Morpheus is an anthropomorphic personification. He isn’t actually a skinny white dude - normally we see him that way because it’s simpler to show, but how he appears depends to some extent on who is looking at him, and Nada, from an African tribe 10000 years ago, has no reason to see him as white.
he's literally white, rather than pink like most white people, which makes me think that the Endless's white skin is supposed to be symbolic of a blank page
The Martian Manhunter sees him as a giant flaming skull. (from the comics, not in the show) Cats see him as a big longhair black cat. (not in the show until episode 11) Nada sees him as a black dude. Hell, she lived 10,000 years ago, she probably wouldn't know what a white guy even looks like, or what that even means. Also shoutout to the guy they found to be black Tom Sturridge, because he sells that. Fact is, the only reason that *we* see Morpheus as a white guy is because white guys are normative in our culture. Even if you're not white, you know that white guys run the world, so that's why we usually see him as a white guy on-screen. Which gets kind of meta. We're seeing Tom Sturridge just because of our cultural filter. Other people with different cultural filters might see somebody else.
He doesn’t appear differently to every being, he just has many different aspects. Kai’ackul is the aspect he is known as by Nuada’s people. She doesn’t know him as Morpheus, so she wouldn’t see Morpheus.
@@spiraljumper74 They don't actually have human forms. They only appear to us as human personifications because it is what our human brains can comprehend. There was a conversation between Cain and Abel in the comics that mentioned this.
Dream and Lucifer's fight was a really creative breath of fresh air from most comic book adaptation CG slugfests. Love the idea of having to fight Satan, the ultimate trickster and deceiver in a battle of words as Dream, the incarnation of imagination and creativity
It is also a game that clearly can *only* be played by the most powerful beings in existence. Even Marvel and DC heroes would be dead after "I am a nova" lmao
@@bravaman I was half expecting to see Death and Michael on the sidelines eating the concept of popcorn while watching their respective siblings play the game.
@@gabrieldossantos1116 yes I love how they did it showed how powerful these being are in every scale possible while also not doing to much overall these are the strongest beings in comic book creation
Hope wins because Lucifer is full of hope, he hopes to escape what the Creator has planned from him, he hopes he can see the Silver City of Angels Again. If he finds something that wins over hope, he has to give up his own hope, which he can't do.
Yes. Lucifer, who acts smug, detached, and disinterested in these affairs to mask the constant misery and pain of the fall from grace, got called out big time.
@@0okamino Lucifer's not really choked up on the Fall. In DC at least during the War in Heaven God really pulled up and said. "Hey you want an out? There's this place that you can rule yourself free of my Presence." Lucifer took the out and 10 Billion years of ruling Hell later he realized it was a lie.
@@brunoqueiroz2759 While that is true, he doesn't have Power over all, like certain Dreams that were Created by Humanity, like the "Cain & Abel" in this Series, those were created by Humanity, that's why he couldn't absorb them, so he chose to Absorb Gregory since Gregory was a Nightmare/Dream that he created. So to say that he's the father of all Cultures is a bit of a stretch.
Fun Fact: During the fight between Lucifer and dream, she was actually invoking/Using the "Anti-life Equation" against him. Lupa would've probably lost his shit if he realized that. In fact Rao the sun god of krypton has met the endless before. also the demon who was rhyming the whole time was supposed to be Etrigan who yall saw in Young justice.
And I've always found it funny when I realized that the Superman symbol stands for hope. Probably just a coincidence that it ended up as a Darkseid vs Superman reference.
They reference anti-life but they definitely didn’t use the anti-life equation. The Anti-life equation is used to dominate all life in creation, if Lucifer could use it they wouldn’t be in hell
@@ultralm7250 Lucifer stays in hell willingly. He’s a being of infinite will and near infinite power, the anti-life equation can’t do anything he couldn’t already do himself.
@@ultralm7250 But Lucifer wasnt using it literally, she was evoking the concept of Anti-Life which is capable of destroying anything in the universe. And even so, if you see Michael and Lucifer in DC universe both are pretty much omnipotent. Lucifer even leaves hell willingly in Sandman
The trees in Hell being people is most likely a reference to the Wood of the Self-Murderers in Dante's epic poem the Divine Comedy, in its Inferno section
@@Ashamanic Damn, thinking about all the sad, depressed people who couldn't fight anymore and gave up. Having to be forced to experience an even worse depressing existence.
@@blueskybelyr It might not be kind, but it is definitely better than saying that killing themselves means ending up in a better place. Also though (spoilers!) the damned in this version WANT to be there.
@@blueskybelyr It's a reference to very old literature, to Dante's Inferno. Besides which, the only people who go to Hell in this setting are those who believe in Hell and believe they deserve to be there. They are actually free to leave if they choose to. Mind you, this scheme of things is even more horrifying, because it means there are people in Hell who are genuinely objectively innocent of any crime, and only think they are guilty of sins they were taught to believe in from a young age. That's the dark power of belief in this setting.
I love him handing over the Amulet of Protection. She told him people lie because they are afraid, so he genuinely tried to make her not afraid so she wouldn’t have to lie. It's the moment you know he is 100% serious about wanting to make a world without lies, as far as he’s concerned he’s following the rational path towards that goal, it's not just a crazy character doing evil shit for the sake of it, he genuinely thinks he's doing the right thing. Great villain writing.
He really is a child in a man's body, if you look at his pattern of behavior. Rosemary really gives him such a different view of humanity and why people lie. I wonder too if he sees a mother who was the victim of lies and was just trying to be a good person...and he gave it his best shot in saving a mother
I really wish John was the antagonist (or the central antagonist) for the whole season. His character was just interesting and I loved watching him. Corinthian was a little boring
@@chasekellar3943 yeah, but Corinthian is still my favorite. I wish his affect on the world was given more depth. I also wish they split the series into three parts. 1 part with John, then Corinthian, then the dream vortex.
I interpreted Dream telling Lucifer "everyone in hell needs to dream of heaven" as a direct shot at Lucifer because he knows that's Lucifer's one and only dream, to be back in heaven by God's side. That's why Lucifer looked upset when he said that
We also can't forget that Lucifer preys on people's hopes and dreams. If they found a way to beat out hope, Lucifer has hamstrung themselves in the grab for power. Dream really knows Lucifer well and so he fights smarter not harder.
