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1[[foldercontrol]]
2
3[[folder:Death]]
4[[quoteright:320:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/josh_kirby_reaper.jpeg]]
5->[[AC:What can the harvest hope for, if not for the care of the reaper man?]]
6
7[[IHaveManyNames The Stealer of Souls, Defeater of Empires, Swallower of Oceans, The Ultimate Reality, Harvester of Mankind,]] [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking "Picker-Up of Unconsidered Trifles"]], etc. Tall, bony fellow with a black robe and a scythe, [[AC:Talks like this all the time.]] You'll know him when you see him... [[WeAllDieSomeday and you will]]. Most people, however, aren't aware that they're doing so, unless they're users of magic, dead/about to die or, for some reason, cats. Has developed a fondness for humans (and cats) over the centuries. He appears in more Discworld books than any other character (all of them except ''Literature/TheWeeFreeMen'' and ''Literature/{{Snuff}}'').
8----
9* AbsurdlySharpBlade:
10** Both his scythe and sword are so sharp, they have a constant glow of air molecules brushing against the edge and splitting.
11** Even the scythe he uses during his retirement as "Bill Door" in ''Reaper Man'' becomes this after he sharpens it on ''sunlight''. [[PaintingTheMedium It's sh/arp enough to c/ut the wo/rds on the pa/ge.]]
12* AllPowerfulBystander: To keep space and time cohesive, he can't ''really'' interfere. However, sometimes he [[RewritingReality does give things a 'nudge']], [[LoopholeAbuse find a proxy]] to operate on his behalf, or [[DeathTakesAHoliday goes on holiday]].
13* AlmightyJanitor: Death is (understandably) offended when he's accused of killing people. Death's job as the reaper is more of a public service than outright judge, jury and executioner. In fact, he can be quite readily compared to a sanitation worker of sorts. In the same way a sanitation worker doesn't create the garbage he shows up to collect, people are killed on their own, and Death's role is to usher them into the next world; he's not evil by nature, he's just fulfilling his designated role.
14--> [[AC:I? Kill?]] said Death, obviously offended. [[AC:Certainly not. People get killed, but that's their business. I just take over from then on. After all, it'd be a bloody stupid world if people got killed without dying, wouldn't it?]]
15* AlwaysABiggerFish: Even TheGrimReaper himself answers to someone even bigger, in this case the Death of Universes. Also inverted where there are [[OddJobGods Death of Rats, Fleas...]]
16* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Even metaphors have to live. (Poor choice of words there; sorry.)
17* TheAntiNihilist: More than even Vimes, he knows the infinite universe has no mercy or kindness. That doesn't mean he can't make some of his own. "There is no justice. There is just me."
18* ArchEnemy: The Auditors of Reality. They hate life (because it is untidy), which he strongly disagrees with. As seen in ''Hogfather'' and ''Thief of Time'', they are one of the few things that make Death angry.
19* AscendedExtra: Showed up in ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'' as a running gag. Is now one of the most major and recognisable characters in the series.
20* BackFromTheDead: He ''can'' resurrect people by refilling their DeathsHourglass, but he's ''not allowed'' to do so. [[SubbingForSanta Not normally, at least.]]
21* BerserkButton:
22** He takes the long view and doesn't lose his temper over most things, but he can be angered. Hypocrisy can do it; hubris; obviously interfering with the balance of life and death; less obviously, cruelty to cats. He had a grudge against Rincewind for a while, due to the latter's tendency to ''not'' die on schedule, but eventually he just comes to accept that Rincewind is a CosmicPlaything.
23** Death hates being blamed for killing people, [[AllAPartOfTheJob he's just picking up the pieces when people die. If he doesn't do it, then reality falls out of balance.]]
24* BewareTheNiceOnes: He may be one of the nicest characters in the series, but the few people who actually manage to get a rise out of him are usually soon informed that this is ''Death'' we're talking about. See: ''Auditors of Reality in wolf form (suspicious lack of)'' after they pressed his BerserkButton.
25* BlackCloak: As expected from the Grim Reaper.
26* BreakoutCharacter: Started out as just a RunningGag for when characters died, but Death gradually grew into being the most beloved character in the franchise, and Pratchett's signature creation, with multiple books about him.
27* CannotTellAJoke: He tries, but often the people he's telling it to don't have a sense of humor, and don't get it.
28* CapsLock: His lines are written in all caps. It is not to suggest that he is shouting, but rather that he speaks in a deep, ethereal voice.
29* CharacterDevelopment: Even leaving aside EarlyInstallmentWeirdness, ''Literature/SoulMusic'' develops how much he's changed from how he was in ''{{Literature/Mort}}'', with a time-travelling Susan noting that he's a ''much'' more forbidding figure than the grandfather she's come to know. That said, during that conversation, as in ''{{Literature/Mort}}'' itself, his adorkable nature is revealed to be not ''that'' far beneath the surface.
30** He suffers from CreativeSterility and never loses it, but he does learn to find unconventional solutions for situations, which are creative in their own way.
31* CharacterizationMarchesOn: Death in his first appearance seemed actively malicious, causing deaths rather than merely collecting the souls of the dead. He mellows out a lot in ''The Light Fantastic'', but it's not until ''Mort'' that he settles into his established characterization.
32* ChessWithDeath: Anyone he comes to collect is free to challenge him to any game of skill, with chess being a popular choice. It's a waste of time, because he's not actually capable of losing legitimately, regardless of the fact that he can never remember "how the little horse-shaped ones move".
33** A sign of his CharacterDevelopment in ''Maskerade'' when Granny Weatherwax challenges him to a hand of poker to settle the fate of a newborn child, he concedes the game to her as she has four Queens, whereas all he has are four "ones" [[note]]Ace beats Queen in most hand combinations in Poker. Also note that that was ''Granny's'' first hand, and she tricked him into taking it. Depending on your interpretation, either she tricked him into conceding or he willingly let her win. It should also be remembered that he is physically incapable of ''losing'' a game.[[/note]]
34** One time he was challenged to a game of golf. This turned out to be a terrible idea, as Death has a ''lot'' of practice with his swing.
35* TheComicallySerious: His very serious-minded inability to really ''get'' human ideas is somewhere between hilarious, a little tragic, and oddly cute. Often, his cameo appearances consist of him just being in the area, not even having to do something, just speaking in '''The Voice''', while the laughs come from the audience knowing what the characters don't.
36* CoolHorse:
37** A large, white, perfectly normal (for a given value of "normal") horse named... ''Binky''. Like his master, Binky can defy and ignore the laws of reality in order to get where he needs to go. He's also immune to being stolen in ''Ankh-Morpork''. Susan left him unattended for a while, and came back to find Binky surrounded by prone horse-thieves.
38** At one point, Death used to have skeleton horses (which kept falling to bits and took forever to put back together) and fire-breathing horses (the problem with that quickly became readily apparent).
39* CreativeSterility: Death can't create life, and he can only really copy things. He also doesn't quite understand the purpose of the things he makes or how they work, so he may build pipes but forget they're supposed to be hollow, make towels with no idea they're supposed to be fluffy and absorbent, or make a swing in a tree by removing the trunk, leaving the rest of the tree in place -- still growing. [[note]]It should be noted though that his work being twisted forms of their original function indicates that his creations holds some spark of originality, even if they don't function properly (if they functioned properly they ''would'' be just copies).[[/note]]
40** While he never does drop this trope, over the course of the series he achieves some creativity: he employs loopholes to get around situations. He keeps it quiet though, not wanting people to learn that he can be flexible in his work.
