History LetsGetDangerous / Literature

* Most of the main characters in the ''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]]."

* Lissa Dragomir from ''Literature/VampireAcademy'' is usually not the fighting type. [[spoiler:But managed to knock out an attacking Reed Lazar with a single punch. She faced Dimitri the Strigoi in a fight and managed to stake him, getting severe burns in the process]].

* In Creator/LoisMcMcMasterBujold's ''A Civil Campaign'', 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.]]

* In Lois McMcMaster Bujold's ''A Civil Campaign'', 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.]]

** 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 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".

** To put this in context, when [[PersonOfMassDestruction Harry Dresden]] goes to war, Vampire Lords, Faerie Queens, Fallen Angels, and whole supernatural species '''''die'''''.

** [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Fade.]] Dear ''lord'', Fade.

* Doran Martell in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''. While appearing to be an overly cautious ruler scared into inaction by the firestorm of war raging throughout the nation, he is actually [[spoiler: [[ThePlan planning the whole time to overthrow]] the nobility.]]
** Lord Wyman Manderly. Too fat to sit a horse but he ''remembers.''

* Drusas Achamian in ''Literature/SecondApocalypse'' is a Mandate sorcerer. Throughout the first book we're told that the Mandate's Gnosis sorcery is much more powerful than the Anagogsis of other Schools, with little demonstration. Then in the second book the Scarlet Spires (another sorcerous School) decides to abduct him and try to torture the secrets of the Gnosis out of him. He escapes his bindings, slaughters all the sorcerers and soldiers holding him captive, beats the shit out of a demon summoned to fight him, and blows up their compound.

* In Ursula Vernon's novel, ''Castle Hangnail'', [[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.

** [[spoiler:Hey, don't forget Professor Trelawney! Something has to be said about the woman who drives off a werewolf using crystal balls as projectiles.]]

** ''Miss'' Esmerelda Weatherwax is a subversion, as she usually bluffs her way through things. More than one opponent has concluded that her glory days are behind her and she's just relying on misdirection and trickery. Upon being accused of this, she almost invariably becomes a timid, harmless, possibly slightly senile, little old lady who says things like "Oh deary me" and "lawks" ... at which you can start counting the seconds until things go ''Very Badly Indeed'' for said opponent.

** In Aftermath, 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''.

** Wyman Manderly. Too fat to sit a horse but he ''remembers.''

--> '''Samwise:''' You've hurt my master, you filth.
** In the film version, Strider is only hinted at being powerful upon first meeting. He has a sword, is very Ringwraith-savvy, and manages to lead them through the wilderness, but still doesn't really show his awesome side. Then Weathertop rolled around, and a nation of geeks realized the amount of damage you could do with a torch. Later still, it turns out that 'Strider' is just his relaxed and carefree side, and Aragorn son of Arathorn does some things that make Sauron very, ''very'' worried.

** By the time the third book has happened, Merry is already noted to have hacked the limbs off of several of the URUK-HAI that tried to capture him and Pippin. The Rohirrim weren't leaving him behind because they thought he was unfit for war. They were leaving him behind because they didn't have a horse that could carry him and they running were well ahead of their infantry.
** Speaking of Hobbits, one chapter fits this trope perfectly: Scouring of the Shire.
** 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 he [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome faces down the Balrog of Moria]].
** [[BadassNormal Samwise]] deserves a mention too, driving off the EldritchAbomination Shelob and taking down an orc slavedriver in his search for Frodo. The sequence where he's killing orcs with a frying pan in Moria is priceless.
** In the film version, Aragorn is only hinted at being powerful upon first meeting. He has a sword, is very Ringwraith-savvy, and manages to lead them through the wilderness, but still doesn't really show his awesome side. Then Weathertop rolled around, and a nation of geeks realized the amount of damage you could do with a torch.
** Treebeard and the Ents: so slow and ponderous it takes them hours just to get through "hello". Too indecisive to, well, do anything. Until they realize what Saruman is up to...

** Magrat of ''Discworld/LordsAndLadies'', who until that book had been the GranolaGirl. She practically embodies this trope the whole way through as she shoots a crossbow bolt through a keyhole and demolishes the Queen of the Elves. The thing about small, furry creatures is some of them are mongooses.

** 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.

** The Archchancellor and most of the wizards at Unseen University count. They're a group of stumbling idiots who spend most of their time eating large meals and sleeping... but don't piss them off. In fact, the whole reason the university exists is to ensure that wizards are too preoccupied with treachery and creature comforts to engage in classic behaviors. What kind of behaviors? Well, the group word for "wizard" is "war." Take that any way you wish.

** Similarly, Tom Theisman, who, while he never hid his badassery, [[spoiler:did hide the fact that he was becoming increasingly interested in Haven's political disasters. As a result Saint-Just was taken completely by surprise when Theisman walks into his office and declares the reign of terror over.]]

* ''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]].

*** And don't forget the scene in the same book about her abilities as a teacher. She inspired one of her students, who had until then been terrified of the monster under the bed, not only to face her fear, but to ''go after it with her father's sword''. When confronted with parental worries that she'd been introducing children to the occult, Susan replied that she had, "so it won't come as a shock".