The Corinthian. This is a nightmare archetype created by Morpheus, the King of Dreams, in the Sandman comic series. I really like the concept of this character. Being a nightmare archetype, he is not a unique nightmare to any one person, and so he may reside within the dreams of anyone; his horror is not contained by any boundaries.
Although he is not particularly revolting, per se (there are scarier looking monsters out there), his design evokes a visceral reaction. When certain aspects of a human representation are slightly off, it can cause a very unnerving feeling. This is known as the Uncanny Valley. As should be immediately apparent, the “slightly off” aspect of this character is that he has additional mouths where his eyes should be. The “gut reaction” idea that crosses our mind is, “That is not natural.” But he’s a nightmare, he’s not supposed to look natural. Oh, if only that was the creepiest part.
For we have to ask a very uncomfortable question: “Why does he have mouths for eyes?” Well, the answer is every bit as terrible as we feared. Having no eyes of his own, he hungers for eyes, and so he takes and eats the eyes of his victims using his eye-mouths. Yes, he seems to be beyond the normal degree of terrible.
Based on this, he is aptly named. A “Corinthian” is a man about town who typically goes beyond customary or proper bounds or limits and has no regard for rules. If you see The Corinthian in your dreams, make no mistake, he’s not some trivial figure to be disregarded; he IS out to get you.
7 notes
