How to imply that someone is a Humanoid Abomination

I'm currently writing a short story where the viewpoint character encounters (and keeps encountering) someone who at first glace seems normal but gets stranger the longer you're around him and is heavily implied to come from a different world altogether. The thing is, while I want to hint that the character (referred to as 'the juggler' or 'the dust coloured man')is some sort of Humanoid Abomination, I don't want to be obvious about it and would prefer to leave the matter of whether he's an Abomination or just a really, really weird human somewhat ambiguous. However, I'm having considerable trouble pulling it off since it's hard to stand on the slopes of the Uncanny Valley without falling further down, and would therefore appreciate some help.

edited 28th Oct '11 4:39:34 PM by Weaver

The question seems to condense to "what can someone do that's impossible, but that might be confused for something possible?" Mind reading is one option, if the information could theoretically be gained some other way, and Stealth Hi/Bye may be your friend as well.

I would have him do little things; stuff you don't realise is weird until it's revealed to you. Stuff like how he doesn't blink, or how he's eyes don't close reactively when something hits his face.

I've been doing a fair bit of research on this very topic, and here's what I've come up with:

• Absence of Saccades. These are the tiny, involuntary movements of the eye that occur constantly in regular humans. You don't notice it because your brain edits what you see into a single, continuous image, but your eyes are actually jerking around all over the place. (Interestingly, you can't see this happen even if you look in a mirror, because your brain edits that part out as well.) You can see it happen with other people, though. Lacking saccades is a very subtle (you'll pretty much only ever notice it if you're staring directly into their eyes) and somewhat unnerving character trait.

• Constant breath depth. Regardless of the situation or what kind of physical activity the character might have been doing, they will always breathe the exact same way. No panting, no excited shallow breaths.

• Absence of perspiration. This one should be pretty obvious. It's ambiguous because in reality, there really are people who sweat a lot less than others.

• Absence of Microexpressions. These involuntary facial movements are an important part of human social interaction. Lacking them would give the character's face a very subtle mask-like appearance to it.

• Absence of pupil dilation. The size of the pupil does not change, regardless of light level.

• Delayed pain response. After getting, for instance, pricked with a needle, have them not react for about a full second or two. Makes it seem like they're having to fake it.

• Absence of visible veins, as if the blood flowing through them hasn't been deoxygenated. It's not something you'd ordinarily notice unless you were really looking for it.

I'd go with some psychological/mannerisms stuff. Have him/her/it follow a bizarre line or sense of logic (and for added bizarreness, the logic works), conclude things in incomprehensible ways bordering on what looks like insanity to normal folks (couple this with the first one), and imply a morality totally alien from anyone or anything else.

Here's a question:

Someone whose brain is not receiving any input from their eyes would not have saccades, right?

Yeah.

@feotakahari: Mind reading probably wouldn't work. Stealth Hi/Bye on the other hand would fit extremely well so thanks for suggesting it.

@Atom James: Okay, little things, got it.

@Riotous Rascal: A lot of what you suggested is a bit too weird for what I have in mind given that I'm aiming for 'really weird human who might not actually be as human as they appear' rather then 'thing that looks human but isn't', if that makes sense. Thank you for your suggestions anyway.

@Major Tom: Good idea. Given what the character in question is, a certain amount of psychological weirdness is going to be a certainty.

I don't think mind-reading or Stealth Hi/Bye would work. An Abomination isn't just impossible-they defy our understanding of nature to the point of potentially driving a human to insanity. Mind-reading is too familiar a concept to make someone an Abomination, and Stealth Hi/Bye just means the character can run fast enough if he wants to.

What about joints bending in ways human joints are not meant to bend? Like finger joints that bend sideways, or feet that can rotate a full 180 degrees at the ankles? That could be a sign that someone's not human, but could also be written off as some sort of genetic abnormality.

That implies Body Horror, maybe, but not Eldritch Abomination... :P

To be honest, a Humanoid Abomination can't really qualify for that part of being an Eldritch Abomination. They're supposed to be more 'off' than 'unknowable'.

I like Riotous Rascal's ideas.

Those are the kind of things that you rarely give any conscious thought, and would only notice after spending a while in that person's company. They are subtle enough to build up the "something is off about this person" tension bit by bit before doing taking more drastic approaches.

Also, things like not eating, not getting visibly tired, a lack of understanding social mores, missing obvious "popular knowledge", a lack of skin blemishes, maybe make their face too symmetric?

Or how about something like missing a shadow?

Lacking a smell is also something you don't usually notice, but that your brain would pick up on subconsciously.

edited 11th May '12 4:45:28 PM by Mazz

Perhaps make him a Non-Linear Character?

Greeting someone who's never met you like an old friend, then reminiscing about events that have never occurred can be a bit.. strange.

nrjxll: Humanoid Abomination is quite generously misused all over the place even more than Eldritch Abomination is, so I'm not entirely sure which definition you're using...

As I understand it, in this case what is desired is an unspeakable thing from beyond the stars that has forced itself into a basically human shape, close enough to fool the casual observer, and has learned to mimic basic human consciousness, close enough to pass a brief conversation. But close enough in both cases that even over long periods of time it's not clear whether it is actually an esoteric grotesque or just an extremely strange ordinary person.

None of that implies, at least to me, that whatever is hiding on the other side of this double mask is 'knowable'. It does imply that it should keep you guessing about whether you understand it or not.

That's really what I meant - the Eldritch Abomination is obviously incomprehensible and alien. The Humanoid Abomination is less obvious about it. What I was originally replying to was this bit:

Ah, okay. Sorry; it sounded like you were addressing me, so I understood it as something like 'a humanoid abomination by definition can't be fully eldritch, so Body Horror is really all you have to work with'.

Toss in a few "Humanizing" traits to go with his Horrifying ones.

Perhaps he/she/it's Wouldn't Hurt a Child, Friend to All Living Things, or share some mundane hobby trait like a love of carpentry and a passionate belief in limiting market forces to prevent exploitation.

It doesn't take a lot to make people go "Burn the Witch!" so you may want to start out emphasizing how "Human" your character is from the start.

As for clues to Humanoid Abomination status, you can pick any trait from Horror, Mythical, Alien Sci-fi, or fairy tale character.

Anything that shows someone is not "normal" is usually enough.

edited 12th May '12 2:50:23 AM by Natasel

I agree with Major Tom, you can get quite a lot out of just action, showing someone lacks the ordinary boundaries that humans have. Having someone gruesomely kill a person or pet without any malice simply because they don't understand that killing is bad is a common one. Having them make awkward, disastrous attempts at being 'nice' is also common. Those are a bit cliché, but things like that could work as long as you don't go overboard.

Of course that on its own might suggest they were brain-damaged, so I'd add in something to suggest that their intellect was actually more powerful and subtle than the average human, but focussed in different areas.

Having them do 'magic' (not flashy magic but things that wouldn't be possible for any natural human) like feo said could also help with that.

edited 12th May '12 4:13:41 AM by Kesteven

subtle things- body language (or a strange lack thereof); no smell; eyes that seem to be looking through objects rather than at them...