41* DarkIsNotEvil: The Discworld is full of these, but he's definitely a standout given the combo of black cloak and compassion. According to Terry Pratchett, he sometimes received very nice letters from [[TearJerker people who knew they were due to meet the Reaper]] (specifically, terminally ill children), and hope that Pratchett has got him right. Such letters caused the author to stare at the wall for a while.
42-->'''Vimes''': (''whilst treed by werewolves'') Are you going to help me?\
43'''Death:''' [[AC:Well... yes.]]\
44'''Vimes:''' When?\
45'''Death:''' [[AC:Er, when the pain is too much to bear.]] ''({{Beat}})'' [[AC:Even as I say it, I realise that this isn't the answer you were looking for, however.]]
46* DeadpanSnarker: Irrational humans tend to set this off the worst.
47-->'''Ipslore the Red:''' And what would humans be without love?\
48'''Death:''' [[AC:Rare.]]
49* DeathsHourglass: Even ''Death himself'' has one -- it's huge, intangible and completely empty of sand.
50** Death got a small golden one in ''Reaper Man'' when he was temporarily dismissed from his job. It runs out over the course of the story, but he goes back to his old one at the end.
51** Death has a noteworthy one belonging to Rincewind himself, who has been through so many bizarre magical catastrophes its shape is distorted so that the sand goes in any direction. Nobody, not even Death, knows when it's going to run out. He keeps it on his desk.
52* DontExplainTheJoke: Out of all the characters who tend to explain [[RunningGag a Pune or Play on Words]], Death is the biggest offender, highlighting how he doesn't quite get humor or humanity.
53* DontFearTheReaper: In fact, it's [[PretentiousLatinMotto Mort's family motto]], also Terry Pratchett's now. He has a Duty and sees that it is done, but he's nice about it.
54* TheDreaded: Everyone has an instinctual fear towards Death for his responsibility in life's end; even his own family keeps their distance from him for his job. Death, however, doesn't end life; he takes life away only when it's ended on its own terms.
55* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness:
56** In ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'' he's pretty cold and menacing, killing some people randomly to blow off steam, and even ''harming a cat''. ''Literature/{{Mort}}'' retooled him into the compassionate {{Psychopomp}} we all [[DontFearTheReaper know and love]].
57** Likewise, ''Colour of Magic'' and ''The Light Fantastic'' make no mention of his very distinctive eyes.
58* ExactWords: He uses this a lot, sometimes deliberately so, such as when he throws a game of Poker against Granny Weatherwax because she had four Queens and all he had was four "ones".
59* AFormYouAreComfortableWith:
60** Muggles, like Mort's father, tend to think he's an undertaker because that's the closest thing their weirdness censors allow to the anthromorphic personification of death.
61** In ''Pyramids'', it's mentioned he used to show up as however the person he was meeting saw Death, but that was too much of a hassle, so he sticks to the traditional skeleton in a robe look.
62** At the end of ''Witches Abroad'', he shows up dressed in the more traditional style for Genua for the old Baron's sake.
63* GlamourFailure: For some reason, [[Characters/DiscworldCityWatch Sergeant Fred Colon and Corporal "Nobby" Nobbs]] are actually capable of seeing Death for who he is when he's out and about doing his business, and treat him with respect and courtesy when they see him (''as you should''). They're also [[GenreSavvy savvy enough]] to know that if Death shows up, it's best to walk away and come back a few hours later to do clean-up.
64* GodJob: Despite being the anthropomorphic personification of death, the specific entity that is identified as Death in the series is not the only one who can do the job; as his one-time apprentice, Mort observes, '''Death is whoever does Death's job.'''
65* GodsHandsAreTied: He has no control over people dying since that's the affairs of humanity, he's just there when it happens. He never really understands this until he goes through human experiences of caring for a daughter and apprentice right up to their ends, socializing with a reluctant but justified granddaughter, and living as a human for a brief span.
66* GoodIsNotNice: Averted...most of the time. While some may argue over his morality, he is most certainly compassionate when he has the luxury. Do ''not'' make the mistake of abusing that luxury.
67* GoodIsNotSoft: As noted elsewhere, he's usually very affable. However, if you press his BerserkButton, it is [[NotHyperbole very likely the last thing you will ever do]].
68* TheGrimReaper: He personifies death for everything that exists with some exceptions, namely universes (that's his boss' domain) and various types of rodents, mainly rats (because he chose to not reabsorb Death of Rats for company).
69* HereWeGoAgain: ''Eric'' shows him briefly at the end of time, waiting for the final moment so he can, essentially, turns the lights off and lock the doors. Then he sees another Big Bang occur, and sits down to wait. After all, soon enough he'll be needed again.
70* HumanityIsInfectious: Death has developed a fascination with humanity and is shown to have moments of sympathy towards them. His daughter Ysabell has gone on record for saying that Death doesn't feel emotions, rather thinks of emotions and how to act on them.
71* InsistentTerminology:
72** He makes it very clear to Mort that he isn't responsible for the deaths. He only organises their souls and places them in the right afterlife. He specifically mentions that there is a key difference between death and killing.
73** He's also quite clear on clarifying the difference between not being ''alive'' and being dead to a zombie at one point. After all, if the man had been dead, they'd have met.
74* IntangibleMan: Because from the point of view of eternity, "solid walls" last such a short time they hardly exist at all.
75* KindheartedCatLover: One of his earliest sympathetic moments sees him gathering and adopting the souls of drowned kittens who were stuffed in a sack and thrown into a river.
76-->'''Susan:''' And just ''look'' at the little [taxidermied] kittens dancing.\
77'''Lobsang:''' Horrible!\
78'''Susan:''' I wonder what happened when the man who did this met my grandfather.\
79'''Lobsang:''' Would he have met your grandfather?\
80'''Susan:''' Oh, yes. Oh, yes. And my grandfather is rather fond of cats.
81* LampshadeHanging: Death is ''very'' good at hanging lampshades. He has one of the most objective standpoints you can have.
82* LargeHam: He never loses a chance to take on a different identity from his own.
83** In ''Wyrd Sisters'', he walks on stage as himself. Though he gets stage fright.
84** In ''Reaper Man'', while he was dismissed from his job, he takes on the identity of Bill Door and sinks into it.
85** In ''Maskerade'', he appears to collect the villain in a fancy opera-style evening dress.
86** In ''Hogfather'', he takes on the guise of the Discworld's Santa Claus. Though it's part of a mission to save the world, he enjoys the role and wishes he could keep it up.
87* LawfulGood: His duty is finality and endings, a bleak job but he tends to it as well as he can. And his other replacements in the job were found to be too inhuman (the New Death) or too human (Mort, Susan) to manage the job.
88* LiteralMinded: He has difficulty with metaphors and slang and the like, so it takes him a bit of a run-up to understand them.
89* LoopholeAbuse: He'll never, never break the rules of life and death. But if there's a chance to ''bend'' them in order to save a life, especially if it's the life of a child...
