The Gaiman Archive


THE SANDMAN CHRONOLOGY

Version 1.0
Compiled by Mike Harris

Compiler's Notes

When I started to try to put this together, I realized that Mr. Gaiman must have had some similar chronology already in his mind as he wrote this. For instance, I would figure that the events surrounding a certain chapter would be happening in December of a year, and the very next scene I would read would have Hob visiting at the gravestone of his love in the midst of snow falling.

I did very little guessing when compiling this. There are a multitude of references to months and years within characters' dialogue and as headings. There *are* a few guesses, granted, but only a few. If someone decides to read me the riot act about a particular date, I could probably reconstruct the citations that led me to place it then, but it'd be a ton of work. =)

This chronology was compiled from the eleven Sandman graphic novels, the two Death miniseries, and issues one through sixteen of The Dreaming. Because this chronology describes events happening within these novels, miniseries, and issues, it's also one big spoiler if you haven't read any of them yet, so be forewarned.

I - Before the Dawn of Time, and the Early Days

II - The Chronology Proper

13,005 B.C.
Bernie Capax born.

8,012 B.C.
Nada and Dream have their love affair. Her home village is destroyed. Desire is involved in this machination. She rejects him, and he condemns her to hell. He razes the Dreaming afterwards, and it becomes "a bleak, lonely desert for centuries."

1,011 B.C.
Death takes Apep, the serpent that never dies.

1,005 B.C.
Worship of Astarte, the love goddess (later Ishtar). begins. Temple prostitution practiced, in the near-East.

761 B.C.
Aristephaeus, the first raven, dies.

500 B.C.
Dream has a relationship with Calliope, the youngest of the Muses, and produces a son from their union, Orpheus. Orpheus' bride is struck down on their wedding night, and he seeks her resurrection from the underworld, but is torn about by the Furies.

61 B.C.
Augustus born.

49 B.C.
Augustus' father died.

45 B.C.
Augustus raped by Caesar repeatedly.

43 B.C.
Caesar killed.

Sometime between 43 B.C. and 9 A.D.
Dream approaches Augustus and counsels him about how to get out from underneath the eye of god Caesar.

11 B.C.
Algon, the Roman centurion metamorph, is born.

5 B.C.
Dream tells Astarte that he thinks she was a bad influence on Destruction. 9
Caius and Augustus spend a day together as beggars.

790
Loki is imprisoned beneath the Earth.

792
The Clurucan of Faerie last visits Aurelia of the Plains, back when "it had real influence and class."

890
Breschau commits multiple incredible atrocities.

900
Dream is willed the ancient city of Baghdad by its ruler, so that it may live forever in dreams.

An Indian is betrayed by his mistress and love disavows his realm and takes a piece of an apple that gives him immortality throughout the ages.

1255
Marco Polo born.

1259
Contigent sent to King Kublai Khan, in far Cathay, from Marco's land. Unsuccessful in converting him to Christianity.

1270
Contigent returns to their homeland.

1271
Contigent departs towards Syria, but gets lost in the desert.

1273
Marco Polo finds himself lost in the desert and meets in a soft place with others from a different time.

1303
Rustichello of Pisa finds himself lost in the desert and meets in a soft place with others from a different time.

1358-1363
Robert "Hob" Gadling is born sometime around now.

1389
Dream and Death visit the White House Tavern, and Robert "Hob" Gadling is granted life until he chooses death. The day before, a delegation of faerie tell Dream they are considering leaving the earthly plane forever. Geoffrey Chaucer and someone named Edmund discuss The Cantebury Tales.

1489
Dream and Robert Gadling meet again in the White House Tavern.

1556
Anne Shakespeare is born.

1564
William Shakespeare is born.

1582
Hamnet Shakespeare is born.

1584
Judith Shakespeare is born.

1589
Dream and Robert Gadling meet again in the White House Tavern. Christopher Marlowe and William Shakespeare are seen speaking. Dream and William Shakespeare make their pact. Robert funds Jack Hawking and in a sense begins slavery.

June 23, 1593
Shakespeare's troupe performs A Midsummer Night's Dream for the host of Faerie.

