Another one.

[camwyn]

batyatoon asked for my top five favorite fictional rallying speeches.

Carrot's speech before the big throwdown in Jingo
Bluto Blutarsky's "Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?" speech in Animal House
Paksenarrion Dorthansdotter's rallying of the villagers of Darkon Edge in Oath of Gold, by Elizabeth Moon; I'd reproduce it here, but I don't have the book with me
Theoden's speech to the Rohirrim in the movie version of Return of the King right before the Battle of the Pelennor Fields (yes, I know the lines were mostly Eomer's in the book, but I like Theoden)
Captain Kirrahe's speech to his men in the first Mass Effect game. Since Kirrahe is a salarian, an alien from a short-lived race with a reputation for scientific prowess, espionage, and intelligence rather than combat prowess, his speech is not what a human might expect, and I will repeat it here:

"You all know the mission, and what is at stake. I have come to trust each of you with my life -- but I have also heard murmurs of discontent. I share your concerns. We are trained for espionage; we would be legends, but the records are sealed. Glory in battle is not our way. Think of our heroes- the Silent Step, who defeated a nation with a single shot. Or the Ever Alert, who kept armies at bay with hidden facts. These giants do not seem to give us solace here, but they are not all that we are. Before the network, there was the fleet. Before diplomacy, there were soldiers! Our influence stopped the rachni, but before that we held the line! Our influence stopped the krogan, but before that, we held the line! Our influence will stop Saren; in the battle today, we will hold the line!"

Comments

[laughingacademy.livejournal.com]

"...Germans?" "Forget it, he's rolling."

[vivian-shaw.livejournal.com]

I'm partial to the "Lads, most of them are still asleep at this hour, we should go through them like kzak fruit through a short grandmother, and I for one have had it up to HERE with yurts, okay?" myself.

[camwyn]

Well, #6 on my list is General Pidley's battle cry of "Come on, boys, let's go get our throats cut!". I admire straightforwardness.

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

. . . I have zero context, and I find myself inclined to be on my feet. What a speech!

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

*chokes laughing* what's THAT from?

[camwyn]

A footnote in Jingo. Carrot's speech was cited as being the second worst rousing speech to the troops after Pidley's comment there- it ended with "If we win, no one will remember. And if we lose, no one will ever forget!".

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

*snickering* I don't think I've read that one. I ought, clearly. Carrot is <3

[camwyn]

Let me see what I can do in the way of contextualizing this....

Saren is the main big bad of the first Mass Effect video game. He's an alien from a disciplined, advanced race called turians, who have a reputation for military service and prowess, but who are also known for being one of the oldest members of galactic society. He was originally a Spectre, a type of advanced operative for the galactic government. Spectres can do just about anything to uphold their missions and bring order to the galaxy. A bit like James Bond crossed with the Green Lantern Corps, only no power ring.

Thing is, Saren went bad somewhere along the way, and decided to ally himself with a race of robotic organisms called the geth. The geth were another race's creation once; they replicate themselves now. Their war for survival resulted in their creator race's survivors being expelled from their homeworld three hundred years ago and in general the geth are considered insanely dangerous. Saren has been using them as his forces for some time and positioning himself to achieve massive power and military might.

Saren has also been using his money and technology to invest in several very dangerous organic races. The rachni that Captain Kirrahe mentions are a race of insectile critters on the order of the Bugs in Starship Troopers, with a little bit of the Ender's Game Buggers mixed in for fun. Two thousand years ago the rachni nearly destroyed galactic civilization. The salarians- Kirrahe's people- were one of the dominant races in galactic civilization at the time, along with another race called the asari. Kirrahe's people took an indirect route to stopping the rachni; they had found a race of extremely tough, extremely hardy, reptilian aliens called the krogan, who had a reasonable amount of technology but weren't particularly spacefaring yet. They'd been grooming them for entrance into galactic society for some time. The salarians basically told the krogan "you guys borked your homeworld, which was already toxic and dangerous, so we'll give you a much nicer new one if you accept this technology and come into the galaxy at large and fight the rachni for us". The rachni were declared extinct two hundred years later. Thus, the salarians' influence stopped the rachni.

Slight problem: the krogan might be the equivalent of the Klingons in their warrior race status, but they reproduce like- well, lizards. As in, one clutch could produce close to a thousand offspring. They'd been perfectly suited to their home environment. Brought into a more congenial world, every single one of their offspring survived, and the drive to go out and conquer and fight was still present in all of them. So now the galaxy was gonna be overrun by krogan. The turians had been discovered by this time, and the galactic government turned to them for help. The turians fought pretty impressively, but they also turned to the salarians for a weapon of mass retaliation: a plague designed to cut the krogan off at the knees, reducing their fertility to one live birth for every thousand offspring conceived. The genophage ended the krogan ability to renew their numbers and brought about an end to the Krogan Rebellions. Thus, the salarian influence stopped the krogan.

All of this is relevant because in the situation where Kirrahe is making this speech, they are on a planet where Saren has been developing a means of curing the genophage and breeding up krogan who will be loyal only to him and fight only for him. Kirrahe's forces sent a distress call for assistance, as Saren had massive numbers of geth and krogan at the facility, but interference in the comms network meant that only one ship arrived to help. The plan is for Kirrahe's people to draw out Saren's geth and engage them in as many places as possible so that the newly arrived ship's people can plant a citybuster nuke and destroy the krogan breeding facility before Saren can unleash his horde on the galaxy. Kirrahe is aware that many of his people will die, but considering what kind of threat Saren represents, considers it a price worth paying. Thus, 'hold the line'.

[dormouse-in-tea.livejournal.com]

that's AWESOME.

[batyatoon]

I have to agree. *____*

[leeshajoy.livejournal.com]

I assume you've seen Mordin's reaction to Kirrahe's speech? :)

[camwyn]

"Bit of a cloaca. Loved his speeches, though. 'Hold the line!'. Prefer to get the job done and go home, myself."