90* ManipulativeBastard: For someone who doesn't understand humanity very well to begin with, he gets ''very'' good at this as time goes by, manipulating Susan in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'' to set her on the necessary track to solve the problem of the book -- which was rather necessary, since the villain had gone to a place where Death explicitly cannot go. He did it so subtly that the Auditors, who are well practised at LoopholeAbuse, realised that they couldn't get him for involving someone else.
91* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: He may be an example of DarkIsNotEvil, but titles like "Harvester of Mankind," "Swallower of Oceans," and so on aren't exactly the most comforting.
92* NearDeathExperience: It's inverted due to Rincewind's and Vimes's constant deadly danger. Death, consequently, is forced to be near ''them'', but he has yet to take them. In the latter case, he brought a lawn chair and a book. He treats Rincewind a bit like an amusing TV show.
93* NeverGetsDrunk: Usually, he cannot (hasn't got the right parts, see?), but one at least two occasions, he's tried pretty damn hard, up to and including drinking ''everything'' in a bar, including those weird little bottles all bars seem to have but never actually use.
94* NonLinearCharacter: He's Death. Time has a very different meaning for him. As does space. The entire continuum really.
95* NoSocialSkills: A gentle approach of this. Susan says in Hogfather that he would tackle the issue of famine by giving everyone a good meal; while he has the power and the intention to carry it out, being generous like that isn't really as beneficial as enabling people to be self-sufficient.
96* OOCIsSeriousBusiness:
97** ''Reaper Man'' gives us one of the few times Death ever uses an exclamation point, when he's berating the New Death for wearing a crown and treating the duty as HuntingTheMostDangerousGame.
98** The same book has him, in his Bill Door capacity, rescue a child from a burning building, despite the fact that she's destined to die, because of how infected by humanity he's become.
99** In ''Hogfather'', Susan is alarmed when he actually speaks in ''italics'', just to emphasise the threat the Auditors pose. At the conclusion we see him go spare. It's simultaneously awesome and terrifying.
100* PaintingTheMedium: [[AC:His distinctive method of speech.]] (Described as sounding "like lead slabs falling on a marble floor.") He also speaks without quotation marks, indicating he is not speaking in the traditional sense.
101* PapaWolf: Has a soft spot for children, especially his adopted daughter Ysabell. During his battle with Mort, [[spoiler:he becomes even more furious when he believes that she has been seduced by Mort]]. This later extends to his granddaughter, Susan (though she's generally very capable of looking after herself), with it being indicated that his actions/the nature of his intervention in ''Literature/SoulMusic'' were driven by the fact that [[spoiler: the Music]] had upset Susan by [[spoiler: killing Imp/Buddy]].
102* PetTheDog: He is sympathetic as he can be to the people he meets at the end of their lives. [[spoiler: In the case of Renata Flitworth and Granny Weatherwax, two women of strong will, he gave them the luxury of not telling them they’ve died until sometime after their deaths have already occurred. In Literature/TheTruth, he counsels and consoles Mr Tulip, a criminal who had no clue of the wickedness he’d been doing. And in Literature/{{Hogfather}} he takes eagerly to the role of Father Christmas and its duties: socializing with people, giving gifts and setting things straight; he is somewhat regretful about not being able to do it forever.]]
103* PowerOfRock: During ''Literature/SoulMusic''. Or rather, the inversion (CreativeSterility, remember?). Death can play only one note. [[spoiler: Specifically, the empty chord -- the silence indicating there will be no more sound.]]
104* TheProblemWithFightingDeath: Has an epiphany on this in ''Literature/TheColourOfMagic'', where after repeatedly trying and failing to claim Rincewind's soul he decides to just wait for Rincewind's fate to end.
105* {{Psychopomp}}: He is there when people leave their existence in one realm and ushers them to the other side.
106* PungeonMaster: On occasion, he does try to make jokes suitable to people he visits. Oh, how he tries.
107* QuintessentialBritishGentleman: Or the Ankh-Morporkian equivalent (he is, after all, sometimes adressed as "Your Lordship"). And as ''Thief of Time'' points out, he fits much of the criteria; he owns land (his own country), he's polite, and always punctual. It means he's got membership at the local gentleman's club in Ankh-Morpork, for when he feels the need to put his feet up.
108* RealityWritingBook: Death has an entire library of books that write themselves as people's lives unfold.
109* ResignedToTheCall: He accepts his role as the reaper because it's the role that's integral to the cycle of life. He doesn't take pleasure in the deaths of others or taunt their fate, in fact, he's offended by the idea of him killing people. Death insists that reapers must care for humanity in order to do their jobs.
110* RoadRunnerVsCoyote: Gets into this with Rincewind, though on his side he eventually gets worn out and just decides to appear whenever Rincewind is in peril, which is very ''very'' often.
111* SantaClaus: He once took on the mantle of the Discworld Santa Claus (The {{Literature/Hogfather}}) during a period where the real one was unavailable. Doing so let him violate a few of his normal rules to give the Discworld equivalent of The Little Match Girl "[[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zvwYCbBWxT8 the gift of a future]]" -- allowing her more life.
112* SinisterScythe: Comes as standard for the Grim Reaper, though kings get a CoolSword instead.
113* SpeaksFluentAnimal: He can understand the Death of Rats and vice versa, even without Quoth the Raven. Though this might have something to do with the fact that the Death of Rats was a part of Death prior to the events of ''Reaper Man''.
114* SplitHair: Death's scythe is described as so sharp it can split ''atoms''.
115* TheSpock: He knows and represents the one logical certainty in the universe -- all things end. The other stuff leaves him a little nonplussed. However, perhaps paradoxically, he evolves into one of the kindest characters in the series.
116* TinMan: He doesn't feel angry, sad or cheerful because those are things you need glands to feel. He has to ''think'' them, and sometimes it takes a run-up. But when he manages it, it's pretty spectacular.
117* TomSwifty: Death has been the object of such puns in ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'' and ''Literature/SoulMusic''. In the former, he's just been summoned by the Rite of [=AshkEnte=]. He adds, a shade reproachfully, that "[he] was at a party". In the latter, it's used in combination with a ShoutOut to [[RockAndRoll Music with Rocks In]] --"Thank you", said the [[RedundancyDepartmentOfRedundancy grateful Death]].
118* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Curry.
119* TranquilFury: Since he doesn't really have glands for emotions as such, his anger -- when he does get angry -- tends to be of this variety. This is shown most spectacularly at the climax of ''{{Literature/Hogfather}}.''
120* TryToFitThatOnABusinessCard: He has a great many titles. To name a few, The Stealer of Souls, Defeater of Empires, Swallower of Oceans, Thief of Years, The Ultimate Reality, Harvester of Mankind, the "Picker-Up of Unconsidered Trifles".
121* WeirdnessCensor: As a walking skeleton, most ordinary folk don't see him (because obviously walking skeletons don't exist, do they?). In the event that something ''makes'' them see him they get a form they can comprehend without dropping into gibbering madness, either an undertaker or an abnormally skinny tall man who looks vaguely skeletal. Wizards, witches and children are among the few who can see him regularly (wizards and witches by dint of being wizards and witches, and children because they ''lack'' a weirdness censor).
122** Some of the Ankh-Morpork Night Watch, Colon and Nobby particularly, are among those immune, on the grounds they've seen far more disturbing things in their line of work. So they just politely refer to him as "Your Lordship".
