The newest installment in the The Dreaming: Waking Hours has hit the scene and with it, a new nightmare brews, literally. The first issue introduced us to Ruin, a nightmare of Dream's own creation that uses an unsuspecting new mother, Lindy, to escape The Dreaming and break out into the real world, consequently trapping Lindy inside her own waking dream. He hadn't ed for her tendency to Lucid dream, or for any of the many possible things that could go wrong, and Lindy is paying for it.
to be a Shakespeare Multiverse, and although this may seem heavenly for someone writing their dissertation on Shakespeare's identity theories, if she doesn't find her way out, she may never get to finish it.
It's established that The Dreaming is a realm of its own, outside time and memory. It's an idea, a place, that lives and grows constantly even during the waking hours. You enter it in your sleep and you leave when you're pulled back to face the world of the flesh. So what happens to someone when they never leave, when they're trapped in a dream that is simultaneously one of their own creation, and a manipulation of a realm run by Dream himself? Well, The Dreaming: The Waking Hours #2, has revealed that for Lindy it means living day-in and day-out in a dream version of Stratford-Upon-Avon with all of the different versions of Shakespeare as company, until time runs out for her.
Although this issue focused more on Ruin as a character and the happenings outside of The Dreaming, it didn't neglect to pan back to Lindy's current predicament. The first issue may have shown her as both shocked and amused at the dream she was living, but it seems this new issue shows her growing annoyed with being trapped and unable to wake up. You'd think that her chosen field of study and the topic of her dissertation would make this the ultimate dream for her. But, being trapped there, among so many iterations of the same man (or woman) all vying for the title of the real Shakespeare, seems tiresome.
From having her breasts grow heavy from not being able to breastfeed to constantly being bombarded with another origin story from yet another Shakespeare, the toll of being stuck in this realm begins to weigh on her. Worst of all, it seems there is nothing she can do to get herself out as the appeal of her situation starts to fade. Little does she know that she is dependent on Ruin and Jophiel's efforts to fix Ruin's mistake before time runs out... or is she?
At the end of this issue, it seems that the iterations of Shakespeare are also stuck in this realm together, endlessly debating who is the real deal with no conclusive answer. They believe that maybe, just maybe, if they can finally put the question to a close, they'll be released, and Lindy is just the woman to help. Her endless bank of Shakespeare knowledge is perfect for this exact situation. If she can piece together who the real Shakespeare is, she believes she may be able to free not only them from this endless dream, but herself as well. Regardless of how she gets saved, in the case of The Dreaming: Waking Hours, "to be or not to be" really is the question.
