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I'd like to talk about Grim Reapers. The different concepts of grim reapers. The facets, the abilities, and anything possible. Different cultures have different ledgends and lores. I don't just mean the skeleton guy in the black cape with a scythe. Perhaps the orgines of the ledgends. Some have abilities to shapeshift so they seem more familiar and not so frightening so the transcition between life and death isn't too hard.

Yeah I've heard of the transitioning too. I would just like to clear up something about the reaper and that is that he isn't bad, for anyone who may think that. No matter how sad it may seem death is a neccessary part in all life and it will always be that way.

I wanted to start a thread about this and I am glad you did.

I have been saying I have met the higher power, but I think I either dealt with his emissaries the reaper or thre Angel of Death. The higher power is not going to waste his time on me.

But I did have a little test to sow how I fooled the grim reaper, not really fooled but how I passed the test.

There are two groups of men and they are up for judgement, and the grim reaper says are you real?

The first group dude says yes by all means I am real

the grim reaper kills him

The first group second guy says, um no I am fake

the grim reaper kills him too

they bring in a second group of guys, 2 guys and, they ask the same question

are you real

I said look I don't know what is real anymore, I thought I was real but I don't know anymore. If life is insane and you figure it out then are you insane? And if I am insane then I am definately not real.

The Angel of Death spared me, thsat was the right answer.

The second guys said yeah I am real they killed him

Interesting story, Vampariah.

I just gotta say...who's seen Dead Like Me? It's gotta be in my top three favorite shows. Too bad it's cancelled...anyway, personally, I like the idea that it poses, one of reapers being regular people, blending in, just doing their jobs. More specifically, I like that being a reaper on that show was simply a transitory thing, something you did until you finally got something beaten through your stubborn skull enough that you can move on to something else, whatever that something else is.

Check this out. This has some pretty extensive stuff on ol' Grim, even a little section in regards to the Qur'an.

The whole Grim Reaper concepts is based on what your faith is...

ohh yes dead like me was a good one....


but anyway.... i really dont know what to believe on this one .... it would be great to believe the stories and the many diffrent belifes on this one.... yes it would be great to think that yes someone does come for you when its your time to help you with the transistion into the next part of the journey .... but how do we know it is death itself that comefore us... why not a loved one ... one who has already crossed over.... all i can honestly say is i dont think we will know until after it happens to us.....

Yes, Dead Like Me was awesome...good writing and cast.

Along the lines of death and grim reaper(s), is something that was done in medieval and renaissance Europe with the danse macabre.

People would dress up as skeletons and play instruments and dance in the streets to lively tunes they played on many different instruments. It was to prove that death does not care if you are a king, a peasant, a slave, a noble, man or child - that when it is your time, you go... rejoice and enjoy the life you have for death will come to us all. I rather like that.

Grim reaper = symbolism


in my world anyway.

i enjoyed dead like me as well. my thoughts on the reaper vary. is it true that he sits supposedly somewhere around the moon and also patrols the astral plane from there. a friend of mine that was into spirit travel told me that once. i think that its not actually a skeleton but merely a force, and the only reason why people percieve it as scary is because death is scary to most people

I believe it depends on your point of view or religious beliefs. To me the Grim Reaper is simply the Angle of Death, his job is to help us transition when our time here is up.

"Grim Reaper" Death has been personified as a figure or fictional character in mythology and popular culture since the earliest days of storytelling. Because the reality of death has had a substantial influence on the human psyche and the development of civilization as a whole, the personification of Death as a living, sentient entity is a concept that has existed in many societies since the beginning of recorded history. In the United States, death is usually shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe, and wearing a midnight black gown with a hood, while in Europe it is often depicted similarly, but dressed in white, which is the traditional colour worn at funerals in many places[citation needed].

Examples of death personified are:

In modern-day European-based folklore, Death is known as the "Grim Reaper" or "The grim spectre of death".
In the Middle Ages, Death was imagined as a decaying or mummified human corpse, later becoming the familiar skeleton in a robe.
Conversely, Death is portrayed in the DC Comics Universe as a beautiful young woman.
Death is sometimes portrayed in fiction and occultism as Azrael, the angel of death (note that the name "Azrael" does not appear in any versions of either the Bible or the Qur'an).
Father Time is sometimes said to be Death.
A psychopomp is a spirit, deity, or other being whose task is to conduct the souls of the recently dead into the afterlife.
(as deifned by extensive research)

Personally, I am more into the angel of death. It sounds less scary and means that death is natural.

