Tropes again: "Badass Normal"

[krait]

gramarye1971 suggested the "Badass Normal" trope, where an unenhanced character holds their own against superpowered or supernatural competition.

This is another trope that I really don't think about as a thing in itself, but I definitely have a number of canons where it features!


Okay, first: Fullmetal Alchemist is full of these! In a world where alchemists can burn people to death at a hundred yards by snapping their fingers or opening a rift in the ground, and manmade 'people' who can be ripped apart and knit themselves together, we also have a bunch of characters who keep up with them without alchemy. Olivier Armstrong is an incredible swordswoman and commands one of the hardest garrisons in Amestris. Hawkeye is a crack marksman and has saved the life of her alchemist commander multiple times. Prince Ling is possessed by a centuries-old alchemical entity, and repeatedly takes back control from it; not to mention he's a superb martial artist.

Second: Commander Vimes of the Discworld Night Watch has gone up against dragons, mad golems, political conspiracies, a violent rebellion, manhunting fascist werewolves, an entire war, and a millennia-old supernatural entity of vengeance. He's a former alcoholic from a poor family whose preferred weapons are a badge, a truncheon, a pair of cheap boots, and a set of brass knuckles in reserve in a back pocket. Toward the end of the series, we find out that the Assassin's Guild no longer accepts contracts on him, but they send their students out on mock missions against him as a test. So far none have passed.

Third: Homestuck has several of these! Most notable might be Karkat Vantas - he's surrounded on one side by low-caste trolls with phenomenal psychic powers, and on the other with high-caste trolls who have super-strength, psychic invulnerability, and near-immortality. Karkat has none of the advantages of either group, and on top of that he's a mutant in a culture that culls mutants. (Actually, this brings up a question! Does a character like this count toward the Badass Normal trope, or does it fall into a separate category? Being a mutant means Karkat's not just disadvantaged compared to the more powerful characters, he's disadvantaged compared to everyone, which feels like it might disqualify him for the "Normal" part of the trope...?)

Nepeta Leijon is in a similar position, minus the mutant bit; a relatively low-caste troll with no psionic abilities, Nepeta hunts and kills deadly wild animals with clawed gloves. (Okay, her 'mom' is an enormous alien feline, which probably helps with learning great hunting skills, but still. By contrast, highblooded Eridan hunts with an energy rifle.) It takes an actually immortal high-caste troll with psychic fear powers to kill her, and she's distracted by having just watched her friends die. Of Gamzee's six (I think) victims, she's also the only one who manages to land a blow on him; she slashes his face with her claws, which means she was still fighting while in arm's reach of a larger, stronger, fear-projecting murderous highblood.

Oh, and I thought of a fourth example! I ultimately disliked the series and gave up on it after eight books, but Karrin Murphy from the Dresden Files novels by Jim Butcher qualifies. Harry Dresden is a wizard; he tangles with elves, werewolves, vampires, and evil magicians. Karrin's a cop and a martial artist, but she holds her own with Harry and the various entities they encounter.


More arguable examples would include:
* Vladimir Taltos, who has magical talents (common to every citizen of the Empire) but is shorter, weaker, and with a fraction of the lifespan of the Empire's other citizens, not to mention a second-class citizen on account of his race. He powers up over the course of the books, though.
*Mei Changsu, who had incredible martial arts skills and noble status, but after his illness is no longer able to fight and is presumed dead. By dint of persuasion, manipulation, and sheer stubbornness he manages to overthrow two princes and overrule an Emperor.


Since I'm not accustomed to thinking about this trope as a distinct thing, I'm very interested in hearing your thoughts and recs. What characters do you consider prime examples? Where do you draw the line for "normal," especially for characters who have long-running arcs that lead to significant increases in power/skill?

Comments

[hamsterwoman]

Murphy is a great example! (also Marcone, for the same series)

I absolutely think of Vlad as a Badass Normal type, though you are of course right that after Issola he is not exactly underpowered! But, just, like, based on the company he keeps ("Morrolan carried Blackwand, which slew a thousand at the Wall of Barrit’s Tomb. Aliera carried Pathfinder, which they say served a power higher than the Empire. Sethra carried Iceflame, which embodied within it the power of the Dzur Mountain. I carried myself rather well, thank you.”), and the fact that he perceives himself that way, I think, as someone who is always squaring off against more powerful opponents.

[krait]

That's a great point about Vlad's own self-perception. Especially in first-person POV, it's really easy to take Vlad at his word about things and not notice the things he doesn't notice. For instance, he mentions Valabar being kind of impressed by Vlad as a 'nobody who made good' against Dragaerans, but Valabar is kind of an outlier among Easterners himself, and we definitely don't see the average citizen reacting to Vlad like this. I'm pretty sure there were a couple scenes where Vlad casually notes Easterners unconsciously moving out of his way when he's not doing anything particularly threatening, but Vlad doesn't spend the time on this that he does on Valabar. (Which in itself says something about whom Vlad spends time with, and whose opinions he values or considers worth noting! But in first person that's really easy to miss.)

[hamsterwoman]

Yeah, it's quite easy to get taken in by Vlad's view of himself, if one isn't careful. Because you're absolutely right -- not only do I also seem to recall Easterners being nervous around him (in Teckla, I'm pretty sure, and maybe elsewhere too), but Savn's POV in Athyra also hardly shows Vlad as a poor little underdog. (And I do think Vlad himself is getting a bit better about being self-aware, and not just seeing everything in terms of him vs the Orca bullies who used to beat him up as a kid. But I do think he still has to fight against that self-perception of himself as an Easterner kid who managed to stick it to the Dragaerans armed with nothing but his wits and his Eastern fencing tricks, despite the fact that most of the top powers in the Empire now have his back (where their honor and/or millennia-spanning plans permit, of course) and the Empress periodically asks him around to lunch. Thus, the general Badass Normal attitude he projects, which is so fun, it's hard not to buy into (especially if one likes Badass Normal characters, and I do).

but Vlad doesn't spend the time on this that he does on Valabar. (Which in itself says something about whom Vlad spends time with, and whose opinions he values or considers worth noting!

Very true! This and related Vlad blindspots is one of my favorite things about rereading these books. Oh Vlad, so Easterner with his mustache and his rapier and his witchcraft and his pride in Fenarian cooking, and his one (1) whole Easterner friend he is not related to by blood or marriage. :P