History Main / TheGrimReaper

** ''ComicBook/TheWarlordDC'': Travis Morgan was once visited by a gorgeous Death, as {{Stripperific}} as any other woman in that series, who invited, "Come to me, my love!" and then took him through a [[RecapEpisode vision]] of his past. He refused to go with her and recovered from his illness at the end of the issue. The cover [[CoversAlwaysLie depicts this Death as a traditional Grim Reaper]].

*** The LawfulNeutral god of death, Kelemvor, can dispatch any creature he likes to do his work, and Kelemvor himself occasionally comes in person. Kelemvor's avatar is of a tall man wrapped in black shrouds, wearing an emotionless silver mask. In an exception to the Grim Reaper's usual weapon of choice, Kelemvor prefers a bastard sword, which he used when he was still a human warrior.

* ''Webcomic/InWilysDefense'' has a rather hilariously goofy Angel of Death who's entire character became cemented with the simple line of "Here's Death with the weather!". He clearly enjoys his job, since he brings up the weather almost every time he appears. At one point, it starts ''raining indoors'', despite that according to him, the forecast didn't call for it. [[LoveFreak His older sister]] remarks about how unreliable his forecasts are, to which Death replies, "Meteorologist just so happens to be Sanskrit for 'lying douchebag'."

* ''WesternAnimation/Castlevania2017'''s final antagonist is Death, an elemental spirit that feeds on whatever lifeforce remains when someone dies. Trevor clarifies pretty early in the season, however, that Death is not actually ''the'' grim reaper. Rather, the picture of the Reaper is inspired by this being, since early cultures didn't fully understand the difference. This conveniently means that [[spoiler:Trevor driving a god-killing dagger into his skull doesn't mess up the natural order]].

** ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'': Death is a character in his own right, with thoughts, feelings (sort of), and a genuine personality. He appears as the classic hooded skeleton, with [[GlowingEyelightsOfUndeath glowing blue eye sockets]], and wielding a scythe horned to such keenness that it can slice apart sounds; when he comes for royalty, however, he wields a sword. He's the central figure of several books in the series, and has appeared in almost every book (even if only for a line or two). He always speaks in small caps, which is how the author depicts "a voice like lead slabs falling on a marble floor". Death is one of the most likable and sympathetic characters in the series, to the extent that [[DaydreamBeliever Pratchett fans due to meet the real one soon have expressed their hopes that he's like the one in the novels]]. (Pratchett received a lot of fanmail to this effect, which often made for... difficult reading.) The scales were nicely tipped when Sir Terry revealed he had been diagnosed with early-onset Alzheimer's Disease, so Death would be coming for ''him'' soon. As noted below, his passing was marked by an official Tweet in [[AC:the appropriate typeface.]]

*** Death's boss is [[ArchangeAzrael Azrael, the Death of Universes]], a being so colossal that galaxies appear as twinkles in his eye, and it takes a whole page to contain a single-word reply to a question. Also, he has a clock -- ''the'' clock -- which tells Time what ''it'' is.

* ''Fanfic/DeathIsForcedToTakeAVacation'': Fall Harvest and his fellow Reapers are this; Fall himself is the Reaper for Alicorns, Hollow Grave is Reaper for Ponies in general, Causality for draconequui and Nidhogg for dragons. Helheim, as the Lady of Death in this dimension, also counts.

* ''Fanfic/MrAndMrsGold'': Charon [[TheFerryman the Ferryman]] is portrayed as wearing a black hood and a scythe.

*** Though Death performs his duty for every living thing on the Disc, from humans to tube worms, his brief retirement in ''Literature/ReaperMan'' left a void that was filled with a separate Death for every creature: Death of Rats, Death of Mayflies (a trout), Death of Trees (a chopping sound), and so on, to say nothing of the malevolent, [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Witch King-like]] replacement Death of Humans. When he returned, Death recalled all of them... except for Death of Rats.[[note]]And the Death of Fleas[[/note]] It's a lonely, eternal job, and it's nice to have someone to share it with. Besides, having an alternate perspective helps him out quite a bit.[[note]]Notably, the Death of Rats was the only new Death shown to use the same style of presentation as the old Death, just with a rat-sized rat-skeleton instead of a human one; it simply found it convenient. It speaks like the big guy in small caps, but it's all composed of "SQUEAK"s.[[/note]]
*** Death's boss is Azrael, the Death of Universes, a being so colossal that galaxies appear as twinkles in his eye, and it takes a whole page to contain a single-word reply to a question. Also, he has a clock -- ''the'' clock -- which tells Time what ''it'' is.

* ''VideoGame/DantesInferno'', very loosly based on [[Literature/TheDivineComedy the poem commonly assumed to have the same name]], begins with Dante, a KnightTemplar, beating up '''Death''' and stealing his scythe.

Often he picks up the characteristics of Charon, the boatman of the river Styx in [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Greek mythology]], but even these characteristics are filtered through a [[HijackedByJesus Christian veil]], i.e. "angel of death". The Grim Reaper, in his days as a frequent figure of folk tales, was originally used as a menacing, somber symbol of the inevitability of death. He first appeared in Western art and folklore with the outbreak of the mid-14th century epidemic called [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Death "The Black Death,"]] also known as "the Plague".

