Basic Trope: Mentioning a name is taboo.
- Straight: The characters are not allowed to say Lord Dread's name, and instead call him the Big D.
- Exaggerated: There is a law against saying Lord Dread's name.
- Downplayed: Saying Lord Dread's name is intimidating and some are scared of the name, but it is allowed to be said.
- Justified:
- Someone made a law against saying Lord Dread's name.
- The characters are all superstitious and believe that saying Lord Dread's name is bad luck.
- Lord Dread is a demon or some other dark creature, and in this universe, saying the name of any of his kind will be seen by the named individual as an invitation to haunt/stalk/torment you.
- Lord Dread's name is a lethal auditory cognitohazard.
- Saying Lord Dread's name summons Lord Dread, and he more often than not has a bone to pick with whoever summoned him.
- Inverted: Everyone goes out of their way to mention Lord Dread by his full name as often as possible.
- Subverted: Alice says "Screw this - I'm calling Lord Dread by his real name."
- Double Subverted: But Bob replies "Are you crazy?! Nobody calls the Big D by his real name!!"
- Averted: Everyone calls Lord Dread by his real name.
- Parodied:
- Every time someone says Lord Dread's name, someone pops out and says "shhh".
- "Lord of Dread", "The Dread Lord", etc. are perfectly fine to say in public, but actually saying "Lord Dread" causes everyone in earshot to say "shhh" for a good five seconds.
- Zig-Zagged: Some characters are too scared to say Lord Dread's name, but some brave characters can say it fine.
- Lampshaded: "Why can't we just say Lord Dread's name? What's in a name?"
- Enforced: ???
- Invoked: King Noble makes a law against saying Lord Dread's name.
- Exploited: Someone wants to be kicked out of the country, so he says Lord Dread's name in public to get punished.
- Defied: The characters refuse to call Lord Dread anything but his real name, since fear of a name increases fear of the thing itself.
- Discussed: "The Big D is here!" "You mean Lord Dread?" "SHHHH!" "Why can't we—" "Shh!!"
- Conversed: "Why don't the characters want to say Lord Dread's name?"
- Deconstructed:
- There are multiple people for whom this applies, which makes it hard to distinguish between them.
- The heroes' fear of Lord Dread's name increases their fear of Lord Dread himself.
- Reconstructed:
- This causes these people to be referred to as a collective, which is given a single term that is avoided out of paranoia.
- Lord Dread realizes this and goes about actively targeting those who refuse to carry out this taboo, to make this fear real.
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