History LetsGetDangerous / Literature

* In the''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' book ''Spike & Dru: Pretty Maids All in a Row'', The Watchers leadership starts out seeming like the same bunch of stuffy ArmchairMilitary types they are during the main series, but when Spike and Dru start killing Potentials, they send operatives after the duo (with little success) and fortify their headquarters to protect the Potentials.

* Towards the end of the tournament in ''Literature/{{Sexiled}}: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out So I Teamed Up With A Mythical Sorceress!'' Nadine, a level 3 Healer who was so unusually weak that no one other than Lilium wanted her in their party, has to face Katherine, a surprisingly talented mage. It looks like it might turn into a curbstomp match, but instead Nadine finally shows her true colors [[spoiler: as a former Assassin]]. She easily dodges all of Katherine's spells and is able to freeze her in terror just with her aura. Eventually she grabs Katherine with a knife at her throat and coldly tells her she can either forfeit or die, [[BringMyBrownPants terrifying her enough to make her lose control of her bowels.]]

* Towards the end of the tournament in ''LightNovel/{{Sexiled}}: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out So I Teamed Up With A Mythical Sorceress!'' Nadine, a level 3 Healer who was so unusually weak that no one other than Lilium wanted her in their party, has to face Katherine, a surprisingly talented mage. It looks like it might turn into a curbstomp match, but instead Nadine finally shows her true colors [[spoiler: as a former Assassin]]. She easily dodges all of Katherine's spells and is able to freeze her in terror just with her aura. Eventually she grabs Katherine with a knife at her throat and coldly tells her she can either forfeit or die, [[BringMyBrownPants terrifying her enough to make her lose control of her bowels.]]

** Death himself. He's this relaxed, philosophical figure, quite uncharacteristic of the normal image people have of the Grim Reaper... until you mess with the Balance of Life and Death. Then he [[spoiler:gets on a fucking motorcycle. That's all there really is to say on the matter.]] In "Reaper Man", Death spends most of the novel in retirement, bumbling through the life of a human with the [[LineOfSightName improbable name]] of Bill Door. Then, when his replacement comes for him Death [[spoiler: becomes truly angry, seeing that the new Death is not a reaper and shepherd but a ruler, and sharpens an ordinary scythe ''with the power of his own fury'' and takes back his job.]]

** The Nac Mac Feegle were comic relief through the first three Tiffany Aching books, but in ''I Shall Wear Midnight'' -- don't go mucking around their mounds with a shovel. Just '''don't.'''

* No-one really pays that much attention to Creator/AgathaChristie's [[Literature/MrsMarple Jane Marple]] because she's just a little old lady -- an impression Marple's only too happy to have them maintain. But she's [[ObfuscatingStupidity not as harmless as she pretends to be]].

* No-one really pays that much attention to Agatha Christie's Jane Marple because she's just a little old lady -- an impression Marple's only too happy to have them maintain. But she's [[ObfuscatingStupidity not as harmless as she pretends to be]].

*** [[spoiler:More specifically, don't mess with [[BerserkButton the only daughter]] of a woman who's raised ''6 boys simultaneously''.]] ''Especially'' when [[spoiler: one of those sons was just killed.]]

--> '''Samwise:''' [[BerserkButton You've hurt my master,]] you filth. We're going on now, but [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu we'll settle with you before we go.]]

** Also in the final battle, the [[HellishHorse thestrals]] and the House Elves (led by [[spoiler:[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass KREACHER]]]], of all people) take part in the battle, greatly assisting the heroes. Also Buckbeak the Hippogriff who is noted to [[spoiler: claw out the eyes of Voldemort's legion of giants!]] The example of the House Elves is taken UpToEleven by the fact that, rather than using their own magic, these normally placid and subservient creatures are taking on the Death Eaters with meat cleavers and carving knives!

