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Need a scary and ominous sounding name? End it in "th".
 
For some reason this trope seems to be quite common in English-speaking fiction. Maybe it's because [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Names Ending In Th|Names to Run Away From]] sound mysteriously ancient (due to this trope's prominence in some [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Ancient Dead Languages|Ancient Dead Languages]]: e.g., in [[The Bible]]) or ominously [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Foreign Language Names|foreign]], maybe it's the sinister hissing sound itself... Whatever may be the case, [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Names Ending In Th|Names to Run Away From]] is a sure-fire way to let your audience know: this person/place/artifact is to be feared.
 
It's usually used to denote:
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* something related to:
** demons;
** [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]s;
** gods (most often those who aren't so different from demons or [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]]s);
** dark and forbidden magic.
Sometimes a partial aversion takes place, and we get something from the aforementioned list (e.g., something ancient) that ''isn't'' terrifying or evil.
 
A subtrope of [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast]]. See also [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast/K Names|K Names]], [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast/R Names|R Names]], and [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Xtreme Kool Letterz|Xtreme Kool Letterz]]
{{examples|Examples:}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Bokurano]]'': The kids who pilot it didn't intend to give it scary name, but considering [[Cosmic Horror Story|the context of the story]], [[Humongous Mecha|Zearth]] fits this trope to a T {{spoiler|especially if you're not from the main characters' universe}}.
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[DC Comics]]:
** [[New Gods/Characters|Bernadeth]] of the ''[[New Gods]]''. [[Steven Ulysses Perhero|Guess what she does.]]
* [[Marvel Comics]]:
** ''[[The Mighty Thor]]'':
*** Malekith the Accursed, a supervillain, ruler of the Svartalfar (Dark Elves).
** ''[[Doctor Strange]]'' comics have a lot of those:
*** Shuma-Gorath, an [[Eldritch Abomination]] and a recurring foe of the good doctor. The name "Shuma-Gorath" actually appeared first in a [[Robert E. Howard]] story, where it was mentioned by a magician called Rotath.
*** Yandroth, a powerful malevolent alien scientist-wizard.
*** Lilith (see {{smallcapssmall-caps|[[Mythology]]/[[Religion]]}}) makes an appearance as a powerful demoness. There's also another character called Lilith in [[Marvel Comics]]; she's the daughter of [[Dracula]].
*** Sligguth, a demon.
*** Dagoth, a demon.
*** Hoggoth, as in "[[Catch Phrase|by the hoary hosts of]]"
** ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]''
*** [[X-Men (Franchise)/Villains/Characters/Villains|Sabretooth]].
** ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' comics:
*** Kulan Gath, a powerful evil magician. He also has an apprentice called Razal Gulath.
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== [[Literature]] ==
* The [[Trope Codifier]] here may be [[HPH.P. Lovecraft]], who liked this trope '''a lot''':
** Asenath Waite, from ''The Thing On The Doorstep''. She's perhaps the only human in Lovecraft's works who got a [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Names Ending In Th|Name Ending In Th]]... and that says a lot.
** Azathoth, the Blind Idiot God. A gigantic [[Eldritch Abomination]], that once was a demiurge, but nowadays just dwells somewhere in deep space listening to music.
** Innsmouth, the titular place from ''Shadow Over Innsmouth''. Even though the name is English in origin, the "th" at the end hints that something is [[Incredibly Lame Pun|fishy]] about this place...
** Kadath, from ''The Dream Quest Of Unknown Kadath''. It's the last dwelling of the gods, inaccessible to mere mortals.
** Sarnath, from ''The Doom That Came To Sarnath''. A forgotten ancient city, that, [[Exactly What It Says Onon the Tin|well]]...
** Shoggoth, a type of creatures looking like a giant formless puddle of black goo with a lot of eyes.
** Shub-Niggurath, the Black Goat with a Thousand Young. One of the most well-known Great Old Ones.
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** Yuggoth, aka [[Science Marches On|planet]] Pluto. But it's [[Better Than It Sounds|more terrifying than it sounds]], since in Lovecraft's works Yuggoth is inhabited by all kinds of [[Eldritch Abomination|Eldritch Abominations]].
** Cthulhu is perhaps Lovecraft's most famous creation, a very good reason to run away very quickly from this Great Old One, is that he/it is able to drive anyone that so much as looks at him/it into pure insanity.
* More [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Names Ending In Th|Names to Run Away From]] appeared in the works of other [[Cthulhu Mythos]] authors:
** Abhoth
** Daoloth
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** Planet names include Abbith, Haddath, Kynarth, Xoth, Yaddith and Zaoth.
** The family tree of Tsathoggua, an Old One, includes such names as Cxaxukluth and Ghisguth. Also, Tsathoggua himself lives on a mountain called Voormithadreth.
** The creator of the term [[Cthulhu Mythos]], Lovecraft's associate and horror author [[August Derleth]], even had a [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Names Ending In Th|Name Ending In Th]] himself!
* Averted in [[JRRJ. TolkienR. (Creator)R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s works: words and names ending in 'th' are quite common in his [[Con Langs]], and there are both evil and good ones ending up with such a name. (e.g. [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Mor|Morgoth]] vs Elbereth)
* ''[[Discworld]]'':
** Yob Sodoth (a parody of Yog Sothoth), mentioned in ''Pyramids''.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* ''[[Doctor Who (TV)|Doctor Who]]'':
** The Gelth, from ''[[Doctor Who (TV)/NS/Recap/S1 E3S27/E03 The Unquiet Dead|The Unquiet Dead]]''.
* ''[[Supernatural]]'':
** Lilith, [[Big Bad]] of Seasons 3 and 4.
* ''[[Smallville]]'':
** Saggith, the name used in the Kawatchi legends for [[Superman|the Traveller's]] [[Lex Luthor|best-friend-turned-archenemy]].
* ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'':
** The hell dimension Quor'toth, "the darkest of the dark worlds".
 
