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flamingpudding · 9 months

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Summoning Gone Wrong

Ties to: Ouija Board Prompt and Ghost Hunting Vigilantes Part 1 / Part 2

A/N: Thanks to @lazy-alex for commenting the base idea in Ghost Hunting Vigilantes for Tim trying to do a summoning that just goes wrong~

Danny calmly sipped the ecto-tea and resisted eyeing the ghost club Lady Gotham had placed next to her as she also drank her tea with all the elegance the spirit possessed. The Ghost King was pretty sure she had placed it like that, in his view, on purpose. He just wasn't sure if it was as a warning or as a preparation since the last couple of times he had been in Gotham, she had felt the need of using it against him.

"I am very glad that you are finally looking into that matter, your highness." The spirit commented, placing the cup back onto the table and refilling it. "I wasn't sure if you had been made aware of it before, if I had known that the old beings had not mentioned it to you before I certainly would have sooner."

Danny nodded. "Yeah, about that. What are these Lazarus Pits anyway? Clockwork only told me to look out for the color green, which is not helpful. And Pandora started on an entire history lesson regarding Lazarus and I am pretty sure that has nothing to do with these Pits your 'knights' mentioned."

Lady Gotham chuckled amused with mirth in her eyes. "They are only known as Lazarus Pits in the human world, my king, not in the Infinite Realms."

"So what…" Danny couldn't finish his question as his ghost sense went off. He really wanted to slam his head into the table. It had been months since his senses went off like that and he hoped it was just Cujo who followed him or Fright Knight. But as no one appeared to interrupt them, he got ticked off because that meant it was one of his former rogues who was up to something. He excused himself from his discussion with Lady Gotham who appeared even more amused than before.

Whoever it was he would send them straight back to the Ghost Zone, they were interrupting some important kingly business here!

A little earlier not too far away from the ghostly discussion, by a recent regularly vigilante visited occult site, three vigilantes stood before a summoning cycle.

Red Robin was crouching by the circle, chalk in hand as he drew runes and symbols on the ground all according to one of his research papers that summed up all the information he had gathered. Including information he had obtained from the Justice League Dark, mainly Constantine since the man owned him and wouldn't just tell on him, behind Batman's back.

It had been weeks since their last encounter with the teenage ghost. He didn't want to admit it but Red Robin was getting worried about the ghost. Both times when they left they sounded like something was hunting or hurting them and last time there was even that green swirly thing they saw for a short moment right after they had heard the ghost say their goodbyes with an actual voice. Besides, that ghost was a mystery to them and Red Robin wasn't known to leave any sort of mystery they encountered unsolved.

"Should we really do this without B?" Nightwing asked, eyeing the strange symbols the youngest among them was drawing on the ground.

"Fuck him. If we get him involved we wouldn't be doing this at all." Red Hood added crossing his arms. "I am more surprised that its only us three this time. I would have bet that at least one of the others would have joined too."

"Baby Bat is out on a mission with B. Spoiler and Orphan are on a outer space mission and Signal has an exam tomorrow." Nightwing shrugged. "It's probably better form Robin not to be here. He was pretty spooked after the last two times."

"Ha! Spooked? The kid is dead set on Pit Demons trying to kill us."

"We can't comple-"

"Finished the writing." Red Robin cut in dusting his gloves from chalk, he was still kneeling on the ground as he turned to the older two vigilantes holding his hands out expectantly. "Nightwing, you brought the candles?"

The vigilante in question handed over a plastic back with the label of a gas station. Red Hood titled his head in question, indicating that he was raising an eye brow under his helmet. The elder only shrugged sheepishly as Red Robin stared at the colorful duck candles it contained.

"I forgot you asked me to buy some and went last minute to the late night open counter gas station. They only had these colorful duck candles."

"Well our fucking ghost has some Humor. Might work better for them then."

Red Robin only sighed but still placed the candles in the circle the way Constantine had described to him. "We will have to see if this will work."

He had made sure to also draw up a protective circle around the summoning one just like Zatana had instructed and Constantine had insisted he would need. Lighting up the candles he stepped back next to his brothers.

"So according to Constantine, we are now supposed to recite a summoning spell and think about the ghost we talked to before to call them back to us."

"That's it?"

"That's it."

"So…" Red Robin distributed a piece of paper to each of his brothers. "We start on three."

"One…."

"Wait let me read that shit first!"

"Two…"

"Slow down, little bird."

"Three."

The three of them definitely were not in sync. Nightwing struggled with some of the words while Red Hood ended up mixing in some chosen curse words when he stumbled over a word. Red Robin even though he had practiced before still struggled with some of the words also but still all three managed to get through the incarnation.

