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As Long as There Is One Man (view source)

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''Another friend will emerge''
''From the shadows''
''To take your place.''|[[World War II|French]] [[La Résistance|Resistance]] Song}}
|[[World War II|French]] [[La Résistance|Resistance]] Song}}
 
Our Hero and the [[Big Bad]] have finally come to blows. A titanic battle erupts, and when the smoke clears... well, the [[Big Bad]] has won. Instead of killing Our Hero, though, the [[Big Bad]] takes them hostage, and drags their broken body out for all the regular people to see. The villain assumes, of course, that seeing their champion broken will lead all the non-heroic civilians to automatically surrender. And for a second, it seems like it will.
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{{examples}}
 
== Anime and Manga ==
 
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* ''[[Discworld/The Light Fantastic|The Light Fantastic]]'' Parodied when Cohen the Barbarian is surrounded by some of the rioting city men. One explains that although Cohen might defeat him, someone else will continue the fight until Cohen is dead. Cohen replies, "Yes, but that isn't the point, is it? The point is, ''you'll'' be dead". Suddenly they all decide not to mess with Cohen after all.
** Parodied even more brutally in ''[[Discworld/Guards! Guards!|Guards Guards]]''. One brave man stands up to the dragon and is immediately turned into a small pile of charcoal. This, unsurprisingly, does not inspire anyone. Later, [[The Hero]] (Lance-Constable Carrot) has to ''prevent'' the mob from kicking the dragon while it's down.
* In the lead-up to the climax of ''[[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (novel)|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'': {{spoiler|Voldemort has apparently killed Harry (who's faking it, but that's not what's important here), and drags his body out for all the people in Hogwarts still fighting the Death Eaters to see. The fighters seem pretty cowed, until one person steps forward... [[The So-Called Coward|Neville Longbottom]], who's spent the entire series [[The Woobie|getting mocked, cursed, beaten, battered, and having his parents' misfortune thrown in his face]]. Voldemort [[We Can Rule Together|offers to let Neville join his army]], and Neville responds, "I'll join you when hell freezes over," followed by a battle cry. Voldemort isn't too impressed, though, and he puts Neville in a Body-Bind Curse and places the Sorting Hat on his head, then sets it on fire. Neville isn't burned by the fire, [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|breaks free of the curse, pulls out Gryffindor's Sword from the hat, and uses it to kill Voldemort's pet snake and final Horcrux, thus rendering him mortal.]] Then reinforcements come, and it's ''kick Death Eater ass'' time.}}
* Subverted in ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]''. "If you are a man, Winston, you are the last man."
** These were lies designed to demoralize Winston and facilitate his brainwashing but still relevant since the bad guys think it's important members of the resistance feel alone, isolated and the last of their kind.
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