123** Death's WeirdnessCensor protection fails hilariously in ''Wyrd Sisters.'' He decides (for a lark) to take the role of Death in a play. He takes the stage in front of several hundred people who ''expect'' to see Death, and so they ''can.'' This is so disconcerting compared to the way he usually encounters humans that he instantly develops crippling stage fright.
124[[/folder]]
125
126[[folder:The Death of Rats]]
127[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/deathofrats.png]]
128->[[AC:Squeak]]
129
130During ''Literature/ReaperMan'', Death's forced holiday resulted in the creation of all sorts of little deaths. The big guy subsumed all of them... but one. [[note]]Well, technically two, but the Death of Fleas isn't important.[[/note]] The Death of Rats is something like a sidekick or a pet, and Death allows him it to continue existing independently just because it amuses him. When he isn't off collecting ill-fated rats, gerbils, hamsters, mice, and the odd particularly rodent-like human, he runs some of Death's errands, particularly those regarding harassing Susan. His sidekick/transport is the talking raven Quoth..
131----
132* BlackCloak: The article looks highly amusing on a rat skeleton.
133* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: He's what turns up when small furry creatures meet the ends of their lives.
134* TheGrimReaper: The sole shown new Death during ''Reaper Man'' to have the same style of presentation as the Death we are familiar with, hooded robe and scythe included -- just at rat size with a rat skeleton.
135* InTheHood: "[[WordOfGod It's the hood. It's the snout sticking out of the hood that's funny.]]"
136* KnowWhenToFoldThem: The Grim Squeaker's Duty is said to be simpler than Death's -- no ghosts, zombies, or related complications to deal with -- because small rodents comply with this trope instead of raising a fuss.
137* NonHumanSidekick: Or maybe the correct term is "Zoomorphic Personification sidekick." He himself has a sidekick in the form of [[PollyWantsAMicrophone Quoth]].
138* UglyCute: A rat skeleton shouldn't be cute, even if it's dressed up in a little black robe. Yet, somehow, it is. Terry himself observed that it was something about the way that the snout pokes out of the robe.
139* TheUnintelligible: All he ever says is "'''Squeak.'''" Since he's just a rat skeleton. Usually has to be translated by Quoth the raven.
140[[/folder]]
141
142[[folder:Quoth the Raven]]
143->''I'm a raven, aren't I? One of the few birds who speak. The first thing people say is, oh, you're a raven, go on, say the N-word...''
144
145A talking raven, who is really the pet of a wizard, but has a job on the side as the Death of Rats's personal sidekick, translator and even occasional transport. Claims quite truthfully to be mainly in it for the eyeballs, and refuses on general principle to say [[Literature/TheRaven "the N-word"]]. [[note]] [[JustForFun/IThoughtItMeant This "N-word" has nothing to do with]] NWordPrivileges. [[/note]]
146----
147* CleverCrows: Clever ''[[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible Ravens]]'' in this case. Not, as it turns out, the only talking raven on the Disc, but definitely the brightest and most eloquent one (the other talking ravens, who hang around Unseen University, usually limit themselves to simple sentences like [[Literature/NightWatchDiscworld "Whatcha doing, mifter?"]])
148* CreepyRavens: Averted with his role in the stories (where he's slightly disgusting because of his diet as a raven), but played straight in his role as a wizard's pet, where it's his job to sit on a skull in the wizard's shop, occasionally go "caw" and generally give the place an ominous look.
149* DeadpanSnarker: Exhibit A in the animated adaptation.
150-->'''Susan:''' Skeleton rats do not exist.\
151'''Quoth:''' Good evening, Miss!\
152'''Susan:''' ''Ugh!'' And neither do talking ravens!\
153'''Quoth:''' Ooooh, who am I to argue with an expensive education like yours?
154* DemotedToExtra: Plays a large role in ''Literature/SoulMusic,'' a slightly smaller role in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'' and a minor role in ''Literature/ThiefOfTime.''
155* EyeballPluckingBirds: Quoth is very open about his appetite for the eyeballs of carcasses, which he claims to be his primary motivation for staying in his job; Susan finds this rather disgusting. He also tends to be very interested in round, and especially round and shiny, things such as onions, walnuts, and tree ornaments, on the off-chance that they might be eyeballs.
156* FeatherFingers: Toned-down, but still noticeable in the animated adaptation of ''Literature/SoulMusic'', where he's always using his wings to gesticulate in very human ways.
157* NeverHeardThatOneBefore: His reluctance to say "the N-word[[note]]Nevermore[[/note]]" comes from his being named Quoth by a wizard who only thought he was being witty.
158* PollyWantsAMicrophone: He has a human-level intelligence and vocabulary.
159* PunnyName: ''Please'' tell us we [[DontExplainTheJoke don't have to explain the joke.]] ''[[Literature/TheRaven Please.]]''
160* ScavengersAreScum: Subverted; although Quoth is quite unashamed about his love of scavenging (eyeballs especially), he's quite helpful and sympathetic beneath his DeadpanSnarker facade. In ''Hogfather'', the Death of Rats locates a dead sheep buried in the snow for Quoth, and it's depicted as a touching holiday gift rather than disgusting.
161* SnarkyNonhumanSidekick: In fact, he's a sidekick's sidekick -- he's the talking NonHumanSidekick to the Death Of Rats, who is Death's [[TheUnintelligible Unintelligible]] NonHumanSidekick.
162* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Eyeballs, naturally. Though he'll take a peck at anything even remotely eyeball-shaped.
163* TranslatorBuddy: For the Death of Rats. Usually he comes along to translate whenever the Death of Rats needs to tell Susan something.
164[[/folder]]
165
166[[folder:Susan Sto Helit]]
167[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/susanstohelit.jpg]]
168->''"And then Jack chopped down what was the world's last beanstalk, adding murder and ecological terrorism to the theft, enticement and trespass charges already mentioned and all the giant's children didn't have a daddy any more. But he got away with it and lived happily ever after without so much as a guilty twinge about what he had done. Which proves that you can be excused just about anything if you're a hero, because no one asks inconvenient questions."''
169
170Only child of Death's former apprentice Mort and Death's adopted daughter Ysabel, thus making her Death's granddaughter and his first natural-born heir. As a result, she's "inherited" some of Death's talents, like the ability to walk through walls and not be seen when she doesn't want to be. Unfortunately, her parents had hoped to distance her from the supernatural side of the family, and Susan's "[[StrawVulcan logical]]" mindset makes her resent having to meddle in the occult.
171
172Technically she is the Duchess of Sto Helit but outside of a brief mention in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', this never really comes up.
173----
174* TheAgeless: This is heavily implied, but not quite set in stone. No one really knows whether she's inherited immortality through her genetics, but considering she technically exists ''outside'' of time, it's more than likely, especially if she decides she doesn't want to age.
175* AmbiguouslyHuman: Anyone who deals with her on a day-to-day basis realizes this. Way back when she was a student at boarding school (before she received [[CallToAdventure The Call]]) she made all her teachers ''very'' nervous, even when they all [[WeirdnessCensor ignored the fact]] that she could make herself invisible and wipe her presence from their memories. By ''Thief Of Time'' this almost puts her into a HeroicBSOD as she realises that although she was mostly human to begin with, the more she moves within the realm of the occult [[BlessedWithSuck the less human she becomes.]]
