Editing Death of the Endless (section)

===Character design===
According to Gaiman, the initial visual design of Death was based on a friend of Dringenberg's named Cinamon Hadley.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/lore/interview4.html |title=Neil on AOL |work=The Dreaming: Neil Gaiman Page |access-date=2006-12-14 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070110200742/http://www.holycow.com/dreaming/lore/interview4.html |archive-date=January 10, 2007 }}</ref> From ''[[The Sandman Companion]]'':
[[File:Cinnamon+Dringenberg.jpg|thumb|left|Cinamon "Sin" Hadley, the inspiration for "Death"]]
{{Blockquote|Death is the only major character whose visuals didn't spring from me; that credit goes to Mike Dringenberg. In my original Sandman outline, I suggested Death look like rock star [[Nico]] in 1968, with the perfect cheekbones and perfect face she has on the cover of her ''[[Chelsea Girl (album)|Chelsea Girl]]'' album.

But Mike Dringenberg had his own ideas, so he sent me a drawing based on a woman he knew named Cinamon Hadley<ref>{{cite magazine |url=http://www.slugmag.com/articles/2782/The-High-Cost-of-Being-Death.html |title=The High Cost of (Being) Death |magazine=SLUG Magazine |date=May 3, 2011 |issue=269 |first=Madelyn |last=Boudreaux |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130708045605/http://www.slugmag.com/articles/2782/The-High-Cost-of-Being-Death.html |archive-date=July 8, 2013}}</ref> &mdash; the drawing that was later printed in Sandman 11 &mdash; and I looked at it and had the immediate reaction of, "Wow. That's really cool". Later that day, [[Dave McKean]] and I went to dinner in [[Chelsea, London|Chelsea]] at the My Old Dutch Pancake House and the waitress who served us was a kind of vision. She was American, had long black hair, was dressed entirely in black &mdash; black jeans, T-shirt, etc. &mdash; and wore a big silver [[ankh]] on a silver necklace. And she looked exactly like Mike Dringenberg's drawing of Death. }}

Hadley died from colon cancer at the age of 48 on January 6, 2018.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/name/Cinamon-Hadley-obituary?pid=187802633 |title=Cinamon Hadley Obituary |work=Legacy.com |date=10 January 2018 }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.sltrib.com/artsliving/arts/2018/01/23/the-life-of-death-remembering-utah-ballerina-goth-queen-and-comic-book-character-cinamon-hadley/ |title=The life and death of Utah's 'otherworldly' Cinamon Hadley — ballerina, goth queen and comic book character |first=Eric |last=Walden |date=January 23, 2018 |newspaper=Salt Lake Tribune}}</ref>

McKean also used a series of professional English models for representations of Death on covers of ''Sandman.''<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www3.sympatico.ca/nancy.kilpatrick/n_the_goth_bible_corrections.htm |work=The goth Bible: A Compendium for the Darkly Inclined |first=Nancy |last=Kilpatrick |title=Corrections & Omissions |access-date=2006-11-26 |archive-date=2017-05-08 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170508222913/http://www3.sympatico.ca/nancy.kilpatrick/n_the_goth_bible_corrections.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Despite some rumors, Death is not based on Gaiman's friend [[Tori Amos]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Death: The High Cost of Living |first=Neil |last=Gaiman |author-link=Neil Gaiman |isbn=1-56389-133-6 |year=1994 |publisher=DC Comics |location=New York |contribution=[[Tori Amos]] |title-link=Death: The High Cost of Living}}</ref>