History Characters / DiscworldDeathAndCompany

[[IHaveManyNames The Stealer of Souls, Defeater of Empires, Swallower of Oceans, The Ultimate Reality, Harvester of Mankind,]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking "Picker-Up of Unconsidered Trifles"]], etc. Tall, bony fellow with a black robe and a scythe, [[AC:Talks like this all the time.]] You'll know him when you see him... and you will. Most people, however, aren't aware that they're doing so, unless they're users of magic, dead/about to die or, for some reason, cats. Has developed a fondness for humans (and cats) over the centuries. He appears in more Discworld books than any other character (all of them except ''Literature/TheWeeFreeMen'' and ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'').

[[IHaveManyNames The Stealer of Souls, Defeater of Empires, Swallower of Oceans, The Ultimate Reality, Harvester of Mankind,]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking "Picker-Up of Unconsidered Trifles"]], etc. Tall, bony fellow with a black robe and a scythe, [[AC: Talks like this all the time.]] You'll know him when you see him... and you will. Most people, however, aren't aware that they're doing so, unless they're users of magic, dead/about to die or, for some reason, cats. Has developed a fondness for humans (and cats) over the centuries. He appears in more Discworld books than any other character (all of them except ''Literature/TheWeeFreeMen'' and ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'').

--> '''I? Kill?''' said Death, obviously offended. '''Certainly not. People get killed, but that's their business. I just take over from then on. After all, it'd be a bloody stupid world if people got killed without dying, wouldn't it?'''

'''Death:''' '''Well... yes.'''\\

'''Death:''' '''Er, when the pain is too much to bear.''' ''({{Beat}})'' '''Even as I say it, I realise that this isn't the answer you were looking for, however.'''

'''Death:''' '''Rare.'''

* PaintingTheMedium: '''HIS DISTINCTIVE METHOD OF SPEECH.''' (Described as sounding "like lead slabs falling on a marble floor.") He also speaks without quotation marks, indicating he is not speaking in the traditional sense.

* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: And it usually comes via the Death of Rats. Or Binky. Or [[IncrediblyLamePun Quoth]], the raven. Or, in the case of ''Soul Music'' when [[spoiler:her parents died in a fiery carriage accident]], all three.

* AlmightyJanitor: Death is (understandably) offended when he's accused of killing people. Death's job as the reaper is more of a public service than outright judge, jury and executioner. People die on their own, Death's role is to usher them into the next world; he's not evil by nature, he's just fulfilling his designated role.

[[IHaveManyNames The Stealer of Souls, Defeater of Empires, Swallower of Oceans, The Ultimate Reality, Harvester of Mankind,]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking "Picker-Up of Unconsidered Trifles"]], etc. Tall, bony fellow with a black robe and a scythe, '''talks like this all the time.''' You'll know him when you see him... and you will. Most people, however, aren't aware that they're doing so, unless they're users of magic, dead/about to die or, for some reason, cats. Has developed a fondness for humans (and cats) over the centuries. He appears in more Discworld books than any other character (all of them except ''Literature/TheWeeFreeMen'' and ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'').

* PunnyName: "Mort" means "dead" in French. Death notes the coincidence when they first meet.

* PapaWolf: Has a soft spot for children, especially his adopted daughter Ysabelle. During his battle with Mort, [[spoiler:he becomes even more furious when he believes that she has been seduced by Mort]]. This later extends to his granddaughter, Susan (though she's generally very capable of looking after herself), with it being indicated that his actions/the nature of his intervention in ''Literature/SoulMusic'' were driven by the fact that [[spoiler: the Music]] had upset Susan by [[spoiler: killing Imp/Buddy]].

* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: As the Duke Mort took an active role in politics -- by traveling in the region and ''talking'' with other nobles a lot. While this approach was met with some derision, the region did see a significant reduction in the number of military skirmishes.

** A sign of his CharacterDevelopment in ''Maskerade'' when Granny Weatherwax challenges him to a hand of poker to settle the fate of a newborn child, he concedes the game to her as she has four Queens, whereas all he has are four "ones" [[note]]Ace beats Queen in most hand combinations in Poker. Also note that that was ''Granny's'' first hand, and she tricked him into taking it. Depending on your interpretation, either she tricked him into conceding or he willingly let her win. [[/note]]

* BadassBaritone: He's always described as having an impossibly deep voice. ''Maskerade'' specifies him as a bass. Therefore it shouldn't be a surprise that more than once in adaptations he's been voiced by Creator/ChristopherLee.

* TheArtifact: As noted above she is technically a Duchess because of her backstory (her father was given the title in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'') a status she presumably still has but never comes up, outside of a brief mention in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''. Since part of Mort's punishment for changing reality was merging the Sto Plains kingdoms as history intended, it's possible that Sto-Helit merged into Keli's Sto-Lat and it's just a courtesy title with no responsibility.

