NiGHTS is the main protagonist of the NiGHTS franchise, making her debut in 1996 as NiGHTS: Journey of Dreams, a 2007 video game released on the Wii that is a product of Sonic Team and Sega. NiGHTS is a genderless, dreamish fairy-like character who lives in an alternate dream dimension named Nightopia, which is a manifestation of all the human beings' dreams. She is the sibling of Reala, who constantly antagonizes her for her charming, heroic personality.
Originally created as a tool of malice by Wizeman - an evil ruler of another dimension called Nightmare filled with malicious and evil dreams - the character evolved to be a mischievous, light-hearted and innocuous figure that was fully contrary to what her evil creator had intended her to be (much to his dismay). As such, she had turned against him and subsequently drew up plans to take him down and prevent his evil, nightmarish schemes.
That said, NiGHTS is not a textbook example of what one expects a 'hero' to be - she has been depicted as a childish, rebellious character who nevertheless is able to see that Wizeman's motives are morally wrong, and seeks to defeat him to free the dimensions of his tyrannical regime.
NiGHTS was actually created back in the mid 1990s as part of another franchise by Sega along the more renowned Sonic series. Unlike the blue hedgehog though, NiGHTS wouldn't get her own game on a Nintendo console until 2007. That being said, NiGHTS has often appeared as a cameo figure in a variety of Sonic games over the years, occasionally as a playable character in spin-offs or being evoked into some level designs.
