Hob Gadling

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caption =
character_name = Hob Gadling
publisher = DC Comics
debut = "The Sandman" (vol. 2) #13
creators = Neil Gaiman
alter_ego =
full_name =
species =
homeworld =
alliances =
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supports= Dream
powers = Immortality

Hob Gadling is a fictional character from the "Sandman" comic book series by Neil Gaiman. Gadling first appears in the story "Men of Good Fortune" in "The Sandman" #13 (featured in "" collection) as a soldier of the Hundred Years' War, arguing with friends in an inn somewhere inside the modern borders of London.

Background

We first encounter Gadling in 1389 A.D., sitting in a smoky tavern located in what would today be London. Gadling is arguing that if he refuses to die he will have eternal life, and that dying is merely a habit of mind, something people do because everybody does it. It is, as Gadling puts it, "a mug's game." This catches the ear of Dream and Death, who are passing by for reasons not explicitly stated but that can be guessed by a fragment of their conversation: Death wants to show her brother the way of mortal life, something he knows nothing of and expresses no interest in, but which she knows from the day she spends as mortal once a century.

Death agrees, at her brother's request, to grant Gadling eternal life. Dream justifies his whim, stating 'it might be amusing,' but it becomes clear in the course of the story that his true purpose is to find a friend. In the ensuing conversation, Gadling agrees to meet Dream in the same inn once every hundred years.

The remainder of the issue recounts the six subsequent meetings of Dream and Gadling, with it only being in the final, contemporary one (1989) that the conspicuously aloof Dream is finally able to admit that they are friends, having had a falling out a century previously over this subject.

Experiences

Gadling becomes rich, gets married and knighted (1389-1589 A.D.), falls in disgrace after the premature death of his wife and child (1589-1689 A.D.), enters the slave trade to become rich for the second time (1689-1789 A.D.), and exits it when Dream shows him the immorality of it (1789-1889 A.D.).

His 1789 meeting with Dream is interrupted by the arrival of magician Johanna Constantine, ancestor of John Constantine, who says she heard it rumored that once every hundred years The Devil and The Wandering Jew meet in a tavern.

The first and last meetings each have a scene where snippets of conversation around the inn can be seen; though the scenes are in 1389 and 1989 respectively, the conversations are very similar. For example, "No, of course the plague isn't God's punishment" matches "Don't be a pillock, Darren, of course AIDS isn't a punishment from God." This statement of 'the more things change, the more they stay the same' is echoed in the penultimate issue in Daniel's Latin phrase: "Omnia mutantur, nihil interit" (figuratively translated as "everything changes, yet nothing is truly lost"). There are also overheard fragments of those who believe that those in poverty live better than the rich.

Philosophy

To an extent, Gadling (along with the other immortal characters in "Sandman") violates something of a cliché of fantastical stories: physical immortality usually turns out to be a curse in disguise, with the recipient eventually longing for death. In the "Sandman" universe, however, immortality simply bestows more of the same, for better or worse. Gaiman's immortal humans may not age, but neither do they develop unnatural wisdom or any other notable talents. Some, such as the unfortunate Element Girl, are faced with the possibility of an eternity of unbearable existence.

Gadling regularly ponders the nature of his blessing. Sometimes this pondering is whimsical - at Morpheus's wake, a slightly drunk Gadling converses with the centaur Chiron: 'I once worked out that I'd spent over six years all told, just pissing. Six years of piss.' In contrast, a poignant scene in volume nine sees Hob weeping next to the grave of the latest of his companions to die: 'I thought we'd have longer. It never gets easier, people you love not being there any more.'

The last time we see Hob, indeed, he seems to be more ambivalent about his gift. In 'Sunday Mourning' in "", he attends a Renaissance Festival with his latest girlfriend, Gwen, who is black, leading 'Robbie' to regretful musings on his earlier involvement in the Atlantic slave trade. Gwen tells him to drop the subject, and when he responds 'you can't just forget about it', she answers 'sure you can, Robbie, you know how? You just forget about it', neatly echoing Gadling's own method of achieving immortality.

Gadling also has much to say about the inauthenticity of his surroundings: 'It's just someone's idea of the English Middle Ages crossed with bloody Disneyland.' He spends most of the afternoon drunk in a disused and derelict tavern, vaguely similar to the one in which he first met Dream and Death. Here he encounters Death again, who tells him of her brother's demise and offers him a way out. He asks her many questions about what happens next and the nature of life and death, all of which she neatly avoids answering. He admits to being tempted by her offer of death: 'There'd be an awful neatness to dying here, wouldn't there? ...like coming full circle'. Eventually, however, and after a long pause for thought, he declines: 'I'm not ready to die. Not today. Not yet. Maybe not ever.' But there is a wistfulness in him we haven't seen before. Ultimately, though, he chooses to live, and we suspect he always will. The encounter reveals that Gadling believes in reincarnation, and considering the nature of belief in the Sandman universe, this may be what happens when he dies.

'Sunday Mourning' is the last episode of "Sandman" to be set in a contemporary setting, the final two taking place in ancient China and Shakespearian England respectively. There is a feeling that Hob, as the only human we've followed this long and this closely through the series, is the last modern character we see. On the last page, he relates a dream to Gwen in which he met Dream and Destruction on a beach, and they walked off into the sunset together. When Gwen asks how it ended, he fobs her off with the cliché that 'they all lived happily ever after'. We are left with the feeling that neat, happy endings of that kind are only to be found in dreams - Gadling may live ever after, but the happiness is not guaranteed.

Inspiration

Gaiman has said that he based Gadling's speech pattern on that of British actor Bob Hoskins, particularly in the film "The Long Good Friday". He has been regularly portrayed as a man of middle height with slightly receding reddish-brown hair, but only in 'Sunday Mourning' did artist Michael Zulli base his appearance on a specific person: Ian Anderson, lead singer of rock band Jethro Tull.

The concept of a character in literature whose will to live keeps them from dying, or even coming back from the dead, is prevalent through history as well. An example is Ligeia, from the Edgar Allan Poe story of the same name.