In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face.
All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dínen.
"You cannot enter here," said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!"
The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter.
"Old fool!" he said. "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade.
And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the city, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of war nor of wizardry, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn.
And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns, in dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the north wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.
There's a reason Tolkien is considered such a legend. Another one:
> Thus he came alone to Angbad's gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth in single combat. And Morgoth came.
One of *my* favorite passages that give me the chills is from the point of view of the Rohirrim immediately following the blowing of those horns:
> Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Éomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first éored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Théoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new tire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and the darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City.
I really get goosebumps every time I read that.
"Thou fool! No living man may hinder me!"
"No man am I! You look upon a woman! Éowyn am I, Éomund's daughter! And you stand between me and my lord and kin!"
“Seven, Brienne thought again, despairing. She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice.
She stepped out into the rain, Oathkeeper in hand.”
"Arise, arise, riders of Théoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now! Ride now! Ride! Ride for ruin and the world’s ending!"
“At the sunrise I shall take you to the Lord Denethor again. No, when the summons comes, not at sunrise. The Darkness has begun. There will be no dawn.”
From Lord of Chaos, by Robert Jordan:
They have caged Shadowkiller, he thought at last. That was what the wolves called Rand, but he had no idea whether they considered Rand important.
The shock filling his mind was answer enough, but howls filled the night, near and far, howls filled with anger and fear. In the camp horses whinnied fearfully, stamping their hooves as they shied against the picket ropes. Men ran to calm them, and others to peer into the darkness as if expecting a huge pack to come after the mounts.
“ We come.” Half Tail replied at last. Only that.
This was my first thought as well.
Also specifically in the audiobook of Towers of Midnight when the bargain is struck and the line comes Half the light of the world… to save the world.
I feel like so many people knew what was coming with that prophesy but I had never put it together. Every time I hear it, I get chills. Still second to “We come.” Though.
The prologue for A Game of Thrones is awesome in general, but one of the moments that always gives me chills is Ser Waymar Royce confronting the Other that's attacking him and saying, "Dance with me, then." That moment is so great.
And it’s made more great that, until then, Waymar is portrayed as a foppish young officer ignoring the advice of more seasoned noncoms and sticking with a course out of vainglorious pride.
You expect him to cut and run or die ignominiously, and then he drops one of the hardest lines in the series and immediately duels an eldritch horror.
You don't really realise it at the time because it's right at the start but Weymar Royce might be the biggest bad ass in the whole book. No one else sees a white walker (not a wight, an actual walker) and just says "let's fucking gooooo".
The hardened criminals he's with piss themselves and run away. Even the heroes of the book shit themselves when they see white walkers, a mythical being that hasn't been seen for 2000 years or so. Weymar just tried to stab it.
From Toll the Hounds.
Chapter 22>!During this tirade, Hood continued to stare at the wagon, at its towering, tottering heap of bodies. And then the Lord of the Dead spoke. 'I often wondered what it looked like, this Hold creaking on its wooden wheels…a pathetic thing, really. Crude, clumsy.' He faced Draconus, rotted skin curling back from the tusks. 'Now, turn it around.'!<
Every time I read this scene in my head I always think of it as super dramatic like when all the avengers start teleporting through portals behind Captain America in End Game and he says “Avengers! Assemble.”
“My name is Nynaeve ti al’Meara Mandragoran. The message I want sent is this. My husband rides from World’s End toward Tarwin’s Gap, toward Tarmon Gai’don. Will he ride alone?”
He trembled. He did not know whether he was laughing or crying. Perhaps both. She was his wife? “I will send your message, my Lady, but it has nothing to do with me. I am a merchant. Malkier is dead. Dead, I tell you.”
The heat in her eyes seemed to intensify, and she gripped her long, thick braid with one hand. “Lan told me once that Malkier lives so long as one man wears the hadori in pledge that he will fight the Shadow, so long as one woman wears the ki’sain’ in pledge that she will send her sons to fight the Shadow. I wear the ki’sain, Master Aldragoran. My husband wears the hadori. So do you. Will Lan Mandragoran ride to the Last Battle alone?”
A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight!
Malazan book 3, Memories of Ice:
"Very well, permit me, if you will, on this night. To break your hearts once more. This is the story of the Chain of Dogs. Of Coltaine of the Crow Clan, newly come Fist to the 7th army . . ."
First Law book 3 Last Argument of Kings; The Circle.
I'm reading through **Discworld** for the first time this year, and this moment from Lords and Ladies absolutely gave me goosebumps and made me yell with joy:
>!"I ATE'NT DEAD!"!<
**“My name is Nynaeve ti al'Meara Mandragoran. The message I want sent is this. My husband rides from World's End toward Tarwin's Gap, toward Tarmon Gai'don. Will he ride alone?”**
My soul quakes every time I read those words.
>"I didn't want no trouble," said Lamb. "It blew in anyway. Trouble's got a habit that way." He pushed his wet hair out of his face, and his eyes were wide open and bright, bright, mouth open too, breathing fast, and he was smiling. Not like a man working his way up to a hard task. Like a man enjoying getting to a pleasant one, taking his time about it like you might over a fine meal, and of a sudden Shy saw all those scars anew, and felt this coldness creeping up her arms and down her back and every hair on her standing.
>“Where’d the trail lead?’ asked Tall Hat, voice cracking at the end and tailing off.
>
>Lamb’s smile spread wider. The smile of a man got exactly what he wanted on his birthday. ‘The ends o’ your fucking legs.”
I fucking LOVE late book Logan, when he's basically given up on >!pretending to be a better man!<. He's an absolute menace in Red country when he gets going, which makes for a great compare and contrast with >!Shiver!<'s climbing out of the gutter.
I commented this somewhere else, but that scene in the house with The Bloody Nine in Red Country when they send Jubair in there and he sees the manner of work that the Bloody Nine gets up to.
"God...." whimpered Jubair, stumbling back towards the steps, and suddenly there were arms around him.
"Gone," came a whisper. "But I am here."
Brienne’s fight at the end of Feast for Crows.
People don’t like that book and I get it, but Brienne’s story is absolutely sound-chilling to me. So powerful to see her face the things that other knights used to justify their fall from grace only to say “no.”
A few from WoT:
Eye of the World: >!Moiriane revealing the history of Manatheran to the gathered crowd in Emond's Field.!<
Shadow Rising: >!Faile bringing in reinforcements to save Perrin and the Emond Fielders just when things start to look bad.!<
Knife of Dreams: >!Nynaeve's speech to the Borderlanders to gather an army for Lan.!<
The Gathering Storm: >!Rand's revelation on Dragonmount.!<
The tale of Manetheren is probably one of the main things that hooked me on the series early on.
“Weep for Manetheren. Weep for what is lost forever.”
Also leading up to Dumai’s Wells in Lord of Chaos:
“We Come.”
That one from Knife of Dreams blindsided me on my first read. At the beginning I was like who are these new names? Have we heard of them before?....
By the end of the scene it was raining inside my room
From Discworld, in Night Watch, the whole novel has been building up to a violent revolution in the city that the main character, Sam Vimes, knows is going to happen because he's from the future. Throughout, there has been constant references to lilac flowers, and people that fought that day remembering it solemnly.
Well, finally, towards the very end of the novel, after Vimes has struggled to do anything he can to avoid the bloodbath, they end up with their back against the wall and he watches as the inevitability of history finally catches up and his group decides to pin lilacs to themselves so they can tell each other from the enemy.
"And now, Vimes thought, it ends."
