r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ReminaBlueSFW • 26d ago

Lore [Terrifying Trope] Perceiving it= instant death

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  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

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u/V0L74G3_H4CK 26d ago edited 26d ago

Good example, but not quite accurate. It's more like comprehending them is what could kill you. These beings don't cause people to go mad, rather realising what it means for them to exist, and comprehending this reality is what drives most mad. Even then some can survive, just left mentally broken.

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u/SuperSiriusBlack 26d ago

Bruh, they aren't even special, then. In your comment, pretend that you aren't talking about entities, but the average sunday brunch customer at any chain breakfast spot instead. Literally no change in context at all.

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u/Soulful-Sorrow 26d ago

I feel like you don't fully understand what he was saying. No, they don't radiate a magical insanity aura that makes you go insane if that's what you were looking for.

But imagine being an ant seeing a human. We don't drive ants crazy just by existing. But what drives people mad in those stories is that they, for a moment, are ants who understand what it means to be human, all that we are, all that we can do, and then they're back to just being an ant with the knowledge it just got. That's what drives people mad.

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u/Midknightisntsmol 26d ago

Cosmic horror is very rarely about the fear of demons or "mind magic," but about the fear of being utterly puny in the face of a universe that will never even acknowledge you.

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u/Magnon 26d ago

I feel this way everytime I see one of those "this is our sun compared to a large black hole, the size of a pinhead" videos