History OffscreenMomentOfAwesome / Literature

* In ''TheLordOfTheRings'', Boromir's last stand, the Ents wrecking Isengard and the Dead Men driving off the Corsairs at Pelagir are described in detail by those involved in flashback. TheFilmOfTheBook depicts these events in real time.

* In ''[[ASongOfIceAndFire A Storm of Swords]]'', blacksmith Donal Noye leads a defense against a group of giants while Castle Black is under siege. The readers only get to see the outcome, all the combatants were killed, and Donal and the giant king Mag killed each other. Sure, the chapter is told from the viewpoint of Jon Snow, who didn't participate in that fight, but the author could have just written ''one'' chapter told from Donal's perspective so that the readers could have taken in the awesome.

** The final battle is probably the most jarring example, as there was a lot of action going on with many characters involved. In the other books, the characters involved in the action were usually the trio if at all, or an extended group which Harry was a part of.

* In the final chapter of the ''{{Warhammer 40000}}: GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Sabbat Martyr'', the narrator speaks of a week-long battle supposedly more intense than any other recorded in the narrative, but we do not get to read it. Admittedly, it came on the heels of the final confrontation between Saint Sabbat and the Magister, but still...

* ''{{The Wheel of Time}}'' series often has large, plot-central battles being stated to occur, but the only "on-screen" action being the commanders discussing the battles before, after, or away from the field. The most {{egregious}} example would be the fight between Mat and Couladin. Not only does one major character kill another offscreen, it actually narrates Mat preparing for the encounter, then cuts to the victory celebration. To be fair when battles are described, they are both epic and empty of HollywoodTactics. However, if the movie adaptation that people are talking about does happen and does get to book 5, they had better include that fight onscreen.

* [[Literature/HisDarkMaterials The Amber Spyglass]] has [[spoiler: a large proportion of the sentient beings from the entire multiverse lining up for war against all the other sentient beings led by God, or the Metatron in the name of God following a coup several mellenia ago. Do we get to see the epic clash of arms that would put even norse myth to shame? Nope, two kids run across the battleground, dodge some cavalry, see an old friend and promptly leave for a different universe. There were enough POV characters involved in the battle, couldn't we have stuck with one of them for a bit?]]

** Charlie Weasley[[spoiler: shows up at the FinalBattle with Slughorn and the rest, but doesn't bring in a dragon to fight.]]
*** The final battle is probably the most jarring example, as there was a lot of action going on with many characters involved. In the other books, the characters involved in the action were usually the trio if at all, or an extended group which Harry was a part of.

** Charlie Weasley, his dragon-wrangler pals, and potentially a few dragons [[spoiler: are no-shows during the FinalBattle]]

* ''HarryPotter'' remains with the POV of the title character, which is no problem in the earlier books; in the later books, however, there is a war being fought largely out of view, with the other characters doing various things to fight it that the audience doesn't get the chance to see.

* Done deliberately in ''The Charterhouse of Parma'' by Stendhal: The main character joins up Napoleon's army dreaming of heroic deeds and epic action, but when the battle of Waterloo takes place, all he sees is smoke and confusion. The whole thing is a huge anticlimax for him, and, symbolically, it marks the passing of the Revolutionary era.

* In ''TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'', Moreau grudgingly offers a fragmentary account of how a limbless, writhing ''thing'' he'd created had killed one of his human servants and several of his other creations before being hunted down. Although this event sounds like it might make a decent adventure/horror tale all by itself, no details about the creature or its actions and demise are offered, and it's never mentioned again.

** Virtually all of Robb Stark's campaign in the Riverlands and Westerlands during the War of the Five Kings. The closest we get to "seeing" a battle is Catelyn listening to the battle of the Whispering Wood from a distance. The only times we see Robb "onpage" in the second and third books is when he's showing his [[WhatTheHellHero father's aptitude]] for politics.

* ''{{Shogun}}'' ends just before the decisive, climactic battle that the whole book was building up to. A battle between hundreds of thousands of samurais that historically decided the fate of Japan. [[spoiler:Admittedly, after Toranaga?s [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome crowning moment of]] [[XanatosGambit Xanatos]] it was pretty much a done deal.]]

*** ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey'' are part of a [[TheTrojanCycle much longer epic cycle]], which contains the entire history of TheTrojanWar. Unfortunately, the other works (''Cypria'' (before the Iliad), ''Aethiopis'', ''Little Iliad'', ''Ilious persis'' (lack of capitalization intended), ''Nostoi'', (all between ''Iliad'' and ''Odyssey''), and ''Telegony'' (the conclusion)) have all been lost.

* TheLionTheWitchAndTheWardrobe. So much. A huge battle between Aslan's forces and the White Witch's army is set up...cut to Lucy and Susan saving Aslan and riding him to the battle, where we see it mostly ended and Peter tells them "Hey, we just had a really cool battle, you missed most of it though".

* This trope is used masterfully in [[{{ptitlen9ir3dhv}} China Miéville's]] ''Literature/TheScar'': the book's largely about a narrator 'lost at sea' in a city that's often outside the bounds of her knowledge and understanding. The story builds up a rivalry - and an intriguing past acquaintanceship - between two overpowered badasses, and they finally get their showdown a couple of chapters from the end...but then the fight scene gets skipped entirely, and instead we get to see the aftermath at the start of the next chapter.

