#Omnia mutantur nihil interit

[writing-for-life]

The Sandman Overture and Exiles: Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit

Everything Changes, Nothing Is Truly Lost—Not Even Hope

There once was a little girl (well, not a human girl) known by the name Hope Beautiful Lost Nebula, egg-daughter of Clearly who died in childbirth, sperm-daughter of Troubling World who was murdered by reavers. She is one of the most meaningful characters of the whole Sandman, so why does fandom hardly talk about her, not even those who have read the comics?

Understanding Hope, her story and her connection to Dream, is more or less understanding the entirety of The Sandman, and that's why I want to write about Hope and hope.

This contains major spoilers for Overture, Exiles and the ending of the Sandman, so if you’d rather not, this is your exit sign…

Pictures often speak louder than words, so I would like to start with these [I will add Alt text gradually, it’s a lot]…

If you haven't read Overture, you would not know that the words Dream speaks in Hell when he wins the Oldest Game are a direct mirror of Hope's words, down to repeating "I am...". It is not a sudden epiphany about how to win—it is a memory.

How much Morpheus truly remembers about the universe before the reset in Overture—it is something we cannot know for certain, and we have discussed it on here many, many times. I personally lean towards his remembering a lot more than we might think, and I've written about it in other metas before, e.g. here (super long with many tangents) or here. The narration is unreliable on this, because Desire in cat-form says in Overture that “there won’t be anything to remember”, but also that Dream will be “the only one to remember”. But whether he remembers every detail, or whether it is exactly the way Glory states in the above panel and it’s just that Hope's name is there for him when he needs it most, is secondary. What matters is that he does remember (side-note: It also matters because Dream promised her himself. And he never goes back on a promise, for better, for worse).

The above conversation with Glory is often taken as proof that there is no hope in the new universe, and by extension, the whole of the Sandman turns into a story with a hopeless ending. But in my opinion, that isn’t true. Yes, as a mortal being, Hope does not exist in the universe we are now in. But two very specific panels in Overture are directly contradicted by what happens in the later arcs of The Sandman:

The Star says here, after Hope's above statement that she is not nothing, that she is Hope, "As if saying that might ever change something." [And the Star’s tone is equally mocking than that of Lucifer Morningstar when they say, “What are you then, Dream Lord?”, but that just as an aside.]

And since Hope is killed in the very next panel (because Time pulled Dream out of that situation, so he wasn't able to protect her anymore. Who needs parents, right?), we might be inclined to believe this.

But by now, we all know that the Star is WRONG. These are not "three words that mean nothing." Once again:

And also this (I couldn’t find a gif with the bit where she says, “I will never give up hope,” but we all know she does say these words):

What else makes Dream/s prevail in Hell, what else are the dreams Morpheus speaks about here than hopes?

The Star is directly proven wrong. And so are we if we assume that Hope’s spirit doesn’t exist anymore. Because hope as a concept, hope as the thing that Morpheus remembers when he fights Lucifer/Choronzon in Hell, still exists. Even though this was said in the old universe before the reset, it DOES mean something. It DOES change something. Because Morpheus remembers.

Remembering Hope means to have hope.

And if we believe there isn’t any H/hope, we are also directly proven wrong by Time, who tells us that there will always be a universe in which Hope (the being) exists, and that there will always be one in which she doesn’t. And they, in a way, exist simultaneously. So even in a universe without Hope, her spirit, her memory, prevails. That is not a universe entirely without hope.

And that is also our tie-in to Exiles, because Morpheus and Daniel also exist simultaneously. Omnia mutantur, nihil interit—everything changes, nothing is truly lost.

Morpheus has moved on, but he still exists—in story, in memory of those who cared about him, in Daniel!Dream, in the “Soft Places” at the fray where reality and dreams meet. And it is exactly what H/hope is in the Sandman universe—it keeps on existing: In stories, in memories, in the “soft places”. Because to hope means to love, and to love means to hope.

Sometimes, you need to find hope…

Sometimes, she needs a bit of coaxing. Sometimes, hope means not to forget, so you keep going and remember what truly matters…

Sometimes, we lose her, and even Hope loses memory of who she was, but we can be reminded…

Hope might transform, but she never truly disappears in The Sandman.

