#could be john dee could be Hob

[webonchin]

So uh.

I had a moment

Textless version below

#the sandman #morpheus sandman #dream of the endless #blade runner #crossover #? #did this for the lolz couldn't stop thinking about it when I saw 24/7 #sorry if the quality is not so great #Ibispaint corrupted the drawing file and could not be recovered so I took a screenshot and tried to ''fix it'' #it turned good tho #who us the guy standing? i don't know #could be john dee could be Hob #could be ne or even you #whoever you want it to be #I support it #my art

[gabessquishytum]

Omegaverse where Dream and hob never met in 1389. Because hob is born in 1900, they meet when Dream is captured by burgess, and hob is only there because he’s burgess’ omega.

Hob is something of a conman, and Roderick was the biggest, richest sucker around. So at a party, he works his way into Roderick’s bed. Look obviously, hob knows something is off here. The dude calls himself the magus. He’s got all these spell books and men in cloaks around. He’s got this wet blanket of a son who’s terrified of him, and a round of guards always stationed in the basement.

Whatever.

Hob is just there to fleece whatever he can from Roderick.

Except.

One day, while he’s very drunk, to impress him, Roderick shows hob what’s in the basement.

And hob takes one look at the person in the glass orb and realizes—that’s his true mate.

Hob never believed in true mates. But the moment he locks eyes with Dream, he feels his body go into pre-heat, and he knows.

And Dream knows too. He looks at hob with total disbelief and no small amount of confused, possessive need.

Roderick doesn’t think anything of it—hob stammers that seeing the proof of Roderick’s power must have gotten him hot. That’s all.

He takes Roderick back to bed, but hob is deeply shaken. He starts to plan.

It’s not a week later that hob acts. He drugs Roderick and breaks into the safe, stealing Dream’s tools of office. Then he goes for dream.

The guards don’t expect an omega to be able to fight, but hob’s always been scrappy and he knows how to take down alpha who underestimate him.

And finally, it’s just him and dream.

Hob smudges the circle and breaks the glass. He can hear more guards coming, the shouts of people on the basement stairs but all he can do is fall to his knees before Dream and bare his neck.

(Also what are the chances burgess got hob pregnant?)

Ooo this is such an interesting au!!! What if Hob ended up pregnant and John Dee was his child, instead of Ethel's? I'm guessing things would have been a lot better for John, as long as he didn't wind up getting exposed to the ruby/getting obsessed with it for other reasons... hopefully that wouldn't happen, if Dream was willing to raise John as his own son. It could get tricky though. Would Dream be able to handle raising Burgess's child? Even though he's also Hob’s child, and Dream would do anything for Hob?

Imagine the awkwardness as they try to navigate life together. Dream is rightfully angry and traumatised by his imprisonment and terrified to find out that his true mate is mortal. Hob is trying to wrap his head around what his true mate is, how they're going to make it work together between the dreaming and the waking... how he's going to tell Dream that he's carrying the magus's child... maybe he tries to conceal it for as long as possible, but Dream will notice eventually.

Is the fact that they're true mates enough to keep them together? Can they even be together when loving mortals is forbidden to the Endless? Hob doesn't want to end up alone with a mating bite and a baby, but he also doesn't want Dream to sacrifice anything for him. Especially when he's only just escaped from his capture. Looks like they might need a little help from Dream’s siblings to work this rollercoaster of a relationship out...

#the sandman #dreamling #nsft #cw omegaverse #cw mpreg

[dragonnan]

Friday Fic Recs

The Sandman - Dreamling

The Undone and the Divine E by @dancinbutterfly

Warnings: Consensual Violence, Burning, Stabbing, Skin picking, Drowning, The Corinthian is His Own Warning, Cannibalism, Horror, Suicidal ideation, Mutilation, romanticization of violence, Dissociation, BDSM elements

For 24 hours, John Dee influences the entire world with the Dreamstone to make what he thinks is a more honest world.

At the New Inn, Hob finds himself uniquely positioned to save his fellow patrons from the dangers they now pose to themselves and each other.

Why not? After all, what's the worst that could happen?

And how can he do anything else?

Read Me Your Longing M by @linzod

The Stranger hesitates, and does something Hob would not have believed possible. He stammers. “I- I do not remember. I came to and was being pursued.”

Hob notices the older man approaching, but is shocked as his voice rings out, addressing them both, “My dear boy, I am so glad we have found you.” He observes the situation warily; the only reaction from his friend is subtle, the smallest recoil.

“Who exactly are you?” Hob asks the man.

“Why, I’m Paul McGuire, and I can’t thank you enough,” the man looks at Hob’s ID badge, “Dr. Gadling, for finding my nephew.”

Hob’s eyes narrow, as he flatly asks, “Your nephew?”

***

Hob’s life is forever changed when his Stranger literally stumbles back into his life, amnestic and hunted, and he must use the skills gathered over an immortal life to evade their pursuers. They soon realize that bits of memory are coming back to Hob’s Stranger, through the power of literature. They are slower, however, to recognize that the most important story to explore may be their own.

A love letter to books, libraries, and the stories that make us, and allow us to change for the better.

Part of the Centennial Husbands Big Bang! Work Complete, Includes Art!

to keep our metaphysics warm by ineverfeltyoung G

“Where on Earth did you learn to make pizza?” Death asks around a mouthful. Hob hasn’t even finished serving himself yet and she’s already dug in. Dream is certain that etiquette would denote this rude behavior, but Hob doesn’t seem to mind, only giving her a disbelieving look.

“I’m immortal,” he says blandly. “Italy. Where else?”

Death comes to dinner. Dream does the dishes. Hob cries a little bit.

Series: Part 2 of the abstract entities dinner club

Cottagecore series by @the-apocrypha

Warnings: vary by story

The love story of a fae prince and a hedgewitch in the middle ages. <3

The Measure Of A Soul E by @vlakas-ex-machina @blueberrymffn

When Hob Gadling made a drunken deal with a mysterious man in a pub, he didn’t expect anything to come of it. Waking up the following morning with a golden mark on his wrist was a shock, though less than finding out that he couldn’t die. Who had he made a deal with, and what did he want? His Stranger was far from forthcoming, so he’d have to figure it out himself. That his mark was not just a passkey to an underworld of supernatural beings but the sign that he wasn’t meant to spend eternity alone was enough to send him down paths he never knew existed and ask more questions than were answered. Who, or more importantly what was his Stranger, and did the mysterious man know who Hob was destined for?

(An AU where only immortals have soulmarks that mark their species/type as well as their partner, and Hob has something no one has seen before)

who wants to live forever? M by ranchdiip

“An Endless?” Hob asks, softly, because it feels like a question that needs to be soft.

“That’s what we are,” Death responds, trying again for a small smile. “Me and D—”

“Don’t,” Hob interrupts, far stronger than he meant to, and Death looks surprised for as long as it takes him to get out, “Don’t, please. I-I want to hear it from him.”

