Dreams about war / fight – what do they mean? (Dream interpretation war / fight)
Dreams of war / fight.
A not very uncommon dream theme is a specific war, or that someone (you and/or others) fight with each other. Often this will be a picture of one of two things: a battle between aspects of yourself that dispute, or an image of some aggressiveness that you pursue too much or too little of in your waking life.
War / fight in dreams as an image of an internal conflict.
A classic inner conflict is the conflict between being driven by status / money / power – in other words, “external factors” as opposed to being driven from the inside (of “internal factors”), such as what gives you inner satisfaction. This conflict has probably been around almost as long as there is something that has been called civilization – if not even longer.
Similarly, the inner grubby / wild man / woman fighting with the inner neat / obedient man / woman is also a very common theme. That is different parts of your personality that dispute, which is something you should be able to know about in your waking life if you dream about it. In other words, you perhaps have a hard time finding out if you need to be “wild” or “nice,” or ambitious and structured, or more wild with a “do not care” approach. The possibilities are endless – it’s all about you and your life situation.
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When trying to understand your dreams it is important to know that your dreams are… your dreams. As such, you are the best person to figure out the true meaning of your dreams.
However, it is important to learn how to generally approach your dreams. Dream dictionaries like this one are only a supplement, and if you want to fully utilize the potential of your dreams, you should start at a different place.
My online course “Unlock your DREAMlife” gives you a great foundation for understanding (and recalling) your dreams.
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War / fight in dreams as a picture of (unresolved / excessive) aggression.
At the same time that you dream about war or a fight, can also be a picture of you being angry at someone without having expressed it. It can be a friend / partner or colleague, who somehow stepped on you / hurt you, but you might have slipped easily over it and said “never mind” to yourself and tried to unpack the anger / frustration away – but dreams tell you how angry you actually are.
The positive side can somehow be that you in dreams are able to vent your anger, and therefore you need not to take the “fight” with him/her in real life. The “negative” side can very well be that you really should express your anger / frustration in reality – not to carry around a lot of pent-up anger.
You can, for example dream that you scold a colleague – he might have made you angry the previous day but you have bitten it in you. Quite conversely, the dream of war and fight can also be an indication that you in your waking life have a very aggressive (usually not physically violent but verbally / “psychic” violent) approach to (certain) other people. It may be a good idea to look at whether you can either mark an unredeemed aggression / anger against others – or if you recognize a very aggressive (inappropriate) behavior / thinking in yourself.
Dream dictionaries are a very helpful tool when interpreting dreams. However, generally learning how to approach your dreams, will give you a better foundation for understanding them. My online course “Unlock your DREAMlife” teaches you how to much better utilize – recall and understand – your dreams.
Return to the index of dream themes and symbols:
Dream interpretation A-Z ↵
Also read: Why I no longer interpret dreams for free
NOTE: Dreams are 100% individual, and when you dream about war/fight, it’s almost certainly about something else for you than it is for your friend, who also dreamt about war/fight. Dream interpretation / dream analysis is sometimes a difficult art, and a particular interpretation of a dream is only correct if you feel “affected” by it. Therefore, it is not certain that the above mentioned interpretations are relevant to you.
I dreamt of being in a zoo holding my school book with my grandpa and mom and suddenly the animals went wild especially the monkeys that started attacking people and killed my grandpa and bombs flying and bombing us sobI escaped into a forest till I reached a kind of a castle but was in the middle of the forest so when I looked into the window making sure no one saw me I heard clearly Trump there and hitler and a British man discussing something so I was afraid and ran thousand of miles till I reached a place where people sought refuge and found my mom and one of my sisters and was happy until an army came and drove over the people with tanks and killed almost of them were most of them were Syrians except us and some other people from different parts of the world so I survived and some guy took me to an old man they called wise and he told me something that I don’t remember but then I ran back to that castle after running back through the desert and reached but I saw no one so the moment I went out of the forest, the whole forest was bombed and whatever behind it and what was infront of me was all blood and war planes travelling and a red sky and I was panicked and tried to do something but I felt paralysed
Hello, I recently encountered this page and I am really hoping I find some help. Ever since I was a child, I always had dreams of people chasing me or me trying fight someone off. I am so tired of them. I want to just have a peaceful sleep for once in my life. It has gotten so bad that I have found ways, while sleeping, to realizing that I am dreaming or find ways to win when I am fighting. Almost like I am aware of my dreams due to the trauma that they can bring me.. I was hoping you can help?
I had a dream there was a war going on that everyone was fighting. I was in this building where everyone left to fight but left all the children, I wanted to fight but could not bring myself to leave the children so I stayed to take care of the abandoned children.
