Why does Dream of the Endless (Tom Sturridge), one of the most powerful beings in existence, need a helmet, a ruby, and a pouch of dream sand if he is one of the most powerful beings in “The Sandman“? “The Sandman“, a Netflix original series, is the long-awaited adaptation of Neil Gaiman’s adored graphic novels. David S. Goyer (Man of Steel), Allan Heinberg, and Gaiman all served as executive producers. The first season of “The Sandman” adapts Preludes and Nocturnes and The Doll’s House, the first two books by Neil Gaiman, into a dark supernatural fantasy.
When “The Sandman” starts, Roderick Burgess, a British warlock, captures Dream AKA Morpheus (Charles Dance). The so-called Magus accidentally captured the lord of the dream realm instead of Dream’s older sister Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), whom he had intended to imprison. As Morpheus is imprisoned for more than a century, “The Sandman” loses his office symbols, his dreamstone, his helmet, and his bag of dream sand. When Dream finally succeeds in escaping, he sets out on a mission to mend his broken realm, the Dreaming, but Sandman must first locate his three potent weapons. Old and new enemies alike turn against Morpheus for his quest to retrieve his belongings, but the cold and distant Dream also starts to experience a remarkable transformation as a result of interacting with people like Johanna Constantine (Jenna Coleman).
Morpheus is a being of astounding power who is also the undisputed king of dreams and a member of the Endless, but a century of captivity has reduced him to a shell of his former self. Dream came to the realization that he had invested too much of his authority and essence in his tools of the trade, which had been taken and dispersed throughout Hell and the Earth. Therefore, when Dream confronts the individuals and supernatural entities who took his magical items, which were never intended to be possessed by mortals, his power is greatly diminished. The ruby, helmet, and pouch of dream sand were initially made by Sandman as both tools to assist him in carrying out his duties as the Lord of the Dreaming and as representations of his power as the ruler of dreams. In “The Sandman” season 1, Morpheus attempts to recover his stolen symbols of office and gradually realizes the foolishness of investing so much of himself in memorabilia.
The Meaning of Sandman’s Helmet
The supreme representation of Dream’s power as the Dreaming’s master is his helmet. He wears the helm, a dream-like mask, both in battle and when traveling on official business to other worlds and planes of existence, such as Hell. The helmet’s eerie appearance is due to the fact that Dream created it from the bones of a deceased god centuries ago. Sandman, who rules over both dreams and nightmares, can be terrifying if he so chooses, and Dream’s helmet increases his terrifyingness when called upon.
Dream’s helmet has a similar style to a gas mask. This is a reflection of how Sandman character from a Golden Age DC Comics series is retconned and rebooted in Neil Gaiman’s “The Sandman“. Wesley Dodds was a rich playboy who later became a costumed crimefighter. He used sleep gas to put criminals to sleep while donning a gas mask. The helmet on Dream of the Endless resembles the gas mask on Sandman from the Golden Age.
The Meaning Of Sandman’s Pouch Of Dream Sand
The pouch of unending sand belonging to Dream is a very potent magical item. Sand served as Morpheus’ convenient shorthand for granting dreams or inciting nightmares. Anybody can fall asleep on the sand, and it has the power to let dreams come true. Dream also travels between realms with the help of the sand. Dream’s sand should not be owned or used by mortals because it can be extremely dangerous in the wrong hands. Mortals can become immortal thanks to the sand, but it comes at a terrible cost: they simply deteriorate in a state of near death as they continue to dream.
Explanation of Sandman’s Dreamstone Ruby
The ruby or dreamstone, the most potent and hazardous of Dream’s instruments of power, holds the greatest amount of Morpheus’ essence. Morpheus or whoever wields the ruby has the power to manifest dreams, make dreams come true, and even change the nature of reality. Incorrect or corrupt use of the dreamstone has the potential to change spacetime’s structure and ultimately destroy all of reality and existence. When Dream was freed from his ruby, he understood how much of himself and his power he had invested in it and how foolish that had ultimately been.
The Materioptikon, also known as the dreamstone in DC Comics, was a reality-altering weapon used by Justice League supervillain John Dee, also known as Doctor Destiny. In the Netflix original film “The Sandman“, David Thewlis’ John Dee (who inherited the dreamstone) changed it so that only he could use it, endangering Dream’s authority over the Dreaming and reality itself. Curiously, a different version of “The Sandman’s” dreamstone makes an appearance in Wonder Woman 1984, where Maxwell Lord (Pedro Pascal) and Barbara Minerva (Kristen Wigg) use it to change reality to suit their preferences.