This trope is often carried out by a Captain Patriotic who wants to motivate their men and remind them what they're fighting for. The flags could be used as a Hope Spot, or seen to signify success in battle. Expect soldiers to stand by the flag no matter what, even if they're down to the last man. The falling or loss of a flag may even be enough to quickly cause an army to rout from the battle regardless of other factors, so in light of this, a few brave examples listed here on this page will take whatever risks they need to raise them up again.
A potentially unstated factor is that a bannerman has the guts to be basically waving around a giant bullseye to their enemies on the battlefield - they might even do this while being entirely unarmed themselves, trusting completely in their comrades for their own protection (and giving them some degree of Badass Pacifist/Technical Pacifist cred). To be appointed as a bannerman meant someone had faith in your Nerves of Steel.
Another role of banners in battle is that they help people identify who their allies are — pre-modern and fantasy battlefields are prone to degenerating into chaotic, confusing melees, and when you need to get back to your side it helps a lot to have a big, flapping banner with your side's colors to head towards (and the idea of "uniforms" was not especially common until around the 18th century). The group of soldiers responsible for carrying a unit's flags and providing security for the flagbearers (as carrying the flag takes up both hands, limiting their ability to fight) is known as the color guard. Such units still exist nowadays, though they generally only come out for ceremonial occasions, as displaying the colors near one's command center in a modern battlefield is tantamount to holding up a sign reading "Please Bomb Here".
Tabletop wargames and strategy video games often have rules for banner carriers or flagbearers, usually taking some form of Morale Mechanic: whether as a rallying point or central figure to use for unit cohesion, or with special buffs (such as to morale or fighting skill) that the banner imparts so long as its bearer or bearer's unit is on the table. Despite this seeming to take something as petty as a decorative piece of cloth on a long stick overly seriously, this actually has quite a lot of basis in reality with there being numerous anecdotes of battlefield feats associated with a unit's standards, such as Julius Caesar's account of his first invasion of Britain with his would-be-landing troops being hesitant to wade ashore in clear view of heavy enemy presence waiting for them until a standard bearer jumped off to wade through himself, causing the other legionaries to hurry to reinforce him to prevent his standard falling.
Common in settings involving repelling fascist militaries.
This can also apply to Fictional Flags.
Compare Claiming Via Flag (claiming territory through flags) and Capture the Flag (capturing an enemy's flag as an insult).
Related to Iwo Jima Pose, especially when the flagbearers imitate or reference the iconic pose. Notably, the Trope Namer itself was composed of US Marines who were tasked with doing this during the capture of Mt. Suribachi during the Battle of Iwo Jima.
Examples:
open/close all folders
Anime & Manga
- Hellsing Ultimate: A gruesome variant during the assault in London by the Millenium organization. Several soldiers grab the corpses of their victims and parade them as if they were battlefield standards.
- Honoo no Alpen Rose: In the manga, Lundi pins the Swiss flag on a battleground full of fallen Nazis, signifying their failure to overtake Switzerland.
- Isabelle of Paris: The Prussian military bring Prussian flags to France during the Battle of Sedan, though they don't go through the Claiming Via Flag route.
- One Piece: Belo Betty of The Revolutionary Army waves a flag to encourage others to fight. The Pump Pump Fruit allows her encouragement to increase other's fighting spirit and physical strength.
- The Rose of Versailles: One cover
◊ depicts Oscar bringing the French flag into the battle of Bastille, as she's surrounded by flames.
- Super Dimension Century Orguss 02: One scene has a Humongous Mecha carrying an equally humongous battle flag while leading a squadron in flight over its home kingdom, as a trumpet player strapped outside plays to rally his fellow subjects for the coming war.
Arts
- Liberty Leading the People by Eugène Delacroix depicts Lady Liberty as both the metaphorical and literal standard-bearer for the July Revolution, where she carries the French tricolor and leads the revolutionaries in a charge over the barricades.
Comedy
- Foil, Arms and Hog: Standard-bearer is depicted as The Worst Job on the Battlefield, since they would have to lead a charge, unarmed, with nothing but a flag. The two generals hype it up as a "great honor" and "the most important job on the battlefield," but the captain they're 'promoting' tries to pass it off immediately. note
Comic Books
- JLA: Year One: In the Grand Finale to the maxi-series, all of Earth's heroes join forces with the Justice League to repel an Alien Invasion and retake Earth. In the last issue, one of the first scenes is set in Washington: Black Canary and the Blackhawks holding the American flag overlooking a cliff, with Starman (the original) encasing the fire aliens in a bubble. Washington is depicted in ruins and ablaze with flames.
