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Dragonslayer / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Introducing Vermithrax Perjorative.
Disney's PG-rated (hah!)
*Dragonslayer* was one of the scariest Sword And Sorcery films of the time. This was during Disney's low period, so this film, like *TRON* two years later, took some very un-Disney-like chances.
- Ulrich's stabbing was a quiet, horrific moment, when you thought he was going to survive by the smug smirk on his face.
- Watch Tyrian's expression carefully. The whole "test" was his idea, because he doesn't believe Ulrich can do any kind of magic. But even
*he* believes Ulrich is going to survive the stab wound... until the life fades from Ulrich's eyes, and he slumps forward and collapses.
- The opening scene with the first Virgin Sacrifice. The girl almost gets away, bloodying her manacles. Then a giant claw appears, and you have Virgin Flambée. The whole part, from the panicking, screaming horse stuck struggling to escape (it barely does in time), to the dim, foggy weather, and the intense directing make it deeply upsetting to watch.
- Vermithrax's rather unamused response to Brother Jacobus attempting to exorcise it. This includes a nightmarish Freeze-Frame Bonus that shows Brother Jacobus engulfed in flames.
- The first time you see Vermithrax in the flesh, rising from the Lake of Fire.
- Anytime Vermithrax is about to breathe fire - it gives fair warning, but that inhaling noise...
*(shudder)*
- The baby dragons chowing down on Princess Elspeth's corpse gave many young kids nightmares - thanks, PG rating! - especially the shot of
*her foot being gnawed off and picked up in one of their mouths*, with a bony stump where her foot used to be - and it wasn't even the worst wound on her corpse from the hungry dragonets. Yep, out and out Gorn in a *Disney movie.*
- Also later when Vermithrax discovers her slain babies, nudging their bloodied bodies with her nose to confirm theyre dead, and turns to Galen with the deadliest, angriest gaze a mother dragon could have. Crosses with Tear Jerker knowing that Vermithrax is more than just a vicious, fire-breathing beast, but an animal trying her best to survive and protect her young, and her reaction is not far off from any other mammal/parent discovering their children horrifically murdered.
- Vermithrax herself being one of, if not the, scariest dragons ever put to screen. She's big, she's nasty and she won't ever stop terrorising the kingdom. And the worst part is, she's also a mother to several vicious baby dragons that are just as monstrous as she is. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Dragonslayer |
Dragon Ball Super Future Trunks Arc / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Almost everything about Goku Black is spine-chilling.
Before we see his true humanoid form, Goku Black appears as a dark shadow with red eyes. He's clearly evil, unfettered, ultimately kills Future Bulma and (seemingly) Mai, Future Trunks is on the run from him, and is a thoroughly No-Nonsense Nemesis. He's the reason why Future Earth is destroyed, and closer to an Humanoid Abomination than a person. It's bad enough he looks and sounds like Goku, but his temporary Living Shadow appearance and chilling first line to Future Trunks cement this thing as a monster, in all versions:
Goku Black:(sub) Finally, it's the day you'll draw your last breath... *grins* Saiyan...
Goku Black:(dub) It's about time, Saiyan. You've been running around making messes for too long, and now I'm going to choke the life from you. *grins* I can't wait to watch you die.
Something about seeing the smile of a genocidal maniac plastered across one of the friendliest faces in anime history manages to be far more unnerving than any of the demons and monstrous aliens that have appeared so far. Even Goku's giant monkey transformation comes up short in comparison.
There's also his voice. It's different in each version; in the Japanese version, he speaks without any emotion in a slow monotone, which is extremely unsettling. In the English version, he sounds exactly like Goku, really hammering home that it seems to be Goku himself murdering his way through the universe. In the Latin American Spanish version, he speaks in a growling, raspy tone, driving home just how monstrous the being wearing Goku's face is.
The way Future Bulma dies as she's consumed by Black's ki blast - she seems to slowly turn to ash in Black's grip, then suddenly disintegrates before the whole lab explodes. Though it's all in silhouette, her head is clearly the last piece of her to go - for a moment, Black seems to still be holding onto it before it too falls apart. It's the kind of shot the series primarily used for villains' deaths before now, which makes it even more jarring.
When Black catches up to them, Future Trunks' first instinct is to tell Future Mai to run and use the time machine, while he acts as a decoy. It's clear that he's had so many friends and family die on him, that he's willing to sacrifice his own life against a superior foe if he can just save one.
After Black thinks he's killed Future Mai, he taunts Trunks over her apparent death, sending Trunks into a literal Super Saiyan rage, with Black allowing Trunks to land a solid hit on him. The look of evil glee on Black's face as Trunks hits him is disturbing, and it's later confirmed that he enjoys the pain that's dealt to him, saying it only makes him stronger.
We see the day Goku Black came to Earth, as described by Future Trunks. He attacks a city still under repair from the androids, and lays waste to it and its people. And he had done this before to countless other worlds; Earth is just his latest stop.
When next they face Black in Trunk's timeline, Vegeta goes first, pounding at him and pounding at him with ease - but Black takes the beating like it's normal, even subtly unnerving Vegeta that's something wrong. Then suddenly, Black pushes Vegeta away with a single force blow (though he's overall unharmed), showing that he's become even stronger in the short amount of time since facing off against Goku, now able to face Super Saiyan God Super Saiyan in his base form. Yet being a No-Nonsense Nemesis, he doesn't even bother with that anymore and goes straight to Super Saiyan Rose... and swiftly impales Vegeta through the chest.
Goku Black's Super Saiyan Rose form is a key reminder just how otherworldly he is. Outside of the usual spiked-up hair, his battle aura is a combination of purple flames and a pinkish-red aura that looks like it distorts everything around it. Heck, even the music does so, as it's same godly tune that accompanied the SSJG Ritual and summoning of Super Shenron, but this time it's in favor of the villain's godly power. The episode also reveals that Zamasu is in fact in league with Goku Black.
Episode 60 finally reveals the true identity of Goku Black. It's the true Goku's body...and Zamasu's soul. All the power of our hero, in the hands of a Knight Templar turned Omnicidal Maniac. Let that sink in. It gets drastically worse. After making the wish on the Super Dragon Balls that let him switch bodies with Goku, Zamasu outright murdered him. He even brags to Goku that he killed him with Goku's own hands, and in Episode 61 we see the aftermath of the deed... including when he turned on Goku's family next. The screen goes black before impact, but the screams are blood-curling. The delivery in the English dub when his identity gets revealed is especially noteworthy, as Sean Schemmel draws upon his infamous Xenoverse 2performance of Black's base form, but this time it sounds completely terrifying.
"Can't you guess...? Then I killed you."
The transformation of his ki sword into a ki scythe in Episode 64. After Vegeta viciously beats Goku Black, he mutilates himself in order to make this happen. He taps into his anger to fully draw upon his Saiyan body's power, and thrusts his bladed hand directly into his other palm, claiming that he is directing his rage towards the mortals, the gods and himself for allowing a mortal to gain the advantage. Smoke can be seen rising from his punctured palm, meaning he is burning himself to become stronger. This is especially bad in the English dub, where he is not only growling in rage and pain, but also laughing like a maniac while cutting himself.
His counterpart/future self, Zamasu is just as bad. A Kai from Universe 10 who considers mortals to be nothing but defiling, insignificant bugs who must be exterminated and the gods to be useless for tolerating such "defiance", Zamasu took it upon himself to become an embodiment of justice and kill everything that stood in the way of his justice. And by everything, we mean every living creature, mortal and god. But as the saga progresses, Zamasu loses his composure and by the end of it all, he's reduced to being a psychopathic monster who no longer cares about justice and order, but about having all life in existence dead until only he remains. In short, in his arrogance and insanity, he came to believe that the multiverse existed only for himself.
And the reason he stole Goku's body for his own and became Goku Black? He considers Goku to be the living embodiment of all the gods' mistakes, and that by taking his body, he would never forget those mistakes. Now why did he come to this conclusion? Because he couldn't stand the idea of a mortal like Goku gaining godlike powers and even defeating a god like him in a sparring match.
What's worse is that Zamasu/Goku Black wasn't raised to be a tyrant like Frieza or made to be a monster like Cell or born a being of evil like Majin Buu. He was a Kai, a being that was supposed to watch and nurture, but his hatred for the mortals and gods made him turn against his own kind and become a hypocritical mass murderer in order to create his utopia.
Just how completely insane Zamasu (all versions) is. Theres nothing special about it either beyond the power he has to back up his delusions. The belief that hes special due to having talent, that others without his gifts must be inferior or tainted, and that anyone who stands against him and his desires is a sinner who deserves to die? All of that parallels some all-too-real attitudes held by all-too-real people.
Whis reveals that there used to be 18 universes, but Zeno wiped out 6 of them, during an unspecified event where his mood was... "a little bit spoiled". And he's reconfirmed to be the strongest in the multiverse. No wonder Beerus and Champa are really terrified of him.
The apocalyptic Earth is even worse now than it was at the mercy of the androids: all buildings are in ruin, the atmosphere is dark, and the desolate music accompanying the scenes makes is quite terrifying.
Vegeta's reaction when he finds Future Trunks near-death is both a Heartwarming Moment and this when you comprehend the fear he's experiencing, seeing his son in pain and at death's door. The fury present in Vegeta's face was... chilling.
It seemed impossible, but Goku Black did it. He traumatized Trunks even more than the androids ever could. When Trunks wakes up in the past, the face of normal Goku is all he needs to send him into a blind rage and try to attack. The flashing between Goku and Black's rampage is particularly unsettling. It makes sense, though: the last time Trunks was in the past, Goku was killed and refused to be resurrected by Shenron. As far as he knew, Goku was permanently deceased. If Black is a being controlling Goku's body, it's a safe bet that, as soon as he saw Goku alive, he assumed that Black had taken over Goku in this timeline as well.
Vegeta's reaction to his future wife's death is utterly chilling. It's an obvious lesson that his wife or kids being simply hurt sends him into an utterly terrifying Unstoppable Rage. But now his loved ones are tragically killed and being targeted. He's so utterly furious that he makes the outburst against Beerus look like he was playing with him and he isn't even emoting. One will get the feeling that he will utterlymurder Goku Black when it's his turn to fight.
Zamasu's underlying hatred for mortal beings. Despite his mentor Gowasu's attempts to teach him about respecting humanity and guiding their race despite their shortcomings, Zamasu just can't let go of his ire towards them. Meeting Goku only served to make it worse and now he thinks of humanity as not only flawed but extremely dangerous. He also comes to believe the gods don't deserve to live either, since they do nothing about mortal affairs. It doesn't help when Goku mentions that given enough time and training, Zamasu could equal Beerus in power. Now imagine a being who is supposed to respect and maintain life itself start to go on a rampage and potentially wipe away a race clean from existence. A being who isn't as lazy and forgiving as Beerus is...
It looks like Beerus, Whis and Goku's attempts to find out Black's mysterious identity may have potentially pushed Zamasu down a dark path. Earlier in the episode, his mentor taught Zamasu that making good tea required a strong, pure and calm heart. Whenever Zamasu grew upset, the tea would darken a little. After meeting Goku, Zamasu's next attempts at making tea resulted in the drink starting to darken right away...
His future self working with Black Goku is... unhinged, to say the least, absolutely delighting in the opportunity to beat down on Goku and Trunks. And then to make matters worse, when Trunks manages to stab him through the abdomen, he's completely unfazed... and the wound disappears once he pulls it out, clothes repaired and all. Not regeneration like Cell or Buu, because that at least causes pain - no, this is immortality, where he cannot be harmed, period.
During Goku's visit to Zen-O's castle, it quickly becomes clear why Zen-O is so feared. While he's extremely polite and almost child-like in his enthusiasm towards Goku, he quickly tells Supreme Kai in no uncertain terms to keep his mouth shut when the latter tries to explain Goku's behavior. When his own attendants get mad at Goku for nicknaming Zen-O "All-chan/Zenny", Zen-O's vocal tone quickly takes a turn for the worse.
Zen-O: You will go back, or bye-bye.
There's a reason why everyone's afraid of Zen-O's potential temper: He can wipe out a universe in an instant and all remaining 12 universes at that. Imagine just going about your day minding your own business when suddenly, your entire reality is wiped from existence without warning. It doesn't even have to be the universe itself; if he wanted, Zen-O can just wipe out you if pushed enough.
Goku is treating this as a joke now, but if he can't fulfill his promise to Zen-O about bringing someone who's "better" at being a friend than himself, the consequences...are going to be nightmarish.
Zamasu calmly telling Gowasu that they should exterminate the entire barbarian race. Made much more terrifying in the dub through his nonchalant, almost happy, delivery, as if genocide is a perfectly acceptable topic for tea time. And this is before he went Jumping Off the Slippery Slope.
Zamasu murdering a Babarian in cold blood, splitting him in half. Gowasu calls him out on this, simply stating that they could have left, or that that life could've had a big influence. Zamasu doesn't appear to have heard him, and later, his opinion of mankind is getting worse and worse, unjustifiable arrogance also becoming bigger and more haughty.
Goku, Vegeta and Trunks travel to the future and see the devastation that Black has wrought. It's so bad that Goku is attacked by the vestiges of humanity, simply because he looks like Earth's greatest enemy.
Beerus and the Supreme Kai's lives are tied together. If one dies, so does the other. Imagine knowing you could die at any moment if something happened to someone ELSE. To further bring the point home in episode 63 it is revealed that if their assigned Gods of Destruction die the attendants 'cease functioning', so if either the Supreme Kai or Beerus were to be killed it would mean that Whis would be unable to do anything.
Episode 57
Remember when Frieza wanted immortality way back in the Namek Arc? Well, Future Zamasu is a clear example of why immortality and a strong fighter with an evil nature is a horrific mix. No matter how many times you beat into your opponent, they are never phased, bruised or tired out in the slightest, while you continue to lose energy. Not even Final Flash does anything, a move that has previously been shown to blow Perfect Cell's arm clean off.
There's also the fact that Goku, Vegeta and Future Trunks had to make a tactical withdrawal from their fight with Black and Future Zamasu, as despite being effectively the strongest mortal warriors in their universes, they couldn't really make any actual progress against their enemies and could only barely stay alive. For the first time in their lives, they were outright fleeing.
Episode 58
The ending. Zamasu is there. Goku, Supreme Kai, Beerus and Whis know he is guilty, but they can't prove it just yet. Not until they witness Zamasu kill Gowasu firsthand.
To elaborate, this episode shows us the lovely picture of what happens when Beerus decides he wants someone dead NOW. He overpowers Present Zamasu with ease, holds a hand near his face, and says "Hakai." There is no usual "blown away by an energy blast" or "punched so hard he explodes" involved; the word itself just ATOMIZES Zamasu. It's made abundantly clear that when Beerus WANTS someone dead, they're dead; no questions asked.
What's even more chilling is that there's no bravado from Beerus: no gloating, no speech about what happens when you royally piss off the God of Destruction. He simply grabs Present!Zamasu by the hand and kills him with a small word.
What's worse is that isn't a quick or painless death either. While victims being vaporized by ki blasts are commonplace in this reality, the victim usually dies instantly and doesn't feel much pain. In fact, that's what Beerus does when he destroys planets as part of his job. But not this time. Oh no, Present!Zamasu doesn't get that luxury. Instead, he is slowly and painfully erased from existence bit by bit, screaming in agony the entire time, despite his head being the first thing that was erased. Bastard definitely had it coming, to be sure, but it doesn't diminish the fact that it's a horrendous way to die.
The ability's also a chilling indicator of what it'd probably look like if Zen'o decided he wanted someone/something destroyed. Imagine being able to disintegrate a universe with a single spoken word...
The entire build-up to Zamasu's murder of Gowasu is like something straight out of a slasher film, where the unassuming victim is Alone with the Psycho. You know who the killer is, you know what's gonna happen, and you're practically screaming for him to get the hell out of there. (Goku, who's watching the scene with Beerus and Whis, basically has those exact same reactions, practically begging Beerus and Whis to do something.) The close calls like Gowasu drinking tea made by Zamasu (which Shin notes could have easily been poisoned), and choking on his candy only add to the building suspense. And then there's the chillingPsychotic Smirk Zamasu flashes when he finally kills him. Thank God Whis can rewind time.
Episode 60
What Beerus did to Zamasu did nothing. Goku Black still exists because he is the Zamasu from an alternate present who killed Goku after swapping bodies with him. He wears a time ring so that he doesn't get erased even if his timeline is gone.
Episode 61
Goku Black's birth. Present Zamasu from an alternative timeline switches bodies with Goku with the Super Dragon Balls, creating Goku Black. Goku ends up with Zamasu's body, to Goten's horror. Chi-Chi comes and they start wondering what happened. Goku Black appears, murders the now powerless and clueless Goku in front of Chi-Chi and Goten, before bisecting both of them. Goku Black outright killed SON GOKU, and it wasn't even a result of sacrificing himself this time. And that's to say nothing about what the Gohan of this timeline, as well as Goku's friends, thought about why Goku, Chi-Chi and Goten suddenly vanished off the face of the Earth, or wound up dead. Furthermore, if they used the dragon balls in this timeline to wish Chi-Chi and Goten back, they would be confused about what the hell happened since the two could likely only say Goku killed his family. And if they tried to wish Goku back to life, possibly via the Namekian dragon balls (via telepathy with King Kai), he'd likely come back in Zamasu's body because his own is off in another timeline out of reach, or later, completely obliterated. That's to say nothing of the gods themselves trying to figure out what the hell happened, especially to Gowasu.
The utterly smooth way Future Zamasu asks of Black "Tell him what you did to his loved ones." in the Funimation dub. The way he says it betrays the slightest hint of pleasure at getting the chance to tell and break Goku down.
And then there's Zamasu deciding to be a vicious little sadist as Goku Black runs through the hero with his Aura Slide, both telling Goku this and rubbing the latter in his face. Then there's Goku's reaction. He proceeds to flipout and boost his power to previously unknown heights, and then just glare at Goku Black before proceeding to spend the next few minutes trying to tear him apart.
Goku's own rage here, as awesome as it is to behold, is brought to a halt on a very unsettling note: the reason Black gets his second wind is because Goku hesitates for a moment. Why? Because Black was already down, and as we know, Goku absolutely sticks to his warrior's honor; he never pursues a fallen opponent. He always pursues to end a fight without a life lost if it can be helped. With Black, this changes. Goku hesitates, clearly struggling internally, before hauling back and swinging at Black's head. Goku was so taken by rage that he was resolved to physically murder his foe.
As awesome as it is to see in the episode, the sheer amount of rage in Trunks' transformation is terrifying. From the blank white eyes to how he stomps toward Zamasu and Black... It's akin to Broly. Which is full circle, since Broly's Legendary Super Saiyan form was based on Trunks' Ultra Super Saiyan form, but without the loss of speed.
What triggers the transformation? Goku Black and Zamasu blaming Bulma for creating the time machine and Trunks for going back in time and altering history by killing Frieza, his father and his army and saving Goku's life from the heart disease. They are basically saying that none of this would have happened if Trunks and Bulma did nothing to stop the Androids in the first place. What makes it more creepy is when Black and Zamasu start talking as one, reminding us that they are both literally the same person: a mad god who thinks the only person worth living in all realities is himself.
Episode 62
Even after Goku has been taken back to the present, he's still fuming over alternate timeline's Goten and Chi Chi being murdered in cold blood. Seems that Goku isn't going to calm down about that anytime soon.
Episode 63
Vegeta's much more successful rematch against Goku Black is this when you think about it. Ever since Future Trunks arrived from the past and Vegeta heard about what Goku Black did to his wife and son, he's been itching to kill the irredeemable son of a bitch himself, and training near-nonstop for such an opportunity to arise. In this case, he has finally gained enough power to accomplish this, and while he's doing it, there's no in-character Unstoppable Rage in this fight. Just nothing but a Tranquil Fury as he beats Black within an inch of his life, only faltering to hammer in Black's skull that this fight will be his last. This has been noticed repeatedly, but here, it stands out like a sore thumb.
Episode 64
After recovering from his savage beating from Vegeta, Goku Black realizes anger can become a source of power, so he uses his own anger and hate toward mortals, toward the gods and toward himself for losing to a mortal to create a Ki scythe. Vegeta dodges its attack, only to realize it's tore a hole in the fabric of reality itself. And from this hole comes an army of Goku Black clones!
Getting hit with the Evil Containment Wave is actually quite a terrifying experience, especially for Future Zamasu. Imagine your body twisting and bending to someone else's will as they prepare to seal you away in a tiny prison. Zamasu's shrill screams clearly convey how terrified he is as the realization that his immortality won't save him from being sealed away in a jar by the mere mortals he despises. Even after escaping (no thanks to Goku and Bulma forgetting the special seal that's supposed to keep him sealed in the jar), Zamasu is still pretty shook up from what happened.
Thinking back to the original series, this is definitely how King Piccolo felt the first time he was sealed away in a rice cooker, the trauma of which still lingered after he was released, to the point where he nearly crapped himself and tried to flee for his life as soon as Master Roshi tried to use the technique on him again.
In the English Dub, James Marsters' scream as Zamasu is even more impressively chilling. Especially towards the end while he's being sealed inside the jar; his tone is nothing short of abject terror.
As the post-credits preview for Episode 64 shows, Vegeta's beatdown of Black ultimately doesn't matter, because he and Zamasu fuse with the Potara Earrings. We get a good look at Future Zamasu and Goku Black's fusion, and it is horrifying. What we have is two Knight TemplarAx-Crazy lunatics with implacable amounts of power which is bad as is, but now we have an opponent both with Future Zamasu's immortality and Goku Black's strength. Looks like Goku and Vegeta have got some seriously nasty times ahead. And the Potara Fusion creates a being with drastically augmented power compared to the original two fusees. Case in point, Vegito was powerful enough to completely humiliate a Gohan-Absorbed Super Buu. Now apply that to a former Kai strong enough to challenge non-SSJ Blue Goku, and Goku Black, a Zamasu possessing Goku's body and the same godly level of power as Goku and Vegeta.
Episode 65
The survivors flee the bunker after Fused Zamasu launches his first attack (which completely leveled an entire portion of the city with zero effort). One of them rushes out... and is instantly reduced to atoms by a stray blast.
From the preview: Fused Zamasu is fighting Super Saiyan Blue Vegito. As in 'not being completely annihilated' but strong enough to fight back. The fact he's going up against the most powerful canon character in Z who's only become leagues stronger in his rebirth and fairing much better than Super Buu is terrifying.
When Future Trunks rushes in to fight Fused Zamasu after Vegito defuses, Fused Zamasu's "calm" demeanor is completely gone and he sounds like a psychopath. He even talks to Future Trunks as a persistent bug that he has failed to kill many times. When Future Trunks is trying to hold off Fused Zamasu, we get this unsettling close-up of Fused Zamasu taunting Future Trunks on how nobody can help him and his mortal weakness.
Zamasu's completely psychotic behavior throughout the episode must be mentioned even with the above bullet point in place. The total shift from a smug and self-righteous narcissist to damn near KID BUU/BROLY level batshit insane monster of a god from beginning to end is only complemented by the unsettling voice talent from both the Japanese and English dubs; the English Dub in particular having James Marsters go completely ballistic with the voice of Zamasu and fully capturing just what kind of fall Zamasu has gone through.
How Future Trunks finishes Fused Zamasu off. It's probably one of the most brutal ways anyone in Dragon Ball has ever died (and that's saying something). Trunks buries his BFS Laser Blade into Fused Zamasu's groin up to his stomach, then slowly forces it up through his body until we get to see his face being cut in half, all the while Zamasu is screaming in agony. Yeah, Fused Zamasu deserved every second of it, but what a way to go...
Episode 67
You thought last episode had the worst of it? In this episode, just before his physical form's death, Zamasu, insane and outraged that a mortal can kill a god, starts laughing...then shortly after he is stripped of his physical form, his soul goes FULL GIYGAS MODE on the heroes, becoming an all-encompassing smog that proceeds to rain absolute death for everything on Future Earth save for our protagonists, and threatening to expand to the whole future multiverse and even the present timeline in order to become "justice and order itself", all with no dialogue other than echoed maniacal laughter, losing all his sentience until only his unadulterated malice was left. In short, Zamasu, robbed of all sanity and sentience, decided the only way to ensure he could create a multiverse with only him as its sole inhabitant is to BECOME the multiverse itself!
Speaking of the laughter, the English dub somehow made it worse. For the sub, the effect was the same as that of Fused Zamasu: a single voice with an echo effect (except crazier and more projected). The dub has dozens of individual echoing Zamasu voices, as if each grinning image is a separate entity that's part of the whole... and creepier still, this Voice of the Legion regularly switches between laughing in-sync and completely out-of-sync with itself, creating the most unholy of cacophonies.
When Infinite Zamasu is done reshaping the Earth and wiping out all life, it's just a big, flattened wasteland, where the sky has a sickly dark green color and is adorned with an endless amount of visages of Zamasu's face, with his Evil Laugh endlessly echoing. It makes for a more appropriate hell than Z's filler version, and save for during Mai's Heroic BSoD, there is no music at all. Just the sounds of Zamasu's Laughing Mad.
Then Goku summons Zeno, and he doesn't look happy at what's happened! He ends up one-shotting Infinite Zamasu and the rest of the dead timeline effortlessly - when Goku and Trunks briefly come back, there's absolutely nothing but a featureless shiny void left, without even the vacuum of space. Given Zamasu has basically become an Eldritch Abomination capable of spreading across TIMELINES, this was notDisproportionate Retribution.
Manga chapter 16 reveals that Black killed all of the Future Supreme Kais in the multiverse, inevitably killing the Gods of Destructions as well (excluding U7's, who was killed by Future Dabura and Future Babidi before). What makes this even more frightening is how Black puts the Gods on a pedestal and talks about how wiping the mortals out would make the universe the Gods created a paradise. For someone who thinks so highly of the Gods he sure has little qualms about killing them or watching them get killed by the mortals he hates. Episode 61 reveals this holds true for the anime.
You would think the manga version couldn't beat the Future Trunks saga ending, where Zamasu leaves his body to become one with the Multiverse, but then it throws up a chilling scene about the dark side of the Potara fusion when Black and Zamasu refuse to leave their fusion state, having merged on a cellular level. They split partially, each occupying half a body, and try to recombine. When Trunks slashes them in two, successfully splitting the fusion and stabs the unconscious Black, you would think it's over, but then Black, impaled as he is, suddenly wakes up and attacks Trunks from behind, feeling no pain, with an absolutely psychotic Slasher Smile on his face as he pulls the sword out of his body. But not only has Black become immortal, his face suddenly MELTS down like molten wax and reforms into that of Fused Zamasu, which absolutely freaks everyone out. As a shocked Goku staggers back, he bumps into a madly grinning Future Zamasu, whose face also suddenly melts and reforms into another copy of Fused Zamasu, with the same psychotic Slasher Smile to boot! Now the heroes are facing 2 copies of Fused Zamasu, both at full power, laughing creepily at them. Toyatoru's art really sells this scene. It's so downright spooky that everyone is absolutely scared speechless. Far from being over, Zamasu just got a lot, lot worse. It doesn't end there. Any attempt to blow him up now results in the pieces forming into many more Fusion Zamasu clones. Zamasu has now surpassed Cell and Majin Buu's regeneration and any attempt to destroy him only makes it worse.
His death in the manga is just as chilling, as satisfying as it is. As Future Zeno erases the timeline, each Infinite Zamasu clone ends up screaming in horror as they are being erased... and then there's nothing but blank white panels. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonBallSuperFutureTrunksArc |
Dragon Ball FighterZ / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Despite being a
*Dragon Ball* game (or perhaps BECAUSE it's a Dragon Ball game), there is no shortage of things to be scared of.
The game's Big Bad, Android 21 has more than a few moments that make her legitimately intimidating.
- Her Horror Hunger where she needs to consume living matter as biofuel. Despite the fact that she utterly hates it, it doesn't change the fact that her hunger makes her go psychotic.
- At one point, she turns a clone into a treat and eats it, which freaks all of the attending villains out. Including
**Frieza**.
- She puts on an impressive Nightmare Face when Krillin comes to see if Android 18's okay, fully intending to consume him right in front of 18. On top of that, this forces 18 to fight Krillin, knowing 21 will kill him if she doesn't. And even after Krillin is knocked out, 21 still comes after him.
- Her Superpowered Evil Side is like a sociopathic fusion of Kid Buu and Cell. She's just as obsessed with sweets as the former, and just as obsessed with eating people to get stronger as the latter. On top of that, her power lets her transform anyone into a sweet treat, and there appears to be no way to stop it.
Despite having no role in the game's story mode, Goku Black and Zamasu still manage to provide some terrifying moments.
- Goku Black usually has a Psychotic Smirk on his face, but there's one specific instance where his facial expression veers into Nightmare Face territory. His intro against Bardock has him sporting Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises and a Slasher Smile, letting the audience know that he is absolutely
*ecstatic* at the prospect of killing the father of his hated enemy, purely out of spite and insanity, and cementing him as a true Foil to Broly. At least Broly just loves destruction and even though he hates Goku he only sees him as another enemy to be destroyed (while he is still relatively sane in the first movie at least). Goku Black everything about Goku, to the point of stealing his body just to make a mockery out of him, and he is willing to go so far as to extend his hatred towards Goku's friends and family solely because they associated with him. He doesn't just want Goku dead, he wants his **loathes** *entire legacy* to be corrupted, twisted, and eradicated from the face of the universe. This, in turn, makes what he says to Bardock a terrifying case of False Reassurance.
- The only thing possibly more frightening than that, is Black giving the exact same face when going up against Fused Zamasu. He is
*ecstatic* to find out that both he and his future incarnation will eventually become even more powerful. **Black**
: I see
... So this is what becomes of my future self...
- On the subject of Black vs. Bardock, this is incredible fear for the latter. Imagine your own son, who you haven't seen for so many years ever since they were just a baby, appearing in front of you and all too eager to try to kill you. Even if Bardock found out that Black wasn't the real Goku, it's the same as when Black first took Goku's body, killed him in front of Chi-Chi and Goten, and THEN killed them. Black still has the face of Bardock's son, and it would never be pretty for any child's parent if they were in his boots.
- Even Goku's closest allies like Yamcha confuse Black for the real deal if going up against him.
- Black's theme expresses just how twisted he is. Ominous trumpets and righteous guitars highlight his desires to eliminate all mortals in the gods' name and his opinion that he is justified in his actions. The fact that the theme switches to a more heroic tone halfway through only makes it unsettling how much he believes that he has the moral high ground next to everyone else.
- When Black and Future Zamasu merge to become Fused Zamasu, they spin around together like in the show. Not too scary, even if their Slasher Smiles are a bit uneasy to look at. Once that's over with however, a flash of light bursts forth to reveal the fusion shedding from what appears to be a shell made of Fire and Brimstone Hell incarnate, with erupting flames and heavy shadows. Then a rough-looking white aura reveals Zamasu's face as he sets himself atop the pecking order and threatens the eradication of humanity.
- As Fused Zamasu, he only becomes even more unhinged. Now only with desires to reshape the universe in his own image, Zamasu sheds any "noble" traits he had, taking glee in the prospect of killing Trunks and Vegito in his intros against them.
- Losing against Vegito in a Dramatic Finish has him give a rant about how he is the greatest, as he hunches over and boasts his superiority, bringing his hand upon his face to reveal half of his monster form's Nightmare Face. Thankfully, Vegito stops him from going any further.
- Fused Zamasu's theme is practically an evil(er) remix of Black's theme. Ominous Latin Chanting and a fast-paced orchestra, coupled with many fitting cues from Black's theme, convey just how far Zamasu will go for his "justice" against all mortals.
- Season 2 managed to make things even worse in regards to Black. How? Vocal Evolution. Instead of his hammy, British-accented
*Xenoverse 2* performance, Sean Schemmel instead uses a tone that's a mix of both his *Super* performance and Base Form Goku Black from *Xenoverse*, making him sound like a demented serial killer about to cut loose on his prey. The following lines when he fights against GT Goku are downright *spine-shiveringly* terrifying when heard in that voice. *What a laughably pitiful form you have taken, Son Goku.* *'Am I expected to take pity on this new form of yours? How fortunate you are, for I am a kind... and gracious god.*
- If there's anyone he potentially hates more than Goku, it's Janemba. His interactions with the hellspawn are seething with venom for what he views as the embodiment of the gods' mistakes.
*Vile hellbeast...! You are the manifestation of sin! Every misdeed of the gods!*
- And then Season 3 one-upped that with further Vocal Evolution, bringing Black's English voice back to the middle ground it was in
*Super*, to *terrifying* effect. When he fights Ultra Instinct Goku, he is **livid** in comparison to how he is when fighting against any of Goku's other forms, because Goku has managed to transcend even the gods themselves. That said, he gives an utterly chilling win quote should he win. *You have given us gods a bad name. And for that, you will * **suffer**, Goku...
- He has interactions with Master Roshi as well, and they're not pleasant. He again sports the same psychotic expression and tells him to rejoice over how a god chose the body of his disciple. His quote when teamed up with him, however, is a terrifying prospect. He's actually willing to train under Roshi, but threatens him with the same fate as his old master Gowasu if he doesn't live up to his twisted expectations.
''I too once had a master, but he was a damned fool. For your sake, I hope you do not share his shortcomings... ha ha ha ha ha...''
- Bulma's worry at the game's opening is rather understandable. If Goku had somehow lost his memory, despite the Earth being in a crisis, the world would be in a lot of trouble. And as more of the story mode's plot is revealed, it's hard to say that Goku's absence wouldn't have meant a complete end to the Earth.
- Cell's interactions with Gohan, in which he says in no uncertain terms that he plans on killing Gohan's family in order to bring out Gohan's anger like when he killed 16 is a reminder to the audience that as Affably Evil as Cell can be, he is still a monster who cares about nothing aside from himself.
- Broly was already a nightmare in the source material, but this game takes it to a whole new level. There's the updated
*Super*-esque art style, which makes his deranged expressions veer straight into Nightmare Face territory. Lastly, Vic Mignogna manages to make him sound even more terrifying than any of his past performances. While he's still a psychotic brute, he doesn't scream at the top of his lungs as much, is more prone to maniacal laughter, and gives off the impression of a condescending Soft-Spoken Sadist similar to Frieza. Well, as soft spoken as a Guttural Growler Large Ham can get, anyway.
- Unlike his other counterparts, Base Form Vegeta is modeled as he looked during the Saiyan and early Frieza sagas. The result is that he ends up getting some extremely unnerving expressions that make him look extremely psychotic, practically rivaling Goku Black and Fused Zamasu in terms of Nightmare Face potential.
- In Broly (DBS) Level 3 which he transforms into his Full Power Super Saiyan state, while he's thrashing around, there a brief shot of him with a monstrous silhouette accompanied with red glowing eyes.
- Just four words: Baby Vegeta has returned: | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonBallFighterZ |
Dragons: Riders of Berk / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
In the series finale, who should make a cameo but the madman himself, Drago Bludvist. Seeing Krogan, himself a formidable opponent, reduced to a cowering wreck before his boss really hammers home how utterly *terrifying* Drago can be. Drago then proceeds to sentence Krogan to death while *chuckling.*
**Krogan:** No! Drago, please! I will not fail you again! No, no, no, no, NO!!!
**Drago:** No one fails me twice! Bring me my maps! I'll find another King of Dragons myself...
- What makes it worse is if you listen closely Krogan is dragged offscreen, then seconds later we hear a loud SNAP followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground. Krogan is still begging for mercy right up until the snap... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonsRidersOfBerk |
Dragon: The Embers / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Dragons themselves can be pretty scary when you start thinking about it. Oversized, fire-breathing, intelligent reptiles with an impressive arsenal of claws, fangs, horns, spikes and other organic weapons, who take human forms in order to hide among mortals are bad enough, before you learn they are constantly on the verge of turning into power-mad egomaniacs with god delusions. Not only that, but they also have access to a form of Magic allowing them to enforce dream logic on reality itself based on the philosophy they are following: a dragon who believe in destroying things will have the power to make objects more breakable, one who believes in passion will be able to alter your feelings and personal attachment, including your very
*Vice and Virtue*, and so on. They have the power to completely turn the tide during historical events, and they *are* usually trying to do just that, frequently by taking over positions of power in human society. They are basically the Reptilian Conspiracy mixed with all myths about Dragons. All of this with their removable Heart serving as a personal Soul Jar.
- And starting with
*Rekindled*, Fire, the most frequently efficient weapon against supernaturals, *barely inflicts them any damage*. All it does is inflict them Bashing damages and shed away their human disguise, gradually revealing the scales underneath. People trying to burn an Oroboroi will most likely have the *very* bad surprise of seeing a pissed-off lizard the size of a car emerging Out of the Inferno.
- There is also the fact Dragons don't reproduce by spawning children: new Dragons are created when a mortal consumes a Heart, resulting in a Metamorphosis that turns him into an Oroboros. And in the most literal case of He Who Fights Monsters, this usually is what ends up happening to dragon slayers when they find the Heart of their preys: they find themselves attracted by the power, and immediately consume the Heart. Meaning trying to hunt down a Dragon is the best way for you to
*become* one.
- The Knights of the Bloody Chalice are possibly the creepiest antagonists in the book. A psychotic sect of humans dating back from the time of the Dominion, they keep themselves immortal through a
*really* disturbing ritual where they kidnap people (preferably supernatural beings, but they will occasionally use humans if necessary), cut them open and bath themselves in their blood. This allows them to stop their aging and prolongate their lifespan, but they have to repeat it every year (though dragon blood allow them to prolongate it to five), otherwise they suffer No Immortal Inertia. Oh, and they locate supernatural creatures by *sweating blood* whenever they are in proximity of one.
- It gets worse in the
*Rekindled*, where they Took a Level in Badass and are now full-blown Dream Sorcerers. They can develop additional powers over time, including a Healing Factor, Hypnotic Eyes, Resurrective Immortality, impersonating people by killing them, and peharps the scariest of all, using people they marked with their Breath as back-up bodies they can reincarnate into. Not only that, but they now actively infiltrate Hunter cells under the guise of people from other Compacts and Conspiracies, manipulating their "cellmates" into attacking Dragons, using them as pawns and cannon fodder, before offering those who survived the fight to join them as their Squires. And if they aren't interested? Well...
-
*Rekindled* also reveals the reason why the Knights bother with such a gruesome ritual when they could just as easily get immortal by consuming a Dragon's Heart: ||they believe a Heart doesn't actually turn its new owner into a Dragon, but rather *kills* the human who consumed it and then creates a Dragon copy of the person with the same memories and human appearance; as far as they are concerned, people who consumed Hearts are dead, and the Oroboroi are just a bunch of glorified clones with draconic powers. There is no way to know if they are right, obviously, but the implications are... unsettling, especially since some facts could potentially support their belief- a human's original body *is* destroyed when he goes through a Metamorphosis, and Oroboroi's biology makes it pretty clear they aren't human anymore, so how can you know the soul hasn't been destroyed as well?||
- Nightmares are Dreamtide creatures feeding on people's fear in their dream, who can be best described as Freddy Krueger if he was an entire species. Their abilities include warping a dream into your room to make you believe your have woke up, inflicting you Body Horror, and causing their limbs to appear somewhere else as tendrils of darkness, bloody swords or other sinister appendices. Worst, they can actually inflict you injuries that will appear in the real world. Most of them just want to scare you because they need you to survive, and as such won't kill you, but more powerful ones are capable of surviving their Dreamers, and can even subsist on slaughter by using it to feed their legend.
-
*Dragon Rekindled* gives us the Drowning Hosts, which are just like the Oroboroi... only it's not a Dragon's Heart the person has consumed. It's a *Deep One*'s Heart. Unlike for Dragons, the original Deep One's mind is still present, and it has full control over your body, allowing him to add or remove whatever part he wants. That includes *emotions and sentience*. If the Deep One sharing your body doesn't agree with the direction you are taking, he will just remove whatever motivates you so he can change your choices.
- Nihilists are Dragons born from people who got a Heart, but didn't have any driving purpose. This results in one of the worst cases of Straw Nihilists, combining the conviction that everything in the universe is worthless with the larger-than-life inclinations of an Oroboros, which is just as destructive as you'd expect. If you are lucky, they will just be ignoring you and not caring about what happens around them, because as far as they are concerned, it doesn't matter. If you're unlucky, they will basically do whatever they want, killing and ruining lives without any moral or ethic because they don't care about their actions being good or evil. And just to add to that? They can use their Purviews to Mind Rape people into thinking like them.
- The Reimagining mechanics introduced in
*Rekindled* have rather unsettling implications. Basically, an Oroboros who lets his guilt and self-loathing overcome him will lose control of his body, and see it change against his will to better match the vision people have of him. He loses control of his body, and he will have to either snap out of his guilt trip or actively control the population's opinion of him, or his Ablutions will randomly change at the whim of what they think, which can become *very* dangerous if, for example, he suddenly loses his wings mid-flight. And this gets worse when your Heartstring rises: eventually, your human form, and even your own personnality, will be vulnerable to the Reimagining. Do you even still *have* a defined identity at this point? | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonTheEmbers |
Drakengard / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The Reveal of the Watchers: Giant, stony babies that eat people invade the world. Scarier than it sounds.
- Six words: "The Watchers laughed! The Watchers laugh!" Never before has a simple switch in word tense sounded so...
*unnerving*.
- Manah. A child controlling an entire empire, possessed by malignant gods, and constantly shifting between her natural voice and a very deep, almost bored sounding male voice. Hearing an older man saying Lalalalala in a monotone voice should be funny, but here it comes off as just... wrong.
- It gets worse in the sequel. Because the voice actor has gotten better at it, it sounds so much more horrifying.
- Special mention must also go to the soundtrack. Never has remixed classical music been so
*terrifying.* Descriptions of it tend to relate to things like violins being punched and orchestras being thrown down flights of stairs which, while comical, is also scarily accurate.
- The main theme of the game, Tsukiru/Exhausted/Growing Wings, deserves a mention of its own. Its an incredibly horrifying fusion of staccato violins and slightly out of tune, yet gentle female singing, making it as discordant as they come.
- Furiae in Ending B when she's "reborn". The page image.
- Ending B in general is a massive horror show. Not only does Caim have to fight an insane Furiae reborn as a weird angel-demon hybrid, but what comes afterward is even worse. After an incredibly tough battle, Caim holds a now-deceased Furiae, and can only grimly watch as
*countless clones of the angel Furiae* rise from the ground, screaming in agony. Keep in mind that Caim and Angelus were only barely able to defeat the original Furiae, and the thought of fighting a horde of them makes it clear that Caim and humanity as a whole are doomed.
- I. Hear. A. Sound.
- Related to the above; what do those infected by WCS in NieR hear? Bells. Bells that figure
*heavily* into Drakengard's soundtrack. The implications are nightmarish.
- Caim is both a Memetic Badass and an absolute terror, as he slaughters anything and everything Imperial that gets in his path with either extraordinary rage or a massive Slasher Smile. Best displayed when young, forcefully conscripted men are dropped into his path. Because they happen to be on the Imperial side, Caim doesn't even hesitate for a second to slaughter them all. It's a wonder he
*didn't* strike Manah down when he had the chance.
- The cutscene before the Final Boss fight in the Ending E route. Imagine if you will: you're just a regular person in Tokyo going about your business, then all of the sudden, the clouds lights up and a giant naked lady thing tumbles out of the sky, crushing the buildings beneath it like cardboard. Oh, and there's a dragon. And even if the giant naked lady thing is destroyed, its remains eventually lead to The Plague and everything that transpires in
*NieR*. Needless to say, Tokyo citizens are having a *very* bad day at that point.
- The credits of Ending E. It's just...silence. No ending music. Just the white noise of traffic in Tokyo and eerie static as the credits roll. And at the end, the camera pans down...to show Angelus' body impaled upon Tokyo Tower. Sweet dreams!
- A Seed of Resurrection has now crossed interdimensional boundaries, jumping from the world of Drakengard and is now in
*Final Fantasy XIV*! You may now panic for the multiverse.
- At the end of the Tower at Paradigm's Breach raid, 2B reveals that the Seeds of Resurrection/Destruction are actually gates between worlds, and the Seed in the First was sent by the Watchers/Grotesqueries to destroy that world, with the Machine Terminals' help. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Drakengard |
Dr. Chaos / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Especially one of the mini-bosses that looks like a hybrid of Frankenstein's Monster and Uboa.
- The opening title screen. You can't see it in the photograph provided on this page, but if you wait a few seconds at that title screen, you get to see someone
*being chased around the house by something you can only vaguely make out.*
-
*Dr. Chaos* is no slouch when it comes to jump scares, either; it's quite startling to have a freakish monstrosity pop out at you during a 1st-person segment and then chase you out into the halls. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DrChaos |
Dragon Brawl Z / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Phantom Ganon. As was the case with Shadow, he can possess anyone he wishes at any given time. What's stopping him from taking control of one of the main heroes?
- Ganondorf's assault on the Mushroom Kingdom. As Falco points out, the kingdom can readily defend themselves from Bowser, whose plans are very predictable and whose minions aren't all that strong. Then they're suddenly invaded by Ganondorf, who is not only far more cunning than the Koopa King, but also in command of monsters who are built for combat and conquest. When Luigi arrives through the portal to explain the situation, he's very weak—it's possible he barely escaped with his life.
- The sheer size of his army. The forces that invade Bowser's kingdom consist of hundreds of Stalchildren, Shadow Beasts and Darknuts. Word of God has already confirmed the presence of other monsters in the Evil King's ranks (Stalfos, Lizalfos, Gibdos, etc.), not to mention Phantom Ganon. It really cements how powerful Ganon has become, and hints at how long he's thought things through.
- And now it's confirmed that Zant, Ghirahim and Vaati all serve him as well. Given the above mooks and the notable villains already serving Ganondorf, the Evil King's ranks only grow more formidable.
- Ganondorf's plan in general. Assuming the series follows the canon of each fighter's home series, then Ganon has already conquered Hyrule at least once (notice how his forces arrive through portals from his castle). Now his ambitions have expanded further; not only does he want to control Hyrule, he wants to control every conceivable universe. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonBrawlZ |
Dragon Ball Z / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
As the Darker and Edgier Sequel Series of
*Dragon Ball*, *Dragon Ball Z* has some of the vilest villains in anime, and that's not even getting into the traumatic past of Trunks, the excessive violence, or even some traits of the *good guys*. This may be a series where Death Is Cheap, but that doesn't diminish how scary it can get.
For Nightmare Fuel in the original series, go here, for the Abridged Series, go here, and for the sequel series, go here.
- Most of the Family Unfriendly Deaths/Cruel and Unusual Deaths in general, while not as bad as these kinds, are rather uncomfortable to experience, such as the picture above, of Dr. Gero killing an ordinary human just because he bothered him.
- Recoome brutally beating Gohan bloody is
*incredibly* difficult and painful to watch. Seeing other main characters getting thrashed around and getting back up for more despite the odds being against them is usually awesome; not so much when it's a little kid who only has a minuscule amount of combat experience under his belt. The beating he gets is so bad that Krillin, usually always cheering Gohan on, *is begging for him to stop fighting.*
- Recoome's sinister laughter as he breaks Gohan's neck, complete with him spurting blood from his mouth and
*twitching* as he lies dying on the ground, truly sends shivers down one's spine. For God's sake, even **Vegeta** looked horrified.
- In the anime, the moment Gohan's neck gets snapped, the scene shifts to Chi-Chi on Earth who knows something went wrong through motherly intuition but doesn't know what happened and proceeds to weep in despair at the fate of her five-year-old son. Any reason why the poor woman is against her boy being involved in fights against genocidal aliens?
- The unusual amount of focus given to Android 18 shattering Vegeta's arm with a single kick. Never mind that broken limbs are often Real Life Nightmare Fuel in and of themselves. It was the fact that Trunks and everyone up on the hill realizes how screwed Vegeta is right on impact. Or the
*scream* Vegeta lets out right as his arm goes limp. By this point, Vegeta pretty much established himself as a guy that can not only take a pounding but talk crap the entire way. To hear Vegeta scream out in pain to that degree is hair-raising (no pun intended) because it's something Vegeta *just doesn't do*.
- For the lulz, 18 dislocates Vegeta's other arm a few minutes later.
- The disturbingly creepy look that Vegeta gave to Gohan back on Namek.
- Doesn't help that he hits Gohan in the most painful way possible soon after, then makes the threat that once he's done, he plans to destroy Earth.
- Goku's heart virus. At one point, he states that it feels like he's dying. Remember, this is coming from a man who has not only had a literal death experience, but when he died, it was from having his entire abdomen blasted out. That should give you a clue as to how painful the virus is, and to a
*Super Saiyan* no less.
-
*Jaco the Galactic Patrolman* managed to make this one even scarier in hindsight. He explains that the Galactic Patrol has Extinction Bombs, devices that release a virus that quickly drives an entire race into extinction, but they never managed to create one that worked for the Saiyan. A Saiyan's immune system can deal with the mightiest bioweapons of a galaxy-spanning civilization...but not with that.
- There is anime filler where Goku has a nightmare as he's suffering from the heart virus. He's able to fight Androids 19 and 20, but he is then assaulted by an unidentified ghost-like figure, with only red eyes on its face. Goku is alarmed, claiming he's never seen anyone or anything quite like it before. As he says this the figure gives a wide grin and opens a mouth full of large fangs. If this was meant to be a personification of the heart virus, then it underscores just how it was so different from, yet no less deadly than every other struggle Goku faced before (and even more so when you consider everything written above).
- Aside from being blown up or vaporized by energy blasts, Akira Toriyama seems to like large chest wounds as indicators of fatal/ near-fatal injuries. Happens to Goku (literally in the second episode), Vegeta, Piccolo, Yamcha, and Future Trunks at different points, among others. During Buu's infamous Human Extinction attack, the
*ENTIRE POPULATION OF EARTH* save a handful, and gets a terminal case of hole-through-torso, including (although not shown on screen) all the kids.
- Akira Toriyama has stated that Frieza was inspired by his worst nightmares. This is quite evident in many of the character's transformations and actions in the series. And for a bonus, Frieza is voiced by Ryūsei Nakao, who went on to voice Mayuri Kurotsuchi.
- Frieza's transformations are in a category of his own. His first transformation into his 2nd form is Body Horror at its finest, first, his chest and arms enlarge giving the appearance of an upper torso way too big for Frieza's small frame until his legs bulk out starting from the thighs to his ankles, also his horns turn upwards to resemble a more demonic look as seen through a shadow, then we see from his point of view of Vegeta gradually getting smaller, then stretching out his neck, a pink aura surrounds him as his facial features become more adult and his shoulder pads enlarge. The sheer weight of the form causes him to fall to his knees as power is straining his being. In the anime, he then stands up and turns around to show his satanic-alien new form, while in the manga, he gives a Slasher Smile knowing that the heroes are now screwed. Everyone including Vegeta is scared of this new form which is completely justified as Frieza goes to impale Krillin with his horns and prolongs it with sadistic pleasure.
- The next transformation, while not as graphic, is even more horrific; Frieza extends his shoulder guards and grows spikes on his back, his face stretches out and then contorts into a malformed beak while his head elongates. This leads into a creepy Xenomorph Xerox-like form that acts far more insane than before as he rapidly barrages Piccolo helplessly before Gohan's sudden power boost forced him to quickly/thankfully transition to his next form.
- Arguably the worst part about Frieza is that he doesn't just
*kill* you; he wants you to die *terrified*. Probably the best example is in *Dragon Ball Z Kai* after he kills Dende and then Flash Steps right behind the heroes, and says this priceless bit of dialogue, all while this music is playing in the background.
- Not only that, he killed Dende so fast that none of the heroes even knew it happened until they saw the explosion behind them. To them, Frieza just pointed his finger and something blew up, only to discover it was one of their comrades. Frieza is so fast that he can pull a "You Are Already Dead" on you.
- Another example is when he impales Krillin on his horn, and bucks him up and down as blood spatters around.
**Frieza:** Stay with it. Yee-haw! That's it, buck-a-roo. Ride 'em, cowboy!
- Of course, Kai makes this part scarier and also ends up referring to
*Fist of the North Star* while doing so.
"And the spark goes out. Don't bother trying to save him. You can't; he's already dead."
**Frieza:** "Never mind half max power; I'm not even using one-third of it."
- The unique attack Frieza used to kill Krillin. It involves shooting a benign (at first glance) energy ball about the size of a pinprick into an enemy's chest cavity and then
*expanding it whilst still inside them.* Never mind the implications of your body being invaded by *anything* against your will, but consider that Friezas energy was probably burning away at his insides. And you can see Krillin's chest heave unnaturally right before he explodes. At least, some of Friezas other victims got a much quicker death... of them.
- On that note, anyone who was unfortunate enough to be on a planet at the moment of its explosion.
- At the time of being the ultimate powerful figure within the entire DBZ Universe, Frieza proved that he can go beyond his power ability. During the epic showdown between Goku, Frieza wanted to up the ante by going 100% Full Power. Just like the previous transformation sequences, it is brutal, cold, and downright terrifying. His muscles enlarge to giant proportions, veins throbbing wildly and uncontrollably and he screams into his ascended state made things even worse for Goku for a while. The whole scenario shows just how much he's willing to go to take down Goku and flee Namek who at that point was a ticking time bomb ready to explode at any given minute.
- Frieza destroying Planet Vegeta. Not just simply the planet's demise itself, but how he acts throughout. Frieza flies out of his ship, completely emotionless and unresponsive to Bardock confronting him. He just slowly raises his finger while glaring at him, charging a death ball no bigger than the tip of his finger while the lone Saiyan is verbally spitting in his face. When Bardock throws an energy blast at him, Frieza finally breaks his composure and starts Laughing Mad, expanding the death ball to the point where Bardocks attack is engulfed in it. Then he throws it at Bardock,
*his army who just happened to be in the same path,* and the planet Vegeta, where we get to see flames erupting from beneath the populace as Vegeta is disintegrated. *Frieza's still laughing at all of this.* Even Zarbon and Dodoria are deeply disturbed by the sight...
- Emotionless? As he watches Bardock on a monitor rush through his whole army to get to him, Frieza first calmly requests opening the hatch, prompting a very disturbed "Wait, what?" reaction. Zarbon tries arguing the point, and then... Frieza lets his arm lower by his sides. This simple, wordless gesture prompts Zarbon to gasp, and run out of the room to execute the orders, screaming "Yes, Sir!" And THEN you get a closeup of Frieza's face where pure, unadulterated hatred is displayed. Bardock is but a bug to crush under his heel, but Frieza will clearly NOT tolerate rebellion or any form of opposition, and deep down, you can sense his actual FEAR towards Saiyans.
- Think about the power levels in this saga; after some months of training, Goku is at 180,000 and trashes the Ginyu force, with Ginyu standing at the max power level of 120,000. Is Frieza at max power?
*12* **FUCKING** *MILLION*. Frieza at his strongest is a thousand times stronger than his most powerful henchman. How the hell is someone that powerful anyway? Answer; *he was just born that way*. Makes you wonder why the universe chooses to give that much power to someone born into an evil family.
- It isn't enough to say how his strongest form puts him above everyone else. Frieza, in his
*weakest* form, is already at least 4 times stronger than Ginyu. At his *weakest*, he was considered the strongest and most feared being in the universe. Not even his men had any idea that he was even stronger than that, or just how much stronger he was. If one does the math, Frieza is all of this to the universe when he's not even using of his power, **1%** *or even half of that.* Later events in Dragon Ball Super in Resurrection of F, and Universe Survival Arc makes the '100% power' an *utterly minuscule fraction* of his true possible ability.
- All of this becomes far worse in hindsight with
*Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F'* and its adaptation in the second arc of *Dragon Ball Super*, as they reveal that *Frieza had never trained a single day in his life*. Everyone else, save for Majin Buu, was an artificial creature or had trained hard to become so strong, but he was just born with that strength, *and could become much stronger with training*. If he had dropped his self-sure personality for even a *week*, even a Super Saiyan might not have been enough to defeat him the first time.
- This extends to Frieza's genetic relative Cell, by the way. Cell's instinct is to absorb things to get stronger, but once he reaches what he believes to be perfection, he stops trying, figuring that he's strong enough already. And he was mostly right. That said, the endgame of that saga sees Cell lose his perfect form only to transform back into a
*stronger* version of it without the requisite absorption after a near-death scenario. This indicates that he had access to the Saiyans' innate Zenkai ability. Just how much research had Dr. Gero done on other methods of getting stronger? And how much did Cell know about these methods? In other words, imagine Cell with a few weeks of good training along with the Saiyan and Frieza genetics he had. The universe would've been completely screwed.
- You think you're safe from Frieza? Think again with this terrifyingly brilliant fan made teaser from K&K Productions. And as a bonus... Frieza in this video is voiced by LittleKuriboh, who voiced him in Dragon Ball Z Abridged, and his more serious and ominous voice is enough to make you shit your pants with fear...
- Goku's first Super Saiyan transformation, in the original Japanese version. Other versions have scored the scene to look like something dramatic and awesome is happening, but in the original version (and the
*Kai* episode rerun post-2011), the music gives the impression that not only is there no *clue* as to what the hell Goku turned into, but no indication that it's something good, shocking even Frieza. Imagine what the kids who first saw this scene, see their hero Goku go through that...
- Kikuichi Shunsuke's chilling musical score, simply entitled "Super Saiyan Son Goku", is more befitting of a horror movie than a martial arts anime, perfectly encapsulating the terror of witnessing a god, nay
*demon* of Rage Itself being unleashed upon the universe. The first thing he does is order Gohan to leave, meaning he's on the verge of being overwhelmed by bloodlust and can't trust himself with his son.
- The Kai redub also does a damn good job at just how terrifying Goku's transformation into a Super Saiyan is, though that can mostly be attributed to the outstanding voice work. Goku sounds like he's about to lose his mind, and the grunting seems like he's trying to hold himself back but ultimately failing to do so. The track used for this scene pre-2011, 'A Moment For Shuddering', also shows that as well. While it's certainly dramatic, it's not necessarily meant to convey how awesome the transformation is; rather, it gives the impression that Goku's rage is about to break. This all culminated in a truly terrifying scream as Goku finally becomes Super Saiyan, as well as Frieza sounding both shocked and horrified. The only words he could say at the time were "You... you... ruthless... heartless...
**BASTARD!!!** I will... make you... **SUFFER!!!**"
- After becoming a Super Saiyan in
*Kai*, Goku tells Gohan to take Piccolo and Bulma to the ship, then says "DO AS I TELL YOU, RIGHT NOW, BEFORE I LOSE WHAT LITTLE SENSE OF REASON I HAVE LEFT!" He's so overcome by anger that he doesn't trust himself not to hurt his son.
- The Bruce Faulconer track used in the scene, simply titled "SSJ Transformation", feels quite uncanny compared to the other tracks in the score. Much like the original Japanese track, this does not bring a sense of triumph or excitement but dread and anxiety. The music is perfectly synced with the scene as it slowly builds with Goku's rage, and moments of calm are used for the fear and confusion of those witnessing his transformation. The guitar riffs, while sure to get your adrenaline going, also encapsulate the anger within our hero until it finally explodes. The inclusion of a subtle but noticeable choir not only helps give the scene some mystique but also a feeling of eerieness. In fact, someone went out of their way to swap out Kai's theme with the Faulconer track due to its impact.
- In general, what this transformation does to Goku. It took a gentleman who didn't like to kill and turned him into a monster that Frieza describes as just like himself. Also, instead of taking Frieza down quickly, he let him go to full power so he could make Frieza suffer longer and humiliate him with the fact that even at his best, he never stood a chance at winning. He bluffed to Frieza that Gohan, Piccolo, and Bulma weren't his concern, his thoughts on Gohan attempting to escape the planet distracted him enough for Frieza to momentarily get the upper hand. This may be the other reason why he allowed Frieza to power up to 100%: If he's focused on fighting Goku, he can't go after the others. That the bluff was
*plausible* says *a lot* about what the Super Saiyan form did to Goku's personality.
- Overly Sarcastic Production's analysis of the how well done the Super Saiyan prophecy was goes into more detail from the manga perspective. It's more terrifying because, before the readers are privy to Goku's inner thoughts, but now, we're all shut out from it, so we don't know what he's actually thinking, so we can't even be sure he's still the Goku we've been following. Also, he begins to act more like Vegeta does, further showing that this is no longer a matter of if Freiza can be defeated, but if the guy that will definitely beat him is still our hero, or something else entirely. It's only when he initially powers down that we are given assurance that, yes, this is still our Goku.
- While fans prefer to ignore it,
*Dragon Ball Episode of Bardock* makes Goku's transformation even scarier-as Frieza would know from his ancestor what a Super Saiyan looks like... And suddenly, the *monster* his ancestor warned him about appeared before his very eyes, and *he* was the cause of it.
- So a Kid from the Future has come back to the past to save Goku from a heart virus, believing he will be able to find a way to defeat androids that will soon wreak havoc on the Earth.
*Dragon Ball* is doing *The Terminator* now, some suspense, mostly resulting from the events not playing out the way the kid said they would and Vegeta's unrelenting stupidity, but nothing too frightening... until another time machine is uncovered. A time machine that has been there much longer, is damaged from the inside and has the molt of an unnervingly large Four-Legged Insect like creature, whose mere shed remains have evil eyes, not far away. The good news is that we now have an idea why past events are not unfolding as they should, the bad news is that Earth's defenders thought they had the benefit of foresight but are years behind whatever *that* may be.
- Cell, Doctor Gero's greatest creation. It wants to eat you and all your friends. Slowly. Through a giant stinger that acts like a
*large, natural syringe*. Even if you're strong enough to rip this natural syringe *clean off* to try to control the damage, *it'll just grow back*. And those strong enough won't likely encounter it until it's too late, given it's been operating under their noses for years, drinking away civilization and the ecosystem, steadily getting stronger. There's no way to stop it - machine guns, tanks, and entire armies only serve to annoy it... or amuse him. And after it *eats* you, it wants to destroy all traces of everything you know and love, but only after sending all the survivors into absolute soul-crushing despair. The icing on the cake is that one of the world's most brilliant scientific minds saw fit to *create* this thing.
- When Cell comes across Piccolo and a random man in the street, who begs Piccolo to take his money and save him. Cell stabs him with his tail, and it starts... moving, like it's drinking, and the man is petrified. The man's entire body STARTS TO MELT; his face eventually caves in, and his body is sucked up until there is nothing left
*but his clothes*. Piccolo, who is usually stoic, is too petrified by fear to do anything but watch in horror, both scared and disgusted at how emotionless Cell was in killing a random civilian. The scariest part is that Cell glared at Piccolo the whole time while doing so.
- In "Our Hero Awakens", Cell has already sucked dry an entire town. We see one Badass Normal guy with an automatic rifle trying to stop him, only to find that his bullets bounce off Cell like raindrops. This is the type of character who in an 80s action flick would be the one to save the day, but in the Dragon Ball universe, he's just fodder. As Cell drains him, we see that his wife and child were hiding nearby
*and could hear the whole horrific ordeal.*
- His announcement of the Cell Games; Cell goes to a local TV station and interrupts all broadcasts by going through the floor much to the shock and horror of those there and watching it. When he reaches the top floor, he announces himself as Cell and that he was the one responsible for the deaths and terrorizing all the towns and cities as the Big Monster of Nicky Town and reverts to his Imperfect Voice. He then announces the Cell Games to all who are watching and states that if he's not defeated, he will destroy all life. To cap this off, he then blows a hole through the building destroying a mountain in the nearby distance before flying off.
- After having the top half of his body blown up, it's assumed that he's finally dead....until the lower half suddenly leaps to a standing position and regenerates that top half. It's one of the many instances that highlights that Cell is not a man in a bug costume, but an unnatural being whose regenerative properties are presented as an unnatural exaggeration of Piccolo. It's especially jarring that while Cell did regenerate his arm similar to Piccolo, this layer of restoration hints at how absurd his healing factor is.
- After Gohan transforms into a Super Saiyan 2 and starts giving Cell the business, we finally get to see the Android's full power. It's easy to forget but Cell is so strong at this point that none of the other Z-Fighters can touch him. When Cell starts throwing energy attacks at the Earth in a vain effort to kill Gohan, they can only watch in horror as Goku's 11-year-old son is the only thing keeping them from being obliterated by Cell's titanic power.
- Cell's desperate attempt after he takes too much heavy damage from Super Saiyan 2 Gohan who manages to beat Android 18 out of him. Reverting into his second form, Cell goes ballistic knowing he is outmatched, and starts bloating up like a grotesque balloon. Before the inevitable Earth-Shattering Kaboom, Goku intervenes and manages to transport him onto King Kai's planet until he finally detonates, taking King Kai, Gregory, Bubbles, Goku, and the
*entire* little planet with him. You would think with Goku's Heroic Sacrifice that it would be the end. But it's not. Cell regenerates with his cell core and manages to resurrect himself into a more powerful state called "Super Perfect Cell". Cue Mass "Oh, Crap!" from whats left of the Z gang at that point on.
- Cell's self-resurrection is a bundle of nightmares by itself.
- The literal first thing Cell does when he returns is fire an energy beam
*through Future Trunks' chest.* Out of a dust cloud, too fast for anybody to dodge or react, before the Z-Fighters can even take in what is happening. Future Trunks hits the ground with a basketball-sized hole in his torso. And then hacks up about a pint of blood.
- The next thing that happens is that Vegeta goes all out and attacks Cell with all he has. With Goku gone, this means that the Prince is now the second strongest Z-Fighter. Cell not only doesn't suffer any damage, he isn't even slowed down. He attacks Vegeta and nearly kills him as a reflex more than anything else.
- While it's easy to overlook thanks to it being an incredibly awesome moment for Gohan, Cell's death is pretty gruesome if you miss that. Saying that he had it coming would be a
*massive* understatement, but Cell doesn't die quickly and painlessly, no. He slowly disintegrates while *screaming in pain*. Even as he breaks apart into millions of pieces and then into microscopic cells, take into consideration that this is *Cell* we're talking about here, so he likely felt every last bit of it until he was erased for good. That *had* to have been utter hell to go through.
- It doesn't help in the brief moment before his body breaks apart completely that his face distorts into deranged exaggerations of himself at a rapid pace.
- What makes Cell so scary is the fact that he isn't some alien or some eternal mass of chaos like Buu. He is a creature created on Earth by an ordinary, vengeful
*human*. A human, the people that Goku and the others spent their lives protecting, created an absolute monster that *feeds* off of other humans in the slowest, most painful way possible. How morally bankrupt and cruel does a person have to be to create such a creature?
- Another thing that makes Cell terrifying is that saying he's strong is an
*understatement.* Until Majin Buu came back to life, Super Perfect Cell was the most powerful evil being in the universe. So strong that the Supreme Kai, who wasn't keeping track of his existence, was shocked at how strong the Z-warriors had to become to fight him.
- Let's cut to the chase. When Son Gohan achieves the Messianic powers of a Super Saiyan 2, he changes from a sensitive and kind-hearted little boy to a cold-blooded, sadistic murderer that would make Frieza or Broly run for their lives. Watching the once kind-hearted boy coldly sneer
*"Kill him now? Hmph, not yet Dad. He deserves to suffer much longer!!"* is incredibly unsettling. Cell even calls him "a ''monster''": as in the same Cell that is *fueled* on the lives of thousands, if not millions of people and laughed with glee as he absorbed the two teenagers his creator turned into cyborgs as they screamed for their lives. He also stated he loves seeing the twisted faces of terror in people, and said to Goku that if it wasn't for the tournament he created, he'd wipe out the earth in one shot without batting an eye. When Goku called out to Gohan that he should end the fight since Cell, while cornered could become more unpredictable than before, Gohan's response was to glare at him and give his most sadistic smirk he's ever shown, before giving the line that he'd like to carry on what was effective **torture**. That kid was Not Himself.
- The part of the battle most people remember is this one, but one has to watch the entire fight to get the full impression. The contrast between Gohan before he ascends and afterward is startlingly dramatic.
- Gohan is right about Cell deserving it, though, considering that Cell DRANK 600,000 innocent people and intended to kill everyone on Earth just to see the terror on their faces before they die.
- That may be the case, but the fact that
*Gohan* beats the crap in Cell in uncontrollable rage is somewhat disturbing. But the sheer freakishness of it goes up a notch when you consider this- this Superpowered Evil Side has been lurking in him . **since he was 4 years old**
- However, it is quite reasonable to sympathize with Gohan, even in Super Saiyan 2. He has lived through traumatic experiences since he was 4 years old, so it is logical to assume that sooner or later he would explode with anger. Remember the Nappa fight, the battle on Namek, and how he saw Namekians being killed by Frieza's army
*when he was 5 years old*, and being bullied by Vegeta at the end of the Namek saga?
- Fundamentally the whole end of the Cell Games is incredibly disturbing when you think about it. Goku fights Cell first before giving up after it became clear that he couldn't win, leaving his friends and family petrified with fear, particularly his 11-year-old son who worships him and can't even conceive of being stronger than his father, despite Goku fighting to show Gohan that he has surpassed him. Goku then leaves the rest of the fight to Gohan. Piccolo (who didn't even have a real childhood) calling Goku out on the fact he's letting his young child get tortured emphasizes that Goku's just left the fate of the entire world on the shoulders of a boy that isn't even a teenager yet and loathes violence (not to mention giving Cell a Senzu Bean to ensure a fair fight). Worse, Goku had no choice but to trust in Gohan's power since no one else could match Cell. Goku's confidence in his son might have been proven correct but considering what it required, and Goku was banking on, Gohan being driven into a homicidal rage by the emotional trauma, the transformation is arguably worse than Goku's first transformation into a Super Saiyan. The fact that he snaps to the point of sadism isn't surprising considering the emotional state it took to get him there. Just watching him coldly take apart Cell and the Juniors even before he starts talking about making Cell suffer is pretty distressing considering the natural human instinct is to protect and shield children from these kinds of events, emphasizing that despite Goku being raised by humans, he isn't a human and such sentiment are not shared by Saiyans. It's pretty hard to blame Gohan for any of what ensues and it's just made worse by the fact that the already traumatized kid is left to blame himself for his father's death following this.
- Goku putting Gohan to fight had nothing to do with Saiyan Nature. Goku himself has been fighting villains and monsters since he was 11 or 12 years old without issues, about the same age Gohan is when fighting Cell, so he didn't see the problem with it because for him it was normal at that age. If Goku made a mistake, it's that he didn't take into account just how different his son is from himself, especially how much his son dislikes fighting.
- The unspoken fact of this entire plot point is that Goku had no plan aside from throwing Gohan at Cell. He was certain that he couldn't put the Big Bad down, and had to defer to the actual powerhouse of the group, who unfortunately just so happened to be his son. This move wasn't about pride or a sense of giving his son a challenge, it was sheer desperation.
- Frieza was, and to some, still is,
*the* iconic villain of the Dragon Ball universe. While subsequent villains were more powerful in the individual sense, Frieza was a ruthless tyrant who ran an empire and was known and feared throughout the galaxy. If you've watched Z you likely know that while he's afraid of Goku post-transformation, he gives a fight a try anyway - and gets his ass kicked. And comes back for more at least twice. In *Super*, you find out that Buu, along with Beerus, were the two individuals Frieza was instructed by King Cold, "If you see them, run the other freaking direction." Even to someone who, at the time, was as untouchable as Frieza, the only other individuals known to exist that invoked this level of horrifying terror were a **GOD OF DESTRUCTION**... and Buu, who was the strongest naturally existing being that wasn't a part of the divine hierarchy or used means to reach higher levels of power.
- How Buu is introduced. He's described to be an Eldritch Abomination that even the Gods who can one-shot Freeza can't defeat, so the initial thought is that Buu's going to be this Lovecraftian horror that's played seriously. And then, Buu is revived and revealed to be...an overweight pink humanoid with a cape, mitten, diaper-like pants, and overall a goofy look that acts like a toddler. It initially seems to be a comedic subversion...right until he trounces Gohan, Supreme Kai, and Dabura, the latter of which was described to be on the same level of power as Super Perfect Cell, like nothing. He proceeds to casually blast a rage-amped Gohan like nothing, which would've killed him if Supreme Kai didn't save him at the last second. He slowly torments Supreme Kai with his own moves used against him and proceeds to turn the king of the Demon World into a cookie to eat him. At this point, it becomes clear that his goofy powers and personality bellies sinister darkness and his goofy powers have horrific consequences due to being on a level of tier far above the last villain who at his peak threatened the Solar System. Instead of a typical Eldritch Abomination, it's a primordial being with a kind of personality and powerset of a kid show being nightmarishly.
- As a whole, Buu isn't a magic creation by a deranged sorcerer to rule the universe but a being as old as the universe. An initially mindless child-like being that proceeds to absorb the minds and powers of two of the most powerful gods while killing all but one. He becomes a warped parody of said gods with the added power at his disposal and only through sleep and being sealed away that the universe is saved. And then he's freed, and through a series of events, he proceeds to get much worse, with his sillier elements gradually getting downplayed in favor of terrifying malleability of himself, destructive demonstration that outstrips the previous villains in sheer scope, and deranged and unpredictable behavior.
- With Buu, compared to Freeza and Cell, whose facade of politeness until they become angry when bested allows one to understand their mentality to predict their actions, embodies chaotic unpredictability with the power to act on it, which makes Buu that much more unsettling. One won't know when one has set off any of his forms' short fuses with destructive outbursts on the planet at their weakest and reality itself at its strongest or how randomly they can go from goofy to sinister to insane and back without warning. It makes dealing with any of them very tense.
- From a Religious Horror standpoint, Buu is the darkest answer to Have You Seen My God?. The Supreme Kais are Dead sans the East Supreme Kai because Buu essentially killed and/or ate the rest. And retroactively, Buu would've indirectly killed and rendered inert, two of the few individuals who could've stopped him.
- While Vegeta starts off performing better than any of the previous contenders, Buu gradually dominates him and proceeds to beat the tar of him while restraining his movements by tying him down with a piece of his own flesh. Vegeta then realizes that he's underestimated the creature severely and comes to the revelation that only explodes every single cell at once of the regenerating monster in one go. And to twist the knife, as much of a character-defining moment it is for Vegeta, Buu quickly regenerates from that and treats the ordeal like it was nothing, proceeding to continue to do what he wanted anyway. What initially seemed to be an easy mission of trouncing enemies becomes one of the most egregious tasks the heroes undergo. And unlike before, it sets up a domino effect in which things escalate from the extinction of the human race, the deaths of almost the entire cast, and the destruction of the planet that had been barely prevented in previous arcs- with only strokes of miracles allowing them to come through. It made for a strenuous Grand Finale for the original series game changer once the sequel series came out, with the heroes due to their actions, now having to deal with the realms of the divine and metaphysical, after defeating the strongest being in existence.
- The first fight against Fat Buu, where Vegeta has to blow himself to smithereens in a Heroic Sacrifice and burn himself literally to ASHES ... for nothing. After the fact, a desiccated husk of Majin Vegeta remains in a dark sky ripe with thunder clouds, that fall to the ground to break and be turned into dust in the wind... Talk about a horrible way to go. And again, all for nothing.
- Then, Piccolo has the mother of Oh, Crap! moments when he sees Buu regenerate from that! Piccolo, the member with the most consistent smarts/wisdom/experience, and resolute composure. That same Piccolo is both baffled and horrified at the sight and proceeds to run for the hills when seeing the tiny pieces of Buu come together, morphing graphically from slime to mini-Buus to come together into the larger one.
- With Cell, while he could also regenerate from almost anything, it was still treated like a stressful and risky power for him, slowly wearing down his stamina and an indicator that the heroes would be getting closer to actually defeating him- with his ultimate restoration to even greater being a miracle even on his end. Buu on the other hand, a hole through his stomach, being impaled, or even being blasted into literal smoke via a Heroic Sacrifice, is treated as a minor inconvenience at worst. And to make matters worse, this is an automatic feature of his body that he does with the same subconscious effort one takes to breathe. This makes Buu a truly nigh-invincible nightmare, which requires the most powerful powers- Vegito and the Spirit Bomb- to even cause this regeneration to falter enough that Buu needs to consciously restore himself when he realizes his automatic regeneration isn't working or being blasted beyond the atomic level.
- The Fridge Horror of being absorbed by Majin Buu. You are taken into his body where he feeds off your power and knowledge and uses them to kill everyone you know. Worse, you cannot die or do anything to stop him. You are forever trapped in an immortal being who will continue to use your abilities to kill billions. While it can be used for good, with Grand Supreme Kai making Buu potentially having the capacity for redemption after the right kind of persuasion, though it still makes him dangerous; it's used to its fullest vile potential when Super Buu proceeds to play vicious mind games with Gohan, utilizing Piccolo and Goten's memories to find his emotional vulnerabilities.
- Fat Buu gets one. After deciding he's gonna eat Dabura, he starts dancing towards him in an innocent, yet menacing fashion while chanting "Me eat you up, me eat you up, me eat you up". Dabura tries to put up resistance, pummeling him, blasting him, spitting petrifying saliva at him, but no matter what he does, Buu continues to dance towards him until the Demon King is finally consumed.
- Here it is in all its horrifying glory.
- Fat Buu gets another dark moment near the end of his career as a servant. After Babidi threatens him with sealing and insults him too many times, a single panel shows Buu's face just before his master-slaying ploy. It is an uncharacteristically serious and dark face for him; if a face acted as someone else's death warrant, Buu's would be it. One look at that and you just know, Babidi is already dead.
- Heck, think of the way he disposes of Babidi. In Kai, he first deceives Babidi by saying he has a good idea to tell him, allowing him to get close. Then Buu grabs Babidi by the throat, explaining that now Babidi is unable to perform any magic, like the spell to seal him in a ball. Then Buu pulls his fist back, and you get several agonizing shots of Babidi staring in pure horror that there is nothing he can do, nor can he scream for mercy. Then Buu punches his head into oblivion, his fist colliding with the camera and turning it pure red. And the wizard deserved it. To make matters worse, in the original anime we're then treated to a lovely shot of Babidi's
*twitching, headless and blood-spewing corpse*, which is also pulsating with a very loud heartbeat, possibly implying that Babidi didn't immediately die from the decapitation.
- To make it even worse-if you think about it, that wasn't the first time he tried to kill Babidi. He had been trying to kill him for a while, only restrained by the need to make it look accidental so he wouldn't be sealed again, thus he was only flying recklessly to have him splat somewhere... Then, during his fight with Goku, Buu realized Babidi couldn't seal him away if he couldn't speak. And as soon as Goku has left, Buu kills Babidi the way described above.
