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The 8 Scariest Monsters in Books, Ranked
Monsters are a staple of numerous genres of fiction, particularly horror, fantasy, and science-fiction. Some of the most famous monsters, like Frankenstein’s monster and Dracula, for example, have cemented their place in literary legend, becoming renowned figures from classic books. However, while they might be iconic, they aren’t necessarily the most inherently frightening compared to other creatures out there.
Indeed, many fantasy and horror novels have produced creatures so terrifying that they’re enough to keep their readers awake for days. Sometimes, they are complex, god-like beings of cosmic proportions, other times they are extra-terrestrials or beasts of unknown origin. Either way, these are the scariest monsters that literature has to offer, ranked not just based on their appearance, but also on their natures.
8
The Others
‘A Game of Thrones’ (1996)
The Others are a race of ice-cold undead in A Song of Ice and Fire. However, in the TV adaptation, they are known as the White Walkers. The Others are introduced in the first novel, A Game of Thrones. They prowl the Haunted Forest and the frozen lands beyond the Wall, killing Wildlings and reanimating their corpses to serve in their growing army of the undead. The Others were first created by the Children of the Forest, a nymph-like people who spawned the Others as a means of defending themselves against human invasion. However, they found they could not control their creation.
The Others are invulnerable to pretty much everything except for fire, as well as two exceptionally rare materials: dragonglass and Valyrian steel. Perhaps what is so chilling about them (pun intended) is that they do not have any basic biological needs to eat, drink, or breathe air. All they must do to survive is kill. It is their only purpose. The more they kill, the larger their army grows. There’s just something so immeasurably off-putting about these beings. They might not be in-your-face scary, but their behaviour and appearance is certainly a step beyond creepy.
7
Myrddraal
‘The Eye of the World’ (1990)
Myrddraal, also known as Fades, are the mysterious lieutenants of the Dark One in The Wheel of Time series, first being introduced in the first novel, The Eye of the World. These creatures are a species of Shadowspawn born in the shadowy region of the Blight, and are known for being very tough to kill. The reason these are so frightening is because everything about them feels so inexplicably wrong, like a kitten hatching from an egg. There are some things that just should not be.
They have no eyes, nose, or facial features, just a gaping maw filled with razor sharp teeth, which opens larger than any normal animal’s should. Though they are humanoid in stature, they have exceptionally pale, almost translucent skin. They also have long, greasy black hair and are swathed in black robes. However, their hair and robes do not move with the wind, and hang unnaturally still. Moreover, it is said that they are so thin that if one is facing you and it turns to the side, it will appear to vanish entirely. Not only do they use this ability to avoid detection, but they can also teleport between patches of shadows. Everything about these faceless phantoms is highly unnerving. They might not have eyes, but you’d certainly be able to feel when one is staring at you.
6
The Beast
‘Those Who Went Remain There Still’ (2008)
Those Who Went Remain There Still is a criminally-underrated horror novella by Cherle Priest that is set in rural Kentucky in the 19th Century. After a rich landowner dies, he leaves his last will and testament deep within the mines at the edge of his property. As the man’s prospective heirs journey into the cave, the uncover a monster that has been biding its time for the last 100 years.
In 1775, the beast was wounded by frontiersman and thrown into the mines. Crippled and lost, it remained there in the dark for a century. The scariest part about this unnamed creature is that it isn’t really described–its fear factor comes from the natural human fear of the unknown. It is known to be large and vaguely bird-like in design, but it prefers sticking to the shadows, picking people off one by one and flitting through the darkness. Perhaps the worst part about it is it appears to be unkillable–evidently, since it lived over 100 years and didn’t die after being axed and thrown down a mineshaft. Still, this one is so disturbing because it preys upon common phobias like tight spaces, darkness, and isolation in order to kill its victims.
5
Dementors
‘Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban’ (2004)
Whoever decided Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban should be a YA novel seriously messed up. Sure, the stories are mostly family-friendly, but the Dementors introduced in this third installment are the stuff of nightmares. Despite their distinctly phantom-like appearance, they are not true ghosts. Rather, they are unseen monsters who fly around, wearing dark cloaks and hoods that obscure their faces. It is said that underneath the hood, there is no face at all, just a wide, gaping mouth on mottled, grey, bony flesh.
