The Dreaded's Scope and Definition Issues

I'm saying one of the common issues brought up in the thread is that "Feared by many" is too common, and if scope change is needed, "Spreading Fear" can help with that.

Edited by Amonimus on Jun 11th 2023 at 1:24:01 PM

The trope isn't "feared by many", however. It's the character that the narrative establishes as the one figure everyone, or almost everyone, dreads. This is the character that the characters who are "feared by many" are afraid of. The character does not have to be the most feared being the setting has ever had, but they will be the most feared being within the story that's being told. This is not that common a trope, and it certainly won't be common for there to be more than one in a single work. As others have said in thread, if you've got a work that has a number of characters who are "feared by many" then it does not have an example of The Dreaded in play.

I agree that defining it as "feared by many" will cause misuse because it doesn't capture what the trope is. I also agree with that a character that has actively worked to become The Dreaded is a straight example because whether a character invokes it or passively becomes it isn't within scope. The trope is "what they are" not "how they became that".

Edited by Wyldchyld on Jun 11th 2023 at 12:03:14 PM

I'd be up for making it Feared By All mentioned earlier.

I think you have raised a point worth thinking about if we did go down a "Feared By All" route. It is so easy to blur the line between "Feared By All" and "Feared By Many", that if a "Feared By All" direction was pursued, the trope description would have to make it unambiguously clear that "All" and "Many" are not the same thing.

"I also agree with that a character that has actively worked to become The Dreaded is a straight example because whether a character invokes it or passively becomes it isn't within scope."

So, that's why it's an invoked example that's not straight. The trope's scope is fixed but it can be played with and invoking a dreaded image is a played with example.

Hm. looking at Invoked Trope, it effectively states that the trope is being played straight but the reason it exists in the work is because the character has actively decided to set it up and bring it into play rather than the author. So... yeah. I think you're right, after all.