History Main / DreamsVsNightmares

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'': Given that the game is AllJustADream, this is the case with the game's conflict. The various townsfolk and [=NPCs=] who help Link out (Especially Marin) fulfill the role of the dreams, whereas the monsters who oppose Link are the Nightmares. For that matter, the bosses are even called "Nightmares".

* ''Literature/Mirror Dreams'' focuses on this conflict via the two central kingdoms of Haven and Nightkeep, who are the hubs of every dream and nightmare ever had. It turns out this is necessary for balance in the universe but Nightkeep is not exactly keen on following rules and sets about trying to conquer Haven.

There are many different kinds of dreams: sweet dreams that make you happy, nightmares that scare you, [[RealDreamsAreWeird weird dreams]] that leave you confused, [[DreamingOfThingsToCome prophetic dreams]] that supposedly predict the future... However, many works of fiction that focus on dreams cut it down to good dreams and nightmares.

There are many different kinds of dreams: sweet dreams that make you happy, nightmares that scare you, weird dreams that leave you confused, prophetic dreams that supposedly predict the future... However, many works of fiction that focus on dreams cut it down to good dreams and nightmares.

Then there's TheDarkSide, which is based on [[NightmareSequence nightmares]]. The dark creatures of [[{{Mordor}} the nighmare world,]] often led by a NightmareWeaver, only exist for the sole purpose of dragging you into a state of seemingly endless torment the moment you fall asleep, and are portrayed as AlwaysChaoticEvil. They will attempt to make sure that you'll drown in a pool of thick, black oil with no hope for escape, that you'll always have legs made of Jello and filled with syrup as you helplessly stumble around like a teenager in a [[SlasherMovie slasher film]], unable to gain distance between you and the teleporting MonsterClown approaching closer and closer. And pray to God he isn't [[ThingsThatGoBumpInTheNight hiding under your bed or in your closet]] every night, [[NeverSleepAgain or even worse, that you don't die in real life if he catches you in your nightmares...]]

* Played with in ''ComicBook/TheSandman'''s "Doll's House" arc, in which Dream chases down a bunch of sentient dreams and nightmares that got loose during his confinement. On the one hand, his capture of Brute and Glob and the Corinthian are unambiguously good things, as they are nightmares who have created terrible problems in the waking world. On the other hand, Fiddler's Green is a perfectly harmless dream who just wanted to experience the physical world and didn't see the harm in doing so while his master was away, and yet at first Dream thinks of him as no different to the nightmares, and only sees the insult to his authority rather than the suffering they cause. That said, discovering that Fiddler's Green is [[spoiler: Gilbert]] who is not only kind and generous, but even willing to sacrifice his own life for a human, prompts Dream to be merciful, and is the start of his CharacterDevelopment into a more caring individual.
* Brute and Glob come from the seventies version of ''The Sandman'', where they were presented as "the baddies" in young Jed Walker's dream world, regularly defeated by Garret Sanford (and later Hector Hall). This got {{deconstructed}} in the Gaiman version, which revealed Brute and Glob had set the whole scenario up themselves in the boss's absence in order to provide a regular source of dream energy. Gaiman's Dream has no problem with nightmares as such; after all, he created them, and the terror they create ''in the Dreaming'' is, in theory, serving a purpose. Unfortunately, the more powerful ones have a tendency to go beyond their remit.
* Zig-zagged in the cosmology of ''Comicbook/TheMultiversity'', which presents Dream and Nightmare as opposite each other in the Sphere of the Gods, in the same way as Heaven and Hell or [[Comicbook/NewGods New Genesis and Apokalips]]. However, unlike those realms, they do not seem to be opposing each other in an "eternal war" sort of sense, with the text describing Nightmare as simply the flip side of the Dream King's realm.

[[folder:Film - Live-Action]]