open fire on them at Hawk's urging or leave them be.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheWitcher3WildHunt'': In the ''Hearts of Stone'' expansion, Geralt can encounter a remnant of the Order of the Flaming Rose. During the time of the first game, this was one of the most powerful factions in Temeria. By the time of the third game, the faction lost almost all of its power due to the political schemes of King Radovid V. What is left of the Order are nothing but roving bandits wearing ornate looking armour.
** The Scoiatael (elven rebels) had also become TheRemnant of TheRemnant. In the first game, they had military presence right outside Temeria's capital, even started a rebellion inside it's walls. By the second game, they became roving bandits that joined Saskia's rebellion out of EnemyMine. By the third game, there is only one camp left in Velen, that resorted to robbing caravans for supplies and is likely finished off by Geralt in a side quest.
* ''VideoGame/XCOMChimeraSquad'' has Sacred Coil, one of three criminal groups being investigated by the eponymous squad in connection to the assassination of City 31's mayor. While most [[HalfHumanHybrid Hybrids]] in the city have acclamated to life alongside humanity, Sacred Coil consists of [[VichyEarth ADVENT loyalists]] seeking to help the Elders return and retake control of the planet. They've kept ADVENT's [[RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver black and red color scheme,]] and make heavy use of the MechaMooks favored by ADVENT's peacekeepers.

[[folder:Real Life]]
[[/folder]]

* The Sicarii were Jewish rebels who survived the Roman suppression of the UsefulNotes/JewishRevolts for several years and occupied the fortress of Masada. They were eventually besieged by the Romans and [[BetterToDieThanBeKilled committed mass suicide to avoid capture]].
* When the Western UsefulNotes/RomanEmpire fell in AD 476, it was survived by a number of remnant states that continued to call themselves the "Roman Empire" or sought to reestablish it to its former glory:
** The largest and most successful Remnant was the UsefulNotes/ByzantineEmpire, consisting of the eastern provinces of Greece, Anatolia (Turkey), Syria, and Egypt. It lasted for a thousand years, its rulers loftily styling themselves "Emperor and Autocrat of the Romans". The Byzantine Empire in turn started its ''own'' remnants after the sack of Constantinople in the Fourth Crusade in 1204; one of them, the Empire of Nicaea, later recaptured Constantinople and put its emperor on the throne there, while the longest-lived, the Empire of Trebizond, maintained independence until 1461, eight years after Constantinople fell to the Turks.
** Julius Nepos, ruler of the province of Dalmatia in the Balkans, continued to style himself "Emperor" until his death in AD 480.
** The warlord Aegidius, and later his son Syagarius, continued to hold out against barbarian incursions in the city of Soissons in northern Gaul (France). It lasted until King Clovis I of the Franks conquered their lands and added them to his own petty kingdom in 486. Clovis' consolidation of power and territory would lay the foundations of the medieval French monarchy.
** It's widely speculated that the historical basis of King Arthur [[note]] who is either the warlords [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ambrosius_Aurelianus Ambrosius Aurelianus]] or [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Riothamus Riothamus]] among many others, that is if Arthur himself isn't a CompositeCharacter of all of them. [[/note]] ruled over the last vestiges of Roman influence in Britannia that weren't subsumed by the Anglo-Saxons. When the Anglo-Saxons pushed further west the Romano-British would retreat to the region known as UsefulNotes/{{Wales}}. This in a way makes Wales itself the last sliver of the Western Roman Empire until its conquest by Edward I in 1283.
*** Indeed, the term "Welsh" is originally a German term FOR Romans.
* Meibion Glyndwr is an odd sort of Remnant. It's a Welsh independence movement most active in the 1960s and 1970s which did things like vandalise English-only signs in Wales and threaten to firebomb English vacation homes there. Although it looks like a particularly ineffectual Welsh version of the IRA, its name translates to "Sons of Glyndwr", and accordingly it traces itself to the army of prince Owain Glyndwr, who led an attempt to retake Wales from English dominance in the 15th century. As Wales was last an independent kingdom in the late 1100s, that would qualify it for one of the longest-lasting Remnants around. However, given the British government's concessions of Welsh autonomy and acknowledgement of its language and culture, very few people take Meibion Glyndwr very seriously anymore.