They waited with their breaths held for something to happen but the seconds ticked by, with nothing happening. After three minutes Red Robin let out a sigh, deciding that this was a failure.

Just as he was about to step up to the circle to blow out the candles, a green swirling portal like the one he had briefly seen last time opened on the ground where the summoning circle was and a figure rose up from it. The figure was entirely dressed in white with black gloves, boots, belt and hat. Their skin was just as white as the clothes they were wearing and the being was staring back at them with completely green eyes, no irises or pupils. They stood firmly and straight in the summoning circle, arms crossed behind their back and by the way they were holding themself appeared like an authority figure.

"That doesn't look like a 16 years old ghost." Red Hood commented, his hand resting on his gun holder as he stared down their summon.

"Red, you did follow all the instructions right." Nightwing asked his hands, also moving to take out his escrima sticks, eying the being that was now looking at them in what he assumed was contempt.

"Yes, I did." Turning to their summon the vigilantes eyed it carefully. "Hi, sorry about the sudden summon. You obviously aren't the 16 years old ghost we had been talking to before. So uhm, you are free to go again? Unless you happen to know a 16 year old ghost that had been to Gotham at least two times now?"

The summoned being didn't look like they were going to answer, instead they took out a green glowing book that had 'RULES' written on it and leafed through the pages. Stopping when it apparently found a certain page. Their eyes focusing on the page then back at them. Still not grazing them with an answer. Red Robin however noticed how their inclined their head, for a short moment, over to Red Hood before turning back to the book and turning a couple of more pages.

He hadn't been the only one as he felt Nightwing tensing next to him too as well as heard the soft click of Red Hood removing the safety from his gun.

"Unauthorized summoning with out of date summoning methods. Interruption of security works. Unauthorized usage of corrupted ectoplasmic waste and apparent coverup of a human infected by corrupted ectoplasm." The being listed and the three couldn't help but feel reminded of a policeman listing crimes.

"I, Walker, reappointed Warden by his majesty the Ghost King and self appointed head chief of the security department of the Infinite Realms, hereby declare all of you under arrest for the previously listed offenses. Especially you, punk." The ghost called Walker pointed at Red Hood who in return pulled out his guns pointing them back at it. "You will be presented directly to our King. To think there would be a subject that failed to report back their existence."

"The fuck you wanna do? I ain't going anywhere." Red Hood scoffed, his distorted voice sounding challenging towards the ghost.

"Not to be rude but how can he report something he didn't even know about." Nightwing added eying the ghost as well as the protective barrier. The being hadn't made a move toward them yet and it should keep it contained but that didn't mean they just could let their guard down, not like he would let them take any of his brothers anywhere either. He took a step forward in case he needed to cover his younger siblings, protectiveness stirring in him. "RR, did Constantine or Zatana give you a spell to forcefully send them back?"

"Not exactly but they said destroying the summoning circle should send them back instantly." Red Robin mused after glancing at his notes for a brief moment. He didn't dare look away from that ghost for longer than needed. Normally he would be thrilled about having summoned a ghost and probably ask it a bunch of questions he had, ever since their first encounter with that 16 years old ghost left him with a tone of unanswered ones, but not with this one.

"Maybe we should-"

"WALKER! NOT AGAIN! BACK TO THE ZONE NOW!" A white haired 16 years old looking flying boy appeared through the wall without destroying it like he just phased in. The three vigilantes stared at the new presence that looked rather ticked off. The teenager had a cosmic with green flame outlined looking crown floating over their head and were wearing a jumpsuit with a logo that looked like a flaming D.

"Hey could that be our little ghost bastard?" Hood more or less stage-whispered over to Nightwing and Red Robin.

"Looks 16, maybe younger but not like what I imagined." Nightwing mused.

"Ghost Kid -ahem- your Highness, perfect Timing. I was just about to apprehend-"

"No." The teenager interrupted, arms crossed as he floated before the other ghost. "We went over this when I appointed you as the Warden again. Back. To. The. Zone."

"Did… did that other ghost call him 'highness' just now?" The more he got to learn about ghosts the more questions appeared to come up and Red Robin would definitely need answers for all of them.

"Your Highness, we need to-"

"Back now!" The teen repeated as he moved his left arm to point at a portal he opened especially for Walker. "Or do I have to get Lady Gotham to kick you out of her haunt herself?"

Red Robin watched how the two ghosts appeared to have a stare down before the white one closed his rule book and bowed before leaving. Well he would have left if he didn't smack right into the protective wall the vigilante had set up before the summoning. Good to know that Constantine's advice worked.

