Thanatos
Profile
You know the Grim Reaper; now meet his great granddaddy, Thanatos. Long before people were imagining Death as a bony dude with a big scythe, the Greeks thought of him as a bearded man with wings. Sometimes they even imagined him as a kid with wings and a penchant for flapping around with an upside down torch. Even though Thanatos was Death and all, the Greeks didn't think of him as a bad guy. He was actually associated more with peaceful death, which he liked to carry out with the help of his brother Hypnos, the god of sleep. So if it was your time to go, Thanatos was totally the god you wanted to help guide you down to the Underworld. He knew it was a mortal's last ride, so he wanted to make sure it was a smooth one.
Basic Information
Name Thanatos
Nickname Mors, Letus, Thanatus, Death, The Man in Black
Sex Male
Current city Tartarus, but I do a lot of traveling
Work & Education
Occupation Psychopomp (guiding the souls of the dead to the Underworld)
Being Death itselfEducation Night School of Tartarus (where it's always night)
Beliefs
Political views Death rules all things
Family & Friends (& Enemies)
Parents Depending on who you ask...
Nyx (Mom)
Erebos (Dad)
or
Nyx (all by herself)Siblings Hypnos
The Keres
The Furies
Nemesis
The Fates
CharonChildren Does Death have kids? Do I really have to answer that question?
Friends Hermes (Well, we're kind of frenemies, because he thinks he's a better psychopomp than me.)
Hypnos (My kind and gentle brother)
Charon (My old and cranky brother)
Hades (My awesome king)
The Fates (Who seriously make me work overtime…)
Tartarus (Sure, he's a bottomless black pit, but he's always been there when I needed him.)Enemies Sisyphus (Who thought he was sooooo cool when he outsmarted me.)
Heracles (Who totally humiliated me when he beat me at wrestling)
The Keres (My mean sisters who cause violent deaths)Relationships
Relationship status Very single
Interested in Anybody, please!
Favorites
TV Shows Six Feet Under (Absolute favorite.)
Dead Like Me (Canceled before its time. No other show so accurately portrays the challenges of my job.)
Wrestlemania (Been watching this to pick up tips in case I have to wrestle Heracles again.)
The Walking Dead (More proof that I'm totally necessary.)Quotations "Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –
The Carriage held but just Ourselves –
And Immortality."
– Emily Dickinson
"Life and Death are the only truth."
– Proverb
"It's the heart afraid of breaking that never learns to dance. It is the dream afraid of waking that never takes the chance. It is the one who won't be taken who cannot seem to give. And the soul afraid of dying that never learns to live."
– Bette Midler
"To every thing there is a season, and a time to every purpose under the heaven; A time to be born, and a time to die; a time to plant, and a time to pluck that which is planted."
– The Bible, Ecclesiastes 3:1Books "Because I could not stop for Death" by Emily Dickinson
"The Hollow Men" by T.S. Eliot
"The Monkey's Paw" by W.W. Jacobs (A great lesson in how sometimes it's better to let things die.)
"Thanatopsis" by William Cullen Bryant
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak (Death as the narrator?! How cool is that?)
"Deathfugue" by Paul Celan
"Dream-land" by Edgar Allan Poe
"An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge" by Ambrose Bierce
As I Lay Dying by William Faulkner
Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret StohlMusic "O Death" by Ralph Stanley
"God's Gonna Cut You Down" by Johnny Cash
"Tears in Heaven" by The Choir Boys
"I Will Follow You Into the Dark" by Death Cab For Cutie
"The Funeral" by Band of Horses
"No Children" by the Mountain Goats
"I See a Darkness" by Bonnie 'Prince' Billy
"I'll Be Missing You" by Puff DaddyMovies Dark Shadows
Meet Joe Black
The Wrestler (Reminds me of when I wrestled Heracles.)
Final Destination
Frankenweenie
Death at a Funeral
Night of the Living Dead (See what happens if I'm not around?)
Harry Potter and the Deathly HallowsActivities & Interests
Likes Peaceful death
Sleep (My awesome brother)
Funerals
Graveyards
Bottomless pits
Escape artists (Would have been nice to know some of Houdini's tricks when Sisyphus tricked me into chaining myself up…)
Sunny beaches (Hey, no sense in being gloomy all the time!)Interests Thanatology
Embalming
TaxidermyGroups Gods of the Underworld
Incarnations of Death
Funeral DirectorsSpotter's Guide
You're looking for Thanatos, huh? Well, you're braver than most. Since he's Death itself, most people try to avoid him. You can usually find him hovering around anywhere that somebody is about to die peacefully in their sleep. He'll either look like a middle-aged man with a big black beard, or a little boy with an upside down torch. Either way, he'll have wings, so he won't be too hard to spot.
The guy gets kind of depressed because everyone's all freaked out whenever he comes around. There's no need to be afraid of him, though. After all, he is mainly the god of peaceful death, so if it's your time to go the Underworld, he's definitely the god you want flapping around.
Sex: Male
Age: Middle-aged or very young
Build: Muscular or thin
Complexion: Pale
Hair Color: Black
Facial Hair: Big black beard, or none
Scars/marks/tattoos: None
Jewelry and accessories: Wings, upside down torch
Clothing: Dark robes
Armor: None
Type of Weapon: Sword (sometimes)Typical Companions:
Hypnos (Sleep)
The Souls of the DeadKnown Hangouts:
Tartarus
The Underworld
Cemeteries
Hospices
MorguesSightings
Jan 1, 1970 - Jan 1, 1970
The Iliad by Homer
Thanatos and his brother Hypnos were big-time heroes when they took the body of Sarpedon peacefully away from the battlefield in Homer's epic poem about the Trojan War.
Dec 20, 2019
Alcestis by Euripides
In this play, Thanatos is totally humiliated when Heracles beats him in wrestling, allowing Alcestis to avoid death. (Yeah, this is definitely not Thanatos's favorite play.)
Dec 20, 2019
God of War Series
In this gory video game, Thanatos is eventually slain by the mighty Kratos. Ouch.
Dec 20, 2019
The Incredible Hercules
Thanatos shows up to do some major psychopomping in this Marvel comic book.
Dec 20, 2019
The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan
In this installation of the Heroes of Olympus series, Thanatos ends up chained to a glacier, which causes all kinds of problems. (You'd think Thanatos wouldn't let himself get chained again after that embarrassing Sisyphus incident…)