Thud!/Awesome

"Vetinari: Given, then, a contest between on the one hand, and the commander on the other, where would you wager, say... one dollar? Drumknott: I wouldn't, sir. That looks like one that would go to the judges."
 * would have to be up there for Vimes.
 * This example, since it is not only a crowning moment of awesome, but also of funny and heartwarming, is probably a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Terry Pratchett, as well.
 * That's the climax of a larger CMOA in which he, subconsciously no less, for most of the book. Foreshadowed - and given as more proof of his badassery - earlier, when two characters felt sorry for   at having come up against Vimes. "Quis custodiet ipsos custodes", indeed.

": Sam Vimes once arrested me for treason... And Sam Vimes once arrested a . Sam Vimes stopped a war between nations by arresting two high commands. He's an arresting fellow, Sam Vimes. Sam Vimes killed a werewolf with his bare hands, and carries law with him, like a lamp... Watchmen across half the continent will say that Sam Vimes is as straight as an arrow, can't be corrupted, won't be turned, never took a bribe."
 * The following quote sums up Vimes's awesomeness:


 * A bit of foreshadowing, when said metaphorical lamp is used.
 * A CMOA that takes place in Vimes's head:

"Vimes (about some drug makers recently arrested): They didn't know what hit them, eh? Detritus (a bit indignant): Oh no, sir. I made sure they knew I hit 'em."
 * Made better in the audiobook where
 * Detritus's crusade against drugs, as shows this moment:

""When Mister Safety Catch Are Not On, Mister Crossbow Are Not Your Friend.""
 * Detritus's whole story in general: he went from less-than-a-nobody to a respected sergeant and, and from a very secondary character to the fourth main protagonist of the City Watch arc (the three others being, of course, Vimes, Carrot and Angua).
 * Detritus is also capable of preventing Vimes from murdering a room full of men who like to do nasty things to little girls. Anyone who knows Vimes will be impressed at that, even if Detritus is a troll.
 * Nearly any time Detritus fires The Piecemaker. It is a ballista converted into a crossbow.

" COME ON, THEN, IF YOU THINK YOU'RE HARD ENOUGH! "
 * More accurately it's converted to fire a sheaf of crossbow bolts. In practice, it ends up firing an expanding cloud of fire and splinters, due to the massive forces involved.
 * To be precise, it's basically the medieval version of a sawed-off shotgun. But way awesomer.
 * A.E. Pessimal, a bureaucrat assigned to the Ankh-Morpork City Watch by Vetinari, attacked a rampaging, crazed troll with his teeth, an act of courage so outrageous and unexpected, the Patrician literally didn't believe it when he was told.
 * Discworld trolls, by the way, being solid living stone, with teeth of diamond.
 * Pessimal has one a bit earlier:

"Willikins: One is indeed dead, I am afraid. If you recall, I must have stabbed him with the ice knife I happened to be holding, having been cutting ice for the kitchen."
 * Vimes's butler Willikins has these moments as well. He once bit someone's nose off, (in Jingo) and this time he defeats a couple of who had attempted a sneak attack upon the house.

"Sybil: Coal him up."
 * The ones he fought had a flamethrower. After clobbering them, he figured out how it worked, and "tested my understanding by firing it down the tunnel they had arrived by until it ran out of igniferous juice, sir. Just in case there were more."
 * During the same attack, Sybil and her dragons get their CMOA. The attack her with a flamethrower, but since she's wearing an outfit designed to protect her from her dragons (who have a habit of belching flame and exploding with little provocation), she shrugs the attack off. The dragons, however, see the flamethrower as a challenge... and twenty-six of them simultaneously incinerate the poor bugger (leaving a white-hot glowing pair of iron boots and a scorch mark in the shape of the attacker), with Sybil simply saying, "Good boys."
 * And her Moment continues when, rather than panicking or getting shaky, she takes charge of the situation (from Vimes, no less!), instructing him to arm himself with one of her dragons as they prepare to carry their son to safety in the Watch house.
 * The line as she hands Sam the dragon is terrific:

"Vimes: Take it. Rhys: I ask you to give it to me, Commander. Vimes: Take it."
 * Angua in the end, when she convinced
 * Let it be noted that the reason she had to convince him to stop moving was not because he was about to kill the dwarfs in front of him (though he was posed to do so) but because he was going to start hurting himself from the strain of not doing that. So she knocked him down.
 * Back when the dwarfs tried to someone would be there to hold him back when he caught up with those who sent them. Someone was. He was.
 * A minor one for Nobby, whose patented Nobbs Sidle proves stealthy enough to slip past the Low King's best soldiers and pocket the very artifact they're frantically combing a cavern for.
 * Forbidden to reveal what was happening to anyone, and terrified of his superiors and, Helmclever still managed to . A good Thud player to the end.
 * Vimes discovering the power of the mark the.

"Death:"
 * This scene with Death, which got partly adapted into the Colour Of Magic film:

"Grag Bashfullsson: No! Sire, please! This is an argument between Grags! Grag Ardent: Why do you carry no ax? Bashfullsson: I need no ax to be a dwarf. Nor do I need to hate trolls. What kind of creature defines itself by hatred? Ardent: You strike at the very root of us! At the root! Bashfullsson: Then strike back. [holds out empty hands] And put your sword away, Commander Vimes. This is dwarf business. Ardent? I'm still standing. What do you believe in? Ha'ak! Ga strak ja'ada! Ardent attacks, Bashfullsson defends. A shocked Ardent is silenced, and falls. Bashfullsson: It is like using an ax, but without the ax."
 * It has been repeatedly made clear that a dwarf without an ax is not a dwarf. Vimes, after a dwarf attack on his home and with every reason to hate dwarfs orders dwarfs to disarm and only unbends when they stubbornly refuse to drop their axes (the rest of their weapons, they drop). Grag Bashfullsson doesn't carry one. This is made clear at the end of the book when there is a "discussion" between Grags.


 * Unarguably one of the greatest crowning moment of awesome is when