History Main / TheGrimReaper

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': [[spoiler:The red-eyed Wolf chasing after Puss is in fact Death himself, making it crystal clear to the cat that it's no exaggeration. He was offended by the way Puss frivolously wasted eight of his lives and enraged by the cat's arrogant boasts of "laughing in the face of death", so he decided to hunt Puss down and claim his last life personally. When Puss demonstrates that he's able to truly value life, as well as face him down without fear, the Wolf allows him to live out the rest of his days until his time to die naturally comes.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': [[spoiler:The red-eyed Wolf chasing after Puss is in fact Death himself, making it crystal clear to the cat that it's no exaggeration. He was offended by the way Puss frivolously wasted eight of his lives and enraged by Puss's arrogant boasts of "laughing in the face of death", so he decided to hunt Puss down and claim his last life personally. When Puss demonstrates that he's able to truly value life, as well as face him down without fear, the Wolf allows him to live out the rest of his days until his time to die naturally comes.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': [[spoiler:The red-eyed Wolf chasing after Puss is in fact Death himself, making it crystal clear to the cat that it's no exaggeration. He was offended by the way Puss frivolously wasted eight of his lives, so he decided to hunt Puss down and claim his last life personally. When Puss demonstrates that he's able to truly value life, as well as face him down without fear, the Wolf allows him to live out the rest of his days until his time to die naturally comes.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': [[spoiler:The red-eyed Wolf chasing after Puss is in fact Death himself, making it crystal clear to the cat that it's no exaggeration. He was offended by the way Puss in Boots frivolously wasted eight of his lives, so he decided to hunt Puss down and claim his last life personally. When Puss demonstrates that he's able to truly value life, as well as face him down without fear, the Wolf allows him to live out the rest of his days until his time truly comes]].

* ''Manga/MonsterMusume'': Lala is a {{Dullahan}} who dresses and acts like a Grim Reaper while talking in overly melodramatic tones. Only it turns out that she actually ''is'' a Grim Reaper who's pretending to be a gothy teenager who's pretending to be a Grim Reaper.

* ''VideoGame/DragonProject'': The first SS-rank [[BladeOnAStick Spear]] Behemoth is Leider Reaper, a floating HumanoidAbomination with a dress-like cloak in place of legs who also wields a massive [[SinisterScythe scythe]] as big as itself. Ironically, [[TheDeathOfDeath Reaper itself is just as vulnerable]] as any other [[OurMonstersAreDifferent Behemoth]], as simple weapons and cooperation are enough to defeat it. Its tablet allows the wielder to craft the (first) [[ShockAndAwe Thunder]] [[NonIndicativeName Normal]] [[SinisterScythe Spear]].

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleOfAges'': While not actually the Reaper itself, the Blue Stalfos miniboss (Death Stalfos in Japanese) strongly looks the part by being a walking skeleton clad in a hooded robe and carrying a scythe.

The mascot of death. The nature and purpose of the Grim Reaper (also simply known as "Death") varies between two different versions: one version describes him as a simple guide - the supernatural being who takes people to the afterlife when they die (the fancy word for this is "{{Psychopomp}}"); another version sees him as the entity of death - [[TouchOfDeath he makes people die by touching them or by means of supernatural powers]].

* ''VideoGame/HazelnutHex'' has a chibi female grim called Sabine as the second-to-last boss. She wears a hooded sweater with jeans instead of the cloak associated with depictions of grim, is the only boss who uses a weapon - her trademark scythe - and turns out to be one of the good guys.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'' has the The Chairman, the leader of the Ghost Council and ruler of the ghost world. He forces ghosts to scare living people and generate misery, and if a ghost fails in their job, The Chairman will sentence the poor soul to an eternity in the [[FateWorseThanDeath Flow of Failed Phantoms]]. While he isn't exactly stated to be the Grim Reaper, [[Expy he is most likely his equivalent in this series, cue his cloaked and skeleton-like appearance]].

* ''WesternAnimation/TheGhostAndMollyMcGee'' has the The Chairman, the leader of the Ghost Council and ruler of the ghost world. He forces ghosts to scare living people and generate misery, and if a ghost fails in their job, The Chairman will sentence the poor soul to an eternity in the [[FateWorseThanDeath Flow of Failed Phantoms]]. While he isn't exactly stated to be the Grim Reaper, he is most likely his equivalent in this series, cue his cloaked and skeleton-like appearance.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheDirdyBirdy'' has the The Chairman, the leader of the Ghost Council and ruler of the ghost world. He forces ghosts to scare living people and generate misery, and if a ghost fails in their job, The Chairman will sentence the poor soul to an eternity in the [[FateWorseThanDeath Flow of Failed Phantoms]].

* ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'': [[spoiler:The red-eyed Wolf chasing after Puss is in fact Death himself. He was offended by the way Puss in Boots frivolously wasted eight of his lives, so he decided to hunt Puss down and claim his last life personally. When Puss demonstrates that he's able to truly value life, as well as face him down without fear, the Wolf allows him to live out the rest of his days until his time truly comes]].

