A dream Character to you is?

Nothing in my mind is pinned down as an absolute.
But where I stand now I feel that a dream character is a manifestation of yourself. Your subconscious showing you other aspects of your character.
Quite possibly not all the time. Dreams have many scenes and characters. So I don't necissarily feel that every character is a represantation of your self.

I didn't vote because the mere thought of trying to wrap my head around those options and all the others I feel could be involved started to cook my head and it felt like my brain was about to trickle out my ear. :P

So Everything and Nothing is my answer to what I think a dream character is to me.......

Peace Sensi.

I also, could not answer this question. I really am not sure. I don't think we know enough about dreaming...and APing, etc. to know whether these could be real people on another astral plane or not. I don't think that these characters are manifestations of myself, I cannot explain why...I just feel very disconnected to them alot of the time. Usually they are just kinda part of the scenery. I have trouble communicating with my DCs and have yet to have any real important conversation with one. I'm going to try to make it a goal of mine to get to know my DCs better...right now they are usually just nameless faces, glimpses of people, beings...entities...I don't know what...their faces, always changing...my mind, always playing tricks on me.

...I am alone in alot of my LDs...either flying or playing around...

I guess I should add The hell if I know! to the POLL! :)

I think you can learn something by communicating with your DCs if they are part of your subconscious or of another plane.
Unless they are like you say lucidnina that they are just namesless faces.

Maybe they could be both. Depending on where your mind set is going into the dream. Hell if I know!

hahaha, yep who knows....

It is actually one of my favourite things to do getting to know my DC's. I like to sit and talk and experience them. Most of the time all is good but every now and then i'm thrown that curve ball that makes me question Everything.

Peace Sensi.

I believe that a character is a representation of what has or has not happened. Since it has a certain personality it covers one main thing unless of course it can change itself.

A dream character to me is a real person, even if they only exist in my mind. In a way, I'm saying "I don't know" while saying "Real in some sense". Get it?

I answered other because I suspect both 1) and 2) are accurate at separate or sometimes conjoining times.

The DC may represent someone from the real world, as your mind perceives their response/role would be.

The DC may be created as a counter or advocate character by your mind.

The DC may be representative of yourself or some aspect of yourself.

I'm unprepared to buy that it's something floating in off the astral plane trying to find its checked baggage or car rental receipt. . .

I voted 1.

When I first began to LD, a major driving force was my interest in studying dream characters. Originally, I possessed a genuinely open mind. I thought that it was possible for perhaps some DC's to be projections manifest from somewhere beyond.

I held several interviews with DC's, and I slowely began to understand them as products of the mind's ability to imagine and create (or recreate). Although I still find it amazing that our minds can give us such a convincing impression of a living person, I no longer believe that DC's are residents of a different plane of existence. I've likened the experience of conversing with a DC to trying to speak with an artificially intelligent computer program, because there are certain ideas of which they are incapable of understanding, relating to, or recognizing.

I also agree with the fact that their actions are merely imitations of reality mixed with our own unique views and expectations of our fellow man.

I think it's all of the above. they all vary, according to the purpose of the dream. I'm not sure myself, actually.. I can't find the word for it.. hm.. something that.. represents something significant to you, and/or the dream itself. I would have voted 2, as well.