Line #71 Franchise/TheFearMythos


1	[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/fears_small_3_948.png]]
2	[[caption-width-right:350:Fear is here.[[note]]drawing by alliterator]][[/note]]
3
4	->''At the end of days, as we lay ourselves down to the impossible world of dreams, our minds conjure up creations of a blackened reality where meaning and fear are synonymous. Beings rise out of the fiery fields of gray and evoke newfound emotions our consciousness practically invents on the spot. There is much power in the mind, and the creative mind crafts haunting ruses without boundary.''
5	-->-- From the introduction to ''[[http://www.amazon.com/Faces-Strange-Secret-Anthology-Stories/dp/1484812506/ Faces, Strange and Secret]]''
6
7	[[http://www.thefearmythos.wikia.com The Fear Mythos]] is an immense, detailed writing community spanning thousands of works and featuring a good number of antagonists to each. Its original purpose was a spin-off to the [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man Mythos]], and was created by Owen Norris, Adam Levine, and Seann Barbour.
8
9	The premise? There are monsters called "Fears," original creatures [[note]]The Slender Man and Literature/TheRake were at one point classified as Fears, but that's no longer pushed. Authors can feel free to call them Fears if they want due to our open source nature, but for all intents and purposes they won't be covered on this page.[[/note]] that are, for lack of a better term, manifestations of humanity's most primal fears and phobias, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin hence the name.]]
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11	The Fear Mythos deals with blogs, vlogs, creepypasta, video games, and whatever else there exists that regard to these disturbing beings (there is now even a book). No canon or continuity required; writers get complete freedom, and each canon is unique to its respectful author.
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13	The Fear Mythos manifesto and some other helpful information can be found [[http://thefearmythos.blogspot.com/ here.]] A list of all current blogs can be found [[http://thefearmythos.wikia.com/wiki/The_Blogs here]] and vlogs [[http://thefearmythos.wikia.com/wiki/The_Vlogs here]], while a list of Fears (and descriptions) can be found [[Characters/TheFearMythos on the characters page]]. A blog dedicated to Fear-based creepypasta can be found [[http://strangeandsecretfaces.blogspot.com/ here.]] A Wiki has been created, and can be found [[http://thefearmythos.wikia.com/wiki/The_Fear_Mythos_Wiki here]].
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15	For the video game, see [[VideoGame/FearMythosRPG Fear Mythos: The RPG.]] There is now an anthology of Fear Mythos stories available [[http://www.amazon.com/Faces-Strange-Secret-Anthology-Stories/dp/1484812506/ here]].
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17	'''NOTE:''' Tropes pertaining to specific Fears should be put on the character page. Tropes pertaining to specific stories should go under that work's page (listed in Recap.TheFearMythos).
18	----
19	[[WMG: General tropes for the Fear Mythos]]
20	* TheAdjectivalMan: The Dying Man, the Blind Man, the Smiling Man, and the Merryman, in addition to [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos the obvious]]. The Wooden Girl, Cold Boy, Unnamed Child, and various others are variations of the format.
21	%%* AlienGeometries: [[http://hellisaplacewherenothingeverhappens.blogspot.com/ The]] [[http://citiesandthronesandpowers.blogspot.com/ Empty]] [[http://djay32-paperdimension.blogspot.com/2011/04/that-was-freaking-weird.html City.]]
22	* AndIMustScream: The fate of many, ''many'' victims of the Fears.
23	** The Archangel is the most obvious example. [[spoiler: Since the Archangel is the ''the afterlife itself'' (or at least a twisted bastardization of it), it may well be that the ultimate fate of '''''every human''''' is to be enslaved by the Archangel after death, trapped in a body that moves in accordance with another person's will for all eternity. Except, of course, those are killed by other Fears, for whom nothing awaits after death.]]
24	** Unsurprisingly, this is [[PuppeteerParasite the Wooden Girl]]'s entire MO. Most of her "servants" are former victims who are being [[PeoplePuppets forced into service]].
25	** The Grotesque traps people in a dream world of his making from which they can ''never wake up''.
26	* ApocalypticLog: Some blogs document the end of the world, the most notable being OH GOD THE RAPTURE IS BURNING.
27	* ArcNumber:
28	** 417 is The Archangel's in many stories.
29	** 444 in ''Still Remains Within.'' Maybe.
30	** 8 and 5 in many blogs are EAT's arc numbers.
31	** 34 is the Architect's arc number.
32	* BeingWatched: This is a frequent phobia played on by Fears, ''especially'' the Eye.
33	* BodyHorror: Another frequent phobia played on.
34	** The Black Dog, in some interpretations, takes people's flesh and uses it to patch its skin.
35	** EAT sometimes takes her Camper bodies and morphs them beyond what evolution intended possible.
36	** The Intrusion, often portrayed as a sentient swarm of insects which infest its victims, is pretty much pure body horror.
37	* BreatherEpisode: The blogs that try to seem like literal blogs tend to do these with uneventful posts, though more conventional stories often have Breathers to break up the pace.
