History Main / YourWorstNightmare

* NightmareWeaver: An entity that has the ability to cause nightmares.

* IKnowWhatYouFear: The power to discover other people's fears

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Someone or something is tormenting our heroes in their sleep, be it one of their regular menaces or something new. At best, the recurring nightmares are causing them sleepless nights and impairing their performance in the real world. At worst, they find that any injuries in the dream world [[YourMindMakesItReal carry over to the real world]] and their lives are in serious danger. Either way, the protagonists must find out how to stop their night-time tormentors.

A SubTrope of TalkingInYourDreams. May be mistaken for PastExperienceNightmare, AnxietyDreams, DreamingOfThingsToCome, DreamSpying, or DreamingOfTimesGoneBy. Indeed, those tropes can be used by the attackers.

See also PrimalFear, NightmareSequence, and NightmareWeaver. Not to be mistaken for YourFavorite, unless you are a NightmareFetishist.

Not to be confused with ImYourWorstNightmare (which is just the phrase) or IKnowWhatYouFear (the power to discover other people's fears; may involve bringing them to life).

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!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* This is the ability of the Death 13 Stand in ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', made worse by the fact that they forget the experience upon waking up. YourMindMakesItReal is in effect, which Kakyoin exploits by using a pocketknife to carve the Stand user's identity ([[spoiler:the [[EnfantTerrible baby that's traveling with them]]]]) into his arm with a pocketknife, which transfers to his arm in the real world.
* In part of ''Manga/NightmareInspector'', Tsukishiro, Hiruko's rival baku, alters people's dreams to make them more terrifying, and tastier to eat. Mind you, most of them were already having nightmares already, but Tsukishiro made them much worse.
* In a side comic to ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'', [[BigBad Desslok's]] exiled wife and daughter have the power to psychically torment people, which they ''usually'' do when their victims are asleep. Their usual modus operandi is to make them hallucinate family members begging for help and warning the Star Force of danger, though Nova saw three-fingered hands grabbing her.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* Ashley gets up to a lot of this in [[spoiler: his first appearance]] in ''ComicBook/HackSlash''. Unfortunately for him, [[spoiler: he isn't tough enough to survive ''[[FlashbackNightmare Cassie]]'s'' [[MamaBear mental landscape]]]].
* Franchise/{{Batman}} villain Scarecrow has used every possible variation of this trope in his lengthy career. Sometimes his involvement is left as a surprise, and his motives vary from revenge to simply studying the effects of fear.
** When Scarecrow uses his fear toxin on ComicBook/TheJoker, though, he accomplishes nothing at all. The Joker just finds fear (even his own) to be funny.
*** This is a case of DependingOnTheWriter, as, with some stories and adaptations, Joker is capable of fear. [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheBraveAndTheBold He's afraid of being ordinary.]] [[WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries To die in obscurity against some nobody in a back alley,]] no final fight with Batman, [[VideoGame/BatmanArkhamKnight or just being forgotten after he's dead.]]
* The Monkey King, a demonic entity from ''ComicBook/SagaOfTheSwampThing'', fed off the terror of children by assuming the form of their deepest fears.
* ''Franchise/GreenLantern'': Sinestro Corps members are initiated by experiencing their worst fears so that their rings can absorb their fear energies. After this, they have the ability to weaponize the fears of others.
* The second story arc of IDW's ''ComicBook/{{My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic|IDW}}'' comic sees the Mane Six being tormented by evil spirits with nightmares revolving around their worst fears, like Twilight's fear of disappointing her mentor Princess Celestia, or Applejack being afraid of letting down her family.
* In ''ComicBook/AvengersTheInitiative'', Terrance "Trauma" Ward's powers enable him to transform into the object of someone else's deepest fears. He hates this ability and has very little control over it. He has this power because he is the son of the Dream Demon Nightmare.
* In ''ComicBook/ProjectSuperpowers'', Mr. Face gains the ability to manifest everyone else's greatest fears. After coming back from the Urn, he tries to avoid being around other people.
* ''ComicBook/WarlordOfMars'' had a one-shot comic where John Carter suffered a vision where he is back on Earth and placed into a nuthouse, believing that all his adventures in Mars were all mad delusions, spending years trying to find a way back, losing some of his limbs in the process and nearly going insane. The whole thing was a nightmare caused by a rare Martian monster known as "balor", that puts its victims through their worst fears.
* ''ComicBook/PaperinikNewAdventures'':
** Paperinik's [[SwissArmyWeapon Extransformer Shield]] is equipped with a holographic psycho-captor, a device that reads an enemy's worst fear and then projects a hologram of it. For whatever reason, Paperinik never uses it.
** Evronian SuperSoldier Trauma has psychic powers that make you relive your worst fears and nightmares until you are about to break... At which point, being an EmotionEater like all the Evronians but far more powerful, Trauma drains all the fear and turns the victim into a [[SlaveMook Coolflame]]. The only thing capable of opposing this power is genuine courage, as in ''overcoming'' fear, that will short out his powers.
*** In the relaunch story "Might And Power" [[spoiler:the Evronians fielded a whole army of mutants with a weaker version of this ability, using them as slave drivers for prisoners they needed not Coolflamized yet]].
** Korinna Ducklair has a very similar ability to Trauma, only far more powerful. She uses it both to defend herself and effectively brainwash people or implanting psychic suggestions.
* ''ComicBook/LucyDreaming'' is about a 13-year-old girl who keeps falling asleep and entering dreams where she possesses a different random badass action hero who is in imminent danger. If she takes damage in the dream, she takes damage in the real world.
* ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Deimos' flashiest trick, which he inflicts on Diana's four mortal comrades. Three of them are largely [[WhyDidItHaveToBeSnakes throwaway obstacles]], but Julia's fear of drowning serves as a bit of {{Foreshadowing}} for later revelations about her background.
* Happens in ''ComicBook/ScareTactics'' #2, when the band find themselves in the VanishingVillage of Beaumont, which brings their worst nightmares to life. Screamqueen sees her family being executed for her crimes; Fang finds himself face-to-face with [[RunawayGroom the bride he jilted at the altar]], who killed herself and is now a zombie; and Slither relives being tortured by his father in the name of science.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': [[spoiler:Ghidorah]] has been tormenting [[Characters/AbraxasHrodvitnon Viv and San]]'s (particularly Vivienne's) sleeping hours as well as their waking ones via the PsychicLink to them.
* ''Fanfic/UltimateSleepwalker: The New Dreams'' has a rather gruesome variant with Psyko, whose madness beams force anyone affected by them to constantly relive their worst nightmares over and over again. What makes this stand out is that Psyko not only commits MindRape on his victims, but he can also use their bodies as {{People Puppet}}s in making them do his bidding even while they're hallucinating. Oh, and he can also do all this when you're ''wide awake''.