* The town of Calais in northern France was a Remnant of English rule over France; even after Joan of Arc and her friends booted the English out of the rest of France, England held on to Calais. This gave Calais a reputation as an odd Remnant, exacerbated during the UsefulNotes/WarsOfTheRoses, when its position in France made it hard to conquer and it was essentially the Remnant for whichever faction was out of power at the time. Calais would continue being an English possession until the reign of Queen Mary I. Similarly, the Channel Islands were something of a Remnant insofar as they were culturally closer to France than England and came into English possession through William the Conqueror; to this day, the British monarch rules over the Channel Islands as the Duke of Normandy[[note]]not "duchess", even if the monarch is female like UsefulNotes/ElizabethII[[/note]], as William the Conqueror did thousands of years before.
* The Kingdom of Navarre existed in this way up until the 19th century. It was one of the several medieval kingdoms in the Iberian peninsula, almost all of which were conquered and assimilated into modern Spain. Navarre was one of the last holdouts; while it was basically assimilated in 1492 and almost fully conquered in 1512, a tiny portion of it persisted north of the Pyrenees, where the former monarchs of Navarre remained as a kind of government in exile. Then, in 1589, King Henry of Navarre succeeded to the French throne and styled himself "King of France and Navarre". Every subsequent French monarch (except Napoleon) would do so until 1830, even though the overwhelming majority of what had been Navarre had long been a part of Spain.
* The Principality of UsefulNotes/{{Liechtenstein}} has been described as the last functioning remnant of the UsefulNotes/HolyRomanEmpire, having survived both UsefulNotes/NapoleonBonaparte's dissolution of said Empire and the later collapse of Austria-Hungary in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI.
* Both Taiwan and Mongolia have been home to various remnants of Chinese dynasties at different times.
** The khans of the House of Genghis Khan were displaced by the Ming in China itself but still ruled Mongolia and claimed to be the legitimate rulers of all China as the Yuan Dynasty. In the end, both the Ming and Yuan dynasties became remnants when they were absorbed by the Qing Dynasty, who came from Manchuria.
** In Taiwan, Zheng Chenggong, a one-time pirate known to the Europeans as Koxinga, set up a ''de facto'' independent state called the Kingdom of Tungning after the fall of the Ming Dynasty. Zheng was more than "UsefulNotes/ChiangKaiShek before his time"; his kingdom displaced both the Dutch outpost on Taiwan and the indigenous peoples of the island, becoming the first major Han Chinese settlement there. His kingdom lasted a full generation before being conquered by Qing imperial troops in 1683. Zheng remains a major folk hero in Taiwan.
* The "Old Believers" are an unusual religious Remnant. They broke away from the mainstream Russian Orthodox Church in the mid-17th century over a number of [[SeriousBusiness liturgical and doctrinal changes]], most infamously changing the sign of the cross from using two fingers to three. The Old Believers still exist today and a fair number of them live apart from society; bizarrely, the mainstream Russian Orthodox Church is technically ''closer'' to Christianity as it was practiced in the Byzantine days, as the traditions the Old Believers held on to were generally idiosyncracies added by centuries of practice in Russia.
* The [[UsefulNotes/HanoverStuartWars Jacobites]], the followers of the British King James II, became a remnant after his ouster in 1688. They attempted two rebellions to restore the House of Stuart to the throne; the first in 1715 was pretty much abortive, but the second in 1745 was almost successful.
* The Vendée rebellion against the UsefulNotes/FrenchRevolution was a relatively unexpected attack by the Remnant of the prior regime. It arose in provincial France, where the population makeup was very different from Paris where the Revolution started; the local church hierarchy and peasantry fit very poorly into the Revolution's societal framework. In many ways, it was the TropeCodifier; the rebellion was not centrally organized by higher-ups in the former regime, but started organically by locals who weren't ready for the transition. The rebels were extremely persistent and kept bothering the new government until it was violently and decisively put down in 1796.
* When UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands fell during UsefulNotes/TheNapoleonicWars, the only place left where the Dutch flag flew turned out to be the trading outpost of Dejima, an artificial island in the harbour of Nagasaki in Tokugawa-era Japan. That was a bit too far for Napoleon's taste.
* The UsefulNotes/WarOf1812 formally ended in December 1814, but battles were fought for a few months after that (if only because information travelled so slowly back then). Among them was the Battle of New Orleans, in which the Americans won a decisive victory and convinced the British not to renege on the treaty they had signed; it also made a household name of Major General UsefulNotes/AndrewJackson, who would later be elected President.
