Freddy Krueger (original timeline)

Template:Infobox Elm Street character For information on the remake version, please see Freddy Krueger (remake timeline).

"Come To Freddy" - Freddy to Nancy Thompson

Frederick Charles "Freddy" Krueger is a fictional character created by Wes Craven, and is the main antagonist and a killer from the slasher film series A Nightmare on Elm Street. When he was burned to death in 1971 by the citizens of Springwood, he was offered the spot as "Dream Killer" from the demons who live in the depths of hell. He uses this new career of his to his advantage to murder the children of his killers in their dreams. 

Fictional character biography

Life story

Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger

Amanda Krueger was a nun working in a hospital, and was raped by over 100 psychopaths. She become pregnant with a son, who was named Freddy. Later in his life he became a murderer in Springwood notorious for killing children. The media labeled him the Springwood Slasher. He was apprehended, but later released because of a technicality. According to the original film, it was because someone didn't sign a search warrant in the appropriate place, but according to the first episode of Freddy's Nightmares, it was because he was not read his Miranda rights. But the parents of the children tracked him down and found him in the boiler room where he took his victims. The parents released flammable gas into the room and set him on fire, which caused his melted-like facial features.

Film series events

In A Nightmare on Elm Street through A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child, Krueger was referred to as an urban legend. The Elm Street parents remained tight-lipped about the events of the decade before, especially now that their children were teenagers. In the closing months of 1981, the children of Springwood, in particular those teens whose parents had formed the mob that killed Krueger, began dying in peculiar ways as they slept. The parents often ignored or denied the pleas of their terrified children, who told tales of a mysterious man named Freddy who was terrorizing them in their dreams.

Krueger met three notable female adversaries in the period before Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare:

• Nancy Thompson (Heather Langenkamp): Nancy, whose family moved into Krueger’s old home, was the first of the Elm Street children to learn about his past and the first to vanquish him. Nancy returned in A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, only to be killed by Freddy, who had taken the physical form of her father as a disguise.

• Kristen Parker (Patricia Arquette/Tuesday Knight): Kristen was a girl with the ability to bring people into her dreams. In A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors, she, along with the last surviving “Elm Street children” battled Freddy in the dream world using self imaginative dream powers. Kristen used her natural gift of pulling others into her dream as a way for the group to battle Freddy at the same time. She was killed by Freddy in A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master by being tossed into his boiler and burnt to death.

• Alice Johnson (Lisa Wilcox): Alice gained Kristen's power and the dream powers of her friends to become the Dream Master. In A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master, Alice removed the souls Krueger gained over the years and left him powerless. A year later, Alice became pregnant and Krueger started using the dreams of her unborn child to kill again in A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child. Alice vanquished Freddy a second time with the help of Krueger's mother, Amanda. After Krueger was contained, Alice moved away from Springwood before he escaped and caused the events in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare.

The only male to ever be a main victim of Krueger and main protagonist of any the films, who at the end defeats Krueger, is Jesse Walsh in A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge. Here, Freddy tries to enter the real world through Jesse's body. With the help of his girlfriend, Lisa, Jesse regains control over himself and banishes Freddy back to the dreamworld.

1988-1990 Hour-long syndicated television series. 44 episodes

Death

After a decade of systematically slaughtering all of the children of Springwood in their dreams, the town was shown to be under Freddy’s influence in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare. By absorbing the souls of his victims, Freddy was now powerful enough to blur the lines between dreams and reality. The remaining adults were kept in a mass psychosis after their children had been murdered. When there was no one left to kill, Freddy sought to leave Springwood — hoping to continue his murder spree in another town full of more children. Only one person could arrange for this to happen — his daughter, Kathryn Krueger.

Krueger used what was left of his supernatural powers to find his daughter, who was now an adult named "Maggie Burroughs" (Lisa Zane) and was working as a counselor to troubled teenagers in another city. Since her mother's death, Maggie was raised by adoptive parents and had suppressed the disturbing memories of her early childhood. After catching up with Maggie, Krueger attempted to convince her to do his bidding. She proved, though, that a compulsion for murder was not hereditary and instead schemed with Doc (Yaphet Kotto), her coworker (and dream psychiatrist), to help destroy Krueger. After pulling him out of her dream and into reality, Maggie stabbed Krueger in the abdomen with his own glove and then shoved a pipe bomb into Krueger's chest, effectively killing him and releasing the dream demons that had given him his power.

