There is nothing quite as thrilling as a last stand. You cannot help but admire characters who stand little chance of survival, but they still draw a line in the sand and hold firm against overwhelming odds. Some may survive and others may fall, but it’s the valiant stand that counts: they do not turn tail, run and hide, they are souls of iron pushed to the limit who say ‘no more’. When the desperate fight for survival begins, we cannot help but root for the underdog, grasp that thin thread of hope and hold on for dear life.
Here are some of my favourite last stands in genre fiction—from films, television, books, and games.
(Warning: Spoilers are included!)
The 13th Warrior
Antonio Banderas is compelling as Ahmad ibn Fadlan (a real 10th century Muslim traveller, famed for his written descriptions of the Volga Vikings) reluctantly recruited into a conflict between Norsemen and the mysterious, monstrous Wendol who take human heads and eat the dead. The plot might be slim and suffers from reshoots, but the importance of language and learning is wonderful, and the growing comradeship between Ahmad and the surviving Norsemen deepens the stakes as the Wendol relentlessly assault the village the warriors protect. The film drips with atmosphere and the action is impressively frantic.
After a set-piece battle in the depths of a cave system where they slew the Mother, one of the two leaders of the Wendol, the dwindling number of heroes are holed up in the village preparing to face the savage horde one last time. Their leader, Buliwyf, is dying from poison, and they have little hope of survival but their (and our) spirits rise as Buliwyf drags himself from his death bed to face the enemy one last time. After killing the second Wendol leader and routing the horde, Buliwyf’s final moments seated on a throne of broken shields, weapons and barricades is a genuinely emotional and fitting end.
***
Aliens
One of the best action films ever made. The second half of Aliens is a series of claustrophobic last stands culminating in Ripley strapping on a loading mech and going toe to toe with the terrifying alien queen (animatronics and physical effects have so much more impact than CGI). One of the outstanding aspects of the film is that Ripley is not a trained marine, just an intelligent and stubborn woman who refuses to give up. As 1980’s characters in an era of action movie men with bulging muscles and bad quips, Vasquez and Ripley blew the idea that women could not be badass heroes right out of the airlock.
Sure, the mech vs alien queen is a superbly tense last stand with an iconic line in “Get away from her, you bitch!” but I would argue that the moment between Vasquez and the inept and inexperienced Lt. Gorman is its match. One thing a last stand excels at for an audience is a redemption arc to make you feel loss for somebody you never thought you would. Gorman’s inexperience and panicked inaction greatly contributes to the failure of the mission, but he does redeem himself. As the survivors of the expedition retreat through claustrophobic air ducts being chased by relentless xenomorphs, Vasquez is attacked and kills one at close range, getting its acid blood all over her leg. Just when it looks like the end of such an awesome character, against all expectations it is Lt. Gorman that goes back for his fellow marine. A heroic rescue swiftly flips to despair as they find themselves cut off and surrounded. Gorman takes out a grenade and the two marines go down fighting, taking the aliens with them. It’s an incredibly effective scene on all levels.
***
Dog Soldiers
(Note: Strong language warning)
Dog Soldiers delivers B-movie schlock-horror action in spades. What’s a military unit to do when they are holed up in a remote Scottish farmhouse under siege by werewolves? The werewolves have broken into the house and separated the remaining soldiers, each fighting to hold them off in a desperate but seemingly futile attempt to survive. Spoon has barricaded himself in the kitchen, and when one breaks through the door we expect Spoon to be immediately torn to pieces. Instead, his berserk attack on the werewolf using knives, bowls, kitchen implements and unfettered fury takes us (and it) aback, and we dare to hope he might even win. On the verge of delivering the triumphant finishing blow with a frying pan to the face, a second werewolf snatches victory from his hands and pins him to the wall by the throat, resulting in one of my favourite last lines: “I hope I give you the shits, you f***ing wimp.”
***
The Iron Giant
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SXy3f6f9DxI
Last Stands are at their best when they make you feel fist-pumping victory or tear-jerking loss, and this is one the later. Under mistaken assault by the US army, a nuclear missile is launched at the Iron Giant by an utter tool called Agent Mansley (I will always hate him with a burning passion) and the whole town seems doomed. The Iron Giant, determined to prove that he is not a weapon, says goodbye to his young friend Hogarth, and takes flight to intercept the deadly missile with his own body.
“You are who you choose to be.”
“Superman.”
