The Characters
DESTINY
"Eblis O'Shaughnessy: you were created and gifted by five of the Endless, but you can neither dream nor, ultimately, destroy, and that shall be your triumph and that shall be your tragedy."
Like the rest of his siblings, Destiny is neither a mortal being nor a god; he is the personification of Destiny itself. As the universe came into being, so it would be that it would come to its final destiny, its end.
A blind man, Destiny appears cloaked and hooded an indeterminate color of brown, grey, and sometimes purple. He is chained to a book which contains the story of everyone and everything. Sometimes things appear in his book before they happen, and sometimes as they happen. Destiny’s realm is “his Garden”, a hedge maze which can be reached through all mazes. At its center is his castle, complete with silent “fluttering” attendants. If family meetings are called, Destiny is usually the host.
Destiny rarely displays any personality; he is mostly shown to be stoic and unmoved, with no emotional response. Destiny focuses solely on his purpose, and as such discourages most of the Endless' tampering with the mortal realm.
DEATH
"I'm not merciful or blessed. I'm just me. I've got a job to do and I do it...When the first living thing existed, I was there. Waiting. 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."
Death is Dream's elder sister and the second oldest of the Endless. She loves her job and takes it very seriously. Death, by her own admission, was not always who she now is. At the beginning of time, she thought she had the hardest job among the Endless, and it made her quite sad - so sad, in fact, she stopped doing it. When nothing died, chaos reigned, and she was begged to return to her realm. She did so, but she became "hard and cold and brittle inside." Her demeanor didn't change until she was asked by one she collected; "How would you like it?"
After that she resolved to live for one day, to see how she liked it, and what she could learn. It was only after her taste of mortality that she altered the way she thought about her job. She decided that at the end, most would be glad for the company of a friend, and that was what she tried to become. Death's persona is now friendly, optimistic, and caring.
She can be frequently seen throughout the The Sandman series, serving as Dream's confidante, giving advice, and pointing out his faults or getting angry at the twins Despair and Desire for their "games", which often interfere with the other Endless' affairs. She is closer to Dream than any other member of the family, and he sought her advice on several occasions.
DELIRIUM
"Have you ever spent days and days making up flavors of ice cream that no one's ever eaten before? Like chicken and telephone ice cream?...Green mouse ice cream was the worst. I didn't like that at all."
Delirium, is the youngest of The Endless. She is usually quite short and thin, and looks no older than a teen-age human girl. One of her eyes is blue, and the other is green, though she can adjust them to the same color but says that hurts her. Her hair changes style and color constantly, as do her clothes. Her shadow never reflects her shape, and is tangible, like velvet. She is said to smell of sweat, late nights, sour wine, and old leather. Her sigil in the galleries of the other Endless is a multicolored, abstract swirl. Her realm is a chaotic, constantly changing mass of colors,strange objects and shapes, and contains a sundial with the inscription "Tempus Frangit" ("time breaks," a Latin pun on the phrase "Tempus Fugit", "time flies"). After the events of Brief Lives, Delirium travels with a companion, a dog named Barnabas, on permanent loan from her brother Destruction.
DREAM
"I walk across the dreaming sands under the pale moon: through the dreams of countries and cities, past dreams of places long gone and times beyond recall."
Dream is one of the seven Endless, who are inconceivably powerful beings older than gods. He is both the personification, as well as the lord over all dreams and stories, and all that is not in reality (which, in turn, Dream may define by his existence). He has taken many names such as Morpheus, Kai'ckul, and Oneiros. His appearance can change, depending on the entity looking upon him.
Morpheus usually appears as a tall, thin man with bone-white skin, black hair, and two distant stars looking out from the shadows where his eyes should be. Most often they are silver, blue, or white, but when he becomes angered, they have been known to turn red.
Morpheus' speech is usually portrayed as white text in black, wavy-edged speech bubbles bordered in white. The text is capitalized normally (sentence case) in stark contrast to other characters' speech; generally in block caps text. He has a formal manner of speech.He almost never laughs out loud - or even smiles - but when he laughs, it is a disquieting sound, almost a growl.
Though ultimately a heroic character, Dream has many flaws. He has trouble catching sarcasm and jests, causing him to often appear cold and humorless. Dream can be insensitive, self-obsessed, and slow to forgive or forget what he perceives as slights. He has a long history of broken romances, and is shown, both directly and by implication, to be prone to harsh reactions when his relationships fail.
As Mervyn Pumpkinhead remarks after the end of one of Morpheus' romances, "He's gotta be the tragic figure standing out in the rain, mournin' the loss of his beloved. So down comes the rain, right on cue. In the meantime everybody gets dreams fulla existential angst and wakes up feeling like hell. And we all get wet."
DESIRE
"Where I touch, things want and need and love - drawn to their objects of desire like butterflies to a candle flame."
Desire is the third youngest of the Endless and the twin of Despair. The anthropomorphic personification of it's name, ze is a strikingly beautiful, gender mutable figure, who can be male, female, both, or neither as the situation warrants. Ze is often referred to as "sibling" by its brethren, particularly Dream, thus avoiding the need for pronouns. Desire blends in effortlessly with whatever environment ze finds hirself in. Ze lives in the heart of a massive flesh-and-blood statue of itself, known as the Threshold. Desire's sigil is a heart of cut glass.
Desire is described as smelling faintly of summer peaches. Desire's smiles are brief and sharp, hir skin is "pale as smoke," and hir eyes are "tawny and sharp as yellow wine." Desire casts two shadows, one black and sharp, the other translucent and wavering.
DESTRUCTION
"You get life, and breath, a world to walk and a path through the world--and the free will to wander the world as you choose."
Destruction is the fourth eldest of the Endless, and is depicted as a big, red-haired, bearded man. He is also known as Olethros. In appearances set in earlier centuries, he is depicted wearing military gear, though in more recent times he is shown in colourful casual clothes. When Delirium and Morpheus encounter him in the seventh collection of issues in the series, he has taken to wearing his hair in a ponytail, and owns a talking dog, Barnabas.
Destruction abandoned his realm and his responsibilities some due to the onset of the human Age of Reason, which would eventually culminate in the invention of the atomic bomb. Destruction was unwilling to be responsible for the destruction this would cause, and simply stopped directing the affairs over which he has control. As he says, destruction did not stop, it was merely no longer his fault. His point is shown in the spinoff series Lucifer character Fenrir, who is described as the act of destruction itself. Though not said, it has been postulated that this is the manifestation of Destruction's realm.
DESPAIR
"Take away the despair and there is nothing left. Nothing but an empty room, and a hook of the perfect shape and size for snagging your heart." ~Narrator, Endless Nights
Most often seen as a short, naked, gray, rotund woman with pointed teeth and black hair tied into a bun. She has no odor, but her shadow has been described as smelling musky and pungent. Her sigil is a hooked ring she wears on her left hand which she uses to tear into her flesh. Her realm is a gray, foggy space filled with rats and mirrors which she used to look upon people in their despair.
Despair is Desire's twin, and they often work together with Desire pulling Despair into plots against the elder Endless, particularly Dream.
Despair seems to be very fond of her brother, Destruction.
