* Elijah bargaining the cure for a werewolf bite for Jane-Anne's body.
** Earlier in the same episode, Elijah's heart-to-heart with his little brother, Klaus. The speech he gave plus the beat-down was quite the awesome combo. Even if Klaus was beating him up, too. It's these scenes that make Klaus daggering his brother ''again'' all the more heartwrenching.
* In the episode "House of the Rising Son", Davina throws an Original Vampire out the window with only her mind.
** But not before knocking out Rebekah, said Original Vampire, and erasing her memory of the location of the Church she was in.
** Later on, she then ''boils Klaus' blood from the inside.'' The only reason Klaus made it out of the church alive was because he had the foresight to bring a hostage with him: Davina's childhood friend Tim.
* Klaus pulls a truly masterful BatmanGambit in the third episode, manipulating basically the entire rest of the cast to his own ends. It ends poorly for everyone but Klaus, naturally.
* Marcel's BigDamnHeroes moment, where he swooped in to stop the Harvest Ritual Sowing and saved Davina's life.
* Elijah, killing Agnes. "No one hurts my family. No one."
* Even though Marcel's plans against Klaus has failed and he lost his kingdom towards him he manages to have one final moment of defiance by giving Klaus TheReasonYouSuckSpeech by explaining how meaningless Klaus's victory is.
** Which speaks volumes given how Klaus pretty much drove his family away, caused Hayley to hate him, and even destroyed any chance at being a father to his unborn child.
* Before the above, Klaus versus something on the order of fifty to a hundred vampires at once. He just lets them beat on him for a while, and it actually looks like they might have a chance, Rebekah even stepping forward as if she's about to add a few hits herself. And then Klaus looks up, his eyes go yellow and the veins appear, and he growls deep in his throat. And proceeds to completely ''annihilate'' everybody in his path until Marcel surrenders. Rebekah's look of horror is what ultimately sells it. Counting up the casualties, approximately two dozen vampires were permanently killed in that fight.
* In a subsequent episode, Elijah stops a vampire hunting party out to kill werewolves by very calmly pointing out that there were considerably more of them when they tangled with his ''little brother'' Niklaus. The vampires back down immediately.
* Davina using her telekinesis to simultaneously break four witches' necks at the same time.
* Davina taking out two Originals without breaking a sweat. Bonus for having Klaus on all fours in unbelievable agony as his bones and tissue tears itself apart. And then finishing him off.
--->'''Davina''': ( Dismissively) '''That's enough out of you.''' Then snaps his neck with a gesture.
** She didn't just make Klaus beg in front of her. She ''was about to force him to turn into a werewolf.'' This is only topped off by her making Elijah choke on a thousand years' of blood. And before Rebekah appears to save him, she was going to ''boil Marcel in bronze.''
* Klaus backup plan was a dark one, reminding everyone why he is a TheChessmaster who is more then brute strength.
* Even Marcel has a backup plan just in case Klaus enacts his, in effect saving Davina from a lethal poison not even vampire blood could heal. Then again, [[LikeFatherLikeSon he had a hell of a teacher..]]
* Celeste has been playing a long game since before the series started, and by episode 13, the fruits of her labour sees Sophie dead, Klaus and Rebekah MIA, Hayley almost killed and Elijah ''severely'' emotionally compromised by her reappearance and the subsequent fall-out on his family.
** It soon becomes clear that Celeste's plan is not just revenge. She wants to tear the bond between the Mikaelsons asunder, and she nearly succeeds.
* Hayley knocking out Celeste and capturing her was pretty awesome, considering the trouble Celeste made for the Originals.
* Rebekah - weak with werewolf venom, delirious and scared out of her mind - is cornered by a vengeful Klaus after he learns that she and Marcel had summoned their father Mikael to New Orleans to kill him. And what does she do? She picks up a rusty iron and charges at him. It isn't effective, but Rebekah will be ''damned'' before she goes down fighting.
