History CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass / Literature

* In ''Literature/TheSupervillainySaga'', Gary Karkofsky a.k.a Merciless: The Supervillain without MercyTM, is considered one of these in and out of universe. A PopCulturedBadass with the power to slay demigods, he's also an {{Adorkable}} ex-bank teller with no ability to shut up once a fight begins.

** Neville Longbottom worked hard to achieve the Badass designation from the Moron. [[TookALevelInBadass His badassery level only rises with every challenge; it ]]''[[TookALevelInBadass doesn't]]'' [[TookALevelInBadass revert. Ever]].

** [[CloudCuckooLander Luna Lovegood]] as well.
** Even [[TheLancer Ron]] a few times.

** Vain, old, fat Professor Slughorn. [[spoiler: He fights [[BigBad Voldemort]] head on in the final battle]].

* When we meet Matrim Cauthon in ''TheWheelOfTime'', he plays pranks, jokes around and generally serves as the comic relief in the group of main characters. He then gets cut by an evil knife and gets infected by said evil. Barely out of his sickbed after a major healing, he stumbles out on a training field where arguably the finest swordsmen in the world are training, and needing money, challenges two of them at the same time to a fight. [[CurbStompBattle With a quarterstaff]], [[Awesome/TheWheelOfTime he wins]]. [[TookALevelInBadass The he takes a level in badass]].

** Flashy himself is a subversion: He is TheBigGuy, strong for his size, a good swordsman, excellent lancer, and recognized by Arabs and Lakota alike as a horseman without peer... but an abject DirtyCoward of the first water. With his back to the wall, he fights like a wounded tomcat, but he will most likely be over the wall with your valuables and girlfriend ''long'' before it comes to that.

* Nick Moss of ''Literature/CityOfDevils'' is a nervous little man... who was a decorated paratrooper in WWII and survived eight years of monsters.

* ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' doesn't lack for badasses. And it includes a dyed-in-the-wool one of these, too. Westeros doesn't have polite phrases for "intellectually challenged" or "educationally disadvantaged", but it's pretty clear that those are what most people immediately conclude when they come across [[TheSquire Podrick]] "[[TheQuietOne Pod]]" [[ChildSoldier Payne]]. And, frankly... he has issues that could well be quite dark in nature, for all most only seem to take amusement from his befuddlement. The guy barely speaks full sentences and has the self-confidence and social bearing of a particularly bemused starfish (although, Tyrion does try working on those -- with some results). But, give him a sword or knife and put him where the action is hottest and... wow -- you can't ''believe'' this is the same lad. He's ''a lot'' more eloquent with his actions than he'll ever be with his tongue.

** Tom Bombadil.

* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' and ''Malloreon'' have several of these and several subversions. Played straight with Silk who normally plays the thief/rogue member of the cast, but in the ''Malloreon'' when [[spoiler:Bethra is murdered, he tortures the killer into revealing who hired him and then proceeds to assassinate half the family before being stopped by his companions. Later, when the Dagashi assassin Brill pisses him off at Rak Cthol, he beats the hell out of him and kicks him off the mountain. He then coolly informs Belgarath that Brill was learning how to fly, and not all that successfully.]] These were, of course, [[Awesome/{{Literature}} Crowning Moments of Awesome]]. Also in the same series, when Belgarath gets pissed he has been known to destroy entire mountains and also buries [[spoiler:Zedar, who betrayed him and his master, alive for AndIMustScream – the horror here coming from the fact that Zedar is effectively immortal and no wizard can undo what another wizard has done, so Zedar will be entombed in solid stone for all eternity]]. He likes to let the world think he is a DirtyOldMan, and he likes to make remarks of his time with the fully female Dryad race and of the ''very'' open-minded Marag women. [[BerserkButton He also tends to become badass when his family is threatened]].

** [[spoiler:The inept thief Slippery John]]. Since the appearance of the Syndrome had taken all of the competent adventurers ([[spoiler:the "Syndrome" being the name assigned to characters who had been taken over by Mogworld players]]) he decided to act [[spoiler: as neurotic, creepy, and bad at thievery as possible to avoid catching it.]] Shows his true colors at Mount Murdercruel, where he is revealed to be [[Crazy-Prepared]] with the most bizarrely specific items for his character up to that point.

