History Main / DeathTakesAHoliday

* ''Series/XenaWarriorPrincess'' episodes "Death in Chains" (loosely based on the above myth) and "Mortal Beloved".

* In the KidsInTheHall mini-series ''Series/DeathComesToTown'', [[spoiler:Ricky]] was an [[BlackComedy aborted baby]] who miraculously survived because Death slept in.

* This becomes a worldwide problem in the Creator/MarvelComics series ''[[EarthX Paradise X]]'', an unforeseen side effect of [[spoiler:the destruction of Death at the end of Universe X]]. This also happens in the ''ComicBook/SecretWarsII'' CrisisCrossover, when the naive Beyonder kills Death because "nobody wants to die".

* Terry Pratchett's Literature/{{Discworld}} novels have several:

* In PiersAnthony's ''[[IncarnationsOfImmortality On a Pale Horse]]'', Death goes on strike in an attempt to combat {{Satan}}. However, he fully understands the consequences of this, as does everyone else.
** And WordOfGod indicates that this novel is the (distant, assuredly) inspiration for ''DeadLikeMe'', mentioned below.

* In ''TheHeroesOfOlympus'', this shows up in the second book, although it's more like "Death Gets Kidnapped." [[spoiler:Gaia bound Thanatos, the Greek god of death, to allow monsters to keep escaping the underworld; a side effect of this is that no one dies.]]

* George is less than enthusiastic about her duties at the beginning of ''DeadLikeMe'' and tries to shirk them... with highly negative consequences. Later in the first season however, as the basis for a ClipShow, the group gets a day off from reaping in the aptly-titled episode "Vacation". The beings that cause the "external circumstances" (accidents, mostly) which the group handles take a day off "every few years". Rube takes the opportunity to catch up on paperwork... from the last seventy or eighty years.

* Variation on ''HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' in ''Love Takes a Holiday'' where it's Aphrodite, the goddess of love, so love is suspended instead of death. It only applies to women and Aphrodite explains that "if men felt the same way, where would the fun be?", which may be a LampshadeHanging since she doesn't otherwise seem to be in control of the effect.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone 2003'' reboot had the episode "One Night of Mercy". Death (played by Jason Alexander) decided to quit, and the doctor he confided this with was thrilled. This was looking optimistic and hopeful right up until the point where [[AndIMustScream a bunch of people who were immolated was brought into the emergency room, still alive because Death had quit]]. Naturally, the good doctor found Death and convinced him to return to work, after seeing this, and [[spoiler: gets taken as Death's first victim, as a result (he had been suffering "headaches" up until then, in reality the symptoms of an oncoming aneurysm)]].
* ''XenaWarriorPrincess'' episodes "Death in Chains" (loosely based on the above myth) and "Mortal Beloved".
* ''InLivingColor'' had this happen in a ''literal'' sense, with JimCarrey playing TheGrimReaper [[http://youtu.be/xczQ5c26pWs at a beach resort]]. He meets with a couple who [[KillEmAll goad him into showcasing his powers]], and HilarityEnsues.

* This is the premise of ''LightNovel/KamisamaNoInaiNichiyoubi''. One day, people stopped dying and giving birth. Some characters believe it's because God abandoned the world, while others believe that [[RealityWarper humanity collectively wished to live forever]], but that [[BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor wish didn't turn out quite how they expected]]; basically, when a person "dies," they become like a zombie, and while they're still themselves and can still think and act like a normal human, without the right kind of support eventually both their mind and body will rot, driving them mad. However, the walking dead weren't without hope for rest, as soon mystical beings called "gravekeepers" began to appear, and they can grant true rest to the living deceased, and eventually both the living and deceased adjusted to this new world, and not being able to truly die just became a normal part of life. Protagonist Ai is one such gravekeeper, and she sets out on a journey to save the world.

* OlderThanFeudalism: In GreekMythology, the ManipulativeBastard Sisyphus captured Thanatos, the Greek personification of death. Sisyphus only wanted to prevent his own death (and not for the first time, either!), and accidentally ended up preventing all humans from dying at all (not that he ever gave a damn about other people's suffering in the first place). He did this to escape the punishment he would certainly receive for: breaking the laws of hospitality (he killed guests and travelers under his care to steal from them), seducing his niece, Tyro, in one of his many, many plots to kill his hated brother, Salmoneus, ratting out Zeus' romance with the nymph Aegina to her father Asopus, and just pissing off the gods in general. In the end he learned the hard way about TheProblemWithFightingDeath when [[TailorMadePrison Death's boss made a bargain with him]].

