History Main / AwakeningTheSleepingGiant

-->-- Attributed to '''Japanese Naval Marshal General Isoroku Yamamoto''', after the attack on [[WorldWarII Pearl Harbor]]

[[caption-width-right:300:ItSeemedLikeAGoodIdeaAtTheTime...]]

* At the end of ''PrincessMononoke'', [[spoiler: Lady Eboshi decapitates the Shishigami,]] which [[strike: nearly]] causes [[spoiler: the destruction of the entire forest and nearby town.]]

* The Ents from ''TheLordOfTheRings'' [[CurbStompBattle Curb Stomp]] Saruman's base after he [[GreenAesop cuts down their forest to burn for fuel]].

*** Battle Of Spindle seems to have done this. [[spoiler: The League has 71 Superdreadnaughts plus the entire screen element to support that. The Screening element alone out masses the entire Manticorian force which lack a single Dreadnought, let alone Superdreadnaught. CurbStompBattle for the League, the Manties must just want to show some valor before surrendering in front of such might, right? 23 Superdreadnaughts blown up without effort by the Manties. 100,000+ Solarian dead, 400,000 Prisoners. Not a single Manticorian Dead. The League's response is pure disbelief, followed by pure terror.]]
* TheCulture, from the [[IainMBanks Iain M. Banks]] novels. From ''[[TheCulture/UseOfWeapons Use of Weapons]]'': "You might call them soft, because they're very reluctant to kill, and they might agree with you, but they're soft the way the ocean is soft, and, well; ask any sea captain how puny and harmless the ocean can be." Or, if that's a bit flowery for you, there's the universal adage of the civilisations which have dealings with them; "Do not fuck with The Culture." See ''Consider Phlebas'' and ''Look to Windward'' for what happens when those civilizations don't follow that advice.

-->'''Seth:''' Kane's been loathe to attack America, but I feel that it's time, and that you're the one to do it. This is the Pentagon. A full frontal attack with your strongest forces should render their military center of operation-- '''[[KilledMidSentence * BLAM* ]]'''

** Killian Qatar in ''Tiberian Wars'' disapproved of Nod's attack on GDI Blue Zones precisely for this reason. She even paraphrases the trope line. And she was correct.

* Yukari Yakumo of ''TouhouProject'' is a powerful RealityWarper who's normally too lazy to get involved in anything. However, in ''Scarlet Weather Rhapsody'', Tenshi Hinanai destorys and then subverts the Hakurei shrine, putting Yukari's precious Gensokyo Barrier in jeopardy. When Yukari finally catches her, we see for the first time just what Yukari looks like when she's truly angry.

* Both GalacticCivilizations and MassEffect have a strange version of this. In both series the humans are the Galactic newcomers with little miliraty to speak of, but their tenacity, bravery and speed of building their token military into a powerhouse REALLY scares the other races. In Gal Civ, the evil warrior race the Drengins are scared of the humans and in ME the resident Galactic police race the Turians by and large don't harbour a grudge over the First Contact War but because they're the big bad military and humans are much smaller but just as good in a tenth the time.

** As mentioned in the opening quote, this was the TropeNamer.

* Europe. [[UnitedEurope If the European Union would find a way to centralize]] - [[FlameWar it is hotly debated if this is possible or not]] - it would have more natural resources, more money and better prestige than ANY OTHER nation or quasi-nation on earth. Militarily it would in numbers be second only to China but much better equipped. With the Lisbon Treaty now in effect, Europe is also acting a lot more unified. Has the giant already been awakened and noone has realized?

** Still, a solid majority of political scientists agree that in the future Europe will continue to be a chained giant, in both military and economic terms, when compared to the U.S. or China.

* RealLife: The USA in ''WorldWarII''. Technically more a case of NeutralNoLonger since Russia played the largest single role in the fighting in Europe, but ''distinctly'' this trope for poor, [[IdiotBall overzealous]] Japan.

* The Flying Pussyfoot arc of ''{{Baccano}}!'' would already have been [[ThirtyXanatosPileup a clusterfuck]]: A cult, a bunch of AxCrazy mafia goons, and a gang of delinquents were all planning to attack the train, which also happened to be carrying three immortals, the wife and daughter of an influential senator, and a [[BadassBystander surprisingly badass]] agent of ''[[KnowledgeBroker The Daily Days]]''. However, one of those mafia guys made a huge mistake: [[spoiler:he killed the elderly conductor Tony, then tried to kill a younger conductor when he found out]]. Unfortunately for him, his would-be victim was [[spoiler:Claire Stanfield, a [[CharlesAtlasSuperpower nigh-unstoppable]], AxCrazy, CrazyAwesome {{badass}} CareerKiller and TortureTechnician who did not appreciate someone murdering his mentor]]. [[{{Gorn}} Carnage ensues]] as Rail Tracer makes its merry, blood-soaked way up the length of the train.

