History Main / TheGrimReaper

* Garovel of ''Literature/TheZombieKnight'' is this, but despite his appearance, he seems much less gloomy and macabre than the story's human protagonist.

* Garovel of ''[[http://thezombieknight.blogspot.com The Zombie Knight]]'' is this, but despite his appearance, he seems much less gloomy and macabre than the story's human protagonist.

* In the Italian comic series ''DylanDog'', the title character has Death as one of his archenemies.

* In OneHundredYearsOfSolitude, Death is a quiet woman clad in an old blue dress who orders [[spoiler: Amaranta Buendía]] to sew her own death shroud, promising that she will die peacefully and painlessly at the end of the day she's done.

* In AmberBenson's ''Calliope Reaper-Jones'' series, Calliope is the daughter of the current Grim Reaper, a man who has held that post since about 1900. Having been in life a businessman during the latter part of the Industrial Revolution, he used those approaches to manage his reaping duties, by forming the afterlife company Death, Inc.
* ''FinalDestination'' spin-off ''Dead Reckoning'' has a [[EldritchAbomination Lovecraft inspired]] version of the usual stereotypical depiction of the Grim Reaper appear in a dream sequence.

* The catch in ''{{Reaper}}'' is that at least one version of reapers are alive, work for TheDevil, and capture already-dead escaped souls to return them to Hell. Worse than a Reaper is the Ender, which can ''destroy'' souls (and anything else) utterly.
* ''XenaWarriorPrincess'' has Celesta. She looks nothing like a normal reaper.
* An episode of ''{{Benson}}'' had him play Trivial Pursuit against [[MeaningfulName Mr. G. Reaper]], not for his own life but for the lives of a bus-full of schoolchildren caught in a severe storm. All the questions Death got had answers involving "death"; when Benson accused him of cheating, he denied it, saying, "You have often heard it said, 'He cheated Death,' but no one ever said 'Death cheated ''him''!"

* Although not appearing as a character the Reaper is the symbol worn by the ''SonsOfAnarchy'' Motorcyle Club on their jackets and is carved into the conference table in their meeting room. The stock of his scythe is a rifle and he carries a buckler with the anarchy symbol on it. Some members have him tatooed on their backs.

* Lord Death in ''Manga/SoulEater'' is your standard-looking Grim Reaper, though with a goofy looking face as not to frighten the students of the ExtranormalInstitute he founded. He is also surprisingly {{badass}} if you provoke him, even ripping off a powerful Demon's SKIN and sealing said demon in a sack made of its own skin. In a series with many {{Equippable All|y}}ies, his partner is a scythe. But he also has a hammer, a sniper crossbow ''[[CrazyAwesome that shoots explosive]]'', a guillotine [[spoiler: ([[FaceHeelTurn or at least he did]])]] and a ''[[ImprobableWeaponUser mirror]]''. He has a son who's referred to as Death the Kid, who is eventually supposed to succeed him.\\
Worth noting is that while are both {{Physical God}}s, it's possible for either one to die, [[spoiler:and once Kid gains his full power it seems Death automatically dies.]]

* Death is worshipped in many forms in the world of 'Literature/'ASongOfIceAndFire'', from the Black Goat of Qohor to the Stranger from the Faith of the seven. However, a cult of assassins known as the Faceless Men believe all of these to be the same being, the Many-Faced God.

* In the second season of ''AmericanHorrorStory'', the Angel of Death appears as a black-haired pale-skinned woman wearing a black dress and veil. She talks to several characters and takes them with a literal Kiss Of Death, including [[spoiler:Satan himself, while he possessed Sister Mary]]

** Her dissimilarity to traditional concepts of death is constantly being lampshaded. In the Season of Mists arc, after her big brother Destiny tells her she should be more formally dressed for a family meeting, she starts moaning that next he'll be moaning that she "ought to get a scythe" after the manner of a traditional Grim Reaper. In the Thessaliad spinoff series, the character Fetch complains that "Death should be bones and black robes and scythes", to which his cohort Thessaly replies "Maybe she wants to make sure everyone is guaranteed at least one hot date before they cease to exist".

