Line #59 Main/YouShallNotPass


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3	[[quoteright:320:[[AncientRome https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/horatiuscropped_2549.jpg]]]]
4	[[caption-width-right:320:[-Horatius calmly explaining to the UsefulNotes/{{Etruscans}} that bridge-crossing and Rome-sacking aren't gonna happen. [[note]]As recounted in the ''Lays of Ancient Rome''.[[/note]]-] ]]
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9	-> ''"Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul,\
10	With all the speed ye may;\
11	I, with two more to help me,\
12	Will hold the foe in play.\
13	In yon strait path a thousand\
14	May well be stopped by three.\
15	Now who will stand on either hand,\
16	And keep the bridge with me?"''
17	-->-- '''Horatius''', "Horatius", ''The Lays Of Ancient Rome''
18
19	Things are looking really bad for Our Heroes; an endless army of monsters is hot on their heels, with the HeroKiller leading the charge. Death is certain. Then, one character (sometimes two) falls behind and [[MoreHeroThanThou insists that the others go on]]. In order to allow the other heroes to escape/reach their destination/BringNewsBack, this character single-handedly holds back the enemy horde, often losing their life in the process.
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21	Just as often they get a DisneyDeath and are resurrected through AppliedPhlebotinum / FunctionalMagic or they show up much later, having [[UnexplainedRecovery miraculously survived]] when NoOneCouldSurviveThat If shown on-screen, it could be used to improve the odds, thanks to the Law of ConservationOfNinjitsu. A character who successfully stops the enemy forces and survives qualifies as a OneManArmy.
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23	In extreme cases, where they ''must'' BringNewsBack, one character is sent on and everyone else stays to give him time to escape.
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25	May overlap with LastStand, where the characters want to make the opposing forces pay. On the other hand, in LastStand, if they can maximize their damage by a suicidal action, they will do so; in You Shall Not Pass, the characters try to maximize the time even if they inflict fewer casualties that way. (When the aims don't conflict, a character can do both.)
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27	Characters likely to do this include TheMentor so he can have an ObiWanMoment or TheBigGuy to maximize the move's effect. If the character is wounded, he may say IWillOnlySlowYouDown and GoOnWithoutMe. This may allow an exception to the rule that NoOneGetsLeftBehind, but often the other characters are driven on only when it is impossible to return, or the character is dead.
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29	This character, if NotQuiteDead, may suffer a FaceHeelTurn on recovery and [[DisproportionateRetribution turn on his companions]] for abandoning him. Logic and facts about the impossibility of their saving him seldom make an impression when he has been deranged by his suffering. Worse, he may face ReforgedIntoAMinion.
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31	The phrase [[OlderThanTheyThink was originally used]] in World War I by the French at Verdun: "''[[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/They_shall_not_pass On ne passe pas]]!''" (Although, technically, that's "''None'' shall pass!" but who's keeping track?) Later used during the Spanish Civil War: "''¡No pasarán!''" (in this case, "They won't pass!") in response to which General Franco later said, "Hemos pasado," meaning, "We have passed." The Spanish phrase became an international anti-fascist slogan. The TropeNamer is Gandalf the Grey from Peter Jackson's ''Film/TheFellowshipOfTheRing'', who declares this directly to an ancient demon that pursues both him and his Fellowship of friends across a bridge spanning an immensely deep pit; he meets the demon half-way along the bridge, blocking its path directly, after all of his friends have crossed it already.
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33	[[StockPhrases Tip-offs]] when the character is wounded, and stays behind to allow others to escape, include:
34	* "[[ObiWanMoment I've gone as far as I can go]]. Keep going! I will hold them off as long as I can."
35	* Leader: "Where's so-and-so?!" Protagonist: ''(silently shakes head)'' or "HeDidntMakeIt"
36	* "[[TakingYouWithMe I'll take a few of them with me]] before it's done!"
37
38	This is a specific kind of HeroicSacrifice.
39
40	See SelfDestructiveCharge, which is a similar situation but from the view of the one not allowed to pass.
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42	Frequently a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome (especially DyingMomentOfAwesome.) Contrast with TheRestShallPass. If [[HeroSecretService enough]] of [[InTheEndYouAreOnYourOwn the cast]] get in on this, it results in a DwindlingParty. See also DelayingAction, DoorJam, HoldTheLine, and StandYourGround. Usually done by TheBigGuy out of BigGuyFatalitySyndrome.
