Adult Fear: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''[W]hen you get past the age where you’re capable of believing there’s [[Things That Go Bump in the Night|something carnivorous and hairy under the bed]], you don't then lose your capacity for fear. The monsters go, and in their place, lucky you, you get to start imagining real calamities: losing your parents in a car wreck, becoming destitute, having someone you love turn on you, or doing something so shocking that the community ostracizes you.''|'''Alyx Dellamonica''', ''[http://www.tor.com/blogs/2011/11/twilight-vs-flowers-in-the-attic-sick-sex-smackdown-eighties-style Twilight vs. Flowers in the Attic: Sick Sex Smackdown, Eighties Style]''}}

 

 

Adult Fears are about the things every mature, well-adjusted adult ''should'' be concerned about: the safety of their children, is where you live safe to live in, or being able to pay your bills. [[Rule of Scary]] is needed to get from concern to real fear, but [[Willing Suspension of Disbelief]] must be maintained for effect. To an adult, kids being preyed upon by pedophiles is scarier than kids being preyed upon by velociraptors.

 

 

The audience reaction is still to be scared, but Adult Fear is one trope used to get the reaction.

* Here's one courtesy of ''[[Death Note]]'': what if a new serial killer arose, more prolific than any killer before him... and that killer turned out to be ''your son''?

* ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]'': Played with in an episode of ''Fumoffu'' where Sōsuke is shown to be fearless, as he grew up in a war zone so simple things like haunted hospitals, ghosts, horrific screams, and spooky children with hammers don't faze him, yet he ''is'' afraid when he thinks that Kaname died falling through the floor.

* ''[[Bitter Virgin]]'': features the rarely brought up topic of miscarriage. It also features the life of a girl whose stepfather raped her while her mother simply ignored it, until the girl got pregnant for the second time.

* ''[[One Piece]]'': Brook. In a rare case of a main character who was middle-aged in his flashback, instead of the usual childhood traumas we got the story of a parent/authority figure losing friends and loved ones to tragedy and bad decisions, finally ending up old and alone.

* The H-manga ''Defiled Virgin'' takes the fear of being sexually assaulted by bums and milks it for all it's worth.

* ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro ni]]'': Satoko's [[Evil Uncle]] Teppei. Made worse in Tatarogoroshi-hen by {{spoiler|Satoko having [[Hate Plague|Hinamizawa Syndrome]].}}

* The otherwise incredibly lighthearted ''[[Minami-ke]]'' does one in the last episode when they find {{spoiler|what appears to be Kana's suicide note}}

* Invoked in ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]'', since Kotetsu/Wild Tiger is a [[Hot Dad]] in canon and therefore he ''really'' hates the mere idea of children being in any kind of danger. {{spoiler|Worse still, in the second episode his daughter Kaede ends up in danger, and Tiger is not ''quite'' quick enough to rescue her. Fortunately, Barnaby saves her life in the nick of time.}}

** Jude Heartfilia may count as well. Literally a few weeks after he reconciles with his estranged daughter, Lucy, and manages to get over the sudden death of his wife, who Lucy is the spitting image of, {{spoiler|she and her friends are attacked by a monster and seemingly killed}}.

*** {{spoiler|Even worse when Lucy returns and finds out that he's been sending her birthday presents every year since her disappearance and then died a month before her return.}}

* The climax of ''[[My Neighbor Totoro]]'' has little Mei run away from home and get lost. The panic of her older sister Satsuki and the villagers is completely identifiable to any audience, especially when {{spoiler|they find a little girl's sandal in the pond and believe that she's drowned}}.

* ''[[Vampire Princess Miyu]]'' has {{spoiler|Miyu's mother, the Guardian}}, fearing the day when her child will be old enough to {{spoiler|take her place}}. Specially considering that {{spoiler|the ones who'll demand such a thing are the Shinma... who are mercilesss [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]].}}

* In ''[[Zombie Loan]]'', minor character Sougiya is a single father trying to pay off his contract to the Z-Loan. He knows that if he isn't able to keep his end of the contract, he will die and then no one will be left to take care of his young daughter.

* ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]''. One girl gone missing, another girl found dead, and their friend is very troubled by all that but refuses any help. The mother of the latter is seen in the 11th episode, and doesn't cry because she tries to assure herself that the girl can probably handle the stress given enough time. But just imagine how powerless and desperate the mother must've felt, seeing her daughter grow distant and detached.

* In ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'', if Sakura loses to Yue at the Final Judgment, everyone will lose their memories and the relationships they've built. It almost happens, too. {{spoiler|Luckily, Kaho Mizuki comes to the rescue with her Shrine Bell, giving Sakura a second chance.}}

** Sakura and Shaoran also get faced with this when the Clow Card search involves the safety and maybe the ''lives'' of their relatives and school friends. In example: {{spoiler|Rika is [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] when The Sword takes control of her, Meiling finds The Shot thinking it's a love spell and releases it by mistake, Touya is seriously injured while interacting with The Mirror, Tomoyo has her voice stolen by The Sound and later is captured by The Shadow...}}

*** And in the [[Grand Finale]], {{spoiler|Eriol invokes this deliberately when he puts a sleeping spell ''over the whole Tomoeda ward'', and if Sakura and her guardians lose to him, everyone in their surroundings may be rendered into an eternal sleep '''forever'''.}}

* Lots of the episodes in ''[[Ghost Hunt]]'' qualify for this trope, but the one that most frightened this troper was "The Doll House" File. It turns out that the ghost haunting the house {{spoiler|was a distraught mother who committed suicide after her daughter was abducted, and continues to search for her in death, causing the deaths of other children living in the home. It is implied that the abductor may have killed the child, but it is never actually confirmed}}. Also, {{spoiler|the little girl currently living in the home is feared to have drowned, but luckily nothing bad ever happened}}.

* Even though ''[[Berserk]]'' is littered with this, one particular case pops up: that your closest friends and loved ones will backstab you for their own goals and dreams (and it's even worse when it's done on the [[Cosmic Horror Story]] level, which would be the Eclipse ceremony that marks the birth of a new Godhand). The backstabbing is pretty much enforced, since the person chosen to become a new demon ''has'' to sacrifice somebody that they love or care about. And you know what? '''It's all up to them.''' Remember that even though the [[Big Bad Duumvirate|Godhand]] are [[Card-Carrying Villain|card-carrying]] [[God of Evil|gods of evil]], they explicitly said {{spoiler|at the beginning of the Eclipse where Griffith was chosen to become the new Godhand}} that they weren't going to force those chosen into making their [[Face Heel Turn]]: ''they'' had to decide in the end {{spoiler|of course, in Griffith's case, there was a ''bit'' of "[[Mind Rape|persuasion]]" on Ubik's part}}. That tells you something when you're playing the devil's advocate [[Demon Lords and Archdevils|for a group of devils!]]

