Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?/Literature: Difference between revisions

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* [[HP Lovecraft|The main man himself]] is (temporarily) thwarted in "The Call of Cthulhu" when he is [[Ramming Always Works|run down by a steamship]] (he begins regenerating but becomes stuck in R'lyeh). Though [[Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu|the heroic sailor doesn't come out of the encounter in the best of mental health]]...

*** In [[Tabletop RPG]] ''[[Call of Cthulhu]]'' however, this is dealt with by saying that Cthulhu will simply regenerate and then you'll have to face a ''radioactive'' [[Eldritch Abomination]]. So it's not recommended.

** And if memory serves, in Derleth's "The Whippoorwills in the Hills", the same thing was achieved with {{spoiler|dynamite}}. ...Okay?

* In the ''[[Dragaera]]'' series, Morrolan kills a [[Physical God]] with a [[Artifact of Doom|Great Weapon]], and a [[Eldritch Abomination|Jenoine]] goes the same way at the hands of {{spoiler|Vlad and Godslayer}}. Tazendra manages to defeat a Jenoine in single combat ''without'' a Great Weapon, and {{spoiler|Devara, in dragon form}} ''ate'' one.

* [[Justified Trope|Justified]] in the ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' novels. It is explicitly stated that [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]] and demons lose much of their power when they enter reality. They still tend to be the strongest opponents Conan faces.

* Subverted and played for a good laugh in John Dechancie's ''Red Limit Freeway''. After traveling for lightyears along roads built by [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] the heroes meet a handsome, slightly androgynous man in flashy clothes. One of the heroes, convinced the man is responsible for his alien abduction, hits him with a sucker punch. Cue the protagonist: "I think you may have just punched out God." Other guy: "Nah, God has a beard."

* [[Philip Pullman]]'s ''[[His Dark Materials]]'' trilogy sets up {{spoiler|god, AKA the Authority,}} as the enemy of free will and human interest, but in the third book he proves to have been so weakened by old age that {{spoiler|he gets turned to dust by a strong breeze.}} A more threatening villain is his [[The Dragon|Second]], {{spoiler|Metatron, who himself can only be defeated when he is hurled into the void between universes, and thus destroyed forever}}.

* In an eventually undone timeline in the third novel of the ''[[Dragonlance]] Legends'' trilogy, Raistlin, a mortal man, albeit the most powerful wizard in the history of Krynn, had killed Takhisis, the chief goddess of darkness, whose primary form was a five-headed dragon.

* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'', part of Harry Dresden's backstory is that, at the age of sixteen, he beat a kind of demonic bounty hunter sicced on him by his [[Evil Mentor]]. He later discovers to his shock that {{spoiler|the demonic bounty hunter called He Who Walks Behind is an Outsider-- in Dresdenverse terms, an [[Eldritch Abomination]]. Fully trained wizards spend centuries learning how to defeat Outsiders.}}

** In ''Changes'', Harry and his buddies kill {{spoiler|the Red King and the Lords of Outer Night. They posed as the pantheon of the Mayans, Aztecs, and other Central American gods for thousands of years, and have the power to make a convincing argument of it.}}

*** Mitigated by the fact {{spoiler|He unwittingly is backed up by Odin and his Valkyrie, let alone the power Blackstaff possesses. So this is really an epic slugfest.}}

*** It is true that Harry's combat skill is very high, and is shown by the result of his exams: [[The Smart Guy|Hermione]] got an "Outstanding" (the absolute top grade) in everything ''except'' Defence Against the Dark Arts (though she was still well above average), whereas Harry's marks had the full range from good to bad in every subject except Defence Against the Dark Arts, where he got an "Outstanding". However, while Harry is clearly a very good duellist (especially for his age), nobody, least of all him, doubts that Voldemort is vastly more powerful, so this trope still applies.

* In ''[[The Book of the Dun Cow]]'', the final battle is between Wyrm, an enormous, ancient serpent as large as a planet who can easily kill angels, and the dog Mundo Cani, whose only weapon is a cow's horn. {{spoiler|Mundo Cani wins by blinding Wyrm's vulnerable eye, but at the cost of his own life.}}

* In the [[Monster Hunter International|Monster Hunter]] series by Larry Correia, the protagonists fight against Cthulhu-like aliens and their cult followers and defeat them. In the second book, Monster Hunter Vendetta, the protagonists {{spoiler|not only fight directly against the so-called 'Old Ones' they use a doomsday weapon made by Sir Isaac Newton against the Cthulhu-like Overlord. The weapon not only kills the alien, it seems to unmake its entire reality.}}