The Ultimate Power Stratagem:

A despotic regime sustained by deception is often rooted in the fear of the unknown.This fear functions as a psychological trigger that perpetuates a controlled and restrictive social environment.For those in power, cultivating such fear becomes an essential mechanism for maintaining authority and compliance within the system.When fear is systematically induced, individuals tend to gravitate towards figures of power in search of security and stability, which can then be exploited by the power players to consolidate and retain control over individuals.This study examines the representation of the fear of the unknown in Veronica Roth's Divergent trilogy and James Dashner's The Maze Runner series through qualitative and comparative analysis.It analyses how epistemic control and engineered amnesia function as psychological, social, and institutional mechanisms of power within these narratives.The study further investigates the impact of the fear of the unknown on the characters' journeys toward self-discovery and argues that the dissolution of this fear is essential to their eventual emancipation.