History TearJerker / TheSandman1989

* The fact that so many people were victims of a sleeping sickness as a result of Morpheus' imprisonment. Imagine how it would feel to find out that a family member fell asleep and can't wake up, despite them not being dead, or seeing a loved one not be able to sleep at all. Then there's the fact that some of those who suffered from it only woke up after 72 years and missed out on so much of their lives. Even worse, some of them never even got that far. Stefan Wasserman, a 14-year old boy who lied about his age to enlist in the German army, couldn't stand the horrors in his head anymore and [[DrivenToSuicide killed himself]] to make the stop. [[FridgeHorror How many similar cases to Stefan's exist?]] We don't know.

* During "The Sound of Her Wings", a mother ducks out of her baby's room to get a bottle for her child, who is dead by the time she returns 2 panels later. The baby's short dialogue with death is a particular WhamLine, and demonstrates the impartiality and inevitability of Death and the tragedy of child mortality in a poignant way.

* The whole story of Nada and Dream's short-lived tragic affair in "Tales in the Sand". Even though they should not have acted on that love, one can't help but feel sorry for them, especially Nada, since she was banished to Hell for rejecting Dream. What makes it worse is that Nada knew this, which was why she turned down Dream initially after realizing that he wasn't a mortal man. As a result, her kingdom is destroyed, and she commits suicide out of guilt.

* The fact that so many people were victims of a sleeping sickness as a result of Morpheus' imprisonment. Imagine how it would feel to find out that a family member fell asleep and can't wake up, despite them not being dead, or seeing a loved one not be able to sleep at all. Then there's the fact that some of those who suffered from it only woke up after 72 years and missed out on so much of their lives.

* During "The Sound of Her Wings", a mother ducks out of her baby's room to get a bottle for her child, who is dead by the time she returns 2 panels later.

* Orpheus' story, which was already a massive TearJerker outside of the series. Particularly the moment when Dream abandons him.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sandman_baghdad.png]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Harun al-Rashid's Baghdad: a Crowning City of Awesome]]

* When Lucifer is asked if he would return to Hell, he looks dead for a moment before laughing hysterically.
--> ''"No."''

* "I think I fell in love with her, a little bit. Isn't that dumb? But it was like I knew her. Like she was my oldest, dearest friend. The kind of person you can tell anything to, no matter how bad, and they'll still love you, because they know you. I wanted to go with her. I wanted her to notice me. And then she stopped walking. Under the moon, she stopped. And looked at us. She looked at me. Maybe she was trying to tell me something; I don't know. She probably didn't even know I was there. But I'll always love her. All my life." Especially when you consider he's talking about Death.

* The fact that so many people were victims of a sleeping sickness as a result of Morpheus' imprisonment. Imagine how it would feel to find out that a family member fell asleep and can't wake up despite them not being dead or seeing a loved one not be able to sleep at all. Then there's the fact that some of those who suffered from it only stopped doing so after 72 years and missed out on so much of their lives.
* Morpheus returns to the Dreaming after being imprisoned for more than seventy years... only to find his land barren, his castle in ruins, and nearly all of the dreams, nightmares, and servants are gone, save Lucien, the librarian (now sans a library) and the few who couldn't go anywhere else. His shocked, heartbroken expression when he sees the remains of the castle is startling, as is how utterly defeated he looks once he realizes what's happened.

* When we first meet them, Cain is giving Abel a gift. Abel worries that it's just another way to murder him, but it turns out to actually be a gargoyle egg that immediately hatches. Abel is so happy that he decides to name it Irwing, but Cain is outraged that he would name a gargoyle something that doesn't start with a G, and murders Abel. After Abel gets better, he's shown sitting with the hatchling Irwing and crying while talking about two brothers who loved each other very much.

