The Sandman Omnibus Vol. 1

“I am a passenger. I am moving through your dreams. I am rising in your dreams. I ride on dragonback from Manhattan; the dragon is made from riveted iron and smells of cotton candy.”

Here the story again uses contrasting imagery—dragons and Manhattan, iron and cotton candy—to illustrate both the absurdity and the limitless possibility of the dream world. The choice of directing the words to the reader rather than the characters brings the reader into the story and expands the world beyond the page.

“‘It is a comfort in wretchedness to have companions in woe.’ (Marlowe. Faust.) Of course, he was talking about Hell. But it applied equally to Arkham.”

This allusion to Christopher Marlow foreshadows his brief appearance in Issue 13. As Dream and Hob look on, Shakespeare again references Marlowe’s same work, proclaiming that he would gladly make such a devil’s deal. This leads to his agreement with Dream. This moment of allusion and foreshadowing gives a feeling of overarching connection across the story.

“Mostly they aren’t too keen to see me. They fear the sunless lands. But they enter your realm each night without fear.”

This issue introduces Death for the first time. Here we see her in a rare moment of vulnerability where she acknowledges the role she plays in the world. This moment also draws attention to how closely related death and dreaming can be.

“And her heart sank within her, for she had confessed her love to one of the Endless, who are not gods, and will never die like gods.”

The narrative voice shifts in this issue to imitate traditional storytelling mannerisms. In fiction, we often think of “gods” as the highest possible power in a cultural pantheon. However, this story gives its gods more humanity to set them apart from the undying Endless. Rather than being divine beings, the Endless are closer to manifestations of primordial human conditions.

“Lyta feels the muck beneath her, and she knows. This is no dream. The other life. The house. The husband. That was the dream.”

Often in the story, dreams and reality are presented as intimately entwined, affecting and bleeding into one another. In this moment, however, the opposite is true: A sharp line is drawn between the dream world and reality, which makes Lyta’s situation feel all the more tragic.

“Well, Kit, your theme as I saw it is this: that for one’s art and for one’s dreams one may consort and bargain with the darkest pow’rs.”

This brings us to the appearance of Christopher Marlowe; he and Shakespeare are discussing the aforementioned Faust. This moment foreshadows the deal Shakespeare strikes with Dream—the word in Shakespeare’s comment then takes on a double meaning. It’s suggested that Shakespeare may even have been driven to Dream’s offer by his interpretation of Marlowe’s work.

“I doubt I’m any wiser than I was five hundred years back. I’m older. I’ve been up, and been down, and been up again. Have I learned ought? I’ve learned from my mistakes, but I’ve had more time to commit more mistakes.”

Hob considers the permanence of human nature and life experiences. Through the fantastical lens of immortality, this character teaches the reader a valuable lesson about growth and self-acceptance.

“Writers are liars, my dear. Surely you have realized that by now?”

Neil Gaiman is a prolific writing teacher, and one of the tenets he falls back on in his lessons is the idea of all stories being lies that disguise a deeper truth. He puts forth the idea that the novelist’s job is to lie about things that never happened to communicate something greater. This idea gives this moment of subtle self-allusion a double meaning.

“I do not know how many of us it will take. But we must dream it, and if enough of us dream it, it will happen. Dreams shape the world.”

In this alternate timeline, dreams have the power to quite literally change the world. While this story is intended to be a surrealist depiction of shifting dynasties, it contains a powerful, underlying truth that through unity and imagination, humanity can make a real difference. This truth is at the core of Sandman’s story.

“Will is a willing vehicle for the great stories. Through him they will live for an age of man; and his words will echo down through time. It is what he wanted. But he did not understand the price.”

Here Dream explores the balance of life and art. Through his deal with Dream, Shakespeare achieved his heart’s desire: lasting greatness. In achieving it, however, he became increasingly distant from his family and lost what drove him to create in the first place.

“Things not need have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will ensure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot.”

This moment again harkens back to Neil Gaiman’s philosophy on storytelling as a lie that disguises a truth. Here dreams become a metaphor for stories, which often have longer lasting effects and survive generations more than factual anecdotes.

“You people always hold onto old identities, old faces and masks, long after they’ve served their purpose. But you’ve got to learn to throw things away eventually.”

The passage of time is a central theme in Sandman. There is an irony here, as the speaker is one of the Endless. However, Death’s observation can also extend to the idea of holding on to grudges, prejudices, and outdated ideas, several of which are explored throughout the story.

“With each step you take through Destiny’s garden, you make a choice; and every choice determines future paths. However, at the end of a lifetime of walking you might look back, and see only one path stretching out behind you; or look ahead, and see only darkness.”

