Sandbox / The Dreaded Wick Check

Per this post, The Dreaded has several issues which are: 1) some redundancy with Terror Hero in scope, and 2) misuse. The trope is stated to be for anti heroes and villains who are the most feared in the story, but sometimes it's misused for pure good heroes or the second criterion isn't present.

Wicks checked so far: 127/127 (DONE, yay!).

• Quick wick analysis:
  • 19/127 are correct examples where the character is anti-heroic/evil and the most feared in the story, or 15%.
  • 63/127 are incorrect examples where the example doesn't meet one or all of the requirements and other misuses, or 50%.
  • 45/127 are ZCEs and other unsorted examples, or 35%.

• Long analysis: Half of the examples are misused in this order by the most common misuse to the least:

1. Purely heroic characters (8 wicks or so).
2. A character who's only feared by another singular character (more than 17 wicks).
3. Multiple characters all at once (13 wicks).
4. Multiple misuse categories [the 2 criteria aren't met] or other misuses [mostly misusing it for objects and abstract things] (16 wicks).

All despite the description making the scope of the trope very clear. Fortunately, however, there isn't redundancy or confusion with Terror Hero. There are more than a quarter of examples that have partial context only, vague context/pothole, or zero-context in general. There's a good amount of correct examples that have all the criteria, which make up 15% of the total examples.

• Possible solutions:
  • Expand to fit misuse:
    • Expand the trope to A SINGLE character who's the most feared in the story, regardless of their morality/role (1).
    • Or expand the trope to allow MORE than one character in the story but they have to be an entity/group, so the trope would be "characters/groups who are the most feared" [this would allow feared mafia members and gangs to count for example, but not random, unaffiliated multiple characters, but note that allowing further expansion by allowing multiple unrelated characters won't work; if everyone is dreaded then nobody is dreaded] (2).
    • Or expand the trope to allow both option (1) and option (2).
  • If option (1) is chosen, rename to Feared By All or something clearer to indicate that it's a single character who's feared by everyone. There's also The Most Dreaded.
  • Restrict the trope to ONE character PER SETTING for Long-Runners, which may have more than one dreaded character every Story Arc or so (though if the work is too long, the number of feared characters can get ridiculously long (e.g. 30) and it might lead to trope abuse, where so many characters are the most dreaded at the same time).
  • Split off misuse for non-villainous/non-anti-heroic characters, a.k.a purely heroic characters, to their own trope: Dreaded Hero / Terrifying Hero / etc.

---

Correct — examples have both requirements (19/127)

1. AvengersEndgame.Tropes P To Z: Suspiciously Similar Substitute: Clint as Ronin is the closest thing the movies have to The Punisher. He's a dreaded vengeance-seeking vigilante who hunts down criminals across the world because he deems them undeserving of life following the Decimation, and all of it was due to his own family dying. Potholing Clint as The Dreaded; it might be a legitimate anti-hero example.
2. BigGood.Anime And Manga: Chainsaw Man: the eponymous devil is the closest thing to a benevolent overseer in the series. He has erased many of the worst fears of humanity, supports the main protagonist, and is the only person who can challenge the Big Bad. Chainsaw Man is a dreaded entity in the world of devils due to his ability to totally erase them from existence, warping reality in the process. This may be a genuine example. Looking at the character sheet for Pochita, they're regarded as the "Hero of Hell" and are the devil that all other devils fear, and is listed as an anti-hero. So, the entry's context is correct.
3. BrilliantButLazy.Western Animation: Star Butterfly from Star vs. the Forces of Evil is a magical prodigy, described as being far beyond the skill level of her mother Queen Moon and on par with Eclipsa (the most notorious magic user in Mewni's history, who created magic so dangerous that her chapter of the royal spellbook is sealed). She's able to "dip down" and use magic solely from her own power (normally the assistance of a Magic Wand is required) at the age of 14 (something her mother never managed until she was 19), and constantly invents new spells off the top her head (which are often more powerful than she intended them to be). But Star is incapable of using the most basic magic because she found it too boring to bother learning. Which in turn leads to Star having poor control over her magic, with her spells sometimes failing to work, being more powerful than intended and causing collateral damage, or going completely wrong and having an effect completely unrelated to what she intended. Checking the character sheet for Eclipsa suggests that she's actually a subversion of The Dreaded, but this entry gives just enough information to indicate she's correct.
4. Characters.A Bugs Life: (Hopper), Even his own grasshopper gang are scared of him, including the Ax-Crazy Thumper. The room tends to go quiet every time he enters it, with everyone apprehensive of his every word and gesture. — Villainous + the most feared in story
