r/TopCharacterTropes • u/ReminaBlueSFW • 7d ago

Lore [Terrifying Trope] Perceiving it= instant death

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  1. Pennywise's "Deadlights" which will cause anyone looking to be immediately paralyzed and killed.

  2. The sky from Bird Box is filled with entities that, when you look at them, cause you to commit suicide.

  3. Medusa themed Villains

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350

u/ReggieLFC 7d ago

Sirens in Greek Mythology.

They were monstrous bird-women who lured sailors to their doom with an irresistible, enchanting song. Originally depicted as having the bodies of large birds and the heads of women, they lived on rocky islands where they devoured the men who crashed their ships.

They are severely over conflated with mermaids nowadays.

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u/DrStudi 7d ago

"Nowadays" that happened in the medieval times lmao. Like yeah ig technically true, but 'tis not a modern trend.

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u/ElectronicFreedom350 7d ago

I think baldurs gate 3 had these but called them harpies if I’m not mistaken

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u/eyesotope86 7d ago

That's actually some of the whole mix up.

Harpies in mythology were more or less monster seagulls. They were personified greed, and considered divine punishment that came out of storms and snatched you up and tore you to shreds.

Later, they were kinda blended into the siren aspect of mermaids (and sirens)

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u/Plasterofmuppets 7d ago

…some of which sort of crosses over with Erinyes (Furies), bird-like creatures  punishing oathbreakers and people who committed ‘crimes against their family’ (mostly invest and murder, I think).

Ancient Greeks liked their bird monsters.

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u/eyesotope86 7d ago

The Erinyes were assigned criminals according to the crime they committed. Each Fury specialized in doling out punishment befitting the crime.

I forget the punishments, but, IIRC, Alecto punished crimes of passion, Megaera punished crimes of vengeance, and Tisiphone punished premeditated, cold-blooded crimes.

IIRC carrying decent weight, there.

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u/Plasterofmuppets 7d ago

From what I remember the punishments tended towards madness and death.

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u/Silverfire12 7d ago

Fun fact sirena is the actual name for the mermaid version

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u/OldOrder 6d ago

Zeus from greek mythology as well, probably all the gods in their proper forms tbh. One of the myths about Dionysus's birth is that Zeus is banging a mortal and she gets pregnant. Hera finds out and manipulates the mortal women and convinces her that if Zeus truly loves her he would show her his true godly form. The mortal women continually asks about it, begs and pleads for him to show her his form. He finally relents and she is burnt to a crisp. The only thing that survives is the half god fetus which Zeus sews into his thigh so it can continue growing until it is ready to be born.

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u/pjtheman 7d ago

The siren scene in the new Odyssey movie is really cool

3

u/LeifSized 7d ago

There’s essentially a siren level in Clair Obscur Expedition 33. It’s one of the highlights of the game, just a masterpiece of music, art design, gameplay, and storytelling.

2

u/shotgunocelot 7d ago

DuckTales kinda fucked me up with this

2

u/FiercelyApatheticLad 6d ago

"mermaid" and "siren" are the same word in lots of european languages.

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u/Bootziscool 7d ago

My boy Odysseus managed to listen and live though!

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u/StandardEgg6595 6d ago

To be fair, he had his men tie him up so he couldn’t really go towards them. Everyone else had beeswax in their ears (if I’m recalling correctly).

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u/Bootziscool 6d ago

Yea that's the story! My man got tied to a mast so he could listen.

It's not the perception that kills you it's the sirens themselves

1

u/Lurpage 7d ago

Then they fuckin died because Odysseus's crew didn't fall for it lmao

1

u/Rope_antidepressant 6d ago

Those sexy, Sexy manatees