Catherine Foundling
- The first of many is arguably when she becomes the Squire. Lies dying in a house on fire but instead of giving in she reanimates her half-dead body with necromancy, beats down the the Lone Swordsman and throws him into the river after delivering this stone cold line: "But remember this. Tonight? I won."
- During the Battle of Liesse, Cat ends up stealing the Lone Swordsman's sword, and effectively bullies an angel from the Choir of Contrition - one of the most powerful beings in the verse - into giving her a resurrection.
- The Threefold Reflection trial: On her to way confront Akua, Catherine is trapped in an illusion, hinted to be an accurate representation of three possible futures where she never met Black, never became his disciple and became Squire. And all three futures show that she was promised to greatness regardless:
- The General: Eventually enrolling in the Legions of Terror allows her to slowly climb up the ranks through a combination of strength, charisma and fear. Ultimately managing to wrest control of Callow from the Dread Empire decisively.
- The Tolltaker: Catherine never manages to save enough money for the War College, and so instead turns to a life of crime. Eventually becoming such a powerful crime-lord that not even the imperial governors of Callow dare to cross her. She eventually becomes enough of a problem that the Tower takes notice and sends Assassin after her, and she traps and burns it with goblinfire!
- The Squire: The only Named version of the three. Cat witnesses the rape and tries to intervene, but is overpowered by the two guards who decide to kill her. She is saved by William, the Lone Swordsman. The two embark on a classic hero journey to rid Callow of foreign occupation. Gathering allies and raising rebellion wherever they can. Along the way, Catherine becomes the Squire and completes the Band of Five. And while it is mentioned that William found them all, it's said that Catherine was the glue that held the band together. After a bloody rebellion and horrific losses that decimate Callow, the occupiers are expelled, but not before they burn all they can to the ground on the way out.
- And the real awesome moment in all three possible futures? All three are eventually confronted with Akua as Dread Empress, with a vast army, flying fortresses, devils and demons at her beck and call. And what do all three versions of Catherine do? Refuse to bend the knee and strike at her.
- Pretty much everything that Cat does after becoming the Duchess of Moonless Nights, but most impressive is slipping out of Diabolist's control by breaking the magical bindings Heirophant put in place, giving herself over to Winter's power entirely. She changed the story, from two evil rivals fighting for power, to the classical 'shackled monster breaks free and turns on its master'. And it works beautifully.
- Catherine successfully convincing just about EVERY Good and Evil Name and nation that fighting the Dead King was a bigger priority than a pissing contest between the two ideologies. Not only does it work but it works so well that it becomes a general consensus that Catherine has become the most influential Villain of the current age. Keep in mind, this is after she became the Head Priestess for a pair of gods who achieved their status by centuries of murder and death. Bad. Ass.
The Black Knight
So many moments. But the most triumphant arguably being his motive rant in Book II, rendered here as one long Motive Rant because what else could it be:
- "It doesn’t matter how flawless the scheme was, how impregnable the fortress or powerful the magical weapon, it always ends with a band of adolescents shouting utter platitudes as they tear it all down. The game is rigged so that we lose, every single time. Half the world, turned into a prop for the glory of the other half. Ah. How much worse it must be, coming from a culture that still teaches you you can win. We don’t even have that, Catherine. The hope of the happy ending. We get to cackle on the way down the cliff, or maybe curse our killer with our last breath. You’ve read the stories, and stories are the lifeblood of Names. None of it is earned. It is handed to them, and this offends me. You asked me what I want. This once, just this once, I want us to win. To spit in the eyes of the Hashmallim. To trample the pride of all those glorious, righteous princes. To scatter their wizards and make their oracles liars. Just to prove that it can be done. So that five hundred years from now, a band of heroes shivers in the dark of night. Because they know that no matter how powerful their sword or righteous their cause, there was once a time it wasn’t enough. That even victories ordained by the Heavens can be broken by the will of men."
The Captain
- "You're going to need a new god. This one is broken."
Thief
- Dumping the stolen fleet on the ground to block access to the gate. This is from Cat's point of view: "She flipped a finger in our general direction then took up a leather pouch from her side, turning it upside down as if to empty the contents on the ground. A heartbeat later, twenty-odd river barges fell in a crash of wood and floodwater. I blinked just to make sure I wasn’t hallucinating. “What the actual fuck?” I said eloquently."
- "Yoink."
Cordelia Hasenbach
- Almost everything The First Prince does between Interlude: Iron and Interlude: And Yet We Stand. She starts off by identifying the coup against her and who is involved in the conspiracy almost immediately after learning that the House of Light was stirring up trouble. She then manages to escape her would-be assassins and evade the conspirators. When they finally find her, it's in the Chamber of Assembly where she's already been holding a session for several hours already and is now waiting for them. She proceeds to counter every legal point they throw at her, robbing the coup of all legitimacy and any hope of stability or long-term success. When Balthazar fills the room with his men and tries to just kill her, her title of the Warden of the West very nearly becomes a Name, which she refuses right after halting the White Knight from killing any of the conspirators by snatching his coin out of the air (something that nearly killed Black) because she wants them legally tried and executed, not allowing any outside force, not even the Gods to take precedent over Proceran law.
The Tyrant of Helike
- Leaning into every villain trope he can the Tyrant constructs a story so strong and maneuvers things politically so well that he manages to bring back a long lost name, that of Hierarch of the Free Cities, effectively seize control of the League of Free Cities, have them wage war on Procer, has the Choir of Judgement put on trial for violating the laws of the Free Cities and effectively removes a part of the Heavens from interfering with the mortal world ever again, in the process completely ruining the Wandering Bard's schemes to have the Dead King killed, and then, before dying, giving a truly spectacular monologue.
Anaxares of Bellerophon, The Hierarch
- Despite the fact that his earning his name was part of the Tyrant's manipulations, Anaxares remains awesome in an understated fashion. One of these moments is sending the Wandering Bard away, and telling her he'd put the Gods on trial for violating Bellerophan law. And he eventually does, proving literally so much of a Determinator that he ignores repeated smiting by the Choir of Judgement and pursues them into the heavens.
