Doomed Moral Victor: Difference between revisions

This is heavily reliant on, as [[J. R. R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]] called it, the "Theory of Courage," the idea present in older iterations of [[Norse Mythology]] that despite the foreknowledge or likelihood of failure, one must press on to do the moral thing for no better reason than the fact that you should.

* Completely subverted in ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four|1984]]'', where the protagonists ''think'' their struggle will end like this, but {{spoiler|they are both broken and changed by the Party instead, making it a case of [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]].}}

** Parodied in the book ''[[Discworld/Night Watch (Discworld)|Night Watch]]'', where rebels (somewhat based upon [[La Résistance]] in ''[[Les Misérables]]'') use as their slogan something like "you may kill us, but you'll never take our freedom", which Pratchett notes that the villains consider the stupidest slogan they've ever heard. Ultimately, the book does present the rebels as a somewhat straight example of doomed moral victors, given that the evil ruler is assassinated and his forces are defeated, but this is tempered by the fact that his seemingly benevolent successor ends up being even worse. The entire fight is pointless anyway, the plot to assassinate Lord Winder was around since before [[La Résistance]] and occurs identically in both time lines, despite the pivotal (and only) battle going the opposite way.

** Invoked by Twoflower's daughters in ''[[Discworld/Interesting Times|Interesting Times]]'' when it becomes evident that their rebellion has failed. Rincewind, a hardcore cynic and self-proclaimed [[Dirty Coward]] [[Berserk Button|promptly explodes in anger at their acceptance of this]], angrily telling them that there is no such thing as a cause worth dying for, as a person can pick up five causes on any street corner, but only has one life. The aghast girls ask how Rincewind can live with such a philosophy—Rincewind's answer is a bitter, vehement "Continuously!"

* Due to the [[Values Dissonance]] between the 17th and 20th centuries, ''[[Don Quixote]]'' is now seen as one of these. This is especially true in [[The Musical]] ''[[Man of La Mancha]]'' with its song "Dream the Impossible Dream".

* In ''[[Batman: The Brave And The Bold|Batman the Brave And The Bold]]'' the Doom Patrol is reunited by General Skarr to be killed for real

** This is only somewhat true. Yes, they knew they were going there to die. There were FAR more than 300 people defending the gap, as all the soldiers brought their slaves, and the purpose wasn't to inspire ANYTHING''anything''. Indeed, the Greeks were already plenty inspired. The point was to buy them the time to get ready. The fact that they held out so long as they did, even in a pass that allowed their 300+ to match the massive Persian army in combat, was an inspiration, but not necessarily in the sense of this trope.