History NightmareFuel / FinalFantasyXIII

* [[ClimaxBoss Barthandelus]] in general. He is a technorganic... ''thing'', and consists of a giant face flanked by four ''upside down'' smaller faces, with their mouths constantly working. And [[UncannyValley the way he moves is just not right.]]

* [[ClimaxBoss Barthandelus]] in general. He is a technorganic...''thing'', and consists of a giant face flanked by four ''upside down'' smaller faces, with their mouths constantly working. And [[UncannyValley the way he moves is just not right.]]
* The introduction to chapter 11, where a chocobo is torn apart by coeurls. Seeing something that, for the better part of well over thirteen games, has always been more or less inviolate getting brutally murdered... It leaves an impression.

* The entire nature of Cocoon is pretty nightmarish upon closer inspection. On the surface it appears as a continent-sized floating paradise where millions of humans live in leisure, heavy work and natural resources are handled by ancient mystical beings - known as the Fal'Cie - that built the place keep it running, and has a benevolent wise leader and a powerful military to ward off monsters. In truth, it's a sacrificial vessel maintained by the fal'Cie to use as their means of summoning their Maker back to the world by killing every human on it. The fal'Cie provided the humans a "paradise" with the intent to summon the mythical beast Ragnarok to destroy the fal'Cie that powers Cocoon, after which Cocoon's operational systems would fail and the floating continent would fall from the sky and crash into the land below.
** Worse is no human, not one of the inhabitants of Cocoon or people from the land below, know this, and are brainwashed into ignorantly following the wishes of the Fal'Cie. As a precaution, the Fal'Cie also keep the humans under tight control to suppress any possibility of the people warring among each other to maintain their sacrifices and exaggerate the threat of the lower world of Pulse as a deterrent for anyone wishing to leave. The citizens are also clearly under totalitarian theocratic rule as they cannot elect their own government, the Fal'Cie fill Cocoon with frivolous pastimes for the humans to engage in, diverting their attentions from seeking the undercurrent truth behind Cocoon's existence. [[GoneHorriblyRight This fear of the lower world the Fal'Cie induced was too effective]], which causes mass hysteria and violence whenever an intruder from Pulse reaches Cocoon, causing the Fal'Cie to allow a genocide of millions of citizens deemed a threat masqueraded as an exile, which the witless Cocoon residents simply allow out of fear. Those deemed a threat or affiliated with Pulse are even forced to wear "Purge clothing" (traceable restraint garments fitted with a metal device that binds their hands, controlled by a remote held by a nearby armed soldier), and are loaded onto "Purge trains," while those who try to resist or run were fired upon. ANaziByAnyOtherName anyone?
** Plus on the off chance someone does escape Cocoon and gets to Pulse, it's not nearly as pleasant there either. It's an untamed land filthy with giant predatory beasts ruled by the brutal struggle for survival of animals and monsters that eat whatever they can kill, and the uncaring whim of the fal'Cie that live there. As Vanille put it, in Pulse there is no such thing as mercy; only a never-ending string of trials that weed out the weak, and leave only the strong. Let's just say when the people of Cocoon were made to believe Gran Pulse is a living hell for humans, they weren't exactly wrong.
* Jihl Nabaat. She apparently trapped Sazh's 6-year-old son in a crystal. AS A TEST. Also, the FridgeHorror that comes from the fact that she is wielding a riding crop while interrogating the heroes. She's basically Cocoon's resident [[TheMengele Josef Mengele]] with a {{Sadist}} streak.
* The conditions of being a l'Cie are terrifying as well. Essentially a fal'Cie brands you with a spiffy tattoo, makes you superhuman, and grants you magical powers? Great. On the condition that you fulfill a task called a Focus that they do not tell you about within a time frame dictated by the tattoo sporting an open eye and if you don't finish the task on time you get turned into a horrible Cie'th. Not so great. Worse is even if by some miracle you finish your Focus you get turned into a crystal statue and stay that way until the fal'Cie find another unknown Focus for you to finish or else it's Cie'th time.
** Furthermore that spiffy tattoo is also linked closely to the individual's mental state, with severe psychological trauma sometimes spurring rapid advancement. In the most extreme cases, severe fear and shock at being made a l'Cie has turned newly made l'Cie to Cie'th at the instant of their branding. Basically once you go L'Cie you're on borrowed time and the end can come any you get too upset. Either that or one of your mystical monsters that you can summon comes and tries to kill you to either get you out of your funk or give you a mercy killing because that's still viewed as merciful compared to being a Cie'th.