Their nature is even scarier. They feed on misery and negative emotions, and amplify feelings of despair in people whenever they come near. Wherever they go, lights go out, windows freeze over, and the air gets considerably colder, almost as if they were sucking the happiness out of the world. Dementors are used to guard the wizard prison Azkaban, often causing madness in the inmates after they spend so long around them. Perhaps scariest of all, Dementors are capable of something known as the “Dementor’s Kiss,” which is when they literally suck the soul out of someone. That person will still be alive, but they will be reduced to an emotionless, vegetative state, which is actually worse than death. These beings are incredibly terrifying, and would have been at home in a horror novel rather than a YA fantasy novel.
4
The Thing
‘Who Goes There?’ (1938)
The Thing originates from Don A. Stuart‘s horror novella Who Goes There?, but it’s most commonly associated with John Carpenter‘s 80s horror movie The Thing. Not a lot of people realize the movie had literary origins. The Thing is an unnamed, extra-terrestrial, parasitic entity that makes its way to a research base in Antarctica. It is able to infect the staff on duty there, turning them into monsters in turn.
The Thing has no real shape or form–it is an amorphous blob of flesh and tissue, and cannot be detected in the early stages of infection. Once someone is fully infected, they begin mutating and turning against their peers, becoming horrific fleshy masses right in front of their eyes. Perhaps what makes this disgusting creature so scary is the fact that it’s impossible to tell who’s infected until it’s too late, meaning the monster could be anyone at any time.
3
Pennywise
‘It’ (1986)
Pennywise the Dancing Clown is the iconic main antagonist of Stephen King‘s critically-acclaimed horror novel It. At first glance, Pennywise looks like a random guy in a super creepy clown outfit that happens to live in a sewer. That’s already a major red flag. However, it quickly becomes apparent that Pennywise is so much more than a human being. He can shapeshift into all sorts of monstrous forms, and bears a set of sharp, pointed teeth reminiscent of a shark’s.
Moreover, he feeds almost exclusively on children, choosing to present himself as a clown as a means of luring kids to his subterranean lair. When children begin to go missing in the town of Derry, no one suspects a killer clown monster. No one, except for a fellow group of kids, that is. Pennywise and his live-action adaptations from 1990 and 2017 have caused so many cases of coulrophobia over the years, especially for impressionable young audiences who stumbled upon the adaptations by accident.
2
The Leviathan
‘The Fisherman’ (2016)
John Langan‘s The Fisherman might just have one of the most terrifying entities to ever exist in the horror genre. The story follows two widowed fisherman taking a trip to a small creek in upstate New York, who become intrigued by local legends of another fisherman who once tried to catch the cosmic being called the Leviathan using ropes woven from the hair of thousands of corpses.
The Leviathan lives in an endless, black ocean beneath the surface of reality itself. It doesn’t have much of a physical appearance. It is described only as a seething mass of teeth and claws, churning up white water in its endless domain. It is also known for being absolutely immense, so immense in fact that seeing its full size is wont to break the human brain entirely. It is literally beyond anything our brains can comprehend. It is a physical representation of nothingness, of death, and of the void, which is why many horror fans find this beast so terrifying.
1
Cthulhu
‘The Call of Cthulhu’ (1928)
Cthulhu is the famous god-like extra-terrestrial entity from H. P. Lovecraft‘s short story/novella The Call of Cthulhu. He is described as being a scaly, reptilian being that stands hundreds of feet tall. He has a humanoid posture, with bat-like wings and a face full of tentacles. Coming from a distant planet, Cthulhu was imprisoned by a race of aliens in the subaquatic city of R’lyeh, far beneath the surface of the Pacific. However, he is able to send out psychic waves, influencing humans, creating cults determined to free him.
What makes Cthulhu so scary is that he is so far beyond human comprehension. Expecting humans to understand Cthulhu’s nature and true motives would be like asking a fly to understand quantum physics. Cthulhu isn’t inherently evil–he is far above human morals. If breaking free of R’lyeh means the destruction of humanity, he would feel no different than a person accidentally stepping on a bug while they walk down the street. To Cthulhu, humanity and planet Earth are utterly insignificant. The scariness of Cthulhu comes from the idea that humans are far from the most intelligent or powerful things in the universe, and that we could easily be crushed under the feet of higher beings.
The Call of Cthulhu
- Release Date
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October 7, 2005
- Runtime
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47 minutes
- Director
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Andrew Leman
- Writers
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Sean Branney
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Ralph Lucas
Professor Angell
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