1596
Hamnet Shakespeare dies (or, perhaps, if Titania *did* take him to Faerie after the Midsummer performance, the changeling she left in his place).

1600s
Destruction, Dream, and the Corinthian examine a half-dissected ape.

1609
Robyn Gadling, Hob's son, dies in a tavern brawl.

November 1610
Shakespeare begins composing The Tempest.

December 1610
Shakespeare is visited by Dream.

January 1611
Shakespeare concludes writing The Tempest, and is visited by Dream. He accompanies Dream back to the castle, for a final drink.

February 1616
Judith Shakespeare marries Tom Quiney.

April 23, 1616
William Shakespeare dies.

1623
Anne Shakespeare dies, and the first "Folio" collection of William Shakespeare's plays are published.

1629
A mob attempts to drown Robert Gadling as a witch.

1649
Robert Gadling pawns his wife's portrait.

1665
Despair and Destruction walk the streets of London as the Black Plague runs rampant.

1689
Dream and Robert Gadling meet once more at the White House Tavern.

1692
Destruction calls a conclave of the Endless to announce that he is resigning his position.

1741
Mad Hettie born. ["I'm 247 years old!" she cries in 1988 to John Constantine.]

October 25, 1760
Lady Johanna Constantine is born, according to her gravestone.

1762
Lady Johanna Constantine is born, according to French records.

1764
Orpheus' head stolen from island.

1769
Mad Hettie takes up residence on Old Compton Street.

July 4, 1776
Mad Hettie is given the seal for America.

1786
Lady Johanna Constantine cross-dresses as a young English captain and steals certain papers from the Russian imperial court.

1789
Dream and Robert Gadling meet once more at the White House Tavern. Johanna Constantine attempts to extract some details from them. Dream advises Robert to get out of the business of slavery.

1791
Lady Constantine involved in the slave scandal in Louisiana.

June 28th, 1794
Morpheus approaches Lady Constantine, asking her assistance in obtaining Orpheus' head. She accedes.

July 24th, 1794
Lady Constantine obtains and extricates Orpheus' head from the midst of the French Revolution.

September 9th, 1794
Orpheus' head returned to the island.

1802
St. Hilarion's School (Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine's school) is founded.

1821
Orpheus' head returned to island.

June 21, 1827
Lady Johanna Constantine has something stolen from her: a key, perhaps, or the seal relating to America.

September 1859
Joshua Norton considers suicide, and is convinced by Dream to become the Emperor of the United States.

October 25, 1859
Lady Johanna Constantine dies.

1863
Roderick Burgess born according to gravestone.

September 1864
Dream meets with Delirium, and she concedes a loss in their "contest" with Emperor Joshua Norton.

1872
Roderick Burgess born according to newspaper.

September 1875
Dream meets with Desire, and he/she concedes a loss (very begrudingly) in their "contest" over Joshua.

January 8, 1880
Emperor Joshua Norton dies.

January 10, 1880
Emperor Joshua Norton is buried.

1889
Dream and Robert Gadling meet once more at the White House Tavern.

1900
Unity Kinkaid born.

1901
Edwin Paine born.

1903
Rose's grandfather on her father's side is born.

1900
Erasmus Fry born.

1902
Stefan Wasserman born.

1914
Barrow, Skinner, and Cheeseman sacrifice Edwin Paine in Satanic ritual.

September 1914
Margaret sails on the Sea Witch dressed as a boy named Jim. While on, she encounters Robert Gadling, the ship's owner and a large sea serpent. On this voyage, Robert Gadling also encounters a fellow immortal.

1914-1918
Barrow, Skinner, and Cheeseman, tormentors at St.Hilarion, die in World War I.

1916
Roderick Burgess announces in occult circles that he will raise and imprison Death.

June 6th, 1916
Dr. Hathaway provides Roderick Burgess with the means to trap Death, the Magdalene Grimoire.

prior to June 10th, 1916
The Dream-King is journeying from a far galaxy, "in a triumph of a kind [...] tired beyond reckoning and tried beyond all endurance."

June 10th, 1916
Dream is trapped in Burgess' basement by mistake.

1917
Stefan Wasserman discharged from Army due to 'sleepy sickness.'

1918
Stefan Wasserman commits suicide.

June 1920
Dr. Hathaway commits suicide.

