Dream Journal
May 17, 1997
I was Gandalf. There was to be a battle at the main fortress, but we received a message to fight first at this other place and so we went. There was a walled path and I kept peeking my head out and dodging arrows. There were a number of orc clans there, each with different symbols. We had a lot of different species on our side, including elves and various strange creatures, but we were far outnumbered. We retreated to our castle, which was Blaine House and my room.
I rode upon that red Other World bird and at the same time I was a kid playing with toys. They stormed the castle and I escaped on my bird. They sent a similar bird after me and I finally escaped in the mall. Then I was just me, flying about, flapping my wings, maintaining myself just above the ground. I was working on flying when Cannonball’s brother came to capture me. I became Cannonball and I finally blasted to get away.
References: Gandalf is from Lord of the Rings. Cannonball is a comic book superhero. The Other World is a toy series from my youth.
Changing Context, Changing Characters: As I transitioned to my room in the house I grew up on, the characters transitioned into toys I played with at the time. You can see the source experience — me playing with the red Other World bird, and at the same time I’m flying upon it (note than Gandalf once flew upon a bird like that). The form of the characters was shaped by the ever-shifting context of the dream.
It continued when I escaped to the mall. For a moment, the context returned to my waking life and I become myself practicing flying. But then the context turned into that of Marvel comics, likely because the mall is where comics shops are. A flying character I like? Well, it has to be Cannonball, of course.