Nightmare (Soul Calibur)

Nightmare (ナイトメア, Naitomea) is the main antagonist of the Soul series. He made his debut in Soulcalibur. He is the living incarnation of the cursed sword, Soul Edge, the objective of most other characters in the story.

Nightmare was originally created as the alter-ego of Siegfried Schtauffen, created when he got hold of Soul Edge and was consumed by the sword's will, during which time he wore dark blue armour that earned him the nickname "the Azure Knight", and went by the name "Nightmare". Since Siegfried managed to free himself from the evil blade's influence, it has somehow formed an entirely new being, an avatar of darkness, instead of possessing a new host. This new being models himself after Siegfried during that time, wearing the azure armour and calling himself "Nightmare". This new Nightmare, like the original, uses a great blade in battle, though his moves are unique, differentiating him from his human predecessor.

Nightmare has been portrayed in the games as a violent and ruthless creature, constantly in search of souls to restore Soul Edge. He looks down on humans, considering them "pathetic", and has no mercy for others, even to those who serve him, as shown in his Tales of Souls path where he considers killing his loyal servant Tira. Nightmare's Tales of Souls also shows that he doesn't need to eat or drink to survive, since when he reaches the Grand Labyrinth, he does not carry food provisions like the other characters.

Nightmare has been present in one form or another in most games after Soulcalibur, appearing in Soulcalibur II, Soulcalibur III, Soulcalibur III: Arcade Edition, and Soulcalibur IV. He also appears in Soulcalibur Legends as an unplayable character. Nightmare has returned in Soulcalibur: Broken Destiny, a portable remake of Soulcalibur IV.

What lies in Nightmare's soul is Damnation.

Soul Edge
Nightmare, known as Siegfried! in Soul BladeEven though Nightmare originally debuted in Soulcalibur, there was a prototype of his character in Soul Edge. In the home version, an extra character named Siegfried! was added as an unlockable character. Siegfried! was an alternate version of normal Siegfried taken from his no-input ending, where he was consumed by Soul Edge. This early version was very different from the former Nightmare, having crimson-red armor and a more flesh-like design with no mutated Nightmare Arm, almost like if he were part of Soul Edge itself. He has no story nor ending, and only used Siegfried's Soul Edge without effects.

Soulcalibur
Nightmare in SoulcaliburIn Soulcalibur, the concept was expanded and turned into an official character, though with changes to the design. His red armour was changed to a dark blue armor, thus his nickname of "Azure Knight", and its design turned more metallic instead of flesh. This was also the first appearance of the Nightmare Arm; Siegfried's body was slowly being mutated by the sword's terrible power, most dramatically his right arm had transformed into a vicious, hard-shelled claw. Despite the Nightmare Arm only having three large fingers, it didn't seem to hinder his combat abilities at all. He now wields his own version of Soul Edge, sporting a single eye on its blade, something that would become the trademark of the various versions of the weapon, and the creations made from it, such as Charade.

Nightmare was a starting character whose style resembled Siegfried's former style upgraded. Siegfried was later added to the cast as a time-release character, and inherited the same style with minor changes and speed and weight differences. Nightmare's profile on the game explained how Siegfried obtained Soul Edge after a fierce fight against its former owner, the dread pirate Cervantes de Leon, and the firey demon that spawned within it afterward, Inferno. After that, the sword spoke to him, promising the resurrection of his dead father if he helped it gather souls. Unaware that it was a trick of the sword to restore his power, Siegfried agreed and started a killing spree, which eventually drove him to be fully possessed, taking the name "Nightmare" and spreading chaos on the lands.

Soulcalibur II
Nightmare in Soulcalibur IINightmare's incarnation on Soulcalibur II remains mostly the same, with minimal upgrades to his fighting style, mainly on his stance game. Story-wise, as his and other characters profiles explain, he formed a group with Astaroth, Isabella "Ivy" Valentine (who did not realize that Nightmare's sword was Soul Edge, which she sought to destroy), and Aeon Calcos, the Lizardman, in an attempt to speed the gathering of souls and restoration of the sword's power. But during the ritual to restore Soul Edge, his castle, Osthreinsburg, was assaulted by Kilik, Maxi, and Chai Xianghua. With his allies either defeated or missing, Nightmare confronted Kilik and Xianghua and was ultimately defeated, later falling into the collapsing void where they fought. After waking up, Siegfried, apparently free, regained his senses and tried to distance himself from the world to atone for the sins he committed and the death of his father. But the sword slowly regained control over the young man, and eventually Nightmare resurfaced to start another massacre on Europe. In this game, Nightmare is a starting character, while Siegfried turned into a third costume option for him. In his second costume option, which bares his chest and head, it can be seen that most of the right side of Siegfried's chest has been corrupted in a similar manner to his arm, and his right eye has changed to a golden colour.

