#Dream & Lyta

[thirtysomethingwolf-blog]

The Sandman + The Onion III

[moresandmanstuff]

Sandman text posts (part 12)

[iconsumethesoulsofthedamned]

A sandman meme for ur soul

[fishfingersandscarves]

number one anthropomorphic entity

[nualaofthefaerie]

LADIES AND GENTLEMEN, NUALA OF THE FAEIRE AND LYTA HALL, THE BEAUTIFUL DEMISE OF DREAM OF THE ENDLESS 🩷🪷

[writing-for-life]

About Love As The Catalyst For Change

Okay, so while I was going through all the panels for March Mania, I also stumbled over these ones again:

And although I’ve read it all a million times and had all these feelings before, I just need to blurt them out:

Love Is What Changes Him

It’s such a central message of The Sandman, but I feel it often gets lost in a million other things. And they’re all important, but so is this one.

Because yes, Dream went with Delirium and found Destruction (and Despair found him btw), and his Destiny was Death. And that whole Desire thing… ‘nuff said. BUT… (major spoilers ahead)

Those panels above are basically the turning point in a nutshell. No, well, the turning point is actually the moment he kisses (and then kills) Orpheus, but those panels are the essence:

He set out with Delirium in hopes to find Thessaly (the pendant Nuala wears here used to be hers, and she gave it to her when she left the Dreaming and him. And I can’t even begin to tell you how I feel about him letting Nuala keep a gift of his ex, who betrays him later by protecting the woman he hurt, and then making it the item that holds the power with which Nuala can call in her boon. One could spin that very far in all sorts of different directions).

But when he comes back after killing Orpheus, it doesn’t really matter anymore. Thessaly was the usual romanticised dream that could never be real. But he finally did find love. For his son. The unconditional kind. The one that doesn’t need anything in return because it just is. And he was loved back, if for a brief moment. But it was real, not a dream. And that love stays real (that’s why it initiates the turn, 3rd act and all that).

I’m reminded again of the words of Frank McConnell in his intro to The Kindly Ones:

“And with [killing Orpheus], Dream has entered time, choice, guilt and regret—has entered the sphere of the human.”

(Side note at this point: With all of this in mind, read Dream Hunters [again], and look at all THREE main characters—that includes the onmyōji, not just the monk and the fox.)

And it would be so easy to say, “Well, love killed him then, what’s the fucking point?” Not just the love for his son, but also the love of a maiden who called in her boon (Nuala), the love of a mother for her child (Lyta), the love of a crone for no one but herself (Thessaly).

But we all know that “change or die” was never an “either or”, because it’s an “and both”. And it’s ultimately love, in all its shapes and forms, four times over, that changed him (while it was also part of the death knell, but that’s a complicated one. In any case, it also led to change: To be(come) a new, better, kinder Dream).

Yes, call me romantic or hopeless (although I think that’s the wrong word in this context, because I feel it’s the opposite), I don’t care.

Because that story is about catharsis. And that means Dream is a vessel for our feelings. And the feelings won’t be the same if we change any of this, for better, for worse. Because truthfully: That story is about me. And you. And you.

About allowing love, of whatever kind (this is very clearly not just about romantic love), to change us. And that ultimately means letting go (of control). Just like he did.

Bleurgh, I’m crying. Catharsis 🤣

[notallsandmen]

If you think that Dream takes a tactless tone with Lyta in the series, I can tell you that it is even worse in the comics

Dream, why are you like this

Dream, I love you and you are only hurting yourself

[fowjiyo]

Characters Sandman as text posts

[maikhiwi00]

brief lives // the wake

[moon-andstardust]

iykyk

[moresandmanstuff]

Sandman text posts (part 33)

[windsweptinred]

I've moved this here @bobbole because we HAVE to expand on this! I HAVE THOUGHTS!!

Snapping on my shipping goggles. 'If' The Dreaming comics have to be canon then this for me is THE Corinthiel moment. This is when they realise it's love and they're the one. The fact the Corinthian is abscent from the Dreaming when everything goes down is so relevant. They're still both relatively young here, at a point where establishing their individual identities, separate from their predecessors must have been the most challenging. And the very moment the Corinthian is gone, (The only being who can really empathise with and aid Daniel in this plight). Daniel's memories of Dream overwhelm him and he immediately reverts to following in his predecessors behavior patterns. He's desperate for love and goes looking for it in all the wrong places. When it's RiGHT THERE waiting for him. It's such a Morpheus thing to do it pains me. I know the comic implies there's a measure of sorcerery in Daniel pursuit of Ivy Walker. But even so, I'm going to fanatically stand my ground that if Cori hadn't been off on a side quest at this formative point of Daniel's reign, none of this would have happened. The moment The Corinthian is gone Daniel looses his grip on HIMSELF.

......

So the moment the Corinthian returns and finds out what's gone down is a pivotal point in Cori 2.0s development for me. He's presented with a very similar senario to the one his predecessor once faced... Dream 'imprisoned' by occultists and the taste of freedom. And instead of bemoaning missed opportunities, he goes apoplectic. His fury is a declaration of absolute loyalty in itself. And his incensed rage at the thought of loosing Daniel, of someone touching what is HIS, a revelation of love. And here's the thing, even at this youthful stage as Dream, there's no way the Corinthian could hurt Daniel without Daniel allowing it. But he does. He allows Cori to shash that cursed mark from his skin. To vent all that fear, and rage and brand him anew. Mark him as his. This is Daniel's, he's the one, he's always been the one moment of realisation. It's the most fucked up version of 'I love you' 'I know' in the history of existence. And it's so unapologetically them.

[fishfingersandscarves]

can’t stop thinking about how the dreaming runs on santa clause rules

[authorgirl1111]

Sandman headcanon

Daniel hall purposefully gave himself white hair when he became dream as a way to honor Lyta Hall.

Because Daniel Hall's incarnation of dream is a huge mama's boy. Despite the fact that he no longer consider's himself Lyta's son.

[writing-for-life]

Aftermath

Art by Michael Zulli, words by @writing-for-life

Her pain a storm,

Her fury unbound,

Truth in chaos.

Quiet aftermath.

Bonds untied

And yet unbroken.

Forgiveness flows.

Born of love and sorrow

A Dream of both worlds.

A little poem for day one of the Sandman Rarepair Fest (hurt/comfort).

I hope this is okay since this isn’t a fic and hence under 100 words, but I couldn’t find anything about poetry. It’s also not a slash pair, but I hope that hurt/comfort applies to more than those.

Even if not, their relationship is very special to me, and I’ll simply put it out in the ether for everyone who feels the same.