Establishing Character Moment / Literature

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• In the Dale Brown novel Air Battle Force, Grzylov is introduced speaking congenially to the aircrew of a Russian bomber whose operation he is sitting in on...one that involves firebombing the shit out of Chechens. It's a Bait the Dog moment, but it also establishes how he cares for his people while also being utterly ruthless to the enemies of the Rodina, notions that are reinforced when his Disproportionate Retribution for losing a base full of bombers is a nuclear sneak attack on the US that wipes out a large part of the American strategic arsenal.
• The Alloy of Law: In his first scene, Wax comments about how his gun feels like part of his hand, is careful about relying on his powers too much, gets into a Friendly Rivalry chat with Lessie (arguing about which of them has saved the other's life more times), and muses that a manhunt has grown so difficult that he wants to leave but he gave his word to bring the prisoner in "and that was that." Consequently, his Mage Marksman skills, fondness for cowboy cliches, and status as an Experienced Protagonist and Hero Protagonist are all clear well before the end of the first chapter.
• Ash: A Secret History: In the very first scene of the book we learn that Ash, the titular protagonist, is mentally prepared to thrive in the harshest of CrapsackWorlds. Having grown from infancy with no parental supervision at all (the children in her mercenary camp have to suckle from dogs because even their mothers take no responsibility for them), Ash is raped by mercenaries as an 8-year-old, and kills them, and promises to kill whoever punishes her for that act of self-defense. She is whipped anyway, but decides that her scars are what make her beautiful.
• In the beginning of As I Lay Dying, two brothers are walking and encounter an obstacle. One brother goes around it and the other goes through it.
• Bazil Broketail:
  • Wiliger first arrives to the 109th quarters by going there straight from a luxurious dinner—along with an entourage of his friends (including a few ladies)—drunk on wine and dressed in an outdated dragon commander's uniform with overgrown (and possibly made of gold), irregular "109" sign on his cap. Due to intoxication, he acts nice and cordially towards the dragonboys at first, but soon decides to go on a small impromptu inspection, loudly criticizing the squires that parts of their gear are not properly cleaned. When he meets a dragon for the first time—who, as if things couldn't be worse, happens to be Purple-Green—he instantly goes into dragon freeze and Relkin notes that he seems to suffer the worst from it (even worse than the ladies he brought). In a very short timespan, Wiliger managed to show everything that's wrong with him, and all the dragonboys know from day one serving under him is not going to be a walk in the park.
  • Glaves is first introduced when trying to rent a cabin on a civilian ship (by which Bazil and Relkin happen to be travelling) in order to get to Fort Dalhousie. When he's informed that all cabins are taken, he doesn't care, demands to get one anyway and ends up kicking out its original inhabitant. When the ship's captain tries to protest, he uses Dandrax to intimidate him. Later he even refuses to pay for the voyage, complaining about the living conditions.
• The Bible:
  • "In the beginning, God created the Heaven and the Earth." And then God establishes His unending power with a simple sentence, "Let there be light".
  • Jesus has one. His first when he is when Mary and Joseph take him to Passover in Jerusalem, and as they leave, he stays behind. Once they realise he is missing, they become frantic, and are looking for him everywhere, worried sick, and find him listening and asking questions with the teachers in the temple. The teachers are impressed by his wisdom, and Mary and Joseph are astonished. When Mary tells him off, he answers "Why is that you are looking for me? Did you not know I would be in my Father's house?" He goes home with them, and is very obedient to his parents. This event shows his wisdom, his humility, and his close relationship with God.
  • Samson, the most famous character of the Book of Judges, is touted as The Chosen One who will help his people beat the Philistines. His first line of dialogue crushes all expectations.
    Samson: I have seen a beautiful Philistine girl in the next village. I will marry her.
• The Bone Wars: Algernon DeMott is introduced harshly firing a Cool Teacher who is tutoring his son after the man suggests Julian sketch the dinosaur sculptures of Waterhouse Hawkins, as Algernon consulted on those sculptors and is mad about how Hawkins consulted with a rival of his over one sculpture, leading to the sculpture having inaccuracies. This shows Algernon is highly intelligent and takes his work seriously, but is arrogant, hot-headed, comfortable demeaning anyone he sees as beneath him, and not to concerned about the feelings and welfare of his son.
• In Brothers of the Snake, the first thing Autolochus says is appreciating Petrak's more though-out tactics, and the second is snarking at all present, presenting him as no-nonsense, intelligent and a Deadpan Snarker.
• A Brother's Price opens with Jerin multitasking at House Husband duties, cooking and looking out for his younger siblings, and mostly passively trying to put up with his big sister.
  • That same moment also foreshadows that his sister Corelle is a troublemaker.
  • Raven Tern, captain of the royal guard, is established as sensible person when she waits for Queens Justice (this world's equivalent of police) to arrive instead of using her authority to demand entry into the farm where Jerin lives.
• In Shaw's Caller of Light, Marissa gushes about how happy she is to meet her fiancée...while refusing to shake his grubby hand. This is the first indication of many that she only wants his money.
• Catwoman: Soulstealer: Luke's is when, on entering a police station to speak with Commissioner Gordon, he spots a teenage black boy who is under arrest for marijuana possession. He soon suspects it's possibly planted or the result of the officer illegally searching him given what he's said. Luke first asks if he's okay, then demands he be given a blanket due to still being dripping wet from the rain outside. He then calls up a friend of his who's a lawyer who will represent the kid, hopefully exposing any illegality and or insure he's not simply railroaded through court, showing he's a compassionate, socially conscious man.
• In The Chronicles of Amber, the hero wakes up in a hospital with no memories and casts on three (unbroken) limbs. He proceeds to Groin Attack the doctor that tries to sedate him, blackmail the hospital manager into giving him cash, and then bluff his sister into believing that he knows everything.
• Chronicles of Chaos by John C. Wright: the Red Soldier's introduction is one of these—not so much through what he does (walk down a driveway and enter a meeting) as how he moves and the way it's narrated.
  • In War of the Dreaming, at his introduction, the main villain's first scene involves convincing the hero into jumping off the edge of the world.
