History Main / SelfDestructiveCharge

Related to RasputinianDeath, may be a form of HeroicSacrifice, [[StupidSacrifice or not]], [[SenselessSacrifice depending on how it goes]]. Basically YouShallNotPass from the other guy's point of view. Contrast with FoeTossingCharge, where the charge isn't quite so self-destructive, and DeathOrGloryAttack, where the charge is only self-destructive if the attacker fails to bring down the target. Usually a DeathTrope, and therefore frequently a DyingMomentOfAwesome. Has the potential to overlap with TheDyingWalk. See also LeeroyJenkins.

* Subverted during the Last Battle in ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime A Memory of Light]]'', where [[spoiler:[[DeathSeeker Lan]] sets out to do so, only for [[TheArcher Tam's Two Rivers men]] to clear his path to Demandred and [[AntiMagic Mat's amulet]] allowing him to kill him and live]].

* The end of {{Film/Transformers}} has Megatron, shot up by Optimus and airstrikes from the US Air Force, madly crawling after the Allspark, even as he takes more punishment from the planes. [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in that if he had gotten his hands on the Allspark ([[TheDeterminator which he was still fully capable of]]) he could have easily fully repaired himself.

* In a post-1986-movie episode of ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'', Optimus Prime finds himself rebuilt -- by whom, he doesn't know -- and must make a HeroicSacrifice to stop the episode's big menace. He flies his space ship right down the bad guys' gullet, and we can see him falling apart on the way in before he impacts and blows 'em up real good.

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', [[spoiler: after all of the other Guardians have been defeated by a Demon Tide in the Keyblade Graveyard, Sora breaks down completely. In order to motivate him to keep going and save their friends from certain doom, Riku faces against the Demon Tide in a LastStand, defending Sora from the darkness for a few more moments before both of them are swallowed up by it as well. Sora's conversation with the Nameless Star in the Final World more or less confirms that while Kairi is the reason Sora retains his body, Riku's HeroicSacrifice against the Demon Tide is the reason his heart survived and [[InspirationalMartyr kept him from losing all hope]] (a point that is made clearer in the [[LostinTranslation original Japanese dialogue]])]].

* In ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'', [[spoiler: after all of the other Guardians have been defeated by a Demon Tide in the Keyblade Graveyard, Sora breaks down completely. In order to motivate him to keep going and save their friends from certain doom, Riku faces against the Demon Tide in [[TheLastDance a last stand]], defending Sora from the darkness for a few more moments before both of them are swallowed up by it as well. Sora's conversation with the Nameless Star in the Final World more or less confirms that while Kairi is the reason Sora retains his body, Riku's HeroicSacrifice against the Demon Tide is the reason his heart survived and [[InspirationalMartyr kept him from losing all hope]] (a point that is made clearer in the [[LostinTranslation original Japanese dialogue]])]].

* [[spoiler:Baj]] does this in the Season 7 finale of [[LetsPlay/MindcrackServer Mindcrack]] Ultra Hardcore, charging straight at [[spoiler:Nebris]] while being shot at and attacked by his dogs. Ultimately, he falls just short and dies, but his wolf avenges him.

** The T-800 exoskeleton in ''Film/TheTerminator'' had the lower half of its body blown off when Kyle Reese planted explosives in its chest. It then followed Sarah Conner by dragging itself with its arms, and was trapped under a hydraulic press and squished.
** Likewise, in ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' the T-1000 was caught in a flood of liquid nitrogen and frozen. It broke off its feet while walking and continued on the stumps, then was shattered into hundreds of pieces by a bullet from the T-800's gun. [[HealingFactor And it still kept going]].

* In ''Film/XMenTheLastStand'', Wolverine's relentless advance towards Jean probably counts - his HealingFactor kept him regenerating in the face of the telekinetic assault, but still... Some suspect it was only his MagicPants that kept his legs from getting the same treatment.
** It's played straighter when Magneto sends his conscripts to charge the military guarding Alcatraz Island, while holding back his strongest lieutenants. "The pawns go first" indeed.