From what I remember of DC’s Lucifer, their ultimate goal is to be free of god’s power, to have a reality all to themself. He basically told the devil they were nothing without god.
Don't know if this has been said but its not that there isn't something that could kill hope if you think about it despair is literally the loss of hope. Lucifer couldn't kill hope because the dream of one day finally overruling heaven and overcoming god is the one thing that keeps Lucifer and Hell going. Declaring that hope could die is declaring that hell and Lucifer have lost and are forever doomed. It adds extra impact to when Morpheus says "What power would hell have if those here imprisoned wouldn't be able to dream?"
But there's another factor here: Despair wouldn't even exist without Hope. None of the aspects of existence embodied by the Endless would exist without their opposite. A dream is the opposite of reality, death is the opposite of life, so on. So even Despair can't "kill" hope, for it wouldn't exist then, it's more like if there was an Endless that represented Hope, then Despair and Hope would be at each other's throats in an eternal struggle. Sadly, "Hope" starts with an H, not a D, so that's not happening lol
@@Ragdefender Yep. If there were no Heaven then Hell would just be the After-life. It's no longer a place where people go when they committed a sin but just a place you go when you die.
Yeah so John gave her the amulet legit because he respected her so much because he hates liars above all and she was unflinchingly honest. He has his own weird code
@@elsacastilleja8571 but on the comics she stopped from been afraid of him mid trip and it did lead onto us that he wouldnt kill her. Until that very end.
@@FilipeBellosi Yeah I read the comic version of this and the next episode because I was curious what they were like originally... and it's crazy how different Jon is. They truly turned this Rotting Skeleton Joker into an (almost) sympathetic villain with goals and ideals. It's insane
You know, it's kinda nice that for once being a nice honest person actually pays off. I'm glad Rosemary got out of this uninjured, and perhaps even a bit better off for her kindness.
@@TheJerbol i just read it earlier today and yeah Dee shoots her; the show Dee is much more of a person with a set of ideals than we get in the comic where he's basically just out to use the ruby to rule and/or destroy the world for no real reason
Dream is not a white human man. We don't know what the Endless actually look like. 10 000 years ago, with the First People in Africa, they saw him as another black man. In the comics, when he met Jonn J'onz, the Martian Manhunter, he appeared to be a green Martian. The Endless appear as whatever they want or as whatever is expected to be seen. Nada didn't see an emo looking guy walking past and thought he resembled the guy she loved. She saw the Dream lord she loved, as she knew him, walking past. Those folk complain about other upcoming casting decisions really missed the point of the book. Neil Gaiman is literally shaking his head at them on twitter.
You literally just described how Dream appears as what we expect him to look like, which is sort of poetically ironic because that's exactly the complaint of the fans who were fans of the series before the Netflix adaptation. They were presented with various characters looking one way and fell in love with them, that image of them solidifying in their mind over the years. It would be as if when Dream walked by Nada's cage she didn't see her beloved walk by, but Jackie Chan. Or a woman. Or a cat. It's gratifying to see the character that you love on the screen in the flesh but there's a dissonance because they don't look like how you remember them. And simply flipping the gender or race of a character and carrying on as if nothing has changed ignores the social differences each person experiences. Simply flipping John Constantine's sex to Joanna Constantine but keeping everything else the same may SEEM simple enough, but it unintentionally changes the character. A straight male being in a relationship with a straight woman is different than a lesbian woman in a same sex relationship - the latter implies all of the trials and tribulations that come along with it growing up or living as an LGBTQ+ adult. And that's just one example. So you're inherently changing not only the character but also subtly the story often than not when you just slip sex and race and orientation willy nilly. And I say this as someone who is bi and trans IRL. Not all of us wanted nor needed beloved works to be changed to play some kind of representation game. What's wrong with faithfully adapting Sandman and then making a new, original work that shows as much love to the LGBTQ+ community as you want?
@@DerUberGaijan oh and they used joanna because the show couldnt get the rights to John, along with all of the other DC characters that appear or are mentioned in the original sandman comics.
"“And what will you be then, Dreamlord?” *“I am hope.”* All at once, everything changed. The barroom that was the plains of hell fell dead silent, and wide eyes stared from every corner. From the lowliest imp to the demon kings, everyone was stunned and left staring at the man who’d brought *Hope* into *Hell."* - Fear by Ryuugi
The Endless are concepts and they are scene based on someone's view of him, that's how he appears to her. In the comics he appeared as a giant flaming alien skull to the Martian Man Hunter because that's how they envision him.
This episode has a LOT of substance in it. 1) the design for Hell is based off of Dante’s Inferno and Jean Paul Sartre’s philosophy (Hell is people) 2) Dream appears differently depending on the time and the person he is speaking to. It’s why he’s named Morpheus, the Shaper of Form. So with Nada, he looked like her tribe’s Dreamlord. In the comics he appears to Martian Manhunter as Lord L’Zoril with a flaming head and all. Every person has a different visual. 3) Lucifer in this case is meant to be androgynous like Angels generally are depicted as. Kind of like in the Constantine movie with Gabriel. 4) Dream chose Hope for a number of reasons, chief among them being bc even Lucifer has Hope, so they can’t kill it. And even if she chose Despair, then they’d be invoking one of the other Endless. Not the best choice against another Endless.
On 3, I think this is the absolute closest they could get to Bowie, who was the original inspiration of the comics version of Lucifer. As far as 4, everyone in Hell has hopes and dreams. Lucifer preys on those very things. If they win the metaphysical battle here, they've admitted defeat in the long-term fight to be the most powerful. That's why Lucifer makes the "what power" comment, I think. They want to make Dream back down so they don't lose face in front of everyone.
The fight is a metaphysical fight. being metaphysical beings that fight was as real to them as any real fight. The final moves were a DC comics deep cut. Hope defeats Anti-Life Superman defeats Darkseid, Life forms have free will. Anti-Life destroys the concept of life by nullifying free will. the only way to defeat it is by boosting your will. blue lantern rings(hope) boosts Green lantern rings (will power)
There are so many little things about this episode that I love. The fight, the dialogue, showing how Dream is perceived differently by whoever views him. But what I LOVE is HELL. I love how Hell is made of literal people. And I love that Lucifer's Castle/Throne Room is Vatican City. It's shrouded in fire and demons, but it's right there in front of us.
