Biography for
Death (Character)
from A Christmas Carol (1938)

Death (also known as the Grim Reaper, the Angel of Death) is the personification of the passing of mortal humans into the great beyond, a physical representation of the unknown and the gatekeeper to the afterlife. As the Grim Reaper, he is most often shown as a skeleton in a black cloak or white burial robes and wielding a scythe presumably for harvesting souls. This appearance may have its roots in older myths and legends dating back to the god Chronos since Death has also been portrayed as old man carrying an hourglass, an image also associated with Father Time.

As a film character, Death has been portrayed as an intelligent being to give mere mortals the chance to bargain or even escape the end of their time on earth. Although a religious icon, Death cannot be categorized as good (such as God) or evil (such as the Devil) because he's merely doing his job, that of releasing the souls of living upon their end. As an angel tasked for all eternity, Death is also often portrayed as among the living but not of, as if he has no real connection with the humanity he both serves and terrifies ("Meet Joe Black," for example). In other films, Death has a book or plan that must be followed, requiring that the untimely demise of a mortal is preordained ("Dead Like Me" or the "Final Destination" films). Finally, Death is also the subject of humor since laughter is an easy way to deal with eventuality (Monty Python's "Meaning of Life" and "The Grim Adventures of Billy and Mandy"). Death is also part of one of the most enduring tales remade for Christmas time, cleverly disguised as the Ghost (Spirit) of Christmas Future (Yet to Come), "the thing that all men fear." [by thinkingskull-com, October 2007]