History Main / Psychopomp

** [[AlternateUniverse Semi-canonically]], there's also the various spirits in [[{{Wutai}} Ionia]]'s mythology represented in the Spirit Blossom skin line[[note]]The myths they're based on canonically exist in-universe, but the champion skins merely ''symbolize'' the characters and are otherwise non-canon[[/note]]. In addition to an alternate version of Kindred representing a "Spirit of Death" that brings the dead into the afterlife, there's also The Gatekeeper (represented by [[FantasticFoxes Ahri]]) and The Collector (represented by [[TortureTechnician Thresh]]) that oversee their journey upon arrival. The Gatekeeper is a "Spirit of Salvation" that leads souls to a gate to eternal rest, but only if they follow her path, while The Collector is a "Demon of Obsession" that lures the fallen away and traps them in their own memories for eternity.

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* In ''Webcomic/{{Rhapsodies}}'', Deidre is a psychopomp working at one of the local hospitals. When asked she says she "handles malpractice." (Most people think this means she's a [[http://rhapsodies.wpmorse.com/?p=1645 lawyer.]])

* The newly dead in ''Webcomic/MountainTime'' are greeted by the Great One, who is both a psychopomp and a hot dog.
* [[spoiler:Aradia]] in ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'' deliberately takes on this role after the events of [S]Wake and [S]Cascade. Her psychic abilities included communicating with the dead, which she has some influence over (such as getting them to torment Vriska) - but [[DeadAllAlong learned quite a bit more from personal experience]].
** Also, considering the details of how Time players tend to operate, they tend to be pretty associated with death anyway.
---> AA: alpha dave still has a long way to go
---> AA: hes still not at ease with his mortality
---> AA: but people like us have to be!
---> AA: we have to be prepared to die a thousand deaths before our quest is complete
** Terezi later explains the Trolls' legendary psychopomp, a frightening, inescapable skull-faced demon with a "super foxy handmaiden" doing his bidding. This is a pretty obvious reference to [[spoiler:Lord English and the Demoness (aka "The Handmaid")]]. Dave then points out that psychopomps are a very common mythological theme, and you can expect pretty much every culture to have one (and that it's hardly a shocker that he's a skeleton/skull).

* The sparrows in Creator/StephenKing's novel ''Literature/TheDarkHalf'' are considered by the main character to be psychopomps. This turns out to be true in the ending, where [[spoiler:the sparrows carry George Stark off to the afterlife]]

* In ''Film/{{Ghost}}'', there are shadowy spirits that will drag you off to hell after you die if you've been an evil person in this life.

** Celtic/Brittany: The Ankou, who is often described as a skeletal figure in a [[NiceHat large-brimmed hat]] and a cloak, collecting the souls of the dead in a horse-drawn carriage.

* In the fanfic ''[[Fanfic/CrucibleMassEffect Crucible]]'', each universe has its own Life and Death who guide the traffic of souls. The Psychopomp of the ''Franchise/MassEffect'''s universe itself is an [[TheOmnipresent Omnipresent]] entity whose true form looks like a vastly expand living black smoke, but he usually [[AFormYouAreComfortableWith appears as any form he wants]]. He works according to the rules of his employers but [[LoopholeAbuse is very good at bending them to his advantages]] so he's one of the main conductors who has been manipulating everything in all three games in order for the universe to survive the Reapers and [[UpToEleven what come after them]].

** Taken UpToEleven when Thor lawyers dozens of souls out of Hel's grasp while she's busy [[spoiler:trying to destroy the world with a rigged vote. And then Loki tag-teams in]].

* While Dusknoir's Pokedex entry in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' ("the antenna on its head captures radio waves from the world of spirits that command it to take people there") would suggest that it abducts unwilling people, entries in later games suggest Dusknoir actually acts as a ferryman that guides lost souls "home" (into the realm of the dead). Drifblim is also stated in ''Ultra Sun'' to carry away people into the afterlife if they grab them at dusk.

