DC Comics' Endless are personifications of primal forces, such as imagination, fate, and change, who are tied to the core of The Sandman's story.
The family tree of the Endless lies at the heart of The Sandman, which centers around the activities of Dream and his siblings. Born of a romance between Night and Time, the seven Endless hold a unique position in the reality of DC Comics. The Endless are omniversal cosmic deities, existing simultaneously in all multiverses. This is one thing that separates the Endless from gods like Zeus and Thor, who might have countless variants across reality.
As seen in Netflix's The Sandman series adaptation, The Endless are anthropomorphic personifications of concepts that all cultures agree must have an intelligence behind them. While the power of each Endless is vast, they stand apart from the gods, whose existence in DC Comics' cosmology depends upon the worship of mortal beings. The Endless are defined and shaped by sentient life, but they do not require active devotion or reverence.
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Each of the seven Endless has a responsibility tied to their offices and a realm they rule over that exists as a reflection of themselves. The story of The Sandman is largely focused upon Dream and his realm, the Dreaming, but does reveal some details regarding the other Endless as it unfolds. Here is a quick rundown of all the Endless and their areas of influence.
The title character of The Sandman has more names and titles than he does friends, but he most typically goes by Dream of the Endless, or Morpheus. The third oldest of the Endless, Dream came into being when the first sentient life began to think of things beyond simple survival. He usually takes the form of a pale-skinned human with dark hair and dark eyes full of stars. In addition to being the guardian of the Dreaming, he is also the Prince of Stories and a personification of the creative spirit. His castle holds a library containing both every book ever written and every story that was ever imagined but never put to pen. Despite the mercurial nature of his realm, Dream is the most inflexible of the Endless when it comes to the responsibilities of his position.
Destiny stands unique as the only one of the Endless not created for The Sandman by author and sometimes actor Neil Gaiman. Destiny originally served as the host of the horror anthology comic Weird Mystery Tales but was retconned into being the oldest of the Endless and the personification of fate. Typically manifesting as an eyeless monk in a hooded robe, he guards the Book of Destiny, which is chained to his wrist, and is charged with keeping track of everything that has happened, is happening, and ever will happen throughout the multiverse. He does this from within his realm, the Garden of Forking Ways, continually walking its maze-like paths while reading his book.
The second oldest of the Endless, Death is easily the busiest member of her family. Apart from Dream, she appears the most frequently of all the Endless in The Sandman stories and had several cameos in comics not written by Neil Gaiman. It is her task not only to guide all living things to whatever afterlife awaits them upon expiring but also to welcome new life into the world upon birth. Death takes the form of a teenage girl favoring Gothic fashions, with a silver ankh serving as her sigil. It is rumored that she takes on mortal flesh for one day in every century, to feel for herself what it is like to have a life and lose it. Her realm, the one time it was depicted, resembled a modern apartment, presumably because Death is always on the move and has no need for the extensive dimensions her siblings require.
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The middle child of the Endless depicted in Neil Gaiman's The Sandman Netflix show, Destruction is the avatar of change and the endings that bring about new beginnings. Destruction is notable as the only one of the Endless to abdicate his responsibilities. He did this in the 17th century at the height of the Age of Reason, having grown fearful that humanity would destroy themselves with their newfound science. Since that time he has wandered the multiverse, taking a hand at various artistic endeavors to prove — if only to himself — that he can create things as well as destroy them. Usually taking the form of a tall redheaded man with a beard and long hair, Destruction's current whereabouts are unknown, and his realm is the only one yet to be depicted in any Sandman comic.
Desire is the only genderfluid member of the Endless pantheon, changing between male and female forms as they wish. In this, they can be compared to the genderfluidity of Loki of the Norse pantheon. Desire's function among the Endless is to act as the personification of anything and everything a person might want, be it in terms of romance, lust, or simple greed. Whatever form they wear, Desire is attractive and androgynous, and while they can take on whatever form they wish, the one aspect they cannot — or perhaps will not — change is their trademark golden eyes. The realm of Desire, known as the Threshold, is a gigantic statue modeled on their body, and Desire fittingly makes their home in the literal heart of the Threshold. The older twin of Despair, Desire is a natural-born mischief-maker who delights in manipulating others for their own amusement, much like the Loki of the MCU.
The avatar of depression and suffering, Despair is the younger twin of Desire, for just after the first life began to want, they felt sadness for what they had not. Despair usually takes the form of a snaggletoothed obese woman, who cuts her own flesh with the hooked ring that is her sigil. Despair rarely leaves her dreary realm of mist and fog, which is filled with magic mirrors that each opens up on a scene of some poor soul in torment somewhere in the multiverse. Like Desire, Despair delights in toying with others, though she is more inclined to allow misfortune to happen at its own pace. Like Death, Despair is patient, for she knows that all mortals will come to appear before her someday, however briefly.
The youngest of the Endless in the cast of The Sandman, Delirium is the personification of madness. Once, Delirium was Delight and the avatar of pleasure and joy, but some change to the universe caused her to transform with it for reasons even Destiny cannot explain. While all the Endless can alter their appearance to some degree, Delirium is unable to control the rapidity with which her appearance changes. Her hair and clothing fluctuate constantly, but Delirium consistently maintains the general form of a young teenage girl with mismatched eyes — one of them emerald green with silver flecks and the other vein blue. Delirium's realm is as inconstant as her appearance, with the one solid landmark being an ornate sundial engraved with the words "Tempus Frangit" or "Time Breaks" in Latin.
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The Sandman season 1 releases on Netflix on August 5, 2021.
Matt Morrison has been writing about comics since before the word "blogging" was coined. He got his start writing for the legendary DC Comics digital fanzine Fanzing, before receiving his own column, The Mount. Since then he has gone on to write for over a dozen websites, including 411 Mania, Comics Nexus and The Cult of Nobody. He holds both an MS in Information Science from the University of North Texas and a BFA from the University of Texas at Arlington. Known as a font of comic book history trivia, he has delivered lectures on the history of American Comic Books, Japanese Manga, Doctor Who, and Cosplay at over a dozen conventions and served as an Expert In-Residence for a course on Graphic Novels for Librarians at the University of North Texas. In addition to his work for Screen Rant, Matt is currently the Editor In Chief of Kabooooom.com and writes reviews for No Flying, No Tights – a graphic literature and anime review site aimed at teachers and librarians. He also maintains a personal blog –called My Geeky Geeky Ways – which hosts his extensive episode guide for the television series making up The Arrowverse as well as his comedic Let’s Play videos. What little spare time he has is devoted towards acting, role-playing, movie-riffing and sarcasm. You can follow his adventures on Twitter.