The Dreaded / Literature

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• In Animorphs, Visser Three evokes this reaction, with good reason. It also seems that Elfangor has this effect on the Yeerks—at one point we meet one who refers to him as "Beast Elfangor." Jake also evolves into this over time.
• Orrec himself is this in the first Annals of the Western Shore book, Gifts, since he has a wild gift that is also extremely powerful — he has to go blindfolded or risk destroying anything he looks at. The knowledge that the heir of Caspromant is so powerful is quite a deterrent. It's actually a ruse by Orrec's father to give Caspromant a fearsome reputation since Orrec has no actual gift at all.
• Bazil Broketail:
  • Dragons of Argonath are widely feared by servants of Padmasa (and for good reasons, too), especially imps, who often panic at the mere sight of them.
  • Everyone who knows about Gog Zagozt seems to be terrified of him. Ribela herself acknowledges his being dispatched to Ourdh by the Masters in order to oversee their plans personally is very, very bad news. Even Ourdhi Emperor Banwi — who previously dismissed Gog Zagozt as a product of silly superstitions — nearly craps his pants when the sorcerer has the emperor brought before him and introduces himself.
• The Beginning After the End: Post-Volume 9, Ascender Grey AKA Arthur Leywin becomes this to the Alacryans. Case in point, his terrifying reputation began at the Victoriad, where he came out of nowhere to kill a top Scythe and cripple another Scythe in a Single-Stroke Battle, before promptly escaping the High Sovereign Agrona and the Legacy with impunity in front of all of Alacrya. Then, ships arrive back from Dicathen, carrying Alacryan soldiers and collaborators who have surrendered (an outcome in Alacryan society which would lead to execution) to a man in terrifying ebon armor with wheat-blond hair and Supernatural Gold Eyes who conjures purple flames and has a monstrous spectral wolf at his beck and call, a man whose appearance matches that of the mysterious challenger at the Victoriad. Not only that, but said man has been single-handedly undoing the Alacryan conquest of Dicathen in one fell swoop, as the terror of facing the man who slew the top Scythe has driven many soldiers to surrender. Even Alacrya itself isn't safe, as at one point he randomly showed up in a military facility in the Alacryan heartland - having killed a squad of god-killers Agrona sent after him beforehand - and immediately destroyed the camp and everyone in it, which in turn triggered a rebellion on Alacryan soil against the Vritra. The only respite the Alacryans have is that Arthur is more keen on them surrendering rather than killing them on sight, though he's not afraid to induce a Mook Horror Show on those who do not. After all, from Arthur's perspective it is not the people of Alacrya who are his enemies (after all, he lived among them for a year), but rather their Vritra overlords and the rest of the Asuras who are.
• Belgarath the sorcerer in The Belgariad is the stuff of nightmares to all Angaraks. But because of his self-effacing appearance, most don't recognize him right away. It can be quite satisfying to see how they react when they catch on. Lampshaded in the story itself when Belgarath suffers an illness that might have stripped away his powers. Everyone in the know keeps acting like everything is normal because they fear the result if the Angaraks ever realise Belgarath's lost his power. Belgarath hadn't lost his power.
  • In The Belgariad's sequel, The Malloreon, Belgarath's "grandson" Belgarion commands considerable amounts of respect, awe and fear himself. Being an immensely powerful sorcerer (as in, in terms of pure power, the strongest human sorcerer in the series) is part of it. Being over six foot tall and a Master Swordsman wielding a One-Handed Zweihänder with an occasional mild tendency to go berserk is another. It might have something to do with one of his title (Godslayer), or with Belgarion stopping two charging armies on a battlefield by calling down a thunderstorm between them.
  • In The Malloreon, the entire group is forced to participate in an official party in the Angarak ruled empire of Mallorea (which is more of a melting pot than anything else). Each one is introduced one after another, with all their titles given. Finally, the announcer stumbles and falters, and Belgarath just says "just say it, they know the name". While others entered to fanfare and applause, the entire court was silent and awed as he entered. Naturally, he just stumps down with zero dignity, and deliberately stops to hit on a pretty girl.
  • Hettar has also earned a fearsome reputation among the Murgos due to his ongoing campaign of vengeance against them. Notably, while Belgarath and Belgarion attained their status as objects of fear across an empire with incredible magical power, what with the former being an ancient and powerful sorcerer and the latter wielding a sword set with a pommel stone that can reshape the universe, Hettar's only magical ability is that he's supernaturally good with horses; his homicidal rampages are carried out entirely with good old-fashioned muscle and steel.
    Silk: Not to worry, Urgit. Hettar came all the way through the streets of your capital, and he didn't kill even one of your subjects.
    Urgit: Remarkable. You've changed, Lord Hettar. You're reputed to be a thousand feet tall and to wear a necklace of Murgo skulls.
    Hettar: I'm on vacation.
• Subverted and invoked about Venandakatra the Vile in Belisarius Series. The book points out that if people were really scared of him (rather then his mooks) they would call him "the terrible" or "the cruel". Instead they call him the Vile.
• The Bone Wars: Rap Stevens tells Thad that everyone calls him by his first name except the people who are afraid of him, immediately after which eight people call Rap Mr. Stevens during a short walk down the street, indicating that his skill with guns and his addiction to wild games of chance have earned him a frightening reputation.
• Bruce Coville's Book of... Monsters II: The title character of The Spook Man, to the point where everyone hides inside while he's in town, no matter what.
• Wesley from Andrew Vachss's Burke books. Although in the books proper he's already dead by his own hand, back in the day he was apparently the perfect killer, never seen coming and never pinned down for any of his kills. Partly because would-be rats feared that they would be next.
• Agramon in City of Ashes is made of this trope. Of course, he is the Greater Demon of Fear within the setting and kills people by appearing to them as their greatest terror. Gets narmtastic when he appears to Jace as Clary's corpse, despite the many, many other things that would make more sense with Jace's backstory.
• Cradle Series: Has the Dreadgods, four actually five monsters that are endlessly hungry. They wake up every few centuries and have wiped out life on continents
  • The Bleeding Phoenix is a malicious phoenix made out of blood that causes every drop of blood spilled within miles of its vicinity to become a monster that tries to kill you.
  • The Weeping Dragon is a dragon that sleeps on a hurricane and creates millions of storm dragons to feed itself.
  • The Wandering Titan is a bipedal turtle that wades through mountains like waves.
  • The Silent King is the physically weakest of the Dreadgods, but makes up for it with its intelligence, able to see the future and coordinate armies perfectly. It controls the mind of everyone within miles of it and causes those it controls to have a halo of light appear behind their heads.
  • Subject One, or the Slumber Wraith, was originally a human who was corrupted by the same Hunger that drives the other Dreadgods. It's been imprisoned within the Labyrinth for millenia, and is one of the main hazards of exploring it
• Both played somewhat straight and subverted in the original Cthulhu Mythos. On the one hand, coming face to face with most of its horrors is a definite Oh, Crap! moment for most humans. On the other, most of said horrors are also too obscure for any humans who haven't studied just the right forbidden books to ever have heard of in the first place...
