History Awesome / StarWarsLegends

* The stormtroopers in SurvivorsQuest. They're so badass that it's painful.

* Admiral Gar Stazi turn the trap laid by the Imperial fleet over its head and able to steal the Advanced Star Destroyer in ''StarWarsLegacy'' 21. Him also giving badass retort to Valan's offer to surrender also makes him living up his name of [[{{Badass}} GAR]].

* Remember Luke's brief mention of a friend named "Tank" to Uncle Owen and Aunt Beru? Tank becomes a full fledged character in the Star Wars: Empire comic series as a junior officer named Janek Sunber. One of his earliest assignments sends him to a primitive jungle world on a routine patrol. Things take a turn for the worse when the natives lay siege to them, and only Sunber's quick thinking and original strategies hold the fort. Throughout the whole arc, he's firmly cemented as a {{Badass}}, but his Crowning Moment of Awesome comes when he and his unit are left stranded out in the battlefield when the group behind him retreats due to its cowardly commander. Sunber knows that if he doesn't do something, they'll all die. Spying the wreckage of one of their juggernauts, he primes a thermal detonator, noting to himself all of the ways this desperate gambit could fail. He throws the grenade, miraculously managing to place it so that it detonates the tank's fuel cells as the enemy advances, blasting them into disarray and allowing him and his soldiers to fall back.

* In the non-canon comic ''Old Wounds'', Darth Maul (sporting a pair of cybernetic legs) tracks Obi-Wan down to Tatooine and attacks the Lars homestead to provoke his response. When Uncle Owen tries to shoot him down, Maul uses the Force to grab Owen's blaster rifle and ''breaks the butt against Owen's face.'' With Luke in danger, Obi-Wan quickly intervenes and a vicious and altogether {{Badass}} fight ensues. Obi-Wan gains the upper hand and holds Maul at his mercy, deactivated lightsaber against his forehead and thumb hovering over the activation plate. Obi-Wan's internal struggle is cut short by the invocation of the Moment of Awesome when a heavily bruised Owen blows Maul's head off with the remains of the blaster.

** And, of course, when [[LostSuperweapon Centerpoint Station]] is about to fire a blast that will kill upwards of eight billion people, seven-year-old Anakin manages to align the repulsor and intercept Centerpoint's shot [[JustInTime at the last possible moment]]. Even as a little kid, that boy was {{Badass}}.

*** {{Sidekick}} Nick Rostu also gets one just before that. [[spoiler:Vastor is down, but Depa has finally snapped. Despite Mace's pleading, she raises her lightsaber to her temple. Before she activate it and put a blade directly through her brain, Nick -- who up to that point appeared dead -- summons enough strength and accuracy to ''shoot the handle out of her hand'']]. That Nick is quite the {{Badass}}, and furthermore [[spoiler:he lives]].

*** Not just a tip. A credit chit worth tens of thousands of credits--equaling the exact bounty that had been placed on the man's head. This story, written before the prequel movies, also becomes FridgeBrilliance in light of AttackOfTheClones, when you see why Boba Fett has a soft spot for orphans.

* Second Battle of Kuat, the Consortium capturing the Eclipse, a ship so big, it has a turbolaser that is powerful enough to blow a Super Star Destroyer ''in'' '''half''', '''''with one shot'''''! Just going to town with that weapon is priceless, as it destroys anything that you target with it: ISDs, Mon Cal cruisers, Space Stations, if it moves it can get blown up by the weapon. You should be cackling with glee when you fire it the first time.

* Second Battle of Kuat, the Consortium capturing the Eclipse, a ship so big, it has a turbolaser that is powerful enough to blow a Super Star Destroyer in half, with 1 shot! Just going to town with that weapon is priceless, as it destroys anything that you target with it: ISDs, Mon Cal cruisers, Space Stations, if it moves it can get blown up by the weapon. You should be cackling with glee when you fire it the first time.