** The [[Non-Serial Movie]] ''Phantom of Baker Street'' has the computer Noah's Ark taking fifty children participating in a virtual game system as hostages (where at least one child out of the fifty needs to [[Win to Exit]] or else, all of them die in real life) while forcing parents to watch as the capsule containing their child turns grey, signalling a "game over" for that child.

** The 15th movie has {{spoiler|Conan being [[Buried Alive]] under an avalanche and everyone rushing to find him before he runs out of air}}.

** Also there's the fourth movie, ''Captured In Her Eyes'', where {{spoiler|Ran, the one who [[Team Mom|always takes care of Conan]] [[Children Raise You|and Kogoro]], is struck with [[Trauma-Induced Amnesia]] and can barely handle herself}}. Seeing someone who has always been there for you need help desperately, but you can barely do anything for them... '''ack.'''

* ''[[Fantastic Children]]'': imagine your 5-year-old child just one day disappeared without a trace and 6 years later his/her corpse was found amongst other children's. {{spoiler|There have been many parents who had to experience this throughout history since the 15th century}}. In one of the recent cases of missing children the police refuse to pursue the case further and conclude that the child left on his own, using his then 3-year-old sister's words for their convenience.

* ''[[Now and Then Here and There]]'' showed us the dangers of a child left alone in a foreign land.

* Not touched upon often, in-series at least, but ''[[Wandering Son]]'' has a few examples. Imagine your 9 - 12 year old being out late, lying to you about where they've been, and being friends with ''adult'' strangers who you know little about. There's also the notion of your children being depressed and uncomfortable with their body but you knowing nothing of what to do.

* ''[[Spirited Away]]'' has one scene where Yubaba frantically searches her son's room while believing he's been kidnapped.

** What about the humans? A ten-year-old girl gets trapped in a strange world, has her parents get turned into pigs and therefore be unable to help her, and then ''willingly sells herself into slavery'' for the chance to rescue them. Perhaps it's a good thing her parents never found out what really happened...

== Fanfiction ==

* A ''[[Lord of the Rings]]'' fic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/2350953/1/Elladans_Trials_For_Estel Elladan's Trials For Estel] deals with a young Aragorn (who was adopted and raised by Elrond) being kidnapped from Elrond's bedroom and [[Buried Alive]]. One chapter writes from the perspective of the kidnapper and it turns out the kidnapper worked and lived in Rivendell. It didn't help when the kidnapper mentioned there were some nights where he would stand over a sleeping Aragorn, thinking how easy it would be to kill the boy while no one would know.

** [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6536156/1/Crossing_the_Line Crossing the Line] has John Winchester [[Papa Wolf|killing a human being]] for the first time because {{spoiler|it was heavily implied that that person had molested/sexually assaulted a ten year old Sam.}}

* ''[[Past Sins]]'' has one marking the point where everything goes down the tubes...namely, {{spoiler|a child being forcibly taken away from their guardian, who can do nothing to stop it. And then said child believing their guardian ''wanted'' to give them away.}}

* In ''[[Progress]]'', Sundance and every other pregnant mare in Equestria are worried for their unborn foals after the Discord incident.

** This is sadly not only a fear for adults, but "Mother Knows Best" is ''horrifically'' dark for an otherwise fairly cheerful, encouraging movie, if you consider that Gothel doesn't use magic to keep Rapunzel locked up. [[Manipulative Bastard|She preys on her innocence, affection and vulnerability]], like a real-life [[Abusive Parents|abusive parent]].

{{quote|[http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/013217.html Abi Sutherland]: Plenty of Disney films have wicked stepmothers; they’re quite ordinary villains in the genre. They do things like banish the heroine to the kitchen or send her out into the forest to be murdered. There may be rags and neglect involved. But ''Tangled''’s Mother Gothel is much worse than that. She uses love like a poisoned apple or a witch’s curse, as a tool to achieve her own ends. And she’s clearly written by someone who knows, bone deep, how that works.}}

{{quote|'''Gepetto''': What could have happened to him? Where could he be at this hour? I better go out again and look for him...}}

* In ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'', King Triton had to deal with the aftermath of his youngest daughter Ariel running away after having a huge and violent argument with her. His words [[My God, What Have I Done?|"What have I done?"]] certainly brings the trope home.

** Not to mention that the reason why Mulan ran away in the first place was save her father's life; he was too infirm to go to war and survive. Their fear would have been compounded with the most extreme guilt imaginable.

* ''[[The Incredibles]]'': The scene where Elastigirl realizes that the missiles are going to hit the plane and she frantically yells into the radio "Abort! Abort! There are children aboard!" Then she runs back into the back of the plane last minute, fully prepared to die with her kids, like [[Mama Bear|any mother would.]]

** Near the end of the movie, when Elastigirl and Mr. Incredible hear the babysitter's voicemail thanking them for calling a replacement sitter for Jack-Jack, Elastigirl frantically exclaims that she never called a replacement. It's a short moment, but no less terrifying for the parents in the audience.

** Lets just wrap this up and say ''the entire freakin' movie'' was full to the ''brim'' with [[Adult Fear]].

* ''[[Lilo and Stitch]]'': The threat of Lilo being taken away from [[Promotion to Parent|her older sister and caretaker]] Nani's side by social services casts a long shadow over the entire film. {{spoiler|The moment when it actually happens is utterly horrific}}

** And not long after, she watches a giant alien kidnapping Lilo. When she asks the other aliens to help her get Lilo back, they're forced to tell her that there's pretty much no way that can happen. (Fortunately, Stitch convinces them otherwise)

* In ''[[Beauty and the Beast]]'', Maurice has to watch as Belle arranges to be kept prisoner in his stead, all while he cries for her to just escape and leave him to his fate. He spends the rest of the movie trying to rescue her.

