Sandman is the guardian of dreams. Although he doesn't speak, he communicates through sand images that he conjures above his head much like a game of charades. He is ancient and wise and incredibly powerful. Although peaceful by nature, the Sandman is a fierce fighter expertly wielding his Dreamsand whips to fight Pitch and his nightmares.
—Rise of the Guardians official website
Sanderson Mansnoozie, better known as the Sandman, is the Rise of the Guardians re-imagining of the mythic bringer of dreams. He is the first ever Guardian, the Guardian of Dreams. He lives on a island known as The Island of the Sleepy Sands. It appears that he is Pitch's true enemy, and really the only one that he is afraid of. Sadly, in the movie, he is seemingly destroyed when Pitch turns him into a nightmare, but he returns at the end, using a Dreamsand whip to defeat him once and for all.
Sandman is a short and squat individual, garbed in an outfit made of his Dreamsand appearing as a night robe. His hair, vaguely clownish, is golden and short, styled into five points, and glitters like his sand. He also has tiny feet and golden brown eyes.
Sandman is peaceful by nature. He never speaks as he doesn't want to wake anyone up, but instead communicates with his expressions and forming images from his Dreamsand. For one who never speaks, Sandy appears to have plenty to say, showing he seems to suffer from Selective-Mutism. Though mostly peaceful and calm, Sandy is a fierce fighter, able to create whips from his Dreamsand to attack his opponents as evident when he uses his whips to beat Pitch single-handedly before the other Guardians arrived.
He finds those who threaten children intolerable, as he aggressively attacked Pitch without warning, primarily because Sandy cares deeply for children and puts their well-being before his own.
Sandy has a vivid imagination and a positive effect on his fellow Guardians, with all of whom he holds a beloved and deep friendship.
Sandy can be a little silly and childish himself (as shown by his behavior when he and his fellow Guardians turned collecting teeth into a competition when trying to keep the children's faith in Toothiana alive), and can mistakenly take things literally, like when Bunnymund told him to "knock [Jamie] out" with the sand; Sandy intended to punch Jamie out with his fists until Bunnymund corrected him. He also dislikes it when no one seems to notice or understand him when he's trying to communicate, as he literally shook an elf so its jingle bell would earn him the Guardians' undivided attention so he could point out the Man in the Moon.
Sanderson Mansnoozie, better known as the Sandman and/or Sandy, is the Guardian of Dreams. He first appeared giving dreams to the children of the world before he noticed North's Northern Lights. He created an airplane from his Dreamsand and soon he made his way to the North Pole. At the North Pole, North told them about Pitch returning back. At first the Guardians didn't believe him, and a argument started between North and Bunnymund while Tooth was too busy sending her fairies to different parts of the world to retrieve the children's teeth. While he was drinking eggnog, Sandy noticed The Man in the Moon calling for them. Sandy try to get the other Guardians attention but they were busy arguing until Sandy used one of the elves to get their attention. Finally noticing The Man in the Moon, the Guardians discover that Pitch did return and that Jack Frost has been chosen as the new Guardian.
After successfully kidnapping Jack and bringing him to the North Pole, North introduce the other Guardians. North explained to Jack why he was brought to the Pole (to become a Guardian), but Jack refused. A fight breaks out between Bunnymund and Jack, and Sandy suggested to North to take Jack away.
After North told Jack about his center, trouble at the Tooth palace began and the Guardians made their way to North's sleigh. Sandy enjoys the ride, while Bunnymund was holding himself in fear. As the arrive to the Palace, the Guardians noticed the Nightmares and Sandy realized they were made of sand similar to his. The Guardians noticed they were stealing the teeth and the fairies, causing Jack to save one of them.
As they landed inside the Palace, the Guardians saw Tooth panicking as all her fairies and teeth containers were taken away. Pitch then appears; the Guardians threaten him to no avail. Tooth try to attack Pitch but one of his nightmares stop her and revealing that Pitch has poisoned the Sandman's Dreamsand turning dreams into Nightmares. The Guardians, shocked that Pitch was using Sandy's Dreamsand, attack Pitch before he escaped. As Tooth explain to Jack the meaning behind the teeth, North came out with a plan of them collecting the teeth to keep the children believing in Tooth. North asked Jack to help them collect the teeth and in return they would help him get his memories back and Jack agrees to help them. The Guardians go around the world collecting teeth and making a competition of it. When Tooth told them they were as fast at collecting teeth and leaving gift as her fairies, the guys remembered that they forgot to leave a gift and had to travel back around the world to leave the gifts.