** Even before she starts attacking him, Rebekah [[DefiantToTheEnd refuses to beg for forgiveness or mercy from him.]] She knows she doesn't deserve it, but she will ''not'' give Klaus that satisfaction.
** Elijah's BigDamnHeroes moment, when he stabs Klaus with Papa Tunde's knife before he can do the same to Rebekah. Subverted in that this action might have come at the cost of whatever trust Klaus still had in his big brother.
* Hayley threatening Celeste with a goddamned shotgun. She knows that killing her will just mean Celeste will body-surf into another witch. [[TakeAThirdOption So she tells Celeste that if she tries anything funny, her cousin Eve will shoot her kneecaps.]]
* In his mission to resurrect Davina, Marcel gets one when he takes out an Elder Witch using surprise tactics, and rips off her head one handed...
* In the flashback of 1.15, we have Elijah standing up to Mikael and calling him 'a fool without equal' for even thinking that he would kill his own brother. Considering that Mikael has the in-universe nickname of ''The Destroyer'', that took serious balls.
* Cami deserves a mention for not only staying with Klaus - when there was a good chance she would be the victim of his fury - but she tries to get him to stop going off to kill Rebekah with his white oak stake.
* Elijah outsmarting Celeste by enlisting Monique's help to seal her spirit back in her original body after she 'kills' herself, thereby cutting her off from her source of immortality.
** Elijah is really shaping up to be the NobleBadass of The Originals this season.
* Hayley while briefly dead thanks to Monique's voodoo, finds herself threatened by Mikael. What does she do when faced with a thousand year-old vampire so dreaded that even Klaus is terrified of him? ''She beats him down for threatening her baby.''
--->'''Hayley''' while staking Mikael: '''My daughter has one advantage that [Klaus] never had. ''She will never know you.'''''
* The revelation that Francesca Correa, defacto leader of the human faction, and her family are descendants of the Guerrera werewolf line supposedly wiped out by Marcel. She'd struck a deal with Genevieve to take the black kyanite stones for herself, and with everyone nice and divided from Marcel and Klaus' battle, she and her brothers proceed to poison ''every vampire in the Quarter.''
** And before that, we have Elijah vs. Marcel's vampire army. This isn't like the last time: apparently, every vampire in the Quarter had sided with Marcel. Before Francesca comes in, Elijah had taken out nearly ''half'' of them. ''And he wasn't even breaking a sweat.''
*** Keep in mind that before the reveal: the werewolves were pretty much the ones that gets stomped by the vampires but this is the one episode where they not only get a chance to shine but to actually make the vampires become the ones being hunted in the process.
* Davina bringing back Mikael, but not without making it so she could control him. The girl seems to have learned well from Marcel.
** To get an idea of how awesome the above is: Mikael has the in-universe nickname of The Destroyer. He's the one being that Klaus - arguably the most powerful living supernatural creature in the ''world'' - is afraid of. And what does this sixteen-year old witch tell him to do? ''Kneel.''
** From that same episode, the fight between Elijah, Klaus and Hayley against the witches attempting to sacrifice Hope. Keep in mind the witches were backed up by the Ancestors. MamaBear and PapaWolf at its finest.
*** To put the cherry on top, there's Marcel's BigDamnHeroes moment where he [[TakeThatScrappy kills]] [[DragonInChief Monique]] with the Devil's Star - a weapon he intended to use on Klaus.
* Davina's awesome extends into Season 2. Not only does she manage to subdue four werewolves at once, but she also manages to cloak the white oak stake with a spell that Esther can't break.
** Not to mention that she still has Mikael under her control and is apparently close to figuring out how to break Klaus' sire-line so Marcel and the other vampires don't die once he gets killed.
* Klaus, Elijah, Hayley, Camille and Marcel working together to take out the Guerrera wolves and most of their allies in the course of a ''single night.''
** It begins with Camille giving false information to the wolves so they go looking for the white oak stake in a warehouse with functioning water sprinklers...that Marcel kindly filled with wolfsbane.