  • Azathoth is the absolute pinnacle of the Outer Gods (the most powerful entities in the mythos), and for good reason: all of existence is owed to him being in a perpetual dream state, since everything that exists IS his dream. So if he were to wake up...
• The Dark Crystal: It goes both ways. The Skeksis are feared as the unseen, genocidal, slave-making tyrants they are. Meanwhile, the Skeksis view the Gelflings — beings capable of ending both their rule and their existence as individuals — with reactions ranging from disgust to outright terror.
• Diary of a Wimpy Kid has the Mingos, a gang of possibly feral children who appear in Hard Luck and The Meltdown.
• The Dinosaur Lords:
  • Karyl has a reputation of never losing a battle, and comands one of the most powerful mercenary legions in the world. People fear him so much that many of his employers try to murder him as soon as the contract is up as to not find themselves on the receiving end of his sword in the future.
  • Lady van Holkenberg, Falk's mother. The news that she's coming to town are enough to make Falk tremble with fear, and even Servile Snarker Bergdahl admits that he'd much rather serve her from a very large distance.
• Discworld
  • Lord Havelock Vetinari is a curious example, in that he is fairly well-known but people do not want to make him unhappy. This is partly because of his intelligence network and the fact that he has other Dreaded (notably Vimes and the Watch) on his payroll. Also, people are quick to point out he is an accomplished assassin who aced all tests in the guild (except for Stealth and Disguise, because his teachers believed he never attended). He is the only person apart from Vimes the Assassins' Guild won't take assignments on.
  • After the events of Thud! Vimes now has this status with even the most fundamentalist Dwarfs by virtue of having not only survived but beaten The Summoning Dark, trapping it within himself instead of it being able to control his body. Just showing the scar it left on his wrist is enough to make even the most hardened Dwarf cry in terror and beg for mercy.
  • Vimes's sergeant, Detritus, has achieved this status among the common criminal. Detritus is a troll, meaning he's literally made of stone, and while he is a decent guy all around, he is not afraid of bashing some heads if criminals get too uppity, and he's unusually tough and strong even by troll standards (he had previously worked as a splatter^note "Like a bouncer, but trolls use more force." at a troll bar). The fastest way to quiet down a riot in Ankh-Morpork is to simply shout that Detritus is coming.
  • Vorbis from Small Gods, a Sinister Minister and perhaps the biggest monster in the series (yes, that's including Teatime). He scares Brutha more than their god, Omnia's soldiers find him more terrifying than their own enemies, and even his direct underlings find him incredibly unsettling. And yet Brutha, being the local Jesus / Buddha analogue, still takes time to save him from a hellish afterlife.
  • To various religious institutions of Ankh-Morpork one Mrs Cake is this. She seems to have a habit of insinuating herself into their organization, take control of everything, get into a feud with the local religious leader, then quit, leaving everything to fall apart in her absence. At one point, a pair of priests of Offler stationed in a remote, mostly-forgotten temple in the back of beyond were more relieved to discover that the person setting off all their traps was just Death possibly coming for one of them and definitely not Mrs Cake. (It was even better than that: Death was only there for a touch of burglary nobody but they would know about.)
  • Esme, ("Granny") Weatherwax, to many people. Trolls and dwarves gave her nicknames that amount to "this person is bad news"^note  Specifically, the Name "Weatherwax" in Dwarfish means, "Go around the other side of the mountain.", and avoid her whenever possible. She is the most respected and feared of all witches, but not the leader. Witches don't have leaders, because Esme Weatherwax wouldn't approve. She Would Not Hurt A Child, and is a good person, but Good Is Not Nice, and most witches aim to make people fear them a bit, as they get more respect that way.
  • The Luggage (being a large suitcase that walks around on hundreds of tiny legs) may not sound all that bad, but between its apparent indestructability, explosively homicidal temper, habit of eating people and being one of the most implacable things ever written, most people are terrified of it. Including the man who comes to be its owner.
  • Dotsie and Sadie, the Agony Aunts, are the main reason no one ever dares lay an unpaid-for hand on the Seamstresses. If you do, they will eventually come for you, and you will get to find out the sort of damage a handbag and a parrot-head umbrella can do to a man. They've been known to take out Vimes on one occasion they wanted to speak to him, and they're one of the few individuals alive to walk through the Shades safely and unmolested, in the knowledge there was nothing in there worse than them.
  • When it comes to court and law, Mr. Slant is the one lawyer everyone else is utterly afraid of. Because no one wants to stand against a lawyer with literal centuries of experience that has worked the profession long enough that he wrote most of the legal system by himself. He has shut down actual court cases by glaring at the other bench's legal defense until they sat down and shut up.
  • Burke, one of the eight personalities of Canting Crew member(s) Altogether Andrews, is so very frightening that Andrews' other personalities mentally "pile on" to keep him suppressed. Even so, the rest of the Crew freeze up in dread when Andrews' personas reshuffle themselves, as they've met Burke once and never, ever, ever want to do so again.
  • Mustrum Ridcully, prior to his appointment as UU's Archchancellor, kept the wildlife within twenty miles of his family estate so terrified of his hunting prowess that whole forests would empty out at the first glimpse of an approaching pointy hat.
• The Divine Comedy: No man can pass the she-wolf, a beast with every hunger whose mere sight can strike all hope from the heart. No one has ever gotten past her and she can corner men on their journey through life so that they will cower until their death. She will remain alive to haunt the world until the Greyhound hunts her into Hell at the end of time.
• The Doctor Who New Adventures novel All-Consuming Fire establishes that the Doctor sincerely hopes never to meet Nyarlathotep. And he's already fought Lloigor (the Animus) and Hastur (Fenric).
• In Dora Wilk Series, Viola is so feared that Thorn Council, which in the past had no problems waltzing in a war with heaven and is always composed of most powerful Thornites, prefers to wait her out rather than confront her.
• Dragonlance
  • Fistandantilus gets this reaction from people. Like Voldemort above, most prefer to avoid even saying his name, calling him instead by a variety of titles, the most common of which is "Dark One" (no, not that Dark One).
  • Also the dragonfear, a supernatural aura surrounding dragons. It can be overcome with sufficient discipline or determination, however.
  • Lord Soth also qualifies, as he is nigh unkillable and can kill anyone at will with his powers. Obviously, no one even wants to try and fight him. It takes a goddess stripping away his undeath, followed by a collapsing castle, to finally end his existence.
• In the Dred Chronicles, the protagonist (a gang leader on a lawless Prison Ship) aims to be this — enough so that her nickname, Dred, is commonly misinterpreted as Dread, and people call her the Dread Queen. She actively works to maintain people's fear of her, since that's the only way to stay at the top.
• The Dresden Files:
  • Harry himself. It's explicitly stated in Ghost Story that a lot of nasties give Chicago a wide berth purely because of the reputation of its resident wizard. Even the ones that do turn up at least try to avoid his attention unless he's a specific part of their plans, since they know it's a bit of a death sentence, and the other Wardens are scared to attack him when they outnumber him six to one and have three members of the Senior Council with them (all three of whom, Harry notes, can tie him in knots singlehandedly), and he can barely stand. At one point in Changes, when he encounters a Red Court vampire (who happens to be one of their oldest, deadliest, and most capable assassins), it panics and runs away screaming.