* In ''[[TheThrawnTrilogy Dark Force Rising]]'' Leia single-handedly blows open the Empire's [[MoralEventHorizon horrifyingly cynical]] [[EvilPlan scam]] to secure their supply of [[ProudWarriorRaceGuy Noghri]] commandos[[note]] Their planet was poisoned by a spaceship crashing during the Clone Wars, and then the Empire made it permanent by secretly modifying the inedible plants so that nothing else would grow. ''Then'' they turn around and demand tribute in the form of Noghri commandos in exchange for ''very slowly'' cleaning the world of the damage they caused. Assholes.[[/note]]. The sheer righteous fury radiating off of Leia is something to behold.

** Hell, in the end Leia is probably the most awesome character in the whole trilogy. First, as mentioned, she turns around the Noghris, who, as should be noted, recently tried to abduct her with her yet unborn children several times. In [[TheThrawnTrilogy The Last Command]] she gives birth to extremely force sensitive twins. Over the next few weeks, she discovers the brilliantly hidden bugging device Thrawn uses and figures out how he produces clones so quickly, then she immediately leaves to help Luke and Mara defeat C'baoth. Thrawn is killed by his Noghri Bodyguard, and without him the Empire is poised to lose the battle and the campaign - thanks to Leia, mostly. Oh, and the rest of the time she's busy doing politics, being of the most important leaders of the new republic.

** '''Generally cynical [[http://community.livejournal.com/roguereport/4592.html#cutid1 recap]] of TheThrawnTrilogy:''' For the second time, Zahn also sets up information for later novels of his already; this time, mentioning to Pellaeon his plan for creating a clone that will be grown fast to childhood, and then let to grow naturally for the last ten years. Possibly on a hidden, secure planet in the Unknown Regions.\\

* The Lusankya (the Super Star Destroyer mentioned above) and its captain, Eldo Davip, get three Moments of Awesome in AaronAllston's New Jedi Order-era ''Rebel Dream'' and ''Rebel Stand''.

*** "So, who will we fight them as? The New Republic, or the Rebellion." "Neither. We'll fight them as the Empire. They won't like fighting the Empire."

** Jacen's best CrowningMomentOfAwesome occurs earlier in Traitor: when he makes the living armor out of amphistaffs and looks at the Yuuzhan Vong warriors headed towards him, with the immortal line, "I'd like you to meet some friends of mine." Followed by a fantastic CurbStompBattle.
** Vergere gets one near the end of ''Traitor''; when she's right about to 'leave' with Nom Anor and when Nom starts boasting about [[CrazyPrepared always having a contingency plan]], Vergere switches Anakin's captured lightsaber on and holds it ''inches'' from his face, going off on a tangent about how elegant the lightsaber is, while Nom Anor is clearly '''''terrified.''''' She finishes it off with responding to Nom's accusation of "You...you said Jacen Solo would steal this ship!" with a theatrical sigh, and [[IronicEcho "When will you realize, Executor, that everything I tell you is the truth?"]]

** The final battle between Jacen and Onimi in the Unifying Force, when Jacen achieves Oneness with the Force and causes Onimi's own poisons to liquify him from the inside out. Jacen might have been a GaryStu by that point, but that sequence was still pretty awesome.

* As a substitute example for Luke, how about his [[spoiler:decapitating Yuuzhan Vong Supreme Overlord Shimraa with his and Anakin's lightsabers]] in "The Unifying Force".

** As a substitute example for Luke, how about his [[spoiler:decapitating Yuuzhan Vong Supreme Overlord Shimraa with his and Anakin's lightsabers]] in "The Unifying Force".

* Borsk Fey'la gets one and only one, when he blows himself and 25,000 Vong warriors up with a handheld nuke instead of evacuating. Almost makes up for how badly he screwed up everything else.

