You're so right about The Lonely being kind of unnecessary as a separate fear. I feel like it is incapable of existing just by itself, of having a pure essence not tainted by any of the other Fears. I mean, fear of being alone in the crowd? Of not having anyone that understands you? That's The Stranger. Being isolated on some huge, foggy field? The Vast. Fear of not having anyone remember you? The Stranger or The End. I can't name any more of the Lonely statements off the top of my head, but i remember that every single one had some "motive" other than pure loneliness. In my opinion that was the reason for all failed Lonely rituals (yeah, i know the whole "fears are like colors there can't be just one" rhetoric but imo Lonely just. can't stand on its own entirely)
That's why i kinda like the idea of The Extinction not as another, separate fear added to the other fourteen, but as something that would overwrite The Lonely. The Extinction manages to capture that fear of loneliness while also making it unique to itself and unable to be replicated by any other fear. In his process for preparing for The Extinction, Peter Lukas would become an avatar of it, and The Lonely would no longer exist as was previously thought.
real real real
I’m not sure I agree that much with the end bit tho. maybe im biased because i don’t want my fav to be just…. the lonely, but i feel like there just isn’t a large amount of loneliness in it as a Fear.
It feels more guilt related than any of the others, and that’s one of my fav parts about it, but I can’t really think of any reason that it would be more like the Lonely than any of the other Fears. Also Peter bloody Lukas would NEVER pull off being an Extinction avatar 🙅♂️🙅♂️
what you’re saying feels like a somewhat interesting concept, but i just feel like it has no reason to truly be linked to The Lonely any more than the others are.