#hob doesn't hate Shakespeare

[lady-of-the-spirit]

I've said this already but I don't get how "Hob hates Shakespeare" became a whole fandom headcanon when canonically all Hob said about Shakespeare is "that lad, Will Shakespeare, turned out to be a half decent playwright after all", said with a smile, and that people are idiots for changing his endings.

[achillesuwu]

Let's talk about Shakespeare, The White Horse and how important they are to understand Dream & Hob's relationship.

As much as I love the "Hob hates Shakespeare" headcanon, it isn't how I saw Hob reaction in 1589.

Like for me, Hob thought "Eh, whatever" at the end of it which is SO important.

Hob, at that point, thought that Dream didn't really matter. He didn't think he would lose his son and his wife. That Hob (and still present Hob btw) thinks that he got his immortality simply because he didn't want to die. THAT is the reason why he got married and had children.

Did 1589!Hob want to impress Dream? Yes.

Does he want to impress DREAM? No. He want to show off. If Dream was any other supernatural being it would be exactly the same to Hob.

1589 Hob thought "Eh, whatever, he may be the oldest dude I know now but I have an immortal wife, an immortal son. Everything will get better and better. He doesn't matter."

Everything that happens in the 1589 meeting and after lead them to understanding what they mean to each other in 1689.

That 1689 meeting isn't only about "Dream begins to really care about that human, to see him beyond an interesting toy", it's also "Hob learns that if it was that easy to convince people that they don't have to die there would be more immortals than him & Dream*. He learns that he will continue to lose people, he learns that sometime life will just get worse and worse BUT Hob also learns that Dream will be there along the way. He won't lose Dream even if he displeases him, even if he has nothing to his name. Dream became important, he matters because Hob knows he will be there [in the white horse]. " it's them beginning to care beyond the " he is a random human" & "he is a random stranger."

(*this is important for later. )

We can see it in 1789 too, their relationship developing even further. Hob is annoyed that Dream judges him but it isn't like 1589. He doesn't just want to impress him to stroke his own ego. He doesn't do his 1589!"Eh, whatever" because Dream's opinion matters to him now. If it was someone else it would be different, I don’t think he would have really thought about it. I even bet that like many time in history (and now) Hob knew but just didn't care enough to do anything. Hob doesn't talk about Shakespeare (+joke about Dream being the Devil) because he is jealous but because it could be a shared joke between them. Hob does a bit want to reassure himself that Dream will still be here but that isn’t really what he is aiming for. Now, Hob to wants them to be close. That is the reason why he choose Shakespeare of all things, because he wants to reassure himself about the fact that he knows Dream. That he is right about what he knows about him (it’s a bit about him being right about believing that Dream won’t leave but not just that).

Hob talking about Shakespeare create a link between 1589 & 1789. In 1589 Shakespeare is what Dream use to separate them. In 1789? Shakespeare is what bring them closer. Dream doesn't leave when he disapprove Hob's choices, Dream tell him he can go back to being a great story. Which mean Dream trust him to make the right choice. This reassure Hob on their relationship and it's why their act like complete bestie (with sexual tension) after. The look™ they give each other when Johanna appears. The "you look worse" and their inside joke of Dream not being a devil but people thinking he is, them acting like a team and mutually protecting each other,... They are closer than before but they are not too close either. AND They do not leave the white Horse.

Now let's talk about 1889 but more importantly about the other immortals Hob knows (he talks briefly about them in the comic, he knows that there are other humans immortal, he encounters vampires at some point & he must know about mutants since they are in DC universe). The fact that Hob knows them but doesn't seem to care that much to go talk to them solidifies the fact that Hob changed his opinion on their relationship again.

Dream doesn't matter to him like he mattered in 1689 or in 1789. It isn't because he is going to be there. It isn't because Hob knows that he is right about Dream always coming back to him.

I don't even think that Hob conscientiously knows it at that point (1889) but it has NOTHING to do with Hob being ‘lonely’ and Dream being immortal and the ‘only’ option available to be friend with. Nor Dream being a constant. Hob could find others immortal. Hob could find others constants. Yes, I'm talking in plural. Hob is choosing Dream even when he has MANY options but that mad man does NOT want those other immortals anywhere close in his life. Hob thinks he is lonely but he isn’t. He is moping and sulking because he wants Dream.

