For the past few weeks, I’ve been rereading the Sandman graphic novels. Reading the comic books again made me recall a lingering question that I had about the Sandman mythos.
Before my actual question, I have to bring up the topic of gods in the Sandman universe. In it, the gods exist and draw their power from the people or things that believe and worship them (they come from the dreams of these people), so when the eventuality comes that they are forgotten, they lose their power and eventually die (actually they go back to dreams and die). This description is true for the various gods of the various religions and mythologies; the aesir, the norse gods, the Egyptian deities etc… Poor almighty guys...
My question then has to do with the “Creator” introduced in the Season of Mists story arc. Obviously, this “Creator” (who lives in the Silver City or aka heaven duh!!!) is supposed to be THE God, the Christian and Moslem God, the mighty smiter of sinners, Yaweh, the Alpha and the Omega. In one of the issues (when Cain just came back from hell and was making his report to Dream), Dream said that “save for his Creator, Lucifer is probably the most powerful being in the universe…” So, Lucifer and the Creator guy are stronger even than the Endless themselves right? Here’s my question at last: Is the Creator like the rest of the gods in the Sandman mythos? Is he the most powerful being in the universe because at present he has the most number of believers (catholics, protestants, born again, muslims, ang dating daan, iglesia ni kristo, el shaddai etc...)? Or is he the most powerful being because he’s above these gods, above the Endless and above the Universe itself?
I can’t decide which is true. It is possible that he is like other gods, because in one of the issues of the sandman (kalimutan ko which one) Death says that at the end of the universe, she will take her last brother (Destiny) and “close shop”, which implies that the creator will eventually be forgotten ‘cause in the end, there is only Death . But I think the other argument also has a point. In the comics, the Creator doesn’t act like the other gods or even the Endless who have “human traits” (they are sometimes selfish, more often than not horny bastards and they often make mistakes, probably except Destiny). The Creator is depicted as the God they teach us about in elementary school; all powerful, all knowing, perfect. Finally, unlike the other gods and the Endless, the Creator does not change (change is one of the things that even the Endless undergo according to Destruction. Dream didn’t believe that the Endless change. That is ‘til the “point of view” Morpheus kicked the bucket and Daniel became Dream… then he believed).
Bottom line is I’m stumped… Lam ko na marami ako kilala na nakabasa ng Sandman… what do you guys think?
9 comments:
Feeling ko the term "powerful" as used in "Save for his Creator, Lucifer is probably the most powerful being in the universe..." can't be equated to "powerful" in Endless terms, who have their own set of schtick rules. Kaya you can't really say na mas powerful sya sa Endless. And he's not all-knowing or perfect. Di ba sabi ni Lucifer he's just waiting around until the universe is over to see which of the two of them was right about everything. We actually don't know anything about the Creator, kase puro envoys lang ang nakita natin galing sa kanya, like the angels Duma and that other one, whatshisname, Remiel. Besides, Dream could also mean that the Christian/Moslem God is the most powerful being in THIS particular universe... marami namang universes/planes/dimensions sa Sandman series e. Maraming lusot.
That, or I dunno. As you said, I just like looking at the pretty pictures... hahaha.Ü
Oh, and I stand by my earlier statement - Keanu Reeves WOULD make a great Morpheus in a movie version of The Sandman. Tall, pale, and stoic. Saktong-sakto sa acting range ni Keanu.Ü
me point ka...
kaya lng mas malakas c lucifer ke dream....
inamin ni dream un.
Onga no.
Pretty pictures. Hahaha.Ü
tamad ako maglog-in e...
the thing is even the Endless are created from the very essences of living things. they each embody something that all living things do, destiny, death, dream, destruction... you know the drill.
now the creator, w/c is the creator of everything is more powerful than any/all of the endless just because it is the entire source of everything: including the D-family, gets?
this creator should be pertained to as almost the same, yet completely different from the God that is taught to us. You can think of it this way: the current all-powerful God is only an aspect of the creator,given form by all its current worshippers (as all deific beings in ancient mythologies were all-powerful thru belief), when Death takes the last being in the cosmos, which is the cosmos (where Destiny "dies" because there is no more destiny to fulfill), the current all-powerful God may have already changed aspects/names again, perhaps it has changed to "great sea spider creature" as was worshipped by the people-like organisms in the future some 50000 years from now (from the Books of Magic).
That is why it was important to keep this deity in the Season of Mists simply called God, you can debate about it all you want, but really, storywise, it was just to show the readers that there was a Source of all things, and Morpheus acknowledges this as well.
If you read the current ongoing Lucifer series, God IS all-knowing and perfect. But the thing is, he's already bored with his universal creation schtick, and seeing as how the current Lucifer (and Micheal) are the best representations of his masterpieces (Lucifer and Micheal are his best creations, one symbolizing strength/power, the other intellect/will), he vacates his throne in the Silver City, and leave creation.
This creates all sorts of problems. As God is the one force that keeps all things together, his vacating his seat inevitably will destroy the entire creation, and its up to Micheal and Lucifer to find a way to prevent this from happening.
Lucifer is waiting until the end of the Universe to see which of them is right (although he already knows the answer to it even in the Sandman series, he just wants to see if its possible to change the outcome. In the end, he has no choice, but to excercise his will, w/c was his function in the first place, and fully excercise free will by creating a whole new creation. Everyone is invited to it, so long as they do not worship.)
hmm... di ko pa nababasa ung lucifer eh. pero dapat di na kasama sa discussion un! di na si gaiman gumawa eh... haha
anyways may point c great fool 7... pero im not entirely convinced.
pucha, haba ng sinulat ni seven.
simple answer, mike. yes.
that is how Gaiman and DC's world works. The Almighty God is THE God only because everyone believes HIM to be. I think in one of the Wonder Woman issues, the old Greek gods (technically Titans), Chronos, etc took over certain religions in order to gain their powers of faith/belief. In the end, they even assaulted the Silver City. They progressively got stronger as they gained the beliefs of the people, and somehow in the end Wonder Woman was able to stop them.
Hokey as it is, that Wonder Woman arc showed something important.
The Endless are endless but they are still bound by the laws of the world, and in this world God is THE God.
In the end though, I assume that since everyone is dead, God will not anymore be godly if only for the fact that He doesn't have a constituency anymore. When Death closes shop, she closes it forever and to everyone.
We're all just insufferable know-it-alls, aren't we. Hahaha.Ü
@ kabo
so what ur saying is "the creator" is THE god but at the same time, he is THE God because people believe him to be.
its not one or the other but both...
hmmm...
pwede pwede...
i need this picture. but i need a really good copy. if you could email me one, i would be so happy. catvampmishka64@gmail.com
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