* In ''TheIslandOfDoctorMoreau'', Moreau grudgingly offers a fragmentary account of how a limbless, writhing ''thing'' he'd created had killed one of his human servants and several of his other creations before being hunted down. Although this event sounds like it'd make a decent novella all by itself, no details about the creature or its actions and demise are offered, and it's never mentioned again.

* In ''[[TheWarGods Oath of Swords]]'', while the narrator is watching Bahzell busy fighting [[spoiler:Harnak]] as [[spoiler:champion of Tomanak to Harnak's champion of Sharna]], Brandark is caught in a melee against four hradani simultaneously -- and kills three of the four before going down.

* After spending the entirety of ''TheHobbit'' running around pissing everyone off and fleeing the bad karma before they can get what's coming to them, Bilbo and friends are finally cornered, with everyone turned against them and each other. The book climaxes as huge armies of men, elves and dwarves are about to begin fighting a humongous battle when Gandalf comes out of nowhere and tells them to stop, because huge armies of goblins and wargs with bats are coming at them! They quickly strike a truce to fight the common foe, and an enormous battle rages! At the brink of defeat, sentient eagles suddenly show up out of nowhere to help! The HolyShitQuotient is[[ReadingsAreOffTheScale off the scale]]! Oh, wait, Bilbo just got bonked on the bean by a rock. At least he gets to hear about it later.

* After spending the entirety of ''TheHobbit'' running around pissing everyone off and fleeing the bad karma before they can get what's coming to them, Bilbo and friends are finally cornered, with everyone turned against them and each other. The book climaxes as huge armies of men, elves and dwarves are about to begin fighting a humongous battle when Gandalf comes out of nowhere and tells them to stop, because huge armies of goblins and wargs with bats are coming at them! They quickly strike a truce to fight the common foe, and an enormous battle rages! At the brink of defeat, sentient eagles suddenly show up out of nowhere to help! The HolyShitQuotient are [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale off the scale]]! Oh, wait, Bilbo just got bonked on the bean by a rock. At least he gets to hear about it later.

* After spending the entirety of ''TheHobbit'' running around pissing everyone off and fleeing the bad karma before they can get what's coming to them, Bilbo and friends are finally cornered, with everyone turned against them and each other. The book climaxes as huge armies of men, elves and dwarves are about to begin fighting a humongous battle when? Gandalf comes out of nowhere and tells them to stop, because huge armies of goblins and wargs with bats are coming! They quickly strike a truce to fight the common foe, and an enormous battle rages! At the brink of defeat, sentient eagles and a giant werebear suddenly show up out of nowhere to help! The HolyShitQuotient is be [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale off the scale]]! Oh, wait, Bilbo just got bonked on the bean by a rock. At least he gets to hear about it later.
** All the good bits happened before he was knocked out. The various characters popping up and all. The actual fighting would just be bloody and awful and since the only 'point' in the battle for any of the 'good guys' was living through it and getting gold afterward, the fighting itself wouldn't have meant much of anything to ''anybody.'' (Except the goblins, for whom it was a matter of revenge and honor.)

* After spending the entirety of ''TheHobbit'' running around pissing everyone off and fleeing the bad karma before they can get what's coming to them, Bilbo and friends are finally cornered, with everyone turned against them and each other. The book climaxes as huge armies of men, elves and dwarves are about to begin fighting a humongous battle when? Gandalf comes out of nowhere and tells them to stop, because huge armies of goblins and wargs with bats are coming! They quickly strike a truce to fight the common foe, and an enormous battle begins to rage! Sentient eagles and a giant werebear suddenly show up out of nowhere to help! The HolyShitQuotient is gonna be [[ReadingsAreOffTheScale off the scale]]! Oh, wait, Bilbo just got bonked on the bean by a rock. At least he gets to hear about it later.

* In ''TheLordOfTheRings'', Boromir's last stand, the Ents wrecking Isengard and the Dead Men driving off the Corsairs at Pelagir are described in detail by those involved in flashback. TheFilmOfTheBook depicts these events in "real time".

* Boromir's last stand in ''TheLordOfTheRings'' occurs offscreen ''in between'' the first two books. This was changed for TheFilmOfTheBook, which placed the scene at the climax of the first film. There's also the example of the Ents wrecking Isengard and the Dead Men driving off the Corsairs at Pelagir, but at least both events are described in detail by those involved afterwards.

* Boromir's last stand in ''TheLordOfTheRings'' occurs offscreen ''in between'' the first two books. This was changed for TheFilmOfTheBook, which placed the scene at the climax of the first film.

** In the fifth book, Neville, Ginny and Luna somehow manage to knock out Draco, Crabbe, Goyle and a couple of other Slytherins.

* In the final chapter of the ''{{Warhammer 40000}}: [=~Gaunt's Ghosts~=]'' novel ''Sabbat Martyr'', the narrator speaks of a week-long battle supposedly more intense than any other recorded in the narrative, but we do not get to read it. Admittedly, it came on the heels of the final confrontation between Saint Sabbat and the Magister, but still...

* ''TheHungerGames'' by Suzanne Collins is told in first-person, so much of the action in the arena happens "offscreen", including what is implied to be an epic two-day battle between the two strongest competitors in the arena.