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{{trope}}
Examples of [[{{TOPLEVELPAGE}}]] in [[{{SUBPAGENAME}}]] include:
* In ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'', the final book has two great ones in a scene. {{spoiler|The first is Visser One, when he realizes he's lost. He doesn't say anything, he just slumps, and for the first time in the series, isn't angry. The second is Tom, when he realizes that Jake is alive.}}▼
▲* In ''[[
** Probably {{spoiler|The One, upon hearing: "Ram the Blade Ship".}}
* The Keepers in ''[[
* While we can't see it, the description of {{spoiler|Be'lal}}'s death in the climax of ''[[The Wheel of Time|The Dragon Reborn]]'' leaves very little doubt that he had this kind of reaction. Understandable, since [[The Chessmaster]] was moments away from the fulfillment of his [[Evil Plan]] before being blindsided by someone he thought he had removed from the equation and promptly rendered [[Deader Than Dead]].
** {{spoiler|Asmodean}}'s death was much the same way, if his last words are any indication ("[[You
** When Semirhage enacts her plot to {{spoiler|capture Rand using the male A'dam}}, Rand gets a huge one. Quickly followed by Semirhage getting her own Oh Crap moment when {{spoiler|Rand uses the power of the Dark One.}}
** In ''Towers of Midnight'', the Borderlanders get one so bad that they instantly cross the [[Despair Event Horizon]] when they see the [[Legions of Hell|Dark One's armies]] rushing toward them. {{spoiler|[[Curb Stomp Battle|They get better really quick.]]}}
* [[Harry Turtledove]]'s ''[[
** Plus, every Lizard viewpoint character has at least one of these.
*** Three such characters, two shiplords and an artillery supervisor, are used for the sole purpose of screaming OH CRAP before the Germans or the Americans kill them.
** The career of Flight Captain Teerts is a series of these events. First, his jet is shot down behind Japanese lines due to the world's luckiest bullet hitting his engine. Not knowing how the Japanese treat their prisoners, he surrenders. He's hauled over to Tokyo and interrogated on how to build a nuke. He tries to confuse the Japanese scientists by telling them things like "Nukes use hydrogen and plutonium", only to discover that they already knew about fusion reactions. He is eventually rescued, only to nearly die when {{spoiler|America nukes Miami}}, finally {{spoiler|dying when caught in a similar blast outside Denver}}.
** The conclusion of the final book, ''Homeward Bound'', is ''literally'' one big Oh Crap moment for the ''entire'' Race.
* ''[[Hand of Thrawn|Vision of the Future]]'', a [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] novel, had a great one, where one of the bad guys, described as a "liar, embezzler, and probable traitor... went white" in shock and fear.
* Cersei Lannister's response to disagreement from the new High Septon in "[[A Song of Ice and Fire|A Feast For Crows]]".
** And, in ''A Storm of Swords'', the end of the duel between the Red Viper and the Mountain.
{{quote|
'''Mountain:''' ''(grabs Viper and slowly crushes his windpipe)'' Elia of Dorne! I killed her screaming whelp! Then I raped her! Then I smashed her fucking head in! Like this!
'''Everyone:''' Oh shit!]] }}
** The most epic/tragic one is provided by Catelyn Stark in ''A Storm of Swords'' {{spoiler|at the Red Wedding, when she grabs Edwyn Frey's arm and feels the armour beneath his sleeve, thus realizing exactly what is about to happen.}}
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** Sauron, when {{spoiler|he realizes just what the heroes' plan was.}} Transferred surprisingly well to film (see above).
** One that didn't make the adaptation:
{{quote|
* Vordarian in ''[[Lois McMaster Bujold|Barrayar]]'' probably counts. His last words are, "What? You're a Betan! You can't do--" [[Mama Bear|Except she could. And did.]]
** The [[Vorkosigan Saga|Vorkosigan Universe]] likes this. In "A Civil Campaign," Richars Vorruyter is preparing to taunt Miles as Count Vorhalas and the other conservatives arrive to give him a majority of votes, when {{spoiler|Vorhalas tells Richars that he knows what a douche he's been and is thus not going to vote for him}}. Later in the same scene, {{spoiler|Richars tries to accuse Miles of shenanigans with Ekaterin, who proceeds to stand up from the balcony and propose to Miles in one of her Crowning Moments of Awesome}}.
