Dying Words

“The only thing I want to say is that I appreciate the hospitality you guys have shown me, and the respect. And the last meal was really good. That is about it. “

—James Collier, executed in Texas on Dec. 11, 2002

from: Last Words from Death Row on truTV.com’s Crime Library

July 09, 2009, 10:51am | Comments (View)

• Nooooooo!!!
  • Who: Generally spoken during a last ditch battle by someone who has seen a close friend / loved one shot down and as a result goes beserk, usually by firing wildly at the enemy. Character is him/herself usually shot down as well moments later. Also cried out by people who deny their fates, often villains.
• Hey, what’s this button do? or some variation thereof.
  • Who: usually followed by something in the neigborhood of “No, don’t-” and an explosion.
• Everything’s ok!/Nothing’s wrong!
  • Who: Often a character who is killed unexpectedly, usually a victim of a betrayal, freak accident or a sneak attack. Such characters often say that they do not expect anything to happen, adding an ironic effect to their last words. Additionally, some characters talk as though nothing is happening before they die, often to the person(s) who kill them.
• You’ve done well.
  • Who: Often a defeated individual reluctantly praising their foe in the last moments of their life, or a person who is either a parent (biological or considered as such), or mentor to the listener.
• This is impossible!/This can’t be happening!
  • Who: Usually a villain who is overconfident, and therefore cannot believe they are about to die. Mentioned as being something to avoid saying on the Evil Overlord List (number 24.)
• Spare me!
  • Who: Often a villain who is attempting to gain a temporary reprieve from death in order to finish off the hero. Similarly, villains sometimes appeal to the hero’s emotions (particularly if the villain is a family member, former friend or other person the hero would otherwise hold in esteem), or the hero’s compassion or reluctance to kill, usually in vain. Villains may also use this to beg from mercy from other villains, particularly if they are to be killed by their superiors for failing or if they are being betrayed by an underling or ally.

• Kill me!
  • Who: Often a villain who has been badly wounded, and who expects the hero to show him or her as much mercy as he or she would have shown the hero. The hero may agree to this request, but alternatively may not, and the villain may attempt to attack the hero again, only to be killed. This may also be said by badly wounded or very ill person asking a friend to end his or her life. This is used in three out of four of the Alien films, usually, the character is dying from a Chestburster infestation.

• Oops. (alternatively Oh, shit! or other variations)
  • Who: Usually a distinctly unfortunate and/or clumsy individual.

• You’ll never take me alive!
  • Who: Often said by the last man standing in battles, wars or police / criminal shoot-outs.
• Goodbye…
  • Who: Usually uttered in a sudden death, but where the subject accepts death quickly enough to say one last thing.

• I won’t go alone!..
  • Who: While not necessarily last words upon death by specific characters, this phrase is often uttered by villains and such who are trapped in inescapable prisons (other dimensions, magical traps) or death traps, who usually react by attempting to grab a hero or (sometimes) collegue to join them just as they are sucked in, never to be seen again.
  • This line is also interpreted as I’ll take you with me!

• Whoa! I made it!
  • Who: Usually a person who has just escaped from a life-threatening danger, siege, assault or predators, and who is then taken by surprise by something else.

May 19, 2009, 10:27am | Comments (View)

Et tu, Brute? Then fall, Caesar!

- Julius Caesar

Caesar, now be still:

I kill’d not thee with half so good a will.

- Brutus, as he runs on his sword

May 19, 2009, 9:33am | Comments (View)