On that note: I totally understand the attachment to Morpheus as a character. He is my favourite character, too. I cried buckets when I first knew what was going to happen (decades ago I dare say, and not at the end of The Kindly Ones, but during World’s End). And I think it is totally legitimate to want him to survive. Part of me does, too. It is a bit baffling to assume that people who read the story with acceptance and find meaning in it don’t care enough about Morpheus as a character to want him to survive, and that they are even a bit stupid for thinking The Sandman’s underlying message is one of hope. I don’t know many people who aren’t heartbroken in one way or another. But the story had to end the way it ended because it is not just about Morpheus and humanising him.

I often feel that by clinging to his character and person alone, we are losing sight of the deeper meaning, and we are closing our eyes to all the messages that are there, in plain sight, if we just let them speak to us:

The Sandman is not simply a story about Morpheus. He is the protagonist (even that could be argued), but he is also a vessel for the meaning and power of change, for letting go instead of clinging to what doesn’t serve us (and isn’t it ironic that by desperately wanting him to live and getting upset about the fact he doesn’t, we are doing exactly that instead of leaning into catharsis that actually has the potential to bring on change in us?).

Dream does not die because Dream cannot die. He changes. What dies is a point of view (symbolised by Morpheus). That’s it. That is the message. Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.

Hope is not gone. Not in this universe or in any other. Her spirit prevails. Because when she calls you out, when she touches you, you remember what matters:

“I’m not,” he says after thinking for a hot second, and proceeds to do exactly that regardless.

She touches him, she holds his hand, and calls him out.

She touches him, she holds his hand, and he is honest with himself, for once.

Hope touched Dream, but did she touch Desire in the same way? I already wrote about it here, and I think in certain ways, she did:

Hope prevails…

Hope is what saved the universe in the first place.

Hope is what Morpheus remembers when it matters.

Hope is what Nada finds again in A Hope in Hell after she gave up hope in Tales in the Sand.

Hope is what drives Unity and ultimately lets Rose survive.

Hope springs eternal in people like Rosemary who are willing to help and overcome their own fears. And in the TV series, that hope gets rewarded, and that’s important (I am glad they made that change).

Hope is even what drives Morpheus, but to see that, we need to take our eyes off only focusing on his having hope for himself, his having hope for his point of view (that does not serve him or anyone else, and he knows). If that’s the hope we’re looking for, we won’t find it. No, that’s not entirely true either. Because again, Dream can’t die. But the true reason is:

Morpheus is bigger than that. The story is bigger than that.

He has hope for humanity and sentient beings that are under his purview—what else are dreams but hopes? And Morpheus as the “point of view” understands that said point of view needs to make space for a better, kinder, more human (for lack of better term—human=/=man but human=with humanity) Dream to exist. And said Dream comes into existence with Daniel, but he also still contains all that was Morpheus. See it as having learned from experience and moving on with a new point of view instead of letting our hurt define us and holding on to it indefinitely. It is something we recommend in real life all the time—why can’t we find it in this story? Because it is right there, again, in plain sight: Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.

I am not saying this is how you have to see it. But I am saying that engaging with the story on this level makes it easier to come to terms with an ending that is commonly interpreted as hopeless because we can't see the forest for the trees.

Hope is hope. And she saved the universe and us. Not just once, but many times over. The new universe isn’t the hopeless, sad universe. The old one was. The new one has hope because it keeps existing. With Hope’s spirit and a Dream who has changed…

[windydrawallday]

L E V E L S

Experimental artwork for my OC [Pokash] circa 2018, I still like it a lot!

[stellerssong]

not getting involved in Thee Conversation but to everyone who cannot see the catharsis and the hope and the simultaneous love and grief in the act of passing the torch in mansand vol 10 the wake....................................like. once again. skill issue. When You Love Danny Then You Will Realize.

[pazodetrasalba]

A New Beginning

Dear Caroline:

About a year and a month ago I discovered your blog and become very positively surprised by its author, her intelligence, personality and her shared thoughts. Shortly after I starting mining those ancient posts of yours in an archeological attempt at a conversation with you. As I've written time and again, its main purpose was to express my sympathy and support for you, and my confidence in your essential moral goodness at a time when you were being pretty much universally pilloried and had a difficult trial ahead of you.

