Defiant To The End / Live-Action TV

Warning: As this is often a Death Trope, expect spoilers.

Those who remain Defiant to the End in Live-Action TV series.

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• In 24 Day 5, Agent Aaron Pierce has been taken hostage by corrupt President Charles Logan after discovering Logan's hand in the terrorist attacks and conspiracy for the day. He's ruthlessly beaten down and personally left with the option of either being executed due to his knowledge or keeping the lid on Logan's involvement and being bought off. His response:
  Pierce: There is nothing that you have said or done that is acceptable to me in the least. You're a traitor to this country and a disgrace to your office, and it's my duty to see that you're brought to justice for what you've done. Is there anything else, Charles?
  • There's Omar Hassan in Season 8...
• Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D.: Coulson proves that he's maintained this attitude from the movies, as shown when The Clairvoyant is trying to recruit him at gunpoint.
  "I'd sooner die than serve HYDRA, you sick son of a bitch."
  • In the episode "Fractured House", Agent Walters headbutts Marcus Scarlotti, a mercenary working for HYDRA and defiantly states that HYDRA will never defeat S.H.I.E.L.D. even as he uses a splinter bomb to disintegrate her.
• Blake's 7 ended with this. After Avon kills Blake over a perceived betrayal (we never really know whether Avon was right), Federation troops swoop in. One by one, the crew is gunned down. In the end, there are a dozen-odd troops, guns up surrounding Avon. He puts on his best Slasher Smile, straddles Blake's corpse, and raises his gun...
• Breaking Bad: Leonel Salamanca hates Walter so much that he crawls towards him as if planning to try to kill him, despite having had his legs amputated.
  • Mike Ehrmantraut is a mild example. He just tells his killer to shut the fuck up and let him die in peace. He gets his way.
  • "My name is ASAC Schrader, and you can go fuck yourself."
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • In the second season finale, Angelus is brutally torturing Giles for information on how to perform a ritual to destroy the world. When Giles seems ready to break, he comes out with this: "You must perform the ritual... while wearing a tutu. Pillock."
  • In a similar example of bravery in the face of torture and the likelihood of death, Spike defies Glory, only breaking his silence to tell her that the Key's human form is Bob Barker.
  • As Faith holds Willow at knifepoint, Willow tries to reason with her. Faith senses another speech coming on and invites Willow to tell her it's all right, there's still good in Faith, it's not too late to change, et cetera. Willow furrows her brows and says it's way too late.
    Willow: "You know, it didn't have to be this way. But you made your choice. I know you had a tough life; I know that some people think you had a lot of bad breaks. Well, boo hoo! Poor you. You know, you had a lot more in your life than some people. I mean, you had friends like Buffy. Now you have no one. You were a Slayer, and now you're nothing."
• The Caesars features multiple examples of characters metaphorically spitting in the faces of the people responsible for their deaths.
  • In "Sejanus", the Emperor Tiberius' great-nephew Nero is arrested for treason, then starved to death while imprisoned on the orders of Tiberius' enforcer, Sejanus, purely because he is ahead of Tiberius' grandson Gemellus in the line of succession (Sejanus is the lover of Gemellus' mother Livilla and aims to rule as regent when Gemellus becomes Emperor). Nero, believing that it is Tiberius at whose command he has been imprisoned, shouts curses at the Emperor until he no longer has the strength to do so.
  • Nero's mother Agrippina, granddaughter of Augustus, follows suit in the following episode, "Caligula". A political rival of Tiberius since his declaration as Emperor (first believing that her husband Germanicus should be Emperor instead, then pinning her hopes on Nero succeeding him), she is banished to the island of Pandataria at the same time Nero is imprisoned. When Tiberius indicates that he has no plans to reverse Sejanus' decision to exile her, she forcibly starves herself to death to ensure that her blood is on Tiberius' hands.
  • Agrippina's other son Caligula gets a defiant death scene in the last episode, "Claudius". With his insane rule as Emperor having finally created more enemies than he can get rid of, the Praetorian Guard decide enough is enough, corner him in an underground passage, and take turns stabbing him. After he has already been stabbed several times, he gasps his final words: "Strike again — I'm still alive!"
• There is a great (non-fatal) example in Castle in the middle of Season 3. The episode's villain, an assassin working for the man who had Beckett's mother killed, has kidnapped Ryan and Esposito in order to find out what the good guys know about his employer. Then comes the following exchange:
  Assassin: Now, I'm gonna make you a deal: you tell me what I need to know, one pro to another, and I will put a bullet in your brain. You don't, you jerk me around, and you will be begging me to before this night is up.
  Esposito: I'm gonna have to go with option B, bro.
  Ryan: Oh yeah, we are definitely gonna jerk you around.
  • Ryan and Espo do a lot of it in this scene, from Ryan (after being dunked in a tub of ice water) saying "This is nothing. I went to Catholic school for twelve years, they did this to you just for talking in class." to Espo, having agreed to tell the bad guy what he wants to know, saying "The cops know all about... me and your mom."
  • Montgomery got a truly heartbreaking one at the end of Season 3. He managed to take out all of the bad guys that came for Beckett except the Assassin mentioned above, who manages to fatally shoot him.
    Assassin: This was all for nothing. I'm just gonna kill her anyway.
    Montgomery: No you're not, and he's not. I saw to that. -pulls out a gun and shoots Assassin point-blank-
• Dexter:
  • Many of Dexter's Asshole Victims, at least the ones who don't try to plead with him or to deny their crimes, end their lives screaming in rage and hurling empty verbal threats at him. When you're laying on a table, tied up and unable to move, it's about the only thing left you can do.
  • Dexter himself does this as a deliberate ploy when he's caught by the Skinner, another serial killer, using his understanding of serial killers to his advantage. It works.
• Doctor Who:
  • "The Talons of Weng-Chiang": Leela, expecting to be killed by Magnus Greel, refuses to give him the satisfaction of seeing any fear and simply promises to hunt him down in the next life and make him pay.