Then the nuclear explosion lights up the sky as the Iron Giant sacrifices himself to save his friend and the town. Cue the lump in our throats and the wet eyes. Ye gods…the feels…
***
Babylon 5: “Severed Dreams”
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CTUo2P9A5cA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4stvXpVsY4M
Faced with obeying illegal orders issued by an increasingly xenophobic, fascist, and expansionist Earth Gov, the diplomatic station of Babylon 5 formally declares independence. Earth sends a fleet of warships to retake the station by force and a regretful battle erupts as human forces turn on each other following Babylon 5’s refusal to surrender. Loyalists and independents exchange fire, with losses mounting on both sides. A badly damaged destroyer allied with Babylon 5 rams a loyalist ship, sacrificing itself to protect the station, and Babylon 5 barely wins the battle. Just as they sigh with relief and take stock of the damage, thinking the threat is over, a second force of warships arrives from Earth to take them out. All seems lost and the air is thick with despair. Ambassador Delenn’s arrival in the nick of time with a force of Minbari warships behind her is accompanied with such a surge of relief from all of us. Angry Delenn is a force of nature:
“Only one human captain has ever survived battle with a Minbari fleet. He is behind me. You are in front of me. If you value your lives, be somewhere else.”
Interestingly, and very progressively for a 90s TV show, Delenn was originally intended to be an explicitly trans character in gender as well as species, and though the makeup and insufficient audio tech put paid to that after the pilot, much of the narrative around that remains.
***
Legend by David Gemmell
When you say ‘last stand’, this is the book I think of. The whole book is about a fortress and its small force of defenders standing against a massive army bent on conquest. Fortunately for the defenders, they have Druss the Legend, an aging but indomitable man arguing with his own mortality and legend. He has a large axe and no give in him. When it was written, David Gemmell was himself grappling with the diagnosis of a life-threatening health condition, and you can feel a lot of that real inner struggle emanating from the character of Druss.
The books is pervaded with a fatalistic optimism in the face of seemingly insurmountable odds, and filled with heroism, self-sacrifice and honour. Cowards find their courage, villains find a spark of goodness, and heroes meet emotion-wrenching ends. It’s everything you want from a last stand.
***
Sixteen Ways to Defend a Walled City by K.J. Parker
No heroic defenders here, just a bunch of underequipped engineers using stubbornness and skill, conniving to defend a city against a vastly superior foe instead of using force of arms. With the garrison slaughtered by invaders, only Orhan and his engineers remain to defend the capitol. It has the construction of defensive siege engines, digging of tunnels to intercept enemy sappers, frantic battles, self-sacrifice and a good dose of deception and bluffing to make an epic last stand.
***
Paladin of Souls by Lois McMaster Bujold
Not only a military last stand, but a theological one, with the previously mad/cursed Ista facing an army led by demon-ridden sorcerers, with only her shaky grasp of the gods and her second sight to fall back on. What I love most about this is the older characters, the cunning and subtle use of sorcery, and the changes wrought in all who survive.
It’s slow burning character-driven book, following Ista finding her way in life, growing more self-assured and coming into her own power. By the end of the book when the castle is under siege, you care deeply about all the characters and their fates as they ride out on one last do-or-die mission.
***
Mass Effect 3
The terrifying and alien Reapers are poised to harvest all technologically advanced organic life in the galaxy, and over the course of three games fraught with torturous choices and numerous sad and memorable moments, finally, the last stand of the galaxy is here. As Commander Shepherd of the Normandy, you gathered your allies and military forces, but now the Reapers have attacked Earth and it is time to use them in one desperate last stand to save your home, and the galaxy.
The moment the combined fleet of the allied races arrives in a likely-doomed attempt to defend Earth is a thrilling and fearful moment. The Reapers are akin to monstrous, many-legged techo-organic gods, but the disparate fleet of thousands warps in and opens fire with dogged determination even as Reaper-beams cut through their ships like soft cheese. The fleet opens a path for the Normandy to reach Earth and attempt to fight through the ruined, alien-infested streets of your home to reach the one thing that can save them all.
***
The Witcher 3: Battle of Kaer Morhen
One of the most memorable moments in one of the best games ever made. The terrifying and nigh-unstoppable Wild Hunt have come for Ciri, and only Geralt, Ciri and their allies stand any chance at all of stopping them. After an age of fleeing, it is finally time to make a stand at the ancient witcher fortress of Kaer Morhen.
Every previous encounter with the Wild Hunt has reinforced their power in the mind of the player, and you are left in no doubt that it will be a hard fight. After some frantic preparations are made, tension explodes as portals open and the first wave of enemies pour through to assault the fortress. Geralt and his allies fight hard but are forced to retreat deeper into the fortress fighting back with fire and sword and sorcery. The lives of allies you have fought beside hang in the balance, and the beauty of the writing and characterisation means you genuinely care if they survive. Not all do.
