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“ “They don’t come here to sleep… they come here to be woken up. The dream has become their reality. Who are you to say otherwise?”
— Inception
A character, usually a hero, is knocked out or goes to sleep and wakes up in their own personal paradise. Whatever they wanted most, all their life, is finally theirs.
Actually, they’re being held prisoner by another character, usually but not always a villain, who is using something; a machine, a Platonic Cave, or other phlebotinum to cause very intense and very realistic hallucinations. Sometimes they don’t know it’s all fake. Sometimes they do know but don’t care. In order to escape, the hero has to break the masquerade and give up their life’s dream. If they’re in too deep, friends hoping to mount an Orphean Rescue have to force the hero to Battle in the Center of the Mind in order to escape. More often than not, a Dream Apocalypse occurs.
Bonus points go to the villains if they attempt to drive the protagonist to distraction by turning the dream into a nightmare or otherwise play on the protagonist’s emotions.
Because of the nature of this trope, it often lends itself to doubts after the characters ‘escape’. Sometimes it isn’t clear whether their escape is genuine or not. This can range from Epileptic Trees theories by a handful of viewers, all the way up to extreme canon cases of a Dream Within a Dream. In this tone, a particularly Fridge Horrific ending for a villain (or a hero) may see them fall under the spell of the Machine, but only for a second before escaping, defeating their enemies, and re-making the world in their image. Cut back to reality, where they’re still under the thrall of the Machine.
Often lends itself to aesops against spending all of your time in a virtual fantasy world.
In the majority of these cases, Your Mind Makes It Real. May also be an exitless Happy Place or not-so-happy Ontological Mystery or Psychological Torment Zone. If the place isn’t happy, but the hero is still made to believe it’s real over his old life, it’s a Cuckoo Nest. May be used in conjunction with the Leave Your Quest Test to create The Final Temptation. May be used to set up an Epiphanic Prison. If an entire society lives in one, it’s a Terminally Dependent Society. May involve Mind Rape at some point. Possible to involve Victory Is Boring.
Beware of spoilers. The revelation that the events in the story are just an induced fantasy is often used as a major plot twist.