• Early in the first book of the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, Covenant is firmly established as an Anti-Hero when he rapes Lena.
• Lord General Zyvan's first appearance in the Ciaphas Cain novels shows him bluntly telling command that the planet they're on is a backwater with no material value, that it's not worth getting into a war with the Tau over, except for the precedent it would set if they let it go. This firmly establishes that he's a Reasonable Authority Figure rather than the xenos-purging fanatics Warhammer 40,000 is known for.
• In Consider Phlebas, the Culture establishes itself as "the ridiculously powerful civilization you don't want to mess with" by having one of its warships jumping Out of a Sun. It's also established by the Idiran commander's claim that any time their ships have faced the Culture's, they lost badly. Later it turns out said "warship" was a diplomatic vessel technically not made for war at all!
• Cradle Series:
  • Our first introduction to Lindon is when he is a child, taking a test to determine his future. He desperately wishes for a particular result, and when it turns out he is an Un-Sorcerer he spends the next dozen tests trying to cheat. When the story resumes years later, he is still trying every trick to become stronger despite the fact that anyone could murder him at any moment, and he tries to save a jerk who almost got them both killed.
  • When Yerin first appears, she has been fighting nearly non-stop for weeks, but still picks up her sword and fights a dozen more people. The only thing that stops her from a suicidal last stand is Lindon quietly asking her not to leave him to die.
  • Eithan is introduced using his bloodline power to spy on everyone in camp, make plans, and subtly improve the lives of everyone around him without anyone noticing.
  • Mercy first appears to give a random idiot a rare healing item. When he realizes who she is and everyone runs away because of her family name, she is sad, but not surprised.
• Lilja, the petite, quiet librarian, is introduced shelving books in Dance of the Butterfly. She is attacked on her walk home by a very large man who intends to rape her. In short order, she lets loose, puts him in a painful hold, and calls the police to come collect him.
• In the Stephen King novel The Dead Zone, Greg Stillson (the villain) is introduced as a traveling salesman who is tired of the pathetic existence he's been reduced to. After trying unsuccessfully for a couple of minutes to knock on a prospective buyer's door, he ends up kicking to death a defenseless dog that was barking at him, foreshadowing his true motivations later on in the novel.
• Duke Alaric Morgan's first appearance in Deryni Rising, when he and Sean Lord Derry ride into Rhemuth for Kelson's coronation, functions this way on several levels:
  • Morgan glances down at his sombre black clothing in contrast to the colourful trappings of the coronation guests. Morgan prefers to dress this way for much of his early adult life.
  • Morgan grieves for Kelson's father Brion, and recalls the harrowing events of the past several days. This is appropriate for Deryni, whose powers are partly psychic and partly empathic, and his reverie functions as an Exposition Beam between the author and the reader, akin to those used by Deryni in-universe. We also learn of an ambush which Morgan survived largely uninjured, establishing his martial credentials.
  • Morgan comes to using breathing and concentration efforts (part of Deryni training to use their powers) and checks on his injured human aide Derry. Morgan is loyal to his own men and doesn't discriminate against ordinary humans, rather treating them according to their merit.
  • Morgan's ministrations to Derry are rudely interrupted by a whip-wielding giant-sized Connaiti mercenary announcing "His Loftiness" the Supreme of Howicce. Morgan stops Derry from retaliating (noting the giant was accompanied by six more just like him), but cannot resist indulging his sense of humour. When Derry asks, "By all the devils in hell, what is a Supreme of Howicce?" Morgan replies in a penetrating stage whisper, "I'm not certain. I don't think it's as high as a Quintessence or a Penultimate. Probably some minor ambassador with delusions of his own importance." At a glare from the last of giant mercenaries, Morgan puts on an innocent expression, but once the party has proceeded down the street, he discreetly uses his powers to entangle the whip-wielder's whip round his horse's legs, bringing down both man and beast and forcing the Connaiti to cut the whip to rescue his horse. If life for Gwynedd's Deryni is a dangerous game of Grandmother's Footsteps, Morgan is an expert player.
  • At the castle courtyard, Morgan dismounts and looks over the courtiers for faces he knows, thereby introducing them to the reader and establishing his thorough understanding of politics. After exchanging greetings with a friendly minor lord, he notices people near him reacting to his presence, realizes they know who he is and have heard dreadful rumours about him, and strikes a pose while dusting off his clothes before slowly gazing on the little assembly to play up the menace. Morgan cultivates his dangerous reputation and uses it to protect himself.
• "Angel Down, Sussex" is the first story in the Diogenes Club series to feature paranormal investigator Catriona Kaye. In her first scene, she's participating in a seance, where she keeps up a sardonic internal commentary on the Phony Psychic's technique. When the psychic claims to be receiving a message for Catriona from the other side, perhaps from someone she lost in the war, Catriona plays along and hints the psychic toward positively identifying the message as being from her soldier boyfriend Edwin, then once the psychic has left herself no wiggle room Catriona says demurely that there's just one thing she doesn't understand: "Edwin... isn't... actually dead." (In fact, he's waiting in the car outside so Catriona can make a quick getaway from the enraged psychic and her accomplices.)
• Discworld
  • We first meet Lord Vetinari in The Colour of Magic. He's then unnamed and described rather differently, although Pterry confirms it's supposed to be the same person. While talking to Rincewind, he makes it quite clear that not only does he know about the wizard's attempt to duck out of the guide job Twoflower hired him for, he also makes it clear that if something does happen to Twoflower and the Agatean Empire's armies attack Ankh-Morpork because of said something, he will make sure Rincewind is the first thing their navy ships meet. Though it doesn't demonstrate the levels of excellence he shows in later novels, our first encounter with the Partician shows us he's not a man to cross, but he does care about his city.
    • The more familiar characterisation of Vetinari first appears in Guards! Guards!, who makes his world view known towards the end:
      Vetinari: A person like you thinks that there are good men and bad men... There are, always and only, bad men — but some of them are on different sides.
  • Death is initially introduced in The Colour of Magic as something of an antagonist, albeit one who can't directly hurt Rincewind. The Don't Fear the Reaper personality gets established in The Light Fantastic, when he and Rincewind see the fanatical Red Star cultists listening to a lecture on The Evils of Free Will (his opinion of which will also become more significant once the Auditors have been introduced):
    Rincewind: It's horrible.