Dream is important because Hob likes him, and it completely change Hob's attitude. In 1789 he didn't seem to be really really annoyed when he didn't get his answer. Johanna interrupting their meeting was meet with Hob (and Dream) making jokes. It was something interesting, something funny. In 1889? Oh boy, Hob doesn't just want to see Dream "along the way", he doesn't just wants to get "close", it isn't about the lack of answers. He managed just fine for 5 centuries. No, it’s what the lack of answer MEANS. Hob wants Dream to admit that he likes him back, he wants to matter like Dream matter to him.

You know what I was saying about Hob not conscientiously knowing that it isn’t about Dream being immortal or a constant but about Dream not admitting that he likes Hob? Well, Hob says it a bit in 1889 " if you here then too is because we are friends, no other reason ! Right ? Fuck.". Hob doesn’t even acknowledge that Dream imply that he won’t be there next time. He doesn’t care about that (and/or he thinks he knows Dream well enough to know that he will be there no matter what) but I don't think he really understand why he doesn't care about it.

Edit : notice how 1889 is the first time Hob meet Dream nearly outside of the White horse? How it's the first time he get out of it? Their relationship is changing.

However, I think it’s in 1989 that Hob is forced to face it because it removes everything that mattered before.

As far as he knows Dream sticks to his words and will prove him wrong. There is no more constant immortal fellow coming every hundred years. It's just him alone. The pattern is broken, Hob lost his constants. (but it’s interesting to see that Hob is ready to get back on it (Shakespeare is implied there btw ‘I’ve seen plenty of friend get in fights in pubs. Even more of them laugh about it later.’) when he says ‘maybe another hundred years’. He tries to cling to his belief in what he knows about Dream (that he will always come back to the white horse).).

The lost of his constants are symbolized by the white horse getting destroyed/abandoned but more importantly it forces him to acknowledge that they don’t matter and he don’t want them. Hob doesn’t go in the white horse every hundred years because of constants. If he did it shouldn't matter that Dream isn't there but it isn't the case and he knows it. He goes because of Dream, because he likes him. That place is only important because without the white Horse he may never see Dream again. The date is only important because it's the day they met.

For Hob, in their relationship, constants are irrelevant, when is irrelevant, the place is irrelevant. Only their friendship is relevant. What Hob wants is Dream to be his friend. He doesn’t want to keep their one hundred deal nor does he wants anyone else other than Dream to be there. That's what Hob learn in 1989.

THAT is why Hob wrote in red ‘New Inn’, why he didn’t renovate the white horse, why he was waiting 30 years later, why Hob isn’t angry at Dream for being late. Hob wants to break their habits and create new one (which they do since in non-filmed part of the script Dream visits him in his University)

[raspberryjellybrains]

here's a list of male characters I think dream had a Thing with in no particular order and with explanations:

1. William Shakespeare: hot take, I know, but they feel like a regrettable one night stand. neither of them are happy that happened but it did and now they're here. wanna get drunk about it?

2. Cluracan of the Fae: another hot take but I have my reasons. dream seems unusually fond and permissive of cluracan, giving him allowances of rudeness denied to just about everyone else. cluracan, by all means, should make him want to shoot things but he doesn't seem to? I think they had a fling and it was awful for everyone around them and there are some lasting feelings that cluracan is not above exploiting.

3. oberon: I have literally 0 evidence for this other than that he Definitely had a thing with titania and I think oberon joined once or twice. dream became a weird negotiating tool between the two of them and that's why things ended.

4. faramis (mr. ferell?): a night in babylon, you say? changed your life, you say? owe him a favor, you say? they fucked.

5. lucifer: not a male, but not a woman and generally presents and is referred to as such. this one is pretty widely agreed upon because they have an oddly flirtatious dynamic. I think they had something pretty profound before lucifer fell, but things got messy and they both changed. some love still there, close enough to keep them from giving up on each other completely, but not enough get them back together ever again.

6. john constantine: they had wretched emotional hate sex that ended in dream disappearing with barely a goodbye.

6. honorable mention, hob gadling: I don't think they had anything but I do think they both wanted to.

this is by no means an exhaustive list of all characters ever so add on if you want or say I'm full of it, idc. I just think morpheus is bi and I love saying stupid shit about him.

[wyvernquill]

Today I offer you the following headcanon/scenario: Hob dislikes Shakespeare and criticises him, but not because he's jealous of Dream walking off with him in 1589... no, it's because he genuinely thinks the man was a talentless hack.

