History BadassNormal / Literature

** Adolin Kohlin, his son, counts as well. As themagiccomesback, Adolin is feeling a bit left behind as basically everyone around him is suddenly manifesting powers. Despite that, he's a capable battlefield commander and solider, as well as one of the best duelists in the world. At one point his role in a plan is to duel other Shardbearers in formal matches to win their Shards. Everyone's main concern is getting others to actually agree to the duels, with no one worrying about his ability to win. [[spoiler: Turns out they were right not to worry]].

** Adolin Kohlin, his son, counts as well. As theMagicComesBack, Adolin is feeling a bit left behind as basically everyone around him is suddenly manifesting powers. Despite that, he's a capable battlefield commander and solider, as well as one of the best duelists in the world. At one point his role in a plan is to duel other Shardbearers in formal matches to win their Shards. Everyone's main concern is getting others to actually agree to the duels, with no one worrying about his ability to win. [[spoiler: Turns out they were right not to worry]].

** Dalinar Kholin's flashbacks in ''Literature/{{Oathbringer}}'' show the conquest of Alethkar when he is basically an unstoppable one man army. Then he gets his Shards [[note]]magic armor called Shardplate and magic swords called Shardblades[[/note]]. At on point before that someone jokes that they need to get him some Shards, not so that he can do more on the battlefield, but because he's making the rest of them look bad by accomplishing what he does without them.
** Adolin Kohlin, his son, counts as well. People often underestimate him, but he's a capable battlefield commander and one of the best duelists in the world. At one point a key element of a plan is to have Adolin duel other Shardbearers in formal matches to win their shards. Everyone seems to think the main issue with the plan will be getting others to actually agree to the duels, with no one actually worrying about his ability to win. Turns out they were right not to worry.

** Dalinar Kholin's flashbacks in ''Literature/{{Oathbringer}}'' show the conquest of Alethkar when he is basically an unstoppable one man army. Then he gets his Shards (magic armor called Shardplate and magic swords called Shardblades). At on point before that someone jokes that they need to get him some Shards, not so that he can do more on the battlefield, but because he's making the rest of them look bad by accomplishing what he does without them.

** Dalinar Kholin's flashbacks in ''Literature/Oathbringer'' show the conquest of Alethkar when he is basically an unstoppable one man army. Then he gets his Shards (magic armor called Shardplate and magic swords called Shardblades). At on point before that someone jokes that they need to get him some Shards, not so that he can do more on the battlefield, but because he's making the rest of them look bad by accomplishing what he does without them.

* Elend Venture from ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'' by Creator/BrandonSanderson is a Badass normal before [[spoiler:he becomes a Mistborn.]]

** [[TheChessmaster Ehren]]. He's [[spoiler:manipulated Aquitaine, a ManipulativeBastard in his own right,]] he's [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice faked his own death]], advised the First Lord, and assisted Tavi in his escapades at every chance. He's also a complete DeadpanSnarker and quite loyal to those he loves ("That's insane. The plan is insane. YOU are insane... I'll need some pants."). While he ''does'' possess furycraft, he has a fraction of a fraction of what everyone else has, rendering him effectively "normal" in the setting.

* ''{{Literature/Dune}}'': In a world filled with super-powered lords (Paul), trained-since-before-birth martial artists (Duncan) and crazy desert-dwelling survivalists (Stilgar), Gurney Halleck stands out by being none of these, but still capable of fighting any of the aforementioned to a standstill.

** [[PrivateMilitaryContractors Kincaid]] claims to be as human as the protagonist, and spends his first appearance in ''Death Masks'' taking down multiple Red Court vampires with a golf bag filled with disposable shotguns with Dragon's Breath rounds. [[spoiler:In his next appearance [[SubvertedTrope he's revealed to be several hundred years old]] and a definite supernatural of some kind, though exactly ''what'' kind is unknown.]]

* ''{{Literature/Dune}}'': In a world filled with super-powered lords (Paul), highly-trained martial artists (Duncan) and crazy desert-dwelling survivalists (Stilgar), Gurney Halleck stands out by being none of these, but still capable of fighting any of the aforementioned to a standstill.

* {{Deconstructed}} in the ''Literature/{{Temps}}'' story "El Lobo Dorado is Dead, is Dead" by Liz Holliday, in which the main character's attempts to be a nonpowered crimefighter come across more as "crazy survivalist", and her attempt to intervene in a hostage situation get the eponymous paranorm -- her inspiration -- killed.

* In ''Literature/TheShadowspawn'', FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire Adrian's mundane girlfriend Ellen determines to (and does) become one, so she will be at least a little less helpless against the various horrors of that setting that he introduces her to. His old mentor Harvey Ledbetter would also be one, except that he has some minor magics and cantrips to help him along.

*** The protagonist of the Graham [=McNeill=] short story, ''The Last Church''. What could possibly be better than being an ordinary Guardsman who stands up to a insane demi-god? Being an old priest who [[spoiler:gives a scathing TheReasonYouSuckSpeech to the God Emperor himself]]. It becomes an even bigger SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome if you go with the {{Fanon}} idea that [[spoiler:[[BeethovenWasAnAlienSpy Jesus was the God-Emperor in disguise]], as that would mean that the old priest unknowingly ''[[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu told off the very deity he dedicated his life to]]''.]]

