#DESTINY the endless

[jasonsthunderthighs]

So angry seein a distressed Dream and basically makes herself sane to talk to the eldest Endless. Bitch, you can't see when you're blind. Destiny can be such an asshole.

The Sandman: Brief Lives #47 (1989)

[designtheendless]

Family game night

Thank you @losingthegame , I have not stopped thinking about this suggestion.

[bet-on-me-13]

Death, Destruction, and Danny

(disclaimer: I have the barest bones idea of what the Endless are or their personalities, so this is just a quick blub of something I thought of at Work)

So! The JLA have just had an encounter with a member of the Endless, and called in Constantine to explain what exactly they are.

"Okay, so it's like this. Before Existence, before The Universe itself, the Personification of Time had a group of Children. These Children each Represent an Aspect of the Universe, and they are as Immortal as Immortal can get." Constantine explained.

"These children are called the Endless. They are, Dream, Destiny, Despair, Desire, Delirium, Destruction, Death, and Danny."

"...Danny?"

"Oh yeah, Danny's a cool guy. He was adopted later on by Time Itself, and he represents Balance. But that's not a word that starts with D so he just goes by his Mortal Name, Danny, to fit in."

[densewentz]

Family Dinner Theater

Sandman Inktober Day 19 (dolls/puppets) gets to see Desire having some fun at Dream's expense 💕

[writing-for-life]

The Endless Are Not Their Opposite--They Only Define It

I read quite often, on here and elsewhere, that the Endless are also their opposite (@tickldpnk8 and I were just talking about an interesting thread on Reddit), so I just decided to speed-complete this one and get it out of my drafts before it dies in there (so not as much in-depth as originally planned, but sometimes, you just need to run with it 🤣).

The Endless are not their opposite. They define it. It’s a (in my mind, and I’d love to hear what you think) massive difference. And they define their opposite by their absence. If they truly were their opposite, it would give very different meaning to canon, and if we were to do so, a lot of it wouldn't make sense in my view.

Dream is not also reality. He defines it. He is, and forever will be, unreality. It is his absence that defines reality. A dream that becomes real isn't a dream anymore--it's real. That’s the main reason why pulling the ship into reality in Overture weakens him. If he were reality, he could have just snapped his fingers and make it happen. If he were reality, a lot of his problems wouldn't be... well, problems. The fact he is (a) D/dream is pretty much why all his relationships are doomed to fail. Dreams don't last. Dreams are forever strange and can't be truly known.

Delirium is not also sanity/clarity. She defines it through her absence. And when she pulls herself together like in Brief Lives, it hurts her "muchly". It is immeasurable pain for her because it is what she is not and cannot be for any extended period of time without hurting herself.

Despair is not also hope. She defines it via her absence. As long as you hope, you don’t despair. If Despair were also hope, we would not have 6 issues of Overture very clearly showing us who and what H/hope is. If Despair were also hope, we wouldn't need a little girl called Hope reach out her hand and touch Dream—he would have a sister who could do it. But the only time Despair shows up for him, so to speak, is after he killed Orpheus—make of that what you will.

Death is not also life. She defines it. The fact that she is there at your beginning does not mean she is the one who gives you life. She is there so you will remember her, always (and especially when she takes your hand), hence you will cherish life. She does not directly give life to immortals either--they are immortal because of her absence, because she withholds her gift, like she does with Orpheus and Hob (the Eblis-situation has nothing to do with anything in my mind and is linked to a funeral rite, and we are clearly told it is not something she usually does [“it’s been so long”], or is remotely comfortable doing. It is just that she is the Endless that is most life-adjacent and hence the one who will have to do it. Just like Dream is the most reality-adjacent and hence the one who has to pull the ship).

Destruction is not also creation. He defines it. He is what gives us the blank slate, he is what makes creation possible, he is what starts the cycle and ends it, but he is not creation himself. Keeping on destroying makes creation impossible. There needs to be a pause, a break for creation to come to fruition—the absence of destruction. If he were also creation, he wouldn't create so badly (to the extent that it is canonically turned into a running gag), and being around him and seeking him out wouldn't be an issue. But it is.

Desire is not also hatred (I’m still not sure if hatred is really the opposite of desire, but I’ll run with it because that’s what Gaiman chose). They define it via their absence. You know how Dream doesn’t want Desire in his life anymore after one major spat (whether he had reason to or overreacted isn’t really the issue). And what feelings are often left in the absence of Desire? And what does Desire feel and gets themselves tangled up in because they are pushed away and are basically not acknowledged/desired by their own sibling despite constantly trying to show him they are important (desire is not just a sexual thing, people, get your mind out of the gutter 🤣)? Yeah, about that one… There is definitely a different type of enmeshment here which sometimes seems a bit plot-hole-y to me, but I think that might be down to the fact that Desire is the chosen antagonist (and even that, only to a degree until they aren’t). Even so, it still makes sense.

Destiny is not also freedom. He is the absence of it. All paths lead to the same end. Or a decision you make was the decision you were going to make all along, and what looks like a different ending was the ending that would have happened anyway. And even if you choose, the book will start to make that choice destiny again. Only Delirium knows what’s not in his book, and in this universe, the only true freedom is not bound by any rules, logic or sanity…

[fishfingersandscarves]

VOGUE [Endless Edition] (Part 2)✨

[lichanicksstuff]

Death just loves little silly immortal romantic comedies and I'm here for it.

She gave a random guy immortality just so her brother can have a date once every hundred years. Now she lets two teen ghost run all over London and a small city in America so they can experience the beauty of falling in love.

Death and Destiny probably eat popcorn and drink the cheapest cola while watching both of these chick flicks in Destiny's domain.

[lukasadss]

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME, THEY'VE SHOWN US ALL OF THE ENDLESS

[meybuyan]

this post feels..... E N D L E S S

[itolerate]

the sandman textposts part two

[bobbole]

The Sandman Universe - art by Paul Renaud

[pyrecryptid]

Messy-Family Portrait

[onehundredandeleventropicalfish]

honestly though i do think dream and destiny have one of the more underratedly funny sibling relationships

do they get along? no, not really! they care about each other, sure, and it looks on the surface like they're on good terms, because there's never any anger in it and they're both excessively formal

but then you actually look at their interactions and it's like watching two kids fight in slow motion while speaking only in a monotone

and my personal favourite - dream gets imprisoned in a black hole, in overture. desire is the only one who cares to do anything about it. but they don't have the power to pull dream out of there by themselves, only destiny has that

so what do they do instead? pull a ship out of the dreaming and drop it in destiny's garden. so that destiny summons him out of there to be like "dude get your shit off my lawn"

[joytherabbit]

[thirrith]

Destiny sits down in his garden.

The text on the right is a quote from the song 米店 by 張瑋瑋: 'You have an apple in one hand / and fate in the other.' The title on the cover of the small book is Sandman.

A couple notes:

The little book Destiny is holding is a 連環畫, a popular form of comic books in the Sinophone in the 20th century.

In case you're wondering why I didn't draw a chain: red thread of fate (I've taken the symbolism one step further of course. We're all connected to one another in some way. Who says only lovers can be tied together by a red string? And if the web of connections among all of us isn't destiny, I don't know what is.)

[writing-for-life]

The Endless Escher—David Hitchcock