History NightmareFuel / OctopathTraveler

* Riverford is a town run by the man responsible for the fall of Hornburg The prospect of someone like that with so much power is unsettling on its own, but how he runs it is downright horrifying. Ruled with fear and terror, and once a month, four criminals are burned at the stake to set an example. It started off as burning the worst of the worst, but soon people who do so much as pickpocket or act suspiciously are jailed and burned for it. One [=NPC=] you can talk to says his sister is next, and she's a 9-year-old completely innocent to the fact.

** In postgame, we learn something even worse. Redeye used to be Graham Crossford, a genuinely great man who inspired both Alfyn and Tressa to go on their journeys. Because of his bloodline, Lyblac used his wife's death to turn him into a vessel for Galdera. He finally realizes what's going on during the ritual and flees, but at the cost of slowly turning into Redeye and mindlessly wandering Orsterra.

* The true final boss, [[spoiler:Galdera]], is a god of infernal magic who has power over life and death. His physical form can be best described as a demonic beast composed of hundreds of partially digested bodies/souls, and he uses them in combat to fight you, and the second phase of the battle is a ''very'' daunting fight that can obliterate an unprepared party.

* The town of Wispermill isn't nightmarish in the 'horrifying' or 'depraved' sense, but more the 'unsettling' sense. The choice of music is one thing, but [[spoiler:when you first arrive before starting Ophilia's Chapter 4, while the shops, inn and tavern are open, literally everything else you can interact with is dead silent, as if more a living statue than anything that passes as a human being. Talking to them just gives you dots ("..."). They do not react to any Path Actions. ''Even Cyrus gets nothing from Scrutinizing them.'']] All of this just comes together to convey the feeling that something is just plain ''wrong'' with this town, and that this "Savior" is behind it. [[FromBadToWorse And then you actually start Ophilia's Chapter 4...]]

* In Cyrus's second chapter, [[spoiler:his search for the missing villagers takes him to a hidden chamber in the sewers, with blood covering the floor and a drained corpse chained to the wall. A necromancer has been kidnapping and brutally murdering innocent people to create blood crystals. And of the ten missing villagers, Cyrus can only save three...]]

** For added FridgeHorror, think about it if you haven't already completed Cyrus's second chapter. It's possible that Ali (and potentially Tressa) could be [[spoiler: sold off to Gideon for use in his blood rituals]].

* [[spoiler:Riverford]] is a town run by the man [[spoiler:responsible for the fall of Hornburg.]] The prospect of someone like that with so much power is unsettling on its own, but how he runs it is downright horrifying. Ruled with fear and terror, and once a month [[spoiler: four criminals are burned at the stake to set an example. It started off as burning the worst of the worst, but soon people who do so much as pickpocket or act suspiciously are jailed and burned for it.]] One [=NPC=] you can talk to says his sister is next, and she's a 9-year-old completely innocent to the fact.

* In Primrose's second chapter, [[spoiler: we find that the people of Stillsnow are not only aware of the brothel selling women to tourists, they are also keeping silent about it]].
** [[spoiler:That chapter includes a disturbing exchange between a priest and the Crow Man where the priest is implied to harbor incestuous lust for his deceased daughter.]]
* The main antagonist of Primrose's story arc. [[spoiler:'''Simeon'''. The man heads the Obsidians, was the culprit behind the murder of Geoffery Azelhart, and did everything in his power to ruin the life of his childhood love... all for the purpose of his own amusement. Despite trying to ''kill'' her and showing no regard for her well being, he's still violently smitten with her, to the point the play Primrose crashes in her hunt for him is a play about ''her'' life, ending with her character and Simeon's getting a happy ending. What the hell is up with this guy?]]

