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Death is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series and a parody of several other personifications of death. Like most Grim Reapers, he is a black-robed skeleton usually carrying a scythe. Death's hollow, peculiar voice is represented in the books by unquoted small caps; since he is a skeleton, he has no vocal cords to speak with, and therefore the words enter the head with no involvement from the ears. In the first Discworld novel The Colour of Magic, as well as in Eric, all direct written references to Death are proper nouns; thus, for example, "he" is written as "He." This is usually reserved for the Discworld gods and is not featured in any of the other novels. Death is not invisible; however, most people's brains refuse to acknowledge him for who he is, unless he insists. Under normal circumstances, only those of a magical disposition (e.g. witches and wizards), children, and cats can see him, or allow themselves to see him. Due to his eternal nature, Death can ignore such things as walls or magic spells; he exists through all time, and therefore things lasting merely centuries are not as real as he is. He can only go where people believe in death[1] and can only see people who can die.[2] Wizards, witches, and significant figures such as kings have the prerogative of being collected by Death himself, rather than one of the lesser entities. Most other souls are collected by another functionary, such as the anthropomorphic personification of Scrofula.[3] However, Death himself must collect some minimum number of souls, worked out by a system called the "nodes," in order to keep the momentum of dying going. However, his selection of ordinary deaths may be based on the showiness of the death, such as a beggar being incinerated by a dragon. In addition to wizards and kings, he has shown up for numerous ordinary people, at least two dogs, a swan, and an incredibly small sea creature (possibly a tube worm). He has also appeared in situations where characters might potentially die; Samuel Vimes once have a near-death experience, therefore Death must have once had a near-Vimes experience. These events are usually of importance within the story, so Death's appearance may simply be considered a plot device.
[edit] PersonalityDeath is efficient but not cruel, and sees his job as a necessary public service. His task is not to kill, but to collect. He harvests the old, worn-out souls of the dead. His is a necessary service as life force that isn't properly removed from the Disc tends to produce unusual behaviors and phenomena.[4] Death is intrigued by humans and their cultures, and attempts to imitate their lives by adopting a daughter (Ysabell) and building a house; however, without the emotions and biological needs which motivate humans, he is unable truly to understand why humans do the things that they do and his imitative actions often have fundamental flaws. He is fond of cats, who can see him at all times, and curry, which he says is like biting a red-hot ice cube.[5] Death is fascinated by humanity. His interest is coupled with bafflement: it's a favorite point of Prachett's that the habits and beliefs that are grown into instead of being rationally acquired are an essential part of being human. As Death is an outside observer, his imitations are intricate but marked by a fundamental lack of comprehension. When acting as a stand-in for the Hogfather he starts by greeting the children with Cower, brief mortals from force of habit, until reminded not to do so. This fascination with humanity extends to the point of sympathy towards them, and he will often side with humans against greater threats, notably the Auditors of Reality, as well as beings from the Dungeon Dimensions.[citation needed] He has on a number of occasions bent the rules to allow a character extra life (e.g., the little girl rescued from the fire in Reaper Man). Death has also indicated that he will oblige dying humans by playing a game with them for their lives, much like the personification of Death in The Seventh Seal; the games he offers include chess, though he consistently has trouble remembering how the knights move, and another game, which the challenger lost despite having "three streets and all the utilities"(Reaper Man). Granny Weatherwax was able to play cards against Death in a successful bid to save a child's life, Granny's hand having four queens while Death's had only four "ones". It is suggested that Death knew the true value of his hand but was prepared to pretend otherwise for the child's sake.