"Pff - cough -" The teenager covered his mouth, hiding a laugh behind a cough as he closed the portal he had opened and reopened it inside the barrier. The white ghost only sent them the most disgruntled and offended glare Red Robin had seen in a while before going through the portal the teen had opened.

Before either of the three could say anything the teenager let out a sigh and muttered something about having to deal with Walker being naggingly annoying about security and summonings later again. As if noticing them for the first time the boy glanced over at them and instantly stiffed and Red Robin definitely saw recognition in the boy's glowing green eyes. Could it be...?

"Shit." The teenager cursed. Yup, that's him.

"You are-"

"Sorry, no time for talking, gotta get back to Lady Gotham." They interrupted before continuing to ramble on. "You don't really want to make an old spirit with a ghost club wait. You guys better forget what you saw here. I would like Man In Black wipe your memory if I could but well for now please don't attempt summoning like that again? Summonings like that are outdated and barely work correctly for us ghosts. Demon summonings are a different matter but for ghosts this won't work correctly anymore or at least not since I got the stupid crown. You either end up with some random ghost or Walker trying to arrest humans. I soo have enough of getting him back from all the attempts of arresting humans that broke 'summoning rules'. Maybe I should have Fright Night arrest Walker for forcing his summon whenever he notices human summons… Anyway! Don't try again. Okay? Okay. Thanks and bye!"

The boy blinked out of existence before any of them could get a word in. The three vigilantes stared at the now empty spot. Red Robin had so many more additional questions now after having heard the presumed ghost teens ramble. So if the summons from the Justice League Dark were outdated then maybe he would need to find a more modern summoning? Also the teen had mentioned a Lady Gotham and Red Robin could only assume that that had to be their local city's spirit judging by the name.

"Well… we know now what our ghost boy looks like." Nightwing offered after some time and Red Hood scoffed.

"How the fuck was that boy a ghost? He looked more like a meta kid than a ghost."

"Well judging by the voice he definitely was the one that talked the last two times."

"So Demon Brat's Pit Demon theory is true?"

"He didn't lo-"

"I am going to try and summon this Lady Gotham next." Red Robin cut in as he turned on his heel, determined to get to the bottom of this ghost mystery even if he had to pester the JLD members for a while.

""What?""

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thenightling · 7 years

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The Sandman conspiracy

So I got into the Neil Gaiman’s Sandman fandom three months ago (Better late than never!) and maybe I’ve hit the denial phase of the grieving process but honestly these suspicions have been haunting me since I read Sandman back in June.

I don’t think Morpheus is dead... There, I’ve said it. I know there are Sandman fans who say that Morpheus being “resurrected’ or “revealed to be alive” ruins the ending but what if his survival was woven into the story all along?

At first glance Daniel feels like a redemptive / Doctor Who style regeneration, a version of Dream forgiven for his past and able to move on from it. And this works- at first glance. He has Morpheus’ memories and he claims he’s the one Cain always had his contract with. And Cain and Abel even say that no one died, what died was a point of view.

Buuuuut... we’re told over and over again he’s not Morpheus but he IS Dream. Daniel, the baby that was transformed and is now Dream of the Endless.

And yes, I get that Morpheus is just an aspect of a greater whole. A facet of a being that is essentially a giant crystal made up of smaller facet entities.

Now, aside from Daniel-Dream being rendered a complete self-congratulatory moron in The Dreaming spin-off “I did not interfere because I did not want any martyrs.” (Among nightmares?!) Note: I cannot forgive the writing that had Nuala going back under that glamour as a form of “empowerment” or Matthew’s idiotic and pointless death, or Goldie’s Pokemon‘s Cubone backstory, or Echo being shoved down our throats but I digress...

I can’t help but feel that bread crumbs were laid to show that all is not as it seems in the realm of Dreams.

Item 1. When Abel is murdered by The Kindly Ones (issue 66, part 10 of the Kindly Ones) he tells them that they cannot kill. They can push their victims to suicide and they can push the victim to repent their sins but they cannot kill. They argue that he barely counts as alive and wouldn’t truly be dead unless Morpheus was killed anyway.

They say Morpheus, not Dream. They said the name Morpheus. The names have significance and importance all through this story. This can’t just be a slip up. Regardless, Daniel is able to bring Abel back exactly as he used to be, either via the memories he inherited from Morpheus or the piss-poor description given to him by Cain in his habitual bashing of his beloved brother. Would this have been possible if he was truly dead as The Kindly Ones inferred?

Item 2. And this one is a big one, perhaps the biggest one. Hob AKA Robert, Morpheus’ immortal friend, has a peculiar dream shortly after Morpheus’ Death. This is in The Wake Epilogue Sunday Morning, issue 73. Robert Dreams of Morpheus. This is important.

