History RefugeInAudacity / Literature

* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', Skitter's success as a villain comes largely from her recklessness and ability to go on the offensive and catch enemies by surprise, enabling her and her team to succeed despite their weaker powers. One notable occasion sees her team gatecrash a soiree at the hero headquarters and disable them with their own containment foam sprays before they can react.

* In ''[[Literature/{{RCN}} When the Tide Rises]]'', Daniel Leary mounts a raid [[spoiler:on the home star system of the Alliance of Free Stars]], relying in part on the notion that because no one would expect anyone to attack the star system with just an antiquated light cruiser and a corvette, there wouldn't be prepared plans available to handle such a situation.

* ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': When Dalinar decides to [[spoiler: [[BondCreatures bond a spren]] and become a [[MagicKnight Radiant]]]], he doesn't go for any typical small fry--[[spoiler: he bonds the ''freaking Stormfather himself'']]. That's roughly the equivalent of asking Jesus to personally officiate your wedding.
** Speaking of which, he later [[spoiler: asks the Stormfather to officiate his wedding, since nobody else will.]]

* During ''Literature/{{Murderess}}''’ RescueArc, Lu, stuck in the Dark Ones’ tunnels with little hope of escape, after Hallwad [[spoiler:[[LeeroyJenkins charged at the Dark Ones]] [[RevengeBeforeReason in blind fury]] for [[BigBrotherInstinct torture his sister Aucasis]]]], [[spoiler:sits on their royal throne in the main hall,]] tells them exactly who she is, and outright lies to them [[spoiler:that she came to renew the Killer’s ancient pact with them]]. They don’t buy it, [[spoiler:but it gives her enough time to rescue both Hallwad and Aucasis.]]

* During ''Literature/{{Murderess}}''’ RescueArc, Lu, stuck in the Dark Ones’ tunnels with little hope of escape, after Hallwad [[spoiler:[[LeeroyJenkins charged at the Dark Ones]] [[RevengeBeforeReason in blind fury]] for [[BigBrotherInstinct torture his sister Aucasis]]]], [[spoiler:sits on their royal throne in the main hall, tells them exactly who she is, and outright lies to them that she came to renew the Killer’s ancient pact with them]]. [[spoiler:They don’t buy it, but it gives her enough time to rescue both Hallwad and Aucasis.]]

* In ''On Basilisk Station'', Literature/HonorHarrington disables a ship by charging through its drive safety radius in order to blow out its impeller ring. When the captain of said ship coms her to complain, she apologizes, claiming: "[[BlatantLies I'm afraid I wasn't watching where I was going.]]"

* ''Literature/SixteenThirtyTwo'': The RealLife ''coup de théâtre'' that Cardinal Mazarini pulled off as part of the settlement of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_of_Mantuan_Succession War of the Mantuan Succession]], riding between two warring parties waving a blank piece of paper and saying it was the formal settlement document for the war to buy time for the real thing to be finished, is referenced in the novella ''Between the Armies'' and in ''1634: The Galileo Affair''.
** Later, in ''The Kremlin Games'', Tsar Mikhail I, the Tsarina, and the Protagonists, need to get into a certain city. Trouble is, they don't know whether or not the garrison sides with the [[PuppetKing Tsar]], or the Duma in the power struggle the former inadvertently sparked. So what do they do? [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments ...have the Tsar and the Tsarina sit out in the open on their barge, waving to the soldiers and the civilians like it's a parade, all while the protagonists sneak in trough the back.]]

* In Creator/GKChesterton's ''Literature/TheManWhoWasThursday'', when Syme reveals to Gregory in the anarchist stronghold, that Syme is a policeman, this inspires Gregory to give a speech emphasizes the humanity of their motives. Syme, taking RefugeInAudacity (and trusting [[IGaveMyWord Gregory's word]]), leaps up to give a fire-breathing speech and win the post they were holding an election for, to [[TheInfiltration infiltrate the society]].

* In ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'', Zhuge Liang was forced to defend Xicheng with 5000 troops, half of which had to be reassigned to help evacuate all of the goods from Xicheng. When a giant Wei army appears, there was no refuge left ''but'' audacity: he appeared over top of the open city gates playing an instrument, flanked by boys holding burning incense, while soldiers dressed as peasants opened all the gates of the wide open and started sweeping them out. Wei army commander Sima Yi orders a retreat. Sima's sons were convinced that it was a bluff, but Sima himself thought (from previous encounters) that Zhuge didn't take risks, and that there must be some deep strategem behind this display. To Sima's credit, Zhuge comments afterwards about how much he hated having to take a risk in this instance, but it simply couldn't be helped.

