((This thread is from a post I made a while back in a now dormant thread, I never got a response to these theories so I thought i’d make a thread))
The way I see DCs is that they have different “classes” as I will now list.
“The Actor”
These DCs are there to simply make the scenario you are in as real as possible. They aim to keep you away from lucidity and even act normal when you become lucid. It is incredibly hard to tug them out of character, and if you persist enough they will eventually just ignore you.
“The Director”
Different people call these DCs by different names and interpret them as many different things. Some people see them as their DG, some as their SG and others think it is the embodiment of their SC (However, this is not always the case.)
These DCs can control your environment and have the most control in the dream, perhaps even more control than yourself. They can cause you to become lucid, or lose lucidity. It can be harder to get ahold of this class of DC than other classes due to their influence.
“The Figure”
The shadowy figure in your doorway, the person chasing you down that corridor, the hand that just grabbed your leg. A mix of “The Actor” and “The Director” however, this movie is a nightmare. These DCs are the main obstacle of fear you face when having a nightmare. Unless you face them, they are merely an actor, and will feed off your fear until you wake up. When you face them, they drop their act and perhaps change form. They may reveal some truth to you, and perhaps even a gift. Not the most important, yet probably the most influential DC you will encounter.
“The Communicator”
A step up from actor. These DCs may start off as an actor, but will drop their act if you become lucid and challenge them. Most of the time, they will happily hold an out-of-character conversation with you and may even reveal some secrets about yourself, perhaps assist you in advancing your lucid powers and knowledge.
I disagree on the actor. DC’s do not actively want to make you lucid or not. They are simulations of other people, and they will simulate that they think you are crazy if you go around saying that they’re living in a dream world. It has nothing to do with trying to hold you back, but with acting as real as possible. Think of a fantasy computer game, the NPC’s simply cannot grasp the concept that they aren’t real. True, DC’s are more complex and have your ability to reason, but the idea is the same.
In the end DC’s only have as much control as you and your SC allows. The real culprit to keeping you from becoming lucid is yourself. If you have that doubt, that secret fear of lucidity even you might not be aware of, the feeling that your SC is against you and not with you, then yeah, you’re going to have some setbacks.
This is an interesting distinction, and reminds me of a thread in the lucid lab. I use a similar distinction myself, but the Actor becomes the Flat DC, the Director becomes the Independent, and the Figure becomes the Terror (one who I’ve not seen enough to think about). The last one I always just think of as one or the other of the previous ones. The Director/Independent is the one who is the most interesting, IMO, and it would be interesting to ‘study’ them a bit closer and learn about them on a dreamstuff/matter level.
Edit - Also, I must disagree with the ‘keeping you from lucidity’ bit as well; though there are clear cases of such happening, I doubt that is part of their function.
Mm, when I say “keeping you from lucidity” I mean in the way that they don’t act outside of their boundaries, if you get my meaning. They are the DCs that don’t break from being in-character no matter how hard you try. They don’t actively try and not make you lucid, for they are not even aware that they are DCs (or do they?).