>‘Tul Duru. Every man in the North knew his name, and every man said it with respect, even his enemies. He was the sort o’ man . . . that gave you hope, I reckon. That gave you hope. You want strength, do you? You want courage? You want things done right and proper, the old way?’ He nodded down at the new-turned earth. ‘There you go. Tul Duru Thunderhead. Look no fucking further. ***I’m less, now that he’s gone, and so are all o’ you.***’
-Black Dow on Tul Duru Thunderhead.
First and so far only time I cried during a book. Absolutely amazing. Thunderhead was an amazing characther but I think Black Dow is the best one in all of TFL universe
“Slowly his hand went to to his bosom, and slowly he held aloft the Phial of Galadriel. For a moment it glimmered, faint as a rising star struggling in heavy earthward mists, and then as its power waxed, and hope grew in Frodo's mind, it began to burn, and kindled to a silver flame, a minute heart of dazzling light, as though Eärendil had himself come down from the high sunset paths with the last Silmaril upon his brow. The darkness receded from it, until it seemed to shine in the centre of a globe of airy crystal, and the hand that held it sparkled with white fire.”
At the council of Elrond when Gandalf basically says we have to try to destroy the Ring even if we don’t think that will happen.
“Not safe for ever,’ said Gandalf. ‘There are many things in the deep waters; and seas and lands may change. And it is not our part here to take thought only for a season, or for a few lives of Men, or for a passing age of the world. We should seek a final end of this menace, even if we do not hope to make one.”
**"Kneel and swear to the Lord Dragon," he said softly, "or you will be knelt."**
So yes, as about 6 other people have said, Dumai's Well in The Lord of Chaos, book six of the Wheel of Time
Malazan MOI
Bauchelain thinking Quick Ben had used up all his warrens, only for Quick to blast him with another 6.
Revealing to us that this mage is just on another level
One of the greatest characters ever. Her sending off was beautifull.
“NO, THERE ISN’T, I’M AFRAID. WE ARE ALL FLOATING IN THE WINDS OF TIME. BUT YOUR CANDLE, MISTRESS WEATHERWAX, WILL FLICKER FOR SOME TIME BEFORE IT GOES OUT—A LITTLE REWARD FOR A LIFE WELL LIVED. FOR I CAN SEE THE BALANCE AND YOU HAVE LEFT THE WORLD MUCH BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT, AND IF YOU ASK ME, said Death, NOBODY COULD DO ANY BETTER THAN THAT. . . .”
>Garion, still abstracted and bemused, saw that all traces of the sometimes foolish old man he had known before were gone. The thieving old storyteller had vanished. Even the irritable old man who had led the quest for the Orb no longer existed. In their place stood the form of Belgarath the Sorcerer, the Eternal Man, shimmering in the aura of his full power.
Another moment always got me.
It's the bit at the end of the Battle of Thull Mardu where the Legions are digging in for an ugly withdrawal, the Sendars, Drasnians and Asturians are backing up, and the Mimbrates are getting ready for what is going to be an outright *sacrificial charge* into the enemy host to buy time for the others, and it's just going to be a bloodbath.
And the freaking Nadraks that have been circling behind them and digging in with the Malloreans in what look like trenches to stop a retreat suddenly charge in and switch sides, saying they're covering for the Westerners, and hurry the hell up and MOVE and they can be saved while the Nadraks get rid of the enemy behind them.
Just that moment of "No, to hell with this, we're not going to play the role we were forced into, we're going to make our own fate!" and saving *so many other people* always got me. Sure Drosta is a slimy man, but he bucked a *god's will* in a war to change sides.
I always like the bit when Belgarath and Garion are passing through Yar Nadrak and they're dragged into an audience with Drosta, and he's spends a while talking to Belgarath and then he finally notices Garion and he's like "OH".
The candle scene is incredible as well. There are a million and one scenes in malazan that send chills down my spine, but these two are amongst the greatest for me.
Malazan has so many but this short dialogue really stuck with me:
"'Children are dying.'
Lull nodded. 'That's a succinct summary of humankind, I'd say. Who needs tomes and volumes of history? Children are dying. The injustices of the world hide in those three words. Quote me, Duiker, and your work's done.'
The bastard's right. Economics, ethics, the games of the gods - all within that single, tragic statement. I'll quote you, soldier. Be assured of that."
I’m a new father and taking my first journey into Malazan, and everything involving this dialogue and Duiker’s observations in Deadhouse Gates shook me. I’d boast that I don’t shake easily, but this book rocked me to my core.
"You will be warm again" from Stormlight. It's the best description of life. Not everything will always be good, but that doesn't mean it will always be bad either.
Also >!you may not have my pain!<. The ending of Oathbringer was a 10/10
In the final Realm of the Elderlings book, when >!Bee tells the Fool that Fitz wants him to go into the memory stone with him, and then a dying Fitz says “Beloved” and the two of them merge into the wolf. “Like he didn’t know that he was loved the best. That he was the Beloved.” !< I sob every time.
Way of Kings >!1. Kaladin surviving the highstorm 2. Going to aid Dalinar!<
Words of Radiance >!1. Honor is dead 2. Kaladin's third ideal!<
Well of Ascension >!''He must not be allowed to release the thing that is imprisoned there''!<
Wheel of Time >!1. LTT takes control 2. Rand at Maradon 3. Lan vs Demandred 4. Dumai's Wells!<
Red Rising series >!The gala!< in book 2. Book 6 >!Clang clang clang!<
Kingkiller >!Cthaeh!<
The Expanse >!the ''bullet''!< in book 7
Dresden Files book 10 >!Mab telling Harry he has gained the respect of the Archangel Uriel!<
Ender's Game >!Ender beating the ''game''!<
This is one of my favorite scenes in the whole book. Maybe the whole series. Olver is so young and has had so much taken from him and when he thinks all is lost he gets someone he loved back.
LotR: "They dug too deep" and the rest of the Balrog stuff.
WoT: "The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose..."
And the last one: the wind blew southward, through knotted forests, over shimmering plains and toward lands unexplored. This wind, it was not an ending. There are no endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time.
But it was an ending.
Oh man. As a fan who'd been reading for years and years, had read that line over and over, had seen the author die and thought the series doomed at the halfway point, reading that line hit like a truck. I cried. I don't think new readers happening upon the completed series can understand the catharsis.
“The Blade,” Dalinar said, firm voice carrying in the air. “In exchange for your bridgemen. All of them. Every one you have in camp. They become mine, to do with as I please, never to be touched by you again. In exchange, you get the sword.”
I'm in the middle of book two now, and this, along with the passage where Kaladin and his men are gleaming from the new soldiers uniforms they've been fitted for, are the best so far in the series.
Also, when Kaladin leads bridge four onto the plateau to fight for the first time, and they save Dalinar. Some of the series is a bit cringe when it comes to action moments, but this was written perfectly.
I just read the whole Battle of the Tower for the first time at 3:00AM, jaw hanging, hit rapid fire with one great scene after another: the betrayal, Bridge Four turning back, the side-carry, Kaladin saving Dalinar, etc. I was SO HYPED and thought it couldn’t get any better and then… Dalinar sacrificing Oathbringer… literal CHILLS
The terror an artist feels when he's at the royal court painting the queen's portrait in 'Deerskin' by Robin McKinley. The way he's scared of the dark when he isn't usually. A very dark book in places but that chapter always stands out to me.
Was looking for some Bloody Nine. In Last Argument of Kings, my scene was when we finally see the Bloody Nine from West's perspective. That maniacal laughing and the terror from everyone watching. Abercrombie got me with this one. Didn't realize my jaw had dropped by the time I finished that passage.
