Roderick Burgess
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Roderick Burgess is a fictional character from Neil Gaiman's comic book series, The Sandman.
Roderick Burgess (1863 - 1947) was the Lord Magus of the The Order of the Ancient Mysteries. Born Morris Burgess Brocklesby and known also as The Daemon King, his magical fraternity was based in 'Fawney Rig' in Sussex and initially funded by his inherited industrial wealth.
Burgess is a magician rather in the vein of the real Aleister Crowley, and within the DC world his rival. With a group of devotees Burgess conducts magical rituals. The series starts with his attempt to capture and bind Death, which fails, capturing Morpheus instead. Burgess keeps Morpheus trapped in a glass globe for the rest of his (Burgess') life, attempting to bargain with him; Morpheus remains silent. Burgess dies of old age, still attempting to get a response out of Morpheus. His order passes to his son, Alex.
Burgess is a bald-headed, slightly pot-bellied man with a large hook nose with something of the look of a gypsy about him. He is ultimately self-centred; the success of his order is all important to him, and the point of the order is to bring money and power to himself. His relationship with his son seems slightly distant, but not unkind.