Diksha Sundriyal
The second season of Netflix’s ‘The Sandman‘ continues the story of Dream of the Endless as he carries on with the task of rebuilding the Dreaming, which fell into decay for several decades while he was away from it and in captivity of Roderick Burgess. Now that he is back and changed by his experiences from the first season, he decides to completely dedicate himself to the task. However, when he and the rest of his siblings are summoned by the eldest Endless, Destiny, a chain of events is triggered that has Dream at its centre. As chaos unfolds, Dream finds himself facing impossible choices, all of which lead him towards his own destruction. SPOILERS AHEAD.
The Sandman Season 2 Plot Recap
The second season of ‘The Sandman’ puts Dream on a path that eventually leads to death and heartbreak. It begins with his desire to free Nada from Hell, which he eventually succeeds at. This overlaps with Lucifer Morningstar’s decision to abdicate their throne and leave Hell in Dream’s hands. By the time he deals with this situation, a new issue emerges. His sister, Delirium, comes looking for him, asking for his help in finding Destruction, who has been missing for a few centuries now. She reached out to other siblings for help, but none of them seemed interested in the quest. Desire advised her to reach out to Dream, but they never imagined that Morpheus would ever agree to it.
In truth, Dream didn’t seem too eager to find Destruction either, particularly because he believes that their brother left of his own accord and made it clear that he does not want to be found. However, in the guise of finding him, he could go back to the Earth and hope to cross paths with Nada again. This fake search soon turns into a real one as several people lose their lives in the process. Eventually, Dream discovers that there is only one person who can point them towards Destruction, but meeting this person and making a deal with them comes with a price that might be too heavy to pay for Dream.
Is Orpheus Dead? Why Does Dream Kill His Son?
Dream and Delirium’s search for Destruction leads them to the family oracle, the only one who can tell them where their brother has disappeared to. At first, Dream is hesitant about it, but he knows that this is the only path he must take. So, he visits Orpheus, his immortal son, who has been in a state of miserable existence with only a head and no body. Even before Dream meets him, he knows what his son will ask for in return. The last time they met, Orpheus asked to be released from his existence, but he refused to go through with it. He knows that two thousand years will have done nothing to change his mind, and as expected, this is exactly what Orpheus asks.
The reunion between the father and son is an emotional affair, where both express their love for each other and how hurt and haunted they have been by not having been together for so long. Dream apologizes for failing his son, while Orpheus apologizes for not listening to him back then. In the end, Orpheus reveals that Destruction has been living on a nearby island because he knew that Dream would never come anywhere near that area. Now that he has what he wants, Dream is obliged to give Orpheus what he wants. After the meeting with Destruction is over, Dream goes back to Orpheus.
Because Orpheus received immortality from his aunt Death, no mortal being could kill him. This becomes evident from the way he remains alive despite losing his body and being thrown into all sorts of situations. However, beings like the Endless have the power to override this immortality, which is why Orpheus needed his father, or someone like him, to do the deed. In the end, Dream kills his son by stabbing his eyes with his fingers, literally bloodying his hands in the process. He makes arrangements for his body to be buried on the island, giving the responsibility of making sure it goes well to Lucienne. Once that’s done, he goes back to his quarters where he washes the blood off his hands and weeps for the loss of his son.
The Kindly Ones Prophecise a Terrible Fate for Dream
One of the cardinal rules of being an immortal being is that you can’t kill another of your kind. This law binds the Endless family in such a way that they cannot kill each other, or anyone who is of their blood. Should they do so, they will have to meet the fury of the Kindly Ones, and it will not end well for them, to say the least. In the first season, Dream came close to killing a member of his family, though he wasn’t aware of their connection at the time. The person in question was Rose Walker, the dream vortex, who turned out to be Desire’s granddaughter, through their impregnation of Unity Kincaid.
Dream was prevented from killing Rose in the nick of time, but this time, things are much worse. When he kills Orpheus, he doesn’t just spill family blood; he kills his own son, which makes things worse on a number of levels. Thousands of years ago, when Orpheus asked his father to kill him, Dream refused because he knew what it would lead to. This time, however, he has no choice because it is not a request but a part of a deal that he must fulfil. Even though Orpheus wanted to die, it doesn’t change the fact that Dream broke the rules, and for that, he must pay. The Fates’ prophecy in the end points towards that.