- The more unnerving part is that, in the dub,
*Goku* is the person who planted the idea in Buu's head to kill Babidi. It's even more unnerving in the Kai dub, which has him grimly warn Babidi of his fate, well aware of what Buu will do to him once he's gone:
"Oh, and by the way, Babidi? When you get to Hell, which, believe me, is gonna be sooner than you think, King Yemma will make you suffer."
- Watching Fat Buu slaughter cities and reduce buildings to rubble just for fun is nothing short of disturbing. Especially since he treats all the carnage like a kid stepping on ants.
- Even though he only appeared in one episode, Evil Buu (gray) arguably is pretty freaking scary given his depressing, morbid appearance. Any child who sees this haunting stare [1]◊ would most likely be scared senseless. Let's see. Soulless white eyes within black sclera which originated the Black Eyes of Crazy trope? Check. Gray, melancholy color compared to bright, jubilant pink? Check. Sickly, anorexic body? Check. Even when anorexic Buu is pink [2]◊, that unnerving smile isn't exactly doing anyone's mind any favors.
- How he was extremely deathly stoic in his fight with Good Buu, and then when he eats him, it results in an utterly crazed laugh with completely wide eyes and a smile as he turns into Super Buu. Talk about Not So Stoic
- During Super Buu's fight with Vegito, he forces himself into the fused Saiyan's mouth and tries to destroy him from the inside. Vegito's powerful enough to resist it, but Buu can remain inside his body. The following few minutes are outright disturbing as we see random parts of Vegito's body swelling to ridiculously grotesque size as he attempts to beat Super Buu back out.
- Super Buu. While Fat Buu was more like an innocent child that didn't know how not to break stuff or the difference between good and bad, Super Buu was, along with Kid Buu, the most deranged. He has this trademark pose where he's standing straight up, but his long neck is tilted to one side and he's got a Cheshire Cat grin about two sizes too big for his face◊.
- What's worse is that unlike Freeza who holds back in order to both control his initially uncontrollable full power and Cell who actually had to try to work to achieve his full power; Evil/Super Buu's existence just occurred due to pointless human cruelty shooting a dog and his newly acquired friend and Buu having for the first time in his existence, an emotional compromise of his newfound sense of morales and instinct for destruction, leading to him to split his existence into two, the now purely benign Buu and the expelled negative essence. Unfortunately for both the world and himself, this vastly more powerful side embodying all of his repressed evil proceeds to both dominate, and usurp control over him in order to create an even worse and more powerful version of Buu that causes the situation to gradually become worse as things go on until the very universe is at stake. All this happened due to the petty evil of mere thugs and Buu's emotional trauma of his friends' suffering, just a random thing that caused the birth of one of the series' most vile and dangerous villains.
- Buu slaughtering the Z-Fighter's friends and loved ones by turning them into candy and eating them. It's overlooked in the manga, but shown outright in the anime and is every bit as gruesome as it sounds as his victims
**scream** in terror as they are transformed and eaten. Even worse is Goku can only sit and watch on the Kai Planet as his friends and family die.
- When Gohan pounds Super Buu into the dirt, Buu begins screaming and ranting like a madman, suddenly going from a snarling rage to a wide-eyed Nightmare Face complete with a Slasher Smile over how he'll make Gohan pay. Despite the flashy display of generating a large aura of Ki while being covered in protruding veins, Gohan doesn't sense much of a power boost from him and says as much. Buu's only response is to look at him, head cocked to the side, baring a manic grin, and muttering. "You're missing the point." That point is that Buu just set his body up to self-destruct to take out the area for miles around, knowing that he can just reassemble himself. Buu is
*not* someone you want to make angry.
- His actions in this form don't help. As mentioned before, the other forms just liked Stuff Blowing Up. His methods of killing/torturing are extremely sadistic, yes, even worse than Frieza, Cell, or Broly. That includes turning one into a food of his choice and eating them (keeping them fully conscious the whole time), shrinking someone and then stepping on them, liquefying himself and force-feeding his own body down another's throat, then expanding inside them until they burst. Once Buu does this, Mr. Satan is completely horrified.
- There's also the fact that, aside from being the strongest of the Buus, he's also the
*smartest*. He can tear you down more psychologically and physically. And don't try to outwit him, as he already planned for that; just ask Gohan.
- The Human Extinction Attack: a now-Laughing Mad Buu launches a continuous stream of energy beams that exterminates the entire human population within minutes. He pulls off a Class 3a Apocalypse for no reason other than "I can do this". As Team Four Star put it, "This is the first time in the series where the civilian casualty number isn't just high —
*it's complete*." To make matters worse, the ki blasts are shown not exploding and vaporizing their targets on impact, but tearing through their torsos. Dragon Ball Z has established by this point that a hole in the chest is neither a quick nor a painless way to go. Never mind that the streets of Earth's cities were likely *littered with blood and dead or dying bodies* until... well, see below.
- Kid Buu later upgraded it to Class X-3, with an immediate threat of Class X-4 to boot.
- You know how at that point in the series death was almost completely reversible at will thanks to the Dragon Balls? To the point where Piccolo even tried to buy time by suggesting Super Buu kill all the humans down on mainland Earth knowing they could be wished back? Suddenly when he did that attack it didn't feel so cheap anymore.
- From Bad to Worse — remember, the earth's dragon can't revive people more than once, and as far as they knew, the Namekian dragon could only revive three people every 130 days.
- Despite all of the Body Horror he can do, he, for the most part, was essentially a thug whose only thought was "opponent" and "food" and could only hurt you physically. However, once he absorbed Piccolo and Gotenks, he became
*much* more dangerous — not in physical power (which did grow tremendously with Gotenks' Super Saiyan 3 power), but in intelligence (courtesy of Piccolo), something which the other forms mostly lacked. Imagine if you gave the smartest mind in the series to the most powerful being in the universe. The result is a ruder version of Cell whose ego is boosted even further after absorbing Gohan himself, can back his power with wit, and destroys people with emotional torment (in this case Gohan, made worse since he was repeating things that his teacher taught him to mess him up and it works). Buu's manipulation ends with Gohan being rendered helpless by the brutal physical and mental assault of his empowered enemy. It got so bad that at one point, it had to be not shown — not censored, but not shown at all — meaning it was as bad as, if not worse than, Frieza's beatdown of Vegeta.
- Goku has it almost as bad. Imagine standing there and watching as Buu takes your last son and uses his power against you. He just came back to life and he's utterly helpless against the monster who murdered his wife and took his sons in the worst way possible. In the English dub, Buu even had the nerve to call Goku dad after absorbing Gohan.
- Kid Buu was frightening as well. Yeah, he looks smaller, and maybe not as intimidating, but his first act in this form is to attempt to blow up the Earth, seemingly out of pure spite. When that is blocked, he prepares a blast ten times larger that they can't block. Goku begs him not to go through with it, that "There will be nothing! Nothing left at all!" Buu's response is a giggle and one of the evilest smiles of all time, then he destroys the planet. That's when it was clear: this Buu had nothing resembling reason, unlike his previous forms. He had no ambitions to prove himself or to be the strongest, no need for anything to entertain him. He was simply going to kill and kill and kill until nothing was left. For no reason.
- The totality of this moment is reflected upon once the blast hits Earth's surface. The camera cuts across the universe to New Namek, where Elder Moori and the Namekians are shown being shaken from their daily routines as they sense Earth's destruction. They look up at the sky in mild shock.
- Kid Buu then travels to the after-life and Yamcha, in complete horror, makes light of the fact that IF enough energy is used, someone could KILL someone already dead. He then goes on to say that doing so would cause them to cease to exist and not even Dragon Balls can bring them back. Kid Buu was strong enough to do just that. This means that, if he were more sadistic, he could subsequently torture you for all eternity and you wouldn't die unless he destroyed your soul!
- He's the only villain that's completely incapable of being reasoned with. Frieza and Cell may be inhuman in nature and power, but you can still reason with them. Even Super Buu could be distracted for a good fight. That won't work with Kid Buu. He has no pride to manipulate, no ambitions or understandable emotions to get a rise out of, and nothing you can bargain with. It just wants to destroy everything,
*pure and simple.* And there's nothing you can do to stop it.
- Kid Buu's very body language is chilling in how utterly lacking in restraint it is. And then there's his scream. Psychotic doesn't even begin to describe it. It's... primal.
- After Buu destroys the Earth he teleports all over the universe and destroys several other planets in a row like a cosmic wrecking ball without giving the people on those planets any chance of fighting back or even realizing what was happening. It was at this moment that it becomes clear to the viewer that the entire universe was in danger since this thing wouldn't stop until everything was dead.
- What little forewarning we got was for the most part Kibito Kai's unrestrained horror as the transformation from Super Buu to Kid Buu arrived at the Huge Buu◊ stage for a moment. Until that moment he, and his fusee Shin and Kibito, had been scared of Buu, but it was controllable, and after the fusion, he considered going after Super Buu himself. Then he saw that... And was on his knees in pure abject terror trying desperately to deny the truth, that Buu was returning to his original form. And when he continued changing, he revealed what was happening with just as much horror.
- And why did Kibito Kai have that reaction? Because
*that* was the Buu that killed the other Supreme Kais, and he remembers all too well the horror of that monster.
- The
*other* piece of forewarning: when Vegeta was about to rip Fat Buu from him and trigger the change, Super Buu *begged* him not to out of sheer horror at the idea of reverting to Kid Buu. Sadly, he was too scared to properly explain what he meant by "I wouldn't be me anymore", and Vegeta went through with it. Thus Super Buu reverted to his original form... While Super Buu tried desperately to prevent the change.
- Heck, Kid Buu's theme song is the creepiest soundtrack in all of
*DBZ Kai.* It's nightmarish and gives off the vibe of a horror film.
- During the fight with Goku, a few things become clear that make Kid Buu all the more horrifying:
- Kid Buu does not get tired. While Goku is at least his physical equal at Super Saiyan 3, after an hour or so of intense fighting he's unable to maintain his form. Meaning that a protracted battle with the monster is both inevitable and suicidal.
- While Goku at the start of the fight is stronger than this version of Buu if he powers all the way up, what does that actually mean if you can't destroy him? While our hero does insist that he was holding back slightly, it becomes pretty clear at a few points that Goku
*was* trying to destroy Majin Buu. He blows away his entire body multiple times and is shocked that the creature is able to regenerate. Vegeta most likely made this observation as well and that's why he came up with using The Spirit Bomb. Otherwise Buu would eventually kill them because he's a being that can't get tired and can heal from pretty much anything.
- Think you're safe from Super Buu? Think again!
- Doctor Gero, the mastermind behind the Red Ribbon Army, definitely deserves mention. His methods for creating Androids 17 and 18 involved
*kidnapping teenage siblings and wiping them clear of their memories*. And that's not the worst he does either. It is implied the reason he created Cell if he had any idea what kind of sadism his creation would obtain, was to *enact revenge against humanity for his Red Ribbon Army's destruction*. The worst part is that like Mercenary Tao, he's human and not created to be evil like Buu or an alien-like Frieza so he's perfectly aware of the suffering he's causing people and he loves every minute of it.
- The scene where he absorbs Piccolo's strength is also pretty creepy, and a lot more suggestive than necessary.
- And then there's the fact that Dr. Gero specifically kidnapped and mutated 17 and 18 for the
*sole purpose* of what amounts to *feeding them to a monster from our worst nightmares*. To him, those two human kids are just food, nothing more.
- Because of Gero's hatred towards the Saiyan Goku, he completely brought ruination to at least two timelines, one where Future Trunks came from and the one Cell came from and nearly destroyed the solar system of the main timeline. All those people dead and suffering at the hands of the androids happened because of one man's petty vengeance.
*One single man* completely brought the world to ruin.
- Garlic Jr's fate. He becomes the first
*Dragon Ball* villain to successfully wish for immortality to the Dragon Balls, but in the end, it amounts to nothing, and in fact, inflicts him with a Fate Worse than Death. The reason? His special technique consists of opening a portal to a Phantom Zone called the Dead Zone, but both times he tries to use it against his enemies, he ends up getting trapped in it. The second time, he becomes trapped permanently there, as Gohan destroyed Garlic Jr's home planet, which was the source of his power. Being immortal, and with no means to get out, means that he'll be there for the rest of all eternity. And sure enough, he isn't heard from again.
- Everything that happens to Gohan through the Saiyan saga -
*especially* if you're Chi-Chi. First kidnapped by a stranger, then rescued only to be kidnapped *again* by someone Chi-Chi would have known for a fact was Goku's mortal enemy. He then disappears for *an entire year*, only to return just in time to be thrown into a fight with two more guys that are even worse. Chi-Chi gets mocked on occasion for her coddling ways, but after a year like that, who could blame her for being a bit rattled?
- Captain Ginyu. The Ginyu force is this in-universe since it's what Frieza uses when he's pissed and wants things done. The weakest of them has psychic powers able to make two warriors with over
*thirty times* his power level helpless, then there are three people that could curb stomp *Vegeta* (no, not acting together, every single one of them could do this on his own), and they are to Ginyu less than what Vegeta is to them. So far, however, is just the usual Sorting Algorithm of Evil. The real horror is what happens when you are stronger than Ginyu. He would seriously injure himself, then swap bodies with you, getting a much stronger one, leaving you to die from his self-inflicted and painful injury. The worst of it? Jeice *knew* of that ability. Is what we see Ginyu's original body? And how many times did he do that before?
- The second Budokai Tenkaichi game outright states that Ginyu's current body
*isn't his own*. Considering how willing he is to pull out the body-swapping technique, it does make one wonder how many other victims Ginyu left to die in such a manner.
- In the anime, the Ginyu Force are a bunch of dancing idiots whose true threat level doesn't become apparent until well into their fights. In the manga, it's almost immediately apparent when they show up with Scouters, meet Frieza, and then immediately cross Namek, a planet three times larger than the Earth, right to Gohan, Krillin and Vegeta. A few chapters ago there was some drama over Goku having to cross Snake Way and arrive on Earth due to Kaio losing track of time but these guys made a comparable trip in no time at all.
- The very concept of the Garlic Jr. saga's Black Water Mist. Just breathing it in will turn anyone (unless they're a Namekian, have a dragon shielding them, or are just incredibly lucky) into an evil, vampiric demon. Imagine you look around you after you're in a situation where you don't breathe the mist, and you see everyone you know and love trying to kill you. Or better yet, imagine what's going on in everyone's head
*right after* they breathe the mist. Do they want to kill those close to them, or is it a case of "And I Must Scream"?
- There's also the fact that the mist covered the
*entire planet*. Over 90% of the Earth's population including animals transformed into bloodthirsty mindless drones of Garlic Jr and his henchmen. We're also shown a very disturbing clip of a young couple hiding out in a destroyed city whilst people all around riot, saying how that "evil mist changes people" before they are suddenly attacked (and probably infected) by several infected animals. We hear their screams as one of the girl's shoes flies off and the camera lingers on it for several seconds. Even worse the only cure for the mist becomes useless after 24 hours, meaning nearly everyone on Earth almost became stuck as drones permanently.
- The fact that during and after the Cell Saga, anyone with enough power is capable of nearly destroying a planet by elevating their Ki (especially if unchecked). During the Buu Saga, we see how Goku provokes earthquakes and destruction across Earth only with his transformation into Super Saiyan 3.
- After you've seen
*Dragon Ball Super*, all the times Supreme Kai was threatened and/or on the verge of death suddenly become a *lot* more chilling than they already were, knowing that if he dies Beerus himself would cease to exist (and Whis would become inactive afterward), which would have *severely* affected events going forward into that series. spoilers : If he had died, Goku and the others might've still defeated Majin Buu, but while they would've avoided the Battle of Gods saga, they would've been *immensely* unprepared for Frieza's return (which would inevitably result in Earth's permanent destruction). And while the Champa and Future Trunks sagas may never have started... the lack of a strong team for the Universe Survival Saga (if they even had one at all), and all of the existence hinging on the hidden condition for the tournament, could've had *very dire* consequences when Zeno eventually remembers to do it. And even if this tournament took a long time to happen at all, eventually Frieza's forces would still find Broly and force him to fight for this tyrannical empire, and Moro would've eventually returned to his energy-eating spree in short order.
## Babidi
- Babidi is a sadistic little creep who can't fight on his own but can take even the faintest traces of darkness in someone's soul and forcefully corrupt them into psychopathic slaves. Plus, his whole method for reviving Majin Buu revolved around
*inflicting pain*. On top of *that*, he'll gleefully show you via magic the death and chaos Buu causes, just to show you how little hope you have.
- And if you're one of his slaves and he thinks for a second that you've outlived your usefulness? Your arteries, veins, etc. are expanded within you, clogging your insides to the point where YOU become Stuff Blowing Up.
- When he gets the idea to place his spell on Vegeta, we get to see how the process works on its victims. The way Vegeta describes it, the victim feels like they're being attacked from the inside. They're then racked with agonizing pain until they fall to their knees. If the victim is resistant, then they scream some more as Babidi's will eventually override their own.
## Oozaru
- Any transformation in the Great Ape/Oozaru by Goku or Gohan. It appears to be as painful as it looks as their bodies become feral and more muscular as they transform. Not only do they have an appearance of a monster, but whenever a Saiyan turns into one unless they're elite, they lose
*all* senses of themselves and kill anything in sight.
- But an Oozaru with conscious thought à la Vegeta sounds even more terrifying. This means that they know exactly what they're going to do, and you're the helpless grunt about to have your bones ground to dust-
*at best*.
- Well, at least with conscious thought, you'd be able to know when to stop destroying when the job's done. With an out-of-control Oozaru form, you just kill and kill... and you don't stop until the transformation's over, and you have no memory of what happened...
- When Goku gets his ribcage crushed by Oozaru Vegeta in the Saiyan Saga. He'd already weakened his body to the point where a light slap from Yajirobe made him wince, so when you think about how much this had to hurt amazingly, he was able to contribute to the fight at all.
## Spopovich
- Early in the Buu saga, we see the fight between Videl and Spopovich. Long story short, this entire episode, if you remove the fantasy elements, is a wrestler
*pounding a young girl in a tournament, and absolutely no one is coming to help her!!*. There's a shot of Spopovich *stepping on her head, and all Videl can do is cry out in pain!!* She's lucky Gohan defied his father and flew in to save her, which, brings up a whole 'nother issue! Even Goku is disgusted with this guy (Spopovich), and went on his way to mutter "I don't like him" and "there's something wrong with that guy" more than once. Still, he didn't intervene, but it was more of a matter of time: if Gohan didn't do it first, Goku would have.
- Even if you keep the fantasy elements in, for not one, but two solid episodes, the fight between Videl and Spopovich is pretty horrific. Videl, struggling to even make him react to her attacks, delivers a kick that spins his entire head around. After a scene in which everyone thinks she did kill him (including Videl herself, who didn't mean to go that far), HE GETS BACK UP, NEARLY PULLS HIS HEAD OFF, AND SETS IT BACK INTO PLACE! From there, he gets his revenge,
*pummeling her into heavy bleeding, and not stopping*. Her screams are horrifying, especially the ones where he pulled on her hair. Both episodes are considered as Nightmare Fuel in-universe by spectators and the narrator.
- In the manga Spopovich goes far enough that he manages to BREAK VIDEL'S TEETH and leaves her a bleeding mess!
- Then we find out that Spopovich lost easily to Hercule in the last tournament, bringing out the Fridge Horror of what was able to make him at least ten times stronger and teach him to fly and use energy attacks. And then Vegeta falls under Babidi's influence.
- Although it's utterly well-deserved after what he did to Videl, Spopovich's death is still horrifyingly gruesome. Babidi uses the magic he's bestowed upon Spopovich to make the guy's body start to inflate like a balloon. We can hear
*bones crunching*, and get a close-up of his eyes bugging out as his expanding body mass starts to crush his head as he cries out in agony until it's just a *gurgling* sound...and then he *explodes!* And as seen below, it's not even the *last* time such a death happens in the Buu Saga!
## Van Zant
- Van Zant, the bandit who shot Buu's dog and later Mr. Satan. In his first scene, he kills an elderly couple and revels in about how great it feels to kill someone. Then we see him shooting people at random in a nearby town. It all leads up to Van Zant shooting Buu's dog and Mr. Satan and this triggers the release of Buu's evil side, meaning he's responsible for every bad thing that happens afterward. All this for no reason other than the sheer thrill of killing people. Even worse is that at the time Buu had reformed and posed no threat to anyone. What's worse is that he uses Buu's destruction spree as an excuse, reasoning that everyone will be killed eventually, and even going so far as to pretend that Buu killed his victims. And just
*why* does he do all of this? He's reckoned that with Buu flying around basically laying waste to the planet, he's probably going to die soon, and he decided it'd be fun to try to take as many people with him as possible. That's his entire motivation. The most terrifying thing about him is that he is a completely normal human being with *no superpowers*. Emphasize on *completely*, since he is just a simple human with no superpowers or martial arts training. All other human villains were leaders of evil organizations (Commander Red) or were mercenaries and later cyborgs (Tao Pai Pai), but he is just an average human. Most of the other villains in the series are intergalactic warlords, androids, or other supernatural creatures and use ki-blasts and other superpowers for evil, Van Zant uses *normal guns* to accomplish bad things. It is terrifying to see that a regular human, who uses normal guns to accomplish bad deeds, can be just as bad as intergalactic alien warlords or insane androids.
- To emphasize how horrible Van Zant's Realism-Induced Horror is, his first scene is shooting down an old woman who is trying to escape Buu's rampages, and then her husband panics and anguishes over the cruelty of her being gunned down. We then see him pressure his butler into killing the old man who is calling out for his wife and wondering just
*why* this would happen, sounding to be on the verge of tears before his cries are silenced with a gunshot.
- And, partially related to this is how Zant and his crony Smitty die. Zant's death is standard fare for DBZ (vaporized by a point-blank Ki Blast from Skinny Evil Buu), but Smitty suffers what may be the most horrifyingly brutal death of the
*entire series* note : Super Buu turned into a liquid and force-fed *himself* to the guy, expanding inside Smitty until he exploded into several hundred meaty chunks. And, in a series where the main characters routinely get holes blown through them, lose limbs, and get bones snapped, that's saying a LOT.
- On the subject of Van Zant's death, while the anime spared some of the more gruesome details of Evil Buu vaporizing him, the manga gives us a more gruesome up close look, showing his his jaw breaking off while his eyes fly out of their sockets. As much as he deserved it, that's still a horrible way to go out.
- This doesn't mention the look◊ that Majin Buu gives him just as he's starting to explode. This may be one of four times in the entire series that we consistently see Fat Majin Buu with his eyes wide open.
- Someone had to mention how Mr. Satan reacts to the whole thing. Mr. Satan is
*absolutely furious* at Van Zant and attacks him. Mr. Satan, the same guy who acted all fearless in the Cell Games and felt more awkward than scared when he first met Buu, became pissed off and Took a Level in Badass just to give Zant a beating. That's saying a lot.
## Piccolo
- This may be more Nausea Fuel than Nightmare Fuel, but Piccolo being forced to reassemble himself after Trunks knocks him over as a statue. Presuming that Piccolo was not conscious of his time as a statue and only regained consciousness when the attack wore off (i.e. when Buu killed Dabura), imagine if your first conscious realization after being
*turned to stone* is, "Oh, Crap!. I'm in pieces." And then there was the effort involved. It's already a known fact that, yes, while Piccolo can regenerate limbs, it's not an easy process. And he had to regenerate several portions of his body.
- Trunks, at the time less than 10 years old, freaked out as soon as he saw the others coming back to life, remembering that he had broken the statue. He looked over the ridge where Piccolo had been standing and visibly blanched. What kind of visceral, meaty horror he saw can only be imagined, and at such an age.
- It also helps to remember that this is a show that is all too pleased to show you the gore of battle... yet it did not let you see what Trunks was seeing. Instead, all you saw was young Trunks looking as if he was about to throw up at the ghastly sight, before informing Goten and Krillin that "you don't wanna go up there, guys." Take Our Word for It indeed...
- This example is mostly reserved for the earlier movies: How utterly Piccolo's ruthlessness can be towards the villains, even after his HeelFace Turn. Whenever he goes up against the henchman, he makes damn sure they suffer an agonizing death, and he seems to
*enjoy* doing it too.
-
**Lord Slug:** He engages in a Curb-Stomp Battle against Wing and breaks both his arms. Realizing how screwed he was, Wing offered Piccolo a spot in Slug's army. Piccolo stretched his hand out as if to help Wing back up... and puts it in front of his face. He then proceeded to blow Wing's head off.
-
**Revenge of Cooler:** He fires a homing blast at Doore, who tried to chase after Gohan. He attempted to outrun and then block it, but it proved too much to handle, and he got vaporized. Neiz caught Piccolo in an electric cage. Piccolo was screaming in agonizing pain... until Neiz got too close. Piccolo smirked, grabbed Neiz by the face, and fried him to death by his own attack.
- Word of God stated that Turles is essentially what Goku would be if he never landed on his head, wiping his memory.
- When he plants the Tree of Might, it turns the planet to a desolate wasteland. Also, whoever eats from this fruit obtains immense power.
- When Turles forces Gohan's eyes open to see the fake moon, going Oozaru.
## Lord Slug
- Slug when growing into a Super Namek/Giant Namekian. He's even bigger than Piccolo when he went giant in the original series.
- Goku's False Super Saiyan transformation. It shows up for a brief moment, but it's scary to see the desperate Goku suddenly turn into a Kaioken-esque Screaming Warrior on a rage-fueled rampage.
## Super Android 13
- In an infamous moment among DBZ fans, Goku turns Super Saiyan and charges the eponymous android with Rapid-Fire Fisticuffs only for Android 13 to be completely unaffected. Think about how frighteningly strong any sort of being that can No-Sell SSJ Goku's punches and kicks must be. Then think of that same being punching you directly in the balls (if you have them).
- The horrifying face Goku sports when after turning Super Saiyan and subconsciously absorbing that tremendous power, turning him into a giant ball of raw power that Android 13 can't even approach without disintegrating his fists. Also, even after skewering the android and blowing him up, Goku STILL sports that bared-tooth expression as if to stress how BAD the strain of maintaining this state is upon him.
- The movie itself works as a (possibly unintentional) case of Fridge Horror: Had the Hyperbolic Time Chamber not been around to bail them out, the heroes' helplessness against Super Android 13 is exactly how a fight against Android 16, or worse, Semi-Perfect Cell would have gone. They'd never have lived to even
*see* Perfect Cell.
## Cooler's Revenge
- It can be jarring to realize that not only did Frieza have his father King Cold, but also an older brother. Cooler isn't avenging Frieza's death out of love, but out of sheer spite and a sense of self-preservation and his family's honor. Upon learning that it was a member of the supposedly 'weak' race of creatures, a Saiyan, he felt that someone killing Frieza and not him was an outright insult to him. So what does Cooler do? He heads to Earth, enraged, to avenge Frieza and kill the one that had done it. He's just like Frieza, but even worse. His power exceeds him. It's implied in the film that he's in the same form and strength as his brother's fourth and final form... except that he has another form to surpass him!
- The near-final moments when Goku repelled Cooler back with his Super Kamehameha and Cooler's Supernova straight to the sun. Anyone who's read this page so far knows where this is going... Let's just say that Cooler's demise was a slow horrific incineration that would leave some viewers raising a few eyebrows. He may (like many other Z villains of the entire series) have deserved it but in the end, its still a horrible demise...
## The Return of Cooler
- ...Then it turns out Cooler
*survived as a piece of his head intact*, and a computer chip called the Big Gete Star fused with it, turning Cooler into a Hive Mind. His first order of business was to invade New Namek, enslave its population, and engulf part of the planet in a giant mass of metal. Cooler also appears as a new body with enough power to overwhelm Super Saiyan Goku and Vegeta at the same time and can rebuild himself each time he's damaged.
## The History of Trunks
## Broly
- Broly's screams when going Legendary Super Saiyan. He sounds like
*a baby crying* interspersed with maniacal laughter.
- At the last part of the transformation, we get a close-up of Broly's face. He then lets out a loud scream of agony and hatred as his power rises, and we see his eyes glow green as his skin starts to crack open, then he literally
**EXPLODES** as he reveals his Legendary Super Saiyan form!
- The Goku we all know and love was born with a power level of 2. Broly? Broly was born with a power level of
*10,000*. That's a *base* power level, with no training or power-ups. Canonically, he could have wiped the floor with basically everyone in the Saiyan Saga save Goku and Vegeta as a day-old infant. If that's how powerful he was when he was a baby, it's horrifying to think how strong Broly is as a trained adult. No wonder King Vegeta was terrified of him.
- Also consider that, at least in the original continuity, Broly was
*stabbed* as a newborn by agents of King Vegeta. Talk about Adult Fear if you're Paragus - but Broly came close enough to die from this. The fact that he didn't die from being stabbed in the chest as a baby is frightening, but keep in mind what happens if you nearly kill a Saiyan but doesn't get the job done. As ridiculous as Broly's power level was out of the womb, how much more was it after an assassination attempt?
- Every villain in the series, when being fought, has taken hits and bled. Frieza, Cell, Bojack, Buu, it doesn't matter. Every one of them gets a beating here and there. Broly, though? He doesn't get hurt at
*all*. The only hits that have ever made Broly flinch in any form, at least in the original movies, are the killing blows at the end of each one. He can take everything that you can throw at him and not notice. On top of that, he's insane. You can't bargain with him or surrender. You can't scare him, you can't team up on him and all he wants to do is kill you... as slowly and painfully as he can. And unlike the other villains, he's not doing it because you're in his way or for profit. Broly does it because he *loves it*. It doesn't matter if he's ordered to kill you, once he sees you then he *will* go after you, and he *will* kill you.
- Legendary Super Saiyan Broly. One of the things he's most noted for is his Empty Eyes. This gives him a demonic appearance, on top of the fact that he grows nearly twice as tall as his original self, is bulkier than the Ultra Super Saiyan 2nd state, and destroys a slave race's planet just to see them cry about it. But all you need to realize that he's a bad mofo is to watch one of the many scenes in the first movie where there's a close-up of his eyes.
- This goes even further in that, for most of the series, the use of 'empty eyes' signifies that a character is either enraged or releasing stupidly high amounts of energy. In this case, it's very clearly both.
- The way Broly kills Paragus. Sure, Paragus certainly deserved it, but it doesn't make it any less horrifying. Paragus climbs into a space pod to escape New Planet Vegeta, which is about to be hit by a comet, and intends to leave Broly behind. Unfortunately for him, Broly shows up, grabs the space pod, hoists it over his head, and crushes it
*with Paragus still inside*. Worse still, he crushes it slowly enough that Paragus has time to lament over his fate - meaning that Paragus's death was a slow and painful one. Ugh...
- Speaking of bad ways to go, both of the times Broly dies aren't pretty.
- In
*The Legendary Super Saiyan*, Goku punches Broly in the chest while Vegeta, Gohan, Piccolo, and Trunks give him their energy. Said punch *rips a hole into Broly's chest*, blood spewing out as Broly's body begins to *crack*. Broly then begins to violently spasm before he *explodes*, choking out one last "Kakarot!" (or in the Japanese dub, "IMPOSSIBLE!!!") as he does. Thankfully, Gory Discretion Shot comes into play and we don't see anything grisly, but god *damn*.
- In
*Second Coming*, Broly gets blasted into the sun thanks to the Family Kamehameha - at which point we're treated to a clear shot of his heart messily *bursting* because of the extreme heat, followed by Broly himself. What a way to go.
- If you think about it, the reason Broly is like this (at least post-Super) can be this. On the very day that Planet Vegeta blew up, King Vegeta attempted to kill him via knife because having such a powerful being around was deemed too much of a threat. It didn't work, and shortly afterward, the annihilation of the Saiyan Race occurred, with only Broly and Paragus surviving the explosion itself due to the former's immense power. But that isn't what sets Broly off...no, the trigger for his Legendary Super Saiyan transformation is the Saiyan child that
*just so happened* to be crying right next to him: Goku. For him, the very sight of Goku brings the traumatic events of his youth to the forefront, all because Goku *cried* in the same room as him on the worst day of his life, causing a rampage that nearly breaks five of the strongest characters in the series at that point. And then in *Second Coming,* Goten accidentally wakes up a frozen Broly with *his* crying and incurs his wrath, waking up a hulking monstrosity with one thing left on his mind: And since Goten looks an awful lot like his dad, he'll have to do. **murder Kakarot!**
## Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans
- In
*Plan to Eradicate the Saiyans*, Frieza, Turles, Cooler, and Slug come back as ghosts. After they are defeated, Hatchiyack absorbs their spirits, which is very painful. We are then treated to a sequence of each villain's ghost being trapped inside a ball and writhing in agony.
- It's stated and mentioned by Goku that Hatchiyack is either the same power level as Broly or a bit beyond it. It doesn't help and adds fuel to the fire that he reemerges as an android hellbent on slaughtering Goku and his friends.
## Battle of the Gods
- Battle of the Gods is parental fear for Gohan. Get drunk one time and wind up doing something careless that comes dangerously close to killing your wife and daughter. Bet he swore off alcohol after that incident.
- It also invites the ultimate Fridge Horror of the Sorting Algorithm of Evil in the Dragon Ball universe, Beerus, the God of Destruction which all the other gods fear. This would normally not be as dangerous considering how the gods normally rank things until he curb stomps Super Saiyan 3 Goku
**with just one finger**. Since this is the canonical universe, where Super Saiyan 3 is the strongest state aside from Mystic and Fusions, this is a big deal. Then the Super Saiyan God state, which is the strongest state in the series' canon is activated by Goku to defeat this guy. Normally you'd expect a Curb-Stomp Battle to ensue and deal with the Big Bad. Nope, Goku still loses, only managing to force Beerus to go 70% of his power and suffers no punishment. The real scary part comes after this turns out despite being the strongest character in the series according to V-jump, it turns out that his advisor, Whis, is much stronger than he is, and given that we never see the full extent of Beerus' power, Whis' power must be beyond comprehension. We also get this bit of information; turns that he's the designated God of Destruction for the universe that Dragon Ball is based in which is No. 7 out of 12.
- To sum it up Beerus, the most powerful character in the series, has several beings above him. There's his mentor who's
~~stronger than he is, ~~strong enough to smack him around like a child and have it Played for Laughs, and then there are the **other Eleven Universes' Gods of Destruction that are all probably as strong if not stronger than he is**. THEN there's the reveal of the Top God Zeno, a childlike being whom each of the Gods of Destruction fears immensely and . Talk about a dark and horrifying deconstruction of Always Someone Better. **destroyed six universes already, with the current 12 universes originally being 18**
- Furthermore Beerus is too powerful to fight. During his fight with Goku, the shockwaves from their blows were so intense that Old Kai estimated they would tear the universe itself apart by echoing through the universe and destroying planets and stars in their wake. Even apparently fighting a God of Destruction puts the universe in danger of complete erasure!
## Resurrection 'F':
- Frieza is back. The monster that brutally slaughtered TRILLIONS of people and blew up countless planets; who created a galaxy-wide Real Estate scam where planetary-scale genocide was commonplace as part of his father's empire; who mercilessly tortured Goku, Gohan, and Piccolo and savagely murdered Dende, Vegeta, and Krillin, has returned. The Evil Overlord is back, burning with revenge, and more powerful than ever!
- The third trailer starts pretty awesomely, with epic footage of the fights, and both a Heavy Metal tune and a J-Pop song playing as the Z-Fighters fight epically, but then... The music abruptly ends as we see Frieza literally
*stomping* Goku to submission, and further commentary of Beerus and Vegeta seemingly chastising Goku for being soft. Cue Frieza cackling maniacally as the Earth blows up, and the background? Goku . End of the trailer... **screaming in agony**
- We already knew Frieza to be a Bad Boss, but it reaches new levels. His men only resurrect him as a desperate, last resort because they need him (the only reason is that they can't face the continuous revolts in the empire, and Frieza's mere presence will be enough to
*scare them all into submission*). And the one telling us that is *Frieza*. He's perfectly aware of this and doesn't care, worse, seems to enjoy the chaos. His first actions after his resurrection show us exactly why it's like that. The first thing he does, he kills one of his men, just to check how strong he is. Then, one of the soldiers that helped his resurrection lampshades the Revenge Before Reason and... Well, remember how he killed Krillin? He does the same but throws the unlucky soldier into space to boot. And that leaves a hole on the ship that starts sucking everyone but Frieza (who could just survive into space anyway). Luckily, they have shields that prevent that, and ultimately the order to raise them is given. By Sorbet. Frieza would have just let everyone die. To sum it up: a wrong move, and you risk a horrific death. Be too close to who made the wrong move, and you risk dying all the same. Do nothing at all, and you might die anyway because he needed a target. Not bad enough? A casual line in the movie implies that his soldiers are *forced* to join his army. Punch-Clock Villain doesn't even start to describe it.
- Then, of course, Beerus gives us another one. Not only will the guy destroy your planet over a petty insult (from even a minor citizen of your planet), but he can destroy MULTIPLE solar systems by
*accident* just because he ate something especially spicy. Whis has to hunt him down and knock him out. Good thing Whis has a Reset Button. Good Lord... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonBallZ |
DragonFable / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
That cutscene between Drakonnan and Sepulchure, where Seppy is telling him that he's going to pick him apart, piece by piece. Cue Sepulchure transforming into some unseen, huge monster, and a large NOOO! appear on the screen in bright red. The same fate happened to Sabrina.
Mogloween 2011, depicts a Zombie Apocalypse. In the "Last Year" quest, survivors are seen taking refuges in a boarded up house against an infestation, before one by one they are turned over until only a random Hero is left. Then in "48 Weeks Later", the infestation slowly spreads, where the Hero must escort Andy to safety, where they must sneak past countless hordes of Zarbies. This is one of the darkest questchains in game.
The Earth Orb quest where after the Entropic Dragon attacks the camps, the victims are seen turning into Entropic minions after being exposed to the Earth dragon's flames.
In the same chain, the scene where you realize Trey Surehunter has no eyes.
Irismancer: His weapons did make him stronger, but poisoned his mind further. Then they began to poison his body. The armor that he wears, the armor of Doom Knights... It actually wears him. He has become something else, bound to the darkness.
A blood curdling scream can be heard shortly before the end of the final cutscene in 'Stranger Letter'. It's one of the most terrifying sounds in Dragon Fable. Baron Valrith is not taking the failure of his minions easily. Adding onto the creeping is when you find out what he did to the minion, which turns out he fused with them and has his face protruding from the minion's head.
When you enter the 'Serenity Gone' cutscene in 'Serenity Before Storm' war, what you hear is pretty close to the generic Falconreach Inn melody. Pretty close means it's just plain wrong like as if somebody took the usual melody and did something horrible to it. And yes, it sounds rather chilling.
Roirr may not be on the same level of power as either Sepulchure or Baron Valtrith, but he's still a sociopathic, soul-devouring body surfer with many centuries of experience over them, who uses many forbidden magics the other two villains likely wouldn't even conceive of using, even if they did know about them. And he's currently wreaking havoc on another continent entirely unchecked! The art of fleshweaving Roirr practices? Well, even Sepulchure in Book 3 doesn't want anything to do with it!
The 2014 Mogloween Event, "Creepy girls are made of candy", featuring Anabiel the creepy doll, is one of the most disturbing things to ever come out of the game.
Serenity's death. It's so thoroughly gruesome and graphic, then it leads on into the creation of Caitiff, basically the Shadow Reaper of Doom plunged into Serenity's corpse. Whenever it speaks, it does so from the skull on the axe, not the corpse's own mouth... It isn't really possessing the body, but using it as a shield just like Ash said.
"Castle Nostromo", a huge Shout-Out to Alien, has you play as Symone, where she explores the castle, all the while being stalked and hunted by an unknown creature. You are warned to tread carefully, and if you step on a stain on the ground, the dark creature captures you with a loud screeching sound. At times the creature can be seen quickly darting across the background or screeching in the distance... If it weren't for the game being a point and click RPG, this quest might as well be a Jump Scare.
The Amityvale Book 3 quest-chain, which deals with Raven's tragic backstory, has Safiria disintegrating her enemies in a burst of red blood, and Frydae suddenly biting and rapidly feeding on Thursday.
The Shapeless in 'The Beginning of The End' is a Nightmare Fetishist dream come true. It's about as tall as a house, it doesn't have a face or skin, just a series of mouths mounted on legs.
The reason for above Shapeless's existence, a cabal of sociopathic mages created the Shapeless as a false God for their pawns to worship, as a basis for forming the Shapeless Empire, when it "harvests" (read:eats) people without magic, supposedly to bless the harvests, in truth it transfers them into the Magisterium's chamber where they can be turned into living mana batteries for use by the higher ranking Magisters, until they inevitably burn out and said magisters need new batteries. It's enough to make one think the Rose might actually be right.
Roirr's whole storyline in the epilogue of 'The End of the Beginning'. The creepy lullaby doesn't help... His Dark Magic mentor, Secundus is equally horrific in appearance.
The "Level 999 Storage Closet". In Book 2, if you pick the lock, you can find a group of knights tied up, who claim to be the "Knights Of The Pellet Table" and tell you that the Knights Of The Pactogonal Table are actually a theatre troupe in disguise. It's Played for Laughs, you state that Captain Rolith will find them and set things right (if they're telling the truth.) However, if you go there in Book 3, several years later, you can see their skeletons in the corner of the room, still tied together...
Caitiff repeats the process that was used to make itself on all of your fallen allies, having the Doom Weapons stab their corpses so that they become just like Caitiff.
Caitiff creates Mirage enemies to face the Hero, one of them being a shadowy Serenity Mirage. As she fights Serenity will weep, while uttering sad phrases like "I trusted you...", "Why didn't you save me?", "Please! Stop hurting me!", "Stop it!!!"
Using Serenity's own image against the Hero seems to be its favorite thing to do. Before the final battle, Caitiff speaks in Serenity's voice by speaking from her corpse's mouth rather than its own, the skull on the ShadowReaper to ask the Hero "You wouldn't hurt me, would you?". Notable for being one of the only three instances in DragonFable that a text box has sound effects. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonFable |
Dr. Crafty / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"
*M-Mother...?!*" **Moments pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned.** Fiona Frightening Month
- The Boogieman's sudden appearance in "A Song of Ice and Fire" is quite unsettling. He hijacks the show and forces in his own segment; aside from the art, music, and a noise overlay, there's nothing else in this segment. No Crafty, no Nurse, and none of the other Fiona Frightening characters commentate over what's happening. Hell, not even the Boogieman himself contributes anything... that is, until after the piece is finished, when he delivers a menacing ultimatum to the viewers.
Nintendo Month Death Debate Month
- At the very end of "Yugi Vs. Sakura," Nurse finds a package outside the castle. It is addressed to someone named Greta from her mother. Nurse is understandably confused, as, to her knowledge, there is no Greta in the castle... But she suddenly seizes up in fear, and what follows is a flashback and the introduction of the first major antagonist on the show. when she flashes back to a horrific memory.
- In her flashback, Nurse is lying down in a dark room, conscious and fully aware of a shadowy, bloodsoaked figure—who she addresses as her mother before the memory is shown onscreen—
*gleefully conducting surgery* on her with some of the most uncanny animation ever shown on the show. The figure's shadowy arm rises out of Nurse's torso, proudly demonstrating three bloodied scalpels to her daughter. When Nurse hesitantly turns to look at her mother's face, only her mother's uncannily wide smile is visible within her silhouette. Then, a split second before the memory sequence ends, her mother opens her manic, piercing blue eyes to the sound of a metallic shriek. Everything in the scene comes together to make for an exceptionally disturbing preview for Nurse's mother, whose depravity is only explored further as she gradually forces her presence onto the show more often.
- The package contains the Millennium Ring, which houses the newly revived Zorc. He immediately possesses Nurse, giving her blank Mind-Control Eyes, and he cackles as he does so. The entire scene is conducted with some of the most unsettling music that the show has used so far, cementing the presence of its darker elements in the present going forward.
Yu-Gi-Oh Month
- "Best Yu-Gi-Oh Monsters" and "Black Magic Woman" both end in the same, disquieting way. The episodes play out as normal, but the lights suddenly go out just as they finish up. Crafty goes to investigate the cause of the outage, leaving Pepper and Messibelle alone... and face-to-face with the possessed Nurse in silhouette! The episodes end with the terrified screams of the co-hosts as they're sent to the Shadow Realm offscreen.
- Starting with "The Foreshadow Game" Part 3, the co-hosts are attacked by several Shaddoll monsters while trying to draw. Unlike other attacks, which are Played for Laughs, there's a surprising degree of tension surrounding the Shaddoll creatures, with everyone regarding them as the dangers that they are. The tension culminates in one final encounter with the creatures, which is thankfully cut short when Sasha drops into the Crewmates' prison.
- "The Foreshadow Game" Part 4
- The episode's stinger partially introduces the scientist from Nurse's flashback, in person but still silhouetted. There isn't too much revealed that gives her a concrete identity, but she's been fully aware of Nurse's whereabouts ever since finding out about Crafty's show. She has plans for not just Nurse, but her coworkers. The whole scene carries a sinister air that implies a darker tone for the next season.
- Introduced alongside the mysterious scientist is Screw. She appears to be another Frankenstein Monster like Nurse, and she is all but implied to be her sister. A key distinguishing feature of Screw is a large bolt impaled all the way through her skull, with no immediate signs that it can be removed. Screw's vacant expression makes the sight all the more disquieting.
General
Hero Month
- At the end of "Crafty Direct! Season 3 Updates," the footage suddenly glitches out as a transmission from Nurse's mother forces itself into the video. Things take a sharply dark turn the moment she appears.
- Eerily, for a brief moment during the visual glitches,
*Nurse looks horrified.* It's almost as though she senses her mother's presence and how it's drawing closer to her and her fellow Crewmates.
- When Nurse's mother finally appears on-screen, she quietly threatens that this next season will be "to
*die* for!" What follows is an on-screen showcase of this spooky poster commemorating Season 3, which encapsulates this mysterious scientist's developing presence on the show and the Crewmates' outlook on her. She dominates the composition in silhouette with a sinister smile, with a *much* more self-aware gaze than what was shown in the "Yugi vs. Sakura " flashback. In her left hand, she proudly shows off four syringes reflecting the then-current members of the Crafty Crew. Every single member looks horrified, particularly Pepper, who's plainly screaming.
- For the final query in the Spin-Off Special's
*Questionable Qloset* segment, Crystelle is asked whether Disgustilda will ever be a credible threat for the Crafty Crew. As she gazes into the future for an answer, Crystelle is assaulted with visions of Disguistilda that reduce her to screaming in *legitimate fear* before she promptly falls unconscious. Some of the visions presented onscreen show the silhouette of an Infinian... But judging by their sheer size how many tentacles they have, *that's not Sasha.*
- "I Need a Hero Academia" Part 2:
- During a flashback sequence, Crafty recounts a time when he considered attempting suicide again at the same cliff where he met Sasha. Right before he commits to his decision, he hears someone desperately calling for help—it's Nurse, having run away from her home and fallen down into a nearby open grave. In one of the most chilling stills in the series, Crafty finds that she's not just conscious,
*she's fallen to pieces.* Her dismembered body is covered in blood, mud, and severe electrical burns—the remnants of an energy boost that eventually put her in this state. Had Crafty not been around to help her, she would have either died or ended up right back in Mindstein's clutches.
- The episode closes out with a conversation between Mindstein and Screw, in which Mindstein finally outlines her motivations. She's sought out the Infinium relics to help her create an artificial deity, using her own child—Nurse—as the basis for this plan. Surprisingly, she has no ambitions for world domination; this entire plan is purely for the sake of scientific discovery. Her clear devotion to this goal is what makes it so unsettling; Mindstein seems distantly delighted when talking about how she prepared Nurse for the plan, and she's coldly determined to make sure that her daughter sees it through to the end. She merely sees Nurse and Screw as tools, and not once in this part of the special or any episode thereafter does she ever second-guess her choices.
- "I Need a Hero Academia" Part 4.2
- Mindstein's sword, which is basically a
*giant syringe,* is enough to give anyone with a fear of needles a panic attack on its own.
- The moment she enters the scene, Screw shatters Crafty's and Class 1-A's confidence, and things go south
*fast.* She interrupts Crafty just as he's approaching Mindstein by blasting through the floor, casually tossing aside a beaten Bakugo (established as the most powerful member of the team) like a dead fish. Then, at Mindstein's orders and with a twist to the screw in her head, Screw single-handedly mows down everyone else with brutal and precise efficiency. Todoroki buys the injured time to get away, and he actually manages to slow down Screw with his ice and fire powers... but only before she inevitably slams him into the floor. Midoriya, in a desperate Hail Mary pass, throws 100% of his power into a single punch right at Screw... *which she effortlessly catches.* While she admits that it actually hurt, it clearly wasn't enough to keep her from *crushing his hand into a bloody pulp* before she punches him across the room and into a wall.
- With almost everyone from Class 1-A down, only Crafty is left. Despite outright admitting that he doesn't know what he's doing, he declares he'll still try and save Nurse no matter what happens. What follows is a surprisingly stressful scene of Screw repeatedly slamming Crafty with everything she has, with him completely unable to defend himself. She ends up knocking out several teeth and smashing in his goggles, damaging his eyes so badly that they're bleeding out and have become
*solid black.* All the while, the captive Nurse can only helplessly watch, screaming in very real anguish at the sight of her beloved friend being savagely beaten to death. Until Todoroki and Midoriya intervene, Screw shows absolutely no signs of stopping. *[Crafty, now facing Screw and Mindstein all alone, is frozen in fear.]* **Nurse:** Crafty! Please!! I beg of you! Just leave me and RUN! You can't win this! Get out of here! *Run already!!* *[Crafty grits his teeth...]* **Crafty:** You say run... *[Crafty clenches his fist.]* **Crafty:** But... *I refuse.* **Nurse:** .... Crafty.... You *idiot....* **Mindstein:** First thing I've agreed with you on in your *entire life,* Greta. How *exactly* do you plan to win, Doctor? My creation, Screw, was designed and built to be superior to Greta in *every* way that matters. She's stronger, faster, and unbreakable obedient to my *every* command. **Crafty:** Honestly? I have no idea... But that's never stopped me before! *I'll save Nurse! Because she's my her*— **HURGH!!** *[Screw decks Crafty hard, sending him sailing away and exploding upon impact with the nearest wall.]* **Nurse:** **CRAFTY!!!** *[Thankfully, Crafty's still alive, but now he's beaten, bloodied, and coughing a ton.]* **Screw:** I don't know how you keep surviving my attacks, but I'm going to find out how many it takes *before you eventually stop breathing.* *[Screw starts beating Crafty to hell and back, with him far too incapacitated to defend himself. Mindstein watches on with sadistic glee; Nurse sobs even harder. The shot of Nurse in anguish is occasionally interrupted by the image of Screw landing yet another punch on Crafty.]* **Nurse:** Please... stop this! STOP IT!! Let him go! PLEASE!
- Mindstein has her own style of cruelty and madness altogether; she restrains Screw from outright pummeling Crafty into a pulp, just so she can analyze his durability for herself, via
**dissection.**
- Once things start to go south for her, Mindstein's rage slowly builds into a murderous crescendo, where she decides to outright kill Nurse, her own child, for her defiance.
- Crafty's utter obliviousness at the source of his durability is enough to bewilder Mindstein...but she's quick to realize that he's saved her the trouble of crafting a replica, now that she can
*rip the Infinium Heart out of his chest.* It's only thanks to Messibelle and the others that Crafty can avoid being carved open like a holiday ham.
- It seems like all is well once Crafty punches out Mindstein and claims victory...but then her face melts off, revealing a robot that projects a hologram of the
**real** Mindstein, safe in her lair. After patronizingly congratulating them, she warns our heroes that all they've managed to do was let her learn more about what she's up against, and promises to fill their days and nights with dread of her return. At her message's end, the robot self-destructs, leaving only the sound of her cackling behind to haunt the heroes.
- The post-credits scene transitions over to Mindstein's lair, where Screw returns from her loss earlier in the episode to grovel at Mindstein's feet. There are some notable details about the scene, particularly Screw's physical condition and her surprisingly emotional behavior.
- Screw stumbles into Mindstein's office, battered, bruised, bleeding, and even
*flayed,* leaving portions of her body's disturbing inner workings exposed. They look simultaneously organic and metallic; whatever happened for Screw to get to this point was clearly Mindstein's doing. It speaks to how effective Nurse's Infinium Heart is; to place her youngest daughter on near-equal footing with her eldest, Mindstein had to replace most of Screw's body with far more machinery.
- Screw's behavior around Mindstein in this scene is far more human than she has ever acted in the present. She looks and sounds close to tears as she readies herself for Mindstein's punishment—presumably, one like the kinds Mindstein is shown using in the Cartoon Month flashbacks—hinting that they're as routine for Screw as they were for Nurse. Thankfully, Screw is spared; Mindstein is more elated by the inspiration she gained from watching Class 1-A and Crafty's fight from afar, even offering Screw some upgrades to help her surpass Nurse. This bears the implication that Mindstein plays upon Screw's envy of Nurse—the one who Mindstein has favored at Screw's expense for most of her life—to secure her loyalty...
**Mindstein:** After all, you don't want to be overshadowed by your big sister now, right? **Screw:** *[coldly]* No, master. Absolutely not. Season 4 Premiere Month
- Crystelle tries discussing something important with Crafty in "We're Back! A Crafty Story," but Crafty is too caught up in the moment to acknowledge her concerns. It's about the visions she received during the Spin-Off Special, and what she says implies even more ominous things about Disgustilda. Topping off the scene is the horrific music that gradually overtakes the pleasant song in the background:
**Crafty:**
I wonder if she has any interesting updates for us!
**Crystelle:**
Yes, Doctor, I do. Ahem... I've been trying to find answers to the visions I saw while me and the girls were in that dungeon. But, for some reason, something has been distorting my perception of whatever it is I'm seeing... Whatever it is, it seems to be
*well*
beyond my power. I don't know what I can do...
**Crafty:** I guess we'll never know
!
**Crystelle:**
Please come back soon, Crafty. This is a matter that I
*really*
need to talk to you about.
- "Player Select" ends with a teaser for Mindstein's latest plan: a robotic duplicate of Crafty. It's introduced in silhouette, and it appears to be even skinnier than its basis. What makes his appearance so unnerving is the tense background music accompanying it. The music is laced with the robot's screaming, and as the robot opens his scarlet eyes, he lets out one final, distorted yell of pain.
Sonic Month | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DrCrafty |
Dream SMP / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The second episode of the series, The Village that Went Mad, has a premise that's nothing but nightmare fuel. The residents of a small town fall victim to a pair of murderers who are slowly killing them off one by one, with the innocents desperately trying to work out who's responsible. The worst part? The killers win.
While most of episode four, The Lost City of Mizu, is just melancholy, the end of the episode reveals that Karl is actually time traveling to record these stories, and it's slowly chipping away at his memories and personal identity. Karl doesn't plan to stop until he finds a way to set right the wrongs of the past, which means he might experience a complete Loss of Identityslowly enough to be aware of every minute of it.
The main antagonist of the episode, Ranbob, kills off all of the other characters one by one, and leaves the viewer with this horrifying line, echoing what he had said at the beginning of the episode about nobody living in Mizu except him:
Ranbob: Nobody leaves here.
While it's mostly Played for Laughs, the premise of The Masquerade is pretty horrifying. A mansion in the middle of nowhere, with its guests possessed by a demonic entity and forced to murder one another, while they don't even know what's happening...
Special mention to the scene where Karl and Lord Sebastian are hiding in a wardrobe together, while the murderer slowly gets closer and closer... By the time Karl realizes he's made a horrible mistake, it's too late for him to run, and he stays huddled up in the corner of the wardrobe as Oliver, the murderer, opens the wardrobe and slaughters Lord Sebastian right then and there.
After Oliver is murdered, Sir Billiam and Karl — who had been together the entire time — figure it must have been the butler. Sir Billiam finds another hidden room behind a painting and leads Karl into it, blocks off the entrance, and starts leading Karl further into the room... at which point Karl turns around and comes face to face with The Egg. Billiam then calmly explains that the mansion is its breeding ground, and that he's been feeding people to the Egg by baiting them into the mansion and having the Egg possess them in order to murder one another. Karl, understandably freaked out, turns around and tries to leave... only to see that the butler has blocked the exit.
The Butler: I'm gonna have to ask you to go back inside there, Karl.
When Karl enters the Inbetween after the events of The Wild West, he comes across a book that reads "LOOK UNDER THE TREE". When he does, he finds another book which reads "DO NOT STRAY FROM THE PATH" repeating over and over and over. And that's just page one of eighty-seven.
After The Haunted Mansion, Karl once again ends up in the Inbetween. He finds books in item frames set under potted wither roses, which talk about a partnership between Karl and the entity that runs the Inbetween, and repeatedly assure him that the Inbetween is a safe place. However, Karl finds a few more books hidden under a tree and in a nook under a staircase, directing him to a tiny, undecorated, windowless room underneath the big tree in front of the entrance. Inside, he finds another book, indicating that there's something... wrong with the Inbetween.
DONT TRUST THIS CASTLE IT ISNT WHAT IT SEEMS YOU DONT WANT TO KNOW THE TRUTH ABOUT THOSE OTHER FORMS OF YOU THIS PLACE IS NOT OK.
When Karl leaves the room under the tree, he's suddenly faced with an entire row of potted wither roses that were not there when he entered. All of the books on the pedestals are titled "JUST LISTEN", and their only contents are a single page with the phrase "JUST STICK TO THE PATH" repeated over and over.
The Inbetween segment right after "The Pit" finally showcases the true intentions of the Inbetween, and they are not pretty.
The book Karl picks up immediately warns him not to stray from the path. Karl puts it back and looks up at the tree above the windowless room from the previous episode. The screen then suddenly starts glitching, everything becomes shadowy, and the Inbetween's theme starts playing backwards. Karl goes back to the room under the tree... where he finds a book clearly written by the Inbetween-entity, telling him to go upstairs because "it" left a surprise for him. Karl climbs the stairs, only to find the floor of the room covered in blood, and the words "STICK TO THE PATH :]" scrawled on the back wall.
Karl finds another book by the other entity, telling him that the Inbetween isn't what it seems and that he needs to get to the portal. The screen then glitches again, the music is replaced with a Drone of Dread, and the next note the Inbetween leaves him is a lot more threatening.
Stop straying from the path, Karl. I know more than you do. I know what is right for you.
Karl wanders into the room with the tree and the other versions of him running around. The screen distorts again, this time longer and more severely, and the music becomes a horrible mixture of the Drone of Dread and the Inbetween's theme played backwards, which over time turns into a horrific screeching sound. Karl finds a book on the tree, which tells him exactly how dangerous the Inbetween really is.
These versions of yourself have lost themselves. They have stayed in the inbetween for far too long and have lost who they are, doomed to traverse this castle forever. These are not just visions, this is reality. Go to the portal.
Karl is then teleported back to the entrance hall, which is now completely dark. The screen continues to glitch as he picks up the Inbetween's final book.
Dont go to the portal. I will see through it that you will regret it if you do so. This is not even a warning. We will come and make sure you don't stray from the path. :]
From there, Karl takes a mad sprint to the portal, following a trail of torches left for him, all the while the screen distorts and text flashes on screen both in English and in Standard Galactic, the language used in the Enchantment Table. At one point, he even hears what appears to be a heavily distorted scream. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DreamSMP |
Dragon Quest: The Adventure of Dai / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Over the course of the series, there have been several frightening elements.
- Briefly Dai sees his adopted father figure, Brass struggle from going evil again and attacking him due to Hadlar's influence. Luckily, Avan creates a barrier to negate the adverse effects just in time.
- Avan transforming into an intimidating dragon in order to test Dai.
- Hadlar in his initial introduction, proves to be the fearsome enemy from years prior by outmatching Avan who had managed to kill him before, force himself into Avan's barrier and even survive Avan's Heroic Sacrifice attempt. And what was worse was that he isn't above killing the young Dai and Popp for being potential threats.
- This is then worse when Hadlar reveals that there's an even more powerful force behind him named Vearn, serving as Nightmare Fuel in-universe with that single astonishing revelation.
- Zaboera convincing Crocodine to use the captured Brass against Dai, forcing Dai to face off his adopted father figure due to the latter being under Hadlar's influence. Dai is understandably freaking out from having his adopted father figure act in an uncharacteristic and dangerous manner since the island when Hadlar had been resurrected and it is now doubled now that he's being used as an enemy against Dai.
- What a Hadlar-controlled Brass does is equally unsettling, making the soldiers hallucinate their comrades as skeletal monsters and forcing them to kill each other. And then he attacks Dai ruthlessly as the boy is unable to fight back with brutal force.
- Baran's entire existence. He was ostracized from humanity due to his Dragon Knight heritage after finally settling down following his vanquishing Velther and it resulted in his wife's death- cementing his hatred of humanity. He would later show up to Dai and attempt to brainwash him into agreeing with his methods and fight his own friends.
- Vearn decides to have his own already menacing base become a massive mechanized robot to attack the world leaders with its overwhelming size and might.
- Baran's own Dragon Knight form becoming a winged, draconic, demonic humanoid to fight Dai and the heroes.
- Zaebora's son briefly absorbing Dai into his hideous Hyper-Demon form.
- Vearn demonstrating why he's a menacing enemy to be defeated by sending out a seemingly weak flicker of flame that explodes into a column of flames to ||incinerate Baran's corpse||, starting off the hopelessly outclassed fight the heroes would first have with Vearn as well as establishing his vastly superior powers and cruelty.
- Zaebora undergoing a Hyper-Demon transformation by absorbing all of his subordinates to become become a skull faced demonic monster.
- Myst-Vearn's true form of a ||creepy looking, sentient shadow who can possess others in order to fight physically as he demonstrates with Maam.||
- It also doesn't help that the anime clarifies that this is a painful experience, and when he holds people, it nearly looks like Naughty Tentacles.
- As the final fight with Vearn seemingly ends in Velther's petrified visage appearing to Vearn, commenting on how the former won the wager on who would conquer the human world first. It's this moment that cements how insignificant the heroes were to Vearn at this moment, it wasn't a personal battle, but rather a long planned out game of chess between two ancient evil beings that casually used everyone as pawns in their game.
- The psychological horror of Hyunckel not only being a member of the Dark Army, who had planned to kill Avan even before he was a member, but also the fact that the reason was that Avan had apparently killed Hyunckel's father figure due to his role as the hero and the father being on the enemy's side. No wonder Dai was conflicted about the issue initially.
- For that matter, Flazzard lacking any scruple or compunction towards mutilating or inflicting atrocious harm on his foes.
- He is half made of rocks on permanent fire, and he grabs one of the Papnica Troika with his hand.
- In the manga and the 91 anime, he outright flares up to disfigure her, for no other reason than to basically spit in the face of all that is decency and morale.
- Then in order to spite Dai and ensure he doesn't run away, he goes and inflicts a Human Popsicle treatment to Leona with the added bonus she will be drained of her life force in a matter of two days.
- This is after having created a barrier that causes a Field Power Effect sealing effectively all magic and reducing his foes strength to a fifth. When you think of all the trouble the heroes had dealing with that, you realize the untold amount of harm he has inflicted on the kingdoms he has conquered.
- And THEN Hadlar points out that Flazzard is born from him, a literal manifestation of his ambition and drive for greatness. It gives insight into how twisted Hadlar was, especially when you compare Flazzard to the MUCH MORE honorable Orichalcum Honor Guard.
- Dai realizing he has to use his full power, the two Dragon crests, which will impart upon him such bloodlust he will turn Ax-Crazy and Not Himself, and might turn him into a One-Winged Angel like his father Baran. He himself is very aware of that, and remained Willfully Weak to not lose his humanity. The extremely brutal beatdown he inflicts upon Vearn with what is just focused Unstoppable Rage when liberating his full power proves he was right. Vearn himself freaks out.
- Maam's Dull Eyes of Unhappiness when she suddenly remembers Popp is facing Sigma all alone and thinks about what happened if the Knight Orichalcum warrior used his Mirror of Shahal against the Sage's Medroa. It is so sudden because there's no fading on her eyes becoming dull, no blink, it just turns into a flat brown devoid of all light◊ out of nowhere! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonQuestTheAdventureOfDai |
Dream SMP: Season One / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Phil's reaction to Techno being the traitor really cements the horror of it all. **Wilbur:** "There is no traitor", [Dream] said to me. And d'yknow what? *He fucking lied!* He lied! **Phil:** ...wait, what? **Wilbur:** It's Technoblade, Phil, it's Technoblade! **Phil:** Oh my f- The most powerful person on this server is the traitor, are you f- **Wilbur:** Phil? Phil? And he has *eight Withers*, ready to go! **Phil:** *(panicking as he starts to sort through Wilbur's items)* Oh my god, I need to get out of here, I need- oh my god, wait, what do you mean? Oh my god! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DreamSMPSeasonOne |
Dragon Quest IV / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- In a mixture of this and Tear Jerker, Mamon and its Mines, allegedly based on the infamous mining town of Centralia, Pennsylvania, starts off as a mining town where people are sick from the poison gas that's emitting from the mines. Then when you come back later in Chapter 5, after learning about Estark's whereabouts, the town is literally empty. It was not helped that the people dug too deep into the mines, worsening the poison gas situation. You can actually see it in the remakes...brrr...
- Psaro the Manslayer's grotesque transformation during the final battle. When you finally track him down, he's used the Secret of Evolution to transform himself into a being like Estark in hopes of defeating you. However, the method had warped his mind so severely that he can hardly remember who he was, nor what he had originally set out to do. He still manages to slowly transform into something even more monstrous than Estark was over the course of the battle, which takes up to
*seven phases* to finally complete. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonQuestIV |
Dredd / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Dredd surpassed its 1995 predecessor in every way imaginable - especially when it comes to scare factor.
- Ma-Ma's gang catches three rogue dealers on their turf and decides to make an example of them. Ma-Ma orders them skinned alive and thrown from the top floor of the building's atrium 200 floors up. Ma-Ma's Lieutenant, Kay, suggests they be dosed with the drug Slo-Mo before throwing them off. The drug artificially prolongs the suffering during their fall to the bottom floor, by altering their perception of time to a fraction of what they would normally experience. The sickening wet splatters as their mutilated corpses hit the ground, and the terrified reactions of the onlookers below — including a woman with a pushchair who
*narrowly* avoids being hit by the first body — do nothing to help.
- The Clan Techie getting his eyes gouged out by Ma-Ma. She personally gouges his eyes out with her thumbs without any medical aide or anesthetic while he is forcefully held down by some of her goons. His high-pitched wails make your skin crawl and his cybernetic prosthetic replacements after the fact appear red rimmed and sore. Any time she's near him, it's clear that he's terrified out of his mind.
- Dredd's very first execution involves him firing a "Hot Shot" flare into the open mouth of a criminal holding a woman hostage. The man's face and head are brightly lit in a reddish hue as the flare quickly burns him to death from inside his mouth and face and then his head. He collapses slowly to the floor with his face partially charred and a puff of smoke gushing from the back of his head.
- The time it takes for the food court to recover from the shooting?
*Thirty minutes.* A floor-sweeper casually pushes aside a dead Fattie — yes, that is what they are actually called — as it mops up blood. The bodies are collected in a bin for resyk like they were dirty laundry.
- The page image is taken from Ma-Ma's backstory, where she had just castrated her pimp with her teeth after she cut him up. The prequel comic steps it up a notch, where she gets him to take a dose of Slo-Mo first, dragging out the pain from his perspective.
- Ma-Ma brings out the big guns on Dredd. And
*literally*, in the form of three enormous rotary cannons with anti-aircraft rounds. Dredd makes it out alive, but dozens to hundreds of citizens, including those with *families*, do not; and it *especially* says a lot when even he's unnerved by what he's seeing.
- This exchange:
- Just to bring home just how much of a monster Ma-Ma is, she has no qualms against infanticide - including the use of
*Child Soldiers.* **Child Soldier:** *(crying)* Why did it have to be us who found him first?
- Anderson's Mind Rape of Kay, full stop. She lures him into a state of false confidence by letting him use his gun on her (he misses at point-blank range), before undressing and going down on him... only to morph into Ma-Ma, who emasculates him instead.
*All of this happens inside his head.* Kay is so utterly terrified that he pisses himself.
- Kay tries to execute Anderson with her own Lawgiver. When he pulls the trigger, the gun does not recognize the user's DNA.
*Boom.* **Kay:** Any last words, bitch? **Anderson:** Funny, I was going to ask you the same thing. *Bitch*.
- Judge Lex sums up the setting
*very* well:
- Mega City One's status as a Wretched Hive has never been better portrayed. Citizens react to vehicular shootouts like it's no big deal, public shootings are treated like technical difficulties that just need to be cleaned up — terrified citizens are told where to find
*other restaurants* after a massacre at a food court — and the film's *entire premise* is referred to as just another "drug bust", showing the sheer *scale* of crime facing the Judges each day. **Dredd:** Perps were... uncooperative.
- Early on, it's established that there's so many crimes in Mega-City One that the Judges can only respond to
*6%* of them. Even though Sinister Surveillance is the *norm.*
- Taken from the Ma-Ma clan's perspective, the entire film is one long Mook Horror Show. One of your guys gets busted by a cop, so you send someone after him. He kills them all. You bust out .50 Calibre gatling guns that wipe out an
*entire floor* to no effect? Congratulations, you've made him suspicious - and angry. Send your chief enforcer after him? He throws him off the balcony. Manage to kidnap his partner? Congratulations, you've just made him furious enough to literally rain fire down on more of your Mooks using White Phosphorus rounds - and said kidnapped partner slaughters your lieutenant while escaping, anyway. Send a bunch of Dirty Cops after him? Well done, you've given him more ammo. Threatening to blow up the entire block should work, right? Nope, he just shoots you in the stomach and throws you out a 200-storey window instead. Can also be seen as darkly humorous, given how Dredd just casually shrugs off each escalating obstacle - obstacles that would easily flatten any normal person. **Kay:** How the fuck are we gonna stop this guy?
- While the film itself is scary on its own, the real-life subtext of the plot gives it a whole new level of terrifying. With the increased scrutiny and concerns regarding mass surveillance, gun control, police brutality and militarization in recent years, many
*Dredd* fans are concerned that the film may have been ahead of its time in all the wrong ways. *Defense noted.* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Dredd |
Dragon Quest V / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- ||Pankraz||'s death is pretty unnerving. Forced to take a savage beating by Slon the Rook and Kon the Knight under threat of seeing ||your own son killed if you dare moved||, and then at death's door, you're ||immediately burned alive to such an extent there's literally nothing left.||
- At the end of the second act, ||you and your wife are Taken for Granite by Bishop Ladja
note : Kon the Knight in the SNES original and are forcibly separated from each other. You're stuck this way for years until your children come to you and return you to your normal self. It's implied that you were still aware of what was going on for years.|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonQuestV |
Dragon Quest XI / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The ending of Act 1 is one of the most horrifying things to witness, as much for its implications as for what happens. The Luminary is seemingly killed, his powers stolen from him, and then Mordegon destroys Yggdrasil. The Yggdrasil, however, isn't just some super important tree, but the literal afterlife of all people in the world, managing the cycle of birth, life, death, and rebirth. Without it, humans cannot be reborn and will be doomed to eventually rise as undead monsters like Deadnauts,
note : Making their grand return in the series since *Dragon Quest II*. forced to serve the forces of evil. Without Yggdrasil, there is no escape, even in death. In fact, dying will doom you to rise and be used as a weapon against humanity forever.
- There's also the implication that, without the Yggdrasil, birth is no longer possible at all, since all souls are supposed to pass through the tree before being reborn. Without the World Tree, it doesn't matter if there's an endless onslaught of monsters and demons seeking to wipe out all of humanity since given enough time, humanity will end up dying out eventually regardless.
- At the start of Act 2, when Queen Marina shows the Luminary the current state of the world, they see a little girl stumble into a church. It initially appears abandoned, but a flash of lightning illuminates the building and it is
*filled* with corpses.
- Also, Alizarin and his troops attacking Nautica and destroying the protection barrier. It is also a tear jerker moment as well.
- Finding Rab at the top of the mountain near Angri-La, you come across a mummy that looks like it went through a Sokushinbutsu ritual. Rab spent two weeks at the summit of that mountain meditating just to learn his master's secrets from beyond the grave.
- The Gloomnivore. Think for a second of a monster than keeps a person in a state of perpetual undeath for years on end, making them relive the worst moments in their lives to feed of their depression. The creature is closer to a true demon than any monster or villain in the game.
- The flashback to Erik's past when his sister is turned into a golden statue. The process is slow all while she's crying out for help complete with Futile Hand Reach.
- So the party has to enter a martial arts tournament in Octagonia to get their Plot Coupon. The Luminary is paired up with the returning champion, Vince, who has a good-luck ritual of drinking some strange juice before fights. Other competitors have also been going missing for a while. How are those last two things connected? Vince is kidnapping them and bringing them to a Giant Spider under the city, who apparently
*drains the life out of them* to give Vince a boost in power. Fortunately, the heroes intervene before anyone dies from this, but upon first entering that giant boss chamber full of webbed cocoons, a player would be forgiven for thinking at least a few of them contain corpses. And then said spider boss, Arachtagon, comes back in Act 3 with the ability to brainwash people, turning the MMA fighters disturbingly bloodthirsty in the process.
- When the Luminary has his powers stolen at the Heart of Yggdrasil by Mordegon, it looks as though hes being violated and the Luminary is in pain struggling to get Mordegon out of him! No wonder hes in tears once he escaped Nautica, away from Alizarins rampage.
- The whole Gyldyyga subplot. Mia was given a necklace from Erik that gives her Midas touch powers. Erik at first doesn't think much of it, but he puts his foot down when Mia turns a seagull into gold.
- While storming Mordegon's Fortress of Fear, the party reunite with Veronica. Happy to see them, she asks them a favor: to die. She then creepily whines about how she had to die and it wasn't fair and asks the others to return the favor. Thankfully, it was a mere illusion created by Jasper which Serena easily gets rid of because she knows Veronica would never say such horrid things.
- On the way to Arboria, you encounter a giant dragon, the Auroral Serpent, trapped in a frozen pond. During the second act when you're trying to reach Arboria a second time, the dragon ambushes you introducing itself as a monster that was sealed by Erdwin and now wants to defeat you as a warm up to regain his powers and continue its rampage. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonQuestXI |
Dominions / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Basically Warhammer Fantasy turned up to eleven, with the factions inspired by historical and mythological civilizations, Dominions will attract players who fall in love with its Rule of Cool premise and deep game mechanics. However, given that the Dominions universe is a dark shade of gray at
*best*, lacks a morality or alignment gauge, and boast a plethora of spells and magic items a crafty (and sadistic) player can use to their advantage and sick pleasure, the amount of things that could be done to anyone would quickly make you feel sorry for the little people, or not...
- Let's start with the Crapsack World where the Dominions universe is set: the Pantokrator leaves for some inexplicable reason, leaving their world at the mercy of various tyrannical titans, monsters from beyond space and time, and powerful spirits inhabiting stone sculptures and monuments just to name a few, most of whom are either asleep or imprisoned. These Pretenders then start a cataclysmic war with each other that threaten to end all life (or actually succeeds) in order to become the next Pantokrator. Armies consisting of cannon fodder, elite guards, mages, monsters, summoned spirits, and animated constructs just to name a few do battle in various terrains, resulting in hundreds if not thousands dead or crippled even as more are recruited and subsequently sent into the meat grinder. Meanwhile, rituals unleash natural disasters and otherworldly terrors on faraway provinces to soften them up in preparation for an invasion. Since resources, income, and recruitment points are dependent on a province's population and level of unrest, this is actually a practical action aimed at crippling an enemy's war effort, the lives of the citizens be damned. Each Pretender no matter how morally upstanding they are in their backstories won't stop until they reign supreme. The concept of diplomacy only entails agreeing to temporarily stay out of each other's territories and that only applies in multiplayer but in the end, there can only be one Pantokrator. Unless you're a disciple for a Pretender, if you're not worshipping them then you're just a future conquest.
- It's even worse during the Early Age when the world had just recently been created. Magic is more powerful and commonplace during this time, monsters are rampant and harder to take down without sustaining heavy casualties, and powerful beings rule over humans and other mortal beings, who in turn are at the bottom of the food chain. Conversely in the Late Age, magic is dwindling, monsters are weaker and far less numerous, and humans and other mortal beings have all but claimed dominion in their respective civilizations. However, armies are more organized and much more deadly and spells are much more devastating. Nations like R'lyeh are much more dangerous and a few others are worse off than they were in the Early Age.
- The most shocking implication of the current Ascension War is that
* it's not even the first war of its kind! * It is merely the lastest of a titanic struggle that's been going on since time immemorial. The descriptions of most Pretenders explicitly state that they were imprisoned or banished by a previous Pantokrator, implying that this is pretty much an endless cycle of violence and despair with no end in sight. Perhaps turning the entire world into a lifeless ball of rock would be a mercy after all.
- Speaking of becoming Pantokrator, when the winner ascends to the aforementioned position and rules for a time, they ||are lured into the Void by a strange song like so many before them.|| Who is singing that song? How many Pantokrators fell victim to them? How long have this been happening? What did they do with them? These questions are never answered ingame and as far as the Pretenders are concerned, they may never be.
- Even while the Pantokrators of ages past were still active, a fair few of them seem to have been cruel and capricious masters. Judging from the sheer number of Pretender Gods and other powerful beings who have "sealed away by the Pantokrator in a perpetual state of limbo" in their backstory it must have been a favorite punishment of theirs to inflict, and while some were sealed away for perfectly good reasons, others seem to have incurred their wrath simply for being an inconvenience. This makes them come off as a series of Almighty Idiots with incredibly short fuses — precisely the sort of people who really shouldn't get their hands on truly godlike power.
- Some nations enter the Late Era being worse for wear, having barely scrapped by in the Middle Era and many others have already been wiped out. You know it's a fucked up world when nations are worse off now than they once were and things are about to get worse. These nations truly aren't the same anymore:
- Atlantis: Averted. These fish-frog people are the epitome of being The Determinator: they survived the collapse of their civilization and slavery at the tentacles of the aboleths and they are currently posed to reestablishing their empire. However, the arrival of Late Era R'lyeh forced them to shun their ability to
*sleep* in order to combat this eldritch enemy and the Atlantians have turned to the dark art of necromancy in order to survive, which is actually Fridge Brilliance as the undead are immune to the mind-based attacks R'lyeh employs.