* Following the UsefulNotes/MexicanAmericanWar, there were groups of soldiers on both sides referred to as "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Filibuster_(military) filibusters]]" that refused to acknowledge that the war was over and performed raids on the opposing country as well as on Native American tribes unlucky enough to get caught in the crossfire. Unlike most examples, the American side mostly just used the war as an excuse for WarForFunAndProfit considering they had already won.
* After the UsefulNotes/AmericanCivilWar, Confederate general Robert E. Lee refused to go down this path, even though several of his subordinates believed otherwise. Lee felt that continued fighting would reduce the Southern forces to isolated guerrillas and bandits, prolonging the war and bloodshed but accomplishing little. Nevertheless, a few groups decided to ignore Lee's decision to surrender:
** This is how UsefulNotes/JesseJames and his gang got their start. They were Southern guerrilla fighters during the war who continued their battle even after the war ended. They quickly built a reputation as anti-Reconstruction {{Folk Hero}}es, with James in particular seeking revenge on the Northerners who had appropriated his family's land.
** The last ship to fly the Confederate flag was the commerce raider ''CSS Shenandoah''. It kept hanging around a few months after the war ended, occasionally conducting raids on "enemy" shipping runs and choosing to ignore any news that leaked out about Lee's surrender. It wasn't until November 1865, about five months after the surrender, that it reached port (in England, to avoid accusations of piracy) and officially struck its colors.
** The "[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confederados Confederados]]" were a group of Southerners who fled to Brazil after the war. The Brazilian Empire had offered Southerners subsidized transport to Brazil, cheap land, and tax breaks, in exchange for lending their expertise in cultivating cotton. A few of them had hoped to continue building the Southern cause from there, but most simply thought life would be better in Brazil than in the South, now mostly destroyed and dominated by the Yankees. Their descendants still live in the area and maintain some of the traditions of the Antebellum South. When then-Governor UsefulNotes/JimmyCarter visited the community in the early 70s, he was stunned to find a recreation of the pastoral South he knew and loved.
** The UsefulNotes/KuKluxKlan and similar entities were formed in part for this purpose. The rise of the Klan is associated with the "Lost Cause of the South", a highly romanticized idea of Southern culture and independence. The Klan quickly turned to violence and chose to direct it towards the most visible symbol of the North's victory, emancipated negroes (who, conveniently for them, were much less able to return fire than enemy soldiers).
* The "Bitter-Enders" were a group of holdouts from UsefulNotes/TheSecondBoerWar who refused to surrender to the British and kept fighting as a set of guerrilla groups roaming the South African countryside.
* The Spanish garrison in Baler in the Philippines bunkered in the local church when it was beseiged by Filipino forces. They held out until June 1899, and in the process completely missed the UsefulNotes/SpanishAmericanWar.
* During the [[UsefulNotes/RedOctober Russian Civil War]], several White warlords in the Russian Far East kept fighting months or even years after the last White forces were destroyed in 1920, even in further-flung reaches of the Empire like Crimea and Siberia. The lead {{Determinator}} was General Anatoly Pepelyaev, who led a raid on several towns in Yakutia in 1923, even after the other remnants in the region had already fallen. Baron UsefulNotes/RomanVonUngernSternberg also conducted raids in the Soviet Union and Mongolia until his own men handed him over to the Bolsheviks. And some anti-Bolshevik holdouts emerged from hiding or returned from exile to join the Nazis in the fight against the Communists. (It didn't end well for them.)
* UsefulNotes/{{Belarus}} broke away from the Russian Empire during the Russian Civil War and established the "Belarusian People's Republic", which lasted until 1919 when the Bolsheviks invaded and ousted them. They then established a GovernmentInExile called the "Rada of the Belarusian Democratic Republic", which has been running for more than a century, lately being based in Canada. Belarus itself became a Remnant of its own of sorts, having attained independence from the Soviet Union in 1991 but being run in very Soviet-like fashion by strongman president Alexander Lukashenko and commonly being seen as a Russian puppet. When Lukashenko won a highly disputed election in 2020, protesters against him flew the Rada's flag, and the Rada itself broke longstanding tradition and accepted Lukashenko's opponent as its own legitimately elected leader.
