The Last Dance: Difference between revisions
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Of course, if you've led an exceptionally adventurous or questionable life, it may be time to throw out all the rules and go on that last run, complete that final mission, settle that one score. When you literally have nothing left to lose, that's when you can truly give everything you've got.
This trope gives a writer a lot of flexibility in writing for a character. Heroes can become villains, villains can try for redemption, utterly minor characters can [[A Death in the Limelight|step into the spotlight]], sane characters can go [[Ax Crazy]] or turn into [[The Unfettered]], [[Power Limiter
For the dying character, The Last Dance can blend with [[Do Not Go Gentle]] or the [[Bolivian Army Ending]], but it is more personal; the rest of the world goes on. A common twist is for the character in question to find out that [[Mistaken for Dying|they're going to live]], and have to deal with the consequences of their actions after all.
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* In [[Harry Potter]] and The Half Blood Prince, this quote
{{quote|''It was, he thought, the difference between being dragged into the arena to face a battle to the death and walking into the arena with your head held high. Some people, perhaps, would say that there was little to choose between the two ways, but Dumbledore knew - and so do I, thought Harry, with a rush of fierce pride, and so did my parents - that there was all the difference in the world.''}}
*** Though when {{spoiler|Harry actually does go to face (what he believes to be) certain death}} in ''The Deatly Hallows'' he's more resigned than
{{quote|''Yet it did not occur to him now to try and escape (...). It was over, he knew it, and all that was left was the thing itself: dying.''}}
* The [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] fantasy novel ''Fell Cargo'' has this with {{spoiler|the captain of the Lightning Tree. He's originally heading for peaceful retirement, but joins in the fray one more time to help defeat the Butcher.}}
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* Slight variation in ''[[Lost]]'': Desmond's visions foretell Charlie's death. Charlie spends the latter half of season 3 trying to avoid various accidents, until a vision reveals a chance to save Claire and Aaron, at which point Charlie accepts his fate and dies a heroic death.
** Ben Linus. Spine tumor. Leave the island to find a doctor? No; Ask the doctor nicely? No; Kidnap one? Yes! Not that he's a very moral person in the first place, so it might not count.
* Subverted in ''[[Babylon 5]]'': Humans bring out every combat-capable ship they've got to the Battle of the Line, but at the hour of their triumph, the genocidal Mimbari simply stop and surrender. Figuring out why is one of the major [[Story Arc
** The Earth president's speech just prior to the battle acknowledges that virtually everyone involved will die but that doing so will give humanity some tiny chance to continue. Her stoicism cracks during the speech, and her tearful, halting delivery combines with the wordless images of the pilots suiting up to create an epic [[Tear Jerker]].
* The ''[[CSI]]'' episode "Living Legend" had {{spoiler|a legendary mob boss thought dead for decades}} exacting revenge on the people that had tried to murder him. He didn't have long to live thanks to the bullet in his chest still moving and thus planned on going out in a blaze of glory. {{spoiler|However, Catherine informs him that the bullet was removed while he was unconscious meaning he now has around 20 years left to live, all of which will be spent in a prison filled with criminals who don't remember him.}}
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** A terminally ill Mike Franks confronts the Port-to-Port Killer, announcing "I figure I got one fight left in me." ''NCIS'' loves this trope.
* On ''[[NCIS: Los Angeles]]'' a CIA agent has to abandon an undercover mission in Africa when he suspects that his cover is compromised. Sadly, while stopping a terrorist plot he receives radiation poisoning. With only a few months to live he decides to resume his undercover mission In Africa since it no longer matters if he is killed and with the time he has left he might be able to find the terrorist leaders responsible for the attack.
* On ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]'' police chief Unser finds out that he has terminal cancer in the pilot episode and wants to retire and live out his remaining days in peace. However, he is forced into
* In ''[[Burn Notice]]'', a client is retiring from the State Department after {{spoiler|learning he has terminal pancreatic cancer}}. Looking back on his life, he decides that he can't stand his legacy as a man who enabled a diplomat to smuggle blood diamonds. He contacts the protagonists and arranges to take down the diplomat, ultimately {{spoiler|[[Thanatos Gambit|sacrificing his own life so the diplomat will be arrested for murder]].}}
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* Forms the basis for a mission in ''[[Phantasy Star]] Online''. With a mere 30 minutes left to live, a warrior wants to reach his goal of killing 10 000 monsters (he's at 9900 when you meet him). Of note: for being on the brink of death, he is actually remarkably fit. He is one of the strongest NPCs in the game and, if you're on the highest difficulty setting, could probably still beat the everloving crap out of your character without really trying. Which raises the question of why he needs your help in the first place...