* ''Literature/WatershipDown'': The Black Rabbit of Inlé is involved in the death of every rabbit, but if a rabbit dies without his permission, he will avenge the deed. In rabbit mythology, this explains why ''elil'' (the rabbit word for enemies, including humans) hunt and kill each other.

* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Death comes to collect Peter, but sprains his ankle. He'll rest, recuperate and spare Peter if he'll [[RelievingTheReaper take over his duties]], part of which requires he kill off the entire cast of the TV show ''Series/DawsonsCreek''. Peter is [[ObliviousGuiltSlinging too guilty to kill them]] after hearing the line from their theme song, ''I don't wanna wait for our lives to be over...''
** Death is portrayed as an okay guy who just [[TouchOfDeath kills people with a touch of his skeletal hand]], [[TimeTravel can time travel]], see the future, and yet can't find love. Oh, he also lives with his mother. He did briefly have a fling with a girl, but found her so annoying that he killed her halfway through their date.
** There's also a Dog Death and a Super Death who appear in one-shot gags. Super Death is slightly taller than Death and claims Reapers who die, at which point they get reincarnated as humans.

* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': Death ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids yes he's actually called Death in the show]]) is a recurring villain that constantly goes through various different [[ChessWithDeath competitions over the protagonist's souls]]. He also has a cockney accent, can revive people through loogies, holds souls in bowling balls, one giant muscular arm that looks like a normal arm when he wears a jacket, and looks a lot like [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Lemmy from Motorhead]].

[[folder:Multiple Media]]
* In the ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'', Death is female with a bit of a sick attitude toward life. On at least one occasion she interacts with the Doctor and his companions, even making a deal with him that involves him murdering someone. According to ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'', the Master is "Death's Champion". WordOfGod is that the Time Lord "gods" are just bored [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien Eternals]], which may mean she isn't actually ''the'' Grim Reaper.
[[/folder]]

* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ankou Ankou,]] from the folklore of Brittany, is a skeleton in a black robe who uses his scythe to collect the dead, and may have been an inspiration for the modern Reaper.

* ''WesternAnimation/RegularShow'': Death ([[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids yes he's actually called Death in the show]]) is a recurring villain that constantly goes through various different [[ChessWithDeath competitions over the protagonist's souls]]. He also has a cockney accent, can revive people through loogie's, holds souls in bowling balls, one giant muscular arm that looks like a normal arm when he wears a jacket,and looks a lot like [[NoCelebritiesWereHarmed Lemmy from Motorhead]].

* ''VideoGame/KidIcarus'': Reapers are recurring enemies. If one of them sees you, it'll freak out and summon [[GoddamnedBats Reapettes]] to attack you while a distorted cavalry fanfare theme plays.

%%* ''Manga/JojosBizarreAdventure'': Death Thirteen is a type of this.
* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing'': The Grim Reaper is a motif on Duo's Gundam. He also calls himself a {{Shinigami}}, although he actually isn't one (just a human being who [[DoomMagnet always seems to lose everyone he cares about]])

* ''Manga/OnePiece'': Doc Q is a [[{{Irony}} sickly doctor]] who's nevertheless a member of one of the most powerful pirate crews in the world. His design is clearly invokes the Grim Reaper feel, seeing he's a tall, gaunt man in black coat, riding a pale (and just as sick) horse, and wielding a [[DoubleWeapon double-ended]] SinisterScythe. Even his moniker is [[{{Shinigami}} 'Death God']], a Japanese equivalent.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'': [=EraseMan.EXE/KillerMan.EXE=] serves as a hitman based on this trope while mixing in aspects of [[Shinigami]]. He wields a blood-red scythe, can send out spirits to attack enemies, and takes pleasure in deleting strong opponents.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'': [=EraseMan.EXE/KillerMan.EXE=] serves as a hitman based on this trope while mixing in aspects of [[shinigami]]. He wields a blood-red scythe, can send out spirits to attack enemies, and takes pleasure in deleting strong opponents.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'': [=EraseMan.EXE/KillerMan.EXE=] serves as a hitman based on this trope while mixing in aspects of a Japanese demon. He wields a blood-red scythe, can send out spirits to attack enemies, and takes pleasure in deleting strong opponents.

** ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'': Prometheus. He wields a SinisterScythe, is able to manipulate fire into the shape of skulls, his helmet is skull-themed, and he is a sadistic, merciless warrior sporting a SlasherSmile.

* ''Franchise/MegaMan'': ''VideoGame/MegaManX4'': [[BigBad Sigma]] disguises himself as a grim reaper, complete with a [[SinisterScythe Sinister Beam Scythe]]. His plans in the game involves instigating a massive civil war between two benevolent RedShirt [[RedShirtArmy armies]] and, at the end of the game, using a KillSat to annihilate the humans from the face of the earth. Luckily, he was defeated before the latter came to pass, but considering the events in the former, resulting in the deaths of most members of one of the RedShirt [[RedShirtArmy armies]], WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic?
%%** ''VideoGame/MegaManZX'': Prometheus.
%%** ''VideoGame/MegaManBattleNetwork'': [=EraseMan.EXE/KillerMan.EXE=].

* ''VideoGame/SonicFrontiers: The franchise's GreaterScopeVillain [[spoiler:The End]] is a somewhat unusual take on the trope. Its physical appearance depends on its viewer's perception of death, it seeks to destroy any life it comes across, and it claims itself to be a force above any other godlike beings which Sonic previously fought.