  • Opposing Harry, several recurring villains get this treatment, most notably Nicodemus, Queen Mab, the Red King and skinwalkers as a race (though mercifully, only one of those last has put in an actual appearace as an enemy). Cowl, who may or may not be the series Big Bad, isn't a widely known figure, but among those who do know him he's feared as well. Word of God says that Nicodemus is absolutely terrified of Harry after their last confrontation. For those that haven't read the series, this is because Harry nearly strangled him to death with the item that makes Nicodemus immortal. As for the Red King, Harry killed him in Changes by turning the Red Court's own blood curse against them. After driving the Red King insane with agony by badly wounding him.
  • After Changes, Molly tries to live up to Harry's reputation as the scary supernatural protector of Chicago. She succeeds.
  • He Who Walks Behind is one of the most powerful and feared Outsiders. Pretty impressive, since Outsiders in general are Dreaded. Harry believes that the only reason he managed to win his first fight with He Who Walks Behind is because the Outsider wasn't really trying to kill Harry, and in fact might have been training him.
  • Ebenezar McCoy is an old Scottish farmer and the wizard who trained Harry. Blood Rites reveals that he's the Blackstaff, the White Council's assassin and wetworks man, responsible for eliminating the Council's enemies through any means necessary. "Any means necessary" includes his Colony Drop in the previous book, Krakatoa, Tunguska, and the New Madrid Earthquake. When Jared "Hellhound" Kincaid, already established as a serious badass, meets him, he's terrified. The Red Court's entire gambit in Changes is set up mostly just to get revenge on him. This, it turns out, is a spectacularly bad idea.
• In The Elenium, The Militant Orders of the Church of Chyrellos are respected throughout the world. One particular order, the Pandions, however, are feared. Between their Black armor, reputation for Cold-Blooded Torture to get information and incredible skill, they are widely feared. Of course, the torture part is actually wildly exaggerated, but intentionally cultivated in order to weaponize their reputation as needed.
• The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Allanon is this to the demons. When he finally kills the Dagda Mor in combat, the only thing holding the demonic army back from slaughtering the elves and their allies is their absolute fear of Allanon. This forces Allanon to pretend as though nothing's wrong, mount his horse and ride back across the entire battlefield to his side's lines without giving away the fact he's so drained of power and strength he's functioning on willpower alone.
• The Faerie Queene: Even knights who can defeat twenty men single-handedly will flee or faint at the sight of Daunger, a horrible giant who guards the second gate to Venus' temple. In reality, though, he's not that much of a threat. He respects anyone brave enough to challenge him to let them pass without a fight, so brave men like Scudamour can pass his gate without breaking a sweat.
• When the Lost Tribe of Sith first arrive on the galactic scene in Fate of the Jedi, what's the very first thing they do? Attempt to assassinate Luke Skywalker. This is entirely justified, as he proves when he and his son absolutely crush their four assassins, Luke forces another Sith Master Swordsman to go Screw This, I'm Outta Here in the next book, and eventually pulls an incredible Batman Gambit on the entire Sith Tribe that decimates them.
• Ferals Series: The Spinning Man is this to the underground feral community. Crumb in particular is terrified of the prospect of the Spinning Man being resurrected.
• The Osthan of The First Dwarf King spread an aura of fear all around them wherever they go — their arrival is even heralded by a massive thunderstorm. The fear they inspire is also rather justified, given that they are Made of Indestructium and possess Super-Strength. Whenever they encounter the heroes, things get very bad very fast.
• The First Law
  • The Fenris the Feared is an by far the largest man in the series, and a deadly warrior who certainly lives up to his name. He goes into battle with his right half covered in absurdly heavy armor and his left covered in small blue writing, apparently in the language of Demons that renders that side of his body totally invlunerable. On top of that, he generates an apparently magical aura of fear in those around him. A conversation Logen has with a spirit indicates that he's also a thousand year old servant of Glustrod, meaning he's functionally immortal as well.
  • Then there's Black Dow and the Bloody-Nine. Children in the North break into tears when they learn the former is in their midst, and the very idea that the latter is on the opposing side has caused hardened warriors to retreat in battle.
• The Girl from the Miracles District: Ernest the Mad, a legendary, immortal berserk feared all across the world because he's an insane and cunning Super-Soldier.
• In the Green Bone Saga, we have Kaul Hilo, the ferocious Horn and eventual Pillar of the No Peak clan. It's to the point that in Jade Legacy, when his son Ru is killed, everyone is waiting in bated breath for Hilo's terrible vengeance.
• In The Girl Who Played With Fire there is a human trafficking ring, and everyone involved is terrified of a man they call Zala.
• Go to Sleep (A Jeff the Killer Rewrite): Most of the other high school students are scared of Randy. Although his troublesome reputation is perpetuated by rumors, Randy actively plays into the role as The Bully. With all the stories about him, including hurting anyone who agitates him and being called in by cops before, some think he's going to become a school shooter. Keith and Troy, his own sidekicks, are implied to do his bidding out of fear. When word gets out that a freshman served his ass, Jeff gets unwanted attention as the guy who took down a big pest. A senior student tells Jeff about Randy's infamy, warning Jeff of the storm that's coming to him.
• The Goosebumps HorrorLand book, Welcome to Horrorland: A Suvival Guide has a section on V.I.V.s, or Very Important Villains. These are monster celebrities who park employees are required to, "cater to their demands, threats, and temper tantrums quickly and effectively," with special instructions on how to cater to them. The biggest and worst V.I.V.? Slappy the Dummy.
  "Slappy is the one villain who makes other villains tremble with fear. Yes, he's small. Yes, he's made of wood. Yes, he wears a bowtie - but his nasty insults have the power to ruin anyone's day. There is no V.I.V. who makes more demands when he stays at Horrorland. "I admit it," Slappy says. "I'm a control freak. I need things a certain way, or I get cranky. And when I get cranky, bad things happen." Horrorland will do anything to keep Slappy happy - including closing rides so he can have them all to himself. (Once, Slapper rode the R.I.P.P.E.R. DIPPER for two days straight)."
• The Han Solo Trilogy:
  • Black Sun and its leader Prince Xizor. Even the Hutts, among the most powerful criminal elements there in the galaxy, are wary of it. Aruk repeatedly warns Durga against involving himself with Black Sun or being in Xizor's debt. His rival Jiliac hopes that he follows this advice, as she has no desire to be in competition with Black Sun.
  • Darth Vader is spoken of only in fearful, hushed tones. When he's coming to "speak" with Admiral Greelanx after his defeat, it's clearly terrifying (and for very good reasons, of course).
  • Boba Fett is widely feared as the galaxy's best bounty hunter. Han and Bria both react with terror on realizing that he's after them. Fett himself muses on this, and remembers many instances of fear from people on seeing him even when they were not his target.