Let me elaborate.

Hob does like Shakespeare's plays, and grudgingly admits they're the work of a "half-decent playwright", judging from the 1789 scene. He does appreciate the craftsmanship.

The only trouble: Hob is of the opinion that it's not technically Will's work at all. It's His Stranger who had... well, some hand, at least, in the creation of those masterpieces, and Hob hates that Shakespeare gets the sole credit.

(Now, to be clear, I do think that all Dream did was lend Shakespeare support and inspiration and the power to put his own dreams and imaginations into words. It's absolutely still William Shakespeare's work at the core, and Dream's involvement is hardly much more than in any other story ever written - but Hob doesn't know exactly how this works, does he?)

Imagine his frustration. Imagine people praising Shakespeare as a genius in front of him, and Hob bursting to say "actually, he was total shite until he sold his soul or something to the maybe-devil in exchange for talent". He thinks he's the only human in the world who knows The Truth About Will Shaxberd, and it drives him mad that any attempt to explain it would make him sound like some conspiracy nut.

It's the sort of thing that could drive a man to irrationally hate a playwright and his ill-gotten gains, it really could.

(Which is highly hypocritical of him, seeing as he himself enjoys the boon of that very same maybe-devil - well, his sister’s, actually, not that Hob knows that - but it's aBOUT THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING-)

And that's how Hob ends up as his university's #1 Shakespeare Hater.

.

And perhaps, Dream eventually explains to him who he is and how his boons work, and Hob suddenly realises he has to revise his entire spiteful opinion of William Shakespeare, who may have had a certain spark of talent of his own, after all...

And then, groping desperately for some reason to cling on to his increasingly irrational dislike of the man, Hob recalls how Will stole his date back in 1589, and breathes a sigh of relief at the realisation that he can carry on hating Shakespeare just as much as before, only now for a different reason.

(Not that saying "I hate Shakespeare because he stole my boyfriend" will make him sound any less like a nutter than insisting his talent came from magical intervention... but, well, it's a step in the right direction, isn’t it.)

[landwriter]

ok i know we've seen oodles of hob hating shakespeare and i've seen some good meta on hob NOT hating shakespeare because he is kind and doesn't hold grudges, but i would like to offer a secret, third option: hob sort of resenting shaxberd and being a bit petty about it until time passes, the bard dies, and hob watches with a smugness that fades to irritation as the original sense and sound of his words are forgotten. there is surely a kinship there too - both their lives were forever altered by The Stranger.

The original pronunciation of Shakespeare’s sonnets and plays has been his cause lately - he considers the Bard of Avon a sort of friend, given their mutual acquaintance, and feels a protectiveness over his works. He couldn’t bear the grudge of being walked out on for long - he had, after all, received the greater boon. And if Will was going to be immortalized in word instead of the flesh, it only was fair that they read his words correctly. Hob had gone to a production of Romeo and Juliet in 1890, in part sulk and part nostalgia, and had been appalled to hear the reverent and over-serious way the players said their lines. Received pronunciation, thought Hob, ought to stay on the BBC and away from the boards. It was like trading a crackling, warm, fierce little hearth for the flat and soulless glow of an electric bulb. And at least half the jokes were ruined. He’s gotten a reputation for it lately, and at parties, he’s always asked to do a soliloquy or sonnet or two, the proper way. It feels like drinking something hot and comforting. He’s just very careful to take a long swallow of his actual drink after, taking the time to gather himself, making sure that when he speaks again, he sounds like someone born in the late twentieth century.

received pronunciation had been named and around for longer, but indeed began to sound like it does today in the late 19th century! i believe in a plurality of Shakespeare headcanons but i hope you like this one. also tagging @auressea who sent me the video about shakespearean pronunciation that caused this whole mess 💛

[darthstitch]

For the record, this was ENTIRELY the fault of Rose Walker, who decided, for the good of ALL HUMANITY and the Dreaming, to push her Uncle towards one Professor Hob Gadling and "finally put an end to the frankly pathetic pining, I swear to God, Uncle Dream, he would be a complete IDIOT if he doesn't pounce on you the moment he sees you like that."

"I have every faith in his intelligence," Dream manages to deadpan, even though he's not quite able to stop his blushing.

"Whatever. Go get your man, Uncle Dream."

