In Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Universe, we meet the Endless, a dysfunctional family of seven brothers and sisters. They are the physical embodiments of natural principles relating to life, hence they do not fit into the traditional definition of a family. And, as the term implies, these ideas are limitless and continue to exist whether or not you or I exist.
Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium, who was once known as Delight, are the siblings who make up the Endless family, from oldest to youngest. Each of the siblings has a critical duty to perform in the proper operation of mortal life. But where did they originate from, exactly? And why do they matter so much? These are just a few of the questions we’ll address in this video. So, without further ado, let us dive right in and investigate the Endless’ narrative.
Who are the Endless? Exploring their origins
The idea of the Endless was created and developed by the exceptional English writer Neil Gaiman. Although he has beautifully executed the concept, Neil Gaiman has still tried to gatekeep the actual and precise origins of the Endless. The fans have long been left wondering in the dark about the detailed aspects of their origin. However, Neil Gaiman did drop in a few clues here and there that give us a better idea of who the Endless are.
They represent the most obvious aspects that are tied to the existence of the universe. As Destruction would describe his family, they are merely patterns, concepts, and recurring themes that technically do not have any authority to intervene in the lives of the mortals. Now coming to their absentee parents, the seven siblings are the children of Time, their father, who is the actual personification of primordial time, and Night, their mother, who is the embodiment of the everlasting darkness of the universe that predates the birth of the universe.
Now, if you think that since they seem to be the ultimate controllers of the powerful natural forces of life, they must be gods! Allow us to correct you. On the contrary, Neil Gaiman has stated in the preface to The Sandman: Endless Nights that The Endless are not to be considered gods because gods must be believed in to exist. However, the Endless will continue to exist regardless of whether we believe in them or not, simply because they are The Endless.
In order for them to take care of the universe, the Endless appears to have certain guidelines and rules that they must follow throughout the course of their lives. The first rule is that you will suffer the consequences if you spill the blood of a family member. So, this means that none of the Endless family members can kill each other. This is exactly why, despite his strong urge, Dream said that he would not harm Desire.
Another most drastic rule is that they are forbidden to fall in love with mortals because they are not allowed to interfere with their lives. It will only result in a disaster. Now, the most challenging part of their lives is that they are never supposed to abandon their responsibility. It is so because they do not “represent” the natural forces. They are simply those forces. For example, Death is death, and she does her duty by carrying the souls of those who die.
But you might be wondering what happens if they die. Well, if one of the Endless is destroyed, another aspect of their duty will take their place, thereby replacing the previous Endless. However, this does not happen if they are just absent or inactive while doing their job. In these kinds of instances, the part of existence overseen by that Endless member becomes more unpredictable and chaotic. We get to see the repercussions of this when Destruction decides to abandon his family.
In the Brief Lives story arc, Destruction also helped us understand the Endless family by saying that each Endless is really a lord of opposites: life and death, dreams and reality, destruction and creation, destiny and freedom, desire and hatred, despair and hope, and delirium and sanity.
Analyzing the Endless members: the magic of Neil Gaiman
Destiny
The moment the universe came into being, the task of the Endless began. So, let us start off with the oldest sibling, Destiny. As the name suggests, Destiny is someone who knows everything. Although he appears blind, he sees everything all the time. Destiny has existed since the moment there have been complex creatures in the universe who are capable of having a destiny. The totality of the cosmos is eternally inscribed in the book to which he is chained.
All the Endless carry a sigil that basically represents them. And in Destiny’s case, his sigil is the book that is chained to his wrist that contains everything that will ever happen. His face is also covered with a cowl which makes him appear rather elderly. Since Destiny is forever aware of everything that goes on in the universe, he is considered to be the most intelligent and most stoic member of his family and is rarely taken by surprise.
Now, every Endless sibling has their own realm over which they have complete control. Destiny’s realm is known as The Garden of Forking Ways. The garden has maze-like paths, and it represents the journey of life. Since Destiny is the ruler of this realm, he is the only one who knows the exact paths inside this labyrinth. Although, the siblings often have their family meetings in the Garden of Forking Ways.
Destiny is quite set in his own ways and does not have a great relationship with his other siblings due to his distant nature. He stays pretty aloof and almost never interferes in matters that are not directly affecting him. So, one could say he is not the most ideal older brother who would look after his family in the absence of his parents.
Death
The second eldest of the seven is Death. She has probably assumed more distinct forms than any of the others. However, she most typically appears as an attractive teenage goth girl. But remember, looks can be deceptive since Death is obviously hundreds of thousands of years old. She acts as the maternal figure of the family in the absence of their mother, Night. The sibling she is most close to is Dream, and he constantly seeks her support and guidance.
