History Main / InspirationalMartyr

** Subverted with Cardinal Salem of Saint Caspelan. The Tyranid HiveMind knew that killing the Cardinal would create a martyr and make the planet oppose greater resistance, so it sent a lictor to break down morale by jumping out of shadows, messily killing his bodyguards and escaping. The unfortunate Cardinal went mad in over a week, and the effect on planetwide morale made the planet an easy target.
** Sanguinius, the first of the Emperor's Primarchs to die and in the most dramatic manner (he tried to duel [[CainAndAbel Horus]] at the height of his power, to save the Emperor from having to battle his own son, and lost), is by far the most well-known and beloved Primarch by the Imperium's citizens because he was TheParagon of the Primarchs and because of the tragic manner of his death. He has a festival named in his honour that is celebrated across much of the Imperium.
** This is essentially the endgoal for any Sister of Battle, to the point where they sometimes put their own battle plans in jepoardy because they're moving out of position to find a glorious death.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer}}'': A young boy was found in the Empire believed to be the reincarnation of Sigmar, TheEmpire's deified founder. As the boy was brought to the capital, where it was believed the current Emperor Karl Franz would step down from the throne, he was found murdered with a Skaven dagger.

* King William The Just from ''VideoGame/TheLegacyOfKain'' franchise was corrupted by Moebius the Time Streamer into becoming The Nemesis. Kain travels back in time and kills William. Kain returns to the present to find that it has changed because William became a martyr in whose name the humans have slaughtered the vampire race.

* Defied by Amon ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' as [[DontCreateAMartyr he knew that debending the Avatar too soon before his following had grown strong enough would rally every bender in the world against him]].
** Ironically, Amon himself could've been one after he was defeated by Korra and knocked into the bay, [[CoverBlowingSuperpower if not for over-the-top use of his hidden bending]].

* ''Film/TheDarkKnight. [[spoiler:Harvey Dent is made a martyr by Batman, while destroying his own reputation to inspire the people of Gotham to turn to the side of law and order instead of summary vigilante justice.]]

* ''Literature''/ASongOfIceAndFire'' of course has Lord Eddard Stark. The North rebelled after his execution. Though the rebellion failed and his son Robb was also killed, the dwindling resistance continue to fight in Ned's name.

[[folder:Web Animation]]

* In Fernwithy's ''Literature/TheHungerGames'' ''FanFic/TheEndOfTheWorld'' ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/9482380/27/The-End-of-the-World]]'' Maysilee Donner comes across as both this and a DoomedMoralVictor when she's reaped for the 50th Hunger Games shortly after engaging in various acts of Rebellion against the Capitol. Haymitch (the narrator) and various other characters remain certain that she was sent in deliberately, but in one of the spinoff one-shots, years later Maysilee's sister confesses that she'd rigged the reaping bowl, dumping lots of slips of paper with her name on it near the top, in the hopes that being martyred might spur the District into action and/or give her a chance to speak her mind on a Capitol stage, having short-term success with both goals.

* ''Blog/BetterBonesAU: Briarlight is very popular in her Clan and, when she is killed for opposing Ashfur, her death inspires her Clanmates to fight against him as well.

* ''ComicBook/Transmetropolitan}}'': The Smiler has his campaign advisor Vita Severn and later his own wife assassinated to garner sympathy points for himself.

[[folder:Anime]]

