Back to The Dreaming
Destruction is first mentioned in Sandman #10, but not by name. Specifically, Despair asks Desire if The Prodigal has returned. The rest of the Endless are named by Sandman #16. (Delirium is the last one to be mentioned.) After #10, #16 and again after the family gathering in Sandman #21, there was some discussion of the identity and realm of the Missing Endless and why he was out of contact with his family. (His gender was known by Desire's comment in #10.) Given the naming scheme of the rest of the family, large lists of "De" names were given as the possible identities of the Missing Endless.
Destruction's first appearance was in the Sandman Special. At the time, he was called Olethros. This can be translated into "devastation" or "destruction." Destruction's name wasn't confirmed within the story line until Desire refers to him by name in Sandman #41. (Slightly before this, Despair refers to him as "my lord of destruction.")
In Sandman #26, Bast offers to tell Dream of his brother's whereabouts in exchange for the key to Hell. (Later in "Brief Lives" we learn she exaggerated the extent of her knowledge.)
The reason for Destruction's abandonment of his realm is discussed in detail in the "Brief Lives" story line and Sandman #44 and #48 in particular.
Appearances by the Endless outside of The Sandman.
Many of Dream's staff in the Dreaming made appearances in comics before appearing in The Sandman.
Cain and Abel: Cain and Abel both acted as hosts of horror anthology series. Cain first appeared in The House of Mystery #175 (July-August 1968) and Abel appeared a year later in The House of Secrets #81 (August-September 1969.) The Houses themselves may also be considered characters, with their stories going back to their respective titles. The House in the House of Secrets handled the lettercol duties for that title. (It seemed to be quite disliked by the readers of the title.) Gregory the Gargoyle seems to be introduced in HoM #176. (We see only the eyes of a baby gargoyle who Cain refers to as Gregory.)
Cain and Abel also appeared as hosts of the much less serious Plop! along with Eve and Gregory the Gargoyle. Cain, Abel, Eve and Destiny all hosted the first nine issues of Secrets of Haunted House. Destiny hosted the book alone from the teens to issue #39 and Abel was the host for the final issues.
They also made many non-horror comic appearances including Swamp Thing #33 and #50, and several issues of the Blue Devil. Both have their own entry, complete with fighting ability, in the first Who's Who in the DC Universe and a joint entry, without fighting ability, in the 3rd Update to the title.
Lucien: Lucien acted as the librarian and host of a very short-lived horror series called Tales of Ghost Castle. It lasted for only three issues in 1975. He served as a librarian in a castle in Transylvania. Initially he also had a werewolf as a pet. Lucien does make one final appearance in a late issue of Secrets of Haunted House. He appears at a Halloween party for hosts and cohosts of DC horror comics.
Matthew: Matthew the Raven started out as Matthew Cable. As a man, Matthew made his first appearance in Swamp Thing #1 (October-November #1972). In Swamp Thing #84, he makes his tranformation into a raven in the Dreaming. Matthew also has made some return visits to Swamp Thing. In Swamp Thing #118, he visits with Tefe'. In Swamp Thing #140 he visits Abby and manages to cast his old shadow.
The Hecateae: The three who are one also appeared in comic books prior to their appearance in Sandman. The Three Witches, as they were referred to, first appeared in The Witching Hour #1 (December 1970). Their personalities are a bit different from those they displayed in the Sandman stories. Cynthia, for example, used the popular slang of the period and even managed to quote Bob Dylan. Unfortunately, they also had a tendency to display "zany" behavior.
Eve: Billed as a 1000-year old woman, Eve first appeared in Secrets of Sinister House #6. Appropriately enough, her appearance was witnessed by Cain and Abel who ran away in terror as she arrived. Accompanied by a raven named Edgar Allen, Eve hosted Sinister House for much of its short run before being shifted over to Weird Mystery Tales where she hosted the book with Destiny before taking over the comic completely.
As mentioned above, Eve regularly appeared in Plop and through the first ten issues of Secrets of Haunted House. She also played an important role in the transformation of Matt Cable into Matthew the Raven in Swamp Thing #84.
