History Recap / TheSandman2022S01E04AHopeInHell

* HopeSpringsEternal: Weaponized by Dream. In "The Oldest Game", Lucifer becomes anti-life. After a pep talk with Matthew, Dream becomes hope, brightening Hell. Lucifer can't top that, as to overcome that, they are admitting they cannot return to Heaven.

** The extent of Dream's weakness without his tools is greater in the TV version. In his interaction with the mocking demon Squatterbloat, Dream telling him to mind his tone to the King of Dreams somewhat comes off as an empty threat, whereas in the comic Dream punctuates his warning by easily overpowering Squatterbloat and sending him flying, making it a legitimate case of BullyingADragon. In the comic, he's never seriously threatened during the Oldest Game and plays the winning move immediately, but in the TV version he almost gets destroyed and needs Mathew's support.
** Lucifer gets this to some extent by being the one who engages Dream in the oldest game and losing, rather than it being the demon Choronzon. Comic Lucifer Morningstar was never beaten by Dream in any fashion and merely annoyed Dream had got the better of hell.

* AdaptationalBackstoryChange: The ''Sandman'' comic is set in the DC Universe, co-existing with superheroes like the Justice League. John's backstory had him using the ruby to become a supervillain before being taken down by the Justice League and confined in Arkham Asylum. The TV series is set in something more like the real world, with no superheroes or supervillains, so John's backstory involves more generic "arson, murder, and general mayhem" and his confinement is in an unnamed institution in upstate New York.

* PragmaticAdaptation: The Helm in the comic was little more than a MacGuffin for Dream, giving him a reason to go to Hell and play The Oldest Game. No explanation was given as to what it did or why he needed it back, beyond the vague allusion to it being one of his tools of office. In the show, it has the power to locate the Ruby (and presumably could have done the same for the Pouch had Dream not already obtained it). This not only gives Dream's quest to retrieve the Helm more weight, since he is no longer chasing after a simple MacGuffin to seemingly no end, but it also gives him away to find The Ruby, since the Fates' answer about its location was much less useful than in the comic.[[note]]This was a copyright-induced necessity, since the Fates' in the comic directed him to the ComicBook/JusticeLeagueOfAmerica.[[/note]]

* HopeSpot: Dream recovers his helm which leads him straight to the ruby... but John's alteration causes it to reject him.

* CompositeCharacter: In the comic, Squatterbloat was just the gatekeeper, and another demon, Etrigan, leads Morpheus through Hell to the meeting with Lucifer. In the series Etrigan is adapted out (due to, like John Constantine before him, being [[ComicBook/{{Etrigan}} a character from the DC universe that presumably would cause rights issues) and Squatterbloat performs both duties.

* CompositeCharacter: In the comic, Squatterbloat was just the gatekeeper, and another demon, Etrigan, leads Morpheus through Hell to the meeting with Lucifer. In the series Etrigan is adapted out (due to, like John Constantine before him, being [ComicBook/{{Etrigan}} a character from the DC universe that presumably would cause rights issues) and Squatterbloat performs both duties.

* CompositeCharacter: In the comic, Squatterbloat was just the gatekeeper, and another demon, Etrigan, leads Morpheus through Hell to the meeting with Lucifer. In the series, Etrigan is adapted out and Squatterbloat performs both duties.

John, seeking the warehouse where the ruby is stored, gets a lift from a good Samaritan, who becomes increasingly worried the more she learns about her passenger.

** In the comic, the demon Mazikeen is basically missing one entire side of her head. In the series, her disfigurement is more superficial.

* HopeSpringsEternal: Weaponized by Dream. In "The Oldest Game", Lucifer becomes anti-life. After a pep talk with Matthew, Dream becomes hope, brightening Hell. Lucifer can't think of anything to top that.

* ActorAllusion: The first image Lucifer (played by Creator/GwendolineChristie) conjures up is a [[Characters/GameOfThronesHouseStark direwolf]]. For that matter, when she conjures the nova, the aftermath ends with a blasted landscape while she flaps her demonic wings--not unlike the aftermath of [[Recap/GameOfThronesS7E4TheSpoilsOfWar Daenerys Targaryen's]] [[Recap/GameOfThronesS8E6TheIronThrone infamous rampages]].

** Even hope itself is changed; instead of the abstract idea of hope, it is Matthew's specific hope out getting out of Hell in one piece.