A Song of Ice and Fire/Awesome

""The First Sword of Braavos does not run.""

- Syrio Forel, A Game Of Thrones

""One." "Two." "Three.""

- Tyrion Lannister, A Clash Of Kings

""Ser, you do not unders-" Jaime backhands him. With his golden hand."
 * The definitive Crowning Moment of Awesome for Magnificent Bastard Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish from A Song of Ice and Fire is when.
 * Not to mention how utterly cold he gets when
 * The second best one for Littlefinger is when he, saying "I did warn you not to trust me, you know."
 * Well, no one betrayed him to his death. The plan was that he would be exiled for the Wall. He would have lived if Joffrey didn't get carried away like that.
 * So you don't think Littlefinger talked Joffrey into getting "carried away"? If there was one guy in Westeros Littlefinger would want dead, it was
 * Weren't you paying attention during his villainous monologue? Littlefinger didn't want revenge, he wanted Cat. The plan was for  Now, if you're wondering what the difference is, it's this: one outcome leaves Cat , the other leaves her
 * Adds another layer of awesome when you look back at Cat's character and relationship with Littlefinger before  and realize that it would've worked if not for a Spanner in the Works.
 * The third best was his (indirect) killing of . That was the moment where a significant portion of the fandom forgave his betrayal of.
 * That kinda went out the window when it was revealed he also plotted the death of, kickstarting the entire shitstorm that was the war. Which is also kind of awesome, when you think about it.
 * The entire chapter about the Harrenhal uprising is both Fridge Brilliance and a Crowning Moment of Awesome for Roose Bolton.
 * Two Brave Companions climbed up the ramparts and ripped down the banners of the Lannister lion and Ser Amory Lorch's manticore, replacing them with the direwolf of Stark. And that evening, a page named Nan poured wine for Lord Roose Bolton and Vargo Hoat as they sat on the gallery, watching the Brave Companions parade Ser Amory Lorch naked through the middle ward. Ser Amory was sobbing and pleading and clinging to the legs of his jeering captors, until Shagwell pulled him loose and kicked him down into the bear pit. The bear is all black, Arya thought. Like Yoren. She filled Roose Bolton’s cup, and did not spill a drop.
 * When foreign weapon-master Syrio Forel.
 * Yeah, I'm definitely expecting to see Forel again. Remember the fourth level of the Red Keep's dungeons oh-so-casually mentioned in the beginning of AFFC?
 * Jaime Lannister gets a Crowning Chapter of Awesome in book three:.
 * Jaime to Ryman Frey who has been threatening to hang Edmure Tully over and over again (Ryman was the then heir to the Twins, and the Freys, while disliked even by their allies - for good reason - are very important for the Lannisters): "Only a fool makes threats he's not prepared to carry out. If I were to threaten to hit you unless you shut your mouth, and you presumed to speak, what do you think I'd do?"
 * Jaime Lannister gets a Crowning Chapter of Awesome in book three:.
 * Jaime to Ryman Frey who has been threatening to hang Edmure Tully over and over again (Ryman was the then heir to the Twins, and the Freys, while disliked even by their allies - for good reason - are very important for the Lannisters): "Only a fool makes threats he's not prepared to carry out. If I were to threaten to hit you unless you shut your mouth, and you presumed to speak, what do you think I'd do?"

"Jaime: Come on, let's see who's home (*opens door and finds a crossbow in his face) Crossbowman: Lion, Wolf or Fish?
 * For this troper, the moment Jaime became more than just The Dragon to Tywin and moved into the "favourite characters fast lane" was this exchange early on in A Storm of Swords:

Jaime: We'd hoped for capon."