Dr Garrett Sanford: The second Sandman was created by Jack Kirby and Joe Simon in 1973 and appeared in The Sandman comic book in Winter 1974. The series only lasted six issues with only the first issue scripted by Simon and only half drawn by Kirby. (A seventh story where The Sandman saves Santa from the fiendish sealmen appeared in a superhero holiday special.)
The second Sandman originally was presented as an immortal who monitored dreams (using the Universal Dream Monitor that displayed images on the Dream Screen) and protected people within their dreams and in the "mortal world." Dressed in a yellow and red costume, the Sandman was "aided" by the nightmares Brute and Glob. (In the first book, the two encourage him to allow a sleeping boy to continue to fall within his dreams.) Along with his dream equipment in the Dream Dome, the Sandman also made use of a sonic whistle, used for a variety of purposes, and sand cartridges that put people to sleep.
This Sandman was later transformed from The Universal Master of Dreams into Dr Garrett Sanford. Sanford had built all the equipment that was used in the Dream Dome. The equipment was designed and built to save a VIP from his own nightmares. Once inside the Dreaming, Sanford was successful, but couldn't return to the waking world. Most of this retconning was done in Wonder Woman #300 by Roy Thomas.
Apparently the stress of living within the Dream Stream (later The Dream Dimension) proved too much for Sanford, and his "soul" departed while his body remained in stasis. All of this is explained by the third Sandman, Hector Hall.
Hector Sanders Hall: Hector Hall was originally know as Silver Scarab, a member of Infinity, Inc. Hall had to be killed by the other members of Infinity, Inc., when the Evil Silver Scarab inside of him took control of his body. When Hall lost his body to the other Scarab, he was thrown into the Dream Dimension where he learned of Dr Sanford, Sanford's equipment and Brute and Glob. Since Sanford was more or less dead and Hall was without a body, Hall took on the role of the Sandman.
The third Sandman wears a costume like the second Sandman's and also uses sand cartridges. He also must remain in the Dream Dimension for all but one hour everyday. At first, he uses this one hour to visit Lyta Trevor, who is known as Fury II and is pregnant with Hall's child. When Hall is discovered visiting Lyta as she sleeps, he explains his story and convinces her to return with him to the Dream Dimension.
According to the Who's Who Update for 1988, they are said to "currently inhabit the Dream Dimension and are expecting their child anytime."
The story of what really happened to the Halls can be found in Sandman #11 and #12.
In "The Origin of the Comic You Are Now Holding" (Sandman #4) Neil Gaiman says his only early exposure to the Golden Age Sandman was a copy of Justice League America #47 where the Sandman took part in defeating Anti-Matter Man. The issue was part of a box of comics that mysteriously appeared (and later disappeared) when he was almost seven.
The Kirby Sandman made a very brief appearance in the first draft of the Black Orchid story, (He was suggested as a potential character for a dream sequence.) While he had read the 70s Sandman, Gaiman says that he was uncomfortable with the series. He did, however, mention a possible new treatment of the character to Karen Berger in September 1987. Several months later, Berger offered him a Sandman series under the condition that it had to be a new Sandman. The name stayed the same but the rest changed.
(Incidentally, Cain and Abel also appeared in the first draft of Black Orchid acting as waiters, a role Cain takes on in Sandman #2.)
Visually, each artist may use different models when pencilling the Endless. (Dave McKean has said that he somewhat regrets that each artist who has worked on the series hasn't drawn Dream as they wanted the character to look.) However, there are some definite models that provided the inspiration for the prototypes of the Endless.
Destiny is a stock character from the old DC/National horror comic books. (Like Cain and Abel, he appeared in several DC horror titles.) The most significant changes to Destiny's appearance are that his robe is no longer purple and his book no longer has "Cosmic Log" prominently written on its cover.
In the envoi to The Doll's House, Mike Dringenberg thanks Cinnamon, who served as the model for Death. (A signed picture of Mike and Cinnamon can be found in Funny Papers at Dobie Center in Austin, Texas.) By one account, Cinnamon was as pale as Death is usually colored, but tended to have her hair in shades other than black.
Originally, Gaiman had wanted to use Louise Brooks, a film star of the late 20s, as a model for Death. Dringenberg and a strange coincidence over a pancake breakfast were able to convince him to go with the slightly less reserved version.
Destruction in his first incarnation, looked very much like Brian Blessed in one of his more hirsute roles.
