History Main / BadDreams

* Ash from ''Manga/BananaFish'' is shown to have these, most likely in the form of [[NightmareFlashback Nightmare Flashbacks]]. His friend Eiji pretends to not notice him calling out in his sleep or waking up crying.

* ''Franchise/GrisaiaSeries'': Protagonist Yuuji is still haunted by his past in his dreams, more specifically the things he has done: [[spoiler:Killing his own father or being made into a child soldier by a terrorist and being forced to carry out several assassinations, to name a few.]]

* The entire premise for the obscure Disney PC game VideoGame/NightmareNed, where the main character must journey through his terrifying nightmare to conquer his fears.

** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': Past [[Characters/XMenFilmSeriesProfessorCharlesXavier Charles]] is plagued by these, which is why he informs Erik that he takes the serum so that he can sleep at night.

* ''Film/XMenFilmSeries'':

** ''Film/XMenDaysOfFuturePast'': Past Charles is plagued by these, which is why he informs Erik that he takes the serum so that he can sleep at night.

* ''Franchise/{{Fallout}}''

** In addition to DreamingOfThingsToCome, Buffy experiences guilt-fueled dreams about her encounter with Faith in the season 3 finale episode "Graduation Day" (part 1). These dreams begin peacefully but become Bad Dreams because of Buffy's guilt. The dreams appear in episodes involving Faith after the aforementioned encounter.
** Likewise at the beginning of Season 3, Buffy's dreams reflect her guilt at killing a re-souled Angel in the Season 2 finale. The dreams stop after she confesses her action to Giles.

** In "The Next Doctor", the amnesic, possible future incarnation of the Doctor has Bad Dreams, stating that with everything a Time Lord has seen and done, of ''course'' he has Bad Dreams. The Tenth Doctor simply replies "Yeah,". [[spoiler:Jackson Lake isn't the Doctor though. His Bad Dreams are caused by the death of his wife and kidnap of his son that he's suppressed the memory of out of grief.]]
** In the Series Five episode "Amy's Choice", the Eleventh Doctor's cheerful carefree manner is revealed to be a mask at least some of the time. This is revealed in two dreams caused by psychic pollen. Amy and Rory are also included in these dreams, so they end up seeing Eleven's inner darkness for themselves.

* In the ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' episode "Small Worlds", Jack Harkness dreams about his last encounter with TheFairFolk, and how all his men died.
** In "Adam", the titular antagonist, makes Jack relive in his dreams, the repressed memories of the death and enslavement of everyone on his homeworld, [[spoiler: The Boeshane Peninsula]], which was the day he lost his little brother.

* At the beginning of the ''[[ComicBook/Supergirl2005 Bizarrogirl]]'' storyline, which happens right after the destruction of ''ComicBook/NewKrypton'', ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} has nightly nightmares in where she fights Superwoman again, and a legion of corpses tries to drag her down to Hell.

Supertrope of:
[[index]]
* CatapultNightmare, where the character having the nightmare wakes up by flinging themselves up from the bed in fright.
* FlashbackNightmare, which always shows the nightmare, and said nightmare is a flashback to the past.
* NightmareSequence, where the contents of the dream are shown to the audience.
[[/index]]

YourWorstNightmare may be mistaken for Bad Dreams. When the character suffers from TraumaInducedAmnesia, they can overlap with DreamingTheTruth.

Contrast DreamingOfThingsToCome. When the dreams are symbolic, they can not always be distinguished; dreams of a villain could be remembering the past encounters, or foreshadowing future ones. Also contrast TalkingInYourDreams. The character may not be able to tell that someone is communicating because the means are bringing up memories.

May be a FeverDreamEpisode. Supertrope of FlashbackNightmare, which always shows the nightmare and is literal. These are often RecurringDreams, at least by implication. May be caused by buried memories from AlternateIdentityAmnesia.

* At the beginning of the "Bizarrogirl" storyline, which happens right after the destruction of ''ComicBook/NewKrypton'', ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} has nightly nightmares in where she fights Superwoman again, and a legion of corpses tries to drag her down to Hell.

** When Harry is ''mocked'' by his cousin for this, we learn that he's been having dreams about [[spoiler:[[SacrificialLion Cedric]]'s death.]]

** Both Holmeses continue these patterns into the second season with TearJerker results.

* Many interpretations of ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'' hold that the often horrific symbolism in Madotsuki's dreams was inspired by some traumatic event in her past, be it rape, death, the apocalypse, or any other number of theories and abstractions. What is certain is that [[{{Hikikomori}} it's probably not something]] [[TheVoiceless she's telling many other people]].

* ''Franchise/MetalGear''