Well, well--it seems that we’re becoming quite the seasoned adventurers when it comes
to traversing the terrifying landscapes of literature.
So far we’ve crawled through the Cenobites Labyrinth, trudged our way across The Dreamlands,
scaled the infinite walls of Castle Gormenghast--and even floated listlessly across the Todash
Darkness of Stephen King’s Macroverse.
And--you know, as is usually the case when one levels up their ability to bare witness
to the realms of horror--there’s plenty more where that came from.
So then, let’s take a look, shall we?
Hello horror fans, what’s going on--and once again welcome back to the scariest channel
on YouTube--Top 5 Scary Videos.
As always, I’ll be your horror host Jack Finch--as today, we curiously take a look
at the Top 5 Most Terrifying Places In Literature--Part 3.
Roll the clip.
For the curious amongst you, that clip was from 1984’s Dune--directed by David Lynch--of
course depicting the awesomely designed Guild Navigator Edric--on his arrival to the Emperor
before kickstarting his whole murder plot.
Hey, that’s just Frank Herbert’s Dune for ya--but for the astute amongst you, you’ll
know that we’ve already covered the planet of Arrakis in this list series--so consider
it todays honorable reminder.
Kicking off at Number 5--Asshai, A Song Of Ice & Fire
And you may have noticed that, even over three parts of this list series--this is our first
stop into the world of Planetos, and George R.R Martin’s phenomenal piece of fantasy
literature, A Song Of Ice & Fire.
Hey--listen, stop hating guys--I’ve been waiting for this series to be completed since
the late nineties--we can wait a little bit longer, give the guy a break.
But that’s by the by--because whilst we’re waiting for The Winds of Winter, we can pass
beneath the shadow and cast our gaze to the East, to The Shadowlands--and it’s most
mysterious and notorious city, Asshai.
Or Asshai-by-the-Shadow if you’re being particularly ominous.
You see, the thing is though--the reason this entry takes number five in our list--is because
it’s merely a matter of perspective when it comes to describing the fear behind Asshai.
You see, George Martin is a stickler for history--and his allegorical appreciation of our own human
history is exactly what makes his work so applicable here.
From a Westerosi perspective, the land of Asshai--a mysterious port city in the far-south
east of Essos--where the Ash river meets the Jade Sea--cascading down toward the Saffron
Straits, and then beyond that--a mountainous peninsula, the Shadow Lands.
That landscape, told by sailors and pirates in Port City, then becomes the most foreign,
and remote places imaginable to a small boy from Flea Bottom.
And with that lack of knowledge, comes fear.
Yes, Asshai is a city made of black stone that drinks light--it is dark and gloomy,
it’s inhabitants are masters of ancient and arcane knowledge--who worship The Black
Goat, and where anything goes as far as magic is concerned.
But you see--all of these are whispers.
We’ve never seen Asshai, and we may never will--but the mystery is what keeps is curious.
It *could* be the most terrifying hive of dark magic in The Known World--or it could
be, that words--are wind.
And therein lies the point.
Swinging in at Number 4--The Nevernever, The Dresden Files
Contrary to that though--talking about places that certainly *are* incredibly well described
landscapes of arcane and supernatural horror, we have to talk about Jim Butcher’s The
Nevernever--the literal afterlife in his fantastic Dresden Files series.
Now, if you know anything about Butcher’s work, you’ll know that he has a particular
knack at reinventing prominent horror tropes.
In his world, Vampires, Werewolves and Warlocks alike are fully fleshed out as intricate and
individualistic entities--not any two of them are alike, and in many ways similar to Martin’s
work--only grey areas exist when it comes to the inner workings of the denizens of magic.
And talking about reinvention, or, I suppose homogeneity is a better term in this case--who
better to take every afterlife in myth and legend--and collide them into one.
The Nevernever.
The spirit world that exists alongside the mortal plane as a sort of alternate dimension--but
is certainly not a mirror image.