176* TheArtifact: As noted above she is technically a Duchess because of her backstory (her father was given the title in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'') a status she presumably still has but never comes up, outside of a brief mention in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''. Since part of Mort's punishment for changing reality was merging the Sto Plains kingdoms as history intended, it's possible that Sto-Helit merged into Keli's Sto-Lat and it's just a courtesy title with no responsibility - that, or the estate is managed by someone else.
177* AwesomeByAnalysis: [[spoiler:While captured by Teatime and having no access to her powers in the Tooth Fairy's country, she quickly deduces what the gray marks mean and what to say to turn Teatime's accomplices against him, forcing the assassin to split his focus, resulting in Banjo attacking Teatime and enabling Susan to defeat him]].
178* BadassTeacher: Suggestion: don't mess with her charges. She'll calculate exactly how to end you. Or, if you're lucky, just give you a very big spanking.
179* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: [[spoiler: In ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', when she goes to the Tooth Fairy's realm, she becomes normal because Death and his powers don't exist there. This leads to the minions of the book's BigBad getting the drop on her. Though she adjusts to this because normal people have fists]].
180* BewareTheNiceOnes: She may be a school teacher, and the children may love her, but do ''not'' mess with her.
181* BlessedWithSuck: The more she uses her powers (which are inherent to her very being and so she really can't ''stop'' using them), the more she becomes like her granddad. Indeed, it's heavily implied that if he ever decides to retire permanently, the post of Death will go to her. This is all very unfortunate because she really wants to remain human.
182* BreakTheCutie: Happens to her in ''Soul Music'', overlapped with BreakTheHaughty. She resolves to kill only the evil and let the good live on as a means to improve the world. She learns to her horror and grief that death doesn't choose who is worthy of living/dying, it just happens when people reach the end of their lives, however that happens or whether they deserve it. The ordeal breaks her, and in subsequent stories she keeps her head down and tries to avoid her family as much as possible.
183* BrokenBird: She doesn't generally get what she wants, but what other people need her to have. It's... not a happy thing to have happen to you.
184* TheCallKnowsWhereYouLive: And it usually comes via the Death of Rats. Or Binky. Or [[{{Pun}} Quoth]], the raven. Or, in the case of ''Soul Music'' when [[spoiler:her parents died in a fiery carriage accident]], all three.
185* CharacterDevelopment: Her first two books feature her denying Death and her heritage, only reluctantly taking up Duty when realizing she has to get involved. In ''Thief Of Time'', she actually gets involved a bit earlier without her hesitation and outright denial.
186* CompellingVoice: She can talk like her granddad to coerce people into doing things, or intimidate them into backing off, but the power has its limits.
187* DeadpanSnarker: Sarcasm is one of her primary modes of communication and [[StepfordSnarker ways of dealing with the weirdness of her life.]]
188* ExpressiveHair: Halfway between this and PrehensileHair, really. It's self-styling.
189* FallenPrincess: Possibly. Her parents were still a duke and duchess when she was sent to boarding school and were regularly doing business travels. When they died, Susan was allowed to finish her education but we see that she became a governess and later a schoolteacher rather than do anything official as a Duchess. It's implied that Mort causing a merged timeline to save Queen Kelli's life had something to do with this, and it's quite probable that once his political work was done, the estates would have left her as one of the IdleRich, so she decided to get a job.
190* FlatEarthAtheist: Literally. Her parents raised her as such to try and keep her away from her grandfather -- not so much out of dislike towards him, as a desire to give her a normal life, especially after she demonstrated inclinations towards the occult (and since both her parents had seen what a human with Death's mantle could be like -- her father, as Death's Apprentice -- they were understandably scared witless). In her first appearance in ''Literature/SoulMusic'' she doesn't believe in all this "Death" nonsense despite the events occurring or the fact that her grandfather is Death himself, her father was his apprentice, and her mother is his adoptive daughter. She tries it again rather half-heartedly at the start of ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', in respect to the Death of Rats and Quoth, but stops bothering.
191* FriendToAllChildren: Despite being a haughty, judgmental and sarcastic {{Jerkass}} even at the best of times, she genuinely gets along with any and all children she meets, maybe because they in many ways share her strange and surreal world. It makes her an excellent nanny and a very good schoolteacher.
192* GeneticMemory: She tries hard to forget it, but she can remember both the past ''and'' future. She is not happy with her grandfather about this (though it isn't really his fault).
193* GoodIsNotNice: Not ''quite'' on Granny Weatherwax's level as an example of this, but definitely up there. Susan is ''really'' hard to get along with on a personal level, she seldom bothers to hide her disdain for the world in general, she has a tendency to just take for granted that other people's rules don't apply to her, and she can be very mean, even towards people who don't deserve it. However, she has a ''very'' strong moral code and will always step up to protect the world and humanity when needed.
194* HeroicNeutral: She really wants to be left alone... the rest of the Universe just isn't listening. Although sometimes she gets off with just being TheLancer (to whoever steps up to the Hero plate).
195* HorrifyingTheHorror: The Scissor Man, a preventative monster made entirely of sharp edges that exists to scare children out of sucking their thumbs by threatening to sever them, is shown to tread ''very'' carefully around her in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'' after a previous incident where it came after one of the children she was caring for and learned the hard way that Susan did not tolerate that kind of thing. The very hard way, even. [[MamaBear The kind that leaves dents.]]
196* IdleRich: Subverted. She's still the Duchess of Sto-Helit, though it may be largely politically irrelevant, but she wants a job of her own - and she's very good at it.
197* IJustWantToBeNormal: Mainly in her early appearances. Note that Susan's version of 'normal' is not actually all that normal for the Disc. Also note that the Disc's version of normal is not "normal" either. However, manipulating your boarding school teacher's mind so they can't see you or remember you're there is odd even for a world with the Ramtops and Unseen University in it.
198* IntangibleMan: She can move through space and time much like her grandfather. Walls tend to have a rather transitory meaning for her, for example.
199* InTheBlood: In the ''bone'', anyway. She has all of Death's abilities, albeit to a lesser extent, though they get stronger as she gets older and uses them more. This also makes her less human, to her displeasure.
200* {{Irony}}: Of a curiously tragic sort. While she is more human than her grandfather, she is more cynical and condescending to them in comparison to him. Justified though in that she has a better view of humanity and their dark side, and so would rather not deal with them as much as he has to. She is also critical of her grandfather trying out new things and feels he should stick to his duty... while she herself tries new things. She does admit that it's personal: whenever her grandfather is sidetracked, which happens frequently, she's the only alternative to do her grandfather's job.
201* ItRunsInTheFamily: All that death business flows down to her from ''both'' sides of the family tree.
202* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Susan basically thinks that everyone except her sucks, and she's not shy about letting them know that, but she is firmly on the side of the good guys, and gets along with children surprisingly well.
203* LamarckWasRight: She has marks on her cheek left by Death when he slapped her ''father'' across the face, which Susan inherited.
204* MagicalNanny: In ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''. Pratchett calls her "kind of a goth Film/MaryPoppins."
205* MamaBear: Hurt kids on her watch, or even attempt it, and she will demonstrate her violent tendencies. Her nanny charges can attest to that.
206* MindManipulation: CompellingVoice and BystanderSyndrome, mostly.
207* MundaneUtility: Uses the ability to stop time, walk through walls, and manipulate the fabric of reality to grade papers and give the best history lessons ''EVER''.
208* MundaneSolution: How does one kill monsters when one is the granddaughter of Death, who has the power to stop time, manipulate reality and walk through walls? With the nearest handy fireplace poker.
