Death (mythology): Difference between revisions

From Tardis Wiki, the free Doctor Who reference
No edit summary
No edit summary
Line 1: Line 1:
{{dab page|Death (disambiguation)}}
{{Infobox Individual
{{Infobox Individual
|image = Death Eternal.jpg
|image= Duroc main.jpg
|aka = LaMort, Jade
|alias = {{il|Duroc|Hunger}}
|species = Eternal
|species=  
|father = Ricky McIlveen
|origin=
|mother = Jasmine Surprise Cwej-Hutchings
|first mention = They Keep Killing Suzie (TV story)
|grandparent = Chris Cwej
|only= Dead Man Walking (TV story)
|grandparent2 = Ishtar Hutchings
|actor=  
|sister = Time (Set Piece)
}}{{dab page|Death (disambiguation)}}
|sister2 = Pain (Set Piece)
'''Death''' was a mysterious being and a figure in legends. It appeared to [[Suzie Costello]] and [[Owen Harper]] in the [[afterlife]], and was believed to be a personification of death. Owen stated that it was "''duroc''," or "hunger."
|first = Timewyrm: Revelation  (novel)
|appearances = [[PROSE]]: ''[[Prelude Love and War (short story)|Prelude Love and War]]'', ''[[Love and War (novel)|Love and War]]'', ''[[Set Piece (novel)|Set Piece]]'', ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'', ''[[The Tramp's Story (short story)|The Tramp's Story]]'', ''[[Camera Obscura (novel)|Camera Obscura]]'', ''[[The All-Seeing Eye (short story)|The All-Seeing Eye]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Master (audio story)|Master]]'', ''[[Love and War (audio story)|Love and War]]''
|voice actor = Charlie Hayes
|other voice actor = [[Daniel Barzotti]]
}}
'''Death''' was an [[Eternal]] and a [[Menti Celesti]], one of the [[god]]desses of [[Gallifrey]]. As such, she represented and embodied Death itself.


== Biography ==
== Biology ==
Death was not the oldest of the [[Menti Celesti]]; [[Pain (Set Piece)|Pain]] was. But she was older than [[Time (Set Piece)|Time]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Set Piece (novel)|Set Piece]]'')
In its [[Afterlife|natural dimension]], Death was invisible among the dark void, but its presence could still be felt and heard by the dead there with it. When it entered the universe, Death had the physical form of a human [[skeleton]] shrouded in dark grey vapour. Death was capable of communicating with a low, hoarse, whispery voice both in [[English language|English]] and in another language, although it was only ever known to say one thing in either language - "''Melenkurion abatha duroc minas mill khabaal!''"/"I shall walk the [[Earth]], and my hunger will know no bounds!"


She came into being when [[Chris Cwej]] and [[Ishtar Hutchings]] had [[sex]]. Ishtar gave birth to [[Jasmine Surprise Cwej-Hutchings]], who went on to have sex with [[Ricky McIlveen]] (a powerful psionic), who in turn gave birth to Death. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Happy Endings (novel)|Happy Endings]]'')
The only known method through which Death could enter the universe was if someone were resurrected using the left-handed [[resurrection gauntlet]] - after the gauntlet permanently brought the person back in an undead state, Death would feed the person energy to sustain it, while also using the person as a gateway from the afterlife into [[N-Space]]. Death would occasionally possess the person, and would gradually change their cell structure. Once the person's cell structure was 100% transformed, Death would fully cross through them into the universe.


There were legends that Death was apparently conceived when the "gods" were drunk, ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Return of the Living Dad (novel)|Return of the Living Dad]]'') being created from the dreams and thoughts of Time Lords, becoming personified into an "abstract universal entity." ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'')
In the universe, Death would be capable of instantaneously killing living beings by touch or by coming within very close proximity, draining their life and reducing their bodies to shrivelled husks. Though it could apparently kill any living being this way, Death preferred and was drawn to the dying and near-dead. However, Death could only temporarily kill [[Jack Harkness]] due to the latter's [[immortality]], and the undead beings resurrected by the gauntlet were completely immune to Death's abilities. When Death entered N-Space via the resurrection gauntlet, it had to kill thirteen sentient beings in order to enter the universe permanently; otherwise, after a length of time, it would vanish back into the darkness in a burst of energy. ([[TV]]: ''[[Dead Man Walking (TV story)|Dead Man Walking]]'')


