If you missed my article on Desire, you can find it here.
I am choosing to do two at once for the last two articles because none of these four, Destiny, Destruction, Despair, and Delirium don’t play bigger parts or they only play certain aspects so there is not as much information available to give you. I am sorry, I was expecting more information on each one of them. Let’s get into it!
Ok, We know who the parents are, Father Time and Mother Night. We know who the Endless siblings, Dream, Death, and Desire are. We will meet Destiny and Destruction next time. I will introduce you first to Despair then Delirium. Despair’s sigil is a hooked ring that she wears. She also uses it to rend her flesh. Her realm is a drab and foggy place. It has rats and mirrors though. The rats are her companions. The mirrors she uses to look in on other people’s despair.
Despair has the same black hair as Death, Dream, and Desire. Even her second incarnation has the same black hair. The first and second incarnations of Despair both possess bodies the remind me of Venus of Willendorf. She is just as short and naked as the statue of the Goddess that was excavated. She also has pointed teeth. While Despair herself has no smell it is said her shadow smells like snakes. One major difference between the first and second incarnations of Despair is that the first had color to her. The second is gray. She also happens to be shorter and we see her for most of the series.
Despair is intelligent but is quiet a lot of the time. She is cold and somber. Her voice and look are extremely monotone. It is Despair’s role to bring misery to humans, or I suppose any living being, she doesn’t push it though. She has always struck me as lazy. Despair listens to her twin, Desire, often and they stir the pot together. Especially against Dream. She does seem to like Destruction though. Probably because destruction often brings misery.
Despair did challenge Dream to a contest. She wanted to see if she or Dream had the most impact on mortals. They chose Joshua Norton, a failed businessman. Despair washed over him over what had happened. Morpheus gave him a dream of being an emperor causing him to win.
Delirium used to be Delight. She is also known as Mania to the Greeks. She is the youngest of the Endless siblings. Delirium was known as Delight way before the start of these tales. She evolved into Delirium but no one knows why. I think it is lost in her head. Destiny still has her shown as Delight his realm. Her sigil is a colorful swirl and her realm is called Madness. Delirium’s look changes without warning whenever she wants. Her eyes stay the same though. One is blue and the other is green with silver flecks. She is said to smell like sweets and stale bars. Her speech bubbles are the only ones that have color.
Delirium often reminds me of a toddler. She is as easily distracted and entranced as one. Her conversations take more left turns than mine. She is playful too. However, don’t be rude to her, it makes her angry. One punishment she gives people who piss her off is madness. I already have a form of it, don’t need to make it worse. To make the picture complete, she has a dog companion named Barnabus. Destruction loaned him to Delirium indefinitely.
Delirium is close to Death and Destruction. They are protective of her and tend to dote on her. Even Dream is protective of her and he is pretty aloof. For a large part of the series, she seems afraid of Dream. She does try to save him at the end of Brief Lives.
All we have left are Destiny and Destruction. What did you think of Despair and Delirium? Have you read any of the Sandman comics? Let me know in the comments below. Until next week…
