Rousing Speech

https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rousing_speech_3.jpg

"We few, we happy few, we band of brothers;
For he to-day that sheds his blood with me
Shall be my brother; be he ne'er so vile,
This day shall gentle his condition:
And gentlemen in England now a-bed
Shall think themselves accursed they were not here,
And hold their manhoods cheap whiles any speaks
That fought with us upon Saint Crispin's day!"

— King Henry V, Henry V, Act 4 Scene iii

La Résistance is about to be crushed by The Empire. The Ragtag Bunch of Misfits sports team is way behind at halftime. The Dork Horse Candidate has just seen their opponent make a strong point in the political debate, to enthusiastic applause. The opposing attorney in the courtroom drama has just made their argument with laser-like precision. The MacGuffin was seized by the Mooks, and the team sees no way to recover it or succeed without it.

In short, everything looks hopelessly lost.

And this is when the hero will step forward and make a pithy speech including at least one noteworthy One-Liner (similar to a "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner), to the effect of (or the specific phrase) "It's time to take the fight to them," (often followed by a One-Liner Echo or a Dramatic Gun Cock). This sometimes happens right after a sidekick has joined the choir invisible via a Heroic Sacrifice. Sometimes the characters are going Give Me Liberty or Give Me Death!.

In TV and movies, there's no situation so desperate that it can't be turned completely around with a brilliant one-minute rant. This speech means that the heroes are going to (finally) move to a proactive posture, despite the overwhelming odds and very real chance that they'll all end up dead.

The Background Music usually swells to a rousing, if not outright majestic climax as the hero drives his point home. The Slow Clap or other ovation followup is practically essential, followed by a Misfit Mobilization Moment (or a Miracle Rally for sports-based works). But if a Grand Finale does not result, the whole thing will often backfire leaving the heroes badly battered. A Sedgwick Speech often looks like one of these at the beginning. When it's the whole damn human race that's getting the Rousing Speech, that's Last Stand. When the Rousing Speech is delivered by the leader of a nation or world, it is an example of Emergency Presidential Address.

Usually, it's the leader of the heroes who delivers the Rousing Speech signaling this transition, but a common variation is to have whichever character is typically most cautious (even cowardly) deliver it.

Compare with:

Balcony Speech: A big speech or announcement conducted from a balcony/overhang, but not necessarily a pep talk.
Patrick Stewart Speech: When the villain is about to annihilate civilization as we know it, a heroic figure will stand up and admit that in spite of its flaws and vices, humanity still has its good qualities and doesn't necessarily deserve to be wiped off the face of the earth.
"No More Holding Back" Speech: Hero gives himself a Rousing Speech, possibly for the benefit of anyone else who may be listening.
Self-Destructive Charge: Sometimes actions can take the place of the Rousing Speech.
Tired of Running: A Rousing Speech about fighting back after losing for too long.
It Has Been an Honor: A Rousing Speech about the general awesomeness of one's comrades.
Do Not Go Gentle: Not giving in to despair.
Dare to Be Badass: You're Awesome! Act like it!
Music for Courage: When a song provides the same purpose.

Contrast with:

The War Has Just Begun: There's way more bad stuff ahead. Our task is as yet unfinished.
Sedgwick Speech: You get killed during your Rousing Spee—
Bastardly Speech: Would be a Rousing Speech, if it weren't a complete lie.
New Era Speech: Villain talks about how amazing everything is going to be.
"The Reason You Suck" Speech: Speech pointing out the addressed's shortcomings in plain view.

Compare and contrast with:

Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die: The speaker is perhaps a little too anxious to see the heroes march off to heroic, noble, horribly painful, lingering death. To a Martyrdom Culture, a perfectly rousing speech. Otherwise, not so much.
Shaming the Mob: The speaker is trying to convince their audience not to do something they're seemingly dead-set on doing, usually something violent. It may overlap with a Rousing Speech if the speaker is trying to appeal to their better natures and/or offering a better solution that solves everyone's problem.

Because of the sheer volume of memorable Real Life Rousing Speeches that exist, please do not add them to this page, add them to the Quotes page.

Examples:

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Advertising

One commercial for the fast food chain Wendy's involves a group of people kicking trees, and a man in red hair rallies everyone's hunger for a hamburger in the most epic way possible:
"(thinking) Wait a minute... This feels all wrong. Just because they're doing it doesn't mean I have to. Why the hamburger made from frozen beef? They'll be all dry. Is that a fresh, juicy, frozen hamburger? This is ridiculous! (out-loud) I deserve a hot, juicy burger. That's right, you heard me. I deserve a hot, juicy burger! And not because I can tear a phonebook with my bare hands, no!! I deserve a hot juicy burger because I have a mouth... And it wants one. (whispers) And so do you. (out-loud) AND SO DO DO YOU!! HOT, JUICY BURGER!! HOT, JUICY BURGER!! HOT, JUICY BURGER!! HOT, JUICY BURGER!! That's right!"

Anime and Manga

In Asteroid in Love, Mikage and Mari delivers one together to the Mira and Ao over the phone during Chapter 34/Episode 10, when it turns out that only one of them was selected to the Shiny Star Challenge^note—and are having so bad of a Heroic B So D that no other character can handle.
Mikage: You don't have time to waste moping. I mean, you cleared a major hurdle.
Mari: Mm! Besides, even if only one of you can go, you can still share the knowledge you gained there with each other.
Mikage: We're still here. If you need anything, just reach out.
Played with in Attack on Titan where in Episode 7, after everyone's morale is down, Sasha tries to get everyone together with a "If we all work together..." speech but she clearly doesn't believe it herself and it fails to make any impact. Later on, Mikasa is distraught after finding out Eren was eaten but instead of a speech, she insults the remaining terrified soldiers and heads off to kill more Titans. It works.
Every so often, Noelle from Black Clover gives one of these. It's one of the few times royalty is shown in a positive light, and it's very unusual to hear her talk like this given her usual haughty nature, but the objects of her speeches come to realize she has a point and are enlightened or encouraged afterward.
Bleach: Rukia has given several of these to Ichigo.
- After his Inner Hollow interferes in his fight with Yammy, Ichigo has lost his will to fight as a Shinigami and can't even fight a regular Hollow. In Chapter 196, Rukia drags him off and gives him this:
  Rukia: Are you afraid of being defeated? Are you afraid of failing to save your friends? Or are you afraid of the Hollow inside you? If it's defeat, then you just need to train harder. If it's about your friends, then you just need to reseal those promises after becoming a more virtuous man. If it's about the Hollow inside you, then just become strong enough until you can shatter it in an instant. Even if you can't rely on anyone else, just pull yourself together and roar! The "you" that still lives on in my heart, Ichigo, would do exactly that!!"
- In chapter 460, after she returns his Shinigami powers to him after Ginjo steals his Fullbring:
  Rukia: ...Urahara told me all about Tsukishima's power. To "be able to change people's past"... No matter how you look at it, it's a horrendous ability. I ask you, does that even matter? No matter how much of your past he changes, he cannot change your future! Those bonds that you lost can be rebuilt! (...) Ichigo! These fools don't understand that this isn't nearly enough to make you despair! They don't know the caliber of despair that you have already conquered! Show them, Ichigo! Despair cannot ever hope to stop you!
- Rukia likes doing this so much that the anime made fun of it in an episode revolving around the cast making their own movies. Ichigo doesn't want to do it and is ready to quit the whole thing, until Rukia gives him a speech about being the best actor he can be, delievered with as much heart and conviction as her other speeches. Again, they're just making a movie.
In Claymore, Teresa gives one of these to an Awakened and partially Assimilated-by-the-Big Bad Cassandra, with shades of Dare to Be Badass. Beyond goading Cassandra into summoning the willpower to break away from the Big Bad, it's actually enough to reawaken her human side to face Teresa in battle so that Cassandra can die as a human rather than a monster.
Teresa: CASSANDRA! As a former Number One... just how long do you intend to be used in such an idiotic fashion?! Don't forget the pride of being the absolute figure of that age! What it means to stand at the top of 47 people! Remember the fighting spirit of being Number One!
In Death Note, L gives a rousing speech to the task force right at the beginning of the show.
We are going to show Kira that we are willing to give our lives if that's what it takes. *smiles* And that justice will prevail no matter what.
Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba: In the later moments of Muzan’s fight, in the Dimensional Infinity Fortress arc, after many slayers have been battered up to near-death, and Tanjiro had just been hit by a powerful shockwave emitted by Muzan, everything looks dire; Zenitsu steps up to save Inosuke from an attack and pushes himself to lift Tanjiro’s morale up, as the latter laid down in almost a convulsion state, telling him that he cannot die, Tanjiro has to live through that incredibly deadly fight and go home with Nezuko, who had just turned human, Zenitsu being alive and boosting his morale moves Tanjiro to tears. Zenitsu who was once a cowardly slayer, who had to be pushed over the edge and motivated to fight, now steps up on behalf of others, motivating them as well.
Goku gives a surprisingly potent Rousing Speech in Dragon Ball Z episode 253, Union of Rivals, in which he tells Vegeta that they've got to forget about their past histories and start fighting as one to protect their new race from Majin Buu.
"Wake up! Majin Buu's eaten everyone we care about! Everyone is gone, even Bulma! They've become part of Buu, they can't even die! I just thought the least we could do is put our old differences aside, just this once, and really work together. We owe that to our teammates, our families Vegeta, our friends! Look, you've always talked about our Saiyan race, how we're the last of a mighty people. Well it's time to accept we're starting a new race, one that can be just as strong, just as proud! But not if we're caught up in so much of our old birthrights to see what we have right in front of us! We've lost our old race Vegeta... let's not lose this one, too!"
Eyeshield 21: In the regional championship game, Deimon is behind by 17 points when their seemingly invincible leader/quarterback gets crushed by one of the opposing players and is taken off the field with a broken arm. With no back-up quarterback, their strongest lineman in minute two of his 10-Minute Retirement and the rest of the team totally shaken, the opposition asks if they're ready to forfeit the game. After a brief team meeting, the Devil Bats declare their decision in unison, "We will KILL them!"
Natsu gives an epic one in Fairy Tail that is not nakama-related, for once.
Can EVERYBODY HEAR ME!!?? Dragon Slaying magic can DEFEAT DRAGONS!!! SEVEN DRAGON SLAYERS!! SEVEN DRAGONS!!!. Our Magic was created for this day!!! The Dragon Slayers exist to FIGHT NOW!!!. Let's GO!! It's time to hunt some Dragons!!!
A villainous example by Seiji in the Fist of the North Star OAVs. His speech regarding the madness of living and of combat is so effective it turns his milquetoast mercenaries who were about to break into crazed supersoldiers. He's like Evil Kamina or something. (And the milquetoastiest of them all, Chess, is instantly granted several hundred levels in badass by the speech alone, suddenly becoming as effective in combat as his master.) It turns the entire battle against the religious fanatics completely on its head. One wonders the kinds of world shaking power it would have upon being used on people who were empowered in some fashion, or already at sociopath level. (And make no mistake that's what he sees himself as too.)
Parodied in Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu when Kaname inspires her fellow students to assault the booby-trapped hill where Sousuke is hiding because they need him as an artist's model. "For the sake of our lost comrades! For the sake of our own human dignity! And above all, for the sake of everybody's grades!" Kurz gives a similar speech when inspiring his comrades to assault a Sousuke-protected hill...in order to perv on the girls while they're naked in a hot spring.
- Done straight in the rugby episode, where Sousuke bravely encourages the school rugby team as they're about to take the field. Well, played *sort* of straight...
  Sousuke: Listen up! As of this moment, you people are no longer lowly maggots! You are rugger men, do you understand?
  Rugby team: SIR, YES SIR!
  Sousuke: Now you are about to confront the greatest ordeal. The critical moment where you either win it all or fall to hell! So, ARE YOU HAVING FUN?!
  Team: SIR, YES SIR!
  Sousuke: NOW PREPARE FOR COMBAT!!! (team discard their clothing, changing into the team uniform) So, what's our specialty, ladies?!
  Team: KILL! KILL! KILL!
  Sousuke: And what is our goal in this game?!
  Team: KILL! KILL! KILL!
  Sousuke: Do we love our high scool?! Do we love our high school rugby club?!
  Team: GUNG HO! GUNG HO! GUNG HOOOO!
  Sousuke: Then let's go! (team cheers and rushes onto the playing field)
  - It should be noted that, at that point, the rugby team had all gone Brainwashed and Crazy. Kaname and Kyoko immediately lampshade this.
Anytime Riki from Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin appears onscreen, he's bound to use this speech for his pack.
In quite possibly the most unorthodox example of the trope ever, an episode of Gintama features Gintoki giving the now-fandom-infamous "truth of the strawberry milk" speech to justify going to find a missing person. Said speech is basically about how people that drink strawberry milk will wet the bed in their sleep, and everyone cheers him on for this. It's that kind of show. You can watch it in all its glory here.
Hellsing:
- Right before Captain Pip Berdanotte leads his ragtag band of mercenaries into what is most definitely a suicidal close-quarters battle against an army of Nazi vampires after Seras goes on the offensive, he lets out a short but brutally simplistic speech about their fates.
  "To let such a sweet girl die befits a death worse than hell, am I right? [...] And if it comes down to that, all of your lives must be sacrificed. This is the place you shall be buried. Your fortress will become your grave. [...] You fellas came here to kill for chump change, same as me. You all chose the life of a mercenary. Let's go die like mangy dogs. Let's die, screaming "Fuck! Fuck!" Taking gut shots, and writhing on the ground in agony. Heh, heh, heh. What do you boys say to that?"
  "Sounds great to me."
  "Absolutely."
- Anderson's speech to the entire Iscariot Organization while saving Integra also definitely qualifies.
- But by far the most famous Rousing Speech to come out of Hellsing is the Major's "I Love War" speech to the Last Battalion. Sure, a Nazi says it, but it's still rousing.
  "My friends, it has often been said that I like war. My friends, I like war. My friends, I love war."
- The speech then goes on for five minutes detailing exactly how much he loves war. Clue: It's a lot.
Higurashi: When They Cry: Keiichi's rousing speech to Rena in Atonement Chapter, which not only helps her regain her sanity, but gives Rika hope and renews her will to fight against fate and break the cycle of tragedy.
- Later arcs make it clear that Rousing Speeches are Keiichi's specialty. Mion doesn't call him "The Magician of Words" for nothing!
Kaiji gives a few of these to Furuhata and Andou on the many occasions when things look hopeless on the Espoir.
In the last episode of Last Exile, between the overwhelming enemy forces and indiscriminate attacks of Exile, the final battle threatens to turn into a war of attrition. Sophia responds that this is a war of attrition, and lays out in no uncertain terms that no matter how much they have to throw into this battle, no matter how much they have to sacrifice, this is their last chance to overthrow the Guild. "TARGET: MAESTRO DELPHINE!"
Happens every now and then in Legend of the Galactic Heroes, with varying levels of cynicism, demagogy and good old stupidity. The undisputed king is Yang Wen-li, whose first Rousing Speech goes something like this:
"Er... Giving our life for the fatherland... and stuff... um, I guess it's just that we can only drink good tea while we're alive so let's fight and not die!"
- Earned him an ovation and the undying loyalty of a fleet of Ragtag Bunch of Misfits.
In the tenth episode of Log Horizon's Second Season, William Underwood Delivers a grand speech to his defeated guild. They're all ready to quit. The game has betrayed them. It set them the impossible task of fighting three raid bosses at once. Can't win. No way. Then He gets talking. He acknowledges their points, then tells them screw it. Are they gamers or not? They didn't do this because of anybody else but themselves. Because they love it. This is who they are. This is what they do. He backed off once from an impossible task... and then somebody made it succeed anyways. Well that same guy came to him, asked HIM for help. He can't back off now.
- The speech takes most of the episode, around 15 minutes in length. It's a moving and massive love letter to MMO gamers the world over.
- The speech is on youtube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rVN-z9C3g9Q
Mobile Suit Gundam:
- General Revil's unforgettable "Zeon is exhausted!" speech when The Federation was on the brink of total surrender.
- On the Zeon side, Gihren Zabi had two of his own: once after his brother Garma is killed, and another before the Federation's final assault on the Zeonic space fortress A Baoa Qu.
In Mobile Suit Gundam Wing: Endless Waltz, Dorothy Catalonia rouses the citizenry to openly protest Marimaia's coup d'etat. This can only be seen in the theatrical, not the 3-episode OVA cut.
Happens a few times in Monster, notably when Tenma has to talk Nina out of her suicidal BSOD, and when he needs to impress upon the Turkish immigrants to secure the neighborhood or else face the wrath of the pyromaniacal Neo-Nazis.
A favorite pastime of the title character on Naruto, usually concerning the power of friendship and never giving up. Ironically, one of the most memorable of the show's speeches was much more cynical, given by not-exactly-main character Shikamaru.
Shikamaru: For as long as I've known him, Sasuke and I haven't exactly been close buddies. In fact, I don't really like him at all. All the same, Sasuke is a ninja belonging to the Hidden Leaf Village; he's a comrade, and I'll put my life on the line to help him. That's the way of our village. I know I usually seem like a pretty lazy guy, but not today... because now I'm responsible for your lives, too.
- Now that the series has been going towards end game territory (with The End of the World as We Know It at hand), in Chapter 516, former Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds Gaara has been given supreme command of the entire Shinobi Alliance Army. So how does he defuse ~~xenophobia- and racism~~ generations of animosity fueled conflict between the united shinobi? Well, of course, by this gem:
  ''Three times now... we've fought world wars for our own nations, our own villages. We've hurt one another, we've hated one another. That hatred bred a lust for power, and that lust for power created ME. I was a jinchūriki, the embodiment of hatred and power. And I hated this world, and all the people in it... I wanted to destroy it with my own hands. The exact same thing Akatsuki is trying to do today. But one man, one ninja from Konohagakure stopped me. I was his enemy, yet he wept for me! I hurt him, yet he called me his friend! He saved me! My enemy, my fellow jinchuriki... he suffered the same pain as me, yet bore me no ill will!
  There are no enemies here because we've all suffered at Akatsuki's hand! So there is no Suna, no Iwa, no Konoha, no Kiri, and no Kumo! There are only "shinobi!" And if you still hold a grudge against Suna, then when this war is over, come and take my head instead! Our enemies are after the friend who saved my life! If they take him, if we hand him over, our world is finished! I want to protect him, and I want to protect our world! But I'm too young to protect it all on my own! All of you, lend me your aid! Everyone who's with me, let's go!''
- Chapter 615 brought around arguably the most astonishing one of all, from Hinata, in her attempt to snap Naruto out of a severe Heroic BSoD. Made all the more impressive in that after being the Shrinking Violet who could barely talk to Naruto at all (although that was mostly in Part I, since she grew out of that by Part II), she steps up and delivers it without a single stutter.
  "Do you understand what Neji said, Naruto? That your life is not the only one? Your words and your beliefs, that you won't let your friends die...they're not a lie! It's because of them that he was able to come this far! It's not only you. Everyone kept those words and feelings at heart, and that's how their lives are all connected. That's why they are comrades. If you give up on those words, then what Neji did would become pointless. They wouldn't be comrades any more. I think...that would be the real way to kill your friends. So let's stand together, Naruto. Always moving ahead and not going back on one's words... That's my way of the ninja too!
  - It worked!
- In Chapter 630, as the Juubi prepares to undergo another transformation and Naruto is low on chakra, shinobi start wondering how they're going to manage without him. Sakura, who is healing Naruto back to full strength, has this to say.
  "We can't just hesitate now after all that's happened! Naruto is doing everything he can! It was clear from his words (...) He's making us realise that he considers all of us his comrades! I'm going to make Naruto have a full recovery. Every one of us must do what's within their power. If we're gonna die anyway, then it's better to die fighting than to do nothing!"
Hilariously subverted in Nobunaga Concerto. Protagonist Saburo has been thrown into the role of legendary Japanese warlord Oda Nobunaga and it's the evening. before the famous Battle of Okehazama which would establish Nobunaga as one of the foremost warlords of the Sengoku Period. Historically, this is where Nobunaga would supposedly deliver one of the most badass rousing speeches in military history, encouraging his men to follow him into battle against impossible odds. Unfortunately Saburo is a terrible student of history and knows almost nothing about Nobunaga, so when his men ask him for his thoughts, this is what he comes up with:
Saburo: I only have two things to say. Eat well! And sleep well!^note
One Piece:
- Fleet Admiral Sengoku gives one when Blackbeard stole Whitebeard's quake powers and threatened to sink the Navy HQ island Marineford with them. This is especially rousing in the anime, which shows the Marines' spirits rising from it.
  A fortress... can always be rebuilt. But the island of Marineford is the hub of our world! To the people of the world, who live in fear of evildoers coming and going amongst them... this is an ominous day! But justice and righteousness will never be defeated! Don't you dare speak lightly of sinking this island, you fiend!!
- A rather husky pirate gives one to the Straw Hat pirates after Luffy and Zoro let themselves be beaten up by some other pirates berating their ideals. The pirate assures them that dreams will never die no matter what others say or do, and aren't worth fretting over. That pirate was Blackbeard.
- Weaponized by Belo Betty of the Revolutionary Army. Her Devil Fruit allows her to awaken the latent strength of those who hear her speeches, allowing them to fight back against their oppressors.
Like the games it was based on, in Pokémon Adventures, Team Plasma gives one to convince the people that humans and Pokémon should be separated, as Pokémon should not be used for tools of battle. While most people ignore them, amazingly enough however, a few actually take the speech to heart, one old man breaking down and crying how he abused many Pokémon over the years and some others immediately releasing their Pokémon.
Pokémon: The Series: Mewtwo plus an army of genetically altered (read: enhanced) Pokémon. Imminent extermination of the human race. Enter Ash Ketchum with dozens of "ordinary" Pokémon in tow. Horribly outnumbered and outgunned. "You can't do this. I won't let you."
Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann:
- The first comes in episode eight, and things just grow from there. The best definitely goes to Simon once he overcomes Kamina's death. His speech and his Theme Music Power-Up together are extremely rousing. Essentially every line Simon has in the last three episodes is one of these.
  Kamina: Simon...never forget. Believe in yourself. Not in the Simon that I believe in. Not in the Kamina that you believe in. Believe in the Simon...who believes in you!
- Near the end of the show, everyone else in the crew joins in and recite the Dai-Gurren Brigade's Badass Creed. For the last few episodes, EVERY motivating speech they give can be summed up as "We're about to Punch Out Cthulhu." That's an awesome creed right there.
Tori gives one to Yuma in Yu-Gi-Oh! ZEXAL as the Different Dimension Airship is about to be swallowed up, and Vector offers to help Yuma's friends in exchange for all his Numbers.
Tori: What's the matter with you, Yuma?
Yuma: Huh?
Tori: Quit whining! This is a total no-brainer!
Yuma: It is? How?
Tori: We chose to home here!
Yuma: But...
Tori: But nothing! We all came here so we could support you and help you do your job, Yuma! Your job is to do whatever it takes to support Astral! That's what you promised to do! So win! All that matters is that you WIN!
Yuma: You're right!
Tori: You can do it, Yuma!
- The others join in later after they escape the black hole.
  Tori: Now it's your turn, Yuma!
  Caswell: If we can do it...
  Flip: You can too!
  Cathy: Cat-egorically!
  Yuma: (tearing up) Thanks guys! (wipes away his tears) You know, if I hadn't made all of you come here...
  Shark: Don't flatter yourself, Yuma!
  Yuma: Huh?
  Shark: Nobody "makes" me do anything!
  Kite: It's Barian payback time! It was my own decision to come and you couldn't've stopped me!
  Yuma: Got it. Thanks, Kite.
  Shark: Now that your ego has been successfully deflated, why don't you do what you came here to do?
  Yuma: Yeah! Good idea!

