While Season 1 of Netflix’s live-action series adaptation of The Sandman will focus on the Preludes and Nocturnes, early trailers already revealed Boyd Holbrook as the Corinthian. Created by Neil Gaiman for The Doll’s House storyline, the Corinthian is a living nightmare roaming the world and killing people for pleasure. If that’s not gruesome enough, the villain also has mouths with sharp teeth in place of his eyes, that he uses to chew on the eyeballs of his victims. The Corinthian is, without a doubt, one of the most iconic villains Gaiman ever created, and with The Sandman series set to be released on Friday, August 5, it’s time to explain just how powerful this nightmare really is.
Before we talk about the Corinthian, we first must turn our gaze to Dream. Also known as Morpheus, Dream is one of the Endless, a family of super powerful beings who are the living incarnation of the multiple concepts that regulate the universe. In Dream’s case, he’s in charge of maintaining the Dreamlands, the realm where every human spends one-third of their lifetime. More than keeping humans busy while they sleep, Dream is also the representation of hope, wonder, and imagination, without which life would be not worth living.
The Dreamlands are also the home of Nightmares, created by Dream to force humanity to confront their fears and the worst parts of their souls. Dream sculpts each Nightmare himself, giving them their own personality. For a moment, the Corinthian was Dream’s masterpiece, a perfect representation of everything that’s wrong with humans. The Corinthian is vicious and bloodthirsty, a narcissist who wants to devour the whole world with his eyes. The villain also felt such joy by killing other beings that he began to rebel against Dream’s ruling.
To keep the universe in place, there must be clear boundaries between the Dreamlands and the Waking World. As an Endless, Dream cannot kill humans, and the same rule extends to his servants. However, the Corinthian wanted more than scaring people while they slept and began to explore new ways to visit Earth and claim his victims. Once Dream finds out the Corinthian has killed a human, he decides to undo the Nightmare. Unfortunately, Dream is imprisoned before he can act, allowing the Corinthian to escape the Dreamlands and blend in with humanity.
For the many decades that Dream remained trapped inside a glass dome, the Corinthian built a reputation for himself as the most successful serial killer in America. Using a pair of shades to hide his eye-mouths, the Corinthian remained perfectly hidden for almost a century. The Nightmare can also possess other people’s bodies, a tool that helps him evade authorities. The only side effect of the possession is the immediate transformation of the victim's body, as their eyes are replaced with tiny mouths and their hair turns white.
During his reign of terror, the Corinthian left his victims' tortured and eyeless bodies behind, inspired many other humans with dark instincts to follow the same path and become collectors, despicable beings who derive pleasure from other people’s suffering. So, in a twisted way, the Corinthian kept doing what he was created to do: showing humanity a dark and twisted reflection of itself.
However, while Dream intended the Corinthian to serve as a warning, once he was released on Earth, he became an example to broken people everywhere. After all, if a serial killer can evade the police for so long and keep feeding his urges, why can’t other people do the same? While Dream remains powerful enough to undo his own creation, the Endless will forever know his Nightmare inflicted so much pain. And that’s what makes the Corinthian a fan favorite villain.
The Sandman will be available to stream on August 5.