Dream Master

"Are you sure? You were thinking about just now weren't you? So how do you know they're not in there waiting for you?"

- The Dream Master displaying his sadistic nature

The Dream Master is the titular character and protagonist villain of the Theresa Breslin book The Dream Master. He is a supernatural, sadistic immortal dwarf who has been given the task of guiding humans and possible Dream Master candidates through their nightmares and dreams and teaching them how to control their visions.

The Dream Master has possibly been around for millenia, and he knows every incident of human history and all its major players. The Dream Master finds a new student named Cyrus Peters in the book and this is the main focus of the plot.

The Dream Master first appears in the book after Cyrus wakes from a nightmare about ancient Egypt, where he is about to lose his best friend to the executioner, and the Dream Master stubbornly refuses to let Cyrus back into his dream at any cost. He says Cyrus is a mere human who cannot choose his rules, and he says in several variations that the dream is over and Cyrus is banned from it. The Dream Master tells him that he had it all planned so Aten, Cyrus' friend, calling him became his mother, and then it coincided with the start of school day.

Cyrus demands that he return to his dream, and he protests that he "has his rights" startling the Dream Master, who thinks over the rules and decides that, in this case, Cyrus could return to his dream.

The Dream Master doesn't return until five nights later, when he suddenly reappears on Cyrus' pillow that night. He has possibly cast an illusion to make Cyrus appear sleeping, or he can invade people's subconsciousness. The Dream Master has an argument with Cyrus that he cannot return to ancient Egypt. He suggests other "good" dreams, such as fighting gladiators in ancient Rome, fighting with the Romans alongside Hannibal, meeting Queen Victoria, and starring in Star Wars, which until now had been Cyrus' dream, but Cyrus is desperate to get to Aten so he refuses outright. Shocked that Cyrus has resisted so much temptation, the Dream Master tells him he could make him appear as one of the BearBoyz male rock band, but Cyrus is disgusted and demands that he return to ancient Egypt.

The Dream Master asks why Cyrus has to return, Cyrus says he just has to. The Dream Master then says that the last time he had this problem, he was with Rip van Winkle. The Dream Master then grudgingly allows Cyrus to go back to his original dream, but mixes it up deliberately, so Cyrus ends up not in the execution site, but further on, in the Great Pyramid.

In the dream, the Dream Master makes Cyrus think of horrible fears like snakes and deep pits, but Cyrus has some control over his dream so he thinks up weapons and lights to get round the problems. Cyrus does find Aten, but he looks dead, to which the Dream Master suggests they abandon him, until Cyrus notes Aten is warm, and wakes him. Cyrus demands that he take Aten back to his time after talking to Aten, and the Dream Master refuses, but he gets angry that Cyrus is oversleeping again and pushes him out of his dream, but a major disturbance in Time happens when Aten lunges in after Cyrus due to his fear of being locked up alive.

The Dream Master is extremely angry that the rules have all been broken and he appears twice to Cyrus in modern times, once in his assembly hall where he is extremely angry with him for messing up, and also in a nightmare Cyrus has after his grandfather is in a coma. The Dream Master also appears in the model pyramid in the school closet and persuades Aten to return to being locked up, which is Aten's worst fear, but Cyrus refuses and the Dream Master tells them there is nothing to talk about, just before Eddie and Chloe lock the two in the closet.

Later on, during a fight with Eddie and Chloe, the four of them get pulled back in time to ancient Egypt. When they are all returned to the present, Eddie and Chloe are revealed as bullies and Aten is now sure he has to return to ancient Egypt, forever. He summons the Dream Master who is pleased that Aten will return, but doubtful of the outcome. The Dream Master, however, returns Aten to his uncle, Ay, the very man who will betray him and dethrone him in the future.

On the return to the present, the Dream Master possibly decides he has had enough of Cyrus and throws him back to his own time, and abandons Cyrus in time travel.