5. Characters.AZRE White Fang: (Iya), Out of everyone in the White Fang, including Sienna and Kaanchana, Iya is considered to be the most feared by everyone, even her own allies, because of her unpredictable behaviour and violent tendencies. — Meets all requirements
6. Characters.Alice In Borderland: (Isao), Once his presence is revealed, he becomes this to every living survivor in the Borderlands, as he hunts and mercilessly kills people with almost supernatural efficiency. It's telling that he's so feared that practically everyone save Aguni puts off facing him until the very end. — Seems to meet all requirements
7. Characters.Assassins Creed Ezio Auditore: By the Templars. Ezio's quite possibly the most feared assassin the series. Best seen in the Assassin's Creed: Revelations trailer, where he has been disarmed and his hands are bound but the simple act of him standing up and walking on his own makes an entire room full of mooks panic. Fits all the requirements as he's an anti-hero
8. Characters.Bambi: ("Man"), All the forest animals are terrified of him. All other hazards of forest life pale in comparison to His ability to kill from a distance and seemingly at will. In the novel, animals who encounter His scent for the first time barely have enough presence of mind to run away. — Is an Anti-Villain + feared by all
9. Characters.Heralds Of Rhimn: Even her own knights are a little afraid of her. Low on context, but surrounding context clarifies that she's a villain.
10. Characters.Irredeemable (Plutonian): After his turn, he becomes this to everyone, heroes, villains, and civilians alike, and with very good reason. Villain + the most feared person in the setting. Just copy-and-paste some sentences from the Broken Pedestal entry and there would be enough context.
11. Characters.Villainous Cartoon Network: (Black Hat) Everyone who knows about him, from cosmic entities to regular villains, knows that they should fear and respect him, or they will pay for it greatly. Not that doing so guarantees your safety anyway. Is a villain feared by practically everyone in the setting.
12. Characters.Weird And Unfortunate Things Are Happening: (The Firstborn Child) Given that she has the power to destroy Earth in only a few seconds, her fellow Evocations, eldritch god-like beings themselves, are terrified of her, as are the lesser monsters of Dereleth. The second she shows up in one of the endings, the Inners start panicking and screaming for their lives. Villain + feared by many people.
13. CodexEquus.Tropes G To H: God-Eating: A famous Alvslog Deer legend has the Deer God of Evil Temnobog, the Dark One attempt to do this to his father High King Irminsul after de-powering him. When Narren, the Joyous Prince and Irminsul's grandson saw and confronted Temnobog about it, Temnobog ate him too to stop him from telling the rest of the Eltenteil Deer Pantheon. Of course, this was actually what Narren wanted him to do all along, as it allowed him to go deep into Temnobog's guts and rescue his grandfather. This appears to be correct potholing.
14. DarkerAndEdgier.Batman: The Batman is hands down the darkest live-action film so far, even topping Joker and Batman Returns. Here, Batman is a brutal vigilante with a reputation as The Dreaded, both by the police and the criminal underworld of Gotham, and his Terror Hero shtick is basically turned up to eleven, speaking in a hateful whisper not unlike Michael Keaton, and his brutality is put on full display when he gives an unfortunate mook an incredibly brutal No-Holds-Barred Beatdown that scares the crap out of the criminals witnessing this. Also, there's the fact the film portrays The Riddler, who's normally a Laughably Evil yet Not-So-Harmless Villain, as an incredibly gruesome Psychopathic Manchild Serial Killer in the vein of the Zodiac Killer and John Doe. And that's just the trailers. Potholed to both The Dreaded and Terror Hero. However, this entry may actually be correct use of both tropes. He is an anti-hero who is terribly feared by everyone (The Dreaded), and he does deliberately use fear as a tactic (Terror Hero).
15. Film.Con Air: Cyrus, Diamond Dog, Johnny-23 and the rest of the cons on the plane are ruthless, murderous thugs who have caused countless death and destruction. Yet every single one of them is scared out of their minds when Garland Greene comes onto the plane. Dog, in particular, is terrified to even go near a guy half his size. — He's a villain and is feared by many
16. Film.Renfield 2023: The Lobo crime family are explicitly the top crime family in New Orleans because of how much they're feared, with Bellafrancesca stating the other families are larger and more powerful but still fear them, mostly due to their habit of Disproportionate Retribution.
17. Fanfic.Code Geass Julius Of The Empire: Julius has become this both within Britannia and without, gaining the nickname the Homicide Prince. This is due to his reputation for publicly executing those who cross him, combined with his notorious temper. — He's an Anti-Villain and seems to fit
18. Animation.Sheep And Wolves: Ragear revels in being feared by the other wolves. Even his bio says he believes being feared is most important to him — Seems evil and the most feared
19. Webcomic.Teaching Fear: The mere invocation of Malcolm's name is enough to make everyone quail. And for good reason too. — He's listed as an evil character so I think it fits here

