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9[[quoteright:350:[[ComicBook/TheSandmanUniverse https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/dreaming.png]]]]
10[[caption-width-right:350:Step into the dream.]]
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15
16->''"Over the edge of the purple down,\
17 Where the single lamplight gleams,\
18Know ye the road to the Merciful Town\
19 That is hard by the Sea of Dreams--\
20Where the poor may lay their wrongs away,\
21 And the sick may forget to weep?"''
22-->-- '''Creator/RudyardKipling''', ''[[http://www.poetryloverspage.com/poets/kipling/city_of_sleep.html The City of Sleep]]''
23
24The Dream Land is a MagicalLand or AnotherDimension made up of dreams. It can be [[SharedDream a collective dream]] or the dream of a [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind specific person]]. This sort of setting is generally surreal, nonsensical, and psychologically symbolic. Alternatively, just [[SugarBowl adorable]] randomness. Usually divided into two halves or factions -- [[BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind nightmares]] and [[HappyPlace good dreams]].
25
26Broadly speaking, Dream Lands tend to take one of three forms in fiction:
27
28The first is the personal dream land, which is a dreamer's personal mental world or at least only accessible to a single person. It is distinguished from regular lucid dreams by being visited more or less in the same form every night (or other sleeping cycle), but is still vulnerable to its own form of DreamApocalypse once its dreamer eventually passes away. If it is accessible to anyone else at all, a JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind is often necessary for getting there.
29
30The second is the shared dream land, where every dreamer journeys out to a single shared location in their sleep. This location is also generally stable, retaining essentially the same geography and inhabitants and progressing through history at a generally steady pace -- in most regards, it acts more like a MagicalLand with specific entry requirements than a dream ''per se''. However, it may be (subtly or overtly) influenced and shaped by cultural archetypes and beliefs. Don't expect to be full RealityWarper in here, but a sufficiently large shift in beliefs or interests in the waking world will usually have a matching effect in the Dream Land. This is the oldest kind, and the one most popular in pre-Tolkienian fantasy works.
31
32The third, generally more common in modern media, splits the difference by depicting individual people's dreams as pocket dimensions within a larger, shared dreaming world. Dreams may be moved between through magic or internal means without noticeable transition, or else an external "landscape" may be present -- a starry, misty void of shifting clouds or fog is a popular choice, usually dotted with orbs or lights or doors or some other sort of symbolic object representing the dreamscapes of specific people. Usually, the trick here is that any dreamer has full RealityWarper powers within their own dream, but is limited outside of it. {{Shared Dream}}s are also possible if one can find a way to merge dreamscapes together.
33
34The inhabitants of this place are as many as one can dream of. DreamPeople are everywhere, of course; oftentimes, they will try to escape their birth dreams and either survive out in the Dream Land or find a way into the real world. Monsters and predators also exist here, usually as living nightmares on the prowl for juicy dreaming minds to sink their claws into.
35
36For some reason, adventurers in Dream Land will seldom run across the myriad [[EroticDream sexual dreams]] humanity experiences. Odd that, as you'd think there'd be a huge RedLightDistrict.
37
38In medieval Europe it was commonplace for a writer to situate a story in Dream Land, as a way of apologizing for the fictional quality. As fiction became more respectable, the Dream Land became chiefly used for fantasy works, as it provided a reason why the MagicalLand does not obey ordinary laws of nature. As fantasy became more respectable (for [[SciFiGhetto certain values of "respectable"]]), the Dream Land came to be used only in fictional settings relying on actual dreams. Still, this makes this OlderThanPrint.
39
40This may provide a setting for TalkingInYourDreams.
41
42Not to be confused with Franchise/{{Kirby}}'s home (which is an example of the trope, but is also a physical location) or the Music/JulienK song "Dreamland."
43
44See also DreamPeople, DreamApocalypse, and SharedDream. Not to be confused with a MagicalLand which is accessed through dreaming (or to be more precise, sleeping and having your consciousness transferred). [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant Not to be confused]] with Area51, which has "Dreamland" as one of its many nicknames, or HollywoodDreamtime, though they are sometimes interchangeable.
45----
46!!Examples:
47[[foldercontrol]]
48
49[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
50!!!'''Creators:'''
51* Creator/{{CLAMP}}
52** ''Manga/{{X 1999}}'': All dreams are connected and there are a few specially-gifted individuals (called ''yumemi'', or [[DreamWeaver "dreamseers"]]) who can travel among them and use the Dreamscape to view the future. It's here, in example, that [[spoiler: Kakyou Kuzuki meets his beloved Hokuto Sumeragi, and years later strikes an IntergenerationalFriendship with his fellow ''yumemi'' Kotori.]]
53** ''Manga/XxxHolic'' and ''Manga/TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' depict ''yumemi'' with similar powers, but take it a step further and make the Dreamscape into a dimension of its own, which souls alone can enter and dreamseers can manipulate.
54** ''Literature/{{Yumegari}}'': The ''yumegari'' and ''yumemori'' work together to keep order in people's dreams.
55
56!!!'''Works:'''
57%%* ''Manga/AfterSchoolNightmare'' centers around a ''high school class'' based on this.
58* ''Manga/BlackClover'': Dorothy Unsworth can create a Dream World with her magic, where she can entrap people and create anything she [[ImaginationBasedSuperpower imagines]].
59* ''Manga/CrayonShinChan'' has a WhatIf story where Hiroshi receives a prototype "Dream Pillow" and explores the world of dreams. And since the dream world is far more pleasing than the boring, drab reality, Hiroshi actually chose to remain in Dreamland (where he could be an action hero, a ladies man, a wealthy billionaire, ''anything'' he wants) until Shin-Chan and Misae have to talk him into waking up. [[spoiler:In his attempts to escape, Hiroshi eventually made it to the "Absolute Paradise" level... only to witness a younger Misae giving birth to Shin-Chan and be reminded that his ''real'' family is outside, therefore finally deciding to return]].
60* ''Anime/DigimonAdventure'': The Digital World is made from computer data and the dreams of children.
61* ''Anime/DoraemonNobitasThreeVisionarySwordsmen'' takes place entirely in the dream universe of Yumemiru -- a HighFantasy-themed adventure -- after Nobita asks Doraemon to create a heroic dream for him via the Dream Machine.
62* ''Manga/{{Dreamland}}'' has the protagonists living between RealLife and such a world. Most dreamers are unconscious but those who overcame their phobia during a nightmare become Travellers, are granted a specific power, and can wander freely in Dreamland when they are asleep.
63* ''Manga/DreamEaterMerry'': The titular heroine and most of the antagonists are Dream Demons, all of whom come from here. Usually, the only way to get through from their reality into ours is to possess a human being as a vessel; Merry came all the way through by herself, completely by accident, and can't figure out how to get back. Additionally, our other protagonist Yumeji possesses the ability to see the auras of people haunted by Dream Demons, and enter their dreamworlds while they're awake. He refers to the intervening space between dreams and reality as a "daydream", the concept of which puzzles Merry.
64* ''Anime/EurekaSeven'': The final scene of the movie either takes place in Renton's dream, or the real world merged and connected with Renton's dream.
65* ''Anime/OnegaiMyMelody'' gives us Mari Land, a bright, happy dimension formed by the dreams of all humans on Earth, populated [[RidiculouslyCuteCritter anthropomorphic stuffed animals]] and fields of colorful flowers implied to represent said dreams. All nightmares are banished to a far-off part of Mari Land to prevent the [[VileVillainSaccharineShow Spirit of the Dark Power]] from getting even stronger than he already is, as we learn in the 2nd series ''Kuru Kuru Shuffle!''.
66* ''Manga/RozenMaiden'': Everyone and their doll has a personal MentalWorld for dreams, but on the outside all these are connected through the WorldTree, forming one large navigable space.
67* ''Anime/SailorMoon'': Elysion in the ''Super S'' season. It's actually [[spoiler:what remains of the Golden Kingdom of the Earth, aka the birthplace of Mamoru's past self Prince Endymion. Helios, aka Pegasus, is its Guardian.]]
