Thanatos
Thanatos
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 itself |
| Education | 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 Charon |
| Children | 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
| 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 3:1 |
| Books | "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 Stohl |
| Music | "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 Daddy |
| Movies | 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 Hallows |
| 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.) |
Activities & 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!) |
| Activities | Escorting the souls of the dead to the Underworld The occasional wrestling match |
| Interests | Thanatology Embalming Taxidermy |
| Groups | Gods of the Underworld Incarnations of Death Funeral Directors |