1925-1950
Film career of Carmila Bristol, Carla's grandmother. [Carla is Lyta Hall's friend.]

1926
Daniel Bustamonte succumbs to 'sleeping sickness.' Epidemic of 'sleeping sickness' draws to close.

August 1926
Alexander Burgess, Roderick's son, identifies the prisoner as Dream. [Roderick had known already.]

1927
Ethel Merman signs a photograph to someone named 'Roddy.' In 1988, Dee confronts Morpheus and sees this photograph as a background in one shot. At this time, Erasmus Fry captures the muse Calliope on Mount Helicon, Greece.

November 1930
Roderick's order split in half. Ruthven Sykes disappears with Roderick's mistress, Ethel Cripps.

December 1930
Sykes gives Dream's helmet to the demon Choronzon in trade for an amulet protecting him from harm. Burgess attempts and fails to kill Sykes magically.

Spring 1931
Andros begins, every spring day, to pick a blossom from the cherry tree and place it on Lady Johanna Constantine's grave.

1932
Desire rapes Unity Kinkaid. Unity gives birth to a daughter, who is adopted by the Walker family and named Miranda.

1935
Muriel Jenkins is born around this time.

1936
Ethel Cripps leaves Sykes, stealing his amulet. Sykes is killed.

1939
Fiddler's Dream leaves the Dreaming. Wesley Dodds briefly meets Morpheus.

January 1942
The mother of the headmaster of St. Hilarion (Theodore) dies.

1947
Roderick Burgess confronts Dream in anger, suffers a heart attack, and dies at age 75, or 84.

1953
Simon Mould, a St. Hilarion's student, hangs himself.

1955
Ellie Marsten diagnosed as suffering from encephalitis lethargica. Alexander and his lover debate letting Dream go.

June 21, 1956
Brian Salmon loses his way, runs into faeries, and is thrown into the future.

June 22, 1956
Brian Salmon is returned to his own time, and runs into Muriel Jenkins, his true love, thus placing his time in 1996 into an alternate reality.

January 1961
Death takes Delirium to see "101 Dalmations." [An educated guess, as Delirium mentions Death taking her to see this film in an actual theater; this was the month the film was released.]

1962
Ruby Elizabeth DeLonge (Dream & Delirium's driver) born.

1963
Zelda born.

1967
Barbie's father wins third place in a bass fishing tournament.

1968
Alexander Burgess teaches 'hippie' magic. Ellie Marsten moved to a encephalitis hospital. Brute and Glob disappear from the Dreaning, and Rose Walker is born.

1970
Alexander no longer teaches 'hippie' magic, and turns over organization to Paul.

1971
Kris, Andros' son-in-law, is driven to the island where Orpheus' head is kept, "fleeing a war in a far land, driven by dark dreams." [Perhaps the far land is Vietnam?]

1972
Alexander Burgess confronts Dream in cage.

1976
Bridget Leary is born.

1977
Jed Walker born. Peter Hinchcliffe, a St. Hilarion's student, ingests alcohol and drugs and as a result chokes to death on his own vomit.

1978
Alexander Burgess confronts Dream in cage. John Constantine encounters something in Newcastle which gives him recurring nightmares for 10 years.

1979
The Corinthian visits the area where, ten years later, the serial killers' convention will be held. Marianne, Larry's daughter, dies of pancreatic cancer.

1982
Alexander Burgess confronts Dream in cage. Jed and Rose Walker last see each other.

1984
Officer Tom Flaherty begins highway patrol. He'll have a very unfortunate end eight years later after a run-in with Delirium.

1985
Rose and Jed Walker's father dies in a car accident, and Jed is sent to his grandfather's lighthouse. However, the grandfather drowns relatively shortly after that, and Jed goes to live with his second cousin Clarice and her husband Barnaby.

May 1985
Richard Madoc begins to have difficulty writing.

1986
Jed runs away from Barnaby and Clarice, but is caught and returned to them. The Bogeyman drowns in Louisiana. Maisie Hill's preoperative transsexual son, Billy, is killed when his head is crushed in with a monkey wrench.