68* ''Manga/SamuraiHighSchool'': [[UpperClassTwit Kamiyama]] lets his scientists build a machine that he wants to use to control his New Years' dream, because of fortunetelling. However, he gets stuck in his dream for over 20 hours, and it's up to the protagonists to dive into his mind to wake him up. It quickly turns into an AliceAllusion.
69%%* ''Anime/{{Yumeria}}'': Moera.
70[[/folder]]
71
72[[folder:Comic Books]]
73* ''ComicBook/{{Bone}}'': The magic system is based around tapping into the world of the Dreaming which in this case is a SentientCosmicForce that permeates everything and everyone. The author admitted to dipping heavily into the Dreamtime Myths of Australian Aboriginal peoples, with Creator/NeilGaiman's support, as he did the same in ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989''.
74* ''Little Ego'' is an adult-oriented, erotic parody of the classic ''ComicStrip/LittleNemo'' comics by Vittorio Giardino. The main character, called Ego, is a woman seemingly in her middle twenties. As in ''Little Nemo'', each story is about her having a dream, and she wakes up in the last panel. Whereas Little Nemo talked to his mother after waking up, Little Ego thinks what she will tell her psychoanalyst.
75* ''Franchise/MarvelUniverse'': The setting has not one but several Dream Lands. Arguably the most prominent is the Dream Dimension ruled by the ComicBook/DoctorStrange enemy Nightmare, who lives up to his name by inflicting terrorizing nightmares on humans. Lesser known parts of the mental plane include the Realm of Madness, which Spider-Man's enemy Venom was briefly trapped on, and the Mindscape, a dimension that connects the minds of all sentient beings, the home of the 1990s superhero ComicBook/{{Sleepwalker}}.
76* ''ComicBook/TheMaxx'': The setting shifts back and forth between the "real" world and the Outback, a subconscious world resembling a prehistoric Australia populated by fantastic creatures and psychological symbolism. The Outback featured in most of the series is that of protagonist Julie Winters, but everybody supposedly has an Outback, and physical travel between them and the "real" world can be achieved by those with the proper knowhow.
77* ''Mother's Oats'', a psychedelic underground comic, featured crackpot inventor Cecil Quill devising a means for himself and his assistant to visit the dream world. At one point, Quill pokes his head through a portal and is temporarily driven mad, having witnessed a parakeet dream.
78* ''ComicBook/PoetAndersonTheDreamWalker'' has the Dream World, with locations formed by the collective dreaming subconscious of humanity. The comics explore more of the Dream World than [[WesternAnimation/PoetAndersonTheDreamWalker the short film]], which sticks to the hub city of Genesis.
79* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'': The Dreaming.
80** This place ''has'' a huge red-light district, but most stories don't go there. There are also individual characters who are {{Anthropomorphic Personification}}s of particular kinds of nightmares (the Corinthian, Brute, Glob), or wet dreams (Quivering Mary) or even lovely [[HappyPlace dream places]] (Fiddler's Green). The ''Area'' in Peter Milligan's ComicBook/ShadeTheChangingMan, another Vertigo title, was originally called 'The Area of Madness', but as more entities started coming out of it, the definition was expanded to the land of dreams, the land of the dead, the place where all human consciousness gravitates.
81** ''ComicBook/TheMultiversity'' separates the Dreaming into "Dream" and "Nightmare" to fit with the other paired realms in the Sphere of the Gods ({{Heaven}} and {{Hell}}; [[HomeOfTheGods Skyland]] and [[TheUnderworld Underworld]]; and [[Comicbook/NewGods New Genesis and Apokalips]]). Unlike those realms, however, they're not said to be opposed to each other, just different aspects of the same force. Also, since Morrison needs to tie ''everything'' into this cosmology, the LandOfFaerie and the realms of the other Endless are said to be part of Dream, while the Land of Nightshades is part of Nightmare. The Area, surprisingly, doesn't get mentioned, but is probably part of Nightmare as well.
82* ''ComicBook/SoulsearchersAndCompany'': In Issue #3, Dweeb -- a parody of Dream from ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989'' -- hires the team to discover who is interfering with the town's ability to sleep, and therefore dream. To investigate, Baraka (who is a demon and does not need to sleep) has to enter the dreamscape of Bridget, the strongest-willed member of the team.
83[[/folder]]
84
85[[folder:Comic Strips]]
86* ''ComicStrip/{{Candorville}}'': In the future, scientists will prove that this is a real place. It connects to all places and times, allowing for IntangibleTimeTravel.
87%%* ''ComicStrip/LittleNemo'' is about about a boy's adventures in Dream Land.
88[[/folder]]
89
90[[folder:Fan Works]]
91* ''Fanfic/AeonNatumEngel'': The dreamland is devoured like in the source material ''TabletopGame/CthulhuTech'', but, since it's still getting digested, the mages of the Special Services, [[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial which doesn't exist]], certainly didn't perform a special ritual to summon Moloch using special properties of the dreamlands, and most certainly were not killed in process.
92* ''Fanfic/ABalladOfTheDragonAndSheWolf'': Arya can use her warging ability to enter the Dream Lands. The [[AlienSky sky]] is filled with [[AirWhale flying sea creatures]] and [[ZeppelinsFromAnotherWorld strange flying machines]], and animals can talk. Many of the scenes are similar to medieval manuscript art with rabbit bandits, snail jousts, and such.
93* ''Fanfic/TheFlowersDream'': The Breezies' creation myth has it that their world is the vivid, lasting dream of a very special flower, in a little grove "out beyond the beyond". It dreamed up a whole world into being, filled with noble beasts and magical forests and winding rivers — but then the flower woke up, and the dream started to fade. It managed to send itself back to sleep before the dream fully vanished, and it has since been trying to learn how to live permanently within this dream-land so that it will never fade.
94* ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/10286919/1/Recoil Recoil]]'': After dying and ending up [[DeadPersonConversation in Taylor's head]] Lisa is able to create entire landscapes for Taylor to visit while dreaming, or in self-hypnotic trances.
95* ''Fanfic/SharingTheNight'': The Desert of Dreams is a "second night", a mass of stars buried underground, where dreaming minds go, filled with the forms of sapient creatures that continuously form out of stardust and crumble back into formlessness as their physical selves fall asleep and wake. Originally, [[spoiler:twin goddesses had dreamed dreams and nightmares for all sapient creatures in the world; in the present day, people are able to dream independently because their minds are naturally drawn into the otherworld formed from the ruins of the two deities' celestial bodies.]]
96* ''Fanfic/WhenTheColdWindIsACallin'': As a magi, [[WesternAnimation/{{Brave}} Merida]] can enter the Dreamlands, with help from [[WesternAnimation/RiseOfTheGuardians North and the Sandman]].
97* ''Fanfic/WhatInsertion'': From Curtis's perspective, this is what his time spent in Phibrizzo's mind looks like. For unknown reasons, he always wakes up there whenever he falls asleep at night in the real world. He eventually learns to exploit this to research any information he requires for the situations his host ends up in.
98[[/folder]]
99
100[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
101* ''WesternAnimation/{{Dreambuilders}}'': Dreams are soundstages floating in the air, connected by tracks, with the leftover props from a finished dream getting dumped to the ground.
102* ''Literature/{{Paprika}}'': This trope is a primary premise of the work, in which the titular character uses a [[AppliedPhlebotinum portable device]] that allows her to enter the dreams of others, where she serves as a kind of intimate counselor and [[SpiritAdvisor guide]] as they explore the person's subconscious together to confront sources of emotional turmoil. Initially everyone's dream world is separate, until [[spoiler:the technology falls into the wrong hands and a nefarious RealityWarper begins to merge all of the dreams together until they then invade the real world--though the question of how this is done is largely [[HandWave hand waved]] to allow the MagicRealism finale to run wild]].
103* ''WesternAnimation/PoetAndersonTheDreamWalker'' cuts between the Dream World and the Waking World, focusing mainly on the hub city of Genesis.
