"In the beginning was time. The relentless beat in which things could happen, in which everything could become, dust could coalesce, matter could exist."
Father Time is the embodiment of the primordial time and existence as a whole. Time is the father of The Endless.
History[]
Father Time is the personification of Time and rules over his domain. Time is the father to the Endless and with his partner Night, made all of Creation possible.
However, in present times, Time and Night are separated and estranged from their families. Even if they keep occasional contact with their offspring, they spend their existences apart. Even so, Time misses Night.
Physical appearance[]
Father Time possesses a majestic, sober, and timeless appearance. He is depicted as a man with a face marked by the passage of time, yet imbued with dignity and calm. His hair is silvery-gray, combed back, evoking the inexorable passage of time. His complexion is pale, almost ashen, reinforcing his appearance as an eternal entity. Dream, Destruction, Desire, Despair and Delirium all take after him physically in their typical forms.
He wears a long, black coat, sober yet elegant, which accentuates his mysterious and solemn aura. His gaze is piercing and distant, as if observing beyond the present, capable of contemplating the past, the future, and eternity. The dark lighting and austere environment that surround him emphasize his cosmic role as the personification of Time, detached from the world of the living yet omnipresent.
Unlike his counterpart from the graphic novels, who constantly switched forms between various ages, this version of Time is apparently stuck at the same age.
Personality[]
Time is particularly lonely, although he prefers it so, as he does not want to have any contact with his own children. To his mind, the only reason any of his children visit him is that they want something - besides Destiny, who asks nothing of him because Time gave him all he had as his birthright. Destiny leaves him alone.
As shown when he spoke to Dream, Time is completely and utterly detached from the rest of creation and cares very little for anything else, even his own children. As stated by Time, he does not love any of his children, even seeing them in a contemptuous light, considering them an inconvenient byproduct of love. His detachment is such that he even refuses to offer Dream his help with his situation with the Kindly Ones, having even considered his son’s actions foolish and that he should bear the consequences as he knew full well of them when he made his decisions. As admitted by Time, the one person he is interested in meeting again is Night and she is the only person he genuinely loves and cares for. Caring little else for everyone and everything else.
However, despite his detachment, it has been shown that Time at least has some feelings of attachment to his children, provided that they do or say something to rouse it from him. This was seen when Dream admitted that despite Time’s refusal to help him or have anything to do with him or his siblings or even despite the emotional abuse he inflicts on his son, Dream could not help but feel love for his father and was grateful to him for giving him his life, even the hard parts of it. Touching Time and making him seriously consider helping Dream by sending him back in time to try and rewrite his mistakes. However, Time himself warned that this was redundant, as he could see no possibility of Dream succeeding even if he did send him back through time to correct his mistakes, as every path ended up in the same ending. Hinting that his detachment and apathy towards his children and creation in general may stem from his omnipotence and knowing the redundancy of choices due to knowing their ultimate outcome.
Powers and Abilities[]
Father Time is the embodiment of primordial time and existence itself. As such, he possesses immense cosmic powers. He is the father of the Endless, who represent the fundamental concepts of the universe. A cosmic personification of original time, he embodies not only linear time but also the very engine of all existence. Without him, nothing can begin or occur.
- Time Personification: As the personification of time, existence, and the flow of events, Father Time possesses divine, omnipotent authority and absolute control over all aspects of time and reality linked to it. With these powers, he is almost completely omnipotent.
- Immortality: As a cosmic entity and the personification of time and existence, Father Time is eternal. He has existed since before the beginning of creation, and he cannot get sick, age, or be killed by any weapon.
- Chronokinesis: He governs the flow of time across all realms. He can stop, accelerate, rewind, or collapse time. He exists in all timelines simultaneously and perceives all moments at once. As shown when he offered to help Dream, Time could also freely send others to any time he pleases, offering to try and help Dream by sending him to the past and to try and help Orpheus and petition Hades and Persephone to return his wife to him.
- Omnipresence: As the embodiment of time, Father Time exists simultaneously in the past, present, and future, though mortals cannot perceive him. He can appear at any time and traverse the magical realms as long as cosmic order is respected.
- Omniscient: As the embodiment of time itself, Father Time knows everything that has happened, has happened, and will happen in all realities of the Omniverse (Multiverse). Time himself could also see virtually every possibilities of any action and choice of every being in creation, as shown where Time informed Dream that no matter what he did to try and help his son, all paths lead to the same result.
- Law Manipulation: As the primordial entity that preceded all things, Father Time can create laws that all creatures are bound to follow. Dream explains that it was Father Time and Mother Night who imposed the ancient rules on their children. As hypothetically implied by Night, should she and Time work together, it could be possible for them to rewrite the laws of the universe, albeit due to their estrangement, this is unlikely.
- Dimensional Manipulation: Father Time can bend, reshape, or create dimensions at will. He exists outside the normal flow of space-time and can shift entire realities.
- Reality Manipulation: He can alter the fabric of reality itself, rewriting the laws of physics, changing outcomes, or restoring what has been lost.