The Most Dangerous Monsters Of Fiction
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If you're dropping dragons and Tarrasque, clearly you haven't heard of little something called "Immortal's Handbook" and it's most notorious resident Neutronium Golem.
Staying within the game, though? Her Serenity. She doesn't have any numbers that can be reduced to zero.
Staying within the game, though? Her Serenity. She doesn't have any numbers that can be reduced to zero.
It is hard to argue that the elder gods of the Lovecraft myths are not the most dangerous.
Good thing they are not hellbent on destroying us (your millage may vary here), the same way an elephant is not particularly interested in killing ants, because they could just wipe us out by simply being...
As other has said, there are fates worst than death.
Good thing they are not hellbent on destroying us (your millage may vary here), the same way an elephant is not particularly interested in killing ants, because they could just wipe us out by simply being...
As other has said, there are fates worst than death.
They're actually pretty different, though there are some similarities. They're more similar to the Strogg.Dynast Brass said:
I suggest you go watch SF Debris' review of Hogfather. It's a 2 part video review of the movie, and it's really great. Especially the opening sequence for Part 2, where the narrator does this beautiful sequence of images, along with music, while he recites the poem of the reaper from that book. Seriously, it gives me goose bumps every time I see it.hermes200 said:And then there are other versions that are just so damn lovely:Chimpzy said:
Overall, I would say Death can be quite a decent fellow...
The thing about Nemesis though is that it doesn't need human magic to enter the world. It can infect the Unseelie tasked with manning the wall, and then from that it can infect any human wizard it wants to bring over other Outsiders. I am actually expecting a serious nerf for Nemesis exactly because of this; there just has to be some kind of limit on the infection method or the spread of it (like, the more people it infects, the weaker its grasp becomes on each individual), because otherwise I don't see what keeps it from simply infecting everyone on the planet and enact an impromptu zombie party.Dynast Brass said:
Also, as it was shown with a certain fae, characters infected with Nemesis don't necessarily go all Exorcist; instead it makes them rationalize whatever actions they take and makes them believe it was their own will to do so. Because of this it is quite possible that the Black Council is manipulated by the outsiders from the shadows while they actually believe they are the ones in control.
As for the denarians, it was kinda-sorta hinted at in Skin Game that all their scheming and murder and mayhem and whatnot serves some higher purpose and they mention a certain "enemy" that is not in line with the White God's depictions. My current theory is that the denarians actually rebelled because they wanted to fight the Outsider threat (as the White God is pretty hands-off about practically everything, unless you count all the contrived coincidences surrounding the Knights and some others as his handiwork), and all their efforts at creating mayhem and destruction is all about trying to get the celestial bureaucracy to actually move and hopefully do something about the outsiders once they are on Earth anyway.
Finally, for Shagnasty, I don't think he is going be an important villain. He is practically Bane (the comics version); stronger and faster that the hero, and could easily defeat him in a straight-up fight, but he will ultimately lose because the hero (Batman/Dresden) will actually come up with a plan using his unique resources and allies to take him down. Harry will never beat him in a face-to-face duel (he practically never does that to anyone), but he will beat him by some off-the-wall indy-ploy that will leave him half-dead and people not present thinking he is even more badass than he already is.
Yeah, it wouldn't be the first time Harry was mislead or just not told the whole truth. It was even implied by some older wizards that his magic=life thing is actually just his interpretation and "real magic" is something completely different.Dynast Brass said:
That said, I think Nemesis is different because it is an infiltration agent. It's whole purpose is to get behind enemy lines and let the other outsiders in. It can achieve this two different ways: Take down the Unseelie (so that it would leave the wall unmanned) or have a bunch of wizards let them in through the back door (hence the Black Council's existence), but he literally has to be able to get past the barriers between the world to do either of those. Otherwise it would be a pretty bad infiltrator, wouldn't it?
