History BadassNormal / Literature

* Earth-born Hari Michaelson in Matthew Stover's ''Literature/TheActsOfCaine'' is, in his Caine persona, a superstar in a ''D&D''-inspired parallel universe. He goes up against the most brutal warriors of a fighting species, thaumaturgists, humans channelling the powers of their gods, and, well, ''gods''. He beats them all through a combination of [[TrainingFromHell training]], a few [[MasterOfYourDomain semi-magickal meditative disciplines]], [[WeaponOfChoice his knives]], and, when he's physically incapable of anything else, [[CombatPragmatist extraordinary tactical ability]] and a healthy dose of badassery.

* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels, Commander Vimes has fought a dragon, outwitted a vampire, outran a pack of werewolves and is the only person to have bested the Summoning Dark, which is an ancient evil that works by corrupting and controlling men's minds. He does all this even though he is a middle-aged man with no powers whatsoever, going as far as to ''refuse'' magical help from wizards.

** ''[[Literature/DarthBane Darth Bane: Rule of Two'': Kelad'dan goes toe-to-toe with Johun - a Jedi - and nearly comes out on top.

* Earth-born Hari Michaelson in Matthew Stover's ''Literature/TheActsOfCaine'' is, in his Caine persona, a superstar in a ''D&D''-inspired parallel universe. He goes up against the most brutal warriors of a fighting species, thaumaturgists, humans channelling the powers of their gods, and, well, ''gods''. He beats them all through a combination of [[TrainingFromHell training]], a few [[MasterOfYourDomain semi-magickal meditative disciplines]], [[KnifeNut his knives]], and, when he's physically incapable of anything else, [[CombatPragmatist extraordinary tactical ability]] and a healthy dose of badassery.

* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl:'' [[spoiler: Domovoi]] Butler. No superpowers whatsoever, and yet one of the two most feared humans on and under the planet, due to his incredible martial arts skills. He is the only human in history to take on a troll, and win.
** In single combat, no less.

* [[Literature/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.

* Joseph Carrion of the ''Literature/MediochreQSethSeries'' is one of the most badass characters around -- despite having, at best, [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Charles Atlas]] ImprobableAimingSkills in a world populated by [[OurMagesAreDiffere t mancers]], [[{{Dhampyr}} Dhampir]], TheUndead and [[HealingFactor functionally immortal]] [[AwesomenessByAnalysis superpowered geniuses]].

** Dragons on his world are divided between the Charmed (magic-wielding dragons) and the Naturals (dragons who can't use magic). Fortune is a Natural who has to travel to the centre of the biggest Charmed colony on earth -- which is fine, except that [[FantasticRacism the Charmed are gearing up for war against the Naturals]]. Despite that, Fortune gets cornered [[spoiler: in a cave system riot]] and escapes, [[spoiler: rescuing a Charmed dragon from being body-swapped with a dying dragon]] in the process, helps inspire [[spoiler: The Flight to act when before they were too reluctant to, for fear that the Charmed would kill them]], meets Mantle, the Keeper of the Maze of Covamere and [[spoiler: impresses him by explaining his very cool and collected understanding of Charm]] during a time when most dragons have gotten incredibly paranoid about it, and psyches out [[spoiler: [[TheBigBad Wraith]] to the point that he brings about his own death]] without even trying.
** [[TheComicallySerious 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.

** Loren gains the morphing ability near the end of the series, but she never uses it. That said, ''The Andalite Chronicles'' proves she was a badass long before then.

* Loren, Naomi and Eva from K.A. Applegate's ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''
** Loren is an interesting case where she does gain the titular character's ability to morph, but she never uses it. That said, other books prove she was a badass long before then.

* Kaycee in ''Literature/{{Magellan}}'' aspires to be a Badass Normal in a world of {{Super Hero}}es.

* [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Samwise Gamgee]]. A gardener at the beginning of the book. By the end of the trilogy... well, I know it's the film, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA0ffVBw584 but Shelob's lair]] is his CMOA. I mean, seriously. Sauron and Morgoth had trouble containing Shelob and Ungoliant, and Morgoth was the most powerful of the Ainur and Sauron the most powerful of the Maiar, but Sam goes and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punches out Cthulhu]].

** In ''Back to Before'', a side-novel that takes place in an alternate timeline where the Animorphs never got their powers, Rachel grabs a baseball bat and hits Tom in the knees as soon as she realises that Jake is in danger.

* 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.

* Multiple characters from ''Literature/{{Dragoncharm}}''.
** Dragons on his world are divided between the Charmed (magic-wielding dragons) and the Naturals (dragons who can't use magic). Fortune is a Natural who has to travel to the centre of the biggest Charmed colony on earth - which is fine, except that [[FantasticRacism the Charmed are gearing up for war against the Naturals]]. Despite that, Fortune gets cornered [[spoiler: in a cave system riot]] and escapes, [[spoiler: rescuing a Charmed dragon from being body-swapped with a dying dragon]] in the process, helps inspire [[spoiler: The Flight to act when before they were too reluctant to, for fear that the Charmed would kill them]], meets Mantle, the Keeper of the Maze of Covamere and [[spoiler: impresses him by explaining his very cool and collected understanding of Charm]] during a time when most dragons have gotten incredibly paranoid about it, and psyches out [[spoiler: [[TheBigBad Wraith]] to the point that he brings about his own death]] without even trying.
** [[TheComicallySerious 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.
** [[GoodIsNotDumb Tallow]] promises a very lost Fortune that he will take him to civilisation, and ''does it'', leading him through several days of heavy snowfall using nothing but his incredible pathfinding and flying skills.
* The hunters from Literature/{{Unique}}. Despite not having any special abilities (which all three of the other groups do), they still give a definite sense of being the scariest in a fight.

