The Endless – Absurd Humanoid Lovecraftian Gods That Are Embodiments Of Human Feeling & Life Cycles

In Neil Gaiman’s Sandman Universe we meet a dysfunctional family of seven brothers and sisters who are known as the Endless. They certainly do not fit into the usual definition of family since they are the physical embodiments of natural concepts that are related to life. And as the name suggests, these concepts are endless and continue to go on whether you and I exist or not.
From oldest to youngest, the siblings that make up the Endless family are Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, and Delirium, who was previously known as Delight. Each of the siblings has their own important role to play in the smooth functioning of mortal life. But where did they exactly come from? And why are they so important? These are some of the questions that we will answer in this video. So, without further delay, let us dive right in and explore the story of the Endless.
#TheEndless
#TheEndlessOrigins

0:00 Intro
1:29 Who are the Endless? Exploring their origins
4:43 Analyzing the Endless members: the magic of Neil Gaiman
4:48 Destiny
6:29 Death
7:55 Dream
9:19 Destruction
10:23 Desire
11:10 Despair
11:53 Delirium
13:06 What makes them such a powerful lot?

[michael]

We have totally lost the meaning of Lovecraftian. It doesn’t describe The Endless in the least.

[toxxaniusornica]

How are they lovecraftian?
They are cosmic, but not unfathomable or monstrous. They don't exactly exist in the stars either or explicitly emit horror. They are flesh and blood in a sense, they have feelings and emotions, we can understand their motives and relate to them. There is so little lovecraftian here it's an insult.

[tristancloag]

Its important to also note that Destiny knows, not just how everything can play out but how it could play out and how things can change, showing how despite nothing being set in stone, it is all still written in his book bound in the skin of a beast that never existed.

[pawemackowski]

Niel Gaiman is one of the best story tellers of all time and he is walking on this earth right now. I love his books. I love Sandman. If I could get to his lecture it would be one of the best days of my life.

[josephineicuka-asumo]

Season 2 should explore destiny, destruction and delirium, the other siblings and their realms. Would be interesting to add the others into the show.

[hairlessgrizzly]

Delirium is my favorite Endless purely for her two page spread in the Sandman Overture comic (forgot the issue). The one where it's two flowers, and each petal is a panel. It looked so amazing

[Whootzie]

I've been listening to The Sandman act 1&2 audio books. The story's are Soo good. I love the part in hell when the battle wits between Dream and a Demon takes place

[killingragethrowback]

I think Cain and Abel said it best, they're "points of view" living concepts, that will only end when existence itself ends as they ARE the forces they represent, then only when those forces cease to exists will they cease to exists.

[tnightwolf]

It is, by far, one of the greatest ever written, realized and produced stories, to have ever graced the Comic-Book/Graphical-Novel medium! A Masterpiece by all rights (including it's own and by any people involved in it)! 2 Words: Master Piece!

[Initium]

Thank you for making this video. TMI story but many years ago when I was in college, I was going through some difficult times. My friends had graduated earlier than me (I was really having a difficult time keeping up even with undergrad classes). I had my heart broken badly and I was extremely depressed (like I wasn’t taking care of myself) which made school that much more difficult.
I had years of school ahead of me and I shut down socially. I didn’t go out as my depression was making me unhinged, crazy even. I didn’t date because I had only wanted my ex back and any of the few people I would meet that may of been interested - I just looked at them as a potential source of pain. As time went on I realized as many people in my situation do that you have to change or end your former self in order to live for a better future.
I had often (and sometimes still do) think of suicide but an odd coping mechanism for me is that I envision the endless playing a part in my life. The hook of Despair keeping me in a horrible rut, Dreams are a source of hope when I am having an unhinged episode in which I’ve become delirious, Desire is usually what initiates my despair, Destruction is the realization that you need to change yourself in order to rebuild yourself (this would be me exercising to lose weight, bodybuilding, reading a self help book) which ultimately would lead to a better destiny
I know that last bit of writing is cringe BUT it worked for me to some degree. As I get older, I forget about my magical thinking and how at one point I lived by the novels. Weird

[davidcheater]

How did Delight become Delirium?
Drugs, or rather addiction. What starts off as something pleasant erodes one's sense of reality until you are trapped in insanity.
But insanity can have insights denied to the rational. (As seen in Endless Nights - Going Inside.)

[arainmiao]

Delight became Delirious as she literally changed when she gained more knowledge. Ignorance is bliss and knowledge is a heavy anchor.

[tiraedo-omozuwa]

I must commend Netflix for doing a fantastic job with the Sandman series, i had high hopes for it and prayed they wouldn't f**k it up but got more than I expected. Solid 9/10 for me.

[jackwilliam]

10:10 Even though it is mere speculation, some readers have theorised that Destruction's Domain is Fenrir, the wolf at Ragnarok, in Lucifer's own series - specifically Lucifer : The Wolf Beneath The Tree.

[SageofSorrow]

If a movie was based on this in the early 90’s...I could see Johnny Depp cast as Dream with his Edward Scissorhands look being a basis. Fairuza Balk would be Death. Charles Dance as Destruction. Tim Burton as director.

[WallBreakerOfficial]

I remember reading and loving Death: The high cost of living. That was my introduction to all of this.

[whymihere]

Saw Neil here in Seattle on May 1. Managed to get autographed copies of the current paperback collections 1 and 2 and an autographed copy The Ocean at the end of the lane. It was an evening well spent.

[stanleyteriaca]

Destiny is the first Endless seen in the DC Universe/Multiverse. He first appeared in one of the horror anthologie books.

Death also first appeared in a DC horror anthologie book, but since that Death was a skeleton wearing various clothing of soldiers, it was probably an aspect of Death and not the real thing.

[djreeves]

I love how he's just editing despairs physicality out

[theventhatiqtho]

The thing I like about the endless is that we don't know if they exist, it's possible when we die we could see death greet us.