    Death: I'm inclined to agree.
    Rincewind: I would have thought you'd be all for it!
    Death: Not like this. The death of the old man or the warrior or the child, this I understand, and I take away the pain and suffering. I do not understand this death-of-the-mind.
  • Also in Guards! Guards!, Sam Vimes's rant to Lupine Wonse about the collapse of the rule of law in the city after the dragon took over.
  • The second scene of Soul Music introduces us to Susan Sto Helit, when her headmistress informs her that her parents have died. The headmistress then prompts her that maybe she'd like to cry or something, and Susan responds "Would that help?" This leads into to another interview with Miss Butts, which establishes her psychic invisibility, and tendency to use this to avoid anything she doesn't want to do. (Which, in turn, tells us that she likes Logic and Maths, but not Language and History, because those are the classes she's visible for.)
  • Tiffany Aching gets her in The Wee Free Men inside Miss Tick's tent. After being informed that the Queen of Elves is planning to invade the Chalk, Tiffany immediately asks "Can I stop it?", whereas most nine-year-olds would say "Can anyone stop it?" or "Can we stop it?". Miss Tick is very observant of this.
• MacKenzie of Dork Diaries makes her first appearance by managing to get a crowded hallway to clear a path for her just by showing up.
• Dragon Queen: the old man drinks himself unconscious in his first appearance.
• In The Dreamside Road, Orson’s arrival in Nimauk functions as this. He drives his camper into and up a river, and he later saves Enoa from her first encounter with the Sight-Stealers, all while cracking wise.
• The Dresden Files
  • Mab is one of the faerie queens, specifically of Winter, the Queen of Air and Darkness. She is pragmatic, merciless, bloodthirsty, and willing to make every underhanded deal you can imagine to get what she wants. If she doesn't get what she wants, she is a horrifying monster willing to calmly torture the offenders in ways they didn't think possible. She's quite open about this - at one point, she muses that the Romans were amateurs, and scoffs at the tortures they inflicted on the White Christ, and with a sort of sad fondness, wonders why mortals still make deals with "old serpents" like her. A former minion of hers who made the horrible mistake of betraying her cries tears of joy when he finally gets his Mercy Kill. In Cold Days, Mother Winter, while sharpening her cleaver, describes her with a measure of disgust as "too much the romantic".
    Harry: And that tells you pretty much everything you need to know about Mother Winter.
  • Harry himself gets more than a few.
    • In the first book, one of his first scenes involves accepting a job as a PI then frantically rushing off to assist the cops, who he mocks in the process.
    • Later in the book, the character of Harry throughout the series is defined when he speaks with a little girl whose father has abused her and her mother. When the girl asks if he is going to kill her father, Harry says that he probably will. Fully establishing Dresden as a man who is willing to do whatever it takes to protect others.
    • And finally, in Ghost Story, we have our first chronological moment when Harry flashbacks to the night he escaped from his Evil Mentor—who had tried to enslave, then, failing that, kill him—and had to fight a powerful Outsider. He initially tries to run away from the Outsider, until it kills an innocent bystander. Seeing this, Harry gets angry as he never has before, and fights back with his first true fire-based attack spell.
      Harry: That wasn't right.
• The first book in the Enchanted Forest Chronicles starts by establishing a fairy tale kingdom that is perfectly normal, perfectly safe, and perfectly boring. The book that goes on to say that "Cimorene" (the main character) "hated it" establishing her Rebellious Princess role for the rest of the books.
• The Fallen Arises: The young protagonist Dorothy, upon learning that one of her new friends is an empath—and therefore unable to touch anyone without feeling their pain or sorrow—immediately holds hands with her and sends happy thoughts, showing her willingness to do what it takes to make someone feel better, even if she doesn't know them. This is a trait that gets her in trouble later on.
• The Fire-Us Trilogy open with Teacher (who reads and interprets her "sacred" Great Big Book of Everything), Hunter (who collects resources to feed and supply the family), and Mommy (who takes care of the younger children) all performing their respective duties. Later, Angerman is introduced in the middle of one of his fits.
• Gone with the Wind:
  • The book opens with Scarlett O'Hara flirting with not one, but two beaux at the same time. Naturally, both men are spellbound by her.
  • Rhett openly expressing skepticism that the South will win the war.
• Good Omens:
  • The very first scene takes place in the Garden of Eden, and features Aziraphale, an angel, and Crawly, a fallen angel/demon in serpent form—in fact the serpent who convinced Eve to eat the apple. You would expect these moral enemies to be engaged in some epic battle, right? Nope, they're just hanging out together having a discussion about morality and ineffability while watching Adam and Eve leave the garden, setting up their Friendly Enemy status later on.
  • In addition, we learn that Crawly wasn't planning to get them kicked out of the garden, he was just told "Get up there and cause some trouble," so he did. And the first description we get of him is "An Angel who did not fall so much as saunter vaguely downwards." Even though he's a demon, he's more of a Punch-Clock Villain than an embodiment of evil.
  • Aziraphale reveals that he secretly gave Adam and Eve his flaming sword before they left because he was worried about them. He then lies to his superiors about it, claiming he must have misplaced it somewhere. This establishes him as an angel who is more concerned about protecting humanity than doing what he's told, which leads to him eventually help Crowley try to stop the apocalypse.
• The moment Daisy Buchanan opens her mouth in The Great Gatsby.
• In The Green Mile, John Coffey's moment is asking if they keep the lights on after bedtime (the book and movie both play with the "huge black man" stereotype). In the same scene, Percy Wetmore's incessant yelling of "Dead Man Walking!" tells us his archetype.
• In Halo: The Cole Protocol, Thel 'Vadamee (better known as Halo's Arbiter) is shown being elected to basically king of his state (in a society established as running on Asskicking Leads to Leadership). Then, he stays up all night after his election in wait for any assassination attempts, then curb-stomps three assassins without suffering a single wound. Afterwards, Thel tricks the elder who sent the assassins into confessing, gives him a "Reason You Suck" Speech regarding his failure to be remembered in the family saga, kills the elder when he finally attacks Thel directly, and tells the elder's clan that had the elder not salvaged their honor by directly fighting back, he would have had them all put to death (but as such, Thel decides to show mercy by simply exiling them on pain of death). All of this establishes not just his badassery, but his cunning, arrogance, ruthlessness, and obsession with honor.
