What Happened To John Dee In The Sandman Season 1?
Warning: The following contains SPOILERS for The Sandman season 1.
Viewers of the Netflix series The Sandman might be confused by the final fate of John Dee in season 1 and left wondering what really happened to him. Despite playing an antagonistic role in the first half of the season and causing considerable damage, John Dee apparently goes unpunished for his crimes. This seems at odds with the general character of Morpheus, a.k.a. Dream of the Endless, who inflicted harsh punishments for far less when other people threatened the Dreaming and the Waking World.
In DC comics, John Dee was originally a supervillain. He used the alias Doctor Destiny and fought the Justice League of America using a variety of ingenious devices, including the Materioptikon, which allowed him to make dreams into reality. The Sandman comics introduced a retcon that established the Materioptikon was powered by the magical ruby that Dream of the Endless used to focus his powers. Netflix's The Sandman eliminates all references to the Doctor Destiny identity and Justice League of America, presenting John Dee as a misguided man who manipulated Dream's ruby toward his own ends. He stole it from his mother, Ethel Cripps, who originally stole the sand, ruby, and helm containing The Sandman's power from Roderick Burgess.
Related: Why The Sandman TV Show Is Not Set In the DC Universe
Both the comics and Netflix's The Sandman season 1 build toward a climactic battle between John Dee and Dream of the Endless for control of the Dreaming. In the end, John destroys the ruby in the hope that it will destroy Dream with it, believing it to be the source of his power rather than just a focus for it. Instead, the ruby's destruction frees the energies it
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