History PintsizedPowerhouse / Literature

** Vree is repeatedly described as a short, slim woman, with her skill as an assassin surprising many people because of this. She doesn't fall into WaifFu however, as Vree's shown as in trouble if pinned under a larger opponent at first before wrigling free of them. As an assassin, Vree mostly sneak attacks people. Her small size is thus an asset to moving quickly and getting noticed less (or underestimated) given this.

* ''Literature/{{Quarters}}'': Vree is repeatedly described as a short, slim woman, with her skill as an assassin surprising many people because of this. She doesn't fall into WaifFu however, as Vree's shown as in trouble if pinned under a larger opponent at first before wrigling free of them. As an assassin, Vree mostly sneak attacks people. Her small size is thus an asset to moving quickly and getting noticed less (or underestimated) given this.

* Verde from ''Literature/CursedWorld'' is 'fun-sized', to use her own words, and is confirmed by WoG to be medically a little person. This does not stop her from referring to herself as the Brawn in her relationship with main character Rei, from being a BloodKnight, or from [[spoiler: Becoming a decently powerful wizard in only a few days.]]

* ''Literature/TheSupernaturalsSeries'': Ami Tanaka stands at a diminutive 5'1, but she is also a black belt in judo and has no problem taking down opponents twice her size.

* ''Literature/SienkiewiczTrilogy'': Michał Wołodyjowski is a short and heavy-set man, but also famous as one of the most skilled sabre fencers in the Polish Commonwealth. Andrzej Kmicic finds out the hard way why picking a fight with a five-foot spheroid who bosses around six-foot walls of muscle like it ain't no thing is a bad idea.

** Gimli in the Lord of the Rings is a dwarf and a great warrior, for instance, [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame every dwarf is a good warrior despite their short size]]

* Fiene in ''LightNovel/EndoAndKobayashiLiveTheLatestOnTsundereVillainessLieselotte''. She's the second shortest of the cast (after Fabien) and is described as being petite in-universe, and without any doubt, she's the strongest physical fighter among them.

** The smaller races (such as the Nac Mac Feegle and the Dwarves) are explicitly stronger than humans because all the same amount of physical strength is focused into a smaller body. In case you haven't been introduced to the Feegle, they're literally six inches tall, and four of them can steal a ''cow'', one to each hoof. And they fight ''dirty''.

* ''AirAwakens'': Vhalla. She is a small, thin girl (at one point she complains that the only person around her who is shorter than her is Candace, who is still a child) but she is also an extremely powerful sorceress, able to [[BlowYouAway summon a tornado]] or mow through enemy soldiers.

** And then there's also Triel Baenre, daughter and successor of Old Matron Baenre, the BigBad in many of the novels. While elves are not physically imposing to begin with and dark elves are even considerably shorter, Triel is frequently described as being exceptionally short even by the standards of other dark elves, which puts her, as effective queen of the most powerful nation of an AlwaysChaoticEvil race, at a height of about 4'7, or 1,45m. In contrast, her younger sister Quenthel is always described as very tall and muscular, but never has attempted to gain a KlingonPromotion.

* Malika of ''Literature/AnOutcastInAnotherWorld'' is a small Elf girl who is 13 years old when adjusted to Human years. She’s also a magical wunderkind who learns spells at an alarming rate, was killing monsters before she even got a Classs, and when she finally did accept a Class, she [[spoiler:was able to choose the immensely powerul Archmage Class, the only one that’s existed for hundreds of years.]].
* Verde from Literature/CursedWorld is 'fun-sized', to use her own words, and is confirmed by WoG to be medically a little person. This does not stop her from referring to herself as the Brawn in her relationship with main character Rei, from being a BloodKnight, or from [[spoiler: Becoming a decently powerful wizard in only a few days.]]

* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia'':
** Reepicheep and his relatives, though they teamed up sometimes as well. A common tactic involved slashing various tendons and then, when the taller opponent fell, a quick slash across the throat.
** Trumpkin and Nikibrik, the two dwarfs in ''Literature/PrinceCaspian'', were both skilled fighters, especially the former.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'':
** The Gruffs from ''Small Favor'', the tenth book, are troll-slaying goatmen from the fairy tales. After the five-foot tall first wave is defeated, their seven-foot tall older brothers take over - when they fail, the big brother that comes next is twenty feet tall - but the Eldest Gruff, most powerful of them all, whose coming shakes the earth and swats a fallen angel without effort? Five foot two, tops, with a limp. [[spoiler:And if he didn't take a liking to our hero, Harry clearly wouldn't have stood a chance against him.]]
** Murphy (5 feet even, looks like a cheerleader, and took down an ogre with a chainsaw). The page quote is about her, with the subtext being that the ''Fists of God'' were debating ''recruiting'' her. [[spoiler: She's done a pretty good job of establishing it as a potential second career and, hey, she ''is ''out of a job. Rebound career from cop to Knight of the Cross isn't that bad. [[TearJerker/SkinGame Unfortunately, Nicodemus points out it was a one-time deal.]]]]
** Ivy (who is ''[[LittleMissBadass twelve]]'' and capable of holding off eight {{fallen angel}}s at once). Possibly a subversion, in that her Badassness is entirely due to her comprehensive knowledge of magic. Physically, she's no more powerful than any other girl (which is one reason she has a very BadassNormal mercenary to guard her).
** The Red King, who is slightly over five feet and is quite possibly the single most badass vampire in the world, with the only possible exceptions being the Kings of the other two courts at full power [[spoiler: or rather, he ''was'']].
** Compared to all of his enemies, Harry (and other Wizards) count as this. He regularly takes on things at the very ''least'' half his (admittedly greater-than-average) height again.
* ''Literature/EverybodyLovesLargeChests'':
** One of the main cast is a 120 cm (4ft) gnome who regularly kills things much larger than herself.
* ''Literature/TheLegendOfDrizzt'':
** In this corner, Drizzt, a 5'4 slender elf with a borderline babyface. In that corner, Wulfgar, a hulk of a man closer to seven feet than six, weathered and scarred, whose legs are nearly as thick as Drizzt's torso. Guess who is more dangerous in a fight. ([[FridgeBrilliance A hint: one has been fighting for about twenty years, and is weathered and scarred. One has been fighting just as often for about sixty years, and isn't...]])
** And then there's also Triel Baenre, daughter and successor of Old Matron Baenre, the BigBad in many of the novels. While elves are not physically imposing to begin with and dark elves are even considerably shorter, Triel is frequently described as being exceptionally short even by the standards of other dark elves, which puts her, as effective queen of the most powerful nation of an AlwaysChaoticEvil race, at a height of about 4'7, or 1,45m. In contrast, her younger sister Quenthel is always described as very tall and muscular, but never has attempted to gain a KlingonPromotion.
* In the ''Literature/WarlockOfGramarye'' series, the Wee Folk are [[TheFairFolk to be feared]], Puck especially. And dwarfish Brom O'Berin can outfight nearly any man in Gramarye.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's ''Literature/TheCompleteAdventuresOfLuckyStarr'': John [[IronicName Bigman]] Jones is only five-two and one hundred and twenty pounds, but routinely wins fistfights against men who are foolish enough to underestimate him. He's frequently compared to a bantam fighter, and is implied to be the equal or better to Lucky in strength.
* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
** A minor character in the backstory of ''Literature/TheHobbit'' and ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', [[PosthumousCharacter Bandobras "Bullroarer" Took]], was one of the tallest {{Hobbits}} in history at 4'5", and singlehandedly routed an army of [[OurOrcsAreDifferent Orcs]] by decapitating their leader King Golfimbul with one swing of his club. (The head was sent rolling into a rabbit hole, thereby providing the origins for the game of golf.)
** Gimli in the Lord of the Rings is a dwarf and a great warrior, for instance, [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame every dwarf is a good warrior despite their short size]]

* ''Literature/WarriorCats'' has Scourge, who is a very tiny cat often mistaken for an apprentice. He's also the leader of a group of stray cats known as [=BloodClan=]. Why? Because he can kill as easily as he breathes; his small size makes him extremely quick, and he's attached sharpened dog's teeth to his claws, making them that much more deadly.
* ''Literature/TimeScout'': Ann Vin Mulhaney, Sven Bailey, and Margo Smith are all petite and incredibly deadly.

* Played for the maximum possible amount of creepy in Creator/AlastairReynolds' ''Century Rain'' with the Neotenous Infantry, better known as the War Babies. The Slashers, the spacefaring faction of humanity, have already engineered themselves for childlike bodies to make space travel easier, but the War Babies are childlike bodies specifically engineered to be lethal killing machines that ordinary human beings cannot bring themselves to shoot. The ones encountered in the novel are senescing due to (for them) extreme old age, so they look like children [[{{Squick}} until you see their faces]]. They rack up quite a body count over the course of the story.
* ''Literature/AdventureHunters'': Lisa is sixteen and strong enough to knock down stone walls. The older and bigger Artorius delegates all the heavy-lifting to her.
* Vin in ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy''. It's noted that pewter's gift of SuperStrength is additive, not multiplicative, so where the average Pewterarm is maybe twice as strong as he ought to be, Vin is about five or six times as strong.
* DimeNovel hero Literature/NickCarter is only 5'4, but is strong enough to "lift a horse with ease...while a heavy man is seated in the saddle....he can place four packs of playing cards together, and tear them in halves between his thumbs and fingers."
* ''Literature/{{Rihannsu}}'': ''Khre'Riov'' Ael t'Rllaillieu is described in her first appearance as being quite a small woman, certainly much shorter and less bulky than Captain Jim Kirk. However, being Romulan, she's stronger than the average human, and she's highly trained in hand-to-hand combat--one fight scene in ''Literature/MyEnemyMyAlly'' has Kirk catch sight of her taking down a man half-again her size with ease.