• The Harry Potter series has several of these:
  • The first for the title character. It's made plainer in retrospect, but Harry's insistence he's not a wizard, that he's nothing special, in the face of a giant man tracking him through a raging thunderstorm, knowing his birthday, and giving him a letter stating as much, reveals a certain something about his character.
  • The very first line after the first chapter's title says everything you need to know about the Dursleys right off the bat:
    Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.
  • Voldemort gets one before the series actually begins when he kills Harry Potter's parents.
  • Draco Malfoy gets one when he and Harry meet in Madam Malkin's. He has no idea he's talking to "The Boy Who Lived", and responds to My Parents Are Dead with "Oh, sorry. But they were our kind, weren't they?"
  • Hermione Granger introduces herself by speaking very quickly, showing excitement for school, dispensing information others don't know, and—this is key—helping a fellow student who's lost something.
  • Ron Weasley is depicted in hand-me-down robes with a hand-me-down wand and a hand-me-down pet, and he starts off complaining that even if he does do something well, it won't matter because his older brothers have already done it first, but he also shows embarrassment at his curiosity over Harry's status as the Boy-Who-Lives and reassures Harry that he won't stand out at Hogwarts for his ignorance. Ron might be insecure and jealous, but he's a good kid with a good heart. He then explains wizarding sweets and Quidditch to Harry, setting up his role as the trio's insider to the wizarding world.
  • Molly Weasley is first shown helping Harry, whom she hardly knows, get onto Platform 9 3/4. Later, she scolds her children for treating him like an exhibit.
  • Fred and George are introduced with a quick prank of pretending to be the other on their mother, and then helping Harry with his trunk-without knowing who he is, just that he needs help. This quickly sets them up as a pair of pranksters who love messing with people, but also very nice and kind-hearted guys.
  • Severus Snape first appears when he's staring so hard at Harry that Harry believes he's the one hurting his scar, all because he wants to see Lily's eyes in Harry's face, and then, in his first speaking scene, he bullies Harry, Neville, and Hermione, showing that even though he loves Lily and will protect her son in her name even after her death, he won't be nice about it.
  • From the first moment we see Luna Lovegood, wearing radish earrings, with her wand stuck behind her ear and reading The Quibbler upside down, it is clear she is a world-class Cloudcuckoolander.
  • While not his first scene, Gilderoy Lockhart's character becomes clear during his first Defense Against the Dark Arts lesson. He brags about his deeds, gives a pop quiz with all questions about himself, and when the pixies he unleashes prove to be too much he flees, leaving the students to deal with the mess.
  • By contrast, Cool Teacher Remus Lupin gets his establishing character moment when he fends off the Dementor on the train and offers Harry and co. chocolate as a cure for the creature's happiness-draining effect, showing that he genuinely knows his subject and cares about the students. The fact that he conjures a handful of flames without words or even a wand also indicates that he is a powerful wizard, despite his obvious ill-health.
  • In The Philosopher's Stone, the first time we see Alpha Bitch Pansy Parkinson is when she sneers at Parvati Patil for showing concern for Neville, who was recently hurt. That meant that she was going to be a bitch on wheels.
  • Dudley's first scene has him throwing a fit because he got thirty-six presents on his birthday as opposed to last year's thirty-eight. Sets him up as a Spoiled Brat (though he later reforms).
• The first scene of A Harvest of War is basically "Wild Rhona in a nutshell": a loving, attentive mother to her daughter Brianna, right up until she comes across a gang of slavers and brutally slaughters the overseers and their mastiffs, having provoked the fight herself.
• In the children's book Hilda and Richie, Hilda—an anthropomorphic fox—is first seen wearing a Pimped-Out Dress, implying she’s a Proper Lady; she is confirmed to be wealthy in the supplementary material; she's shown sitting on an ornate couch with a hand fan…and she blows bubble gum.
• The Hobbit: Thorin is the only dwarf not to greet Bilbo with "at your service." He is also the only one not to help clean the dishes.
• Lenobia's introduction in The House of Night series. She rides in elegantly on a horse, bluntly tells her new students that half of them won't last the semester, and warns them not to slack off ("Horses are not big dogs. Nor are they a little girl's dream image of a perfect best friend who will always stand beside you. Horses are work."). But she also allows her students to ask questions, mentions that she chose her name as a historical reference, and has a friendly chat with Zoey after class. Three pages, and we know that Lenobia is confident, stern but fair, and very knowledgeable.
• On the first page of The Hunger Games, Katniss establishes herself as a doting older sister who has no problems with drowning pesky kittens.
• In the Hurog duology, the first thing Ward does is looking for his little sister, who got lost in a cave, a moment which establishes his Gentle Giant personality and tendency to look out for others.
• I Need A Wee: In Alan's first scene, he's happily yelling while riding a carnival ride, cementing his Genki Guy persona.
• In the superhero novel series The Infected there are seven POV characters, and each gets one in the first scene of their respective books, whether or not they were already familiar figures.
  • We meet Brian (who has the power to take the place of people about to die) fighting two serial killers, one of whom has superpowers. He is totally outmatched, unskilled in combat, and still utterly determined to fight to the last breath, because an innocent life is on the line.
  • Denis, a Jerk with a Heart of Gold about to embark on a Redemption Quest opens his book sitting in a cell, snarking at the walls, but also reflecting on how his own poor decisions led him there.
  • Marcia, the paranoid ex-spy, begins with a clandestine meeting in the woods to take a secret phone call, and thinking about all the ways this could be a trap.
  • Penny, invisible team sociopath, starts her novel by assassinating a public figure without a trace of regret.
  • Tobin, The Grotesque, breaks the rule a bit by starting singing on a stage, as part of a PR event. His defining moment still comes in the first chapter, where he insists on leaving the tour bus and go into a convenience store himself, despite the real risks of a Torches and Pitchforks mob.