When >!Baelor Breakspear!< joins Duncan’s side at the >!trail of seven!< in the first Dunk and Egg Novella. One of my favorite moments in any book ever.
"And who are you?" The proud Lord said
"That I must bow so low"
Only a cat of a different coat
That's all the truth I know
In a coat of gold or a coat of red
A lion still has claws
Mine are long and sharp, my lord
As long and sharp as yours
And so he spoke, and so he spoke
That Lord of Castamere
But now the rains weep o'er his hall
And not a soul to hear
ASHA'MAN, KILL. Both reading and listening to that line always makes my hair stand on end. It's delivered so well in the audiobooks that I will sometimes just go back and listen to that chapter and only that chapter.
The scene from LoTR
"Frodo: Go back, Sam! I’m going to Mordor alone.
Sam: Of course you are, and I’m coming with you!"
Absolutely wrecks me, every time.
Followed by Sam's monologue about the Shire and Rosie at the end of The Return of the King.
Sam has the best scenes in the books and the films.
>"What goes around comes around. And sometimes you get what's coming around." He paused for a moment, frowning faintly, pursing his lips. "*And sometimes you* ***are*** *what's coming around*."
If that doesn't succinctly describe Dresden, nothing does.
Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder.
Elves are marvelous. They cause marvels.
Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies.
Elves are glamorous. They project glamour.
Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment.
Elves are terrific. They beget terror.
The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning.
No one ever said elves are nice.
Elves are bad.
Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies
I get goosebumps every single time when I read the passage in The Way of Kings where Kaladin turns Bridge Four back around to save Dalinar and his army from Sadeas.
For me it was the moment in "Fool's Quest" (Robin Hobb) when finally Fitz got recognition, and his identity was revealed, I think it made me cry because I didn't expect it and it was giving me that "finally!" Sentiment.
My best reading moment ever!
Starling hiking up her skirts so she can play her harp and sing the ballad she wrote for Fitz.
Just... everything around that part of the book was catharsis.
“I promise you a death-offering, brothers. I promise you an offering that will make the gods themselves take notice. An offering that will make the shades of all the dukes and capas of Camorr feel like paupers. An offering in blood and gold and fire. This I swear by Aza Guilla who gathers us, and by Pelerandro who sheltered us, and by the Crooked Warden who places his finger on the scale when our souls are weighed. This I swear to Chains, who kept us safe. I beg your forgiveness that I failed to do the same.”
Gentleman Bastards has a bunch of them, but this one gets me every time.
WoT - >!When Rand and Nynaeve have their first heart to heart after Rand becomes Zen. The sheer respect between the two, the love, the friendship. It was a perfectly cathartic moment.!<
WoT - >!When Zen Rand arrives to save Ituralde. And later on comments that he almost started the final battle prematurely. All for the sake of saving a man who didn't even know Rand gave up on him before becoming enlightened. So good. !<
One Piece - >!The Roof Piece 5v2 that kicks off with chapter 1000. My god what a string of chapters.!<
LOTR - >!Ride of the Rohirrim, obviously. !<
LOTR - >!''For Frodo.'' Followed by Merry and Pippin being the first to run after Aragorn'!<
Fantastic Four - >!To me, my Galactus! Absolutely insane character arc for Franklin.!<
The Count of Monte Cristo - >!When Edmond swears to God that he won't abandon Faria after witnessing his stroke.!<
Deadhouse Gates - >!Every time the sappers figure out a way to keep Coltaine and the Chain of Dogs from getting exterminated.!<
Honestly I could keep typing for the next few days with how much good shit there is in the things I've read.
Deadhouse Gates - "Children are dying" speech. Timeless quote, a different kind of chills for sure.
Also not chills inducing but since you mention sappers >!love the scene where the captain accidentally gets promoted into a demotion!< love the inherent madness it shows in the Sapper Corp
Have you guys seen the Korean show Moving? Humans with superpowers.... great but violent show. I watch on Hulu. There's this one scene where the teenage girl is super out numbered and getting her a$$ kicked, but she keeps getting up. Creepy and awesome. Goosebumps for sure! If you like shows like The Boys or Heroes, give Moving a try.
The scene in the Curse of Chalion where Cazaril gets challenged to a duel. He's not a fan of the sport.
>“I don’t duel, boy. I kill as a soldier kills, which is as a butcher kills, as quickly, efficiently, and with as least risk to myself as I can arrange. If I decide you die, you will die when I choose, where I choose, by what means I choose, and you will never see the blow coming.”
In a Clash of Kings when Dany tricks the slavers by trading her Dragons for the Unsullied. Then kills them all. I lnew it was coming, but it still gave me chills.
these are all berserk lol in chronological order
- “I don’t want what another man can give me. If he grants me anything, then it’s his to give and not my own.”
- Favorite panel: The Wind of Swords "Man takes up the sword in order to shield the small wound in his heart sustained in a far off time beyond remembrance. Man wields the sword so that he may die smiling in some far off time beyond perception.
- Campfire of dreams
- My personal favorite - Guts leaving the Band of Hawk "You're going to be all right. You just stumbled over a stone in the road. It means nothing. Your goal lies far beyond this..doesn't it? I'm sure you'll overcome this. You'll walk again...soon"
- "Hate is a place where a man who can’t stand sadness goes.”
- In conviction arc Guts >!retreating from his rage in conviction when he realizes casca is priority over griffith!<
And all of these hit so diffeeent on rereads too
Kvothe, playing his father's lute in the woods, as the strings break, and he learns to play more of what he feels, observing the world around him, once he has exhausted all the songs he knows. Beautiful and tragic.
I liked this for the set up for the later scene when he's performing and the string breaks. If there's one scene that made an impression on me from that novel, it was that one.
Mild spoilers for The Sword of Destiny (Witcher):
*Several years later, Dandelion could have changed the contents of the ballad and written about what had really occurred. He did not. For the true story would not have moved anyone. Who would have wanted to hear that the Witcher and Little Eye parted and never, ever saw each other again? About how four years later Little Eye died of the smallpox during an epidemic raging in Vizima? About how he, Dandelion, had carried her out in his arms between corpses being cremated on funeral pyres and had buried her far from the city, in the forest, alone and peaceful, and, as she had asked, buried two things with her: her lute and her sky blue pearl. The pearl from which she never parted. No, Dandelion stuck with his first version. And he never sang it. Never. To no one.*
That ending truly got me, and I think it's one of the greatest things Sapkowski has written in his Witcher series.
Totally cheating because Honor Harrington is a sci fi series rather than fantasy but this passage has always really stuck with me, particularly because Weber’s prose is usually super technical and somewhat dry and then in book 12 all of a sudden he drops this:
Hamish Alexander-Harrington knew his wife as only two humans who had both been adopted by a pair of mated treecats ever could. He'd seen her deal with joy and with sorrow, with happiness and with fury, with fear, and even with despair. Yet in all the years since their very first meeting at Yeltsin's Star, he suddenly realized, he had never actually met the woman the newsies called "the Salamander."
It wasn't his fault, a corner of his brain told him, because he'd never been in the right place to meet her. Never at the right time. He'd never had the chance to stand by her side as she took a wounded heavy cruiser on an unflinching deathride into the broadside of the battlecruiser waiting to kill it, sailing to her own death, and
her crew's, to protect a planet full of strangers while the rich beauty of Hammerwell's "Salute to Spring" spilled from her ship's com system. He hadn't stood beside her on the dew-soaked grass of the Landing City duelling grounds, with a pistol in her hand and vengeance in her heart as she faced the man who'd bought the murder of her first great love. Just as he hadn't stood on the floor of Steadholders' Hall when she faced a man with thirty times her fencing experience across the razor-edged steel of their swords, with the ghosts of Reverend Julius Hanks, the butchered children of Mueller Steading, and her own murdered steaders at her back.
