The Dreaming Vs The Waking World: What Are The Sandman's Rules?

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The realms known as the Dreaming and the Waking World form the setting of The Sandman, but the rules governing that setting require explanation. Originally published across 75 monthly comics and one special from 1989 to 1996, The Sandman won multiple awards, including a World Fantasy Award for Best Short Story. It is widely considered to be the first great work by legendary writer Neil Gaiman, redefining the cosmology of DC Comics forever.

The Sandman introduced the idea of the Endless; seven beings who are god-like in their power, yet not dependent upon worship like deities. Yet, like the gods, the Endless owe their existence to humanity and are shaped by them. The Endless exist purely because all sentient life believes, on some level, that there must be some intelligence governing primal forces such as fate, change, and death.

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The action of The Sandman centers around Dream of the Endless, who is both the source of all dreams and nightmares and the creative spirit responsible for all stories. This marks Dream, a.k.a. Morpheus, as one of the most powerful cosmic beings in all of DC Comics, as he has near complete control of his own realm and has some limited ability to alter reality itself. This places him on par with other eternal figures such as the New Gods of New Genesis and Apokolips, but the rules regarding his powers and the realm he rules go largely undefined within the early chapters of The Sandman that are being adapted for the new Netflix series. This has led to some confusion about The Dreaming and the Waking World.

The Dreaming is the name of the near infinite domain of Morpheus, Dream of the Endless. Much like the lands of the Fisher