* Edilio from Michael Grant's ''Literature/{{Gone}}''.
* ''Literature/TheHauntingOfDrearcliffGrangeSchool'' revolves around a class of students with unusual abilities, such as telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and GreenThumb. Kali has no special powers, but her formidable kick-boxing skills and status as a nascent empress of crime in South Asia warrant her inclusion. Bok ''would'' be another example, if she didn't spend the entire novel recuperating from a crippling leg injury.
* Cheradenine Zakalwe from [[Creator/IainBanks Iain M. Banks]]'s ''Literature/UseOfWeapons'' epitomises this trope. He gets a little less cocky about it after being decapitated, though.
* "Gentleman" Johnny Marcone in Creator/JimButcher's ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''. Managed to bring Chicago's organized crime under his (relatively organized) reign, and has gone to toe-to-toe with the things that go bump in the night on multiple occasions. ''White Night'' ends with him [[spoiler:becoming a recognized body in the supernatural community, able to defend his rights if any signatories to the Unseelie Accords infringe on them. There are twenty such bodies throughout the world, and Marcone's the only mortal.]] His biggest moment has to be when he was hung upside down and managed to kill a werewolf with a throwing knife. In the dark.
** Karrin Murphy. She's faced down rampaging werewolves, vampiric minions, and an army of ghouls, despite being a squishy mortal. It does help that she's an experienced cop and damn good at Aikido, though.
*** She's also described as looking like "someone's favorite aunt" and a cheerleader, with a button nose, blue eyes, and blonde hair. Five feet and a hundred pounds of badass.
*** However, if she's wielding one of the Holy Swords (which she only does a last resort...for now), she moves up into the EmpoweredBadassNormal category.
** Charity Carpenter was once a practitioner of magic, but gave it up after Knight of the Cross Michael Carpenter rescued and married her. In ''Proven Guilty'' she takes on the Badass Normal (and MamaBear) role in the team assembled to rescue her daughter Molly from Arctis Tor. She uses no magic, only the muscles and skills she has built up as her husband's armorer and sparring partner.
** Must run in the Carpenter family. In ''Ghost Story'', has [[spoiler: Daniel Carpenter, Charity and Michael's oldest son, who holds his own in a knife-fight with a magically-powered adversary on the basis of the training from his parents]].
** Marcone's bodyguard Hendricks also qualifies, managing to come through fights with super-ghouls and Denarians unscathed.
* Kyja of ''Literature/{{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.

* In the ''Literature/YoungWizards'' series, Kit's sister Carmela is definitely badass normal when she manages to not only make an intergalactic voyage, chat with Aliens, learn The Speech, and wound the series antagonist in his plan of the week in Wizards at War, but she does so without any skill in wizardry at all, just by hanging out with Kit and Juanita.
** In the same series, Juanita's mother sends the series antagonist back despite having no wizardry powers... all she just does is because it's inside her mind, give him '''all'' the pain she experienced in her life. This includes childbirth. Too bad you didn't get to see her pwn him again...
* Geoffrey Spazmo from Creator/BenElton's ''Gridlock''. Spastic, but smart and brave as a lion. Kills two professional assassins with a coffee maker and a bottle opener. [[spoiler:Still dies in the end... sniffle...]]
* ''Literature/{{Superhuman}}'' the book by Michael Carroll (the author of the ''Literature/TheNewHeroes'' trilogy), takes place in a world where not everyone has superpowers, but people with powers, both villains and heroes alike, aren't a new occurrence. The book details the efforts of four kids' efforts to stop a [[AncientConspiracy four thousand-year plot to resurrect and evil king]], Out of the four kids there are two girls and two boys. Three of the kids have amazing superpowers. The first child to be introduced in the book, however, is the only one without powers. This boy, Lance, is presumably the youngest in the group, [[KidHero being only 14-years-old.]] However, his manipulative skills and way with words made him boarder on MagnificentBastard status. Even those that didn't like him at first admitted that they needed his help ''off'' the battlefield.
* Creator/StevenErikson's ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' has a number of these, with the assassin Kalam Mekhar being the most obvious. He's a trained assassin and former [[SecretPolice Claw]]. That's it -- unlike the majority of the Claw, Kalam is neither a mage assassin nor does he use magically enhanced equipment. And yet he's pulled off stunts to rival those of Ascendants. Even Cotillion, the Patron God of Assassins, acknowledges his abilities.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000 novels'':
** The titular '''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM''' from the ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' series has personally and successfully duelled everything from psykers and Greater Daemons of Slaanesh, an Ork Warboss, Khornate Berserkers, and Tyranid Hive Tyrants, Broodlords, and Genestealers, along with countless mooks and minions of all of the above. He certainly gets a lot of help from [[AntiMagic Jurgen]] and his trusty meltagun, but he killed the Warboss and a Berserker in single combat and all he had was a laspistol and [[ChainsawGood chainsword]]. He's described by Amberley Vail to be one of the best marksmen and duellists she's ever known. Coming from an Inquisitor, that's extremely high praise.
** The Tanith First and Only from the ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' series. As Light Infantry they're even ''squishier'' than other Guard regiments, yet that doesn't stop them from pulling off feats that would get other Imperial Guard units annihilated. Most of these feats consist of winning against vastly superior numbers of Chaos forces. Individual characters and squads have been known to kill all sorts of things that could easily wipe away enemies and units that could potentially destroy entire armies of Imperial Guardsmen all by themselves. These include, but are not limited to: numerous Chaos warlords, a Dark Eldar assassin, high-level psykers, a Chaos Dreadnought, and a squad of Chaos Space Marines. Scout Sergeant Oan Mkoll meanwhile is hardcore even by Tanith standards. That Chaos Dreadnought the Ghosts killed? A team effort helped by a lucky slash from a power sword and judicious use of [[KillItWithFire flamers]]. In ''Ghostmaker'', Mkoll kills a Dreadnought '''by himself'''. The rest of the regiment ''doesn't know about this incident'', and they still believe him to be completely invincible and ''the'' StealthExpert.
** ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' series examples:
*** The mute bodyguard Maggrad, was by the standards of ANY universe containing {{Space Marine}}s, an extremely proficient killer. This was further emphasized later when he was able to almost best an extremely experienced Space Marine captain. Dinas Chayne, another bodyguard, was also an incredibly talented soldier who was, even more amazingly, capable of briefly matching a Primarch in term of swordplay.
*** Maggrad, having fought waves of mutants to a standstill to protect his charge, is actually congratulated personally by ''Horus''. The giant, superhuman, galaxy-bestriding Primarch and Emperor's favourite who he practically worships actually tells Maggrad that he ''admires'' him. Cue the closest thing to ''Squee'' in Maggrad's life.
*** 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, and then declaring that he wants no part in the Big E's vision for humanity and [[FaceDeathWithDignity calmly walking into his burning church]]]]. 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]]''.]]
** Guardsman Hawke who, in the first book of the ''Literature/IronWarriors'' series ''Storm of Iron'', escapes the initial assault (blowing away a couple of Chaos Space Marines with an assault cannon as he does), hoofs it to an orbital torpedo silo, and takes out half of the Iron Warriors Chaos Space Marines besieging the Citadel. He's also the only Imperial Guardsman to survive the whole war, not counting slaves hauled off to Medrengard (though a few Imperial Fists in a Thunderbird manage to save him, whether or not they were in the campaign or just happened to be investigating is unknown). To put that in perspective, he had been written off by his superiors as a useless, foul-mouthed, insubordinate and ill-disciplined Guardsman barely worthy of the name prior to the attack.
** ''Literature/SpaceMarineBattles'' series examples:
*** ''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.