Misuse — character isn't an Anti-hero or a villain OR the MOST feared character (62/127)

1. Advertising.Seattle Mariners: One ad featured an opposing pitcher seeing a psychologist over his fear of facing Ken Griffey Jr. — A single character afraid of another
2. Anime.Mama Is A Fourth Grader: Grandma Haru, at least to her daughter, Izumi; not so much for Natsumi. Izumi loathes her mother since she was a workaholic while leaving her mostly alone as a young child, and especially resents her for playing favorites with her older sister. They both mend their relationship by the end of the episode. — It seems that it leans toward hatred/resentment than fear + dreaded by a single character
3. Anime.The Curse Of Kazuo Umezu: Rima, a transfer student who had previously been studying in Mexico in "What Will the Video Camera Reveal?". Despite her beautiful looks, Masami gets easily scared of her and causes great agitation into her life. — One character is scared of another
4. Anime.Zoids Chaotic Century: The Dreaded: Raven and the Geno Breaker, at least until Hiltz and the Death Stinger begin their rampage. The entry talks itself out of being an example by suggesting there's something worse in the setting.
5. Awesome.Aladdin The Series: Chaos. He's the most powerful being we ever see in the series, by far. Even Mirage is afraid of him. Then we find out his entire episode, all of the threats he has the heroes face, all of the magical hijinks and effortless screwing around with their lives, was just for the punchline of having Mirage accidentally involve herself in the plot and be forced to save the day, as payback for trying to trick him and because she was in a rut. One can only imagine what would happen if he ever decides Aladdin has become boring. Pothole pointing to a character who is stated to be terrified of what appears to be an even more terrifying character. Implied misuse.
6. Awesome.Its A Wonderful Life: It's a small one that requires a real eagle ear, but it's worth hearing. When young George comes to his father for advice, he accidentally happens upon a meeting between him and Mr. Potter. Mr. Bailey tries to argue that Potter could make use of his vast wealth, only for Potter to call him a failure. Young George calls out Potter on his callousness and tells his father not to let Potter walk all over him. After Mr. Bailey gently tells his son to go home, what does he do the minute he goes into back into the meeting? Apologize for his son's outburst? Heck no! If you listen carefully, you can hear him chide "Mr. Potter, you humiliated me in front of my son!" That's not nothing! That's a proud father defending his brave son's honor as he talks down the richest and cruelest man in Bedford Falls! Even though George virtually had no right to interrupt the meeting, he took his son's advice to heart: he stood up for his boy and rightfully chastised Mr. Potter for impugning his worth. Misuse by potholing the cruelest character rather than the most feared.
7. BadBoss.Video Games: Far Cry: Hoyt Volker, the South African Big Bad of Far Cry 3, is a Faux Affably Evil type who expects his band of Ruthless Modern Pirates and slavers to follow three company rules: 1) protect his product/slaves (and make sure not to damage them if they rape them); 2) kill any Rook Island natives on sight; and 3) make sure all the company profits go to him. If any of his men break one of these rules, expect him to Make an Example of Them by locking them in a furnace and immolating them. He openly tells Player Character Jason Brody that fear is "the true secret to keeping employees happy". Indeed, before we even meet Hoyt, we get to hear a recorded chat concerning him and his Dragon Vaas Montenegro, in which he cows Vaas into nervous submission — and Vaas, need we remind you, is the Ax-Crazy Sadist who's spent most of the game making Jason's life hell. Whether or not the character is an example, the pothole is being misused to associate the trope with just fear rather than the most feared character within in the work.
8. Blog.Texts From Superheroes: The Dreaded: The Punisher is this for Taskmaster.◊ Misuse; feared by one character.
9. Characters.A Certain Magical Index Schools: To the girls of Tokiwadai. — She's certainly not the most feared character when Touma and Accelerator exist. She's also a heroic character
10. Characters.A Heros Wrath: (Asura), His reputation as The Berserker is so powerful that a few criminals who had the bright idea of kidnapping Inko promptly let her go and dropped crime for community service when they found out who she was married to. — Doesn't meet the first requirement
11. Characters.Agent Pendergast: (Diogenes), A mere mention of Diogenes is enough to visibly unnerve his brother. — Doesn't seem to be the most feared
12. Characters.Aharen San Wa Hakarenai: (Matsuboshi), How Oshiro sees him. She eventually stops fearing him. — Just how a singular character sees another, doesn't meet any of the requirements
13. Characters.Arpeggio Of Blue Steel: (Ise), Hyuuga is terrified of her sister. Given her obsessive/possessive behaviour, this is probably well-founded. — Only 1 person is scared of another
14. Characters.Attack On Titan Zeke Yeager: — He isn't the most feared character in the story, esp when Levi and Eren exist and it seems like only a group of people are scared of him
    1. Reiner and Bertolt turn bone-white at the sight of his Titan morosely walking by Castle Utgard. His presence means one thing: they fucked up BIG.
    2. After his decimation of the Survey Corps, he is considered public enemy No. 1 by the Eldian military junta at Paradis, a fact that is brought up when there's discussions regarding his possible defection to Paradis.
15. Characters.Avengers Assemble Hydra: (Red Scull), Iron Man nearly has an Oh, Crap! moment in the first episode when Jarvis shows that Red Skull's still alive. — Only Iron Man is scared of him it seems
16. Characters.Azumanga Daioh: (Mayaa), Mayaa scares the biting cat to the point that his mere scent is enough to make the biting cat run away. — It's a comedy anime where there are no anti-heroes nor villains + just one character is scared of Mayaa
17. Characters.Back At The Barnyard: (Ben), Although he attempts to hide it, Dag is absolutely terrified of Ben, to the point of briefly losing all his smug and abusive attitude when he sees Ben staring at him. It's easy to see why, considering the fact that Ben manages to beat up his entire pack despite his advanced age. — Only 1 character is scared
18. Characters.Bravely Default Baal: Magnolia knows it as the Ba'al that wiped out Fort Lune on the moon, leaving her the only surviving Ba'al Buster. When the time comes for the party to finally face off against Diamante, Magnolia nearly breaks down from the fear and trauma before her friends reassure her that the battle won't go down like it did in Fort Lune. Scares one person due to trauma
19. Characters.Brynhildr In The Darkness: Applies to more than one character.
    1. (Neko Kuroha) Valkyria seems to be quite afraid of Kuroha when they first meet, and she ends up not attacking everyone in the observatory as a result. Kuroha later confirms that she's even more powerful than the former, though it takes quite a bit to stop her, and she loses her memories again after their long fight.
