Lightning Bruiser / Literature

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• Animorphs: An enemy example would be the Howlers: the favored shocktroops of Crayak. They are fast, tough and have been manufactured to be the perfect warriors. On top of that they have a sonic attack which can debilitate anyone close by and long, metallic claws on their hands. The Animorphs eventually defeat them through guile, but in a straight battle One Howler draws with all six Animorphs plus Erek giving intel.
• Bazil Broketail: Burthong has the strength of a typical brasshide dragon, but unlike his kin — who generally have a reputation of a Mighty Glacier — he is also remarkably fast. This creates a deadly combination that Bazil finds difficult to counter while duelling him.
• Beowulf: Grendel. The text emphasizes the monster's speed and stealth as much as his brute force, describing it in terms of his rushing long distances across fields at night unseen by sentries to brutally destroy and/or devour the Danes while they slept.
• Bolo: Later versions of the titular Sapient Tanks are as large as World War I battleships and can reach 500 KPH.
• In Dale Brown books, the Tin Man and CID units can't be stopped by anything smaller than anti-tank weaponry, themselves mount tank-killer weapons and still allow their users to move at least as fast as, if not faster than normal humans. However, CID units, since they tower over unaugmented humans, are hampered in confined spaces.
• Max the Silent from Andrew Vachss's Burke books, despite not looking very powerful at first glance, is death in close quarters. He moves like a Fragile Speedster and hits like a much heavier man. In the event that someone manages to land a blow on him, it becomes apparent that he can shrug off should-be-painful stuff like multiple knee strikes from Muay Thai exponents.
• The Vord Queen in the Codex Alera books is terrifyingly powerful. While she looks a bit like a Cute Monster Girl, she's faster and stronger than Aleran crafters using Bullet Time and Super-Strength, crafts better than anyone anyway, can run up walls and ceilings, and is generally able to slice you to little pieces. Oh, and balest bolts bounce off her skin. To make matters worse, she's a brilliant commander with a massive, Hive Minded army consisting in large part of lesser Lightning Bruisers.
• Conan the Barbarian by Robert E. Howard: The titular Barbarian Hero is not only massively powerful, but also stupendously fast; descriptors like "pantherish", "dynamic", "explosive", "steel-trap quickness" and "blinding speed" are commonplace. In his hands swords flicker like lightning, too fast for the eye to follow, and when he bursts like a coiled snake into sudden murderous action he invariably takes everybody by surprise, even people holding him at crossbow point. Moreover, he's often fully armoured.
• The Culture: The titular Galactic Superpower's largest ships (GSVs: General Systems Vehicles) represent the majority of the Culture's population centers. Their controlling AIs are nurturing, paternal, and extremely caring. But if you decide to declare war, pray that you never face one in battle. Once the GSV has made sure that its population is safe, you will be facing a 200-kilometer-long technological monster, which has converted most of its multi-billion-ton mass into engines and weapons, all of which are based upon technologies that almost all 21st-century humans would consider the tools of a god. You will not be able to outrun it. It is more than capable of engaging entire regular sci-fi fleets on its own. And it probably has a witty name almost as weaponised.
• Werewolves in the Darkest Powers series are over six feet tall, weigh 220lbs of pure muscle, have shoulders as broad as the average doorway, and essentially have the reflexes of a cat on speed.
• Deltora Quest:
  • The Vraals move blindingly fast with their claws, hoofs, and prehensile slamming tail. What's more Vraals are heavily armored, meaning Barda, Lief and Jasmine couldn't put a dent in the one they faced and were almost killed. It's revealed in the Shadow Lands that there are dozens of these creatures.
  • The Jails tribe are only stated to be the only race able to match the Vraals and two Jails knights seen in the books e.g Gorl and Greel can fight and wield huge swords in full armor with no decrease of speed.
• Taylor Anderson's Destroyermen series has the USS Walker, a World War I-era four-stacker destroyer, considered to be Cannon Fodder by World War II standards, especially against the Japanese. However, as soon as it crosses over to an alternate Earth, it's not only the strongest ship (until the Amagi shows up) thanks to its HE rounds being a bane of any wooden ship but also the fastest with most sailing races/factions still using sails (or steamer/sailing hybrids). The Grik are also this on land, being able to move very fast and attack either with Medieval weapons or with their sharp claws and teeth.
• Dracula: Dracula is a classic literary Lightning Bruiser with the strength of 20 men, and according Doctor Steward has “panther-like movements”. Professor Helsing states outright they wouldn’t stand a chance against Dracula in a straight fight requiring the heroes to be more strategic in bringing the titular vampire down.