***
Honourable Mentions
- Independence Day
- The Two Towers
- Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
***
Buy the Book
The Maleficent Seven
Cameron Johnston is the British Fantasy Award and Dragon Awards nominated author of dark fantasy novels The Traitor God and God of Broken Things. He is a swordsman, a gamer, and an enthusiast of archaeology, history and mythology. He loves exploring ancient sites and camping out under the stars by a roaring fire.
Elfstones of Shannara really came down to the wire, a fond memory for me.
I think Paladin of Souls deserves a quote:
Cain’s Last Stand is actually his second stand in the same location. ‘Most people only get one of those.’
“Personally, I kinda wanna slay the dragon”
It was a dumb show that only got dumber, but I liked the last episode of Angel
I am so glad to see “13th Warrior” in this list! I was listening to the Intentionally Blank podcast a few days ago where Brandon and Dan were talking about underrated movies and this was one they mentioned, and I couldn’t agree more. It has so many great moments (the language learning is one of my favourites), and “Lo, there do I see my Father …” brings me chills every time, no matter how many times I hear it.
(I still haven’t gotten over saying “It is … possible” with Antonio’s intonation every time I have to agree with the possibility of something)
Some of these are not quite last stands, as the protagonists are victorious.
A real life last stand of that sort was the Battle of Rorke’s Drift in the Zulu War. A day or so after the main British force got exterminated by the Zulu impis (mainly due to everythign wrong with the British Army happening at once) a re-enforced company stood off a regiment. The movie “Zulu” (Michael Caine’s first movie) does justice to the battle, but is the usual 50’s era British Melodrama outside the battle, with added colonialist mindset. But great battle scenes.
Oblivion, a film (and soundtrack) I really enjoyed (even though the premise doesn’t make a whole lot of sense), has the last stand with Tom Cruise and Morgan Freeman taking out the big bad aliens, quoting Macaulay’s ‘Horatius at the Bridge’ from his Lays of Ancient Rome:-
@6 – Strong second recommendation for Zulu – one of my mother’s favorite movies. Two bits of color that add to the fun – the small group under attack are an engineering group building bridges rather than British Army regulars; and they have a big and actively practicing choral group among them. The engineering officer’s defense plan is brilliant; and the “sing off” between the Zulu warriors and the beleaguered Brits at the climax tugs at the heartstrings.
I’ll also plug the new Amazon Tomorrow War movie, which has a great last stand scene about 3/4 of the way through.
Yes! Get in there with Legend! One of my all-time favourite works of fantasy.
And as last stands go, well the world of Games Workshop is full of them: The epic that is the Horus Heresy is filled with them from the culling of the Loyalist elements of the Traitor Legions at Istvaan III, the Drop Site Massacre of Istvaan IV, the Battle for Tallarn, to the almighty Siege of Terra and the battle for the Imperial Palace, a portion of the Heresy they had to spin off into it’s own mini-series of books. Jumping forward ten millennia to 40k and there even more options. A few highlights: the last stand of the Ultramarines 1st Company during the Battle of Macragge during First Tyrannic War; The Tanith First & Only have almost made it a signature maneuver, with notable heroics at Vervunhive, Haggia, Herodor, Jago and Urdesh; The sacrifice of the Silver Swords Chapter of Space Marines to destroy the Necron World Engine, initiating an assault on the vessel with every warrior assembled; the Tyranid invasion of Iyanden Craftworld;
I’ve seen Delenn’s scene from BAB5 on top ten lists of the most bad-ass moments in science fiction, and I heartily agree.
Most of the fight finales at the end of the books in the “Kate Daniels” series are incredible, the duo of Ilona Andrews can’t write a bad fight, but the final battle in the series finale, MAGIC TRIUMPHS, where all of Kate’s allies and frenemies come together to save their world with Kate at the forefront is both smart and scary.
Skurge the Executioner’s last stand in Walt Simonson’s Thor run was the first one I thought of. Ganner Rhysode from Star Wars: The New Jedi Order: Traitor by Matthew Stover is another good one.
One of the best for me, and one that hits me in the feels every time, is Lee Scoresby’s last stand at the end of The Subtle Knife. And of course there’s the Kholin Army at the end of Way of Kings. R
The Alamo, remember that? Is a good example of a historical Last Stand. The Last Stand of the Foreign Legion at Camerone became central to their tradition.
@9, You’re right. Gaunt’s Ghosts do makea habit of desperate Next-to-Last Stands, don’t they? Hinzerhaus is the closest they ever came to actual destruction but it was far from the first time they’ve been backed against a wall.
I keep coming back to Robert Jackson Bennett’s “Divine Cities” trilogy but each book climaxes with an epic last stand, though that of General Turyin Mulaghesh in “City of Blades” is the best of the trio; you will believe a woman is an avatar of a god.
