The Sandman is on Netflix — here’s what you need to know from the comics

Netflix’s fantasy series The Sandman opens with a small chunk of exposition explaining its protagonist Morpheus, the King of Dreams — which is much more than comics readers got when Neil Gaiman’s SandmanSeries launched in 1988. Even given the series’ small concession to an audience that may need upfront hooks to commit to the show, both the comics version and the Netflix version of the story leave a great deal for the audience to learn over time. Both versions slowly impart this information, which becomes pertinent to stories that shift from personal to cosmic.

Viewers who enjoy the process of discovery, who like the kind of narrative that baits a hook in episode 1 and doesn’t reel it in until episode 10, should just dive into the show without explanation. Eventually, it’ll answer a lot of the questions it raises — though given that the first season of The Sandman Netflix only has the first two graphic novels of the 10 series. It may not include later series spinoffs or sequels. Netflix could take many years to complete the mystery puzzles in the original season.

For those who find this kind of storytelling frustrating, though — viewers who aren’t familiar with the comics and don’t want to spend the first season asking, “Who are these people, why are they like this, and what are they referencing?” — this handy guide to the Sandman It could be useful to have a basic understanding of the cosmos as well as its key concepts and characters.

Dream: Who are you?

Liam Daniel/Netflix

Sandman’s title character, and more or less its protagonist, is Dream of the Endless, a character who’s also a concept and a fundamental force of the universe. Tom Sturridge portrays Dream in the Netflix version. He is an immortal entity which embodies, manages and governs the dream world. Dream can also be called Morpheus or the Sandman, Oneiros and many others by different races, species and cultures. Sandman series, has the power to create and modify dreams and nightmares, which are also usually embodied as immortal entities — particularly when they’re in his realm, known as the Dreaming.

Mortals — not just humans, but as the comics series shows, also animals, aliens, and anything else sentient — do sometimes visit the Dreaming when they dream, or they may remain at home and have dreams visit them. It’s Dream’s responsibility to keep the world of dreams in check and in balance. How does this translate? We find out early in the series, when he’s unable to do so for a while and things fall apart.

What are Dream’s powers?

Roughly speaking, he can do anything that falls under his purview, so long as it’s relevant to the narrative. He has full control over the way things look and interact in his realm. He can create sapient, independent beings, alter them as he pleases, or destroy them all at once. He can navigate anyone’s dreams, and take things from them or add things to them. He has broad powers over story itself — and in a story that’s fundamentally about storytelling, that’s pretty powerful.

Who are Dream’s siblings?

Early in the series, Dream’s servant Lucienne (Vivienne Acheampong) asks whether he could seek out his siblings for help in a present crisis, and he cuts her off sharply, saying they have their own realms to see to. (Which is true, but also, Dream is incredibly proud and stubborn, and he doesn’t want to admit he needs help.) The nature and identity of all of those siblings takes quite a while to unfold in the books, but here’s a brief rundown, if you’re curious.

Each of Dream’s siblings — Destiny, Death, Desire, Despair, Delirium, and a sixth we’ll get to in a bit — is an immortal like himself, with power over the fundamental aspects of reality associated with their names. Their personalities are often radically distinct, with their respective realms of influence. Desire, for example, is charming and greedy while Despair, is dark and gruff. Delirium, who doesn’t turn up in season 1, represents insanity, and she ranges from cheerfully dotty to outright psychopathic. Comic readers learn that she was once Delight in a much younger universe, but never find out what it means to allow an Endless to take on new identities. Destiny also gets left out of season 1, but in the comics, he’s unbudging and ungiving, the least human of the siblings, because he sees himself not as creating or controlling fate, but just endlessly observing it.

Each of the Endless have their own realms that reflect them, and each of them have broad powers over their name concept, whether that means gaining power from people’s desire or despair, being able to wander through the minds of the insane, or carrying the responsibility of taking the dead on to whatever comes next for them. The relationship between the Endless that are included in their portfolio can be different for each Endless. Death is more impartial than Dream and Dream acts like an old friend, while Death considers the dead as a group of young children who need guidance.

Who is the Prodigal and the Seventh Endless?

Gaiman’s version of The Sandman This mystery has been going on for quite some time. Consider this a spoiler to season 3, 4, or 5. Depending on whether or not the series continues or skips, it will be. Sandman’s many small side stories to focus on Dream’s journey. The Prodigal turns out to be Destruction. He is an Endless who gave up his duties in order to go on a joyful walkabout through the universe. As he points out to Dream in the comics, destruction seems to be proceeding just fine without anyone overseeing it, which raises the question of whether the Endless are actually necessary as conscious, active entities — a message that doesn’t go over well with Dream, who’s duty-driven as well as proud.

Destruction’s arc certainly raises questions about how significant the Endless are, and whether they truly have purpose. But the comics series never fully explores those questions, since it’s so focused on Dream, and Dream himself has much more immediate problems than existentialist self-exploration.

Who is the one who gave Dream his abilities? Who’s his boss?

Image by Netflix

According to the comics, The Endless was created when a sentient being had their first dream, or wished, or died. Again, Dream and his family are fundamental forces as much as they are people, so they don’t seem to have been created by anyone, and they don’t answer to anyone. They have a great deal of power in their anthropomorphized form, but apart from creating servants and bargaining with mortals and other entities, they aren’t part of anyone else’s hierarchy — which is important in a cosmos this crowded and overpacked with other immortals.

