Dream is one of the seven Endless, powerful beings that are older than gods. He is the personification, as well as the lord over all dreams and stories, and all that is not in reality (which, in turn, Dream may define by his existence). He goes by countless names; such as Morpheus, Kai'ckul, Sandman, and Oneiros.

He is succeeded by Daniel Hall.



Billions of years ago
Dream came into existence once lifeforms capable of dreaming appeared in the universe. Dream was one of the Endless, personifications of ideas and concepts that were tied to life, and were fated to fulfill their functions until the universe ended and all life disappeared from the cosmos. The Endless are the children of Time, and Night is the mother of at least Dream. The parents, who predate all other existence, have grown estranged, and care little for the mortal world Dream concerns himself with.

BIOGRAPHICAL INFORMATION

ALSO KNOWN AS

Morpheus

Kai'ckul

Sandman

Oneiros


OCCUPATION: Lord of dreams

SPECIES: Endless

STATUS
Deceased (reincarnated)
Appearance



Sandman-comic.jpg
Morpheus usually appears as a tall, thin man with bone-white skin, black hair, and two distant stars looking out from the shadows where his eyes should be. Most often they are silver, blue, or white, but when he becomes angered, they have been known to turn red.

Morpheus' appearance ranges widely, depending on the entity looking upon him. He is described in Season of Mists as appearing to mortals as "rake-thin, with skin the color of falling snow" and that he "casts a human shadow when it occurs to him to do so". People generally perceive him as wearing a style of dress appropriate to their region and era. In the Dreaming, however, he is often seen wearing a grey tee-shirt and dark jeans. The people of "Tales in the Sand's" primordial African city see him as a starry-eyed African man.

Although he is most often seen in human form, Morpheus appears as a giant black cat when speaking to the lonely cat-pilgrim of "Dream of a Thousand Cats", and as a cat-headed god when addressing the Egyptian feline goddess, Bast . The Martian, J'onn, of the JLA, sees Morpheus as a Martian god in the shape of a flaming alien skull and identifies him as Lord L'Zoril, but Mister Miracle; looking at him simultaneously, sees Morpheus as a human. In Season of Mists, however, he appears in the same form to all the attending gods, and Bast comments, "I much prefer you in cat form, Dream old friend".

In The Dream Hunters, which is set in ancient Japan, Morpheus appears as a Japanese man to a Buddhist monk, and as a fox to a fox spirit. It is unclear whether Morpheus' appearance is determined by the expectations of onlookers, or if he chooses to manifest himself in different forms. He deliberately changes the style of his clothing to be less conspicuous when he visits the waking world as seen in Preludes and Nocturnes when he dealt with John Constantine.

He customarily wears a billowing black cape when abroad, sometimes with a flame motif or a pattern of dreamers' faces. In battle, he wears a helmet made from the skull and backbone of an enemy god whom he defeated. This helmet is also his sigil in the galleries of the other Endless; as well as appearing in the dreams (and at least once on the staircase wall) of Wesley Dodds.

Speech
Morpheus' speech is usually portrayed as white text in black, wavy-edged speech bubbles bordered in white. The text is capitalized normally (sentence case) in stark contrast to other characters' speech; generally in block caps text. He has a formal manner of speech.

He almost never laughs out loud - or even smiles - but when he laughs, it is a disquieting sound, almost a growl.

Personality
Though ultimately a heroic character, Dream has many flaws. He has trouble catching sarcasm and jests, causing him to often appear cold and humorless. Dream can be insensitive, self-obsessed, and slow to forgive or forget what he perceives as slights. He has a long history of broken romances, and is shown, both directly and by implication, to be prone to harsh reactions when his relationships fail.

As Mervyn Pumpkinhead remarks after the end of one of Morpheus' romances, "He's gotta be the tragic figure standing out in the rain, mournin' the loss of his beloved. So down comes the rain, right on cue. In the meantime everybody gets dreams fulla existential angst and wakes up feeling like hell. And we all get wet."

There is a long-standing enmity between Morpheus and Desire, stemming from Desire's involvement in the breakup of one of Dream's romantic relationships (seen in Endless Nights). Near the end of the Brief Lives story arc, Desire says of Dream: "He's stuffy, stupid, and thinks he knows everything, and there's just something about him that gets on my nerves." Desire's self involvement, by definition, being even greater than Dream's.

It is implied that before his imprisonment he was in some ways colder and more blind to his flaws, and much of The Sandman is focused on Morpheus' desire to atone for his past behavior such as helping past lovers Calliope and Nada. Morpheus has great pride that does not tolerate damage or embarrassment, examples include banishing Nada to Hell for rejecting him, and being angry (originally) at the notion presented by Hob Gadling that he is lonely and needs friends.




Morpheus is constantly aware of his responsibilities, both to other people and to his realm. He is detailed and exacting in their fulfillment, as noted in Season of Mists, where Morpheus is described as, "Of all the Endless, save perhaps Destiny, he is most conscious of his responsibilities, the most meticulous in their execution." He shares a close, reciprocal bond of dependence and trust with his elder sister, Death. He consistently strives for understanding of himself and of the other Endless, but is ultimately defeated by his most tragic flaw: his inability to accept change. In The Wake, when asked by Matthew "Why did it happen? Why did he let it happen?", Lucien remarks, "Charitably... I think... sometimes, perhaps, one must change or die. And in the end, there were, perhaps, limits to how much he could let himself change."