Audio Plays

Big Finish Doctor Who:
- Boudica delivers one to her troops before launching her attack on Camulodunum in The Wrath of the Iceni.
- Erimem delivers one to unite the Musketeers and the Cardinal's Guards into a cohesive force to fight Buckingham's troops in The Church and the Crown.

Comic Books

Annihilation: Just before infiltrating the Babel Spire, Quill gives one of these to his team... only to be met with blank looks, before muttering "thought not" and moving on.
Subverted in Asterix album "Asterix And The Laurel Wreath" where Asterix gives the courtroom a rousing speech that drives the entire courtroom to tears... in order to get themselves thrown to the lions in the hopes that Caesar will attend in order to obtain the titular laurel wreath.
In Birds of Prey's first team-up, Oracle is speaking to Black Canary as she is fighting Lynx and, when it seems like Lynx has won, Oracle explains that Dinah does not have the luxury of dying here and she better get up and DO something about it. Afterwards, Dinah actually comments that it was a nice speech.
Double Jumpers: Maxine-in-Sela's-body gives one to an army of Barbarians before they launch an attack on a castle.
Giant Days: Towards the end of a cricket match in which the regulars and various supporting characters have been bullied into playing as a Ragtag Band of Misfits, Only Sane Man McGraw attempts a personal rousing speech to the demoralised Paul, to limited effect. Then Perky Goth Esther cuts in and parodies the trope to match-winning effect.
McGraw: Look at Gemmell and Thompson cowering in the outfield. Two lads who know nothing but the sick note, yet they took their lumps today.
Paul: Yeah. They did.
McGraw: And Esther, a barely coordinated goth—
Paul: I get it. I'll bowl, skipper.
Esther: Listen, I don't know much about cricket, but I know this much: no one ever failed by pretending they were a huge robot with wings... ...and and that the sun would explode if they didn't achieve their goal. Do it, Paul. Do it for the sun.
Paul: I will do it for the sun.
In the mini-series Tales of the Green Lantern Corps, Krona, in service of the death god, Nekron, had defeated the bulk of the Corps and shattered their morale. While most of the Corps was ready to go and wait for death as the Universe is destroyed, Hal Jordan overcomes the temptation and remembers his vows. At that, Jordan addresses the Corps that he is a Green Lantern and he will not await death on his knees, but will fight to the last, alone if necessary. As he takes off, he finds first his best friends are joining and then the entire Corps as they join the fight noting the Corps has never surrendered and they will not now. Ultimately, they save the Universe.
Green Lantern Hal Jordan gives a similar speech in the Crisis Crossover mini series, JLA/Avengers. Where at the end of third issue, he discovers his future actions. Despite knowing he has the furthest to fall, he argues the hardest to Save Both Worlds.
Hal: There are millions, maybe billions dead or dying in the worlds as they are. Can we choose their deaths, because they're easier to bear? The reality we saw—It's the truth. Good, bad, love, pain—It's real. It's the one we're pledged to protect. Not to play God with.
At the end of volume one of Kill Shakespeare, Juliet gives a long one to the rebellion as they go to take down Richard III.
Scion: Bron gives one of these to his army after the Heron army invades the Raven Kingdom.
Spider-Verse: Before heading off to Loomworld, 616!Spider-Man tries to give one of these to an alternate Uncle Ben that ultimately fails. Otto Octavius then interjects with a more aggressive one that actually manages to get through, much to Peter's astonishment.
Otto: So that's it?! You're afraid to fail—again?! Tough! I've lost more times than I've won, and every damn time I got back up! That's all that matters!
Peter: This isn't helping—
Otto: When victory is easy, it's cheap! Every fight that's ever been worth fighting has been against adversity! Against a so-called "unbeatable" foe! But there is no such thing! Every enemy has a weakness! You just have to find it! Once! You just have to win one time! Say it!
Ben: One time.
Otto: We all have feet of clay. We all fall down. But in us is the the spirit to rise back up! It's not the power of the spider that makes any of us who we are! It's will of the man! So get up! Get up old timer, and fight!
Superman:
- Superman is THE guy to go to for these. There are more than a few noteworthy examples when things seems lost only for big blue to deliver a serious dose of verbal encouragement to other heroes or just the populous in general.
- In the Justice League of America storyline "Omega", the newest Leaguers are trapped inside an energy dome together with the Crime Syndicate and an Eldritch Abomination. The veteran Leaguers, the Justice Society and even the Teen Titans try to break the dome to rescue them, to no avail. Right when they are losing hope, Superman reignites it again.
  The Atom: But bottom line, we're out here and a pretty untried team is in there.
  Dr. Light: What are you saying, Dr. Palmer? That it's hopeless?
  Superman: NO! There is always hope. That team in there— They are the Justice League of America. They're new to it, sure, but they aren't new to this level of adversity. None of them are. I know that they'll come through.
- In Superman and the Legion of Super-Heroes, Earth-Man and his goons have driven the Legion of Super-Heroes out of Earth after turning the whole planet against them. Those Legionnaires who haven't been captured or are lost are tired, hopeless and bickering with each other until Superman stops it.
  Superman: I think that's enough. We've been friends for a long, long time. And right now, the rest of our friends need us. Your wife need us, Gim. Earth and the United Planets need us. Brainy's plans might never go as smooth as we hope, but I trsut him.
- In Bizarrogirl storyline, Supergirl, Bizarro and Bizarro-Girl are leading a charge against a planet-eating Eldritch Abomination. In order to defeat it, they need Bizarrogirl's unique power, but she gets real frightened and runs away until Supergirl's words manage to encourage her back to the battleground.
  Bizarrogirl: H-How did you get to be so brave when me so cowardly, Bizarro Bizarro Me?
  Supergirl: I'm a Bizarro You, remember? I feel the opposite of whatever you're feeling. Tell you what: I'll trade your feelings. If I let myself be scared... will you be brave for your world?
- In The Immortal Superman, an aging Superman travels to the year 121,970, and learns the use of super-powers has been banned in Earth, and old super-heroes are dumped in a retirement home off-world. Hence, when the Metropolis governor asks for their help, the retired heroes are unwilling to listen him out until Superman makes a passionate speech:
  Superman: Don't throw away this chance, men... We can prove to Earth that super-powers shouldn't be taboo... and that we're not has-beens who've forgotten how to use them!
- Supergirl (1984): As she is being overpowered by Selena's shadow demon, Supergirl hears Zaltar's voice in her head encouraging her to not give up and keep fighting.
The Transformers: More than Meets the Eye wraps its story arc with one hell of a speech given by Rodimus as the Lost Light crew and the Scavengers work together to try and open twelve brand-new Matrixes on Functionist Cybertron in order to destroy the evil Mirror Universe Primus. It initially doesn't work, as one major issue is that the Matrix is "morality locked" requiring that the opener must be "pure of spirit," which is strongly implied to be a matter of both selflessness and a feeling of self-worth. The opener must believe that not only can they open the Matrix, but that they deserve to do so. Since most of the characters in More Than Meets The Eye are dealing with personal or emotional problems of some description, believing in themselves is a hard sell for many of them... until Rodimus taps into his natural charisma and starts talking, broadcasting on every channel to ensure that everyone can hear him. It works.
Rodimus: This is your co-captain speaking - and I’ve got a question. Have you ever wondered how we made it this far? I mean - we’re not the smartest or the strongest or the bravest or the best. We don’t have the most firepower or the largest army or the fastest ships. And god knows we’re not natural bedfellows.

I mean think about it - an archivist, a retired mnemosurgeon, a gunsmith, an archaeologist, a waste disposal expert, a quantum mechanic, a poet, a watchmaker, a barkeep…..it shouldn’t work. But it does. And it works because we’ve got one thing in common. Each other. Think of who’s listening to this message and I bet you’ll think of someone you respect. Someone whose judgement you trust. Someone who makes you laugh. Someone who makes you happy. Someone who makes you feel it’s okay to be exactly who you are. And I promise - in fact I guarantee - that someone listening to this is thinking about you in exactly the same way.