You say last stand, and I think Deadhouse Gates. The entire book is a last stand, but the very end of it was as gut-wrenching as any last stand out there.
WE ALL DIED AT BREAKAWAY STATION
Richard C. Meredith
Leaving the serial numbers on a line taken from Shiras: The kind of people who like this sort of thing will like this very much.
For last stands one of my favorites comes from “Watership Down”. It is the great scene where Bigwig fights the fearsome General Woundwort in a desperate single combat in the burrows of the new warren in Watership Down. He has fought Woundwort to a standstill. Now Bigwig is bleeding and exhausted but still holding his position. And then Woundwort tries to bribe him to betray his post:
“Suddenly Woundwort spoke.
“Thlayli,” he said, “why do you want to throw your life away? I can send one fresh rabbit after another into this run if I choose. You’re too good to be killed. Come back to Efrafa. I promise I’ll give you the command of any Mark you like. I give you my word.”
“Silflay harka, u embleer rah.” replied Bigwig.”
(For those who pay attention during their Lapin classes back in school that last tine from Bigwig translates as “Eat shit, stinking lord!”)
@15 Austin that one came to my mind also
Mbyerly@10, yes! So nice to see Ilona Andrews mentioned! I love all of their books (currently rereading one right now), but Kate’s the best, and the referred fight is just great.
Of the ones also mentioned, will also add my vote to the Battle of the Tower, and LOTR (Two Towers was named, but I think the Black Gate should not be forgotten, either).
I’ll chime in with a mention of the of Book 6 of the online fantasy serial web novel, A Practical Guide to Evil, massive spoilers for which follow:
It starts as a sort of Battle of Hornburg type struggle, with traditional good guys and bad guys teaming up against the threat of the Dark Lord… only they’re losing, and the fight has become a desperate battle where multiple suicide missions are required just to get to the point where our heroes can manage to retreat as an alternative to total annihilation.
Heroic knights, backstabbing goblins and the settings not-quite-a-Gandalf-expy all go out as magnificently painful tearjerkers all.
Zack Fair in FFVII: Crisis Core.
how about Balin’s people in Moria seen – sort of- in Fellowship? Aragorn army at the Gate. Also in Tolkien, Hurin.
Vanyel Ashkevron in Lacky’s Magic ‘s Price series.
The song Beauty of Dawn from some Elder Scrolls game or other is the song of last stands.
Maybe How to Train your Dragon? they were planning to have one and the kids turned up with the dragons.
Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, Fu and Buccaneer at the Main Gate. King Bradley also, although he’s a villain.
One Piece: “The One Piece is real” Whitebeard, still standing.
Zack Fair on the cliffs of Midgar, in Final Fantasy VII: Crisis Core. With a literal army before him, his comatose friend behind him, and his friends in a helicopter having just missed him, he walks out.
“Boy oh boy, The price of Freedom is steep.’ He recites his mentor’s creed. Then he charges.
COME AND GET IT!”
At the end of that battle, three men were standing, and he was bleeding out. The screen goes dark. Gunshots sound.
When the screen lights up, he’s the only thing still breathing. Too late, his friend wakes up, and last farewells are exchanged.
From the Fellowship of the Ring, though we don’t see it, we find the chronicle.
Drums. Drums in the Deep. They are coming.
Of all things, Pirates of the Carribean has one I can halfway respect. I’ve only seen the clip, and I usually could care less for the franchise. But still, that moment had something. When the woman made her speech, and rallied her ship. They were all going to die. Then what would they die for?
I feel obliged to mention the song, the beauty of Dawn from the Elder Scrolls Online. It’s about the last stand the entireworld is fighting, right here, right now. When the lyrics say: ‘days and nights of venom and blood. Heroes will rise’
One Piece has several. Two stand out.
Whitebeard ‘s death at the battle of Marineford. Despite being slashed and stabbed 267 times, shot by no less than 152 bullets, hit by 46 cannonballs, and having half his face melted off, he held off and completely decimated the marines, giving his crew a chance to escape with Luffy. He finally dies standing up after the Blackbeard Pirates empty an extra helping of metal into him, but not before laying low everything the world government hoped to achieve that day; by confirming the existence of One Piece. And he was already an old man with a foot in his grave before this battle, meaning that, in his prime, not even that would have been enough.
The only one that competes with it is the death of his old crewmate. Oden. He died harder than that.
Here’s a question – any “serial numbers filed off” stories come to mind when it comes to either the 1st Wake Island/2nd Wake Island, and/or Bataan/Corregidor battles in 1942?