* [[BigBad Deadlock]] does this to Spyro and Cynder in FanFic/TheLegendOfSpyroANewDawn during the "Restless Night" chapter. She makes them both experience rather frightening nightmares, Cynder reliving killing her mother as Dark Cynder and Spyro dreaming he turned into Malefor. Cynder's is worse because she sees the blood of the dragons she killed as Dark Cynder dripping from her claws.
* ''Fanfic/GettingBackOnYourHooves'': [[BigBad Checker Monarch]] repeatedly does this to Trixie and her friends throughout the story as a form of MindRape. [[spoiler: Following her EngineeredPublicConfession, she [[VillainousBreakdown snaps completely]] and casts a spell to force them all asleep so she can do this again and [[DespairEventHorizon break them completely]]. Thanks to a Lucid Dreaming trick Trixie taught them all [[ChekhovsGun earlier in the story]], they're all not only able to [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind fight back]], but they kick Checker's ass.]]
* ''Fanfic/JewelOfDarkness'': There's one chapter during the Jump City Arc where Mumbo releases an EldritchAbomination that attacks the Titans by attaching to them in their sleep and making them live out their worst fears -- Jinx relieves her DarkAndTroubledPast and [[DrivenToSuicide near-suicide]] (with the strong implication of making her go through with it), Beast Boy becomes a horrible monster and kills his friends, Cyborg is turned into a full machine and is used as a weapon, Starfire relives her own DarkAndTroubledPast, and Robin's is [[TheUnreveal not shown]] (but makes him nearly strangle Jinx when he wakes up).
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' Fanfic ''Fanfic/{{Moonlight|JasonTheHuman}}'', this is what every pony affected by the mysterious being that is putting ponies to sleep has happen to them, from things that are affecting them recently to nightmares in their past.
* In the ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' fic ''Fanfic/VariousVytalVentures'' chapter "Hide and Seek", a demonic being called Nightmare attacks several characters in their dreams. Ruby is forced to watch everyone else's nightmares, unable to help them. Weiss is trapped in a HallOfMirrors that repair themselves when smashed, and her reflections come to life, saying she's a failure and will always be alone. Blake turns into a sort of werecat and attacks her friends, while she's still conscious but unable to control her body. Yang suffers a broken leg and loses her powers, leaving her helpless when she's attacked by a swarm of rapier wasps. Jaune turns into a helpless baby and his friends cruelly abandon him. Pyrrha is attacked by a swarm of snakes and bitten several times, paralyzing her just as a Taijitu Grimm arrives and prepares to eat her. Ren is attacked by his own mother, who calls him a disappointment and tries to kill him. Nora becomes invisible, inaudible, and intangible, and nobody seems to remember her. Velvet is beaten up by Team CRDL, who then prepare to gang-rape her. Sun is forced to wear a clown outfit and perform in a circus, where the audience jeers and subjects him to ProducePelting. Penny is strapped to a chair and a MadScientist starts to disassemble her robotic body. Fortunately, Ruby finds the strength to reject her fear of being unable to help her friends, which pulls everyone out of their nightmares and into her dreamworld. Everybody then kicks Nightmare's ass.
* The fanfic ''Fanfic/TimeFixersNicktoonsOfTheFuture'' has Darry getting possessed by Nightmare Juju, who has the ability to make people live out their worst fear, and can absorb dreams from those who are asleep, turning them into nightmares.
* ''Fanfic/TheApprenticeTheStudentAndTheCharlatan'' starts with Nova Shine and Twilight agreeing to investigate the source of a bunch of nightmares pertaining to a shadowy entity in a temple in the Everfree Forest that keeps causing them some lost sleep. They think it's the source of the nightmares, though it turns out [[spoiler:future!Nova is the one doing it to warn them about the shadow.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/InvaderZim'' oneshot ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/19213330 House of Horror and Doom]]'', an EldritchAbomination disguises itself as a [[GeniusLoci haunted house]] attraction and abducts visitors in order to trap them in {{Lotus Eater Machine}}s and feed on their fears. Over the course of the story, we see it do this to Gaz (who finds herself once again inflicted with the pig-mouth curse, locked up, and with everyone laughing at her), Zim (who finds himself exposed as an alien, captured, and about to be dissected), and Dib (who finds himself in a post-AlienInvasion world where Zim rules). [[spoiler: Then it tries to entrap [[CloudCuckoolander GIR]] as well, and [[TooSpicyForYogSothoth his insanity overwhelms and destroys it]], freeing the others.]]
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic ''Fanfic/TheMeaningOfHarmony'' the nightmares Sunset and Twilight have make them afraid to sleep, as well as causing them to suffer from PowerIncontinence, forcing them to sleep in a shield spell to prevent themselves from blowing up their campsite, like they did to the inn they stayed at when their journey just began.
* ''Fanfic/ThePiecesLieWhereTheyFell'': All six of the characters are said to have had unsettling dreams during their night in the inn, though they don’t remember the details. [[spoiler: This is a [[ChekhovsGun clue towards the identity of their Big Bad]].]]
* ''Fanfic/ADiplomaticVisit'': Late in chapter 6 of the second sequel, ''Diplomacy Through Schooling'', it's noted that Starlight has been having these about Cutie Marks and her old village, which only stopped after she gave herself up to Twilight and her friends. Twilight suspects Luna and Pharynx were responsible. The next chapter confirms it.
* ''Fanfic/CodePrime'': [[spoiler: Megatron's Dark Geass of Absolute Terror allows him to trap people in hallucinations of their worst fears, so intense that they eventually kill the victim.]]
* ''Fanfic/ThereWasOnceAnAvengerFromKrypton'': At the end of Chapter 3 of ''She Stole My Heart (and most of my valuables)'', Luz meets a dying Gremoblin's gaze, and thus starts Chapter 4 in a fear vision. It first starts at her old school, where she experiences everything bad that happened there mashed together. Then it shifts to the Boiling Isles, where Amity starts mocking her for having no inherent magic. Finally, she's told that Eda's been arrested and her mother has come to take her home, with it ending as her mother starts chewing her out.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dreambuilders}}'': When Jenny, who has found out that Minna is manipulating her dreams, attempts to make Minna jealous by getting close to her father, Minna retaliates by crafting a nightmare in which Jenny is terrorized by spiders. However, she goes too far and ends up destroying her dream stage, causing Jenny to fall into the Dream Stage below, rendering her real-world self comatose.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* The ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' movies are probably the best example of this trope, with hapless teenagers being tormented and slaughtered by the dream-walking, OneLiner-spouting psycho-killer Freddy Krueger.
* In ''Film/{{Dreamscape}}'' (1984), psychic Tommy Ray Glatman can kill people by inserting himself into their dreams and scaring them to death. Eventually the Hero learns how to do it too and [[HoistByHisOwnPetard kills Glatman and his boss the same way]].
* In ''Film/EmbraceOfTheVampire'', the vampire visits a college freshman in her dreams as a way to seduce her.
* ''Film/FinalGirl'': What William's drug causes people to hallucinate, their worst fear.
