History Awesome / TheDresdenFiles

--> '''Hary''': ''[[''Film/ClashOfTheTitans'' UNLEASH THE KRAKEN!]].

* in ''ComicBook/Wild Card'': Puck has been effortlessly killing anyone he sets his sights on, so when he [[UnderestimatingBadassery confidently strolls towards Murphy]] as she's getting on a motorcycle she [[UseYourHead slams her helmeted head against his face]] and in the ensuring chase, also ends up belting him in the mouth with brass knuckles, causing his EvilGloating to slip and making him show real anger.

--> Lea: The Boy is under my protection.

--> '''Molly'': You think I'm afraid of you, Freak? I'm not some half-drunk girl you followed home from a club. You don't ''impress'' me. You don't ''intimidate'' me.

* The flashback showing the Red Court's battle with the wardens at the beginning of ''ComicBook/WarCry'' gives us a healthy dose of ''SugarWiki/AwesomeArt'' and shows Ebeneazer being a OneManArmy, and Luccio, Ramirez and a few others [[HoldTheLine serving as a rearguard as the defeated wardens flee and manning to survive the experience.

* [[BadassBookworm The Venatori making their presence known by popping out the window with machine guns and blazing away at the attacking vampires.

* A villainous example comes when a BadassNormal [[TheRenfield mercenary]] breaks into the house, kills to of the Venatoi, wounds another, and briefly takes a fourth hostage before being defeated.

* Yoshimo and Ramirez ding DefiantCaptive's and refusing to show any fear towards Bravosa, even scaring him into releasing them to help fight.

* in ''ComicBook/Wild Card'': Puck has been effortlessly killing anyone he sets his sights on, so when he [[UnderestimatingBadassery confidently strolls towards Murphy]] as she's getting on a motorcycle she [[UsingYourHead slams her helmeted head against his face]] and in the ensuring chase, also ends up belting him in the mouth with brass knuckles, causing his EvilGloating to slip and making him show real anger.
* While Puck[[ImplacableMan keeps shrugging off any injury in no time at all]] Lea stops him form killing Harry with an energy blast that laves him visibly singed, sends him flying dozens of feet, and rips most of his clothes off.

* in ''ComicBook/Wild Card'' we get a scene near the end where Harry is leading the White Court, the Chicago Mob and the Chicago PD against [[BigBad Puck]] and describes himself as feeling like ''UsefulNotes/GeorgeSPatton''.

--->'''Mouse:''' I don't need to survive this scenario to win. (…) I love that child. And if you take one step close, I will gladly die to rip out your guts with my teeth.

--->'''Mouse:''' I don't need to survive this scenario to win. (…) I love that child. And if you take one step close, I will gladly die to rip out you guts with my teeth.

--->'''Mouse''' I am bleeding, and weaker than I could be, and tired from one fight already. Assuming near parity between us, you should have the advantage. But you don't. Because you forgot something."

--> "Tiny." *insert description of Sanya's actions here* "But fierce!"

* Harry delivers one of his [[BlaseBoast most soft-spoken and terrifying threats yet]] in ''Jury Duty.''
-->'''Harry:''' You know who I am. You know what I can do. Let her go.\\

** As of Turn Coat, Harry's standing in the White Council has risen, with many of the younger members looking up to him. He has the support of three of the seven Senior Council members (Ebenezar, "Injun Joe" Listens-to-Wind, and Rashid the Gatekeeper).
*** His relationship with Anastasia Luccio probably gives him some pull with the Wardens as well, not to mention how most if not all of the younger ones look up to him.
** The Grey Council. Though seen only once in Changes, twelve of them were enough to turn the tide of battle [[spoiler: against the entire Red Court]]. Though to be fair, one was Ebenezar "Blackstaff" Mccoy, another was Donnar Vadderung [[spoiler: aka Father Odin]], and the two of them [[spoiler: brought an army of kenku to help.]]
** Harry's a member of the [[spoiler: Winter Court]] and gets along with five of the six Faerie Queens. (Titania presumably still has her grudge)
*** Easy to forget Toot-Toot and the Za Lord's Guard, who are starting to gain some serious attention among the Wild Fae.
** With the [[spoiler: Red Court]] and Black Court destroyed and the White Court's [[spoiler: Skavis and Malvora families killed]], he has a working relationship with almost the entire vampire community.