Soulcalibur III
Nightmare in Soulcalibur IIIBefore the events of Soulcalibur III, Nightmare met with Raphael Sorel in the Osthreinsburg Chapel and, after a battle, defeated him. As he stepped forward to kill the man and harvest his soul, Siegfried's mind started to struggle with Soul Edge for freedom. Raphael, watching as Nightmare stood motionless as result of the mind struggle, released an attack and pierced Soul Edge's eye. This allowed Siegfried to reclaim his body, and also released the holy blade Soul Calibur, which was Soul Edge's equal and the one thing that can truly destroy it, from within the sword. In control since Soul Edge was stunned, Siegfried then drove the holy sword into the cursed Soul Edge and sealed both together, though the will of Soul Edge escaped the sword and entered the dark blue armour Siegfried quickly discarded after reclaiming his body. Eventually the mysterious immortal Zasalamel found the armor and somehow created a new body for Soul Edge out of the countless evil souls haunting Ostrheinsburg. This new Nightmare restarted his reign of terror in search of Siegfried and the rest of Soul Edge, as well as a new host body since the soulless one he has is an unstable shell that will not last forever.

In gameplay terms, Nightmare's original fighting style was split between him and Siegfried, now two individual characters. While Siegfried's style resembled the previous games when he was Nightmare almost completely, Nightmare was given a rather different playstyle, one that was far more brutal, powerful, and barbaric than he was previously, as Siegfried, from Soulcalibur II. His speed is also much faster, now capable of matching nimble characters such as Kilik and Heishiro Mitsurugi. He also changed story-wise, since it was the first time he got an own body and wasn't using another character's body as a host. Nightmare, alongside Siegfried, remain starting characters and two of the main characters to which the story in Tales of Souls revolve, as every character searches for rumours and traces of either one or both of them. They also possess their own event around the last chapters of the mode, in which both have a short fight, where the player later confronts the winner. His fighting style and weapon selection is available to use in the Character Creation mode under the name "Soul of Nightmare" to characters created under the Barbarian class.

Soulcalibur IV
The corruption of Nightmare's body was more accelerated than usual because the body had no soul to resist the dark influence. By this time, Nightmare's entire body had been twisted by the power of Soul Edge; one costume is clearly inhuman, the entire midsection missing, pure dark energy taking the place of flesh and bone, the other depicts a supremely mutated torso, the eyes glowing red, the skin gnarled and black, glowing veins running throughout.

As the storyline of this game begins, Nightmare and Siegfried found each other once more at the Lost Cathedral. Soul Edge was freed from the Soul Embrace because of a secret art performed by Zasalamel. Nightmare took the evil sword while Siegfried became the new wielder of Soul Calibur. Then the two fought, and the clashing of their swords created a very powerful explosion that destroyed the cathedral.

Both Nightmare and the evil sword then fell into some sort of dimensional warp. Conveniently, they both landed in Ostrheinsburg. Waves caused by the clash of the two swords awakened the fragments of Soul Edge that were scattered all over the world. They flew to Ostrheinsburg, and the evil sword consumed all of them, regaining its true power. As Nightmare made roots into the land, Ostrheinsburg soon became a cursed city, which Nightmare can use to devour souls. The Azure Knight then waited for Soul Calibur to come so he could destroy it once and for all.

The storylines involving Algol feature a different storyline in which Algol, the ancient king whose will was strong enough to totally resist Soul Edge's power, and who created Soul Calibur in case Soul Edge ever needed to be destroyed, somehow gets his hands on both spirit swords, wielding them simultaneously as he plots his resurrection and return to his post as king of the world. It can be assumed that in order to accomplish this he defeated both Nightmare and Siegfried.