Hob Gadling was thoroughly "gotten" even though Hob dot exe completely crashed upon seeing Dream of the Endless not in his usual black. He did manage to recover his wits in time, with some help from his students, all of whom had caught on immediately and instinctively came to the aid of their favorite Shakespeare-hating cryptid professor.

***

**Plot Bunny got loose after I just read the cutest fic. We need more Uncle Dream + Dreamling in this fandom ***

[hpurlnovi]

Random comic #3

References and extras under the cut

I loved how this panel ended. Liked seriously I really like it.

Anyway since I don't have many original ideas, this where the inspiration came from:

First of all the headcanons of Hob hating Shakespeare. I put Romeo and Juliet because it's the most famous and I didn't want to include the ones that Dream commisionated (A midfommer nights dreame (I search this in wikipedia because I read the play in spanish) and The Tempest).

This particular panel of the comics.

The book Hob has is Die Traumdeutung wich acording to wikipedia should be the original name of dream interpretation of Sigmund Freud, and after reading the comics I think Dream doesn't like when others help the dreamer to understand their dreams (I think he even told Orpheus "It's your dream, you should know" or something like that even knowing that greek dreams tendet to be prophetic) except when he does it (Sometimes you die, sometimes you wake up, but sometimes...)

And this is also inspired on the ending on the fic Waiting for a star to fall (but I can't said which part because it would be a spoiler but go read it, is really cool and angsty)

[yourchocolatenachostudent]

Everyone talks about Hob hating Shakespeare, but let me tell you my version of the truth.

Hob is really jealous and therefore decides to talk to this silly guy, and personally find out what business can he have with HIS stranger?

Everything ends with him crying on Shakespeare's chest, because Will greets him the assumption that he must be that kind knight who arranged a date for the mystical creature who offered him a deal.

In short, Shakespeare, who serves Hob as a shoulder to cry, is my favorite headcanon.

And he doesn't like it, because, hey, it's his favorite vest, but his mystical benefactor gives him a good tip for all the small and dirty details of Hob's complaints, so he has to put up with it.

translation is probably incorrect, I'm sorry

[fishfingersandscarves]

What do you suppose Hob thinks about Shakespeare's protrayal in the musical Something Rotten?

Thrilled he's the antagonist? (The song "God, I Hate Shakespeare" could have been written by Hob himself!)

Or betrayed that the "twinky little nerd" is portrayed as a charming hotty?

i flip flop back and forth between hob disliking shakespeare (for comedy and jealousy purposes) and grudgingly admitting he was pretty good. either way going into something rotten you're gonna know it's all about shakespeare so he's gotta have some baseline respect for the dude. christian borle doesn't hurt either

[secondjulia]

Broken Paradigms: Tom Sturridge's mustache, a case study

I hate mustaches and am utterly perplexed at what is so pleasing about Dream of the fucking Endless with this particular facial hair, like there has to be some mathematically perfect balance going on here or something.

Even as a grimey, drunk jackass, he pulls it off:

This, however, is creepy:

...which is appropriate, because this is Dream's I'm Going to Seduce Shakespeare In the Middle of Our Date and Leave You* Alone With Your Venison Pasties hair.

Endnotes:

*Hob Gadling can also pull off a mustache, but mostly if it's buried in a bushy beard à la 1389.

Annotated Bibliography:

Far From the Madding Crowd — An... odd movie. Not my favorite thing in the world but well acted and visually lovely. If your favorite film genre is Creepy Men Fighting Over Woman Who Doesn't Want To Get Married (no judgement), then it's probably for you.

Mary Shelley — Quite decent. No idea how historically accurate it is. Tom's Lord Byron is truly repulsive.

[achillesuwu]

Matthew thinking that Hob is one of Dream's futur raven >:( vs Hob who thinks that Matthew is Dream's futur boyfriend

Like Matthew heard a lot about that random guy (not even a raven yet 🙄) how LoYaL he is towards his boss ("but did he even go to hell with the boss? I DON'T THINK SO BOSS-LADY 😤😤😤" *flies away and doesn't listen to what Lucienne was going to say*) how much his boss LiKeS him 🙄🙄🙄

So, Matthew decide to talk about this to a very kind immortal that ain't going to die because he is a GOOD GUY unlike that ASSHOLE that will become Dream's SECOND 🥈 raven when he will die 🙄😒😒

