History Main / Psychopomp

* ''{{Jack}}, the first successful genetically engineered "furry", became the (new) Reaper after [[spoiler: leading a crusade that exterminated the human race]]. It's rather convoluted because in that fictional universe the Reaper is also the Sin of Wrath, technically a demon of Hell. Yet Jack is the most conflicted entity in the afterlife, showing traits of both good and evil; apparently both God and Lucifer think that Jack can be used against the other.

* Somewhat unsettling in hindsight, but [[''Peter Pan'']] 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.”

* Somewhat unsettling in hindsight, but ''Peter Pan'' 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.”

* Somewhat unsettling in hindsight, but [[Peter Pan]] 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.”

** Well, he ''is'' a kind of cosmic entity, as members of his species are actually energy beings who simply manifest in humanoid form. He is capable of releasing some of that energy, which is what helps people move on. Stark is a little off-his-rocker, so even that basic explanation was all anyone was ever to get out of him.

[[caption-width-right:300:Clockwise from top left: Neith, Ankou, Agni, Hermes, and Antimony Carver.]]

* What [[spoiler:the eponymous character]] becomes in ''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.
* Ostensibly, this is what the shinigami (translated as Soul Reapers in this 'verse) are portrayed as in {{Bleach}}, rather than {{Grim Reaper}}s or death gods.

* The sparrows in StephenKing's novel 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 HPLovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror" it was whippoorwills. They would gather near someone who was dying and if they got the soul would hoot and sing for the rest of the night. If the person died and the birds quieted down, then you knew they missed it.

* 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, [[Literature/TheBible the trumpet playing angel and the Whore of Babylon]], a Sokushinbutsu, [[MyFriendsAndZoidberg plus]] [[OriginalGeneration a matador and hell's angel]].

* AfterlifeExpress: When the psychopomp travels in or actually takes the form of a vehicle, usually a train.

** 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.

* Charlie and Minty Fresh in {{Christopher Moore}}'s ''Literature/ADirtyJob''

* 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.

** [[spoiler: Jim Keats, the BigBad of Season 3, is also a {{Psychopomp}}, being Hunt's "opposite number", as it were. If you sin in Dead Copper Purgatory, Keats is the one who takes you, and it's pretty clear [[FireAndBrimstoneHell where]].]]

** 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.

* ''TabletopGame/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.

* 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]] [[OriginalGeneration a matador and hell's angel]].

* The world of Haephnes in ''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]].

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* HinduMythology: Yama, the Lord Of Death and Justice.

* Popular Christianity: It varies, but most commonly St. Peter and various angels.

* ''{{Touhou}}'' has Shikeiki Yamaxanadu, the Enma, or Judge of the Dead. (As well as her [[TheSlacker slacker]] subordinate Komachi, but she is [[{{Shinigami}} a more specific trope]].)

* {{Farscape}}:Stark, who unlike most examples was not so much a cosmic entity as just some random guy that for mostly unexplored reasons had the talent of being able to help people cross over.

* StarTrek showed a few psychopomps from alien cultures, like Kortar for Klingons, and the Registrar for Ferengi.

* In H.P. Lovecraft's "The Dunwich Horror" it was whippoorwills. They would gather near someone who was dying and if they got the soul would hoot and sing for the rest of the night. If the person died and the birds quieted down, then you knew they missed it.

* ''JigokuShoujo'': Among other duties, Enma Ai ferries damned souls to eternal torment.

Greek for ''conveyors of the soul'', psychopomps are this journey's guides, and are ''everywhere'' in mythology. Most cultures, ancient or modern, include at least one figure with this function; several have many. They are not necessarily personifications of death or judges of the dead, although many are; they may or may not choose the slain, but all escort their charges to the next world. Often they act as [[ThresholdGuardians threshold guardian]] figures either to dead souls or to living heroes descending into the underworld. In many cases, it's common for burial rites to include an offering to the guardian of the gates of death.

Psychopomps -- Greek for ''conveyors of the soul'', originally an epithet of Hermes -- are this journey's guides, and are ''everywhere'' in mythology. Most cultures, ancient or modern, include at least one figure with this function; several have many. They are not necessarily personifications of death or judges of the dead, although many are; they may or may not choose the slain, but all escort their charges to the next world. Often they act as [[ThresholdGuardians threshold guardian]] figures, either to dead souls or to living heroes descending into the underworld. In such a case, it's common for burial rites to include an offering to the guardian of the gates of death.

** {{Shinigami}}: essentially the Japanese version of the Grim Reaper, these usually act as psychopomps as well.

** As mentioned above, Hermes is the TropeNamer via his epithet 'psychopompos'.

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

Psychopomps -- Greek for ''conveyors of the soul'', originally an epithet of Hermes -- are this journey's guides, and are ubiquitous in mythology. Most cultures, ancient or modern, include at least one figure with this function; several have many. They are not necessarily personifications of death or judges of the dead, although many are; they may or may not choose the slain, but all escort their charges to the next world. Often they act as [[ThresholdGuardians threshold guardian]] figures, either to dead souls or to living heroes descending into the underworld. In such a case, it's common for burial rites to include an offering to the guardian of the gates of death.

* In the third chapter of ''Manga/TheKurosagiCorpseDeliveryService'', both the titular group's symbol (''kurosagi'', the black heron that takes souls to the land of the dead) and the white heron that bring souls into the world of the living are referenced.

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* {{Valkyries}}: A [[NorseMythology Norse]] counterpart, who specifically chose those who died an honorable death in combat, picking the warrior from the battlefield and taking him to Valhalla, the warrior's paradise.

* In JohnCWright's ''Orphans of Chaos'' characters discuss how Orpheus is certain to be the new Psychopomp. Later, in ''Titans of Chaos'', the old one uses it to justify being an OmnicidalManiac, since he can conduct the souls back after he recreates the universe ''[[KnightTemplar right]]''.

* Egyptian: Though they wouldn't actually take you to the Afterlife, Anubis, Horus, and Nephtys would be present at your final judgement. To get to the afterlife there were a few methods:

* Greek: Charon, Hermes, Hekate and others.

* Norse: Odin, Baldr, all valkyries and Freyja in some versions.

* Celtic/Irish: In the original mythology, hearing the cry of a Banshee meant that someone who heard it was going to die. It wasn't until DungeonsAndDragons was made that the idea of the cry being anything more then a sign of approaching death took off.