The Nevernever is a vast and winding entity--it is far, far larger than the mortal world--perhaps
even infinite, and despite the vast knowledge of Harry Dresden and many other characters
in the series--little is known about it’s inner workings.
You see, although I said it’s not exactly a mirror image--it also kind of is--and wherever
The Nevernever touches the Mortal plane--those two places will have a resonance of energy.
If a portion of the Nevernever is a mass of misery and evil--it will touch a place of
the same energy in the mortal world--an abandoned prison perhaps, or the scene of a brutal massacre.
In Butcher’s series, The Nevernever is Heaven, Hell, Olympus, Elysium, Tartarus, Gehena--it
is both the Summer and Winter Court of the Sidhe.
The true mystical terror behind this mysterious webway is, again, how little is known about
the place.
So far, if it involves The Nevernever, Harry Dresden’s response is to just… leave town.
It’s probably for the best.
Next up at Number 3--The Hotel Dolphin, 1408
And whilst many of you will probably wonder why The Overlook Hotel doesn’t take this
spot instead--my response would be, Room 1408 is far more terrifying than that place ever
could be.
And also, in many ways--1408 is perhaps one of Stephen King’s most terrifying--well,
monsters, I guess--because if you’ve read his remarkable 1999 short story, 1408--then
you’ll know how truly terrifying this entity of a room really is.
Now, obviously this particular entry isn’t going to go without spoilers--so I’ll try
and keep things as loose and as fast as I can in order to paint just how demonic this
hotel room is--but if you’re really not in the business for having this story ruined
for you--just pop on over to the next point.
You see, as the tale describes, King’s protagonist, Mike Enslin--is an author--a famous debunker
of haunted houses and paranormal places across the United States.
Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Houses, Ten Nights in Ten Haunted Castles--and of course, his
next release--Ten Nights In Ten Haunted Hotel Rooms.
And as Mike Enslin finds out--at the Hotel Dolphin, on 61st Street in downtown New York
City--there is a room of such bloody infamy, that it has been left empty for over 20 years.
Upon arrival, the hotel manager gravely warns him of Room 1408’s morbid history.
It has been responsible for at least 42 deaths--12 of them suicides--over a 68 year period--but
he’s heard it all before.
Mike Enslin does this kind of thing for a living--and he won’t be dissuaded by the
pleas of a hotel manager.
Well, obviously I won’t paint too much of a vivid picture, because really--you should
read 1408 if you haven’t already--but some of the scenes depicted in this story are,
genuinely--some of King’s most terrifying pieces of prose.
Particularly when it comes to a certain phone-call that incessantly won’t stop ringing.
Yeah, it’s probably best that I just leave it there--but Room 1408 at The Hotel Dolphin
is certainly one of the most memorable, and equally terrifying places in horror literature.
Coming in at Number 2--Utumno, The Silmarillion
And truth be told--although 1408 is a terrifying place--what better way to shatter the confidence
of our imagination, than an entire Iron Fortress of some of the most evil entities ever created
in fantasy fiction.
You see, I’ve seen a lot of you Top 5 Scary fans calling for Mordor to appear on this
list--but hey, we all know that Mordor is merely the summer home of The Dark Lord himself--and
the real stronghold of evil incarnate, is Utumno--or Udun, if you’re so inclined.
For fans of J.R.R Tolkein’s legendary work of fantasy, The Lord of the Rings--you’ll
know the compendium behind that series, The Silmarillion, fleshed out the primal evils
of the world.
The Prime of those Evils, was Melkor--and this place, Utumno, far in the North of Middle
Earth during the First Age--was the location of his deepest fortress.
It lay in the Iron Mountains, above even Angband--his vanguard stronghold--carved into the very
flesh of the Earth.
And essentially--if you’re wondering where all of the many demons, wraiths, trolls, Balrogs,
and even the hideous race of orcs were first birthed from--it was this place.
During the Time of the Lamps--the creation mythos of Middle Earth--Melkor, the First
Dark Lord, began digging his great pits deep within the bowels of the Earth--clawing his
way into the darkness, where he then lured and called out to the evil powers of the World
to join him.