** [[spoiler: Odin/Santa Claus]] clearly supports Harry and has helped him significantly, free of charge, more than once.
*** Although not quite a friend, Gard the valkyrie has fought side by side with Harry and considers him a worthy ally when circumstances permit.
** [[spoiler: Uriel]], whom Mab considers the most dangerous of the Archangels, has helped Harry several times and gifted Harry with soulfire. By extension, God himself supports Harry.
** Harry is good friends with the Knights of the Cross. [[spoiler: as of Skin Game, back up to two active.]]
** [[spoiler: Hades, Lord of the Underworld,]] makes a point of letting Harry know that he has an interest in what Harry does. Beyond that, he rattles off a list of things that he and Harry have in common, and expresses empathy. [[spoiler: Hades also (indirectly) gives Harry powerful artifacts to fight the Outsiders.]]

** Bob, especially when you realize what he is capable of doing. Harry isn't kidding in ''Changes'' when he refers to Bob as one of the most powerful spirits he's ever met; in ''Changes'', Bob manages to [[spoiler: shield Murphy from the ''Red King's'' willpower.]] That's right, Bob has enough willpower to match [[spoiler: the PhysicalGod ruling over the Red Court.]]

** Then there's [[spoiler: his spirit daughter, born of him and Lash. In a world where knowledge is power, once she gets going, she'll be quite the force to reckon with.]]

** Sanya's reaction to Murphy is, in addition to being accurate, hilarious. [[spoiler: Especially in Changes, when she gets the direct aid of an archangel. Face judgment of the Almighty!]]

* Mouse the Dog is Murphy in dog form. Twice, if you count the law maker too. He can make ''Lea'' nervous-and since he gets his power from thresholds, and he's living with the Carpenters (who presumably have an incredibly strong one) now...well, let's just say that [[spoiler: Maggie]] will be ''very'' well-protected.
* Everything Lara Raith has ever done. She may be a villain, but she has style. And she puts the sexy back in EvilIsSexy. Lara has ultimate style. Most of the bad guys do. Except for the part where she [[spoiler: disemboweled and then fucked to death her cousin after having been burnt to a crisp]]. That was just pure {{Squick}}-laden horror.

** To make it even more impressive, Harry can't even go near an electronic device without it catching fire or something. In other words, he did all that without the benefit of GPS or Google Maps.
*** Although Bob probably did help him a lot with keeping track of the locations that needed to be sampled.

* Dragons in the series aren't just flying lizards. They're elemental forces of nature that will drive you insane with their true forms, and can eradicate a mere mortal with barely any effort. One of them brings Harry to his knees simply by casually saying his first name. Michael Carpenter? Met his wife when he killed one.
** To put that in just a little more perspective: Jim Butcher posted on his website forum answering a question on whether Ferrovax (the Dragon) would be a match for the combined powers of the Eldest Brother Gruff and the Leanansidhe. Remember that one of those collects stoles from defeated Senior Council Wizards and the other is ''Mab's'' right hand. Ferrovax would wipe the floor with them even if they had every advantage they could bring to the table. He compared it Mike Tyson in his prime fighting a 13 year old blind girl.
** Not that surprising when you consider the root word of his name is "Ferro" the latin name for iron.
*** Alternatively, [[FridgeBrilliance the latin term for iron comes from the name Ferrovax]]

* [[spoiler:Uriel]], at the end of ''The Warrior'', going through all of Harry's lesser actions throughout the story and saying how each one makes the future that much brighter.

