Fourth myth about Nightmares:

Can Nightmares forget who their former self was?

The answer is: No

It's impossible for a Nightmare to forget about who their former self was, part of a Nightmare's personality is a twist of their former self, whether they want to admit it or not... Nightmares hate their former selves and despise being called or referred to as them. A Nightmare might even claim that they don't remember who their former self was but they never truly forget, this was something Soledormir made sure of, it's to both mock the Dreamer and who they were but also to create confusion in others, making them believe they the Nightmare is that person... When basically, a Nightmare is nothing more than a counterfeit of the individual.

Memories of their former self are crucial to a Nightmare's survival, it's because of those memories that makes the Nightmare intelligent and what separates one Nightmare from another.

A Nightmare will get inspiration from memories of their former self most of the time to make alternate personalities for their disguises and alter egos, this doesn't mean it's on their former self, but other people their former self interacted with.

For example, some of Mal's alter identities are based off of other people Faolan interacted with, one such person was Nicholas, his noble bravery was ideal to gain favor with the group who would become the Shadow Hunters. Arthur, Faolan's uncle, had a bubbly charm and his charisma worked well with others. Judas at times has a very professional demeanor and will see a job get done.

These are only just a few who inspired some of Mal's alter identities, but seeing as Malice does not have those individuals' memories and it's only from observing, he can put his own twist on them to make those alternate identities at least tolerable for himself.

Only the more deceptive Nightmares will actually use memories of their former selves, some Nightmares want nothing to do with their former selves so they don't bother coming up with disguises or alternate personalities, it really depends on the Nightmare's hunting style.

So an intelligent Nightmare will never forget who their former self was, if they did forget they'd be no different than a dumb Husk.

Fifth myth about Nightmares:

Do all Nightmares have Echoes?

The answer is: Yes.

All Nightmares can and will experience Echoes at some point in their lives.

Echoes are fragmented memories of their former self, this normally has no meaning to the Nightmares themselves, it comes as more of an annoyance than anything.

But there /are/ different reasons why a Nightmare experiences Echoes.

One will be explained in more detail in a different lore post, but it has to do with the Nightmare's intelligence and ability to learn, but basically a Nightmare will use the memories of their former self to develop their hunting tactics, if they are deceptive, and how they hunt.

The other is, through Echoes, Shoji can watch what the Nightmare has been up to, she can play through their memories and keep herself updated with things in the worlds, it's how she knows what's going on. Sometimes Shoji can speak to them, but she doesn't do this often, and Malice is her favorite son so she bugs him the most... Shoji can use images of the Nightmare's former self to illustrate something of importance or get her point across.

Another thing with Echoes is that when a Nightmare experiences them, it's always in their sleep, it has to be a deep sleep, usually during their hibernation sleep, a Nightmare is at their most vulnerable in their hibernation.

It is possible to wake a Nightmare up as they are experiencing an Echo, but it is very difficult.

Sixth myth about Nightmares:

Do Nightmares /need/ sleep?

The answer is: Yes.

Sleep is very important to a Nightmare, like with most things, sleep helps with recharging, it can help them recover from injuries, and then experience Echoes.

But there's more to it then that... When a Nightmare sleeps, they actually link up to the web that connects to Malice, and when a Nightmare sleeps the contract gets reinforced in them, this is also how Malice knows if there is a didturbance in the web. This link up time also keeps the Light Eater's mind from breaking down, so sleep is kind of important.

Good thing Eater got a silver seal of approval or he'd have some problems going so long without sleeping, but since he doesn't sleep, he has less influence from Malice.

(I think that's all for this one)

I love this, I think it's a great way to help people develop their nightmares!

I can't wait to read more~