    2. (Kikako) Kikako, the AA+ witch chasing after Shino, one of the B witches that escaped with Kuroha and the others. When she's seen in episode 5, even Kuroha, who was determined to help the latter, freezes in fear when she hears that name.
    3. (Mako Fujisaki/Valkyria) A double S ranked witch. Kana tells Ryouta that she can utilize eight forms of magic, one of which is the power to detect other witches. So naturally when she shows up unannounced, it puts quite the Mass "Oh, Crap!" trope into use.
    4. (The Sorcerian) Always a Bigger Fish: It is the bigger fish of the story. Even Machina was no match for it.
20. Characters.Child Of The Storm Gods And Cosmic Entities: Applies to more than one character.
    1. The Dreaded: (Asgard in general) To most supernatural power-brokers with half a clue on Earth, and most intergalactic powers with half a clue off it, all regarding them with mingled fear and respect. Judging by what they did to the Dheronians, who destroyed Krypton at Thanos' behest, this reputation is not in the least bit unwarranted.
    2. Dark Is Not Evil: (Mab) She's the Queen of the Winter Court, ruler of some of the scariest beings in the Nevernever, and she became that by being The Dreaded, becoming incredibly ruthless, and ensuring that nobody would ever dare cross her except the very brave, very stupid, and completely insane (and Doctor Strange, who's definitely the first, probably the last, and even scarier than she is). However, her job is to protect the universe from the Outsiders, such as Chthon, and she was responsible for setting up the Unseelie Accords in order to keep humanity more or less safe after the various pantheons were ordered to leave Earth by the Celestials.
    3. The Dreaded: (Mab) Even Loki has a certain amount of wary regard for her, and it's noted that the reason the Unseelie Accords work is because breaking them guarantees her personal displeasure, and nobody wants that.
    4. The Dreaded: (Destruction) Good guys and bad guys alike are absolutely terrified of the Phoenix. There are a lot of very good reasons for this. This one has wrong indentation.
       1. For this reason, Frigga very bluntly informs Harry (who was looking like he was planning on trying to get Her involved) that She is not one who takes being summoned well. Dumbledore's account of what happened to the Clan Akkaba after they tried that trick only underlines this point. Granted, She probably wouldn't have minded in his case, but that wasn't known at the time (even if Odin did suspect it).
       2. When Harry snaps and becomes the Dark Phoenix, this reaction is shown to be very much justified.
       3. Likewise with the accounts of Surtur, the first Dark Phoenix. Dude ate a galaxy.
    5. The Dreaded: (Galactus) Nobody wants to mess with him—even Krypton's response at the height of its power was to just put up its shield and have Odin teleport it away.
21. Characters.DCdt0: By the changelings, because she just doesn't make sense. This is in a folder for Pinkie Pie, for reference. And no, it's not Adaptational Villainy
22. Characters.El Cid 2020 Rodrigo Diaz: By Season 2, he's become this. His fame is such that Alfonso and Urraca rarely make plans against Sancho without taking him into account. When al-Muqtadir is presented with the choice of directly opposing Sancho and, by extension, Ruy, he dismisses it and says that the last thing Zaragoza needs is to make an enemy out of someone like him. — A pure heroic character so he doesn't fit
23. Characters.Fairy Tail Natsu Dragneel: (Natsu Dragneel) Played for Laughs. When a shrunken DiMaria sees Natsu again, she starts panicking and yelling at him not to come any closer. Heroic character.
24. Characters.Fresh Pretty Cure: Applies to two villains instead of just one.
    1. (Northa) To the cures and to the other generals ! Especially Eas who freaks out because of her mere presence.
    2. (Toymajin) The inhabitants of the Toy Kingdom freak out when he's mentioned.
25. Characters.Hell On Wheels: Seems to have a reputation as an uncompromising though somewhat controversial enforcer of justice. He is personally chosen by Ulysses Grant to govern Cheyenne. Enforcer of justice.
26. Characters.Kamen Rider Drive Protagonists: (Shinnosuke Tomari/Kamen Rider Drive) Because he took up the mantle of the original Drive, the Roidmudes gave him the Kamen Rider title, the masked warrior who destroys their kind. Heroic character.
27. Characters.Mage The Ascension: (Standard Alien Spaceship) A lot of their larger, more advanced vessels weirdly have this aesthetic, particularly The Dreaded Node-sanitizing ships know as the Qui la Machinae Applies to ships instead of a single anti-hero or villain.
28. Characters.Ouran High School Host Club: (Kyouya), His manipulative and cunning nature, coupled with the fact that he's rich enough that he could potentially buy and sell you for crossing him, makes him this. Even Haruhi is scared of him sometimes. Given the cold, "evil businessman" front he likes to put up, it appears that he likes to exploit this, be it for personal gain or just for fun. — Regardless of the evil front part, he's still a heroic character in a rom-com, so he doesn't count.
29. Characters.Paranatural: For the most part she's friendly with everyone, but her fellow students treat the concept of getting on her bad side, or owing her anything, with terror. And then there's her playing hitball. Nice character with a scary temper.
    Lisa (switching teams): Make peace with your god, hotdog froth, for this is the day he dies.
30. Characters.Pokemon Sun And Moon: (Lana (Suiren)) Due to the There Is No Kill Like Overkill incident below, the Sudowoodo blocking the route to Route 6 flee immediately upon seeing that you have a Waterium Z in your possession because of the sheer trauma Lana inflicted to them last time. "This character inflicted trauma on another character, so they are scared of her". Not an anti-hero, a villain, or the most feared character in the setting.
31. Characters.Record Of Ragnarok The Einherjar: (Sasaki Kojiro) Kojiro becomes this to some of the lesser gods after his victory in the third round, being the first human to actually kill a god in combat especially since Poseidon was also The Dreaded. When he makes his appearance during the confrontation with Buddha, some of the Seven Lucky Gods immediately become wary and on edge, referring to Kojiro as "the man who killed Poseidon". Neither anti-hero nor villain. Not the most feared.
32. Characters.Stargirl 2020 Heroes: (Rick Tyler / Hourman II) At school, at least. Episode 5 shows how even school bullies Travis and Brian don't dare to fight him, with Travis threatening Rick but then instantly backing off when Rick threatens him back. "Two school bullies are afraid of this character". Not an anti-hero, a villain, or the most feared character in the setting.
33. ComicBook.Tex Willer: Tex and his pards are really feared by criminals, who routinely describe them as "worse than the Plague and cholera put together". Tex's Roaring Rampage of Revenge against the murderers of his wife, and especially what he did to the one who initially escaped once he finally caught up to him, show it's an Understatement. Heroic characters.
