Victorious Roar

Long live the victorious Queen.

With swelling breast, he placed a foot upon the body of his powerful enemy, and throwing back his fine young head, roared out the awful challenge of the victorious bull ape.

— Tarzan of the Apes

Victory often floods many a sentient being with a variety of emotions. Occasionally, it's a sense of bittersweet sadness or emptiness, but more enough, it is anything that would fall under the sense of pure triumph. In such cases, some may simply strike a heroic pose. Others, however, might just let out all those pent up emotions built up over the course of the battle into one long and very loud scream.

Such cries can have a multitude of benefits, beyond just emotional release. Animals in general, or animalistic characters and Kaiju in particular, will do this as a final assertion of their dominance, be over territories, mates, or a gentle remainder to any other observing species that their beloved human(s) are under their protection. For the decidedly more sapient and/or heroic characters, it can be a huge morale boost for their allies, perhaps going so far as to imbue them and the audience with a sense of things going right and that the opposing evil will be defeated forever.

Of course, if on the rare occasion it's a villain who does the roaring after emerging victorious, the best any of the characters can hope for is that it's a simple intimidation tactic against the hero's remaining forces and allies, though the audience will probably know in that moment that it'll be a long time before the heroes will rally themselves again. If they ever do.

Nonetheless, it's undeniably awesome every time such a roar happens, especially when it's accompanied with a great soundtrack. Sometimes a little funny, too, if the audience gets in on it.

A Screaming Warrior, regardless of moral affiliation, will probably be the most frequent character in any given work to invoke this. Overlaps with Signature Roar, obviously since it's unlikely the characters will have different vocalizations that only show up after winning a battle. If both tropes are in play, this only needs to apply if the character shouts/roars/etc. whenever they win a fight. May also overlap with Skyward Scream and Big "YES!". If the roaring creature has a humanoid form, they may perform a Primal Chest-Pound at the same time.

A Sub-Trope of Mighty Roar. Compare to Victory Pose. Sister trope to Victory Quote, as a Victory Quote in All Caps usually implies and/or leads into this. See Clifftop Caterwauling if the character is standing atop a cliff/mountain/etc. Contrast Roar Before Beating and Kiai.

Given that this trope can only occur after a fight, no matter how downplayed the example might be in and of itself or within the context of the characters and work in question, and likely result in the deaths of other characters, this is spoiler-heavy territory and spoilers WILL be unmarked. You have been warned!

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Ace of the Diamond: In this shounen baseball drama, every character is prone to this when something goes right, especially protagonist Eijun Sawamura, who is known as a Hot-Blooded loud-mouth that wears all of his emotions on his sleeve. If Sawamura gets a big strikeout or his teammates bail him out with a great fielding play, he will commonly roar to psych up himself and his team, especially when they win.
• Black Clover: Both Mereoleona and Fuegoleon Vermillion engage in this after defeating Vetto and a possessed Kaiser, respectively. Both at the same time, via Megaton Punch.
• Bleach: Ichigo lets loose after engaging Byakuya and winning their duel.
• Downplayed in Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba. Inosuke is prone to roaring or screaming over pretty much everything, especially in the heat of battle or when claiming victory, due to his upbringing in the wilderness.
• Fairy Tail:
  • Natsu roars his lungs out after defeating Laxus with Gajeel's help.
  • After Natsu and his friends manage to pull all the stops to defeat Hades, Natsu falls to his knees and lets out a roar.
• JoJo's Bizarre Adventure:
  • Stardust Crusaders: When Jotaro's Star Platinum punched out N'Doul, it bellowed out at the top of its lungs in a Skyward Scream.
  • Steel Ball Run: After finally defeating Funny Valentine, Johnny releases anguished as he is left to fulfill Gyro's wishes.
• In the Metroid (Manga), Samus lets out a cathartic roar after beating her series Arch-Enemy Ridley for the first time. Considering all the torment and grief he put her together prior, it's well-deserved.
• In My Hero Academia, Midoriya lets out a victorious scream from atop a hill of hauled trash after completing All Might's ten-month training program to prepare him to inherit One For All.
• Overlord (2012): Ainz himself, while in his adventurer persona "Momon", shouts in victory in the episode "The Ultimate Trump Card", with a little encouragement from Evileye, when he drives off the demon Jaldabaoth, who is forced to retreat with his forces from the city of Re-Estize. He's shortly joined afterwards in cheering for their victory over the demon by the other adventurers and the surviving forces of Re-Estize. Of course, only Ainz, his companion Naberal, and the audience are aware of the true irony of the entire situation, as "Jaldabaoth" is just a pseudoname Demiurge (one of Ainz' beloved Guardians) chose, and the invasion was just a ruse to cover up the true targets of their attack, the entire Eight Fingers criminal organization.
• Pokémon: The Series:
  • Ash's Charizard usually roars whenever he is victorious in battle, also while firing his flamethrower in tandem for added "coolness", such as when he defeated Cinnabar Island Gym Leader Blaine's Magmar in the episode "Volcanic Panic".
  • Most monster-like pokemon in the anime tend to roar after a battle, another example being Gary's Nidoking and Arcanine.