A. Wouldn’t dreaming of someone like Morpheus make him live again even if it’s as a Dream Entity? He- is- Alive.

B. Did Daniel recreate Morpheus as a Dream entity for this dream? Even if it means he’s been reinvented as a Dream Entity instead of as Dream of the Endless wouldn’t that mean Morpheus exists once more but free of being Dream of The Endless? Was that his whole plan? To die and then be re-created by Daniel so he could escape his role as Dream of The Endless?

Is he living on Earth now under the name of Neil? I wonder... (This question is asked with tongue firmly in cheek. I’m just still amused by the physical similarities. I do NOT think Neil Gaiman is literally a preternatural being.)

C. Doesn’t this mean at least a version of Morpheus has to exist? Even if he is now a Dream entity he exists. We’re told over and over again that it’s never just a dream. Such as with Constantine in issue 3.

In fact that comes up in Exiles (issue 74) that nothing is truly lost. That’s a recurring theme in these comics.

D. Destruction / Creation. Destruction was in Hob’s dream. Hob / Robert never met Destruction. He mentions that man looked like a lousy painter he saw once but never made that connection that the painter was one of Morpheus’ siblings. One of the last times Robert dreamt of Morpheus was when Morpheus was going to Hell to rescue Nada and Morpheus had wanted to say good bye. This time he saw Morpheus walking off into the sunset with “the painter.” Was Morpheus giving Robert a farewell before he wandered off, having essentially done as Destruction and Lucifer had? He resigned but he had done it in such a way that he was free from being Dream of the Endless yet there still was a Dream of The Endless to take care of things?

E. If Morpheus died and Daniel became Dream of The Endless but brought him back (perhaps as a Dream / Nightmare) that means Morpheus would be free of being Dream of The Endless, yet alive and have already paid his price to The Kindly Ones in his original death.

F. Also if not Creation than Change. Destruction became “Change” as we saw by his meal preparation (even if it wasn’t a very good meal). Morpheus walked off arm in arm with Change in that Dream. So ultimately if the moral is “Change or die” he did choose Change after all.

G. Why / How would Robert have dreamt of Morpheus being with Destruction when Robert had never known the painter he once encountered was Destruction? That means the dream isn’t purely the product of Robert’s grieving, like when he dreamt of his lover who was killed by the hit and run. That can’t be from Robert’s imagination. If the dream was from Daniel why would he concoct this? Why include someone Robert doesn’t know unless he’s trying to tell Robert something and used Robert’s dreaming as an excuse to resurrect Morpheus? A version of Morpheus outside of Daniel lives. He has to or that dream could not have happened.

H. Remember Destruction’s quest to become a force of creation, to finally embody that “other side of the coin” as he believes all The Endless represent an aspect of sentient life and it’s opposite counterpart. What if he’s finally done it? Destruction is also change / Creation and he helped bring back his own wayward brother?

I. Notice how Death isn’t there but Destruction is. This stands out because when Wanda gave her ghostly farewell she was standing with Death. This suggests that Morpheus is not dead as he is not with Death now. The Destruction of his old identity and birth of a new one perhaps? Change.

J. Daniel has no personal attachment to Hob / Robert. Morpheus does. Why would he be given this sort of dream unless Morpheus, himself, wanted Robert to have it? (Or if Daniel inherited that attachment when he became Dream). One of the last times Robert dreamt of Morpheus it was right before Morpheus went to Hell to try to rescue Nada. But if the dream is from Morpheus that very much means Morpheus has to be alive. This was set after Morpheus’ death.

K. I don’t think anyone just dreams of The Endless. Especially two of them, one of which he had only known as a random artist. Daniel created this dream for a reason.

Item 3. A Dream of Cats, and Sandman: Overture have repeatedly told us that all it takes is a thousand souls to all dream of the same thing all at once to make it so. Sandman has over a hundred million readers world-wide. Neil Gaiman, himself, has said so. Wouldn’t we have dreamt him back to life by now?

Item 4. In Sandman: Overture all the different “Aspects of Dream” meet in the Edwardian era. Each one is a different persona, a different incarnation of Dream of The Endless.

But they are not all Morpheus. In fact they have enough autonomy and individuality and separation that for most of the story Morpheus mistakes Desire as a Cat incarnation of himself and none of the others are lost when the flowering version of Dream was killed.

So that means theoretically that though Daniel is Dream of The Endless he CAN co-exist with Morpheus eve if they both are Dream of The Endless (or if Morpheus has freed himself from that burden). Hell, they could even live in the same castle and not have to run into each other.

