#exiles spoilers

[writing-for-life]

The Truth of Mankind…

…Is Also Dream’s

These quotes are from episode 5 (24/7):

“Garry dreams of proving his father he was wrong about him.”

“Kate dreams of running away where no one will find her.”

[But you do, and we see your star in so many panels of The Wake 🥺]

“Bette dreams of creating something that matters to people.”

You are the magician who became the man, Morpheus. And you are the king who left his kingdom, but not without making sure everyone else would be okay first--perhaps that is a different definition of a graceful ending, but it is graceful nonetheless.

You’re so painfully human, and yet, you are also not 😭

[core-cosmos]

I mean this with love and kindness. I hope all the girlies who were convinced Jayce would exile Viktor and inherently despise him for using the Hexcore on himself feel real silly right now.

[anna-scribbles]

honestly idk why luka needed witness protection he seemed like he was doing great

[chimerical-daydreams]

Silk polycule has to be the EXACT worst people to all be in a car with. I could not handle that. Not for a damn minute. With all just them it's great, but the second another person enters that vehicle ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE. King starts crying, Loop and Siffrin are arguing over the radio and Isabeau is quietly Not Having Fun while driving. Cannot be good.

Nightmare scenario.

[boneshine]

Brush my hair

Read my lines

It’s time to go

Wear my suit

Put the make up on

Put on a show

Up, up, up, to the Heaviside layer

Up, up, up, I'm going straight up

Take my lunch Lose my lunch It's a shaky start

I'm old Deut

Now he's old Deut

I've lost the part

Down, down, down, to the center of the Earth

Down, down, down, I'm going straight down

[vic-does-battlecats]

Tigerstar takes in the RiverClan Rejects (again)

! click the gif for quality that doesn’t suck

[asp1diske-art]

Because I can't see why I should leave you behind

(script under cut)

Sometimes you dream of waking up way back at the beginning

And heading out to find

a world of broken letters

Only this time you ask the world

'Don't lead me out'

'Let me stay a little longer'

'Let me learn a little more'

'Let me understand you'

[thequeenwechoose]

Daemon Targaryen in 2x02 House of the Dragon

[melmedarda]

I have been considering the fact that the first time we see the "wolf" side of Mel Medarda is in an interaction with family. With her brother who is not her brother. Of what we've seen of Mel thus far, we have never used violence/might. She is well versed in Vision and in Guile, but at that moment, in the Oculorum, Mel has never been more Ambessa's daughter as she is in that moment. She exercises Might, bashing not-Kino's head into the wall, and she also exercises Sacrifice. She sacrifices her desire to believe her brother is alive, her love for Kino, on the altar of her survival.

It's very symbolic and possibly even prophetic, the way she becomes Wolf in the face of someone she considers family. She is defensive to the very person she is supposed to trust. It's my opinion that this "Wolf" mindset against her family will flow into Act 3. When Mel returns and sees what her mother has done to her city, no doubt she will be inclined to become the Wolf against Ambessa. But then, in doing so she would become like her mother. But if it is for the survival of the ones she cares for, if push comes to shove, I think Mel will do what needs to be done to protect her city, even if it means turning against her family.

[pretentious-basterd]

Nandor losing his mind (everytime Guillermo leaves him)

Made an actual wwdits nandermo edit and posted it on YouTube for the first time!!

[onemoreattempt]

Forkle making Sophie:

[its-your-mind]

Queen Mera: it is a pleasure to meet you Lord Arum

Lord Arum, He Who Rules the Swamp of Titans’ Blooms: (Well I can’t just lie to her and tell her it’s a pleasure to meet her as well because it’s Not. if we had met an hour ago she would have ordered my death.)

Lord Arum, He Who Views Ceding Conversational Ground as a Blow to His Pride: (but more importantly she is the one who exiled my Amaryllis and taught my beautiful, gentle, sweet Honeysuckle to hate and kill)

Lord Arum, He Who Loves His Partners More Than Anything and Will Hold Grudges on Their Behalf: (I may be willing to call you ally, but I cannot and will not forget that I met this man, one of the two loves of my life, as we tried to kill each other because of a war that you and your predecessors have waged on my kind.)