** For Veronica, it's being murdered by William himself, who is basically a father figure to her.
** For Danny, it's being hounded by giant pandas wearing suits.
** For Nelson, it's being attacked by a group of ninjas.
** For Shane, it's his girlfriend finding out about his "hobby" and being forced to kill her.
** For Jameson, it's all of his victims coming back for revenge on him.
* In ''Film/It2017'' [[EldritchAbomination Whatever Pennywise is]], it turns into the worst nightmare of the children it wants to scare and feeds on their fear.
* In ''Film/UltramanGingaSTheMovieShowdownThe10UltraBrothers'', the BigDamnMovie for ''Series/UltramanGinga'', this is how the BigBad Etelgar attempt to prevent the alliance of Ultramen of various dimensions from [[StormingTheCastle invading his fortress hideout]]; by summoning Eteldummies, mindless copies of their worst fears that Etelgar controls, where each Ultramen are forced to stay back and fight in order to proceed. Here are the greatest fears of the various Ultras featured, as depicted in the FinalBattle:
** ''Series/UltramanTiga'', ''Series/UltramanDyna'', ''Series/UltramanGaia'': Five King (Tiga's greatest fear is presumably Golza and Melba, Dyna's being Golza and Reigubas, and Gaia's would be Gan-Q and Super COV)
** ''Series/UltramanNexus'': Dark Mephisto
** ''Series/UltramanMax'': Alien Sran.
** ''Series/UltramanMebius'': Alien Empera.
** ''Franchise/UltramanZero'': Ultraman Belial
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' book 6, Jake had an unexplained vision of a ''[[EldritchAbomination thing]]'' with a Big Red Eye. In the much-anticipated book 26, it was revealed that since then, he'd been having nightmares that replicated the experience perfectly, except that at the end, the BRE said "Soon." And then, the BRE was finally identified as being that universe's closest analogue to {{Satan}}.
* ''Literature/BruceCovillesBookOf Nightmares'': ''There's Nothing Under the Bed'' features Weztix, the Lord of Nightmares, whose job is to create nightmares, which are then taken to people around the world by his delivery boys.
* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia: Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'' included an area of ocean known as the Dark Island "where dreams come true". In this case, "dreams" meant ''dreams''; not "wishes" or "daydreams". And "dreams" includes "nightmares".
** It was so awful that the lord who had spent several years there begged King Caspian to swear that he would never permit anybody to ask him about his experiences.
** That was [[RetCon retconned]] in recent editions claiming to restore the "original text" intended by C.S. Lewis. That lord now asks to never be returned to the island (the point being that in this text, unlike the other, it's clear that the island still exists).
*** In the movie, the Dark Island terrorizes the people of the ocean and is apparently pure evil. It tempts and creates the fears of those who want to destroy it.
* In the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', a band of intruders in the home of [[spoiler: the Tooth Fairy]] are menaced (and in many cases, killed) by a number of scary things from their childhood. One is literally swallowed up by darkness, another is devoured by a wardrobe with a creepy face in the woodwork, a third is chased off (and presumably killed) by a "Scissor Man" (read: a ''man made of scissors'' who threatens children that suck their thumbs), a fourth is attacked by an exaggerated version of a bully they knew in school, and one dies of a heart attack after being menaced by a giant version of his domineering, [[AbusiveParents abusive mother]].
* In ''Literature/GravePeril'', book three of the ''Literature/DresdenFiles'', a ghost torments (and occasionally drives insane) its victims in their sleep. It eats Harry alive.
* ''Literature/ForestKingdom'': In book 3 (''Down Among the Dead Men''), this is one of the Beast's powers, causing nightmares in the people around it.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': This is the power of the boggart species. The fears seen range from mundane (Hermione being told off by a phantom teacher for failing a test, while Ron's six-foot-tall spider causes quite a few screams) to [[TearJerker poignant]] (Molly Weasley seeing a vision of her dead children, plus Harry). Harry's worst nightmare, interestingly, is the Dementor - a creature that spreads fear by its very presence, meaning his worst fear is fear itself (when Lupin thought it'd be Voldemort, whose boggart is apparently his own corpse, so terrified is he of death). Notably, however, boggarts are not considered very threatening, as there's a simple spell for dealing with them and they're fairly simple to defeat: Boggarts are defeated by laughter. Boggart Snape ends up dressed like Neville's grandmother, while Seamus' banshee loses her voice. They also can't handle multiple people, as they try to scare everyone at once by mixing everyone's nightmares into one thing that's more bizarre than anything.
* Creator/HPLovecraft set a whole series of stories (tied to the Franchise/CthulhuMythos) in the Dreamlands or some such name. It's no surprise he used this trope, in one story where a tale is transmitted -- somehow -- to the narrator concerning a man who cannot wake up and is chased through his dreams by {{Eldritch Abomination}}s. The narrator concludes by stating that he is afraid of what he might find if he visits the address mentioned in the story.
* In ''Through the Ice'' by Creator/PiersAnthony and Robert Kornwise, the heroes were magically attacked with dreams of their respective worst fears. After several failed attempts to defend themselves, the only successful method was to "yield to it," make the nightmares worse, and then (with the help of their telepathic team-member) hurl them back at the sender.
* In the ''[[Literature/TheWheelOfTime Wheel of Time]]'' series, this is the effect of dreams that touch Tel'aran'rhiod. Just brushing against it while dreaming of a dangerous experience can result in bruises or scrapes; actually being inside it when you dream of dying will kill you. Fortunately, few people are ever fully inside without a special power, but sometimes you can be sucked in by someone who has the ability to do so. One poor fellow is made to simply fade away into nothing.
* Occurs in the original ''Literature/{{Dragonlance}}'' Chronicles series when the Heroes of the Lance penetrate the Nightmare of Silvanesti. Most of the heroes perish in ways that would arguably reflect their worst fears--Sturm dies a coward, Flint dies when his old age catches up to him, Tika dies after her own ineptitude gets her killed, Goldmoon dies when Mishakal seems to desert her after she loses her faith, and so on. They get better after Raistlin defeats Cyan Bloodbane, the dragon who was causing the Nightmare.
* There is a short story which deals with a young boy being brought to see a psychiatrist for some sleep-related problem. During a hypnotism session, the boy explains that there are some sort of aliens that commit MindRape on him while he sleeps and leave him a horrible wreck afraid to fall asleep. The psychiatrist gives him the drive to order them away and the next morning, he's able to sleep peacefully. [[spoiler:Then we find out that the aliens have moved on to feeding on the psychiatrist. While he prepares to get rid of them, the story ends with the implication that they'll just move on to someone else]].
* In Creator/RobertEHoward's Literature/ConanTheBarbarian story "Literature/BlackColossus", Yasmela denies this trope, knowing that her lady in waiting will assume it's true; she really was awake when the apparition--an EldritchAbomination StalkerWithACrush--menaced her.
* In ''Literature/ShadowsOfTheApt'', Ucteberi does this to the Bee-Queen.
* In Creator/JasperFforde's [[Literature/ThursdayNext ''Well of Lost Plots'']], Thursday Next is tormented by dreams of wartime in the Crimea that are being inflicted by Aornis, a "mindworm" that is acting through Thursday's memories of the physical person. [[spoiler:She didn't think that maybe Thursday had worse nightmares.]]