- R'lyeh: Though not a great place to live in the first place, the dreams of the Dreaming God now flow into the physical world through a Void Gate, turning the affected against each other or enticing them into suicide. Not even the Illithid rulers are immune. Those who survive are turned into madmen and dreamers hellbent on claiming the world in the name of their unknowable god, making R'lyeh the new Big Bad of the age.
- Sceleria: Originally a splinter nation that broke off from the Ashen Empire to Fight Fire with Fire against their fallen countrymen, Sceleria became a civilization where the living are served by the undead. So dependent on these deathly servants were the citizenry that the Theurmaturgs decided to open a gate to the underworld and leave it open so that the spirits of the dead can enter and leave at their own volition. Big mistake. The spirits quickly overwhelmed the living and established the nation of Lemuria, which is basically Ermor, the Ashen Empire except with ghosts instead of skeletons and zombies. The Scelerian survivors established Pythium and the Theurmaturgs lost much power and influence as a result.
- Mictan: Perhaps one of the most tragic example if not the
*most*. After spending much of the Early Era sacrificing helpless virgins, the arrival of the Lawgiver in the Middle Era abolished these heinous practices and Mictan was on its way of becoming a good nation. Along come refugees from Atlantis who not only ingrained themselves into Mictan society but revived the Blood Cult. By the start of the Late Era, Mictan is the same virgin-blood spilling civilization it was in its past, only now bolstered by Atlantian warriors.
- Ulm: A nation of master smiths and armored, hardy warriors, the Ulmish were struck by the Malediction during one of their civil wars. The trees became dark and lifeless and werewolves and vampires stalked the new Black Forest. Meanwhile, the master Smiths were either chased away or burned at the stake by the new Black Priests, some of whom were turned into the aforementioned creatures by the former. Paranoia grips the populace while the Illuminated Order causes trouble in faraway lands, likely responsible for their issues. The use of magic outside Ulm's religion are punished severely by the Black Priests who also have a tighter grip on the populace.
- Marginon: A perfect example of He Who Fights Monsters. Despite being a highly religious society who can effectively fight the undead, Marginon finds its methods all but useless against the deathly legions of Ermor so in desperation they turn to the Infernal Lords for help. The Infernal Lords send hordes of demons who eventually destroy Ermor's Eldergate and retrieve the Chalice, ending the threat of the Ashen Empire for good. However in return, the Infernal Lords demanded Marginon's eternal fealty and worship. As a result, Marginon becomes a terrible theocracy where devil worship is commonplace and inquistors and demons fight side by side, spreading throughout the world to gain new converts and blood slaves in equal measure.
- Jomon: Subverted much to the relief of the humans. Having struggled initially under the yoke of the Oni Kings and later their bakemono servants, the humans have overthrown their supernatural masters and taken their own fates into their hands, gaining a few allies in the process. Now they are poised to taking on the world.
- Most of the Pretenders themselves are downright unsettling. From half-man, half-scorpion hybrids to giant lion-ant monstrosities, these Pretenders make some pretty creepy, even terrifying characters if built perfectly, even if the player want them to be Horrifying Heroes at best. One of the Pretender chassis is
*a fountain of blood*.
- The fountain of blood and its 'good' variant, the Oracle, is pretty horrifying. To communicate with its followers, the fountain accepts a little girl who are then
*subjected* to Eyegore before being mentally dominated until she becomes its Mouth of Sauron, ending up as nothing more than the Pretender's puppet. On her thirteenth birthday, the girl is *sacrificed* and replaced by another girl born on the same day she became the fountain's voice. Let's repeat that: this Pretender's *method of communication involves forcibly turning a child into a mouthpiece.*
- In case that's not horrible enough, imagine her parents forced to stand by helplessly as their daughter, who'll never grow up to start her own family, are blinded and reduced to a meat puppet for a powerful spirit inhabiting a fountain, knowing that she will be sacrificed soon. Conversely, her own parents could've been fanatics who gladly
*offered their own daughter* to the Pretender in hopes of greater rewards. It could even have been considered a *status symbol* in their society to have one's daughter forced into such a position.
- The Pretenders are basically Fisher Kings whose dominions influence the lands and people they hold sway over. While this can result in very fertile and orderly lands populated by industrious people and home to unrestricted magical energies and fortune, this can also result in wastelands populated by slothful people and home to a magic-sucking void and misfortune. Because you get more points for designing your Pretender by making your dominion more oppressive, you can create a very powerful god that can crush all others at the measly cost of a barely livable dominion and a much harder game.
- Some dominions, most famously those of Middle Era Ermor and Late Era R'lyeh, actually kill their own populations and call forth armies of undead for the former and hordes of madmen for the latter. Imagine living in a place where people die very easily and more frequently, only for their corpses to get back up and make their way to their dark masters or for the population to snap under the pressure of constant nightmares and, if they are not murdered or don't take their own lives, congregate around strange enigmatic figures who want nothing more than to pull the world into the void.
- The existence of Blood Magic is all you need to know about the potential for abuse in this game. To make use of this, you need at least one mage or Pretender with at least one level in blood magic and then order them to hunt for blood slaves in your provinces. You're not gathering up condemned criminals or captured soldiers. You're not even taking in volunteers for your twisted rituals.
*You kicking down your civilians' doors and snatching away their virgin daughters and sons to use as sacrifices!* There's absolutely no way to justify using blood slaves without crossing the line. Giving access to some of the strongest spells and summons in the game and can be used to craft very powerful items, Blood Magic can be used by *anyone*, even by 'good' Pretenders, and the average player is tempted to give it at least a try. Playing as an ubiquitous good guy would require steering clear of blood magic, no matter how tempting its benefits are.
- Some nations, particularly Mictan,
*absolutely required* blood sacrifices in order to maintain and spread their Pretender's dominion, at least in the Early and Late Eras. Given that dominion is required to extend a Pretender's influence throughout the world and to maintain their existence in the first place, players wishing to roleplay a 'good' Mictan Pretender would have to settle for a very dark and pragmatic antihero from the very start.
- Astral magic can easily be seen as the counterpart of blood magic, seeing that it's closely related to light and divinity much unlike the dark and demonic forces the latter is responsible for. However, this path isn't all sunshine and gold. From arrows that fall out of the sky and pierce the hearts of unsuspecting targets to spells that can brainwash entire populations and turn them against their masters, to even spells that can mark a target so that a gibbering horror will pay them a visit later, astral magic can be surprisingly brutal in screwing with those you really hate. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Dominions |
Drowned God / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Meeting Horus in the giant water tank in Chesed, portrayed as a grotesque alien fetus with Vader Breath. He insists he was not the one who betrayed Osiris, but even if hes telling the truth then he does not help his case at all with a voice that drips with menace. Listening to the extracted audio files better demonstrates how sinister he sounds: **Horus**: Here, she put me, a prisoner of the water. I am just a child, the last of my kind. The Moon, insane in her anger and jealousy, kills our Emperor. She steals all the secrets. She sends the killers, Night Axe and The Flayed one. The Firebird spits, the Sun falls. "Isis," he cries. Beacons are built, in the hope of rescue. We look to the stars to take us home. I am Horus, keeper of the secret. I am Alpha and Omega, beginning and end. Release me, and I will give you the path to the Drowned God. The Sun waits for you there, where the last gave their blood. Choose, Alpha and Omega, life or death. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DrownedGod |
Drowtales / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- All the drow who do not realize they are inevitably going to be taken over by demons, the one drow who does because
*she can feel it happening.*
- The army of demons the Nidraa'chal sic on Sii'lice's army in the prologue right here. Not just because they did that to the innocent citizens who never did them any harm, but because if you look on the far left not only is a heavily pregnant woman possessed
*but so is the baby in her womb*. Which is half-climbing out, presumably to get some blood for itself.
- Laele'aell. I mean, Jesus Christ, what the hell is that?!
- It's a more subtle kind of horror, but what happens to Diva'ratrika while imprisoned in her tower is actually pretty disturbing. Just the idea of being trapped with no way out, with only one person that even knows you're alive while you're slowly losing your mind is bad enough on its own, but it gets worse when you consider what it must have been like for Ragini to slowly feel her aura being taken over, to the point that she buried herself in alcohol to stave off the pain.
- The entirety of this sequence, but possessed Celia is particularly scary.
- Ariel's nightmare in Chapter 8 is pretty frightening all around, but this page with the distorted faces of the five girl band is pretty bad. Not to mention the next page.
- Chiri's visions are pretty damn frightening, especially since it's heavily implied that she feels everything the victims feel.
- Watching Kiel'ndia suffer from the effects of the poison is bad enough, especially since it goes on for several pages and is frighteningly realistic, but the subverted Emergency Transformation has caused at least one actual nightmare.
- Kharla'ggen can turn people into statues, with their souls still trapped◊ inside. She also has a hobby of making real people into dolls. She removes the bones, teeth and put in glass eyes instead of the real ones. And those people are still◊living◊ and aware of their situation and what goes on around them.
- Bonus points for the poor girl we actually
*see* being dollified — she's *fully conscious*. One eye has already been ripped out and replaced with a button; the other is weeping as she whimpers helplessly. One arm is sewn up after having the bones removed. She calls out to Kiel for help...but Kiel has already let the reader know that, terrifying as she finds Kharla's "hobby", she won't do anything to get on Kharla's bad side (in fact, she completely ignores the girl). As Kharla springs forward to grab the new toy Kiel brings, she throws aside her victim mid-mutilation...and the poor girl lands in a pile of her own discarded bones. *Imagine living through that*, knowing that you would spend the rest of your existence mute, blind and incapacitated, and the last thing you would ever see was your own skeleton and your deranged tormentor. We never learn the victim's fate...but it probably wasn't anything good.
- Most likely inspired from
*Forgotten Realms* drow matriarchs, who tend to have such entertaining objects as a gemstone on their throne that violently rips the soul out of anyone who displeases them, then imprisons said souls for all eternity. And have archmages who take captured prisoners, transform them into horrible, horrible monsters, then set them lose on the prisoners own people.
- Khaless in general. She can turn willingly into a tentacled shadow creature, and then there's the original's accident...
- Don't forget the "Corrupted", artificial nagas who were once enemies of the Vel'Vloz'ress, or just unlucky passersby, who fell victim to the giant eyeless snakes bred by the clan which transform them by consuming them only up to the waist and biting into the flesh with their fangs as both the victim and the snake symbiotically fuse into one artificial creature. The venom of the snakes makes the victim's mind go numb and turns them into docile and easy to train minions. Because the venom makes them clumsy, forgettable, and confused they're mainly used as psychological warfare against their former kin. The worse part is that even if a corrupted could get free if someone removed the snake, it would be a painful process as the victim would feel everything the snake feels and very likely die from blood loss. And even then the whole process would most likely be in vain as their brains may not recover from the neurotoxin.
- The half-drow hale-spider Driders don't have it well for them either. With the exception of the completely sane and true race Ne'kalsaider, most were driven out by the clans who once revered them and inevitably driven insane due to losing the constant battle between themselves weakened by exile and ill treatment and the aggressive instincts of their spider half. These feral driders (or Streekaiders) are considered a lost cause as there's no way to save their minds in that state (the Orthorbbae Library even mentions that removing the spider half and using modern golem prosthetics will not help, and may even make things worse as the drow is now in full symbiosis with the spider). For the driders still part of drow society, even under the best care they are just barely able to contain their spider instincts as they slowly over time lose the ability to communicate and think clearly. Remember that they were all once normal drow who were magically fused with spider bodies to save them from severe injuries.
- Think flowers can't be scary? Oh boy they are◊. Especially since Word of God confirms that they're all connected, and worse, Wafay believes that that a Nidraa'chal has been developing them.
- The poor guy in chapter 38. Imagine you're just walking down the street, minding your own business, when a bunch of Vloz'ress jump out and carve a nether gate into your flesh by shoving a soulmir into your chest, forcibly tainting you in the process. And then when you try to get help it becomes pretty obvious they're going to kill you, and then when you try to run away you get tackled and have the gate forcibly ripped out of your chest. Luckily the poor guy seems to die immediately after it's taken out, and he was probably doomed no matter what.
- Shinae gave birth to something so deformed Gailen ordered for it to be burned.Demon seeds are affecting children in the womb.
- And to make it worse, the damn thing is covered in
*spikes*, which makes it horrifyingly clear why Shinae was having trouble with the birth and bleeding so badly. Ugh.
- Along the same lines in chapter 44, Chrys'tels miscarriage as a result of her taint.
- Sarv'swati is terrifying. The previous page made it pretty clear what was going to happen, but the sheer
*brutality* of it is still shocking.
- Regardless of how much good it actually does, the effects of Snadhya'rune's process of making someone's taint "safe" is rather nightmarish as shown by its first victim—er, recipient Jiaan, Yami'ni's former bodyguard. As several people on the forum commented, a character who had been a Perpetual Frowner looks nothing if not
*lobotomized*.
- The actual process of making someone "safe" is also pretty disturbing, as it brings out the demon within them until they accept it. And the effect on Shinae, who screams "You're killing me" during it and once it's over her only reaction to being asked how it went is to smile in a completely uncharacteristic fashion is one of the most subtly creepy moments thus far. Even Chrys'tel is unsettled by it.
- The faceless golems from the tainting room in chapter 46 gain a close up of ones pregnant body which highlights how creepy it is then we find out the page is a GIF when a single red eye appears in the blank space of the face. Even Sarnel is freaked out.
- While it's also awesome and deserved, seeing Ariel absorb Kalki's arm into herself is pretty hard to watch, with the latter's expression making it clear
*just how* painful it is.
- What makes it even more Nightmare Fuel is the Fridge Horror that comes from comparing how both lost their arms. At least with Ariel, you know that merely getting her arm cut off with a sword is a lot quicker and more merciful to the victim than having it
*forcibly ripped off from your shoulder while fused with another person*.
- Worse, one of the forum admins, in speaking about an event a couple pages later (mainly Snadhya getting stabbed) clarified that unlike those whose seeds are slowly taking them over (i.e. Naal, Sabbror, Rann'dirk) whose pain response is diminished, "merged" tainted have a normal pain response. So Kalki felt every bit of that, which either makes it more satisfying, more horrific, or both.
- Snadhya snaps. It also seems to be the case in-universe, judging by Riz'riia's stunned expression when found by Ariel and co.
- When Snadhya finally grows weary of Kalki's antics and kills her with a summon, she does so with absolutely no emotion whatsoever. And judging by the blood stains on the door and sounds, it's not a pretty or quick death. Even worse it looks like one of the summons ripped out her throat before she could even finish her last words!
- Learning from one webcomic forum troper that drow with a "merged" taint have normal pain responses, we now know that Kalki having her arm stolen by Ariel was pretty painful. Now imagine how Kalki must have felt as she was brutally torn apart by Snadhya's summons.
- The cover to Chapter 47. Kharla, you've got something in your eye...
- Years of warfare have taken their toll on the Sarghress. In chapter 47 a squad of Sarghress troops butcher what is apparently a Drow commoner
*child* from an occupied district for their own and their wolves' consumption.
- Nether gates are nasty things; until they are closed, formless "demons" will continue to drift out of them, who proceed to infest nearby Drow, eat their souls, and twist their bodies into nightmarish killing machines. As horrible as this is, the gate that opens in Chapter 47 takes the cake; instead of one or two demons creeping out every few minutes, a massive
*swarm* pours out, and start tearing through the city at incredible speed.
- Yet although every demon before now has claimed a host at the first opportunity, these completely ignore thousands of viable victims, only spreading outward as fast as possible. Pretty fortunate, right? But just when you start to breath easy, it dawns on you; those demons aren't benign, they're
*fleeing in terror* from whatever's emerging from that gate.
- And then Karla, the most unstable, unpredictable, and bat-shit
*insane* Drow in the entire setting *eats it* and absorbs it's power. Don't waste time fearing the unknown; there is something *much* worse already here.
- Then it turns out even she can't control that beast. Karla is
*its* puppet.
- Kharla was always intimidating and creepy, but she was at least benign, being kept in check by her own naivity, passivity, and insanity. In chapter 47, she finally shows what she is truly capable of, and you realize that she was only withholding an apocalypse of her own making
*on a whim*, with her millions of victims becoming a prisoner within their own bodies. Nothing will protect you. Nowhere is safe.
- Thus far, we only see the effects on Chel. But how much farther is she reaching? Her Aura could be covering the entire underworld, maybe even the surface, maybe much,
*much* further...
- Imagine what it would be like if all your remaining friends and family suddenly went into a frenzy trying to kill you. If by some miracle you manage to escape, a quick glance around reveals that it isn't just your family;
*the entire city* wants you dead. Even your adorable toddler, who will try her damnedest to bite your fingers off.
- After the events of Chapter 47 prove disastrous for the Beldrobbaen, Waes'soloth orders all the servants be thrown out and the clan fortress sealed. Then it emerges that at least one devess has been infected with the parasitic Jal'darya flower, and probably at this point
*every* other person in the clan has been exposed to the spores. Waes may very well have finally signed her clan's death warrant.
- The very last page of Chapter 48. Remember that vial Shinae was carrying and passed off to a servant after giving Zala some tea? Oh, and don't think Suna's safe either. Suna bit Zala during the demon apocalypse, after Zala drank that tea... It's hard to see, but Zala's got a little something on her head.
- Yuh'le; a mana user who takes the Your Head Asplode trope to horrible and gruesome extremes. She spends her leisure time making small animals burst on a whim. Her working hours are much the same, but involves people this time around. She may composed, dignified, and polite, but don't be fooled; her powers are every bit as nasty as Kharla's, and she's even more amoral.
- The author gives a vivid discription of what to expect if you get on her bad side;
**Kern**
: She cause blood to "boil", veins to ruptures, arteries to break. squishy tissues like eyes , gums, ears cannals, they all bleed first. Then come internal bleeding. Then tissues break. Then internal organs fails under the pressure. Stroke would kill, or the heart would cease completely. Likely Kousei suffered a stroke himself, but survived. His body may never fully recover. So while it's very directed one on one kind of power, it's very deadly AND painful.
- Her powers are bad enough, but the mentality controlling them is just as chilling; she's so dispassionate and unprincipled that she cannot fathom why someone would be hate her for murdering their friends, so long as they weren't harmed themselves. She isn't just a sadist; the very
*notion* of empathy is alien to her.
- Apart from the shear agony and fear that come with her attacks, she can utilize her power in complete silence, from any direction, and from almost a mile away, only requiring a line of sight. There is absolutely no way to defend yourself in public; you
*will* die in blinding pain, without ever knowing where she was.
- Even when she's
*dying,* she *still* doesn't comprehend the evil of what she did, asking pitifully "Did I do something wrong?"
- It's more subtle than most instances on this page, but Zala'ess' cognitive decline after being infected by the flower poison is eerily similar to seeing a loved one with Alzheimer's or other forms of dementia.
- We even get to see her dementia from her own perspective in chapter 49. With Sabbor having lost control of his seed and gone missing, that monstrous hallucination could have been all too
*real*.
- The forums universally agree that seeing Khaless in action certainly qualifies. She shapeshifts into her true form, terrifying the Sul healer sent to treat Quain'tana and basically devours/assimilates her whole, regretting the fact that the Sul is "struggling" because she will forever remember the pain and fear the Sul healer experiences during the experience.
- The
*thing* that comes out of Laele'aell after Koil's squad executes her. *SWEET MERCY.* (And those blurry little blue outlines in the corners of the screen, there? Those would be the squad members either being fully eaten or having their mana 'souls' ripped out.) | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Drowtales |
Drawn Together / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Sometimes it crosses the line a time too many, and becomes High Octane Squick. A few examples:
- Wooldoor accidentally shooting a truck driver, then trying (and failing) to tell the news to the driver's family...while wearing his skin.
- The meat made out of Clara's forest friends flopping along to her song.
- At one point, Spanky Ham caves in Xander's head with a tire iron. Then he
**slurps up what emerges.** It's offscreen, but it sounds sickening.
- One gag involving Captain Hero has him at college. Going back to his dorm with a flier for sperm donation, he tells his roommate he can now "get paid for doing what I already do in your shamppoo bottle for free." Pan to Hero's roommate having
*literal dead babies growing out of his afro*. It looks just as horrifying as it sounds.
- The candies made of the body parts of Wooldoor's relative, which is a VERY thinly disguised Holocaust reference.
- Wooldoor is experimenting on Ling Ling, causing the latter to grow a face that says "Kill me!" — which Wooldoor does, causing Ling Ling to scream in pain! Yikes!
**Wooldoor:**
You ask me if I have a god complex... I am God
! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DrawnTogether |
Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1931) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Fredric March's whole performance as Hyde. The book describes him as being "pure evil" and March makes you believe it.
- Hyde terrorizing Ivy psychologically and emotionally. It's even worse because people
*do* act like that in real life, and it's decidedly terrifying how quickly Hyde destroys her personality.
- Jekyll's agonized faces as he first turns into Hyde. The Hyde makeup itself gets progressively more deranged as the movie goes on, with the final scene having makeup so corrosive it almost ruined Fredric March's face in real life.
- The first transformation into Hyde has a moment of understated horror, as it immediately becomes clear how much of a mistake Jekyll has made. What's the first thing Hyde says when he comes into being?
*"Free! Free at last!"*
- At one point Ivy is celebrating her liberation from Hyde, having received Jekyll's promise that she'll never see him again (and Hyde's promise that he'll kill her if she disobeys him). Then, just as she's toasting Jekyll, the door opens and Hyde walks in...
- The bizarre closeups near the start of the film and the segments shot from Jekyll's perspective throughout the film can be this for some, largely thanks to just how uncomfortably close the people's faces are and the surreal, gauzy filter. This sets up an uncomfortable feeling in the audience for later on. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DrJekyllAndMrHyde1931 |
Dream SMP: Season Four / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Dream:** *(to Sam)*
[...] Y'know, Quackity better be on the lookout, I- I hope he has his guards up, because I'm gonna find him, I'm gonna torture him, I'm gonna kill him... And then I'm gonna bring him in here [to Pandora's Vault], and plop him next to you, so he's in here as well!
*(Beat)*
And then I'm gonna find everything he cares about and then I'm gonna destroy it, I'm gonna burn it [and] rid it from existence, and then I'm gonna kill everybody he cares about. And guess what you're [gonna be] doing? You're sitting in here and I'm gonna sit down like you're my little therapist and tell you all about it. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DreamSMPSeasonFour |
Dreamfall Chapters / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The neverending nightmares caused by using the Dream machine. At the beginning of the game, Zoe enters three nightmares and saves the dreamers. One nightmare is especially chilling, when you are on a dark, abandoned road with flickering street lights and a creepy soundtrack, creating an almost Silent Hill-esque atmosphere. Zoe also warns the dreamers that next time, she might not be able to find them, so they would be caught in their nightmare forever.
- The implication that Reza is not who he seems to be. Although Zoe largely has forgotten about her doubts about him by the time they get back together, she mentions that their relationships has some ups and downs and that they seem to be drifting apart. In the first episode, sometimes he acts normally, and then suddenly switches to sounding cold and annoyed. The possibility that Zoe is living with some false version of her boyfriend is unsettling.
- The Baba Yaga. Everything about her.
- The concentration camp at Ge'en. From the piles of bodies to the constantly burning crematorium to the woman about to vivisect Bip, every element of the place is horrifying.
- The opening of Book 5 has Zoe in a warm, sunny hospital room, surrounded by photographs and get-well messages from her loved ones. However, when Zoe starts to look at them, she realizes that they are not real memories. And then, they start glowing, like a glitchy computer screen. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DreamfallChapters |
Dream Daddy / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Yes, even something as light-hearted as Dream Daddy has its fill of nightmarish moments!
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- There's a moment in Robert's second date that you and Robert are near the woods. In the middle of your date, you see something lurking in the woods. Whatever it is, it's something you can't identify and only vaguely humanoid, so you two, shaken to the core, run away from the place on car and with the lights off to go undetected. On your way home, you two are still extremely shaken by whatever that was.
- In the cult ending (see below), the "thing" is revealed to be
*Joseph*.
- The cult ending, which for a time was only accessible by data-mining, is shocking partially because it seems to come out of nowhere for a game that's heavily been marketed as a heartwarming dad-dating simulator. Joseph is the leader of eldritch Cult, and has been murdering and driving away the wives in the neighborhood so he can prey on the single men. His children
*and* Amanda can be seen being possessed by demons. The ending was later made playable by customizing the player character a specific way, for the people who were fans of it.
- Joseph's Creepy Twins, Christian and Christie, there's even a glitch that will make them follow you around...
- However, if you play Joseph's route, this is subverted, as you can get the twins to giggle along with their father if you egg them on and then toss them an obscure reference. Later, as Christie watches you and Joseph bake cookies for the bake sale, Christie actually turns out to be very nice when she's not with her twin brother Christian, and if you "slay" her father during a mock duel, Christie even thanks your player character by hugging your player character around the leg.
- You can actually die on Craig's, Brian's, and Joseph's routes. The deaths themselves are easily avoidable, but very graphically described. Also, the fact that two out of three of them involve you dying in front of your beloved daughter is more than a little horrifying, especially considering how close the two of you are. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DreamDaddy |
Dreamcatcher / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
## Dreamcatcher Music 드림캐쳐
- "Chase Me":
- The ghost hunter's sudden nosebleed.
- After the girls pull the eyes off a bear doll, the hunter hallucinates that
*his* eyes have gone missing too.
- All the ghostly behaviour the girls pull off counts as well - especially JiU and her habit of appearing and disappearing, then nonchalantly levitating. Then there's SuA and Siyeon doing their best impersonation of the twins from "The Shining", and the other girls encircling Dami in a manner that looks almost like they're intending to sacrifice her, and Handong appearing outside the ghost hunter's window.
- "Good Night":
- Yoohyeon and Siyeon are chased through the forest by a group of masked figures.
- Gahyeon seemingly falling through a never-ending chasm.
- SuA is pinned down by multiple tree roots that have taken the form of human hands.
- In relation to this, we haveJiU burning a picture of a girl being pinned down by tree roots while Handong and Dami watch her with blank, dispassionate expressions, then we flash back to see SuA being burned alive with a strangely calm expression.
- The sudden appearance of eyes on book covers and walls.
- The girls use the mirror to call out to the ghost hunter, then trick him into taking their place on the other side.
- "Fly High": Pretty much the whole video, as it's a prelude to how the girls came to be trapped in the first place.
- The girls are living happily at the hotel or the school, at least until JiU finds a strange spider on the grounds. She catches it in a jar, and keeps it as a pet, and soon afterwards strange things begin happening.
- Siyeon and SuA wander the woods in their nightgowns, returning with black capes on both of them.
- Gahyeon wakes up in the middle of the night on the bed decorated with plants and flowers, seemingly unable to move, to find a strange tattooed figure approaching her, who reaches out to cover her eyes, possibly corrupting her.
- SuA and Gahyeon stare at Handong throwing a paper airplane and later stand at the top of a staircase with Siyeon and stare directly into the camera.
- Yoohyeon finds a vanity table outside and touches the spiderweb. As she does, a thick black liquid pours from the mirror.
- Dami reading the book while rapping about being trapped in a dream (this changes to "nightmare" at the very end of the song), then looking up as a big gust of wind suddenly blows around her. What makes this scarier is Dami doesn't even seem to flinch or notice her surroundings, possibly signifying her corruption.
- Handong lies in the bathtub staring blankly ahead - especially scary in that at first look, the water dripping from her hands looks like blood.
- JiU wanders around and finds her double playing piano and figures out what is happening.
- It's revealed that Yoohyeon lured JiU away and burned the spider to death with a magnifying glass, thus causing the girls to be cursed. JiU, who had resisted the curse the most strongly, realizes this and runs from her double out of the building. Meanwhile, Yoohyeon also tries to escape by running into the woods but suddenly turns back, signifying her corruption. JiU then runs to the gate only to and suddenly stop and close it instead, with her face acquiring the same blankness as the other girls.
- Note that strange things had begun to happen even before Yoohyeon killed the spider - starting almost as soon as JiU captured it.
- The girls' movements after they've been cursed count as this as well - they move in a manner that's almost a little
*too* smooth.
- SuA stabbing the painting of the girls and cutting it free of its canvas. Interestingly, JiU and Dami are watching her, while Handong and Gahyeon are staring at the painting instead.
- Have a look at their ending pose - it's a pentagram.
- "You and I":
- The MV as a whole has a darker feel, with the girls all in leather.
- There are some shots that it looks like some members are trapped. For example, Gahyeon, Handong and Dami.
- Handong's solo shots are framed to make her look like an insect that has been pinned for display, although she is also beginning to be surrounded by webs as well.
- Gahyeon, initially looking like she is trapped in the mirror suddenly looks into the camera with a very sly expression.
- Dami is captured in the glass dome (although she breaks out of it).
- Yoohyeon's solo shots are implied that she is still cursed and possessed or at least connected to the spider as unbeknownst to her she is surrounded with webs.
- Yoohyeon goes to photograph an older woman in a photo studio, only for the woman to turn into a spider (a callback to Yoohyeon burning the other spider in "Fly High"). The woman then lashes out and knocks Yoohyeon to the floor, and it's implied she possesses her body and sends her real consciousness to another dimension and traps her there as revenge for killing the spider. Although the others try to free her, she's unable to make it to the portal before it closes.
- Siyeon does something with (possibly Yoohyeon's) film, then Gahyeon and Handong joins her and giggle strangely before they burn the picture while smiling slyly.
- JiU summons a creature made of smoke in an attempt to exorcise Yoohyeon and save her but fails, resulting in the monster chasing her through the halls.
- JiU's blank stare after she sees a gyroscope-like device while running from the creature can also be counted.
- The choreography is not to be taken lightly as well. In the opening, JiU attempts to bite SuA's neck, then SuA is dragged between Gahyeon's legs. Finally, It ends with JiU grabbing Yoohyeon's neck.
- "What"
- Some of the settings bear resemblance to something you'd see in a horror movie:
- Members are trapped in a dark place while having a light shone on them.
- Handong is hidden in a closet and singing about looking for something.
- SuA keeps being in or around some building with "Danger" tapes sticked all around.
- Yoohyeon's room, especially near the ending.
- Some of the city scenes look like something out of Silent Hill.
- In almost all of Gahyeon's scenes, there's some sort of weird wind blowing around her.
- At one point Yoohyeon looks below her bed, then we see a scene where JiU has a weird sort of glitching effect.
- Yoohyeon's dress is a normal, asymmetric floral dress. In certain lighting, however, it looks like a white dress randomly splattered by blood.
- Towards the end, JiU looks up onto the rooftop of a house to find a ghostly Yoohyeon standing there.
- While Yoohyeon's room was initially normal looking, a shot near the end shows it suddenly appearing to be very bloody with playing cards floating around it.
- "Piri"
- A majority of scenes throughout the video show the girls seeing or experiencing something scary or nightmarish.
- Dami and Siyeon both appear to be lost. Siyeon is stuck in a room and sees a hand reach out from the wall, while Dami opens a door and someone pulls her in before slamming it back shut.
- Gahyeon is on the phone when suddenly, a hand from behind covers her mouth and she disappears.
- SuA finds a room full of dolls, said dolls turning their heads to look at her after she picks one up.
- JiU sees two versions of herself sitting beside each other on a TV.
- "Breaking out"
- Many of the scenes invoke common phobias or nightmares, such as claustrophobia (Siyeon), or standing near the edge of a cliff (Handong and Dami). Gahyeon is shown in what appears to be a plastic bag, suffocating her, and Yoohyeon's scenes appear to represent an inner struggle, with two sides of herself conflicting with each other. Probably the creepiest of these scenes are SuA and JiU's, with the former swinging on a swing with the ropes
**on fire**, and the latter holding her hair tied up with a rope, almost like a noose. The blank expressions on some of the girls faces during these scenes also adds to the creep factor.
- "Deja Vu"
- The music video appears to reference the story of Macbeth with Yoohyeon killing JiU to usurp the throne before killing or exiling the rest of their friends, only to be haunted by JiU's ghost pointing a sword at her. It also seems to imply her memories might've been warped to let herself believe JiU was the bad guy, as in one scene where it switches between one of them in a coffin while the other aims the sword at them. Are the ghosts of her friends truly haunting her, or is it all a delusion born out of her own guilt and/or madness?
- Toward the beginning of the video, a dark shadow engulfs Yoohyeon. If we're to assume this darkness was inside her the whole time, was Yoohyeon possessed by an evil spirit that made her betray and kill all her friends against her will?
- In one scene, as everyone is looking over JiU's coffin, her eyes open and stare directly into the camera.
- Things become more apocalyptic towards the end, as we see Yoohyeon sit alone on a throne in a trashed palace, and the world outside shows the sky turn red with flaming swords floating in the sky.
- "Scream"
- To appropriately start the new "Dystopia trilogy" storyline, the establishing shot has an effectively mood shift from bright, sunny, and peaceful, to dark, creepy, and mysterious.
- The song itself is about cyberbullying and criticizes online hate culture, and some of the lyrics are chilling, with the singer begging that they don't want to scream, and how the pain persists and they feel they can't escape. Eventually towards the end, it changes to the singer saying they want to make other people scream, showing that the pain they suffered has changed them.
- SuA is shown being chased by a dark shadow, and later, Dami screams as that same darkness bursts out from her body. Could whatever that shadow is be trying to possess or corrupt the girls?
- "BOCA"
- The girls appear to be in a post-apocalyptic setting, walking through empty city streets. At one point, Siyeon is seen being chased by a figure wearing a mask.
- Dami's scenes show her standing above or behind a crowd of masked people reaching out for her, but unable to touch her as she's either just far enough from their grasp or a wall is blocking them from getting to her.
- As a reward for reaching the 15 million view milestone on Youtube, the group released a special version of the choreography video for the song in which the girls were dressed in traditional male Korean uniforms, and their backup dancers were
*zombies*. Halfway into the song, the dancers attack the girls and they themselves become zombies in the end. The special effects makeup along with the acting from the backup dancers and the members is downright creepy, so much so that a disclaimer was given at the start of the video for anyone who might potentially feel uncomfortable while watching.
- "BEcause"
- The lyrics to the song are rather chilling as they portray someone who is obsessed with their object of affection. One line even says, "Your face turns blue, the look on your face is like an ocean view," which in some ways can be interpreted as someone's face turning pale when being choked.
- The girls move and act very doll-like in the music video, and much of the choreography reflects this as well, such as one instance of Yoohyeon being picked up like a puppet on strings. Along with this, they seem to parallel aspects of the movie "Us", as if the girls are being replaced with doll-like doppelgangers one by one throughout the video.
- "Maison"
- As the song is about climate change, the music video depicts a post-apocalyptic world where the Earth is in ruin, and the surviving members of humanity wear rather creepy animal head masks.
- At one point, Dami appears to lift seemingly dead bodies with telekinetic powers.
## Book
- Mr. Gray forcing Andy Janas to stab himself in the eye with a pen.
- Kurtz is filled with this. A violent madman who commits brutal actions on a whim is scary enough, but a Colonel in charge of numerous military operations? Terrifying.
- Pete being infested by the Byrus, which eventually totally covers his body.
- PENNYWISE LIVES | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Dreamcatcher |
DRAMAtical Murder / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
And this isn't even the most horrifying part of the game.
Don't be fooled by the cheery aesthetic and atmosphere. This is still a Nitro+CHiRAL game, so expect horrifying things to happen.
**Warning: Spoilers Off applies to these pages. Proceed at your own risk.**
## General
- Aoba's ability is Paranoia Fuel in itself. It's basically Inception using Jedi Mind Trick (with a Compelling Voice), but it can inflict Mind Rape. If you are unlucky enough to be Sly Blue's victim, there is absolutely
*nothing* you can do to stop it, let alone even be aware of it.
- Sei's Scrap is even worse, as he can use that ability using
*his eyes*. And unlike Aoba, Sei has full control of his abilities. Never before being stared at is this scary.
- Toue's grand plan is basically to brainwash the entirety of Midorijima (and yes, this refers to both Platinum Jail and the Old Residential District) to form brain-dead people living in an Orwellian dystopia where everyone is essentially
*empty* in the blink of an eye. And it's strongly hinted that his plans do not stop at the unfortunate island. Sweet dreams.
- When Aoba gets forcefully pulled into Rhyme, the creature that appears before him — who is actually Noiz in his avatar — is rather creepy, especially when it starts speaking in a distorted voice, complete with jumbled text.
- The members of Morphine looks... off, as it's hard to tell whether they're looking into nothing, or
*right into you*. What makes it worse is that they only turned out that way because of the horrifying Mind Rape they were forced to undergo after they were forcibly kidnapped. And the Morphine members that show up are the more successful subjects. What then happened to the ones who aren't as successful?
- Poor Mizuki gets Mind Raped
*twice* in a row. Fortunately he manages to recover, but still. In addition, there is his Scrap sequence in *re:code*...
- The Scrap sequences are indeed surreal, but some falls into this category due to the things that happens inside it. Only Clear's Scrap sequence averts this.
- Noiz's "glitch" scene in his Scrap sequence can be unnerving for those who didn't expect it, to the point that players thought that the game itself was actually crashing. Before that, the disembodied arms and its sound effect can be pretty jarring. Also, their
*goddamned* voices.
- The AllMate guards in Oval Tower. At first glance, they look relatively normal. But then their faces open up. And inside their faces are guns that can shoot lasers, lasers that are deadly enough to kill you if you're not quick enough to dodge in time.
- Each time Mink rapes Aoba can be rather disturbing due how realistic and brutal it is, particularly the agony and helplessness Aoba feels throughout. You can't help but wince whenever he gets hit, or feel like you're choking for air whenever he gets strangled.
## Bad Endings | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DRAMAticalMurder |
Duck Dodgers / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Be vewy vewy afwaid... HEHEHEHEHEHEHEH!
- In "Deconstructing Dodgers", one of the stories involves Duck Dodgers working at a cosmetics shop. After he is finished applying cosmetics to one of his clients... um, let's just say that the results could put the Gross-Up Close-Up trope into absolute shame.
- The Fudd when it's first revealed. And this is likely the scariest we've ever seen
*Elmer Fudd* since *What's Opera, Doc?*.
-
**Huhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuhuh**
- There's also the very idea of what would happen if a Lethally Stupid entity gained control of an organization. The Fudd's Evil Plan—to invade the Sun—would be patently ridiculous if it wasn't clear that every single person it infected would be
*incinerated alive* as part of the "mission," with the alien simply sending wave after wave of its drones into the star when the prior groups inevitably die. Billions of people come within seconds of being killed because the Fudd is too idiotic to realize why invading the Sun is a bad plan, and since they're a Hive Mind, none of the victims are able to resist in any way.
- X-2's sanity slippage in "They Stole Dodgers' Brain".
- The effects that the radioactive stuff had on Dodgers in "Duck Deception". Dodgers said it best:
- Count Muerte's death in "I'm Gonna Get You Fat Sucka" is a bit unnerving. He leaves behind just a skull with a macabre grin.
**Count Muerte**: *(wheezes, chokes, and coughs)* Rigor...mortis!
- Count Muerte in general, being a scarier, more predatory version of Count Bloodcount who specifically survives by eating the fat of his victims. He asks incessantly about Cadets body fat ratio, and has survived for untold centuries preying on fat people. When he finally does take off the gloves and go after Cadet, it's nothing short of terrifying.
- When he is tricked into eating the decoy of Cadet, he grabs it offscreen and devours it whole, giving a great look at what wouldve happened to the real Cadet had he not been quick enough.
- The hot alien girls turning into giant bug monsters in "Big Bug Mamas".
- A Noodle Incident mentioned in "Detained Duck": apparently, Dodgers sold the Cadet's sister to a sausage factory. Noted homicidal maniac, Hannibal Lecter expy and Card-Carrying Villain Drake Darkstar is utterly disgusted.
**Drake:** Dude... that's *cold.*
- The pirate captain swipes a woman's earrings while she is still wearing them, believing they were clip ones, and we do not see the result, but her screams along with his disturbed face say it all about how horrible it was (he even apologizes due to thinking they were clip ons).
- In that same episode, the parasite eating contest. Dodgers gets so full that by the last one, he doesn't eat the parasite so much as encourage it to crawl down his throat, alive. And it DOES.
-
*Ferocious Octigerious* a very rare, very DANGEROUS flower in the episode "Duck Codgers" with a pollen that causes anyone who inhaled it to go through Rapid Aging until they turn to dust. While the episode is largely comedic, it's honestly not to wince at the idea of turning so old you actually become dust. This goes into a Tear Jerker when Dodgers believes Cadet turned to dust, mourning what he believes to be his dead friend. What makes this worse is the effects work in REVERSE on Martians; X-2 could have regressed into nothingness! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DuckDodgers |
Dr. STONE / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Spoilers are unmarked**
- The very premise involves all of humanity being Taken for Granite. During this time, they are still conscious for at least a short time, but unable to move or see anything. And you're forced to keep yourself awake for millennia if you want to be able to break out on your own. It's not just an Inferred Holocaust either, as we get to see car accidents and planes falling from the sky, killing off countless people without leaving them any chance of surviving or being rescued later. And what about everyone who was on a ship when the beam hit? Even if they weren't conscious by the time it inevitably sank, there's a high likelihood that they may never be found and depetrified.
- Gen suddenly getting assaulted and a
*spear through the chest* comes nearly out of nowhere and happens so fast it's jarring. Yeah, he had been prepared, but it's very easy to be shocked into thinking that it's the first (actual) death in the series.
- Ginro's mental image of a visually beautiful lake has it watched over by a gorgeous winged goddess. But as he's running toward it, he sees a flock of birds fall to their deaths because of the toxic fumes and then dissolve in acid, causing the "goddess" in his mind to become a horrifying monstrosity.
- Senku's story about a researcher bending over to check his boots and dying because he ducked straight into a cloud of too much invisible toxic gas? Yeah,
*that's happened.*
- At the end of Chapter 95, Senku's team picks up on a transmission of Morse code while out at sea. The message is one word, accompanied by the image of a skeletal face on the last spread of pages: "
**WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY WHY**". Not only is it possible that people other than Senku's team and Ishigami village are still alive, but they have technological capabilities *beyond Senku's*.
- Chapter 103, hoo boy. Ukyo's sonar sees something strange, and Ginro looks underwater. He finds petrified people, but Ukyo wonders how that's possible as the island was uninhabited during the original petrifaction. Then Ryusui senses someone and it's not friendly. Kohaku thought she saw a light from the ship but doesn't understand the significance of it. As the ship isn't answering their calls Soyuz and Gen tries contacting from a higher place. Soyuz checks the ship with a telescope and is horrified. Gen also looks and sees that everyone on the ship had suddenly been petrified.
- Chapter 120. Ginro learns that the leader of the village is petrified, realizing that Ibara is really the one running things. Ibara finds out, and when Ginro tries to claim he didn't see anything, he looms over Ginro with sunken-in eyes and massive sharp nails, growling "No lying".
- Chapter 138. The Why-Man returns with a different message. "12,800,000 Meters. 1 Second". That's the diameter of the entire planet, and he casually wants to re-petrify it. The thing that makes it even scarier? He's using Senku's voice.
- This also implies that the device is more than capable of that and the only thing that's needed is to ASK. And it accepts voice commands from anyone. And the very next chapter reveals that many such devices appeared on the island in the past...
- Chapter 149: How does the crew learn there are survivors in America? A hail of machine gunfire. Had Tsukasa and the battle team not sensed him, they would have all been dead.
- Chapter 180 has what could simultaneously be the most terrifying and beautiful image in the entire manga. The crew, after years of dedicated work, blood, sweat, and tears have finally found the source of the petrification beam that wiped out humanity thousands of years ago. What they happen upon is a huge, shiny mountain glistening beautifully in the sunlight... that turns out to be made from what is potentially
*several hundred thousand petrification devices*. We knew that there were many of these things already and that just *one* could wipe out all of humanity if used properly (fortunately, the ones in the pile are all revealed to be powerless), but the sheer number of them shows just how disgustingly Crazy-Prepared the Why-Man really is, and how much of a threat he poses.
- Chapter 188: Previously when the Kingdom of Science fought against Stanley and Xeno's forces, they were able to come out on to their prowess coming out on top with Xeno himself as a hostage. This chapter highlights exactly how an encounter with guns would end. Tsukasa, Hyoga, and Kohaku, despite accomplishing their goal, get gunned down. Their only hope for Senku to successfully activate a petrification device before they bleed out so the petrification process can heal them, although in Hyoga's case it might be too late.
- The bloodshed continues in Chapter 189. Taiju's noted durability does indeed have a limit, as he takes a big explosion to the face. We don't see his body, but from Gen pleading for him to wake up, it is not pretty. Then the chapter ends with Ryusui getting shot through the chest as a grenade engulfs their diamonds. For the first time, things truly seem hopeless for Senku.
- Chapter 194 cranks up the fear, Suika is alone, think about it. She is the only person who is alive as the last human on Earth. And it takes her
*years* before she manages to finally make revival fluid. Imagine having to spend that long as the only person in the world, with the only hope being to follow some complex instructions (despite being barely literate) that involve a lot of trial and error and a year of waiting. Suika's really got it tough.
- Chapter 201: The Why-Man sends a new Morse Code message that isn't just "Why". This time, it's a threat.
- Chapter 213: The Medusa suddenly activates on its own. No one knows how big the diameter of the light is but the fact that the medusa getting triggered is enough to send shivers down the spine.
- Chapter 228: The Whymans identity is finally revealed
to be the Medusa devices themselves. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DrStone |
Cradle Series / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
This kind of thing is to be expected, since Cradle is essentially a Death World, but a few instances really stand out.
- The concept of Remnants, being that when you die, all of the spiritual energy in your body coalesces into a "living" entity that almost always starts out with just basic animal intelligence. The stronger the person, the stronger the Remnant, so if you manage to kill someone but be exhausted afterwards there's a good chance their Remnant will finish you off. Oh, and if they last long enough they can gain a measure of their old intelligence and individuality back.
- Being labelled as Unsouled in the Sacred Valley, you aren't even considered a person, you are forbidden from learning any Path, forbidden from ever marrying, and literally anyone can kill you and the worst punishment they would suffer is a hit to their Honor. Not because of what they did to you but because they lowered themselves to attack something so weak. What's worse is that it's all wrong; Unsouled have nothing wrong with them except a lack of an apparent affinity towards a Path. The Sacred Valley is filled with what the outside world considers to be backwards rubes who don't even practice proper Paths and all the pain and torment that an Unsouled suffers is out of the Sacred Valley's ignorance of this truth.
- Goldsigns: some of them are super cool Mark of the Supernatural, like Lindon's burning black and red eyes, or something benign like Mercy's permanent gloves, but some can hideously maim someone so that, even if they advance, there's a good chance they'll never look normal again, like Jai Long who is stuck with a Nightmare Face that he is forced to cover with scripted bandages.
- Dreadbeasts, spawn of the Dreadgods that exist only to kill non-Dreadbeasts. They are one of the few natural holders of Hunger Madra and when they kill you nothing remains. To put this in context; normally when you die, you leave a Remnant, when a Dreadbeast kills you, that's it, nothing left. Northstrider has incorporated this into his own Path, called The Path of the Hungry Deep. As of Wintersteel he is now training Lindon who has managed to incorporate this into his Path of the Twin-Stars with the Consume technique.
- The Dreadgods, beings so vast and powerful they appear to be part of the landscape and no living creature of any advancement level on Cradle can kill them, including Monarchs. Oh, and one is heading right for the Sacred Valley.
- Blood Shadows, parasites spawned from the Bleeding Phoenix that bore into your spirit and attach themselves to your core. They cannot be removed and feed on blood, wherever it can be found. Best case scenario is that you are able to tame them into a weapon that fights on your side but you're still forced to feed them Blood Madra to keep them under control. Worst case scenario they hollow out your soul and take over your body completely. For example: Mu Enkai was a Lowgold that found a Blood Shadow and used it to take over an entire town, even over the Highgolds that were there, before Lindon put him down. Yerin was infected with a Blood Shadow when she was a child, when the Sword Sage found her it had murdered and fed on her entire village, including her family.
- Monarchs, beings of unimaginable power that can literally hear their own name spoken thousands of miles away and kill someone from that same distance. They rule over Cradle as its supreme leaders, but even they are nothing before The Vroshir and The Abidan: beings of immense power, that move through the Iterations acting as agents of Order. This, of course, does not prevent them from wiping entire worlds out of existence if Chaos grows too strong there. They will at least try to save the populace of that world, but to them A Million is a Statistic, while The Vroshir are Abidan-level entities that thrive on Chaos and serve The Mad King.
- What happened to Ziel: An enemy Sage cut his core apart and stitched it back together wrong, on purpose. This would be like breaking someone's arms, legs, and ribs then forcing them to heal wrong. He is basically crippled as a Sacred Artist, and every waking moment is pain, with almost no hope of ever getting better. The strength he has when we meet him just goes to show how far he was tossed down. Lindon states that if it'd happened to someone weaker, they would have been dead.
- The death of Akura Harmony. Trapped in a Pocket Dimension that is slowly falling apart. Sure he deserved it for the death of Renfei and his treatment of Lindon, but then Northstrider arrives and dashes the last of his hopes with a single word: No.
- In Cradle, even the trees can kill you if they're old enough or have been exposed to enough aura. The Monarch Emriss Silentborn started out as one such tree - lucky for Cradle she is one of the more benevolent Monarchs.
- The Madra Engine, a Divine Treasure that is made with a hundred pure madra Remnants. What makes this Nightmare Fuel, is that the only way to reliably harvest pure madra Remnants is from human children. The Madra engine needs 100 to function.
- The Suppression Field inside of Sacred Valley. No matter who or what you are it drains you down to a Jade at most and can leave you open to be murdered by the the Sacred Valley natives.
- The Dreadgods and all of their destruction can be laid directly at the feet of the Monarchs. If they didn't try to hold on to their power over Cradle and ascended as they were supposed to, the artificial Hunger Madra would fade away. They all
*know* this, and take oaths to prevent it from getting out.
- For a brief moment it looked as if The Mad King was going to wipe Cradle from existence, and all that anyone from the lowest Foundation to the highest Monarch could do was weep and wait for the end.
- The Silent King. Everything about him is shrouded in layers of mystery.
- Early on, some of his servants are completely unable to see a dead man, even when they're standing
*on* him. When the Silent King wants you to be peaceful, you will not see anything that could disrupt that peace.
- He needs your permission to gain control of you. But he can trap you in a dream without you even realising it, and keep you there for years while only a second passes in the outside world
- It becomes aware of Lindon and threatens everyone he cares about by name. Lindon gives them all defensive constructs to defeat the mind-control technique... so the Silent King just controls everyone
*around* them and sends endless waves of slaves at them. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Dreadgod |
Duckman / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
As a satire on the troubles of modern life, the world of Duckman can be as humorous as it can be horrifying.
Rapid image sequences are intercut throughout "Love! Anger! Kvetching!", symbolizing the trauma Duckman's uncle Mo has put him through. Among the nastiest are Uncle Mo as a smiling and fanged devil and the grotesque Duckman caricature seen in the adjacent image.
"The Gripes of Wrath": Act three, where the world became a crime-ridden, red skied hellhole. Granted, this section had some funny jokes, but still, what a frightening place.
On the other end of the spectrum, it's a touch creepy how relentlessly happy and supportive Bernice is when the world becomes a utopia. Hell, the Utopian world itself, while better than the alternative, has a very disturbing Brave New World feel to it.
There's also Duckman's daydream in the first act where a terrorist threatens to blow everyone's heads off; upon choosing orange juice, the scenario ends peacefully, as the O.J. reminded the terrorist of his carefree younger days. But upon choosing tomato juice, Duckman accidentally drops the glass, sending the already unstable terrorist into a fit ("Blood! Blood! So much blood! I've been very bad, mother!") and inadvertently shooting a scientist in a nearby building, who drops a chemical formula that destroys the Earth. The pure terror of this sequence is lessened a bit by the newspaper headline: "Earth destroyed, Duckman to blame", but still.
Duckman eats Fluffy and Uranus in "All About Elliot" (at the latter's suggestion). As if that didn't create such a Squicky mental image, they're utterly horrified and disheveled the next time we see them, as they'd gone through Duckman's entire intestinal tract by this point.
"Sperms of Endearment" ends on a disturbing note. After spending much of the episode thinking she might be pregnant with Duckman's donated sperm, Bernice decides it's for the best there aren't any more of his offspring. As if to prove this, it pans to show a psychotic children resembling Duckman burning conman Terry Duke Tetzloff at the stake.
Fluffy and Uranus channel this in "Short, Plush, and Deadly". Despite maintaining their pastel colors and bows, they Hulk Out and violently pursue Duckman and an incapacitated Cornfed. Of course, the episode ends with Nightmare Retardant when they're brought back to normal, with help from Jim Bailey.
In "Noir Gang", Cornfed has a dream about getting it on with Tamara. But it's cut short by a bomb-strapped Duckman standing outside. Who then calmly tells Cornfed he's his best friend before detonating.
Agnes already brings enough Nightmare Fuel to the table. She's an Ax-Crazy and deceptively strong robber who posed as a family member and then assaulted said family (including a rape attempt on Duckman). And she's still there by the end of the episode'', having managed to pull a last-minute switcheroo, leaving Grandmama to be sent to jail in her place. She stays with the family for about a season afterwards.
Tami from "The Tami Show" is an attractive woman who drugs Beverley so she can take over Duckman's family, Yandere style. She viciously kills a neighbor's gardener who witnessed her drugging with a trowel, and survives ungodly amounts of damage from electrocution to being maimed by a ceiling fan, all while sporting an unholy Nightmare Face. She even emerges from the bathtub in a murderous rage and tries to drown Duckman down the drain, only to be devoured by a shark. But the episode ends with her hand rising from the bathtub.
The shows surreal animation causes a lot of this by accident, even just character design or one-off gags look creepy.
The monster representing Duckman's guilt over his wife's death and him being left to try and build a new life for himself, seen in the episode "Psych".
The aliens from Betamax creating a Nazi regime where the only difference is the swastika is now a silhouette of Duckman walking.
"We'll do it in the name of Dod!"
One of Duckman's possible future selves in "The Once and Future Duck" is a masked psycho on an eight-state chop spree. Another has Bernice's head attached to Duckman's body with the Duckman head completed desiccated and begging for death.
"Always more killing, more killing, MORE KILLING!" | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Duckman |
DreamWorks Animation / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
DreamWorks Animation, a major competitor of Pixar and partner of Illumination Entertainment that has done movies about fairytale parodies, animals around the world, awesome fighting, wonderful dragons, catchy music... Could they get any darker and nightmarish beyond what other animated movie studios made? Well, hold onto yourself and read throughout these pages. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DreamWorksAnimation |
DuckTales (1987) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Moment pages are Spoilers Off per site policy. You Have Been Warned.**
Armstrong
Nothing to Fear
- The entire episode could count as this; it features everyone's worst fears coming to life and attacking them. For young minds watching this episode in the dark, it is one of the scariest things you can possibly ever watch. Just wait until you see the vacuum cleaner.
- Realistic or not, the kids in the audience might relate to some of the boys' fears:
- First Doofus's banana turns into a monster (with creepy green eyes, red slithering tongue, rows of sharp, jagged teeth and a scowling voice provided by none other than Frank Welker which sounds surprisingly similar to Megatron). Then his nightmares quickly get a lot more serious when his school bully Bully Beagle shows up and threatens him. When Scrooge finds him, Doofus cries about how much he hates it when Bully picks on him.
- Another relatable fear is Huey admitting that he's scared of a video game villain who's one of the illusions terrorizing them. Many of us can remember being afraid of fictional monsters and villains (Such as Plankton, Emperor Palpatine, Freddy Krueger, the Evil Queen, Maleficent, Cruella De Vil, Scar, etc.) as young children, considering that they're truly evil, but we never admitted it because we were afraid our friends would think we were wimps. Hell, video game villains can arguably be worse than ones from TV or movies because you effectively have to confront them yourself as part of the game, even games meant for younger or all-ages audiences. Imagine being a kid and being confronted by, say, Dracula from
*Castlevania*, Ganon from *The Legend of Zelda*, Kefka Palazzo from *Final Fantasy*, Bowser from *Super Mario Bros.* or Dark Matter from *Kirby*.
- And then there is the nephews' teacher, Mrs. Quackenbush, an ugly (anthropomorphic) vulture with crazy eyes, talon-like fingernails, and a raspy voice.
- Seeing Uncle Scrooge as an abusive guardian who wants nothing more than to get rid of the nephews and the nephews sneering at Uncle Scrooge is as scary as it is heartbreaking.
Magica's Shadow War
Home Sweet Homer
Merit-Time Adventure
- The Sea Monster, a gargantuan green-skinned red-eyed horned sea serpent who is introduced attacking one of Scrooge's cargo vessels with a disturbing roar and eating Archibald Quackerbill alive. Shortly afterward, it appears out of nowhere to grab Scrooge himself and carry him off. Then it goes after Launchpad and the kids.
The Golden Fleecing
- Scrooge's Gold Fever — not in a scream-out-loud fashion but in a subtler, quietly unsettling one. Scrooge's mania for anything valuable is often just accepted casually or Played for Laughs, but the events from the dragon's big entrance to the climactic Friend-or-Idol Decision ultimately play it deadly seriously and draw attention to what severe consequences it could have if he ever failed to control it.
Luck o' the Ducks
- The leprechauns dragging the Ducks across the floor to throw them into a pit full of hissing serpents.
- King Brian threatening to throw Far Darrig into the snake pit if he doesn't either convince Scrooge to leave the Golden Caverns alone or kill him.
- The initial appearances of the banshee and the dullahan, especially the former's chilling wails.
- Just how close Scrooge comes to being sealed inside of the Golden Caverns forever.
Sphinx for the Memories
- The mummy. His moan is a call for "sweet dreams".
- Donald while he's possessed by the pharaoh. Him coldly ordering Scrooge and his own nephews to be tied up and
*eaten alive* by vultures circling overhead without a second thought is bad enough, but hearing the orders coming from a beloved animated character like Donald Duck manages to make the whole scene even more disturbing.
Hotel Strangeduck
- The episode is creepy, no doubt, but there wasn't anything in it that sent it into complete nightmare territory... at least up until the point where the shadow of a skeleton comes out and starts
*strangling Uncle Scrooge*. Then he goes limp. Granted, we knew he wasn't dead (he's the hero and this is a Disney story), but the visuals could have fooled the viewer.
- The scene where Mrs. Beakley and Webby are making the bed and suddenly discover the outline of a person under the sheet is genuinely hair-raising since at first there is no sound or movement, or anything to indicate something like that is about to happen. It's just...there.
The Golden Goose
- The Golden Death nearly overtakes the entire world before it's stopped. Scrooge ultimately has to
*throw* the heavy goose just because he can't get there in time. That means that everyone (whom the viewer has been getting to know and love for the entire show) was effectively dead, even if it was only for a moment or two. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DuckTales1987 |
DuckTales (2017) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
DuckTales, boo-oo!
**Beware of unmarked spoilers below! Spoilers Off applies to Nightmare Fuel pages!**
<!—index—><!—/index—>
- In the theme song, there's a mysterious pirate ship with red sails out on a hurricane-filled sea. It's kinda curious on what they could have been dealing with there. As well as other monsters like giant scorpions and mummies.
- Webby and her Troubling Unchildlike Behavior. She may be a genuinely nice girl, but that doesn't subvert the fact of how deadly she is in combat - as both Black Heron and Magica learn it the hard way.
- In stark contrast to the largely comedic portrayals of the other villains, the show's version of Magica De Spell is a deadly serious threat that seems straight out of a Lovecraft or Stephen King story. A Sealed Evil in a Can who occupies the shadow of her niece Lena, and pressures the girl into an insidious plan to get close to the Duck family, and also implied to be actively trying to morally corrupt her to the point of murder. And it's all aided by a performance from the typically comedic actress Catherine Tate that's stripped of all her usual hamminess in favor of pure bone-chilling evil. Even when she later becomes more Laughably Evil in line with the original character, it remains creepy because she still occasionally snaps right back to being coldly serious at unpredictable times, and the whole reason she's showing more emotion is that she's getting more of her power back, allowing her to come out on her own without being summoned, and even control Lena's movements.
- That gets worse in the Italian dub: as usual she was given a heavy Neapolitan accent to reflect the fact she's from there (at least in the comics)... But Neapolitan has the connotations of being extremely hammy even for Italian standards and being generally funny (enough that
*knowing* someone is about to speak in Neapolitan is going to draw a chuckle from an Italian), and hearing it from someone coldly suggesting to commit murder just shouldn't happen. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DuckTales2017 |
Dream SMP: Season Two / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Dream:** Okay, listen, you *fucked up* this time
.
**Tommy:** *(nervous laughter)*
What the fu- Dream, Dream, don't swear please...
**Dream:** Nonononono.
I don't give a FUCK
about Spirit, okay?! I don't give a fuck about
*anything*
actually! I care about your discs. I care
*more*
about your discs than you do! That's the ONLY thing I care about on the server, actually! I don't care about Spirit, Spirit was my horse, died
*ages*
ago! I care about your discs, 'cause
*that's*
what gives me power over
*you*
and your
*friends*
, and EVERYBODY you care about! Because
*you*
care about your discs more than anyone else here, so if YOU ARE NOT
*EXILED*
from L'Manburg, I will build these walls until they reach the
*block limit*
. I will keep EVERYBODY inside, I will hire guards, Punz and Sapnap, to patrol all around the entire walls, keeping them inside. No trade, no one leaves, no armor, or they get
*slaughtered*
inside. DON'T TRY AND
*THREATEN*
ME! I don't CARE! I've lost ALL care for ANYTHING on this server!
**Tommy:**
Really?! So if I burn Spirit right now-
**Dream:** **BURN SPIRIT!**
RIGHT IN FRONT OF ME! RIGHT NOW!
**Tommy:**
Well, this is the only thing you've had attachment to this entire time! How do I know you're not fucking lying?!
**Dream:**
I have attachment to
*your discs.* **Tommy:**
Why would you care-
*(stammers)*
They're MY discs, why do you even care about them?!
**Dream:**
Nononono, Tommy, Tommy, they're
*my*
discs. I'll get them, I'll keep them, I'll put them in my ender chest and I'll keep them for the rest of the server.
*(Beat)* **Dream:**
Listen, Tubbo. You have three days. If you do not exile him in three days... I'll do what I said.
**Tommy:**
Well, wh... What does that entail? What the fuck do you mean?
**Dream:**
L'Manburg can be independent... But L'Manburg can't be
*free.* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DreamSMPSeasonTwo |
Dream Theater / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
A lot of Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory is incredibly unsettling. It begins with a very calm hypnotist and then his patient relating information. All of the spoken word aspects are very monotone, but the singing sounds strangely upbeat and then the background noises start getting harder to ignore.
Especially disturbing as the "Open your eyes" comes up earlier in the song: "|| * BANG* * SCREAM* "Open your eyes, Victoria." * BANG* ||". The whole murder scene is incredibly creepy simply because it's related with sound rather than lyrics.
All of "Six Degrees of Inner Turbulence" can be Nightmare Fuel to anyone who has one of the disorders the songs are based on.
Don't cross the crooked step!
"In the Name of God", about the Branch Davidian religious cult and their siege in Waco, Texas in 1993. Especially the way James describes how innocent members of the cult dropped like flies during the standoff.
"Panic Attack" symbolizes its namesake pretty well, with its disjointed lyrics and chaotic music. If you're prone to panic attacks, you'll know that it's pretty accurate.
"The Dark Eternal Night". The lyrics are about a mummy coming back to life and summoning an undead army to take over the world. As if that wasn't bad enough, the music is extremely violent in its tempo changes and even has a very creepy honky-tonk piano section that always is enough to creep one out.
"In the Presence of Enemies: Part 2" begins with the sound of wind followed by a very creepy bass and piano part. James LaBrie's singing in this section also helps with making you feel uneasy.
Their cover of "Flick of the Wrist" by Queen on the special edition of Black Clouds & Silver Linings, specifically the way LaBrie sings the verses.
"The Enemy Inside" is already a disturbing enough song about PTSD. The video adds to that, with its frighteningly realistic depiction of a traumatized father unable to execute simple everyday tasks without worrying about being shot.
Ridiculous lyrics aside, "The Count of Tuscany" mentions a story being told about soldiers hiding in barrels full of wine to avoid being discovered by the Nazis... only to die inside the barrels because the Nazis wouldn't leave. Good luck ever trying to look at a wine barrel the same way ever again. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DreamTheater |
Dueling Trigger Finger / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Chapter 17:
- ||Yami drags Genocide Jill into a Shadow Game that relies on trust. Given that she and Toko don't trust each other at all, she loses. Her penalty?
*Being impaled with all her scissors*.|| Such a graphic description is a first for the fic, and both Yugi and ||Toko|| invoke this trope, saying the image is going to give them nightmares.
- Chapter 28:
- Neither
*Danganronpa* *nor* *Yu-Gi-Oh!* are stranger to dark plot threads and cringe worthy imagery, so what kind of results does combining the two produce? Utter horror. Chapter 27 *already* pulled readers into a spore of madness by having Bakura challenge *Danganronpa* fan favorite Chiaki to shadow game and this chapter's author's notes start with the writer, nodding his head that this was sure to give readers Despair Side Episode 10 flashbacks. ||Chiaki dies in that episode in quite a brutal fashion||. And then the duel proceeds to kick start this madness by freaking *electrocuting* Chiaki when she's hit by an attack from her own Thunderclap Skywolf. By the end of the duel, Chiaki is on the ground, unable to stand or move and the shadows are closing in on her heart ready to prematurely take her to the shadow realm because she's *incapable* of fighting back. As if that wasn't enough, every injury she takes is described in great detail to the point that the reader could be forgiven for thinking the writer was actually going to *kill her off!* ||And if not for the Power of Friendship that could've just as easily been the case||.
- Chapter 32:
- Yami Marik's reveal in the anime was already horrifying to start with. How does this story make it worse? How about Marik trying to get rid of Celeste by sending her to the shadow realm on the
*spot* because he's tired of putting up with her. ||Cue Mahiru getting in the way and Yami making threats to challenge Marik to an out and out shadow game if he doesn't undo his actions. It takes Chiaki to convince Kaiba to threaten to DQ Marik *from the tournament* for him to release Mahiru, but even then she still stress vomits from the horrifying imagery she had to endure for the *brief minutes* she was in the Shadow Realm. And Yami Marik makes it clear that Mahiru was a one time deal and anyone else gets stuck there until his defeat, *if* he's defeated. The chapter ends with Celeste just being fearful and in despair that she's partially responsible for this nightmare and, really who can blame her whether it's true or not?||
- And speaking of Mahiru, the narration even gives off a glimpse of the horrifying images she had to endure during her time their: Which were images of her being Made a Slave by Natsumi, all while her friends watch and taunt her predicament. It makes you want to hug the poor girl.
- Chapter 33:
- You thought Yami Marik's reveal was bad enough, well it gets worse: as his first victim of his shadow games is none other than ||Sonia||, who comes within
*one move* of beating Marik ||even managing to summon the Winged Dragon of Ra thanks to her talent of being an Omniglot||. Yami Marik's crazy preparedness comes in the form of ||Sonia|| being hit with an absurd amount of direct damage and the narrative reading her screaming as though her existence itself was being torn apart. And to top it all off, the chapter ends with Yami *screaming* at Kaiba to *do something* and help the now comatose ||Sonia||.
- Chapter 37:
- At the end of Chiaki's duel with Kaiba, Kaiba attacks her directly with Obelisk and the impact is so strong that it sends Chiaki flying off the arena and almost out of the blimp itself. If Hajime hadn't been quick enough to act, Chiaki could have easily been
*killed*.
- Chapter 42:
- This chapter has the lovely suggestion that ||the Steering Committee can, through Noah's virtual world, lobotomize Hajime from a distance.|| The fact that ||their representative wins the duel further suggests that not only
*can* they, they *will*.||
- Chapter 43:
- Chapter 48:
- Throughout the chapter, Byakuya keeps theorizing that Noah's death was no accident and that it was arranged by Gozaburo himself in order to eliminate an unworthy heir to KaibaCorp. While it is confirmed later on that this was
*not* the case, considering the kind of man Gozaburo is; it wouldn't be such a farfetched idea right there. This even counts as Nightmare Fuel in-universe as the very idea of it is more than enough to disgust everyone (including *Kaiba*) and call Byakuya out on his theories.
- Chapter 61:
- ||Junko turning Ishizu into a Remnant. Everyone who didn't like how she did it in the anime is probably taking their words back as we are treated to a detailed and horrifying depiction of Junko torturing and molesting the kind woman into a broken shell of her former self.||
- Chapter 63:
- Nagito's approval of Marik during Battle City and Marik's incredulous reaction to it, is funny. ||
*Not so much with Dartz!* We instead are treated to Nagito *Laughing Mad* as he awakens to the power of the Orichalcos. Even Dartz's expression is stated to be a case of "Dear Poseidon, what have I created?"||
- Nagito's duel with Chiaki later that same chapter is nothing short of chilling. ||The reader knows it's only a matter of time before Nagito plays the Seal of Orichalcos, but Chiaki doesn't and thinks Nagito is finally going through Character Development. Her reaction to find out the truth is one part Tear Jerker, one part this trope. And it gets even worse. Nagito's entire intention is because he wants Chiaki to awaken to the power of one of the dragons because of his hope and hope colliding shtick. So, obviously you expect Chiaki to pull one out with The Power of Friendship and put Nagito in his place, right? HA HA HANo. Nagito, and the reader, get to watch in horror as Chiaki's life points hit zero and her soul is taken, which was the exact
*opposite* of what Nagito wanted. And after everything Chiaki has been through already, watching her lose her soul is just heartbreaking||.
- Chapter 66:
- When Chisa returns to the Saionji estate to continue her investigation, she comes across a horrifying sight: That being several soulless bodies with their bodies malnourished and defiled according to how much Hiyoko feels they have "wronged" her. Specific mention goes to Hiyoko's cousins, whose bodies are graffiti'd with lipstick all around that the narration describes is something you would find in a
*rape-slave doujin!*
- It gets worse. Out of all of Hiyoki's souless victims, the only that she
*didn't* desecrate and even outright honored was that of her father, which Chisa notes due to the healthy and loving relationship Hiyoko had with her father. Now why isn't this Heartwarming? Well...maybe it is for the one teensy-weensy fact that *he too has lost his soul?*
- Chapter 73:
- First off: You know things are bad when even the author himself says that everything that happens in this chapter will be playing a part in the Tragedy even though it is STILL a long way to go.
- Throughout the fic: It has been mentioned that some events of the original
*Yu-Gi-Oh!* manga occurred in this continuity, which is already nightmare-ish itself when you take into consideration the things Kaiba did prior to Yami's Mind Crush. But you remember that *Yami* himself wasn't any better when you remember the Penalty Games he inflicted on his opponents from making them believe they were being set on fire, that there was a bomb on them, and many more. All of this makes his demeanor when he's under the Orichalcos' influence that much scarier than it was in canon because for that moment: It seemed that the good old Pharoah was relapsing back to when he found such actions enjoyable.
- This is even considered Nightmare Fuel for Tea in-universe, as she sees the Pharoah the same way his victims likely saw him which puts his supposed heroic actions to save her back then at a much darker light.
- Chapter 75:
- As awesome as Yami's iconic Berserker Soul scene is in canon: It still does not take away the fact that the pain he was inflicting onto Weevil was real, and he would have likely kept going until Weevil was severely injured had Tea not stop and calm him down. This fic however, sheds this scene in a very sinister light. ||Because Junko is the one who accompanies him instead of Tea, she instead
*encourages* the Pharoah to not hold anything back, to make Weevil suffer for his actions. What ensures is a continued No-Holds-Barred Beatdown of nasty proportions as the Pharoah attacks Weevil over and over again, all while Junko relishes at the display. By the time he had stopped; Weevil had long lost his soul, as his lifeless body gets tossed over to the canyon making Weevil the *second* character to be Killed Off for Real in this story like Odion before him. And just like Odion, the second one to indirectly die from Junko's hands.||
- The chapter ends on a
*very* dark and sinister note, as Junko expresses glee about her upcoming plans to convert the Pharoah into despair. What follows afterwards is a *very* dark Imagine Spot of a despair-converted Yami sporting the same sinister smile he had during his duel with Rafael, with him donning Monokuma's color schemes, his puzzle pitch black with a eery red glowing eye, as Junko calls him the (future) "King of Despair". We can only pray to the deities above that this image *never* becomes a reality...
- Chapter 79:
- If you already had enough of what Junko for what she did to the ||Ishtar siblings back in Chapter 61||, what she does here is arguably just as disturbing and really emphasizes what a dangerous and disturbed individuals she is. Words truly fail to do it justice of just how creepy Junko can be.
- Chapter 97:
- Junko declares she's not going to murder Hajime and Chiaki's baby. We can all breathe a sigh of relief, right? WRONG! Junko states that killing the baby would be too easy and that the despair it would produce would be
*nothing* compared to forcing Hajime and Chiaki to be teen parents *during* The Tragedy. She also says that she won't touch Class 77-B, but that just begs the question: who's going to take their place? * : if anyone; her building forces seem to be filling the role for now.
- Chapter 98:
- The realistic portrayal of Chiaki's negligence of her infant son and the sudden panic attack she has when she realizes her mistake of almost turning into her parents. It's minor, but it still counts. Well...before the scene and its consequences turn full Tear Jerker.
- Chapter 99:
- Shadi's death (shuddering). In the anime, when Shadi went into the Pharaoh's labyrinth with the Millennium Key, the environment was disorienting, and dangerous, but Yami/Atem wasn't actually trying to kill him.
*Junko* on the other hand had every intention to throw her mind's invader *out* and the way her mind is portrayed is absolutely horrifying. Some fans even described it as a *hellscape*. The environment is so inhospitable that Shadi *dies* inside Junko's head. And it's not quick and painless either. Junko plays with her food before devouring it. Not only to his arms get ripped off, but he is swallowed into a giant Junko head with a tongue like an Akaname, a long-tongued youkai. It's arguable whether this scene or her Cold-Blooded Torture of Ishizu is more terrifying.
- Chapter 109:
- Gundham, during his duel with Takemaru, reveals he got a new card from 'Marik' as an apology for the past: the
*Pyramid of Light*! With certain creatures to go with it. Nothing nefarious *seems* to have occurred yet (apparently a connection to the ancient past is required for anything real to happen), Junko is clearly happy to see Gundham decided to use it.
- Chapter 116:
- Junko bulldozes Vivian, then leads her away, ostensibly for a friendly chat. ||Less than an hour later, we find that she has brutally tortured Vivian into being an obedient "chair" whom she intends to sell on the black market slave trade—and all because Vivian dared to say that she wanted Yugi for a boyfriend!||
- The lead up to the stomp is just as terrifying. The reader is treated to a brief look into Junko's brain chemistry as she boils over with anger and despair to the point that she's
*smiling!* Made worse by the fact that it's explicitly stated not to be Junko's Psychotic Smirk or Cheshire Cat Grin. Junko gets so *furious* she just breaks out into a wide grin and starts talking without any restraint. At one point Tea even sees the *real* Junko buried deep within, signified by a Death Glare. Both Tristan and Matsuda know long before Junko has hit her limit that this won't end well for Vivian. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DuelingTriggerFinger |
DuckTales the Movie: Treasure of the Lost Lamp / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Moment pages are Spoilers Off per site policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- There's the complete destruction of the Money Bin as it's transformed into Merlock's new personal and terrifying home filled with horn motifs. Watching Scrooge's iconic place have the building's walls coming down or opening like teeth, the books coming alive and flying like bats before they are destroyed, the vault door dissolving into a blood red-like ooze, everything getting covered in black stones and growing spikes, the alarms blaring, and the alarm's red light flashing on and off as it turns into a completely different location is disturbing.
- Then there's the nephews and Webby trying to get to safety during the transformation on some stairs... and then the emergency stairway comes off its hinges and traps them, and
*almost* causing Webby to fall to her death.
- There's also Merlock forcing Genie to transform Dijon into a pig for being such a "disloyal swine" once he's gotten hold of the lamp. Dijon takes it about as well as one can expect, evoking similar images of Lampwick's frightening change in
*Pinocchio*. He gets better, though.
- Merlock's Disney Villain Death, which happens when Scrooge knocks away the talisman he needed to stay transformed as a Griffon
several thousand feet in the air. Basically, imagine a Wile E. Coyote perspective fall, but Played for Drama; with the victim's blood-curdling scream echoing throughout. Granted, Merlock
*did* return in other Disney media to make it less disturbing.
- The reveal of Genie's Dark and Troubled Past points out that thanks to forcing Genie to unwillingly do so via his wishes, Merlock was in fact responsible for sinking the ancient city of Atlantis, and the destruction of Pompeii from the 79 AD Mt. Vesuvius eruption. The wanton destruction and violent deaths of implied to be millions, and for what? Simply because he couldn't book vacations at either.
- Later, Merlock angrily orders Genie to cast Scrooge out of his house — in retaliation for insulting and threatening him — while, again,
*they're thousands of feet in the air.* Genie tries in vain to resist, to no avail. He can only tell Scrooge as he fulfils Merlock's wish that he has no choice. Doubles as a Tear Jerker when Scrooge, showing awareness of this, reassures Genie that he understands. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DuckTalesTheMovieTreasureOfTheLostLamp |
Dropkick on My Devil / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Several instances where Jashin-
*chan* gets hacked to pieces by Yurine are immensely disturbing, but one in particular involves a chainsaw. In one of Jashin- *chan* 's schemes for killing Yurine, Jashin- *chan* attempts to strike her with a crowbar only to fail because she was giving her intentions out in the open. As punishment, Yurine uses a chainsaw on her, causing blood to splatter all over the apartment room.
- The anime adaptation was even worse. Before the above scene, Jashin-
*chan* attempted one last attack on Yurine, which Yurine countered by using the crowbar to completely shatter Jashin- *chan* 's spine, leaving her paralyzed and helpless.
- Everything about Poporon. Poporon appears as benevolent, being a fellow angel alongside Pekola, but she has sinister designs. Upon finding Pekola, Poporon is at first thrilled to see her...and then she pulls out her bazooka. Even when she reveals that she only searched for Pekola so that she could kill her, she still has a smile on her face which only contributes to her creepiness.