209* MysticalWhiteHair: Her hair is mostly white, a result of her strange inheritance.
210* NonLinearCharacter: Like her granddad, she doesn't really exist inside of time. She can interact with it, and she lives in it most of the... er... time, but when the [[Literature/ThiefOfTime tick of the universe stops]] it doesn't affect her at all (except for that walls are now solid, because she can't move through the time when they're not there).
211* NotSoAboveItAll: Despite all her powers, haughtiness and badassery, she definitely has a sweet tooth, and her iron will falters to nothing when she's around a quality chocolate.
212* NotSoStoic: In the animated version of ''Soul Music'', she calls out to her parents when [[spoiler:witnessing their deaths]] and breaks down into tears. She spends most of the scene crying, as she argues with Death that they have the power to save people from dying so young. In fact, her reason to save Buddy and his band is that she's in denial that her parents' deaths were unpreventable.
213* OnlySaneWoman: In ''Hogfather'', unlike the rest of the cast, Susan is extremely logical and single-minded in her goal to get to the bottom of the Hogfather's disappearance and does not engage in any strange or whimsical acts like everyone else, instead becoming increasingly frustrated by the bizarre series of events. She's also the only adult to understand that KidsAreCruel and bases her teaching style around it, with great success.
214* PaintingTheMedium: On occasion, when she does '''The Voice''', she has punctuation marks, unlike her grandfather, presumably because she's actually got lungs.
215* PrimAndProperBun: Her hair tends to twist itself into a bun of its own volition. As she works as a school teacher when she's not saving the world, it's rather fitting.
216* RealityWarper: Not of the GameBreaker variety, but time and space have very fluid definitions to her and she moves around them in a different way than everyone else. Even resident badasses Albert and [[NeverMessWithGranny Nanny Ogg]] are creeped out and cautious around her. Mostly because sometimes she forgets about doors ...and walls. Of course, in Albert's case, that might have something to do with what happened after her father took on the Duty and became something ''worse'' than Death -- specifically, what he nearly did to Albert.
217* RebelliousPrincess: Rebellious ''duchess'' actually, but still wants nothing to do with The Duty that her family is responsible for.
218* RefusalOfTheCall: She ''really'' hates the fact that the CallToAdventure keeps battering down her door when the universe, space, or time is in danger. By ''Thief Of Time'' she's become more or less ResignedToTheCall but she is still not happy about it (see BlessedWithSuck above for why).
219* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: Though the something she does has absolutely nothing to do with being nobility.
220* ScarsAreForever: Susan has four pale parallel lines on one cheek, like the marks of a skeletal hand. It's a memento from when Death struck her ''father.''
221* SternTeacher: In ''Literature/ThiefOfTime''. Something of a goth version of [[Literature/TheMagicSchoolBus Miss Frizzle]], actually.
222* TomatoInTheMirror: In ''Soul Music'', when she remembers her granddad and who she really is.
223* TimeStop: One of the powers that she uses most often. [[MundaneUtility Handy for grading papers.]]
224[[/folder]]
225
226[[folder:Alberto "Albert" Malich]]
227->''It's no good thinking you can appeal to my better nature under this here crusty exterior, 'cos my interior's pretty damn crusty too.''
228
229Death's manservant. Death doesn't really ''need'' a manservant, of course, but he's willing to accept one, and Albert isn't complaining. He used to be an incredibly powerful wizard, but chose to work for Death so that he wouldn't have to worry about dying any time soon. He likes cats, smokes nasty little Nobby-style cigarettes, and fries more things than a Texan grandmother.
230----
231* CriticalExistenceFailure: He's under threat of this now that the hourglass that tracks his lifespan was smashed. Time doesn't flow in Death's domain, but if he ever goes into the mortal world he'll instantly die. (Except when helping deliver Hogswatch presents, since time is suspended to let the Hogfather visit every house.)
232* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: He seems to be a fairly harmless grumpy OldRetainer, but when he decides to reclaim his magic, he demonstrates that he's a force to be reckoned with -- powerful enough, indeed, to take on Death on the mortal plane (whilst in the circle of the Rite of Ashe-Kente), being speculated to be as powerful as a Wizard could be without being a Sourcerer... but only if he'd had his staff. Unfortunately for him, the Librarian had hidden it.
233* FateWorseThanDeath: Should he ever actually die, an indescribable fate in the dungeon dimensions awaits.
234* GrumpyOldMan: Crusty, selfish, ill-mannered and other things in his old age.
235* ImmortalitySeeker: Performed the ritual to summon Death in reverse, working on the theory that it would keep Death away. Didn't occur to Albert that it might summon ''him'' to ''Death'' instead. [[LivingForeverIsAwesome It did end up netting him a kind of indefinite suspension from dying, though, which is good enough for him.]] He's not afraid of death (much less Death) or the afterlife; he's worried about everyone he sent there first and how upset they'll be about it.
236* InconspicuousImmortal: By the events of ''Literature/{{Mort}},'' Albert has given up all his old ambitions and is perfectly content to spend eternity as the Grim Reaper's humble manservant, coming across as nothing more than a crusty old geezer to Death's guests - most of whom have no idea who he really is.
237%%* InstantDogEnd: Much like Nobby.
238%%-->"Only an expert could get a rollup so thin and yet so soggy."
239* {{Jerkass}}: Unpleasant, rude and bitter to a fault.
240* JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Deep, ''deep'' down, but it's there (see below).
241* JerkWithAHeartOfJerk: As demonstrated by that quote. He seems like your standard curmudgeonly but kindhearted old man, but he really is as mean as he outwardly appears. [[SubvertedTrope Despite this, he does usually end up doing the right thing even if he doesn't have to and grumbling about it.]]
242* LargeAndInCharge: Though it takes a moment to notice, because he's generally always hunched, but Alfred's actually quite a large person.
243* LethalChef: Fries everything except his porridge, and his porridge eats spoons.
244* MuggleInMageCustody: An odd example in that he is actually a wizard, but is rarely seen to use magic. He was once a very powerful wizard who decided to cast the Death-summoning ritual of Ash-Kente in reverse to gain immortality. Instead, he found himself dragged into Death's realm but took on the position of CrustyCaretaker there, as he had very little time left in reality and the other options for immortality were less than pleasant or likely to succeed.
245* OhCrap: The one time we see him properly terrified is when Mort turns on him, having taken on Death's aspect while retaining the darker aspects of his humanity, something Albert's internal monologue makes clear is whole new level of terrifying. Death, after all, is not personal. Mort, on the other hand, very much is.
246-->[[AC: On your knees, Alberto Malich.]]
247* OldRetainer: Insomuch as time exists in Death's realm, he's been doing his job for millennia.
248* RetiredBadass: He was head wizard back in the days when getting to the top meant vaporizing the guy above you, and then the guy above him... many speculate that he was the most powerful a wizard could be without being a [[RealityWarper Sourcerer]], and the evidence seems to bear this out: he absolutely terrified the most powerful living wizards on the Disc when he went back to the world.
249* YourDaysAreNumbered: He knew his time was running out before he committed the reversed ritual, at the age of seventy-eight, and every visit he takes back into the world for supplies dwindles the timer just a little bit more. During the events of ''Soul Music'', his lack of trust in Susan means his timer gets smashed, leaving him with mere ''seconds'' of life left.
