The Nowhereâs child population can be divided into two groups:
The first group are children that are simply native to The Nowhere. They just appear somewhere unobserved with basic knowledge of how to walk, feed themselves and do other minor survival things (Child Speech sometimes comes with that basic knowledge, but not always).
Out of the protagonists, Six, Mono, RK and Low are all fully native to Nowhere. They just spawned in somewhere like Minecraft Mobs and have been surviving ever since. The Pretender is also native to Nowhere, but is a special case because she was born biologically from the Lady instead of just appearing one day.
The Second group consists of children that have been dragged into the Nowhere from our world. The methods of reaching Nowhere vary though. Some are lured in by the Ferryman (like Noone), others are lured in or forcibly taken by other entities similar in power like the North Wind and the Eyes of the Signal Tower (especially if the child fell asleep in front of the TV). Even the Broadcaster and Lady can reach out and guide children to the Nowhere, they are equally as strong as the Ferryman after all, but theyâre not as experienced as the Entities that made it their whole mission to steal away children, so the Lady relies on the Ferryman and the Broadcaster uses the Flesh Walls.
Some children donât even get dragged to the Nowhere by force. They just sleep and their subconscious gets them dragged fully into the Nowhere completely on their own.
Children from the real world make up a minority of the population though, especially since their inexperience and lack of Built-In-Nowhere-Survival-Instincts means that they donât often last very long, and ESPECIALLY since theyâre often brought in by powerful entities with their own plans for them. The Ferryman still works for the Lady after all, and the Maw can always use more children to serve to the guests and the Nest can always use more dolls. Luckily, many children can and have escaped from the entity guiding them mid being Nowhere-ed. They still end up trapped there, but they end up some place completely random inside of whatever horrible place the entity has planned for them.
Also: Many Children native to the real world go through something referred to by other children (and some Lords) as âThe Visiting Processâ where they sleep in the real world, appear somewhere completely random in the Nowhere (never in the same place twice), and then disappear back to the real world when they either die, fall asleep or simply go unobserved for too long in the Nowhere. After several nights of this theyâll fully cross over into the Nowhere, where theyâll be completely stuck with no way back. Sometimes this âVisiting Processâ is because of a Lord trying to drag them in further over the course of several nights until they finally cross over. Sometimes itâs because the Childâs dreams slightly overlapped with the Nowhere and now theyâre being dragged in naturally. Some children donât even go through this at all.
Out of the Protagonists, only RCG and Alone are native to the real world. The Refugee Boy and Humpback Girl are also from the real world. Noone is also native to reality (obviously) and Ottoâs sister Cici is also obviously from our world.
For Visitors (Children native to our world), memories of the real world are not an easy thing to keep. The Nowhere by design tries to make you forget about the real world, warping your mind the longer you spend there. Thatâs why telling stories is so important among children in the comics. You need to keep yourself reminded of where you came from.
You also slowly lose yourself as you age but thatâs another thing in its entirety.
The Refugee Boy and Humpback Girl tell stories referencing Villages and Homes and Parents, stuff from the real world, but their memories are slowly failing them. Thatâs why you have the North Wind showing up to destroy The Refugee Boyâs Village and Children talking about their parents just before encountering Magic Mirrors and the Mirror Monster. Their memories of home have become warped and have been slowly and slightly merged with memories of their dreams and how they came to be trapped in the Nowhere, and theyâre having difficulty telling the difference between their memories of reality and dream.
Pure Pure Headcanon: RCG ended up in the Nowhere on her own without the Ferryman or North Wind or anyone. She just fell asleep one day and found herself there. Also, she kept a little journal of her journey in the Nowhere, searching for a way out. That journal is how she kept her memories of reality. Also I have a whole theory that neither RCG or Six are Cici but thatâs a whole other post thatâs being worked on.