* Peeta Mellark from ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': In the movie, being played by the relatively short Josh Hutcherson. In the books he's taller than Katniss.
* The Minyard twins from the ''Literature/AllForTheGame'' series. Both "five foot even" but are still powerful players on their college Exy team, a sport known for being violent and exhausting.
** Andrew in particular, to the point where even people accustomed to violence and strength find him intimidating. Matt is 6'4" and has an eight pack and he's still afraid of Andrew.
* The silent protagonist of Ogden Nash's poem [[https://allpoetry.com/Adventures-Of-Isabel "The Adventures of Isabel"]] probably fits. (Nash doesn't specify age, but seeing as the character - who is based on his daughter - eats a zwieback, one can assume she's a child.)

* ''Literature/TheConquerorsSaga'': Radu observes with some amusement how Lada, always the fiercest fighter in the room, is also always the shortest—her men mention it occasionally too. She's also an incredibly skilled fighter who, amongst another things, [[ManBitesMan took down a trained assassin by herself when she was twelve]] and has since become the sultan's personal bodyguard, become proficient in cannon firing, and [[spoiler: launched a guerrilla war.]]
* In ''Literature/TheDarkProfitSaga'', [[OurDwarvesAreAllTheSame Gorm Ingerson]] is your typical dwarf, shorter than a human or an elf, although taller than a goblin and about the same size as an average gnome (although those vary in size greatly, depending on the clan). He's pretty stocky, though, and is good with an axe-and-shield combo. Gorm also happens to be TheBerserker, and when he flies into a rage, there's no stopping him. During the climax, he [[CurbStompBattle curb-stomps]] an ogre several times his size without getting hit once and then proceeds to attack an entire battalion of mercs. [[OurElvesAreDifferent Kaitha]] is the only one who recognizes Gorm's rage for what it is, remembering the stories about a famous berserker nicknamed Pyrebeard, and casually tells her party members that the ogre should've run when he had the chance.
* In ''Literature/SavageDivinity'', Sumila can put enough force behind her strikes to launch opponents, crush stone, and rend metal despite her below average size.
* ''Literature/TheOneWhoEatsMonsters'': Ryn may be slender and short, built more for stealth than brawling, but she's superhumanly strong, able to easily punch through metal and stone
* Suyodhana from the ''Literature/{{Sandokan}}'' series is stated to be very short-and when he fought the much larger and incredibly strong Tremal Naik one-on-one he not only gave him such a beating that the next time they meet Tremal Naik sends Sandokan forward, but he did it while holding back against an enemy trying to kill him (Suyodhana had decided Tremal Naik did not deserve a quick death).
* Bernie Skampersky, protagonist of ''Literature/TheMouseWatch''. Due to being sickly as a child, she's small for her age, and she's pretty sensitive about it. Still, she doesn't let her size get in the way of joining the titular HeroesRUs organization or taking on the bad guys.
* ''Literature/SienkiewiczTrilogy'': Michał Wołodyjowski is a short and heavy-set man, but also famous as one of the most skilled sabre fencers in the Polish Commonwealth. Andrzej Kmicic finds out the hard way why picking a fight with a five-foot spheroid who bosses around six-foot walls of muscle like it ain't no thing is a bad idea.
* ''Literature/{{Fablehaven}}'': Kendra, at the age of fifteen, [[spoiler: ''slays the Demon King'' with her brother's sword]], a feat which even the Fairy Queen had not been able to accomplish (granted, the Queen was attempting said task with a lesser sword). Also Seth, who at roughly thirteen [[spoiler: kills two powerful demons with Vasilis]]. Honestly, a lot of what those two accomplish throughout the books.

* ''Literature/SienkiewiczTrilogy'': Michał Wołodyjowski is a short and heavy-set man, but also famous as one of the most skilled sabre fencers in the Polish Commonwealth. Andrzej Kmicic finds out the hard way why starting shit with a five-foot spheroid who bosses around six-foot walls of muscle like it ain't no thing is a bad idea.

'''George''': "[[BewaretheNiceOnes You've never been on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey Hexes, have you?"]]

--> '''George''': "Yeah, size is no guarantee of power. Look at [[CuteBruiser Ginny]]."
-->'''Harry''': What d'you mean?"
--> '''George''': "[[BewaretheNiceOnes You've never been on the receiving end of one of her Bat-Bogey Hexes, have you?"]]

** And then there are the Clan from ''Discworld/TheAmazingMauriceAndHisEducatedRodents'', who, within about the first two pages, disable a highwayman by running up his pantlegs. Oh, [[RuleOfFunny and then they tie his shoelaces together]]. And Darktan is just plain badass.

* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'': Treecats. Small, six-limbed aboreals, who look all cute and furry. However, they live on a [[HeavyWorlder world with a gravity of 1.6G]], and have two definitions for enemies: those properly dealt with and those that are still alive. Add to that their reaction times and the fact that they have six limbs, each with surgically sharp claws, and there's a reason they've been compared to "berserking buzzsaws" when in battle rage. And they're telepathic; as in, able to sense minds carrying threats.
--> A human being in good condition and with really good martial art skills had at least a fair chance against a treecat in a fight, simply because of the size disparity. But it wouldn't be easy and the human would certainly come out of it badly injured.