History Main / Psychopomp

* ''{{Soultaker}}''. The Soultakers.

* ''WebComic/GunnerkriggCourt'': Numerous. Muut, a death spirit from Cahuilla Indian folklore, is probably most prominent. Aside from Ketrak, the Guide of insects, all of them are preexisting mythological figures, though some, such as Agni (pictured above) and [[{{Hellhound}} the Moddey-Dhoo]], were not psychopomps in the original stories. And in at least one instance, a living human served as a psychopomp for a relative after none of the Guides came to help.

* ''Comicbook/TheSandman'': Several, most prominently Death of the Endless. She's portrayed as a PerkyGoth girl who seems to have a [[TheMessiah deep and abiding affection for just about everyone and everything]].

* Neil Gaiman's AmericanGods references this by name. In this case, it's [[spoiler: [[EgyptianMythology Thoth]]/Mr. Ibis leading the main character after his death on the WorldTree]].

* ''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 particularily troublesome specimens to Dirge, the gateway to the Underworld. They can also temporarily disperse spirits through applied force.

* ''LifeAndDeath'' has Steve, who serves as the psychopomp for the world, and occasionally the one to actually kill people. The catch is that Death is the name of his job, not his nature.

* ''GeistTheSinEaters'': You play as one of the Bound, who has partially fused with a type of ghost, and go around doing to work of the dead, or just doing the shit your Geist wants. One of the [[{{Splat}} Archetypes]], the Advocates, is pretty much devoted to helping ghost resolve their UnfinishedBusiness and allowing them to pass on.

* LiamNeeson plays one in ''AfterLife''. [[spoiler: [[ILied Ma]][[AlternateCharacterInterpretation y]][[MaybeMagicMaybeMundane be]]]].

* ''TheSandman'': Several, most prominently Death of the Endless. She's portrayed as a PerkyGoth girl who seems to have a [[TheMessiah deep and abiding affection for just about everyone and everything]].

** In the spin-off comic ''{{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.

* Two of these appear in ''TheDresdenFiles'' novel ''Ghost Story''. The first is [[spoiler: Carmichael]], who appears to guide [[spoiler: Harry Dresden]] to his superiors, who are a sort of "between worlds police" who specialize in safeguarding free will as agents of the Archangel Uriel. The second appears much later, in the form of a literal "angel of death" who is standing over [[spoiler: Father Forthill's body]] as he lays dying. When Harry questions her purpose, she tells him that her job is to safeguard the souls of the righteous who [[{{Satan}} the Enemy]] would seek to waylay on their way to the afterlife, and that she is standing by for the moment when [[spoiler: Forthill]] dies.

* ''{{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.]]

** You got a Celestial Ferryman (there were several, all divine) to ferry you accross the waterway of the afterlife.
** If you were a recently deceased king, you could climb a spiritual ladder into the sky and join the sun god in his solar boat.

* Egyptian: Anubis most famously; also Horus, Neith, and others.
** Though they wouldn't take you to the Afterlife; they would only be present at your final judgement. You had to find your own way through the desert of death to be judged. Prayers, spellscrolls and various items put into your grave would help you on this journey. Oh, and you had to be mummified, if you didn't want to take the journey as a rotting corpse, and probably never reach your destination.

* ''GunnerkriggCourt'': Numerous. Muut, a death spirit from Cahuilla Indian folklore, is probably most prominent. Aside from Ketrak, the Guide of insects, all of them are preexisting mythological figures, though some, such as Agni (pictured above) and [[{{Hellhound}} the Moddey-Dhoo]], were not psychopomps in the original stories. And in at least one instance, a living human served as a psychopomp for a relative after none of the Guides came to help.

[[quoteright:300:[[GunnerkriggCourt http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gc-psychopomps-text.jpg]]]]

[[GunnerkriggCourt http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gc-psychopomps-text.jpg]]
[[caption-width:300:Clockwise from top left: Neith, Ankou, Agni, Hermes, and Antimony Carver.]]

* In European folklore, dogs are said to act as psychopomps. A howl at night often signaled that someone was about to die.

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

* Ostensibly, this is what the shinigami (translated as Soul Reapers in this 'verse) are portrayed as in {{Bleach}}, rather than [[GrimReaper]]s or death gods.

* ''LifeOnMars'' and ''AshesToAshes'': [[spoiler: Gene Hunt takes on this role in response to being killed as a young policeman. Out of what is essentially Purgatory, he creates an entire world in which he's an amalgamation of {{Cowboy Cop}}s and [[JudgeJuryAndExecutioner "the Sheriff"]], and uses it to help fellow coppers who die in tortured circumstances through their issues. The thing is, he doesn't remember any of this himself until the GrandFinale.]]
* ''{{Lost}}'': [[spoiler:Once Desmond realizes he's dead in the flash-sideway 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.]]

* 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.

* What [[spoiler:the eponymous character]] become in ''PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', after she become a Goddess of some sort. Her job is to take the soul 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.

** In his afterword to the VertigoComics artists' showcase ''Death Gallery'', Gaiman mentions the inspiration for this portrayal. A Kabbalistic teaching has it that when a person is about to die, the Angel of Death comes to him in the form of a woman so beautiful that his [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer or her]] soul leaves their body in ecstasy.

* Various: TheWildHunt acts in a similar role in some versions of the legend (in others, it's a hunting party either for demons, TheFairFolk, or the Old Gods. The French region of Bretagne has Ankou (or l'Ankou, ie the Ankou), which is similar to the Grim Reaper in many aspects but differs as his scythe is fit together wrongly ("emmanchée à l'envers") and that in some versions of the tale the last dead of the year fills the role for the following year, other versions have it that he is a suicide. Related: the washers at the ford wash the clothes of people about to die.

* Two of these appears in ''TheDresdenFiles'' novel ''Ghost Story''. The first is [[spoiler: Carmichael]], who appears to guide [[spoiler: Harry Dresden]] to his superiors, who are a sort of "between worlds police" who specialize in safeguarding free will as agents of the Archangel Uriel. The second appears much later, in the form of a literal "angel of death" who is standing over [[spoiler: Father Forthill's body]] as he lays dying. When Harry questions her purpose, she tells him that her job is to safeguard the souls of the righteous who [[{{Satan}} the Enemy]] would seek to waylay on their way to the afterlife, and that she is standing by for the moment when [[spoiler: Forthill]] dies.

* Sparrows, functioning as psychopomps to escort the dead to the hereafter, figure heavily in the plot of ''TheDarkHalf'', by StephenKing.

* What [[spoiler:the eponymous character]] become in ''PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', after she become a Goddess of some sort. Her job is to take the soul of dead {{Magical Girl}}s... somewhere, but it's definitely a better state of existence than becoming a Witch. Parallels to {{Valkyries}} are noted.

* Greek: Charon, Hermes, Medusa and others.

*** Charon and Hermes I knew... But Medusa?