The Guardians all gather in Jamie's room but caused an uproar that made Jamie and his dog, Abby, to wake up and see them (except Jack). Abby starts growling at Bunnymund and Jamie tries to stop her. Jack wanting to have fun with Bunnymund, makes the alarm go off, causing Abby to attack Bunnymund and make him jump around the room. Sandy, trying to put Abby to sleep with his Dreamsand, ends up hitting everyone except Jack, Jamie and himself. Jamie flies out of bed when North lands on it and Sandy catches him. Sandman puts Jamie to sleep and then goes to fight Pitch's Nightmares that have appeared with the help of Jack.
Sandy and Pitch go into battle as the Guardians try to fight the nightmares, but Pitch corners Sandy and stabs him with an arrow making the little guardian disappear. Jack shocked at what happened, attacked the Nightmares resulting in him using a massive wave that destroy all of them. Jack started to fall until Tooth caught him and soon North used a globe to returned them to the Pole. Back at the North Pole, the Guardians make a memorial for the Sandman.
Sandy later appeared, saving Jack from Pitch after being revived by Jamie and his friends. Sandy used his powers to bring sweet dreams to everyone which resulted in more believers and Tooth's fairies used the Tooth Boxes to bring memories to the children making a lot of them to believe as well. The Guardians and the children started celebrating and Jack hits Jamie with a snowball, causing a friendly snowball fight. When Pitch woke up, he tried to make Jamie fear him again but found that Jamie was not scared of him anymore because he was able to pass through him.
Pitch, afraid, retreats to his lair which caused the Guardians to follow and confront him one last time. The Nightmares appear around them and to their surprised Pitch was taken away by his own Nightmare creatures. North asked Jack about taking the oath and the Guardian ceremony was performed again. Jack looked at Jamie which caused him to nod. Proud of himself and of Jamie, Jack says, "I will," making him an official Guardian. Sandy created fireworks made of his sand and the children watch in amazement. As Jack and Jamie said goodbye to each other, Sandy and the other Guardians waited for Jack in the sleigh welcoming the new Guardian.
Before Sandy was the Guardian of Dreams, he was part of the League of Star Captains. The League of Star Captains steered stars to every corner of the universe and their primary duty is to bestow the wishes made to their stars. But the stars that the League harnessed needed greater and greater speed so they could avoid Dream Pirates, who were especially intent on capturing Wishing Stars. The reason for this is that Wishing Stars are concentrated dream matter and each one stored tens of thousands of undreamed dreams that were made since time began; and their pilots are the key to unlocking these dreams.
During his days as a Star Captain, he heard of a wild new shooting star and he started to pursuit it. Unknown to him, Emily Jane was at its core. Seeing how this star could outpace any Dream Pirate vessel, Sandy knew that if he was going to saddle it, he needed to be clever.
He also noticed that this particular star would sometimes slow down for schools of Star Fish and the star fish seemed to have a kinship with the star. His fellow Star Captains tried to sneak up on the shooting star when it was near a school of Star Fish, but they failed. The star was no fool.
Sandy, who was like by the creatures of the cosmos, decided to bring some supplies of a special spice and soon he was completely surrounded by them, hiding him completely. In time the star came near, and Sandy waited until it was gliding right by him before he charged through the Star Fish and lassoed the star with his line. The star was surprised, but it only lasted for a second before it shot away with more speed that Sandy ever seen. He held on, pulling himself closer and closer to the star's burning apex. The star tried to knock Sandy off, even trying to scrape against a planet or two. It took Sandy a total of fourteen Earth days to finally tamed it.
According to Sandy, not a lot is known about shooting stars. Mortals never have a chance to do more than watch and wish upon it. But when you master a star something happens. You come to understand it. Each star has an individual personality that you can sense and feel, but this particular star had an energy that far exceeded any star Sandy knew. It had a voice and it spoke to him. While at first it would not tell Sandy its name, they came to an understanding. The star meant no harm and it knew that Sandy wanted to be its friend and ally.
