Willow and the nightmare creatures

[DrMcGillacactus]

I've been pondering... Why the heck was willow haunted by the nightmare creatures so long before entering the constant?!

We know Willow is an adult, and we know she was chased by the nightmares when she was still a child, and I refuse to believe Willow grew up in the constant because that would make no sense.

So i'd like to hear your theory's.

[minespatch]

She is probably a mana source. The shadows were attracted to her magical energy. Despite light and dark being polar opposites, they were probably being opportunistic.

[W0l0l0]

I think she travelled a lot and spent a lot of time on the streets, burning places down whenever the Shadows inevitability caught up with her to fend them off. I remember her saying something about girl scouts, but not exactly fitting in. I'm taking a guess and saying she survived in the wilderness (like in the constant) for most of her teens, and either hallucinated, or pretended that she was a girl scout. The knowledge she gained on the streets and wilderness would have prepared her for the constant, and Maxwell would track her down from her wake of embers, giving her an opportunity to start afresh and escape the consequences of her actions. 

[Echsrick]

she had an nightmare and thats why the terrorbeak attacks willow

[Just-guy]

OK, I had this theory back in 2019 that the Terror Break that attacked Willow was the same TB that Maxwell saw escape in th Fifth puzzle. I posted this this theory on r/dontstarve along with this image:

[-Variant]

Willow's never been good with sanity.
I always interpreted it as her having weak sanity due to being like, an orphan and whatnot. That's a pretty crappy place to be in at that, I wouldn't be in the best of mind.
There might be more to it but that was my interpretation. 

[Pop Guy]

Premise: Don't Starve's lore is a confusing hodgepodge and I highly doubt Klei will ever clear up the many obscure points.
That said...

First of all we have to ask ourselves: what are shadows?
According to an old interpretation of their nature (which I personally believe to be correct), shadows are creatures of another dimension, attracted to intelligent creatures.
They are probably a reinterpretation of the indescribable horrors of Lovecraftian memory, distorted entities whose presence is not properly perceived by our limited senses.
So, if Willow was persecuted since she was a child, we must conclude that she is a child prodigy, gifted with some form of extraordinary intelligence, so as to make her a target even in tender childhood.
This could also explain his apparent extrasensory powers (ability to control and / or generate fire with thought, ability to "communicate" with Bernie and give him life, etc.)
Shadows in theory shouldn't have access to our dimension without some gate; but surely William Carter was not the first to open a way between the Earth and the Constant. As far as we know, the Codex Umbra could be very old. Perhaps the Latin translation of an Arabic book ...

[DrMcGillacactus]

2 hours ago, Pop Guy said:

They are probably a reinterpretation of the indescribable horrors of Lovecraftian memory

I so desperately want a world where people can write/create creatures without them immediately being defined/compared to Lovecraft... Not everything is a reference to his writings

[ArubaroBeefalo]

10 minutes ago, GrMcGillacactus said:

I so desperately want a world where people can write/create creatures without them immediately being defined/compared to Lovecraft... Not everything is a reference to his writings

Creatures from other dimensión sharing knowledge in a videogame where the men who released them had a book with criptic knowledge and was trapped in a world where just seeing their horrors can make you insane? You are right, has nothing to do with cthulhu mythos at all