Who are Destiny and Delirium in The Sandman?

The Sandman is out on Netflix now, and it’s pretty terrific. The show is based on Neil Gaiman’s beloved comic of the same name, and revolves around an eternal being named Dream. He is the Lord of the Dreams, the ruler of the Dreaming (which is the place we all go when we fall asleep), and also the concept of dreams themselves. It’s some heady stuff.

And as if that wasn’t enough, Dream has siblings: six, to be exact. In the first season, we meet his older sister Death, who is way nicer than you’d think given her grim reputation. We also meet his younger twin siblings Desire and Despair.

But Dream makes mention of two more of the Endless when he’s talking with Desire in the season finale. He advises Desire that the Endless do not manipulate humans; in fact, it’s the other way around, and that Desire, Despair “and even poor Delirium” would do well to remember that. Dream also threatens Desire, who was trying to hatch a plan to destroy Dream. “Do you believe yourself strong enough to stand against me, against Death, against Destiny?” Dream asks his sibling.

If The Sandman continues, we will meet Destiny and Delirium

So who are Destiny and Delirium? Well, they’re members of this family we have yet to meet, although we can see hints of them in the first season. Every member of the family has a gallery where all of their siblings’ sigils are arrayed. Dream’s sigil is his helm, Desire’s is a heart, Despair’s in a ring with a hook on it, and Death’s is an ank. In Desire’s gallery, we see two more sigils: a book and a formless, multicolored glob. These belong to Destiny and Delirium respectively.

Destiny is the eldest of the Endless…although they’re all impossibly old, so it doesn’t seem like that should mean much. It does, though; Destiny definitely gives off elder brother energy. He’s the most serious of the siblings. His realm is a maze-like garden, and shackled to his wrist is a book in which is written everything that has ever happened and everything that ever will happen.

Delirium, meanwhile, is the youngest of the siblings. She is in charge of madness, and her realm is a cacophony of formless colors and shapes, ever-changing.

Destiny and Delirium are both key characters in this drama. Delirium, especially, has a chance of breaking out and becoming very popular; she’s very memorable and charming in the comic.

And there’s actually a seventh member of the Endless family we haven’t talked about. But that’s another story:

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