* [[spoiler:Cas]] from ''Literature/AnnaDressedInBlood'' unknowingly has these. He initially thinks that they're from the stress of being a ghosthunter, [[spoiler:but then he realizes that the ghost that killed his father has been causing them.]]
* Subverted in the ''Literature/ColdfireTrilogy''. Damien Vryce willingly asks for Gerald Tarrant to cause these so that the vampiric EmotionEater can feed off the fear. Of course, it makes for poor feeding since Vryce wisens up to the artificial nightmares easily enough.
* Hester is terrified of ''Literature/{{Palimpsest}}'' and takes a number of pills to keep from seeing it.
* ''Literature/TheSeventhTower'': The aptly named Hall of Nightmares, the Castle's torture chamber. [[LivingShadow Spiritshadows]] are used to invade a subject's mind, draw out their worst fears, and attack them with them. Tal mentions that he knew someone who was sent to the Hall, and he was never the same again. Tal is worried when Milla is taken to the Hall; as an Icecarl, Milla is especially terrified of Spiritshadows, and she'll have no idea what to expect, so he assumes he'll find her terrified into catatonia. [[NoSell It turns out she barely even notices]]. All Icecarl children are taught to "call the Crones" in their dreams, who appear and protect them from their nightmares ([[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane the Crones are magical, but this particular effect might just be lucid dreaming]]). When Tal is later sent to the Hall himself, he is able to replicate the effect and also escapes unscathed.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/Batwoman2019''. In "Off With Her Head", Alice is forced to take Scarecrow's fear toxin and this is when the audience discovers her childhood abuse at the hands of the Queen of Hearts. She also sees her sister Kate turning up to rescue her as Batwoman, only to be persuaded by her father Jacob that Alice is an irredeemable villain and should be abandoned to her fate. In "Through the Looking Glass", Alice tells Kate that it was the second nightmare that was actually the worst. [[spoiler:And she sees it come true by the end of the episode when Kate and Jacob leave Alice locked in a cell in Arkham Asylum.]]
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In "Restless" all of the Scoobies are almost killed in dream sequences by the First Slayer. Buffy defeats her by ignoring her.
* ''Series/{{Charmed|1998}}'':
** "[[Recap/CharmedS1E5DreamSorcerer Dream Sorcerer]]" featured a serial killer who developed a way to enter the dreams of women who rejected him. [[YourMindMakesItReal Killing them there meant they died in real life.]]
** "[[Recap/CharmedS5E14SandFranciscoDreamin Sand Francisco Dreamin']]" pits the PowerTrio protagonists against their worst nightmares come to life after the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Demon Of The Week]] gets his hands on some Sandman sand.
* In Season 2 of ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', Molly Walker is tormented by what she calls "the nightmare man," but she refuses to talk to anyone about it. The nightmare man is later revealed to be [[spoiler: Matt Parkman's father, who locks her down until Matt beats him in a mental battle]].
* In ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'', the Nightmare [[MonsterOfTheWeek Dopant]] torments people in their dreams, putting them into comas. In order to battle him, the protagonists transform into Double and ''then'' go to sleep, since the transformation places one person's consciousness in another's body. This creates an interesting fake-out moment, as a dream version of the character appears in addition to the real one, something the Dopant didn't anticipate.
* In ''Series/LostGirl'', a dark fae Mare who is a DreamWeaver infects people and fae with these in order to feed off their fear. Bo, the protagonist, has nightmares revolving around being abandoned and alone which is not a surprise given [[OrphansOrdeal her background]].
* The Eyesac monster in ''Series/PowerRangersNinjaStorm'' has the ability to put collars around peoples' necks that forces them to experience their greatest fear.
* In one episode of the PuppetShow ''Series/RiminiRiddle'', Aunt Vera is turned into the thing she hates the most: a child.
* In the ''Series/StargateAtlantis'' episode "Doppelganger", an entity jumps from an alien crystal to Sheppard, then from him through various cast members, causing vivid nightmares starring a sociopathic Sheppard. The entity only scares people at first, until [[YourMindMakesItReal killing]] [[spoiler: the psychiatrist Dr. Heightmeyer]] in a [[spoiler: falling dream where she hit the bottom.]] The sociopathic Sheppard which only acted on everyone else's worst fears (Heightmeyer's fear of heights, Keller's fear of Alien, etc.) eventually re-entered his own consciousness and its revealed his worst fear is ''himself'' which proceeds to taunt him about his [[ILetGwenStacyDie failures]], self-loathing and beat him to a pulp.
** In a similar episode Sheppard hallucinates his arch-enemy Kolya kidnapping and torturing him for hours. Again it turns out his worst nightmare isn't Kolya but his own inadequacies and that he believes he deserves to suffer. There's a reason Sheppard is the BrokenAce.
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' pilot episode "The Cage" (later recalled by Spock in "The Menagerie"), the illusion-casting Talosians attempts to bring the captured Capt. Pike to heel by momentarily creating the agonizing illusion that he is in {{Hell}}. Furthermore, they warn him that he if doesn't behave, then they'll dig deeper into his mind for the ''really'' nasty stuff!
* In ''Series/SuperhumanSamuraiSyberSquad'' episode "To Sleep, Perchance to Scream," a series of DreamWithinADream situations is eventually revealed to be the MonsterOfTheWeek tormenting him via his alarm clock (talk about EverythingIsOnline!) once we get down to reality. [[spoiler:Then, it turns out the whole thing was AllJustADream. OrWasItADream.]]
* The ''Series/SabrinaTheTeenageWitch'' episode "Fear Strikes up a Conversation" played with this trope. Sabrina, nervous about giving a speech in front of all of Westbridge High, uses a spell to remove her fear -- only for it to become a living shadow that followed her everywhere. While she was immune to its effects, it caused everyone around her to become overly paranoid: Libby, terrified of never winning another beauty pageant, constantly applied makeup; Harvey, worried about being injured, clung to walls rather than walking normally. To defeat her fear, Sabrina's [[TricksterMentor Quizmaster]] leads her on a kind of JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind, where she encounters her worst hidden fears, including being taken advantage of for being too nice, not getting into a good college, and being outed as a witch. She conquers them all and goes through a door to discover her deepest fear...delivering her speech. She does so successfully and overcomes her fear -- who turns out to be Steve Allen. And once having overcome her fear, she then transforms herself into her Quizmaster's worst fear [[spoiler:a clown]] to torment him in a bit of well-earned payback.