Okay, so you’ve made some bad decisions. You’ve hurt people. You’ve hurt yourself. You’ve stumbled through life from one self-inflicted disaster to the next without anything even approaching a plan. To which I say - welcome aboard. Maybe you’re not good…but you’re sure as hell good enough.
X-Men: Many readers were surprised when Surge gave one when her team was about to take on Nimrod. Given what had happened prior to this, it was amazing anyone on her team could even function. She also gets points for doing the whole thing in her underwear without it looking stupid.
Ultimate Captain America in The Ultimates #1. World War II, and Cap's soldiers are assaulting a Nazi superscience bunker. They're being slaughtered by defenses ... until Captain America crashes the transport plane into it — and survives. As he climbs out, he waves the troops forward, proclaiming "What are you ladies waiting for — Christmas?!"
"Cap says parachutes are for girls"
Wonder Woman (2011): After Olympus falls to the First Born and most of the Olympians have been slaugtered and turned into meat moss Diana rouses the Amazons with, "Warriors, I ask you to join me in a fight to reclaim Heaven. Follow me... not as your princess... but as the God of War!"
This happens with the X-Men in the Fall of the Mutants storyline. They know full well they will not survive the encounter with the Adversary, but go on to fight him anyway after Wolverine gives some rousing words to the people watching at home (a cameraman was accompanying them).
Zipi y Zape: Combined with flashbacks for hilarious effect in the Ramis-Cera age story Olimpiadas escolares. The twins, Peloto, Sapientín and Bolete are in Brazil to play a futsal match against some members of Brazil's national soccer team. At halftime, the Brazilian squad is curb-stomping them 5-0 and Pantuflo decides to step in:
Pantuflo: You, Bolete, aren't a great goalkeeper, but at the school playground, I've seen you pull off impossible saves... You remember?
Bolete: That's true! [flashback of Bolete using sheer strength to lean the goal so that the ball won't go in]
Pantuflo: You, Zape, know how to distract defenders...
Zape: I sure do... [flashback of Zape distracting a defender with a Playboy centerfold]
Pantuflo: ...and Peloto knows how to stop an opposing striker... [flashback of Peloto raising his leg during a match so that his loosened boot goes right into the mouth of the opponent]
I've seen Sapientín do incredible things playing as a defender... [flashback of Sapientín burying himself in the pitch and pulling his hand out so that the opposing striker can't pass]
... and I've never seen anyone faster with the ball than Zipi. [flashback of Zipi running for his life after a Broken Glass Penalty]

Film — Animated

Gaston does this to everyone in Belle's village near the end of Beauty and the Beast so that they will "kill the Beast!"
Beavis humorously inverts this in Beavis And Butthead Do America. The whole thing is played as a rousing speech complete with a motivational music in the background:
Beavis: WE'RE NEVER GONNA SCORE! WE'RE NEVER GONNA SCORE! WE'RE NEVER GONNA SCORE...!
Bus Driver: ALRIGHT!!! THAT'S IT, NUMBNUTS!!! * tackles Beavis to the floor*
In The Book of Life, Maria gives one to the entire town of San Angel, who have all been mostly cowering from Chakal the entire time.
A Bug's Life: During the climax of the film, he gives one to Hopper in response to his statement that the ants are just lowly life forms who are meant to serve grasshoppers, having realized that Hopper keeps bullying the ants and trying to keep them under his thumb because he's actually afraid of them and is well aware of what they're capable of. The ants quickly realize how right Flik is and are galvanized into beating Hopper and his men back.
Flik: Ants are not meant to serve grasshoppers. I've seen these ants do great things... and year after year, they somehow manage to pick enough food for themselves and you. So who's the weaker species? Ants don't serve grasshoppers! It's you who need us! We're a lot stronger than you say we are. And you know it... don't you?
Played with a lot in Chicken Run. Ginger, a chicken at a chicken farm, constantly makes speeches about her dreams of freedom to the others in an attempt to convince them to go along with her plans to escape. Sometimes they work, sometimes they're met with clueless responses or sarcastic jibes. In one sceneit is subverted, when after one of Ginger's speeches a more cynical chicken, Bunty, responds with an 'enlightened' look on her face "In all my years, I've never heard such a fantastic load of tripe!"
Ginger: We either die free chickens, or die trying!
Babs: Are those the only choices?
Subverted in the 2008 Horton Hears a Who! where Horton tries to Shame the mob with a rousing speech explaining why he is so devoted to protecting a speck on a clover which contains a microscopic community on it. At the end, even the Sour Kangaroo notes that the speech is moving, but immediately orders Horton bound and caged anyway.
Astrid gives one to Hiccup before the final battle in How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World:
Astrid: Well, you’re right. You’re back to where you started, but I was the first to believe in you. And I have watched you doubt whether you’re worthy ever since. But you know what? I am the person I am today because of you. I never told you that, but it’s true. You are the bravest, most stubborn, most determined knucklehead I know. Toothless didn’t give you that, Hiccup. He just made it...
Hiccup: Easier.
Astrid: And now it’s going to be a lot harder. So, what are you going to do about it?
Hiccup: Probably something stupid.
Astrid: That’s the Hiccup I know.
At the climax of The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Phoebus gives a big rousing speech for the Gypsies and citizens to fight back and put an end to Frollo's tyranny once and for all.
Phoebus: Citizens of Paris! Frollo has persecuted our people! Ransacked our city! And now, he has declared war on Notre Dame herself! WILL WE ALLOW IT?!!?
Crowd: (charging) NOOOOO!!!!
In Disney's 1995 Pocahontas, both the white settlers and Pocahontas' tribe have rousing speeches at the same time leading up to the battle between them. This being Disney, it's done in song. This is a subversion, since the audience can see just how distorted each speech is in demonizing the other side.
- Quite a bit of both speeches are identical, so the two sides can say them together. Oddly, both contain a lot of focus on race, while the issue had been pretty much ignored in favor of culture clash for the rest of the movie (the settlers had been referring to the natives as 'savages' the whole time, but until the song no-one was saying 'red-skin' or anything like that).
  - Later releases changed "red-skin" to "shrieking".
Subverted in Ratatouille where Linguini finally confesses he is really a front for a rat, Remy, who is the real cook who has revived the restaurant's fortunes. In the face of the staff's stunned disbelief, Linguini eloquently tells them that if they have faith in this rat's culinary genius, they will all have a glorious future. Unfortunately at the conclusion, the entire staff reacts to this seemingly insane proposal by immediately quitting.
- Yet that speech is simultaneously played straight in that while the humans are not impressed, Remy's rat family is so moved in part by Linguini's efforts, that they step up to be the new kitchen crew.
  - Which is then subverted when the restaurant is closed down for good because of its rat infestation.
In Toy Story 2, Buzz Lightyear inspires the other toys to press on in their search for Woody, while working in a few continuity nods:
Buzz: Come on, fellas. Did Woody give up when Sid had me strapped to a rocket? No! And did he give up when you threw him out of the back of that moving van?
Potato Head: Oh, you had to bring that up!
Buzz: No, he didn't! We have a friend in need, and we will rest until he's safe in Andy's room! Now, let's move out!''
The Transformers: The Movie. Twice. With Theme Music Power-Up. "AUTOBOTS! Transform and roll out!"
In Turning Red, Mei gives one to her friends to remind them of their fandom of the Boy Band 4*Town.
In Zootopia, Judy delivers one to the new police cadets at the end.

