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A form of Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Some people are so infamous that they need no introduction. Sometimes this is a title hiding their true identity... but if it isn't, then run.

Examples of Names to Run Away From Really Fast/The Person include:


Anime and Manga[]

  • In Excel Saga, it's That Man, who's the main villain for Pedro and Nabeshin. After That Man is defeated, they then face That Man There, This Man, That Man Over There, That Man Over Here, and This Man Over Here.
  • In Trinity Blood, if you hear the names The Knight of Destruction and/or The Lady of Death... run, fast...
    • Run even faster from the Contra-Mundi (the alias for Cain Nightroad).
  • In Rurouni Kenshin, our titular hero was formerly known as hitokiri battousai, the hitokiri part meaning the Man-Killer. Yeah, might not want to make him mad.

Comics[]

  • The Joker. And on a similar note (but only if you're a criminal), The Batman. In fact, a LOT of Batman's more notorious rogues have "The" in front of their names...

Film[]

Literature[]

  • In Discworld, the Lady. Not evil, per se, but you do not want to annoy her. Especially not by saying her name. Rincewind is immune, but only because he doesn't believe he has gotten anything but a long series of lucky breaks.
  • In Louis Sachar's Holes, The Warden.
  • In Mark Twain's A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court, the protagonist eventually becomes known as "The Boss". He is not very scary, until you notice that he has substantial knowledge of 19th century science and engineering - in the 6th century. This includes gatling guns.
  • The Man in Black.
  • The Bard from The Sea Of Trolls and the sequels. Also known as Dragon Tongue by the Vikings.
  • The Bane (his real name is Pearlpelt) from The Underland Chronicles.
  • The White Witch and the Lady of the Green Kirtle from The Chronicles of Narnia. The White Witch actually gets a name--Jadis.
  • The Sphinx (or the Ethiopian) from the Fablehaven series.
  • In the 1632 series, through a quirk of fate, regiments in the USE army have names as well as numbers. In 1635: The Eastern Front, an elite regiment is formed in the Third Division to deal with problems of discipline — The Hangman.
  • The Malazan Book of the Fallen has several. Primarily, you don't want to mess with the Son Of Darkness, The Rope, or any Knight of a House.
  • Nineteen Eighty-Four gives us--who else?--Big Brother.

Live-Action TV[]

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 Hardison: "Have you ever 'been' to Kiev? The Cakemaker of Kiev'd kick all our asses, this is the BUTCHER."

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  • The Doctor, despite being the main good guy. It's even lampshaded at one point. His other famous titles include the Trickster, the Last of the Time Lords, the Phantom, The Oncoming Storm, the Mighty Warrior, the Destroyer of Worlds, the Lonely God and the Madman With a Box.
    • On the other hand, if someone introduces himself as "the Master", run.
      • Not just the Master. As Eleventh puts it, "I'm the Doctor. Basically, run."
    • Also, Omega and the Valeyard.
    • Let's not forget about the Monk and the Rani, not to mention series 5 and 6's The Silence.
    • Also the Last Centurion is becoming one of these.
    • We must not forget Stormaggedon, The Dark Lord of All. (Also answers to Alfie.)
    • In season 6, The Doctor learns that his antics are changing the meaning of his name throughout history from meaning "healer" to "great warrior."
    • The Bad Wolf.
    • And the most terrifying being to appear on the show. The Time Lord Victorious. Guess Who.
  • Some say that his tears are adhesive, and that if he caught fire, he'd burn for a thousand days... all we know is, he's called the Stig.
  • Lost Girl has a fae called the Mongolian Death Wurm. She also answers to Velma.

Music[]

Tabletop Games[]

Video Games[]

  • In I Wanna Be the Guy your mission is to kill "The Guy", and the only thing standing between you and him is the hours of the most frustrating Platform Hell ever devised. Good Luck.
    • It should also be noted that the protagonist is known as "The Kid."
  • Team Fortress 2: All the characters are referred to this way, although due to his mediocre mastery of the English language, The Heavy refers to himself as "Heavy Weapons Guy," which also works.
  • Lu Bu in virtually any Dynasty Warriors game. Historically one of the most powerful generals in the time of the Three Kingdoms, pretty much everyone speaks of Lu Bu in hushed whispers, and when he shows up, he goes on a total rampage tearing through everything in his path. While there are some missions where you must actually kill Lu Bu — he's appropriately nerfed — in most missions attempting to do this is suicide, as he's many, many times stronger than anyone else in the game including your primary target for the mission (usually Dong Zhuo). If he's not kicking your ass, he's chasing you down, and it doesn't help that he always rides the fastest horse in the game. Yuan Shao's line, "Don't pursue Lu Bu", is probably the most useful advice you will ever recieve in Dynasty Warriors.
    • Ironically he was uncontrollable as the story had dictated. Although Lu Bu was powerful, what ultimately did him in was the fact that he was impulsive and prone to attacking or betray everything that was not nailed down. Had he been more stalwart and noble or at least more calculated, he would have been accepted by Liu Bei with open arms and may not have been himself betrayed and turned over to Cao Cao for execution.
  • Dawn of War: Araghast the Pillager, Eliphas the Inheritor, Gorgutz 'Ead Hunter.
  • Mass Effect 2: The Illusive Man, again.
  • That Man, from Guilty Gear, the enigmatic creator of the Gear biological weapons.
  • We don't mention Him.
  • From the 2008 Prince of Persia game: the four bosses are The Corrupted, legendary figures who sold their souls to Ahriman for great powers and were twisted over the ages into monsters. They are known only by their titles: The Hunter, The Concubine, The Warrior, The Alchemist, and The King.
  • The Duelist in Red Dead Revolver.
  • The Arcana Shadows from Persona 3 are all named after the first 12 trumps in the Italian tarot, and some of them would fall under this category; namely, The Magician, The Priestess, The Empress, The Emperor and The Hanged Man.
    • Not to mention Death, who sometimes lurks in the floors of Tartarus. Unless you beat the game once and have a super powerful team, run as soon as you hear the chains.
  • Metal Gear Solid 3 Snake Eater has The End. Oh shit.
  • In Blaz Blue, The Black Beast is not to be messed with. The last time he showed up he killed almost everyone on the planet, it took the most powerful beings on the planet years to stop his rampage.
  • The Ghost of Sparta. Running won't do you any good, though.
  • In Fallout: New Vegas, with the right perks, you can turn even your introduction into a Badass Boast.
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 "They call me The Courier."

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Web Original[]

Western Animation[]