In terms of “actual” history for American speculative fiction writers of the 1950s-70s, those would seem to have been examples that would have been easy to draw on … more so than Camerone or the Alamo or Thermopylae, and – oddly – not quite so familiar for a wider audience.
1st and 2nd Wake – and the abortive relief mission – would seem “easy” to adapt, relatively speaking, and Bataan/Corregidor has all sorts of elements to it, including (more or less) three different societies in play…
Came to mention Deadhouse Gates, but Austin @15 beat me to it.
For me the Chain of Dogs sequence was the high point of the Malazan series – just a superb ratcheting up of tension, drama, action and emotion across the course of the book. It would be my number 1 last stand story on any list…
Although Legend would definitely be up there too. :-)
On that note, a question: do the Druss books, and Gemmell in general, reward re-reading? I absolutely loved them in my teens but for whatever reason haven’t revisited them in the past 20 or so years. Not sure if they’ll live up to my fond memories…!
Last stands are, by definition, tricky to recount as the accounts tend to be written by the victors. In “Starship Troopers” the motto of the Mobile Infantry appears to be, “c’mon you apes, you wanna live forever?”. I can’t think of a more fitting epitaph for soldiers prepared and willing to lay down their lives in a last-ditch effort.
Okay, so Paul LoSchiavo@26 mentions ‘you wanna live forever?’ which immediately brings to mind this brilliant (cinematic) last stand, which I can’t believe I forgot to mention. Crom!
EDIT: (Admittedly, they survive, but it could’ve been their last stand!)
@26, Men of Tanith! You want to live forever?
Anyone who thinks only victors write history Needs to be introduced to the vast literature produced by adherents of the ‘Lost Cause’ which, according to Branch Cabell, conclusively proves the Confederacy was controlled by the mentally impaired.
In fact losers wrote quite a lot of history, to prove how right they were and how unfair it is they lost!
@17 Also in that scene in Watership Down, when Woundwort tells Bigwig he has no hope, that his rabbits can dig around him and his stand is pointless, and Bigwig says that his Chief Rabbit has ordered him to defend that burrow and he will not give way. Woundwort is momentarily baffled and a little frightened, for once, since he had assumed Bigwig, by his size and strength, had to be the Chief Rabbit, and that meant a “stronger” rabbit was elsewhere–never suspecting it was really the small, lame rabbit who had come to him earlier with a peace settlement.
My feelings for the graphic novel and film 300 are ‘mixed’ shall we say, but Simonides of Ceos does rather nail the Battle of Thermopylae:
Glad to see a few mentions of “Deadhouse Gates”, I do think that last stand is better than the mentioned one in “Memories of Ice”. The Chain of Dogs (as the last stand is called in DG) reminds me of a historical “last stand’ in American history, the incredible attempted retreat to Canada of Chief Joseph and his Nez Perce tribe. They fled the U.S. Army for 1170 miles across 4 states and multiple mountain ranges before finally cornered 40 miles from the Canadian border. He had about 250 warriors with 500 non-combatants against 2000 members of the U.S. Cavalry. If you haven’t ever read a translation of his “From Where the Sun now stands” speech, go read it, it is one of the best speeches by an American ever.
Add me to the folks who think the Chain of Dogs is worth the mention. That sequence is just extraordinary.
For Babylon 5, while I can’t argue Severed Dreams is great, and Delenn coming in at the critical moment is a crowning moment of awesome, when it comes to Last Stands, the sequence that comes to mind is from the prequel movie, In the Beginning. At the end, where Londo Mollari is narrating how the humans fought with everything they had to resist the Minbari advance, while we get a montage of those increasingly desperate battles and the Minbari crushing all resistance, and then cutting to the Earth President acknowledging that humanity’s doom is on its way to Earth, and calling for volunteers to sacrifice themselves for a bit more time in the Battle of the Line so they can evacuate as many civilians as possible. The battle itself is an afterthought (and really, just a slaughter in any case), but that sequence leading up to it is magnificent.
@32 Northman. You beat me to it.
“Oh how they died!” brings a tear to my eye each time I think of it.
Keeping with Malazan, the stand towards the end of The Crippled God.
I’m glad Legend was in there. I would have been in a dashed table-flipping mood if it had been left out. There were plenty of good bits in the list, and plenty of good last stands mentioned in the comments, but to the best of my recollection, Legend is the ultimate.
Also from Babylon 5: Ivanova’s “God sent me” speech. And from BSG, President Roslin’s “No” speech.
