Delirium is one of The Endless, fictional characters from Neil Gaiman's comic book series The Sandman. DC Comics is an American comic book and related media company. ... Vertigo logo Vertigo is an imprint of comic book and graphic novel publisher DC Comics. ... In comic books, first appearance refers to first comic book to feature a character. ... The Sandman was a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics for 75 issues from 1988 until 1996. ... Neil Richard Gaiman (IPA: ) (born November 10, 1960[2]) is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. ... Death, from The Sandman #8, drawn by Mike Dringenberg Mike Dringenberg is a French/American comics artist best known for his work on DC/Vertigos Sandman series with writer Neil Gaiman. ... The Endless (Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium) are a group of beings who embody various aspects of the universe in the DC comic book series The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman. ... In Greek mythology, Mania (insanity) was the personification of insanity. ... Omnipotence (literally, all power) is power with no limits or inexhaustible, in other words, unlimited power. ... This article is about the mental state and medical condition. ... Sanity considered as a legal term denotes that an individual is of sound mind and therefore can bear legal responsibility for his or her actions. ... The Endless, as a family The Endless (Destiny, Death, Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium) are a group of beings who embody various aspects of the universe in the DC comic book series The Sandman, by Neil Gaiman. ... Alice, a fictional character based on a real character from the work of Lewis Carroll. ... Neil Richard Gaiman (IPA: ) (born November 10, 1960[2]) is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. ... A comic book is a magazine or book containing the art form of comics. ... The Sandman was a comic book series written by Neil Gaiman and published by DC Comics for 75 issues from 1988 until 1996. ...

Delirium, known to the Greek culture as Mania, is the youngest of the Endless, yet still older than the rest of existence. She is usually quite short, and thin, and looks no older than a fourteen year-old human girl. Her hair changes style and color constantly, as do her clothes. Her shadow never reflects her shape, and is tangible, like velvet. She is said to smell of sweat, late nights, sour wine, and old leather. Her sigil in the galleries of the other characters is a multicolored, abstract swirl. Her realm is a chaotic, constantly changing mass of colors and strange objects and shapes, and contains a sundial with the inscription "Tempus Frangit" ("time breaks," a Latin pun on the phrase "Tempus Fugit", "time flies".) Delirium travels with a "guardian" of sorts, a German Shepherd dog named Barnabas, on indefinite loan from her brother Destruction. Country of origin Germany Classification Breed standards (external links) FCI, AKC, ANKC, CKC KC(UK), NZKC, UKC The German Shepherd Dog (known also as the Alsatian or Schäfer(hund)) is an intelligent breed of dog. ... Destruction is one of the Endless, fictional characters from Neil Gaimans comic book series The Sandman. ...

Born Delight, she transformed into Delirium for reasons even Destiny does not know. She can be seen as a very young Delight in Endless Nights, a collection of stories about the Endless; a statue of her Delight can also be seen in Destiny's garden in Brief Lives. Most of the time, she is scatterbrained; she often forgets the thread of her conversations, and comes out with offbeat and seemingly inconsequential observations. Todd Klein, the series' letterer, draws her speech as letters which do not quite match in height or line up neatly, against a multi-colored background. Very occasionally she is able, with an effort, to become more controlled in thought and speech, at which point her speech is drawn more neatly and the background fades to near-white. This effort, as she says later, causes her pain. Her speech as Delight in Endless Nights takes the same form, with somewhat orderly lettering and a faint rainbow background. The Sandman: Endless Nights is a graphic novel by Neil Gaiman as a follow-up (but not a sequel) to his ground-breaking Sandman series. ... Todd Klein is a well-known and respected comic book letterer. ...

The other Endless (particularly Death and Destruction) seem to be fond of Delirium, to varying degrees, and protective of her. She in turn is affectionate towards them, particularly Destruction.

Delirium features in many of the most inventive sequences of the series, particularly in the seventh collection, Brief Lives, in which she and Morpheus attempt to track down Destruction. One of the most striking frames of the whole series features Delirium lying on a hotel bed with a bottle of bubble-blowing liquid, blowing bubbles in a variety of impossible shapes—diamonds, crosses, cats, and what appears to be Totoro from the Japanese animated feature My Neighbor Totoro (this is probably a visual joke on the part of artist Jill Thompson). Also, in a very important moment in the story, Destiny imparts upon Dream the information and the means by which he may find Destruction. Due to Dream's distress at this revelation, Delirium is forced to collect herself so much that her usual mis-matched appearance disappears, and she becomes a very symmetrical creature, reflecting perhaps that in delirium, delight still exists, no matter how painful. Brief Lives (1994) is the seventh collection of issues in the DC Comics series, The Sandman. ... Cover of The Sandman #1, by Dave McKean. ... My Neighbor Totoro ), or My Neighbour Totoro on UK DVD box titles, is a 1988 film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki and produced by Studio Ghibli. ... Jill Thompson (1966 - ) is a comic book writer and illustrator. ... Destiny is one of the Endless, fictional characters from Neil Gaimans comic book series, The Sandman. ...

