History PersonOfMassDestruction / Literature

* Any sufficiently powerful magic user in L.E. Modesitt's ''Literature/TheSagaOfRecluce'' will have the capability to become one of these, and will usually end up killing large numbers of people no matter how much they wish they didn't have to.

* Some Adept-level mages in the ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'' books have power of this magnitude - Vanyel is said to be capable of destroying a fair-sized city, and indeed does go kaboom in a fairly spectacular manner in his final HeroicSacrifice. Occasionally, even "ordinary" Heralds can get fairly destructive, especially Lavan Firestorm who rivals Vanyel's feat with [[PsychicPowers mind-magic]] alone.

** Arthur himself. As part of winning the SuperpowerLottery, he is the sole quadra-elemental mage in the setting who can tap into [[ElementNumber5 aether]], inherited from a dying dragon both her Beast Will and her daughter as his bond, and is a OneManArmy able to slaughter a horde of mana beasts that would give most mages pause due to both his experience from his past life and receiving TrainingFromHell from the Asuras. However, he truly enters this territory from Volume 8 onward, when [[spoiler:he gets rendered powerless at the close of the war and ends up RePower[=ing=] himself to CameBackStrong. Thanks to his bond's HeroicSacrifice, his body has become SemiDivine which enhances his physical capabilities and allows him to recover from grievous injuries. He develops an aether core to replace his damaged mana core and develops an attunement of it that surpasses that of the Asuras, helped by the fact he is descended from the [[{{Precursors}} Djinn]] whose mastery of aether was unparalled. He also unlocks powerful spells known the Godrunes, one of which is aptly named Destruction]].

** Aldir, the lead general of the Asuras. Even when holding back his power, he was able to defeat and incapacitate two of the six Lances. However, what truly puts him in this category is the fact that he is the wielder of the [[FantasticNuke World Eater technique]], which has been passed down his clan for generations to be used in the event of the GodzillaThreshold being passed. He is forced to use the technique by his master Kezess in order to prevent Agrona's servants from summoning the Legacy. It results in Elenoir being completely obliterated and rendered a lifeless wasteland. In the aftermath, Aldir is remorseful of what he had to do, especially since the Legacy was able to get away.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Coin, the title character of ''Literature/{{Sourcery}}''. The ancient plural of "Wizard" was "war". Coin's mere presence is enough to trigger the return of those days. Any powerful Wizard has the potential, but social conditions and limited magic normally prevent them from getting out of hand. [[spoiler: But a Sourcerer takes away the limitations on magic...]]

** Ebenezar [=McCoy=] once pulled a disused Soviet satellite out of orbit and [[ColonyDrop dropped it on someone]], more or less entirely because he was pissed off and that person needed to die anyway. He is also responsible for TheTunguskaEvent, Krakatoa, and the New Madrid earthquake. And those are just the things we know about. And then it turns out he's actually [[spoiler:Blackstaff, meant to be a hitman, and can casually ignore the laws of magic]]. Guess that's where Harry got his tendency to [[DestructiveSavior burn down buildings]]... [[spoiler:[[InTheBlood It must be genetic]].]]
** Harry Dresden himself gets pretty close to this. He's capable of throwing a giant demonic werewolf across a city block with no preparation. When faced with the start of a ZombieApocalypse, he responds by making his own zombie out of something much bigger than people, which stomps on National Guard trucks as an afterthought. When he goes to rescue someone from faerieland and encounters more resistance than he expected, he sets the whole place on fire.

* ''LightNovel/TheExecutionerAndHerWayOfLife'' has the Four Major Human Errors, people who possessed magical abilities so powerful that they caused the downfall of the preeminent civilization and nearly destroyed the entire world before being sealed in various prisons.

* In Perry Moore's ''Literature/{{Hero}}'', Justice is a {{Superman}} {{Expy}}, so he easily counts. Good thing he's a good guy. [[spoiler:Except not really. He's the superhero-murdering BigBad.]]

* Dragon riders from the ''Literature/InheritanceCycle''. There are limits (those being your own ingenuity with magic and whether or not a particular spell exerts more energy than your body possesses), but otherwise there is literally ''nothing that they cannot do''. The dragons they are partnered with are unable to mold magic beyond freak happenstance, but wield far greater power than their riders. Also: Riders can more or less meld their mind with their dragon's and use their resources for magic, which is the difference between moving a Sedan and moving an [[UpToEleven aircraft carrier]]. In the third book, it is revealed that [[spoiler:utilizing the magical core of a dead dragon, an [[AppliedPhlebotinum Eldunari]] (or multiple dead dragons, a la [[BigBad Galbatorix]])]], the aircraft carrier can be bumped up to ''[[HiroshimaAsAUnitOfMeasure Texas]]'', depending on [[spoiler:how many Eldunari one has and how saturated with magic they are]].

