History ShockAndAwe / Literature

* ''Literature/{{Dragonvarld}}'': The first explicit spell that Ven casts is a lightning bolt, killing a bandit who beat his adopted mother Bellano severely along with his confederates. Draconas also later demonstrates the spell too because Ven tried to weakly deny this happened.

* In the ''Literature/{{Tempest}}'' trilogy, the titular half-mermaid has WeatherManipulation powers. In ''Tempest Unleashed'', she discovers the ability to separate lightning from her other powers and blast her enemies through the water with electricity.

* In ''Literature/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'', [[EvilSorcerer Lord Nefarious]] can shoot short, painful blasts of green lightning using his staff. After coming into his power as an evil sorcerer in his own right, his BastardUnderstudy Sebastian Steer displays the ability to shoot similar, but more powerful, ''purple'' bolts from his bare hands, [[Franchise/StarWars Palpatine-style]], demonstrating how he is in actuality more powerful (and also less [[LawfulEvil controlled]]) than Nefarious was.

* In ''Literature/TheCrewOfTheCopperColoredCupids'', [[EvilSorcerer Lord Nefarious]] can shoot short, painful blasts of green lightning using his staff. After coming into his power as an evil sorcerer in his own right, his BastardUnderstudy Sebastian Steer displays the ability to shoot similar, but more powerful, ''purple'' bolts from his bare hands, [[Film/StarWars Palpatine-style]], demonstrating how he is in actuality more powerful (and also less [[LawfulEvil controlled]]) than Nefarious was.

[[ShockAndAwe Electrifying characters]] in {{Literature}}.

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* ''Literature/{{Mouse}}'': When the school is attacked by azazim (essentially sentient zombies), Mouse kills two of them by using HermeticMagic to summon lightning from the sky.

* Tris from ''Literature/CircleOfMagic''. Though she can wield other abilities, her chief attribute seems to be lightning, as she has been referred to as a lightning mage.
* In the ''Literature/CodexAlera'', [[BlowYouAway windcrafters]] cannot generate lightning by themselves. However, if a group of them are in a thunderstorm, they can, via group effort, gather the lightning generated by the storm and direct it at a target on the ground. In addition, a windcrafter who is also capable with [[MakingASplash watercraft]] can generate a sort of defibrillator via electrical generation while a patient is submerged in a healing tub.

* ''Literature/TheMasterKey'': A tube that fires electricity to knock out a person for an hour.
* In ''Literature/TheZombieKnight'', Karkash has the power of magnetic field alteration. It is implied by his impressive soul power that he took a very long time to gain the ability to fire lightning with it.

* Joanna of ''The Literature/WeatherWardens'' series can use lightning as a weapon, and so can any other weather mage with the proper air/water elemental specialty.
* Lightning bolts are a favorite tool of Literature/{{Discworld}}'s gods, though Blind Io has a monopoly on thunder.
* Channelers in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' can summon lightning from an open sky, given proper skill in weather manipulation.
* War Wizards in the ''Literature/SwordOfTruth'' series. Both because it's dramatic (which can be at least as useful to winning a battle as killing people) and because Wizard battles are primarily about daisy-chaining counters and finding unusual vectors, so they can't always use their terrifying [[KillItWithFire Wizards Fire]].
* Kilowatt, of the ''Literature/SeekersOfTruth''. Explained in-universe as the ability to manipulate electric charges, but for some reason, she still likes to just shoot lightning from her hands.
* Princess Elektra of ''Literature/{{Xanth}}''. Though her powers are much weaker than most of those listed here. She can only use her powers at a lethal level once a day, for instance.

