Destiny (DC Comics)
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Destiny is one of the Endless, fictional characters from Neil Gaiman's comic book series, The Sandman.
Destiny is the oldest of the Endless, and is portrayed as a tall figure, obscured within a brown robe and cowl. He reads from a large book chained to his right wrist, which contains all past, present, and future events. He does not leave footprints, nor does he cast a shadow. Destiny's realm is a garden, the maze-like paths of which he walks continually. His book is his sigil in the galleries of the other Endless. Destiny is blind, although this doesn't appear to hinder him, he is always calm, detached and sombre even in extreme situations.
He is the least characterised and least used of the Endless in the series. Though he was first depicted in a picture at the end of the first collection (in the penultimate issue), his first actual appearance is in the fourth collection, Season of Mists. In a quiet way he seems to direct the family affairs of the Endless; it is he who calls the family meeting that begins Season of Mists.
Destiny is also featured in the three-issue miniseries Destiny: A Chronicle of Deaths Foretold, authored by Alisa Kwitney with art by Kent Williams, Michael Zulli, Scott Hampton, and Rebecca Guay. Destiny is there shown transforming the son of Byzantine Empress Theodora into a pestilence-bearing Horseman of the Apocalypse. The Horseman spreads bubonic plague throughout eras of human civilization while searching for a woman he can love and spare. The frame story focuses on the Horseman's appearance in the 21st century, where he offers a glimpse of Destiny's book to the frightened survivors of the latest plague.
Like Lucien, Cain and Abel and some other Sandman characters, Destiny was initially the host of a 1970s DC horror comic, Weird Mystery Tales. In this title the Book of Destiny was called the Cosmic Log, and there was, of course, no mention of his family.
In Gaiman's graphic novel The Books Of Magic, Mr. E and Timothy Hunter see Destiny at the end of the universe, shortly before he is taken by Death.