Destruction (DC Comics)

Destruction
Destruction, as drawn by Michael Zulli in The Wake, the final Sandman volume
Publication information
Publisher	DC Comics
First appearance	The Sandman Special #1 (November 1991)
Created by	Neil Gaiman Bryan Talbot
In-story information
Alter ego	N/A
Team affiliations	The Endless
Notable aliases	Olethros
Abilities	formerly nigh-omnipotent aspect of destruction and creation

Destruction is one of the Endless, fictional characters from Neil Gaiman's comic book series The Sandman.

He is the fourth eldest of the Endless, and is depicted as a big, red-haired, bearded man (somewhat resembling actor Brian Blessed; Gaiman has mentioned that he would like Blessed to play Destruction in the event of a Sandman movie). He is also known as Olethros. In appearances set in earlier centuries, he is depicted wearing military gear (such as a musketeer's uniform, or plate armour), though in more recent times he is shown in colourful clothes with no particular theme. When Delirium and Morpheus encounter him in the seventh collection of issues in the series, Brief Lives, he has taken to wearing his hair in a ponytail, and owns a talking dog, Barnabas. Since he abandoned his responsibilities there is no sigil in the galleries for him, though he keeps his own gallery (wherein is a sword, his sigil). His realm is not portrayed in the series.

Destruction abandoned his realm and his responsibilities some time around the turn of the seventeenth century. The reason for this was the onset of the human Age of Reason, which would eventually culminate in the invention of the atomic bomb. Destruction was unwilling to be responsible for the destruction this would cause, and therefore left the family. He did not cease to exist as the active aspect of Destruction, he simply stopped directing the affairs over which he has control. As he says, destruction did not stop, it was merely no longer his fault. Destruction features most prominently in Brief Lives, in which his siblings Morpheus and Delirium set out to track him down. When they finally meet they do not exactly argue but talk at cross-purposes; Destruction's choice of path baffles and to some degree infuriates Morpheus, while Destruction finds it hard to comprehend Morpheus' position and concentrates on trying to impart to him some wisdom on the necessity of change and self-knowledge. Delirium just wants her brother back; she is reliant on her siblings for support, particularly her elder brothers. In the end, Destruction simply leaves, packing his sword into a bindle, stepping into the sky and vanishing.