** It's [[SternTeacher Professor]] [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure McGonagall]] (who is effectively the BigGood until [[spoiler: the Order Of The Phoenix arrive in force and [[BaldBlackLeaderGuy Kingsley Shacklebolt]] assumes the role)]] who invokes this first by [[spoiler: warning Slughorn that if he and the Slytherin students try to sabotage their resistance or fight against them, she'll kill them.]]

** Also in the final battle, the [[HellishHorse thestrals]] and the [[KnifeNut House Elves]] (led by [[spoiler:[[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass KREACHER]]]], of all people) take part in the battle, greatly assisting the heroes. Also Buckbeak the Hippogriff who is noted to [[spoiler: claw out the eyes of Voldemort's legion of giants!]] The example of the House Elves is taken UpToEleven by the fact that, rather than using their own magic, these normally placid and subservient creatures are taking on the Death Eaters with meat cleavers and carving knives!

** Otto Chriek from ''Literature/TheTruth'' also qualifies. As a vampire who's sworn off biting the living, he's portrayed throughout the book as a silly but sympathetic figure. And then his employer is threatened, and the resulting fight scene borrows heavily from the then-recent ''Film/TheMatrix'' film. In ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', he explains that he works hard to appear silly and pathetic, because if he didn't he'd be creepy and genuinely frightening. There's a couple of hints now and then that he might be a RetiredCompleteMonster.

* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicles'' teaches us important things, like ''for the love of Tehlu, do '''not''' break Kvothe's lute''. Or kill his family. Or threaten innocents. He will call lightning and annihilate you, he will stab you from afar with voodoo, and he will call the Name of the Wind, and rend you in its power.

** Then there's Stanley in ''Literature/GoingPostal''. A preternaturally neurotic postal worker (he was raised by peas. [[MakesAsMuchSenseInContext That is not a typo]]), he's usually just very polite and obsessive about certain topics - unless you push him too far, in which case he has a Little Moment and hits you very hard in the face with something unpleasant. And he's so wound up that it doesn't take much to put him over the edge.

* Mátyás, Liam's uncle-mentor introduced in ''[[Literature/{{Deryni}} King Kelson's Bride]]'', proves to be [[GoodIsNotSoft adept and ruthless at intrigue]] and a powerful mage in thwarting his brothers' attempted ''coup d'etat'' against Liam.

* The final battle in ''Literature/GoodOmens'':
** [[GoodIsNotDumb Azi]][[OurAngelsAreDifferent rap]][[BewareTheNiceOnes hale]] arms himself with his FlamingSword.
--->"Once you learn, you never really forget how."
** [[BadassBystander Pepper, Bri]][[BadassNormal an, and Wensleydale]] [[spoiler: defeat the [[HorsemenOfTheApocalypse Bikers of the Apocalypse]].]]

** Victor Cachat is this is his first appearance in ''From the Highlands''. He's the new guy, never done any real fieldwork. His new mentor calls him "wonderboy" and mocks him (good-naturedly) at every opportunity. His idealism and naivete is a constant source of amusement to the other characters, even though the former the only reason any of them would consider talking to him. His uncertainty is quite frankly, adorable and endearing. Then you get to the end bit where he's supposed to fire one burst to scatter the scrags and get out of the way for the Ballroom, and...yeah, not so much. They screwed with his nation and his principles, and he '''will''' make them pay, personally. Officer of the Revolution. Sneer and be damned. (He's much less of an example thereafter, since it becomes common knowledge in the military/espionage community - meaning all the main characters - that however cute and sweet he may occasionally appear, only the deeply suicidal get in the way of his principles. He is [[GodModeSue THAT good.]])

* In ''Literature/ThePhantomTollbooth'', the demons are pursuing the escaping heroes and princesses when the heroes reach the [[TheCavalry assembled armies of Wisdom]], all the goofy {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s that Milo met his journey.

** Gandalf himself gets a little of this. He comes across a little bumbling in the first book, a tad of the archetypal distracted wizard. Then, facing the Balrog of Moria, he reveals both his power and his identity, fights the demon for three days and annihilates it - at the cost of his own life.
** [[BadassNormal Samwise]] deserves a mention too, progressing from 'run for help' as his first thought through killing his first orc in Moria, and culminating in taking on Shelob - an entity that entire armies of orcs refuse to engage. The movie sequence where he's killing orcs with a frying pan in Moria is priceless.

