When writing about Alicia and King Jellyjam this morning, I thought about two possible new categories that would be beneficial on the Wiki since Goosebumps is a horror series. Both are horror archetypes. I want to make sure several characters or items fall into each before formally suggesting the new categories, so I'm making this discussion! Be wary of spoilers in discussion below.
The first is "killers" or "murderers" and would include characters or items that have actually committed the act of homicide, or wiped out a character's existence. This is a substantial tag on a character or item, because Goosebumps is a kids series, so characters being killed by something is really rare. I don't think protagonists killing the evil entity should count here. I can think of two things that would fit here right away:
1) King Jelly Jam - He threatened to eat "slaves" if they stopped working. Deirdre mentions that he actually ate 3 kids that day. It was a surprise when I read it for the reasons I mentioned above.
2) The Cuckoo Clock - Although not intentionally, it wiped out Tara's existence.Â
The second is "harbingers." In horror, harbingers exist to warn characters early on in a story about an evil entity. They usually speak in very vague terms, simply telling characters to run, leave, or not enter a place. Characters ignoring the harbinger and choosing to enter a place and embrace a horror is actually part of a horror protagonist's journey.
1) Off of the top of my head, I can only think of one character that fits the bill, and that's the character I just created a page for this morning, Alicia, from The Horror At Camp Jellyjam.Â
I'm sure there are others. Can you guys think of characters (or items!) that would fit in either of these two categories?