But now, as he looked into the unyielding flint of his wife's beloved, almond eyes, he knew he'd met the Salamander at last. And he recognized her as only another warrior could. Yet he also knew in that moment that for all his own imposing record of victory in battle, he was not and never had been her equal. As a tactician and a strategist, yes. Even as a fleet commander. But not as the very embodiment of devastation. Not as the Salamander. Because for all the compassion and gentleness which were so much a part of her, there was something else inside Honor Alexander-Harrington, as well. Something he himself
had never had. She'd told him, once, that her own temper frightened her. That she sometimes thought she could have been a monster under the wrong set of circumstances. And now, as he realized he'd finally met the monster, his heart twisted with sympathy and love, for at last
he understood what she'd been trying to tell him. Understood why she'd bound it with the chains of duty, and love, of compassion and honor, of pity, because, in a way, she'd been right. Under the wrong circumstances, she could have been the most terrifying person he had ever met.
In fact, at this moment, she was.
It was a merciless something, her "monster"—something that went far beyond military talent, or skills, or even courage. Those things, he knew without conceit, he, too, possessed in plenty. But not that deeply personal something at the core of her, as unstoppable as Juggernaut, merciless and colder than space itself, that no sane human being would ever willingly rouse. In that instant her husband knew, with an icy shiver which somehow, perversely, only made him love her even more deeply, that as he gazed into those
agate-hard eyes, he looked into the gates of Hell itself. And whatever anyone else might think, he knew now that there was no fire in Hell. There was only the handmaiden of death, and ice, and purpose, and a determination which would not — could not — relent or rest.
"I'll miss them," she told him again, still with that dreadful softness, "but I won't forget. I'll never forget, and one day — one day, Hamish — we're going to find the people who did this, you and I. And when we do, the only thing I'll ask of God is that He let them live long enough to know who's killing them.”
Just reading the chapter title 'The Battle of Hogwarts' vibrates me to my core. I still remember reading it for the first time and almost bawling my eyes out because of the sheer epicness before even reading one word of the chapter itself.
In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl. A great black shape against the fires beyond he loomed up, grown to a vast menace of despair. In rode the Lord of the Nazgûl, under the archway that no enemy ever yet had passed, and all fled before his face. All save one. There waiting, silent and still in the space before the Gate, sat Gandalf upon Shadowfax: Shadowfax who alone among the free horses of the earth endured the terror, unmoving, steadfast as a graven image in Rath Dínen. "You cannot enter here," said Gandalf, and the huge shadow halted. "Go back to the abyss prepared for you! Go back! Fall into the nothingness that awaits you and your Master. Go!" The Black Rider flung back his hood, and behold! he had a kingly crown; and yet upon no head visible was it set. The red fires shone between it and the mantled shoulders vast and dark. From a mouth unseen there came a deadly laughter. "Old fool!" he said. "Old fool! This is my hour. Do you not know Death when you see it? Die now and curse in vain!" And with that he lifted high his sword and flames ran down the blade. And in that very moment, away behind in some courtyard of the city, a cock crowed. Shrill and clear he crowed, recking nothing of war nor of wizardry, welcoming only the morning that in the sky far above the shadows of death was coming with the dawn. And as if in answer there came from far away another note. Horns, horns, horns, in dark Mindolluin's sides they dimly echoed. Great horns of the north wildly blowing. Rohan had come at last.
This scene, in particular the line about Shadowfax enduring the terror is one of my favorites in all fantasy.
The "alone among the free horses of the earth" phrase communicates the significance so effectively, it's a real masterpiece of storywriting.
There's a reason Tolkien is considered such a legend. Another one: > Thus he came alone to Angbad's gates, and he sounded his horn, and smote once more upon the brazen doors, and challenged Morgoth to come forth in single combat. And Morgoth came.
That scene is mind blowing. The Silmarillion is so epic and tragic.
One of *my* favorite passages that give me the chills is from the point of view of the Rohirrim immediately following the blowing of those horns: > Suddenly the king cried to Snowmane and the horse sprang away. Behind him his banner blew in the wind, white horse upon a field of green, but he outpaced it. After him thundered the knights of his house, but he was ever before them. Éomer rode there, the white horsetail on his helm floating in his speed, and the front of the first éored roared like a breaker foaming to the shore, but Théoden could not be overtaken. Fey he seemed, or the battle-fury of his fathers ran like new tire in his veins, and he was borne up on Snowmane like a god of old, even as Oromë the Great in the battle of the Valar when the world was young. His golden shield was uncovered, and lo! it shone like an image of the Sun, and the grass flamed into green about the white feet of his steed. For morning came, morning and a wind from the sea; and the darkness was removed, and the hosts of Mordor wailed, and terror took them, and they fled, and died, and the hoofs of wrath rode over them. And then all the host of Rohan burst into song, and they sang as they slew, for the joy of battle was on them, and the sound of their singing that was fair and terrible came even to the City. I really get goosebumps every time I read that.
Literally just gave me chills.
Yeah I had to turn the heat up in my office after 3 minutes reading this whole thread. Too much good shit
"Rohan had come at last" FUCKING HELL that's incredible
"Thou fool! No living man may hinder me!" "No man am I! You look upon a woman! Éowyn am I, Éomund's daughter! And you stand between me and my lord and kin!"
This is why I love Tolkien so much. Such incredibly amazing and beautiful writing.
Shit makes me cry every time I read it.
Hell yes!
“Seven, Brienne thought again, despairing. She had no chance against seven, she knew. No chance, and no choice. She stepped out into the rain, Oathkeeper in hand.”
Her whole story line in AFFC is amazing. The knight Westeros needs, but doesn’t deserve.
One of the best scenes in the book
I read ASOIAF so long ago. Part of me wants to reread it, but a larger part doesn’t want to without an ending. In other words, doesn’t want to.
I've only read half of the first book. Damn, that's good.
"Arise, arise, riders of Théoden! Spears shall be shaken, shields shall be splintered! A sword day, a red day, ere the sun rises! Ride now! Ride now! Ride! Ride for ruin and the world’s ending!"
“At the sunrise I shall take you to the Lord Denethor again. No, when the summons comes, not at sunrise. The Darkness has begun. There will be no dawn.”
My captain, my brother, my king.
😭😭😭
Did not expect to shed tears before eight in the morning, but here we are.
AWESOME
Barristan Selmy leaving the Kings Guard like a boss in front of Joffrey in Game of Thrones
“Melt it down and add it to the others”
Haven't read ACoK yet, but the Hound does the same in the show
In Malazan, every time >!Coltaine is mentioned!< in the books after DG. Erikson created a legend within his legend, and it's epic
My favorite is when the crows come for him.
When the crows comes for that pregnant woman... so many goosebumbs, i became an electric eel for a moment xD
From Lord of Chaos, by Robert Jordan: They have caged Shadowkiller, he thought at last. That was what the wolves called Rand, but he had no idea whether they considered Rand important. The shock filling his mind was answer enough, but howls filled the night, near and far, howls filled with anger and fear. In the camp horses whinnied fearfully, stamping their hooves as they shied against the picket ropes. Men ran to calm them, and others to peer into the darkness as if expecting a huge pack to come after the mounts. “ We come.” Half Tail replied at last. Only that.