I saw a comment explaining how during their game, Lucifer and Morpheus become whatever concept they invoke. To beat Morpheus, Lucifer would have had to become what kills hope, and lose any hope/chance of escaping Hell someday
i adored this duel, i was curious on how they would do it, like a typical titans exchanging blows type thing, so i was surprised but really happy with this! such a unique way of having powerful beings fight
And there is still power displayed, not only in how they hurt each other with just words, but also because they’re the few beings who can survive the invocation of novas and anti-life to continue the duel.
In Gaiman's version of Hell - it's literally made of people that believe they deserve to be in Hell (everything is made of people - why they bring their own 🔥 & why they were embedded in the walls)
I think John giving the amulet to Rosemary is what makes the show/story unlike any other. John isn't some 1-dimensional antagonist, he is doing what he believes is right; and Rosemary proves to John there are good people out there - and what he does is reward her for that.
John really is a broken child in an adult's body. Life isn't fair, and he's been subjected to that. He's lost so much in a short period of time, and he meets a women who is genuinely a good person, a good mother. He couldn't save his own mom, but I think her staying to continue to offer him a ride...that feels like him still trying to make up for not being able to save his own mother in the end.
16:00 the game of “I am” which as lupa said a lot of TCG combat is based on this. Play a creature, opponent plays theirs wifh power/defense that’s bigger then the other. Object is wipe it out and cause harm to the one that declares it.
John Dee is Dr. Destiny from the comics. The same Dr. Destiny that was defeated by the Justice league. This is what happened to him afterwards. The show won't say it but he's supposed to be in Arkham Asylum.
Honestly I’m with Roshi, if I was an all powerful deity and a necessary piece of the puzzle for anything to exist and some human assholes started giving me lip. Smite. Done.
Neil Gaiman would have been about 3 when the Disney film was released, and 22 years from even being born when the novel was published, so both are very likely to have served as some inspiration.
fun fact.. Dreams former love in hell.. Nada... her name literally means "Hope" in my language (Croatian), and few other slavic languages. and in the end Hope is what makes Morpheus win the duel, and it's even in the name of the episode. This was intentional from Gaiman :)
It's not that you can't kill hope. It's that Lucifer still has hope they'll be able to return to Heaven and their old life. If they defeat Dream, it means they'll never be able to return. That's why Dream mentions that some in Hell dream of Heaven. He was talking about Lucifer specifically.
21:25 remember joker movie that he let the short guy leave? He mentions he was the only one nice to him and for that won’t harm him. From a TH-camr named filthy frank he did one that is mainly joke saying “and be good to that one weirdo for… you know. Just in case.” But he ain’t wrong and that applies to anyone. Be nice and don’t lie/manipulate ppl if you don’t wanna get bit in the ass or worst case become dead.
That lady in prison told Dream that she will not lose hope.Even after 10,000 years..... Which is what helped Dream win the battle in the end. Very creative writing. Btw, you guys were right, Christ is the Creator. He is too OP to be in this show LOL Good video reaction, yall are funny. God bless!
He didn't turn black. Nor is he normally 'white' per-se. He appears differently to different people because he is a manifestation of a concept. We see him the way we do because that's Neil Gaiman's vision of Dream and he's telling the story, so from our 'objective' lens, he's a dude who looks like Robert Smith from The Cure. Nada on the other hand has never seen a white person before, she lived over ten thousand years ago. Aliens see Dream as one of their own too, and animals see him as an animal Dream. Heck, one of the spin-off comics features a planet of sapient flowers in which Dream appears as a black and white flower.
This series really surprised me a lot, I did not expect anything, since Netflix lately is not putting out many good things, and this episode became one of my favorites, I would have liked Lucifer to be played by Tom Ellis, but Gwendoline Christie she also did an excellent job.
This portrayal of Lucifer is honestly a lot closer to how he's portrayed in the comics. Tom Ellis does a great performance, but its not *this* Lucifer.
@@GodwynThePrinceOfDeath yeah, Tom's lucifer doesn't have the right level of casual disinterest and arrogance. Sandman Lucifer doesn't give a shit about 99.9% of other people/beings, but Tom!Lucifer, from what I've seen of the show, wants people to like him
I think it would be very interesting to see how David Bowie (the original visual basis for this version of Lucifer) might have played the role. Unfortunately, he has been unavailable for some time now.
With regards to the duel of wits, I read somewhere - and I believe it is plausible - is that the reason Lucifer has no rebuttal for 'hope' is because you have to BELIEVE it's possible to be countered. Which is why the first few quips with the animals is easy to use as they are naturally part of the circle of life. Whereas if Lucifer did think 'hope' can be countered, it means he BELIEVES his hope to get back to Heaven can be nullified, which he doesn't.
I don’t think Rosemary is as fast as you guys think she is to just run for the car and bolt off. Plus, she was probably scared out of her wits and frozen. I’m just happy she got to live. The comics are a different story.
Also the dude is doing straight magic, it’s not like she knows how it functions. For all she knows he could blink and fucking disassemble her with a thought.
Regarding her not leaving the gas station, I'm sure most people are aware of fight or flight mode but less may be familiar that there is another fear response: freeze. That's probably what's happening here.
Roshes the whole battle with Lucifer also really came down to is what if I took away your dreaming Lucifer what if you couldn't dream of going back to Heaven what if you couldn't dream of killing God and being the ruler. It was a giant middle finger to Lucifer saying yeah you make me stay here but you'll never dream of what you want ever again
The rosemary thing is an intersting twist and I wonder if it is going to come back. There are two changes from the comic A)She was a white woman and B) he just shot her in the head when he was done. Oh and she didn't have a dog if I remember correctly.
It's not that Lucifer couldn't find a reason to kill a hope, it's because they can't. Because even they have a hope, that one day they can return to heaven, because Hell's ruler is also it's first prisoner. And as Dream says, "What power would Hell have if those imprisoned here could not dream of Heaven?" And Lucifer definitely feels imprisoned.
Between the coriolis effect and the YugiOh joke. I love how Lupa's humor is so varied. Like yeah he can do the loud and funny shit but he got really clever jokes too that are hilarious😂😂😂
My theory is that Lucifer did have the potential to beat 'Hope', but becoming something that would destroy hope would kill Lucifer's own hopes, which they couldn't do to themselves
As a weirdly gendered person, I really like that Lucifer is played by a woman, which is different from the classic depictions (and the original comic). That and the scene with Nada both suggest that ideas of gender and race are human concepts; formed by our biology and culture, and that beings like Demons and Endless predate those concepts. Lucifer isn't a woman, Dream isn't a man, they're concepts that exist beyond those ideas, and are being depicted that way for the viewer's convenience.
