#and i think that if this paralel is gonna haunt me the least i can do is share it even if no one sees it

[noxclara]

JUJUTSU KAISEN: s2ep4 // JUJUTSU KAISEN 0: The movie

[corvuserpens]

My thoughts on Orpheus’ story in The Sandman

Okay, SO. After reading The Song of Orpheus, I’m like... Fucking hell. 

I already knew our Dream Boi was a proud creature pre-capture, but THIS... This is a whole other level of asshattery. His own son, I’m soooo... WOW. Yeah, no wonder Calliope left him, lmao honestly girl fucking same.

This made me realize something, though. We already picked apart the reasons why Dream never asked for help when he was captured and they’re all valid reasons which I agree with: out of pride (that damned pride hhhhh), a king not wanting to appear weak before someone who could use this opportunity against him, etc, BUT... 

Maybe another, albeit smaller reason why he went against requesting aid, is because he knows damn well that, were it anyone else who had been imprisoned in Death’s stead, ESPECIALLY someone he is currently angry with (Desire immediately comes to mind), then he wouldn’t have lifted a finger to help them. It’s like Calliope said: “in the old days you would have left me here to rot without turning a hair.” It’s what he does. Or, well, did. Even if it was his wife. Even if it was his son. He did it with Nada and, had he not have been captured by the Burgess, I’m now 100% sure he would not have gone to meet Hob in 1989. Just... Gods, he can be so heartless, it honestly shocks me.

The worst part of this whole story is right at the end, when Dream goes to find Orpheus’ severed head after he’d been torn apart by the Bacchae (which I am SO NOT looking forward to in the show, that was the most gruesome graphic shit I’ve seen in any medium ever), and once he’s done telling him that he will be looked after by some priests and that he won’t be seeing him again, he just... walks away. Throws that stupid line Orpheus said in his anger and grief about “no longer being his son” back in his face and simply turns his back on him while he calls to him and pleads for him not to leave him. He potentially abandons his child FOREVER and (presumably) doesn’t even give it a second thought.

“His father drifted away slowly, step by step, through the sand and seafoam. Orpheus looked on with tear-filled eyes until he lost sight of him. His father didn’t even deign himself to look back.” (Apologies if it’s not accurate, I’m translating it directly from the Portuguese version).

That is so haunting. It’s so bloody sad. So unnecessrily cruel, I... I can’t even... I don’t have the words to describe how heartbreaking reading this was. Just... DREAM. DREAM OF THE ENDLESS. FOR FUCK’S SAKE, HOW COULD YOU??? 

The fucking paralel between Orpheus looking back after going to so much trouble to rescue Eurydice only to lose her, and Dream NOT looking back not even once as he willingly abandons his only son to his fate is... immesurably painful. I wanted to cry so bad, this is insane. Even I could never write something so overwhelmingly cruel if I tried.

Well. That said. Let’s look at some positives: at least he didn’t leave Orpheus completely helpless. He did find some people to take care of him and keep him safe, and after he went missing, Dream enlisted Lady Constantine’s help to search for him and return him to the priests (little side note, I LOVE that Lady Johanna becomes friends with Orpheus, it’s cute). This is a little bit of consolation for me, the confirmation that, yes, even in his wrath, Dream still cares about Orpheus enough to do the bare minimum to assure his safety, even if Orpheus himself isn’t sure about it. I like to think so. 

Unlike with Nada. Poor Nada.

And now that he’s free, I see that he’s come to understand how wrong he was to punish people the way he did, even if he needed a little help from Big Sis Death (and a baguette tossed on his head). He went down to hell to free Nada, I already know he will eventually find Orpheus and grant him the release of death bc spoilers (my fault entirely, I’ll admit). I don’t know how they’re gonna handle this story in the show, but one thing is for sure: I’m counting on it to be emotionally devastating.

In a way, being a prisoner in a fishbowl for over a hundred years might have been the best thing that ever happened to Dream. It was still evil and I wouldn’t wish that on anyone save for a few exceptions, but... yeah. It humbled him and taught him to distinguish what truly matters from the petty crap with zero value. And it forced him to grow up. He still has a long, long way to go, but at least he’s on the right path.

On a final note, it makes me both melt and LAUGH my ass off to discover Orpheus inherited a lot of Dream’s personality traits, such as, but not limited to: his pride, his pettiness, his STUBBORNNESS for sure, as well as his tendency to act on his emotions rather than logic, but also his hopeless romantic streak. Like father like son indeed. Adorable.