Morpheus always wanted a companion that was more like himself. What if Daniel should have always been that companion and not his replacement? Someone to ease the burden of ruling The Dreaming and to co-run things with him.

All this time and it still feels like Neil Gaiman is writing ways to possibly bring Morpheus back, as if he’s struggling (and failing) at keeping him dead. Just let it go. It’s all right. Let him live again.

Item 5. Morpheus is a master of illusion. He has created illusions so elaborate that they have tricked and deceived Gods, such as when he created the illusion of Loki to suffer under the snake, after he freed the Japanese Thunder God (that Loki swapped places with) all while Morpheus let the real Loki run free. It took some time for Odin and Thor to realize it wasn’t Loki under the snake but an illusion.

Item 6. What DID Morpheus and Loki talk about in private after Loki agreed to be in his debt? Why was it not covered in the comics? We have seen Loki kill people rather than be in anyone’s debt but suppose- just suppose the old trickster somehow did pay his debt in taking part in an elaborate charade?

If Morpheus faked his death, it would not be hard for him to do, nor would it be impossible to trick The Kindly Ones the way he tricked Odin and Thor. If Morpheus is somehow alive but no longer Dream of the Endless (or at least no longer acting as Dream of The Endless) who or what is he? Did he settle on Earth and become a best-selling fantasy writer? (Again, this part is just a joke because the physical similarities amuse me. I really shouldn’t have to keep posting this disclaimer. It spoils the joke.)

Item 7. Fiddler’s Green / Gilbert gives this annoyingly pretentious speech about why he shouldn’t be raised from the dead, because then his death loses all meaning so Daniel halts mid-way through resurrecting him even though choosing to stay dead kind of already gives his death no meaning. Life is what gives life it’s meaning, Gilly, not its death.

I initially took this scene to be Neil Gaiman using Gilbert as his mouth piece to lecture DC / Vertigo to not resurrect Morpheus but what if the reality is he only doesn’t want them to resurrect Morpheus because Morpheus never truly died as Abel implied. “What died is a point of view.” This also grants that indefinite safety net that Morpheus can’t fall victim to substandard writing quality like certain other characters have. Isn’t that right, Danny?

(Disclaimer, I don’t consider this above image to be an example of Daniel written badly.)

Now here’s the important part. If we go by issue 19 of House of Mystery Volume 2 it appears Daniel brought Fiddler’s Green Back anyway, despite his pretentious protests. Could he have brought Morpheus back despite his protests?

Before I proceed I am going to say something potentially controversial in the Sandman fandom. I HATE the scene.where Gilbert refuses to be brougth back.

I love Sandman. I think it’s a gorgeously written work that I am deeply fond of but I hate that scene.

I hate that scene more than words can describe. I like Gilbert but this scene… This scene… His lines are pretentious and draw me out of the story entirely. It is the only moment of Sandman where I feel knocked out of the lush and beautiful story given to us by Neil Gaiman and knocked over the head with a commentary that doesn’t really feel like it fits.

Anne Rice fans suffer this sensation in the very first chapter of Blood Canticle and I, as a Sandman fan, suffer it here.

First, a death seems to have meaning because it was a terrible occurrence. The one who died still suffered it. Still gave their life for a cause. If they are brought back to life that doesn’t undo what they suffered. It doesn’t change that they thought they would not come back. It doesn’t change that they were mourned. And it doesn’t change that they died without any knowledge or belief that they would come back. It doesn’t change that sense of loss that was there at the time of death. That cannot suddenly be erased.

Joss Whedon handled resurrection surprisingly well in Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season six. Was it the best season of Buffy? Probably not. It had it’s flaws- glaring ones (i.e. Spike’s near rape of Buffy) but it had its good points too. The way Buffy’s death was handled was one of its good points.

You can watch Buffy The Vampire Slayer Season five and still feel the weight and impact of Buffy’s death and sacrifice. You still feel the grief of her friends. Just because she comes back a season later doesn’t undo this, it doesn’t change that she didn’t know she’d come back, her friends didn’t know, and coming back- in and of itself, was traumatic.

You can’t undo a great story just by bringing back a character who died. If the story is that fragile it wasn’t very strong to begin with, was it?

Resurrections, themselves, can be traumatic and devastating. Buffy suffered because of her resurrection, ripped from a place of peace and comfort (“There was no pain, no fear, no doubt ‘til they pulled me out of Heaven… I think I was in Heaven…”) And as a result her death still packs a powerful wallop.

Gwen Stacy was brought back in the Spider-Man comics (and later killed again…) but in that time people still wince and gasp when they revisit her first death, or watch the film version with Andrew Garfield as Spider-Man.