* In Alfyn's second chapter, [[spoiler: Vanessa Hysel, a rival apothecary, is knowingly treating people with a tonic that is avoided by most credible medics because its principle ingredient induces symptoms very similar to whooping cough, then sells a cure for the condition she herself caused at a grossly inflated price and refuses to negotiate on it if a patient is poor. She would have killed a young girl this way if Alfyn hadn't figured out her scheme and made a treatment himself. It's implied that she has killed several people already by doing this in various towns.]] This one is particularly effective because it's based on a very realistic fear: the fear that a doctor could use their position of authority to fool their patients and take advantage of them.
** Alfyn's second chapter ends with a rather literal example. [[spoiler:After using a very potent sleeping agent to keep the corrupt apothecary from trying to escape before the guards get her, if Therion is also in the party, Alfyn and Therion have a brief conversation about the effects of sedative he used. It not only puts people to sleep almost immediately, but also manifests the target's doubts and insecurities through horrifying nightmares they suffer through for the duration of their forced sleep.]]

* The Redeye. [[spoiler:While little is known about it even by the Knights Ardante, H'aanit learns the consequences of carelessly engaging the thing after repelling the Lord of the Forest... in the form of a statue of Z'aanta firing an arrow into a nearby tree. Reading the arrow's attached letter shows the horror in that the statue ''was'' Z'aanta, who was petrified by the monster, and it's not the instant kind, either. You know how incurable diseases slowly eat you from the inside out until you die? This is just like that, with the victim rooted in place and unable to get help on their own. Z'aanta must have had balls of steel to compose that entire letter and fire it off before the curse finished claiming him.]]
** In postgame, we learn something even worse. [[spoiler:Redeye used to be Graham Crossford, a genuinely great man who inspired both Alfyn and Tressa to go on their journeys. Because of his bloodline, Lyblac used his wife's death to turn him into a vessel for Galdera. He finally realizes what's going on during the ritual and flees, but at the cost of slowly turning into Redeye and mindlessly wandering Orsterra.]]

* Primrose's story begins with men killing her father in front of her eyes, and her situation with Helgenish and the other dancers is horrifying--Helgenish only wants her for sex, the girls despise her pride and nobility, and when she gets an opportunity after years of tailing the Crow Men, Helgenish tortures her only friend and kills her before trying to kill Prim himself.

* [[spoiler:Riverford]] is a town run by the man [[spoiler:responsible for the fall of Hornburg.]] The prospect of someone like that with so much power is unsettling on its own, but how he runs it is downright horrifying. Ruled with fear and terror, and once a month [[spoiler: four criminals are burned at the stake to set an example. It started off as burning the worst of the worst, but soon people who do so much as pickpocket or act suspiciously are jailed and burned for it.]]

* FridgeHorror kicks in when you notice that the suspicious figures that Tressa and Ali see in her fourth chapter are the [[spoiler:Obsidians, the very group that killed the likes of Primrose's father. Had Primrose and Therion not indirectly dismantled the group, it's only left up to the imagination what could've happened to the two of them if not for that and Ali getting one of the two arrested.]]

** Alfyn's second chapter ends with a rather literal example which only gets darker thanks to FridgeHorror. [[spoiler:After using a very potent sleeping agent to keep the corrupt apothecary from trying to escape before the guards get her, assuming Therion is also in the party, Alfyn and Therion start having a brief conversation about the effects of sedative he used, pointing out how it not only puts people to sleep almost immediately, but also manifests the target's doubts and insecurities through horrifying nightmares they suffer through for the duration of their forced sleep.]] The fridge horror comes in when you realize that Alfyn is just a novice apothecary with limited funds at this point in the story and he was still able to concoct it, or at the very least obtain it in some manner.

** In postgame, we learn something even worse. [[spoiler:Redeye used to be Graham Crossford, a genuinely great man who inspired both Alfyn and Tressa to go on their journeys. Because of his bloodline, Lyblac used his wife's death to turn him into a vessel for Galdera. He finally realizes what's going on during the ritual and flees, but at the cost of slowly turning into Redeye and mindlessly wandering Orsterra.]]

* [[spoiler: Murlock threatens to sell Ali into slavery or worse. Makes you wonder if [[FridgeHorror he's done the same to other merchants that crossed his path, or if he'd do the same to Tressa...]]]]

* [[spoiler:'''Simeon'''. The man heads the Obsidians, was the culprit behind the murder of Geoffery Azelhart, and did everything in his power to ruin the life of his childhood love... all for the purpose of his own amusement. Despite trying to ''kill'' her and showing no regard for her well being, he's still violently smitten with her, to the point the play Primrose crashes in her hunt for him is a play about ''her'' life, ending with her character and Simeon's getting a happy ending. What the hell is up with this guy?]]