I can distinctly recall that in Small Favor Harry claims that the ritual the Denarians used to hold Ivy was fueled by Lucifer. Now, Lucifer is generally equated to Satan (they are not, but popular media and even most religious folks don't know the difference), meaning he is working with the Denarians. Uriel also reinforces this notion (or at the very least he doesn't correct Harry, which pretty much amounts to the same.) Why would then Nicodemus refer to him as "The Enemy" and reassure Deirdre that she would be out of his reach in Hades?Dynast Brass said:
Oooooooh... I see. I didn't think of that. It would make some twisted kind of sense, but I am still not really satisfied with the idea. Nicodemus is just way too rational and self-righteous for one. He is not the "rage against the heavens" kind of person, nor does the other fallen really seem to want to break all their bonds to heaven (they still use the "-el" at the end of their names.)Dynast Brass said:
To me it would make much more sense if Nicodemus really did have some sort of over-arching grand plan that would make him into a well-intentioned extremist that ran off the slippery slope a millennium ago instead of just a mustache-twirling villain... But then again, maybe him not having any actual plans is going to be the final twist regarding the Denarians. We'll see.
Also, we are kinda derailing the thread. I think we should stop now before people get angry.
How is the flood not been mentioned yet?
The flood may be your generic parasite villain but...think about it in this regard:
The flood infect and use the host's memories to utilize the technology around them. Essentially they are creatures that not only take over bodies, but minds. They corrupt their corpses into horrific monstrosities and the gravemind, (The thing that is the brains of it all) speaks in grim poetry.
They can survive the vacuum of space and spend countless years surviving on the brink. Even after the Halo rings were fired and their food supply was missing.
Even if you kill the corpse, the parasite can hop from that corpse into another one.
The flood may be your generic parasite villain but...think about it in this regard:
The flood infect and use the host's memories to utilize the technology around them. Essentially they are creatures that not only take over bodies, but minds. They corrupt their corpses into horrific monstrosities and the gravemind, (The thing that is the brains of it all) speaks in grim poetry.
They can survive the vacuum of space and spend countless years surviving on the brink. Even after the Halo rings were fired and their food supply was missing.
Even if you kill the corpse, the parasite can hop from that corpse into another one.
Big ocean. But if group minds count (the Flood was mentioned above), then the X Parasites from Metroid.
Let's see... Immune to most weapons, can fly, can phase through walls. If one touches you, it's gone, but you have maybe a day or two of horrible sickness before you split open and spawn more X, like Xenomorphs without the rape. Except it's worse- they have the ability to replicate the form and abilities of anyone they've ever done this to, including knowledge enough to do a passable impression of them. Destroy the copied form and you still have to deal with the parasite.
Let's see... Immune to most weapons, can fly, can phase through walls. If one touches you, it's gone, but you have maybe a day or two of horrible sickness before you split open and spawn more X, like Xenomorphs without the rape. Except it's worse- they have the ability to replicate the form and abilities of anyone they've ever done this to, including knowledge enough to do a passable impression of them. Destroy the copied form and you still have to deal with the parasite.
I'm going to say Nyarlathotep. He's an H.P. Lovecraft creature that can change shape (prefers to look like an Egyptian Pharaoh), is worshiped by the Mi-Go, and unlike most of H.P.'s creatures, actively knows of humans and toys with them! Now C'Thulhu might be a monster, but it doesn't actively try to mess with people; people just worship it, annoy it, or feed it. Nyarlathotep does. Anything that powerful that can just toy with people is a serious threat.
More The Thing (1982) spoilers...Frezzato said:
Are we even really sure that The Thing is truly damaged by fire, though? The specimen that MacReady and Copper take back from the Norwegian camp was incinerated and yet continued to show cellular activity. I can't remember if it's that specimen or the remains of the Dog-Thing from the kennel that aggressively assimilates Bennings, but either way, both were thought to be torched to death.
And we know for a fact that freezing The Thing doesn't actually kill it, just put it into a hibernation state.
