| “ | Mum, please... Please give me the courage... To protect what's important... | „ |
| ~ Helen, NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. |
Helen Cartwright (ヘレン・カートライト Heren Kātoraito) is one the two deuteragonists in NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams. She is a 12 years old violinist from Bellbridge. She is one of two Visitors that possesses the Red Ideya of Courage.
Character Information[]
Physical Appearance[]
Helen has blonde hair tied in a ponytail with a pink hair-tie, blue eyes, and pale skin. She wears a white long sleeved ruffled shirt with a big collar, a pink long-sleeved coat opened with curving collars, a blue slightly pleated skirt with white laced hem on it, black knee-length pants with white cuffs, red shoes with yellow details, brown straps and brown soles, and white socks.
At the concert, Helen wears her hair down and wears a short-sleeved magenta dress with a pleated skirt and bow at the waist with her light pink jacket and dark pink spots. She has a light purple hairclip, as well as a red rose. She also wears magenta shoes.
Personality[]
Helen is very proper and pleasant, being very formal when first meeting Owl and NiGHTS in Nightopia. She is a very feminine young lady with a fondness for music and the color pink. She is also a bit of a scaredy-cat, being frightened by the harmless Octopaw, as well as loud noises and darkness.
Helen is shown to live in a very large home and since her recital held a lot of people in attendance, this may indicate that Helen is from a wealthy family and that she or her mother is well known.
Still a young girl, Helen finds spending time with her friends more appealing than practicing with her mother. She loves her mother very much, but as Helen continuously shuns lessons and disappoints her mother, her guilt grows. She fears to make a mistake during her recital and is plagued by guilt for being so careless while her mother practices dutifully. This drives her to have nightmares and makes her a target for the Nightmarens to take her Ideya.
Her dream worlds are beautiful places or have a strong aesthetic; an ocean ruin, a world made of glass and a beautiful forest. According to NiGHTS, each dream represents a part of Helen's heart, so when she believes a world of glass, it is fragile, meaning that she feels that way about herself.
When Helen accepts her mistakes and vows to protect what is really important to her, she gains renewed courage. In the waking world, she performs at the recital with confidence, pleased to have conquered her fears, impressed her friends, and strengthened her relationship with her mother.
Abilities[]
Blue Chips
Helen is capable of tossing Blue Chips at third level Nightmarens, which will stun them.
Flight
In the Bellbridge level, Helen learns how to fly.
Drill Dash
In the Bellbridge level, Helen also learns how to Drill Dash.
History[]
NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams[]
Story
Helen playing violins with her mother.
Helen is a young violinist, who used to be really close to her mother. However, as Helen grew up, she started spending more time with her friends, making her mother sad and Helen is feeling very guilty about it. Helen and her mother are also praticing for a violion's concert. However, Helen has been skipping training to spend more time with her friends.
One night, Helen has a dream where her and her mother playing violin together. Suddenly, Helen's cellphone (or similar device) rings. Apparently, her friends are calling her. She apologizes to her Mom and puts the violin down, running off to go hang out with her friends. Her mother looks sadly down at the nearby calendar: it's only a week or less until Helen's violin recital.
In the next scene, Helen is walking down the street with her friends eating ice cream. As they're walking and laughing, Helen looks in one of the shop windows and sees violins. She stands there a moment looking sad and thoughtful; she turns away, quietly apologizing to her mother for running off during practice. She sees her mother's reflection in the window looking sad, when suddenly she snarls and turns into a monster and the window breaks, Helen falls back to see her two friends morph into smoke-like monsters. Helen, frightened, runs away. As she runs, she sees a bright light in front of her and spreads out her arms.
Helen then, falls into the Dream Gate, where Owl greets and introduces the Night Dimension to her. Eventually, Helen meets NiGHTS, who asks her if she'd like to fly around to have fun by dualizing with them. Helen gives a try and after flying for a while, they are surprised by a door to a Nightopia (Aqua Garden) appearing at the Dream Gate, which was created by Helen's red Ideya.