Film — Live-Action

Subverted in 300, as Leonidas does not seek to lead his men to victory, knowing full well that their defeat is inevitable, but encourages them to meet it with courage. Additionally, played straight at the very end of the film, at the Battle of Platea.
In The Adventures of Buckaroo Banzai Across the 8th Dimension — the alien leader of the Red Lectroids (inhabiting the body of Italian scientist Emilio Lizardo (John Lithgow) gives a rousing pre-invasion speech to his men, complete with the mannerism of Benito Mussolini. It ends with a rousing call to arms:
Lord John Whorfin: Where are we going?
The Red Lectroids: Planet Ten!
Lord John Whorfin: When?
The Red Lectroids: Real soon!
In The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland, Oscar berates his fellow Grouches for letting Huxley constantly take their stuff, and rallies them to defeat the villain.
"When they take our goo, we gotta do! When they take our goo, we gotta do!"
Played straight in Airplane! and subverted in Airplane II: The Sequel.
In The Alamo (2004), Sam Houston gives a brief but effective one prior to the battle of San Jacinto:
Gen. Sam Houston: You will remember this battle! You will remember each minute of it! Each second! 'Til the day that you die! But that is for tomorrow, gentlemen! For today... REMEMBER THE ALAMO!
Alexander: The titular character rides before his phalanx at the Battle of Gaugamela, pointing out individual soldiers and reminding them of their past heroic deeds. Then he addresses the army as a whole.
"Some of you, perhaps myself, will not live to see the sun set over these mountains today. But I tell you what every warrior has known since the beginning of time. Conquer your fear, and I promise you, you will conquer death!"
Parodied in the first American Pie with Kevin's speech to his buddies inspiring them to make "The Pact" to lose their virginity before prom.
Kevin: We must make a stand, here and now. No longer will our penises remain flaccid and unused. We will fight for every man out there who isn't getting laid and should be. This is our day. This is our time. And by God, we will not stand by and watch history condemn us into celibacy (Jim: Amen. Finch: I like that). We will make a stand! We will succeed! (Oz: 'BOUT TIME.) WE WILL GET LAID!
In Animal House:
- Bluto's speech leading to the sabotage of the parade, is an almost perfect parody of this trope, laced with fiery rhetoric, cliches that were already hackneyed by the 1960s, and garbled historical references.
  Bluto: Over? Did you say over? Nothing is over until we decide it is! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? Hell No!
  Otter: Germans?
  Boon: Forget it, he's rolling.
- Then, when the other Delta members are less than roused:
  Bluto: What the fuck happened to the Delta I used to know? Where's the spirit? Where's the guts, huh?! This could be the greatest night of our lives, but you're gonna let it be the worst! [mockingly] "Oh, we're afraid to go with you, Bluto! We might get in trouble!" Well, just kiss my ass from now on! Not me! I'm not gonna take this! Wormer — he's a dead man! Marmalard — dead! Neidermeyer-
  Boon: Dead! Bluto's right! Psychotic, but absolutely right. We've gotta take these bastards! Now, we could fight 'em with conventional weaponry, but that would take years and cost millions of lives. No. No, in this case, I think we have to go all out. I think this situation absolutely requires a really futile and stupid gesture be done on somebody's part!
  Bluto: We're just the guys to do it.
- A less-famous example from the same movie is Otter's address to the disciplinary council, which inspires the entire gang to walk out of the proceedings, ignore the closure of their fraternity, and hum the Star Spangled Banner:
  Otter: Ladies and gentlemen, I'll be brief. The issue here is not whether we broke a few rules, or took a few liberties with our female party guests. We did. But you can't hold a whole fraternity responsible for the behavior of a few, sick twisted individuals. For if you do, then shouldn't we blame the whole fraternity system? And if the whole fraternity system is guilty, then isn't this an indictment of our educational institutions in general? I put it to you, Greg — isn't this an indictment of our entire American society? Well, you can do whatever you want to us, but we're not going to sit here and listen to you badmouth the United States of America. Gentlemen!
The "inches" speech in Any Given Sunday, spoken by the team coach (Al Pacino) just before their playoff game.
Tony D'Amato: You know when you get old in life, things get taken from you. That's part of life. But you only learn that when you start losing stuff. You find out life's this game of inches. So is football. Because in either game, life or football, the margin for error is so small. I mean...one half a step too late or too early and you don't quite make it. One half second too slow, too fast, you don't quite catch it. The inches we need are everywhere around us. They're in every break of the game, every minute, every second. On this team, we fight for that inch. On this team, we tear ourselves and everyone else around us to pieces for that inch. We claw with our fingernails for that inch. Because we know when we add up all those inches, that's gonna make the FUCKIN' DIFFERENCE BETWEEN WINNING AND LOSING! BETWEEN LIVING AND DYING! I'll tell you this — in any fight, it's the guy who's willing to die who's gonna win that inch. And I know if I'm going to have any life anymore, it's because I'm still willing to fight and die for that inch. Because THAT'S WHAT LIVING IS! THE SIX INCHES IN FRONT OF YOUR FACE!
Apollo 13:
Gene Kranz: I want you guys to find every engineer who designed every switch, every circuit, every transistor and every light bulb that's up there. Then I want you to talk to the guy in the assembly line who actually built the thing. Find out how to squeeze every amp out of both of these goddamn machines. I want this mark all the way back to Earth with time to spare. We never lost an American in space, we're sure as hell not gonna lose one on my watch! Failure is not an option!
- This is such a rousing speech that even though the real Gene Kranz didn't say "Failure is not an option" during Apollo 13, he used the line as the title of his 2000 autobiography.
Aguirre, the Wrath of God ends with Aguirre giving one of these, combined with his mad vision to conquer the Spanish Empire, to his crew — who are either dead or insane — himself, and a swarm of tiny monkeys. There is also a Rousing Speech (or at least one intendend to be rousing) in the first phase of the movie, when Aguirre goads the soldiers to mutiny. But both speeches are subversions of the trope, because 1. Aguirre is the evil guy, 2. his speeches make no effort to hide or euphemize his and his listeners' selfish and non-sublime motives (they all are only out for money and fame), and 3. many of the soldiers are not actually "roused", but only follow Aguirre out of fear of him and his accomplices. The last "speech" is actually partly an inner monologue, partly an address to monkeys instead of people, which leads the trope to absurdity.
Avatar: Jake's speech to the Omatikaya to unite the clans, with Tsu'tey translating for those who don't speak English. The film also implies similar speeches at the other clans, although they aren't heard.
Jake: The Skypeople have sent us a message; that they can take whatever they want, and no one can stop them. But we will send them a message. You ride out as fast as the wind can carry you. You tell the other clans to come. You tell them Toruk Makto calls to them. You fly now, with me, my brothers, my sisters, and we will show the skypeople that they can not take whatever they want, and that this... THIS IS OUR LAND!
Back to School has Rodney Dangerfield reciting the Dylan Thomas poem "Do Not Go Gentle into That Good Night" from memory after almost giving up during his oral exams. He then goes on to (barely) pass.
Blazing Saddles:
- Gabby Johnson gives one of these which is almost completely incomprehensible, but nevertheless succeeds in rallying the townsfolk to not flee Hedley Lamarr's thugs.
  "Now who can argue with that?"
- Bart's later attempt with the same people falls flat until he envokes the name of Western acting icon Randolph Scott.
Blues Brothers 2000:
- Elwood, played by Dan Aykroyd, launches into a semi-inspiring speech (mostly about the many reasons that the Russian Mafia was not, in fact, going to blow up Willy's Strip Club) — but it consisted almost entirely of a history lecture on Russian politics that left everyone else entirely perplexed.
- Another one after they've run out of gas in the middle of nowhere, and all but the main three are thinking of just giving up —
  Elwood Blues: [addressing the rest if the band] You may go if you wish. But remember this...walk away now and you walk away from your crafts, your skills, your vocations; leaving the next generation with nothing but recycled, digitally-sampled techno-grooves, quasi-synth rhythms, pseudo-songs of violence-laden gangsta-rap, acid pop, and simpering, saccharine, soulless slush. Depart now and you forever separate yourselves from the vital American legacies of Robert Johnson, Muddy Waters, Willie Dixon, Jimmy Reed, Memphis Slim, Blind Boy Fuller, Louie Jordon, Little Walter, Big Walter, Sonnyboy Williamson I and II, Otis Redding, Jackie Wilson, Elvis Presley, Lieber and Stoller, and Robert K. Weiss.
  Donald "Duck" Dunn: Who is Robert K. Weiss?
  [the rest of the band shrug]
  Elwood Blues: Turn your backs now and you snuff out the fragile candles of Blues, R&B and Soul, and when those flames flicker and expire, the light of the world is extinguished because the music which has moved mankind through seven decades leading to the millennium will whither and die on the vine of abandonment and neglect.
- They eventually follow, except for the saxophonist (Blue Lou Marini) who wanders off to get gas.
Braveheart
William Wallace: Sons of Scotland! I'm William Wallace!
Young Soldier: William Wallace is seven feet tall!
William Wallace: Yes, I've heard! Kills men by the hundreds. And if he were here, he'd consume the English with fireballs from his eyes, and bolts of lightning from his arse!
(the Scottish army laughs)
William Wallace: I am William Wallace! And I see a whole army of my countrymen here in defiance of tyranny! You've come to fight as free men. And free men you are... What will you do with that freedom? (beat) Will you fight?!
Scottish Army: No! No!
Old soldier: Against that?! No! We will run. And we will live.
William Wallace: Aye. Fight and you may die. Run, and you'll live... At least a while. And dying in your beds, many years from now, would you be willing to trade ALL the days, from this day to that, for one chance, JUST ONE CHANCE, to come back here, and tell our enemies... that they make take our lives... BUT THEY'LL NEVER TAKE... OUR FREEDOM!!!!
(the Scottish army cheers)
William Wallace: ALBA GU BRATH!!! ^note SCOTLAND FOREVER!!!
The Cannonball Run showed that Rousing Speeches can be funny:
Ladies and gentlemen, I'd like to welcome you to what's sometimes been called an automotive counterpart to the Bay of Pigs. I'd just like to say that you are easily the most distinguished group of highway scofflaws and degenerates ever gathered together in one place. Of course you know that certain skeptics note that as soon as we begin, thirty thousand of the nation's most alert highway patrolmen will be out there waiting to stop you guys. But let's stay positive. Think of the fact that not one state of the fifty has the death penalty for speeding...although I'm not so sure about Ohio. You'll be given a card like this. You'll punch out when you start and you'll punch in when you reach the Portofino Inn in Redondo Beach. The difference between those two times will be your time across the country. The record stands at thirty-two hours, fifty-one minutes, and believe it or not, those guys did break the fifty-five mile an hour limit. Now let's get that first car up here and let's get this show on the road.
Captain America: The Winter Soldier: Steve gives one to SHIELD at the film's climax, wherein he reveals HYDRA's infiltration and how close they are to victory, and implores the rest of the organization to stand with him, no matter the risk. It works.
"The price of freedom is high. It always has been. And it's a price I'm willing to pay. If I'm the only one, so be it. But I'm willing to bet I'm not."
Defied by Captain Ramsey in Crimson Tide, who is not the type of CO to give his crew a reassuring pat on the back. When suggested by his new XO, who doesn't know his Captain that well yet, Ramsey responds with an all-hands announcement essentially saying "man up or get off my boat."
In Dead Again in Tombstone, Alicia delivers one to the townsfolk of Silver River in an attempt to persuade them to join her in opposing Boomer. It falls flat until Guerrero returns to back her play.
Deep Blue Sea:
- Subverted in when Samuel L. Jackson gives a Rousing Speech (complete with a revelation of a shameful secret), only to be killed by a shark just as he's about to start rallying the characters to action.
- From Preacher: "Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I shall fear no evil. For thou art with me. Thy rod and thy staff, they comfort me. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life. Because I carry a big stick and I'm the meanest motherfucker in the valley!"
In Deep Impact, the president gives a speech to restore hope to the world after the impact of a comet with Earth:
The President: We watched as the bombs shattered the second comet into a million pieces of ice and rock that burned harmlessly in our atmosphere and lit up the sky for an hour. Still, we were left with the devastation of the first. The waters reached as far inland as the Ohio and Tennessee Valleys. It washed away farms and towns, forests and skyscrapers. But, the water receded. The wave hit Europe and Africa too. Millions were lost, and countless more left homeless. But the waters receded. Cities fall, but they are rebuilt. And heroes die, but they are remembered. We honor them with every brick we lay, with every field we sow, With every child we comfort, and then teach to rejoice in what we have been re-given. Our planet. Our home. So now, let us begin.
Parodied in the Norm MacDonald movie Dirty Work: after screwing over the residents of an apartment block by trashing their building, Norm's character and his accomplice are themselves screwed over by the slimy businessman who hired them to do so. Norm appeals to the residents to join him in a scheme that will enable everyone to get their revenge on the businessman with a stirring speech that climaxes with him yelling "Are you with me?"... and the response is a stony, hostile silence. He then tries "Okay, are you with me on the assumption that if we fail, you get to kick my ass?" — and the crowd goes wild.
Parodied in Dr. Strangelove. To the crew of a B-52 on a nuclear bombing run into Soviet territory:
Major Kong: "(... ) [T]his thing turns out to be half as important as I figure it just might be, I'd say that you're all in line for some important promotions an' personal citations when this thing's over with. That goes for every last one of ya, regardless of your race, color, or your creed. Now, let's get this thing on the hump. We got some flyin' to do."
Parodied (naturally) by Groucho Marx in Duck Soup: "And remember, while you're out there risking your life and limb through shot and shell, we'll be in here thinking what a sucker you are!"
The Adventures of Elmo in Grouchland combines with a "Reason You Suck" Speech as Oscar the Grouch rallies the Grouches of Grouchland to band together against Huxley.
Oscar: You call yourselves Grouches...look at you. This Huxley character's taking everything that makes Grouchland so disgusting, and you're not doing anything about it! We've gotta fight for our trash! Stand up for our slop! Cause...cause...when they take our goo...we gotta do!
Subverted in Erik the Viking, where Erik thoroughly botches it. "And... we may not die HORRIBLE deaths...")
Subverted in Glengarry Glen Ross. "Coffee's for closers only."
The Goonies. The Hero, Mikey, gives a speech convincing the Goonies to continue following the Treasure Map after the Jerk Jock offers them a chance to be rescued.
Mikey: Chester Copperpot! Don't you guys see? Don't you realize? He was a pro. He never made it this far. Look how far we've come. We've got a chance.
Charlie Chaplin's incredible speech at the end of The Great Dictator. Made even stronger in that it's Chaplin, a man not known for his verbosity. It becomes even more powerful and moving with appropriate music and context.
Played almost completely straight in The Great Muppet Caper in Fozzie's speech to the residents of the Happiness Hotel.
Stonewall Jackson from Gods and Generals.
Guardians of the Galaxy (2014): Star Lord gives one to the rest of his team near the movie's climax in order to motivate them to take on Ronan and stop him from destroying Xandar, even though due to him now possessing the Infinity Stone it seems like a hopeless prospect, something Rocket points out. However, one by one, they all do agree to stand and fight beside him.
In Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 2, Neville gives a rousing speech after Voldemort's apparent victory. The speech replaces his much-beloved Pre Ass Kicking One Liner ("I'll join you when hell freezes over! Dumbledore's Army!) from the book.
One of the finest examples of this trope is found in Sir Kenneth Branagh's 1989 live-action adaptation of Henry V. The music and cinematography blend together fantastically. See for yourself.
There is also the speech in the 1946 movie version with Olivier, which must be included as he is generally considered the greatest Shakespearean actor. See it here.
''...And gentlemen in England now abed shall think themselves acursed they were not here! and hold their manhoods cheap whilst any speaks! that fought with us! upon St. Crispin's day!
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1:
- Coin gives one near the end of the film, in contrast to her concise and utilitarian pronouncements at the start. You can see Plutarch mouthing along; clearly the one who wrote it.
- Subverted by Katniss, who butchers a propaganda ad on a greenscreen. Played straight after the Capitol bombing the hospital in District 8.
Subverted in Idle Hands when Seth Green's character said "No more Kevin Costner speeches, let's just go!"
The movie Immortals, for all of the liberties it takes with the story of Theseus, does two things wonderfully right: make the fights more gorgeous than the scenery, and make Theseus rallying a troop of defending Greeks so epic that the audience in the theater is tempted to stomp and shout along with the front-line shieldbearers.
In Independence Day, President Whitmore gives such a hell of a Trope Codifying address before he and the other pilots worldwide get into their planes for their battle. It goes something like this:
President Whitmore: Good morning. In less than an hour, aircraft from here will be joining others from around the world. And you will be launching the largest aerial battle in the history of mankind. "Mankind," that word should have new meaning for all of us today. We can't be consumed by our petty differences anymore. We will be united in our common interests. Perhaps it's fate that today is the Fourth of July, and you will once again be fighting for our freedom. Not from tyranny, or oppression, or persecution, but from annihilation. We're fighting for our right to live - to exist. And should we win the day, the Fourth of July will no longer be known as an American holiday, but as the day when the world declared with one voice: "We will not go quietly into the night! We will not vanish without a fight!" We're going to live on! We're going to survive! Today! We celebrate! Our Independence Day!
Parodied in Johnny English:
Lorna Campbell: What are you going to do, Johnny? Sit in this grotty flat feeling sorry for yourself, or are you gonna get out there and save your country?
Johnny English: I'm gonna sit in the flat.
Knute Rockne, All American:
Rockne: And the last thing he said to me, "Rock," he said, "sometime when the team is up against it and the breaks are beating the boys, tell them to go out there with all they've got and win just one for the Gipper. I don't know where I'll be then, Rock", he said — "but I'll know about it — and I'll be happy."
Player # 12: Well, what are we waiting for?
- And the team rushes out of the locker room to win the game.
- Parodied in Airplane! where Dr. Rumack gives Ted Stryker almost the exact same speech, except that it's about George Zipp so it ends "...and win just one for the Zipper."
  - " 'I don't know where I'll be then, Doc,' he said, 'But I won't smell too good, that's for sure.' "
Selections from The Lord of the Rings trilogy:
- The Return of the King:
  - When Théoden, prior to the charge of the Rohirrim, effectively tells his men, "You wanna live forever? I thought not! Let's go kill some bad guys and get our throats cut!" See Northern Heroism under Mythology below.
    Théoden: Forth, and fear no darkness! Arise! Arise, riders of Théoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered — a sword day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now! Ride now! Ride! Ride to ruin, and the world's ending! Death! Death! DEATH! FORTH ÉORLINGAS!
  - From that same scene, a very short but very powerful speech from Éowyn to Merry.
    Éowyn: "Courage, Merry. Courage for our friends.
  - From Aragorn at the final battle:
    Aragorn: Sons of Gondor! Of Rohan! My brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. A day may come when the courage of men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship. But it is not this day! An hour of wolves and shattered shields, when the Age of Men comes crashing down! But it is not this day! This day we fight! By all that you hold dear on this good earth, I bid you stand! Men! of the West!
  - Aragorn says all of that again, with greater eloquence and impact, just a moment after he's done with the speech above; when he quietly says to the Hobbits "For Frodo."
- The Two Towers:
  - Théoden, defending Helm's Deep:
    Théoden: Let this be the hour when we draw swords together. Fell deeds awake. Now for wrath! Now for ruin! And a red dawn! FORTH ÉORLINGAS!
  - Sean Astin is an absolute master of these speeches.
    Frodo: "I can't do this, Sam."
    Sam: "I know. It's all wrong. By rights we shouldn't even be here. But we are. It's like in the great stories, Mr. Frodo. The ones that really mattered. Full of darkness and danger, they were. And sometimes you didn't want to know the end. Because how could the end be happy? How could the world go back to the way it was when so much bad had happened? But in the end, it's only a passing thing, this shadow. Even darkness must pass. A new day will come. And when the sun shines it will shine out the clearer. Those were the stories that stayed with you. That meant something, even if you were too small to understand why. But I think, Mr. Frodo, I do understand! I know now! Folk in those stories had lots of chances of turning back, only they didn't! They kept going! Because they were holding on to something."
    Frodo: "What are we holding onto, Sam?"
    Sam: "That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo, and it's worth fighting for!"
Lampshaded, sort of, in Major League II. Beloved manager Lou Brown is talking to head coach Jake Taylor while lying in a hospital bed, scheduled for heart surgery first thing in the morning. Taylor promises Brown that the team will "win this one for you", referring to that night's decisive playoff game. Brown sits up and warns him "not to give one of those corny 'Let's Win It For Lou' speechs". Guess what Taylor does, with loads of Narm and not a shred of visible guilt.
The Martian: Lampshaded by Teddy Sanders, in the lead-up to the construction of Iris.
Teddy: You'll say it's impossible, and I'll give a rousing speech about the blistering capabilities of the JPL team. Then you'll do the math and say something like "the overtime alone will be a nightmare..."
Bruce: The overtime alone will be a nightmare...
Teddy: Three months. Make it happen. I'll find you the money.
Master and Commander: "This Ship is England..."
Bill Murray's terrific "it just doesn't matter" rant in Meatballs roused the entire camp to victory, even while emphasizing the superiority of their opponents and underscoring the pointlessness of the game.
The locker room speech from Miracle:
Coach Herb Brooks: If we played 'em ten times, they might win nine. But not this game. Not tonight. Tonight, we are the greatest hockey team in the world. I'm sick and tired of hearing what a great hockey team the Soviets have! Screw 'em! This is your time! Now go out there and take it!
- USA! USA!
Subverted in Muppet Treasure Island, when the rat with the toothpick-sized sword tries to put his life on the line and stand up to Long John Silver, but fails miserably:
Jim Hawkins: "Kill Captain Smollett and you'll have to kill me."
Gonzo: "Kill Jim and you'll have to kill me!"
Squire Trelawney: "Kill Gonzo and you'll have to kill me! (to his imaginary friend) Oh, and you too, Mr. Bimbo!"
Rizzo the Rat: "Kill Mr. Bimbo and the bear, and you'll have to, um... negotiate strenuously!"
Played nearly straight in Mystery Men. "Or will I eat this sandwich?"
Jason has a minor one to convince his friends to solve a murder in Mystery Team.
In Napoléon (1927), the title character gives one to his troops before the Battle of Montenotte.
Newsies has a pretty epic one at the point when everything has fallen and the Newboys felt they had been betrayed by Cowboy and abandoned by Denton. You can watch it here. It is delivered as a pamphlet rather than a speech.
None Shall Escape: The Lidzbark rabbi delivers one to a trainload of Jews about to be deported, after having been told by Reichskommissar Grimm to get them to be quiet.
"My people! Be calm, listen to me. Let us prepare ourselves to face this supreme moment in our lives. This is our last journey. Doesn't matter if it's long or short. For centuries we have sought only peace. We have submitted to many degradations believing that we would achieve justice through reason. We have tried to take our place honestly, decently alongside all mankind to help make a better world. A world in which all men would live as free neighbours. We have hoped, and prayed, but now we see that hope was not enough. What good has it done to submit? Submission brought us rare moments in history when we were tolerated. Tolerated! Is there any greater degradation than to be tolerated? To be permitted to exist? We have submitted too long! If we want equality and justice we must take our place alongside all other oppressed peoples, regardless of race or religion. Their fight is ours—ours is theirs. We haven't much time left. By our actions we will be remembered. This is our last free choice, our moment in history. And I say to you: let us choose to fight! Here, now!"
The movie version of On the Town has Claire, Hildy and Ivy giving speeches to the police passionately justifying their actions as just doing their patriotic duty to the Navy.
Pacific Rim: Marshal Stacker Pentecost gives one at the climax, just before the final, last-ditch attempt to seal the Breach and stop all future Kaiju attacks.
"Today, at the edge of our hope, at the end of our time, we have chosen not only to believe in ourselves, but in each other. Today, there's not a man or woman in here who shall stand alone. Today, we face the monsters that are at our door and take the fight to them! Today, we are cancellin' the apocalypse!"
Pirates of the Caribbean:
- Elizabeth Swann delivers an awesome one of these before the final battle of At World's End:
  "Then what shall we die for? Now you will listen to me... LISTEN! The Brethren will still be looking here, to us, to the Black Pearl to lead. And what will they see? Frightened bilge rats aboard a derelict ship? No. No, they will see free men! And freedom! And what the enemy will see, they will see the flash of our cannons, they will hear the ring of our swords, and they will know what we can do! By the sweat of our brows, and the strength of our backs, and the courage of our hearts! Gentlemen...hoist the colors."
- Barbossa gets one in On Stranger Tides, acknowledging the very real danger of where they're going (Whitecap Bay), but gets the men rallied by saying:
  "Are we not King's Men? I did not notice any fear in the hearts of the Spanish as they passed us by. So I ask you: are we not King's Men?!"
The movie The Replacements (2000) plays with this. The quarterback calls for the last huddle and specifically states that he's not good with the type of speeches they're expecting, so he just makes a one-liner. It seems to be more motivational that if he'd actually tried making the speech.
- Played straight earlier in the film with coach Jimmy McGinty (Gene Hackman), where he tells the players to take their fear of failure and put it into the other team.
Subverted and played straight (in that order) in Robin Hood: Men in Tights, where a Rousing Speech by Robin (done in the style of Winston Churchill) bores the villagers to tears, by a Rousing Speech done by Achoo (bless you!) in the style of Malcolm X succeeds.
In Romy and Michele's High School Reunion after Christy humiliates Romy and Michele for their lie that they invented Post-it Notes, Romy loses all her confidence at the reunion, it's easygoing Michele who delivers one of these, to their mutual surprise:
Michele: Romy, can I tell you the truth? I never knew that we weren't that great in high school. I mean, we always had so much fun together...I thought high school was a blast! And until you told me that our lives weren't good enough, I thought everything since high school was a blast. I think we should go back out there as ourselves, and just have fun like we always do. The hell with everyone else!
Romy: I don't think I can.
Michele: [smiling, but clearly exasperated] Well, do you think you can stop being such a baby? God! I feel like I've been, like, chasing you all over this reunion. We have come all this way, now we are going to enjoy ourselves whether you like it or not!
Romy: [startled] God, Michele...I've never seen this side of your personality before. You're so bossy and domineering. I like it!
Michele: [grinning] Me too!
The locker room speech before the seniors' final game in Rudy.
Coach Dan Devine: No one—and I mean, no one—comes into our house and pushes us around.
A surrealistic variant occurs in the big fight scene at the end of The Rundown, where the Scottish pilot, in the midst of a battle, sits down and puts his feet up and has one of the villagers get him a beer. While Beck is pinned down. He then recents the trope name in a weirdly fascinating tone, and adds a couple of religious allusions as well, at which point Beck breaks his "no guns" rule and goes to town.
- He's reciting a poem. "Do Not Go Gentle Into That Goodnight" by Dylan Thomas. The name speaks for itself; it's a Rousing Speech in poem format.
  - It gets even more surreal than that. Imagine a guy reciting that poem in a Celtic accent so thick you could break lumber across it. Then having have him conclude that recitation with "boom shakalaka!" when the guy unleashes his guns.
In Scent of a Woman, Al Pacino gives a speech in defense of a prep school student threatened with expulsion if he won't reveal the culprits behind a prank. You can see the whole thing here, but here's a highlight:
Headmaster Trask: Sir, you're out of order.
Lt. Col. Frank Slade: Out of order? I show you out of order. You don't know what out of order is, Mr. Trask. I'd show you, but I'm too old, I'm too tired, I'm too fuckin' blind. If I were the man I was five years ago, I'd take a flamethrower to this place! Out of order? Who the hell do you think you're talkin' to? I've been around, you know? There was a time I could see. And I have seen. Boys like these, younger than these, their arms torn out, their legs ripped off. But there isn't nothin' like the sight of an amputated spirit. There is no prosthetic for that. You think you're merely sending this splendid foot soldier back home to Oregon with his tail between his legs, but I say you are... executin' his soul! And why? Because he's not a Bairdman. Bairdmen. You hurt this boy, you're gonna be Baird bums, the lot of ya. And Harry, Jimmy, Trent, wherever you are out there, fuck you too!
Serenity (2005) contains two versions of this trope: Once after The Operative destroys the group's safe havens, and once after the secret is found out. The latter is punctuated by Mal's catchphrase, "I aim to misbehave".
Mal: You all got on this boat for different reasons, but you all came to the same place. So now I'm asking more of you than I have before. Maybe all. 'Cause as sure as I know anything, I know this: they will try again. Maybe on another world. Maybe on this very ground, swept clean. A year from now, ten, they'll swing back to the belief that they can make people... (looks directly at River) better. And I do not hold to that. So no more running. I aim to misbehave.
The Shoes Of The Fisherman: Pope Kiril I gives a speech after being crowned as Pope in which he lays out his plans to deal with the crisies facing the world, which the crowd in St. Peter's Square responds to positvely.
Near the end of Snow White & the Huntsman, Snow White rallies the Duke's soldiers with a Rousing Speech before they attack the queen's castle.
As a whole, Dan Aykroyd seems to like these kinds of speeches. Spies Like Us also features a rousing speech given by Karen Boyer (played by Donna Dixon) to Austin Millbarge (Dan) and Emmett Fitz-Hume (Chevy Chase) just as they're prepared to pack up and go home rather than face the Russians and their Fantastic Nuke. Karen busts their chops, and tells them she's been preparing for this mission for months and even had to bury her partner that day, after the Russians killed him, and she's not about to let it all be for nothing.
Star Trek: First Contact: Picard's "The line must be drawn here!" speech (though partial subversion, as this move ultimately has more to do with Picard's personal relationship with the Borg than with the importance of doing what's right).
Used memorably in the Street Fighter movie when Guile decides to shirk his (more weaksauce than usual) Allied Nations orders and lead his strike force against Bison as originally planned.
Guile: "Troopers! I have just received new orders. Our superiors say the war is canceled, and we can all go home. Bison is getting paid off for his crimes, and our friends who have died here... will have died for nothing. But... we can all go home. Meanwhile, ideals like peace, freedom, and justice... they get packed up. But... we can all go home. Well... I'm not going home. I'm gonna get on my boat, and I'm going up-river, and I'm going to kick that son-of-a-bitch Bison's ass so HARD... that the next Bison wanna-be is gonna FEEL it. Now who wants to go home... and who wants to go with ME?!"
Another great Bill Murray example in Stripes. Having lost their sergeant temporarily to an artillery accident, the platoon of army privates stays up all night studying for their march display the next day. Despondent, they begin to give up until Murray launches into a speech about the stick-to-it attitude of Americans:
Cut it out! Cut it out! Cut it out! The hell's the matter with you? Stupid! We're all very different people. We're not Watusi. We're not Spartans. We're Americans, with a capital 'A', huh? You know what that means? Do ya? That means that our forefathers were kicked out of every decent country in the world. We are the wretched refuse. We're the underdog. We're mutts! Here's proof: his nose is cold! But there's no animal that's more faithful, that's more loyal, more loveable than the mutt. Who saw "Old Yeller?" Who cried when Old Yeller got shot at the end? I cried my eyes out. So we're all dogfaces, we're all very, very different, but there is one thing that we all have in common: we were all stupid enough to enlist in the Army. We're mutants. There's something wrong with us, something very, very wrong with us. Something seriously wrong with us — we're soldiers. But we're American soldiers! We've been kicking ass for 200 years! We're 10 and 1! Now we don't have to worry about whether or not we practiced. We don't have to worry about whether Captain Stillman wants to have us hung. All we have to do is to be the great American fighting soldier that is inside each one of us. Now do what I do, and say what I say. And make me proud!
Mercilessly played for laughs in Team America: World Police, when Gary convinces the audience to rise up against Kim-Jong Il by with a rousing speech about naughty bits.
Lisa: You had me at dicks fuck assholes.
In Trading Places, Winthorpe gives a pep talk before going into the Exchange building:
Louis Winthorpe III: Think big, think positive, never show any sign of weakness. Always go for the throat. Buy low, sell high. Fear? That's the other guy's problem. Nothing you have ever experienced will prepare you for the absolute carnage you are about to witness. Super Bowl, World Series — they don't know what pressure is. In this building, it's either kill or be killed. You make no friends in the pits and you take no prisoners. One minute you're up half a million in soybeans and the next, boom, your kids don't go to college and they've repossessed your Bentley. Are you with me?
Billy Ray Valentine: Yeah, we got to kill the motherf... — we got to kill 'em!
In Transformers, Optimus gives a speech on their obligation to help the humans, before they do the car equivalent of the Team Power Walk. The Decepticons have a team-up montage at the same time, so you know it's on.
Underworld: Rise of the Lycans has Lucien's magnificent speech, rallying his fellow slaves to rebel against the vampires:
Lucien: Is this what you want? To be their entertainment, their playthings, their pets? Cowering under their whip and then fighting among ourselves. Is this what you want? I've lived by their rules my entire life. I've protected them. envied them. And for what? To be treated like an animal? We are not animals! We do have a choice! We can choose to be more than this! We can be slaves... or we can be... LYCANS!
Werewolves Within: When the townspeople of Beaverfield begin arguing in the inn, Finn gets everyone's attention and delivers a speech about how it's easy to give into fear and throw doubt upon each other, but as a community, they need to stick together and find the werewolf. Sadly, most of the people respond to this by going home.
Jordan Belfort's speech in The Wolf of Wall Street where he welshes on his deal with the SEC to leave the firm and the securities business in exchange for pleading guilty to a few violations of their regulations.
Of all people, Wolverine gives one of these to the X-Men just before the team heads out to the final battle in X-Men: The Last Stand.
40 Inspirational Speeches in 2 Minutes is a Rousing Speech constructed by cutting together parts of famous monologues from many films (most of them Rousing Speeches in themselves).

