Line #52 Awesome/SkulduggeryPleasant


1	!!From Series 1:
2
3	* Valkyrie ''forcing her way into the Faceless One's dimension'' to rescue Skulduggery in the fourth book. {{Determinator}} at its finest.
4	* Valkyrie ''[[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu kills a God]]'' in ''The Faceless Ones'' and owns the others with Necromancy. Which she had never studied before.
5	* "Get away from my ex-girlfriend, you moany little whinge-bag." You tell that sad little emo git, Fletcher Renn.
6	** Fletcher is generally good at chewing people out. His WhatTheHellHero to Valkyrie was equally awesome.
7	--> "Well done, Val. You share the emotional range of a dead man."
8	* Villainous example. Eliza Scorn utterly outplays China Sorrows. She foils her plan to end the Church of the Faceless Ones and takes away ''everything'' she holds dear. When she says "Finished with you? I haven't even started." she bloody well means it.
9	* [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Desmond.]] Throwing Moore into a pharmacy window.
10	* Skulduggery at the end of ''Death Bringer'', tossing off his SuperpoweredEvilSide casually to throw off [[TheAntichrist Darquesse's]] BreakingSpeech.
11	-->'''Skulduggery:''' I wouldn't stay like this. I like being me.
12	** Skulduggery somehow manages to make ''giving in'' to his SuperpoweredEvilSide seem awesome.
13	--> "That is not Lord Vile. ''This'' is Lord Vile."
14	** The actual [[EvilVersusEvil fight]] is pretty damn awesome. If a little terrifying.
15	* Valkyrie head-butting Melancholia after Melancholia takes Skulduggery to pieces. To reiterate, she nearly takes down the Death Bringer ''without'' magic.
16	* Another Skulduggery example, from ''Playing With Fire''. The infamous 'swordfight/gunfight' one. Skulduggery is facing down Baron Vengeous, and proceeds to snark all over the HonorBeforeReason trope.
17	-->'''Vengeous:''' Only a heathen brings a gun to a swordfight.
18	-->'''[[CombatPragmatist Skulduggery]]''': Only a moron brings a sword to a gunfight.
19	* [[MeaningfulRename "My name is Valkyrie Cain."]]
20	** To clarify, China knows the first part of Valkyrie's given name and uses it against her so she doesn't go to help Skulduggery. Valkyrie then chooses her name, kicks down the door to china's room (To find ghastly's address), defies China making her lose composure, and then triumphantly telling China her name before leaving. Not long after that, she gathers enough help to rescue skulduggery from serpine, all without proper magic.
21	* Skulduggery delivers a simple, yet effective threat to Serpine in the first book.
22	-->'''Skulduggery:''' You're going to fall. You're going to fall hard. And I'm going to be there. I'll be the one pushing you.
23	* The ''entire'' ending to Kingdom of the Wicked. Here's some examples:
24	** Darquesse and Lord Vile team up. [[UltimateShowdownOfUltimateDestiny And It. Is. AWESOME]].
25	** Darquesse taking on Mevolent... and winning by hitting him with a horse.
26	** Serpine, for stopping Darquesse from using the Sceptre. Think about that. Serpine just accidentally SAVED THE UNIVERSE.
27	** Both Darquesse and Valkyrie getting to kill or kick the crap out of [[TeensAreMonsters Kitana and her gang]].
28	** Shudder versus Baron Vengeous.
29	** Argeddion and Darquesse are the two most powerful individuals in the universe. They are, to all extents and purposes, [[PhysicalGod basically gods]]. But they are gods who still have human bodies and human brains, so it turns out [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Skulduggery can still beat them]]. Both. Simultaneously. With ''[[GeniusBruiser science]]''. Specifically, he induces an ''epileptic fit'' using a particular rhythm of flashes he had [[CrazyPrepared memorised some time ago.]]
30	* Skulduggery's PapaWolf tendencies towards Valkyrie are a little heartwarming, a little awesome and more than a little terrifying, but the way he deals with Sult takes the cake. He doesn't even have to threaten him.
31	-->'''Skulduggery:''' I know that you're not about to strike my partner.
32	-->everyone freezes
33	** His threat to Nadir was glorious.
34	-->'''Skulduggery:''' You've heard the stories about me.
35	-->'''Nadir:''' So?
36	-->'''Skulduggery:''' Well, the stories are nothing compared to the truth, and the truth is nothing compared to what I'll do to you if Valkyrie gets hurt. I'm the worst enemy you could ever make, Silas. Look at me and answer honestly. Do you believe me?