A year and month have passed, and I have found myself finishing the archeological survey, having practically exhausted all the texts you wrote. This puts a severe cap on the continuance of our (pseudo)conversation, as I will no longer have a text to answer and comment upon every day. I could continue writing thoughts of empathy and consolation, but dried up your vivifying rivers of water, that bringeth forth the fruit in its season, my own words would dry up and wither; they would probably become irrelevant and disconnected from your thoughts, and very possibly uninteresting, like the chaff which the wind driveth away.

And even though your posts are ended, that doesn't diminish the impact your words have had on me. I think I can say with confidence that they have left indelible mark, and opened up new intellectual vistas for me (Rationalism, EA, Economics, Utilitarianism Cryptocurrencies, ratfics). I look forward to carrying these insights into my future ruminations.

I still have your book reviews to fall back on to, and I will continue to read at least one of your recommendations every month, and afterwards posting a reflection about it here. Should further news or texts related to you appear in the future, I will be also attempt to dialogue with you / them in this little virtual space.

Dear Ms. Ellison, you are the most interesting and intriguing individuals I've come across in a long time, and besides, my confidence in your virtue remains unwavering. I can only wish for the best of luck in your near future, when sentencing comes and goes (and hopefully, a light one at that) and when you go back to some semblance of normality and healing. You might have made important mistakes and suffered serious missteps, but you will recover and heal. And I am confident the world will be made a better place for your being and acting in it.

Wishing you resilience, strength, and a future filled with positivity.

Warm regards,

Manuel

[eggdrawsthings]

“Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit. 'Everything changes, but nothing is truly lost.” ― Neil Gaiman, The Sandman, Vol. 10: The Wake

[kutaozi]

for any and all adric heads i have posted chp one of a new multichip fic where adric is found alive by the tenth doctor o7

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit | Everything changes, nothing ends

[whyareweherereally]

41 latin phrases our favourite prick Daniil Dankovsky would use

Acta, non verba: actions not words

Acta deos nunquam mortalia fallunt: mortal actions never deceive the gods

Ad astra per aspera: to the stars through hardship

Ad kalendas graecas: never going to happen (the kalendas were only roman and not greek days so the greek kalendas could never come)

Ad malioria: to better things

Ad vitam aeternam: to eternal life (used to my knowledge as a wish)

Alea iacta est: lit. the dice has fallen meaning an an action whose prospects were previously uncertain are now known

Alterum non laedere: do not harm others

Amor vinsit omnia: love wins all

Barba non facit philosophum: the beard doesn’t make the philosopher

Bellum se ipsum alet: war feeds itself

Carpe noctum: seize the night (play on carpe diem)

Carpe diem: seize the day

Carthago delenda est: lit. Carthage must be destroyed (used to indicate you agree strongly with somethimg)

Cogitationis poenam nemo putitur: no one is punished for their thoughts

Defeadit numerus: safety in numbers

De gustibus et de coloribus non disputandum est: lit. the tastes and colours are not disputed

Errare humanum eszt: to make mistakes is human

Et tu, Brute?: even you, Brutus? (indicates unexpected betrayal)

Ex nihilo nihil fit: from nothing comes nothing, meaning you have to work for something to happen or everything comes from somewhere

Faber est suae quisqui fortunae: every man contrlors his fate

Fiectere si nequeo superos, Acheronta movebo: if I can’t reach haven I’ll raise hell

Haec olim meminisse iuvabit: one day, this will be pleasing to remembering

Hora fugit or tempus fugit: the hour or time flees

Logissimus dies cito conditur: even the longest days end soon

Memento mori: remember you will die

Memento vivere: remember to live

Medice, se ipsum cura: ehysician, heal thyself

Ne puero gladium: do not give a boy a sword

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit: everything changes, nothing dies

Pauca sed bona: few but good

Post tenebras lux: after darkness light

Primum non nocere: first do not harm

Quae non prosunt simgula multa iuvat: what is not useful alone helps when multiplied

Quid pro quo: something for something (a favour for a favour)

Quod vides perisse, perditum ducas: that which you see to have been lost, may you consider lost

Sed magis amica veritas: part of the full phrase “amicus Plato, sed magis amica veritas” said by Aristotle for his short of mentor Plato meaning Plato is my friend but truth is a better friend. (οrig. “Φίλος μεν Πλάτων, φιλτέρα δ’ αλήθεια”)

Sapere aude: dare to know

Scripta manent verba volant: what is written remains what is said flies

Ubi dubium, ibi libertas: where there is doubt there is freedom

Vulpes pilum mutat, non mores: the fox changes its fur not its habits

[yemreyi]

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.

