warnings: 18+ content, MINORS DNI!!! heavy spoilers for sandman (both the show & act 1 of the audio drama/comics), light implications of dub con? (power dynamics do be dynamicing), mentions of smut, general dark & horror related themes :))
word count: 2.7k
a/n: welcome to part 1 of 2 or possibly 3 depending on how the fic comes out for my contribution to @roguelov's sweet nightmares nightmare!Dream event! this could post technically be considered as a sort of prequel/appetizer for my actual sweet nightmares fic to come, since this is essentially setting up how i personally interpret the concept of nightmare!Dream and how that will affect the fic. i'm hopefully gonna put it out by mid october, just in time for spooky season! also, not only will i be pulling inspo from the show itself, but also from the INCREDIBLE sandman audio drama i stumbled across on audible (it's a more direct retelling of the graphic novels which are definitely more dark and graphic with their content, so reader/listener discretion is advised), along with the incredible art work i've seen floating around the nightmare!Dream tag (specifically from @alexxuun! 🖤). credit goes to @cafekitsune for the reblog banner and @sweetparty for the black rose divider!
now with all that laid out on the table, let’s dive right into the darker side of the Dreaming!
right off the bat, i tend to view nightmare!Dream as sort of a younger version of himself from before the events of the show and some of the graphic novels. he hasn’t had that more in-depth human connection and experience with people like Rose and Jed, or Hob, or Constantine yet, and also he severely lacks the humbleness that can only come with being moodily imprisoned by humans in a giant fishbowl for 100 years lmao
now, if we know anything from the accounts of people who knew Dream before his capture (like other residents of the Dreaming & ESPECIALLY former lovers), we can all easily conclude that he wasn’t exactly the nicest Endless around back in the day. this is the guy who Fiddler's Green knew to never apologize for his mistakes, the guy who Calliope (someone he supposedly cherished dearly and even had a child with) said would not have come to her rescue after being captured, tortured, and sexually abused, the guy who put Nada, one of the only humans he’s ever truly loved, in a CAGE in HELL for ETERNITY for “betraying his trust” (quick aside on that btw: for those who aren't familiar with the comics/audio drama, they have a whole episode of backstory dedicated to Nada; a long time ago, she didn’t want to become his wife/queen because humans and the Endless mixing is super forbidden and almost always spells out disaster for the universe, and ESPECIALLY for other humans. Dream though had absolutely no regard for the consequences of his actions at ALL when pursuing her, and thus caused the destruction of her entire kingdom and all the people in it! AND THEN HE HAD THE AUDACITY TO SEND HER TO HELL WHEN SHE STILL DIDN'T WANT TO BE HIS QUEEN AFTER ALL THAT. even though the episode frames it as just one telling of the whole story, the ramifications are literally insane.) all in all, it's definitely safe to say that, while he might not be completely and totally evil at this point, he sure is one cruel motherfucker when he wants to be.
there is something to be said though that crosses over from the Dream we know and love today and this younger version of himself - they’re both EXTREMELY possessive and borderline territorial, but this version goes about it in a more intense and objectifying way. nightmare!Dream sees everyone and everything he rules and desires (even if he wouldn’t openly admit to desiring it because that’s his sibling’s department lol) as his and his alone, almost like a kid who won't let anyone else play with his toys.
if someone else does try to play with his toys though? this man will, with an eerily and stomach-churning calm, walk that person into the next room, only for their wails and horrific screams to echo through the entirety of the Dreaming, and maybe even bleed into the Waking world. Dream takes advantage of a very important aspect of the human psyche - he absolutely throws the rule of "show don't tell" into the dumpster, simply letting their imaginations run wild and jump to conclusions for him about what could cause such a terrified and desperate cry for mercy. that usually seems to suffice for keeping his subjects and anyone else who wants to step up to him in line, most of the time anyways.
to nicely pair with his near feral territorial tendencies like a fine cheese with wine, the other side of the coin shows quite a stern but still somewhat caring benevolence despite everything with his subjects, and even a special sort of “tenderness” as he calls it with his own prized and most cherished creations - although admittedly, with a power dynamic difference almost as vast as Ishmael’s fucking white whale, said favorites of the king can’t help but feel somewhat obligated to obey his commands lest they provoke his wrath, even if they do so willingly.
if, theoretically, he found that one of his favorite subjects maybe yourself disobeyed him for some reason, he’s more gentle than he would be with a stranger or a challenger of his power. he simply just reminds them of their place, of his status over them, in a way he sees fit…and sometimes those reminders may or may not include him fucking you them absolutely senseless to remind them just how little and powerless they truly are compared to him, how they hold a small near-microscopic morsel of his true power since he made them from his own essence and magic, how he could essentially obliterate their entire existence at any moment if he so chooses (and he totally would with how petty and childish he can turn on a dime). of course though, this is only one punishment in his vast catalogue of them, but we'll get to more later.