A subtrope of {{Psychopomp}}. Compare to HorsemenOfTheApocalypse for when the rest of the [[FiveManBand Four Man Band]] show up, and AfterlifeExpress, when the Grim Reaper is or rides on a vehicle, especially a train. See also EnemiesWithDeath and TheProblemWithFightingDeath. For the DeathMetal band, see {{Music/Death}}. As with most public services, expect [[HilarityEnsues hilarity to ensue]] if DeathTakesAHoliday. A kinder interpretation may portray him as TheSacredDarkness.

** Though Death performs his duty for every living thing on the Disc, from humans to tube worms, his brief retirement in ''Discworld/ReaperMan'' left a void that was filled with a separate Death for every creature: Death of Rats ([[AC:Squeak]]), 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[[hottip:* :and the Death of Fleas]]. It's a lonely, eternal job, and it's nice to have someone to share it with.

* The ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' C'tan god known as the Nightbringer {{MindRape}}d proto-life so comprehensively he gave all living creatures (except Orks) the fear of death, and although he can take any shape usually styles himself as a giant floating reaper, complete with thirty-foot-long-scythe. Partially as a consequence of this, the Eldar formed a sect of warriors called the Dark Reapers, although instead of scythes, they use [[MacrossMissileMassacre rapid-fire micro-missile launchers]]. The ''first'' Dark Reaper, the Phoenix Lord Maugan Ra, instead uses a shuriken cannon (yes, a {{BFG}} that fires shuriken) with a scythe blade on the end of the barrel.

* ''Franchise/{{Halo}}'' has two songs named for the fourth Horseman of the Apocalypse, Death (Another name people use for a personified death, along with the Grim Reaper). To be exact, On A Pale Horse, and it's remake Behold a Pale Horse are those songs.

** The Executioner in ''VideoGame/ChaosRings'' and ''VideoGame/ChaosRingsOmega'' initially appears as cloaked skeletal figure which consists of a floating ''spine'' which wields a huge scythe with one arm while the other arm is ''made'' of scythes. It's ''true'' form has the spine attached to a ''giant tick''.

* There's an AirborneMook in ''VideoGame/MiniRobotWars'' called the Reaper (looks like an evil red robot holding a scythe, and it's sound cue is an EvilLaugh to boot). The good news is that its scythe attack is not a OneHitKill on your Minirobots. The bad news is that it hits all the Minirobots around it, and this scares them to the point that they freeze for a moment.

* ''TheKAMics'' has Hela from NorseMythology as it's official [[TheGrimReaper Grim Reaper]] (although for a while it seemed to be Steve of ''Webcomic/LifeAndDeath''). [[http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/4789283/ She]] [[http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/5077713/ doesn't]] [[http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/5268279/ dress]] [[http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/5270141/ very]] [[http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/5294388/ traditional]] [[http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/5281093/ though]]. (Fourth link is NSFW.) [[http://www.drunkduck.com/The_KAMics/5305635/ She describes her job as a guide for the dead type.]]

* Parodied in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'': Death comes to collect Peter, but sprains his ankle. He will rest and recuperate and spare Peter if he'll take over his route. 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 kills people with a touch of his hand. He can time travel, see the the future, and yet can't find love. Oh, he also lives with his mother.

* 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 [[SufficientlyAdvancedAliens Eternals]], which may mean she isn't ''actually'' TheGrimReaper.

* HarryPotter doesn't have Death himself appear in-story (though so many have died), but in The Tale of the Three Brothers, [[http://harrypotter.wikia.com/wiki/Death_(The_Tale_of_the_Three_Brothers) Death]] did appear to the three Peverell Brothers. He is portrayed here as cunning and disliking to be on the losing side of anything. He was, in the story, the creator of the [[PlotDevice Deathly Hallows]].

