List of Nights series characters

The following are various fictional and recurring characters who appear in the NiGHTS into Dreams... and NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams video games created by Sonic Team and Sega.

Races

Humans

Every night, when humans go to sleep, their consciousness unknowingly travels to the dream world of Nightopia. Though their physical bodies don't travel, their consciousness does and goes into a dream. Dreamers are referred to as 'Visitors' in the Japanese version of the game, and each visitor summons luminous coloured spheres called 'Ideya' when they enter the dreamscape. There are five kinds of Ideya, only forming around a visitor if they possess that specific personality trait; the rarest is the Red Ideya, that of courage. When the Nightmaren begin to invade Nightopia and steal the Ideya from the dreamers, Nightopia begins to vanish bit by bit.

Examples: Claris Sinclair, Elliot Edwards

Nightmaren

Nightmaren were created by Wizeman the Wicked, who uses them to steal the power of the Ideya from visiting dreamers. Nightmaren come in several levels, forms and shapes.

The most important thing to note about the Maren is that they fall into a heiracy of levels. There are only two First-level Marens, NiGHTS and Reala; Second-level Marens are the Bosses. Third-level Nightmaren are the minions who inhabit the stages in Nightopia; whilst they have the power to terrify dreamers and rob them of their Ideya, they are nowhere near as powerful as higher-level Nightmaren and are easily dispatched by NiGHTS. In the original game's opening, the Maren took on a more sinister shadow monster form to scare Claris and Elliot, so it is presumed that the Maren can also shapeshift like NiGHTS in order to do their job of confusing and scaring dreamers. Some fans hold the belief that all Maren were once Nightopian residents that were changed by Wizeman, in the same way Mepians occur. Maren will eat Nightopians, chase them and basically act as their name suggests.

Examples: NiGHTS, Wizeman the Wicked, Reala.

Nightopians

The innocent and cheerful residents who live in the dream world of Nightopia are the Nightopians. Nightopians are dream-dwellers, sometimes referred to as "pians". Unlike Nightmaren, Nightopians only exist as small, fairy-like creatures (the sole exception being the slightly larger "Superpian") that inhabit the dreamworld and are generally harmless, they can often be found singing. They are tormented (and sometimes devoured) by Wizeman and his nightmaren, who wish to conquer Nightopia.

NiGHTS can interact with Nightopians throughout each level, and their collective mood will respond accordingly. Should NiGHTS merely pass them by, defeating Nightmaren, they will remain happy, but will cry out when one of their number is sucked into a paraloop (be it on purpose or by accident). The overall mood of the Nightopians dictates the soundtrack of the levels. If a Superpian exists within the level and is happy, it will have the others construct a large castle.

A bizarre crossbreed known as a "Mepian" will occur if NiGHTS grabs a Nightmaren and successfully hurls it into a Nightopian.

Protagonists

NiGHTS

Appearance: NiGHTS into Dreams, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
Race: Nightmaren
NiGHTS is a Nightmaren created by Wizeman to steal Red Ideya. NiGHTS is androgynous, a conscious design decision by Sonic Team and wears a purple jester style hat and outfit, with a diamond on the chest. Despite being one of Wizeman's most powerful creations, he was also a remarkably mischievous free spirit who did not like taking orders, so much so that Wizeman had NiGHTS imprisoned within Nightopia (in the gondela-like structure NiGHTS inhabits within each of the levels) to keep him out of the way. NiGHTS asks for the assistance of Claris and Elliot in taking down Wizeman simply because he doesn't like him, and not because he is inherently 'good'. NiGHTS rival is his fellow first-level Nightmaren, Reala.

In the first game NiGHTS shows the one-off ability to transform into a bobsled, an ability that was expanded upon in the sequel with the introduction of persona masks. Each mask allows NiGHTS to change his form and abilities accordingly, incluiding those of a dragon, rocket and dolphin.

Players can refer to NiGHTS as either gender as they so wish, and neither one is right or wrong. NiGHTS does not speak in the first game, but is given a female voice in the second game Journey of Dreams. Takashi Iizuka explained that their choice for an androgynous main-character is so that NiGHTS can appeal much more directly to the player's point of view. NiGHTS is a male character for male players, and a female character for female players, to allow the player to associate with the character and make them feel more comfortable with NiGHTS for both genders.

Claris Sinclair

Appearance: NiGHTS into Dreams
Race: Human
Age: 15 (Japan) / 14 (United States)
A talented singer, Claris' ambition is to perform on stage. She auditions for a part in the events commemorating the centenary of the city of Twin Seeds. However, upon standing in front of the judges, she is overcome by stage fright and does not perform well. Claris loses all hope of getting the role, and when she falls asleep that night, the evil spirits of Nightmare seize upon that fear, placing Claris in a nightmare version of the audition. Fleeing from the stage, she suddenly finds herself in a lush spring valley, with NiGHTS calling to her.

Elliot Edwards

Appearance: NiGHTS into Dreams
Race: Human
Age: 15 (Japan) / 14 (United States)
Elliot is a budding basketball player, enjoying a game with his friends one day. A group of older high school students arrive and challenge them to a game, causing Elliot to suffer a humiliating defeat on the court. That night, a nightmare replays the events, and Elliot runs blindly into the world of Nightopia, where he discovers the imprisoned NiGHTS.

