Warning: As this is often a Death Trope, expect spoilers.
Those who remain Defiant to the End in Literature.
- Cruelly defied in Nineteen Eighty-Four. The Ministry of Love beats and tortures all defiance out of anyone who commits thoughtcrime, before they kill them, and wipe all trace of them from history.
- In the last book of Artemis Fowl, a minor character called Kolin Ozkopy gives Big Bad, Opal Koboi, a quick zinger before Opal kills him. Opal considers it unfinished business because not only was his death instantaneous and painless, but she could no longer deliver a counter-zinger to satisfy her ego.
- A Hungarian poem (well known amongst Hungarians) by poet János Arany, called The Bards of Wales (A walesi bárdok), has the titular bards as this. The King of England just occupied their homeland after a bloody war and demands they sing his praises. When they won't, he sends them to be burnt at the pyre. literally translated, "Five hundred, aye, singing, bards of Wales went to a grave of flame, but not one of them was able to say Long live Edward." note
- Bazil Broketail: Despite being unable to move, Jumble still refused to give up and kept on fighting before his enemies overwhelmed and restrained him.
- Book of the Dead (2021): Subverted when Tyron can enslave people's souls and bodies as undead; "the end" is a flexible concept for him.Filetta: I'll never talk. I'll be dead in a few minutes anyway.
Tyron: Yes, that's the point. - The Cask of Amontillado: It is subtle, but Fortunato manages to pull this on Montresor as his last act. After Montresor mocks his cry of "For the love of God, Montresor!", Fortunato notably falls completely silent. The moment is essentially Fortunato realizing that dooming him to a slow death is only his murderer's secondary objective; what Montresor actually wants is the satisfaction of hearing him begging and pleading for his life until the end while he gloats at and humiliates him. And correctly enough, Montresor's narration betrays the fact that he is indeed greatly annoyed and even a bit psyched out by Fortunato's sudden silence, so much so that he tries calling out his name twice, only to be further frustrated when no reply is forthcoming.
- A Court of Thorns and Roses: Nesta will not go down without kicking, screaming, and cursing all the way. The king of Hybern's guards are noted to struggle to force her into the Cauldron, and her last action before being dumped into it is to snarl and point at the king in a way that promises death.
- Delicate Condition: In 1648, midwife Margaret Jones is found guilty of witchcraft and sentenced to be burned at the stake. The pregnant Alice observes that Margaret looks defiant rather than frightened. She also appears to flaunt the handprint-shaped birthmark below her chin that her jailer ruled was proof she was a witch. He was right.
- Late in the Deryni series's The Bishop's Heir, Llewell of Meara insults Kelson to his face after murdering his own sister at her wedding ceremony. He glares at Kelson from the scaffold just before his subsequent execution.
- DFZ: Yong, Great Dragon of Korea, says that a dragon should die with their teeth in the enemy's throat. Because of this, he refuses to back down quite a few times when he really should; his human daughter Opal disagrees with the concept. And then when the time comes to fight a god on his home turf, she thinks that she's going to go down with her teeth in his throat.
- Doctor Syn ("The Scarecrow"): Convicted for murder, Black Nick Tappitt goes to the gallows unrepentant and swearing.
- Harry Dresden in The Dresden Files has one standard-issue response to his villainous captors: lots of snark.
- At one point he starts mouthing off to a bigger bad guy than usual, and everyone is horrified. He points out that if he didn't, the Physical God might feel left out.
- When Harry is offered the power of a fallen angel, a chance to join a group of people who are out to change the world for the better and to learn the truth of his parent's lives, or he can be killed right then and there, he refuses the offer with the quote "[l]ead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil." This is followed by Harry's usual eloquence for declarative statements, when the person asked if he was sure, "Fuck off."
- This type of behavior was crucial when dealing with the Skinwalker, who gains power from fear.
- Lampshaded in one of the short stories, when Harry doesn't say anything to the vampire holding him captive. He then spits a load of garlic into her face and says that she should know he's got something up his sleeve if he's not talking.
- In Cold Days, he's in top form. When The Redcap is watching him at the botanical gardens, Harry didn't stop snarking him. Later refused to bow to Maeve on Demonreach.
- Everland: When the Marauders capture the Lost Kids, Justice remains resilient against them, even kicking a rock into Hook's head. He pays for his bravery with his life.
- In The Faerie Queene, Pyrrochles refuses to be spared by Prince Arthur and pretty much orders the man to kill him or be killed himself. Arthur is disappointed, but doesn't hesitate to execute Pyrrochles.