* We do not talk about [[spoiler: Galdera]]...

%%!!In General
%%* We do not talk about [[spoiler: Galdera]]...

!!In General
* We do not talk about [[spoiler: Galdera]]...

* The Redeye. [[spoiler:While little is known about it even by the Knights Ardante, H'aanit learns the consequences of carelessly engaging the thing after repelling the Lord of the Forest... in the form of a statue of Z'aanta firing an arrow into a nearby tree. Reading the arrow's attached letter shows the horror in that the statue ''was'' Z'aanta, who was petrified by the monster, and it's not the instant kind, either. You know how incurable diseases slowly eat you from the inside out until you die? This is just like that, with the victim rooted in place and unable to get help on their own. Z'aanta must have had balls of steel to compose that entire letter and fire it off before the curse finished claiming him.]]

* In Alfyn's second chapter, [[spoiler: Vanessa Hysel, a rival apothecary, is knowingly treating people with a tonic that is avoided by most credible medics because its principle ingredient induces symptoms very similar to whooping cough, then sells a cure for the condition she herself caused at a grossly inflated price and refuses to negotiate on it if a patient is poor. She would have killed a young girl this way if Alfyn hadn't figured out her scheme and made a treatment himself. It's implied that she has killed several people already by doing this in various towns.]] This one is particularly effective because it's based on a very realistic fear: the fear that a doctor could use their positions of authority to fool their patients and take advantage of them.

* H'aanit's first chapter boss, the Ghisarma. The way it's hunched over and drooling with crazy eyes just looks...wrong.

* In Alfyn's second chapter, [[spoiler: a rival apothecary is knowingly treating people with a tonic that is avoided by most credible medics because its principle ingredient induces symptoms very similar to whooping cough, then sells a cure for the condition she herself caused at a grossly inflated price and refuses to negotiate on it if a patient is poor. She would have killed a young girl this way if Alfyn hadn't figured out her scheme and made a treatment himself. It's implied that she has killed several people already by doing this in various towns.]]

* H'aanit's first chapter boss, the Ghisarma. The way it's hunched over and drooling with crazy eyes just looks...wrong.
* [[spoiler: Murlock threatens to sell Ali into slavery or worse. Makes you wonder if [[FridgeHorror he's done the same to other merchants that crossed his path, or if he'd do the same to Tressa...]]]]

* [[spoiler:'''Simeon'''. The man heads the Obsidians, was the culprit behind the murder of Geoffery Azelhart, and did everything in his power to ruin the life of his childhood love... all for the purpose of his own amusement. Despite trying to ''kill'' her and showing no regard for her well being, he's still violently smitten with her, to the point the play Primrose crashes in her hunt for him is a play about ''her'' life, ending with her character and Simeon's getting a happy ending. What the hell is up with this guy?]]

* In Alfyn's second chapter, [[spoiler: a rival apothecary is knowingly treating people with a tonic that is avoided by most credible medics because its principle ingredient induces symptoms very similar to whooping cough, then sells a cure for the condition she herself caused at a grossly inflated price and refuses to negotiate on it if a patient is poor. She would have killed a young girl this way if Alfyn hadn't figured out her scheme and made a treatment himself. It's implied that she has killed several people already by doing this in various towns.]]

* In Primrose's second chapter, [[spoiler: we find that the people of Stillsnow are not only aware of the brothel selling women to tourists, they are also keeping silent about it]].

* In Cyrus's second chapter, [[spoiler:his search for the missing villagers takes him to a hidden chamber in the sewers, with blood covering the floor and a drained corpse chained to the wall. A necromancer has been kidnapping and brutally murdering innocent people to create blood crystals. And of the ten missing villagers, Cyrus can only save three...]]

* [[spoiler: Murlock threatens to sell Ali into slavery or worse. Makes you wonder if [[FridgeHorror he's done the same to other merchants that crossed his path, or if he'd do the same to Tressa...]]]]