History NightmareFuel / ColdDays

* Not as horrifying on an apocalyptic scale as most of the above, early in the book Dresden shatters a fey lord into pieces. Which given the statement he was making is pretty awesome. But then he starts dancing with Mab as the pieces crunch under his feet. Harry dances with his queen on the crunching frozen gore of their enemies. There are supervillains who would draw the line at that.

* The reveal of [[BiggerBad Nemesis]]. A sentient mental "disease" that [[MindControl subverts people]] to the cause of the [[EldritchAbomination Outsiders]]. Said to be responsible for most of Harry's major cases, and also corrupted the athame that was given to the Leanansidhe at [[Literature/GravePeril Bianca's masquerade party]], causing ''her'' to be infected, which in turn infected a Faerie Queen. What's worse? [[ParanoiaFuel There's no way to tell who's been infected,]] unless you confront them. If they're not infected, you look like you're crazy. If they ''are'' infected, they either [[HeKnowsTooMuch kill you]] or [[TheVirus infect you]].

* While [[spoiler:He Who Walks Before]] (a.k.a. Sharkface) doesn't have nearly the same Nightmare Fuel quotient as He Who Walks Behind, he's still a creepy mofo. He's a tall, skeletal humanoid with a prehensile cloak, [[EyeScream scars where his eyes should be]], and a ridge of solid bone instead of teeth, and he's constantly drooling black saliva and has a seriously nasty psychic punch.

** The really horrifying thing? The one that had me feel like someone was hitting my brain's pressure points when I thought of it? An offhand comment Thomas made in ''Backup'', in the light of this new knowledge. He says that they almost wiped out the Fae, but "The G-Men" (aka, the Grimm Brothers and Gutenburg - he being the inventor of the printing press) stopped them. '''Imagine what would have happened if they succeeded'''. I don't think the Outsiders besieging the Outer Gates would have gone away nicely when their opponents faded away, do you? Even if an appropriate replacement could have been found, one with both the will and capacity - there is always confusion when one fighting force is pulling out, and another replacing it. Add to that the fact that the fairies would have had to either break contact for their replacements to step in, or fight until they disappear and have their replacements waiting behind them the entire time, a steady reminder of their own inevitable fate - it would have been a slaughter at a critical moment of weakness. And that's ''best case'', assuming the replacements could have been found ''before'' the fairies had completely lost their ability to hold the walls. Otherwise, the Venator in attempting to protect humanity, would have instead doomed it, and all of reality (possibly multiple realities, considering what Bob said), as Outsiders stormed walls undefended, Gates unguarded. The Gatekeeper of the time - the only one with the knowledge, apart from the Fae - would have either been slaughtered or elsewhere, trying to scare up replacements, and the Outsiders would have been able to sweep through all of reality. An army of EldritchAbominations, whose only opponents suddenly vanish and suddenly have a nearly undefended reality, theirs to do with as they will. The road to Reality being overwritten by beings who make Giger and Escher look staid and unimaginative and Vlad Tepes kindly would have been paved with the best of intentions.

* The reveal of what exactly is underneath Demonreach. The whole island was created and enchanted by the original Merlin, using magic so powerful that even BOB doesn't understand how it works. The kicker? All of that power was necessary because the island is a prison for EldritchAbominations so powerful that it has 6 ''Naagloshii'' in MINIMUM SECURITY. The inmates are so powerful that the tiny amount of power leakage from all of the beings in the prison- their ''body heat''- is the basis of the massive leyline of dark energy that runs beneath the island. If they ever get out, the world would end. Don't worry, though. They'll never get out because if the enchantments on the prison fail, it triggers the fail-safe mechanism that will slow them down long enough for reinforcements to arrive and get inevitably slaughtered. Oh, and the fail-safe is an explosion that will take out most of the United States.

** Even worse: Imagine all of the nasties that are currently allowed to rampage through the world only because the Venators wiped out their countermeasure. It's entirely possible that the Wild Hunt had something that served a similar function to it as Winter to the Outsiders, but because that something was more visible, it got wiped out. Basically the Venators are bad, and they should feel bad.

* In the cottage, Harry accidentally knocks over a jar, cracking it, and sees that the other jars in the vicinity include the black plague and countless other deadly diseases. The one he cracked? ''[[TheBible Wormwood]]''.