* In an episode of ''Series/TheTroop'', "Wrath of the Wraith", the team hunts a wraith in an abandoned hospital, and learn the hard way that wraiths can create paralyzing visions of their victims' worst fears. Felix's is an [[MonsterClown evil clown]], Hayley is shown thousands of unfinished, overdue assignments, and Jake sees [[TheHero his friends in mortal peril and him not being able to save them]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* ''Radio/OurMissBrooks'': In "Friendship", Miss Brooks suffers from a referring dream where she's being attacked with a knife.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* In the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' universe, there is an epic monster known as a dream larva, a major threat usually sealed away in some other dimension. It is either a literal child of a god of dreams or a god's nightmare that has been so powerful that it absorbed a spark of his power and become sentient. In either case, it's essentially [[Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet Freddy Krueger]] on steroids, capable of messing up dreams of entire worlds at once. It also has a reality-warping power to assume the shape of everyone's worst nightmares [[AppearanceIsInTheEyeOfTheBeholder simultaneously,]] so most mortals get heart attacks just seeing it.
** Guess what? The only spell that can summon this abomination is an ''Epic'' spell, thus (almost) on par with spells that can, say, rain an apocalypse from the heavens to an area as large as a city. Yeah, this creature is this trope, {{Exaggerated}}.
** In 3.5's Monster Manual II we get the Nightmare Beast which, surprise, can induce horrific nightmares to any intelligent creature from a distance. Add its immense size, the ability to trample smaller creatures, and some pretty frightening spells, and you have a monster made for inducing nightmares regardless of whether you are awake or asleep.
** In several game editions, the spell ''Phantasmal Killer'' creates a mental illusion of its target's worst fear, which has the potential to strike them dead with terror. ''Weird'' is a high-level variant that affects multiple targets.
** More simply and literally, there's also the ''Nightmare'' spell (in some editions the reversed version of ''Dream''), which lets its caster play this trope straight against a sleeping target at a distance.
* A known symptom of latent psychic abilities in ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000''. If it doesn't result in an unbelievably horrible death from the creatures of the Warp, it usually results in an unbelievably horrible death at the hands of the Inquisition.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* This is the main source of action in ''VideoGame/{{Catherine}}''. The hero, Vincent, as well as a number of other men in his town are plagued by nightmares where they have to navigate up massive, constantly-disintegrating block towers while being chased by enormous monsters [[spoiler:which are tailored to their own psychological traumas]]. And if you fail, [[YourMindMakesItReal you die in real life]]. Matters are further complicated by the fact that none of the men can remember their dreams when they wake up.
* In ''Franchise/{{Pokemon}}'', Darkrai can trap its victims in a neverending nightmare. Whether or not there is malicious intent depends on the game.
** There's also the move Nightmare, which inflicts significant damage on sleeping opponents. Darkrai's ability, Bad Dreams, is simply a less powerful version that automatically activates.
* Happens in ''VideoGame/StarStealingPrince''. At first, the protagonist Snowe brushes it off as merely normal nightmares... [[spoiler: until the [[NightmareWeaver the Demon]] increases how often it happens, as well as making each nightmare more and more horrific until Snowe's companions even take note of just how [[ExhaustedEyeBags badly his eyes have gotten unnaturally baggy.]]]] [[spoiler: The only way to truly halt this endless stream of nightmares (and secure the [[GoldenEnding Good Ending]]) is by having Erio [[DreamWalker enter Snowe's mind]] so that him, Snowe and Dream Astra (the final of which has been forced to [[ResurrectionDeathLoop die again and again]] via being [[ManonFire burned alive]]. Only after defeating the Demon causing said nightmares will they cease, and after they return from the DreamLand, Snowe and Erio fall asleep after conversing with Astra about what Erio and Snowe were doing inside the tent, concluding with Snowe finally freed from those dreadful nightmares.]]
* In several routes of ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'' the protagonist has dreams of himself attacking and killing people, only to see the victims being reported in the news the next day. He actually ends up going temporarily insane from it, as he is convinced that he is the killer, [[spoiler:although it's actually the BigBad's doing, as the protagonist's consciousness is only drawn into his mind when sleeping due to the connection that runs between them]].
** The exception to this is [[spoiler:Kohaku's route, in which it ''isn't'' a dream -- [[VillainsOutShopping nor was the pavement discussion you had with Roa/SHIKI that led to them leaving town.]]]]
** In the side-story/sequel, ''Kagetsu Tohya'', the protagonist [[spoiler: is actually stuck in a recurring dream of repeating days in which he periodically has run-ins with his worst nightmare (his amoral sociopathic killer split personality) and later his interpretation of Death (a hybrid demon from his traumatic early childhood)]].
* ''VideoGame/WorldOfWarcraft'' has Potions of Nightmares, which "puts the imbiber into a slumber where they face and defeat their darkest fears." Doing so regenerates the character's HP and mana.
** In the Vanessa Vancleef encounter, Vancleef poisons you with the Nightmare Elixir, causing you to experience the worst nightmares of the instance's previous bosses; Glubtok and Fire, Helix Gearbreaker and spiders, Foe Reaper 5000 and electrical shocks and Admiral Ripsnarl's memories of when the worgen curse made him kill his family.
* ''Gauntlet: Dark Legacy'' has this as a [[TitleDrop name of a level]] in the Jester's realm.
* The Eater-of-Chains from ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'' does this. If it bites you in the real world, it will attack you in your dreams from then on. [[spoiler:Although you can actually beat the Eater-Of-Chains. With your bare hands no less.]]
** The Eater-of-Chains can actually be a noticeable aversion: [[spoiler:It's possible to ''breed'' an Eater-of-Chains to act as a companion to your character. From then onward, as long as you have one (not necessarily equipped, just in your inventory) there is a small chance of drawing a card that has the Eater-of-Chains stand guard while you sleep, which ensures a restful night.]]
* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series, Vaermina is the [[OurGodsAreDifferent Daedric Prince]] of Nightmares. Given [[AnthropomorphicPersonification the nature]] of the series' divine beings, she is the very ''embodiment'' of nightmares. She exists to give mortals nightmares and [[DreamStealer steal their dreams]], which she may in some way draw power from. Vaermina's [[EldritchLocation Daedric realm]] is Quagmire, a realm of horrors, where reality shifts upon itself in seemingly impossible ways. Every few minutes, lightning flashes and the realm morphs into a terrifying scene, each one more frightening than the last. It is the realm most commonly visited by mortals, who often slip into it unintentionally while they sleep.
* ''VideoGame/GuiltyGear Xrd'': Bedman is a psychic so powerful that he has to permanently sleep, or his mind would overload his body and kill him. However, this doesn't stop him from reaching into people's minds and playing on their perceptions, leading to very ConfusionFu based playstyle. His Instant Kill ability, Theatre of Pain, traps his enemy in a psychic prison of witnessing some repressed horror or what they fear most. Although the player never sees them, each victim even has their own unique set of responses to what they see.
-->'''Faust:''' ''This- this can`t be happening! The patient was just stable!''/''[[TheAtoner I`m sorry! I`m sorry! I`m sorry! Please, forgive me!]]''
-->'''Slayer:''' ''Sharon, calm down! Sh-She's only a friend!...''
-->'''I-No:''' ''Who... who the hell am I?!''
-->'''Leo Whitefang:''' ''Don't you die on me! That's an order!''/''[[AlwaysSomeoneBetter He]]'s surpassed me?! No! I refuse to believe it!''
