"What Do They Fear?" Episode: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"So suddenly everyone's having this big share-fest around the fire. Like Beth went on and on about how her mortal fear is being covered by bugs. Harold's afraid of ninjas, even Heather admitted that she's afraid of sumo wrestlers!"''|'''Gwen,''' ''[[
An episode where the cast conspires to find out what one of them (usually, [[The Stoic]]) fears the most, setting up various scares. They often fail but the audience does learn the answer, greatly humanizing [[The Stoic]] in their eyes.
Related to [[Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?]]. Compare [[Your Worst Nightmare]]. May be part of [[Hiccup Hijinks]].
[[Stock Episode Titles|It is very popular to name this episode "Fear Itself" or "Nothing To Fear."]]
See also [[I Know What You Fear]], [[Face Your Fears]].
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Anime and Manga ==
* In ''[[Full Metal Panic!]]: Fumoffu'', the characters pay a visit to a [[Abandoned Hospital]] and Sousuke, completely unaffected by appearances of ghosts, zombies, and whatever, nearly freaks out in panic when {{spoiler|it seems that Kaname has been injured}}.
* In ''[[Ouran High School Host Club]]'', the club members try to scare Haruhi and fail. {{spoiler|It turns out she is only scared of [[Fear of Thunder|thunder/lightning]].}}
* ''[[Ranma
* Similarly, [[Inuyasha]] also has an episode dedicated to this trope, in which the whole main cast is trapped and forced to see their worst fears.
* An early episode of ''[[Galaxy Angel (
* Yusei of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!
* In an episode of ''[[Ronin Warriors]]'', [[Manipulative Bastard|Dais]] revealed to [[The Big Guy|Kento]] that the more he used his Hardrock Armor, the more bloodlust he would experience. Instead of being able to use the armor for good, he would use it for evil. For a while, Kento was afraid to summon his full armor in [[Don't Make Me Destroy You|fear of hurting his loved ones]]. But when saw [[Bratty Half
== Comic Books ==
* ''[[Batman]]'' examples:
** Subverted in the ''[[
** In the same storyline, Batman's biggest fear is revealed to be Jason Todd's death - [[My Greatest Failure|which already happened]]. Cue [[Unstoppable Rage]] at Joker.
** Really, this happens to ''everyone'', heroes and villains, who comes into contact with fear gas. Bats has also been beaten with memories of his parents' deaths (in both ''[[The Long Halloween]]'' and ''[[Batman: Arkham Asylum]]''); Catwoman had a good ol' wrestle with her relationship with Batman in ''Catwoman: When In Rome''; and the Riddler is shit-scared of the Joker. (But then, [[Complete Monster|so is half the DC universe]].)
** Incidentally, if [[Blackest Night]] is to be believed, the only thing that scares Scarecrow is Batman. Literally, the ''only'' thing - using his fear gas so much has made Scarecrow not just [[Acquired Poison Immunity|immune to its effects]] but to feeling fear period. Except, as stated, the fear of Batman, to which there is no immunity.
** A unique example of this happens in the [[Catwoman]] story "I'm Only Happy When it Rains", which occurred slightly before ''[[Batman: No Man's Land]]''. The Scarecrow (yep, him again) is using the chaos caused by the earthquake to test a new, more potent fear serum that only works on women, but all his "test subjects" die, literally scared to death by the experience.So he tries to capture a strong-willed subject, meaning Catwoman. However, Selina find the idea of facing her fears amusing, so she subdues his mooks and then ''uses the serum on herself''. However, facing her fear is not what she expected, as it's {{spoiler|dependency, the inability to function alone without help. The result is a unique character study on Catwoman that, like most stories like this, explores the darkest parts of her psyche.}}
** A crossover with [[Judge Dredd]] had Scarecrow using his fear gas on Judge Death. It seems Death is afraid of plushies.
* This summer's [[Captain America (comics)]]/Thor centric Marvel [[Crisis Crossover]] ''[[Fear Itself (Comic Book)|Fear Itself]]'' looks to be one of these. The main plot involves [[Big Bad Duumvirate|Red Skull find the hammer of and resurrecting the spirit of the long dead of the Norse fear god]]. In the first issue as soon as Odin becomes aware of this he immediately [[The Worf Effect|tells Thor and the rest of Asgardians to pack their bags because they're leaving earth while they're still alive.]] Also, solicitations for tie-ins seem to indicate that there will be a lot of stories featuring the heroes of the Marvel universe facing their deepest fears head on.
* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'''s Trial of Head, Hand and Heart arc, the Trial of Heart involves Savah mind-probing Cutter and Rayek to learn their deepest fears, and then setting challenges to see whether they can overcome them. The twist is that Cutter's challenge turns out to be Rayek's as well.
== Literature ==
* ''[[Harry Potter and
** There is a [[Tear Jerker]] echo much closer to the end of the series where [[Mama Bear]] Molly Weasley confronts a boggart who turns into her biggest fear - the dead forms of her beloved husband, her children, and Harry. {{spoiler|This turns out to be the most heartbreaking bit of [[Foreshadowing]] in the entire series, since one of her children is killed by Voldemort's forces later.}}
== Live
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]
** The season four finale "Restless" had this element too, being
* One episode of ''[[
** The Eleventh Doctor also had an episode of this, ''The God Complex.'' His worst fear is not shown, but the audience can hear the Cloister Bell ringing; and when he sees it, he is not surprised.
** Amy sees herself as a little girl, it is implied that her greatest fear is (once again) having to wait for the Doctor.
** They're shown their fears by entering the room which contains it. Rory, rather than being shown a room, sees {{spoiler|an exit}}. Make of that what you will.
* Whenever Barbas is the [[Monster of the Week|Demon Of The Week]] in ''[[
* ''[[Samurai Sentai Shinkenger]]'' does an episode in which [[Sixth Ranger]] Genta develops a crippling phobia of sushi after the [[Nightmare Fuel|events of the previous episode]]. Each of the other teammates confronts his or her own fear, some of which (Ryuunosuke's fear of cacti after sitting on one as a kid) are lamer than others (Takeru's fear of horror houses, which causes him to ''faint'').
* Several episodes of ''[[Maury]]'' have guests who fear really odd and crazy things, ranging from balloons, pickles, cotton balls, birds, mustard, peaches, and other things. Usually played at the expense of the guests where Maury brings out the stuff they fear and they go running scared for a while.
* Sort of used in the ''[[
* An episode of ''[[Are You Afraid of the Dark?]]'' handles this, with one group member claiming to have exactly what [[The Stoic]] fears in a box. After the story is over (and [[The Stoic]] is incredibly rattled), the box is opened to reveal his biggest fear: [[Nothing Is Scarier|nothing.]]
* ''[[Chuck]]'' vs. the Aisle of Terror.
* ''[[Life]]'' episode "Not for Nothing" turned out to be this.
* ''[[Smallville]]'''s "Scare" involved an industrial toxin that caused everyone to experience their worst fear before falling into a lethal coma. Lex's was fun.
== Video Games ==
* A Temple in ''[[
* A bit of a [[Running Gag]] in the ''[[Paper Mario]]'' games, where the villain or one of their underlings will ask Mario or one of his allies what Mario is most afraid of, but will gladly accept that he's terrified of the normal items he'd been using the whole game.
== Western Animation ==
* Subverted in the ''[[
* ''[[Teen Titans (
* Happens in ''[[Justice League]]'', when Doctor Destiny sticks the core seven into their own worst nightmares. Superman was afraid of his powers going out of control and killing all his loved ones. Hawkgirl is [[Claustrophobia|trapped in a coffin and buried alive]] (this was [[Foreshadowing|foreshadowed]] earlier in the episode). Flash fears that he would run so fast that the rest of the world would [[Time Stands Still|freeze in time]]. [[Green Lantern]] is afraid that he was [[Loss of Identity|becoming nothing more than a tool for a ring, and losing touch with where he came from]]
* One episode of ''[[
* The ''[[Legion of Super
* Pretty much every Scarecrow appearance in ''[[Batman:
** Of course, Batman can be Batman not only because of his conditioning and money but also because he has conquered his own fears and daemons. And if he comes across something he hasn't, he just plows on through anyway. Because he's...
** One time it was subverted; the Scarecrow made a gas which ''removed'' fear; causing people to engage in reckless and dangerous behaviors, putting the lives and limbs of themselves and others in danger. Unfortunately for Crane, this also removed Batman's aversion to using excessive
* Him once found out what each of ''[[
* The ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (
* An episode of ''[[
* The Halloween episode of ''[[Lilo
* In the ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Fear Tropes]]
[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:"What Do They Fear?" Episode]]
{{DEFAULTSORT:What Do They Fear Episode}}
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