History BerserkButton / Literature

* Lestat's abduction by Akasha in ''TheVampireChronicles'': QueenOfTheDamned was this for Louis, especially considering they'd just reconciled before that.

* In the {{Elenium}} trilogy by DavidEddings, the Knights of the Church -- specifically the Pandion order, but several members of the other orders as well -- have a collective BerserkButton that gets pressed if anyone harms or threatens to harm Sephrenia, the beloved tutor in magic to generations of soldiers. Their BigBrotherInstinct gets kicked UpToEleven in the ''Tamuli'' trilogy, the ''Elenium'''s sequel, when TheDragon is revealed to have been messing with her for a long time.

* For the love of all that is holy, don't mess with Aral Vorkosigan's prisoners, especially when he's given his word they'll be safe.

** Harm Honor Harrington's love [[spoiler:Paul Tankersley]], and Honor's only question to Protector Benjamin will be, "[[Awesome/HonorHarrington Do you wish this man crippled, or dead]]?"
*** It wasn't harming [[spoiler:Paul Tankersley]] that triggered that moment, however; that particular beatdown was triggered by the killing of [[spoiler: Reverend Hanks, Adam Gerrick and a school full of children]]. [[spoiler:Paul Tankersley's]] killer had already been dealt with in another [[spoiler: duel]] in an earlier book.

* [[AnneOfGreenGables Anne Shirley]]'s hair, especially if you compare it to carrots.

* Observe [[BlackDogs Sadrao]], [[BewareTheNiceOnes polite, calm, loyal to a fault]], but if you decide to threaten someone he's taking care of, prepare to have your face bitten off. [[{{Squick}} Literally]].

* [[TheNameOfTheWind Professor Lorren]] is an almost completely stoic man, so much so that Professor Exl Dahl has a running bet that no one will ever get him to smile. However, God forbid you ever, EVER threaten his books in any way, shape, or form. [[spoiler:Kvothe]] got off lightly.

* The Badgers (and a couple others) in the {{Redwall}} series have the "[[UnstoppableRage Bloodwrath]]."

** In fact, just stay away from badgers.

* In the {{Obernewtyn Chronicles}}, [[TallDarkAndSnarky Rushton]] is a steadfastly resolute [[TheCaptain leader]] who is always calm and methodical. In every crisis he has faced, he is never shaken, and is intensely single-minded about his objectives, [[BreakTheCutie making difficult]] and sometimes [[TheSadisticChoice nearly impossible decisions]] [[TheStoic without showing any unease or ever being unsure of himself]]. That is, of course, unless Elspeth is involved. Touch her, hurt her, or make him think you killed her and you'd better have at least two hundred miles of Badlands behind you and be running really, really, ''really'' fast.

*** It's also a bad idea to hurt Harry or any of Hagrid's [[FriendToAllLivingThings furry friends.]] When his dog Fang get's hit with a spell, he hurls the perpetrator ten feet through the air!

*** Degrading her stay in Azkaban has the same effect; check [[http://acciobrain.ligermagic.com/ch2.php]] for an illustration.

** [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Neville]] [[TookALevelInBadass Longbottom]] flips out after Draco says they should send Harry to St. Mungo's as they have special floor for people with brain damage. Considering what happened to his parents it's not much of a surprise. Thankfully Harry stops [[{{Badass}} Neville]] from attacking him.

* SherlockHolmes, as much as he prides himself on his rationality, does NOT like seeing Dr. Watson in danger or pain. In "The Adventure of the Three Garridebs," when [[spoiler: Watson gets shot in the thigh by Evans (don't worry, it's OnlyAFleshWound). Holmes pistol-whips Evans in retaliation and sends him sprawling. Watson even mentions Evans' face being bloody, in a story that's pretty sparse on description/detail. Holmes then informs Evans that he's very lucky, because if he had killed Watson, he would "not have got out of this room alive."]]

** As a general rule, Holmes ''really'' hates it when a person who has hired him for help is utterly wronged, or worse, either injured or killed. When [[spoiler: [[{{Yandere}} Abe Slaney]] ]] from ''The Adventure of the Dancing Men'' [[spoiler: killed Holmes's client [[NiceGuy Hilton]] [[CountryMouse Cubbitt]] and this drove [[TheWoobie his wife Elsie]] (who was Slaney's ex girlfriend) to attempt suicide]], Holmes gave him a ''brutal'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech telling him how muchy he had ruined [[spoiler: poor Elsie]]'s life with all of his harrassment before getting him arrested.

** As a general rule, Holmes ''really'' hates it when a person who has hired him for help is utterly wronged, or worse, either injured or killed. When [[spoiler: [[{{Yandere}} Abe Slaney]] ]] from ''The Adventure of the Dancing Men'' [[spoiler: killed Holmes's client [[NiceGuy Hilton]] [[countryMouse Cubbitt]] and this drove [[TheWoobie his wife Elsie]] (who was Slaney's ex girlfriend) to suicide]], Holmes gave him a ''brutal'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech telling him how muchy he had ruined [[spoiler: poor Elsie]]'s life with all of his harrassment before getting him arrested.