I've never thought of Grim Reapers as actually being real... I just thought that they brought death, or that they stood for death, such as the "stork" stands for life, and a newborn baby. ((and btw, Dead Like Me was flippin awesome!! ^^ ))

grim reaper, and all other mytholigical things are part of the culture and folklore so I guess its more of the needs of the person and his/her suroundings then the existence of the creatures themselves. I must admit it helps put kids to bed and make them behave but at a certain point they stop fearing and rather defiying or embrass it to want to be with it or part of it.

I am totally calling you out, Black Widow. When you said 'extensive research', did you mean research you did yourself, or did you copy and paste from the Wikipedia link I posted? Because I don't just run terms through Wikipedia and post them; I read them. If you liked what you read in the link, refer more people to the link. Don't pretend you know more than everyone else.

Disclaimer; I've had a glass of wine. If this came across as inflammatory, I apologize. I'm pretty fiery when it comes to learning things.

who is alive anymore???? alot of people cant answer that. they may have all the money and fame, but their souls are untrue to what they really are.

In the mythology books I have seen the earliest records of the Reaper date back to Greek civilization. Gaia and Uranus were Kronos' parents. Uranus, fearful of all his children including Kronos kept them constrained inside Gaia. Gaia wished to free her children and decided to give Kronos a sickle. With this sickle Kronos eventually castrated his father and bled him to death. Knowing how he had killed his father, once Kronos had children of his own, he feared his fate would be the same. As each child was born he swallowed them one by one...
it is believed that Kronos was a harvest god worshipped by a culture before the Greeks. It is understood that his sickle was used in harvesting grain. Harvest was also associated with death because it signaled the end of the growing season and the beginning of Winter. Time devouring all things was represented poetically by Kronos eating his own children. It was the Greeks very dramatic way of saying nothing lasts forever...

There are many legends about the grim reaper.
But, here is what is found in general.
Death's Nature: Is Death good, evil, or neutral? Death is portrayed in some stories as a compassionate doctor, who just does what he has to do to relieve the pain and suffering of the dying. In other stories, he has no feeling at all, just a ghost who goes around doing his job because he is eternally damned to do so, and the other version of Death where he is a creation of Satan, who is evil and likes to reap souls just for the sake of being evil.

I personally don't believe in some dark creature coming to get one at the time of their death.I think it's someone from my family that will come for me when it's my time.

i would agree with jaykana there a myth not real..

I think the idea of the grim reaper is obviously from those on the outside looking in. I mean the creators of the traditional character were not on their deathbeds. As unknown and permanent as death is physically, I think we move on. I think Dead like Me shows a growing interest and that's good.

I've heard of the myth, but I haven't heard of anyone having actually seeing the reaper personally. I don't know, I don't like questioning what I don't understand. Just cause I haven't seen it doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

Well, in ancient times everything was personified. Death, nature, time, fate, war . . . It's just a way of making these things easier to understand and deal with on a regular basis. I've heard a lot of different Grim Reaper ideas, like that they don't actually kill you, they just collect your soul after you die, or that their job is just to judge your soul and determine where it goes. I particularly liked "Incarnations of Imortality" by Piers Anthony. I think it was an excellent portrayal of Death and the forces that move our world.

Death has been personified as a figure or fictional character in mythology and popular culture since the earliest days of storytelling. Because the reality of death has had a substantial influence on the human psyche and the development of civilization as a whole, the personification of Death as a living, sentient entity is a concept that has existed in many societies since the beginning of recorded history. In the United States, death is usually shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe, and wearing a midnight black gown with a hood, while in Europe it is often depicted similarly, but dressed in white, which is the traditional colour worn at funerals in many places.

I like the idea of some being helping me make the transition from life to death. Whether it is a grim reaper, a family member of mine that has passed on or some other type of being, I really have no idea. I guess I will find out when I die.

Grim reaper or not..death is the only thing we are guanteed and I really don't need someone to see me across..this shell of a body is gone..the spirit, soul or whatever one would like to preceive as is what goes on.

Id prefer to use the angel of death over the grim reaper. but even so, to me the 'grim reaper' is personal faith. if you believe he is bad, then he will be, if you believe is is simply a helping hand to the next world, then thats what he will be.

whether it is called grim reaper or the angel of death it is all up to you what to believe....death is death....making it real does not help.

no need to fear death. that is the only thing we are guanteed when we are born into this world. Accept it, and don't fear what is eventually going to happen.

We are taught from a young age all the different grims, and omens. Such as a black cat can represent bad luck. A black dog can represent death. I don't know much about the all the different cultures grim reapers but I do believe that death and its symbols can be many different things.

i can only say that the show dead like me was okay, didn't get the jokes. But as for the idea of the grim... i would say that they take many forms, some even of those that you know to walk you over to the next life. But that's just me.

I love incarnations...I think they make great focal points for our desires or fears. Personally, I love Piers Anthony: On a Pale Horse version of Death as a job that you fall into and learn as you go.

