We’re officially in the second half of The Sandman, and we find another crowded episode. The Doll’s House opens on a flashback sequence, as we see Rose preparing to move to New Jersey with her little brother Jed, only to learn that he is staying with their father instead. Portrayed by Eddie Karanja (and by Aryel Tsoto as a little kid), Jed grows up to be a major plot point in his sister’s story, but the series skips the long time he’s been the sidekick of a (once) renowned superhero from the DC Universe. Let’s see together.
Jed Paulsen was the son of Burt Paulsen and Miranda Walker. He grew up with his older sister Rose, but in 1982, when he was still a child, his parents divorced, and he moved with his father to Brevard County, Florida, away from his mother and sister. He was only eight years old when Burt died in a car crash, and he moved with his grandfather, Ezra Paulsen, who lived in Dolphin Island, where he worked as a lighthouse keeper. The three years that followed were most likely the most peaceful Jed had ever experienced, but then, 
in 1985, Ezra drowned, leaving the boy an emotional wreck. Jed moved once again, this time being adopted by Burt’s cousin, Barnaby, and his wife Clarice, who lived in the countryside in Georgia. The two were not interested in raising a son, adoptive or not, and only wanted to cash the check from the welfare system: they were violent and abusive, and made Jed curse every new day. The only escape the boy knew were his dreams: here, he was protected by a powerful hero, Sandman, who made him his official sidekick and shared many adventures with him. Jed’s dreams were extremely powerful, and Sandman (or rather, Sandmen, as Jed assisted first Garrett Sanford, and then his successor Hector Hall) could use him as a living anchor to connect the Dream Dimension to the real world, traveling from a reality to another. Inspired by the hero who accompanied him through his night adventures, Jed tried to escape from his abusive tutors… only to be recaptured shortly after, worsening his condition: afraid of losing their source of income, Barnaby and Clarice locked him in the basement, with no bathroom, no bed, no light, only a blanket… and his dreams, of course. Along with Sandman and his assistants Brute and Glob, Jed saved the world more than once, only to find himself back to his cold and dark basement every time he woke up.
With time, other allies joined Jed’s dreaming crusade, such as Fury, Sandman’s wife. One night, however, another mysterious figure claiming to be the real Sandman appeared: he said that Brute and Glob had created the Dream Stream as a pocket dimension within the Dreaming, hoping to overthrow him accumulating power there, and proceeded to destroy it, imprisoning Brute and Glob, sending Sandman to whatever afterlife awaited him, and Jed and Fury to the Waking World, all in a mighty blast of energy… one that had effects also in the real world, as it destroyed half of Barnaby’s 
house, and killed both Jed’s abusive foster parents. Understandably terrified by what had happened, Jed fled, more determined than ever not to be trapped into another adoption. He reached the nearest road and hitched a ride… but his bad luck wasn’t over, as the one who stopped for him was the Corinthian, a legendary serial killer who preyed on young men just like he was. Happy for the unexpected treat, the Corinthian gladly took him aboard, only to knock him out shortly after and to lock him in the trunk, to keep him “for later”, as he was going to an important convention that would have been just as happy as he was to have a guest of honor like Jed. What happened later was hard to tell, at least from a limited perspective as that from within a car trunk, but suddenly there was light, and a man named Gilbert had come to save him. Even more surprisingly, Gilbert took Jed to the one person Jed didn’t hope to see again: his sister Rose, who had been looking for him all around the country. Shocked, dehydrated and traumatized, the boy was rushed to a hospital, but here he entered a seemingly irreversible coma. The Sandman, the one who had destroyed his Dream Stream, appeared again, and declaring that his family had suffered enough, awakened him, so that he could be returned to his mother. Jed moved once again, in a house in Seattle with Miranda… but this time he was home.
Jed Walker, previously Jed Paulsen, is a boy who has suffered a lot for being so young, and who knows mostly pain and solitude. Being the descendant of an Endless and the brother of a Dream Vortex, his dreams have a special quality that makes them extremely powerful, to the point that gifted individuals such as Sandman can use them as a connection between dreaming and waking dimensions. For someone who lives the best moments of his life in his dreams, Jed is living quite a nightmare, and only some divine intervention may be able to fix his life…
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