The Endless
| Character Group | |
|---|---|
| Name: | The Endless |
| Type: | Anthropomorphic Manifestations |
| Fandom: | The Sandman |
| Members: | Death, Dream, Destiny, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium/Delight |
| Other: | |
| Related: | Hellblazer, Lucifer |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
The Endless - Destiny, Death, Dream, Desire, Despair, Delirium and Destruction - are a family of characters from Vertigo Comics. They are representations of various human phenomena and take their names from those phenomena. It is said they are older than life on Earth itself, but they are also tied to humanity in various degrees and have particular functions they must fulfill as a result. Death attends both birth and death; Dream provides dreams and nightmares; Destiny records past, present and future etc. Each of the Endless has a baseline appearance, but this changes according to the person they are interacting with. The Endless can die, but are replaced by another who takes on their role and identity.
As a family, they are extremely dysfunctional, but also provide support and comfort to each other when needed.
Canon
With the exception of Destiny[1], the Endless were created by Neil Gaiman in his series of graphic novels The Sandman (1989–1996) and have since appeared in a number of other Vertigo/DC Comics titles including the Death miniseries (Death: The High Cost of Living (1993) and Death: The Time of Your Life (1996)); The Books of Magic; "Hell and Gone" (2020), the prequel story of Joe Hills' Locke and Key; and The Sandman: Book of Dreams (1996). Four of the Endless - Dream, Death, Desire and Despair - have so far appeared in Season 1 of The Sandman television series on Netflix (2022), while the others have been mentioned.
The Endless
Destiny
Destiny is the eldest of the siblings. He appears as a tall, blind man in grey or brown robes, with a large book that is chained to one wrist. His role is the recording of all existence, past, present and future. He is distant and takes himself very seriously and as a result he is the least human of the Endless. His realm is a garden with the many paths souls must voyage during their existence. His Sigil is also a book.
Death
The next eldest, the personification of Death is the friendliest of the Endless. She is portrayed as a young Goth woman (in her the comics she is very pale, like Dream, in the television series she is a POC) who wears black pants and a black tank top and Doc Martens boots. Her role is to oversee the deaths of living creatures. Her realm is called the Undying Lands and her Sigil is the ankh. in the television series she is played by Kirby Howell-Baptiste. (See her individual page for more details)
Dream
Dream has many names - Morpheus, Lord Shaper, Lord of Stories and so on. He appears as a tall, thin man with very white skin and a shock of black hair and eyes 'like pools of night in which there is a faint twinkle of stars' and he wears a formless black robe with flames dancing in its depths. His realm is The Dreaming, from which he controls the dream-lives of the living. His Sigil is his helm, made from the skull and spine of a long-dead god. In the television series he is played by Tom Sturridge. (See his individual page for more details)
Destruction
Aka "The Prodigal". Three thousand years ago, Destruction abandoned his duty as one of the Endless and went his own way. He manifests as a large red-haired man, sometimes with a beard, who likes to paint and be creative, despite his very nature being in conflict with it. He is/was especially close to Delirium/Delight, who misses him a lot. His Sigil is a sword.
Desire
Desire is androgynous, appearing as whatever is most desirable in the moment, all genders and none. They have a love of causing trouble, not just for humans but also for their family and in particular Dream, for whom they have a particular rivalry. In the past, this resulted in Desire causing Dream to fall in love with Nada, a human woman who he subsequently damned to Hell; and then in the events of The Doll's House, Desire attempted to orchestrate Dream committing the unforgivable sin of killing one of their own blood, a Dream Vortex who happens to be the grandchild of a woman Desire impregnated while she was a victim of the sleeping sickness. They failed, incurring the wrath of Dream, but this did not deter them in their machinations. Their realm is known as The Threshold, their Sigil is a crystal heart and they are the twin sibling of Desire. In the television series, they are played by non-binary actor Mason Alexander Park.