May 1986
Dr. Felix Garrison gives Richard Madoc a trichinobezoar.

1987
Hector Hall dies, but is kept animated by Brute and Glob in order to be the new Sandman. At sometime prior to this, Hector and Lyta were married, and six months prior to that, Daniel Hall was conceived.

May 1987
Richard Madoc's second book is published, And My Love, She Gave Me Light.

June 1987
Richard Madoc debates with his agent over directing rights on his first book.

Winter 1988
Matthew comes to the Dreaming.

March 1988
Richard Madoc speaks with an interviewer or friend about his book of poetry, entitled The Spirit Who Had Half of Everything.

September 14, 1988
Alexander Burgess confronts Dream in cage, and inadvertently breaks circle with right wheel of his wheelchair. Dream escapes, and wreaks revenge. Ellie Marsten, Daniel Bustamonte, and Unity Kinkaid awake. Dream curses Alexander with eternal waking. Alexander's lover, Paul McGuire, becomes entrustee of several nursing homes, including the one that Unity Kinkaid was placed in 1955. Dream finds himself in a soft place on the way back to the Dreaming, and assists Marco Polo in returning to his home.

sometime between Sept. 1988 and April 1989
Ethel (Cripps) Dee visits her son in Arkham Asylum. Cain gives Abel a little golden gargyle Goldie (well, 'Irving', really). Dream visites John Constantine and with him, retrieves pouch from Rachel; Dream also visits hell and retrieves his helm from Chronozon.

October 1988
Richard Madoc fires his agent and signs with the William Morris Agency.

1989
Bridget develops a friendship with Jerry.

February 1989
Richard Madoc gives a 'thank you' speech for a play that he had written.

April 1989
Richard Madoc is offered an opportunity to write an original screenplay by someone, but informs that person that he has already signed a three-film deal in the States. Chantal has a kidney replacement which gives her the AIDS virus, which she gives to Zelda. Cain's letter of commission with Dream is reissued and amended.

April 1, 1989
Dee escapes from Arkham Asylum. Dream visits Scott Free and the Martian J'Onn around 3:30 am to get a lead on his dreamstone, and visits and spoke to Mervyn Pumpkinhead on his bus before Mervyn returned to the Dreaming.

April 2, 1989
Dee massacres the people at a diner, including Judy, Donna Cavanagh [a.k.a. Foxglove]'s lover. Some time after, Johnny (Hazel's brother) drags Donna down from a writer's workshop they both attend to meet Donna.

April 3, 1989
Dream confronts John Dee. Worldwide problems of insomnia and insanity.

April 4, 1989
Dream's day with Death. Among the deaths we see her visit are those of Franklin, Harry, Esme, and both a baby and a hospital patient.

sometime between April 1989 and November 1989
Rose attempts to locate her lost brother, and meets Hal, Ken and Barbie, Zelda and Chantal, and Gilbert. Dream meets with Robert Gadling once more at the White House Tavern.

May 1989
Richard Madoc moves to Chelsea, England, and is working on pre-production for ... And the Madness of Crowds.

Summer 1989
Erasmus Fry commits suicide, poisoning himself. Charles Rowland is enrolled at St. Hilarion's School.

September 1989
Richard Madoc conducts an interview concerning a released book, Eagle Stones.

October 1989
Richard Madoc conducts an interview concerning his new film.

November 1989
The serial killers hold a convention, and Dream unmakes the first Corinthian. Unity Kinkaid dies after saving Rose from her death as a dream vortex.

1990
Goldie runs away from home.

sometime between November 1989 and April 1990
Miranda purchases the Walker home and moves in with Jed and Rose. Hector Hall dies, and Lyta Hall resumes her pregancy. Barbie refuses to talk or have sex with Ken, and Ken brings home Sindy and has sex with her. They break up and Barbie moves to Manhattan. Hector Hall dies, and Lyta Hall resumes her pregnancy. Hal moves west and adopts the comic persona of Vixen LaBitch, and Zelda and Chantal purchase the house from him.

March 1990
Richard Madoc's film is released, and is nominated for three Academy Awards. He interviews with a gentleman on a show called "The Book Nook." Morpheus confronts Madoc and gifts him "ideas in abundance," then a total lack of ideas.