Death’s sigil is the ankh pendant that she wears around her neck. The ankh is an Egyptian symbol of life, and it is quite ironic how Death is the one who wears it as a necklace and earrings. She is a rather cheery and joyful person who is not what you would imagine when we tell you that her job is to carry the souls of the dead people from the land of the living to the afterlife where they belong.
Although in the initial years, she was not this kind-hearted and actually hated her job. But soon, she grew a liking towards human beings when she started spending one day of each century as a mortal on Earth. Her role in the universe is one of the most prominent ones because everything that is born must also die. Needless to say, Death is very diligent in performing her task.
The realm of Death is the one that has been least explored among all the Endless realms. And it is never even given an official name, but it has been described as “The Light at the End of the Tunnel.”
Dream
The one with many names, the king of Dreams, who is known as the Sandman or Morpheus, is the sibling that Neil Gaiman’s The Sandman is titled after and the main character of the series. He is the physical embodiment of the dreams from our subconscious mind that we visit at night after falling asleep. We initially meet Dream when he is caught up in a ritual that is meant for Death and is accidentally summoned to the mortal realm in her place.
Since then, he was kept as an enslaved person in our world for seventy years, witnessing a tragic story develop in bits and pieces until, ultimately, he escaped and took revenge on the family of his deceased torturer. The Helmet of Dreams is a mask-like helm that serves as Dream’s sigil. It is one of his three symbols of power, along with the sand pouch and the ruby Dreamstone.
Dream’s realm is known as The Dreaming. It is a place where mortals like us go to dream in our sleep. It is a constantly shifting metaphysical dimension of symbol, belief, and imagination. The Dreaming’s inhabitants are known as dreams and nightmares; they are frequently gods, myths, and even ordinary people who have become dreams. Since this is the domain of Dream and he is the sole controller of this place, it is also directly affected by his moods and state. At the time when Dream was in imprisonment, the Dreaming realm also met with utter chaos and collapse.
Destruction
Destruction is the only Endless who has abandoned his family and his responsibilities. He is also known as Olethros or the Prodigal. He deserted his realm around 300 years ago. Destruction had thought that by abandoning his job, he would no longer be the embodiment of that element of the cosmos, but obviously, that is not how it works in the Endless.
We earlier discussed how an Endless is replaced upon death, but they are certainly not replaced when they choose to abandon their responsibilities. After he left, things still continued spontaneously without his intervention. In fact, had he stayed, he would have been able to exert control over the chaos. However, he was not so cold when he was with the family.
In fact, people appreciated his warm presence. His sigil, which he carries with him everywhere is a sword. And as for his domain, it is never really seen, but when he was in hiding, he carried his gallery with him and stored it in a closed space of his house, which was named “The Family Room.”
Desire
Desire is the older twin of Despair and is non-binary. Desire appears to those people who see it as what they most desperately want. They take great joy in hurting their other siblings as well as humans. And as their name suggests, they are very self-centered and fickle. Much like what Desire symbolizes, they are never satisfied with just one thing.
Desire is undoubtedly the closest rival Dream has because they always try to interfere in their brother’s affairs and have often caused tremendous anguish in the past. Desire’s sigil is a glass heart and its domain is called The Threshold. We see it through an overhead picture and it is revealed to be in the shape of Desire itself, that is, a statue of its body and obviously, Desire lives in the heart.
Despair
As the younger twin of Desire, Despair is often seen as a naked and somewhat misshapen woman. Despair’s personality is quite similar to what you would expect from the name. She is actually the first Endless whose aspect has been killed. Despair’s realm where she lives is called The Gray Realm and she also has rats.
The realm is surrounded by fog and numerous free-floating mirrors, mirrors in which people stare at themselves and Despair looks back. Just the way we often feel despair upon looking at ourselves. As for her sigil, it is a hook shaped ring that she carries on her finger. She also uses that ring to cut her own flesh. Despair lets suffering take place and actually revels in it.
Delirium
Delirium is the youngest sibling and she was previously known as Delight. She changed herself and that is why she also got a new name and even Destiny does not know what happened to her. She also possesses a great deal of information that the other Endless are unaware of, and it has resulted in some incredibly enlightening as well as unsettling situations in her stories.
Through her appearance, Delirium might resemble DC’s Harley Quinn but she is most certainly calmer than she looks, although also relatively unhinged. She is not exactly excellent at expressing herself. Nonetheless, she has also been known for putting herself together on occasion, which gives us hope that Delight could still reside beneath the surface of her madness.
One of her eyes is blue with silver sparkles, while the other is emerald green. The other Endless naturally feels protective of her since she is the youngest. Delirium’s domain is as insane as she is, with a kaleidoscope of colors, words, things, and directions. However, Dream is probably the only Endless who is able to traverse it by concentrating on Delirium and moving towards the center. Her sigil is a spiral of colors, but it turns to black when she is upset.