104* ''WesternAnimation/TwiceUponATime'' involves a conflict between Frivoli, the land of good dreams, and the Murkworks, the land of bad dreams.
105[[/folder]]
106
107[[folder:Film -- Live-Action]]
108* ''Film/{{Dreamscape}}'': Agents for good and evil enter the dream world of the President -- the latter to assassinate him from the inside, and the former to save him.
109* ''Film/{{Inception}}'' is based upon the idea of creating a dream land inside another person's brain and entering it mentally. As such most of the story's events take place there, or even [[OrWasItADream all of them]].
110* ''Franchise/ANightmareOnElmStreet'': Particularly the later films, where the children discover they can use hypnosis to enter the dream world together and give themselves superpowers.
111* ''Film/TheWizardOfOz'': The Land of Oz may be the best-known example of a Dream Land in modern culture. In the movie, Oz is a [[AllJustADream head-injury-induced hallucination]] on the part of the heroine, Dorothy. Note that the Creator/LFrankBaum [[Literature/TheWonderfulWizardOfOz novel on which the movie is based]] represents Oz as a real country.
112[[/folder]]
113
114[[folder:Literature]]
115* ''Literature/AfterHamelin'' is a retelling of the Pied Piper in which a deaf girl is the only one left when the Piper takes away the town's children and sends them to dream land, so she has to fall asleep to find them and bring them back.
116%%* ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'': Both ''Alice's Adventures in Wonderland'' and ''Through the Looking-Glass'' prove to take place in Dreamland.
117* ''Literature/AstralDawn'': Celestial City and the many other worlds created by the high Earth spirits are considered dream worlds. Another astral world belonging to a high spirit god named Hypnos sets a perfect example of this trope. His world is an island with a golden beach called the Land of Nod. The sand from Nod's golden beach serves as sleep sand for the Sandman.
118%%* ''Literature/BooksOfTheArt'': Quiddity is essentially this, [[spoiler:although, in the second book, the question is asked if whether Quddity is our Dream World or if we are its]].
119%%* ''Literature/BraveStory'': The land of Vision.
120* ''Literature/BuryingTheShadow'' involves a realm called the soulscape, which connects all people on a subconscious level. An [[MentalWorld individual's soulscape]] reflects their mental and spiritual health.
121* ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfDorsa'': The Shadowlands turn out to also be this, with {{dream walker}}s entering them from the normal world. While inside, people can also change things through dreaming them ({{dream walker}}s have more control over this). [[spoiler:A person can also be trapped there inside a dream as well.]]
122* ''Literature/ChroniclesOfTheKencyrath'' : The dreams of the Kencyr form a dreamscape made of their individual dreams, from which one can journey to the soulscape (the land of the collective soul images of the Kencyr).
123* A lot of Creator/CharlesDeLint's work, relying as it does on pseudo-Jungian theory being the laws of the universe (which is actually pretty cool) does a lot with this. Most prominently with the character Sophie, who breaks electronics by trying to use them and visits/populates a whole perfectly real dream world in her sleep, although she's in her mid-twenties before she starts to acknowledge the realness. Eventually her boyfriend comes out of [=dreamland=] and lives with her. This is considerable dedication, since the relationship started when he came and gave her reward sex for saving him in the form of a crow, and she blamed his existence on a severe need to get laid when she woke up. [[spoiler: It's all because her mother was the Moon]]. Consider also that this boyfriend, Jack Crow, who is "really" a crow, is now coexisting in Newford with the crow-people, who are Native American spirits (sort of) who can turn into various corbae and mostly rent rooms from a big fat guy called Raven. Totally different origins, 'really' crows, same city. They need to meet in a coffee shop sometime, and possibly already have.
124* ''Literature/CthulhuArmageddon'': John Henry Booth has a number of journeys here in the series (especially ''Literature/TheTreeOfAzathoth''). It is depicted as a place that now has become intrinsically interwoven with the Earth after the Great Old Ones rise. As such physics are more like suggestions and the world is impossibly weird. It still exists as a separate dimension, though.
125* ''Literature/DreambloodDuology'': Ina-Karekh is where people go when dreaming and also doubles as an afterlife.
126* ''Literature/DreamLand'' mixes a fantasy realm which is subject to the rules of constant change.
127* ''Literature/TheDreamMerchant'': Characters can travel to Umaya, which is the Dream Land. Oh, and there ''is'' indeed a RedLightDistrict in Umaya, but kids are not allowed.
128* ''Literature/DreamRovers'': The dreamscape is a misty, surreal place that connects all dreams. Certain people can view or even travel through it.
129* ''Literature/AnElegyForTheStillLiving'': Begins halfway through the first chapter and stays until the end. Environments change in ways tied only the logic of emotions. Characters appear out of nowhere. Buildings talk, giraffes dance and no one bats an eye.
130%%* ''Literature/EndersGame'': The End of the World first appears as the last of several VideogameSettings in the Free Play game, but turns out to have a much more personal meaning for Ender.%%And how is it an example of this?
131%%* ''Literature/TheGreatDivorce'' by Creator/CSLewis takes place in Dreamland.
132* Creator/HPLovecraft did a number of stories set in a fairly surreal and oddly-light-on-the-horror-he's-known-for [=Dreamlands=]. ''Literature/TheDreamQuestOfUnknownKadath'' includes Nyarlathotep, an enigmatic and dangerous being found in his other work, one of the major links between this Dream Cycle and the Cthulhu Mythos.
133** These stories were based on Lord Dunsany's dream-like storytelling. Creator/LordDunsany himself also wrote several stories about the world of dreams, most notably 'Idle Days on the Yann' and its sequels.
134** Lovecraft's [[http://www.lapetiteclaudine.com/archives/011196.html Commonplace Book]] includes an unused idea for a story about a man whose dreams coalesce into a "half-mad world of quasi-material substance in another dimension".
135* ''Literature/TheIronFey'': ''Literature/TheIronKnight'': The River of Dreams has interesting flotsam and jetsam. When Puck is fishing in it, he catches a yellow boot, a turtle that asks for a pocket watch, a catfish that pleads IHaveAFamily, and an annoyed dragon. Given, however, that Nevernever is shaped by human thoughts, it's less of a jolt for them.
136* ''Literature/MalazanBookOfTheFallen'': The Sleeping Goddess Burn is said to dream reality, so, technically speaking, all of reality in the world where the books take place, is this.
137* ''Literature/MirrorDuet'' is primarily set in the world of dreams where people from Earth appear when they sleep, seeking their ultimate dream. Each kingdom in this world caters to different dreamer tastes: the main character controls a kingdom which specialises in storms.
138* ''Literature/TheNeverendingStory'': Fantastica is made up of humanity's stories and creativity -- and often takes on a surreal, dreamlike nature. The world rests on a foundation of forgotten dreams, which are mined by Yor the blind miner.
139* ''Literature/ANightInTheLonesomeOctober'': One chapter has the narrator and his friend sucked into Lovecraft's Dreamland.
140* ''Literature/OnFairyStories'': Creator/JRRTolkien criticizes the use of this trope for fairy tales -- at best, it makes a bad frame on an otherwise good work.
141* ''Literature/OnlyForward'' by Creator/MichaelMarshallSmith uses Jeamland [sic] as a major plot point/setting. The protagonist is a private eye, specialising in clients whose psyches are being poisoned by the denizens of Jeamland.
142* ''Literature/OnlyYouCanSaveMankind'': On twelve-year-old Johnny's computer screen, the titular game, an outer space shoot'em-up, flashes perplexing messages of surrender. Johnny then has vivid dreams of an ultra-realistic version of the game's starship cockpit, from which he tries to aid the [[LizardFolk ScreeWee]] in their withdrawal to "[[GameOver the border]]."
143* ''Literature/{{Pale}}'': It's said that the Paths used to be called the Dreamworld, before magical Practioners learned more about the nature of the realm. They're now considered the "edge of reality", where each Path is a miniature world unto itself, with its own laws of reality.