** And once {{spoiler|Belle and Maurice are reunited}}? ''Belle'' faces the fear of {{spoiler|having her father taken away from her, as Gaston blackmails her into either becoming his puppet-wife or getting him thrown in the local asylum. She takes a third option and proves her father is telling the truth... but they're imprisoned and the townspeople go [[Storming the Castle]].}}

** With the added "bonus" of knowing Sabor was also able to get into the house Tarzan's parents made and kill them, then stuck around, probably intending to go after the child while he was alone. And even if Sabor had left, if Kala had not adopted him, Tarzan would almost certainly have starved to death in his crib.

* ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'' has {{spoiler|Stoick believing his son was dead after the fight with the Green Death}}. And this was due to Stoick's own misguided actions that led to the above event. His [[Meaningful Echo|"I did this"]] was downright [[Tear Jerker|heartbreaking.]]

* Imagine you were babysitting your niece and nephew for the evening, with your son there as well, and accidentally fall asleep. When you wake up you find a darkened house, with all three kids gone. When the parents return, you all go down to the beach to search, and find one of the skates used by the kids ''with no sign of them...'' This is the parental fear scenario presented in ''[[Help! I'm a Fish]]''.

* The original ''[[Ice Age]]'' film is certainly more serious than the sequels. Manny's [[Troubled Backstory Flashback]] reveals that his family were killed by human hunters with him unable to protect them. The tigers attacked the human settlement in the beginning with the sole purpose of kidnapping and eating a baby. The baby's father tries to protect his family and fails and is seen throughout the movie desperately trying to find them.

 

 

* For all the city-destruction and visible skeletons in ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon]]'', the scariest bit comes when Laserbeak {{spoiler|transforms into a pink, kid-sized version of Bumblebee to trick a little girl into letting him in so that he can kill her father}}. Up to that point, Laserbeak had been an extremely efficient killer, able to hide as a number of innocuous objects, but {{spoiler|that's pure psychological torture, and if he let the girl live, imagine her guilt...}}

* ''[[The Duchess]]'': Your husband can take your children away from you, and there's nothing you can do about it because you're a woman and he has law on his side. The same fear is brought about by ''[[Iron Jawed Angels]]''.

** Also, in ''Seduction in a Small Town'': some [[Manipulative Bitch]] can perfectly convince others that both you ''and'' your husband are horrible child abusers and not only have your kids taken away, but ''send you guys to jail for that''. '''Twice'''.

* ''[[Paranormal Activity]] 2'': An invisible supernatural force is trying to kidnap your one-year-old son {{spoiler|because one of your ancestors made a pact with a demon. An in the end, it succeeds.}}

* ''[[The Shining]]'': A supernatural force exploits your previous vices and drives you to murder your beloved wife and son. This is scary enough, but it goes deeper: to what extent would this have happened anyway? The supernatural forces may have given it a kick-start, but the darkness was already present. The fear becomes the more realistic fear of being unable to overcome one's own secret darkness.

* ''[[X-Men: First Class|X Men First Class]]'': The Holocaust. The death of a parent, and the medicalized torture of an innocent child. All within the first 20 minutes. {{spoiler|A bit of a foregone conclusion, but Charles and Erik's "beach divorce", even though it's [[Ho Yay|only a metaphorical divorce]], (metaphorical) children having to decide which parent they're siding with in said metaphorical divorce, having a loved one be permanently disabled because of something '''you''' did, the fear that no one will [[Pass Fail|love you as you really are]]...}}

* ''[[The Blob]]'': In the 1988 remake, the cheerleader Meg Penny learns from her parents that her brother Kevin and his friend are missing while the town is under quarantine, thinking they snuck out to see a slasher movie. What makes this terrifying was the fact that Meg's little brother is now in danger of being eaten by the titular monster now getting bigger by eating anyone that gets too close. She arrives to find the theatre is in a state of panic with Kevin and his friend desperately trying to use the emergency exit and while she does save them, they wind up having to evade the Blob in the sewer. The Blob follows them down there and {{spoiler|Kevin's friend then gets pulled underwater. Meg tries to save him only to later see him rise up from the water half-eaten; imagine dying by drowning and being eaten alive ''at the same time''}}. What makes this all the more horrifying was the fact {{spoiler|Kevin's friend has an older brother that let them both into the movie and we saw his mother ''hoping he was going to come home safe''. At least Meg and her brother survived...}}

** Just imagine {{spoiler|the guilt the kid's older brother is going to feel for the rest of his life knowing that his little brother would still be alive if he hadn't helped him sneak into the movie.}}

* ''[[The Monster Squad]]'' has one utterly chilling scene for adults, when Sean's father sees Dracula and realizes the supernatural things his son has been so scared of all day are real. And then Dracula tells him "I will have your son" before turning into a bat and leaving.

* The very premise of ''[[A Nightmare on Elm Street]]'' is a nightmare to any parent -- the possibility of your own child being horribly assaulted and murdered by a psychopath in a manner that you have absolutely ''no way of protecting them from''. And worse, this psychopath is supposed to be dead, because you and other parents took the law into your own hands after his string of child murders went unpunished due to a technicality.

* In ''[[Hook]]'' not only does Captain Hook kidnap Peter's children and threaten to do the same to his descendants, he tries to brainwash them into loving ''him'' instead. {{spoiler|It almost works with Jack (who was already distressed), but utterly fails with Maggie.}}

** It's not much better when {{spoiler|he kills a 15-year-old boy, Rufio, in front of Peter and all of the new Lost Boys.}}

** And that's before we learn that {{spoiler|the Bride almost has second thoughts in regards to the end of her revenge when she sees that Bill, for his horrifying actions, ''has'' [[Even Evil Has Loved Ones|taken good care of their child]], [[Creepy Child|BB]].}} Even more so when we see that {{spoiler|she learns about it when she sneaks into Bill's home to kill him... and the first person who comes into her sight is BB, who does it with a happy smile.}}

* [[The Lord of the Rings]]: The beginning of ''Return of the King'' has Smeagol kill Deagol over The Ring. Well what if the friend you trusted most easily turned on you over one little trinket?

* The French film ''L'Argent de Poche'' gives us a [[Black Comedy|comedic]], though not [[Dude, Not Funny|tasteless]] example when the mother of the infant Grégory [[What an Idiot!|leaves him alone]] in the apartment on one of the higher floor ''[[Too Dumb to Live|with the windows open]]'' while she searches for her wallet. Grégory inevitably ends up hanging from the sill above a crowd of [[Oh Crap|terrified onlookers]] before falling and landing in a hedge, unharmed. Suffice to say, the mother, upon seeing her child in the hedge, promptly passes out. As this film is more or less a social commentary about the world children inhabit that adults often fail to see, the Adult Fear is played completely straight.

