The triplet of witches trope is a recurring one in Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman, one of my favorite comic book series. They appear frequently throughout, mostly in opposition to Morpheus, the lord of dreams.

In the series, the trinity uses multiple monikers:

• Erinyes
• The Furies
• Weird Sisters
• Morai
• The Kindly Ones
• The Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone

The witches are treated as a single entity with three different aspects. In the Sandman collection The Kindly Ones, the three are vengeful storytellers with designs on Morpheus and the world of dreams.

Their sinister narration is a highlight of The Kindly Ones:

We are the Kindly Ones, Morpheus. We are vengeance and hatred unending. We are your doom.

Did you feel that, Dream King? We are ripping your world apart. We have freed the powers that you had caged.

Dream-King, we are destroying the dreaming. Non lo senti?

Cosa farai per fermarci?

Cosa PUOI fare?

In una prima incarnazione, apparvero come La Fanciulla, La Madre e La Crona.