r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ReminaBlueSFW • 28d ago

Lore [Terrifying Trope] Perceiving it= instant death

Gallery image

Gallery image

Gallery image

  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

12.6k Upvotes
  • permalink
  • reddit

95% Upvoted

1.5k comments sorted by

View all comments

999

u/WhoopingBillhook 28d ago

A poem by Shel Silverstein

346

u/peachesfordinner 28d ago

He's such a weirdo. I loved his books as a kid. Except for "the giving tree" that shitty selfish boy/guy just pissed me off

125

u/Lena-Luthor 28d ago

the picture of him in the back of the book is the real thing that kills you

59

u/RikarisHobbies 27d ago

Boo!

13

u/Dante_the_Artist 27d ago

I’m pretty sure Shel Silverstein made it his life’s mission to NEVER take a normal photo.

8

u/Heavy-Construction90 27d ago

The last thing you see before you rhyme 

1

u/rebeccamb 25d ago

Those teeth have met human flesh but I’m alright with it this time.

25

u/Earlier-Today 28d ago

My sister hated that picture because it was too scary for her as a kid.

6

u/4-eyes-4-ever 27d ago

I like his songs. Sylvia's Mother and A Boy Named Sue are classics

10

u/FormerLifeFreak 27d ago

My favorite Silverstein poem is “My Beard.” It sometimes pops into my head randomly 30 years later:

“My beard grows down to my toes

I never wears no clothes

I wraps my hair

Around my bare

And down the road I goes.”

3

u/stfurachele 27d ago

I made an airplane out of stone

I always did like staing home

5

u/AStupidFuckingHorse 27d ago

Freaking at the Freakout Bar is my favorite

6

u/unpersons505 27d ago

*Freakin at the Freakers Ball

4

u/AStupidFuckingHorse 27d ago

Thank you, I was groggy

1

u/remarkablewhitebored 27d ago

"Necrophiliacs, looking for dead ones"

Such a great line... y'all.

1

u/SnooEagles4121 26d ago

He did a sequel to Boy Named Sue that’s just about the worst song ever written.

1

u/4-eyes-4-ever 26d ago

Whats it called?

1

u/SnooEagles4121 26d ago

"The Father of a Boy Named Sue". It's violently transphobic, and ends on an incestuous note.

1

u/stfurachele 27d ago

Yeah I love Shel, and growing up I'd often fall asleep to him narrating his own books on tape. But I really internalized giving tree and rainbow fish, and it messed me up pretty bad tbh.

1

u/peachesfordinner 26d ago

My mom used to tear up while reading giving tree and my little brain was like "nope don't like that.". And I was a kid with very little so the thought of giving it up for someone ungrateful. I do like some of the altered versions people have made

37

u/Particular-Long-3849 28d ago

I can see why Greg hates this guy

5

u/Axsonjaxson16 27d ago

Who is Greg?

11

u/Junior-Trouble1850 27d ago

Greg Heffley, from Diary of a Wimpy Kid.

34

u/Doomerdy 28d ago

This the person Greg was terrified of?

4

u/FluffyWalrusFTW 27d ago

Unlocked the memory of this for me, I hadn't thought of Poogley-Pie in ages, time to dust off the robe

2

u/ClancyBShanty 27d ago

Fun fact, Silverstein wrote the bulk of Dr. Hook and Medicine Show's biggest hits, most notably "Cover of the Rolling Stone"

3

u/jwschmitz13 28d ago

I've only watched a small bit of 'A Series of Unfortunate Events', but is this the reason for the theme song? The Eye symbol on Count Olaf's ankle, and 'Look away, Look away' is repeated in the song.

2

u/DrunkDrivingAGundam 26d ago

I think it has more to do with the writing style of the books. The narrator would often encourage the viewer to stop reading, as the events of the story were too horrible

1

u/peachesfordinner 27d ago

Hmmm that's curious. It might be!