Yumi and the Nightmare Painter

Nikaro is one of the two co-protagonists of the novel. He is a 19-year-old nightmare painter who lives in Kilahito. He identifies with this role so deeply that he thinks of himself as “Painter,” and this is the name both he and Yumi use for him. Despite this, when the novel begins, Painter feels unmotivated about his job. He is also lonely, but he tries to convince himself that his isolation is a choice. He worries that he is unremarkable but that he is also “without the skill to go underappreciated” (34). He paints only bamboo, and when Yumi observes him doing this, she remarks that he is almost machine-like and that his supposed “art” is rote copying. 

At the same time, Painter shows himself to be goodhearted and heroic when the situation calls for it. He chooses to confront a nightmare when he is off-duty, and he is even able to scare off a stable nightmare that would be outside of the skill set of most nightmare painters. One of his colleagues, Akane, tells Yumi that “Nikaro is the single most talented artist [she’s] ever met” (243), solidifying the fact that he is incredibly skilled, even though he has become listless about his work. Akane explains that he wanted to join the elite Dreamwatch, and Yumi deduces that Painter’s rejection from this elite organization led him to the rut he starts the novel in. Thus, Painter’s character arc develops the theme of The Conflict Between Individuality and Duty but in a markedly different way from Yumi’s overcommitment to her role. Painter tries to cope with his shattered expectations and his low self-esteem by distancing himself from his talents and duties. Thus, he lets his personal struggles get in the way of his responsibilities. 

When Painter ends up swapping bodies with Yumi, it gives him a chance to begin again with a clean slate. He escapes his life and helps someone who does not know about his previous failures. Painter seizes the opportunity to make a good impression on Yumi, and he succeeds. As they form a bond of love and respect, it leads Painter to grow into his hopes for himself. He becomes heroic, fulfilling the assumption that Yumi holds about him. In the novel’s conclusion, he ends up leading the nightmare painters as they defend Kilahito from an influx of dangerous nightmares.

Painter’s arc is also thematically significant because of how his passion for painting reflects the theme of Art as a Reflection of Humanity. While he is initially critical of Yumi’s rock stacking, saying it is not art because it is mechanical, he is the one who initially has a more “machine-like” approach to his work. He focuses solely on his paintings being sufficient to take down nightmares rather than on the process and on their quality. However, he is inspired by witnessing Yumi’s passion for her art; also, he likes having her as an audience for his art. When he paints an image of Yumi, he feels he has “a reason for his masterwork” (357), and his art brings her back to life. Painter represents how art gains great power when it is made with passion and humanity.

Yumi and the Nightmare Painter is a frame narrative, and it is presented as a story that Hoid is narrating to an audience. Hoid is also a minor character within the plot. He spends almost all the book mysteriously frozen into a statue located at the Noodle Pupil, where he is used as a coatrack. 

Hoid frequently appears in many of Brandon Sanderson’s novels that are set within the Cosmere. For instance, throughout the Stormlight Archive series, Hoid plays the storyteller who often comforts characters by telling them fables. He is also the narrator of Tress of the Emerald Sea, which is another “Secret Project” book. Hoid is depicted as being consistently mischievous and humorous, and he brings this same tone to Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. He lightens the mood or adds on to already humorous moments in the novel. In all the Cosmere books, he is consistently depicted as a figure of great, if undefined, power, who is broadly aligned with the protagonists of whichever setting he exists in.

As the narrator of this novel, Hoid injects his own opinions and commentary about the characters and the plot. His commentary highlights important themes and expresses his own views on the subject matter. Hoid repeatedly highlights one of the central themes of the book: Art as a Reflection of Humanity. He says: “Art—and all stories are art, even the ones about real people—is about what it does to you” (323), underscoring how art’s importance lies in how it affects human emotions and ideas. Further, Sanderson uses Hoid to clarify plot twists. When several plot twists come to the fore, Hoid directly addresses readers, saying: “At this point, some of you might be confused” (330); later, he says: “You still have questions, don’t you?” (332). By using Hoid as a storyteller, Sanderson can provide exposition in a direct manner that feels natural within the narrative.

The “father machine” is the name given to the large stone-stacking machine that was made 1,763 years before the events of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter. It is a complex device, created by the scholars of the Institute of Mechanical Solutions. It was given instructions to harvest the Investiture of spirits as a power source and to protect itself. However, when it was turned on, it saw human souls as a valid source of energy and harvested these instead, creating the shroud and nightmares in the process. The souls of the yoki-hijo were too powerful for the machine to permanently consume, so to protect itself from them, the machine trapped them in fake towns and erased their memories every night, so they relived the same day over and over.

Before the events of Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, a spirit was able to free itself from the machine and contact the people of Futinoro. To protect itself, the machine sent an army of nightmares to destroy the entire city. Thirty years later, Yumi draws a spirit away from the machine, which links her and Painter. In response, the machine sends out scholars to investigate this, who act as if they are debuting a prototype of the machine. The machine itself only appears at the end of the book, when Yumi discovers it in the exhibit hall it was first unveiled in, which is now held together by the shroud. The machine is defeated while it tries to destroy Kilahito; Yumi creates a genuine work of art, and this draws out the spirits from the machine since they prefer it to its rote copying.

The father machine is the antagonist of the book and the antithesis of the ideals of artistic expression that are valued within the novel’s theme of Art as a Reflection of Humanity. The machine “didn’t care what it made. All it did was keep going, maintaining its hold on the spirits for power” (349). This cynical, unemotional approach to artistic endeavors is directly contrasted to Yumi’s, who creates art with vulnerability and passion. According to the novel, art is “Something the machine, however capable in technical details, could never understand. Because art is, and always has been, about what it does to us” (352). Thus, the power of art lies in its connection to human emotion and ideas.

Liyun is Yumi’s warden and chief attendant. She is described as a tall woman with a severe appearance and a serious outlook. The novel later reveals that she, like all people in Torio, was killed long ago by the father machine. By day, Liyun takes on her human form to trap the yoki-hijo, and by night, she becomes a nightmare that goes into Kilahito. As a nightmare, she is extremely tall with lupine features.

Liyun initially acts as an antagonist, consistently criticizing Yumi and enforcing a strict schedule onto her life. She often uses backhanded compliments or passive-aggressive statements to demean or talk down to her yoki-hijo, though Liyun technically inhabits an inferior station. She raised Yumi ever since she was a child, and Hoid comments that Liyun was emotionally abusive. Also, as a nightmare, she is the creature that Painter and Yumi try find and the one that almost kills them.

Yet, Liyun’s dedication to her perceived duty makes her act this way; it also motivates her, eventually, to play a key part in helping Yumi and Painter. Painter convinces her to give Yumi the carnival painting, allowing Yumi to remember her experiences with him. Liyun also warns Painter of the nightmare attack, allowing him to rally a defense. Liyun is thus presented as a complex character: She embodies complete commitment to duty and is thus connected to the theme of The Conflict Between Individuality and Duty. Her identity is entirely defined by her role of warden, and this even motivates her to overcome the machine’s commands.