* In general, Holmes ''really'' dislikes it when a person who has hired him for help is utterly wronged, or worse, either injured or killed. When [[spoiler: [[{{Yandere}} Abe Slaney]] ]] from ''The Adventure of the Dancing Men'' [[spoiler: killed Holmes's client [[NiceGuy Hilton]] [[countryMouse Cubbitt]] and this drove [[TheWoobie his wife Elsie]] (who was Slaney's ex girlfriend) to suicide]], Holmes gave him a ''brutal'' TheReasonYouSuckSpeech telling him how muchy he had ruined [[spoiler: poor Elsie]]'s life with all of his harrassment before getting him arrested.

** Also, Numair will turn you into a tree if you even ''try'' to hurt his student. So don't.

* In the ''[[{{Tortall}} Immortals Quartet]]'' by Tamora Pierce, do not, under any circumstances, screw with Daine or her friends. When she thought [[spoiler:Numair had been killed]], she went on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge with ''UNDEAD DINOSAURS''. And the cute little woodland critters? Yeah, don't screw with them either. Daine ''likes'' little woodland creatures, and does ''not'' care for animal abusers. At all.

* In his few appearances in the Dark Elf books by R.A. Salvatore (the ones about Drizzt Do'urden, for those who don't already know), a neat freak Dwarven sage by the name of Fredregar "Fret" Quilldipper has a rather interesting berserk button. Get his immaculately clean clothes dirty at all, or even threaten to, and he will threaten your life at best (to the point in one instance of backing down a battlerager by the name of Thibbledorf Pwent), or will go completely nuts and use his little hammer to beat the target of his rage into a bloody pulp. (This, by the way, will often result in blood and gore getting on his clothes, which causes him to go into an even stronger killing frenzy against the target or targets of his anger.)

* TerryPratchett's Librarian in ''{{Discworld}}'' is famous for [[InsistentTerminology his hatred of being called a monkey]]. (He's an orangutan, and orangutans are ''apes'', not monkeys.)
** Also, in ''Discworld/NightWatch'', Carcer -- a rather psychopathic villain who would rather kill you for your watch rather than ask you the time -- becomes inordinately angry when his rank of Sergeant is abbreviated to "Sarge."

*** Played straight with Medium Dave Lilywhite: "If he had a fault, it was a tendency to deal out terminal and definitive retribution to anyone who said anything about his brother."
** The monk Marco Soto in ''Discworld/{{Thief of Time}}'' has a very un-monk-like mass of long black hair. He is a calm, tranquil person... unless you try to touch it. In the same book Pratchett actually refers to this trope, although by another name. As he puts it:

*** The real life person the character is based on and named after is much the same way. Not that you'd want to touch his hair anyway. It eats combs, people.
** Not quite the same as all of the other examples, but Sam Vimes in ''Thud!'' gets scary when he is prevented from reading to his son at 6:00. "That! Is!! Not!!! My!!!! Cow!!!!!"
** Also his wife, Lady Sybil, is a very sensitive and easygoing person - especially for someone of such high birth - until you either 1) do something very rude or impolite in her presence, or 2) threaten her family. After that she'll probabily beat you with something very massive and lecture you about you misbehaving
** You know what? Pretty much any major character has a button. Granny Weatherwax. Go on. I dare you. Try and sort people by importance in front of Vimes. Death doesn't take kindly to anybody messing with his harvest. Tiffany loves her sheep. Etc., etc.
*** [[AC:Death]] also tends to do bad things to people who do bad things to cats.
*** Bad? BAD? "Bad things" would be paradise next to how Death acts to cat abusers.
*** He also tends to go batshit at the Auditors of Reality if they attempt to manipulate humans into making life, well, less 'messy' as this to [[AC:Death]] is breaking The Rules. Also, he's pretty bloody fond of life in general and the Auditors messing with it is a sure way of driving him as berserk as you can make a gland-less [[AnthropomorphicPersonification supernatural being]].

** Never mess with a wizard's [[NiceHat hat]].

*** Mimes are outlawed, and any Mime artists who violate the ban usually find themselves hanging upside down in Vetinari's scorpion pit whilst reading a sign saying 'learn the words'.

** Granny Weatherwax has a few buttons, some more minor than other. Treat her disrespectfully (for instance, expecting her to move out of the road when you are driving a cart) and she will get...angry. Threaten her friends (a rather loose and not exactly literal concept for Granny) and she will take you down. However, if you even threaten to take her mind from her, there are no words in any language to describe how utterly screwed you are.

* Barak and later his son in ''The Belgariad'', who turn into rabid bears when Garion or his son is threatened.
** Note that this is indeed ''[[InvoluntaryShapeshifting literal]]''. They ''will'' turn into bears and they ''will'' rip whatever is threatening their charges to shreds. Barak's son had to be chained to a ship's mast because he went berserk in the middle of the ocean... when Garion and his son were several hundred miles away. You do not mess around with Garion's family, because if he doesn't get you, his grandfather and aunt will.

Lots of people have tempers. Here are some of the things that set them off.