Greatest Badasses in Literature

[PhoenixFlame]

The biggest badass does not have to be a good guy or bad guy. He or she does not even have to be human, just who/whatever you consider to be some of the biggest badasses to step foot onto a page. And if there is a badass from a medium that is not literature but still so badass you feel he or she has to be mentioned, go ahead!

Just one request-- please, why did you select your badass?

[Ser Paladin]

I suppose that the big guns from Malazan or Forgotten Realms are true world beaters, but I prefer my badasses to be a bit more realistic.

I pick Hurin. Slaying hundreds of orcs, bellowing "the Day will come again" with each swing of his axe, covering the retreat of the king... those would be sufficient criteria for badassery.

Then being taken alive, not sucumbing to torture and revealing the location of Gondolin, and forced to watch your family come to ruin, he leaves Thangorodrim and kills Mim, a petty revenge against the petty dwarf.

Finally kills himself when he realizes the pain he's caused.

[The Marquis de Leech]

Hagen from the Nibelungenlied. Not only is he an utter bastard, he's also a tough, uncompromising utter bastard who fights heroically until the bitter end. This is a guy who kills Siegfried, doesn't deny it when accused by his widow Kriemhild, deliberately adds insult to injury by dumping Kriemhild's treasure into the Rhine, then goes along to her castle (knowing full well that she'll have been planning revenge), tries to kill a ferryman along the way because he decides it's necessary, chops the head off one of Kriemhild's sons in her own hall, and then performs a heroic act of defiance, cutting down all the men Kriemhild can throw at him.

[Hereward]

Marc Remillard!

Oh come on, he turns his son into a marlin and plays him on the end of a line just to teach him a lesson.

[Arakasi]

Some criteria I look at for being a badass is as follows:

1. I think a badass has to be by both his prowess (whether it be physical or mental, the mental badass being much rarer. There is also the military badass, aka the kick ass general) and how he is viewed by the other characters in the book.

2. They need to be feared/awed/respected.

3. I also think they need to have a certain attitude about them. The two types of attitudes I think of is the "flamboyant/fiery" badass and the "cool as ice" badass. Like I'd put Mark Messier from hockey as the first, and Federer from tennis in the second.

4. I also think to be a badass you need to have a measure of ruthlessness in you.

5. Also there has been a tradition of badasses who have made last stands that put them in there. Going out heroically in battle will do that. People like Leonidas, Zhang Fei, Xiahou Dun, Zhuge Liang, heck the Romance of Three Kingdom novels are just filled with them.

6. Fantasy villians can also often be found to be badasses, depending on the writing style of the author.

7. The more characters get developed, the harder it is to be a badass. It's easy to get the badass label with a few brief descriptions of being awesome and then going out heroically. Tolkien is great at that.

For example a historical badass would be someone like Caesar, Alexander, Leonidas, as well as the chinese ones I mentioned above. People like Uesugi Kenshin and Cortez.

For fantasy badasses well there is a lot of them. These are the flamboyant ones I can think of.

Caine (sp?) from Stover's books.

Erikson's is full of them. Karsa, Silchas Ruin, Coltaine, Brukhallion, Gruntle.

Conan of course from Howard.

Gregor and Sandor from Asoiaf. In a way I might put Littlefinger in there. Drogo too.

Raistlin from Weis and Hickman is one scary badass.

Hurin and Turin from Lotr. Maedhros.

Gemmel is filled with them people like Druss.

Diarmuid from Fionavar. Lots of Kay books have the flamboyant but badass guy, his original is my favorite.

Diarmuid's inspiration, although not fantasy works very well too with Lymond. Nicholas was pretty crazy too.

For the cool as ice ones:

Erikson: Rake, Icarium, Cotillion, Itkovian, the Third, Onos Toolan.

Kelhus from Bakker is blindingly obvious.

Oberyn Martell. Some of the kingsguard from the tower of Joy scenes, especially the Sword of the Morning and the old Lord Commander. Baelor. Barristan

Fingolfin from LOTR. Maybe Aragorn too. Gil-Galad works.

Rand and Lan from WoT, even though Rand is batshit crazy. Perhaps one or two of the Aiel generals/Faile's dad.

Even though its FR, Drizzt would count.

Diarmuid's brother, even though I forgot the name.

Garet Jax from Shannara. Stee Jans would count too.

My namesake Arakasi from Feist's Empire series. Tomas could probably count, but only when he was possessed. Once he got his mind back under control, he doesn't really count anymore. Arutha I think works, because despite his many positives you know he was ruthless as shit and would do anything to get what he wanted. Guy du Bas Tyra too.

Science Fiction is harder:

Admiral Thrawn from the Star Wars books. Darth Vader, before his pussyfication as well. The Emperor.

Angus Thermopalye and Warden Dios from Donaldson's Gap series.

Trying to think of more, but I think that's it for now.