We don't even know if MacReady's efforts in the end actually did anything (assuming that god awful video game is non-canon). By blowing up the camp, all he's doing is spreading chunks of Thing all over the place to freeze and hibernate, and potentially infect any investigation team. Hell, we don't even know if he or Childs is infected in the end, since there are hints throughout that either could be infected. All it would take is for a single Thing cell to reach the ocean and the entire world's pretty much doomed.
And we know for a fact that freezing The Thing doesn't actually kill it, just put it into a hibernation state.
We don't even know if MacReady's efforts in the end actually did anything (assuming that god awful video game is non-canon). By blowing up the camp, all he's doing is spreading chunks of Thing all over the place to freeze and hibernate, and potentially infect any investigation team. Hell, we don't even know if he or Childs is infected in the end, since there are hints throughout that either could be infected. All it would take is for a single Thing cell to reach the ocean and the entire world's pretty much doomed.
ecoho said:
Damn, I was going to say that.
And the worst part is, anything that damages it, it evolves resistance to, so they not only need to urgently find a way to eliminate it, but they have to keep finding new ways to keep it subdued enough to contain it. Then of course it all gets even more terrifying when the lore starts to drop hints about what exactly it is.
But speaking of SCPs, the concept of 096 "The Shy Guy" and 106 "The Old Man" both scare the absolute shit out of me. 096 because of its ability to both automatically know when anyone has seen its face, even a photo, even when the face is visible only as a tiny speck in a picture that wasn't noticed until years after the picture was taken, and then the fact that there is no way for the person who saw the face to not be destroyed. And 106 just because of what a dick he is in the SCP Containment Breach game. Seriously. Hate him.
The Giant Desert Scorpions in Dwarf Fortress are a constant bane of my existence. Just...http://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php/DF2014:Giant_desert_scorpion ugh. Dammit, I hate these things so much. Unlike with Giant Cave Spiders, their sting will puncture all but the best of armor. Dwarfs can be saved from GCS venom, but scorpion venom is invariably fatal within 19-in game hours (or, for the player, about a few seconds). There is no defense. Any creature with a nervous system that is stung will die, be it Dwarf, dragon, anything. They will also attempt to use their pincers to disarm Dwarfs. They do not feel pain or fear. They will fight and continue to attempt to sting until they are hacked to pieces.
They can of course be bred and tamed to use as war animals. That's the good news. The bad news, however, is that this means that they can also be used as war animals by invaders, which can very often result in Fun.
I always liked the Flood as a villain more than the Covenant, but I liked them primarily because the reminded me of the aforementioned-in-this-topic Thing.Terminate421 said:
The Flood certainly have some impressive credentials when it comes to conquest, but due to the scale of the stories involving the Thing, we don't really know whether or not it was the same sort of scourge upon organic life across space. Did the UFO it was found near belong to it, or to a species it consumed on its way here? Can't really say, though I wouldn't really doubt it since it also absorbs knowledge, memories, and ability to use technology.
But the catch with the Flood that makes it less dangerous in my mind than the Thing is that it can be fought. Its presence is obvious, its vulnerable to conventional weapons, and it can be militarily resisted. The Thing is far more subtle and insidious, and significantly more durable (conventional weapons are a waste of time, highly resistant to heat and cold, and even if you blow it to bits - the bits remain incredibly dangerous and are now scattered all over the place). If it had landed pretty much anywhere else on the planet, it would have consumed everything. Even after the events of the '82 movie it still potentially could. A single cell of the Thing reaching a fish, bird, or insect would mean the conversion of all life on the planet to Thing. It takes an actual flood of Flood to accomplish the same goal, and again, can potentially be resisted by dudes with guns.
Even if dudes with guns came along to fight the Thing - the world would forever be different. There would ALWAYS be the looming threat hanging over everyone's heads that the dudes with guns didn't get everything. Are there still Things walking among us? Are there still infected animals and possibly plants out there? Who knows? The threat would always be in people's minds, lurking out there, just waiting for the world to let its guard down.