The tension between fate and free will arises several times throughout the story, with the three Fates playing a role and characters being forced into cataclysmic choices that change their fates. This moment illustrates the power of choice and how each moment is shaped by it, even when we fool ourselves into thinking we have no agency in our lives.

“Her realm is close, and can be visited; however, human minds were not made to comprehend her domain, and those few who have made the journey have been incapable of reporting back more than the tiniest fragments.”

This description of Delirium tells us that madness and human awareness are closer parallels than we may think. Though Delirium is shown as young and childlike, this moment reminds us of her power and vastness as one of the Endless. Unlike Desire and Despair, Delirium has a certain untouchability and isolation from both her siblings and the world around her.

“Oh yes. But unusual books. You’ll find none of them on Earth. In this section, for example, are novels their authors never wrote, or never finished, except in dreams.”

This moment again draws a parallel between storytelling and dreaming and the way they overlap. Notably, the authors featured on the books in the illustrations include some of Neil Gaiman’s literary influences including Lord Dunsany, G. K. Chesterton, and J. R. R. Tolkien as well as a book by a fictional author featured earlier in Issue 17.

“They use my name as if I spend my entire day sitting on their shoulders, forcing them to commit acts they would otherwise find repulsive. “The devil made me do it.” I have never made one of them do anything.”

This moment reveals an integral facet to Lucifer’s character, where he expresses disappointment and anger to the people who wrongfully blame their misdeeds on his influence. This dissatisfaction contributes to his decision to leave Hell behind. It also helps separate Sandman’s Lucifer from the biblical Lucifer.

“Even when it’s empty, thought Charles Rowland, you’re never alone in a school. It belongs to all those dead people. All the other kids. The ones who sat at your desk, or slept in your bed, or ran down the corridors a hundred years ago. They never go away.”

Although this issue deals with literal dead people, this observation could easily be applied to memories and stories. In this moment, Charles isn’t yet aware that dead people are walking the halls. Instead, he considers their lasting influence and the way place is informed by the lives lived within it.

“It feels… like a great weight has been taken from my shoulders, Matthew. It is an evil thing, that key. It corrupts, by simply existing.”

Good and evil are fluid concepts in Sandman. Lucifer gave Dream the key knowing the havoc it would cause; however, the evil came not from the object itself but from what it brought out in those around it. Here the story illustrates that human weaknesses, such as avarice and betrayal, can exist in all manner of beings. By passing the key on to someone deserving, Dream was able to overcome those aspects of himself.

“Dreams are ‘nothing,’ sister? Without dreams, there could be no despair.”

The Endless, although often at odds, are intrinsically interconnected. Here we see how two of the most seemingly contradictory are still co-dependent—an idea that can also be extended beyond their realms and into their personal family dynamics. This moment also mirrors Dream’s earlier question to Lucifer, showing him that Dreams are necessary for Hell to have any effect on the punished.

“You’d make up stories, seek out books of witches and ghosts—things that weren’t true. They couldn’t understand where this fascination of yours for the fantastic came from and it scared them. So you began to defend yourself.”

This is another instance where the idea of “true” and not true is mentioned in relation to storytelling. This harkens back to Dream’s earlier idea that things don’t have to be conventionally real to be a representation of the truth. Although presented in the fantastical context of Barbie’s dreamworld, this moment will likely speak to most readers of fantasy who escaped to these worlds themselves. 

“He seemed to fill the world. Nothing had changed, but it was as if he were as big as the land, and still he was speaking. I knew that if he had been speaking to me I would have understood… but he wasn’t speaking to me.”

This moment again explores the malleability of the dream world and Dream’s relationship with it. In several instances, characters comment on how he can shape his domain to his will; here we see how he and the world are a part of each other. Dream’s act of uncreating the world of Barbie’s dreaming acts as an inversion of the biblical creation myth, portraying his character in a new light.

“I don’t think home’s a place anymore. I think it’s a state of mind.”

This line shows the remarkable growth Barbie has gone through since her first appearance in the story and illustrates broader themes of independence and identity. She teaches the reader that finding one’s way home isn’t a matter of geographical location but a matter of finding home inside oneself.

“Some things are too big to be seen; some emotions too huge to be felt. He concentrates instead on the correct fingering of the Song of the Gate, on playing each note exactly, finely. The tune weaves itself around him, intricate and strange, like a song from a dream.”

The reference to “dream” here has a double meaning—that of the dream world and that of Orpheus’s family connection with Dream and the other Endless. In both Sandman and classic mythology, Orpheus is characterized by his skill with music. This line encompasses both his skill and his emotional state and how each interacts with the other.