Comic Books

• Supergirl story "Supergirl's Super Pet": Exaggerated. Streaky gives a mighty roar after confronting and scaring a huge dog away. Since Streaky has jut gotten powers, her meow is magnified 50 times into an ear-splitting noise.

Fan Works

• Dungeon Keeper Ami: From the chapter, "Underworld Army Attack", when Rabixtrel killed a dragon:
  A moment before it struck the ground, the reaper blurred and leapt, swinging his scythe. The dragon's head separated from its neck already before the giant body crashed, releasing a huge gout of hot blood. Rabixtrel landed on the corpse and screamed his triumph at the wavering soldiers.

Films — Animation

• In Tarzan (adapted from the books mentioned under Literature), upon defeating the leopard Sabor, Tarzan lifts its dead body in the air and lets out his Signature Roar.

Films — Live-Action

• Braveheart: After William Wallace and the Scots defeat the English at the Battle of Stirling (technically the Battle of Stirling Bridge), a bloodied Wallace raises his blade high above him and lets out a brief, yet defiant roar that his men eagerly join with in unison.
• Jurassic Park: Rexy the Tyrannosaurus rex usually lets loose one of her famous roars victoriously in each film she's in just as each movie is about to end, almost always after unintentionally saving the heroes.
  • Jurassic Park (1993): In the film's climax, she arrives in time to save Alan, Ellie, Lex, and Tim from a pair of Velociraptors, instantly killing one before fighting off the second Velociraptor, whom she also kills just as the heroes, Malcolm and Hammond included, make their escape. Immediately thereafter, in one of the most iconic shots of the film, as the "When Dinosaurs Ruled the Earth!" banner falls before her, she strikes a pose and roars.
  • Jurassic World: A belated example, as after Claire releases her from her exhibit to fight the Indominus Rex, whom she kills with Blue's help, she climbs up the Masrani's helipad overlooking the park the morning after the battle, reclaiming the island of Isla Nublar as her own with one last roar.
  • Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom: She gets two victorious roars here, the first after she pins down a Carnotaurus (saving Owen in the process) as Mt. Sibo erupts and destroys Isla Nublar, and the second occurs after she kills Mills, striking the exact same pose as she did in the first film.
• Godzilla: You'd be hard pressed to find any creature or character who has asserted their victories in battle by roaring as much as the King of the Monsters himself.
  • His American counterpart is no slouch in this department either, roaring in victory after he defeated the M.U.T.O.S and King Ghidorah in Godzilla (2014) and Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019) respectively.
• King Kong: Not to be outdone by his longtime cinematic rival Godzilla, King Kong gets more than his fair share in.
  • King Kong (1933). After killing the Tyrannosaurus rex on Skull Island, King Kong roars triumphantly and performs a Primal Chest-Pound.
  • King Kong (2005): After pulling a Big Damn Heroes moment and saving Ann from the jaws of a V-Rex, and a prolonged fight to the death with three V-Rexs, Kong manages to kill the giant predators and retain his position as Skull Island's ruler. Amusingly, Kong plays with his final fallen opponent for a bit, before rising to his full height, and beating his chest and roaring victoriously.
• Mortal Kombat: The Movie: Goro was quite fond of roaring after each of his victories, the biggest example being when he killed Art Lean.
• Prey (2022): Naru, after she fights a long, hard battle and defeats the Predator using his own tactics and advanced technology against him, gives off a few successive triumphant cries.
• In Raising Arizona, Gale and Evelle let out a long, joyful roar in unison once they realize they've successfully tunneled out of prison. This receives an Ironic Echo later on when they realize they accidentally left Nathan Jr. behind, and are thus out of 25 grand, and let out the exact same scream, this time in despair.
• Red Dawn (1984): When the resistance shoots up a bunch of Russians, one of them screams "WOLVERINES!"

