Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu / Literature

• In Animorphs, Jake to Crayak, repeatedly. In the third Megamorphs book, Elfangor's Secret, the rest of the team does this to Crayak by bringing Jake back to life.
• The Camp Half-Blood Series:
  • Percy Jackson and the Olympians:
    • In The Lightning Thief, Percy sends the gods Medusa's head to tick them off.
      Grover: They're not going to like that. They'll think you're impertinent. [After inserting a few drachmas into the package, it promptly disappears with a pop]
      Percy: I am impertinent.
    • In The Battle of the Labyrinth, Rachel (whose only power is to see through the Weirdness Censor that fools other normals) saves demigod Percy from Kronos, King of the Titans, an evil creature older than the gods, by hitting Kronos in the eye with a blue plastic hairbrush. Percy remarked that this earned her his permanent respect.
    • Later, he ends up snarking to most of the Greek/Roman gods at some point. And in the Demigods and Magicians crossover, he gets to snark at an Egyptian goddess as well.
  • The Heroes of Olympus: In The Son of Neptune, Iris, the messenger goddess, is trapped in her store with an army of monsters, and Polybotes^{who is}the Giant made by Gaea to kill Poseidon, outside. She throws a ding-dong at him.
• In Codex Alera, Tavi of Calderon flips off arch-mages, ancient wolf warriors, zerg knock-offs, and physical gods on a roughly weekly basis. Like his Take a Third Option tendencies, it becomes possible to track him by invoking this trope.
• The Dark Elf Trilogy: Homeland gives the original drow turncoat a badass Establishing Character Moment when he calls Lolth a lying bitch to his sister Vierna's face (Vierna being a high-ranking Priestess of Lolth). There is a lot of tension in the resulting scene where it is unclear whether his sister or another drow will kill him for suicidally spitting on the name of the drow's chief goddess.
• Deptford Mice: In the Deptford Mouselets book Whortle's Hope, Virianna taunts the rat goddess Mabb to get her to come out of hiding and fight with her. She says she is "naught but a shifter of shadows and a causer of bad dreams".
• In The Divine Cities, Vohannes Votrov — knowing he won't survive the encounter anyway — proceeds to taunt Kolkan with all the ways in which he doesn't follow the god's many insane rules.
• In The Divine Comedy, Vanni Fucci di Pistoia, a thief who was sent to hell, literally flips off God.
• In Dragon Calling, the satyr Norf has a tendency to spout angry insults as a coping mechanism during moments of stress; unfortunately, he also does this at the creature/s causing the stress, e.g. when he hurls insults at the harpies of Mistwood that have surrounded their camp, or when he verbally abuses Scimitar Dancer, despite being at the hemlan captain's mercy.
• Dragonlance:
  • In the last book, a member of the Kender race — which are chronically bored, are impulsive kleptomaniacs and considered little more than a pest by the other people of the world — named Tasslehoff Burrfoot manages to do this to Chaos, the father of all the Gods, using lots of insults (Kenders are able to come up with insults against anything) to distract him while the other people in the battle attempt to make him bleed, for his blood is required to vanish him. In the end, he not only distracts Chaos efficiently, but, using his small knife, cuts him, and the blood coming from that cut is the one used to win the battle.
  • In the Dark Disciple trilogy, Atta (a dog) bites Chemosh (the god of Death) in the ankle. This doesn't just distract him — another god, Majere, uses Atta's teeth as the vessel of his wrath to let Chemosh know that he's not happy with Chemosh's recent actions.
• Harry Dresden in The Dresden Files lives off this trope in every single book. It's a habit that he can't entirely control. In many cases, his internal monologue will say something like, "I wisely chose to keep my mouth shut," and then he'll say something incensive out loud anyway, out of reflex. Ironically, this has probably helped him survive as long as he has because persistently dissing every heavy-hitter he meets has convinced a lot of them that he has something similarly powerful backing him up. Notable examples:
  • From Dead Beat:
    Harry: [to Lasciel the Temptress] And by any chance does all this knowledge and power and good advice come for only three easy installments of nineteen ninety-five plus shipping and handling? Or maybe it comes with a bonus set of knives tough enough to saw through a nail, yet can still cut tomatoes like this.
    Lasciel: You aren't nearly as funny as you think you are.