Battle with Jason Voorhees

Freddy taunting Kia

In the hybrid sequel, Freddy vs. Jason, Freddy was trapped in Hell. After Maggie defeated Krueger in Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare, the people of Springwood sought to revitalize their town. Figuring out how Krueger operated, the authorities and town officials covered up any and all traces of his prior existence, which included blacking out obituaries and quarantining anyone who had ever dreamed about, or had any knowledge of Krueger. Other countermeasures included giving Hypnocil, a drug that prevents people from dreaming, to the children moved to Westin Hills. As a result, Springwood returned to obscurity and subsequently repopulated with no ill effects.

Meanwhile, Krueger was unable to escape the boundaries of Hell, thanks to the complete ignorance of his existence to the people of Springwood, and the use of Hypnocil to prevent those in Westin Hills from dreaming. Due to the fact that no one so much as knew of him, much less feared him, Freddy was unable to gain enough power to escape. Thus, Freddy hatched a plan to resurrect the undead, immortal killing machine, Jason Voorhees. First, at the conclusion of Jason Goes To Hell: The Final Friday, Freddy pulled Jason's abandoned mask into the ground. Then, in the disguise of Jason's mother, Pamela, Freddy manipulated Jason into rising from the dead once more and going to Elm Street to kill more teenagers. Jason committed a few murders, which were then blamed on Krueger (as planned). As a result, Krueger began to get his equilibrium back. Enough fear fell over Springwood to make Krueger strong enough to haunt the town again. The problem, which Krueger had not counted on, was that Jason would not stop killing. He became irritated when Jason continued to slaughter "his kids" before he could. Thus, a bloody fight ensued between the two murderous icons that raged from the dream world to the waking world at Jason's old haunt, Camp Crystal Lake. The film ends with Jason walking out of Crystal Lake holding Krueger's decapitated head, which he winks to the audience, followed by Krueger's laughter, indicating his reign of terror may not yet be over.

Comic book sequels

Freddy hasn't been seen since, except in the comic book sequel, Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash, where Freddy is trapped inside Jason's mind and seeks out the Necronomicon to escape and to become more powerful. Freddy is able to do this, and fights with Jason and Ash Williams (in the process getting his head split open by Jason, releasing the souls of his previous victims) before Caroline uses the Necronomicon to open up a portal leading to the Deadite dimension, and Freddy is sucked into it (though Jason is not, instead being trapped under a frozen lake). In Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash 2: Nightmare Warriors, Freddy is pulled out by Gordon Russell, turns Maggie evil, and takes over Washington. In the end, the portal to the Deadite Dimension is reopened, and the Necronomicon itself takes Freddy's power away, turning him back into his human form, before Ash mercilessly blasts him into the vortex with his shotgun.

The canonization of the Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash series is debatable, as it depicts Jason's death by decapitation at the hands of Tommy (Freddy even takes his soul before he loses his power), while he is clearly alive at the beginning of Jason X. The only way it would be possible to take place in the same timeline is if Jason was somehow resurrected, as he has been twice before.

Freddy's Rhyme

In the movies, Freddy's arrival is usually preceded by children in the dreams of his victims. They chant a rhyme about Freddy that warns others to stay away from him.

One, two, Freddy's coming for you.

Three, four, better lock your door.

Five, six, grab your crucifix.

Seven, eight, gonna stay up late.

Nine, ten, never sleep again.

Freddy's murders

Apart from about 20 children that he killed before he was killed by the parents of Elm Street, he killed around 40 after he fused with the dream demons and became able to enter dreams in 1981-1989. Freddy's major kills include:

A Nightmare on Elm Street

• Tina Grey
• Rod Lane
• Glen Lantz
• Marge Thompson

A Nightmare on Elm Street 2: Freddy's Revenge

• Coach Schneider
• Ron Grady
• Several Party Guests

A Nightmare on Elm Street 3: Dream Warriors

• Phillip Anderson
• Jennifer Caulfield
• Taryn White
• Will Stanton
• Donald Thompson
• Nancy Thompson

A Nightmare on Elm Street 4: The Dream Master

• Roland Kincaid
• Joey Crusel
• Kristen Parker
• Sheila Kopecky
• Rick Johnson
• Debbie Stevens

A Nightmare on Elm Street 5: The Dream Child

• Dan Jordan
• Greta Gibson
• Mark Grey

*Between the ending of The Dream Child and Freddy's Dead, Freddy managed to wipe out the entire population of children & teenagers in Springwood, Ohio. Much of the television series of Freddy's Nightmares - A Nightmare On Elm Street: The Series can be placed during this time period, and helps to explain why we see the town in the "Twin Peaks"-esque condition in Freddy's Dead.