• Harry Potter:
  • Lord Voldemort, "He Who Must Not Be Named" or "You Know Who." A huge part of his power is that the Wizarding World is so ludicrously afraid of him, which makes them screw up many times. It's present throughout the story, but becomes more obvious after book 4, and his notoriority is worse in the last book. He exploits this trope in the seventh book by jinxing his name; his followers will instantly travel to and attack anyone who speaks his name. Since only the people who don't fear him actually use his name, it's an excellent way to hunt down his most important enemies. Some of his more terrible Death Eaters are only slightly less feared. It's to the point where in LEGO Harry Potter, he is used as the default Boggart form for over sixty characters, including several of his own followers and a foreign national who would have been more familiar with his Predecessor Villain Grindelwald than him.
  • Slytherin is by far the most feared of the Hogwarts Houses. Competitively they're borderline monsters at Quidditch with many students concealing very questionable intentions. Of course not all of them are evil, but the good (or at least tolerable) characters are few and far between.
  • The Dementors who are one of the most foul creatures in the world. Wherever they go the atmosphere goes cold, and the sky darkens. They thrive by draining all the happy memories of an individual, and worse can suck out their soul. Harry himself is more afraid of them than he is of Voldemort to the point where it’s actually his boggart.
  • Boggarts are shapeshifting creatures that can turn into people's worst fears, making them terrifying.
  • Though a good guy, Albus Dumbledore. Most of the Wizarding World holds him in quiet awe, and there was that time he one-upped the Minister of Magic by tearing through his Elite Mook squadron like they were made of rice paper. When he shows up to the battle in book 5, every Death Eater that's not Voldemort flees in terror. He is known to be the only person that Voldemort fears.
  • The Basilisk is a creature so terrifying that Giant Spiders fear it.
  • Gellert Grindelwald was the equivalent of Wizard Hitler, and he became so powerful that, towards the end of his reign of terror during World War II, it was believed that the only person who could stop him was his eventual conqueror and erstwhile (possibly more than just) friend Albus Dumbledore. Dumbledore knew this, but delayed stopping Grindelwald until he couldn't ignore what was happening any longer. The books imply that it was because he was ashamed of their history together, but the Fantastic Beasts series reveals that it was because the two made a non-aggresion magical pact when they were still friends, so Dumbledore literally could not attack Grindelwald until the pact was removed.
  • Harry himself becomes a curious and frustrating subversion in the second book, when the alumni suspect him of being the heir of Slytherin. In one scene he scares a group of students simply by appearing near them without them realizing it. In the sixth book, Snape reveals that part of the reason the still free Death Eaters didn't try to kill Harry is because they thought Harry would grow up into a powerful enough wizard to be Voldemort's successor.
• In the Heralds of Valdemar series, this gets played a few ways,
  • Enemy mages in the "Arrows" trilogy are an Outside-Context Problem because magic is a long-lost art in Valdemar. The common citizens have a near-superstitious fear of them and think they're unstoppable.
  • Herald-Mage Vanyel, in his day, was this to all the enemies of the kingdom, particularly Karse, to the point where he's the Karsite equivalent of the Bogeyman.
  • Herald-Captain Kerowyn is this twice — feared and hated by Karse for what she and her mercenary company did to them but also feared in Valdemar due to a prejudice against mercenaries. Fortunately, the citizens come to welcome her because she has experience fighting mages.
• By the time the war between the Star Kingdom of Manticore and the People's Republic of Haven has reached its peak, Honor Harrington is feared more than any other Manticoran officer by the Havenite leadership. Getting beaten by a superior military tactician, that they can understand. They just can't get their heads around how she's been ruining even the most carefully prepared and completely secret plans by seeming to be present at the most critical moments for decades, even to the point of delivering them a humiliating defeat when everyone thought she was dead. Havenite dictator Rob S. Pierre ruefully states that about half of his intelligence analysts believe she's in league with the Devil.
• Herbalist Angela from Inheritance Cycle is hinted to be one. She is allowed to enter Farthen Dûr without getting her mind probed, even though everyone else, including Eragon, has to go through that whole process. The Twins are clearly afraid of her and she causes the high priest of Helgrind to scream in terror by only whispering her name to his ear. The werecats don’t want to be associated with her either. Unfortunately for readers, we are never told why she is so feared. Though she does show off a couple of times against the priests of Helgrind, such as when she stops time to slaughter an entire regiment of Elite Mooks, or when she wins a telepathic duel against the High Priest of Helgrind, who had previously been able to match a dragon, its Rider, an elf, and a werecat, all at the same time.
  • Elva. Everyone feared her for her powers, and that seem to include Galvatorix, considering that the first thing he does when he and Elva met is not only silence her to prevent Elva to use her powers, he keep her silenced the whole time. The fact that she's a baby with the body of a kid and the voice of an adult doesn't help either.
• Sun Wukong the Monkey King from Journey to the West. Immortal from 5 different sources, Wukong once fought all of heaven and nearly won, with it ultimately taking The Heavenly Buddha himself to stop the Monkey King. Anybody in the story who knows who Wukong is, whether they be gods, demons, or similarly powerful monsters, tends to freak the hell out at the prospect of having to fight him.
• Kaa from The Jungle Book; the oldest, wisest and strongest being in the whole jungle, Kaa is treated with equal parts fear and respect. When the Bandar-Log tribe kidnaps Mowgli, Bagheera and Baloo immediately call upon Kaa to rescue him knowing that while the Bandar-Log will gladly take them on they'll never even try to fight him.
• Katt vs. Dogg has Weasel-Boars, creatures with the body of a weasel, and the head of a boar. They combine the abilities of both to make an incredibly deadly, vicious creature.
• The Kingkiller Chronicle:
  • The Cthaeh: described as the "most horrifying thing in all creation" even though it is trapped in a tree. The Cthaeh sees the future, perfectly, all of its infinite variation, and it HATES YOU. A single conversation with it turns you into a "plague ship sailing towards a harbor", as it chooses the worst possible future that its words can create. After sparking several world wars, the fae have taken to killing anyone who comes into contact with it. If a crow lands on your body, they kill that too.
  • There is a faction among the Fae called the Sithe, who are the closest thing this setting has to a Big Good. Their first and most important purpose is to kill anyone who even gets near the Cthaeh. And when Bast learns that Kvothe once spoke to the Cthaeh, he completely loses it, then goes into a Heroic BSoD for the rest of the book.
• In the Legacy of the Aldenata, the combat engineers instill this trope to the Posleen. It culminates in the Posleen routing at the sight of the US Army Corps of Engineers insignia outside Fort Belvoir.
• In Les Misérables's France, it doesn't matter if you're a criminal, an innocent bystander, or even a cop yourself. You will fear the name Inspector Javert.
• The Lord of the Rings:
  • Sauron's name means 'abhorred', and ever since his near-destruction in Numenor (long before the Last Alliance), he cannot conceal his fearsome nature. Almost^* Known exceptions: Tom Bombadil, Shelob. every living thing in Middle-Earth fears him - even most of his slaves. Especially most of his slaves.
  • It's a facet of all undead in Tolkien's legendarium - including the Barrow-wight, the Nazgul, and the Dead Men of Dunharrow. Their greatest power is the fear that radiates from them, typically driving most of their foes insensate so that they are easily cut down/dragged into a barrow/etc. This fear is specifically noted to be the fear of death itself, and as such elves tend to be immune to it seeing as how they don't die (even if 'killed' they just 'respawn' back in Valinor), unlike every other living thing.
