History Main / DontFearTheReaper

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':

Sometimes this overlaps with BeleagueredBureaucrat, when they are friendly but nonetheless have a long list of people to get through today and doesn't have time to deal with every decedent's requests.

* In ''TabletopGame/YuGiOh'', [[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Tour_Guide_From_the_Underworld Tour Guide From the Underworld]] seems rather friendly for someone who drives an AfterlifeExpress. ([[RonTheDeathEater A lot of fans tend to disagree]], however, given how much her card can be abused, often regarding her as the type who [[HotAsHell seduces souls before dragging them to Hell.]])

* WebAnimation/{{Hololive}} V-Tuber Calliope Mori is a kind grim reaper that cares a lot about her followers. Likewise her "sensei" Death, while keeping more aloof from humanity than Calli, is presented as a CoolOldGuy.

* Wrestling/TheUndertaker, at least since his 2004 return to his "undead" gimmick. He's still depicted as intensely scary and having supernatural powers, but he usually battles against villains - most famously at the 2007 Royal Rumble, when he arrived as the 30th entrant to save Wrestling/ShawnMichaels, Wrestling/{{Edge}}, Wrestling/RandyOrton, and Wrestling/MontelVontaviousPorter from Wrestling/TheGreatKhali.

'''Mercedes Colomar:''' Guess they couldn't save me, huh?\\

* The Grim Reaper is one of the many superheroes in ''VideoGame/TheWonderful101'', codenamed "Wonder Death". We don't get much info about his personality (since he's one of the minor characters), but since he doesn't seem to have any qualms about fighting the [[AlienInvasion GEATHJERK]], he can't be all that bad.

* A Creator/RowanAtkinson sketch titled [[https://web.archive.org/web/20060625065646/http://www.epicure.demon.co.uk/devilswelcome.html "The Devil's Welcome"]] plays with this hilariously.

'''Mercedes Colomar:''' They couldn't save me, huh?\\
'''Manny Calavera:''' No Mademoiselle.

* ''Reapertale'' is an ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' AU where all the characters are Gods, each having a role mirroring the one they have in the game. The position of the [[TheGrimReaper God of Death]] is shared between two characters due to an accident when creating the role. So why does this trope apply? The gods of Death are [[AllLovingHero Papy]][[NiceGuy rus]] and [[ForGreatJustice Sans]]. Anyone with even passing knowledge of the game should know that the two are [[DarkIsNotEvil among the kindest and most righteous characters in the setting.]] Papyrus is this even more so, as he's not only the one who escorts you to the afterlife, acording to WordOfGod, he represents the ''kinder'' side of Death and always takes the time of day to comfort the spirits of the dead and help them accept the afterlife, unlike Sans who takes them by force ([[JustifiedTrope He only does that]] because he knows first hand [[ComeBackWrong what happens]] when the soul isn't reaped [[GoneHorriblyWrong properly]]). Sans's role, in contrast to Papyrus is, as expected, to judge the dead, but canonically he's LawfulGood when judges you in the game. He is also TheHero who opposes [[HumanoidAbomination Chara]], who stole one of Sans's scythes to become the BigBad and the kind of Death that ''should'' be feared.

* ''Series/{{Moon Knight|2022}}'' has Tawret, the Egyptian god of birth and fertility, who also serves the purpose of escorting souls to the afterlife. While intimidating in appearance, resembling a humanoid hippopotamus, she turns out to be very friendly. She patiently explains what's going on to the protagonist, balances his moral scale fairly, says that she hopes he makes it to the good afterlife, and (eventually) even tries to help him avert his fate, especially upon witnessing unbalanced souls being condemned before their time. However she's also pretty flippant about condemning souls who fail the test to AFateWorseThanDeath, so there's that.

* Toys/{{Squishmallows}}: Otto is the very image of a classic GrimReaper, complete with scythe, but grows pumpkins on a farm and regularly wins "giant pumpkin" contests.

