History BadassBookworm / Videogames

** Farore who appears in [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfAges Oracle Of Ages]] [[https://hydra-media.cursecdn.com/zelda.gamepedia.com/d/dc/Farore_Oracle.png?version=a55c8387659fc80c7058458a57a5e884 seems harmless]] little wallflower till you realize she's mortal recantation of ''The Goddess Of Courage''. In ''Minish Cap'' she can even boost Link's attack and defense.
** Zelda in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' is this, reading her diary and seeing her in flashbacks shows Zelda as very bookish and driven in her goals to protect Hyrule. But this Zelda is also very emotionally vulnerable as well as prone to anger and sadness making her probably the most human-Zelda to date.

* ''VideoGame/Uncharted'':

** Kasumi Goto is a master thief turned Cerberus affiliate/asset, [[spoiler:however briefly]]. Once she's been recruited, paying a visit to the observation deck she's claimed as her personal quarters reveals that she enjoys various forms of artistic expression, literature included. Especially noteworthy since this is a future where all those books would be available electronically through the extranet for a much lower cost, except she simply enjoys holding an actual book while reading. Besides, being a master thief probably helps circumvent the cost issue. She also writes haiku. [[CompletelyMissingThePoint About Jacob's dreamy abs.]]

* Tycho Brahe from [[VideoGame/PennyArcadeAdventures Penny Arcade's "On the Rain Slick Precipice of Darkness"]]. Tycho is a scholar who comes from a long family tradition of seeking to end the world and he constantly has his nose in a book. He ''will'' throw his book into the air long enough to frag someone with a Tommy Gun, catch the book and continue reading though. His special attack includes ''throwing'' the book at foes and later on he 'upgrades' his weapon by mounting the book on it. Yeah, I think he counts...

* The Heavy Weapons Guy in [[VideoGame/TeamFortress2]] can mow down the entire team with a gun large enough to be mounted on a vehicle (but which he happily carries in his own two hands). What's his [=PhD=] in? Russian Literature.

* The Heavy Weapons Guy in [[Team Fortress 2]] can mow down the entire team with a gun large enough to be mounted on a vehicle (but which he happily carries in his own two hands). What's his PhD in? Russian Literature.

* [[MagicalNativeAmerican Nightwolf]] from ''VideoGame/MortalKombat'', before Hell broke loose in [=MK3=], was a historian whose knowledge of both shamanism ''and'' Native American legends as well as his physical strength was what made him qualified to become one of the Earth Warriors. In [[WesternAnimation/MortalKombatDefendersOfTheRealm the cartoon]], he's also a computer genius on top of a fighter and a walking myth encyclopaedia. In the original arcade ''VideoGame/MortalKombat3'', as Nightwolf, you could actually throw your opponent, run after him, and throw him before he had a chance to recover. Also, in the newer games, he tends to have easy combos that take 25% of your life bar.

* Sans from ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'':, despite being such a LazyBum, is implied to have been of scientific background. There's a book on quantum physics in his house, and some weird machine that he's been working on, not to mention that he seems to have worked with the previous royal scientist. The badass part comes from the fact that he's working as a sentry despite his scientific background yet he spends most of his time slacking off. [[spoiler:But if you want to see how badass he really is, go ahead and push his button one time too many. Just remember, [[SNKBoss you're going to have a bad time.]]]]
* Eddie, the fourth party member in ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'', is practically the ideal definition of this trope. He’s quiet, mild-mannered, works in a library, and uses his research skills to [[EnemyScan find information about enemies]]… yet he also jumps at the chance to go adventuring, and turns out to be the hardest-hitting powerhouse on the team, with a proficiency for wielding [[AnAxeToGrind large axes]] and [[DropTheHammer war hammers]].

* [[Characters/MetalGearSolidSnake Solid Snake]] of the ''Video/MetalGear'' games has a genius-level IQ, proficiency in six different languages, near-complete mastery of military science, and an impressive knowledge of biology, genetics, philosophy, firearms and [[PopCulturedBadass foreign popular culture]]. He is also verbatim stated to be the greatest soldier to have ever lived. His awesome moments from ''Metal Gear Solid'' alone (''one game'') include destroying an ''M1 Abrams'' with only ''anti-personnel grenades''; defeating a world-class Kurdish ColdSniper in a SniperDuel; withstanding MindRape from the world's most powerful psychic; winning against a {{Cyborg}} ninja in hand-to-hand combat; taking down a 100ft-tall nuclear HumongousMecha; surviving a fight against a giant of a man wielding a gatling cannon that is ''[[{{BFG}} normally mounted on fighter jets]]''; and surviving a virus that was designed ''specifically to target and kill him''.