It may be noted that Delirium once exhibited a very deep form of order. Towards the end of Brief Lives, as she recounts to Destruction the steps she and Dream undertook to find him, her appearance - hairstyle, clothing, et cetera - recapitulates in almost the exact order it had originally appeared. Her long and rambling recollection seemed nonsensical, but readers noticed that it more or less accurately described everything that had happened - just not very clearly. This suggests that Delirium may be less crazy than she looks and merely has trouble expressing herself.

Delirium also seems to know many things none of the other Endless know. She says so when she is teased by Desire during the family meeting in Season of Mists. At the end of Brief Lives, Destruction describes a situation in which Death told him that everybody knows everything and they just pretend they don't, but neither he nor Dream really understand or believe this. Delirium, however, says, "She is. um. Right. Kind of. Not knowing everything is all that makes it okay, sometimes." ("One who knows too much eventually goes insane." "One who knows truth as truth and nothing else can't comprehend this world of lies.") Desire is one of the Endless, a fictional character from Neil Gaimans comic book series, The Sandman. ... Death is a fictional character from the DC comic book series, The Sandman (1988 - 1996). ...

It is said that Delirium knows pathways outside of Destiny's garden, which only she may travel.

Delirium, like her siblings, has also exhibited a form of prophetic knowledge; however, her prophecies rarely make sense until it is too late to do anything about them, and no other character recognizes them. In Brief Lives, she persuades a man to give the dancer Tiffany money, when Tiffany would later be the only mortal to survive the explosion of the building she was dancing; in The Kindly Ones, she knows full well that her brother is in trouble and unsuccessfully tries to persuade him to help her find Barnabas; also, when read the quote 'Quoth the Raven', from Edgar Allan Poe's poem, "The Raven," she says 'Whatever', which, down to the pronounced 'ev' had been and would be said by Matthew the Raven throughout the book. Edgar Allan Poe (January 19, 1809 – October 7, 1849) was an American poet, short story writer, playwright, editor, literary critic, essayist and one of the leaders of the American Romantic Movement. ... For other uses, see The Raven (disambiguation). ...

It has been suggested that Delight was once engaged to be married. In Endless Nights, in the story "On the Peninsula", when Destruction is talking to the female archaeologist, she notes that Delirium might have had her heart broken, and in "Fables and Reflections" she mentioned she was once betrothed.

In Delirium's story in Endless Nights', "Going Inside", she has retreated into her realm so deeply that no one can retrieve her, save five insane human individuals gathered together by Daniel, Matthew and Barnabas, as only those who are already deeply insane can enter her realm unscathed. This article or section may need to be cleaned up and rewritten because it describes a work of fiction in a primarily in-universe style. ... Matthew Cable is a character in DC Comics series Swamp Thing, who died and was later resurrected as Dreams raven in Neil Gaimans rendition of The Sandman. ...

Other appearances

Delirium and Barnabas also have a cameo appearance in San Francisco in American Gods. This page is a candidate for speedy deletion. ... American Gods is a novel by Neil Gaiman. ...

Inspiration for the character

The character of Delirium is influenced by Neil's personal friend and well-known musician Tori Amos: "..Neil believes I'm more Delirium than Tori, and Death taught me to accept that..." from Tori Amos's introduction to Death: The High Cost of Living.^[1] Gaiman has also indicated that the character is also partly based on another friend, the postmodern feminist writer Kathy Acker.^{[citation needed]} Tori Amos (born Myra Ellen Amos on August 22, 1963) is an American pianist and singer-songwriter. ... Death as illustrated by Chris Bachalo. ... This article or section is in need of attention from an expert on the subject. ... Kathy Acker (18 April 1947 in Manhattan—30 November 1997 in Tijuana, Mexico) was an experimental novelist, prose stylist, playwright, essayist, poète maudit and sex-positive feminist writer. ...

References

1. ^ Gaiman, Neil. Death: The High Cost of Living. ISBN 1-56389-133-6. 

• Bender, Hy (1999), The Sandman Companion, New York: Vertigo DC Comics, ISBN 1563896443

• Gaiman, Neil (1994), Death: The High Cost of Living, New York: DC Comics, ISBN 1563891336

Neil Richard Gaiman (IPA: ) (born November 10, 1960[2]) is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. ... Death as illustrated by Chris Bachalo. ... Hy Bender is an author who has written or cowritten 14 books. ... Neil Richard Gaiman (IPA: ) (born November 10, 1960[2]) is an English author of science fiction and fantasy short stories and novels, graphic novels, comics, and films. ... Death as illustrated by Chris Bachalo. ...

See also

• The Endless
• Characters of The Sandman

Category;Mythology in comics