"tell me lucifer morningstar, what power would hell have if those here imprisoned were not able to dream of heaven?" honestly gave me chills the first time i watched the episode! this quote will forever be etched in my memory. such a great, deep line worth pondering upon. great, insane delivery too by Dream!
I'm pretty sure someone has already pointed this out but the reason dream look different when he met nada is because everyone has their own dream therefore dream would look different to everyone he meets
In DC a lot of the demons have rhymed their words. In latin Luciferus is actually lightbringer, the morning star.... Which is why in many stories. His name is Lucifer Morningstar.
On nada meeting dream again. The endless are viewed differently to each living creature be human, animal, insect and such. They have a general look but their appearance does change depending on how that person view them. If s2 happens for sure they will tell the story between them.
I learned recently that the original comic is way goofier than the show. It has crazy visuals that make it more absurd. For instance, the "fight" in this episode was with that mowhawk demon, not lucifer, and was done at an Open Mic bar.
i interpreted dream being black is more because he doesn't really have a true form like that as endless and because that's the face she knew him to have
Fun Fact. This Lucifer and Lucifer from the TV show Lucifer is the same character. Lucifer from the TV show is from a spin off of the Sandman comics. This is how Lucifer appears in the comic though. The tv show even made a joke about it when someone finds out who Lucifer is, they say, "I thought you'd be blond." He says, "I get that a lot.". It's a reference to his look in Sandman.
Technically you're right, as the TV show was (very loosely) based on the Lucifer comic which spun off from Sandman. But the characterization of Tom Ellis' Lucifer is so far removed from comics' Lucifer that they're basically just two different characters with the same name.
On the one hand it's cool that he calls Lucifer Lightbringer, on the other hand he's literally just translating her name. Which does kinda work, though, given that his "appearance is translated" for our eyes, which is shown earlier in the show with Dream "turning" black. It's probably not that deep, the writers likely just didn't wanna write "Lucifer" a bunch of times, but still interesting.
No Game No Life flashbacks
Oh shit you right
I knew ya’ll get that
hey roshi, what happened to the COTE(classroom of the elite) reaction?
Can you all react to sweet home
That's what I said.
Morpheus is an anthropomorphic personification. He isn’t actually a skinny white dude - normally we see him that way because it’s simpler to show, but how he appears depends to some extent on who is looking at him, and Nada, from an African tribe 10000 years ago, has no reason to see him as white.
he's literally white, rather than pink like most white people, which makes me think that the Endless's white skin is supposed to be symbolic of a blank page
@@Patrick-jd1ku No, he’s not literally white. The comic book makes it clear that different people see him differently.
and a cat to cats when they dream!
The Martian Manhunter sees him as a giant flaming skull. (from the comics, not in the show)
Cats see him as a big longhair black cat. (not in the show until episode 11)
Nada sees him as a black dude. Hell, she lived 10,000 years ago, she probably wouldn't know what a white guy even looks like, or what that even means. Also shoutout to the guy they found to be black Tom Sturridge, because he sells that.
Fact is, the only reason that *we* see Morpheus as a white guy is because white guys are normative in our culture. Even if you're not white, you know that white guys run the world, so that's why we usually see him as a white guy on-screen.
Which gets kind of meta. We're seeing Tom Sturridge just because of our cultural filter. Other people with different cultural filters might see somebody else.
@@Patrick-jd1ku He was drawn as a white man, black and asian, as a cat, a flaming skull and a cat headed god. So, yes, white and yes, a lot of things.
Why he appears differently to the prisoner in hell is he appears differently to every living being. He’s literally a cat when cats dream.
Also if she's from 10,000 years ago, that pre-dates white skin (which started around 8500 years ago).
He doesn’t appear differently to every being, he just has many different aspects. Kai’ackul is the aspect he is known as by Nuada’s people. She doesn’t know him as Morpheus, so she wouldn’t see Morpheus.
He appears to ppl as their own race. That is why she saw him as a black man.
@@elsacastilleja8571 No he doesn’t 🤣 why would he do that!?
@@spiraljumper74 They don't actually have human forms. They only appear to us as human personifications because it is what our human brains can comprehend. There was a conversation between Cain and Abel in the comics that mentioned this.
Dream and Lucifer's fight was a really creative breath of fresh air from most comic book adaptation CG slugfests. Love the idea of having to fight Satan, the ultimate trickster and deceiver in a battle of words as Dream, the incarnation of imagination and creativity
It is also a game that clearly can *only* be played by the most powerful beings in existence. Even Marvel and DC heroes would be dead after "I am a nova" lmao
True, these are beings that can shape reality with a thought, resorting to physical confrontations would be beneath them.
@@bravaman I was half expecting to see Death and Michael on the sidelines eating the concept of popcorn while watching their respective siblings play the game.
@@bravaman this is why I love the calliope episode !!
The punishment he gave that mortal was fitting to his crime
@@gabrieldossantos1116 yes I love how they did it showed how powerful these being are in every scale possible while also not doing to much overall these are the strongest beings in comic book creation
Hope wins because Lucifer is full of hope, he hopes to escape what the Creator has planned from him, he hopes he can see the Silver City of Angels Again. If he finds something that wins over hope, he has to give up his own hope, which he can't do.
yup! A lotta people missed on this I fear - which is another reason why Lucifer was so damn pissed off.
Yes. Lucifer, who acts smug, detached, and disinterested in these affairs to mask the constant misery and pain of the fall from grace, got called out big time.
And he can't say despair because despair is equal to hope, not superior. And Despair is Dream's sibling so...
Yeah, its quite beautiful, as writing goes.
@@0okamino Lucifer's not really choked up on the Fall. In DC at least during the War in Heaven God really pulled up and said.
"Hey you want an out? There's this place that you can rule yourself free of my Presence." Lucifer took the out and 10 Billion years of ruling Hell later he realized it was a lie.
7:10 Dream can appear in any form depending on the culture of the person who sees him, he even appears as a black cat when cats see him!
Spoiler
So a notorious cultural appropriator.
Time to cancel dream.