Films — Animation
- G.I. Joe: The Movie: The Action-Hogging Opening has Duke pick up an American Flag at the end and fly it to the crown of the Statue of Liberty, standing in the center of the V-Formation Team Shot with the other Joes.
Films — Live-Action
- 2000 Meters to Andriivka: A rare modern warfare example. Fedya is given by his commander, Duda, the flag of Ukraine and of their unit, the 3rd Assault Brigade, and is tasked raise the flag in Andriivka to symbolize the liberation of the village, and have the journalists Chernov and Babenko filming them doing it. He finds it difficult as when they enter Andriivka, all the buildings of the village have been razed to their foundations and has to settle for a destroyed house.
- Glory: Trip is offered the position of flagbearer for the regiment but refuses the assignment at first. Later, he takes up the flag when the flagbearer is killed in battle.
- Kagemusha: The final act of the titular Body Double before he is slain is to try to recover the standard of the clan whose lord he had impersonated from where it fell after the Takeda color guard had been massacred by Oda troops (along with most of the rest of their army).
- The Patriot (2000): When the Battle of Cowpens is at its peak, most of the resistance militia are cut down by British Dragoons including their flagman. Benjamin Martin, realizing his men are fleeing, manages to rally his army by grabbing the dropped flag and using its pointed tip to skewer some enemy mooks. Then he starts waving it high, raising the militia's morale enough to fight back and eventually win the battle.
Literature
- Battle Ground (2020): Harry is described as bearing a "Banner" during the Battle of Chicago, but it's not a physical object; instead, it's a manifestation of both his own Heroic Willpower and the power of the Mantle of the Winter Knight, uniting over a thousand Chicago citizens and empowering them as they attempt to defend the Cloud Gate sculpture (colloquially known as "The Bean").
- The Belgariad: During the battle between the Algars and the Murgos in Castle of Wizardry, and again during the Battle of Thull Mardu in Enchanter's End Game, the positions of Cho-Hag of Algaria and Taur Urgas of Cthol Murgos within their respective armies are marked by their royal banner-bearers, and both focus on that: they hate each other, and they both know that where the banner is, they'll find their foe.
- In the third Between Worlds novel Jason Linford is made Champion; a ceremonial position in which he represents the regimental flag which is no longer used in an era of space warfare. It requires him to be guarded by a couple of bodyguards as his loss would be as bad for morale as losing the regimental standard would have in the old days.
- Dragaera: In Dragon, Vlad mentions a "standard bearer"; he also implies that their life expectancy isn't very high.
- Fate/Apocrypha: The main Noble Phantasm used by Jeanne d'Arc is a pike with a banner called 'Luminosité Eternelle' that is usually wrapped around the pole just below the spearhead.
- Flashman: In the first book, the titular character gets lauded as a hero for being the last defender of the colors during the Siege of Jalabad, though in truth he only had the flag by chance, he wasn't guarding anything, he was hiding, and at the moment his rescuers declared him a hero, he thought he had been found by the Afghans and was moments away from surrendering.
- The Lord of the Rings has a number of battle-banners, including the White Horse of Rohan, the Silver Swan of Dol Amroth, and the Black Serpent of the enemy Southron cavalry. Theoden King of Rohan considers it a great achievement that he "felled the black serpent" banner during the Battle of the Pelennor Fields. The most significant is the royal banner of Aragorn: Crafted in secret by Arwen, first unfurled to rally the Army of the Dead at the Stone of Erech (where the night was too dark to actually see it), and displayed openly in the Battle of Pelennor Fields in a Big Damn Heroes moment.
- Record of Grancrest War: One of the effects of the magical Crests possessed by Lords is the ability to generate a Flag that empowers troops under their command. Main protagonist Theo Cornaro possesses a Flag called "the Patriot", which makes his troops' morale unshakeable under even the worst conditions.
- The Red Badge of Courage: In the final battle of the book Henry takes up his regiment's flag after their color sergeant is killed.
- While prevalent in the whole series, Sharpes Eagle makes the battle standards of both England and France into major plot objects. After Major Lennox dies while trying to protect a British battle standard after reinforcements do not help his cut off troops, he makes Sharpe promise to make it right by capturing a French Eagle standard. Sharpe does so, and becomes famous for it.
