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Death
From Discworld & Pratchett Wiki
| Death | |
 | |
| Name | Death |
| Age | as old as the death of the first living thing |
| Race | Anthropomorphic personification |
| Occupation | releasing the spirits of dead beings |
| Looks | Tall, not what you'd call fleshy, Talks like this |
| Residence | Death's Domain |
| Death | nearly, in Reaper Man |
| Parents | |
| Relatives | Granddaughter Susan Sto Helit |
| Children | Adopted Daughter Ysabell, son-in-law Mort |
| Marital Status | Never Married |
| Books | Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather, Thief of Time |
| Cameos | Every Discworld book except The Wee Free Men |
Death is the anthropomorphic personification of death on the Discworld. He appears as the traditional Grim Reaper, with a skeletal body, a black robe and a scythe (or sometimes a sword for royalty) and talks in unquoted small caps . Death appears for the first time in the first novel, The Colour of Magic, and reappears in all of the stories that take place in the Discworld universe, with the exception of The Wee Free Men, a Tiffany Aching young adult book .
Death is fascinated with humans in general, and as a result attempts to emulate their behaviour, if only to better understand them. However, as an immortal skeletal who does not have to pay heed to fatigue or even time, he seems to lack comprehension of some human concepts, such as detective novels. He is also described by Susan as someone who would solve world hunger, not by changing socioeconomic forces, but by giving everyone a good meal. While his job and anatomy cause a lack of emotions which he displays in his hollow voice , Death can be quite passionate about life in general and in some cases, actively defends it against the depredations of the Auditors.
Death had an apprentice named Mort and an adopted daughter named Ysabell, who later got married and left him to become the Duke and Duchess of Sto Helit. Sometimes he visits Susan Sto Helit, his grand-daughter through them. When not out and about, Death lives alone in Death's Domain with his manservant Albert and, since the events of Reaper Man, the Death of Rats. Also members of the household are the famed pale horse, named Binky, and at times Quoth the talking raven.
He is fond of kittens, Binky, Susan, Albert, curries and life (without which he would be useless). He strongly dislikes the Auditors, and at times has seemed to resent Rincewind's unpunctuality, though at other times he has seemed more amiable toward him. He sticks by his duty and very rarely interferes in human affairs, because of The Rules. He has, however, been known to persuade Susan to act in his stead, not always by straightforward means; she occasionally reflects that he may have learnt a bit more about human behaviour than he lets on.
While of course in a sense he is there for every death, he need only personally attend to relatively few in order to keep things running. Death is however a caring individual and likes to keep an eye on things he does not necessarily need to, and he gets quite upset when people (mostly those freshly severed from their bodies) accuse him of killing them. He argues that he simply allows them to leave this world and enter the next, and empirical evidence (such as the results of his various voluntary and involuntary sabbaticals) seems to bear this out.
Every living individual has a book in the great Library of Death, and an hourglass-shaped lifetimer in a room that exists for the purpose. The look of each one seems to be personalized, and they keep on writing themselves or pouring sand through until the associated person dies. The books remain; the lifetimers apparently pop out of existence. Death also introduces people to The Desert from time to time.
While Death himself cannot be seen by most individuals (with the exceptions of cats, children, wizards and other anthropomorphic personifications) unless he wants them to see him, he is unable to see immortal beings, as they are not subject to his "power". As they cannot die, he has nothing to with with them and thus cannot see them (this reflects that most humans cannot see him, as they naturally do not think about dying).
[edit] Appearances
In Hogfather we find that Mr. Teatime has devised a plan to kill Death, though no details are given, and he is skewered by Susan with a fireplace poker before he has a chance to execute it. His dialogue in the Tooth Fairy's castle suggests that he intended to strike Death with his own sword, which is reputed to be able to cut anything.
Death has a major role in Mort, Reaper Man, Soul Music, Hogfather and Thief of Time. As a member of the Four Horsemen of the Apocralypse, he plays an obligatory role in Sourcery and Thief of Time.
[edit] Annotation: the birth of Death
In the Richard Dimbleby lecture, broadcast on Monday 1st February 2010 on BBC1, Terry revealed that at the age of four at his grandparents' house, he got to see the classic Ingmar Bergman film The Seventh Seal and therefore one of his earliest childhood memories is the defining game of chess between Bergman's death and the knight whose soul is in limbo.
"...the Grim Reaper did not seem so terribly grim... the image has remained with me ever since."