* Franchise/{{Kirby}} has an example with the recurring {{Superboss}} Morpho Knight, a ButterflyOfDeathAndRebirth who's attracted to powerful souls who should've died long ago, sends them to the afterlife via absorbing them, and uses their power to reincarnate into a warrior form. So far, the two characters claimed by Morpho Knight were [[spoiler: Galacta Knight in ''VideoGame/KirbyStarAllies'']] and [[spoiler: Fecto Forgo in ''VideoGame/KirbyAndTheForgottenLand''.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman'': Several, most prominently Death of the Endless. She's portrayed as a PerkyGoth girl who seems to have a [[AllLovingHero deep and abiding affection for just about everyone and everything]]. It is extremely important to note that none of her siblings call her "Death"; only mortals do. Her actual function is to escort everyone into life and then escort them out. Her siblings simply call her "our elder Sister" (presumably since there is no mortal word for her true function/concept).

* Islam: Azrael, though the Qur'an simply refers to him as "The Angel of Death". The Qur'an also mentions subordinate angels of death working under him. The traditions of the prophet Muhammad (Hadith) expand more on the angel of death's appearance as a large {{Eldritch Abomination}} covered in eyes and tongues. He lives under a magical tree, leaves fall from it with the names of humans to be slain. He is said to have a book of humans' names representing who is alive, he is constantly adding and removing names from it. He appears to the righteous as a familiar, attractive young man who gently takes their soul, but appears to the wicked as a hideous abomination, yanking their soul out violently. Finally, he is a good angel, only doing what God commands, not a force of evil.

** The one who ''did'' take you to the afterlife was the falcon god Sokar (Seker), who despite his fearsome aspect was a NiceGuy. He was associated with the creator god Ptah and considered to be an aspect of the risen Osiris -- as close as Egypt ever got to a Christ figure. You can see Creator/YulBrynner as Pharaoh Ramses II praying to him in ''Film/TheTenCommandments''. Ramses really was a devotee of Sokar. He is one of the oldest Egyptian deities.

* In UsefulNotes/AncientEgypt, the god Seker, one of the oldest gods, is both this and a creator spirit. In ''Film/TheTenCommandments'', Rameses is shown praying to Seker (he calls him "Sokar") to resurrect his dead son. [=DeMille=] has ShownTheirWork; both Rameses II and his father Seti were devoted to Seker and had murals of him in their chambers.

** Alebrijes don't usually serve in this role, but one with a strong connection to a mortal will search for their soul after death and escort it to the Boneyard, protecting it from supernatural predators and helping to ease the shock of their passage into the afterlife.

* TheFerryMan: A mythological archetype (usually [[Myth/GreekMythology Charon]]) who guides a character to a specific destination in their afterlife.

->''"In my culture, death is not the end. It's more of a stepping off point. You reach out with both hands and Bast and Sekhmet, they lead you into the green veld where... you can run forever."''

* What [[spoiler:the eponymous character]] becomes in ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', after she becomes a Goddess of some sort. Her job is to take the souls of dead {{Magical Girl}}s... somewhere, but it's definitely a better state of existence than [[spoiler:becoming a Witch]]. Parallels to {{Valkyries}} are noted. [[spoiler:And then Homura screwed it all up in ''Rebellion'' because she couldn't get over Madoka.]]
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': This is what the shinigami (translated as Soul Reapers in this 'verse) are portrayed as rather than {{Grim Reaper}}s or death gods. When people die, a soul reaper performs a certain act that allows the soul to pass on in peace. (Most of the 'bad guys', especially in early chapters, are souls that were left too long; it just takes a different act for them to move on). The story's events, however, makes them pretty much ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything (or, at least, the Reapers that are protagonists).

* In various American variants of Literature/{{Child Ballad|s}} 79, "The Wife of Usher's Well," the dead sons not only visit their mother to bring her hope, when she chases after them, Jesus appears to her and instructs her that she has nine days to repent of her sins. When the nine days are up, he comes to bring her to {{Heaven}}.

** In the spin-off comic ''ComicBook/{{Lucifer}}'' the titular character declares himself as a Psychopomp while persuading a demon to allow herself to be killed by him, so that she can come back as his servant. It works, since she has a huge bone to pick with her current masters.
* Veitch and Edwards ComicBook/TheQuestion miniseries featured a hitman named "Psychopomp", who specialized in not only killing his victims, but sending their souls to a specially-constructed personal hell.