** Wade Wilson, prior to becoming Characters/{{Deadpool|WadeWilson}}, even fell in love with her, and one of the reasons he can't die is because one of her jealous suitors made him immortal so he'd stay away from her, which is another reason why Deadpool is so freaking AxCrazy. Amazingly, she's been shown to reciprocate his feelings--but they can only meet during the few seconds after he dies and before his mutant power/immortal curse can call him back to life. Death as a star-crossed lover?

Often applied to {{Psychopomp}}s, the GodOfTheDead and TheGrimReaper. Contrast with EverybodyHatesHades, when authors do the opposite with death-related deities. Is often a FriendlySkeleton. Compare also FriendlyGhost and FriendlyZombie. Distant cousin to TheDevilIsALoser. Compare NotAfraidToDie and WeAllDieSomeday, which is about not fearing death itself rather than its personification.

'''Manny Calavera:''' No. But I am here to ease your pain.

Sometimes this overlaps with BeleagueredBureaucrat, when they are friendly but nonetheless has a long list of people to get through today and doesn't have time to deal with every decedent's requests.

* Although Cernunnos, the Elder God of Death from Joseph Michael Linsner's ''Dawn'' series can definitely take terrifying form if he so chooses (if, for example, he needs to curb-stomp a group of angels and demons who've decided to trespass on Earth with their bickering), the one time we see him welcoming a soul to the afterlife, he takes a much more attractive form and greets her...very warmly.

** When Characters/SilverSurfer of an {{Elseworld}} gained the Infinity Gauntlet and went crazy with its power he attempted to invoke this by making death appear as a beautiful woman instead of a cloaked skeleton.
* The Brazilian comic ''ComicBook/MonicasGang'' has one in the spinoff ''Penadinho'' (known in English as ''Bug-a-booo''). Dona Morte/Lady [=McDeath=] is a clumsy Grim Reaper who is always forced to run after her "next clients". Her creator [[http://www.monica.com.br/mauricio/cronicas/cron285.htm states]] (link's in Portuguese) that the character is an attempt of making death less scary than most people treat it, and tries to portray her as just someone doing her job, never an assassin.

* In the shorty story "Our Neighbor's House" from the Creator/EmilyCarroll anthology ''ComicBook/ThroughTheWoods'', after their father fails to return from a hunt, three sisters start seeing a man with "a wide brimmed hat and a toothy smile" around their house. The ending strongly implies that the man is TheGrimReaper, and even though the viewpoint character is Beth, the sister who is most skeptical of and antagonistic towards him, we see him interact gently with the other sisters (the eldest sister takes to him right away, and he is seen tenderly embracing the youngest sister, who is very young), and even Beth seems to accept him in the end.

* While Death from the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' series is still probably not the kind of person (or AnthropomorphicPersonification) you'd like to meet in a dark alleyway, what with him still being the classic cowled skeleton and all, he's the closest thing the Discworld has to a responsible, benevolent deity, fulfilling a necessary role (see ''Literature/ReaperMan'' for what happens when he doesn't do the job). The other gods tend to be self-interested jerks running on [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek Mythology]] rules. It's worth noting that said role doesn't involve doing the ''actual killing'', or even collecting the departed's life, but rather just facilitating the 'moving on' once the body is dead, and has no stake in the process. Not to mention that he's [[KindheartedCatLover very fond of cats]] (it's suggested that cruelty to cats is [[BerserkButton one of the very few things that can make Death genuinely angry]], and he also has adopted rather a large number of his own, which by all indications he takes quite good care of).\\

** As a central protagonist in several books, a great deal Death's of characterisation is dedicated to ''his'' problems. Fiction rarely depicts the reaper after the soul of their client has moved on, but the Discworld does, and it illustrates what it would be like to have to have such a role; not just from his point of view, but from Mort's (when he was Death's apprentice), and his granddaughter Susan's (who thanks to the strange nature of Discworld inheritance, has picked up a number of his traits and abilities, to her great displeasure). It's noted that it's rarely a pleasant duty and he isn't allowed to interfere, so the same empathy that makes him sympathetic to others also brings him sadness and grief (probably the only mortal emotions he truly grasps), with his entire plot in ''Literature/SoulMusic'' more or less summarising the five stages of grief from the point of view of a being who not only never forgets anything, no matter how hard he tries, but remembers it as if it was yesterday.