Here he existed for Millenia, eventually expanding upward through the Iron Mountains to the surface,
where he constructed his Vanguard fortress of Angband to wage a war upon the Valar in
the War of the Lamps.
Listen, there is so, so much lore behind the Silmarillion--particularly when it comes to
Arda, but do you know that seen in The Fellowship Of The Ring--where my man Gandalf does the
whole *fly you fools* thing and has to wrestle the Balrog?
Well, yeah--this place is where they hibernated.
And when I say they, I mean an entire army of them.
Utumno.
It’s not a nice place.
And finally, coming in at our Number 1 spot--The Jaunt
And, you see--I thought long and hard about where to place this entry on our list, and
I’m relatively certain that when you strip it all back--The Jaunt is perhaps one of the
most terrifying places ever penned in literature.
And who best to pen it?
Of course, Stephen King.
Hey listen, I’m not bothered if we have The King of Horror show up twice on our list--in
fact, I’m honoured--but for those of you that have read his 1981 short story--you may
understand exactly why we have to put this place at the top of the pile.
First published in The Twilight Zone Magazine--and later added to his 1985 collection, Skeleton
Crew--this is perhaps one of King’s most explicitly science fiction entries.
The Jaunt, which is a short enough read--is a tale that takes place in the early 24th
century--where the technology of teleportation, referred to as Jaunting--is entirely commonplace,
and is used for instantaneous transportation across enormous distances--where humanity
has now pretty much colonized our entire solar system.
Now, I’ll try my utmost not to ruin any of the actual bones of the story--which solely
features a young family about to Jaunt their way to Mars--but it’s in the exposition
of this place that truly takes you off guard.
You see, The Jaunt is the place that you must pass through in under to be a recipient of
this instantaneous teleportation, and thus travel such immense distances--but as the
pioneers in the early days of this technology quickly discovered, a traveller has to be
completely unconscious to survive The Jaunt Effect, as is explained by the family’s
father as they prepare to undergo general anaesthesia at the beginning of the story.
Alright, I’ll stop there--because really, if you haven’t read it, I’m sure that
there’s a PDF floating around somewhere for you to sink your teeth into, but honestly,
I’m not sure if it’s just me--but King seemed to have struck on and oddly specific
nerve.
Maybe the Jaunt is Todash Darkness--maybe it’s the place that we see when we close
our eyes and go to sleep at night--but, one thing is for certain.
I don’t want to find out.
Well, there we have it horror fans, our list for the Top 5 Most Terrifying Places In Literature--Part
3.
What did you guys think?
Do you agree?
Disagree?
Have any more to add to this list?
Then let us know your thoughts down in the comment section below, as well as any choice
picks of your own.
Before we depart from today's video though, let’s first take a quick look at some of
your more creative comments from Part 2 of this particular series.
First up, Vlad the Impaler says--
If I were to be reborn in Warhammer 40k--I would like to be an Ork.
Why?
Because they seem to be the only race who actually have a good time and live a carefree
and angst free life.
-- I agree entirely with this statement, Vlad.
Ignorance is bliss, especially if you’re in a WAAARGGH.
And finally, Koda the marionette ghoul kun says--
Jack, what is your favourite character that you’ve played in dungeons and dragons?
--And what a brilliant question, I think I’ve kind of answered this before--but it was last
year maybe.
Through many different campaigns, I’ve only ever played one character that mattered.
A Dwarf Bard named Grum, the Guzzler--I go for the Folk Hero trait, max charisma, and
turn all of my campaigns into a travelling band of music and good times.
Hey, no one said defeating evil couldn’t have a soundtrack.
On that note, unfortunately, that’s all we’ve got time for in today's video--cheers
for sticking around all the way until the end.
If you were a fan of this video, or just Top 5 Scary Videos in general--please, be a dear
and hit that thumbs up button, and I’ll be seeing you in the next one.
As always, I’ve been your horror host Jack Finch--you’ve been watching Top 5 Scary
Videos.
And until next time, you take it easy.