I’m an Army veteran and former law enforcement officer who was injured in the line of duty.. I did a fee things in the Army and was involved in more cases I’d rather not talk about where I was placed in the situation to have to kill someone. There are a few souls not walking this earth due to my actions. I am on strong medication that. Being morphine and oxy about 7 total everyday. Not this is not a drop in the bucket compared to whY it once was. At one ti.e I was taking around 3 to 4 mg of neurontin, a copy 100mg of lyrica. I think between 40 to 60 mg of cymbalta and I fee others I cant remember off the bat. My dreams were so vivid I was wife awake holding my wife’s hand and could to see advancing troops on our position I could hear and smell automatic weapons fire a d explosions of mortar rounds hell I could hear the squelch of the radio operators talking. I would jump out of bed grab azad n M16 rifle kept by the bed and would clear every3room in the house to check on my children and wife to check on their safety. I would then proceed outside and go thru tr he procedure of clearing every building camper trailer horse trailer out buildings and walk the parameter of the approximate 2 to 3 acre yard or containment area. Sometimes I would even go down in the animal pasture to clear the large barn down in the field. One good thing is we lived in a remote rural area so traffic was almost nonexistent. Granted there is some traffic even late a night but thankfully no wa as present while I was on my combat patrols or I most.likely would have lite them up. I told my doctor I absolutely had to stop some of these meds. The y were not being prescribed by him but a “pain doctor” the one thing about have been injured in the line of duty they seem to give you enough drugs to kill a damn horse. Anyway my family doctor and I decided to stop the majority of the drugs. I have gotten a lot better but I still have tr these damn dreams. Now here the killer point, even since a very y ok under child I almost never remember my dreams. I can count on both hands the drea. I remember. One about my grandmother a few days after she passed, another of my very close uncle after his passing. Those are about it. Those are also the only one that were pleasant the rest is war time battles or fighting for the lives of my family and myself. Having been military and LEO their of killing does not bother me as if might other, the 2 scariest things I’ve done in my life is get shot at and shoot back that sure as hell doesn’t mean I want to again that’s for sure. I give weapons classes and tell student if your firing your weapon at someone it’s mostly because they are firing theirs at you a d death is waiting for one of both of you and he doesn’t give a damn which but both is just a bonus. Now I’ve seen where you have started charging g for your service that’s too bad I wont be paying for the service just needed to tell someone lol as funny as they may seem
Hi 101 Airborne Trooper, how greatful I am for sharing your full (or at least parts) of your story. I for one got a much better impression of what is often happening for veterans (I have only read about it in dream research). I am only hoping that you have scaled down on medication then, and also that you are also getting help physically, i.e.1:1 sessions where you get to talk fully and openly about your experiences. All I know from dream research in veterans is that the earlier they start talking about the actual content of their (war) dreams, the sooner they experience an improvement (decrease in night mares). Best regards – and once again thank you so much for sharing your story! Michael
I had a dream of seeing someone I fought in a previous dream (and lost badly), seeing him in the very next dream where I remembered his tactics and won the fight almost killing him (oops), im pretty sure the first dream was normal and the next dream where I won was a sexual dream between me and a girl in school. (the person I fought was a guy). I fought over dominance in the dream
Hi Jacob – thank you for sharing your highly interesting dream! Did the blogpost above help you in any way? It seems to me that you already have a good idea of what this dream is about – dominance. A question you could ask yourself based on the dream: How is this a theme in your life – and in your relationships? Best wishes – Michael
Sir, I am dreaming that some anti social people just killing a lot of people for money & gold .& at last I also become so aggressive and killed those criminals . But one of the important thing is I am seeing this dream during DAYTIME . So I am just confused that what sign it wants to indicate .
Hi Rupanshu,
and thank you for sharing your dream! I don’t know anything about you, so it is hard for me to come up with serious thoughts on what this (day)dream might be about. But you could ask yourself this question: are you in waking life potentially (over-)reacting when seeing/experiencing injustice – and also, are you potentially sometimes doing something “just for the money” (which, from the outset, there is nothing wrong with, as long as we generally feel good about ourselves/what we do, heck – we need those money! – and maybe have a hard time dealing with it/realising it, so that the dream portrays your inner conflict?
Well.. I had a dream..(ummm i dream quite often ),so coming back to the topic… I had a dream in which me and my friends came out of waters at the beach and we have our guy frds out there.We all were There at the beach and then i got offended after a friend’s (An unimportant friend in my Real life)comment( maybe Something Lustful regarding or stuff )and i got Mad at him.. so Much That i began to beat him up and his friends fierce .They were bleeding and they Jst go away. Then i saw myself going downstairs and it was completly dark and i Then i experienced that the friend was trying to give me electric shocks as a revenge and Yet again i got really furious aBout that and then.. I saw i was having an argument with his mother who was being defensive about her son’s act but i was more and more dominating and explaining to her that How severe it could get given electric shocks being wet And how it could have taken my life Away and stuff..