April 1990
Rose emerges from her room.

June 1990
Richard Madoc's interview on "The Book Nook" is broadcast. Daniel Hall is born.

July 1990 - December 1990
A conclave of the Endless is called, and Desire provokes Dream into attempting to free Nada. Dream visits Daniel Hall and Robert Gadling. Lucifer quits and wills Hell to Dream, who receives envoys from multiple mythologies.

December 1990
The dead return to life throughout Earth, causing strange happenings and the eventual death of Charles Rowland. Charles Rowland and Edwin Paine are freed to explore the earth.

Remiel and Duma, at the Creator's behest, take over hell. Nuala takes up residence within the Dreaming, Loki incures debt to the Dream King, and Nada begins a new life as a child.

May 1991
Foxglove and Hazel spend a day reading and wandering.

Sept.-Oct. 1991
Hazel sleeps with Raphael, a waiter where she works and conceives Alvin.

November 1991
Hazel and Foxglove living together. Martin Tenbones ventures into reality to contact Princess Barbara. The Cuckoo is found to have taken residence in Barbara's dreaming somehow due to Rose Walker's affair in the dreaming. A hurricane destroys her home, and Hazel and Foxglove move to stay with Hazel's mother.

sometime between November 1991 and December 1993
Chantal dies.

1992
Fiddler's Dream finds himself in a soft place with Marco Polo and Rustichello of Pisa.

January 1992
Dream begins dating Thessaly.

sometime between January and June '92
Daniel visits Cain, Abel, Eve, Gregory, and Goldie for a tea party.

June 1992
Dream breaks up with Thessaly, who adopts the name Larissa, attends school in Chicago for a while and then transfers out to the University of California in Los Angeles.

July 1992
Delirium visits Death to ask his help in a search for Destruction. Bernie Capax dies. Etain of the Second Coming and Leib-Olmai, the Adler Man both go into hiding. Ruby dies. They locate Destruction at the cost of a promise of death to Orpheus. Orpheus dies.

June 1993
The Clurucan of Faerie returns to Aurelia of the Plains at the behest of Queen Titania. Brant and Charlene visit the World's End Inn while taking refuge from a reality storm. While there, they witness a vision of Dream's funeral. Mad Hettie discovers Death will be doing her day-on-earth thing soon.

mid-July 1993
Death walks Earth one day as Didi, mostly with Sexton Furnival. They attend Foxglove's first concert, at a place called the Undercut.

sometime between July 1993 and November 1996
Sexton's casual remarks to a record company exec get Foxglove a recording contract. Foxglove becomes more popular than ever, and releases a CD, The Poetry Inspector. At some point, she has an affair with Veronique.

November 1993
Delirium and Barnabas visit Disneyland.

December 1993
Dream creates a new Corinthian. Lyta interviews for a new position with Eric at a resteraunt at which Lucifer is a piano player. Loki and Puck steal Daniel Hall, causing his mother Lyta to blame Dream and enlist the help of the Kindly Ones. The Cluracan spawns his own nemesis and takes Nuala back to Faerie.

III - Morpheus' Last Week of Life.

Monday.
He greets children who sought their lost mother, arbitrates two disputes, observes and grants dreams.

Tuesday.
He greets a nightmare, and charts skerries, and explores other parts of the Dreaming.

Wednesday.
He walks and explores the castle, which is interrupted by Odin visiting, cautioning him about Loki, and expressing his disappointment.

Thursday.
He attends one of Foxglove's concerts, looks at a painting, feeds pigeons, attends a performance of A Midsummer Night's Dream, and visits his waking-world properties.

Friday.
He reviews treaties, and assigns a small nightmare to help Delirium find Barnabas. Rose seduces Paul Holdaway, and conceives a child. The Corinthian and Matthew discover Carla was killed by Loki. The raven host enters the Dreaming.

Saturday.
The Furies approach the castle, and kill the Griffin. Lucifer begins to feel he wishes to move on. Larissa and Nuala both begin to feel restless.

Sunday.
Rose discovers Paul Holdaway is married, and visits Paul McGuire at Fawney Rig. While there, she encounters Desire. The Corinthian blinds Loki. The Furies kill Fiddler's Green, Abel, and Mervyn.