::: Culminates in a CrowningMomentOfAwesome. Consider also that the prophecy nominating Harry as "the chosen one" easily applied to Neville as well. The fan meme is, "Neville is the Boy-That-Could-Have-Been-But-Did-Anyway."

** Luna Lovegood as well.
** Even Ron a few times.
** And Umbridge, in the reverse.
** Vain, old, fat Professor Slughorn. [[spoiler: He fights Voldemort head on in the final battle]].
** Sybil Trelawney was almost a complete joke from the moment she was introduced. [[spoiler: During the final battle, she utilized an extremely basic levitation spell and a crystal ball to take out the most dangerous werewolf of the time.]]

* JackTheRipper in ''Literature/TimeScout'' forms a rare duo. [[spoiler:He's two people, one a patsy being hypnotically controlled and turned into a weapon by the mastermind.]]

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* ''Literature/InfernalDevices'': [[spoiler: Jessamine, who despite trying all she can to be TheLoad can't deny her Shadowhunter heritage.]]

* Dax from ''Literature/GreystoneValley'' is introduced as a crazy old man who [[TheEeyore does nothing but complain]] and possibly eats bugs. Then it comes time to break out of a dungeon, and it turns out he can hold off a veritable army on monsters single-handedly.
* Zhong Botong, the Old Urchin from ''Literature/LegendOfTheCondorHeroes''. He's a very old man who behaves like a little kid, throwing tantrums at the most absurd things and enjoying causing confusion. When it comes to kung fu, however, run for your life: by the end, he's among the top five martial artists in the world.
* ''Literature/{{Redwall}}'': King Bull Sparra does this really well. Maybe a little too well...

** Then of course there's the absent-minded, bumbling elderly mage Fizban, from Weis & Hickman's ''Dragonlance'' series. Though occasionally his spells prove useful, this is mostly by accident. [[spoiler:Later you learn the truth: he's actually the ''God'' the protagonists are fighting to bring back...]]
* Title character Harry of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', to those who do not know who he is and what he is capable of. He tends to utilise this and a constant stream of sarcasm to pull ObfuscatingStupidity on his opponents, many of whom are in strict terms far out of his weight class.
** People consistently underestimate him, or are utterly terrified of him. You kidnap his girlfriend, he'll destroy you and your servants horribly, starting a war in the process. Take [[spoiler: his daughter, and [[PapaWolf he will commit genocide]] ]].
** In his first appearance, Mort the ectomancer had been seriously letting his talents atrophy, and even when he gets his act together later, he's quite adamantly not a fighter. Because of this, while Harry says repeatedly that Mort has a huge amount of power in his field, we don't really see him doing a lot with it. And then along comes ''Ghost Story'', and... we do. Perhaps most notably, toward the end [[spoiler:Corpsetaker]] kidnaps him and trusses him up over a pit full of minions, only to realize a little too late that [[spoiler:leaving someone with the power to ''control ghosts'' dangling above a small army of crazed, murderous spirits was [[VillainBall a terminally bad idea]]]].

* Lennie from ''Literature/OfMiceAndMen'' may be a mentally impaired GentleGiant, but that doesn't mean you can just push him around. Curley finds out the hard way.
* Eddie Dean in ''Franchise/TheDarkTower'' is a washed-up cynical junkie loser when he first falls into Midworld, and seemingly dependent upon the Last Gunslinger for basic survival. He reveals himself to be a talented gunfighter when provoked.
* The wizard Schmendrick of ''Literature/TheLastUnicorn'' is, at times, capable of awe-inspiring magic...the trouble is, he can hardly ever get it to work, and usually it doesn't do what he expected. [[spoiler:But he gets it under control in the end.]]
* In Creator/GeorgeMacDonaldFraser's Literature/McAuslan stories, Private [=McGlinchy=] is, in a football game, either completely useless or completely amazing, depending on factors that other characters are trying to figure out.

