You son of a bitch, Death.
I was trying to think of a good one to end this Question 3 thing with before I move back to Teaser Tuesdays. There are a lot of scary and creepy topics that I could touch on, but I’ve done quite a few over the years. So, I had made my list and then puttered around the Internet in search of the finale and locked in on a word I saw in a lot of horror-based descriptions:
DEATH!
Of course, my mind went to the Grim Reaper. Well, that’s a logical path for me during this time. It’s weird too because I never think about him outside of pop culture. I watched ‘The Grim Adventures of Billy & Mandy’ way back when and he was always a major boss fight in the Castlevania series. Honestly, the Grim Reaper seems to be a fairly benign horror figure. He shows up in comedies fairly often or he’s mentioned without making an appearance. I can’t even tell if he’s still an influential monster in today’s world, but it’s hard to tell if he’s a monster at all.
You see, vampires, zombies, werewolves, and the like were once human. They have been cursed into becoming evil. Demons were always evil, but they need to influence humans to get their work done. Ghosts happen because you have died and need to settle things before you pass on. The Grim Reaper doesn’t have any of these situations. He is supposed to be Death Incarnate. Unlike other monsters, he is a force of nature in every sense of the phrase. He exists to make sure the cycle of life continues unabated, which means he’s an essential part of our world. The only reason we fear him is because mortals with a sense of their existence are terrified of death. Well, I guess the skeletal body and the giant scythe don’t help his case. Time for questions:
- If you got to be the Grim Reaper for a day, how would you handle it?
- Do you believe the Grim Reaper is really a monster?
- If you met the Grim Reaper, what would you say?