  • Bridget, to this point a hyperactive, gregarious and easily distracted Little Miss Badass, opens her book by taking on a difficult mission, and treating it as Serious Business despite the many distractions along the way.
• The Irregular at Magic High School:
  • The first detail noted about Akane is that, while she was in elementary school, she outright told a boy four years older than her that she was going to marry him when they grew up. A girl like that isn't afraid of anything.
  • In Cygnus Maidens, Marika tries to fight one of the strongest magicians in the world, with no weapons or strategy whatsoever, to stop him from taking her friend away. The following Time Skip does not temper this brashness in any way.
• It is established to be a truly horrible creature that preys on children when it hides underneath a storm drain and then attacks and kills a child by biting his arm off.
• In her first scene, Kate Daniels is drinking alcohol alone in her dark kitchen in the middle of the day, only to whip around and throw a knife into the throat of the vampire sneaking up on her. Her status as a badass fighter and her hatred of vampires are constant throughout the series, and her loneliness, depression and alcoholism are all Character Development arcs she struggles with.
• The reader's introduction to Queen Isabel in The Kingdom of Little Wounds involves throwing a horrible fit and nearly eating a pearl.
• The Magicians,
  • Quentin Coldwater wanders down the street, performing magic tricks that nobody notices and wondering why he isn't happy when he has every reason to be content with his lot in life.
  • Eliot lounges around on the grounds, welcoming Quentin to Brakebills and giving every impression of being too cool for school.
  • Penny, not stressed about the notoriously difficult Brakebills entrance exam, amuses himself by deliberately testing the magical rules behind requesting glasses of water in the examination room—clearly amused that there's no upper limit.
  • Alice, despite clearly balking at being made the center of attention, manages to impress Professor March and her fellow first-years on her first day by performing several advanced spells in order to transfigure a marble into a tiny animated glass horse. Also, she seems a little sad to see the horse accidentally broken at the end of the demonstration, proving herself shy, intelligent, and sweet-natured.
  • Josh, known around the school as a funny Inept Mage, breaks up the fight between Quentin and Penny through Stout Strength, proving himself a lot more capable than he looks.
  • The Beast appears out of nowhere, freezes time in the classroom, wastes time with impossibly-powerful magic, bends an iron bar like licorice, puts his fist through a clock, and when one of the students tries to fight back, he eats her alive. And then he teleports away while singing a lullaby. Eldritch, childlike, and utterly terrifying.
  • Professor Mayakovsky welcomes Quentin to the Training from Hell in Brakebills South, letting him know that he's in for a miserable year of study in order to unlock his true potential, almost shouting in his ear and performing a Groin Attack on him for good measure. Yet he let Quentin sleep in and saved him some hash browns for breakfast!
• Marvel's Spider-Man: Hostile Takeover: As Blood Spider, he is introduced killing a teenager who thought he was Spider-Man. As Bingham, he introduces himself as an eccentric loner to Fisk's Foster daughter Maya Lopez, revealing himself to be more clever and cunning than initially let on. He formally introduces himself to New York by blowing up a restaurant full of innocent people while pretending to be a heartless version of Spider-Man.
• Tad Williams's Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn:
  • Evil Sorcerer Pryrates goes to some rather extreme lengths to establish his character—in his introductory scene, he deliberately crushes a puppy to death beneath his boot.
  • Jiriki gets a cool one where he is first encountered strung up in a trap, and when the trap-setters show up he starts fighting and spitting, and as soon as he is freed he proceeds to defeat all of the humans come to find him and acknowledges his debt to Simon for cutting him down while abruptly vanishing into the wood.
• Much Ado About Grubstake: Morgan arrives at the boarding house scowling in a way that accentuates his scar, dressed all in black, and being stiff and guarded with his words while suspiciously demanding privacy even from Arley's maintenance. However, Arley notes that his intimidating horse is named Millicent instead of something foreboding like Midnight. Morgan also comments that he's at the boarding house because he doesn't like the company at the hotel, revealing that he dislikes his Snake Oil Salesman associate Charles Randall. All of this establishes that Morgan is a guarded person who is working for the unknown shifty person sending Randall to buy land, but that he isn't a bad person deep down.
• In the Night Huntress series, Cat's first scene shows her getting pulled over the cops with a vampire's corpse in the back of her truck (and since they're under the Masquerade, the cops won't know a vamp corpse from a human). She keeps her cool throughout, and her politeness never wavers as she says goodbye to the helpful police officer and drives off. Later in the book she proves to be quite calm and businesslike in familiar situations, and quite casual about non-human deaths.
• No Country for Old Men began with Anton Chigurh violently strangling a cop then killing a man to get to his car.
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians:
  • The first chapter of 'The Lighting Thief' has Percy recounting how many schools he's been kicked out of and then defending Grover from a bully.
  • Later on, Annabeth, who opens with this winning line:
    Percy's narration: She glanced at the minotaur horn in my hands, then back at me. I imagined she was going to say, You killed a minotaur! or Wow, you're so awesome! or something like that.
    Annabeth: You drool when you sleep.
  • Ugly Gabe's lack of a reaction when he sees Percy for the first time in months shows how he doesn't give a damn about Percy, despite being Percy's stepfather.
• Completely subverted with Darcy in Pride and Prejudice. The problems of making snap judgments based on first impressions is a major theme of the novel, and Darcy's turning out to be nothing like the icy, indifferent man he seems at first is an illustration of it.
• Keladry's first scene in Protector of the Small establishes several things about her. She takes time to think over the news that she'll only be a probationary page, stops some local boys from throwing kittens in the river, goes after said kittens and throws rocks at a huge monster to save them... before being paralyzed by her crippling fear of heights.
• In Red Dragon, Dr. Hannibal Lecter's first appearance establishes his almost supernatural sense of smell. "That's the same atrocious aftershave you wore in court, three years ago."
  • In the sequel, The Silence of the Lambs, he does it again with Clarice's skin cream. Jame Gumb's big establishing moment (after being told lots about his modus operandi by Crawford) would probably be his infamous "It puts the lotion on its skin or else it gets the hose again" scene, at once brutally menacing his captive and cuddling his bichon frise. Also his voice (in the movie, anyway) can't make up its mind whether to be high and effeminate or low and masculine.