-->'''Lilly Wachowski:''' ...at this point, it's Martyr time. Now that may work in a movie, but in a video game, the Jesus thing is, well...
-->'''Lana Wachowski:''' Lame.
-->'''Lilly Wachowski:''' ''Really'' lame.
* [[InvokedTrope Invoked]] by Joshua Stephenson in ''VideoGame/Cyberpunk2077''. Joshua is a death row inmate who [[UsefulNotes/{{Christianity}} found Christ]] in prison and became TheAtoner. Since he was going to be put to death anyway, he sought to make his death have meaning and inspire others to have hope in spite of the CrapsackWorld they live in. His method of doing this? [[spoiler: Team up with a production studio and create a SnuffFilm in which they'd use him to [[PassionPlay recreate the death of Jesus Christ]]. And [[PlayerCharacter V]] has the option to befriend him and ''[[CrossesTheLineTwice put the nails in themselves]]'' so that [[VideoGameCaringPotential he at least dies with a friend by his side]] as there's no way to talk him out of it.]] [[VirtualGhost Johnny Silverhand]], who's the farthest thing from a religious man, recognizes Joshua as a [[{{Ubermensch}} true rebel]] which V can potentially agree with.
* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'': In an alternate universe, protagonist Booker [=DeWitt=] deviated from the path of the Booker you play as and became this; originally joining forces with the revolutionary Vox Populi, who combat Columbia's violent classism and racism, in order to find Elizabeth, this Booker not only fought for the freedom of all the oppressed groups in the city but also convinced others, some who had been on the Founders' side before, to join the cause. He died in battle and is memorialized proudly by the Vox, but when the main Booker dimension-hops with Elizabeth into the universe where he died, Vox Populi leader Daisy Fitzroy is not at all pleased to see him; she says that her Booker died a hero and lives on in spirit, his legacy acting as a story parents tell their children, and that the Booker she's talking to is either an imposter or a ghost -- she promptly sends her men to eliminate him.

* This backfires rather badly on the Confederacy in the backstory to ''VideoGame/{{Starcraft}}''. When a popular senator on one of their core worlds, Angus Mengsk, started stirring up trouble, they sent in assassins to silence him in a dramatic fashion (killing him, his wife, and their daughter, and then cutting his head off ''and taking it with them''), hoping to cow the resistance into submission. Instead, the world entered open revolt. The Confederacy doubled down, [[NoKillLikeOverkill nuking the entire planet with orbital missiles]]. This, in turn, inspired Angus's son, Arcturus Mengsk, to create his own rebellion, called [[RememberTheAlamo the Sons of Korhal]]. These rebels were eventually able to take down the Confederacy.
** Mengsk himself proves [[DontCreateAMartyr somewhat wiser]], slandering the rebels that beset his regime and opposing them militarily but avoiding assassins. While he would love to kill Raynor and the others, he knows he has to do it in a way that makes Raynor out to be the villain.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', [[spoiler: Sora's conversation with the Nameless Star in the Final World more or less confirms that while Kairi is the reason Sora retains his body, Riku's HeroicSacrifice against the Demon Tide is the reason his heart survived and kept him from losing all hope (a point that is made clearer in the [[LostinTranslation original Japanese dialogue]]).]]

* Invoked in Volume 5 of ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''. After killing Sienna Khan in a coup, Adam orders his men to fabricate a story that she was killed by a human Huntsman to radicalize the White Fang so that they support his more violent ways.

* ''Film/{{RRR}}'': The film is set during the era of British Raj in India. The evil Governor Scott orders the hero to be publicly flogged to [[MakeAnExampleOfThem make an example of him]], and instead causes a riot.

A martyr (from Greek word ''mártys'', "witness") is a person who is suffering (or has suffered) persecution for their beliefs, and has inspired other people through their behaviour. The most frequent assumption in popular culture, is that the martyr has died because of their belief in their cause.

** When it's clear that their plans are about to fail, the higher ups of the New Fishman Pirates started slaughtering their own subordinates while invoking this trope; in their own words, "die and be left as a grudge (for fishmen's freedom)". Brook pointed out how nonsensical it is, then the Straw Hats kicked all their asses to just to show ''everyone'' how wrong they were.
** Straighter example in Gold Roger, the Pirate King, who used his death to become one of these. His final words are what inspired countless people to take on the life of a pirate in search for his lost treasures. Later Whitebeard in his death does the same.

* In ''Comicbook/NemesisTheWarlock'', Torquemada aims to become one when, his secretly alien body rapidly mutating, he commits suicide and orders the Terminators present to tell everyone he died battling Nemesis, thus ensuring the Termight Empire would rise to new heights of xenocide.

* ''ComicBook/KnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' features a notable deconstruction of this trope in Rohlan the Questioner. During the Mandalorian war, Rohlan was a mandalorian with the annoying tendency to desert in order to seek out answers to various un-mandalorian questions, as well as survive suicide missions. When he (seemingly) died on Flashpoint, Mandalore the Ultimate personally wrote a dying speech for him, where "Rohlan" accepted that the only answer is the word of Mandalore, effectively making him a martyr for a cause he didn't believe in.