as far as physical appearances go, i have him divided across two different “forms” so to speak: the one where he’s just a bit colder, more unfeeling, more immature and especially prickly, but can still maintain his composure and therefore his average form…and then, of course, there’s the terrifying nightmare creature he whips out on special occasions to really horrify people, dreams, nightmares - if it has the capacity to feel fear, it’s definitely afraid of him when he’s like this. think of it like that one sleep paralysis demon you’ve seen at the end of your bed that just stares, and stares, and stares, burning endless holes into you with his cold, starry pupils, almost like he's been lurking there the whole time you've been awake, alive even, skulking and preparing for the day when he can devour you whole…and perhaps, he does.
as much as i love the interpretations i’ve seen in fan art and other fics, i see Dream’s nightmare form as more of a shapeshifter - something that, like a lot of things implied in the entire show, only becomes realized if you truly believe in them. his most basic nightmare form is almost a type of shadow, an undefined creature looming and enshrouded in a dark mist that mimics the pitch black sky, its only discernible trait being the pin prick stars that sit where his eyes should be. it surrounds you faster than you can scream, it fills your lungs like a deep, terrible smoke, loads your stomach with a heavy, unmoving dread, disorients your trains of thought and makes you absolutely nauseated, but also somehow…euphoric? pain, pleasure, & fear are scarily close in the brain, after all. you feel it wind and tighten around your throat, cutting off your breathing. you feel nails - claws? talons? blades? - pressing, nearly piercing into your skin with a tight grip that rivals the pressure of the deepest ocean depths, holding you down and keeping you right where he - it - wants you.
after that, it seeps into the subconscious of the victim it has in it's grasp, and takes an improvised form in the shape of whatever would most conveniently terrify said victim - a horrifying beast, a former jealous lover, hell, even Lucifer Morningstar themselves! or even just the more simple (and frankly logical given the circumstances) shape of an enraged dream lord that's hell bent on your absolute destruction by any and all means necessary.
if you’ve been a particular piece of work to deal with, he’ll play one of his favorite little games with you that’s totally not at all based on my favorite scene in Bram Stoker’s Dracula where he’ll send you off to the middle of a large, never ending maze, it’s hedges growing endlessly into the sky along with thick, unpruned thorns, and just enough fog to add to the eerie ambiance of it all. a heavy growl echoes through the air - something terrible, something beyond human fear and comprehension, and most importantly, something that is now actively chasing you. vicious vines swat and cut at your ankles and arms, the noxious fog disarms and disorients you, the gravel path beneath you almost pulls your feet in further with every quick yet somehow sluggish step you take forward, away from whatever awaits from behind you…
this next hc is one i technically hold for normal Dream, but especially do for nightmare!Dream - this man is ice cold to the touch. if he wasn't an immortal being, you'd almost wonder how he wasn't on an embalming table with how sterile and chilling his skin is. he tends to radiate this chill too (i like to feel like all nightmares do to some extent, with the possible exception of The Corinthian for trying to blend in with humans to escape his master, but i haven't decided yet). also, his skin starting at the fingertips will start to turn jet black as he starts to dissolve into his more ghastly nightmare form, and boy you better have a jacket because whatever room you have the displeasure of being in with him will definitely be below freezing.
interestingly, something else that i realized is that nightmare!Dream would also still have all of his tools since this is an older version of himself. maybe there’s a secret cowardice that hides behind the fact he does essentially hinge on these tools to do his job and run the Dreaming, but he does make them look good regardless when he uses them. the one i want to mainly focus on right now though is his ruby - it's something the other residents of the Dreaming rarely see, unless he's in the middle of making (or more likely absolutely obliterating) a new dream or nightmare. he wears it around his neck still, but it's always tucked away under his cloak and whatever shirt he’s wearing, almost like its fused to his chest. he treats it almost like a cursed treasure, something out of an old fairy tale like that rose in Beauty and the Beast or maybe even the time stone from Doctor Strange - either way, he would never part with it willingly, let alone let it out of his sight; you'd honestly probably have to rip it off his cold dead body to even get a glance at it.
there’s definitely a good reason for his protectiveness though, not just because it's a powerful tool - you see, unlike the cold, unfeeling Lord of the Dreaming, the ruby is warm, toasty even, always radiating a comforting heat as if you were bundled up by a cozy fireplace after a long day of playing in the snow. its glow is warm and inviting, almost entrancing if you look at it for too long - unless, that is, you’re an entity of the dreaming that’s not our dear Dream himself. from a distance it still remains a comforting, manageable ember, but Morpheus was not a fool when he constructed these tools to conduct and channel his powers - if a curious dream or envious nightmare somehow managed to swipe it from beneath his nose and hold onto it for too long, the prolonged exposure would greet them with the horrifying sensation of a slow, deliberate, deep-rooted burning, as if their insides had been coated with gasoline and set on fire with napalm. it’s intense, but unlike a real flame it doesn’t rapidly consume its host - it aims to make the process of absolute destruction as terrible and painful as possible, until nothing is left but a skull or other object as an identifier of that particular dream/nightmare's design, and of course, the ruby, sitting atop a pile of sand and ash like any other innocent trinket one could have in their possession. of course, it doesn't completely destroy any entity of the dreaming that comes into contact with it, but seeing as someone would likely have to wrongfully steal the ruby in the first place to get this far, there’s a more than likely chance that Morpheus would only bring them back to torture them further, but the ruby’s punishment would satiate his darker cravings for the moment. (mind you, all of this is added on top of the devastating effect the ruby can have on the human mind, as shown by John Dee in the show and the comics.)
