Death (Discworld)
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Template:Infobox Discworld character Death is a fictional character in Terry Pratchett's Discworld series. Discworld's Death is a parody of several other personifications of death, such as the Grim Reaper. Like most of them, he is a black robed skeleton carrying a scythe. Unlike many of them he has a personality beyond this.
Death is one of the most popular Discworld characters, and makes an appearance in most of the Discworld books. His steed is a great white horse called Binky, who is very much still alive. His booming voice is represented in the books by unquoted small caps. In the first book, The Colour of Magic, 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 dropped after this novel.
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Personality
Death is efficient but not cruel, and sees his job as a necessary public service. He is fond of cats (who can see him at all times) and (although he doesn't need to eat) curry. He lives (although he doesn't need to live anywhere) in an extradimensional realm called Death's Domain. Within the domain, his home (although he doesn't need a home) looks like a normal upper-middle-class house, in well-tended, but predominantly black, gardens. It is called Mon Repos.
Death is fascinated by humanity, hence the above attempts at living beyond the role. This is also why he adopted an orphaned child named Ysabell (see below).
Other characters
During Reaper Man Death is replaced by The Auditors, during which time a slew of new Deaths appear to take up the slack. One of these, the Death of Rats, is allowed to remain in existence after Death's return (along with the Death of Fleas), filling a sidekick-like position. He is usually accompanied by a talking raven named Quoth.
Also during Death's absence, a New Death rises to fill the void. This New Death is the embodiment of humanity's worst fears of death.
Relations and associates
Ysabell, Death's adopted daughter, first appears in The Light Fantastic, and has a significant role in Mort. In this novel Mort is given the job of Death's apprentice, and he and Ysabell get married. Their child is Susan (below).
Death's granddaughter Susan is first tapped to fill in for him during the events of Soul Music, and is again called in Hogfather.
Death's domain has a "groundskeeper" named Albert. He is not dead, but instead was brought to Death's domain when he performed the Rite of AshkEnte backwards. He entered the land of Death with around three months left before he was due to die. Subsequent trips to the Disc on errands for his master have left him with mere minutes. See his entry for more details.
Death's horse, Binky, is a normal living horse; originally, Death tried the more traditional skeletal horse, but it kept falling apart; and a flaming horse, but it kept burning down the stables.
Other information
In both the 1996 animated adaptations of Soul Music and Wyrd Sisters, Death was voiced by Christopher Lee.
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