Watership Down/Awesome

"Bigwig: "My chief rabbit has told me to defend this run, and until he says otherwise I shall stay here.""
 * Bigwig gets one when

"Bigwig: "You told me once to start by impressing you, General. I hope I have."
 * It actually becomes the crowning moment for two characters, both Bigwig, who just beat the Big Bad, and Hazel, who Bigwig swears at the beginning he would never call Hazel Chief Rabbit.
 * In fact Bigwig does use the honorific suffix 'rah' to Hazel for the first time after the terrifying escape from Efrafa; 'I couldn't do it again, Hazelrah.' Of course a page or two later he's back to his old self. 'Now I'm going to sleep and Frith help you if you say I'm not, Hazel.'
 * Also when Bigwig says "Silflay hraka" when Woundwort tells him to get out of his way.
 * Mild Fridge Brilliance there as well, since he called Woundwort embleer rah. "Embleer" is defined early in the novel as "the scent of a fox." So -- "stinking prince" or "rabbit chieftain with the scent of a predator"?
 * It also succeeds in completely freaking out the other enemy rabbits,
 * The moment is so emotionally complex that it's hard to decide whether you're seeing an attempted Dying Moment of Awesome, Crowning Moment of Heartwarming, The Determinator, attempted Thanatos Gambit or just plain Taking You with Me. However, it's definitely an awesome You Shall Not Pass.
 * One mass awesome moment:
 * "Your storm, Thlayli-rah. Use it."
 * Fiver gets his Crowning Moment in the siege on Watership too. When the Efrafans break through the ceiling into the Honeycomb, he's in such a deep trance they assume he's dead.
 * Even more notable, because.
 * Not to mention that he first sends several enemy running with the screaming willies.
 * Hazel's visionary speech to Woundwart before he  is subtle, but definitely counts. His more obvious one comes a little later when he.
 * As the author points out, Hazel manages to expose Woundwort as the vicious tyrant he is, rather than the visionary he claims to be.
 * Woundwort himself has a crowning moment with his cry of "Come back, you cowards! Dogs aren't dangerous!" with the later implication that he not only survived the encounter, but actually sent the dog home early.

Woundwort: "I told you once that I would kill you myself.""

"Hazel felt so much frightened that he could no longer collect his wits.... Only one idea remained to him--Bigwig must be prevented from going out, for he was helpless."
 * Don't forget that Woundwort managed to take over a warren in spite of wild rabbits' attitude towards hutch-raised rabbits. Woundwort, you Magnificent Bastard, I read your book!
 * Let's not forget when Hazel pushed Bigwig aside and went out to meet the Black Rabbit of Inle in his place. The Black Rabbit being basically Death incarnate, and a Trickster version at that - the only being besides Frith (God) to out-trick the rabbits' folk hero El-ahrairah.


 * Finally, it should be noted that all these characters are non-anthropomorphic rabbits, and still manage to be every bit as much badasses as pretty much everyone else in any other work who has achieved a Moment of Awesome, if not more so.
 * Truth in Television here: NEVER take a rabbit lightly. Those things can be vicious.
 * One of the in-universe stories has an exceptional CMOA for El-ahrairah, the legendary chief rabbit.