- In Fengshen Yanyi, since the central theme of the novel includes a war against the formerly legitimate ruling Dynasty which has now lost the blessing of the Heavens, it's not rare to have villainous generals and taoists who, under full belief that they were doing the right thing, refuses to surrender to the enemy when defeated and opt for execution or even suicide. It is also common for captured heroes to refuse to bow even to the enemy general who has them at his mercy.
- In Michael Palmer's book The Fifth Vial, Natalie does this to the Big Bad for two whole chapters before he's finally distracted enough for her to slit his throat with a scalpel.
- Main character Paul Edgecomb from The Green Mile is not especially impressed with this trope. When Ax-Crazy Psychopathic Manchild Politically Incorrect Villain and pedophile/child murderer Bill Wharton is brought into Paul's Death Row block, Paul quickly realizes that Wharton will act out this trope by attacking the guards, screwing with them and other prisoners, or just being a general pain in the ass right up until his execution date. Paul reflects that this "Fight until the end, even though it has no chance of changing anything, and then keep fighting some more" sort of mentality strikes some people as noble, but Paul doesn't think it's any more impressive than a cornered rat trying to take one last bite out of a predator. Amusingly enough, the trope gets subverted as Wharton is drugged into a stupor, and later, unrelated to that, a cowardly guard that Wharton had tormented shoots Wharton in his sleep while under the influence of a Stupidity-Inducing Attack.
- Harry Potter:
- Harry himself in regards to Voldemort.
- Neville Longbottom towards Voldemort as well.
- Amelia Bones, who between Order and Prince forced Voldemort to come out of hiding to deal with her personally.
- Minister for Magic Rufus Scrimgeour didn't like Harry and the feeling was mutual. Despite this, during the Death Eater coup of the Ministry, he withstood torture from Voldemort himself in his final moments, yet refused to divulge any information about Harry's whereabouts.
- And then there's Gellert Grindelwald, who was considered to be the most powerful and dangerous Dark Wizard in the world before Voldemort came along. When confronted by Voldemort himself, wandless and helpless, instead of going along with Voldy's demands, Grindelwald openly defies him and even laughs in his face.
- Robert A. Heinlein's Have Space Suit – Will Travel. Several human beings are before an intergalactic court that will decide whether the human race will be destroyed. Two of them (a Roman centurion and a modern-day teenager) get angry and chew out the aliens for their high-handedness (the Roman uses language that's not fit for polite company). In a Subversion, the teenager finally asks, as a favor, to be returned home and share his species' fate if the decision goes against humanity. The human race is given a reprieve.
- Gods and Warriors: In The Crocodile Tomb, Userref is captured by the Crows, and Telamon gives him only one chance to be killed painlessly and buried with proper Egyptian rites if he tells them where he hid the dagger of Koronos on behalf of his mistress Pirra whom he believes to have died. Even with being threatened to be denied the burial rites and facing the "second dead", Userref refuses to let Pirra down, endures the savage beatings he's given, and even laughs his defiance in Telamon's face. He eventually manages to break free with his arms still tied behind his back, run to the jetty and jump into the Nile. He drowns with his body intact enough for his brother to bury him in Egyptian way, and he denies the Crows the dagger for a time.
- I Am Not a Serial Killer: Marci. While we don't see it, John's investigation of the crime scene assures us she refused to go down without a fight. How? There's blood splattered all over the walls and floor, and a mirror is broken. Her killer was trying to frame this as a suicide. While looking at the evidence of a hard-won battle, John remarks with quiet admiration, "good for you".
- In I, Lucifer despite being offered a chance at redemption and relief from his constant pain as a mortal, Lucifer instead opts to lead a second assault on paradise before likely facing eternity in the infinite void alone.
- In Insurgent, Eric's last words are a sneer directed at Four.
- Lucifer in the Left Behind books. He doesn't give Jesus Christ the satisfaction of calling Him Lord until Kingdom Come when his entire Other Light army has been eradicated in a heartbeat.
- The Machineries of Empire: At the end of Revenant Gun, when the depraved Immortal Ruler Kujen realizes Jedao Out-Gambitted him and has found a way to kill him permanently, his last words are a calm, spiteful "Oh, child. No one else will ever love you."
- Carl Sandburg's poem "The Man With The Broken Fingers." Some Gestapo agents are interrogating a captured Norwegian Resistance member, demanding that he give them the names of other Resistance fighters. He won't talk, so they break all the fingers on his left hand. He still won't talk, so they break every finger on his right hand. When he still refuses to talk, they break his left arm at the elbow and then at the shoulder, causing him to pass out. After he regains consciousness, they do the same thing to his right arm. He dies at their hands, but this is hailed as a victory by the poet because he never did give them any names.
- All of the students in Les Misérables, but special awards go to Jean Prouvaire (who dies surrounded by the enemy and yelling "Vive la France! Long live the future!"), Enjolras (who throws away his empty gun and demands the enemy shoot him, even refusing a blindfold,) and Grantaire (who stands up and demands to be shot alongside Enjolras, even though he could have fled).
