History Main / MartyrdomCulture

-> Even a man who has nothing can still have faith. Even a man who has nothing can still offer his life.

**** In addition, to deal with this problem, some Vikings interpreted a worthy death not simply as charging heroically but dying with a sword at hand. Thus, a ceremonial gesture of handing a sword to a hero in his deathbed was seen as a solution in some parts.

* CyranoDeBergerac: This trope is deconstructed because the play shows it to his logical extreme: self-destruction. All the [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Gascons]] sincerely believe that to die for one's beliefs is the only truly worthwhile thing one can do with one's life. A man who is convinced he is going to die young in battle doesn’t want to be friendly with others or compromise to make something of his life. He will throw his life for a [[BerserkButton minor reason]], act to others like a JerkAss at best or a HeroicSociopath at worst. [[DeathSeeker Who is the most popular among the Gascons? Cyrano]], [[MartyrWithoutACause the guy who burn his bridges and resist every chance of glory]] or [[LoveMartyr love he has.]] [[AllOfTheOtherReindeer Who is the most unpopular? De Guiche]], [[NoTrueScotsman the guy who dares to live like he has a future]] [[AmbitionIsEvil and compromises to get power.]]

** By ''Halo 3'' the [[ProudWarriorRace Elites]] have changed sides as they find the Humans they were previously fighting against more to their liking.

** The Jem'Hadar aren't really a good example. They don't seek to die in battle, they already consider themselves dead in the service of their LivingGods, the Founders, (there is NO OTHER DEATH for a Jem'Hadar). They know the Founders consider them to be disposable soldiers and regard themselves as such as well. The only reason they even try to survive a battle is so that the Founders will have the benefit of veteran soldiers (living as long as 14 years is enough to earn "Honored Elder" status for a Jem'Haddar). Their BattleCry actually seems to be an inverse of the Klingons' own: Where the Klingons say "Today '''is''' a good day to die!", the Jem'hadar say "Victory is ''Life''!" They want to win the battle so they can ''live to serve their gods some more''.

** The Jem'Hadar aren't really a good example. They don't seek to die in battle, they seek to serve the founders (which often sees them dying in battle). Their BattleCry actually seems to be an inverse of the Klingons' own: Where the Klingons say "Today '''is''' a good day to die!", the Jem'hadar say "Victory is ''Life''!" They want to win the battle so they can ''live to serve their gods some more''.

* Averted, strangely enough, with the [[StarWars Mandalorians]]. They're fine with dying in battle, but are rather pragmatic about it. They revere those who live long enough to raise families and pass on their ways. Their BattleCry translates to "Today is a good day for someone else to die!"

* The Shofixti from ''StarControl'', going BeyondTheImpossible. Each of their ships is described as having a "Glory Device" strapped onto it. At the beginning of ''Star Control II'', you are told that rather than be enslaved by the Ur-Quan they blew up their sun, wiping out their entire planet, race, and a good chunk of the Ur-Quan fleet.

At least according to Agent Scully of ''TheXFiles'', [[SoYouWantToLiveForever most people want to live forever.]] Of course, for most of us, that's rarely a [[SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsRealism realistic]] option, even in fiction. For some the inevitability of death is just [[CrapsackWorld the way things are]]. For the DeathSeeker, on the other hand, death can't come soon enough. In many modern societies, {{Death Seeker}}s are very rare, and in many they are regarded as mentally unstable, but sometimes, the DeathSeeker can become a role model.

* [[OrSoIHeard I recall]] an old martial arts movie where a student at a martial arts school bows before the masters and a visiting champion. The champion proceeds to kill the student, and two younger students silently remove the body. It is explained that to die in the process of creating such a great master is an honor that students would compete to obtain.

* Indirectly inverted in the famous opening (and entirely fictitious) speech of {{Patton}}:

* In the Forgotten Realms novels this became a big problem for new god of the dead Kelemvor when he tried to be more rewarding of heroism as people starting committing heroic suicide with alarming regularity and effective death cults started popping up. The experience was sufficently troubling that Kelemvor eventually changed his alignment from Neutral Good to Lawful Neutral and after he couldn't be bothered to really care.

* Averted, strangely enough, with the [[StarWars Mandalorians]]. They're fine with dying in battle, but are rather pragmatic about it. They revere those who live long enough to raise families and pass on their ways. Their Battle
Cry translates to "Today is a good day for someone else to die!"

*** To straighten the record about martyrdom in Islam, those who died in battle in service of God is automatically granted a place at the third highest level of heaven. The problem is deciding whether suicide bombers are considered martyrs (contrary to popular western perception, the majority of Muslims doesn't approve suicide bombing) as well [[LeeroyJenkins those who blindly charge towards the enemy]].

*** On the other hand, "true-church" Protestants who took the New Testament at its word were especially eager to give up their lives in the service of [[ActualPacifist pacifism]], as a testament to their faith and commitment. Of course, the people torturing them were [[ChurchMilitant other Protestants]] and TheSpanishInquisition who claimed, in turn, that torture would have a cleansing effect if they recanted, not a punitive one.

In some cases, the optimum death is an ObiWanMoment on a battlefield, for others it is a long and painful death, so one can not merely die, but ''suffer'' for one's beliefs. This can sometimes lead to a culture of {{Nightmare Fetishist}}s which [[BlueAndOrangeMorality may appear to be]] AlwaysChaoticEvil to outsiders {{squick}}ed by their rituals.

In some cases, the optimum death is an ObiWanMoment on a battlefield, for others it is a long and painful death, so one can not merely die, but ''suffer'' for one's beliefs. This can sometimes lead to a culture of {{Nightmare Fetishist}}s which may appear to be AlwaysChaoticEvil to outsiders {{squick}}ed by their rituals.