34. ComicBook.Throne Of Atlantis: The Dreaded: Batman to a pre-Justice League Arthur. Even though they hadn't met when he drew up the Atlantean war plans, Bats had built up enough of a reputation at the time that Arthur considered him a potential threat to any invasion. Misuse; described as terrifying to just one character.
35. CrapsackWorld.Literature: From Russia with Love: Ian Fleming spends a third of the book outlining how life in the Soviet Union sucks and why only depraved sociopaths such as Red Grant actually enjoy working for its intelligence apparatus. Authorities routinely use beatings and extrajudicial killings to brutally suppress dissent and torture prisoners. They also have no qualms purging so-called "enemies of the state" and sending them over to The Gulag as they did under Stalin. The book also states that nobody would dare utter The Dreaded spy agency SMERSH's name openly in the public lest they face State Sec knocking at their door. In short, the average Joe in Soviet Russia has no stomach for a possible revolt. Applies to an organisation rather than a single anti-hero or villain.
36. Fanfic.Danny Phantom Lost Episodes Series: Grimhilde and Aragon… until the end where the citizens get fed up and turn against them. — More than one dreaded character and insufficient context
37. Fanfic.Taylor Hebert Pizzeria Tycoon: An extremely spicy pizza is a dish, not a character.
    1. The Dreaded: As a pizza with a spiciness of over 4 million on the scoville scale, the Raging Dragon quickly cements a reputation as this.
    2. Oh, Crap!: Pizzeria patrons whenever someone orders a Raging Dragon [[TheDreaded Pizza]].
38. Fanfic.When The Roses Bloom Again: The Dreaded: Gellert Grindelwald, Harry Evans, and Voldemort. Although it's ZCE, it's almost certainly misuse since it's highly unlikely multiple characters can hold the title of most feared character in the story.
39. Film.The Mighty Ducks: Applies to techniques, not a single anti-heroic / villainous character.
    1. Showcasing the power of Fulton's slap shot in pregame warm-ups put the fear of God into the Cardinals, which made it easy to pull the Statue of Liberty play by making all of them curl up on the ice in terror and give another Duck the space and time to put in the easy goal.
    2. In D2, Russ' "Knucklepuck." Stansson's best strategy was essentially either mobbing Russ or catching him before he could get a shot off. As soon as Bombay found a way around this (disguising Russ as the goalie) and Russ had a clear shot, Stansson could only let out a Big "NO!" as the "knucklepuck" soared past the baffled Iceland goalie to tie the game and send it to a shootout.
40. GameOfThrones.Tropes C To D: Applies to more than one character.
    1. The White Walkers, the legendary and fearsome monsters from beyond the Wall.
    2. Tywin Lannister became one after wiping out House Reyne of Castamere and sacking King's Landing. Tyrion defines Westeros as "Seven Kingdoms united in fear of Tywin Lannister" and even a vicious madman like Joffrey is intimidated in his presence.
    3. Stannis Baratheon has a reputation as a humourless and merciless Determinator and his resume includes holding Storm's End against all the power of House Tyrell with 500 men while being Reduced To Rat Burgers, storming the Targaryen island bastion of Dragonstone, smashing the ironborn fleet at Fair Isle, and subduing the island of Great Wyk. And that's just his Back Story...
    4. The Blackfish's status as an in-universe memetic badass means Roose Bolton is quite concerned that he may have survived.
    5. Tyrion's reaction to hearing Oberyn Martell is in town is a restrained Oh, Crap!. Judging by his Establishing Character Moment, Oberyn has come by his reputation honestly.
    6. The ruthless cutthroat Karl Tanner claims he was once known as "The Legend of Gin Alley," and definitely terrifies his companions.
    7. Gregor "The Mountain" Clegane is so notorious for his almost inhuman size and strength that even certified badasses fear to face him.
    8. The Iron Bank is infamous for funding the enemies of states and rulers who default on their loans. Tyrion is unnerved to learn Littlefinger has sunk the realm millions in debt to them and Olenna calls Tywin's bluff when he claims he's not worried about it, saying he's too smart not to be worried.
41. IdiotBall.Anime And Manga: Many people in the Slayers universe in general tend to juggle the idiot ball quite profusely around the protagonist. In a land where Lina Inverse is not only known as a skilled sorceress but actually feared by bandits because she's known to hunt them down, incinerate them with magical fire, and then steal their loot, she seems to run into no shortage of loud-mouthed buffoons willing to comment on her small breasts, make fun of her height, or refer to her by one of several unflattering nicknames. Specifically calls her the protagonist
42. Literature.John Rain: Rain is this to what few adversaries of his who manage to stay alive, with Yamaoto scared shitless of him and still taking precautions against him years after they cross paths. Rain is the protagonist
43. Main.Obnoxious Entitled Housewife: Most obnoxious housewives are also depicted as obnoxious controlling mothers, typically [[TheDreaded the bane of all the other parents in the neighborhood]], to whom she'll be both unpleasable and defensive and simultaneously utterly unwilling to mind her own business. Not necessarily a villain.
44. Main.Red Oni Blue Oni: The Blue Oni is associated with serenity, control and observing authority. A Blue Oni is more intellectual, proud, traditional, introverted, and cultured (sometimes more spiritual, although that's not guaranteed), if a Blue Oni is indeed physically strong, they tend to be Genius Bruisers, with the calm, collected intelligence of a typical Blue Oni character combined with the physical prowess of a typical Red Oni character. Blue Oni personalities are often respected by others, but also likely to puzzle, confound or even [[TheDreaded intimidate]] their peers because they are difficult to read and have a mysterious quality to them. "A character intimidates others" is misuse since their morality/role is unknown.
45. Main.Rousseau Was Right: Seems to be borne out by the series premise of Dark Matter (2015): a crew of ruthless mercenaries whose crimes are so extensive that they're on the galaxy's most wanted list and [[TheDreaded spoken about in rumor and whisper]] awaken from stasis aboard their ship in the pilot episode with all their memories erased, and upon learning about themselves from the ship's database, decide to defend the mining colony that Ferrous Corp (one of many evil Mega Corps in the setting) sent them to exterminate. They are literally reduced to Blank Slates with more of a tendency towards good than bad. Applies to a crew rather than a single anti-hero or villain.
46. Manga.Attack On Titan Junior High: Mikasa and Levi (again), to a comedic degree. For Mikasa, her Quicksilver-esque running speed makes Reiner and Bertolt cower when they compete for Ilse's notebook in Episode 10. — Both are heroic here and in the main series. Not sure whether they're the most feared characters in the setting. The former one is just "two characters are scared of this character", which is misuse.