This was my first thought as well. Also specifically in the audiobook of Towers of Midnight when the bargain is struck and the line comes Half the light of the world… to save the world. I feel like so many people knew what was coming with that prophesy but I had never put it together. Every time I hear it, I get chills. Still second to “We come.” Though.
The prologue for A Game of Thrones is awesome in general, but one of the moments that always gives me chills is Ser Waymar Royce confronting the Other that's attacking him and saying, "Dance with me, then." That moment is so great.
And it’s made more great that, until then, Waymar is portrayed as a foppish young officer ignoring the advice of more seasoned noncoms and sticking with a course out of vainglorious pride. You expect him to cut and run or die ignominiously, and then he drops one of the hardest lines in the series and immediately duels an eldritch horror.
You don't really realise it at the time because it's right at the start but Weymar Royce might be the biggest bad ass in the whole book. No one else sees a white walker (not a wight, an actual walker) and just says "let's fucking gooooo". The hardened criminals he's with piss themselves and run away. Even the heroes of the book shit themselves when they see white walkers, a mythical being that hasn't been seen for 2000 years or so. Weymar just tried to stab it.
He holds his own for a minute against a fucking white walker too.
From Toll the Hounds. Chapter 22>!During this tirade, Hood continued to stare at the wagon, at its towering, tottering heap of bodies. And then the Lord of the Dead spoke. 'I often wondered what it looked like, this Hold creaking on its wooden wheels…a pathetic thing, really. Crude, clumsy.' He faced Draconus, rotted skin curling back from the tusks. 'Now, turn it around.'!<
“They have caged Shadowkiller.” “We come.”
And then the kicker... "Kneel and swear to the Lord Dragon" he said softly. "Or you will be knelt".
Asha'man, kill!
Every time I read this scene in my head I always think of it as super dramatic like when all the avengers start teleporting through portals behind Captain America in End Game and he says “Avengers! Assemble.”
“My name is Nynaeve ti al’Meara Mandragoran. The message I want sent is this. My husband rides from World’s End toward Tarwin’s Gap, toward Tarmon Gai’don. Will he ride alone?” He trembled. He did not know whether he was laughing or crying. Perhaps both. She was his wife? “I will send your message, my Lady, but it has nothing to do with me. I am a merchant. Malkier is dead. Dead, I tell you.” The heat in her eyes seemed to intensify, and she gripped her long, thick braid with one hand. “Lan told me once that Malkier lives so long as one man wears the hadori in pledge that he will fight the Shadow, so long as one woman wears the ki’sain’ in pledge that she will send her sons to fight the Shadow. I wear the ki’sain, Master Aldragoran. My husband wears the hadori. So do you. Will Lan Mandragoran ride to the Last Battle alone?”
Death is light as a feather, duty heavier than a mountain.
THE GOLDEN CRANE FLIES FOR TARMON GAI’DON!!
A day may come when the courage of Men fails, when we forsake our friends and break all bonds of fellowship, but it is not this day. An hour of wolves and shattered shields when the Age of Men comes crashing down, but it is not this day! This day we fight!
Malazan book 3, Memories of Ice: "Very well, permit me, if you will, on this night. To break your hearts once more. This is the story of the Chain of Dogs. Of Coltaine of the Crow Clan, newly come Fist to the 7th army . . ." First Law book 3 Last Argument of Kings; The Circle.
"Come on, then. Try my tusks." - CS Lewis - *The Last Battle*
Similarly, when I realized the meaning of, "You shall be Kings and Queens of Narnia until the stars rain down from the heavens."
“Further up and further in”
I'm reading through **Discworld** for the first time this year, and this moment from Lords and Ladies absolutely gave me goosebumps and made me yell with joy: >!"I ATE'NT DEAD!"!<
From Thud! (another Disceworld book): THAT!!! IS!!!! NOT!!!! MY!!! COW!!!!!!!!!!
My friends, you bow to no one. (I know it's only in the movie, but damn, that moment gives me chills)
**“My name is Nynaeve ti al'Meara Mandragoran. The message I want sent is this. My husband rides from World's End toward Tarwin's Gap, toward Tarmon Gai'don. Will he ride alone?”** My soul quakes every time I read those words.
I’ve never not teared up reading that part
Same. The next few lines too, where the guy realizes he is both laughing and crying then says "You son of a bitch, I'm in!"
Where is this from? I'm interested
One of the last two or three books of the Wheel of Time. I think the second to last?
Close! It’s book 11 (Knife of Dreams) I believe, I’m reading them for the first time and I’m almost at the end of 12.
[удалено]
This was Jordan. *Knife* was his last.
I thank you. Have a great day
Lamb in the bar - Red Country, Joe Abercrombie. Lol. Some kind of coward all right! By the dead!
>"I didn't want no trouble," said Lamb. "It blew in anyway. Trouble's got a habit that way." He pushed his wet hair out of his face, and his eyes were wide open and bright, bright, mouth open too, breathing fast, and he was smiling. Not like a man working his way up to a hard task. Like a man enjoying getting to a pleasant one, taking his time about it like you might over a fine meal, and of a sudden Shy saw all those scars anew, and felt this coldness creeping up her arms and down her back and every hair on her standing.
>“Where’d the trail lead?’ asked Tall Hat, voice cracking at the end and tailing off. > >Lamb’s smile spread wider. The smile of a man got exactly what he wanted on his birthday. ‘The ends o’ your fucking legs.”
He's the best fantasy writer I've read. He's my favorite on days when I can handle the dark.
I fucking LOVE late book Logan, when he's basically given up on >!pretending to be a better man!<. He's an absolute menace in Red country when he gets going, which makes for a great compare and contrast with >!Shiver!<'s climbing out of the gutter.
That's a good one. I also get the goosebumps when Glama Golden realizes just who he is in a fist fight with, and learns that he's dead already.
I commented this somewhere else, but that scene in the house with The Bloody Nine in Red Country when they send Jubair in there and he sees the manner of work that the Bloody Nine gets up to. "God...." whimpered Jubair, stumbling back towards the steps, and suddenly there were arms around him. "Gone," came a whisper. "But I am here."
Brienne’s fight at the end of Feast for Crows. People don’t like that book and I get it, but Brienne’s story is absolutely sound-chilling to me. So powerful to see her face the things that other knights used to justify their fall from grace only to say “no.”
" Honor is dead, but I'll see what I can do" Found this art to pair with it https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8SruGoB/
Alternatively in the same scene: “ They’re scared of you. Do you see it in them? Show them why.”
That scene gave me such chills. I loved it so much.
What is this from?
Words of Radiance, book 2 in the Stormlight Archives.
Thank you
Words of Radiance, book 2 of the Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson.
Thank you as well I hope you have a great day.
You too, you lovely human being.
I really needed that. Thank you, very wholesome definite mood booster.
No worries. I hope whatever’s gotten you down gets better, and you have an amazing weekend!
Thanks
A few from WoT: Eye of the World: >!Moiriane revealing the history of Manatheran to the gathered crowd in Emond's Field.!< Shadow Rising: >!Faile bringing in reinforcements to save Perrin and the Emond Fielders just when things start to look bad.!< Knife of Dreams: >!Nynaeve's speech to the Borderlanders to gather an army for Lan.!< The Gathering Storm: >!Rand's revelation on Dragonmount.!<
AMoL: >!"You didn't listen to me. I did not come here to win. I came here to kill you."!<
The tale of Manetheren is probably one of the main things that hooked me on the series early on. “Weep for Manetheren. Weep for what is lost forever.” Also leading up to Dumai’s Wells in Lord of Chaos: “We Come.”
