Death

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Death is the second eldest of the Endless, a family of beings that personify natural forces. She is an incomprehensibly powerful entity, shown in a flashback in Brief Lives to be virtually omniscient and 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, supported in Dream's portion of Endless Nights. In Brief Lives, it is mentioned that she is the only one of the Endless who may survive the end of this incarnation of the universe. Death's realm — called "The Sunless Lands" — is not portrayed in detail, 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. One day every century, Death is forced to live out the last day of a random person, to understand the value of the life she takes. At the end of Death: The High Cost of Living her Endless self briefly converses with her mortal self.

In Their Own Story

Death first appeared in the final chapter of Sandman's first story arc Preludes and Nocturnes, "The Sound of Her Wings" (issue #8), where she gave Dream direction and a degree of understanding. She instantly became very popular with readers. At the end of the ninth Sandman story arc The Kindly Ones, there is a lengthy and noteworthy appearance from Death, in which she finally brings her brother peace. In the Sandman Special: The Song of Orpheus, it is revealed that Death was known in ancient Greece as Teleute. Evidently, only she seems to remember her encounters with people at birth. In the Middle Ages, Death overheard a man claim he would not accept dying; she gave him that wish, while asking Dream to meet him once every century to see if he was ready to die. Death appeared in Captain Atom #42-43 (June–July 1990), alongside the Black Racer as one of several aspects of Death in the DC Universe. Gaiman reportedly took issue with this depiction. Death's popularity saw her spun off into two solo miniseries, Death: The High Cost of Living (1993) and Death: The Time of Your Life (1996). Death: The High Cost of Living became the first comic released under the newly instigated Vertigo branding in 1993.

Reader's Guide

Death is an immortal being of virtual omnipotence, omniscience and omnipresence. She is not a god of death or agent of it, but Death itself: the end of life. As for the end of her role, Death has said: "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." Death is also capable of preventing aging and death if she chooses. According to Gaiman, the initial visual design of Death was based on a friend of Dringenberg's named Cinamon Hadley. Hadley died from colon cancer at the age of 48 on January 6, 2018. Despite some rumors, Death is not based on Gaiman's friend Tori Amos. Kat Dennings voices the character in Audible's The Sandman (2019), while Kirby portrays the character in the Netflix series The Sandman (2022–2025) and Dead Boy Detectives (2024).

Did You Know?

• Death was named the fifteenth greatest comic book character by Empire magazine.
• The initial visual design of Death was based on a friend of Mike Dringenberg named Cinamon Hadley, who died from colon cancer at age 48 on January 6, 2018.
• Death was known in ancient Greece as Teleute, as revealed in The Sandman Special: The Song of Orpheus.
• One day every century, Death is forced to live out the last day of a random person to understand the value of the life she takes.
• Death: The High Cost of Living (1993) was the first comic released under the newly instigated Vertigo branding.