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** Harry Dresden generally looks like a very tall and lanky scarecrow with black and quirky dress sense. People who piss him off and hurt those he cares also find out why beings of up to immortal PhysicalGod status are [[HorrifyingTheHorror terrified of him]]. If you hear the word 'Fuego', you're generally about to die a painful death. Moreso if its immediately preceded by "Pyro".
*** Wizards in general are not usually classed according to the amount of energy they can output, but their ability to control that output. Most of them have some aspect of natural talent that they normally have to mechanically tone down using a tool, or abstain from using entirely. Harry has three separate tools designed to limit the amount of fire he instinctively conjures, so when he starts it up without his shield bracelet or a rod or staff pointed at you, you're not in danger of being set aflame so much as the entire city block on which you're standing.
** To put this in context, when [[PersonOfMassDestruction Harry Dresden]] goes to war, Vampire Lords, Faerie Queens, Fallen Angels, and whole supernatural species '''''[[RoaringRampageOfRevenge d]][[TranquilFury i]][[PersonOfMassDestruction e]]'''''.
** In ''Aftermath'', [[PintSizedPowerHouse Murphy]] described the moment that Harry becomes this trope - he suddenly stops being a goofy, irreverent nerd and starts being a commanding, primeval ''force of nature''. She's terrified of it and she's the one ''watching his back''.
** In the long run, he threatened a Black Court Vampire that if she ever so much as ''thought'' about hurting his friends, he'd go necromatic-''god'' mode on her. She never came back [[spoiler: until Harry was distracted by a full-scale invasion of the city]].
** Sometimes Harry forgets that Thomas can go super-powered vampire at any time. Sometimes he doesn't.
** When Molly first breaks out her "DJ Molly" magical light show at Chichen Itza.
** The Senior Council is this in general. They're the most senior Wizards in the world by definition, so they tend not to look all that threatening at a few hundred years old each. That being said, in a setting where knowledge is literally power, a few hundred years to learn stuff tends to end up making you very dangerous.
*** You'd think that a known badass couldn't have these moments, but when Ebenezer [=McCoy=] pulls [[spoiler:the Blackstaff]] out of a pocket dimension, EliteMooks start ceasing to exist en masse.
*** When Listens-To-Wind (generally the councils chief healer) has a shapeshifting brawl with an EldritchAbomination that has been more or less unstoppable for the entire book. When it points out that he can't actually banish it, he says he doesn't intended to try, just to "kick your ass up between your ears." Which he does.
*** Arthur Langtry, The Merlin of the White Council, is, for most of the series, portrayed as primarily a politician and behind-the-scenes mover-and-shaker. But you don't end up The Merlin with having the magical muscle to back it up.
*** He manages to create an on the fly ward which holds ''the entire Red Court of vampires'' (the strongest of which is a PhysicalGod and whose lieutenants are only marginally weaker) without a Threshold, in a fraction of a minute.
*** At one point, a non-corporeal malicious entity attacks a White Council meeting. The Merlin manages to contain it, formulate a battle plan and telepathically communicate said plan to about 200 people (complete with 3D visual aids) in less than three minutes. Without losing his cool for a second.
** The first time Murphy fully used [[spoiler: one of the Swords of the Cross]], she cut through [[EliteMook Red Court Vampires]] like chaff and [[EldritchAbomination the eldest Red Court Vampires]] like silk.
* In Jim Butcher's other work, ''Literature/CodexAlera'', damn near everyone with a name who isn't primarily known for being a badass has these moments.
** [[GeniusBruiser Doroga]], when he stops being laid back and actually fights, is a force to be reckoned with.
** Ehren is a bookworm... who's also a [[TheChessmaster chessmaster]] able to manipulate people into doing whatever he wants.
** [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Fade]] is an odd, quiet little man, who as it turns out is [[spoiler: the greatest swordsman alive]].
** A weird one is the entire First Aleran legion. They're a "dog-and-pony" legion made up of new recruits and are intended for show, not war. Then the Canim invade...
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':
** Doran Martell is frequently criticized for being an overly cautious ruler too scared to risk entering the Game of Thrones, but he's actually [[spoiler:been carefully planning the whole time to overthrow the nobility.]]
** The morbidly obese Lord Wyman Manderly is pretty much a punchline at court, but [[spoiler:he gets back at the Freys for their treachery by feeding them their own family members, mocking them to their faces, and surviving an assassination attempt]].
* Drusas Achamian in ''Literature/SecondApocalypse'' is a Mandate sorcerer. He's a bit of a put-upon schlub who occasionally rails internally about how he could smite someone to cinders if he so chose, but it seems like impotent rage. Then he's faced by seven rival sorcerers of the Scarlet Spire and cuts loose with his war cants. Despite the overwhelming odds, he manages to slay one of them before going down. After getting taken captive, he manages to escapes his bindings, slaughter all of his captors, beat the shit out of a demon summoned to fight him, and blow up their compound.