* In ''Literature/MaulLockdown'': We get to see Maul fighting prowess without using his lightsaber. two moments includes killing a Yuuzhan Vong (While blind) and force feed it the head of its Amphistaff and Quote Ripped three of the large piercings from its right arm and jammed them upward through the lips, bending them back into barb hooks and fastening the mouth shut with the serpent's head still trapped inside. unquote and sensing that it was weakened from the Amphistaff venom he then finished it by headbutted the thing with his horn going through its eyes.
** In his next bout he ripped out the heart of a Wampa from it's chest with his own TWO hands!

[[folder:Literatures]]

* In ''ShadowsOfTheEmpire'', [[TheRival Xizor]] manages to make ''Darth Vader'' look like an idiot ''in front of the'' '''Emperor'''. To elaborate: Xizor tips off Vader about a Rebel base. Vader takes credit for it in front of the Emperor. Vader is sent off to pulverise said Rebel base. Xizor drops in on the Emperor for drinks and casually mentions giving the info to Vader. Vader phones in to report mission accomplished. The Emperor makes Vader ''thank'' Xizor. While ''[[HumiliationConga kneeling]]''.

* Chapter 11 of ''Inferno'': Luke finally calling out Jacen on [[CharacterDerailment all the stuff he did during the course of the series]], including the massacre of the Jedi Academy earlier in the book + basically telling Ben to go assassinate the former leader of the Alliance, and ''literally rendering him immobile'' during the conversation (Jacen was force-pushed into his chair and pinned there). Keep in mind that Luke is still grieving over his wife's death and doesn't yet know the full details of that duel.

** Also from the ''NewJediOrder'' series: [[spoiler:Chewbacca, bloodied and dazed, alone among wreckage and corpses on the dying planet of Sernpidal, looked up, stared a falling moon straight on, and loudly dared it to come claim him if it was bold enough to try]].
** Another ''NewJediOrder'' example: Ganner at the well of the World Brain: "[[YouShallNotPass None shall pass]]."

* Jaina Solo actually got one in ''[[NewJediOrder The New Jedi Order]]'', back when the Expanded Universe's current female disenfranchisement complex was still in its infancy. At the climax of ''Destiny's Way'', [[spoiler:she took on Yuuzhan Vong [[TheDragon Warmaster Tsavong Lah]], with the final result that her lightsaber ended up embedded in his neck]].

* Early in ''Ambush at Corellia'', first book of the Corellian trilogy, Luke gives Leia a new lightsaber signifying that, in his mind, she has achieved the rank of Jedi Knight (something the authors of NewJediOrder conveniently forgot about). He then challenges her to a friendly duel in which she disarms him with ease, explaining to her astonished brother that she had, indeed, been practicing.

** Crippling, deadly spores in her lungs? Didn't stop her from killing the first [[NewJediOrder Yuuzhan Vong]] she fought ''without breaking a sweat''.

* Matthew Stover's ''{{Shatterpoint}}''. ''All of it'', largely due to copious amounts of [[Creator/SamuelLJackson Mace Windu]]. To give you some perspective, imagine Jules Winnifield got ''really'' Zen, shaved his head and his face, and then someone handed him a lightsaber. Roughly four hundred pages of [[BeamMeUpScotty rich, Corinthian]] '''Win''' ensue.

*** {{Sidekick}} Nick Rostu also gets one just before that. [[spoiler:Vastor is down, but Depa has finally snapped. Despite Mace's pleading, she raises her lightsaber to her temple. Before she activate it and put a blade directly through her brain, Nick--who up to that point appeared dead--summons enough strength and accuracy to ''shoot the handle out of her hand'']]. That Nick is quite the {{Badass}}, and furthermore [[spoiler:he lives]].

* What ''Shatterpoint'' is to Mace Windu, ''DarkRendezvous'' is to Yoda. The whole novel is roughly a 50/50 split between Awesome and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming Heartwarming]].
** One of the awesomest moments is at the very end, where Count Dooku's emergency escape plan is revealed to be [[spoiler:an orbital missile fired at Chateau Malreaux: simple and effective. Yoda uses his telekinesis to send it off course, which is like the part at the end of ''Attack of the Clones'' where he saves Obi-Wan and Anakin from a falling engine cylinder--only about thirty times as epic]].

