The characters of Crawling Dreams.
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Protagonists
Nyarla
The main protagonist of the series.
- Adaptational Heroism: Quite possibly one of the most significant examples in any piece of media ever. The original Nyarlathotep is one of the cruelest characters in the Lovecraft mythos, if not the cruelest outright, boasting an array of forms, cults and horrible acts to his name. Nyarla, however, is nothing of the sort; at worst she's clueless when Ghast is tearing up someone who tried to hurt her. That said, she is slowly regaining her memories over the course of the series and from what we see, she was just as cruel as the legend implies. Something that even Ghast fears and is keeping an eye on.
- Adaptational Wimp: Also a significant example; as of right now, Nyarla has shown none of the unimaginable eldritch powers of her Lovecraft counterpart.
- All-Loving Hero: She's very kind and sweet, if a bit clueless and naive. It's implied that there's some kinda spell on her suppressing her memories of her true self and keeping her unaware of the monsters that roam the city. If the brief dream we see of her past is any indication, she certainly wasn't this before.
- Animal Motif: Cats. Her name is the Japanese sound a cat makes (Nya), she owns a cat and, in her dreams when she was Nyarlathotep, she has a cat theme.
- Eldritch Abomination: Implied at a few points, but not yet proven to be so.
- Gamer Chick: Nyarla loves her video games and generally half the time she can be seen playing them through the comic. Ghast often times has to pry her away so she can get food or just go out and interact with others in general.
- Laser-Guided Amnesia: Implied that she lost her memories of her previous life at some point. They're slowly coming back as "dreams" which Ghast fears her actually getting them back.
Ghast
Nyarla's pet talking cat.
- Big Damn Heroes: He saves Nayrla from two monsters masquerading as gamers that wanted to meet her. He inadvertently saves Molly in the process as well.
- Eldritch Abomination: He shows he's not exactly normal right off the bat. And then there's his form if he really gets serious. A later comic showcased that Nyarla found him in a alleyway and mistook him for a kitty. He ultimately went along with it and his current look is due to him being in a Form You Are More Comfortable With.
- Talking Animal: He's a talking cat and Nyarla's friend and protector.
- Oh, Crap!: When Nyarla comments that she got some of her memory back. He legitimately nervous, implying he knows her real nature. Luckily she brushes it off.
- One-Winged Angel: He displays this ability in the first strip, suddenly turning giant size to get Nyarla to stop playing video games for a bit. There, though, he was at least still cutesy. But if Nyarla is in genuine danger, that cutesy façade goes right out the window to protect her.
Penny
A raver Nyarla meets at a club.
- Anything but That!: When the Director's assistant orders her to be taken to the Correctional Center, Penny says this verbatim.
- Assassination Attempt: After she and Molly visit Shu to confirm about the monsters of the city, Penny tries to take revenge for the death of her friend by buying a gun and going to Nyarla's apartment to kill her. She's stopped by the police force suddenly arriving before she can make the attempt however.
- The Cassandra: She survived the club massacre that Ghast pulled. But when treated and telling people what happened, she was cited as lying and that she and her friend just hurt each other in their drugged stupor.
- Hypocrite: She calls Nyarla a monster due to Ghast killing all the participants in the club to save her. While she's not wrong, Penny was the one that forced Nyarla to take Dopamine when she politely refused and her friend and she were the ones that insisted on bringing her to the club in the first place.
- In the Hood: She starts wearing a hoodie past the club attack.
- Revenge: She wants to take revenge on Nayrla after her friend, Patrica, was murdered by Ghast.
Molly
One of Nyarla's gamer friends... initially.
- Bespectacled Cutie: A very cute glasses wearer.
- Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: She gets these after surviving being eaten alive.
- Eaten Alive: She goes to a meet up with Nyarla and two other gamers they met on the internet at a coffee shop. But while Nyarla is getting the drinks. The gamers reveals they're really monsters and try to devour her whole. She's only saved when the monsters try to target Nyarla next and Ghast brutally thwarts them, freeing Molly in the process.
- Go Mad from the Revelation: After surviving being Eaten Alive, she gets Dull Eyes of Unhappiness, becomes very withdrawn, and begins drawing disturbing pictures.
- The Ophelia: After being Eaten Alive.
- Took a Level in Cynic: Nearly getting eaten shook her worldview up hard and the trauma and nightmares that followed didn't help. Soon she became withdrawn and sullen, pushing away her schoolmates when they tried to talk with her. After hearing Shu's explanation of the world and the Director's ill-intentions, she coldly rebuff Penny's comment that they need to stop him. Citing "[Penny] can't stop anything". The only person she seems to respond positively to is "Boho" after he saved her from some butchers.
- Used to Be a Sweet Kid: When we first meet her, she's outgoing and friendly. But, after nearly being devoured by one of the city's monsters masquerading as fellow gamers, this personality goes by the wayside.
The Director
A so far nameless director of a major corporation of the city. He seems to have an interest in Nyarla.
- Ambiguously Human: He indicates he knows about the monsters of the city and even pulls a Death Glare on one at one point, implying he's not human.
- Corrupt Corporate Executive: He's the head of one of Innsomuth's biggest corporations that produces dopamine patches to keep workers "docile". He likewise is seen pouring whisky over his assistant's head at one point too. He also seems to be aware of the monsters of the city, even frightening one off while talking to Nyarla. Later, Nyarla enters his dreams by accident and finds a structure with fact people in prisons, staring wistfully at TVs with not a care in the world. Later, when Molly inadvertently invades his dream, we see him sitting on pig-like masses while throwing money at them.
- Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Just known as The Director.
- Four Eyes, Zero Soul: A glasses wearer and very corrupt executive.
- Puny Humans: Implied when we see inside his dreams, to him humans are nothing more then playthings he can abuse and exploit freely.
The Director's Assistant
As stated, she the assistant to the director.
- Between My Legs: Shown as such when Molly is captured
. - Bodyguarding a Badass: It doesn't seem like the Director needs any protection, but she comes to his defense when a hobo tries to attack him. Fending him off easily before the cops carry the hobo away.
- The Dragon: Apparently. When Penny is caught trying to assassinate Nyarla, she's the one who sends her to the "correctional center".
- Villainous Rescue: She somehow knew of Penny's assassination attempt beforehand and had a task force at the ready just as Penny was about to break into Nyarla's apartment to stop her. With Nyarla completely unaware of all this other than that the police arrested someone outside.
"Boho"
A horse masked figure that plays with Nayarla online sometimes.
- Big Damn Heroes:
- He saves Nyarla from a junkie looking to push her in front of a train, with Nyarla unaware that she was even targeted.
- Likewise saves Molly from two butchers who were set to kill her when she was begging for help after almost being eaten alive.
- Homeless Hero: He doesn't seem to have a home, instead having a setup under a half folded tent. Though somehow has a TV set, a console and an access to the net to play games on.
- Nice Guy: So far is one of the few decent beings of the city.
Shu and Shoggoth
A green-haired humanoid girl and her tentacle monster friend that Molly and Penny meet to seek answers about the city.
- Cute Monster Girl: Shu is a self-admitted monster, but a very cute one.
- Everybody Has Standards: She expresses annoyance when people don't eat the food Shoggoth fixes.
- Exposition Fairy: Shu explains the backstory of the world of the comic.
- Really 700 Years Old: She looks like a teenage girl but, if the way she explains the backstory is anything to go by, she's much older then she looks.
- Supreme Chef: Played with, Shoggoth is shown cooking food in his appearances, apparently still learning. But so far it's seen as pretty good.