** Nevermind that, how about the fact the entire Mag incident turns out to be [[spoiler:a dry run on how to kill Harry Dresden]]? Which ''succeeded''. [[spoiler: Which also makes it something of a meta SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome for Harry as well, considering that Marcone wasn't sure that would be enough to kill him until it worked on Mag.]]

** Justine has apparently gone from being a somewhat helpless DamselInDistress to [[spoiler: one of Lara Raith's trusted spies/secret agents]], considering that [[spoiler: she pilfered Mag's bank account information ''and'' rescued all of his slaves.]]
** And [[spoiler: set Mag himself up to get killed by Marcone]] in the process.
* In Day Off, Harry is going home from game night when he's approached by the Death Eater Wannabes for ruining their leader's bad feng shui curse. When they demand that he defend himself, ready for a magic duel (as much as they'll ever be), Harry pulls his trusty .44.
-->"Wh-what?" said one of the girls, who had a nose-ring that I was pretty sure was a clip-on. "What are you doing?"
-->"I'm a-fixin' to defend myself," I drawled, Texas-style.

** Gets a continuity nod in Cold Days.
* ''Day Off'' begins with Harry playing D&D with a barbarian who likes to growl "Enough talk!" before every attack. Seems like a random throwaway line, until you remember that Gard said the exact same thing before berserkergang charging the grendelkin in Heorot. Looks like the Valkyrie made quite an impression.

'''Harry:''' Because you know what happened the last time [[spoiler:[[Literature/{{Changes}} some vampires abducted a little girl]] [[KillEemAll and I decided to take her back.]]]]

** [[BadassAdorable Maggie Dresden]] [[LikeFatherLikeSon faces down an entire tribe of haunts]], fights off their mental attacks, and banishes them. And she does it all without her dad even noticing.
*** What's truly amazing is that it emphasizes that little Maggie has inherited from Harry the most import parts of him which isn't his magic. Its his wits, courage, and stubborn refusal to give up such seen when the haunts use the. memories of her foster family being slaughtered by the Red Court. Maggie, in true Dresden style, realizes on the fly the creature's weakness using just some simple logic and insight to their behavior.
*** And what is the creature's weakness: [[spoiler: Maggie realized they, like any bully, is just trying to hide they themselves are weak and afraid.]]
** Mouse manages to counter and drive off his Shadow.
*** Mouse explaining why his Shadow would be well advised to withdraw in peace:
-->'''Mouse''' I am bleeding, and weaker than I could be, and tired from one fight already. Assuming near parity between us, you should have the advantage. But you don't. Because you forgot something."
-->'''Shadow:''' Oh?
-->'''Mouse:''' I don't need to survive this scenario to win. (…) I love that child. And if you take one step close, I will gladly die to rip out you guts with my teeth.

* [[spoiler: The first chapter has Harry out jogging with Thomas. When Ramirez shows up, Harry does his best [[Franchise/DragonBall Goku]]/[[Manga/{{Naruto}} Rock Lee]] impression by dropping the two hundred twenty pound training vest he had been wearing onto the sand.]]

'''Harry:''' Because you know what happened the last time [[spoiler:[[Literature/{{Changes}} some vampires abducted a little girl and I decided to take her back.]]]]

** Maggie faces down an entire tribe of haunts, fights off their mental attacks, and banishes them. And she does it all without her dad even noticing.

* [[spoiler: The first chapter has Harry out jogging with Thomas. When Ramirez shows up, Harry does his best [[Manga/DragonBall Goku]]/[[Manga/{{Naruto}} Rock Lee]] impression by dropping the two hundred twenty pound training vest he had been wearing onto the sand.]]

* [[ActionGirl Murphy]] gets at least one CrowningMomentOfAwesome per book. Highlights: melting down her aunt's silver earrings into bullets and shooting them into a [[OurWerewolvesAreDifferent loup-garou]], taking a chainsaw to an ogre's knee, then using that same chainsaw to then kill a chlorofiend ([[RunningGag plant monster]]), being the gunslinger in a raid of a vampire nest, jousting on a motorcycle against a speeding car, and beating off the control of the king of all incubi. And that's only covering up to book six...she gets at least four in ''Small Favor'', especially when ''Fidelacchius'' gets involved.