There’s a short story I read in the 70s, but I don’t remember the name or author. Maybe Harlan Ellison? It was about a ship’s crew stranded on a planet without hope of rescue. The only food they have is a native creature that they have to hunt down. It’s psychic, and its defense mechanism is to turn into the one you love the most. So for everyone to eat, you have to continually kill the one you love. Most have given up, but there’s one guy who continually goes out and gets food for everyone, but he’s really affected emotionally. I can’t remember how it ends. A last stand of a different sort.
Another Horatius-at-the-bridge moment: there’s a good one near the end of Blackout, by “Mira Grant”; one member of the party has to be on the wrong side of the door to make sure the zombies can’t get it open.
It’s a Star Wars novel, but the last stand of Ganner Rhysode in Matthew Woodring Stover’s Traitor is brilliant. It consistently tops lists of the Best Moments from the Pre-Disney Expanded Universe. (Just realized this has already been mentioned; consider this a seconding).
Thank you for including Babylon 5 in this – I feel it’s so often overlooked and it’s my fave series ever.
I would have loved to have seen Kanan’s last stand from Star Wars Rebels as well. That moment, in laying his life down for his family, is truly one of the most moving moments in all of fiction for me!
Three thumbs up for B5 and Delenn!
but, I was thinking of another. I am currently re-reading the Honor Harrington stories, and the first 2 have big, nasty last stands in them. (as well as other Honor books, but those are perhaps the most memorable…)
Thank you for including Babylon 5 in this – I feel it’s so often overlooked and it’s my fave series ever.
I would have loved to have seen Kanan’s last stand from Star Wars Rebels as well. That moment, in laying his life down for his family, is truly one of the most moving moments in all of fiction for me!
What makes Delenn’s rescue particularly is the speech she made before the Grey Council to force the Minbari to come to the aid of B5. The Balkans were in the middle of the horrible wars of the early 90s, so that monologue had special resonance for Mira Furlan, a Croatian. [Googling her, I had no idea that she died in January. RIP.]
I suppose it’s only debatably SFF, but dang if I wasn’t crying at the end of Endgame when we heard “Cap: on your left”, and learned that it wasn’t quite over yet.
One of my favorite scenes in a series full of favorite scenes:
Great Hunt, Wheel of Time spoilers:
–Ingtar and Rand
Excellent list and additions comments. I would add the defense of Dagoska led by Glokta in Joe Abercrombie’s “Before They Are Hanged”. Part of a wider story, Dagoska’s tale is one of a port-city as the final foothold of a monarchy in the lands of an expanding rival empire. Dagoska’s defense shares traits with the excellent “16 Ways to Defend a Walled City”, with no heroes or easy wins but defenders using diplomacy, trickery and more as well as arms to live another day. Fair warning that the First Law trilogy, of which “Hanged” is book two, is grimdark genre with violence and flawed characters throughout.
@13 The Alamo? if you wanna celebrate a buncha Texans starting a war because they didn’t want to give up their slaves, you do you, but I wouldn’t exactly call it a thrilling last stand.
Haven’t seen any mentions of Tanya Huff’s Torin Kerr (the Confederation) series, beginning with *Valor’s Choice.* Per the author’s end note, the last stand in the book is based on that Battle of Rorke’s Drift (1879), the Zulu War.
The last stand of the legion in Jim Butcher’s Cursor’s Fury is one of my all time favourite fantasy military moments.
The Battle of Yavin in Star Wars: A New Hope is a last stand IMO, and another one that came down the wire. A farm boy in a fighter for the first time in his life needs to make a virtually impossible shot, the most dangerous fighter pilot in the galaxy is closing in on him, and he just turned off his targeting computer. It‘s not a ”orcs at the walls” sort of last stand, but it was a last stand nevertheless, and a near run thing.
For a more “individual” last stand, there is John Ezra Dahlquist in Robert Heinlein’s “The Long Watch.”
@47, that’s a very reductionist way of looking at it. There were a number of other issues involved including Santa Anna trashing the Mexican constitution of 1824. Anyway we’re not talking about whether the last stands were by good or bad guys are we?
@45: Yes. Yes.
How can you have left out “The Long Watch” by Robert Heinlein, about a lone soldier preventing nuclear weapons from being used in a coup d’etat? (long before Babylon 5)
No Serenity? That has at least four, maybe five last stands, depending on how you want to define them.
@17 JohnnyMac — if we’re going to mention The Siege of Watership Down, then please do mention Bigwig’s most badass line (in my opinion) —
“My Chief Rabbit has told me to stay and defend this run, and until he says otherwise, I shall stay here.”
It simultaneiously sums up Bigwig’s indomitable character, betrays the Effrafans flaws (who panic, being able to imagine only one kind of leader) and pays the greatest honor to Hazel for being able to inspire such loyalty.
The description of 16 Ways to Defend a Walled City makes it sound as if it’s inspired by Roarke’s Drift. Which is enough for me to go find a copy.