Meanwhile Hob heard a lot about that Matthew :( His stranger's friend that he had know for only 6 months (MONTHS he tooks CENTURIES to Hob to be able to see his friend more than once every 100 years) and the worst thing? Hob suspect that they are living together :(( His stranger said multiple times "I'm needed at home, my friend", "I don't want to make Matthew wait too long. Goodbye", "Matthew and I went there" or "thank you, I don't eat muffin but I think Matthew would like it''

So, Hob decided to talk about his pining to his very weird friend of a talking raven 😔😔

Basically their meetings are like that :

Matthew, eating muffins : you should really ditch your stranger MY boss is wayyyy better, SINGLE, loyal, good listener AND can give you immortality too 😤 he can even make you his king consort!!!!

Hob, not eating the muffins (because he suddenly hates them for no reason at all ahahah... Fuck you Shakespeare, Fuck the muffins): no, no, dude, YOUR boss SUCKS my stranger would NEVER replace you with an other raven 😤😤

Edit : well, I wrote the fic

[lucy-frostblade]

aight so here's the thing

episode six, "the sound of her wings" is important to me for three reasons. one i've just thought of and is comic related so i'll get to that later.

FIRST!

its portrayal of death. not only is she a black woman, she is also endlessly kind. in most media, death is portrayed as either evil or resentful. always coming to take us away in our prime, or hating us for making them do their job, face all these upset people. and here's the thing -- Death of the Endless had a phase like that. she talks about it in e6. she says that she used to think she had the hardest job of all of them (being the endless), and that she was always so upset by it. she felt forever alone, like she had to do her job all on her own. but then she came to a realisation -- one that most portrayals of death are never seen reaching.

she realised that not only is her duty inevitable, she can also make it beautiful. they are so afraid to enter the sunless realms, she says, and she isn't there to make it worse. in the end, all we need is a kind smile and an outstretched hand. neither of them (death or the dead) are alone.

SECOND!

god. just. hob gadling's whole thing. disregarding the dreamling, his entire storyline is amazing. he's a human being gifted immortality. what could go wrong?

the first time they meet up, in 1489, you have expectations -- the same ones dream has. you expect hob to be begging for death, because that's what's been shown to us. every piece of media that shows someone being given immortality has them inevitable on their knees begging to be taken to the sunless lands. so that's what you expect of hob.

but when dream asks him what he thinks of the world, of his extended life, what does hob say?

"it's fucking brilliant!" he's amazed by how far they've come in so little time. he's so madly in love with the world around him. (also, the way the sCORE PICKS UP WHEN HE SAYS IT IS FUCKING WICKED)

the next time we see him, in 1589, he's a bit of a prick. he's rich and he's mean and he wants dream's attention -- attention that he doesn't get. not much to say about this one except that it's where hob's eternal hatred of william shakespeare began.

but 1689. oooh boy. golly gee. my oh my. i have SO MUCH TO SAY about this one.

in 1689, hob gadling comes crawling into the white horse tavern, starving, having hated every moment of the last eighty years. he is at his lowest -- lower than he was when he started out. do you know how hungry you can get? when you can't eat but you can't die?

and dream, so sure of himself, so sure he'll prove his sister wrong, asks this starving, dirty, 300 year old man in so much pain if he wishes to die, yet.

and what does hob say?

"are you crazy? death is a mug's game. i've got so much left to live for!"

and. oh my god. i cried when i got to this part today. because. there is a reason why such a popular headcanon for him is as hope of the endless (forgiving the lack of alliteration).

he has been beaten and bloody and starving. he's lost everyone he's ever known. his wife and unborn child at the same time. his son.

dream is offering him escape. he's giving him a way out of it all.

but hob still hopes. he still finds joy. he still knows that things can change on the head of a pin. he still wants to live.

theres 200 more years but honestly i just wanted to talk about 1689

also in 1889 he tells dream he doesnt think he'll ever want to die which is like. HHHHHHHHH YES

point is, e6 (and death and hob's storyline beyond that) breaks down two very prominent media tropes - evil death and begging for death. it's important to me.

and THIRDLY

in the comics, dream is the one narrating death's bit of e6 and he marks down every time she takes a soul to the sunless lands as "the sound of her wings" and its SO GOOD because it doesn't focus on anything except the transportation. he doesn't hear the pleading or sobbing or cursing. he comments on the sound of his sister doing her job as best she can and nothing else. something special about that to me

GOD YES I LOVE THIS

[orionsangel86]

I gotta admit I genuinely thought all the Shakespeare jokes were just that. Jokes. Because isn't it obvious that he is totally innocent in the situation?