as far as the demented qualities of his other tools, the sand is pretty much already spoken for with how horrific and terrible it can be (looking at you Alex Burgess and Rachel), so it makes sense that the helm should also get its time in the spotlight. i get why it’s a more underutilized tool of his since it's really only a ceremonial headpiece in the comics, and even with its ability to track down his ruby in the tv show it still doesn't add much value as a tool, as it serves more as a symbol of the Dreaming and Morpheus himself as a whole. i know he also didn't make the helm since it's supposedly some body part from a long dead god, but that’s enough information to take this simple sigil and crank it up a notch for the sake of horror :))
seeing as Dream most likely won this helm in combat - how else are you supposed to get the bones of a dead god these days - there has to be some magical energy conserved from the beast he fought eons ago. i feel like the helm almost has a Mask-like quality - and no, i don't mean a literal mask, i do in fact mean the 1994 Jim Carey movie The Mask or SCP-049 even, iykyk - where it attaches to Dream’s face at will when he wears it, making any opponent or curious stranger unable to take it off of him without ripping his head off (not that you could manage that anyways). it could only be taken off if he chooses to remove it, is knocked unconscious, or somehow loses part of his power (we do have to keep it somewhat consistent with how he gets kidnapped and eventually loses it lol).
i like to think it also imbues Dream with a near destructive amount of physical strength, a result of some dark, long dead aura that still remains around the object itself - one that also happens to protect it from being taken or put on by others when Dream isn't using it. it's also an aura that seeks to protect Dream, or even act as a sort of gas mask that allows him to breathe in sand from his pouch to sustain himself while he dwells in the Waking world (since i feel like this version of Dream is slightly more limited to the dreaming in some ways, since he is told by Lucienne that dreams don't survive long in the waking world, and even though he is nightmare!Dream, he still is a dream at his core).
as per usual with my other head canon posts, i like to finish off with some quick fire hcs for funsies :))
while this version of Dream is very intense and very vengeful, i feel like when he comes down from something particularly strenuous he goes on an intense bender of infiltrating other people's dreams for food and drink (kinda similar to the scene in the audio drama where he's surfing through dreams to find some food after being released from capture since he can only eat stuff that shows up in other people's dreams, which is forever intensely funny to me for some reason)
this version of Dream THRIVES around Halloween and i'm not just saying that because i'm going to publish my fic in october lol and even takes an unadmitted delight in wandering around haunted house attractions or Halloween festivals, and without fail at least one person thinks he's some actor who works there with how naturally unsettling he looks (he probably even cryptically thanks the actors for spreading his nightmares after not even flinching at their jumpscares and just walks off like a weirdo)
this man is hardcore and kinky as fuck, definitely into bondage and leather among other things (probably where The Corinthian gets it from tbh...) but may or may not also secretly have a worship kink that totally doesn't go both ways if you play your cards right
unlike our super moody Dream in the show who sits at the bottom of the stairs of his throne like he just got tossed out of a Hot Topic for not being emo enough, this Dream actually uses his throne while punishing and ruling his realm! (doesn't mean he sits in it properly though, man definitely drapes himself over it like a lazy cat going down for a nap or however else queer people like me sit in chairs these days)
last minute edit: one last hc i’d like to touch on because i (no joke) had a dream about it when i went sleep last night after posting this: JESSAMY. how the fuck could i forget about Jessamy!! because i’m setting this before his capture he totally still has Jessamy as a loyal companion and raven, since Dream, per tradition, always has a raven at his side. since this post is of course centered on Dream, i won’t go into too much detail about her unless yall want me to tbh because i totally will if you want that content, but there are so many ways their dynamic could go, especially with him being more cruel as a nightmare. is she a punished human who was transformed and is actively working through her sentence in the Dreaming? was she ever human at all, or is she simply one of Dream’s creations? does she have a human form, and if so does Dream take her as his lover?? there are SO many thoughts running through my mind since i wish we got more time with her or at the very least some deeper context in the show itself, but ah well…
if you made it to the end of this extremely long post, thank you thank you thank you!! this is actually the first bit of writing i've published to my blog in a while, and it's super appreciated when people read through all my crazy sandman ideas in their entirety lmao. i hope you liked my silly little hcs, and make sure to stay tuned for my sweet nightmares fic to come for more content like this!!