144* ''Literature/PawnsDream'': For a group of magic users the dream world is very real (If you die there you can't sleep here, so you'll die pretty quickly of exhaustion), and even weirder; the "real" world is just the dream world's dream world.
145* ''Literature/SideBySideDreamers'': The Nightland is made up of the collective unconscious of humanity as they sleep.
146* ''Literature/SolomonsStone'' takes place in a world populated by figures from daydreams.
147* ''Literature/TheTygrineCat'': The borderlands of Fiåney, the SpiritWorld, are made of all cats' collective dreams.
148* ''Literature/{{Unimaa}}'': The titular location is one of these; it's implied that there are hundreds, if not thousands, more Dream Lands of a similar nature given the fact that, in order to access it, one must picture a certain thing in their head when they sleep.
149* ''Literature/TheVoyageOfTheDawnTreader'': Lord Rhoop is rescued from an island where dreams come true -- which seems great to the crew, until Rhoop clarifies that he doesn't mean daydreams. There is a moment where everyone recalls the worst nightmare they ever had, and shortly thereafter they turn around the ship and tear out of there as fast as they can.
150* ''Literature/WarOfTheDreaming'': Everness Mansion guards the gates of dreamland. If it is destroyed, humanity will shortly go insane.
151* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': ''Tel'aran'rhiod'' (translated "World of Dreams" from {{Fictionary}}) is a shared dream of everyone from every possible world that mirrors real-world locations. Ordinary people sometimes dream themselves into it, dangerously, as YourMindMakesItReal. In addition, if a Dream Walker doesn't watch her thoughts, and they stray onto sexual topics, odd things can happen, including their clothes shifting suitably.
152** Tel'aran'rhiod is characterised by ephemerality, with the positions of things like doors and books changing every time one looks. It's possible for a dreamer to assert their will and imagination onto their surrounding, to the point of changing it completely, but they cannot alter their own bodies, while anything they create can injure them, [[YourMindMakesItReal affecting their real selves]]; thus combat between skilled dreamwalkers takes the form of a reality-warping battle of wills.
153** Wolves have a natural connection to Tel'aran'rhiod, as do the handful of "wolf brothers/sisters" (people who have some form of supernatural link with wolves). Because of these links, they have an innate talent for manipulating the dream world that can rival that of a dreamwalker.
154[[/folder]]
155
156[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
157* ''Series/BehindHerEyes'': Louise suffers from night terrors that take place in a frightening dream world. When Adele teaches her lucid dreaming techniques, her dream world becomes much more pleasant.
158* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E7AmysChoice "Amy's Choice"]], the mysterious Dream Lord says that one of the two realities the Doctor, Amy and Rory are being flipped between is a dream, and they have to figure out which. [[spoiler:Surprise! They're ''both'' dreams.]]
159* ''Series/FraggleRock'': The Fraggles can join each other's dreams by placing their heads in contact and [[MagicalIncantation reciting the phrase]] "dream a dream with me, dream a dream and see" when going to sleep. Although normally just a form of benign dream sharing, it is possible to become trapped in another character's Dreamland.
160* ''Series/HenryDanger'': In "Dream Busters" Henry is stuck in a dream state and Charlotte has to get him out of it. Henry's dreams are crazy, but Henry doesn't realize he is in a dream, just that he is having the strangest day.
161* ''Series/{{Lexx}}'' had the Dream Zone, "the time and space from where our consciousness derives." Certain aliens (and at least one human culture) could send their souls there after death, allowing them to visit the living in their dreams.
162* ''Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus'' subverts this by having a man facing a firing squad being awoken in his bed by his mother. Upon exclaiming "It was only a dream!" his mother tells him that, no, this is the dream, and he really is back in front of the firing squad.
163* ''Series/{{Oktober}}'' is about a powerful pharmaceutical company marketing a drug which has the side-effect of linking people in the 'mass unconsciousness'.
164* ''Series/TheSandman2022'': As in the original comic book series, the Dreaming is this.
165* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'': The episode "[[Recap/SupernaturalS03E10DreamALittleDreamOfMe Dream a Little Dream of Me]]" features African Dream Root, which allows the villain of the week to drink it to enter another person's dream and even kill them if he so desires. Sam and Dean pursue the villain in Bobby's dream, where they learn of Bobby's tragic past. Later, Sam enters Dean's dream where he defeats the villain of the week while Dean confronts his EvilTwin.
166[[/folder]]
167
168[[folder:Manhua]]
169* ''Manhua/OldMasterQ'': Shows up in several strips, usually as a gag or a ShaggyDogStory where things go right for the titular ButtMonkey character, only for him to wake up in the last second (such as after winning a lottery). Lampshaded in one story where Master Q randomly finds a duffel bag bursting with cash, at which point he comments, "I must be dreaming!" before [[DreamRealityCheck biting his hand to see if it's a dream]]... cue the next panel depicting a pissed off Master Q waking up on his bed.
170[[/folder]]
171
172[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]
173* In the Jewish mystical system, the Kabballah, ''Yesod'' is the sphere of being governed by the Moon, and is the plane of existence immediately above the material ''Malkuth'' plane of Earth which is where we abide. Yesod is the plane of insubstantiality, deception, wild imaginings and distracting visions - this is where dreams and nightmares happen when the spirit leaves the body during deep sleep. The task for the explorer is to become aware this is the plane of illusion, and to move beyond it to the higher planes, where genuine insight and wisdom may be gleaned from visions (which we also bring back as dreams, but of a more concrete, substantial and internally coherent sort).
174* "Dreamtime" is a recurring motif in Australian Aboriginal folklore. It's sort of a world that existed before our own, but also exists "everywhen", and it's where/when various ancestral spirits shaped our world.
175[[/folder]]
176
177[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
178* ''TabletopGame/ArkhamHorror'', being Franchise/CthulhuMythos TheBoardGame, features the [=Dreamlands=] mentioned above as an Other World location to be explored. Like its source material it's a surprisingly "gentle" location compared to, say the Plateau of Leng.
179* ''TabletopGame/BlissStage'': The alien invaders hail from the dream realm. The players have to go into a sleep-like state to enter the dream realm to combat the aliens with their [=ANIMa=].
180* ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheDreaming'': The Dreaming is a Dream Land created and continuously shaped by the collective imagination and dreams of humanity, the product of the collective unconscious, but it doesn't appear to be a place where dreams play out. That apparently falls to the Dream Zone of ''TabletopGame/WerewolfTheApocalypse'', which contains both individual dream realms and archetypal dream realms, covering the fundamental concepts dreams encompass.
181* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'':
182** An optional plane in the core cosmology is the Region of Dreams, which intelligent creatures routinely visit every time they fall asleep. Dreamers create their own dreamscapes that fade away when they wake up, though the rare lucid dreamers (or spellcasters with the right magic) can exert control over their dreamscapes, or travel to other creatures' dreams. The plane is usually harmless, as "dying" in a dream world only results in a CatapultNightmare, but anyone who travels bodily to the plane is in real danger from the hazards of the subconscious.
183** ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'' has Dal Quor, filled with nightmarish [[PsychicPowers psionic]] creatures called quori. Peoples' minds go there when they dream, and the [[PathOfInspiration Dreaming Dark]] are quori that learned to do this in reverse. The kalashtar are the descendants of humans who merged with [[MySpeciesDothProtestTooMuch rebel quori]] long ago to escape the Dreaming Dark. It used to be possible to get there physically, but an ancient race of giants managed to force the dimensions apart with magic. In the aftermath, they descended into savagery.
184** ''TabletopGame/{{Planescape}}'': The Wall of Color between the Deep and Border Ethereal is also the Veil of Sleep. Walking ''into'' the thing that resembles an infinite soap bubble wall instead of ''through'' it is the only way to visit bodily a dreamscape of whatever world's border is beyond this part of curtain. Not that it's easy, of course.
185** ''TabletopGame/{{Ravenloft}}'' has the Nightmare Lands, where reality is mixed with dream stuff so that even the terrain is malleable and masters of nightmares keep little dreamscape cells for the victims they drive nuts with private nightly horror shows.
186* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'': The Ethereal plane, also known as the Marches, is a world of shifting fog where the dreams of humans and animals manifest as pocket realities contained within drifting shapes such as orbs, mirrors or arches. Angels of Dreams and Demons of Nightmares periodically watch over the sleepers, while the native ethereal spirits are actually dream elements or imaginary figures come to life. [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve The more belief or worship these spirits gather, the more powerful they can become]], and some of them actually reached the status of pagan gods back in the day. While most dreams are fragile things, which evaporate soon after their dreamer wakes, others manage to endure, merging with one another or becoming inhabited by dream-spirits to become permanent fixtures of the Marches. Some have reached immense size and age, becoming strongholds of ancient dream spirits such as Avalon and Olympus. Another, Arachnidae, is a permanent dreamworld that houses the dreams of every spider in reality. The Marches are broadly divided between the Vale of Dreams, where the majority of all dreamscapes are at any given time and where the forces of Dreams and Nightmares wage endless war, and the Far Marches, the lawless depths of humanity's collective subconscious where most ethereal spirit courts hide out. There isn't much stable geography beyond that, although Blandine and Beleth's Towers are always just visible, looming at the edges of Heaven and Hell.
187* ''TabletopGame/NewWorldOfDarkness'':
188** ''TabletopGame/BeastThePrimordial'' reveals the existence of another aspect of the Astral Dreams in-between the Temenos and the Anima Mundi, known as the Primordial Dream, which is home to humanity's collective fears. The titular Beasts are people whose soul has been replaced with living Nightmares native of the Primordial Dream, known as Horrors. Each Horror has its own [[EldritchLocation Lair]] inside this realm, which Beasts can travel to by opening Primordial Pathways.
189** ''TabletopGame/ChangelingTheLost'' has its own dream network, known as the Skein. WordOfGod says both the Oneiros and the Skein are the same thing, but the differing structure relies on [[ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve the mindsets of the supernatural types]]. To the mages, the dreamscape appears an endless tapestry of human thought, whereas to the changelings, it appears a labyrinthine structure of ornate chambers decorated with the dream stuff of a billion sleepers.
190** ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'' contains the Astral Realms, which have three distinct levels. The Oneiros is each individual's personal MentalWorld, and thus the only one not fitting this trope. The Temenos is the collective MentalWorld of humanity, containing the sum total of all human knowledge, belief, and experience, albeit shrouded in metaphor, symbolism and subjectivity. Each concept has its own realm, and they are either ruled over by gods (all gods ever believed in exist in the Temenos) or [[AnthropomorphicPersonification archetypes]]. Travel is made by locating aspects in one realm and moving to another connected to it by word association. It is possible for the realms of ideologies to enforce belief in their ideology upon visitors. Even deeper is the Anima Mundi (also called the Dreamtime), which is essentially the MentalWorld of the Earth itself. Its entirely inhuman perspective can wash away any unprotected human mind that tries to pass through it. It contains the Earth's perspective on humanity (represented as a vast swath of destruction), nature (which is filled with animal and elemental archetypes; notably, the animal archetypes are devoid of AnimalMotifs) and the wider universe (represented as an incomprehensibly large void filled with bizarre objects and beings). All Astral Realms operate on [[YearInsideHourOutside subjective time]]. The length of real time one spends in the Astral Realms largely depends on the degree to which you interact with them (so, for example, if you merely pass through a desert, it might ''feel'' like hours, but in real time, it will take about as long as it takes to ''say'' "I pass through the desert").
191** ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'', a fan supplement, has the Dreamlands. This one, however, isn't a natural place, but an artificial creation from the [[BigBad Darkness]]' minions, and was used centuries ago as a LotusEaterMachine to [[SealedGoodInACan trap the majority of the titular Princesses' souls]], thus preventing them from [[BornAgainImmortality reincarnating]]. Eventually the place evolved into its own thing, and the [[BigGood Radiant Queens]] managed to overthrow its guardians, claiming the Dreamlands as their domain. Nowadays, Princesses can enter the Dreamlands during their sleep and travel safely inside it (with the same YearInsideHourOutside rules than the Astral Realm), but sticking there for too long might result in the remains of the Lotus Eater Machine taking effect and gradually altering their memories.
192* ''TabletopGame/{{Pathfinder}}'': The Ethereal Plane, a vast sea of swirling mist that extends over the inner planes, is very reactive to psychic and emotional forces. When mortals dream, their minds go out into the Ethereal, shaping its mists into dreamscapes that degreade back into nothingess when they wake. Figures spawned in dreams sometimes survive this to escape into the Ethereal as free-roaming animate dreams, which must then share their home with a variety of psychic predators such as nightmare dragons and night hags. Dreamscapes cluster together in the plane's depths, and surround the Dimension of Dreams, also known as the Dreamlands, a permanent dimension formed from countless accreted dreamscapes, the dreams of powerful beings, and subconscious desires and archetypes resonating into the Ethereal Plane. It is home to entire nations and species of bizarre creatures, which sometimes pass physically into the material world. Further still beyond the Dreamlands is the Plateau of Leng, a dimension of living nightmares shaped by the dreams of ancient and alien gods.
193* ''TabletopGame/ShatteredDreams'' is all about Dreamland adventures and battling its monsters that prey on dreamers.
194* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'': The [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace Immaterium (or Warp)]] is an alternate universe comprised of psychic energy and shaped by the emotions and thoughts of sentient lifeforms. The setting being what it is, the Warp is a nightmarish realm of daemons where even benign emotions like courage, hope, perseverance and love fuel the Chaos Gods of slaughter, scheming, plague and excess.
195[[/folder]]
196
197[[folder:Theatre]]
198* Franco Dragone's Las Vegas spectacle ''Le Reve'' ("The Dream") takes place in a woman's dream. There's plenty of sexuality and surrealism to go around. Dragone used to work for Creator/CirqueDuSoleil, and his last show for them, ''La Nouba'', is set in an attic where humanity's fairy tale dreams and nightmares coexist. (In part because it was commissioned for Walt Disney World, it's not nearly as suggestive as the latter show.)
199[[/folder]]
200
201[[folder:Video Games]]
202* ''VideoGame/AmericanMcGeesAlice'' takes place in Wonderland, Alice's own dream world. It is [[DarkerAndEdgier very different]] from the Wonderland we all know.
203* ''VideoGame/{{Bloodborne}}'' has the real...ish world where Yharnam is located and the Hunter's Dream, a safe PocketDimension created from the dreams of [[spoiler:the Moon Presence, an EldritchAbomination exterminating its fellow horrors and their spawn by means of its pet human Hunters]]. Hunters are humans injected with Old Blood, giving them, among other things, an ability to "awaken" from Yharnam to the Hunter's Dream and back. Later in the game, you also visit another dream world, the Nightmare of Mensis, as well as the Hunter's Nightmare in the DLC, suggesting that there are innumerable worlds created from the dreams of powerful beings, or even that Yharnam itself is just such a dream.
204* ''VideoGame/{{Cocoron}}'' is set in a Dream World created by Tapir. [[spoiler:He's actually a {{Baku}} who wants to devour the dream world]].
205* ''VideoGame/CommanderKeen'': ''Keen Dreams'', episode 3.5, takes places entirely inside a dream world.
206* ''VideoGame/CultistSimulator'': The various [[EldritchAbomination gods and monsters]] come from a realm called the Mansus and the Woods, which are named such because they are perceived by mortals as a great mansion with deep woods surrounding it. Mortals can only reach the Mansus by dreaming, but with magic they can bring creatures, knowledge, and items from the Mansus to the waking world.
207* ''VideoGame/DareToDream'' takes place entirely in the mind of the player's character.