* Creator/RaymondEFeist[='=]s ''[[Literature/TheRiftwarCycle Riftwar]]'' series is chock-full of these, but usually the magic-users deal with The Affairs of Wizards and the normals deal with problems that swords can solve. Special mention, however, goes to Jimmy the Hand. He routinely takes on the plots and schemes of wizards and demons with nothing more than a quick blade, a quicker wit, and a lot of street-bred cynicism, before [[spoiler:his HeroicSacrifice when he destroys half the Serpent Queen's army by [[ThanatosGambit luring them into taking his home city and setting off a fuel-air explosion]].]]
** In the ''[[Literature/TheRiftwarCycle Conclave of Shadows]]'' trilogy, orphan Talwin Hawkins was trained in a wide variety of skills to become a medieval fantasy version of [[CulturedBadAss James Bond]]. He managed to kill his sworn enemy in a public sword-fighting tournament in a legitimate way, also winning the title of the best swordsman in the world. Which is a gambit to get himself hired by one of the most cunning ruler in the world, passed his magical lie-detectors, got his hands cut off and magically regrown, and killed a powerful necromancer with only his wits, sword, and a well-aimed steel ball.
* Creator/DavidGemmell's ''Literature/{{Drenai}}'' books:
** Waylander. Despite being rather mediocre with a sword, his nerve, accuracy and ruthlessness (and a nifty double crossbow thing) mean he is the world's foremost assassin. In the later books he becomes known as "The Gray Man" (apparently one of the embodiments of death) and leads the resistance against a bloody demonic invasion despite being an octogenarian.
** Arguably three of the other recurring characters of the series (Druss the Slayer, Skilgannon the Damned and Talisman/Ulric) would easily qualify, as each one of them can only be described as a force of nature incarnate but as they, individually, at some point have received magical weapons/enchantments which have made them stronger than before. Although, in the cases of Druss and Skilgannon, they were massively badass both before the magical weapons and after they had put aside their weapons (Skilgannon), or taken a terrifying jaunt through hell that rid their weapon of its power (Druss).
* In Walter B Gibson's novels about the Shadow, the Shadow relied on the techniques of Houdini (which Gibson had gotten the permission to use and write about from the estate of same) to rescue himself.
* Chase from Creator/TerryGoodkind's ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series has no magical ability, but can outfight anybody on the planet, and in the beginning of the series has a day job that involves him fighting demonic hounds that hunt by the sound of human hearts. He's mentioned as being "far tougher than he has any right to be", and carries enough weapons to equip a small army. Not surprisingly, his adopted daughter becomes a LittleMissBadass later in the series.
* Roran from ''Literature/InheritanceCycle''. In a world where [[SuperiorSpecies elves]] have the [[SuperStrength strength of ten men]], [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]] grow to the size of [[GiantFlyer large hills]], and [[FunctionalMagic magicians]] tear castles apart with their minds, Roran is armed with only his [[TheDeterminator determination]] and a [[DropTheHammer metal hammer]]. When his village becomes condemned by TheEmpire, he uses his potent charisma to convince his people to flee their homes and travel from the northern tip of Alagaesia to the sun-drenched country of Surda in the far south, avoiding [[EvilOverlord Galbatorix's]] troops all the while. He joins the [[LaResistance Varden]], kills the Twins (two extremely powerful magicians) with his hammer, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill kills 193 men in one go]], survives being given 50 lashes to the back by [[GeneralRipper Nasuada]] for insubordination and is up and fighting again a few days later, journeys across Alagaesia to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend from the mountain lair [[EvilTowerOfOminousness Helgrind]], wrestles a battle-crazed [[OurOrcsAreDifferent urgal]] to the ground until the beast surrenders and acknowledges Roran as the stronger, and rises his way up to a commander in the Varden after only a couple of months of service. And he does this all without any magic whatsoever. Yeah, [[{{Farmboy}} Eragon]] doesn't look so impressive next to that, does he?
** {{Lampshaded}} by Katrina's, Roran's love [[spoiler:who he marries in ''Brisingr'']], who remarks that the feats Roran accomplished without magic require greater courage than anyone else in Alagaesia has.
** Murtagh qualified as this [[spoiler: [[EmpoweredBadassNormal before his dragon hatched.]]]]
** Nasuada is one of these as well. Though she mostly sticks to a leadership role, she grabbed opportunities wherever they were found (such as the Trial of the Long Knives, or when she was [[spoiler: being tortured by Galbatorix]]) to demonstrate her own badassery.
* Creator/PerryMoore's ''Literature/{{Hero}}'' has Major Might and Dark Hero.
* ''Literature/TortallUniverse''
** In ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'', Alanna meets a fighter named Liam Ironarm, who doesn't have magic and actively shuns it (because he's afraid of it). He's the Shang Dragon, and one of the prerequisites for Shangs is that they be un-Gifted.
** ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'''s protagonist, Keladry of Mindelan, is the only one of Creator/TamoraPierce's protagonists without magic of any kind. This was a specific effort to make her and her successes more relatable to young readers.