Desire has the appearance of a Patrick Nagel print.
Despair and the first Delirium, since she changes so often, come from two different strange photographs.
The idea for Dream's look came more from his initial situation of imprisonment. He was to be thin and pale. Gaiman then did rough sketches of Dream as he expected him to look. Dream's clothes were partially based on his creator's personal tastes and partially inspired by a print of a kimono in a book of Japanese designs.
Despite common rumor, Death is not based on Siouxsie Sioux and Dream isn't based on Robert Smith. However, an early drawing of Dream that Dave McKean did was based on the appearance of Bono in the Clannad "In a Lifetime" video. The drawing is included on the first page of the Afterwords to Preludes and Nocturnes.
More recently people have been wondering which character Tori Amos was based on (Ummm, reverse that) or if Delirium is based on Tori Amos. The easy answers are none and no. While Neil Gaiman and Tori Amos are friends, the character of Delirium was created before their friendship. However, Jill Thompson does seem to have drawn at least one aspect of Delirium with some of the feature of Amos. (Supposedly, Thompson may have included some of her own traits, though she denies being anything like the character.) Also it has been reported that occasionally Amos says things that Del winds up saying later. Tori Amos (or at least a poster) of her does appear in "The Kindly Ones" and a couple of her lyrics appear in Sandman.
Each culture may have its own names for the members of the Endless. In the Sandman Special, the Endless are known as:
Dream was also known as L'Zoril to the Martians and Kai'ckul to Nada's people. "In A Game of You," he is called Murphy within Barbie's skerry.
As stated in Sandman #21, Dream has collected many names and titles. An incomplete list would include:
Kinge of Dremes
The Prince of Stories
Prince Morpheus
The Oneiromancer
The Sandman
Master of Dreams (Dream Master)
King of Dreams, of the Nightmare Realm
The Dreamlord (Lord of Dreams)
Dream King
Lord of the Sleeping Marches
Lord of the Sleeping
Lord of Sleep
Master of the Realm of Sleep
Oneiros
The Shaper of Form
The Shaper of Forms
Cat of Dreams
King of the Riddle Realms
Shaper or Lord Shaper
Lord of the Dream World
Prince of Stories
Monarch of the Sleeping Marches
His Darkness, Dream of the Endless
The Dreamweaver
The Nightmare King
Dream-creature
The Shaper of Dreams
Sultan of Sleep
He is also called Mister Dreamy by Shivering Jemmy and Dreamsneak by John Dee, but these aren't really titles. Matthew and Mervyn often refers to Dream as Boss.
Caliph of Baghdad greets Dream as, "The lord of sleep, the prince of stories, he to whom Allah has given dominion over that which is not and was not, and shall never be."
Different cultures seem to use different titles for Dream. For example, The Fay Folk use Shaper or Lord Shaper, but it's not clear whether this is related to the Roman Shaper of Form. When Loki took the place of Lord Susano-o-no-Mikoto, he may have given away his true identity by addressing Dream as Dreamweaver, a name used by the Aesir. Lord Susano-o-no-Mikoto had addressed Dream previously as The Shaper of Dreams. (The exchange between Loki and Dream takes place in the epilogue to "Season of Mists," Sandman #28.)
Death is called Grandmother Death in Sandman #9. This may be the only other time when another member of the Endless is given an alternative name.
The list of the Endless from oldest to youngest is usually given as:
Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair, Delirium
Desire and Despair are described as twins. Since the Endless are not born, it is possible that both Desire and Despair came into existence at the same time and are therefore the same age. The relationship between the two suggests that Desire is the "older" of the twins, even if they are the same age. This may also be because the current Despair is not the original holder of her position. Desire may continue to treat her as a new sibling. (Or perhaps it's because you first desire something and then despair that you can't get it.)
There is a definite distinction between the older three Endless and the younger three. (Destruction, due to his absence, has been excluded from the family squabbles detailed in the series.) The most obvious difference is the taunting and scheming the younger three, especially Desire, aim at the older three. Perhaps this is nothing more than Endless sibling rivalry.
All the Endless are extremely old by human standards. Even Delirium, who is the youngest of the family and who looks like a twelve year old, is very ancient indeed.
