History Main / DissonantSerenity

[[caption-width-right:350:Hmm, flaming robot. Interesting. Hum.]]

* Kyubey of ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'' keeps his [[FrozenFace Frozen]] CatSmile and friendly voice, no matter what horrors are going on around him. {{Justified|Trope}} because [[spoiler:he's a member of an alien race which is unable to feel any emotions (the ones that do are considered mentally ill)]]. Mami usually fights like this, [[spoiler:which [[TheWorldsExpertOnGettingKilled backfires dramatically]] in episode 3]] and we don't see her taking a fight seriously until TheMovie; turns out she's [[LetsGetDangerous ludicrously skilled and powerful]].

** Military personnel are, of course, required to keep their cool even when [[StuffBlowingUp everything is blowing up]]

* "Goin' Berzerk" from the album ''Music/PacManFever'' has traces of this, with lyrics about being trapped in a maze of killer robots juxtaposed with a gentle piano melody.

But what about when you see peace in the middle of horror? One is smiling -- not [[SlasherSmile viciously]], not [[PsychoticSmirk insanely]], not [[TheStoic stoically]] -- but calm, gentle... seeming [[MeditationPowerup almost enlightened]] as they [[SlashedThroat slit throats]] left and right. They are the eye of the storm, the calm center of destruction, and their serenity is so off that it's more terrifying than [[UnstoppableRage any fury]]. Whereas many see this as a day of horrible bloodshed, this one is seemingly about as used to it as to a day of grocery shopping, and even if the chaos around them ''does'' genuinely bother them at all, chances are they will react with all the shock and terror of accidentally spilling coffee on their brand-new pants.

* ''ComicBook/{{X23}}'': [[Characters/MarvelComicsLauraKinney X-23]] often tends towards this. Unlike [[[Characters/MarvelComicsLogan her]] [[TheBerserker father]], Laura rarely loses her head in combat, and instead approaches killing with chillingly cold and collected detachment. If she's [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness ever]] ''[[OOCIsSeriousBusiness visibly]]'' [[OOCIsSeriousBusiness angry when she's coming for you]], you should be running. '''''[[OhCrap Fast]]'''''.

** In ''Literature/{{Night Watch|Discworld}}'', Carcer is this trope. This man will smile serenely as he's stabbing you, and then with a look of childlike innocence, go "Who, me?" to any bystanders, as if he didn't just kill someone in cold blood.

** In ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', this is [[InvokedTrope invoked]] by History Monk and [[ConfusionFu déjà fu]] master Lu-Tze, who is surprised that his opponents forgot a vital rule: do not act incautiously when confronting [[OldMaster little bald wrinkly smiling men]].
* As early as two planets into the Paradise of ''Literature/TheDivineComedy'', Beatrice's smile is so brilliant that the narration says a man would feel serenity looking at it even if he were in a fire.
* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', near the end, Oreg seems very serene, despite the fact that Ward decided to just let the villains take castle Hurog, and the dragon bones buried under it, something which Oreg wanted to avoid at all costs. [[spoiler: Turns out Oreg knows that Ward will do the right thing ... which is to kill him, thus making castle Hurog (to which he's magically bound for all eternity, or until someone kills him ...) collapse, burying the dragon bones and the villains under it. He's just waiting for the right moment to tell Ward.]] Ward is unsettled by this dissonant serenity, and suspects that there may be something he doesn't know about.