On NoES canon. · 7:03am Nov 7th, 2014
Those of you that have read the new chapter already may be wondering just what canon I'm drawing from regarding Freddy and his behavior and proclivities.
I am a hard core fan of the character in general and believe that all three presented versions in films have their merits.
From the classic series we have the wisecracking, almost playful, killer with a flair for inventive torture when it suits him. This is taken primarily from the third movie where he does such things as creating puppet strings out of veins and tendons in the dream world to 'drive' a character with somnambulism, a sleepwalker.
Coming from the reboot, which I enjoyed as well, we have the darker side of the character. Yes, darker than murdering children and teenagers. In the original script from the 1980's version, Freddy was not a killer of children that got off on a technicality. Freddy was always intended to be a child molester and this was only changed in the 80's due to a rash of actual child molestation cases while filming was going on. The reboot brought this back as a character trait, and I applaud them for trying.
Well, then what's the third version? Wes Craven's New Nightmare. It is traditionally included as part of the classic series despite nominally occurring in the real world where Freddy is nothing more than a character. In this movie, an ancient demon appropriates the form, abilities, and mannerisms of the character to gain power over the real world.
So, what does this all mean? When we combine all three versions; we get a villain that is a demonic killer that primarily stalks children and young adults in their dreams while getting off on torturing them in every way he can imagine before finishing them. He is potentially omnipotent within the dream world, and gains strength from both the souls of prior victims and the fear of his current target. He will use every advantage he can get, and is not above allowing a victim to 'escape' so they can tell others and fear of him can spread. He has a limited ability to influence reality directly around a dreaming victim, such as lifting and dangling a child in the middle of a freeway, or allowing the sleepwalker in the third movie to phase through a locked door.
In short, terror and paranoia incarnate.
Nine, ten, never sleep again.
