Editor’s note: The following contains hypnotic spoilers.While Netflix adapts Neil Gaiman‘s hypnotic It follows the same comic book story, and the series also changes a few things about the main characters’ origins, including John Dee (David Thewlis). In the comic books, Gaiman attempted to write an endless saga within the confines of the DC universe. So, when it came time to pick the big villain for his first volume, Introductions and Nocturnes, used the forgotten Justice League villain, John Dee, also known as Doctor Destiny. However, for the series, Netflix was unable to use other DC characters, which led to them adapting the origin of the villain. So, who is Netflix’s John D. hypnotic? And how did they change the villain in order to adapt to live action?
Instead of choosing an existing villain and directing it against Morpheus (Tom Sturridge), hypnotic Leaning into John Dee’s relationship to Morpheus’ prison. That’s because, in the series, John Dee is the unwanted child of Roderick Burgess, OS Magus (Charles Dance), the master of the mystical arts who summoned Morpheus and besieged him for more than a century. John’s mother, Ethel Krebs (sleep and sleep /Julie Richardson), she runs away from Magus as soon as she finds out that she is pregnant – Magus wants to force her to have an abortion. She also steals Dream’s tools from Magus’ vault, a choice that will unfortunately curse her son forever.
To escape from London and make a life for herself in America, Ethel sells a Dream Sand bag. She also trades Dream’s Helm with a demon from Hell in exchange for a protection amulet. However, she keeps her dreamstone sapphire to herself, lent the gem to her son on his birthdays, so he can make his dreams come true. Addicted to the power of the Dream Stone, Jon steals the gadget from his mother and alters its properties so that it only responds to his dreams. However, the Dreamstone’s power is too great for any human mind to handle, and once Jon loses control, he ends up killing many people. That is why Ethel decided to imprison her son in a mental institution, where he remained for thirty years. Even worse, Ethel instructs the doctors to never mention the Dream Stone, deceiving John about the artifact’s existence.
After Morpheus escaped from his prison, the Corinthian (Boyd Holbrook) realizes that his former master will try to get his tools back. Wishing to prevent Morpheus from regaining his lost powers, the nightmare convinces Ethel that she is in danger. Fearing that Morpheus will come to take revenge on her and John to steal his tools, Ethel goes to visit her son in the mental institution. There, she gave him her own protection amulet, and asked him not to go after the Stone of Dreams again.
Despite Ethel’s pleas, Jon uses a protection amulet to escape from the mental institution and go after the Sapphire. After decades of heavy therapy and lying about the existence and power of the Dreamstone, John developed a pathological aversion to any kind of lies. Of course, as we all know, lying is a part of adult life and an important tool to use in everyday life. Unable to understand this, John uses the Dreamstone to remove the lies from the waking world. This of course leads to humans giving in to their deepest desires without thinking about the consequences, which in turn leads to a lot of destruction.
Removing every kind of lie from the world also removes dreams. So, John’s infantile visions of truths and lies lead to the disappearance of hope, imagination, and wishful thinking. No wonder he has become one of Morpheus’ greatest enemies, as the Dream King’s responsibility is to ensure that people in the waking world can continue to dream, so that life can be endured.
Netflix hypnotic He retains all of John Dee’s powers and position as Morpheus’ first great enemy. However, the series erases the villain’s relationship with the Justice League, focusing solely on his family history. This allows the series to explore the villain’s broken psyche, transforming him into a terrifying bad guy. And with Thewlis’ brilliant performance bringing John Dee to life, the Netflix series has become the best adaptation of the story we’ve been dreaming of.
