#the many aspects of Dream

[tickldpnk8]

Season of Mists Reread Ch. 5

World building! world building! world building! This is my favorite issue in all of Sandman! There is so much going on and so much to dissect. Plus, some political maneuvering! So let’s dig in.

So why is Season of Mists my favorite? All of the mythology/pantheon tie-ins. We see so much world-building even just with Chapter 3. We see glimpses of Norse mythology, DC’s Order and Chaos, Japanese mythology, and Egyptian mythology. Plus, the hierarchy of angels but through DC’s Silver City with distinct Judeo-Christian undertones. Oh, and fairies! I’m here for all of it! But since my reread is specifically focused on Dream’s nature and clues about the ending of Sandman I didn’t see coming, I won’t focus on each of these characters. Instead, I’ll focus on how each interacts with Dream and how that affects their surroundings.

The room where it happens

Late at night, each delegation meets with Dream in the throne room (his chambers?) and each time it does, we see slight shifts in how the room is arranged and how Morpheus appears.

Going in order, we first see Odin from Norse myth:

Morpheus’ throne is what appears to be a short stool or stump on top of a tall boulder. Drapes are in the background and his throne sits on the floor surrounded by candles. Morpheus himself wears what appears to be a dark tshirt, black jeans or pants and likely boots.

Next to visit is Princess Jemmy, and the panels for her visit are very sparse. This could be a design decision considering how the action is on the page, but I wonder if Chaos brings a void to whatever space they are in. Morpheus has the same outfit as before with Odin.

After Chaos, comes Order (fitting?).

We don’t see his throne at all, but the candles are now elevated on sconces. The drapes remain in the background. Morpheus has donned his long collared coat/robe…presumably over his tshirt/jeans combo.

And then this is where things get really interesting, because the above could all be considered Western mythologies of a sort. We next have Susano-O-No-Mikoto:

Not only does the throne room change, but so does the art style: Similar to what we saw in Chapter 3 when introducing Order and Chaos. Everything flattens out into a comic book style of a woodcut print. The green curtains are now the foliage of a tree and Morpheu’s throne is almost a suggestion of a tatami mat on a raised platform. His coat/cloak are now traditional Japanese dress and his bedhead hair even seems to be tied up in a traditional hair do. Or at least it’s drawn differently. And in a close-up shot, we see that Morpheus�� facial features are now different too:

After him, we see Bast from the Egyptian pantheon and this one gets interesting:

Dream’s throne room again transforms into what can only be vaguely described as Egyptian as we see snippets of the yellow sandstone walls and this stone seat that seems to have suggestions of hieroglyphic panels or at least a sunburst. Morpheus is back in this all encompassing robe and in other panels we see his western-looking face.

But this panel caught my eye where Bast says that she prefers Dream in cat form because she can read his thoughts better than when he “wears a human head.”

Bast, of course, has a feline head on a human body. So I got the sense that she has the option of seeing either Dream’s feline aspect or his human one. It’s never explained if this is because she’s seeing him surrounded by other humanoid deities, because Dream can control which aspect she can see, or if it’s because she is leaning into her own humanoid aspect and not her cat one. It doesn’t seem to imply that Dream can shapeshift, but it doesn’t rule it out either.

And then we have Azazel: the majority of this conversation seems to take place in a hallway:

Which appeared to be next to the same staircase Odin took up to the throne room. I’m not sure what it says about their relationship or how demons view Dream, but by the time the conversation is at its end, they are back in the Egyptian view of the room:

As for Dream’s outfit, it appears to be the same peplum cloak he wore to hell, which might be the same cloak he was in for a while now.

A last note on all of these: notice how Morpheus subtly (or not so subtly) exudes power in each of these audiences. For the most part, he's above each supplicant and looking down on them. Or he exudes it in other ways (nothing says power like a series of peplums flapping in the breeze you conjured).