* In Creator/RaymondEFeist's ''[[Literature/TheRiftwarCycle Riftwar Cycle]]'', a gibbering, mindless beggar barely capable of feeding himself is later revealed to be the mortal shell of [[spoiler:Macros the Black, the most powerful sorcerer in the world.]] His mind was not in his body, until suddenly it was imperative for him to be present to fight the darkness and chaos.
** And then there's Nakor, a wandering con man and chronic goof-off who just happens to know more about magic, the nature of the multiverse, and beating down evil than anyone else in the series, with the possible exception of Pug.
* Alan Dean Foster's ''Literature/{{Spellsinger}}'' series has [=JonTom=] Merryweather, the spellsinger of the title. A [[FishOutOfWater modern human]] in an alternate, [[TheDungAges medieval-equivalent]] universe filled with {{Talking Animal}}s, who is pretty much useless in a fight, at least in the first few books...except for his spellsinging, which is the ultimate wild card and capable of doing anything he can sing about. The only trouble is that 1.) he has to know the ''right'' song, 2.) sometimes nothing happens, and 3.) even he's not sure what's going to happen when he starts. It's done everything from switching the entire party's genders, to changing a wizard's apprentice [[spoiler:into a phoenix]], to ''summoning a god''.
* Some stories of Ganesha present the jolly BigEater god as equal in power to his fearsome father Shiva, capable of stopping the sun and destroying the world, but luckily [[GentleGiant too nice to do so]].
* The novel ''Literature/{{Armor}}'' by Creator/JohnSteakley follows two storylines set about five years apart, with the earlier one framed by the discovery of the PoweredArmor used by the earlier protagonist on a distant, non-wartorn colony in a crashed escape pod. The armor's owner, Felix, is quite literally an unstoppable killing machine: in a war where no one has survived more than ten major missions, armor notwithstanding, Felix makes it through over twenty before [[spoiler:being killed by another human soldier]]. Meanwhile, in the present-day, a rebellion is brewing right underneath the nose of the colony's drunken, dimwitted owner, Lewis, causing great consternation to the present-day protagonist...especially when it breaks into open war and a nearby space pirate decides to capitalize on the situation. With a military grade dreadnought. [[spoiler:Fortunately, Lewis ''is'' Felix, lying low and enjoying life. At least, until he decides to save his colony by putting his armor back on, slaughtering an army's worth of pirates, and then ''takes down the dreadnought with his bare damn hands.'']]
* Neville Longbottom of ''Literature/HarryPotter'', although he worked hard to achieve the Badass designation from the Moron.
** Notable in that [[TookALevelInBadass badassery level only rises with every challenge; it ]]''[[TookALevelInBadass doesn't]]'' [[TookALevelInBadass revert. Ever]].
** Culminates in a CrowningMomentOfAwesome. Consider also that the prophecy nominating Harry as "the chosen one" easily applied to Neville as well. The fan meme is, "Neville is the Boy-That-Could-Have-Been-But-Did-Anyway."

