Deities of Death

[Mathew_Freeman]

I treat all death deities like Death from the Discworld novels.

So you always TALK IN BLOCK CAPITALS when they're on stage?

I think this a good way of putting it. I'd certainly disagree with anyone round the tablet that stated that the Raven Queen was "unaligned but actually evil". Uh, no, she's Unaligned. Says it right there.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Not so evil core 3e death goddess and not so evil core 4e death goddess. And apparently in Complete Divine they gave the RQ a history as a sorceress while Wee Jass was a Suel goddess of death and magic.

I don't think WotC has made them the same being, just a lot of parallels.

I asked Bruce Cordell, and he says they are not one and the same, though a person could make the connection if they so desired.

And here I was hoping it was a cool reinvention. Still, lovin' the Raven Queen.

 

[avin]

Death evil?

Death is cute!

So you always TALK IN BLOCK CAPITALS when they're on stage?

XP

 

[Voadam]

Pratchett's Discworld:

Death: not evil

Gaiman's Sandman:

Death: not evil

Antony's On a Pale Horse:

Death: not evil

 

[Amphimir Míriel]

Náhuatl Mythology (Aztec, Toltec, etc.)

Mictlantecuhtli, King of the Underworld, God of Death
Mictecacihuatl, Queen of the Underworld, Goddess of the Dead

Both fearsome and gruesome (this is a rough crowd of gods, remember), but not evil, per se

 

[Garthanos]

Lots of Death gods are guardians for migrating souls ... with rather positive good connotations... Egyptian Anubis ...ofcourse Osiris is rather positively percieved and
he was kind of a god of undeath.

but Greek Thanatos is definitely not one of them
Thanatos - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[Klaus]

Well, Thanatos is actually the Reaper of modern myth. A God of Death would be Hades, who is not evil, as he's merely a custodian of a realm he inherited.

 

[avin]

Thinking about it, a "Dead Like Me" game could be fun.

 

[Garthanos]

Well, Thanatos is actually the Reaper of modern myth. A God of Death would be Hades, who is not evil, as he's merely a custodian of a realm he inherited.

Yup.--but reversed the reaper of modern myth is rather like Thanatos.
There are reapers and there are guides and there are realm keepers ... Herakles fought "death" for a friends wife... to prevent her death.

The reapers in "dead like me" cute as hell show which I prefer the edited version with the excess swearing removed (I normally don't). ... are more like the guides even if they do the soul severing... they do it as a protection so the souls dont have to carry the baggage of there death with them.

 

[Dragonhelm]

Antony's On a Pale Horse:

Death: not evil

I love Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series. On a Pale Horse was definitely a different take on Death. Not evil, just an office that needed to be filled. What's interesting is that you can only become Death by killing Death.

I would be remiss if I didn't mention Chemosh from Dragonlance. Now, he falls into the Death = Evil category. However, he's been developed a bit in the last few years with Margaret Weis' Dark Disiciple series and in Holy Orders of the Stars to be a bit more.

Firstly, he's been redefined not as a god of death, but as a god of fatalism. Yes, he's got the job of ensuring that souls go to the next stage on their soul's journey, but that's something he doesn't consciously think about. What he wants is to see things come to an end, whether it's life or the mortal spirit.

Secondly, he decided that death needed a new face. So rather than have rottings husks of beings around, he created the Beloved of Chemosh, who are beautiful and try to entice folks to join Chemosh's worship. Check out Dark Disciple for further details.

You can take even a traditional-style god of death and make him into something more.