• Sheila Rae, the Brave: Sheila Rae's bravado is first established on her first page, when she kisses a spider.
• Sherlock Holmes introduces himself in A Study in Scarlet by identifying John Watson as an army doctor recently returned from Afghanistan just by looking at him.
• Mrs. H's first words to Snow White in Six-Gun Snow White are, "So you're the little Indian child." She never properly shakes hands on the "If you love me, I'll love you back" deal, either.
• The first time we see the titular character of Skulduggery Pleasant in the flesh, he kicks down a door, snarks, throws a fireball and fires a gun. Yep, that pretty much sums him up.
• Smaller & Smaller Circles:
  • Father Saenz listening to deafening rock music. Often while doing autopsies. The novel even indicates his favourite bands—"Crush with Eyeliner", by R.E.M., is the first song he's depicted listening to.
  • Joanna Bonifacio is introduced with a decidedly unfeminine rasp that sounds like a smoker's voice, even though she's allergic to secondhand (let alone firsthand) smoke. Her first scene has her criticizing the easy questions a newbie reporter gives in an interview, establishing her as a seasoned veteran of the Philippine news world.
• A Song of Ice and Fire
  • In the first book, King Robert's character is soon established when he asks to go down into Winterfell's crypts to see his dead would-have-been betrothed. It establishes him as a good friend of Ned's, an embittered emotional cripple, and a rather thoughtless husband. He also goes on to describe life in the South. It shows his own lust for life.
  • Eddard Stark executes a deserter that we know had a perfectly legitimate excuse to run for the hills. It establishes Ned as grimly honorable, and also establishes that the heroes of the story aren't always right.
    The man who speaks the sentence should swing the sword. If you would take a man's life, you owe it to him to look into his eyes and hear his final words, and if you cannot bring yourself to do that, then perhaps the man does not deserve to die.
  • In Tyrion's first scene, he cheers up Jon Snow and gives him some good advice. As Tyrion walks away, Jon notices that his shadow stands as tall as a giant, showing that Tyrion is a better man than his stature or reputation make him appear.
  • Jaime's scene in which he pushes Bran off the tower shows that he's ruthless and willing to do anything "for love." Within the world, Jaime's past regicide dominates every characters' opinions about him.
    • Including the reader's. It's only in later books as Jaime shows himself not to be the evil person everyone makes him out to be that the rest of this scene makes sense. Though Jaime pushed Bran off the tower the only reason he was able to do so was because Jaime instinctively saved Bran from falling off the tower in the first place despite knowing that it would be a lot better for him if Bran turned into chunky salsa. So while Jaime might be ruthless, he's also a better person than everyone thinks he is.
  • Brienne gets two; the first is when Catelyn first sees her, as she wins a tournament against several male knights using a combination of brawns and cunning, and receives no respect or reward at all, with her master even referring to one of the knights she defeated as the better fighter while she could hear him. The second is when she drops a boulder on a ship carrying her allies, in the name of protecting a man she hated, because she'd sworn an oath to. The Kingslayer himself is impressed with her honour, though that might have been because it was him she was protecting.
  • During the war that overthrew King Aerys, Stannis Baratheon spent months holed up in his castle while it was under siege and nearly starved to death. His life was saved by the smuggler Davos Seaworth, who smuggled food into his castle by night. What did he do when the war ended? He knighted Davos for his services, and then chopped off the fingers of his left hand (the lawful punishment for smugglers). This establishes Stannis as an unyielding man who always does what he believes is lawful, no matter who it hurts.
  • Davos himself is first introduced as Maester Cressen's friend. Maester Cressen is the only person in Stannis's service who sees Melisandre for what she is—except Davos. His brief introduction as Cressen's friend, whose primary goal is to overthrow Melisandre, establishes him as the voice of reason, a genuinely good person, and very much against The Red Woman.
  • Gregor Clegane loses a joust to Loras Tyrell, causing him to go berserk and bifurcate his own horse before his brother Sandor restrains him.
  • Theon kicking Gared's decapitated head, and in the same chapter arguing to kill the direwolf pups.
  • The Greatjon's famous "Your meat is bloody tough" scene.
  • Arya gets her stitches wrong, again.
  • Jon and Robb, respectively, saw two different things when they looked at the eyes of the deserter their father executed: Fear and Courage.
  • Joffrey Baratheon gets his own when he's unpleasant to Robb they spar.
• The Sorcerer of the Wildeeps:
  • Captain's introduction to the story consists of him conducting a training session for the entire band of brothers despite the sweltering heat and in sight of an oasis. Demane muses on how Captain is perpetually tireless, always ready to reward seeming laziness with training, but also how he actually does this to the brothers to enable them to better protect themselves in case of an attack.
  • Faedou is introduced as being unable to take part in the training because he refuses to let Demane treat his injured, already infected leg. He trusts in God to save his life and calls Demane's skills witchcraft, establishing him as the old superstitious gossip slinger of the band.
  • Cumalo does not even blink when Demane asks him to guard his pack while he's off training. Everyone else in the band is scared of Demane's witchered equipment, but Cumalo's laissez-faire attitude is beyong that.
• Spice and Wolf: Holo's introduction includes her howling, asking for ale, grabs some food without asking Lawrence for permission, messes with his head and plays with his emotions a bit, announces she'll become his traveling companion, then goes back to sleep within the span of minutes. And she's completely naked throughout this whole exchange.
• Star Wars Legends:
  • In Rogue Squadron, first book of the X-Wing series, Wedge has a scene where he walks into the hangar, inspects his X-wing, compliments his new chief mechanic, and takes off to attend a training exercise. Beyond this trope and providing a vehicle for the author's worldbuilding, there's no point to the scene. It establishes that he's very conscious of his authority, he's good at math, good to his subordinates, aware of what he needs to teach new people, and an Ace Pilot of such skill that his kill silhouettes include two Death Stars, a lot of big ships, and so many fighters that they couldn't fit on the side of his X-wing, so some had to be rendered in red, representing a squadron's worth of kills. He'd appeared in two scenes before that one, but in those instances he mostly served to take Corran down a peg, be annoyed that half the squadron was politically appointed, and state his absolute, unswerving trust in Tycho Celchu.
