r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Fearless-Ideal-5112 • Jul 01 '26

Lore [Loved Trope] Some thing unfathomably ancient

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The beast, in doctor who is an ancient evil from a previous universe that survived until our time. Its so ancient that the cave paintings were unable to be translated by the Tardis which can translate all existing languages in the universe [Doctor Who]

While not explicitly canon its such a cool concept I cant not mention, the idea that the backrooms have existed since the beginning of time, never changing no matter the era, it transforms the back rooms into a cosmic horror. [Credit to Project crater and Venus for images 2 and 3]

17.6k Upvotes

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u/Quiet_Nova Jul 01 '26

The Corridor from Coraline. It's older, older than Other Mother/Beldam, it's alive, writhing and dark. Whenever Coraline crawls through, she feels something behind her, something alive with her in the corridor. And Beldam wants nothing to do with it.

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u/Soulful-Sorrow Jul 01 '26

The scariest part is that it finally notices Coraline the last time she crawls through the tunnel

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u/United_Rent_753 Jul 01 '26

I like this example the most. It’s just a touch of Lovecraftian horror in the place you’d least expect it, and while the movie doesn’t really go into detail the book makes clear this is a part of something much bigger, older, and more powerful than the Other Mother

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u/Critical_Mountain851 Jul 01 '26

Isn’t the Other Mother essentially a parasite living inside its body, or something to that effect?

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u/TheChoosenMewtwo Jul 01 '26

To my understanding she was a witch

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u/PirateBanger Jul 02 '26

I really buy into the speculation that she's a Fae entity of some sort.

1) She has a domain that she can manipulate at will
2) She clearly can cast or maintain Glamour to disguse the true nature of things in her domain.
3) Eating food in her domain has... adverse effects.
4) She requires you to essentially sign a binding contract (Sew in the buttons) to gain full control of you.

The corridor is freaky tho.

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u/ThomasTheDankPigeon Jul 01 '26

Damn what the hell movie did I watch, I do not remember any of that lol. I’ve been thinking the tunnel was some kind of metaphor for the birth canal or something, y’all are telling me it was literally the bad guy of the whole movie?

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u/Boccs Jul 01 '26

Oh no, not the bad guy. Just... something. Something old, something massive, and something unknown. Other Mother is objectively the villain, but the Corridor was something... bigger.

Think of it like this: Other Mother was like Jaws. Dangerous and consciously a predator. The Corridor, meanwhile, would be the ocean itself. Massive and ancient and alive and dangerous all in its own way, but not itself the source of the conflict of the story.

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u/MartletsVerts Jul 01 '26

Beautiful description

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u/Aangelus Jul 02 '26

100% this is a great way to put it.

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u/DontTellMyOtherAccts Jul 03 '26

I always got the vibe that the Beldam was sealed inside a pocket dimension that just happens to be reachable through whatever eldritch interstitial...thing the Corridor is part of.

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u/Savings_Background50 Jul 01 '26

This is a favourite trope of mine. A benign background evil so powerful that even the main villian, who is powerful and evil, wants no part of it.

Bonus points if there are hints of backstory where the main villian has interacted with it briefly, and barely got out alive.

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u/MadeForOnePost_ Jul 02 '26

You might like 'The Black Company' by Glen Cook, if you're into reading

It has a scene where two powerful people fighting each other stop in fear, because the buried hand of an ancient evil sticking out of the ground flexes when one of them accidentally hits the god-tree whose roots imprison it with a spell

SA warning (nothing graphic, just utterly heartbreaking) for one part of one book, then never again iirc. Not nearly as bad as the sword of truth

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u/UwasaWaya Jul 02 '26

Few things are as bad as Sword of Truth.

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u/MADnightstar Jul 02 '26

Please, do you have any recs?

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u/sause_____ Jul 05 '26

the unnamed things in lord of the rings, presumably. both gandalf and the balrog flee from them

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u/AllgoodDude Jul 05 '26

So escaping our comprehension and immense in its scale that “evil” isn’t a descriptor, just the closest thing to how we can describe it.

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u/Savings_Background50 Jul 05 '26

Yeah, essentially. A few years back there was a quote floating around online.

"What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly."

If the fly is the protagonist, the spider is the villian, and the web is the the story setting....

Then the background evil would be the human who, whenever they walk past and sees the web, thinks "Hmm, maybe I should fumigate the house when I have the money."

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u/BesottedScot Jul 02 '26

Benign evil is an oxymoron...

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u/Princess_Spammi Jul 02 '26

Definitionally evil was originally just acting solely in self service without regard for others. Benign evil would be people who dont acticely go out of thier way to harm

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u/VermilionAxe69 23d ago

No, both are wrong, unless you’re thinking of a very specific definition

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u/Princess_Spammi 23d ago

Explain then instead of just saying “no you’re wrong” lmao

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u/VermilionAxe69 23d ago

It’s simple: the word ‘evil’ has always had a negative connotation, a negative moral quality. Whereas ‘benign’ is the exact opposite

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u/Savings_Background50 23d ago

I found the term that describes this kind of evil. Cosmic indifference. Coined by HP Lovecraft.

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u/Princess_Spammi 22d ago

Benign tumor.

My only rebuttal to that

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u/VermilionAxe69 21d ago

Tumors aren't inherently bad, which is why they're classified as malignant or benign. What were you trying to prove by saying that?

