"It. Is. An. Idea! They do not die. They do not age. They do not give up!" -RGB
Ideas are a type of creature which reside within the world of TPoH, first encountered on the last page of Chapter 4, and first seen properly on the first page of Chapter 5 (pages 75 and 76, respectively). Like the other creatures, they appear to be inherently dangerous, but not necessarily bad.
Ideas will inherently change the nature of things that are exposed to them for too long,[1] they consume whatever they please in their path,[2][3] and are effectively immortal so long as they remain "inspired".[1][3]
Little else is known about Ideas, beyond the one we meet in-story.
Appearance[]
The Idea we meet first takes the appearance of a dog. Or, perhaps, the idea of a dog. It's shape is recognizable, but highly abstract, and made of simple geometry. It used to be unknown whether all Ideas are dogs, or if they come in a range of abstracted animals, but we now have seen the Idea turn into a fish in Chapter 20: Cut to[4], and into a paper boat in Chapter 26: Casting[5].
Story (THE Idea)[]
We are introduced to Ideas by Hero, who by some means found one as RGB slept. When he awoke, his first demand was that she get away from it immediately, as she was beginning to change because of it's presence, abstracting her into a different form. It had also apparently affected her personality, as her reaction was to accuse RGB of wanting it for himself, and then to run away riding it.
RGB recovered Hero by means of his cane, and the two fled from the fixated Idea. By changing RGB's channels to a series of infomercials, however, she was able to spare both their lives by boring the creature to tears. The two then left, leaving it hurt and alone out in the open.
It perked up, however, upon seeing the sun restored to the sky, thumping it's tail against the ground. It eventually managed to muster up enough energy to crawl forwards, licking a snail it came across. This immediately restored it's inspiration, and the snail is incorporated into the dog as a nose[6] when we next see it attempting to chew on the vines left by Negative in the Plains of Hesitation.