  • The Balrog doesn't seem to have the same mortal terror, but the ordinary disinclination to be flayed and/or burned alive still gives him the status of The Dreaded and it is still supernatural in a more unknown and mysterious way. Legolas is the first of the Fellowship to notice and recognize him, and is absolutely freaked, and even Gandalf felt that their options were Run or Die. The Elves regard it as the second-deadliest of their enemies, behind Sauron.
  • On the heroic side, Sam accidentally makes some of the Cirith Ungol orcs respectful of or terrified of him before they even see him, because they see the aftermath of his Roaring Rampage of Rescue against Shelob (a monster even they won't try to fight) and assume only a great warrior could manage to win a battle with her.
• In The Machineries of Empire, Shuos Jedao absolutely terrifies most of his subordinates, thanks to his reputation of being both a brilliant general and completely insane. The specific type of Fantastic Nuke he used for his infamous, treasonous Pyrrhic Victory also inspires general terror due to his use of it, even though the Hexarchate has loads of comparably ghastly weapons at its disposal.
• The Malazan Book of the Fallen:
  • Icarium Lifestealer, Annomander Rake, and Kallor have all held this position at one point or another.
  • Many characters who knew Draconus before his imprisonment in Dragnipur shudder at the thought of him returning to the world. When his return spontaneously wipes out entire armies of Barghast, we find out that it is a justified fear.
• Saif, the primary antagonist of The Mental State, is a Psychopath with a mysterious past and a fearsome reputation. Hardly anything is known about him, and some people refer to him as the 'Napoleon of Crime'. Once the other prisoners start doing deals with him, they start to realise why his full name means 'Double-edged Sword'.
  • Zack, the main protagonist, also achieves a similar status by the end of the story.
• Mistborn: The Original Trilogy:
  • The Steel Inquisitors, the Lord Ruler's personal enforcers. They are supernaturally strong, tough, and fast, in addition to having all the Allomantic abilities. Even the Born Winner mistborn (rare individuals who have won the Superpower Lottery) are terrified of them. The general reaction to their appearance is to Run or Die.
  • Vin slowly becomes this over the course of the series. In the second book, no one believes that she killed the Lord Ruler, and thus constantly underestimate her—but are soon violently corrected. Straff Venture, Elend's father, initially threatens to rape her, but when she demonstrates her power by nuking his emotions, he spends the rest of the book refusing to attack Luthadel despite his vastly superior army because he is terrified that she will come for him. He only attacks once she leaves the city. She immediately returns and proves his fears justified by cutting him in half along with the horse he's sitting on. She then goes on to fight three armies by herself. By the third book, people are definitely taking her seriously.
• The Groke, a weird humanoid monster, is the scary character for The Moomins — and a lot of their audience. The thing that lurks in the darkness outside while the protagonists cower inside, or howls in the distance in the place it's too dangerous to go, or the fear that Cowardly Lion has to face — that's her. Tragically, she doesn't want to be.
  • Exaggerated in Moominpappa at Sea, where even sand and other inanimate things start to move away from her after repeated exposure.
  • The Lady of the Cold doesn't get as much screen time, but those who are aware of her are terrified when they hear her singing. That includes the Groke.
• My Instant Death Ability is So Overpowered...: Before being teleported to other worlds, Yogiri was constantly monitored by organizations that were extremely terrified of its existence. When he disappeared, everyone who knew the truth about him sighed with relief that he was no longer on the planet.
• Nowhere Island University has a lot of characters that can occasionally scare others in-universe. However, Ulfric Trollbjorn earns this title with ease. He is more likely to give out a disturbing, high-pitched giggle than talk, but when he does, it usually is to give a Sherlock Scan. He's also such a Lightning Bruiser that people wonder if he has super powers.
• Of Fear and Faith has two major examples:
  • Ferro, leader of the Disciples of Strength, is this to the heroes, who (especially Elin) are terrified of running into him. Which stands to reason, as he's the leader of a group already notorious for their viciousness and lack of empathy and it's said Ferro takes these traits up to eleven.
  • Fear is this by virtue of inspiring its namesake in anyone it draws near, as August can attest to.
• The One Who Eats Monsters:
  • Ryn is an unkillable monster from the dawn of time. When the main antagonists (some mid-level demons) find out who she is, they mention that some of the most powerful gods in the world named her "The One From Which There Is No Escape." The antagonists become much more careful once they learn her name, but not careful enough. After Ryn kills most of them, the last one alive thinks he can put her down long enough for him to escape since he has an unspeakably powerful poison tailored specifically for her. He doesn't realize that the only reason he was able to touch her originally is because Ryn was super depressed and let him hit her; in their final battle, he turns into a dragon, she controls the wind so that he can't fly, then kills him by bringing down several hundred lightning bolts.
  • The Hidden One and Set the Pretender, the two gods fighting over New Philadelphia, are unspeakably powerful Chessmasters who control absolutely everyone in the city, if not the country. Ryn's reaction to finding this out is "great, now I have to kill everyone." Turns out Set put Ryn in the Hidden One's path in order to disrupt his plans. When Ryn finds out, she is pissed, but Set contacts her via video screen, kneels before her, explains his entire plan, apologizes for manipulating her, swears an Unbreakable Vow not to harm the woman Ryn is in love with, and points out that this means the only danger left is from the Hidden One. Set says he plans to be the first person to survive Ryn—defeating her is not even discussed.
• Otherverse:
  • Demons are spoken of with terror, more so than literal incarnations of fear or man-eating monsters from the Abyss. There are many and varied extremely brutal or horrible Others, but there's a special tier of horror reserved for demons.
    • One practitioner in Pact states that if he knew a demon was coming for his family, he would without hesitation murder all of them one by one because that would be far kinder than anything that would happen if the demon were to get its hands on them (note that practitioners effectively Cannot Tell a Lie, not even to speak hyperbole).
    • At one point in Pale, there is a battle to determine who sits upon the Carmine Throne. The Carmine Throne deals in acts of violence and brutality, therefore the contest to decide who is worthy of it takes the form of a "last man standing" series of battle in which the consequence for losing is being unmade. The nature of the contest tends to attract pretty horrible and violent participants. But when the group realizes that one of the contestants has demonic influence (it isn't even a demon itself, just tainted by one), they all immediately drop any humor or excitement, and team up to kill that thing right now. In fact, it's the cannibalistic goblin that states "All of us need to do our part to put things like that down".
  • The Wolf is feared by everyone on the Paths, Lost and practitioner alike for how dangerous they are. Avery and the Garricks are willing to brave danger and possible death in any number of ways on the Paths, but when they get a warning the Wolf will soon arrive on the Promenade, they immediately start pulling back to get out in time.
• Percy Jackson and the Olympians:
  • Kronos is treated this way in the series. Most of the gods fear his return and even the mention of his name is enough to cause an area to get colder.
  • Later in The Last Olympian, the giant Typhon is released and it takes almost all the gods to just slow him down. Hephaestus even admits that in the old days, Typhon caused the gods to run in terror.
• The Please Don't Tell My Parents series has a few characters feared above all others: The Audit, Delicious, The Librarian, Mourning Dove, and Spider.
