History Characters / SupernaturalReapers

!![[TheGrimReaper Death]] (Creator/JulianRichings)
!!!First appears in [[Recap/SupernaturalS05E21TwoMinutesToMidnight "Two Minutes To Midnight" (S05, E21)]].
[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/supernatural_death_9882.jpg]]

->"This is one little planet in one tiny solar system in a galaxy that's barely out of its diapers. I'm old, Dean. ''Very old''. So I invite you to contemplate how insignificant I find you."

Death is the one and only "Grim" Reaper, and leads the other Reapers.

* AliensLoveHumanFood: Death has a particularly strong craving for human food, especially junk food. This is quite remarkable considering how Death is so dismissive of Earth as an InsignificantLittleBluePlanet, yet is so overly fond of something the tiny mortals whipped up in the kitchen. Dean and the boys typically prepare an offering of FoodAsBribe to appease him if they are ever forced to summon him. He also gives his reasons for sparing Chicago due to liking their pizza.
* AllPowerfulBystander: Downplayed. He frequently provides Sam and Dean with the means to save the world, but, as a rule, Death refuses to involve himself personally. His only concern is maintaining the natural order until time comes to an end.
* TheAntiGod: He claims to be as old as God and is an antithesis of Him when it comes to creations, reaping instead of creating them. However, unlike other examples of this trope, he is neither evil, particularly destructive (aside from his reaping), and is, in fact, one of the more benign entities in the show and possesses a dislike of the natural order being thrown into chaos. [[spoiler: This is averted in Season 10, when we learn that Death is actually younger than than not just God, but the archangels. The actual Anti-God is the Darkness, which debuts in the same episode Death is killed off.]]
* BadassBoast: Death gives one to Dean, in which he claims that he will reap God at the end of time. Dean is fairly taken aback by this. [[spoiler: Seemingly subverted when it turns out to false when Dean kills him and God's still around. However reaffirmed in Season 15, where it's revealed that even though Death never got to reap God, he did know ''how'' to and has a book with instructions on how to do so.]]
* BadassInANiceSuit: Death wears a black suit and longcoat.
* BadassLongcoat: On top of his suit.
* BigGood: Interestingly, despite his neutral disposition, Death has taken up this role quite a few times. Being one of the more benevolent of the higher powers, he has frequently provided aid to the Winchesters from the sidelines against major threats. Most notably during the battles against Lucifer and Castiel.
* BlueAndOrangeMorality: Seems to operate this way.
* CapturedSuperEntity: In Season 5, he is magically bound to do Lucifer's bidding. [[spoiler: and later in Season 7, Dean and Sam bind him to their will.]]
%%* TheComicallySerious
* CompleteImmortality: Death claims he is the one thing in existence that will last forever. [[spoiler:Dean disproves this in Season 10.]]
* CoolCar: Death drives a pale 1959 Cadillac Coupe [=DeVille=] with plates reading "BUH*BYE".
* CosmicEntity: His cosmic perspective and lack of interest in Earthly matters becomes clear in the very first conversation he has with Dean. When Dean protests his relative lack of help to prevent the Earth from being destroyed in a later episode, he outright threatens to leave Earth for a better planet.
* CovertPervert: In "Moriah", Chuck states that Death was "all about fried pickles and tickle porn," and that's why [[spoiler:he prefers him over his successor Billie. Granted, since this is the episode where Chuck's [[GodIsEvil true colors]] come to light, he may have [[SpeakIllOfTheDead just been needlessly insulting Death.]] During his admittedly limited screen-time, Death never expresses any interest in sex.]]
* DarkIsNotEvil: Very, very grumpy and very, '''very''' scary, but generally a benevolent force.
* DeadpanSnarker
-->'''Dean:''' You're not serious?
-->'''Death:''' No, I'm being incredibly sarcastic.
* TheDeathOfDeath: In Season 10, to everyone's shock, Dean manages to kill Death after being handed the one thing in existence capable of killing him.
* DidWeJustHaveTeaWithCthulhu: In the first three of his appearances.
* DidYouJustScamCthulhu:
** Death reveals that Lucifer managed to trap him into his servitude. Death, who is very annoyed that he's being leashed by a petulant child with daddy issues (yes, that is how Death describes the Devil), proves that it's not a good idea to piss off an eternal and infinite force of nature by actually helping Sam and Dean imprison Lucifer again.
** [[spoiler:The Winchesters try to bind Death in a last-ditch effort to stop the newly-godlike Castiel]]. Death warns them that it won't end well for them, but he doesn't follow through on his threat after [[spoiler:Castiel]] removes his restraints because the "mutated angel" is a bigger concern for him at the moment.
* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: [[BeyondTheImpossible Thought to be impossible]], Dean manages to kill Death after being handed his scythe (revealed to be the one thing in existence capable of killing him).
