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Across the history of media, we as audience members have seen a few creeps emerge as popular characters. Some of these characters are outwardly strange or scary, such as Christian Grey and his obsession with young women. On the other hand, others appear fine before red flags pop up upon a closer look. Unfortunately, many of the protagonists that encounter these creeps are often left to their own devices, with no way to handle them.
They are unable to either identify their red flags or escape what makes these characters fictional creeps. In the end, audience members are left wondering what to do if they encounter these characters in real life. In case you ever meet a person like the fictional creeps we’ll be discussing, this article will show you the best ways to identify them and make your escape.
What Makes A Creep, Creepy?
The difference between a villain and a fictional creep lies in how the character interacts with the protagonist. A fictional creep will be manipulative, ignorant of boundaries, or possessive when with the protagonist. Their main intent is to get something from the protagonist, whether it be sex, love, money, or more. For instance, Christian Grey is a fictional creep since all he wants is to have control over Anastasia in order to obtain sex and love.
A villain, on the other hand, often has a plan outside of the protagonist. To them, the protagonist is nothing more than an obstacle in reaching their goals. Receiving something from them is not their end all be all. Take Lord Voldemort, for example. His main plan is to gain power over the Wizarding World. To him, Harry Potter is just a nuisance and a roadblock to getting to this goal. Sometimes characters will be both a creep and a villain, and these are the ones to avoid at all costs.
Toby From The Office
Fans of The Office are often divided on their opinion of Toby, Dunder Mifflin’s head of HR. One group of fans may sympathize with him as a victim of Michael Scott’s endless hatred, while another may believe that every incident against him is well deserved. What can’t be argued, however, is that Toby is undeniably a fictional creep. Since the beginning of the series, Toby is infatuated with Pam, the receptionist. He tries to keep this a secret, but when it comes out, it only goes to show how much of a creep he is.
Pam and Jim’s relationship define a large part of The Office. What is often forgotten is Toby’s few attempts to sabotage it. When Pam and Jim are first starting in Season Four, Toby calls out their PDA in a company-wide memo. This is an act of jealousy that puts Pam and Jim’s relationship on the spot in an early attempt to cause relational friction. Within the same season, Toby tries to make a move on Pam. He does this by putting a hand on her knee, in a way that she finds extremely uncomfortable. Toby does realize the implications of these actions and moves to Costa Rica to avoid confrontation.
While Toby doesn’t take any more direct action towards Pam, he pines over her until the series finale. Overall, Toby is obsessed with a woman who cannot love him back and takes it out on her indirect and jealous ways. In a normal situation, Pam would report Toby’s behaviors to Human Resources. Unfortunately, in The Office, the Head of HR is Toby. If you are in Pam’s shoes, the best way to get removed from your fictional creep is to report their behavior to their supervisor. In Pam’s case, she would have to report Toby’s behavior to her boss, Michael Scott, who is also a fictional creep.
Unfortunately, because Michael is such a character, it would be in her best interest to go over his head and report Toby to their region’s head. Depending on when she would want to report Toby, this would be Charles Miner, Gabe Lewis, or Jan Levinson. While the reporting process may take some time and patience, in the end, it will ensure that you and your fictional creep aren’t an office length away from each other at all times.
Prince Hans From Frozen
Prince Hans is the classic “perfect man gone wrong story.” At first glance, Prince Hans is a dream man. Prince Hans and Anna have a cute meeting on her first day out in the real world, and he returns all of her affection. He even loves and supports her when traveling into the mountains to find her sister. This all crumbles, however, when Prince Hans reveals to Anna that he never actually loved her. In the end, all he wanted was her status as royalty.
As audience members, this was hard to see coming and was the plot twist at the heart of Disney’s Frozen. When Anna is given a chance to confront Prince Hans, she punches him in the face and banishes him from Arendelle. Unfortunately, audiences are left wondering what they should do if they run into a guy who isn’t as he seems, and they don’t have a kingdom they can banish him from. The first step in avoiding a fictional creep like this one is to identify a person as a Prince Hans before they even get the chance to reveal their true colors. A few red flags emerge when studying Hans’ behavior prior to his betrayal. Although he was able to explore the world, unlike Anna, he had the same naivety as her.
This implies something fake about his character, and his engagement to Anna becomes a manipulation of her obliviousness to reality. Furthermore, the fact that Prince Hans didn’t openly show any flaws to Anna infers that he could be “too good to be true.” With a man as perfect as Hans, you are left to wonder what he is hiding. To avoid this kind of fictional creep, identify the red flags quickly before your relationship allows for any kind of betrayal.
