Fans of the A Nightmare on Elm Street franchise will already be aware how the infamous Freddy Krueger gained the ability to intrude on and travel through children’s dreams eternally. However, as one Reddit user points out, Freddy’s ability to manipulate the dreams in the crazy ways that he does remains unexplained. Don’t worry though, they have an interesting theory that actually makes a lot of sense.
Reddit user softhandsam first lays out what we already know:
- In A Nightmare on Elm Street 3 we are introduced to dream warriors – individuals with special powers once they achieve lucidity in their dreams
- In A Nightmare on Elm Street 4 we are made aware that Freddy takes the souls of the children he murders
- In A Nightmare on Elm Street 6 it is shown that Freddy got the ability to eternally terrorise children in their dreams via 3 dream demons, but it does not explain how he has the ability to act in the supernatural ways in which he does in the dreams
Keeping all of this in mind, lets get stuck into the theory.
“So, one could logically assume that many of Freddy’s more outlandish abilities, such as walking on the ceiling in the first movie or shapeshifting a whole bunch in the third, are actually dream powers he stole from kids whose souls he consumed.
So there was likely a kid who could fly in his dreams and another who could be anything he wanted, and after Freddy absorbed them he uses their abilities to increase the zanyness of the kills.
This also explains the increasingly strange ways in which he is killing people, he is trying out his new powers.“
This would certainly explain how Freddy Krueger can act in the ways that he does, and why he bothers to take the souls of his victims at all. It is also supported by the way that Freddy appears to be less powerful in the first movie than in later instalments. Although, as pointed out by the Reddit user, this is more likely due to budget limitations, but it nonetheless supports their theory.
It is also pointed out how this explanation fits in well with Alice being the dream master in the fourth instalment of the franchise. The reason she is able to rival Mr Krueger is because she is absorbing the powers instead of him. We can assume that, following Freddy’s defeat in number 3, he lost all of the abilities he gained through the absorption of souls and only his ability to exist and haunt dreams remains. So even with his collection of souls throughout the movie, because he is not gaining the abilities through those souls, he no longer has the upper hand.
The theory does offer an alternate explanation to this, the user continues:
“Alternatively, one could assert that he also uses the souls as a sort of battery for his abilities, as in maybe he keeps any powers he absorbs regardless of being killed and just needs souls to activate them. This would lead to the idea of him using up a soul completely, so unless he stayed stocked up he would lose all abilities but being able to show up in your dreams with his knife hand and good ol fashioned murder you.”
This theory certainly does offer an interesting explanation for Freddy’s abilities.
What do you think? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!