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Late in the series, it is revealed that the Despair we see is not the first Despair, but a second aspect.

The original Despair is seen in Endless Nights during Dream's story.

She is depicted much the same way she is now, fat, flabby, and unclothed, but taller and with red tattoos all over her body, and more talkative.

It is also revealed in Brief Lives that, like Daniel Hall, she was originally someone else who took up the mantle of the first Despair upon her death.

In Worlds ' End, we see that the Old Necropolis was destroyed because the inhabitants laughed at the other Endless for wanting the first Despair's cerements.

The only hint to the manner of the first Despair's death is given by Daniel in his conversation with Lyta Hall during The Wake: " The person who was responsible for the death of the first Despair will take the rest of eternity to die.

Only then will his pain cease ... And he had better cause for what he did than you.