In the final scene of the sixth episode, we find the three Kindly Ones sitting around a fire having tea. When they read a fortune cookie, it says, “A king will forsake his kingdom. Life and death will clash and fray. The oldest battle begins once more.” This is odd because they made the same prophecy earlier this season to Destiny, who then called the family meeting, which led to Dream going to Hell. At the time, it seemed that the forsaking of the kingdom referred to Lucifer’s abdication, and the subsequent chaos and conflict fell in line with the prophecy. Now that the same one has come around again, it seems that either the prophecy has not been fulfilled yet, or that it refers to someone else in a different context.
Why do The Fates Cut the Yarn?
To make things clear about the prophecy, the oldest of the three, the Crone, talks about Dream killing his son and how he must pay for it. While the Mother is more sympathetic towards the Endless, she eventually relents. The cutting of the yarn means that Dream’s fate has been sealed. In Greek mythology, the Fates spin the yarn of every living being’s life, which notes the ups and downs of their life, including the points of their life and death. The scarf that the Mother had been working on was the yarn of Dream’s life.
The Crone calls her out for having worked on it for too long, and the Mother claims that she likes the scarf, which is a clear reference to the former believing that Dream has been cut enough slack and the latter expressing her preference to forgive him for his actions. In the end, when the yarn is cut off, it suggests that they are not going to continue knitting the scarf of Dream’s life, and as the rest of the events transpire, he will inch closer to his date with destiny, where he will finally answer for killing his son.
Based on what happens in the comic books, Dream has a short but difficult road ahead, at the end of which, he will face off against the Fates. However, he has already clarified that even if he is gone, the Dreaming shall survive, which means that while Morpheus might die, the position of Dream and the realm of Dreaming will continue to live on. The season already gives us a hint of Morpheus’ successor in the form of Hippolyta Hall’s son, who was conceived in the Dreaming and hence has an essence of the Endless flowing through his body, making him Morpheus’ rightful heir.
Where does Destruction go? Will He Be Back?
The entire thing about Dream going to Orpheus and inviting the ire of the Furies comes to pass because of his search for his brother. Destruction left his post centuries ago because he was done with seeing the destruction wreaked by humanity. He was disgusted by the things that they were building, leading them to become the destroyers themselves, and he didn’t want any part of it. Continuing to run his realm and holding on to the position of Destruction meant that not only would he have to witness the destruction caused by humans, but he would also be found responsible for it.
So, he removes himself from the equation. He knows that this doesn’t change anything, and the humans will still continue to find worse ways to make each other suffer. But at least, he won’t have had any part in it. In the end, when Dream and Delirium come looking for him, he explains that this is why he left. It isn’t because he doesn’t want anything to do with humans; it is because his love for them is such that he cannot become a party to their destruction. It was a difficult thing to do, especially because it meant that he would be removing himself from his family, the ones he loves. But it needed to be done precisely because he loved humanity.
Even when his siblings come looking for him, he hasn’t changed his mind. In fact, he leaves Dream with some advice wherein he asks him to choose love, and suggests that it’s okay if he chooses to leave. As a gesture of his love, he leaves his dog Barnabas to Delirium. However, this doesn’t mean that he will be returning or even keeping in touch with any of them. He knows that the family visits will not stop at Dream and Delirium. Soon, the other siblings will follow, and eventually “mum and dad” will show up, and they will find a way to guilt him into coming back.
He doesn’t want that, so he packs his bags, bids farewell to his two siblings, and leaves. This time, he leaves Earth and finds a place for himself somewhere among the stars, away from any place that will attract attention towards him. Now that Dream and Delirium know why he left, they will not come looking for him again. The rest of the siblings don’t seem particularly motivated for that either. Since he is away from humans, no one else will know about his location either, which means that he will not be back. Not anytime soon anyway.
Read More: Where Was The Sandman Season 1 and 2 Filmed?