"Is there gold hidden in the village? Is there silver? Gems? Is there food? Where is Lord Beric? Where did he go? How many men were with him? How many knights? How many bowmen? How many, how many, how many, how many, how many, HOW MANY?! IS THERE GOLD HIDDEN IN THE VILLAGE?!"
 * Later, he makes a threat to Edmure. Following a very To the Pain-esque speech about the extent to which Edmure's home and retainers will suffer if he does not relent (including diverting a river over the ruins of his castle so that no one will ever know anything had once stood there), he ends with "You wife may whelp before then. You'll want your child, I expect. I'll send him to you when he's born. With a trebuchet." Practically a Moment of Awesome for the author, seeing as Jaime opened the series with a very similar act, and yet we root for him.
 * We do? That would be funny, especially since Jaime himself considered that a very low blow and beat himself up over it.
 * His final line in "A Feast for Crows."
 * Speaking of Jamie and backhands, how about earlier when he backhands Ser Ronnet the same way for calling Brienne a freak? Especially since Jamie used to call her "wench" all the time, it makes his reaction even more freakin' golden (no pun intended):
 * "You are speaking of a highborn lady, ser. Call her by her name. Call her Brienne."
 * No, his most awesome moment was stabbing King Aerys to death.
 * Jaime gets another CMOA when calls Jeyne Westerling's mother, who, out for her general sliminess.
 * He has a decidedly villainous one in A Clash Of Kings when Catelyn interrogates him and he proceeds to merciless taunt and mock her.
 * One that happened offscreen - when he was a squire with Merrett Frey, Merrett used to bully the other squires. Then he tried to bully Jaime. Guess what happened next...
 * Oberyn Martell's duel with Gregor Clegane is another notable highlight for both combatants.
 * Arya stabbing to death, complete with Ironic Echo:

""They say I'm half a man. What does that make the lot of you?""
 * No, no, the true awesome is
 * Not to mention the scene where the demented serving woman starts screaming at Arya and threatens to rape her with a broom handle, and Arya responds by bashing the woman's head with a water bucket.
 * Margaery finally telling Cersei what everyone thinks of her: "You vile, scheming, evil bitch."
 * Euron Greyjoy's ascent to Magnificent Bastardom:
 * Victarion Greyjoy in A Dance with Dragons
 * So-Called Coward Samwell Tarly killing an Other. In this case, the awesome comes not so much because he was successful (that was mostly a fluke), but from the fact that he proved brave enough to try at all.
 * Also, when Sam manages to.
 * Bigger and awesomer than both of those, Sam walks into a brothel and punches Dareon in the face for being a deserter. When a second person interferes, Sam fights him too, and only stops when he is thrown out. The other-killing was a fluke and the election more a result of cunning rather than courage (Sam himself points out that he is smart, even if he is craven, a fact also admitted by Mormont) but this is one occasion in which he throws his cowardice to the winds and starts a fight.
 * The deformed dwarf Tyrion Lannister rallying troops for the defense of King's Landing:

