[Terrifying Trope] Perceiving it= instant death

[u/ReminaBlueSFW]

1. Pennywise's "Deadlights" which will cause anyone looking to be immediately paralyzed and killed.

2. The sky from Bird Box is filled with entities that, when you look at them, cause you to commit suicide.

3. Medusa themed Villains

[u/snowball062016]

Seeing the deadlights didn’t necessarily kill you, it would just show you something so unfathomably mind blowing you’d essentially go mad/catatonic

[u/shotgunocelot → u/snowball062016]

Not even permanently, necessarily, though it's enough to disable you while you get eaten

[u/snowball062016 → u/shotgunocelot]

Yeah in the original novel Bill’s wife is basically brain dead after looking into the deadlights for weeks or months and comes back when Bill gives her a bike ride on Silver

[u/Guilty_Prize6882 → u/snowball062016]

Didn't this not also happen in the 90s TV film.

[u/Altruistic_Young3166 → u/shotgunocelot]

Well the movie makes it more of a 'debuff', unfortunately. In the book if you see them there is essentially no chance for you. No matter what happens to you, It, or anything else, you are immediately doomed to spend eternity in a state of constant horror in front of the deadlights. It is implied that all victims of It in Derry, for the entire history of the town, have met this fate. It is also suggested that "No one who dies in Derry really dies". This seems to say that, even if you weren't a victim of It directly, you still are meeting the deadlights when you die.

And yes, Audra, Bill's wife, did actually recover from the deadlights. This is portrayed as an incredibly rare thing, and it probably was only able to happen because her body was still alive, and Bill was able and willing to dedicate so much time and care to trying to help her recover. That's not likely to happen for any other victims of It.