Don't Fear the Reaper: Difference between revisions

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* Meroko and Takuto from ''[[Full Moon o Sagashite]]''.

* ''[[Bleach]]'': This trope is in force for the most part. The shinigami are just like humans: they can be friendly, moody, supportive, scary, hostile depending on situation or individual personality type. However, shinigami aren't enemies of humanity even if their focus on the big picture can make them seem aloof at times. Their role is to guide the dead to Soul Society, cleanse hollows of post-death sin so they too can be guided to Soul Society and also to maintain the balance of souls across different worlds. In other words, shinigami are portrayed the same way humans are portrayed: as individuals with their own personalities, worries, fears, foibles, strengths and weaknesses.

* Shinigami-sama/Lord Death from [[Soul Eater]] willingly embraces this trope. Back in his day he used to look like a textbook skull-and-black-cloak (read: very intimidating) Grim Reaper, but when he founded the Shibusen Academy he took on a [http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081007183645/souleater/images/e/e7/Vsmediossouleaterdeadgod.jpg more friendly appearance] and goofy speech patterns, so as to not frighten his students. His son Death the Kid is also hardly a threatening image of death, being a teenage boy with [[Super OCD]]. However, don't try to [[Berserk Button|do whatever you like with human lives]]. [[Crouching Moron, Hidden Badass|They don't like that one bit.]]

* Momo in ''[[Ballad of a Shinigami]]'' is a sweet [[White-Haired Pretty Girl]] who not only makes your death painless, she helps the people you are leaving behind by comforting them.

* In ''[[Kamichu!]]'', Death is a rather friendly, if somewhat eccentric goddess, who even once had an affair with Poverty.

== Art ==

* Hugo Simberg, a Finnish symbolist painter, liked this theme. He made several iterations of [[wikipedia:File:Hugo Simberg Garden of Death.jpg|The Garden of Death]], possibly his most famous work. He even went so far as to [[Word of God|publicly explain his own interpretation of the scene]].

 

 

* Bob Fosse's [[All That Jazz]] features a sweet and welcoming angel of death having a possibly lifelong relationship with the main character.

* In ''[[Tim Burton]]'s [[Corpse Bride]]'', the land of the dead is a fun, colorful place full of [[Dark Is Not Evil|corpses and skeletons who are perfectly friendly and laid back]], if a little "[[Cloudcuckoolander|off]]". This makes a refreshing contrast to the dull, stifling land of the living.

 

 

* In Tais Teng's anthology ''Glass Spears'', [[Grim Reaper|the opposite trope]] is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]]. In reality, Death is a kind, elegant aristocrat with a cloak in "a flowing caleidoscope of constantly shifting colors and patterns that made all people long for the calm, the final change."

* Although there is no reaper in ''[[The Old Kingdom]],'' the River of Death - especially the Ninth Gate - is a fairly benign, or neutral place. And Sabriel's father insists that she understand: "Everyone and everything has a time to die."

* The Lady on the Grey of ''[[The Graveyard Book]]''. She even dances with Bod during the ''Danse Macabre'', promises to let him ride her big horse in the future (''"Everyone does"'') and tells the dead to take good care of him.

* Richard the reaper from ''[[Silicon Wolfpack]]'' has a major sense of humor, and is reasonably sympathetic toward those he meets in his line of work.

 

== Live-Action TV ==

** ''Mother, give me your hand... You see. No shock. No engulfment. No tearing asunder. What you feared would come like an explosion is like a whisper. What you thought was the end is the beginning.'' - Death, assuring the old woman that her journey has just begun.

** "Am I really that frightening? Before you knew who I was, you sat with me. Talked with me."

 

== Mythology and Religion ==

{{quote|"She is so chatty and full of jokes that it's fun when she escorts you to the Underworld."}}

** 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.

* {{spoiler|Nyx}}, the ultimate foe in ''[[Persona 3]]'', is the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Death itself, but is portrayed as an unknowable entity beyond good or evil. It doesn't bear any malice towards anyone, it just ''is''. However, its [[God in Human Form|earthly]] [[A Worldwide Punomenon|persona]] (appropriately named {{spoiler|Nyx Avatar}}) is affable, friendly, compassionate, and --though invincible and relentless-- {{spoiler|sympathizes with the protagonists and their plight, fighting them only to take them to their absolute limits to see how strongly they cling to life}}. In the end, {{spoiler|1=Nyx acknowledges the Main Character's selfless sacrifice and personal fulfillment, allowing itself to be defeated and stopping [[The End of the World as We Know It]] that it was about to bring. And then, Nyx Avatar has nothing but kind words and inscrutable wisdom to congratulate the Main Character and his/her friends with}}.

** Actually, if you think about it {{spoiler|Nyx gave humanity death as a gift to relieve it from its wordly pain.}} [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]], maybe?

* ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' The "I Know You" stranger mission features an unnamed man in an black suit and top hat who questions and tests John's morality. John finally demands his name at the end - the man ignores him, and walks away. John fires three bullets at near point blank range, which don't hit the man, who walks off and vanishes. The spot on the hill overlooking the homestead which the man called beautiful {{spoiler|is where John is buried after he is gunned down in the final mission.}}

** Also of note during their final encounter John says, "Damn you!", to the mysterious man and he responds casually, "Many have.", before walking off. Death is something that many people do damn (hate) all their lives, or this could be a subtle reference to the man being God as many people take His name in vain (God damn).

* Death in [[Problem Sleuth]] is a nice enough guy, willing to let you drink tea and play games for your life. He's also pretty ineffectual at his job, as most of the characters who end up in the afterlife escape through the door.

* Don't forget the deaths from [[Irregular Webcomic]], who are [[Punch Clock Villain|just trying to meet quota]] so they don't get demoted or fired. One can't help feel sorry for [[Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain|Death of]] [[Stuff Blowing Up|Insanely Overpowered Fireballs]], who can't even manage to harvest people from the [[Expy|Montana]] [[Indiana Jones|Jones]] storylines...even though half the time they're set on ''[[Made of Explodium|hydrogen zepplins]]'' manned by trigger-happy [[Those Wacky Nazis|Nazis]].

* The scrapyard robot in ''[[Freefall]]'' is pretty nice for a robot built to take apart other robots (and who carries a scythe). He even allows them to buy themselves as scrap so they don't need to be disassembled (not to mention exist without an owner).

* While the other "The Last Trick-or-Treaters" strips by R.K. Milholland of ''[[Something Positive]]'' fame are frightening, [http://www.rhymes-with-witch.com/rww10242011a.shtml this one] starring the [[Grim Reaper]] and an unfortunate trick-or-treater is oddly touching.

[[Category:Dont Fear The Reaper]]

[[Category:Don't Fear the Reaper]]