Delight of the Endless/Delirium of the Endless

The second of the Endless seen in The Sandman teaser trailer is Delirium, who will be portrayed by Esmé Creed-Miles. As we can see, Delirium will be depicted with a much older appearance than she does in the comics, but this doesn’t represent a great problem nor inconsistency, considering that she’s by far the one who changes appearance more often among her siblings, practically every single minute. Another peculiarity of Delirium is that she’s the only Endless ever who changed her role in the cosmic order, modifying not only her name, sigil and appearance, but also innermost nature: let’s take a look.

Delight was the youngest of the Endless, the last daughter of Night and Time. She incarnated pleasure and joy, and lived in a realm of childlike bliss, her sigil being a flower. Then something happened, something traumatic: millennia ago, perhaps even millions of years ago, Delight ceased to be, and became Delirium instead. She became the incarnation of madness, and her realm became Madness itself, a chaotic non-place outside time and space that held no point of reference, where upside was downside and there was no spacial consistency at all, so much that even Delirium herself got lost in it more often than not. Even her sigil turned from the flower it was into a shapeless blot of colors, a good representation of her current state. Delirium visited sentient beings into their state of uttermost folly, as only then they were able to understand her patternless speeches and incoherent thoughts. After her transformation, she distanced herself from most of her siblings, the only exception being Destruction, who walked and spoke with her often, and Death, who was very protective of her. The others tended to avoid her, even Destiny, who quite oddly didn’t know the reasons for which she had transformed, as they were not in his book, and even less could understand them. When Destruction announced that he was retiring from his position and function, Delirium was the one who took it hardest among her siblings, as she now felt terribly alone without her favorite big brother. It was a pity, also for the others, because in this new, everchanging and mismatched form, Delirium knew much more than all the other Endless, and could see the future better than Destiny himself, as she walked the paths that ran out of his garden… if only anyone was able to understand her ramblings.

It took decades for Delirium to decide to act on the loneliness she felt, and then, from a moment to another, she decided she would have found her lost brother. She first tried to convince Desire and Despair to accompany her on her quest, but they refused. Because of this, Delirium resorted to contact the one brother that scared her the most, Dream: the two had had very little relationship over the ages, so much that the Guardians of the Gate didn’t even know who she was. She played with them for a while, until Dream arrived… and he agreed to help her find Destruction, wherever he was. Through Dream, Delirium was able to question one of Destruction’s old lovers, the goddess Ishatar, but she was of little help to them. On their path, that proved to be as discontinuous and erratic as Delirium herself, the two Endless arrived at the Garden of Forking Paths, asking for Destiny’s help. He denied his aid to them, confirming that Delirium was right in stating that there were things that were hidden even from his book, the current location of Destruction included… but he also pointed them in the right direction, telling them that Orpheus, Dream’s mythological estranged son, was the only oracle capable of telling them anything about their family. Dream wasn’t happy at the perspective of meeting Orpheus again, considering how they had parted centuries before, and even Destiny seemed to advise him against pursuing that path… but Delirium had set her mind, and the duo resumed their quest. Destiny’s warning proved to be true, as by the end of the search Dream found himself in the position of granting his son’s request and mercy kill him, while Delirium found Destruction and even got from him, before he left again, his dog Barnabas as a companion to quell her solitude. She was now closer to Dream than ever, but the path she had put him on would have led him to his doom.

At the beginning of time, everything was a bliss and a source of joy for Delight; it is now that she is Delirium as well, but she is moody, unstable, always lost in incomprehensible lines of thought that lead nowhere, going from childish bliss one moment to merciless violence the next. As an Endless, she’s an immortal incarnation of her concept, and distributes and takes strength from madness; she’s powerful enough to manipulate reality itself, making so that matter and energy adapt to her delusions, a process that involves her very body, that constantly changes shape and color; she can exist in more places at once, and she can foresee even the lines of the future unknown to her omniscient brother Destiny… but her prophecies become understandable only when it’s too late to do anything about them. The most tragic thing about Delirium is that somewhere deep into her fracture mind there is still Delight, and through great pain she can emerge from time to time and speak with her ancient clarity and coherence… but this sparkles of joy are a torture for Delirium of the Endless, the one divine being who ever changed her nature and purpose in creation.