* The ''ComicBook/SpirouAndFantasio'' album titled "''L'Ankou''" is set in Brittany and features the eponymous Psychopomp (see Celtic myths, below). The Ankou is however portrayed as benevolent, and is helping the protagonists from preventing the meltdown of a nuclear plant. (He's fine dealing with the usual flow of deaths, but has absolutely no interest in a major catastrophe increasing his workload.) At one point, the Ankou shows himself to a pair of local cops about to arrest Spirou and Fantasio, and tells them "It's usually a bad thing for living people to see me, right? So, let's make a deal: you forget you saw those two, and I'll forget that I have seen you."

** ''ComicBook/WonderWoman1987'': Hermes role as a psychopomp is occasionally referenced, and it is key to [[spoiler:retrieving the soul of Martin Garibaldi so that changing his body back to flesh from stone will actually revive him instead of creating a more traditional corpse]].

* ''Fanfic/AGrowingAffection'' has The Reaper, who appears as a cute if otherworldly 4 year old girl with impossibly long, snow-white hair. She tells Naruto that it is her job to send souls to (and occasionally bring them back from) the various Heavens and Hells, but she does not control those worlds, nor does she decide who ends up where. And she has a grudge against Orochimaru for making her task harder.

* ''Literature/PeterPan'': Somewhat unsettling in hindsight, but Peter is said to be one: “At first Mrs. Darling did not know, but after thinking back into her childhood she just remembered a Peter Pan who was said to live with the fairies. There were odd stories about him; as that when children died he went part of the way with them, so that they should not be frightened.”
* ''Literature/ShamanOfTheUndead'' has eponymous shamans, who assist souls that for one reason or another didn't reach the Land of the Dead in crossing the border. They're so rare, local magical police has no records of them and had to do a lot of digging before believing the main character that she truly is one.

* Fredric R. Stewart's ''Literature/{{Cerberon}}'' provides a whole living species of psychopomps called skraad. Fittingly, they are human-sized avians resembling bearded vultures, who see it as their natural duty to protect the living from the dead. They not only lead lost souls they encounter to the afterlife, but can quite easily put down zombies and vampires. Unfortunately for them, the local CorruptChurch is infested with vampires who have established a widespread campaign of extermination against the skraad.

* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': The primary role of the Reaper Corps is to guide lost or anchored souls to the Abyss. [[YouCannotGraspTheTrueForm They only look like grim reapers because that is what most mortals understand]]. Ideally, they won't have to do any "reaping" of their own but it is sometimes necessary to effect their primary function.
* In the ''Literature/DanteValentine'' novels, Necromances interact with a manifestation of the god of death to perform their duties (raising shades of the deceased). In Danny's case it takes the form of the Egyptian god Anubis.

* In "Literature/TheZombieKnight" reapers take souls to the next world. Weirdly enough they don't actually know if there even is a next world. However leaving a soul alone will cause it to decay and experience extreme pain so they do it anyway. However some do it because they believe they are destined to.

* In ''Literature/GhostRoads'', the main character, Rose Marshall is a [[BewareOfHitchhikingGhosts ghostly hitchhiker]] who's seeks out people who are about to die in accidents. If she can, she'll try to prevent the crash but otherwise she escorts them to the afterlife to prevent them from becoming malicious ghosts. The fact that she's a ghost that's associated with deadly car crashes means that people have made the mistaken assumption that she herself actually causes them.

* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': [[spoiler:Once Desmond realizes he's dead in the flash-sideways verse, he becomes one and attempts to get everyone to realize it to so they can move on. Hurley later joins him in this task.]]

** The ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' episode "Coda", has Captain Janeway dying and her father appearing to guide her to the next life. He turns out to be a hostile alien hoping to feed on her lifeforce. Chillingly when Janeway is about to be resusitated by her crew, the alien tells her that she will die one day "and you will nourish me for a ''long'' time!"

** While not originating from Christianity, the classic hoded Grim reaper is a common image for many Christians in English speaking countries, especially America. It comes from Ankou, the Welsh version of the reaper, which was imported to America by the British.