    [also]
    Harry: [to Cowl] Touché, O dark master of evil bathrobes.
    [also]
    Harry: [to Cowl (again)] And again I do answer thee. Bite me.
  • In Summer Knight, when charging into a pitched battle between the rival Faerie courts:
    "I DON'T BELIEVE IN FAIRIES!" ^note This being a Shout-Out to the line from Peter Pan "...and every time a child says, 'I don't believe in fairies', there is a fairy somewhere that falls down dead."
  • In Changes, he starts mouthing off to one of the most powerful creatures on the planet, in its own lair, surrounded by its ravenous army.
    Murphy: Do you have to piss off everyone you meet?
    Harry: If I didn't, he might feel left out.
  • Against a guy who is about to brutally beat Harry to death with a baseball bat:
    Harry: You're, like, the fifth-scariest person I've met today.^note The sad part is, that's essentially true.
  • While in the domain of a god Harry almost stays quiet, then decides that he's insulted everything smaller, it'd be rude not to. He'd already snarked at the god's servants (although that was by mistake).
  • A fuller list includes: several Red Court nobles; the Red King; most of the existing Fallen Angels, but especially Nicodemus; several White Court nobles, including the White King himself; a Black Court wizard-level zombie magic thing; the heirs to a wizard who took on the entirety of the rest of the wizarding world and wouldn't stay dead; supernatural hitmen who could level city blocks with a thought; Faerie nobles of all shapes and sizes; every single Faerie Queen (there are six, three per court, only four of which ever leave the Nevernever, it's complicated); the leader of the Wild Hunt; Uriel (in a more polite fashion than usual); Odin; a dragon (think less scales and more casual earth-shattering power); a maenad; a Bigfoot; The Merlin; human mooks of all shapes, sizes, and survivabilities; Santa Claus; a couple of Eldritch Abominations (one of which he literally flipped off), and Marcone.
  • This becomes one of his tactics against Ethniu in Battle Ground (2020) with fairly sound reasoning: Ethniu's Titanic bronze armor is impenetrable by most everything so long as she believes that she's invincible. Therefore, by constantly insulting and snarking at her, she begins to think she's not all up to snuff, making her more vulnerable in the process. It also makes her furious which means she makes increasingly irrational decisions out of anger. Eventually Marcone catches on to Harry's plan and joins in on the snarking when it's just him and Harry against her.
• In The Elenium, Berit hurls an ax at the god Azash which makes the Elder God flinch, allowing Sparhawk to shove Bhelliom where Azash was emasculated.
• Experimental Film: Lady Midday offers Lois whatever she wants for herself and her family, most notably a cure for her son Clark's autism, if she'll worship Lady Midday and do Her work. Lois angrily refuses, saying that the cured Clark would just be a fake and not her real child, and that she won't help Lady Midday hurt and kill others in exchange for that. Lady Midday is about to cut off Lois's head, but she is saved by Wrob, who knocks her aside begging Lady Midday to choose him as Her servant instead. Lady Midday cuts off his head and vanishes.
• Near the end of Feet of Clay, golem-turned-watchman Dorfl refuses to express belief in any of the gods of the Discworld unless one of their believers can give him a well-reasoned argument. He's promptly hit with a lightning bolt in retaliation, but the only effect it has on his ceramic self is melting his armor, prompting Dorfl to respond "I Don't Call That Much Of An Argument." Commander Vimes is amused at the prospect of the gods having to deal with a lightning-proof atheist.
• Trang Barok of The First Dwarf King regularly mocks his boss, the demon Pathruushkè to the latter's face. Justified, since they're in a Can't Kill You, Still Need You situation.
• In the fairy tale "Godfather Death", a poor man looking for a godfather for his newborn son is approached by both God and the Devil with the offer to help him out, but he refuses both of them, telling them to their face that God is not doing his job right, and that the Devil is a con man. This has no apparent consequences for him.
• Good Omens: Shortly before being burned at the stake, Agnes Nutter told the mob that was out for her blood these last words: "Gather ye ryte close, I saye, and marke well the fate of alle who meddle with suche as theye do none understande." She then looked up at the sky and said "That goes for you as welle, yowe daft old foole." Subverted, as she was actually addressing Shadwell in the future, as she was psychic and knew Shadwell would have a dream about her death.
