Who is the mysterious woman Dream meets in Hell in ‘The Sandman?’

When Neil Gaiman was writing The Sandman comics in the 1990s, he played the long game and set up certain plotlines early into the series’ run that he only paid off much later down the line. The brand-new TV adaptation of the seminal source material, which just debuted on Netflix to critical acclaim and huge viewing figures, seems to be pulling a similar trick as its first season is full of unanswered questions that we’re left waiting for season two to solve.

Well, that’s one way of doing it. If you’re impatient for more of the show, the answers to most of these mysteries can be found in the pages of The Sandman comics. For instance, who is the mysterious woman (Deborah Oyelade) Dream meets in Hell? In episode four, “A Hope in Hell,” Morpheus travels to the underworld to retrieve his helm and at one point encounters one of the poor souls trapped there, who is clearly an old lover from his past.

So who is this woman and what’s the deal with her and Dream? Here’s what you need to know…

Nada and Sandman’s relationship, explained

First of all, this woman’s name is Nada and, as her cameo in the TV series suggests, she and Morpheus share one hell of a tragic love story.

10,000 years ago, Nada was the queen of a tribe known as The First People, thought to be the first humans on Earth. Known as the most beautiful woman in the world, many tried to win her hand, but Nada didn’t care for any of them, until she spied a stranger outside her palace one night and instantly fell in love with him. After much searching, she finally acquired a berry from the Bird King which transported her to the realm of dreams and there she learned that her love was the Lord of Dreams, known to her culture as Kai’ckul.

Nada knew that romance between mortals and the Endless was forbidden, but an equally infatuated Dream, after many failed attempts to woo her, told her that he loves her regardless of the rules and the pair made love. Unfortunately, Nada’s fears turned out to be well-founded. It’s said that the sun rose the next morning to discover the truth of their forbidden union. As punishment, the sun sent a blazing star (aka a meteor) to burn Nada’s kingdom to the ground.

Overcome with grief and in a bid to appease the gods, Nada threw herself a cliff. An enraged and heartbroken Morpheus appeared to Nada in the land of the dead and demanded she become his bride in The Dreaming or else suffer eternal damnation in Hell. She refused and, much as we learn in the series, Dream sent her to Lucifer’s domain and never forgave her.

Why does Dream appear differently to Nada?

In the TV series, when reuniting with Nada, Dream suddenly appears in a different physical form, with Ernest Kingsley Jr. taking over the role for one scene only. Although it’s not clarified exactly what’s happening here on screen, the comics provide an explanation for this. All of the Endless appear in different forms to different cultures, as their physical manifestations alter depending on the perceptions of those looking at them. In this case, Nada sees Kai’ckul as appearing like someone from her tribe.

Dream and Nada’s doomed romance is told in the comics in the prologue to The Doll’s House, which is actually adapted in the second half of this season. Clearly, though, the decision was made to remove that from the TV narrative so as to streamline the story and keep it from becoming overstuffed. But seeing as the untold backstory between Oyelade and Kingsley Jr.’s characters is so fascinating, hopefully this will be brought to the screen in season two instead.

This is likely because — warning: probable spoilers incoming! — Nada plays a key role in the fourth comics volume, Seasons of Mist, which will logically be adapted next time. It features Dream changing his mind about Nada’s fate and deciding to free her from Hell. Although this puts him at odds with Lucifer, he succeeds. Once again, he asks Nada to be his bride but she still refuses him. At her request, Dream reincarnates her as a baby boy in modern-day Hong Kong.

The Sandman‘s 10-part first season is streaming now on Netflix.