Uneasy lies the head that wears the crown

I was also struck by this scene:

Depending on your interpretation, he could either be dropping or throwing the Key to Hell down the stairs to his throne. I'm inclined to think he dropped it. It really reminded me of some of the scenes in the Lord of the Rings movies with the ring: there's a real weight to this key that makes it just plonk on the floor. This really helped to set the mood of how much the ring key is weighing on his mind at the end of all of these audiences.

[bleue-flora]

I’m kinda curious if the majority of c!Tommyinnit fans or people who see c!Dream as The Villian are younger siblings and only children, while the majority of c!Dream fans are older siblings or siblings who have played an older sibling role… it’s just a theory but I wonder if people who played a more responsibility or caretaking role are more likely to understand and side with c!Dream.

Note: if none apply please don’t answer but feel free to leave your answer in the comments. Also if you are confused or need more clarification, feel free to ask me, as an autistic person/overthinker I could totally see myself overthinking this too <3 (but not much I can do cuz I only have 12 answer slots with very limited word count)

[bleedingthroughthestatic]

Morally Grey Professor/Scientist/Academic Sugar Parent Dom who will let you buy or do anything on their dime IF you research and present it well enough. They will be the one to grade your papers and presentations and will also debate with you both for the fun and to see how well you can follow up or defend your position.

You want those expensive new shoes? You gotta look up the brand, their history, where the shoes are made, how they are made, where to get them, the price, and give an argument *why* you should get the shoes.

Bonus points if your research then piles on/loops back on itself as you further curate your interests and passions. "This relates back to my essay on-" "for further elaboration, look to my article on-" all while also seeking your Dom's approval and praise as they make each 'assignment' harder as your skills sharpen.

[episodes-without-incident]

Will get caught up when I can, but just needed to let y'all know that I dreamt last night that Karina referenced Cascada.

[catenary-chad]

in defense of “diva Electra”

I get the criticisms of this take on the character of being the total opposite of anything the original workshop character was or “sassy drag queen�� being a tropey and superficial direction. In any other show/media I’d probably even side with them. But with real-life train context, I actually really like this take on the character and imo it’s only become MORE accurate and relevant since the 2000s. It’s actually kind of amazing how well it fits modern US rail/transit fans (and to some degree international ones) into trains like Electra since there’s no way that was actually intended. I think if there was a revival anywhere in the northeast US, locals would go nuts for this kind of take on Electra vs something more loyal to the original because it fills such a niche among talking trains and just captures the spirit of electric/transit aligned railfans vs people just into boomer trains, and it makes a great counter to Greaseball because of that. So here’s my elaboration on why I like many of their traits:

Sassy and confrontational but affectionate-

hah, this is actually a pretty accurate description of a transit group I know irl. That sphere is notoriously argumentative and outspoken in general and endlessly snarky, it’s a mix of being vindictive about being politically screwed over for years and skewing heavily towards the northeastern US (which is broadly known for being loud, confrontational, often kind of aggressive and constantly dropping one-liners). But they’re actively not gatekeepers and more evangelistic than anything, they really want you to know and care about transit and electrification politics and the group I’m in is really proactive about including people.

This take on Electra specifically reminds me of one guy I know who kind of goes over the top making fun of/reacting to things. Who is also the ELECTRIFY EVERYTHING type and also very friendly and outgoing. It’s a very appropriate personality to give an electric train that’s vaguely Amtrak-coded. You can even it give it more depth in that they might act that way to make up for otherwise poor social skills or to get points across, or that they’re a squeaky wheel because electric train problems are often so overlooked but also dismissed as whiny.

aggressively lgbt-

it’s lowkey a stereotype that electric/modern/transit oriented railfans skew VERY gay and that’s just plain true in my experience. It’s generally a very liberal, urban interest and that leads to it being a very diverse sphere overall.

