Nightmare is a enemy from the Devil May Cry series. It is a bio-weapon which serves its creator Mundus, and which Dante repeatedly encounters in the original Devil May Cry game. There are two weapons fashioned after it: Nightmare-β, which appears in the original game; and Nightmare-γ in Devil May Cry 2.

Description

Nightmare in its most basic form is a bizarre pool of tepid green slime in which plates of demonic material and a number of skulls are partially submerged. When forced to enter its combat mode, it forms its plating into a grey slug-like hull covered in demonic runes, with several structures resembling exhaust pipes rising up at its sides. In this form Nightmare is effectively a living tank.

The creature was created by Mundus out of inorganic substances, and it is unknown whether it is even conscious. It is powered by a core which it rarely exposes, and which can absorb Devil Trigger power. If it is allowed to absorb enough, it can activate its own Devil Trigger. It also possesses a multitude of offensive mechanisms, and will change its attack pattern each time one of its cores is destroyed. When in its gel-like form, it can swallow enemies and teleport them to an evil dimension in which their trauma manifests as evil spirits. In order to be damaged, it must be forced into a more solid form by activating embossed discs on the ground, restraining tools used to keep it from overriding. However, in this form it will encase itself in a hard armor, and attack even more viciously.

Story

Dante first encounters the Nightmare when it enters the castle's chapel, but he forces it to retreat. It later appears while Dante performs the ritual to transform the Philosopher's Egg into the Elixir, and is again forced to retreat. After Dante enters the Underworld, he is lured into the Nightmare's den by Trish, who is pretending to be injured. However, Nightmare attacks as soon as Dante enters the room, and while fighting it, Dante is also attacked by Trish. Dante manages to finally destroy Nightmare, and coldly leaves Trish in the room while he goes on to fight Mundus.

Other appearances

Devil May Cry 5

Nightmare is one of V's familiars. It is physical a manifestation of Vergil's lingering emotions and thoughts from his period as Nelo Angelo.

Devil May Cry 5 – Visions of V

The original Nightmare appears in the manga in the form of flashbacks, with its's origins being explained by Griffon.

Trivia

• Nightmare's fluid form seems based on the Cthulhu mythos creature Abhoth, a mass of grey fluid which constantly spawns bizarre creatures.

• Nightmare's cores are persistent during the three encounters for it, and the cores have three possible states, with the state changes depending on how the cores are attacked.

• Nightmare's mechanical nature is reflected in it having the most strictly scripted attack pattern of any boss in the game.

• Nico noted that the Order of the Sword had no record of Nightmare, implying that Mundus had probably created it recently and specifically to defeat Dante.

• According to chapter eight of the Devil May Cry 5 manga, Visions of V, Nightmare had the power to destroy the Underworld and Mundus sealed its power. This was actually stated in the Devil May Cry Kaitai Shinsho guide book, which is emphasized again in the manga. In that book, Nightmare was called "Nightmare-α (Alpha)".

• According to artist Yoshinori Matsushita's comment in Devil May Cry: 3142 Graphic Arts, Nightmare was originally conceived as a liquid monster that cultivating ancient virus in Resident Evil 4, It has a hard shell and fires missiles to attack.