%%* ''Literature/TheBlackCompany.''
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' has Thom and Gawyn to name but two.
* Tiphaine (and her late partner Katrina) from Creator/SMStirling[='=]s ''Literature/{{Emberverse}}'' series. They're ninja-style spies and assassins, but portrayed as being normal humans whose only abilities come from intensive training. Occasionally they skirt the edge of CharlesAtlasSuperpower, but never quite slip over.
* Alexander Storm from the ''Literature/{{Deathstalker}}'' series. He was one of the few characters not either a [[spoiler:cyborg, super-gladiator in disguise, or afflicted by an ancient alien maze]], and yet he still managed to survive half the fights that hit him, [[spoiler:right up until his FaceHeelTurn.]]
* Edward from the ''Literature/AnitaBlake'' series has no superpowers whatsoever and regularly goes up against vampires and shapeshifters for money and at one point against a creature that turns people into pulp for no apparent reason. Similarly, the members of RPIT, most notably Dolph and Zerbrowski, are at least acknowledged and often feared by members of the supernatural community.
** Anita is a Federal Marshall, necromancer, succubus, licensed Vampire Slayer, and part of a triumvirate with the master vampire of St. Louis and leader of the local werewolf pack, plus the mess of lycan blood she has in her. Edward...is a guy in his early 30s. Monsters call Anita The Executioner, they call Edward Death.
* Earth-born Hari Michaelson in Matthew Stover's ''Literature/TheActsOfCaine'' is, in his Caine persona, a superstar in a ''D&D''-inspired parallel universe. He goes up against the most brutal warriors of a fighting species, thaumaturgists, humans channelling the powers of their gods, and, well, ''gods''. He beats them all through a combination of [[TrainingFromHell training]], a few [[MasterOfYourDomain semi-magickal meditative disciplines]], [[KnifeNut his knives]], and, when he's physically incapable of anything else, [[CombatPragmatist extraordinary tactical ability]] and a healthy dose of badassery.

** In book three, Stephenie Cord also becomes a badass normal.

* Rod Gallowglass (a.k.a. Rodney [too many middle names to list] D'Armand) is the Badass Normal in Christopher Stasheff's ''Literature/WarlockOfGramarye'' books, [[spoiler:or at least until around the end of the third book.]] InAWorld where everyone is at the very least a latent telepath, a few thousand people are full-blown, teleporting, levitating, telekenetic, you-name-it-it's-there telepaths. All he has is an advanced knowledge of Science and History, an epileptic robotic horse, training in all types of weapons, and an 8th degree black belt. He still manages to fulfill his role as TheChessmaster in guiding the planet towards democracy, plus raise the four most powerful telepaths to be born... ever. [[spoiler:Even after he discovers his own "witch-powers" he prefers to rely on the skills he learned beforehand.]]
** Later in the series, Yorick becomes the Badass Normal. Specifically in ''The Warlock Is Wandering''. Isn't it amazing how well a Neanderthal, who can't manipulate symbols due to a lack of prefrontal lobes, can manipulate the rules and people around him?
** Even later, in the semi-spin-off ''Wizard'' series, Magnus Gallowglass takes on a partner, Dirk Dulaine, who is decidedly a Badass Normal. You don't get much more "normal" than Dirk's genetics. [[spoiler:His entire ancestry comes from maybe 100 individual people, who were then cloned. A few centuries later, and the servant population bears a striking resemblance to each other.]]