Sympathy colors Death’s gaze even as Hob feels his face burn. Six hundred years, Hob thinks—he’ll be damned if he finds out his Stranger’s name from anyone but the odd man himself.

—

It's 1989 and Hob Gadling thinks he's been stood up. Death herself is kind enough to inform him otherwise—and, well, now Hob's got to bloody do something about it, doesn't he?

it doesn't matter which you heard (the holy or the broken hallelujah) T by @meadowziplines for Thranduilland

Warnings: Kidnapping, Torture, occultism, Blood and Violence, Blood and Injury, Whump, Broken Bones, dislocations, magical torture, Physical Torture, Delirium, Confusion, Memory Issues, Identity Issues

Roderick Burgess kidnaps Hob Gadling on June 7, 1989, intending to break both him and Dream. Instead, Dream being rather aggressively tortured triggers the knowledge of Hob's identity as Hope of the Endless, wrapped away in a mental box as they had been.

#dreamling #the sandman #fanfic recs

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

thinking about that time destruction talked about how the endless aren't just necessary for their specific aspect, they also exist to define its opposite - death defines life, destiny defines freedom, despair defines hope, destruction creation, and so on

and when dream is super skeptical and asks destruction what he supposedly defines in this paradigm, destruction guesses reality

and i do think in some ways destruction was right. reality was the right word to use here. but i don't think reality is necessarily dream's opposite

like, the way most of the endless define their opposite is in a very negative space kinda way - freedom exists within the limits of destiny, and acts as a counter to it, and because of this constant battle the two are in, destiny sets a lot of the parameters for what freedom means. despair comes with the loss of hope, and is in turn countered by hope, it's a give and take. and it's the knowledge of death that makes people realise what life means to them

death has a little power over life, but for the most part, the endless don't have direct control over their opposite, they just move the pieces around it

and you'd think the same would be true with dream and reality. and on the surface it is - he's constantly described by people as a being of metaphor, allusion, abstraction, imagination, myth, stories, and if you're john dee, lies. his realm is where things that are not yet real become real. and his power over 'reality' is only through the ways people choose to act on their dreams

(i put reality in quotes because we don't actually mean reality in that particular sentence, we mean the waking world)

but i think about dreams, and their purpose. and i think about how alex burgess always appears in his dreams as a child, how hob always appears as a medieval peasant even in the modern day, how dream specifically told nuala if she was going to stay in the dreaming, she can't wear a glamour, he doesn't want that kind of magic in his home

dreams reveal your true self. the waking world is where you can put on all your fronts, where you can hide and lie and play as much as you like, but you physically can't do any of that in a dream. pretenses just don't work here, in the dreaming you will always be your truest, deepest self. and even if they did, if you could put on a mask while dreaming, how could that dream ever help you, if you can't face who you are underneath it?

it's why dream gets so annoyed when people call the waking world the real world - from his perspective, the dreaming is the real world, the one full of real people

(somewhat ironic that when john dee was trying to get rid of all the lies and pretenses, he was basically just recreating a dream within that diner - except when the dream is shared and it has actual consequences beyond the end of the dream, when the dream happens in the waking world, that's when it becomes a problem)

(dreams aren't lies. dreams are honest, much more so than the waking world - but it has to be that way, because honesty can be dangerous, for a variety of reasons. dreams allow that honesty to exist free of consequence. the waking world requires masks and social rules because that's how people function as a collective, it can't just be one person's unhindered thought process)

if you define reality as what happens in the waking world, then yes, dream fits in perfectly with his siblings

but if you define reality as the truest state of everything's existence, then the dreaming is far more a demonstration of reality than anywhere else. dream creates space for reality to exist, just as much as he creates space for it not to, he's a master of both

and in my ever expanding thesis on how the endless, bar delirium, are unable to experience their own aspect? dream has just as much trouble seeing himself for who he is, as he does hoping for his own future

#dream of the endless #sandman comic spoilers #mine #meta #the sandman

[teejaystumbles]

it’s still Halloween so have some more gory dreamling :P

For 24 long hours, when John Dee held Dream’s ruby, the world sank into madness, sleeplessness and nightmares.

Listen.

Hob Gadling dreams. He is in a dark stone basement. Moonlight through a skylight far above illuminates a broken glass sphere, large enough to hold a man.

There is a creature inside it, crouching between shards of glass. Hob steps closer, fascinated. The creature looks like a man, yet is not. Its limbs are impossibly long, its skin is white as marble and stretched tightly over visible bones. Its face is a face Hob has beheld only a handful of times but would know how to draw with his eyes closed, if he had any talent for such things. It looks like his stranger but its body is so strangely-shaped that he struggles to believe they could be one and the same. Its eyes are pools of black tar with red embers glowing in their depths. Hair that shimmers like raven’s feathers and black spider’s silk sits on its head like a crown, unruly and wild. Hob has fantasized about the feel of that hair. Despite himself he takes another step, still unsure. Can this really be…?

It watches him as he steps closer. Then it opens its mouth and releases a low and trembling moan that shakes the basement’s foundation and makes the hair on Hob’s arms stand on end. Needle-sharp teeth glint in a beam of moonlight and in a second the creature is upon him.

Hob falls to the floor on his back with a grunt, long white bony claws clutch at his chest and tear at his shirt. He stares up into the bottomless eyes and pleads:

“It is you, isn’t it? Let me help. I can help, I can…”

The creature snarls and rips straight through his shirt and tears bloody gashes into his chest. Hob hisses in pain and grapples with the creature’s – his stranger’s, he’s sure, it has to be – claws and shoulders to hold him off.

“Please, wait, what can I do-”

Needle-sharp teeth bury in his shoulder and he howls. Claws are ripping him open, digging deeper inside his chest and Hob sucks in desperate breath after breath, gasping in pain. The teeth release him and his stranger’s handsome face stares down at him with blood dripping from his lips and chin.

Give me Give me more so cold cold COLD

It shivers against him and Hob fights against the pain and lifts his arms to embrace the skeletal monstrous form of his stranger, draws painful breath to say:

“I’ve got you, I’ll hold you, I’ll warm you, please, I’m here-”

Stay stay STAY get me OUT of here give me more I NEED MORE hungry hungry cold cold HUNGRY

Sharp clawed fingers pull his ribs apart and soft lips and nose bury in his neck and pant against him as he screams. Hob is dimly aware that this must be a dream, it has to be. He has never held consciousness for so long under such physical strain and having his rib-cage opened is a first but he’s pretty sure he would have blacked out a while ago. His stranger is pushing at him as if he’s trying to crawl inside him and Hob can only shake and gasp for breath and pull him closer.

