Monsters are the primary antagonists of Among the Sleep and its prologue DLC. The original game features three monsters, while the DLC features three; these sets are exclusive.
The monsters' appearances are filtered through the imagination of The Toddler. As such, their appearances are relatively abstract and yet also quite simple.
Upon detecting a monster's presence, The Toddler will panic, manifesting as distorted vision and disturbing audio. If they make contact, The Toddler suffers a Game Over and must continue from an earlier portion of the stage. However, monsters are capable of sneaking up quietly behind the Toddler without triggering any of these cues, so the player should always be aware in all directions.
Original game[]
Throughout the game, the player is followed by three monsters: The Stranger (Harald) who appears briefly in the first level, The Forest Lady (Hyda) that haunts the third level, and The Coat Monster (Heap) who haunts the final level. It should be noted that Harald does not actually attack or pose any threat to the player. The only monsters that actually harm the player are Hyda and Heap.
The original game contains three monsters. They represent The Mother, who is an alcoholic, at different stages of her drinking.
The Dark Figure (Harald)[]
Harald as he appears during a jumpscare.
The Dark Figure or The Stranger, is the first monster to appear in the game. He is a silhouette of a tall figure wearing boots and toting an umbrella. The figure represents the Toddler's Mother while leaving the house at night to purchase beer.
Or, it is a representation of the mother and her corrupted motherly instinct. If the child is startled by his mother, he may see her in this form. As seen in the DLC, the shadow is constantly patrolling the halls and once the child is in sight, it attacks. The Dark Figure represents the father in the DLC, rather than the mother.
Because of The Mother's temporary absence, no monster attacks the boy early in the game. However, a jump scare of the dark figure occurs as a scripted event within the house.
The Stranger can also be seen in the corner of the living room when the player walks through it for the first time. He appears for a split second behind the couch to the right of the door before disappearing.
The Stranger finally appears in the playground where he locks the door carrying a shovel instead. HE also appears in the floodlights part after Teddy's arm was ripped off by Heap.
The Forest Lady (Hyda)[]
The Forest Lady appears in the third level, The Forested House, and it represents The Mother when she's drinking and in sorrow.
Hyda does not appear in the first portion of the map, and is only shown to be present when she screams in the background just before the player picks up the second puzzle piece.
Later, when venturing the eastern area of the map, she makes her first appearance. She is seen through the window in the house, standing at the well. After a short time standing near the well, Hyda walks off-screen and disappears. When the player fishes out the puzzle piece, she stalks them through the woods, where they must hide under furniture to evade her.
When the player collects the square key in the outdoor storage, she passes by outside. After this, she poses an actual threat to the player.
She appears one last time in the southern area of the house, the library. She appears straight ahead in the river, and the player must find a route past her or hide underneath cover to get through. On each edge of the river, the player must cross planks to reach the other side, where she will likely reappear. Once the player reaches the final door to the bedroom, they must hide one last time under the chair or the bed to avoid her, or quickly move to the vent before she can grab the player.
When the player visits the playhouse for the third time, Teddy will comment on how disturbing and unusual the creature is, and state that she feels sorrow and desperation.
Hyda also appears in the Prologue when the player walks into a hallway and is seen on a chair drinking a bottle. She finally appears, in the closet floodlights scene, after Teddy's arms was ripped.
The Coat Figure (Heap)[]
The Coat Figure appears in the fourth level, The Closet, and represents The Mother while she is hungover from drinking.
The creature first appears as a brief image in the corridor after crossing the bridge, serving only as a harmless jumpscare. Soon after, the player will come across a transforming painting identical to those in the previous chapter, only this time it cannot be passed through, and merely serves as a hint as to where the next key is, showing the star key bottle being snatched away by the monster and the location it moved it to.
The creature then begins stalking the player around the level, making harmless scripted appearances as they search for the key. The first is when it passes by across the broken planks after the player smashes a bottle containing the moon key, the second is when it passes ahead after freeing the bridge the second time, the third is when it shrieks in rage after the star bottle is broken in the kitchen, and the final time is when it appears behind a pile of junk after an unavoidable bottle is smashed. From then on, the monster will pose a real threat to the player.
After crawling under another junk pile, the player will come across a tall wall of broken planks, which acts as the spawn point for the monster if a bottle breaks. The player will then traverse through a U-shaped hallway, which contains set-ups of bottles that will alert it when smashed. When the player gets through it and hides as it appears, they will reach the end and return to the star door to unlock the final memory.
In the final sequence of the level, just as the toddler is about to escape with the final memory into the exit tube, it grabs him by the leg and seizes Teddy, causing his arm to be torn off and the toddler to fall down the pit as it leaves with Teddy.
During the big reveal scene with the floodlights, the monster appears one last time as a vision, emerging from the darkness before the light flashes off.
It is implied in the introductory sequence that The Toddler frequently hides in the closet from the Mother, and it is shown after completing the Closet level, that it indeed takes place hiding in the actual closet. This may cause her attempts to seize him to appear like the various coats in the closet are attacking him, explaining why this monster resembles a trench coat and why all such coats among the house appear so imposing.
Heap appears one final time in The Prologue, when he passes by a doorway in one of the corridors as the player walks upstairs.
Prologue DLC[]
The prologue DLC takes place in an unknown amount of time before the main game and features two monsters unique to itself.
The Silhouette (Harald)[]
While wandering the house, the Toddler must evade a shadowy silhouette. This shadow is a re-textured version of The Stranger, but in the DLC, it's much more transparent. It's precise behavior and symbolism are unknown; however, it likely represents The Father in some way, as he is the only one in the house. The Shadow does not attempt to chase the player in any way; it only patrols the house until the player draws near, which it then will attack. He is also seen carrying a shadowy cane (Not really seen as much, but a little invisible), which is in the same color painted in the livery as the monster itself. The monster could be an old shadow of the father. Or if the child imagines as if the father died of old age, and practically turned into a shadowy silhouette creature, haunting through the shadows.
You can see it while in the basement, after rescuing an animal, walk up the stairs and you will catch a quick peek of The Shadow glaring at you.
The Furnace Monster (Hons)[]
In the basement of the house is a large, retro-style furnace. Upon moving far enough into a dark spot in front of the Furnace, it will suddenly come alive, roaring and blazing, and chase after the player with clumsy hops.
If the player then moves out of its activation zone, it will instantly return to its original space and wait to be awakened again.
In front of it are two light switches that can only be reached by climbing the nearby boxes. When the player is within the light toggled by these switches, The Furnace returns to dormancy.
Hons most likely represents how children may interpret certain objects as having sentience, due to some having face-like attributes.
The Nightmare (Teddy as a disguise)
The final scene of an unused ending in the museum after the prologue chapter, reveals a large demon like monster with a skeleton like face. First, it will appear as teddy, then an arm will come out and teddy will fall down, revealing the monster. As the crib moves forward, the monster begins to talk like Teddy and explains the ingredients that need to be in his pot.
It only appears as a non threat to the player until it lastly picks up the player, sending him to the pot, back to the museum.