* [[VideoGame/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms RotTK]] features [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters more Chinese generals than you can shake a stick at.]] One who stands out even though he has no special qualities or strengths is Liao Hua. He starts out the story as a [[LaResistance Yellow Turban]] and not only miraculously survives that ordeal, he joins up with [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Liu]] [[LawfulStupid Bei.]] While the "Heroes" of Shu rapidly die out this guy stays alive to distinguish himself before dying of old age.

* [[RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms RotTK]] features [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters more Chinese generals than you can shake a stick at.]] One who stands out even though he has no special qualities or strengths is Liao Hua. He starts out the story as a [[LaResistance Yellow Turban]] and not only miraculously survives that ordeal, he joins up with [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Liu]] [[LawfulStupid Bei.]] While the "Heroes" of Shu rapidly die out this guy stays alive to distinguish himself before dying of old age.

** Tallow promises a very lost Fortune that he will take him to civilisation, leads him through several days of thick snow, and ''does it'' using nothing but his pathfinding skills and incredible skill at flying.

** [[TheComicallySeriuos]] Cumber]] was told to deliver a message with Fortune, but during the events of the story he [[spoiler: tricks a warlord into giving him the freedom of his prison]] so that he can rescue Fortune, [[spoiler: kills said warlord's rather fearsome second in command by luring him into the Realm (which is full of [[EldritchAbomination Eldritch Abominations]] that can and will tear apart any dragon too weak to fend them off]], [[spoiler: frees Fortune and a couple of other Naturals who have so far only ever seen Charmed dragons being monstrous... and unintentionally convinces them that some are really 'just dragons']], gets himself and two Naturals through [[TheBigBad Wraith's]] patrols by [[spoiler: turning all three of them white for camouflage in the snow]], and keeps his head together when [[spoiler: he suffers from Realmshock and when Charm disappears entirely]] and most other Charmed can't cope.

* Despite focusing on eponymous {{Super Soldier}}s, ''Literature/SpaceMarineBattles'' has its fare share of mortals who kick ass.
** ''Fall of Damnos'': Jynn Evvers and her mountain guerillas. For nearly a year, they wage war of atrocity with killer alien robots that come back when they die and kill scores of Necrons with ice picks and makeshift explosives.
** Also from this novel, captain Falka and his One Hundred (who were never one hundred, but it sounds nice), who charge a Necron phalanx head on and win.
** ''Legion of the Damned'': The Excoriators' Chapter serfs take part in siege, tending to cannons and fighting with las-rifles, nicknamed "torchlights" by the players for what good they do on a battlefield.
** ''Siege of Castellax'': Yuxiang, and escaped slave, who manages to start a rebellion and [[spoiler:kill a Chaos Space Marine]].
** ''Death of Antagonis'': Sister Sethano. Day after having her guts shot out of her, she walks into a trap and walks out of it, having killed her attackers.

* A very interesting version in ''Literature/AtTheMountainsOfMadness''. The Elder Things, while being StarfishAliens, are this in the grand scheme of things. Their physical structure is composed of totally, absolutely mundane elements, yet they are able to fight against the other EldritchAbomination to a standstill. They also form family units, with homes that depict artworks and such, and the one which escaped and slaughtered the team did so because the team dissected others of his species. Even one character noted that they are NotSoDifferent to humanity - after all, were the situations reversed, the humans would do the exact same thing.

* The ''SeekersOfTruth'' have a couple. Trigger uses technology and an eagle eye, and Grizzly has lived in the woods for the last 25 years honing his body and his instincts, until he can read the sounds of every animal in his woods.

* ''RepairmanJack'' goes against things straight out of [[Creator/HPLovecraft Lovecraft's]] worst nightmare with little more than healthy dose of righteous anger, resourcefulness and enough firepower to singlehandedly wage war on a small country. The results aren't pretty but awesome all the same.

* Steven Erikson's ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' has a number of these, with the assassin/warrior Kalam Mekhar being perhaps the most obvious.

* [[RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms RotTK]] features [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters more Chinese generals than you can shake a stick at.]] One who stands out even though he has no special qualities or strengths is Liao Hua. He starts out the story as a [[LaResistance Yellow Turban]] and not only miraculously survives that ordeal, he joins up with [[RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething Liu]] [[LawfulStupid Bei.]] While the "Heroes" of Shu rapidly die out this guy stays alive to distinguish himself before [[BadAssGrandpa dying of old age.]]

* Firenze joins the the other Hogwarts defenders in the final battle of ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'' despite having no magic to fight with.

* Tavi in JimButcher's other series, ''Literature/CodexAlera''. He is uniquely powerless in a world in which all humans can control elemental spirits called Furies, though he compensates for this near-crippling deficiency by becoming a courageous, insightful, empathetic, and generally badass leader. This may be a slight exaggeration of this trope, as while he is normal by our standards, in his world he is considered a (sub-normal) freak. By the end of the third book, it is explicitly stated in-story that he is far more capable than most people with great Fury-powers. [[spoiler:And then he becomes a EmpoweredBadassNormal with the full furycraft ability of the First Lord.]]

* Kyja of " Farworld" is the only person in her entire world who can't do magic. she learns to kick ass with a sword, and when the other hero shows up, he can't do ANYTHING because he can't control his magic. the first book is mostly kyja saving his sorry and crippled butt from baddies.

* ''Literature/TheWanderingInn'': Even though Erin doesn't possess any magic, or extraordinary strength, she managed to kill a goblin chieftain, thus gaining the fear of his former tribe, and a nest full of huge spiders, which only experienced adventurers would dare to fight.