Bayaz breaks Sult's furniture in a display of his magical powers.
Logen and Ferro's first moment as Bash Brothers when they fight Goyle's Practicals, leading to an epic chase across the Agriont's rooftops.
The trend continues in the second book, when they battle their way through the Shanka-infested caverns beneath Aulcus.
Collem West earning his Name from Black Dow, albeit in a rather nosey fashion.
You can't help but feel for West a bit when he finally made a clear decision of his own, and pushed an asshole-idiot of a prince that tried to rape a woman downhill to his death.
Glokta's defense of Dagoska, which involves him rallying the downtrodden natives in exchange for expelling the Union merchants from their temple, turning the city into a stronghold in the span of only a few days, and dealing heavy casualties to the Gurkish army, despite being massively outnumbered.
Logen and his allies stalling Bethod's army in the High Places for a whole week before the Union arrives, in a fight that is reminiscent of the Battle of Helm's Deep.
When Logen defeats Fenris the Feared in a duel of epic proportions.
"Yes."
Jezal telling the commander of the Gurkish army to fuck himself, which doubles as a Funny Moment.
The correct answer is always Glokta killing Practical Frost in a single paragraph with his sword cane, effortlessly.
When Logen and his Carls scream and bang their weapons to shields, scaring the Gurkish into dropping their arms.
When Bayaz is using the Seed, he burns an Eater simply by telling him to do so
Glokta, when Bayaz is once again bragging about how he's masterminded everything and always will, tells him to shut the hell up and get to the bloody point already. There's a reason our dear Inquisitor is one of the very few people Bayaz seems to respect, to a certain degree.
Ferro killing Mamun with her bare hands after being empowered by the Seed.
"What's my name? White Dow?"
The miserable Glokta gets his when he finally does the decent thing and saves Ardee's life through marriage, instigating his first and only decent act in the whole story.
Best Served Cold
Every fight Shenkt gets into is completely one-sided in his favor, demonstrating that his reputation as the world's best assassin is not exaggerated. Though being an Eater doubtlessly helps quite a lot.
Monza and Cosca fighting General Ganmark together.
Cosca, despite being introduced as a barely functioning alcoholic, really is on top of his game in this book. Highlights of his Magnificent Bastardry include:
Making his triumphant return after being assumed dead in Visserine and reclaiming his title as Captain General of the Thousand Swords.
Allowing Monza to win the battle of Ospria after seemingly betraying her to Orso.
Overcoming his addiction, but keeping it a secret from everyone else, which saves him from Morveer's poison and leads directly to the latter's well-deserved demise.
At the end of the novel, Monza turns down both Yoru Sulfur and Ishri, demonstrating that she won't bow to Bayaz, Khalul or anyone else.
This leads to an Offscreen Moment of Awesome for her in the later books: In The Heroes, we learn that Bayaz was so enraged about Monza defying him that he declared all-out war on her. By the time of Red Country, she has successfully driven the Union forces out of Styria.
The Heroes
Any time Gorst decides to start fighting, especially his duels with Scale and Whirrun.
Finree bargaining an exchange of prisoners after she's been captured by the Northmen, impressing even Black Dow with her Nerves of Steel.
Calder dealing a crushing defeat to the Union's cavalry, despite having no previous military experience.
Although it turns out to be a Senseless Sacrifice, General Jalenhorm charging through the Northmen's ranks and engaging Black Dow himself in single combat is pretty awesome. He was even giving Dow quite the trouble before Craw intervened.
After years of being treated with no respect, Shivers finally turns on Black Dow after one insult too many and kills him by splitting his skull from behind, without even giving him the chance to fight back.
Shivers: I'm no dog.
Calder out-gambitting Bayaz at the end of the book. To clarify - Bayaz has brutally informed Calder that the latter holds the throne of the North at his sufferance, and put him in his place as just another pawn; to ease the sting, Bayaz hands over Scale, the only thing standing between him and kingship. Instead of having his brother killed to seize the throne, Calder gives the crown to Scale, who doesn't know about Bayaz's threats and wouldn't care if he did, and rules from behind the curtain. Made doubly awesome because it's also something of a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming.