[[caption-width-right:300:Good morning, America!]]

* RealLife: The USA in ''WorldWarII''. Technically more a case of NeutralNoLonger since Russia did most of the work regarding the fighting in Europe, but ''distinctly'' this trope for poor, [[IdiotBall overzealous]] Japan.

Unless someone does something [[IdiotBall stupid]] or [[CompleteMonster evil enough to repulse them utterly]]. Whether it was the heroes or the villains, anyone who steps over some ancient line will pull down their wrath. And this isn't the regular NeutralNoLonger give-the-other-side-some-reinforcements wrath... this is 'we have an army of Cthulhu clones' wrath. Expect an OhCrap taken UpToEleven from the receiving end; or [[BeyondTheImpossible Twelve or higher]], if and when the former neutrals start whipping out the doomsday weapons.

* At the end of ''PrincessMononoke'', [[spoiler: Lady Eboshi decapitates the Shishigami,]] which nearly causes [[spoiler: the destruction of the entire forest and nearby town.]]

* Sonic The Hedgehog: Sonic Unleashed - Despite being a horrifying EldritchAbomination depicted nearly destroying the earth each millenia since time began, Dark Gaia is not so much evil as simply a force of nature (shown by the fact that whenever it tried to destroy the world upon awakening, it would be rebuild by it's other half, Light Gaia, and start the process all over again). It wasn't until Eggman tried to control the monster's power by firing his beam from space and woke Dark Gaia prematurely that he really put himself and the entire fate of the world in deep shit. Only Sonic and a formerly amnesiac Light Gaia make everything right again.

A SubTrope of NeutralNoLonger, with more BadAss. A variant of DeusExMachina. Compare DefaultToGood.

A SubTrope of NeutralNoLonger, with more BadAss. A variant of DeusExMachina.Compare DefaultToGood.

[[WorldWarII http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/USSArizona_PearlHarbor.png]]
[[caption-width:300:Good morning, America!]]

* ''RowanAndTheZebak'' does this with a dragon.

* TheCulture, from the Iain Banks novels. From [[TheCulture/UseOfWeapons Use of Weapons]]: "You might call them soft, because they're very reluctant to kill, and they might agree with you, but they're soft the way the ocean is soft, and, well; ask any sea captain how puny and harmless the ocean can be." Or, if that's a bit flowery for you, there's the universal adage of the civilisations which have dealings with them; "Do not fuck with The Culture." See ''Consider Phlebas'' and ''Look to Windward'' for what happens when those civilizations don't follow that advice.

->"I fear all we have done is to [[TropeNamer awaken a sleeping giant]] and [[{{ptitlei78khc6p}} fill him with]] [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge a terrible resolve]]."

* Israel: there's a very good reason for the old joke that Moshe Dayan's real name was Genghis Cohen and it's called the Six-Day's War.
** In that case, it is more like awakening a PintsizedPowerhouse
*** Arguably Israel was awakened by anti-immigrant pograms in the 1930's and first started to show it's [[{{Badass}} badassery]] in a small local war in 1936. In the Six-day war Israel really started to TakeALevelInBadass however.

->"I fear all we have done is to [[TropeNamer awaken a sleeping giant]] and [[ThisMeansWar fill him with a terrible resolve]]."

->"I fear all we have done is to [[TropeNamer awaken a sleeping giant]] and [[{{ptitlei78khc6p}} fill him with a terrible resolve]]."

->"I fear all we have done is to [[TropeNamer awaken a sleeping giant]] and fill him with a terrible resolve."
-->-- '''Japanese Naval Marshal General Isoroku Yamamoto''', after the attack on [[WorldWarII Pearl Harbor]] (attributed)

** The Russians didn't actually do much other than be wishy washy and switch sides a lot. The only thing that stopped the Axis from marching on Moscow is the Russian winters. The army didn't do much because they were starving and had little in the way of supplies.

Unless someone does something [[IdiotBall stupid]] or [[CompleteMonster evil enough to repulse them utterly]]. Whether it was the heroes or the villains, anyone who steps over some ancient line will pull down their wrath. And this isn't the regular NeutralNoLonger give-the-other-side-some-reinforcements wrath... this is 'we have an army of Cthulhu clones' wrath. Expect an OhCrap taken UpToEleven from the receiving end.

*TheCulture, from the Iain Banks novels. From [[TheCulture/UseOfWeapons Use of Weapons]]: "You might call them soft, because they're very reluctant to kill, and they might agree with you, but they're soft the way the ocean is soft, and, well; ask any sea captain how puny and harmless the ocean can be." Or, in simpler terms, the phrase "Don't fuck with the Culture" is the mantra of other civilizations interacting with them. See ''Consider Phlebas'' and ''Look to Windward'' for what happens when those civilizations don't follow that advice.