As we all know, there is a brand new enemy coming up in KH3D. We have come to know these creatures as the Dream Eaters. So far, we know that Dream Eaters come in two varieties. Those who “eat dreams and plant nightmares” are known as the Nightmares, and the “ones that eat nightmares” are Spirits. Although we know that these enemies are after dreams, we don’t know how Dream Eaters come about, or what these creatures are even made of. Since no one has seemed to take a gander at this thus far, I have taken this task upon myself to make a theory about what these creatures are. Be warned that some of this might be a shot in the dark, but as with every theory, it’s bound to have it’s holes.
As for what they are made of, I’d say that they have something to do with the Soul. Now, why would I come up with this, you ask? Well, let’s take a look about some references to a Soul presented to us that we know about Dream Drop Distance:
- Neku makes an appearance in KH3D, and the others from that game are implied to be there too
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame world referenced with heaven and hell in the original movie, ala Frollo
- One of the two types of Dream Eaters are called Spirits
- Nomura said that this game would “tear down past elements”, so why not change the Soul from just being a person’s life force?
So, now that I established the possibility of the Dream Eaters having something to do with the Soul, let me tell you my thoughts about how these creatures came about.
As we all know, this game truly deals with dreams, just as we originally thought Birth by Sleep would be about. However, it wasn’t. If you recall there being a theory about the Unversed (referred to as the Unbirth back then) that they were the product of “sleep”, and others said that the Unversed were the result of a sleeping Heart. In fact, some even said that the Unversed were both of those. As for me, I do believe that Dream Eaters are formed from a person’s Soul when their Heart is in a state of sleep. However, how I view the Dream Eaters might be different from what people once thought the Unversed to be.
First of all, what do we associate with sleep? Well, when someone is sleeping, they usually don’t move about that much other than the occasional tossing and turning inside the bed (or sleepwalking, but that’s not important right now). Other than the lack of mobility, we also associate sleep with near death experiences, as well as death itself.
So, therefore it could be safe to say that while the Heart is sleeping, the Soul leaves the Body to the Realm of Sleep and… But wait, the Soul just left the Body. In KH, doesn’t that mean death? It said so in the Secret Ansem Reports. Yet again, there have been exceptions to every rule in KH so far, but most, if not all, of these exceptions have had some sort of explanation to them, as does this phenomenon.
When MX’s Heart left his Body, his Body disappeared into sparks, as was the case with Sora’s. However, neither Kairi nor Ven’s Body disappeared after their Heart left it. Now, what is one thing besides having a Heart of light that was similar between Kairi and Ven in these situations? The answer is that both of their Hearts were dormant. Not only that, but it seems that since Ven can still be rescued. In other words, Ven’s body is still preserved. Therefore, it can be safe to say that when a Heart is sleeping, the body can’t register any changes. Therefore, you wouldn’t die if your Soul left your body, provided that your Heart went to sleep first.
So, during the time that the Heart is asleep, the Soul ends up going into a separate plane of existence. Not only that, but dreams are also associated with memories. So therefore, it could be safe to say that all the residences in the Realm of Sleep are the Souls and all current memoires of a sleeping person. This could also go for the sleeping world as well, because if an entire planet can have a Heart like people, then a planet can have a Soul and memories as well.
Now, I’ll fill you in with how the Dream Eaters fit in with this equation. As we know, dreams can often be the result of the subconscious calling upon your memory. So, what would happen if you were cut off from said memories? This is where the significance of nightmares comes in. As we know, nightmares are unpleasant dreams. Well, since this is a whole other plane of existence, perhaps the nightmares you receive in the Realm of Sleep could interfere with the connection of your memories to your Heart, kind of like the Noise in TWEWY messing with your thoughts and emotions. So, imagine if a nightmare is successful. When a nightmare usually ends in your death, you would wake up. However, since the Realm of Sleep seems to exist as an entirely different plane, a being killed in your dream might mean that you won’t wake up in the real world. At the very least, you’d be dead for real as soon as you woke up.
Now, let’s get back to the connection between the Heart and memories so I can explain the above. Without memories, a Heart cannot function. So, perhaps the memories would go back so you can wake up, but perhaps the Soul isn’t so lucky. Therefore, even if you do wake up, you’ll be dead. After all, there is a connection between sleep and death. Therefore, waking up without your Soul would equal death since the body can now register that your Soul is gone.
That still leaves the Soul. Well, Yen Sid basically said that as there are Heartless out in the real world, there are Dream Eaters in the Realm of Sleep. Therefore, making a parallel between the two might indicate that Dream Eaters multiply in a similar manner as the Heartless do. However, instead of darkness consuming a Heart, we’d have dreams and nightmares consuming the Soul, seeing as the abandoned Soul has no memories to rely on at this stage of the game.
At the very least, that explains the existence of the Dream Eaters in general. As for whether the Dream Eaters end up as those of the Spirit variety or the Nightmare variety, I believe that it depends upon whether the Soul itself is exposed to either good dreams or horrible nightmares first. Of course, seeing as how Sora and Riku have Keyblades, it is rather possible to purify a Nightmare Dream Eater and expose them to your good dream in order to transform the Soul into those of the Spirit variety.