  • The Villain Opening Scene in Heir to the Empire sets up that Pellaeon is professional, dutiful, and feeling his age, while Grand Admiral Thrawn is alien, brilliant, and very much in charge.
  • Specter of the Past opens with Pellaeon too, and shows us that in ten years, the traits he displayed at the start of The Thrawn Trilogy have magnified a hundredfold. Resignation to the inevitable has also been added. This can't be called a Villain Opening Scene, partly because few villains have such a sense of exhaustion, partly because the scene ends with him planning peace with the New Republic.
  • In Star Wars: Kenobi, Annileen Calwell is a widowed shopkeeper who's not afraid to be sharp with her customers. Her very first line is a snarky Ask a Stupid Question... response to a customer who can never remember her name or position at the store, even though she comes in every day.
    Erbaly Nap'tee: Do you work here?
    Annileen: No, I come in here and do inventory in my spare time. Wait. [looks around] Counter. Cashbox. Title deed. I'm sorry, I guess I do work here.
  • Star Wars: Honor Among Thieves: Hunter Maas, a gunrunner and thief with a huge case of Small Name, Big Ego, is introduced being chased and fired upon by an Imperial scout ship. As the Millennium Falcon approaches to intervene, Han calls Maas and tells him he's here to help him get safely to dock. Hunter Maas's reply? "You are doing a terrible job."
    Han's mouth shut with a click. "Be there in a second," he said, then shut off the headset microphone. "Chewie, get us over there before this guy makes me want to watch him die."
• The Stranger: "Maman died today. Or yesterday maybe, I don't know."
• "Talma Gordon": Talma's first appearance in the story is at the garden party, where a few paragraphs are spent focusing on her, establishing her as lovely and talented through others' descriptions and conversations about her.
• These Words Are True and Faithful: Ernie attributes a chance meeting to fate. Sam sees it as a matter of simple probability. Thus, their different worldviews are established.
• This Immortal by Roger Zelazny: the first scene is of Conrad, the protagonist, slipping up and then having to admit to his new wife that he isn't really twenty-something, and then covering up with yet another lie. This shows us a lot about Conrad, because he's really hundreds of years old and his real name isn't even Conrad.
• In Three Parts Dead, the reader's first glimpse of the heroine, Tara, is her being literally thrown out of Wizarding School (off of a cliff). They get a good measure of her after, when she decides to help her hometown fight off raiders by animating slain townsfolk as zombies, and can't help herself from giving a hearty chuckle while doing it. This leads to her making a hasty exit from the ensuing Torches and Pitchforks.
• Tomb Travellers:
  • Phillip, the protagonist, gets one when his uncle sends him a mummified ibis bird for his birthday. Phillip is genuinely and completely overjoyed by the gift, and then—much to his family's discomfort—tries to place it on the mantelpiece. Three pages in, and we already know that Phillip is a slightly odd boy who's fascinated by Egypt and antiques.
  • Julia is introduced challenging an adult to a public chess match—and winning.
    "You won't beat my Dad," a small boy in the crowd told Julia. "He's a maths teacher and he's president of the chess club."
    "Is he? Good," said Julia with relief. "I want it to be a fair match."
• The Traveler's Gate: Cormac is introduced as being constantly annoyed that his commander is trying to talk instead of just murdering everyone, jumps to the opportunity for violence, and when the situation is de-escalated, he kills his commander and starts fighting again. Subverted in that this is a deliberately terrible introduction to the Damascan Kingdom as a whole. The Kingdom is a largely civilized nation that does quite a lot for its citizens and is known for not killing people who don't fight back. The sacrifices, while terrible, are for a purpose.
• In The Troop, Shelly (the resident closet sociopath) tears a crayfish apart, wondering if the creature feels pain.
• Twisted Cogs: After having read the very first chapter you know more than you ever wanted to know of the main character's mother's parental ability. It is pretty much crap.
• Interestingly enough in The Underland Chronicles, the villain gets one after his initial introduction. We first meet the Bane as a baby, whose cries for his mother make it impossible for Gregor to kill him. What could be more innocent? Well, in book 4, we learn he killed his devoted caretaker. Still, he said it was an accident, and he's so big he might not know his own strength .. he tried to eat him to cover it up?
• The Unexplored Summon://Blood-Sign: The first time the White Queen is summoned. When Azalea and Fractal bow down and declare loyalty to her, she casually beats them. When Renge (her summoner) interferes, the Queen brutally injures her, something that shouldn't be possible due to a summoner's protective circle. She then spends the rest of her summoning time flirting with Kyousuke. It shows her obsession with Kyousuke, her complete disregard for anyone else, and her incredible power, all in one scene.
• In Vampire Academy, the introduction of the readers to Rose is her waking up, feeling Lissa's nightmare, and going to comfort her. Establishing their Psychic Link immediately, and Rose as a sort of caretaker to Lissa.
  • Dimitri Belikov gets one in being the first person able to locate Rose and Lissa in two years, demonstrating his competence, and by restraining Rose without harming her, demonstrating that he is a very capable fighter who isn't fond of causing pain.
  • Christian Ozera is introduced snarking about royal privileges, but then showing some genuine vulnerability to Lissa and curiousity about the world outside the academy.
  • Adrian Ivashkov gets his in the second book in the series, by flirting with Rose, smoking, and very quickly making accurate inferences about Rose's personality and life: that is, he's a lady's man with bad habits, but capable of empathy and of relating to Rose.
  • Sydney Sage gets one in Blood Promise, when she a) correctly identifies Rose as the person failing to notify the Alchemists, b) calls Rose unnatural for being a dhampir, c) is nervous that the Alchemists are "testing her", and d) immediately going out of her way to help Rose the moment her superiors order to. She is extremely intelligent and competent, has some Fantastic Racism going against the Moroi and dhampirs, and is determined to please the Alchemists and Abe. Sydney's fear of her superiors also serves as an Establishing Character Moment for the Alchemists as a whole.
