Netflix The Sandman sticks near the unique comedian guide tales by Neil Gaiman, adapting the primary occasions of Preludes and Nocturnes and The Dolls Home, the primary two massive chapters within the epic saga of the Limitless. The primary of those storylines follows Dream, or Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), one of many Limitless, as he seems to be for his instruments, magic artifacts holding a parcel of his energy. However what are Dream’s instruments? Why does Morpheus want them? And the way did they get misplaced?
The story of The Sandman begins as a gaggle of cultists performs a ritual to ensnare Loss of life, one in every of Dream’s sisters. The cultists need absolute management over Loss of life to change into immortals. Sadly, their ritual doesn’t work fairly as anticipated, and so they find yourself placing Dream inside a cage. The bodily limitations of his jail forestall Dream from strolling away from his cell, whereas a sequence of runes inscribed on the bottom incorporates his energy to stroll via the Dreaming, the dimension the place all of us go once we shut our eyes. To make issues extra humiliating for one of many Limitless, the cultists additionally steal Morpheus’ three sigils of energy: the Pouch of Dream Sand, Dream’s Helm, and the Dreamstone ruby.
Morpheus stays trapped for a lot of a long time, ready for the correct alternative to get his revenge on his captors. Nonetheless, in the mean time, Dream’s instruments commerce palms a number of instances, being taken by highly effective beings or misplaced within the palms of poor mortals. As soon as he lastly escapes, Morpheus wants to trace down these instruments to regain his energy. Because it seems, every instrument incorporates a fraction of Morpheus’ essence, and after a long time of imprisonment, the King of Goals must change into complete once more if he needs to restore the Dreaming and seize escaped Nightmares.
The Pouch of Dream Sand
The primary magical instrument in Morpheus’s arsenal is the pouch of Dream Sand. The brown purse seems to be like an everyday bag, stuffed to the brink with sand. Nonetheless, the sand inside is rarely depleted, giving its wearer an infinite provide of Dream Sand. With this sand, Morpheus can pressure any residing being right into a slumber and transport them to the Dreaming, the place they meet Goals and Nightmares. The Dream Sand can be used to curse mortals with everlasting nightmares, making the pouch a harmful instrument. Morpheus additionally makes use of the Dream Sand to move to any realm immediately, permitting the King of Goals to magically teleport himself and others to anyplace on Earth, the Dreaming, or past.
Because the Dream Sand carries part of Morpheus himself, the pouch additionally works as a magnet for Goals and Nightmares. That’s why it’s harmful for people to get in contact with this instrument, as they will change into psychic meals for creatures coming from the Dreaming. In Preludes and Nocturnes, Morpheus must crew up with DC’s supernatural investigator John Constantine to search out his pouch of Dream Sand, stolen by a drug-addicted who will get greater than she bargained for. Netflix’s The Sandman stars Jenna Coleman as Johanna Constantine, a genre-bent model of the identical character with looser ties to the DC canon.
Dream’s Helm
The Dream’s Helm is Morpheus’ highest image of authority. Made from pure dream matter and sculpted from the bones of a useless god Morpheus has trapped without end contained in the Dreaming, the helm is the proper reminder of how highly effective the Limitless genuinely are. That’s why Dream at all times wears his helm into battle or on diplomatic missions. The Helm additionally protects Morpheus whereas he navigates the scale across the Dreaming whereas in search of his enemies.
Followers could be fast to note that Dream’s Helm is formed after a fuel masks, which straight correlates with the DC comedian guide historical past. Gaiman wrote The Sandman as a part of the larger DC comedian guide universe, the place a vigilante named Wesley Dodds already existed and used the moniker “Sandman.” Wesley used a fuel masks to guard himself from the sleep fuel he used to knock down criminals, which explains his curious look. Whereas retconning Sandman’s story, Gaiman described in his comedian books how Wesley was impressed by the unique Dream proper after Morpheus was captured and imprisoned. So, DC’s Sandman vigilante is only a results of the universe attempting to regulate to one of many Limitless being trapped for a lot of a long time.
In Preludes and Nocturnes, Morpheus finds out his Helm was given to a demon in alternate for a safety amulet. So, Morpheus must journey to Hell and negotiate the restoration of his Helm with one of many rulers of the fiery dimension, Lucifer, the fallen angel. In Netflix’s live-action adaptation, Lucifer is performed by Gwendoline Christie.
The Dreamstone
Morpheus’s strongest instrument ever created is the Dreamstone, a glowing ruby that holds the power to construct goals, convey them into actuality, and even management different folks by altering their hopes and creativeness. Within the comedian books, the Dreamstone was utilized by a scientist named John Dee, who needed to harness the powers of goals to reshape the world based on his will. That led him to change into the Justice League villain Physician Future, who nearly received what he needed earlier than being defeated and locked down in Arkham Asylum.
When Morpheus escapes his jail and tracks down the Dreamstone, he discovers that Physician Future modified the ruby’s properties to solely reply the villain’s command. What’s worse is that the Dreamstone can now soak up Morpheus’ powers, changing into an much more highly effective artifact. Within the comedian books, John Dee additionally escapes Arkham Asylum simply as Morpheus is in search of the Dreamstone, changing into the most important villain of the Preludes and Nocturnes storyline. Initially, Morpheus can solely survive his encounter with Physician Future as a result of the villain decides to interrupt the Dreamstone, believing it to be Morpheus’ energy supply. Nonetheless, the ruby really held an enormous chunky of Dream’s essence, and after it’s damaged, Morpheus recovers all the ability he as soon as separated from himself.
Netflix’s The Sandman stars David Thewlis as a model of John Dee — and whereas the sequence tries to keep away from points by striving additional away from the larger DC universe, the villain continues to be a strong enemy Morpheus must take all the way down to recuperate his instruments and rebuild the Dreaming.
The Sandman will premiere August 5 on Netflix.