• The second book of the Hurog duology has Ward delivering a telling-off to the ancient god Aethervon for possessing his sister and tormenting his best friend in the previous book.
• It evokes this when Eddie sprays his asthma inhaler on It. He does it twice, once when he's a kid and again a few decades later; it works because Eddie believes it will hurt It, and what really hurts It is belief. Unfortunately, it doesn't work so well the second time around when It bites his arm off, killing him.
• Krim Pyramid: In Pyramid Scheme, our heroes find themselves trapped in the world of Greek mythology and caught up in a war against the gods of Olympus. At one point, Zeus, king of the Olympians, is about to start blasting people with thunderbolts. Henri Lenoir, visiting French botanist, proceeds to deliver a blistering salvo of insults in true Gallic fashion, distracting Zeus at the cost of his own life until the others can escape.
• In Life, the Universe and Everything, after a flying party ship is attacked by Krikkit robots trying to steal the award for the most gratuitous use of the word "fuck", or "Belgium" in some editions. (It Makes Sense in Context.) Arthur Dent and the others prepare to flee but are delayed by Thor (yes, that Thor) who wants to keep Trillian with him. Arthur then asks him one question: "Do you want to step outside?" This works as intended, as Thor steps outside (read: steps off of the flying party and into thin air) and the others flee without fear of a long argument killing them.
• Zettai has one such moment in Looming Shadow, when she mouths off to the local Grim Reaper. "You're not a god; you're a worm on a power trip". This gets her soul ripped from her body. Fortunately, she's a Bladi by this point, so she's still conscious enough to put it back in, after an assist from Kallen and her Campione Cannon.
• Malazan Book of the Fallen:
  • Quick Ben, a mage, does this for fun — and gets away with it. There is a very long list of gods and rulers he has pissed off during the course of his career.
  • Three gods once cursed Kallor to live forever and never Ascend. He cursed them right back. It worked.
• In the Monster Hunter International books, series hero Owen makes it a point to tease the enormous Agent Franks every time they meet, even after he learns that Franks was the inspiration for Frankenstein's Monster.
• The Salvation War:
  • Armageddon, happens when Gordon Brown says "Sod off, Baldrick" in reply to The Message and Satan's message that humanity now belongs to him, then revealing that he has a cunning plan to deal with the situation.
  • In a hilarious use of the trope, Michael the archangel intentionally does this to Yahweh when he delivers a heap of bad news to him. He doesn't insult Him directly, but he does do his bit of snarking... and he knows what Yahweh's reaction would be to the news.
• The Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel has Billy the Kid threatening his master, Quetzalcoatl with an ax. Considering the potential consequences, that took balls. In The Sorceress, after Cernunnos points a sword at the heroes, Sophie tells him it's not polite to point.
• Serwa Boateng: When the goddess Asase Yaa is reluctant to help the main characters, Roxy shouts at her for putting their lives in danger. Luckily, Asase Yaa doesn't retaliate, but Serwa still tells Roxy not to do it again.
• In The Stand, Glen Bateman responds to Flagg asking him to kneel with mocking laughter. Glen finds it hilarious that he and his friends ever feared Flagg. Glen gets shot to death for his trouble, but he does contribute to Flagg's Villainous Breakdown.
• Test of Metal has the protagonist, Tezzeret, tells Nicol Bolas, the nigh-omnipotent 25,000-year-old Elder Dragon, that he's "stupid" and condescendingly tries to explain what the words 'thank you' mean. Bolas is not amused. Then it turns out that the Bolas he flipped off was just an inferior copy the original made to carry out his plans.
• Tolkien's Legendarium:
  • The Lord of the Rings:
    • Exploited when an army of 7000 soldiers and most of the Fellowship's surviving members are mustered for the sole purpose of Flipping Off Sauron, just so Frodo can get the Ring to Mount Doom.
    • Aragorn also explains one morning that he used the Palantir the night before, to taunt Sauron himself directly.
    • In Moria, Legolas, Gimli, and Gandalf all panic at the sight of the Balrog. Boromir, however, blows his horn as if in the challenge of it. The echoing sound of the horn not only makes the Orcs go quiet for a few seconds, it actually makes the Balrog pause.
    • When the Nazgûl start searching in the Shire, Hamfast Gamgee tells one of them that Frodo is gone and that where Frodo has gone is no business of either of them. The idea of a three-foot old man telling an armor-clad demon to piss off and mind his own business is... low-key awe-inspiring.