Note: There was some confusion about ages when Death refers to Dream as "Big Brother" in Sandman #24. This should be read only as a term of affection.
The Endless as entities can die or be destroyed. The Endless as positions will eventually cease to exist, but only as the end of the universe approaches.
When Dream prepares to go to Hell in Sandman #22, he tells his servants that he may not return and if so a new aspect will take his place. In Sandman #48, Dream, Destruction and Delirium talk about the one time an aspect of one of their siblings was destroyed. While it's rare, only one instance since time began, it is possible for an aspect of the Endless to die. In "Cerements" (Sandman #55) there is additional evidence that aspects of the Endless can die.
In Books of Magic #4 (miniseries), we learn that the Endless and their realms and positions eventually end. At the very end of the Universe, Death will come for her last sibling. In Sandman #48, Destruction says that the existence of the Endless are bounded and none of them will last longer than the Universe.
An exception to this may be Death herself. In Sandman #20, she says that when the last living thing in the Universe dies, she'll close up shop and leave. Delirium mentions this point in response to Destruction's comments in #48, but Dream conditions it with, "So we suppose." We have seen a possible end of the Universe where this happens, but not all futures will come to pass.
Within "The Kindly Ones," mention has been made that no real harm can come to Dream while he remains in the Dreaming. (Sandman #66) The implications and conditions of this are not yet clear.
The true significance of the sigils remains uncertain. So far we've only seen them used as a means of communication between the Endless and a means of travel between the realms.
The sigils for the Endless are:
Destiny - Book
Death - Ankh
Dream - Helmet
Destruction - Sword
Desire - Heart
Despair - Ring with a hook
Delirium - Chaotic pattern
(An exception to this pattern is Destiny's gallery. Instead of sigils, Each Endless is represented by a large portrait.)
The sigils are housed in the galleries of the Endless. Each gallery contains a copy of the sigils of the other six Endless. The owner's sigil appears blank or acts like a mirror. (See Sandman #24, #46 and #48 for examples.) The order of the sigils seems to vary, though most seem to be in a Destiny-to-Delirium order with a few translocations.
Destruction's sigil has been blank in the galleries of the other Endless, probably due to him leaving his position. (In Destiny's gallery it is hidden by curtains.) In his own gallery his sigil appears as a sword. His own sigil being visible in Destruction's gallery may be related to it not appearing in the galleries of the rest of the family.
In Sandman #46, when Delirium closes off her realm, her sigil in Dream's gallery (and probably Death's since Death mentions the change) turns black.
Desire does the same thing in Sandman #59. The story explicitly states that when Desire closes off its realm (s/he is shown removing its sigil from the frame) the silver heart disappears from all of the Endless galleries and is replaced by a dark void. The Threshold, Desire's self-shaped home, also closes its eyes when the sigil is removed.
The galleries of Destiny, Dream, Destruction (in temporary residence outside his realm), and Desire have been seen in issues of Sandman. (Death's may have appeared in the Sandman Special if the Endless family photo in her house is really her gallery.) According to Delirium, she has lost her own gallery somewhere within her realm. (Sandman #41). However, she must rediscovered it later as she uses it properly in Sandman #64. Despair appears to see into the realms of her sibling using the backs of mirrors. In Sandman #41 Desire appears to be calling Despair and we see his/her face in one of the mirrors.
We have had glimpses of almost all of the realms of the Endless.
The Dreaming has been a common setting for the series. We first see it in disrepair in Sandman #2. The main feature of the Dreaming is Dream's castle, whose gate is guarded by a wyvern, a hippogriff and a griffin. The size and location of the palace can change. In Sandman #24, Dream moves it to the top of a mountain before the "guests" arrive. No matter where the castle moves, it remains at the heart of the Dreaming.
Other notable features of the Dreaming are the House of Mystery and the House of Secrets where Cain and Abel live, Eve's cave, Fiddler's Green, Lucien's library (within the castle) and the gates of horn and ivory.
Destiny's Garden appears in Sandman #21, #28, #47, #59, #63, #67. The garden includes many paths and mazes. In #47, large statues of the Endless are also shown. These large statues reappear in #63. In this issue it becomes more apparent that they somewhat reflect the current lives of the Endless.