** Also Marisa Kirisame, who got to be a magician in a setting where most true magicians have an inherent gift solely by studying ''really'' hard... and has [[BeamSpam enough firepower]] [[FrickinLaserBeams in her hands]] [[KamehameHadoken to turn a country into a crater]]. And ''very'' little moral trouble with using it, too.

* Isaac Clarke from ''Franchise/DeadSpace''. He is the one and only to survive the events of the game. His weapons are [[ImprobableWeaponUser MINING TOOLS]], he is just a [[ActionSurvivor space engineer]], and still manages to cut down an army of [[RecycledINSPACE space]] [[GrotesqueGallery zombies]].

*** Urag gro-Shub, Librarian of the [[WizardingSchool College of Winterhold]]. If the unusual name wasn't enough of a clue, Urag is an [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orc]]. Yes, the big, normally brutish and often rather unintelligent green-skinned type. Urag, however, is a competent mage and will not hesitate to punish anyone who would damage the meticulously-organized and painstakingly-collected contents of his [[GreatBigLibraryOfEverything Arcanaeum]]. He is stern, but otherwise entirely reasonable. He displays some additional HiddenDepths in that he's also one of the few people capable of translating Arch-Mage Shalidor's writings and the [[OurElvesAreBetter Ancient Falmer]] tomes.

%% ** And Eggman himself. You could go on and on and on about all the amazing things he's done and all the incredible things he's built, but you don't need to. Just look at [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100131015538/sonic/images/4/43/EggFleet_SonicHeroes.png THE F*CKING EGG FLEET!!!]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKTWiWu864w In case that picture didn't convince you...]]

** ''Especially'' in the [[VideoGame/TombRaider2013 2013 reboot]], where she begins as an {{Adorkable}} HollywoodNerd. Background documents you find even state that Sam has to drag her away from her books to get her to go out clubbing, and she's more interested in exploring libraries and historical sites than hitting the local hot spots. [[TookALeveLInBadass By the end of the game]] she's also a BrokenBird [[OneManArmy One Woman Army]] capable of mowing down {{Mook}}s and [[NinjaPirateRobotZombie undead samurai warriors]] by the hundreds.

** [[HiddenAgendaVillain Alex]], beginning as a medic of the Mercury Clan and multiclassing into MagnificentBastard, shows up to several [[{{Magitek}} Alchemy-powered machines]] through every game, with encyclopedic knowledge of each-- and if he doesn't have what it takes to use them, he knows how to [[UnwittingPawn sucker the heroes]] into [[NiceJobBreakingItHero doing his dirty work for him]]. Also, he may or may not have achieved [[AGodAmI limited godhood]] at the end of ''The Lost Age''.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gordon_freeman_6.jpg]]

* Tails from ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog''. He is a freaking genius, even making a robotic suit that rivals Eggman's, while at the same time being fairly fast, having the ability to fly, and, in some games, being able to take out Eggman by himself. Not through intelligence, though. No, through beating the ever loving crap out of him! In ''VideoGame/SonicAdventure'', he [[spoiler: has to go and beat Eggman to a missile then take on one of Eggman's mechs by himself, saving the city SINGLE HANDEDLY]].
** And Eggman himself. You could go on and on and on about all the amazing things he's done and all the incredible things he's built, but you don't need to. Just look at [[http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100131015538/sonic/images/4/43/EggFleet_SonicHeroes.png THE F*CKING EGG FLEET!!!]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKTWiWu864w In case that picture didn't convince you...]]

*** This is due in part to ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0'' coming '''chronologically''' before ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'', but being developed '''after''' ''Videogame/ResidentEvil'', before they really developed her character.

** Rebecca Chambers while she's physically weak young women is still extremely gifted in her field being a CombatMedic, which is especially shown in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil0'' where she's the only one who can mix herbs and make healing items unlike her partner Billy Cohen whose solely combat orientated. Outside chemistry Rebecca is shown to be a crack shot and she even defeats a Tyrant before Chris, Jill and Barry even see a zombie. Unfortunately by time ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil'' roles around in the timeline, Rebecca's resourcefulness is not apparent and she's little more than DamselInDistress
** Jill Valentine is more or less this, she's shown to be bookish in first Resident Evil and in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil3Nemesis'' she defeats the Titular villain with skill, strategy and weaponry as opposed to her partner Chris's usual method of brute force. This partly why her change in ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil5'' is so drastic as it abandons the thoughtful approach Jill held in the other games in favor of an mind-controlled [[ProfessionalKiller super assassin]].