[citation needed] In many ways, he is a character who epitomises the bleakness of human existence. In Reaper Man, in which he is rendered temporarily mortal, he becomes frustrated and infuriated with the unfair inevitability of death, a theme that continues through later books. In Soul Music he expresses misery at the fact that he is capable of preventing deaths but is forbidden to do so. Despite his general lack of emotion, the Auditors of Reality are one of the few things actually capable of angering him. Terry Pratchett even says in The Art of Discworld that he has received a number of letters from terminally ill fans in which they hope that Death will resemble the Discworld incarnation (he also says that those particular letters usually cause him to spend some time staring at the wall). Death has developed considerably since his first appearance in The Colour of Magic. In this, he was quite a malicious character. At one point he deliberately stops a character's heart, though this may have been Death's "stand-in," Scrofula. By the time of Mort he had gained the sympathetic and humorous personality he has in later books. In more recent novels, he has been used to examine recent developments in theoretical physics as, being a supernatural being, he is able to witness such events firsthand, although being a cat lover, he is not fond of the Schrödinger's cat thought experiment, believing it cruel to the cats involved. [edit] HomeDeath lives in an extradimensional realm called Death's Domain. Within the domain, his home looks like a Victorian house with a garden and is well-tended, but is predominantly in shades of black and decorated with a skull and crossbone motif. It is called Mon Repos, and is much larger on the inside, because Death has not quite mastered the art of scale. Similarly, because he does not quite understand real distance compared to perspective, the surrounding terrain is actually relatively close, but blurred to appear farther away. Death adds a large golden wheat field to the grounds after the events of Reaper Man. There is also a tree swing, created by Death for his granddaughter Susan, which swings through the trunk of the tree. In addition to the inside of the house being larger than the outside, there are doors that are several yards tall and at the same time a few feet tall. He has a bathroom which he never uses, with a bar of bone-white, rock-hard soap and a towel rack with hard towels attached to the rack. The only usable items in the bathroom are a small bar of regular soap and one normal towel, both brought there by his manservant Albert. [edit] Death's genderThe initial books did not pronounce themselves about the gender of Death, using the pronoun "it". However, in Reaper Man, Death is unambiguously identified as a male, and in Soul Music and Hogfather Susan calls him her grandfather or "Granddad". When asked to describe Death, in the second Discworld computer game, the protagonist Rincewind hazards a guess, "Well, I suppose he's a man. You have to look at the pelvis, don't you?" In the comic strip adaptation of Mort, Death is seen in mirrors as a black-bearded human wearing a black cloak, and also seen as this when he needs to be seen by the living. In the Spanish translations of the books, it was not possible to be ambiguous about Death's sex, because the Spanish language must provide a grammatical gender to each object. Thus, translator Cristina Macía chose the female gender for Death, as the word for death in Spanish, muerte, is female. It had to be changed when Reaper Man was published, and justified in a footnote. It seems the latest editions of Mort corrected Death's gender. In the French translation, though the noun for death (la mort) is feminine, the actual gender when conjugating is masculine. The translator, Patrick Couton, justified the fact by a pun in a footnote: "La Mort est un mâle, parce que mort, c'est un mal nécessaire" (Death is male because death itself is a necessary evil). In French: mâle (male) and mal (evil) are pronounced almost identically. The translator footnote has become a running gag in the French translation, "Death is male because there are only horsemen and no horsewomen of the Apocalypse." In the Polish translation by Piotr W. Cholewa Death is masculine, despite the noun (Śmierć) being feminine in Polish. As a result Death is definitely male and is addressed exclusively as he (On). In the Croatian translation Death was female up to Sourcery where he was changed to his male persona. The changing of his gender is addressed at the beginning of the book via a translator's commentary. In the Russian translations of the Discworld books (different translators, all translations edited by Alexander Zhikarentsev) Death is masculine (despite the noun смерть being feminine in the Russian language and the Russian tradition to depict death as an old woman) and his gender is explicitely stated when he first appears in The Colour of Magic. In the Czech translation by Jan Kantůrek, Death is masculine, although the noun smrt (death) is feminine. Kantůrek used the name Smrť, which is obviously derived from "death", but has no independent meaning. In the Hungarian translation by Dr. Anikó Sohár, Death is indirectly suggested to be masculine (the Hungarian language does not feature genders at all). Death is called "a Halál" with a definite article and a capital "H" (meaning literally "the Death"). The masculine characteristics is emphasized via addressing of Death by other characters, which utilizes variations of the Hungarian equivalents of "(my) Sir", "Mr" etc. In the Bulgarian translation by Vladimit Zarkov, Death is masculine, although the noun смърт (pronounced as "smurt") is feminine. There the name is just Смърт (in English "Death") and in some books Albert addresses Death as "My lord" or "Master" (господарю). [edit] Relations and associatesDeath is both