Hey hey, welcome back to our Prythian Court series! Today, we're going to be doing something just slightly different, since the Night Court is split between two courts: The Court of Nightmares and The Court of Dreams.
The Court of Nightmares was, for thousands of years, the official, public-facing seat of the Night Court. Officially run by High Lord Rhysand, governed by his cousin Morrigan, and overseen locally by Morrigan's father Kier, the Court of Nightmares is not somewhere anyone from the outside really wants to find themselves. The cititzens of the Hewn City live to act out their impulses, sometimes classily and sometimes not. They're masters of manipulation, interrogation, and cruelty, and delight in making people feel uncomfortable in their city carved out of their massive mountain.
Like the others, I've tried my best to capture the essence of the Court of Nightmares here on this playlist, not necessarily adding a bunch of songs that remind me of Rhysand, Morrigan, or anyone else. If you haven't read the books, this series may be a little confusing for you, but my remedy for that is to either read them or to just enjoy the playlists for what they are.
Below is a sampling of my Court of Nightmares Playlist, which is naturally much too long to be compressed into a single post. You can check out the full list by following me on Apple Music @audioaesthetics. Disclaimer: I do not own any character or property listed below, I'm just a huge fan and love to make playlists for my favorite fandoms.
Miss M****r by AFI (written by J. Puget, H. Burgan, A. Carson, D. Havok)
Featured on AFI's 2006 album Decemberunderground, this song is a great one to represent the ruling female members of the ruling class, like Morrigan, Amren, Nesta, and even Feyre (but not Elain, obviously). The females in the Court of Nightmares have to be particularly thick-skinned, even if they find certain duties distasteful. Also it's fun to imagine the Inner Circle playing this on Guitar Hero.
Hey, Miss M****r, can I/Hey, Miss M****r, can I/Make beauty stay if I/Take my life, oh, oh, oh/With just a look, they shook/And heavens bowed before him/Simply a look can break your heart/The stars that pierce the sky/He left them all behind/We’re left to wonder why/He left us all behind
Back to Black by Amy Winehouse (written by A. Winehouse, M. Ronson)
Featured on Winehouse's 2006 album Back to Black, this song has an appropriately spooky and sultry vibe for this Court, as well as a shoutout to their signature color. It's easy to picture this played in an underground ballroom with candlelight. Plus, Amy Winehouse.
He left no time to regret/Kept his dick wet with his same old safe bet/Me and my head high/And my tears dry get on without my guy/You went back to what you knew/So far removed from all that we went through/And I tread a troubled track/My odds are stacked, I’ll go back to black/We only said goodbye with words/I died a hundred times/You go back to her and I go back to/I go back to us
bury a friend by Billie Eilish (written by B. O'Connell, F. O'Connell)
Featured on Eilish's 2019 album WHEN WE ALL FALL ASLEEP, WHERE DO WE GO?, this song gives off the vibe of the eeriness of the Court of Nightmares. The key to survival there is personal detachment, and getting too close to anyone could be seen as suspicious. It's a fairly lonely existence, but seen as worthy by the social climbers.
What do you want from me, why don’t you run from me/What are you wondering, what do you know/Why aren’t you scared of me, why do you care for me/When we all fall asleep, where do we go/Say it, spit it out, what is it exactly/You’re paying, is the amount cleaning you out, am I satisfactory/Today, I’m thinking about the things that are deadly/The way I’m drinking you down like I wanna drown, like I wanna end me/Step on the glass, staple your tongue, ah/Bury a friend, try to wake up, ah/C******l class, k*****g the son, ah/Bury a friend, I wanna end me
Human Sacrifice by Childish Gambino (written by D. Glover, D. Natche, E. Froese, J. Schmoelling, C. Franke, E. Weisfeld)
Featured on Gambino's 2024 album Atavista, this song feels like it could be played in the throne room of the Hewn City with its hypnotic beat. Titlewise it may fit in better with the court at Hybern, but it's still a very danceable song. It's giving primal, yet sophisticated.
I cannot explain the feeling, I’m alone/The loneliness/I cannot explain the feeling, I’m alone/The loneliness/I cannot explain the feeling, I’m alone/Loneliness/I cannot explain the feeling, I’m alone/The loneliness/Secrets, heartbeat/Find you, lovely/Secrets, heartbeat/Find you, lovely/Turn all the lights out/We shine brighter in the dark/We shine brighter in the dark/We shine brighter in the dark/Turn all the lights out/We shine brighter in the dark/We shine brighter in the dark/We shine brighter in the dark/I’m hoping, praying, we are together/No matter the weather, I get lost sometimes/I know it means that we are forever/But never means never, it’s so hard to find
Black Magic by Eminem & Skylar Grey (written by J. Dezuzio, L. Resto, M. Mathers, H. Hafermann, E. Taylor)
Featured on Eminem's 2020 album Music To Be M******d By - Side B, this song definitely fits the essence of cruelty within this Court. Love matches aren't even remotely important in The Hewn City, and everyone is looking for a chance to get ahead, even if it means screwing over someone you're supposed to love. It makes more and more sense why Autumn and this sect of Night get along as well as they do.