Helen discovers she has a Red Ideya.
NiGHTS and Helen are about to explore the new worlds, when they are surprised by Reala, who grabs NiGHTS by their neck and imprisons them inside a NiGHTS Capture in Aqua Garden as a punishment for their rebellion. However, Helen goes after NiGHTS and she is able to free NiGHTS with her red Ideya. After destroying the NiGHTS Captures, NiGHTS and Helen are attacked by Girania. After defeating the Nightmaren, Helen learns that she has lost four Ideyas on her way to the Night Dimension and starts a quest with NiGHTS, to recover them. According to Owl, once she retrives them all, peace will be restored in Nightopia and her heart will win over the Nightmarens.
Helen finds Will in her dream.
Helen returns to Aqua Garden and eventually finds her White Ideya of Purity. This makes a door to Crystal Castle appears. NiGHTS, Helen and Owl all go to the new Nightopia, looking for the next Ideya, the Blue Ideya of Intelligence. At one moment, Helen is exploring Crystal Castle, when she meets William "Will" Taylor, a boy who was sent to Crystal Castle by Reala. Will is lost in the castle and needs to find a door to go back to his own Dream World. As Helen knows where the door is, she guides Will to it. Before going back to his world, Will befriends Helen. Later, Helen finds her Blue Ideya of Intelligence and a door to Memory Forest appears.
NiGHTS and Helen are exploring Memory Forest, when Reala appears again and reveals to Helen that NiGHTS is a Nightmaren, which shocks Helen. Reala takes this opportunity to open a portal below Helen, which transports her to another world. Helen wakes up in Delight City with Will next to her, trying to wake her up. She learns that she is now in Will's dream world, and Will guides Helen back to her Dream World.
Helen returns to the Dream Gate and learns that Reala imprisoned NiGHTS in Memory Forest. She rescues NiGHTS and eventually finds the Green Ideya of Growth.
Bellbridge
With three of four Ideyas recovered, Helen returns to the Dream Gate, where giant stairs mysteriously appear on a hill. According to Owl, these stairs haven't appeared in the Dream Gate for thousands of years. NiGHTS and Helen go up the stairs and are attacked by the God of the Nightmarens, Wizeman, who drags both into the Dark Ocean, promising to reset NiGHTS by replacing their mind and soul with a more obedient one. But before that happens, he leaves NiGHTS chained at Bellbridge clock tower for unknown reasons.
Helen somehow escapes from Wizeman and she is so determined to save NiGHTS, that her red Ideya of courage grants her with the power of flight. Helen flies through the city of Bellbridge to save NiGHTS, who is imprisoned at the top of Bellbridge's clock tower, when Wizeman attacks her and steals her red ideya, making Helen fall. However, she is rescued by Will, who somehow restores her red Ideya and Helen starts flying again. Together, the visitors find NiGHTS at the top of the Bellbridge tower and save them in time before Wizeman resets NiGHTS. As the trio is reunited, NiGHTS, Will and Helen, merge together into two NiGHTS and to fight against Wizeman. After being defeated, Wizeman turns into a purple orb, which is slowly disappearing. Before fading away entirely, Wizeman reveals that he will always exists as long as evil still lurks within the hearts of humans. Shortly after, Helen wakes up.
Ending
Helen wakes up determined to play with her mother in the concert. The scene changes to the outside of a large building in the city, where Helen's mother is awaiting her. Helen comes rushing up the steps to her, in a different outfit, panting and carrying her violin case. Her mother says her name happily in relief, and Helen stands up and pulls her ponytail down, swinging her hair slightly and smiles then winks.
Helen and her mother playing in the concert.
The scene changes to a concert hall with a crowd of people in the audience. Helen and her mother play with the background piano music, moving side by side and playing without hesitation. Helen feels herself enjoying the recital, and as she slightly swings around, she changes back into her normal outfit flying in Bellbridge towards the moon with her eyes closed. As the recital ends, the audience claps loudly, and Helen and her mother bow. Helen smiles and puts her arm around her mother's and leans on her gently to her mother's surprise. Helen's mother then looks up to the crowd and puts her arm on her daughter's hand.
