Ned Needlemeyer

Voiced by Courtland Mead

The main character of both the Nightmare Ned video game and TV show. He is a bald, bespectacled, 10-year-old boy with a hyperactive imagination, using it to deal with his fears, troubles, and anxieties through dark and quirky nightmares. He lives with his mother, his father, and baby sister. He also has a grandfather named Ted Needlemeyer, but he has only appeared in the video game.

• Alliterative Name: His full name: Ned Needlemeyer
• Anxiety Dreams: His nightmares are often used to cope with or figure out a certain problem that’s going on in his life.
• Book Smart: He is very intelligent and excels at school beyond most of his peers, as shown in the episode “Bad Report Card” and to a lesser extent, “Testing...Testing...”
• Butt-Monkey: Poor guy can not catch a break.
• Catchphrase: "Eat my yo-yo!"
• Endearingly Dorky: He’s a timid, anxious, and well-meaning little nerd who wears glasses and is not particularly tough. Some girls in his class find him adorable and even call him a “delicate flower."
• Face Your Fears: What he finally manages to do by the end of the video game.
• Friendless Background: Ned is never shown to have any real-life friends and rarely interacts with other kids outside of school. This is mostly evidenced in the tv series however, as there is a line in the game where Ned briefly mentions having a friend at school. Solitude never seems to bother him however and, like a lot of introverted kids, might even prefer it.
• Friend to All Living Things: Seems to have a soft spot for animals.
• Gender Bender: The episode "Girl Trouble" revolves around this, after Ned goes into the girl's bathroom at school by mistake (because of a prank by Conrad and Vernon) He dreams about being a girl, whom Both Conrad and Vernon fall for in the episode.
• Girls Have Cooties: Being a young boy, Ned is generally not fond of girls and gets annoyed when he is pursued by his classmate Joanie who has a crush on him, something he does not reciprocate.
• Kid Hero: The Hero of the franchise and he's only ten years old.
• Killer Yoyo: Ned's primary weapon, and all purpose tool in the game.
• Minor Injury Overreaction: In "Tooth or Consequences," He freaks out over losing his tooth, despite the fact he himself lost every single one of his baby teeth.
• Mr. Imagination: The biggest character trait Ned possesses is his overactive imagination, mix that with his absurd fears and you get terrifying yet quirky nightmares.
• Nerd Glasses: His trademark look includes wearing big round glasses.
• Nerdy Nasalness: He has a very distinct, nasally-sounding voice.
• Nervous Wreck: He is VERY high-strung which is the whole reason that he goes through those dreams.
• Out-of-Character Moment: One episode had a camp counselor telling scary stories, scaring his charges... Except Ned, who nonchalantly explains why they're all garbage. Though it wasn't this out of character considering how subjective scary things are and that Ned has showed a logical side before.
• Pajama-Clad Hero: In the game.
• Pint-Sized Kid: He is shown to be quite a shorty, even for a 10-year-old. This is especially highlighted in the episode "My, How You've Grown."
• "Risky Business" Dance: In the video game intro, when Ned learns his parents won't be home for a while.
• Smart People Wear Glasses: Wears really big glasses and is very intelligent for his age.
• The So-Called Coward: He does have a few noteworthy moments where he is both calm and in control.
• Sweet Tooth: The intro of the video game has him raiding the fridge and eating up all the sweets he can, despite the note his mother left him stating “No Sweets!”

Ed Needlemeyer

Voiced by Brad Garrett in the TV series

Although he tries to comprehend Ned's nightmare dilemmas, it does not occurs often, as he is constantly confused by them. In the video game, he is only a supporting character and does not speak a single line during the game's course, but plays a bigger role in the TV series.

• Bumbling Dad: He has his moments of immaturity and incompetence.
• Determinator: As his dream-world counterpart—Captain Dad—in ""Willie Trout.""
  • Losing Your Head: His dream-world counterpart's reason for hunting Willie Trout.
• Drama Queen: He exaggerates a lot and because of that he can be seen misunderstanding situations. See below.
• Hidden Depths: Who knew that he's a rather skilled inventor?
• It's Quiet… Too Quiet: In the final episode, Ned's dad says this when he comes home from work. This is immediately subverted in that nothing sinister is going on at all.
• Manchild: He is very excitable and immature much more than his son.
• Skewed Priorities: From "Along for the Ride"
  Ed Needlemeyer: "I want my free mint!"
• Strong Family Resemblance: Is bald and wears glasses like his son.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: In the opening to the very last episode, Ned's dad seems to think he's in some kind of mystery or suspense show. This is quickly dropped when the focus shifts to Ned.

