The Dreaded/Literature

Examples of this trope in literature

• Nazgul in The Lord of the Rings do this because of their nature. They just scare people, it's what they do. Pretty awesome fighters in their own right, but their main application is to frighten the other side until they're too scared to think straight any more. Sauron also scares the pants off opposing forces, by reputation this time. And the ghosts Aragorn leads to battle have this effect by both reputation and appearance.
  • It's a facet of all undead, Nazgul included, in Tolkien's legendarium. Their only true power is the fear that radiates from them, typically driving most of their foes insensate so that they are easily cut down/dragged into a barrow/etc. This fear is specifically noted to be the fear of death itself, and as such elves tend to be immune to it seeing as how they don't die (even if 'killed' they just 'respawn' back in Valinor).
  • The Balrog and Shelob were also thoroughly dreaded. Enough so to frighten even Gandalf.
• The Dread Pirate Roberts from The Princess Bride.
• Sharrakor of The Seventh Tower elicits this reaction even from Ebbitt, the resident Crazy Awesome Cloudcuckoolander.
• In the Discworld city of Ankh-Morpork, criminals consider Sergeant Detritus to be this. Justified since he carries as a hand weapon a crossbow that would put a bazooka to shame and has chronic trouble with Mister Safety Catch, and on top of this he has been known to nail drug dealers to the wall by their ears. Apparently small riots can be cleared by shouting that Detritus is on his way.
  • Also, Commander Sam Vimes. The criminal underworld is so afraid of him that when he leaves town on a diplomatic mission, the crime rate goes down. Why? Because if things fall apart while he's gone, when he gets back, he will not be pleased. "And when Sam Vimes is unhappy, he tends to spread it around with a big shovel." It gets to the point that the Assassins' Guild in town won't even take assignments out on him—both because he spends his free time turning his house into a deathtrap for anyone trying to sneak in, but also because they're terrified of what would happen if anyone got close. (They do, however, send overconfident Assassins in training after him, with instructions to just get him in crossbow sights... as a lesson in humility.)
  • Vorbis from Small Gods, a Sinister Minister and perhaps the biggest monster in the series (yes, that's including Teatime). He scares Brutha more than their god. And yet Brutha, being the local Jesus / Buddha analogue, still takes time to save him from hell in the afterlife.
  • Granny Weatherwax. Trolls refer to her as "She Who Must Be Avoided." In Dwarfish her name is "Go Around the Other Side of the Mountain." So yeah.
• Most monsters from the Cthulhu Mythos have this effect on humans. Speaking of that, so do Eldritch Abominations in general, but these particular ones drive you insane at the sight of them.
  • The Doctor Who Virgin New Adventures novel All-Consuming Fire establishes that the Doctor sincerely hopes never to meet Nyarlathotep. And he's already fought Lloigor (the Animus) and Hastur (Fenric).
• He Who Must Not Be Named, from Harry Potter. AKA: Lord Voldemort. A huge part of his power is that the Wizarding World is so ludicrously afraid of him, which makes them screw up many times. It's present throughout the story, but becomes more obvious after book 4, and is taken Up to Eleven in book 7.
  • Although by no means a villain, Dumbledore seems to be this to Voldemort and his followers, and with good reason. It is outright stated that Dumbledore is the only wizard that Voldemort ever feared and during their duel (a chapter appropriately titled "The Only One He Ever Feared") Voldemort ultimately fled rather than try to fight him any longer. Prior to this, when Dumbledore arrived in the Department of Mysteries, none of the Death Eaters even bothered to try and stop him. They just ran.
• Agramon in City of Ashes is made of this trope. Of course, he is the Greater Demon of Fear within the setting and kills people by appearing to them as their greatest terror. Gets narmtastic when he appears to Jace as Clary's corpse, despite the many, many other things that would make more sense with Jace's backstory.