Perhaps it comes across clearer if we genderbend Hob and Shakespeare (since people love to pit women against each other). You're an accomplished woman on a date with a gorgeous man youve been pining over for ages. There is a beautiful woman drawing attention to herself over on the other side of the pub. Your man gets distracted, ditches you, and goes to talk to the beautiful woman.

Do you get angry at the woman? Or your dickhead date who just ditched you?

Its easy to target the woman. She was drawing unnecessary attention to herself! You may argue. No. She was having fun with her friend.

Its easy to be jealous towards the woman. We've seen the trope so often in media its even a bloody meme (distracted boyfriend anyone?)

But its never the other womans fault. Its always the boyfriends fault.

I think its funny because its such a blatant trope that they have used canonically for Dream and Hob. From a subtexual/queer coding, meta analysis perspective, its brilliant. Its clearly, intentionally meant to make us feel this way, and fandom has responded in kind. "Hob is jealous of Shakespeare because Shakespeare stole his date." Neil Gaiman even admitted to this being the case on the ep6 watch party.

But should Hob still be hating on Shakespeare 400 years later? Probably not. Should he occassionally tease Dream about being an ass back then? Oh 100%. He deserves it! But Shakespeare doesn't.

I do want to point out how in both the comic and the audible book Dream's poor manners are played down. In the comic Hob has already finished his conversation when Dream gets up to leave him and Hob doesnt show any concern or hurt towards Dream leaving him. In the audible book Dream is even more polite and says "excuse me" to Hob before introducing himself to Shakespeare. Its only in the show that its framed with the "distracted boyfriend" trope in mind. So consider that if you have any doubt that the show is intentionally adding romantic tropes where there weren't any previously. Take from that what you will.

Shakespeare was an innocent bystander

Ok, so hear me out, this is going to be a very unpopular opinion, but Hob Gadling can not be mad at poor Will. He should be mad at Dream, but Shakes was only there, just like he was all those years ago, and out of nothing this tall, beautiful stranger ask him out and offered him all he ever wanted, of course, he was going to go. I admit that is really funny reading fics about Hob craping in his work, but let's be honest here, this is misplaced anger, because he can't take it on Morpheus, or so he thinks, he has spent the last centuries mad at the wrong person.

[wyvernquill]

I posted 96 times in 2022

38 posts created (40%)

58 posts reblogged (60%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@wyvernquill

@/ao3feed-dreamling

@/softest-punk

@/10moonymhrivertam

@/littledreamling

I tagged 96 of my posts in 2022

#the sandman - 29 posts

#wywrites - 29 posts

#dreamling - 24 posts

#reblog - 20 posts

#wyreblogs - 19 posts

#timezone reblog - 18 posts

#wyanswers - 15 posts

#wydraws - 14 posts

#anastasia dreamling au - 13 posts

#dream of the endless - 9 posts

Longest Tag: 140 characters

#yes it's also possible that she couldn't return to the dreaming because dream was trapped and that somehow bound her to the waking world too

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

“I will see you in the year of Our Lord 1489, then!”

“Friendship. I think you’re lonely.”

---

Some quick and dirty Aristocats AU(?) screenshot redraws inspired by this post by @/fishfingersandscarves (and @10/moonymhrivertam​‘s tags on it)!

366 notes - Posted October 31, 2022

#4

“Oh, silly Stanley! He could draw That Place as much as he liked, he would still never be able to return to it!”

https://archiveofourown.org/works/40685247/chapters/102405018

461 notes - Posted August 7, 2022

#3

See the full post

583 notes - Posted November 14, 2022

#2

Today I offer you the following headcanon/scenario: Hob dislikes Shakespeare and criticises him, but not because he's jealous of Dream walking off with him in 1589... no, it's because he genuinely thinks the man was a talentless hack.

Let me elaborate.

Hob does like Shakespeare's plays, and grudgingly admits they're the work of a "half-decent playwright", judging from the 1789 scene. He does appreciate the craftsmanship.

The only trouble: Hob is of the opinion that it's not technically Will's work at all. It's His Stranger who had... well, some hand, at least, in the creation of those masterpieces, and Hob hates that Shakespeare gets the sole credit.