Closer Please closer more deeper deeper you you you HOB please

“Anything...anything, for you…” he whispers into unbelievably soft black hair, chokes on his own blood and coughs, pushes trembling fingers into bony shoulders to hold his stranger as he shakes and buries his face in Hob’s open chest to feast, to wear him like a mantle-

Hob HOB HOB

“Yes…”

“Hob…”

The stranger’s voice is suddenly different, no longer a rush of sound into his brain but a voice his ears register. Hob fights through the pain to open his eyes. His stranger looks at him, his face full of Hob’s blood, but his eyes are wide and glinting with now white stars in their midst and there is sanity and recognition in them.

“Ah… hello old stranger...” Hob wheezes and smiles. With a glance at them both the stranger releases Hob, a frown marring his beautiful features. He waves his right hand and suddenly the pain is gone. Hob looks down at himself and sees no blood, no torn open chest. His stranger stares down at him, now clad in a black shirt and trousers. He still has Hob’s blood on his face and Hob shivers.

He lifts his hand and brushes it over his stranger’s chin.

“You still got…”

His hand comes away bloody and his stranger’s eyes widen, he sucks in a breath and then the blood is gone.

“I am sorry, Hob. I did not wish for you to experience any of this.” he says in a voice full of sadness. “A madman held control over the dreaming for several hours. This was...a very personal nightmare that latched onto you. I apologize.”

Hob tries to think. “Oh...so this was your nightmare?”

His stranger cocks his head and then lowers his eyes. “Yes.”

“Why...why would it latch...onto me then?” Hob asks and waits with baited breath. Part of him is thrilled. His stranger is here, and even if it’s a dream, he knows it is real.

Lips like rose petals part and tremble for a second before giving him an answer.

“Because this is my nightmare. You, here...and me, like that.”

His stranger sighs softly and steps back.

“I was...imprisoned. For a very long time. When I escaped I left this part of me here… I could not control it. And you stumbled upon it. Of all the nightmares that exist, you had to find this one.”

He shakes his head angrily and turns to leave.

“There will be no more bad dreams tonight, Hob Gadling, I promise. Sleep well.”

“Wait!”

Hob desperately reaches for him, grabs at his shoulder and pulls him back. His stranger frowns at him but waits. Hob releases a nervous breath.

“It wasn’t a nightmare. Not to me. I would…” he swallows heavily. “I would give you all you need. Anytime. Anything. I mean it.”

The stranger stares at him, lips parted, looking taken aback, if Hob where to guess. Hob feels himself blushing, feels his heart tripping and beating loudly and gives a helpless smile. He releases the other’s shoulder and looks at his feet.

“Sorry. I, I just wanted to tell you. I...hope to see you again. Soon?”

He lifts his eyes to his stranger’s face again with so much hope it’s choking him. Twin stars glitter in eyes like black tidal pools and a tiny smile plays at the edges of the stranger’s lips. A voice like dark velvet is the last thing Hob registers before he is sinking into soft dreamless depths.

“Very soon, Hob.”

#I needed to know what happened to Hob in 24 hours and so I wrote my own take on it #haven't seen any fic like that around please rec me if you know any #also Dream leaving a monstrous part of himself that existed while in the cage rings very true to me #anyway I hope you enjoy my weird gory love language #own writing #dreamling #tw: gore #it's a dream so #not that bad I hope #dream of the endless #hob gadling

[cuckoo-on-a-string]

A Year and a Day

My second piece for the Winter Solstice event!

Sandman fandom, Hob x fem!reader x Morpheus (implied future)

Warnings: language, brief violence, injury

*While you can enjoy this on its own - there's gonna be more. It's gonna be a drabble series in all likelihood.This is becoming my de-stress fic. Mostly fluff, and lots of shenanigans, so let me know what you think. <3

A Year and a Day (the first part of many)

The frigid evening wind cuts through the alley, and Morpheus feels it. He feels the cold, the broken asphalt scraping his palm, the blood cooling on his chin.

A year and a day of mortality.

He wonders if he’ll survive the first night.

As the curse had taken effect, and he’d hurtled into the waking world, he’d done all he could to aim for London. With his power bleeding away and his body closing tight around his severed awareness of the Dreaming, a single name flashed at the forefront of his thoughts: Hob Gadling. His friend. Although several mortals know enough of his nature as an Endless to be of some assistance, Hob is the only one he trusts to actually offer it.

If he does not escape this alley, however, he’ll never put that assumption to the test.

A kick lifts him away from the pavement for a moment, and he collapses on his side, coughing. The men above him loom like tall shadows, backlit by anemic streetlights. Two pounce, rifling through his pockets as he struggles to catch his breath, and he once again thanks John Dee for crushing the Dream Stone. It can never be stolen again. Never be abused. Though, apparently, he can still be parted from his power.

Once they determined he has nothing to give them, one of the searchers swears and kicks him again, this time in the back, and Morpheus arches, teeth gritted in a fresh wave of pain.

“Nothing. Man’s got nothing. No wallet. No cash. No phone.”

The third man, ostensibly the leader, stands closest to the street, pointing a knife to warn their victim against screaming in case Morpheus should recover the wind they’ve kicked from his lungs. He shakes his head. “Dressed like that? Whatever. Coat’s worth something at least. Looks nice. Check again. Rich assholes have hidden pockets – hollow shoes, you know, like on tv.”

The hands return. Rougher. Grabbing and pushing as they try to work his arms out of his coat without letting him up from the pavement. Still breathless, he bares his teeth, reaching for abilities stripped from his grasp. He can’t even sense them. His mind is mortal, too, at least as much as it can be, and he’s left to his assailants’ mercy as he fights to regain his equilibrium.

But he has a long memory, and he will remember their faces. They may not pay for their insult tonight, but they will in due course. He promises them silently. He promises himself.

A flash of light illuminates the alley. Two more. Three more bursts of sun. Like lightning without thunder, without rain or clouds.

All three men turn to look at the source just as a clear, feminine voice calls from the opposite end of the alleyway, “I just sent pictures with all your faces to my friend.”

The one with the knife manages three long strides before the voice stops him.

“If anything happens, my friend will show them to the police. Oh, and I just dialed 999, so I suggest you scarper.”

A suggestion. Through his pain, Morpheus smirks.

Highway robbery is an often romanticized but a less than rewarding career. It has always been thus, but desperation and idiocy lead men down familiar paths, from one eon to the next. These robbers freeze like deer when the woman flicks on her phone’s flashlight, giving the scene a more permanent illumination. More prey than predator. Aggressive when they had the upper hand, certainly, when it was three against one. But they hadn’t planned on an interruption, and now a third party they can’t threaten with their knives and knuckles has their faces. Their true colors leak through.

The quiet one who’s been searching him twists away from the light and runs.

“Fuck this.”

That’s the second.

The ringleader stands his ground long enough to make a weak pass at intimidation.

“Bitch.”