37	-->'''Nadir:''' Yeah
38	-->'''Skulduggery:''' Good.
39	* Oddly enough, Stephanie's ReasonYouSuckSpeech to Skulduggery in "Last Stand of Dead Men".
40	-->'''Stephanie:''' I get that you hate me. Of course you hate me. I've done horrible things. Not as many horrible things as Valkyrie, but still.. But that's not why you hate me. You hate me because I'm not her. And it's fine if you want to continue like that. Then whenever you hear that I've done something good or nice, you can pretend to be surprised, because everyone knows you think I'm nothing but the evil version of Valkyrie. But I'm not the evil version of Valkyrie. ''Valkyrie'' is the evil version of Valkyrie. And now that I'm real, now that I'm a real person, I'm not going to hurt anymore innocent people. Can she say the same?
41	-->'''Skulduggery:''' I'm going to get her back.
42	-->'''Stephanie:''' How? You have no idea, do you? You're terrified that the next time you see her you'll have to kill her, because you'll have no other choice. So you can say all the mean things you want. It doesn't bother me. You're just scared.
43	* Skulduggery curb-stomping the Black Cleaver using ''Necromancy''. Without his armour.
44	* Darquesse casually taking out an army.
45	* China Sorrows getting back at Eliza Scorn by leading the people trying to kill her to the fancy new church.
46	** She also goes from losing almost all her resources and allies to ''Grand Mage of Ireland'' in a year.
47	** ''The Dying of the Light'' has China gleefully abusing her power to screw with Eliza.
48	* [[CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass Finbar Wrong]] in ''Last Stand of Dead Men''. He sees the assassin coming. He sends his wife and child away and cancels all his appointments. He then puts a poisoned tea cup into the man's hands. And calmly informs the dying man what he has done. Do not mess with a Sensitive.
49	-->'''Wrong:''' [[BewareTheNiceOnes I hope you burn]] [[BewareTheSillyOnes in whatever hell you believe in.]]
50	** Note that the assassin was smart enough not to drink any of the tea, so Finbar outsmarted him by poisoning the handle instead. Poisoned mug of tea, not a mug of poisoned tea.
51	* Shudder is ambushed by 24 mages sent to kill him in his hotel. He decimates them before making his getaway, ''without even unleashing his magic.'' He just uses weapons he steals from the assassins, mastery of his own hotel, and even his bare hands.
52	* In ''Last Stand of Dead Men'', we get to see what it's like fighting a Teleporter. [[LastOfHisKind A half-trained, very young Teleporter, at that]]. No wonder they were so baffled in ''The Faceless Ones''.
53	** Which gives several retroactive awesome moments to Batu, even if he was evil.
54	* The scene in ''Last Stand of Dead Men'' where Clarabelle is trapped by three wraiths. Who comes to her rescue? ''Scapegrace and Thrasher''. True it's the most unheroic rescue you could imagine, but seriously, who would have expected that from [[DirtyCoward Scapegrace]] of all people?
55	** In ''The Dying of the Light'' another moment worthy of note is that when Skulduggery tells Scapegrace he ''has'' to win against the Warden if they want to have a chance of defeating Darquesse, Scapegrace, though obviously scared, doesn't once consider backing out or changing his mind.
56	* Lord Vile and Melancholia team up in ''The Dying of the Light.'' They beat the crap out of [[AGodAmI Darquesse]] and very nearly kill her.
57	* Sanguine showing up to fight the Black Cleaver, starting with him whistling [[Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly Ennio Morricone]]. And then in the ensuing battle Sanguine manages to completely outmatch his opponent, [[CombatPragmatist using his powers to stay out of reach and attack unpredictably]]. And when he's eventually disarmed and cornered he doesn't even miss his stride, diving straight ''through'' his opponent to tear them apart using his tunneling power. granted the cleaver promptly recovers and kills him, but it's an impressive display of his skill all the same, and puts him on par with a lot of powerful individuals.
58	* Tanith ''finally'' kills the damn Black Cleaver, formerly the White Cleaver, by making it follow the rules of conduct in a circle duel. You have to remove your armor, you can't exit the circle. (Which restricts its wide attacks.)
59	* How do you kill someone who kills gods? Who treats killing everything, including Eldritch Abominations, as a goal? Who will not die no matter what you do? Oh, Darquesse will take hits, but she always avoids the [[WeaponOfXSlaying God Killer weapons]] and regenerates everything else. Well....You get four of the most powerful Sensitives to make a ''very'' powerful illusion spell that told her that she won. That she killed everything in the universe and absorbed their LifeEnergy, and there was nothing left but to cross over to where the [[EldritchAbomination Faceless Ones]] live and challenge them with the power from killing everything. She does cross over... but she doesn't have the power needed to fight them all. Or so they think.
