The Corinthian
A nightmare given flesh by the Lord of Dreams to represent humanity's collective darkness.
The Corinthian is a fictional character in Neil Gaiman's comic book series The Sandman, first appearing in The Sandman #10 (October 1989) as part of the second story arc, The Doll's House. He is an anthropomorphized living nightmare created by Dream, who destroys him in the same collection for going rogue and failing to fulfill his original design. Dream later recreates him with "some changes," though the exact nature of these changes is not explicit. His most notable physical feature is his lack of eyes: in their place, two rows of small, jagged teeth line each eye socket, which he often covers with sunglasses. He can speak, eat, see, and even breathe through these mouths.
Quick Facts
- Publisher
- DC Comics (Vertigo)
- Debut
- The Sandman vol. 2 #10 (October 1989)
- Creators
- Neil Gaiman, Mike Dringenberg
- Powers
- Limited clairvoyance
- supernatural vision ("sees" despite lack of eyes)
- skilled combatant
Lore & Background
The Corinthian is AWOL from the dreamscape following Dream's escape from capture, and masquerades as a serial killer who removes his victims' eyes. Dream finds him shortly after saving Rose Walker, stating that Corinthian was created to represent the collective darkness of humanity and expressing disappointment in him for failing to fulfill his purpose. As punishment, Dream kills Corinthian, leaving behind a skull and some sand, and promises to improve upon him. Dream recreates Corinthian in The Kindly Ones storyline, wherein he helps rescue and protect Daniel Hall. This second Corinthian possesses the same memories as the predecessor, but does not act like him. In 1999, Neil Gaiman stated that the Corinthian is homosexual in The Sandman Companion, wherein the first Corinthian consumed eyes only of boys. In 2022, he identified the Corinthian as pansexual in the Netflix TV series. The second Corinthian is featured with a boyfriend as written by Caitlin R. Kiernan in The Dreaming.
Reader's Guide
The first Corinthian claims to have excellent eyesight, and is shown driving a car even while wearing sunglasses at night. He is able to consume the eyes of humans, allowing him to view their memories and see the future. Corinthian is able to possess human bodies, whereof the eyes are consumed and replaced by teeth and the hair of the victim turns white. The second Corinthian resembles the first, but is very skilled at hand-to-hand combat. He possesses the ability to detect shapeshifters, shown when deducing Loki's disguise quickly thanks to the memories of his predecessor. During his search for Daniel Hall, Corinthian kills a supernatural wolf with his bare hands and later defeats Loki in single combat. He is also a skilled tracker, able to locate targets across cities and realms with relative ease. Boyd Holbrook portrayed both Corinthians in the Netflix television series The Sandman. Corinthian also appears in The Sandman (2020), voiced by Riz Ahmed.
More in Dreams & Mortals
Elsewhere in The Sandman
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