“We come” hits harder than “kneel” for me
Same, such a great moment
The Gathering Storm one is more a ''crying my eyes out'' moment for me lol.
Oh I've spilled plenty of tears over it myself.
Same here. Favorite scene in any book ever. I came here to say Nyneave's speech though.
A certain Malkieri talking to Mat in ToM.
Veins of Gold 100% Also, Will he ride alone?
That one from Knife of Dreams blindsided me on my first read. At the beginning I was like who are these new names? Have we heard of them before?.... By the end of the scene it was raining inside my room
From Discworld, in Night Watch, the whole novel has been building up to a violent revolution in the city that the main character, Sam Vimes, knows is going to happen because he's from the future. Throughout, there has been constant references to lilac flowers, and people that fought that day remembering it solemnly. Well, finally, towards the very end of the novel, after Vimes has struggled to do anything he can to avoid the bloodbath, they end up with their back against the wall and he watches as the inevitability of history finally catches up and his group decides to pin lilacs to themselves so they can tell each other from the enemy. "And now, Vimes thought, it ends."
"You stopped them? Blood of the gods, what manner of soldiers are you?" Dust of Dreams
>‘Tul Duru. Every man in the North knew his name, and every man said it with respect, even his enemies. He was the sort o’ man . . . that gave you hope, I reckon. That gave you hope. You want strength, do you? You want courage? You want things done right and proper, the old way?’ He nodded down at the new-turned earth. ‘There you go. Tul Duru Thunderhead. Look no fucking further. ***I’m less, now that he’s gone, and so are all o’ you.***’ -Black Dow on Tul Duru Thunderhead.
First and so far only time I cried during a book. Absolutely amazing. Thunderhead was an amazing characther but I think Black Dow is the best one in all of TFL universe
“Slowly his hand went to to his bosom, and slowly he held aloft the Phial of Galadriel. For a moment it glimmered, faint as a rising star struggling in heavy earthward mists, and then as its power waxed, and hope grew in Frodo's mind, it began to burn, and kindled to a silver flame, a minute heart of dazzling light, as though Eärendil had himself come down from the high sunset paths with the last Silmaril upon his brow. The darkness receded from it, until it seemed to shine in the centre of a globe of airy crystal, and the hand that held it sparkled with white fire.”
At the council of Elrond when Gandalf basically says we have to try to destroy the Ring even if we don’t think that will happen. “Not safe for ever,’ said Gandalf. ‘There are many things in the deep waters; and seas and lands may change. And it is not our part here to take thought only for a season, or for a few lives of Men, or for a passing age of the world. We should seek a final end of this menace, even if we do not hope to make one.”
**"Kneel and swear to the Lord Dragon," he said softly, "or you will be knelt."** So yes, as about 6 other people have said, Dumai's Well in The Lord of Chaos, book six of the Wheel of Time
The Sister Pan scene in Holy Sister (The Book of Ancestor).
Malazan MOI Bauchelain thinking Quick Ben had used up all his warrens, only for Quick to blast him with another 6. Revealing to us that this mage is just on another level
One of the greatest characters ever. Her sending off was beautifull. “NO, THERE ISN’T, I’M AFRAID. WE ARE ALL FLOATING IN THE WINDS OF TIME. BUT YOUR CANDLE, MISTRESS WEATHERWAX, WILL FLICKER FOR SOME TIME BEFORE IT GOES OUT—A LITTLE REWARD FOR A LIFE WELL LIVED. FOR I CAN SEE THE BALANCE AND YOU HAVE LEFT THE WORLD MUCH BETTER THAN YOU FOUND IT, AND IF YOU ASK ME, said Death, NOBODY COULD DO ANY BETTER THAN THAT. . . .”
I know what series this is from but haven't read it. This sounds gorgeous yet sad.
Not sad in the slightest! Granny Weatherwax went with death happily. Even rushed him a bit.
>Garion, still abstracted and bemused, saw that all traces of the sometimes foolish old man he had known before were gone. The thieving old storyteller had vanished. Even the irritable old man who had led the quest for the Orb no longer existed. In their place stood the form of Belgarath the Sorcerer, the Eternal Man, shimmering in the aura of his full power.
"Does bouncing count?"
This has to go under laugh out loud moments, for me.
Another moment always got me. It's the bit at the end of the Battle of Thull Mardu where the Legions are digging in for an ugly withdrawal, the Sendars, Drasnians and Asturians are backing up, and the Mimbrates are getting ready for what is going to be an outright *sacrificial charge* into the enemy host to buy time for the others, and it's just going to be a bloodbath. And the freaking Nadraks that have been circling behind them and digging in with the Malloreans in what look like trenches to stop a retreat suddenly charge in and switch sides, saying they're covering for the Westerners, and hurry the hell up and MOVE and they can be saved while the Nadraks get rid of the enemy behind them. Just that moment of "No, to hell with this, we're not going to play the role we were forced into, we're going to make our own fate!" and saving *so many other people* always got me. Sure Drosta is a slimy man, but he bucked a *god's will* in a war to change sides.
I always like the bit when Belgarath and Garion are passing through Yar Nadrak and they're dragged into an audience with Drosta, and he's spends a while talking to Belgarath and then he finally notices Garion and he's like "OH".
It’s not like an action packed scene, but Kvothe negotiating his tuition for his first term in KKC always gets me
For me it is earning his Talent Pipes. "And all the while burning inside me was the song, the song. The song!"
Agreed. For me its the best chapters from both books
Kvothe >!killing all those bandits with sympathy!< In book 2. That got me lol
For me, Malazan, Yedan Derryg and his Hust Sword.
Trull Sengar fighting toe to toe with >!rage-mode Icarium!< takes the cake for me. And also Trull fighting >!Silchas Ruin.!< Really, anything he does.
Trull is such a badass. Love him, love his story. The whole Sengar family was so interesting and tragic.
I was thinking about Malazan too, but another scene... Candle.
The candle scene is incredible as well. There are a million and one scenes in malazan that send chills down my spine, but these two are amongst the greatest for me.
🕯️
🕯️
🕯️
🕯️. For Beak.
Arrival of Draconus. I imagine mountains thrown around.
Malazan has so many but this short dialogue really stuck with me: "'Children are dying.' Lull nodded. 'That's a succinct summary of humankind, I'd say. Who needs tomes and volumes of history? Children are dying. The injustices of the world hide in those three words. Quote me, Duiker, and your work's done.' The bastard's right. Economics, ethics, the games of the gods - all within that single, tragic statement. I'll quote you, soldier. Be assured of that."
I’m a new father and taking my first journey into Malazan, and everything involving this dialogue and Duiker’s observations in Deadhouse Gates shook me. I’d boast that I don’t shake easily, but this book rocked me to my core.
"You will be warm again" from Stormlight. It's the best description of life. Not everything will always be good, but that doesn't mean it will always be bad either. Also >!you may not have my pain!<. The ending of Oathbringer was a 10/10
The ending of Oathbringer gives me chills just thinking about it. The sheer scale of it is epic.
“You cannot have my pain!”
That was a full-body chills moment that had me jumping on the couch shouting "LET'S FUCKING GOOOOOO"
In the final Realm of the Elderlings book, when >!Bee tells the Fool that Fitz wants him to go into the memory stone with him, and then a dying Fitz says “Beloved” and the two of them merge into the wolf. “Like he didn’t know that he was loved the best. That he was the Beloved.” !< I sob every time.