The woman behind the light shrugs, the tell-tale light lifting with her shoulders. “Twat.”

For a moment, Morpheus thinks the man will charge her. He angles his head down and spreads his feet, like he’ll take his chances and sprint over to stick his knife in her throat.

This time, Morpheus hears the phone’s camera app click, and the last attacker bolts after his friends. Too much evidence, not enough loot to justify the risk. An old tale often repeated.

The immediate danger has passed.

He has a destination in mind, but he finds himself struggling to rise. Every ache and burn lingers as he leverages his hands under his chest, pushing himself up to his knees and groaning from the effort.

Light steps approach. Not running. Not hesitant, either. Purposeful.

A hand with short, black nails appears before his eyes. He looks up, blinking away the runny watercolor blur from his eyes to find his savior of the hour, a small woman in a flower-print sundress – thick leggings below and a heavy sweater above to ward off the cool breath of autumn. A strange knight errant, but he is hardly in a position to choose.

Still, he does not take her hand.

Pulling himself upright inch by agonizing inch, he cradles his bruised ribs and offers a brief nod to express his gratitude. Though he is short on options, he is shorter on trust. Mortals are treacherous, often without meaning to be, and he is painfully aware of his vulnerability.

“I dialed but didn’t connect to 999,” she confesses, looking directly into his eyes, ignoring the wounds on his face or his ginger stance. “Do you need me to call an ambulance? Family? What do you need?”

He needs Hob Gadling. And possibly medical attention. In that order. How far can he depend on this little stranger to aid him?

“Thank you.” He scrutinizes her, frowning, and she bears it unflinchingly, waiting for him to choose his course. Her squared shoulders and tilted chin suggested she’ll help him down whichever path he chooses. His pride rages against the idea, but his very mortal body feels like it may collapse if the breeze pushes any harder.

He cannot call to mind everything he would know about this tiny hero if he were fully himself, but a whisper of an impression lingers. An extra sense. The three men jumped him before he could pick up anything from them, and all he’d gathered during the assault was the anxiety and anger fueling their rage. But now – now he has a moment, and she has a core of moonstone. A fixed, determined thing all but glowing with dreams and hope.

Decided, he speaks quietly, wary of the new hurts along his abdomen, careful not to aggravate them further. “I am trying to reach the New Inn. My friend, Robert Gadling still owns it, I believe.”

Her eyes light up, and she presses half a step closer. He nearly flinches away, startled by the spark of enthusiasm.

“Hob?” She lifts her phone.

She has Robert Gadling’s name in her phone as “Hob Goblin” and something sparks in his chest that isn’t jealousy.

As she waits for the call to go through, phone pressed to ear, she says, “I was actually on my way there. We’re just a couple blocks away. I’ll help you, but I should give Hob a head’s – Hey! Hob, I – No, I’m fine. There’s – Yes, I’m sure. I just ran into – Hon, I love you, but shut the fuck up. Sorry. Yeah. Bumped into a friend of yours, and he’s a little roughed up. Asked for you, so I thought I’d bring him to the New Inn. Wanted to give you advance warning… Okay. See you in a minute.”

The endearments course naturally through the dialogue, and he wonders what he has missed in Hob Gadling’s past year. But when she hangs up and stashes the phone away in her messenger bag, she gives Morpheus a brilliant smile, like all is well and they’re simply on their way to visit a mutual friend.

“Alright. Let’s get you to the Inn. Would you mind leaning on me?”

The nature of the question makes it easy to agree. He lets her pull his arm over her shoulders, and one little hand settles on his back, like she has the strength to support them both if he stumbles.

They work their way down the quiet street, and she doesn’t fight the silence. Their steps and breath mingle with the hoots of nightbirds, distant arguments, and the occasional passing car. She does not ask him why he is on his way to the New Inn, though she clearly had plans of her own with the owner. She does not demand he waste his breath assuring her he is well when he clearly is not. They walk together, and she makes sure he does not trip and fall on the way.

It is appreciated.

When they reach the New Inn, Hob meets them at the door, eyes wide but unsurprised when Morpheus manifests out of the gloom with his small, colorful crutch.

“It is you.” He rushes out to assume the savior’s burden and helps Morpheus into the empty bar. It’s well past closing, he assumes. “I thought it might be, but I wasn’t – what happened?”

Morpheus glances sidelong at the young woman lingering near the door, and she catches the look, quickly straightening with a fresh smile for Hob and excuse to disappear on her lips.

“I’ll head up now. You two must have… a lot… to – let me know if you need anything.”

She moves to the back of the establishment and slips through a door marked “Private.”

Morpheus turns his look on Hob as the man pulls a first aid kit from behind the counter. His son died in a pub brawl, he recalls. The kit is extensive, and while Morpheus is glad to know he does not need a defibrillator or some of the other supplies contained within, a newly-familiar warmth blooms as he considers his friend.

His injuries, though painful, are not serious enough for a hospital. Hob assures him no ribs are broken after a careful series of pressing touches over his chest, back, and sides. The former soldier finds no evidence of internal bleeding, either.

“I’d suggest we go anyway,” he says, apologetic as he sorts through his collection of salves and bandages, “but I don’t think you have an ID or, you know, the kinds of things they’d ask about. In a hospital. And I doubt you want the police involved.”

“No.”

“Right. Okay. Right.” He flounders, clearly unsure of himself as he tries to care for the entity he still knows so little about. “Well, this should be good enough. We can sort something out down the line if…”

The silence pulls taught over the rustle of Hob’s work, and the whole man’s face is bent in concentration. Morpheus can see the thoughts ticking over his open face. Wondering if he can ask. Wondering what to ask.

“What happened?”

What indeed. There is another story, a long one, one he will not share at this time. He does not feel he has earned this punishment, and he will not give another room to comment.

“A curse.”

“What?”

“I am mortal, Hob Gadling. For a year and a day.”

“That’s…” Hob has to stop and think before new words will grow on his tongue, and Morpheus takes the initiative to press ahead.

“I had thought I may ask for your assistance during this time,” he explains. His eyes turn towards the ceiling. “But…”

Hob snaps back to himself, shaking his head and overflowing with reassurances. “You’re more than welcome to stay! I have a guest room in my flat. She doesn’t live with me. Not really. She’s in the smaller flat, and – uh – yes, you are more than welcome to stay. Please.”

So Hob has not taken another wife. It would be a strange arrangement for a courting couple as well, and he fixes on the topic as a distraction from the way his heart beats in his bruises. “Who is she?”

Hob murmurs her name with a smile, flicks his eyes to meet Morpheus’s, and clears his throat. “Well, she’s a friend. We met online, playing games during the pandemic, and she was on the other side of the Atlantic, so I started staying up all hours just to make sure I caught her.”