Literature

• Gods and Warriors: After spending The Crocodile Tomb trying to let out a proper roar without success, Havoc finally manages it in the climax after killing the crocodile that was about to attack Hylas and Pirra, making her realization she's a full-grown lioness final.
  The crocodile was huge, yet Havoc was stronger: a cub no longer, but a full-grown lioness – and finally, she knew it. Still with her jaws clamped on the monster's throat, she reared out of the water, gave one tremendous shake from side to side that snapped its spine, and flung its lifeless body in the mud. Then she swung round to face Hylas and Pirra, her muzzle red with blood and her golden eyes ablaze – and roared her triumph to the sky.
• In the Tarzan novels, the apes who raise Tarzan have a roar the males always use after winning a battle, and Tarzan himself does it too when he grows up and defeats Sabor the lioness.

Live-Action TV

• Happens so regularly on Deadliest Warrior, it'd be easier to count the re-enactments that don’t end with one.
• In Killing Eve, Villanelle has a tendency to roar in triumph whenever she does well at something, as a sign of how little self-control she has.
• On the first season finale of Primeval, the Gorgonopsid gives a triumphant roar after crushing and killing the Future Predator.

Pro Wrestling

• Before gradually learning how to speak, Abyss would often shout or roar after winning (or even during) a match.
• Being a wild man from Samoa, Umaga would often shout or roar after winning (or even during) a match.

Tabletop Games

• Warhammer 40,000: Subverted when an ork warboss named Tuska led his army on a merry carnage through the Warp, finally being defeated on a Daemon World ruled by the Blood Prince. The Prince wins in the end and roars victoriously, but Tuska manages a Defiant to the End Groin Attack. Khorne was so impressed with this he brought the orks back to life in what is, for them, Warrior Heaven.
  In triumph, the Blood Prince screamed its praise to Khorne, but whilst it was distracted, the warband's remaining Weirdboys unleashed a storm of psychic energy upon the daemon. It roared in rage at their impudence, crushing their minds with a gesture. With his final act, Tuska reached up between the creature's legs with his power klaw and made a gesture of his own.

Video Games

• ANNO: Mutationem: After Ann beats Absalom in their first encounter after awakening her Super Mode, she unleashes a roar that causes the surrounding area to shake.
• No More Heroes 2: Desperate Struggle: Travis lets out a victorious roar after defeating Ryuji, the 7th ranked assassin because he had a great fight with him. He also does this after killing the 2nd ranked assassin, Alice, though the circumstances behind said scream is tragic.
• In Halo 3, the Arbiter has one of these after he kills the Prophet of Truth, effectively putting an end to the Covenant.
• Killer Instinct: Being a Fighting Game, it's only natural for the more beast-like characters to do this.
  • Sabrewulf's Victory Pose in the 2013 reboot has him howl in triumph before glaring at the camera when he wins a match.
  • Riptor's Victory Pose in the 2013 reboot has her roar and spew fire from her mouth after taking a few bites out of her off-screen opponent when she wins a match.
• A reoccurring ability in the Shin Megami Tensei and Persona franchise is called 'Victory Cry'
• In all three of Ludia's Jurassic World based mobile games, the victory animations for most of the dinosaurs/mammals/pterosaurs/hybrids include them either roaring or screeching. Most notably, anything using the T.rex animation will use one of the franchise's Signature Roar(s).
• Jurassic World: Evolution: All of the carnivorous dinosaurs, and sometimes the herbivores as well, will roar after scaring off or killing another dinosaur.
• Ōkami: Amaterasu, a goddess in wolf form, gives a Victory Howl after defeating a boss.
• In Mortal Kombat 11, one of Nightwolf’s outros is him unleashing a roar that transitions into his spirit wolf howling at the moon.