- When Medusa buys some contacts from a shifty salesman in episode 7, she slowly starts to petrify, beginning with her legs.
- Much like with Poporon, Pino is introduced as a seeming benevolent angel only to try to kill both Pekola and Poporon so she could move up in her ranking.
- Upon being trapped on Earth due to her halo getting destroyed, Pino hides away in the woods and lures a rabbit towards her and eats it. She then decides that she would get rid of God and become the new one after which she would destroy both the human realm and the underworld to lord over all.
- Those who live in the West and/or had bad encounters with authorities may find Mei's antics unsettling, especially when it involves Jashin-''chan'' . There's a bit where Mei tries to kill Jashin-
*chan* for refusing to come home with her. She stops not because her conscience kicked in or Yurine intervened, but because her shift ended. Mei never seems to face disciplinary action, and will likely keep stealing things and harassing Jashin- *chan* until she retires.
- In episode 6, Jashin-
*chan* opens a shaved ice stand on what turns out to be Yakuza turf. Two goons eventually come to drag her away. While doing so, one remarks that she could "make a lot of money with the top half of her body." The other says that he actually has a "viper fetish." Even in a series with so much black comedy, it's a bit...much.
- In chapter 23 of the manga, Jashin-
*chan* senses a dark aura coming from Yurine, who then proceeds to happily tell Jashin-Chan that she's been in a really good mood after a college professor resigned and the sexual harassment has stopped, revealing that the latter is a victim of sexual harassment. When Jashin- *chan* uses the opportunity to kill Yurine only to fail, again, Yurine decides to simply forgive Jashin- *chan* than punish her. One can imagine if the sexual harassment was that bad that it puts Yurine into a great mood while emitting a dark aura when the person doing it has stopped. Oh, and let's not forget how the professor was never caught by the authorities.
- In episode 11 of the third season of the anime, we get introduced to Atre. After she apologises to Jashin-
*chan* for Ecute attacking her, she then wants Ecute to apologise. And how does she get Ecute to apologise? She Ecute and then angrily yells at her for attacking Jashin- **punches** *chan*, before furiously demanding that Ecute should apologise to Jashin- *chan* This even scares Jashin- **right now.** *chan* as she did not expect Atre to be so brutal towards Ecute. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DropkickOnMyDevil |
Duke Nukem 3D / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*Duke Nukem 3D* might be a light-hearted, over-the-top and comical parody of countless action and sci-fi movies, but don't let that fool you. It still plays enough sci-fi and horror tropes straight to be creepy and even frightening at times.
- There are naked women trapped in alien plant matter throughout the game, who mutter "Kill me" in a desperate tone when talked to; it's a bit creepy, but soon you get used to it. All you can do is either kill them or leave them to their fate. Even worse is the poor woman in the intro in Episode 4: The Birth. As if being impregnated and giving birth to the alien's new Queen isn't bad enough, there are Protector Drones surrounding her, watching with joy as she screams in agony and presents them with their abomination of a ruler. When you finally reach what's meant to be this room at the end of the episode, nothing but a gory mess remains splattered all over, implying the woman
*burst apart*.
- Some women are also cocooned in underwater sections as well, which means that either 1. they are already dead or 2. the aliens still keep them alive through means unknown. And one particular sprite has the captive woman glare at you while spotting red eyes. What else could the aliens have done to them?
- Thankfully in the Nintendo 64 port, you're able to rescue captive babes anyway (hence the "babes rescued" in the level-end screen) but still...
- The Assault Commander. "Suck it down!" "Boom!", Duke gets reduced to Ludicrous Gibs. Not to mention their creepy heavy breathing, and the fact that they appear to be shooting those rockets out of their rectums.
- The Protector Drone. Horrific appearance and sound, loves to hide in dark areas where its glowing red eye is the only thing visible, moves like grease lightning and attacks with shrink rays.
- Here's a rather infamous Goddamned Bat: the Protozoid Slimer (pictured above). A Face Hugger Expy which after attacking blocks the screen, allowing you to see him munching on Duke's face. They're hilariously wimpy and barely deal damage unless you panic and fire the RPG by accident when one's on your face (and end up killing yourself), but that doesn't stop a good handful of players from jumping in their chairs or outright
*scarequitting the game* upon sight of one that *isn't even close* or even *hearing* one hatching from an egg or simply announcing its presence. Add to this the fact that the first level (E2M2, "Incubator") and indeed most of the levels they appear in, lack much in the way of lighting.
- Oh, and in the core game the Mighty Boot doesn't work on the Slimers; that function was added in the
*Atomic Edition*. Consider yourself lucky if you're playing on the EDuke32 source port with the third-person camera activated. Also, according to the manual, they attack Duke *by sucking his brain out through his nose!*
- And to rub more salt to the wound, the Slimers themselves in "Lame Duke" build were originally
**immune to all attacks** (except the Tazer, which will latch them out). On the other hand, their design in "Lame Duke" is nowhere near as scary as in the final product.
- One last thing about the Protozoid Slimers. It is possible for them to engage a fellow enemy in combat - only to engulf them on the spot. The same thing applies to enemy corpses too - be thankful they are nowhere near as dangerous to Duke himself.
- Not only you should fear the Protozoid Slimer, there's another one that's quite worse: The Sentry Drone. This abomination is a fast, intelligent, flying metal sled, bearing a creepy "smile" on its face that'll charge and suicide bomb
**RIGHT IN YOUR FACE**! While they're not quite durable as they seem, their charging attack will cause Duke serious damage, especially on the harder difficulties. If one of those bastards charges towards you, **you're in for a world of pain**.
- Octabrains. While they look quite similar to the Cacodemon, they're hideous (complete with a built-in Slasher Smile), make creepy noises, are tough to kill, and seem to love sneaking up on you. Oh, and they're mostly found in dark underwater areas, along with Protozoid Slimer eggs and trapped women.
-
*Lunar Apocalypse* is arguably the creepiest episode of the game, mainly because it's played a little more seriously than the others (well, except for the ending cinematic) and is generally lacking in parodies and gags. It's just you and a ton of aliens in abandoned, often dark facilities, in the middle of the inky blackness of space. Stand at one of the many windows, look out at the Earth, and just try not to feel a little isolated. Oh, and this also happens to be the episode where the Assault Commanders, Sentry Drones and Protozoid Slimers are introduced.
- Perhaps the creepiest part is the implied genocide of all the male astronauts on the moon base, as their gored corpses can be found sealed away in numerous locations or left to rot. It's actually unnerving just how
*violent* some of these corpses are, as if they got utterly mauled and ripped apart before being placed in tubes to show off the brutality.
- The Abyss (the final level of the first episode), is pretty creepy as well. Several areas have unintelligible, vaguely Native American sounding chants, which make one wonder if the place is haunted. The second half of it also has everything bathed in a weird orangey light, making it seem more like you've entered Hell than some canyon in Southern California.
- At the end of the Abyss, as you enter the main room of the alien ship and approach the Portable Medkit sitting in the open, you hear a battlecry and witness a fanfare of explosions as the towering hulk of the Battlelord makes his entrance. If its minigun, mortar, high move speed and ability to literally crush you underfoot wasn't enough, its air-splitting roar (taken from
*The Land Unknown*) is utterly terrifying. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DukeNukem3D |
DuckTales (2017) - Season 3 / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Nosferatu**
: Monsters need our sweets. Our
*appeasements*
.
**Wereduck**
: No moreAAAAWOOOOOOOoo tricks!
**Witch Hazel**
: You owe us treats! And we don't scare so easily...
**Dewey**
: Uh, Webby? What happened when the Celtics ran out of treats to appease the demons with?
**Webby**
: Usually they fed on children... oh, dear. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DuckTales2017Season3 |
Dr. No / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
For the James Bond Nightmare Fuel index, see here.
## The Film
- The chilling murder of Strangways and his secretary in the beginning by the Three Blind Mice.
- Professor Dent's scene with Dr. No is chilling. Just him in a room, with just an eerily calm, sinister voice. Dent's fearful reaction to it is an effective way to make Dr. No a terrifying presence without giving him any screen-time (at first).
- The scene where Professor Dent sneaks a Tarantula into Bond's bed and it climbs up his arm can and will scare Arachnophobes.
- Professor Dent's own death by Bond's gun. Bond has him at his mercy after Dent unloaded his entire gun on a pillow dummy, and rather than press him for more info or bother with theatrics, Bond lets off a Pre-Mortem One-Liner and shoots him. And then shoots him again, causing the professor's body to visibly reel in his demise. Probably one of the more chilling direct kills the agent's done in his career, especially seeing as Bond seems rather coldly detached from the action more than anything else.
- Quarrel's fiery death during the fight with the dragon-tank. The scream he let's out is particularly disturbing to hear.
- Dr. No visits Bond's room at night while Bond and Honey are sleeping after being drugged.
- The dinner scene is particularly unsettling, because Dr. No never even changes his facial expression, only the tone of his voice. And occasionally, it looks like he has Black Eyes of Evil.
- Dr. No's death by being boiled in radioactive water. While not graphic, it's a horrible and painful way to go.
- Honey Ryder is left to die in a Drowning Pit.
## The Novel
- The friggin' Death Course. The scariest part is when a burned, electrocuted and bleeding Bond dropped into the water to face a Giant Squid. This results in Bond being forced to grip a nearby wire fence and get
*flayed alive* by the squid until he dives down and stabs it, resulting in the squid throwing him over the fence and giving him an extremely rough landing. Thankfully, his injuries aren't severe as they seem, but if not for his determination, they could have been much worse.
- It's implied the squid's fairly young, as Quarrel and Pus' Feller mistook it for an overgrown octopus when it attacked their fishing boat, while actual giant squids are often much bigger. And yet it
*nearly rips the skin off Bond's chest.*
- He also had to wash his massive open wounds with salty sea water, which takes a great deal of endurance to do so.
- Dr. No's appearance is very unnerving, with steel pincers replacing his hands, having no eyebrows and speaking with a Creepy Monotone most of the time.
- His death is also a very nasty way to go — as Bond dumps an entire crane load of guano on top of him, Dr. No has to endure his lungs being filled to the brim with choking dust, then slowly lose consciousness as his body cracks and bends under the sheer weight of his tomb.
- The moment where he snaps and tells Bond and Honey how he's going to kill them is just unnerving, especially when he offhandedly mentions that he took inspiration from Mengele's violent experiments during The Holocaust. We then find out what kind of "Doctor" he is — one that likes to see just how much pain a human can endure.
- Dr. No tries to kill Honey by tying her to some rocks and having her be Eaten Alive by crabs. It's
*very* fortunate that the crabs turn out to be of a species that doesn't like human flesh.
- The tense scene where Bond desperately tries to get rid of the venomous centipede crawling all over his body.
- During the part where he explains his entire scheme, Dr. No casually mentions that his jamming signals are powerful enough that the internal missile computers all obey
*his* orders instead of their country's. And if he wanted, he could escalate the Cold War by having the missiles crashing into Cuba and Miami, just so SMERSH can pay him for the damage it causes. *That* is how powerful he is.
- On top of jamming American missile tests, who's to say he could betray SMERSH by
*reprogramming* those missiles to the Soviet Union, making it look like the Americans wanted to destroy Russia, and thus provoking WWIII?
- Dr. No torched an entire bird sanctuary and its staff brutally murdered
*just because* it was a bit too close to his base. Later on, several characters remark on how one of the most extensive and sinister criminal conspiracies in the West only started unravelling because a few people from a *bird-watching society* went missing. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DrNo |
Dune (1984) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The Baron coating himself in trickling machine oil before pinning a servant against a wall and tearing out his heartplug, doing something VERY wrong to him offscreen that leaves him in a bloody heap on the floor. And everyone watches with amusement. **Vladimir Harkonnen**: *(Thinking)* This is what I'll do to the Duke and his family. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Dune1984 |
Drunken Peasants / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- When covering news stories, there's always a chance that Ben, TJ, and Scotty will come across a particularly fucked-up story, such as the case involving the Slender Man stabbings and almost anything involving Police Brutality (though this usually doesn't stop them from making jokes about it).
- In episode 141, the hosts covered a video by VeganGains, a user who clashed with the Drunken Peasants once or twice before. In the video, VeganGains, while participating in an online gaming session, went on about how he would kill MrRepzion in graphic detail, all because MrRepzion called him a sociopath. It was disturbing to point of frightening Sargon of Akkad and eliciting comparisons to Elliot Rodger.
- While Gail Chord Schuler is generally considered a goldmine in terms of potential comedy, the fact that she actually stalked Brent Spiner for 22 years, as well as her rather squicky stories involving Jesus, lend credence to her being a legitimately mentally-disturbed person.
- Overlapping with Tear Jerker, episode 160's ending has Paul's Ego telling a story about how he as a 16 year old teenager was a victim of a car jacking and how he had to mentally prepare himself for the fact that he was most likely going to be murdered in the middle of southern California's farmlands. He then describes how the thieves tried to stuff him in his trunk but he was too fat, and that the moral of the story is that no matter how dark the moment life can always take a potshot at his weight. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DrunkenPeasants |
Dungeons & Dragons (1983) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Venger, with his deep, booming Peter Cullen voice, his fangs, pale deathly pallor, horn, and wings, is also trying to kill a bunch of kids, and can assume some very convincing disguises in his efforts to do so. Anyone you meet in the Realm could be Venger leading you into a death trap.
- The idea that you could get stuck in The Realm just because you decided to ride a roller coaster at an amusement park. And our group isn't the only ones to arrive that way. You'd think they'd shut the ride down after the first few kids go missing...
- An episode where the villain caused interdimensional portals to appear under kids' beds and his minions dragged them through to perform slave labor for him — complete with terrified parents trying to keep their kid from disappearing through the rift. On the other hand, when Bobby, the youngest of the featured characters, is snatched, the other kids and their new ally force the portal open and dive in after the kidnapper with a determined look that promises a world of hurt for anyone who tries to stand in their way.
- One of the characters got turned into a bogbeast. Eric must've failed his saving throw against Polymorph.
- The fun moment in "Quest of the Skeleton Warrior" when Venger tried to turn Hank into one; before the process is interrupted, the ranger's
*entire outer meat layer starts to melt off.*
- The kids once accidentally summoned Venger's
*master*, which manifests as the top half of a giant green face with slit-pupil eyes above the cloud layer, and as a cyclone of absolute hellfire from there to the ground. Might not look so threatening in a cartoon, but imagine seeing something like that yourself and doing anything other than crapping your pants and curling up into a whimpering ball. Now imagine that it's *following you*, and can appear anywhere in the world within seconds, and you've got a taste of what Dungeon Master and the kids went through.
- The series was pretty dark for a childrens' cartoon in The '80s, which didn't do it any favors with the syndication censors. "The Hall of Bones" was one of the better episodes... but featured a were-spider transforming on screen and the titular haunted hall, so it didn't air often. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DungeonsAndDragons1983 |
Dunkirk / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
War Is Hell,
*defeat* during war is worse, and *Dunkirk* does *not* fail to demonstrate either. Many critics and fans describe the movie as more of a survival thriller rather than an out-and-out war movie, which makes a lot of scenes rather intense. **As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- The ticking clock that persists throughout the entire movie, reminding the audience that the soldiers don't have much time left before the Germans storm the city entirely. Dunkirk was certainly the Darkest Hour in 1940s World War II.
- German soldiers are never seen onscreen save for the very end when they take Farrier prisoner. The only thing viewers see is gunshots coming at Tommy in the first scene and mowing down his section one by one, and later as they shoot for training on the Dutch trawler Tommy, Gibson and others sheltered themselves in outside of the allied-controlled perimeter. Throughout the film, they seem less like a wartime enemy and more like an unstoppable force of nature.
- For every Allied soldier on the beach or everyone on the boats, German planes only means Death from Above. Stukas strafing and bombing the beaches and boats especially, with their terrifying trademark noise.
- It wouldn't be a surprise if veterans freak out every time they heard a plane.
- Imagine you're a British or French soldier. You've just been evacuated from the continent and feel safe. Then, you hear a whine in the distance, as though something overhead is in free fall. It grows louder, and louder. You look up, and see the unmistakable black shape of a Heinkel He 111 or a Junker Ju 87 "Stuka" hurtling towards you, ready to release its payload...
- Every air attack is preceded by a long, wide overhead shot of the British soldiers huddled on the beach, showing just how exposed and vulnerable they are and giving the sense of something huge and terrible, almost Lovecraftian in nature, about to strike down the helpless men from above.
- The frantic shots displaying the interiors of sinking ships, what with springing leaks, water flooding in, and passengers and crew trapped inside. Not only do they have civilian nurses and medical staff on board in addition to soldiers and seamen... not everyone makes it off. In fact, the only survivors of the sinkings depicted are male military personnel. To make it even
*worse*, during the sinking of the hospital ship, several soldiers are trapped between the mole and the hull. Their water-distorted agonised screams as the ship sinks makes it clear they weren't quick deaths. With all the explicit details showing why staying on the deck gives one the best chances of survival on a sinking ship, many - if not all - viewers would never treat going below decks on an actual ship the same way ever again.
- Gibson drowning inside the Dutch trawler. The only thing we see is his hand when it stops moving.
- The fact he was
*so close to the exit*.
- When the oil spill from the destroyer catches on fire towards the end, several soldiers trapped in the water burn to death, in the movie's most gruesome scene. The camera lingers on one poor bastard, trying desperately to hide under the water, until he surfaces due to lack of oxygen...only to burn to death. One soldier has the lovely choice of diving underwater and trying not to drown, or staying above and burning to death. He picks the former, and we get treated to a shot of his scared face as the fires burn above him.
- Collins crashing his spitfire into the sea, struggling to get out as he attempts to smash the window of the cockpit with his flare gun several times, only sinking further. Then he's submerged underwater for almost a whole minute until Peter shows up in the nick of time to save him. Made even worse as we first see it from Farrier's point of view, where Collins seems to be waving that he's okay. Then the
*Moonstone* story provides a Once More, with Clarity! that reveals he was actually struggling to open the cockpit.
- A low-key example, but after the grim naturalistic palette of the beach scenes and the relatively bloodless violence thus far, there's something a little... squicky about the bright red jam on the pieces of bread issued to the soldiers in the belly of the ship they're meant to evacuate on. It almost evokes bloody bandages. Sure enough, the aid ship — and all the staff on it issuing food and drink to the exhausted, hungry soldiers — meets a terrible fate.
- A stuka raid causes a ship to start stinking at the mole and forces Bolton to make a terrible choice. If it goes down at the Mole it will prevent further ships docking and that's the end of any escape for 400,000 people. So he orders it pushed away even knowing hundreds of wounded on board won't be able to escape. The look on Branagh's face sells it, he knows he's just had to kill hundreds to save thousands.
- Hans Zimmer's powerfully ominous score becomes almost unbearably tense and nerve-wracking in places.
- The fact that one British soldier grows so distressed by his situation that he resorts to stripping off his gear and walking into the frigid Channel as to swim for home - in rough and seemingly dangerous weather. The ambiguity of the situation forces viewers to wonder whether the man had been Driven to Suicide or was so desperate to return home that he decided to forget all about waiting for an evacuation ship. Furthermore, the man's fate is not displayed and he is last seen breaststroking out to the sea.
- This was based on a real-life account. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Dunkirk |
DUSK / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"
*Embrace the darkness...*"
If you're a big fan of the horror elements in
*QUAKE* and *Doom*, *DUSK* cranks them up a notch, with very grotesque and sometimes downright mortifying enemy designs and level themes.
- You start the game prying yourself loose from two meat hooks in a dingy basement, and the first thing you see is three Leathernecks - bag-headed mooks with revved-up chainsaws - shuffling their way towards you, while you have only two fairly weak sickles to defend yourself. It's a dismal and chilling scene, firmly setting the tone for the rest of the game and can be startling to players used to being dropped into tutorials or empty rooms to start out. ||During one of the game's final levels, you return to this area and end the level by
*impaling yourself on the meat hooks again.*||
- Black Phillips, mutated, demonic-looking eviscerated goats with their ribcages exposed that shoot bloody projectiles that do quite a bit of damage on harder difficulties. The devs
*love* to hide these guys away in secret areas.
- Possessed Scarecrows. They're Scary Scarecrows, alright, and the way they're introduced in the second level is even more unnerving - at first, they just appear to be simple background props. Then you find your way through the cornfield maze and one
*suddenly breaks its post behind you* and starts blasting you with a double-barreled shotgun. They're pretty resilient, too, for being so thin, able to take at least a few normal shotgun blasts before being put down.
- Fork Maidens. They appear shrivelled, undead and ladylike, with gaping eye holes, pale grey skin and scorched, bloodied clothes. Despite their frail appearance, they take a lot more firepower to bring down than other mooks, especially early on when you first encounter them. It doesn't help that your first encounter with them is in a trap where you have little to no option to cover yourself, then in a mine which works like an almost pitch-black maze.
- Scientists. They sport creepy surgical masks with sinister eye slits and grey mouth guards. They take less punishment than other foes, but their syringe-stabbing attack is one of the most damaging in the
*entire game* - it takes off at least half your health on harder difficulties even with full Morale, and on Cero Miedo, if you don't have any morale it's an *instant kill.* Hearing their laugh can raise some hairs, especially in the more confined underground stages of Episodes 2 and 3.
- Wendigos, dear
*lord* the Wendigos. New Blood chose these guys to be front-and-centre on the store page's banner for a reason - they look like large, demented ghouls with deer skulls for heads, are both tough enough to tank several Super Shotgun blasts *and* are very agile, and worst of all, spawn in as **Invisible Monsters**, who only reveal themselves when struck by one of your weapons, accompanied by a Scare Chord for good measure. It's not uncommon for a player to hear their characteristic, spine-tingling heavy breathing, swap to the Mortar/Riveter and start flailing about firing blindly in a frenzied panic.
- You're introduced to them in the second level of episode 2,
*The Unseen*, in a rather terrifying set piece - from the start of the level, you head into areas littered with the corpses of dead Possessed Soldiers. That's when you notice, *something else* got to them before you did. You proceed to the unlit, dim ruins, with only the light of your flashlight to guide you, and when you pick up the red key needed to progress, you hear a breathy bellowing noise, see a sign written in blood on the wall that says 'DON'T TRUST YOUR EYES', begin to turn around and suddenly notice there are *very heavy breathing noises getting louder and louder* and *bloody footprints making a beeline towards you.* In earlier versions, this was much worse - you could *only* pinpoint the location of a Wendigo based on the sound of their breathing or objects in the environment being pushed around.
- During a segment in The Escher Labs, you find a teleporter simply labeled "DON'T" in blood. Stepping through teleports you into the gigantic, flayed ribcage of an unknown creature as a loud drill-like screech pierces the air. It's bad enough to have to go here for the red key, but worse yet is that this room is seemingly tailor made to give the two Wendigo hiding inside it
*directly behind you* a chance to blindside you with the visual and auditory noise drowning out their two most obvious signals, and no physics objects for them to shove around.
- Horrors, pictured above. They're introduced in the last few levels of the game, and while not the most dangerous enemy, their appearance is very unsettling, sporting an anguished Nightmare Face with no eye sockets and a signature elongated mouth. They gasp and wheeze loudly, run
*very* quickly once they spot you, take quite a bit of punishment and spit out several green gobs of goo that can be fairly damaging especially in close quarters, which you *will* be forced into in their debut level due to it taking place in a series of cramped underground catacombs. They too are also introduced in a fairly horrifying manner - you hear their heavy, tortured breathing long before you encounter them, and you're required to a flip a switch that opens up the basement, where the first one is waiting to ambush you just around the corner. It only gets worse from there.
-
*"The fall broke your flashlight."* While its mercifully only a short time before you gain a replacement flashlight in these sections, you'll likely spend the whole time terrified by the thought of having to fight wendigos in the dark. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Dusk |
Duskwood / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Moments Pages are Spoilers Off. You Have Been Warned! The premise itself. A girl goes missing and you're suddenly thrust into the search for her because she mysteriously sent your number of all people to her boyfriend after she disappeared... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Duskwood |
Dust and Echoes / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The Prologue opens in media res, as the Covenant is attacking Remnant — and it quickly degenerates in a three-way melee between the aliens, the Huntsmen and the Grimm.
- The Covenant are freaked by the Grimm. It says everything you need to know about the "Shadow Beasts".
- And it ominously ends on Salem about to address the Prophets of Truth, Mercy and Regret as an
*equal*.
- Chapter 2 opens with a Grimm attack — in the point-of-view of a victim, who desperately tries to run to safety only to fail and be mangled by a Beowolf.
- Naturally curious about this new world, the UNSC
*Everest* sends several scouting teams to explore. They're experienced soldiers...and completely unprepared to handle the Grimm. Half of the teams never make it back to the ship.
- The teams also are placed before a Sadistic Choice: see, they want to stay incognito as long as the command doesn't officially contact Remnant, but several human settlements are about to be ravaged by the Grimm and there's no one able to help except for the Terran soldiers. Only one team chooses to not intervene, and their officer is shown to be
*haunted* by her decision.
- The subtle, pervasive, uncanniness of Remnant being so similar to Earth. Which leads to the greatest question: why is that so? Did
*someone* take humans from one world to transplant them on another? Was it the first time? And for what reasons?
- Haki Felt. Once a promising student at Haven Academy, her sanity slowly degraded from being exposed to raw Lightning Dust — suffering shock after shock that ruined her brain until she assaulted and killed her team and teachers in a fit of dementia. She managed to run away and entered Salem's service, whom she worships as a goddess and decides to serve by attacking the SPARTAN Blue Team.
*And she almost wins*.
- The reason why is is her Semblance, Murder the Time: it allows her to rewind time in order to take her opponent offguard, as suddenly your fatal blow has been invalidated and you've left yourself open to her counterattack.
- The SPARTAN supersoldiers come off as pretty unnerving to a Remnantian, as they act much more like robots than people.
- The brief mention of the Cult of the Ash Bride makes clear that some people know about Salem and worship her in order to be spared by the Grimm's ravages or commit various atrocities to prove their religious devotion to her.
- No matter how much they want to be left out from the war, Remnant's people
*will* have to participate as the Covenant won't hesitate to glass their homeworld merely because they're a subspecies of mankind and as such guilty of *existing*.
- Sienna Khan feebly tries to claim faunus and humans aren't really the same, only to be answered back that the Covenant won't care about the slight distinction: they will only see humans with extra bits and kill everyone.
- Qrow's anxiety as he's boarding a shuttle and desperately struggles to rein his misfortune-inducing Semblance in, fearing to cause an accident. If you're familiar with the
*Columbia* space shuttle disaster, you know that even the tiniest mishap can cause the destruction of a space vessel with her entire crew.
- After being put in a cryopod, an engineer notes this particular pod had a
*lot* of malfunctions. Word of God assures it was mere annoyance, but what if the pod had been damaged to the point it would have caused grave injury to Qrow?
- Exploring Eridanus II, the nearest glassed human colony from Remnant. The sheer Scenery Gorn and creeping realisation the entire planet is a
*mass grave*... it's haunting.
- After happening on a destroyed house, Qrow cannot help but imagine Patch Island suffering the same fate.
- Seeing the fate of Eridanus II, a world long since glassed and dead, is very different from seeing it first hand. Thus is the fate of Vyraj, seeing the overwhelming power of the Covenant lay waste to the Inner Colony and most of the population. And everything they tried to do on Vyraj meant nothing in the long run, and being unable to do anything to save the colony.
- Out of a population of roughly three hundred million people, it's estimated less than a hundred thousand, at most, was able to escape Vyraj. And that number is far more likely to be much lower.
- On the planet Peponi the Remnantians and the UNSC discover a Forerunner Relic called the Cartographer which is a Star Map that shows the location of other Forerunner Relics in the sector. Much to the Remnantians horror the device contains the location of
*Remnant* as well as multiple colonies. If the Covenant get their hands on it they will know where to find Remnant and considering Remnant has multiple Relics they'll have every reason to go there. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DustAndEchoes |
Dot X / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
|| Night Terror is when the Demon's presence in Pudding is officially revealed. Not only that, it's fighting a war of attrition against her body, and it will win.||
The Ball starts out pretty standard: Frisky's hosting a party, her friends and Zeda's friends are there, Pudding and Clone are happy together, Gell's pining over Fade, Mi is his usual Papa Wolf self, and Speedy's depressed. ||Then we're introduced to Anaconda, a Femme Fatale who steals Gell's heart...and Frisky's security cameras. And then Clone lets Pudding fall asleep, allowing the Demon to take over her body. Then the Demon encounters Bubbles...and tries to kill her. Then she stalks around the building to kill everyone and leave no witnesses.||
|| Mi's "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Clone for letting the Demon take control of Pudding's body. Special mention goes to Mi threatening to bury Clone alive.||
|| Anaconda kisses Frisky, poisoning her. Up until this point, she's only been acting a little suspicious and destroying security cameras. Not only that, but in one of the panels, Frisky looks like she's crying blood.||
|| The Demon makes a reappearance...and its not pretty. Special mention goes to Paste being impaled on its hair.|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DotX |
DuckTales (2017) - Season 1 / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Main | **Season 1** | Season 2 | Season 3
## Woo-oo!
- Flintheart Glomgold is a grade A sociopath in this adaptation, being willing to MURDER people to get richer than Scrooge, even kids.
- The mer-ducks that the ducks encounter on the way to Atlantis after taking Dewey's shortcut have a rather unsettling design, with scaly skin, blank eyes and fangs in their beaks.
- In Atlantis, there are a lot of skeletons in many of the trapped rooms, implying the Atlanteans didn't last that long after the city sank. Nor any would-be treasure hunters.
- Donald's terror, given his three nephews are in a VERY dangerous place.
- Launchpad getting bitten by multiple rattlesnakes which, as everybody knows, are venomous. He manages to get better by walking it off though, but still.
## Daytrip of Doom!
- Webby when she's in her attack mode.
- In the Cold Open, she easily curbstomps the boys during a game of harmless darts by setting traps and using her nightvision goggles. She even ignores Huey's attempts to surrender when he goes to the foyer and claims it's the safe zone, shooting him in the tailbone.
- When she takes on Ma Beagle, Webby turns off the lights, chants the Funsos slogan in a mock singsong, and lures her into a trap in the ballpit. As the triplets later put it, they would rather be on Webby's team when she's dangerous.
- The Beagle Boys' plot to kidnap the triplets and Webby. They mug a mascot for his disguise at Funsos, and they try to grab Webby while she's playing
*Uke or Puke*. Webby's reaction, to kick him in the face, was actually a justified one considering it was a kidnapping attempt in public. Small wonder that at the end of the episode, Funsos rescinds their lifetime ban on the quartet for fear of a lawsuit because of the potential bad publicity. And Scrooge McDuck's wrath.
- Webby also casually mentions that the Beagle Boys may toss one of the nephews off a cliff to "persuade" Scrooge to pay the ransom demands.
- Her exact words were "throw one of us off a cliff". She was including herself in that equation. And why not? She's no family to Scrooge, and what better way to show that they Would Hurt a Child, but avoid incurring his wrath by hurting one of his family, than to toss Webby off the cliff.
- Webby's reaction to the ballpit as she starts sinking in it. She freaks out and calls it a trap. It also looks very claustrophobic.
- And her reaction to it is shooting her grappling hook, knocking up a palm tree decoration with it, endangering the lives of the patrons of the Fun Zone.
- Donald's horror when he gets the ransom note from the Beagle Boys. His worst fear, that the boys have sneaked out and are in danger, has come true, and it makes him run to Beakley for help.
- Then on the Beagle Boys side, Donald delivering a No-Holds-Barred Beatdown to two of them before Beakley can even recite a strategy. It's a reminder that Donald was once a daring adventurer, and he hasn't lost his edge or temper.
## The Great Dime Chase!
- Scrooge explicitly states that Louie would crack his skull open if he tried diving into the Money Bin.
- And then Louie tries to do it again, after having been warned about the very real possibility of incurring a fatal injury. He's so sure of himself that he completely disregards Scrooge's warnings. If Scrooge hadn't been paying attention, and caught him the second time, we'd be short one nephew.
- Webby describing that Della Duck seems to be a
*major* Berserk Button for Scrooge. According to her, he bought a post office that delivered junk mail with Della's name on it, and the mailman never came to the house again. "Bad things happen to people that talk about Della Duck."
- In the last scene, Gyro, in his dimly lit laboratory, goes into a Mad Scientist monologue: "Gyro creates robot, robot turns on Gyro, Gyro controls robot...Gyro
*is* robot." The look on his face as he says this last part just adds to the creepiness.
## The Beagle Birthday Massacre!
- Just how
*many* Beagles there are. And they all want revenge on Webby for Ma...
- One trio of the Beagle Boys, the "Tumblebums", have a Monster Clown theme. They wear creepy clown makeup and move around with unnatural-looking tumbles.
- Well, two of them move unnaturally. The other moves
*very* naturally. Not that that's much better.
- The ending scene of the episode. Lena contacts her aunt, Magica DeSpell, who appears as a terrifying Living Shadow.
## Terror of the Terra-Firmians!
- Huey spells out the full horror of Nothing Is Scarier, that the reason he clings so much to what's documented in the Junior Woodchuck Handbook is the idea of something being out there he has no idea about and can't protect himself from is too terrifying to even think about.
- Magica tells Lena to leave Mrs. Beakley pinned under a subway car, implicitly to leave her to die so she won't be in their way anymore. Lena saves her anyway by levitating the car, but then trips and loses control of it, and just barely manages to pull Mrs. Beakley to safety before she's crushed.
- It's also worth noting that earlier, Magica De Spell manifests herself from Lena's shadow without any approval from the latter, and was seemingly about to attack Mrs. Beakley before Lena thwarts her by moving away and taking Magica with her. Just because she's Sealed Evil in a Can doesn't necessarily mean that Magica has to
*entirely* rely on others to do her dirty work...
- The train crash and the structural collapses in the subways are
*very real* dangers, in direct contrast to the series' usual cartoony perils of demons, ghosts, evil robots, and monsters. This goes a long way to giving this episode a Darker and Edgier feel compared to the rest of the episodes aired so far.
- At the end, Magica doesn't look too happy about her niece's continual disobedience and willingness to get emotionally close with the McDuck Family.
## The House of the Lucky Gander!
- The episode actually has a bit of a creepy vibe to it, that kicks off with the scene with Gladstone at the beginning. When asked why he called Donald and Scrooge for help, Gladstone tries to answer, but then receives a suspicious glance from one of the casino workers, which leads to him immediately backtracking. After that, Scrooge and the kids discover that they have immense difficulty locating the exit of the casino and find themselves looping back to the exact same place. Then we have the introduction of Toad Liu Hai, who seems a bit too obsessed with making sure the McDuck family stay in the casino for as long as possible. All these events provide the episode with a rather creepy atmosphere, like you get that something is off about the place but it isn't clear what.
- Liu Hai reveals himself in a pretty creepy way: everything turns dark, the walls of the casino turn into cards and Liu Hai himself turns jade-colored and grows to gigantic size.
- All the patrons of the casino are transformed into cards, who may or may not have been once innocent people lured in like Gladstone was.
- The fact that, for an unspecified amount of time, Gladstone was the prisoner of a luck vampire, who was feeding off his natural luck, is creepy by itself.
- Donald's Unstoppable Rage, while a Moment of Awesome, also looks pretty terrifying.
## The Infernal Internship of Mark Beaks!
- It's played for laughs with how Mark Beaks treats his time as a hostage, but the way Falcon Graves just strolls through heavy security with no thought for stealth or subterfuge and kidnaps Mark right from his office is pretty scary.
- Perhaps our one look at the true Mark Beaks when Dewey brings his coffee a minute early, resulting in a chilling speech about how he's risen above the "commoners" and shouldn't ever have any wish denied.
- Despite his plan being ridiculously over-the-top, the fact remains that Flintheart Glomgold still wants to murder Mark Beaks (and Scrooge). And the ending of the episode implies that Beaks accepts the invitation to the yacht tour that is Step One in Glomgold's Evil Plan. Lightened by the fact that Beaks returns in later episodes, so we know that Glomgold's plan failed.
## The Living Mummies of Toth-Ra!
- Pretty much the entire premise of the underground society in Toth-Ra's pyramid. They've lived toiling like slaves in squalor a homeless person would object to for thousands of years...based on a
*lie*.
- Webbys given a little too much thought towards how she would like to die...
- Once the mummy of Toth-Ra crosses the seal, he comes to life. Hes a near-invulnerable undead monster with extreme strength and Eye Beams, sweeping away anyone who stands in his way with ease. And, rather than the Large Ham manner he talks when he's just used as a puppet, he only screeches... except for one word, when Louie asks him what can he do to serve him: "Die".
## The Impossible Summit of Mount Neverest!
- The implication that the invisible wormholes dotting Mt. Neverrest are fully capable of Tele Fragging an unsuspecting climber. Combine that knowledge with blinding snowstorms and you're fully capable of dying without ever having a clue you're in any sort of danger.
- Even if you manage to avoid Tele Fragging, it's very difficult to find your way down the mountain due to the wormholes, and you might wander aimlessly until you just die from the cold and starvation, which is most likely what happened to Mallardy.
- Finding the bones of George Mallardy, who abandoned Scrooge in the mountains years ago but still took the time to write a message cursing him in the cave wall. What's more, Scrooge shows no sympathy towards him. Understandable perhaps, but it's a harsh reminder of how ruthless Scrooge can be.
- It's played for laughs, but... How many enemies
*have* cursed Scrooge with their dying breath?
## The Spear of Selene!
- Storkules is put under mind control and forced to attack the Duck family (including the kids) by the will of his own father, all while remaining fully aware and begging his father to stop.
- Anyone who knows anything about Greek mythology can understand why Donald and Scrooge are eager to get off the island quickly. There's never any upshot to challenging a Greek God to any sort of contest. They tend to be sore losers, and the fates of the victors is the stuff of legend (literally).
## Beware the BUDDY System!
- When Gyro finds out that Fenton posted some of the inventor's private blueprints on the Internet, resulting in Mark making his BUDDY robots from Bulbtech, hes
*furious.* The way both Scrooge and Dewey have to hold Gyro back makes it look like he's trying to *beat Fenton to a pulp*.
- Dewey nearly falling to his death. It was just pure luck that Gizmoduck was there in time to save him.
- Mark Beaks vowing to steal the Gizmoduck armor, thus proving here on out that hes not such a harmless villain after all. This is the final scene just before the credits, with some
*very* creepy music added on top.
## The Missing Links of Moorshire!
- The statues of golfers who failed to leave.
- Even though they're not as successful as they'd like to be, the Kelpies did mention having other victims. Also when the mist finally comes around they offer to drown the main cast rather than suffer the fate of being turned to stone. How many other people chose to take their offer?
## McMystery at McDuck McManor!
- The guests Louie invites to Scrooge's birthday party are all his mortal enemies - with one of them, Flintheart Glomgold, trying to kill him.
- Nik Nokturne successfully summons a ghastly, skull-headed demonic creature that attacks the children. Fortunately, it's just the Friendly Ghost of Duckworth.
## Jaw$!
- Dewey was actually doing what Scrooge prevented Louie from doing in the
*Great Dime Chase*: Jumping into the Money Bin. And, if you don't remember, doing so without Scrooge's years of training would almost certainly mean a cracked skull at best, as illustrated here. In a way, Tiffany saved his life by eating him!
- The money shark. Not only is it gigantic and glows hellish red on the inside, it also succeeds in eating all of the protagonists
note : Fortunately for them, Getting Eaten Is Harmless. After that, it sprouts spider-like legs and heads towards Duckburg!
- Why is Lena working for her aunt? Because the two are bound to each other; Magica
*can* and *will* exert control over her niece until she gets what she wants. It's not known yet what the extent of Magica's ability to control Lena's body is yet, but *geez*...
- Making it worse is that she spends the whole episode being unusually hammy and much more in line with Catherine Tate's usual performances, but then immediately snaps back into the former ice cold evil when Lena starts talking back to her, giving the impression that it's always just lurking under the surface and can be brought out at any moment.
- There's a lot of parental abuse subtext with Lena and Magica, but Lena's statement that if they tell Scrooge that they snuck into the Money Bin, he would feed them to the shark himself implies that Magica may have been lying to her, feeding her nightmare tales to overplay the darker aspects of Scrooge.
- Until now, Magica has only been seen as a shadow on the wall. Now, we see that she is actually three dimensional, and at least semi-corporeal. That's frightening...
## The Golden Lagoon of Agony Plains!
- During their first expedition to Agony Plains, Scrooge and Goldie ended up frozen in a glacier
*for five years. And they were completely conscious throughout it!*
- During the climax, Goldie falls into a pool of molten gold. And then Glomgold shows a gold cast of her where she seems to be screaming in agony. Granted, she survives due to her demonic medal, but the audience doesn't learn that for several minutes.
- The fact that, after being treated as a Harmless Villain for several episodes, Glomgold manages to pull a Near-Villain Victory where he almost manages to murder both Goldie and Scrooge.
## The Day of the Only Child!
- Everything about Doofus Drake. He's a sociopathic Creepy Child with absolutely unpredictable behavior, who somehow managed to scare his own parents into becoming his obedient servants (not to mention he was probably planning on doing the same to Louie). Louie's discomfort around him is completely understandable.
- Louie tries to convince Doofus's parents to help him come up with an escape plan. But when Doofus reenters the room, his dad
*immediately gives Louie up* to save his own feathers, which even his own wife finds pathetic. His own son has broken him that badly.
## From the Confidential Casefiles of Agent 22!
- The fight between Beakley and Black Heron in the Cold Open. Beakley is
*not* holding back, and even that isn't enough to stop Black Heron from knocking her out.
- Beakley's anger at Scrooge getting Webby involved in Heron's revenge plot. It's the angriest we've ever seen her.
- Turns out to be justified too, as just after that Black Heron holds Webby at gunpoint to coerce Beakley into surrendering information.
- In the flashback, Black Heron loses her arm in an acidic explosion - a Gory Discretion Shot comes just in time to spare the audience.
- Though her death is not directly shown, Black Heron meets her apparent end at Webby's hands - with the latter sending her off a cliff into the ocean.
## Who is Gizmoduck!?
- When the Beagle Boys attempt a bank robbery, they recognize Huey and try to take him hostage.
- Not to mention Donald was there watching the whole thing unfold, but can't do anything about it.
- For the first time in the series, Mark Beaks is actually intimidating. Perhaps the biggest sign of this is the utterly demented look he gives when Fenton tries to quit.
- Huey, Fenton's mother, and Mark Beaks nearly getting crushed by a falling billboard.
- Mark Beaks basically
Fenton. **enslaves**
## The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck!
- The unicorn nearly impaling Webby on its horn.
- Magica is freed thanks to Lena finally getting the Number One Dime, and proves to still be a dark shadow monster, just in three dimensions. When Webby catches them, Magica turns her into a doll and uses her to attack Lena to make her give up the dime, all while shouting about her betrayal. Then Lena's amulet automatically activates against the threat, and
*turns Webby to ash onscreen*. Luckily, this then all turns out to be a vision from a magic dreamcatcher, but it's still clearly what *will* happen if Magica gets free, causing Lena to finally turn on her aunt for good. But just as she's about to spill the beans, it turns out the approaching eclipse has made Magica powerful enough to completely take over her body, and take up the search herself.
- Even worse, try not to think about
*how* Magica will get the dime with Lena no longer able to resist her; she's going to pry it off Scrooge, *painfully*. She's last heard asking Scrooge where she can get some knives...
- Magica's Large Ham tendencies and the frequent shifts in tone in her scenes have made it unclear just what type of threat she is supposed to be in this series. This episode though seems to cement her as a Joker-style villain, equally goofy and cruel, with a definite sadistic streak as Magica remarks on how she misses being able to inflict carnage (since she can't interact much with the physical world anymore), and now that she possesses Lena, she can
*finally* do so again.
- Doubles as a Tear Jerker. Remove the magical elements and this episode was a disturbingly good depiction of what it's like to grow up in an abusive relationship. You feel like a hostage, the adult in your life manipulates you and constantly shows you their disdain, you dig yourself deeper and deeper with lies covering for them, and worst of all, you feel completely alone. Nobody but you knows how miserable you are because you feel like you can't tell them, in fear of retaliation. Ordinary kids do have the option of running away when they get old enough but Lena is magically tethered to Magica, and the final minutes take the abusive relationship one messed-up, supernatural step further when her aunt hijacks her body to ensure her silence. Out of the many antagonists in
*DuckTales (2017)*, Magica is the most loathsome one yet.
- Want to know the extent of Magica's abuse towards Lena? The poor child starts
*crying* when Magica merely *hugs* her in her dream.
- "Where do you keep the sharp knives?" asks a Magica-possessed Lena at the very end...
- The Louie vs. Bigfoot subplot is also pretty creepy. A bigfoot named Gavin tricks Huey into thinking he's a dumb animal so Huey and Dewey will let him live in the mansion as a "pet" when really Gavin is taking advantage of them. When Louie finds out, his first instinct is to call on Uncle Scrooge to help...only for Gavin to threaten to hurt Louie's family if Louie outs him, raking his claws across a portrait of Donald and the brothers to prove his point. A terrified Louie quickly gets rid of Scrooge after that. Worse, Louie's brothers wouldn't believe him anyway because of Louie's tendency to lie, meaning he's backed into a corner as to how to deal with things until he finally has his big idea to get rid of Gavin.
## Sky Pirates...in the Sky!
- After the episode's opening portrays Don Karnage as Laughably Evil in the same vein as the original version, it's quite a shock when he berates the crew on screwing up their musical number and
*kicks one of them out of the plane*. While we quickly see he had a parachute and landed safely, there's no evidence of this in the initial shot and it very much comes off as something rushed into the episode so the network would let them do the scene. Especially since he does later say he kills anyone who can't measure up.
- Throughout the first half of the episode, Don Karnage is shown with human-like teeth. After getting back on the Iron Vulture and regaining control, he's shown with visible fangs.
- Just how quick this crew is turn against their captains, first Don Karnage and then Dewey. It's clear there is not much loyalty there. Then, they plan on sending Dewey and his family to their deaths. This part of the episode makes it clear that no matter how silly they may seem at first, these pirates really are pirates. And dangerous
## The Secret(s) of Castle McDuck!
- The dungeons of Castle McDuck are patrolled by an enormous, terrifying demon dog that was summoned by one of Scrooge's ancestors. The beast gets very close to killing the triplets.
## The Last Crash of the Sunchaser!
- The plane is speared at its midpoint by a narrow mountain peak, resulting in everyone having to be very careful not to put too much weight on either end. The episode takes care to keep the realistic physics throughout the whole story, never letting us forget just how precarious the situation is.
- Dewey is the source of much duress for Scrooge - and everyone else. Desperate to get the final piece of the puzzle, Dewey
*climbs out on top of the Sunchaser and heads towards the tip of the wing*. Scrooge can only trail behind and plead with him not to put himself in anymore danger. The rest of the family begs Dewey to let it go... only for their pleas to fall on deaf ears as Dewey angrily throws away his radio and continues his pursuit.
- Della's fate. She takes an experimental rocket for a test drive and and got lost in a cosmic storm. Even though (as we later learn) she's still alive, she has been lost in space for around a
*decade,* completely alone, devoid of communication.
## The Shadow War!
- Lena vommiting up/crying out Magica's essence is rather disturbing: the way Magica's shadow pours out of Lena's eye sockets and mouth like a stream of inky blackness would be right at home in the
*Silent Hill* franchise. Lena is visibly ill from the effect, and the shadow is still attached to her eyes by painful-looking tendrils.
- Magica was trapped inside Scrooge's dime the whole time and traps Scrooge in there when shes freed.
- Lena turns out to be a part of Magica's shadow given life, and she does obviously
*not* like going back into Magica's full shadow. **Lena:**
(
*As Magica forces her back into being a shadow*
)
*No*
!
*Not again*
!
*Don't send me back*
! Nooooooooooo
-!!
- The revelation that Magica created Lena to be her literal slave puppet that she could toss away at a moment's notice re-contextualizes all the previous Magica and Lena episodes and somehow makes them even more disturbing than they already were (particularly "The Other Bin Of Scrooge McDuck"). The recurring themes of shadows, abusive parents, people using other people as tools and a lack of free will have suddenly become a lot more chilling.
- Magica turning everyone's shadows into her minions.
- What's worse is Fenton's shadow, who
**ACTUALLY STOLE THE GIZMODUCK SUIT** as well. Shadow Gizmoduck does not look pretty at all, and looks very dangerous and intimidating.
- There's also the fact that no matter where you are, even
*hidden underground*, you are *not* safe from getting your shadow taken.
- Given the context it can escape someone's attention, but a furious Donald is just plain unstoppable. Just ask the shadow with the Gizmoduck suit. Oh, wait, he wiped that out.
- Magica seemingly
*vaporizing* Lena, much in the way Lena vaporized Webby in her nightmare in "The Other Bin of Scrooge McDuck". Only mitigated by the fact that Lena was able to survive inside of Webby's shadow.
- While also a Moment of Awesome, Webby fights Magica more brutally than she did Black Heron. And damn, did Webby give Magica a pounding. Losing Lena really
*pissed Webby off*.
- A blast from Magica's staff blasts through a pile of coins inches from Dewey's head at one point, visibly melting them.
- Just how malicious Magica de Spell is upon seeing that the triplets and Webby have made it all the way to where she's waiting:
**Magica de Spell:** *(Brightly, before switching to a cruel smile)*
Ah, look!
*Children.* *(She levitates off her throne and lands before the kids, showing off the Number One Dime with Scrooge trapped inside it)*
Looking for this?
*(She brandishes her staff. its focusing gem crackling with energy)* *Come and get it.* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DuckTales2017Season1 |
Duck Season / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
There's no doubt that
*Duck Season* is creepy. Well, it's a nightmare rendition of a classic game that involves a dog we all love to hate. In any case, this game has some content that will spring forth a few nightmares.
- In the Canon Ending, you're treated to a graphic scene of the Dog spazzing out and exploding into red 'cubes'
- In the same ending, you have to bury your own mother...
- After about three rounds, you're sent into some kind of weird drug trip, the creepiest part of which is the dog... dancing in the kitchen.
- The last scene of the Nuke Ending is the Dog walking up behind the child...
- Averted if you peek behind the logo and discover that the Dog is... embracing the child.
- Just watching the game literally breaking down bit by bit as you further antagonise the dog.
- The Signature Scene of the dog watching you though the window. You're just sitting there, when all of a sudden the game shows a boy sitting down. Then you slowly realize that the boy is following your movements.
- The mystery surrounding specific items and their interactions with the Kid Wizard book. None of it is explained, and all of it hints to something disconcerting.
- Occasionally when looking outside the TV from within the game, you will see the dog standing directly behind the kid. The dog will quickly hide behind the couch when he sees you looking at him.
- The very end of the game, where after beating the Dog in-game, he comes after you in the real world. You're alone in a pitch-black house, scanning through the dark wondering where the Dog is hiding, while a glitchy version of the game's commercial repeats on the television. Then the sound stops... and the music becomes a creepy drone that gets louder and louder as the Dog
*emerges from your bathroom*, knife in hand. And he *will* stab you to death if you don't shoot him with the light gun enough times.
- The 'Tape 12'. Initially, it plays out like a tape playing from the P.O.V. of what appears to be someone in the Dog costume opening the door and seeing the child playing "Duck Season" on his console. Initially, it sounds non-suspicious (after all, it could be just a parent checking on their kid), and then the video skips to the scene where the same person from P.O.V. is now right behind the child. The tape is now more glitchy, the "Duck Season" main theme starts repeating on the loop, and the hand and the camera slowly approach the child. The loop starts playing louder and gets supported by glitchy audio as the camera and the hand come closer and closer to the child, until it
*grabs the child by the back of his head* as the video ends in the Snowy Screen of Death. In case you still don't realize it now, it was the Dog's P.O.V., and the child was its another victim. And there is also the fact that the tape itself is covered in the blood markings. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DuckSeason |
Dylan Dog / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
It's a horror comic, what did you expect?
- Xabaras is always a single victory away from causing a Zombie Apocalypse. And in the "Planet of the Dead" alternate timeline,
*he did it*. And not even on purpose, he just wants to make people immortal.
- Johnny Ghost, who took over as Big Bad after Xabaras' death, is an extremely intelligent billionaire capable of manipulating
*everyone* (including *Bloch and Groucho*, who are helping him doing something under the impression it'll help Dylan) and has effectively complete control of the United Kingdom. As in, he's the lover of *the Queen* (or something that really resembles her).
- One particularly terrifying story is "The Man Without Face", a Whole Episode Flashback telling the tale of when, as a child, he met with a girl convinced to be chased by a freakishly tall and faceless man that had been stalking the girl for months, with the girl's parents being terrified of the being and convinced that every kid that stumbled upon them would end up as its target. To this day, Dylan is still wondering what actually happened-or if it happened at all.
- Another terrifying character is the Pied Piper of Hameln. He doesn't actually appear, but his pipe does, and it turns out that, with the right music, it can summon
*anything*, including a horde of spiders (one of the easiest tunes, to the point a bully who got his hands on it did it by accident-and he couldn't even really play a pipe), a darkness that *will* devour the player if they don't banish it away in time, and even *zombies* (what its latest owner ||Xabaras|| uses it for). But that's not really the scary part, that came with *Martin Mystere* #360, when it turned out that ||the one to kidnap the children of Hameln had been a wounded alien that needed their energy to heal itself||-meaning that ||we don't actually know what the Pied Piper was doing in Hameln or even why he was there||.
- The "Meteor Cycle", starting in issue 383 "Let Chaos Reign!". In that first issue, John Ghost, the Big Bad since Xabaras' death, sets up Dylan to be a hero to the people (admittedly by getting him to do something truly heroic on camera)... Because in little more than a year, a giant meteor will hit and devastate the planet, and if Ghost can't stop it humanity will need a hero to rally around to survive. Every issue that follows adds some more horror, such as ||the Meteor actually having a malevolent will||. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DylanDog |
Dune / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
A universe where the most precious substance is a powerful narcotic, democracy is unheard of, and trying to invent
*any* kind of computer, robot or otherwise self-aware machine warrants your immediate execution? Small wonder why Warhammer 40,000 took so much inspiration from this series. There's so much fear in *Dune*, *it will kill your mind*. **No spoiler warnings ahead!**
## Adaptations<!—index—><!—/index—>
## General
- The titular planet (more formally known as Arrakis) is a Death World in every sense of the term with its laundry list of dangers.
- Faster-than-light travel is monopolized by the Spacing Guild, responsible for training Navigators to fold space and time by binging ridiculous amounts of Spice to the point where they literally
*bathe* in the stuff. Very few people have actually seen a Guild Navigator because such prolonged, intense exposure to Spice has horrifically mutated them to the point where they can barely be considered human at all.
- And their monopoly on space travel is
*absolute.* If you violate the Great Convention or do anything to upset the Guild, they will deny you their Heighliners. No Heighliners, no travel, no trade. And there's nothing you can do about it.
- Holtzmann fields make for good personal shields, protecting you from almost all projectiles and fast attacks. It becomes a weapon
*against* both you and your attacker when struck by a lasgun, which makes such a *horrible* combination with the shield's energy that it produces a *pseudo-nuclear explosion* on contact. And you have no idea if said explosion will destroy either an army or an *entire city.* And it's best if you learn to control your breathing while using a personal shield, as it blocks both projectiles and atmosphere - even if you win the duel against your opponent, the exertion will asphyxiate you with your own carbon dioxide. Don't even think about using them in the deep desert, either - the Holtzmann effect does an amazing job at driving Sandworms into an apeshit rage.
- Lasgun-shield explosions are more than just a severe inconvenience - they violate the Great Convention as well. Meaning that even if you caused it by accident, it will brand you and your
*entire house* as *war criminals.* Is it really any wonder why hand-to-hand combat is routine in this universe?
## The Fremen
- Life on a Death World has turned the native Fremen tribes, already hardened by generations of persecution, into natural born killers and survivalists. On such a dry and hellish world, the Fremen have no qualms against killing intruders and dehydrating their corpses for water. Which they also do with their
*own dead.* Water is more valuable than even Spice to the Fremen - Stillsuits recycle it, women will sleep for it and the most gracious compliment one can give in their culture is *spitting.*
- The Fremen may be a Proud Warrior Race, but their daily fight for survival means that honor is optional against outsiders. They will wait for hours in the sand for the chance to strike and destroy spice harvesters before the planet's ruling house even has a chance to retaliate. The worst example of this are claims made by Baron Harkonnen of Fremen women
*throwing their infants* at Sardaukar soldiers so that their men have an opportunity to strike. Considering that he reports this to the Emperor himself with his Truthsayer right beside him, *he's not bluffing.*
- Their crysknives, whittled from Sandworm teeth, are the Fremen's weapon of choice and a strong symbol of their culture. And they do not unsheathe them unless they are ready and willing to shed blood. When you see its glint, prepare to die.
- Paul's prescience from a combination of Bene Gesserit eugenics and his Spice fixation allow him to avenge his family and liberate Arrakis from Imperial rule. With the added bonus of making him the Emperor of the Known Universe. Unfortunately, he also predicts that the Fremen will subsequently lead a violent Jihad
*in his name*, indirectly making him responsible for the deaths of 61,000,000,000 people, 90 planets and 40 *religions.* And they do just that. Thanks to his good intentions, Paul has ultimately killed more people than Adolf Hitler, Josef Stalin, Pol Pot, Attila the Hun, Genghis Khan, Mao Zedong, Timur and Leopold II **combined.** Being Muad'Dib is hard.
## Bene Gesserit
## House Harkonnen
- Baron Vladimir Harkonnen. Full-stop. A calculating, sadistic pederast who is so morbidly obese that he requires an anti-gravity harness to move. His entire House is driven by greed and cruelty, where slavery is routine and brutality is a way of life. The Baron's time in the book is spent manipulating his two nephews into ensuring House Harkonnen's supremacy on the galactic stage.
- He accomplishes this by letting the brutal and incompetent Glossu-Rabban rule over Arrakis with an iron fist while grooming Feyd-Rautha into becoming an actual leader. This way, when Rabban is eventually abdicated or overthrown for his despotic reign, Feyd's regime will be a guaranteed success because he will look like a hero in comparison.
- Feyd-Rautha Harkonnen may have avoided inheriting his uncle's overindulgence, but he is just as bad as his sadistic brethren, entertaining himself and others in gladiatorial combat against the House's many slaves.
- Piter De Vries is the personal Mentat of Baron Harkonnen and is just as cruel and sadistic as his master. Not only that, he's a "Twisted Mentat," vat-grown by the Tleilaxu as a way of getting around the mandatory ethics training of the Mentat schools.
- After narrowly avoiding an assassination attempt by Duke Leto, Baron Harkonnen blows off steam by asking for some time alone with a slave that looks like Paul Atreides.
- Before leaving them in the desert to die, two Harkonnen soldiers consider forcing themselves upon Jessica as she and Paul lay unconscious. The only reason that the two survive is because Baron Harkonnen, well aware of Imperial truthsayers, needed them to die in a coriolis storm for the sake of plausible deniability. Fortunately, the two awaken and kill the Harkonnen soldiers. But not before they are left to fend for themselves in the desert.
- The Harkonnen homeworld, Giedi Prime, is an accurate reflection of its owners. It is a polluted, volcanic hellscape that is so befouled by industry that its soil is absolutely saturated with machine oil even
*three thousand years* since the Baron's death.
-
*Dune 2000* and *Emperor: Battle For Dune* give us the Buzzsaw, a Harkonnen tank that is literally just a gigantic circular saw with a vehicle built around it. Their operators are always very, very eager to kill.
- Devastators: enormous mechs used as heavy artillery by House Harkonnen and powered by an onboard nuclear reactor. Harkonnen, naturally, places such little value on human life that their pilots suffer from perpetual radiation sickness.
- A favored weapon of House Harkonnen is the inkvine whip, made from the titular toxic plant. The wounds inflicted by this weapon leave deep, permanent scars colored red by their dye. And they are
*always painful.* Gurney Halleck, a former Harkonnen slave, has one of these scars *right across his face.* In *Emperor: Battle For Dune*, they are used as artillery weapons. Fun.
## House Corrino
- Salusa Secundus is the former homeworld of House Corrino, turned into a prison planet after it was turned into an irradiated wasteland by a campaign of nuclear genocide. Now it is used to train the Emperor's bodyguards and death squads: The Sardaukar. Salusa Secundus is so hostile, violent and unforgiving that its inhabitants have to be murderous psychopaths just to reach the age of puberty. And House Corrino will have it no other way.
- Padishah Emperor Shaddam IV, whose rule over the Imperium makes him the de facto ruler of the
*known universe.* His house, House Corrino, has ruled the Imperium in the ten-thousand years since the end of the Butlerian Jihad. So when House Atreides starts gaining tremendous moral and political influence over most of the other houses of the Landsraad, House Corrino is so threatened by this unheard-of danger to their political standing that their solution is to give them fiefdom over planet Arrakis, leading them into a trap set and sprung by both the Harkonnens and the Sardaukar.
- Emperor Shaddam IV's greed and paranoia knows no bounds, as House Richese learned the hard way during the Great Spice War. Their homeworld's only moon, Korona, was used primarily for research and development - and secretly for Spice smuggling. When the Emperor learned about this secret operation of theirs, he ordered the destruction of the entire satellite, bombarding Richese with meteorites for
*months on end.* Lesson learned: do *not* fuck with House Corrino.
## House Ordos
## Bene Tleilax
- The Bene Tleilax are masters of bio-technology and both their creations and their ambitions have rightfully earned them a reputation as one of the most revolting organizations in the known universe. Their genetic shenanigans aren't just limited to their products, but to
*themselves* as well, looking more like Rubber-Forehead Aliens than actual humans.
- Gholas are clones made from dead tissue, used almost exclusively for the purposes of either false flag attacks, puppet rulers or the resurrection of important individuals.
- Duncan Idaho himself has had literally
*thousands* of Gholas made from him.
- Face Dancers are shapeshifting assassins, earning their name from the way their faces warp and contort as they transform. And they are the means by which the Tleilaxu are able to operate their massive network of espionage, manipulation and subterfuge.
-
*Emperor: Battle For Dune* gives us two new biological horrors on behalf of the Tleilaxu:
- Sligs. A grotesque slug-pig hybrid engineered to produce a surprisingly delicious kind of meat. What most of the galaxy doesn't realize is that the Bene Tleilax created this as a Stealth Insult against the decadence and corruption of the Imperium.
- Chogs. Chair-Dogs. Canines engineered to act as living, mobile thrones for their patrons. Is there really anything more to be said?
- The most depraved of all of the Tleilaxu's creations are the means by which they create them: the Axlotl Tanks. Fleshy, immobile cyborgs connected to giant vats used to birth almost all of their biological marvels, be they Gholas or Face Dancers. The worst part? The Bene Tleilax are so monstrously misogynistic that all women born to them are
*forcibly lobotomized* and converted into these horrific machines.
## The Butlerian Jihad
- Why can't anyone use supercomputers, robots or AI even 20,000 years into the future? Blame the Butlerian Jihad and the horrible, horrible things committed by the thinking machines that started it all. Thinking machines were so relied upon by humanity that not only did it make humans decadent and dependent on them for day-to-day life, they were easily used by autocrats to enslave and oppress their fellow man until the machines started being
*oppressors themselves.*
- Robots were frequently used to enslave humans, rounding them up like cattle and transported them across the stars to be worked to death...if they didn't starve to death on the way.
- Erasmus is a Thinking Machine that is fascinated by humans in the same way a cruel child is fascinated with a spider's legs. He will perform twisted experiments on them to find out what makes them tick, even going so far as to murder one of his slaves just so he could paint a picture of his organs. But none of that compares to throwing the infant Marion Butler off of his
*balcony* in a fit of rage, unwittingly kickstarting the Butlerian Jihad.
- The most powerful of humanity's rogue AI constructs, Omnius, is a Hive Mind that, like his fellow Titans, sees humanity as little more than livestock. However, unlike the Titan Erasmus, who saw Humans as worthy of cruel experimentation, decided that the human race was too untrustworthy to enslave and gave the order to systematically annihilate the species.
- The reason behind evil of robots: ancient human conquerors, Titans, who overthrew Old Empire, changed robot programming to make them more aggressive, which helped in their mission. However, one of them, Xerxes, chose to relegate much of the ruling to machine, in order to spend more time indulging in pleasures. Thus came the Omnius.
## Leto Atreides II
- The son of Paul Atreides and the
*God-Emperor* of the known universe after his death. His prescient abilities have allowed him to foresee a terrible future where mankind would be annihilated by a mysterious "Enemy" should the status quo be maintained. The "Golden Path" required to save humanity required some *very* drastic measures: He must be the most repressive tyrant in history, restrict all space travel and terraform Arrakis, thereby rendering Sandworms extinct. The most drastic of all of these steps, however, is how he becomes the only source left of the Spice Melange: by literally *becoming a Sandworm-human hybrid.*
- After 3,000 years of repression, Leto Atreides II commits the final step required for the Golden Path: allowing himself to be assassinated, intentionally crumbling his own empire and allowing the Human race to colonize the stars at a pace never before seen in history. All to teach Humanity a lesson against stagnation.
- Oh, and that "Enemy" predicted to wipe out mankind? It's Omnius.
*He's back.*
## The Honored Matres
- After The Scattering has made mankind's extinction an impossibility, the Old Empire is being repopulated by the Human diaspora, seeking to scavenge what is left of the Atreides Empire. The greatest and most feared of all of these factions are the Honored Matres, a matriarchal, warrior-driven society obsessed with the physical, mental and sexual subjugation of their enemies. They use a twisted, sexist version of the Bene Gesserit's Prana Bindu training to force men to obey them through sexual means, giving them impressive martial and political power.
- And they came out swinging by destroying all life on Rakis from orbit. Were it not for the incredible foresight of the Bene Gesserit, the Sandworms would have been rendered extinct along with the Spice. And all Spice users.
- Futars are cat-like humanoids bred by the Tleilaxu to serve as manhunters. Subhuman in their intelligence, the Honored Matres controlled them through a perverse mix of intimidation, emotional imprinting and even sex.
## Jodorowskys Dune
- Alejandro Jodorowsky, being...Alejandro Jodorowsky, pulled no punches with turning Frank Herberts masterpiece into a tour de force of Surreal Horror.
- The castle of House Harkonnen was envisioned by HR Giger (who else?) as a nightmare fuel refinery. It is a giant, dome-like effigy of the Baron himself, toting two gigantic guns as it pumps fecal matter and the bones of its victims into the surrounding hellscape through enormous, organic drainpipes.
- The bridge to the castle itself is lined with sadistic biomechanical gargoyles that may or may not impale you with retractable spikes just for the hell of it.
- One concept painting depicts the castle having suffered under enemy fire. The giant mask depicting the bloated face of Baron Harkonnen has been blown away to reveal a charred skull.
- House Harkonnen's torture and execution of Duke Leto. They clip off his limbs one-by-one using red-hot shears. For the
*coup de grace*, the Baron cuts Leto's head off *himself.*
- One early storyboard and script for Dune, derided by Jodorowsky as a false script with an idiot drawing, surfaced on eBay in 2015. It is a goldmine of WTF.
- The framing device for the film entails dog-like humanoids discovering a Man Museum in a ruined city, housing a giant crucified robot that projects the rest of the film itself out of its eyes as a history exhibit. The robot does this while weeping, might we add.
- The Harkonnen army finalizes their conquest of Arrakis by dropping their pants and taking a shit on the floor. Simultaneously. All one thousand of them.
- One of the storyboards show the protagonists having to enter (and leave) the Emperor's palace through a gateway shaped like a
*clown presenting his bare ass.*
- Baron Harkonnen interrogates Dr. Yueh by trapping his wife Wanna in a sadistic-looking machine, where he and Feyd proceed to turn her limbs into crystal before smashing them into pieces until only her head and torso remained. Did we mention that Wanna was apparently fourteen years old in the script?
- One scene in the storyboard has the Sardaukar going against
*an army of children.* The only thing that is shown during the fight are tips of their spears and swords, which get bloodier and gorier with each swipe and stroke.
- In one scene, Feyd smokes a joint while setting fire to a butterfly. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Dune |
Dumbo / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"
**CHASE EM' AWAY...** **CHASE EM' AWAY...** **I'M AFRAID, NEED YOUR AID!**" *"I am not the type to faint, when things are odd or things are quaint,* *but seeing things you know that ain't can certainly give you an awful fright!* *What a sight!"*
- The infamous "Pink Elephants On Parade" sequence. This, children, is why we do not take hallucinogens (though "pink elephants" are more associated with someone being drunk rather than high). Consider the following facts:
- Dumbo is actually hallucinating because he is drunk. An adult understands this immediately, but most children don't, since they've never been intoxicated (hopefully). This aspect makes it even worse, because children are usually afraid of things they don't understand! If they are able to relate to it all it might be because Dumbo's hallucinations are similar to fever nightmares. In fact, most people to this day are afraid for this reason because it is unknown if it was meant to be enjoyable fun, the animators were high or genuine Nightmare Fuel.
- What makes this scarier is that Dumbo was merely making funny shapes with bubbles, which then leads to one bubble turning into a pink elephant and the madness begins...
- All the elephants are varied in color (but are mostly pink), but all have no pupils (and sometimes no eyes at all, like eyeless masks), causing them to resemble ghosts. Especially since the background is pitch black, like the night.
- In addition, the elephants take on all kinds of bizarre and physically impossible shapes. Hopping over each other, walking into each other, changing color, growing and shrinking, floating in the air, walking upside down, growing extra heads, changing into cars and other vehicles... A Trope Codifier of Deranged Animation. One of them is a Combining Mecha made of nothing but elephant heads who walks towards the viewer. Many kids have jumped away in fear when they saw that thing coming near. The scariest thing is when the yellow head and its two blue shoulder heads zoom in to cover the screen, first with the latter shoving the yellow head in the back and finally ending with former emerging with a wide smile. Oh and did we mention that the eyes of these elephant heads
*have no eyeballs*?
- The scene where the elephants walk upside down on the ceiling, while another elephant sees them from his bed and then hides himself beneath the blanket from fear. This is one thing many kids did after watching this movie.
- When the lyrics come in for the first time, behind the prancing elephants a large pink rectangle can be seen in the background. Closer inspection reveal this rectangle is actually some kind of doorway with an unbroken tide of pink elephants swarming through it. Not only are the elephants terrifying, there's hundreds of them!
- "What'll I do? What'll I do? What an unusual view!"
- After the belly dancing elephant dissolves a disturbingly realistic eye appears in the middle of the screen, staring back at you. It's the only non-elephant appearing on screen in the entire segment other than a snake that changes into the belly dancer which dissolves into the eye. (The snake in question—a rearing cobra!)
- The music is very creepy as well. But the lyrics, oh boy: "Chase 'em away! Chase 'em away! I'm afraid! Need your aid! Pink Elephants on Parade!"
- The climax! The music for the ballet sequence has an eerie calm, but shifts gears abruptly to Latin jazz as the dancing couple suddenly turns into dozens of identical couples - and then the elephants decide to change into vehicles (with sound effects of whirring motors, ringing bells, and so forth) and the black scene flashes pink as they rush like mad, leading to an explosive conclusion leading to the second to last scene.
- And being a Big-Lipped Alligator Moment, it has no relevance to the plot and is never mentioned again (well, except for a brief mention by Timothy in the next scene when he is woken up by Dandy Crow, and Dandy mocks him for this), leading to a calmer scene where Dumbo wakes up in a tree, learns to fly and get back at the circus. The insanity dissipates as quickly as it came, but leaves even stronger impact than even the ending resolution.
- You think "Pink Elephants on Parade" is scary enough? The Spanish version is named "The Spirits of Terror" ("Las Ánimas del terror"). The lyrics "They're here and there. Pink elephants ev'rywhere" somehow translated to "They are perhaps, relatives of Satan" ("seran quizas, parientes de Satanás"). Below is a translation of the Spanish lyrics, which many find even more sinister than the original version.
Who is it? Who comes?
They start to march, theyll soon be here.
Look at how they jump.
Perhaps
they are
Satans relatives.
Theyre here. Straight to your bed they go, upside down, like acrobats.
What terror they give me! They want to drive me mad!
What will I do? I dont know!
Ill never get drunk again.
He who abuses alcohol, a vision will appear to him
of elephants in color that frighten and give terror.
I, who challenged the Devil and ripped off his tail
These tri-color pachyderms have made me lose my great courage.
(Oh, the horror!)
Leave me alone! I cant take it anymore!
Theyre leaving now
Theyre leaving now
the Spirits of Terror. The spirits
the spirits
the spirits
- The close-up of Casey Junior saying "All aboard, let's go!". That grating voice from the "talking-whistle" effect can be more than a little unnerving. Similarly when he chants "I think I can! I think I can! I think I can!" while climbing up the hill. Averted in most dubs, which didnt carry over Casey Junior's unique voicing method.
- When the train arrives at the station, it begins to rain. And that's when the roustabouts and the circus elephants board off to begin working on setting up the circus. And as they do their job, the roustabouts begin to sing about how they "slave until we're almost dead". As if that wasn't eerie enough, imagine having to work under these conditions, being forced to unload equipment and doing hard labor in a downpour.
- Additionally, the roustabouts themselves are shown to be faceless and shrouded in darkness.
- And even worse: a pan towards a lantern light shines upon a group of roustabouts, revealing them to be dark-skinned. This brings up Fridge Horror in a big way. The train that employs these black roustabouts is moving through the South, and these dark-skinned laborers are forced to hard work under lousy protocols by their boss.
- And then it begins thundering as well. Jumbo Jr, who was so far having fun playing in the rain, now becomes scared and meek under the flashes of lightning and rumble of noise.
- And to add it all up, the music is composed of harsh wailing, loud trumpets, and sinister gongs.
- Mrs. Jumbo going red-eyed and berserk because she was understandably upset when Dumbo was taken from her after just spending a single moment of playing with her calf causing her to go into an Unstoppable Rage, spanking the brat that played with Dumbo's ears, tossing circus folk and finally dunking the Ringmaster into a barrel of water. In a Real Life situation, Mrs. Jumbo would likely have killed a few workers for even getting close to Dumbo.
- Took years to understand the justice of the humans' reaction. Actual enraged elephants have been known to accidentally trample their own young. Just before he's taken away, Dumbo can be seen stepping and 'dancing' a little to avoid her stamping feet.
- This is why one of the trainers takes Dumbo away from his mother. While it can be considered cruel, it's actually a Pet the Dog moment since it was for Dumbo's safety.
- The disastrous end to the elephants' pyramid routine. The matriarch screams "OUT OF MY WAY, ASSASSIN!" as she chases Dumbo with all the other elephants on top of her. Dumbo trips and we zoom into the matriarch's Oh, Crap! reaction before the elephants knock over the tightrope and tent. Earlier during that same scene, a crowd of silhouetted people in the foreground all scream like a chorus of banshees as they scatter like roaches to escape the oncoming elephants. As the scene cuts to the outside of the tent as it collapses, the crowd is pouring out of the entrances in a solid mass.
- For younger viewers, the humor of the clown scene may go over their heads, and it's just weird enough that it comes off as rather creepy.
- Briefly before the "Subconscious" scene, Timothy is framed (off-screen) as casting a shadow over the Ringmaster not unlike Orlok from
*Nosferatu*. The creepy violin that goes along with it does not help matters.
- A very minor one but during the "Baby Mine" sequence when the hyena pups and their mother are shown sleeping, they briefly laugh in the middle of their sleep, all while making no sound at all. It's bizarrely creepy enough, but what really adds to the creep factor is noticeable in older printings when the mother's mouth is shown as she's doing this, while the rest of her body is mostly bathed in shadow. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Dumbo |
Dumbing of Age / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
*Dumbing of Age* is a simple slice of life webcomic about the lives of college students. What could possibly go wrong? Well, as it turns out, the webcomic can get surprisingly dark without any warning, as plenty of characters are suffering through traumas and / or the aftermath of an abusive upbringing. In general, every time the background panels turn bright red, every ounce of comedy simply vanishes to leave violence and horror in its place. **Unmarked spoilers below.** | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DumbingOfAge |
EarthBound Beginnings / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**WARNING. All the Spoilers below will be unmmarked.**
- The first playable minutes of the game have an oddly sinister feel to them: you're a child sitting in the middle of a sparsely decorated room (with a background track halfway between familiar and nostalgic), when suddenly a lamp tries to kill you, and you must save your sisters (who also have weirdly minimalistic rooms) from another lamp and a Creepy Doll.
- While not nearly as famous as the one in the sequel, the final battle against Giygas is actually pretty terrifying when placed into an appropriate context. If you were playing as a child in 1989, this was probably the very first video game battle you'd experience where everything you thought you knew about playing games doesn't help you. You can try and try with all your might, using all the amazing powers you'd earned during your adventure, but no matter how hard you try, he will just continue mocking your ineptitude, telling you your only options are to give up or die. Coupled with the white-on-black contrast of his sprite, the ear-bleeding eeriness of his "music", and the fact that there's a good chance you're in a dark room, for the NES, that was some pretty unnerving stuff.
- The quest to find Pippi - To start, Pippi runs off somewhere and disappears for a long time, which greatly distresses her mother. When Ninten finds her, she is hiding in a coffin in a cemetery that is occupied by zombies (not to mention, there are three other coffins containing zombies inside them, so first time players will just have to pray that they picked the correct one), and she's totally unprotected. Then there's the fact that she has no father to speak of, which gives off some more horrible implications as to why she ran off in the first place...
- The Rosemary's Mansion is an enormous Haunted House that manages to be dark to the point of almost complete blackness in spite of the numerous torches hanging from the wall. Thanks to the borderline maze-like architecture, you'll probably end up spending a while there as you look for the haunted piano that teaches you the fourth melody, fighting off all kinds of undead mooks on the way and occasionally hearing laughter and even death threats from thin air. The spooky cave music doesn't help, either.
- Once you arrive in Youngtown, the place Ana's mother and many other people in America were supposedly last seen in, you'll notice that, with a few exceptions, all of the adults in the town have disappeared apparently abducted by aliens, leaving only children in the town. The fact that there are mostly only kids, who seem to be younger than Ninten, Ana and Lloyd, in the town is disturbing enough on it's own.