Literature

From the Able Team (spin-off of The Executioner series) novel Ironman.
"He had village assemblies. Set up loudspeakers. Preached 'beans and bullets'. The duty of the people to the nation. The evil of neutrality. The evil of communism. Promised schools and electricity. New roads. Should have saved his breath."
"Everyone knew the facts. Fight or get shit on."
At the climax of The Ballad of the White Horse, Alfred's army is routing, his heroes are dead, and the enemy has given up chasing them to just loot, sacrificing all discipline to do. This is the trigger for him failing to give into despair and instead making an epic rousing speech, starting with, "Brothers in arms, on *this* side lies the foe," before turning into a speech that amounts to "we'll die whatever we do, so let's kill a lot of them before we do." It works.
Subverted in Chesapeake by James Michener. John Smith (the one that was linked with Pocahontas) sends his men out with a few orders. They come back, having been utterly victorious, and he writes it up in his diary with a rousing speech at the beginning that never happened.
The Chronicles of Dorsa: Tasia gives many of these while she's rallying commoners to rebel against Regent Norix with her.
In Jeramey Kraatz's The Cloak Society, Guardian, though incapable of coherent speech after years in the Gloom, is capable of communicating with the others trapped there. He touches the Rangers' starburst on his tattered uniform, and the two other superheroes get up to help get others to safety, so the gestures apparently were this.
Tavi gets an amazing one to his entire country via watercrafting in First Lord's Fury of the Codex Alera series.
In Lords of the Bow, Genghis Khan gives a very impressive speech after gathering the steppe tribes together, which motivates them to cross the Gobi desert and attack the Chinese nations.
In Russell Kirk's novel A Creature Of The Twilight, Manfred Arcane gives his army of African Traditionalists a tour de force plaigiaring everyone from Napoleon ("Men of Kalidu, the centuries look down upon you!") to Kennedy.
Another novel by David Weber, coauthored by Steve White, Crusade, has a corrupt alien religion based around the "Holy Mother Terra". The main headquarters of this religion on the alien home planet has been targeted for invasion/destruction by the Terran fleet that's laboriously fought its way through several other conquered systems, because capturing it will open a small hole in the planetary defenses, allowing the Terrans to force terms of peace. The problem? Said base has been constructed into a mountain, under two hundred meters of rock, the ground defenses are forty kilometers deep, there's four fighter squadrons based there, and countless rocket launchers, anti-shuttle weapons, minefields, auto-cannon, pillboxes, and mortar pits. It's described as being not so much a fortress as a weapon designed to drown the attackers in their own blood. The icing on the cake? A two hundred megaton suicide charge underneath the base proper. The reply from the back row, after all this has been explained to the troops?
"Question, Commander. What do we do after lunch?"
- This book also features a very different kind of speech from the old and wizened Admiral, where he convinces the Terran Navy's High Command not to exterminate the religious fanatics entirely.
In James Swallow's Deus Sanguinius, at the climax, Rafen gives a rousing speech, reminding his fellow Blood Angels that their primarch died at the hands of Chaos and calling on them to renounce their allegiance to the false Reborn Angel.
Terry Pratchett's Discworld:
- In Lords and Ladies, Shawn Ogg attempts and fails to give a St. Crispin's Day speech, after which his mother calmly informs the unimpressed crowd that anyone who doesn't follow him will have her to deal with.
- Nanny also uses one of these to enlist the aid of the Elf king, after a fashion — except she only means for humanity to not go gentle into that good night. In helping her he's merely ensuring that there'll be room for him on the day they do, when finally even the iron in the head is rusty.
- In Jingo Carrot leads his small group against two battling armies with the cry "If we succeed, no-one will remember! And if we fail, no-one will forget!" (double subverted in that they're still behind him). We are told of the only worse attempt, General Pidley's famous 'Let's all get our throats cut, boys'
- In Interesting Times Rincewind gives a passionate speech against the concept, claiming the leaders making such speeches are usually the only ones with decent armour.
- In The Last Hero the heroes who are going to the Hub to intercept Cohen have patches made up with a slogan in actually rather good Latin: Morituri Nolumus Mori. Rincewind thought them up. With something between amusement and disdain, Lord Vetinari prompts him to translate: "We who are about to die, don't want to." (literally, "{the}About-To-Die We-Do-Not-Want To-Die")
- Night Watch also parodies Braveheart by taking the most remembered line — "They may take our lives", etc. — and having people react to it as if the speaker had just said something profoundly stupid. It does turn out be literally true for Reg Shoe, who is the one who used it.
  - On the other hand, Night Watch also included two example of Vimes playing this completely straight — first during the 'Keel and the Line' scene where he tells his men that their duty is simply to keep the peace and keep as many people from getting hurt as possible, and again later when Carcer and the palace guard are trying to kill him when his men are already resolved to following him to the death, so he simply tells them that it's important that they win because if they don't, things will be very bad. That's pure Sam Vimes.
- In Wyrd Sisters, Hwel, the dramatist, thinks that Tomjon, who's the greatest actor in the world, could make a bunch of drunkards in a pub to storm the Patrician's palace by giving a speech — and they'd probably succeed.
- Played straight in The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents when Darktan is about to lead a counterattack against the mysterious menace lurking under the town.
  There's something new down here. Something that no one's ever seen before. Something tough. Something strong. Something fearsome. Something new. Something sudden. And it's you.
Dracula contains a speech from the Count himself. Though the context is wrong for this trope, the content is certainly worthy of a particularly good one. Plus, after the discovery that Dracula used to be a human lord who was also a great general, one can very easily imagine him giving a true Rousing Speech that could have said many of the same things.
Subverted in Orson Scott Card's Ender's Shadow when Bonzo is out to kill Ender and Bean gives a speech about how anyone who's against Ender is on the Buggers' side. When he finishes, someone tells him Ender's alone and Bonzo and his gang are already after him.
Jiaan gives one at the end of Fall of a Kingdom, the first book in the Farsala Trilogy. The entire deghan army has just been destroyed, leaving Farsala with no defenders, and he only speaks a few lines, but we can assume they work. By the next book, he has assembled a ragtag but effective army.
Played with in Raiders of Gor, where Tarl/Bosk manages it with a few lines and a Rousing Rock. ("It is the Home Stone of Port Kar.... If you wish it, it shall be so.")
In J. K. Rowling's first three Harry Potter books, Gryffindor Quidditch captain Oliver Wood was fond of these. His team, not so much.
Subverted in the Horus Heresy novel The Lost and the Damned. At the beginning of the Siege of Terra, commander-in-chief of the defenders Rogal Dorn addresses his troops in characteristically blunt fashion:
"The time for speeches is done. The first great test is here. My order to you all is simple, yet heed it well, and exert yourselves to see it done. They are coming. Kill them all."
The Hunger Games: In Catching Fire Katniss makes a beautiful speech in District 11, about her ally Rue. Then in Mockingjay, she has a couple; Her "If we burn, you burn with us" speech implied to be received well, but when she tries to give one in the middle of a firefight in District 2, she gets shot.
Parodied in Robert Graves's I, Claudius, where Claudius meets historians Livy and Pollio. Pollio criticizes Livy for writing that generals gave rousing speeches before battles, and tells that Julius Caesar before the decisive battle with Pompey (where Pollio was present) didn't do anything of the sort; instead, he did funny skits involving a radish. In the sequel, Claudius the God, Claudius gives a similar speech before an important battle in Britain (without a radish though).
François Villon in If I Were King:
"Herald of Burgundy, in God's name and the king's, I bid you go back to your master and say this: Kings are great in the eyes of their people, but the people are great in the eyes of God, and it is the people of France who answer you in the name of this epitome. The people of Paris are not so poor of spirit that they fear the croak of the Burgundian ravens. We are well victualled, we are well armed; we lie snug and warm behind our stout walls; we laugh at your leaguer. But when we who eat are hungry, when we who drink are dry, when we who glow are frozen, when there is neither bite on the board nor sup in the pitcher nor spark upon the hearth, our answer to rebellious Burgundy will be the same. You are knocking at our doors, beware lest we open them and come forth to speak with our enemy at the gate. We give you back defiance for defiance, menace for menace, blow for blow. This is our answer — this and the drawn sword. God and St. Denis for the King of France!"
Used by Roran in the Inheritance Cycle to the entire village of Carvahall in order to persuade them to abandon the town and join the Varden in Surda. Subverted later on when the town needs to steal a boat. They turn to Roran, expecting another rousing speech, but he simply delivers the One-Liner "It's either this or walk," and goes to sleep.
In Julie Kagawa's The Iron Queen, when Glitch and the others are about to hide from the false king again, Meghan gives a speech to inspire them to fight. Puck even calls it a rousing speech.
Kings of the Wyld: Gabe gives one at the War Fair to convince every mercenary present — and therefore nearly all of the mercenaries in the world — to follow him through a portal to Castia to save the city and his daughter. And he gives this speech through a pinecone.
In The League of Peoples 'Verse novel Expendable, the drunken old former Explorer Phylar Tobit manages to get a bunch of indolent aliens to help him out by firing them up with a rousing speech (which he then admits to loosely translating from Henry V).
In Hugo's Les Misérables, the men at the barricade of the Rue de Chanvrerie are aware they will probably not get out of it alive. That doesn't stop Enjolras from giving a speech about progress and a more idealistic republic. The speech literally takes up one chapter of the book.
Hero of Ages: Elend delivers one in full Determined Defeatist style. He asks his men to fight even though there's absolutely no question that they will die if they do. He says that every second they're able to keep going is a second longer the people they're protecting will stay alive.
Moby-Dick: Several, but the most notable and dramatic happens with the St. Elmo's Fire scene, where the crew swears loyalty to Captain Ahab after seeing how fearless he is.
Spoofed repeatedly by Cleolinda Jones, author of Movies in 15 Minutes, who enjoys using the titular poem as a substitute for inspirational moments in the movies she parodies. Of note is the spoof of Independence Day, when the President begins to give his speech... and then, seeing that his audience doesn't get it, switches to a more contemporary reference — Gloria Gaynor's "I Will Survive".
Of Fear and Faith: North delivers one to a group of haggard soldiers at the end of one chapter. It works out well for him and the soldiers, as they finally agree to escape alongside North and his party from the hellhole they've been refusing to leave, but it doesn't go as well for Phenix, who feels like a complete failure after three straight chapters of trying and failing to do the same thing, only to have North come in and rally them all in a second.
Pale: Toadswallow gives an emotional speech in memory of John Stiles to rouse the goblins, some of whom are not local and otherwise wouldn't be invested, to make a last push against the Carmine Exile.
The Pale King: One is given by a substitute teacher on the final review day of the Advanced Tax class. It motivates Chris to clean up his life.
Gentlemen, you are called to account.
In John Milton's Paradise Lost, Beezelbub gives one to the fallen angels just after the fall, concluding, "Awake, arise, or be for ever fall'n." and they are abashed and stand.
Robert "Bobby" Pendragon in Pendragon 10: The Soldiers of Halla, before the final fight, says "This is the beginning of a new history... The way it was meant to be."
In Ruled Britannia, Shakespeare's entire play of the story of Boudicca, the final two lines of which inspire his audience to rise up and throw out the Spanish occupiers:
"No epilogue here, unless you make it;
If you want your freedom, go and take it."
Sharpe
"You don't see a battle. You hear it. Black powder blasting by the ton on all sides. Black smoke blinding you and choking you and making you vomit. Then the French come out of the smoke — not in a line, but in a column. And they march towards our thin line, kettledrums hammering like hell and a golden eagle blazing overhead. They march slowly, and it takes them a long time to reach you, and you can't see them in smoke. But you can hear the drums. They march out of the smoke, and you fire a volley. And the front rank of the column falls, and the next rank steps over them, with drums hammering, and the column smashes your line like a hammer breaking glass... and Napoleon has won another battle. But if you don't run — if you stand until you can smell the garlic, and fire volley after volley, three rounds a minute — then they slow down. They stop. And then they run away. All you've got to do is stand, and fire three rounds a minute. Now, you and I know you can fire three rounds a minute. But can you stand?"
Tyrion Lannister in A Song of Ice and Fire gets a few of these. They may not be masterpieces, but since he's a dwarf, the fact that he makes the effort at all is nothing less than phenomenal.
- Consider also he was doing this for people who hated his guts, treated him like garbage, and lopped off his nose for his trouble in saving their sorry asses...
Yukiko gave one in the epilogue to Stormdancer.
The Stormlight Archive: Shallan gives a speech to a group of deserters that inspires them and reminds them of the men they could have been, causing them to go from planning to kill her to fighting for her.
Tolkien's Legendarium:
- The Lord of the Rings:
  - Both King Théoden and Aragorn before the Battle of Pelennor Fields.
  - One of the speeches is a subversion known by some fans as the "Let's All Go and Get Killed" speech. Namely Éomer's speech when he sees Théoden and his sister fallen, believes both are dead, is surrounded buy a bunch of oliphants, together with his whole army, and his solution is to lead a suicide charge at the enemy, much to the dismay of Imrahil who was coming to support him with the Knights of Dol Amroth. Luckily, Aragorn saves their ass.
- In The Silmarillion, Fëanor manages to convince almost all of the Noldor to leave their home and wage war against Morgoth.
- Beren and Lúthien: Subverted with Celegorm and Curufin, who manage to convince a whole city not to follow their king, and make them so afraid that they refuse to go into open battle until a few decades later.
- The Fall of Gondolin: During the siege, Rog stirs his troops against the Morgoth's army:
  Then said Rog in a great voice: 'Who now shall fear the Balrogs for all their terror? See before us the accursed ones who for ages have tormented the children of the Noldoli, and who now set fire at our backs with their shooting. Come ye of the Hammer of Wrath and we will smite them for their evil'
In Alfred, Lord Tennyson's poem "Ulysses", the titular character is giving one of these to his men in a giant Dare to Be Badass, asking them to follow him on The Last Dance, one last voyage into the sea, even though they are no longer the same younger men who set off.
"It may be that the gulfs will wash us down:
It may be we shall touch the Happy Isles,
And see the great Achilles, whom we knew.
Tho' much is taken, much abides; and tho'
We are not now that strength which in old days
Moved earth and heaven, that which we are, we are;
One equal temper of heroic hearts,
Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will
To strive, to seek, to find, and not to yield."
Deeba gives one in Chapter 81 of Un Lun Dun.
Subverted in Vasili Tyorkin by Alexander Tvardovsky. In the chapter "The Battle in the Swamp", Tyorkin cheers up the exhausted soldiers who are fighting for one tiny village. The Lemony Narrator notes that it would be a wonderful moment to say that the soldiers stood up and took the village easily and that Tyorkin personally killed eight Nazis with a wooden spoon... but nothing of that sort happened. The battle was hard, it lasted many more days and claimed many lives.
Near-future military thriller Victoria, chronicling a second American civil war, has several, for example that by General LeMieux before one of the decisive battles. Here is an excerpt:
"What are we fighting for? Everything. Our lives, our families, our homes, our culture, and our God. If we lose, we lose all of them."
Commissar Genadey Novobazky delivers one of these at the end of the Warhammer 40,000 Gaunt's Ghosts novel His Last Command. Colonel Wilder, Novobazky and A Company of the 81/1st (Recon) stay behind during the retreat from Sparshad Mons to fight a rearguard action and allow Imperial forces to withdraw from the city before it gets bombarded from orbit. This example is a Bolivian Army Ending. We never see what happens, but there are only two possible outcomes. The Belladon either get slaughtered by the Blood Pact, or vaporised by the orbital bombardment.
- It's also a convenient way for Gaunt to get command of the regiment again. Wilder is out of the picture, and most of the Belladon soldiers are dead.
Warrior Cats: These occur occasionally. In Cloudstar's Journey, Cloudstar gives one to his Clan after they lose an important battle, in order to keep their spirits up and encourage them to fight another day.
The Novel We Few by John Ringo and David Weber is named after the Saint Crispian's day speech. Much thought is given to the problems when a King establishes a great deal of personal loyalty by surviving a Bolivian Army Ending with his own troops.
"The safety of the Empire? Admiral, I'm sworn to serve the Empire, we both are, but I serve Master Rog. We all do. You'd have to have been there to understand. He's not... who he was. None of us are. We're Prince Roger's Own. Period. They call aides 'dog-robbers' because they'll rob a dog of its bone, if that's what the admiral wants. We're... we're pig-robbers. We'll steal slop, if that's what Roger wants. Or conquer the Caravaz 'I don't know where I'll be then, Doc,' he said, 'But I won't smell too good, that's for sure.' an Empire. Or set him up as a pirate king. Maybe Pahner wasn't that way, maybe he fought for the Empire, even to the last. But the rest of us are, we few who survive. We're Roger's dogs. And if he wants to save the Empire, well, we'll save the Empire. And if he'd told me to come in here and assassinate you, well, Admiral, you'd be dead."
Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time has the Aiel oath:
Till shade is gone, till water is gone
Into the Shadow with teeth bared
Screaming defiance with the last breath
To spit in Sightblinder's eye on the last day.
The unnamed U.S. President (implied to be Colin Powell) in World War Z gives one of these with a less then lukewarm reception. It still gets the job done.
X-Wing Series:
- Wedge Antilles gives one in Starfighters of Adumar, before launching the united Adumari nation. The Adumari hat is Proud Warrior Race Guy, but that just gets them killed, so he speaks about keeping their minds on the task at hand, not on glory. Before he starts, he thinks that he's not one of those people who needs a rousing speech to fight at his best, and he's a little iffy on the idea of someone who does.
- He also said something in Iron Fist before the Wraiths started a particularly important mission.
  "I'm not going to give you some sort of stirring, half-witted speech about why we're here. They're for crowds, not for fighter pilots."