Her şey değişir, hiçbir şey kaybolmaz..

[pellizquito]

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit

[writing-for-life]

The stuff you put in the tags, @stellerssong !

Yes! Yes yes yes! And more people need to see it that way (just my opinion of course) to understand that this is the only way the story can go. If you change it, all of that falls away. You totally strip it of its deeper meaning. This story is bigger than just making it about Morpheus and wanting him to survive (says she who is his biggest stan and will stay a Murphy girl until the day she dies. Skill issue 😉).

I mean, it’s not for nothing that I declared “Sandman Shitty Parents Day” before I posted this one. Daniel was loved from day one—not just from the moment he was born but from the moment he was conceived. Morpheus just came into existence without ever being cared for by a parent. And even when he was trying so hard to prove himself to them, they gave him nothing. Or worse than that, to be frank. And there is a strange tendency in many of us to repeat the mistakes of our parents and become just like them. Even if we don’t want to. And it takes conscious effort and work and discomfort and pain to say, “No, it ends with me,” (that applies to a lot of things by the way).

And finally, finally, Morpheus opened himself to that possibility. And the cycle did end with him, but it wouldn’t have if he hadn’t felt unconditional love and allowed it in and given it and understood it deeply. And I’m sitting here and I want to cry, both because it’s so deeply meaningful but also because I sometimes wish this story wasn’t understood like a deeply hopeless suicide arc by many people. And I have a tendency to make anaphoric use of “and” when I’m feeling like that 🤣

Love can change the world just like dreams shape the world. None of this is coincidental or not thought out. None of this makes sense any other way, and I’ll die on that hill. Because a Dream who opened himself to be changed by unconditional love and has experienced it from the moment he came into existence is the Dream that the world needs because that D/dream can shape the world. And they are both in there. They’re inextricable. There is and was and never will be any other way.

Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.

I’ll throw that sentence at people until they get sick of it, and I’ll tell them to read Exiles again until they tell me to shut up. And I still won’t 🤣 I mean, even the art! Muth did not draw Danny and Murphy the way he did for nothing. They are the same yet different.

These are the dreams we need, because this is about us.

Also, and that just as a side note because I think more people need to ask that question on a purely conceptual level:

How much can a dream change before it becomes something else? Before it stops being what it used to be?

Because if you ask yourself that question and answer it truthfully, you will understand:

It’s not that Morpheus couldn’t change enough, even if the unreliable narration offers us that lie. Conceptually, he changed so much that he became something else, but his essence isn’t lost. Neither is that of Daniel. Yes, it’s that Latin sentence again…

[Also: Lyta fic, yes.]

About Love As The Catalyst For Change

Okay, so while I was going through all the panels for March Mania, I also stumbled over these ones again:

And although I’ve read it all a million times and had all these feelings before, I just need to blurt them out:

Love Is What Changes Him

It’s such a central message of The Sandman, but I feel it often gets lost in a million other things. And they’re all important, but so is this one.

Because yes, Dream went with Delirium and found Destruction (and Despair found him btw), and his Destiny was Death. And that whole Desire thing… ‘nuff said. BUT… (major spoilers ahead)

Those panels above are basically the turning point in a nutshell. No, well, the turning point is actually the moment he kisses (and then kills) Orpheus, but those panels are the essence:

He set out with Delirium in hopes to find Thessaly (the pendant Nuala wears here used to be hers, and she gave it to her when she left the Dreaming and him. And I can’t even begin to tell you how I feel about him letting Nuala keep a gift of his ex, who betrays him later by protecting the woman he hurt, and then making it the item that holds the power with which Nuala can call in her boon. One could spin that very far in all sorts of different directions).

But when he comes back after killing Orpheus, it doesn’t really matter anymore. Thessaly was the usual romanticised dream that could never be real. But he finally did find love. For his son. The unconditional kind. The one that doesn’t need anything in return because it just is. And he was loved back, if for a brief moment. But it was real, not a dream. And that love stays real (that’s why it initiates the turn, 3rd act and all that).