** A lot different than the original; which had V [[spoiler:die from a single bullet; which was all part of his plan.]]

** If there is to be only one example of this trope from ''Film/TheLastSamurai'', it should be the climax. Which is a cavalry charge by the weary, outnumbered, defeated remnants of the samurai army into first a line of gunners and then frickin' GATLING GUNS. The samurai are, of course, killed to the very last man.

* In the anime adaptation of ''Literature/HowARealistHeroRebuiltTheKingdom'', Gaius Amidonia, having been outmanoeuvred, does one of these things in an attempt to take out the enemy general and survives explosives at close quarters which blasts half of his armour away before Elfrieden archers turn him into a pincushion. That finally kills him, but not before he throws his sword in a last ditch attempt to kill Souma.

* In ''LightNovel/FateZero'', after having his Noble Phantasm destroyed and seeing just how overpowered Gilgamesh is, Iskander still decides to 'show his dream' to Waver by charging headlong at Gilgamesh, who is raining spears down on him. It takes being restrained by chains just an inch from Gilgamesh' face to stop him, and he is then impaled through the chest.

*** The French at Crécy and Poitiers/Maupertuis.
*** Several in the Napoleonic Wars, notably the French at Eylau, and both the French and British cavalry at Waterloo.

*** The last known full-scale cavalry charge happened during the Battle of Moscow during WWII. Two regiments of Mongolian horsemen charged a German line outside Musino. The German line consisted of artillery, heavy machine guns, and '''tanks'''. It did not go well for the Mongolians. [[CurbStompBattle The entire Mongolian force was wiped out without a single casualty for the Germans.]]

*** The French at Agincourt.
*** The Swedish Caroleans attack on fortified Russian positions at Poltava.
*** The final charge of Napoleon's Guard at Waterloo.
*** The Army of the Potomac at Fredericksburg, Antietam and Cold Harbor, Pickett's charge at Gettysburg.

* In ''LightNovel/FateZero'', after having his Nobel Phantasm destroyed and seeing just how overpowered Gilgamesh is, Iskander still decides to 'show his dream' to Waver by charging headlong at Gilgamesh, who is raining spears down on him. It takes being restrained by chains just an inch from Gilgamesh' face to stop him, and he is then impaled through the chest.

* [[spoiler:Solomon David]] does this in ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'' during ''Breaker of Infinities'', activating a DangerousForbiddenTechnique that destroys their own body in order to convert it to raw power and charging down [[spoiler:Jagganoth, punching the God-Eater through three universes and into a soul-migrating black hole intended to kill gods. Since Jagganoth is conceptually incapable of being harmed, it is unlikely to have stopped him permanently.]]

* In the ''VideoGame/MassEffect2'' fic Fanfic/{{Pariah}}, the leading OC performs this with a heaping helping of TakingYouWithMe.

* Not intentional, but still counts: ''SoldierOfFortune'' was one of the first games to allow enemies to be dismembered part by part. Only, it and its sequel had a bug that sometimes made those enemies ''[[DeadCharacterWalking keep fighting anyway]]'', so that eventually you'd be facing [[GlitchEntity a shapeless blob of meat that still somehow was able to move and shoot.]]

** In the Normal End of Heaven's Feel Shirou performs a slow-speed version of this. With each step he forces his body to take toward the [[spoiler:Grail a part of his brain is destroyed, a part of his mind lost. His body dies reaching the Grail and his soul is destroyed Tracing Excalibur]]. At the end, it's noted that his body is nothing more than a machine programmed to swing the sword.

* In a post-1986-movie episode of ''{{Transformers}}'', Optimus Prime finds himself rebuilt -- by whom, he doesn't know -- and must make a HeroicSacrifice to stop the episode's big menace. He flies his space ship right down the bad guys' gullet, and we can see him falling apart on the way in before he impacts and blows 'em up real good.