** Yet another NJO example: Admiral Pellaeon, Thrawn's former BastardUnderstudy gets to deliver this line:

** Between Leia and her brother, in terms of their jobs and talents, Luke takes more after their father, Leia after their mother. In terms of temperament and ego, it's the other way around. Luke isn't very good at righteous fury - and the Noghri don't pick ''him'' as the mal'ary'ush, heir to Vader's power.

* ''Literature/{{Allegiance}}: When the Hand of Judgment stormtroopers find out that Luke and Han are with the Rebellion, Han tries to dissemble by telling them that they're only [[NotInThisForYourRevolution sort of]] involved; they respond with "So you're only ''sort of'' traitors?" Luke reminds them that ''they'' are deserters, which is exactly the wrong thing to say, and Han defuses the situation by talking about how he was in their boots once, he left the Empire for similar reasons, how the Empire has betrayed its own ideals, and how the Rebel Alliance isn't out to break down order but to change things the only way that they can be changed. Other things too. He reflects what the stormtroopers had said back at them, and he says various things that actually reflect on ''him'', and his own uncomfortable semi-participation in the Rebellion. Han in the end manages to get the Hand of Judgment more or less on his and Luke's side.

* [[Awesome/XWingSeries has its own page.]]

* There's an XWingSeries comics arc called "Mandatory Retirement", in which Rogue Squadron goes through a daring mission to rescue a high-ranking Imperial defector. One of the pilots, a nonhuman who'd been in the squadron for a long time, dies during this. The defector, who's been an enemy for a long time, complains about the fuss made over "animal filth". Wedge Antilles [[BewareTheNiceOnes snaps]], does a NeckLift on the defector, and tells him "Don't make me go Vader on you." It seems like it should be a PunctuatedForEmphasis moment, but that's really not a Wedge thing.

* ''[[XWingSeries Requiem For A Rogue]]'' is commonly seen as a weaker plot for its very OffModel art, some rather pointless deaths, and general weirdness - however, it's hard not to find Wedge's undbending defiance in the face of the Dark Jedi who brought him back to life and could kill him effortlessly awesome.