* In ''Literature/TheThrawnTrilogy'', Joruus C'baoth likes using Force Lightning. [[http://img46.imageshack.us/img46/286/blz23.jpg He's crazy, all right]]
* The main way of attacking for a witch or sorcerer in ''Literature/TheOtherworld'' series and its spinoff ''Literature/DarkestPowers'' seems to be through throwing lightning bolts. These apparently range from lethal to non-lethal, with the damage depending on just how much OOMPH the user puts into the spell.
* Literature/{{The Guardians|MeljeanBrook}} each have a [[PersonalityPowers Gift]] related to their life. [[spoiler: Jake's second]] Gift is electricity, and they're referred to as the human Taser.
* In the ''Literature/CodexAlera'', [[BlowYouAway windcrafters]] cannot generate lightning by themselves. However, if a group of them are in a thunderstorm, they can, via group effort, gather the lightning generated by the storm and direct it at a target on the ground. In addition, a windcrafter who is also capable with [[MakingASplash watercraft]] can generate a sort of defibrillator via electrical generation while a patient is submerged in a healing tub.

* Cracklers/Edisons from ''Literature/TheGrimnoirChronicles'' are superhumans with electrical powers.
* Tris from ''Literature/CircleOfMagic''. Though she can wield other abilities, her chief attribute seems to be lightning, as she has been referred to as a lightning mage.
* ''Literature/MichaelVey''.

* ''Literature/TrappedOnDraconica'': This is the element that Rana was blessed with by Dronor.
* ''Literature/SeptimusHeap'': [[BigBad DomDaniel]] is planning to destroy Keeper's Cottage with a bolt of lightning when he's interrupted by the approach of the Dragon Boat.

* In ''Literature/TheWiseMansFear'', Kvothe called down lightning and smote [[spoiler: one of the Chandrian and his minions]] in a terrifying display of Sympathy and physics.
* ''Literature/ForeverGate'': All humans develop lightning powers and gols put a PowerNullifier on them because of them.
* Although the air-magic of Ruahks in ''Literature/TheQuestOfTheUnaligned'' falls more under BlowYouAway, the more powerful ones do get the ability to throw lightning or use walls of it to protect themselves.

* In ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsImASupervillain'', Penny designs some electro-glove things that causes people it zaps to stick to the next surface they touch, usually the ground.
* The ''Literature/RainbowMagic'' series has this. In Storm the Lightning Fairy's book, an extra-mean goblin with red eyes shoots fairy lightning at the girls with the power of the Lightning Feather. While it isn't as dangerous as real lightning, it's still very threatening, to the point that no one in the entire book is hit by it directly.
* In ''Literature/RachelGriffin'', fulguration is a valid dueling or combat skill, as well as being a sport in the Magical Olympics.
* In ''Literature/{{Noob}}'' lightning appears to be an offshoot of air-based magic and can be used for short-range teleportation.
* In ''Literature/{{Mindwarp}}'' Toni Douglas has the power to absorb electricity and shoot lightning from her hands. Also time travel, with enough energy, but it takes her until the ninth book to learn how to use it on purpose.
* ''Literature/TheInfected'' has Sparks, the leader of Team Two, whose whole power is throwing around lightning bolts.
* In ''Literature/{{Renegades}}'', the superhero Thunderbird can summon thunder and lightning.
* In ''Literature/SuperPowereds'', Vince is an [[EnergyAbsorption energy absorber]]. The second type of energy he masters after gaining control after his previous state of PowerIncontinence is electricity. However, unlike fire, which is easy to project, electricity is unpredictable and his bolts tend to split and wildly diverge beyond a few feet. He is later coached by an expert, who advises him to visualize a path for the bolt... but in reverse (i.e. from the target to his hand). This helps Vince direct his electrical bolts with great precision. Professor Karl Fletcher is an electrical elemental, and one of those rare ones that can completely become their element at will. During his introduction to the students, he takes out most of them in a second by turning into a bolt of lightning and moving at SuperSpeed. He also retains some of the qualities of electricity even in human form, such as speed (and unlike flesh-and-blood speedsters, he doesn't need to accelerate or decelerate).
* ''Literature/{{Uprooted}}'': Agnieszka tinkers with a rain-summoning spell to call lightning out of clouds. It's AwesomeButImpractical, packing a huge punch even against [[SuperToughness super-tough]] enemies but leaving her battered, dazed, and temporarily deaf.
* In ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' blasts of lightning are one of the powers that [[ComboPlatterPowers Worldbinders]] can utilize. Cueseg has the basic version of this ability, and [[PersonOfMassDestruction Archeron Peroven]] takes it to the next level.