* In the books ''Operation: Red Jericho'' and ''Operation: Typhoon Shore'', Posh Charlie has a very minor role and is known for his constant stuttering and nervousness. Put him in a combat situation and he becomes a confident soldier, immediately dropping the stutter. This may possibly be ObfuscatingStupidity due to the knowledge in the latter book that he is actually a very competent researcher.
* Lovable the raven, from the ''Literature/{{Firekeeper}}'' series, is described as a "bubble head" and has a love for anything shiny. This is in stark contrast to her far more serious mate, Bitter. However, in the fifth book, ''Wolf Hunting'', when Bitter and Lovable are ensnared by magic vines that can kill their victims, Lovable forgoes her shot at escape to stay and keep the vines from getting Bitter completely. She manages this for quite some time until help arrives and is the only reason that help wasn't too late for Bitter.
* Ceallio, in Creator/TadWilliams's ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'' series, is a [[GentleGiant mute simpleton]] when he is discovered by the protagonists working in an inn in the marsh town of Kwanitupul. However, it turns out that he's really the famous knight Camaris, who suffered a HeroicBSOD and attempted suicide many years ago. When sorely provoked, he displays incredible strength and fighting skill, first beating up a group of thugs and then defeating a Nabbanai nobleman in a swordfight, but remains in a childlike daze. It is not until he's brought to Prince Josua that he finally recovers his wits.
* Orbek Black Knife from ''[[Literature/TheActsOfCaine Blade of Tyshalle]]''. The above quote comes right after Orbek's CrowningMomentOfAwesome. The irony lies in that Caine originally targeted Orbek first when breaking up Orbek's old gang because he thought the young [[OurOrcsAreDifferent ogrillo]] was the gang's ''weakest point''.
* ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' and ''Malloreon'' have several of these and several subversions. Played straight with Silk who normally plays the thief/rogue member of the cast, but in the ''Malloreon'' when [[spoiler:Bethra is murdered, he tortures the killer into revealing who hired him and then proceeds to assassinate half the family before being stopped by his companions. Later, when the Dagashi assassin Brill pisses him off at Rak Cthol, he beats the hell out of him and kicks him off the mountain. He then coolly informs Belgarath that Brill was learning how to fly, and not all that successfully.]] These were, of course, [[Awesome/{{Literature}} Crowning Moments of Awesome]]. Also in the same series, when Belgarath gets pissed he has been known to destroy entire mountains and also buries [[spoiler:Zedar, who betrayed him and his master, alive for AndIMustScream – the horror here coming from the fact that Zedar is effectively immortal and no wizard can undo what another wizard has done, so Zedar will be entombed in solid stone for all eternity]]. He likes to let the world think he is a DirtyOldMan, and he likes to make remarks of his time with the fully female Dryad race and of the ''very'' open-minded Marag women. [[BerserkButton He also tends to become badass when his family is threatened]].
** Brill himself also counts. For the first two books he appears to be a footpad and hired thugh for Asharak, the starter villain. He's easily evaded by the cast, and the only remarkable thing about him seems to be his ability to catch up with them. And then in book three he [[spoiler: reveals that he's a freaking ninja. And that Asharak was probably working for ''him'' and not the other way around. This culminates in his battle with Silk, which is pretty epic for both combatants]].
* Tyrion's squire Podrick Payne in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. He's tongue-tied and incompetent most of the time to the extent that Tyrion suspects the boy was inflicted on him as a joke, but [[spoiler:when Tyrion is caught on a bridge of wrecked ships on a burning river with Ser Mandon Moore, one of the elite Kingsguard, trying to kill him, Pod somehow manages to kill Mandon and drag the unconscious Tyrion to safety. He's also seen cutting down a few enemies when Tyrion storms out to meet Stannis's men.]]
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'':
** This is a characteristic of Hobbits as a whole. As a race, they spend most of their time eating, drinking and making sure they have enough to eat and drink (the only function of their police force – the Shirriffs – is to chase off wild animals). Yet as Wolves, Orcs and Saruman have found out, there's only ''so'' far you can push them.
*** In particular, Samwise Gamgee. His name roughly translates to "halfwit", and it applies. He's overweight, easily frightened, and not very bright. He also [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu beat a man-eating giant spider demi-god in single combat,]] single-handedly [[StormingTheCastle stormed a tower full of hostile orcs]] [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind to save his friend's life]], was the only Ringbearer to steadfastly resist the temptation of the [[ArtifactofDoom One Ring,]] and literally carried another man up the side of a volcano for the fate of the world while starving and suffering from dehydration. There's a reason Tolkien considered him the true hero of the story.
** Tom Bombadil.
** The Ents are an entire species of Hidden Badasses. At first glance, they look like a race of {{Gentle Giant}}s who just want to hide in their forest and wait for the danger to go away, so much so, that [[BigBadWannabe Saruman]] [[WhatAnIdiot doesn't even consider them a threat]]. However, when Saruman [[ItsPersonal starts invading their forest and chopping down their trees]], they decide enough is enough, [[CurbStompBattle take the fight to him]], and [[WhenTreesAttack send their trees]] after his [[EliteMooks Uruk-Hai]], pretty much ending the war in the Rohan all on their own.
* From L.J. Smith's ''Literature/NightWorld'' series, Iliana Dominick spends most of the story as TheLoad and TheDitz, but when her friends and bodyguards are threatened at the end of the book, she finally unleashes the magic in her blood that she's been denying her entire life.
* The ''Literature/CodexAlera'' series gives us the slave Fade. He's not just a moron, he's obviously severely brain-damaged, and is generally not much good for anything but some minor blacksmithing. Except that [[spoiler:he's actually a legendary swordsman [[FakingTheDead believed dead]] by the rest of the country, and he will miss you up ''bad'' if given a reason to do so. He's also much, ''much'' smarter than he acts, and the only reason he's acting as a slave is to keep an eye on Tavi.]]