"Gold Cloak: I'll have the boy. Yoren: You'll have no one. There's laws on such things. Gold Cloak: *draws a shortsword* Here's your law. Yoren: That's no law, only a sword. Happens I got one too."
 * Tyrion is a walking Moment of Awesome. A particular favorite is when, after escaping from a cell, he sneaks into the Tower of the Hand,
 * , no less.
 * And finally proving that Lord Tywin
 * This troper agrees, and adds that his favorite is when Tyrion is planning the defense of King's Landing, and orders the troops to practice with the flamethrowers, starting with green paint and working their way up to lamp oil, by taking the advice of the expert. Don't see that nearly often enough in high adventure.
 * Tyrion coming to the defense of Sansa who was getting utterly humiliated by her husband-to-be definitely counts as well.
 * When Tyrion turns table on a knight who just unhorsed him by head-stabbing his horse is also a Moment of Awesome.
 * Tyrion becoming a Magnificent Bastard (arguably) in his own right:
 * It gets better.
 * The circumstances behind the second quote would take too long to describe. It is best to read for yourself to see Tyrion nearly surpass Littlefinger himself in a single damn chapter.
 * A short explanation (though you really should read the book anyway): . Game, set, match.
 * Saving the life of by bodily ramming a Stone Man off their boat.
 * Which comes right after he convinces to abandon the plan he's been coached in for his entire life, pointing out that it clearly hasn't been working. And that is after he discovers 's true identity in the first place, wagering the reveal of the secret over a cyvasse game, with the implication that he'd deliberately lost several earlier games to get his opponent confident enough to accept that bet.
 * Escaping to buy the help of an entire sellsword company. No, not the other way around, he signed with a sellsword company and bought their wares after
 * The Red Wedding is a villainous one for Tywin Lannister. All that time, he'd just been sitting there, waiting and watching, because he had
 * Daenerys Frakkin' Targaryen. Dany is like a Crowning Person of Awesome all on her own after about the midpoint of A Game of Thrones, but here are a few highlights:
 * First, when she at the end of A Game of Thrones
 * Then, when she  during A Clash Of Kings
 * Finally, she  during A Storm of Swords. Put simply, she is the most badass fourteen-year-old in, well, EVER.
 * Azula disagrees, but admits it's close.
 * Of course, this being a World Half Empty, after Daenerys accomplishes the events described above, It Got Worse. But instead of pulling a Karma Houdini—or letting the author throw one on her behalf—she decides to stay and learn from her mistakes. For a girl of sixteen, that's another Moment of Awesome right there.
 * in A Dance with Dragons. If you've gotten to the scene, no further explanation will be necessary.
 * This troper found it pretty awesome when Brienne hopped off the boat while, scaled up a cliff, then dropped a boulder off of it on top of the boat pursuing them. Then she jumped off the cliff, almost landing in the boat.
 * And her killing Shagwell the fool - "Laugh!" but Shagwell could only moan and cry.
 * "Sapphires."
 * For this troper her moment of awesome was discouraging Vargo Hoat from raping her. By biting off his ear.
 * Even better, Jaime later learns that the wound festered and drove him so mad that he didn't even noticed his fortress getting stormed.
 * Yoren's confrontation with a gold cloak asking for one of the boys in his charge made him pretty awesome:

"Penrose: "Very well, Ser. Bring on your storm. And remember, if you will, the NAME of this castle.""
 * And then the others all get their weapons - hammers, knives, walking sticks - and prepare to fight the Gold Cloaks. Even Hot Pie grabs a rock.
 * Davos Seaworth spiriting away Edric Storm and then heading straight to King Stannis to confess and convince him to give his strength to the Night Watch.
 * Strong Belwas, one of Daenerys' best Elite Mooks, gets one in the second half of A Storm of Swords, when he fights the champion or Meereen in single combat and
 * In A Dance with Dragons, Strong Belwas
 * Ser Cortnay Penrose, castellan of the castle Storm's End, facing Stannis, who's trying to convince to surrender by telling him there will be no mercy if he has to take the castle by force -
 * Ser Cortnay Penrose, castellan of the castle Storm's End, facing Stannis, who's trying to convince to surrender by telling him there will be no mercy if he has to take the castle by force -

""I told you I could fight!""
 * This troper's personal Ensemble Darkhorse is Podrick Payne, so seeing him
 * Podrick gets better, he's still loyal after all this time to Tyrion, long after Tyrion left him behind.
 * Later,

"Jon: Take out in the yard...and hang him."
 * Hodor breaking out of the crypt at the end of A Clash of Kings. Really makes you glad he's a Gentle Giant.
 * Sandor Clegane's trial by combat with Beric Dondarrion is a big one for both, though Sandor comes out a bit ahead with his preceding What the Hell, Hero? speech about how they're laying all the crimes of the Lannisters on his head when he didn't take part in any of them.
 * Especially powerful because as he points out they're shirking responsibility for their own crimes.
 * Jon Snow takes an arrow in the leg while escaping the Wildlings and Thenns, and painfully takes it out himself. He then manages to ride the miles back to the Wall with this increasingly painful injury to deliver his warning about the attack. His leg isn't much better by the time the attack comes, but he still manages a few nice kills.
 * Of course, that's just the beginning of the awesome, culminating in Jon
 * Jon's public execution of  for disobedience, even giving him a Hope Spot which is actually just Jon deciding to do the honors himself, like his father would.