  • In the prequel I Did NOT Give That Spider Superhuman Intelligence!, the effect on police of Delicious's presence is referred to as, "the cops and feds shut their eyes and ears and [go] looking for easier prey. You know, like cyborg lava whales."
  • In Please Don't Tell My Parents I'm a Supervillain, Penny's thoughts mention that when supervillains heard The Audit was coming, they'd often give up on the spot.
  • In Supervillain, fear of The Librarian makes eight supervillains known for not losing wary of the odds of taking her in her lair.
  • Please Don't Tell My Parents I Blew Up the Moon introduces Mourning Dove: In Supervillain, Penny regards her as a reason not to get anywhere near the darker sides of either the supervillain or the superhero communities. When she shows up in Moon, Penny doesn't bother with any quips, jokes, or attacks. She just runs for her life.
  • In Supervillain, Spider terrifies Penny, who's gone up against big-name heroes a couple times by now, and Please Don't Tell My Parents I've Got Henchmen establishes her as the executioner on the villains' side.
• Darnant in The Realm of Albion is the terror of a whole region. Even people with armies at their back fear to enter the Deepwood where he has his lair.
• The pirate Bloody Margo serves as this through most of The Red Vixen Adventures, threatening her more moderate counterpart through subordinates and a mere voice through intercoms and the radio.
• Retired Witches Mysteries: The Bone Man, who lives on Oak Island and is willing to trade information and advice or spell ingredients for other things. Almost every witch scorns and/or fears him, and justly so.
• Revenge of the Sith: Early on, after establishing how General Grievous is already a figure of fear to the Galactic Republic, his boss Darth Sidious is one to him. Dooku manages to shut Grievous up by asking if he wishes to take any complaints to the man. A stammering Grievous says he would rather not.
• Second Apocalypse:
  • Achamian and Mimara repeatedly comment on the palpable aura of menace that radiates from Lord Kosoter, the captain of the Skin Eaters company of sranc-scalpers. Whenever Kosoter breaks his customary silence, Achamian notes that his heart skips a beat.
  • In the second series, Cnaiur has become a nigh-mythical warlord. He commands the Skylvendi through fear and with absolute authority. When Mimara views him with the Judging Eye, his skin seems to smoke with the density of his sins.
• Sharrakor of The Seventh Tower elicits this reaction even from Ebbitt, the resident Crazy Is Cool Cloudcuckoolander.
• Dayless the Conqueror in Shadow of the Conqueror. The seas of blood that he waded through over the course of three decades have made him the most feared man to ever live in Tellos. Even twenty years after his supposed death, everyone old enough remembers him as the embodiment of terror and oppression.
• The Shahnameh Zahhak and Afrasiab are this to the Persians. Zahhak is an abomination in appearance and deed and Afrasiab's name literally means the 'the terrifying one'.
  • Sahm is this to the Turanians. As soon as Sahm dies Afrasiab suggests invading Iran because he was the only thing holding them back. Fortunately by the time they attack Rostam has matured and replaced his grandfather as the dreaded.
  • Rostam is so dreaded among the enemy that when he finally meets an opponent he thinks can beat him, Rostam keeps his identity secret so that if he dies the Turanians will still have something to be afraid of.
  • Rostam is this to foe AND friend! Bahman knows his father Esfandiar can rip through chains as if they were threads, kill wild animals and a dragon, that he has never lost a fight ever and is literally invincible, meaning weapons have little to no effect on him. Despite all this Bahman STILL fears for his father life in his battle against Rostam and tries to assassinate Rostam before he fights Esfandiar.
• The Silmarillion:
  • Morgoth, Sauron's predecessor & former boss, was a daunting and terrifying being whose campaigns left tens of thousands of elves and men dead. And that was only the official estimate, long after he gave reason to fear every shadow in the world and became diminished. Challenging him was considered death for most elves, as King Thingol of Doriath, not wanting a human named Beren to marry his daughter Luthien, stated that the only way for Beren to earn his blessing was to go up to Angband, Morgoth's fortress, and take a Silmaril jewel, which was prized among the Elves. The thing is, he only said this because he hoped the terror brought about by such a challenge would scare Beren away, but the human was so in love with Luthien that he did it anyways. Morgoth was also feared for creating horrific beasts in his experiments, from vicious werewolves to firebreathing dragons. His top lieutenant Sauron feared the punishment for failing him, as he avoided returning to his master after being defeated by Huan the wolfhound whilst attacking Beren & Luthien (and this was when Morgoth was at his absolute weakest). It was said that his orc minions, who were elves mutilated into their current form by means of horrific magical experiments, also loathed him for giving them lives of pain and misery, but they feared his wrath too much to rebel. In his greater days even the lesser Ainur were driven insane by the light in his eyes.
  • Shelob's progenitor Ungoliant was an Eldritch Abomination that made the, by then, weaker Morgoth scream in terror. This went both ways, as she was initially wary of both approaching Melkor and the other Valar. Her last daughter, Shelob, used darkness and malice as weapons and most of her prey were incapable of even attempting resistance.
• In Six of Crows, Kaz Brekker is this. He's often referred to as Dirtyhands or the Bastard of the Barrel, and many people in the Barrel are afraid of him. For good reason.
• Lord Vile from the Skulduggery Pleasant series. Nobody knows where he came from, or who he was (except that he was a Necromancer), but he fought in the war for 3 years on the evil side, quickly becoming the most feared of Mevolent's 'Three Generals'. He was said to have massacred thousands. Then, one day 'he went away' and vanished. There's lots of fear and rumour around him, with everyone agreeing that he was crazy powerful. The tailor Ghastly sums it up best he can (and as later events prove, if anything, he was underestimately Vile).
  Ghastly: She fought both Serpine and Vengeous and beat them into retreat. "Remarkable" doesn't even begin to describe her. She was magnificent until the end.
  Tanith: What happened to her?
  Ghastly: She made a mistake. She went up against Lord Vile [...] There was a rule we had back then: You didn't go up against Vile alone. You wait until your army is gathered behind you, you all attack together, and you hope one of you gets lucky.
  Tanith: Vile was that dangerous?
  Ghastly: Maybe, maybe not. It's hard to separate the fiend from the fiction you know?
  • Skulduggery himself has a similar reputation among criminals. No one wants to go up against the skeleton. Sanguine at one point cites this as why he and Remnant Tanith are hired to protect her from assassins, because someone in the same organisation as the person who sent the assassin realised that Skulduggery's response to Valkyrie's death would be to kill the person responsible, then everyone they'd ever known, and probably their pets too. Another character also points out relatively early on that while Valkyrie is resourceful, talented, and remarkably powerful for her age, there are a fair few people who could and would easily kill her. The only reason they haven't is fear of Skulduggery.
