History Awesome / Thud

* [[spoiler:"[[PunctuatedForEmphasis THAT! IS!! NOT!!! MY!!!! COW!!!!!]]"]] would have to be up there for Vimes.
** This example, since it is not only a crowning moment of awesome, but also of [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments funny]] and [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]], as well as a {{tearjerker}} and {{nightmare fuel}}, is probably a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for Terry Pratchett, as well.
** An explanation: [[spoiler:Sam Vimes has been fighting the unstoppable influence of the Summoning Dark, a 10,000 year old quasi-demonic ''thing'' of pure vengeance, for the entire book. It's a substition that normally drives a mind into blind, bloody rage against the enemies of whoever invoked it, and he's been holding it at bay with his belief in law and justice. What finally motivates him to give in is that it's six o'clock, and at six o'clock every day he's at home reading ''Where's My Cow'' to his son. He then turns into a [[UnstoppableRage striding, screaming, vengeful maniac]] who fights his way alone through a crowd of heavily armed dwarfs[[note]]Heavily armed even for dwarfs. Flamethrowers and everything.[[/note]], until he reaches the Summoning Dark's true targets and... stops. Because possessed or no, Sam Vimes is still Sam Vimes, and [[HeroicWillpower Sam Vimes doesn't kill helpless cowering old men.]]]]
--->'''Vetinari:''' Given, then, a contest between [[spoiler:an invisible and very powerful quasi-demonic ''thing'' of pure vengeance]] on the one hand, and the commander on the other, where would you wager, say... one dollar?\\

-->'''Vetinari:''' Sam Vimes once arrested [[spoiler:''me'' for treason]]... And Sam Vimes once arrested a [[spoiler:dragon]]. Sam Vimes stopped a war between nations by arresting ''two'' high commands. He's an arresting fellow, Sam Vimes. Sam Vimes killed a werewolf with his bare hands, and carries law with him, like a lamp... Watchmen across half the continent will say that Sam Vimes is as straight as an arrow, can't be corrupted, won't be turned, never took a bribe.
** This includes a bit of foreshadowing, as the metaphorical lamp is used [[spoiler: by Vimes' inner watchman, his internal spirit of justice that watches his every word, action, and thought for corruption, to drive out a demon of pure dwarfish vengeance older than time itself]] for a CMOA that takes place entirely in Vimes' head:
--->[[spoiler:The Watchman shook his head. "I don't think you understand," he said calmly, "I'm not here to keep the darkness out. I'm here to keep it ''in.'' Call me ... the Guarding Dark. Imagine how powerful I must be."]]
** Made better in the audiobook where [[spoiler: The Watchman and Vimes have the same voice.]]

** Detritus' story in general: he went from less-than-a-nobody to a respected sergeant and [[spoiler:key element of the Troll/Dwarf truce]], and from a very secondary character to the fourth main protagonist of the City Watch arc (the three others being, of course, Vimes, Carrot and Angua).

* Vimes's butler Willikins has these moments as well. He once bit someone's nose off, (in ''Literature/{{Jingo}}'') and this time he defeats a couple of [[spoiler:dwarfs]] who had attempted a sneak attack upon the house.

* During the same attack, Sybil and her dragons get their CMOA. The [[spoiler:dwarfs]] attack her with a flamethrower, but since she's wearing an outfit designed to protect her from her dragons (who have a habit of belching flame and exploding with little provocation), she shrugs the attack off. The dragons, however, see the flamethrower as a challenge... all 26 of them. What was left of the poor, stupid bugger was [[SmolderingShoes a white-hot glowing pair of iron boots]] and a scorch mark in the shape of the attacker.

* Angua in the end, when she convinced [[spoiler:the demon-possessed]] Vimes that now would be a great opportunity to not be moving. Let it be noted that the reason she had to convince him to stop moving was not because he was about to kill the dwarfs in front of him but because he was going to start hurting himself from the strain of ''not'' doing that. So she knocked him down.

* Forbidden to reveal what was happening to anyone, and terrified of his superiors and [[spoiler:the Summoning Dark]], Helmclever still managed to [[spoiler:ensure that Vimes would enter the mine by making it clear that the deep-downers were trying to prevent the wider dwarf community from speaking to the Watch, provoking the Commander's everlasting ire]]. A good Thud player to the end.
* Vimes discovering the power of the mark the [[spoiler: Summoning Dark left on his forearm when the Low King asks him to hand over the Codex]].

** It has been repeatedly made clear that a dwarf without an axe is not a dwarf. Vimes, after a dwarf attack on his home and with every reason to hate dwarfs [[spoiler:and a 10000 year old quasi-demonic ''thing'' of pure vengeance riding in his head]] orders a group of dwarfs to disarm but still concedes one axe each. Grag Bashfullsson doesn't carry one. At the end of the book there is a "discussion" between Grags about how to be a dwarf.

** [[spoiler: He effortlessly translates what the cube says, and has to shout "I WHO SPEAK TO YOU NOW AM B'HRIAN BLOOD-AXE, BY RIGHT OF THE SCONE THE TRUE KING OF THE DWARFS!"]]
** Bashfulsson talked Vimes into letting him supervise his interrogation of [[spoiler: Helmclever]]. Given that Vimes was in a white-hot fury and clearly ready to take his anger out on just about any dwarf who looked at him wrong, and that Bashfulsson had good reason to believe that he was [[spoiler:being influenced by the demonic vengeance creature that had infected him without his knowledge]], getting him to see reason was not only brave but also pretty damn impressive. He actually left Vimes speechless.