* Sir Aliste from the PSP remake of ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]'' masquerades as a villain and kidnaps the lover of his ally, Beowulf, so that they may duel with their lives on the line. The former was afflicted with some malady, was destined to die with the middle age's lack of medical care (apparently for some reason the commonplace ''magicall'' healing wouldn't work either), and refused to do so confined and wasting away in a sick bed. Aliste is defeated, and - with his dying breath - urges Beowulf to save his lover Reis.
* Prior to the events of ''[[Star Control|Star Control 2]]'', the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|Shofixti]] cause their own sun to go nova to strike a final blow to the Ur-Quan. The news of the extinction of the Shofixti was a [[Despair Event Horizon]] to fellow [[Proud Warrior Race Guy
** Doubles as a [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]] {{spoiler|- the Shofixti pretty much single-...um, single-sunnedly? ensured that the Ur-Quan Kzer-Za lose to their [[Omnicidial]] brethren, Ur-Quan Kohr-Ah.}}
* Invoked in ''[[R-Type|R-Type Final]]'' with Operation Last Dance, where all R-series models in existence gather to fire their respective [[Wave Motion Gun
** Which in itself is referenced by the R-99 Last Dancer, one of the game's three ultimate ships.
* In ''[[Neverwinter Nights]]'', {{spoiler|Aribeth's}} final actions could be taken as this, as she knows both sides are likely to kill her and just wants to get her vengeance into the middle of the war before she goes.
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* This is the typical way an aging Grey Warden prefers to die in [[Dragon Age]]. After about thirty years, a Grey Warden's body starts to succumb to the tainted blood of the Darkspawn that they willingly imbued at their initiation. Instead of descending into madness or possibly becoming a darkspawn themselves, they join the Dwarves in the Deep Roads, where the Darkspawn nest, and throw themselves on the Darkspawn horde killing as many as possible before being felled themselves.
** Also happens in [[Dragon Age]] 2, during the final moments, when Hawke can proclaim that "I can fight harder scared than they can angry!"
* In ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'' it's possible to recruit [[The Remnant
* A recurring theme in ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'' is that Commander Shepard will either destroy the Reapers or take them down with them.
** It's quite possible to recruit every space-faring race in the galaxy {{spoiler|including two previously extinct ones}} to join Shepard and the Alliance an a final, glorious battle against the Reapers.
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* ''[[Warhammer 40000]]'' has this, said by a leader of the Imperial Guard, shortly before the entire unit is completely annihilated:
{{quote|''Our end is come. But what an end! We have been given the most precious gift: a chance to roar our defiance into the foes that overwhelms us with their numbers. Let the Emperor himself hear our final battle cry! Forward warriors of the Guard, and die like the heroes that you are!''}}
** 40K in general is a walking, talking love affair with this trope. Imperial Guard are indoctrinated from recruitment/conscription that you ''will'' die in service to the Emperor, so make it worth something; the [[Space Marine
* In 4th Edition ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'', most Epic Destinies lead to the (now close to godlike) characters [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence|breaking free of mortal restraints in some fashion]] after their "Final Adventure". The DM is encouraged to make this a sufficiently spectacular affair. Not quite death, but close enough.
** And this descended (ha!) from a prestige class in the ''Book of Exalted Deeds'' - the Risen Martyr, who has no choice but to take levels in Risen Martyr whenever he levels up. When he has all ten levels of Risen Martyr, if he levels up once more, he must complete a task, after which he dies instantly and ascends into the heavens as a newborn celestial. [[Living on Borrowed Time|Also note that one of the prerequisites to become a Risen Martyr is being dead.]]
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** Machiavelli similarly points out the advantages of hopeless (or nearly so) situations for on the battlefield in [[Discourses on Livy]].
* This is actually the outlook of many people who aren't diagnosed with anything terminal, nor have any reason to think they'll die early. It's just that in [[Real Life]], mortality is universal; and whether you die in two minutes or a hundred years, you'll inevitably die. Some people deal with that fact by handling life in a no-holds-barred, seize-the-day fashion.
* This was tested in a real-life experiment in [[Feudal Japan]]. A sensei (head teacher, in this case) of a school of fencing had a servant who'd been with him for
* This trope is also the big reason why the military isn't enthusiastic about neutron bombs (beside all the mess that using any nuclear weapon would cause) -- the nature of the explosion means it could leave hundreds of enemy soldiers fatally irradiated but still able to fight for a day or two.
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