  • Mevolent's Three Generals conformed to quirky miniboss standards: Serpine was the cunning, devious, underhanded and stealthy one, Vengeous was the zealot who was used to try to bring back their Eldritch Abomination Gods, and Vile was his one man army of destruction used to wipe out everything in his way. While Serpine and Vengeous are the Big Bads of their own books and undoubtedly dangerous, Vengeous is barely a shadow of Vile even while wearing his armour - armour which, while puppeted by Vile's subconscious, effortlessly kills Tesseract (a Russian assassin who nearly killed Skulduggery and beat most of the heroes to a pulp in a four on one fight and still killed his target) and beats Skulduggery to a pulp. He is the Big Bad of the second trilogy; while the Necromancers build up to their Dark Messiah, the Death Bringer (who they believe to be a) powerful enough to break the barrier between life and death by killing three billion people at once, b) Valkyrie, who takes to Necromancy faster than anyone since Vile himself), they're still terrified that even with the Death Bringer, Vile will return and kill them all.
  • Darquesse is also made out to be this, the messiah of the Revenants except that she starts killing Revenants too for the lulz. She is so powerful and threatening that every seer and psychic on the planet starts having visions of her coming to end the world. This isn't helped by the fact that Darquesse is Valkyrie's God Tier Psychopathic Alter Ego and there just so happens to be a Necromancer prophecy about one who will break the boundary between life and death by killing half the planet and a fair few necromancers think that this is about Valkyrie the effect is kind of spoiled though when we find out that Darquesse has some severe ADD tendencies such as getting distracted mid fight by a helicopter or deciding to banish an eldritch abomination because it no longer interested her.
  • The sixth book, Death Bringer, reveals Vile in his full glory and the truth about where he's been ( Skulduggery is Vile, or at least, Vile is part of him, and the armour has been hiding inside him ever since it beat him up), and that his uncontrollable rage drove him to want to kill everyone and everything in the world. Had the Faceless Ones been bought back he would have tried to kill them too because he was that enraged (and he probably could have done it too) and there's a show down between him and a Necromancer who has been tortured into becoming a Humanoid Abomination and the titular Death Bringer. Despite the fact that she comfortably kills hundreds of power sorcerers and is estimated to be capable of killing millions in one go, even on automatic pilot the armour nearly kills her. When Vile reclaims the armour, the fight is both brutal and brief, and he nearly kills both her and Valkyrie until Darquesse surfaces due to Valkyrie putting herself in mortal danger and fights him. It ends in a stalemate. Yeah: the foretold end of life has a stalemate with Vile.
    • The only other True Name sorcerer who appears in the series, Argeddion, concedes that despite his own vast powers and experience, Vile's raw power, immense skill, and savagery means that Vile could conceivably kill him - and yes, Argeddion is a pacifist, but he comfortably outmanoeuvres Darquesse. It's pretty telling that the best idea anyone has had so far to deal with Vile or Darquesse is to pit them against each other and hope they don't kill everything fortunately Skulduggery is able to implant tactics and (mostly non-lethal) techniques into Vile's head for him to use or talk Darquesse down.
    • While Vile currently is able to outmatch Darquesse, who is still getting the hang of her immense strength and intuitive abilities, he has reached his peak and is having to resort to cunning to win, and Darquesse is a really quick study... though given his plans with the Viddu De and precognitive abilities shared with Cadaver Cain, he might still able to threaten her.
  • Kingdom of the Wicked has Valkyrie sent to a parallel earth, the 'Leibniz Universe', where Skulduggery never came back and as such Vile, Vengeous Serpine and Mevolent were never defeated and have claimed victory. She is about to be tortured when she thinks she hears Skulduggery coming as is horrified to see that it's Vile. Shortly afterwards she sees first hand how Vile decimated armies as he tears into the entire resistance single handedly, killing most of its top mages and his mere presence causes most of the people to flee in terror. He shrugs off everything that comes his way and impales everyone around him with shadows. A few years later, he pulls a successful Dragon Ascendant on Mevolent, killing the entire planet bar a few thousand refugees (Mevolent survives, but only because he's made a habit of coming back from the dead).
    • The end of the book sees a trio of 'mortals' (normal people) who were given unreal amounts of magic and are all but unstoppable. Having spent the whole book beating on Skulduggery one of them taunts him by kicking him to the ground and taking the suitcase which contains Lord Vile's Armor, which contains all of the parts of Skulduggery that ARE Lord Vile and says that he might give "whatever is in the case" to Skulduggery if he asks nicely. Except the armor starts leaking out of the case as it's made from shadows. And it opens the case itself. And falls onto Skulduggery, who transforms into Lord Vile and he shows them why he is so feared and respected.
• A Song of Ice and Fire.
  • Tywin Lannister. His Death Glares are legendary and make warriors quiver, his ruthlessness led him to annihilate entire Noble Houses that defied him and leave their castles empty, wrecked, haunted ruins. He frequently has his own "The Villain Sucks" Song "The Rains of Castamere" played when his enemies are around to make sure the message gets through. The sight of him nearly smiling sends a terrible chill down the spine of one of his sons. Summed up in the following line from A Storm of Swords:
    It seemed that Tywin Lannister could cow even The Stranger.
  • Ser Gregor Clegane is the World's Strongest Man as well as an Ax-Crazy brute who will kill you as quickly as he'd swat a fly. The Lannisters use him as their enforcer, whether it's fighting in duels, raping and pillaging villages, or dashing an infant's head against the wall. Lord Tywin himself states that "no knight is more feared by our enemies" as the reason for keeping him around, though this equation eventually changes.
  • Aegon the Conqueror's dragon, the largest flying nuke ever recorded and one of the three he used to conquer an entire continent, was Balerion the Black Dread. Truth in advertising—and Balerion becomes even more dreaded in the hands of Aegon's son, Maegor the Cruel.
  • Roose Bolton consciously defies this trope, his sigil of a flayed man notwithstanding. He's a quietly pragmatic guy who carefully keeps his most heinous acts under wraps and wants to cultivate a Villain with Good Publicity reputation. Unlike Tywin, Roose doesn't want anyone singing songs about his deeds. He also chastises his son Ramsay Bolton for being so blatantly evil. Only a few people such as Jaime Lannister and Theon Greyjoy get a chance to see Roose for the monster he is, and they are appropriately afraid of him.
    • His castle is called the Dreadfort.
  • Ramsay Bolton, by contrast, is quickly rising in the Known Monster ranks and is gaining a reputation. Word about what he gets up to is increasingly spreading (aided by his outright abuse of his wife "Arya Stark" right in front of people who care). He's generally happy about this. Dad... not so much. See above for why.
  • Lord Walder Frey of the Twins is this in one very specific area. Everybody hates his guts. But, nobody enjoys trying to bargain with him because he takes Obstructive Bureaucrat as close to Deal with the Devil levels a human can manage. Practically anybody having to sign an agreement with him comes away with a distinct need to wash, as well as an urge to leave themselves time to contemplate when, exactly, the payment demand will hit and what exact form it's going to take. Without exception — even ones who can get the better of him find the process beyond tedious. It'd be awesome to watch him go. If he wasn't so... him.
  • Euron Greyjoy joined the Game relatively recently and thus isn't one of the most infamous figures in Westeros yet, but anyone who does know anything about him is terrified of him. Even characters who number among the most heroic or courageous in the series run away when they hear he's coming.
  • The Others. An entire race of ice vampires with Creepy Blue Eyes, bringing death and blizzards with them everywhere they go.