* As explained on [[Literature/XWingSeries the relevant page]], the pilots of Rogue and Wraith squadrons. In a galaxy where Jedi and trained commandos struggle, pilots still hold their own. Wedge Antilles might not be as [[ImprobablePilotingSkills physics-defying]] as a Force-Sensitive pilot, but he's counted with them as the best pilot alive, and is at the very least notable for being the only person to survive both attacks on a Death Star.
** He is [[Literature/NewJediOrder Blackmoon Eleven]]. ''The greatest pilot of all time.'' And when he led a battle that was supposed to be a stalling tactic, he unintentionally won, even though that was exactly what they were trying to avoid. It was lampshaded immediately afterwards by Tycho.
* Hugh the Hand from ''Literature/TheDeathGateCycle''. After being forcibly resurrected and [[AFateWorseThanDeath not being able to kill himself again]], he manages to hold his own in The Labyrinth, an insane twisted prison of magic.
* [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Samwise Gamgee]]. A gardener at the beginning of the book. By the end of the trilogy... well, I know it's the film, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pA0ffVBw584 but Shelob's lair]] is his CMOA. I mean, seriously. Sauron and Morgoth had trouble containing Shelob and Ungoliant, and Morgoth was the most powerful of the Ainur and Sauron the most powerful of the Maiar, but Sam goes and [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu punches out Cthulhu]].
** It's even more awesome in the books; in the film, he and Frodo just use the Phial of Galadriel as a torch during his battle, but in the books, Sam actually uses it as a weapon. His willpower alone makes it burn so bright that Shelob's eyes are damaged, causing her to retreat.
*** In the books, Sam's badassness is really only visible in Shelob's mind. In the film, where it's harder to show that sort of thing, depicting the physical actions only would have made it look like any schlub with a good flashlight could have done the same thing. However, a short time later Sam goes into a fortress filled with orcs. Alone. He comes back out again, too... with the guy he went in there to rescue. Definitely badass.
*** The orcs who find Frodo's body after the battle know that there's been a SERIOUS badass through there. They think it's some ancient Elf warrior with a huge sword and probably an axe, too. The fact that it's a halfling who until a few months before hadn't thought of an axe as anything but a tool to cut wood with and had probably never SEEN a sword only makes it all the more badass.
** In an earlier encounter with Shelob Frodo also applies (he also has other badass moments throughout the book, such as the wight encounter, the defiance of the Riders at the Ford, and the attack on the troll in Moria). Neither he nor Sam can see what is chasing them, and they are both running away, when Frodo decides that running is useless, turns round and goes to face whatever it is, and ends up using his will to subdue Shelob. Pity that all of Frodo's badassness was cut in transition from print.
** When Sam and Frodo are trapped in the fortress of Cirith Ungol by the supernatural Watchers, they use the Phial of Galadriel as a focus and break the wills of the guardians, long enough to get through! The biggest badassery of it all, Frodo carries the One Ring to the very lip of the Cracks of Doom, in the Chambers of Fire where the power of Sauron is strongest in all the world. Only there, ''only there'', weakened by over a year of worry, hunger, thirst, torture, labor, travel, and the cumulative burden of the Ring, '''only there''' where Sauron and the One Ring are strongest in all the world, is Frodo Baggins finally overcome by the Ring. Frodo does ultimately fail in his quest, and has to be rescued by the Mercy of God, acting through Sméagol, but Tolkien has said specifically that nobody else in the world east of the Sea, ''nobody'', would have gotten nearly as far as Frodo did.
* On the subject of the worlds of Tolkien, Beren son of Barahir. A Man, mortal born and mortal doomed, who fought with the last band of guerilla warriors led by his father after Morgoth's forces overran his lands, last survivor of the ambush the slew them, and then he waged a ''one man'' war that was so successful that eventually Morgoth set a price on his head equal to ''the High King of the Noldor''. Even then, most of his forces would flee if the rumor had him in area rather than try to capture or kill him. So Morgoth finally sent an ''army'' to track him down, with ''balrogs''. Think about that, he had become enough of a nuisance to rate that. Finally forced to flee from that magnitude of a threat, Beren became the first Man to enter Doriath, successfully penetrating Queen Melian's defenses that had held off Morgoth's forces for centuries. Then, in order to win the hand of his lady love, he is successively tortured by werewolves, defeats two sons of Fëanor in battle with them mounted and him on foot, narrowly escapes death repeatedly, with his lady he penetrates Thangorodrim itself to take a Silmaril from the crown of the greatest evil power of all time, then he is slain and becomes one of the only Men ever to return to physical life (briefly) after his physical death. As an afterthought, he leads an army of Ents to overcome an army of Dwarves after a massive charlie foxtrot incident that led to the destruction of Doriath. Beren was, very probably, the greatest badass in the history of Middle-Earth other than some of the Ainur.
* ''Literature/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.
* A slightly skewed version is Bahzell Bahnakson in Creator/DavidWeber's ''Literature/TheWarGods'' series. Among his own people, Bahzell is a Badass Normal at the beginning of the books. He is chosen by the God of War to be a Champion because of this.
* Roland in ''Franchise/TheDarkTower''. The whole Ka-tet become Badass Normal by the end of the book including Oy, the TeamPet.
* ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'':
** [[TheMadHatter Vezon]], although never actually fighting, manages to remain a main character, not dead, unbelievably unscathed after being captured by the worst torture master in the MU (with the building collapsing), and unmutated by Pit Mutagen, and all without powers! And plus [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} he's got practically no mind]], so he might even be considered [[HandicappedBadass handicapped]]...
** Mazeka, minus the handicap. He's a Matoran (the verse equivalent of Hobbits) who learned how to "fight clean, fight dirty" and kill pretty much anything.
** Speaking of the Pit, Hydraxon has no elemental powers at all. He doesn't even have a Kanohi Mask. What does he have? Slightly enhanced hearing, some throwing knives and A LOT OF GUNS. It took an earthquake [[spoiler: from a 40 million foot tall robot crashing into a planet]] to kill the first one. The second one was just as tough. He's the only thing that the former Pit prisoners are afraid of and he trained the Toa Nuva.
* Elend Venture from ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'' by Creator/BrandonSanderson is a Badass normal [[spoiler:before he becomes a Mistborn.]]
* In the ''Literature/WildCards'' novels, a character who was never infected with the Wild Card virus is called a "nat" (short for natural). In the first book, a nat named Yeoman managed to take down a teleporting Ace.
* [[Literature/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.
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novels, Commander Vimes has fought a dragon, outwitted a vampire, outran a pack of werewolves and is the only person to have bested the Summoning Dark, which is an ancient evil that works by corrupting and controlling men's minds. He does all this even though he is a middle-aged man with no powers whatsoever, going as far as to ''refuse'' magical help from wizards.
** Vimes has survived ''9'' assassination attempts by the Assassin's Guild ''without any injuries''. After that, they gave up and started using him to test (read: punish) their trainees.
** Tiffany Aching was revealed in ''I Shall Wear Midnight'' to be naturally a normal girl. Her magical powers are from [[TheDeterminator her sheer determination]] to put an end to [[BerserkButton witch hunts]]. She's such a BadassNormal that she turned herself into a EmpoweredBadassNormal ''by willpower alone''.
** Rincewind is a 'wizzard' with absolutely no powers and an inability to learn any spells. Even so, he is able to get out of just about any situation with a mixture of fear and speed. One time he manged to survive the disappearance of a dragon he was riding by punching into an alternate reality through nothing but a fervent desire to remain airborne.
* Despite living on the planet ''Literature/{{Petaybee}}'', where most people have adapted to perform well in very low temperatures, Yana Maddock, who was born off-world, still stands out as one of the most badass characters in the series.
* Niko Leandros from Rob Thurman's ''Literature/CalLeandros'' series has a vampire love interest, a [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]], half [[TheFairfolk evil-fae]] brother, and is friends with Robin Goodfellow. He has weapon skills worthy of Ghengis Khan and Alexander the Great according to his brother and he's one of the only humans respected by the supernatural world in New York City. He also [[spoiler:had Heroic BSOD when he thought his brother was dead and killed 5 Ccoa, 15 Cadejo, and a Gualichu single handedly with only his katana.]]
* Robles and Kali from Literature/{{Bystander}} are both this.
** Robles demonstrated this by having Lucretia take apart a combat drone. It took the [[UselessSuperpowers superhuman but untrained Lucretia]] several minutes to take out that one alone. Robles then took out ten of them with only her bare hands in roughly 10-30 seconds without even being tagged.
** Kali demonstrated this [[spoiler:by just short of killing Lucretia.]]
** To some degree, all of Lucretia's guard detail and the bank robbers she interferes with are this.
* In the ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' books there's Bink. In a land where everyone has a magic talent (unless they've mutated further away from human and are inherantly magical, like [[spoiler:Chameleon]]) and man-eating trees (several varieties...), dragons... let's just say that Xanth in the early books is a DeathWorld and leave it at that, Bink has no magical power whatsoever and has been forced to become a BadassNormal because of this. Subverted when it's revealed that [[spoiler:Bink's talent is that he can't be harmed by magic: it manipulates all magic around him into acting in his best interests, combining PlotArmor and MagnificentBastard, and by concealing itself it protected Bink by making him appear harmless and forcing him to become a BadassNormal.]] Double Subverted at the end of the second book, when [[spoiler:an EldritchAbomination reverses his talent, causing it to manipulate all magic around Bink in order to harm him]] and Bink is able to survive due to his skills.
* Rachel Elizabeth Dare from the ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians'' has no divine blood in her--her only power is to see through the story's WeirdnessCensor. Yet she can navigate an impossible maze, and [[DidYouJustFlipOffCthulhu throws a hairbrush at Kronos]] once.
** Percy's mom and stepdad actually battled a huge horde of monsters once, his mom wielding a shotgun and his dad a sword. When Percy asked Sally (his mom) when she learned to fire a shotgun, she replies, "About two seconds ago."
*** To make it even better, at least Percy's mom can, like Rachel Elizabeth Dare, ''see'' the monsters. His stepdad ''can't.''
** Let's not forget the moment in ''The Titan's Curse'' where Annabeth's father [[BigDamnHeroes flies in to save the day in a Sopwith Camel and]] starts gunning down monster hordes with Celestial bronze bullets.
* The SequelSeries ''Literature/TheHeroesOfOlympus'' plays this concerning the seven heroes. Although they're all demigods Annabeth is the only hero who doesn't have any supernatural powers from her godly parent - just [[{{TeenGenius}} increased intelligence.]] (The others all have a [[{{DishingOutDirt}} combination]] [[{{PlayingWithFire}} of various]] [[{{BlowYouAway}} elemental]] [[{{MakingASplash}} gifts]], {{Animorphism}} and HeartBeatDown.) She's still acknowledged as TheLeader of the quest, is one of the most experienced fighters and kicks ''serious'' butt with her smarts and battle tactics.