In Sherwood Smith’s King’s Shield, the battle of Castle Andahi is fought to the last woman (and girl) to delay the invaders for just long enough.
Just wanted to re-iterate @11’s choice of Skurge’s last stand, from the Simonson Thor run.
Even the text alone:
They sing no songs in Hel, nor do they celebrate heroes. For silent is that dismal realm and cheerless.
But the story of the Gjallerbru and the god who defended it is whispered across the Nine Worlds.
And when a new arrival asks about the one to whom even Hela bows her head, the answer is always the same.
“He stood alone at Gjallerbru.”
And that answer is enough.
#26; Heinlein cribbed from Sgt. Maj. Daniel J. Daly at Belleau Wood.
#56 … or, “Duffer’s Drift,” perhaps?
In Sherwood Smith’s book, King’s Shield, the battle of Castle Andahi is fought to the last woman (and girl) in order to delay the invaders just long enough to give the king’s outnumbered forces time to get to the top of the pass to make their own last stand.
Hamnpork, in THE AMAZING MAURICE AND HIS EDUCATED RODENTS. Also, Maurice, cutting a deal with Death with an extra life. Also, Dangerous Beans against the Ratsking.
Knacker Molly, in THE WIZARD’S GUIDE TO DEFENSIVE BAKING.
I’ve always been fond of Lost Dorsai by Gordon R. Dickson as an alternative take on hopeless last stands. The titular “lost Dorsai” finds a way to honour his personal beliefs and morals, while standing with his few fellow Dorsai in the face of an overwhelming force.
Near the end of The Fellowship of the Ring, when Boromir dies trying to protect Merry and Pippin. That’s my favorite moment of any movie ever.
Also, I love that The Iron Giant was included. I didn’t see it until I was an adult, and that “Superman” hit me unexpectedly in the feels.
@@@@@ 30, a-j:
My feelings for the graphic novel and film 300 are ‘mixed’ shall we say, but Simonides of Ceos does rather nail the Battle of Thermopylae:
ὦ ξεῖν’, ἀγγέλλειν Λακεδαιμονίοις ὅτι τῇδε
κείμεθα τοῖς κείνων ῥήμασι πειθόμενοι
[Go tell the Spartans, stranger passing by
That here, obedient to their laws, we lie]
If you want to spend time with Simonides, read Mary Renault’s The Praise Singer. It’s one of her best.
@64
I have and I concur.
“Attention all hands. As you know, we could outrun the Klingon vessels. But we must protect the Enterprise-C until she enters the temporal rift. And we must succeed! Let’s make sure that history never forgets… the name… Enterprise. Picard out.”
–Star Trek: The Next Generation, Season 3, “Yesterday’s Enterprise”
Legend is a very deserving entry on this list.
I would also add “serenity” — River makes one hell of a last stand.
@64 Love Mary Renault!
Not sure it counts as genre fiction, but: Jordan Mechner’s graphic novel Templar. “When the king of France orders a mass arrest of the Knights Templar as a pretext to seize the noble order’s legendary treasure, a handful of fugitive knights-turned-outlaws band together to stop the tyrant by pulling off the greatest heist of the 14th century.” Good stuff. (I don’t want to spoil anything by saying whose stands end up being last stands.)
Back into genre, I think Battlestar Galactica’s S3 episode 3 qualifies: a pretty incredible blowout for an episode that’s not even a season ender, with two very tense episodes leading up to it.
Correction: I forgot that Battlestar Galactica (2004) S3, what I called the 3rd episode was a two-parter. So the battle I referred to is in the fourth episode.
GoT’s Battle of the Bastards (s6ep9) and The Long Night (s8ep3) were desperate last stands against overwhelming odds. The only reason BotB might not quite be a last stand is that Sansa had a secret :)
That shot from BotB with Jon standing against the charging forces is incredible, even if he was being reckless. And the scene in TLN with the Army of the Dead charging in full darkness??? So. dang. creepy.
The 13th Warrior, Aliens, and Zulu? *chef’s kiss* Perfection!
I’m gonna second the Battle of the line from Babylon 5
https://youtu.be/NzJaQtZty5M
If Jim Bowie had been a Viking. The Death of Bowie Gizzardsbane, as told by John Myers Myers, in Silverlock.
Bowie came to fame as a result of the duel on a sandbar on the Mississippi. Which precisely matches a northland holmgang—two men, or two gangs of men, go to an island—a holm—and duel to the death.
When Sam Houston was a teenager, he lit out for the tall timber. He lived with a Cherokee tribe. His adopted name translated as Raven.