- The fact that the town is mostly only populated by children is just the cherry on top of the cake. The kids clearly
*DO NOT* know how to handle the situation and they all seem terrified about what's happening. Just taking a look at the town is enough to figure this out: without enough adults to take care of the state of the town, weeds and trees have grown all over the place, giving the town a maze-like appearence. Two kids have tried to take up the roles of City Guards by standing in the town's entrace and the swamp that leads to Ellay, but if you attempt to speak with them, they get scared. If they are scared of simple 10-12 year old kids (though, it's hard to blame them considering the situation **and** that they are little kids) imagine if Youngtown had ran the same fate as the western portion of Spookane and got invaded with monsters, which wouldn't be unplausible considering the enemies you encounter later on in the swamp, which is *right next to Youngtown*, on your way to Ellay. And just more food for thought: Youngtown is the only town in the game that lacks hospitals, think about that for a moment.
- But Wait, There's More! If you speak to the town's children, they're all confused and clearly want their parents back, with some of them asking Ninten and co. to play with them. This does nothing but expand the already thick layers of the connotations given in Youngtown already have. The music that plays while in the town clearly reflects the desperate situation these kids are going through.
- The worst part about Youngtown? With the exception of the swamp that leads to Ellay, which is infested with monsters and other hostile creatures, it is completely
**isolated** from the rest of the country because of the bridge connecting the railroad tracks between Union Station in Merrysville with Youngtown being broken. There are a few NPCs in the game that talk about people going to Youngtown and never been heard from again, but what almost **NO ONE** knows is that most of the kids in Youngtown are alone and isolated from the rest of the world.
- The whole reason Ninten's family got involved with PSI and the aliens in the first place is because his great-grandparents, George and Maria, suddenly disappeared without a trace. Then, two years(!) later, George suddenly reappeared and became obsessed with studying PSI, while Maria was never seen again. Near the end of the game, Queen Mary of Magicant is revealed to be Maria once she remembers the Eight Melodies and her relationship to Giygas; she then disappears to join George in Heaven, causing all of Magicant to disappear as well (which is another type of scary). The real scary part of all this is that while we know the basic details of George and Maria's story, we never find out what exactly happened that caused George to flee with the knowledge of PSI...or what happened to Maria, and how Magicant came to be. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EarthBoundBeginnings |
Dune (2021) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
In this adaptation, Duke Leto wisely puts on his shield before going to check on the injured woman (soon found to be Shadout Mapes) when he senses something wrong in the middle of the night and gets shot in the back by Dr. Yueh. The shield manages to stop the paralytic dart from striking his skin, for a few seconds, leaving him a few extra moments of agony as he tries frantically to grab the dart before it finishes penetrating the shield. The dart's trajectory landed right where he was unable to reach it, leaving him futilely trying to save himself.
The Baron is significantly thinner than how he is described in the novel, but where he lacks in morbid obesity he makes up for in looking absolutely terrifying, resembling a grotesque, hairless mix between Emperor Palpatine and Sydney Greenstreet. His anti-gravity suspensors are no longer strapped to his body, but implanted in his spine, with a distinctive bone cracking sound each time they are activated. His long robes make him appear more like a giant, moving shadow and his voice sounds like Marlon Brando with a throat full of gravel.
Baron Harkonnen: I said Iwould not harm them and I shall not. But Arrakis is Arrakis and the desert takes the weak. My desert. My Arrakis. My Dune.
Rabban's outrage at the forced end to the Harkonnen's occupation of Arrakis is very startling, leaving no mistake that he is a petulant, unstable tyrant.
In the Harkonnen throne room, there's an eight-legged black ... thing which looks like it escaped from one of H. R. Giger's nightmares, which seems to be kept as a pet by the Baron or Piter. The Harkonnen servants—who are all bald and eerily thin, with white skin, no fingernails and solid black eyes — also look distinctly alien. Some wear strange gags over their mouths, and react twitchily and deferentially to the Harkonnens' actions, implying a history of brutal treatment from their superiors.
Speaking of the "thing" above, it's possible that the creature is not an alien, but a mutated human. It has no features (eyes, mouth, nose, etc) but an oddly human-shaped head, and at the end of each limb is a humanoid hand. Considering how depraved the Harkonnen family is, it's not too far-fetched to assume that their "pet" is either: A) A genetically manipulated human clone, or B) A human who was turned into that thing (especially considering it understands human speech enough to be affected by Gaius Helen Mohiam's Compelling Voice).
The depiction of Giedi Prime itself goes beyond stark and straight into terrifying. A completely industrialized world, every scrap of green and life has been chewed up and replaced by stone, concrete, and metal. Smoke and smog hangs over everything and while the palace of Caladan looks regal and stately, the gigantic ziggurats of the Harkonnen look like looming mausoleums.
We get a shot of a Harkonnen agent who was bricked up into a wall, just so that he could release a hunter-seeker drone in an attempt to kill Paul. Claustrophobia (a character states that the agent was cemented into the wall for six weeks) and the Paranoia Fuel of a hidden attacker anywhere within a building, all in one package.
For that matter, the hunter-seeker itself. It looks less like a drone and more like a gigantic mosquito, even more so when it flies right up to Paul's eye, and then it darts extremely quickly straight at Shadout Mapes when she tries to enter the room unaware of its presence. Fortunately, this gives Paul the opening he needs to crush it.
The Sardaukar are pretty unsettling. They're portrayed like a cult of Blood Knights who practice Human Sacrifice (with a shot of the many people who get sacrificed) to mark their foreheads with blood before going to battle. They also have a Black Speech as language, which is made creepier due to the actors actually speaking the lines given in English (read their lips) while being overdubbed, creating an uncanny valley effect since their voices don't quite sync with their mouth movements.
The Sardaukar muezzin's chant is not subtitled, but only hearing it sends a chill down the spine. Not only due to the distorted, gastric overtones, or just the question or what might he be saying, but also to the sheer creepiness of the entire ceremony. The only hint the audience is given is that the opening words of the muezzin's chant are the thunderous and guttural first words of the film: "dreams are messages from the deep."
The overdubbing of the Sardaukar might be intentional — Villeneuve wants the Sardaukar to be unnerving and uncanny, as in the book they are described as such even although Herbert never explains why. Here Villeneuve gives a good representation that makes the audience feel unnerved by the Sardaukar. Their Black Speech includes when they signal to each other in the cistern, sounding like Orcs or Ringwraiths more than humans.
During the assault on Arrakeen, while the Harkonnen and Atreides forces shout battlecries and yell during the fighting, the Sardaukar have the unsettling habit of silently and slowly descending from unseen perches to sneak up on their prey.
The Harkonnen army, who were otherwise getting torn apart, utterly demolishes the Atreides forces with the help of a traitorous Doctor Yueh's sabotage and three battalions of Sardaukar soldiers.
The depiction of laser weaponry, both during the Harkonnen/Sardaukar assault on Arrakeen, and later on during the attack on Liet-Kynes' ecology station. The beams look thin and not overly powerful, but they rapidly pierce through every substance they face and come very close to bisecting Paul, Jessica and Liet-Kynes when the trio try to elude the Sardaukar and escape the ecology station.
The effects of the Deadly Gas in Duke Leto's fake tooth are portrayed as much more graphic than in earlier adaptations. Not only does the gas suffocate its victims, it also corrodes their skin and eats away their eyeballs (We Hardly Knew Ye, Piter). It's implied that Baron Harkonnen had to go through extensive surgical reconstruction after barely surviving the incident. The imagery of the Baron coughing and wheezing on the ceiling with the corpses of Piter and Duke Leto below is sufficiently unsettling.
The Baron's oil bath, which he uses to heal himself after his botched assassination attempt. The sight of his elephantine body, glistening black from the stuff is particularly unnerving. It is from this bath that he gives Rabban the order for the gloves to come off.
Glossu-Rabban: And the Fremen? Baron Harkonnen:Kill them all. (Submerges himself)
While the Baron and Rabban are speaking, you can hear screams in the backround. Presumably from Atreides personnel being tortured.
Paul's visions, while occasionally helpful and showing Paul's future love Chani, are just as often nightmarish. Special mention goes to his vision of the holy war that will be waged in his name—while nothing too explicitly violent is shown, the fact that it's enough to demolish Paul's otherwise-impenetrable composure and leave him panicked, shaking and crying is certainly unnerving. One vision shows a pile of charred, burning corpses and another shows Chani sauntering across the desert with a hand soaked in blood.
Paul: It's coming. I see a holy war spreading across the universe like unquenchable fire. A warrior religion that waves the Atreides banner in my father's name. Fanatical legions worshipping at the shrine of my father's skull. A WAR IN MY NAME!!Everyone shouting my name!!
The makers of the film spent over a year perfecting the design of the Sand Worms to make sure they looked as intimidating and prehistoric as possible. They succeeded. For one, they have large baleen-like structures in their mouths which make it resemble a giant staring eye.
There's also a realistic consequence to the movement of such a large, powerful subterranean creature witnessed in the attack on the spice harvester. Sandworms are so massive that as they approach the surface of the desert, they cause soil liquefaction. Trying to run from a giant underground monster is bad enough, now try doing it when the sand you're standing on starts behaving like water.
Our first true demonstration of the Bene Gesserit Voice, when the Reverend Mother orders Paul to come to her and kneel. He seems to just appear that way almost instantly, as though dragged on a leash, fully making clear how much it overrides your own will so you're not even aware of time passing until you've complied. Just like this website.
After Paul and Jessica have been captured by Harkonnen forces, the pilots onboard casually discuss the idea of forcing themselves on Jessica.
Deaf Harkonnen: Let's feed the kid to the worms and give her a long goodbye.
Paul: Don't you dare touch my mother.
Harkonnen Soldier: (smacks Paul HARD across the face)
Deaf Harkonnen: Don't talk!
The Harkonnen invasion of Arrakeen looks appropriately hellish. Atreides frigates are turned into blazing fireballs from shield-penetrating bombs, Rabban personally decapitates rows of Atreides officers beneath burning date trees and it's all topped off with a Harkonnen frigate carpet-bombing the city with its entire stock of missiles. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Dune2021 |
Dungeon Fighter Online / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Puppet Museum. Notice every one of the statues of Dungeon Fighters you beat into oblivion? Every single one was a human Dungeon Fighter. Just. Like. You.
- As a Brick Joke, Serpentina has the aforementioned statues in her room at the Abandoned Mine, and can also summon them.
- GBL members were all mind controlled by Lotus, which can happen to you unless you wear a particular item which requires a protracted quest to get. This item is not required to do actual dungeon runs against Lotus but has some neat special effects.
- You actually
*do* end up mind controlled by Lotus at some point in the story, and you end up murdering poor Lenny as she tries to snap you out of it.
- Various Metastasis areas have elements of this as you visit areas that were affected by it, most of them being formerly peaceful areas.
- The Reshpon, Village of Pain dungeon, unlike many other dungeons, the background music is a slow and melancholic piano track in contrast to the many upbeat or dramatic rock themes. The dungeon is mainly a dark empty village filled with re-animated corpses infected by Delezie's Black Plague.
- DFOG's Jane Doe event during July 12-July 26 2016 involved Delilah and Gabriel being randomly replaced with a Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl whenever you complete a dungeon, to make it worse, clicking on her has a random chance of her jumping out towards you!
- The Invasion on 8-bit event has you saving a pixelated "Strange Seria" from an equally pixelated Natram. Roughly one in three times, Strange Seria's sprite will start glitching out and zipping out of and into the screen, which is already slightly unnerving in and of itself, but ||Jane Doe rarely appears in her place every once in a while.||
- The Harlem update introduces the Kashipa criminal organization, which (among other things) runs an extensive slave trade and regularly abuses or outright kills them for disobeying. Even their own members are not immune to getting killed by their superiors if it suits them.
- The final boss of the Harlem area, high-ranking Kashipa member Ricardo the Heartbreaker, is a walking example of Nightmare Fuel by himself. He's not even an Apostle! Looking much like his
*Cyphers* counterpart except younger, his portrait features a grin that just borders on a Psychotic Smirk - fitting, considering he kills and takes whatever he pleases. ||This gets taken up to eleven when a video cutscene reveals that Cyphers!Ricardo is really just a host for the real one, who then proceeds to *rip through his host's chest cavity from the inside with his bare hands*! As if that weren't enough, he can do this *to the player*!||
- Pandemonium War, a raid-like dungeon with the Kashipa in the spotlight, has every boss featured in the Harlem area and Operation: Hope turned into robots by the former Empyrean Kartel Mad Scientist Gizel. Well,
*almost* everyone - White Rust Sisely (the female Mage with the rabbit doll) got turned into... whatever the hell this thing is. And given all the forbidden experimentation she's done, *it's likely that she did that to herself*. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DungeonFighterOnline |
Dungeons & Dragons / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Troper Tales are no longer accepted on TV Tropes.
Any examples for this must be taken from published
*Dungeons & Dragons* material, not your personal experiences in a game.
See
*Pathfinder*, *Ravenloft*, *Dark Sun* and *Scarred Lands* for those particular settings.
- In
*AD&D* standard 2nd edition, minotaurs are usually held captive in labyrinths by "an evil wizard or a tyrant" and are often provided "prisoners and slaves on a regular basis." "Minotaurs [also] breed with human females to produce offspring, which are male minotaurs." It is unlikely that these human females consented to sex.
- The mimic is a shapeshifter which can disguise itself as anything made from stone or wood. Traditionally depicted as chests, they can also appear as doors or stonework. Touch them and you're stuck to their natural adhesive, and they beat you to death with their pseudopods. Metal Mimics can imitate metal as well, illuminate themselves, and disguise themselves as valuable artifacts. Thankfully, their "eyes" are vulnerable to sunlight. House Hunters don't have the sunlight vulnerability, and can disguise themselves as a
*building*, including light and noises. Several usually work together to form a "village". And then 2nd Ed rolls around...
- Even worse in 4th edition. Item-mimics are the juvenile stage. Adults pretend to be
*people.*
- The Ooze is a gelatinous Blob Monster whose main method of attack is to
*digest you alive*. The 3.5 *Monster Manual* has a particularly demonstrative picture of a poor chap who fell victim to the monster's grasp...
- Vargouilles are essentially flocks of flying Shrunken Heads that kiss you and, if you aren't quickly healed, turn
*you* into a flying Shrunken Head. Not even *you* as in all of you, just your head sprouts wings and breaks off. Added to this is the fact that, while sunlight can delay the transformation, the only cure is a level 3 spell, while the Vargouille is low enough a challenge rating that you may only have level 1 spells available when you encounter it.
- Quippers. Imagine really big piranhas that survive in cold water. Now imagine: you're walking by a pool, and then a giant fish with sharp teeth jumps out and devours you in one big gulp. And they can be anywhere. Paranoia Fuel, anyone?
- The Dharculus is a dual-planar aberration that stalks prey from the Ethereal Plane, then inserts its toothed tentacles into the Material Plane to grab its victim before biting with its enormous maw. Or from an adventuring party's perspective, suddenly six pale, eyeless eel-like things come thrusting at you out of thin air, with the suggestion of a vague something behind them. They grapple one party member, who then jerks and screams as chunks of their flesh disappear in splashes of blood.
- The Tarrasque 48d10+594 hit dice points. You're already dead.
- The Derro were always a race of batshit insane lunatics, but 4th Edition has brought their insanity, and their scariness, up to eleven. Pale, blank-eyed dwarf-like creatures that always cackle and drool no matter what they do, their link to the Far Realm allows them to "warp" their slaves into tentacled monstrosities who barely retain any of their past features or memories. So malicious and mad are they that even the Drow will drop everything and work together to fight the Derro, because they know that if they even so much as let them get a foothold, it could mean the end for them.
- Beside their morbid origins, the Yuan-Ti doesn't stand up much from other evil slaver races such as the Drow... That is, until you find out about the Yuan-Ti Broodguards and how they are made: A captured humanoid is forced to drink a special elixir, after which they transform into a barely sentient lizard-like creature with a compulsion to follow orders, an instinctual hatred of all non-reptilian creatures and an unwavering loyalty for their "Masters", making them the perfect slaves and capable guardians for yuan-ti eggs. Not only is this transformation anything but pleasant, but by the end of it whoever the person was prior to being force-fed the poison is
*dead and gone*, replaced by the obedient reptilian monstrousity their body has become. Only a *wish* or *miracle* spell is able to return a broodguard to its original state after the transformation already took effect, and even then the individual's intelligence is permanently reduced.
- 5th Edition revamped the Nothic from a rather silly-looking cyclopean lizardman to a wizard who pried too deeply into forbidden matters and is now a sadistic Seer able to just
*know* things about the people it observes — it doesn't even need to read your mind, it just *knows*. It deals necrotic damage with its gaze attack, which is to say it can make you rot from the inside out just by looking at you. And nobody knows what they're planning...
- Skulks were creepy enough in 3.5th Edition, the descendants of an ancient empire's "untouchables" caste who underwent a ritual to make them truly beyond notice, able to hide from plain sight, move without leaving tracks, and highly resistant to divination magic, all so they could take murderous revenge on the rest of the human race. Then
*Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes* made them humanoids who went soulless from spending too much time in the Shadowfell, leaving them trackless and permanently invisible unless seen in a mirror... though children under the age of 10 can see a Skulk perfectly. As Mordenkainen himself puts it, "Some children have imaginary friends that their parents can't see. Sometimes these invisible friends aren't imaginary."
- Rot Grubs are parasitic maggots with Lamprey Mouths that feed on flesh and nest in corpses. They move in swarms, and if they burrow into your skin your only chances at survival are to quickly cauterize the wound to stop their spread or to hope that your cleric has any "cure disease" spell prepared. Once they reach the heart, that's it;
**you are dead**. And good luck at getting revived now that your body is a breeding ground for *more* rot grubs that your friends will have to remove if they want any resurrection spell to work on you, risking getting infested themselves as well...
- The Sorrowsworn are personifications of all the negative feelings of people in the Shadowfell: The Hungry, the Lost, the Angry and the Lonely. The portraits make them look like Mooks, but when you look at the CR, each would be a challenge for lv. 10 players. These things are so miserable that you almost feel sorry of them. But don't worry, you can help them. In fact, they're not giving you a choice...
- Boneclaws are the result of the ritual used to create liches going horribly wrong, creating a freakishly powerful, emaciated creature with Absurdly Sharp Claws. These monsters will latch onto the nearest evil being they can find as a servitor, even if the host does not realise it.
*Mordenkainen's Tome of Foes* provides a horrific example in the form of a boneclaw latching onto a *child* and acting on their subconscious desires, leading to it murdering people (most likely commoners who stand no chance against a CR 12 monster) the child dislikes.
-
*Planescape* introduces the Vaath, an intelligent, fiendish wolf-roach which paralyzes prey, then uses a tentacle with a sphincter-mouth on the end to burrow through their flesh and feed on choice organs while the victim is still alive. That's not the worst part - the thing is also telepathic, so it broadcasts its enjoyment of the meal, along with the flavor and texture of what it's eating, to everyone within range, including the victim it's eating. And nobody, not even those from the most vile of cannibalistic cultures, is immune to the horror of learning what their own intestines taste like.
- The 3.5
*Epic Level Handbook* brings us the vastly disturbing Atropal, which is *quite literally* an undead, stillborn godling. Not only is it one of the most potent undead monsters in the game, bits of its sloughed-off flesh can reanimate as less powerful but perhaps even more disgusting Atropal Scions◊. And the 4E version is quite possibly even worse◊.
- Most of the obyriths in the first
*Fiendish Codex* just look *wrong*, for the simple reason that unlike the tanari'ri that rule the Abyss now, the obyriths all predate intelligent life on the Material Plane. Pale Night, however, looks strangely normal, appearing only as a floating, shrouded female figure... well, not quite. That's not her true appearance, or even an illusion - instead her true form is so horrifying that reality itself refuses to accept it, creating a sort of cosmic censor. If she makes the effort to reveal herself, a lucky onlooker's mind goes blank as they cannot comprehend what they're seeing. The *unlucky* ones just die outright, and if revived have no memory of what they saw.
- Lets run through the monstrosities detailed in
*Lords of Madness: The Book of Aberrations*, shall we?
- Aboleths are giant, tentacled eel-things◊ that, on top of being psionic powerhouses, are surrounded by a cloud of mucous that makes other creatures require water to breathe rather than air, and their tentacles drip with slime that turns victims' flesh translucent and forces them to be immersed in water or take damage. They like to use surgically-implanted grafts to improve their enthralled servants' physical capability while making them more susceptible to psionic domination, or create servitor races like amphibious Skum through forced breeding programs. They gain memories from things they eat, and themselves inherit perfect Genetic Memory from their parent, and their parent's parent, and so on through the eons. Aboleths in fact remember a time when they ruled the world, before the current crop of mortal races - or even
*deities* - contested their rule. They're not happy about the current turn of events.
- Also mentioned are the Elder Evils that the aboleths pay homage to, the closest they'll come to worshiping something. They're impossibly ancient, godlike in power, and utterly hostile to all normal life. They're not from the Far Realm. They're from somewhere
*beyond*, and they *created* the Far Realm. The parallels to the entities of the Cthulhu Mythos are quite deliberate.
- While it's mentioned further down that Illithids make Aboleths uncomfortable, the same applies in reverse, as Aboleths cause great fear in Illithid colonies. Imagine a culture based entirely on psionic power, where psychic abilities are part of everyday life. Now imagine that somewhere out in the underdark, there's a
*gigantic* fish monster *that's more powerful than twenty Illithids.* The Aboleths have some of the strongest psionic power in the universe, they're organized, and have only been held back by their solitary way of living. But in the Sea of Stars, there's an entire *city of them* that worships an Aboleth Queen that may as well be a God, and their Chuul armies continue to grow...
- Illithids, better known as Mind Flayers, are lavender-skinned, slimy, psionic Cthulhumanoids that eat brains. In game terms, they can stun victims with a
*mind blast* and then bite their brain out of their skull with a coup de grace attack. They reproduce by inserting a Mind Flayer tadpole into a victim's facial orifice, which then burrows into their head, consumes the victim's brain, and fuses with their nervous system to transform their convulsing body into a new Illithid. Their society is ruled over by giant psychic brains with tentacles, formed out of their own corpses, which can effortlessly detect both any internal treachery or external intruders. Aboleths consider them unsettling because they don't have memories of Mind Flayers' origin, and the reason why is simple - Illithids are from the distant future, where they ruled a universe of dying stars, and shunted themselves to the present time to avoid catastrophe and get jump-started on forging their empire.
- This puts a disturbing twist on the "Illithid Heritage" feats available in the
*Complete Psionic*. In most cases, Heritage Feats reflect an extraordinary ancestor like a dragon or outsider, but in the case of the illithids, it means a character may be the product of the mind flayers' sinister experiments... or, if the traits came about naturally, then they're a distant ancestor of the future illithid species.
- Illithids have a problem - they want to eat as many brains as possible, but it's impractical to "farm" sentient slaves for food, and brain raids never bring back enough prisoners to satisfy everyone. The solution is "performance eating," where one lucky Illithid brings a choice captive to an amphitheater, then eats its brain in front of an audience while psychically broadcasting the sensations of the experience. Hope no infiltrating heroes happened to be passing by during the "show."
- The only thing worse than the Illithid life cycle is what happens when it goes wrong. If a Mind Flayer settlement is raided and destroyed, all the Illithid tadpoles that live in the Elder Brain's pool are left to prey upon each other until one dog-sized tadpole remains. Eventually hunger will drive it to crawl onto land, where it begins hunting small animals of the Underdark, growing with every meal. If it ever manages to take down a sentient creature, eating its brain triggers the normal Illithid growth spurt, but without a host body to fuse with, the tadpole just grows and grows until it's a colossal, tentacle-headed worm capable of spraying acid that liquefies victims except for their brains. These Neothelids are sentient and just as brilliant and psionically-powerful as any Illithid, but ignorant of their heritage, and willing to prey upon their own progenitors.
- The 3.5th Edition
*Monster Manual V* details how a Mind Flayer nautiloid ship set out to explore the furthest reaches of the Astral Plane, accidentally entered the Far Realm, and encountered *something* - a god, a philosophy, it's unclear - called Thoon that profoundly changed them. These Illithids display greater morphology than their base race, are obsessed with gathering a substance they call "quintessence," and use various biomechanical horrors to help with their schemes. Thoon Infiltrators are small clusters of metallic tentacles that act as Puppeteer Parasites, burrowing into a creature, killing it, then replacing its brain and repairing the host body to serve as a spy. They can convert other creatures into Thoon *Thralls* that are similar, except these variant parasites leave the host intact and self-aware, but compelled to obey any Thoon Infiltrator's commands. They're usually forced to undermine their own communities so the Mind Flayers of Thoon can move in and take what they want, and in combat can be made to go into "Overdrive Healing" mode, which causes them to blister and swell as their body heals damage at a supernatural rate... and once their temporary hit points exceed their normal HP total, they explode in a fireball. Not only is this process irreversible and always fatal, but most Thoon Thralls welcome it.
- Beholders are insane, paranoid and xenophobic brings with an array of powerful spell-like abilities and the ability to shut down enemy mages with a cone of antimagic. Some are nearly crippled by the conflict between their rational and intuitive minds, others are "sane" to the extent that they can form complex plans, but all are homicidally hostile toward other Beholders because they look wrong, i.e. different... except in the cases of so-called "Hive Mothers." These Beholders can dominate lesser Beholderkin and force them to cooperate, leading to the terrifying prospect of entire
*cities* of the monsters.
- There's two different accounts of Beholder reproduction, and neither is pleasant. The one from 3.5th Edition describes how a Beholder will spontaneously self-impregnate and gorge itself until its womb - within its head, like all its other organs - swells so that their tongue protrudes grotesquely from their fanged mouth. Then they vomit out this floating womb, which ruptures into a swarm of miniature Beholders. The proud parent scrutinizes its offspring for those that most resemble it and chases them off, then eats the rest for looking wrong. The 5th Edition sourcebook
*Volo's Guide to Monsters* in contrast describes how Beholders can spontaneously create more of their kind simply by having a vivid dream about another Beholder. Sometimes these dreams are mixed with other thoughts, such as musings on the sea or fears of blood loss, which results in Beholder variants such as Eyes of the Deep and the Death Kiss. Other times a Beholder dreams of multiple copies of itself, resulting in a "hive" of Beholders so similar in thought and temperament that they are able to cooperate effectively.
- Neogi are essentially man-sized wolf spiders with eel-like heads and necks, and are the ultimate slave traders, able to psychically enthrall victims, load them up on their spider-shaped starships, and sell their captives on distant worlds. They reproduce by injecting an elderly Neogi with venom and depositing eggs into this "Great Old Master"'s body, causing it to become an enormous, bloated, barely-sentient creature filled with growing Neogi. Then the newborns devour it from the inside out.
- Grells are more or less floating, tentacled, beaked brains that view all of creation as one big smorgasbord. The difference between "civilized" and "feral" Grells isn't whether they eat intelligent beings, it's whether they live in colonies and pursue their alien version of wizardry. The most sophistication they've shown in their interactions with other races is herding captives into a "larder" and letting one lucky soul choose who gets to be eaten next, with the understanding that they'll be saved for last.
- Tsochari are masses of tendrils that covet other species' arcane magic, and are capable of burrowing inside other creatures to act as Puppeteer Parasites. The "lucky" victims are merely ridden, and get to obey the Tsochar's commands or be put through indescribable torment by something writhing within their flesh, while the unlucky ones are devoured from the inside so the Tsochar can inhabit their corpse for as long as it lasts.
- Oh, and there are about a dozen Eldritch Abomination gods like Mak Thuum Ngatha, Tharizdun, and Y'chak, many of which are utterly insane Expies of creatures from H. P. Lovecraft and would gladly crush the universe. These are all supposed to be happening on the same universe.
- There's a reason the
*Book of Vile Darkness* comes with a label about "content intended for mature audiences only," and not just because the book's illustrations are borderline Gorn.
- The book introduces several races of "pure evil." The Vasharans are the Psycho Prototype for the human race, totally incapable of experiencing emotions like love, kindness, remorse, or pity. They're so evil that the only reason their society is able to function is because they're united in their goal of deicide. The Jerren, meanwhile, were an ordinary halfling community that was losing a war against goblins, until they resorted to unholy rites and battle tactics that horrified even the goblins. Now they're Absolute Xenophobes known to ritually sacrifice and devour anyone who enters their lands.
- One of the book's sample NPCs is The Dread Emperor, who keeps children chained to him so that he can gain a minor benefit, and his armor allows him to shunt any damage he takes onto the kids in question - and he's never seen with the same set of children twice. He's also violently insane, and willing to blow apart a village should anyone suggest that he is not in fact the emperor of all he surveys. And of course he fights without restraint should any would-be heroes attempt to rescue one of his child captives.
- The book's spells are no better, with names like
*mind rape*, *wall of eyeballs*, or *rapture of rupture.* Then there's *eternity of torture*, which in addition to causing excruciating pain for as long as it lasts, sustains all the victim's needs such as food, drink, and air, while suspending aging.
- The book also contains the lovely spell
*Apocalypse from the Sky*, which affects everything in a ten-mile radius per caster level - and, being a ninth level spell, the minimum radius is thus *170 miles*. Merely preparing it deals 1d3 Wisdom damage to the caster, and actually casting it deals 3d6 Constitution damage and 4d6 Wisdom Drain to the caster, in addition to the 10d6 damage the spell inflicts to everything in its radius. And if that wasn't bad enough already, the huge amount of deaths it usually causes will call forth Atropus, The World Born Dead, which is detailed below.
- One of the book's "ordinary" magic items is the
*iron maiden of preservation*, which deals 1d6 damage each round to anyone locked inside... and also heals 1d6 damage each round, to prolong the experience. Then there's the major artifact, the *Despoiler of Flesh*, a rod made up of dozens of stitched-together tongues, which are magically-animated and twitch and flex. It functions as a superior *polymorph other* spell, except not only can you change one creature into another, you can change aspects of that creature - swapping arms for tentacles, teeth into toes, adding useless insect legs, whatever your twisted imagination can come up with. Unlike with the *baleful polymorph* spell, the victim gets no save bonus to resist the effect if the new form isn't viable in their current environment, and if they fail their saving throw, they just collapse into a mass of twisted flesh and expire. Oh, and the *Despoiler of Flesh*'s most famous wielder was a despot who lusted for his own daughters, but instead of forcing himself upon them, he transformed captives and slaves into likenesses of his daughters and raped *them* instead.
- Most importantly, the
*Book of Vile Darkness* that this sourcebook is named after? One of the most prominent examples of evil literature? Turns out it got its start when a Vasharan one day decided to start writing a diary of the messed-up things he did. "Big things have small beginnings", indeed.
- The
*Libris Mortis* has some "fun" spells involving necromancy. *Avasculate* is bad enough for making the victim violently purge blood through their skin, but *avascular mass* takes it up a notch by making them purge their blood *vessels* through their flesh, magically animating the mass of arteries and veins, and using it to make a grisly, entangling web of bloody strands. And then there's the *necrotic cyst* line, which starts with creating a little sac of necrotic tissue within a potentially-unsuspecting victim, which can then serve as the focus for nastier spells - using it as a scrying point, using it to dominate the host, using it to damage the host, and so forth. The climax is the spell *necrotic eruption*, which either deals massive damage or kills the cyst's host outright, creating a Skulking Cyst in the process, a free-roaming magical tumor trailing rotting organs behind it.
- Most of the
*Elder Evils* readily qualify for this. It's strongly advised you only read this book in dark rooms, so that you don't have to look at some of the pictures.
- Pandorym? It's an Eldritch Abomination from a reality perpendicular to the game world, and it's going to kill the gods and a fair number of planets too — and Obligatum VII, one of the representatives of universal law, wants to release it to fulfill
*a freaking contract*.
- Father Llymic? He's a monster from the Far Realm who will transform the entire world into ice, transforming most of its inhabitants into hybrids of themselves and insects.
- Father Llymic may not look particularly threatening, but the fluff they built up around him is sheer nightmare fuel. Back when your flavor of ancient magical empire Dug Too Deep, and created a portal to the Far Realm without knowing the consequences. This allowed a number of Far denizens into the Prime Material Plane (and may be the origin of aboleths and similar aberrations in that realm). Thankfully, while the Far Realm is not particularly habitable to us, it turns out the same is true the other way around. Specifically, Llymic is weakened by light, and when he's exposed to it, he radiates extreme cold. The ancient elves exploited this, and imprisoned him in ice on the highest peak of the highest mountain, where the sun's rays would keep him imprisoned forever. He psychically manifests to people as an elderly elf male who points you to the mountain where his body is imprisoned, and may become hostile if ignored. If you spent too much time near him ("near" here means a few kilometers) or come into contact with his spawn, you may be transformed into horrifying ice monsters that worship him feverishly. The scariest part about Llymic, however, may be his signs. It starts out simple. Longer winters, a few people go missing, that sort of thing. This is D&D, where children are kidnapped by wererats every other week, so most people won't notice. Maybe an adventurer or two is sent after them, and get to slay one of Llymic's spawn and call it a day. Over time, the cold gets worse and worse. The glacier on the mountain starts moving at a heightened pace, and the villages nearby become uninhabitable. Llymic's spawn start to spread, and cults form to worship him. When the powers of the land can no longer ignore this, the worst signs become noticeable: Slowly but surely, the sun starts to dim, and magic that produces light stops working. When Llymic fully awakens, the sun has fully gone out.
- Oh, and extra horrifying? Unlike many of the Elder Evils, Llymic does not appear because summoners call him or cults worship him (they do, but that comes later).
*It could happen anytime*.
- Ragnorra? She's a giant wormlike sack of flesh that transforms into a True Mother form, and she not only spawns an infinite stream of crimes against nature that make beholders and mind flayers look pleasant, but The Dragon is a maddened
*zenythri* (for the uninitiated, these are the descendants of humans and beings of *pure law*) who has cut his lips off and replaced them with wriggling flukelike critters.
- Sertrous? He's not so bad by himself, but his manifestation flooding the world with serpents, and he can can never really be defeated, as he's
*already dead*.
- Kyuss, The Worm That Walks? Let's just say you may never look at a worm in the same way again.
- The Hulks of Zoretha? They're multiple, intelligent, and
*nothing* that is alive and thinking can avoid their Hate Plague, so every living creature must spend every waking moment trying not to murder everything in sight.
- And of course let's not forget Zargon, the last member of the devil race before the baatezu. Not only is he a vile-looking creature, but he creates a pool of poisonous slime wherever he goes. Plus, he is pretty much unkillable, as in the gods asked Asmodeus to take him down. Which even he couldn't do in the end, as he couldn't find the pit that you have to pitch Zargon's horn into to actually destroy him for good; it wouldn't hurt to mention that you have to do this within a DAY of taking him down, or that his horn makes him practically indestructible in its own right. Especially the golothoma◊, an eyeball-spider-serpent-thing that eats you with its shadow.
- And finally, there's Atropus. This Elder Evil's moniker is "The World Born Dead" — a godling formed from the figurative afterbirth of the universe that takes the form of an entire
*planet* made out of undead flesh, bone, and corrupted elemental matter. Its surface teems with swarming armies of undead, and Atropus is defined first and foremost by its unquenchable hatred for all life, which sees it roaming the universe, causing a Zombie Apocalypse on any world it approaches, hoping to annihilate all life and replace it with undeath. As if that weren't enough, Atropus takes the form of a planet with a face: a vague, shadowy semblance of a skeletal face, visible from orbit, with a hollow mouth gaping in an eternal scream of hatred.
- Oh, and those Atropals we mentioned earlier? The stillborn gods?
*They all came from Atropus*.
-
*Heroes of Horror*. Exactly What It Says on the Tin: an entire sourcebook for adding Nightmare Fuel to campaigns.
- The Unholy Scion is a horrific little example of Demonic Possession. Usually created when a fiend possesses an unborn baby, the result is truly a Fetus Terrible; it's aware and sentient even in the womb, and has a
*permanent* Charm Person effect on its mother. Naturally, being a demon, it likes to make its host-mother do all sorts of terrible things for its own amusement, something a sadistic Dungeon Master can really have some "fun" with. Imagine a beloved pregnant matriarch whose many loved children are disappearing... and then imagine it's because she's *eating them* at the behest of her unborn child, simply because it amused it. Worse, the mother is perfectly *aware* that what she's doing is wrong, but the unnatural love for her child forced upon her by its powers leaves her helpless to resist.
- And it doesn't get any better when the Scion is born. It just graduates to the position of Enfant Terrible. Now you have the lovely scenario of a perfectly normal baby who uses both its permanently-besotted mother and its own array of Black Magic powers to guard itself until it's physically strong enough to enact its corrupt and sadistic urges.
- Oh, and the icing on the cake? You
*can't* exorcise an Unholy Scion. Attacking a body with such an underdeveloped soul means the fiend effortlessly absorbs the original spirit. From an outside perspective, there's nothing to exorcise. You can only kill it when it's born... or perhaps, before.
- Oh, and it gets worse! See, whilst
*most* Unholy Scions are created through deliberate Demonic Possession by fiends, they can also form *spontaneously*. If a woman happens to conceive through union with a fiend in an area of high Taint, then the result is always an Unholy Scion.
- The sourcebook also comes up with some horrific twists to put on familiar enemies. Consider an arrogant red dragon that wants to create some half-dragon offspring, but insists upon kidnapping humanoid princesses and queens to ensure that he has only the best stock for his Breeding Slaves. Or a community of Illithids so jaded that they have their thralls engage in an orgy of sex and violence while they levitate over the writhing mass of slaves, drinking in their thralls' emotions.
- The book's Taint mechanic can lead to characters being corrupted just by coming into contact with evil creatures, artifacts or locations. Mental corruption starts with things like your aggression giving you a -1 penalty to your Armor Class, or your self-absorption making you always flat-footed at the start of an encounter. Severe mental depravity can make you so murderous that you must always perform a coup de grace when possible, whether against a friend or foe, or so mentally-unbalanced that you are
*confused* during the first round of combat. Then there are the physical symptoms of Taint, the *mildest* of which include cloudy eyes, rotting gums, palsy or a constant fever. *Severe* physical corruption can cause your eyes to rot away and leave behind green lich lights, parasitic worms protruding from your open sores, a black lichen spreading across your skin, or your body simply bloating and swelling with foulness.
-
*Dragon* magazine occasionally got into this too. One issue featured several spells designed to evoke that "insane asylum" feel, up to and including a lobotomy. About the only reason it's possible to sleep after seeing that is to consider the Shout-Out in the opening flavour text features a "Dr Gregorian Ilhousen", a Hilarious in Hindsight moment. note : Ilhousen's an NPC from the *Ravenloft* campaign setting and was most prominently featured in "The Nightmare Lands," a boxed set published in the 1990s, well before "House" ever existed.
-
*Eberron* contains quite a few nasty devices used by the more malicious/insane antagonists:
- The Husk of Infinite Worlds, a magical device used by the daelkyr to create new species of creatures by horribly mutating others. Think of it like a DNA washing machine: creature goes in, gets put on the spin cycle, and if it doesn't immediately dissolve into primordial ooze it pops out in a new, horribly mutated state. Even then, there's only a 1% chance that the new form will be able to survive for longer than fifteen seconds. And if it
*does* survive, the daelkyr in charge will likely just put it in *again* to see if it can mutate into a more interesting form.
- Everything the daelkyr do qualifies as Nightmare Fuel. These are people whose main slave race was created by
*fusing two goblins together*. These are people who bred a variety of abominations to use as clothing, including a suit of armour that's actually a limbless crab. These are the inventors of the aforementioned beholders and mind flayers.
- The Lords of Dust have devices that can turn any creature into a willing slave by pumping them full of magical sand. Here's how the process works: the subject is placed into the device — which resembles a sarcophagus — which is then sealed shut. Suckers emerge from the inside of the device, attach themselves to the victim, then proceed to
*suck out their soul*. Once the body is completely drained, those same suckers pump the empty husk full of magical sand that turns the body into a willing servant of the Lords of Dust. Finally, the victim has a key installed *in their eye socket* that, when turned, will stir up the sand and grant increased strength and speed. The passage mentions that the Lords of Dust particularly love to inflict this fate on their worst enemies. Looks like whomever put these things into Eberron canon liked to watch and/or read Hellboy◊, doesn't it?
- One question posed to the setting creator was "Why do daelkyr look so human?" His response was "The question should be 'Why do humans look so much like daelkyr?'"
- The
*Urban Arcana* campaign setting combines fantasy and realistic settings. It includes familiar monsters from *Dungeons & Dragons*, which is fine...and then there's the new ones. Such as the "Urban Wendigo". A homeless person's bitterness and sense of disconnection from humanity eventually causes them to degenerate into a subhuman, Morlock-like beast that, while still looking essentially human, preys on lost people in the city. And just think: ANY homeless person could be one of them...
- The d20 sourcebook
*Dragonmech*. A D&D type world where the moon has been moved closer and almost all life lives either deep underground or within truly Humongous Mecha , the City-Mechs up to 2000 feet tall, powered by magic, steam, clockwork... slavery, or necromancy. One of the undead 'mechs' is described as being thousands of bodies melded together... but some of the smaller ones are creepier. A meatrack is a metal skeleton with sharpened fingers as its weapons, that is powered by bare muscles attached to the frame. But even the undead ones aren't the worst... one of the character classes is a steampunk cyborg... that modified himself. Break a leg, why wait for it to heal? Hack it off and replace it with some metal... well, now you're lopsided, so you might as well do the other side too... Man, this would be easier if I could change out my hands, why not replace the arms too? Until you're left with a head on a robot body... and the steampunk cyborg did all of the work himself, aside from the implantation of the original small steam engine, was forgotten. The amputation of limbs and replacement with metal, with no mention of any sort of anaesthetic.
- The self-mutilation mentioned above was added as an Artificer feat in 3.5 Eberron, aptly named "Self-forged". As in, a Warforged that forged itself. You keep your original race for a while, but eventually your self-modification will cause your character to become almost entirely Magitek.
- We all know the stars, right? Big balls of light that you see in the sky? Well, in 4th Edition, quite a few of these stars are actually alive, and they are
*not* our friends. These living stars are pretty much Eldritch Abominations that have one goal: annihilate the World and everything on it. Some of them are capable of creating humanoid avatars of their powers. These "Star Spawn" are all horrific in their own right.
- The Herald of Hadar is a corpse-like figure with red orbs for eyes and wicked-fast claws. Worse, all he does is eat, eat and eat. Represented by a fat monster? Nope. The herald of Hadar is clearly
*starving.*
- Like the Herald of Hadar, the Scion of Gibbeth's sole purpose is to eat, but that's not what makes it horrifying. The picture we're given of it shows a pitch black demonic figure encased in an amorphous, corpulent shell, but that's
*still* not what's horrifying about it. No, what *is* horrible about it is that this disgusting, dual-skinned form *isn't the Scion's true form at all*. The Scion of Gibbeth is so alien, so mind shatteringly disgusting and horrific, that no one who sees one ever sees the shape another person would see. Makes Pale Night look like a loving, friendly mother.
- The Maw of Acamar is a giant, human-shaped
*void* that leads into the depths of space, you can clearly see stars, and whole galaxies in the tear. Oh, and what is Acamar? It's implied to be a sentient, evil, black hole. One day, it might eat the world.
- The Spawn of Ulban is a humanoid figure covered in purple chitin. Instead of legs, he's got seven tentacles (still purple). His hands are covered in cold, blue fire. He's more powerful than some gods, and what does he do? He destroys small kingdoms. And no, he isn't a One-Man Army. His sheer psychic presence makes people go crazy. And the worst part is that its master, Ulban, is not himself evil: he's trying to prevent The End of the World as We Know It from happening. But if Ulban isn't evil, then why are his Spawn the way they are? And why can he not hold them back?
- So your players are engaged in a diplomatic endeavor. They are very lucky, 'cause they have one of their nation's best diplomats on their side. With Errol Flynnish good looks, he's the life of the party, and all the while he steers the debates in your favor. But something seems off, he has a weird accent, or odd syntax, or he steps just a little into Uncanny Valley. The PC's investigate. It turns out that this guy just popped up recently, and just in time, as a mysterious plague is sweeping the nation, and the cure lies in the hands of enemies. So this guy comes in to save the day. And then the PC's learn the awful truth: this "friend" is actually a Defector from Decadence, and his enemies are hunting him down. Won't the PCs please protect him? The plague intensifies, and kills a friendly diplomat. The other nation is struck, and refuses the to share the cure. The two nations go to war, while the dead mount. A whole continent is dragged into despair, and as the heroes look on, helpless, a purple star rises in the sky. What happened? Well, the nice diplomat was an alien monster all along. That's an Emissary of Caiphon, one of the more powerful of the star spawn. And Caiphon is revealed in a
*Dragon* article to be the nicest of these things. He is implied to not hate you, he is just curious as to what happens when you remove part of the social foundation. Sometimes he eradicates horrors like, say, slavery, and other times he eradicates entire sentient species.
- The Serpents of Nihal, whose origin reads like an H. P. Lovecraft short story. Once there was a jungle nation, devoted to the evil god of Snakes, assassins, darkness, and poisons. Now, this nation of Aztec Expies searched for more power. So, they opened a gate to Nihal, a
*a star made of snakes*, and the Spiritual Successor to Kyuss up there. What came out? An army of glowing, evil snakes.
- And then there is Allabar, Opener of the Way, the first 4th Edition living star we get a close look at. Remember what Atropus looked like? Well, instead of a face, imagine dozens upon dozens of unblinking eyes, as well as hundreds of rope-like "growths" around its "body." Think the moon, when it's nice and big and clear, so you can see all of the faultlines, valleys and craters. Now imagine every faultline and valley is a huge, thrashing tentacle, and every crater, from the biggest to the smallest, is a never-blinking eye. Imagine that floating in the sky above you at night. Staring at you.
*Hating you.*
- There is something mildly unsettling about the 5th Edition cantrip
*toll the dead*. The sound of a tolling bell is heard out of nowhere, and all of a sudden, the target is missing a chunk of health for no apparent reason. Also, it's necrotic damage, which means it likely damages the very soul of the target.
- The level 9 Warlock/Wizard spell
*imprisonment* is And I Must Scream Incarnate. Buried deep under ground for all eternity? Bound with unbreakable chains? Eternal sleep? Your own, inescapable pocket dimension? Shrunk to the size of a pin and placed in a gemstone for viewing pleasure? Pick your poison. While imprisoned, it's nigh impossible to escape, and the spell negates all forms of teleportation, including planar. Your only hope is that your captor is nice enough to provide a set of conditions for your release (which can be anything from True Love's Kiss to When you agree to do what I say), or your party has a 17th level spell caster available. Or a *Wish* scroll. Of course, Lv. 9 spells are hard to come by. Let's hope you were nice to your teammates.
- The story of the Duergar (pictured above) is that they started obsessing over digging deep under their citadel. This obsession became so strong that they abandoned their temples and left the weak to die while the strong dug on. Turns out they were digging into a
*Mind Flayer colony*. To make it worse, when they finally escaped thanks to their great hero/god Laduguer, the other dwarves had turned their backs on them because they abandoned Moradin. The priests of Moradin even went so far as to accuse the duergar of bringing the illithids upon themselves.
- The psionic power
*mind seed* is a very insidious example. When you use it on someone, if they fail a Will save, you implant a little bit of yourself in their mind. Over the next week, it unfolds, bit by bit. Gradually, they start taking on habits they never had before... but if someone who knows you saw them, they might recognize it. And they don't even notice it. It just feels natural. (For example, if you roll your head to one side before lifting something, they might start doing that, too.) At the end of the week, the seed blossoms... and that person is gone. Completely. Instead, they've become, for all intents and purposes, a perfect copy of *you*, as you were when you used the power on them, but in a different body.
- On the topic of Mind Rape spells, there's also the infamous
*Feeblemind*, which takes the Stupidity-Inducing Attack trope and takes it straight into And I Must Scream territory. If a target is hit with the spell and fails the saving throw, both their Intelligence and Charisma scores are reduced to 1. They can't talk, can't cast magic, and can't understand spoken language. On top of that, if they aren't healed by outside magic, they can only attempt to repeat this saving throw *once a month* (which is going to be hard to begin with, since they now have a -5 modifier in intelligence).
- The spell's description says that it "shatters [the target's] intellect and personality". Let that sink in.
-
*Curse of Strahd* was an attempt to make vampires scary again, with writer Tracy Hickman saying "The vampire we see today exemplifies the polar opposite of the original archetype: the lie that it's okay to enter a romance with an abusive monster because if you love it enough, it will change." By contrast, Strahd does not mess around. The sky is constantly dark, the woods are dying and blighted, the people are constantly miserable and mostly literally soulless, and Strahd's true threat is felt constantly. And if your characters die? Their souls can't even leave for the afterlife, because Strahd's dark power controls everything. *Everything.* Imagine being hunted by a creature where not even death can save you. It's even said in DM notes for the campaign that characters who come back after being killed suffer a level of madness because they realize the implications here.
- Doomed Forgotten Realms is a Villain World where every adventure every adventure Wizards of the Coast ever released resulted in the villain winning, all of them, try to think about the implications of that. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DungeonsAndDragons |
Mother / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**NESS... IT HURTS... IT HURTS...** *Inside the mailbox was absolutely nothing.* *Nothing after nothing came bursting out.*
It may look like another innocent series made by Nintendo... But it's far worse than the outside implies, and delving deep into its subconscious may end up driving you mad. Case in point and putting it short, it might just be the darkest Nintendo series to date, and that's saying a lot.
The first game, MOTHER / EarthBound Beginnings, has its own page here.
**As Moment Pages are Spoilers Off, all spoilers will be unmarked.** **You Have Been Warned.**
- Poo's Mu Training. You're controlling an unfamiliar character who is told to go attend a training session. The training initiates a battle, where an outline of a stylized Chinese-ancestor head appears. It then proceeds to (all in text, mind you) break your legs, tear off your arms, cut off your ears, and take away your eyes. Worst of all, before each step, it asks for confirmation. After each step, your health drops. When you lose your ears, the music cuts off. When your eyes are gone, the whole screen goes blank. The final step reminds the player that all they have remaining to them is their mind—which they are then asked to give up as well.
- The Japanese version is even scarier; where in English the spirit informs you that he will "I shall steal your sight," in Japanese he says he will "crush your eyeballs." See here for the comparison between the Japanese and English versions.
- Wait through the logos for Nintendo, Ape (now Creatures), and Halken (now just HAL Laboratories). Eerie red static flashes on the screen, with a quiet, high-pitched noise, and as the flashing slows down, we see a scene of UFOs shooting lightning at a city. Does This Remind You of Anything? Cue Scare Chord.
- Really, there are some pretty unnerving tunes in this game. Most of it has to do with creating an otherworldly-effect on the atmosphere of certain parts; a good example would be this track.
- The music in Porky's House is pretty scary as well. It starts off normally... then dissolves into cacophonic noises, then a weird carousel theme, and back to the start. It gives the feeling of walking through a house and realizing something is very messed up. Given how abusive the Minch parents are and how unhinged their older son is, it's rather fitting.
- Some players may be frightened when they hear this theme during the Threed Hotel ambush and Magic Cake scenes.
- The Mani-Mani Statue spreads Giygas' influence to plants, animals, and people with questionable intentions, hence why there are humans that attack you. Porky comes from an abusive household, often being physically and emotionally mistreated by both of his parents, and all he ever wanted in life was love from someone,
*anyone*. Seeing as Porky usually shows up wherever the Mani-Mani Statue is, it's easy to make the connection as to why he acts the way he does and why he tries to make Ness' life a living nightmare; his mental health had declined so much that he became an easy target of Giygas' evil influence.
- The whole concept of the Mani-Mani Statue itself is unsettling. It's a device that is able to control plants and animals into turning violent, and shows people with desires of power illusions, thus making them susceptible to Giygas' influence. It's downright chilling to think what someone with an ambition big enough can do once they have fallen under Giygas' evil influence, and the series shows us just that with Porky.
- Threed, anyone? Up until this point, the game has been pretty cheery, and then it drops you into a dark, zombie-infested nightmare where the undead can occasionally even be found walking around near the usually "safe" areas of town, also making it the first level in Earthbound where Dungeon Town is in full effect. Sure, it's all Played for Laughs, but try telling that to a kid.
- Not to mention think of the people in the town, they are in a town that is always night, zombies are roaming around, people with Jack-o-lanterns for heads are causing trouble, living dummies pop out from nowhere and chase you, and everyone is literally trapped there. Threed is a living hell.
- The penultimate level of the game, where your party returns to Onett to find that Giygas's invasion has begun. The whole city is dark and all of the buildings are locked; while the aliens haven't gotten to the town yet, it's only a matter of time.
- Happy Happy Village in general is pretty eerie. The presence of the religious cult in the town makes every one act unnaturally happy and strangely obsessed with the color blue. The creepy music in the town alone sets the mood perfectly, telling you things definitely are not right here. The creepy hooded cult members don't help matters.
- In the Lost Underworld, Ego Orbs can be this, especially on first sight. They move really fast, much faster than the Chomposaur or Wetnosaur. Like most enemies, they can also detect you if they're even partially on-screen, catching careless players off guard, as well as giving them a nasty surprise. Lastly, there's their faces, which easily fall into Uncanny Valley territory and make them suddenly darting toward your position from off-screen all the startling. How would you react if
*this◊* was careening straight towards you?
- The final area of the game, the Cave of the Past, an eerie and melancholic place with a gray fog covering all the place. You find powerful enemies that easily can one-shot half of your party. The music is extremely minimal, and (besides the enemies, all of which are represented by diamond-shaped objects instead of the normal, unique enemy sprites you've seen throughout most of the game) there aren't any characters and only one recharge station, way at the beginning of the area. Then you find the cave where the Devil's Machine lies, at the end of a fleshy, intestine-like corridor, and the whole thing seems to be breathing and pulsating with life.
- How do Ness and his friends get there? In the words of Dr. Andonuts himself, life is demolished in the process of time travelling, which is the reason why he transfers their "brain programs" to robotic bodies so they can travel, while their bodies stay behind, without any guarantee that their spirits will come back to their bodies; this thought can be very terrifying because this means Ness and company are making the greatest sacrifice by renouncing their human bodies, go around in robotic bodies unable to feel pain or anything, and even if they manage to win and come back to the present, they still might be stuck in their robotic bodies forever. Fortunately, it doesn't happen. Upon Giygas' defeat, their spirits go back to their human bodies.
- Last but certainly not least is the one that everyone knows about -
Put simply, he is generally agreed to be the single most terrifying Nintendo villain in all of the company's history, which, considering Nintendo's track record, says **Giygas.** *quite* a bit. He is, of course, the most terrifying part of the game, not to mention the most memorable. After having spent the entire game fighting cartoonish monsters with baseball bats and frying pans, Ness and his friends are now fighting an Eldritch Abomination with a terrifying, amorphous visage that looks like a demonic, ghostly hurricane with a warped, screaming face. The creepy, amorphous, jarring background music (and the dialogue inspired by the creator's trauma of catching a glimpse of a murder scene, which he thought was a rape scene, in a movie as a young child) only adds to this. The fact that most of the rest of the game is so childlike and cartoonish only makes this more frightening, because it seems *so out of place.*
-
*Mother 3* would have a terrifying scene at the final boss fight, but it is cut off. You still can see the unused scenes by special code if you dare...
- Note that some people think they are unused bosses, but Itoi has said in an interview that they are just unused backgrounds.
- You can view a fan concept of what the unused backgrounds and cutscenes would have been like here. Again, if you dare.
- According to Itoi, the final battle was supposed to be a nightmarish sequence similar to the fight against Giygas from EarthBound, except this time with no dialogue. It had to be cut out of the game because it was
*too* nightmarish. The battle backgrounds are theorized to be remnants of this cut sequence.
- Flint's breakdown after learning of Hinawa's death. Home-hittingly scary, isnt it?
- The Ultimate Chimera. After the duel with the Almost-Mecha Lion in the Chimera Laboratory, your fellow Pigmask co-worker alerts you to pretty much get the hell out of a room if you see it, and for good reason: running into it kills you, no ifs, buts, or battles. If that warning doesn't scare you, the next part will: the creepy music will cut out, replaced with background sounds of other Pigmasks fleeing for their lives only to get devoured by that thing. Can you confidently traverse from one room to another knowing that such a powerful creature is loose inside the lab? This is
*when it's safe and the Chimera isn't around*. When the music returns, *then* you have much more reason to worry about your own safety.
- Perhaps even more horrifying, if you
*do* run into it, you get to witness the Ultimate Chimera chomping and crunching on Lucas while the screen turns red.
- Even worse: after you escape the Chimera Lab unscathed, there is a giant, gaping hole on the building to the left of the entrance and an injured Pigmask, implying that the Ultimate Chimera escaped containment and is now out in the wild.
note : Thankfully, you don't encounter it again during normal gameplay until late in Chapter 8. If the whiteboard in the lab is to be believed, the Pigmasks understandably have no intention of getting it back.
- The rather horrific changes that Fassad undergoes. It may look funny to some, but he's been turned into a cyborg who can't even speak anymore because they've replaced his mouth with trumpets, and thus needs a robot interpreter to translate what he is saying. The second time around is even worse.
- How about Chimeras in general? Even the ones that aren't robotic had to undergo a
*lot* of pain to be converted into a chimera. The idea of mixing up random body parts of different animals is really disturbing in itself but it becomes much more worse if you imagine what kind of pain these animals must've endured through the process with their bodies being horribly mutilated and brought back to life with different body parts attached, maybe even having died in the process and becoming empty shells of their former selves, much like the Mecha-Drago.
- The Chimera Lab has a horrifying room containing a table with straps on it, ostensibly to hold down these poor creatures while the variety of sharp implements shown above it do their work.
- After taking into account of how painful the animal mutilations probably were, one can only imagine how painful were the procedures the victim involved in the making of a human Chimera - or rather, the Masked Man - had to undergo. There's even an unused sprite showing the process of how the Masked Man was created... needless to say, it's really unsettling...
- It's even more disturbing if you consider or think about what the Pigmasks say about Butch's place once being a farm, mentioning that there used to be pigs and cows there before it became a Pigmask training faculty. Also, if you walk back up to Alec's cabin, all of the animals that were there before are no longer there. Remember those cute friendly pigs, cows or chickens you spoke to in chapters 1-3? It's possible they became part of the Chimera experiment and have become those Cattlesnakes or Pigtunias or Slitherhens you were just battling!
- Going by that logic, one has to wonder what Fassad ever did with the pigs he got from Butch in exchange for the money he gives him in return.
- The Muttshroom or Dogfish enemies may have silly appearances, but it soon becomes Fridge Horror if you consider that these dogs were probably someone's lost pet. You don't see any other dogs that look like them rather than the generic stray dogs you see wandering around, looking more akin to Boney in appearance, so most likely these were someone's pets. If one takes into account how in Real Life some people actually do in fact take peoples pets or steal them and ship them to research institutions for animal testing and experimenting makes it much more scarier.
- Some of the chimeras designs are so creepy and scary that you can't be blamed if you decided to purposely avoid fighting some of these enemies sometimes. It makes sense to have such a understandable reaction at seeing some of these things at first glance.
- The Slitherhen, the first chimera you'll encounter, can look pretty unnerving at first. It really shows how much things have changed.
- If you have a fear of spiders or deathly terrified of anything spider-like, then the Horsantula is truly the scariest thing you'll come across. Just look at it.◊ Someone hacked off a horse's head and stitched it on top of a gigantic freaking spider's head (not helping matters is that the horse's head looks as if its in pain either), they also killed other horses nearby and ripped off their legs and stitching those to the spider after they had ripped off all eight of the spider's own legs. Then there's also those four big yellow spider eyes staring straight back at you.
- The horrible change that occurs to your hometown. In the beginning it was a peaceful rural town, no one locked their doors, there was no crime, and almost everyone helped one another if the need arose... there was no concept of 'money'. It is only when Fassad introduces the concept of money to Tazmily that the greed starts to spread among the villagers (with Butch being the first victim of this, slowly spreading it to the rest of the neighbours one by one). Then, three years later, it has become much more akin to a modern town, but crime has arisen seeing how there are now police officers in Tazmily who are shocked at the fact that there used to be no police officers before, and the villagers themselves have become much colder and greedier, treating those who refuse to embrace change like outcasts (some people, like Pusher and Elmore, outright tell Lucas that they hate him).
- By the end of Chapter 7, everyone is gone as they have moved to New Pork City. All the doors are locked, and the only people left behind are complaining about their lot. The town is still there, but its soul is sucked away bit, by bit, by bit until everyone's gone.
- Tanetane Island. You have to eat the funky-looking mushrooms, which send you into a trippy world of pink trees and creepy music, plus the occasional mailbox (see page quote). Oh, yes - and all the enemies look like people you know, most notably your father and your allegedly dead brother, one of them even takes up the form of Violet, Kumatora's alter-ego during the time she worked at Club Titiboo. They spout insane dialogue ranging from funny ("I'm going to lick you all up, ice cream!") to threatening ("I'm gonna beat you, boy. Daddy's gonna beat you.") to
*batshit insane* ("Touch my heart. See how it beats in and out? Lucas! There's noooothing to worry about now.")
"Everyone's waiting for you. Everyone's waiting to throw rocks at you, spit on you, and make your life hell. Who's "everyone"...? Everyone you love."
- During the trip, the party can enter an incredibly inviting looking hot spring... but when they enter it, Boney will stand outside of the spring and whimper. Come back when the trip's over, and the reason Boney refused to enter is because it was a pool of stagnant pond water surrounded by garbage and hazardous waste, ew.
- The script for this was rewritten, because the original terrified its creator too much. We don't know what was in the original script, but some fans have posited an interesting possibility; we are told the hallucinations tear at the victims' emotional scars and weaknesses by taking the forms of their loved ones, present or otherwise ...but in the final version of the game,
*Hinawa never shows up...*
- After defeating Miracle Fassad and coming back to the streets of New Pork City, you find that there are now even more people than when you first arrived, which is even lampshaded by one of the NPCS. If you attempt to talk to these people their dialogue will be non-sensical, often limited to only two words, or just repeating the same word twice, not to mention that they always stand on the spot all the time, sometimes even blocking some streets and entrances, thus forcing you to make a detour, and they don't even look at you when you talk to them. Their zombie-like behavior just comes off as creepy and unsettling and just keeps on telling you what you already know: Nothing in New Pork City is as perfect as it seems.
- The People Jars in the Lab area of the Empire Porky Building, with the liquid inside said tubes being stated to
*brainwash* people into liking and supporting Porky's actions. Made all the more disturbing by the fact that you can talk to the people inside them, and they're all quite 'happy' being there. There's even a cow, who will say that it is going to become a wonderful steak. The receptionist of that area even suggests that all those people and animals entered the tubes *on their own free will*. Yeesh.
- When you combine this with the statement above it looks rather easy to make the connection as to why all those people in the streets of New Pork City behave in such an unsettling manner. Yeah, Porky is just
*that* fucked up.
- If you've seen the unused sprites, you can pretty much tell what happened between the prologue and chapter 1. As seen in this vid here. To make matters worse, this happens
*before* the twins were found in the river *while* they were still with Hinawa.
- There is also Porky Minch's original (or unused) death scene. While some people like to see what's coming to him for all he's done, others might find it disturbing when they see him in a sympathetic light. His machine crashes into the ground after his supposed defeat, breaking the glass on it. Porky tries to reach out to get out of it, but he starts to go limp and he dies. What a way to go.
- Speaking of Porky, that's basically nothing compared to his canonical fate. True, he did it to himself and he probably deserved it at this point, but still: he ends up being trapped forever in the Absolutely Safe Capsule. A capsule that will keep whatever's inside it completely immortal, and can never be destroyed or opened from outside
*or from inside*. Even after the death of the sun and possibly *the universe itself, * **Porky Minch will still be alive.**
- Porky's situation provokes chilling thoughts: a little boy trapped in the body of an old man who, by this point, is already the series' equivalent to Dr. Weil.
- The final battle with him is rather horrifying, in and of itself:
Porky sprayed something!
Porky sucked something!
Porky did something!
?!... What did Porky do?
Porky coughed something up!
What did Porky do?
What did Porky do?
- The final battle theme for the Masked Man/Claus is
*incredibly* creepy. It's basically a giant mess of weird sounds, pianos, drums, and at one point, the *Love Theme*.
- Notice how the background gets more and more distorted each time Hinawa interrupts the battle. Really goes to show how insane everything become at this point, as well as implies this is the moment that Claus starts coming back to his senses and his own inner battle begins.
- One of the unused songs (here) was arguably even creepier — in fact, that might be the very reason it remained unused, because it really is disturbing. Even after it was discovered what it is, it's still not clear what it would have actually been
*used* for. It's DCMC's "One, two, three, four!" line slowed down, but it still sounds unsettling at that speed.
- How about the zombies from the canceled N64 version of the game? Here's what they originally looked like◊. Compare that to what we eventually got on the resurrected GBA final version of the game, and most people will agree that they were greatly toned down, since they merely resemble Hinawa and Claus.
- The Empire Porky Building can create a deep sense of unease. The floors are extremely varied in their contents and layout, ranging from indoor pools of hippos (complete with grass and vines), a game show, a futuristic area, dozens of toilets, and even including a large area still under construction. The whole building seems to be an Eldritch Abomination. Compounding how disturbing it is, the player is repeatedly told that whatever floor they are on is the 100th floor, their goal. An air of futility begins to seep in, as the player may begin to wonder if they'll be trapped in this product of Porky's twisted imagination forever.
- Some of the monster designs get really freaky with the Body Horror as the game goes on. Special mention to the Hefty Heads in Argilla Pass, who must've dragged their enlarged heads out of the Uncanny Valley.
- Try entering the Clayman Factory while on your way to Saturn Valley. It's now abandoned, the Pigmasks will attack you and it's all accompanied by this tune.
- The Dur-T Cafe could potentially qualify if you're enough of a germaphobe. Especially when you try to run inside it and are immediately stopped from doing so by one of its waitresses because "you'll kick up the mold spores". The fact that it features some of the most disturbing music in the game (other than Battle Against The Masked Man) doesn't exactly detract from its creepiness either, and neither does its BLAM-ness. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EarthBound |
Earth's Children / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
## All spoilers are unmarkedAs it turns out, even in the Ice Age, it wasnt just Primal Fear you had to worry about.
- The rape scene in
*The Clan of the Cave Bear*. Ayla is just minding her own business when Broud happens upon her and gets the idea of ordering her to have sex with him, purely to show his dominance over her. Ayla is initially compelled to obey, but ultimately can't bring herself to submit to him out of terror and disgust. She tries to run away, prompting Broud to chase her down and brutally beat her until she's physically incapable of fighting or escaping. As if it weren't bad enough that it actually happens, it is largely told from Broud's viewpoint, leading the reader to realize just how depraved and sadistic he is. And then you remember this guy *is going to be responsible for the entire clan someday*. On top of all that, after the first incident, Broud rapes Ayla every day for quite a while afterward. She actually mentions he *waits* for her to get up in the morning so he can attack her. Meanwhile, the whole clan, including Ayla's family, just stand by and do nothing even though they can hear her cries of pain, because they believe it's Broud's right and are merely puzzled that he's showing such an interest in her. Keep in mind that that this is being done to a ten/eleven year old child.
- The visions Ayla has whenever she takes the psychotropic roots considered sacred to the Clan. Not only are they frightening and incoherent, but each time she under its effects, she comes comes close to...well, it's not made entirely clear what would happen, but most characters are under the impression that if she isn't brought back in time, her spirit would be lost inside some great dark 'void', the very prospect of which is terrifying. Her first experience at the Clan Gathering is especially terrifying: not only is she under the effects of datura and an unintentionally-potent sacred drink, she stumbles upon the horrifying scene of Creb and the other mog-gurs stripping pieces of brain from the head of a man "chosen" (i.e. killed) by a Cave Bear, before ritualistically consuming them as a kind of "communion". It essentially causes her mind to snap, only halted when Creb psychically "catches" her as she's falling into the void.
- The death curse, which is used by the Clan to punish severe crimes (or what they perceive as severe crimes). Essentially, anyone who has been cursed with death is considered dead by the Clan. The person is regarded not as a living person, but a lingering spirit. Acknowledging them in any way could encourage the spirit to stay and bring bad luck, so everyone will turn away and ignore the person, even if they stand and scream in their faces. They also burn all the 'dead' person's possessions. Imagine that everyone you've ever known and loved acted as though you were dead, while you're right in front of them and you can get a sense of the impact such a curse has on its victim. Most people eventually give up and die for real. And one of the scariest things about it is that this actually has some basis in reality; there are some real cultures with similar 'death curses' or shunnings that work the same way.
- When Jondalar and Thonolan are attacked by a woolly rhino in
*The Valley of Horses*. Imagine being stuck in the middle of nowhere, with your severely wounded younger brother. No one knows where you are, as far as you know there are no other people nearby who can help, and you dont have the knowledge and materials to treat him. And on top of that, the smell of blood could attract any wild animals lurking nearby and youre basically defenceless. Jondalar - who is still injured but in better shape than Thonolan - is left stumbling around, desperately pleading for anyone to help with little hope of being answered.
- Crossing the glacier, which forms the big climax of the fourth novel. Not only is it freezing, but its completely barren of food and water, the ice is so sharp it can cut horses hooves open, if you run out of supplies youre screwed, it takes days to cross, theres no shelter from the elements and climbing down it can be just as dangerous as going up. And as if that werent bad enough, there are hidden crevices everywhere, which can open up without warning or are basically invisible until youre right in front of them. Falling down one is almost always a death sentence...and Ayla nearly does. Shes only saved because she manages to land on a narrow ledge and has Jondalar with her to pull her up. If shed been alone, or broken a limb, shed be screwed.
- Everything about the Three Sisters Camp. If you're a man, you'll be imprisoned, starved, beaten, denied medical attention, forced to do hard labour and be separated from your female relatives and loved ones. If you're a woman, you have to struggle to find food because your leader has forbidden you from gathering food, you're separated from your male relatives and loved ones - including any sons you might have - who are abused and used to keep you obedient. And if you're caught trying to help them, you'll be severely punished or possibly even killed. Not even children are spared, with boys being locked up in the holding pen too and essentially tortured and permanently injured if they're deemed troublesome. The leader of the camp is an utter psychopath who refuses to take any criticism and won't hesitate to harm or kill anyone who threatens (or whom she perceives as threatening) her rule. She'll either violently kill you outright or slip you poison when you're not expecting it. She's also cut you off from other camps and forbids visitors, leaving you completely isolated and without outside help. Any travellers unfortunate enough to stumble upon the camp will be taken captive and - especially if they're men - tortured and killed for the leader's sick amusement.
- Balderan and his gang of psychos provide plenty of Nightmare Fuel in the sixth book, even if many of their most evil acts were committed off-page. Balderan in particular stands out as being one of the most evil characters in the series, even surpassing
*Broud and Attaroa* in some respects; he's a Serial Rapist and budding Serial Killer who enjoys inflicting pain on innocent people. Many people who encounter him find him deeply unsettling even when he's not committing violent acts, finding that there's just something inherently *wrong* with him. Two incidents stand out in particular. In one Balderan and his gang kidnapped a girl and held her captive for months; it's never stated what exactly happened to her (though considering Balderan's reputation we can make some guesses) and when they finally released her, her mother states she was never the same. In another incident, he attacked a couple while they were away from their cave, killing the woman's mate in front of her when he tried to protect her, gang-raping her for hours and *then* stealing her supplies and leaving her for dead in the woods. When the reader first encounters Balderan, he and his gang had crept up on Ayla and were spying on her while she off relieving herself in the woods. They probably assumed she was alone and its pretty obvious what they planning on doing to her, though luckily Ayla subdues them with help from her companions.
- Ayla being Called by the Earth Mother. She goes on an insane drug trip and runs blindly into a series of caves, with no torches, food or appropriate clothing. After having coming back to her senses, she's lost underground, cold, hungry and completely alone with little hope of finding her way out on her own...and, although she doesnt realize it at the time, shes suffering a miscarriage too, leaving her confused over all the pain and blood in an already terrifying situation. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EarthsChildren |
Earth vs. the Spider / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The scene where a toddler is the sole survivor of the spider's attack. Rather chilling and a first for Hollywood.
- The opening bit, where the dad is probably getting sliced up by the web, is also pretty effective.
- Not to mention the father's corpse when they do find it. The effects person deliberately wanted to invoke the image of a "living Egyptian mummy."
- The incredibly obscure trailer you can only find in the VHS tape 'Fantastic Dinosaurs of the Movies'. It's short, but dear god, the narrator's voice cracks to the same level as the normally silly roars of the spider. Make of that what you will... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EarthVsTheSpider |
Ebola Syndrome / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Open wide...
- Kai's opening massacre, where he stabbed his boss' lackey in the crotch, smash his boss' face in, and (pictured) snip off the mistress' tongue.
- The movie contains tons and tons of Gorn, all which looks absolutely realistic. A bit too realistic for a Nightmare Fuel page, to be honest.
- Kai, despite being a sadistic serial killer who had at least 3 victims even
*before* he contracted the disease. Yet he fled Hong Kong to Johannesburg with absurd ease, and quickly acquainted himself with the staff of that Chinese restaurant in Jo'berg. The fact that this mass-murderer looks like your average Joe probably helps.
- How Kai got infected with Ebola in the first place: having sex with a woman dying of the Ebola disease.
- There is a graphic close-up of two decomposing, rotting corpses being dissected in the aftermath of the outbreak.
- Lily probably got hit worst; she gave her old friend and former university mate, Kai, shelter, oblivious that he is a Serial Killer responsible for five deaths, the outbreak of Ebola in Johannesburg, and he's hanging
*right next to her little daughter*.
- Also, Hong Kong is one of the last places on Earth you'd expect for an outbreak of Ebola to occur. But it
*did* in the ending, specifically because Kai, who started the outbreak in Jo'berg, then fled back to Hong Kong and brought the disease with him. The film ends with a Downer Ending where untold dozens — if not hundreds — of people in Hong Kong will fall to the same disease as well. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EbolaSyndrome |
EC Comics / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
And this was a
*toned down* version of the original idea for the cover!
EC made their marks on comic book history with such wholesome, family friendly fare like
*Tales From The Crypt*, *The Haunt Of Fear* and *The Vault Of Horror*, with all that ensues.
Because William Gaines essentially gave the writers and artists
*Carte Blanche* on what could be put in the comics (even *encouraging* new workers to make their work as morbid as possible in the company's help wanted ads), plenty of brutal violence, gore, body horror, gruesome imagery, sadism, and so on are prominent in the stories—even the tongue in cheek tone set by the series narrators does little to soften the impact. In contrast to the competition and their early, lighter works, EC made some of the scariest comics of their time, and even today, these stories can still freeze your blood. Even issues that don't feature on-screen horrors can still take you by surprise, and their non-horror comics tend to have scary elements as well.
The Tales From The Crypt TV series has its own nightmare fuel page.
# Examples:
- The horror comics absolutely
*adored* using situations where a victim is helplessly trapped for scares, even if it's not the centerpiece of the story. "Lower Berth" ("Tales" #33) has one of the central characters, a mummy named Myranah—her backstory is that she was a servant girl to the Pharaoh's queen, but when she refuses the Pharaoh's advances on her, he severely punishes her by having her wrapped up as a mummy and buried alive.
- "Only Skin Deep" (Tales From The Crypt #38) features a young man who goes to New Orleans and at a costume party meets a woman with a beautiful body, but an old lady's face. The two come and see each other at Mardi Gras every year for five years and fall in love. Eventually the man asks the woman to marry him and they do, with their masks still on. After getting married he keeps trying to get her to take off the mask, but she refuses. He has a dream about being in bed with her and she
*still* has the mask on. He takes the mask off, only to find out that she has the identical face under the mask. He wakes up from the dream and finds that she's **still wearing the mask!** He starts grabbing at her face, trying to take it off and she screams at him not to- but he does anyway. It turns out *she never wore a mask*, and he ends up tearing her whole face off!◊
- You don't even have to open the comics to get a taste of what's inside — "Tales of the Crypt #41" has a cover depicting a man buried alive six feet underground inside a coffin, and he's absolutely terrified at what's going on.
- The story "Collection Completed" from the original
*Tales From The Crypt*. The husband, bored by his retirement and his annoyance at his wife's habit of caring for every stray in the neighborhood takes up a new hobby: taxidermy. When he kills and mounts his wife's pet kitten and seems to take enjoyment in hurting his wife, she kills and stuffs him.
- "The Vault of Horror #27" had a "Grim Fairy Tale" where a tiny kingdom is overrun by rats and the people get fed up and kill most all the rats. The rulers are a pompous King and Queen, who live in a castle whose moat the rats couldn't cross over. The Queen has pet white mice that she loves, and when she learns the townspeople nearly killed all the rats (which were related to her mice), she made it a crime to kill any rat! Furious, the townspeople invaded the castle, captured the royal couple, shoved
*starving rats* straight down their throats and sewed their mouths shut, and then watched as the rats ate their way out!
- "Escape!" ("Vault of Horror #16") features a convict using a nearby coffin to try and escape prison. The first part of his plan goes off without a hitch, but unfortunately for him, the coffin's original occupant was due for a cremation service. Two guards dump the nailed up coffin inside a blazing hot crematorium, causing the convict to helplessly burn alive inside!
- "Let The Punishment Fit the Crime (The Vault Of Horror #33)" by far is the scariest because it could theoretically happen in real life: some parents note their kids holding a funeral, seemingly a game of pretend. They find it weird but not too weird, and they recount or learn how the kids asked about electricity, sentences, judgment, and crimes from the so-called town experts like the undertaker, the electrician and the judge. Then the Wham Line comes: a mother comes rushing to them, frantically asking where her son is. It's revealed in reverse that he stole a doll from one of the girls and refused to return it; the kids considered it kidnapping, put him on trial and executed him by pushing him into a live wire. All thanks to the advice that they received from the adults. As the parents watch in horror, the kids calmly recite a funeral hymn over the coffin. What's worse is that they originally asked their teacher if robbery was a capital offence, and the judge later clarified you would only get the death penalty for kidnapping; the kids
*wanted* the "kidnapper" dead.
- "The Coffin" ("The Haunt of Fear #16"). The climax of the story features a man helplessly stuck inside an automated coffin that was made
*especially* for him. Just barely when he starts calling for help, he gets stabbed with the coffin's needle that completely paralyzes his body, another needle that drains all of the blood away from his body, then yet another needle pumps him full of formaldehyde. And then the mechanical coffin proceeds to bury itself and its occupant...