* TheDreaded: To Dean, with Death being one of the few beings in existence who is able to scare him, which is ''really'' saying something. Given Dean is usually unfettered by anything, from monsters, to gods, and even unafraid to curse at the Lucifer, '''the Devil''' himself, this just goes to show just how utterly terrifying Death is.
* DullSurprise: Even as Dean kills him he barely changes his expression, only showing moderate at best surprise as he crumbles to dust.
* EldritchAbomination: For starters, he considers {{Satan}} as a naughty child who throws temper tantrum. There's also his claim about his extremely ancient age, [[spoiler: although Season 10 disproves that]]. Then there is his scythe, whose extent of power is, even today, still unknown.
* EnemiesWithDeath: Death gets into a very heated argument with Castiel, in which Castiel outright threatens to kill Death. Death isn't impressed by the "mutated angel".
* EstablishingCharacterMoment: Death gets one as he enters Chicago. He parks his Horseman car, a white 1959 Cadillac, and goes on foot. When a rude guy bumps into him, Death doesn't even look at him, instead casually brushing off his sleeve where he touched him, causing the guy to drop dead.
* {{Expy}}: To the Death seen in ''Literature/GoodOmens'', not surprising, since that book is cited as a major influence on the show. Both Deaths are easily the most powerful members of their respective Horsemen, being fundamental forces of nature rather than humanity's ills given form. They're also both [[TokenGoodTeammate the least malicious]] of their Horsemen, being [[PunchClockVillain Punch-Clock Villains]] who are just doing their job of reaping and their role in the Apocalypse, which they are relatively easily swayed out of.
* TheFogOfAges: In his debut episode, Death says that both he and God can't remember which one is older, so there is a potential that Death is the oldest being in the universe. [[spoiler: He later turns out to be lying about his age and wrong about reaping God. He may be lying about being unable to remember that far back. Besides, even if he is older than God, there is still the Darkness to compare to.]]
* FoodAsBribe: Whenever the need arises to summon him, Dean has found it advisable to present Death with a deep-fried offering.
* TheGrimReaper: The original, oldest of all the Reapers, and their boss.
* HoistByHisOwnPetard: [[spoiler: Dean kills him with his own scythe.]]
* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: The fourth.
* HumanoidAbomination: He presents himself in human form, but see EldritchAbomination above.
* IdiotBall: [[spoiler:Giving Dean, who everybody knows will burn the world down for his little brother, the one thing in existence that could kill you and expecting him to kill Sam wasn't very bright, Death.]]
* InsignificantLittleBluePlanet: Death considers Earth to be an incredibly young planet that barely registers on the cosmic radar.
* {{Irony}}: He compares Lucifer to a bratty child throwing a temper tantrum (which is a pretty accurate representation), and boasts that he may be as old as or even older than God himself, Lucifer's father. [[spoiler: Then the Darkness, who God and the Archangels personally fought, doesn't know about Death, suggesting Death is in fact ''younger'' than Lucifer.]]
* ItAmusedMe: Billie reveals that the reason DeathIsCheap for the Winchesters is he finds it funny.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Despite being extremely callous, dismissive of humanity, and unconcerned with the suffering of the protagonists, he is still fairly benevolent for such a powerful entity, and '''far''' more than the various gods and angels shown in the series. He gives important aid to the Winchesters multiple times. He also hints to Dean in [[Recap/SupernaturalS06E11AppointmentInSamarra "Appointment in Samarra" (S06, E11)]] that he finds his job of causing all death hard to do, empathizing with Dean's turmoil over having to reap a child, and noting that even he sometimes wishes he did not have to do this job. [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking He also always makes sure to share his junk food with Dean]]. This is shown and emphasized at the beginning of [[Recap/SupernaturalS09E01IThinkImGonnaLikeItHere Season 9]] even more in his interactions with Sam, where he reveals he genuinely admires Sam for the good he has done.