Web Video

• DEATH BATTLE!:
  • Pokémon Battle Royale^note Venusaur vs. Blastoise vs. Charizard: At the end of the fight, after Blastoise kills Charizard, Blastoise roars as his Rain Dance extinguishes the fire Charizard caused with his Fire Spin.
  • Beast vs. Goliath: After tearing his opponent in half at the waist, Goliath raises his bloodied arms in triumph and screams at the sky.
  • Godzilla vs. Gamera: After surviving Gamera's attempt to kill him by self-destructing by launching him out of range with his Red Spiral Ray, Godzilla throws back his head and lets out a victorious roar.
  • Donkey Kong vs. Knuckles: After crushing Knuckles and digging himself out of a collapsed mineshaft with his severed arms, DK pounds his chest and hoots loudly in celebration.
  • Doomsday lets out a victorious roar after killing Hulk.
  • Dragonzord^note Piloted by Tommy Oliver. vs. Mechagodzilla^note Piloted by Akane Yashiro.: After Mechagodzilla hits the Dragonzord with the Absolute Zero Cannon, it does this twice; once to shatter the frozen and effectively dead Dragonzord into ice particles, and the second as a more traditional victory roar.
  • Thor ends up bellowing in triumph after killing Vegeta.

Western Animation

• In Arcane: League of Legends, an exhausted Vi falls to her knees and screams after defeating Sevika.
• Dexter's Laboratory: In Dexter Dodgeball, shortly after Dexter satisfyingly stomps three bullies who have been tormenting him all throughout the episode, Dexter responds by doing this. And then DeeDee ruins the moment.
• Primal (2019): The episode "Scent of Prey" ends with the caveman Spear and the dinosaur Fang letting out a victorious roar together after fighting off an entire pack of scavenging wild dogs.
• Spongebob Squarepants: Played for Laughs in the episode "The Algae's Always Greener" with SpongeBob's obnoxious "victory screech" after he defeats Mr. Krabs (with whom Plankton has switched lives). Everyone else in the Krusty Krab joins in, and the noise drives Plankton one step closer to the status-quo-resetting breakdown he has shortly thereafter.
• Young Justice: In the episode "War", Wolf belts out a victorious howl when Superboy, Wonder Girl, and Arsenal knock out Mongul.

Real Life

• Arguably the most famous example in sporting history is "Tardelli's Cry". After scoring in the 1982 FIFA World Cup final against West Germany, giving Italy an unassailable lead, Marco Tardelli sprinted towards the Italian bench, Manly Tears streaming down his face, screaming at the top of his lungs.
• Another iconic example: Fernando Alonso screaming in triumph after winning the 2005 Formula One World Championship, becoming the youngest-ever champion at the time and finally putting an end to the dominance of Michael Schumacher and Ferrari.
• It's probably easier to name the World's Strongest Man competitors who don't do this in some form. The one that gets repeated the most is Sigmarsson's after winning the 1986 title:
  I AM THE STRONGEST! I AM THE VIKING! [cue Skyward Scream]
• The battle-roar of the Russian Army has been there for at least three centuries. When several thousand soldiers paraded in Red Square for the Victory Day parade ^note Formerly May Day where they were addressed by Vladimir Putin, at his command they raised the battle-cry of "Uuh-RAAH!" very loudly indeed.
• After skating his free skate "Seimei" at the 2018 Pyeongchang Olympics on painkillers for an injured ankle, Yuzuru Hanyu let out inaudible victorious roars as the audience cheered. Getting through it in his condition was victory enough, but the program proved to be the cincher for his second consecutive Olympic gold medal.

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