* The ''X-Wing'' novels have their share, with a prominent one being in ''The Bacta War:'' when the SSD Lusankya realizes that over three hundred proton torpedoes and concussion missiles are locked on it. Stackpole's dialogue left a lot to be desired, but that moment oozed "win."
** Ysanne Isard nicking the ''Lusankya'' out from its hiding place -- ''from underneath [[OhCrap Imperial City]]''. [[StuffBlowingUp KA-BOOOOM.]] Iceheart, you [[MagnificentBastard Magnificent Bitch]], I read your ''book!''
*** On the other hand, the awesomeness of how Booster and Iella figured out what she was up to in ''Isard's Revenge'', tracked her down on the refurbished ''Lusankya'', and trapped her in her old quarters can only be surpassed by Iella's delicious ShutUpHannibal moment, followed by shooting Iceheart right in the gut. Made even better by the fact that in between those, she actually 'terrified Isard into a rash attack'' by revealing she wouldn't have a GetOutOfJailFreeCard thanks to how much intelligence information and {{Blackmail}} she had on members of the government--instead [[LoopholeAbuse she'd be tried in military court for piracy since had tried to steal a vessel]], then [[LaserGuidedKarma locked up in the very ship she'd made into a prison]], [[AndIMustScream alone and cut off from all human contact with only droids to look after her]].
** [[CrazyAwesome Lara Notsil.]]:
--->''I am the unseen, the unknowable, the unstoppable.''
--->''No computer can stand before me. Gates open for me. Back doors are revealed to me. Knowledge willingly spools itself out for my inspection. I am the Jedi of the electronic world.''
--->''I have found evil aboard Tedevium. I have found corruption. Like the Jedi, I shall cut it down.''
--->''Examine these files. Test them for integrity. You will find they are the truth.''
--->''Go where these files lead you.''
--->''Do what you must do, as I do what I must do.''
--->''Signed, White Lancer.''
*** But the fact that a book later she almost single-handedly brings down Warlord Zsinj from within his flagship, fools him into a losing gambit, eliminates his alien experimentation program and frees the prisoners, and then has the gall to send a message to General Solo and the rest of the New Republic fleet right under his nose is truly a reason to punch the air and cheer.
---->'''Lara Notsil''': "''Iron Fist'' is now in the Selaggis system with her hyperdrive inoperable... I recommend you come by and take a look. Oh, bring your fleet too."
*** She'd be a MarySue if not for her very believable character flaws and development (such as borderline insanity, and it getting worse, not better) and the fact that she doesn't completely take over the story, still allowing Wedge and the other heroes to play their parts and achieve victory. Instead she just comes across as an utterly cool and admirable role model (natch, for a StarWars woman), and all this after doing a HeelFaceTurn.
** Myn Donos gets one as well just for rediscovering his sense of humor.
--->'''Donos''': "Pretty. What do we blow up first?"
--->'''Wedge''': "Write that down. That should be the Wraith Squadron slogan."
** Another moment occurs in ''Wedge's Gamble'', where Wedge and the future Mrs. Winter Celchu hijack a solar mirror orbiting Coruscant from the ground and turn it into a KillSat, with spectacular results. The reactions of the hapless mirror crew are just icing on the cake at this point. Say what you will about Stackpole's writing style, but the man knows how to do StuffBlowingUp properly.
** In ''Wraith Squadron'', Kell Tainer and Runt use false signals to trick the enemy into thinking that the ''Millennium Falcon'' happens to be damaged and escaping the hidden Folor base being raided. They pull this off long enough to let the last of the personnel transports escape... and then mock the Imperial captain over an open channel.
--->'''Kell''': "Consider yourselves humiliated. And welcome to Folor. Out."
** Later in the same book, Voort "Piggy" [=saBinring=] boards an enemy craft solo armed with only a jury-rigged starfighter laser cannon and captures it ''all by himself''.
*** Not that inconsiderable, considering that Piggy is a 2 meter tall (tall as Chewbacca) much-wider [[PigMan porcine]] killing machine, and said laser cannon is powerful enough to make all the water in your body flashboil instantly, effectively making you into a wet explosion and passing right on through you like a rock through wet kleenex.
*** That's exactly ''why'' it's a CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
*** Piggy also scored a another CrowningMomentOfAwesome in Solo Command, when he was in a meeting with Admiral Ackbar. A lieutenant, brainwashed by the BigBad, came into the room and shot Piggy in the stomach before turning to attack the admiral. Piggy, with a massive burnt gut wound, pulled out his vibroknife and cut the lieutenant's blaster apart. When the lieutenant didn't even care and started to strangle the Admiral, Piggy ''picked up the Admiral's desk and rammed it against the wall'', not only smushing the brainwashed lieutenant's head, but ''bowing out the other side of the wall, knocking out the ensign leaning on the other side''.
** ''Starfighters of Adumar'': Wes Janson challenging one of Cartann's pilots before Wedge can... then proceeding to kick his ass after staking the whole fight on blocking the guy's first blow.
--->'''Wes''': "I punch. You suffer. Got it?"