* Hermann Detzner was a German engineer who was a holdout in UsefulNotes/WorldWarI in the former German colony in New Guinea. He eventually surrendered to Australian forces there in January 1919, two months after Germany signed the Armistice of Compiègne, and four months after Australia conquered the German colonial capital in New Guinea. Detzner claimed to have been the last soldier of the German Empire, flying German colours and singing German hymns for the duration of the war; the Australians thought him so harmless that they claimed to have known his whereabouts the entire time and were just waiting for him to surrender.
* After the Ottoman Empire fell apart after UsefulNotes/WorldWarI:
** Ottoman Lieutenant General Fakhri Pasha, beseiged at Medina by Arab forces, rejected the Armistice of Mudros and disobeyed his superiors' orders to surrender. After holding out for two months, he was arrested by his own troops and handed over to the Entente in January 1919. He was kept as a prisoner for two years and then released, immediately joining Mustafa Kemal Atatürk's forces in the Turkish War of Independence.
** Enver Pasha, one of the Triumvirate of "Young Turks" that ruled the Ottoman Empire during UsefulNotes/WorldWarI, turned up in Central Asia in 1922 organising the Turkic Muslim tribes there, hoping to recreate the Ottoman Empire from scratch -- even as the Soviet Union was in control of the region. [[ForegoneConclusion It didn't work out.]]
** During UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, UsefulNotes/ImperialJapan of all people [[RightfulKingReturns located the rightful heir to the throne]], Prince Şehzade Mehmed Abdülkerim, and invited him to Tokyo with the intent of using the Turkic Uyghur minority in China to revive the empire with Abdülkerim as a PuppetKing right next to UsefulNotes/{{Manchuria}} and Mengjiang, creating a buffer state against the USSR they could use to further their invasion of China. However, the Soviets noticed what they were trying to do and had ''their'' puppet ruler of UsefulNotes/{{Xinjiang}}, Sheng Shicai, steamroll their weak forces before they could become a threat. Abdülkerim then fled to India before seeking asylum in the US and being [[NeverSuicide found dead mysteriously]] in a New York hotel.
* Even after UsefulNotes/FranciscoFranco won the UsefulNotes/SpanishCivilWar, the Republicans' various remnants kept trying to fight him for decades, even until the day he died.
* The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Japanese_holdout Japanese holdouts]] were soldiers who fought for Imperial Japan in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII and kept fighting after the war ended -- sometimes ''decades'' later. They were usually stationed on small islands in the Philippines or elsewhere in the Pacific and either never learned or never believed that Japan had actually surrendered. The last known holdout was [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teruo_Nakamura Teruo Nakamura]], who didn't surrender until 1974, a full 29 years after the war's end -- but rumours of even more persisted until the end of the century. These single soldiers survived through guerrilla tactics, stealing food and supplies from the locals and attacking local law enforcement; however, due to the unusual circumstances of their actions, most were absolved of all charges after being recovered.
** [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hiroo_Onoda Hiroo Onoda]] was the second-to-last holdout, having been recovered only a few months before Nakamura in 1974. They found him a few months before that, but he refused to believe anyone that the war was over. The only way to get him to surrender was to fly in his long-retired former commanding officer to tell him personally to stand down. When he surrendered, he still had his army sword and original-issue rifle in full working order. During the last two years of his holdout (three men with him all turned themselves in or died between 1950 and 1972), Onoda acted as a lone guerrilla. He and his companions raided and burned the property and crops of local Filipino villagers, killed an estimated 30 people and wounded 100 more; Ferdinand Marcos later granted him a pardon on live TV.
** [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shoichi_Yokoi Shoichi Yokoi]], a holdout on the island of Guam, first heard that the war was over in 1952, but held out for another twenty years after that. He was stunned that the locals who discovered and subdued him didn't kill him as one might expect during the war. When he returned to Japan, his official statement was, "I am embarrassed that I have returned alive," a phrase that quickly became popular in Japan.