Music

The Robert Burns song Scots Wha Hae is written as a fictional Rousing Speech given by Robert the Bruce before the Battle Of Bannockburn. It also acts as a rousing speech for the radicals and Scottish nationalists of Burns' day, invoking (arguably anachronistic) ideas of liberty and national self-determination.
- The song, particularly the opening lines, are referenced in Bruce's very brief speech at Bannockburn during the final scene of Braveheart.
Slipknot's "Pulse of the Maggots"
Ludo's amazing Zombie Apocalypse song. There's a time to pray, there's a time to fight. Anything can be a weapon if you're holding it right...
VNV Nation's "Honour" has verses which are of this trope.
The Decemberists' "This is Why We Fight" is one of these in the most plain and simple terms. And when we die, we will die with our arms unbound. This is why, this is why we fight.
Symphony X on Iconoclast (the song): "We Are Strong! We will stand and fight!"
"Rise" and "Ten Thousand Fists" by Disturbed. The band's concerts sometimes contain sections in the set reserved for speeches by the lead-singer designed with this in mind (that and getting the crowd more pumped up).

Radio

Our Miss Brooks: Several, played for laughs, in "School on Saturday". Miss Brooks persuades the angry students to go to school, or to go home, as Mr. Conklin repeatedly changes his mind.

Sports

In college football, the annual University of Miami vs. Florida State University games have been among the most heated, competitive and exciting of any given year. In 2001, after a relatively disappointing 2000 season in which they considered themselves robbed of a chance to play for the national championship in spite of their 11-1 record, undefeated #2 Miami went to Doak Campbell Stadium to face #14 Florida State, the defending champions and the team chosen to play for the title in Miami's place. Miami's star defensive player Ed Reed plays the first half injured. At half-time, Miami leads 21-13, but isn't showing the level of play its coach and players expect from themselves. Coach Larry Coker, gives them an encouraging locker-room speech. Afterwards, with Reed refusing to be taken out, and heading to the tunnel for the second half, he is approached by another player who asked him if he was alright. The following exchange ensues. The team responds by scoring four touchdowns in the third quarter. Miami went on to trash FSU, 49-27, end the season undefeated and win the national championship.
During the 2012 National League Division Series, the San Francisco Giants were already down two games against the Cincinnati Reds. Before the third game, Hunter Pence went into the Giants dugout and apparently made this speech: Get in here, everyone get in here...Look into each other eyes...now! Look into each others eyes, I want one more day with you, it's the most fun, the best team I have ever been on. And no matter what happens, we must not give in, we owe it to each other, play for each other, I need one more day with you guys, I need to see what Theriot will wear tomorrow, I want to play defense behind Vogelsong because he's never been to the playoffs...play for each other not yourself, win each moment, win each inning, it's all we have left.
- Hunter Pence was promptly nicknamed The Reverend. The Giants went on to make an incredible comeback and win the Division Series. Then they won the National League Championship. Then they won the 2012 World Series.
During the 2011 regular season, the St. Louis Cardinals were 10 1/2 games back from the wild card spot in the standings when ace pitcher Chris Carpenter held a players-only meeting and gave them a speech to urge everyone to turn things around. Slightly subverted in that the speech's Exact Words have not been made public, but played straight in that after that meeting, the Cardinals not only earned the wild card spot, but also beating the heavily favored Philadelphia Phillies, Milwaukee Brewers, and Texas Rangers to win the 2011 World Series. They had .006% chance of doing so.
- The next year, Carpenter did it again when the Cardinals were down 6-0 in Game 5 of the National League Division Series. He told everyone in the dugout, "This is going to be such a great comeback..." And then the Cardinals won 9-6 against the heavily favored Washington Nationals.
On the weekend of the 25th anniversary of the Hillsborough Disaster, Liverpool beat Manchester City 3-2 in one of their tensest matches of the season, bringing them ever closer to winning the League for the first time since 1990. For Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard, whose cousin died at Hillsborough, it was an emotional moment, and after the match, he made the following speech to his team mates:
"Hey! This does not fucking slip now! This is it! This does not fucking slip now! Listen! Listen. This is gone! We go Norwich. Exactly the same. We go again!"
- Unfortunately, he would literally slip in the match against Chelsea, ultimately costing Liverpool the title.
On the first season of The Ultimate Fighter(i.e. before anyone knew what a success it would be), several of the fighters began to complain that while they were being given high-level training from professional coaching staffs, they weren't going to get paid for fighting on the show. UFC President Dana White heard about this, came down to the gym, and let the guys have it.
"Gather round, guys. Get closer over here. To be honest with you, I didn't want to do this on, on camera, but...I'm not happy right now. I haven't been happy all day. I have the feeling that there's some guys here who don't wanna fight. I don't know if that's true, or not true, or whatever, but I don't know what the fuck everybody thought they were coming here for. Does anybody here not wanna fight? Did anybody come here thinking that they would not fight? No? Speak up. Anybody who, who came here thinking they weren't gonna fight, speak up, let me hear it...Let me explain something to everybody. This is a very — and when I say very, I can't explain to you what a unique opportunity this is — if you've ever wanted to really be a fighter, and when I say a real fighter, you wanna be like him(*points to Randy Couture*), you wanna be like him(*points to Chuck Liddell*), you wanna be like some of the guys on the wall in here? This is fucking unbelievable. This is an amazing opportunity, right? You don't have to worry about paying your fucking bills, you really don't have to worry about whatever's going on out in the real world right now, you train with your trainers, we've gotten some of the best grappling, boxing, muay thai coaches there are, you have nothing to fucking worry about, everyday, except coming in and getting better at what, supposedly, you wanna do for a living...Big deal, the guy sleeping next to you fucking stinks, you know, he doesn't take care of things, you know, he's drunk all night, making noise, you can't sleep. You got fucking roommates. We picked who we believe are the best guys in the country right now. We did, and you guys are it. Fucking act like it, man. You're gonna fight in front of a lot of people, a lot of people. And it depends on pay-per-view. We're not scumbag promoters. We're not. We're not Don King, we're not any of these other guys, you make us money, we'll make you money. That's the way it works, that's the way the entire industry works. If you draw and sell tickets, if you draw and sell pay-per-view, you make a lot of fucking money. The show is the opportunity for that to click for one of you guys, you know...You never know what's gonna click with somebody. You have no fucking clue the opportunity that you have here. Any questions? Does anybody not wanna be here? Does anybody not wanna win this fucking thing? Does anybody not wanna fight? Do you wanna be a fucking fighter? Do you wanna be a fighter? That's the question. It's not about cutting weight, it's not about living in a fucking house, it's about do you wanna be a fighter? It's not all, fucking, you know, signing autographs and banging broads when you get outta here. It's not. It's no fucking fun, man, it's a job, just like any other job. Being a fighter isn't all fucking girls and signing autographs. It's fucking hard work. But you have the opportunity to fucking make money, be famous, and do something for the sport here. That's what this is all about. So the question is not did you think you had to make weight, not did you think you had to do this, do you wanna be a fucking fighter?! That is my question. And only you know that. Anybody who says they don't, I don't fucking want you here, and I'll throw you the fuck out of this gym so fucking fast your head'll spin. You'll be sitting over at the other fucking house playing checkers. It's up to you, I don't care. Cool? I love you all, that's why you're here. Every guy that's in this room right now, your coaches dig, they believe in you. I just wanna make sure you all wanna be fucking fighters. That's it, that's all I wanna know. Cool? Have a good night, gentlemen.
Before the decisive final match against heavy favourites Brazil in the 1950 FIFA World Cup, Uruguay captain Obdulio Varela gave one of these to his team. While the full transcript of the speech remains unknown, it's known to have ended with the words "Muchachos, los de afuera son de palo. Que comience la función"^note, and is also credited with greatly helping Uruguay to go on to upset Brazil 2-1 to win the World Cup.