* ''[[The Pursuit of Happyness]]'' depicts a father trying really, really hard to provide for his kid, and failing. There's no zombie apocalypse, no external mustache-twirling villain, just the inexorable facts of the matter and a string of bad luck. He ends up with his son in a subway-station closet, hiding from the elements and hoping they'll be able to stay there overnight. If you've ever been responsible for providing for another human being, this is ''terrifying''.

* Discussed in [[Parenthood]]: Kevin suffers severe anxiety issues as a gradeschooler, in part, because he "was first" and his parents frantically over-protected him as a child.

 

** When Leia has her third child, the [[Dark Empire|reborn Emperor Palpatine]] chases after her and the baby so he can replace its soul and take over the infant's body. He doesn't want to kill the baby -- he wants to ''[[Grand Theft Me|replace]]'' it.

* [[The Bible|New Testament.]] Herod ordering the murder of all the newborn babies.

*** And earlier, Joseph's [[Secret Test of Character]] for his brothers... which involves the youngest of all of them, Benjamin.

* This makes ''[[Coraline (novel)|Coraline]]'' arguably more frightening for adults than it is for children. For children, it has fairly standard [[Aesop|Aesops]] about [[Be Careful What You Wish For|being careful what you wish for]] and being wary of strangers. For adults, it's about how failing to pay attention to a child can result in the child's kidnapping and death. [[Word of God]] states that this was intentional, and indeed, was Gaiman's primary reason for authoring the story -- namely, scaring the pants off parents while leaving kids merely a little creeped out.

** Arguably most of the series could count. The books center around preteen children who are stalked by monsters, cursed, subjected to [[Body Horror]], kidnapped, and all sorts of other horrible things, and very rarely have parents or [[Adults Are Useless|adults in general]] who can help them. It gets to the point where the above-mentioned blog has a "Questionable Parenting" section.

* [[Stephen King]] draws on this a lot. ''[[The Shining]]'', for example, deals with Jack Torrance's fear of hurting his wife and son, of failing as a writer, of becoming crazy and/or [[The Alcoholic|an alcoholic]], etc.

* ''[[A Clockwork Orange (novel)|A Clockwork Orange]]'': In addition to the aforementioned elements shared by the movie, the book features, among other things, a chapter in which Alex rapes a pair of young girls, and graphic descriptions of the [[World War II]] footage he is forced to watch as part of his "treatment".

* ''[[Two Weeks With the Queen]]'' is told from the perspective of the young Colin, who takes a long time to understand what's going on. However, the focus on the book is still a very adult fear: living knowing you are going to lose your brother (Colin), your child (his parents), or your life partner (Ted).

* The ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' series, despite being [[What Do You Mean It's for Kids?|aimed at children]], has ''plenty'' of moments that scare the parents more than the kids, and a lot of them have to do with child abuse, [[Parental Abandonment]], and not being able to protect or take care of your own children. Most of this probably came from Rowling's own fears as a mother (and especially as a single mother, having broken off an ''abusive'' marriage.).

** It's very easy to see ''why'' Molly Weasley goes full [[Mama Bear]] during the Battle of Hogwarts. ''Not my daughter, you BITCH'', indeed. After all, we saw her boggart in the [[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and The Order of The Phoenix|fifth book]] - {{spoiler|her family dead.}} Not to mention, {{spoiler|she lost her two brothers in the last war, one of the Weasley twins has just died, and the daughter she so desperately wanted after having several sons is apparently the next one...}}

** Fenrir Greyback. In the book he just manages to edge out Bellatrix in the bone-deep creepiness category. In [[Harry Potter (film)|the movie]] he's downright disturbing, especially with Hermione. This was entirely intentional on Rowling's part.

** The flashbacks to the night Lily and James were killed, full stop. The two died in total fear, but doing their best to protect their infant son. In the end, they weren't able to hold back the guy who broke into their house at all. If it weren't for [[The Power of Love]] and Lily's [[Mama Bear]] [[Dying Moment of Awesome]], they would have had no way to protect baby Harry at all.

** When you're a kid, the scene in the [[Harry Potter/Harry Potter and The Philosopher's Stone|first novel]] with Harry seeing his family in the mirror is interesting and sort of sad. When you're older it kind of makes you want to cry.

** Xenophilius Lovegood is a whole lot more tragic in ''Deathly Hallows'' because of this. {{spoiler|"They took my Luna, and I don't know if I'll get her back!" The poor guy nearly blows up his house trying to catch the trio, but ''not'' out of ill will towards them... but only so he can save his poor daughter from being imprisoned by Death Eaters.}}

** Narcissa Malfoy's most prominent and sympathetic role in the story comes from her attempts to save Draco from the power of Voldemort. So much that {{spoiler|she managed to ''lie to the face of Voldemort'' so Draco would live.}}

** ''[[Order of the Phoenix]]'', full stop: there's a catastrophe looming in the horizon but the government is too scared/incompetent to do anything about so it just decides to pretend it doesn't exist, manipulate the media into discrediting those trying to warn people about it, send [[Tyrant Takes the Helm|bureaucrats]] to force institutions to leave people ''less'' prepared for the catastrophe and finally just start arresting people who keep insisting.

* In Terry Pratchett's [[Discworld/Hogfather|Hogfather]] the entire reason the {{spoiler|Boogeyman, the living embodiment of the "monster under the bed" type scare, became the Tooth Fairy}} was to protect children from real monsters like [[Psychopathic Manchild|Teatime]].

* [[Thomas Ligotti]]'s short story "The Frolic" plays into both this ''and'' [[Cosmic Horror Story|existential terror]] with the walking, talking slab of undiluted [[Paranoia Fuel]] that is "John Doe". Think of ''[[Fate Worse Than Death|the worst thing]]'' that someone could possibly do [[Would Hurt a Child|to a child.]] Now, think of [[Complete Monster|someone who does this. Often.]] Someone that does this [[Obliviously Evil|without even knowing]] [[Blue and Orange Morality|that it's even slightly wrong]]. Someone (or rather ''something'') that [[Humanoid Abomination|may not even be human]]. [[Play-Along Prisoner|His capture, he says, is merely time for him to rest.]] Now, imagine that, for what ever reason, he just ''knows'' that you have a daughter...