** The aforementioned [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teruo_Nakamura Teruo Nakamura]] was the last Japanese holdout to be discovered. He was a member of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Takasago_Volunteers Takasago Volunteers Unit]] composed of Taiwanese aborigines. A search team led by a JSDF Major-General lured him out of hiding by singing the Japanese National Anthem. During his debrief, while being informed that the Pacific War is over, Teruo calmly replied, "Japan did not lose the war, I wish to return to Japan". Instead, he was flown back to Taiwan under a Chinese name 'Lee Kuang-Hui', a fact he only discovered upon returning. Due to the perception of Indonesians that Japan aided in the independence of Indonesia, and many ex-Imperial soldiers also fought on behalf of the revolution, a bronze statue was made in Nakamura's honor in 2012.
* UsefulNotes/NaziGermany never did this ''officially''. Indeed, UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler was [[ItsAllAboutMe pretty damn self-centered]] and a hardcore [[TheSocialDarwinist social Darwinist]]; he felt that if his forces were defeated, it was [[YouHaveFailedMe the German people's fault]] and they didn't deserve to be called the "master race" anyway.[[note]]If you watch the scene from ''Film/{{Downfall}}'' that inspired the ''WebVideo/HitlerRants'' -- with the real subtitles, of course -- this is exactly what Hitler is ranting about. And that [[TruthInTelevision happened in real life]].[[/note]] Therefore, he never made provisions for a Nazi remnant, preferring a SaltTheEarth approach. But when he died, the remaining Nazis didn't really agree with him:
** The ''Werwolf'' project is the by-word for "Nazi holdout faction". It was originally devised as an underground network of soldiers that would conduct sabotage and guerrilla warfare in parts of Germany that hadn't yet been (but soon would be) occupied by Allied forces. It was never seriously intended as a last-ditch effort to retain Nazi control of Germany. However, the Allies didn't know that, leading to intense paranoia about Nazi remnants hitting when they least expect it; the project's propaganda value far outweighed its practical use, leading the Allies to overestimate the threat it posed. Indeed, this is a big reason why the Soviets were the first to Berlin; Eisenhower was too busy worrying about potential remnants in Bavaria. And this paranoia persisted in U.S. foreign policy for decades after the war; for instance, members of UsefulNotes/GeorgeWBush's administration cited ''Werwolf'' as a reason to continue the Iraq War even after the deposition of Saddam Hussein.[[note]]That basically became a SelfFulfillingProphecy; as long as the U.S.-led coalition forces were still in Iraq, the Ba'ath holdouts had a target and a reason to keep fighting.[[/note]]
** "Nazi" groups of this kind existed in countries outside Germany, as well. Many of them were in Eastern Europe and weren't really big on Nazi ideology, but ''really'' hated the Communists. They survived the war in anti-Communist underground movements, many of which fought for more than a decade after the war ended; for instance, the last Polish group of freedom fighters was captured in 1965. The longest-lasting of these were in the Baltic states, where these fighters became the "Forest Brethren" and moved into the woods to keep fighting; while it was extremely dangerous for them when UsefulNotes/JosephStalin was in charge, they kept holding out even after the Soviets started offering pardons. The last fighters in Latvia were captured in 1957; in Lithuania, they lasted until 1971; and in Estonia, they lasted until 1979. The degree to which these anti-Communist groups espoused Nazi ideology varies considerably and is indeed a matter of extreme controversy where these groups are celebrated in the modern day.
** Modern-day neo-Nazis are something of an interesting case. While the common stereotype of them is the UsefulNotes/{{skinhead|s}} who has no interest in administration of government, there are a few who seek to prolong Hitler's cause. Some act as paramilitaries (or more accurately terrorists), while others attempt to establish successors to the Nazi Party (despite this being illegal in Germany and much of Europe these days). Few of them seem to understand very much about Hitler's policy, many of them choosing to deny that the Holocaust even happened (when one would expect them to acknowledge that it ''did'' happen and claim it was the right decision). Quite a few aren't even German and just seem interested in putting a Nazi spin on their own country's political bugbears, leading to cosplaying in horribly outdated ''Sturmabteilung'' uniforms and elevating Hitler to an almost immortal being.