* LegacyCharacter: [[spoiler:Turns out whenever the embodiment of death dies, the next Reaper to die will become the new Death. However, they don't seem to be as powerful as him, since Betty, the second Death after him, is easily killed by Lucifer, who OG Death had dissed as an unimportant brat.]]
* KilledOffForReal: [[spoiler:Dean kills him in "Brother's Keeper". Yes, Death is dead.]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: "O Death" is used as one the first time viewers see him.
* MisterExposition: Gives info on how to trap Lucifer again in Season 5 and [[EldritchAbomination Leviathans]] in Season 7. In Season 10, he gives lecture about [[spoiler: the Darkness]].
* MoodWhiplash: Death very seriously threatens Sam and Dean, and coldly instructs them how to [[spoiler:get the souls back to Purgatory]]. Then as he leaves, he suddenly turns and says, in a very jovial tone, that the pickle chips were really good.
* NighInvulnerable: He is immortal and eternal being who virtually cannot be killed by anything [[spoiler:except his own scythe.]]
* NoBodyLeftBehind: [[spoiler: When Dean slashes him, he crumbles into dust.]]
* NoOntologicalInertia: Averted and lampshaded. [[spoiler: The nature whom the Horsemen personify cannot cease to exist, so regardless of Death being killed off in Season 10, humans still die as usual and the reapers have to collect their souls. The only difference is that they have no leader to report to until Billie's promotion in Season 12.]]
* NotSoAboveItAll: Billie reveals that the Winchester brothers' DeathIsCheap status was because Death found it amusing. Considering his usual demeanor, that's a pretty drastic shift.
* NutritionalNightmare: Death is so fond of the fattiest and sweetest treats and fast foods to be found that he almost always appears eating something gloriously unhealthy. A possible [[JustifiedTrope justification]] is that this food is what ends up causing early deaths in many victims, much like one man that Dean reaps who dies eating pizza, so it's not unreasonable to assume this led to Death developing an interest for this food after seeing the many, ''many'' people who literally died eating it.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In "Brother's Keeper", he drops all of his snarky demeanor while explaining the origins of the Mark of Cain and its connection to the Darkness, unlike the condescending tone he uses while explaining Lucifer's Cage and the Leviathans. Afterwards, he urges Dean to kill Sam so the mark can be renewed. Urges, not taunts, which is very unlike his previous behavior. [[spoiler:As the next season reveals, Death came into being ''after'' the Darkness was trapped in the mark, so Death doesn't have first-hand accounts of her. She is the only being who escapes his attention, so he is genuinely afraid of her, especially as right up to the time of Death's death, God and the archangels (the ones who sort of defeated her) are MIA.]]
* TheOmniscient: Death is functionally omniscient. Every time Dean tries to tell him something, the bored-looking Grim Reaper notes that he's already aware. He does show surprise when the Winchesters summon him and ask him to [[KillTheGod kill an evil god for them]], so it seems he needs to focus his all-knowing powers for it to be effective.
* PetTheDog: Despite his neutral disposition and uncaring demeanor, he's actually done a lot of really big favors for Dean, with the big one being restoring Sam's soul from Hell, although Death himself claims he isn't doing it ''for'' Dean.
* PretenderDiss: Death gives one to [[spoiler:Castiel]], who deems himself a god.
-->'''Death:''' Please, [[spoiler:Cass]]. I know God, and you, sir, are no God.
* TheProblemWithFightingDeath: Dean tries to kill Death, unaware that he could've gotten what he wanted without killing him, as they both had a common interest in stopping the "bratty child" (Lucifer). Dean assumes that Death would be angry at this, but it turns out the problem with a human fighting Death is that the human just doesn't matter.
-->'''Dean:''' Is this the part where you kill me?
-->'''Death:''' ''[after staring at him incredulously]'' You have an inflated sense of your importance. To a thing like me, a thing like you...well. Think how you'd feel if a bacterium sat at your table and started to get snarky.
* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Death is much more level-headed and temperate than his fellow Horsemen "brothers," even though that doesn't stop him from being [[DeadpanSnarker sarcastic]]. In the first episode of Season 7, he even gives the Winchesters advice on what to do after [[spoiler:they bound him, which is what he was so angry at Lucifer about that he told them how to defeat him. He also brings an eclipse to aid in the spell to open Purgatory a second time]]. He's arguably the most reasonable super-powered being on the show.