47. Manga.Medaka Box: Kumagawa is terrifying. Everyone who meets him, even other Minuses to an extent, are afraid of him. Zenkichi needed special training aimed solely towards suppressing his fear before fighting him. Even Hinokage is unnerved by Kumagawa.
    1. All of the Class Minus 13 except Shiranui qualifies, to various degrees, as their despair and lack of restraint are considered as dangerous as their powers. Combined with the entry above, more than one character are considered as such, hence misuse.
48. Recap.Ultra Galaxy Fight The Absolute Conspiracy Episode 3: Apparently for someone who proclaims to be an Ultimate Life Form, Tartarus was quick to chicken out when Legend shows up. — Just a single character scared of another.
49. Roleplay.A Sword Without A Hilt: Viserys reputation in many places is less then stellar, mainly due to people being terrified of his strength, but in Westeros also due to the fact that he's the antithesis of their every value. He is the product of incest, he's a powerful sorcerer, etc. Just seems to be a disliked character, not necessarily a hero or villain who's feared.
50. Series.Altered Carbon: The Envoys are viewed historically as this. Focused, disciplined and armed with almost steely will. Able to break out of VR torture. Manipulate those around them, create followers on the fly into determined and loyal packs. Armed with almost supernatural intuition and clarity of purpose they were on the verge of changing society on a galactic scale. Until betrayed by one of their own. Applies to a group that displays many abilities, not a single anti-heroic / villainous character.
51. VideoGame.A Hint Of A Tint: Harpies are very much this. A cutscene shows five Imps and Demons fighting them for a while, but eventually they all die for no loss on the Harpies' side. "A group wins a battle with no losses" is not this trope.
52. VideoGame.Earth Defense Force 5: Plural, not singular, hence misuse. Also, "these groups are difficult to deal with" is irrelevant context.
    1. The motherships during in-game dialogue. None of them are ever destroyed, but they cause a lot of destruction wherever they are. In-game, large groups of Cosmonauts can invoke this in the EDF soldiers, as they are difficult to defeat in a head on battle. They will seek cover if there's any available, and can dodge around to avoid your attacks. If fighting multiple ones, they will also attempt to flank you and attack you from the sides, or even behind if given the chance.
    2. On a more meta level, groups of Colonists or Cosmonauts can be incredibly difficult to deal with, even if you have other EDF units between yourself and them. Due to a quirk of their AI, as soon as the player fires on one of them, all of the Colonists and Cosmonauts on the map will target them, even if they're being torn to shreds by EDF units. This can result in players being unable to contribute sufficiently to a fight, since as soon as they do they are burned down by focused, overwhelming firepower.
53. VideoGame.Five Nights At Freddys 2: The Puppet, being a very strange deviation from the Fazbear Gang and having the ability to not be fooled by your mask. The only thing that keeps it at bay is the song from the music box. Phone Guy even comments on how he never liked, and is creeped out by, it. Sure enough, guess who happens to be the Monster Progenitor, The Man Behind the Man to the animatronics, and the first of the bunch to become haunted? One character is scared of this weird, uncanny and antagonistic character.
54. VideoGame.Kings Bounty: In the newer games, the Black Dragon is the most powerful unit in terms of raw power by a fair margin and has a unique passive ability called "Dragon Power" that scares all enemy units that are not level 5. Just an enemy that scares weaker enemies.
55. Webcomic.Foxy Flavored Cookie: Dream Soldiers in general, as they're the ruthless soldiers of the Queen of Paws' Den. They're unaffected by Wolfsbane, which can easily kill any other lycan (and cause great damage to any bitten), they are completely evoted to whichever mission they're assigned to, and they don't shy away from dirty tricks in a combat situation. Applies to a group, hence not qualifying the "most feared character" part.
56. Webcomic.Reunion 2021: Shiro is feared by the thugs who roam the city. The two men who were harassing Rhea start trembling in fear when they realize who he is. The work page indicates he is neither anti-heroic nor villainous.
57. WesternAnimation.Star Wars Rebels: Shared by multiple people.
    1. Curb-Stomp Battle: Ezra and Kanan have both improved a lot since the start of the show, but it's not enough to help them against Darth Vader. The Sith Lord spends the entire battle smacking them around like they were nothing. To make matters worse, he didn't really seem to be trying all that hard, especially considering the power he showed at the end. There's a reason he's The Dreaded.
    2. The Dreaded:
       1. Darth Vader. As Kanan put it, it's not a matter of fighting him, just surviving.
       2. Judging by the crew's reactions in the Season 3 trailer, Grand Admiral Thrawn also qualifies.
    3. High-Dive Escape: Kanan and Ezra pull this kind of escape from a pair of Inquisitors. It helps that Ezra has already used the Force to summon some flying creatures to aid their escape.
58. WhatTheHellHero.Fan Works: In Kitsune no Ken: Fist of the Fox, Naruto gets called out a total of four times throughout the story. The first three times (coming separately from Ino, Neji and Shikamaru) concern an incident where he almost killed an attacker and was willing to ignore his friends' urging to spare the person's life, then proceeded to avoid his friends after the fact. The fourth occasion is during his tribunal for being a member of the [[TheDreaded Kyuushingai]] who contributed to a year's worth of chaos across the country, where both Judge Utatane and prosecutor Yugao chew him out for his subsequent "I Did What I Had to Do" attitude regarding that period, even when he explains that he did all he did in an effort to stop Gaara's plot to take over the government. "Member of X". X is a group or organization.
59. Fame and Reputation Tropes: A character who is feared by everyone. — Doesn't specify the morality/status of the character and thus makes the trope seem broader than it is
60. Webcomic.Younger Days: 23/08/2013's comic has Sam not wake up when their mother asks via Max due to "feeling ill". That is, until Max tells her that she'd better wake up or else, which gets her attention, knowing that an angry mother is not to be trifled with. — Someone gets intimidated by another in a specific situation; totally not the trope at all
61. Webcomic.Grandmother Beetroot: Grandmother Beetroot is dreaded by abusers. Abuse victims pick up on this and start planting beets in their garden in hopes of attracting her to their place; this usually causes the abuser to quickly clean up their act. — Is only feared by a group of people but others seek her help so she's not the most feared and it seems she's a heroic character
62. WebAnimation.Flash Gitz Animation: Draigo's voice alone is enough to give a greater daemon of Khorne an Oh, Crap! moment. — Fear of a singular character; morality/status = unclear