- Mistborn: Secret History shows that the Lord Ruler from the original trilogy is defiant past the end. His spirit arrives in the Afterlife Antechamber near those of Preservation and his former Arch-Enemy Kelsier, mocks them, and contemptuously leaves them behind to enter the Beyond.
- Ahab confronts Moby-Dick with lines that are later appropriated by the well-read and Genre Savvy Khan Noonien Singh in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan:"To the last, I grapple with thee. From Hell's heart, I stab at thee. For hate's sake, I spit my last breath at thee."
- Cat of the Night Huntress series demonstrates this quality to Bones when they first meet. This impresses him and is part of the reason he fell in love with her.Bones: I began to fall in love with you when you challenged me to that stupid fight in the cave. There you were, chained up and bleeding, questioning my courage and almost daring me to kill you.
- In one Nightside book, Merlin is confronted by the current Big Bad, Lilith, who tells him that he can live if he bows down and submits. His response:"There is only one man I have ever bowed to. And you are not fit to polish his armor."
- Old Mortality: Francis Stewart. Even when he's been stabbed three times and is dying, he takes the time to tell his killer that he isn't afraid to die.Burley: Die, bloodthirsty dog! die as thou hast lived!—die, like the beasts that perish—hoping nothing—believing nothing—Stewart: And fearing nothing!
- Wendy in Peter Pan, upon being captured by Hook."So, my beauty," said Hook, as if he spoke in syrup, "you are to see your children walk the plank."
Fine gentleman though he was, the intensity of his communings had soiled his ruff, and suddenly he knew that she was gazing at it. With a hasty gesture, he tried to hide it, but he was too late.
"Are they to die?" asked Wendy, with a look of such frightful contempt that he nearly fainted. - Happens on a regular basis in Romance of the Three Kingdoms with several Generals telling those who've defeated them to sit on it and swivel.
- David Weber's Safehold:
- In the second book of the series, By Schism Rent Asunder, Erayk Dynnys, an archbishop, is used as a scapegoat by the Church of God Awaiting for the rebellion of Charis. Though a low-level Sinister Minister throughout the first book, when faced with execution he rediscovered God and, despite being offered a painless death by the Inquisition if he supported their version of events, he instead offered a Facing the Bullet Final Speech denouncing the Church's corruption and was horribly killed for doing so.
- Soldier-turned-devout-priest Hauwerd Wylsynn in the fourth book, A Mighty Fortress doesn't give the Inquisition a chance to haul information out of him through torture, so he instead chooses to die. He takes at least four armed and armored soldiers with him.
- The fifth book, How Firm a Foundation shows Charisian captain Gwylym Manthyr about to face the same punishment the archbishop above did. Grand Inquisitor Clyntahn asked if he wanted to deny any of the claims of blasphemy he was charged with, after having had his tongue cut out so he could do no such thing. Manthyr's response: He spit in Clyntahn's face.
- When Clyntahn himself is finally in this position at the end of Hell's Foundations Quiver, he goes through his arrest and trial with his usual arrogance, smug in the security that, whatever happens to him in this life, the Archangels will have a place for him at their side. The day before his execution, however, he receives two visitors, Merlin Athrawes and Nimue Chwaeriau, who proceed to tell him the truth about the "Archangels" and provide file footage of them to prove it. The experience breaks his attempts at defiance completely, and he's left a gibbering wreck during his execution.
- Húrin Thalion in The Silmarillion gets two of these:
- In the conclusion of the Nirnaeth Arnoediad, Húrin is left alone on a battlefield that has been completely overrun by the enemy — the hosts of the elves were utterly broken and routed, and most of his fellow men (those who didn't betray the Alliance to Morgoth), lay dead all around him. So what does he do? He keeps swinging his axe against the horde of orcs and trolls all around him, and for every troll he kills, he cries "Auré enteluva (Day shall come again)!" He kills over 70 trolls before being taken.
- After being captured, he defies Morgoth himself, mocking him and refusing to say anything about Turgon and his stronghold. Though he pays dearly for his defiance, it is remembered as a great deed because it protects the city of Gondolin from invasion for several more centuries.
- Finrod Felagund is brought before Sauron after engineering the escape of Barahir and several other men from Tol-in-Gaurhoth, Sauron's island prison fortress. His response is to challenge Sauron to a battle of magic songs. He then has the gall to mock Sauron in his song. Of course, Sauron being a diabolic being of great power, Finrod gets absolutely curbstomped in the end.