* RelievingTheReaper: In "[[Recap/SupernaturalS06E11AppointmentInSamarra Appointment in Samarra]]", Death agrees to [[spoiler:retrieve Sam's soul]] if Dean will act as him for one day.
* {{Retcon}}: He has stated that he's at least as old as God, maybe even older. [[spoiler:Season 10 and 11 reveal that the real entity older than God is the Darkness (who herself was retconned in Season 15 to be His twin). In addition, the Darkness has apparently never heard of Death while she personally fought God and the Archangels, suggesting Death is not only younger than God, he's younger than Lucifer, who Death outright called "a bratty child throwing a tantrum."]]
* SealedBadassInACan: Death was imprisoned by God for unknown reasons (though his role and influence in existence were not halted by this) and then released by Lucifer. Considering that this is [[GrimReaper Death]] and that only God [[spoiler:or the Darkness]] could take him in a slugfest as far as we know, his status as a badass is pretty much a given.
* SecretTestOfCharacter: Gives Dean one, where he has Dean wear his ring in order to pull a RelievingTheReaper for a day, in exchange for Sam's soul being returned from Hell. Dean has a lot of difficulty being Death, where he inadvertently causes a chain of events that mucks up the Natural Order and leads him to quit early. But in the end, Death is satisfied that Dean learned his lesson on the Natural Order and the consequences of breaking it.
* SinisterScythe: Averted, as it's a rusty hand tool like you'd use for gardening. But it soon becomes obvious that Death does not need props to be scary.
* TheStarscream: He is all too willing to stab Lucifer in the back. However, he is a slight subversion in that he never agreed to help him in the first place (what with Lucifer trapping him and all), and could arguably count as an inversion in that he's far, ''far'' more powerful and important than Lucifer, whom he regards as a spoiled child.
* TheStoic: He's very nonchalant about everything, since everyone else is too far beneath him for him to care what they do.
* SummonBiggerFish: [[spoiler:In [[Recap/SupernaturalS07E01MeetTheNewBoss "Meet the New Boss" (S07, E01)]], after Castiel [[AGodAmI declares himself the new God]], the Winchesters -- with an assist from Crowley -- bind Death to their bidding so they can have him kill Castiel. It doesn't do much good, as Castiel frees Death from the Winchesters' control]].
* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Death ''doesn't'' care about humanity, Earth or helping Dean. He's ''very'' specific about that, while giving Dean advice on saving Earth and humanity.
%%* TallDarkAndSnarky
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Gives one to Castiel at the beginning of Season 7.
* TimeAbyss: He boasts that he is the only being who will persist through eternity. [[spoiler: TheReveal in Season 10 shows that he is not and is younger than he claims to be. Nevertheless, he is still pretty old (he predates humans, demons, Leviathans, and all of the angels except for the four archangels).]]
* TokenGoodTeammate: [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure Death]] is more benevolent than [[SmugSnake War]], [[BadBoss Famine]] and [[DeadlyDoctor Pestilence]] by a country mile.
* TooDumbToLive: Seems to think it was a good idea to hand Dean the one thing in existence that could kill him, and then order him to kill his own brother, who is just a normal human who could be killed by relatively mundane weapons. [[spoiler: Thanks to this unprecedented stupidity, Dean kills him.]]
* TouchOfDeath: Obviously. An interesting example: in his first appearance, Death kills a man who rudely bumps into him by brushing off the part of his shoulder the man touched.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Devouring junk food of any kind seems to be Death's main hobby aside from, well, death. So much so that a large bag of fried pickle chips form the Winchesters' "please don't kill us for summoning you" bribe.
* VanityLicensePlate: His is registered in California and says "BUH*BYE" as he brings death.
* VillainCred / TerrorHero: Death is the only supernatural creature that [[SnarkKnight Dean]] will show nothing less than genuine respect for. Even when Dean starts to get a little bitchy toward death, Death only has to calmly but firmly use a [[ImpliedDeathThreat simple line]] like "Dean, it's impolite to roll your eyes." and Dean will [[OhCrap pause]] and go right back to being respectful. Considering Dean does nothing but mock and disrespect beings like [[{{Satan}} LUCIFER]], this says a lot about how powerful Death is.
* WalkingWasteland: Death goes to get some food at a diner. When Dean enters he finds that everyone in the room died in Death's presence.
%%* YouWillKnowWhatToDo
[[/folder]]

