The Nowhere

Spoilers in front! This page or section contains information pertaining to newly released content or soon to be released content.

— Noone

The Nowhere
An "atlas" of the Nowhere seen in the School in Little Nightmares II. It is unknown whether this is all of the Nowhere or only a part of it.
Geographical Information
Type	Alternate dimension/universe
Inhabitants	Residents Animals Nomes
Visitors	Children
Status	Active
General Information
Appearances	Little Nightmares (franchise)

The Nowhere is the universe in which the Little Nightmares series takes place. It is a physical world only accessible through dreams.

Description

The Nowhere is a world filled with nightmarish places and inhabitants. From buildings to food, the world's environment and items are incredibly large in size and scale.

In this world, equally gigantic human-like beings known as "Residents" exist as predatory monsters that kidnap small children that are unfortunate enough to end up in their world. Many of them are grotesque and monstrous, with inhuman abilities, body proportions, and other nightmarish features. The Residents are aggressive and their behavior is primarily instinctual or desire driven to a twisted degree. Even the animals in this world are larger than children and can be just as dangerous. While Residents show hostility to even each other and the lands of the world are largely decrepit, there is a sort of society that operates within it and even possesses its own language.

Transportation

To travel to the Nowhere, one must first dream in order to reach the Threshold, the space between the waking world and the Nowhere. Within the Threshold resides a door to the Nowhere. However, the door is guarded by the Ferryman. If the Ferryman permits a person passage, he will not only guide them through the Threshold, but also through the door where they will see numerous stairs and a giant pulsing red eye the size of a moon, circled by shining blinking eyes of every shape and size, before finally crossing into the Nowhere. Upon crossing over, the physical body will disappear from the human world into the Nowhere to complete the transition. In The Lonely Way, the Ferryman reveals there is another way to cross into the Nowhere.

Requirements

Only a special kind of tormented child is able to travel to the Nowhere with more ease and permitted to receive aid from the Ferryman to guide them. Although visitors to the Nowhere are primarily meant to be children, it is possible for adults to receive permission to cross over.

Repercussions

While some visitors are initially permitted to stay in the Nowhere for a short period of time before being returned to their original place of origin, others can remain trapped within the Nowhere for years. However, the primary objective is to have visitors stay within the Nowhere permanently through any means necessary. Any visitors who spend too long a time within the Nowhere will gradually lose parts of themselves and even suffer an obscure form of memory loss, losing memories that are both in regards to themselves as well as anyone they knew.

Locations

Locations in games

• The Maw
  • The Prison
  • The Lair
  • The Kitchen
  • The Guest Area
  • The Lady's Quarters/The Residence
  • The Depths
  • The Hideaway
• The Nest
• The Pale City
  • The Wilderness
  • The School
  • The Hospital
  • The Transmission
• The Spiral
  • The Necropolis
  • The Candy Factory
  • The Fun Fair

Locations in other medias

• The Guests' City
• The Grasslands
• The Abandoned House
• The Burning Building
• The Stone Giant
• The Bathhouse
• The Shopping Mall
• The Carnival
• The Sewer
• The Clothing Room

Theories

• A recurring eye motif exists within the Nowhere, from the eye-shaped mechanisms, or as symbols found in paintings or drawings throughout the games, leaving speculations that the Residents and the children are constantly being watched by a being/entity of higher power.
  • In The Residence DLC, a globe in the shape of a single giant fleshy eye can be found within the library, presumably hinting that the Nowhere is simply one giant living eye.
  • According to Noone, the Nowhere is a place that is and isn't, acting more like a building with floors. All the floors are connected, but don't work together. Leaving speculation that the Nowhere itself is the giant red eye hidden within the Threshold, a living entity of its own, as it is the eyes that are seen beyond the door and not a location within the Nowhere. All eyes circling around the giant red eye, are also speculated to be connected to one another, and in turn linked to the red eye, but sustain a sense of individuality to act on their own, allowing them to wield the power to individually create environments a human will encounter once they are permitted entry into the Nowhere, by the Nowhere itself. This is supported by the Mall and the Tower’s ability to create their own environment within the structures they take form as, manifesting anything they please or whatever others, mainly the children, would want, all the while just as easily being capable of  dismantling the environment they created, exposing themselves in the process.
  • Much like how living structures such as the Maw and the Signal Tower have been speculated to sustain their life cycle by consuming the Residents, through aid of hosts like the Lady and the Thin Man, The Nowhere and its entirety may rely on the continuous supply of humans the Ferryman brings to it to ensure its survival within the empty space of the Threshold.
    • In chapter 6 of the Sounds of Nightmares, the Ferryman claims young children contain something of value within them that is important to the Nowhere. In The Sounds of Nightmares, Noone could feel that both Residents and the eyes within the Threshold wanted something within her that pleased them. It is speculated that what the children harbor within them is their everlasting life essence, a soul, that can sustain the life of the Nowhere.