** The [[HeadlessHorseman Dullahan]], though actually a member of [[TheFairFolk the Unseelie court]], hurls blood in the face of those mortals he encounters as a sign that death will claim them soon. Sometimes he is said to come driving a hearse (a black coach with candles mounted in skulls for light, human thigh bones for spokes and a human spine to hold up the worm-eaten pall) drawn by six headless horses, with or without a banshee at his side.

** ''Book of The Dead'' introduced perhaps the biggest in the entire setting: Mictlantecuhtli, the Kerberos of Mictlan, also known as Polydegmon the Collector. He doesn't guide souls per se, but the book mentions how he sees himself as the guardian of the dead. His biggest claim though, is how he can retrieve the soul of ''anyone'' who has ever died. Not even DeaderThanDead, CessationOfExistence, even old age (which is big, considering old age is usually ''the'' final death in most other settings) could stop him from doing this. Combined his [[GeniusLoci Geognosis]] and perfect 15 stats across the board, he might even be one of the mythical [[PhysicalGod Deathlords.]]

** Psychopomps are the primary race of TrueNeutral outsiders, and serve Pharasma, Goddess of the Dead, in ensuring that the transition of souls from life to the afterlife works properly and smoothly. They don't generally escort souls to the afterlife -- that happens automatically -- but serve various roles in easing the process. Shokis, for instance, track down lingering souls to coax them to the afterlife; esoboks and morrignas hunt down the undead and those who would cheat death; memitims and vanths guard departed souls to ward off supernatural predators; catrinas comfort the departed and help them accept their fate; {{calacas}} help living mourners come to terms with their losses. Their mortal enemies are the daemons, who seek to [[SoulEating devour and destroy souls]]; sahkils, whose fostering of mortal fear disturbs the progression of the dead into the afterlife; and any and all undead. Some psychopomps are powerful enough to be demigods in their own right, called "psychopomp ushers", and can be taken as a patron deity by divine spellcasters.

* ''VideoGame/GrimFandango'' has one as the main protagonist, Manny Calavera, a Grim Reaper who lives on the land of the dead, and his job is going to the land of the living, bringing dead people to the land of the dead, and sell them tickets to the Ninth Underworld, which is essentialy heaven. Manny is only allowed to go to the Ninth Underworld if he pays his debts for what he done in life, and is working as a reaper to do such, when working as a reaper, he dresses with a robe and carries a scythe, but when he is not picking souls, his job is just like in a real world office.

* In ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIIINocturne'', with the exception of [[PlayerCharacter the Hito-Shura]] and [[VideoGame/DevilMayCry Dante]] / [[VideoGame/RaidouKuzunohaVsTheSoullessArmy Raidou Kuzunoha the 14th]], the [[BonusBoss holders of the Candelabra]] are various incarnations of death, including the Four HorsemenOfTheApocalypse, [[Literature/TheBible the trumpet playing angel and the Whore of Babylon]], a Sokushinbutsu, [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg plus]] [[OriginalGeneration a matador and hell's angel]].

* ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'': The Spirit Monks serve the Water Dragon, who is the Shepherd of the Dead. The monks have the duty to deal with restless ghosts, and can bind spirits in order to escort particularly troublesome specimens to Dirge, the gateway to the Underworld. They can also temporarily disperse spirits through [[EverybodyWasKungFuFighting applied force]].
* The world of Haephnes in ''VideoGame/SoulNomadAndTheWorldEaters'' has a being known as a Master of Death, a god who serves as a psychopomp to gods and humans alike and controls the flow of souls to the afterlife. Souls there go through a cycle of reincarnation, and without a Master of Death the cycle stagnates as souls are unable to flow freely between life and afterlife. That's their job in theory, at least. Gig [[OmnicidalManiac certainly made the souls flow, but it was a purely one-way ticket]].

* ''VideoGame/RuneScape'' has two known Psychopomps, Death and Icthlarin. Death's role is to separate dead souls from their bodies and help them reach the underworld, while Icthlarin (who is based on Anubis from Myth/EgyptianMythology) guides souls through the underworld of Gielinor, protecting them from his insane sister who used to be in charge of reincarnation before she went insane. Death is actually referred to as a Psychopomp in the lyrics of the song of the Halloween 2014 event. Death was given his role as a psychopomp by Guthix after he became the very first human to ever die in Gielinor. According to the game's lore, each planet has its own version of Death and its own underworld. Upon death a creature's soul is reaped by the Death of the planet they are currently on, and then passes to the underworld of whatever planet they consider home.