Most Game of Throne fans theorized that Jon Snow would come back but the death was and is still agonizing to watch. The resurrection doesn’t change that. In fact there’s trauma tied to that resurrection because it damages the soul and there could be other side effects later.

If something is truly well written than nothing can undermine that. Nothing can take away the original impact. That will always be there no matter what. Sandman is such a work.

Sandman is brilliantly written. If Morpheus ever comes back there needs to be two stipulations. 1. The impact of his death and resurrection would have to be handled with the utmost care. And 2. (And this is a given) Neil Gaiman himself would have to write it. There is no one else who could be trusted with it. But if (this is a hypothetical if) if Morpheus ever came back I don’t think that could ever harm or undermine the original story. It’s just too good to be that fragile.

I lost my mother to cancer. I lost my stepfather to a drug overdose (that was probably suicide). I lost people in my life and I won’t romanticize it. I won’t pretend that the way they died had great meaning or purpose. I miss them and sometimes resent. I resent that my mother was a chain smoker. I resent that my stepfather wasn’t stronger for my little brother who still needed him. I miss the good times.

When we mourn, we don’t mourn because of how the person died, we mourn because they are no longer alive. We mourn the life. We mourn the things that never were- the potential that never came to pass. We mourn not having them there in our own lives anymore.

Life is what gives life it’s meaning, not the death. Life doesn’t have value because it ends. If you can’t find value in life without the fear of it ending, I don’t think you truly value it. Life - really living is the appreciation of physical sensation, intimacy, connection with others, culture, art, history, all of that. Life is what gives life value, not its ending.

Too many works of fiction talk about immortality as a great tragedy.

“Woe is me. People I love will die.” We mortals experience that too, constantly actually. Stop acting like we don’t suffer loss. That’s a pretty big part of the human condition.

“Alas, I cannot find value in this because I have lived so long and have experienced all possible things already.” (I hate this trope!)

Oh, bullshit. You’re five-thousand-years-old. I doubt in those previous centuries you experienced binge watching Stranger Things Season two on Netflix while eating Pop Secret Homestyle Popcorn as you sit in a bean bag chair in a New York City apartment while it’s snowing outside. Bronze Age hazelnut pudding while watching hogs wrestle each other for grubs in the afternoon sun doesn’t count. Now shut up and pass the popcorn before I give you another “experience” you probably didn’t have centuries ago.

To quote a certain Disney musical: “There is more to be seen than can ever be seen, more to do than can ever be done.” LIFE is what gives life it’s purpose, not its death, not the looming dread that you can die. But the infinite possibilities that come with simply being alive.

Gilbert (in those above panels) is romanticizing his own death. No, Gilbert, your death didn’t have meaning. Even if it did, your insisting on staying dead undermined that meaning entirely. It turned it into nothing more than pretentiousness.

And that’s why I’m kind of glad we get this throw away line here in House of Mystery Volume 2 issue 19 suggesting that Daniel didn’t listen to him after all…

Gilbert is Fiddler’s Green. He’s a place in The Dreaming with sentience. The place wouldn’t exist unless Gilbert was brought back from the dead despite what he wanted. And Cain would know this.

Ha! Thank you, Cain! In one talk bubble I feel a certain vicious pleasure in knowing Mister “I must stay dead for my death to have meaning” was unheeded. Is that cruel? Perhaps. But honestly I don’t care. I don’t like when death is treated like the only way a life can have value. And honestly, this throw-away line doesn’t undo any of the impact of reading the end of The Kindly Ones arc in Sandman or The Wake. Hell, even Daniel bringing back Merv Pumpkinhead doesn’t undo how I felt when I saw the poor guy get blown to bits. And even when Goldie wailed for Abel I still feel for the little guy though I know Daniel brought Abel back fairly quickly.

Gilbert’s own speech about wanting to stay dead, in my opinion, did more harm to the sense of loss about his death, than the House of Mystery Volume 2 implication that he was brought back anyway.

It’s Gilbert’s little speech that, I feel, lead to the craptastic death of Matthew in The Dreaming spin-off comics, which not only felt unnecessary but also felt like a bad rip-off of The Wake from Sandman. So yeah, I kind of resent Gilbert / Fiddler’s Green a bit. And he was such a sweet-hearted character for the most part too…

Death is a big deal. It’s important. It’s painful buuuut it’s not what gives life its purpose and it doesn’t suddenly increase the value of that life or how deeply someone is mourned. That mourning comes from what the person did while alive, not merely that they are dead. The mourning is for the potential of what might have been, and for the experiences you will never have again with that person (or in the case of character resurrection) what the characters and reader thinks they’ll never have again.