* Most of the main characters in the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' have some cue when the situation gets dark. Kahlan slips on her "[[EmotionlessGirl Confessor's Face]]", Richard begins using the term "bringer of death" generously, and [[BlackMagicianGirl Nicci]] slips into her persona of "[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Death's Mistress]]."
** And there's Zedd. Goofy old man who seems to mostly care about [[BigEater food]] and [[DirtyOldMan gettin' some]]? Yes. [[PersonOfMassDestruction Wizard of the First Order]], [[RetiredBadass hero of the first war against D'Hara]], [[TheTrickster devious mind like a steel trap]], and [[KillItWithFire master of the "old fashioned firefight"]]? ''Definitely.''
* ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle'': [[TheKlutz Alfred]] faints when confronted with danger. [[spoiler:In truth he is a Serpent Mage, one of the most powerful beings in the universe]].
** It's more like he's consciously taking a level in wimp by focusing his mind on not hurting anyone to the point of literal mental illness. He just naturally collapses back to being [[spoiler:a PhysicalGod when someone finally manages to shake his concentration by inadvertently bringing up the things that made him take up the quest for harmlessness to begin with.]]
* ''Literature/ThePendragonAdventure'': Spader says this almost every five minutes. He even gets Bobby saying it.
* ''Literature/TheBelgariad''
** Belgarath pretty much lives and breathes this trope. Normally he could easily be mistaken for a drunken, lazy, bumbling, vagabound, with a fairly weak grasp of personal property and a rather sloppy taste in attire. People who know him often call him this and worse, since he can't seem to be bothered take most things seriously. But when things get serious, or you piss him off... you'll see WHY he was chosen as first disciple of the god Aldur, and just what the most powerful sorcerer on the planet, with over 7000 years of experience, is capable. [[note]]For starters, it's speculated in-universe by fellow sorcerers that if he was so inclined, Belgarath could stop the sun from moving across the sky.[[/note]]
** His daughter Polgara is only slightly less so. She may look pretty innocuous at times, but she takes ''a lot'' after her father in the sheer power department (in an early book, she turned the Empress of Nyissa into an eternal snake). She's lived several millennia herself and has been everything from a Nadrak slave-woman to the Duchess of Erat, so she carries her own arsenal of magical and non-magical skills.