* [[Literature/{{Dragaera}} Vlad Taltos.]] He's a fairly good witch and a rudimentary sorceror, but this world has [[OurElvesAreDifferent Dragaerans]] who live for maybe 3000 years, are stronger and taller, and at least three of the ones he hangs out with have [[EmpathicWeapon "Great Weapons",]] and are ''very'' skilled at sorcery. [[spoiler:This is before he gains Lady Teldra/Godslayer.]]
* Literature/ConanTheBarbarian does not have any magical abilities, but he regularly overcomes evil wizards and supernatural horrors with his strength, speed, toughness, and natural cunning. Sorcerers, demons, ape-men, half-goddess witches and even aliens, Conan has fought them, crushed them and driven them before him.
* Jenna Heap in ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'', despite not having '''Magykal''' powers, did knock the Toll-Man and Jakey Fry down in ''Queste'' and ''Syren'' respectively.
* ''Literature/LastLegionary'': Douglas Hill's Keill Randor ''does'' have his skeleton rebuilt with an unbreakable organic alloy...but he was a badass who was a [[IKnowKarate highly skilled fighter]] to start with. Man cannot kick ass on unbreakable bones alone.
* Leaf from ''Literature/KeysToTheKingdom'' by Garth Nix. Poor girl gets dragged into Arthur's adventures even though she barely knows him. She continues to help him and do what needs to get done on Earth even after being kidnapped and forced to serve for months on a ship in Drowned Wednesday. She stands firm against monsters and Denizens from the House and rescues Arthur almost as often as his official sidekick Suzy Blue does.
* In the web-novel ''Literature/{{Domina}}'', Adam Anders doesn't have a power, and can't use the [[BioAugmentation toy maker]]. He compensates with lots of guns.
* Joseph Carrion of the Literature/MediochreQSethSeries is one of the most badass characters around - despite having, at best, [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Charles Atlas]] ImprobableAimingSkills in a world populated by [[OurMagesAreDiffere t mancers]], [[{{Dhampyr}} Dhampir]], TheUndead and [[HealingFactor functionally immortal]] [[AwesomenessByAnalysis superpowered geniuses]].
* Literature/TheExtraordinaryAdventuresOfOrdinaryBoy has the main character. Hey, if you can be considered a hero by the standards of a town where everyone is super and you aren't...
* Laura Webster, protagonist of ''Literature/IslandsInTheNet'', is a PR agent and mother of a young child who, without any warning, finds herself up against drug dealers, computer hackers, super-soldiers, and worse. She is also tough, fast, smart, and determined enough not to let any of them stop her.
* Although, Saeter from ''Literature/TheIronTeeth'' web serial is just a human without magic tricks, he is able to kill most of the beasts in the woods. this is because of his intellect and vast experience.
* ''Literature/LegacyOfTheDragokin'': Lydia can emulate Daniar's ThouShallNotKill philosophy without the advantange provided by the latter's [[NighInvulnerability dragokin durability]], SuperStrength, and BreathWeapon.
* Richard from ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive'' has moments where he's at least as competent as any of the Five. Oh, and then there's Lohan in the final book, who casually (and efficiently) murders his way across South America in his quest to survive and help Matt.
* ''Literature/AfterTheGoldenAge'' has the Hawk, a NonPoweredCostumedHero who is famous as the only vigilante superhero in Commerce City not to have any actual superpowers. He is nonetheless one of the city's most skilled and respected crime-fighters.
* The protagonist from ''Literature/LegacyTheTaleOfTheAmericanEagle'' is the American Eagle, who is an accomplished martial artist, accurate with throwing knives, speaks various languages and practices sports like le parkour and BASE jumping in his day to day operations. In an effort to add realism, however, he is shown to be horribly wounded after each 'act' of the novel, and is often healed by extranormal means to get back in action quickly.
* ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain'': A number. Cybermancer and Penny's mom who went by The Audit in her heroing days. Probably Miss A, though her powers are never fully explained, if she has any. Witch Hunter seems to be one as well.