** Claire Redfield (Leon’s partner and Chris’s sister) prior to [[VideoGame/ResidentEvil2 RE2]] attended university and is very brainy. Claire Also trained in combat by her brother, can kill monsters with a handgun, survived a ZombieApocalypse and one point goes OneWomanArmy on Umbrella’s Paris base avoiding point blank helicopter turret fire.
** Villainous example in Albert Wesker a practised biotech researcher for serval pharmaceutical companies with years of experience... he also took a SuperSerum which gave Wesker SuperStrength, SuperSpeed and NighInvulnerability. Meaning not only is Wesker smarter than heroes he’s 10x stronger than them being a LightningBruiser as well as EvilGenius.

*** '''But''' in the same game Lara can be considered prom queen compared to the much nerdier and [[NerdGlasses speckled]] [[{{Nerd}} Alex Weiss]], whose just spenders and a bow tie away from being a stereotypical geek. Even the socially inept Lara finds poor Alex "awkward" at times. But despite all of this Alex still proves his worth on the ship, he's [[PlayfulHacker excellent hacker]] and guides Lara into getting them communication off the island, and even in a scrap he's no slouch he mows down many cultists with a sub-machine gun and is the only survivor aside from Lara and Roth to wield [[GunsAkimbo dual pistols]]. [[spoiler: And towards the end he is the one who gets the tools to repair the ship to get the remaining survivors off the island though it comes at cost of his life as he [[HeroicSacrifice blows himself along with the ship]] allowing Lara to escape, but not before scoring a [[KissOfDeath kiss]] from her]].

* Mitsuru Kirijo of ''VideoGame/Persona3'' is a top-marks student, [[StudentCouncilPresident president]] of the AbsurdlyPowerfulStudentCouncil, and [[{{Ojou}} daughter of the man who owns the school]]. She's also [[LadyOfWar quite handy with a rapier]]. [[spoiler: At one point late in the game, she even tries shouting down a monster.]] [[FateWorseThanDeath Even her own teammates are terrified by her at times]].
** Then there's [[TheProtagonist The Protagonist]], who is not only the most powerful and versatile fighter in the entire game, but is also a genius who can consistantly rank as N.1 in his school level (assuming that you take the time to level up his Academics stat).

* Mumbo Jumbo from ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' is a wise shaman who teaches specific forms of magic. He is a master of casting spells to help Banjo and Kazooie. He's also capable of fighting back, putting his powerful skills in good use.

* Mumbo Jumbo from ''VideoGame/BanjoKazooie'' is a wise shaman who studies specific forms of magic. He is a master of casting spells that are necessary for helping Banjo and Kazooie. He's also capable of fighting back, putting his powerful skills in good use.

* ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou''
** Sho Minamimoto. He will nuke you [[MouthfulOfPi with pi.]]
** Joshua. He's the most intelligent member of the playable cast, and [[spoiler: he's the Composer, which means he's a physical god.]]

** Most famous the main protagonist Dr. Gordon Freeman (pictured above), who only gets to show off his scientific expertise by performing the tasks of a lowly lab technician, but [[AllThereInTheManual according to the manual]], he just returned to America from his last university job in Europe and got his new employment in probably one of the world's biggest and most secret research facilities. On the badass side, he kills hundreds of alien soldiers and monsters in the span of three days and travels to an alien dimension to kill an EldritchAbomination with machine guns, laser rifles, and rocket launchers.

* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'': Sans, despite being such a LazyBum, is implied to have been of scientific background. There's a book on quantum physics in his house, and some weird machine that he's been working on, not to mention that he seems to have worked with the previous royal scientist. The badass part comes from the fact that he's working as a sentry despite his scientific background yet he spends most of his time slacking off. [[spoiler:But if you want to see how badass he really is, go ahead and push his button one time too many. Just remember, [[SNKBoss you're going to have a bad time.]]]]

* Mical/Disciple and Bao-Dur from the second ''KnightsOfTheOldRepublic''. Mical is a historian [[spoiler: and spy]] trying to salvage Jedi history and lore for the Republic. You meet him doing a little "light" reading in the bombed-out, nasty-critter-infested ruins of the Dantooine Enclave. His starting class is Soldier (VERY tough, plenty of combat feats), but you cross-class him to a Consular (MASSIVE amounts of Force whoop-ass). Bao-Dur is a shy, soft-spoken engineer who came up with such a nasty weapon of mass destruction (the Mass Shadow Generator) that even the ''Mandalorians'' were horrified when they saw it in action. He's also no stranger to more...personal combat, either. It's what cost him his left arm. Badass he is, he ''built his own'' artificial one. You can cross class him as a Guardian (mostly because his mechanical arm prevents him from wearing robes, thus limiting his ability to use Force powers anyway).