History Main / NoRestForTheWicked

If you're looking for the trope about characters who don't or can't sleep, you want TheInsomniac.

If you're looking for the webcomic, you want Webcomic.NoRestForTheWicked.

If you are looking for the fanfiction, you want Fanfic.NoRestForTheWicked.

If you're looking for the webcomic ''No Rest For The Wicked'', you want Webcomic.NoRestForTheWicked.

If you're looking for the trope about characters who don't or can't sleep, you want Main.{{Insomnia}}.

If a link or pothole sent you here, please go back to that page and fix it to point to the appropriate page. Thanks.

If you're looking for the webcomic ''No RestFor The Wicked'', you want Webcomic.NoRestForTheWicked.

[[redirect:Webcomic/NoRestForTheWicked]]

[[redirect:TheInsomniac]]

[[quoteright:345:[[DeathNote http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/l-deathnote.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:345: You should see his [[SweetTooth eating habits]].]]

->''No there ain't no rest for the wicked''
->''Until we close our eyes for good''
-->-- '''Cage The Elephant''', "Ain't No Rest for the Wicked"

A common way to convey that a character is either really strange or has either paranoid or schizophrenic tendencies (or both) is to make him an insomniac. Whether only during times of great stress or as a chronic disorder (obviously a case of TruthInTelevision) expect these characters to be cranky, moody, mistrusting and sometimes even violent.

Expect lots of EyeTropes.

In fiction, three types can be observed:

* A. '''The Goofy Insomniac:''' Usually used as a comedy device. The character in question goes without sleep for a number of days (as these characters are often only ''temporary'' insomniacs) and react comically out-of-character for the duration of their sleep deprivation.
* B. '''[[{{Determinator}} The Obsessive Insomniac]]:''' More likely to be a chronic insomniac. This character is so driven to catch or kill his nemesis that he forgoes everything, including sleep. Typically, their sheer determination, rigid mindset and complete disregard for their bodies' needs actually make them more capable, making this a common DisabilitySuperpower. See also TripleShifter. May result in a HeroicRROD.
* C. '''[[TruthInTelevision The Realistic Insomniac]]:''' Often used in more serious works, where the disorder is neither funny nor makes the character any better at what he does. Often the delusional/hallucinogetic part of sleep deprivation is played up, sometimes in conjunction with TomatoInTheMirror surprises for the viewer.

The title comes, of course, from a completely out of context Bible quote: "There is no peace,' says the Lord, 'for the wicked."-Isaiah 48:22. Although, it that case, the passage is focused less on the insomnia and more on the wicked themselves (who presumably will be tormented by the Lord and conscience forever).

See also BadDreams. Waking up from one may cause a sleepless night; waking up from one many, many, many nights may lead to this in its milder forms, since the character gets ''some'' sleep. Characters for whom not sleeping is normal are TheSleepless, though it can overlap with this trope, particularly the obsessives of Type B.

If you're looking for the webcomic of the same name, that's [[Webcomic/NoRestForTheWicked here]].
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!!Examples

