Dream of the Endless goes by many names. Throughout all 10 volumes of Neil Gaiman’s masterful comic, The Sandman, characters call Dream by many different names. This is as true in the recent Netflix adaptation as it is in the comics and Audible's adaptation of the series.
Gaiman gave his protagonist names drawn from myths, and also from the hero's duties as one of the Endless. Occasionally, other characters even presume to give the Dream King new titles. Some, like Prince of Stories and King of the Riddle Realms, are somewhat self-explanatory. However, from Morpheus to Lord L’Zoril, each of Dream's names brings its own context and meaning to this complex character and gives us some idea of who Dream really is.
Updated on 11/15/2022 by Matthew Z. Wood: With the Netflix series' release, it's worthwhile for CBR to bring its Sandman articles up-to-date. CBR also regularly updates its content for accuracy and formatting, giving our readers the most useful and contemporary information on pop culture.
10 Morpheus' Most Well-Known Name Is Unspoken
The Sandman
Significantly, no character calls the Dream King by this name in any iteration of Gaiman's series. However, some characters allude to this playful title that hints at folklore and at the name's history at DC Comics. "The Sandman" is derived from Western and Northern European folklore, a vague legendary figure who puts people, especially children, to sleep.
Stories featuring the Sandman can be found within the works of some of the most admired writers of all time, including Hans Christian Andersen in his folk tale Ole Lukøje. However, Gaiman originally chose this name because it was the title of an obscure DC Comics superhero series. Created by Jack Kirby, Hector Hall donned a bright costume and fought crime. This Sandman made a brief appearance in Gaiman's The Doll's House arc and fathered Morpheus's replacement, Daniel.
9 The Faeries Have Their Own Name For Dream
Lord Shaper
Lord Shaper seems to be the title the Lords and Ladies of the Sidhe give Dream. While characters like "Midsummer Night's Dream"'s Titania and Cluracan aren't the only ones who refer to him as the Shaper, the Fae seem to have created this name for the Lord of Dreams.
In The Sandman, Faeries craft illusions and deceive humans. However, they recognize that their Lord Shaper is more than just the master of this craft. He shapes their dreams as much as humanity's and his stories drive ambitions and change worlds. The Fae change appearances with Glamour but Dream changes worlds. Their respect for him is the source of this title.
8 Dream's Most Universal Title Feels Like His First Name
Morpheus Of The Endless
Throughout The Sandman's volumes and episodes, Morpheus is Dream's most common name, used by acquaintances and family alike. This remains true until after Morpheus's death at the hands of The Kindly Ones and his replacement by the human child named Daniel who was conceived in dreams. This was the name for a single incarnation of Dreaming but not his eternal title.
The name Morpheus is from Greek mythology, the god of dreams and sleep. He's one of the sons of Somnus and appears in dreams in a human form. It's evident that Lord Morpheus adopted this name thousands of years earlier, letting human imaginations help define him.
7 Dream's Names Define His Stations And Duties
Lord Of The Dreaming
Like all of The Endless, Dream is the lord of his own domain. Known as The Dreaming, this is where dreams and stories are crafted and born, an infinite land that touches human and inhuman minds, where its lord is free to do as he pleases.
As The Dreaming's Lord, Dream chooses and creates its inhabitants. Some of them are characters from very old stories, like Cain and Abel. Others, like Nuala of Faerie and Matthew the Raven, joined the Dreaming out of duty or love. Still others, like Merv Pumpkinhead and The Corinthian, are Dream's own creations. Overall, Dream is a benevolent but powerful lord who sees his realm as a responsibility, not a playground.
6 Different Cultures Give The Sandman Different Names
Kai'Ckul
In both the television series and The Sandman, Dream meets a woman named Nada who calls him Kai'Ckul. Dream's identity is malleable and he appears differently to characters from different cultures throughout the series. Nada was the Queen of the First People and this is the name her civilization knew Dream by.
Nada's story shows how unreliable and unforgiving Dream can be. She stumbled into the Dreaming, fell in love with Dream, and saw her city destroyed because of their love. When she refused to join him in The Dreaming, he cast her into Hell and failed to forgive her for over 10,000 years. An old soul, Nada calls Dream by an ancient name whose meaning is lost to human knowledge.
5 The Endless Are Dream's Family
Dream Of The Endless
Dream of the Endless is the name many of The Sandman's most knowledgeable characters give Dream. It's a simple statement of who he is but it also identifies his family and his nature.
The Endless are the personifications of concepts that will exist as long as life inhabits the universe. Gaiman's creations, The Endless are Dream's immediate family: Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, the twins Desire and Despair, and Delirium, who was previously named Delight. The family is dysfunctional and given to infighting but collectively forms perhaps the most potent force in the universe. These seven are the only Endless, and while their individual incarnations can die, they are each as eternal as life itself.
4 Greek Mythology Called Dream By Many Names
Oneiros
Much like Morpheus, Oneiros is one of the names Dream derived from Greek mythology. This title refers to him as the personification of a dream. The Oneroi were the children of Nyx (Night), and their siblings were Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), and Geras (Old Age). As the personifications of deathless human concepts, these lesser gods had a lot in common with Gaiman's Endless.
Although not a god, Dream himself is closely connected with Greek mythology in The Sandman. He and Calliope, the Muse of Epic Poetry, had a son together, Orpheus. As mythology's greatest musician, Orpheus was able to charm the living and the dead with his perfect melodies, bringing the music of dreams to life.
3 Other Worlds Know The Dream King By Other Names
Lord L’Zoril
In one of his odder encounters early in The Sandman, Dream meets the Martian Manhunter when he visits the Justice League's headquarters, looking for his Ruby. Also known as J'onn J'onzz, the powerful alien superhero regards Morpheus as one of the gods of his lost Martian civilization.
J'onn sees Dream as a flaming skull, very different from the way humans see a version of themselves in the Dream King. Having Dream meet superheroes early in his comics career was an odd choice, given the gulf between their stories and his, but also an illuminating one. It showed that Dream isn't merely a human construct but is the embodiment of all dreams, throughout the universe.
2 Morpheus Passed His Mantle Forward
Daniel Hall
Daniel Hall is the son of Lyta and Hector Hall, born in the Dreaming and given his name by Dream himself. After Lyta Hall helped Desire bring about Morpheus's downfall, Daniel stepped forward and assumed Dream's mantle.
The name Daniel was carefully chosen. As a biblical prophet, Daniel is a teller of stories and an interpreter of dreams. Just as it wasn't an accident when Dream met Jack Kirby's Sandman, Gaiman gave the name for Morpheus's more human successor equal consideration.
1 Individuals Have Their Own Names For Dream
Murphy
While The Sandman tends to operate on an epic scale, its more personal stories still have high stakes. Barbie's dreamland in A Game Of You is threatened by an enigmatic monster called the Cuckoo. She creates a band of fantasies to face the thing, giving them names like Wilkinson, Prinado, and Luz.
The cartoonish inhabitants of Barbie's dreamworld sometimes refer obliquely to the Dream King in their own terms. Viewing him as a kind of god, these isolated dream creatures call Morpheus "Murphy." It's an obvious abbreviation of his more formal name and shows that just as no two dreams are the same, neither are any two facets of the Dreaming.