''''''''''Freddy's Nightmares - Freddy's Tricks And Treats''''''''''

• Zach

''''''''''Freddy's Nightmares - Safe Sex''''''''''

• Dana
• Caitlin

''''''''''Freddy's Nightmares - Dream Come True''''''''''

• Gary Heath
• Homeless Bum

''''''''''Freddy's Nightmares - Dreams That Kill''''''''''

• Randy Jennings
• Charlie Nichels

''''''''''Freddy's Nightmares - Photo Finish''''''''''

• Kiki
• John Johnson
• Agent Peterson

''''''''''Freddy's Nightmares - It's My Party And You'll Die If I Want You To''''''''''

• Jodie Lancer
• Harry Lee
• Mara Ruleen
• Barry Dean
• Denise Charlotte
• Cindy Schibe
• Larry Delson

Freddy's Dead: The Final Nightmare

• Carlos
• Spencer
• John Doe

Freddy vs. Jason

• Mark Davis
• Mrs. Campbell

Powers and Abilities

As long as his victims were dreaming, Krueger could inhabit and control their dreams, twisting them to his own ends. He is also capable of entering a victim's mind via state of intoxication, whether the victim is drunk or stoned. Any physical harm done to a person in this dream world would carry over into the real world, though exactly how differs significantly between films, allowing him to easily commit multiple murders. Krueger often toyed with his victims by changing his form and surroundings, usually resembling the boiler room where he brought his child victims that had been missing in town. He also has the power to manipulate or possess any object or part of the dream environment not kept exclusively on the person of his victim at all times after initial creation, as he does in the fifth and sixth films.

His powers increased from those originally granted to him based on how many knew and feared his existence as well as how many souls were in his current possession. At the height of his powers, he could cause severe damage in the real world. This included possession of humans (as shown in the second Nightmare film, briefly in the fifth, and Freddy vs Jason), his corpse (as shown in the third), objects or animals (also shown in the second) or even literally pulling a victim from the waking world into the dream world (as shown in the fifth Nightmare film). If one of Freddy's victims wakes up while they're holding onto him in the dream world, he can be carried into the real world where he is still superhumanly strong and durable, but can be wounded. This was used for extensive fight scenes in the first Nightmare film, Freddy's Dead, and Freddy vs Jason.

In a person's own dream, Krueger could see into their minds and use their deepest fears and personality against them, which became his trademark in the films, at times taking the image of previous victims to help lure friends or relatives to their doom. A few victims managed to use their own imagination to consciously manipulate their dreams against him, a technique known as lucid dreaming, but this typically had little effect on Krueger, who remained in control of their dreams. Another of Krueger's powers involved absorbing the souls of his victims into his own body after they had been killed, which served to make him more powerful. As he gained a victim, their face would appear on his chest, each soul augmenting his power. Each soul he takes grants him the attributes of the victim. This has lead him to acquire skills such as martial arts skills, and high durability. In addition, he is a shapeshifter and can turn into anything, such as a cockroach. He can also use this power on others; in The Dream Master, he kills Debbie by transforming her into a cockroach and then crushing her inside a roach motel.

Weakness and Vulnerabilities

• If he does not have enough power he can't kill anyone, in the dream world or real world.
• If most people have forgoten him then he is trapped in Hell and there for can't harm anyone in the real world or dream world (as seen in Freddy vs Jason).
• Freddy is afraid of fire, as seen in Freddy vs Jason.

In other media

• Freddy has appeared in some episodes of Robot Chicken, such as the episode "That Hurts Me", where he appears alongside Jason Voorhees, Michael Myers, Ghostface, Pinhead, and Leatherface in the Big Brother show, where his sweater is shrunk by Ghostface, and he is later stabbed by Michael, which doesn't damage him but annoys him.

• Freddy appeared in the movie Stan Helsing as an antagonist.His appearance is changed, as he does not have the red and green sweater, and his face is even more burned than in his series. He does have his clawed glove,equipped with a toothbrush, and still invades people's dreams. He is renamed Fweddy. He is the first to be defeated; Stan uses a whip to take his clawed glove away, leaving him powerless, and he runs off.

• Freddy also appeared in the Imagination Land episode of South Park with other iconic villains such as Jason and the Xenomorph. He later appeared in the episode "Insheeption", where Freddy has a family and were hired to help peoples trapped in a dream.

Trivia

• It's highly possible that he is based on SUNDS (or Sudden Unexpected Nocturnal Death Syndrome), a disease that, coincidently, also involves a nightmare that would kill the victim... Even more coincident is that both use fear (Freddy uses it for power and SUNDS uses it to kill). The only difference between the two is that Freddy actually murders the victims while SUNDS simply "scares them to death"...

Gallery

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