Saturday 7 April 2012

Grim Reaper

When I thought of the title for this post, I was thinking of the Grim reaper in the form of death. A perfect discussion considering I write crime fiction and murder. It wasn't until I actually started reading about the Grim reaper that I realised what a massive subject it actually its. It's far too long and complex to go into a comprehensive discussion on an A to Z challenge blog post which are meant to be short so people can get through them and on to the next blogger. See here if you are unaware what the A to Z challenge is.

The Grim Reaper has a solid history, but it also has it's differences depending on culture and religion which play big parts in what people perceive the Reaper to be.

It's natural for humans to be concerned about the unknown and what could be more unknown than death itself. A place people never return from, so no solid accounts are available on what happens at point of death. We needed a face. Someone to be there to guide us through the experience. Initially the people who were with us at the point of death were Valkyries, females with friendly faces who guided us to Valhalla.

It wasn't until the great plague that death took the dark form that we now commonly associate with death, the Grim Reaper with his dark clothing, skeletal face and large scythe. A brutal horrific time to live through so not surprising that death came in such a dark form.

So, does the fact that my victims face a brutal death mean they also face the Grim reaper, or, as I'd like to hope, they paid their price in the story, so a friendly face is the one to guide them through death, whatever that may be?


10 comments:

  1. I knew about the image we have of death coming from the plague times. And there is Charon, the boatman on the River Styx, who ferries the dead into Hades.

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  2. I am currently reading "How to Be Death" in which a New Yorker wanna-be-socialite becomes the new Grim Reaper and she has no clue what she is doing. A very fun read.

    I am trying to read all the A to Z blogs, but coming back to the ones I really like.
    Looking forward to seeing what you do all month!

    Tim
    The Other Side
    The Freedom of Nonbelief

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  3. I never thought about the Grim Reaper being a lasting guest, more like a one-time visitor. So maybe there is hope for your poor victims!

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  4. I like the image of Death as played by Brad Pitt in Meet Joe Black. Not so much that he came packaged as Brad Pitt (okay, that was nice) but he was kind and gentle, and it felt like he was guiding people to the next life.

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  5. I never thought I'd say this, but that's a very cute Grim Reaper. Did you ever see Grim Reaper on Family Guy (played by Norm McDonald)?

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  6. Stephen King siad the worse a bad guy is, the more brutal his death should be (I'm paraphrasing). The author owes it to the reader because this is what they expect.

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  7. I'm with Theresa, I kind of like your Grim Reaper :-)

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  8. That grim reaper of yours is quite cute even if it is a bleak and dark subject.

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  9. That's Grimm from show, Grimm & Mandy right? That a good grim reaper, he's got a sense of humor. I always pictured death as a normal guy, nice to those he likes and not to those he doesn't. And sometimes reapers are thought to help ease the pain of dying, like in the show Dead Like Me. I always thought was a nice version, where reapers remove your soul from your body just before you die to save you the pain of it.

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  10. I've seen various version of Death, ranging from skeleton in a black out fit to normal looking people.

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