* Literature/TheCulture is normally regarded as being hedonistic and extremely eccentric by most members of the galactic community. This doesn't just include the biological citizens, but the godlike AI's with 6 figure IQ's, and almost every single one of their starships are like this too. Most non-Culture sentients consider it strange that the Minds can be bothered to care about beings so intellectually below them. Similarly, a lot of starships give themselves silly / ironic names, and are often fully developed personalities. Despite this apparently goofy, peaceful image, if you threaten the lives of the Culture's citizens, pray that they only declare war on you. You WILL lose, but are most likely to be killed in a swift and conventional way. If not, then you can look forward to being killed in the most obscenely painful manner possible.
** "Do Not Fuck With The Culture".
** And you know you're completely fucked when you've attracted the attention of Special Circumstances. ''Completely'' fucked. You'll be lucky if they don't just destroy your entire civilization from the inside out and re-make it.
*** That includes any of their happy-go-lucky agents.
** Just to add, do not ever try to pull one over on a Mind. Especially the Eccentrics (Grey Area, anyone?)
* Telnan, introduced in the Literature/{{Dragaera}} novel ''Dzur'' may carry a terrifying soul-destroying EmpathicWeapon, but he's a cheerful, ditzy guy, and not too bright. However, he still very much fits the ProudWarriorRaceGuy and BloodKnight credentials of the Dzur, and he's somewhat more competent than he initially seems.
* In the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' novels, Zedd is initially known to the reader as a goofy old man who's introduced talking to clouds. Naked. What the reader finds out later is that he was once known as the "Wind of Death," is a wizard of the first order, and in the past earned that nickname by winning a magical war.
** Other wizards in the series fit the mold in one way or another, such as Warren who's a total nerd and NonActionGuy until he and Zedd go to show an opposing army "[[KillItWithFire an old fashioned firefight]]", and Nathan, who is described at one point as a "1,000-year-old child", but is as clever and deadly as they come.
* Somewhat of a subverted trope, but [[spoiler: Orion]] in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl and the Atlantis Complex''. [[spoiler: During the penultimate scene, Artemis realizes that his brains are useless and uses electricity to switch back to Orion. As Holly states, "Artemis can't shoot." But Orion can.]]
* When we meet [[TheWheelOfTime Matrim Cauthon]], he plays pranks, jokes around and generally serves as the comic relief in the group of main characters. He then gets cut by an evil knife and gets infected by said evil. Barely out of his sickbed after a major healing, he stumbles out on a training field where arguably the finest swordsmen in the world are training, and needing money, challenges two of them at the same time to a fight. [[CurbStompBattle With a quarterstaff]], [[Awesome/TheWheelOfTime he wins]]. [[TookALevelInBadass The he takes a level in badass]].
** [[spoiler:It helps that due to a certain incident he gains the memories and battle experience of [[PastLifeMemories thousands of generals and soldiers throughout history]], effectively turning him into the greatest battle tactician known in the world.]]
* Those who grew up reading the books of Creator/LloydAlexander will remember the bard and minor king Fflewddur Fflam, who at first seems like only a half-trained musician with a gift for exaggeration and a magic harp that calls him on it every time. But drop him in a fight with something important at stake and you realize he's also a capable and dangerous warrior...though still one with his heart in his mouth until the battle is over.
* Creator/StephenKing and Peter Straub's collaborative book ''Literature/TheTalisman'' has Wolf – a lovable, simple-minded GentleGiant who serves as a shepherd in an [[AlternateDimension alternate Earth]] and tags along with Jack in his quest to save his mother. He's also that dimension's version of a werewolf. And has adopted Jack as his new "herd". And is impossibly strong even when he isn't transformed. Which means that you really, ''really'' want to think twice about hurting Jack.
* JackTheRipper in ''Literature/TimeScout'' forms a rare duo. [[spoiler:He's two people, one a patsy being hypnotically controlled and turned into a weapon by the mastermind.]]
* The Clutch Turtles from Sharon Lee & Steve Miller's Literature/LiadenUniverse aren't really ''morons per se'', so much as they ''appear to be'' large and slow, with a child-like innocent naivety regarding human culture. But those who get on their bad side discover, very briefly, the error of their ways.
** Their space drive could be considered a metaphor for the Turtles themselves: normally slow, quirky, and meandering, it can move ''very quickly and directly'' if the Turtles see sufficient need.
* Lieutenant Panga in ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar''.
* Percy Blakeney in ''Literature/TheScarletPimpernel'' – pretty much all the time.