- A Song of Ice and Fire:
- Rickard Karstark, set to be executed for treason by Robb Stark in A Storm of Swords, goes to his grave still defiant.Rickard Karstark: "Kill me and be cursed. You are no king of mine."
- Overlapping with Villainous Valour, one of the Bloody Mummers gets his moment when Brienne leaves him mortally wounded in A Feast for Crows.Timeon: "Finish it. Send me back to Dorne, you bloody bitch."
- Rickard Karstark, set to be executed for treason by Robb Stark in A Storm of Swords, goes to his grave still defiant.
- Happens in a couple of Space Marine Battles novels, as befits the protagonists.
- In Malodrax, Lysander is quick to realize that there's no way for him to win against the Iron Warriors and their slaves but keeps on struggling anyway because that's just what a Space Marine does. And alas, he's rewarded with a chance at freedom.
- In Battle of the Fang, the defenders, for all their knowledge, are alone, with little to no chance of reinforcements and an army of sorcerers led by a daemon prince of Magic as their enemies. Regardless, they decide to make the Thousand Sons pay for every inch of terrain they get with blood.
- A villainous example in The Spiral Path, the second book in the World of Warcraft: Traveler trilogy: The heroes, including the young gnoll warrior Hackle, are fighting a band of ogres, whose leader Marjuk had killed Hackle's mother Gnaw. After the heroes prevail and all the other ogres have been killed, the injured Marjuk is surrounded by his foes and realizes he has no way out, so he turns to Hackle (who had earlier called dibs on killing him) and, right before the gnoll finishes him with one blow from his war club, spits out, "Gnaw easy kill."
- The Stand: Glen Bateman to Randall Flagg.
- This actually comes up quite often in Star Wars Legends; characters often get killed stupidly, but they're always defiant.
- In the novel Darksaber, General Crix Madine
was captured and killed on the bridge of the new Darksaber superweapon. Which turned out to be nonfunctional, making the death of the first (but by no means the last) character with a speaking role in the movies entirely pointless.note Durga: Any last words?
Madine: Not to you. - A variant in the X-Wing Series novel Iron Fist; Heterosexual Life-Partners Ton Phanan and Garick "Face" Loran were both taking part in an elaborate plan that had them pretending to be pirates to fool Zsinj; when Phanan got shot down over a Zsinj-controlled world, Face followed him down. Phanan was mortally wounded, but if they surrendered to Zsinj and allowed themselves to be captured, he would get medical treatment. Face proposed this plan and was willing to do it, but Phanan said no, that would blow the deception, and the Wraiths would have to come up with a new one and give Zsinj more time to keep doing what he was doing.
- In the Fate of the Jedi series, Lawful Stupid Kenth Hamner meets his end trying to stop the Jedi Council from launching their StealthXes. As a result, he ends up falling off a catwalk and is saved by his opponent, Saba Sebatayne. Instead of accepting surrender, Hamner continues to try and stop the launch, knowing full well that Saba can't support him and protect the StealthXes at the same time. Saba chooses the latter option.
- In the novel Darksaber, General Crix Madine
- Hal Briggs in the Dale Brown book Strike Force flips off the antiaircraft cannon about to kill him.
- The Things: Even when his mind and body are being consumed by the Thing, Childs' consciousness uses its last moments to insult the abomination:Childs: Parasite. Monster. Disease. Thing.
The Thing: How little it knows. It knows even less than I do.
Childs: I know enough, you motherfucker. You soul-stealing, shit-eating rapist.
The Thing: I don't know what that means. - Alfred, Lord Tennyson evidently loved this trope:
- In "The Charge of the Light Brigade":
Theirs not to reason why,
Theirs but to do and die:
Into the valley of Death
Rode the six hundred. - And again in "Ulysses":
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield.
- In "The Charge of the Light Brigade":
- Stonefur in Warrior Cats. After being held prisoner, Tigerstar gives him a chance to prove his loyalty, by ordering him to kill two half-clan apprentices. Stonefur completely ignores him, and asks his former leader for orders, since he will not take them from any other cat. When she asks him to follow Tigerstar's order, he still refuses to kill them and vows to protect them instead. After that, Tigerstar sends his henchman to execute Stonefur, who despite being imprisoned, starved, and barely able to stand, manages to defend himself. Tigerstar then sends another henchman to pin Stonefur down and slice his throat.
- The Aiel, from Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time series, personify this attitude. They have a Badass Creed that says, "'Till shade is gone, 'till water is gone (water is very important to them), into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the last Day."
- In the poem, "The Young British Soldier" by Rudyard Kipling:When you're wounded and left on Afghanistan's plains,
And the women come out to cut up what remains,
Jest roll to your rifle and blow out your brains
An' go to your Gawd like a soldier. - Roshaun in Wizards at War, after their cover's blown.