** Nevermind that, how about the fact the entire Mag incident turns out to be [[spoiler:a dry run on how to kill Harry Dresden]]? Which ''succeeded''. [[spoiler: Which also makes it something of a meta CrowningMomentOfAwesome for Harry as well, considering that Marcone wasn't sure that would be enough to kill him until it worked on Mag.]]

There are a ''lot'' of Crowning Moments in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', with [[https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1248964599329.jpg this image]] depicting what most fans consider ''the'' [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moment]] of [[UpToEleven all Crowning Moments]]. Unfortunately [[http://www.dandossantos.com/store/store_dead_beat.html the artist]] forgot the one-man polka band. (see the ''Dead Beat'' entry below) Otherwise, this is what we've come up with so far.

* [[spoiler: The first chapter has Harry out jogging with Thomas. When Ramirez shows up, Harry does his best [[DragonBall Goku]]/[[Manga/{{Naruto}} Rock Lee]] impression by dropping the two hundred twenty pound training vest he had been wearing onto the sand.]]

** I think Mouse gets one for taking on two werewolves in Mister's defense.

* Not in any short story, but Jim has said that the Gatekeeper is the one who took down Abdul Alhazred, and that he is the most dangerous wizard on the entire council.
** For those unfamiliar, that'd be the guy who wrote the [[TropeMaker original]] TomeOfEldritchLore, [[Creator/HPLovecraft the Necronomicon]].
*** [[ContinuityNod ...The Gatekeeper seized him and devoured him horribly...in broad daylight in the central market of Damascus?]]
*** Nah, he took down whatever EldritchAbomination [[TheCorruption you get turned into]] by being seized and devoured, horribly, in broad daylight in the central market of the city of Damascus.
*** Or Rashid just broke Al-Hazrad's control over the thing that then turned on him and ate him.
*** Hang on... something like that happened in ''Storm Front'', didn't it? [[EpilepticTrees Hmm...]]
** Revealed in ''Cold Days'': [[spoiler:All things considering, being the White Council's military leader and the ever-watching eye at the Outer Gate safeguarding the whole Earth from The Big Nasties is a pretty strong statement of prowess.]]
** Think about this for a minute. "Most dangerous wizard on the entire Council," including [[PersonOfMassDestruction Ebenezar McCoy]] and the Merlin himself. That's pretty darn impressive.

* [[spoiler: The first chapter has Harry out jogging with Thomas. When Ramirez shows up, Harry does his best [[DragonBall Goku]]/Rock Lee impression by dropping the two hundred twenty pound training vest he had been wearing onto the sand.]]

** Harry is good friends with the Knights of the Sword. [[spoiler: as of Skin Game, back up to two active.]]

** Billy and the other werewolves. Though normally outclassed, they are capable fighters in the right situations. Ask Madeline Raith. or Jenny Greenteeth. or the Fomor.

** Sanya's reaction to Murphy is, in addition to being accurate, hilarious. [[spoiler: Especially in Changes, when she gets the direct aid of an archangel. Face judgment Almighty!]]

*** Don't forget the bit in ''Aftermath,'' where she decides not to go back to pick up Fidelacchius, essentially ''because she's enough of a badass without it!''
* Mouse the Dog is Murphy in dog form. Twice, if you count the law maker too.

** I think Mouse gets one for taking on two werewolves in Mister's defense

* Harry delivers one of his most soft-spoken and terrifying threats yet in ''Jury Duty.''

*** His relationship with Anastasia Luccio probably gives him some pull with the Wardens as well.

** When you find out that Ebenezar [[is responsible for the Tunguska Event]], that becomes even more impressive when you remember that he wasn't even ''on'' the Senior Council at that point!