History TheDreaded / Literature

** Vorbis from ''Literature/SmallGods'', a SinisterMinister and perhaps the biggest monster in the series (yes, that's including [[PsychoForHire Teatime]]). He scares Brutha more than their god. [[spoiler: And yet Brutha, being the local Jesus / Buddha analogue, still takes time to save him from a hellish afterlife]].

*** One practitioner in ''Literature/{{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 CannotTellALie, not even to speak hyperbole).

* ''Literature/{{Otherverse}}'': demons are spoken of with terror. Moreso 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 Practioner in ''Literature/{{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 Practicioners CannotTellALie, not even to speak hyperbole).
** At one point in ''Literature/{{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 [[DeaderThanDead 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".

* In ''Literature/SoulEater'', the eponymous Soul Eater is known throuughout the world as an unstopable mass murderer. Almost every character in the book, including his love interest, is terrified of him at some point.

* ''Literature/RevengeOfTheSith:'' 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 Grievious up by asking if he wishes to take any complaints to the man. A stammering Grievous says he would rather not.

* Sun Wukong the Monkey King from Literature/JourneyToTheWest. 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.

*** Speaking of Voldemort, Slytherin is by far the most feared of the Hogwarts Houses. Competitively they're [[CombatPragmatist 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.

** In ''Supervillain'', Spider terrifies Penny, who's gone up against big-name heroes a couple times by now, and ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsIveGotHenchmen'' establishes her as the executioner on villain side.

** In ''Literature/TheBelgariad'''s sequel, ''Literature/TheMalloreon'', 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 MasterSwordsman wielding a OneHandedZweihander with an occasional mild tendency to go berserk is another. It might have something to do with one of his titles. Care to cross blades with the [[spoiler:[[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Godslayer]]]], anybody?
*** It might also have something to do with Belgarion stopping two charging armies on a battlefield by calling down a thunderstorm between them. [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments He got in trouble for that]] - he hadn't considered the implications for the climate. Belgarath was irritated.
** Also in ''Literature/TheMalloreon'', 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.

*** 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."[[/note]] at a troll bar). The fastest way to quiet down a riot in Ankh-Morpork is to simply shout that Detritus is coming.

** [[BlackKnight Lord Soth]] also qualifies, as he is nigh unkillable and can pretty much kill anyone at will with his powers. Obviously, no one even wants to try and fight him. [[spoiler:It takes a goddess stripping away his undeath, followed by a collapsing castle, to finally end his existence.]]

** After ''Changes'', Molly [[spoiler:tries to live up to Harry's reputation as the scary supernatural protector of Chicago]]. She succeeds.

** [[SatanicArchetype Morgoth]], Sauron's predecessor & former boss, was a daunting and terrifying being whose campaigns left tens of thousands of elves and men dead. 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. Even the Valar, higher angels second only to Eru in terms of sheer power, only intervened to stop him when it was the only way to save the elves of Middle-Earth and the surviving Edain from absolute slaughter.
** Shelob's progenitor Ungoliant was an EldritchAbomination that terrified the Valar, even the fallen ones like Morgoth. 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 ''Supervillain'' fear of The Librarian makes eight supervillains known for ''not losing'' wary of the odds of taking her in her lair.
** ''Literature/PleaseDontTellMyParentsIBlewUpTheMoon'' 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. [[DontAskJustRun She just runs for her life.]]

** In the prequel ''IDidNotGiveThatSpiderSuperhumanIntelligence'', 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."

* ''Literature/{{Otherverse}}'': demons are spoken of with terror. Moreso 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 Practioner 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 Practicioners CannotTellALie, 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 [[DeaderThanDead 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 all of their (very dark) humor and excitement and team up to kill that thing ''right now''. It's the cannibalistic goblin that states "All of us need to do our part to put things like that down".

** 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 RunOrDie.

** [[SatanicArchetype Morgoth]], Sauron's predecessor & former boss, was a daunting and terrifying being whose campaigns left tens of thousands of elves and men dead. 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''). Even the Valar, higher angels second only to [[{{God}} Eru]] in terms of sheer power, only intervened to stop him when it was the only way to save the elves of Middle-Earth from absolute slaughter.

** After ''Changes'', Molly [[spoiler:tries to live up to Harry's reputation as the scary supernatural protector of Chicago]]. [[DarkChick She succeeds]].

** [[SatanicArchetype Morgoth]], Sauron's predecessor & former boss, was a daunting and terrifying being whose campaigns left tens of thousands of elves and men dead. 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''). Even the Valar, higher angels second only to [[God Eru]] in terms of sheer power, only intervened to stop him when it was the only way to save the elves of Middle-Earth from absolute slaughter.

** [[SatanicArchetype Morgoth]], Sauron's predecessor & former boss, was a daunting and terrifying being whose campaigns left tens of thousands of elves and men dead. Challenging him was considered death for most elves, as [[OverprotectiveDad 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''). Even the Valar, higher angels second only to [[God Eru]] in terms of sheer power, only intervened to stop him when it was the only way to save the elves of Middle-Earth from absolute slaughter.

* The Literature/VeilOfMadness 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 (except for humanity apparently) 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).