Tabletop Games

This is one of the character schticks of the Warlord class (the "Martial Leader") in the 4th edition of Dungeons & Dragons. Like a number of other classes, the Warlord can choose between several "motifs" at character creation; two motifs focus towards manipulating their allies in the fight (Tactical and Resourceful), while the other two focus towards inspiring allies to fight harder. The Inspirational Warlord is the more likely of these latter motifs to make use of Rousing Speeches — the Bravura Warlord prefers inspiring through example. Beyond being part of the theme, a number of the Warlord's powers actually take the form of particular speeches and battle cries.
- A bard in D&D 3rd edition who specializes in oration provides combat or skill buffs through rousing speeches. There's even a feat in an issue of Dragon magazine named "We Few, We Happy Few" that enhances this ability.
The flavor text of the Magic: The Gathering card Awakening.
- Going one step further, the flavor text of the card Primal Rage shows just how rousing that speech was.
- Gideon gets to deliver one at the end of "The Survivors of Sky Rock", during the Battle for Zendikar storyline.
The New World of Darkness has the "Inspiring" Merit for all character types, which allows the character to make a speech which allows others to regain a point of Willpower. Combine this with the Hope Virtue, and the character can gain all their Willpower back as well.
Apply this concept to entire species, and you'll have an idea what life for the Eldar and Imperium of Man in Warhammer 40,000 is like. As one might expect, such speeches are commonplace.
- This also applies to its sister setting in Warhammer. The dwarfs have lost their empire, their numbers are dwindling, the craftsmanship and skills of the past are being lost, and one by one their last remaining strongholds are falling to the grobi or rat-men or other nasties that inhabit the Warhammer world. But they keep fighting, out of sheer, stubborn, dwarfish bloody-mindedness. The high elves have a similar situation regarding their dark kin and the forces of Chaos, but are naturally more stuck-up about it. Oddly enough, the human Empire is a bit more optimistic, due to spanking Chaos in a campaign a few years back.
  - The Orc warlord Morglum Necksnapper deserves mention for combining brevity, inspiration, and a structured explanation of his tactical projections for the battle ahead in terms his troops can understand and connect to.
    "If it ain't green, belt it 'til it stops moving. Then belt it again, just to be sure."
Werewolf: The Apocalypse puts a pretty badass one in the mouth of Margrave Konietzko in the final battle against the Wyrm:
Know this, warriors of our Mother! There is nothing after this. Our ancestors have been butchered twice over, once in body and once in spirit. There is no Heaven, there will be no Hell, Valhalla does not exist. All that is will be destroyed if we fall here today. And many of you will. The enemy is mighty and fearsome, and we march forward into the mouth of death. Do not fight for an afterlife reward for your bravery, for it will not come. Fight instead, for Gaia. Fight for all that you know and love. Fight with every last ounce of Rage left inside you, so that even should the Wyrm destroy us, he will be awestruck by your mighty fury. Prove your arms so mighty, prove your anger so terrible, prove your love so pure and your passion so encompassing, prove your minds so resourceful, and your zeal and courage so overwhelming that even should every last one of us fall today, the armies of the Wyrm will never rest easy. In their reign of Oblivion, every one of their soldiers will look over their shoulders and sleep — with one eye open. They will live in fear...fear that one day, we will find a way back!!!

Theatre

Subverted in Antony and Cleopatra. Before one of the battles, Mark Antony gives an incredibly depressing speech ("Haply you shall not see me more; or if,/A mangled shadow: perchance to-morrow/You'll serve another master.") This is the only battle in the play that Antony actually wins.
While the "St. Crispin's Day" speech tends to be more famous, King Henry's "Once more unto the breach, dear friends!" speech from William Shakespeare's Henry V definitely falls under this category.
- Here's Branagh's St Crispin's Day speech. Definitely rousing. And the "Once more unto the breach" speech.
- Neverwinter Nights References the latter speech as being an option for the PC's voice set.
In Julius Caesar, Mark Antony manages to entirely turn the public opinion about Caesar with a speech that he gives on his funeral, and makes the people revolt against Caesar's killers.
Rather surprisingly, despite his Designated Villain status, Richard III gives a very good one in the play Richard III, while his opponent, Henry Tudor, gives a rather lackluster speech at best.
- The play also has an offstage subversion: Buckingham relates to an angry Richard how he completely failed to engage a crowd to accept Richard as king, with even the people he'd planted in the audience to cheer him not helping at all.

Webcomics

Agents of the Realm has Norah deliver a short, conscise, but successful speech to the rest of her team after The Reveal leaves them absolutely terrified here. Made even more impressive when you consider that Norah has social anxiety.
No. No. We are not going to sit and spiral like this. There's five of us. Or... well... there's going to be. We all have to go and talk to her — to Jordan — and just get this massive mess sorted.
And Shine Heaven Now cranks Hellsing's the Major's "I Love War" speech up a notch: here.
Bug gives us an example of this... kinda.
In Commander Kitty, CK tries to deliver one of these to Fluffy. She gets bored and walks off before he's done.
El Goonish Shive got one delivered by Grace here. The first line forms a pretty neat summary:
Grace: Someone has to try.
- Susan after getting Elliot a job gives him speech on the importance of movie renting, with serious face and her trademark Dramatic Wind.
At the end of the main story of the first run of Fans!, Rikk, Kath and the assembled geek armies of the world recite Aragorn's speech in unison, to each other, before going to war with the God Machine.
- And then Rumy's alien ex does it for the aliens. Subverted with Sol-Son/Soulson's response.
Freefall parodied this sort of speech with Sam Starfall "the larcenous squid" addressing several thousands of crickets he was going to send into an attack. DoS attack on an alarm system.
At one point in Girl Genius, Othar Tryggvassen (Gentleman Adventurer!) gives one of these which almost convinces Gil's employee Oglavia Spüdna to stop spying on people. "Fortunately" she comes to her senses.
Goblins a guard gives this speech to a lynch mob.
Guard: But above all else...they are a level 1 encounter. And we will not allow our city to fall to a level 1 encounter!
During GPF's mammoth 'To Thine One Self...' arc, the Grey Drone, Pi, attempts to rouse his fellow aliens into revolt against The Empire, in a classic Rousing Speech playing on morality and justice. And fails utterly. Then his comedic sidekick, Planck, steps up, after having serendipitously ended up with a fairly decent Braveheart costume through a series of improbable mishaps — and successfully rouses the drones into revolt with a mishmashed speech combined from various real and fictional Rousing Speeches, and some general-purpose silliness. (Though the ending isn't as crazy at it would appear to the uninitiated — earlier comics revealed that the Greys find cheese to be both delicious and addictive.)
Gunnerkrigg Court had Ysengrin, of all people, occasionally giving rather concise and efficient motivational speeches to bewildered Antimony. That manage to steer her right even though she wasn't used to heed anyone at all in better circumstances, except her parents and to a lesser degree Psychopomps.
Played for laughs in Homestuck when John attempts one of these and Rose suggests that he hire a speechwriter.
Moby Dick: Back From The Deep: In page 5 of chapter 4, Captain Ahab delivers one such speech to his crew.
Oglaf: Parodied when a king's grandiose speech can't be heard by most of his massive army. They complain, so he chooses to instead perform an interpretive dance that everyone can see.
King: [finishing] AND THAT IS WHY WE FIGHT!
Army: [cheers]
The Order of the Stick:
- The Order's bard Elan gives a speech to Azure City's troops before battle, an act he calls a Bardic Right of Passage. The speech conglomerates most well known quotes in this entry, each time examining the statement a bit too closely. It works... until the last phrase, when Fridge Logic ruins it.
  Elan: They may take our lives, but they will never take our freedom!
  [the army cheers]
  Elan: Unless...Unless they kill us and animate our corpses as zombies to fight for them. Then I suppose they've taken our lives and our freedom.
  (awkward pause)
  Elan: Fight, fight, fight, fight the--
  Soldier: You suck!
- O-Chul gets it right.
  O-Chul: You may not know exactly what you are—but I do.
  Monster in the Darkness: You do? Really? Then what am I?
  O-Chul: A good man.
- Elan does it again to the citizens of the Empire of Blood... for another Epic Fail. In this case it works out because they're technically fighting against the citizens, so it's kinda a good thing for them to be demoralized.
  V: The chance of Elan succeeding at any given task is directly proportionate to how much effort he is expending on achieving its inverse.
- Belkar, of all people, gives one to Roy, sharply pointing out that Durkon's death and Heroic Sacrifice will become a Senseless Sacrifice without his soldiering on.
  Belkar: Me, I'm a heartless little bastard. I can shrug that kind of thing off. But you seem like maybe that might bother you at some point down the road.
- Played for Laughs when Roy gives a drunken speech about how vaguely awesome the final book will be, then goes downstairs to take a nap. Elan declares this the most inspiring speech he's ever heard, because it means Roy trusts them to handle things without him.
  Haley: Yeah, remember when he used to never even sleep?
  Belkar: That was because of us? I just thought he had an undiagnosed medical condition.
Penny and Aggie: Penny gave Aggie this speech, which results in the two former adversaries becoming friends in order to take on Karen and her clique.
"Ready to save the world, you post-ironic, post-yuppie?"
In Punch an' Pie, right after one of the employees at the toy shop quits, another gives a speech along these lines:
Aaron (wrapping up): And we all knew that one day, one of us would crack under the pressure. So her time was now. So what? The rest of us are here, for you, and we will continue to fight for our cause till we cease to be!!!
[Beat]
Angela: ...and this cause would be?
Aaron: Money.
Recursion: Admiral Mosley gives one to his fleet before the final battle. Or at least he tries, but he gets interrupted by Dr. Deathe, who manages to spectacularly fail at intimidation.
Jade: Everybody just get in your stupid ships and let's get this over with.
The Cirbozoid leader in Starslip Crisis gives on here however the fact that most proper nounds in the Cirozoid language are Cirbozoid is comes out rather strange.
Isambard Kingdom Brunel delivers one as a pep talk to Lovelace in The Thrilling Adventures of Lovelace and Babbage, to convince her to team up with Babbage again and get the Difference Engine running. The level of ham increases as it goes on.
Brunel: I'd be able to build gigantic iron ships, certainly–but could they FLY?
Lovelace: It would indeed be difficult...
Brunel: Would Darwin be able to mess around with his..uh, barnacles he won't talk about?
Lovelace: Um, that one I'm not sure about...
Brunel: WOULD FARADAY BE ABLE TO DO THAT WHATSIS WITH THE THINGAMAJIG?
Lovelace: NO! NO HE WOULD NOT!
Brunel: NOW GET OUT THERE AND DO WHATEVER THE HELL IT IS THAT YOU DO!
xkcd parodies the halftime pep talk with a clueless coach who takes time out to deliver a speech during the game, allowing the opposing team to score at will.
- Another one subverts the standard pep-rally version, by having members of the audience question the standard "we're the best" slogans and invoke matters that make the upcoming game fade into insignificance.

Web Original

40 Inspirational Speeches In 2 Minutes.
The Flash cartoon Arfenhouse Teh Movie Too contains the immortal line, spelled here as in the subtitles: "TEY MAY KIK R AZZ BUT TELL NEVFR KIK R FREEDUM!!!!!!!!"
In The Codex, one of the early Halo 2 machinimas, there was a stunningly good one of these. Massive bonus points for overlaying two such speeches, by the (sympathetic) opposing commanders.
This topic on Cracked.com starts out as a Hot-Blooded parody of American patriotism, but ends with a legitimately moving speech on what it means to be an American.
One episode of Dragon Ball Z Abridged has Yamcha show up for the epic battle against Vegata, Nappa, and their Saibamen, and tell with heroic music playing, tell the Z-Fighters present how they trained almost to death for this battle, and they'll win if they stick together...just before a Saibaman grabs him and self-destructs.
- Played Straight in Gohan's Final Battle with Cell, courtesy of Goku from beyond the grave:
  Goku: Gohan, I wanna tell you something. If you don't do this... Piccolo, is gonna die. Your mom is gonna die. Everyone is gonna die. But before all that, Gohan, if you don't do this, you're gonna die. And you're better than that! You're better than him! Your better than me!
  (Gohan begins pushing back Cell's attack)
  Goku: See what I mean! I'm nowhere near that strong (yet)! You are more than just my son! You are Son Gohan! Now. Plant your feet. Grit your teeth! And eat! That! HOOOORSE!
Dreamscape: Given by Keela of all people to pull Dylan out of his Despair Event Horizon in a flashback in "Over and Under".
Keela: The Overlord of Evil just may be more powerful than the Master of the Dammed, but when has that stopped you? You inspired me to escape from the Unworld when I gave up. Please dont let me down. Dont let the WORLD down.
Failboat: Parodied. While Chat struggle to beat a level in Kirby Star Allies with a lot of Bottomless Pits, one member suggests to remove the option that makes Kirby drop into the abyss (which is mapped to the foot emoji for context). Daniel has this to say in response:
Dan: You know what, you can't just go through life expecting the hardships to be removed. What are you gonna do if you go about your day, and someone has feet? What are you gonna do, tell them to cover up their feet? You have to swallow your pride, you have to move on with your life, and you have to walk past their feet with abandon. You can't be scared of feet, chat. You have to accept that people. have. Feet!
(Kirby immediately falls into a pit)
In The Falcon Cannot Hear, Upton Sinclair gives one (which goes down in history as the "We Shall Defeat" speech) in response to the Japanese invasion of the West Coast.
"No enemy has dared to trespass on American soil since the British in 1812. We defeated the British then, and we will defeat Japan now. We shall defeat them on the land, for there are no men braver or more committed to the cause of freedom than our soldiers. We shall defeat them in the air, for there are none so skilled or fearless as our pilots. We shall defeat them at sea, for America's naval might is questioned only by our allies. We shall defeat them on any battlefield of any type where they may choose to meet us, and should they even briefly gain a temporary advantage then we shall water the tree of liberty with our blood to take it back."
Played straight in Hero House, with Robin delivering a motivational speech to Nightwing after Batman's death.
Parodied in the web video series Knob Hockey, with several caricatures of real-life hockey players giving out some... interesting motivational speeches. "Ryan Smyth" rambles on about being an Edmonton Oiler, while "Rod Brind'amour" rips off Braveheart much to the disdain of his Carolina Hurricane teammates ("Oh god, it's the f* cking Braveheart speech."). The second season has "Daniel Alfredsson" taking a cue from Brind'amour, much to the confusion of his teammates, and "Chris Pronger" inspiring his teammates by reminding them what city they play for ("We are bringing the Cup to the home of hockey, the twelfth-largest hockey market in the continental United States... I am talking about Anaheim, California!").
A More Personal Union has a few, most notably those by Francis II on the steps of Notre Dame when he founds the Gallican Church, and Henri III's to his men right before the Battle of Toledo.
The Nostalgia Critic and The Angry Video Game Nerd both parodied these speeches in the TGWTG Team Brawl video. Nostalgia Critic tells he's not good at speeches... and he really isn't, because he's simply reminding everyone which movies DID have good speeches while they look on bored. Angry Video Game Nerd simply spews out a bunch of swear words sprinkled in with lip service about how they're gonna kick ass, but at least he can get his side roused up.
- The Critic improves on this by Kickassia. Granted it's about Nazis, but it worked.
  - Precisely, it was something like this:
    Nostalgia Critic: Are you Nazis?
    Everyone: *boos*
    Nostalgia Critic: OR ARE YOU NAZIS?!
    Everyone: *cheers*
- And he finally gets to deliver a genuinely good one in Suburban Knights, even if most of it is cribbed from The Lord of the Rings:
  Critics, reviewers, my brothers! I see in your eyes the same fear that would take the heart of me. Unlike all the other times we've ever done this, this time we're really fighting for something! A day may come when a dark mage threatens to throw us back into the stone age. A day may come when the cult of an unwitty hack actually allows him to do it. A day may come when the courage of critcs fails, and we break our oath of snark and irony. But it is not this day! Sure, we may have abused science. Really abused it! But that doesn't mean we still can't learn from it! There may be no more shows, when the age of technology comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight! So by all the cool gizmos and technological toys that you hold dear on this good earth, stand, reviewers of the Internet
In one epic play-through of the Quest for Glory computer game series...
Nike: Great, well, at least the gang’s all here now. So now what?
Katrina: According to the Sybil, there needs to be a willing sacrifice before the Dragon of Doom can die. But who…
Gort: I—
Katrina: I have already died for—
Toro: Toro—
Nike: NO! No more deaths! No more sacrifices!
Elsa: But the prophecy—
Nike: Fuck prophecy! And fuck the Sybil while I’m at it! I swear, by the gods of Silmaria, by the river Styx, by the souls of Erana and Toby, the only one who dies here tonight will be the dragon!
Red vs. Blue: Revelation sees Sarge, of all people, give a legitimately stirring one that begins with an Meaningful Echo of the first line of the series: "You ever wonder why we're here?" It was, in fact, SO rousing, that it even pushes Grif into action, albeit reluctantly: "*sigh* I'll go get my car keys."
- Sarge gives another one at the climax of Season 10, convincing Washington to come with them in helping Carolina & Church.
- In Ep. 17 of Season 13, Chorus New Republic leader Vanessa Kimball gives one that unites the Federal Army and New Republic soldiers in the wake of Federal General Doyle's Heroic Sacrifice in the previous episode, convincing them to set aside their long-standing feud and focus all their energy against Charon Industries' mercenary army.
Scott The Woz: Parodied; Scott convinces his friends to go to space and deal with the blue border in "Borderline Forever" with a song all about how they've got nothing else going on.
A Trailer for Every Academy Award Winning Movie Ever
"Inspiring final lines of a speech that douchebags will quote in their Facebook profiles!"
"Cheer!"
From A Very Potter Sequel, when everything looks bad and the ~~Power Trio~~ Power Quartet can't even summon a single happy thought to fight off the army of Dementors, and as Ron says, "there is absolutely no way we can win!"
Harry: No way? You listen to me now! For eleven years, I was a Muggle douchebag living under some stairs. But this year, I found out I'm a wizard! I'm famous! I can fly, turn invisible, and I just travelled the fuck back in time! So fuck you, Draco, how's that for a happy thought! There is absolutely no way that there's no way! [cue The Eleven O'Clock Number]
Critical Role: In Episode 52 of Campaign One, after brutally killing his abusive uncle in front of his former herd, Grog gives one so effective it earns him advantage on his next roll.
Grog: My herd, hear me! Fallen is your mighty leader Kevdak, the very goliath swine who would have domesticated you like a common household cat, who would have made you bend the knee to a mere dragon! I show you this. [pulls a dragon's tooth from the Bag of Holding and throws it into the square] I would tell you that under the correct rule, and a return of power to this herd, dragons would bend the knee to Herd of the Storm. ...I do not mean to lead this herd, but rather to empower you to more powerful game. I'm here to inspire your aspirations. Never would I ask you to bend the knee. Only would I ask you to live and fight and perhaps die in the most beautiful death you can possibly attain. Join me and my fellows! Come to our aid when I call! And with that, we will chase down dragons... gods... AND MORE.