[[folder: Tessa]]
!!Tessa (Creator/LindseyMcKeon)
!!!First appears in [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E01InMyTimeOfDying "In My Time of Dying" (S02, E01)]].
[[quoteright:301:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/tessasn_9769.jpg]]

->"It's your time to go, Dean. And you're living on borrowed time already."

Tessa is Dean's Reaper.
----

* NutritionalNightmare: Death is so fond of the fattiest treats and fast foods to be found that he almost always appears while eating something gloriously unhealthy. Fridge Logic in that this food is what ends up causing early heart attacks in many victims, much like one man who dies eating pizza that Dean reaps, so it's not unreasonable to assume this is how Death developed an interest for this food after seeing the many ''many'' people who literally died eating it.
* OOCIsSeriousBusiness: In "Brother's Keeper", he drops all of his snarky demeanor while explaining about the origins of the Mark of Cain and its connection to the Darkness, unlike the condescending tone he uses while explaining Lucifer's Cage and the Leviathans. Afterwards, he urges Dean to kill Sam so the mark can be renewed. Urges, not taunts, which is very unlike his previous behavior. [[spoiler:As the next season reveals, Death came into being ''after'' the Darkness was trapped in the mark, so Death doesn't have first-hand accounts of her. She is the only being who escapes his attention, so he is genuinely afraid of her, especially as right up to the time of Death's death, God and the archangels (the ones who sort of defeated her) are MIA.]]

* EvilGloating: Once she shows her true colors.

* FemmeFataleSpy: And much like the [[UsefulNotes/MataHari former]] TropeNamer, she gets killed once it's obvious she's in over her head.

-->'''April:''' My briefing said you were "''dangerous''" and "''powerful''". And you did arrive armed, so. I needed information, so I had to gain your trust.
-->'''Castiel:''' And that required intercourse?
-->'''April:''' ''[laughs and points the angel blade at Castiel's crotch]'' Well, I'm allowed ''some'' leeway for executive decisions. ''[straddles him]'' And I can't say I didn't find you attractive.