Within the garden is a building where Destiny keeps his gallery and where the family has met twice in the last three hundred years. Within Destiny's realm, the Endless are served by what Delirium refers to as "little flappy things."
In the Sandman Special, Orpheus travels to Death's house. This may or may not be a portion of her realm. In the Special, Death demonstrates the house's appearance isn't fixed, changing it to something she thinks will be more acceptable for Orpheus. Her house appears again in Books of Magic #4 (regular series) where we get a good look at her closet and some of her possessions.
In "Tales in the Sand" (Sandman #9), Nada is seen on the borders of the realm of Death, but nothing is shown of the realm. In Sandman #8 both Death and Dream mention the Sunless Land. This may be a description of her realms or just a euphemism for death.
It should be noted that Death keeps two goldfish. Slim is the big orange one and Wandsworth is the little yellow one. They appear in the special and the Death miniseries.
Desire's realm is empty except for The Threshold, the fortress where Desire resides. The Threshold first appeared in Sandman #10. It later appears in Sandman #16, #41, #49 and #59. The Threshold is shaped like a very large statue of Desire. Desire lives in the heart of The Threshold. In Sandman #49, Desire floats in one of the Threshold's eyeballs. (The eye is described as being bigger than a cathedral.) When Desire closes off its realm in Sandman #59, the eyes of the Threshold close.
The realm of Despair appears only in Sandman #41, #49 and #59. It is a gray and silent place. Its sole contents, other than Despair and Despair's pet rats, are the backside of mirrors through which Despair may watch her handiwork.
Delirium's realm appeared in #46. It is a jumble of bright colors, strange shapes and bodiless voices. The centerpiece is a sun dial with the caption Tempus Frangit. Delirium explains to Dream that the sun dial is broken. As Delirium tells Barnabas, her new guardian, "We're going to my place. It's very interesting. You'll like it, unless maybe you don't."
The realm of Destruction has not been seen yet.
In Sandman #47, it is said that the Endless do not like visiting the realms of their siblings and only Death travels freely without misgiving.
Dream has shown this ability in several issues. The most dramatic instances may be his appearance as a large cat in Sandman #18 ("Dream of a Thousand Cats") or his transformation into the Martian god, Lord L'Zoril in Sandman #5. In Sandman #26, his features, clothes and throne change as he speaks with different agents seeking the key to Hell.
The other Endless have not demonstrated the same characteristic. Death and Destruction have dressed for the time period, but their physical appearances have changed little. Despair and Destiny have not changed their appearance at all. In Sandman #21 it is said Destiny doesn't cast a shadow or leave footprints.
Delirium's appearance changes often, but not to suit her surroundings or audience. The one notable exception to this is in Sandman #48 where her physical appearance, but not her clothes, change as she recounts her search for Destruction. Note that Del's appearance matches how she looked during the part of the story she is describing.
Desire doesn't need to change its appearance. No matter how it looks, it remains "everything you have wanted." (Desire often does change its attire, perhaps not satisfied with just one style of dress.)
Whether Dream's change in appearance is his viewer's perception or a conscious act on Dream's part is not clear. Perhaps a combination of both. In Sandman #21, we are told that we see only an aspect of the Endless and that Dream casts a shadow only when he remembers to. In Sandman #46, Dream appears with cat-like eye while talking to Bast, but only takes on a greater resemblance to a cat as he leaves her.
In "Soft Places" (Sandman #39), Marco Polo asks if Dream is always so pale. Dream responds it depends on who is looking. This response may be interpreted in a number of ways, but it does suggest that the aspect of Dream that is seen depends somewhat on the viewer.
Dream was captured by Roderick Burgess and his followers on June 11th, 1916. In a timeline recently published by DC for their Zero Hour mini-series, Dream is listed as having been captured in 1919. This can be considered to be an erroneous entry and safely ignored.
On the day Dream escapes, the Sun newspaper being read by the guard has a date of September 14, 1988. Assuming it's a current paper, 72 years and about four months. (The date has recently been confirmed in "The Kindly: 6" when Paul McGuire indicates that was the date that Alex Burgess fell asleep.)
The question of the ease of Dream's capture has been a source of much speculation. The fact that Dream is wearing his helmet and carrying both the pouch and the ruby is definitely significant. In Sandman #47, there's the additional clue that Dream was returning from a far away galaxy and "tired beyond reckoning" just before he was captured.