I think the symbolism of things like death, angels, the devil, and so forth are very strong and that whether or not they really exist is counter to the spark of inspiration that they give us.

i think the grim reaper is just an everyday being wandering around blending in with every other mystical being that is among us

has anybody read the book ' death takes a holiday' ? it is a great book and i sugest it to anyone. also pears anthony's immortal saga one of the books is titled 'on a pale horse' which is about death

There is even a new Sci-Fi channel show called "Dead Like Me" about the grim reaper concept. They suggest in this show that the grim reaper is not one person at all. They suggest that the Reapers are individuals that have died a traumatic death before it should have been there time. So they remain on earth and keep their jobs and everything else, living among humans. They use their off hours to go around touching people to mark them for death after they receive the message of who is next on the list from the "supervisor". It is kind of a bizarre concept, but anything is possible.

the reaper or death as some people call him is not all bad, infact there are theorys that he is the son of satan, were after his daughter sin was born he made love to her, and she gave birth to his son death. that is only the beleafs of a singal person though so messege me on your thoughts of this.

I love "Dead Like Me" its a great show and very funny. It seems like they let u look at the grim reaper as a normal guy/girl like everybody else.

In the terms of this concept, I do believe the grim reaper is just a regular person who has a job to do. I know I have definitely met the reaper a few times and beat him as well.lol

Death has been personified as a figure or fictional character in mythology and popular culture since the earliest days of storytelling. Because the reality of death has had a substantial influence on the human psyche and the development of civilization as a whole, the personification of Death as a living, sentient entity is a concept that has existed in many societies since the beginning of recorded history. In Western cultures, death is usually shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe, and wearing a midnight black gown with a hood, while the color white is often associated with death in Asia.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grim_reaper


i do not myself believe in death as one person but more of forces of nature the has the ability to appear personified. in my experiances most of the personifications of death i have come in contact with took on a female guise. though i also believe they will appear as what is more comfortable to the viewer.

Perhaps we make up things in our mind so that death is an easier concept to swallow. Be it the after life, or the one taking us there... all of it is speculation that could have come about whiile some old white guy was unknowinglytripping on acid.

I dont believe in the Grim Reaper... I believe their is an angel of death but not as portrayed in stories and myths..
It is a spirit that possesses your body before you die and takes your soul with it.

The Grim Reaper is a very powerful being and he should be respected as such weather or not you believe in him or not cause weather or not you like it he'll be guiding you to the other relm for that is what he does he's a guid he also has the power to take souls away when it is there time or not and sometimes he has to return them.....

I think the grim reaper is a construct so that people will be less afraid of dying. It horrifies people to think that when they die, there will be no one around to help them or that they could get lost or go to the wrong place. So they make up a helper, whether you call them a grim reaper or angel of death, in order to deal with their fears. It's just a theory.

anything believed in by enough people will become real

That's an interesting stance. By that definition, there would really be grim reapers. Thanks for giving me something to think about.

I would Have to agree that belief in the or of a grim reaper is largely due to the religious practices one adheres to.

I think our society creates this frightening persona of death incarnate because it fears death in general. We need to view death as a natural progression of life, a transition.

my beliefe is the grim reaper is a mortal emortal which is that a human takes on the job if he beats the old death and he must have a perfectly balanced soul to do this thus creating the best system of death there is if you beat the old death he/she takes your form and is taken as you to others

hmm interesting grim reapers

Death has been personified as a figure or fictional character in mythology and popular culture since the earliest days of storytelling. Because the reality of death has had a substantial influence on the human psyche and the development of civilization as a whole, the personification of Death as a living, sentient entity is a concept that has existed in many societies since the beginning of recorded history. In the United States, death is usually shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe, and wearing a midnight black gown with a hood, while in Europe it is often depicted similarly, but dressed in white, which is the traditional colour worn at funerals in many places.

Examples of death personified are found in Wikipedia.

Thankyou Icemage for the lists of different names you have supplied for the personifications of death.

Well, what I love about these sorts of questions if their relationship between the metaphysical and reality. A good example of this realtionship in the moving of time would be that many used to believe that the soul had a smell as it gradually left the body- I had a friend who worked in a nursing home, and always mentioned the smell which got stronger in the approaching of death- medically, this is the kidneys failing. It is the grey area between the mystical and the "real" whih itnerests me the most, which I believe is the mind and the courses it wishes to take.

On this route, I am a believer in energies, positive and negative mixtures which are present in our dimension, and the relationship between body and soul (if it exists) changes in the moments of death- whether they die together or the soul/mind exists as a seprate energy I have not yet decided. This changing of relationship if true may indeed create a new state of being, which could in turn link with the powers that you discuss in you original post. What I am trying to say if that near death experiences could cause this change of relationship between body and soul, and this experience cold relayed to others, thus creating the concepts of these personifications.