Mrs. Needlemeyer

Voiced by Victoria Jackson in the TV series
Voiced by Lani Minella in the video game

Sensitive and caring, she seems to understand Ned more than his father.

• Foolish Husband, Responsible Wife: Compared to her husband she certainly is more mature and more capable of reaching Ned.
• Good Parent: She tries to understand Ned’s dilemmas and occasionally offers advice when he needs it.
• Hartman Hips
• Hidden Depths: Although it's never referred to again, she is actually an extremely talented accordionist.
• The Other Darrin: Ned's mom in the show versus his Mom in the video game. This is very noticeable because, in the show, she was voiced by the very distinct-sounding Victoria Jackson.
• Unnamed Parent: Her name is never mentioned and is simply referred to as ‘Mrs. Needlemeyer.’ However, some fans speculate that her real name is ‘Sally’ and that her childhood counterpart is who Ned meets at the end of the Attic, Basement, and Beyond level in the game.

Amy Needlemeyer

Voiced by Kath Soucie in the TV series

• Fearless Infant
• Oblivious Younger Sibling: Doesn’t seem to be aware of her older brother’s nightmares or dilemmas.

Conrad and Vernon

Voiced by Jeff Bennett (Conrad), Rob Paulsen (Vernon)

• The Bullies

  Vernon: "Aww, cruelty: the breakfast of champions."

• Cruella to Animals: They once threatened a cat with a electronic hair clipper.
• Fat and Skinny: Conrad's the fat and Vernon's the skinny.
• Fat Bastard: Conrad's quite portly, for a bully.
• Lean and Mean: Vernon's increasingly lanky and a very bad guy.
• The Load: When trying to get Ned out of prison in "Bad Report Card."
• Orderlies are Creeps: In "Lucky Abe."
• You All Look Familiar: In The 1997 Disney Adventures comic "All Spork and No Play." as CONDIMENT PACKETS, nonetheless.

• Eldritch Abominations: The Shadow Creatures serve as the villains in the video game take their forms from Ned's fears, but the good ending indicates that they exist outside of and apart from him, and upon defeat are removed from his head rather than outright destroyed. Interestingly, it seems they don't need his fear specifically to survive, so it's unclear what their reasons are for tormenting him.
• Heel–Face Turn: Each of the Shadow Creatures by the end of the game.
  • Even more so when, if the game ends well: The Shadow Creatures' true forms help Ned defeat his final fear and the true Big Bad: a giant, morbid version of himself.
  • Possibly subverted however by the fact in both endings they are heard from Ned's closet, still as their shadow selves and not their "true forms," implying they do and still exist outside of Ned's mind as actual monsters.
• I Know What You Fear: The shadows are literal embodiments of Neds fears and anxieties.
• Living Shadows
• Remember the New Guy?: their true forms are (except for Sally and the toilet) of people Ned recognizes, though none of them appeared in the TV show.
• The Unfought

Graveyard Shadow Creature/Ted Needlemeyer

• Big Bad: Being the oldest and with an appearance reminiscent of Death itself, the Graveyard Shadow Creature is widely considered as the main villain of the game.
• Cool Old Guy: Grandpa Ted is implied to be this to Ned
• Evil Old Folks: Has the voice of an old man, and at one point calls himself "Your worst geriatric nightmare!"
• Foreshadowing: At the start of the game, the Graveyard Shadow tells Ned "I'm just dying for you to visit!" When the Shadow Creature's true identity is revealed, he is shown to be Ned's grandfather, Ted, who tells him that he's been wanting to spend some time with him.
• The Grim Reaper: His appearance befits this trope very well.
• Implied Death Threat: The Graveyard Shadow Creature's opening line.
• The Idealist: As Ted Needlemeyer.

Medical Shadow Creature/Dr. Klutzchnik

"Don't worry... [brandishes her needle fingers at Ned] ◊ this won't hurt a bit!"

Voiced by Alexandra Wentworth

• Ax-Crazy
• Mad Doctor / Depraved Dentist
• Too Kinky to Torture: The Good Ending where she suggests she and the other Shadows "perform hideous, painful medical procedures on each other" might imply this.

School Shadow Creature/Billy Blatfield

• The Brute: The physically largest of the shadows.
• The Bully: Subverted when it turns out he only wanted to be Ned's friend, but was too ashamed of telling him.
• I Shall Taunt You: "Hey, everyone! It's 'Make Fun of Ned Day', also known as 'Melonhead Day'!"
  • In addition, almost everything said from the School Shadow Creature to Ned is either a taunt or a threat.
    • It should also be noted that the true identity of the Shadow Creature takes a large effect on the reason for its excessive taunting.
• Jerkass
  • Jerk with a Heart of Gold: As Billy.

