I meant it being less common irl! so that the fans who aren't afraid of being watched additionally don't think much of it because there aren't many statements detailing how terrifying it actually is. not that the lack of statements means people in universe don't fear the Eye. and yes, absolutely, the Institute also bans statements about dreams (and what does the Archivist do? haunts nightmares)

@kairos-polaris I bring it up because Stranger is also kind of uncommon but there is the Circus and they cause direct physical harm (skinning people) so even if people don't understand the whole point of it they still understand it's scary and more than just clowns/puppets like they see Eye being about curiosity and not invasion of privacy

@two-pupils yeah,,, it does feel very trope-y in a bad way. I understand that Smirke's classification is flawed in the first place but also does it make sense for him to make the Stranger a separate fear? it's so intertwined with the Spiral it would make more sense as one fear. but I can see why they separated them for plot purposes?

and I think it's so sad! like why are you even listening to a story about eldritch horrors if you aren't going to think about them?? actually I need to make a separate post about Web, the classification system and why it's not pointless to think of the entities in terms of what fear they specifically represent despite them being one thing (*cough*they're all one thing except for the Web who is sentient and master manipulator because that makes so much sense/sarcasm*cough*)

@two-pupils yeah and on one hand you (general) need to be ready for the audience to engage with your work in ways you don't intend or misunderstand it but on the other I already get so annoyed when people misunderstand my silly little tumblr posts. also. he is kind of to blame for it, with all the fanservice especially in protocol