History Main / EnemiesWithDeath

* [[Comicbook/DoctorStrange Shuma Gorath]] and the other Many-Angled Ones alter reality in the dimensions they take root in to remove Death so that life will grow out of control and become cancerous, spawning more {{Eldritch Abomination}}s like themselves. And even Death itself (as in the cosmic anthropomorphic personification of death) can't permanently kill them.

* Happens in ''VideoGame/{{Touhou}} 7: [[WordSaladTitle Perfect Cherry Blossom]]'' when you fight Yuyuko, a super-powered ghost whose main power is inflicting death upon others. Said battle happens in the local equivalent of an ''afterlife''. A more ''literal'' use of this trope is during ''Touhou 9: Phantasmagoria of Flower View'' when you must fight [[{{Shinigami}} Komachi]] to [[DeathTakesAHoliday get her back to work]], so it's ''your character'' who deliberately makes Death your enemy.

* Hel, the Norse goddess of death, is the {{Big Bad}} of the third arc of ''Videogame/{{Fire Emblem Heroes}}''; her army, and her own power, increase every time someone dies in any universe. The heroes manage to kill her.

* ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'': {{Inverted}} at first, when it's Bun-bun the mini-lop who has it in for an AnthropomorphicPersonification; he tries to kill SantaClaus every Christmas due to a grudge whose origin he can't remember properly. Eventually he pushes Santa so far that he snaps and starts plotting Bun-bun's death too. As this theme progresses, other Anthropomorphic Personifications of the holidays also become Bun-bun's enemies (others, cowed allies), although they'd rather just leave him alone after he shows he could beat up just about any of them.

* ''WebComic/SluggyFreelance'': {{Inverted}} at first, when it's Bun-bun the mini-lop who has it in for an AnthropomorhicPersonification; he tries to kill SantaClaus every Christmas due to a grudge he can't remember properly. Eventually he pushes Santa so far that he snaps and starts plotting Bun-bun's death too. As this theme progresses, other Anthropomorphic Personifications of the holidays also become Bun-bun's enemies (others, cowed allies), although they'd rather just leave him alone after he shows he could beat up just about any of them.

** Hood does, however, have a beef with the T'lan Imass as a whole, as is revealed in ''Literature/TheCrippledGod'', who are a race that collectively cheated death by becoming {{undead}}. For a long time, he could do nothing about it, but then the T'lan Imass decided to make [[spoiler:Dassem Ultor]] ''their'' champion, and since such motions have metaphysical investiture in the series, all Hood had to do was to serve him the information the T'lan Imass had just made him the [[DeityOfHumanOrigin God of Tragedy]] on a hot platter. It's never explicitly explained what truly happened, but Onos T'oolan claims that [[spoiler:Dassem and his daughter]] were actually Hood's ''weapons'' directed at the T'lan Imass.

** Death is usually a pretty nice guy, or neutrally doing his job, but in [[Literature/TheColourOfMagic the first book]], [[CharacterizationMarchesOn before his characterisation was quite settled]], he could be slightly malevolent, and annoyed that he couldn't tell when [[CosmicPlaything Rincewind]] was going to die. He stopped actively going after Rincewind as early as [[Literature/TheLightFantastic the second book]], and took the view of [[AC:I'll get him eventually. I get ''everyone'', eventually]]
*** Death's attitude toward Rincewind (and fellow death defier Vimes) softens significantly in the later books, to the point where he sees them as a curiosity (or a source of mild exasperation at worst) more than anything else. At one point, while Vimes is in a particularly dangerous situation, Death appears off to the side sitting in a chair and idly flipping through a book. When Vimes notices him, Death says something along the lines of "[[AC:Oh, don't mind me. I'm just waiting to see how this turns out.]]"

** Death is usually a pretty nice guy, or neutrally doing his job, but in [[Literature/TheColourOfMagic the first book]], [[CharacterizationMarchesOn before his characterisation was quite settled]], he could be slightly malevolent, and annoyed that he couldn't tell when [[CosmicPlaything Rincewind]] was going to die. He stopped actively going after Rincewind as early as [[Literature/TheLightFantastic the second book]], and took the view of "[[AC:I'll get him eventually. I get ''everyone'', eventually]]".

** Billie has never liked the Winchesters but grudgingly accepts working with them after she becomes [[LegacyCharacter the new Death]]. When their deal to kill Chuck falls apart she's more than ever determined to reap Dean. [[spoiler: Castiel foils her by dragging her with him to the Empty.]]

* This is used at least thrice in ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''.

* When SelfDemonstrating/{{Deadpool}} and Death become infatuated with one another after Deadpool has a number of near-death experiences, a jealous Thanos prevents Deadpool from dying and joining the entity.