I suppose that the big guns from Malazan or Forgotten Realms are true world beaters, but I prefer my badasses to be a bit more realistic.

I pick Hurin. Slaying hundreds of orcs, bellowing "the Day will come again" with each swing of his axe, covering the retreat of the king... those would be sufficient criteria for badassery.

Then being taken alive, not sucumbing to torture and revealing the location of Gondolin, and forced to watch your family come to ruin, he leaves Thangorodrim and kills Mim, a petty revenge against the petty dwarf.

Finally kills himself when he realizes the pain he's caused.

Umm, that's funny. Saying Hurin is more realistic knowing that in that book he was alone for hours fighting orcs and then butchering Gothmog's troll guard singlehandedly before being captured. For sure he is an extreme badass, but in no way are his feats more realistic than anyone in Erikson or from what I can recall of FR, who despite killing tons of foes generally didn't kill hundreds while being surrounded and fighting on their own. Heck even Karsa couldn't do that, when he attempted that he got captured repeatedly. I think that's the one difference between Lotr and Malazan. There doesn't exist the orc cannon fodder that is so prevelent in LotR. Gimli and Legolas never really seem in much danger during LotR.

[Bellis]

I think Uther Doul works well here

[Spectralist]

I'd say either Padan Fain, Qorin(i have no idea how its spelt) Halfhand, Karsa Orlong, or Severian

[Multaniette]

greatest badass?

that's easy: BIGWIG. Woundwort never had a chance.

[Hereward]

Having got the obligatory Remillard reference out of my system, my vote is actually for Bannor of the Bloodguard from the Thomas Covenant series.

[Ser Paladin]

Umm, that's funny. Saying Hurin is more realistic knowing that in that book he was alone for hours fighting orcs and then butchering Gothmog's troll guard singlehandedly before being captured. For sure he is an extreme badass, but in no way are his feats more realistic than anyone in Erikson or from what I can recall of FR, who despite killing tons of foes generally didn't kill hundreds while being surrounded and fighting on their own.

Sorry. Not so much his feats as his lack of magic swords (Anomander Rake, Elric), world-beating magic (oh, anyone in Erickson-land), or a higher destiny (like Beren or Raistlin or Kellhus). Hurin was just this guy, you know?

Horatio at the bridge to Rome was cited recently in a thread. Had to singlehandedly (or with two helpers, historical records vary) hold off the Etruscan army for long enough for his friends to destroy the bridge. Like Hurin, he was just a guy defending a very advantageous bit of terrain.

[Spectralist]

Come to think of it i'd add Haviland Tuf as one of the greatest badasses as well especially in the last few pages of "Manna From Heaven"

"Monster," she repeated.

His right hand briefly curled into a fist, uncurled slowly and deliberately. "It appears some cerebral tic hs dramatically reduced your vocabulary, First Councilor."

"No," she said, "but that's the only word that applies to you, damn it."

"Indeed," said Tuf. "In that case, being a monster, it behooves me to act monstrously. Consider that, if you will, as you grapple with your decision, First Councilor."

Now that's badass.

[The Marquis de Leech]

I'd be inclined to disqualify Hurin for badass status on the grounds that he doesn't have the characteristic amoral ruthlessness. Badasses in my view aren't good guys - they're callous, ruthless arseholes, who happen to be command respect because of their sheer personal toughness and grim competence.

[Bazzlebane]

While things take a bit of a downturn for him, I like Cnaiur from the Prince of Nothing series. The Most Violent of All Men.

[Arakasi]

Sorry. Not so much his feats as his lack of magic swords (Anomander Rake, Elric), world-beating magic (oh, anyone in Erickson-land), or a higher destiny (like Beren or Raistlin or Kellhus). Hurin was just this guy, you know?

Doesn't really matter. You don't think Aiglos is a magic spear? Even Bilbo has a magic sword. Anything created in the first age is going to have tremendous magical properties. Thorin's and Gandalf's swords are swords from Gondolin. Turin weilds a malevolent intelligent evil sword. Beren uses a magical dagger that can cut through anything. Fingolfin carries a magical sword. Maehdros uses a crafted hand that he can use to crush weapons once his original hand is lost. Sauron's power was based around an evil crafted ring. Hurin for sure was using magical weapons, weapons crafted by the highest smiths of the Noldor. Hurin was not just this guy. He was the lord of the first tribe of the Edain.

There is perhaps a difference betweeen Rake and Hurin, but between Karsa and Hurin? No. Also one has to add that in Erikson's world and FR, wielding magic is much more common. Sure one badass might have magic, but then again so does his opponents. We know people like Finrod, Gandalf, Galadriel, Elrond have magic, but it's not blatant in how it is shown to be used. Martin has badasses and fights where neither side use no magic at all. Erikson has it where both sides have a lot more. Tolkien is somewhere in the middle. All three work.