60	* China Sorrows managing to defeat an accelerator boosted Erskine Ravel offscreen.
61
62	!!From Series 2:
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64	* Cadaverous Gant and Skulduggery are sent to kidnap a crazed hermit named Tanner Rut as a sacrifice in the anti-Sanctuary's dark ritual. After they force their way into his home, Rut offers them tea, and when they make their intentions clear, [[NotSoHarmless he attacks them with an enormous scimitar that can slice through balls of fire.]] Even the narration seems taken aback.
65	* Omen infiltrating Arcanum's Scholars with just a stolen mask, getting a front row seat to a meeting with the BigBad. He does get caught out, but manages to escape without revealing who he is - by falling out the window.
66	* When his classmate finally snaps and tries to kill him, Omen is saved by his teacher, Miss Wicked. [[NoSell She takes two punches,]] then promptly overpowers the attacker and sends Omen to the nurse.
67	* Omen, in a beautiful mix of suicidal courage and RefugeInAudacity, managing to hitch a ride with Nero, a Teleporter, directly to the Neoteric's base of operation WITHOUT Nero noticing (which would have quickly resulted in Omen's death), and freeing Temper Fray.
68	* Valkyrie is still tormented by hallucinations of Darquesse. As it turns out, they're not hallucinations, it's a small shred of Darquesse lingering in our reality that only she can see. What does she do with this information? [[DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu Punch her in the face.]]
69	* Cadaverous creates an entire city within the Midnight Hotel, which we learn actually ''grows'' into new locations via magic seeds. When Valkyrie finally runs out of time to save her sister, she plants a seed ''inside'' the Hotel, and smashes through the roof, dropping out of the sky as a giant. Even Cadaverous is taken aback, and grudgingly impressed.
70	** He follows up by growing to equally giant size to fight her, leading to a full on BehemothBattle.
71	* Omen convinces Lapse to uncuff him and let him go, and it actually works.
72	* Crepuscular saves Omen.
73	* Valkyrie trolls her interrogators into chopping off her thumb so she can escape the handcuff, before tracking down Nye and hacking into its mind to gain the knowledge to regenerate her thumb.
74	* Omen saves Auger and attacks his kidnapper with a crowbar.
75	* Leibniz!Mevolent is an absolute juggernaut, who can take on Darquesse thanks to raw power and preparation, and Darquesse herself reckoned he was the strongest sorcerer after herself and Argeddion - and unlike them, ''hadn't'' unlocked his True Name. Even killing him doesn't keep him down. When he travels over, he wrecks all his enemies, tricks Valkyrie into exposing herself with the Sceptre of the Ancients via a Reflection, after she destroyed Leibniz!Vile with it, which he then destroys. All told, it seems like HeroWorship later on when Omen assumes that the person wrecking Mevolent is Valkyrie. Nope. ''Mevolent himself'' freely admits to Valkyrie that not only are her powers genuinely extraordinary, but he needs to use his age and guile to beat her, she's that strong and that dangerous. Skulduggery and literally everyone else? That's an interesting challenge. Val? She's a serious threat, eclipsed only by his former boss, the King of the Darklands. That kind of VillainRespect doesn't come around often.
76	* Abrupt as it might be Auger manages to fulfil his destiny and kill the infinitely more powerful King of the Darklands by juggling the Obsidian Blade, a weapon that ''erases whatever it cuts from existence,'' and stabbing him in the confusion.
77	* When confronted by Quell, who intends to kill her so Valkyrie will take him back, Militsa ensnares him from behind with her shadows and flings him into the death field. The act itself isn't framed as awesome from her perspective, but it's definitely cathartic.
78	* Darquesse's ultimate act is to save the universe by restarting it and effectively becoming ''God''. She also makes a few tweaks, such as bringing back Ghastly and the Bentley.
79	* Lord Vile's first manifestation in the altered timeline of ''Hell Breaks Loose''. Skulduggery is shown to be incredibly formidable and on the verge of snapping throughout the story, but when he's dogpiled and being pretty much torn apart, he snaps and unleashes his necromancy in full. According to a horrified Ghastly, the newborn Vile effortlessly slaughters over a hundred people in moments, and is effectively untouchable, almost instantly mastering his powers, and figuring out some that we haven't seen any other version of Vile demonstrate, such as the ability to regenerate FromASingleCell into a shadow construct - all while plainly curious as to what he can do.

Context Awesome / SkulduggeryPleasant