Lord Arum, He Who Has, At This Point, Lost His Train of Thought Entirely: (though I must admit that our first meeting was… electrifying. Seeing my Honeysuckle in combat, moving like poetry through the fabrics as he attempted to catch me before I could abscond with the Queen’s handkerchief)

Lord Arum, He Who Has Just Remembered He is in the Middle of the Most Important Introduction in the Universe Right Now and thus Does Not Have Time to Daydream About Damian’s Lithe Form Moving Through Soft Fabrics: Yes, thank you, Queen Mera. You have good handkerchiefs.

Lord Arum: (nailed it)

Caroline: *facepalming in the background*

[elgatoarcoiris]

Kotlc thumbnail sketches

some thumbnail sketches i drew of different kotlc sceneries !!💗

i think my fav one ended up being elysian island but im curious whats yalls favorite??

[writing-for-life]

The Sandman Overture and Exiles: Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit

Everything Changes, Nothing Is Truly Lost—Not Even Hope

There once was a little girl (well, not a human girl) known by the name Hope Beautiful Lost Nebula, egg-daughter of Clearly who died in childbirth, sperm-daughter of Troubling World who was murdered by reavers. She is one of the most meaningful characters of the whole Sandman, so why does fandom hardly talk about her, not even those who have read the comics?

Understanding Hope, her story and her connection to Dream, is more or less understanding the entirety of The Sandman, and that's why I want to write about Hope and hope.

This contains major spoilers for Overture, Exiles and the ending of the Sandman, so if you’d rather not, this is your exit sign…

Pictures often speak louder than words, so I would like to start with these [I will add Alt text gradually, it’s a lot]…

If you haven't read Overture, you would not know that the words Dream speaks in Hell when he wins the Oldest Game are a direct mirror of Hope's words, down to repeating "I am...". It is not a sudden epiphany about how to win—it is a memory.

How much Morpheus truly remembers about the universe before the reset in Overture—it is something we cannot know for certain, and we have discussed it on here many, many times. I personally lean towards his remembering a lot more than we might think, and I've written about it in other metas before, e.g. here (super long with many tangents) or here. The narration is unreliable on this, because Desire in cat-form says in Overture that “there won’t be anything to remember”, but also that Dream will be “the only one to remember”. But whether he remembers every detail, or whether it is exactly the way Glory states in the above panel and it’s just that Hope's name is there for him when he needs it most, is secondary. What matters is that he does remember (side-note: It also matters because Dream promised her himself. And he never goes back on a promise, for better, for worse).

The above conversation with Glory is often taken as proof that there is no hope in the new universe, and by extension, the whole of the Sandman turns into a story with a hopeless ending. But in my opinion, that isn’t true. Yes, as a mortal being, Hope does not exist in the universe we are now in. But two very specific panels in Overture are directly contradicted by what happens in the later arcs of The Sandman:

The Star says here, after Hope's above statement that she is not nothing, that she is Hope, "As if saying that might ever change something." [And the Star’s tone is equally mocking than that of Lucifer Morningstar when they say, “What are you then, Dream Lord?”, but that just as an aside.]

And since Hope is killed in the very next panel (because Time pulled Dream out of that situation, so he wasn't able to protect her anymore. Who needs parents, right?), we might be inclined to believe this.

But by now, we all know that the Star is WRONG. These are not "three words that mean nothing." Once again:

And also this (I couldn’t find a gif with the bit where she says, “I will never give up hope,” but we all know she does say these words):

What else makes Dream/s prevail in Hell, what else are the dreams Morpheus speaks about here than hopes?

The Star is directly proven wrong. And so are we if we assume that Hope’s spirit doesn’t exist anymore. Because hope as a concept, hope as the thing that Morpheus remembers when he fights Lucifer/Choronzon in Hell, still exists. Even though this was said in the old universe before the reset, it DOES mean something. It DOES change something. Because Morpheus remembers.

Remembering Hope means to have hope.

And if we believe there isn’t any H/hope, we are also directly proven wrong by Time, who tells us that there will always be a universe in which Hope (the being) exists, and that there will always be one in which she doesn’t. And they, in a way, exist simultaneously. So even in a universe without Hope, her spirit, her memory, prevails. That is not a universe entirely without hope.

And that is also our tie-in to Exiles, because Morpheus and Daniel also exist simultaneously. Omnia mutantur, nihil interit—everything changes, nothing is truly lost.