• Fistandantilus from Dragonlance gets this reaction from people. Like Voldemort above, most prefer to avoid even saying his name, calling him instead by a variety of titles, the most common of which is "Dark One" (no, not that Dark One).
  • Also the dragonfear, a supernatural aura surrounding - yes - dragons. It can be overcome with sufficient discipline or determination, however.
  • Lord Soth also qualifies, as he is nigh unkillable and can pretty much kill anyone at will with his powers. Obviously, no one even wants to try and fight him. It takes a goddess stripping away his undeath, followed by a collapsing castle, to finally end his existence.
• Pavel Kazakov from the Dale Brown novel Warrior Class. A powerful Russian oilman rumoured to be a high-level Mafiya boss and druglord, even the Russian higher-ups don't dare to take him lightly.
• Readers of The Dresden Files know that Harry Dresden is a Hurting Hero and Sad Clown. Everyone else in The Verse? Not so much. They know him as a possibly-not-so-former warlock who shows a glaring disrespect for Faerie Queens, Fallen Angels, the highest nobility of the vampire courts, and even his seniors on the White Council and gets away with it, continually gaining more power in the process. As far as they're concerned, he's the guy that killed the Summer Lady, fought off Outsiders, and stopped the Darkhallow with a zombie Tyrannosaurus, succeeding Morgan as the "Most Infamous Warden on the White Council." This reputation is enough to give a half-dozen Wardens pause when they're told to arrest him. Near the beginning of Changes, one of the world's most feared vampire assassins sees him, screams in terror, and runs the fuck away.
  • Let alone what will happen now after Changes...
  • Opposing Harry, several recurring villains get this treatment, most notably Nicodemus, Queen Mab, the Red King and skinwalkers as a race (though mercifully, only one of those last has put in an actual appearace). Cowl, who may or may not be the series Big Bad, isn't a widely known figure, but among those who do know him he's feared as well.
    • Word of God says that Nicodemus is absolutely terrified of Harry after their last confrontation. For those that haven't read the series, this is because Harry nearly strangled him to death with the item that makes Nicodemus immortal.
• Fenris the Feared in The First Law. The fear he generates is actually implied to be magical in nature. Of course even if that weren't the case, he's still gigantic, incredibly strong, and apparently invulnerable, to boot.
  • Then there's Black Dow and the Bloody-Nine. Children in the North break into tears when they learn the former is in their midst, and the very idea that the latter is on the opposing side has caused hardened warriors to retreat in battle.
• Honor Harrington is this in the series of that name.
  • The Royal Manticoran Navy too, generally. Miscreants when they are about their honest business of piracy and slavery are always worried,"What if the Manties find us."
  • Victor Cachet is this to anyone watches him. He can convince anyone that he will do anything to get what he wants done.
• Wesley from Andrew Vachss's Burke books. Although in the books proper he's already dead by his own hand, back in the day he was apparently the perfect killer, never seen coming and never pinned down for any of his kills. Partly because would-be rats feared that they would be next.
• Tywin Lannister from A Song of Ice and Fire. His Death Glares are legendary and make warriors quiver, his ruthlessness led him to annihilate entire Noble Houses that defied him and leave their castles empty, wrecked, haunted ruins, (it's noted at one point that when someone else thinks about giving Tywin trouble, Tywin responds by sending a musician to play the song that was written about him exterminating those Houses, causing the troublemaker to immediately surrender) and the sight of him nearly smiling sends a terrible chill down the spine of one of his sons. Summed up in the following line from A Storm of Swords:

It seemed that Tywin Lannister could cow even The Stranger.

• • While Tywin is this as far as lords and battle commanders go, (though he knows the value of mercy so long as the defeated had not betrayed him in some fashion, even telling Joffrey that you must lift a man up if he bends the knee to you) his servant Gregor Clegane is this on the battle field. Here's a a quick summary of what you need to know about Ser Gregor: he's the World's Strongest Man, a Blood Knight, an animalistic, conscienceless and sadistic psychopath who kills anyone without warning or remorse, and he's systematically murdered or maimed nearly his entire family and multiple wives. The only person not afraid of Gregor is Oberyn Martell, whose sister Elia was raped and murder by Gregor, and her infant son was also murdered. Gregor kills Oberyn with his bare hands despite being impaled by Oberyn's spear at the time.
• The Malazan Book of the Fallen: Icarium Lifestealer, Annomander Rake, and Kallor have all held this position at one point or another.
• Belgarath the sorcerer in The Belgariad is the stuff of nightmares to all Angaraks. But because of his self-effacing appearance, most don't recognize him right away. It can be quite satisfying to see how they react when they catch on. Lampshaded in the story itself when Belgarath suffers an illness that might have stripped away his powers. Everyone in the know keeps acting like everything is normal because they fear the result if the Angaraks ever realise Belgarath's lost his power. Belgarath hadn't lost his power.
  • In The Belgariad's sequel, The Malloreon, Belgarath's "grandson" Belgarion commands considerable amounts of respect, awe and fear himself. It might have something to do with his title. Care to cross blades with the Godslayer, anybody?
• Also from David Eddings, in The Tamuli series, the Delphae, better known as the Shining Ones. Due to some ancient celestial disagreements, said glow is now a warning that their very touch can kill you, and in a particularly gruesome way (the flesh melts off your bones…while you're still alive). Most Tamuls are a sophisticated sort who don't get scared easily, but they'll scream in terror and run like hell at the sight of a Delphae.
• In the Posleen Wars Series, the combat engineers instill this trope to the Posleen. It culminates in the Posleen routing at the sight of the insignia outside Fort Belvoir.
• The Mistborn trilogy has the Steel Inquisitors. Even the Born Winner mistborn (rare individuals who have won the Superpower Lottery) are terrified of them. The general reaction to their appearance is to Run or Die.
• Lord Vile from the Skulduggery Pleasant series. Nobody knows where he came from, or who he was (Except he was a Necromancer), but he fought in the war for 3 years on the evil side. He was said to have massacred thousands. Then, one day 'he went away' and vanished. There's lots of fear and rumour around him, with everyone agreeing that he was crazy powerful. The tailor Ghastly sums it up best he can (Paraphrased).

Ghastly: We had a rule in those days: You didn't take Vile on alone. You gathered your army behind you, attacked at the same time, and hoped one of you got lucky. Valkyrie: Is that really true? Ghastly: Who can say what's fact and fiction about Lord Vile? There was a lot going on.

• Herbalist Angela from Inheritance Cycle is hinted to be one. She is allowed to enter Farthen Dûr without getting her mind probed, even though everyone else, including Eragon, has to go through that whole process. The Twins are clearly afraid of her and she causes the high priest of Helgrind to scream in terror by only whispering her name to his ear. The werecats don’t want to associated with her either. Unfortunately for readers, we are never told why she is so feared.
• By the middle of the war with Haven, Honor Harrington has become THE boogeyman to the navy and political leadership of the People's Republic. Pierre ruefully admits that half his analysts believe her being present at most of the critical confrontations between Haven and Manticore over the preceding decade, and winning them (even after apparently being killed in one of them), is due to pure chance. The other half believe she's in league with the Devil.
• The Hunter from Septimus Heap is mostly described as an efficient and dreaded hitman.
• The Elfstones of Shannara by Terry Brooks. Allanon is this to the demons. When he finally kills the Dagda Mor in combat, the only thing holding the demonic army back from slaughtering the elves and their allies is their absolute fear of Allanon. This forces Allanon to pretend as though nothing's wrong, mount his horse and ride back across the entire battlefield to his side's lines without giving away the fact he's so drained of power and strength he's functioning on willpower alone.
• In Vorkosigan Saga Barrayaran Imperial Security is this and it cultivates the image. Inside it is a respectable if highly competent intelligence agency but outsiders see it as something terrifying.
  • Simon Ilyan as one of the directors of ImpSec is of course this.

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