-->'''Raven:''' ''No one... No one can recognize me!''
-->'''Millia:''' ''Sh-Should I... destroy myself instead?''
-->'''Elphelt:''' ''No Mother, please! Stop! I... I can't!...''
-->'''Kum Haehyun:''' ''If only I had used all my strength!...''
-->'''Answer:''' ''How can one provide for their family without a little stealing?!''
-->'''[[MirrorMatch Bedman]]:''' ''N-No...! I can be certain of NOTHING in this world... too many variables to solve the equations! This must be... HELL!''
* In ''VideoGame/BoxxyQuestTheGatheringStorm'', Catie spends much of the game being haunted by three unknown women, who appear in nightmares and beg her to “let them in.” A HopelessBossFight occurs each time they show up. In the end, they turn out to be [[spoiler:the three missing parts of her soul, and Catie wins not by fighting them, but by opening her heart and literally letting them back in.]]
* In ''VideoGame/BorderlandsThePreSequel'' in the ''[[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind Claptastic Voyage DLC]]'', an entity in Claptrap's mind as portrayed as a [[ScaryJackInTheBox Jack-In-The-Box]] with a scarred [[ManipulativeBastard Handsome Jack]] as a head, tries to dig into Claptrap's worst fears. It shows [[CantUseStairs stairs]] and [[SelfDeprecation himself]], until it's revealed that Claptrap's biggest fear is [[spoiler:''other'' people's loneliness.]]
* ''Videogame/DwarfFortress:'' Necromancers who worship a God of Nightmares can't precisely give others nightmares directly... instead, they ''pull them out of their enemies' heads'' and into the real world as PerpetualMotionMonster summons. Since RealDreamsAreWeirder they often have bizarre, procedurally-generated appearances, but they invariably hate the living and seek to kill them until they puff back out of reality. It bears mentioning they have one LogicalWeakness: they completely ignore creatures that ''cannot'' feel fear.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* Fall in ''Webcomic/ParallelDementia'' has dreams where multiple supernatural entities (called "Nightmares") try to influence her and each other. Once she was convinced to sleepwalk to the edge of a second-story balcony and climb on the railing before she was woken up.
* When Torg, Bun-Bun, and Kiki went on the Wayang Kulit vision arc in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance'', they each had to face their worst fears manifested. Torg saw himself bring death to all the women in his life and gradually become a demon. Bun-Bun relived his mother's murder, unable to intervene. And Kiki was given a PB&J sandwich that she couldn't cut the crust off of.
** Subverted by Bun-Bun not running away or cowering in fear, but instead [[http://www.sluggy.com/comics/archives/daily/20060425 getting pissed off like usual and beating the crap out of the Shadow trying to scare him.]]
* In ''Webcomic/ArthurKingOfTimeAndSpace'', Arthur's reaction to his worst nightmare is [[http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/2151.htm "Still, things could be a lot worse."]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Literature/WhateleyUniverse example: Bladedancer, the Handmaid of the Tao, was attacked through her dreams by mages of The Black Tong (who are on another ''continent'' and are performing dark necromantic rituals to power this attack). Too bad for them that [[SuperheroSchool Whateley Academy]] has its own patrol for the astral realms.
* ''Website/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-959 SCP-959]] has this as his main effect. [[BadPowersGoodPeople He's actually a nice guy]].
* ''Roleplay/FenQuest'': Fen is subjected to this in thread 5 by an enemy mage calling herself "Momo, conjurer of nightmares". If [[FailedAttemptAtDrama falls hilariously flat]] because the nightmare isn't directly harmful (quite the contrary in fact) and its actual scary part doesn't come up until ''after'' Momo boasts that she gave Fen's worst nightmare flesh... and only in response to her saying so in the first place!
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDragonJakeLong'' had this as an episode, [[NiceJobBreakingItHero the nightmare was only released because Jake tried to cheat on a test.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/ThePowerpuffGirls1998'':
** In "Power-Noia", HIM visits the titular girls in their sleep and torments them with nightmares based on their respective fears.
** In "Dream Scheme", the girls inversely do this to the Sandman when he gets fed up with constantly having to put people to sleep and get no sleep for himself, thus leaving him to decide to just force everyone to sleep at once. The girls find out that they have the power to communicate through dreams, and use this to give the Sandman so many nightmares that he never wants to sleep again. [[ProtagonistCenteredMorality Yeah...]]
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'':
** Zigzagged in "Perchance to Dream". The Mad Hatter's dream machine traps Batman in an inescapable Dream, but it's actually what he would consider a perfect life. His parents are alive, he's engaged to Selina Kyle - who isn't Catwoman - and someone else is Batman. However, when he realizes that it's all a farce, he refuses to live a lie, and leaps off a building, causing himself to wake up, as his mind cannot perceive a scenario where he is killed. When he confronts the Hatter and demands to know ''why'', the villain breaks down in tears and admits that he wanted to give Batman his own dream life just so that he never appears in his own life ever again.
** Played straight in "Over the Edge"; after being doused with the Scarecrow's toxin in a fight, Batgirl fell into a deep slumber, and in her dreams, believed her own death occurred in the battle, and then [[UndeadAuthor was forced to watch her greatest fear]] played before her eyes, a war between Batman and her father as a result of it, all because she had kept her heroic identity secret from him until that point.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'' episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E5And6OnlyADream Only A Dream]]", the Justice League faces John Dee, AKA Doctor Destiny, a criminal accidentally given PsychicPowers by an experiment, who uses his new abilities to torture and kill his ex-wife in her dreams, then goes on to torment our heroes. He bites off a bit more than he can chew, though, when he taunts Franchise/{{Batman}}, who's powering through with willpower and coffee.
-->'''Doctor Destiny:''' Coming here was the mistake of your life. See, the closer I am to someone, the stronger I get. I'll be able to enter your brain, even if you're wide awake.\\
'''Batman:''' [[AMindIsATerribleThingToRead My brain's not a nice place to be.]]
** Doctor Destiny also existed in the comics, with much the same MO--however, here, it's notable that he gained his powers from a device which was [[RetCon retconned]] to be powered by a special ruby... that originally belonged to Dream of Creator/NeilGaiman's ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', before it was officially split off from the main DCU.
* ''WesternAnimation/LiloAndStitchTheSeries'':