Morpheus has moved on, but he still exists—in story, in memory of those who cared about him, in Daniel!Dream, in the “Soft Places” at the fray where reality and dreams meet. And it is exactly what H/hope is in the Sandman universe—it keeps on existing: In stories, in memories, in the “soft places”. Because to hope means to love, and to love means to hope.

Sometimes, you need to find hope…

Sometimes, she needs a bit of coaxing. Sometimes, hope means not to forget, so you keep going and remember what truly matters…

Sometimes, we lose her, and even Hope loses memory of who she was, but we can be reminded…

Hope might transform, but she never truly disappears in The Sandman.

On that note: I totally understand the attachment to Morpheus as a character. He is my favourite character, too. I cried buckets when I first knew what was going to happen (decades ago I dare say, and not at the end of The Kindly Ones, but during World’s End). And I think it is totally legitimate to want him to survive. Part of me does, too. It is a bit baffling to assume that people who read the story with acceptance and find meaning in it don’t care enough about Morpheus as a character to want him to survive, and that they are even a bit stupid for thinking The Sandman’s underlying message is one of hope. I don’t know many people who aren’t heartbroken in one way or another. But the story had to end the way it ended because it is not just about Morpheus and humanising him.

I often feel that by clinging to his character and person alone, we are losing sight of the deeper meaning, and we are closing our eyes to all the messages that are there, in plain sight, if we just let them speak to us:

The Sandman is not simply a story about Morpheus. He is the protagonist (even that could be argued), but he is also a vessel for the meaning and power of change, for letting go instead of clinging to what doesn’t serve us (and isn’t it ironic that by desperately wanting him to live and getting upset about the fact he doesn’t, we are doing exactly that instead of leaning into catharsis that actually has the potential to bring on change in us?).

Dream does not die because Dream cannot die. He changes. What dies is a point of view (symbolised by Morpheus). That’s it. That is the message. Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.

Hope is not gone. Not in this universe or in any other. Her spirit prevails. Because when she calls you out, when she touches you, you remember what matters:

“I’m not,” he says after thinking for a hot second, and proceeds to do exactly that regardless.

She touches him, she holds his hand, and calls him out.

She touches him, she holds his hand, and he is honest with himself, for once.

Hope touched Dream, but did she touch Desire in the same way? I already wrote about it here, and I think in certain ways, she did:

Hope prevails…

Hope is what saved the universe in the first place.

Hope is what Morpheus remembers when it matters.

Hope is what Nada finds again in A Hope in Hell after she gave up hope in Tales in the Sand.

Hope is what drives Unity and ultimately lets Rose survive.

Hope springs eternal in people like Rosemary who are willing to help and overcome their own fears. And in the TV series, that hope gets rewarded, and that’s important (I am glad they made that change).

Hope is even what drives Morpheus, but to see that, we need to take our eyes off only focusing on his having hope for himself, his having hope for his point of view (that does not serve him or anyone else, and he knows). If that’s the hope we’re looking for, we won’t find it. No, that’s not entirely true either. Because again, Dream can’t die. But the true reason is:

Morpheus is bigger than that. The story is bigger than that.

He has hope for humanity and sentient beings that are under his purview—what else are dreams but hopes? And Morpheus as the “point of view” understands that said point of view needs to make space for a better, kinder, more human (for lack of better term—human=/=man but human=with humanity) Dream to exist. And said Dream comes into existence with Daniel, but he also still contains all that was Morpheus. See it as having learned from experience and moving on with a new point of view instead of letting our hurt define us and holding on to it indefinitely. It is something we recommend in real life all the time—why can’t we find it in this story? Because it is right there, again, in plain sight: Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.

I am not saying this is how you have to see it. But I am saying that engaging with the story on this level makes it easier to come to terms with an ending that is commonly interpreted as hopeless because we can't see the forest for the trees.

Hope is hope. And she saved the universe and us. Not just once, but many times over. The new universe isn’t the hopeless, sad universe. The old one was. The new one has hope because it keeps existing. With Hope’s spirit and a Dream who has changed…

[pyske]

Welcome to the Universe little Hyacinth,

may you be blessed with your mom's brilliant mind, your dad's eloquence and your father's social awkwardness.

[thehumanwiki]

do you think ruby and The Woman™ could take down Prime Minister Harold Saxon