‘The Sandman’: What is a Dream Vortex and how is it created?

Warning: The following article contains spoilers from The Sandman.

Though the focus of Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is the adventures and mistakes, not to forget the temper tantrums of its titular character, who also goes by names like Morpheus, Dream, Kai’ckul, etc, it’s the presence of the deadly Dream Vortex, which threatens the very existence of the Dreaming, that snags the spotlight. Though the creation of one isn’t usually a difficult affair and doesn’t really involve some grand process, the one we get to meet in the Netflix series is the result of a very cleverly woven trap. 

Spoilers ahead. 

How does a Dream Vortex come into existence?

As per the fictional rules set up by The Sandman, a Dream Vortex is a “naturally occurring phenomenon.” As Dream explains to a confused Lucienne, a Dream Vortex is “neither caused nor created — they simply happen.” Apparently, every few thousand years, a mortal is born with a special set of abilities — to travel through the dreams of others, bring down the wall between separate dreams, and even make them come true.

But while these sets of abilities sound absolutely divine, this individual can bring down chaos unto the Dreaming and the waking world as they have the “power to dream entire worlds or destroy them.” This special being’s presence is enough to weaken the walls separating dreams from each other as well as keeping them away from the real world. This in turn affects the Dreaming in the form of major earthquakes, which creates deep craters on its surface. 

If it is allowed to continue, the Dreaming, and in turn Dream himself, would be completely destroyed. This will be followed by the waking world suffering a similar fate in the absence of the land of dreams. 

This allocates Dream a get-out-of-jail-free card in the face of the divine law he has to strictly abide by — never to take a human life, no matter what. But this law is shelved in the case of the Dream Vortex as Dream is allowed to kill this person the moment they become active — he doesn’t even have to wait for this individual to knowingly or unknowingly threaten the existence of the Dreaming. 

So, long story short, no one knows how a Dream Vortex is created and when one will come into existence. But flouting this written-in-stone rule is the existence of Rose Walker, the Dream Vortex of this era as her presence is the result of a calculated and shrewdly planned move. 

Rose Walker — the first Dream Vortex whose creation was deliberate

Born in the early 20th century, Unity Kincaid was supposed to be the Dream Vortex, but then Dream was captured by the greedy Magus aka Roderick Burgess, who kept him caged and rendered him powerless. This triggered a massive wave of the incurable Sleepy Sickness, where over a million people were either unable to wake up from their deep slumber or sleep-walked for the rest of their lives. Unity was one of the many infected with the epidemic. 

If Unity had perished in her sleep, like everyone who was affected by the Sleepy Sickness, her powers as the Dream Vortex would have died with her. But Dream’s sibling, the scheming Desire, who had ensured that Burgess trapped Dream instead of Death, fathered a child with the unconscious Unity. The matter was hushed by Unity’s parents, who had no clue how their daughter got pregnant, and thus the child, a girl, was given up for adoption. 

In the next few decades, while Unity slept, her daughter went on to give birth to a girl, Miranda Walker, who eventually brought Rose — the Dream Vortex of this era — into this world. While it is not explained why Unity’s powers skipped two generations and chose Rose as its next recipient, it can be deduced that in the absence of Dream and a stable Dreaming — where people went while dreaming — the powers laid dormant. 

Had Dream not escaped after 100 years, even Rose’s powers wouldn’t have manifested and just shifted to her offspring. This cycle would have continued until Dream managed to free himself. 

Desire was fully aware of this process. They knew that because of them fathering a child with Unity, it was confirmed that whenever Dream escapes, there would be a Dream Vortex awaiting his return. They were banking on the fact that Dream would have to kill the Dream Vortex to save himself and the Dreaming. As he would be unaware that this person is a descendant of one of the Endless, he would end up spilling family blood. 

This would break another divine law, which in turn would lead to massive chaos and make Dream the target of the ruthless Kindly Ones, who would pursue him until the powerful entity — tired of being endlessly tortured and hounded — would simply perish. 

Thankfully, just as Dream is about to unknowingly fulfill Desire’s… well, desire… by killing Rose to save the Dreaming and the waking world, Unity arrives on the scene and embraces what she was always supposed to be — the Dream Vortex of this era. She willingly sacrifices herself and her powers to save Rose, who has no powers now — at least none that we know of at this point. 

Thus, following Unity’s sacrifice, no Dream Vortex exists in the human world. Given how Rose was the exception to the rule and not the norm, there won’t be another Dream Vortex anytime soon — unless Desire or another one of Dream’s many enemies finds another unexpected loophole. For the time being, we can expect the Sandman to be instead embroiled in facing off against whatever plans Lucifer Morningstar and Azazel have up their sleeves. Then, there is also Desire, who is not going to easily give up on their lifelong mission to make Dream’s existence as miserable as possible, even though their sibling is very much aware of their nefarious intentions now. 

But all that is a future we can eagerly anticipate, if, and only if, Netflix greenlights the second season of the series. For now, you can binge the first season of The Sandman, currently streaming on Netflix.