** The really horrifying thing? The one that had me feel like someone was hitting my brain's pressure points when I thought of it? An offhand comment Thomas made in ''Backup'', in the light of this new knowledge. He says that they almost wiped out the Fae, but "The G-Men" (aka, the Grimm Brothers and Gutenburg - he being the inventor of the printing press) stopped them. '''Imagine what would have happened if they succeeded'''. I don't think the Outsiders besieging the Outer Gates would have gone away nicely when their opponents faded away, do you? Even if an appropriate replacement could have been found, one with both the will and capacity - there is always confusion when one fighting force is pulling out, and another replacing it. Add to that the fact that the fairies would have had to either break contact for their replacements to step in, or fight until they disappear and have their replacements waiting behind them the entire time, a steady reminder of their own inevitable fate - it would have been a slaughter at a critical moment of weakness. And that's ''best case'', assuming the replacements could have been found ''before'' the fairies had completely lost their ability to hold the walls. Otherwise, the Venator in attempting to protect humanity, would have instead doomed it, and all of reality (possibly multiple realities, considering what Bob said), as Outsiders stormed walls undefended, Gates unguarded. The Gatekeeper of the time - the only one with the knowledge, apart from the Fae - would have either been slaughtered or elsewhere, trying to scare up replacements, and the Outsiders would have been able to sweep through all of reality. An army of EldritchAbominations, whose only opponents suddenly vanish and suddenly have a nearly undefended reality, theirs to do with as they will. The road to Reality being overwritten by Eldritch Abominations who make Giger and Escher look staid and unimaginitive, and Vlad Tepes kindly would have been paved with good intentions.

** The really horrifying thing? The one that had me feel like someone was hitting my brain's pressure points when I thought of it? An offhand comment Thomas made in ''Backup'', in the light of this new knowledge. He says that they almost wiped out the Fae, but "The G-Men" (aka, the Grimm Brothers and Gutenburg - he being the inventor of the printing press) stopped them. '''Imagine what would have happened if they succeeded'''. I don't think the Outsiders besieging the Outer Gates would have gone away nicely when their opponents faded away, do you? Even if an appropriate replacement could have been found, one with both the will and capacity - there is always confusion when one fighting force is pulling out, and another replacing it. Add to that the fact that the fairies would have had to either break contact for their replacements to step in, or fight until they disappear and have their replacements waiting behind them the entire time, a steady reminder of their own inevitable fate - it would have been a slaughter at a critical moment of weakness. And that's ''best case'', assuming the replacements could have been found ''before'' the fairies had completely lost their ability to hold the walls. Otherwise, the Venator in attempting to protect humanity, would have instead doomed it, and all of reality (possibly multiple realities, considering what Bob said), as Outsiders stormed walls undefended, Gates unguarded. The Gatekeeper of the time - the only one with the knowledge, apart from the Fae - would have either been slaughtered or elsewhere, trying to scare up replacements, and the Outsiders would have been able to sweep through all of reality. An army of EldritchAbominations, whose only opponents suddenly vanish and suddenly have a nearly undefended reality, theirs to do with as they will.

** The really horrifying thing? The one that had me feel like someone was hitting my brain's pressure points when I thought of it? An offhand comment Thomas made in [i]Backup[/i], in the light of this new knowledge. He says that they almost wiped out the Fae, but "The G-Men" (aka, the Grimm Brothers and Gutenburg - he being the inventor of the printing press) stopped them. [b]Imagine what would have happened if they succeeded[/b]. I don't think the Outsiders besieging the Outer Gates would have gone away nicely when their opponents faded away, do you? Even if an appropriate replacement could have been found, one with both the will and capacity - there is always confusion when one fighting force is pulling out, and another replacing it. Add to that the fact that the fairies would have had to either break contact for their replacements to step in, or fight until they disappear and have their replacements waiting behind them the entire time, a steady reminder of their own inevitable fate - it would have been a slaughter at a critical moment of weakness. And that's [b]best case[/b], assuming the replacements could have been found [b]before[/b] the fairies had completely lost their ability to hold the walls. Otherwise, the Venator in attempting to protect humanity, would have instead doomed it, and all of reality (possibly multiple realities, considering what Bob said), as Outsiders stormed walls undefended, Gates unguarded. The Gatekeeper of the time - the only one with the knowledge, apart from the Fae - would have either been slaughtered or elsewhere, trying to scare up replacements, and the Outsiders would have been able to sweep through all of reality. An army of eldritch abominations, whose only opponents suddenly vanish and suddenly have a nearly undefended reality, theirs to do with as they will.

** Consider also the way Maeve (presumably under the thrall of her own mantle) played with Harry-as-Winter-Knight, as well as Slade before him... and consider that Molly now bears that mantle, has the mental mojo to ''feel'' Harry tripping along the edge, and, worst of all, her own unrequited love for him.

** Consider also the way Maeve (presumably under the thrall of her own mantle) played with Harry-as-Winter-Knight, as well as Slade before him... and consider that Molly now bears that mantle, has the mental mojo to ''feel'' Harry tipping over the edge, and, worst of all, her own unrequited love for him.

* The reveal of [[BiggerBad Nemesis]]. A sentient mental "disease" that [[MindControl subverts people]] to the cause of the [[EldritchAbomination Outsiders]]. Said to be responsible for most of Harry's major cases, and also corrupted the athame that was given to the Leanansidhe at [[Literature/GravePeril Bianca's masquerade party]], causing ''her'' to be infected, which in turn infected a Faerie Queen. What's worse? [[ParanoiaFuel There's no way to tell who's been infected,]] unless you confront them. If they're not infected, you look like you're crazy. If they ''are'' infected, they either [[HeKnowsTooMuch kill you]] or [[TheVirus infect you]].