over the top sparkly and showy-

it’s easy to just make Electra vain and extravagant but I think it’s way more interesting to make this a deliberate PR move the way actual train systems will. Shiny sells and makes things more attractive to the public, I mentioned it in a previous post but even wild failures like the McGinnis-era New Haven Railroad have stuck around in public view because they had bold and striking visual designs and liveries. Electric trains are seen as a pretty mundane thing by a lot of people, their full advantages aren’t that well understood by the masses, and they don’t get much media glamorization compared to steam or diesel counterparts. Being bright and striking (and perhaps even overly focused on being clean because that’s a problem transit systems face) would actually be kind of a survival strategy for Electra with how much electrification has been sidelined or even reversed in the Anglophone world (and Americas in general) where they NEED to fight for appeal and relevance

[corpium]

Ansur!Tav fic in which Ansur reincarnates as Tav and slowly realizes his dream guardian is awfully familiar in the worst fucking way. This could be a horribly dramatic, tragic story.

however, I propose instead... comedy!

Let the companions suffer through them constantly bitching at each other. Maybe somehow Ansur is still an undead spirit posessing Tav so Emps is like "who's the abomination now??" and Astarion's like "now wait just a second, there's nothing wrong with being undead" and Minthara's casually dropping super wise truth bombs on them about their relationship and Karlach and Wyll ship it

[aroaessidhe]

2024 reads / storygraph

Rakesfall

scifi/fantasy

collection of short fiction with a loosely connected narrative following two people reincarnating across time, from the past to far futures

explores various narrative styles

commentary on colonialism and how people interact with fiction and narrative

[shynetyme06]

Human dreeem

Og dream belongs to joku

And (a lot of) the adult outfit design is by u-kun18

[finisnihil]

If you are writing/designing for something based off Greek Mythology and you give Apollo fire hair I will send an eagle to eat your liver

[misterradio]

i think factory pomo will always be my sweetheart aesthetic i just love the geometric stylings. i always used factory pomo style clip art in school projects i thought it was suuuch a cool style.

looking thru that website... memphis jr is also great, kind of similar geometric style with brighter colours. i even used to have the toy used as the example image, and for some reason images of LSD:DE are used as an example lol

[rivalfortune5768]

Sometimes we'd love nothing more than to ramble under the stars.

So sit with us for a minute, look up, outside your window, past your roof, out the door of your tent, whatever it may be.

We think a lot about the way we're perceived, it's something that gets drilled into you if you get put in enough speech therapy classes growing up, for a long time we cared a lot about it, then later not so much, and now we're not entirely sure honestly!

Sure, it's easy to say "we can't say this thing, it will give the wrong impression" and it's easy to not think, and follow it up with "sorry, our words aren't working right now. This is what we were trying to express:", but it's another thing to keep it running like a background process, like a private server. To keep the train on time and manage each of it's stops, you know?

Sometimes you are seen in a way that makes sense, and is close enough to reality that it is effective and there's no reason to clarify, but you want to because you want to be Known and Understood. You don't clarify unless a safe chance presents itself, you need time if the train goes off the rails to put it back on, either to keep the appearance of a tight ship, or to explain what the cargo's been all along. You do your best to give free tickets to the people who will ride the train for fun, unhidden, just to see your smile reflect the moonlight.

There is a point to us rambling into the void like this, we promise you, and we hope that the people we intent to speak about it to will hear it from us at some point. Until then, pull someone you love aside, take them for a walk, and ask them if you can talk about something and express yourself clearly, no mask, no paint, no obscuring void, no veil. Maybe it'll go bad, maybe someone will reach out and hold your heart just like you want them to, maybe you'll have a good laugh over why you were so worried about it in the first place.

Revel in unblemished honesty with the people who care about you, love them and treasure the way they make you feel, and remember you don't have to hide from them.

