Victory by Endurance: Difference between revisions

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Sometimes, the one who wins a battle is simply the last man standing.

This trope is different from a [[Pyrrhic Victory]]. The gambit revolves around ensuring that stamina/~~endurance--either~~ over an extremely long period of time or after great expenditure of ~~energy--is~~ the deciding factor in the battle.

This trope is different from a [[Pyrrhic Victory]]. The gambit revolves around ensuring that stamina/endurance—either over an extremely long period of time or after great expenditure of energy—is the deciding factor in the battle.

This trope takes several different forms:

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Some of these can overlap. For example, it's possible to poison an enemy as in Type 1, forcing them to overclock their [[Healing Factor]] as in Type 2, and then have a win condition at the ready [[Xanatos Gambit|just in case]], as in Type 3. Characters that do this are likely to be [[Crazy Prepared]].

None of these tactics are seen as the most heroic way to fight, as it's considered more virtuous to [[Let's Fight Like Gentlemen|fight like a gentleman]] and [[Brains Evil, Brawn Good|pit raw talent, skill, and power against an enemy than use cunning to avoid it]]. Thus you'll see this most often used by [[Villains]] or [[Anti-Hero~~|Anti-Heroes~~]]. This trope is all about making sure that fight is ''never'' fair. A [[Victory by Endurance]] '''always''' ends with a [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb-stomping]].

None of these tactics are seen as the most heroic way to fight, as it's considered more virtuous to [[Let's Fight Like Gentlemen|fight like a gentleman]] and [[Brains Evil, Brawn Good|pit raw talent, skill, and power against an enemy than use cunning to avoid it]]. Thus you'll see this most often used by [[Villains]] or [[Anti-Hero]]es. This trope is all about making sure that fight is ''never'' fair. A '''Victory by Endurance''' '''always''' ends with a [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb-stomping]].

Often seen in a [[Mook Horror Show]] situation. Expect a [[Stone Wall]] type character to use this tactic

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== [[Video Games]] ==

* In some [[Role Playing Game~~|Role Playing Games~~]], the player can fight against a particularly tough monster or boss by [[Mana Drain]], leaving it too crippled to fight back.

* In some [[Role Playing Game]]s, the player can fight against a particularly tough monster or boss by [[Mana Drain]], leaving it too crippled to fight back.

* According to the [[Encyclopedia Exposita|Codex]] in ''[[Mass Effect]]'', this is humanity's main method of fighting. Humanity attacks the enemy's supplies and resources foremost, leaving their forces to "wither on the vine" until their fleets can [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb stomp]] them.

* In ''[[Super Mario RPG]]'', [[Bonus Boss|Culex]], unlike every other boss in the game, has a finite FP pool for spellcasting. If you can tank his attacks for long enough, he effectively takes himself out of the fight. This does not, however, solve the problem of his four elemental crystals which aid him in battle, and which do have limitless FP.

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* This could almost be called the "Russia Gambit", as this is basically how Russia won two major wars. Both the [[Napoleonic Wars]] and [[World War Two]] were won by Russia constantly retreating into colder and colder territory while [[We Have Reserves|using their near-limitless numbers]] to slowly wear the invaders down.

** The Vietnam War also counts, with North Vietnamese leader Ho Chi Minh famously declaring "if the Americans want to make war for twenty years then we shall make war for twenty years. If they want to make peace, we shall make peace and invite them to afternoon tea." In the end, the Americans underestimated the North's will to fight for years against a technologically superior foe while also taking horrendous losses. In other words, the U.S. military could go home after the war wether they lost or won, while the North Vietnamese's only option was to win the fight because they had nowhere else to go.

* [[Second Sino-Japanese War|China.]] Jiang Jieshi gambled on the Japanese suing for peace rather than prosecuting a protracted war, which he believed that his Chinese government could well withstand - if not quite ''win'', as such - and figured that when faced with the prospect of a full-out war the Imperials would accept a face-saving settlement <ref> protracted warfare is ''expensive'', and both sides had much better things to be doing with their time. Like stamping out socialism.</ref> Unfortunately, the Japanese expected that the prospect of protracted warfare would cause ''Jiang'' to fold and come to the negotiating table first, also [[Failure Is the Only Option|failing to understand that the ''Nationalist'' Party couldn't be seen to cave in to Foreign Imperialism in an unequal settlement of the kind that the Japanese wanted from the conflict, because doing so would be tantamount to political suicide.]] So both sides escalated the war. They were still dogging it out when the USA used Japan's occupation of Indochina as a pretext for embargoing Japan in an attempt to get them to negotiate an end to the war. Because the ruling clique back home couldn't be seen to back down to 'American Imperialism', Japan entered the wider war with an all-out naval-based invasion and occupation of south-east Asia. Allocated secondary importance in the Pacific War - the USA decided that it would use its own forces to 'island hop' its way over to Japan, instead of deploying US forces in China and/or equipping Jiang's forces such that they could go on the offensive themselves - China was basically made to sit out the rest of the war and given just enough lend-lease material not to become a liability to the Allied cause. In the end, China won - but not through their own (not-inconsiderable) suffering and effort.

* [[Second Sino-Japanese War|China.]] Jiang Jieshi gambled on the Japanese suing for peace rather than prosecuting a protracted war, which he believed that his Chinese government could well withstand - if not quite ''win'', as such - and figured that when faced with the prospect of a full-out war the Imperials would accept a face-saving settlement <ref>protracted warfare is ''expensive'', and both sides had much better things to be doing with their time. Like stamping out socialism.</ref> Unfortunately, the Japanese expected that the prospect of protracted warfare would cause ''Jiang'' to fold and come to the negotiating table first, also [[Failure Is the Only Option|failing to understand that the ''Nationalist'' Party couldn't be seen to cave in to Foreign Imperialism in an unequal settlement of the kind that the Japanese wanted from the conflict, because doing so would be tantamount to political suicide.]] So both sides escalated the war. They were still dogging it out when the USA used Japan's occupation of Indochina as a pretext for embargoing Japan in an attempt to get them to negotiate an end to the war. Because the ruling clique back home couldn't be seen to back down to 'American Imperialism', Japan entered the wider war with an all-out naval-based invasion and occupation of south-east Asia. Allocated secondary importance in the Pacific War - the USA decided that it would use its own forces to 'island hop' its way over to Japan, instead of deploying US forces in China and/or equipping Jiang's forces such that they could go on the offensive themselves - China was basically made to sit out the rest of the war and given just enough lend-lease material not to become a liability to the Allied cause. In the end, China won - but not through their own (not-inconsiderable) suffering and effort.

* In a [[Real Life]] knife fight between to skilled opponents, if you can't get a easy kill, the idea is to nick the other guy and let him "bleed out". Which doesn't mean he bleeds to death, it means the blood loss tires him out.

** Its also worth noting that this tactic not only ''can'' easily be applied to combat of just about any form, but often is the deciding factor. The more a fighter exerts themselves during an offensive, the quicker they will tire. Violence is one of the most physically draining activities that human beings can engage in, and if a victory isn't achieved within the first minute, its extremely likely that the fight will end in favour of whoever has greater endurance.