I’ve met too many people who wax poetic about death and I’ve seen too much in the way of suicides and suicidal people in my own real life.

I have a friend I’ve had to stop from doing harm to themself- have a friend I’ve had to call their mother in the middle of the night to keep them from doing something awful. I’ve had to deal with said depressed friend rant and rave and even lie because they were angry I stopped them and pretend I somehow misunderstood what was going on… And eventually apologize to me and admit that they were going to kill themself. And that is brutal to endure.

As people like Voltaire (the musician) can tell you, this is all too common in the Goth / Gothic community. People who relate to Gothic fiction thinking they have no way out in bad situations and then they read poems and stories where death seems to be the answer, because when you feel that way, you are drawn to works of fiction that reflect how you think and feel. It’s why Voltaire had to write a song like Feathery Wings, because he has seen it and experienced it first hand, that sense of helplessness and had to overcome it and persevere. We need more hope.

So I’m tired of fiction (particularly Gothic fiction) treating death like some great way to end a story. I love Gothic fiction. Is it wrong to want to see Gothic fiction with a little hope?

I love all things Gothic but I’m tired of Gothic fiction treating death like it’s something better than being alive.

“To die. To truly be dead. That must be glorious.” - Bela Lugosi as Dracula. Did no one realize that was the first emo vampire quote?

I may love Gary Oldman’s Dracula and Frank Wildhorn’s Dracula musical, but I feel Fred Saberhagen’s Dracula books and Frank Langella’s Dracula blow them out of the water. Why? Because ol’ Drac can be made sympathetic and realistic without wanting to die. He likes being alive despite what he does. And I appreciate this. In fact I love it.

It’s irresponsible to treat death like the best possible turn out for a character, to not hold value to the life itself. It’s not death that gives life its meaning. It’s life that gives death it’s meaning.

When you die I imagine these questions for the newly fledged ghost. Did you live well? Did you taste all that you wanted to taste? Did you have good sensations? Were you loved? Did you do anything to make the world a better place because you were in it? Did you help others? Were you kind? Life is what gives life its meaning.

Romeo and Juliet may be tragic but I’m far more satisfied by the end of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. And honestly Romeo and Juliet’s deaths ultimately always felt so senseless to me…

In Sandman I hate that no one was able to make Morpheus value his life despite his grief and loss, that there was no one to comfort or console him. I hate that no one (save for Madness herself, little Delirium) tried to save him. I hate that he felt like death was the only way he could reconcile his past. I hate how alone he was even when Matthew tried to stay with him in the end. I hate that the character underwent all that change and beautiful character growth and evolution and still “had to die.” (Whether he literally died is debatable and subjective but you know what I mean).

Death doesn’t have to be cruel. Death isn’t ugly. The embodiment of Death in Sandman is beautiful and simply fulfilling her purpose but she tries to be kind, tries to be a friend. And she may also represent life. The Ankh isn’t truly a symbol of death after all. It’s Life Eternal. She’s not treated as a cliche and yet here we get the old Gothic literature cliche.

It’s a petty thing to treat death like the ultimate way a story should end. And I’m tired of it. I’m tired of death (the action / event, not the anthropomorphic personification).

I’m not a fan of repeated comic book deaths and resurrections. I never want Morpheus to be treated like Wolverine up to his umpteenth death in Marvel comics. But I’m honestly tired of modern Gothic fiction feeling like the protagonist must die for the story to have purpose.

Look at what they did to Showtime’s Penny Dreadful. That wasn’t deep and meaningful. That was senseless and petty. The romanticism of killing characters for “purpose” or because they can’t bear to be alive is ugly, overrated, and done too often. I hated how Penny Dreadful ended, and in fact I felt that Vanessa’s Death spoilt and undermined a certain potential to break the most annoying of Gothic cliches.

And yeah, I’m a Sandman fan who kind of hopes Hob’s dream wasn’t just a dream and that Daniel may have ignored someone else’s protests about probably not wanting to be brought back…

To Hell with wanting to be dead.

Life matters. Your life matters. Keep living. Even if it’s hard, keep living. You’ll find the good eventually. These are the things people need to know, in fiction and reality. It might be hard. It might hurt but there’s good too. There are things worth knowing even in the agony of loss. There are things nothing can take away.

Hope is never truly gone. Where there’s life, there’s Hope.

Never, ever let go of Hope.

Anyway, I went on a bit of a tangent there. Sorry about that...

Item 8. Morpheus wanted to quit.

Morpheus did not want to be Dream of The Endless anymore but he felt bound by his obligations and responsibilities. He witnessed Destruction essentially quit and Lucifer retire to Earth.