"High Septon: No."
 * Kevan Lannister's Refuge in Audacity telling off of Cersei after she asks him to become the new King's Hand. Then he leaves her with a hint that he believes the accusation of incest between her and Jaime.
 * Ser Kevan also flat out calls her a poor ruler and when she argues that  he simply points out that she is also a bad mother.
 * Arya beating down Joffrey with a wooden stick when the latter was armed with a sword. She's eight, he's twelve. She beats him down, scars him, disarms him, and makes him run to his mommy. Great Foreshadowing on her future badassness, and it was against one of the most sleazy characters of all time.
 * Jaime killing Aerys. At 17 doing the most unbelievable crime of all time. Killing a king, a king he was sworn to defend. And his reasons make him a total woobie (at least initially).
 * His Heel Face Turn when he.
 * Robb's continuing victories over the Lannisters, culminating to the  moment at the end of the first book
 * Donal Noye: A one-armed smith defeating Mag the Mighty, King of the Giants in a tunnel beneath the Wall. There'll be songs about that one.
 * Doran Martell
 * In the next book, The man is officially a Magnificent Bastard to rival Littlefinger; not bad for someone who's long been crippled by gout.
 * How have we gotten this far without mentioning everything Eddard Stark did in a single book that could make him awesome! I mean, the first thing he is seen doing is proving that hands on justice is the greatest. He has the honor to accept his bastard child in Jon Snow, and my personal favorite parts, his What the Hell King speech to King Robert when he  and voluntarily giving up what could be considered the strongest political position in the entire world just to prove a point that he wouldn't go along with it!
 * What about Asha, sister to  who, after his return, completely and utterly humiliates him? She pretends to be a shipwright's wife and mock seduces him to learn his nature. When he finds out, he's gobsmacked, remembering her as a plain child, not a beautiful, intelligent, tough woman. Then, when he confronts her about her deception, she claims she does have a husband and child... and reveals an axe and a small dagger.
 * The latest High Septon, as of A Feast For Crows, gets one when talking to Cersei:

": Me! Try me. Over here. Me!"
 * The one-chapter character Thistle deserves one for
 * Followed by Bran
 * Wyman Manderly, primarily known for being hugely fat and not particularly warlike,  The North remembers.
 * He later gets a veeeeeery subtle and gruesome one during . Also qualifies as a CMOF, if you find that sort of thing funny.
 * And his delicious Kick the Son of a Bitch line that 's death was a mercy, as he would have grown up a.
 * And then the fattie
 * Ser Barristan
 * And then the fattie
 * Ser Barristan

"Griff expected to lose a hundred men, perhaps more. They lost four."
 * Ser Barristan and both have numerous ones throughout, not just in their scene together.
 * Rattleshirt getting his Lightning Bruiser on in a duel with Jon. Gets even better when you learn
 * While we are at Wildlings, Osha's actions and loyality to the stark family during a Clash of Kings are quite awesome in their own way. Especialy
 * Arya takes a new face and performs her first sanctioned assassination in a way that echoes the prologue of A Feast For Crows.
 * The Blackfish verbally abuses Jaime Lannister when the latter tries to parley during the siege of Riverrun. And then
 * In A Dance with Dragons, the entire plan to, involving , and culminating in
 * Followed by a Tear Jerker moment when
 * Jon Connington and the Golden Company.


 * Jon Connington in general. He  but all he wants is for his dead best friend and idol's son   That requires goddamn devotion.
 * And because it's what you do for a surrogate son.
 * Varys finally being proactive about his plots and  because they were threatening to stabilize the realm too much.
 * And thoroughly regretting its necessity the entire time.
 * Let's not forget that earlier in the same book we learn
 * Anytime in Game of Thrones that Dany humiliates Viserys, first by shoving him away and forcing him to walk behind the Dothraki khalasar for an entire day, then hitting him with a gold-plated belt. Considering that when we first see her she's merely a scared fourteen-year-old girl, this is some majorly quick character development.
 * Bronn's ever more jaw-droppingly brazen rise to power.
 * To elaborate, Cersei arranges for Bronn to have an unfortunate accident with his underlings, Ser Balman and Lady Falyse.
 * There is a reason why this moment appears on the Crowning Moment of Funny page as well as this one.