#consider this: these comics by now are just what ifs I have to acknowledge because I'm a kaleidoscope bitch

[lavenoon]

Justice for the detector </3

@naffeclipse The time for reveal comics is limited before the actual one hits, so yeah I had to draw it - did I reuse the "demon behind you" bit? Yes, because it's a banger scene <3

[thenightling]

The changes to The Sandman timeline and how the original capture date could potentially work (fan theory)

Recently we learned there will be a Sandman series created by Netflix.  One thing we were told in advance is that the timeline will be bumped up thirty years.  This means that scenes that were once set in 1989 are now 2019 and onward.   

This works perfectly fine for contemporary scenes.  The Endless are timeless beings and we know Morpheus had that spikey hair before The Earth even woke up and bore life.  So we know the character designs don’t even have to change.  However there is one detail I was curious about.   In the original Sandman comics Morpheus was captured by humans in 1916.  His capture caused a disruption in The Dreaming (The realm of dreams) and many people fell victim ot a strange sleeping sickness.  This overlapped with a strange real world condition called Encephalitis Lethargica (first diagnosed and named in 1917).   

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Encephalitis_lethargica

Though I have no qualms about Morpheus escaping in 2019 instead of 1989 I would prefer it if his capture still happened in 1916 because of the parallel with the real world illness.  I’d rather not see his captivity start in 1946.  If the time of his capture is moved I won’t be very upset.  It’s a Sandman adaptation that doesn’t try to be Terminator 2 or some other action movie cliche.

For those unfamiliar with Sandman, turning Sandman into an action movie would be like taking the premise of Nightmare before Christmas and attempting to make it a knock-off of Hostel. It just doesn’t make sense for the tone or main character.  

But almost immediately after I started to talk about wanting Morpheus’ capture to remain in 1916 other Sandman fans reminded me about Morpheus’ centennial meetings with his immortal friend, Hob Gadling.  

If Morpheus is captured in 1916 but freed in 2019 that extends his captivity to one hundred and three years instead of the original seventy-two-years.  That means if Morpheus had very recently had a meeting with Hob, he’s late for the next one by about three years.  In the comics his captivity was seventy-two-years-long.  Changing the date of his release but possibly not the date of his capture would extend his captivity. (Mwahaha!  I mean... that poor creature...)

Anyway, we were brainstorming on all the “what ifs”.    An easy thing is moving Morpheus’ capture to around 1946 and ignoring the Encephalitis Lethargica discovery overlap with Morpheus’ capture.  And that might be how they do it.  I won’t be too bothered with that considering what could have happened to this story. (I’m not over that 1998 script. Yeesh!)       But here are some ways the capture date can be left in tact.

1.  Morpheus’ last meeting with Hob went the way it did in the comics but happened in 1916 (just before the capture) instead of 1889.   That means if the meeting went the way it did in the comics, Morpheus left in a huff, too proud to concede Hob’s realization that Morpheus is lonely and sees him as a friend.   Hob had called after him that if he shows up for their next meeting he’ll know it’s only because they are friends and no other reason. 

Now let’s say Morpheus didn’t show up for that usual meeting.  Hob thinks Morpheus doesn’t think of him as his friend after all.  But on some strange compulsion Hob returns there nightly (just in case) convincing himself that maybe the entity he sees as a friend simply lost track of time.  He does this for about three years and is on the verge of giving up when suddenly he sees a familiar face.  “I... I didn’t think you were going to show.”   Morpheus gives him a tiny trace of a smile and replies “Really?  Perhaps it was wrong of me to leave you waiting.” (Because he hasn’t worked his way up to apologizing for past misdeeds yet.)  “I have always heard it was impolite to leave one’s friends waiting.”  (and that acknowledgement of friendship is the important part.)  “Would you like a drink?”

This is probably the best way this can be done.

Another option is

2.    Another option is Morpheus’ meetings with Hob were every two centuries instead of one.  (I like my first scenario better).

3.    or Hob was due to meet Morpheus in 1989 but Morpheus didn’t show up.  So for THIRTY years Hob kept going there anyway.  Roughly same scenario as 1 still plays out.