Adjusting his position in his chair, he leans in, full of a story, and despite the terrible evening he’s had, Morpheus finds himself falling back into old habits. Here they sit in a tavern, the Endless listening to the immortal man’s continuing life story.

“It was just so easy with her. Talking. Playing. Just enjoying ourselves. And then, about three months ago, she told me she was coming to England for work. Asked if I’d like to meet. And I had the empty flat, and I thought… why not? So here she is. Here we are. And,” he chuckles to himself, a smile pulling his face into its sweetest shape, “I don’t really know what to do with myself.”

Morpheus doubts that very much as he holds the man in a steady gaze.

It is strange.

He cannot know her as he would usually know a mortal, but she treats him with the ease of a friend, and as soft creaking above reveals her as she goes about her business, he feels the lines of a story twisting into new forms, as they had many hundreds of years ago when a foolish mortal declared in the presence of Death herself that he wouldn’t die.

Well. He has a year and a day to understand.

#winter solstice writing event #longest night stories #morpheus x reader #hob gadling x reader #dream of the endless x reader #morpheus x hob gadling x reader #ace!reader

[so-i-grudgingly-joined-this-site]

curse all black women???? what curse?

Okay, so keep in mind this would be for BOOK CANON ONLY (I include how the show averts this in the last paragraph), and SPOILERS ARE AHEAD:

According to The Sandman Companion (the official guidebook published in 1999) readers were supposed to notice a pattern where, after Morpheus cursed Nada to hell, all the other black women in the series also meet terrible fates (Ruby dying in the hotel fire, Carla being murdered by Loki) until Morpheus dies. This was supposed to demonstrate how the Endless could influence reality (the curse from Nada rippled to affect all "like her"), and the fact that Gwen gets to go to the Renaissance Fair with Hob and nothing bad happens to her (other than the fact that she's dating Hob "ultimate average guy" Gadling) was supposed to be a sign that Morpheus's negative influence ended with his death.

Now, even putting aside the... icky ramifications of implying that your main character harmed a real life marginalized group as a whole (potentially by accident, potentially not), I really feel like this failed as a pattern. Usually I'm pretty sensitive to Unfortunate Implications regarding racism in books, and I didn't notice this--probably because SO MANY OTHER people in The Sandman ALSO meet terrible fates! Like seriously, I think just about every demographic bites the dust in some tragic or horrifying manner throughout the course of the series. A lot of queer people also die in terrible fashion, for example, but we're not supposed to assume that Morpheus negatively influenced the universe to hurt them! Well, at least as far as I've read in The Companion... who knows, there might be another nasty revelation in store :/

Honestly, I prefer to pretend that the whole "curse against black women" thing is non-canon. Not only is it an incredibly gross choice to make in the first place, but as I stated it fails pretty badly as a pattern written into the writing. If I needed the guidebook to point it out even after thoroughly reading the books twice, it ain't there!

THANKFULLY this "curse" is almost certainly NOT true for the TV show version! Death, Rose, and Lucienne are all now black women whom Morpheus respects and interacts with positively. Furthermore, Rosemary (the woman who drives John Dee) was white in the comics and got murdered, but in the show she's not only black, but survives and gets the amulet of protection. While the show is not free of some questionable moments possibly caused by colorblind casting, it's clearly making a concentrated effort to completely erase this highly questionable plot point.

#asks #asks answered #anon #the sandman #the sandman companion #tw racism #tw misogyny #dream of the endless #the sandman meta

[infinitedungas]

rewatching sandman already because god is it a good adaptation and i can’t stop thinking about it so i’m going to have a VERY long ramble about it here we go

some of the changes made were necessary in order to streamline the story for a ten-episode structure, like expanding the role of the corinthian to give this season a slightly more focused antagonist, or having lyta be more of a companion to rose and accompany her on her journey. the latter worked especially well for me - the comic is wonderful but if lyta’s story had been adapted as-is it would have felt really disordered. some things, like editing out lyta’s superhero backstory or having johanna constantine in the modern day, were likely due to licensing and copyright of existing characters, but the way they worked around that still paid off in a way that didn’t leave the story wanting.

some changes weren’t necessary but are a marked improvement anyway. i loved that ethel cripps got a little more airtime. replacing brute and glob with gault then giving them room to grow was a nice emotional payoff. lucifer taking choronzon’s place to fight dream ramped up the stakes that little bit further and for a moment it really does look like he’s going to get torn to shreds. john dee choosing to keep rosemary safe was (i think) a wise change from her death in the comic and a necessary moment to show that underneath everything, he’s still capable of empathy.

basically what i’m getting at is they knew what to leave in and what to take out. that’s so rare to see in adaptations these days, i think. it plays close to the source material for the most part but they weren’t so precious about it as to insist on a beat-for-beat recreation.  i was worried they’d cut hob’s role down, or even cut him entirely, but they spent just the right amount of time with him for that little side story to have the necessary impact. “dream of a thousand cats” and “calliope”, in less capable hands, could so easily have been cut for runtime or squeezed into the main run of episodes; but the showrunners recognised that while they have something important to lend to the worldbuilding, the main narrative would have felt bloated if they’d been squashed in there. so they get their own separate little bonus episode, which is where stories like those belong, and it’s a wonderful addendum to the series proper.

also can we talk about casting? spot on. tom sturridge gives the exact flavour of lanky mopey soaking wet emo man i wanted to see in dream “stupid stubborn git” of the endless. kirby howell-baptiste absolutely nails death’s big-hearted no-nonsense sisterly charm and is pure serotonin to watch. vivienne acheampong brings a kindness and sort of pastoral air to lucienne and her long-suffering devotion to dream. mason alexander park was born to play desire and you can tell they’re having the time of their life doing it. razane jamal and kyo ra play off each other really nicely as rose and lyta, especially with their expanded on-screen friendship. stephen fry has always been fiddler’s green in my mind’s eye and it was lovely to see him come to life. boyd holbrook’s cocktail of affable and insidious is great for the corinthian.  and gwendoline christie as lucifer???? hello????? not to be gay but hello?????

TL;DR the sandman is a story (or more accurately a sprawling collection of stories) that is one of my all-time faves and it makes me so happy to see something i love adapted so well and i’m excited to see what they do with the rest of the comic.

#sandman #sandman netflix #long post #ANYWAY SANDMAN IS GREAT PLS WATCH AND/OR READ IT #i missed tumblr. i cant have these sorts of rambles on twitter #obviously there are a couple of things i don't love #but none of them are huge #and some of them already existed in the comic and just didn't change in adaptation

[moorishflower]

WIP Tag Game!

I was tagged by @dsudis!

Rules: List some (or all) of your WIPs with a short concept summary.

I actually only have ONE proper WIP right now! So I'll list that plus some ideas I have percolating as well. :P

Flatmates AU - Dream makes a bet with Death that he can manage 1 year as a human and ends up staying with Hob for the duration. In the midst of experiencing all the 'greatest hits' of humanity, Dream slowly starts to suspect he is falling in love -- but how could Hob ever love him back?