What makes them such a powerful lot?
Now let us first take a look at some of the powers that all of the Endless family members possess. The most prominent ability is that of dimensional control. Since each of them rules over a realm that is completely under their control, they can choose to do as they please since it is their kingdom. The Endless can also visit the realms of their siblings through their respective sigils.
Each realm has a gallery that contains the sigils of all of the other siblings. All they have to do is hold the sigil of the Endless they wish to invite and call on them. Thus, they can be invited to the realm of another Endless or even ask to be invited. Since they are the physical embodiments of natural life forces, they are omnipresent and can also warp reality.
Destiny
Now focusing on their individual powers and abilities, Destiny, as we know, is the “know it all” Hermione Granger in The Sandman. Since he is the personification of pre-destination, he never acts out of his own free will. His sigil, the Book of Destiny, contains every precise detail of what will happen, and so, he only intervenes when it is ordained that he do so.
Even though he is intended to be the embodiment of everyone’s predestined fate in the cosmos, a few things are beyond even his understanding. An indication of this is his lack of knowledge about the cause of Delight’s transition into Delirium.
Death
Death being the lovely goth grim reaper girl, is quite possibly the only Endless who will survive the annihilation of the universe or even time. It is because she has to carry the very last dying thing into the afterlife. And as she loves to say: “When the last living thing dies, my job will be finished. I’ll put the chairs on the tables, turn out the lights and lock the universe behind me when I leave.” She is also able to allow a soul to wander the Earth if she sees it fit. And as the therapist of the family, it is quite refreshing to see that all of her siblings respect her the most.
Dream
Dream has repeatedly demonstrated that he is a master of the mind and a great telepath due to the fact that he derives his strength from a dream realm. There are no secrets hidden in the universe from the Lord of Dreams because he is literally responsible for all of the dreams present in the universe.
A single word from the Sandman may reveal all your wants, hopes, fears, and deepest desires. No human, God, or demon is immune to the Dream’s power. The range of his powers is both exquisite and terrifying because of his pouch of sand. He can easily put someone to sleep in a pinch. At the same time, he can also put them in a state of constant walking nightmares.
Destruction
As one of the loudest and most outspoken members of the Endless, Destruction is also capable of creating things. But of course, he is just not good at it since it goes against his fundamental nature. He has tried to explore every type of art form there is and is terrible at all of them, which is no surprise.
Destruction chose to step down from his responsibilities around the 17th century, the historical “Age of Reason.” He did so because of the future invention of the atomic bomb, for which he did not want to be held personally responsible. But, since he is immortal, he must see the destruction of everything.
Desire
Desire is one of the antagonists in the series as it is always hell-bent on provoking the other family members to spill the blood of one of their own and often creates trouble in the life of Dream. It is fond of tormenting human beings, which is most definitely its greatest power. There was a time, billions of years ago when Dream and Desire were really close friends.
This lasted until Desire, without guilt or any shame, showed its involvement in making Dream’s then-girlfriend cheat on him just for the sake of pleasure. Desire reveals in its sadistic nature and makes sure that the people who want Desire never actually receive the satisfaction of having it since it is all about the want and not the attainment.
Despair
Much like her twin sister, Despair also finds pleasure in tormenting Dream and often works together with Desire to achieve that. Since she depicts hopelessness, that is what she brings everywhere she goes. What could be considered her power is the fact that she exists no matter how hard one tries to resist her. What further aggravated her pessimistic nature was the departure of her brother Destruction. Perhaps the only sibling she was genuinely close to.
Delirium
Now, at last, we have Delirium. Her body appears to be in continual flux, whether it is the shape and color of her hair, her clothes, or even her age. But irrespective of that, she will always be the youngest Endless sibling. Delirium also appears to know secrets that the other Endless are unaware of.
While Destiny sees and knows all that was, is, could, or will be, Delirium is the one who knows everything other than that. The thing that was not, is not, could not, or will not be. She is the personification of all that terrifying knowledge, and not even the other Endless can comprehend it. So, it would seem that ignoring what she says is almost as bad as listening too carefully. After all, she is the physical manifestation of madness.
Now with that, there is an exciting piece of information for all the fans who want more of The Sandman. Netflix is finally releasing it as a series that is set to have eleven one-hour-long episodes in the first season. Allan Heinberg, the screenwriter of Wonder Woman, will serve as showrunner, along with Neil Gaiman serving as the producer. The most promising factor is that the show has been adapted very faithfully from the comics.
With Tom Sturridge portraying Dream, Lord of the Dreaming, Kirby Howell Baptiste as Death, Mason Alexander Park as Desire, and many other satisfying cast members, Netflix’s take on The Sandman is definitely much awaited. However, there is no official release date yet, make sure to head over to Netflix to catch the very first look of The Sandman.
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