* ''[[A Little Princess]]'' is about a young girl named Sarah who is forced into a life of servitude after her father dies and leaves her apparently penniless and with no other living relatives. {{spoiler|And his closest and most trusted friend and business partner believes it's ''his'' fault that he supposedly lost the fortune and drove his friend to die. He wants to find his friend's daughter (Sarah) and take care of her because he feels he owes her father that much, and is worried for her safety. But he has no idea where she even ''is,'' or even if she's within the country! His search for her lasts ''years.'' Arguably it's even worse in Cuaron's movie version, where her father is alive and living next store, but due to his injuries and trauma he's suffering from memory loss. When Sarah is running from the police and hides in the house, she recognizes him and starts crying and trying to get him to remember her as she's dragged away to be arrested. He remembers her at the last minute, but still!}}

** Don't forget how {{spoiler|Catelyn sees her eldest son Robb being '''horrifyingly''' killed in front of her. And ''then'' she also gets killed off. And ends up [[Came Back Wrong|coming back wrong]].}}

* ''[[Bridge to Terabithia]]'', period. The idea that a [[Cheerful Child|cheerful, friendly, imaginative and full of life child]] suddenly dies in a freak, ''senseless'' accident ( {{spoiler|best swimmer in a class drowning in creek shallow enough to ''walk'' through}}) is utterly terrifying to parents, especially since said child did nothing to deserve death. "Bonus" points for this being the only child.

** Another terrifying point is that the whole is [[Based on a True Story]]. {{spoiler|It was a lightning in reality making it even '''more''' tragic. One minute that little girl is happily playing on a beach, the next [[Tear Jerker|there is a corpse...]]}}

* In [[The Green Knowe Chronicles|The Stones of Green Knowe]], the protagonist, Roger, at one point sees what he thinks is his own village being massacred, with his family slaughtered. Despite the fact that Roger is only a child in the story, this would have been a very realistic fear for anyone at the time the novel takes place (the twelfth century), as well as in parts of the world today.

** Pausewang is very fond of this trope. Compare also: ''Die letzten Kinder von Schewenborn'' (The Last Children of Schewenborn), which describes the aftermath of an implied nuclear war with all its horrors {{spoiler|(the protagonist's family save his father dies one after another while suicides, murders, radiation sickness and starvation deaths happen all around him)}}, and ''Der Schlund'' (The Abyss), which is set in a Germany that falls pray to another fascist regime a la Third Reich. The protagonist here {{spoiler|loses her entire family to the regime and essentially commits suicide-by-proxy at the end.}}

* ''[[The Hunger Games (novel)|The Hunger Games]]'' centres around Katniss who takes on a motherly role for her young sister prematurely due to her father dying in a mining accident and her mother's ensuing depression. To feed the family she breaks the law and increases her odds of being picked for the deadly games. But because this is a [[Crapsack World]], the sister is picked for the Games anyway, so Katniss volunteers as sacrifice, knowing she'll never win and her family will be left without a provider. Harrowing enough but then {{spoiler|her younger sister dies in the revolution Katniss starts - likely at the hands of the man Katniss loved}}.

** Just the thought of it being ''your'' kid chosen for the [[Deadly Game]]...

* What about [[The Raven (poem)|never being able to see someone you love]] - ever?

* The ''[[Knight and Rogue Series]]'' has a woman who collects mentally handicapped children to experiment on, since the law is more likely to miss perfectly normal kids or adults.

* ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' deals with this a couple times. The forest is dangerous, so it's always frightening to the characters when a young cat disappears... one mother has to deal with the fact that her daughter's hindlegs are paralyzed so she'll never live a normal life and might die early... another mother's kits go missing, and she's forced to realize that her mate may have kidnapped them to live with him.

* ''[[Those That Wake]]'' had ''everyone'' forgetting about teenage Laura, even her parents. And at the end of the book, {{spoiler|they still don't remember}}.

* [[House of Leaves]] has many scary things going on, most noticably the [[Nothing Is Scarier]] aspects. But perhaps the most insidious facet of the book's creepiness is the fact that these terrible things are all going on in a family home. {{spoiler|And then the children start changing. And also the claustrophobia, and the steadily escalating insanity that's probably the only thing of these that's actually happening.}}

* Fay Woolf's short stories "Slowly" (about a child being trapped beneath a fairground ride - {{spoiler|engineers try to free him but then discover the machine sliced him into a pile of body parts, which rain down upon the rescuers}}) and "Sideshow" (about a boy suffocating to death during a party game at a school fair.) The events of both stories are described in such a way as to hold off the full horror until the end, and they are reasonably unlikely to happen - but still perfectly plausible and possible. Not fun for any parents reading.

* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'': A moment that could fill any parent with terror was in the first season, when a toddler is tempted into climbing inside a fridge which then closes. Cue mother looking for child, and taking a looong time to find that child. ([[Infant Immortality|The child survives]], but still...)

** Later seasons get less and less quick to enforce [[Infant Immortality]], and children are more often either possessed, hurt, used, or more than one of the above. Several episodes have dealt with what happens when the child itself is a danger, such as with the need to kill or scar one's soul for life. Why? Because the universe ''doesn't care'' about age.

* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Turn Left", Western civilization devolves into a police state and things get increasingly bleak with war and economic depression. {{spoiler|It turns out it was a parallel universe, a nightmare realm, and Donna manages to return history to its old, proper course. But still.}}

*** Not just the holocaust - there was a very disturbing 9/11 parallel as well, with the mushroom cloud rising above London, while people look to the distance and can't quite believe what is happening.

** Plot holes aside, "Gridlock" becomes very disturbing, in a peculiar fashion, if you start thinking about being stuck in an inescapable traffic jam that will ''never, ever end'' (maybe you have to drive into to work to appreciate it).