Like I said before, this might be a shot in the dark. However, I’ve done the best that I can do, so be free to comment and criticize.
As for what they are made of, I’d say that they have something to do with the Soul. Now, why would I come up with this, you ask? Well, let’s take a look about some references to a Soul presented to us that we know about Dream Drop Distance:
- Neku makes an appearance in KH3D, and the others from that game are implied to be there too
- The Hunchback of Notre Dame world referenced with heaven and hell in the original movie, ala Frollo
- One of the two types of Dream Eaters are called Spirits
- Nomura said that this game would “tear down past elements”, so why not change the Soul from just being a person’s life force?
So, now that I established the possibility of the Dream Eaters having something to do with the Soul, let me tell you my thoughts about how these creatures came about.
As we all know, this game truly deals with dreams, just as we originally thought Birth by Sleep would be about. However, it wasn’t. If you recall there being a theory about the Unversed (referred to as the Unbirth back then) that they were the product of “sleep”, and others said that the Unversed were the result of a sleeping Heart. In fact, some even said that the Unversed were both of those. As for me, I do believe that Dream Eaters are formed from a person’s Soul when their Heart is in a state of sleep. However, how I view the Dream Eaters might be different from what people once thought the Unversed to be.
First of all, what do we associate with sleep? Well, when someone is sleeping, they usually don’t move about that much other than the occasional tossing and turning inside the bed (or sleepwalking, but that’s not important right now). Other than the lack of mobility, we also associate sleep with near death experiences, as well as death itself.
So, therefore it could be safe to say that while the Heart is sleeping, the Soul leaves the Body to the Realm of Sleep and… But wait, the Soul just left the Body. In KH, doesn’t that mean death? It said so in the Secret Ansem Reports. Yet again, there have been exceptions to every rule in KH so far, but most, if not all, of these exceptions have had some sort of explanation to them, as does this phenomenon.
When MX’s Heart left his Body, his Body disappeared into sparks, as was the case with Sora’s. However, neither Kairi nor Ven’s Body disappeared after their Heart left it. Now, what is one thing besides having a Heart of light that was similar between Kairi and Ven in these situations? The answer is that both of their Hearts were dormant. Not only that, but it seems that since Ven can still be rescued. In other words, Ven’s body is still preserved. Therefore, it can be safe to say that when a Heart is sleeping, the body can’t register any changes. Therefore, you wouldn’t die if your Soul left your body, provided that your Heart went to sleep first.
So, during the time that the Heart is asleep, the Soul ends up going into a separate plane of existence. Not only that, but dreams are also associated with memories. So therefore, it could be safe to say that all the residences in the Realm of Sleep are the Souls and all current memoires of a sleeping person. This could also go for the sleeping world as well, because if an entire planet can have a Heart like people, then a planet can have a Soul and memories as well.
Now, I’ll fill you in with how the Dream Eaters fit in with this equation. As we know, dreams can often be the result of the subconscious calling upon your memory. So, what would happen if you were cut off from said memories? This is where the significance of nightmares comes in. As we know, nightmares are unpleasant dreams. Well, since this is a whole other plane of existence, perhaps the nightmares you receive in the Realm of Sleep could interfere with the connection of your memories to your Heart, kind of like the Noise in TWEWY messing with your thoughts and emotions. So, imagine if a nightmare is successful. When a nightmare usually ends in your death, you would wake up. However, since the Realm of Sleep seems to exist as an entirely different plane, a being killed in your dream might mean that you won’t wake up in the real world. At the very least, you’d be dead for real as soon as you woke up.
Now, let’s get back to the connection between the Heart and memories so I can explain the above. Without memories, a Heart cannot function. So, perhaps the memories would go back so you can wake up, but perhaps the Soul isn’t so lucky. Therefore, even if you do wake up, you’ll be dead. After all, there is a connection between sleep and death. Therefore, waking up without your Soul would equal death since the body can now register that your Soul is gone.
That still leaves the Soul. Well, Yen Sid basically said that as there are Heartless out in the real world, there are Dream Eaters in the Realm of Sleep. Therefore, making a parallel between the two might indicate that Dream Eaters multiply in a similar manner as the Heartless do. However, instead of darkness consuming a Heart, we’d have dreams and nightmares consuming the Soul, seeing as the abandoned Soul has no memories to rely on at this stage of the game.
At the very least, that explains the existence of the Dream Eaters in general. As for whether the Dream Eaters end up as those of the Spirit variety or the Nightmare variety, I believe that it depends upon whether the Soul itself is exposed to either good dreams or horrible nightmares first. Of course, seeing as how Sora and Riku have Keyblades, it is rather possible to purify a Nightmare Dream Eater and expose them to your good dream in order to transform the Soul into those of the Spirit variety.
Like I said before, this might be a shot in the dark. However, I’ve done the best that I can do, so be free to comment and criticize.