* The reveal of what exactly is underneath Demonreach. The whole Island was created and enchanted by the original merlin, using magic so powerful that even BOB doesn't understand how it works. The kicker? All of that power was necessary because the island is a prison for EldritchAbomination s so powerful that it has 6 Naagloshi in MINIMUM SECURITY. The inmates are so powerful that the Tiny amount of power leakage from all of the beings in the prison is the basis of the massive leyline of Dark energy that runs beneath the island. If they ever get out, the world would end. Don't worry, though. They'll never get out because if the enchantments on the prison fail, it triggers the fail-safe mechanism that will slow them down long enough for reinforcements to arrive and get inevitably slaughtered. Oh, and the fail-safe is an explosion that will take out most of the United States.

* In the cottage, Harry accidentally knocks over a jar, cracking it, and sees that the other jars in the vicinity include the black plague and countless other deadly diseases. The one he cracked? ''[[TheBible Wormwood]]''.

* The reveal of what exactly is underneath Demonreach. The whole Island was created and enchanted by the original merlin, using magic so powerful that even BOB doesn't understand how it works. The kicker? All of that power was necessary because the island is a prison for EldritchAbomination s so powerful that it has 6 Naagloshi in MINIMUM SECURITY. The inmates are so powerful that the Tiny amount of power leakage from all of the beings in the prison is the basis of the massive leyline of Dark energy that runs beneath the island. If they ever get out, the world would end. Don't worry, though. They'll never get out because if the enchantments on the prison fail, it triggers the fail-safe mechanism that will slow them down long enough for reinforcements to arrive and get inevitably slaughtered. Oh, and the fail-safe is an explosion that will take out most of the United States.

* The reveal of what exactly is underneath Demonreach. The whole Island was created and enchanted by the original merlin, using magic so powerful that even BOB doesn't understand how it works. The kicker? All of that power was necessary because the island is a prison for EldritchAbomination s so powerful that it has 6 Naagloshi in MINIMUM SECURITY. The inmates are so powerful that the Tiny amount of power leakage from all of the beings in the prison is the basis of the massive leyline of Dark energy that runs beneath the island. If they ever get out, the world would end.
** don't worry, though. They'll never get out because if the enchantments on the prison fail, it triggers the fail safe mechanism that will kill them all....and also destroy most of the continental united states with them.
*** Kill them all? Oh no, at best it'll slow them down long enough for reinforcements to try and fight, but inevitably fail against the onslaught. The things locked up in there wouldn't be killed, injured at most. Remember, this setting takes place in the Cthulhu Mythos.

** don't worry, though. They'll never get out because if the enchantments on the prison fail, it triggers the fail safe mechanism that will kill them all....and also destroy most of the continental united states with them

* The reveal of what exactly is underneath Demonreach. Below flights of stairs so long that Harry can't even guess at how deep they've gone lie walls made of crystal infused with powerful magic. How powerful is it? One single crystal has so much pow in it that Harry who's one of the most powerful wizards on the planet could never hope to matching it. And the entire complex is made of crystals just as powerful. Symbols used to construct the complex are so old even Bob can't recognize them. We're talking the most comprehensive magical depositary ever created and even he has no idea what they do. And why would someone go through so much energy to construct such a massive project you may ask?
** First we see a translucent crystal prison used to contain a skinwalker. It can see you and it wants nothing more than to escape and kill you the most nightmarish way possible. And when Harry looks around there's another one, and another and another until there's six more of these nightmares just waiting to break out.
** Then Demonreach informs Harry that the Skinwalkers are only minimum security and there are things much, much worse. For one there's countless Outsiders in lower levels and things more horrifying still. Then it tells Harry that his mind is just too weak to comprehend even the smallest part of what's trapped inside as words are just too flimsy to describe what they are as they transcend huan thought or comprehention. It's so immense a concept that Demonreach had to use Bob as a way of translating some of the sheer vastness of these beings. And even Bob had to be given a version dumbed many levels before he could dumb it down enough levels before Harry could understand without breaking his mind.
** And to top it all off, the whole entire complex was created by the first Merlin himself in four dimensional magic just to hold the things at bay. Oh and there's a very good reason indeed why the White Council refers to them as Wardens. Coupled with the description of the Outer Gates above, it becomes quite clear once you get past the Urban fantasy that this a full on CosmicHorrorStory scary enough to give Lovecraft a run for his money. And as it stands reality is slowly but surely failing as EldritchAbomination after EldritchAbomination pound away at the edges of reality until they inevitably get in.

** And to top it all off, the whole entire complex was created by the first Merlin himself in four dimensional magic just to hold the things at bay. Oh and there's a very good reason indeed why the White Council refers to them as Wardens. Coupled with the description of the Outer Gates above, it becomes quite clear once you get past the Urban fantasy that this a full on CosmicHorror story scary enough to give Lovecraft a run for his money. And as it stands reality is slowly but surely failing as EldritchAbomination after EldritchAbomination pound away at the edges of reality until they inevitably get in.