Siren AU Oneshot - Set sometime after The subtleness of the sea, Dream introduces Hob to some of his siblings.

Unnamed solo Hob fic - John Dee's tampering with the Dreamstone made everyone admit to their deepest desires. Hob Gadling has only ever wanted his stranger.

It's been a longass day so I'm only gonna tag a few people whose WIPs I'm not aware of rn <3 @starklystar @tharkuun @beatnikfreakiswriting

#wip meme

[anotherhawk]

I have now watched the entire of the Sandman show, and while I will always prefer the comics I thought it was a fantastic adaptation, with all the magic and emotion I remember from my youth. I think my favourite bit was probably the stuff with Hob Gadling...or maybe the scenes between Death and Dream - a fantastic sibling relationship.

My only gripe would be the diner with John Dee, or more particularly what was going on around the world at the same time. Don't get me wrong, it was brilliant, but it didn't have the grab-you-by-the-throat-and-punch-you-in-the-gut of the original.

I am 38 years old.

A quarter of a century I saw the panel with Nan Fowler, in the dispatch office, grieving because there are no more ambulances to send and the calls Won't. Stop. Coming.

I have never forgotten that panel.

I remember very little else from when I was 13 - it was a very bad year - but I remember that, because it hurt. It cut through when so much else was numb. And maybe I thought back then that the truth of humanity with the lies stripped away was nothing but pain and suffering...but there was still Nan, still there, still trying to help when there is no help left to give.

And yeah, I don't know how that could have been adapted to the TV. I don't even know if it mattered to anyone but me. But it did matter to me. And I'm sad it wasn't there.

#the sandman #morpheus #neil gaiman #the show is brilliant #definitely going to be rewatching

[indireneedofsleeeep]

Since I cannot get that Mummy (1999) dreamling AU out of my brain, here comes my reflections on who's who in said AU (for “The Mummy” and “The Mummy Returns”):

Hob would obviously be Rick (ex soldier, survivor, knows how to fight, was probably arrested while he was drunk in a bar, himbo, so in love with Dream, accepts to lead the way to Hamunaptra in spite of the fact he nearly died there the last time only because Dream asked (and saved his life but he probably would have done it anyway), basically would follow Dream to the end of the world (including the Scorpion King’s lost Oasis))

Dream would be Evie (smart, kind of awkward, likes to be right, actually passionate (although he tries to keep a cold/stiff demeanor), so in love with Hob (though doesn’t want to acknowledge it at first), doesn’t know how to fight but would still fight anyone and anything that dares threaten Hob - also he always dresses in black no matter the weather and has a pet Raven named Matthew because I said so!)

Death would be Johnathan (yes they don’t exactly have the same temper but she too has a sense of humour - and kind of likes to (gently) annoying her brother. She is friendly, adaptive and adventurous.She found they Key to Hamunaptra, she’s the reason Dream and Hob met in the first place, and she probably knows what’s up between her brother and their new friend right from the start.)

Roderick Burgess as Imhotep (who was condemn to endure the Curse of Hom Dai as a punishment for trying to revive his dead son (and tries to do it again when he return as an immortal creature)

The Corinthian as a mixt between Beni and Dr. Allen Chamberlain (less of a soldier and more of an Egyptologist. Never met Hob but shares history with Dream (they strongly dislike each other). He is smart and suave and found a way to Hamunaptra by himself (probably assassinating a few people in the process) and leads the American team at least partly to piss Dream off. The American team is made of some of the Collectors (except they are not serial killers but greedy archeologists))

Lucienne as Dr.Terence Bey (curator of the Cairo Museum of Antiquities, secretly member of a society set to prevent Roderick’s return, and Dream’s boss (I just love the idea of Lucienne being the boss in this one!). Oh, yeah, and in this version she survives!)

Ethel Cripps as the warden of Cairo Prison (who accepts to release Hob in exchange for a percentage of whatever riches they may find in Hamunaptra. Her son John Dee may be the one to resurrect Imothep (again) in the second movie in order to avenge her mother if she died during the expedition (and he holds Dream responsible for her dead).

Fiddler's Green as Winston Havelock and Izzy Buttons (who doesn’t die when his plane crashes so he can come back when the mummy returns but this time with a hot-air balloon)

As for Ardeth Bay, I am not quite sure. I thought of Rose (a bit young maybe? and I have no idea what to do with Jed in that scenario...) or maybe Alex Burgess (a descendant of Roderick making sure his ancestor doesn’t come back? but he could as well be a descendant whose ancestors never ceased to try and set Roderick free? (then there could be a subplot where Paul is one of the Medjai fighting to keep Roderick from resurrecting and they could fall in love Romeo and Juliet style?)), but in the end i think Johanna Constantine makes more sense (her job is basically to fight demons and other creatures of the like).

Finally, Lucifer would be no other than the Scorpion King (a powerful king with an entire army at their command...)

Also, In "The Return of the Mummy”, I could see Rose and Jed be distant relatives of Dream and Death (I mean it’s canon!). Jed being passionate about History and Egypt and ending up putting the Bracelet of Anubis on BUT I also really love a version in which Hob ends up wearing the bracelet (tell me he wouldn’t!) and thus gets kidnapped and Dream is REALLY pissed off about it! (in this version, nobody warns Hob that he has to enter the pyramid before the sun sets on the third day so he is all relieved when he gets reunited with Dream (who knows) in the Oasis only for Dream to panic because “why are you stopping to hug me? Start running to that Pyramid!!”). But then I don’t know what roles Rose and Jed could have in the story and I would like to include them!

...and that is all i can think of for now! Don’t hesitate to add if you have other ideas😊

#dreamling #au #the mummy au #thingsidid #the return of the mummy au

[loki-is-my-kink-awakening]

omg bestie you saw the sandman what are your thoughts 👀

I. Loved. It.

Who doesn't love a pouty goth boy? Tom was so good at just acting with his eyes while stuck in that Christmas bauble.

I haven't read the books but I could follow it fine. I even picked up on bits I wondered if it was going to be darker and then it wasn't but it had been in the comic books. I'm a bit glad of it because I think it would be hard to do it justice with everything else going on.

What I loved most is that people were just queer and it didn't matter. (Well, expect when the waitress tried to set up a lesbain with a straight guy). The Corinthian sleeps with men - no one cares. Johanna has a girlfriend - no one cares. It's not a problem. Queer characters are just there.

Back to the characters, ships and story, I loved Lucienne and was glad she got some respect in the end. That bit did feel a bit rushed, but maybe that's just how I felt.

Dream and Hob, oh my. I loved how they built on that relationship. Hob talking about being stood up and it just feeling like it's not just about friendship, it's possibly something more. Very gentle but I appreciated it and do wonder what the future would be for them.

