Welcome to Prime Time: An RPG Player’s Guide to Freddy Krueger
Freddy Krueger is a killer character. But how do you play the knife-fingered killer when the rules of the nightmare world are so wiggly?
He’s a true horror icon, and unlike many of his contemporaries, he’s got one-liners to last a lifetime. Freddy Krueger is the child-stalking demon roaming around a dream world that’s nearly limitless. From movies to video games, Freddy’s character provides endless amounts of fun—and blood.
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Fred Krueger: Son of 1,000 Maniacs
As much fun as his kill count might be, Fred Krueger’s backstory is anything but a good time. He was born to Amanda Krueger, a nun who was raped and held captive by the inmates at the Hathaway House. In the film’s flashback, actor Robert Englund appears among them, implying that this character could, perhaps, be Fred’s biological father.
Growing up, young Fred was brutally abused by his adoptive father. His true parentage was well-known throughout the town, so the children at school made fun of him, calling him the “Son of 1,000 Maniacs”. Damn, kids are mean!
Fred displayed signs that he wasn’t an emotionally stable kid in his childhood and teen years. This includes acts of self-mutilation and the murder of a certain class hamster. When he became an adult, he got a job at the Springwood power plant. He married a woman named Loretta, and the two had a daughter named Katherine.
But his need for revenge against his childhood bullies got the best of him, as did his bloodlust. Fred started kidnapping and killing the children of his old bullies. The community dubbed him the Springwood Slasher. He was eventually caught and arrested, but because of a processing error, he was allowed to walk free. So, the families of the children who had been murdered, including Fred’s old childhood bullies, trapped him in the power plant where he murdered his victims and burned him alive.
Freddy Krueger: The Scourge of Springwood
As he dies, the lore has it that Fred makes a pact with three Dream Demons, who are attracted to his soul because he’s just that evil! His body dies in the fire, but his spirit lives on in the realm of dreams. His skin is burned, scarred, and distorted, and he wears his finger-blade gloves that he made himself because he’s so crafty!
Freddy Krueger’s mission now is to take revenge on the children of the parents who burned him alive. It all goes back to the bullies, folks. So Fred uses his new powers to pop into the dreams of high schooler Nancy Thompson and her friends, where he can kill people in their dreams—and thus in the real world.
One, two,
– the creepiest little girl band ever
Freddy’s coming for you.
Three, four,
better lock your door
Five, six,
grab a crucifix.
Seven, eight,
gonna stay up late.
Nine, ten,
never sleep again….
As Freddy slashes his way through Nancy’s core friend group (and ruins two perfectly good bedrooms with a whole lotta blood), the parents reveal what happened to Fred. It’s a survival game to stay awake, and in the end, Nancy conquers Freddy by refusing to feed him the energy of her dreams—and he appears to be dead.
Mmmm, but he’s not. You should just get used to that.
In Dream Warriors, Freddy’s original Final Girl, Nancy Thompson, is killed while protecting the next generation of his victims. It’s also the first time we see his victims team up to fight against him in the dream world.
The Final Nightmare introduces us to Fred Krueger’s surviving daughter Katherine. She manages to pull him into the physical world and explodes him, sending the three dream demons apparently wriggling around inside of him off into the world.
Freddy & Jason: Undead Frienemies 4eva
When his supernatural-slasher colleague Jason Voorhees was sent to Hell, Freddy scooped up his treasured hockey mask as a bargaining chip to get to Earth and kebob more teenagers, I guess. Common goals, right?
Essentially, Freddy needed to be remembered again so he could come back from Hell and get his murder on. But since all the new residents of Springwood didn’t know who he was, he was stuck. But since Jason can come back at his own whim and delight, he could go to Springwood, off some kids, and people would assume it was Freddy. His story would be told in fear again and viola! Freddy’s back. Again.
But Jason is an overachiever with a Tiger mom, and now that Freddy’s back, Jason is hurting Freddy’s numbers. The two duke it out, including Freddy taking a nosedive right into Jason’s memories. It’s silly, it’s fun, and it ends with the two battling it out. Krueger is decapitated, but let’s face it, you can’t keep a gruesome man like him down for long.
Freddy Krueger’s Powers and Abilities
Freddy’s abilities between movies follow about as much physics as the dream world he lurks around in. One rule is very clear: if he hurts you in the dream, he hurts you in real life. Otherwise, he appears to have control over a lot of aspects of the dream world. He can shape the environment (to the same or great effect than his victims.) And he’s got those famous stabby-finger gloves we love so much.
In the second movie, he attempts to make his way back into the real world by possessing the mind and body of Jesse, the kid who had moved into Nancy’s old house. Freddy’s Revenge gets really weird with the rules regarding what Freddy can and can’t do in the physical world. That’s mostly because the film is loaded with queer subtext. Freddy possessing Jesse is best seen as a metaphor for the teenager’s suppressed gay desires. It really appear in the subsequent films as an ability.
Over the course of many, many movies, Freddy Krueger continuously comes after the kids of Springwood. In Dream Warriors, we find out that Freddy can not be killed by doing something mystical with his bones. Nice try, though, y’all. But it is revealed in the same movie that the more souls he takes, the more powerful he becomes. So, the strength of his abilities grows from movie to movie.
The fifth installment Final Nightmare shows him able to mass-hypnotize the whole town of Springwood, which is pretty impressive. And he’s also able to make the people he’s killed just not exist? Like, no memory of them. That’s… okay.
The idea is that Freddy Krueger can reanimate as long as his legend is still rolling. He needs to be remembered and feared to be able to return. Otherwise, he’s just stuck in Hell.
What Are Freddy’s Weaknesses?
When he was killed in his pre-dream life, Fred Krueger was burned alive. While he’s not explicitly afraid of fire in the dream world, it’s often a theme that comes back around in scenes where characters are battling it out against him.
While there usually isn’t safety in numbers by the time the credits roll, Freddy’s victims have found ways to band together thanks to a special ability to pull others into dreams. Patricia Arquette’s character in Dream Warriors does just that, and the skill is later passed to another character in the next film.
Outside of that, your best bet is to grab Freddy and pull him into the waking world. Having a hold of him and being able to wake yourself up isn’t so easy, though.
READ MORE: D&D: How to Play a Final Girl
Fred’s Personality
Freddy has become famous for his one-liners. If he’s around, someone is getting killed. The kill is going to be creative, and the killing line? Well, some are better than others. But when it comes to getting inside the mind of Fred Krueger, plop on a worn fedora and channel your best murder-themed Dad-jokes.
It’s not explicitly stated in the films, but it’s implied that Fred was a real pervert. And not in the fun, consenting-adults kinda way. The movies feature a lot of tongue spots and there are quite a few suggestive scenes throughout.
If you’re creating a Freddy Krueger character for your D&D or Call of Cthulhu campaign, be sure you’re mindful of the consent of the other players. Freddy is a character that can easily be played without the sexual under (and over) tones.