Western Animation

In Rick and Morty Season 5, when President Curtis needs an army to take down his Evil Twin, he goes to a bar full of marines and shows Obama what a speech really is like:
President Curtis: Now, look, I know it’s gonna take more than some speech. But what is a speech? Isn’t it just a question? And isn’t that a question too? Speeches are words. Repeated words. Listed words. Repeated lists of repeated words. None of that matters. You know what does matter? Me. Asking you, “will you do what I say?”
Coop: Just two questions, chief. Lock? And load? They’re rhetorical, sir! Lock and load!
Subverted in Avatar: The Last Airbender, when Katara gives a dramatic speech encouraging a group of prisoners to revolt... and they all pretty much ignore her, unconvinced they can win. Thankfully, the second attempt goes better all thanks due to the one prisoner who actually knew Katara and had only been in the prison for a day.
Batman: The Brave and the Bold: Aquaman's Rousing Song of Heroism is a particularly hammy and catchy version of this trope.
- Plastic Man leads a sing-along of (his version of) "Yankee Doodle" to evoke the spirit of freedom and restore Uncle Sam, setting the stage for the heroes' victory.
Optimus Primal delivers one at the end of Beast Machines right before facing Megatron's final onslaught.
Lydia's speech in the Beetlejuice episode "The Unnatural" when an umpire is about to make a play-at-the-plate ruling (which would send the loser to a virtual Hell) wasn't so much a rousing speech as it was an impassioned treatise about sportsmanship. It brings the whole stadium to tears, resulting in the game being rained out.
In Central Park, Season 1 "Live It Up Tonight", after Molly and Cole gets lost in the park and can't recognize where they are due to the darkness, Cole asks Molly if they should call their parents for help. Molly then gives him a speech using Home Alone 2: Lost in New York and said Kevin McCallister didn't call his family when he got lost in New York, ("Never mind they didn't have cell phones and his family was in Florida."), she continues on how Kevin was lost longer than them and he was able to get through it. This motivates Cole to get back home.
The Cleveland Show: When the Browns go to Comic-Con, Junior becomes disgusted with all the Hollywood crap that's overtaken the convention from its sci-fi/fantasy/comicbook roots. Eventually he gives a speech rallying all the cosplaying true fans into fighting to take Comic-Con back for themselves.
Dastardly & Muttley in Their Flying Machines: "Sky-Hi I.Q." has Dastardly invoking it then dismissing it:
Dastardly: Fearless flyers of the Vulture Squadron, it's up to us to stop that pigeon! Let's Go! Go! Go! (the others zoom by him, with their entrails leaving Dastardly and his plane singed; to us) I've got to knock off those pep talks!
In the Duckman episode "Vuuck, as in Duck", Duckman gives a speech to his women's baseball team that parodies the famous Knute Rockne "Win One for the Gipper" speech, and culminates in "... or I swear I'll go beat that legless bastard."
In Family Guy, Lois starts talking about how together Peter and herself can accomplish anything, that Peter quickly changes into a meaningless rousing speech.
Lois: Together we can do anything: face any foe, overcome any obstacle.
Peter: Yeah, climb any mountain, rent any video, dial any phone. And not just our phone, Lois, other people's phones. Decent phones, God-fearing phones, phones that everybody else gave up on, but we knew better because we were a team!
(beat)
Brian: What the hell are you talking about?
In Futurama, Zapp Brannigan responds to being court-martialed (viewers would know that it's bullshit):
Zapp: I'd like to make one final statement. Kif, come here and hold up the flag. And wave it a little, for God's sakes. My friends, you can take away a man's title and his uniform but you can never take away his integrity or his honor. Plus, it was mostly Kif's fault.
- In "Benderama", when the unattractive giant monster is trying to ruin the world and Bender is the only one left to stop it:
  Bender: Legion of Benders, come onto me. We have one thing to do!
  Legion of Benders: Screw that.
  Bender: Oh, come on, you lazy jerks. If we all pitch in, we each only have to do one quintillionth of a thing.
  Legion of Benders: (Sigh) Alright.
While in the mall security holding cell, Invader Zim notices an air vent on the ceiling and gives a rousing speech on how if all the inmates use teamwork, he can reach the vent and then he leaves them behind.
In Mission Hill, just after Andy has given a rousing speech in defense of his brother:
The Judge: The man in the hot pants speaks the truth. Case dismissed!
Mr. Bang: But they rob my store!
The Judge: Well, maybe you should have given a rousing speech.
My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:
- Twilight Sparkle delivers one of these in "The Return of Harmony, Part 2":
  Twilight Sparkle: Do you remember what I said the first day we arrived in Ponyville? I told you that the future of Equestria didn't rest on me making friends. But the opposite is true! The friendships I've made since I've been here are what saved Equestria from Nightmare Moon. And now they need to save it from Discord! [...] I've got to fight for my friendships. For them. For ME. For EQUESTRIA!
- In Equestria Games, Rainbow Dash gives one to the other Ponyville competitors at the start. When it comes to her team, however, she acknowledges that being pitted against the Wonderbolts doesn't put the odds in their favour.
- Double Subverted in "To Change a Changeling": Starlight gives one to the changelings to convince them to help Thorax in aiding Pharynx, exhorting them to rise and help their leader not because they're being forced to do it, but because they can choose to do it. While none of the changelings come to help them at first, they all still come along afterwards after having had time to think about it.
Near the end of the Phineas and Ferb special, "Summer Belongs to You", Phineas gives up while he and his friends are on a deserted island, but Isabella tells him he can't give up with a speech, which motivated him to continue finding out a way to get off the island.
- In "The Lizard Whisperer", Ferb gives one to Danville, when his pet chameleon, Steve, goes missing.
- In "Meatloaf Surprise", Phineas gives one with a giant fan blowing for added effect.
Happens a few times on Recess, usually given by T.J.. Gus also does this in the movie when T.J. and Principal Prickly are taken prisoner by a gang of anti-recess extremists led by an evil former principal plotting to destroy summer vacation and he and the others round up the rest of the student body to stop the extremists' plan and rescue their captive classmate and principal.
Rocko's Modern Life:
- In "Road Rash", Heffer gives one to a reluctant Rocko to convince him to join him in going on a road trip to see Flemm Rock one last time before it gets paved over:
Heffer: Listen, Rocko, this country's heart is fading away. Soon the roadside cafe and the tacky tourist trap will be relics of the past, like drive-in movies and mood rings. This could be our last chance to experience this country's cheesy attractions while we're still naive enough to be awed by them! So let's hit the road like the greatest road trippers of all time! Guys like Jack Carawack, the Greasy Riders, Peter Fondue... and that other guy! It's not just a fun idea, Rock, it's our patriotic duty!
- In "Wacky Delly", Ralph Bighead hires Rocko, Heffer and Filburt to create the titular Show Within a Show in the hopes that it will fail so he can get out of his contract with his animation studio and try his hand as an actual artist. Thanks in part to Heffer and Filburt's creative differences, Wacky Delly's pilot episode is a poorly-drawn and poorly edited mess. However, both the network executives and the general public love it, and Ralph is stuck in his contract. Ralph's attempts to sabotage Wacky Delly, such as having one episode show a jar of mayonnaise for ten minutes and another episode consist of overexposed film footage only make the show more popular. When Ralph reveals to Rocko that he has been trying to sabotage the show to get out of his contract, Rocko gives him a speech on how happy he's made so many people and encourages him to make Wacky Delly better instead of trying to sabotage it. Ralph takes Rocko's advice and creates an intellectually improved episode of Wacky Delly. In an ironic twist, the general public hates it and it gets the show cancelled.
Rocko: Gee, R.B., I think you've got it all wrong. You've been afforded a great opportunity here; running your very own animation series, and everybody loves it! It's your art! Instead of fleeing from your situation, you should be embracing it! You should be trying to make this show the best darn show it can possibly be! You should be the best Ralph Bighead you can be!
Ralph: Yeah, Rocko. Yeah, Rocko. Yeah, Rocko! YEAH, ROCKO! I'M GONNA DO IT! I'M GONNA MAKE THE BEST DARN SHOW THIS WORLD HAS EVER SEEN!
Tommy from Rugrats (1991) has been known to give these on occasion. Chuckie even admitted in "No More Cookies" that he loved when Tommy would give these big speeches. In "Beach Blanket Babies", Chuckie actually manages to deliver one to Tommy when he's ready to give up on helping Chuckie release his pet sea monkeys into the ocean.
The Braveheart example is spoofed in an episode of South Park — as Thanksgiving turkeys are attacking the town, Chef rides in front of the townsfolk in Braveheart face-paint and gives them the Braveheart speech to inspire the town to fight. The scene then cuts to the turkey army, where a turkey — complete with facepaint — is doing the exact same thing, only in turkey-speak ("Puck-puck puckpuck puck puck puck-puck-puck!")
The Spongebob Squarepants episode "Band Geeks" parodies this when Squidward gives up in despair of his Zany Scheme to impress his high-school rival by getting his friends and neighbors to form a marching band, and Spongebob delivers the following speech after Squidward has walked out:
Spongebob: What kind of monsters are we? That poor creature came to us in his hour of need, and we failed him. Squidward's always been there for us when it was convenient for him. Evelyn, when your little Jimmy was trapped in a fire, who rescued him?
Evelyn: A fireman.
Spongebob: And Larry, when your heart gave out from all those tanning pills, who revived you?
Larry: Some guy in an ambulance.
Spongebob: Right! So, if we can all just pretend that Squidward was a fireman, or a guy in an ambulance, then I'm sure that we can all pull together and discover what it truly means to be in a marching band.
Harold: Yeah, for the fireman!
All: Hooray!
- In the episode "Stuck In the Wringer", upon getting trapped in his wringer, SpongeBob feels he'll never be able to do anything anymore. Patrick (whose stupidity is the reason he's stuck in it) gives a speech saying he can go on despite the adversity. Subverted in the fact that SpongBob's life really was ruined.
In the third part of Sonic Boom's Story Arc "Robots from the Sky", Knuckles, Amy, Sticks and Og are backed against the wall when it comes to the robot invasion in Hedgehog Village, and they're unable to deal with the mass of robots on their own. However, Knuckles, seeing the many villagers cowering around them, inspires everyone to fight back.
Knuckles: Terrified villagers! I know you've all perfected the art of cowering in fear, but today, I'm going to ask more of you. Whether you're a hero, a villain, or re-occuring background character, today, we ask you to stand and fight - not for your family, not for your friends, but because look at all these things these robots ruined. Those were our things! Our knick-knacks! Our tchtotchkes! Our doo-dahs! It's time to tell our enemies that they may break our spirits, but they can never break our stuff!
Star Wars: The Clone Wars,"Defenders of Peace": Durd gives a long boasting speech to his Separatist droids about "his" new superweapon before they test it, even though it's unnecessary, because he likes to hear himself talk. The droids to actually get excited when they learn the weapon is designed to harm organics and leave droids undamaged.
Towards the end of Teen Titans (2003), Beast Boy has managed to avoid being captured by the Brotherhood of Evil, but the only apparent other "survivors" have rather lame powers and don't see the point in trying to fight back. He manages to rally everyone together to go save the day.
- Starfire gives one to the other Titans in "Revolution" (sans Robin who has been captured by Mad Mod), which enables the team to come up with a successful strategy to defeat the villain, utilizing bits and pieces of the methods they'd already tried before.
- Robin gives one in "The End Part Two" in order to rally Cyborg, Beast Boy, and Starfire to keep fighting Trigon, even though Raven is apparently dead and it's literally the end of the world.
- In one episode, after Cyborg loses a match against Atlas and fails to rescue his friends, Cyborg then decides to give up, until his reflection in a mirror gives him a rousing speech.
Total Drama:
- The Killer Grips have to enact a war scene for a trunk that the Screaming Gaffers are guarding in "Full Metal Drama". The Grips aren't feeling it, so Admiral Lindsay her Hotness gives a spirited speech that gets her team, Beleaguered Assistant Beth included, ready to throw fists. Lindsay herself stays seated to wait for the Grips' victorious return.
- In "Million Dollar Babies", Chris reveals he was the coach in a batminton movie and reenacts one of his key scenes. Said scene is a rousing speech to the batminton team to show the Olympic Committee that they deserve a shot because they make batminton not just good-minton, but great-minton! The contestants are less than impressed by the performance, but Chef is moved to tears.
- The former contestants are locked out of the Gemmie Awards in "Celebrity Manhunt's TDA Reunion Show" and informed there'll be new faces to star in Total Drama Dirtbags. They accept defeat and head home, but Sierra calls them back with a stalkerish speech that they owe it to their fans not to give up yet and should hijack the Dirtbags' interview on the Orpah Show to pull the spotlight back on them. When DJ offers his mother's bus to make it to the interview, everyone gets on board with the plan.
- With only half the member count compared to the other teams and a solid losing streak, Team Victory does not feel great about their odds in "Broadway, Baby!". Lindsay pulls DJ and Leshawna out of their slump by giving a short but fiery speech.
- Once Cody's and Sierra's makeshift hot air balloon crashes in "Planes, Trains, and Hot Air Mobiles", Cody is ready to stop fighting for a spot in the finale. Sierra arranges a new means of transport and when that's not enough to get Cody back in the game, she angrily but supportively tells him he owes it to his fans to keep going. Her belief in him brings Cody back to his senses.

Other

A joke:
A sports team is losing badly to their opponents. Displeased with their distress, the team captain decides to instill in them some good old fashioned team spirit:
Team Captain: What's with the long faces? Aren't we the Everyschool Teamnames?
Team: Yeah!
Team Captain: Don't we have the best team of the season?!
Team: YEAH!!!
Team Captain: And don't you have me as your captain!?!
Team: *gloom*
Invoked in a commercial for Netflix. A hockey coach motivates his team by saying, "Do you remember that scene from that movie on Netflix? The team was down, and the coach, he gave that speech. Yeah yeah, you remember that scene? Remember what he said? Well that, gentlemen, is what I’m saying!" Judging by the players' wild applause, this worked.

...Now go out there and do something awesome! Chaaaaaaaaaarge!!!!!!!!!

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Wacky Delly's Cancellation

Alternative Title(s): Never Give Up Speech

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Rousing Speech

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Wacky Delly's Cancellation

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