Harsh that hearing for Houston the Raven:
Fools had enfeebled the fortress at Bexar,
Leaving it lacking and looted the while
Hordes were sweeping swift on his land,
Hell-bent to crush him. The cunning old prince
Did not, though, despair at danger’s onrushing;
Hardy with peril, he held it, perused it,
Reading each rune of it. Reaching the facts, he
Thumbed through his thanes and thought of the one
Whose guts and gray matter were grafted most neatly.
“Riders!” he rasped, “to race after Bowie!”
“Bowie,” he barked when that bearcat of heroes
Bowed to his loved prince, “Bexar must be ours
Or no one must have it. So hightail, burn leather!
Hold me that fortress or fire it and raze it
Do what you can or else do what you must.”
Fame has its fosterlings, free of the limits
Boxing all others, and Bowie was one of them.
Who has not heard of the holmgang at Natchez?
Fifty were warriors, but he fought the best,
Wielding a long knife, a nonesuch of daggers
Worthy of Wayland. That weapon had chewed
The entrails of dozens. In diverse pitched battles
That thane had been leader; by land and by sea
Winning such treasure that trolls, it is said,
Closed hills out of fear he’d frisk them of silver.
Racing now westward, he rode into Bexar,
Gathered the garrison, gave them his orders:
“Houston the Raven is raising a host;
Time’s what he asks while he tempers an army.
Never give up this gate to our land.
Hold this door fast, though death comes against us.”
The flood of the foemen flowed up to Bexar,
Beat on the dam braced there to contain it.
But Wyrd has no fosterlings, favors no clients;
Bowie, the war-wise winner of battles,
Laid out by fever, lost his first combat,
Melting with death. Yet the might of his spirit
Kept a tight grip on the trust he’d been given.
“Buy time, my bucks,” he told his companions.
“Be proud of the price; our prince is the gainer.”
Bold thanes were with him, thirsty for honor,
Schooled well in battle and skilled in all weapons;
Avid for slaughter there, each against thirty,
They stood to the walls and struck for their chieftains,
Houston and Bowie, the bearcat of heroes.
Twelve days they ravaged the ranks of the foemen.
Tens, though can’t harrow the hundreds
forever; That tide had to turn. Tiredly the thanes
Blocked two wild stormings and bled them to death.
The third had the drive of Thor’s mighty hammer,
Roared at the walls and rose to spill over,
Winning the fort. But the foemen must pay.
Heroes were waiting them, hardy at killing,
Shaken no whit, though sure they were lost.
Ten lives for one was the tariff for entry;
And no man got credit. Crushed and split skulls,
Blasted off limbs and lathers of blood
Were the money they soughted and minted themselvesт—
Worth every ounce of the weregild they asked.
Of every eleven, though, one was a hero
Turned to a corpse there. Cornered and hopeless,
They strove while they yet stood, stabbing and throttling,
Meeting the bear’s death, dying while fighting.
Chieftains of prowess, not chary of slaying,
Led and fell with them. Alone by the wall,
Travis, the red-maned, the truest of warriors,
Pierced through the pate and pouring out blood,
Kept death marking time, defied it until
His sword again sank, sucking blood from a foeman.
Content, then, he ended. So also died Crockett,
Who shaved with a star and stamped to make earthquakes,
Kimball, the leader of loyal riders,
Bonham whose vow was valor’s own hall mark.
Crazed by their losses, the conquerors offered
No truce to cadavers; the corpses were stabbed
In hopes that life’s spark would be spared to afford them
Seconds on killing. Then some, taking count,
Bawled out that Bowie was balking them still;
Like weasels in warrens they wound through the fort,
Hunting the hero they hated the most.
Least of the lucky, at last some found him,
Fettered to bed by the fever and dying,
Burnt up and shrunken, a shred of himself.
Gladly they rushed him, but glee became panic.
Up from the gripe of the grave, gripping weapons,
Gizzardsbane rose to wreak his last slaughter,
Killing, though killed. Conquered, he won.
In brief is the death lay of Bowie, the leader
Who laid down his life for his lord and ring giver,
Holding the doorway for Houston the Raven,
Pearl among princes, who paid in the sequel:
Never was vassal avenged with more slayings!
Great list. RIP Mira Furlan. I would add Garth Ennis Dan Dare revival to the list. Especially the scene with the Royal Marines fixing bayonets to fight aTreen horde although, they were rescued .There were other battles in the series where the outcome was not so great. Underrated series.
I’d like to add the big battle at the end of “Forever War.” What comes across so well is the utter futility of the war and the battle, the way even good-seeming decisions can go so wrong, and the feeling of dread and claustrophobia.
And of course the strike/revolution in Terry Pratchett’s “Nightwatch.”