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The most frightening aspect of a character.

For myself, fear of the unknown is really intense. It's something that I've always loved about Lovecraft's work. Also, villains who are cold and mysterious can be quite frightening. To me, Baelish in Game of Thrones is one of the most frightening individuals, simply because he is so good at hiding his plans and is so cold/ruthless, he becomes unpredictable. And he is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals.
 
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For myself, fear of the unknown is really intense. It's something that I've always loved about Lovecraft's work. Also, villains who are cold and mysterious can be quite frightening. To me, Baelish in Game of Thrones is one of the most frightening individuals, simply because he is so good at hiding his plans and is so cold/ruthless, he becomes unpredictable. And he is willing to do whatever it takes to achieve his goals.

The villains in The Case of Charles Dexter Ward were especially creepy.
 

Ban

Troglodytic Trouvère
Article Team
I see that a lot of people are afraid of that which they don't know or can't predict. Be it a poker-faced individual with a twisted mind, an existential horror like Cthulhu or an overarching entity like a secret society governing us. I don't know if the last was mentioned, but i know many conspiracy people are scared of that.

But is an unknown/unpredictable entity scarier to you guys than an established horror? Isn't it weird that we consider an undirect threat like a mysterious figure planning some devious unknown plan more unnerving than a guy with a chainsaw, whose backstory and motives we know? I agree though, right now as i am sitting here Mister Chainy McChainsaw does not scare me, but Mysteryman might a little bit.
 
I'm also reminded of movies where the central character has stumbled upon a cult, secret society or government conspiracy and is constantly being spied upon or attacked by the goons set out by the leadership to silence them.

The mob/crowd is more frightening than the individuals that are a part of it, more so than when they are by themselves.
 
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Creed

Sage
I see that a lot of people are afraid of that which they don't know or can't predict. Be it a poker-faced individual with a twisted mind, an existential horror like Cthulhu or an overarching entity like a secret society governing us. I don't know if the last was mentioned, but i know many conspiracy people are scared of that.

But is an unknown/unpredictable entity scarier to you guys than an established horror? Isn't it weird that we consider an undirect threat like a mysterious figure planning some devious unknown plan more unnerving than a guy with a chainsaw, whose backstory and motives we know? I agree though, right now as i am sitting here Mister Chainy McChainsaw does not scare me, but Mysteryman might a little bit.

Mister Chainy McChainsaw might be best for creating mortal terror and jump-scares.

But the others you've mentioned, they seem to be more psychologically involved. They create unease, eeriness, and at their best a deep-rooted horror that's in your head and you can't stop thinking about at 2am when the lights are off...

Both are scary. Both cause your body to react strongly. But one plays on survival, while the others play on what seem to be collective "existential horror(s)" like, first and foremost, the unknown. If you don't know what they are, who they are, what they look like, what their motives are, what they're capable of... Well, you're left with your own projected fears and a hyperactive imagination.
 
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hchoate

New Member
For me the scariest thing is betrayal. When you find out the villain was someone who you trusted and you thought you knew. How do you even trust your judgement or yourself after that? It's a terrifying thought and it can make you your own enemy when you start to doubt yourself.

I agree to this.
 
I thought long and hard about what kind of villain terrified me the most. And then it clicked.

When I was a kid, my parents watched a lot of Star Trek: The Next Generation and Star Trek: Voyager. One of the biggest antagonists in both of those shows was an entity known as the Borg. The Borg are a collective race, controlled by a single hive mind. They travel the galaxy in the mission to assimilate any race that they deem important enough to lead their race to collective perfection. Once assimilated, all individuality and personality is lost. The victim becomes a mindless drone. The Borg drones can also adapt themselves to attacks, making them virtually unstoppable.

The Borg scared me so bad when I was younger. And when I got back into Star Trek six years ago at the age of 13, I had to stop watching First Contact because Picard's nightmare about the Borg disturbed me. Today, I'm not as scared of the Borg as I used to be. Probably because I know that it's just a show. But they still make me a little uneasy. I find the whole "losing who you are in the quest for perfection" idea unnerving and a little scary.
 

imagine123

Dreamer
I apologize for resurrecting a dead thread, but I enjoyed reading through the backlog. I'm sure others have mentioned it, but the image that kept coming up for me while reading this thread was an aerial image of someone swimming in the ocean. You can see them, kicking along in aqua waters, but you can also see how, below them, the water becomes darker and darker. Impenetrable.

This is terrifying because there's no way of knowing what's down there. @FifthView's post regarding extraterrestrials is terrifying (incidentally, I'm one of those people who thinks that we should lay low when it comes to extraterrestrial contact).

It all ties back to the unknown, the alien, for me. There are things we know that we know, things we know we don't know, and then things we don't know that we don't know. There can be no preparation against the last category. How can you protect yourself from something when you don't know how, or when, or where it will come for you? How do you protect yourself from something when you don't even know that it exists?

In regards to characters, I've been rewatching the first couple of seasons of Person of Interest that last couple of days. The scene in Identity Crisis (S1 E18) between the serial killer and Harold was unnerving because of how off the serial killer was acting. He acted like someone who didn't know how to act like a person, trying to act like a person. That "not-quite" way of interacting made him an unknown entity.
 
To me, the most frightening is the kind of villain who truly, viscerally delights in causing pain to people. Because those kind of people are almost always beyond reason. To be in the power of someone like that... I can't imagine something worse.

I agree with this, although for me, I would have to add a high level of intelligence to the character. Hannibal Lector is considered to be one of the greatest villains of all time, not just because he's a psychopathic cannibalistic serial killer, but also because he is highly intelligent and very well spoken. There's something really intimidating about someone who delights in causing pain, but can also manipulate you and work their way around your mental/emotional barriers. Plus it just adds a very creepy, paradoxical aspect to the character.
 
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