History Main / IKnowWhatYouFear

** It should be noted that this is imperfect--he went through four forms trying to find a weakness in TheIncredibleHulk, and got tossed into a parked car for his troubles.

* Trauma of ''[[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers: Initiative]]'' actually transforms into what his target fears, giving him whatever physical attributes and/or powers that go along with the new form. This combination of psychic powers and shapeshifting was considered a "holy grail" of mutant powers by [[{{Jerkass}} Gyrich]]. In fact he mostly uses in therapy sessions. [[spoiler: Also, he's not really a mutant at all, but the [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]] son of the dream demon Nightmare.]]

* The alien monster in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' story "The Mind of Evil" attacked people with hallucinations of their worst fear.

** This seems to be a major theme in TheDarkKnightSaga, especially in the first part, ''BatmanBegins''.
* Trauma of [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers: Initiative]] actually transforms into what his target fears, giving him whatever physical attributes and/or powers that go along with the new form. This combination of psychic powers and shapeshifting was considered a "holy grail" of mutant powers by [[{{Jerkass}} Gyrich]]. In fact he mostly uses in therapy sessions. [[spoiler: Also, he's not really a mutant at all, but the [[HalfHumanHybrid half-human]] son of the dream demon Nightmare.]]

* The Shadow of Fear, I believe, from ''XiaolinShowdown''.

* A variation of Type 2 appeared in ''BrianMichaelBendis'' 's ''Comicbook/Alias''. In Volume Four, Jessica comes face-to-face with occasional ''{{Daredevil}}'' villain (and Jessica's archenemy) The Purple Man, whose body secretes chemical pheromones which, when inhaled or absorbed through the skin, allow him to control their actions by verbal suggestions. (The Purple Man, like ''TheJoker'', is aware that he exists in a comic book). He orders Jessica to imagine the most horrifying thing she can envision, which turns out to be the corpse of her boyfriend (Antman II) covered in ants lying in her bed. The Purple Man comments that he wonders what she is seeing, guesses "it doesn't work that way."

* A variation of Type 2 appeared in ''BrianMichaelBendis'' 's ''{{Alias}}''. In Volume Four, Jessica comes face-to-face with occasional ''{{Daredevil}}'' villain (and Jessica's archenemy) The Purple Man, whose body secretes chemical pheromones which, when inhaled or absorbed through the skin, allow him to control their actions by verbal suggestions. (The Purple Man, like ''TheJoker'', is aware that he exists in a comic book). He orders Jessica to imagine the most horrifying thing she can envision, which turns out to be the corpse of her boyfriend (Antman II) covered in ants lying in her bed. The Purple Man comments that he wonders what she is seeing, guesses "it doesn't work that way."

* A variation of Type 2 appeared in ''Brian Michael Bendis'' 's ''Alias''. In Volume Four, Jessica comes face-to-face with occasional ''Daredevil'' villain (and Jessica's archenemy) The Purple Man, whose body secretes chemical pheromones which, when inhaled or absorbed through the skin, allow him to control their actions by verbal suggestions. (The Purple Man, like ''The Joker'', is aware that he exists in a comic book). He orders Jessica to imagine the most horrifying thing she can envision, which turns out to be the corpse of her boyfriend (Antman II) covered in ants lying in her bed. The Purple Man comments that he wonders what she is seeing, guesses "it doesn't work that way."

* In ChangelingTheLost the first "clause" (read: skill) of the fleeting autumn contract allows a changeling to do this.

** Cynder gets a Type 2 with her Fear element in ''Dawn of the Dragon''. It allows her to paralyze opponents with fear, either by letting out a [[MakeMeWantToShout sonic scream]] or blasting them with red energy spheres. Either way, the fear infecting is a secondary effect along side damage.

* The Fear creature from ''ExtremeGhostbusters''

* In ''TheLegendofSpyro: Eternal Night'', the final test to meet the Chronicler is to face the thing you fear the most. It's not explained exactly which Type it is, but it takes the one taking the trial's worst fear and makes an energy based version of that fear. In Spyro's case, [[spoiler: Cynder's evil adult form, as he was afraid of her being turned back into it.]]

* In ''[[SpyroTheDragon The Legend of Spyro: Eternal Night]]'', the final test to meet the Chronicler is to face the thing you fear the most. It's not explained exactly which Type it is, but it takes the one taking the trial's worst fear and makes an energy based version of that fear. In Spyro's case, [[spoiler: Cynder's evil adult form, as he was afraid of her being turned back into it.]]

* The BooksofBayern include several characters, mostly antagonists, who are capable of knowing exactly what one fears (mainly things like public humiliation) and also what a person wants, desires, or intends. Their power also gives them the ability to know precisely what to say in order to get what they want. Yeah. It's really no wonder they're mostly BadGuys.

'''Type 1''' is the power to know what a person's fears are, for example you see a picture in your head or somesuch, you then have different options in how to use that info. This type does not necessarily include the ability to project those fears into peoples heads and they may have to be exploited in a more normal way, such as dropping them in a snake pit or a sewer full of rats.

'''Type 2''' is a power to bring a person fears to life without actually having any knowledge about what those fears are, this power does not deliberately cause a person to believe they are, for example, vomiting worms, that's just the effect of the power on that particular person.

'''Type 3''' is the power to see a person's fear and then make a choice to show them which fears (if they have several), intensity, duration etc. A character with a type three power will usually have some kind of psychic or illusionary power to bring the fears to life.

* The alien monster in the ''DoctorWho'' story "The Mind of Evil" attacked people with hallucinations of their worst fear.

* Among Shang Tsung's powers in the ''Film/MortalKombat'' movie is the ability to see into a person's soul and find out what that person fears most so he can use that fear against them, making this a Type 3 power.

* in InNomiine, Calabim that serve the Demon Princess of Nightmares can see a person's worst fear.

'''Type 1''' is the power to know what a persons fears are, for example you see a picture in your head or somesuch, you then have different options in how to use that info. This type does not necessarily include the ability to project those fears into peoples heads and they may have to be exploited in a more normal way, such as dropping them in a snake pit or a sewer full of rats.

'''Type 3''' is the power to see a persons fear and then make a choice to show them which fears (if they have several), intensity, duration etc. A character with a type three power will usually have some kind of psychic or illusionary power to bring the fears to life.

* Type 3 in ''Nineteen Eighty-Four'', through sadistic government research on individuals and a "Ministry of Love" dedicated to custom torture.

* Trauma of [[Comicbook/TheAvengers Avengers: Initiative]] actually transforms into what his target fears, giving him whatever physical attributes and/or powers that go along with the new form.