Editor’s note: The following are spoilers for The Sandman.Weeks after debuting on Netflix, it’s safe to say that Sandman is a hit. Neil Gaimanthe world of fantasy and fairy tale adventure has lured us into a trap again, and we definitely feel better about it. One of the most interesting aspects of Gaiman’s work that makes it so appealing to audiences and readers around the world is how sensitive and understandable it is. We can see a part of ourselves even (and especially) in the Endless, who are the personification of various aspects of reality. This is madness. And this is possible because, among other things, the Endless are family.

Don’t deny it, everyone who has brothers and sisters knows that the struggle is very real. No matter how many people in your family, whether you are the oldest, middle or youngest, each of the descendants will always receive their own special treatment - for better or for worse - and they will always think that the other is better. Now imagine for a second that you are in a family with six other brothers and sisters, one more eccentric than the other, and at the same time not so “ordinary” yourself. Being normal is definitely overrated, but the Endless take that to the next level and form one of the most dysfunctional families in pop culture.

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While in the series and comics we follow Dream (Tom Sturridge) is the closest, they are all fascinating and noteworthy, all seven of them: Fate, Death (Kirby Howell-Baptiste), Dream, Destruction, Desire (Mason Alexander Park), Despair (Donna Preston) and Delirium. As the great architect of mythology, Neil Gaiman built the Endless in this order, as their age is a very important factor in understanding who they are and why they do what they do.

Fate

The oldest of the Endless siblings is Destiny, but he does not appear in the series’ first season. Sandman. Because it came into being first, it represents the most basic aspect of existence: when everything exists, things will happen. Therefore, Destiny is a representation of entropy, the exchange of energy between all beings and things in the universe. He is the one who ensures that everything that needs to happen will happen by constantly reading his book and setting everyone’s paths in motion.

Death

Second in command of the Endless, Death is also the kindest, precisely because she knows what Fate has in store for us: the end of our ways. While her older brother represents the exchange of energy in the universe, she represents an important aspect of this exchange: it is a zero-sum game. If one side earns or receives energy, the other side is doomed to lose it, and so everything dies. So despite her name to the contrary, she is the one who truly defines the concept of life and the act of living, existing for the duration of your energy before it is transferred back into the universe. Her sigil, the ankh, makes this clear, being the Egyptian symbol of life. Death is the most natural thing in someone’s life, it’s the only thing that unites us all.

Dream

Now that the concept of life and death is well established, it’s time to look at what is the main engine of living beings: dreams. Dreams are what make life worth living. Life requires us to dream, otherwise we are stuck in a monotonous existence, with no motivation or anything to keep us moving forward. It is the dream that makes existence bearable for mortals. Another important aspect of the dream is that it is the dream that ultimately determines reality. AT The dream of a thousand cats, explains that humans were dominated by cats and could only change that reality by collectively dreaming of a better world for themselves. Of course, things never change suddenly, only in a dream, for this you need to work. And that is how our reality is defined. Morpheus is not really a life coach, far from it, but the message is pretty simple: if you can dream it, you can do it!

Destruction

The prodigal brother of the Infinite family, Destruction left his post because he did not want to be responsible for the chaos that humanity would bring upon itself when it turned to science. Because destruction is what happens when dreams are twisted into evil. His kind nature and good heart make him see himself as a bringer of change, a necessary step so that things can get better in the future. Ironically, every time he tries to create something beautiful, he fails. This suggests that even the best of intentions can lead to disastrous consequences. Ruining things is his nature, no matter how hard he tries to change it.

Desire and Despair

The Endless twins have a very strong bond, and it’s not a coincidence (more like Destiny, but we need to check his book). Desire and desperation are emotions that often go hand in hand and can feed off each other. As soon as there is a desire and a need to do something wrong, people often feel despair in their hearts, and the opposite is also true - when despair reigns, desire is often the only one on their mind … Not dreams. Incidentally, an interesting trait of Desire’s personality is their hostility towards Dream, indicating the differences between the two and how they can interfere with each other. These elements can breed each other in us, either by sparking the motivation for us to get what we want or by confusing and confusing us when we are close to getting it.

Rave

It is now known that Delirium used to have another name, Rapture, a very positive state. The one that most people keep chasing as their main goal, often losing sight of what’s important and getting, shall we say, delusional. The youngest of the Endless also constantly uses her abilities. Delirium, feeling, is a surge of ecstasy and illusion caused by something happening at the moment. This means that it is a very momentary state of mind, something represented in Delirium, the Infinite, her constant change in appearance. Like her older siblings, her existence also defines the opposite of her name, making sanity her property. Sanity, however, is not easy to maintain, no matter how focused and focused you are, which is why people often turn to drugs to feel better, or may lose their sanity in extreme conditions. There are many conditions for maintaining sanity, which also translates into Delirium’s dependence on her older siblings, especially Sleep and Destruction - a dreamer under too much pressure can become delirious and even cause some destruction.