208* ''Franchise/DragonAge'' gradually subverts this trope in form of the Fade, a SpiritWorld where disembodied spirits reside and where the consciousness of every species except dwarves go when asleep. (Dwarves live near [[AppliedPhlebotinum lyrium]], which has effects on magical abilities and so on. Unruly or dangerous mages are forcibly branded with lyrium, turning them into the Tranquil, which is essentially a magical lobotomy.) [[AlienGeometries It's very...odd.]] Mages are the only people who can consciously navigate it without having to check on whether they're dreaming or not, though this puts them in danger of being possessed by the many demons that wander the Fade. The subversion sets in as soon as ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOriginsAwakening'', which begins dismantling the laws of the setting by having a dwarf party member potentially joining the PC on a dream trip to the Fade (which he also acknowledges as normally impossible). By the time of ''VideoGame/DragonAgeInquisition'', we have [[spoiler:the Inquisitor entering and leaving the Fade ''in the flesh'' twice (once with an entire party in tow, potentially including a dwarf again)]], suggesting that the Fade is not as dreamlike as it seems, and then the ''Trespasser'' DLC drops the final bomb by revealing that [[spoiler:the Fade is actually a former part of Thedas (the "waking world"), which was cut off from it thousands of years ago by a mage with near-divine powers to seal away the old Elven gods, along with most of the magic and the miracles of the old world]].
209* ''VideoGame/{{Dreamkiller}}'': Each and every stage is a Dream World, where your protagonist -- a psychiatrist who can enter people's minds -- infiltrates the nightmares of her clients and battle monsters to purge their phobias forever.
210* ''VideoGame/DragonQuestVI'' is composed of two worlds: the Dream World and the Real World.
211* ''VideoGame/DreamfallTheLongestJourney'': Powerful Dreamers can create entire worlds lodged between Stark and Arcadia, wherein they are the {{Domain Holder}}s, such as Faith's Winter. ''VideoGame/DreamfallChapters'' then reveals that the entire universe of ''VideoGame/TheLongestJourney'' is a dream of the primordial being known as Lux the First Dreamer, [[spoiler:whose power Zoë, another powerful Dreamer, briefly borrows during the finale of ''Chapters'' to deal with the Prophet's conspiracy]].
212* ''VideoGame/{{DreamWeb}}'' the titular area is an interesting example, as it subconsciously influences humans in their sleep and thus shapes the future of mankind. Then, someone tries to pervert it for evil purposes...
213* ''VideoGame/EyeDivineCybermancy'': This is used to justify respawning. If you win a level, it's canon, but the losing message states that it was a PropheticDream about a fatal screwup.
214* ''VideoGame/TheFairlyOddparentsShadowShowdown'' has [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin "Dad's Dream".]] Three guesses on where the level takes place.
215* ''VideoGame/FallenLondon'': Known as Parabola, and usually resembling something like a HungryJungle most of the time (littered with upright, frameless mirrors embedded into the ground if you're in the Mirror-Marches side of it), it can be accessed through [[FantasticDrug Prisoner's Honey]], [[MagicMirror mirrors (if you're skilled enough)]], and [[BreadEggsMilkSquick having recurring nightmares so horrendous and vivid you kinda stumble into it by accident]]. It's a fairly dangerous place to be in outside certain circumstances, but some make a killing exploring it, [[spoiler:and making deals with its rulers, the Fingerkings]]. Late in the game, you can even establish a Base Camp in there for various purposes... including something as simple as dealing with your Nightmares by letting them kill themselves against your defenses while you take a recursive nap in the middle.
216* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
217** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'''s dream sequence in which Cyan puts his family's death behind him.
218** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': As it turns out, [[spoiler:The city that the main character Tidus is from is merely a simulated, thought-manifested recreation of a long gone civilisation, otherwise known as "the dream of the fayth". As such, when the fayth awaken, it disappears.]]
219** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyTacticsAdvance'''s Ivalice is a fantasy world created from the protagonists' wishes and dreams. Marche makes it his mission to get them back home in an AntiEscapismAesop.
220* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemHeroes'': This is the setting of Book IV, whose main source of conflict is DreamsVsNightmares.
221* ''VideoGame/GarfieldsNightmare'': While asleep, Garfield is trapped into a land filled with enemies and hazards, hence the game's title. He can only wake up after he goes through it in full.
222* ''VideoGame/GodOfWarRagnarok'': Utangard is a dreamscape of shifting yellow sands made out the dreams of Ymir, the primordial Giant, as that was the only aspect of his the Aesir didn't control. Giants can access Utangard by dreaming and use it to hide secrets from Asgard and instantly teleport across the realms, but the sands from the dreamscape can also become embodiements of the nightmares of the visitor.
223* ''VideoGame/GreyAnAlienDream'' has the titular character traversing multiple dream worlds in the hopes of waking up.
224* ''VideoGame/GreyArea2023'': The first chapter is Hailey having a dream. In this dream, her mom gives a JustifiedTutorial, and her plush Bunny can talk. She's also DreamingOfThingsToCome, as some elements of the dream come back a bit later.
225* There's one such stage near the end of ''VideoGame/{{Hoa}}'', after the titular character lose consciousness and went through the first few levels of the game, right to the preceding factory stage, all in his dreams. It's DeliberatelyMonochrome to serve as a jarring contrast to the rest of the game's colourful environment.
226* ''VideoGame/{{Jumper}} Two'': Sector 4 takes place in Ogmo's dream, which he fell into ''while falling''.
227* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVII'': There is a location called Dreamland. It is basically a cloudy area that consists of a broken clock, giant skull, cactus, and a column. A sea and island are nearby. Dreamland can only be accessed by using dream silk while falling asleep.
228* ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'': You go through a number of these. On something of a different note, they're made from the dreams of worlds that have yet to fully awaken following their restoration at the end of the first game. This allows the game to show events in the series' past (King Mickey's adventures as both Yen Sid's apprentice and a musketeer) and revisit the Pinocchio storyline. Sora is confused when Jiminy Cricket doesn't recognize him, then remembers this is that world's dream of Jiminy.
229* ''Franchise/{{Kirby}}'': Dream Land is a variation. It is home of the Star Rod, which powers a fountain that makes the residents dream. [[VideoGame/KirbysAdventure A nightmare]] once tried to enter the world through the fountain so the Star Rod was removed to keep him away, at the price of [[CannotDream no one being able to dream]]. [[spoiler:The postgame of ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand'' has a more traditional variant: Forgo Dreams, an archipelago made of psychic energy created by [[BigBad Fecto Forgo]].]]
230* ''VideoGame/{{Klonoa}}'' takes place in these. A different world every game, thus earning the main character the moniker of "Dream Traveller".
231* ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'' -- The entire world of Fa'Diel is believed to be a Dream Land by the Storyteller and the Sproutlings, but the universe itself also has a dream world that the player character can visit on several occasions.
232* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening'': Koholint Island is a world ''created'' by a dream of the Wind Fish, is endagered by its sapient nightmares, and disappears when he wakes up.
233* ''VideoGame/LittleBigPlanet'' is made from the creative energies of people that are dreaming.
234* ''VideoGame/LSDDreamEmulator'', predictably, takes place within the player character's dreams.
235* ''VideoGame/{{Mother}}'' and its sequel ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' have Magicant.
236* ''VideoGame/NightsIntoDreams'': Nightopia is a dream world the reflects the heart of its Visitors, with the landscape and other properties changing to accommodate them.
237* ''VideoGame/{{Omori}}'': Half of the game takes place in Headspace, the dream world in which Omori goes to with his friends to solve people's problems. [[spoiler:The other half takes place in the real world, and is centered around Sunny (whom Omori represents a younger version of) struggling with his daily life in the last days before moving to another town.]]
238* ''VideoGame/{{Pankapu}}'' is set in the world of Omnia. The world is being threatening by beings from the nightmare world called the Hya'Nagi.