the servant and a part of The Old High One known as Azrael, the Death of Universes and ruler of all deaths. Ysabell, Death's adopted daughter, first appears in The Light Fantastic, and has a significant role in Mort. She marries Death's one-time apprentice Mort and the pair become Duke and Duchess of Sto Helit. They are also mentioned and, in the animation of Soul Music, appear in flashbacks in which Susan goes back in time to discover why Imp Y Celyn, who was supposed to die, was being kept alive by a small blue flame in the top bulb of his 'life-timer'. Their child is Susan, who plays important roles in several of the novels centered around Death. Death's groundskeeper, cook, and general manservant Albert is not dead, but was brought to Death's domain when he performed the Rite of AshkEnte backwards. The founder of Unseen University, he entered the land of Death with about three months left before he was due to die. Subsequent trips to the Disc on errands for his master combined with the unfortunate shattering of his lifetimer in Soul Music have left him with a mere five seconds of life remaining. In the earlier books and in Thief of Time Death works with War, Pestilence, and Famine, three other Horsemen of the Apocralypse. Like him they have become more human than their roles require. Death himself explains this in Thief of Time by saying that "form defines function." In Thief of Time they are reunited with Kaos, the Fifth Horseman, who had previously left before the group became famous and now works as a milkman under the name Ronnie Soak. With the exception of Thief the other Horsemen do not generally appear in the books focused on Death. [edit] BinkyBinky is Death's steed, named so by Death because it is "a nice name".[5] He is a living horse; Death tried a skeletal steed, but kept having to "stop and wire bits back on".[4] Death also tried a fiery steed, but it repeatedly set his barn and his robe on fire. Binky is more intelligent than most horses and is a pure, milky white (it is noted in some novels that Binky is an exception to the biological rule of "grey" equines).[quotation needed] He can fly by just creating his own ground-level, as well as travel through time and across dimensions, sometimes leaving glowing hoofprints in his wake, but is in all other respects a perfectly ordinary horse. He is well-treated, and loyal to his master and Susan. His shoeing is done by Jason Ogg, the Lancrastian blacksmith of mythical skill. Binky is not immortal, but while in death's service does not age.[6] Binky gains part of his powers by sharing one of Death's qualities: he's so much "realer" than ordinary things such as walls, great distances, or time that he can simply ignore them. Death gave Susan a "My Little Binky" gift set for her third birthday. It was returned by her parents, fearing that it would make her a less "normal" child. [edit] The Death of RatsThe Death of Rats, also known as the Grim Squeaker, is not, strictly speaking, a personification in his own right but rather an aspect of Death allowed an independent existence. His purpose is to usher on the souls of dead rodents, as well as assisting Death in other ways. His jurisdiction also seems to cover certain kinds of "ratty" humans, such as Mr Clete in Soul Music and the Ratcatcher in Maskerade. He was one of a disparate multitude of death-personifications created during Death's absence in Reaper Man. The Death of Rats refused to be reabsorbed into Death himself upon the latter's resumption of his duties; therefore Death kept him around for company. The Death of Fleas also escaped reabsorption, but has not been seen since Reaper Man. The Death of Rats resembles a rodentine skeleton walking on its hind legs, wearing a black robe, and carrying a tiny scythe. The Death of Rats more easily finds ways around the Rules than Death does, and has assisted Susan in Soul Music, Hogfather, and Thief of Time. He sometimes travels with a talking raven named Quoth who also acts as his translator. The Death of Rats, like Death, speaks in small caps, but has a vocabulary consisting of words such as Squeak, Eek, Ik and Snh, the last used when it laughs, although its speech can be interpreted from context much like the Librarian's. In the mythology of the Changeling Clan in The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents the Death of Rats is known as the Bone Rat. [edit] QuothA talking raven. He hangs around with the Death of Rats. He was named by his previous owner, a wizard, from the famous line in "The Raven" by Edgar Allan Poe, and refuses to say "the N word" (Nevermore). At times he acts as steed and interpreter for the Death of Rats and he has a constant craving for eyeballs. He was originally one of the ravens from the Tower of Art, the magical properties of which gave him his ability to speak. He was first seen in Soul Music, and since then has made appearances in all novels involving Susan Sto Helit. Neil Pearson voices him in the Sky One adaptation of Hogfather. [edit] New DeathThe New Death first appears in Reaper Man when he comes to collect the old Death, now known as "Bill Door". The New Death comes from human belief, but he is quite different from the original. Though he has the usual black robe, he is