*** For that matter, Miles causes another one of these in ''The Warrior's Apprentice'', where he {{spoiler|arrives just in time to testify on his own behalf in a treason trial, and splits up the pair of villainous ringleaders by outlining how one is planning to betray the other. The first gets an Oh Crap moment as the second begins spilling the beans}}.
* In ''[[
** This being ''Discworld'', he got a chance to finish it, as his ride to the afterlife shows up. "--t."
** Later in the series, Greebo the cat invokes an identical half-line of dialogue -- the latter when he finishes becoming human, the former when he starts reverting to cat -- when he suffers an involuntary shapechange.
** OHSHITOHSHITOHSHIT I'M GONNA DI! is Rincewind's catchphrase.
** Trev Likely has an internal-monologue [[Oh Crap]] moment in ''[[
** It is frequent to hear OH SHIT whenever anyone realizes they've just said Monkey around the Librarian.
** From ''[[Small Gods]]'':
{{quote|
* In [[David Eddings]]' ''Enchanter's End Game'' (5th book of the ''[[Belgariad]]''), one can easily imagine Zedar's face when {{spoiler|Belgarath re-enters the room after Zedar kills Durnik in Torak's tower, performing the one act that left him with no chance of redemption and a one way ticket to [[And I Must Scream]] territory, being buried in the earth alive}}.
** Earlier in ''Magician's Gambit'' Ctuchik, in a moment of desperation, tried to use [[Functional Magic|sorcery]] to destroy the Orb with the command "Be not!" His terror caused him to forget that was one thing the universe itself would not allow, and he had a single moment to remember before ''he'' was not.
* When [[Oedipus Rex]] finally figures it out, making this [[Older Than Feudalism]].
* ''[[
** The opening of that battle also contained an Oh Crap moment for Honor herself as she realises that yes, her home IS being invaded by a fleet that is numerically larger than any fleet fielded in recorded history.
** The probable reaction of the Havenite task force unlucky enough to be in the way of the Grayson Space Navy after Honor {{spoiler|was [[Faking the Dead|apparently]] executed}}, as Fleet Admiral Judah Yanakov was very displeased by this turn of events. As was every soldier under his command. His order? "''Lady Harrington, and no mercy!''"
*** That command inspired an [[Oh Crap]] from Admiral White Haven as well, especially once the crippled Havenite ships began to launch escape pods, because he thought he was about to witness a [[Moral Event Horizon|massive]] [[Sink the Life Boats|war crime]], until he realized that the order was ''No Mercy'',<ref>not picking up survivors</ref> as opposed to ''[[Kill
** The reaction of the leading bureucrats of the Solarian League when they are told that {{spoiler|Admiral Sigbee surrendered her data cores to Mike Henke intact}}
** Pavel Young has a rather impressive one in ''Field of Dishonor'' when he watches Honor [[Curb Stomp Battle|curb stomp duel]] the professional duelist he'd hired to kill her, followed by Honor's declaration on live HD that ''he'' was next.
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** This is the near-verbatim response of the [[Big Bad]] in charge of the Mesan Alignment <ref>Exact words: "oh, ''shit!"''</ref> in ''A Rising Thunder'' on learning that {{spoiler|Manticore-Haven diplomatic relations}} have surpassed Mesa's worst-case scenario. Oh, and [[It Got Worse|it gets better]]. {{spoiler|The secrets of Mesa's ultra-fast streak drive and ultra-stealthy spider drive? Blown. The secret of Mesa's viral-nanotech assassination technique? Blown. The secret ultimate identity and strategic goal of the Mesan Alignment? [[Rule of Three|Blown.]] And it only gets better from there...}}
** There's an interesting mix of [[Oh Crap]] and ''lack'' of [[Oh Crap]] moments as the conflict between Manticore and the Solarian League builds in ''Mission of Honor'': various Solarian commanders have Oh Crap moments as they find themselves on the wrong end of increasingly lopsided battles (a group of cruisers and destroyers defeat seven battlecruisers, six battlecruisers defeat twenty battlecruisers, seven heavy cruisers defeat 71 superdreadnaughts), but the Solarian high command remains assured that once they concentrate a sufficient force, Manticore will be crushed like a bug.