** Kynareth, the Goddess of the Air among the Nine Divines, is one in her [[CatFolk Khajiiti]] and [[HornyVikings Nordic]] aspects as Kynarthi and Kyne, respectively. In particular, as Kyne, she fills a role similar to that the {{Valkyries}}.

* ''VideoGame/{{Brawlhalla}}'' has two of them: Brynn, a [[HalfHumanHybrid Half Human]]-[[{{Valkyries}} Half Valkyrie]] who not only choses warriors for Valhalla, but also likes to join the tournament they fight in, and Nix, a "reaper for hire" who has worked across different panteons and is currently in the tournament looking for 11 gods that are hiding somewhere, as well as trying to reap some fighters who have broken the rules of death in some way or another.

** Canonically, the game and its universe features a unique spin on TheGrimReaper archetype by manifesting as [[TheDividual two entities]], collectively known as Kindred. Eternally bound to one another, one of them represents [[DontFearTheReaper the gentle, if absolute side of death]] that grants a peaceful passing should the victim FaceDeathWithDignity, while the other is [[SuperPersistentPredator a violent predator that eternally chases those trying to run from death]] until [[TheProblemWithFightingDeath they inevitably lose]]. They're mainly represented in-game by the [[CuteMonsterGirl Lamb]] and [[BeastMan Wolf]], but various cultures in Runeterra have their own regional variants and interpretations, though they're always consistently acknowledged as a dual entity.

* ''Webcomic/ThePhoenixRequiem'' : Spirits, who used to take humans' souls to afterlife before their imprisonment. [[spoiler:It is revealed near the end that actually the Mehdiea or Hellions as they're known were responsible for sending souls to afterlife. As both Spirits and Mehdiea are imprisoned, at the end it falls to Jonas to do the job. He even mentions at the end that some people call him "[[TheGrimReaper The Reaper]]".]]

[[quoteright:350:[[Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/psychopomp_6.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:350:Clockwise from top left: [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Neith]], [[Myth/CelticMythology Ankou]], [[Myth/HinduMythology Agni]], [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Hermes]], and [[MagneticMedium Antimony Carver]].]]

[[quoteright:300:[[Webcomic/GunnerkriggCourt https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gc-psychopomps-text.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300:Clockwise from top left: [[Myth/EgyptianMythology Neith]], [[Myth/CelticMythology Ankou]], [[Myth/HinduMythology Agni]], [[Myth/ClassicalMythology Hermes]], and [[MagneticMedium Antimony Carver]].]]

** Kings got a Celestial Ferryman (there were several, all divine) to ferry them accross the celestial waterway of the afterlife.

* Islam: Azrael, though the Qur'an simply refers to it as "The Angel of Death". What the Qur'an actually refers to are ''angels'' of death, plural. Only in a hadith (which are always a slippery subject given that the Qur'an is the only reliable scripture) is there any talk of an Azrael.

** Lovecraft himself is met and escorted by psychopomps in Tim Powers' short story "Dispensation". They are, of course, two adorable kittens. The best part? It really happened. It's in one of his last letters. On October 20, 1936, HPL walked in Squantum Woods near Narragansett Bay. The kittens, whom he thought must be part of a colony attached to a nearby hospital, appeared and followed him like guardians; a cuddly, playful tortie and a grey standoffish dude, only following the Old Gentleman so he wouldn't lose track of his sibling. They remained behind in the woods as he went on his way. Five months later Lovecraft was dead. Powers' tale explains what they were, who sent them, and where HPL resides now.

-->--'''Black Panther''', ''Film/CaptainAmericaCivilWar''

* ''VideoGame/{{Brawlhalla}}'' has two of them: Brynn, a [[HalfHumanHybrid Half Human]]-[[{{Valkyries}} Half Valkyrie]] who not only choses warriors for Valhalla, but also likes to join the tournament they fight in, and Nix, a "reaper for hire" who has worked across different panteons and is currently in the tournament looking for 11 gods that are hiding somwhere, as well as trying to reap some fighters who have broken the rules of death in some way or another.