* In the ''Demon child'' series, R'shiel may look and act like a spoilt brat. However [[spoiler: she has enough power to destroy a God]]. And she has a short temper when it comes to people interfering in her plans.
* ''Literature/WhiteJenna'': Skada. As a dark sister, she is supposed to fill a supporting role, but in the climatic battle she kills her first man and saves Jenna's life.
* In ''[[Literature/{{Spelljammer}} The Cloakmaster Cycle]]'' a very young [[BoisterousBruiser Giff]] joins the protagonist and considers him his superior. This green "trooper Gomja" is more of a burden, since he only looks at Teldin's mouth and waits for an order. Then in a fit of inspiration and pique, Teldin "[[NonPromotion promotes]]" the lad to sergeant -- despite currently not having any rank at all and being only a ''mule skinner'' before retirement. But this forced Gomja to take responsibility and woke up his tactical mind. Now, not only even a young Giff is still a humanoid hippo bigger and stronger than most men can hope to be, with the hide tougher than studded leather armor, but [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy all adult Giff]] are mercenary {{Space Marine}}s and even kids live in preparation for the same, waiting to be enlisted. HilarityEnsues in short order. Lots of it.

* Let's consider the Literature/{{Animorphs}}. Sure, Rachel develops into a walking pile of RAEG and Jake is clearly no one to mess with, with an air of {{Determinator}}-ness and [[PapaWolf devoted leadership]]. But their support? A wise-cracking comic book geek, an introverted, pacifistic animal nut, and the middle-school bully magnet ([[AndZoidberg and Ax]]); not exactly the biggest badasses around. That is, until they transform into wolves and gorillas. Tobias's hawk might not be the scariest thing around ([[WeakButSkilled though he's damn good with it]]), but he also knows ''rhino''. And, if worst comes to worst, they all have [[BearsAreBadNews the set of polar bears]], just in case...
** Because Marco was the narrator for the adventure, we don't actually get to see what happened, but Erek the Chee (a race of Androids that are hard coded to be pacifists) has his pacifist codes removed right as Marco loses consciousness in a desperate fight surrounded by overwelming enemy odds. When he wakes up, the enemy forces are all lying dead on the ground by Erek's doing. Marco later learned that from the time he passed out to the time the enemy threat was neutralized is a period of time measured in seconds, but he realizes that [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth Rachel was conscious for the whole incident and was on the verge of tears at the carnage she saw Erik unleash.]]
** Both the Andalites and Yeerks see humans as weak and useless species that should by all rights have gone extinct by this point in their own biome. Although the Yeerks do come to recognize that humans are actually the perfect species to infest and would grant them a great advantage in deployment of troops, both sides of the war come to realize that humans are more than a match for either side... according to the Yeerks, humans are the only species that have ever been able to resist the infestation to the point of regaining limited control. We also learn that the Andalite that gave the heroes the ability to morph actually believed they would use the ability to hide from the invasion. He never suspected humans would weaponize the morphing power.
* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicles'' teaches us important things, like ''for the love of Tehlu, do '''not''' break Kvothe's lute''. Or kill his family. Or threaten innocents. He will call lightning and annihilate you, he will stab you from afar with voodoo, and he will call the Name of the Wind, and rend you in its power.

