The second season of Netflix’s ‘The Sandman’ presents a chaotic new chapter in the story of the protagonist. Since the first season, he has been facing a lot of turmoil, but the second season pushes him to his limits. By the end of the first half of the season, he has been cornered in a way that his fate is basically written in stone now. With the Furies, aka the Kindly Ones, ready to exact their justice on him, Dream will have to fight for his survival more than he ever has. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Spilling Family Blood Has Sealed Dream’s Fate
Being one of the Endless means having immense power and immortality at one’s disposal, but there are some rules that must be followed without exception. One of these rules is that under no circumstances should an Endless spill family blood. Dream, and the others, try to live by this rule as strictly as possible. When Dream’s son, Orpheus, turns immortal and is reduced to a head without a body by the Sisters of the Frenzy, he begs his father to kill him. As much as Dream loves his son, he cannot kill him, which is why poor Orpheus is condemned to a miserable existence.
In an interesting turn of events, Desire tries to trick Morpheus into killing Rose Walker, who is later revealed to be Desire’s great-granddaughter. This makes her a blood of the Endless. She is also a dream vortex and threatens to destroy Dream’s realm, which is why he considers killing her. Had he gone through with his decision, his death would have arrived sooner. But it wasn’t his time then. He was saved when Rose’s grandmother decided to trade places with her and destroy herself. However, this incident revealed how important it is for the Endless to abide by their rules.
This is why, when Dream realises that he needs to talk to Orpheus to find out where his brother, Destruction, is, he realises exactly how the events are going to turn out now. He knows that the only thing Orpheus wants is to die, so in return for the information, he will ask to be killed, and this time, Dream will have to fulfil his wish. Things turn out exactly like this, and by the end of the sixth episode, Dream kills his own son, finally relieving him of his centuries-long torture. But now that he has spilled family blood, the Fates will come for him, and he will have to face the music.
Even if Morpheus Dies, Dream and the Dreaming Will Survive
One of the more interesting things about the world of ‘The Sandman’ is that the Endless is more of a position that can have successors. This means that even if Morpheus dies, the position of Dream will be available for his successor, and once that is in place, the Dreaming will have a new ruler, and things will go on as they are meant to. Considering that Morpheus killed his own son and the Kindly Ones have decided to unleash havoc upon him, his death is all but confirmed. According to the comic books, which the show faithfully adapts, Morpheus finds the Kindly Ones at his door with Hippolyta Hall after her son goes missing and she mistakenly believes that Morpheus has him.
In the end, it turns out that Morpheus didn’t have anything to do with his disappearance, and he is eventually found. But by then, the Kindly Ones and their plans have already been put in motion, which means that even when Lyta asks them to spare Morpheus, they can’t do it. They have to see the whole thing as true. By this time, the Lord of Dreaming has also accepted his fate. Since his return from Roderick Burgess’ captivity, he has changed immensely and has seen himself and the world in a very different light.
The moment he kills Orpheus, he knows what’s coming for him. So, in the end, he accepts his fate and lets the Fates end his story. He does it without any worries because by now, he knows that Lyta’s son, named Daniel Hall in the comics, is his true successor. Having been conceived and born of the Dreaming, he has the essence of Dream’s realm inside him, which cannot be said about a lot of people. He is Morpheus’ true successor, which is why Morpheus can rest easy, knowing that when he is gone, Daniel will take over the mantle of Dream and keep the Dreaming alive.