Duryodhana's Final Words to Krishna

Krishna found him at the edge of the lake, broken but not dead. Duryodhana's thighs were shattered, his armies destroyed, his brothers gone. But his eyes—his eyes were still defiant.

Duryodhana: "Come to gloat, Lord of Dwarka?"

Krishna: "I came to see how you die."

Duryodhana: "Badly, as you can see. But not as badly as I lived, according to you."

Krishna: "You brought this on yourself."

Duryodhana: "Did I? Or did you bring it on me? Every choice I made, you countered. Every scheme, you foiled. I never had a chance against a god."

Krishna: "You had many chances. You rejected every offer of peace."

Duryodhana: "Because peace meant giving up what was mine! The kingdom was mine by right—my father was the elder! And because he was blind, they gave it to Pandu. When Pandu died, they should have returned it to us. Instead, they raised his sons—his dead brother's sons—as heirs!"

Krishna: "The Pandavas only asked for five villages."

Duryodhana: "Five villages today, five provinces tomorrow. You think I didn't see where it was heading? Give Yudhishthira a toehold and he'd never stop. His righteousness was just another weapon."

Krishna was silent.

Duryodhana: "You know what your problem is, Krishna? You only see one side. You call them righteous because they won. If I had won, history would call me the defender of dharma and them the usurpers."

Krishna: "That's not how dharma works."

Duryodhana: "Isn't it? Bhima broke the rules of mace combat to kill me—was that dharma? Arjuna shot Karna when he was unarmed—was that dharma? Your beloved Pandavas violated every code of warrior honor, and you blessed each violation."

Krishna: "To defeat adharma, sometimes—"

Duryodhana: "Ah! There it is. 'Sometimes.' That's all I needed to hear. When you break the rules, it's necessary. When I break them, it's evil. You're not righteous, Krishna. You're just better at justifying yourself."

Krishna: "Do you regret nothing?"

Duryodhana: "I regret not winning. I regret that my brothers are dead while yours live. I regret that history will be written by the Pandavas and not by me. But regret my choices? No. I chose to fight for what I believed was mine. I lost. But I never surrendered. I never begged. I never pretended to be something I wasn't."

Krishna: "You could have been so much more."

Duryodhana: "I was exactly what I was meant to be—the villain in your story. Someone had to play that role. But remember this, Krishna. Long after the glory fades, long after the Pandavas are dust, people will still argue about this war. They'll ask: was Duryodhana really wrong? Was it his kingdom or wasn't it? You won the war. You may not win the argument."

Krishna: "Goodbye, Duryodhana."

Duryodhana: "Goodbye, Krishna. I'll see you in the next life. Maybe then we'll switch sides and see how you like playing the villain."

He died as he had lived—unrepentant, proud, and certain he was right.