About

Death is the second eldest of the Endless, a family of anthropomorphic beings. Death is possibly the most powerful of the Endless (and may be the most powerful being in the universe) having been shown (in a flashback in Brief Lives) to be virtually omniscient and being able to intimidate the Furies, who show no fear of the other Endless, simply by raising her voice in The Kindly Ones. The witch Thessaly mentions that Death is the only one of the Endless who is bound by no rules. In addition, it is mentioned in Brief Lives that she is the only one of the Endless who may survive the end of this incarnation of the universe. Death's realm is not portrayed in detail in the series, except for a brief scene in her 'house' in the Sandman Special, Song of Orpheus, and later in The Books of Magic series. This is where she keeps her floppy hat collection, her goldfish Slim and Wandsworth and possibly her gallery. A brief glimpse of her realm can also be seen in The Little Endless Storybook, when Barnabas visits her, although this time in her 'apartment suite.'

One day every century, Death lives (and dies) as a mortal, in order to understand the value of the life she takes. She does this by becoming a mortal fated to die that day. At the end of Death: The High Cost of Living her Endless self briefly converses with her mortal self.

Her Story

Younger sister of Destiny, older sister to Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium. It is said that everything living thing encounters death twice in their lifetime. Once when they are born, though no one remembers that meeting with her, and once when they die. Death does not guide the soul of the dead into any particular afterlife, she is merely a gateway into what lies beyond. On page she usually appears as a young woman, stylishly dressed wearing a silver ankh, with pale skin, and an eye of Horus tattoo around her eye. Though like the rest of the Endless, she can appear however she wants or needs. When the universe was young Death was more somber, but she has come to love her job and develop her own quirky upbeat personality beyond what the fear living beings have of her. It is known that she keeps two goldfish and has a floppy hat collection. She is Dream's closest friend and confidant, able to shake him out of self-absorption when necessary. She does not seem to have much of relationship with either her elder brother Destiny, nor her younger siblings. Twice Death has agreed not to take people (on panel). In one instance it Was her nephew, Orpheus, so that he could descend into Hades and bring back his love Eurydice. After being torn apart by the Bacchanae, Orpheus survived for thousand of years as just a head until released (killed) by his father Dream. The second time in Medieval England, after listening to a man claim that Death was "a mug's game", she agreed not to take Robert Gadling while Dream agreed to meet him every hundred years for a drink, just to see how long he would want to live. After Dream (Morpheus) died, she met with Gadling herself and offered to take him, but he refused. One day in every century, Death lives a day in mortal form, sometimes human, sometimes not, to better understand the creatures over which she has dominion. "I'm not merciful or blessed. I'm just me. I've got a job to do and I do it....When the first living thing existed, I was there. Waiting. When the last living thing dies, my job will be finished. I'll put the chairs on the tables, turn out the lights and lock the universe behind me when I leave."



Relationships



Death- despite her job description - has always been the perkiest of the Endless. While Destiny - the eldest of them - is very cold and detached, Death is warm and caring and she has taken the role of the mature maternal sister among the siblings. She can be frequently seen throughout the The Sandman series serving as Dream's confidante, giving advice and pointing out his faults or getting angry at the twins Despair and Desire for their "games", which often intervenes with the other Endless' affairs. She also has shown that her job takes a backseat when it comes to her family, unlike Dream and Destiny, both of whom seem to take their job very seriously


Powers and Abilities
Death's abilitys are relitivly unknown, as one of the Endless, she is thought to be nigh on omnipotent, possibly the most powerful of the 7 next to Destiny. Other then being immortal and omnipresent wherever there is death, the following are a few examples of what she can do...

In The Books of Magic #3 (the second series), as Tim Hunter lies in a field of plant life, his thoughts slowly drifting away and Tamlin trying to care for him, he says something that may reveal more of Death's powers than are ever explained when he says. "I know what holds the world together, now. Except it's not a what. It's not even an it, really. She's pretty... She's so pretty..."


Gift of Death

She has the power to free the soul of a body and send a soul to his appropriate destination (usually an afterlife or reincarnation). Death often leaves this task to various Death Gods. For Death Gods or demons to claim a soul instead of Death herself, they usually have to have a valid claim on the soul; either a contract or the deceased worshipped the Death God's pantheon. The exact nature of the relationship between Death Gods and Death itself is unknown.



Gift of Life

Death apparently is also there at the time of ones birth and can in infuse a body with life. She commonly does this at the time of birth or at certain times to give another a second chance (reincarnation) the criteria for the latter is not known.