Quotes / I Die Free

The Viking: ACCURSED MONSTER! YOUR SPELL IS BROKEN!... I AM FREE! At last, my flesh is restored! The curse... is lifted...
Jack: Warrior, I—
The Viking: Don't worry, my friend. Please... hand me my sword... Thank you...

— Samurai Jack, "Jack and the Lava Monster"

"We would cease to exist, that's true. But we'd be free. We'd be... free."

— Nanette, Black Mirror, "USS Callister"

"Just bury me in the ocean... with my ancestors that jumped from the ships, 'cause they knew death... was better than bondage."

— Killmonger, Black Panther (2018)

"It is better to die on one's feet than to live on one's knees."

— Emíliano Zapata, Mexican revolutionary

"I fight for freedom, mine and everybody's. I fight for the right to choose our own fate. And if I die, I'll die knowing that I did everything I could to stop you. And I'll die free."

— Commander Shepard, Mass Effect 3

EDI: If the Normandy were captured, my fate would be similar to the indoctrinated. My code would be rewritten. I would become loyal to the Reapers. I would rather become nonfunctional than help them.
Shepard: We won't let that happen to you, EDI.
EDI: You may have no choice. If you perish first, I want you to know I will never be a part of the Reaper force.

— Mass Effect 3

"There is no greater victory than to fall from this world a free man."

— Spartacus, his final words, Spartacus: Blood and Sand

"Let us die today as heroes, lest we live tomorrow as slaves!"

— King Ottmar, Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain

Grom Hellscream: Thrall... The blood haze has lifted. The demon's fire has burnt out in my veins. I have... freed myself.
Warchief Thrall: No, old friend. You've freed us all.

— Warcraft III: Reign of Chaos

"And please tell Neji. Tell him I chose death freely, to protect my family, my village, and my son. That just this once, I wanted to rebel against my destiny as a Hyuga. To choose my own fate. That's all."

— Hizashi Hyuga, Naruto

"Russian dude's dead... at least he died free."

— Irish, talking about Dima Mayakovsky, Battlefield 4

"If these people tell this story to their children as they sleep, maybe someday they'll see a "hero" is just a man who knows he's free..."

— Proto Man, The Protomen, "The Sons of Fate"

The Mad Man: Oh Stranger, don't think like that. You do have reasons to live here, and we can certainly find a way to help you live in this world with a purpose. You just need to stay a little longer.
The Stranger: What reasons are there? Me staying as your fucking sick toy to be used whenever you want? Yeah, fuck that, asshole, I want no part of it!
The Mad Man: Do you really think that killing yourself is the answer? That ending your life in such a selfish and childish manner will solve all your problems?
The Stranger: If it means I no longer have to deal with your shit no more, than by God, it is worth it.

— HTF The Stranger

Tobias morphs, one time when Odret 177 is feeding and he’s temporarily unsupervised in the cage, and nothing the controllers do can get him to turn back. He sits there calmly and watches as they fire dracon beams at him, as they throw hot acid on Rachel and Jake, as they threaten to kill his uncle and then carry out their threat. As they drag an unfamiliar blond woman with a scarred face into his cage, and shoot her in the head as if expecting him to care. They zap him with picana, with a low-level shredder blast, finally with a nervous system manipulator, but nothing works. He screams, he fights back, he throws himself against the bars of their birdcage until he breaks his own wings, but he doesn’t demorph. Two hours and fifteen minutes into the process, the controllers admit defeat: one of them pulls out a handgun. Tobias dies free.

— "What if they were caught during their first mission?", All Assorted Animorphs AUs

Elan: We'll stand here together and tell our enemies that they may take our lives... but they will never take our freedom!
(Soldiers cheer)
Elan: Unless... unless they kill us, then animate our dead corpses to fight for them. Then I suppose they’ve taken our lives, AND our freedom...

—Elan demonstrating the trope doesn't work against the undead, The Order of the Stick

"I'm going to be with my family now. I did my job! I helped people! My father would be proud I gave up my life for the princess! I'm glad... to be away from you..."

— The Godson, Grimm's Fairy Tale Classics, "Godfather Death''

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