Death
In some universes, there existed an intelligent embodiment of Death, also sometimes referred to as the Grim Reaper. Some incarnations of Jenny Everywhere occasionally ran into incarnations of Death.
Description
Physical appearance
Death typically appeared as a tale, pale man in dark clothing, or a robed skeleton.
In one universe, the Grim Reaper encountered by Jenny wore a black medieval cape and cowl. He had a a human face with a bone-white, waxy complexion, no eyebrows, and dark lips that emphasised his mocking smiles. (VIDEO: Mitigating Circumstances)
At the Redoubt in the Collapsed Cosmos, the version of Death who dated Julie was “a gloomy-looking individual dressed in a black suit, with black lipstick and nail polish”; they had a “deep, sepulchral voice”. (PROSE: The Hermetic Garbage of Jenny Everywhere)
In one universe, Death of the Endless manifested as a goth girl in a sleeveless T-shirt with elaborate make-up; her black hair and marble-white skin led Jenny to momentarily mistake her for Jenny Nowhere. (PROSE: Psychopomp)
The Death of the Discworld appeared as a skeleton in a midnight-black hooded cloak, holding a scythe in his left hand. He had two pupils, which glowed “stygian blue” from within his dark eye-sockets. (PROSE: Pratfall)
Personality
Although antagonistic to most people it encountered, by virtue of its nature, Death was generally tractable or even affable, having no further agenda than to fulfill its grisly purpose. Death lightly mocked mortals who hoped to cheat their fate, but was actually not infallible; if challenged, made to accept a wager for the life of a mortal, and beaten in accordance with the terms to which it had agreed, Death would indeed let them go. (VIDEO: Mitigating Circumstances) It was known for Death to attempt to form romantic relationships with mortals; this rarely went well. (PROSE: The Hermetic Garbage of Jenny Everywhere)
Jenny thought that most embodiments of Death tended to be “cold, imperious and inhuman”, but recognised that there were exceptions, such as one Death who, because she defined Life as well as Death, “liked watching people being, things happening”, and was generally personable. This Death also harboured clear familial love for her siblings, and mourned them after their passing. (PROSE: Psychopomp) The Death of the Discworld was polite and even personable, and performed his duty without enjoyment, though also without reluctance. He had a sense of justice and was very punctual. (PROSE: Pratfall)
Powers & abilities
Death had the ability to walk unseen, the better to shadow those whom it would soon reap. This suggested Death could also be in several places at once. (VIDEO: Mitigating Circumstances) One Death displayed the ability to simply appear to mortals in the blink of an eye, without sound or prior warning. This Death noted that, so long as she was fulfilling her function, the recently dead tended to know who she was on instinct upon seeing her, sparing her the need to introduce herself. (PROSE: Psychopomp)
The Death beaten by one incarnation of Jenny at chess in one universe spoke Swedish. He claimed to be a chess player “of some skill”, although Jenny managed to beat him; (VIDEO: Mitigating Circumstances) a different version of Jenny suggested that she had, over the years, beaten various versions of Death at chess on many occasions. (PROSE: Psychopomp)
Biography
Chess game with Jenny
In one universe, Death spent some time shadowing the local incarnation of Jenny Everywhere before making himself known to her. She admitted that her body was dying, but, telling him that she was not ready to pass on, she challenged him to a game of chess. Death accepted the challenge, with Jenny's life as the prize for the winner. Ultimately, Jenny succeeded, living on for more adventures. (VIDEO: Mitigating Circumstances)
Denied by Jenny
In unknown circumstances, one incarnation of Jenny faced Death. When Death tried to convince her that “it [was] too late”, Jenny simply answered “No”. (PROSE: Memento Mori)
In the Collapsed Cosmos
After the Multiverse collapsed, the resulting Collapsed Cosmos's version of Death was a non-binary individual who had a gloomy appearance and a sepulchral voice, and wore a black suit, black lipstick and black nail polish. They took up residence at the Redoubt, the stronghold of the Archons at the End of Time.
Through unknown circumstances, this Death then began a relationship with a version of Jenny Everywhere's sister Julie Jacobs who had also been pulled into the Redoubt. It so happened that Jenny dropped by at Julie's just as Death was due to pick their new girlfriend for a date; after a fairly tense greeting between Jenny and Death, the two lovers departed, leaving Jenny to house-sit. As she watched them go, Jenny wondered how long the relationship would last. (PROSE: The Hermetic Garbage of Jenny Everywhere)
Death of the Endless
One universe's version of Death, known as “Death of the Endless”, was deemed a more pleasant person by Jenny Everywhere than other incarnations of Death she'd previously run into. Embodying Life as well as Death, much as her fellow Endless also defined their opposites, she actually liked people and life in general. Every native of her universe who died would meet her, which included, at some point, the local Jenny.
After untold aeons, as the universe began to die, she reaped the last stars and her six siblings, ending with Destiny. Although she had previously thought that she might cease to exist alongside Destiny, she instead found that she remained as the last “living” thing in the now completely empty cosmos. She existed in this silent darkness for a literal eternity (as linear time had died with Destiny) until Jenny Everywhere shifted into this world by chance. (PROSE: Psychopomp)
Death of the Discworld
The Death of the Discworld appeared as a tall skeletal figure with a “stygian blue” glow emanating from his eye sockets, wearing “a hooded cloak the color of a black hole’s event horizon”. He spoke in “exactly the voice of someone who would see every living thing from the creation of the universe until its final end”.
This Death was calm and polite, performing his duty with quiet dignity, neither reluctant nor gleeful. He was famous for being extremely punctual. He usually greeted mortals who had just died in the Desert, an otherworldly, seemingly infinite desert that served as the antechamber of the Discworld's afterlife. He had dominion over the Life-timers, supernatural hourglasses that represented all living things' allotted lifespans.
On many occasions, Death greeted the Jenny Everywhere of the Discworld, presenting her with her Life-timer, only for Jenny to use her shifting powers to shift some more life-sand into the upper bulb of the hourglass. Although there was nothing he could do about this, Death found this somewhat unfair, but, as Jenny once reminded him, he himself was fond of saying that “in the end, nothing is fair — in the end there is only me”. After they met so many times that Jenny felt she was beginning to get to know him, she told him he could, if he wanted, drop in on her for purely social visits even when she was not scheduled to “die”, an offer which left Death somewhat confused. (PROSE: Pratfall)
Impersonations
Strach, the Abstract of Terror, briefly posed as Death when trying to throw Jenny Everywhere off the scent as to his true nature. In his Death disguise, he appeared as a skeleton in a purple, hoodless robe, with glowing red eyes, holding a book and a scythe. (COMIC: Jenny Everywhere in the House of Terror)
Behind the scenes
The personification of Death as a Grim Reaper figure is a standard mythological and folkloric image, by which token the character can be considered public domain, although the details of specific versions may be copyrighted by specific creators.
The version of Death seen in VIDEO: Mitigating Circumstances was inspired by the version in the notorious 1957 film The Seventh Seal, portrayed by Swedish actor Bengt Ekerot (hence Daniel Lynn's Death speaking Swedish).
Death of the Endless, as she appears in the fanfiction Psychopomp, is the (copyrighted) version of Death created by Neil Gaiman in the late 1980s for The Sandman, a DC comic series. Likewise, the one who appears in Pratfall is Terry Pratchett's Death of the Discworld, who debuted in 1983 in The Colour of Magic, the first book in the Discworld series.
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