During the [[Old Time]] on [[Gallifrey]], Death sent a messenger to [[Slothe]]. The Messenger killed the inhabitants of Slothe, until one day [[Presus]] rose up and fought the creature, killing it. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Blind Fury (short story)|Blind Fury]]'')
== Biography ==
 
According to [[Suzie Costello]], when one died and entered the afterlife, Death would stalk them in the darkness. ([[TV]]: ''[[They Keep Killing Suzie (TV story)|They Keep Killing Suzie]]'')
Early in life, during the youth of [[First Doctor|his first incarnation]], the Doctor killed [[Torvic]]. He made a deal with Death. Rather than having Death make him her champion, Death would choose another [[Time Lord]], later known as [[the Master]]. However, the Doctor would later forget about this encounter. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Master (audio story)|Master]]'')
 
The Doctor recalled seeing Death on a Gallifreyan hillside (presumably, before he knew who Death was). ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Set Piece (novel)|Set Piece]]'')
 
[[File:The_Doctor_Dancing_With_Death.jpg|thumb|left|Death dancing with [[Seventh Doctor|the Doctor]] on [[the Moon]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)|Timewyrm: Revelation]]'')]]
 
The [[Seventh Doctor]] met Death for the first time on [[the Moon]], when she was summoned by the [[Timewyrm]] as a robed skeleton. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Timewyrm: Revelation (novel)|Timewyrm: Revelation]]'')
 
Death briefly spoke to the [[Traveller (Love and War)|Travellers]] in [[Puterspace]] stating that three quarters of them would die, but would not state which of them. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Prelude Love and War (short story)|Love and War]]'', [[AUDIO]]: ''[[Love and War (audio story)|Love and War]]'') [[The Doctor]] made another deal with Death to save [[Ace]] (presumably from the [[Hoothi]]) and offered himself in her place. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Love and War (novel)|Love and War]]'') Death later took the life of Doctor [[John Smith (Seventh Doctor)|John Smith]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Human Nature (novel)|Human Nature]]'')
 
On several occasions, the Doctor had said he was "friends" with Death. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[The Death Collectors (audio story)|The Death Collectors]]'', ''[[Spider's Shadow (audio story)|Spider's Shadow]]'') He once won a bet with Death. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Sleepy (novel)|Sleepy]]'')
 
Death picked {{Champion}} to be her champion, as a means of revenge upon the Doctor. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[No Future (novel)|No Future]]'')
 
Death, along with Time and Pain, attended [[Bernice Summerfield]] and [[Jason Kane]]'s [[wedding]] in [[Cheldon Bonniface]] on [[24 April]] [[2010]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Happy Endings (novel)|Happy Endings]]'')
 
When the Doctor suffered a one-sided heart attack at [[Roz Forrester]]'s funeral, he had a vision of Death taunting him about taking the life of one of his companions, and that some day soon, she will take him, when he is alone and friendless, without warning and without meaning. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[So Vile a Sin (novel)|So Vile a Sin]])''
 
Death appeared to the Doctor when he returned to the [[House of Lungbarrow]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Lungbarrow (novel)|Lungbarrow]]'')


At some point, the Doctor made a deal with Death, to give the Master a new start in life as a good and honest man for ten years, feeling guilty for how he turned out. However, after the ten years, it was agreed he would have to kill the Master.
Death was both worshiped and feared by [[Weevil]]s. Once in [[1479]], it manifested itself in [[Cardiff]] after a girl named [[Faith (Dead Man Walking)|Faith]] was brought back to life with the resurrection gauntlet. Death killed twelve people, but Faith managed to stop it before it could collect a thirteenth victim, which would have enabled it to enter the [[universe]] permanently. During this time, contemporary chroniclers also recorded the presence of Weevils, which seemed to have inspired imagery of the [[Grim Reaper]].