- In the Sherlock Holmes story "Crooked Man", the deceased had been color sergeant for a regiment that had served in India during the Mutiny. He was also a traitor, having sold out the courier his commanders had sent out to get their besieged unit reinforcements because he was a romantic rival.
- A Song of Ice and Fire: Battle heraldry plays a major part in Westerosi warfare for the same reasons why it did so in medieval warfare — it helps to identify and direct one's allied forces in battle, and serves as a rallying point for sworn knights and peasant levies in armies where most of the fighting forces are raised by and organized around individual lords. As such, when armies take to the field of battle, they are typically described as doing so under forests of flags bearing the devices of dozens or more of greater and lesser lords, which are also printed on shields, surcoats, horse armor, and every other available surface.
- Sword Art Online Progressive: One of the floor bosses gives a magic flag that buffs every member of the Guild that it's registered to within a given radius of the flag bearer. Fearing that it would disrupt the balance of power in the game given that most of the clearers are divided between two mutually antagonistic guilds, Kirito gathers a force to beat the boss in question before either guild can to deny the flag to both of them. He then promises that if either guild finds a second one, he'll give his to the other.
- World of the Five Gods: The Weald's bannermen (and bannerwomen) carried the banner of their clan, which would carry the souls of the clan's slain spirit warriors so that they could be cleansed of their animal spirits and pass on to the Gods. The rest of the clan would fight savagely to defend the bannermen, because that was the only hope of the afterlife for those slain.
Live Action TV
- Fallout (2024): In "The Beginning" (the season finale), at the Battle of Griffin Observatory, two of the most notable members of the Brotherhood of Steel and The Remnant of the New California Republic are their flag-bearers. The NCR's flag carrier even does a couple of on-screen kills.
- In The Blue and the Gray, John's brother, Matthew (who had been medically retired after having part of his foot amputated after an injury at Vicksburg), is shot and killed while defending the family farm during a small skirmish between dismounted Confederate and Union cavalry after grabbing a fallen Confederate battle standard and leading a charge into the falling back Union troops.
Music
- The national anthem of the USA, The Star-Spangled Banner, is about the Battle of Fort McHenry as told by observers watching from outside the fort, only able to tell how the battle is going by looking at whose colors are flying over the fort.
Tabletop Games
- Magic: The Gathering has Flagbearer as a creature type, though it hasn't appeared on a card since Coalition Honor Guard in 2001. Both Flagbearer creatures have a similar ability: whenever opponents cast a spell or activate an ability, one of those targets must be a Flagbearer on the battlefield if able. While this means they can absorb removal spells meant for other creatures, it also means that that one can force them to become enchanted or have counters put on them.
- Pathfinder: In First Edition:
- The Cavalier and Samurai classes get the Banner class feature, which provides a passive buff to any allied characters that can see it.
- The cover art of the supplement Andoran, Birthplace of Freedom depicts a female Eagle Knight dueling an orc on a battlefield with one hand while defiantly flying the flag of Andoran in the other.
- The Banner of the Scarlet Rose is a magic item that, when held by a female character, improves any competence bonuses granted by the bearer's class features, such as a bard's "Inspire Competence" performance. It also doubles as a shield the bearer can use to protect herself.
- The Standard of Conquest is a Taldan battle standard that can be recovered in book two of the War for the Crown adventure path and affixed to any polearm or staff. It provides various bonuses to nearby allies who can see it, which can be further improved by completing key plot points of the campaign called "triumphs".
- Warhammer 40,000: Several armies have dedicated units meant to carry their faction's standards, banners, and icons into battle, usually giving morale boosts to their allies:
- Space Marine Ancients are decorated veterans who, through centuries of service, duty, and combat honors, have earned the right to carry the Company's banner — a heavy brocaded thing in most cases, although the Space Wolves use decorated animal skins — into battle. The most honored Ancient is the Chapter Ancient, who carries the Chapter's own banner and usually goes to war as part of the Chapter Master's honor guard.
- The Vexillas of the Custodes are icons in the shape of two-headed eagles, forged in a century-long process before being given to elder veterans to display during war. More so than inspiring courage, which the heavily indoctrinated Custodes don't strongly need in any case, they are technological artifacts that beam a constant stream of tactical data to the power armor of other Custodes.