38	* CanonWelding: Incorporates Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos, as well as the Black Dog from folklores of the British Isles, and later incorporated the Smiling Man from Blog/TheJeanetteExperience as a CanonImmigrant. The Franchise/CthulhuMythos is a part of it too, with the blog [[http://mephirevolution.blogspot.com/ Mephi]], having many of Lovecraft's creatures being a major part of the story. The Fear Mythos and Sleeper Mythos are also an example of this, while the Fear Mythos and WebOriginal/TheArknMythos are an inversion (depending on who you ask, as the exact history of the latter is disputed and unclear). The Fear Mythos as a whole was created from several separate [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender Man Mythos]] spinoffs, then separated into countless canons as the authors of each story see fit.
39	* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Some stories suggest that the Fears are created from humanity's own subconscious.
40	%%* CosmicChessGame: The Great Game.
41	%%* CosmicHorrorStory: Well, considering that the entire premise involves a ''lot'' of {{eldritch abomination}}s...
42	* CrapsackWorld: All of humanity is being used as game pieces for various {{eldritch abomination}}s. Worse, anyone you meet could be working with the Fears. They could be possessed by some sort of otherwordly being, they could be controlled like puppets by something else. The words you hear [[ParanoiaFuel may not be the words people are actually saying]]. The nice girl you hooked up with could have just given you a sexually transmitted case of DemonicPossession. You could be under the influence of a Fear and ''not even know it.'' The birds in the sky may be plotting your death. The bugs scurrying across the floor could be crawling inside of you while you sleep. The water you drink could be a living hive mind seeking your assimilation. Need to go to the doctor for a check-up? He might be pledged to the Plague Doctor and secretly infecting you with all sorts of deadly diseases. No one can help you. The best anti-Fear measure the government ever came up with went rogue and is now running around brainwashing people. Not even death will give you release, since you'll just find yourself eternally enslaved to a particularly cruel mockery of the afterlife...
43	* CreepyChild: The Unnamed Child and the Cold Boy. The Unnamed Child falls into the UncannyValley for everyone but her victims, whom she forces to search for her after she leaves them. The Cold Boy loves a good IronicNurseryTune and targets people who are isolated.
44	* DependingOnTheWriter: Practically the main "theme" of the entire mythos. Some stories have Fears, others don't, some stories depict Fears in radically different ways, it's all up to the writer.
45	%%* CrossOver: Happens often in stories with a SharedUniverse. The Sandbox Verse takes this up to eleven as a main concept.
46	%%* EldritchAbomination: They're right at home in the pantheon.
47	* EldritchLocation: The Empty City and the Algernon Forest, and some stories depict The Grotesque as being something like this.
48	* EnslavedTongue: The Choir from "[[http://strangeandsecretfaces.blogspot.jp/2011/03/slip-ups.html Slip ups]]" makes people say the opposite of what they mean.
49	* EvilIsPetty: Fears that aren't treated as incomprehensibly eldritch tend to be written as such. (It rarely makes them less intimidating, though it can in more humorous stories, in which case it might be {{lampshaded}}, {{Flanderized}}, or otherwise used for comedic effect.)
50	* EyeScream: A common theme throughout the early blogs, from ''The Jeannette Experience'' where [[spoiler:Jeanette's eye was burned out]] to ''Closest to the Sun'' where [[spoiler: it's implied Achromatic Morality ''cut out her own eyes'']].
51	* {{Expy}}: The Archive (Seen here http://scribesigma.blogspot.com) is fairly similar to the SCP Foundation, with the two primary differences being the fact a) that the Archive doesn't contain the Fears, it merely examines them and b) the Archive is a cult of the Blind Man's.
52	* FacelessEye: The Eye, appropriately enough.
53	* FourIsDeath: Comes up a fair bit in the early blogs' arc-numbers.
54	** Four-''seventeen,'' in ''Eccentrically Bored.''
55	** Three fours in ''Still Remains Within''.
56	** Even [[LampshadeHanging lampshaded]] in ''brighter than a spoon'' when Tav hides something in PO Box 444.
57	** In [[http://fearofpants.blogspot.com/ Nothing To Fear]] [[http://fearofpants.blogspot.com/2011/09/songspamming-part-uno.html four]] [[http://fearofpants.blogspot.com/2011/09/songspamming-part-deux.html songs]] [[http://fearofpants.blogspot.com/2011/09/songspamming-part-drei.html were]] [[http://fearofpants.blogspot.com/2011/09/songspamming-part-shi.html posted]], all possibly related to concepts of fears. All at [[ArcNumber 4:17]]
58	** And, each post was numbered in a different language, the fourth one being Japanese, in which four and death are the same word.
59	%%* GenreBlindness: Many stories' protagonists exhibit this, some more frequently than others.
60	* GovernmentConspiracy: Some stories have organizations that look into the Fears, only to turn into this focus.
61	** The Supernatural Threat Analysis Bureau (STAB) is an international organization that covers a number of smaller groups.