Professor Snape From Harry Potter
When Harry Potter first meets Professor Snape, Snape is cold and often cruel to him. This is a pattern that continues throughout the rest of the Harry Potter series. It is later revealed that this cruelty is a result of Snape resenting Harry’s existence, as he wishes that he ended up with Harry’s mother, Lily Potter, rather than her husband, James. As children, Snape and Lily were best friends, and Lily even stood up to James Potter for him. Despite this, she never loved Snape the way she loved James.
Their friendship crumbled when Snape revealed his true nature as a creep. He not only called Lily a ‘mudblood’ but joined the Death Eaters as retaliation to her rejection. Snape joined a group of evil wizards, who wish that muggle-borns like Lily were wiped from existence, simply because Lily did not return his affections. This is a huge red flag on Snape’s character. Lily, not loving him back, caused him to work with the wizards that ultimately kill her. Overall, Snape is doubly a fictional creep through his resentment of Lily and his later cruelty towards her son.
For those of you feeling like Lily or Harry Potter, total avoidance is the key. Cut the Snape in your life off completely. For Lily, leaving Snape alone after his first red flag could have let his obsession cool off and not become as massive as it did. Later on, when Harry has Snape as a professor, Harry avoiding Snape at all costs could have saved him a lot of trouble. As a professor, Snape isn’t meant to seek out his students for personal reasons. Therefore, if Harry were to try his best to not see Snape outside of class, he could avoid a lot of mistreatment. Creeps like Snape have a lot of red flags but tend to stay in their corner.
The Phantom Of The Opera From The Phantom Of The Opera
As one of the most iconic figures from musical theatre, the Phantom of the Opera is also one of the most iconic fictional creeps in history. In The Phantom of the Opera, the Phantom is a disfigured man who lives in the opera house’s catacombs. In the musical, he becomes fixated on Christine, a young performer. The Phantom teaches her how to sing and works to advance her singing career. However, along the way, he raises countless red flags.
The Phantom is a controlling creep. He doesn’t give Christine much of a say in her career and instead does everything for her. Christine was only able to make her leading lady debut because the Phantom sabotaged her rival. The Phantom even goes so far as to kill for Christine. The Phantom later shows his need to control Christine in response to her engagement to Raoul.
Since the Phantom harbors love for the young singer, Christine dedicating herself to another man launches him into a rage. He crashes a giant chandelier onto the opera’s stage and begins a plan to enact revenge on Raoul, Christine, and the rest of the opera house. The Phantom is a fictional creep that wears his red flags upon his sleeve, but due to Christine’s naivety, he is able to manipulate the young woman into going along with his plans.
While your first instinct may be to confront a fictional creep like the Phantom over his control issues, please take a second to think it through. In Christine’s case, the Phantom has a history of being violent and malicious. Instead of jumping right to facing the creep, first, bring in help from those around you. Be honest with your friends and build up a support system. Having others in your life besides the fictional creep gives you a chance to think clearly without the creep’s influence. Once you are ready, separate yourself from the creep, knowing that your support system has your back and can guide you through the tumultuous times to come.
Orin From Little Shop Of Horrors
Orin from Little Shop of Horrors is not like any other dentist you will ever meet. Unlike your family dentist, Orin is a sadist, a misogynist, and overall a fictional creep. In Little Shop of Horrors, Orin is introduced as Audrey’s boyfriend. Since the main character, a florist named Seymour, is in love with Audrey, Orin is already the antagonist.
However, Orin takes this status to the next level. He is cruel to Audrey, striking her and treating her like a prop. Seymour’s kindness and love only works to highlight Orin’s red flags. Beyond this, Orin is a sadist. As a dentist, he takes pleasure in people’s pain. He also abuses his access to nitric gas and often gets high off of his supply. If he acts this way around paying patients, viewers are left to wonder how he is with Audrey beyond the abuse we see on screen. Orin is the scariest type of fictional creep, one who is proud of every one of his red flags.
Leaving a creep like Orin requires a more serious response. If you are ever in Audrey’s place, consult the people around you and build up a support system like Christine. Look to resources such as the Office on Women’s Health to gain advice on counseling, exit strategies, and more. Don’t wait for a green plant from outer space to get your creep away from you. Get help from the people around you, and plan a way to safely exit the relationship and never see the Orin in your life again.
Stay Away From Fictional Creeps
If you are ever caught in the same situations as the protagonists explained below, don’t just use this article for advice. This is a great jumping-off point to identify a person as a creep and begin to explore your ways out. Use the ideas expressed above to inspire further research as you gain knowledge from experts online or in-person on how to safely and effectively leave your creep behind. With this, you can make your creep nothing more than a piece of fiction once again.