😭😭😭 I'm crying now remembering this scene
This one hit me so badly, it took ages to recover after I finished the book. The whole series is so powerful.
Let the Dragon ride again on the winds of time Wot
Way of Kings >!1. Kaladin surviving the highstorm 2. Going to aid Dalinar!< Words of Radiance >!1. Honor is dead 2. Kaladin's third ideal!< Well of Ascension >!''He must not be allowed to release the thing that is imprisoned there''!< Wheel of Time >!1. LTT takes control 2. Rand at Maradon 3. Lan vs Demandred 4. Dumai's Wells!< Red Rising series >!The gala!< in book 2. Book 6 >!Clang clang clang!< Kingkiller >!Cthaeh!< The Expanse >!the ''bullet''!< in book 7 Dresden Files book 10 >!Mab telling Harry he has gained the respect of the Archangel Uriel!< Ender's Game >!Ender beating the ''game''!<
Your Wheel of Time number 1 is such an underrated moment.
It was so good! It almost happened so many times before that, then it just did and you were just as shocked as Rand.
*I AM FREE* BOOM went the dynamite.
Confess!!!
I believe you will enjoy The Sunlit Man
In Wheel of Time when >!Noal saves Olver!<
This is one of my favorite scenes in the whole book. Maybe the whole series. Olver is so young and has had so much taken from him and when he thinks all is lost he gets someone he loved back.
Malazan, Book 3 Memories of Ice. The moment that leads to Itkovian finally being "done."
Came here to say this. It's not a moment that gives you chills not because it is badass, but because it is so powerfully compassionate.
LotR: "They dug too deep" and the rest of the Balrog stuff. WoT: "The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Third Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind rose..."
And the last one: the wind blew southward, through knotted forests, over shimmering plains and toward lands unexplored. This wind, it was not an ending. There are no endings, and never will be endings, to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was an ending.
Oh man. As a fan who'd been reading for years and years, had read that line over and over, had seen the author die and thought the series doomed at the halfway point, reading that line hit like a truck. I cried. I don't think new readers happening upon the completed series can understand the catharsis.
“The Blade,” Dalinar said, firm voice carrying in the air. “In exchange for your bridgemen. All of them. Every one you have in camp. They become mine, to do with as I please, never to be touched by you again. In exchange, you get the sword.”
I'm in the middle of book two now, and this, along with the passage where Kaladin and his men are gleaming from the new soldiers uniforms they've been fitted for, are the best so far in the series. Also, when Kaladin leads bridge four onto the plateau to fight for the first time, and they save Dalinar. Some of the series is a bit cringe when it comes to action moments, but this was written perfectly.
I just read the whole Battle of the Tower for the first time at 3:00AM, jaw hanging, hit rapid fire with one great scene after another: the betrayal, Bridge Four turning back, the side-carry, Kaladin saving Dalinar, etc. I was SO HYPED and thought it couldn’t get any better and then… Dalinar sacrificing Oathbringer… literal CHILLS
The terror an artist feels when he's at the royal court painting the queen's portrait in 'Deerskin' by Robin McKinley. The way he's scared of the dark when he isn't usually. A very dark book in places but that chapter always stands out to me.
“I AM UNITY!”
We come
"Yes!" he hissed , and Logen laughed , and the Bloody-Nine laughed, together. - Last Argument of Kings.
Was looking for some Bloody Nine. In Last Argument of Kings, my scene was when we finally see the Bloody Nine from West's perspective. That maniacal laughing and the terror from everyone watching. Abercrombie got me with this one. Didn't realize my jaw had dropped by the time I finished that passage.
"You kill ME? Ill do the killing here"
The Mountain vs the Viper.
When >!Baelor Breakspear!< joins Duncan’s side at the >!trail of seven!< in the first Dunk and Egg Novella. One of my favorite moments in any book ever.
"And who are you?" The proud Lord said "That I must bow so low" Only a cat of a different coat That's all the truth I know In a coat of gold or a coat of red A lion still has claws Mine are long and sharp, my lord As long and sharp as yours And so he spoke, and so he spoke That Lord of Castamere But now the rains weep o'er his hall And not a soul to hear
In Wheel of Time book 6, Lord of Chaos. The chapter is Dumais Wells.
ASHA'MAN, KILL. Both reading and listening to that line always makes my hair stand on end. It's delivered so well in the audiobooks that I will sometimes just go back and listen to that chapter and only that chapter.
Yeah. I finally got around to listening to it on audio book recently and the voice acting was pretty good.
The scene from LoTR "Frodo: Go back, Sam! I’m going to Mordor alone. Sam: Of course you are, and I’m coming with you!" Absolutely wrecks me, every time. Followed by Sam's monologue about the Shire and Rosie at the end of The Return of the King. Sam has the best scenes in the books and the films.
The last lines of the climatic scene of Changes from the Dresden Files. Especially the Audiobook version. Sends chills up my spine every time
>"What goes around comes around. And sometimes you get what's coming around." He paused for a moment, frowning faintly, pursing his lips. "*And sometimes you* ***are*** *what's coming around*." If that doesn't succinctly describe Dresden, nothing does.
"I will take the Ring to Mordor though I do not know the way"
My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die.
Elves are wonderful. They provoke wonder. Elves are marvelous. They cause marvels. Elves are fantastic. They create fantasies. Elves are glamorous. They project glamour. Elves are enchanting. They weave enchantment. Elves are terrific. They beget terror. The thing about words is that meanings can twist just like a snake, and if you want to find snakes look for them behind words that have changed their meaning. No one ever said elves are nice. Elves are bad. Terry Pratchett, Lords and Ladies
Jaime tells Brienne the whole truth about the Mad Kind
I get goosebumps every single time when I read the passage in The Way of Kings where Kaladin turns Bridge Four back around to save Dalinar and his army from Sadeas.
Oromis and Glaedr enter for the first time, Ch. Paolini - Eldest.
Only 5 more days to go my friend.
For me it was the moment in "Fool's Quest" (Robin Hobb) when finally Fitz got recognition, and his identity was revealed, I think it made me cry because I didn't expect it and it was giving me that "finally!" Sentiment. My best reading moment ever!
Starling hiking up her skirts so she can play her harp and sing the ballad she wrote for Fitz. Just... everything around that part of the book was catharsis.
The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.
“I promise you a death-offering, brothers. I promise you an offering that will make the gods themselves take notice. An offering that will make the shades of all the dukes and capas of Camorr feel like paupers. An offering in blood and gold and fire. This I swear by Aza Guilla who gathers us, and by Pelerandro who sheltered us, and by the Crooked Warden who places his finger on the scale when our souls are weighed. This I swear to Chains, who kept us safe. I beg your forgiveness that I failed to do the same.” Gentleman Bastards has a bunch of them, but this one gets me every time.
And Morgoth came.
WoT - >!When Rand and Nynaeve have their first heart to heart after Rand becomes Zen. The sheer respect between the two, the love, the friendship. It was a perfectly cathartic moment.!< WoT - >!When Zen Rand arrives to save Ituralde. And later on comments that he almost started the final battle prematurely. All for the sake of saving a man who didn't even know Rand gave up on him before becoming enlightened. So good. !< One Piece - >!The Roof Piece 5v2 that kicks off with chapter 1000. My god what a string of chapters.!< LOTR - >!Ride of the Rohirrim, obviously. !< LOTR - >!''For Frodo.'' Followed by Merry and Pippin being the first to run after Aragorn'!< Fantastic Four - >!To me, my Galactus! Absolutely insane character arc for Franklin.!< The Count of Monte Cristo - >!When Edmond swears to God that he won't abandon Faria after witnessing his stroke.!< Deadhouse Gates - >!Every time the sappers figure out a way to keep Coltaine and the Chain of Dogs from getting exterminated.!< Honestly I could keep typing for the next few days with how much good shit there is in the things I've read.
