Adult Fear: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

 

* 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!]]

* ''[[Detective Conan (Manga)|Detective Conan]]'' has several things involving Conan or other children being in danger. Conan has been held at gunpoint or knifepoint by a murderer or taken hostage several times, and more than once said murderer would have no problem [[He Knows Too Much|silencing Conan or another child]] for being witnesses.

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

** Not to mention there's the Murdered Stage Magician case. {{spoiler|The victim's six-year-old daughter, whom the killer sort-of used to make the victim surrender to him so they could kill him? The little girl has disappeared. ''And the murderer is the one who has her''. It's a BIG relief when said killer brings her back unharmed.}}

* ''[[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.

** 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...

* Ryuunosuke and Caster in ''[[Fate Zero]]'' are this trope incarnate. They're basically ''serial child murderers'' who like to give their victims a [[Hope Spot]] before brutally killing them. In one episode, you even see a memorial service for one of the victims, who happens to be one of the young Rin's classmates. It's just a single photo frame, and you hear someone mention that they coundn't do a proper burial because the body was too mangled. It gets so bad that, in-universe, a reward is offered to whoever can kill Caster first, and the ''entire Holy Grail War'' is put on hold until then. Cue nearly everyone doing an [[Enemy Mine]] to take these two down.

* In ''Kodomo no Jikan'', despite [[Wife Husbandry|all]] [[Kissing Cousins|Reiji's]] [[Yandere|faults]], when Rin is in any danger, real or imaginary, he really freaks out. On the other hand, Reiji himself is no small cause of nightmares, with his disturbing and unhealthy interest in Rin.

* While it's generally [[Played for Laughs]], it's heavily implied in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' that the nations have no choice but to obey their bosses, meaning that the characters all live in a world where their best friends or even family members could turn on them in an instant. When the series was in its webcomic format, it was played ''very'' seriously in [http://hetalia.livejournal.com/2977183.html the story of China and Japan]. China raises Japan and considers him a little brother, only for Japan to show up in the middle of the night and attack China with a katana. China has ''no idea at all'' this is coming, and is inviting Japan inside for some food when the blade is drawn.

* ''[[An American Tail]]'' is full of this, particularly after Fievel sneaks onto the deck of a ship in a raging storm and his father watches helplessly as he's washed overboard.

* In the ''[[The Secret of NIMH]]'', it's scary enough for the single mother Mrs. Brisby having to deal with her terminally ill son, but during the climax when her children are stuck in their cement block house and it's sinking into the mud the fear is amped up ten-fold.

* In ''[[Beauty and The Beast (Disney)|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]].}}

* The ''[[Anita Blake]]'' series has an example of this in the first book, ''Guilty Pleasures''. Anita is hopping through, having a genuine [[Worthy Opponent]] moment with Jean-Claude, who can actually [[Mind Control|roll]] her, if briefly. Then she meets [[Big Bad|Nikolaos]]. Nikolaos doesn't try to convince Anita that she's seeing something she isn't. She tries to convince Anita that she ''is'' some''one'' she isn't. And Anita is conscious enough to realize what's happening, but not quite enough to stop it on her own. It's a boogeyman doing bad things, yeah...it's also someone putting you in a position where even someone who was as calm as Anita was incapable of fighting back, and has no reason to expect help. Oh, and Nikolaos looks like a child, and was springing between innocent and [[B-Movie]] villain before that.

* ''[[Battle Royale]]'' (and by extension, ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'' and any other works based off of it). The plot revolves around a highschool class being sent on a deserted island and forced to kill each other. And there's nothing you could really do about it, as well; two of the adult characters protested against it in the book and manga, resulting in one getting brutally killed and the other getting raped to silence her. Yikes.

* ''[[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!}}

* Although {{spoiler|Joffrey Baratheon}} in ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' is one of the most hated characters in the series, his death in the books is uncomfortable for many parents because of the very realistic desperation and grief of his {{spoiler|[[Smug Snake]] of a mother, Cersei,}} neatly triggering the fear of one's children dying and illiciting sympathy for both.