* In ''Literature/TheTomorrowSeries'', Ellie and her friends are perfectly normal, everyday Australian rural and small-town teenagers. Then, after they find out that [[spoiler: Australia has been invaded and occupied and they're among the very few Australians who're still at liberty]] they decide to get serious.
* ''Literature/TheLastDragonChronicles'': When attempting to fight Gwilanna, Galen tries to make his human host grow wings. It doesn't end well. [[spoiler:It ends with a lot of bloody, gory muscles on show]].
* The protagonist of Rob Grant's novel ''Incompetence'' spends most of it wishing lurid death on the idiots he has to deal with during his investigation while getting bruised and insulted by a culture of incompitence (he's hanging on to the outside of a speeding train and gets the attention of a guard; the guard holds up a handwritten note to the window telling him he's supposed to be inside). But when he's taken prisoner and is taken to the Big Bad's lair, [[spoiler: simply killing his guard]] almost doesn't rate a mention.
* In Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold's ''Literature/ACivilCampaign'', Olivia Koudelka, an unarmed young woman in a party dress, on Barrayar, a very sexist world, is not considered a threat to the villain's mooks. However, she's the daughter of the Emperor's former bodyguard...and [[spoiler:doesn't stay unarmed long]].
* ''Literature/AllAmericanPups'' series: In ''Camp Barkalot'', Fritz puts his fear aside and uses his strength to rescue the other pups (and their new friend Bella) from drowning.
* ''Literature/AgathaHAndTheVoiceOfTheCastle'' (a ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'' novel): Once Othar is convinced that Agatha might really be the Other, Klaus is extremely disturbed to find that his goofy LargeHam persona flips off like a switch.
* Lissa Dragomir from ''Literature/VampireAcademy'' is usually not the fighting type. [[spoiler:However she manages to knock out an attacking Reed Lazar with a single punch, and later faces Dimitri the Strigoi in a fight and manages to stake him, getting severe burns in the process]].
* In Creator/UrsulaVernon's novel, ''Literature/CastleHangnail'', [[spoiler:the minions]] do this when they're pushed too far. Even [[spoiler:a goldfish who's a hypochondriac]] becomes a badass to save a friend.
* In ''Literature/SpaceBeasts'', Jim Buckwheat the Squirrel Boy is pretty mellow and laid back, until you hurt his friends. You definitely don't want to be around him when he's wielding his FlamingSword.
* In ''Literature/JurassicPark'', Muldoon says to Gennaro when they're about to drive off to bring down the ''Tyrannosaurus'' in a jeep, "Are you ready to live dangerously?"
* In ''Literature/{{Noob}}'', only one faction leader out of three, Keynn Lucans, has yet to be seen fighting. However, when the subject of who would win if he fought one of the other faction leaders comes up, Arthéon suspects that Keynn may have a better chance than one may first think. After all, the guy is an EmperorScientist benefitting from BioAugmentation.
* No-one really pays that much attention to Agatha Christie's Jane Marple because she's just a little old lady - an impression Marple's only too happy to have them maintain. But she's [[ObfuscatingStupidity not as harmless as she pretends to be]].
* While everyone else thinks of Literature/CiaphasCain as a full-time hero, his own first-person narration makes out his every adventure to go something like "I'd been making excuses to avoid the action and make myself as comfortable as possible all along, but then I had terrible luck and just ''had'' to go lead a dangerous mission to save everyone, and duel that über-monster myself." He goes on about how he's a DirtyCoward until any time he's forced to do something, at which point he's proven hypercompetent (or sometimes just really lucky), whether it's at leadership or fighting.
* Towards the end of the tournament in ''LightNovel/{{Sexiled}}: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out So I Teamed Up With A Mythical Sorceress!'' Nadine, a level 3 Healer who was so unusually weak that no one other than Lilium wanted her in their party, has to face Katherine, a surprisingly talented mage. It looks like it might turn into a curbstomp match, but instead Nadine finally shows her true colors [[spoiler: as a former Assassin]]. She easily dodges all of Katherine's spells and is able to freeze her in terror just with her aura. Eventually she grabs Katherine with a knife at her throat and coldly tells her she can either forfeit or die, [[BringMyBrownPants terrifying her enough to make her lose control of her bowels.]]
* From ''Literature/FearAndLoathingInLasVegas'' (and an overall theme of Creator/HunterSThompson's entire career): "When the going gets weird, the weird turn pro."

** Neville Longbottom, who, after being everyone's [[TheWoobie favorite]] [[ButtMonkey loser]] for 6 years, steps up to the Carrows, leads an underground resistance group and single handedly decapitates Voldemort's beloved snake [[spoiler:and [[MacGuffin Horcrux]]]] Nagini after being paralyzed and lit on fire.

** Otto Chriek from ''Literature/TheTruth'' also qualifies. As a vampire who's sworn off biting the living, he's portrayed throughout the book as a silly but sympathetic figure. And then his employer is threatened, and the resulting fight scene borrows heavily from the then-recent ''Film/TheMatrix'' film. In ''Literature/{{Thud}}'', he explains that he works hard to appear silly and pathetic, because if he didn't he'd be creepy and genuinely frightening. There's a couple of hints now and then that he might be a retired complete monster.