* One of the Idirians in ''Literature/ConsiderPhlebas'' is left for dead. A bad idea when you are up against a species that is essentially biologically immortal (as a result of evolving on a DeathWorld that takes EverythingIsTryingToKillYou UpToEleven). He spends about an hour [[spoiler: dragging his own near-corpse to the train controls, finally succumbing just as he starts it on a collision course with the protagonists, eventually killing most of them]]

* ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion":

** In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' (episode III), Anakin evokes this at the end of his fight with Obi-Wan, including having his legs cut off (see form no. 1 above). Anakin [[FromACertainpointOfView metaphorically dies]], too, so the scene metaphorically fits the trope.

* ''Anime/SailorMoon'' does this with Sailor Neptune. She runs through two waves of painful projectiles in order to get to [[SchoolgirlLesbians her lover]], which indirectly leads to her death.

* Zabuza did this in ''Manga/{{Naruto}}''. Unlike most villains, he reached and killed his target. However the target was a less badass villain so he may have counted as a hero for that action. Instead of bullets, he got swords, spears, and various other pointy things stabbed in his back.
** Did we mention he did this without use of his arms? [[SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome Because he didn't have use of his arms.]]

Related to RasputinianDeath, may be a form of HeroicSacrifice, [[StupidSacrifice or not]], [[SenselessSacrifice depending on how it goes]]. Basically YouShallNotPass from the other guy's point of view. Contrast with FoeTossingCharge, where the charge isn't quite so self-destructive, and DeathOrGloryAttack, where the charge is only self-destructive if the attacker fails to bring down the target. Usually a DeathTrope, and therefore frequently a DyingMomentOfAwesome. Has the potential to overlap with TheDyingWalk.

* ''Anime/RebuildOfEvangelion". In the battle with Zeruel, the final angel of the movie [[spoiler:Mari activates the Eva's Beast Mode, limiting her tactics to just charging forwards regardless of damage inflicted to her. This reaches its logical conclusion, when after both her hands are torn off and her torso is bleeding she charges at the angel in an attempt to bite off its AT Field. And it works. Kinda anyway.]]
** And then, there's the lengths Shinji went in his attempt to save [[spoiler: Rei. Basically, his [[EmpathicWeapon EVA]] ran out of power, was skewered by the enemy, and we see Shinji spew up a fountain of HighPressureBlood, indicating quite possibly fatal internal injuries... then he reactivates the EVA by sheer force of will, [[DeclarationOfProtection proclaims that he wants her back]], and ''just keeps going'', no matter if his plug depths go to levels that put both his life and humanity in mortal danger. His physical body must've burst into LCL at some point, but he didn't even notice. Towards the end, just as he is about to reach Rei, his skin burns off his hands and face, revealing blood and charred muscles beneath, and he ''keeps going'' until he had pulled her out of the core of the angel that swallowed her. It ends up costing him 14 years of his life. Sadly, the third movie reveals that it was all for naught... ]]

* The recoil attacks in ''VideoGame/{{Pokemon}}'' are very powerful, but damage the user as well as the target. However, Pokémon with the the Rock Head ability can avoid the side affect and thus avert this.

** Somewhat more epic than that sounds. As the Alliance army tries to escape by climbing rope ladders, a massive 100 foot tall demonic battlemech has grabbed the ship and is tipping it over. [[spoiler:Wrynn]] gives Graymane a letter for his son, draws his sword and jumps off the rope ladder, stabbing the mech in the head and taking it down. He rides it to the ground and is surrounded by demons, and takes out quite a few before finally being speared by several of them simultaneously. See it [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HerNdsh_H-g&feature=youtu.be&t=1m26s here]]
* In ''VideoGame/SamuraiWarriors'', this is Sanada Yukimara's ending: he launches a last charge against Tokugowa Ieyasu, getting to within striking distance before succumbing to his wounds. Just like he did in real life.