** Then it escalates with Hayley and Klaus dispatching the wolves sent to the Mikaelson estate to kill Klaus. This all occurred during the full moon, where Klaus is weakened through the black kyanite stones.
** And finally, as Elijah corners Francesca and her brothers in their home, he reveals to them that he used his influence on the city council to declare their home a heritage foundation. Meaning it's technically owned by the public, and thus ''anyone'' can enter without invitation....Francesca only gets away because Elijah wanted Hayley to have the pleasure of killing her herself.
** Even before the final fight, the Mikaelson brothers had destroyed Francesca mentally...by doing nothing. A straight up war she could handle, and even expected. Instead they did nothing for months, staying behind locked doors and letting the formerly arrogant Alpha wait in fear for a retribution that never came. All her frantic energy and werewolf aggression turned inward, making her paranoid and restless. They'd already won half the battle without ever making a move. Even their mother was impressed.
* Davina summoning Mikael to tear apart a group of werewolves who had been threatening her under Esther's orders. He kills them with ease and almost kills Elijah in the process.
* Esther in 2.03, moving constantly one step ahead of her two sons and showing them all which parent Klaus got his TheChessmaster genes from.
* Klaus facing Mikael again and stabbing him with Papa Tunde's knife. Unlike when Klaus faced Esther and was reduced to an emotional wreck, he barely flinches from facing down his horribly abusive father and manages to eventually get the best of him. It's a shame that Mikael was able to pull the knife out.... Klaus also gets bonus points for ''not'' killing Mikael and being better than that, though some would argue that leaving Mikael in eternal agony would not be necessarily better...
** Although that is an Awesome for Mikael too as he actually dominates the battle and hands Klaus his ass (which a lot of people like to see after he was practically untouchable in the early TVD seasons), the battle shows that even Mikael when weakened with werewolf venom, is still stronger than Klaus, luckily, Klaus is good at sneak attacks with a weapon that can do worse than death to an Original, unlucky for him, Mikael's willpower is just indomitable and he simply pulls out the dagger.
* The fight with Mikael in ''The Red Door'', this time it's him fighting not just Klaus, but Marcel, Hayley, Davina and Kaleb/Kol. Long story short, Mikael gets his ass handed to him.
** Camille even calls Mikael out on his vendetta towards Klaus as being pointless, and while it results in his VillainousBreakdown that nearly gets her killed, it's still pretty awesome.
** The icing on the cake is that while Mikael mocks Klaus for needing 'women and children' to fight his battles, it's the first time onscreen - and in a thousand years - that Mikael ''runs'' from a confrontation with Klaus.
** Actually, Mikael, who by now was weakened not only by werewolf venom and the effects of the dagger, still manages to beat Klaus (not the other way around though Klaus is able to keep up with the weakened Mikael better this time) and stakes him, unfortunately for him, the stake no longer had the power to kill an Original thanks to Davina and Kol. Then Klaus' back up arrives forcing Mikael to retreat for first time, however, Cami reminds everyone that Mikael was still weak.
** The best part was that weak or not Mikael would have ended it then or there if for one simple truth. He underestimated his Son and those who fight with him. Mikael used dismissive words like '' boy'' and '' weak''. But he lost because the Mikaelsons, while flawed, will fight for one another, Davina while hating the Mikaelsons would fight for Marcel, Hayley while antagonistic to Klaus would fight for Elijah, and Marcel while having conflicting feelings would fight for Cami. Mikael basically lost because the connections that the group have with one another, connections he cannot make because he mistakes rage for strength. Not realizing the strength of the ties between people.
* Oliver's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the wolves who allowed themselves to become the witches' minions
* Jackson's BigDamnHeroes moment where he shows up just in time to save Hayley from being killed.
* Rebekah who sees that something is ''seriously'' wrong with Elijah after discovering the bodies of the diner customers he needlessly massacred to ensure no-one knew of Hope's whereabouts. She keeps her cool long enough to catch him off-guard and break his neck, rather than take the chance that he would snap and hurt the baby.