** Interestingly, Death was [[CharacterizationMarchesOn much more petty and fearsome in his first appearances]], doing things like taking the life of a swarm of flies or a random passer-by out of anger for not being able to collect Rincewind's life. [[EarlyInstallmentWeirdness This was dropped]] by the fourth book, ''Literature/{{Mort}}'', which (not coincidentally) is the first book focusing on Death as a character..

* Death is also revered in Mexico in the form of Santa Muerte ("Saint Death"), who is worshiped as an unrecognized saint. While still taking the form of a grinning skull, she is revered as a patron of the downtrodden and those forsaken by society at large. She is also worshiped by criminals as the one saint who will never forsake them. A big part of her worship is that she's the one being that treats ''everyone'' as equal: rich or poor, old or young, man or woman, everyone is the same in the eyes of Death.

* In UsefulNotes/{{Islam}}, to a faithful, the Archangel of Death would be like an old friend one has been waiting for, for years who takes the soul gently and tenderly on a silken cloth and sends it on it's way. Apparently he's also very accommodating and is even willing to wait a few moments if one asks. Though to a faithless he apparently appears in such a terrifying, vicious form that even messiahs with extremely strong hearts would faint at seeing him.

** In the short-lived 4th Edition the deity of death, the Raven Queen, was Unaligned, and hated the undead. Which, since paladins in that edition only needed to match the alignment of their patron deity, made her rather popular with players.

This sort of Death won't glare at you with GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath from underneath a BlackCloak while carrying a scythe (well, [[Literature/{{Discworld}} some might]], but purely because it's expected of them); they will dress as a PerkyGoth or take on AFormYouAreComfortableWith. They won't [[ChessWithDeath challenge you to chess]], but will instead [[PalsWithJesus be your best pal]] (before you die, even!) if you give them half a chance. Friendliness notwithstanding, picking fights with Death is still [[TheProblemWithFightingDeath something the challenger will regret]].

* ''Series/MoonKnight'' has Tawret, the Egyptian god of birth and fertility, who also serves the purpose of escorting souls to the afterlife. While intimidating in appearance, resembling a humanoid hippopotamus, she turns out to be very friendly. She patiently explains what's going on to the protagonist, balances his moral scale fairly, says that she hopes he makes it to the good afterlife, and (eventually) even tries to help him avert his fate, especially upon witnessing unbalanced souls being condemned before their time. However she's also pretty flippant about condemning souls who fail the test to AFateWorseThanDeath, so there's that.

It all has to do with AnAesop Aesop about how to deal with death, stemming from when [[RealLifeWritesThePlot Rowling's mother died]]. If one doesn't accept their own mortality ([[spoiler:i.e. the first Peverell brother, Voldemort]]), or gain acceptance of their loved ones' passing ([[spoiler:the second brother, Snape]]), then Death will be a grueling bastard. But if one accepts Death's visit as an inevitability ([[spoiler:the third brother, Harry]]), then he will greet you like an old friend.\\

::
This has led viewers to theorize [[spoiler: that Louis himself is one of those angels, albeit far more personable than the others]].

** [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4999 SCP-4999]] shows up to people who are on the brink of death who have no loved ones or otherwise close individuals to comfort them as they die.

* [[http://www.scp-wiki.net/scp-4999 SCP-4999]] of the ''Wiki/SCPFoundation''. He shows up to people who are on the brink of death who have no loved ones or otherwise close individuals to comfort them as they die.

* WebAnimation/{{Hololive}} V-Tuber Calliope Mori is a kind grim reaper that cares a lot about her followers.
** Likewise her "sensei" Death, while keeping more aloof from humanity than Calli, is presented as a CoolOldGuy.

* ''Series/MoonKnight'' has Tawret, the Egyptian god of birth and fertility, who also serves the purpose of escorting souls to the afterlife. While intimidating in appearance, resembling a humanoid hippopotamus, she turns out to be very friendly. She patiently explains what's going on to the protagonist, balances his moral scale fairly, and (eventually) even tries to help him avert his fate, especially upon witnessing unbalanced souls being condemned before their time.