They sailed one end of the cosmos to the other while winning every battle against the Dream Pirates. Then for a year they traveled in peace. Not once did they happen upon a single pirate and they became curious about their good fortune. Soon word came that the war with the pirates was over. It was said that Lord Pitch had been victorious and all Dream Pirates imprisoned. Sandy thought that this will be a great cause for a celebration, but upon hearing the news, the star broke free. It flew at breakneck speed, trying to crash into any heavenly body in its path.
When it began to careen directly toward a small green planet, thousand of wishes rose up from the children of that doomed world. Sandy identified the wishes as not hopeful but as terror-filled wishes and he urged the star to stop by telling it that if the children fear your coming, it doesn't make you any better than a dream pirate. And at the moment the star stopped.
Sandy knew that if shooting stars ever stop, they quickly become a sun. It would only take a few minutes for the process to become irreversible, but in all his eons as a Star Master, he never ridden a star that just stopped. Sandy sat at his controls and wondered what his wild star would do next. Then he heard what sounded like crying and from the star's core came the words, "My name...is Emily Jane. Please, I do not want to be feared."
Sandy listened to Emily Jane's sad tale and understood her mysteries. Then he offered her a choice to stay here with her rage until she burns herself down or to fly again while letting him guide her and together they could do wonder and perhaps find her father and with him peace.
She stood still without saying anything, before she decided to fly again. Together they explore faraway regions of the galaxies looking for the whereabouts of her father. Discovering that very little was known in the regions, they started to work their way toward the great center of the Golden Age, to the Constellation of Zeus. It was a peaceful journey and when wishes came Emily Jane listened. She heard every kind of wish there was and came to understand all things that people yearn for. In time she could see the difference between wishes that were worthy of being granted and those that were not.
During a discussion about wishes, Sandy asked her what does she wish for and she responded, "I wish to be washed clean of my old life. To let go of my tide of sorrows and find my way to a new shore." Sandy found this wish good and worthy. To answer her wish it would take all of Sandy's thought and wisdom so he must go into a sleepier trance to fashion an Answer Dream.
It is during this trance that a Star Captain must let the star steer itself and be on the lookout for any trouble. Since their travels had been peaceful and Emily Jane had always been up to the task of dealing with attackers, Sandy had no worries. But there was a danger neither of them had foreseen.
In all the time that Emily Jane had been trapped in the star, she had been dreaming one dream over and over: that her father would rescue her. On the other side of the cosmos, in a planet-seize prison the Dream Pirates detected this dream. At first they were puzzled as they believed that Emily died years before, but soon they realized the dream was indeed coming from Lord Pitch's daughter. So they hatched an awful plan. Every night they listened to her dream until they knew the sound of her voice and could imitate it. Then one night, they huddled next to the single door and whispered to Lord Pitch, in his daughter's voice. Pitch believing to be his daughter, opened the door and sealed his doom. The dark creature took his soul and they possessed him completely. And Pitch became their leader.
The first harpoon came as a surprise, but by the second and third, Sandy was fully awake and Emily was charging at the Dream Pirate galleon that had attacked them. They flew so close to the galleon they could see the shadowy faces of the grisly crew. At the ship's helm stood Lord Pitch, now the captain of the vessel. Pitch questioned why would Sandy send him such a dream of his death daughter and Sandy responded that dream is not plague, but a dream of hope. Pitch told him that he has no hope and that this dream is what killed my soul and made him what he is now. Emily told Sandy that must run as she feels that if he finds her, both of them will die. Sandy agreed and they started to fly away. But Pitch's men were too skilled and quick. Emily Jane tried to burn them away, but they were too many and they pulled their malevolent ship closer and closer.
Emily Jane swerved and breached with a power that even Pitch's galleon could not contain and with one great last buck, they were free from the chains but they tumbled away. They spun and spiraled at speed beyond endurance and Sandy was able to see a small green and blue planet. Sandy knew they would crash. He heard the dreams of the children coming from the planet, so he pulled at his controls. Sandy knew they must crash over water so as not to harm any child. As they plummeted toward a vast ocean, he heard one thing: a bright and clear single wish that told him "I wish you well".
Sandy fell unconscious, certain that him and his star were doomed, but he thought of that wish and nothing else. The skipped across the ocean's surface like a giant stone, then came to a spray of water, and all went black for him. Sandy did not wake for many, many years and when he did, he found that the star shattered and pulverized into a sandy island. Around this time, The Man in the Moon needed another to help him, someone who will keep the children safe and the nightmares away when the moon was less than full and bright. While searching with his telescope, he recognized Sandy's face as the same fellow he'd once sent a wish to.
