History BewareTheNiceOnes / Literature

*** And when he finds out how horribly the Carrows treated their students, BatmanGrabsAGun and fires one [[AgonyBeam Cruciatus bullet]] at each offender.

* [[spoiler:Ashfur]] from ''WarriorCats'' began literary life as a sweet, shy young apprentice. Then he became the series' most shining example of BreakTheCutie, when [[spoiler:his best friend is abducted by humans (though only temporarily), his mother is brutally murdered, his father (if you believe the family trees) is killed in battle, he loses the love of his life to the son of the cat that killed his mom, and finally is forced to mentor their kit.]] He'd always been sweet, gentle, and friendly, but then in Book 5 of the Third Series, he [[spoiler:goes insane and tries to kill all three main characters, one of which is his own apprentice]]. No wonder his fangirls were upset.

** In Discworld, [[TheGrimReaper Death]] (or rather, [[AC:[[PaintingTheFourthWall Death]]]]) is actually [[DontFearTheReaper a very nice guy]]. Unless you manage to upset him. The Auditors have managed it several times, and the results tend to be rather spectacular.

* Edmond Dantes from ''{{The Count of Monte Cristo}}''. Edmond was a guy who had everything going for him, then lost ''everything'' thanks to being screwed over by whom he thought were his friends. What ensues is a gigantic XanatosGambit to take revenge on every last one of them and their families.

* In [[JohnCWright War of the Dreaming]], [[CrossoverCosmology Titania]] is one of the few characters unreservedly on the side of humans, and who respects them for their own merits, rather than seeing them as pawns or PunyEarthlings. She's behind many of the historical human victories over the Fae (even though some of those victories hurt her as well). She's also the Queen of Nemi James Fraser was talking about in ''The Golden Bough.'' The one annual kings were sacrificed to.

*** Lest we forget what she does to the would-be-robbers in Maskerade, there is nothing more terrifying than Granny Weatherwax about to do ''what is right''.

** There's also a rare male example of this trope in Carrot Ironfoundersson, a six-foot-six tall dwarf (adopted human, of course). [[TheCape He is perfectly kind, lawful, and incorruptible in a city that is far from any of the above, always sees the bright side of things, and is friendly to everyone he meets]]. He can convince bloodthirsty desert tribesmen ''not'' to charge (a feat which one who knows said tribesmen compares to "Make water run uphill"), get rival street gangs to play football, and have a friendly chat with a dictatorial if cultured tyrant. He's also strong and skilled enough to fight hand-to-hand with an alpha male werewolf and survive (in ''Discworld/TheFifthElephant''), has a punch that will knock out a troll (those are guys made of solid rock, for those keeping score), and along with having a sword sharp and strong enough to do it, push a sword through a stone pillar like a knife through butter (in ''Discworld/{{Men at Arms}}''). It is ''not'' a good idea to give him a reason to take the gloves off, as the man standing between Carrot and said pillar found out.
*** Oddly enough, Carrot also ''subverts'' the trope by his buttons not being pushable by most personal methods. When his girlfriend/lover/person-with-whom-he-has-an-Understanding is kidnapped (in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'') and skips town (in ''[[Discworld/TheFifthElephant The Fifth Elephant]]''), he ''informs the proper authority before trying to go after her''. This is because he believes with all his heart that personal is not the same as important - and this makes him and ''more'' dangerous. How many heroes have been dissuaded from doing in the bad guy by a convenient personal appeal?

* ''TheDarkElfTrilogy'' has Drizzt Do'Urden, who at first is depicted as the WideEyedIdealist with a [[FriendToAllLivingThings heart of gold]]. His enemies make the unfortunate mistake of assuming that he's weak and wind up having the living shit being beaten out of him in one of his biggest {{Unstoppable Rage}}s in the history of dark elves. Oh yeah, did I mention that he's ''completely outnumbered and severely injured'' in most of these battles?
* This is one of JRRTolkien's favorite tropes. Witness any and all [[TheLordOfTheRings Hobbits]] if you need an example.
** Special mention must be made of Sam, who is a slow, unassumingly loyal every-Hobbit who kills an EldritchAbomination GiantSpider when it threatens his master.
*** Technically, he only gravely wounded the GiantSpider, he didn't kill it. Still, he is pretty badass.
** And don't forget the [[WhenTreesAttack Ents]]
** Also Eowyn in Return of the King, as the Witch King finds out.
* [[HeraldsOfValdemar Talia of Sensholding]], Royal Advisor/Confidant/Babysitter and generally softhearted little ProperLady sort complete with empathic powers. Sure she has had some self-defense training as a Herald, but one would think that her [[CoolHorse Companion]] is a bigger threat than she is, right? Well, those who have pushed her too far would be glad to inform you otherwise... [[MindRape if they stop screaming long enough]].

* Cordelia Naismith, of the [[VorkosiganSaga Vorkosigan books]], is a peace-loving egalitarian in a feudal, militaristic society. She's ethical, honorable, and loving; she sees the best in everyone and makes them want to live up to it. But if you insist on harassing her, she will run you down. And [[MamaBear if you threaten her child]], [[OffWithHisHead she will take your head home in a shopping bag]].

*** Oddly enough, Carrot also ''subverts'' the trope by his buttons not being pushable by most personal methods. When his girlfriend/lover/person-with-whom-he-has-an-Understanding is kidnapped (in ''Discworld/{{Jingo}}'') and skips town (in ''[[Discworld/TheFifthElephant The Fifth Elephant]]''), he ''informs the proper authority before trying to go after her''. This is because he believes with all his heart that personal is not the same as important.
*** I'd say this makes him MORE dangerous. How many heroes have been dissuaded from doing in the bad guy by a convenient personal appeal?