** 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.

** Of course, the entire series is built on this from the first episode. Imagine walking into your infant's room late at night and seeing a man standing over his crib. You assume it's your significant other, only to walk away and realise that your husband is downstairs and you have no idea who is in the room behind you or what they're doing with your baby. If that wasn't bad enough, when you run back into your child's room you are pinned to the ceiling and forced to watch as this unknown assailant corrupts your child before slowly killing you and burning you alive...all as you can't help but stare straight down at the baby you were unable to protect.

** It's made all the worse by the obvious Holocaust parallels at one point. The government sends foreigners away to "labour camps" as they're unable to simply deport them. Donna, while agitated, clearly doesn't grasp the situation in full. Her grandfather, Wilfred, lived through WWII and cries as he watches history repeat itself.

*** 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.

** The Doctor The Widow and the Wardrobe pretty much invokes this - your children are lost in the wilderness, with a very strange man you don't trust, and now people are telling you that the whole area is about to become horrifically dangerous and anyone within is doomed. When {{spoiler|Madge pulls a gun on them, the workers don't believe for a second that she'd use it. Until she says the words "[[Mama Bear|I'm looking for my children]]". Then they know she is ''very'' serious}}.

* The ''[[Torchwood (TV)|Torchwood]]'' five-part story ''Children of Earth'' features the kidnap of children to send to the 456, at the approval of the government. At the conclusion, {{spoiler|one child is sacrificed horribly to avert this}}.

* ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'' posits the very, very real fear that your children could be targeted by a variety of threats, including rapist pirates and the government - which also brings up hefty fears of government repression and regulation.

** There's also the fact that the Tam siblings are forced to basically become outlaws because their own parents would turn them back to the Alliance, despite the clear evidence that the Academy was doing horrible things to River. This plays off of the fear of child abuse and children being unable to rely on their parents for sufficient protection.

* The first season finale of ''[[Lost (TV)|Lost]]'' has Michael's son Walt ''stolen right out of his hands'' and abducted by the Others for unknown purposes, before they torch the raft to ensure they can't be followed.

* In ''[[How I Met Your Mother (TV)|How I Met Your Mother]]'', Marshall's reaction to {{spoiler|his father's sudden heart attack}} was [[Tear Jerker|sob-inducing]] because it was sudden and unexpected and ''[[Truth in Television|it happens.]]''

 

 

* 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...

* [[Peanuts (Comic Strip)|Charlie Brown]] dealt with quite a lot of adult fears for an eight-year-old -- one arc in particular had him lying, alone, in a hospital bed worrying that he was going to die and that the doctors weren't even going to tell him.

 

 

* ''[[Mother 3 (Video Game)|Mother 3]]''. Imagine your spouse being killed by a creature acting against its own will. Frightening enough. Now imagine your child, only about 7-9 years old, going to avenge their parent's death, and going missing. Imagine never finding him. [[It Gets Worse]] - imagine {{spoiler|said child getting captured and reconstructed into a soulless fighting machine, being used to help ''destroy the world''. [[Up to Eleven|Not done yet,]] the shock is so terrible that you spend years trying to find him, and become withdrawn and distant from the twin who is still with you. Finally, as you have to witness said child attempt to kill you and your other child, eventually coming out of the haze only to decide to commit suicide in front of the other child.}}

** They don't call it "heartrending" for nothing.

** Lots of the NPCs are dealing with very adult issues, and Link gets to see both sides of these things from different NPCs. A father is grieving for the loss of a son who is missing and presumed dead, while a toddler is raging because of the death of his father. A newlywed is about to die and laments that he will never be able to see the his children born, while a child is about to lose her father to a illness. One man can't show his face to his fiancee because he broke a promise, while another has been imprisoned because his lover's family thinks he is responsible for her disappearance. A woman about to be wed fears that her fiancee left because he no longer loves her, while a wife can't work and can barely function because of her husband's disappearance and the deteriorating health of her children (and there is ''nothing she can do about it''.) Guards are torn between doing their job and fleeing for their lives, while soldiers obey orders for a war that has already ended.

*** Link himself is searching for a childhood friend that he may never see again.

* ''[[Nie R]]'' is all about a father desperately trying to save his terminally ill daughter while facing impossible odds.

* 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.

[[Category:Fear Tropes]]

[[Category:Adult Fear]]