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troperville

Basic Trope: For some reason The Grim Reaper, or an Anthropomorphic Personification of some other concept intrinsic to existence (or the ending thereof), takes a serious dislike to The Hero and has it in for them.

Straight:
- Bob is an enemy of Death.
- Bob is an enemy of the Shinigami.
Exaggerated:
- Bob is an enemy of the four Horsemen of the Apocalypse.
- Bob is an enemy of the avatar of the Heat Death of The Universe.
Downplayed: ???
Justified:
- Bob upset The Plan Death made for something or someone.
- Death dislikes Bob for making his/her job harder or even impossible (like saving lives, cheating death or becoming immortal).
- Death's boss orders him/her to antagonize Bob.
- Bob kills lots of people, making Death overworked and frustrated.
Inverted:
- Bob is Pals With Jesus.
- Bob has tea with Cthulhu.
- Bob doesn't fear the reaper.
- Bob is pals with Death. Yeah, that's just morbid.
- Alternatively: Bob and Death are enemies... But it's Bob who is the aggressor, and Death just trying to do his job.
- Death is overworked so he forms a partnership with Bob to create an expanding community of happy immortals so he has fewer souls to collect.
Subverted:
- Turns out that Death antagonizes everyone, and Bob just has an inflated sense of self-importance.
- Bob and Death are Vitriolic Best Buds
Double Subverted: But Death especially hates Bob.
Parodied: Death offer to settle the whole thing with a game of... Dissidia. And then it turns out that Death is one of those "Stop Having Fun" Guys (pun intended).
Zig Zagged: Sometimes Bob fight Death like there is no tomorrow (possibly literal, shall Bob ever lose), the other day they went to watch football match together.
Averted:
- Death is equally apathetic toward all beings.
- Death kills Bob.
Enforced: It's one of those feel-good stories where The Hero spits on Death's face and wins. Unlike in, you know, Real Life.
Lampshaded: "Hope your insurance policy is up to date!"
Invoked: Bob bluffs his way out of a room full of assassins by noting that they'd have to be pretty stupid to "steal" a kill from Death itself.
Exploited: Emperor Evulz set up a deal with ~~the devil~~ Death to destroy Bob. Or with Bob to destroy Death, whichever is more profitable for him.
Defied: Death's boss has a "stay away from this guy" policy regarding Bob.
Discussed: "Death won't kill ya, oh no, it likes to toy with you. No "sweet release", just oodles of agony before the curtain call."
Conversed: "Y'know, if Death is explicitly out to kill this character, why don't they just appeal to some 'Life' entity or even God to even things out? It's hardly fair."
Deconstructed: The Problem With Fighting Death.
Reconstructed: Bob goes with one (or more) of the suggested solution in the above trope page. And it/they works!