This is why Dream seems to have magic artifacts that can give him power. These magical artifacts of power are from where?

The Netflix series doesn’t explain this in detail, but essentially, Dream put a lot of his own inherent power into creating tools that more efficiently let him channel and shape the Dreaming. He didn’t get those devices from anyone or anywhere, and when he’s weak after being cut off from his realm and his duties for the majority of a century, he wants them back in order to reabsorb that invested power. You could see it as symbolic of his quest to assert his power, and to declare his presence before a range of interested parties.

Are there Gods in the Sandman Mythos?

There sure is — there are tons of them, in fact. Similar to the Marvel Cinematic Universe gods list, where many pantheons are included, such as the Greco Roman and Egyptian gods that have been largely abandoned by mortals, the Sandman world includes several pantheons. The Sandman mythos includes heaven and hell. Biblical figures like Cain, Abel, and Eve were real historical figures who eventually became dreams in Dream’s realm. That’s because they’ve passed into myth and legend, and stories are part of his kingdom. Lucifer Morningstar, also known as the Devil (played by Gwendoline Chris), has an important part in season one and will play a bigger role in season two. Sandman arc.

Does it seem that Lucifer, the Judeo Christian God was thrown out of heaven with Lucifer? That’s very much up to interpretation. Traditional angels are definitely characters in The Angels. Sandman comics series, and they serve and worship a God who’s overtly present and powerful — but whoever that God is, they don’t have a whole lot to do with Dream’s story, and they’re much more an over-there-somewhere idea and ideal than a significant part of this particular narrative.

What other significant power is there? Sandman?

One of the most important principles in the Sandman universe is that essentially, all stories are true and real, to one degree or another — in the Dreaming, if not in reality, and in the mind, if not in mortal history. Sandman was in part a way for Gaiman to create a single narrative linking all of DC Comics’ past stories, which is why the Sandman comic also (very marginally) includes DC superheroes like Batman and Martian Manhunter, alongside revived DC characters like Matthew the Raven (originally a human villain in Alan Moore’s Swamp Thing, though the Netflix series removes that backstory), Cain and Abel (originally Cryptkeeper-style hosts for DC’s 1950s anthology comics House of Mystery and House of Secrets), and the hero Wesley Dodds, the Golden Age Sandman.

Because Sandman This is a huge pan-mythic, crossover story. It also contains mythic figures such as the Fates (who Dream consults in order to obtain information regarding his equipment), Calliope the muse, and Orpheus the legendary hero. They share the page with real people like William Shakespeare, Julius Caesar, Robespierre, and “America’s last Emperor,” Joshua Norton.

But in terms of more significant powers, there are quite a few of them, including the gods, the Faerie Court (as seen in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s DreamPuck and Titania Oberon are among the other characters. It is normal for anyone with a prominent role in myth to be included in Sandman stories.

Who is the Corinthian?

Liam Daniel/Netflix

The Corinthian is a rogue nightmare who saw Dream’s disappearance at the beginning of the Sandmanas a chance to enjoy the mortal world. He has a much more significant role in season 1 of Netflix’s The SandmanIn the book, he had a more limited role, although he still played out an identical arc. He’s a useful example of the way Morpheus creates dreams and nightmares who are also people, but doesn’t care much about their individual lives or desires; he seems to regard them as artworks of a sort, made for a purpose, and useless outside of that purpose. As we come to see, he has his favorites who he’s more tolerant of. But he also has strict rules for where dreams are allowed to go and what they’re allowed to do, and the Corinthian far exceeds his mandate of being a bad dream. The Corinthian essentially tries to become a power in his own right, which Morpheus isn’t willing to tolerate from his creations. Morpheus isn’t exactly sentimental or protective about humanity or other sentient life, but he takes his responsibilities seriously, which means keeping the dreams he makes focused on their intended purposes.

Doesn’t that make Dream kind of a jerk, though?

It sure does. It is one of the most fascinating aspects about Sandman is that Dream often isn’t a particularly sympathetic protagonist. He can be maudlin and mopey, vain and stuffy, remote and superior, or just indifferent to other people’s suffering. His motives are sometimes hard to discern because he’s so inhuman. That’s by design: He is, after all, the manifestation of the idea of stories as much as he’s a person. It’s OK to dislike him when he’s being huffy or bossy.

Just remember that we aren’t exactly seeing him at his best in Sandman season 1 — he’s just off a long, frustrating trauma, during which he was as helpless as he’s ever been in his existence. Dreams like Lucienne, Matthew, Cain, and Abel aren’t his peers, they’re his subjects and creations, so he can’t confide in them. The only beings really on his level are his family, and they’re a problematic bunch at best. So he doesn’t really have anyone to talk to about being off his stride and having to figure out who he is after what he went through.

How can I learn more?

Neil Gaiman’s original Sandman The arc was eventually completed with many open questions regarding the universe’s nature. We can also expect that the television series will do the same. Don’t expect to have all the answers, understand that that’s part of the experience, and realize that most of these characters aren’t people so much as concepts and purposes made flesh, and it’ll all fall together a lot more easily. You’re in the realm of the mythic when you’re reading or watching SandmanMyths can be more about conveying a feeling, or an illustration of a principle, than making sure that every plot point is included. Take it all in.