I dreamt of war happenening and in the dream we were up on night and then I saw a plane bombing us so my stepdad turned the tv on and we were going to world war 3 and then I woke up and I don’t remember fighting or anything wrong recently so what can this be then
i had the dream that i was at a store and i went outside and the whole world was going crazy
every single night I am fighting for my life, either against one or many opponents… the scenarios are always different, a knife-fight against several attackers, a hot firefight against several people trying to kill me, or knock-down drag out unarmed combat to the death… i have other (normal) dreams also, but eventually i end up fighting for my life against people trying to kill me, inside structures, outside in the wild, or street-side a war-torn battlefield or in a parking lot of a restaurant, etc… I often wake up soaked with sweat, rapid heartbeat and panting as though I have just run as fast as I can for as long as I can… It’s really getting old, and more than a bit concerning… My wife tells me I often shout while sleeping or make other violent sounds of someone involved in direct combat, such as grunts, expressions of pain, and so on. Not sure what o make of it or how to make it stop.
You interpretation really seemed so true to me. This just describes the current situation and conflicts of my life. I do so little but want so much. There’s a conflict within me. It’s also true that I’m having a confusion of me being “nice” or “wild” and about the pent-up anger in me, omg, that’s also true. I wrote down the dream I had this morning. We were like invaded by armed soldiers and the war was horrible. I was so angry at my parents and some friends. My friends all died and both my parents were shot on the shoulder but still alive. I was so mad that my parents lined up at the back of the armed men during face-off when we’re supposed to be at the side. I was screaming and they just don’t care. I now kinda have an idea what this means. Thanks!
Hi I just have a dream of a war..more like a clan war.. They want to dominate each places my family and I join the war and in the end we want to stop the war b’coz we see and hear those people how they die and scream..its so painful and we all scared of what will the result is but suddenly the the setting is change they chase us instead ..so im so scared and I saw my nephew shaking and crying.. When I wake up I’m crying and shaking.. Please help me..thanks
After reading the article I found thag I am going through both the situatio. The first one is because of my career its not going in a way that o want to and the second one is because of colleague, sometime disastrous thoughts come in my mind which boils the blood inside me but then i let it go.
I dream that the Indians was killing anyone that wasn’t dark skin people. and i took up with them in the fight. but when I caught someone (I think he was Japanese) and I had a chance to kill him I didn’t and we became close in the fight. he and I (the Japanese) became close (I protected him) this was a crazy dream.
Hi Lisa – and thank you for your highly interesting (and not crazy :-)) dream. Unfortunately I have decided to no longer help out via these comments, as I simply get too many requests everyday, not only on this blogpost, but on all the other ones too, via e-mail etc. – and I cannot keep up with keep. In general the most important question you can ask in order to understand a dream you’ve had is the following; how – in any possible way – might this dream be an illustration of something happening in my waking life / in real life? Best regards – Michael
Hi my name is Cindy
And i have a nephew who is 8 years old and he dreams about the war and fighting to in his sleep is there anything my sister can do
Is it possible he could be holing back something
He wakes up crying amd screaming
Hi Cindy,
thank you for your dream! I am sorry to say that I have decided to no longer help out here on the website – I simply get too many requests every day – on this blogpost, and the many other blogposts. You might ask; what is he fight for – in real life? Best regards – Michael
i have had dreams of fighting by me and someone,she’s girl he dressed black coat she’s all black, chased me
But strange that I was running flight i dont know why,she want to take me,
when we went to church then he’d hurt me just to get but I fought
when I raised my hand suddenly there came a spade and i fought her?can anyone explain this dream
Hi Realyn,
and thank you for your comment. As I get many comments every day, I simply cannot keep up with answering all of them. That is also the reason why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
i have had dreams of fighting by me and someone,she’s girl he dressed black coat she’s all black, chased me
But strange that I was running flight i dont know why,she want to take me,
when we went to church then he’d hurt me just to get but I fought
when I raised my hand suddenly there came a spade and i fought her?can anyone explain this dream
Hi Realyn,
and thank you for your comment. As I get many comments every day, I simply cannot keep up with answering all of them. That is also the reason why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
Thank you very much, this was very helpful to me, as i kept on dreaming about fighting against people and so many, and or sometimes against beasts/animals but i always win in against every opponents, so i found the interpretation, as i always keeping anger within me, not telling my partner about bad behavior i recognize to her, i kept on getting angry day and day.
Well,i dreamt about a war and in the previous day i was denied to regester for my exams because i had failed to clear tuition,and promised to register in two days to come.
Am not certain to whether i shall regester or not,thus it may be the relevance of my dream being at war!
Could that one be true surely?
Hi Mujuni,
And thank you for your comment, Apologies for my late reply, but I receive many comments every day, and I simply cannot keep up with them. That is also why I have decided to no longer do interpretations for free. Instead I offer the following options: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best regards – Michael
I have had dreams of war specifically world wars 1 and 2 and and the screams of the wounded is the roar of falling artillery and the putrid vapors of the dead is the scalding poison of mustard gas ive also dreamed a large evil beast devouring the plains of Europe this has taken a toll on my mind of course can anyone explain this
Hi Axton,
and thank for your comment and very interesting dream! Unfortunately I no longer have the opportunity to help out for free, as I get very many requests every day. Instead I offer help via e-mail, telephone or Skype – please read more here: http://www.michaelrolsen.com/dreamcoaching. Best – Michael