  • "The Parting of the Ways": Captain Jack's last words to the Daleks.
    "EX-TER-MIN-ATE!"
    "I kinda figured that."
  • "The End of Time": The Doctor himself gets one, mocking the Master after just having praised him as "brilliant".
    The Doctor: Actually the most amazing thing about you is that after all this time, you're still bone-dead stupid.
• Firefly Simon in "Objects in Space". Mal in "War Stories".
  • Simon in "Safe". The only thing that saved him was Mal and Zoe showing up to become Big Damn Trope Namers.
• Game of Thrones:
  • Mirri Maz Duur vows not to scream while being burnt alive but is eventually unable to hold to this.
  • Ser Rodrik goes down literally spitting on Theon for his betrayal. And considering what Theon goes through later, with a Dying Curse.
    Rodrick: Gods help you, Theon Greyjoy, now you are truly lost.
  • Lord Karstark shows no fear at his execution and uses his last words to curse his executioner. However, rather than the usual triumphant moment, it instead cements how far he is beyond the Moral Event Horizon.
  • Brienne will never ever go down without a fight. She had every intention of this when she was forced to face a bear with only a wooden sword before her rescue in "The Bear and the Maiden Fair", as well as when she was dragged off to be gang-raped.
  • Orell uses his final moments to jump into his eagle and attack his assailant's pretty face.
  • Tormund is surrounded by enemies and wounded several times, yet he refuses to surrender until he is disarmed by a quarrel to the knee and dragged off, still yelling curses at his captors.
  • Subverted by Mance Rayder who surrenders surprisingly quickly when his enormous army is taken by surprise in "The Children". His refusal to Kneel Before Zod right after is somewhat hollow in comparison.
  • "You're no son of mine!". Whatever else you think of him, Tywin's decision to denounce the man who just mortally wounded him rather than a whimper or plead is worthy of respect.
  • Olenna Tyrell before and after she had drunk the poison given to her by Jaime Lannister. She wanted Jaime to give Cersei a little message.
    Olenna: I'd hate to die like your son. Clawing at my neck, foam and bile spilling from my mouth, eyes blood red, skin purple. It must have been horrible for you, as a Kingsguard, as a father. It was horrible enough for me, a shocking scene, not at all what I intended. You see, I'd never seen the poison work before. Tell Cersei. I want her to know it was me.
  • When Brienne finds Stannis, he's wounded and unable to stand up; nevertheless, he's completely dismissive of her and simply tells her to get it over with.
• Horatio Hornblower, "The Frogs and the Lobsters": Monsieur Fauré is Mayor of Muzillac in the new republic after the French revolution and he has the dubious pleasure of welcoming a returning local aristocrat, Colonel Moncoutant, who is on a mission supported by the British Army and Navy and who wants his land and house back. Fauré's seized by Royalists and when it's clear that he must either submit to Moncoutant or be killed, he chooses to be killed. He starts singing La Marseillaise to Moncoutant's face. Liberty, equality, fraternity!
• Justified has Johnny Crowder whose last act is to laugh in his murderer's face after the latter's gang screw up a drug transaction.
• On Lost, Charlie faces capture this way, knowing that he is about to die anyway and that he will have initiated the rescue of his friends.
• In Low Winter Sun, when Reverend Lowdown's masked goons kill Damon, his last words are "Nice mask, asshole."
• Once Upon a Time: Even while at the mercy of Cora, a sorceress who could kill her quite unpleasantly with the wave of a hand, Aurora mocks Cora to her face, and makes it quite clear there is no offer she could make that would win her over. Cora herself comments on Aurora's pluck.
• The Outpost: In the first season finale, most of the core cast are facing execution by the Prime Order. Yet despite being moments away from being hanged, Withers and the Mistress can't help but fling insults at Higgs as he bumbles his way through the official execution proclamation.
• Paul Kellerman of Prison Break tells the officers driving him from the courthouse that members of the French resistance often smiled before being executed by the Nazis. Moments later, the van is assaulted by armed men. In what was almost certainly a retcon, it turns out they were there to rescue him.
• Stargate SG-1. Jack O'Neill. All the time.
  Ba'al: You dare mock me?!
  O'Neill: Ba'al, come on! You should know. Of course I dare mock you.
  • Teal'c too: if a Goa'uld really has him on the ropes he might get a snarled "I Die Free" out of him, but he'll probably just stick to pointing out that the 'god' in question is a slimy Puppeteer Parasite.
    Jonas: Is it really necessary to further antagonize him? [they are trapped in a pyramid with dozens of Jaffa twenty feet away and a gigantic alien mothership in orbit]
    O'Neill: [matter-of-factly] Yes.
  • All the Free Jaffa use it as a rallying cry. "I die free!"
• Star Trek: The Next Generation:
  • In the episode "Yesterday's Enterprise", the Klingons, after causing major damage to the alternate-universe Enterprise, order Picard to surrender or be boarded. Picard's response? Keep shooting.
    Picard: That will be the day.
  • A major Picard subversion also occurs at the end of the "Chain of Command" two-parter, after Picard is subjected to days of Cold-Blooded Torture, during which the interrogator attempts to force Picard to say that there are five lights on a wall when there are obviously just four. He manages to expose his captor's own foibles and famously screams out "THERE! ARE! FOUR! LIGHTS!" when he is released. It looks like a straight play, until a short scene with Troi at the end, when Picard admits that he was released just in the nick of time, because not only was he ready to surrender and say that there were five lights on the wall, he thought he could actually see five lights.
• In the Star Trek: Deep Space Nine episode "By Inferno's Light", Worf is imprisoned by Jem'Hadar and fights a series of guards with increasingly brutal injuries. The First of the guards himself is the last challenger, and is able to fairly easily overcome the wounded Worf. Despite even Martok's assurance that his honor is satisfied, Worf declares "I will not yield!" as he crawls toward the post that signals he is ready to continue after he goes down yet again. The First declares him a Worthy Opponent despite the attending Vorta's order to Finish Him!:
  Ikat'ika: I yield! I cannot defeat this Klingon. All I can do is kill him. And that no longer holds my interest.