* In ''Literature/RogueSorcerer'', Jaren is able to hold his own against Aiden in a fair fight, and also protects his village from roving bandits on his own. Lyr also certainly counts, easily overpowering Aiden even after pressing his BerserkButton.
* In ''Literature/SpectralShadows'' there's the Amazing Detective Agency and Ratzo [=DiCaro=] qualify; heck pretty most of Noir would qualify, since they don't believe in using magic or powers of any kind. Also Jasper is this [[spoiler: When he's outside of the Shadow Armor]].
* ''Literature/DevilsCape'' mentions Swashbuckler briefly, a member of the late Storm Raiders who had no powers, but still went up against various supervillains with them.
* ''Literature/TheZombieKnight''
** Lynnette Edith, a palace guardswoman. She went toe-to-toe with a [[CameBackStrong reaper servant]] ''and'' [[HumanoidAbomination an aberration]] armed only with a sword, and gave a pretty credible account of herself. She only gets more awesome when she later steals an aberration item and becomes an EmpoweredBadassNormal.
** Colt. He successfully evaded a whole army of [[DemonicPossession possessed zombie cops]] and the aberration controlling them for hours, outwitted the aberration when it tried to get his kids too, then [[DyingMomentOfAwesome forced the aberration to just kill him]] without being able to [[YourSoulIsMine get his soul]].
* Sheriff Roxy Galán-Grant of ''Literature/ThePosterChildren''. She's baseline human, yet Sheriff of the most well-known posthuman town in the US. Before that, she was sidekick to an Alpha-ranked superhero even among Alphas. Her sister-in-law also became law enforcement among posters, primarily inspired by Roxy's example as a sidekick.