* In Creator/TheBrothersGrimm'2 "Literature/GodfatherDeath", a poor man looking desperately for a godfather for his newborn son meets a stranger on the road who reveals he is Death and offers to be the boy's godfather. Later Death attends the godson's baptism and eventually teaches his godson how to become a famous physician. Death's look remains ambiguous; he has "withered legs" and a "withered fist", which could be an euphemism for the familiar skeletal figure; on the other hand, the poor man does not recognize Death when he first sees him and is not terrified by the stranger. Death also has an "ice-cold hand" with a very firm grip.

* ''Franchise/TheDCU'' has more deaths than you can shake a scythe at.

* The Prolgue for one of the later stories in ''Fanfic/TheUnitySaga'' shows the series is the result of a game being played by various omnipotent characters including the Deathes of the Literature/{{Discworld}} and ComicBook/TheSandman.

* ''WesternAnimation/GuillermoDelTorosPinocchio'': Death is portrayed as a horned sphinx who is the sister of the Wood Sprite that gave Pinocchio life. She explains to [[spoiler:the wooden boy that because of his miraculous existence, he'll be able to live an everlasting life free from death. [[WhoWantsToLiveForever She considers this to be a great curse]].]] Along with having hourglasses in her chamber that signify every person's life, she also employs [[MythologyGag black rabbits]] to guide the deceased to the underworld via coffins.
* In ''WesternAnimation/MonsterMash2000'', the prosecutor of Drac, Frank and Wolf's trial appears to be the personification of Death, as he wears a shroud and uses a scythe.
* In ''WesternAnimation/PussInBootsTheLastWish'', [[spoiler:the red-eyed Wolf chasing after Puss is in fact Death himself. He was offended by the way Puss in Boots frivolously wasted eight of his lives, so he decided to hunt Puss down and claim his last life personally. When Puss demonstrates that he's able to truly value life, as well as face him down without fear, the Wolf allows him to live out the rest of his days until his time truly comes]].

--> ''"There's a Mister Death here; he's here about the reaping? I don't think we need any at the moment..."''

* ''Film/ThePoorLittleRichGirl'': Mary Pickford's AdventuresInComaland end with the Grim Reaper (unusually, here portrayed as a woman) appearing and offering "eternal sleep". A fairy that seems to represent the Reaper's [[EvilCounterpart Good Counterpart]] then appears and lures Mary back to the side of life.

** In Christianity, Azrael is neither canonical nor noncanoical due to not being referenced by any major or apocryphal Christian text. However, Literature/TheBible mentions [[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+5%3A25-27&version=NIV an angel who is either associated with Jesus, or Jesus himself (son of man),]] [[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation%2014:%2014-20&version=KJV wielding a scythe ready to reap the grapes of wrath,]] [[http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+6%3A9-11&version=NIV symbolizing the killing of all of the earth dwellers who martyred all of the Christians.]] He's definitely identified in the Book of Revelation as one of the HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, and in fact the only one to be explicitly named.

%%* Death is the narrator of "[[http://www.k-state.edu/english/baker/english320/Maugham-AS.htm Appointment in Samarra]]", a story retold by W. Somerset Maugham in 1933, itself based on an old Middle Eastern story.%%And?

* In "Literature/GodfatherDeath", a poor man looking desperately for a godfather for his newborn son meets a stranger on the road who reveals he is Death and offers to be the boy's godfather. Later Death attends the godson's baptism and eventually teaches his godson how to become a famous physician. Death's look remains ambiguous; he has "withered legs" and a "withered fist", which could be an euphemism for the familiar skeletal figure; on the other hand, the poor man does not recognize Death when he first sees him and is not terrified by the stranger. Death also has an "ice-cold hand" with a very firm grip.

* ''Literature/TheBookThief'' is narrated by Death.

* ''Literature/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]]. Although it's left [[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane ambiguous]] if the brothers actually met him or if they were just powerful wizards who made the Hallows and the story about him was just something that sprung up to explain their creation. Dumbledore tells Harry that this is his personal interpretation of the story.
* ''Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar'': Death is described as "the Shadow-Lover". The metaphysics of Velgarth being a bit vague, the Shadow-Lover sometimes seems to be a literal psychopomp that appears as an attractive member of one's gender of preference to embrace the dying, and sometimes seems to be a poetic metaphor. It may depend on the nature and strength of one's faith.
* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'': Every person has an individual death, who accompanies them all their life, but who often hide themselves (and they're ''very'' good at that) because most people are uncomfortable with facing their mortality.
* ''Literature/InstrumentOfGod'': The person who is in charge of the Recycling Department (where people who have died decide to go back to earth to be reborn as a baby) is ''The Death Traffic Manager'' but is colloquially known as ''Grim'' or ''The Grim Reaper''.