* Slovak fairytale "Frau Holle". Our hero Jakob is the godchild of Frau Holle (in one word, Life) and can see her sister "Frau Hippe". Maybe she should have explained to him she is a necessary part of the universe. But when the evil stepmother and her daughter always try to kill his love interest, he blames her instead and constantly hands her ass to her since she's a withered crone and he a handsome lad, making her an outright ButtMonkey of the film. (Her only [[WouldntHitAGirl defense]], sort of, is that she is the Slavic Death and can take the form of a beautiful maiden. Too bad her [[GoldTooth crooked teeth]] kinda ruin the effect.) It culminates when Jakob is hanged for "murdering his love interest". Luckily she comes back just in time to refute the false claims. In the ensuing chaos, Death tries to finish the job herself, while Jakob desperately holds up the noose with one hand. But with that she finally overstepped her boundaries and her sister is so pissed off she makes Jakob immortal. Poor Death, one can be actually sorry for her. Her only [[ThrowTheDogABone consolation]] (written in, it's nowhere in the [[Creator/BrothersGrimm original]]) is that she can claim the evil stepmother and her daughter (she cheats again and drowns them in a pitch pool - merry sleep, kids).

** Death is usually a pretty nice guy, or neutrally doing his job, but in [[Discworld/TheColourOfMagic the first book]], [[CharacterizationMarchesOn before his characterisation was quite settled]], he could be slightly malevolent, and annoyed that he couldn't tell when [[CosmicPlaything Rincewind]] was going to die. He stopped actively going after Rincewind as early as [[Discworld/TheLightFantastic the second book]], and took the view of "[[AC:I'll get him eventually. I get ''everyone'', eventually]]".

** The Auditors of Reality, on the other hand, who are roughly personifications of the laws of the universe, are antagonistic towards all life, especially intelligent beings. They have it in for Death, too, particularly as he takes the side of life against them; this results, especially in ''Discworld/ReaperMan'' where he's a protagonist, in the odd situation that ''Death'' is "EnemiesWithDeath".
** In ''Discworld/{{Hogfather}}'', [[PsychoForHire Mr. Teatime]] devises plans for killing Death, as well as seemingly every other anthropomorphic personification on Discworld, in his spare time. He nearly pulls off the one against the Hogfather ([[YouMeanXmas a Santa Claus expy]]) until Death and his daughter Susan get involved.

* The titular character of ''Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}'' has a love-hate relationship with Death. She doesn't fear him and continually rebuffs his advances (romantic or [[StalkerWithACrush otherwise]]) throughout the show, until her DespairEventHorizon (at which he [[spoiler: refuses to take her because he realized in that moment she wanted to use him as an escape]]. In the German version, Lucheni implies that Death [[DisproportionateRetribution goes out of his way to mess Sisi's life up]] out of spite.

* The titular character of ''[[Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}]]'' has a love-hate relationship with Death. She doesn't fear him and continually rebuffs his advances (romantic or [[StalkerWithACrush otherwise]]) throughout the show, until her DespairEventHorizon (at which he [[spoiler: refuses to take her because he realized in that moment she wanted to use him as an escape]]. In the German version, Lucheni implies that Death [[DisproportionateRetribution goes out of his way to mess Sisi's life up]] out of spite.

* The titular character of ''[[Theatre/{{Elisabeth}}]] has a love-hate relationship with Death. She doesn't fear him and continually rebuffs his advances (romantic or [[StalkerWithACrush otherwise]]) throughout the show, until her DespairEventHorizon (at which he [[spoiler: refuses to take her because he realized in that moment she wanted to use him as an escape]]. In the German version, Lucheni implies that Death [[DisproportionateRetribution goes out of his way to mess Sisi's life up]] out of spite.

Contrast MonsterRoommate and DontFearTheReaper.

Contrast MonsterRoommate. Compare DontFearTheReaper (in which case Death doesn't need to necessarily be ''friendly'', just ineffectual).

Contrast MonsterRoommate.

* ''Manga/SaintSeiya'' has the heroes fight Hades, god of the underworld... and his minion gods Thanatos and Hypnos, gods of death and sleep, respectively. Just how powerful they are [[MisappliedPhlebotinum or how wisely they use their abilities]] is debatable, as they both physically fight the saints [[CaptainObvious (and lose)]] rather than kill them by natural causes or make them comatose, respectively.

* Each generation of Belmonts in ''Franchise/{{Castlevania}}'' has fought Death (and he just won't stay dead!) Amusingly, Alucard in ''VideoGame/CastlevaniaSymphonyOfTheNight'', having been evil and helped his dad Dracula, is on a first name basis with Death when they meet at the start of the game. Doesn't keep Death from [[BagOfSpilling punking your equipment,]] though.

* In the Literature/{{Fafhrd And The Gray Mouser}} stories the Death of their world is something like a cosmic bureaucrat that answers to some vague pan-dimensional forces. He has to meet particular quotas of who dies within allocated time periods (measured in mortal heartbeats) and is only really allowed to do so by manipulating natural events. He can't snap his fingers and kill somebody unless they have a severe medical condition, but he can make sure that they might have a nasty incident with some badly maintained masonry. The exceptions to this rule are the main characters, who once attempted to steal his mask; since then he's had it in for them and has resorted to toying with reality by teleporting crazed berserkers into their living quarters.