Quotes / Decapitated Army

Officer 1: Convene all ships on Endor! I want the moon obliterated and the Rebels wiped from the face of the galaxy!
Officer 2: Uhh... sorry sir. Actually, we can't. The Rebels have won.
Officer 1: Wh-what do you mean, "they won"? We have tens of thousands of ships, we control countless worlds, with millions of troops at our disposal!
Officer 2: But they just blew up the second Death Star, and killed the Emperor.
Officer 1: So?
Officer 2: So... that means, they won.
Officer 1: How does that mean they won?! They blew up the first Death Star years ago and the fighting continued!
Officer 2: Yes, but they didn't kill the Emperor. They had to do both.
Officer 1: We can't fight back?
Officer 2: No, sorry... this is the end of the Empire.

— Robot Chicken, "Robot Chicken: Star Wars Episode II"

"I hold no illusions about engaging your army, Megatron. But I might derail its objective... by removing its head."

— Optimus Prime, Transformers: Prime

"Who's giving orders? I need orders!"

—A gnome, Gravity Falls

"Do not take the notion of 'I have raised them' as superficial. They can work with or without me, and that's what makes a Briggs soldier."

—General Olivier Armstrong, defying the trope in Fullmetal Alchemist

"Cut the head off a snake, and the body dies."

—Common saying

"Brave warriors of Rigel. You have fought with courage and skill at my side these long years. But the hour of reckoning is upon us. Our empire's light is guttering. Now heed my words well! If I should fall, my final order is that you lay down your arms and surrender. I hear the young Zofian general is a man of mercy. If you have any love and loyalty for me, you'll not waste your lives this day."

— Rudolf invoking this trope, Fire Emblem Echoes: Shadows of Valentia

Angelos: You have struck a telling blow, Commander! Legions of Tyranids are directionless without their Tyrant.
Cyrus: The Hive will eventually produce another Hive Tyrant, but it will take time.
Angelos: That it will, Sergeant, and we can make good use of the time before it does.

— Dawn of War II

"A coven deprived of its leader is like a headless cobra: harmless."

—Dr. Frank Mandel, Suspiria (1977)

I believe that only Caesar can lead the Legion. I've never met anyone who could take his place. I couldn't. I never had a mind for logistics. I don't know Lanius, but from what I've heard, he has no interest in leading anyone unless it's in battle. No. The Legion dies with Caesar. What follows now is the last steps of a man who does not yet realize that he is walking dead.

— Joshua Graham/The Burned Man when telling him that you killed Caesar, Fallout: New Vegas

When the rookery falls
and the birds all fly away
you cannot shoot them all down
unless you shoot only one.

— "Elder Sutra of Sacrifice", Exalted: Scroll of the Monk

Dracula: You're too late, my friend! My children live!
Gabriel van Helsing: Then the only way to kill them is to kill you.
Dracula: Correct.
Van Helsing: So be it.

—Van Helsing

"Tutor!!! I killed so many of your people. But your organization survived. Because that was how you built it. You could afford to lose the rank and file. You would just make more. I needed to find the Structure's weakness. And there it was, right in front of me. You. Someone like you could never build an organization that could survive your own death."

—Moon Knight, Moon Knight (2021) #18

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