*** [[It Got Worse|It gets worse]] at the end of the season. {{spoiler|Remember how the crack erases people from existence? Yeah, it got Amelia's parents. Imagine being removed from reality itself. Your own daughter won't remember that you ''ever existed''.}}

** "A Good Man Goes To War" has an even worse one for Amy and Rory. {{spoiler|Not only does their baby get kidnapped, when it seems like they've saved her it turns out that the bad guys swapped her with a flesh copy that literally ''dissolves in Amy's arms'' And it gets worse; Amy & Rory don't see their child again until she is already an adult; an adult deliberately raised to be a sociopath.}}

** Adult fears are also treated humorously with Calvin using them as ideas for his Halloween costumes: a barrel of toxic waste, and nothing (just a child; think of what he and his generation receiving questionable influences will have grown up into when the adults he's trick-or-treating are old and weak).

* Several times in [[FoxTrot]]. One arc had Roger coming home from work to find Andy and Jason gone. Paige tells him they're at the hospital, and that Jason was hit by a car. Of course, she meant to say it was a ''toy'' car (Jason had gotten hit on the chin with one and needed stitches), but Roger doesn't know that and promptly tears outta there to see Jason at the hospital. Then there's the arc where Peter goads Jason into going onto the roof, Jason loses footing and falls off, hitting his head and having to go to the hospital for supervision; Paige and Jason finding a needle at the beach (they throw it out, which freaks Andy out because she fears they accidentally pricked themselves when they did); Paige going to the dance with a lecherous date who ''clearly'' wants to have his way with her...

* The cartoonist [[Quino]], uses it in several strips, like [http://www.animationshow.com/forums/index.php?showtopic=1468 this one]. For those who don't understand Spanish: {{spoiler|It's about a teenager who rebels against having to study [[Greek Mythology]] by saying that "he has nothing to do with it", and instead asks for permission to drive his father's car to a party, his father reluctantly agrees and when he leaves... his father starts reading the studies book and the story of [[wikipedia:Pha%C3%ABton|Phaëton]]}}. The man's face in the third-to-last panel says it all.

 

** ''[[Silent Hill: Shattered Memories]]'', the (very liberal) [[Video Game Remake|remake]] of the original game, takes this even further, as the game actually focuses on a veritable cornucopia of [[Adult Fear|Adult Fears]] - loss of family, social alienation, substance addiction, deterioration of love, sexual insecurities, death, the works - even more than monsters, and the occult theme {{spoiler|is axed entirely from the plot}}.

** ''[[Silent Hill 2]]'' is about a man who has been deeply changed by his wife's early death. {{spoiler|The fact that James ''killed her'' is another Adult Fear: the fear of failing a loved one and of selfishness. James's guilt is overwhelming, hence his punishment.}} Due to his wife's long sickness James is also sexually frustrated, and angry and guilty enough about it that the town creates a ''physical manifestation'' of his dark impulses toward sexual violence.

* ''[[Live a Live]]'': [[Two Words: Obvious Trope|One spoilered word:]] {{spoiler|Oersted}}. By the end of the relevant chapter, {{spoiler|everyone in the kingdom believes him to be an evil monster after he's manipulated into murdering his king, the only people who believed in him are dead, he's killed his own childhood friend after finding out that said friend had masterminded the above manipulation, simply out of sheer jealousy of Oersted's fame and success. To cap it all off, the woman he loved had just declared her love for said dead friend and given Oersted a rather misplaced [[What the Hell, Hero?|bitching out]] for, basically, not being a better friend to the poor unappreciated guy, and then offs herself.}} After such an emotional roller coaster, he [[Despair Event Horizon|snaps]], [[Humans Are Bastards|so]] [[Unstoppable Rage|very]] [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|spectacularly]]. The Adult Fear sets in when you sympathize with him through the whole thing, and then realize that, if '''''you''''' went through the experience of {{spoiler|having '''''everyone''''' you care about either die for your sake, or viciously turn against you and declare you to be a murderous monster}} like that, you could very well end up in the same boat.

** His [[Famous Last Words|last words]] say it all: "With hatred, anyone can become a demon."

* The adventure horror game ''[[Sanitarium (video game)|Sanitarium]]'' has a strong theme running throughout it of child endangerment. One of the first chapters takes place in an [[Ghost Town|abandoned town]] where all of the adults have disappeared and left the children alone, who are slowly being turned into deformed abominations. That same chapter features the story of a young girl who was killed by her abusive father while the townspeople turned a blind eye. Another chapter has you play as a young girl in a [[Circus of Fear]], and other chapters feature things like alien babies being thrown into a furnace. As the game progresses and you learn more about the main character, you find out that {{spoiler|he and his wife had been searching for a cure for their unborn child, who is suffering from a fatal disease. This is compounded by the fact that the protagonist was severely traumatized by the death of his little sister when he was a boy}}.

** For those of you that can't watch it: [[Complete Monster|Curtis Blackburn]] confronts his former partner Pedro (who has turned against him) and reveals that {{spoiler|he killed (and probably raped) Pedro's wife - ''in front of his son'' - before killing his ''son'' as well. At the same time he mocks them, commenting on his wife's "unique" mole and calling his son a "sissy" for not trying to save his mother. When Pedro babbles his daughter's name, Curtis tosses him ''''' his daughter's head'''''. Curtis then kills Pedro, but by that point the man probably welcomed it.}}

** Not to mention it's later shown that Curtis kidnaps and rapes young girls. And then makes hauntingly creepy taxidermy dolls out of them.

** And Susie, who seemed to have had a decent life but ''killed her own mother'' just because she wanted her to ''go to school''. A reminder than no matter how good a parent you are, sometimes your kid can turn into a [[Complete Monster]].

* For those who are lonely and/or prone to depression, there's probably nothing scarier than the ending of ''[[Yume Nikki]]''. In a nutshell, {{spoiler|Madotsuki finally kills herself, and the only ones who mourn her are the monsters from her dreams}}.

* ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2's'' mission "Of Their Own Accord" opens with an automated public service broadcast as {{spoiler|the Ultranationalists invade the United States.}} That single PSA broadcast is enough to scare the piss out of anyone viewing it, because it indicates just how far along the "To Shit" meter everything has gone.

* ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'' runs on nearly every dark trope ever, and this one is no exception. Listing every character that plays on an adult fear would take a page of its own, so sticking to party members:

** In a very long fantasy metaphor for abusive personalities, the Nameless One destroys everything he touches and hurts everyone he cares about. No matter how much some of his incarnations might want to, he will never be able to stop. {{spoiler|He finally does stop...by committing suicide.}}

*** Deionarra is a literal [[Love Martyr]], but what sends this into Adult Fear territory is that her relationship isn't some [[Fantastic Aesop]] -- she's simply so enthralled with romance she doesn't realize her lover's true nature until it's too late... rather like many real world people in abusive relationships.