Helen Cartwright

Appearance: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
Race: Human
A talented violin player, Helen's story begins with her and her mother playing violin together. Suddenly Helen's cellphone (or similar device) rings. Apparently her friends are calling. She tells her Mom "C'mon!" and puts the violin down, running off to go hang out with her friends. Her mom looks really sad and looks down at the nearby calendar: it's only a week or less until Helen's violin recital. Next scene, Helen is walking down the street with her friends eating ice cream (one girl is a red-head, the other has black hair). As they're walking and laughing, Helen looks in one of the shop windows and sees violins. She stands there a moment looking sad and thoughtful. She sees her mother's reflection in the window looking sad, when suddenly she snarls and turns into a monster and the window breaks.

William Taylor

Appearance: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
Race: Human
William is a soccer player, training on the field one day. When he scores a goal, his dad picks up the soccer ball coming out of the net. He smiles and tosses the ball back. The next immediate scene, William's Dad is leaving the home. He pats William's head, and suddenly they're outside. His Dad gets in the car and drives away, William calling for him. William turns around to see his Dad's plane flying away. The landscape turns cold and blue, and William is surrounded by his soccer teammates. Their eyes turn red and they start laughing, before turning into monsters.

Owl

Appearance: NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
Race: Owl
The owl is the player's tutor, guiding the player through the game and instruction them on new features. The owl resides in the game's main hub, Dream Gate.

Antagonists

Wizeman the Wicked

Appearance: NiGHTS into Dreams, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
Race: Nightmaren
Wizeman is the main antagonist of the games. He is the evil ruler of Nightmare, the bad dream half of the dreamworld. Whilst the US manual describes Wizeman as always representing the evil half of the dreamscape, the Japanese manual tells us that he is a visitor like any other dreamer, but was 'deprived of any Ideya'. This would mean that, long ago, Wizeman was once human before becoming the creator and ruler of Nightmare.

Wizeman is the creator of all the Nightmaren seen within the game: NiGHTS, Reala, Jackle, Clawz, Gulpo, Gillwing, and Puffy, as well as many minor maren seen in the levels. When NiGHTS rebelled against Wizeman, Reala became Wizeman's head henchman.

Wizeman is the final boss of the game, fought by NiGHTS alongside both Claris and Elliot. He has an array of mystical powers and abilities, able to summon fireballs, huge rocks, hurl chunks of ice and launch tornadoes. During the boss battle, he brings NiGHTS into different locations.

Reala

Appearance: NiGHTS into Dreams, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams
Race: Nightmaren
Reala is Wizeman's most trusted servant. Like NiGHTS, he is a First-level Nightmaren with a circus-themed appearance. However, unlike NiGHTS, Reala is cruel, brutal, and completely loyal to Wizeman. Reala was responsible for NiGHTS' imprisonment in the Ideya Palace in NiGHTS into Dreams.

Jackle

Appearance: NiGHTS into Dreams
Race: Nightmaren
Jackle is one of the Nightmaren created by Wizeman, a second-level Nightmaren, which acts as a boss character. He is similar to Reala and NIGHTS as he retains a humanoid form, but his 'body' is entirely invisible aside from his eternally grinning face. His body seems to exist in some form, as he is capable of wearing clothes (gloves, boots, a cowl and a cape), with his face appearing black due to seeing the back of his cowl. Jackle's cape must be knocked off before he becomes vulnerable to attack. In the game he is depicted as much larger than NiGHTS and Reala, despite having a similar shape, though the released concept art of Jackle shows him similar in scale to Reala and NiGHTS. Jackle's arena is almost circus-themed, which matches his attack patterns of hurling playing cards at his opponent.

Puffy

Appearance: NiGHTS into Dreams
Race: Nightmaren
Puffy is one of the Nightmaren created by Wizeman, a second-level Nightmaren, which acts as a boss character. She has the form of a rotund human woman (complete with huge bosom), yet possesses no legs, merely a ball-like lower half. She also has a circus-like theme, but appears to be very vain. Puffy's arena seems to be a giant house, and she must be hurled through the various distorted rooms in order to be defeated. Puffy is able to crush NiGHTS with her girth, taking 5 seconds of NiGHTS' time with each hit.

Gillwing

Appearance: NiGHTS into Dreams
Race: Nightmaren
Gillwing is one of the Nightmaren created by Wizeman, a second-level Nightmaren, which acts as a boss character. He is a huge, lizard-like creature with a disproportianate head (compared to the rest of his body), beset with his jaws. He is also able to fly thanks to the (oddly small) wings either side of his head. His attack pattern is not complex, and must simply be attacked tweleve times in the face in order to be defeated.

Clawz

Appearance: NiGHTS into Dreams
Race: Nightmaren
Clawz is one of the Nightmaren created by Wizeman, a second-level Nightmaren, which acts as a boss character. Clawz takes the form of a huge blue and yellow cat of some sort, with (seemingly useless) metallic wing-like features coming from his back. He eternally has a maniacal grin (not unlike Jackle) and seems to have a love of explosives. He never engages NiGHTS directly, despite his size, instead trying to blow him up with numerous bombs.

Gulpo

Appearance: NiGHTS into Dreams
Race: Nightmaren
Gulpo is one of the Nightmaren created by Wizeman, a second-level Nightmaren, which acts as a boss character. It appears as a huge, nightmarish fish whose main method of attack is to simply lunge at the player. He is arguably the easiest boss to defeat.

External links

• SEGA homepage
• NiGHTS into Dreams.com