== [[Music]] ==
* ''[[Black Sabbath (Music)|Black Sabbath]]''
* ''[[Megadeth (Music)|Megadeth]]''
 
== [[Mythology]]/[[Religion]] ==
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** Wraith, a type of ghost.
* Sith (pronounced shee) is Gaelic for fairy (being derived from Sidhe). Not to say that you shouldn't run away real fast, as Sidhe are known for being cruel pranksters and kidnapping people and livestock.
* [[The Bible]] and related sources have a lot of this; the reason for this is that many Hebrew words end in the letter ''[http[wikipedia://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Taw |tav]]'', as it is a marker for feminine gender (both in the singular and in the plural form ''-ot''). The ''-ot'' version is particularly common, thanks to the [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/Pluralis_excellentiae:Pluralis excellentiae|pluralis excellentiae]], i.e. "calling the singular thing plural to emphasize how awesome/terrible (classical sense) it is".<ref>Examples: ''Behemot''="Wild Beasts"="One hell of a wild beast"; ''Elohim''="gods"=[[God]] Almighty Himself, trying not to piss him off by saying His name.</ref> In Biblical Hebrew, final tav was pronounced ''-th'', which morphed to ''-s'' in Ashkenazi and ''-t'' in many Sephardi/Mizrahi dialects (which eventually became the model for Standard Hebrew).
** Demon names, which include Astaroth, Balberith, Berith, Bileth, Lilith and Obizoth.
** Goliath, a Philistine champion of Gath and all-around badass "whose height was six cubits and a span". During a war he [[Throwing Down the Gauntlet|issued a challenge]] to his enemies: King Saul and the armies of Israel, and he instilled fear in all of them.
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** Seth (or Set), an evil chaos god and the murderer of Osiris.
** Thoth, the god of knowledge and the moon. His name consists of nothing but 2 "th"s separated by a vowel, and his head was that of an Ibis (which most people won't recognize and is only one letter away from Iblis).
** Neith, a goddess of warfare, hunting, and [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|weaving]] (in fact, her name means "weaver"). She eventually also came to be considered a goddess of creation.
 
