Fan Casting Nightmare in Strange Tales

- Hello again, Stephen. - Who the hell are you? - I? An undeniable proof that even the most precious dreams can always be visited by...Nightmares. - I don't.. - Oh, I know what you're going to say. But I'm inclined to disagree. - .. - This is my kingdom. The kingdom of Nightmares. You've been here before...of course, you may not remember— not in detail— but we can say that on numerous occasions you were my...illustrious guest. - ... - You've worn a mask since that day. It still hits you right in the chest. Like ice breaking. - ......[Strange begins to feel apprehensive]. - Look, I'm not here to incite you to believe whether it was your fault or not [laughs]...my role is to see how you deal with it. And we both know how you dealt with it, don't we? - ... - Childhood traumas are always interesting...because they can follow you for the rest of your life...and even beyond! - ... - ...But something tells me you know you can't run away from it anymore. - ...What do you want with this? - [Smile] to see where this goes from here. [Stephen wakes up startled immediately afterwards] - Ah!... [Wong] - Looks like he must have paid you a visit. - ...He?; Naturally a sneaky figure, Nightmare is a primordial entity that governs the Nightmare World, his own realm within the Dream Dimension - a manifestation of humanity's collective psyche, where dreams manifest a life of their own, and from which he feeds to extract power from them. His existence stemmed from humanity's own need to dream, and although not necessarily a trustworthy figure, he is not presented here as a villain – but as an antagonistic figure throughout the plot who, at times, may even somehow help those who choose to see their questions between the lines when accessing his realm. The residents of Kamar-Taj have had to deal with the same in the past – but today Nightmare seems more entertained by merely being a shadow of the fears he encounters than by trying to merge his domain with the waking world.