Basic Trope: The (not entirely correct) belief that waking someone who's sleepwalking is dangerous.
- Straight:
- Alice starts sleepwalking. Bob and Charlie avoid waking her up, out of fear that something bad could happen.
- Alice actually does get woken up while sleepwalking, and she has a heart attack.
- Exaggerated: When Alice wakes up after sleepwalking, she dies on the spot.
- Downplayed:
- Bob and Charlie don't necessarily try to prevent Alice from waking up, but decide it'd be better to guide her back to bed first.
- Alice is startled after waking up and briefly wakes up fighting, but nothing extreme comes of it.
- Justified:
- Bob and Charlie have heard the myth that waking a sleepwalker can result in them having a heart attack.
- Alice ended up in a dangerous situation, such as from a high place, in which suddenly waking up really could have the potential to harm her (e.g. if she stumbles and ends up falling).
- Alice has a curse on her which causes something bad to happen if she wakes up while sleepwalking.
- Some people who are woken up while sleepwalking (especially if they're having night terrors) may react violently, so guiding them back to bed often is a better option than trying to wake them up.
- Alice has a medical condition (such as a heart condition) which could place her at risk of having a heart attack or something similar if she's startled.
- Inverted: ???
- Subverted: ???
- Double Subverted: ???
- Parodied: Alice suddenly explodes after being woken up while sleepwalking.
- Zig-Zagged: ???
- Averted:
- Alice doesn't sleepwalk.
- Bob and Charlie wake Alice up while she's sleepwalking, and nothing bad happens.
- Enforced: ???
- Lampshaded: ???
- Invoked: ???
- Exploited: ???
- Defied: ???
- Discussed: "I heard that waking someone up while they're sleeping can be dangerous — maybe we should just try guiding Alice back to her room, and making sure she doesn't get hurt in the meantime."
- Conversed: ???
Don't wake the sleepwalker at the main page.