* Johanna Mason's whole strategy for winning in ''Literature/TheHungerGames'', and it worked like gangbusters. She pretended to be a complete non-threat to the other tributes so they just left her alone until there were only a handful left. Then she whipped out that axe...

* Nick Moss of ''Literature/CityOfDevils'' is a nervous little man... who was a decorated paratrooper in WWII and survived eight years of monsters.
* ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' doesn't lack for badasses. And, it includes a dyed-in-the-wool one of these, too. Westeros doesn't have polite phrases for "intellectually challenged" or "educationally disadvantaged", but it's pretty clear that those are what most people immediately conclude when they come across [[TheSquire Podrick]] "[[TheQuietOne Pod]]" [[ChildSoldier Payne]]. And, frankly... he has issues that could well be quite dark in nature, for all most only seem to take amusement from his befuddlement. The guy barely speaks full sentences and has the self-confidence and social bearing of a particularly bemused starfish (although, Tyrion does try working on those -- with some results). But, give him a sword or knife and put him where the action is hottest and... wow -- you can't ''believe'' this is the same lad. He's ''a lot'' more eloquent with his actions than he'll ever be with his tongue.

Benjamin Burrow from ''Literature/ChroniclesOfMagic'' is a timid, ignorant boy who has never even held a kitchen knife because his mother forbade it-- but by the end, he is welding a sword.

** Culminates in a CrowningMomentOfAwesome. Consider also that the prophesy nominating Harry as "the chosen one" easily applied to Neville as well. The fan meme is, "Neville is the Boy-That-Could-Have-Been-But-Did-Anyway."

* ''ASongOfIceAndFire'' doesn't lack for badasses. And, it includes a dyed-in-the-wool one of these, too. Westeros doesn't have phrases for "intellectually challenged" or "educationally disadvantaged", but it's pretty clear that those are what most people immediately conclude when they come across Podrick Payne. And, frankly... he has issues. So many, the guy barely speaks and has the self-confidence and social bearing of a particularly bemused starfish. But, give him a sword or knife and put him where the action is hottest and... wow -- you can't ''believe'' this is the same lad. He's ''a lot'' more eloquent with his actions than he'll ever be with his tongue.
--> Pod to a shocked Brienne: "I told you I could fight!"

** In ''Discworld/{{Maskerade}}'', there's [[spoiler:Walter Plinge, who pulls a double {{Homage}} to Michael Crawford by being a bumbling [[SomeMothersDoAveEm Frank Spencer]] clone who badasses into the suave [[ThePhantomOfTheOpera Opera Ghost]] by [[MaskPower putting a mask on]].]]