* Ken Follett's ''Literature/ThePillarsOfTheEarth'': [[spoiler:Bishop-to-be Waleran getting Prior Philip to pledge support for his nomination when the current Bishop died, then casually announcing the death of the then-Bishop. Among Philip's reasons for never reporting this to anyone is that noone would believe a man of God would do something like that.]]

* In ''Plan B'', a book from the Literature/LiadenUniverse, the clan motto of Clan Korval is "I Dare." This story features our heroes planning to steal aircraft from the ''invading army''. In the process they referencethis trope:

*** At the beginning of ''For The Emperor'' Cain, THE HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, deliberately invokes this trope when confronted by a mess hall of rioting Guardsmen by leaping up onto a table, pointing at someone, and ordering them to get a mop. The bloodstains were ''deplorable.'' ** In ''Echoes of the Tomb'', he runs into a portal to parts unknown because he believes possible death at the hands of whatever's on the other side is preferable to certain death due to the Necrons before him.

** Creator/SandyMitchell's ''Literature/CiaphasCain'' novels. At the beginning of ''For The Emperor'' Cain, THE HERO OF THE IMPERIUM, deliberately invokes this trope when confronted by a mess hall of rioting Guardsmen by leaping up onto a table, pointing at someone, and ordering them to get a mop. The bloodstains were ''deplorable.'' In ''Echoes of the Tomb'', he runs into a portal to parts unknown because he believes possible death at the hands of whatever's on the other side is preferable to certain death due to the Necrons before him.

* [[CoolOldLady Lady Cecilia]] from Creator/ElizabethMoon's ''Literature/HerisSerranoTrilogy''. An old lady who owns a space yacht called ''Sweet Delight'', decides to impersonate a military officer. She does this by declaring herself to be a high-ranking agent on a mission too secret for the rank-and-file crew to know about, and responding to any requests for proof with a DeathGlare and vaguely-worded threat. It's so outrageous that everyone assumes there's ''no way'' she could be just making it up. This is a deconstructed example because he captain and most of the crew of Lady Cecelia's yacht ''really were'' military personnel undercover on a top-secret mission... even if they all ''thought'' they'd been discharged.

* [''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': Harry Dresden's plans sometimes work because ''no one'' ever thought to protect against such an outlandish possibility. Harry exists within the margins of likelihood.

* [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Harry Dresden]]'s plans sometimes work because ''no one'' ever thought to protect against such an outlandish possibility. Harry exists within the margins of likelihood.
** In ''Literature/GravePeril'' he showed up to a masquerade ball thrown by [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Red Court vampires]]... dressed as a cheesy, B-movie parody of a vampire, complete with cheap tuxedo, high-collared cape, and plastic fangs. The deliberate insult nearly got him violently dismembered by incredulous vampires.

** Vetinari uses this in ''Discworld/NightWatch'' to kill Lord Winder. Instead of creeping about like a normal assassin, he walks in, bold as brass, disables the bodyguards, and draws his sword. He never actually ''uses'' the sword, it's mere presence is enough to tip the already unhinged Winder over the edge and into a heart attack.

** ''Discworld/GuardsGuards!''. The 4 Night Watch members get a long way into the Shades, a district of Ankh-Morpork so dangerous that ''assassins'' are afraid of going in, and avoid death by being loudly drunk, confusing the criminals tailing them. They later arrest someone for committing murder with a blunt instrument. Said blunt instrument was a forty-foot dragon. In fact, the dragon is also arrested.

** ''Discworld/MakingMoney'' featured the most gloriously audacious moment of his entire career to screw over a blackmailer. Said blackmailer is threatening to expose the fact that Moist was a crook. so what does he do? [[spoiler:He gets on the stand in front of ''the entire city'' and admits it.]] As he waited for this crucial moment, he witnessed a cute dog named Mr. Fusspot come skirting out behind a curtain in to the middle of the room chasing after and wanting to chew a thick leather vibrating dildo. No one dare bat an eye at it. Moist decided if he lived in a world where that can happen and be accepted, he can do what he does in the above idea.

** ''Discworld/MakingMoney'' featured the most gloriously audacious moment of his entire career to screw over a blackmailer. Said blackmailer is threatening to expose the fact that Moist was a crook. so what does he do? [[spoiler:He gets on the stand in front of ''the entire city'' and admits it.]]
*** As he waited for this crucial moment, he witnessed a cute dog named Mr. Fusspot come skirting out behind a curtain in to the middle of the room chasing after and wanting to chew a thick leather vibrating dildo. No one dare bat an eye at it. Moist decided if he lived in a world where that can happen and be accepted, he can do what he does in the above idea.

* Moist von Lipwig from Terry Pratchett's ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series does this all the time.
** He claims ''If I am going to fail, I would rather fail spectacularly,''.

