I found a great article on the realness of dream characters! Someone here conducted an experiment.
Testing the “Realness” of Dream Characters
I finally got a conclusive answer from a DC last night. I asked if she thought she was an aspect of my SC. She said yes, but she also indicated that she has her own life experiences and memories. Now I’m curious to know if DCs persist independently when we are not dreaming! I have heard that they can recur for some people and even take different forms. Does that mean that they have independent (or just dependent) consciousness of their own? Or perhaps they share our consciousness? I rarely (almost never) encounter purely “hollow” characters. I’d like to become more involved in actively interviewing them and learning from them more directly. Cut to the chase!