* The climax of ''[[
* In ''[[The League of Peoples Verse]]'' novels by James Alan Gardner, the explorer corps (aka "the expendables") are so used to experiencing such moments that "going 'oh shit!'" is a euphemism for dying.
* ''[[Dragonlance]]'': Raistlin Majere, upon seeing Tasslehoff (who, as a kender, can screw up the timestream) in the past, reflects on what this means for his plan to ascend to godhood. Precisely three thoughts later, the reflection is "[[Oh Crap|I might die!]]"
* In ''[[Island in The Sea of Time]]'', the character Swindapa is captured, brutally raped, and given nasty STDs by her culture's enemies, then given as a present to the Nantucketer admiral, {{spoiler|who is an utter badass black lesbian coast guard officer and martial artist, who frees her and teaches her how to use a katana.}} In the climactic battle, {{spoiler|Swindapa ambushes her erstwhile tormentors, who barely have the time for an Oh Crap moment before they're beheaded/disemboweled}}. In the same battle, {{spoiler|the Big Bad William Walker has one when the Nantucketers manage to blow up his supply of gunpowder, which fueled the only 3 cannons in the world which had been busily enfilading the Nantucket lines}}.
* ''[[The
{{quote|
* In the book ''[[
* Happens to Freddy twice in the book ''[[A Nightmare
{{quote|
* [[Evil Chancellor]] Wienis goes through several of these in ''[[Foundation]]''.
* [[Invoked Trope|A rare sighting of the invoked "Oh Crap"]] in Isaac Asimov's ''[[Foundation|Second Foundation]]''. You really don't want to read this if you have not read the book, though. Really. {{spoiler|When the Mule realizes what the plan of the Second Foundation is, and how he has been duped, he despairs for a brief moment. This is exactly what the First Speaker was counting on, and during that fraction of a second he went into the Mule's mind and destroyed his hostility towards the Second Foundation and ambition to conquer the galaxy, as well as erasing all memory of the encounter.}}
* Many of the [[Big Bad|villains]] in the ''[[Redwall]]'' books have [[Oh Crap]] moments before their inevitably gruesome deaths.
** ''The Bellmaker'' has one for the heroes;
{{quote|
'''Finnbar''': "Well, mostly all you'll see is a big pointy fin sticking out of the water."
'''Rufe''': "[[
* Opal from ''[[
* John Taylor, protagonist of the ''[[Nightside]]'' series, has cultivated a reputation so nasty that he can often get an [[Oh Crap]] reaction from the opposition, simply by ''introducing himself''. A pair of huge demons summoned to attack him once took one look at him, went through simultaneous [[Oh Crap]] revelations, and turned round to berate their summoner for pitting them against him.
** Bit of a subversion, as Taylor is often bluffing.
** or is he?
* During the duel between Westley and Inigo in ''[[The Princess Bride (
** Subverted in the battle of wits against Vizzini, when {{spoiler|Vizzini doesn't even have time to make the "Oh, Crap." face after he realizes that both cups were poisoned.}}
* In ''[[Perdido Street Station]]'', the managers of Cadnebar's, an illegal gladitorial arena, play up the drama for the crowds by deliberately setting up [[Oh Crap]] moments for naive yokels, who sign up for what they expect will be an easy two-against-one fight. Too bad they don't know it's two of them against one weaponized killer Remade or professional cactus-man mercenary until their opponent steps onto the field....
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* [[Jim Butcher]] must love this trope. Practically every single one of his books ([[The Dresden Files|both]] [[Codex Alera|series]]) features one of these, usually as the main characters realize that the situation, already sucky, just went from worse to "OMFG".
** Done at least once per book in ''[[The Dresden Files]].'' Almost each instance requires multiple books of [[Info Dump]] and backstory, plus a few [[Noodle Incident|Noodle Incidents]] thrown in for flavor, to really understand the full power and scope of exactly how screwed Harry is, though.
