Neil Gaiman creates a sense of familiarity with the Endless for his readers by drawing on characters of mythologies and common archetypes. The powerpoint from class links the Endless to their respective figure or archetype, and while some of the Endless’ mythology match is pretty straightforward, I think Neil Maiman truly put his own twist on some of the characters. For example, it’s not that surprising that Destruction, who is supposed to destroy and decay is linked to Ares, the Greek god of war and violence. One of the most fascinating siblings to me is Death.

Death is compelling to me because in the Sandman chronicles she is portray as a woman. I have always seen Death portrayed as a male figure, whether it is Hades, Pluto, or the Grim Reaper. Death’s counterpart Charon is also a male figure in Greek mythology. I googled the personification of death out of curiosity for this post, and there are cultures around the world that personify death as a female character, but by and large most cultures, especially western cultures, identify death as a male figure. Gaiman also did not just make the role of death fight into the stereotype of the character being dark and spiteful. In the story “Fascade” Death is shown acting maternal and sympathetic towards Rainie, eventually helping her fulfill her wish to die. This does make me think of the typical portrayal of Charon dutifully ferrying people to the Underworld or of Hades seeking revenge on his brothers. I appreciate Neil Gaiman giving the role of death a “breath of fresh air” instead of conforming to the male dominated personification.