It must be so hard for Dream to have the entire multiverse wishing and encouraging his brother’s death, but he selfishly does not want Nightmare to die, because Nightmare is his brother and he still loves him and wants him here.
I thought about this when I saw your art of Dream having a nightmare about Nightmare dying
Hello! Ah, yes… you pointed it out exactly. 😌
After the apple incident, Dream and Nightmare’s original lives were completely broken. Nightmare had time to adapt to the changes and build a life of his own, but Dream was trapped alone in frozen time, and only woke up much later, forced to accept reality.
For Dream, it was as if just yesterday, the brother he loved killed everyone, cut down their mother tree, and even tried to kill him. He turned to stone, and when he regained consciousness, his brother had become the worst villain in the multiverse, and he was now the only one who could stop him.
When he met his brother again, he seemed to hate him intensely, and the world tells him that his brother must be killed. But all Dream wants is simply to return to how things used to be—to the warm fields, under the shade of the tree, where his brother would greet him with a smile.
Dream keeps thinking about what he did wrong.
What if he had known earlier that Nightmare was being bullied?
Why didn’t his brother tell him?
Was he not someone his brother could rely on?
If he had been more mature—if he hadn’t been so childish—would any of this have happened?
So, after becoming a guardian, Dream tries to act more mature. He tries to meet everyone’s expectations and become the person they want him to be. But no matter how hard he tries, or how much recognition he receives, there is still a part of him that remains unfilled.
What would change, even if he received all the positivity in the world?
His brother is still not by his side.
No matter how much he tries, or how much he grows, he can no longer protect his brother or earn his trust. His brother will not praise him anymore. He will not read to him in a gentle voice, or quietly stroke his hair as he rests on his lap. He will not call his name with warmth again.
Dream keeps wondering what all of this means. At the same time, his sense of morality tells him that he should no longer long for his brother, and that doing what the world wants is the right thing. But his heart continues to long for him, and what he fears most is not just his absence, but the possibility that he might disappear from the world entirely.
After each intense battle with Nightmare, Dream restores the damaged areas and helps and heals many people. But while he is tending to the injured, he cannot help but think about the harm he has caused his brother.
What if his brother is in pain like this as well?
Does he really need to suffer like this because of me?
His brother always took care of him—am I only hurting him in return?
As he sinks deeper into self-reproach, people sincerely thank and praise him for what he has done, while at the same time cursing and resenting his brother. Dream can feel all of those emotions. He understands their pain and anger, and because of that, he is constantly hurt by them.
The one who is expected to be the most good in the world is also the one who loves the most evil person more than anyone else.
That is Dream’s contradiction. It is the reason he cannot truly eliminate Nightmare, and also the reason he cannot fully love the world. He cares about the world and its people, but it is difficult for him to genuinely love those who want to harm his brother. The world has already taken his brother from him once, and in doing so, destroyed everything he loved.
Dreamtale is, in a literal sense, a tragedy. Both from the perspective of the twins, and from the perspective of the multiverse.
Their story has something of a theatrical structure, and I think that is what makes it compelling. The contradiction between what one must do and what one wants to do is always an interesting theme.
Thank you for the ask, and I hope you have a good day! 💕