Trivia

• The world of Little Nightmares was not given a name until Little Nightmares III was announced, revealing that the world was called The Nowhere.
  • Before the name "The Nowhere" was revealed, the Little Nightmares games were set in "dark places" according to Bandai Namco's website. However, in some translations such as the Spanish one, the term "La Nada" (which translates to Nothing or Nowhere) is used instead of "dark places". Other translations such as the Italian and French ones use names such as "Il Nulla" and "Le Néant" to identify the world of Little Nightmares rather than "dark places."
• Before its name was revealed, the Nowhere was described as "a distorted place that lives somewhere between dreams and reality". Through interviews and other hints from the franchise, the nature of the Nowhere has been alludes many times:
  • According to Dave Mervik, he stated that "All the children come from... They don't belong in this world" and that there is a "reason" why the children are in the Nowhere, linked to "Something that happened before in their lives that made them a good 'fit' for Little Nightmares."
  • When questioned who built structures such as the the Transmission, senior narrative designer Dave Mervik states, "The world of Little Nightmares doesn't work that way, creatures and places exist for a reason. In the first game, The Maw exists because the hunger exists, and here, The Signal Tower exists because the need for escapism exists."
  • In a promotional video for Little Nightmares II, Darren Brown describes nightmares as "the influence of an external, malevolent force" .
  • In Chapter 4 of The Sounds of Nightmares, Noone describes the Nowhere as a place that is and isn't.
    • Noone states the places she has seen are not necessarily parts of a bigger world, but as levels to a single building. All the places she has seen are all connected to each other, yet they do not work together.
  • In Chapter 4 of The Sounds of Nightmares, Noone reveals the world of Nowhere is physically real as she has been able to, touch, feel, hear, smell and sense a presence from those she meets as well as a presence from the environment itself. Her body additionally reacting to everything and everyone around her.
• In Chapter 4 of The Sounds of Nightmares, the Counsellor states there is a veil preventing him from seeing the Nowhere.
  • The Counsellor states the Ferryman is evident of an existing connection between his world and the Nowhere, one he can find for himself in order to cross over.
• In Chapter 5 of The Sounds of Nightmares, it is stated that the Ferryman has been a myth among various cultures for many centuries. This could mean the Nowhere has existed for a very long time, long before any of the games take place.
• It is unknown if certain technologies like televisions were always a part of the Nowhere, or if its technology advanced alongside the human world.
• In Chapter 6 of The Sounds of Nightmares when the Counsellor begs the Ferryman to let him into the Nowhere, he says: "Too long in the tooth. I feed the spectrum's other end". The Ferryman means Otto is too old to enter the Nowhere, and he only takes children.
  • The Ferryman, however, hints at another way to cross the Threshold and enter the Nowhere, stating that a quarter will be granted after a toll is paid.
• A dark unknown mist is regularly mentioned or seen appearing not just within the environment of the world, but also released from within the bodies of Residents themselves.
  • In Little Nightmares, the Lady's powers are primarily composed of a dark mist that appears anytime they are in use. As she levitates a child, a dark mist surrounds the child in the process. The Lady's body will also release a dark mist as she teleports throughout her final battle with Six. After Six defeats the Lady, a dark mist surrounds her and remains with her, signifying she has acquired the Lady's powers for herself.
  • The Guests' bodies release dark mist upon their deaths at the hands of Six.
  • In Chapter 2 of The Sounds of Nightmares, a Bather's body releases a dark gas as it melts away, spreading throughout the room and sending Noone into darkness.
  • In Little Nightmares II, the Bullies' heads release dark mist upon being shattered.
  • In The Residence chapter, the Shadow Kids' bodies are primarily composed of a dark mist. Their bodies are capable of shifting back and forth between a more solid form that even enables them to cast a shadow, and a floating mist to quickly attack others.
  • In Chapter 5 of The Sounds of Nightmares, the Counsellor observes a dark mist within the Threshold, through the monitor on his apparatus.
    • In Chapter 6 of The Sounds of Nightmares, Noone encounters the same dark mist as she floats through the Threshold. The dark mist, though at first prevents Noone from seeing her own body, evidently slowly dissipates before she sees the door to Nowhere. Noone later notes "smokey fingers" mixing in with the blinking eyes she saw on the other side of the door, quickly surrounding her.
  • At the end of the gameplay footage of Little Nightmares III, a scene shows dark mist quickly appearing and surrounding Low and Alone within an isolated room.
• In regards to the humans who visit the Nowhere, the official Little Nightmares twitter page states, ""Friends" isn't something we really do. It's more of a "you visit us, we destroy your innocence and turn you into a twisted representation of all your worst flaws" situation."
• When questioned over fan beliefs that an unseen threat has been pulling the strings in the Nowhere, and whether or not this unseen threat will be met, designer Dave Mervik states, "That depends if I'm ever allowed to go out in public again."
• Although children have no prior knowledge of the Nowhere, a faraway "Feeling" can occasionally come to them, telling them details and secrets about the world as well as where to go throughout their journey. What this "Feeling" is remains unknown.
• A unique light capable of administering obscure effects on Residents and humans, is commonly present within the Nowhere. This light is implied to be emitted by the giant sentient eyes encountered within the world, of which have a preference to remain hidden, even taking on the form of structures to hide in plain sight as their light is transmitted in a number of ways, such as through objects.
  • A common effect of the light is it's hypnotic properties, entrancing both Residents and humans. However, many children remain unaffected by the light, implying there is an essential element a human must meet in order to feel the effects of the light in the same way the Residents are.

• Although children can lose their memories completely if they become Residents, they can still retain a sense of familiarity towards things they once knew,

Gallery

The Maw

The Nest

The Pale City

The Spiral