Bathroom Shadow Creature/Ned's Toilet

• Animate Inanimate Object: While the other shadow's true forms are humans, his is actually Ned's toilet. Though, he's presumably only sentient in Ned's dreams.
• The Fool: The Bathroom Shadow Creature plays the sort of idiot of the group of Shadow Creatures.
  • Subverted at the end where he turns out to be a sort of intellectual.
• Laughably Evil: He is essentially a talking toilet. (I mean, talk about Toilet Humor!)
  • In addition, he surprisingly imparts an intellectual speech to Ned about his future, and also tells him to quit flushing banana peels.

Attic, Basement, and Beyond Shadow Creature/Sally

• Collector of the Strange: Sally, the shadow’s true form, counts as this. She found her creepy doll ‘Sandy Pattycakes’ in the trash, and calls the attic her “secret treasure chest.”
• The Confidant: Sandy Patty-Cake
• Creepy Twins
• Maddened Into Misanthropy: Also Loners Are Freaks, The Hermit, and possibly even the spirit of the Madwoman in the Attic. Throughout the game, she shows little interest in interacting with the other Shadow Creatures and would much rather spend her time trying to creep Ned out.
  • Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold: Subverted at the end, when it turns out that the Shadow Creature was actually a sweet, albeit eccentric, little girl that just enjoyed some occasional solitude her strange fantasy realm, which she calls her "secret treasure chest".
• Psychopathic Manchild
• Speak in Unison
  • It should also be noted that the Shadow Creature is two headed, yet often acts and speaks as one, also referring to itself as "we".
• Shout-Out: On its second transition, the main body of the Shadow Creature holds the other head in a way reminiscent to Hamlet.

Grave Digger

• Black Comedian
  • Subverted by the fact he probably wasn't even trying to be funny.
• Hard Work Hardly Works: He continues to intently dig the same grave with no effect whatsoever.

Jack-o-Lanterns

• Anthropomorphic Food
• Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Those pumpkins will puke all over Ned's head!

Clogging Trio

• Our Demons Are Different: Grenny (Four Legged Clog), Cyco (Toilet-Paper Cyclops), and Truddy. Definitely not your average bathroom toilet clogs.

Dragon

Voiced by Edie McClurg

• Talking Beast
• The Storyteller
  • Shout-Out: Two of the dragon's stories are from Alvin Schwartz's Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and its sequel.

Mannequin Fortune Teller

• Fortune Teller
  • Subverted by the fact most of her hints are either terrible or just lame puns.
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: After getting frustrated with Ned and telling him she's "got a break coming up!"

Human Pack-Mule

• Civilized Animal
• Half-Human Hybrid
• The Voiceless
• Your Favorite: The giant morbid ladybug.

Weird, Wild, and Wonderful

• Art Shift: Highly constitutes as Nightmare Fuel.
• Frankensteins Monsters: A possibility.
• Mix-and-Match Critters: Look like they're composed of parts of different animals.

Snake Dogs

• Rule of Three
• The Reveal: First appear to be incredibly long snakes, but later turn out to be three, orange and black, hungry, Mexican-style dogs.

Doctor Shots

• Depraved Dentist: He'll try and give Ned a shot of Novocaine if the mouth closes on him, but Ned can use toxic breath on him after meeting with Gingivitis, the fairy godmother.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: When he tries to jump over the pile of syringe needles, he ends up landing on them.

Art Projects

• Dracula: The Vampire Milk Carton.
• Dumb Muscle: The Clayman.
• Noodlepeople: The Pipe-cleaner Skeleton.
• Stop Motion: The art projects and their dioramas appear to be animated in this particular style. This is proven to be the case in the credits.

• Dysfunctional Family
  • It is hinted that Petey and Repetey may possible relatives to Mrs. Salt and Glution due to the fact they have portraits around each other in the main hall.
    • Something else very interesting to note is that Ned's mother has a portrait next to theirs, as well, hinting furthermore that she may have been Sally the little girl. Although the portrait is there mostly for the "Don't step on a crack" moment in the same area.

The "Amazing Twins!" (aka Petey and Repetey)

• Catchphrase: "Key, key, who's got the key?" is repeated by Petey and Repetey, among their other bitter ramblings.
• Conjoined Twins: Continuously bickering, seemingly a pair of performers, whom at the time, are seen juggling bombs and possibly a key.
• Creepy Twins
• Multiple Head Case: Very much so.
• Punny Name: Repetey.
• Street Performers

Mrs. Salt

• Split Personality/ Mood-Swinger: At first, she is seen as jittery, anxious, and nervous, but next moment, after she gets her salt, she turns wild; grunting and hollering, gleefully tossing the salt around, and coveting it with a madman's grin.

Glution

• Fat Slob
• Unmoving Plaid