Admiring The Abomination

"Mr Frodo, look! It's a Oliphant, no one at home would believe this."
- Samwise Gamgee, The Two Towers

Basic Information

Admiring the Abomination is a characterization trope where a character does not respond with the expected terror and horrified reaction upon being face-to-face with an eldritch abomination, monster of the week, ghost, demon, robot, mythological creatures, etc. Instead, this character is intrigued. They've never seen anything like it! They might even geek out about a bit.

"Gosh, I think that's a Polyp, Martha! A real live Flying Polyp! I've heard about them, but I never thought I'd get to see one anywhere outside the intestine of an Elder God!"

It is, after all, a beautiful specimen of rare provenance.

Sources

Bibliography

1. TV Tropes Wiki

Game and Story Use

• Depending on just how horrible the abomination is, this may be a brief moment of comic relief before an idiot gets devoured… or the inciting event may be the first steps along a path to becoming the Petmaster or a serial killer.
• It's also a good characterization option for a necromancer, mad scientist, crazed cultist, or other madman who has collected their own zoo or menagerie. Their army of hideous monsters are like their babies.
• Gotta catch 'em all!