Secret Ending
In the secret ending, the final Ideya of Hope appears on the Dream Gate's staircase. But the moment NiGHTS is about to get it, they are surprised by Wizeman, who knocks NiGHTS out and drags them down with the Yellow Ideya. Just like in the normal ending, Wizeman promises to reset NiGHTS, but once again, all he does is leaving NiGHTS chained at the Bellbridge clock tower and the two Visitors save NiGHTS before Wizeman resets them.
In this ending however, the trio is surprised by Reala, and so NiGHTS must battle him a final time to reach Wizeman. As darkness envelopes Bellbridge, the three Dualize and face Wizeman the Wicked together. But in this ending, Wizeman reveals that if NiGHTS destroys him, all of his creations will be destroyed as well, including NiGHTS themself. Will and Helen can't bear to lose NiGHTS but are reassured of their own strength and free will, so they work together to defeat him. After NiGHTS, Will, and Helen defeat Wizeman, NIGHTS delivers a final bow before fading away into white light.
Helen sad that NiGHTS is gone.
Helen then, wakes up crying and thanking NiGHTS, then scene of the violin concert repeats. In the secret ending however, there is an extra cutscene showing what happens after this scenes. After the concert, Helen is alone with her mother on the outside of the now empty concert's theater and she starts playing Dreams Dreams on the violin. A blackout suddenly happens, and Helen screams, closing her eyes and curling into a ball. When the lights come back on and she opens her eyes, Will is standing there with his hand out. Helen reaches out to take it, and it begins to snow. The two laughs and the screen fades out.
After the credits, Helen is shown sleeping at her home, then the camera flies to the top of Bellbridge spire, where NiGHTS is seen playing their invisible flute, revealing that they somehow survived.
Descriptions and Profiles[]
English bio (Journey of Dreams)[]
"12-year old Helen lives in a quiet, upper-class neighborhood in the great city of Bellbridge. Helen and her mother were always very close, spending their days together, going shopping, studying, picking out clothes, and other such things. Most importantly, Helen learned to play the violin from her mother, starting from a very young age, and she loved it so. After school, the two of them would play together out on the terrace behind her home. Helen's dream was that one day, she would play the violin in concert on stage.
However, as young Helen grew up and started to go from being a little girl to a young woman, her relationship with her mother began to change. She was well-mannered, kind, and popular in school. She had many friends in school, and her social life soon began to take away from her time with her mother- and from the time she spent with that old-fashioned violin, her dream to one day play on stage gradually becoming forgotten. Her feelings for her mother were kept deep inside, though, and subconsciously, she began to feel a deep sense of guilt over the distance that had grown between them, and this guilt manifested itself in the form of recurring nightmares. One night, though, while fleeing from these dark visions in her head, she ended up in a strange new world, where she encountered a mysterious dream-dweller named NiGHTS."[1]
Gallery[]
.png "Helen render (2).png (116 KB)")
.jpg "Labyrinth Guide screenshot (2).jpg (115 KB)")
.png "Helen Mother screenshot (3).png (1.05 MB)")
Trivia[]
- Helen seems to come from an upper-class family, much like Claris Sinclair.
- Helen, like Elliot, Claris and Will, was considered to make an appearance as a racer in Sonic & All-Stars Racing Transformed, where she'd drive NiGHTS shapeshifted as the car.[2] However, a Nightopian was selected to be the driver over her and the other visitors.
- Helen was indirectly mentioned in the NiGHTS' notification in Sonic Runners, being addressed by the name "unsure young girl".[3]
- Helen seems to resemble Emilia from Phantasy Star Portable 2 as well as Princess Peach from the Super Mario franchise and sounds similar to Wendy Darling from the Disney movie Peter Pan and Alice from the Disney movie Alice in Wonderland, though she is not voiced by Kathryn Beaumont.
- For some reason, in one part of the game while Helen and NiGHTS are in Memory Forest, Helen's voice actress somewhat loses her British voice.