back on my soap box screaming about how these Fear Entities aren’t even feeding off of fear.
There seems to be two ways the Fear Entities feed: actively and passively
Actively is when they manifest into the world. Instances of something blatantly supernatural happening. Every statement recorded is an example of the entities actively manifesting and feeding.
Passively, however, is when natural things happen, causing people to feel negative emotions associated with the entities. Elias feeding off of the Institute employees’ discomfort and paranoia, for example.
These negative emotions that they feed off of are often not even fear. ‘Fear Entities’ is practically a misnomer. As for what each feeds off of, let’s try for a messy quick run-down:
corruption -> disgust
end -> sense of finitude
extinction -> existential dread
vast -> nihilism
buried -> helplessness
desolation -> greif, loss
hunt-> fight or flight reflex. prey instincts.
slaughter-> anger. jump scares; flinch instinct. basically Fear Classic ™.
flesh -> feeling of a lack of (bodily) autonomy, your (physical) body being used in a way you don’t approve of (as opposed to the web, which uses you and your personhood in a way you don’t approve of.)
web -> powerlessness; loss of control, lack of autonomy
spiral -> distrust (in yourself, in others, usually both at once)
stranger -> paranoia, generalized unsettled feeling
lonely -> numbness, apathy with a hint of self-loathing
eye -> shame, guilt, feeling of violation
dark-> anxiety. over possibilities that you can’t even imagine. because you’re.. you’re in the dark about them–