*** In ''Turn Coat'', Harry manages to induce this in his mentor after casually mentioning that there were more parties about to show up. Only the mentor realized what Harry's [[Spanner in
{{quote|
*** In ''Changes'', the thing that lets Harry know just how bad things are is when he talks to Mac, the usually monosyllabic bartender, at the beginning of the book. Harry's reaction to Mac speaking for a good paragraph is this:
{{quote|
** ''Changes'' also gets a good one in early, as a Red Court Vampire who's part of a hit crew runs into Harry... and runs screaming in the other direction.
** In the ''[[Codex Alera]]'', this is usually caused by an enormous army appearing out of nowhere. The Vord in particular are so good at causing this that even a fairly small group turned large portions of the second book into a string of such moments as Bernard and company fall into trap after trap.
* In ''[[Nineteen Eighty
* In ''[[Harry Potter]] and the Deathly Hallows'' this is pretty much {{spoiler|Bellatrix}}'s reaction when {{spoiler|[[Mama Bear|Molly]]}} [[Beware the Nice Ones|of all people]] kills her. This was also what most fans said when they read the [[Precision F
** Don't forget Harry's reaction in Deathly Hallows, when he {{spoiler|looks at Snape's memories}}. He's just been overwhelmed by images of his mother, revelation's of Snape's character, guilt that he left him to die, not knowing the truth, and now - Harry has to {{spoiler|die, leaving everyone behind, hoping someone will finish Voldemort off.}} This is a [[Tear Jerker]], [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming]] AND an [[Oh Crap]] moment. That in itself is epic.
** Also Voldemort's reaction after {{spoiler|Neville kills Nagini}}.
* In ''[[Memory,
* At the end of Michael Crichton's ''[[Timeline]]'', {{spoiler|the villain is sent back in time, with no possible method of return, to 1348 Europe, the year when the Black Plague (which can be spread through air) had killed one third of the population of the place he ended up in. He goes into full on Oh Crap mode when he realizes this, and then he begins to cough...}}
* While we don't get to see his reaction in the films, in ''[[Star Wars Expanded Universe|Death Star]]'' Tarkin has enough time to shout "Unthinkable! Unthinkable!" as his precious Death Star explodes.
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*** Also becomes a [[Break the Cutie]] moment when she realizes that [[The Captain|Captain McTavish]] {{spoiler|may be the next corpse to come ashore.}}
* There's a great one in [[The Culture/Excession|Excession]] when the ship that's been following the ''Sleeper Service'' realizes that it's converted ''all'' its internal volume into engines.
{{quote|
* In ''Bloodstone,'' part of the Stones of Power series by [[David Gemmell]], the [[Big Bad]] realizes that the legendary "Sword of God" {{spoiler|is a nuke, and he's been transported to the site of the first testing of one. We get the immortal line "On wings of fear Sarento ran." He is annihilated soon after.}}
* This happens to Weed from [[
* All the way back in [[The Bible]]. Specifically, the Book of Esther. More specifically, when Haman realizes he's inadvertently ordered the death of the Queen, whom her husband the King values enough to have been willing to offer ''up to half his own kingdom'' at her request.
* In the ''[[Sword of the Stars]]'' novel ''The Deacon's Tale'' by Arinn Dembo (one of the game's writers), the protagonist Cai Rui is investigating a colony destroyed by the so-called Rippers (AKA Black 13). Then his assistant finds the last message sent from the colony, which never arrived. It was sent over a year ago. Except the distress signal arrived only last week. Cai turns on his motion detector and finds hundreds of signals rapidly closing in. {{spoiler|He's the only one who makes it out alive}}.
* The [[Robert E. Howard]] short story "The Extermination of Yellow Donory" is a series of [[Oh Crap]] moments. {{spoiler|The titular character, sick of being pushed around for being a coward, decides to commit "suicide by gunslinger" by seeking out and loudly berating a well-known, greatly feared gunslick. However, his plans go awry; the gunslinger's utterly spooked by this apparition, and thinks it's some sort of a trap for him, so he runs out of the tavern and high-tails it out of town...and "Yellow" Donory looks around to find that now everybody in that tavern is scared of ''him''.}}
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