Recently re-reading the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman. Lots of things left to our imagination, I think. I don’t believe Gaiman has answered any of these in interviews or anything, so this might be more for speculation. The ones that come to my mind, mostly from “The Kindly Ones” are:
What happened that changed Delight into Delerium?
Who were Loki and Puck working for/manipulated by?
What did they seek to gain?
Why did Loki kill Carla? (he said he hated being obligated to anyone.)
Who was he obligated to?
How did Marzikeem <sp?> get the way she is and what keeps her alive?
That’s all I can think of for now. I have thoughts on most of these but would like to hear what other people think. Also, if anyone else is puzzled about something in the series, add that in.
Thanks in advance to anyone that would like to participate.
[spoiler] Loki was obligated to Dream. Dream had found out about Loki impersonating Susano-O back at the dinner party in Season of Mists, and had allowed him to remain free but with the understanding that he owed Dream one.
In the series Lucifer, it is revealed that Mazikeen is one of the Lilim, the half-demon children of Lilith. She does some serious kicking of ass in that series. I highly recommend it. [/spoiler]
This is just from memory, with a little online checking. Very little. - - - And I’m assuming spoilers are expected.
What happened that changed Delight into Delerium? Only Delerium knows. Not even Destiny does. I forget which issue she made the statement in. It’s undoubtable something cosmic.
Who were Loki and Puck working for/manipulated by? That’s left unsaid, but many speculate that it was the Sandman, himself.
What did they seek to gain? They are, among other things, agents of malicious chaos.
Why did Loki kill Carla? (he said he hated being obligated to anyone.) Not really remembering. Although ‘because he could’ would work for Loki.
Who was he obligated to? The Sandman had deliberately neglected to warn Odin that Loki had escaped, thus allowing him a time of freedom. So he could be obeying the Sandman to discharge the obligation, or he could be helping to kill the Sandman in order to cancel the obligation.
How did Marzikeem <sp?> get the way she is and what keeps her alive? She’s a demon. That’s what she looks like. From wiki - The name "Mazikeen " comes from that of a shapeshifting demon of Jewish mythology
Cool questions. Hope other folks come with lots more information and other questions. I love this series.
Thanks for all the great answers. I’d forgotten I wanted to ask about the first Despair, too. Thanks for reminding me, Tom Tildrum!
No idea on that answer, myself. I do recall from somewhere the talk about whoever killed Despair suffering for thousands of years.
What happened that changed Delight into Delerium?
I got the feeling that Destiny knows. It seemed he might have been ‘responsible’ in some way. He sure shut up fast when she mentioned it. I also wonder has he always been blind? Or did that happen along the way, maybe at the same time Delight was hurt/changed.
Who were Loki and Puck working for/manipulated by?
I had thought this was either Dream, as Death browbeats him at the end of the Kindly Ones for arranging his own death surreptitiously, or Desire.
Also, it’s pretty obvious Desire didn’t get along with Dream and arranged (or was manipulated into arranging) for Dream to “spill family blood.” Not sure what Rose and the others in her family had to do with that or if it was unrelated.
What did they seek to gain?
Well, Desire could just make them want to do it.
Why did Loki kill Carla? (he said he hated being obligated to anyone.)
I had forgotten about Loki switching places with the Japanese envoy in ‘Mists’.
Good catch! “To be killed by a God.”
Who was he obligated to? Dream. (Now I know.)
How did Marzikeem <sp?> get the way she is and what keeps her alive?
She’s obviously kept alive by her devotion to Lucifer.
Great stuff! Who’s got some other ideas? Questions? Favorite bits?
Who guessed it was Larissa that broke up with Dream and caused all the rain?
Her two pages were one great part in ‘The Wake.’ (among many)
Remember, Rose Walker is the granddaughter of Unity (Kincaid?), one of the victims of the sleeping sickness that was caused by Dream’s capture. While Unity was asleep, she was raped by Desire, impregnating her with Rose’s mom.
Rose, her mother, and her brother are all family to the Endless.