Johanna Constantine, what a babe. I love Jenna anyway, so I thought she was great. The whole thing with her partner was so sad.

Desire! What a great character and I'm so pleased it's being played by a non-binary actor. And the fact that Mason Alexander Park approached Neil in Twitter is just a really god story.

I loved Death too. Just doing her job and doing it with kindness.

Poor wee Jed. Imagine that is your life. How awful of a life he has, feeling abandoned and uncared for at every turn, and involved in a dangerous situation at every turn.

I loved Rose's hair. Just such an iconic look.

Matthew was just awesome.

The Corinathan was a good bad guy. Very intimidating and unpredictable. Always chasing and one step behind, until he wasn't and he was on the front foot.

John Dee became more and more unhinged as it went on. Not that he starred out hinged in any way, but the depths of his need for honesty was terrifying and truly awful.

The goths Chantel and Zelda we're so cool, too. I loved them.

It took me till the end when all the dreams are colliding and Barbie sees Ken 'cheating' on her in the car to realise it was Barbie beside that fantastical creature. I legit had no idea who she was in the dreamland until that point. (Yes, I can be exceptionally dumb sometimes).

I was very upset that Gregory had to die, but then he came back as Goldie.

Oh, and I also saw the additional episode and the way they dealt with the brutality inflicted upon Calliope.

I know this is a messy way of explaining why I loved it but there was so much there. I'm hoping there is a season two. I don't think they've announced that yet.

#ask #gayshipsandanxiety #the sandman #sandman netflix #the sandman spoilers #dream of the endless #morpheus #hob gadling #dreamling #lucienne #johanna constantine #death of the endless #desire of the endless #calliope #john dee

[sleepsonfutons]

Even When the World’s On Fire, I Won’t Stop To Watch It Burning - 2023 Dreamling Bingo Fill

Square: B4 - Crying

Title: Even When the World’s On Fire, I Won’t Stop To Watch It Burning (Ch 6)

Rating: Explicit

Word Count: 3390

Ship(s): Dream of the Endless/Hob Gadling, Dream of the Endless | Morpheus & Hob Gadling, Modern Johanna Constantine & Hob Gadling

Warnings: Major Character Death, Graphic Depictions Of Violence

Additional Tags: Eventual Happy Ending, Angst with a Happy Ending, Professor Hob Gadling, John Dee wins, Getting Together, Canon-Typical Violence, John Dee's Diner-Typical Violence and Chaos, But On a Global Scale, Morpheus Has the Worst Time, BAMF Hob Gadling, Exhibitionism, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Hob Gadling Has PTSD, Implied/Referenced Suicide, Implied/Referenced Self-Harm, Implied/Referenced Cheating, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Implied/Referenced Domestic Violence, Religious Cults, John Dee Makes People Worship Him, Post-Apocalypse Adjacent, Past Relationship(s), Past Eleanor & Robyn Gadling, Temporary Character Death, Delirium of the Endless is to Hob as the Cheshire Cat is to Alice, The Dreaming Realm (The Sandman), Skerries of the Dreaming, Dream of the Endless's Dreamstones, Blood and Injury, Bleeding Out, Drowning (Past), Childhood Injury, Magical Injury - Seizures, Flashbacks, Remembered Death(s), Transformation

Summary: His head lolls to the side and he finds the piercing blue eyes of his Friend staring back at him from the great gilt-framed portrait as his fingertips map the warm stone’s many faces. Rough, smooth, sharp-edged, each a quality he attributes to- Dream! A name and a command. How could he have let it almost escape him? Hob closes his eyes against the viscous, liquid light squeezing its way out between his fingers from the stone grasped within. Blues bleed into purples into blue-greens, undulating outwards and filling the entire space. Even from the darkness found behind his eyelids, the lights twist and turn in a display that rivals the dancing lights of the north. The strange tendrils of light envelop him, soothing the ache reverberating in his bones. Its warmth settles on his skin like a lover’s embrace before sinking in, infusing his skin with a pervasive, searing heat. OR [Cue Final Boss Battle Music]

ao3: https://archiveofourown.org/works/44623840/chapters/123561715

Last dash to the finish line with @dreamlingbingo prompt fill B4 - Crying

#my writing #sleepsonfutons writes #john dee wins #2023 dreamling bingo #dreamling #dreamling fanfic #the sandman #the sandman fanfic

[welcomewithmetonight-thechaos]

Dream of the Endless and the problem with time.

Been doing a lot of thinking about dreams and time recently. Actually, Dream is the Endless closest to his father, closest to being out of time. Destiny is written in Destiny’s book, which means all of it is there all at once, but it becomes chronological by reading the book. Desire and Despair both have an object which is in time, to which relations are formed over time. Destruction takes some object in time and has an effect on it, which needs time. Death spans several periods of time from there beginning to their end, each life only lasts until their time runs out. Even Delirium exists in time, even if she might make people lose track of it. 

But Dreams are inconsistent, every dream may in itself be a story, chronological, but there is no link between one dream and the next except maybe for the personal growth and experience of the dreamer, which may be driven by dreams but again takes place in conscious hours, outside of The Dreaming. If linear time is to be understood as a row of cause and effect, it is not chronological in the Dreaming but tumbled and fragmented. It almost exists out of time, which passes in the Waking, tying together events and making progress and long.lasting attachments possible, because every night it is reset, making place for a new story.

One of the reasons that Dream’s personal growth took so long might have been that he had a lack of relations with a realm where time passes chronologically, thus allowing change. He changes a lot during his imprisonment in the Waking, where things are forced to happen in order.

The reason why he could fall in love with Nada so fast is that time is fleeting in the Dreaming or maybe does not pass at all. If he promised her forever, how long would it last? Maybe just for the span of one night, and one dream, maybe all of the Dreaming’s existence.

That is to be said, for Dreams and nightmares time does pass only partly chronologically; think of the Corinthian realizing over time that he wanted to be his own person, but also think of Cain and Abel always forced to repeat the drama endlessly.

Time is introduced to the Dreaming by the Dreamer’s and even so at multiple points simultaneously and not at all after its usual cause and effect logic.

Now think of Dream as the personification of the collective unconscious, which is not at all linear or logical, basically random inserts of lots of different thoughts all at once, very few of them leading anywhere, some of them repeating endlessly (it is very likely that Dream’s mind works as if he had ADHD).

Imagine, if you will Hob and Dream arguing over which realm is more real:

Hob: “Everything that happens in Dreams is of no consequence, people don’t even remember it most of the time.”

Dream: “It is of the utmost consequence. People need dreams to understand themselves, to learn.”

Hob: “Yeah, but all that learning happens in the Waking. People can only know themselves really if they’re consciously thinking about it.”

Dream: “What even is consciousness if there always repressing their true intents. In my realm everyone is their truest self, thus the Dreaming must be more real.”