[archersgoon]

topher is sooo fucking wishy-washy 99 times out of 100 but when it's time to lash out at tesadora? oh he's there

[aelswiths]

SCREAMING CRYING SOBBING

she feels so betrayed that she's looking at him with the most devastating and heartbroken expression. there are literal tears in her eyes. she has just walked in on the most emotionally devastating situation because its just proof that no matter what alfred will always trust uhtred and never trust her in the same way and I am sobbing and dying and SCREAM

[szilverer]

whenever a storyline takes me to parabola i always gotta take a second to remember all this cool shit ain't silvering, it's just regular glasswork. advanced glasswork sure but still just glasswork.

the more time passes the more i understand complaints about silverers being boring or lacking identity. from what i gathered parabola wasn't accessible back then, and the profession kinda lost charm when it opened up to everyone. (let's not even mention the entirety of oneiropomping.)

on the other hand, the same way everyone can dabble in advanced correspondence shenanigans, that doesn't make them a professional. and thinking about it i haven't really seen the same complaints about correspondents. but maybe they're out there and i just haven't stumbled on them?

i still think silverers are wicked sick from what it's implied that they can do but. FL rly doesn't do much pushing further the more unique aspects of the profession, or providing unique choices (i can really only think of the fathomking option.) that might be a problem with all professions though so idk rly but my point stands that there's missed potential here

speaking of which. it's a travesty we don't have social actions regarding nightmares. @/fbg come on.

[superat626]

An offering

Also known as the impossible group shot

[tellmegoodbye]

What would 911: Sunshine* look like?

*Texas = the Lonestar state, Florida = the Sunshine state

LEMON!! This is my dream!!!

And yes 911: Sunshine is absolutely what I would call it!

Okay so first of all, location! I think the city a spinoff would most likely take place in is Miami, but in order for me to really personalize this (it's my dream, I do what I want) I'm going to switch things up and have this take place in my city: Tampa!

This location is interesting for many reasons, but mostly because of its layout and it being on the bay. The city itself is probably where most of the show would take place in terms of emergencies, but there's a lot going on here for a city on the smaller side! Of course, there will also be opportunities to see the rest of the bay area. (Tampa is the city, Tampa Bay is the region)

Here are some potential locations/ideas for emergencies

Skyway Bridge. Visually, it's just stunning, and yes many people are scared to drive on it. It collasped once over 40 years ago and it has safety mechanisms to prevent such an event from happening again, but I'm sure a 911 spinoff would get creative and find another way to make something go wrong.

The airport. Like 3x08 except worse because I have a chaos brain.

The arena where the Tampa Bay Lightning play.

Busch Gardens (a theme park)

Pick a beach. Any beach.

Literally tons of forest area where there could be a wildfire. Also tons of natural springs and rivers where you could have accidents.

Toursists. There is never a shortage of snowbirds being idiots in these parts.

Ybor City. There's a LOT of history here. It's also just a really cool place to explore. They have parades here (I've been in a few of them!) so maybe something goes wrong there.

Alligators. 🐊

Now lets talk major disaster arcs. 911 OG has earthquakes and tsunamis, Lone Star has ice storms and tornadoes, and 911: Sunshine would have a massive hurricane arc.

We kind of have an interesting history with hurricanes in Tampa Bay, at least in my lifetime, where every time we're about to get hit it shifts last minute and everyone who evacuated inland ended up being directly in its path. This happened with Charley in 2004, and Ian in 2022. Both made landfall in the exact same spot after shifting away from the bay area, which is kind of eerie.

I'd say a disaster arc like this would have one finally directly hitting the bay, and it would be a lot like the tsunami in 911. Very angsty, similar scenarios where peolpe go missing, and potential for the kind of water rescues Marjan was talking about doing back in Miami.

One little fun fact before I go. This doesn't apply to the city of Tampa, but I absolutely had to share this. If you venture out into the rest of the county like where I live, the firetrucks and ambulances are a lovely highlighter yellow! Or is it green? I've never been able to tell.

Don't ask me why. I have no idea. 😂