black rook ♜

One of the most fascinating aspects of dreaming, particularly lucid dreaming, is the notion of dream characters -- aspects of yourself that often behave in surprising or enlightening ways. Most of them are just hollow, indistinct, but some stick out. Among the lucid dreaming community there's a focus on dream guides: particularly individualized dream characters that act almost as mentors to the dreamer. They can help the dreamer become lucid, as well as serve as a teacher after that.

I have no idea if I have a dream guide, but there are a few recurring characters that stand out -- most notably, a woman called the Gatekeeper and a man I've been referring to as the "black rook". The woman's only showed up once or twice; she's fair-haired and gentle, with a wry sense of humor, and she almost always dresses in black. One time she was the mistress of Louis XIV; once she gave me a key (hence the title) and disappeared.

I have no evidence that the Black Rook is even the same figure, although my gut says he is. He's always male, always dressed in a black sailor's coat, always in a role of benevolence, but he doesn't always behave the same way -- sometimes distant, sometimes approachable; sometimes young, sometimes old; sometimes tall, sometimes short. He's helped me escape from various nightmare beings, and was there both times I successfully became lucid of my own will. If anyone is my dream guide, it's him, but I haven't seen him for a while.

(Why "Black Rook"? I've always liked chess. I picked black for two reasons -- first because that's what I always pick, because going second gives me a chance to assess my opponent's playstyle [do they open with a knight? with a pawn? one space or two? which piece do they clear the way for first?]; and second, it seemed to represent the dream world the best. I picked "rook" because I feel that's the role the character fills: not the flashiest or the most powerful, but always there to protect me when I need him.)

I figured writing about him in the evening might prompt him to show up again, plus it's interesting. Can't hurt, right?

~Darcy