250[[/folder]]
251
252[[folder:Mort]]
253-> [[AC: [[BadassBoast I have finished my apprenticeship.]]]]
254
255Mortimer a.k.a. Mort is the title character of ''Literature/{{Mort}}''. As a clumsy teenager at the village fair, he's the last one left when Death arrives looking for an apprentice. Yet underneath the black robe, Mort is still a clumsy teenager, and Death apprenticed him in part as a companion for his daughter Ysabell, which leads to complications. Mort appears in his own book, and in a flashback during the sequel, ''Literature/SoulMusic.''
256----
257* BadassBoast: Gives several over the course of his apprenticeship.
258** [[AC:I have finished my apprenticeship.]]
259** [[AC: There is no justice. There is just us.]]
260* BadassNormal: Even after he is no longer Death's apprentice, and thus a normal human again, he's the only one who can stand up to him. Albert says that he was the only person who could argue with Death and win, which he did when he tried to minimise Death's input into Susan's upbringing.
261* BadassAbnormal: As Death's Apprentice, even before DeathTakesAHoliday, he gets a number of the powers associated with the position, such as walking through walls and being able to speak any language.
262* BecomingTheMask: The universe needs a Death, so when the original Death [[DeathTakesAHoliday tries to retire]], his powers and personality (most of it) begin to transfer to Mort. The result is one of the few things that actually genuinely scares Albert.
263* BerserkButton: Eventually, being called "boy" or "lad" enrages him.
264* TheCameo: He and Ysabell are referred to in passing as "the new Duke and Duchess of Sto-Helit" and "a nice young couple" in ''Literature/GuardsGuards'' after Vimes has been fired, with Sybil Ramkin mentioning that they need a new captain of the guard.
265* DeathsHourglass: Everybody has a "lifetimer" and each is stylized to represent its owner. Late in the story, Mort has a close brush with Death and gets to see his own lifetimer -- turns out it's got a [[OhCrap lot less sand]] than he thought. [[spoiler: It gets turned upside down at the end, which is implied to give him the same number of years he's already had over again -- though that still means that he dies relatively young.]]
266* DroppedABridgeOnHim: [[spoiler:Mort and Ysabell die relatively young in a carriage accident.]]
267* EveryoneCallsHimBarkeep: Much to his annoyance, everyone calls Mort "boy." It's also a ShoutOut to Creator/CharlesDickens's ''Literature/GreatExpectations.'' ''Nobody'' uses his actual full name, Mortimer.
268* {{Homage}}: The motto he selects for the Sto Helit family is ''Non Timetus Messor''. This is a ShoutOut to the Music/BlueOysterCult's classic ''Don't Fear the Reaper''.
269* HumanoidAbomination: Steadily goes from being AmbiguouslyHuman as Death's Apprentice to, as he takes on more and more of Death's aspect, this trope, and even more unsettling than Death himself. Death is by definition not human. Mort, on the other hand, comes off as more... inhuman.
270* InsaneTrollLogic: He and Ysabell tried bringing Susan up "sensibly" in the hopes this would protect her from the weird aspects of her life. While this later is described as an approach compared to not teaching someone self-defense so they'll never get attacked, you can see their reasoning -- Ysabell never had anything approaching a normal childhood (Death adopted her as a small child, then aged her up into a teenager on the grounds that would be easier to deal with -- boy was he wrong about that -- and the nature of Death's domain meant she never aged, being stuck at 16 for about 35 years), while Mort had a very frightening experience with how the mantle of Death can alter someone (he became a HumanoidAbomination towards the end of his apprenticeship, thanks to having all Death's power and detachment combined with all the nasty bits of humanity). Therefore, they probably thought that limiting Susan's exposure would keep her safe. It didn't turn out that way, but [[spoiler: they died before they found out]].
271* MeaningfulName: Mort is Latin (and French too) for death. It's [[LampshadeHanging Lampshaded]], naturally, when Mort tells Death his name.
272* OhCrap: After he takes on most of Death's powers and aspect, he inspires utter terror in Albert, whose internal monologue notes that Mort isn't just Death now, he's Death with all the dark flavourings of humanity like cruelty, vengefulness, self-righteousness...
273* PreAssKickingOneLiner: Delivers a beautifully menacing one to Albert:
274-->[[AC: On your knees, Alberto Malich.]]
275* PunnyName: "mort" means "death" in French. Death notes the coincidence when they first meet.
276* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: As the Duke Mort took an active role in politics -- by traveling in the region and ''talking'' with other nobles a lot. While this approach was met with some derision, the region did see a significant reduction in the number of military skirmishes.
277* TookALevelInBadass: Takes ''many'' throughout his book, from a gawky teenager to someone capable of terrifying Albert (formally the most powerful wizard in history short of a [[RealityWarper Sourcerer]]), and willing and able to fight Death one-on-one for an extended period (though it is implied that Death was letting him). It's hinted if he'd stayed Death's apprentice he would have ended up very powerful and very frightening indeed, precisely because he was originally human and thus had a capacity for darkness that Death never did. Even after he loses Death's powers, he remains a competent Duke of Sto Helit and, crucially, the one person capable of arguing with Death and winning.
278* TookALevelInJerkass: As he starts becoming Death, with all the bad bits of humanity thrown in, he becomes much colder and more imperious, but with a capacity for personal malice that Death ''doesn't'' have. The result scares the hell out of Albert, and unnerves Ysabell.
279** After Susan was born, though not without reason. He and Ysabell decided they wanted their daughter to be normal ... which meant cutting off all contact from Death save for a few short visits that Susan barely even remembers. This is implied to be on the grounds that, while Death had the best of intentions, they wanted to give her a normal life (which Ysabell never had) and to keep her away from the influence the position of Death can have on people (which nearly turned Mort into a HumanoidAbomination combining the most terrifying bits of Death and the worst of humanity). Considering that Susan's life becomes increasingly less normal after Death gets involved, and over time she finds it harder and harder to stay human, you can see Mort's point.
280-->'''Albert:''' Normal girls don't get a My Little Binky set on their third birthday! Your dad took it away. The Master was very upset about that. He was ''trying''.
281* ScarsAreForever: A mark Death leaves on Mort's face is inherited by his ''child''. So, yes, [[StealthPun Death really did hit Mort so hard his children felt it]].
282[[/folder]]
283
284[[folder:Ysabell]]
285-> ''You're whatever I think you are.''
286
287Ysabell co-stars with Mort in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'', but also appeared briefly in ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'', and is seen in a flashback during ''Literature/SoulMusic''. She is Death's daughter by adoption, and her own daughter, Susan, thus inherits some of Death's powers. Even though she reads soppy romance novels and gets overly emotional at times, Ysabell is surprisingly practical and saves Mort's butt several times.
288----
289* BigBeautifulWoman: While she was originally quite skinny, Mort's first sight of Ysabell mentions her figure has "a slight suggestion of too many chocolates". Other colorful descriptions include that the top of her dress contained "enough puppy fat for two litters of Rotweilers" and when Mort asks Ysabell to put on something more than her nightgown, he says she is "overflowing". Given that her daughter inherits her originally described figure and she spent over three decades as a teenager, it's possible that this was the result of comfort eating. Either way, it doesn't prevent Mort from falling for her.