* The Ex-Heroes Series has Stealth, the leader of the heroes and the community they've got set up, all without powers.
* Roberta Lincoln in ''Literature/StarTrekTheEugenicsWars'' can keep up with the genetically engineered superhumans for the duration of the war and beyond. She even [[spoiler: becomes the new supervisor of earth at the end when Gary Seven goes back to the Aegis.]]
* The Brotherhood of the Pit in the ''Literature/TheSilentWar'' is a centuries old secret society of evil sorcerers. Vajan, poorly thought of by most of the organisation due to being a bastard, is never shown making any use of their magic. With combat skills, tactics and wits he still manages to be a recurring threat to the superpowered heroine.
* Rosario in ''Literature/UrbanDragon'' regularly goes up against zombies, demons, and a literal dragon, usually with little more than guts and good intentions.
** Adam does the same, but actually has military training to back him up.
* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': Kaladin Stormblessed. He's a normal spearman who repeatedly fights his way through entire armies to keep his men safe. He even [[spoiler:kills a ''Shardbearer''--meaning a man wearing [[PoweredArmor Shardplate]] and using a [[SoulCuttingBlade Shardblade]]--with nothing but a normal spear]], which hasn't happened for centuries at the least. This is complicated a bit when Kaladin becomes an EmpoweredBadassNormal, and it's not clear exactly when he stopped being a normal.
** Dalinar Kholin's flashbacks in ''Literature/{{Oathbringer}}'' show the conquest of Alethkar when he is basically an unstoppable one man army without any shards[[note]]magic armor called Shardplate and magic swords called Shardblades that basically turn anyone into a one man army[[/note]]. At one point before he gets his Shards someone jokes that they need to get him some, 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. 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]].
* ''Literature/TheLaundryFiles'' has a wide variety of them, ranging from Laundry field operatives who are sent out to battle {{Eldritch Abomination}}s with a warrant card, to the OCCULUS teams, Laundry Plumbers and various members of the Territorial SAS who get called in to clean up when Cthulhu is feeling a mite stroppy.
* ''Literature/ArtemisFowl:'' [[spoiler: Domovoi]] Butler. No superpowers whatsoever, and yet one of the two most feared humans on and under the planet, due to his incredible martial arts skills. He is the only human in history to take on a troll, and win.
** In single combat, no less.
--> "There were two men in the world more educated in the various martial arts than Butler. One of them was his uncle, and the other lived on an island in the South China Sea, meditating and beating up palm trees. You had to feel sorry for those goblins."
** Curious about who the other most feared human on and under the planet is? That would be his employer, [[MagnificentBastard Artemis Fowl the Second]], criminal mastermind extraordinaire. He's a ''teenager,'' and what he lacks in physical skills he more than makes up for in mind.

* 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.
* 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.
* {{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.
* ''{{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.
* In the ''Literature/FairyOak'' series:
** Cicero Periwinkle can hold his own against the Enemy while fighting besides Magicals. He even asked Duff to transform him to a hawk to look for the missing children during the siege of Fairy Oak. He keeps going even when tired, soaked and wounded.
** Joe Shuanma, despite being around eighty years old, once saved a child from a bull and could lift an entire cart when it fell on him.
** Non-magicals don't shy away from protecting their precious village from the army of the Enemy, fighting huge monsters with their work utensils, rocks or, even, furniture from their houses.
** While the men were defending Fairy Oak from under the wall, the housewives did the same from their houses's rooftops.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'': The air of Narnia is stated to be different from terrestrial air, and it has a way of turning ordinary children from Earth into these.

* Joseph Carrion of the Literature/MediochreQSethSeries is one of the most badass characters around - despite having, at best, [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower Charles Atlas]] ImprobableAimingSkills in a world populated by [[WizardsAndWitches mancers]], [[{{Dhampyr}} Dhampir]], TheUndead and [[HealingFactor functionally immortal]] [[AwesomenessByAnalysis superpowered geniuses]].

* Roran from ''Literature/InheritanceCycle''. In a world where [[OurElvesAreBetter elves]] have the [[SuperStrength strength of ten men]], [[OurDragonsAreDifferent dragons]] grow to the size of [[GiantFlyer large hills]], and [[FunctionalMagic magicians]] tear castles apart with their minds, Roran is armed with only his [[TheDeterminator determination]] and a [[DropTheHammer metal hammer]]. When his village becomes condemned by TheEmpire, he uses his potent charisma to convince his people to flee their homes and travel from the northern tip of Alagaesia to the sun-drenched country of Surda in the far south, avoiding [[EvilOverlord Galbatorix's]] troops all the while. He joins the [[LaResistance Varden]], kills the Twins (two extremely powerful magicians) with his hammer, [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill kills 193 men in one go]], survives being given 50 lashes to the back by [[GeneralRipper Nasuada]] for insubordination and is up and fighting again a few days later, journeys across Alagaesia to rescue his kidnapped girlfriend from the mountain lair [[EvilTowerOfOminousness Helgrind]], wrestles a battle-crazed [[OurOrcsAreDifferent urgal]] to the ground until the beast surrenders and acknowledges Roran as the stronger, and rises his way up to a commander in the Varden after only a couple of months of service. And he does this all without any magic whatsoever. Yeah, [[{{Farmboy}} Eragon]] doesn't look so impressive next to that, does he?

** Joe Shuanma, despite being aroung eighty years old, once saved a child from a bull and could lift an entire cart when it fell on him.

** While the men were defending Fairy Oak from under the wall, the housewives did the same from their houses's rooftops.

* In ''Literature/InvisibleWerewolfDraculaMeetsVampireMummyFrankenstein'', the party includes the titular super-strong monsters, a fairly strong gill-man, a magic cat...and a just-plain-human retired sprinter. A case can also be made for Commander Alice (she's a werewolf, which sounds cool... [[spoiler: until you realize she's only as strong as most of the world's population]]).

* In the ''Fairy/Oak'' series:

* ''{{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.

* ''{{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.
* The superhero story ''Literature/{{Worm}}'' has quite a few non-powered characters who attain this status, ranging from the mercenaries hired by supervillain Coil to the [[CapeBusters Parahuman Response Teams]] run by the U.S. government. The most prominent such character is probably Brockton Bay PRT Director Emily Piggot.
** On the villain side, there's [[spoiler:Saint, Dragon's nemesis]].
** [[spoiler:The DT troop with the foam launcher in the final confrontation with Jack Slash]].
** Therapist Jessica Yamada, who not only manages to talk a borderline-genocidal [[spoiler:Glaistig Uaine]] down from, well, genocide but also [[spoiler:gets her to agree to become a hero]].