  Unfortunately the attending Vorta is unimpressed and orders them both killed.

• In Star Trek: Picard, season 3 episode "Surrender" has The Dragon Vadic say "Fucking Solids..." moments before being Thrown Out the Airlock.
• Supernatural: Castiel has been captured by the Devil in a ring of holy fire, and Lucifer offers him a job and points out that, having disobeyed Heaven, Cas will be #1 on the hit list if they manage to get rid of Luci. Clearly terrified, Cas just says, "I'll die first". Not as snarky as most examples, but quietly awesome all the same.
  • Also:
    Gabriel: Lucifer, you're my brother, and I love you, but you are a great big bag of dicks.
• Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles: "I'll never help you get to John Connor."
• Molly in True Blood. The Authority are preparing to execute her, and in her final moments she refuses to accept Lilith, instead telling them that they are the opposite of evolved.
• The Walking Dead (2010):
  • Merle goes down in a fistfight against the Governor, and shows no fear even when bloody, beaten, and facing down the Governor's gun.
    "I ain't gonna beg! I ain't begging you!"
  • When Alexandria is overrun by a massive horde of walkers, Deanna is bitten in the chaos. As her health rapidly deteriorates, she tells the others to leave her behind while they escape from the house they've holed up in and prepares to shoot herself. However, at the last minute, she instead decides to empty her gun into a hallway full of walkers, and then screaming defiantly at the remaining ones as they close in on her.
  • Abraham Ford, whom Negan executes as an example to the rest of Rick's group. Throughout the scene he is challenging Negan and, after Negan chooses him as the victim, merely stares him down and smiles. His dying words, after taking a baseball bat covered in barbed wire to the head? "Suck my nuts." It's implied Negan chose him specifically because he realized Abraham would never break.
• The Profane Last Words of Big Bad Lady Trieu in Watchmen (2019) are to call Vedit a "Motherfucker" for ruining her plans.
• The Wire: Bodie ends up having a desperate last stand at his corner, with really the only goal being dying on his feet instead of being hidden in a vacant house.
• On The X-Files, Mulder does this while on trial for murder. When a panel of judges finds him guilty of a murder he could not have committed, he has this to say:
  Mulder: Yes. I'd like to congratulate you, on succeeding where so many before you have failed. A bullet between the eyes would have been preferable to this charade. But I've learned to pretend over the past nine years — to pretend that my victories mattered only to realize that no one was keeping score. To realize that liars do not fear the truth if there are enough liars. That the devil is just one man with a plan, but evil, true evil, is a collaboration of men, which is what we have here today. If I am a guilty man, my crime is in daring to believe; that the truth will out and that no one lie can live forever. I believe it still. Much as you try to bury it, the truth is out there. Greater than your lies, the truth wants to be known. You will know it. It'll come to you, as it's come to me, faster than the speed of light. You may believe yourselves rid of your headache now, and maybe you are... but you've only done it by cutting off your own heads.

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