• In the Dragonlance novel War of the Twins, Caramon is forced to fight a half ogre mercenary chief. He assumes his speed will be enough to ensure his victory, as not only are ogres slow, but this one has a wooden leg. It turns out the creature's human half makes him a match for Caramon in speed while leaving him more than enough strength to be the stronger of the two. (Though Caramon, due to the events of the previous novel, is in peak, almost Conan-level physical condition himself, and wins the fight.)
• All three types of vampire in The Dresden Files. The Black Court vampires are known for being the strongest and fastest by a fair margin, though they possess the standard vampire weaknesses (sunlight, garlic, etc.). The Red Court ends up second in strength, but with less weaknesses (only vulnerable to sunlight, symbols of faith, or a wound to their stomach, which is where they store their power-granting blood). The White Court has none of the standard vamp vulnerabilities, and burn through their power reserves very quickly, but they're still a force to be reckoned with. While they may be lacking in endurance, before their reserves burn out they match any of the other courts. Particularly if well fed. At one point White Court vampire Thomas Raith faces a ghoul that hesitates for about a quarter of a second when fighting him; in response, Thomas splits its skull with his kukri knife, commenting that it might as well have put a bullet in its brain itself by giving him that much time.
• A key plot element in The Far Arena is the fact that the main character averts this. The idea that a small man might become a major "sports" star in any era is a bigger obstacle to anyone in the 20th century believing that he's a frozen-and-reanimated Roman gladiator than the bizarre mechanics of his journey.
• The First Law: Bremer dan Gorst is a hulking warrior who uses large, heavy swords in contrast to the quick, nimble blades of his contemporaries. Despite that, he's just as fast as any of them. He's a virtually peerless swordsman and Blood Knight. Due to his embarrassingly high-pitched voice, he only feels comfortable while fighting. Even decades into his career, he hasn't lost any steam. When his student Savine demands that he spar with her at his full potential, she's shocked and overwhelmed by his blinding speed and power.
• Harry Potter
  • Rubeus Hagrid is often described as moving blindingly fast for his size and can knock a out a grown wizard or two with simple punches. In addition thanks to being half-giant Hagrid can even shrug off Stunning Spells as Hermione concludes in the fifth book.
  • The werewolf Fenrir Greyback is described as moving distressingly fast at certain points and is strong enough to kill/maim several grown wizards such as Bill Weasley. Greyback is tough enough to recover fast from spells and even survives Harry smashing him into the ceiling by using three wands at once. And that's only in human form; his powers in wolf form are never seen.
  • Nagini is a massive snake which is so strong she can (true to Real Life) constrict and overpower grown men such as Mr Weasley and later Harry as well as move ridiculously fast. If that wasn't enough Nagini being a Horrcrux has Nigh-Invulnerability to almost all spells.
• Horatio Hornblower: Bush is once described as having "immense strength allied to lightfooted quickness." He's definitely a person you want on your side in a melee—most of the sailors are just described as big and strong, and Hornblower isn't incapable but is much physically weaker than Bush.
• The Iliad: Achilles is the greatest fighter of the Trojan War, and he's described as "swift-footed" more often than anything else.
• Jack Reacher: The title character is built like a football player. He follows a rule of thumb in fights that goes "get your retaliation in first". He often hits first and more often hits last.
• Known Space:
  • The bandersnatchi of Jinx are twice the size of a brontosaur and look like something of a cross between a giant slug and huge bag of gelatin. They can also work up a surprising turn of speed and crush armored vehicles beneath their bulks. They are in the habit of selling hunting licenses for themselves (partly because they need the money, partly for population control, and partly to alleviate the mind-numbing boredom of their lives), and the permitted equipment for human hunters boils down to a medium tank. Even with that, the odds of coming back alive are about sixty percent — bandersnatchi take a lot to kill.
    "You'd think they were the most helpless things in Known Space... until you saw one bearing down on you like a charging mountain. Once I saw an ancient armored-car crushed flat across a lowlands rock, straddled by the broken bones of the beast that ran it down."
  • Kdatlyno can reach four meters in height and a ton in weight, but are much faster and more nimble than their looming frames suggest.
  • A protector is blindingly fast and agile, covered in skin tough enough to deflect knives, and strong enough to lift ten times their own body weight and kill a human with a hard blow of a hand.