** What happens when a fal'Cie creates a l'Cie, but doesn't give them a focus? ''They instantly turn to Cie'th.''
** It took until ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIII2'' for us to get it confirmed, but now we finally have a description of what the existence of a Cie'th is like. As quoted from the fal'Cie who turned the poor girl into a monster: "You shall lose your five senses, be plunged into black flames, and wander the eternal darkness. Your words shall be a song of agony; your screams a curse of death. And thus shall you remain, until a merciful one destroys your soul and frees you from your torment." Yup, you read that right: The only way to fully free oneself of Cie'th-ification is to be made DeaderThanDead, and that is considered ''merciful'' compared to staying a Cie'th. Now imagine having been turned into a Cie'th stone, which no one would probably ever even think of destroying due to it presenting no threat.
* Orphan, a living breathing malevolent example of PoweredByAForsakenChild that keeps Cocoon running and essentially wants to kill off mankind? Either to have its God come back to it or just to die. The fact that its "mother" slowly strokes its head as you fight it is creepy enough. After you defeat its first form, it apparently turns the entire party except Fang and Vanille into Cie'th and tortures Fang by '''painfully killing and then reviving her''' '''''over and over again''''' while a horrified Vanille is forced to watch.
* [[ClimaxBoss Barthandelus]] in general. He is a technorganic...''thing'', and consists of a giant face flanked by four ''upside down'' smaller faces, with their mouths constantly working. And [[UncannyValley the way he moves is just not right.]]
** Not to mention he's the undisputed Fal'Cie master of Cocoon that's a nasty combination of VillainWithGoodPublicity and cult leader, who's brainwashed nearly all of Cocoon into committing genocide out of fear and literally keeps coming back to fight until Orphan can be born. He can also shapeshift to appear as your loved ones just to taunt you.
** The scene where Barthandelus poses as Serah and runs over to Snow and hugs him feels incredibly creepy and uneasy.
** The entire scene where Barthandelus melts into the pool and reemerges as Orphan. ''He's happy and laughing''.

* '''Ragnarok'''. Despite saving the day in the end, it's still a horrifying and powerful EldritchAbomination to look at and was specifically crafted by the Fal'Cie to destroy Cocoon and everyone on it and worse some of the main protagonists were fated to turn into it to do the job. The ones in question were Fang and Vanille, and Fang once turned into an incomplete Ragnarok form that was strong enough to leave a huge scar on Cocoon's shell before crystallizing, explaining why Cocoon looks like a cracked open egg shell (Keep in mind, WordOfGod is that Cocoon is about the size of the real world North America, so imagine how big a scar like that has to be!)

* The entire nature of Cocoon is pretty nightmarish upon closer inspection. On the surface it appears as a continent-sized floating paradise where millions of humans live in leisure and heavy work and natural resources are handled by ancient mystical beings that built the place known as the Fal'Cie that keep the place running with a benevolent wise leader and a powerful military to ward off monsters. In truth, it's a sacrificial vessel maintained by the fal'Cie to use as their means of summoning their Maker back to the world by killing every human on it. The fal'Cie provided the humans a "paradise" with the intent to summon the mythical beast Ragnarok to destroy the fal'Cie that powers Cocoon, after which Cocoon's operational systems would fail and the floating continent would fall from the sky and crash into the land below.
** Worse is no human, not one of the inhabitants of Cocoon or people from the land below, know this, and are brainwashed into ignorantly following the wishes of the Fal'Cie. As a precaution, the Fal'Cie also keep the humans under tight control to suppress any possibility of the people warring among each other to maintain their sacrifices and exaggerate the threat of the lower world of Pulse as a deterrent for anyone wishing to leave. The citizens are also clearly under totalitarian theocratic rule as they cannot elect their own government but the Fal'Cie fill Cocoon with frivolous pastimes for the humans to engage in, diverting their attentions from seeking the undercurrent truth behind Cocoon's existence. [[GoneHorriblyRight However, the fear of the lower world the Fal'Cie induced was too effective]], which causes mass hysteria and violence whenever an intruder from Pulse reaches Cocoon, causing the Fal'Cie to allow a genocide of millions of citizens deemed a threat masqueraded as an exile which the witless Cocoon residents simply allow out of fear. Those deemed a threat or affiliated with Pulse are even forced to wear "Purge clothing" (traceable restraint garments fitted with a metal device that binds their hands, controlled by a remote held by a nearby armed soldier), and loaded onto "Purge trains," while those who try to resist or run were fired upon. ANaziByAnyOtherName anyone?
** Plus on the off chance someone does escape Cocoon and gets to Pulse, it's not nearly as pleasant there either. It's an untamed land filthy with giant predatory beasts ruled by the brutal struggle for survival of animals and monsters that eat whatever they can kill, and the callous and uncaring whim of the fal'Cie that live there. As Vanille put it, in Pulse there is no such thing as mercy only a never-ending string of trials that weed out the weak, and leave only the strong. Let's just say when the people of Cocoon were made to believe Gran Pulse is a living hell for humans, they weren't exactly wrong.

