Go, Ye Heroes, Go and Die: Difference between revisions

''[[Famed in Story|Ye shall live in song and story!]]

...

 

When a [[Rousing Speech]]... isn't.

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[Azumanga Daioh]]'': Right before taking the entrance exam for college, Tomo declares "All right, let's ''fail'' this thing!" Only [[Cloudcuckoolander|Osaka]] remains cheerful.

 

== Film ==

 

== Literature ==

** It's a subversion, though, in that it actually works. But only because it's Carrot, who could have led a thousand armies into war under the battle cry of "[[Oh Wait, This Is My Grocery List|Eggs! Milk! Bread! FLOUR!]]"

** It also fits a running theme of the book; leaders who got their men pointlessly killed are remembered forever, but ones who ''prevented'' bloodshed are quickly forgotten.

* In the ''[[Wheel of Time]]'', Mat Cauthon notes that he hates it when his troops sing songs like this when they pass through towns. Interestingly, his hatred stems from the fact that it causes his recruitment to go up massively making it that much more expensive to feed the army. The more brutal and gory the song makes war sound, the faster the recruits sign up.

 

* Subverted in the [[Musical Episode]] of ''[[Lexx]]'', where the tale of a noble but doomed last stand genuinely inspires the heroes to do the same. The rousing finale:

{{quote|'''All:'''

* The pilot of ''[[Community]]'' contains a non-death related variation; the Dean's [[Rousing Speech]] to welcome the new students in the pilot becomes one of these when he manages to lose the middle, which is unfortunately the bit that contains the 'Rousing' part. The rest is just basically a list of all the stereotypes (which, unfortunately, match our heroes quite closely) of the kind of 'loser' who attends community college. Naturally, no one listening is particularly roused.

* Another non-death variation happened in ''[[The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air]]'': Will has bet a lot of money on his college football team and seeing their regular motivator/mascot Carlton isn't available he tries to fill in and proceeds to give a [[Rousing Speech]] to motivate the team urging them to give it their all since winning this game will be the greatest moment of glory of their lives...[[Brutal Honesty|literally, because the chances of any of them making it to the NFL are slim to none and a fair proportion of them probably won't even graduate]]. Naturally, they get bummed out and lose despite Carlton returning.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* In ''[[Dilbert]]'', any and all attempts made by the [[Pointy-Haired Boss]] to raise morale.

 

* In ''[[The Marriage of Figaro]]'', the melody of the Count's remarks to Cherubino, "Non più andrai" can be considered as this.

* "When the Foeman Bares his Steel", from ''[[The Pirates of Penzance]]'', is the [[Trope Namer]]. The policemen sing about how they could use some incentive. Then the women sing about how heroic they are to be facing certain death. [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] by the leader of the policemen:

for it's very evident

these attentions are well meant." }}

 

== Video Games ==

* In ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', if Javik goes to the Citadel, he'll attract attention from some civilians due to being a [[Precursors|Prothean]]. When asked if whether or not they'll have a chance to defeat the Reapers, he'll bluntly tell them that if his people were wiped out then this generation has absolutely no shot at beating them. However if Shepard steps in, he'll turn the speech around and make a [[Rousing Speech]] instead.

 

* [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0421.html Elan's speech] before the Azure City battle in ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]'' is a nice example of this. It parodies every well-known [[Rousing Speech]] in the book and actually builds to a pretty good heartening crescendo, until Elan makes one offhand observation that just deflates the whole thing at the speed of sound.

** He gives another [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0776.html Sombering Oration] later, filled with [[Brutal Honesty]] about the Empire of Blood.

* ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'' gives us [http://drmcninja.com/archives/comic/21p54/ this gem], wherein the titular Doctor encourages his army of rabble to become [[Cannon Fodder]] in order to be privileged to witness a lot of dinosaurs being punched.

 

 

== Western Animation ==

* In the ''[[Animaniacs]]'' episode "King Yakko", Yakko addresses his army with "I'm not going to lie to you. Some of you might not come back from this battle. And the rest of you? Definitely won't." Naturally, as he goes on about potential horrible death, the army abandons him.

{{quote|'''Dot:''' Maybe you should have lied just a little.}}

 

== Real Life ==

** In the days when the alternative was returning to die an extended slow death in an urban slum, of disease or starvation or coal miner's lung or whatever, it probably ''was'' sweet and fitting (or at least more so than the alternative) to die for one's country.

** A particularly significant one was a speech from Giuseppe Garibaldi during the Italian Wars of Independence: "Follow me, ye generous souls who abhor oppression and the chains of slavery. Follow me. I cannot offer you ammunition not barracks; all I can offer you is hunger, cold, sun, battles and death. If you love your country, follow me."

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Comedy Tropes]]

[[Category:Speeches and Monologues]]