[[{{Immortality}} People don't die anymore]].

** The "Death stuck in a magic tree" plot is the basis of the folktale ''Tia Miseria'' (an old woman traps Death in her pear tree, and only agrees to release him when her oldest friend begs to be allowed to die of old age), but gambling doesn't figure into the tale.

* Creator/IsaacAsimov's short story: ''The Last Trump'', is about these. As no human could ever decide how the afterlife would be, The Chief (a.k.a God) decide that the only thing common in humanity is the fear of death. When the day of the judgement finally arrive, all people stop dying and the dead ones start to resurrect.

* In Mikhail Uspensky's ''Kogo za smertyu posylat'' (''Who's to be Sent after Death''), Death is kidnapped by BigBad Miroyed, and everyone stops dying. Creatures still can be hit, maimed, and burnt to ashes, but will neither bleed nor feel the pain, and even the ashes of a man will still be able to live in some manner. People in fact feel like undead, and want the Death back. When finally Zhikhar, TheHero, resques the Death, which turns out to be also the Live, things go back to normal, and [[spoiler:everyone who got hurt during Death's absense, dies. Therefore, instead of being praised for saving the world, Zhikhar is hated as if he ruined it.]]

* RayBradbury's short story ''The Scythe'' features a man who becomes the Grim Reaper. When he learns what he's been doing he refuses to work, only to find that if he doesn't take the souls of people who are supposed to die they end up in an unconscious limbo state between life and death.

Alternately, people ''do'' still die, but they're all BarredFromTheAfterlife, ending up as TheUndead or [[OurGhostsAreDifferent Ghosts]] or stuck in the AfterlifeAntechamber.

* Literature/TheBible includes a reference to this, making it OlderThanFeudalism.

** Subverted in the first issue when a cabal of mystics attempt to capture Death and thus become immortal, but screw up and trap her brother Dream instead, leading to worldwide sleeping disorders. When he escapes captivity several decades later, he berates the son of his original captor) that he has no idea what kind of chaos would have resulted had they ''succeeded''.

* Subverted in the first issue when a cabal of mystics attempt to capture Death and thus become immortal, but screw up and trap her brother Dream instead, leading to worldwide sleeping disorders. When he escapes captivity several decades later, he berates the son of his original captor) that he has no idea what kind of chaos would have resulted had they ''succeeded''.

* Comic book example/subversion: In the first issue of ''ComicBook/TheSandman'', a cabal of mystics attempt to capture Death and thus become immortal, but screw up and trap her brother Dream instead, leading to worldwide sleeping disorders. When he escapes captivity several decades later, he berates his captor (the son of his captor, at least) that he has no idea what kind of chaos would have resulted had they ''succeeded''.
** Also played straight later on, though it isn't really Death that takes a holiday; it's [[spoiler:Lucifer Morningstar, who literally closes Hell]]. Because of this, the universe is thrown out of whack, and everyone who's ever died (or at least died and gone to Hell) returns to walk the Earth and interact with the living. There are numerous examples of various horrors, among which are the ghost of an undeveloped stillborn being cradled by its mother and a boy who's recently died watching his dead body.
*** On the other hand, it also led to ''The Dead Boy Detectives'', so that's all right.
** Death did actually take a day off and live as a mortal during ''Death: The High Cost Of Living''. Of course, the rules of mortality weren't distorted at all during her absence.
*** Because she wasn't absent, she existed simultaneously as Death and Didi. In the short comic "Death: A Winter's Tale", she reminisces about her history and reveals there was a time millions of years ago when she fulfilled this trope because she was sick of everyone being unhappy to see her. After a while, the usual "people realize how much they really need Death" kicked in and someone was sent to find her and get her to start up again.
** Dream's brother Destruction grew weary of his role one day and just ''left''. Destruction still occurred without him. He's currently wandering across the universe and trying his hand at various attempts at creation (artwork, cooking, music, poetry, etc.) which all fail in various ways.

** Hob Gadling manages immortality by simply ''deciding to remain alive''. Apparently, Death won't bother you if you're completely opposed to dying.
*** Not exactly correct. He did decide not to die, but he voiced his purpose in earshot of Dream and Death, and Dream decides that it would be an interesting thing to see what would happen and grants him eternal life. It is implied that he could take it away (when they meet each century, he asks him if he wants to go on). There are more immortals in canon however... it seems that these things simply happen, for various reasons, once in a while.
** Inverted in ''Action Comics'' #900, the finale of the "[[ComicBook/TheBlackRing Black Ring]]" story arc, when Lex Luthor [[AGodAmI becomes one]] [[ItsALongStory with the child of the Phantom Zone]], and he stops entropy itself. The concept of death itself is stopped and so the Death has her very first vacation since the beginning of time.