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* L from ''DeathNote'' gets far less sleep than should be healthy for him. His insomnia is arguably one of the reasons why he's the best three detectives in the world at the same time.
* Gaara from ''{{Naruto}}'', who remains awake to prevent a forcible takeover by the monster inside him. He seems to spend most of the time a normal person would spend sleeping just standing still, likely to get physical rest (and possibly trying some form of meditation to make up for the loss of mental rest).
* Keiichi states a few times that this is becoming the case in Onikakushi-hen of HigurashiNoNakuKoroNi. Hey, you'd become an insomniac too, if you thought your {{Nakama}} were trying to [[AxCrazy stalk and kill you]]. [[spoiler:True to the trope's description, though, he's actually just a paranoid wreck]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comics]]
* Rorschach from the graphic novel ''{{Watchmen}}'' goes long hours without sleep. Of course, Rorschach is a {{Determinator}} pur sang.
* JudgeDredd prefers 10 minutes on a [[AppliedPhlebotinum sleep machine]] to actually sleeping in a bed -- less time for criminals to get away with the lawlessness!
** But he's [[ChronoTrigger still hungry]].
* The Joker in ''{{Batman}}'' comics is sometimes portrayed as an insomniac. This is directly addressed in ''The Dark Knight Returns.''
* JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac has a distaste for sleep. It doesn't seem to make him anything other than crazier, though.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live Action]]
* Trevor Reznik from ''TheMachinist'', who goes for a year without sleep. The only time he goes to sleep in the movie is when [[spoiler:he goes to the police station and reports the hit-and-run he was involved in a year ago, which kickstarted his guilt-ridden insomnia.]]
* The narrator from ''FightClub''. [[spoiler:When he thinks he's sleeping, he becomes Tyler Durden.]]
* Gustav Graves from ''DieAnotherDay'' [[spoiler:as a result of gene therapy used to change his look]].
* Jordan from ''RealGenius'', as part of her hyper-energy, never needs to sleep. There doesn't seem to be any negative side effects... aside from her becoming a TalkativeLoon.
* Samara Morgan from ''TheRing'': "She never sleeps. The horses keep her up at night." At first, she and her [[spoiler:adoptive]] parents believed that the whinnying and thrashing of the horses in the stable kept her awake, when in reality ''she'' was the one driving them mad with her [[SuperpowerMeltdown uncontrollable]] {{psychic powers}}. Surveillance tapes from a mental facility proved she didn't sleep ''at all'', and at the end the phrase "[[IronicEcho She never sleeps]]" is revealed to refer to how her spirit will never rest, forever (and deliberately) spreading the deadly curse through the [[ArtifactOfDeath Video Tape]].
* Detective Will Dormer in the film ''Film/{{Insomnia}}'', whose judgment and overall mental state decline severely over the course of the movie due to an extreme case of insomnia after he travels to Alaska during the time of year when the sun is up for months at a time.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In ''Mariel of {{Redwall}}'', Gabool the Wild starts having prophetic dreams that turn him into a completely insane insomniac.
** As does the aquaphobic Queen Tsarmina Greeneyes, as the good guys set up a dam to flood her and her minions out of Castle Kotir and she constantly hears dripping water.
* [[MacBeth Macbeth]].
** Most of the kings in Shakespeare's history plays, for that matter. It's emphasized most with Henry IV, who is racked by guilt after usurping Richard II's throne and the having him killed.
* SherlockHolmes is a Type B. When on a case, Watson has given up on trying to get Holmes to go to bed. His energy becomes more focused on trying to keep away the morphine and replace it with the food that Holmes forgot to eat this morning.
* Ralph Roberts from ''Insomnia'' is a Type C, at least in the beginning. Later, it turns out that his insomnia [[spoiler:allows him to see the aura of people as well as higher powers that influence the world.]]
* The ''InDeath'' series mixes types B and C depending on the seriousness of the situation. Eve Dallas is type B but frequently drifts closer to type C, and other characters will note that she's getting slower, edgier, and even getting sick. Roarke, though he pulls a sleepless routine less often, is even better at it than Eve, and is closer to type B.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Patrick Jane on ''TheMentalist'', of the third variety. It doesn't come up every episode and it's more an element of characterization than a disadvantage, but he can't sleep without the aid of pills.
* Dr. {{House}}, towards the end of Season 5, after a coworker's death. He starts hallucinating and gradually losing his mind.
* Dr. Franklin on ''[[BabylonFive Babylon 5]]'', leading to his abuse of stimulants.
* Max, protagonist of ''DarkAngel'', claims not to sleep. She does, however, explain coming in to work late as "I overslept" on one occasion.
** That's about right. She uses the night for more important matters. Until the pilot episode, for stealing. And "I overslept" is a good enough excuse when you try to hide your superhuman ability.
* In ''{{Carnivale}}'' Ben develops insomnia as a side effect of suffering from DreamingOfThingsToCome, to the point where he starts seeing things while he's still awake.
* A VictimOfTheWeek in ''GhostWhisperer'' appears to be suffering from the RealLife disease [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_insomnia fatal familial insomnia]], and is being DrivenToSuicide by [[spoiler: the ghost of his father, who killed his wife while delusional and as a ghost watched his daughter succumb to the disease. However, it appears that the son never had it and the symptoms were the result of the father's extreme paranoia.]] "What's worse, [[FateWorseThanDeath insanity]], then death, or just death?"
* Haywire in PrisonBreak has a mental imbalance that means he "doesn't sleep. Ever." Not the kind of cell mate you want if you're routinely sneaking out at night.
* Little Pete from TheAdventuresOfPeteAndPete manages to get his friends to stay up for several days as a protest against early bed times. Pete almost manages to make it to eleven days.
* Fox Mulder of {{The X-Files}} is a well-known insomniac. We almost never see him sleeping, and when we do, he's usually in the throes of a nightmare.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Poetry]]
* WilliamShakespeare's Sonnets 27 and 28
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Elves from ''[[DungeonsAndDragons Dungeons and Dragons]]'' don't sleep, but trance instead.
* Oathsworn from ''ArcanaEvolved'' eventually no longer need to sleep.
* [[{{Warhammer}} Archaon]], the ChosenOne of [[EldritchAbomination Chaos]] does not sleep. Or eat. Or do anything but work towards the apocalypse.
* [[SpaceMarine Space Marines]] of the [[{{Warhammer40000}} Adeptus Astartes]] are implanted with a [[BioAugmentation node]] affecting the circadian rhythm of their sleep cycle. When deprived of sleep, it keeps him awake by switching off areas of his brain sequentially. As such marines typically require only 4 hours of "real" sleep, but are known for going up to 2 weeks straight without it.
