Thread: What makes an epic dream?

There is no definition for "epic dream". There is no specific length or anything else. If you think it was epic then you can call it epic.

I have had those dreams all my life, but I don't really know how to explain it to you. To be perfectly honest, I wish I didn't have them at all. The fact that they are so very real seems to keep me from getting sound enough sleep. I wake up feeling like I actually lived it, awake, and still need to sleep.

They haven't really "changed" me in years now. They happen often enough that I stop giving most of them any thought after I wake up.

I describe epic dreams as spectacular, awesome, vivid dreams that I thoroughly enjoyed and will remember for a long time... like a few I had when I was just a preteen.

Originally Posted by clickadam

To be perfectly honest, I wish I didn't have them at all. The fact that they are so very real seems to keep me from getting sound enough sleep. I wake up feeling like I actually lived it, awake, and still need to sleep.

I don't have dreams like this ever so it was intense and pretty cool. I do however have very emotional dreams way too often. Not that they're long of vivid but I do wake up emotionally and physically drained, like I haven't slept at all. The emotions don't ebb off fast and can stay with me all day. Sometimes making reality feel like I'm still in a dream. I have to do a checks sometimes to make sure I'm not dreaming.

Originally Posted by DeeryTheDeer

I describe epic dreams as spectacular, awesome, vivid dreams that I thoroughly enjoyed and will remember for a long time... like a few I had when I was just a preteen.

This was definitely epic then. For me at least.

Originally Posted by clickadam

To be perfectly honest, I wish I didn't have them at all. The fact that they are so very real seems to keep me from getting sound enough sleep. I wake up feeling like I actually lived it, awake, and still need to sleep.

That doesn't affect your sleep. If you're still tired then it's something else that's causing it, not the dream.

No it shouldn't. What does happen is that I dream more vividly/emotionally and remember more of them when I sleep in a strange place, off hour sleep schedule, ect. So the being tired or drained when I wake is probably just me not sleeping deeply or as well to begin with. The vivid dreams are just a by-product and not the reason for.

To me, what makes an epic dream: 1.Vividness and stimulation of most of the senses, 2. A fantastical plot, 3. Exciting, 4. Magic or something equally cool, 5. Easily memorable and leaves a lasting impression.

I ask because of a dream I had the other night.... I would consider epic. It consisted of 7-10 parts or separate dreams over 8 hours. What, to me, made this epic was that after I woke for a moment , I would fall back asleep into the the Same dream. I would continue the story, so to speak. How often does this happen?

In my dream journal, I classify an epic dream as a non lucid dream that is very long in dream time and has multiple intersecting plots. (You can check out my dream journal description for links to examples.) And sometimes epic dreams actually do span multiple dreams. I had always assumed that I had coined the term "epic dream" for my own use and that it was original. (Apparently not.) But it's interesting to know that other people have been having similar experiences to me.

For me, an epic lucid dream is one I remember for a long period of time.