* A recent trailer for the upcoming game ''[[Dead Island]]'', has a man desperately trying to save his wife and young daughter from the zombies. [[Tear Jerker|None of them survive.]] [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZqrG1bdGtg Watch it here.]

** You know how in [[Real Life]], serial killers tend to be people the victims know, right? Well, the guy pulling the strings here is none other than {{spoiler|Tooru Adachi, Dojima's partner. He's visited the Dojima residence on at least two occasions as a seemingly-trustworthy guy, and knows Nanako very well...}}

*** Adult, nothing. That bit is meant to set up Adult Fears in the gamer playing a high-school student - and it ''does''. {{spoiler|Nanako}} is set up brilliantly as a constant, pleasant, cheerful part of the game. {{spoiler|Not hearing her voice when you get home from school is first scary (when she's lost) and then extremely sad (when she's laid up in the hospital).}} '''No''' teenager should have to deal with that - and it would be a cold-hearted person (or one not paying that much attention to the story) that didn't feel some of the fear and loss in those scenes.

** Even more so: {{spoiler|if you want to give in and punish her kidnapper? You will get '''the Bad Ending''' and Nanako will die. It's a really easy option and one that many newbies are likely to take, and then BAM. Kid is 100% dead, and you'll lose the chance to get her "fixed".}}

** What, just the Protagonist? It may be less spectacular, but the interaction with Mrs. Hisako Kuroda touches pretty close on {{spoiler|how awful it is to watch your spouse die before you, as well as the pain of old age and having a loved one suffer from memory loss. Yeah, Mr. Kuroda had ''Alzheimers'', thank you. (Even if it's not treated by name)}}.

* ''[[Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney|Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney]]: Justice For All'', Case 4. So I heard you like {{spoiler|defending a client who is clearly a [[Complete Monster]] and having your dear partner's life depend on his acquittal.}}

** Just ask real attorneys, who will most likely find themselves defending a guy {{spoiler|like Matt}}. The scary and sad part comes when the miracle most likely won't ever happen for them.

** The first game has Dee Vasquez, who has ties to [[The Mafia]]. Towards the end of the last investigation day, {{spoiler|when Phoenix and Maya uncover some critical evidence, Vasquez summons her Mafia goons and orders them [[Deadly Euphemism|"erased"]]--a cruel reminder of how terrifying organized crime can be. Only a [[Big Damn Heroes]] moment by Gumshoe prevents a premature end to Phoenix's and Maya's lives.}}

*** The third game has Furio Tigre who is also a gangster and also, {{spoiler|almost erased Phoenix (again saved only by an opportunistic entrance of Gumshoe)}}.

* The ''[[Ace Attorney]]'' games also can raise fears about, "what if the person you either love or are starting to love is actually a much worse person than you think they are?" It obviously gets taken to ridiculous extremes in a series of murder mysteries.

** In Justice for All, {{spoiler|Celeste Inpax}} gets burned by two different people because of this, and {{spoiler|Juan would have found out that Adrian was just using him if he hadn't gotten killed (though plenty would argue that he was worse than her)}}. It's sort of averted when you find out that {{spoiler|Regina getting Bat "killed" was an accident}}.

* An old one for video games, but has to be said. ''[[King's Quest III]]'' has Graham paralyzed by grief. His son was kidnapped from his cradle and enslaved by his enemies ''somewhere,'' his kingdom has been burnt to cinders by a dragon that his best efforts cannot defeat with innocents suffering and dying on his watch...and then his only remaining child offers herself up as a [[Human Sacrifice]]. The canonical game doesn't play it up, but the [[Fan Remake]] games and [[Fan Sequel]] ''[[The Silver Lining (video game)|The Silver Lining]]'' don't make an attempt to downplay it.

* ''[[Fire Emblem Akaneia]]'' has a main villain, Lang, who not only massacres whole villages if one person rebels, but kills boys and ''rapes'' girls. You can imagine how well ''that'' was taken by Marth and his group. It's also invoked in the backstory of Lena's pupil Maillesia (which involved her going into hiding and having to pretend she's much younger than she truly is to avoid him or his troops) and in Yubello and Yumina's (as the fallen heirs of Ludvick, Lang and others kill their guardian and then use them as pawns)

* The ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral]]'' games bring up the {{spoiler|"child hunts".}} An horrifying project in which boys and girls from all the Jugdral continent are {{spoiler|kidnapped, brought to different cities, and then are forced to fight until they die. The few who survive will end up as nobles of the empire, which will be few more that puppets for the Lopto Sect.}} The parents are more often than not killed when they try to oppose to this. The heroes, several of them being very young teenagers not much older than these kids, have to fight themselves to save these poor kids (and in Thracia, more than one chara who joins the troupe actually does so ''specifically'' either to thanks them for saving the children, or to make up for having been in the side of the Empire); meanwhile, more than one villain in the game is [[Even Evil Has Standards|troubled by the existence of such deals]], and those who aren't are pretty much [[Complete Monster|Complete Monsters]].

** Even worse for {{spoiler|Emperor Alvis, whose teenaged son Julius ''is the leader of the child hunts''. In fact, the boy is actually the vessel for the Lopto God, and has pretty much stripped Alvis of his authority so he can't do almost anything about it.}}

** King Trabant is [[Genre Savvy]] enough to ''exploit'' adult fears, and does so twice. In the first part, the whole {{spoiler|Yied Massacre}} happens when Trabant attacks {{spoiler|Ethlin, Cuan, and their troops}} and, after killing {{spoiler|Ethlin}}, he stages a cruel [[Sadistic Choice]] to {{spoiler|Cuan}}: either he {{spoiler|drops his powerful Gaebolg lance}} or {{spoiler|his three year old daughter and heiress Altenna dies}}; as a result, {{spoiler|Cuan drops the Gaebolg... only for Trabant to kill him anyway and take both little girl and sacred weapon to his kingdom}}. In the second part he forces a powerful general named Hannibal to fight Celice's group via taking his adoptive son {{spoiler|(Sylvia's son Corple, or his [[Expy]] Sharlow if she died childless)}} as a hostage; either Hannibal wipes out the rebels, or his child dies. {{spoiler|So you first have to find and release the kid, then send him out to talk to Hannibal so he can join Celice's troops too. Otherwise, you lose two recruitable characters. (And if Corple's dad is either Levin or Claud, you will ''also'' lose a valious Sacred Weapon: either the [[Blow You Away|Holsety tome]] or [[Back From the Dead|the Valkyrie Staff]])}}