• The Legend of Drizzt: Obould Many-Arrows is an orc blessed by a god to be as strong as a bull and as fast as a mountain cat. Combine that besides being just damn tough, he wears nearly impenetrable armor.
• Light And Dark The Awakening Of The Mageknight: The other knights have their strengths and flaws but Chris is fast, tough, skilled and strong.
• Lord of Light: Yama is big enough to lift and carry half again his own weight in armored flesh several miles at a run, and fast enough to kill half a dozen people who get in his way before they can draw their weapons.
• Mistborn:
  • Pewterarms, aka "thugs", are Mistings with the power to increase their bodies' physical abilities. While Super-Strength is the obvious application of this power, a Thug who knows what he or she is doing is superhumanly quick and dextrous as well. Full Mistborn and Inqusitors have a combination of abilities that makes them incredibly mobile and capable of both taking and dishing out a tremendous amount of punishment.
  • Wax and Wayne: Wayne can surround himself with a bubble of speed, which allows him to move lightning fast. Also, although he does not seem very strong, he can take a lot of damage and heal himself with the help of gold metalminds. And he is very proficient with his duelling canes.
• Jace Wayland from The Mortal Instruments is very fast, very strong, and very enduring, thanks to Valentine's training.
• Nemesis Saga: By the sequel General Gordon becomes an eight ft tall juggernaut that is as fast as he is strong and durable. The only one who can take him head on is Lilly, who is just as strong, but even faster.
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians
  • The title character can be this, particularly in water. Even out of it, and without the Achilles Curse, he can still strike fast and hard enough to defeat entire formations of Roman Demigods
  • In the latest books, the demigods are frequently caught up fighting a group of giants who where designed(birthed?) to be anti-Olympians. Although the more powerful demigods (such as Percy, and his Roman counterpart Jason Grace) can knock one down temporarily, it takes the combined strength of a demigod and a full olympian to beat them.
• Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain gives us Ray, who has Captain America levels of strength and speed. On the higher end of the scale we have Generic Girl, a Flying Brick with Super-Speed. She's able to take out one of the most powerful supervillains ever in fifteen seconds flat.
• The Princess Bride,
  • The Turkish giant Fezzik started his career in wrestling very reluctantly against the champion of Sendik, who was graceful, fast, very skilled and only six inches shorter than Fezzik. This lasted until the inexperienced Fezzik caught him and squeezed until the fight was done. Much later, Fezzik despite not liking violence and killing is still ridiculously fast, tough and strong, in the service of Vizzini a mastermind who sees him as little more than Dumb Muscle. When on the side of the heroes as The Big Guy he kills a massive and fast python after his Berserk Button (not hearing some new rhymes from Inigo) is pushed.
  • Westley the Man in Black himself, as he proves in his fights with Inigo and the aforementioned Fezzik. With Inigo, in their Sword Fight Westley matched and defeated a Master Swordsman who trained for decades in sheer fencing quickness. With Fezzik he dodges the giant's attempts to crush him and gets him in a chokehold strong enough to make the Turk fall unconscious all while surviving Fezzik repeatedly slamming him againist a boulder trying to throw him off. Additionally this was all after climbing hand over hand up a rope (much harder than it sounds) that was tied atop the Cliffs of Insanity at great speed and catching onto the cliff face when Vizzini cut the rope, forcing Westley to climb to the old fashioned way.
• Second Apocalypse:
  • Kellhus is a large and tall man, but his Dunyain conditioning, brought about by thousands of years of selective breeding, gives him extraordinary strength and reflexes. He's able to overwhelm and Neck Lift Cnaiur, a hulking and superlative warrior. It's implied that his Dunyain bones are tougher than normal, and he can endure pain far more easily than a worldborn human. While torturing him, Cnaiur quickly realizes that all of Kellhus' cries are just an act.
  • Skin-spies, as a weapon race designed as assassins, have superhuman strength and speed. When Kellhus finds himself in combat with one, he tricks it into displaying its unnatural speed, revealing to all onlookers that it is not human. Skin-spies also don't feel pain, making them almost impossible to torture.
  • The Nonmen already tower over Men, but those among them called "the Tall" are giants. Their greatest warrior has a head the size of a human torso and is said to have crushed the throat of a Bashrag with one hand. When Sorweel watches him strike Oinaral Lastborn, he describes the speed as "blinding" and the power "absurd," sending the hulking Nonman flying across the room.