I thought that Hal found success by going from being a singer/dancer to being a cranky, insulting bitch in her act. Then over a few years, it stopped being an act. It’s hard to stay close to someone that’s like that all the time.
Yes, wasn’t Rose’s mother a ‘Vortex’, a danger to the Dreaming? I know it’s said that ‘usually’ Dream will only kill to protect his realm. Then Rose became the Vortex, but Morpheus found a way to protect the Dreaming without having to kill her. So Desire was trying to get him to spill ‘family blood’ that far back in the series. Good catch!
Thought of another question. Somewhere I heard that Dream had been somewhere and done something that used much of his strength/energy and it was as he was returning that he was captured instead of Death. Where had he been? What was he doing? Any speculation?
Rose broke down the walls between their dreams one night, and no-one who was in the house that night remained on good terms with each other, except for the Spider Sisters. I think there’s some truth in Satchmo’s answer as well.
Satchmo has it, but just to be clear, Rose and Unity Walker are kin to the Endless, but Morpheus did not harm either of them, despite Desire’s machinations. Rose was born with the dream vortex, but gave it to Unity in the Dreaming as Unity was dying naturally.
Morpheus grew to feel responsible for things he had done in the past and gave his son, Orpheus, the death he had been craving. That was the act that left him vulnerable to the furies.
Thanks The_Peyote_Coyote!
Great summary Yllaria, I guess I should re-read the first few books. Brief Lives, The Kindly Ones and The Wake are my favorites, I think.
What about Barnabas the dog? Clearly he was Destruction’s dog, but do you think he was like Mathew? (Used to be human, given a choice when he died, maybe?) Or did Destruction just take a normal dog and make him smarter and able to talk? Or my favorite speculation, did he change an art/literary critic into a talking dog and make him forget he was ever human?
Reminds me, Mathew the Raven was a human character in the Swamp Thing series written by Gaiman, I think. Need to find that that next time I have some money burning a hole in my pocket.
The spider women were lovers – they’re shown sleeping together when the walls break down in A Doll’s House, and then in The Kindly Ones Zelda is dying of AIDS which she got from Chantal, who has already passed.
I don’t think anybody set up the rules. They’re uncreated outgrowths of the creation; I assume they’re bound by their rules just like molecules are bound by gravity and electromagnetism.
–Cliffy
P.S. Matthew originated as Matt Cable who was a supporting player in Swamp Thing as early as 1972, according to Wikipedia. He was important in Alan Moore’s run which was the precursor to the DC horror titles of which Sandman was the most successful, and he died later, after Rick Veitch had taken over. (Morpheus appears in that issue – Swamp Thing #84 IIRC.)
I finished the series and the followup books a couple of years ago so my memory might not be 100% but in Sandman: Endless Nights some answers are given. In it there is a chapter that foces on each member of the Family.
It tells how the fued between Desire and Dream started.
My favorite chapter. Our very own sun tells a story to a not quite awkened earth about how he met the Family way back when when he was but a lad. In the chapter you get to see what the original Despair looked like. It does not say what happened to her you just get to see what she looks like. It is hinted that she has a connection to Superman: that she is the reason Krypton exploded to only leave one inhabitant alive because that single living creature would have such great despair at losing their entire planet. Also you get to see what Delight looked like as a child. She and our sun have a short conversation.
There is also a mention of why Delight changed into Delerium. You also get to see what she looked like and she comments, “I was pretty back then.” If I recall correctly and my own interpretation of the conversation:
Delight is based on the innocence of youth. As the universe was young all its inhabitants were ignorant and full of wonder so was Delight. The universe aged and became chaotic and so Delight transformed into Delerium.
I highly recommend this book to anyone who has not read it yet. There really are quite a few gems in it.
Thanks Cliffy!
Good info, I’d be interested in getting that too. All the Endless seem to have pets, though Matthew is definitely more than a pet to Dream. That’s why I wondered when Barnabas came from.
Now I have to reread Endless Nights again. Poor me!
So much I missed the first few times through. Got to look for the original Despair.
What other Horror Titles did DC do about that time. I remember the two house comics (Mysteries and Secrets) as Gaiman must have been fond of, obviously.