239* ''VideoGame/PokemonBlackAndWhite'' had an added online game feature called the "Dream World", in which asleep Pokémon explore their dreams. It was similar in gameplay to the Pokéwalker, but without the added benefit of getting kids to go play outside. This feature was actually two generations in the making from ''VideoGame/PokemonRubyAndSapphire'': In the Devon Corporation building in Rustboro City, there is a scientist who mentions that "I'm attempting a device that lets you see into the dreams of Pokemon!! But it's not going well..." [[FridgeBrilliance Two generations later, you get to do just this.]] What's odd about this Dream World is that asleep Pokémon can befriend "Dream Pokémon", and then bring them back into the real world to be part of their trainer's collection. They even have rare alternate special abilities that a real world version of the Pokémon would never be able to obtain otherwise.
240* ''VideoGame/{{Psychonauts}}'': The [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind mental worlds]] are a bit like this, since a few kids mention that they've been having dreams about things that appear in peoples' heads.
241* ''VideoGame/{{Psychosomnium}}'' is set in Jimmy's dream, explaining the short, disjointed "plot" and the GainaxEnding.
242%%* ''VideoGame/RadiaSenkiReimeihen'' has [[spoiler:Lemuria, the setting of the game]].
243* ''VideoGame/RaymanOrigins'': The entire world was created by the Bubble Dreamer, a godlike entity that does nothing but sleep. His nightmares are whats causing dangerous things to happen.
244%%* ''VideoGame/{{Rift}}'' has the Plane of Water.
245%%* ''VideoGame/{{Ristar}}'': A stage takes place in Dream Land.
246%%* ''Franchise/SilentHill'' is implied to be this in some cases.
247* ''VideoGame/TheSimpsons'': In the arcade game, the family ends up inside Homer's dream, and has to fight a giant bowling ball.%%This is the entire premise of another Simpsons' game: ''Bart's Nightmare''.
248* ''VideoGame/SonicShuffle'': Maginaryworld is made of dreams that can only be accessed while dreaming. The dreams themselves come from different dimensions, such as Sonic's world.
249* ''VideoGame/SkylandersTrapTeam'': Telescope Towers is.... Well, a observatory warped by [[DreamStealer Dreamcatcher]] into a bizarre and girly dreamscape. Also, the nightmare realm world in the 3DS version of Trap Team is this, obviously.
250* ''VideoGame/SpyroTheDragon1998'' has the Dream Weavers world, which is home to a race of dragons that keep dreams pleasant and nightmares in check. The world itself is quite nonsensical, featuring castles floating in the sky along with a variety of bizarre enemies.
251* ''Franchise/SuperMarioBros'':
252** ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros2'': While the ingame plot leaves it ambiguous whether Subcon is an actual place accessed by dream or if it's AllJustADream in the more mundane sense, the [[AllThereInTheManual manual]] and [[NoExportForYou Japan only]] Satellaview sequel reveal Subcon to be an actual place.
253** ''VideoGame/MarioParty5'': The Dream Depot serves as the main setting of the game. All the boards are formed from people's dreams.
254** ''VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiDreamTeam'': The Dream World is another actual place, accessed through Luigi falling asleep on magic pillows that are the petrified bodies of the native Pi'llos. While the [[DualWorldGameplay exact geography of the Dream World section visited depends on where Luigi falls asleep]], it's still depicted as existing independently of the green guy's mind.
255* ''VideoGame/TalesOfMajEyal'': Invoked. The Solipist class operates under the assumption that Maj'Eyal is the dream of a god, and that mortals contribute to this shared dream in some way. Solipists, being supposedly aware that reality is AllJustADream (albeit the dream of a deity) can manipulate it by using dream logic "IRL."
256* ''VideoGame/Tak2TheStaffOfDreams'' is set between a dream world and real life. Tak meets the Dream Juju, who tries to help him rescue a princess from a monster, [[spoiler:only that Tlaloc is the Dream Juju and the princess is Pins and Needles]].
257* ''Franchise/TouhouProject'' introduced a dream world in passing in [[VideoGame/TouhouKanjudenLegacyOfLunaticKingdom Legacy of Lunatic Kingdom]], as a dimension through which the Lunarians had sent their invading army, and through which the heroine travels to the Lunar Capital, meeting [[DreamWalker Doremy Sweet]]. The Dream World would later get expounded on in the next game, [[VideoGame/TouhouHyouibanaAntinomyOfCommonFlowers Antinomy of Common Flowers]], which reveals Doremy as the [[DreamWeaver Ruler of the Dream World]], as the [[PowersViaPossession Perfect Possession]] shenanigans of the main cast keep ejecting the [[LivingDream dream-selves of the cast into the real world]], where they run around, [[ShadowArchetype voicing their real-selves discontent]] and [[EnemyWithout picking fights]], and a beleaguered Doremy is trying to round all them up. Sumireko's story, which focuses on her being trapped in the Dream World, is continued in [[VideoGame/HifuuNightmareDiaryVioletDetector Violet Detector]].
258%%* ''VideoGame/{{Ultima}}'' : A place known as the Dream Realm first appears in ''VideoGame/UltimaWorldsOfAdventure2MartianDreams'' then appears again in ''VideoGame/UltimaUnderworld II: Labyrinth of Worlds'' and ''VideoGame/UltimaVIIPartII: Serpent Isle''.%%So what's it like?
259* ''VideoGame/WardenMelodyOfTheUndergrowth'': [[BigGood Nyona]] resides in the dream world, and is bound in chains that [[PlayerCharacter Tavian]] needs to free her from.
260* ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'': The UMN, which is similar the the Warhammer example as is it the source of FasterThanLightTravel & is also their version of the internet.
261* ''VideoGame/YumeNikki'' (lit. ''Dream Journal'') is based on a HikikoMori girl who spends all her time sleeping then recording her dreams. The game features a vast, sprawling world of surreal dreamscapes, full of very interesting sights. The [[WideOpenSandbox only real objective]] is to collect "Effects," which let you do things in your dreams like change your hair, ride a bike, or transform into weird objects. Get it [[http://www.indiegames.com/blog/2008/04/freeware_game_pick_yume_nikki.html here.]] [[spoiler:Then hide under the bed. This girl has ''issues''.]]
262[[/folder]]
263
264[[folder:Visual Novels]]
265* ''VideoGame/AITheSomniumFiles'': A large part of the gameplay is to explore these, called Somnium in-universe, usually to achieve some goal within the dream world itself, i.e act out memories, save a character within the world, etc. The Somnium contains multiple 'Mental Locks', and the only way to get rid of these is to solve puzzles. Unfortunately, they're ''actually'' as bizarre as you might expect dream puzzles to be, as they are filled with MoonLogic. Often, solving them changes the dream world itself. And oh, yeah, you have to get out within six minutes.
266* ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}'': Kagetsu Tohya. The story is only focused around Shiki and only appears to encompass the town he lives in, plus the next one over. [[spoiler:However, it's revealed that actually, all the people he meets are indeed 'real' in a sense. They can give him information he needs to figure out what's going on and will also realize the oddness of the repeating days in their own ways.]] The dream he's in also mixes all the different Tsukihime continuities heavily, though Shiki does not notice.
267* ''VisualNovel/War13thDay'': [[spoiler:You come to realize that you and two other narrators are trapped in a dream. However, the ending reveals there's much, much more to it than that...]]
268[[/folder]]
269
270[[folder:Webcomics]]
271* ''Webcomic/CarawayTalesOfLucidity'' opens inside Cynthia's dreamscape.
272* ''Webcomic/CityOfSomnus'': Majestan has an entire parallel dream world, the upkeep of which is the responsibility of the royal family and hosts of lower-ranked keepers. It's somewhat bureaucratized (you can work and spend money there, and TalkingInYourDreams is an everyday thing), but colorful and pleasant.
273* ''Webcomic/TheDreamlandChronicles'' is about a [=Dreamland=] all children go to when they sleep. Usually, they outgrow it after a few years, and can no longer access it as adults.
274* ''Webcomic/TheDreamcatchersMasquerade'' takes place in a dream world of sorts where "dreams" grow on trees and nightmare creatures roam the night.
275* ''Webcomic/{{Dreamkeepers}}'': The world is somehow connected to the dreams of humanity, and its' sapient inhabitants or "Dreamkeepers" are each connected to a living human and responsible for guarding their dreams from corruption by the Nightmares. However, the Nightmares haven't been seen in centuries and the average dreamkeeper is as aware of their human as humans are of their dreamkeepers. Making the DreamLand setting more background material than anything else.