• Allanon from the Shannara series. He's a seven foot tall man who's built like a wrestler, and moves with deceptive speed, grace, and stealth. He's also the last Druid and has a bit of a Kung-Fu Wizard thing going for him as well. Not a man you want to mess with. Other examples include The Reaper from The Elfstones of Shannara, The Koden and The Creepers from The Heritage of Shannara, many Trolls, and all of the Mwellrets.
• In A Song of Ice and Fire,
  • While Jaime listens to the Strongboar boast of how he could take Sandor Clegane in single combat, Jaime thinks that the man is foolish. On top of being about as strong as the Strongboar, Sandor is savagely fast as well.
  • Sandor's older brother Gregor Clegane aka The Mountain is, unfortunately for anyone who faces him, faster than he looks and the World's Strongest Man to boot. However, after several books, people note that the accumulation of his war injuries have not done his speed any favors.
  • Brienne, a woman, is larger and stronger than most men, and typically fights in full plate armor. Her speed is never really mentioned until she is given the Valyrian steel sword Oathkeeper, at which point she tends to be able to attack faster than her opponents as well.
  • When Jaime duels with Brienne, she's amazed at the level of speed and skill he possesses, even after being malnourished and without practice for nearly a year, noting that she's never faced such talent with a sword. In addition, during their fight, Jaime mentally lists all the famous swordsmen who are physically stronger than him, and it's a very short list.
• Spinning Silver: The Staryk King combines this with Rank Scales with Asskicking, thanks to his fae Super-Strength and magical Healing Factor. In his first fight against Chernobog, he slides away from every one of his enemy's blows while repeatedly punching him across the room; in his second, he holds his own despite having been impaled just hours before.
• The Spirit Thief: Nico and following books. Her demonseed allows her to take hits that would kill most people, and heal at incredible rates. She's also insanely fast and and 'step through shadows' to dodge her enemy's attacks. Combine that with the fact that she hits heavy, especially against spirits, which she can consume through skin contact alone. The only drawback she has is the toll this takes on her mental battle against the demon's influence.
• Star Wars Legends has several examples. The most obvious is probably the E-Wing fighter ship, which has impressive firepower and speed enough to match an A-Wing, but without its weak shields and tissue-paper hull.
• Tarzan: In the Edgar Rice Burroughs stories, the title character. In Tarzan and the City of Gold, for example, he is seated — unarmed — in the royal box of a gladiatorial arena. When he recognizes the victim who is being thrown to a charging lion, he snatches another onlooker's dagger, leaps into the arena, catches the lion before it can reach his friend, and kills the lion before anyone else can even climb down into the pit.
• Temeraire: Chinese Celestials (including the titular dragon). There are dragons in the West that can overtake them in level flight. There are those who can outmaneuver them in close quarters. There are very few that could do both; and good luck finding one that can do either, match their (20 tons displacement or so, but only slightly smaller than the largest dragon species that displaces 50) size, and unleash a fearsome breath weapon.
• Tolkien's Legendarium:
  • The Hobbit: Smuag the dragon is this (as well as a Genius Bruiser) as he puts it to Bilbo himself: "My armor is like tenfold shields, my teeth are swords, my claws spears, the shock of my tail a thunderbolt, my wings a hurricane, and my breath death!". His Achilles' Heel is that like most dragons he's softer on his belly but thanks to lying on a treasure hord, Smaug is protected there as well. Unfortnately for Smaug though there's a patch of gold missing on his breast which the eagle-eyed Bilbo spots and reports to his allies and unknowingly to a nearby talking Thrush, who in turn tells Master Archer Bard during Smaug's attack on Laketown, which gets Smaug killed when Bard shoots him there with the black arrow after all previous arrows hadn't fazed him at all.
  • The Lord of the Rings: The Ents, and their semi-sentient Huorn allies. They're pretty slow in their day-to-day, but they make long strides that can cover ground quickly when sufficiently motivated. They're explicitly stated to be stronger than trolls, and the only thing they're all that vulnerable to is fire. Even that's only relative: fire is harmful to them in the long run, but in the short run it just makes them angry.
• The Wheel of Time:
  • Rand al'Thor, to an ever-escalating extent as the series progresses and he masters the One Power. Its offensive and defensive uses are already well-known, but he first truly attains this trope after adding Traveling to his repertoire, allowing him to teleport anywhere in the world (and bring an army with him if he feels like it).
  • Perrin, already very strong (a career as a blacksmith will do that) and tough in the waking world, becomes this in Dream Land when he learns to Teleport Spam.

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