When the ten years expired, Death sent the Doctor to [[Perfugium]], where "John Smith" was living. Taking on the identity of John Smith's maid, Jade, Death tormented the Doctor, John Smith and his friends. This led to one of his friends, [[Victor Schaeffer]], killing his own wife, and John's love, [[Jacqueline Schaeffer|Jacqueline]]. When the Doctor couldn't go through with killing John, he realised his significance in creating the Master, and how he had turned him into Death's Champion, by making his original deal with Death.
[[File:Dead_man_walking_main.jpg|thumb|left|Death possesses Owen. ([[TV]]: ''[[Dead Man Walking (TV story)|Dead Man Walking]]'')]]
When [[Owen Harper]] was resurrected with the same gauntlet, Death used him as a gateway into the universe, and possessed him repeatedly. While doing so, it repeated "I shall walk the earth and my hunger will know no bounds" in a strange language.


He constructed a new deal with Death, so that he wouldn't have to kill John, but would instead have to kill an innocent person in the place of an assassin (who was just a disguise of Death again), but couldn't go through with that deal either. Death also made a deal with John Smith that to remain as John Smith, he had to decide whether he would make the Doctor Death's Champion, or if he would kill Victor so that Jacqueline would be reborn, but become the Master again. It is still unknown what his decision was. ([[AUDIO]]: ''[[Master (audio story)|Master]]'')
Eventually, the energy from Death that was keeping Owen animate fully transformed Owen's cell structure; allowing Death to cross through into the universe. After manifesting in the universe through Owen, Death had the physical form of a human skeleton shrouded in grey vapour. It travelled to [[St Helen's Hospital]] and began killing and collecting the [[soul]]s of the staff and patients that Torchwood failed to evacuate from the hospital in time.


Death stalked the Seventh Doctor for some time. The Doctor ended up making a deal with Death so that he could save the life of a [[Tramp (The Tramp's Story)|tramp]], unaware that his death would have had repercussions in the [[Web of Time]]. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[The Tramp's Story (short story)|The Tramp's Story]]'')
Death claimed twelve of the thirteen souls it needed to fully enter the universe, but before it could claim a thirteenth victim, Owen used faith to literally fight off Death and dissipate its energy, sending it back to the darkness. ([[TV]]: ''[[Dead Man Walking (TV story)|Dead Man Walking]]'')


At one point, Death took the name "LaMort" and moved to [[Sydney]] in the [[19th century]], interested in the novelty of colonial [[Australia]]. Two hundred years later, she had become bored with all the ways and places that death took place. She intended to commit [[suicide]]. However, the Doctor, [[Bernice Summerfield|Benny]], and [[Ace]] visited her, and the Doctor made Benny describe all the [[planet]]s that humans had brought death to in her time. With the promise of all these new virgin worlds, Death resolved not to commit suicide, and she dropped her pills; they transformed into souls and melted away. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Virgin Lands (short story)|Virgin Lands]]'')
== Notes ==
* Thirteen, which is the number of souls Death needs to collect after entering the physical dimension in order to enter it permanently, is considered the unlucky number; it also happens to be the total number of a Time Lord's bodies.
* It is unknown whether, when Death enters the physical universe, it can use the souls of anyone in the world who dies to add to the thirteen souls it needs to permanently manifest, or if Death needs to kill its thirteen victims itself or at least be in the vicinity when they die in order to collect their souls. However, as Death apparently only collected twelve souls when it entered the universe through Owen, even though it was in the universe for approximately an hour or less, the latter two are more likely; unless in the [[Doctor Who universe]] death rates were extremely low at the time when Death entered the physical universe.


Though Death's sisters [[Life (Hark! The Herald Angels Sing)|Life]], [[Time (Set Piece)|Time]], and [[Fate (Hark! The Herald Angels Sing)|Fate]] fled the [[Spiral Politic]] at first foresight of the [[War in Heaven]], Death stayed behind and watched them leave. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Hark! The Herald Angels Sing (short story)|Hark! The Herald Angels Sing]]'') In the [[post-War universe]], [[Sabbath]] followed the [[Eighth Doctor]] on a trip into Death's abode. Interestingly, she seemed to possess no knowledge or memory of the Doctor despite their previous history. ([[PROSE]]: ''[[Camera Obscura (novel)|Camera Obscura]]'')
{{NameSort}}
{{NameSort}}
[[Category:Eternals]]
[[Category:Personifications of death]]
[[Category:Personifications of death]]
[[Category:Mythological creatures]]
[[Category:Unique beings]]
[[Category:Supposed deities]]
[[Category:Murderers]]
[[Category:Afterlife]]
[[Category:Afterlife]]

Revision as of 06:12, 11 June 2020

You may wish to consult Death (disambiguation) for other, similarly-named pages.