290* BigOlEyebrows: When Mort and Ysabel get into a good-natured insult competition, he likens her eyebrows to a pair of mating caterpillars.
291* BookEnds: Death adopts her after rescuing her from a burning wagon. She and her husband die in a burning carriage.
292* CallingTheOldManOut: She points out her adoptive father's hypocrisy ''and'' his mistreatment of his apprentice/her love interest at the same time. "You're right; there's no justice. There's just you."
293* DidYouJustPunchOutCthulhu: She slaps ''Death'', and he was so shocked that he didn't hit her back.
294* EarlyInstallmentWeirdness: When Rincewind encounters Ysabell during his astral visit to Death's house, she's described as tall, thin, and attractive, and behaves in a waifishly creepy manner. In ''Mort,'' however, she's become a very human, emotional sixteen-year-old, and her figure is described as "a slight suggestion of too many chocolates." Of course, since she doesn't really age normally, this could just be the result of a mixture of comfort eating and a mild case of BoredWithInsanity. It's also worth noting that 'tall, thin, and attractive' is a pretty good summary of her daughter, which supports the comfort eating hypothesis.
295* OlderThanTheyLook: Time doesn't pass normally in Death's house. Ysabell was adopted as a pre-teen, and Death didn't quite know what to do with her, so he let her age up to sixteen, thinking that'd make her easier to deal with, proving just how little Death really knows about humans.
296-->'''Ysabell:''' I'm sixteen. And do you know how long I've been sixteen ''for?''
297* ParentInducedExtendedChildhood: Death brought Ysabell to his home when she was sixteen, believing that she'd grown up enough - a sign that, while he cared for her in his own eldritch way, he still doesn't really understand how mortals work. Death's domain is a PlaceBeyondTime, so by the time of ''Literature/{{Mort}}'', Ysabell has been a sixteen-year-old (with all the attached emotional foibles) for thirty-five years and the isolation is getting to her. She ultimately chooses to leave with Mort and live a human life; though initially left with the impression that Mort seduced her, Death ultimately lets her leave and marry Mort with his blessing.
298* SweetTooth: She likes her some chocolate. One of the few times Susan reminisices about her is that her favourite food was a dish titled "Genocide by Chocolate".
299* ThinksLikeARomanceNovel: Her only source of entertainment for three decades was reading the autobiographies in Death's library, and so she's been influenced by the tragedies in many of them. She gives Mort advice when she hears about his unrequited love for a princess, such as no suicide, and also about grand romantic gestures.
300* TookALevelInJerkass: When Susan is born, she and Mort decided they wanted their daughter to be normal... which meant cutting off all contact from Death save for a few short visits, that Susan doesn't even remember. Though as noted above under Mort's tab, her experiences of ''not'' having a normal life and Mort's of the influence that Death's power can have on a human, plus the way that a running plot in Susan's books is how she's getting increasingly less human the more she gets reluctantly involved in the occult, you can see her point.
301-->'''Albert:''' Normal girls don't get a My Little Binky set on their third birthday! Your dad took it away. The Master was very upset about that. He was ''trying''.
302[[/folder]]
303
304[[folder:The Other Horsemen]]
305Death's coworkers, if you like, in the four horsemen of the Apocralypse -- War, Pestilence and Famine. Due to reasons related to their business being much less common than Death's, they don't tend to show up as much. There's also a fifth member, Kaos, who left before they got famous.
306----
307* AerithAndBob: War's children, all named after things associated with War... and then there's the youngest, who's called Clancy. Although that still might be [[Creator/TomClancy meaningful]].
308* AnthropomorphicPersonification: Just like Death, they embody concepts.
309* BigEater: Famine contributes to his namesake in his own, unique fashion.
310* BoisterousBruiser: War used to be one, before the marriage. Mrs. War got rid of the fire pit, and the horde of warriors, and won't even let him have beer (it gives him Trouble, says she).
311* CoolHorse: They also have impressive, reality-defying steeds, but they're not as smart as Binky. They get nicked toward the end of ''Sourcery'', which puts the three out -- they're the ''horsemen'', not the ''one horsemen and three pedestrians of the Apocralypse''.
312* HenpeckedHusband: War, who is told what to do and think and eat by his Valkyrie wife. Death is mildly intrigued by the concept of keeping one's memory in someone else's head. In ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', towards the end, he stops being this, politely but firmly telling his wife that he's very clear on what he's thinking.
313* HorsemenOfTheApocalypse: Or ''Apocralypse'', in their case (so called because the Disc's religions aren't entirely sure which apocalypse it is, and whether it's apocryphal or not).
314* HumanityEnsues: Like Death, they've all become very human in their attitudes and approach. Possibly even more, in some cases, given their natures mean they were shaped ''by'' humans, and when it comes down to it, they decide they rather like humans.
315* {{Jerkass}}: While Death ditched his tendencies towards this early on, and War is generally too affable to have this (and mostly gave up on inspiring wars in humans to inspiring them in ants, who're much more martial), the other two can be this.
316** When not helping bring about the end of the world, Pestilence goes around removing signs saying "wash your hands" from sinks, and infecting nurses with flu.
317** Famine is an arrogant jerk.
318* LoopholeAbuse: In ''Literature/ThiefOfTime'', they point out to the Auditors that yes, they must ride out... but no one ever said who they should ride out ''against''.
319* PaintingTheMedium: Early on, Pestilence tended to speak ''in italics'', presumably to represent his infectious nature.
320* ThePrimaDonna: Famine, who huffily refuses to join in with the world-ending unless it involves something to do with food shortage.
321* TheQuietOne: Famine doesn't say as much as the other two, usually on account of stuffing his face.
322* TheSoCalledCoward: Pestilence's nerves have been shaky with all these new medical science advances cropping up, and he's just generally cowardly anyhow, but in the end he will still roll out to save/doom the world when the situation calls for it.
323[[/folder]]
324
325[[folder:Azrael]]
326Death's boss, and the ultimate expression of the principle of death. Much like the various species-specific Deaths were aspects of the central Death of the Discworld who ultimately returned to their source, Death is a single aspect of Azrael and will one day become part of him again.
327----
328* ArchangelAzrael: Azrael, the Death of Universes, is the ultimate expression of Death and a being so colossal that galaxies appear as twinkles in his eye. Also, he has a clock -- ''the'' clock -- which tells Time what ''it'' is.
329* BenevolentBoss: At the end of ''Reaper Man'', he hears out Death's argument for a benevolent Death rather than the version the Auditors came up with, and agrees, letting Death have his job back.
330* ClockOfPower: He holds the clock that tells time what it is -- the biggest hand only goes around once. At the end of ''Literature/ReaperMan'', he turns it back a notch, giving [[spoiler:Renata Flitworth]] [[TheLastDance one more night]] as a token of gratitude.
331* DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything: Reaper Man, the novel, has a roundabout reference to the song 'Particle Man' by ''They Might Be Giants''. One of the characters in the song is Universe Man, (who's as big as the entire universe, man!), Universe Man is described as "usually kind to smaller men", and owns a very large watch.
332* PaintingTheMedium: Much like the Death of the Discworld speaks in all-caps, it takes a whole page to contain a single word from Azrael (or depending on the version, at least a very large chunk of it).
333* PowersThatBe: He's one of the eight Old High Ones, whom even gods and anthropomorphic principles have to answer to. Mercifully, he's nice.
334[[/folder]]

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