* Pick a [[Literature/{{Discworld}} Night Watch]] book, any book with the Watch and you'll find this, usually committed by Carrot or Vimes:
** Carrot gets away with this a lot by being himself. You can't ''help'' but do what he wants, ''and'' like him anyway.

*** Carrot's very good at taking laws literally. He accuses someone trying to dismiss a golem[[note]]who are legally considered "property" and not "people"[[/note]] as ''littering''.
*** He also combines this nicely with SerialEscalation: Golems are being attacked, [[spoiler:since it's believed that one has started committing murder,]] but Carrot believes in giving them the benefit of the doubt. His reasoning becomes: If golems are people, "what's being done to them is wrong."; If they're property, they're not responsible. The owner of the golem says "I don't want it any more"; that's ''littering''. "Here, ''you'' can have it."; ''that's bribery''. The net result: after a bit of wrangling, [[spoiler:the golem ''owns itself'']].

** In ''The Last Hero'', Commander Vimes sends him to arrest ''Cohen the Barbarian and his Silver Horde'', who may accidentally blow up the world. The charge? Conspiracy to cause an affray.

** Cohen qualifies, too. At one point, he explains to a group of soldiers that they aren't as scary as they could be, and reminds them of "the element of ''SURPRISE''!" before slaughtering them all in five seconds. In ''Interesting Times'' he intends to steal [[spoiler: the entire Agatean Empire.]] The idea is ''so'' audacious that nobody thought to defend against such a plan and it works flawlessly.

*** He also combines this nicely with SerialEscalation: Golems are being attacked, [[spoiler:since it's believed that one has started committing murder,]] but Carrot believes in giving them the benefit of the doubt. His reasoning becomes: If golems are people, "what's being done to them is wrong."; If they're property, they're not responsible. The owner of the golem says "I don't want it any more"; that's '''littering''. "Here, ''you'' can have it."; ''that's bribery''. The net result: after a bit of wrangling, [[spoiler:the golem ''owns itself'']].

** Vimes {{Lampshades}} his own use of this trope in ''Thud!'':

** Later, in ''The Kremlin Games'', Tsar Mikhail I, the Tsarina, and the Protagonists, need to get into a certain city. Trouble is, they don't know whether or not the garrison sides with the [[PuppetKing Tsar]], or the Duma in the power struggle the former inadvertently sparked. So what do they do? [[CrowningMomentOfFunny ...have the Tsar and the Tsarina sit out in the open on their barge, waving to the soldiers and the civilians like it's a parade, all while the protagonists sneak in trough the back.]]

** In ''[[ForgottenRealms Silverfall]]'' lady Qilue attends a Nobel's costume party, without an invitation, for the purposes of spying on the attendees. She can't disguise herself with magic, so instead arrives [[ForHalloweenIAmGoingAsMyself as herself]] wearing a [[{{Stripperiffic}} very revealing]] dress. The only person who notices she's a real drow is a high-ranked Harper spy, and he almost fell for her anyway.

** In ''Dead Beat'' Harry is in dire straits as several necromancers are planning to invoke a spell to turn one of them into a minor god. He is stuck on the other side of town and cannot break any laws of magic, even if it is to save the world, which includes raising human undead to fight. His solution: [[spoiler:Resurrect a 65 million year old T-Rex and ride her into battle. As she isn't human, technically he didn't break the law]] and he saves the day.
** In ''Small Favor'' Harry is facing down a magical assassin who has killed three archmages and took their stoles as trophies. Harry can't beat him in a fight and both know it. [[spoiler:But Harry is owed a debt by the assassin's court and to be killed before calling it in would dishonor the assassin's queen. So, he allows Harry to name the favor, short of calling off the order to kill Harry. Harry wants a real freshly baked doughnut. It's a stall, and both know this, but by the time of delivery, the reason for the hit will have ended and Harry will be safe, but the assassin goes through with it]]. It becomes a humorous story where the assassin came from..
** ''Turn Coat'': Challenging the White Council to a duel. It allowed Harry to sneak his real gambit past, because everyone was so busy washing their pants.
** When he showed up to a masquerade ball thrown by [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Red Court vampires]]... dressed as a cheesy, B-movie parody of a vampire, complete with cheap tuxedo, high-collared cape, and plastic fangs. The deliberate insult nearly got him violently dismembered by incredulous vampires.
** His fairy godmother wants to capture him and turn him into one of her hounds for his own protection. One time, on a mission, he and his companions must travel close to her domain and risk being caught. [[spoiler:He gets caught, but escapes by eating a poisonous mushroom that will kill him. Happily, one of his companions has the cure on hand and will trade it to the godmother in exchange for letting Harry go this night]].