This is because he came without the Ideya of Courage, and has yet to find his own Ideya of Courage. After all, he sends all of his creations and dreamed-up people to get things for him, and you only need to hit him, what, three times in the game? Because of that, he has stayed locked in the Night Dimension for years and years, perhaps even defying the laws of physics and aging and being Really 700 Years Old (I read somewhere that sleep slows the aging process by a significant amount, though that might be debatable). He's been stealing Ideya from other Visitors as compensation for his lack of a Red Courage Ideya, yet ironically, the Red Ideya is the only Ideya he cannot steal, nor keep.
So he goes on, creating more and more Nightmarens and becoming the God of Nightmare. For years he has been trying to get a Red Ideya, but has failed so often — so very, very often — that over time he has completely forgotten what he had initially set out for. He loses himself, going crazy to try and get at his Red Ideya, that he leaves his waken life completely, even forgetting that he is a Visitor. This causes problems for his 'Real Life' body, which is still asleep. While the Wizeman of the Night Dimension goes on a reign of terror and malice, in a desperate attempt to finally get his blasted Ideya, the Wizeman of the Real World is still a child, doodling designs for Nightmaren and the faces of other Visitors, but only as a subconscious reflex. In fact, Wizeman has become convinced that getting a Red Ideya will wake him, forgetting that it is of his own free will that he awakens.
Whatever little boy Wizeman may have once been has been lost, leaving behind a broken child in the Real World and a heartless overlord in the Night Dimension.
- Wizeman being a Visitor was confirmed in his backstory in the original.
- I think he DID fall into the Black Sea. Dualization with a Nightmaren extends the time limit before Awaker-ghost-thingies, giant alarm clocks, and Night Over screens will force you to wake up. Falling into the Black Sea gives you an endless nightmare and a coma. Connect the dots.
- Interestingly, the red jewel on NiGHTS' chest is supposed to be part of a Red Ideya that attached there. Building upon the above WMG, that may be WIZEMAN'S Red Ideya.
- Also, NiGHTS helped at least 4 people find Ideya; judging by what NiGHTS is, perhaps Dualization temporarily shared those Ideya with him?
2nd and 3rd level Nightmarens were humans that lost their souls, and consume Nightopia, Nightopians, and hunt ideya mindlessly because they're desperate to be whole. They might have not even been bad people originally, so much as completely devoid of ideya; the parts that make up their soul. While 2nd and 3rd levels would have lived a broken afterlife without Wizeman anyway, 1st levels have complete souls, and would have been destined for Nightopia without Wizeman's intervention.
Reala's will got broken and he lost faith in goodness, NiGHTS didn't, perhaps because he got a lucky escape, or perhaps because he has the stronger will.
Basically, due to the major differences of the lore in the original game and the sequel.
The things the two games share is:
- There is the Night Dimension, with the worlds of Nightopia and Nightmare. Nightopians live in Nightopia and the world is bond to five Ideyas (red being the rarest). Nightmare is ruled by Wizeman and populated by Nightmares.
- NiGHTS chooses to rebel against Wizeman instead of serving him.
- Eventually, two kids who possess the red Ideya of Courage wind up in Nightopia and help turn the tides on NiGHTS' favor, ending Wizeman's reign of terror.
The differences that could lead towards them being different universes are these:
- NiGHTS' slightly different portrayal. If we take the supplementary material (mostly, the Storybook), into Dreams NiGHTS could be more rude (maybe also with less altruistic reasons to rebel), and prideful of being a Nightmaren. In Journey of Dreams, NiGHTS is dismayed over having their species revealed.
- And also, NiGHTS in Journey of Dreams managed to avoid being punishment up until the events of the game, where in into Dreams they could not.
- Claris and Elliot are very similar to Helen and Will (respectively, a girl with a musical aspiration and a boy with a sports aspiration), but some specifics are different, such as backstory, nationality (Claris and Elliot are possibly American, while Helen and Will are more explictly British), age, and possibly personality.
- Owl, plus his importance to Nightopia, exists only in Journey of Dreams. According to the into Dreams material, a Nightopian was responsible for setting the journey of Claris and Elliot.
- The Personas are also only part of Journey of Dreams.
- The Egg Alarm from into Dreams and the Awakers from Journey of Dreams serve the same function (waking up a Visitor that touches them).
- The differing 2nd Level Nightmaren's, plus that, if we take the Archie comic's adaptation of into Dreams, Nightmarens might be able to live on even if Wizeman's dead, while it's the opposite case in Journey of Dreams.
NiGHTS
- A Cirque du Soleil performer (even if only as their motion capture model)
- Julissa Aguirre doing a Role Reprise
Reala
Wizeman
Jackle
Puffy
Owl
Selph
- Same actor as NiGHTS?