@@X3MAntics 😭💀
@@X3MAntics all cultures start in the dreaming tho, all myths and gods do too. he is the father of all cultures
@@brunoqueiroz2759 While that is true, he doesn't have Power over all, like certain Dreams that were Created by Humanity, like the "Cain & Abel" in this Series, those were created by Humanity, that's why he couldn't absorb them, so he chose to Absorb Gregory since Gregory was a Nightmare/Dream that he created. So to say that he's the father of all Cultures is a bit of a stretch.
Fun Fact: During the fight between Lucifer and dream, she was actually invoking/Using the "Anti-life Equation" against him. Lupa would've probably lost his shit if he realized that. In fact Rao the sun god of krypton has met the endless before.
also the demon who was rhyming the whole time was supposed to be Etrigan who yall saw in Young justice.
Like this so he knows
And I've always found it funny when I realized that the Superman symbol stands for hope. Probably just a coincidence that it ended up as a Darkseid vs Superman reference.
They reference anti-life but they definitely didn’t use the anti-life equation. The Anti-life equation is used to dominate all life in creation, if Lucifer could use it they wouldn’t be in hell
@@ultralm7250 Lucifer stays in hell willingly. He’s a being of infinite will and near infinite power, the anti-life equation can’t do anything he couldn’t already do himself.
@@ultralm7250 But Lucifer wasnt using it literally, she was evoking the concept of Anti-Life which is capable of destroying anything in the universe. And even so, if you see Michael and Lucifer in DC universe both are pretty much omnipotent. Lucifer even leaves hell willingly in Sandman
The trees in Hell being people is most likely a reference to the Wood of the Self-Murderers in Dante's epic poem the Divine Comedy, in its Inferno section
In the comic, it’s explicitly the grove of suicides.
@@Ashamanic Damn, thinking about all the sad, depressed people who couldn't fight anymore and gave up. Having to be forced to experience an even worse depressing existence.
@@blueskybelyr It might not be kind, but it is definitely better than saying that killing themselves means ending up in a better place. Also though (spoilers!) the damned in this version WANT to be there.
@@blueskybelyr It's a reference to very old literature, to Dante's Inferno. Besides which, the only people who go to Hell in this setting are those who believe in Hell and believe they deserve to be there. They are actually free to leave if they choose to. Mind you, this scheme of things is even more horrifying, because it means there are people in Hell who are genuinely objectively innocent of any crime, and only think they are guilty of sins they were taught to believe in from a young age. That's the dark power of belief in this setting.
Neil Gaiman is a literate mfer.
I love him handing over the Amulet of Protection. She told him people lie because they are afraid, so he genuinely tried to make her not afraid so she wouldn’t have to lie.
It's the moment you know he is 100% serious about wanting to make a world without lies, as far as he’s concerned he’s following the rational path towards that goal, it's not just a crazy character doing evil shit for the sake of it, he genuinely thinks he's doing the right thing. Great villain writing.
He really is a child in a man's body, if you look at his pattern of behavior. Rosemary really gives him such a different view of humanity and why people lie. I wonder too if he sees a mother who was the victim of lies and was just trying to be a good person...and he gave it his best shot in saving a mother
Next episode is a straight mindfuck. Can't wait to witness the faces you 3 make while trying to figure out what in the hell is going on.
Oh boy this is going to be funny
He's already said explicitly what he wants, it's not really a mystery what's going on
I really wish John was the antagonist (or the central antagonist) for the whole season. His character was just interesting and I loved watching him. Corinthian was a little boring
No silly, we see what's going on in the hell THIS episode.
@@chasekellar3943 yeah, but Corinthian is still my favorite. I wish his affect on the world was given more depth.
I also wish they split the series into three parts.
1 part with John, then Corinthian, then the dream vortex.
I interpreted Dream telling Lucifer "everyone in hell needs to dream of heaven" as a direct shot at Lucifer because he knows that's Lucifer's one and only dream, to be back in heaven by God's side. That's why Lucifer looked upset when he said that
We also can't forget that Lucifer preys on people's hopes and dreams. If they found a way to beat out hope, Lucifer has hamstrung themselves in the grab for power. Dream really knows Lucifer well and so he fights smarter not harder.
From what I remember of DC’s Lucifer, their ultimate goal is to be free of god’s power, to have a reality all to themself. He basically told the devil they were nothing without god.
Don't know if this has been said but its not that there isn't something that could kill hope if you think about it despair is literally the loss of hope. Lucifer couldn't kill hope because the dream of one day finally overruling heaven and overcoming god is the one thing that keeps Lucifer and Hell going. Declaring that hope could die is declaring that hell and Lucifer have lost and are forever doomed. It adds extra impact to when Morpheus says "What power would hell have if those here imprisoned wouldn't be able to dream?"
"What power would hell have if those here imprisoned wouldn't be able to dream of Heaven?" is the full quote
@@ericstahmer720 My interpretation to that is the same as Roshi. If you couldn't dream of something better, hell is just another place for you.
Exactly: "Maybe you can beat my move, but if you do you're beating yourself." And that's the one thing Lucifer (Pride) would never do.
But there's another factor here: Despair wouldn't even exist without Hope. None of the aspects of existence embodied by the Endless would exist without their opposite. A dream is the opposite of reality, death is the opposite of life, so on. So even Despair can't "kill" hope, for it wouldn't exist then, it's more like if there was an Endless that represented Hope, then Despair and Hope would be at each other's throats in an eternal struggle. Sadly, "Hope" starts with an H, not a D, so that's not happening lol
@@Ragdefender Yep. If there were no Heaven then Hell would just be the After-life. It's no longer a place where people go when they committed a sin but just a place you go when you die.
Yeah so John gave her the amulet legit because he respected her so much because he hates liars above all and she was unflinchingly honest. He has his own weird code
Tho in comic he unalives her
@@elsacastilleja8571 yep kills her dead
@@elsacastilleja8571 but on the comics she stopped from been afraid of him mid trip and it did lead onto us that he wouldnt kill her. Until that very end.
@@FilipeBellosi Yeah I read the comic version of this and the next episode because I was curious what they were like originally... and it's crazy how different Jon is. They truly turned this Rotting Skeleton Joker into an (almost) sympathetic villain with goals and ideals. It's insane
@@elsacastilleja8571 comic Dee is just a psycho, the show made him a much more complex character. Personally one of the changes I liked the most.
You know, it's kinda nice that for once being a nice honest person actually pays off. I'm glad Rosemary got out of this uninjured, and perhaps even a bit better off for her kindness.