** One of the experiments (Experiment 300/Spooky) could turn into the thing a person feared the most. It even got to Nani by disguising itself as ScaryBlackMan social worker Cobra Bubbles and threatening to take Lilo away from her.
** A later episode has an experiment (Experiment 276/Remmy) that can invade dreams and turn them into nothing but nightmares. It nearly does this to Lilo, but Stitch, Pleakley and Jumba intervened.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'' episode "Nightmare on Mother Brain's Street" Lana eats a poison apple and gets sent to a "Nightmare Warp". Kevin and the others must follow, and arrive in a place where their worst fears come to life. Lana is ugly, looking a lot like Mother Brain. Vain Simon is also made to look ugly, as his hair and teeth fall out, and his muscles turn to flab. Mega Man got frozen by Ice Man and Kid Icarus' bow came to life and shot him. And Kevin? Turns out his worst fear is having to clean his room.
* The ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales1987'' episode "[[Recap/DuckTalesS1E5NothingToFear Nothing to Fear]]" saw Magica [=DeSpell=] threatening Scrooge and company with a magic raincloud that caused a person's worst fears to manifest. At first, the trope was PlayedForLaughs; thus, goofy neighbor kid Doofus was threatened by a school bully, the nephews had to deal with a video game villain ''and'' their overbearing math teacher, while Scrooge was threatened by bill collectors who wanted to take away ''everything'' he had, including Huey, Dewey, and Louie. Then, the story became DarkerAndEdgier, as the characters experienced more serious fears of rejection and abandonment.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': The only way to claim Horror's Hand is to face its conjuration of your very worst fears, fight through it, and grab it. Billy and Irwin get wildly attacked by their monstrous fears (a spider clown mailman, and a grizzly bear comedy patron) and don't even come close. Followed by a subversion of what usually happens in the show when Mandy tries as nonchalantly as usual, and her biggest fear (growing up to be a well-adjusted, cheerful adult married to Irwin) sends her away crying. Grim himself just walks up to it and grabs it utterly casually; he faces his very worst nightmare, being basically enslaved by a bunch of children to be their friend, every single day, so the Hand couldn't achieve anything.
* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'': The b-plot of "Cheers for Fears" revolves around Doof building the Worst-Fear-inator, which makes the worst fear of whoever is zapped by it come to life. When it hits Perry, he is not affected due to being fearless; but when Doofenshmirtz is hit by it, he is attacked by an army of vending machines. The inator also hits Candace, whose worst fear is the big idea her brothers built to be a surprise for Jeremy's birthday will fly away before he arrives. It does just that.
* ''WesternAnimation/SpongeBobSquarePants'': A whole episode was devoted to this. [=SpongeBob=] travels into other main characters' dreams and cluelessly messes them up, getting on everybody's nerves, and making some of their dreams into nightmares.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTick'', Mr. Mental controls Tick by submitting him to his worst nightmare: having a ''dayjob'' in an ''office''.
* An episode of ''WesternAnimation/HerculesTheAnimatedSeries'' had [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phantasos Phantasos]] using a shroud similar to his brother Morpheus to give people bad dreams.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/GIJoe'' episode "Nightmare Assault", Dr. Mindbender tortures the Joes with these. His scheme is foiled by Low-Light, who has had nightmares about his [[AbusiveParents abusive father]] all his life and is pretty used to it by now.
* ''WesternAnimation/GravityFalls'': The Gremloblin from "Boss Mable" has the ability to show the worst fear of whoever makes eye contact with it.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/JonnyQuestTheRealAdventures'' episode "Thoughtscape," Jeremiah Surd tries to stop Jonny and Benton from saving Jessie by trapping them in their own worst fears: Jonny's is being a disappointment to his father, and Benton's is his family dying because of him.
* ''WesternAnimation/ExtremeGhostbusters'' had "Fear Itself", an episode devoted to a ghost that did this. Turned out [[spoiler:it was a defense mechanism - the ghost was very small and ''very'' scared of ''everything''. The crew don't bother to bust it, since they realize that it was only trying to defend itself, and could literally do nothing else to hurt anyone that could overcome its fear-constructs.]]
* In an episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Superfriends}}'', a demon called Sleep does this to Superman and Batman. Superman was placed in a world where ''everything'' was made of kryptonite, and he collapses in agony. Batman was falling from a building into a monster's mouth, and every time he tried to grab something to break his fall, it would crumble to dust and he would continue falling. Wonder Woman enters the dream and saves them.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'':
** In the Season 3 premiere, [[spoiler:[[BigBad King Sombra]] turns out to have set a trap like this to prevent anypony else from getting to the Crystal Heart. Twilight Sparkle falls into it and sees a vision where Princess Celestia angrily tells her she failed her test and she should just give up on her magical studies. Spike manages to free Twilight, only to fall into it himself and be treated to a vision where Twilight tells him he's not needed anymore as her assistant and tries to send him away.]]
** The Tantabus, which appears halfway through Season 5, is a creature of dark magic that travels from dream to dream, turning each dream it invades into a nightmare and growing in power as it does. [[spoiler:The true source of its strength is [[EmotionEater the guilt of its creator]].]]
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' parodied the ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'' series in a Halloween special episode in which the children of Springfield were terrorized in their nightmares by the deceased Groundskeeper Willie. After Bart, Lisa and (mainly) Maggie defeat him in a dream, they wake up and are confronted by a very much alive Willie, who makes scary faces for a few seconds, until he's forced to turn around and chase the bus he just arrived in, shouting "Wait! Wait! I left my gun on the seat!"
* ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' had the Shadow of Fear. While the Wu initially was limited to dream invasion and hallucinations, it ultimately had the ability to give the fears physical form. While controlled by Jack Spicer, he brought the Dragon's worst fears to life: a KillerDoll for Kimiko, a jellyfish monster for Rai, Clay's Granny Lilly, and a giant, monstrous squirrel for Omi. At the end of the episode, Omi pays Spicer back by making him face his biggest fear: [[spoiler: Getting trapped inside the toilet as a toddler]].
* ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan2012'' featured an episode in which Spider-Man helps Dr. Strange and Iron Fist stop the demonic Nightmare, who has cast a sleep spell over the world and is feeding on everyone's worst fears. [[GoGetterGirl White Tiger]]'s is failure, Luke Cage's is being unable to protect his friends, Nova's is [[AbsurdPhobia bunnies]], the Doctor's is his spells being useless, and Iron Fist's is being unworthy of his power. Nightmare thought that Spider-Man's was [[DeathByOriginStory what happened to Uncle Ben]], but failed to realize that, unlike Batman, Spidey is defined, rather than haunted, by his past.
* As shown in the ''WesternAnimation/{{Trollhunters}}'' episode "Where Is My Mind?", with the Pixies responsible for making the ordeal akin to a MushroomSamba.
* ''[[WesternAnimation/VillainousCartoonNetwork Villainous]]'' takes this in a weird direction when the main characters are all {{Card Carrying Villain}}s and {{Nightmare Fetishist}}s. The "Evil Ray" makes the most evil thing someone can imagine manifest where Black Hat's is another copy of himself (and he doesn't mind), Dr. Flug makes a sandwich with too much mayonnaise, the harmless not-actually-evil creature 5.0.5 creates a huge, monstrous Black Hat, ''that'' Black Hat makes a small, drooling, half-formed Black Hat that all concerned find a disturbing sight, and Demencia creates a giant, ''sexy'' Black Hat. Which thinks the most evil thing is to leave them all wanting more of him.
[[/folder]]