- "Horror We? How's Bayou?" (Haunt of Fear #17) already has an unsettling premise, plus two truly loathsome sociopaths as villains, but it also features a lot of Body Horror by the climax and ending. When one of the villains, Sidney, is horribly transformed into an unrecognizable monstrosity by Everett's resurrected victims, even Everett is openly horrified at what his brother has become.
"Sidney, or what was ONCE Sidney but is now nothing, more than a confused reorganization of Sidney's dismembered body, stands before him... The upside-down head hanging from the left hip, sobbing...the left leg, sewn to the left shoulder, crooked awkwardly around a make shift crutch... The right leg swaying from the right shoulder... The left arm, erupting from the neck, gesticulating... And the right arm supporting the entire grisly sight..."
- "The Haunt of Fear" #19 features "Foul Play!", one of the most gory and controversial stories EC ever published. It's centered around an evil baseball player who is murdered by the members of the opposing team, and they play a game where they use
*his head* for the ball, his leg as the bat, his intestines to mark the base liner and his own organs to mark the bases. They even use his scalp to dust off home plate! Even the artist for the story, Jack Davis, felt that it went way too far with its gore. Needless to say, bring a barf bag when you read this one.
- EC published many terrifying stories in their time, but few could equal the one that opened "The Haunt of Fear #22", "Wish You Were Here", in sheer, bone-tingling horror. The story features a loving, middle-aged couple on the verge of bankruptcy, who turn to an old jade statuette in their antiques collection said to have the power to grant three wishes. The wife wishes for lots of money, and obtains it shortly thereafter via her husband's life insurance as he dies in a car accident. Devastated, she uses her second wish to bring him back as he was before the accident- only to find that he was
*already* dead at the time due to a heart attack! Finally, she uses her final wish to bring him back to life fully... Only to find her returned husband writhing in pain, as he's already been embalmed and feels formeldahyde burning through his veins. She tries to mercy-kill him, first with a gun and then a kitchen knife, but the pure power of the statue keeps him helplessly trapped in neverending pain! It doesn't stop there. In the most nightmare-inducing endings to any of EC Comics' stories, she is later found by the side of his coffin, having reduced her husband into a bloody mass of flesh in her mad, futile attempts to free him from his sad torment... Cutting... cutting...
- "The Haunt of Fear" had it's own slot reserved for a series of morbid takes on classic fairy tales called "The Crypt-Keeper's Grim Fairy Tale!" Among their stories include a twisted take on the Hansel and Gretel tale (issue #23), in which the little old lady they encounter was never planning to roast them alive— But Hansel and Gretel still ended up shoving the lady into her hot oven, which even shows her painfully burning alive on-panel.
- "Television Terror" from Issue 17 is full to the brim with Nothing Is Scarier. We follow through the lens of a camera as our host slowly goes insane with terror as he ventures further into a haunted house before losing all nerve and hanging himself on live TV. We never see exactly what is terrifying him so much, nor do we see what happened to his companion, but it most certainly is not pretty.
- The series comes right out of the gate with "The Neat Job!" in issue #1. A woman is slowly driven mad by her husband constantly berating her over not being able to keep up with his obsessive organization habits. After she finally snaps and kills him, she carefully dissects and stores every last piece and drop of blood in little labeled jars, just like he'd always demanded.
- "Beauty and the Beach!" (Shock Suspenstories #7); Two husbands grow bitter at how vain their attractive wives are, so one of them decides to freeze her body inside a giant block of plastic, while the other husband straps his wife onto a table in her swimsuit, which then burns her to a crisp using 40 blazing hot sun lamps! No discretion here—you get to see her charred corpse in full view.
- "The October Game" (Shock Suspenstories #9, an adaptation of a short story by Ray Bradbury) has no on-screen gore or violence, but it revels in Nothing Is Scarier. The story is centered around Mitch Wilder, a sociopathic father who hates his own wife and daughter for not giving him a son in his own image, and finds the most horrible way to get even with her! It turns out on Halloween night, his daughter Marion invited her friends over for a party, and after some fun and games, Mitch invites them all to his cellar (called "The Tomb of the Witch") bringing Marion down there first, and then inviting the rest of the kids down. They proceed to play a game in a dark basement where he reveals the witch is dead, but he has the remains of the witch's body to pass around (still played today, though usually called "The Dead Man"; the remains are harmless fakes like peeled-grape "eyes" or noodle "guts"). The mother calls for the daughter and doesn't hear her. "And then...some idiot turned out the lights!" For once, the body parts
*weren't fake...*
- In "The Space Suitors" (Shock Suspenstories #11), a woman and her lover lure the woman's husband to a mining asteroid so that they can kill him and run off together, but in his dying moments, the husband strands them on the asteroid with a remote-control device that sends their spaceship back to earth. Which is why his post-Explosive Decompression face looks disturbingly smug in this nauseating closeup.
- The cover of "Crime Suspenstories #22" (pictured above) has a mad man carrying a bloodied axe with a decapitated woman's head! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ECComics |
Dwarf Fortress / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Despite being in ASCII and not outwardly scary, this game is full of Nightmare Fuel, all of it being mostly Fridge Horror. If your fortress hasn't produced
*some* sort of nightmare fuel by the time you're done with any given fort, you're *clearly* doing something wrong. It's telling that when the game finally arrived on Steam in 2022, it was labelled with the *Psychological Horror* tag.
-
*Dwarf Fortress* players are not exactly the picture of sanity and/or morality, and they're well aware of it. They'll acknowledge how fucked up it is to have a discussion about the best way to capture mermaids in order to start breeding an endless supply to kill and harvest the ever valuable bones from. But they *will* discuss it. This actually bothered *the creator* enough that in a later update he greatly reduced the value of mermaid bones just to stop it.
- The worst part about this, is that money isn't all that important in DF. DF slowly turns players into Dwarves by having them hoard an increasingly valuable treasure for no reason other than they can. Mermaid bones were valuable, but mostly pointless. They did it
*simply for the challenge*.
- The
*worst* part is: really imagine a scheme to capture mermaids, chain them up and force them to produce young, then "air-drown" the young to butcher them for bones.
- There was also the "Most evil/horrific thing you've ever done" thread on the Bay 12 Games forum which was deleted because somebody "won". And it was
*not* the story of the dwarf who broke a child's arms and legs, proceeded to slowly beat the parents to death right in front of the child and then beat the child to death with the corpse of its mother. The story that won is so horrible, even *Dwarf Fortress* players don't like to mention Obok Meatgod. **You have been warned**, though the second half may have been written by someone who isn't the original player.
- Maternal armor:
It's been a long time now since I realized that dorfs bring their babies into battle with them. It's been a slightly shorter time since I started recruiting only female dorfs into my military, and making sure they each had enough time to mill about with male dorfs to be constantly nursing.
- One particular thread suggested to raise dwarf children by throwing them into a pit with 12 years' worth of food and 12 years' worth of feral dogs that will constantly harass and attack the child. The intent here is to max out the dwarves' dodging and combat abilities. The original poster of the thread briefly speculates that the only problem with this strategy might be that some of the children will go berserk due to the abuse. His solution for that, though? Locking the berserk children with the sane ones to save on rabid dogs.
- It is possible for a woman to accidentally hit an enemy with her baby.
- Pretty much everything in the medical system can cause this.
- The health/medical system has had its share of bugs, which is its own cause of Nightmare Fuel. Like your dwarf getting his legs chopped off. Then seeing him still making his way around the fortress doing jobs a few months later, with his legs still missing.
- Or when diagnostics was still horribly broken and a dwarf would spend literally months lying on the floor bleeding out while the doctor totally ignored him. The solution? Build a spike trap under him and continue to spike him until the doctor takes notice of one of his new injuries and drags him to the hospital or he dies.
- The dwarf whose cut on his arm was diagnosed as rotting lungs? The surgeon then removed the dwarf's lungs...the dwarf, obviously, did not survive. Possibly the worst part? This was an experiment to see what happens when you assign a dwarf with no diagnosis skill to be the chief medical dwarf.
- Pretty much any player interaction with lava has a good chance of creating this. Bugs especially, as they have a tendency to create things like perpetually burning puppies or unkillable blizzard men who are still wading through the stuff even as their fat boils off through their eye sockets (yes, boiling fat is quantified by the game). The cherry on top is that, after it's over, your engravers are liable to fill your entire fortress with procedurally generated carvings of people melting.
-
*Tantrum spirals*, a rather famous part of the game before they were removed in the 2014 releases and onward. Urist McCatlady's cat dies. McCatlady proceeds to break Urist McLumberjack's favorite table. Urist McLumberjack proceeds to murder three dwarves. The families of the dead then murder others/break things/begin to riot. Repeat. Once a Tantrum Spiral gained momentum, nothing save for flooding the fort with lava and leaving a few survivors tended to work.
- Procedurally generated monsters (forgotten beasts, titans, nightmares, angels, and demons). Early versions had rather vanilla tentacle demons, but later releases feature such horrors as acid-breathing elephants made out of barf with three eyes and six legs. Thanks to the game's randomization of features for these creatures, it can produce some truly nightmarish eldritch abominations. Mostly, these are usually given a basic animal description, before going completely off the rails. You could face down creatures made of dust, spewing acid, looking like an eight-legged whale.
*For starters.* Explanation : To explain, these are usually based on a normal animal with one or two unusual features (three eyes, one eye, pair of wings, horns, etc), a glob of some random material (vapor, vomit, blood, etc) with one or two different appendages (like tails or wings), or a quadruped/biped made of some sort of metal with some extra features (again, mostly tails or wings)
- Some can be quite unnerving:
- A giant frog-like creature made out of vomit with exposed circulatory system that spits a poison that causes your dwarves' skin to melt
*and* — thanks to implementation of "syndromes" — is *also transmissible*? Geh.
- A huge eyeless cicada with no eyes and branching antennae and a red exoskeleton that spits webs!!
- "A penguin brute, who happens to lack a mouth, has a tail, and "it knows and intones the names of all it encounters"."
"Wait, how does it intone names without a mouth?"
"I don't know, but it still does.
*That's the creepiest part.*"
- The blood of certain forgotten beasts causes body parts it comes in contact with to rot instantly. Cue several dwarves roaming the halls of your fortress in a daze, bleeding and spewing miasma as their bodies rot — while they're still alive — before they swiftly suffocate and die, or sometimes they
*don't* swiftly suffocate and die, sometimes they survive, but all the flesh melts off their feet... but they still have feet and are still walking around despite the fact the rot is slowly moving up to the legs now.
- Be afraid. Be very afraid. The Ass Demons are out there.◊
- A Zinc quadruped with gas that causes rapid bleeding out. Monsters like these need to be taken down in hand-to-hand.
- Sometimes it's possible to get creatures that
*don't make any sense*, like six-legged quadrupeds made of salt that swim in water and magma.
- Angels are even more dangerous than the other three procedural monsters, and carry weapons that are superior even to adamantine weapons. And then there's the thing they guard: A slab containing the true name of a demon, summoned by one of the gods. That's right, the reason why there are demons on the surface, even before the clowns get released from their three-ring circus, is because the gods intentionally put them there.
- A lot of the underground wildlife:
A medium-sized monster walking on two clawed legs. It has two mouths on the ends of a pair of tentacles. It uses its mouths to digest its victims with acid and rows of razor-like teeth.
- Giant Cave Spiders. Not only is there the whole Big Creepy-Crawlies and Giant Spider angle, but they kill dwarves in horrific ways. GCS throws web; dwarf gets immobilized by web; dwarf gets bitten by GCS, therefore getting GCS neurotoxin in their blood, which will start a paralysis syndrome on the dwarf; GCS continues to bite dwarf, who is still conscious but paralyzed; dwarf loses blood, gets closer to asphyxiation due to muscle failure. Repeat this a hundred times, until the dwarf dies of blood loss or asphyxiation. And GCS generally take
**days** to kill a dwarf in this way. Cruel and Unusual Death, anyone?
- Some of them are blatant Captain Ersatz versions of
*Dungeons & Dragons* monsters, but many of those are excellent Nightmare Fuel already. Vargouilles/Hungry heads, anyone?
- Molemarians. Mole rat man torsos on giant mole rat bodies.
- Boatmurdered. In the end, only one sane dwarf is left, who is wearing both adamantine chainmail
*and* plate armour to protect him from the insanity. Everyone else is on a murderous rampage or on fire from burning puppy bodies. The place is a veritable nightmare fuel refinery. Here's a quote straight from one of the players' logs.
"At this point, we have somehow managed to create *THE* root of evil in the dwarven universe. Here is what it must look like from the mountainhomes:
1) Dwarves go to Boatmurdered and disappear.
2) Lava comes out of Boatmurdered and destroys the surrounding environment no less than three times a year.
3) A maniacal dwarven supervillain comes out of Boatmurdered and goes on a killing spree.
Shit, there are probably entire fucking sagas that are being sung about the evil fortress of damnation known as Boatmurdered."
- When you've Dug Too Deep, specifically by following an Adamantine vein until it gets hollow, the game makes it very,
*very* clear you're in for some Fun.
**Horrifying screams come from the darkness below!**
- Evil biomes are full of this, naturally:
- The werewolves, ogres and masses of undead are bad enough, but hey, you can handle it, even when the fish slither out of their pools like something out of
*Gyo*. Then you notice that all the trees and shrubs are dead, too. Then you notice this doesn't stop them from growing. The *Savage* Evil biomes are called "Terrifying" for a reason.
- As of version 31.19, evil biomes sport grass made out of fingers, intestines, and eyes - and, yes, the eyes blink at you.
- Then one of your dwarfs gets possessed and uses some of this 'wood', the bones of one of the 'animals', and a seemingly normal chunk of basalt to make a statue. Of cheese.
- With the 34.01 release, evil biomes are much, MUCH worse, with Made of Evil substances raining down from the sky on your dwarves and spreading disease all over the surface, and fog clouds that make everything they envelop die in horrible, horrible ways. Also, nothing stays dead. Not even butchered animals' skins or severed limbs. Not even if you've already killed them several times. They'll be back again. Then there are the "thralls" and "husks" - creatures that have been turned against all life by evil fog. How scary are they? Oh, they're only so strong that they'll kill
*an entire horde of demons while outnumbered several times over.*
- Occasionally, Toady's comments in the dev log about the more gory moments in testing.
"During the test (a 20 sword free-for-all), a guy got stabbed in the lower body twice, his guts popped out, and then a third guy came up and severed his exposed guts, so that all seems to be working."
"In other news, the dwarf with the
*boiling gold blood*..."
- One forum thread is about a player's military encountering a Forgotten Beast that caused their skin and eyes to rot and permanently paralyzed their peripheral nervous system. Thanks to his effective medical staff the majority of them failed to die from either the rot or any subsequent infection. The result was an eyeless, skinless, Legendary military that, thanks to the nerve paralysis, felt no pain. This either belongs here or on the CMOA page. Probably both.
"Let's expose our military to zombie-dust so they can't feel pain. They don't NEED skin."
- How about the injuries?!? When your arm gets ripped off, what do you think? Well, in
*Dwarf Fortress*, dwarves just keep walking around, leaving a goddamn blood trail on the floor.
- Bronze Colossuses. Huge, nightmarishly fast, and unimaginably strong. Oh, and damn near unkillable. Large parties of adventurers have been reduced to screaming, mangled piles of agony by these monsters. They tend to grab their victims, put their limbs in a lock, then break them. They really don't need to: they could kill most players just by grabbing their heads, and pinching. Consider that for a second: they could kill you instantly, but instead they toy with you until they tire of you, then kill you. They could just strangle you to death (there's pretty much no way you could break their grip), or gouge out your eyes, or many of the other, nastier wrestling moves. Instead, they break your arms and legs before punching you to death. They don't blind you, because they want to see the look in your eyes as you die, and they don't strangle you because they want to hear you scream...
- Some creatures that were modded in fit this trope quite well:
- The Holistic Spawn from Syrupleaf, as seen here◊.
- Corrosion turns the game from a standard fantasy setting into a Zombie Apocalypse setting - gone are the Goblin sieges, instead your settlements have to struggle against the Infected. Just like with unmodded DF's Werebeasts, being bitten by them results in your citizens eventually becoming more Infected. Unlike the Werebeasts, who appear alone, the Infected come in large hordes.
- Dark Ages lives up to its name, and adds many new creatures that will ruthlessly butcher your dwarves. While some are standard fantasy tropes, such as the Orcs and Gnolls, there are more strange horrors - of particular note are the Shadows or the Aboleth - the former are hateful shadows who kill anything and everything, whereas the latter are amphibious horrors from the depths who will convert dead bodies into clones of themselves - better keep that corpse stockpile sealed away!
- What Lurks Below adds themed flora and fauna to the caverns. The first layer isn't so bad - mostly larger and stranger-looking forms of aboveground animals, as well as the occasional ambulatory plant. The potential second layers are where things start getting more creepy - being either inhabited giant insectoids and their conscious, infested drones, or being the home of horribly mutated zombies, ghostly spirits, and skeletal monstrosities. The last layers are even worse, either being filled with organic growths, screaming heads and meat moss, with various horrid abominations calling the place their home, or, alternatively, a hellish landscape with spires of obsidian and various demonic inhabitants, including actual demonic clowns and Four Horsemen expies.
- Lands of Duality, from the man that brought us What Lurks Below. Good biomes aren't so nightmarish, just extremely dangerous thanks to the presence of The Fair Folk and elemental spirits with unclear agendas, though the Seraphs and their servants can be unnerving thanks to their even murkier goals and tendency to assimilate living creatures into seemingly mindless servants, including sentients. Evil biomes, however... if you weren't satisfied with husking clouds and the dead never staying down, they are now crawling with bloodthirsty demons, heavily mutated undead and
*things* from realms not meant to be witnessed by man or dwarf. And that's just the overview; every last kind of biome, from mountains to oceans, has its own flavor of danger.
- Even the more benign mods like My Little Fortress or Rise of the Mushroom Kingdom can be surprisingly shocking, due to well-known creatures like Koopas, Shy Guys and Goombas suddenly engaging in the same type of violence and brutality that everything in normal
*Dwarf Fortress* partakes in. Hell, one of the first playthroughs of the former quickly started off with a cute unicorn mangling several harpies bare-hooved, complete with gouging their eyes out with her horn.
- Adventurecraft adds a few nasty critters among its various changes, but most notably it has shoggoths. Being a blob monster, it's deliberately set up to compensate for how fragile a Blob Monster normally is in DF, making it effectively a Puzzle Boss. But what's worse is the slime, with symptoms set up to mimic a flesh-melting corrosive substance. Even worse, it has very nasty side effects deliberately engineered to trigger if you drink it.
Explanation : This is because localized-only side effects have no effect if ingested, since it doesn't count as being in contact with any bodyparts, so it has to outright specify that it affects the mouth, throat, stomach, etc. on ingestion.
- Toady One's devlog is a fountain of this: "I tried the butcher command in the arena, and the necromancer managed to raise both a skeleton and
*a walking hollow skin*... which I suppose I'll keep since it makes about as much sense as a walking skeleton. So... keep the necromancer away from your raw skin stockpiles, he he he." This is why vegetarian forts are recommended when embarking in evil biomes.
- A topic on the forums was how a dorf baby was killed during a siege and it came back as a ghost. But the ghost baby was still being carried by his grieving mother. Imagine walking down the halls of a fortress and just seeing a mother, in a corner, crying and coddling a cooing, transparent baby. And on that note,
She was attacked by own dead child lately.
- The 2012 release brought us lots of Big Creepy-Crawlies, like giant brown recluses and giant mosquitoes that like to swarm your fort and suck your dwarves dry - one release had a bug that caused hundreds of the latter to spawn at once.
- Night creatures. To put it simply: Vampires get a bonus
*200* Note : That is, their strength, toughness and agility are *doubled* to their physical stats, Werebeasts have a Healing Factor that fixes *everything*, including limbs, and Necromancers can call a Zombie Apocalypse with a thought. And not one of them ages or gets hungry or thirsty or tired (beyond the vampire's need for blood, of course). Imagine trying to fight these guys - even the players are terrified of them, which, if you've been paying attention, is saying a lot.
- Necromancers are bad enough, but if one is killed in fortress mode and isn't interred or memorialized properly, they, like everyone else, can become a ghost to come back and haunt you. What's
*really* creepy is that they **can still raise corpses**... including their own. And then there's the nice little quirk of werebeast limbs raised by necromancers regenerating *entire creatures* on a full moon.
- As of v.40, undead from necromancer sieges carry
*armour and weapons*. Let the sheer terror of that thought work its way into your brain. There are several stories of a single undead swordsman annihilating multiple squads by himself. On the bright side, zombies can now be killed with magma.
- You want some
*literal* Nightmares? Necromancers who worship a deity of nightmares can simply summon them out of thin air into the world; smaller than Forgotten Beasts, but just as procedurally generated and just as opposed to life. And they're fearless, immune to pain, unbreathing Perpetual Motion Monsters that come into this world with actual combat skill. At least they vanish quickly...
- The giant sponge. They seem utterly mundane and harmless until you realize... they have only one body part, no brain, and no blood. Edged weapons only tear it, and blunt weapons serve no purpose but make it mad. And despite seemingly being unable to move, it can push at a dwarf and kill it instantly. Fire cannot kill it, nor can magma. Not even an army of a thousand bronze colossi could destroy this creature. Only through air-drowning it or encasing it in solid stone or ice can it be destroyed. And gods help you if you come across a zombie giant sponge; they're even harder to kill since they don't have to breathe.
- Giant sponge husks anyone?
- As someone on the forums described them, "Without a nervous system, the only thing it can feel is ANGER."
- Giant sponges are killable as of version 0.40.01. On the flip side, the alteration to blunt force mechanics means that their push attack can now mangle or
*explode* body parts, including heads.
- In adventure mode, you will often get told not to stray too far from a village, if you're alone. If you're foolish enough to do that regardless, you start hearing incessant cackling. A few turns later, a gang of bogeymen gangs up on you. They aren't impossible to beat, if you have proper training and decent fighting tactics, but an unprepared adventurer will most likely get beaten to death.
- Fell moods. A dwarf falling into a strange mood is always ominous, but in most cases, supplying the dwarf with the workshop and materials they need resolves the issue and gets you an artifact and a legendary craftsdwarf to show for it. A dwarf who goes into a fell mood, on the other hand, promptly goes out and
*murders* the nearest dwarf, butchers the corpse, and makes their artifact out of the victim's skin or bones.
- STEALTH WEREMAMMOTH! Gets even creepier when you know elephants are actually quite sneaky, their steps completely silent.
- Sometimes dwarves will go insane, often resulting in this. Most would say this signals things have Gone Horribly Wrong, but if you have ever been on the forums you know this means things have Gone Horribly Right.
- Sometimes this means they go berserk, wildly and often brutally slaughtering everything in their path. You see, berserk rage also doubles as a permanent form of the "Enraged!" status, which boosts their strength enough that these dwarves can and will crush bones with their bare hands. If this dwarf happens to be a soldier,
*pray* that your military can get there in time, because they'll carve a bloody path through everything and everyone else.
- Insane dwarves will either starve to death, get put down by the militia or outright commit suicide.
- Suicidal dwarves will typically jump off a cliff, even if they happen to be holding a baby. And they don't care if there's water or
*magma* down there; if it'll kill them, it'll do.
- The simple fact that once a dwarf goes insane, there's no going back. They may as well be dead; their minds will not recover.
- You wouldn't think that having a fully-functional temperature system would be nightmare fuel... until a player figured out how to create a monster that utilized it as a weapon, creating a creature that had a constant body temperature that was the maximum possible in the game. Plants burst into flames just by being near it, but that was only the start. This also meant that weapons and armor literally liquefied and then vaporized off of anyone trying to approach it. And then the Body Horror began, as the blood within their bodies literally began to vaporize as well, and escape through their skin. Once killed, the remains burned, then vaporized, until nothing was left. There were not even bodies left to bury. It was perfectly possible for it to destroy entire populations just by standing still and letting people try to attack it.
- Modded thermonuclear cats that have physical properties which cause them to combust/explode upon spawning.
- A minor one, but modders failing to properly define the body of a creature may result in it being made from essentially nothing (or just straight-up
*not having a body*). However, the structural data is still intact, so this "nothing" can still pick up and wear/wield gear. Also, attempting to get a description of such a creature crashes the game. Imagine what that looks like in-universe...
- The legendary artifact Planepacked contains an ungodly amount of items built into it, and contains what would appear to be the entire history of the world in which it was created. It also includes 73 images of itself, leading one to believe that either the designs engraved upon it are minutely fractal, or that where Planepacked stands, the universe folds.
- Trying to check the weather, time, odour or temperature after death in adventure mode will give some rather eerie messages about the subject. A bit morbid by itself, could it also be hinting at some sort of future afterlife update, considering ghosts and Hell already exist in the game? And what is the game implying by how it's still possible to "feel" being cold and clammy when dead? Thats right: Even death is no release from this nightmare.
"You've lost track of time since your death."
"Being dead is cold and clammy."
"Things smell bad when you are dead."
"There is no sunlight when you are dead."
- In a more mundane vein, the dwarven Kangaroo Court, which can produce some truly epic Miscarriage of Justice such as convicting an animal for murders committed with weapons,
note : Mind you, 'teeth and claws' would, at some considerable stretch, count as 'weapons' under *those* principles... convict someone whom, at the time of the crime, has been long dead, and even convict the **victim** of the crime committed against them. Not for making a false allegation, but for basically committing the crime against themselves. At least when it comes to *this*, the dwarves can actually call out their overseer in their own, unhappy tantrum-starting way if it's overdone.
- In version 0.47.01, before it was fixed in 0.47.02, babies would ride their mother like a horse, directing her movements. Since the baby had no survival instincts, the mother and baby would eventually starve. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DwarfFortress |
Echoes in the Dark / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The description of what Yancy went through during the Knifehead Incident and his absolute horror that his baby brother is alone in the jeager with a vicious kaiju right there. Raleighs account of what happened when Lopez and his team first got him.Wipe him. And Raleigh forgets Yancy, the pain, the endless pit that now resides in his heart. Raleigh forgets it all. Raleigh forgets himself. When Raleigh remembers himself after the test and his reaction to what has happened to him and that there are others going through the same thing. "What have you done to me?" Mako confirms that there are people in the Sentinels. What she finds out about them and the "cold-dark" they hate so much is horrific. Never before has Mako wished that her theory was not proven correct | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EchoesInTheDark |
Durarara!! / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Unmarked spoilers below**.
- The fact that Celty's headless. Mitigated slightly by her Adorkable personality as well as the fact that she's the Only Sane Man of the entire cast of Dysfunction Junction.
- Except after Shinra got stabbed by Saika and then kissed in front of her. She completely turns into this mass of shadows and seeks to get him back, turning into a true monster until she can calm down.
- Shinra's pretty creepy as well. He flat-out admits that he doesn't care if all the humans on the world were killed, as long as Celty is safe.
- Episode 2, "A Lie and a Truth". People who were trolled or scammed online and nearly paid their lives for it will understand.
- Mika Harima's stalking is much creepier in the manga. We're able to see her stalk him in public, probably about a mere meter away and Seiji's thoughts of how disturbed he is by all it. They actually interact through his locked apartment door, Seiji attempting to deter her by shouting how he already has a girlfriend, and the sinister expression Mika has while saying how she doesn't mind because her love for him is real. Even the threat of calling the police doesn't stop her. Several minutes later announcing her presence via an unlocked window. Even with Mika's promise she won't say a word, Seiji smashes her head in with a bat. It's no wonder the anime decided to edit it.
- In the episode "Takes A Sudden Turn", during a forum Saika induced victims start posting various disturbing comments, and the "trolls" can't be blocked off the forum. Suddenly the comments from the trolls start to rabidly post the same comment over and over while Kanra and all the others on the forum are noting its creepiness factor. What did the comment say? "Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom. Mom." This was going on while Anri was getting beaten up by several students. To make matters worse, the Slasher shows up....
- The Psychotic Love Triangle between Seiji, Namie and Mika.
- Izaya, once you get over his charm. He can break you with words and do it while claiming to love humanity. And heaven help you if he actually
*hates* you (except if your name is Shizuo Heiwajima).
- In the anime, his whole orchestrated kidnap of a young girl and attempt to convince her to kill herself.
- Taken up to eleven in the novels and the manga. His extremely sadistic facial expressions in the latter are
*terrifying*.
-
himself, especially with his rage. We're talking about a guy who can lift vending machines out of the ground with ease. And when he is having a particular bad tantrum, he tends to throw heavy objects into the street, which more than likely has either killed or injured random people. **Shizuo Heiwajima**
- Erica and Walker's... other hobbies.
- Again, it's worse [[https://i.imgur.com/9EdUNLX.jpg in the manga◊. Warning: NOT for the weak at heart.]]
- The worst part of it, in the anime at least, is that while Erika and Walker are getting ready to do their thing, they're told not to use gas in the back of the van again (implying that they've done that at least once, and probably more times than that, if there needs to be a repeated warning). And they start brutalizing some poor schmuck while their friends just stand off to the side and drink milk.
- Saika, a Yandere Evil Weapon, that loves humanity. And the way Saika's children are made? By taking control of someone who so much as touches her, she forces them to attack and impregnate any human unfortunate enough to cross their path by slashing them while raving about love like an insane lunatic. In a sense, she has a huge Rape Is Love mentality. Additionally, the wielders of Saika can equally as terrifying as the sword herself.
- Haruna Niekawa. Without a shadow of a doubt! She gives the term Yandere new meaning! Once she becomes possessed by Saika, she slashes up anyone she can to spread Saika's love, including Takashi Nasujima, the poor bastard she's in love with.
- In the anime she shows up at Anri's apartment all all vacant eyed. Scary? Yeah. In the manga, Haruka presents herself as a normal and stable girl when she visits Anri's apartment. However, midway through their conversation about Nasujima, Haruna's demeanor changes to the the unhinged Yandere we all know and fear. It's just as, if not more, unsettling.
- Next is Anri. You normally wouldn't think a cute, seemingly emotionless Shrinking Violet would be dangerous, but she unfortunately has Saika in her head, telling her to cut everyone she meets. How often does that voice tell her to cut Mikado, Masaomi, and everyone else she meets? It's a good thing she knows how to resist the temptation to cut them, otherwise, she might become much worse than Haruna.
- Mikado, once he reveals the well-hidden dark sides of personality, and by that token, Aoba.
- Earthworm.
- Ran Izumii. He's threatened two women at least with rape, and it's heavily implied he raped his little brother, Aoba.
- When Seiji suddenly smashes Mika's face against the wall when she takes a glimpse of Celty's head.
- Mika ends up getting plastic surgery to fix her injuries... and makes herself look exactly like Celty with her head on. Can we say, yikes?
- And then, after it's revealed that Mika is in fact Seiji's stalker and not a human body with a different head attached to it, they stay together even though Seiji keeps telling Mika that he's only staying with her because her face looks like the random head he found so many years ago, and that if he can be reunited with it, she's history. And she just eats this up for some reason.
- Mika thinking to herself about how she wants to crush that head and eat its blood so then Seiji will love her. Also, she's bugged everyone and knows everyone's secrets, even more than Izaya himself. This girl knows everything you're doing at every moment. She knows you secretly started a gang over the internet, she knows you disbanded a gang and don't want anyone to know. And she does this just so she can make sure there are no enemies for Seiji.
- If going by the anime,
*Seiji himself knows this.* And he's *totally okay with it, too.* On the upside, it does seem to imply that their relationship is a genuinely happy one. Or that Seiji has Stockholm Syndrome.
- A young Namie taking showers with Seiji is sickening. Her incestuous love for him is horrifying. We're talking about his own SISTER, who grew up taking care of him, and she actually wants to shatter his trust in her by making babies with him. Talk about mentally scarring stuff here....
- Shinra and Mikado's beatdowns at the hands of the stalker. Especially the sounds Mikado makes as his head is slammed against the wall. These scenes also double as a Tear Jerker. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Durarara |
Dusk Maiden of Amnesia / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The manga opens with the shadowy image of a crying girl and a tale of a girl being sacrificed to protect the school. Now consider that we learn Yuuko was not only sealed in that underground space, but that she also had a broken leg. She died, scared, alone, pleading for help, and in pain.
- Shadow Yuuko
- Somewhere between this and Tear Jerker, the vision Teiichi has while talking with Yuuko. She wasn't murdered quickly; no, she was apparently sealed up in a basement, with a broken leg, and left to die slowly, in the dark and in pain, tearfully pleading for help.
- Episode 4 of the anime gives us our first proper look at Shadow Yuuko as she stands over a sleeping Kirie, displaying a full on Slasher Smile full of dagger-like teeth.
- Episode 5 of the anime, while mostly lighthearted fun, has a really dark Mind Rape-ish segment that feels more in line of
*Puella Magi Madoka Magica* or a Shadow confrontation from the *Persona* games.
- Episode 6: Nice of you to bring back the Human Sacrifice, Murder and Darkess into the anime. Kirishima Yuuko being offered up as a sacrifice for the fictitious monster that she created as part of a Batman Gambit that had Gone Horribly Right. People she thought of as friends were willing to kill her to save their own skin, and the worst part is, there wasn't even any malice towards her when they were going to do it.
- Episode 10. All of episode 10 is either this or Tear Jerker. First person Human Sacrifice is a scary thing. Summary: Teiichi is trapped inside Yuuko's body via memory flashback
*and forced to watch as Yuuko is thrown into a filthy pit and left there, * Let me repeat: TEIICHI IS HELPLESSLY FORCED TO WATCH YUUKO DIE IN THE MOST TRAUMATIC MANNER POSSIBLE. It's a wonder he was still sane afterwards... **as she slowly goes insane and dies of starvation,** with her leg being broken and thus making her essentially immobile on top of it all. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DuskMaidenOfAmnesia |
ECKVA / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The previews for ECKVA (the reboot/retool of Clear Lakes 44) has a heaping of Nightmare Fuel already...
- There are three tweets one the account that read
will you go as far as i have
-i believe none-
-all curious will regret-
- There is also a new website, containing this short poem.
*the home is almost silent*
*in the bed you toss and turn*
''OUTSIDE ARE QUIET FOOTSTEPS
*AS THE HOUSE BEGINS TO BURN* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ECKVA |
Eddsworld / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The 2007 Halloween special has a Jason Voorhees expy killing the boys (except Matt).
- He first chops off the top part of Edd's head, leaving him with his
*brain showing.* **Tord:** Is the coast clear? **Edd:** (turns around to reveal his open brain) Nope. (falls over dead as his bloody brain flies out)
- Tom and Tord think they have the killer fooled, only for him to suddenly
*stab Tom in the stomach with a sword from behind*. Though his reaction to it is kind of funny: **Tom:** What the-?! Since when do axe-wielding maniacs carry around swords? (blood suddenly shoots out, sending Tord flying offscreen) BLAAARGH!
- He then kills Tord by cornering him in the closet, and stabbing him with the spear on the back of his axe.
**Tord:** No, no! (gets stabbed) *Blehhhh.....*
- Before this, Matt accidently falls down the stairs while backing away from the killer. He appears later on though, having survived the fall, only to
*literally die of fright* when he sees his friends as ghosts. It *is* played for laughs, but it's still kinda freaky.
**Matt:** Agggh, ghosts! Agggh, my heart! (dies, also becoming a ghost)
- The boys murdering their killer, which sees his head impaled on sharp rocks at the bottom of a cliff.
- The killer's re-emergence as a ghost (a
*gigantic* one, at that), set to "Night on Bald Mountain".
- The boys and the killer being sucked by the Ghostbusters' ghost traps in the end.
- The opening scene. A pumpkin is thrown at Edd, and his head gets stuck inside it. He then goes to Matt, which gets him scared and he
*hits the pumpkin with a hammer, blowing Edd's head clean off!* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Eddsworld |
Dying Light / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Being a game set in the zombie apocalypse (at least in one city), there's more than a few instances of this.
As any good zombie game should, the game goes to great lengths to hammer home the message that Humans Are the Real Monsters. The most frightening antagonists in the games are the uninfected. Rais is the most obvious example, as he has been referred to as more monstrous than the monsters roaming around, as well as the villains from the sidequests ||Fan Zone and Chasing Past||. One survivor NPC put it best:
Survivor: Why? Because humans are goddamn unpredictable. Biters, you know what they're gonna do. They're gonna bite.
For many gamers, the bomber strain of zombies are walking Jump Scares. They very often appear in tight corridors or rooms, barely make a sound and most of the time, will explode right next to you. They also look horrifying, and will not explode unless you're close enough to them until they start seizing.
Your very first encounter with one of these beasts is in an abandoned building, triggering a brief cutscene in which main protagonist Crane is surprised by a bomber and almost killed by its explosion.
It doesn't help that the game trains a player up to this point to kick or slash at enemies that suddenly appear in close quarters... which will ensure death if the enemy appearing is a bomber. These foes are virtually guaranteed to be fatalJumpScares several times before the player's muscle memory develops the correct reflex for the situation.
The "Harran Virus" ||is a biological weapon created by the GRE|| that is extremely advanced, mutating people into a variety of zombies including virals, toads, goons, volatiles, ||demolishers, screamers, bombers, and several variations of the zombies||. However, the scary part comes with the appearance of ||Volatile nests, dark rooms, caves, tunnels, and even buildings filled with mounds of corpses, and the volatiles are created from these. One side-quest mentioned below deals with this.||
The Virals. Unlike the other infected, which have been taken completely by the infection, these poor souls have been infected by the virus fairly recently, and seem to have a shred of humanity left. Not enough to keep themselves from attacking anybody uninfected nearby in an Unstoppable Rage, but enough so that if you beat them hard enough or even swing at them, they will collapseand beg for mercyor for you to stay back for a few seconds, before the virus takes back control and they turn rabid again.
Fridge Horror sets in when you listen to one of the alert sounds that play when you make enough noise - listen close enough and you can make out a viral screaming "RUN AWAY". Combine that with the fact that Virals never bite, only kick and punch, and you've got a perfect recipe for a Tragic Monster . Someone with enough self control to warn other survivors and keep themselves from biting, but not enough to sate their own blood lust.
And in other regards, they also possess a higher intelligence when it comes to combat. As when you engage them, they can block, dodge and even time their attacks. It's one thing engaging anyone who has recently turned and is going completely psychotic on your ass, it's another when they possess the brainpower to fight you on more even terms. In The Following their intelligence is at an all-time high. They will mimic other biters and shuffle around to try and make you drop your guard before alerting the others, and when mixing in with biters when attacking you, they will hang at the back and nip in to take quick swipes at you before retreating again and letting the other zombies have a turn, and when showing up with other vitals, they will work as a team to bring you down. And as a final note, they will deliberately try to limit your movement when you are fighting a Spitter, Goon or Demolisher.
Sometimes, if you've killed a Viral by cutting off its head, it will continue to flail around for a second before falling over. It makes you wonder just how powerful the virus is if even the quintessential anti-zombie method isn't a perfect solution. Even worse is the possibility that the Viral, rather than its muscles simply refusing to stop twitching, is still alive in the seconds before it finally collapses...
The Demolisher. Imagine The Tank and The Charger from Left 4 Dead combined into one frightening monstrosity. Not only that it is a hulking beast of a monster that is incredibly strong, but it is also very agile and will not hesitate to ram you from across the battlefield with its ear-splitting roar. Coupled with the fact that this thing is also wearing body armor that protects against massive damage, you going to need a lot of strength and a lot of luck.
Late in the game, the Demolisher will become a normal enemy that you can encounter in freeroam. Good luck.
For all the rewards you get for staying out at night, nothing will have the player's pulse start racing like getting noticed by a Volatile. Just one Volatile is bad enough, but it's never just one; that one will make sure every single Volatile within earshot knows you're there, and suddenly you have a whole swarm of one of the most dangerous enemies in the game hot on your heels as you bolt for the nearest safe house. And they're faster than you.
It's hard to decide whether the Volatiles are worse with the flashlight on or off. With it on, they're covered with so many open sores that then look like they've been skinned alive. With it off, the only things that you can see are their eyes, glowing in the dark like some sort of predatory animal.
The Screamers are, by their nature, pretty unnerving, but finding one ||in the bowels of Rais' tower|| is even worse. What was a child doing there in the first place, even before ||Rais got everyone infected to slow down the player||? There really is no possible good answer to that question. The fact that the Screamers don't seem to leave the place where they were when they first turned makes this even worse.
One of the least challenging quarantine zones, an apartment in Old Town, is also by far the most unnerving. Old music plays constantly while you wander the mostly deserted halls, coupled with a child (||a Screamer, which you can find in a room hidden behind a bookshelf||) crying somewhere in the distance. The lights are out, and occasionally locked doors will start to shake as something groans on the other side.
Combines with Tear Jerker once you find the source of the music: ||A radio playing in a room on the top floor where a group of survivors had locked themselves in. No one survived.||
In one of the earliest missions in the Tower, you have to travel to the unsecured 13th floor. Near the windows overlooking Harran, there's an infant's stroller with the infant missing, surrounded by blood. Possibly made worse by the fact that ||there's only one zombie on the 13th floor, the brother of one of the survivors in the Tower. There's a special kind of horror in knowing that your family member was driven insane by disease and killed a child||.
The Fan Zone mission. After being informed that there was someone calling for help in the Fan Zone, Crane goes over there to check it out. Instead he finds bodies and a laptop replaying the message over and over. Then ||the person who set this up reveals himself, an insanepsychopath using the distress call to lure other survivors in, before hunting, torturing and murdering them for sport, which he gleefully reveals to Crane as he scrambles around in the vents in a game of cat-and-mouse against the madman.||
In the sidequest "The Bunker" in Old Town, Crane has to travel to a hotel in the western part of the sector, the Shangri-La. The hotel itself is nothing special from the outside, inside it is a maze of blood stained halls, corpses with their heads missing littering the floor, barricades and all manner of chaos. Zombies locked inside several rooms will attempt to break through when the door is approached. On the ground floor, there is a room filled with chewed up dead bodies, with legs and arms sticking out. It is all very unsettling, especially if visited at night.
In one of those three-story homes just over the hill from the docks, you can faintly hear music from outside. Get inside and on the top floor, you come across the source of the noise: a television set playing cutesy children's music for a show of some kind. Turn around and one of those tall cabinets is seen, left open. Inside is a teddy bear, a blanket, a light, and doodles left on the inner wall. Travel around the other levels and you'll see blood smears all over the place, and yet, the doors are locked and no bodies are inside. Kind of makes you wonder what had gotten in and where the child that had been there has gone...
The Following has one of the worst examples of Kids Are Cruel ever. After hearing a child cry for help over the radio, Crane goes to the warehouse where the kid and his brother are trapped, only to discover it's a trap set by a group of kids to lure people in the warehouse where they have to fight a Demolisher. Once you manage to kill it, the kids run away and you gain access to their base where you see a lot of wallets, telephones and bags, leaving Crane baffled at how many fell into the trap. You will probably want to kill those murderous kids afterward.
There is a side-quest in The Following called "Ascend Over Flesh" that activates when you complete Jasir's "Two Roads Diverged" quest. He tasks you with finding two special herbs inside of a secluded hut owned by Sabit, a survivalist type that Jasir seems to admire. When you're at his hut you'll notice immediately that there's a huge cave-in underneath his hut that has caused the floor to collapse. As you investigate for the herbs you hear a startling sound come from further into the cave, and Kyle is beckoned to investigate. It warns you that it is a Volatile nest and it is brimming with activity, but you press on anyway. As you descend further, you hear Sabit tell you "It Burns...Mercy." Immediately you'll see that Sabit has been transformed into a Volatile breeder, and he's basically begging you to put him out of his misery. Kyle's response upon seeing Sabit, a man who once walked casually around during the night as the dangers of the virus ran rampant, is apt; Holy Fuck indeed.
There's another side-quest in The Following that puts Tragic Monster to a tee. Kyle is instructed to silence the Screamers in the infested town nearby, and so you get to that. But in one of those spots, you hear a child giggling and laughing, and as you draw closer, you can find, in a room, a Screamer staring at the TV and watching a children's program.
The Night Hunter. Thankfully it's a optional encounter, but the first time a player experiences a Night Hunter invasion can be terrifying. Imagine a zombie that can move around like Spider Man and constantly emits piercing howls as it chases you. It possesses a bevy of nearly supernatural powers, including the ability to knock out your UV lights and the ability to summon hordes of lesser zombies. It's strong enough to send a full grown person flying dozens of yards with a single strike and fast enough that outrunning it even in a car is difficult. Also, that screaming? It's echo location. The second you hear it the Hunter knows exactly where you are and there is no way to hide from it.
The worst part is that this is a super powerful monster being controlled by a human, meaning you're not up against some mindless beast. Your opponent is fully capable of planning and outsmarting you, using all of its incredible abilities to ruin every defense you can come up with.
The Sidequest "Where's my Mother?" is horrifying in regards to everything revealed about Salim, the antagonist of the quest, while Harun was callous enough to throw Aida, who had recently been infected, out of the village, he had a point that they had no antizen to treat her, Salim is far worse, Aidas kids run away from the safe zone to find her, when they do, an infected attacks them and bites Yasmina, the daughter, causing them both to be infect, and having to turn to Salim for help, Salim, according to Yasmina, offers both of them Antizen, in exchange for them, in Yasminas words "becoming his puppets" the implications being very clear, and remember Yasmina is a preteen girl who looks no older than 6-7. Yasmina ran away, but Aida couldn't, Crane eventually tracks down where Salim lives, and asks that 1) Salim let Aida go, and 2) to maybe share the Antizen he had, Salim, from behind a window claims that Aida turned and he killed her, and that he has no Antizen, when Crane refuses to back down, Salim sets off an alarm, drawing Virals to attack, after they have been beaten he then tries to take Crane down himself, once you defeat him, you get a key off him, but it unlocks no door inside the building until you notice a trapdoor hidden under a bookcase. upon going down to the basement and unlocking the door, you find Aida, alive and chained up in a room with a bed and bloodstains everywhere, but Aida looks, at least injury wise, unharmed, how many women had Salim tricked with the promise of Antizen to be chained up and had horrific things done to them?
Adding on to this, you find a note from a woman, apparently to the police, who claims that Salim is almost constantly giving looks to young women, and as far as the woman claims, Salim then followed her home, a few days before the note he stepped out infront of her and said "would you like to perform for me?" and then the woman goes on to say that Salim has been noted to buy a lot of locks and chains and keeps asking strange questions, such as how strong a chain would need to be to restrain a human, clearly Salim has been at whatever horrific deeds for a while, or at least preparing to do so.
The Sidequest "Total Security" Is not only nightmare fuel, but also a Tear Jerker with an immense Downer Ending. It begins with Jaffar telling Crane that recently he has been getting radio signals from all over, including a distress signal from a group that left the Tower, led by a man named Hanson, who believed the tower was not secure enough, Jaffar says he hasn't heard from the group in a while, so he asks Crane to go check them out, upon reaching the building the signal came from, Crane notes that the entire scaffolding is electrified, making it impossible to climb, and he goes looking for a way to shut the electric current down, upon which he discovers the dead body of Hanson, being devoured by a group of zombies, Crane then tells Jaffar that it looks like Hanson fell off the building, and either (hopefully) died on impact, or was broken and eaten, he has a set of keys on him, when Crane ascends the building after turning off the power, he finds the group who came with Hanson, all dead, but not by zombies or starvation, a nearby recording device gives you the story, Hanson had set up the grid and switched it on, upon which he fell to his death, the rest of the group, owing to the fact that Hanson didn't trust any of them with keys, left stuck on roof with only enough supplies for a little while, unable to climb down or access the building interior, so, when supplies ran low, they all took cyanide which Hanson had brought with him, opting to die in mass suicide rather than starve or cannibalize the people who died of starving first. 10 people people died, imagine how horrible it must have been stuck on a roof with no food or proper shelter, simply because Hanson didn't trust any of them with keys, despite them trusting him enough to follow him from safety.
The side quest "Chasing Past" involves Crane being given a tape recorder and using it to help him search an apartment complex to learn what caused the trauma of a young boy named Tom. In the recording, Tom talks to somebody named Mike, who is assumed to be his brother, and the two pretend to be detectives in search of their missing father. Tom mentions interrogating a strange man who lives in flat number three, in which Mike goes off on his own to search the basement where said flat is found. The recording then ends with Tom going to flat number three himself to search for Mike, only to let out a scream of fright. When Crane investigates the flat, he finds blood stains all over the floor and a table with a dead dog and various human remains on it. From his investigation, Crane learns that Mike was in fact not Tom's brother but his dog, who was killed alongside his father by a cannibalistic apartment tenant. Oh, and when Crane picks up Mike's collar, said tenant bursts in through the door and tries to kill Crane all while yelling "MEAT!" | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DyingLight |
EDENS ZERO / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
There are some people in the cosmos that you just shouldn't mess with...
Sure, Mashima could dip into some dark territory now and then in
*Fairy Tail*, but it was mostly light-hearted fun. Surely this series has to be the same, right?
HA HA HANo.
This page is under construction.
- The Chronophage, both in design and in concept, is like something out of a nightmare. It's a pure black Energy Being in the vague shape of a serpentine dragon with no defining characteristics besides a maw of jagged teeth, drifting through space to feast on the time of planets, which erases anyone unlucky or stupid enough to stay on them. This isn't so bad for planets like Norma, where its citizens had enough time and resources to evacuation. But as is shown to be the case with Guilst, they can strike with little to no warning at all, to speak nothing of any civilizations with no means of space travel whatsoever. And even if you're fortunate enough to have still been on the planet at the point where its history is rewound, it wouldn't be "you" at all; it'd be a copy of who you were in the past, meaning you'd have to get out of their way if you want to survive—which is all anyone
*can* do, as there's no way of stopping the monster or reversing its effects.
- The anime gives alternative shots of the Chronophage's approach towards and consumption of Guilst. From the surface, it looks like a stain of blackness growing and gradually covering the sky. Then when it finally comes, its jaws unhinge like and the planet is immersed in a Blank White Void as the black vortex of its body envelops it. The soundtrack's abrupt fade-out, with no sound but Xiaomei's voice-over narrating the calamity, helps make the scene all the more eerie.
- Drakken Joe is a Card-Carrying Loan Shark who always looks for ways to wring money out of people so long as they have the tiniest bit of value to him. Problem is, almost all of these ways involve a Fate Worse than Death, because killing others means they can't make his money back. And if that weren't bad enough, he's also one of the top six most formidable warriors in the cosmos, so there'd be little hope of any ordinary person ever beating him through sheer force alone. Because of this, the lengths he'd go to get what he wants lead to some of the most disturbing, nightmarishly cruel scenes not just in the series, but anything Mashima has written in years.
- In his introductory scene, he's shown shaking some poor sap down after already stripping him to his boxers and shoving a glass bottle into his mouth for failing to pay back a loan worth millions. At first, Drakken tortures the guy by turning the bottle—still in his mouth—into ore that's so heavy it cracks the floor beneath him, yet miraculously his skull and spine don't crack. Then, after determining the guy doesn't need his mouth to earn money, he
*smashes the glass bottle with his foot*, treating us to a lovely shot of the guy shrieking in agony, his teeth broken and mouth shredded with shards. And we're left knowing this is only the *beginning* of whatever fate the guy's about to go through as Drakken has him escorted away to slave off his debt...
## Intro arc
## Norma arc
## Skull Fairy arc
## Guilst arc
## Digitalis arc
## Mildian arc
## Sun Jewel arc
## Belial Gore arc
## Edens One arc
## Red Cave arc
## Foresta arc
## Sandra arc
## Nero 66 arc
- Lyra seems like your average cheeky teen with a garish fashion sense, but as her game of "Lost Card" unfolds, she's shown to be a truly disturbed girl. The rules of the game are standard Fanservice fare where every wrong answer costs the player a piece of their clothes, but the kicker is that the first to lose all their clothes also loses a body part. Not only does she look
*happy* about this, but she later reveals to Rebecca—with a creepy and disturbing grin—that she's played this game over a hundred times and only lost once to Nero (which cost her her left eye), and is just as eager to take Rebecca's legs.
- When Shiki's group comes to rescue Witch from Shura's torture, they find the prince proudly standing over her badly beaten body, with a chunk missing from her abdomen.
- Ziggy's face when he shows up on screen to tell Shiki he's made the wrong choice. That eye is haunting.
- The state of Rebecca's body after her futile attempts to reverse time and rescue Witch. A quarter of her body is cracking like porcelain meaning that she jumped multiple times past her normal limit. Even just a small crack caused her intense pain before, so there's no telling how much agony she put herself through to try and save her friend, only to find out she couldn't.
## X495 arc
## Lendard Arc
- The implication that the Shining Stars and Dark Stars all used to be human before being converted into androids based on the memories Shiki drew into himself via his gravity. What's truly scary is the androids themselves have no recollection of this, meaning they had their memories erased after the fact.
- Deadend Crow being a 400 meter tall mechanical colossus that dwarfs even the Edens Zero and he EATS humans.
- Acnoella seemingly controls every dragon in the cosmos. With that kind of power, she could easily destroy an entire planet.
- Killer's suicide attack on Hermit after his defeat. Her reaction and dialogue make it clear that he's violating her from within as he's killing her.
- Clown's ability, the appropriately named Nightmare, traps its target in a sub-space where they are subjected to extreme mental torture. Sister in particular gets the worst of it as her mouth is invaded by horrible tentacle/leech creatures, until her full belly explodes leaving only her body from the chest up intact.
- Ziggy's collection of mothers. The hall is shown to have hundreds, if not thousands, of pods each with a body inside. To add insult to injury, Ziggy went out of his way to collect the corpses of the Edens Zero crew's mothers just to mess with their heads. His ultimate goal for doing this is forcibly collecting Mother Ether to locate Mother, kill her, and in turn wipe out living organisms across the entire universe. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EdensZero |
Ed, Edd n Eddy's Big Picture Show / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Double D:**
Don't you
**DARE**
TOUCH ME! A sap?! Well, excuse my sincerity, but thinking I had lost the only two people I have left in this world-
**Eddy:** *(smiling)*
And?
**Double D:**
It's surprising, because your stubborn, inane desire to shock, sandbag and swindle IS WHAT PUT US HERE IN THE FIRST PLACE!
**Ed:**
I helped too.
*(Double D gives Ed a Death Glare)* **Double D:** *(turns back to Eddy)*
You and your NEFARIOUS SCAMS!
**Eddy:**
(finally gets mad
) Like you were picking daisies! YOU BUILT THE STUPID THING!
**Double D:**
If you had paid attention to what I said and not pushed the red button...
*(Double D and Eddy starting physically fighting)* **Ed:**
STOP! I demand you two start tickling each other right now!
**Double D/Eddy:**
STAY OUT OF IT ED!!
**Ed:**
The evil dark side has consumed them both! Trouble! Bad! Pain! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EdEddNEddysBigPictureShow |
Edgar Allan Poe / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
Long before King and before Lovecraft, the writings of the man from Baltimore provided American literature's scares.
The Black Cat
Berenice
- She was alive and conscious while he was messily yanking out her teeth. Ick. (And she was
*not* alive after, which might just have been her finally dying from the illness they thought killed her before, but...) It's worth noting that even Poe thought he'd gone a little far into gruesomeness for gruesomeness's sake with this story.
The Cask of Amontillado
- Fortunato getting sealed up alive behind a wall of bricks! And the guy who did it getting away with it.
- In animated adaptation, the moment when the characters start screaming and there's a closeup on their distorted faces.
The Facts in the Case of M. Valdemar
The Masque of the Red Death
- The description of the disease, and the ending.
"And now was acknowledged the presence of the Red Death. He had come like a thief in the night. And one by one dropped the revellers in the blood-bedewed halls of their reve, and died each in the despairing posture of his fall. And the life of the ebony clock went out with that of the last of the gay. And the flames of the tripods expired. And Darkness and Decay and the Red Death held illimitable dominion over all."
- Illustrators seem to be in a competition as to how horrifying they can make the masked guest. A prime example here.◊
The Murders in the Rue Morgue
- Historical note: The first detective story, ever. The murderer's identity kind of ruins it as murder mystery, but ramps up the scare factor.
The Pit and the Pendulum
- The whole chamber is horrifying, especially the thought of being crushed by two, moving walls.
- Helplessly watching your death tick closer and closer...
*tick tock, swish swoosh.*
- The fact that we never find out what is in the pit — but the narrator does, and would rather burn to death than face it.
The Premature Burial
- The prospect of being buried alive is Nightmare Fuel, no matter how you slice it.
The Raven
The Tell-Tale Heart
- Imagine being watched every night as you sleep by a paranoid lunatic plotting to kill you because of a deformity you were born with. Now imagine waking up and knowing that someone is in the room with you but you don't know where they are.
- "The Tell-Tale Heart", while creepy, doesn't fall into this when you just read it. But that dramatic monologue, acted aloud in a theatre, increasingly hysterical and seesawing between cool description and feverish mania, with the last line either screamed or sobbed — yeah.
- You think that's creepy? Try the audiobook version. Following the scene where the narrator does his thing, they start playing a sound every second or so. At first you think you're hearing things, until the point where it gets loud enough to know that you're listening to a heartbeat.
William Wilson
- Meeting your exact doppelgänger is kind of scary and eerie, but having him being stuck with you and trying to catch up with your every step? Double scary. And
*murdering* your doppelganger in front of your blood-stained mirror while you're also indirectly dying? Eerie.
The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym of Nantucket
- Plenty, from Pym being stuck inside a pitch black storage room, slowly starving to death, to Pym and several other men being stuck on a half-sunken ship, slowly starving to death, to Pym and another character being stuck on an island of crazed natives, slowly starving to death. But the crowning example has to be the final chapter. Which is the Ur-Example of the Cosmic Horror genre | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EdgarAllanPoe |
Eagle Island / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
So... With a game like Eagle Island, there appears to be nothing but two cute characters going on an adventure through the wonderous titular island and battling equally cute baddies who disappear in a cloud of smoke upon defeat, in an attempt to save the brother of one of them from a big mean eagle goddess. Surely there isn't anything scary here, right?
- During the beginning of the game, Quill finds himself wandering from the island's shore to the green forest area with his two owls, coupled by cheery music playing in the background. The cheery aspect is quickly broken when a massive shadow suddenly appears and flies across the screen with a loud whoosh accompanying it. Shortly after, the music fades out and a giant terrifying eagle called Armaura enters the scene, swooping down from the skies and taking away one of Quill's owls.
- Armaura looks rather vicious and menacing in contrast to our heroic, much less mean stars that are Quill and Koji. The fact she's also classified as a deity doesn't do anything to lessen this factor.
- The cutscenes where Armaura takes the Totems. It goes like this: you just came to the area's respective Totem after beating the boss so that you may rescue it, when all of a sudden Armaura comes out of nowhere and ensnares the Totem! And there's nothing you can do except watch as she flies away with her catch, the Totem in her grasp screeching in terror and only leaving behind a single magical feather for you to use...
- Have you wondered even for a moment how powerful Armaura may be after seeing her for the first time when she kidnaps one of your owls and later the Totems? You have no reason to worry about it, because you get to battle her for the first time as early as
*right after the third level*. And her might *shows*.
- Snappers, the big red fish enemies in Smuggleaway Bay. On their own they're actually not that scary and just slowly swim in a straight horizontal line from one end to the other... but when Quill finds himself right in front of one, it suddenly dashes forward with a lot of sharp teeth filling the now open mouth. The fact that the speed change from slow to fast is so abrupt that it's basically instantenous is what turns its attack into a Jump Scare (unless you get used to it). You
*really* don't want to fall in the water with them around.
- Tomb of the Raven. All things considered, it may well be
*Eagle Island*'s equivalent of the Shadow Temple. The Background Music and general appearance is hauntingly eerie and creates a rather unsettling atmosphere, and that's not even taking the resident monstrosities into account.
- Remember Rattits from Woodberry Warren? In the tomb, you'll encounter Lobrats a meaner version of the Rattits with really creepy yellow eyes that glow in the dark.
- The skull imp enemies from the pre-alpha tech demo weren't very terrifying. But here, they go from silly to scary; they will sometimes appear out of nowhere to hunt you down, and also fit the Tomb of the Raven like a glove when it comes to their appearance. Then there's the fact they make strange growling sounds, making them even more animalistic than they already are...
- On occasion, you may get jumped by Ozzards the tombs equivalent of Moletrio and their variants. Like the Moletrio, Ozzards are hidden from the player until all other enemies in the room are cleared out. UNLIKE the Moletrio however, they do not jump out and throw a projectile, instead just fading into existence in a random location at a random time and rushing into the player with little to no prior warning; their eyes glint briefly against the dark background before quickly revealing themselves, and their attacks are accompanied by strange, ghostly sounds. Even better, when you kill an Ozzard,
*it screams like a banshee*. Theres also a chance you'll get ambushed by many, many Ozzards at once, especially on higher difficulties should you decide to take them on. And finally, the game's randomized nature makes their appearances less predictable, so you usually won't know when they (or how many, for that matter) might be around until all the other enemies in the room are gone. Good luck keeping your nerve.
- The Tombguards are lifeless machines that guard some doors and are quite terrifying in their own right. Basically, once you expose a Tombguard's weakpoint, you have to destroy it fast - a fire Tombguard will unleash a loud fiery explosion that is nearly impossible to escape from, an ice Tombguard will freeze the surrounding area and the player character (who will be completely frozen and unable to move), and an electric Tombguard will suddenly shoot
*a massive beam right in front of it*!
- The revelation that Oliver Ornis is the real bad guy after he kills Armaura. To think that someone who you trusted and even helped you out can quickly turn against you and those you tried to rescue is really unnerving, basically putting general humanity in a less positive light. And if that wasn't enough, Ornis also decides to kidnap
*your faithful owl Koji*, and later on attempts to kill the kid you're playing as. This guy isn't fucking around! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EagleIsland |
Earthdawn / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- Horrors. They are a group of entities from the depths of astral space. Every few thousand years, when the magical field permeating the Earth is at its strongest, they return to our world to feed. On everything. If they don't eat the mountainside (and you with it), they torture you mentally and physically for sustenance and fun. And the threat of death, Mind Rape and actual rape are really the least you have to worry about in the long run with their guys; they'll gladly have you as a self-aware puppet (forever) with a bad case of Body Horror who will kill and/or otherwise do unspeakable things to your friends and loved ones in order to feed your new master. And the torment it puts you through is dessert. They might even corrupt your psyche and everlasting soul, and turn you into one of them. And don't study up on them too much to find out their (few) weaknesses, it can get their attention. And they exist in
*Shadowrun*. See the "Harlequin's Back" module.
- The Blood Elves. To defend themselves from the Horrors, they used a powerful magical ritual to cover everything in their forest home in thorns. Everything. Including themselves. The race survived by virtue of living in such pain that the Horrors were no longer interested in tormenting them, for the most part.
- The
*Horrors* book. According to the dragon legends a Horror called Verjigorm created the first Dragon by accident while sprouting all kind of Horrors. Now he's hunting them and corrupting even while the magic level is too low for other Horrors. There is also Nebis, whose name is a nice case of Speak of the Devil, and who rebuilds himself from the bodies of those who have slain his physical body. Or Ristul, who isn't an actual entity, but the corruption itself. And those aren't the most interesting ones. If you look up the *Earthdawn* bestiary, you'll see that even cows and rabbits can be nightmarish. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Earthdawn |
Easy A / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Nothing Olive does is particularly reprehensible, but she gets SO. MUCH. SHIT. for it.
The fact that Brandon felt so threatened by homophobes at his school that he had to pretend to be straight and eventually leave town to pursue a gay relationship. Doubles as Fridge Horror: those actions imply he's been getting more than one bloody nose from those bullies.
Evan asking Olive to pretend to have had sex with him sounds horribly similar to a rape scenario.
Evan: I don't need to ask your permission.
Then the ACTUAL rape scenario that almost actually plays out with Anson and Olive. And the only reason it didn't was because Olive was strong enough to force him off her.
The guidance counselor originally seemed like a really kind and goofy person whom Olive completely trusted, until she turned out to be more concerned with threatening children in order to keep her job than providing any actual guidance to Olive. WHO THE HELL WAS IN CHARGE OF HIRING AT THIS SCHOOL?!
It's only because of Olive's confession that Mr. Griffith didn't get an STD from his wife... assuming she told him in time... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EasyA |
Edward Gorey / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Edward Gorey's works are seriously disturbing. Especially the way he drew things cavorting about and wrote stories that really have no sense or explanation at all. It's like they hired an Eldritch Abomination to write Victorian children's fiction.
The Insect God. Combine the very real fear of your young child being abducted with creepy insect cultists and you have a recipe for the willies like none other. Bonus points for the way the insects prance gleefully on the last page.
The Loathsome Couple is very loosely based upon the Moors Murders, a series of child-murders committed by serial killer couple Ian Brady and Myra Hindley. It's probably worth noting that all the murders take place off the page, Gorey goes out of his way to paint the killers as craven, cowardly, pathetic, and incompetent, and the book is one of the rare examples in Gorey's work where the perpetrators are punished for their crimes.
The West Wing is probably his most unsettling book by far. It just consists of various images of the eponymous wing, but the lack of text and images themselves having an unsettling aura of dread with no explanation behind them make for some high grade nightmare fuel. While some images have some supernatural entity◊ or person◊ in them, many of the images have nothing in them at all, save for an overturned chair or a toppled over bust, leaving readers to come up with their own conclusion as to what caused these things to happen.
''The Doubtful Guest''. The guest itself, which hits something akin to Uncanny Valley because of how it looked almost, but not exactly like a penguin, is creepy enough. The fact that it somehow slips into a dark mansion with no mention of why or where it's from or what it is and won't leave is worse. And the guests just do their best to ignore it while it lives with them for seventeen years and counting, ripping up their books, hiding their towels, and running around.
While the fiction of John Bellairs probably deserves its own folder, Edward Gorey's illustrations to the original editions are Nightmare Fuel when viewed independently from the books they were created for.
The Wuggly Ump. Three children spend their day with innocent pastimes as the eponymous creature draws ever closer. Nothing unusual by Gorey standards, but then there's the implication that the children have accidentally summoned the Wuggly Ump just by reading about it.
We pass our happy childhood hours In weaving endless chains of flowers.
Across the hills the Wuggly Ump Is hurtling on, kerbash, kerblump! | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EdwardGorey |
Ego Trip / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
The opening scene is somewhat scary- dramatic string music blasts while Mandark summons the huge, black wild thorn briars in his lab in front of a bright white background. Right away, it's clear that this won't be like the usual adventures (or misadventures) that Dexter lands himself in.
The scene where Exec. Mandark publicly flogs poor Twelve. With a laser whip. Why? He wasalmostlate for work. Twelves agonized expressions and screams as he's lashed again and again are downright chilling. And what's even worse? Mandark's done this to him more than once, using the exact same excuse!
Exec. Mandark: Now make a wish!
The fact it actually scarily calls backnote : More accurately calls forward at the origin came in a later episode to his original motive for wanting to ruin Dexter's life; he made fun of his real name once. That's it. Beforehand Mandark could only vent his spite with safely bumbling or low stakes schemes that always backfired, but now he has the power to torture and break Dexter for any meager excuse he can half-ass, and suddenly his psychotic pettiness becomes far less pitiful.
Twelves terror and jumpy, PTSD-like symptoms- even screaming and adopting a Troubled Fetal Position at the mere sound of Mandark's voice due to the abuse he's suffered at his hands. Were the flogging and verbal abuse really all Mandark did to him, or did he do something even worse to cow the proud, willful boy genius that far into submission, and turn him into the anxiety-ridden, easily scared Twelve? And what's worse, his trauma's being Played for Laughs!
There's some nasty implications about that future given how Mandark treats Twelve. Since this is a regular thing, then who's to say he doesn't do similar things to other employees? Not to mention the fact that this is being allowed. Twelve is seen living in a cramped room and his whole life appears to be controlled by Mandark's company. He's essentially treated like a machine, they even took away his name and just gave him a number. Add in Mandark's speech about how he's one of the rare "elite" members of society, and you've got the beginnings of a fascist dystopia.
When Dexter arrives in the first future, he finds himself accosted by a family that demands his identifying number. When he can't provide it, they promptly accuse him of being a "No-Number," and call the cops to haul him off to jail. A little kid, pursued by the police like some dangerous felon, just for being a "No-Number." It's a lucky thing Dexter was able to make his getaway.
The dystopian world Overlord Mandark rules over is very creepy and depressing, in multiple senses.
It started with the machine that Dexter built to fully harness the power of the Neurotomic Protocore. It's supposed to not only provide energy, but spread the intelligence and brainpower of its user to others. But when Mandark stole the Neurotomic Protocore, he switched its positive flow to negative. The resulting corrupted waves of Neurotomic energy gave anyone under their influence a case of Phlebotinum-Induced Stupidity, dulling their minds to just above caveman intelligence. Eventually, the sphere of the corrupted Protocore's influence covered the entire Earth. (This may explain why Monkey and the Justice Friends — none of whom show up in this special — aren't even around; they either became stupid or fell against Mandark's robots in battle.)
There were two exceptions to the above rule — Dexter, and Mandark. The latter, under the influence of the corrupted Neurotomic Protocore, grew even more twisted and insane. With no one to oppose him (as Dexter was forced to go underground), Mandark took over the world and hoarded not only all its precious resources, but also anything related to intelligence. Science, technology, the knowledge to use both...Mandark not only took it all for himself, he forbade everyone else from trying to re-learn what was lost. Even the simple act of making fire prompted Mandark's security robots to raze a settlement.
The end result? The world's stuck in The Dung Ages, its denizens too mentally compromised to even attempt to rise up against their tormentor.
Future Mandark's fate. His Fat Bastard body violently mutates, causing all his fat to shoot up into his cranium. The instability makes his whole bodyexplode, leaving only his brain and its stem twitching on the ground in a pool of fluid amidst the pieces. It's one of the worst cases of Nausea Fuel in the show's history.
After getting his world saving moment stolen by Dee Dee, the Dexter's all decide to build combat robots and send them back in time to, in their words, destroy her! It's pretty messed up to think that all this adventure did was make Dexter so upset that he actually tried to kill his sister.
While "Dextopia" is by all accounts a much nicer future, with Dexter harnessing the Neurotonic Proto-Core to share his knowledge and intellect with the world, many of them dress exactly like him... and, if the museum curator is any indication, worship Dexter like a god. It's an eerie reminder that Mandark isn't the only one with an inflated ego. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EgoTrip |
Mother / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**NESS... IT HURTS... IT HURTS...** *Inside the mailbox was absolutely nothing.* *Nothing after nothing came bursting out.*
It may look like another innocent series made by Nintendo... But it's far worse than the outside implies, and delving deep into its subconscious may end up driving you mad. Case in point and putting it short, it might just be the darkest Nintendo series to date, and that's saying a lot.
The first game, MOTHER / EarthBound Beginnings, has its own page here.
**As Moment Pages are Spoilers Off, all spoilers will be unmarked.** **You Have Been Warned.**
- Poo's Mu Training. You're controlling an unfamiliar character who is told to go attend a training session. The training initiates a battle, where an outline of a stylized Chinese-ancestor head appears. It then proceeds to (all in text, mind you) break your legs, tear off your arms, cut off your ears, and take away your eyes. Worst of all, before each step, it asks for confirmation. After each step, your health drops. When you lose your ears, the music cuts off. When your eyes are gone, the whole screen goes blank. The final step reminds the player that all they have remaining to them is their mind—which they are then asked to give up as well.
- The Japanese version is even scarier; where in English the spirit informs you that he will "I shall steal your sight," in Japanese he says he will "crush your eyeballs." See here for the comparison between the Japanese and English versions.
- Wait through the logos for Nintendo, Ape (now Creatures), and Halken (now just HAL Laboratories). Eerie red static flashes on the screen, with a quiet, high-pitched noise, and as the flashing slows down, we see a scene of UFOs shooting lightning at a city. Does This Remind You of Anything? Cue Scare Chord.
- Really, there are some pretty unnerving tunes in this game. Most of it has to do with creating an otherworldly-effect on the atmosphere of certain parts; a good example would be this track.
- The music in Porky's House is pretty scary as well. It starts off normally... then dissolves into cacophonic noises, then a weird carousel theme, and back to the start. It gives the feeling of walking through a house and realizing something is very messed up. Given how abusive the Minch parents are and how unhinged their older son is, it's rather fitting.
- Some players may be frightened when they hear this theme during the Threed Hotel ambush and Magic Cake scenes.
- The Mani-Mani Statue spreads Giygas' influence to plants, animals, and people with questionable intentions, hence why there are humans that attack you. Porky comes from an abusive household, often being physically and emotionally mistreated by both of his parents, and all he ever wanted in life was love from someone,
*anyone*. Seeing as Porky usually shows up wherever the Mani-Mani Statue is, it's easy to make the connection as to why he acts the way he does and why he tries to make Ness' life a living nightmare; his mental health had declined so much that he became an easy target of Giygas' evil influence.
- The whole concept of the Mani-Mani Statue itself is unsettling. It's a device that is able to control plants and animals into turning violent, and shows people with desires of power illusions, thus making them susceptible to Giygas' influence. It's downright chilling to think what someone with an ambition big enough can do once they have fallen under Giygas' evil influence, and the series shows us just that with Porky.
- Threed, anyone? Up until this point, the game has been pretty cheery, and then it drops you into a dark, zombie-infested nightmare where the undead can occasionally even be found walking around near the usually "safe" areas of town, also making it the first level in Earthbound where Dungeon Town is in full effect. Sure, it's all Played for Laughs, but try telling that to a kid.
- Not to mention think of the people in the town, they are in a town that is always night, zombies are roaming around, people with Jack-o-lanterns for heads are causing trouble, living dummies pop out from nowhere and chase you, and everyone is literally trapped there. Threed is a living hell.
- The penultimate level of the game, where your party returns to Onett to find that Giygas's invasion has begun. The whole city is dark and all of the buildings are locked; while the aliens haven't gotten to the town yet, it's only a matter of time.
- Happy Happy Village in general is pretty eerie. The presence of the religious cult in the town makes every one act unnaturally happy and strangely obsessed with the color blue. The creepy music in the town alone sets the mood perfectly, telling you things definitely are not right here. The creepy hooded cult members don't help matters.
- In the Lost Underworld, Ego Orbs can be this, especially on first sight. They move really fast, much faster than the Chomposaur or Wetnosaur. Like most enemies, they can also detect you if they're even partially on-screen, catching careless players off guard, as well as giving them a nasty surprise. Lastly, there's their faces, which easily fall into Uncanny Valley territory and make them suddenly darting toward your position from off-screen all the startling. How would you react if
*this◊* was careening straight towards you?
- The final area of the game, the Cave of the Past, an eerie and melancholic place with a gray fog covering all the place. You find powerful enemies that easily can one-shot half of your party. The music is extremely minimal, and (besides the enemies, all of which are represented by diamond-shaped objects instead of the normal, unique enemy sprites you've seen throughout most of the game) there aren't any characters and only one recharge station, way at the beginning of the area. Then you find the cave where the Devil's Machine lies, at the end of a fleshy, intestine-like corridor, and the whole thing seems to be breathing and pulsating with life.
- How do Ness and his friends get there? In the words of Dr. Andonuts himself, life is demolished in the process of time travelling, which is the reason why he transfers their "brain programs" to robotic bodies so they can travel, while their bodies stay behind, without any guarantee that their spirits will come back to their bodies; this thought can be very terrifying because this means Ness and company are making the greatest sacrifice by renouncing their human bodies, go around in robotic bodies unable to feel pain or anything, and even if they manage to win and come back to the present, they still might be stuck in their robotic bodies forever. Fortunately, it doesn't happen. Upon Giygas' defeat, their spirits go back to their human bodies.
- Last but certainly not least is the one that everyone knows about -
Put simply, he is generally agreed to be the single most terrifying Nintendo villain in all of the company's history, which, considering Nintendo's track record, says **Giygas.** *quite* a bit. He is, of course, the most terrifying part of the game, not to mention the most memorable. After having spent the entire game fighting cartoonish monsters with baseball bats and frying pans, Ness and his friends are now fighting an Eldritch Abomination with a terrifying, amorphous visage that looks like a demonic, ghostly hurricane with a warped, screaming face. The creepy, amorphous, jarring background music (and the dialogue inspired by the creator's trauma of catching a glimpse of a murder scene, which he thought was a rape scene, in a movie as a young child) only adds to this. The fact that most of the rest of the game is so childlike and cartoonish only makes this more frightening, because it seems *so out of place.*
-
*Mother 3* would have a terrifying scene at the final boss fight, but it is cut off. You still can see the unused scenes by special code if you dare...
- Note that some people think they are unused bosses, but Itoi has said in an interview that they are just unused backgrounds.
- You can view a fan concept of what the unused backgrounds and cutscenes would have been like here. Again, if you dare.
- According to Itoi, the final battle was supposed to be a nightmarish sequence similar to the fight against Giygas from EarthBound, except this time with no dialogue. It had to be cut out of the game because it was
*too* nightmarish. The battle backgrounds are theorized to be remnants of this cut sequence.
- Flint's breakdown after learning of Hinawa's death. Home-hittingly scary, isnt it?
- The Ultimate Chimera. After the duel with the Almost-Mecha Lion in the Chimera Laboratory, your fellow Pigmask co-worker alerts you to pretty much get the hell out of a room if you see it, and for good reason: running into it kills you, no ifs, buts, or battles. If that warning doesn't scare you, the next part will: the creepy music will cut out, replaced with background sounds of other Pigmasks fleeing for their lives only to get devoured by that thing. Can you confidently traverse from one room to another knowing that such a powerful creature is loose inside the lab? This is
*when it's safe and the Chimera isn't around*. When the music returns, *then* you have much more reason to worry about your own safety.
- Perhaps even more horrifying, if you
*do* run into it, you get to witness the Ultimate Chimera chomping and crunching on Lucas while the screen turns red.
- Even worse: after you escape the Chimera Lab unscathed, there is a giant, gaping hole on the building to the left of the entrance and an injured Pigmask, implying that the Ultimate Chimera escaped containment and is now out in the wild.
note : Thankfully, you don't encounter it again during normal gameplay until late in Chapter 8. If the whiteboard in the lab is to be believed, the Pigmasks understandably have no intention of getting it back.