(Now, to be clear, I do think that all Dream did was lend Shakespeare support and inspiration and the power to put his own dreams and imaginations into words. It's absolutely still William Shakespeare's work at the core, and Dream's involvement is hardly much more than in any other story ever written - but Hob doesn't know exactly how this works, does he?)

Imagine his frustration. Imagine people praising Shakespeare as a genius in front of him, and Hob bursting to say "actually, he was total shite until he sold his soul or something to the maybe-devil in exchange for talent". He thinks he's the only human in the world who knows The Truth About Will Shaxberd, and it drives him mad that any attempt to explain it would make him sound like some conspiracy nut.

It's the sort of thing that could drive a man to irrationally hate a playwright and his ill-gotten gains, it really could.

(Which is highly hypocritical of him, seeing as he himself enjoys the boon of that very same maybe-devil - well, his sister’s, actually, not that Hob knows that - but it's aBOUT THE PRINCIPLE OF THE THING-)

And that's how Hob ends up as his university's #1 Shakespeare Hater.

.

And perhaps, Dream eventually explains to him who he is and how his boons work, and Hob suddenly realises he has to revise his entire spiteful opinion of William Shakespeare, who may have had a certain spark of talent of his own, after all...

And then, groping desperately for some reason to cling on to his increasingly irrational dislike of the man, Hob recalls how Will stole his date back in 1589, and breathes a sigh of relief at the realisation that he can carry on hating Shakespeare just as much as before, only now for a different reason.

(Not that saying "I hate Shakespeare because he stole my boyfriend" will make him sound any less like a nutter than insisting his talent came from magical intervention... but, well, it's a step in the right direction, isn’t it.)

632 notes - Posted October 23, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

Now, this may be obvious to others, but I haven’t seen much discussion of it here on Tumblr, so I thought I’d draw some attention to it!

In my n-th rewatch of the 1389 scene (I keep checking and re-checking the details for accuracy in my fics), I noticed something interesting towards the beginning of the scene: I think Dream was about to “poach” Geoffrey Chaucer, similarly to what he did in 1589 with Shakespeare.

It’s subtle, but you can see Death and Dream pause in front of his table, listen to their conversation, and Dream is noticeably interested - and why wouldn’t he be, Geoffrey here is practically catnip for the Lord of Stories! So he steps closer, he leans in, we can even see him open his mouth as if to strike up some conversation about those “tavern tales”...

...and then Hob Gadling says “Look, I’ve seen death”, and both Dream and Death stop in their tracks, and the scene proceeds as we all know and love it.

Now, I really adore this little moment for multiple reasons:

1) I suspect Death planned this. She dragged Dream into the tavern and led him over to Chaucer’s table, and was going to make her silly little brother talk to a promising storyteller in the waking world for once - but then they found an even more interesting human to spark Dream’s curiosity instead, which, still a win in Death’s book.

2) It’s just so Dream. Of course he wouldn’t be able to resist a storyteller in the wild, of course he would be drawn to that conversation. Of course he would do his whole “oh, is this your wish then?” spiel and play patron of the arts for a little while. This is what he does and is, which only makes it more interesting that he then turned towards Hob instead (and didn’t talk to Chaucer after, I’m pretty sure we see Dream leave at the end of the scene?) Which brings me to

3) IF ONLY HOB KNEW. Hob “probably still mad at Shakespeare for stealing his date once” Gadling would be OVER THE MOON to know that Dream of the Endless snubbed Geoffrey Fucking Chaucer to talk to him, albeit only because he mocked Dream’s sister within earshot. Please, somebody tell him, it would be the highlight of his century, I just know it.

1,669 notes - Posted October 15, 2022

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[achillesuwu]

It would be extra funny if Hob meet a guy that look exactly like William Shakespeare and think that he is William Shakespeare.

Like, Hob history teacher Gadling vs Steff English teacher Reid. Poor Steff doesn't know why his colleague hates his guts :(

(of course, this happen before 2022)

Hob : so... you see him often? :)

Steff : Who?

Hob : The guy you met every hundred years at least :)) I bet you saw him in 1989 too :D

Steff : 🥲 I don't know who you are talking about Mr. Robert. I was one year old in 1989

Hob : Don't play with me boy :) Or maybe you see him more often than once every hundred years. Is that why you treat me like an idiot you bloody fucki—

Steff : 🥲🥲 please someone saves me I think Mr Robert is drunk