----

* In a side comic to ''Anime/SpaceBattleshipYamato'', [[BigBad Desslok's]] exiled wife and daughter have the power to psychically torment people, which they ''usually'' do when their victims are asleep. Their usual modus operandi is to make them hallucinate family members begging for help and warning the Star Force of danger, though [[TheChick Nova]] saw three-fingered hands grabbing her.

* ''Videogame/DwarfFortress:'' Necromancers who worship a God of Nightmares can't precisely give others nightmares directly... instead, they ''pull them out of their enemies' heads'' and into the real world as PerpetualMotionMonster summons. Since RealDreamsAreWeirder they often have bizarre, procedurally-generated appearances, but they invariably hate the living and seek to kill them until they puff back out of reality.

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'': [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-959 SCP-959]] has this as his main effect. [[BadPowersGoodPeople He's actually a nice guy]].

* In ''Grave Peril'', book three of the ''Literature/DresdenFiles'', a ghost torments (and occasionally drives insane) its victims in their sleep. It eats Harry alive.

[[folder:Films]]

* Happens in ''VideoGame/StarStealingPrince''. At first, the protagonist Snowe brushes it off as merely normal nightmares... [[spoiler: until the [[NightmareWeaver the Demon]] [[UpToEleven increases how often it happens]], as well as making each nightmare more and more horrific until Snowe's companions even take note of just how [[ExhaustedEyeBags badly his eyes have gotten unnaturally baggy.]]]] [[spoiler: The only way to truly halt this endless stream of nightmares (and secure the [[GoldenEnding Good Ending]]) is by having Erio [[DreamWalker enter Snowe's mind]] so that him, Snowe and Dream Astra (the final of which has been forced to [[ResurrectionDeathLoop die again and again]] via being [[ManonFire burned alive]]. Only after defeating the Demon causing said nightmares will they cease, and after they return from the DreamLand, Snowe and Erio fall asleep after conversing with Astra about what Erio and Snowe were doing inside the tent, concluding with Snowe finally freed from those dreadful nightmares.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGrimAdventuresOfBillyAndMandy'': The only way to claim Horror's Hand is to face its conjuration of your very worst fears, fight through it, and grab it. Billy and Irwin get wildly attacked by their monstrous fears (a spider clown mailman, and a grizzly bear comedy patron) and don't even come close. Followed by a subversion of what usually happens in the show when Mandy tries as nonchalantly as usual, and her biggest fear (growing up to be a well-adjusted, cheerful adult married to Irwin and with children) sends her away crying. Grim himself just walks up to it and grabs it utterly casually; he faces his very worst nightmare, being basically enslaved by a bunch of children to be their friend, every single day, so the Hand couldn't achieve anything.

See also PrimalFear, NightmareDreams, and NightmareWeaver. Not to be mistaken for YourFavorite, unless you are a NightmareFetishist.

* ''FanFic/GettingBackOnYourHooves'': [[BigBad Checker Monarch]] repeatedly does this to Trixie and her friends throughout the story as a form of MindRape. [[spoiler: Following her EngineeredPublicConfession, she [[VillainousBreakdown snaps completely]] and casts a spell to force them all asleep so she can do this again and [[DespairEventHorizon break them completely]]. Thanks to a Lucid Dreaming trick Trixie taught them all [[ChekhovsGun earlier in the story]], they're all not only able to [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind fight back]], but they kick Checker's ass.]]
* ''FanFic/JewelOfDarkness'': There's one chapter during the Jump City Arc where Mumbo releases an EldritchAbomination that attacks the Titans by attaching to them in their sleep and making them live out their worst fears -- Jinx relieves her DarkAndTroubledPast and [[DrivenToSuicide near-suicide]] (with the strong implication of making her go through with it), Beast Boy becomes a horrible monster and kills his friends, Cyborg is turned into a full machine and is used as a weapon, Starfire relives her own DarkAndTroubledPast, and Robin's is [[TheUnreveal not shown]] (but makes him nearly strangle Jinx when he wakes up).
* In the ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' Fanfic ''FanFic/{{Moonlight|JasonTheHuman}}'', this is what every pony affected by the mysterious being that is putting ponies to sleep has happen to them, from things that are affecting them recently to nightmares in their past.

* ''FanFic/TheApprenticeTheStudentAndTheCharlatan'' starts with Nova Shine and Twilight agreeing to investigate the source of a bunch of nightmares pertaining to a shadowy entity in a temple in the Everfree Forest that keeps causing them some lost sleep. They think it's the source of the nightmares, though it turns out [[spoiler:future!Nova is the one doing it to warn them about the shadow.]]

* ''Literature/HarryPotter'': This is the power of the boggart species. The fears seen range from mundane (Hermione being told off by a phantom teacher for failing a test, while Ron's six-foot-tall spider causes quite a few screams) to [[{{Tearjerker}} poignant]] (Molly Weasley seeing a vision of her dead children, plus Harry). Harry's worst nightmare, interestingly, is the Dementor - a creature that spreads fear by its very presence, meaning his worst fear is fear itself (when Lupin thought it'd be Voldemort, whose boggart is apparently his own corpse, so terrified is he of death). Notably, however, boggarts are not considered very threatening, as there's a simple spell for dealing with them and they're fairly simple to defeat: Boggarts are defeated by laughter. Boggart Snape ends up dressed like Neville's grandmother, while Seamus' banshee loses her voice. They also can't handle multiple people, as they try to scare everyone at once by mixing everyone's nightmares into one thing that's more bizarre than anything.

* A known symptom of latent psychic abilities in ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}''. If it doesn't result in an unbelievably horrible death from the creatures of the Warp, it usually results in an unbelievably horrible death at the hands of the Inquisition.

** Doctor Destiny also existed in the comics, with much the same MO--however, here, it's notable that he gained his powers from a device which was [[RetCon retconned]] to be powered by a special ruby... that originally belonged to Dream of Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Comicbook/TheSandman'', before it was officially split off from the main DCU.

* ''WesternAnimation/UltimateSpiderMan'' featured an episode in which Spider-Man helps Dr. Strange and Iron Fist stop the demonic Nightmare, who has cast a sleep spell over the world and is feeding on everyone's worst fears. [[GoGetterGirl White Tiger]]'s is failure, Luke Cage's is being unable to protect his friends, Nova's is [[AbsurdPhobia bunnies]], the Doctor's is his spells being useless, and Iron Fist's is being unworthy of his power. Nightmare thought that Spider-Man's was [[DeathByOriginStory what happened to Uncle Ben]], but failed to realize that, unlike Batman, Spidey is defined, rather than haunted, by his past.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Villainous}}'' takes this in a weird direction when the main characters are all {{Card Carrying Villain}}s and {{Nightmare Fetishist}}s. The "Evil Ray" makes the most evil thing someone can imagine manifest where Black Hat's is another copy of himself (and he doesn't mind), Dr. Flug makes a sandwich with too much mayonnaise, the harmless not-actually-evil creature 5.0.5 creates a huge, monstrous Black Hat, ''that'' Black Hat makes a small, drooling, half-formed Black Hat that all concerned find a disturbing sight, and Demencia creates a giant, ''sexy'' Black Hat. Which thinks the most evil thing is to leave them all wanting more of him.

Not to be confused with ImYourWorstNightmare (which is just the phrase) or IKnowWhatYouFear (the power to discover other people's fears).

Not to be confused with ImYourWorstNightmare (which is just the phrase).

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