* FallenPrincess: Implied. Her parents were still a duke and duchess when she was sent to boarding school and were regularly doing business travels. When they died, Susan was allowed to finish her education but we see that she became a governess and later a schoolteacher rather than take up her duchess title. It's implied that Mort causing a merged timeline to save Queen Kelli's life had something to do with this.

** A sign of his CharacterDevelopment in ''Maskerade'' when Granny Weatherwax challenges him to a hand of poker to settle the fate of a newborn child, he concedes the game to her as she has four Queens, whereas all he has are four "ones" [[note]]Ace beats Queen in most hand combinations in Poker. Also note that that was ''Granny's'' first hand, and she tricked him into taking it and then intimidated him into conceding. [[/note]]

* PaintingTheMedium: '''His distinctive method of speech.''' (Described as sounding "like lead slabs falling on a marble floor.") He also speaks without quotation marks, indicating he is not speaking in the traditional sense.

* UncannyValley: She seems to give off this vibe in-universe because she doesn't exist within time like everyone else. It's creepy even to a senior witch like Nanny Ogg, who's more or less SeenItAll.

** A sign of his CharacterDevelopment in ''Maskerade'' when Granny Weatherwax challenges him to a hand of poker to settle the fate of a newborn child, he concedes the game to her as she has four Queens, whereas all he has are four "ones" [[/note]]Ace beats Queen in most hand combinations in Poker. Also note that that was ''Granny's'' first hand, and she tricked him into taking it and then intimidated him into conceding. [[/note]]

* ChessWithDeath: Anyone he comes to collect is free to challenge him to any game of skill, with chess being a popular choice. It's a waste of time, because he's not actually capable of losing legitimately, regardless of the fact that he can never remember "how the little horse-shaped ones move". On the other hand, when Granny Weatherwax challenges him to a hand of poker to settle the fate of a newborn child, he concedes the game to her as she has four Queens, whereas all he has are four "ones" (Ace beats Queen in most hand combinations in Poker). One recently deceased challenged him to a game of golf. This turned out to be a terrible idea, as Death has had a ''lot'' of practice with his swing.

** At a point in the distant past, Death used to have skeleton horses, but they kept falling to bits and took forever to put back together, and fiery horses, but the problem with that quickly became readily apparent.
* CreativeSterility: Death can't create life, and he can only really copy things. He also doesn't quite understand the purpose of the things he makes or how they work, so he may build pipes but forget they're supposed to be hollow, make towels with no idea they're supposed to be fluffy and absorbent, or make a swing in a tree by removing the trunk, leaving the rest of the tree in place -- still growing. [[note]]Funnily enough, the way he changes and maladapts the things he copies shows that what he's making isn't just facsimile but holds some spark of original component... even if it doesn't function properly (if it functioned properly it ''would'' be just a copy).[[/note]]

* DeathsHourglass: Even ''Death himself'' has one -- it's huge, intangible and completely empty of sand. Another noteworthy hourglass is the one belonging to Rincewind, which has been through so many bizarre magical catastrophes it doesn't look like an hourglass so much as a piece of modern art made out of silicon by a glass-blower with hiccups and schizophrenia. Nobody, not even Death, knows when it's going to run out. He keeps it on his desk.

* DotingGrandparent: He ''really'' wanted to be this to Susan when she was little. Unfortunately, Mort and Ysabella wanted their daughter to have a "normal" life so they forbid any contact, apart from one or two visits Susan was too little to remember.
--> '''Albert:''' Normal girls didn't get a My Little Binky set on their third birthday! Your dad took it away. The Master was very upset about that. He was trying.

* BigBeautifulWoman: Mort's first sight of Ysabell mentions her figure has "a slight suggestion of too many chocolates". Other colorful descriptions include that the top of her dress contained "enough puppy fat for two litters of Rotweilers" and when Mort asks Ysabell to put on something more than her nightgown, he says she is "overflowing".

* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: When Rincewind encounters Ysabell during his astral visit to Death's house, she's described as tall, thin, and attractive, and behaves in a waifishly creepy manner. In ''Mort,'' however, she's become a very human, emotional sixteen-year-old, and her figure is described as "a slight suggestion of too many chocolates." Of course, since she doesn't really age normally, this could just be the result of a mixture of comfort eating and a mild case of BoredWithInsanity.

* PaintingTheMedium: Much like the Death of the Discworld speaks in all-caps, it takes a whole page to contain a single word from Azrael.

[[quoteright:305:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deathwithcat_8690.jpg]]

--> [[AC: I? Kill?]] said Death, obviously offended. [[AC: Certainly not. People get killed, but that's their business. I just take over from then on. After all, it'd be a bloody stupid world if people got killed without dying, wouldn't it?]]

* TheUnintelligible: [[AC:Squeak.]] Usually has to be translated by Quoth the raven.

* SkunkStripe: Inverted; her hair is white with a black stripe.