** The reapers are Type 1. Other than wearing a [[BadassInANiceSuit black suit and tie]] instead of the classic BlackCloak and SinisterScythe, reapers are a race instead of a person. When a human dies, the reaper closest to them gets the job to collect their soul, instead of an omniscient being coming for them. As they don't wield a scythe, they reap souls by touching them. This makes them simply psychopomps than the all-powerful Grim Reaper.
** Instead of God, reapers report directly to Death the Horseman, who on the contrary ''is'' the classical scythe-wielding Grim Reaper. Before Season 5, he is imprisoned under Earth and is supposed to be remain so until the Apocalypse. Unlike his underlings, Death rarely reaps a soul by himself. He is also an extremely potent PersonOfMassDestruction; he can cause catastrophes to places he visits, although he mostly negates that power. This makes him Type 2: the Grim Reaper as a harbinger of destruction.

* NutritionalNightmare: Death is so fond of the fattiest treats and fast foods to be found that he almost always appears while eating something gloriously unhealthy. FridgeLogic in that this food is what ends up causing early heart attacks in many victims, much like one man who dies eating pizza that Dean reaps, so it's not unreasonable to assume this is how Death developed an interest for this food after seeing the many ''many'' people who literally died eating it.

* GrandTheftMe: Azazel briefly [[DemonicPossession body-jacks]] her in the Season 2 premiere to use her power to heal [[ComatoseCanary Dean]] per his deal with John, [[FridgeLogic even though she's incorporeal]].

* MataHari: And much like the TropeNamer, she gets killed once it's obvious she's in over her head.
* PsychoForHire: It's not clear whether the opportunity to cause pain and suffering was the primary reason April took the job, but she does revel a bit in her sadistic streak. If you look closely at the wounds on Castiel's torso, you notice she carved ''[[FridgeHorror a smiley face]]'' into him.

* ThePeepingTom: It's not fetishistic, but her order to watch over the Winchesters includes checking out their belongings, including Sam's "[[HiddenDepths impressive, extensive array of hair products]]" and Dean's, "[[{{Squick}} three-day-old bacon cheeseburger]] and the VHS labeled ''[[{{Filth}} Sweet Princess Asuka Meets the Tentacle of-]]''".

** A DeletedScene shows that she intended to pull this on Lucifer as well, dismissing him as "yesterday's papers" and intending to send him back to the Empty after Chuck was defeated.

* TheDreaded: To Dean, with Death being one being in all of existence who is able to truly scare him, which is ''really'' saying something. Given Dean is usually unfettered by anything, from monsters, to vampires, to demons, to gods, and even unafraid to curse at the Lucifer, '''the Devil''' himself, this just goes to show just how utterly terrifying Death is.

* FoodAsBribe: Anytime the boys are forced to summon death, they prepare an offering of junk food to try to appease Death, with mixed success. Though Death always enjoys the food regardless.

* NutritionalNightmare: Death is so fond of the fattiest treats and fast foods to be found that he almost always appears while eating something gloriously unhealthy. Whenever the need arises to summon him, Dean has found it advisable to present Death with a deep-fried offering.

* TheDreaded: To Dean, with Death being one of the few beings in existence who is able to scare him, which is ''really'' saying something. Given Dean is usually unfettered by anything, from monsters, to gods, and even unafraid to curse at the Lucifer, '''the Devil''' himself, this just goes to show just how utterly terrifying Death is.

* PetTheDog: Despite his neutral disposition and uncaring demeanor, he's actually done a lot of really big favors for Dean, with the big one being restoring Sam's soul from Hell, despite Dean not quite fulfilling his end of the bargain.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Gives Dean one, where he has Dean wear his ring in order to pull a RelievingTheReaper for a day, in exchange for Sam's soul being returned from Hell. Dean has a lot of difficulty being Death, where he inadvertently causes a chain of events that mucks up the Natural Order and leads him to quit early. But in the end, Death is satisfied that Dean learned his lesson on the Natural Order and the consequences of breaking it. Death even ends up honoring his end of the agreement anyway and resurrects Sam.

* SecretTestOfCharacter: Gives Dean one, where he has Dean wear his ring in order to pull a RelievingTheReaper for a length of time, in exchange for Sam's soul being returned from Hell. Dean is unable to wear the ring 24/7, but in the end Death is satisfied that Dean learned his lesson on the Natural Order and honors his end of the agreement anyway.