- The rather horrific changes that Fassad undergoes. It may look funny to some, but he's been turned into a cyborg who can't even speak anymore because they've replaced his mouth with trumpets, and thus needs a robot interpreter to translate what he is saying. The second time around is even worse.
- How about Chimeras in general? Even the ones that aren't robotic had to undergo a
*lot* of pain to be converted into a chimera. The idea of mixing up random body parts of different animals is really disturbing in itself but it becomes much more worse if you imagine what kind of pain these animals must've endured through the process with their bodies being horribly mutilated and brought back to life with different body parts attached, maybe even having died in the process and becoming empty shells of their former selves, much like the Mecha-Drago.
- The Chimera Lab has a horrifying room containing a table with straps on it, ostensibly to hold down these poor creatures while the variety of sharp implements shown above it do their work.
- After taking into account of how painful the animal mutilations probably were, one can only imagine how painful were the procedures the victim involved in the making of a human Chimera - or rather, the Masked Man - had to undergo. There's even an unused sprite showing the process of how the Masked Man was created... needless to say, it's really unsettling...
- It's even more disturbing if you consider or think about what the Pigmasks say about Butch's place once being a farm, mentioning that there used to be pigs and cows there before it became a Pigmask training faculty. Also, if you walk back up to Alec's cabin, all of the animals that were there before are no longer there. Remember those cute friendly pigs, cows or chickens you spoke to in chapters 1-3? It's possible they became part of the Chimera experiment and have become those Cattlesnakes or Pigtunias or Slitherhens you were just battling!
- Going by that logic, one has to wonder what Fassad ever did with the pigs he got from Butch in exchange for the money he gives him in return.
- The Muttshroom or Dogfish enemies may have silly appearances, but it soon becomes Fridge Horror if you consider that these dogs were probably someone's lost pet. You don't see any other dogs that look like them rather than the generic stray dogs you see wandering around, looking more akin to Boney in appearance, so most likely these were someone's pets. If one takes into account how in Real Life some people actually do in fact take peoples pets or steal them and ship them to research institutions for animal testing and experimenting makes it much more scarier.
- Some of the chimeras designs are so creepy and scary that you can't be blamed if you decided to purposely avoid fighting some of these enemies sometimes. It makes sense to have such a understandable reaction at seeing some of these things at first glance.
- The Slitherhen, the first chimera you'll encounter, can look pretty unnerving at first. It really shows how much things have changed.
- If you have a fear of spiders or deathly terrified of anything spider-like, then the Horsantula is truly the scariest thing you'll come across. Just look at it.◊ Someone hacked off a horse's head and stitched it on top of a gigantic freaking spider's head (not helping matters is that the horse's head looks as if its in pain either), they also killed other horses nearby and ripped off their legs and stitching those to the spider after they had ripped off all eight of the spider's own legs. Then there's also those four big yellow spider eyes staring straight back at you.
- The horrible change that occurs to your hometown. In the beginning it was a peaceful rural town, no one locked their doors, there was no crime, and almost everyone helped one another if the need arose... there was no concept of 'money'. It is only when Fassad introduces the concept of money to Tazmily that the greed starts to spread among the villagers (with Butch being the first victim of this, slowly spreading it to the rest of the neighbours one by one). Then, three years later, it has become much more akin to a modern town, but crime has arisen seeing how there are now police officers in Tazmily who are shocked at the fact that there used to be no police officers before, and the villagers themselves have become much colder and greedier, treating those who refuse to embrace change like outcasts (some people, like Pusher and Elmore, outright tell Lucas that they hate him).
- By the end of Chapter 7, everyone is gone as they have moved to New Pork City. All the doors are locked, and the only people left behind are complaining about their lot. The town is still there, but its soul is sucked away bit, by bit, by bit until everyone's gone.
- Tanetane Island. You have to eat the funky-looking mushrooms, which send you into a trippy world of pink trees and creepy music, plus the occasional mailbox (see page quote). Oh, yes - and all the enemies look like people you know, most notably your father and your allegedly dead brother, one of them even takes up the form of Violet, Kumatora's alter-ego during the time she worked at Club Titiboo. They spout insane dialogue ranging from funny ("I'm going to lick you all up, ice cream!") to threatening ("I'm gonna beat you, boy. Daddy's gonna beat you.") to
*batshit insane* ("Touch my heart. See how it beats in and out? Lucas! There's noooothing to worry about now.")
"Everyone's waiting for you. Everyone's waiting to throw rocks at you, spit on you, and make your life hell. Who's "everyone"...? Everyone you love."
- During the trip, the party can enter an incredibly inviting looking hot spring... but when they enter it, Boney will stand outside of the spring and whimper. Come back when the trip's over, and the reason Boney refused to enter is because it was a pool of stagnant pond water surrounded by garbage and hazardous waste, ew.
- The script for this was rewritten, because the original terrified its creator too much. We don't know what was in the original script, but some fans have posited an interesting possibility; we are told the hallucinations tear at the victims' emotional scars and weaknesses by taking the forms of their loved ones, present or otherwise ...but in the final version of the game,
*Hinawa never shows up...*
- After defeating Miracle Fassad and coming back to the streets of New Pork City, you find that there are now even more people than when you first arrived, which is even lampshaded by one of the NPCS. If you attempt to talk to these people their dialogue will be non-sensical, often limited to only two words, or just repeating the same word twice, not to mention that they always stand on the spot all the time, sometimes even blocking some streets and entrances, thus forcing you to make a detour, and they don't even look at you when you talk to them. Their zombie-like behavior just comes off as creepy and unsettling and just keeps on telling you what you already know: Nothing in New Pork City is as perfect as it seems.
- The People Jars in the Lab area of the Empire Porky Building, with the liquid inside said tubes being stated to
*brainwash* people into liking and supporting Porky's actions. Made all the more disturbing by the fact that you can talk to the people inside them, and they're all quite 'happy' being there. There's even a cow, who will say that it is going to become a wonderful steak. The receptionist of that area even suggests that all those people and animals entered the tubes *on their own free will*. Yeesh.
- When you combine this with the statement above it looks rather easy to make the connection as to why all those people in the streets of New Pork City behave in such an unsettling manner. Yeah, Porky is just
*that* fucked up.
- If you've seen the unused sprites, you can pretty much tell what happened between the prologue and chapter 1. As seen in this vid here. To make matters worse, this happens
*before* the twins were found in the river *while* they were still with Hinawa.
- There is also Porky Minch's original (or unused) death scene. While some people like to see what's coming to him for all he's done, others might find it disturbing when they see him in a sympathetic light. His machine crashes into the ground after his supposed defeat, breaking the glass on it. Porky tries to reach out to get out of it, but he starts to go limp and he dies. What a way to go.
- Speaking of Porky, that's basically nothing compared to his canonical fate. True, he did it to himself and he probably deserved it at this point, but still: he ends up being trapped forever in the Absolutely Safe Capsule. A capsule that will keep whatever's inside it completely immortal, and can never be destroyed or opened from outside
*or from inside*. Even after the death of the sun and possibly *the universe itself, * **Porky Minch will still be alive.**
- Porky's situation provokes chilling thoughts: a little boy trapped in the body of an old man who, by this point, is already the series' equivalent to Dr. Weil.
- The final battle with him is rather horrifying, in and of itself:
Porky sprayed something!
Porky sucked something!
Porky did something!
?!... What did Porky do?
Porky coughed something up!
What did Porky do?
What did Porky do?
- The final battle theme for the Masked Man/Claus is
*incredibly* creepy. It's basically a giant mess of weird sounds, pianos, drums, and at one point, the *Love Theme*.
- Notice how the background gets more and more distorted each time Hinawa interrupts the battle. Really goes to show how insane everything become at this point, as well as implies this is the moment that Claus starts coming back to his senses and his own inner battle begins.
- One of the unused songs (here) was arguably even creepier — in fact, that might be the very reason it remained unused, because it really is disturbing. Even after it was discovered what it is, it's still not clear what it would have actually been
*used* for. It's DCMC's "One, two, three, four!" line slowed down, but it still sounds unsettling at that speed.
- How about the zombies from the canceled N64 version of the game? Here's what they originally looked like◊. Compare that to what we eventually got on the resurrected GBA final version of the game, and most people will agree that they were greatly toned down, since they merely resemble Hinawa and Claus.
- The Empire Porky Building can create a deep sense of unease. The floors are extremely varied in their contents and layout, ranging from indoor pools of hippos (complete with grass and vines), a game show, a futuristic area, dozens of toilets, and even including a large area still under construction. The whole building seems to be an Eldritch Abomination. Compounding how disturbing it is, the player is repeatedly told that whatever floor they are on is the 100th floor, their goal. An air of futility begins to seep in, as the player may begin to wonder if they'll be trapped in this product of Porky's twisted imagination forever.
- Some of the monster designs get really freaky with the Body Horror as the game goes on. Special mention to the Hefty Heads in Argilla Pass, who must've dragged their enlarged heads out of the Uncanny Valley.
- Try entering the Clayman Factory while on your way to Saturn Valley. It's now abandoned, the Pigmasks will attack you and it's all accompanied by this tune.
- The Dur-T Cafe could potentially qualify if you're enough of a germaphobe. Especially when you try to run inside it and are immediately stopped from doing so by one of its waitresses because "you'll kick up the mold spores". The fact that it features some of the most disturbing music in the game (other than Battle Against The Masked Man) doesn't exactly detract from its creepiness either, and neither does its BLAM-ness. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EarthBound1994 |
Ecco the Dolphin / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
A game series where you play as a dolphin couldn't possibly be dark, right?
**WRONG!** The entire series is a claustrophobic, haunting experience. Do *not* let the fact that the protagonist is an adorable dolphin fool you. Seriously, there's a reason why this game is a mainstay on "Games that scared you as a kid" threads all over the internet...
- A common NF element for the whole series: You spend 99% of the game underwater, and most of that time you do
*not* have anything even remotely resembling Super Not-Drowning Skills. Simply getting momentarily distracted in these games can become fatal.
- Even the hero of the game dishes out some of this. In the Genesis games, Ecco lets out a bone-chilling scream whenever he takes damage... As if you needed more encouragement to not screw up.
- The story is inspired by the research of John C. Lilly, which doesn't involve real aliens. Right?
- The whole game could be considered Nightmare Fuel, with the tiny, minimalist Background Music and mile after mile of bleak, cold ocean which poor Ecco is required to quest through. The sense of crushing loneliness that starts to set in after a while is bad enough on its own... but then it gets broken in the worst possible way, by bouts of heart-busting terror as killer sharks or giant trilobites blitz onto the screen from nowhere and devour you in one bite. Not to mention that the whole time you are under the constant threat of drowning.
- Music like Sea of Darkness doesn't help either. The crushing loneliness described above? The soundtrack nails it in nonstop, overwhelming, cold, bleak music.
- The beginning of the game where at first it seems like a calm kid-friendly game about a dolphin. You talk to your friends about what controls to use in the game and one of them challenges you to jump very high so Ecco does a mega jump out of the sea and... BAM! Ecco spins around while his friends get sucked out from the sea with alien sounds! It's scary because it comes out from nowhere!
- Big Blue's appearance is pretty sudden and he takes up about three whole screens on account of being so huge (being a blue whale and all). He's a completely friendly character and won't hurt you at all, but at least a few young players were frightened of him back in the day.
- Welcome to the Machine. Not only does The Machine feature a pukish green background and some really unnerving music, but it's also pretty long, even for a level with automatic scrolling, and you're being accosted by chitinous beasts that lunge at you from inside walls where you can't even see them coming. Not to mention the fact that if you don't correctly keep up with the scrolling, The Machine will crush you, turning the entire screen red.
- And thanks to a surely deliberate plant on the password screen, it's easy to be transported to it accidentally with no knowledge of what awaits you there. (In case you didnt know, try entering NNNNNNNN on the password screen.)
- Even better: the intro screen to a level is typically its title and password in gray text, on top of a water background. It's possible that the level's intro screen will instead be sickly gray-green text over a pitch-black screen. Even after accidentally ending up in that level via password shenanigans.
- And why is the level autoscroll? Because the autoscroll
*is the The Machine trying to kill you*. Every time the screen suddenly changes directions, speeds up or slows down, or makes you backtrack you are witnessing The Machine at work expressly working to confuse you the player to trap Ecco and crush him. Ecco is not moving of his own volition, but following the mechanisms of The Machine to try and get out with his life. And when you reach the end of The Machine the screen very quickly snaps to the right, as though The Machine tried to swiftly crush you before you can escape.
- The last boss, the Vortex Queen (pictured above). Imagine a giant H.R. Giger-esque alien head. Just the head. Now imagine it set against a black background, being fucking gigantic compared to the dolphin you were playing as, it could kill you by sucking you into its mouth and biting down on you, and if you were playing on the Sega CD, it looked way too good. And to top it all off, you are required to gradually mutilate it to pieces in order to win.
- A glitch means that you could easily get sucked into the Vortex Queen's mouth, then have the screen turn red - like a screen full of blood - with Ecco as a black silhouette on it, able to move but not to progress the game or do anything. People who encountered this glitch by accident often speak of it in terms that resemble a Creepypasta.
- Another glitch could occur if you were using the invincibility cheat. Because the Queen's bite attack is meant to be a One-Hit Kill, the game doesn't quite know how to deal with it and invincibility together, resulting in Ecco turning into a black silhouette, but this time just slowly drifting and turning, unable to be controlled. Ecco could even pass through the walls of the Queen's chamber if this happened.
- The "Tube of Medusa" stage. You're suspended sky-high, floating in water tubes, and desperately trying to out-swim a gigantic jellyfish. You can't defeat it, only run away before it hits you and tries to knock you down to the previous level. The creepy music doesn't help matters.
- The final enemies in Tides of Time look scary, and are all 1-hit kills if (when) they draw you in. Not to mention the noise they made when they detected you, and when their eyes start glowing and they start chasing you...
- The Vortex Queen returns from the first game and is now a reddish creature with a prehensile, long tongue that chases you to eat you, and she retains More Teeth than the Osmond Family.
- "We are frightened. We feel the presence of the Vortex-kind".
- As an added bonus, right before this, you're told that
*the Vortex Queen killed the Asterite.*
- "Fish City" is a disturbing level because of the fact that the enemies you face in this level arent sharks or Vortex Drones its
*other dolphins*. Why are they attacking you? Because at the beginning of the level you need to use a metasphere to turn into a school of fish to navigate the level. A level swarming with your fellow dolphins who dont know that youre really a dolphin. They just see a group of fish and they are *very* hungry and determined to get their meal. And you cannot charge or fight back; all you can do is evade and get to the end of the level as fast as possible. The music for this level makes it even more disturbing for its deceptive calm.
- The Playable Epilogue involves Ecco chasing the Vortex Queen to the time machine before she can use it, but the queen is in an invincible larval form that will instantly kill you if you get too close—but you have to keep up with her as she's the only one that can open doors to progress further, making it an extremely stressful cat-and-mouse chase.
- Now that you're in 3D, the horrors of the ocean can silently swim up behind you before lunging at you, oceans are deeper and darker than ever before and the threats are bigger. The second level has you face off against a shark when you have to claim an item from his mouth.
- The great white shark miniboss is a particular monster of an animal. It's at least 10 times the size of Ecco and can devour him in one hit. It embodies pretty much everything terrifying about video game sharks and even seeing at a distance is nothing less than unnerving.
- Have a listen to the level BGM for Obscure Ways to Terminus. The top comment says it all: "This is the sound of a mind falling to pieces."
- The Womb Level that's the last boss. You have to destroy the Foe Queen's heart from the inside by freezing it with antibodies and ramming into it, making it beat faster and faster as a rising pool of blood threatens to drown you. There's also the levels it takes to
*get* there; you begin by going into the Queen's hatchery area where she lays eggs, then get inside her body via the...egg-laying organ, then tear a hole in her body as you escape. Then you change into a small fish and burrow into her ribcage.
- In one level, you have to go past a huge octopus sitting in an almost completely blacked-out cave. In the following level, drowning suddenly becomes a much more immediate problem and a giant eel hides in the ceiling so that it can eat you if you forget where you're swimming. One or two tunnels lead to brightly-lit pools, and it can be
*very* hard to bring yourself to leave them in order to beat the level.
- Even further into the game, you get ghostly white sharks with red eyes, strange aliens hiding in the dark roofs of caves, and in one level dolphin shadows that don't belong to any dolphins.
- As related in this article, an early demo build of DotF showed off several levels in varying stages of development. The very first one is nothing more than a vast, empty expanse of water, with the humpback whale and her baby from the intro stage and one lone, barely-visible shark. The whales are a comfort, but the vast nothingness of the ocean can be very unnerving.
- Speaking of vast nothingness, there are various ways to glitch the game and break out of the normal play boundaries, a number of which can plunk you right down into vast expanses of featureless, open water if you swim far enough. The easiest to access is in the Gallery, from the menu screen. Simply do a fast turn or swim backwards as soon as the level loads and you'll be outside, looking at just the bare-bones internal structure (since you're not meant to be able to see the outside of the building).
- In the Man's Nightmare section, the first couple of levels are relatively open, taking place in bay-like areas sealed off from the rest of the ocean by massive glass walls. There is nothing beyond these walls. All you see if you look out is a little bit of the ocean floor, and that's it. No fish, no plants, no coral, not even any sharks or jellyfish, and the water's too murky to even see very far, on top of being a dull shade of green. It helps to hammer home the fact that the ocean is basically dead at this point, and these little refuges that the dolphins inhabit may be the only places where life can survive at all, just barely clinging on.
-
*Defender* has a level called "Up and Down." It's not too bad overall, but it gets off to a scary start, in a dark cavern. You have to swim up into a long tunnel with a fierce current, and the water in this tunnel starts out so hot that if you fail to grab the extra health gem shortly after the current starts, you *will not* survive. The music isn't helpful in reducing the tension, either. It is alleviated, though, by the absolutely *gorgeous* area at the top of the geyser with much nicer music.
- Although, there's one last little bit that can get a jump out of players. You have to get a giant stingray to move to get the power of invisibility glyph beneath it. Once you do so, it will slowly follow you around the area as long as you dawdle, until you either leave or it manages to sting you. If you're not paying attention, it can be really startling to suddenly see the big fellow right behind you ready to zap you. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EccoTheDolphin |
EAS Scenarios / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
ElectricFanatic and Harvesters *The Awakening* describes the spread of an Ebola-like zombie infection, the plaxiavirus, in an alternate 2017. The virus begins in Seattle after Thanksgiving from an unnamed Patient Zero and is initially contained to the West Coast of the United States, but manages to spread worldwide through Canada, the UK, the Netherlands, Nigeria, Australia, and Brazil. In the latter three countries, their respective alerts gradually decrease in quality until the Brazilian broadcast outright announces that its government had collapsed. Back in the US, the situation has similarly deteriorated as the virus breaks containment and becomes *airborne*, reducing the 300 million population to just *27 millions* of people, with the rest either dead, infected or left to their own devices, and the situation eventually escalates to the point where the President is implied to have shot himself. One last alert is sent out to the United States declaring its own collapse, complete with an eerie vector of Lady Liberty, as well as the text containing the statement . An epilogue states that society worldwide collapsed by February 2018, and that all attempts to build society failed, leaving mankinds ultimate fate unknown. **"YOUR DEATH IS INEVITABLE."** **POTUS:**
America
or for that matter, anyone who's left in the world. You know, I can't help but feel responsible for unleashing this beast into humanity, and, well...our inevitable extinction. I've been in this bunker, hell, I don't even know where it is, since we cut off the western states, so a while
but not really. I mean, deep down, I knew America was screwed from the beginning, but I had hopes that the rest of the world could go on. Clearly, I was wrong. I just looked at a projection based off of current data. It estimates that at this rate, one in three people across the world will get the virus and die, at least. And, you know, we could have stopped it earlier, but now it's too late. And, well, again
I blame myself
. Perhaps this was the awakening
that we needed, that we as humans weren't invincible, and that our arrogance convinced us otherwise. So, this will be my final message as president of the United States, or just my final message ever. Hopefully one day, society will be rebuilt. Thank you, and goodbye. *The sound of a gun being loaded is heard, followed by loud static*
- Even the start of the pandemic has several suspicious moments like the opening news broadcast being cut off mid-sentence. After the illness shows up and the "missing persons" incident skyrockets to 3000 victims in only
*a single day*, something more chilling happens afterwards. The 911 operator receives a call from a panicking person who reports his roommate having strange symptoms, and well... it's not hard to guess what follows at the other end of the line.
**Operator:** 911, what is your emergency?
**Caller:** (panting) I..I need help- My roommate is sick, and he-.. he just started attacking me out of nowhere, and-
**Operator:** Calm down, sir. Please give me your address..so I can dispatch police units.
**Caller:** 714 Scranton Street, unit 2.
**Operator:** And you said your roommate was sick? Was he sick with the new illness?
**Caller:** Yeah...I think so. I've locked myself in the bathroom, but, I think he knows I'm here- [abrupt silence]
**Operator:** Sir? Sir, are you there?
**Caller:** *sounds of a zombie trying to break into the room while roaring* (panicked) Help, he's trying to break the door!
**Operator:** Just stay on the line with me!
- After someone proposes rioting against the unjust lockdown measures, the police forces try to quell a gathering of rioters, only to be forced to use firearms when the "protesters" start rushing them, ignoring any fired shots. The nearest squad gets overwhelmed and being cut off. The following TV announcement cuts off as quickly as it appears, but upon pausing you can read what has been written on the second page.
**A Civil Danger Warning:** King County Military blockade breached by rioters. Mob may be armed and infectious. Please take caution, especially if you reside near King County. Do not attempt to interact with the rioters or join them. You will face prosecution if you riot.
- The worst of all is that the "rioters" may very well be zombies, why else would they No-Sell being fired upon with automatic weapons? | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EASScenarios |
Eighth Doctor Adventures / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Joanna telling the story of the vampire known only as "Weird Harold". Harold had gone into a state of hibernation to recover from injury, but a building was built over his resting place. He was trapped underneath the building for years, fully conscious and desperately trying to claw his way out until an earthquake occurred and several vampires had found him among the rubble. Harold's mind was completely destroyed—he's completely driven by the need to hunt, kill and feed, to the point where the other vampires keep him locked away. Joanna even expresses fear that she and her fellow vampires will eventually over time become just like him.
- Anybody remember the Krotons?
*They killed and ate the crew of a Dalek warship.*
- The Doctor's companion Compassion is transformed into a sentient TARDIS through a series of unfortunate events. She's more powerful than the Doctor's old TARDIS, and is armed. That's not the scary thing though, that's the fact her entire internal dimensions are mapped on her own mindscape. She doesn't have much of an imagination until she becomes a TARDIS where everything becomes metaphorical. She also doesn't have much compassion (her name is intentionally ironic). She still dreams though, and her dreams become part of her internal dimensions. One dream is behind a door called "that dream about Fitz"; all we hear is Fitz's screams from behind the door. She makes the Doctor and Fitz live in the part of her that is "the dark side of her mind" because she hates the Doctor because he's a Time Lord (and innately tries to control her) and pities Fitz because he's human. At one point she dumps shoes on Fitz's head with no reason given. All of her internal dimensions are described as dark, haunted and shadowed. Then at one point she warms the breeze that haunts the console room to warm and soothe Fitz, so everything else is either intentional or just because of her apathy.
- Now let's talk
*The Ancestor Cell*, which was scary partially because it featured the Doctor dealing with The Virus (in the form of Faction biodata from a failed attempt to take over a sentient ecosystem), partially because a Faction agent cheerfully murders a Time Lord young rebel who'd been sucked into a Faction voodoo cult as a sacrifice to bring one of the Faction's Fathers out of the Vortex, partially because that selfsame Faction agent was proud of having repeatedly murdered her own father by travelling back in time, killing him, setting the destination dial on the time machine back a few hours, and killing him again, and partially because they *rape Gallifrey's history*. Several times.
- The (theoretically) Affably Evil villain rips the Doctor's heart out of his chest bare-handed. The villain in question has hands the size of hams and ripped the Doctor's heart out of his chest while he was awake and screaming. Previously this villain wasn't much of an antagonist; this scene comes shortly after he was the best man at ||the Doctor||'s wedding, which makes it so much worse. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EighthDoctorAdventures |
Eight Mercenaries and a Toddler / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
In Eight Mercenaries and a Toddler, the sound of the Pyro's flamethrower, "Fwick... fwick... fwoosh". Interesting in that it also doubles as a Most Wonderful Sound announcing a Big Damn Heroes moment if the Pyro is the "right" colour. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EightMercenariesAndAToddler |
86 EIGHTY-SIX / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Remember, this is not just a mecha story. For a mecha series, 86 EIGHTY-SIX is probably one of the darkest mecha series in recent years. As one youtuber says, this series makes mech warfare feel
**too real.**
- Just what the Eighty-Six have to go through is chilling, to say the least. Though the reasons for the racism against them are ridiculous (and rightfully so), the treatment is disturbing on its own.
- By the time of the series, most, if not, nearly all of the Juggernaut Processors are all just kids, very often no older than 18. In just 9 years, so many 86ers were thrown into the Legion's hands, that
*only* the kids are available. No wonder Theo understandably just snaps at Lena in Episode 3.
- You want to know how badly the 86ers can be treated by San Magnolia? Well, to the point that those converted into Shepherds for the Legion view their assimilation as an
*improvement*.
- Shinei Nouzen. There's a good reason his Handlers either quit very quickly or just kill themselves, as Lena found out in a horrifying way.
- His ability to hear the thoughts of the "Black Sheep" units, specifically their final dying moments, the voice of the dead. And very often, those thoughts all occur together at once like a crowd whenever there are masses of Legion forces. If it's combined with the Para-RAID, EVERYONE will hear what Shin is hearing. No one is spared.
- The Legion. What was supposed an advanced force to protect the Empire of Giad became the greatest threat to humanity, and they will not stop at their objectives. They will do anything to keep going, and everyone finds out the hard way at various points in the series.
- The military leadership of San Magnolia thought that the war against the Legion would be over in two years from the start of the series, right? Oh, they are wrong.
*Very wrong.* The Legion, unsurprisingly to the reader/viewer, has found one important way to continue. How? Just use the brain of any recently deceased person, and the Legion can keep functioning on and on. In other words, if you die on the battlefield, and unless you are shot in the brain, you will relive your final moments forever, as you continue on as part of the Legion. Remember, and nobody in San Magnolia except Lena truly knew the implications until it was too late. **They've been doing this for years,**
- There's a good reason why Shin kills any of his fellow 86ers after they sustain life-threatening injuries, specifically shooting them in their heads. And if he's not around, well, better hope they have the will to kill themselves.
# Anime
- Episode 4's post-credits scene reveals that, in other words, San Magnolia is absolutely
. As this image◊ shows, the Legion, symbolized by a mess of red scribble on the map, is **fucked** *literally* right there on the doorstep, and *it's too late to stop them.*
- Episode 6 sees the anticipated Legion invasion of San Magnolia. Very quickly, the entire country is overrun and torn apart, and guess how much of the population is harvested?
**Ten million San Magnolians. 90% of the entire population.**
- What happens when the most genocidal and mentally insane person becomes assimilated into a superweapon capable of immensely violent destruction? The Morpho, controlled by the absolutely unhinged Kiriya.
- How unhinged? Whenever Shin hears the thoughts of Kiriya, he is seen repeating his mantra, seeking just to kill. Nothing else but to kill. Even the Legion questions his actions and requests for him to undergo reconditioning. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EightySixEightySix |
Echoes (Kagaseo) / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Take
*Naruto* with all the associated Nightmare Fuel then add: a Darker and Edgier exploration of how the setting could turn out, a couple of Eldritch Abominations, heroes with serious issues, Anyone Can Die and you have the *Echoes (Kagaseo)* multiverse. **As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- The First chapter: The story starts with Sai committing Suicide by Cop via a horrified Naruto, Orochimaru killing Tenzo and driving Naruto past the Despair Event Horizon with a Breaking Speech.
- Kistune's situation: he's a borderline Empty Shell controlled by a insane and murderous Kyubi killing anyone he encounters, he doesn't want to exist like this but the demon he called upon won't let him stop.
- Kitsune's Kyubi in general, take Canon Kurama at his most malevolent and ominous, the demon waiting within Naruto's mind happy to destroy anything and anyone and then turn it up to eleven . This thing is a Ax-Crazy, Smug Super Corrupter that makes other versions of the Kurama nervous and has frankly alarming hold over its host.
- The Madara Trio: Madara Uchiha one of the most powerful ninja in existence taking notice is bad, three of him teaming up and hunting the main characters relentlessly across world's and slaughtering anyone who gets in their way or tries to stop them is like something out of nightmare.
- What happens to the Land of Waves Sakura manages to be this and Tear Jerker: after a childhood significantly worse than what Canon Naruto had to endure including the death of family, Sakura finally gets a break and finds friends that will stand by her in Team 7 then she watches them die bloody in front of her. Cue her hitting Rage-Breaking Point / Despair Event Horizon harder than Naruto did in the Invasion of Pain Arc and letting the Kyubi out completely and shouting down Minato when he tries to talk her down.
- The Warlord: An Omnicidal Maniac with both the monstrously evil intelligence and demonic godlike power to follow through with his goal. Everyone who sees him almost instantly knows he is evil incarnate even when he tries to hide it behind a mask of sanity. He comes up with creative ways to slaughter the entire population of the worlds he visits just so it does not get boring. What is possibly his worst act is the time he killed every person over the age of twelve in the entire world he was in on at the time. He then gathered the surviving children, split them into two armies and forced them to butcher each other with knives and other close range. He would then take the winning army (the one that was still alive) of blood-soaked traumatized children, SPLIT THEM UP AGAIN into two armies and force them to slaughter each other again. At the end of all this bloodshed and crimes against humanity, he leaves the completely broken young survivors, with plans to return to this world in the future to see what kind twisted civilization spring up as a result of this atrocity. And he has equally twisted shit in other worlds. Think human body part collection contest. No more needs to be said on that.
- The Warlord's origins: He's a Naruto that abused the shadow clones from day one, eventually becoming nothing more than a hive of clones due to memory overload. Not only is the idea of Naruto's personality being subsumed by his clone memories utterly horrifying, but it's possible that any Naruto who abuses the shadow clone technique might eventually become him, meaning that there might well be countless Naruto's just waiting to become the monster that we saw. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EchoesKagaseo |
Eisenhorn / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Seeing that this is Warhammer 40,000, Eisenhorn and company encounter a number of nightmarish terrors.
## Xenos
- The Saruthi. The narrative takes great pains to describe just how unnerving these Starfish Aliens are: theres no symmetry to their bodies whatsoever, not even in the way they move. Their heads are oblong shapes with no eyes or mouths, but plenty of nostrils. Their limbs end in human-like hands with too many fingers, and they can interlace their fingers into a lifelike recreation of a human face,
*which they can speak through*. Even by the standards of 40k, these creatures are bizarre, alien, and unknowable.
## Malleus | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Eisenhorn |
ECW / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Honestly, a good chunk of ECW counts as either this or Nausea Fuel. New Jack's infamous bump at Living Dangerously 2000, where he landed facefirst 20 feet onto concrete and
*brain fluid leaked out of his nose,* is **both.**
- Sabu vs. Terry Funk in a
*No-Rope Barbed Wire* match at ECW's *Born to Be Wired* show. Sabu misses a splash on Funk and goes crashing into a barbed-wire board, tearing a 10-inch gash in his freakin' biceps and had someone go get duct tape to wrap it up so he could finish the match Paul Heyman and company felt that one "was too extreme, even for ECW." | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/ECW |
Elantris / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- Being taken by the shaod and becoming an Elantrian means becoming immortal...except that your body cannot heal. Any cut, bruise, or stubbed toe will hurt forever, slowly driving you toward madness. Some Elantrians have endured this for YEARS while others have simply descended into mindlessness. In addition, it is thought that burning an Elantrian to ash is the only way to truly kill one, but nobody knows for sure, so it could instead mean an eternity of nothing but pain, all of your senses obliterated and replaced by nothing but agony.
- Shaor's fate. Her follower give their bloodied wig to Raoden, as a sign of them switching their devotion to him, and that's all we know. Her body is never found afterward, not even among the hoeds.
- Also, anything to do with ||Dakhor magic. They grow their bones into the shapes of runes through an extremely painful process.|| That's Nightmare Fuel enough already; then you find out about the techniques that are Powered by a Forsaken Child...
- ||Actually,
*all* Dakhor techniques are powered that way. It's mentioned that granting their monks their powers costs multiple lives for each granted power. Dilaf's Anti-Magic cost *fifty* and he wasn't even sure if he would ever need to use it.|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Elantris |
Ed, Edd n Eddy / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- The insect hunting scene in "Nagged To Ed", especially when Ed gets stuck on the giant spider web...
**Ed:** Help me guys! I don't want the fluids drained from my body!
- The scene where it looks like three monsters (they're really the Kanker sisters) are after them and the Eds scream and the picture's colors invert.
- "Look Into My Eds" ends with the Kankers making the Eds think they're dogs and have them chained in the yards of their trailer home to fight over a shoe. It's rather disconcerting.
- In "Fool on the Ed" there's a part where the kids are laughing at the Eds. Jonny's face during this just looks really ...off.
- Eddy going crazy from having no kids to scam in "Laugh Ed Laugh" is surprisingly creepy. He does all kinds of wildly insane things, like making a turban out of his own tongue, eating acorns, fences, and fire hydrants, and believing that a mailbox is his own house.
- There is even a scene in the episode where it shows his brain exploding
**into popcorn.**
- In "A Glass of Warm Ed", Ed goes on a sleep-eating spree by breaking into nearby houses and eating all of the residents' food. When he gets to Jimmy's house, Edd and Eddy find Ed trying to eat Jimmy. Though it's meant to be Played for Laughs, Edd and Eddy are so shocked that they close the door without a word and literally shown to be terrified from the whole experience, especially Edd. Don't worry; he spits Jimmy out.
- From "Knock Knock, Who's Ed", Ed doesn't taken kindly to Eddy interrupting him when they finally find a TV on which to watch the
*Hot Rod Cyclops* movie marathon: "MOVIE GOOD FOR ED!"◊ The scene displays one of the few moments Ed shows genuine anger and actually intimidates Edd, Eddy, and Rolf into sitting quietly as he watches his movie.
- A lot of the events in "One + One = Ed", which begin with the Eds' attempts to get rich by taking things apart snowballing into disassembling the space-time continuum itself. But after that, things get REALLY weird; they disassemble so many things they end up
*destroying the entire universe* and get stranded in a violently chaotic Acid-Trip Dimension as a result. At least things do get better by the end, thankfully.
- There's the moment Jimmy melts when the Eds take off his outline.
- A scene from "Urban Ed" where Jimmy is making his way around the cardboard people in the Eds' mock city, all while hearing the "people" laugh at and mock him. It's an oddly dark scene in an otherwise lighthearted episode.
- After Ed accidentally lets Edd's ants loose in "Stop, Look and Ed", Edd starts choking him with his legs. It's pretty uncomfortable to watch, considering Edd is usually an extreme pacifist, especially seeing Ed trying to apologize to Edd during his "punishment".
- When the Eds get trapped in a haunted house in "Honor Thy Ed" and fall into a Gambit Roulette set up by the Kanker sisters, culminating in the Eds being forced to marry them.
- The whole "tunnel of love" scene is pretty disturbing. Especially since the Eds are mysteriously stripped naked halfway through it.
- Ed's story in "Once Upon An Ed" where the Kanker Sisters eat radioactive mashed potatoes and turn into gigantic monstrous versions of themselves and chase the Eds; especially the part where they combine their faces. Even Eddy pointed out how surreal Ed's story was becoming.
- There's also the scene where Jimmy collapses while running away from the Kankers. Sarah desperately tries to help him up, but the gigantic foot of a Kanker stomps him into the ground. It's not a cartoonish squish either, she literally
*kills* Jimmy! Even if it's just a story, that is seriously disturbing.
- The ending of It Came From Outer Ed. Ed's scam is revealed to be a curse he had read about in a comic book at the start of the episode, and even worse?
*IT WORKS*! **Ed:** ( *as the Eds get swarmed by angry crows*) Evil Tim has beckoned them! **Edd and Eddy:** ED!
- "Dueling Eds", natch.
*Especially* the ending. Rolf forces Eddy to fight him after the latter disrespected him by throwing some Foreign Queasine that all the neighborhood kids had to eat. After failing to convince him to call the duel off, Eddy and Rolf engage in a Curb-Stomp Battle of the latter viciously whaling on the former with a giant fish. This causes Double D, who usually tries to be tolerant of Rolf's cultural traditions, to wonder if Rolf is just plain insane. Even worse, not only does the sky suddenly becomes dark and omnious during the fight, but Eddy is seen beaten up in very disturbingly graphic way complete with some blood and *teeth* flying out of his mouth and then he's finished by being "sent off" into the abyss. After the fight, he (and the other Eds for no reason whatsoever) are given the "Eels of Forgiveness" by Rolf. Ed, unfortunately, is allergic to them, which causes him to morph into a giant half-human, half-fish monstrosity and the sight causes Double D to freak out and promptly pass out in terror, and unlike the "Flea-Bitten Ed" episode with his bunny allergy, Double D's fainting alone shows that his eel allergy *isn't* Played for Laughs.
- The climax of "Boys Will Be Eds", where Nazz runs away in complete terror after being relentlessly harassed and pushed into a corner by Kevin, Jonny, and the Eds. Surprisingly, it's not Played for Laughs, and Nazz's horrified shrieking as she runs off is almost spine-freezing.
- Ed's Nightmare Sequence at the beginning of "Rock-A-Bye Ed".
- The obvious dream elements aside, Ed's dream gives us a disturbing glimpse of his home life. The dream starts with Ed playing with his paddleball, minding his own business, while Sarah is trying to watch TV. Sarah ends up getting annoyed by the noise, but instead of, say, asking Ed to go somewhere else, her response is to grab the paddleball and try to snip the string with a pair of scissors. When Ed (rightfully) stops her from breaking his toy, Sarah immediately goes to their mom and puts on an innocent act, while Ed literally gets on his knees and pleads with his mom to believe him... she doesn't, or possibly
**he** as Ed's mom is portrayed in the dream by none other than Jonny 2x4. When you put this scene together with the numerous hints about Ed's family throughout the series, it's not hard to conclude that this is a regular occurrence.
- After Ed's mother (Jonny 2x4) tears his mouth off and sentences him to be thrown into the "Kanker pit" (with shark-like versions of the Kanker Sisters), Ed
*tears open a new mouth to scream!*
- A minor moment in comparison, but Eds eyes shrinking and eyebrow twitching uncontrollably upon seeing Johnny sometime after waking up is just unnervingly weird.
- There's something...unsettling about the scene in "Brother Can You Spare an Ed," where Ed is looking back and forth between the fudge Sarah asked him to get for her and Jimmy and the Jawbreakers that Eddy is trying to goad him into buying for the Eds instead. Every time Ed looks at the Fudge you can hear what sounds like jeering laughter, and Ed looks like he's about to have a mental breakdown and even starts physically shaking... Just what was going through the poor guy's head?
- "The Day The Ed Stood Still" has Ed wearing a monster suit and became one with it, not just act, but
**become** the monster.
- In "An Ed in the Bush", Rolf does something unspeakably traumatizing to the Eds that it causes them to hide in Ed's basement
*for three whole days* in fear of the "Belly-Button Eater".
- Ed going absolutely berserk in "Little Ed Blue" after he's pushed too far while in an especially bad mood; it's essentially a person acting like a wild and dangerously destructive animal while still mentally and physically human.
-
*Sarah*, of all people, was afraid of him, to put things into perspective.
- Ed lets out a Death Glare at one point.
- How about when he rips his eyebrow in half?◊
- Ed's ensuing scream of
**"BIG TROUBLEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!!!!!!!!!!!!!"** before his Roaring Rampage of Revenge is so loud and violent, it causes Edd to instantly fall into a dead faint and Eddy, who spent the episode being an unsympathetic Jerkass to Ed and, out of frustration towards his bad mood, caused his rampage by slapping him behind his head, to be fearful of him. Then, as Eddy desperately tries to revive Edd, Ed proceeds to completely trash the playground and comes dangerously close to *breaking Plank in half* while a horrified Jonny begs him to stop. **Ed:** *I WANT TO BE ALONE!!*
- Someone actually drew a picture◊ of what it might have looked like had Ed actually snapped Plank. It's harrowing to say the least.
- In "Run For Your Ed", after a sleepwalking Ed accidentally makes off with the Kankers' ship in a bottle, they turn the entire neighborhood upside down looking for it. And no, that's not a figure of speech: Even after the Kankers eventually get their ship in a bottle back, the whole Cul De Sac is destroyed with the sounds of fire trucks & helicopters in the background.
**Jimmy:** IT'S A KANKER HISSY FIT!
- The end of "Take This Ed and Shove It", which supposedly presented all the events until the episode as just the nostalgic memories of an elderly Eddy as he and his friends live miserable lives while married to the Kankers and longing for his lost youth as he laments the issues of old age. Even worse, it was originally planned to be the last episode.
- Double D appearing as a "mole-mutant" in "Boom Boom Out Goes The Ed", especially when you consider how Rolf and Kevin managed to get out of the sewers unscathed.
- When Ed lights up his head with a flashlight, instead of a skull, we see a toast with holes for eye-sockets and melted butter smushed into the center. Now consider that Ed's favorite food is buttered toast...
- Edd going insane from not taking a shower in "Cleanliness Is Next to Ed-ness".
**Edd:** For me? Oh, you shouldn't have! *(dumps trash all over himself)* **Nazz:** Double D? *(pinches her nose)* Is that you? **Edd:** No. Heh! Not really.
- The scene in "Out with the Old, in with the Ed," in which the Kankers send the Eds to their new "homeroom." While May and Marie give their usual flood of kisses to Ed and Edd, who are too afraid/weak to fight back, what happens to Eddy before he gets his usual act is...really unnerving.
**Eddy:** Ok, THAT'S IT! I'm telling the teacher on you (Lee dressed as a teacher)! ( *raises hand*) **Lee:** ( *bends down to Eddy's face* I'm all ears, *my little teacher's pet! * (*laughs and pushes him into the stall for kissing'')
- Before that, when the kids realize school starts tomorrow and none of them are prepared, they decide to steal all of Edd's supplies.
*By chopping down his door with an axe.*
- Rolf's Sanity Slippage in "No Speak Da Ed". His Nightmare Face is also not pretty to look at◊.
- The flashback which shows why Ed's wolf costume makes Rolf so uneasy: when he was a little boy back in The Old Country, he was ambushed by somebody wearing a similar wolf costume while herding sheep. Whether the person was a sheep rustler or just someone playing a very mean prank is unclear, but the incident definitely had an effect on Rolf regardless.
- The ending of "Tight End Ed". The fact that Eddy is kidnapped by the rival team and Ed refusing to save him makes the ending a bit serious.
- Ed had a chance to save him, but had no idea he was in danger and just watched the bus drive away. Eddy actually
*cries* when it looks Ed is going to save him.
- The cafeteria scene in "Smile For the Ed". The kids reach a whole new level of cruelty as they psychologically torture a kid, driving Eddy into having an honest to god
*panic attack*.
- "Run Ed Run", which is a very surreal episode to begin with, similar to season 2's "1+1=Ed". For some odd reason, despite taking place during a field trip to the Jawbreaker factory, the only kids present on the schoolbus, aside from the Ed's, is Jimmy, Sarah and Jonny, making the whole episode seem oddly desolate. The plot itself revolves around Sarah tricking Ed into thinking that the sky is falling, due to a feud between her and Eddy about who gets to sit at the front of the bus and get first crack at the jawbreakers. It results in the Ed's somehow slamming into the sky, and breaking off a large chunk, with the area behind the sky is shown as television static. Ed spends the end of the episode running around trying to tape the pieces of the sky back together whilst Double D gushes over what an amazing scientific discovery it is.
- "A Fistful of Ed": Double D is seen as a horrendous bully for accidentally inflicting slapstick but still considerable injuries on others. The damage he inflicts terrifies the Cul-de-sac kids, the Kankers, and even his friends, with Ed being the most shocked. "Don't taunt the Double D, Eddy. I was there."
- Rolf's X-ray shows that Edd accidentally
*cracked his skull open.*
- The Halloween Special has elements of this. Heck, the INTRO is what should prepare you for some SCARY content. Check out whenever Ed pictures the kids as monsters. For starters,
Also, the screen becomes... just see for yourself. Here are the monsters as follows: ** THOSE EYES!**
- The Kanker Sisters are witches that Ed thinks caused the monster apocalypse and they create a brew that shoots up into the sky and even the smoke tries to get Ed!
- Jimmy is a freaky looking alien that, for his troubles, is crushed by Ed via a stop sign. Played for laughs, but still.
- Sarah is a pretty terrifying vampire that seems to have literally come out of Hell (just look at the flames!).
- Nazz is a Gorgon sporting a nasty look. Just check for yourself at the current page image above.
- Kevin is only a head being utilized by a really intimidating Headless Horseman.
- Rolf is an ogre whose design is a real piece of work. The pig looks EVEN WORSE! Also, his defeat is a really painful eye impalement. Also, what was he saying exactly?!
- Jonny is a hideous spider that would make Shelob blush. Although from what Ed says, giant spider monsters like Jonny are Not Evil, Just Misunderstood, which might soften the blow a little.
- Plank is a Frankenstein's Monster expy (though his design could be considered goofy and his defeat is awesome/funny).
- In the end, the monsters (really mad kids, actually), sans the witches, converge on the Eds and beat Edd and Eddy silly as they scream to an apathetic Ed for help.
- Really, Ed in this. He's so disconnected from reality from all those horror movies that he can't discern the people around him (aside from his 2 pals, obviously) from abominations from the bowels of Hell or just being in ordinary costumes. The ending even shows he's now apathetic to his friend's pain, but only because his final hallucination does a
**COMPLETE 180** from all the previous ones! Basically, Ed (who believes he's conquered all the monsters thanks to his prior hallucinations and is reading a newspaper), sees Edd and Eddy frolicking happily while flowers rain down upon them... *when in reality, all Edd and Eddy are receiving is a painful No-Holds-Barred Beatdown.*
- And to end it all, the reel behind the special dies, while Eddy and Edd are beaten senseless and Ed continues reading his newspaper...
- In the Christmas Special, "Ed, Edd n Eddy's Jingle Jingle Jangle", Rolf sings a seemingly cheerful song about Yeshmiyek, a bearded woman who lives at the center of the Earth and prepares food for children on Christmas. All of a sudden in the middle of the song, the music and tone suddenly turn slower and much darker, as Rolf sings in a sinister tone warning boys and girls that if they don't do their chores, Yeshmiyek will boil them alive (and presumably eat them). Eddy's terrified expression during this part really sells it. Right afterwards, the song immediately goes back to being fast and cheerful.
- "The Eds are Coming" is
*definitely* Darker and Edgier.
- When Jimmy's dream becomes a Nightmare. Good god, it is SCARY!
- The scene with Edd in Ed's room. It's the show's only attempt at Nothing Is Scarier.
- Normally, the show's characters and moving elements of the cartoon (so basically everything but the background) is animated with a technique called "Squigglevision" which helps give the characters a loose, almost whimsical feel. However, in the dream sequence intro, notice that the huge alien blades are NOT animated with this technique. The stark contrast between the show's usual animation and this episode is very...unsettling.
- And thats only the visual aspects of the episode, dont even start with the sound design on display. While Patric's freeform jazz score is present, the vast majority of the episode's music ranges from tense to downright horrifying. When the aliens capture the Cul-De-Sac in Jimmy's dream, the only music is an intense drumbeat. Not to mention the sound effect associated with the aliens played throughout the episode (when the lights turn on in Rolf's house, the meteorite, Ed's room, etc.) sounds straight out of Silent Hill. At least, the closest thing this show would get to Silent Hill...
- The cherry on the top HAS to be the ending: at the very end, we see one of the flying saucers from Jimmy's dream lift the Cul-De-Sac into space and fly off with it. This does nothing but raise questions - is it just Jimmy not getting over the shock of his traumatic nightmare and imagining things? Is the entire episode All Just a Dream and Jimmy is just about to wake up? Or are the aliens Real After All? And why did they come right when Rolf's weird family were visiting? ...
- Small potatoes compared to most of the other examples on this list, but Rolf
*squeezing lemon juice into his eyes* so that he can see the Cupids that are going around and making people fall in love. The very lovingly detailed shot of his eyes slowly burning red afterward is enough to make your own eyes burn with sympathy. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EdEddNEddy |
Elden Ring / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
"Join the Serpent King as family...
**Together, we will devour the very gods."** *Elden Ring* might *seem* more like a typical High Fantasy than some of FromSoftware's previous outings, but forces much darker are lurking just beneath the surface. **Unmarked spoilers ahead.**
- Deathblight, the Suspiciously Similar Substitute to petrification in the
*Dark Souls* games, is outright horrifying. At least being turn to stone is generally depicted as quick and painless compared to being stabbed inside-out by a sharp, thorny tree.
- That's not the worst part though. A quick examination via mods reveals that these aren't trees, but nests made from a certain unknown pale-white insect that hosts various maggots, not unlike an unguarded piece of meat left too long out of the fridge.
- Anywhere the Scarlet Rot has touched turns into a nightmare, a twisted, rotting version of itself. An entire region of the map, the Caelid Wilds, has fallen victim to it, turning into what looks like a landscape of viscera, pus, and rot. Thats before you even factor in the inhabitants who have grown huge but warped from the disease. Vultures the size of dragons and horrific dog mutants the size of t-rexes are merely the start of your problems.
- It's also possible for an unaware player to be sent deep into Caelid
**from the very start of the game**. In lieu of mimics, some chests are rigged to unleash a mist that will transport you to a distant location if you stand too long in it. One particular chest in Limgrave will send you into the heart of a mid-level dungeon in Caelid, where immediately upon entering you will be bombarded with attacks from enemies you can't possibly hope to survive against. And if you're lucky enough to find the entrance and leave (Which you'll have to if you actually want to get *back* to Limgrave, seeing as teleports are disabled in dungeons you haven't beaten yet)... you will find yourself lost in the very middle of Caelid's hellish, rot-eaten landscape. Such an experience can give a new player Paranoia Fuel about every chest they encounter afterwards.
- On at least the PS5 version of the game, several of the notes the players can leave behind for others to read in the crystal mines will read, "I want to go home!".
- The Lake of Rot is very unnerving at a first glance. If standing on the shore, the player will gaze upon an endless pool of bright-reddish rot that seems to go on forever. Though the area itself is straightforward, stumbling upon this sight brings to mind a layer of hell.
- Even worse is the Flavor Text for some items state that the Outer God of the Scarlet Rot is apparently sealed
*under* said lake.
- That the weather changes in Caelid to hellish red implies Scarlet Rot is closer to the reality warping Sand Plague from
*Pathologic* than it is to any mundane illness like what took out Blighttown. Its somehow infected the very sky.
- The mere fact that you can just
*walk into Caelid* is horrifying all on its own. There's no great knights, no unbreakable wall, no seal containing the rot, it's just a place you can go without anyone or anything to stop your entry. It's like everyone but the under equipped and scattered Radahn soldiers have just given up trying to contain or defend against it, and just *left.*
- Going underground into the Ainsel River will eventually lead you into an anthill full of giant ants. While the ants themselves aren't the most horrifying thing (if you weren't afraid of Big Creepy-Crawlies, that is), what's really horrifying about that area is the fact that the anthill is full of hundreds, if not possibly
*thousands* of human corpses.
- And that's not even the end of it. Going even deeper into the river will lead you into the Uhl Palace Ruins. Hanging from the ceiling at the end of this section is a massive Eldritch Abomination that looks like a cross between a centipede and a human skeleton. The damn thing somehow notices you as soon as you've entered within a square mile of it and will relentlessly pelt you with summoned meteors until you can find a way to get close to it.
- A side passage here will lead you to a cliff that overlooks the Lake of Rot mentioned above. It's likely the first time you will have ever seen it and even if you have no idea what it is the sheer wrongness of it is obvious.
- Following the Monstrosity of Sin in
*Dark Souls 3*, Miyazaki once again revisits hand-based body horror with Caria Manor. Inhabiting the front gardens of this old decrepit manor are the **Fingercreepers** - grotesque creatures resembling gigantic disembodied hands, cut off at the wrist and stitched together, giving them just a few too many fingers. Their size ranges from about knee-height to being *large enough to hold you in their palm* (which, having a grab attack, they can). As their name implies, they skitter about on their fingers like enormous arachnids, somehow invoking feelings of arachnophobia despite not actually being spiders. Oh, yeah, and just like spiders, they can *cling to walls*, dropping down on you as you pass by. And if you think you can just look up and avoid be surprised, think again - several of these hands are actually buried under the dirt palm-facing-up, and will *burst from the ground* as you walk over them, like trapdoor spiders snatching their prey. For the larger ones, this is a grab attack, and while it's not difficult to wiggle out without too much damage, it'll still leave you watching the ground for stray fingers... leaving you unaware of the ones on the walls falling down on your head. Essentially, take everything that was terrifying about Wall Masters and Floor Masters from *Ocarina of Time*, and apply the standard Soulslike Dark Fantasy paint over it.
- In the Mountaintops of the Giants (a very late-game area), you can find a third variant of these. Except they're big enough to engulf giant trolls. You first notice one of them falling out of the sky and crushing one of the giant crows previously seen in Caelid, the bird that dwarfs you looking utterly puny beneath the giant hand monster.
- The loathsome Dung Eater immediately became the stuff of Internet jokes once he was first introduced in the story trailer, but in game, he is a whole load of Nightmare Fuel and Nausea Fuel all wrapped in an unnervingly filthy package. You first find him show up
*completely uninvited* to the Roundtable Hold as a passive red spirit, resting in a room caked with blood and rotting corpses. Roderika makes mention of his spiritual presence and can only describe him as a Humanoid Abomination, constantly surrounded by the tortured screaming of hundreds of souls. He himself is oddly serene despite only ever talking about causing as much death and despair as possible through spreading the Seedbed Curse, which is flatly noted in its item description to *prevent souls from returning to the Erdtree and leaving them forever cursed.* Why does he do all of this? **He just hates everyone and everything and wants them to suffer as much as possible.** The word "loathsome" is not only appropriate for this being, but it doesn't even begin to describe how horrifying he is.
- Eventually, he will drop this spine-chilling bombshell of a threat when he invites you to kill his corporeal body. He never elaborates what he means by this, but considering his reputation (not to mention
*his very name*), one can only imagine the worst...
- Blackguard Big Boggart, a petty criminal whom you can befriend, used to be cellmates with this guy, and witnessed first-hand how he "defiles" corpses (namely, the corpse of Boggart's best friend, who he killed in order to do so). The sight was so horrific that Boggart claims to have never felt more afraid in his life. If you get Boggart to move to the Capital Outskirts, he just so happens to set up shop in the exact spot where the Dung Eater wants to fight you, and, well, the Dung Eater has to find
*some* way to pass the time while waiting for you to show up...
- Even worse, you can choose to help the Dung Eater in his quest to spread misery throughout the world. Feeding him 5 Seedbed Curses will cause him to produce the "Mending" Rune of the Fell Curse, which you can then use at the end of the game to restore the Elden Ring, unleashing its curse on the whole world. The description of the rune states that the curse will last "eternally," leaving every single soul permanently severed from the Erdtree and condemned to eternal suffering when they die. This ending is so bleak and frightening, that even the narrator's voice is
*trembling* in disgust and horror. "A cursed blessing to all" indeed.
- Another unsettling detail about the Dung Eater is the thing hanging from the chest piece of his armour. A sun medallion, tainted pitch black, bearing a face. Though it isn't exactly the same, it certainly brings to mind the sun insignia on Solaire's chest. The Dung Eater may be intended to be read as an Evil Counterpart to our favourite jolly cooperator.
- Worse still, if you dig into Japanese folklore, you get a worrying indicator of where his name came from. According to Japanese mythology, there is a spherical organ known as the
*shirikodama*, located in the anus, that houses a person's soul. Several types of *Youkai* specifically target this organ, ripping it out of a victim's body to consume it. In fact, in *Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice* there's an enemy with a grappling attack where he will rip *something* out of Sekiro's backside, so this wouldn't be the first time that "dung eating" was referenced by a Fromsoft enemy.
- Ironically enough, the Dung Eater can suffer a nightmarish fate even
*he* finds horrifying. Seluvis' (nightmare fuel in his own right as mentioned later on this page) potion can be applied to him, turning him into a puppet. The Dung Eater desperately tries to assert his identity before falling silent for good. The description of the resulting puppet even says that he is in such utter despair over his situation that it should make you feel bad even for someone like him. He's one of the best spirit summons in the game, too, so you have every incentive to do this unless you're planning on going for his ending (for some reason).
- A more creepy and subtle element of the Dung Eater's personality is that he's an insane narcissist. If you defeat him when he invades you in the Capital Outskirts, he'll come to the bizarre conclusion that the only way you could have beaten him is if you are also him. He also seems to view himself as having kinship with the Omens, to the point that his armor is modeled off of their mutilated bodies. Part of the reason why he wants to spread his Seedbed Curse is so that
*everyone* else will be "blessed" with Omen physiology.
- The first phase of the fight with the Fire Giant involves the Tarnished smacking away at his exposed leg. Eventually, you do enough damage that the Fire Giant's leg graphically snaps, causing him to crumble to the ground, roaring in agony. The Fire Giant's solution to this troublesome predicament is to
*rip off his goddamned calf and incinerate it*.
- Like his brethren, the last Fire Giant has the face of his outer god, the Fell God, upon his chest. A giant single eye glares from where the Giant's heart should be. A wide maw of teeth gapes from where the Giant's stomach organs should be.
*This* is how the influences of the Outer Gods manifest in the corporeal world, as if pushing out from beyond another realm of existence into this one. And, as stated above, Godwyn has shown qualities that imply he has become about as powerful as the Outer Gods, with his dead features spreading across the Lands Between.
- Stormveil, the castle of Godrick the Grafted. Its one thing to hear about grafting, it's another to see rooms full of prized limbs hanging like trophies, the endless bloodstains, kitchens full of human torsos being cured and cooked right alongside the beef and fowl, and the piles of rotting limbless corpses that the Grafted decided werent fit for eating. All this in a castle that just looks
*wrong*, a place not meant for mortal inhabitants. It comes off as a sort of inverse Anor Londo; a place too majestic for humans to have built or used, but replace the glory with malice.
- And for the love of the Golden Order, do NOT go beneath the castle. Two utterly
*massive*, inexplicable abominations dwell beneath. One of them is the Ulcerated Tree Spirit mentioned below. The other, lying immobile in a cave behind the Ulcerated Tree Spirit, is... **a thing**. This bizarre abomination looks like the desiccated corpse of a tremendous giant squid, albeit with a hollow-eyed human face on its mantle. It doesn't do anything to you, but that doesn't mean it's not dangerous: It's somehow related to the cursed Rune of Death and, despite being dead, is still somehow alive in a fashion, as poor Sorcerer Rogier's bloodstain nearby it shows. Somehow, the thing sent him up into the air and did *something* to him that left his lower body crippled and decaying, and imprinted into his mind a fascination with seeking the Rune of Death note : it's actually the animation for getting killed by the Death Blighted status effect... which tracks, considering this strange abomination's obvious connection with Death. It's an experience more suited for *Bloodborne* than a standard fantasy setting, and indeed, this encounter is what sends you on a quest to reveal the deepest, darkest truths of *Elden Ring*'s universe. Its also causing the castle itself to ulcerate and *rot*, with big thorn filled holes covering the outer walls and even some of the equipment used by the castle soldiers.
- Even worse, its implied that the thing is the remains of
*Godwyn*, Queen Marikas son (and who was the first demigod to be killed in The Lands Between). But how that is possible is up in the air, as you find Godwyn's physical remains in a different location underground
- Speaking of Godwyns physical remains, lets talk about his corpse for a second. It isnt a corpse as much as a bloated mass of flesh, with a weird squid face with its eyes open, a mermaids tail, and death blight branches growing all throughout his body. All while uncontrollably growing into a blight across the Lands Between.
- A good theory as to just how this abominable face exists beneath Stormveil when you find Godwyn's actual dead body so far away would be that it's a sort of replication created by Deathroots, considering those were created by Godwyn's body merging with the roots of the Erdtree itself. How the Stormveil face bleeds when struck is an entirely different matter either way.
- YouTuber Zullie the Witch has made a video detailing the extent that Godwyn's infection of the Lands Between has reached. Godwyn's dead eyes are
*everywhere*; where there are tree roots, you might find single eyes staring back at you. This includes in Farum Azula, a location that has no physical connection to the Lands, implying that Godwyn's infection can reach beyond the roots of the tree he is stuck in. Animals and monsters are also affected; the crabs in the Leyndell moat have Godwyn's visage *growing* from their backs, and the Basilisks' fake eyes visually echo Godwyn's eyes, as well as sharing other features with the Death-Prince (e.g. limp hair, finned appendages). In fact, Godwyn has gotten so out-of-control that he might be on par with the Outer Gods, who also "engrave" their features onto mortals, such as the Fire Giant bearing the face of the Fell God on his abdomen.
- Godrick the Grafted himself is as disturbing as his home. Stealing the arms and legs of Tarnished for...
*some* reason, grafting them to himself, and eventually doing the same to a dragon head requires elaboration. The man doesn't just rip off the dragon's head and attach it to himself. He takes his axe *and cuts off his hand*, howling in pain before he takes the bloody stump where his hand used to be and *slides* it into the neck of the dragon. And many a player will go Oh, Crap! once they see the dragon's head *start to move* once grafted onto Godrick's body. **Godrick**: Forefathers, one and all! BEAR WITNESS!
- It gets
*worse*: In a shack on Stormhill, you will find Roderika, a young woman who was part of a group of pilgrims who went to *offer* themselves to become grafted, and the only reason she isn't with them is because she chickened out; she considers this "cowardice" to be personally humiliating. People are giving themselves to Godrick *willingly!*
-
**Ulcerated Tree Spirits**. These abominations look like massive, many-toothed serpents made of what seems to be a combination of decaying tree roots and rotten flesh. Incredibly fast and tough to beat, even at higher levels, they have a nasty habit of showing up completely unprompted in seemingly empty locations as a surprise miniboss encounter. The worst thing about these is that they show up from very early in the game. Players who have selected the Stonesword Key can even encounter one of these *in the tutorial dungeon!* Though that assumes you can survive the gauntlet before this boss when you've just started out.
- Castle Morne might not be as big or as fancy as Stormveil, but what you find inside definitely leaves an impression: an utter
*mass* of corpses stacked up on each other right in the middle of the castle, the corpses of soldiers hung on nooses on the castle walls, and the Misbegotten celebrating happily after their very bloody and *very* successful Slave Revolt. In other places around the world, you'll usually find Misbegotten mutilating human corpses.
- The Two Fingers look like a straight up Eldritch Abomination, with huge festering wounds and bizarre tendrils. Their appearance and name make it clear they arent really giant fingers, it's just that "two fingers" was the closest descriptor mortals could make for the rotting, gurgling, twin-headed flesh mass.
- Creepy as the Two Fingers are, the
*Three* Fingers are even worse. If the Two Fingers are akin to angels in this setting, the Three Fingers are clearly their demonic counterparts. They're found far, far below the Capital, in an ancient crypt filled with fairly recently deceased corpses. Locked behind a "door" that appears to be still warm magma. There, in a chamber without light you see them. Three, spindly, flaming fingers that somehow howl at your presences before stretching and embracing you, burning the player with the Frenzied Flame. After the cutscene, you resume play in a black chamber. If you walk forward it's revealed that the Fingers are gone, as if they weren't even there. What makes this encounter so scary is that if you haven't found the right items or spoken to a handful of very specific NPCS, the Three Fingers seem to come out of nowhere, narratively speaking, with them disappearing just as abruptly as they're introduced.
- Even worse, despite their minor role, interacting with them has
*consequences*, they will cause you to **burn the world down** in a bad ending.
- The "Lord of Frenzied Flame" ending. Jesus CHRIST. By siding with the Three Fingers, the player can choose to become the Lord of Chaos. At the end of the game, they collapse while screaming in agony, their
*head is engulfed in a vortex of fire*, turning them into a being made of Frenzied Flame that proceeds to *completely obliterate* the Erdtree and extend the same fate to the rest of the world, rendering it an ashen wasteland. Melina promising to slay you does leave a ray of hope, provided you got the ending *before* she sacrificed herself, but dear God does it not help much.
- Perhaps the worst thing about the Frenzied Flame is that
*only* Tarnished can be affected by the Madness status effect it causes. If you see another Tarnished using Frenzied Flame spells/gear they are almost certainly a virtual Serial Killer specialized in invading and murdering other players.
- You may first encounter Frenzy during your exploration of the Weeping Peninsula. You find an eerily quiet village filled with people frozen in the midst of clutching their heads. Then you get close to one and they start moving, revealing a golden glow in their eyes as they try to attack you
- The Frenzied Flame Village in Liurnia stands out as a particularly harrowing place to visit. When first seeing it from a distance, there seems to be a regular abandoned tower in the middle of a ruined village. Then the
*Eye of Sauron* shows up and an unearthly howl fills the air. Even worse, your Madness gauge will skyrocket as long as the "Eye" can see you, so players have to take full advantage of cover of the nearby ruins. But then it becomes clear everything there is pretty much Frenzied themselves, even the *rats* in the nearby ruins are infected with it and can build up your madness with their bites, to say nothing of the *Trolls* that are infected as well. And when you finally get to the tower and reach the top, you see what's creating the "Eye": several villagers channeling the Frenzied Flame at once. Fortunately, killing them all ends the threat of the tower permanently. That leaves you free to explore what the tower was guarding — namely, the Frenzied Flame Village, where everyone is in the grips of the Flame. Then once you get past the village and go up the hills to the nearby church thinking it's a place of succor, you get invaded. By Festering Fingerprint Vyke, a tough as nails invader whose spear inflicts Madness and who uses a bunch of Frenzied Flame incantations. These portions of the game are practically *designed* to make you fear the Frenzied Flame, as it's clear whatever you are, the Frenzied Flame can burn its way into your eyes all the same.
- Vyke, by the way, was close to becoming the new Elden Lord you want to be
until he encountered the Frenzied Flame. Now hes simply a madman trying to kill whatever he can.
- The game seems to go out of its way to remind you the Frenzied Flame exists at every stage, and how bad it is. Youll encounter it as early as Limgrave, Liurnia has a whole questline related to it not to mention the village, youll find it in Mt Gelmir, and even if you dont explore the sewers of Leyndell, youll meet Shabriri in the Mountaintops of the Giants who will try to tempt you to backtrack and seek it. All the merchants you meet? Their eyes are yellow. Because of the Frenzied Flame. Youll even find it as late as the Consecrated Snowfield! Youll be making your way to the tunnel on the map, or to the portal leading to Mohgwyn Palace, only to come across some ruins
only a troll to spot you, roar at you, and start firing Frenzied Flame at you
while the Frenzied Flame infected trolls, villagers and rats all suddenly are made aware of your presence and start going out of their way to kill you.
- The Frenzied Flame seems to be able to bring people back to life as some kind of vessel for it. Shabriri somehow possesses Yuras dead body, makes it to the Mountaintops of the Giants which are blocked by Morgott before you kill him, and somehow knows about Melina, trying to tempt you to become the Lord of Chaos.
- Then theres Hyetta. She seems innocent enough when you enter Liurnia, simply asking to be given some kind of grape.. until you realise she has the exact same character model and voice as a character you earlier saw dead. Then you look at the grapes closer and realise they are
*human eyes from people possessed by the Frenzied Flame*. Then you realise her questline deliberately has you seeking out areas ravaged by the Frenzied Flame, such as the shack of her old selfs father, or the aforementioned Frenzied Flame village. She says shell become a Finger Maiden, but its the **Three Fingers** shes a maiden for. She is actively encouraging you to seek her as your maiden so she can lead you to the Three Fingers. She then disappears.. only for you to find her outside of the door leading to the Three Fingers in the Leyndell catacombs.
- Hyetta could be similar to Shabriri. Some kind of entity that can possess dead people. And lead them to the Frenzied Flame.
- If shes killed, all she drops is a Frenzyflame stone, even before you give her any grapes, further lending credence to the idea that somehow Irina was reanimated by the Frenzied Flame. How is it doing that?
- There's the aftermath of what overuse of the Frenzied Flame does to the eyes: They turn yellow and shrivel, becoming more like a grape than an eye. And then you see what happens to those directly touched by the Three Fingers, as in the case of Vyke. His eyes are half-melted and covered in glowing yellow fingerprint-like swirls.
- How you find the Three Fingers is also disturbing on its own. After you defeat Mohg the Omen, resting at the Grace in the room allows you to talk to Melina - and she'll ask you not to seek the Three Fingers and become the Lord of Frenzied Flame. You might dismiss her warnings, but entering the hidden catacombs reveals
*hundreds*, if not **thousands** of corpses, all clutching their eyes, and unlike, say, the pile of bodies found in Ainsel River, *every single one of the corpses is individually unique*. What makes the matter worse is that this is seen **at every single level of the crypt**, making the descent a truly harrowing experience. By the way, you arent alone. Youll also hear rather sad music in the crypts. Then upon descending further into the crypts, youll realise its not the in game soundtrack, but a damn Frenzied Flame zombie that stops playing the song and suddenly starts shooting fire at you. Just how long have they been stuck down there? When you finally reach the grace at the bottom, you can once again talk to Melina, and this time she *begs* you not to do it, her voice even trembling as she tells you that a Lord who rules over no life is no Lord at all, telling you outright what to expect should you continue down the nightmarish-looking door at the end of the room. The amount of warning signs the game throws at you so overtly, as early as Limgrave and as late as the area before the Haligtree, makes it clear that what lies beyond this path is the worst thing in the entirety of the game - in a game with Rykard, Mohg, the Scarlet Rot and the Dung Eater, stuck in a cycle of never ending war and never ending life - which speaks a **lot** on just how nightmarishly bad the Frenzied Flame really is. **Melina:**
If you intend to claim the Frenzied Flame, I ask that you cease. It is
*not*
to be meddled with. It is chaos, devouring life and thought unending
. However ruined this world has become, however mired in torment and despair... Life endures. Births continue.
There is beauty in that, is there not? If you would become Lord, do not deny this notion. Please, leave the Frenzied Flame alone.
I ask you, one more time.
*Please.*
Seek not the Frenzied Flame. As one who strives to become a Lord, deny not the lives, the new births of this world. Those who would
are not fit to be called Lord, when the land they preside over is lifeless. The Lord of Frenzied Flame is no Lord at all... When the land they preside over is lifeless.
- It gets even worse, if that was even possible. The Nomadic Merchants who you've been finding across the whole game? You can find a set of their clothing in the same area, and the item descriptions tell us that once, they were once united as the Great Caravan. However, upon being accused of heretical beliefs, they were rounded up and buried underground. Verbatim;
*"Then, they chanted a curse of despair, and summoned the flame of frenzy."* Those kindly, if occasionally paranoid merchants you've been talking to the whole time? They were the ones responsible *for bringing the flame of frenzy to the world.* Some of them even attack you with frenzy spells if you make them hostile! Not to mention, all of those corpses once belonged to that Great Caravan. Sobering to think that these innocent people gave up and decided, if the Lands Between deems them heretics, they might as well be.
- And finally, worse
*still,* combined with the point below, Mohg saw fit to seal this with an illusion of himself. And the wall of magma was created by Morgott, to further seal the Frenzied Flame. To reiterate: The game's equivalent of saw fit to work with his brother, a fervent follower of the Greater Will and rival to his Mohgwyn dynasty, to seal the Three Fingers and their Frenzied Flame. **Satan himself**
- And while we're on the subject of Mohg, let's rap about HIM for a moment too. Mohg the Omen is both frightening on an impersonal level - he leads a cult of murdering knights obsessed with blood and is the setting equivalent to
*Satan*- and on a personal level, where he's a predatory half-brother to Miquella, who Mohg attempted to force into his bedchambers and might have raped, and who Mohg seemingly killed and placed within a chrysalis so as to turn Miquella into a god he could control, and then usurp Marika.
- One of his agents is also likely the first characters you'll see upon entering the open world, lending the implication that Mohg has interest in you.
- Varré may actually have killed your maiden! And hence, he is the reason you are maidenless. Meaning that
*he* will be the one guiding you, towards his ends, and hence Mohgs ends.
- There's also the fact unlike most other factions in the game, Mohg's Knights aren't on the decline. Godrick and Morgott's empires are decaying and vestigial, Malenia's forces are stretched thin and literally rotting away, while Radahn's men are preoccupied being insane survivalists and fighting The Rot which has completely overtaken their territory. Mohg on the other hand is actively adding to his forces (which might well include
*you* should you prioritize PVP), and his men are cognizant and capable, on top of utilizing one of the strongest strategies in the game. He has Tarnished Bloody Fingers and Sanguine Nobles. Throughout his palace, you can find countless Albinaurics he has enslaved into his army, experimenting on them using Cursed Blood, to turn them into deadly fast and lethal warriors. He also has blood zombies, dogs and giant crows at his disposal all ready to unleash on enemies. On top of that, it's highly likely that unless you go through with Varre's questline, you might never even find him, since the only other way to access his palace is by finding a very out of the way portal in the Consecrated Snowfield. The same portal that its implied he used to spirit Miquella away to his palace with. Meaning that even after you become Elden Lord, you've got one *big* problem waiting in the wings - and far fewer Tarnished available. And worst of all, the only other Demigod who has any shot at combating Mohg's claim to power is Rykard, the *other* being who can be considered the equivalent of Satan, who is *also* adding to his numbers (when he isn't **devouring** them, at least.)
- How does Mohg perform his blood attacks? He somehow pierces an outer god known as the Formless Mother and uses her blood to throw at you, somehow making you bleed in return. This outer god likes being wounded for some reason. Why is never explained. If this is the kind of god he serves, what was he planning to do to poor Miquella??
- The Windmill village may not be all that dangerous, but it is pretty damn unnerving. The player comes upon a village where, in the distance, is a cacophony of slightly grating singing. Just inside the gate is a spirit begging not to be skinned alive, and a little way up the road is a huge crowd of women dancing and singing with abandon. The most unnerving part is that they don't even attack you at first, only taking notice of your presence when one of their dogs or the occasional non-dancing woman spots you and they all stop dancing to pull out rusty blades and try to kill you.
- Not far from the Windmill Village is a single-windmill farm featuring a circle of dancing women. At the center of the circle is a strange, lumpy pile. If you get close, the women won't attack you, instead continuing to dance around the pile... from which charred corpses rise up, one by one. The corpses will approach you, swell, and explode. The women will keep dancing as they do - even if one of them is caught in the blast. Unless you directly interfere, they never stop dancing.
- The Windmill village goes from "unsettling" to "downright horrifying" once you find a ghost who begs to not be skinned, claiming that his hide is filthy, and then shortly thereafter find a Godskin Apostle, who's
*explicitly* wearing the skins of demigods/gods. Since the Apostle is found at the top of the village, and all the dancers are female, it doesn't take long to come to the realization that the women of the Windmill Village and the surrounding settlements killed all their men and presumably skinned them.
- The Wormface enemies are horrific. As the name implies, they are giants with uncanny proportions whose face has been replaced by a writhing mass of worms, and this has led to them screaming and gibbering so loudly that they can be heard from a mile away. The sheer cacophony when sneaking around a ruin full of them is deeply disturbing.
- And in case the normal body wasn't bad enough, it only becomes worse if you use mods to view their model without their "clothes". For one thing, the worms that make up their namesake? They aren't tentacles at all; they really do appear to be worms, and they sure look like they're
*burrowing either into or out of the creatures' faces*. And then there's the matter of the mouth, which takes the form of a tube-like indentation in the midst of the worms. For the smaller Wormfaces, identified as the males in the code, this hole is empty... but for the larger female ones, it's filled with *a grotesque mass of writhing yellow worms*. Oh, and the cherry on top of that last detail? Even if you're examining the models in a paused freecam mode, **those mouth-worms will keep moving**.
-
*Abductor virgins*. Imagine a mobile, living torture device in the shape of some Boschian mockery of an angel statue, and *then* imagine it SPROUTING TENTACLES OUT OF ITS INNER CHAMBER AND DRAGGING YOU IN as its grab attack. Made even creepier by the fact they make no sound at all except for the grinding of metal on metal blades when attacking. And if the regular enemy weren't bad enough, you can get trapped (hence the name) in a high-level area early game with two of these enemies as a single boss, while you are most likely highly underleveled. Have fun.
- Deathbirds. Field bosses who come out of absolutely nowhere at night, and look like half rotted gargantuan baby vultures with uncanny human faces. They often scream by opening their beak extremely wide in a very creepy way. As the name implies, they are linked to the cursed rune of death in an unclear but nevertheless disturbing way.
- The Godskin Noble and Godskin Apostle are gruesome and vile creatures who kill gods and demigods, then skin their corpses and use the remains as clothing. If you look closely, you can see the FACES of their victims still attached to the skin they are wearing. In battle, their movements and attacks are utterly grotesque. The Godskin Noble inflates his skin-suit, using it to wildly careen around the arena, while the Godskin Apostle stretches and distorts his torso to use as a living weapon. If you want to be especially gruesome and have a strong stomach, you can even wear the skin-suit yourself after defeating their astral projections.
- For added horror, take a look at the Godskin Swaddling Cloth that you get for beating the spirit versions of them in Spiritcaller Cave: it's made of a
*baby's flayed skin.*
- It gets worse, reading the item descriptions reveals that the Godskin Apostles once had a lot more power than they do now. In fact, they were the original owners of the Rune of Death and used it to murder probably hundreds of minor divinities to steal their power. They were only stopped by Maliketh the Black Blade stealing Destined Death from them. Given how horrifying they are now, just imagine what they were like when they still had the power of the Rune of Death.
- The Volcano Manor is a dark and gruesome location. Its labyrinthian hallways are dimly lit and cramped, filled with many torture devices and no shortage of Albinauric torture victims. Some of the Albinaurics are still restrained within torture devices, alternating between meekly pleading for their lives (or to be mercy killed, perhaps), or letting out ear-piercing screams that will attract the attention of other Albinaurics in the vicinity. Said "other" Albinaurics are bound in tight sacks with only their hands sticking out, crawling in a frenzy towards anyone who crosses paths with them.