Rose travels back to the States. Zelda passes away. Dream returns home. Larissa finds herself missing Dream. Brute and Glob are freed from the Dark, along withe everyone else kept there. Morpheus dies. Nuala leaves Faerie and first goes to the Toad-Stone, a free-house similar to the World's End Inn. Alexander awakes. The new Dream is born from Daniel Hall.

1994
Bridget's father takes a sabbatical from his job, and his family moves to Ireland. There, Bridget's grandmother dies, and Bridget gets the geis.

January 1994
The new Dream resurrects Mervyn and Abel. Fiddler's Green is almost resurrected, but declines the privilege. Titania, Duma, Bast, Chiron, and Hob all head to the Dreaming. A new Griffin is brought from their homeland. There is a funeral.

The roaming barbarian tribe in the soft places are freed by the new Dream.

February 1996
Alvie jumps off a window ledge, and Death comes for him, but Hazel pleads with her for more time, which Death grants.

November 1996
Foxglove performs on Letterman, and then has interviews with Damsels and People magazines about her second release, Slits of Love. Larry dies of a heart attack. Death comes for Alvie, and Foxglove and Hazel meet with her. Boris takes Alvie's place.

December 1996
Bridget leaves home after catching Chris having an affair at a party. She nearly is raped by one of his best friends at the same party. She begins the relationship with Jerry. When she discovers she's pregant, Jerry becomes angry. He is killed during the night by Chris and his friends. The next day, Bridget finds him gone as if he had just left. She bumps into Chris on the street, and Chris proposes.

February 12, 1997
Two days before their wedding, Bridget has an abortion, and then attempts suicide by leaping in front of a truck. This knocks her into a coma.

sometime after March 1997
Foxglove has abandoned her celebrity status and now simply lives with Hazel and Alvie. She has let her hair grow long as well.

Summer 1997
Coyote attempts to become a "player" for a while, a "major player in the collective subconscious of all humanity," through stealing Eve's keys and killing Matthew. Instead, he becomes Wile E. Coyote.

Bob spends a day with Mervyn Pumpkinhead constructing and destroying various dreams. At the end of the day, he kills himself, and a few weeks later becomes a mentally challenged character under Mervyn's crew.

December 1997
Farrell arranges a stretch of land for the god Janus to race upon.

January 1998
Lucien visits Nuala, who is working at a bar as a barkeep. The Cluracan encounters his nemesis, who takes his place marrying the daughter of the Court of Llinor.

IV - Alternate Timelines

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #1:

In primitive times, cats ruled the world, but a tribe of men dream of a world ruled by men; so many do so that the reality of a world of cat rulers is wiped out so that it never had existed.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #2:

In the early 1970s, Prez Rickard runs for and gains the presidency, and wins two terms in the White House. His time there is a golden age for the country. John Belushi does not die.

ALTERNATE UNIVERSE #3:

Brian Salmon visits a version of the 1990s in which neither he nor Muriel Jenkins had visited and met as young adults. As a result, Muriel has lived alone for much of her life. However, since Brian meets Muriel, his "true love," upon his return to his old time, this version of events either dissipated into non-existence or took place in an alternate universe. It's my guess, however, that the events that took place within the subplot concerning Mad Hettie and Destiny did take place in the 'normal' timeline as well.

1964
Brian Salmon declared legally dead.

June 26, 1996
Mad Hettie finds Brian Salmon half-mad on the streets of London.

June 27, 1996
Mad Hettie heads off to America.

June 28, 1996
Mad Hettie meets with an attorney, and unlocks a copy of something significant to America.

July 1, 1996
Professor Muriel Jenkins finds out Brian Salmon is telling the truth.

July 2, 1996
Professor Jenkins interviews Jocelyn Harris.

July 4, 1996
Mad Hettie gets a new seal from Destiny.

July 7, 1996
Mad Hettie ascertains whether or not Salmon wants to return home.

July 15, 1996
Brian Salmon attempts to return home. Mad Hettie aids him, and in the process, they visit Galleon's Lap, which appears to be a free-house similar to the World's End Inn and the Toad-Stone.

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