Red Country
Lamb/Logen throughout the entire book. Beating Glama Golden, going back for his friend, winning every single fight he gets into in the entire book? It's official, Logen Ninefingers is the biggest badass in the series...which is a real bloody shame, as he wanted to avoid all of it.
The "negotiation" between the heroes and a Ghost war-band that attacked them. When the Ghosts demand money and cattle in exchange for allowing the settlers to cross their land, Logen says that he has a better offer. He then kills three Ghost warriors in a matter of seconds, chops off their leader's head, and leaves only the translator alive to tell the rest of the tribe to get the hell out of there before he does the same to them.
The Ghost's eyes moved from the head to Lamb's face, and he bared his teeth and hissed out, "We will be coming for you! Before dawn, in the darkness, we will be coming for you!" "No." Lamb smiled, his teeth and his eyes and the blood streaked down his face all shining with the firelight. "Before dawn ..." He squatted in front of Locway, still held helpless. "In the darkness ..." He gently stroked the Ghost’s face, the three fingers of his left hand leaving three black smears down pale cheek. "I'll be coming for you."
Lamb and Savian teaming up to effortlessly slaughter their way through Cosca's mercenaries. It takes Cosca firing a cannon at the building they're in to finally stop them, and even that isn't enough to kill Logen.
Shy and Temple manage to steal the Dragon People's gold from Cosca, hijack an armored carriage, and fight off their pursuers in a truly magnificent Chase Scene.
Temple devises a plan to have Iosiv Lestek, an old actor who has clearly seen better days, and some random guys from the streets dress up as the infamously bloodthirsty Imperial Legate Sarmis and his personal bodyguard to fool the Inquisition and the Company of the Gracious Hand into thinking that Crease is under the protection of the Old Empire. It works flawlessly, causing Inquisitor Lorsen to call of the operation, arrest Cosca when the latter tries to resist, and leave the town immediately. Doubles as a Funny Moment since the fact that it was all a ruse is only revealed to the reader after an entire chapter written from the perspective of Cosca's captain Dimbik, who nearly wets himself in fear of what he believes to be an actual Imperial delegation.
Temple delivering a calm, but scathing "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Cosca at the end of the book. He does this in the middle of a Mexican Standoff, knowing that Cosca has completely lost it at that point and could kill him any time, which really shows how far he has come from the self-serving coward he was at the beginning of the story.
The Age of Madness Trilogy
The Trouble with Peace
Orso managing to rise to the occasion in a big way, outsmarting and outnegotiating characters who seemed a great deal more capable than him at every turn and winning a seemingly Hopeless War to secure his crown.
Rikke seems to start out holding none of the cards, being the maiden daughter of the old chief whose only fleeting importance is that people still respect her father's memory. She ends up removing her rivals, double-crossing the people who tried to double-cross her, and placing herself as ruling Queen of the Northmen. She didn't even seem to need to use the Long Eye for it, just her wits.
The Wisdom of Crowds
The battle on top of the Tower of Chains, with Savine, Orso and Broad fighting against Judge and her Burners. When Savine is nearly thrown off by Judge, she makes sure Judge comes toppling off with her. The difference is that Broad and Orso save Savine, while Judge is left snarling as she falls to her death alone.
Zuri revealing herself to be the Eater Ishri and, along with her two "brothers," voids Yoru Sulfur's Karma Houdini Warranty. After nine books of him being an arrogant snake whose powers as a Magus and Eater make him untouchable to normal people, he's lured into a trap, has his lower jaw ripped off by Ishri and then is gruesomely eaten alive by her, Haroon and Rabik.
It may double as one of the biggest Tearjerkers in the franchise, but Orso's execution doubles as this. He never once loses his charm, wit or dignity, and remains brave to the very end. To Savine, he delivers one final goodbye, assuring her she'll be a better leader than he ever could and admitting his love for her one last time. Then he gives Leo, the man who lost a leg to Orso during his failed rebellion, the man who's only alive because Orso showed him mercy and who betrayed him a second time despite Orso's offering him a chance at redemption, he offers his own goodbye.
Orso: To her husband, Leo dan Brock, I can only say...how's your leg?