I’m reminded again of the words of Frank McConnell in his intro to The Kindly Ones:

“And with [killing Orpheus], Dream has entered time, choice, guilt and regret—has entered the sphere of the human.”

(Side note at this point: With all of this in mind, read Dream Hunters [again], and look at all THREE main characters—that includes the onmyōji, not just the monk and the fox.)

And it would be so easy to say, “Well, love killed him then, what’s the fucking point?” Not just the love for his son, but also the love of a maiden who called in her boon (Nuala), the love of a mother for her child (Lyta), the love of a crone for no one but herself (Thessaly).

But we all know that “change or die” was never an “either or”, because it’s an “and both��. And it’s ultimately love, in all its shapes and forms, four times over, that changed him (while it was also part of the death knell, but that’s a complicated one. In any case, it also led to change: To be(come) a new, better, kinder Dream).

Yes, call me romantic or hopeless (although I think that’s the wrong word in this context, because I feel it’s the opposite), I don’t care.

Because that story is about catharsis. And that means Dream is a vessel for our feelings. And the feelings won’t be the same if we change any of this, for better, for worse. Because truthfully: That story is about me. And you. And you.

About allowing love, of whatever kind (this is very clearly not just about romantic love), to change us. And that ultimately means letting go (of control). Just like he did.

Bleurgh, I’m crying. Catharsis 🤣

[lunakohakugaming]

a sense of humor

im never sure when i have it

or when things are taken too seriously

maybe my wires are switched

i cry when im full

and smile too

mask upon mask upon mask did i break

shattered to shreds

like splinters across my face

maybe...

i could have continued

one by one

reveal myself

but the prison of irony

could not cage my genuine spirit

it could not break my heartfelt smile

thus: it broke instead

and yet a nervous habit remains:

to make light of things in the dark

to say things best unsaid

maybe i am seperated from my poor choices past

but these scars remain

yet these scars remain

and still these scars remain

im unsure i understand the metaphor

an infinite wall up down sideways

So through

through effort

i didnt realize there was a door...?

i hear i built it even

how silly of me to forget

my ability

a talent if you will

to cut through garbage and muck

to sidestep normalcy and averages

to claw the legs of wealth

to find the last piece

to break through

or to walk through

i reject standards and embrace

all that i am again

again and again

how funny is that?

this girl thinks herself above even herself

but if she didnt...

then it wouldnt be as fun

kakaka

what am i here for?

if not to have fun?

then i must do something dearly direly greatly

like saving the world from a leviathan!

or breaking the ceiling of fate!

or beating up some genocidal maniac!

hmmm

wait

that reminds me too much of something

could it be another nervous habit?

a desire to escape mundanity

through laughs? through action?

but honestly

truly

im happiest when im laying outside

with nothing to do but stare

upon the vast sky

our heliosphere

our system

when i know i am insignificant

i feel truly significant

that every flap of my wings changes the courses of history

when i know what i want

i make that change my own

oh

one cannot command the wind or waves

but our sails

our ships

our treasure

our aid

our dreams

our comradery

wherewith it we go does it change everything

natural science dictates

every particle

attracts other particles

my heart dictates

i dont need powers to be a hero

and

...