Death was a mysterious being and a figure in legends. It appeared to Suzie Costello and Owen Harper in the afterlife, and was believed to be a personification of death. Owen stated that it was "duroc," or "hunger."

Biology

In its natural dimension, Death was invisible among the dark void, but its presence could still be felt and heard by the dead there with it. When it entered the universe, Death had the physical form of a human skeleton shrouded in dark grey vapour. Death was capable of communicating with a low, hoarse, whispery voice both in English and in another language, although it was only ever known to say one thing in either language - "Melenkurion abatha duroc minas mill khabaal!"/"I shall walk the Earth, and my hunger will know no bounds!"

The only known method through which Death could enter the universe was if someone were resurrected using the left-handed resurrection gauntlet - after the gauntlet permanently brought the person back in an undead state, Death would feed the person energy to sustain it, while also using the person as a gateway from the afterlife into N-Space. Death would occasionally possess the person, and would gradually change their cell structure. Once the person's cell structure was 100% transformed, Death would fully cross through them into the universe.

In the universe, Death would be capable of instantaneously killing living beings by touch or by coming within very close proximity, draining their life and reducing their bodies to shrivelled husks. Though it could apparently kill any living being this way, Death preferred and was drawn to the dying and near-dead. However, Death could only temporarily kill Jack Harkness due to the latter's immortality, and the undead beings resurrected by the gauntlet were completely immune to Death's abilities. When Death entered N-Space via the resurrection gauntlet, it had to kill thirteen sentient beings in order to enter the universe permanently; otherwise, after a length of time, it would vanish back into the darkness in a burst of energy. (TV: Dead Man Walking)

Biography

According to Suzie Costello, when one died and entered the afterlife, Death would stalk them in the darkness. (TV: They Keep Killing Suzie)

Death was both worshiped and feared by Weevils. Once in 1479, it manifested itself in Cardiff after a girl named Faith was brought back to life with the resurrection gauntlet. Death killed twelve people, but Faith managed to stop it before it could collect a thirteenth victim, which would have enabled it to enter the universe permanently. During this time, contemporary chroniclers also recorded the presence of Weevils, which seemed to have inspired imagery of the Grim Reaper.

Death possesses Owen. (TV: Dead Man Walking)

When Owen Harper was resurrected with the same gauntlet, Death used him as a gateway into the universe, and possessed him repeatedly. While doing so, it repeated "I shall walk the earth and my hunger will know no bounds" in a strange language.

Eventually, the energy from Death that was keeping Owen animate fully transformed Owen's cell structure; allowing Death to cross through into the universe. After manifesting in the universe through Owen, Death had the physical form of a human skeleton shrouded in grey vapour. It travelled to St Helen's Hospital and began killing and collecting the souls of the staff and patients that Torchwood failed to evacuate from the hospital in time.

Death claimed twelve of the thirteen souls it needed to fully enter the universe, but before it could claim a thirteenth victim, Owen used faith to literally fight off Death and dissipate its energy, sending it back to the darkness. (TV: Dead Man Walking)

Notes

  • Thirteen, which is the number of souls Death needs to collect after entering the physical dimension in order to enter it permanently, is considered the unlucky number; it also happens to be the total number of a Time Lord's bodies.
  • It is unknown whether, when Death enters the physical universe, it can use the souls of anyone in the world who dies to add to the thirteen souls it needs to permanently manifest, or if Death needs to kill its thirteen victims itself or at least be in the vicinity when they die in order to collect their souls. However, as Death apparently only collected twelve souls when it entered the universe through Owen, even though it was in the universe for approximately an hour or less, the latter two are more likely; unless in the Doctor Who universe death rates were extremely low at the time when Death entered the physical universe.