Etc.

(On that account, I think the whole storyline with Dream’s ruby and John Dee unlocking people’s secret dreams is very Freudian).

Anyway, Dream appears as a being who by his nature is not designed for change and capable of it only within other realms, through the help of others.

#I don't know how to resolve their argument to be honest #which do you think is more real? #If you wan't to read about different views on the matter of time I suggest to you Ursula Le Guin's The Dispossessed #the sandman #the sandman tv #dream of the endless #the endless #the sandman comics #father time #morpheus #the dreaming #hob gadling #cain and abel sandman

[soundsfaebutokay]

hi it is me again who you introduced to the amazing devil. Ruin week is Cool and also devastating me. Anyway i came to your blog from the sandman, and the line "don't you think i look pretty/curled up on this bathroom floor" went into the black box of my mind and came out the other end as the image of dream breaking down again and again and being so bitter about and resigned to it and spitting that line out to hob from rock bottom when hob comes to pick up the pieces. That and the image of dream curled in his glass cage glaring vitriol and pride at everyone who sees him. Doesn't make 100% sense with the song but these images are Not letting me go and i needed to share. Keep on keeping on!

I've been keeping this ask in my drafts while drowning in ruin feelings until such time that I can drown in ruin and Sandman feelings.

And now I can't stop thinking about this! That mental picture you just painted is devastating, thanks. But also, consider:

DREAM TO ALEX BURGESS:

Cos I when I stand oh those folks will run And tell the tales of what I’ve become They’ll speak of me in whispered tones And say my name like it shakes their bones

DREAM TO JOHN DEE:

Sometimes I fall to pieces Just to see what bits of me don’t fit

DREAM TO DESIRE:

Cos we’ll dance together so close we’re sharing breath But now I’m leading doesn’t that just scare you to death

Aaaahhhhhhh

I mean it's not the perfect song for Dream, because The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace, like most TAD songs, has a lovely specificity to it that makes it hard to map with full accuracy onto a different story, but a lot of it resonates.

Thank you for bringing this to my attention, but also how could you do this to me????? 😭

#I officially have Too Many Feelings about Dream of the Endless #but sure let's add some more #jk I'm not really complaining #what else is fandom for other than going insane over fictional characters and their boundless tragedies #thank you my dear! #themonsterunderthebed #conversations #The Old Witch Sleep and the Good Man Grace #The Sandman #The Amazing Devil #my faves #my TAD obsession

[mister-brightside]

I finally, FINALLY finished season one of the sandman tv series and speaking as a fan of the comics I loved it so much. my long and winding thoughts (with minor spoilers) under the cut.

it was really refreshing to have so much trust in the creators. by the last few episodes I’d be like, I can’t wait for them to get to this scene, and then the scene happened, and it would be so good and so spicy.

for ages literally every comics fan (myself included) was saying that a good and faithful adaptation would be impossible. I was actually fully prepared to pass over the tv series cause there was no way they could pull it off, right? thank god some reviewer on reddit changed my mind, because I’m so delighted to be proven wrong for once. it’s honestly crazy impressive how well they took all these disjointed narratives and somehow made them tonally consistent but still kept the edges. I thought maybe they’d skip the more out of line stories, like the one with the cats or the massacre in the diner, but they really went there. in fact I reread some of the comics after the episodes and I was really surprised to find that they lifted quite a bit of dialogue word for word.

(I love how hob gadling’s story was basically retold verbatim EXCEPT they went out of their way to make the breakup a million times more angsty)

there were so many throwbacks and visual references to the comics which were really lovely and never felt forced. and speaking of visuals, the show is as good as you’re gonna get for a production this size. I was worried it was gonna be a CGI mess and, well, it does veer on that edge at times, but most of the cinematography and effects are truly gorgeous and in the end it’s the actors who keep me connected to the heart of the story.

when I first saw photos of morpheus I was like what the hell? they’re just making him look like Some Guy? but my god tom sturridge knocks it out of the park. he’s absolutely perfect. he sold me immediately. someone else said that when he’s imprisoned in the glass cage he moves almost like a creature and they’re dead on. he does a spectacular job of convincing me he’s not human.

so in the end I think the decision to humanise morpheus’s appearance was absolutely the right one. I always found his character in the comics to be a bit distant because yeah, at times he can be arrogant and self-righteous and somewhat terrifying since he’s so unreadable. and that doesn’t change in the transition to the screen but having tom as he is (with those sad, sad, pathetic, emo eyes) softens his edges a little, you know? he makes you feel for him a bit more.

and I’ve said this before but it’s like. I never really pictured a specific voice when reading the comics, but all of morpheus’s dialogue comes in these special black speech bubbles so you know he’s Different. and as soon as tom’s voiceover began in episode one it felt Right. almost like it had been buried in my subconscious for all these years. insane.

(I kind of want to watch more of tom’s roles but I literally can’t imagine him as anyone other than dream of the endless, like I’m afraid to even google him because it would probably break my brain to see him behaving like a normal human person)

the rest of the cast is fantastic as well. the highlights for me: gwendoline christie as lucifer – chef’s kiss. kirby baptiste-howell as death – for real though, if I met her when I died, I wouldn’t feel too bad about it. david thewlis adds a layer of nuance to john dee that somehow makes him quite sympathetic despite the complete lunacy. vanesu samunyai is very cute and likeable as rose and I hope the show sticks around long enough for her to make her return. likewise, lily travers is really sweet as barbie and I think she’d be a really good lead if her storyline ever comes around.

okay, time for the nitpicking. I do wish they’d cast someone older as lucien, he always had this exhausted ‘no one helps me in this house’ vibe that I just don’t get from vivienne acheampong. and I think boyd holbrook needed to be a little more maniacal as the corinthian. oh well, it’s not like we can have everything. and both actors do a great job as they are so I’m not gonna whine too much.

(if this was 2014 tumblr I probably would be seeing extremely, uh, controversial takes on the corinthian but I haven’t come across any yet thank god)

I’m really hoping the show gets more seasons because it’s doing a wonderful job of bringing all the stories to life. I hope enough casual viewers stick around because I know the lack of narrative structure will throw a lot of people off. in the comics, some characters turn up once and never again, some wander in and out, others leave the story only to show up again several volumes later. some stories last for only a chapter and others go on for ages. and the genre swings from urban fantasy to historical fiction to horror to straight up batshit insanity and everything in between.

but in the end that’s what makes the sandman one of my favourite comics ever. every time I read it I feel like I’ve experienced a big fever dream. and like a dream it promptly fades until I literally forget why I love it so much. then I reread it again and I’m like, oh yeah, that’s why.

so I don’t know how to say it better than this: the show FEELS like the sandman. and that’s all I can ask for.

#if you read the whole thing I salute you <3 #the sandman #personal