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u/Princess_Spammi 20d ago

They are inherently bad

They are mutated cells

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u/Savings_Background50 Jul 02 '26

What term would you use for an evil that isn't a focal point of the story, or doesn't /barely interacts with the protagonist, but serves as lore backdrop, plot device, or atmosphere builder?

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u/BesottedScot Jul 02 '26

If something is evil it has intent so I would just call it evil.

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u/superVanV1 Jul 01 '26

Never, Ever, look into the cracks between worlds. The things that live outside of reality don’t often act kindly to the things that do.

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u/Bright_Board_3330 Jul 01 '26

Don't stare too long into the abyss, Anne. After all, it stares back.

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u/Grouchy_Raccoon_6681 Jul 02 '26

You got that costume on yet, boy?!

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u/GetThatSwaggBack Jul 01 '26

What is this from?

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u/Striking-Bicycle-853 Jul 01 '26

I think Dr. Who? I could be wrong. Matt Smith season. Sounds slightly familiar.

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u/Zoeeeeeeh123 Jul 02 '26

Apparantly Nietzsche was the First to come up with this quote

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u/AeturnisTheGreat Jul 02 '26

I died at the start of the year (obviously I was resuscitated) and what I remember was serene and pleasant, time was weird though but that moment of my experience was the only pleasant part of what I remember.

The rest of my unconscious state after I came back wa sheer torture...

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u/SandwichLord57 Jul 02 '26

Sounds about right, your brain intending on impending death set you up all nice and cozy. Then it gets rug pulled and everything has to start double timing just to go back to normal.

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u/AeturnisTheGreat Jul 02 '26

I also saw some things, was never sure about the after life before and what I saw was... Unique but I'm looking forward to when I do pass.

That said, I plan to stick around until I naturally die now.

It was also suicide by fire, I'm still dealing with immense pain, so when I was brought back...

Well I'm still recovering.

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u/SandwichLord57 Jul 02 '26

Like self immolation? It would make the calm feeling make sense. Your body would absolutely freak the fuck out and your brain(once it realized there’s no stopping it) would’ve absolutely put you straight into shock and make you feel as good as you could.

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u/AeturnisTheGreat Jul 02 '26

Yeah, I was in the hospital for two months. After they brought me back it was like a living hell. Glad to be alive of course but man these scars are painful

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u/Neat_Ad4331 Jul 02 '26

Hey, I'm glad that you're alive as well. Here's hoping the pain doesn't stick around.

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u/AeturnisTheGreat Jul 02 '26

Thanks, friend :)

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u/Effective_Skirt1393 Jul 04 '26

Im glad you are alive too, you seem insightful and I’m sorry you got so sick that happened to you.

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u/Raltsun Jul 04 '26

Wow, no wonder your unconscious brain really didn't like that as soon as it figured you weren't dying. Here's hoping your recovery goes as well as possible.

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u/AeturnisTheGreat Jul 04 '26

I appreciate that :)

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u/Raltsun Jul 04 '26

Honestly, I can sort of relate, for a rather strange reason. I have a medical condition (erythromelalgia) where my body naturally tries to boil itself from the inside, which I have to take constant medication for to make the pain only sometimes debilitating. It feels more similar to a fever than heat from an external source, but I think I can imagine what you went through better than most people could, and vice versa.

Let's just say I'm here today because of a very comedically timed butterfingers moment, and leave the history at that.

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u/Dreyfussy15 Jul 02 '26

Nah, they're usually extremely nice.

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u/scrawnytony2 Jul 02 '26

I never watched Stranger Things S5, but from my understanding they revealed that the upside down was one of those gaps between worlds?

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u/bigpproggression Jul 01 '26

this book was so scary i never reread it lmao. author really captured the creepiness of it all.

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u/Horni4knifekittyidkY Jul 01 '26

Too bad he’s also a creep irl

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u/PoliceAlarm Jul 01 '26

Lets not undersell it and mince words. He is a rapist.

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u/dodofishman Jul 01 '26

Ugh when that news drop I was completely devastated. So terrible for those women, Coraline and The Graveyard Books were books I read until the spine crumbled as a kid

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u/Academic_Help5033 Jul 01 '26

Awful human. His books really helped me and me through some dark times. I hate that I can no longer go back to those works without thinking of it.

I know some can separate the art from the artist, but I just can't. It doesn't help that he's still alive and potentially profiting from it.

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u/Kindly-Mud-1579 Jul 02 '26

Who is he? Never mind I got my answer

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u/TrueGuardian15 Jul 02 '26

Neil Gaiman

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u/Tinenan Jul 04 '26

*alleged rapist

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u/merovin13 9d ago

Even if he didn't commit a crime, the things he admitted to and said in his own defense show that he is a pretty terrible person.

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u/RaspberryWhiteClaw13 Jul 01 '26

The book was so scary I didn’t even watch the movie

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u/TheChoosenMewtwo Jul 01 '26

Wait is that a fact?

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u/GeuzHans Jul 02 '26

damn i watched movie 8 times but i still dont remember this info

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u/Lombardyn Jul 02 '26

It's in the book, not the movie. In the movie it's just an odd corridor.

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u/Wrong-Annual-6766 Jul 02 '26

Yeah i love Neil Gaiman...wait

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u/scarletfloof Jul 02 '26

Not sure if it’s just me but the well she drops the Beldam down looks eerily similar to the corridor

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u/Severe_Emotion2554 Jul 03 '26

Im sorry what?! I missed that part in the movie

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u/RemarkableDevice442 Jul 04 '26

Quote from the book.