This image is what I always think about when I consider the trope of a character having a “moment of awesome.” It’s their moment where they seize the potential that was inside of them the whole time and ascend to a new level to overcome the obstacle in front of them. If you think about it, A LOT of stories (books, TV shows, movies) use this trope. TVTropes.org defines them as “A moment when a character does something for which they will be remembered forever, winning for them the eternal loyalty of fans” so they take many forms.
There’s Simba in The Lion King ascending Pride Rock:
There’s Andy Dufresne in The Shawshank Redemption:
There’s even Kat Stratford reading her eponymous poem in 10 Things I Hate About You:
Even Ted Mosby on How I Met Your Mother had the occasional moment of awesome:
I chose moments from various genres on purpose; awesome comes in many forms. For me, it’s the best moment of a story. Without it, the story just falls flat. It’s what you crawl to the edge of your seat or the floor in front of your TV for. It’s what you put your phone, your drink, and your snacks for. It’s what you stop blinking for.
Because deep down, we all want to have our moment of awesome.
My fantasy series is chock full of them. Fantasy in general is too. It’s my favorite part. It’s what I spent 60-70,000 words building to. That’s why when I did my most recent edit, I put more of them in there. Not to lessen the impact of any one moment, but to increase the ability to remember it. The big moments are the ones we remember.
For example, my favorite fantasy series of all time is The Wheel of Time. Talk about a series punctuated with Moments of Awesome. The one that made me have chills was in (I think) Book 5. Rand, the main character, is chasing down one of the Bigger Bads leading up to the Biggest Bad at the end of the series. This guy’s name is Rahvin. Rand is jumping back and forth between the physical world and a dream state but he is jumping PHYSICALLY into the dream world, which is dangerous to the point of suicidal if done wrong. For him, though, it doesn’t matter. He’s so angry because Rahvin just killed someone Rand cares about that he will do anything to avenge them. At one point, he stands in the dream and bellows Rahvin’s name. For me, that was his moment of awesome because he was taunting this super-powerful being to face him. It was, frankly, awesome to read.
And I’ve remembered it to this day.
What are some of your memorable moments? In life? In books, TV, and movies? In video games even?
May the tide carry you to safer shores
BSG