Is Zoë in a dream? Theory

[JulieJuice]

I've replayed the first book three times now, and I've noticed a few things that makes me wonder if perhaps Zoë is in a dream. This is of course only a theory, and i'm not convinced myself if this is how it actually is, but i wanted to share my thoughts and see if anyone else has thought the same thing.
While i was running around in the city (as Zoë, not in real life :p ) i overheard a conversation where two people were saying "What if this is a dream? What if we're dreaming now, and when we connect to the dream machine we wake up?" A while after i ran past a women who said "wake up" as i went past her, and then later another women said "you're still dreaming" while i ran past her.
Then when i went to find Nela, and the little girl i saved in storytime came up to mr, and after telling me how i saved her she goes on to saying that she is reading a book about a girl who's in a dream, but doesn't realise it herself.
So, all these things made me wonder, what if Zoë is in a dream?
She probably isn't, but i thought it would be fun to see if anyone else had thought about this :)

[Arsene Lupin]

I just started the game a couple hours ago, and haven't played Dreamfall TLJ yet, but I had the same thought. Mostly due to all the random named mooks in the city you can look at who are "familiar." So maybe those are people from Zoe's memory that were drudged up to become NPC portraits, or maybe the "dream" recycles the same NPC model or something?

Or maybe it's just placeholder text for people we will be speaking to later on in the story? I don't know.

I think it's a valid theory, and may well be the case... but speaking as a writer I think it would ve a very bad idea from a narrative perspective. Yes, Chapters is very much a sequel, but at the same time it needs to be approachable to gamers that haven't played either of the other games. We immediately need to accept that there are two worlds, Stark and Arcadia, which is fairly easy... and then the third world in the form of Storytime. All this works--but then to add a fourth world, a Dream-Arcadia, would just be a needless complication, and would alienate some gamers.

It would also somewhat invalidate Zoe's prologue, which is all about waking up from a dream. Unless dream cycles ends up being the theme of the game? TL;DR, I don't know, maybe.

[EasternTime]

Lol, wait-wait-wait! I read book once, it was "Dangerous Dreams" dilogy by Andre Norton (Knave of Dreams and Perilous Dreams books exactly). At one of them there was a story about dreaming girl, who hasn't realize that she's in dream, BUT! Also there is corporation selling controllable dreams (HIVE, if I remember this right), people trapped in dreams and loops, people who can control other's dreams and - that's the main part - something that spoiled dreams, described like mass. I read this book in translation to my native language (sorry for my English btw), but nickname of this thing probably was Undreaming (Неспящий). First book ends with main hero (girl-employee of this corp, who can control dreams) awaken from comatose dream with her client.
I don't pretend to be very accurate (I read this book like 3 years ago last time), but it funny to draw a parallels between this books and game. Maybe this is exactly the book that girl reads.

[EasternTime]

And yes, I'm not sure about exact name of books. But I know it was written by Andre Norton - I hold it in my hand now, but name of book is just "Andre Norton - Dangerous Dreams" if I translate it from Russian. "Андре Нортон - Опасные сны". Someone may inspect it.

[Zelena]

maybe, Zöe is all imagining that... imagining that April is dead... imagining a city where she is running through :) maybe your right and all this is a big dream and if she wakes up she will find more questions.. oh ♥♥♥♥ I do not want to have an open end :O

[Arsene Lupin]

Well, I finished the game yesterday. So disappointing. Anyway, apparently the arabic text in the market says things like "you're in a dream" and "wake up," so... maybe she is in a dream? But why would she dream a surveilance bug and a random white-haired guy spying on her?

[CoffeeKittee]

According to the previous two games, there are two worlds, Stark and Arcadia, well....then Storytime, in-betwee? These aren't as much as dreams, as different dimensions/realities.
The dream-machine that is released is very popular, everyone is talking about it, the ads are everywhere. This device does more than provide mental stimulus...it seems like this machine connects to other worlds and affects the balance.
It might seem like Zoe is dreaming because people around her are dreaming. The machine is released to manipulate humans,in Storytime, Zoe sees how dangerous it is.
These aren't normal sleeping dreams.
The question in this topic is a bit philosophical, for what is dream, what is reality, etc but it doesn't have to be this complicated since you can ask yourselves the same thing :-p
Overall, it appears that Zoe is back in Stark after awaking from coma. She has amnesia.
The characters that Zoe overhead talk about whether or not dream-machine is actually reality are just contemplating that...everyone's obsessed with it, so there's a lot of dream themes on that. Like a new product that comes out and everyone is talking.

[Arsene Lupin]

...It doesn't really matter that Stark/Arkadia are different dimensions instead of dreams... the point is they are different settings, and Storytime is a third setting, and Zoe in a dream-Arkadia would be a FOURTH setting... which is all a bit much to dump on new players.

And you're explanation doesn't quite account for the various "clues" that Zoe is in a dream, like the text, the weirdness with her boyfriend, the texture dialog, etc.

[Speedy☆☺]

April is dead. Zoe can't remember not because she's in a dream but because she's in a waking haze. April is getting reborn.

[Indiana]

Sorry if this is out of context, but if Zoe is dreaming wouldn't it be dreaming of stark? That was the normal world and Arkadia was the different world. Just wondering.

[KnightErrant]

The thought has crossed my mind.

[meyersmedia]

Thats what all the machines in town are probably. The ones Zoe touches and they are warm to then touch. They are machines that keep everybody in the dream state. The Chinese lady said there is much underground. Probably wadicorp headquarters where they run the machines from.

[lilmiscelaneous]

I think there is a lot of evidence to support the theory. A few people tell her to "wake up" for one thing. Queenie says it, her therapist says it. And as mentioned before random people say it. Also the little girl states that she is reading a story about someone who is dreaming but doesn't know she is dreaming.
Also I am noticing other things that might just be funny coincidences. Ada, for one, looks and sounds just like Zoe's gym trainer. Mira keeps calling her "petal" which is the same nickname Blind Bob gave her. In Zoe's lab there is a lion on the wall. In Dreamfall, the symbol on the spider in Reza's apartment had a golden lion's head on it.
Maybe random memories of Zoe's are seeping into this dream state she is in. After all she was trying hard to uncover conspiracies before her coma. It would make sense that there is a government guy following her around, bugging her apartment, and bribing her therapist.

I dunno this is just what I observed. After the ending to book two I can see this theory coming to light in book three.

[Mr. Nobody]

I think there has been too much effort and depth put into Europolis and the characters to suddenly pull the "It's all a dream! Nothing was real." plot twist. However, that doesn't mean I don't think Zoe herself is dreaming.

Here's my theory:

Everything that is happening in Europolis is 100% real. I think Zoe's real body was still in Storytime or some other place (possibly even still in her coma although that raises a million other questions about her father/Reza). Zoe herself I believe had managed to dream herself into Stark. You may think this is weird but in the previous game (minor spoiler) Zoe does the exact same thing by dreaming herself into Arcadia while her body still resides in Stark. If she can do this with Arcadia, what reason is there for her not to be able to dream herself into Stark from somewhere else?

I think the jolt from the explosion at the end of chapter 2 jarred her out of the dream and awoke her for real this time. Her awakening on what appears to be the same hospital bed from before gives support to her still having been in a coma.

This allows for everything that happened in Europolis to still be very important and still be very much real. It also explains all the weird comments by Queenie and others that hint at Zoe's dreaming.