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{{trope}}
{{quote|'''The Nameless One''': I... don't have dreams, actually
'''Kesai-Serris''': Truly? How sad! Even fiends and devas dream, you know. Are you certain you don't?
'''The Nameless One''': Quite certain. No dreams, at all.|''[[Planescape: Torment]]''}}
[[Exactly What It Says
For whatever reason, a character cannot dream. Perhaps they are dead already, or has spent too long in cryo-sleep, but their ability to dream is gone. This tends to indicate that something is inhuman or 'off' about them.
May also be caused by a [[Dream Stealer]].
In [[Real Life]] this would be extremely dangerous, dreaming being necessary for mental health and memory. Most people who "don't dream" in fact dream very deeply and therefore have more difficulty than most in remembering their dreams.
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Anime
* Rei in ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''.
* In ''[[Jing King of Bandits]]'', Campari lost his ability to dream. He subsequently gained the ability to steal dreams from other people.
* Kanami in ''[[Darker
== Comic Books ==
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* Villain Dr. Destiny in [[The DCU]] lost his ability to sleep and thus dream. He later appeared in ''[[The Sandman]]''.
* ''[[Bionicle]]'' has the Dreaming Plague that wiped out most of the Iron Tribe, caused by Annona.
== Film ==
* In ''[[
* Krank in ''[[
* In ''[[
** Specifically, he is unable to enter REM sleep, a [[Real Life]] condition. He has to use a machine to do it for him, or he'll start suffering from severe psychosis.
* The immortal Eternals of ''[[Zardoz]]'' cannot sleep or dream, since sleep was strongly related to death.
* The [[Villain Protagonist]] of ''The Young Poisoner's Handbook''. This becomes important when [[The Shrink]] in the prison wants him to talk about his dreams, so he "steals" the dreams of his cellmate.
* Terri from ''[[Hellraiser III Hell On Earth]]''.
== Literature ==
* [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampires]] in most incarnations (already dead).
* Brutha in ''[[
* In ''[[The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]'', a man who went mad at The Isle Where Dreams Come True is afraid to sleep because he doesn't want to dream; at the Island of the Star there's food which makes one go to sleep without dreaming. He's thrilled.
* In ''[[
* A character in a Celtic fairy tale (reprinted in ''Traditional Tales From Long, Long Ago'' by Philip Wilson) is unable to dream but is otherwise perfectly normal. His employer suggests a way to guarantee he'll have dreams: make his bed in the fireplace. He ends up with a thoroughly bizarre dream that ends when his wife wakes him up and he's halfway up the flue.
▲== Live Action TV ==
* Kai, last of the Brunnen-G (dead) on ''[[Lexx]]''.
* Most of the [[Star Trek:
* Alonso from ''[[Earth Two]]'' spent decades in "cold sleep".
* There was a [[Villain of the Week]] in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' who couldn't dream, and killed people in their dreams out of jealousy.
* Jaffas of the ''[[Stargate Verse]]'' do not dream, as they do not technically sleep, only entering a deep meditative state.
== Tabletop Games ==
* In ''[[Eberron]]'', Kalashtar have lost the ability to dream. That's because they are inhabited by exiles from the realm of dreams, and if they return, they will be destroyed by that realm's despotic lords.
* The undead of ''[[
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[Dragon Age]]'', mages who have been made Tranquil are severed from the Fade, which prevents them from using magic or being possessed by Fade demons but also robs them of their ability to dream, not to mention their ability to feel emotion.
** Dreaming in ''[[Dragon Age]]'' essentially means slipping into the Fade when you're asleep, where spirits construct dreams for you. This is somehow tied to the ability to use magic. Dwarves can't use magic, can't slip into the Fade {{spoiler|unless forced by a demon}}, and by extension can't dream.
* ''[[
* The Nameless One of ''[[Planescape: Torment]]''. The above quoted conversation is with a woman who talks about dreams. Her surprise indicates TNO's condition is '''very''' extra-ordinary, as she is in Sigl, where natives have a "seen it all" attitude due to the cities stats as a planar cross-roads. It's a bit of an oddity when the Kalashtar (see up) are latter introduced as part of the same "verse".
* [[Tsukihime|Arcueid]] is revealed in ''Kagetsu Tohya'' as being unable to dream when she complains of a nightmare. Her brain is basically completely turned off when she sleeps. Occasionally, even in this state she recalls things about her past, but says this can't be considered dreaming. {{spoiler|This is one of many early hints that the player is supposed to pick up that there's a [[Groundhog Day Loop]] in effect: She's not dreaming, she's remembering something from another loop.}}
* Averted with vampires in ''[[The Elder Scrolls]]''. When infected with porphyric hemophilia (the disease that causes vampirism), characters begin to have horrific nightmares. The third nightmare ends with their full transformation into vampires. In some of the games, they continue to have nightmares after transformation as well.
== Web Comics ==
* In a variation, characters in ''[[
▲* In a variation, characters in ''[[Homestuck (Webcomic)|Homestuck]]'' whose dream selves are dead are forced into contact with the [[Eldritch Abomination|Horrorterrors]] instead of actually dreaming when they fall asleep.
* Most sufficiently advanced incubi and succubi in ''[[DMFA]]'' can't dream; instead, they experience dreaming by "surfing" the dreams of others. Also, they don't need to sleep, but if they do, they can easily sleep for days or even decades without noticing the passage of time.
* In ''[[The Dreamland Chronicles]]'', Dan in completely unable to dream. {{spoiler|This seems to revolve around a curse that the [[Big Bad]] put on King Arthur.}}
** Alex himself was dreamless for years between the time the sword he just found was confiscated and the time he got it back.
* [[Pibgorn]] [http://www.gocomics.com/pibgorn/2003/06/13/ Why am I dreaming? I haven't dreamt in a thousand years!]
== Western Animation ==
* In the animated series adaptation of ''[[The Neverending Story]]'', one episode states that bag guys don't dream, along with some other creatures.
* In ''[[Titan
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Dream Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Cannot Dream]]
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