** And let's not forget that [[EccentricMentor Dumbledore]] is about the nicest old professor you could hope to meet as well as being the single most powerful wizard on Earth.

** And it can be even worse than that; [[spoiler:if you make the mistake of threatening her baby girl, as Bellatrix Lestrange did [[MamaBear you'd better hope your life insurance policy is up to date.]]]]
--->'''Molly Weasley''': [[spoiler:Not my daughter, you ''[[PrecisionFStrike bitch]].'' [[DeathRay AVADA KEDAVRA!]]]]

* ''HarryPotter and the Deathly Hallows'' has at least one lovely example of this. Molly Weasley is normally a pretty sweet-natured lady. However, [[spoiler:make the mistake of threatening her baby girl, as Bellatrix Lestrange did, and [[MamaBear you'd better hope your life insurance policy is up to date.]]]]

** And Hermione Granger. Nerds are scary when they're angry. Her list including: [[spoiler:punching Malfoy straight in the face, scare the shit out of the Weasley twins, putting Rita Skeeter under her thumb.]]

** Do not mess with Michael. ''Ever''. And ''especially'' don't [[PapaWolf threaten his family]]. This applies to all of the Knights, actually...

*** What about his wife Charity. She's even more pacifist than Michael, but she's his sparring partner, making her at least as tough as him.

* [[HeraldsOfValdemar Talia of Sensholding]], Royal Advisor/Confidant/Babysitter and generally softhearted little YamatoNadeshiko sort complete with empathic powers. Sure she has had some self-defense training as a Herald, but one would think that her [[CoolHorse Companion]] is a bigger threat than she is, right? Well, those who have pushed her too far would be glad to inform you otherwise... [[MindRape if they stop screaming long enough]].

* The [[CharacterTitle titular society]] of the ''Freehold War'' series. Basically TheCulture when it was a kid. [[LovableSexManiac Sex-crazed]] [[EverythingsBetterOnDrugs stoner]] [[LifeOfTheParty party animals]], the lot of them, and they always have room for company. And if you [[StopHavingFunGuy have enough a problem with that]] to invade their planet over it, they will [[KillSat blast]], [[ColonyDrop bomb]] and [[PersonOfMassDestruction terrorize]] ''yours'' back to the Stone Age.

* In ''ASongOfIceAndFire'', Arya Stark joins up with Yoren and a party of criminals brought out of the king's dungeons to serve on the Wall. Three of these are considered so dangerous that they're kept in cages in a cart. One is a shameless rapist who's always harassing people, one is a mute cannibal who's always snapping at people, and one is a soft-spoken and unfailingly polite man with a strong personal code of honor. No points for guessing which one is the most dangerous. Even the other two are afraid of him.

* In ASongOfIceAndFire, Arya Stark joins up with Yoren and a party of criminals brought out of the king's dungeons to serve on the Wall. Three of these are considered so dangerous that they're kept in cages in a cart. One is a shameless rapist who's always harassing people, one is a mute cannibal who's always snapping at people, and one is a soft-spoken and unfailingly polite man with a strong personal code of honor. No points for guessing which one is the most dangerous. Even the other two are afraid of him.

* At the beginning of ''TheTomorrowSeries'', the main characters are a bunch of nice, normal, reasonably-harmless Australian small-town and farm/ranch kids. When they find their country's been invaded and their families have either been killed or rounded up and imprisoned...that's their LetsGetDangerous moment, and they eventually become guerrillas with an international reputation, and tops on the enemy's "better dead" list.

* Cassie from the ''{{Animorphs}}'' series. Sure, she might be in a war, but only reluctantly (and she's usually the one pushing for 'plans other than kill them all'). But if you piss her off, heaven help you. Just ask Davis, who made the mistake of [[BerserkButton calling her the n-word]] - whereupon she ''[[CrowningMomentofAwesome turned into a polar bear and pinned him to a wall]]''.

* Talia of Sensholding, [[HeraldsOfValdemar Royal Advisor/Confidant/Babysitter]] and generally softhearted little YamatoNadeshiko sort complete with empathic powers. Sure she has had some self-defense training as a Herald, but one would think that her [[CoolHorse Companion]] is a bigger threat than she is, right? Well, those who have pushed her too far would be glad to inform you otherwise... [[MindRape if they stop screaming long enough]].

* In ''[[{{Literature/ptitleeiku6qu3}} The Night's Dawn Trilogy]]'' by Peter F. Hamilton, the always polite and civilised Edenists go to great lengths to avoid killing, but when Al Capone sends a force to conquer a nearby Edenist habitat it gets wiped out. To the man.

* Yumiko Shirasagi of {{Digital Devil Story}} is very sweet and mischievous, a fun girl, really. She's also [[spoiler: the {{reincarnation}} of the goddess Izanami, and she teaches Loki a thing or two about the efficacy of fire.]]

** And the Hork-Bajir are BewareTheNiceOnes writ large: an entire race of peaceful, not-very-smart herbivores that are covered in blades so that they could strip bark from trees. The Yeerks happened to think they would make excellent shock troops, and Aldrea, the lone Andalite on their planet, encouraged them to fight back, instigating a very long, bloody war. They lost that one, but the Hork-Bajir who escaped have "Free or dead!" as their motto, and have become very willing to fight and kill to protect what they have, as Dak Hamee sadly observed.

* [[GauntsGhosts Ibram Gaunt]] cam be considered an example of this. By Imperium standards, he's pretty reasonable. Get someone killed through incompetence or stupidty, however, and he will not hesitate to make an example of you.