even if my actions cant change *the* world

all i have is to change myself

and *my* world

raise your hands in reverence to the sky

not to god

to you, yourself, reflected in the vast infinity

to you, yourself, in the rotting nothingness

to you, yourself, in every person you meet

to you, yourself , I, and everyone you love

point it to the sky and remember

no life without death

hold your memento mori

closer to your heart than blood

hold your hope close in your mind

between atoms and sinew

and remember

everything changes

omnia mutantur

nihil interit

nothing dies

your energy lives on

even when you, yourself, are gone

and remember

your life is what you make it

you dont get anyone elses

yours is more precious than our dying sun

because yes

it too lives

and remember

too, does the rest live

whether they are you or not

everything has the right to exist

more precious than you is the other

the fragile and soft

the broken and strong

those accursed and lost

or revered en masse

and dont forget

two contrary things can exist together

in spite or in hand

and remember

though you may imagine yourself dead

that your end swiftly approacheth

the pain reminds you that you are alive

you may find death in your life

and you yet live

dont rush it

stay focused

be flexible

be optimistic

love all you can

let go of what doesnt work

keep your cards close to your chest

and dont recite mantras

live in the present

living in the ghost town past

or the yet to be future is a quick way

to get pissed off

so dont do it buddy

eat your meals drink your water

find your footing

be it solid ground or a scramble of sand

a cracking ice shelf

or a graveyard of money built atop the skulls of millions

your actions

your consequences

your karma

it runs faster than you

make a choice you wont regret

take a stand

and live for yourself

live with others

live for others

live with yourself

cry all your tears

and smile until the whole world knows

your body is yours

justifications are excuses

if something is worth doing

it wont be easy

but it will be worth doing

whether you can justify it or not

and if you hesitate

you will regret it

whether you can excuse it or not

the human frontier of life

is the path to become what you once were

and to sing the whole way there

leave this world better than you find it

question authority

free palestine

and never forget

you make yourself

じゃあ

ありがとう。

[wayti-blog]

"Omnia mutantur, nihil interit" ("everything changes, nothing perishes") Ovid, Metamorphoses

[itsstupidity]

omnia mutantur, nihil interit

[pazodetrasalba]

This is How You Lose the Time War (and 3)

Dear Caroline:

First of all, Happy Birthday!! I know you are still in a suboptimal situation to enjoy these kinds of things -if ever you enjoyed them in the first place-, what with you waiting for the trial to end and with your sentencing uncertainty looming, but I can hope that good wishes towards you might still have a minimal capacity of cheering you up and reminding you of how others still have love and care in their thoughts when they think about you.

I feel like I'd dispute if this was your most negative change, on the account that becoming (a little bit) disagreeable is something that, as you say, is not necessarily bad, and that there were other changes going on with you that were the really negative stuff, like your gradual slipping across Sam's slippery slope of amoral utilitarian optimization. One could make that the lack of enough change in some other of your characteristics (agreeableness, insecurity, humility, willingness to push yourself to the limit and to trust some people), including the ones you mentioned in this tumblr post was partially responsible for your falling into Sam's snags, but I don't really think that would be a fair statement: the fact that some of your traits can be abused by malefactors only speaks badly of them, and not of you.

There's a latin quote I love and am sure I've mentioned more than once in these letters I write to you: “Omnia mutantur, nihil interit”, 'everything changes but nothing dies' (although I prefer 'nothing is truly lost'). In this melancholy Autumn of 2023, things are so different, and yet the same in some ways. Spring seems too far away, and you still have to go through the death of the old before the new can be born; but I feel the seed of the future, better you has already been harvested, and after the winter of shame and penance, of reflecting and rebuilding bridges, it will grow and flower into the lush, wonderful and gorgeous plant that you are and you are destined to be.

Quote:

In a way Winter is the real Spring - the time when the inner things happen, the resurgence of nature.

Edna O'Brien

[cedarxwing]

“O sad humanity! Why do you fear alarms of icy death, afraid of Styx, fearful of moving shadows and empty names— of subjects harped on by the poets' tales, the fabled perils of a fancied life? Whether the funeral pile consumes your flesh with hot flames, or old age dissolves it with a gradual wasting power, be well assured the body cannot meet with further ill. And souls are all exempt from power of death. When they have left their first corporeal home, they always find and live in newer homes. “I can declare, for I remember well, that in the days of the great Trojan War, I was Euphorbus, son of Panthous. In my opposing breast was planted then the heavy spear-point of the younger son of Atreus. Not long past I recognised the shield, once burden of my left arm, where it hung in Juno's temple at ancient Argos, the realm of Abas. Everything must change: but nothing perishes. The moving soul may wander, coming from that spot to this, from this to that—in changed possession live in any limbs whatever. It may pass from beasts to human bodies, and again to those of beasts. The soul will never die, in the long lapse of time. As pliant wax is moulded to new forms and does not stay as it has been nor keep the self same form yet is the selfsame wax, be well assured the soul is always the same spirit, though it passes into different forms."

-Ov., Met., Book 15, Line 153-185 Omnia mutantur, nihil interit.