** Aless is also brutally slapped to the face with one of these, when {{spoiler|his prospect love interest and companion Leen (or her [[Expy]] Laylea) is incarcerated by their boss Bramsel, who is a known [[Dirty Old Man]].}} As Aless finds out, he [[Not So Stoic|LOSES it]] and rushes back to the castle, despite his leader Jabarro's warnings. {{spoiler|It's strongly implied that, while he finds Leen/Laylea mostly unharmed, she has already been molested or downright raped by Bramsel.}}

** Preceded in ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl|Pokemon Platinum]]'' by a post-game encounter with an elderly man who laments that he knew his grandson was living in an emotionally unhealthy home (whether it was abusive or just that severely neglectful is left to speculation), but didn't do anything to help until it was already too late to save him. It's heavily implied that his grandson is Cyrus, the [[Big Bad]] of the game. Imagine living with the guilt of knowing you could have prevented that and ''didn't''.

* In ''[[Deus Ex]]'' the player has the option to read the emails of a cyborg government agent. In one email he expresses fears about new innovation's in cybernetics that will render him obsolete and useless thus forcing the government to fire him and leaving him without specialist care he requires to function.

== Web Original ==

* ''[[Snopes]]'' has an entire collection of Urban Legends with this trope in mind under the [http://www.snopes.com/horrors/parental/parental.asp Parental Nightmares] section.

* [[The Nostalgia Critic]]'s kindergarten drawing of his parents as monsters bloodily tearing him apart has a tendency to affect real life parents more than the teenagers of his fanbase.

* [[Potter Puppet Pals]] parodies the whole concept of Adult Fear in "Harry's Nightmares", where, nestled in among the bizarre and occasionally juvenile ("In one dream, I was ''middle aged!'' Yuck!") traumas that haunt his noggin, was the dream he had where he gave birth to Ron, and raised him from infancy, but one day, he misplaced him, and that terrified him, because it meant he had failed as a parent.

** The episode where Lisa finds a beached whale and tries desperately to save it hits us with the "not every life can be saved and parents can't solve everything" message, made even more painful by Lisa's [[Hope Spot]] dream where [[Bumbling Dad]] Homer of all people rescues the whale by organizing a ton of different people for the sole purpose of making Lisa happy

** In "5000 Keys", Maggie is locked alone in the car. {{spoiler|Of course, she's smart enough to get out on her own, but it's still pretty scary}}.

* ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]'': ''[http://bit.ly/kuxK25 Operation: W.H.I.T.E.H.O.U.S.E.]''. A young idealistic rebel wakes up one day and discovers that he has grown old and respectable and abandoned his ideals. His old comrades have become corrupt supporters of [[The Man]], he is married to a shrew who used to be his girlfriend, his son despises him, his best friend has been driven insane by his betrayal and {{spoiler|he is faced with the choice of crossing the [[Moral Event Horizon]] or be destroyed.}}

* In ''[[DuckTales]]'' episode "Nothing to Fear", Magica DeSpell used real-life images of Uncle Scrooge & co.'s worst fears to descend upon them. For Uncle Scrooge, this took the form of being told by Huey, Dewey and Louie that they secretly couldn't stand him and they only wanted his money, for HD&L it was that unca Scrooge never loved them.

* ''[[Justice League]]''. "The Enemy Below". {{spoiler|Aquaman in a [[Death Trap]]}} is bad enough, but {{spoiler|Aquaman ''and his baby'' in a [[Death Trap]]?}} HOLY SHIT!, [[Big No|NOOOOOOOOOO.]]

** Just like him, [[Memetic Mutation|you WOULDN'T hesitate. AT ALL!!]]

* Also, in ''[[Batman Beyond]]'' we have {{spoiler|Return of the Joker. With Tim being kidnapped and then completely '''destroyed''' by [[The Joker]].}} Again, [[Big No|NOOOOOOOOOO!]]

* In ''[[Scooby-Doo! Mystery Incorporated]]'', {{spoiler|it turns out that Fred Jones Sr. ''kidnapped Fred as a child'', taking him away from his real parents and feeding lie after lie to him, bringing the issue of parents not just lying to you, but not really owning you and treating you that way}}.

** An episode where Rarity has to spend a week with her much younger sister Sweetie Belle, with her essentially taking a parent role for in every scene they have together. They get on each other's nerves until they declare that they don't want to be sisters anymore, and Sweetie Belle runs away. Rarity soon has a [[My God, What Have I Done?]] moment and heads out to find her, and while the next scene has her doing just that, the fact that her epiphany happened in the daytime and the next scene is at night indicates that she's spent quite a long time desperately searching everywhere in town, worried about what might have happened to her baby sister.

** Then there's season one episode "The Stare Master". The Cutie Mark Crusaders venture into the [[The Lost Woods|Everfree Forest]], in the middle of the night, to find a missing chicken. Fluttershy, who was entrusted with their care, goes after them and bumps into a [[Taken for Granite|petrified]] Twilight Sparkle; she then realizes that a Cockatrice, a very dangerous ''chicken-shaped'' monster, is near...

** And there's Season 4 in general. While the show in general becomes darker as it progresses, Season 4 deals with Finn's changing perspective and feelings. There's something horrifying about watching him unable to process how he feels, as well as his rejections from various girls. It takes this troper back to when I was 13...Not a fun time. Watching him so realistically deal with these issues just makes me feel 13 again. Special mention goes to the episode "Hug Wolves", which is either about rape or sex; either way, it's about being unable to have a proper outlet for your pent up emotions and how it affects your relationships with those around you.

* One episode of the ''[[Dungeons and Dragons]]'' cartoon featured monsters from The Realm kidnapping children on Earth by dragging them through portals under their beds. The episode opens up with a boy being taken while his father desperately and futilely tries to save him.

** And then we have ''Last Illusion''. Varla's parents love her unconditionally even when she's the local [[Master of Illusion]], but since Venger wants her and their neighbors fear her to death, they cannot do anything to save their poor 12-year-old daughter from him. For worse, Varla's powers are such a strain on her that they're apparently ''killing'' her.