Sandy was awakened by that same voice that had comforted him all those years ago, the voice that had wished him well. The Man in the Moon asked Sandy if he would keep the children safe at night, when the moon was not bright or full. Sandy nodded, for if a wish was made for him, he will felt bound to answer it. Sandy walked around his island, wondering how could he help the children of Earth. The Sea Turtles came to him and told him about the children's fear of the dark, then came the Sea Shells and they told him about the children's joy and sorrow. They also told him that Pitch's Dream Pirates still roamed the night in search of sleeping children to hazard.
Sandy knew that to help the children, he must once again face his ancient enemies, but he felt afraid. For days, his restless mind would not let him sleep and without sleep he could do nothing. But the Mermaids knew a way to help their friend. They sang him a lullaby and soon Sandy found himself dreaming. He dreamed of how he would help the children of Earth, and as he did, the island began to transform into a wondrous castle.
From the castle a great cloud of sand carried him into the sky and across the land. To every child who was sleeping, he sent a lovely dream with his Dreamsand. As the Dreamsand chased away the nightmares, the children slept unafraid. As the nightmares came, Sandy grabbed each one and said, "You are not real. You are not true. You are nothing". With Sandy's fear gone, the nightmares became harmless and turned back into golden Dreamsand.
With the children safe and The Man in the Moon's wish granted, MiM gave Sandy a name worthy of his talents. From that moment on Sandy shall be known as His Nocturnal Magnifence, Sanderson Mansnoozie, Sandman the First, Lord High Protector of Sleep and Dreams. And from that night on, The Man in the Moon had his first helper and Sandy made his round to send forth his Dreamsand.
Powers and Abilities
As the Sandman, and the Guardian of Dreams, Sandy beholds the power to bring pleasant dreams to everyone.
Power of Sleep and Dreams
Being the Sandman and the Guardian of Dreams, Sandy possesses various magical powers that involve sleep and dreams. All dreams he creates are good and pleasant, he can sense anyone who's asleep and know to send them a good dream, etc.
Sandy is able to hear the dreams of every creature and every person on Earth. 
Sandy utilizes his dream powers through his Dreamsand. The sand is entirely under his control and used for a variety of purposes, particularly some creative means and methods. As Sandy doesn't speak, he communicates by forming images of his Dreamsand over above his head.
He can also manifest almost anything out of his Dreamsand, such as airplanes, dolphins, unicorns, dinosaurs, manta rays; in fact, every stream of Dreamsand is a good dream waiting to be experienced, and Sandy can make anyone fall asleep by exposing them to this sand, even his fellow Guardians.
When someone gets a straight exposure of Dreamsand, they almost instantly fall asleep on the spot, and Dreamsand images appear over their heads of what they're dreaming about.
A particular manifestation Sandy makes of his Dreamsand are whips, which he wields with surprising ferocity, as Jack once commented to him, "Remind me never to get on your bad side". These whips are extensions of Sandy, as they lash out and ensnare his targets almost as though they're alive.
Sandy is able to float and fly, although he appears to use his Dreamsand to propel him to fly faster.
"He is lighter than most people and is not affected by gravity the way humans are, so he hovers above the ground and can levitate." 
Sandman has the ability to communicate with nature and other natural phenomena, such as clouds, wind and rainbows. 
The Guardians of Childhood
Rise of the Guardians
Creation and Conception
Of all the characters, Sandy and Pitch are the most dependant on effects. “Sandy only speaks via effects,” Prescott says. “He has thought bubbles above his head.”
Director Ramsey describes Sandy as a cross between Harpo Marx and Buddha. “He’s adorable,” Ramsey says, “but he can throw down with the best. He patrols the world every night chasing the setting sun, and spreads out his tendrils of dream sand that wind their way into windows all over the world. His power, kind of the most powerful of all, is that he unlocks imagination and dreams, and that becomes a key thing in the film.”
Although he uses sand, the character is not made of sand. He’s a simple, solid shape; he doesn’t shape-shift. “Because he’s one streamlined shape from all angles, he was super difficult to rig,” Hordos says. “He has no distinctive arms, joints, or hips. We wanted the feeling that he could stretch his whole torso yet retain solidity, that if you squeezed him and then let go, he’d pop back into shape. He was deceptively simple and unbelievably complicated. When he bends forward, how does his belly go into his leg? He had to be so connected and not lose volume.”