- It's even worse in context. The sacks on their heads are torture devices called Black Dumplings. The dumplings enhance the fear and pain of those forced to wear them inevitably driving them insane. The item description notes the Dunplings are used when torturers aren't trying to get information, they only want to cause suffering. The player can also wear it to get an attack rating boost.
- Rykard, the Lord of Volcano Manor, has willingly allowed himself to be swallowed and merge with a God-Devouring Serpent in a mad quest to achieve immortality and wage war against the gods. When he makes his appearance in the battle, he proceeds to pull a sword out of his serpent-body's mouth. Said sword is composed of dozens of bloody, writhing victims whose arms and legs are STILL MOVING on the blade. Even worse, when Rykard reveals himself, the wounds on the serpent open up as well, revealing hundreds of more writhing limbs just underneath the skin of the serpent.
- If you're following Ranni's questline, you'll eventually cross paths with Astel, Naturalborn of the Void. This cosmic entity is said to be a falling star that wiped out the Eternal City. In a world of bizarre and grotesque creatures, Astel takes it to a completely new level. His appearance is unlike anything else in the game; he has 6 humanoid arms attached to a lengthy, colorful umbilical-cord like body (which is actually made up of celestial bodies), two pairs of dragonfly-like wings, and a gigantic, cracked human-like skull complete with a pair of gigantic mandibles and a mass of something with a eye-like organ moving inside it. It's hard to fathom how such a creature came to exist in the first place.
- Design-wise, Astel is extremely similar to a Great One. Those who have played that game may freak out upon seeing Astel, thinking that a Great One has somehow washed ashore in the Lands Between.
- Oh, and the worst part comes when you explore a random cave in the Consecrated Snowfield, because what is the boss of that cave?
There are three possibilities, none of which are pleasant: The first one being that Astel is so skilled at gravity magic, he can exist in two places at once (or, potentially, more than two); the second one being that he can create illusions of himself with no discernable way of telling them apart from the original (and potentially no guarantee that killing the original destroys the illusions, like with Dark Sun Gwyndolin; and the third and by far the worst being that Astel isn't so much a name as it is a definition of the biggest and oldest Malformed Stars. Regardless of the answer, the game doesn't elaborate... **Another Astel!**
- The Stars of Darkness variant has extra creep up it's sleeve; dropping it to half health will switch Astel's theme to it's second phase, which goes unheard while fighting the Naturalborn variant. It's an escalating series of horns and droning instruments that drive home the unknowable cosmic horror that Astels represent in the setting.
- Let's talk about Deeproot Depths for a moment, shall we? Where, oh where, to begin with this terrifying place? For starters, it's a place deep beneath Leyndell, accessible by traveling through the sewers, a terrible place in their own right. The whole place just has a very off vibe about it; the air is thick with a dark miasma and the water is a very unsettling white. The scary starts to kick in when you realize that those huge shadowy roots you can see in the distance are that of the Erdtree, itself. The area is populated with the giant ants of the Ainsel river in one section and the other, which just so happens to be the ruins of a Nameless Eternal City (that's right, there's THREE of them), is nearly overflowing with Basilisks and Mausoleum guards that can easily take you down if you're not careful. But icing on the big creepy cake is The Prince of Death's Throne at the top of the area, reachable by traversing narrow and winding roots. This is the final resting place of Godwyn's corporeal form. His corpse is horrifically twisted and blackened, the wounds he received when he was murdered plainly visible. But the worst part is his face, it seems to be identical to the large face that can be found beneath Stormveil Castle... but the eyes are open...
- One of the creepiest parts of the Deeproot Depths are the lore implications of the ruins there. The Grace Point is called "The Nameless Eternal City" so it's an underground civilization like Nokron and Nokstella. But the fact that this one is nameless and completely deserted while the other two aren't points to two possibilities: This place was destroyed so utterly that no one living there was able to carry on it's history or this particular city is so unbelievably ancient that it not only predates every other faction in The Lands Between including it's sister cities, but also fell so long ago that it's transcended myth and has completely vanished from knowledge. According to Astel's Rememberance, the answer is both.
- The Subterranean Shunning Grounds. In a wide, open world, the Shunning Grounds are a cramped, maze-like series of pipes and tunnels underneath the Royal Capital. You can find all sorts of horrors here, from the cursed Omens to the above-mentioned loathsome Dung Eater. It's very easy to get lost in the various pipes and tunnels, and fighting enemies in the dark, cramped corridors is nerve-wracking with little space to maneuver. Even the most open part of the Shunning Grounds is incredibly dark and requires you to navigate treacherous pipes while dodging ambushes from imp sentinels. One particular room of the Shunning Grounds is easy to fall into, and nearly completely pitch black. As you struggle to get your bearings, a horrifying monster with dozens of human arms and legs grafted onto it emerges from the shadows, attacking you with deadly poison sprays and wild, unpredictable melee strikes. Enjoy!
- What has happened to the normal, everyday people of the Lands Between. Imagine the usual horrors of an unending civil war, with all the death, starvation, and destruction. Now imagine that war raging for a thousand years...
*and no one can die.* Most of the people living in the Lands Between have gone insane from the violence and the starvation, with both peasants and nobles reduced to ghastly, emaciated husks roaming the roads or desperately digging in the ruins. The soldiers that you encounter have long since lost their minds, and only remain functional by sticking to their previous orders. The only sane people seem to be a few powerful nobles, foreigners, and Tarnished travelers like the player. Everyone else is cursed to wander as aimless, starving, maddened zombies forever.
- Particularly horrific is that you can come across numerous crucified bodies across the lands. Get close to some of them, however, and you can hear agonized groans and cries of pain, implying that those poor souls still haven't died yet.
- At least in the
*Dark Souls* series, being Undead is bad, but some Undead are given *some* semblance of importance, allowing the gods of Anor Londo to try and find someone willing (and gullible enough) to sacrifice themselves for the First Flame. Here? Being undead with a lowercase U doesn't mean much of anything, and becoming one of Those Who Live in Death means little better than being an animated skeleton.
- While the good endings lead to hope for things to actually return to a state of relative peace and prosperity (and the narrator implies this happens), it still doesn't mitigate the fact that there are so few living civilians in the Lands Between and, considering the sheer number of massive corpse piles strewn about (something of a FromSoft trademark, really), the Lands Between is so thoroughly depopulated that it'll take many generations to restore the civilian population to any reasonable degree. Nevermind all the other problems that will still need to be dealt with by the would-be Elden Lord - Caelid alone has the spreading Scarlet Rot to contain and exterminate, and the rest of the continent is barely any better, considering Everything Trying to Kill You, the magic academy filled with what are basically mad scientists who have completely lost the plot, and so on and so forth... Sure, this is still better than the absolute shitshows that were Lordran/Drangleic/Lothric and Yharnam in that there is some hope left that doesn't potentially involve just burning everything to the ground and starting over, but that's not a huge consolation...
- Glintstone miners appear to be infected by the very rocks they mine, turning to stone in the most Body Horror way possible, making them resemble the miners in Stonefang Tunnel from
*Demon's Souls*.
- Its worse than that, as item descriptions show; everything in Liurnia too close to the crystals on the ground is undergoing a crystallization process, from flowers to fireflies. Sorcerers are not safe from it either, no matter how high off the ground they created the Academy. Sorcerers who research the primeval current and 'see beyond the wisdom of stone' also seem to undergo more dramatic changes. Primeval Sorcerers Azur and Lusat are encrusted with crystal and their heads are completely replaced with a green spire and a blue sphere respectively. Neither of them speak, but they impart some of the most powerful sorceries in the game when you meet them. The same sorceries that started them down their paths to begin with. Worst of all, it appears that is it quite literally Alien Kudzu, having come from an Outer God.
- Azur and Lusat are barely able to move or interact even though they do have small hand movements showing their still alive. The reason for this is explained in the description for their helmets, the Glintstone consumed their brains. And yet, this somehow didn't kill them.
- Go near a bat nest and you might hear a soothing song in Latin. Investigate and you'll find the singer being a harpy. The song itself is called the song of lament about the state of the Lands in Between.
- While not as outwardly horrific as other parts of the Lands Between, Crumbling Farum Azula is pretty unnerving, especially for those with a fear of heights. A floating mass of stone and walls surrounded by pillars of tornadoes and hundreds of dragons, its both oddly serene and off-putting, especially since you cannot see the bottom of whatever is below. Overall, it just gives off a general feeling of wrongness.
- At some point during your adventure, you may decide to pop back into the Roundtable Hold, only to find that things are... off. The lights have gone dark, the grace at the table is dimmed, and none of the usual inhabitants are anywhere to be seen. This in itself might already be unsettling enough... Except after nary a few seconds, combat music suddenly ramps up, and a glowing red invader charges around the corner and relentlessly attacks you! The Roundtable Hopd is one of the few areas in the entire game where you're explicitly told that combat is
*not* possible, meaning it's not at all unlikely for one to begin to relax once they decide to return... To then have someone randomly attack you for no discernable reason note : The perpetrator turns out to be Gideon Ofnir's lackey Ensha of the Royal Remains, who up until this point has done nothing but silently lean against the door frame to Gideon Ofnir's room and teach you an emote, meaning you likely won't have a single clue that he's after a certain key item and will make an attempt on your life once it comes into your possession. can be incredibly shocking.
- Despite the dark atmosphere, one may notice the Roundtable Hold that you're summoned to is decrepit and there's blood spilled around the place. It's not that you were actually teleported to the Fortified Manor, since that place has no grace in sight whatsoever; this is the invader's version of the Roundtable Hold, a refuge without its ceasefire enchantment to prevent slaughter.
- The Fell Twins miniboss on the path to Altus East tower. You're crossing a bridge with a lone Leyndell soldier with a torch ahead, when suddenly black fog descends around you. The next thing you see is the dead body of that soldier - and two Omens approaching you from the distance.
- If you snoop around the ruins by Seluvis' rise, you'll stumble upon an illusory wall leading to a basement full of puppets; braindead characters who don't move or react. At the back of the room is a second illusory wall next to a message that reads 'Seluvis' puppet. Do not touch.' Inside the room is a puppet clone of Sellen standing next to an unkempt bed. Though not explicitly stated, it's hard not to see this dungeon filled with predominantly female dolls as some kind of creepy sex dungeon cellar. You can also engage in a quest for Seluvis where he asks you to give the puppet making potion to Nepheli. If you follow through with it, she becomes his new "favorite puppet" which you can only obtain from the implied true puppetmaster Pidia's corpse once he dies. His old "favorite", Dolores, who is normally found on the corpse, will be added to Seluvis's puppet shop instead.
- The sheer evil and Transhuman Treachery the Academics from Raya Lucaria displayed is chilling. From their sneering distaste for outsiders, to letting their lethally dangerous creations loose into the lake below simply to be rid of them, to how they threw away thinking and feeling Albinaurics like it was nothing, to their sociopathic army who they allowed to kill and pillage to their hearts' content. Two of their alumni, Sellen and Seluvis, get up to some extremely evil acts either on or off screen. And as beautiful as Raya Lucaria is, its absolutely
*covered* in cages and they seemed to utilize multiple Iron Virgins which suggests a taste for torture. Raya Lucaria comes off like a bunch of disconnected megalomaniacs who toyed with the world as they pleased, especially compared to the much more down to earth Town of Sellia.
- The cinematic introduction to Rennala's fight. The Tarnished enters a completely dark room, until there's a small light in the distance which turns out to be candles held by an army of small creepy baby-faced homunculus scholars, created as replacement for the real scholars who forsook her. And for the entire first phase, said baby-faced scholars are Rennala's flunkies, singing a horribly creepy lullaby.
- You're traversing the Consecrated Snowfield. The perpetual heavy blizzard already makes navigation difficult, and you've only got your compass to help you. If you make a wrong turn, you can easily wander into an area where the game spawns spectral Dragonkin Soldiers
*out of thin air* to lunge at you and threaten to knock you off your horse! And, yes, it can and will send more than one at you! The Roar Before Beating is a lot more fearsome when you can't initially tell where they're coming from.
- The Capital of Leyndell at first looks like the most organized of the Legacy Dungeons. Guards are on patrol and most buildings are intact, save the one a giant dragon fell on. Then as you approach the lower parts of the city, you start encountering putrid corpses roaming around, an Ulcerated Tree Spirit pops into existence right above you and it becomes clear all those houses are abandoned and sealed with gold-hued corpse wax. Everything gets worse once you reach the sewer, the shunning grounds where all Omens are banished.
- West of the Altus Plateau is a relatively small volcanic subregion called Mt. Gelmir, the headquarters of Rykard's once-pious Inquisition who rebelled against the Golden Order. It's so utterly forbidding that it feels like an intrusion of hell into the Lands Between, a bleak land of bare, volcanic rock covered in fortifications and thousands upon thousands of gibbets containing corpses (and occasionally living creatures) of all shapes and sizes who hang like sides of meat in a massive, charnel forest. The very first locale you encounter there is an outpost of the Leyndell army, presumably built as a garrison for their campaign against the Volcano Manor. Except... something's off. All of the soldiers there save for a few seem to have died, and the few that are alive don't notice you at all...
*because they're too busy feasting on the bodies of their fellow soldiers*.
- These soldiers by the way, are all infected by the Frenzied Flame. Theres even a damn TROLL outside Volcano Manor infected with the Frenzied Flame!
- Just climbing up the mountain is a horrific experience and really sells how horrible the battle with Rykard was for the soldiers of Leyndell. You encounter Abductor Virgins, Marionettes, Finger Creepers, a Grafted Scion.. all of which Rykard probably unleashed on these poor soldiers. The whole region is an utterly war torn shithole beyond repair, full of things that want to kill you, before you can even get to the horrifying Volcano Manor.
- It gets worse! Morgott mainly was content to keep his forces in his capital, but what Rykard was doing was so terrible (and if you look at Volcano Manor, youll know) that he felt compelled to go to war with him. By contrast, he never once stepped in with his twin brother's insane blood dynasty. What did Rykard
*do* to force Morgott's hand? Was it the "blasphemy" that Gideon Ofnir talked about when you ask him about the shardbearers?
- And just as the cherry on top of it all, the battle between Morgott's and Rykard's armies is described as the absolute worst battle of the entire Shattering. Note that one of the battles is the one between Malenia and Radahn, meaning that whatever happened at Mt. Gelmir was apparently
*worse* than a battle **that permanently ruined the entire region of Caelid!**
- The Mountaintops of the Giants is unsettling because you're basically traveling through a mass grave. All the weird monoliths you see are dead, decayed and apparently petrified giants. Each of which is so weirdly proportioned in addition to being huge that you start to wonder what these freakish things might've looked like. And then you find the Last Giant. A strange, red-haired monster man that has the outline of a face on his torso, and is apparently completely nude and just wrapped in his own braids. Nothing in the game looks remotely like him and it's suddenly easy to see how the Giant War dragged on so long in the backstory.
- The plight of the Albinaurics is horrifying. They're in the middle of what amounts to a genocide during the events of the game. In Liurna their village has been burnt by Gideon Ofnir and his Omen-Killers, Volcano Manor is rounding them up to torture to death For the Evulz, and freaking
*Mogh* is somewhat nicer as he's 'only' forcing them to be his mutated Slave Mooks and afflicting them with painful Lovecraftian Superpowers. Their only hope is to escape to the promised land of the Haligtree.. except the Haligtree's leader, Malenia, is having her Plague Master powers spiral out of control following her brother's kidnapping and the Haligtree is rotting away and becoming infested with the Kindred of Rot. Also, if the player wants to get to the Bonus Dungeon they *have* to kill the only knight trying to defend the Albinaurics. The worst part is that while the game's ending is overall happy, there isn't even a hint things will get better for the Albinaurics barring player headcanon.
- Marionette soldiers are unsettling, plunging deep into the Uncanny Valley especially since there are some hints they arent really as mindless as the sorcerers want people to believe they are. Their spasms and erratic, desperate flails as they take damage are also as creepy as they are lethal to anyone close-by.
- Despite being the most 'normal' of the realms, Limgrave is not without its moments of bizarre Surreal Horror.
- In stormy weather, particularly heavy gusts of wind will drop entire packs of ravenous wolves out of the sky onto your head, as if the climate itself is trying to kill you.
- While groups of crucified people can be found all over the map, most players will first notice them below the place where they first start out in Limgrave. While they can't do anything to you, it's still bad enough seeing these decaying husks during the day. At night, however, they start letting out blood-curdling screams and howls. It's especially creepy when you're early in the game and can't figure out who or what is making those noises.
- One of the very first things you see when you arrive in Limgrave is an absolutely
*massive* knight on horseback. He's freaky enough just seeing him plod around like it's a normal thing, then if you try to fight him? Oh boy! He proves to be an exceptionally strong midgame boss that's just hanging around in the starter area.
- Chariots are frightening for several reasons. They race up and down their catacomb lanes quickly, do insane damage on contact and will chase the player down if they round a corridor. The escape sequences where you can hear it approaching behind you fast are nerve-wracking.
- Goofy as they are in name, the Mad Pumpkin Heads are... unsettling. Not only do they absolutely tower over the player character and have a humongous flail or maul, but their helmet description implies it's the only thing keeping them sane. They can be found in the overworld pulverizing corpses, and sometimes they will repeatedly bash their head into the ground as if desperate to escape the helmet, which only raises questions about
*what's happening* to them under there if the helmet is keeping them *sane*.
- Whenever they bash their head into the ground, a gray fluid sprays from it. It's not Alien Blood, as if you hit them anywhere else you'll see that they bleed normal red blood. So just what the hell is it?
- Those goddamn land octopuses on the beaches. Despite
*Elden Ring* being decidedly grounded in traditional fantasy (at least at first), these things look like something out of *Bloodborne*. They're also absolute tanks, so most players will likely immediately book it in sheer terror after hitting them *once.*
- Runebears have earned themselves a well-deserved reputation among players as the most feared non-boss enemies in the Lands Between. They're not as disturbing-looking as Land Octopi or Fingercreepers (in fact, they're quite majestic), but they're the Lightning Bruiser trope incarnate - house-sized behemoths of fur and muscle that will chase you down with horrifying speed and horrifying ferocity while you vainly attempt to chip away at their gigantic health-pools before they tear you apart. Even the game itself tends to encourage you to avoid rather than engage them, outside a rare few direct fights.
- Field bosses don't sound too terrifying on paper. However, some of them can surprise you on your first encounter. That enemy you tried to sneak up on, thinking was just another one of the bunch? Nope, it's a boss you probably aren't even remotely prepped for. Good luck.
- Notoriously, the very first enemy you'll see after leaving the starting area is a golden armored knight. Expecting a regular enemy? Too bad. This is a Tree Sentinel, a Field Boss that will easily crush a player without a firm grasp of the rhythm of Soulsborne combat.
- One of the most terrifying encounters of the field boss kind comes from the one called the "Bell-Bearing Hunter". The good news is that he only shows up at night. The bad news? He can show up at certain spots where you'd expect a merchant to be. He manifests out of thin air, towering over you in armor covered in thorns, and initiates a ferocious set of attacks. There is no warning, no words said. Just a complete unknown trying his absolute hardest to kill you.
- His
*name* is enough to tell you just how bad news he is. A bell-bearing in this game is an item containing the entire repertoire of a merchant, usually obtained from their long dead corpses or by killing them. The Bell-Bearing Hunter didn't just pilfer his.
- Night Cavalry is a recurring Field Boss that, as its name suggests, only spawns at night. Passing through its area during the day will show you an ordinary field strewn with the bloodstains of other players it's killed. There's no obvious reason so many would have died, except maybe a message on the ground about a Boss...that doesn't seem to be there. The worst case is backtracking through its area at night, leading to a familiar path suddenly having a boss in it.
- The Erdtree Burial Tree Watchdog boss. Found in some catacombs, everything about these clockwork stone statues is just... creepy. From its stilted movements to the way it moves by floating to its uncanny appearance, something about it just feels off. They also hit extremely hard, which is terrifying all on it's own.
- The giant crabs and crayfish. Not only do they tower over the player, but they are very well detailed and can move surprisingly fast. Sometimes they may suddenly pop up out of the water. Since they are actual real-world creatures, they can be more unnerving than the various monsters.
- Perhaps the most disturbing aspect of the current scenario The Lands Between faces is the simple fact that there are no longer any good options in terms of demigods taking control. The few good ones have either gone insane from the Rot (Radahn), waiting for their brother who is likely to never come and even if he did is a walking wasteland (Malenia), has been placed inside a cocoon and may or may not have any free will (Miquella), or is just too flat out stubborn to try and change the status quo (Morgott). Of the rest, one is technically dead and alive and is responsible for the walking dead that roam the world (Godwyn), insanely grafting bits onto himself to gain strength (Godrick), has merged with a giant serpent and is devouring champions to gather ever greater power (Rykard), or is an insane bloodmage who is obsessed with creating a new dynasty using their sibling (Mohg). The only other demigod on the list is Ranni, and she's neutral at best. This is why the Tarnished were called back to the Lands Between, as just about anyone would be better than the many, many terrible options currently available if the status quo is maintained. When the situation is so bad that the powers that be consider the
*Dung Eater* to be a preferable alternative, the situation is *beyond* FUBAR.
- Blaidd can't be killed. That's it, that's the entry. To provide context, if you're feeling a little murder happy or just want to test out your skills and decide to go challenge the 10 foot tall wolfman in the woods you're already in for a hard battle. After that's done, if you reload the area he's right back where you left him. Good as new, as if nothing happened. There's something extremely unsettling about it, especially if you already find the lycanthrope to be a little creepy. In a setting where almost everything else you kill stays dead, Blaidd alone refuses to stay down. The fact that there's a legitimate lore explanation creates a situation where you're dealing with a uniquely terrifying foe. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EldenRing |
Eden Lake / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- What makes the film effective is its total plausibility in today's world.
- Adam's high-pitched screams as he's set on fire off-screen. Worse yet, we get a brief shot not long after from far away of him still walking around with his head on fire.
- Brett beating Harry to death for having second thoughts about their crimes. Worst part is that some of the beating is seen
*from* Harry's point of view.
-
**The ending**, especially Jenny's screams as she's dragged into the shower by Brett's father to be killed, and Brett's emotionless stare into the mirror afterwards. Roll the credits... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EdenLake |
Elementary / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Everything about the Balloon Man from "Child Predator", especially once you learn who he REALLY is.
"The Long Fuse": Sherlock discovers that the prime suspect, a man named Pradeep Singh, hasn't been "missing" for the last few years as everyone believes. He was actually murdered and his body sealed inside one of the walls of his house. His wife has been living in that house completely unaware that her husband's body was right there the entire time.
"M":
M aka Sebastian Moran. He ties his victims up, hangs them by their feet, then slashes their throats and lets them bleed to death. Sherlock states that M's youngest victim was twelve. It actually gets worse after the reveal that Moran is a hitman. Moriarty is directing him to kill people whose deaths are somehow vital to one of Moriarty's criminal schemes, and simply making it look like the work of a serial killer in order to throw off suspicion.
Sherlock himself. During his little rant to Watson, he was somewhere in between Tranquil Fury and just plain crazy.
The plan from "Red Team". Sufficiently plausible that the government classified it immediately; sufficiently terrifying that a member of the team was prepared to kill everyone else who knew what it was; deduced by Sherlock in a few moments. Of course, Sherlock would never reveal it... but what one smart man can figure out, another smart man can also figure out. The sort of smart man who might, say, casually employ an entire stable of serial killers to further his own ends...
In "The Deductionist", the serial killer internet stalks blonde women over a certain height, and then skins them. Overlaps with Paranoia Fuel because people like that exist in Real Life.
"A Landmark Story":
Moran's killing of the guard simply for overhearing bits of his conversation with Holmes. And with such carefree glee afterward!
Holmes visits Moran for help with a message he needs to decode from Moriarty. Moran claims he cannot translate. Sherlock translates it later:
The Dissonant Serenity of Moran calmly singing the Arsenal FC anthem to himself in his cell before suddenly and violently bashing his face against the mirror.
"The Woman": Can you ever really be sure about which of your loved ones is genuine and which is a carefully constructed façade who may not be the world's greatest criminal mind in your case, but still wants nothing more than your utter devastation?
"Corpse Du Ballet"'s victim is a ballerina who is found in two pieces (she's split in the middle across the torso). The reveal of the body is very eerie, with the stage it falls onto partly shrouded in fog, meaning it takes a moment to realise that there's not two bodies lying there.
In "The Great Experiment", Mycroft's crooked handler is trying to find out where he has gone, and threatens to gouge out one of Joan's eyes unless she tells him where Mycroft is. Fortunately she was prepared, but the way he switches from civil to coldly threatening to torture her with his bare hands is disturbing.
In "The Five Orange Pipz", it is revealed that the killer was a corrupt FBI agent who wanted to steal the confiscated evidence before it was destroyed because it was worth millions on the black market. The evidence? Beads that turn into GHB when swallowed. GHB is often used as a Date Rape drug...
In "The Illustrious Client" a beaten and barely dressed woman is flung into a room by a man largely believed to be the same man who had raped and tortured Kitty in London. Before he locks her in, he vows that her situation will worsen. Fortunately, the man's address is discovered and the police arrive to the woman's rescue. Then it is then revealed that the man, Simon de Merville, was working at an illegal brothel for sex slaves. The way the camera pans around to room after room where the women are held in is rather discomforting and chilling.
In the follow-up episode "The One That Got Away", Kitty takes gruesome revenge on her rapist Del Gruner by burning his face off with acid. Granted, this is taken from canon, Gruner is definitely an Asshole Victim, and Kitty doesn't kill Gruner because Sherlock talks her out of it. It's still pretty disturbing.
At the very end of "Hemlock", Joan's boyfriend Andrew dies right in front of her while she watches helplessly. The revelation that the poison was meant for her doesn't help.
The apparent lack of security in the prisons of New York can be an example. The fact that two mastermind criminals were able to plot a murder, one whose victim was also still in prison and do so with no connection between her and the deed, while in jail does not speak kindly to how secure criminals really are.
The car-app service used in "The View from Olympus" can come across as rather creepy - your every movement is tracked by your phone the moment you download the app. The workers of the company can track your movements, and figure out exactly what you're doing at every hour of the day, as seen in the episode, where one employee blackmailed two users for money, and another used the service to stalk a girl.
Morland Holmes' reaction to an attempted blackmail. To wit: His contact in Interpol threatens to expose his (unspecified but sinister) plans regarding Sherlock if he isn't paid a significant sum. Morland, utterly unruffled, informs him that he had a previous Interpol contact who also decided their relationship was insufficiently profitable; apparently he met a gruesome end and was discovered by his young children. Still smiling, Morland offers to forget the conversation, as long as his contact leaves and does the same; if not, though... "How are your daughters?"
Additionally, the fact that whatever these plans, he's concealing them so well that Sherlock, whose phenomenal powers of observation are only bolstered by many years' practice reading Morland, honestly seems to believe him to be genuinely attempting to belatedly forge a relationship, which is partially true, but with Morland, things are never just that simple.
In "Art Imitates Art," the sheer amount of corruption that allows a district attorney to frame an innocent man for murder. Making it worse, when the case against the framed man threatens to fall apart, she kills an innocent woman with the intention of framing her brother for the crime, and for a minute, it comes close to working.
In "How the Sausage is Made", the murderer grinds a man into sausages. The murder is discovered because one innocent person eats the sausage and dies of allergic reaction to horse tranquilizers used in murder, but who knows how many other human sausages were sold and eaten...
In "High Heat" the staff of a crematorium open one of their ovens and discover it was used over the weekend when they notice an ashen handprint reaching for the door. The victim was stuffed into the oven and burned alive. Sherlock lampshades the nightmare-inducing nature of the death when he passes a photo of the handprint to Joan.
Season Six has "Sober Companions", a nightmare reveal after reveal. For the police, it would have felt horrible to know that they failed in connecting several missing/murdered women cases to a serial killer. For the husband of one of the victims, he went to jail for a crime he did not commit, and even when Sherlock told him the police finally had reason to believe he was innocent, they did not yet have enough proof to release him. For Gregson, he realized the killer actually had contact with his daughter and her roommate. For Hannah, she spoke with the killer, almost went on a date with him, and found out the reason he couldnt make the date was because he was in her home killing her roommate.
Holmes: This man caught me in a moment of weakness. Since then, I've sat across tables from him, I've been to meetings with him, he's been to our home. I'm not going to let him take another life.
And then the serial killer shows up right besides Sherlock when the latter is alone, suffering from a headache, and attempting to case the man's home.
Then we have the penultimate episode of season 6, "Fit to Be Tied", where the serial killer returns from a hiatus. The ultimate nightmare fuel is when he catches Joan alone in the basement of the brownstone and starts beating her up, with the intent on murdering her like his previous victims. Not only that, but he catches her right as she gets off the phone with Sherlock. Joan had been investigating into the serial killer's friends, and her reveal that the serial killer had something to do with his staunchest friends' late husband's death, causing the friend to overdose on drugs infuriated him. Fortunately for Joan, she manages to stab him and drive him away, but she's still badly injured and the last shot of the scene is her crouching on the floor in pain and terror.
Sherlock is notably subdued in the hospital, no doubt running through the horror of the situation over and over again that all of this started with him having allowed the man into his life in a critical moment of weakness. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/Elementary |
Agent Ali / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
# As this is a Nightmare Fuel page, all spoilers
*will* be left unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
Aahhh. . . the Super Agent is finally awake.
Although the series is aimed for children and young teens, there are a lot of Darker and Edgier moments that lean towards the older audience to enjoy the series more.
## General
-
**I.R.I.S OVERRIDE MODE**. The OVERRIDE MODE is the mode in which the I.R.I.S. completely takes over the user's mind and body. The I.R.I.S. will control its user to fight its opponents until the user's energy wears off. This can only be activated when the user experiences overwhelming emotion. If this mode reaches 100% efficiency, then the user is in grave danger or even worse at risk of dying. Aliya, the creator and the first user of I.R.I.S is the first person who died when using OVERRIDE MODE to 100% to protect Cyberaya. Since the I.R.I.S. uses the brain's nerve impulses to gather data by sight and analyze them, it's possible that she died from brain damage caused by the I.R.I.S OVERRIDE MODE after reaching 100%.
- It turns out that the original I.R.I.S can take over the mind from the user. Once the user is consumed by OVERRIDE MODE and unable to control it, they will become so unstoppable, and will attack anyone who gets in their way. The
**only** way to stop the user is let them getting tired. YES! Fighting them until they exhaust themselves is the only way to stop an I.R.I.S user in OVERRIDE MODE.
-
**Protocol Gegas** is a Sadistic Choice of the M.A.T.A Agency in which the agents **must** sacrifice their comrade if they are unable to save their fellow agent in critical situations for the sake of protecting innocents of Cyberaya.
- Jenny Woo's true personality after The Reveal that she is one of Uno's henchwomen. A sociopathic technologist who takes pleasure in mocking her enemies, willingly hurt both sides in order to finish her task, and she perfectly masked her real persona as a humble and sweet TEKNO agent who willingly helps the others. Just look how disturbing her gleeful and cold-hearted expression is when she is about kill Rizwan with the Microbugs or faced the other M.A.T.A agents. Jenny takes her master sadistic side very well.
- Microbugs, the swarm of tiny multi-function nanobots. Given that Jenny and Uno able to control it from afar, once the Microbugs are implanted in your body, they can control you, or even kill you, in an absolutely painful way from the inside.
- Dos shows that she also has a microbug inside her body which leaves a nasty bruise around her arm. It is implied that Uno is always tormenting Dos by putting microbugs inside her.
## Season 1
- In the mission to protect Azurium, Alicia is knocked out by Dos and almost killed by the machine of a trash compactor. If Ali chose to follow Rizwan's order to enact "Protocol Gegas" by sacrificing Alicia to get the Azurium, Alicia would have faced the most Cruel and Unusual Death in a Malaysian Cartoon.
- When Aaron confessed his dislike over Dos and Trez, Uno punished Aaron by
*controlling* Trez's body and threatened to crush him through Trez.
- The revelation of Uno on the Numeros' first raid. He turned out to be Djin, the former INVISO Chief and Top Agent, who was declared death and hailed as hero because of his Heroic Sacrifice by M.A.T.A Agents. Rizwan and the other Agents are clearly shocked about this. Uno told Rizwan about the truth behind his so-called sacrifice, and claimed that the rest of the Chiefs intentionally left him behing and that their mission was part of the plot to kick him out from M.A.T.A with "Protocol: Gegas". When he and the other Numeros Agents attempted to find Ali, Rizwan tried hard to stop him. Unfortunately, because Rizwan was unable to fathom the revelation which made him unable to attack his former master, Uno took this opportunity to brutally injure Rizwan with his Azurium Sword.
- Jenny's reveal to be The Mole from Numeros. Are you sure there is nothing scarier to know that a highly entrusted person for being very compassionate is the Hidden Evil villain all along?
- Heck, even her reveal as the enemy is really chilling. While she brought Ali to M.A.T.A's secret underground chamber, the color gradient is still blue. Then, is slowly turns red (due to the emergency signal), representative of her true nature unravelling. This is even accompanied with a very sinister original soundtrack.
## Season 2
## The Movie
## Season 3
- Kim's Keytar is revealed to also be a sword. Its blade looks scarily similar to Uno's Fumar, and Kim is much more intimidating now.
- Champion:
- Once Jenny temporarily succeeded in gaining access to the MATA Mainframe, electricity started causing malfunctions by Itself. Worse, Jenny used the Cyberaya Jet plane to kill the Young Agents, causing the massive destruction of Headquarters. The Young Agents (minus Ali, Alicia, Bulat, and Khai) suffer serious injuries, while the condition of the pilot and co-pilot of the jet plane are unknown.
- As punishment for betraying her, Jenny attempts to gouge out Kim's eyes to destroy her Override Mode with Microbugs. Kim is visibly hurt and engages in bloodcurdling screams when Jenny forces dozens of Microbugs into her eyes. Although successfully saved by Ali, Kim's face suffers serious injury and she suffers partial blindness.
- Jenny dies due to the Microbugs going out after gauntlet is destroyed by Ali. When Kim attempts to save her, the swarm of Microbug start mobbing her body too.After successfully being saved by the Young Agents, Kim is forced to see foster sister brutally mobbed and killed by a swarm of Microbugs.
- Said Microbugs were seen to cause intense pain, burn and scar the body as seen with Sam and Kim. They got lucky because only a part of them was affected, Cinco on the other hand experienced this through her
*entire body*. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EjenAli |
Edna & Harvey: Harveys New Eyes / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
- One of the most disturbing things that was in the game is ||seeing the Valley of Uncomfortable Memories. When Lilli with her RPG comrades look, she looks utterly horrified at the statues representing the following's deaths. Freeman covered in termites, Suka's falling from the tree with tire swing Lilli cut to try getting rid of evidence, the gargoyle remains covering both Shy & Capu, Frank crushed by the wobbling cross, Birgit hanging herself after being snapped by Mother Superior, Shawny choking from the many cigarettes he was smoking to try calming down, and worse: Memphis being blown up by the bomb placed in the stove he thought he was safe in. And Lilli isn't the only one sick about it just by witnessing them.||
- There's something a bit unsettling about the new Harvey with his red eyes. It feels like he is one of the always grinning people when he talks. And the way his eyes glowed with the hypnotic trance music whenever he hypnotizes anyone? It just feels...unnatural.
- The final battle and its music give out a bit of a creepy vibe, even though it is ||Lilli and her ex-restrictions vs Mother Superior and her own restrictions.|| | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EdnaAndHarveyHarveysNewEyes |
Dream SMP: Season Three / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Dream:**
Hey, Tommy.
*(holds out the Axe of Peace)*
You lookin' for somethin'? Came to get your stuff? Hey, welcome back to Exile
! Welcome back! Welcome! You're back at
*home!*
[...]
*(he steps closer to Tommy)* **Tommy:** *(steps backwards; shakily)*
Stand- stand back...
**Dream:**
I'm not gonna hurt you... Yet.
**Tommy:**
Why... You're meant to be in prison! It's a top sec- you-
*(stammers)* **Dream:** *(moving closer)*
Yeah, but I'm out! I'm out! That means I'm meant to be out. I
*earned*
it.
**Tommy:** *(moving backwards; terrified)*
No, no, please, stand back... You didn't earn it. You didn't earn
*anything*
. You stole, you manipulated, you- you- you
*killed*
- Dream...
*(shaky exhale)*
One of the last times you were here, you
*killed me*
just to prove a point! You- You haven't earned
*anything!*
Stand back, alright, I've got my shield up-
**Dream:**
Maybe I'll kill you again!
**Tommy:**
No, you won't.
**Dream:** *(walking closer)* And then I'll revive you, and then I'll kill you again, and then I'll revive you, and then I'll kill you again, and then I'll revive you, and then I'll kill you again! **Tommy:** *(hits Dream with his axe)*
No, you won't! NO, YOU FUCKING WON'T!
**Dream:** *(lightly)*
Don't hit me.
**Tommy:**
Stop speaking like that!
[...]
**Dream:**
Tommy, you could
*die*
right now, and no one would know.
**Tommy:**
I'm NOT gonna die right now, alright?!
**Dream:**
No one would know... No one would
*care*
.
**Tommy:**
Ever- dude- PEOPLE WOULD CARE, ALRIGHT?! YOU'RE
*NOT*
DOING THIS AGAIN, YOU GET IN PEOPLE'S HEADS, DREAM!
*YOU*
GET IN PEOPLE'S HEADS, ALRIGHT?!
**Dream:** *(overlapping)*
Oh, who would care? Who's your friends? Who are your friends?! TELL ME WHO YOUR FRIENDS ARE, TOMMY!
**Tommy:**
Tubbo, Ranboo...
[...]
**Dream:**
Where are they now?! Where are they? You wanna invite them to your party
, Tommy, you wanna have a little party? Let's go to the beach! Let's have a little party, let's have some
*tea!* **Tommy:** *(hits Dream)*
Get the FUCK away from me!
**Dream:** *(getting genuinely angry)*
Maybe I can experience the
*beach*
for once in my life. Y'know, you FUCKED me, Tommy! You put me in prison, I
*rotted*
in there, I was TORTURED by Quackity, I'm sure you knew about that! I'm sure you let it happen, I'm sure you
*wanted*
it to happen!
**Tommy:**
...what?
**Dream:**
Tommy, I'm gonna make
*every day*
for you a living
*hell*
on this server. I'm not gonna let you die, I'm not gonna LET you die! I can bring people back! You're living
*forever!* | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DreamSMPSeasonThree |
Dragon Ball Z Abridged / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
**Hiiiiiiii...** **Vegeta:**
It's like every nightmare I've ever had fused into one, cloned itself, f***ed the clone and then made THOSE!
**Piccolo:**
That is...
*terrifyingly*
accurate!
—
**Episode 60**, the typical response to these moments... or the Cell Jrs, whatever comes first.
TFS never fails at amusing the fans of
*Dragon Ball*... and scaring them as well.
For the canon series, go here.
**As a Moments subpage, all spoilers are unmarked as per policy. You Have Been Warned.**
- LittleKuriboh puts on a legitimately terrifying performance as Freeza.
- Freeza learns that Zarbon left Vegeta, the only one who knows where the last Dragon Ball is, for dead.
**Zarbon:**
Now that he's dead, we have very little left to worry about.
**Freeza:**
...Zarbon, about an hour ago, a scout informed me that an entire village was
*completely destroyed.*
Do you possibly know who could have done that?
**Zarbon:** V-Vegeta? **Freeza:** *And,*
unlike the villages we visited so far, there was
*no Dragon Ball*
there. Do you know who could have possibly taken it?
**Zarbon:**
Vegeta.
**Freeza:**
Verrry good. Now, use your brain for this one, Zarbon: if somebody were to know
*where*
that Dragon Ball was... who would it be?
**Zarbon:**
Vegeta—
**Freeza:**
Vegeta, yes. (slowly) And you said you
*killed him...?* **Zarbon:**
Wait, sir! It is possible I just left him unconscious.
**Freeza:**
Oh, good. And where did you leave him?
**Zarbon:** At the bottom of a lake... **Freeza:**
(Death Glare
) ...Minion forty-three, could you come in here for a second?
**I need an example.** **"Minion forty-three:"**
Private Namole reporting. An example of what, Lord Freez-(
*screams as he is obliterated by Freeza*
)
**Freeza:**
You see that, Zarbon? That's
*you*
if Vegeta is not in front of me in the next ten minutes.
**Zarbon:**
(Stammers in complete fear)
**Freeza:**
Bye.
**Zarbon:**
(flies out)
**AAAAHHHHH!**
- Freeza's introduction to the heroes in 24. To give some extra context, the main writers, Lanipator, Kaiser Neko and Takahata101 have all admitted to being creeped out by Little Kuriboh's performance:
**Vegeta:**
That doesn't matter! Don't you understand?! If it didn't grant me my wish, then I'm not immortal! And Freeza's going to... g-going to... (Begins stuttering in terror
followed by a justified Mass "Oh, Crap!"
by all parties present.)
**Freeza:**
Ohohoho, no, don't mind me! By all means...
**give me some ideas.**
- His mood swings during Episode 25:
- His rendition of "These Are A Few Of My Favorite Things", accompanied by a slow piano tune. The cover has some dissonant notes, making the sound even creepier.
**Freeza**: Peaceful young races with fire on their houses, millions of voices all silenced like mouses, watching the cowards bow to their new king, these are a few of my favorite things.
- During the second half of the rendition, he keeps his gaze fixed on Krillin. Guess what's about to happen next?
- In Episode 27, the first 20 seconds are dead serious after Freeza kills Dende:
**Freeza**: It's been so long since I've had to use this form. It feels like an old suit I never have an occasion to wear. Unfortunately, whenever I put it on... [glances at Dende, complete with a sizzling sound effect which is definitely *not* comedic] **someone dies.** **Gohan**: Dende... no... **Freeza**: Oh, don't cry for the poor thing. I've saved him the fate of seeing what I'm about to *do to you*.
- What he says to Vegeta is just
*mean*: **Freeza**
: It seems our game is over, Vegeta. Now that we're done here, it's time to send you crying home to mommy.
**Vegeta**
: My mother's dead.
**Freeza**
: I know.
- He even manages to scare Goku a number of times:
**Freeza**: Sending your friends away to fight me all on your own... how *gutless...* **Goku**: What... how is that gutless? **Freeza**: Because... **suicide is the coward's way out...**
- Playing 20 Questions with Goku in Episode 29:
**Freeza**: Are you about to die? **Goku**: No... **Freeza**: Ah, Ah, Ah! [takes aim at Goku's forehead] *No lying.*
- After Freeza is tired of playing:
**Freeza:**
You know? I think I have an insta-fix for this situation! [generates a Death Ball]
*I'm going to blow you and this entire planet into NOTHING! * **ISN'T THAT FUN!?**
[Laughing Mad
]
**Piccolo:** *G-Goku, just throw the damn thing!*
- Freeza
*completely losing his mind* in Episode 30.
"SMASH MONKEY!
*SMASH MONKEY!!*"
- Returning in his new, cybernetic form, Freeza's new name for Earth is "Vacant Lot".
- This quote, not helped by the sheer amount of barely contained rage that he exhibits.
**Freeza**: But I won't lie Daddy, I am absolutely ecstatic. When that filthy monkey arrives back on the planet, he'll return not to the smiling faces of his dear friends and family, but a total, unadulterated, *genocide.*
- And then there's this little bit as he sends his soldiers to hunt for the Z-Warriors:
Soldiers! The scavenger hunt will proceed as such. Normal human heads are worth one point. Namekian heads are worth twenty. Filthy half-Saiyan brats? Fifty. And if you find any miserable, odious, insubordinate,
*full-blooded monkey garbage*
...
**you win**
. Well, off you go!
- And in Episode 33, during his Villainous Breakdown, he boils over and screws up his programming again, causing him to start shrieking EXTERMINATE!!!!! EXTERMINATE!!!!! as he tries to kill Trunks, all while the New Series Dalek theme plays.
- Freeza's crowning moment is this:
**Freeza**
: If I'm really as bad as you say, then let God strike me down where I stand.
*[gets struck by a bolt of lightning]* **Freeza**
: Ha! Nice try, jackass!
Next time, give it your A-Game!
- He manages to be absolutely terrifying in
*DBZ Kai Abridged Episode 2* as well, especially when beating up Vegeta.
- Almost all of the
*Just Give Up!* song (a parody of the song *You'll Be Back* from *Hamilton*) consists of him boasting of his conquests and genocides, demanding his listeners to give up and submit to his rule.
- In the
*Cell in a Hell* special, Cell is trying to break his HFIL security anklet with a rock, and Freeza points out that it won't work. He then says a rock was his *second* try, the first being Goz and Mez's heads. He seems friendly enough while giving Cell advice to play nice, do his time, and try to convince the higher powers that he's " *not* a total piece of shit." When Cell sassily asks why, if it's that easy, Freeza hasn't gotten out yet, he replies thusly:
- He then breaks Cell's neck before the bio-android comes to in the same spot, Freeza disdainfully remarking, "Welcome to the Home For Infinite Losers,
*loser,*" implying that he knew Cell would come back and had murdered others in HFIL before. Just because his ki is suppressed doesn't make him any less dangerous.
- The next episode confirms that souls are basically indestructible, as Cell attempts to cut his own leg off with thinning shears (since he can just grow a new one), but to no avail. Now with that in mind, remember:
*Freeza managed to break a soul's neck.*
- Episode 3:
- You can
*hear* Chi-Chi sharpening a knife right before Krillin escapes at night.
-
**WHERE'S MY BABY?!**
- Episode 39 shows that Chi Chi doesn't care that much about the pain that Goku is in, she's actually happy that he's home instead. Justify it however you want, her reactions to all of this come across as utterly disturbing especially if she knows what's going on. This marks her (to some) change into either a completely unstable person or a completely uncaring bitch.
- Chi-Chi displays a healthy dose of Tranquil Fury in Episode 55. She even gets background music normally reserved for Cell and Freeza, which even makes her getting ready to have sex with Goku sound scary (and actually had a few people mistake it for
*rape*. KaiserNeko had to clarify it wasn't.)
- Even if it
*isn't* rape, the fact still stands that this is a woman who can tire out *Super Saiyan Goku*, who is both into the challenge and scared out of his goddamn mind at how much stamina Chi-Chi has. Any normal person in a relationship with her *might* end up going Out with a Bang.
- So Chi-Chi finds out her husband is making Gohan (her son) to fight Cell, a.k.a the
*one* person she forbade the Z-Fighters to let him fight, and her reaction is to swear in front of the TV (while lifting and swinging both it and her father at the same time by the way) that she will castrate Goku with a butter knife and gag him with a radish.
- It only took a cameo and a single appearance for Cell to get his own folder, but now that he's here, he is this,
*full*. *fucking*, . First off, Episode 40. Piccolo arrives to demand Kami fuse with him due to how insanely powerful the Androids are, only for Kami to reveal that something far, far worse has arisen, and the grimness of the situation is played completely straight with even Nail noticing how dark the tone of the conversation is getting. Immediately the scene cuts to the lower levels of Gero's lab, and the episode ends on a close-up of a tiny embryonic creature and a terrifying and inhuman yet raspy Evil Laugh. The Cell Saga has now begun. **STOP**
- Cell's official introduction is in Episode 42. He's dragging around a still-living victim through a shadowy back alley, nonchalantly approaching Piccolo while singing an off-key version of "Mr. Sandman" in a rasping voice.
**Cell:** *Mr. Sandman... bring me a dream... make him the cutest that I've ever seen... Give him two lips... like roses and clover... Then tell him that his lonesome nights are...* **over.** *[drops body at Piccolo's feet]* **Cell:**
Hello...
*friend.*
- Making it worse is that the usual episode outro is absent, leaving only the logo over Cell's breathing.
- The set-up is pretty frightening too. While Piccolo is exploring the empty city, Nail, Kami, and Piccolo are all snarking at each other, and there's some ambient noise/music. It takes a moment to realize that there's another voice there, especially since it starts out very quietly.
- Earlier, a cameraman is reporting on all the disappearances in town. A Cell-shaped shadow falls over him, visual cuts to static - and audio to screams - and when the static clears there's nothing but clothes.
- Following that, Piccolo is visibly unnerved as he asks what Cell is doing. Cell replies, that he'll answer a question with a question in the most unnerving manner possible, to say nothing of the question itself.
- When Piccolo, aghast, asks Cell why he would exterminate an entire city, Cell gives three reasons. The first - that he was hungry - and the third - that their power fuels his own horrifying strength - are unsettling enough, but it's the second reason that gets Piccolo to react with a look of unbridled horror.
- To add to the nightmare fuel, he suddenly goes from being dissonantly casual and chipper to being dark and threatening, and then snaps back like nothing happened at all.
- Freeza was (mostly) calm and rational. Not only is Cell way stronger, he
*actively seeks Nightmare Fuel* for his own amusement.
- If that wasn't bad enough, he spits out a
*baby's pacifier*. By that moment, there's no chance of redemption for him. **Cell:** Oh, that is just EMBARRASSING! It's not even the right hole...
- The comment he makes while absorbing Piccolo's arm is
*unbelievably* creepy. **Cell:**
Oh, it must be your first time, because YOU ARE TIGHT!
And unfortunately for you,
**it's also your last.**
- When Piccolo asks Cell about his backstory. Cell is geniunely caught off-guard and is even a bit flattered:
**Cell:** It's just... *(chuckles)* You're the first person to ask me "Who?" or "What?" Normally they just ask... *(close-up on Cell's mouth)* " **Why**?"
- Cell's flashback as how he came from the future, which shows him brutally murdering the Trunks of his timeline, which is depicted simply as brutal and not humorous.
- Cell brutally murdering TJ and The Wombat after requesting "Video Killed the Radio Star"
- Sure, it's all just a dream, but despite all the satire and humor in the 2014 Halloween special, he still makes every kill count. The effect of soundtrack dissonance even comes into play for a brief moment.
- As Cell "drinks" his victims, the pitch of their screams gradually becomes lower, and lower, and lower...until only silence remains, as if a balloon is gradually being deflated.
- In the 45th episode, he's attacked an amusement park. Despite the quotes from Piccolo and Tien, it's just as terrifying as the original.
- In a thing somewhat related to him in that episode, Dr. Briefs is doing something almost just like Cell's creation: creating clones of his wife, possibly to pleasure him. He's really starting to act like an even more demented version of Dr. Gero....
- Cell's sole appearance in Episode 46: "Hello boys. Room for one more?"
- Episode 47 has Cell creepily lick his lips upon seeing Android 18. Bear in mind this immediately follows him referring to her as his "beeeeaUT-iful sister...".
**Android 18:** Oh, F*CK no!
- The original Semi-Perfect Cell was considered Nightmare Retardant due to his appearance and voice. With his new voice, and mannerisms, he's just terrifying.
- In episode 48, just as he's about to kill Tien, Cell starts channelling his inner-Freeza with his Pre-Mortem One-Liner.
- Semi-Perfect Cell spends the entirety of Episode 50 freaking out due to getting kicked around and insulted by Vegeta. But when Vegeta shows a weakness in his ego, Cell
*instantly* calms down, smiles and talks very slowly and confidently. He plays to Vegeta's overconfidence and starts tricking him into doing exactly what Cell wants. It's really creepy to see how quickly he can regain control of a situation where he was throwing a tantrum seconds before.
- Episode 51:
- Cell cheerily humming his theme tune from Bruce Falconers' Funimation soundtrack while advancing on 18, tail rising up, makes it that much worse. Coupled with his facial expression...
- Cell's unsubtle rape allusions regarding absorption become far more blatant and nauseating in this episode, with him openly gloating how 18 is "asking to be absorbed" with her outfit. The climax of this is his declaration that he's been so close for so long and now he's "coming".
- The noise 18 makes as she's absorbed.
- Somehow, removing the already nightmare
*tastic* and long scene of 18 being pulled through Cell's tail towards her doom and replacing it with a pan-up as 18 dashes towards Cell in a suicidal final charge and a soul-chilling scream lasting only a couple seconds made the scene even *worse* than canon.
- Cell's power increases so much that even Bulma, a regular human who admits to being unable to sense power levels, is able to feel his new power. After asking if that means anything, Piccolo sums it up perfectly:
**Piccolo**: WE'RE F*CKED!
- The sound design can't be understated here: as Semi-Perfect Cell's form begins to glow, we hear a crackling sound unlike any transformation effect before, which quickly gives way to a nightmarish
*howling* as the metamorphosis reaches its climax, underscoring the utterly monstrous nature of what's about to be unleashed onto the Dragon World.
- Perfect Cell's subdued yet heroically triumphant intro song, as it's also a sort of Call-Back to Freeza's iteration of "My Favourite Things" before impaling Krillin.
P is for priceless, the look upon your faces.
E is for Extinction, all your puny races.
R for Revolution, which will be televised.
F is for how F*CKED you are
, now allow me to reprise
.
E is for Eccentric, just listen to my song.
C is for completion, that I've waited for so long!
T is for the terror, upon you I'll bestow...
My name is Perfect Cell, and I'd like to say... Hello.
- For added fun, much like Cell's introduction, the usual outro's replaced by the series logo on a black screen, giving the audience time to let what just happened sink in.
- The start of the song, where we first see Perfect Cell before he sings, may remind some of End of Evangelion. Namely the uplifting music signifying the End of the World...
- Where to
*begin* with Episode 52:
- When Vegeta was shocked to see how his attack didn't faze Cell in the slightest, Cell's response is one of the most chilling Call Backs EVER:
- Cell completely wiping the floor with Vegeta, shrugging off his most ultimate attack like it was nothing. And before dealing the finishing blow, he broke more than just Vegeta's back, he destroyed his pride.
**Cell**
: Some advice, Prince. For the future; Next time, why don't you remember your place like the rest of them?
*And wait for Goku.*
- This exchange between 16 and Cell:
- When Cell regenerates from Vegeta's final flash, Vegeta goes berserk and unloads a Beam Spam... which Cell just walks through. From the tone of Vegeta's voice, he sounds
*afraid.*
- There's the tone in Krillin's voice when he demands that Trunks fight Cell at full power. The resident Chew Toy of the series—second to Yamcha, of course—is aggressively spelling out how serious the situation is.
**Krillin:**
Okay, Trunks, you're out of excuses now. He's gonna kill your dad.
**Trunks:**
Y-You don't know that! He could just knock him unconscious, and then I'll—
**Krillin:** WE DON'T HAVE DRAGON BALLS, TRUNKS!
- Trunks' attempt at a boast against Cell in Episode 53 is met with this chilling yet somehow awesome response.
**Cell:** I'm Impressed! Behind all that angst and ridiculous hair, there's a real fighter! **Trunks:** And behind all that insufferable smarm is a **dead man!!** **Cell:** Trunks... you couldn't FATHOM the amount of **dead men** behind me...
- During the whole episode, Cell is clearly
*enjoying himself* while tormenting Trunks, reminding him of his failure in saving Gohan, revealing to him how he died (and how, even if in that timeline he actually *managed* to save both the past and the present, he still failed since he gave Cell the opportunity to achieve perfection), playing him by pretending he actually had a chance and then rubbing his lack of experience *and* daddy's issues in his face. So far, the other villains in the show have been either mooks or just power-hungry, Cell is (with Freeza) the only one who *loves* making his victims suffer, and he is also quite good at it. Indeed, unlike Freeza, who's more into physical torture with a cruel comment from time to time, Cell is a whole different level, utilizing psychological torture far more and being much better at yanking the dog's chain.
- Cell enjoys inflicting literal nightmares on those he fights as well, and his fighting style involves deliberately bashing his opponent's Berserk Buttons and then toying with them until he grows bored, whereupon he shows them just how outmatched they are. He has, in essence, perfected Break the Haughty as a fighting style with the sole purpose of having his opponents wake up in cold sweats from the nightmares. The result leaves
*Vegeta* on the verge of tears, and Trunks stammering in the post-episode 53 commentary.
- This ability isn't just limited to those he fights, either. Just ask Goku and Gohan, who are sealed in a room where the flow of times is slowed down significantly. Both of them have nightmares of their loved ones being brutally mutilated by Cell. Then things get
*weird*, and **not** in a good way — Cell turns to Gohan...and suddenly has Goku's face as he tells him he loves him.
- And Goku has apparently been having this nightmare for a
*week*!
- As of Episode 55, Piccolo has been hallucinating him inside the Chamber. After only being in it for
*3 days* (chamber time, not real time), *he gets the hell out of dodge*. **Vegeta:** I call dibs!
- Cell makes his grand entrance to announce the Cell Games by popping up out of the floor and proceeding to break the newscaster's neck with one hand! Fortunately, we are spared this visual, but the others are
*not*.
- Cell's message to the world mixes this with funny moments, but the end is positively bone-chilling...
**Cell**
: The games will begin at noon one week from today. That should give you time to prepare—or for those of you not participating, time to connect with loved ones...get your affairs in order...or maybe just kill your boss! Get a purge
going! Live a little! Because in one week's time...
*(raises hand to the picture of Earth on the wall behind him)*
...well, to give you an idea
...
*(Cell fires a blast from his hand, blowing out the wall of the building, devastating several city blocks, and blowing up a mountain several miles away.)* **Cell:**
So...keep that in mind, and I'll see you next Sunday
! Also: feel free to pray to your god. But—spoilers!—I won't be listening
.
- While the scene of Cell playing the names of the cities he's absorbed to jaunty music is quite funny at first, just count the number of cities he's absorbed. 10. He
*drank* 10 cities worth of people! Including Penguin Village!
- After announcing the Cell Games, he leaves the studio with an absolutely chilling statement as a creepy music box remix of Bruce Faulconer's theme for him plays.
- Just how little any of the atrocities he's committed phase him. It's somehow
*more* disturbing than if he was being openly sadistic.
- In episode 56, Cell has an unexpectedly jovial conversation with an interviewer, giving him a humorous plot summary of the original Dragon Ball series up to this point. At the end, however, Cell abruptly turns serious and kills him. Why? He didn't call him
*Mister* Perfect Cell.
- The Cell Games specials have a few moments as Cell fights opponents from other series:
**Ryu**
: The only way warriors can TRULY communicate is with their fists!
**Cell**
: What about our... MOUTHS?
- When Sonic the Hedgehog challenges Cell and finds himself outmatched, he feels compelled to utilize the Chaos Emeralds... only for Cell to reveal that they're all in
*his* possession. On top of everything else, the moment is set to the Sonic CD Boss Music USA version.
- Cell is approached by Kenshiro, and is unimpressed, laughing off the Hokuto Hyakkuretsu-Ken. And then Cell explodes like the goons Ken normally fights before regenerating, still reeling in pain from the attack and utterly furious at the fact that he's the first one to do any actual harm. And then he explodes again, this time without Ken laying a hand on him. While completely awesome, and certainly cathartic, the scene reiterates how horrifically powerful a fighting style Hokuto Shinken is as Kenshiro, one of Cell's weakest opponents so far, did more damage then even the Final Flash. And then Fridge Horror kicks in on multiple fronts: Ken likely won't survive Cell's counter-attack, Ken really is
*that ruthless* a fighter since his attack has a secondary effect that wouldn't normally activate against his enemies, and if Hokuto Shinken can work on Cell, than it can work on most of the Z-Warriors too. note : It might even work on Piccolo - his regeneration requires his head to be intact. Oh, and assuming the fight is canon, Cell just got Zenkai boosts. **two**
- Cell's fight with Light Yagami from
*Death Note* includes him graphically blasting a squirrel's head off just to make a point.
- Light writing Cell's name in the Death Note... and only stopping one of his hearts. Cell immediately figured out what Light just did, drops the silly side of his personality and vaporizes him on the spot. If Light had only thought to include a cause of death...
- Episode 57: Before the inevitable Curb-Stomp Battle against Mr. Satan, Cell unleashes a scathing verbal retort against him (like the others), and... well, take a look:
**Cell**
: You look like an extra from a budget porno flick. The kind where everyone gets tested afterwards. Even the cameraman.
**Satan**
: Oh. Um Yer-
**Cell**
: Did they find you in the subway? Were you homeless? Did you get your start in Bum Fights?
**Satan**
: This is getting oddly personal.
**Cell**
: Do you have any actual friends? Any relationships at all that aren't about your money or your position?
**Satan**
:
*(weakly)*
I have a daughter...
**Cell**
: Oh that poor orphan.
**Satan**
:
*(slightly terrified)*
C-Can we cut to commercial?
- And then the Curb-Stomp Battle comes to pass... but instead of a comical injury with the mountain blowing up, Mr. Satan splatters against the mountain,
*with blood smearing down as he descends*.
- Episode 59: When it looks as though Goku is about to destroy the planet with his Kamehameha in order to kill Cell, Cell's reaction is ecstatic to the point of insanity. He is absolutely
*thrilled* at the prospect of the fight ending in the death of everything. Even Vegeta had enough self-restraint to see the destruction of the planet as a last resort and a mutual loss. But Cell? **Cell**: Hahahaha! I see! Yes, Goku! You're absolutely *right.* This *is* the only way it can end! This tournament, these fools, this *planet*; they mean *nothing* to men like you and I! We will go out together, in a ball of molten rock and death! *YES!*
- Before that, Cell's incredibly creepy motive rant to Goku right before blowing up the ring. It honestly sounds less like he wants to fight Goku and more that he desperately wants to rape him. The disturbing music does not help at all.
- Cell's reaction to winning via Goku forfeiting. It's the first time he reacts with legitimate rage. And he is
*pissed*. **Cell/Vegeta**: Every word you just spoke has made me violently angry! Oh, great! NOW I'm agreeing with Vegeta/Cell! Look what you made me do! **Goku**: Cell, you knew what this was. Just a fight. Nothing more. **Cell**: **You bitch...!** If you seriously concede, I'll...! I'll just blow up the Earth like I said! So unless you want me to turn this whole planet into an *asteroid field*, **Kakarot**, *GET BACK UP HERE, AND * **PUNCH ME IN MY PERFECT JAWLINE!**
- His reaction to Gohan talking about his potential to snap in rage?
**Morbid curiosity. Then ** Keep in mind that Gohan is *sexual lust*. *11 years old!*
- Cell giving birth to his children is played for all the Squick value it's worth. Then he proceeds to sic them on Gohan's friends and family to purposefully push him over the edge.
- Just like in the source material, after 16 gives his final speech to Gohan, Cell steps on his head. This time, however, he makes an even worse insult after killing him. Rather than call him a failure, Cell muses to himself in front of everyone present that robots don't have souls, callously calling 16 a "mere machine" that isn't capable of feeling emotions such as love, and that there is no afterlife for him.
- He also tells his Cell Jrs. to
*Draw and Quarter* Mr. Satan once they finish up with the Z-Fighters for his role in aiding #16.
- In the second part of episode 60, Cell singing a darker reprise of P.E.R.F.E.C.T Song after coming back from his self-destruct and
*killing Trunks*. It's quite horrifying and nerve-wracking up to the end, and just as creepy as when he sung Mr. Sandman as Imperfect Cell. Much like the first time he sang it, as well as the end to the first part, there's no stinger for this, letting what just happened sink in once again. **Cell:**
"P" is for "Priceless", the look upon your faces. "E" is for
*"Extinction"*
, all your puny races. "R" is for "Revolution", which has been televised. "F" is for "how F*cked you are", now allow me to reprise
...
- Listen to how he sings the song. When he first sings it after attaining his Perfect Form, he's absolutely
*eccentric* at the thought after having waited for so long. Now notice how those two parts are the only things he omitted from the reprise. And also notice just how dead inside he sounds. He's lost any drive for having fun; all he wants is to destroy the planet and everyone on it. He's no longer entertained; he's just *pissed the fuck off.*
- Cell didn't intend to kill Trunks. He was aiming for
**Tenshinhan**. Cell is so powerful that the gap of power between Tien and Trunks (which is *huge,* by the way) didn't make a difference to Cell at all.
- Cells Villainous Breakdown throughout the episode, thanks in large part to Takahata101s bone-chilling performance as the once proud and cocky Perfect Being proceeds to
*completely lose his shit* over Gohan overpowering and humiliating him. After reverting to his Semi-Perfect form thanks to Gohan literally kicking #18 out from him, whatever is left of Cells sanity goes bye-bye as he attempts to self-destruct and take the Z Fighters and the entire planet with him.
**Cell:** *(thinking)* Kill me?!! Nonononono, I cant die to this! Hes a middle schooler throwing a tantrum! And I am the perfect being!...I was. And he took it away...HE TOOK IT AWAY FROM ME! (speaking) So Ill take everything away from **you!** *(Begins to self-destruct)*
- Cell's speech to Gohan as he starts to overcome Gohan's Heroic Second Wind, mocking him for his weakness and how he'll end everything he loves regardless. At least until Vegeta distracts him long enough for Gohan to power through.
**Cell:**
So, what's this brat, your second wind or your dying gasp?! Either way it doesn't matter. Behold the power of TWO HANDS! (...) Take solace, Gohan! Though you have fought alone, you will not die alone
. That is my last gift to you. A PERFECT DEATH!!
- Before that, he gives a pretty chilling line right before firing his Solar Kamehameha:
**Cell:** Give me what your daddy couldn't, before I send you home to him!
- His future counterpart, while appearing for 5 minutes only, is no small deal. During Bulma and Trunks's Bad "Bad Acting" to throw Cell off-guard, Bulma notices how creepy this version of Cell is, while overhearing all of their conversation. Bulma actually dropped her acting for a little bit to emphasize how much danger they were in. And
*main timeline* Cell actually did the very same thing to capture Trunks, kill him and take his time machine.
-
*Dragon Ball Z Kai Abridged* Episode 3 proves that he can make *All Star* frightening as fuck.
- In Kai Episode 3.5, he
*coughs out and then absorbs a baby*. And then there's him referring to Piccolo as "daddy" and himself as 17 and 18's "onii-chan", firing the Solar Flare from his crotch, and his *epic* Rage Against the Author near the end.
- Dodoria, as Freeza's Bastard Understudy, is pretty creepy insofar as to how dissonantly polite she acts when doing terrible things to people. A special mention goes to a short but effective one-liner from Episode 14:
- Vegeta has completely lost it after Gohan stole his Dragon Balls.
- It's his eyes... and after Krillin tells him that he doesn't
*have* the Dragon Ball? He *bursts a capillary* and starts to drift towards him uttering " *Nooo...*"
- It's lucky that Vegeta's power level was around 30,000 at this point. If this happened when he were stronger, say after Dende healed him, he might've gone Super Saiyan.
- Way back in episode 20, when Recoome kicks Gohan in the neck. The snap was way too real sounding and if Gohan didn't get that senzu bean, he would have been dead... Try explaining that to Chi-Chi. Even Jeice seems genuinely disturbed by it.
- Burter, on the other hand, wasn't. In fact, he called it
*incredible.*
- And in episode 21, where Goku tries talking to Gohan just after being left for dead. The fact that he was nonchalant while trying to wake him up, oblivious to his own son's injured state, is eerily creepy to say the least. It didn't help that Gohan himself looked like a lifeless doll.
- Dende's death. He's a Creepy Child already, but this scene takes the cake.
- Super Kami Guru's slightly offscreen Karmic Death. Even Vegeta looked shocked when he saw it.
- "CHOKE ON THEM! OH GOD WHY!?"
- Those words indicated the Namekians were
*cannibalizing* him. Which is how Moori became the Namekian leader and how the Dragon Balls still work.
- A bit of Fridge Horror before this, when Super Kami Guru reveals that
*he* was the one who caused the horrible drought on Namek, and blamed it on the Albino Namekians. The other Namekians unknowingly slaughtered innocent Albino Namekians thanks to Guru's lie.
- King Kai has no problem with the fact that Dende left Goku on Namek with Freeza. Remember, in the original story, King Kai wanted everyone, but Freeza evacuated to Earth until Goku demanded that he stay and finish his fight. The kid left Goku there. Granted he likely doesn't know who Goku is of course, especially his relation to Gohan, but the implication that Dende has no qualms about this is a bit chilling still...
- Goku's demeanor during the course of his final battle with Freeza is about as unnerving as he can get. He's generally been the sweet, oafish dumbass who can't learn from his mistakes because he's just so damn-near indestructible that he barely realizes he's made them... but after Krillin dies and he turns Super Saiyan, it's clear something is wrong. His determined but cheery smiles are replaced by a stone-faced gaze that looks like one part laser-focused furious scowl, and one-part Thousand-Yard Stare.
- While on Namek, Bulma has a truly chilling nightmare where Vegeta comes to her, with glowing red eyes.
**Vegeta:** Hello, Earth woman. (Bulma is shaking with fear) You know what I want. Now give it to me. **Bulma:** The Dragon Ball is right here... **Vegeta:** Oh, I'm not here for the Dragon Ball. **Bulma:** Wh... What? **Vegeta:** Spread 'em.
- Trunks' Stepford Smile (and the internal scream) after Bulma jokingly told him she'd be his mommy in Episode 33 can be somewhat creepy...
- In Episode 34, we get a very bleak and dark look at what happens to Yamcha in Trunks' timeline.
- An alternate take had Puar being the
*rope*, inferred by his voice chiming in, asking if he could stop.
- Android 17 is already shaping up to be a good source of this, considering his sociopathic, Faux Affably Evil personality and the fact that, if left unchecked, he will turn the future into a dystopian hellhole.
- He's just so
gleeful about the whole thing that the fact that we already know what's about to happen only serves to build the tension rather than nullify it.
- Back in episode 11, Chichi while telling her son why he should stay in bed and that she worries about him; says this line which makes Goku very scary to be around while you're pregnant.
**Chi-Chi:** Did *you* carry around a baby in you for nine months... **WITH A MAN WHO LITERALLY THOUGHT YOU HAD CINNA-BUNS HIDDEN IN YOUR SHIRT?!**
- Android 18 completing her utter curb-stomping of Super Saiyan Vegeta in episodes 39 and 40 may be played for laughs, it's but still unsettling.
**Android 18:**
How quickly bravado goes out the window when your flat on your ass. That's pretty sad.
**Vegeta:**
SAD FOR
**YOU**
-
*[18 kicks Vegeta in the arm so hard that it goes limp. Vegeta wheezes and kneels down.]* **Vegeta:** **FUUUUUUUUUUUU-** **Android 18:**
Hey, so, who's got two broken arms and is a total bitch?
**Vegeta:**
You stupid bint...You only broke one of my-
*[Android 18 proceeds to step on Vegeta's good arm, breaking it as well.]* **Vegeta:**
*Sharply gasps in pain*.
**Android 18:** *This guy*
.
- Bulma and Vegeta's angry sex in Episode 34. That's pretty much what happened off-screen in the original series, but watching it play out can make you feel pretty bad for Trunks.
- Three words:
**THICK. MEATY. VAGINA.**
- For being a Big Bad Wannabe, Dr. Gero is still given some horrendous credit in episode 46. Bulma's looking over his notes and discovered that he only gives model numbers to his
*successful* Androids. He's kidnapped and experimented on dozens of orphans for who knows how many years with only presumably two survivors.
- How did Goku learn the instant transmission on Yardrat?
**Goku:** Once I was there, they nursed me back to health. They even built me a spaceship! They also kept feeding me their sick, so now I can teleport!
- Goku's cold "You're gonna die" to Cell in Episode 48. It's unsettling coming from a man that's spent the first 47 episodes extremely happy-go-lucky and naive.
- It also didn't help that Goku of all people is The Chessmaster of the Cell arc. He deliberately sets up everything (the fact that Vegeta and Trunks went first in the Hyperbolic Time Chamber and that Vegeta would make Cell stronger, the above line to prevent Perfect Cell from immediately destroying Earth, giving Perfect Cell a senzu bean, etc.) to set up Gohan as his successor.
- Goku's nonchalant "you can't kidnap your own kid". When that was exactly
*what he did*.
- You've got to wonder what Goku's brand of training is doing to Gohan's psyche. At the start of episode 51 he wakes up Ax-Crazy before realizing where he is. And Goku's planning to
*push him even further*.
- While fixing 16, Dr. Briefs resets his original programming, a constant loop of a demonic-voiced Gero ordering him to kill Goku with the word "kill" written three times in fire. He understandably decides cluttering up the program with a bird obsession is the better option. Oh and did we mention the background tune for said demonic loop is "My Heaven?"
- Scarier still?
*That* was what was running through 16's head *on loop* until he picked up his bird hobby!
- It can easily remind some people of the "KILL YOUR FAMILY" show.
- This same message was most likely blaring through 17 and 18's heads as well, showing how hungry for revenge Dr. Gero was.
- Dende started as a Nice Guy, only to Take A Level In Jerkass over the course of the Namek saga, especially after coming into contact with Super Kami Guru. He returns in Episode 56 to become Earth's guardian, and while he's initially reluctant, he quickly embraces the power and authority, so by the end of the episode he's ordering Krillin to call him Super Kami Dende.
- Black Goku in the Super shorts evokes this with how similar yet different he sounds to his counterpart. Particularly in this bit...
**Vegeta**: How?! HOW ARE YOU SO MUCH STRONGER THAN ME?! **SSJ Rose!Black**: Because, Vegeta... A rose by any other name... *stabs Vegeta* *Is still Goku.*
- Goku of all people gets one in Episode 56. During a video recording of Gero's son, an alarm suddenly blares. Gero's son hears one of his comrades say that some
*thing* is attacking the compound and that they need to get out of there while in the distance, the sounds of Goku's attack can be heard. Gero's son attempts to close off his message to his father only to be cut off when he along with the base is destroyed by a Kamehameha. To make things worse is the canon reason Goku fired the Kamehameha: to take out some aircar troopers that were shooting at him, by *blowing up the building behind them*. It's not hard to imagine Dr. Gero seeing his son's unintended death as an act of murder.
- Fridge Horror kicks in when you realize that, aside from the whole "terrorizing the populace and taking over the world" thing, the soldiers of the Red Ribbon Army were just normal people who were unlucky enough to get caught up in Goku's affairs one too many times. A hired assassin, a dead Indian, and some training from a talking cat later, and the entire army is decimated, just like that. Imagine their point of view: just ordinary folk, doing their jobs, and then suddenly they get word of an intruder who's known for defeating some of their highest ranking members breaking in. Then,
*silence*. And to think, all this happened because one man wanted to grow taller.
- Just think about the amount of sheer horror Chi-Chi is going through right now. She has to sit there and watch her
*own son* fight a monster that even Goku couldn't defeat, and what's worse is that it was Goku who initiated the confrontation to begin with. Some Fuel goes to Goku as well, as he didn't clearly Didn't Think This Through while planning Gohan to be his successor. **I AM GONNA CASTRATE HIM!!**
- Some wonder if Goku
*intentionally* stayed dead to avoid Chi-Chi's wrath, which is **definitely** not empty as we see with Krillin and Yamcha.
- In Episode 60 Part 3, Yamcha gives a brief description of what you experience when you die, clarifying exactly why even in a universe where Death Is Cheap, it's still something serious and traumatic that is to be avoided whenever possible. And subsequent deaths feel even worse than this, according to Krillin.
- This is further emphasized by having Yamcha explain all of this during Vegeta's Papa Wolf Sanity Slippage over the realization that Trunks, his own flesh and blood, just got killed by Cell before his very eyes.
- Trunks' last moments are harrowing: despite the gaping hole in his chest, he's clearly trying to call for help, and then he coughs up a
*puddle* of blood. By the time Yamcha goes to him, literally seconds later, he's dead.
- The Z Fighters aren't
*happy* Trunks is dead, but with the exception of Vegeta they're pretty calm about it. Because for them, getting your lungs shot out by something *so* much stronger than you is just... another day on the job. Even though they never get used to it, *they get used to it.*
- There's one moments in the Episode 60 epilogue where Future Android 17 gets one. When an old man starts shooting at Android 17 in a last ditch effort to try and stop him, Android 17 starts calmly gloating about the old man's methods being ineffective. Just as he's about to kill the old man, his voice takes on a disturbing effect that never gets adequately explained. | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/DragonBallZAbridged |
Education for Death / Nightmare Fuel - TV Tropes
Along with
*Night on Bald Mountain* and *The Mad Doctor*, this is easily one of Disney's most chilling and powerful works.
"Heil Hitler!" said the Nazi officer to a distraught mother caring for her gravely ill child.
- The Nazi officials that Hans's parents interact with are always framed in the shadows and towering over the common people. Sometimes, you can see their mouths or their eyes but never both at the same time. This makes them less like human beings and more like demons in human form.
- While any parent would wish their child to recover from an illness, Hans's mother is literally praying for her son to be well since if the illness doesn't kill him, the Nazis that rule her and the rest of her people will. Surely enough, a Nazi officer pounds on the door and tells her that if this illness continues, he will take Hans away to a concentration camp (where he'll be euthanized like all the other "unfit" people). And Hans's family is just one of millions living under this fear.
- On a more mundane level, Hans finds himself bullied and ostracized by his classmates and the teacher for showing a trace of humanity to the rabbit.
- The caricatures of Adolf Hitler, Hermann Göring, and Joseph Goebbels on the photos. Especially when they give the Death Glare at Hans for showing sympathy to the rabbit.
- The end monologue about how the once-sweet children of Germany are now brainwashed into brutal, heartless monsters who only do, say, and believe in what the Nazis do, say, and believe, illustrated by Hans marching in lockstep with all the other Nazi soldiers, having blinders put on him, then a muzzle like a dog, and then finally a spiked collar with a chain.
*But the grim years of regimentation have done their work. Now he is a good Nazi. He sees no more than what the Party wants him to. He says no more than what the Party wants him to say. And he does nothing but what the Party wants him to do. And so he marches on, with his millions of comrades, trampling on the rights of others.*
- And then the ending, where the long lines of marching soldiers are replaced by white crosses marked with swastikas.
- Especially how the Disney animators had done to view these things.
- The simple fact this film was
*based on reality*. Other Disney villains are scary, but at the end of the day, they're just cartoons. Evil witches, giant dragons, and mountain demons don't exist, so there's no reason to be afraid of them. Nazis? They were and are very much real.
- There's also the fact that the Nazi regime was
*even worse* in Real Life than as depicted in the movie, which makes no explicit mention of their antisemitism. The closest we get are some small-coded hints such as Jewish names being on a list of forbidden names for German children. And in 1945, just two years after the short was released, the Nazi regime resorted to using Child Soldiers as the Allies poured into Germany. This, combined with the fact that Hans would have been twelve at the oldest in 1945 to be born under Nazism, paints an even darker picture of his fate... | https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/NightmareFuel/EducationForDeath |
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