So no, Hurin was not just a normal guy. He was the greatest human fighter the LotR world had ever seen, even surpassing his own son. And there is nothing normal about smoking 100s of orcs and then scores of trolls while fighting singlehandedly. If he was a "normal" guy he would have died because as you pointed out, he didn't have any magical powers backing him up. It's a great scene, and Tolkien excels at those. The only modern author I think that uses it to the same extent is perhaps Gemmell. Even Erikson doesn't have his heroes routinely wipe out scores of enemies the way Tolkien's heroes do. (Hurin, Turin, Tuor, Fingolfin, Aragorn, Gimli, Legolas, etc). It's almost like Tolkien has an invincibility switch he flips on for characters and then that guy just brutally destroys everyone until Tolkien decides it's that characters time to go out heroically, or all their enemies are gone. (although Erikson at times has gone into that territory with Karsa and Kalam)

[emberling]

Not really the 'greatest' badasses, but I would like to present several fairly interesting badasses or variations on the theme of badass for discussion:

- The aforementioned Marc Remillard; also Felice Landry and/or Aiken Drum

- Sethra Lavode

- Roland Deschain

- Kiriel di'Ashaf

- Dream of the Endless

- Haviland Tuf was a great catch. I would never have thought of him myself, but he really is chilling.

- Kefka (not literature, bite me.)

Should there be a third personality type, 'completely insane' (Felice and Kefka for example)? Or is that 'belligerent'? Or does that disqualify them for badassery? I think being completely bonkers yet powerful enough to make the world match your insane image is pretty badass.

[RedEyedGhost]

I'm reading Heroes Die right now, and Caine is definitely a badass.

The Hound is also.

And I'd nominate Logen 'The Bloody Nine' Ninfinger from Abercrombie's The Blade Itself

[Oorag]

Sethra Lavode is a good choice. She's one of my favorite "This is the toughest person in the world" characters, since she acts like someone who is accustomed to being more powerful than everybody else and has stopped caring about it. However, I think that makes her come full circle, into something of an anti-badass.

Therefore, my pick is Nyarlathotep, whom I also picked for best monster. As the soul and messenger of the Ultimate Gods, who are basically mindless forces of inconceivable power, he's pretty much the baddest ass of Lovecraft's pantheon. He has a short story devoted to him and his exploits in his Black Pharaoh persona, giving demonstrations of scientific power in various cities and slowly driving the population mad. He also has a memorable appearance in The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath where he uses the protagonist as a pawn against earth's minor gods, who are lingering in the "sunset city" of paradise:

You are off! Send back earth's gods to their haunts on unknown Kadath, and pray to all space that you may never meet me in my thousand other forms. Farewell, Randolph Carter, and beware; for I am Nyarlathotep, the Crawling Chaos.

After all, Nyarlathotep is the kind of guy who messes around with gods just to be a dick:

And vast infinities away, past the Gate of Deeper Slumber and the enchanted wood and the garden lands and the Cerenarian Sea and the twilight reaches of Inquanok, the crawling chaos Nyarlathotep strode brooding into the onyx castle atop unknown Kadath in the cold waste, and taunted insolently the mild gods of earth whom he had snatched abruptly from their scented revels in the marvellous sunset city.

[PhoenixFlame]

Glad to see this thread taking off! You all have some great choices!

A few I call to mind...

- The Hound, for braving an angry mob, fighting his worst fear, and beating the hell out of everyone.

- Sita (The Last Vampire), for being an ancient vampire that acts her age and kills anyone she considers a small inconvienience, all the while maintaining an ageless class.

- Bigwig, for taking on the scariest rabbit ever.

- Lord Asriel (His Dark Materials), for taking on the highest ranking angel in heaven and doing it without a weapon, hand to hand, even though knowng he's going to get killed. And for murdering a child to rip open a gate to a new world.

- Ashen Shugar (Magician), for being a badass dragon-riding conquerer.

- Kain (Legacy of Kain), for being an ultimate badass all around. He gets his heart ripped out of his chest and soon after makes a joke about it! "I always was considered heartless."

- Auron (Final Fantasy X), for whooping ass, being a cranky bastard, and being dead the entire time.

[Matrim Fox Cauthon]

Marc Remillard!

Oh come on, he turns his son into a marlin and plays him on the end of a line just to teach him a lesson.

How did I just know this would be who you would pick?

- Captain Ahab: Vengeance is a dish best served cold. (okay, he did not say that, but Ahab was crazy).

- Beowulf: He had a sword, but decided to fight a monster alone with his bare hands!

- Achilles: The only true army of one.

[Knight of the Wineskin]

Beelzebub from Brust's To Reign in Hell. In the form of a small dog, he still has balls enough to successfully taken on Michael, on of the Firstborn angels.

Somebody said Sethra Lavode, but she's never shown being a badass, it's just mentioned that she has a reputation as being extremely badass. Vlad Taltos, on the other hand, exhibits most of the traits of badassery.