Black magic, night walker, she haunts me like no other/Nobody told me love is pain, oh/Black magic, dark water surrounds me like no other/She’s got my heart in chains/We’re volatile, I can’t call it, though/It’s like too large a peg, and too small a hole/But she cheats and I catch her like the common cold/Last time, I broke her collarbone, she’s intolerable/All I know is that the sex is phenomenal, though/We’re an unlikely pair, like two different Nike Airs/But I’m the same size she wears, so I think we’re soulmates though/People don’t like us together, but like we care/Yeah, but God strike me dead, she knows that I would walk over hot coals/For her with both of my feet bare/But as soon as I ask to hit, it’s like she grabs a switch/And turns me over her knee, 'cause my ass is whipped, yeah/And I got her back, but I’m spineless, so when she stabs me in mine/It’s like I just can’t feel the knife as she pokes, jabs it, and slices/One minute, she’ll build me up, the next, she’ll push me ‘round/Probably why she calls me dumbbell, she lifts me up, then puts me down/But I am under her thumbnail, I must be under her spell/It’s like looking right into a gun barrel/But none of these hoes can fuck with my girl/She got that
2 Minutes to Midnight by Iron Maiden (written by B. Dickinson, A. Smith)
Featured on Iron Maiden's 1984 album Powerslave, this song may be too violent in nature for me but it would fit right in at the Court of Nightmares. Iron Maiden goes really hard, just like these citizens do. Metalheads, this one's on here for you.
K**l for gain or s***t to maim, we don’t need a reason/The golden goose is on the loose and never out of season/Some blackened pride still burns inside, this shell of bloody treason/Here’s my gun for a barrel of fun, for the love of living death/The k***er’s breed or the demon’s seed/The glamour, the fortune, the pain/Go to war again, blood is freedom’s stain/Don’t you pray for my soul anymore/2 minutes to midnight/The hands that threaten doom/2 minutes to midnight/To k**l the unborn in the womb
Freak On a Leash by Korn (written by J. Davis, B. Welch, D. Silveria, J. Shaffer, R. Arvizu)
Featured on Korn's 1998 album Follow The Leader, this song could easily be the inner monologue of a Court member who wants to be free of this toxic environment. It's easy to lose yourself in darkness if there's too much of it, and we know there are citizens in this Court that are always looking for a light to help escape it. Also, this song's just a verified banger.
Something takes a part of me/Something lost and never seen/Every time I start to believe/Something’s r***d and taken from me, from me/Life’s gotta always be messing with me/Can’t it chill and let me be free/Can’t I take away all this pain/I try to every night, all in vain, in vain/Sometimes I cannot take this place/Sometimes it’s my life I can’t taste/Sometimes I cannot feel my face/You’ll never see me fall from grace/Something takes a part of me/You and I were meant to be/A cheap fuck for me to lay/Something takes a part of me
Bleed It Out by LINKIN PARK (written by D. Farrell, M. Shinoda, R. Bourdon, B. Delson, C. Bennington, J. Hahn)
Featured on Linkin Park's 2007 album Minutes to Midnight, this song is a verified banger that's just aggressive enough for the Hewn City. It's maybe not classy enough for a night at court, but I could see the Darkbringer soldiers amping themselves up to it before a battle. The Night Court's Spymaster could probably also jam out to it, who knows?
Yeah, here we go for the hundredth time, hand grenade pins in every line/Throw ‘em up and let something shine, going out of my fucking mind/Filthy mouth, no excuse, find a new place to hang this noose/String me up from atop these roofs, knot it tight so I won’t get loose/Truth is, you can stop and stare, bled myself out and no one cares/Dug the trench out, laid down there with a shovel up out of reach somewhere/Yeah, someone pour it in, make it a dirt dance floor again/Say your prayers and stomp it out, when they bring that chorus in/I bleed it out, digging deeper just to throw it away/I bleed it out, digging deeper just to throw it away/I bleed it out, digging deeper just to throw it away/Just to throw it away, just to throw it away, I bleed it out
Scary by Megan Thee Stallion ft. Rico Nasty (written by M. Pete, V. van den Ende, M. Kelly)
Featured on Megan's 2020 album Traumazine, this song is another good no-nonsense anthem for this Court. Power through fear is their M.O., and they love to watch others cower before them. Putting on their scary personas is as natural as breathing.
I’m who every n**** wife fear, thick-thighed nightmare/I’m the boogie-bitch, ho, I’m every n**** type, yeah/Jewelry so cold, gave these broke bitches goosebumps/White Ghost rolling through the hood, look like K** K***/Say my name like Candyman, and bitch, you know I’m there/These hoes wish they saw me when they looking in the mirror/Red bottoms on my feet, Bloody Mary on my toes/Every time I pop out, it get scary for you hoes/Yeah, it get scary for you hoes/Every time I pop out, it get scary for you hoes/Red bottom on my feet, Bloody Mary on my toes/Every time I pop out, it get scary for you hoes
Supermassive Black Hole by Muse (written by M. Bellamy)
Featured on Muse's 2006 album Black Holes and Revelations, this song is all about the dark (or at least the title is), making it perfect for the Court of Nightmares. I could totally see this playing at a Starfall party in the Hewn City. Plus, black is in the title, and it's one of the Night Court's signature colors.
Ooh, baby, don’t you know I suffer/Ooh, baby, can you hear me moan/You caught me under false pretenses/How long before you let me go/Ooh, you set my soul alight/Ooh, you set my soul alight/Glaciers melting in the dead of night/And the superstars sucked into the supermassive/Glaciers melting in the dead of night/And the superstars sucked into the supermassive
I hope you enjoyed these Nightmare songs this week, and I look forward to bringing you the other half of the Night Court soon. Happy listening, and see ya'll next week!
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