Apparently in the comic he kills her. I like this much better
@@TheJerbol i just read it earlier today and yeah Dee shoots her; the show Dee is much more of a person with a set of ideals than we get in the comic where he's basically just out to use the ruby to rule and/or destroy the world for no real reason
Physically unharmed, but that experience could really shake a person to their core.
Dream is not a white human man. We don't know what the Endless actually look like. 10 000 years ago, with the First People in Africa, they saw him as another black man. In the comics, when he met Jonn J'onz, the Martian Manhunter, he appeared to be a green Martian. The Endless appear as whatever they want or as whatever is expected to be seen. Nada didn't see an emo looking guy walking past and thought he resembled the guy she loved. She saw the Dream lord she loved, as she knew him, walking past. Those folk complain about other upcoming casting decisions really missed the point of the book. Neil Gaiman is literally shaking his head at them on twitter.
You literally just described how Dream appears as what we expect him to look like, which is sort of poetically ironic because that's exactly the complaint of the fans who were fans of the series before the Netflix adaptation. They were presented with various characters looking one way and fell in love with them, that image of them solidifying in their mind over the years. It would be as if when Dream walked by Nada's cage she didn't see her beloved walk by, but Jackie Chan. Or a woman. Or a cat. It's gratifying to see the character that you love on the screen in the flesh but there's a dissonance because they don't look like how you remember them. And simply flipping the gender or race of a character and carrying on as if nothing has changed ignores the social differences each person experiences. Simply flipping John Constantine's sex to Joanna Constantine but keeping everything else the same may SEEM simple enough, but it unintentionally changes the character. A straight male being in a relationship with a straight woman is different than a lesbian woman in a same sex relationship - the latter implies all of the trials and tribulations that come along with it growing up or living as an LGBTQ+ adult. And that's just one example.
So you're inherently changing not only the character but also subtly the story often than not when you just slip sex and race and orientation willy nilly. And I say this as someone who is bi and trans IRL. Not all of us wanted nor needed beloved works to be changed to play some kind of representation game. What's wrong with faithfully adapting Sandman and then making a new, original work that shows as much love to the LGBTQ+ community as you want?
The actor who played Nada's version of Dream had his work cut out for him, though, and he nailed it. I hope he's back for the Season of Mists arc
@@DerUberGaijan buddy... both Joanna and John are bisexual, he isnt straight
@@DerUberGaijan oh and they used joanna because the show couldnt get the rights to John, along with all of the other DC characters that appear or are mentioned in the original sandman comics.
"“And what will you be then, Dreamlord?”
*“I am hope.”*
All at once, everything changed. The barroom that was the plains of hell fell dead silent, and wide eyes stared from every corner. From the lowliest imp to the demon kings, everyone was stunned and left staring at the man who’d brought *Hope* into *Hell."* - Fear by Ryuugi
Ya'll notice that they rolled out the "red carpet" for Morpheus at the palace door.
I love those little details in this show
Abandon Hope In Style, All Who Enter Here
oh shit i just got that dammit! 🤣
The Endless are concepts and they are scene based on someone's view of him, that's how he appears to her. In the comics he appeared as a giant flaming alien skull to the Martian Man Hunter because that's how they envision him.
That sounds like a nightmare considering his fear of fire... fitting.
The reason Hope was stronger than the antilife was because lucifer still had hope to escape hell and return to heaven
This is an often overlooked point
Hope would always be stronger than anti-life, Lucifer just can't bring themselves to kill hope for the reason you stated.
More like Hope to escape God's omniscience but yeah
Dream’s flex on Lucifer never fails to be super hype.
That look when he says "Until then, Lightbringer" is just absolutely epic!
This episode has a LOT of substance in it.
1) the design for Hell is based off of Dante’s Inferno and Jean Paul Sartre’s philosophy (Hell is people)
2) Dream appears differently depending on the time and the person he is speaking to. It’s why he’s named Morpheus, the Shaper of Form. So with Nada, he looked like her tribe’s Dreamlord. In the comics he appears to Martian Manhunter as Lord L’Zoril with a flaming head and all. Every person has a different visual.
3) Lucifer in this case is meant to be androgynous like Angels generally are depicted as. Kind of like in the Constantine movie with Gabriel.
4) Dream chose Hope for a number of reasons, chief among them being bc even Lucifer has Hope, so they can’t kill it. And even if she chose Despair, then they’d be invoking one of the other Endless. Not the best choice against another Endless.
On 3, I think this is the absolute closest they could get to Bowie, who was the original inspiration of the comics version of Lucifer.
As far as 4, everyone in Hell has hopes and dreams. Lucifer preys on those very things. If they win the metaphysical battle here, they've admitted defeat in the long-term fight to be the most powerful. That's why Lucifer makes the "what power" comment, I think. They want to make Dream back down so they don't lose face in front of everyone.
The fight is a metaphysical fight. being metaphysical beings that fight was as real to them as any real fight. The final moves were a DC comics deep cut.
Hope defeats Anti-Life
Superman defeats Darkseid,
Life forms have free will. Anti-Life destroys the concept of life by nullifying free will. the only way to defeat it is by boosting your will. blue lantern rings(hope) boosts Green lantern rings (will power)
There are so many little things about this episode that I love. The fight, the dialogue, showing how Dream is perceived differently by whoever views him.
But what I LOVE is HELL. I love how Hell is made of literal people. And I love that Lucifer's Castle/Throne Room is Vatican City. It's shrouded in fire and demons, but it's right there in front of us.
I saw a comment explaining how during their game, Lucifer and Morpheus become whatever concept they invoke. To beat Morpheus, Lucifer would have had to become what kills hope, and lose any hope/chance of escaping Hell someday
19:16 this is actually a reference to Lucifer dreaming of going back to heaven. That's why the hope speech Hit Lucifer hard as well
i adored this duel, i was curious on how they would do it, like a typical titans exchanging blows type thing, so i was surprised but really happy with this! such a unique way of having powerful beings fight
Humans and Gods fight blow for blow Lucifer and the Endless are above that
And there is still power displayed, not only in how they hurt each other with just words, but also because they’re the few beings who can survive the invocation of novas and anti-life to continue the duel.
