History Awesome / AsianSaga

** And of course, the moment that truly cements his status: Blackthorne, who just recently experienced his first earthquake, has the quick reaction and presence of mind to [[IOweYouMyLife save Toranaga] from a [[EarthquakesCauseFissures truly massive one]]. It causes Toranaga to name him Hatamoto and grant him a [[FeudalOverlord sizable fief]], signifying to everyone that Blackthorne is truly worthy of respect.

* Grey, himself a deeply flawed man, stands up to the entire echelon of top officers in the camp when discovering the conspiracy to steal food by measuring rice rations with tempered weights, [[EveryoneHasStandards horrified that someone could do this to their own men for own personal comfort]]. Keep in mind that up until that point, Grey is portrayed as a bootlicker trying to get in the good graces of the officer corps, as due to his lowly origins, he has no real chances for a military career. With a drilled weight still in his hand, he asks the CorruptQuartermaster what does he think the rest of the camp [[TornApartByTheMob will do if he goes outside the warehouse and shows the weight to others]]. When soon after Grey is offered a promotion to Captain - his dream come true - by Colonel Smedley-Taylor, he instantly realises this is not an actual promotion, but a bribe to keep him silent and that the Colonel is in the conspiracy, too, prompting him to [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech speak what he thinks about him and the class entitlement]].

* Hakim's ascent to the Khanhood, and how quickly he turns out to be a MagnificentBastard on a level exceeding even his father. Special mention must be made of his reaction to Erikki's attack - despite being half-concussed, he quickly outmaneuvers and outbargains Bayazid and gets them to leave in peace.

* Dirk's MagnificentBastard tendencies are never more obvious than in his efforts to buy the knoll. Dirk wants it for his headquarters, and as it's a matter of face, will pay anything for it. Brock knows this and plans to drive the auction bid for it so high the Struans will be ruined if they buy. Realising this, but unwilling to lose face by not getting it, Dirk subtly manipulates Culum (who is in despair over his father's refusal to budge) into giving it to the Church, thus relieving him of trying to bid for it as no-one will go against the House of God and saving face. Even more impressively, Culum never realises he's been puppeted until Dirk tells him.

** However, an entire period of awesome comes during the return to Osaka. Publicly standing up to Ishido, trying to fight her way out, attempting (and intending) seppuku, and finally committing it during the ninja attack [[DyingMomentOfAwesome while loudly declaring that she'll die honorably (and also out-gambitting the ninjas]]). Even MagnificentBastard extraordinaire Toranaga describes Osaka as a "glorious" moment for her.

* The eventual victory of [[MagnificentBastard Toranaga]]. It is difficult to summarise in a few sentences, given that the whole {{Doorstopper}} book is a GambitPileup, but suffice to say it is absolutely ''glorious''.

** In the aftermath of that, Bayazid and over a dozen of his tribesmen betray Erikki. In an OffscreenMomentOfAwesome Erikki [[KillEmAll kills all of them bar Bayazid himself]], [[CombatPragmatist using his knife, hands, feet and even his teeth]].