* How Judy's death from the same issue impacts her ex and "token straight friend". She engaged in DomesticAbuse, but had the maturity to write an apology letter to Donna, who would later become Foxglove, that she would never get to send thanks to John Dee murdering her. Rose speaks in disbelief that Judy just died like that, how it was so sudden and violent. Foxglove in the meantime feels both remorse for breaking up with Judy, and anger about Judy's DomesticAbuse. She then channels those feelings into her songs, and she sings a song from Judy's point-of-view in ''Death: The High Cost of Living''.
* During "The Sound of Her Wings" a mother ducks out of her baby's room to get a bottle for her child, who is dead by the time she returns 2 panels later.

* The whole story of Nada and Dream's short-lived tragic affair in "Tales in the Sand". Even though they should not have acted on that love, one can't help but feel sorry for them, especially Nada since she was banished to Hell for rejecting Dream. What makes it worse is that Nada knew this, which was why she turned down Dream initially after realizing that he wasn't a mortal man. As a result, her kingdom is destroyed, and she commits suicide out of guilt.
* Rose is a Dream Vortex - a being that by its very nature tears apart the Dreaming, and the only way to stop terrible and permanent damage from happening (again) is to kill her. Dream's quiet apologies as he attempts to do just this are almost as heartbreaking as Rose's defiance and ultimate acceptance of her fate.

* In "Calliope", the titular muse is imprisoned for over sixty years, kept in horrific conditions and constantly raped, so that her captors can plunder inspiration for their stories. At one point she's naked, emaciated and prone on the floor, begging the Three to aid her, but even ''they'' can't help her and she's left pleading for anyone to save her.
* The heroine of "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" is a Siamese cat who gives birth to a litter of kittens, and joyfully anticipates raising them...but, since the father was a feral tom cat, her owners see the kittens as worthless, and the husband takes them away from her and drowns them. Even worse, the cat hears her children calling out to her as they die.
* An off-hand remark in "A Midsummer's Night's Dream" does this. Shakespeare's son bemoans that the only way his father would care about him is if he died, because then he'd make a play about it. The boy's name is Hamnet and he ''did'' die, aged eleven.

** With Rainie's powers, she could regain her Elemental Girl superhero persona and do good. The problem is the side effects: she has a disfigured body that she has to hide with masks and clothes. Death encourages her that there are other alternatives to her way and that Rainie can make her own heaven or hell. Rainie doesn't listen, so Death reluctantly gives her a means to shed her immortality.
** Rainie has a friend at her old workplace, who talks to her once a week and makes sure her welfare checks are sent on time. When she has a FreakOut and calls him a few days earlier saying that she had an emergency, he's unable to respond for a couple of hours. When he finally dials back, knowing it's not like Rainie to call frantically asking for help, [[YouAreTooLate Death answers the phone]] and says Rainie is away, forever.

* Barbie isn't coping well after her divorce from Ken. She answers the door when her neighbor Wanda knocks, without any of her makeup or hair product. Worst of all, she hasn't dreamed since that awful night. Barbie doesn't know what Rose did, but she knows that it broke up their marriage. Ken didn't like Barbie's dream fantasies any more than she liked his.
* We find out that Barbie had to return to the Land not to save it, but to allow it to be destroyed. She returns to the Land full of joy and optimism that they can stop the Cuckoo and she can be the Princess again. [[GutPunch Then her friend Luz betrays her to the Cuckoo]], who has an army and is revealed to be a little girl. Specifically, she is Barbie's childhood self, and she is tired of this world. The Cuckoo compels Barbie to destroy the Porpentine, and nearly does her in as well as her human friends who came to mount a rescue, if not for Dream's timely arrival. Dream explicitly says that cuckoos are his creations that go into various realms, grow up, and leave.