** Because Marco was the narrator for the adventure, we don't actually get to see what happened, but Erick the Chee (a race of Androids that are hard coded to be pacifists) has his pacifist codes removed right as Marco looses consciousness in a desperate fight surrounded by overwelming enemy odds. When he wakes up, the enemy forces are all lying dead on the ground by Erik's doing. Marco later learned that from the time he passed out to the time the enemy threat was neutralized is a period of time measured in seconds, but he realizes that [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth Rachel was concious for the whole incident and was on the verge of tears at the carnage she saw Erik unleash.]]

** Because Marco was the narrator for the adventure, we don't actually get to see what happened, but Erick the Chee (a race of Androids that are hard coded to be pacifists) has his pacifist codes removed right as Marco looses consciousness in a desperate fight surrounded by overwelming enemy odds. When he wakes up, the enemy forces are all lying dead on the ground by Erik's doing. Marco later learned that from the time he passed out to the time the enemy threat was neutralized is a period of time measured in seconds, but he realizes that [[TooSpicyForYogSloth Rachel was concious for the whole incident and was on the verge of tears at the carnage she saw Erik unleash.]]

** If Rincewind takes off one of his socks and puts a half a brick in it, it means he's decided to stop running and fight. The first time it happens he winds up beating off an entire army of Eldritch Abominations by himself. He doesn't always win when he does this in subsequent books but it always marks a moment where he's suddenly quit being a [[TheSoCalledCoward Coward]] and decided to be a badass instead. In Unseen Academicals, when he quietly starts pulling his sock off another mage notices and immediately brings the impending riot to a stop before Rincewind has to act.

** Otto Chriek from ''Literature/TheTruth'' also qualifies. As a vampire who's sworn off biting the living, he's portrayed throughout the book as a silly but sympathetic figure. And then his employer is threatened, and the resulting fight scene borrows heavily from the then-recent ''Film/TheMatrix'' film. In Thud, he explains that he works hard to appear silly and pathetic, because if he didn't he'd be creepy and genuinely frightening. There's a couple of hints now and then that he might be a retired complete monster.

* [[Literature/{{Dragons}} The Last Dragon Chronicles]]: When attempting to fight Gwilanna, Galen tries to make his human host grow wings. It doesn't end well. [[spoiler:It ends with a lot of bloody, gory muscles on show]].

** In Aftermath, [[PintSizedPowerHouse Murphy]] described the moment that Harry becomes this trope - he suddenly stops being a goofy, irreverent nerd and starts being a commanding, primeval ''force of nature''. She's terrified of it and she's the one ''watching his back''.
** In the long run, he threatened a Black Court Vampire that if she ever so much as ''thought'' about hurting his friends, he'd go necromatic-''god'' mode on her. She hasn't been back.

** The Elder Counicl is this in general. They're the most senior Wizards in the world by definition, so they tend not to look all that threatening at a few hundred years old each. That being said, in a setting where knowledge is literally power, a few hundred years to learn stuff tends to end up making you very dangerous.

** The first time Murphy fully used [[spoiler: one of the Swords of the Cross]], she cut through [[EliteMook Red Court Vampires]] like chaff and [[EldritchAbomination the eldest Red Court Vampires]] like silk.
** [[GeniusBruiser Doroga]]
** Ehren
** [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Fade.]]

* Towards the end of the tournament in ''LightNovel/{{Sexiled}}: My Sexist Party Leader Kicked Me Out So I Teamed Up With A Mythical Sorceress!'' Nadine, a level 3 Healer who was so unusually weak that no one other than Lilium wanted her in their party, has to face Katherine, a surprisingly talented mage. It looks like it might turn into a curbstomp match, but instead Nadine finally shows her true colors [[spoiler: as a former Assassin]]. She's able to freeze Katherine in terror just with her aura, and eventually grabs Katherine with a knife at her throat, [[BringMyBrownPants terrifying her enough to make her lose control of her bowels.]]