Don't Fear the Reaper: Difference between revisions

[[File:angelofdeathbyevelyndemorgan_7190.jpg|link=The Grim Reaper|frame|''[http://www.houseofazrael.com/azrael-gallery/images/angel_of_death-2.html Angel of Death]'' by Evelyn de Morgan]]

 

'''Manny Calavera:''' No. But I am here to ease your pain.|''[[Grim Fandango]]''}}

 

* The movie ''[[Death Takes a Holiday]]'' (from 1934, starring Frederick March and Evelyn Venable), sees Death become progressively nicer during [[Death Takes a Holiday|his stint in human form]]. It was remade in 1971, and again in 1998 as ''[[Meet Joe Black]]''.

* In ''[[Bill and Teds Excellent Adventure|Bill And Ted's Bogus Journey]]'', the Grim Reaper appears as someone with kind of a bad attitude - but turns out to become a [[Sour Supporter|useful ally]]. In fact, he later on joins the Wyld Stallyns. The [[Trope Namer]] is even quoted, when the [[Grim Reaper]] finally agrees to help Bill and Ted out.

'''Death:''' [annoyed] ''I heard that!'' }}

* {{spoiler|Will Turner}} becomes a maritime grim reaper in ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]''. {{spoiler|He's much more reasonable than Davy Jones, [[You Kill It, You Bought It|who had to be killed]] for Will to take his place.}}

* While Death from the ''[[Discworld]]'' series is still probably not the kind of person (or [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]) you'd like to meet in a dark alleyway, what with him still being the classic cowled skeleton and all, he's arguably the closest thing the Discworld has to a responsible, benevolent deity. (The actual gods tend to be self-interested jerks running on Greek Mythology rules.) He stated that he has to care in order to do his job, although it's an extremely lonely one - people are still rarely, except under certain unfortunate circumstances, pleased to see him. Interestingly, despite him being a skeleton, there have been a fair few fans (some imminently due to be "collected") who've written to [[Terry Pratchett]] saying that they hope that he wasn't too far off the mark. Pratchett also says that these letters usually cause him to spend some time staring at the wall. His family motto is "Non Timetis Messor" - Latin for "Don't fear the Reaper"- not to mention he's very fond of cats (it's suggested that cruelty to cats is one of the very few things that can make Death genuinely angry, and he also has adopted rather a large number of his own, which by all indications he takes quite good care of).

** There's an entire book in the series, ''[[Discworld/Reaper Man|Reaper Man]],'' devoted to Death discovering how vital kindness in his job is.

** Death has also been replaced temporarily by his apprentice Mort and Mort's daughter (Death's "granddaughter") Susan Sto Helit. One is a knobby-kneed adolescent male who gradually starts taking on Death's traits while the other is a young woman.

** Death and Susan are also two of the only things standing between humanity and [[Complete Monster|the auditors]]. And ''boy'' have they done a good job there...

* Weirdly enough, there is an NCIS episode that implicitly features the angel of death. She appears as a little girl, and mostly just appears to be dropping in to check on her next cases.

* A [[Rowan Atkinson]] sketch titled [http://www.epicure.demon.co.uk/devilswelcome.html "The Devil's Welcome"] plays with this hilariously.

'''''Will You Stop Screaming!''''' }}

* Subverted in an episode of ''Mysterious Ways''. Declan starts worrying that his teaching assistant, a not at all scary looking young woman, is the Angel of Death and she has come for him. Throughout the course of the episode, and in dealing with his own potential illness, it is revealed that she is actually the Angel of Comfort (the same one who visited him when his dad died.)

== Mythology and Religion ==

* In Voodoo, there's Maman Brigitte, the Hatian goddess of love and death. To quote [http://www.godchecker.com/ God Checker:]

** Furthermore, there is Baron Samedi, Papa Guede and the whole rest of the Guede family, which tends to be a bunch of people who really enjoy … for a lack of a better word, living. Papa Guede himself sits down and listens to you entire life story.

* In Mexico, the character of La Catrina its an important part of its folklore. She is nice, loves to sing, dance and get fun with the mortals, especially certain days like Dia De Los Muertos. And if you are Mexican she will appear at the day of your death.

* Mara, one of the gods from the [[Roguelike]] ''[http://www.incursion-roguelike.com/ Incursion]'', puts a big emphasis on fulfillment and resolution; she is surprisingly free with resurrections for her worshipers. Unusually for this trope, she is also the goddess of [[The Undead]] and doesn't view them as [[Always Chaotic Evil|abominations]].

* [[Maximo]] has Grim, the Grim Reaper, who is a all around pleasant guy and a wise-ass. The second game shows that it's not just a job for him, he feels paternal to the souls he guards and hates to see them trapped or used for evil. In fact, in the second game he even directly helps Maximo this time by stepping into combat directly temporarily.

* In ''[[Soul Nomad and The World Eaters]]'', the [[Grim Reaper|Master of Death]] of the protagonist's homeworld, Vigilance, was a just and compassionate being. Since [[Reincarnation]] only occurs while there is a Master of Death to keep the souls flowing into the afterlife, it also means his duty is simply an integral part in keeping the world alive. {{spoiler|His ''own'' reincarnation, [[Psycho for Hire|Gig]], is ''not'' an example of this trope.}}

* ''[[Touhou]]'', of course, sticks its thumb in this pie, as well. Not-so-grim reaper Komachi is often portrayed as a [[Bottle Fairy]] whenever she isn't [[Death Takes a Holiday|napping for days on end]]. She basically just wants to "go at her own pace", which happens to be lethargic, even by a (non-flying) turtle's standards, and is notably bright and cheery any time it involves anything besides the drudgery of [[One-Hour Work Week|actually doing her job]]. Fanon aside, it seems her sloth actually comes from trying to do her job ''too well'' and spending too much time with each soul rather than working efficiently and heartlessly to meet her quota like she's supposed to. She also takes breaks to give advice to the living.