* In the ''Series/BabylonFive'' ExpandedUniverse trilogy ''The Passing Of The Technomages'', young [[MagicFromTechnology technomage]] [[BaldOfAwesome Galen]] becomes this after learning the spell that creates an unstoppable SphereOfDestruction. While there are limits on the spell, such as range and size, there is no limit on how fast or how many times Galen can cast it, the spell being one of the most primitive. In a fit of rage, Galen casts the spell dozens of times to level an entire city block in a matter of seconds (by destroying building supports) and eliminates 4 powerful warships (by literally taking out their power cores). And after that, he demands to be taken straight to the enemy homeworld to destroy everything there. It is no wonder both sides fear the technomages (Kosh isn't even sure during their encounter who would win in a fight). He becomes even more powerful by the end of the trilogy. By the time of the ''Series/{{Crusade}}'', he is the strongest technomage in existence, simply because only one other technomage has managed to [[spoiler:work in harmony with the tech instead of controlling it]], but he died shortly after.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order.

* ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive'': [[spoiler: Scarlett]] definitely gives off this vibe at the end of ''Necropolis'', when [[spoiler: she all but destroys Hong Kong.]] Matt ''can'' become this - when Richard sees [[spoiler: his older, more experienced past incarnation]] in ''Oblivion'', he sees no reason to assume that the kid is incapable of ''parting the seas'' or ''rending apart the sky''.

* In ''Literature/ShadowOps'', anyone capable of using one of [[TheDarkArts the rare prohibited forms of magic]] (Black magic, necromancy, gate magic, or sentient elemental creation) is automatically one of these - which is why they're illegal to begin with. Necromancy and sentient elemental creation allows for their user to essentially create an entire army instantly. Someone who can use gate magic can pretty much move anywhere they want instantly and has access to a weapon that [[PortalCut can effortlessly slice through any material]]. BlackMagic is control of entropy, and the person who can use it can near-instantly decay ''anything'' - living, dead, organic, mechanical, it doesn't matter. Scylla, the only user of this power, demonstrates it quite spectacularly when she uses it to literally destroy the entire defensive perimeter of a military base, killing hundreds of people, with about as much effort as crushing insects.

** And especially [[spoiler:Scion, as he demonstrates when he obliterates Great Britain pretty much effortlessly. Not just the people on it- the actual ''[[RegionalRedecoration island]]''.]]

* In ''Literature/NightWatch'' an exceptionally strong curse can turn the victim into one of these. Usually cursed ones die from a fallen brick or mugger's knife, but when the curse runs out of control, it can result in things like a random gas explosion, sudden outbreak of mutated flu or an unprovoked nuclear attack.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Coin, the title character of ''Discworld/{{Sourcery}}''. The ancient plural of "Wizard" was "war". Coin's mere presence is enough to trigger the return of those days. Any powerful Wizard has the potential, but social conditions and limited magic normally prevent them from getting out of hand. [[spoiler: But a Sourcerer takes away the limitations on magic...]]

** In the sequel ''Literature/{{Ward]]'', Legend demonstrates abilities on this scale, by leveling ''30 square kilometers of city'' in order to stop [[spoiler:Sleeper]]. Prior to this point, [[InformedAbility he had been described as equivalent in power to a tank battalion]]; afterwards, he's [[ShowDontTell proven it and then some]].

** The Wardens of the White Council are an entire military force composed of [=PMDs=]. In ''Turn Coat'', Harry sees a handful of Wardens go all-out to fight a bunch of nasties, and he's left completely dumbstruck.

** Virtually any [[SupernaturalMartialArts sacred artist]] above a certain level is unspeakably powerful, but the real prize goes to the Monarchs. The highest level of sacred artist on the planet, they can wipe out armies with a wave of their hand, and are the only people capable of fighting the [[EldritchAbomination Dreadgods]] to a standstill. Lindon is on a quest to save his home of Sacred Valley from an unknown catastrophe in thirty years. When he witnesses a Monarch fight a Dreadgod, he wonders if a the event that destroys his home is merely a Monarch accidentally stepping on Sacred Valley during a much bigger fight.