* The mid-season finale, in which Klaus and Rebekah work together to get Esther to ingest vampire blood unknowingly so they can kill her. She wakes up in transition, stripped of her powers and her ability to jump into bodies, and is given a choice: either drink the blood bag Klaus left for her and become a vampire (aka everything she has hated for a thousand years), or die permanently. As Klaus bitterly notes, it's still more of a choice than she ever gave him and his siblings.
* Rebekah showing that even in a mortal body, she is still a badass on her own, owning a group of witches with only her hands and feet.
* Finn's TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to his mother after discovering she became a vampire when presented with the choice, rather than dying with her much-vaunted morals intact.
* Marcel's time in World War I, where he turned his entire unit after they were mortally wounded, and led them to slaughter the attacking Germans.
** From the same episode, Marcel leading a group of starving vampires through the crowded streets of New Orleans back to his place across the river. They'd been trapped there by Finn and had their hunger elevated to torturous levels, and Marcel stops them from slaughtering innocents with just a few words and his own determination. Oh, and did we mention that he did all this while almost dying from a werewolf bite?
* Klaus and Elijah freeing themselves from Finn's perception spell by showing him that his...perceptions of his brother were wrong. Elijah - whom Finn perceived as the noble stag - does this by confessing to the brutal murder of Tatia Petrova. Klaus - the big bad wolf - finishes Finn's spell off by ''forgiving'' Elijah wholeheartedly.
** Finn deserves some credit in this scene too. It doesn't take him long to figure out that both Klaus and Elijah are hiding something from him (i.e, that Hope is alive), and despite them breaking his spell, he remains convinced that his brothers are up to something.
* Freya Mikaelson effortlessly killing the Kindred tormenting Rebekah, and giving Cassie a horribly painful death for betraying her little sister. She then breaks the seal on the Fauline mansion - a seal that has been in place for over a ''century'' - and frees herself, Rebekah and any other witch that's inclined to leave. Truly, badassery runs in this family.
** Rebekah deserves a mention here too. Even though she doesn't know about Freya yet, it doesn't stop her from fighting back.
* Finn doesn't take long in putting two and two together, and figures out that Hope is still alive by asking Marcel one simple question.
* Jackson spends a third of 2.12 getting a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown from Klaus, and he still has it in him to fight back. Hell, he even ''mocks'' Klaus at one point, because of his jealousy that Jackson got to spend time with his birth father Ansel and he didn't.
* Finn has Elijah cornered in the house where Hope had been hidden, taunting him about his sins and how he's failed to protect his precious niece. Cue Elijah standing up very calmly, and then pointing out that while Finn was blabbering on, the gas leaking from the broken radiator has had enough time to permeate every inch of the home. And then he takes off his ring and lets his hand burn. [[EarthShatteringKaboom Boom.]]
** Hope's witch and hybrid powers start manifesting already, letting her heal from an unfortunate playtime accident and stopping Camille's car before the house explodes, and she's not even out of diapers yet.
* Elijah vowing to stop Klaus with everything he's got if he tries to murder Jackson. It's awesome for two reasons: firstly, Elijah has never been this implacable towards Klaus before. Secondly, Jackson's just married Hayley, who Elijah loves deeply. He has more reason to want Jackson dead than Klaus, but he's willing to step between Jackson and his own brother if he has to.
* Freya effortlessly sucking Finn out of the body he's inhabiting, solving all the family's current problems with the witches.
* Hayley telling Klaus point-blank that Mikael is ''his'' problem to deal with, and that she won't offer up her pack as cannon fodder to be placed between him and his father. She then goes even further and tells him that if he ''ever'' tries to use Hope to manipulate her into doing his bidding again, she will disappear with the baby and Klaus will never find them.
* Rebekah proving that she's still an effective fighter even though she's inhabiting a mortal body and can't use witch powers to defend herself.