However, as I discussed in the thread covering near-death experiences, death could be our most traumatic experience... this could in turn create a denfence mechanism in the body to make death a less traumatic experience, allowing the body to put all its energy into trying to heal itself... this could be the origin of such personification- that they are simply a fabrication of the mind itself.

I like KirwanBane's response to this and would have to say that I agree with him personally. I believe death is simply a force of nature. As the saying goes there are two things in life that you can count on, death and taxes. I don't see why the event has to be personified into a character.

ok but how do we know the grim reaper is an entity of death that comes for us as so many has said or an angel of death in disguise........ i still belive that those who we trust and belive in come for use in our time of transition to make it easyer.... my grandfather several days befor he died said he spoke to a good friend of his and he was no longer afraid to die.......yes we are all told what we are saposed to belive to be true... but how do we know on what we were raised to belive is what actally happens..... ill say it again like i have in so many threads all though i belive in reincarnation.....none of us will actually know until we go throught it ourselves.........

i feel that well people always see the reaper as a "bad guy" he cant be all that evil he is mealy doing a job that needs to be done in order to keep life going on as needed

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grim_reaper

Death has been personified as a figure or fictional character in mythology and popular culture since the earliest days of storytelling. Because the reality of death has had a substantial influence on the human psyche and the development of civilization as a whole, the personification of Death as a living, sentient entity is a concept that has existed in many societies since the beginning of recorded history. In Western cultures, death is usually shown as a skeletal figure carrying a large scythe, and wearing a midnight black gown with a hood, while the color white is often associated with death in Asia.

As I was going to write, when I found this, the Grim Reaper is the product of writers. They needed to portray death.

From my point of view the Grim Reaper is just a metaphor for moving from one plane to the next. Not a physical being, more a spiritual guide.

grim reaper is a bond cloth and a lost soul from death he was prolly in a terrbile death and made him self the grim reaper. when most dye they become filed with hate and make them selves turn into things changing forums and etc. does it make sense?
No i dont think it doe sbut since when do things make sense.

I see that we have the same theory on this Payne.

I agree with Payne... The idea of a grim reaper is a metaphore that perhaps we make up to better cope with the idea of perishing...

Sorry 2 Typos ... link should work on this one

I loved the Incarnations series by Piers Anthony. The reaper has been around for along time..I didnt see the sci-fi show much but what I have is kewl..Anyone see "Meet Joe Black" think it was based on the booked mentioned earlier the angel of death comes to collect Anthony Hopkins and he makes a deal with death for a few more days so Death takes a Holiday LOL. I think death being the last step of life we need to personify it make it something more personal then it is truly.
Humans have been doing this for centuries as shown by the Kronos legend whether you believe in something to come after this life or not we have a basic need for understanding the mechonisms of death.

Dead like me is pretty good too,
for an american sitcom.

There is a link through the above Psychopomp link. I found this one while looking for information on Bleach.

I believe the Grim Reaper is a symbol, sort of a personification of death. I'd like to believe there will be someone waiting to assist me in crossing over, but I'm not sure I'd like it to be Grim lol

Guédé
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In Haitian Vodun, the Guédé (also spelled Gede or Ghede) are the family of spirits that embody the powers of death and fertility. They are closely associated with the loa Baron (whose aspects are Baron Samedi, Baron La Croix and Baron Cimetière). Depending on the tradition followed, Baron is:

one of the Guédé
their spiritual father who has raised them from the dead, along with Baron Samedi's wife Maman Brigitte who is their spiritual mother
an aspect of the Guédé
In any of these configurations, Baron, his wife Maman Brigitte, and the Guédé rule death, the cemetery and the grave.

Well known Guédé spirits include Guédé Nibo, Guédé Plumaj, Guédé Ti Malis, Guédé Zaranye, and many others. They are known for the drum rhythm and the dance called the "banda" and in possession will drink or rub themselves with a mixture of raw rum or clairin and twenty-one habanero or goat peppers.

Gede Nibo is a psychopomp and acts as an intermediary between the living and the dead, who gives voice to the dead spirits that have not been reclaimed from "below the waters".

Papa Ghede is also a psychopomp. He waits at the crossroads to take souls into the afterlife and is considered the good counterpart to Baron Samedi. He has a very crass sense of humor and a deep hatred of european-based cultures because of the sexual repression they incourage. Papa Ghede is supposed to be the first corpse of the first man who ever died.

If a child is dying, Papa Ghede is prayed to. It's believed that he won't take a life before it's time, and that he will protect the little ones. He is married to Mama Brigitte.