Redundant with Terror Hero (0/127)

Zero-context examples / uncertain / other (46/127)

1. Characters.Akame Ga Kill Akame: How did the Imperials Akame was sent to kill in the final arc react when they see her? "IT'S AKAME!" — It's low on context if she's the most feared or just those mentioned characters are scared of her
2. Anime.Argevollen: The Dreaded: The Arandas soldiers on the desert frontline refer to the Trail Krieger that's been massacring them as "the Ghost" due to the fact that it always kills everyone that encounters it. No reference to how it's feared in relation to other characters/pilots/machines in the setting or whether it's the machine or the pilot that is feared. The focus is on the nickname which makes it more of a Red Baron example than The Dreaded. Not enough context, but likely a different trope.
3. Anime.Gao Gai Gar: Implied with King J-Der, who the Primevals refer to as 'the Disaster Left By Abel' and gave a threat level of 100 when he arrived. ZCE
4. Anime.One Piece Film Z: The Dreaded: Z yet again, as the Marines are terrified of him. And with good reason, he trained a majority of the major players such as Aokiji and Kizaru when he was with them. Feared, but no reference to whether he's the most feared in the story. Not enough context.
5. ArchEnemy.Live Action Films: Pirates of the Caribbean: Davy Jones definitely qualifies, since he's hellbent on claiming Jack's soul. He could also count as one for Will Turner, whose father is one of the many cursed souls forced to work on Davy Jones' ship for hundreds of years. Pothole without enough context to confirm.
6. AudioPlay.The Princess Thieves: The Dreaded: The Black Shuck believes he is this to the London's criminal element. This seems like misuse, unless it's a parody example?
7. Awesome.Fate Black Reflection: Ichigo versus Berserker. Ichigo's raw spiritual power in Shinigami form is enough to counter The Dreaded Juggernaut of Fate/Stay Night with little effort.^note Don't worry, though, he doesn't just curb-stomp everyone; only Berserker, who's nothing but raw force. Potholing with no context. On other pages, the Fanfic lists Ichigo as The Dreaded of this story.
8. BadassNormal.Live Action TV: Red Dwarf: Dave Lister, a slob he may be, is actually quite the space hero in own right. Having taken on and defeated on Simulants, genetically engineered monsters and even outwitted The Dreaded Inquistor who had survived to the end of time and had a Thanos-esque Tricked-Out Glove. This espeically impressive considering the rest of the Dwarfers are: a humanoid cat person with Super-Reflexes, a Mechanoid with immese intellect and Swiss Army Appendages and a Hologram made of Hard Light, Lister manages to be pretty smegging badass for a vending machine repairman. Lampshaded by a few kids on a bus and Lister himself in Back to Earth: "I'm pretty cool, I don't take any smeg, and even though I'm disgusting, sometimes I can be quite brave". In the episode the Inquisitor appears, there's only one villain and only Kryten is terrified of him until after he starts trying to kill everyone, which doesn't help determine if he's especially terrifying by the standards of the show.
9. BewareTheNiceOnes.Literature: A Certain Magical Index: Kamijou Touma is a fairly optimistic and friendly guy who despite his never-ending bad luck is willing to help anyone in need. Press him though, and you will see why the Magic Side and a select few in the Science Side (from Accelerator to the Kiharas) are so terrified of "The Imagine Breaker". This appears to be describing a hero figure who has a power that terrifies everyone. He's not a villain. His character sheet indicates that certain people are terrified of his power, others give him no respect, and women are attracted to him. He's listed as both a Classical Anti-Hero and an Ideal Hero, so it's not clear whether he's an anti-hero or a hero. He doesn't exploit fear as a tactic, so he's not a Terror Hero. It's hard to know what he should be troped as.
10. BigBad.Live Action TV: Teen Wolf: Season 6B: A Big Bad Ensemble of Gerard Argent (with Tamora Monroe serving as his second-in-command), and The Anuk-ite. No context pothole.
11. BreakThemByTalking.Anime And Manga: Betsy Beltoise of Kaguya-sama: Love Is War is very skilled at this. She's even known as Betsy the Wound-Licking Dagger and it's said that she will one day kill someone with her tongue. She tries doing it to Shirogane but it fails because he doesn't speak French. Then Kaguya gives her one in retaliation that leaves her a gibbering mess. This appears to be pothole misuse for a Red Baron example.
12. Characters.A Fistful Of Dollars: (Ramon), Like his counterpart. ZCE
13. Characters.Aflame Inferno: (Inferno), Just merely mentioning her name causes demons of all ranks to experience bladder failure out of sheer terror. — Unclear on the "anti-hero / villain" requirement.
14. Characters.Ascend OCT: (Baba & Yaga), Baba was one back in her younger days. Committing many atrocities for the sake of her power. — Unclear on whether the character is the most feared in the setting.
15. Characters.GI Joe GI Joes: Insufficient context.
    1. (Snake-Eyes) A well-seasoned airborne ranger who can switch between ninja and commando mid-fight. Once in a while he's seen taking down an entire enemy squad by himself... unarmed.
    2. (Ace) Some in the upper brass even doubt about sending him on missions fearing his multi-million dollar aircraft ends up as a pile of smouldering junk.
16. Characters.Your Turn To Die Game Participants: (Megumi Sasahara) A younger Keiji was warned at the station not to mess with her. Why?
17. ComicBook.Black Widow Kelly Thompson: The Dreaded: The Living Blade. He scares Natasha, and his reputation is enough to worry the Winter Soldier and Yelena as well. He scares one person, but having a worrying reputation isn't necessarily the same thing. There's not enough context to clarify.
18. ComicBook.Doctor Strange: The Dread Dormammu — and rightly so. Commented-out ZCE.
19. ComicBook.Madwoman Of The Sacred Heart: Mario Lara, AKA "El Perro", is a fierce, relentless hitman for the Medellin Cartel... and the right-hand man of Mary's dad, with a profound interest in taking Mary back to Colombia. Insufficient and irrelevant context.
20. Fanfic.Rivet And Klunk: Rivet has become this to the Blarg at the time of Chapter 21.
21. Fanfic.Twilight The Third: Maud Pie to anyone who knows her, and for good reasons: Maud is feared, but isn't necessarily a hero or villain — needs more context
    "You idiot! Maud Pie is a professional assassin! She's killed more ponies than some wars!"
22. Film.Action Jackson: Lack and Kornblau describe Jackson this way to a punk kid named Albert. (see Running Gag)
23. Film.Inland Empire: (Surreal Humor) While the Phantom is The Dreaded, he, at one point, is standing around with a lightbulb in his mouth.
24. Film.Ultraman Saga: Kaiju: The movie features many in various roles: an army of Legionoids show up in the beginning fighting against Zero. Alien Bat unleashes Gomess, Gubila and Earthron at different times to terrorize the survivors of Earth, with his goal being the creation of a stronger version of Zetton to destroy all life in the Multiverse with. The director's cut deleted scene has Antlar, King Pandon, Black King, Verokron and Tyrant resurrected by Hyper Zetton to aid him in fighting Saga, only to be defeated by the Ultra brothers. Contextless pothole.
25. Literature.Bakemonogatari: (Clap Your Hands If You Believe) Aberrations come into being because people believe that they exist, and are directly shaped by their continued perception. As revealed in Onimonogatari, Shinobu/Kissshot spent much of her backstory testing the extreme cases of this phenomenon.
    1. Shinobu's current childlike behavior is partly due to the fact that Koyomi, being the only person she regularly interacts with, expects her to act that way. This is an interesting case, since there are still plenty of people and aberrations out there that regard her as The Dreaded. Contextless pothole.