** Not to mention he's the undisputed Fa master of Cocoon that's a nasty combination of VillainWithGoodPublicity and cult leader that has brainwashed nearly all of Cocoon into committing genocide out of fear and literally keeps coming back to fight until Orphan can be born. He can also shapeshift to appear as your loved ones just to taunt you.

* Jihl Nabaat. She [[spoiler:apparently trapped Sazh's 6-year-old son in a crystal. AS A TEST.]] Also, the FridgeHorror that comes from the fact that she is wielding a riding crop while interrogating the heroes. She's basically Cocoon's resident [[TheMengele Josef Mengele]] with a {{Sadist}} streak.

** What happens when a fal'Cie creates a l'Cie, but doesn't give them a focus? [[spoiler:''They instantly turn to Cie'th.'']]

* Orphan, a living breathing malevolent example of PoweredByAForsakenChild that keeps Cocoon running and essentially wants to kill off mankind? Either to have its God come back to it or just to die. [[spoiler:The fact that its "mother" slowly strokes its head as you fight it is creepy enough. After you defeat its first form, it apparently turns the entire party except Fang and Vanille into Cie'th and tortures Fang by '''painfully killing and then reviving her''' '''''over and over again''''' while a horrified Vanille is forced to watch.]]
* [[ClimaxBoss Barthandelus]] in general. [[spoiler:He is a technorganic...''thing'', and consists of a giant face flanked by four ''upside down'' smaller faces, with their mouths constantly working. And [[UncannyValley the way he moves is just not right.]]]]

** The scene where [[spoiler:Barthandelus poses as Serah and runs over to Snow and hugs him]] feels incredibly creepy and uneasy.
** The entire scene where [[spoiler:Barthandelus melts into the pool and reemerges as Orphan]]. [[spoiler:''He's happy and laughing''.]]

* '''Ragnarok'''. [[spoiler:Despite saving the day in the end, it's still a horrifying and powerful EldritchAbomination to look at and was specifically crafted by the Fal'Cie to destroy Cocoon and everyone on it and worse some of the main protagonists were fated to turn into it to do the job. The ones in question were Fang and Vanille, and Fang once turned into an incomplete Ragnarok form that was strong enough to leave a huge scar on Cocoon's shell before crystallizing, explaining why Cocoon looks like a cracked open egg shell (Keep in mind, WordOfGod is that Cocoon is about the size of the real world North America, so imagine how big a scar like that has to be!)]]

** Worse is no human, not one of the inhabitants or people from the land below, know this, and are brainwashed into ignorantly following the wishes of the Fal'Cie. As a precaution, the Fal'Cie also keep the humans under tight control to suppress any possibility of the people warring among each other to maintain their sacrifices and exaggerate the threat of the lowerworld of Pulse as a deterrent for anyone wishing to leave. The citizens are also clearly under totalitarian theocratic rule as they cannot elect their own government but the Fal'Cie fill Cocoon with frivolous pastimes for the humans to engage in, diverting their attentions from seeking the undercurrent truth behind Cocoon's existence. [[GoneHorriblyRight However, the fear of the lowerworld the Fal'Cie induced was too effective]], which causes mass hysteria and violence whenever an intruder from Pulse reaches Cocoon, causing the Fal'Cie to allow a genocide of millions of citizens deemed a threat masqueraded as an exile which the witless Cocoon residents simply allow out of fear. Those deemed a threat or affiliated with Pulse are even forced to wear "Purge clothing" (traceable restraint garments fitted with a metal device that binds their hands, controlled by a remote held by a nearby armed soldier), and loaded onto "Purge trains," while those who try to resist or run were fired upon. ANaziByAnyOtherName anyone?

* '''Ragnarok'''. [[spoiler:Despite saving the day in the end, it's still a horrifying and powerful monster to look at and was specifically crafted by the Fal'Cie to destroy Cocoon and everyone on it and worse one of the main team was fated to turn into to it to do the job. The ones in question were Fang and Vanille, and that Fang once turned into an incomplete Ragnarok form that was strong enough to leave a huge scar on Cocoon's shell before crystallizing (WordOfGod is that Cocoon is about the size of the real world North America!)]]

* The conditions of being a l'Cie are terrifying as well. Essentially a fal'Cie brands you with a spiffy tattoo, makes you superhuman, and grants you magical powers? Great. On the condition that you fulfill a task called a Focus that they do not tell you about and if you don't finish the task you get turned into a horrible Cie'th. Not so great. Worse is even if by some miracle you finish your Focus you get turned into a crystal statue and stay that way until the fal'Cie find another unknown Focus for you to finish or else it's Cie'th time.