* There is a brief moment where Dream tells Barbie that per her boon that she inherited, she could have anything within his power. Barbie asks with hope if it means that he could restore the Land and her dream friends. He says that he could. Barbie seriously considers it. Then she remembers her friends are on the barren island, and Dream plans to leave them there as a CruelMercy. Thessaly, refusing to admit she needs help since she broke the rules of the Dreaming to find the Cuckoo, tells Barbie to kill the Cuckoo and she'll find an exit. Barbie, startling her with a DeathGlare, gives her a BigShutUp and says that her boon is that everyone returns home, safely and soundly. You can see how much of a sacrifice it is for her.
* The transphobia that Wanda has to deal with can hit home hard for anyone who is on the LGBTQA+ spectrum and is not accepted by their family. It doesn't help that it culminates in Wanda being buried under her dead name and in men's clothes. There is a bittersweet moment in which Wanda's soul is shown as that of the woman she is when she and Death appear in Barbie's dream in the epilogue though.

-->"[[IHaveNoSon I have no son]]."
** There's a line near the end about how when Dream walks off, he doesn't look back. You could take that to mean that Orpheus should have had that much willpower, and then he wouldn't be in this mess. Or you could take it the other way: By not looking back, Dream reveals a level of cold-heartedness completely opposite the temperament of his son (at least on the surface). It makes Orpheus's failure more forgivable... and because you don't judge him as harshly now, the [[DisproportionateRetribution punishment]] seems even worse.

* The ending of the story arc with a montage of the minor characters met during the tale, each of them coping with a loss underscoring just how brief life really is. With Andros at the end realizing he will not live long enough to taste the cherries that will bloom from Orpheus' tree.
* Just before the ending, Morpheus washes the blood of Orpheus from his hands and gazes at his memories which are now visible in the water. A falling tear ripples the surface of the memory, when Morpheus hears himself say; "So live." to his grieving son. He repeats these words, now truly grasping their weight, and begins to cry.

* Rose's situation. She reverts from her ImportantHaircut to her multicolored hair and has become an EmotionlessGirl since giving her heart to Unity. Rose also comes to say that she believes in "weird shit," showing that she's come to terms with Gilbert leaving her to resume his place in the Dreaming. She spends her time writing a screenplay she can't sell, sleeping with any man attracted to her regardless of their sexual orientation, and comforting Chantal and Zelda. Then Loki knocks her out while she's babysitting Daniel to kidnap the baby, and she says "it was my responsibility". Oh, and then Desire offers Rose's heart back, compelling Rose to give a speech that the world is full of pain, as is love, and it hurts but she wants to feel it anyway. Desire, in the case of OOCIsSeriousBusiness, mocks their granddaughter but gives Rose some space to grieve the sudden influx of feelings.

** What about Fiddler's Green? Those last words reflecting on the small pleasures of his life - "A kiss once...from a friend..." - and then slumping dead. Almost as tear-jerking is the revelation that, following Daniel's reincarnation as the new Dream, he offers pretty much all of the casualties of the Kindly Ones new life. Fiddler's Green is the only one who refuses, as he feels that this would cheapen the whole point of death.

** Also Matthew's speech, and the guilt and rage he felt.
** As well as Thessaly's speech "...And I swore...I swore I would never shed another tear for him," right while she's crying and showing us she actually has feelings other than rage and spite.

** Hob waking up weeping was one, and the speech right when Daniel-Dream opens the door "...And then, fighting to stay asleep, wishing it would go on forever, sure that once the dream was over, it would never come back...you woke up." With Dream's Star shining in the sky and that feeling that after 70+ issues...it was over. Amazing.
*** Arguably, also heartwarming, if only a little. Every brilliant series ends eventually, and you have to say goodbye, but it isn't often that the series itself says it back. Which is what "The Wake" arc really is.

--> I thought we'd have longer. It never gets any easier. People you love not being there any more.

