New Death

The New Death appears briefly in Reaper Man, when it is called into existence by the Auditors to replace Death, whom they believe has become dangerously infatuated with humans and has developed his own personality.

The New Death appears to enjoy drama, silhouetting himself against the night sky in flashes of lightning and taking on the appearance of a cowled figure with no corporeal existence: the hood frames no face, only the shape of one. But where the brow would be sits a golden crown.

This enrages Death beyond measure, and when given a precious few seconds more in which to truly exist by Miss Flitworth, he strikes with the rage of all mankind to destroy utterly this upstart new death who wished to rule over the harvest.

Annotation

The death of the New Death is an amalgam of iconic images: the thin wailing shriek produced is reminiscent of that issuing from the dying Lord of the Nazgul from Return of the King; the disappearance of the filling of the robe has resonance with the disappearance of Obi-Wan Kenobi when he is struck down by Darth Vader in Star Wars; and the crown that rolls out from the robes refers to other medieval images of Death.