We have never seen Delight. All of Del's appearances, including at Orpheus' wedding have been as Delirium. Destiny's portrait for Del suggests it was made when she was Delight and an image of Delight appears to Dream and Delirium in Destiny's garden, but the character of Delight has not appeared in the book. It is possible that the Del standing with the Endless in the unnamed necropolis ("Cerements", Sandman #55, page 16, panel 1) is Delight and not Delirium. However, there is no conclusive evidence that such is the case.
In Sandman #42, we see Delirium after her transformation. (She realizes she is no longer Delight.) This is set in the Dawn Days, a hazy period set before Earth's recorded history. From the description of the changes in Delirium's realm ("the blossoms had already begun to fall in her domain") it's possible that this is shortly, in the terms of the Endless, after her transformation.
Why Delight became Delirium has not been revealed. Delirium knows the reason, but she may be the only one. In Sandman #47, she tells Destiny "There are things not in your book. There are paths outside this garden." Destiny does not or cannot answer when Delirium asks if he know why she stopped being Delight. In an interview for Musing magazine, Jill Thompson says that Neil Gaiman knows that reason for the change, but he's not telling, yet.
In the Sandman Special, Delirium comments, "Well...you know...I nearly got married. But that was a long time ago. It never happened." Who Del was going to marry and why the marriage never happened have never explained. Occasionally, someone will suggest that the cancelled marriage may have had something to do with the transformation of Delight into Delirium.
The eye squiggle or curlicue first appeared with Death's more formal attire in Sandman #21. It is usually under her left eye, but Dringenberg (#21) and Bachalo (Death #1-3) have also drawn her with it under the right eye. In the Sandman Special, curlicues appear under both eyes when Death takes on the appearance she thinks Orpheus expects. With no further details, the eye squiggle might be considered merely a cosmetic addition.
Several people have commented that Death's eye make-up (with the squiggle) recalls the Egyptian "Eye of Horus" design. However, it is usually somewhat different and no conclusion can be drawn whether that was the intent of Mike Dringenberg, the artist who first drew Death with the eye squiggle, or not.
Sorry. They told me once, but I didn't understand a word of it. It's like they speak an entirely different language.
The Tempest. It will most likely be the subject of the final issue of The Sandman. (Sandman #75 is the tentative issue.)
In Sandman #21, Lucien is busy shelving "novels their authors never wrote or never finished, except in dreams." The titles we can see are:
Psmith and Jeeves by P.G. Wodehouse
Love Can Be Murder by Raymond Chandler
The Hand of Glory by Erasmus Fry
The Return of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens
The Conscience of Sherlock Holmes by Arthur Conan Doyle
Poictesme Babylon by James Branch Cabell
The Man Who was October by G. K. Chesterton
The Lost Road by J.R.R. Tolkien
Alice's Journey Behind the Moon by Lewis Carroll
In "The Hunt" (Sandman #38), Lucien retrieves the library's copy of The Merrie Comedie of the Redemption of Doctor Faustus by Christopher Marlowe.
In Sandman #46, Lucien carries a stack of books including:
The Death of Kai Lung by Ernest Bramah
Chanticleer's Dance by Hope Mirrlees
The Last Voyage of Lemuel Gulliver by [Jonathan] Swift
The Emperor Over the Sea by C.S. Lewis
Ian and Ann's Book of Days [author unknown]
[obscured] Phoenix by [E. Nes?]bit
In Sandman #49, Lucien and Mervyn take a load of cryptogeographia over to the southwestern annex. The load includes:
Ousland City from Top to Bottom
Poictesme
Kadath
Puddleby
Sardathrion
Saffron Park
Hobbiton
The Night Land
One Night in Baghdad
The Land
Flora of Neverland
[Frommer's Guide to H]ell
[N]arnia
[Hitchhiker]'s Guide [to the] Galaxy
Road Trips To [the E]merald City
Great Hote[ls] on the Moon
Camp Cusack Gu[ide]
Ampersand ?
