Season of Mists
Season of Mists is the fourth volume of ten in the Sandman series. We're nearly halfway through. And yet, this almost feels like the beginning. Maybe it's because of how much the world deepens here. We finally meet the rest of Dream's family (minus Destruction), and the mythology expands considerably. Maybe it's the huge jump in quality. The previous issues weren't bad, but this one pushes the series from good to great. Or maybe it's just my own nostalgia. This was my favorite story arc for a very long time.
Whatever it is, it was a joy to get to this point and fall in love with the series all over again. The first time I read this, the story blew my mind. Lucifer quits! He locks up Hell and leaves! He forfeits his never-ending war with God in favor of sitting on a beach and watching the sunset. It was the first time I encountered God and Lucifer as characters in a story, rather than all-powerful deities. In my mind, it removed a lot of their power.
Lucifer abandons Hell in part so that he can turn over the key to Dream as part of some vague revenge plot. Owning the key to Hell is supposed to make Dream's life a lot harder, and it does for a day or two. But the question of what to do with the key is ultimately resolved both quickly and easily and the most Dream himself suffers is a stressful day and night. Lucifer doesn't seem all that concerned by the lack of suffering. He's just happy to be free from all the politics and drama that have defined his entire existence, and that seems to include whatever resentment he felt towards Dream.
As soon as Dream receives the key a slew of ambassadors arrive at his palace to petition him for it. It seems that everyone wants a piece of Hell for themselves, either to expand their influence, maintain autonomy, or just keep it empty. And so Gaiman is able to introduce a huge number of new characters, greatly expanding his cast and dropping all sorts of hints about future story lines.
Odin arrives with Loki and Thor, accidentally giving Loki the opportunity to escape without triggering Ragnarok (in an interesting parallel to Lucifer, actually) and cause mischief in the future. Bast brings hints about Dream's missing brother, Destruction. Azazel makes a fairly convincing case that Hell should be given to the demons, but shoots himself in the foot trying to carry off a complicated plot with hostages. Cluracan sacrifices his sister, Nuala, for a longs shot and a night of debauchery, though Nuala goes on to be a fun character. And a few other deities show up just to keep things interesting.
Ultimately, God reclaims Hell for himself and forces a couple of angels to fall so they can reign over the demons and the damned. This act calls God's mercy and sense of justice into question, though Gaiman has never been a stranger to poking at God's so-called ineffable plan. Dream rescues Nada, which was his initial goal, and gives her a new chance at life. The guests mostly go home, no worse for the wear. It's all a bit easy, in the end. But the lesson is that you don't challenge Dream on his own turf.
The real lesson, of course, is given to us in the one-off about Charles Rowland, a young boy who dies while Death is bust dealing with the fact that all the dead have just been expelled from Hell. She doesn't have time to deal with a boy who's not ready to move on, giving him the opportunity to linger and finally take control of his life.
Rowland's story isn't my favorite, but the moral certainly resonates: you don't have to stay anywhere forever. Lucifer quits. Loki escapes. Nada is reborn. Rowland goes off to explore the world. If you really want to walk away from your responsibilities, there's not a lot anyone can do to stop you. After all, Destruction did and that doesn't seem to have had any consequences beyond his siblings missing him.
But Dream is still bound by his responsibilities. Having been forced to abandon them for a time, he feels them more deeply than ever. The real question for him is what to do when they start to come into conflict. This time he was saved from having to make a difficult decision by the intervention of God. That won't be true in the future.
Whatever it is, it was a joy to get to this point and fall in love with the series all over again. The first time I read this, the story blew my mind. Lucifer quits! He locks up Hell and leaves! He forfeits his never-ending war with God in favor of sitting on a beach and watching the sunset. It was the first time I encountered God and Lucifer as characters in a story, rather than all-powerful deities. In my mind, it removed a lot of their power.
Lucifer abandons Hell in part so that he can turn over the key to Dream as part of some vague revenge plot. Owning the key to Hell is supposed to make Dream's life a lot harder, and it does for a day or two. But the question of what to do with the key is ultimately resolved both quickly and easily and the most Dream himself suffers is a stressful day and night. Lucifer doesn't seem all that concerned by the lack of suffering. He's just happy to be free from all the politics and drama that have defined his entire existence, and that seems to include whatever resentment he felt towards Dream.
As soon as Dream receives the key a slew of ambassadors arrive at his palace to petition him for it. It seems that everyone wants a piece of Hell for themselves, either to expand their influence, maintain autonomy, or just keep it empty. And so Gaiman is able to introduce a huge number of new characters, greatly expanding his cast and dropping all sorts of hints about future story lines.
Odin arrives with Loki and Thor, accidentally giving Loki the opportunity to escape without triggering Ragnarok (in an interesting parallel to Lucifer, actually) and cause mischief in the future. Bast brings hints about Dream's missing brother, Destruction. Azazel makes a fairly convincing case that Hell should be given to the demons, but shoots himself in the foot trying to carry off a complicated plot with hostages. Cluracan sacrifices his sister, Nuala, for a longs shot and a night of debauchery, though Nuala goes on to be a fun character. And a few other deities show up just to keep things interesting.
Ultimately, God reclaims Hell for himself and forces a couple of angels to fall so they can reign over the demons and the damned. This act calls God's mercy and sense of justice into question, though Gaiman has never been a stranger to poking at God's so-called ineffable plan. Dream rescues Nada, which was his initial goal, and gives her a new chance at life. The guests mostly go home, no worse for the wear. It's all a bit easy, in the end. But the lesson is that you don't challenge Dream on his own turf.
The real lesson, of course, is given to us in the one-off about Charles Rowland, a young boy who dies while Death is bust dealing with the fact that all the dead have just been expelled from Hell. She doesn't have time to deal with a boy who's not ready to move on, giving him the opportunity to linger and finally take control of his life.
Rowland's story isn't my favorite, but the moral certainly resonates: you don't have to stay anywhere forever. Lucifer quits. Loki escapes. Nada is reborn. Rowland goes off to explore the world. If you really want to walk away from your responsibilities, there's not a lot anyone can do to stop you. After all, Destruction did and that doesn't seem to have had any consequences beyond his siblings missing him.
But Dream is still bound by his responsibilities. Having been forced to abandon them for a time, he feels them more deeply than ever. The real question for him is what to do when they start to come into conflict. This time he was saved from having to make a difficult decision by the intervention of God. That won't be true in the future.
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