Most superhero comics express themselves through time-honored traditions of fight scenes, shouting matches, and battles to the death. Neil Gaiman’s landmark 1989 comic seriesThe Sandmanisn’t the average superhero comic, so it communicates its conflict a bit differently. Fans of the comics were likely on the edge of their seat for one such conflict, but new fans might have had trouble interpreting.
The Sandmanis about overwhelmingly powerful living embodiments of the most important forces of the known universe.The Endless are eternal beingsthat represent and govern the inherent structures of reality and their dealings with forces of religious importance are intriguing engagements.
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Episode four of Netflix’sadaptation ofThe Sandman, entitled “A Hope in Hell” chronicles, among other things, Dream’s trip to Hell to retrieve his helm. As one of his three treasures and the item that serves as his sigil, Dream’s helm contains a piece of his seemingly infinite power. After his century in chains, Dream is weakened, and he needs his items returned before he can undo the damage his absence has done. Unfortunately, his helm has been traded away to a demon of Hell, leading to a treacherous journey to retrieve it. Dream’s entry into Hell is easy enough, but he’s frustratedto discover that Choronzon, the helm’s new demonic owner, won’t part with it easily. Dream will have to engage in a contest and win to get one of his most prized possessions back.
In front of a roaring crowd of horrific demons,Morpheus is forced by the strictrules to challenge Choronzon to the “Oldest Game”. In a deviation from the comic book, Choronzon does not step up to the challenge himself. Instead, he selects the ruler of Hell, Lucifer Morningstar as his champion. The game is described as a challenge of wits, and the demonic audience seems thrilled to see it in action. What follows is a series of poetic descriptions of beautifully realized physical and metaphorical transformations. The King of Dreams and the Lord of Hell take turns shape-shifting into new forms, each with the intention of stumping their opponent. Lucifer becomes a wolf, so Dream becomes a mounted hunter, so Lucifer becomes hostile bacteria, so Lucifer becomes a world, and so on. Lucifer’s grand play is the “Anti-life”, a reference toDC villain Darkseid’s ultimateevil goal. Dream becomes hope and wins the day.
The Oldest Game isn’t a fight. It’s definitely antagonistic, but, at its heart, it is a test of skill and imagination. The comics point out that there are many ways to lose the competition. From cowardice to a failure of imagination, a weak-willed or ignorant being won’t be able to keep up with someone as capable as Dream.The Netflix adaptation grantsthe encounter a feeling of greater severity by casting two monarchs against each other. Dream, by rights, should best a minor demon like Choronzon without issue. Lucifer, on the other hand, is an intellect and a force on the level of Morpheus. The back and forth of the Oldest Game demonstrates both the incredible power of its participants and the ways in which they can be defeated. The eternal beings of Neil Gaiman’s universe only lose when they fail to understand the depth of their power.
In both the comic and TV versions of the Oldest Game scene, Dream wins the battle by invoking hope. Lucifer Morningstar is so immediately defeated by the concept of hope that surrender is the only option. In both cases, apocalyptic death is the limit of a demon’s imagination. In a single word, Dream establishes both his central abiding principle and the reason the demons of Hell are unable to escape their nightmarish fate. As Morpheus explains to John Deein the following episode, the power of dreams and stories is in the hope that they inspire. Dream understands this better than anyone. Hope is the one thing that even the most powerful being can’t kill. It’s the moral of the entire first half of the series. It’s further driven home in Lucifer and Morpheus’s most famous exchange earlier in the episode. The Light-Bringer asks what power dreams command in Hell, and Morpheus explains that there could be no Hell if its denizens weren’t free to dream of Heaven.
Though it’s a brief and strange scene, the Oldest Game is both a unique way to solve conflicts and a key reinforcer of the text’s themes. It’s that kind of unusual problem-solving that lendsThe Sandmanthe elevated position amongst DC’s superhero comics.Neil Gaiman’s beloved universeof fairy tales and modern mythology communicates its conflicts through unique tests of understanding. The Oldest Game is a test of wit that seeks to challenge the players' imagination, but it’s also a key part of the show’s first season of storytelling.