larger than Bill Door and has only smoke underneath his robe, rather than bones. His horse is the classic skeletal steed, as opposed to Binky. In place of a face or skull, the new Death wears a crown, and is prideful, dramatic, and cruel: the literal embodiment of humanity's fear of death. He chooses to arrive exactly at midnight and appears in a flash of lightning purely for the dramatic effect, something old Death finds infuriating. When he corners Bill Door, he mocks him and beats him instead of finishing the job. The new Death is destroyed by Bill Door, using the scythe he used on the farm; just a humble garden tool, not the infinitely sharp implement of Death, but sharpened by his rage. Bill Door was disgusted and horrified by New Death choosing to wear a crown, and his victory is the triumph of the compassionate "reaper man" over the tyrant who has no care for the harvest. [edit] Rite of AshkEnteThe Rite of AshkEnte(also Ashk'Ente or Ash'Kente)[citation needed] is the ancient magic ritual that summons and binds Death into a circle and prevents him from leaving until invited to do so by the summoning wizard. In Eric, Death appears outside the circle, behind the wizards, and in Reaper Man a wizard comments that he believes he only stays in the circle for the look of the thing. Mort, however, was almost forced to respond to the summons, and Susan was summoned and subsequently bound. This does not, however, appear to apply to Death himself. Since Death is professionally involved in almost everything that is going on everywhere, the Rite is usually performed so that he can be asked questions. Death hates this because he is always summoned at the worst possible time, such as when he is at a party. Although the Rite can be performed by a couple of people with three small sticks and 4 cc of mouse blood or even with a fresh egg and two small sticks, the wizards prefer to do it the old fashioned way, with heavy equipment consisting of numerous drippy candles, octograms written on the floor, thuribles, and similar paraphernalia. They feel it's not "proper" wizardry if it's not showy enough. There are nine ways of performing the Rite, but eight of them cause instant death and the ninth is very hard to remember.[6] In the Discworld books, the Rite has been used a number of times:
The Rite is also used in the computer game Discworld 2. However, the game requires the player to find not only the three small sticks (of equal length) and 4 cc of mouse blood mentioned above, but also dribbly candles, a vile stench, and some glitter. During the ritual, the wizards perform an off-key version of "Day-O (Banana Boat Song)" and Death appears behind them, fresh from vacation, wearing a cork hat. [edit] Portrayals of DeathIn the 1997 animated adaptations of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters, Death was voiced by Christopher Lee. In the 2006 Sky One adaptation of Hogfather he was voiced by Ian Richardson. The actor who played the physical Death in Hogfather was Marnix van den Broeke, a 6 foot 7 inch tall Dutchman. In the 2008 adaptation of The Colour of Magic, Van Den Broeke reprises the physical role, with Lee returning to the voice after the death of Richardson. Death has been voiced in all five BBC Radio adaptations of Discworld novels. Geoffery Whitehead played the part in the adaptation of Mort, John Rowe played him in The Amazing of Maurice and His Educated Rodents, and Michael Kilgariff voiced Death in Episode 4 of Small Gods. In both Guards! Guards! and Wyrd Sisters Death is credited as being played by himself (In Guards! Guards! he is actually voiced by Stephen Thorne who also played Sergeant Colon). His voice has also technically been performed by Terry Pratchett, Nigel Planer, Stephen Briggs, Tony Robinson, and Celia Imrie in their audiobook readings. Death has appeared in various other media: in the Discworld Game Series he is voiced firstly by Richard Wilson and later by Nigel Planer. Death has also been played by numerous actors in amateur stage productions of Wyrd Sisters, Mort, Soul Music, and Hogfather, as well as various other plays based upon the novels. The Death of Rats has appeared in the animated Soul Music and in the radio play of The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents, but has not been given a voice credit for either. In the Hogfather TV series the voice was credited to Dorckey Hellmice, while in the Discworld 2 game, the voice is credited as Katherine the Crocodile. [edit] Comparison with the DoctorSome readers[who?] have suggested that Death may have been partially based on the Doctor from Doctor Who. Both are beings who can travel anywhere in time and space, are fascinated with humanity but do not always understand it, live in domiciles that are significantly bigger on the inside than the outside, and have granddaughters named Susan. Pratchett has stated that "As far as I'm aware, the Death/Dr Who "coincidences" are in the mind of the beholders. Death can move through space and time, yes, but that's built in to the character. I made his house bigger on the inside than the outside so that I could have quiet fun with people's perceptions." [7] [edit] See also[edit] References
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