Despair
Twin sister to Desire, the particular version shown in The Sandman is the second incarnation of the personification. The previous version died or was killed - it is unclear which - and a new Despair was summoned into the role. Despair typically appears as a short, fat, nude woman with greyish skin, who wears a gold ring with a fishhook which is her Sigil and which she frequently uses to carve up her face. She is generally in on Desire's plans, but is reluctant to act directly against their brother, Dream. In the television series, she is played by Donna Preston.
Delirium/Delight
Youngest of the Endless, Delight became Delirium due to some unknown traumatic event. She governs those who have lost touch with reality, for whatever reason, and while she generally takes the shape of a young girl, this can vary wildly. Her hair is usually multi-coloured and wild-looking, her clothes a mish-mash of styles and textures and her thought processes can be confused and hard to follow. The one constant is her eye colour - one is emerald green with silver specks and the other is blue, although which is which changes. She tends to need her family the most and wishes they could all be happy together. Her Sigil is a shapeless abstract blob of colours.
Fanon
As Dream and Death have their own individual pages, this section will focus on the remaining siblings.
This article or section needs expansion. |
Shipping
Fanworks
Fanfiction
- Facade by Tori Morris (unknown) - Delirium remembers what it was like to be Delight.
- I Am Me by Mona (2000) - Delirium has always been the most adaptive Endless. Here, she goes through another change.
- Of Dreams, Family, and The Bane of Rules by AshWinterGray (2022) - Delirium finds her brother in a fishbowl. Which is a weird place to be.
- The Maid of Orleans by QueenB (unknown) - At the end of her life, Jeanne d'Arc faces her fate in Destiny's Garden as she is judged one final time by humanity.
- The Final Page by Migratory (unknown) - Perhaps even Destiny tires of duty.
- Tell Me A Tale, My Brother by AshWinterGray (2022) - Nothing surprises Destiny for Destiny knows everything. It is all written in his book, so he must know of it. He does not know this.His brother should not be here, but now he was.
- The Heart of the Matter by Mona (2000) - Desire tempts the soul of two would-be gods and lures them away from their brother's kingdom.
- Her Revolution by Joan Milligan (2001) - Despair in Paris, in 1789...
- Promising Wrath, Three Favors by AshWinterGray (2022) - Three generations later and the book which imprisoned Dream falls into the hands of a greedy man who wishes to control Desire. They plan to do so by imprisoning Despair.
- Protea by Arowen12 (2022) - Despair and Desire find that lording over Dream's capture doesn't quite go to plan.
- Must Love Dogs by lukeskqwalker (2022) - Two immortals accidentally become friends. That is just the beginning (Destruction and Hob Gadling).
- Leaving by Migratory (unknown) - Destruction is about to close his Realm.
- Destruction and Creation by siren_of_the_ocean (2021) - (Batman/The Sandman crossover) - This was destruction for no cause whatsoever.
- Endless Cats by silver_drip for softestpunk (2023) - Hob fosters cats and kittens. He ends up with seven very unique cats.
Fanart
- Speculum Mundi - Fonts of Wisdom Fanart Gallery (includes art by T Catt, Glockgal, Juan, Des Manders, SatyQ and Wolfen Moondaughter)
Cosplay
Archives/Zines/Communities
Zines
- Siblings: An Illustrated Anthology (Volume 2, 2017)
Archives
- Fonts of Wisdom - Stories From the Shadows, Luba's Vertigo (and other) fanfiction section.
- Comicfic.net - Itty Bitty Miscellaneous Archive - Vertigo, DC, Image, non-mutant marvel and The Common People fanfiction.
External Links
- Wikipedia - the Endless (comics)
- Wikipedia - The Sandman (TV series)
- TVTropes - The Endless (1989)
- AO3 - Destiny (495 works)
- AO3 - Desire (1.080 works)
- AO3 - Despair (544 works)
- AO3 - Destruction (385 works)
- AO3 - Delirium (641 works)
- Fanfiction.Net - The Sandman (725 works) / Crossovers (268 works)