It's actually crazy how much of a recurring theme the loss of a child is in Sandman:
First you have Roderick Burgess, who captures Dream (at least partially) out of misguided grief over a son lost to a pointless war. He gets so lost in his anger and self-rightiousness about it that by the end, it's barely about Randall anymore – as Alex says, "if [he] were alive today, he would hate you as much as I do".
Then you have Rose and her mother, who you could argue lose Jed to his father and then foster parents. It's not as permanent a loss because he doesn't die, but at least for Rose's mom it was, because she died before they had a chance to be reunited. The grief is what spurs Rose's decision to find Jed, before it's too late for them as well.
You have Hob, who is so devestated by the loss of his son (and wife and unborn child) that it knocks him off course for 80 years. But he decides that it will not define him forever, that there must be a point where the grief will become bearable, and that he wishes to live long enough to see that point and anything beyond it.
You have Lyta, who (if the show follows through on the comics) will get so mad with grief over Daniel being taken from her that she will beg the fates to intervene against Dream.
And of course Dream, who knows the pain will be unbearable. Who found it unbearable already, and ran from fate for almost 4,000 years, before he decided that his love for his son outweighed his fear of his own grief. But of course he was right; the pain is unbearable. Unlike Roderick, he will not twist it into something self-serving. Unlike Rose, he is far too late to prevent it. And unlike Hob, he can not see that possible bright spot in the future – or even if he can, he knows the Dreaming can not wait for him to reach that point. And he understands Lyta, I think. Maybe he would have done the same, to the fates, the Maenads, or anyone else who's to blame for Orpheus' death, had he not seen with Burgess how that would turn out (and had he not been the final straw on Orpheus' life).
I challenged myself to rapidly sketch one frame for each episode while I was re-watching season one. Some of those are questionable but I also really like some of them.