* The UsefulNotes/ChineseCivilWar led to a ''lot'' of remnants:
** UsefulNotes/{{Taiwan}} is easily the most famous remnant of the war, because it still exists in that state. The Republic of China, having lost the war in 1949, decamped to Taiwan hoping to use it as a base to retake the mainland. Accordingly, UsefulNotes/ChiangKaiShek ran it as a military dictatorship and invested little in infrastructure, expecting not to stay there very long. Meanwhile, the vagaries of the UsefulNotes/ColdWar meant that several countries considered the People's Republic of China an invading force and continued to recognize only the ROC as the legitimate government of China -- but that changed in 1971, when the U.S. switched its recognition in exchange for trade ties with the PRC, and most nations have followed suit since then. This did not deter Chiang, who continued to harbor ambitions to retake the mainland; martial law was only lifted in 1987. Today, China rests in an awkward status quo; both the ROC and PRC claim control of all of China, including Taiwan, but consider only themselves to be the legitimate government.[[note]]Interestingly, the ROC's claimed borders are ''more'' expansive than the PRC's; it includes parts of Mongolia, Burma, and Tajikistan. Although the ROC has officially acquiesced on its claim to ''all'' of Mongolia, it's still considered a remarkably expansionist ambition, one more reminiscent of the Qing Empire than of a modern-day democracy.[[/note]] Because of this, other countries can only recognize the PRC or ROC, not both. While there are many Taiwanese who have given up on ambitions of reconquest and angle for Taiwan's independence (which ''neither'' the PRC nor the Kuomintang will accept), there exist many hardcore KMT followers, in Taiwan and elsewhere around the world, who still dream of the ROC regaining control of all of China.
** A group of pro-Chiang guerrillas persisted in [[UsefulNotes/ThatSoutheastAsianCountry Burma]] in the 1950s. They were sponsored by the CIA and raised funds by smuggling heroin and opium into the country. (You'd think after all those Opium Wars that the West would have known better.) They persisted until 1961, when a joint Sino-Burmese force drove them into Laos; from there, some retreated to Taiwan, while others escaped to Thailand or stayed in Laos and [[GoingNative started families there]]. The ones in Laos returned to the drug trade, at this point barely under the control of the KMT, being little more than common drug dealers; they wound up in a [[MeleeATrois three-way conflict]] over 16 tons of opium with the local drug warlords and a rogue CIA-backed Laoting general.
** In Yunnan and Northwest China, Muslim Chinese loyal to the Kuomintang and led by the Ma clique warlords led a prologned guerrilla campaign against the PRC. It lasted until its leaders were captured and executed in 1958.
** UsefulNotes/{{Tibet}}'s remnants formed a GovernmentInExile in neighboring India after the region was invaded by the PRC in 1950. It was semi-autonomous in the ROC days; although the ROC claimed Tibet's territory and the Tibetans had frequent clashes with Ma's KMT-aligned soldiers from neighboring Xinjiang, it more or less ran its own affairs until Mao came calling.
* The OAS was a French remnant in UsefulNotes/{{Algeria}}, itself a last vestige of UsefulNotes/TheFrenchColonialEmpire. It consisted mostly of the ''pieds-noirs'', as French settlers in Algeria and their descendants were known; many were also disgruntled military leaders and far-right extremists. They were extraordinarily pissed at UsefulNotes/CharlesDeGaulle's negotiations with Algerian rebel fighters and eventual acquiescence of Algeria's independence. Unable to seriously disrupt the peace process through paramilitary attacks on Algerians, they soon began targeting French officials and ultimately de Gaulle himself.
* In 1969, when the "Football War" broke out between El Salvador and Honduras, one man fled to the jungle to act as a guerrilla fighter. He finally "surrendered" more than thirty years later, to a group of lumberjacks he mistook for enemy soldiers, telling them that he was tired of running away. The saddest part is that the actual war lasted ''four days''.
* From UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar and subsequent conflicts:
** The South Vietnamese government officially ceded power to the North Vietnamese in 1975, and the country was considered unified that year. But many South Vietnamese fled abroad, the majority to America, and continue to advocate for the restoration of the former Republic of Vietnam as the only legitimate government of the country. They're recognizable by their frequent display of the ''cờ ba que'' or "three sticks flag" of South Vietnam. A few of them wandered back into the jungle in Laos and Cambodia to try to launch guerrilla attacks into Vietnam, but with little impact. There's also a bit of a stereotype that these guys are so anti-Communist that they're ''hard'' right-wing, a stereotype bolstered by the presence of the "three sticks flag" at the 2021 Capitol Riot in Washington.
