Morpheus, or the King of Dreams, has finally arrived with his pouch of sand to fulfil all our dreams. As we know, Dream has several names, among which ‘The Sandman’ is a pretty common one. There is a specific reason behind all of his titles or names, and Sandman is no different.
Every superhero has one special weapon that they yield. Thor has his Mjolnir, Captain America has his shield, Batman has his Batmobile, and so on. The Sandman is not our usual superhero, but he too has his precious possessions that help him yield his power.
The Sandman namely has three important possessions: the helm, the pouch, and the ruby, among which his pouch contains sand. It is in reference to this magical pouch that he gets his title, “The Sandman”.
As we see in the first episode of the series itself, the Sandman sprinkles sand on people’s eyes. His pouch contains magical sand, most likely from his Realm. He sprinkles the sand on people’s eyes to put them to sleep, or to give them pleasant dreams or nightmares.
If you want to know a little more about Dream, or have some questions, read on!
Why is Dream also called The Sandman?
The protagonist of the series, Dream, is widely referred to as The Sandman. In fact, the title of the show itself explains it all.
Morpheus, or Dream, is called The Sandman because of his pouch of sand. He has three precious possessions, namely, the helm, the pouch, and the ruby. Among these, the pouch contains magical black sand that Sandman can use at will.
The Sandman can use the sand to teleport from one realm to another, to put someone to sleep, to create illusions in the real world, and encourage either pleasant dreams or nightmares for people. He can also use the sand to put you into eternal sleep, meaning death.
The Sandman is called so because he yields the magical pouch of sand and uses sand as a weapon to fight his enemies and also to induce dreams in people.
Interestingly, there’s also a popular legend in European and Scandinavian folklore featuring the Sandman, which is a mythical character. The legend of the Sandman is similar to stories of Easter Bunny or Santa Claus.
Stories say that the Sandman visits children at night while they’re sleeping and sprinkles magical sand over their eyes to encourage pleasant and beautiful dreams. Neil Gaiman in his comics used the legend to create his own version of him.
While our Sandman or Morpheus can also induce pleasant dreams, we do not see him use his sand for such a purpose at first. In Episode 1, he uses his sand to put Alex into eternal sleep and get rid of the guards who were keeping a watch on him in his captivity.
Why does Sandman sprinkle sand on our eyes?
In Episode one, we hear Ethel Cripps say an interesting line. She said, “My mum used to say if I was good, when I went to sleep, a man would come and sprinkle sand in my eyes. Make all my dreams come true.”
This is clearly a clever reference to the original legend of the Sandman. In the series too, Sandman sprinkles sand on your eyes for similar reasons.
Sandman sprinkles sand on the eyes of his enemies to plunge them into a state of eternal sleep or nightmares. He can also use it to put people to sleep, give them pleasant dreams, or nightmares, depending on his will.
In Episode 1, he sprinkled sand on the eyes of the guards to get rid of them. He is even able to create illusions by sprinkling sand on one of the guard’s eyes. We also see him sprinkle sand on Alex Burgess’ eyes, to put him into eternal sleep for keeping him captive after his father’s death.
So, The Sandman uses his magical black sand to deal with his enemies and to do his job, which is to create, manipulate and encourage dreams in the real world. This is the reason he sprinkles sand in your eyes.
About The Sandman
The Sandman is an American fantasy drama TV series based on the 1989–1996 comic book written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics. The series was developed for Netflix and is being produced by DC Entertainment and Warner Bros. Television.
The first season adapted the first two comics in the series, Preludes & Nocturnes and The Doll’s House. In 1916, Dream, the king of Dreams and Nightmares and one of the seven Endless, is captured and imprisoned after an occult ritual. After being held captive for 106 years, he escapes and sets out to restore order to his kingdom of The Dreaming.
The Sandman stars Tom Sturridge as Dream, with Gwendoline Christie, Vivienne Acheampong, Boyd Holbrook, Charles Dance, Asim Chaudhry, and Sanjeev Bhaskar in supporting roles.
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