* The simple majesty of the long-ago kings. [[spoiler: They were doomed, trapped, injured, and starving to death. Help had not come. So, they decided to [[SmartPeoplePlayChess play Thud]]]]. They did not panic, cry, or fall, but simply [[spoiler: died mid-game. One or the other died first, and the other did not touch the board, but merely sat there until his own end.]]

*** On both sides. Vimes doesn't like being dictated to, and his family has just been threatened by a bunch of dwarves, and yet he's still able to reign in his anger enough not only to ''not'' shout Bashfulsson out of his office, but actually agree to what he's saying. It may have helped that Bashfulsson was able to persuade the other dwarves to hand over most of their weapons before going up (a second CMOA in as many pages pretty much).

* This scene with Death, which got partly adapted into the ''Literature/TheColorOfMagic'' film:

* This scene with Death, which got partly adapted into the ''Literature/ColourOfMagic'' film:

---> ''' ''COME ON, THEN, IF YOU THINK YOU'RE HARD ENOUGH!'' '''

* Vimes's butler Willikins has these moments as well. He once bit someone's nose off, (in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'') and this time he defeats a couple of [[spoiler:dwarfs]] who had attempted a sneak attack upon the house.

* This scene with Death, which got partly adapted into the ''Discworld/ColourOfMagic'' film:

** An explanation: [[spoiler:Sam Vimes has been fighting the unstoppable influence of the Summoning Dark, a 10,000 year old quasi-demonic ''thing'' of pure vengeance, for the entire book. It's a substition that normally drives a mind into blind, bloody rage against the enemies of whoever invoked it, and he's been holding it at bay with his belief in law and justice. What finally motivates him to give in is that it's six o'clock, and at six o'clock every day he's at home reading ''Where's My Cow'' to his son. He then turns into a [[UnstoppableRage striding, screaming, vengeful maniac]] who fights his way alone through a crowd of heavily armed dwarfs[[note]]Heavily armed even for dwarfs. Flamethrowers and everything.[[/note]], until he reaches the Summoning Dark's true targets and... stops. [[HeroicWillpower Because Sam Vimes doesn't kill helpless cowering old men.]]]]

* This scene with Death, which got partly adapted into the ''Colour Of Magic'' film:

* Vimes's butler Willikins has these moments as well. He once bit someone's nose off, (in ''Jingo'') and this time he defeats a couple of [[spoiler:dwarfs]] who had attempted a sneak attack upon the house.

* The simple majesty of the long-ago kings. [[spoiler: They were doomed, trapped, injured, and starving to death. Help had not come. So, they decided to [[SmartPeoplePlayChess play Thud]]]]. They did not panic, cry, or fall, but simply [[spoiler: died mid-game. One or the other died first, and the other did not touch the board, but merely sat there until his own end.]]

* During the same attack, Sybil and her dragons get their CMOA. The [[spoiler:dwarfs]] attack her with a flamethrower, but since she's wearing an outfit designed to protect her from her dragons (who have a habit of belching flame and exploding with little provocation), she shrugs the attack off. The dragons, however, see the flamethrower as a challenge... and twenty-six of them simultaneously incinerate the poor bugger (leaving [[SmolderingShoes a white-hot glowing pair of iron boots]] and a scorch mark in the shape of the attacker), with Sybil simply saying, "Good boys."

* Vimes manages to ensure that a huge riot ''doesn't'' take place by going behind the backs of most of his men (aside Nobby) and ensuring both sides are flat-out drunk.

* A.E. Pessimal, a bureaucrat assigned to the Ankh-Morpork City Watch by Vetinari, attacked a rampaging, crazed troll ''with his teeth'', an act of courage so outrageous and unexpected, the Patrician literally didn't believe it when he was told, and had to have confirmed that he and Times were talking about the same person.

** An explanation: [[spoiler:Sam Vimes has been fighting the unstoppable influence of the Summoning Dark, a 10,000 year old quasi-demonic ''thing'' of pure vengeance, for the entire book. It's a substition that normally drives a mind into blind, bloody rage against the enemies of whoever invoked it, and he's been holding it at bay with his belief in law and justice. What finally motivates him to give in is that it's six o'clock, and at six o'clock every day he's at home reading ''Where's My Cow'' to his son. He then turns into a [[UnstoppableRage striding, screaming, vengeful maniac]] who fights his way alone through a crowd of heavily armed dwarfs[[note]]Heavily armed even for dwarfs. Flamethrowers and everything.[[/note]], until he reaches the Summoning Dark's true targets and... stops. Because Sam Vimes doesn't kill helpless cowering old men.]]

* During the same attack, Sybil and her dragons get their CMOA. The [[spoiler:dwarfs]] attack her with a flamethrower, but since she's wearing an outfit designed to protect her from her dragons (who have a habit of belching flame and exploding with little provocation), she shrugs the attack off. The dragons, however, see the flamethrower as a challenge... and twenty-six of them simultaneously incinerate the poor bugger (leaving a white-hot glowing pair of iron boots and a scorch mark in the shape of the attacker), with Sybil simply saying, "Good boys."

* A.E. Pessimal, a bureaucrat assigned to the Ankh-Morpork City Watch by Vetinari, attacked a rampaging, crazed troll ''with his teeth'', an act of courage so outrageous and unexpected, the Patrician literally didn't believe it when he was told.

'''Detritus''' (a bit indignant): Oh no, sir. I made sure they knew I hit 'em.

** Detritus' story in general: he went from less-than-a-nobody to a respected sergent and [[spoiler:key element of the Troll/Dwarf truce]], and from a very secondary character to the fourth main protagonist of the City Watch arc (the three others being, of course, Vimes, Carrot and Angua).