Line #34 Awesome/HeraldsOFValdemar


1	[[foldercontrol]]
2
3	[[folder: The Arrows Trilogy]]
4
5	[[AC:Arrows of the Queen]]
6	* Ylsa [[DyingMomentOfAwesome goes out like a badass]], killing at least a few of her assailants and saving Valdemar from usurpers.
7	* The finale, when multiple Heralds combine their Gifts to salvage proof of treason.
8	* Sherrill and Keren diving into the river, ''during winter'', to save Talia's life.
9
10	[[AC: Arrow's Flight]]
11	* Talia at the book's climax: after spending most of the book in a spiraling descent of self-doubt over the ethical uses of her gift of Empathy, she weaponizes it to give an incredibly, ''exquisitely'', appropriate punishment to a murderer who abused and raped his stepdaughters.
12	* While she's stuck in the northern forest, Talia's Gift is about to break out of control, and the forest is about to strike. Rolan silently challenges the forest as if to say, "Don't you dare." At the same time, Talia regains control of her Gift, and whatever was about to attack vanishes in surprise. What was about to attack? The spirit of Yfandes, a legendary Companion bound to the forest along with her Herald.
13	* Kris manages to ''completely'' rebuild Talia's magical foundation ''from the ground up'' -- in the course of a '''month'''. While half of the credit is due to Talia, of course, it's not only a stunning display of friendship, love, and faith on Kris' part, but shows just how extraordinary a Gift-teacher he is, and would have continued to be if he'd lived.
14
15	[[AC: Arrow's Fall]]
16	* Talia, simply for ''surviving'' Ancar and Hulda's torture long enough to be sure that Rolan got to the Queen with the vital intelligence, then planning ahead for and retaining enough willpower to kill herself, to both spare herself more pain and as a final psychological 'fuck you' to Ancar and Hulda, to deny them them triumph of having killed her. To clarify: she willingly endures a full day of torture after being gang-raped and while suffering PTSD from not only watching one of her best friends die but Empathically experiencing the slaughter of dozens. At the end of that day it's clear to Ancar and Hulda that no matter how she's suffered, she hasn't broken.
17	* Dirk, Elspeth, their Companions and Rolan mind-melding their powers and strength to rescue Talia from her captivity.
18	* Elspeth gets another during the confrontation with Lord Orthallen. When he goes berserk and attacks Talia - who is too injured to fight off anything larger than a bug - no one is close enough to reach him in time. Except Elspeth, who kills him with a throwing knife in about a breath, and retains the presence of mind to claim Royal Authority to cover her ass legally. Then holds back the post-kill-reaction sufficiently to ''ask'' to be taken to a basin instead of just throwing up in the corner.
19	[[/folder]]
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21
22	[[folder:Brightly Burning]]
23	* Kalira jumping ''in front of Guardsmen's spears'' to protect her Chosen.
24	* The ending, when Lavan almost literally goes nuclear, in his grief at Kalira's murder. He retains barely enough presence of mind to wait just long enough for his allies to run hellbent for leather, then obliterates ''an entire Army''. He scorches White Foal Pass down to bedrock, and terrifies the Karsites (including a priesthood that routinely raises Demons) so thoroughly that they don't even sneeze in Valdemar's general direction for a couple of generations. It's a Moment of Awesome in the sense of 'inspiring awe', where 'awe' is the archaic term for 'dread, fear or reverence.'
25	[[/folder]]
26
27	[[folder:The Herald-Mage Trilogy]]
28	* Gala [[HeroicSacrifice taking on the pack of wyrsa]].
29	* "No."
30	* Tylendel apologizing through Stefen to Vanyel and admitting his mistakes.
31	* By Magic's Price, Savil is old and physically quite frail but still has enough cunning and energy to not make it easy for her killer, which does help Vanyel avenge her.
32	* Though we know what happens to Vanyel by the end of the trilogy, true to form, [[DyingMomentOfAwesome he makes his end an epic one]]. Turns out that the Final Strike made by one of history's most powerful mages, supported by a Companion, can take out an entire army and reduce the surrounding area to a crater.
33	[[/folder]]
34
35
36	[[folder: The Mage Winds Trilogy]]
37	* The final defeat of Ma'ar in his incarnation as Mornelithe Falconsbane. Several weeks of undercover travel have put an assassin squad within reach of Hardorn's capital. An'desha, the helpless victim of Falconsbane's latest GrandTheftMe, has been passing information through the magical sword Need to the team consisting of Herald Skif, Falconsbane's estranged daughter Nyara, and Tayledras [[TheArchmage archmage]] Firesong. At their suggestion, he subtly lets Falconsbane know that Nyara is in the area with a traveling carnival, luring him out of the palace.\
38	\
39	At the very last moment Falconsbane begins to suspect a trap. An'desha pushes his BerserkButton by suggesting there might be gryphons too, and a quick-thinking Skif uses his hands to cast a gryphon shadow on their tent. Seconds later, Falconsbane storms in, maddened beyond rational thought. Nyara stands ready with Need; Skif is expecting to make a HeroicSacrifice, but his Companion Cymry comes up behind Falconsbane and shoves him onto the sword, mortally wounding his body. Falconsbane's spirit flees and Firesong pursues and destroys it in a display of magical fireworks. They even save An'desha: Need appeals to his spirit to keep going with a bit of a GodGuise while simultaneously healing the wound she caused as Nyara pulls her out a fraction at a time.
40	[[/folder]]
41
42	[[folder: The Exile Duology]]
43	* Alberich going from the bastard of a tavern girl to a ranking officer in the Karsite military to Valdemaran Herald, Weaponsmaster, spymaster, royal adviser, bodyguard, and mentor, while remaining a faithful follower of Vkandis and son of Karse, (as recognized by his own god.).
44	* Myste, who is visually impaired, clumsy, useless in a fight, and knows it, is quite sensibly terrified of being on the battlefield. She nevertheless serves as Selenay's banner-carrier, and when Selenay attempts to follow King Sendar's suicidal charge at the front lines, she tackles Selenay off of her Companion and literally sits on her for the duration of the battle. This despite breaking her ankle in the process.
45	[[/folder]]
46
47	[[folder:Anthologies]]
48
49	[[AC:Finding the Way]]
50	* Samira facing her swindler in court.
51	-->"I am willing to testify under Truth Spell. Is he?"
52
53	[[AC:UnderTheVale]]
54	* Don's not a fighter, and he knows that when things get physical, running is the best option. But when he sees a little girl who's been beaten black-and-blue, with her tormentor running after her, he ''snaps''. He grabs a shovel, jumps on a Companion's back and plays polo with the guy's head, hitting him so hard that the shovel breaks.
55
56	[[/folder]]
57
58	[[folder: Filks]]
59	* In "Demonbane", Vanyel protects a band of Hardonen refugees from Lord Nedran, refusing his threats and bribery and utterly destroying the forty soldiers that serve him.
60	-->''The wizard shouts in triumph- too soon he vents his mirth-\
61	For Vanyel calls the lightning down, and smites him to the earth!''
62	* "Battle Dawn", Queen Selenay's declaration of vengeance on King Ancar for all he's done. With a good singer, you can just feel the righteous fury with every verse.
63	--> ''By all the stars that ever shone\
64	By all the gods, known and unknown\
65	For Herald Kris and my Queen's Own....\
66	I swear that you will pay!''

Context Awesome / HeraldsOFValdemar