*** ''[[XWingSeries Starfighers of Adumar]]'' was ''awesome''. Remember that point where Red Flight was [[TheOnlyOne outnumbered four to thirty?]]
*** A quieter one where Wedge finally tells one of the BloodSport-obsessed Adumari that what they see as honor ''is not honorable''.
----> '''Wedge''': "Circular thinking. I'm honorable because I kill the enemy, and I kill the enemy for the honor. There's nothing there, Cheriss. Here's the truth: I kill the enemy so someone, somewhere - probably someone I've never met and never will meet - will be happy. [...] I told you how I lost my parents. Nothing I ever do can make up for that loss. But if I put myself in the way of people just as bad as the ones who killed my family, if I burn them down, then someone else ''they'' would have hurt gets to stay happy. That's the only honorable thing about my profession. It's not the killing. It's making the galaxy a little better."
** There's a Moment of Awesome for ''the entire squadron'' in ''[[XWingSeries The Krytos Trap]]'' after they're told they won't be able to help the people of Thyferra or go after the prisoners aboard ''Lusankya''. Led by Corran Horn, [[spoiler:the entire squdron goes on to ''quit so they can go ahead and do it anyway.'']]
** Speaking of Horn... there are at least TWO incidents in which he essentially comes back from the dead. The first time, during the first X-Wing book, he winds up being saved by a ship that travels much faster than an X-Wing in hyperspace, so not only does he get back home before the rest of the squadron (who, unwillingly, left him to die) but he decides to play a prank on his superior officer with a "Don't feel guilty about leaving me behind" speech. Even coming back from the dead in time to [[spoiler:save Tycho from wrongful imprisonment/execution]] doesn't top that.
*** Then there's Horn taking on what is essentially a cruiser which decided to take MoreDakka to the extreme, dodging twenty turrets just like those mounted on the Millenium Falcon while his own allies fired twenty four missiles at him. He kills the ship by getting close to the cruiser and putting it between his fighter and the missiles just as they catch up to him.
*** Horn's Astromech 'Whistler' gets his own CrowningMomentOfAwesome there. One of the pilots shot his missiles off too late, so Horn was still going to bite it, just from the allies and not the enemy. He tries to dodge, and finds that the randomisation program he'd had his droid enact to make his movements more erratic meant it was impossible for him to dodge. His reaction? "Whistler! Cut it out!". "Horn then realised that by using the indefinite term "it" he was going to die". Queue a debriefing session later, with Horn very much alive. "When I said cut "it" out, I'd meant the randomisation program. Whistler, being a little more direct in his problem solving, just cut the signal the missiles were using to track me".
** Booster Terrik gets another in ''Isard's Revenge'': delivering a NoHoldsBarredBeatdown to [[SmugSnake Borsk]] [[ObstructiveBureaucrat Fey'lya]] after he dared to try and use Asyr's ([[FakingTheDead apparent]]) death for political gains, while at the same sullying her sacrifice by putting a dead criminal in her tomb since he claimed DeathEqualsRedemption and [[IDidWhatIHadToDo the Ends Justify The Means]]. Seeing a ShutUpHannibal, [[WhatTheHellHero What The Hell]] [[strike:Hero]] [[WhatTheHellHero Antagonist]] moment like this, after what comes close to being Fey'lya's MoralEventHorizon, has never been so satisfying. Unless it was when Fey'lya first got brought down by Leia and Karrde through an EngineeredPublicConfession in ''Dark Force Rising''.
** Face Loran gets a simlutaneous CrowningMomentOfAwesome and CMOF while impersonating Imperial Captain [[SmallNameBigEgo Darillian]]. His cover almost, ''almost'' slips in front of [[BigBad Admiral Trigit]], but he keeps it in place just barely with a totally [[LargeHam OTT monologue]] about Darillian's unrequited love for '''Ysanne Isard.'''
-->''Thank you, thank you. Performances every hour, on the hour. Imperial madmen a speciality.''
** This leads to the second one, where the Wraiths are discovered in a battle, as having been faking Darillian. They destroy all the enemy forces, and turn back aground, reporting to the superiors that they were ambushed, and brilliantly escaped as the only survivors. Since they people who discovered the deception were at the battle, they kept cover. Repeat: They murdered the enemy forces. Turned around, and claimed it was an ambush that only they survived. This is right up there with succesfully arguing for someone to take sympathy that you're an orphan, when you just murdered your parents!

[[AC: Empire at War: Forces of Corruption]]