But Morpheus felt he couldn't do that. At least not so long as he was Dream of the Endless but what if he found a way to exist but not as Dream of The Endless?

Item 9. Desire can enter The After Life. This might not mean much (If Anything) but in Sandman Overture we learn that Desire can, not only enter the after life, but also pull souls out of the afterlife, as he / she does with the ghost of little Hope in Overture.

Item 10. “And nothing is truly lost.” These are the lines issue seventy four (Exiles) ends on.

Item 11. “Tired.”

Morpheus tells Death that he’s tired. And I already brought up how that is what Lucifer said before he went to Earth but it was also Gilbert / Fiddler’s Green’s explanation as to why he left to Earth. Until Morpheus says it, every character who said they did something because they were tired, it’s an immortal being going to live on Earth as a mortal. Is Morpheus Neil Gaiman?

Item 12. Remember what Morpheus said on the flight in Brief Lives?

He tells her that you can stop being anything. I got the impression Morpheus doesn’t want to be Dream of The Endless anymore but that is not quite the same as not wanting to be alive.

Item 13. Nuala’s quote about running.

Item 14. Stars. During The Wake issue 72 “The Lost Pages” we see / experience a spiritual assertion ending with the implication that Morpheus’ essence may have become a star now watching over The Dreaming. Thanks to Sandman: Endless Nights and Sandman: Overture it is confirmed that in The Sandman continuity, much like in Stardust, the stars are never just stars.

In fact, according to “Little Endless” (Debatably canon) Morpheus’ sigil before creating the helm, had been a star.

Item 14. It’s my understanding that Neil Gaiman has repeatedly said that Morpheus had to choose to change or die and “he made his choice” but has he ever specified “he chose to die”? Has he ever literally used those words?

Item 15. Morpheus compares Dream of The Endless (as a whole) as a crytal or jewel and each aspect is a facet. He is a facet. And he talks about how if you move the Jewel you will see yet another facet and that facet isn’t the whole but part of something much bigger. However a facet damaged on a crystal or jewel weakens the whole thing, causes a permanent damage. For the jewel to be repaired it would have to be entirely reshaped, otherwise you have a horribly damaged rock. ...Unless the jewel is merely turned and the original facet being isn’t replaced but just now hidden...

Item 16. What death? Matthew died in The Dreaming spin-off but now no one remembers that he has died and no one brings it up. But to be fair that was a pretty awful comic and it didn’t deserve to be canon. My point is if they ever do bring up Matthew’s death or explain why he’s back (though I doubt they will) the same could theoretically be done for Morpheus.

Item 17. Cluracan’s dream. Cluracan was rescued by Dream. He told the story when time was distorted at The World’s End inn. But in The Kindly Ones Morpheus and Nuala don’t seem to remember it. This indicates that it has not happened yet. But at one point would there have been time for that to happen before Morpheus’ death? The only explanation I can come up with is Morpheus is not truly gone because he would have had to make that visit later.

Item 18. And then there’s Neil Gaiman himself. Despite “killing” Morpheus in 1996 he wrote Dream Hunters in 1997 then Endless Nights in 2003, Sandman: Overture between 2013 and 2016.

He can’t resist going back to Morpheus. Despite officially ending the story in 1996 he has revisited it at least three times since then. And each time writing for Morpheus. Perhaps I’m mistaken but he only has so much backstory he can write (despite making Morpheus eons old) before he runs out of backstory and will want to write him in present day. Morpheus is an itch he simply can’t scratch.

So there you have it. if Morpheus is ever brought back by Neil Gaiman within the Sandman Universe it won’t be because he’s a sellout. It won’t be because he’s burnt out and run out of ideas. It won’t “ruin” the original Sandman. The clues were there all along. Morpheus is not dead.

Something else to note though not really related. Neil Gaiman claims Morpheus doesn’t pet things but Daniel does. I am pretty sure this is a genuine mistake but Morpheus does pet Cain’s head when he returns from Hell in Season of Mists and he pets the top of Baste’s head when he pays her a visit. This isn’t quite related but I just thought I’d mention it. Unless it was to establish how Morpheus IS changing and if that’s so then how could he have chosen death over change?

Morpheus was changing whether he willed it or not. If your choice is to change or die and he was already changing doesn’t that mean he chose change over death?

#Sandman #The Sandman #Neil Gaiman #Neil Gaiman's Sandman #Morpheus #Dream #Dream of The Endless #The Endless #Daniel #DC #DC Comics #vertigo #Vertigo Comics #Morpheus isn't dead #He chose change #Didn't he?#He chose change.

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