* Mikael and Klaus' team up was this: humorously trading barbs and being effective fighters. Too bad Dahlia was just more powerful than either of them.
* Dahlia's official introduction, which shows us why everyone - from Esther to Freya to even ''Mikael'' - considers her a formidable threat. To wit: she lures Klaus and Mikael to St. Agnes' church and throws them around like rag dolls with her magic, before destroying the one weapon that they have against her.
** And though it didn't stick, Mikael fought off Dahlia's magic-induced entropy to impale her when she tried to strangle Freya. HeroicWillpower + PapaWolf at its finest.
* Elijah finds out that Freya's plan to kill Dahlia hinges on using Hope as bait to lure the witch out. He turns to Davina to create another spell to draw Dahlia out, only to be told the spell will be worthless without a beating heart to convince Dahlia that Hope is waiting for her. So what does he do? Gets a vial of Hope's blood and then forcibly injects it into Freya's neck. Hope is safe from both Dahlia and Freya, and the spell also traps Freya in the mansion so she can continue to work ''and'' act as bait.
* In the season finale, Dahlia proves to be so powerful that she unbinds her link with Klaus. Then when the Originals go to stop her (and save Freya), she uses magic to turn the white oak stake into dust, which she forces them to inhale so they can be 'burned' from the inside out. If Esther hadn't stepped in, she would have won.
* In 3.02, Elijah goes to see Lucien about why his company has been killing werewolves in the quarter. After an insult against Hayley, Elijah TranquilFury throws a wooden table leg through Lucien's throat. Which gives Jackson more than enough time to tackle him to the ground and bite him.
** Hayley getting a chance to just ''whale'' on Klaus for cursing her and leaving her only able to see Hope for one night of the month. She doesn't have his skill or experience, but she more than makes up for it with strength and pure Mama Wolf ''fury''.
* Marcel's duel with Mohinder in episode 3x04. Not only does he manage to go against an older and stronger vampire for a time, he does so despite suffering from werewolf venom from Hayley's bite, thereby using Mohinder's habit of feeding on his opponents against him. This ensures that while Marcel would not win the fight, [[TakingYouWithMe he would not lose either.]] The Strix are suitably impressed.
** Even better, he calls out the entire organization on using him to kill off Mohinder, telling them that he ''never'' takes a life without probable cause and if they want him to die, then they have to man up and do it themselves.
* Held captive in a hotel room, a boozing Cami tells her vampire guard to be careful about hurting her as Klaus likes her and it'll go bad for him.
-->'''Vampire''': You're a bad drunk, you know that?
-->Cami suddenly breaks the bottle, slices the guy's finger with his daytime ring off and forces him to leap out of the sunlight.
-->'''Cami''' (completely sober): I think I'm a pretty good drunk.
* After spending all of season three one step ahead of the Originals, and using his resources to make them suffer (like killing Jackson, threatening Hayley, poisoning Freya), Tristan du Martel finally gets his comeuppance in episode ten. He ends up trapped in a steel container, unable to leave due to the artifact he was going to use to seal the Originals away, and is finally dumped in the deepest parts of the oceans to drown over and over again for the foreseeable future.
* In episode 3.12, Elijah and Aya compete in order to win the leadership position of the Stryx. Elijah is the founder of the group, their direct Maker and has over one thousand years of strength and experience on his side. Aya, unlike Elijah, has been a leader within the Stryx since the beginning and commands the respect of the members. Who wins the contest? ''Marcel''. He steals the charter while they're occupied and successfully keeps it in his possession until midnight, making him the winner and leader of a thousand-year old vampire society. Nice work for a relatively young vampire who isn't even a member of Elijah's bloodline.
-->'''Marcel''' : I'm not the strongest one here...but I won the game.
** And the best part? It was all part of Elijah's plan to remove Aya from power and install Marcel as leader, not only to manage the Stryx but to also command them as an army against the threat of the prophecy.
----