* The Watcher of the Gate from ''Literature/NightOfTheNecromancer'' is the Titan-verse equivalent to the Grim Reaper, being a hooded skeleton armed with a scythe tasked with keeping tabs on souls entering and leaving the realm of the dead. He's also a ChaoticGood example, forming the pact with the protagonist (a noble lord assasinated by his rival) allowing him to return to the realm of living for just one night to uncover the truth behind his death.

* Voltaire's ''[[TearJerker "Feathery Wings",]] [[WordOfGod which is about]] the Angel of Death.

* ''VideoGame/ShadowHearts'' has Fox Face, referred to variously as "Grim Reaper" and "God of Death". As a more traditional Japanese version of Death, he can be defeated, banished, and eventually destroyed.

** ''Bestiary 5'' describes grim reaper''s'' as [[TheUndead undead]] that come from seemingly out of nowhere (most suspect the Negative Material Plane, others Abaddon) to kill people for no readily apparent reason. These grim reapers and their "lesser death" brothers are [[TheSpook connected with neither Pharasma nor Zyphus nor anyone else, killing solely for their own inscrutable reasons]].

* ''Series/RedDwarf'': At the end of the Season 8, the episode "Only the Good", a pale reaper shows up to collect Rimmer, [[spoiler:who evades death by kicking the specter in the jewels and running away]].

* ''LightNovel/{{Highschool DxD}}'' features a whole ''race'' of Grim Reapers, just as there are devils and angels as races. They inhabit a subspace of the Underworld that's inherently hostile to all life. Few members of the race are known, but the top-tier members like Hades, Orcus, and Thanatos, are noted to be on a par with ''gods''. The most visible member of the race is a human[=/=]Grim Reaper hybrid named Bennia Orcus (a daughter of the aforementioned): currently part of [[TheHero Issei's]] retinue.

*** First, there's the BonusBoss "The Reaper," who stalks the halls of [[EvilTowerOfOminousness Tartarus]] while [[GunsAkimbo dual-wielding]] [[RevolversAreJustBetter revolvers]]. When he appears, [[MissionControl Fuuka]] announces "I sense Death!" Among the personas, there's Pale Rider, a persona of the Death arcana, as well as the ultimate Death-arcana persona, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanatos Thanatos]], [[spoiler:i.e., the scary sword-wielding thing that bursts out of Orpheus near the beginning of the game]].

** ''VideoGame/Persona4'': The Reaper is a BonusBoss who can be randomly found in a NewGamePlus (although ''Persona 4 Golden'' removes the requirement for NG+). After opening 20 chests, the player will hear ratting of chains, and the Reaper will appear in a random unopened red chest on that dungeon level. [[spoiler:Izanami, the main villain of the game, is a subversion. While she is an undead goddess, she did not actively plan any of the killings, she simply gave people powers and watched what they did with them. And even after watching the ensuing chaos, unlike Nyx or Erebus she doesn't think death is something that humanity craves (though what she does think humanity wants is arguably just as twisted).]]

** ''VideoGame/Persona5Strikers'' The Reaper is a BonusBoss fought after the player completes all other requests that involve rematches with the Palace rulers and fighting powerful Shadows.

* ''VideoGame/RomancingSaGa'': Death is actually a God and a BonusBoss, He makes the FinalBoss look like a weakling in comparison. (Strangely enough, defeating him increases your alignment with him; also if your alignment with him increases enough; he will assist you in battle by killing any enemy except Undead monsters and certain bosses) [[spoiler:Death also takes human form during the Soulgutter quest, teaching you how to seal him away and blesses you to prevent your soul from being taken by Soulgutter.]]

** ''ComicBook/TheWarlord'' 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]].

His goals can oftentimes be discerned through his tools or weaponry: if it's a large, two-handed implement like a SinisterScythe, you're probably dealing with an OmnicidalManiac who will cut down lives like fields of wheat; if using smaller sickles or more precision-based weaponry, he's likely to be aiming for a particular target and [[PunchClockVillain just doing his job]], and if he's using chains, whomever he's after probably already escaped him once before.

* ''Series/BigWolfOnCampus'' had two episodes that involved the Grim Reaper. Naturally, everything is parodied hilariously. When a character tries to save his own life by challenging Death to a game of chess, he loses, so then they play ''Yahtzee!'', and he loses, so they play ''Connect Four'', and he loses, so they play ''Cluedo''. Death was not up for playing ''Stratego'' at that point. Also, in the other episode, Death has agreed to leave, but as he walks out the door he turns and starts to deliver his classic "In time all will come to..." speech only to have the door slammed in his face...because, you know, they're teenagers, they don't want to hear about that sort of stuff.

* ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'': In one episode, J.D. [[ImagineSpot imagines]] Death hanging around the hospital due to all the deaths that happen there. Death among other things has a daughter selling girl scout cookies (where he mentions he might kill his daughter's main competitor), and [[ChessWithDeath plays a game of Connect Four with J.D. over a patient's life]].

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** ''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]].

*** After Terry's death, one of the final posts on his Twitter account was "[[AC:AT LAST, SIR TERRY, WE MUST WALK TOGETHER.]]"