Clarification: Time Period

In Nightmares, the Time Period is very complex and at times, inconsistent or wrong with realistic expectations. However, this page exists to show that the series has its own time period and alternate history, so that any confusion is eliminated in the process.

Overview
Nightmares is stated to take place anytime from the 1800's to 1865, but no known months are really dated. Rather, the story simply refers to the amount of days in the four seasons: spring, summer, autumn, and winter. All seasons last about ninety days, although the amount of days in a year remains 365, and 366 on the leap years. For instance, rather than saying "I'll see you January 21st," one might say, "I'll see you on the thirtieth day of winter." Months are never actually counted, although reader cues can potentially hint which one it is (Toxic is hinted to take place sometime in spring, specifically April, as "many of the dames were seen carrying around their parasols, as to avoid getting drenched by the rainwater, hopeful it would stop the next month.")

At the same time, Nightmares has elements from the past, present, and future that would not be present in 1865:


 * Phonographs with working records
 * Telephones in existence during the 1920's
 * Women with semi-modern rights and the "right" to wear pants (e: women can get jobs that do not pertain to just sewing and housekeeping, but can't have executive positions and are still under partial control of their husbands)
 * LGBT statuses (e: though only heterosexuality and bisexuality is seen, with one instance of transgenderism)
 * Semi-modern makeup
 * Hair dye
 * Modern-day speech and phrases (e: can't, nah, what the ****, boyfriend/girlfriend)

Influences
Objects appropriate to 1865 are also somewhat wrong due to the alternate history, with pieces from at least four eras or more. Some of these include:


 * Gothic cultures
 * Edwardian cultures
 * Victorian cultures
 * Renaissance cultures

In addition with these, an entire District called Rennai exists with solely renaissance influences, although after Ivan's inheritance of being Rennai's ruler, Victorian influences have now leeched in.

Alternate History
Perhaps, the biggest piece of proof that relates to all the inconsistencies is the alternate history of Nightmares altogether.

The Enlightenment
The Enlightenment is a huge part of the plot, as it fully explains the prologue and a good chunk of Mathilda's backstory.

The explanation for the second Enlightenment was that Europe's spread to the USA during the 1700's, leading to several future ideas being created earlier than they should have due to a sudden advancement in technologies. As a result, an entirely new time period deviated from the original timeline. At the same time, however, key parts of American history and other things ultimately did not exist, usually due to the new technologies surpassing the ones that were previously there.

Examples are as follows:


 * Immigration never truly occurred in other parts of the world other than in European countries, so slavery wasn't a primary part of history or the plot of Nightmares as a whole.
 * Prohibition didn't happen either, for reasons not fully explained. It's hinted that alcohol doesn't exist in Magnolia, only wine. Mathilda asks for the former, and Ivan appears baffled by what she is talking about: he never even heard of the word "gin" before.
 * Cars didn't make a debut due to the citizens being particularly concerned with losing their ways of life, therefore causing permanent reliance upon horse-drawn wagons and carts/rickshaws. An alternate was later provided in 1834: a motorwagon, which was made with semi-mechanical parts and had a Model T Ford feel, but still had to rely on horses in order to move--specifically, black horses, as the only color the motorwagon could be made in was black.

By the time the Enlightenment ended, technology in 1941 was almost completely identical to 2018, with the exception that computers/phone devices and cars still didn't exist. Around the time the USA would have entered WWII, however, nothing happened. Mathilda later learns this is because of heightened security precautions around the oceans, which made Pearl Harbor virtually indestructible. At the same time, the USA didn't enter or leave any alliances, so Japan never bombed the Harbor. Without a reasonable cause, the war raged on, allowing Hitler to continue his Final Solution without interruptions.

In 1943, almost all the Jews were executed at various death camps such as Auschwitz II-Birkenau and Bergen-Belsen.