‘The Sandman’ ending explained: Does Orpheus die?
Every Netflix release comes with its fair share of answers and subsequent cliffhangers. Volume one of The Sandman season two was no different. But did you know that endings are difficult, even for the Endless? The Sandman’s first nod on the finale was a wake-up call, with Dream put in a tough spot. Three hundred years ago, Dream’s brother, Destruction, bowed out of his realm, and the only one who can locate him is his estranged son, Orpheus.
Unlike the harrowing last meeting, there is a difference “in the quality of love,” Tom Sturridge notes this time. But what exactly caused the estrangement between Dream and Orpheus? It’s revealed in episode five that Orpheus went against his father’s advice in a desperate attempt to get murdered, in hopes of reuniting with his dead wife Eurydice in Hades. In response, the Sisters of the Frenzy, the brutal cult of Dionysus, attacked and dismembered him, shrinking him down to a head.
When Orpheus’s intentions backfired, he begged Dream to kill him off once and for all. However, Dream could not. It’s one thing that Orpheus is, after all, his son, but there’s another crucial factor at play: “The Endless are forbidden to spill family blood.” As a result, Dream left Orpheus in the care of an order of priests on the island. And since then, he kept his word of not meeting him until The Sandman season two.
With Orpheus’s assistance, Dream can finally locate Destruction. But in exchange for his help, Dream owes him one. And the boon Orpheus asks for is unexpected to none: his death. Much like last time, the exchange is gloomy. But this time, Dream is sorry and even confesses his shortcomings as a father. Sturridge highlights the difference in emotions at play between the two meetings in a talk with Tudum.
How is Dream and Orpheus’s meeting different from the last time?
“It’s a different kind of torture,” Tom Sturridge tells Netflix. The previous encounter between Dream and Orpheus was way more about the “regret and about the poison that’s haunted him since that meeting, because of his behaviour.” On the contrary, this one is about “ultimately doing something beautiful and giving his son the most important thing.”
But since the boon is not without its hefty cost, catharsis becomes emotional baggage. Dream’s relationship with Orpheus was always complex, always layered. However, that has a lot to do with Orpheus. His going against Dream cost 2000 years of estrangement. Consequently, when Dream comes back to him, he has to do right by his son.
Where was Destruction all this time in The Sandman?
The Sandman season two reveals that Dream’s brother, Destruction, was living as a neighbour, next door to Orpheus, on his island. “Seems our brother chose to live in the one place he knew I would not dare to go,” Dream says in the moment. In episode six, the cat is finally out of the bag. But when Dream and Delirium meet Destruction, he has no plans to return to his realm. He had been living so far in an isolated villa with Barnabas, the talking dog.
With Destruction unmovable from his words, he decides to part ways with his siblings to a place they cannot follow. Before he leaves, Destruction steals the show, saying, “Remember that I left. Remember how hard it was for me to leave. But that I did it out of love … for humankind. For this world and all others … Love is the only good reason to do anything.”
That said, does Dream ultimately kill Orpheus?
Does Dream grant Orpheus the boon in The Sandman?
Yes, Dream granted Orpheus death in The Sandman episode six. The moment was monumental. However, the gift was complicated even for Orpheus. Actor Ruari O’Connor explains that although it was a moment of relief, it was just as terrifying. Orpheus chased death for 2000 years. And now that it is happening, the fear of the unknown becomes palpable.
A Dream technically set Orpheus free. But the burden was excruciating. It’s the first time in The Sandman that Dream sheds a tear in his realm. However, now Dream is responsible for spilling family blood. Subsequently, he is answerable to the Furies, the Greek goddess of vengeance, aka, the Kindly Ones. The Sandman’s second season, volume two, holds all the answers to Dream’s fate, which is to be released on July 24th.