  • Jill Mastrano is introduced as eager to learn self-defence, despite being a Moroi—who are discouraged to do so—and babbling in excitement. She's cute and she's progressive in Moroi society.
• The Villainess Lives Again:
  • Artezia's appearance at the beginning of the story sees her not even trying to fight against her brother's Frame-Up and resigning herself to the cruel fate he has in store for her. Later, after she's rescued, we see her appalled reaction to Laurence's senseless destruction of various provinces of the empire. Finally, when Cedric goes to his knees and begs for her help in saving the empire, believing in her better nature, she's driven to tears and decides to help him by casting blood magic to send him back in time to stop Laurence's rise to power. These scenes illustrate her lack of self-worth, her dislike of pointless cruelty and violence, and her willingness to repay those who are kind to her tenfold.
  • The first time we meet Cedric is after he and his people have rescued Artezia after her years of captivity. Face to face with the woman who facilitated the rise of a monstrous despot, Cedric goes to his knees and begs Artezia to help him defeat said despot to save the empire, trying to appeal her better nature. This displays his kind and generous personality, and his absolute devotion to protecting the common people. The display touches Artezia so much that it's what prompts her decision to turn back time and make him Emperor instead, viewing him as the only possible choice for the throne if the Empire is to survive.
  • The readers first see Laurence during Artezia's downfall in the first timeline, where it's revealed he had his son murdered in order to frame his sister for the crime (the same sister who is the only reason he even became Emperor in the first place), and then pinned a host of others on her (some of which she was guilty of, most of which she wasn't) to seal the deal. All because he resented the fact that she was smarter and more accomplished than him. Then, as her 'punishment', he has her tongue cut out and her limbs removed before leaving her in a dungeon to rot for the rest of her days. This entire scene illustrates his lack of family loyalty and overall self-centeredness, his cruelty, and the insane lengths he's willing to go to in order to avenge any perceived slights.
• In The Thousand-Dollar Tan Line, Veronica cracks a joke about her father's recovery from a car accident...and, mere minutes later, is blinking away tears of relief.
• In the opening pages of Warprize, the protagonist is introduced trying to heal a injured soldier. Upon realizing that he's mortally wounded, she stays to ease his pain in whatever small ways she can (much to the disdain of her mentor, who remarks that this isn't the first time she's done this). The soldier's last words reveal her identity: Xylara, daughter of their dead king...and yeah, that pretty much establishes her basic characterization.
• Warrior Cats:
  • Bluestar describes Clan life to Rusty, and the joys of participating in it... but also warns him that a warrior's path is not an easy one, and that Rusty will be expected to follow Clan rules. This foreshadows her position as Rusty's mentor and lawful beliefs.
  • Graystripe being a friendly, comedic sort is established when he compliments Rusty for putting up a good fight and accepts his apology for trespassing. Since Rusty is a kittypet, this shows that Graystripe is unusually open-minded. (Later books illustrate another sort of apprentice Rusty could've been caught by—a glory-seeking Blood Knight who enjoys torturing kittens such as Tiny and has to be ordered off by his superiors.)
• The Wicked Years:
  • The first chapter shows that Frexspar is a serious man of cloth when it depicts him obsessing over the "scandalous" Clock of the Time Dragon. He would rather go preach to save others souls than stay with his heavily pregnant wife on the day she's due to give birth.
  • The title of Glinda's entrance exam essay—"Do Flowers Regret Being Plucked For a Bouquet? Do The Rains Practice Abstinence? Can Animals Really Choose To Be Good? Or: A Moral Philosophy of Springtime"—show that, while not a Dumb Blonde, she certainly isn't the most standard academic. Her Fantastic Racism towards Dr. Dillamond shows that she isn't the nicest of individuals.
  • The second line out of Nessarose's mouth is her scolding her Nanny for gossiping, saying it hurts her soul. This shows that she's inherited Frex's religious nature, unlike her older sister Elphaba.
• The Wind Knows My Name: Samuel Adler's daughter Camille has her moment as an adult, since there is no characterization for her as a child. She calls her father to complain about all the inconveniences caused to her by the pandemic and the lockdown, such as having to cancel events and her housekeeper being unable to come, but does not bother to ask how Samuel is doing.
• Wings of Fire:
  • Kinkajou runs enthusiastically into her dorm room and nearly collides with Moon in the process. She apologizes quickly, describing how excited she is to be at the Academy and admitting a slight prejudice against NightWings...which doesn't stop her from befriending Moon and giving her a tour of the school. Energetic, kind, and a little annoying—the scene sums her up well.
  • Moon tries anxiously to convince her mother not to send her to school, wondering what her peers will do if they find out she's a telepath. Her mother replies (quite accurately) that Moon needs to socialize more and stop hiding in the shadows.
  • Winter is first introduced threatening to cut Moon's face off for daring to touch his scavenger. Qibli meanwhile, is trying to lightheartedly defuse the situation.
  • Carnelian is first introduced sulking in her cave, and then yelling at Kinkajou for joking that she's named Friendly.
• In The Witchlands:
  • Safi's first scene her her trying to rob a carriage, because she's betted all of her and Iseult's money on a card game and lost it because her opponent was dreamy.
  • Merik's story opens with him barely able to stand a formal dinner before a rant-inducing slight sends him flying into fury and leaving the venture.
  • Safi, Iseult and Merik all react to a man turning into a homicidal monster not by running away, but by running towards him to help.
• The Wolf Chronicles gives us Ruuqo and Kaala's moments in the opening scene.
  • Ruuqo is culling the pups of a she-wolf who mated outside his pack, and Kaala is one of those pups. When Ruuqo moves to pick her up, Kaala realizes that "cringing and pleading had done my brother and sisters no good", and growls at Ruuqo, an alpha wolf at least three times her size. This foreshadows her courage and unwillingness to back down even when fighting seems hopeless.
  • Ruuqo, though not seriously threatened by Kaala, feels guilty that he has to kill her family and takes a moment to recollect himself.
    He stood still, watching me for a long moment as I snarled with as much fury as I could summon.
    "I'm sorry, littlewolf," he said softly, "but, you see, I must do what's right for the pack. I must do my duty," and he bent his head and opened his jaws to crush me.

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