276* ''Webcomic/TheDreamer'' is an interesting play on this, as Bea's dreams don't take place in anywhere magical; [[DreamingOfTimesGoneBy they take place]] in UsefulNotes/TheAmericanRevolution!
277* ''Webcomic/DresdenCodak'' does this twice. Sorta. The first time [[http://www.dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_027.htm it took place in a graveyard of civilization.]] The second time, it took place [[http://www.dresdencodak.com/cartoons/dc_029.htm in an individual's subconscious.]]
278* ''Webcomic/EndOfInfinity'': Phantasmagoria is the world that dreamers go to when they're asleep. By taking off their Placidus mask, they can become Lucid Dreamers and interact directly with the Phantasmagorians, permanent residents of the dream world. Otherwise, they are Placid Dreamers, who experience Phantasmagoria as an ordinary dream.
279* ''Webcomic/LuminousAges'' is based in a universe which started as a dream instead of a bang.
280** Of course, prior to [[CerebusSyndrome the Hob storyline]], most of the comic had this feel to it, even if it wasn't technically taking place in a dream or a comparable plane of existence.
281* ''Webcomic/MSPaintAdventures''
282** ''Webcomic/ProblemSleuth'' has the imaginary universe which can be accessed by playing make-believe in [[BlanketFort a fort]] or by climbing through [[CoolGate fake windows]]. It is later revealed that ''Webcomic/{{Jailbreak}}'' and ''Webcomic/BardQuest'' also take place there.
283** ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'':
284*** The story seems to use this setting early on, with Jade dreaming that she lives in a beautiful tower on a golden moon. It doesn't take long until it's established that said dream lands, Prospit and Derse, are just another part of the physical plane in which Sburb takes place, primarily accessed in the players' sleep through their [[LivingDream dream selves]].
285*** A straighter example would be the Dream Bubbles, which float through the Outer Ring and are "glubbed" into existence by the [[EldritchAbomination Horrorterrors]]. They're where players' dreams take place when their dream self (or their regular self, either or) is dead. They were originally ephemeral and unstable, exposing dreamers to the highly unpleasant effects of the Outer Ring and its denizens, until Feferi convinced the Horrorterrors to make permanent ones. The final product results in shared dream dimension that is constantly shifting appearance as dreamers recall and dismiss memories and as bubbles, carrying their passengers with them, merge and split, resulting in pretty surreal and patchwork landscapes as places and things from many different worlds end up side by side. They also double as the afterlife, with the souls of dead characters remaining there permanently but still able to interact with living dreamers. As the Ring exists outside universes and thus causality, the dead from all possible timelines end up together, so that travel through them often involves meeting the ghosts of multiple alternate versions of yourself.
286%%* ''[[Webcomic/{{Nwain}} Nwain: The Knight Who Wandered Dream]]'': The titular KnightErrant roams a world called Dream.
287* ''Webcomic/OurLittleAdventure'': Julie usually goes to hazy orange and yellow one when her mind meets up with [[TricksterGod The Palm Tree Ghost]]. In [[http://danielscreations.com/ola/comics/ep0296.html this one]] we get to see some of the background, though it's still hazy. It's turning out to be [[EldritchLocation surreal]] and [[Creator/DrSeuss seuss-like.]]
288* ''Webcomic/SlumberTown'': A desert ghost town serves as the collective dreamscape of 32 residents. The town setting has many strange dream-like properties, including "Waking Nightmares" that the residents experience in their daily lives as a result of past traumas or insecurities being triggered.
289* ''Webcomic/YuMeDream'' has elements of this, if the name didn't tip you off. Fiona starts out as someone who hates life so much that she dreams constantly, [[spoiler:though these turn out to be a version of DreamWithinADream]]. We come back to [=Dreamland=] concepts as Fiona [[spoiler:wakes up from her coma and subsequently goes back to find Lia]].
290[[/folder]]
291
292[[folder:Web Original]]
293* ''Literature/DreamHighSchool'' has this as the main premise: you're taking classes in a shared lucid dream.
294* ''WebAnimation/MidnightMares'': The land of Nod used to be this for Terra Steed. Now however, thanks to [[GodOfEvil Nightfall Nod]] both worlds effectively serve as this to each other. The way this works is everypony on Terra Steed has an AlternateSelf on Nod who wakes up when they fall asleep and vice versa and both have vague memories of what the other was doing when they wake up so for example Dogwood from Terra Steed dreams about being Drama from Nod and she dreams of being Dogwood from Terra Steed.
295* ''Literature/RunningWithRats'': The Rat Runners harvest [[AppliedPhlebotinum lio]], a valuable magical substance, by traveling through dream lands to find and grab it.
296[[/folder]]
297
298[[folder:Western Animation]]
299* ''WesternAnimation/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehog'': In "[[Recap/AdventuresOfSonicTheHedgehogS01E27BoogeyMania Boogey-Mania]]" has Sonic and Tails traveling to Dreamsville thanks to an invention of their scientist ally, Professor Von Schlemmer. Its ruler is the Dream Meister, who controls the dreams of Mobius in a fashion similar to a telephone operator.
300%%* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'': "King Worm" uses this trope to its trippy potential.
301%%* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainZedAndTheZeeZone'': The titular setting.
302* ''WesternAnimation/CareBearsAdventuresInCareALot'': All of the Care Bears' dreams occur in one connected dreamland that looks just like Care-a-Lot. Accordingly, they tend to dream about doing the same things they do when they're awake.
303* ''WesternAnimation/TheDreamstone'': "The Land of Dreams" is an ordinary country so named because its inhabitants ''have'' good dreams, which we rarely actually see. Played straight in one of the rare instances, however, where the villains end up travelling into the dreams to sabotage them (with the heroes pursuing shortly after). While it is unknown if the dreams are connected in any form, they seem to have a recurring theme, consisting of fairground rides and gimmicks. Daydream bubbles are also made for the purpose of entering and interacting with the contents of dreams.
304* ''WesternAnimation/TheFlaminThongs'': In "Planet of the Rerps", the Thongs test drive Holden’s latest invention, a machine that creates dreams. The machine malfunctions and they all end up in Rerp’s dream, dodging jumbo blowflies and becoming enslaved to King Rerpses III.
305* ''WesternAnimation/FostersHomeForImaginaryFriends'' has its own version of this trope; in the special, ''WesternAnimation/DestinationImagination'', the characters go on an adventure through an entire imaginary world created by a kid and controlled by the childish imaginary friend inside.
306%%* ''Jamie and the Magic Torch'': {{Cloudcuckooland}}.
307* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': Dreams are mostly self-contained, but are shown to exist together in a shared dimension consisting of night-blue clouds dotted with star-like lights, where dreams float as bubbles or are accessible through doors, where {{Dream Walker}}s can move from dream to dream at will.
308%%* ''WesternAnimation/OverTheGardenWall'': Greg has one that is full of cute cartoon characters.
309* ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'''s Isabella has her own version of [=Dreamland=], Phineasland. Which is a very strange place to be, considering that, after having confessed his [[PuppyLove undying love]] to her, [[MentalWorld Phineas turned into a centaur, had Isabella sit on him and started levitating, with a rainbow rising behind them.]] [[LampshadeHanging But then of course everything goes back to normal.]]
310%%* ''WesternAnimation/PotsworthAndCompany'': The setting.
311* ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'': In one episode, Goliath and former Pack member Dingo are put into a trance and sent into the "Dreamtime", in order to stop the Matrix from covering the world. In this world, they have control, allowing them to create weapons out of thin air.
312%%* ''[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IU7oIL7wHXM Somewhere in Dreamland]]'' is pretty much what you'd expect.
313%%* ''WesternAnimation/{{Superjail}}'': "Dream Machine" is even trippier. But then again, it IS ''Superjail''...
314[[/folder]]

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