== [[Tabletop RPG]] ==
* ''[[Dungeons and& Dragons]]'':
** Aboleth, ancient malevolent eel-like aberrations.
** Froghemoth
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** Yugoloth (aka Daemons). Subtypes include: altraloth, arcanoloth, baernaloth, canoloth, charonaloth, dergholoth, echinoloth, gacholoth, hydroloth, marraenoloth, mezzoloth, nycaloth, piscoloth, skeroloth, ultroloth, yagnoloth, and a subgroup called battleloth. The yugoloth leader is called an Oinoloth. One notable yugoloth (an arcanoloth, to be exact) is named Helekanalaith.
** Some monsters that aren't particularly scary: koalinth, kapoacinth, quaggoth.
** Some of the nobility of Hell were given the names of demons from Jewish/Christian/occult sources (see {{smallcapssmall-caps|[[Mythology]]/[[Religion]]}}).
** Deities from the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'' setting, including Azuth (god of magic), Gargauth (god of betrayal and cruelty), Lolth (see above), Kossuth (god of elemental fire). Also, Eldath (goddess of [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|quiet places]]).
* ''[[GURPS Cabal]]''. The Qlippoth, the shells and leftovers of God's first Creation (see Qliphoth in {{smallcapssmall-caps|[[Mythology]]/[[Religion]]}}).
* ''[[Magic: theThe Gathering]]'' has [[Emperor Scientist|Y]][[Evilutionary Biologist|a]][[Machine Worship|w]][[Morally -Ambiguous Doctorate|g]][[God of Evil|m]][[Dimension Lord|o]][[The Ineffable|t]][[Big Bad|h]].
* In ''[[Munchkin (Tabletop Gamegame)|Munchkin]] Cthulhu'', if a player faces a monster whose name ends with -oth, any player can put another monster of this kind, so the player needs to defeat (or run away from) both.
 
== [[Theater]] ==
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== [[TV Tropes]] ==
* [[HomeThis PageExists (Darth Wiki)|Darth Wiki]] (see {{smallcapssmall-caps|[[Film]]}}).
* [[Lady Macbeth]]
 
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* The ''[[Castlevania]]'' series:
** Garamoth/Galamoth, the Lord of Space, a terrifying dinosaur-like creature. It first appeared as the final boss in a parody spin-off, ''[[Kid Dracula]]''. However, in ''[[Symphony of the Night]]'', Galamoth was reimagined as a giant horrible monster.
** Lossoth, though deriving its name from a non-frightening icy land in [[JRRJ. TolkienR. (Creator)R. Tolkien|JRR Tolkien]]'s books, is a rather powerful demon in ''Castlevania''.
* ''[[Darkstalkers (Video Game)|Darkstalkers]]'':
** Lilith (see {{smallcapssmall-caps|[[Mythology]]/[[Religion]]}})
* ''[[Deadlock]]'':
** Cyth, a tyrannical race of mysterious mind-controlling sinister beings.
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** Malacath, god of orcs.
** Sheogorath, god of madness.
** [[Affably Evil|Dagoth]] [[The Faceless|Ur]], betrayer of the Dunmer gods and secret leader of the Sixth House in {{''[[Morrowind}}]]''.
* The ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series:
** Exdeath from ''[[Final Fantasy V]]''.
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** Nihilanth, a freaky-looking [[Eldritch Abomination]] from the world of Xen.
* ''[[League of Legends]]'' has Cho'gath.
* ''[[Mass Effect (Video Game)|Mass Effect]]'':
** The Geth, a race of artificial creatures with a network mind who have successfully rebelled against their creators. They're secretive and very alien, but not outright evil and terrifying, so this may be a partial aversion.
** Played straight with [[Complete Monster|Morinth.]]
* [[Soul Series (Video Game)/Characters|Astaroth]] from ''[[Soul Series|Soulcalibur]]''.
* ''[[World of Warcraft]]'':
** The [[Eldritch Abomination|Old God]] N'Zoth and the minions Soggoth and Iso'rath.
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== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Averted in ''[[Hoodwinked]]'' with the not-so-scary Keith.
{{quote| '''Goodie Bandit''': And Keith!... Darn it, change your name. Please? That's not scary, and I'm embarrassed to say it. "Boris." Try that. *Keith storms off* Keith, you know. Oh... watch out for Keith!}}
 
== [[Real Life]] ==
* Mammoth. Just ask your Ice Age ancestors.
** Or perhaps you should [[Humans Are Cthulhu|ask the mammoths about said ancestors]]--they were probably more scared of humans than the other way around, given that we snacked on them to the point of extinction.
* [http://en.[wikipedia.org/wiki/:Coelacanth |Coelacanth]] looks pretty terrifying, too. It's actually your closest relative among the fish (with the lungfish), and fairly harmless.
* Some English words like "death", "wrath", [[Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking|"math"]], etc.
* The Goths, while a rather ordinary European barbarian tribe, gave their name to some art styles traditionally associated with something scary: e.g., gothic architecture, gothic script, and gothic literature (not to mention a certain youth subculture).
* Methamphetamine (meth), one of the world's most addictive and dangerous drugs.
* Ruth. *shudder*
 
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{{quote|<small>Back to, not away from, [[{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]]</small>}}
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Names to Run Away From Really Fast{{ROOTPAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Names Ending In Th{{SUBPAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Names To Run Away From]]
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