Dream Eater

The Dream Eaters (ドリームイーター) are a species of creature introduced in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance. As their name suggests, they reside in the Realm of Sleep, where they consume dreams. Dream Eaters fall under two major categories, Nightmares (ナイトメア), which eat good dreams and plant bad ones, and Spirits (スピリット), which only eat bad dreams. Nightmare Dream Eaters serve as the primary enemies in Kingdom Hearts 3D: Dream Drop Distance, while Spirits serve as recruitable allies that Sora and Riku can collect.

Story
Following the defeat of Ansem, Seeker of Darkness at Sora's hands, a portion of the worlds attacked by the Heartless remain submerged in sleep. Though this means the Heartless cannot reach them, they are instead plagued by Dream Eaters, entities produced by the darkness present in these specific worlds and who seek the worlds' keyholes. Two kinds of Dream Eaters are produced: benevolent Spirits and malevolent Nightmares, constantly in conflict with each other.

Sora and Riku, as part of their Mark of Mastery exam, journey into the Sleeping Worlds to awaken them, in the process recruiting several Spirits to help them in their quest and battling and destroying Nightmares.

Following Young Xehanort's defeat at Riku's hands and the end of the exam, Sora finds himself reunited with all of his Spirit friends in Traverse Town, having given them access to the Realm of Light.

Design
Like the Unversed, Heartless, and Nobodies before them, the Dream Eaters come in a variety of sizes and shapes, although they appear to have a much higher range of color schemes than their predecessors, and often resemble animals. Each Dream Eater is adorned with an emblem which signifies whether it is a Spirit or Nightmare.

Dream Eaters are characterized by having colorful appearances. Nightmares tend to have darker color schemes, while Spirits have lighter, pastel colorations. Nightmares also tend to have round, red eyes which lack pupils, while those of Spirits tend to be yellow, blue or green.

The symbol of the Spirit Dream Eater is present on the back of Riku's third outfit to symbolise his presence inside Sora's dreams, acting like a Dream Eater by vanquishing Nightmares, while the symbol of the Nightmare Dream Eater appears on the visor of Ventus's Keyblade Armor when it is possessed by a Nightmare with Sora inside it.

Nightmare Bosses
Avale-Rêves Traumfresser