Spoilers for The Sandman ahead.
The peculiar helm of The Sandman’s Morpheus may look a bit odd, but there’s a very good reason why it has the shape it does. A glimpse at the time before Dream’s capture highlights a tragic irony behind his iconic headgear. Neil Gaiman’s opus The Sandman is a story that largely centers around Dream aka Morpheus. He is one of seven beings known as the Endless, who serve as cosmic manifestations of abstract concepts such as Desire or Despair. Dream rules over the Dreaming, a realm where everyone visits when they are sleeping. The epic storyline of The Sandman begins when Morpheus is accidentally captured by Roderick Burgess who was attempting to kidnap Dream’s sister, Death. Upon his capture, Dream is robbed of several items that serve as symbols of his power: the Dreamstone, Dream’s sand pouch, and the most visually striking of his collection, his curiously designed helm.
Though the helm does serve to introduce Lucifer to The Sandman’s cast, the history and origin of the helm remains unexplored throughout the series. However, the Lord of the Dreaming finally revealed how acquired his ceremonial headwear in The Sandman: Overture #3 by Neil Gaiman and J.H. Williams III. The Sandman universe is in peril and Morpheus is venturing throughout the cosmos to try and stop it. On the way, he meets an orphaned alien girl named Hope, who joins Dream on his journey. As they camp for the night, Dream tells Hope a story of the time two gods came to the Dreaming and attempted to rob Morpheus of his kingdom. Though they briefly succeed, Dream and his lover Alianora are able to fight back and defeat the gods. Dream uses their bones to create the Gates of Horn and Ivory, as well as fashion his infamous helm.
Even though The Sandman’s Dream went through the ringer with the invading gods, he was able to come out on the other side with a powerful reminder of the experience. However, it seems that Dream was destined to repeat history in a highly ironic way. Despite his helm serving a symbol to always stay vigilant, Morpheus would find himself imprisoned once more, this time to a much more devastating degree.
Morpheus is the first to admit that when he failed at keeping the Dreaming safe, he was unprepared and as punishment, his kingdom was stolen from him. Being in such a position is unfit for the Dreaming’s Sandman, and when Dream got free, he kept his helm close to remind himself that just because he was powerful, didn’t mean he couldn’t be felled by an underhanded foe. Even though Morpheus kept a perennial reminder of his notable failure, he still managed to wind up the prisoner of Burgess. And unlike his first imprisonment, his absence for nearly a century caused some of the worst problems the Dreaming has ever faced.
The Sandman may have managed to make a visually impressive helm, but he failed at using it as the cautionary relic it was intended to be.