In Gaiman's version of Hell - it's literally made of people that believe they deserve to be in Hell (everything is made of people - why they bring their own 🔥 & why they were embedded in the walls)
I think John giving the amulet to Rosemary is what makes the show/story unlike any other. John isn't some 1-dimensional antagonist, he is doing what he believes is right; and Rosemary proves to John there are good people out there - and what he does is reward her for that.
John really is a broken child in an adult's body. Life isn't fair, and he's been subjected to that. He's lost so much in a short period of time, and he meets a women who is genuinely a good person, a good mother. He couldn't save his own mom, but I think her staying to continue to offer him a ride...that feels like him still trying to make up for not being able to save his own mother in the end.
16:00 the game of “I am” which as lupa said a lot of TCG combat is based on this. Play a creature, opponent plays theirs wifh power/defense that’s bigger then the other. Object is wipe it out and cause harm to the one that declares it.
"Unlimited pocket sand?" Manz sound like he never went to a beach before
That last line about being able to dream was a direct shot at lucifer, because he also dream of going back to the silver city
Probably the most visually pleasing episode
John Dee is Dr. Destiny from the comics. The same Dr. Destiny that was defeated by the Justice league. This is what happened to him afterwards. The show won't say it but he's supposed to be in Arkham Asylum.
Honestly I’m with Roshi, if I was an all powerful deity and a necessary piece of the puzzle for anything to exist and some human assholes started giving me lip. Smite. Done.
If we get a season 2 we might get to see that Dream isn't always that patient
Good for us then that some beings have empathy.
He's not an all powerful being. There are things he's not allowed to do. He answers to powers greater than himself.
"I was black once" lol, and knowing hes basically a immortal god i see why he turned white.😂
The duel reminded me so much of Merlin and Mad Madam Mim from Sword and the Stone I loved it
Neil Gaiman would have been about 3 when the Disney film was released, and 22 years from even being born when the novel was published, so both are very likely to have served as some inspiration.
fun fact.. Dreams former love in hell.. Nada... her name literally means "Hope" in my language (Croatian), and few other slavic languages. and in the end Hope is what makes Morpheus win the duel, and it's even in the name of the episode. This was intentional from Gaiman :)
"okay, so they're not actually fighting" except they're fighting in the most ultimate sense of fighting there is...
Nada sees Sandman as the King of Dreams from her culture. Every culture, race, and even animals sees him as their own version of "god of dreams"
It's not that you can't kill hope. It's that Lucifer still has hope they'll be able to return to Heaven and their old life. If they defeat Dream, it means they'll never be able to return. That's why Dream mentions that some in Hell dream of Heaven. He was talking about Lucifer specifically.
The trees being people is actually an allusion to Dantes Inferno. This is the forest for people who...got themselves here earlier then planned
21:25 remember joker movie that he let the short guy leave? He mentions he was the only one nice to him and for that won’t harm him.
From a TH-camr named filthy frank he did one that is mainly joke saying “and be good to that one weirdo for… you know. Just in case.” But he ain’t wrong and that applies to anyone.
Be nice and don’t lie/manipulate ppl if you don’t wanna get bit in the ass or worst case become dead.
That lady in prison told Dream that she will not lose hope.Even after 10,000 years..... Which is what helped Dream win the battle in the end. Very creative writing.
Btw, you guys were right, Christ is the Creator. He is too OP to be in this show LOL
Good video reaction, yall are funny. God bless!
Dream randomly turning black actually gave me whiplash when I saw this the first time 😂
He didn't turn black. Nor is he normally 'white' per-se. He appears differently to different people because he is a manifestation of a concept. We see him the way we do because that's Neil Gaiman's vision of Dream and he's telling the story, so from our 'objective' lens, he's a dude who looks like Robert Smith from The Cure. Nada on the other hand has never seen a white person before, she lived over ten thousand years ago. Aliens see Dream as one of their own too, and animals see him as an animal Dream. Heck, one of the spin-off comics features a planet of sapient flowers in which Dream appears as a black and white flower.
@@Sesharon Omg, chill out! I know!😂 I'm just exaggerating 🙄
@@__Oku__ No worries, I'm chill. :P
@@__Oku__ literally the chilliest explanation ever, I didn't know about the flower part
The rhyming demon at the gate is part of a cast of demon. They're fairly powerful
This series really surprised me a lot, I did not expect anything, since Netflix lately is not putting out many good things, and this episode became one of my favorites, I would have liked Lucifer to be played by Tom Ellis, but Gwendoline Christie she also did an excellent job.
It helps that Netflix didn't actually produce this. they just bought the rights to stream it on their platform.
This portrayal of Lucifer is honestly a lot closer to how he's portrayed in the comics. Tom Ellis does a great performance, but its not *this* Lucifer.
Tom wouldn't make for an intimidating Lucifer because we are so used to him being a goofball
@@GodwynThePrinceOfDeath yeah, Tom's lucifer doesn't have the right level of casual disinterest and arrogance. Sandman Lucifer doesn't give a shit about 99.9% of other people/beings, but Tom!Lucifer, from what I've seen of the show, wants people to like him
I think it would be very interesting to see how David Bowie (the original visual basis for this version of Lucifer) might have played the role. Unfortunately, he has been unavailable for some time now.
I love how tense the Rosemary and John scenes were in this episode.
8:07 sheera face lmao,
she really hate her power to forsee things now
That woman threw her malenin decision making skills out the window
With regards to the duel of wits, I read somewhere - and I believe it is plausible - is that the reason Lucifer has no rebuttal for 'hope' is because you have to BELIEVE it's possible to be countered. Which is why the first few quips with the animals is easy to use as they are naturally part of the circle of life. Whereas if Lucifer did think 'hope' can be countered, it means he BELIEVES his hope to get back to Heaven can be nullified, which he doesn't.
1:25 Alternate Kurapika? 🤣🤣🤣 I love this channel for this kind of references.
I don’t think Rosemary is as fast as you guys think she is to just run for the car and bolt off. Plus, she was probably scared out of her wits and frozen. I’m just happy she got to live. The comics are a different story.
Also the dude is doing straight magic, it’s not like she knows how it functions. For all she knows he could blink and fucking disassemble her with a thought.
@@spiraljumper74 Yes, also true. She saw him do just that to the clerk.
Regarding her not leaving the gas station, I'm sure most people are aware of fight or flight mode but less may be familiar that there is another fear response: freeze. That's probably what's happening here.