62	** The SMSC is a branch of the FBI and STAB which deals with Fear-related issues. How competent they are varies DependingOnTheWriter.
63	** The Panopticon, meanwhile, is a GovernmentConspiracy that went rogue, and kidnaps people off the street in order to brainwash them into believing the Fears aren't real.
64	* HandWave: Any inconsistencies are the result of Dimensional Bleeding. See the entry about TheMultiverse below. Do note that there's a lot of writers who firmly stand by the Doylian view that any inconsistencies are merely because they are just stories and few share a canon.
65	%%* HiveMind: EAT, DEVOUR, the Red Cap, the Intrusion, the Convocation, you name it, we've got it.
66	* HorrifyingTheHorror: The Deep scares EAT so much in some stories that it refuses to contaminate the oceans, where it dwells. Aqualung, on the other hand, terrifies all other Fears in Madverse because he is the embodiment of oblivion.
67	%%* HumanoidAbomination: The Slender Man, Cold Boy, Dying Man, Plague Doctor, Nightlanders, Wooden Girl, Smiling Man, Vision, arguably the Rake.
68	* IHaveManyNames: With the open source nature of the mythos, many stories come up with their own names for Fears, some stories even giving them each several. It can get confusing, and some stories even rely on that obfuscation.
69	%%* JigsawPuzzlePlot: A fair bit in some stories.
70	%%* MalevolentMaskedMen: The Plague Doctor. The Archangel's favored form also counts. Proxies and some other servants also tend to act as such.
71	%%* MeaningfulBackgroundEvent: If [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slendy]] is in it, you're gonna have this. Occurs even with other Fears.
72	* {{Metafiction}}: The blog which was originally supposed to be the series bible's first draft, [[http://insertmythoshere.blogspot.com/ The Fear Mythos]], is now quite the example of this. Many other Fear Mythos stories are examples of this on some level, especially the works of Alliterator (the author of The Fear Mythos) and DJay32.
73	* TheMultiverse: There are countless universes, with countless different versions of the Fears. Due to a phenomenon called Dimensional Bleeding, events and documents often bleed over from universe to universe (thus explaining, in Watsonian terms, the often contradictory events of various blogs).
74	%%* NothingIsScarier: Many blogs play it straight quite a lot.
75	%%* OffScreenTeleportation: Fears have done it in many vlogs, and stories have depicted it in text on occasion.
76	* ProphecyArmor: Spacefuture Blogger in Omega's Bizarre Adventure was told he by the Vision that he will by killed by giant spiders. Omega figured out that this meant he could use Spacefuture Blogger as a highly effective meatshield against everything but giant spiders.
77	* PuppeteerParasite: The Wooden Girl controls her victims. Also, the Archangel turns out to be the [[spoiler: afterlife]], and [[spoiler: enslaves all who have died (except for those killed by the Fears)]].
78	%%** The [[spoiler:Intrusion]] in [[http://www.theabysslookingback.blogspot.com/ I Can't Escape]].
79	* RedRightHand: Literally with Jack of All, a mysterious trickster with a red hand who often makes dangerous deals with people.
80	* ReligiousHorror: The Archangel, a twisted mockery of religion [[spoiler: and the afterlife]].
81	%%* ReptilesAreAbhorrent: The Mother of Snakes uses this.
82	* RuleOfScary: Can crop up a lot, though some writers try to steer clear of it, as much as it's possible with entities that seem to have been born from it.
83	%%* SanitySlippage: Quite a few characters.
84	%%** Martin from ''Ontological'' heads this way.
85	%%** Garth from ''Moonlit Whispers'' hit this towards the end and just kept slipping further.
86	%%** And Billy from ''Perchance to Dream''. In fact, the Rake tends to do this to people.
87	* SharedUniverse: Some stories share a canon. In some cases, this is a deliberate move to tell a greater story. In other cases, this is writers grouping together to crossover.
88	%%* SpellMyNameWithAThe: Almost all Fears are like this.
89	* UnreliableCanon: This is the general idea behind this and the only way to be a fan of every version of every [[Franchise/TheSlenderManMythos Slender]] [[WebVideo/MarbleHornets Man]] [[WebVideo/EverymanHYBRID webisode]] series without discontinuity derailing your enjoyment of each. It helps that each monster is an EldritchAbomination and the bending of reality isn't hard to believe, but when everyone is going a different way with the interpretations, you just have to let some things slide. (This is largely due to the way in which different Fear Mythos stories only sometimes take place in an overarching canon, and even then, specific canons are rarely connected to one another.)
90	%%* UnreliableNarrator: Happens fairly often, since many blogs are written in first person.
91	%%* WhamEpisode: In many, many blogs.
92	* WorldOfSnark: A number of stories in the Mythos have this element. The main exception is characters who are openly broken or just confused, rather than SadClown or gleefully AxeCrazy types. Snarky characters tend to be one of those two, given the CrapsackWorld nature of most Mythos settings.

Context Franchise / TheFearMythos