During the course of the series, Morpheus consistently strives for understanding of himself and of the other Endless, especially his elder sibling Death, but he is ultimately undone by his most tragic flaw, his innate inability to accept change. This is especially ironic considering that the nature of dreams are constant change. As Lucien remarks in The Wake when asked (by Matthew, the raven) "Why did it happen? Why did he let it happen?", "Charitably...I think...sometimes, perhaps, one must change or die. And in the end, there were, perhaps, limits to how much he could let himself change." In a last gut-punch of ironic underpinning, by the series final story arc Morpheus had become a kinder version of himself, more able to forgive, and better able to love.

Morpheus is noted in Season of Mists as "accumulating names to himself as others make friends, but he permits himself few friends." He is given more names in The Sandman than any of the other Endless, far beyond the many translations of Dream.

A very different version of Dream was shown in Endless Nights where he had a positive relationship with Desire and was very happy. However, this changes during the events of the story in Endless Nights.

Following his reincarnation, Dream is noticeably kinder, something the denizens of the Dreaming are quick to comment on. He pets the Hippogriff (something he had never done before) and freed Lyta Hall and Alexander Burgess, judging that revenge was a "road with not endings."

Dream Personification: As one of the seven Endless, Dream is one of the most powerful beings in the universe as he is the very definition and master of the dream. He exerts absolute control over dreams, nightmares and even insomnia.

Immortality: Being an Endless, Dream is an immortal being and will exist forever. Diseases and age do not affect him, allowing his existence to be unshakable. If an Endless is killed or destroyed, their personality and powers will be passed on to someone else, taking their place and incarnation in the universe. When Dream died, his gifts were passed on to Daniel Hall.

Teleportation: Dream can go anywhere on Earth or realm easily. He can open interdimensional portals to travel between worlds, even going to hell itself.

Shapeshifting: The ruler of dreams can alter his own appearance and clothing at will through "dream space". He also seeks to disguise himself in the presence of lesser beings so they can understand who he is.

Superhuman Strength: Dream has higher and tougher strength than an ordinary human. He managed to lift a demon guard and hurl it a great distance with just one arm.

Superhuman Endurance: Dream spent his last 70 years trapped without food, which didn't starve him to death. Despite this, he was only slightly weak and hungry.

Sleep Induction: Morpheus can make any human instantly fall asleep. When he escaped from his prison, he made his guards fall asleep with a blast of sand from his hand. Sandman legends say that he made children sleep when he dumped small grains of sand over their eyelids.

Dream Invasion: He has the ability to enter the dreams of others without them realizing it, often analyzing and even interacting with his target's dream. Even in prison, Dream offered some risk to the guards who watched him, always being warned not to sleep during his shift so that Morpheus wouldn't enter his naps.

Supernatural Tracking: Dream was able to track the demon that had stolen his helm in hell with extreme ease amidst thousands of demons.

Dream Conjuration: He can conjure dreams, ideas, and nightmares into the minds of humans with ease, having complete control over this aspect. He cursed a man into an "eternal awakening", causing him to be trapped in an endless cycle of awakening from a terrible nightmare.

Cosmic Consciousness: Dream is the ruler of all dreams in the universe, having access to all stories told. Morpheus knows pretty much everything and even how the Omniverse was created. He still knows all the stories that will be told in the near future.

Dream Absorption: Morpheus literally feeds on dreams generated by people and the food within dreams.

Illusion Generation: Dream can create projections of Illusions so real that he can physically and verbally interact with them. He says that dreams and reality are much closer to each other than many realize.

Healing: He can heal his own wounds and injuries quickly.

Reality Manipulation: The power of the Dream is directly connected to the Dream, it can easily manipulate reality on a universal scale. He can create objects and entities to serve him, as well as alter the weather and landscape within the Dreaming. As he was absent from the Dreaming for 70 years, his realm weakened and only grew stronger in his presence.

Photokinesis: Dream can manipulate,create, and cast light at will.

Telekinesis: Dream can manipulate objects and people with the force of the mind. He managed to unlock a door and telekinetically open it.

Magic: Dream is an excellent and powerful magic user, being near-omnipotent within the Dreaming.

Power Distribution: Morpheus was able to distribute a portion of his power over his equipment like Sand Pouch and Dreamstone.
Curse: Dream can cast and create curses through magic. He can curse someone who has troubled him suffering from nightmares for eternity with ease.

Abilities

Artistry: Supreme talent to make creative dreams (and nightmares).

Insight: Dream has a particular talent for introducing different ideas and new concepts into people's minds and lives (and also removes them).

Occultism

Weaknesses

Ancient Rules: Despite his great powers, Dream, like the rest of the Endless, is bound to a complex set of rules and customs that limit his abilities. One which requires him not to spill the blood of family or he is no longer protected as the personification of Dream from other Personifications. Dream is also only capable of taking a mortal life if it is to protect the Dreaming. Another is that he cannot fall in love with a mortal or the mortal's downfall is assured.

Behind the Scenes
His overall look resembles his creator, Neil Gaiman.

Dream is the third oldest of the Endless, he appears to have arguably the most influence over mortals next to his elder sister, Death. As quoted by Mervyn Pumpkinhead at the end of one of Dream's relationships: "He's gotta be the tragic figure standing out in the rain, mournin' the loss of his beloved. So down comes the rain, right on cue. In the meantime everybody gets dreams fulla existential angst and wakes up feeling like hell. And we all get wet." This implies that depending on Dreams mood, he is able to affect peoples dreams and implant his feelings in them, effectively manipulating mortals behavior when they are awake.