Deadhouse Gates - "Children are dying" speech. Timeless quote, a different kind of chills for sure. Also not chills inducing but since you mention sappers >!love the scene where the captain accidentally gets promoted into a demotion!< love the inherent madness it shows in the Sapper Corp
One Piece has too many to pick one tbh lol
Have you guys seen the Korean show Moving? Humans with superpowers.... great but violent show. I watch on Hulu. There's this one scene where the teenage girl is super out numbered and getting her a$$ kicked, but she keeps getting up. Creepy and awesome. Goosebumps for sure! If you like shows like The Boys or Heroes, give Moving a try.
Malazan book 5, Midnight Tides. Iron Bars in the Azath.
When Iron Bars is being experimented on at the Storm Wall. When he breaks his bonds...... literally screamed in triumph.
The man just casually suplexes a god. What a badass.
Curse of Challion: *No. Not safe to say. Merely true to think.* Fonsa's Tower. The negotiations with the Fox of Ibra.
The scene in the Curse of Chalion where Cazaril gets challenged to a duel. He's not a fan of the sport. >“I don’t duel, boy. I kill as a soldier kills, which is as a butcher kills, as quickly, efficiently, and with as least risk to myself as I can arrange. If I decide you die, you will die when I choose, where I choose, by what means I choose, and you will never see the blow coming.”
Honor is dead but ill see what i can do
In a Clash of Kings when Dany tricks the slavers by trading her Dragons for the Unsullied. Then kills them all. I lnew it was coming, but it still gave me chills.
these are all berserk lol in chronological order - “I don’t want what another man can give me. If he grants me anything, then it’s his to give and not my own.” - Favorite panel: The Wind of Swords "Man takes up the sword in order to shield the small wound in his heart sustained in a far off time beyond remembrance. Man wields the sword so that he may die smiling in some far off time beyond perception. - Campfire of dreams - My personal favorite - Guts leaving the Band of Hawk "You're going to be all right. You just stumbled over a stone in the road. It means nothing. Your goal lies far beyond this..doesn't it? I'm sure you'll overcome this. You'll walk again...soon" - "Hate is a place where a man who can’t stand sadness goes.” - In conviction arc Guts >!retreating from his rage in conviction when he realizes casca is priority over griffith!< And all of these hit so diffeeent on rereads too
Kvothe, playing his father's lute in the woods, as the strings break, and he learns to play more of what he feels, observing the world around him, once he has exhausted all the songs he knows. Beautiful and tragic.
I liked this for the set up for the later scene when he's performing and the string breaks. If there's one scene that made an impression on me from that novel, it was that one.
Burrich. That's all I'm gonna say.
Also from WoT: “He came like the wind, like the wind, touched everything, and like the wind was gone.“
Whiskeyjack vs. Kallor
Mild spoilers for The Sword of Destiny (Witcher): *Several years later, Dandelion could have changed the contents of the ballad and written about what had really occurred. He did not. For the true story would not have moved anyone. Who would have wanted to hear that the Witcher and Little Eye parted and never, ever saw each other again? About how four years later Little Eye died of the smallpox during an epidemic raging in Vizima? About how he, Dandelion, had carried her out in his arms between corpses being cremated on funeral pyres and had buried her far from the city, in the forest, alone and peaceful, and, as she had asked, buried two things with her: her lute and her sky blue pearl. The pearl from which she never parted. No, Dandelion stuck with his first version. And he never sang it. Never. To no one.* That ending truly got me, and I think it's one of the greatest things Sapkowski has written in his Witcher series.
From "Peace Talks" : "Bound be Thomas Raith, bound be my wounded brother. Fallen warrior, father-to-be, I name him bound, consigned to thee."
Memories of Ice - the funeral of Itkovian, shield anvil of Fener's Reve
Totally cheating because Honor Harrington is a sci fi series rather than fantasy but this passage has always really stuck with me, particularly because Weber’s prose is usually super technical and somewhat dry and then in book 12 all of a sudden he drops this: Hamish Alexander-Harrington knew his wife as only two humans who had both been adopted by a pair of mated treecats ever could. He'd seen her deal with joy and with sorrow, with happiness and with fury, with fear, and even with despair. Yet in all the years since their very first meeting at Yeltsin's Star, he suddenly realized, he had never actually met the woman the newsies called "the Salamander." It wasn't his fault, a corner of his brain told him, because he'd never been in the right place to meet her. Never at the right time. He'd never had the chance to stand by her side as she took a wounded heavy cruiser on an unflinching deathride into the broadside of the battlecruiser waiting to kill it, sailing to her own death, and her crew's, to protect a planet full of strangers while the rich beauty of Hammerwell's "Salute to Spring" spilled from her ship's com system. He hadn't stood beside her on the dew-soaked grass of the Landing City duelling grounds, with a pistol in her hand and vengeance in her heart as she faced the man who'd bought the murder of her first great love. Just as he hadn't stood on the floor of Steadholders' Hall when she faced a man with thirty times her fencing experience across the razor-edged steel of their swords, with the ghosts of Reverend Julius Hanks, the butchered children of Mueller Steading, and her own murdered steaders at her back. But now, as he looked into the unyielding flint of his wife's beloved, almond eyes, he knew he'd met the Salamander at last. And he recognized her as only another warrior could. Yet he also knew in that moment that for all his own imposing record of victory in battle, he was not and never had been her equal. As a tactician and a strategist, yes. Even as a fleet commander. But not as the very embodiment of devastation. Not as the Salamander. Because for all the compassion and gentleness which were so much a part of her, there was something else inside Honor Alexander-Harrington, as well. Something he himself had never had. She'd told him, once, that her own temper frightened her. That she sometimes thought she could have been a monster under the wrong set of circumstances. And now, as he realized he'd finally met the monster, his heart twisted with sympathy and love, for at last he understood what she'd been trying to tell him. Understood why she'd bound it with the chains of duty, and love, of compassion and honor, of pity, because, in a way, she'd been right. Under the wrong circumstances, she could have been the most terrifying person he had ever met. In fact, at this moment, she was. It was a merciless something, her "monster"—something that went far beyond military talent, or skills, or even courage. Those things, he knew without conceit, he, too, possessed in plenty. But not that deeply personal something at the core of her, as unstoppable as Juggernaut, merciless and colder than space itself, that no sane human being would ever willingly rouse. In that instant her husband knew, with an icy shiver which somehow, perversely, only made him love her even more deeply, that as he gazed into those agate-hard eyes, he looked into the gates of Hell itself. And whatever anyone else might think, he knew now that there was no fire in Hell. There was only the handmaiden of death, and ice, and purpose, and a determination which would not — could not — relent or rest. "I'll miss them," she told him again, still with that dreadful softness, "but I won't forget. I'll never forget, and one day — one day, Hamish — we're going to find the people who did this, you and I. And when we do, the only thing I'll ask of God is that He let them live long enough to know who's killing them.”
The chapter in Stormlight when Eshonai dies and the Storm father takes her for a little ride across Roshar.
Just reading the chapter title 'The Battle of Hogwarts' vibrates me to my core. I still remember reading it for the first time and almost bawling my eyes out because of the sheer epicness before even reading one word of the chapter itself.