Mu A to Z
Cloud Cu[ckoo-Land]
Noumaria on 7 Livres a Day
Hy-Brasil By Night
Los Angeles Underground Railway Map 1932
In Vertigo Jam, Lucien finds the library's copy of The Bestselling Romantic Spy Thriller I used to think about on the bus that would sell a billion copies and mean I'd never have to work again for the unidentified dreamer who is touring the Dreaming.
In "Kindly Ones: 1", Lucien is reading A Banquet for the Wormes, an unwritten play by John Webster.
This varies of course, but according to the script for Sandman #17, he usually appears to be about 6' 4". He is supposed to appear quite thin as well. Chris Bachalo has commented that Death should appear to be between 15 and 17 years old. (For his work on Death: The High Cost of Living, Bachalo used his teenage cousin as a model for some of the panels.) At a book signing, Gaiman commented 17 might be the ideal age for his mental image of Death.
It's Thessaly, dammit.
The last major Sandman story arc is called "The Kindly Ones." The title comes from one translation of the Greek "Eumenides", a name applied to the Furies after they came to be worshipped in Athens. Within the series, The Kindy Ones are one side of the Hecateae. (When Rose Walker meets the three in Sandman #10, Cynthia tells her "you wouldn't want to meet us as the Kindly Ones.") Within Greek mythology, the Furies (Or Erinyes) were the avengers of those wronged and the punishers of those who broke the laws, especially those who committed crimes against other members of their clan or family. Since Desire promised to bring the Kindly Ones down on Dream's head by getting him to spill family blood ("Three Septembers and a January," Sandman #31), the common assumption was that the upcoming story would involve the Furies' reaction to Dream killing his son, Orpheus. The final page of Sandman #63 and page 21 of Sandman #67 seem to confirm this assumption.
The most obvious connection is that Lyta Trevor was called Fury when she was a member of Infinity, Inc. In the pre-Crisis DC continuity, that may have been her only connection. In post-Crisis DC continuity, however, there is a more definite link. Post-crisis has her as the daughter of Helena Kosmatos, who was the "original" Fury. (The identity of Lyta's father hasn't been revealed.) Helena received her powers from the Fury Tisiphone the Blood Avenger so that Helena could avenge her mother's death. Presumably, Lyta inherited some of her mother's powers.
According to the DC's Who's Who Update of 1987, Lyta's abilities include superhuman strength, speed and endurance. She also is well-trained in hand-to-hand combat. She does not seem to possess her mother's ability to transform herself into a "Blood Avenger."
When Desire cannot get Emperor Norton to enter its domain, s/he promises to get Dream to spill family blood and by doing so, bring the Kindly Ones (see above) down on his head. ("Three Septembers and a January," Sandman #31). This plan comes to fruition in the events of the Doll's House. Specifically, in "Sleep of the Just" (Sandman #1), Unity Kincaid is raped in 1932 by Desire. Unity was meant to be a dream vortex. With Dream imprisoned and away from the Dreaming, the vortex is passed down to Miranda Walker, Unity's daughter, and then to Rose Walker, Unity's granddaughter. (From Dream's comments in "Lost Hearts", Sandman #16, there is some reason to believe Desire might have been responsible for the transmission of the vortex from mother to daughter to granddaughter.) Had Dream killed Rose to destroy the vortex, he would have spilt family blood as Rose is Desire's granddaughter.
The first question can't be answered yet. The second one can be answered to some degree. In the funeral procession were:
Destiny (page 13)
Flag Bearer and 6 Pallbearers (page 14-15)
Nuala, Abel, Mervyn, Cain, Luz, Wilkinson, Titania, Despair, Bast, A raven, An angel, Odin, Thor, Emperor Norton, Fiddler's Green, Gregory the Gargoyle, and Martin Tenbones. (Left to right on pages 16-17)
Delirium and Death (page 18)
It is not apparent who all of the members of the funeral party are. It has been suggested that Lucien is the man carrying the flag, Loki is the second pallbearer on the right, and that Desire may be the first pallbearer. All or some of these suggestions might be correct.
Also the Raven on page 17 might be Matthew. The angel on the same page may be either Remiel or Duma, last seen looking after things in Hell.
No. Despite what was said in a later lettercol, the creature behind Dream on page 6 of Sandman #24 was not intended to be a specific character or creature. It's described in the script as "some kind of grotesque thingie."