** During the war, various insurgent groups sprang up comprised of remote ethnic minorities, most notably the Montagnards and the Hmong. They sided with the Americans and South Vietnamese but continued fighting even after the Americans pulled out and the Communists took over the country, with some forces continuing to hold out into the 1990s. Tragically, Communist authorities in Laos and Vietnam responded with campaigns of collective punishment against the Hmong and Montagnards, which sometimes reached genocidal proportions.
** In UsefulNotes/{{Cambodia}}, remnants of Pol Pot's infamous Khmer Rouge regime held out for twenty years. They were ousted in 1979 by their former Communist allies in Vietnam, but a large portion of their forces fled to Thailand, regrouped, and launched an insurgency against Cambodia's new Vietnamese-backed government. They fought as part of a broader rebel coalition that included anti-Communist and monarchist groups. In the early 1990s, the latter groups signed a peace agreement, but the Khmer Rouge continued fighting until its final collapse in 1999, one year after Pol Pot's death.
* The aftermath of the UsefulNotes/IranianRevolution led to a number of groups seeking to overthrow the Islamic Republic and restore a prior regime in Iran. Problem is they can't agree on ''which'' prior regime, leading to several different Remnants who all want to establish their own regime. The most prominent, the National Council of Iran, seeks to reinstall the Shah, with the son of the ousted Shah Mohammed Reza Pahlavi very much active in that respect. A few remnants angle for a democratic republic like that of Mohammed Mossadegh, who was himself overthrown by the Shah's regime (with CIA help). The most controversial is the leftist People's Mujahideen of Iran; the U.S. government (well aware of its role in the Iranian Revolution) officially declared it a terrorist organization for its more violent approach, but every now and then you'll find U.S. politicians getting caught donating to them.
* After [[UsefulNotes/ColdWar the fall of the Soviet Union]], a few places weren't too keen on being part of a "new" country. Belarus has been accused of this the most, what with its very Soviet-like dictatorship and StateSec setup; the new Central Asian republics also had a lot of continuity with the Soviet era, in many cases retaining their leaders from back then. Perhaps the weirdest is Transnistria, a Russian-majority unrecognised breakaway state in Moldova that still uses many symbolic trappings of the Soviet Union like the famous hammer and sickle.
* The Iraq War led to the term "blowback" being more widely known in U.S. political parlance for precisely this reason. U.S. forces toppled Saddam Hussein soon after the war started in 2003 -- only for the fighting to continue as various groups resisted what they saw as U.S. occupation. The Americans presumed that all such groups were remnants of Saddam's Ba'ath Party, and while many were, this didn't apply to all of them; the befuddled Americans dubbed them "dead-enders", wondering why they were still fighting after Saddam was overthrown. They evidently didn't realize that ''they'' were the enemy and not Saddam. The Ba'athists, meanwhile, [[EnemyMine joined forces]] with many of these other insurgents, which helped give rise to Al-Qaeda and later ISIS in the region.
* After ISIS lost its last territorial holdings in Iraq and Syria, many diehards continued fighting as insurgents. Although they were a shadow of ISIS's "caliphate" at its height (and nobody recognised ISIS as a state anyway), they were significant enough to pose a serious security threat to local authorities.
* After decisively losing the First Libyan Civil War in 2011, some forces loyal to ousted dictator UsefulNotes/MuammarGaddafi continued fighting. They lacked any significant popular support, were generally disorganized and isolated, and proved to be only a minor faction in the Second Libyan Civil War that began in 2014.

* ''Literature/{{Emberverse}}'' features the United States of Boise, founded by U.S. Army Martin Thurston, which is the only major faction trying to preserve the old system of government. Thurston considers Boise to the "provisional Capitol" of the country, but none of his neighbors acknowledge Boise's authority and, to their credit, Thurston and his government don't try to force it on them.

* ''LightNovel/RebuildWorld'':

* ''LightNovel/TrappedInADatingSimTheWorldOfOtomeGamesIsToughForMobs'': Most life traces back to one of two sides to a genocidal GreatOffscreenWar between {{Transhuman}} New Mankind and Old Mankind, ancestry of the former being how humans can use magic. Monsters and ArtificialIntelligence of a robotic nature, are from Old Mankind, while OrganicTechnology ones are from the New Mankind AbusivePrecursors.

** ''Film/DayOfTheDead'' features a handful of soldiers still guarding the SoleSurvivingScientist team, but by the movies beginning, their are fed up by the lack of progress, and almost all of them turn on their civilian charges by the end.