Editing Dream (character) (section)

===Personality===
Although he is ultimately a heroic character, Dream is sometimes slow to understand humor, occasionally insensitive, often self-obsessed, and very slow to forgive a slight. He has a long history of failed amours, and is both shown and implied to have reacted harshly to the women therein. Both his mother, Night, and his siblings have commented that Dream has always wanted and always failed at finding a partner. As [[Merv Pumpkinhead|Mervyn Pumpkinhead]] remarks: "He's gotta be the tragic figure standing out in the rain, mournin' the loss of his beloved. So down comes the rain, right on cue. In the meantime everybody gets dreams full of existential angst and wakes up feeling like hell. And we all get wet". Near the end of the ''[[The Sandman: Brief Lives|Brief Lives]]'' story arc, [[Desire (DC Comics)|Desire]] says of Dream: "He's stuffy, stupid, and thinks he knows everything, and there's just something about him that gets on my nerves". There is a long-standing enmity between Dream and Desire, stemming from Desire's possible involvement in the failure of one of Dream's amours (seen in ''[[The Sandman: Endless Nights|Endless Nights]]''). It is implied that before his imprisonment he was crueler and more blind to his flaws, and much of ''The Sandman'' is focused on his desire to atone for his past behavior (e.g., helping past lovers [[Calliope]] and Nada). Dream reacts strongly to perceived insult; he banishes Nada to Hell for rejecting him and expresses outrage when [[Hob Gadling]] suggests that he seeks companionship.

Dream is constantly aware of his responsibilities, both to other people and to his territory, and is detailed and exacting in their fulfillment (as noted in ''Season of Mists'', where he is described thus: "Of all the Endless, save perhaps [[Destiny (DC Comics)|Destiny]], he is most conscious of his responsibilities, the most meticulous in their execution"). Conversely, he also uses his responsibilities as an excuse to avoid change and other things he does not want to do. He shares a close, reciprocal bond of dependence and trust with his elder sister, [[Death (DC Comics)|Death]]. He consistently strives for understanding of himself and of the other Endless, but is ultimately defeated by his inability to accept change: in ''[[The Sandman: The Wake|The Wake]]'', when asked (by Matthew, the raven), "Why did it happen? Why did he let it happen?", [[Lucien (Sandman)|Lucien]] remarks: "Charitably... I think... sometimes, perhaps, one must change or die. And in the end, there were, perhaps, limits to how much he could let himself change". However, Death suspects Dream allowed himself to become vulnerable to the Kindly Ones (by leaving his realm, when summoned by a fairy). This would imply Dream accepted change enough to knowingly and willingly allow himself to be killed and reborn as another aspect of himself - a different one. One might argue, however, that this whole "die and be replaced by the Daniel version of himself" plot was just Dream playing his own role, as he already knew some of it would happen, when he met the Daniel Dream and retrieved the Saeculum (both events happening in The Sandman Overture). Thus, the change was maybe never an option, but an imperative.

Dream is noted in ''Season of Mists'' as "accumulating names to himself as others make friends, but he permits himself few friends". He is given more names in ''The Sandman'' than any of the other Endless, beyond the many translations of ''Dream''.

Despite his narcissism and pride, Dream has a strong sense of honor. He repeatedly risks his life to make amends for a past wrong, despite not needing to do so (though, this was only after Death pointed out how horribly he had behaved) and continues on his search with Delirium despite his aversion to doing so, feeling it was unjust their human guide died without knowing anything of their quest.