    • Farmer Maggot goes one better, telling Khamûl the Easterling (one of the Nazgûl) that he has no intention of telling him anything, and will set the dogs on him if he doesn't leave. Khamûl leaves laughing.
  • In The Silmarillion, Melkor turns up at Fëanor's house and asks if he'd like to come to Middle-Earth with him. Fëanor is about to accept when Melkor implies he wants Fëanor's Silmarils, and Fëanor calls him "jail-crow of Mandos" and slams the door in his face. Please note that Melkor is the most powerful being ever created, and is the equivalent of Satan.
  • The Children of Húrin: When Morgoth tells Húrin that he created Arda and will give him great power if he serves him, Húrin immediately throws the offer in Morgoth's face and declares him a liar. This results in Morgoth cursing his entire family with tragedy and destruction.
• In the Uplift novel Heaven's Reach, Emerson refuses the Retired Ones and explains why as "You never said 'please'."
• Warhammer 40,000:
  • In Ahriman: Unchanged, Inquisitor Iobel inadvertently enters the Labyrinth of Tzeentch while exploring Ahriman’s mindscape, and encounters Magnus the Red. She’s initially cowed by Magnus when he commands her to do his bidding, but after realizing that he can’t harm her since she’s already dead, she spits at him and starts insulting him.
  • In The Last Church, Uriah had a debate with the Emperor about the coming of the Imperium and the Great Crusade. But then he realized the Emperor was a hypocrite and wanted nothing to do with him, claiming he's no different to previous warlords and Knight Templars. When the Emperor said he's different because he's right, Uriah told him where he could stick his new Imperium.
    "Spoken like a true autocrat."
  • In Clonelord, Evilutionary Biologist Fabius Bile is at the mercy of a Slaaneshi daemon known as The Quaestor. At the time, Bile was a Flat-Earth Atheist who clung to a twisted version of the Imperial Truth, refusing to believe that daemons or the Chaos Gods were self-aware creatures. As a result, even as it's causing his organs to fail, he continues insulting its intelligence and ending with "Gods are for the weak. I am not weak." Luckily for him, the Chaos Gods are fueled by emotion and even his disdain made Slaanesh consider him useful.
• The War of the Ancients pulls this off, combining it with Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: Brox actually managing to injure Sargeras. It was a small scratch, but when you realize how powerful we know Sargeras is (about three levels above the Big Bads normally seen; the "destroy planet with a flick of the hand" level of power), not to mention that little trick is what ultimately won the war, it's quite a feat.
• In The Wheel of Time, the Aiel essentially have a culture-wide oath to do this. When asked how long they will fight, the answer is "'Till shade is gone, 'till water is gone, into the Shadow with teeth bared, screaming defiance with the last breath, to spit in Sightblinder's eye on the Last Day." And they bloody mean it literally.
• Young Wizards:
  • Kit did this in whale form.
  • Most other minor characters in the series have to do a Heroic Sacrifice to provide a distraction. All of the main characters in Book of Night with Moon attempt or succeed in a Heroic Sacrifice just to delay the Big Bad, although most of them do get better later. Pitting preteen humans or housecats against the machinations of the eldest, fairest, and fallen means any form of victory is going to fall between this and Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?.
  • A more classic and slightly subverted version of this trope appears in A Wizard Abroad when a bard-kitten pisses off the Big Bad by mocking it using elaborate verse. It makes the Lone Power angry which is exactly what allowed the heroes to defeat it. In order to destroy the body the Lone Power was using, the heroes had to throw The Spear of Destiny through its Eye of Death. However, the Lone One was keeping its eye shut and just letting the heroes get crushed by the Mooks. The kitten's taunts caused it to attack directly, which allowed the heroes to counterstrike and destroy it.
  • In the related title Book Of Night With Moon, Urruah strides through a cat's mythological reenactment of Lucifer's fall and sharpens his claws on the impressive scenery about five feet away from the Lone Power in the form of a giant, godlike snake before striding back and remarking he should have sprayed it as well.
  • And there is also, of course, the default wizard response to finding yourself face to face with the Prince of Darkness in the flesh, which is not exactly a taunt but still clearly communicates your intent not to back down:
    Fairest and fallen, greetings and defiance!

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