As for his movement, the animators treated him as if a slightly different gravity affected him; as if he were walking on the moon. “He can kind of float if he needs to,” Hordos says. “He can walk up one side of a building and float down without any danger. Something can swing by and, like Mr. Magoo, he’d keep going.”
Prescott worked with Head of Effects Yancy Lindquist to develop a unique look for the sand. “What happens in the show is that Sandman sends dreams out all over the city,” Prescott says. “They drip down into bedrooms, and from that a dream appears, a fully rigged character that gets filled with sand and has streams coming off it and flowing through it. But, we couldn’t put animated ponies and cars in every dream without blowing our budget. So, we designed clouds that you could imagine had those shapes. If Sandy needs to ask something, a question mark pops up above his head, and that shape is a simulation.”
To create these simulations, the effects crew used a combination of 2D and 3D tools and techniques. Sometimes they would run a 2D simulation along a spline; sometimes they developed full volumetric simulations. “We used the effects tools in Houdini and [Autodesk’s] Maya, and our own simulation solver that runs within Houdini,” Prescott says. “One of the big challenges was building a tool set that people could use creatively. We wanted them to spend time working on the art rather than getting the damn things to work.”
The tool set they created gave the artists more precise control of the entire simulation, especially during transitions when, for example, Sandy’s thought bubbles might change from a cup to a lamp. “Sometimes the middle looks mashed up when you do transitions,” Prescott says. “We developed a way to control the dissolves so that the middle looked beautiful.”
Helping making the dream sand look beautiful were shaders that added gold glints to the sand, which the artists rendered using Side Effects Software’s Mantra and in-house rendering tools. 
| Rise of the Guardians Wiki has|
related to Sandman.
- His signature color is yellow.
- Sandman is the Guardian of Dreams.
- Each stream of Dreamsand contains a dream which Sandman can transport to anyone on the globe.
- Sandman sends children dreams that help their wishes come true, for a wish always begins with a dream.
- In the trailer, the only sound Sandman made is snoring.
- Sandman travels on a cloud of Dreamsand, which he can morph into any form of transportation.
- Sandy and his Dreamsand are actually crucial to the rest of the Guardians, as the pleasant dreams Sandy provides for children helps them continue to have faith in the Guardians, which is why Pitch targeted him and almost won.
- It has been rumored that voice actor, Tom Kenny, was set to voice the Sandman, but the rumors were later confirmed false, as the Sandman has no speaking roles (see bottom).
- Sandy is arguably the most powerful of the Guardians because, unlike the rest, Sandy is able to connect to any and every child every night because he sends out his Dreamsand to bring pleasant dreams to all.
- Sandman was the first guardian chosen by The Man in the Moon.
- Sandy seems to like eggnog, as he drank several consecutive glasses of it while at the North Pole.
- Sandman never speaks, so as to not wake anybody up. He instead communicates through Dreamsand images that he conjures above his head, much like a game of charades.
- Sandy and Pitch are polar opposites and likely even each other's foil character:
- Sandy is short and round; Pitch is tall and lean
- Sandy is bright and appealing; Pitch is dark and foreboding
- Sandy creates pleasant dreams; Pitch creates nightmares
- Interesting to note that Sandy's eyes resemble the sun, while Pitch's resemble a solar eclipse.
- Sandy's full title, given to him by The Man in the Moon, is "His Nocturnal Magnificence, Sanderson Mansnoozie, Sandman the First, Lord High Protector of Sleep and Dreams."
- According to Patrick Hanenberger, the Sandman is the wisest of the Guardians. He doesn't feel the need to speak. He communicates with dreams, which really shows how powerful he is.
- ↑ The Sandman and the War of Dreams, page 78-105
- ↑ The Sandman: The Story of Sanderson Mansnoozie, page 6-43
- ↑ The Sandman and the War of Dreams, page 145
- ↑ The Art of Rise of the Guardians, Page 103
- ↑ The Sandman and the War of Dreams, page 143
- ↑ http://www.cgw.com/Publications/CGW/2012/Volume-35-Issue-6-Oct-Nov-2012-/The-Magic-of-Belief.aspx