- Imperial Guard regiments are awarded ornate, blessed banners when founded, which they carry during their founding parade and through every engagement afterwards. As the regiment ages, its regimental standard is further embroidered to list its victories and can become a religious relic in its own right. Particularly brave and respected Guardsmen are chosen as their bearers and inspire the troops to fight harder when the ancient cloth is held aloft.
- The Imagifiers of the Sisters of Battle are an unusual case in that they do not carry banners. Instead, they hold aloft religious relics, such as icons of saints, scrolls of sacred scripture, and full reliquaries, to the same overall effect, although elaborate banners similar to the other Imperial factions' also turn up.
- Chaos Icons are blasphemous symbols in the shape of a God's rune or the eight arrows of Chaos Undivided, decorated with or made from bones, broken armor, and the like, and sometimes bearing braziers burning with mind-clouding fumes. These are given to Chaos Marine champions or to cultists "blessed" with especially impressive mutations, and inspire bravery — or suicidal fury — and sometimes explicitly supernatural effects, at the cost of their bearer suffering the full brunt of the Warp's mutative power. The Night Lords, who do not revere gods, instead carry the corpses of slain Space Marines to mock their enemies.
- Acolyte Iconwards are Genestealer hybrids who carry their cult's sacred standard, usually a decorated banner topped by elaborate wyrm shapes in metal, with which they drive their brethren into fearless charges when the day of the uprising comes. They are chosen from among early-stage hybrids, the closest in shape to their Tyranid gods, who display particular intelligence and bravery.
- Among the Orks, the Warboss often carries his colors into battle himself strapped to his back or else gives them to a close Gretchin slave. These are known as Bosspoles, and take the form of heavy metal sticks bearing crude icons of the Boss' personal or tribal symbols, and are often adorned with Battle Trophies from memorable foes; smaller Bosspoles may also be worn by lesser bosses and leaders. A more elaborate banner may also be made and carried around by an experienced veteran called a Bannernob, and become icons of near-religious veneration among the superstitious Orks.
- Warhammer: Age of Sigmar:
- A large number of units are marked with the Standard Bearer keyword in 4th Edition and have a number of standard bearers proportional to the size of that unit. As long as at least one standard bearer remains standing, the unit receives a +1 bonus to control score (in 4th Edition) or another bonus that varies from unit to unit (in the first three editions).
- Some armies have one or more Heroes, marked with the Totem keyword in 1st to 3rd Editionsnote , that carry that army's unique battle flag(s) or equivalent into the battlefield. This banner can apply its bonuses to any nearby friendly model instead of to a single unit and/or can activate a powerful ability useable once per battle.
- Certain armies also had access to enchanted banners in 3rd edition, like Slaves to Darkness (which had banners dedicated to each of the different Chaos Gods) and Flesh-eater Courts (though whether an enchanted piece of flayed skin counts as a banner is a matter for interpretation).
- Warhammer Fantasy Battle:
- Most units include a dedicated command group, which consists of its standard bearer in addition to a unit champion or officer and a musician who drives the soldiers on with the sound of drums or horns. The standard bearer carries the arms of their unit or regiment, which include traditional banners painted with various faction symbols but also things like lizardman warriors toting huge runic stones on poles or daemons and Chaos warriors carrying staffs topped with occult symbols. Units that include a standard bearer gain a combat bonus to show their strengthened pride and determination to beat the foe, and if the bearer dies another warrior picks up the banner to hold in their place.
- In each battle, one character can be selected to be the army's Battle Standard Bearer and carry the personal heraldry or icons of its lord, province, empire, or god. The combat boost applies to any nearby model instead of to a single unit, and they can also allow allies to re-roll failed leadership and morale tests. Ludwig Schwarzhelm, the Emperor's Champion, carries the Emperor's Standard into battle, a particularly decorated banner bearing the personal iconography of Emperor Karl Franz, which allows him to do this in a larger radius than normal. If a Battle Standard Bearer would be made to rout, they are instead removed as a casualty to represent that the warrior chosen for this honor will fight to the last breath and die on their feet rather than let their lord's, deity's, or empire's precious standard fall into enemy hands.
- In addition to regular, morale-inspiring banners, some armies have magical, unique battle flags or standards such as the High Elves' Banner of Avelorn, woven anew for each Everqueen, which radiates life and strength, or Repanse de Lyonesse's Fleur de Lys Banner (which is also attached to her Knightly Lance, though actually stabbing anything with this lance would probably muck up the banner), blessed by the Lady of the Lake to drain the magic of enemy artifacts.