* DontRestYourHead. The PCs are all insomniacs.
* BlissStage. The Authority Figure has been awake for the past seven years, because everyone else over eighteen is in a blissful coma.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* A variation of this trope occurs in ''{{God of War}}'': Kratos has been plagued by nightmares for ten years, which started when he crossed the MoralEventHorizon by [[spoiler: murdering his wife and child in a berserker rage]]. He serves the gods because he believes that when he has redeemed himself, they will rid him of the nightmares. They don't.
-->'''Athena:''' Your sins are forgiven. [[JediTruth But we never promised]] [[ExactWords to remove your nightmares]]. No man, no god, could ''ever'' forget the terrible things you have done.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]
* Zimmy from ''GunnerkriggCourt'' never sleeps. The only thing that prevents [[RealityWarper her hallucinations from becoming real]] (as Zimmy has a severe case of PowerIncontinence) rests with her friend Gamma, who acts a PowerNullifier. Unfortunately, Gamma ''does'' need sleep...
** Zimmy definitely fits the personality profile of an insomniac, even though not sleeping is natural for her. Gamma, on the other hand, could be loosely classed as a ShrinkingViolet. And her one on-screen break from sweetness and light could probably be blamed on either sleep deprivation or [[spoiler:Zimmy's mistranslations]].
** While [[spoiler: his brain was hijacked by one of Zimmy's hallucinations]], Jack Hyland picked up her habit of never sleeping. However, he's also in the category of actually needing it, so what effect the weeks (possibly even ''months'', depending on how the comic time was spaced) of deprivation will have on him is yet to be seen.
* Vaarsuvius, an elf from ''{{The Order of the Stick}}'', hasn't tranced in months in a recent story arc, which has severely changed V's appearance, patience, social skills and (arguably) alignment. Due to a mixture of [[{{Determinator}} determination]] and [[{{Wangst}} terrifying]] [[BadDreams nightmares of guilt]], V defended this saying trancing isn't biologically necessary for elves. The veracity of this claim is dubious.
* Sniper Wolf from ''{{The Last Days of Foxhound}}'' can go on for long periods of time without sleep. She catches up on sleep by hibernating for a week or so every couple of years.
* Princess November from ''Webcomic/{{No Rest for the Wicked}}'' is unable to sleep with the moon gone from the sky.
* Fall from ''ParallelDementia'' sometimes goes for several weeks without sleeping to try and avoid nightmares. This has led her to pass out and may be contributing to her hallucinations.
* Hannelore, QuestionableContent's resident [="OCDelightful"=] cleanfreak occasionally goes days at a time without sleep, due either to her {{Monk}}-level need to clean things or some new medication she is taking. Once, she forgot to wear pants.
* The [[NoNameGiven nameless]] [[OurZombiesAreDifferent zombie]] {{narrator}} of ''HannaIsNotABoysName'' doesn't seem to sleep. He has been seen to spend the night reading in the one-room apartment of his [[HeterosexualLifePartners Heterosexual Life Partner]], the eponymous Hanna. So... sitting a couple feet away from Hanna's bed while Hanna sleeps. [[HoYay Awww.]]
* Karkat in ''{{Homestuck}}'', according to Vriska, hardly sleeps over the three week period in which they play the game.
* Jyrras from ''DanAndMabsFurryAdventures'' has shown signs of sleep deprivation, which includes waving a knife in a dangerously random manner.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Shadows in ''{{lonelygirl15}}'' are so devoted to their duty that they take drugs that remove the need to sleep. Unsurprisingly, they tend to die before the age of 30.
* J of ''MarbleHornets'' has mentioned suffering from insomnia in his Twitter. In this case, it's considered a sign that (much like Alex before him) he's losing his mind.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Aang has a turn as a Goofy Insomniac (although he quickly degenerates to the more realistic variant) in the "Nightmares and Daydreams" episode of ''[=~Avatar: The Last Airbender~=]''. He begins to experience hallucinations, culminating in one where the {{Team Pet}}s begin talking, then get into a fight that escalates into a samurai duel.
** [[AntiVillain Prince Zuko]] is shown to be a Type B during the first season when he was in full, obsessive I-Must-Capture-The-Avatar mode. But later, during the third season [[spoiler:before his HeelFaceTurn]], his guilt over [[IgnoredEpiphany his actions]] [[WhamEpisode under Ba Sing Se]] coupled with the paranoia that comes from living with [[ManipulativeBastard Azula]] moves him into Type C territory, slowly driving him insane.
* On ''CodeLyoko'', Jérémie has a tendency to be the Obsessive Insomniac. Of course, his [[AIIsACrapshoot enemy]] never sleeps at all, and his behavior is not unlike that of a normal computer programmer with a big project and an approaching deadline. Still, pulling it for about two years in a row cannot be healthy for a developing brain.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* Peter Tripp, a disc jockey who went for 8 days without sleep in 1959 as part of a wake-a-thon stunt. He suffered ''heavily'' from hallucinations during the experience and its been suggested that he was never quite the same after the experience, which might hint at permanent damage. Regardless, ThisTroper can imagine it must have been a [[IncrediblyLamePun trippy experience]].
** My God, and according to the Wikipedia article, for the last 66 hours of that marathon the observing scientists and doctors gave him drugs ''to help him stay awake!'' Please tell me somebody lost their license for that. A ''sane'' doctor would have given him drugs to ''knock him out'' for his own good.
*** SCIENCE!
* Possibly MichaelJackson; his need for stronger anesthetics just to sleep may have caused his death. Ironically, the powerful drug that he was attempting to use is a poor choice as it only works for minutes at a time.
* As mentioned above, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatal_familial_insomnia Fatal Familial Insomnia]] is a genetic disease which causes the breakdown of the mechanisms in the brain which allow sleep (meaning that falling asleep becomes ''entirely impossible''), resulting in insanity followed shortly by death. It is a dominant and autosomal (meaning it affects men and women equally) trait, a person who possesses the trait has a 50% chance of passing it to their child, and it inevitably affects anyone who possesses the trait. There is currently no treatment or cure. Thankfully, it is incredibly rare, only affecting 50 known families worldwide. To make matters worse, it doesn't manifest until the patient is anywhere from 30 to 60 (average about 50), which gives the future patient time to have children before finding out that oops, they inherited that gene (and in women, childbirth can trigger it).
* Part of what causes meth addicts to be so paranoid is the days or weeks without sleep, due to being on such strong stimulants.
[[/folder]]

