anima

Okay A TON TO TALK ABOUT:

So for this comic the central idea was: how existential of a threat is the concept of Killer to Dream. And my answer was, incredibly so. Everything about him is perfectly made to torment him. No emotions, off putting, invisible. Works for Nightmare but not in the usual, does bad things for him way, instead DIRECTLY with him. The only person other than Dream that can withstand DIRECT interaction with his overwhelming aura that drives basically anyone else insane. Horrible. Mortifying. Dream’s worst fear. Someone who can help Nightmare hurt him. He got lucky in this fight, but barely escaped by the skin of his teeth. Literally. He will develop his knives specifically because of this fight.

This is also my interpretation of the destruction of his cape. We know in canon at some point Nightmare destroys it, and afterwards, Dream gets his new outfit. This is also where he stops holding onto the past, accepts Corrupted is someone else, and marks his transition into a more mature person with a clear mission.

it’s also quite literally the last item Dream has that Nightmare ever touched, ever interacted with. The only memory of him torn into little pieces. That’s what Corrupted does to him. He tears all his good memories of his brother to shred, burns holes through them, kills them. Incredibly rare for Dream to shout, but this moment will be our one exception.

Nightmare does not have a singular design for me. He can shapeshift. He shapeshifts. When he fights Dream he takes a vaguely skeleton appearance, but even then it’s like his features are always changing. He purposefully dawns Night’s face and clothes when he wants to be extra cruel. He only has 2 tentacles because we know when Dream is around it becomes hard for him to form anymore. Usually he would have 4.

Killer only got hit because Nightmare didn’t give him a chance to understand how Dream fights. He will start trying a little harder, for next time. He knows one thing for sure now! Dream is very very clever. Much more than Nightmare. We know this is canon. Dream is smart but not knowledgeable, and Nightmare is knowledgeable, but kind of driven by his desires. He can still be smart too, just not as fast on his feet as Dream.

this happens after Ink has confronted him once. Dream worries he may take advantage of his injuries to stop him himself. He can no longer trust him.