Video Games
- American Conquest: Flagbearers are an integral part of making any kind of European formations, both for infantry and cavalry. They are a non-combat unit, and their deaths are a serious blow to the morale of their own formation. Notably, they are needed to make a formation, but it remains active even after the bearer dies and can be reinforced freely whenever there are spare units (including a new flag bearer).
- Arknights: Some characters serve this role. Gameplay-wise, Standard Bearers have below average stats and can't attack or block enemies while using their skill, as they focus on waving their flag. However, they generate more DP when doing so than any other branch in the game, allowing the player to mobilize more characters faster.
- Battle Brothers: Eventually, your company will be able to get its own standard and one of the bros will be designated as its carrier. It works as a morale boost to your company, but it's also a mid-tier polearm, meaning the bearer can both defend himself and assist from behind the shieldwall.
- Call of Duty: World at War: During "Heart of the Reich", Sgt. Viktor Reznov orders Pvt. Chernov, whom Reznov sees as a Dirty Coward, to carry the Soviet banner during their unit's assault on the Reichstag. Chernov ends up killed late in the level while attempting to carry said flag into the Reichstag. The following level, "Downfall", has a random Red Shirt attempting to carry the flag to the roof of the Reichstag, only to be killed attempting to do so. Reznov then asks the Player Character, Pvt. Dimitri Petrenko, to hoist the flag over the Reichstag. He ends up getting shot in the torso by the last surviving German defender, but thanks to Reznov's help, manages to raise the flag over the Reichstag and claim victory.
- Chrono Cross: General Viper's Level 7 Tech, FlagBearer, can be acquired by going to a hidden room in Another Termina's pub. When used, he raises his personal flag, increasing his stats in battle.
- Cossacks: European Wars: The campaigns of The Art of War added such a unit in some missions. He can't be produced in any building, and losing him means losing the mission sometimes.
- Darkest Dungeon: The Crusader carries around a battle standard he whips out when using Battle Heal and Inspiring Cry, although you never really see it on his person. The sequel shows it dissolving in holy fire after he uses it for Battle Heal and Rallying Cry, so it’s possible he just summons it out of nowhere.
- Dawn of War: Celestial squads can take a banner-bearer that doesn't attack but increases the squad's health.
- Destiny 2: Titans can, through one of the Aspects for their Strand-based subclass, the Berserker, gain access to one. Scoring a kill will activate it, sending pulses of healing energy and buffing melee and sword damage; kills dealt by the Titan and their party members extend and enhance the effect. While active a large green (the elemental color of Strand) standard appears on the back of the Titan.
- Dynasty Warriors: The sixth installment includes a unit known as a bannerman, who carries a banner bearing their army’s flag. Bannermen don’t attack, but instead frequently hoist up the flag, which provides Status Buffs to nearby allies.
- Elden Ring: Commander Niall and Commander O'Neil are Flunky Bosses who enter battle alongside a mob of ghostly soldiers. As commanders, they wield halberds with banners wrapped around their hafts; one of their attacks is to unfurl the banner and exhort their troops to fight harder, buffing them. Killing O'Neil gives you this weapon, the Commander's Standard, which lets you do the same thing with your allies (and yourself).
- Fallout: New Vegas: Caesar's Legion deploys soldiers called Vexillarii who have a shoulder-mounted banner built into their armor, for the purpose of inspiring their comrades.
- Fate/Grand Order: Jeanne d'Arc's weapon is a spear from which flies a huge battle flag. Her Noble Phantasm "Luminosité Eternelle" has her brandish the flag while praying to God to protect her comrades, buffing allied Servants with a Healing Factor, increased defense, and one turn of invincibility.
- Legends of Runeterra: The Vanguard Bannerman is a Dauntless Vanguard who carries the Demacian banner into battle. The card's Allegiance effect (the next card in your deck must be a Demacian card in order to activate) is increasing allied units' power and health by 1.
Tianna Crownguard: You must understand the weight of our banner. It flies for our king, our houses, our citizens. It is our unwavering belief in Demacia itself. Hold it high. Show them our pride.
- Middle-earth: Shadow of War: Certain Captains have the ability to summon Orcs who bear banners, which, when planted, inspire other troops to fight harder and do more damage.