* In the KidsInTheHall mini-series ''DeathComesToTown'', [[spoiler:Ricky]] was an [[BlackComedy aborted baby]] who miraculously survived because Death slept in.

* Played with in ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire''. With the shepherd of the dead incapacitated, people still die, but their souls don't go to the underworld to be reincarnated, causing ghosts to crop up EVERYWHERE, and eventually go crazy from not being able to find where to go.

* The trope name comes from the title of a novel, that was later adapted into a film of the same name in 1934, starring Frederic March and Evelyn Venable, remade as a telemovie in 1971, and remade again in 1998 as ''MeetJoeBlack''.
** MeetJoeBlack actually avoids the trope by having Death explain that for him, killing people is just like "making a decision while shaving in the morning". The film ''Death Takes A Holiday'' leaves the trope intact.

* ''Videogame/FallenLondon'' features this as a major aspect of the setting. Permanent death is extraordinarily rare in Fallen London. It only happens as the result of old age, disease, or an ''exceptionally'' messy death such as being cut into bits -- although this is a mixed blessing. Much like in ''DeathBecomesHer'', a person's body ''can'' become worn out through injury, and those in a sufficient state of disrepair are sent off to the Tomb-Colonies, which are just as pleasant as they sound.

* This becomes a worldwide problem in the MarvelComics series ''[[EarthX Paradise X]]'', an unforeseen side effect of [[spoiler:the destruction of Death at the end of Universe X]]. This also happens in the ''SecretWarsII'' CrisisCrossover, when the naive Beyonder kills Death because "nobody wants to die".

** Inverted in ''Action Comics 900'' when Lex Luthor [[AGodAmI becomes one]] [[ItsALongStory with the child of the Phantom Zone]], and he stops entropy itself. The concept of death itself is stopped and so the Death has her very first vacation since the beginning of time.

* Played with in ''Webcomic/{{Jack}}''. The eponymous personification of Wrath and Death goes on vacation for [[http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5&sid=1506 two]] [[http://www.pholph.com/strip.php?id=5&sid=1507 strips.]] Played for laughs, ironically, considering that this is one of the few comics that would blatantly show the horrors of no Death.

* ''EchoBazaar'' features this as a major aspect of the setting. Permanent death is extraordinarily rare in Fallen London -- it only happens as the result of old age, disease, or an ''exceptionally'' messy death such as being cut into bits -- although this is a mixed blessing. Much like in ''DeathBecomesHer'', a person's body ''can'' become worn out through injury, and those in a sufficient state of disrepair are sent off to the Tomb-Colonies, which are just as pleasant as they sound.

* Terry Pratchett's Literature/{{Discworld}} novels has several:

*** Note that in ''Hogfather'' he's still also doing his normal job, in addition to the Hogfather's. He has to take care of several of the deceased Tooth Fairy guards and Ernie the cart-driver, though his refusal to do so for the little match girl is a CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming. ([[AC:There's no better present than a future]].) Also turned into a CrowningMomentOfFunny when angels show up with tinkling music to collect the child's soul, only to have Death's assistant Albert throw snowballs at them until they go away.

* Marvel recently featured a parallel world nicknamed the "Cancerverse," which came about when the assembled heroes of Earth killed Death in an attempt to save Captain Marvel from his terminal cancer. Things went bad. ''[[EldritchAbomination Really bad.]]''

->''That is not dead which can eternal lie.\\
And with strange aeons even death may die.''
--> -- '''[[Creator/HPLovecraft The Necronomicon]]'''

* ''InLivingColor'' had this happen in a ''literal'' sense, with JimCarrey playing TheGrimReaper at a beach resort. He meets with a couple who [[KillEmAll goad him into showcasing his powers]], and HilarityEnsues.

* "Death gets stuck in a magic tree" is the idea behind the folktale ''Tia Miseria'': an old woman traps Death in her pear tree and only agrees to release him when her oldest friend begs to be allowed to die of old age. However, Tia Miseria makes Death promise never to come for her; as long as Death keeps his promise, there will always be misery in the world.