* The protagonist of the Nazi propaganda film ''Hitler Youth Quex: A Film about the Sacrifical Spirit of the German Youth'' (1933) is a teenager who opts to become a Hitler Youth rather than to join the communist youth organization. For this and for repeatedly foiling the communists' plots of sabotage and terroristic attacks on the Hitler Youth, Heini is harassed and threatened and finally stabbed to death by communists while distributing leaflets for the Nazi party. With his dying breath, he repeats ''"Unsere Fahne flattert uns voran!"'' ("Our flag flutters ahead of us!"), the refrain of the Hitler Youth marching song "Forward! Forward!" sung earlier in the movie. The film ends with the song being played while images of the marching Hitler Youth are seen, with the song's last line, fittingly "Die Fahne ist mehr als der Tod!" ("The flag means more than death!"), coinciding with a shot of the swastika flag. The film was claimed to be [[BasedOnATrueStory based on the real-life case]] of Herbert Norkus, a 15-year-old Berlin Hitler Youth who had been killed by communist streetfighters in 1932. It, being a propaganda, challenges the ''audience'' to follow on his footsteps.

* ''Film/{{Deewaar}}'': One of the dockworkers who's new on the job refuses to pay the racketeers, since he needs the money to send to his family. When he gets in a fight with a racketeer and ends up accidentally getting run over and killed, Vijay decides to start fighting back against the racketeers.

* The ''Franchise/{{Dune}}'' series plays a lot with the themes of heroes, messiahs and martyrs.

* The captain of the Japanese submarine I-53 is this is ''Literature/TheGreatPacificWar''. He pulls off a successful torpedo attack against US ships off navigating the Straits of Magellan off the coast of Chile, but is later interned by the Chilean government and commits {{seppuku}} for this dishonor. His attack had already made him a hero back home, but the suicide raised him from "hero" to "heroic martyr figure".

** Katniss eventually decides on this fate for herself, as her PTSD gets worse. The Mockingjay is most effective as a symbol, while Peeta is the one with the skills to play to camera and inspire the rebellion. Katniss thinks it'll be simpler for everyone if she dies as a martyr rather than lives as a psychologically damaged tribute.

** A variation: Living Saints are Sisters of Battle who are martyred by the various enemies of the Imperium, their images and backstories used to boost morale. Unlike most examples, they ''come back''--as glowing-eyed, angel-winged incarnations of His wrath with six-foot flaming broadswords.

* "The Martyr" is one of the three predefined world templates in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'', which you can select if you don't [[OldSaveBonus import]] a ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'' save: it depicts the Warden (PlayerCharacter of ''DAO'') as a young, idealistic Dalish Elf girl who fought for justice and ultimately gave her life to defeat the Archdemon (Dalish Elves being pretty much the most downtrodden minority in Thedas). It has since been confirmed to be the "Creator/BioWare canon" Warden for their ExtendedUniverse works, and is used for the default canon for ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'' (if you don't import a save).

* ''VideoGame/BioshockInfinite'': In an alternate universe, protagonist Booker [=DeWitt=] deviated from the path of the Booker you play as and became this; originally joining forces with the revolutionary Vox Populi, who combat Columbia's violent classism and racism, in order to find Elizabeth, this Booker not only fought for the freedom of all the oppressed groups in the city, but also convinced others, some who had been on the Founders' side before, to join the cause. He died in battle and is memorialized proudly by the Vox, but when the main Booker dimension-hops with Elizabeth into the universe where he died, Vox Populi leader Daisy Fitzroy is not at all pleased to see him; she says that her Booker died a hero and lives on in spirit, his legacy acting as a story parents tell their children, and that the Booker she's talking to is either an imposter or a ghost -- she promptly sends her men to eliminate him.

* Joan of Arc ''VideoGame/AgeOfEmpiresII'' in her campaign, she is captured and burned by the English. Despite her death the French continued their war in memory of Joan, they soon won the war in the end.