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44	----
45	!!Example subpages:
46
47	[[index]]
48	* YouShallNotPass/AnimeAndManga
49	* YouShallNotPass/CardGames
50	* YouShallNotPass/ComicBooks
51	* YouShallNotPass/FanWorks
52	* YouShallNotPass/{{Film}}
53	* YouShallNotPass/{{Literature}}
54	* YouShallNotPass/LiveActionTV
55	* YouShallNotPass/{{Roleplay}}
56	* YouShallNotPass/TabletopGames
57	* YouShallNotPass/VideoGames
58	* YouShallNotPass/{{Webcomics}}
59	* YouShallNotPass/WesternAnimation
60	* YouShallNotPass/RealLife
61	[[/index]]
62
63	[[foldercontrol]]
64
65	[[folder:Comic Strips]]
66	* Happens in a very early arc of ''ComicStrip/PrinceValiant''. After being given the Singing Sword, Val uses it to stop Viking raiders who have abducted his beloved Ilene from crossing a bridge (pictured [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Singing_Sword here]]) while his rival-turned-ally rides to get TheCavalry. He eventually passes out and is captured too, but at least lives to fight another day. Year. Decades.
67	[[/folder]]
68
69	[[folder:Music]]
70	* At the end of Music/TheLonelyIsland's "Space Olympics", after [[DeconstructiveParody the titular space sporting event goes wrong due to how unrealistic it is]] to try to do the Olympics [-IN SPACE!-], a horde of aliens has invaded the space station where the event is being held. The narrator distracts the aliens in order to protect the athletes and crew fleeing to their escape pods.
71	--> And as you file to your escape pods, \
72	I'll distract the alien hordes \
73	And as [[FaceDeathWithDignity I stare death in the face]] \
74	''I know my sins will take me to hell!''
75	* Music/RadioTapok's [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yw0jQBLbhLU "Battle for Moscow"]] tells the story of the Soviet Union's all-out defense of Moscow against the German Army in 1941.
76	* Music/{{Sabaton}}, being [[HorribleHistoryMetal a heavy metal band themed around dramatic moments in military history]], covers a lot of these.
77	** ''The Art of War'': "40:1" is about the Battle of Wizna in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, where a regiment of 700 Poles held off two German divisions for three days, while "Talvisota" covers the Finnish defense of their homeland against the Soviets in the Winter War.
78	** "Coat of Arms" covers the valiant Greek defense of their homeland against the Italians and Germans in the Greco-Italian War.
79	** "1648" covers the Battle of Prague at the end of the UsefulNotes/ThirtyYearsWar, where the ancestors of the Czechs fought ferociously to defend their city against a siege and attempted sack by Sweden.
80	** ''Heroes'': "Resist and Bite" is about the stand of the Chasseurs Ardennais, a Belgian guards company that battled the Germans so ferociously in the invasion of the Low Countries that the Germans thought they were up against a formation several times larger. "Hearts of Iron" covers the bold counterstoke by the German 9th and 12th Armies in the early stages of the Battle of Berlin, where they forced open a corridor through Soviet lines for several hundred thousand people to flee into Western Allied-occupied territory.
81	** ''The Last Stand'' is a themed album around these; the title track is about the Stand of the Swiss Guard.
82	** "Fields of Verdun" from ''The Great War'' the titanic French defensive effort at Verdun, repeating General Philippe Pétain's famous slightly misquoted order, "They shall not pass!" in the bridge (not coincidentally, the first snippet of the song to be revealed, in a WebVideo/SabatonHistory video). The French managed to hold out for 303 days and eventually drove the Germans back to their starting point, making it the longest sustained single battle in history.
83	** "The Valley of Death" from ''The War to End All Wars'' covers the 1918 Battle of Doiran, where a Bulgarian division soundly repulsed a Greek-British force twice its size in two days of battle.
84	[[/folder]]
85
86	[[folder:Theatre]]
87	* In ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', when her father attempts to rob Valjean and Cosette, some productions have Eponine guard the front door and attempt to talk down the gang. [[SurprisinglyRealisticOutcome They respond by tossing her aside]], so she screams in alarm instead.
88	[[/folder]]
89
90	[[folder:Web Videos]]
91	* In ''Creator/AchievementHunter'', [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_detailpage&v=h3U1VLuLlqc#t=989 Michael to Ray]] when he's on the verge of being shot to death. Followed immediately by [[spoiler:Ray's moment of awesome.]]
92	-->'''Michael''': "Run, Ray, ''run!'' [[SeriousBusiness I'll hold them off!]] Run! ''Run!'' '''''RUN!'''''"
93	* Parodied in ''WebVideo/TheNostalgiaCritic'' during the "Son of the Mask" review.
94	--> Santa Christ: YOU! SHALL NOT! PLAY!!!
95	* In ''WebVideo/ToBoldlyFlee'' the ''U.S.S. Exit Strategy'' has taken heavy damage in the climactic battle. Suddenly, [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] [[BigDamnHeroes appears]] in ''Comicron-1'', parks his ship between the dueling ships and states, "Now they have something else to shoot at."
96	[[/folder]]

Context Main / YouShallNotPass