26. Literature.Bems And Bugs: When Jacques realizes that the vessel that baited the Unexpected Charge into ambushing belongs to the Huntress, he literally soils himself and has to have a sedative administered, before he can provide any useful information to his shipmates. Then the captain opens communications — after which point Jacques ceases to be the only one unnerved. Character scares one person, unclear if they're a villain or are widely known for being scary in-universe.
27. Literature.A Dance With Dragons:
    1. The Dreaded: Ramsay is certainly this, especially to Theon. ZCE.
    2. The Moral Substitute: Stannis' campaign in the North has the end goal of toppling the Boltons and restoring order so as to secure the realm against the invasion of the Others but in the process, he demands castles from the Night’s Watch for his own men and plans to settle wildlings in the south, lead them in his armies, and even, if necessary, install a few in castles. Jon notes that he must stay politically neutral, that he has allowed the wildlings to settle in The Gift, and tells Stannis that he cannot give him any other castles other than the Nightfort because these Night's Watch castles are meant to be garrisoned by the Watch to defend the Wall. However, in Jon's time as Lord Commander, he does something somewhat similar to Stannis's proposal in order to protect the realm from the Others (and later, also acts against the The Dreaded Ramsay Bolton), but goes about it differently. He builds a formal alliance with the wildlings, yet also has humanitarian reasons for wanting to save the wildlings from the Others in addition to pragmatic ones and never asks any wildling to bend the knee or take the Night Watch's oath unless they choose to. Jon explains to his opposers that the wildlings are living people too — men, women, and children — and they are also part of the realms of men the Night's Watch is sworn to protect from the Others. Additionally, any dead north of the Wall will rise as wights. Actions taken to build a peace with the wildlings involve alliances with wildlings groups (such as Tormund's band), efforts to bring wildlings south of the Wall (from places such as Hardhome and the weirwood grove beyond the Wall), accepting willing wildlings into the Watch, and brokering an alliance between the Thenns and Alys Karstark, which Jon does to also save Alys from her Evil Uncle. Jon likewise finds himself supporting Stannis against the Boltons, despite urging himself to stay neutral. His plans nearly work — until the Pink Letter. Contextless pothole.
28. Literature.One Hundred Years Of Solitude: Colonel Aureliano Buendía becomes this to the entire conservative regime. ZCE
29. Main.Kill The Cutie: Cyberpunk: Edgerunners has one in Rebecca who is a Pint-Sized Powerhouse who mostly wields BFGs and has the physique of a 14 year old girl. During the second half of the series, she became the lancer to David's crew and, during the mission to rescue Lucy from Arasaka's clutches, she got stepped on by [[TheDreaded Adam Smasher]] as he falls to catch David. The results were not pretty, to say the least. Contextless pothole.
30. Main.My Defense Need Not Protect Me Forever: Fairy Tail has a villainous example during the Tartaros arc. The eponymous Dark Guild finally succeeds in activating the Magic Weapon Face to revive [[TheDreaded Master END]], but the weapon needs to finish a countdown before firing. In order to buy time, Mard Geer orders Kyouka to merge with the activation lacrima to speed up the process, despite the fact it will kill her. She does so anyways and engages Erza in battle, and while she does ultimately dies at the heroes' hands, it's too late to stop Face from firing. — Vague pothole
31. Main.Weapon Of X Slaying: (Warframe) The Paracesis, the Sentient Slayer. Not only can it outright disrupt the Sentients' Adaptive Ability, whenever it goes beyond Rank 30 thanks to the application of Forma (maximum of 5 for a max rank of 40), it gains bonus damage against Sentient-type foes, including [[TheDreaded Shadow Stalker]]. Contextless pothole.
32. Manga.Golgo 13: To the point that there was one story focusing on how the threat of his presence affected people, even though Golgo himself never appeared at all (not in the sense that he was there but kept "offscreen", he was literally not there at all). In what way? Is Golgo an anti-hero, villain, or none of those?
33. Manhwa.Hot Blooded Woman: Haji is a Played for Laughs example, while Hanseo is a destructive example. And Haji's mom is this to everyone, also Played for Laughs. ZCE.
34. Podcast.Rose Drive: Forrest. Everyone who had contact with him at the reunion is left utterly shaken and seemingly terrified of him. Not enough info to classify
35. Recap.Mash S 1 E 13 Edwina: All the guys in camp are afraid to date Eddie, even Hawkeye. — Being scared to date someone isn't the same as their presence in general causing fear
36. Recap.One Piece Alabasta Arc: One of the Marine grunts makes it a point to give Tashigi some handy exposition about Miss All Sunday when they're confronted by her, revealing her real name as Nico Robin and that she's had a bounty of 79 million Berries (on par with Crocodile, whose bounty was frozen at 80 million) since age eight, for the alleged crime of destroying six Marine battleships single-handedly. Miss All Sunday's cool demeanor is soon dropped and replaced with rage, and she begins ranting about how much she hates the World Government and all in their service, deciding not to give any mercy to her Marine opponents. — I don't get it; how is she the dreaded?
37. Recap.The Wire S 05 E 08 Clarifications: Even when he's limping, Omar — at least until he's murdered. — ???
38. Recap.Xena S 03 E 21 Sacrifice Part I: When Ares demands every soldier be summoned for the coming fight, the warlord meekly says, "But this is Dahak and his daughter!"
39. Series.Empire: Cookie considers Frank Gathers this. Commented-out ZCE.
40. Series.Top Boy: (Big Bad Ensemble) [[TheDreaded Rafe]] and The Albanians. Rafe is Sully's cousin who goes after Sully because of his contract to murder his younger brother Jermaine, but decides to spare him provided that Rafe pays Sully what he would have got for the hit, which Rafe wants revenge for. The Albanians murdered Dushane's old supplier Joe. Contextless pothole.
41. VideoGame.Noel The Mortal Fate: (Murder the Hypotenuse) Jillian is willing to hurt anyone that dared to corrupt her "Ideal Noel" (see Loving a Shadow above). She maimed Oscar in Season 4 by setting [[TheDreaded Caesar]] on him, and threatened to kill Caron and Fugo in Season 5, for "corrupting" Noel. Contextless pothole.
42. VideoGame.Pirate 101: The Chosen One: In Mooshu, the Order of the White Lotus have prophesied that a stranger would one day pilot Stupendor-X and defeat The Dreaded Stormzilla. Three guesses to who the stranger is, and the first two don't count ^note  If the answer wasn't obvious, it's you. Contextless pothole.
43. WesternAnimation.Jimmy Two Shoes: Lucius Heinous I, who, unlike his descendants, was tall, imposing and frankly terrifying. There were plans for him to appear in the show, but they never came to be. Insufficient context.
44. WesternAnimation.The Nightmare Before Christmas: Beware the Nice Ones: Jolly St. Nick himself. It's fairly startling when Santa Claus squishes what remains of Oogie under his boot. He then gives Jack a harsh dressing down - mind you, Jack is The Dreaded of Halloween Town. Contextless pothole.
45. Website.Chuck Norris Facts: Even The Grim Reaper and the Bogeyman are afraid of him! — Not sure if this Chuck Norris is an Anti-Hero or villain or if this doesn't even apply bc it's a real life person, so IDK where to put it
    "Chuck Norris died 20 years ago; Death just hasn't built up the courage to tell him yet."
    "When the Bogeyman goes to sleep every night, he checks his closet for Chuck Norris."
46. WebAnimation.Rom Com Manga Chan: In this story, Mary is a notorious delinquent who never lost a fight. However, she is naïve concerning romance and love. — Ok, is she dreaded by everyone? Is she evil or anti-heroic? The example lacks context

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