The Fisherman

Lore & Background

The story highlights the vulnerability of children in both realms, suggesting that innocence is a beacon for predatory dream-creatures. It introduces the idea that the Dreaming is vast and ancient, containing forgotten corners where old myths fester. The Fisherman's journey underscores the theme that sometimes, to save something precious, one must venture into the most dangerous parts of existence, facing horrors that logic cannot explain or combat.

In Their Own Story

The water was not water at all, but a thick, shifting mist that tasted of salt and old sorrow. The Fisherman pulled his net through the gloom, feeling the weight of something cold and heavy drag against his hands. He knew what waited in the deep, a silence that screamed louder than any storm. Above him, the sky was a bruised purple, devoid of stars, for here even light forgot its way home.

Reader's Guide

The arc begins with Daniel, a young boy from the waking world, vanishing into the Dreaming during a nightmare. His disappearance triggers a frantic search by his father and the local dream-creatures, who realize this is no ordinary abduction. Morpheus delegates the task to a mysterious figure known as The Fisherman, a creature of the borderlands who specializes in retrieving lost things from the deep currents of dreams. Together with Daniel's father, they traverse surreal landscapes that shift like sand dunes in a gale. The journey reveals that Daniel has been taken by a malevolent entity dwelling in the void between worlds. The climax involves a confrontation where the boundaries of reality are tested, and the true cost of retrieving the lost is revealed. This arc sets the stage for the complex mythology explored later in 'A Game of You'.

Did You Know?

• The Fisherman arc was originally intended to be part of a larger story that eventually evolved into 'A Game of You'.
• Daniel, the child at the center of the plot, becomes a significant recurring character throughout the rest of the series.
• This story introduces the concept of the 'borderlands' of the Dreaming as a distinct and dangerous region separate from Morpheus's court.
• The entity that steals Daniel is one of the few dream-creatures capable of operating outside the King's direct jurisdiction.