Roshes the whole battle with Lucifer also really came down to is what if I took away your dreaming Lucifer what if you couldn't dream of going back to Heaven what if you couldn't dream of killing God and being the ruler. It was a giant middle finger to Lucifer saying yeah you make me stay here but you'll never dream of what you want ever again
You know a series is good when a demon has bars
The amulet of protection doesn't just protect John from attacks, it also pave the way so everything goes in his favor
"I am a Gun, shot fired, a$$ burned"
The fact that I read this with Lucifer's voice 💀
@@CloudyRythm that's funny, i wrote this with Morpheus voice in my head.
@@sgcastle8389 lmao I'm imagining it rn
Y'all are so going to Hell for showing RDJ Tropic Thunder. Rotflmao!
In the DC universe, lower tier Demons HAVE to Rhyme.
That's why Etrigan rhymes in almost every appearance.
“These visuals look crazy”
Me a mobile user who sees it in different shades of very dark black: “Interesting”
Lucifer is not a woman, angels are sexless but he still goes by he/him pronouns
I'm sure you get this every post, but goddamn, your opening animation is INCREDIBLE. Eternal props to the maker(s).
The rosemary thing is an intersting twist and I wonder if it is going to come back. There are two changes from the comic A)She was a white woman and B) he just shot her in the head when he was done. Oh and she didn't have a dog if I remember correctly.
That fight was really amazing cuz they're transcendent beings
17:58 you are right its literally about Superman... Superman is symbol of Hope, Love and Justice
Lucifer: I am infinite.
Dream: I am infinite + 1.
It's not that Lucifer couldn't find a reason to kill a hope, it's because they can't. Because even they have a hope, that one day they can return to heaven, because Hell's ruler is also it's first prisoner. And as Dream says, "What power would Hell have if those imprisoned here could not dream of Heaven?" And Lucifer definitely feels imprisoned.
Between the coriolis effect and the YugiOh joke. I love how Lupa's humor is so varied. Like yeah he can do the loud and funny shit but he got really clever jokes too that are hilarious😂😂😂
Here's a nice quote to be remembered "Hell is made out of people"
If you're Quoting Sartre it's "Hell is other people"
My theory is that Lucifer did have the potential to beat 'Hope', but becoming something that would destroy hope would kill Lucifer's own hopes, which they couldn't do to themselves
As a weirdly gendered person, I really like that Lucifer is played by a woman, which is different from the classic depictions (and the original comic). That and the scene with Nada both suggest that ideas of gender and race are human concepts; formed by our biology and culture, and that beings like Demons and Endless predate those concepts. Lucifer isn't a woman, Dream isn't a man, they're concepts that exist beyond those ideas, and are being depicted that way for the viewer's convenience.
"tell me lucifer morningstar, what power would hell have if those here imprisoned were not able to dream of heaven?" honestly gave me chills the first time i watched the episode! this quote will forever be etched in my memory. such a great, deep line worth pondering upon. great, insane delivery too by Dream!
loved the verbal battle between Dream and Lucifer
When I first saw this episode and they reveal who Lucifer Morningstar is legit screamed "It's Brienne of fucking Tarth"
I'm pretty sure someone has already pointed this out but the reason dream look different when he met nada is because everyone has their own dream therefore dream would look different to everyone he meets
In DC a lot of the demons have rhymed their words. In latin Luciferus is actually lightbringer, the morning star.... Which is why in many stories. His name is Lucifer Morningstar.
Next episode is just a masterpiece
Can't wait
On nada meeting dream again. The endless are viewed differently to each living creature be human, animal, insect and such. They have a general look but their appearance does change depending on how that person view them.
If s2 happens for sure they will tell the story between them.
I learned recently that the original comic is way goofier than the show. It has crazy visuals that make it more absurd. For instance, the "fight" in this episode was with that mowhawk demon, not lucifer, and was done at an Open Mic bar.
That lady still made better decisions than sheera did playing the Quarry.
Just to be clear, this comic came out in 89, so NGNL pulled a The Sandman.
"One betrayal from the Coriolis effect..." Lupa you da man!!!
The amulet of protection has a multitude of effects... It is compelling her to give him a ride
Wait, isn’t the necklaces still dangerous. If she has kids and they accidentally hit her wouldn’t it go off.
Yeah
Lmaooo bruh i hadn't even considered that
omg, you guys are just laughinh all the fucking time.
fyi the amulet of protection kinda works like luck based, as in that’s why rosamary couldn’t call 911, why she didn’t leave, etc.
i interpreted dream being black is more because he doesn't really have a true form like that as endless and because that's the face she knew him to have
DO NOT give Roshi any powers EVER, He'd level the planet at any minor inconvenience
Yo Roshi the stone ocean new batch just dropped just wanna let you know
Dream vs Lucifer
The Epic Rap Battle of the Millennium
17:30 "I am him" Fuckin stoooop lmfaoo
The amulet wouldn't prevent fleeing. Only an attack.
Fave episode right here I'm ready for this 🙌
"There's people in Hell, in the walls?" Yep -- and those are the upper-class positions...
Fun Fact. This Lucifer and Lucifer from the TV show Lucifer is the same character. Lucifer from the TV show is from a spin off of the Sandman comics. This is how Lucifer appears in the comic though. The tv show even made a joke about it when someone finds out who Lucifer is, they say, "I thought you'd be blond." He says, "I get that a lot.". It's a reference to his look in Sandman.
Technically you're right, as the TV show was (very loosely) based on the Lucifer comic which spun off from Sandman. But the characterization of Tom Ellis' Lucifer is so far removed from comics' Lucifer that they're basically just two different characters with the same name.
On the one hand it's cool that he calls Lucifer Lightbringer, on the other hand he's literally just translating her name.
Which does kinda work, though, given that his "appearance is translated" for our eyes, which is shown earlier in the show with Dream "turning" black.
It's probably not that deep, the writers likely just didn't wanna write "Lucifer" a bunch of times, but still interesting.
When Morpheus said I am hope
Jaby from jaby koay said " Lucifer should have said I AM DESTROYER OF HOPES - I AM WOMAN"
I laughed sooooo hard🥴🤣🤣🤣🤣
Next two episodes finna go CRAZY❗❗❗❗❗
A human saying, I'm going to kill all humans because of their arrogance, is the most arrogant human moment. LOL
Lucifer and Dream's battle was just kids playing pretend... lmao "The Oldest Game"