Talk:Personifications of death

Help Wanted: Resources for Death in Mythology/Religion/Traditions

Recent vandalism over at List of death deities exposed a real issue with the selection criteria for that article. Specifically, most of the entities listed either are not deities per se (think San Pascualito, Gede Nibo and other examples in this article), or they are gods, but not gods explicitly of death (think Hades and Anubis). Finding wording to define what is and is not appropriate for such an article is a challenge, and sourcing is a nightmare. A scholarly search for 'death' yields several thousand years of writing about grief and loss, and adding 'god', 'myth' or 'religion' gets you into a quagmire of Abrahamic and Buddhist dissertations that lead in circles. Does anyone here have recommendations for tertiary works or overviews that might help? If so, could you respond here or join the discussion over at List of death deities? Please & Thank You, Last1in (talk) 13:20, 13 September 2023 (UTC)

There should be a page made about the Grim Reaper specifically

The title "Grim Reaper" redirects to this page, but this page isn't really about the Grim Reaper. It's about different personifications of death in different religions (such as Aztec, Asia, Celtic, etc). The fact that we don't have a page about the Grim Reaper, IE the hooded scythe-wielding skeleton, is quite surprising. I request that if anyone reads this and is able, to help to create such a page. Di (they-them) (talk) 01:22, 27 October 2023 (UTC)

I agree, there really should be a separate character for the figure.★Trekker (talk) 08:41, 9 December 2023 (UTC)

I agree, there is very little here about the Western tradition the Grim Reaper, sources too.Halbared (talk) 19:53, 31 August 2024 (UTC)

Hard agree! Wolfdog (talk) 00:52, 27 December 2024 (UTC)

Requested move 1 July 2024

The following is a closed discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review after discussing it on the closer's talk page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

The result of the move request was: moved. Favonian (talk) 20:06, 8 July 2024 (UTC)

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Death (personification) → Personifications of death – WP:NATURALDIS and about multiple different personifications in different cultures, not one specific one. * Pppery * _{it has begun...} 18:22, 1 July 2024 (UTC)

• Support (reluctantly) - The article as it exists is no longer about Death, but about how death (small 'd') is personified in various cultures. I think that the move proposed it appropriate. I think that a good article can also be written about Death, the character / personification using that name (capital 'D'). He has a long and storied history, including being the named protagonist or antagonist (depending on the piece) of a huge body of prose and verse from the Middle Ages. He has a speaking role in myriad works and has done for well over a thousand years. Amongst others, Pratchett's (delightfully warped) adaptation of that pre-existing personification is an example of his continuation into modern culture. I hope that, after this move is complete, Death (personification) can be recreated with a focus on that fascinating and long-lived (pun intended) character. Cheers, Last1in (talk) 19:59, 1 July 2024 (UTC)
• Support and agree with everything Last1in wrote.★Trekker (talk) 02:40, 3 July 2024 (UTC)

The discussion above is closed. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page. No further edits should be made to this discussion.

Should we have a section dedicated to the fictional representations of Death?

I feel some of the fictional personifications of Death, like Death from Marvel Comics, Death of the Endless from DC Comics, and Death from DreamWorks Animation's Puss in Boots: The Last Wish, are some of the most well known and most celebrated representations of Death, and are worth mentioning in this article. Bmona12 (talk) 01:25, 7 August 2026 (UTC)