* Morpheus' confession to Shakespeare in the final issue: "I am... in my fashion...an island."
** What's even more sad and beautiful about that moment is that he couldn't be more wrong. Over all the issues of ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', we see Dream change, and love and need other people and act like a man, and finally leave his kingdom - through death - because at last he realised that he had changed.
* Throughout the series, it's implied that killing one of the Endless brings about [[FateWorseThanDeath terrible punishment]], even under good intent. After the climax of ''The Kindly Ones'', Lyta Hall, Morpheus's killer is expressly reminded this, with the further warning that the person who'd done so previously would suffer for all eternity when his motives were purer by far. The penalty handed down is to be allowed to walk away with no further harm done to her -- a CruelMercy, as her efforts were AllForNothing, and everything she's done ensured she'd never see her son again, as he'd been reincarnated into the new Dream.
** Turns into a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}} when Daniel!Dream forgives her in the Wake. Though he does give her a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech and CallingTheOldManOut because her quest for revenge nearly caused a literal DreamApocalypse, and it meant that Daniel would never reunite with his mother. He also unofficially exiles her from the Dreaming for her crimes, and they don't reunite until a sequel series and Hippolyta has made up for her actions as TheAtoner.
** Gets a bittersweet sequel in JSA: Lyta and a reincarnated Hector are killed by a maddened Spectre, and Daniel welcomes his parents' souls into the Dreaming forever.
* When Despair receives the message for Dream's funeral, we can see the pictures in her gallery, of those who have been struck by despair. One of them is [[NotSoStoic Destiny]].

--> ''No.''

* "Dream-The Heart of a Star": Dream finding out that Killala has cheated on him and is leaving him for Sto-Oa, events (at least partially) caused by Desire, who thought it was funny. One really can't help but feel sorry for him.

-->''I am Despair - and all those who despair are me.''

* The transphobia that Wanda has to deal with can hit home hard for anyone who is on the LGBTQA+ spectrum and is not accepted by their family. It doesn't help that it culminates in Wanda being buried under her dead name and in men's clothes. There is a bittersweet moment in which Wanda's soul is shown as that of the woman she is when she and Death appear in Barbie's dream in the epilogue.

* An off-hand remark in "A Midsummer's Night's Dream" does this. Shakespeare's son bemoans that the only way his father'd care about him is if he died, because then he'd make a play about it. The boy's name is Hamnet and he ''did'' die, aged eleven.

* In "Calliope", the titular muse is imprisoned for several decades, kept in horrific conditions and constantly raped, so that her captors can plunder inspiration for their stories. At one point she's naked, emaciated and prone on the floor, begging the Three to aid her, but even ''they'' can't help her and she's left pleading for anyone to save her.

* The heroine of "A Dream of a Thousand Cats" is a Siamese cat who gives birth to a litter of kittens, and joyfully anticipates raising them...but, since the father was a feral tom cat, her owners saw the kittens as worthless, and the husband takes them away from her and drowns them. Even worse, the cat hears her children calling out to her as they die.

** Even worse is that his father did care about him. When Shakespeare meets Dream for the last time, one of the first things he asks if Hamnet would have lived if he had never made the deal with Dream.

* The fact that so many people were victims of a sleeping sickness as a result of Morpheus' imprisonment. Imagine how it would feel to find out that a family member fell asleep and can't wake up despite them not being dead or seeing a loved one not be able to sleep at all. Then there's the fact that those who suffered from it stopped doing so after 72 years and missed out on so much of their lives.

* The fact that so many people were victims of a sleeping sickness as a result of Morpheus' imprisonment. Imagine how it would feel to find out that a family member fell asleep and can't wake up despite them not being dead. Then there's the fact that those who suffered from it only woke up after 72 years and missed out on so much of their lives.

* Why Hal's relationship with Rose disintegrated; he figured out that she can compel men with IncompatibleOrientation to sleep with her, and they ended up doing the act. He's furious at how she's unaware of her control over others when she can't even feel it and he wants to stay away from her. It takes attending a funeral for them to reconcile.

* The transphobia that Wanda has to deal with can hit home hard for anyone who is on the LGBTQA+ spectrum and is not accepted by their family. It doesn't help that it culminates in Wanda being buried under her dead name and in men's clothes. There is a bittersweet moment in which Wanda's soul is shown as that of the woman she is when she and Death appear in Barbie's dream in the final issue.

--> '''Morpheus:''' yes... hurts...