* In ''VideoGame/{{Rosenkreuzstilette}}'', one of the bosses is an undead TheGrimReaper-like wraith who is actually the spirit of Grolla's grandfather and master, Sir Raimund Seyfarth, better known as the legendary Thanatos. This boss not only wields a blood-red scythe called the Devil Scythe Grassense, but also the legendary Demon Sword Grollschwert, both of which he combines together when he faces the player's character head-on in combat.

* In the ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'', at one point in Literature/GhostStory, Harry meets an Angel of Death who is watching over [[spoiler:Father Forthill]]. Harry then threatens the Angel if any harm comes to [[spoiler:Forthill]]. She calmly states his TrueName, that she understands his frustration and adds that she is watching merely to protect [[spoiler:him]] until the proper time. Given the Angel could destroy Harry with a mere thought, he got off lightly.

* In the Dark Arisen expansion for DragonsDogma, Death is a recurring boss whose only actual attack will kill you in one hit and has a wide range, more than capable of resulting in a very sudden TotalPartyWipe. Thankfully, you never have to fight him, and running away is usually the best option.

* InsaneClownPosse call him "The Wraith". He is AboveGoodAndEvil, not caring about the morality of those he takes; he only cares about his duty of ending the lives of those he has come to claim, though their song about him implies he may be a bit too interested in making sure people continue to come his way.
* {{Metallica}}'s "Creeping Death" is told from the POV of the Angel of Death as he kills the Egyptians' first born.

* While not the Grim Reaper outright, Chaos in ''{{Loom}}'' has a very skeletal appearance, wields a scythe, and commands an undead army.

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* In the horror pastiche episode of CirqueDuSoleil's WidgetSeries ''Solstrom'', once a hotel has been magically transformed into a HauntedCastle / HellHotel hybrid, Death arrives as a guest (i.e., he's taking a holiday). Even though he fits the traditional appearance pictured above, magically signs the register with a skull and crossbones symbol, and has a menacing laugh, he observes the strange hijinks going on rather than interfere with them. By the episode's end, an unlucky guest has perished via choking, and when Death checks out it's with the person's soul following him in a daze. Further playing this for dark humor, the Hotel Owner doesn't seem to recognize Death and treats him like any other guest (well, with everything else that's changed, what's one more bizarre stranger on the premises?).

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** Lucifer summons Death himself in Season 5's 'Abandon All Hope'. He is one of the four HorsemenOfTheApocalypse and the boss of all reapers. He later makes an appearance in the episode "Two Minutes To Midnight". Whilst he does not appear as the classical Grim Reaper, he is portrayed by Julian Richings, a man with a very skeletal appearance. While not actively malicious, he views humanity the same way we might view microbes - barely noticeable and utterly insignificant. He also claims to be at least as old and as powerful as God, and that in the end, he'll reap Him too. He's portrayed as more of a typical Grim Reaper-type being in his second appearance in "Appointment in Samarra", which makes it clear that his task is to maintain the natural order into eternity. He views the Winchesters as slightly more significant this time - enough for him to be annoyed at the way they keep coming back from the dead, anyway. In his third appearance in "Meet the New Boss" he [[SummonBiggerFish is summoned]] by the Winchesters to [[spoiler:stop Castiel after his ascension to godhood, but he doesn't bother to go through with it when Cas unbinds his restraints]].

* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' featured a few episodes with an insanely hot black-haired reaper, who guides the deceased to their afterlives.

* Shinigami-sama in ''Manga/SoulEater'' is your standard looking Grim Reaper, though with a goofy looking face as not to frighten the students of the ExtranormalInstitute he founded. He is also surprisingly {{badass}} if you provoke him, even ripping off a powerful Demon's SKIN and sealing said demon in a sack made of its own skin. In a series with many {{Equippable All|y}}ies, his partner is a scythe. But he also has a hammer, a sniper crossbow ''[[CrazyAwesome that shoots explosive]]'', a guillotine [[spoiler: ([[FaceHeelTurn or at least he did]])]] and a ''[[ImprobableWeaponUser mirror]]''. He has a son who's referred to as Death the Kid, who is eventually supposed to succeed him.\\