- Mount & Blade II: Bannerlord introduced to the series flagbearers - not just as a visual (which numerous mods to Warband did in the past), but also as a Status Buff to troops in that specific formation. This however means a single soldier in that specific formation has to carry the flag, which renders various types of units useless in their default roles (eg archers and crossbowmen will draw their Emergency Weapons and then even charge enemy formation as a lone swordsman with no support)
- Patapon: Hatapon is the flagbearer of the Patapon Army as well as the one who keeps it in time with the celestial drumbeat you maintain that emboldens the Patapons with such strength. If he dies, it's an instant mission fail in every game in the series.
- Persona:
- Persona 5 Tactica: Erina's spear transforms into a flag early in the game, symbolizing her rebellious spirit. It manages not only to free the corruptive influence of the first Kingdom's tyrant, but it becomes the symbol of the Rebel Corps' revolution. The flag itself reads Si Vis Pacem Te Ipsum Vinci, roughly meaning "If You Wish For Peace, Conquer Yourself." In gameplay, the flag is a part of Erina's Voltage skill, where the player can place her flag on the map, where it breaks the cover of any nearby enemies and heals any nearby allies at the end of the turn.
- Persona 5: The Phantom X: The Phantom Idol Turbo wields a spear as a weapon that has a flag on it, though it is tied with a checkered flag banner instead, tying into her dream of wanting to be a racecar driver; checkered flags are used in races to signal the end of a race, qualifying round, or practice session.
- Plants vs. Zombies 1: The Flag Zombie will appear at the start of "large waves", carrying a flag with a picture of a brain on it.
- Red Alert 3: According to the unit profile, the Tsunami tank has banners it carries into battle, fulfilling their duty as samurai (since the Empire is basically Showa-era Japan with post-modern-day tech). While the banners are present in official art◊, the actual game model doesn't have any.
Some even believed that this invulnerability came from the Rising Sun-emblazoned banners mounted on the rear tread assemblies, and there were stories of brave but misguided conscripts managing to actually get within arm's length of the banners before being ruthlessly slaughtered.
- Samurai Warriors: The fourth entry introduces standard bearers as an enemy type who interact with the Morale Mechanic. Standard bearers stand in an area and hold up a flag, with the effect of turning that area red on the map, indicating enemies will have high morale in that zone, making them much tougher to fight. Defeating a standard bearer will remove the red marking on the map, and lower the enemy morale so defeating the other foes within the area is much more manageable.
- Team Fortress 2: The Soldier class has a few items in their secondary slot that allow him to raise a flag that buffs his teammates after doing enough damage; the Buff Banner makes all damage into mini-crits, the Concheror buffs speed and life steal, and the Battalion's Backup protects teammates from damage, negating 50% of crit and sentry damage, and 35% from everything else.
- Titan Quest: Warriors can place down temporary Battle Standard to boost their own combat abilities.
- Common throughout the Total War series, with one being embedded within the many other men that make up the individual units. They don't have any actual gameplay effect since they are simply endemic to all units, but many of the games makes flagbearers have an indelible presence in the game even if players don't bother to take notice of them within their units by making the artistic choice of individual unit icons on the battlefield resembling a standard raised far above into the player's clear view.
- Total War: Shogun 2: Keeping with the accuracy of the Sengoku era, each general's armies were represented with almost every soldier carrying their banner into war.
- Total War: Three Kingdoms: This entry portrays flagbearers a bit differently from the rest of the series with each unit having multiple flagbearers◊ with their large flags billowing heavily, making flags having almost as much visual presence on the in-game battlefield as the soldiers themselves. The flagbearers will plant their flags into ground to subsequently fight the enemy, and abandoned flags will litter the field as their bearers die while the battle progresses - some of which are still waving in the wind.
- Warcraft III: The Blademaster hero (basically an Orcish Ninja Rōnin) carries a sashimono on his back, though it has no in-game effect. They especially have background significance to the Blademasters as it is the banner of their former Burning Blade clan, whose other members were completely lost to mindless violence due to The Corruption of the Burning Legion and so the Blademasters have all sworn to free them.
- World in Conflict: One of the trailers/cutscenes shows a group of soldiers charging out of a trench with one of them carrying an American flag.
- Xenoblade Chronicles 3: Fiona wields a trident with a large banner attached to its top, called "War Standard". By waving it around she inspires allies, shown by distributing random buffs to the party. Even her Red Baron nickname is "Proudbanner". The main party can use it through the game's Job System.