• The titular villain of Steelheart goes to great lengths to become this, showing off his invincibility, slaughtering foes with their own weapons, randomly destroying skyscrapers full of innocent civilians, and hiring The Dragon to render it permanently night. Turns out that there's a bit more than just For the Evulz behind this, as his invincibility can only be bypassed by someone who doesn't fear him.
• The Stormlight Archive:
  • As the Blackthorn, Dalinar Kholin was feared. He helped his brother Gavilar unite the country by brutally slaughtering anyone who resisted. Navani says that the reason she chose Gavilar over him wasn't because Gavilar was going to be king, but rather because Dalinar frightened her.
  • Szeth-son-son-Vallano, AKA the Assassin in White. The first book starts with him assassinating a king, and his body count only climbs from there. In Oathbringer he pulls a Heel–Face Turn, and none of the characters present are in much position to complain about having one of the most personally dangerous people in the world suddenly on their side.
  • By the fourth book, Kaladin Stormblessed has become this to some, due to repeatedly defeating Lezian the Pursuer, one of the most feared of the Fused. When he hits his Rage-Breaking Point in the finale, his scream alone is enough to terrify everyone watching, and his brutal killing of Lezian (who needs to use Teleport Spam just to keep up, and quickly runs out of Phlebotinum) immediately after only adds to this. And then he turns on the remaining Fused...
• In Soul Eater, the eponymous Soul Eater is known throughout the world as an unstopable mass murderer. Almost every character in the book, including his love interest, is terrified of him at some point.
• The Sword of Saint Ferdinand: When a seven-man squad of Andalusians sees a single knight going out to meet them, they get ready to engage him...until they see their face, recognizing him as Garcí-Pérez de Vargas, one of the best warriors on the Castilian side. The whole group freaks out and decides to stand aside and let him pass unharmed.
• In The Tamuli series, the Delphae, better known as the Shining Ones. Due to some ancient celestial disagreements, said glow is now a warning that their very touch can kill you, and in a particularly gruesome way (the flesh rots off your bones... while you're still alive). Most Tamuls are a sophisticated sort who don't get scared easily, but they'll scream in terror and run like hell at the sight of anything that looks remotely like a shining human. Also, Sparhawk, the hero. Something about blowing the top off a city and killing a god tends to unnerve people.
• In Terra Ignota, Mycroft Canner's crime spree set the entire world in panic for the duration of the two weeks in which he was free. Even after that, the name Mycroft Canner alone remains enough to scare people. Most can only breathe in peace in the belief that he was executed by Emperor Cornel MASON without even so much as a trial. When he finds out that the narrator Mycroft's full name is Mycroft Canner, even the usually sensible and calm Carlyle Foster has a raging, screaming BSOD. When it becomes public that Mycroft Canner is still alive, it's enough to spark worldwide riots.
• Third Time Lucky: And Other Stories of the Most Powerful Wizard in the World: Magdelene, as the most powerful wizard in the world, is widely feared as a result of her vast power. She's capable of frightening a dragon and huge demons enough so they flee without even lifting a finger due to her reputation alone.
• In Troubled Blood of the Cormoran Strike Novels, the name of Nicolo "Mukki" Ricci and his sons come up in association with a case that Cormoran Strike and his partner Robin Ellacott are investigating. Shanker, who is Strike's toughest and shadiest friend (having often been on the wrong side of the law), warns Strike away from the Riccis, telling him that if they even think he or any his people have been poking around their business, they won't have any problem going after him, his co-workers, or his family. "If Ricci's the answer, then you need to stop asking the question," he warns him.
• Twig: Primordial Life has this descriptor. As one character puts it, if an organization as obsessed with power and devoid of ethics as the Crown has absolutely forbidden its own people from creating Primordial Life, what does that say? We get a glimpse of just how dangerous Primordials are in one arc, and afterward any mention of their creation causes any Academy-trained personnel to shudder in horror that anyone would dare create one.
• Unique has vampires and werewolves... and the Veiðimaðr. Werewolves think of them as the bogeymen with crossbow bolts and buckshot fashioned out of sterling silver. Clauss agrees to behave like a law abiding citizen on the grounds that it entitles him - and his children - to protection from hunters armed with silver and flame.
• The Veil of Madness stories, an online collaborative fiction first appearing on 4chan, plays this for laughs. Apparently, humanity's corner of the universe exists under the titular veil, some kind of bizarre psychic field which drives every intelligent species completely psychotic. Unfortunately, humanity only discovers this when first contact goes a bit pear-shaped due to the aliens in question completely freaking out when what looks like a terrifying battleship comes out of a dark corner of the universe which drives everyone mad, some mixed messaging ensues and the humans "attack" the aliens (in actuality, the aliens fired the first shot in panic, and the humans only fired a warning shot in return, but things fell apart from there). Everyone consequently views humanity as a species of bloodthirsty lunatics who are only kept from rampaging over the entire cosmos pillaging indiscriminately through tribute, and after numerous ignored attempts to correct the misunderstanding humanity as a whole just ended up throwing their collective hands up and going along with it because it was easier (and, admittedly, they find it quite fun pulling the largest-scale practical joke in history).
• In the Vorkosigan Saga, Barrayaran rulers and their ImpSec chiefs get progressively more dreaded the further back one goes.
  • General Alegre serves emperor Gregor, with a bunch of informants and bodyguards on his payroll.
  • Simon Illiyan served regent Aral, employed "mercenaries" to thwart the expansionist efforts of a historic enemy. He used HQ's basement cells to house protected witnesses, and retired after his memory chip was sabotaged.
  • Captain Negri served old Ezar, assassinating people who wanted to assassinate the emperor. Used the cells as a prison, died rescuing Gregor from a palace coup.
  • Negri's unnamed predecessor served Mad Yuri. Used the cells for medical torture, killed by Negri.
  • Pierre le Sanguinaire, head thug to Dorca the Just. Broke the independent Counts, built the dungeons, killed in the Fist Cetagandan War.
• Pavel Kazakov from the Dale Brown novel Warrior Class. A powerful Russian oilman rumoured to be a high-level Mafiya boss and druglord, even the Russian higher-ups don't dare to take him lightly.
• All of the Forsaken in The Wheel of Time are like this. Ishamael and Semirhage are especially feared, but even the knowledge that one of the lesser Forsaken like Rahvin or Moghedien is present is enough to make most characters freak out.
• Will in Scarlet:
  • Sir Guy of Gisbourne's thuggish appearance is quite unnerving and his reputation for cruelty makes this impression even worse.
  Sheriff of Nottingham: That lord is named Sir Guy of Gisbourne, the Horse Knight. A name that in certain parts of the kingdom inspires worry. In the rest, fear.
  • Bandit chieftain Tom Crooked is a brutal sadist who is known for rarely leaving any survivors of his attacks. He's also willing to act as a mercenary and harm peasants for Guy.
• In The Zombie Knight, any high-level servant can be this to a low-level one. Gohvis is especially feared. Just hearing that he was on the way once caused a Vanguard full general to abandon a whole country with no shots fired.
  Gerald: Imagine if they send Ivan or Dunhouser or Jercash or any of a dozen others. Forget about causing trouble. We wouldn’t even be able to run away.

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