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* As mentioned above, Fatal Familial Insomnia is a genetic disease which causes the breakdown of the mechanisms in the brain which allow sleep (meaning that falling asleep becomes ''entirely impossible''), resulting in insanity followed shortly by death. It is a dominant and autosomal (meaning it affects men and women equally) trait, a person who possesses the trait has a 50% chance of passing it to their child, and it inevitably affects anyone who possesses the trait. There is currently no treatment or cure. Thankfully, it is incredibly rare, only affecting 50 known families worldwide.
** How does it still affect anyone? Shouldn't they be dead in the matter of weeks or months from the symptoms manifesting?

* In ''{{Homestuck}}'', it's hinted that someone whose dream self died not only cannot dream, but has trouble finding sleep as well.

* As mentioned above, Fatal Familial Insomnia is a genetic disease which causes the breakdown of the mechanisms in the brain which allow sleep (meaning that falling asleep becomes ''entirely impossible''), resulting in insanity followed shortly by death. It is a dominant and autosomal (meaning it affects men and women equally) trait, a person who possesses the trait has a 50% chance of passing it to their child, and it inevitably affects anyone who possesses the trait. There is currently no treatment or cure. Thankfully, it is incredibly rare, only affecting 50 known families worldwide.

See also BadDreams. Waking up from one may cause a sleepless night; waking up from one many, many, many nights may lead to this in its milder forms, since the character gets ''some'' sleep.

->''"No there ain't no rest for the wicked, Until we close our eyes for good"''
-->-- '''Cage The Elephant''', '''Ain't No Rest for the Wicked'''

->''"I detest sleep. I've got better things to do. Besides, I find it frightening - to awaken and be unsure of everything you remember about life not being just part of a dream. Waking means I've slept, and sleep dissolves what certainty I have left."''
-->-- '''JohnnyTheHomicidalManiac'''

->''"You only get one shot at life. Why waste it on sleep?"''
-->-- '''Gustav Graves''', ''DieAnotherDay''