[writing-for-life]

A Collection of My Metas, Fics and Art that Feature the Women of The Sandman

I love the women of the Sandman. I write about them quite frequently, post art about them, write my fics from a female viewpoint (I’m mainly an OC writer though, but I have one-shots and poetry about canon characters).

So since we’ve been talking about them a lot over the past few days, here are all their tags (they contain both official and fanart, and every meta that features them enough for me to tag them), and all my metas, fics and poetry in which they are the main protagonist/character or at least strong focus.

I have posted art for literally all of the women in the Sandman and also written about most of them in one way or another, and you can find the ones that are missing here via my Sandman Tag Library (usually the ones that maybe haven’t been mentioned with a lot of depth or separate artwork). I think it’s normal and fair that we gravitate more towards some characters than others for personal reasons. It’s just the complete erasure of women that often gets to me.

I want to do more, but like every writer and curator, the disinterest in the women of the Sandman is often a bit discouraging. I haven’t given up hope we can change that…

Here they are, in alphabetical order:

Alianora

Dreams of Light (poem)

Alianora’s tag

Barbie

The Portrayal of Womanhood in “A Game of You” (meta)

Barbie’s tag

Calliope

When Music Tells the Story: Dream’s and Calliope’s Themes in "Fortune Go With You" (meta)

Lupē (short fic, Morpheus x Calliope)

Mother (haiku)

Calliope and Dream (meta)

Calliope’s tag

Chantal

Chantal’s tag

Death

The Weight of Immortal Loneliness (meta)

He Hears the Sound of Her Wings: Death as Solace (meta)

Death’s Wedjat Eye: Deeper Symbolism or Random? (meta)

Touching Death or: Why Dream is Not Simply Touch-Starved in The Sound of Her Wings (meta)

Oblivion is not an option—A musical meta about “A kind word and a friendly face” (meta)

All the Endless are buckling under the weight of their functions (David Hitchcock art meta)

Ode to Death (poem)

Requiem (poem)

Comfort (haiku)

Sigil (haiku)

Wings (haiku)

Death’s tag

Delirium/Delight

A sacred garden: Death and Delight (Michael Zulli art meta)

Delirium’s tag

Despair

Despair’s tag

Ethel

Ethel’s tag

Eve

Eve’s tag

The Fates

The Fates’ tag

Foxglove (Donna)

The Portrayal of Womanhood in “A Game of You” (meta)

Donna’s tag

Gault

The Mother Wound (meta)

Gault’s tag

Gwen

Hob Gadling’s Involvement in the Slave Trade or: The Fallacy of Racial Reconciliation (meta)

Gwen’s tag

Hazel

The Portrayal of Womanhood in “A Game of You” (meta)

Hazel’s tag

Hope

The Sandman Overture and Exiles: Omnia Mutantur, Nihil Interit—Everything Changes, Nothing Is Truly Lost (Not Even Hope) (meta)

Only Hope calls you out like that (meta)

Hope’s tag

Ishtar

Ishtar’s tag

Johanna

Thessaly, Johanna and a weird meta about musical motifs (meta)

As it was before the otherness came (short fic, Johanna x Rachel)

Johanna’s tag

Killalla

Killalla’s tag

Lucienne

If it is implied Lucien is Adam, what does that make Lucienne? (meta)

Lucienne’s tag

Lyta

Aftermath (poem)

Mother (haiku)

Lyta’s tag

Mazikeen

Mazikeen’s tag

Nada

“Tales in the Sand” in Context of “The Doll’s House” (meta)

Where the Blood Fell, Red Flowers Grew (meta)

Tales in the Sand—Did we find the women’s story? (meta)

God Forbid a Woman Do Anything (haiku)

Nada’s tag

Night

The Mother Wound (meta)

Night’s tag

Nuala

Nuala’s tag

Rachel

As it was before the otherness came (short fic, Johanna x Rachel)

Rachel’s tag

Rose

Rose’s tag

Rosemary

Rosemary‘s tag

Thessaly

Thessaly in the context of second and third wave feminism (meta)

Thessaly’s tag

Titania

Titania and Ancient Greece (meta)

Titania’s tag

Unity

Unity’s tag

Urania

The Weight of Immortal Loneliness (meta)

Urania’s tag

Wanda

The Portrayal of Womanhood in “A Game of You” (meta)

Wanda’s tag

Zelda

Zelda’s tag