History Characters / DiscworldDeathAndCompany

* MundaneSolution: How does one kill monsters when one is the granddaughter of Death, who has the power to stop time, manipulate reality and walk through walls? With the nearest handy fireplace poker.

* TimeStop: One of the powers that she uses most often. [[MundaneUtility Handy for grading papers.]]

* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: He seems to be a fairly harmless grumpy OldRetainer, but when he decides to reclaim his magic, he demonstrates that he's a force to be reckoned with -- powerful enough, indeed, to take on Death on the mortal plane (whilst in the circle of the Rite of Ashe-Kente), being speculated to be as powerful as a Wizard could be without being a Sourcerer... but only if he'd had his staff. Unfortunately for him, the Librarian had hidden it.

* MuggleInMageCustody: An odd example in that he is actually a wizard, but is rarely seen to use magic. He was once a very powerful wizard who decided to cast the Death-summoning ritual of Ash-Kente in reverse to gain immortality. Instead, he found himself dragged into Death's realm but took on the position of CrustyCaretaker there, as he had very little time left in reality and the other options for immortality were less than pleasant or likely to succeed.
* OhCrap: The one time we see him properly terrified is when Mort turns on him, having taken on Death's aspect while retaining the darker aspects of his humanity, something Albert's internal monologue makes clear is whole new level of terrifying. Death, after all, is not personal. Mort, on the other hand, very much is.

* OldRetainer: Insomuch as time exists in Death's realm, he's been doing his job for millennia.

* BadassAbnormal: As Death's Apprentice, even before DeathTakesAHoliday, he gets a number of the powers associated with the position, such as walking through walls and being able to speak any language.

* {{Homage}}: The motto he selects for the Sto Helit family is ''Non Timetus Messor''. This is a ShoutOut to the Music/BlueOysterCult's classic ''Don't Fear the Reaper''.

* PunnyName: "mort" means "death" in French. Death notes the coincidence when they first meet.

* SweetTooth: She likes her some chocolate. One of the few times Susan reminisices about her is that her favourite food was a dish titled "Genocide by Chocolate".

* AllPowerfulBystander: To keep space and time cohesive, he can't ''really'' interfere. However, sometimes he [[RewritingReality does give things a 'nudge']], [[LoopholeAbuse find a proxy]] to operate on his behalf, or [[DeathTakesAHoliday goes on holiday]].

* AlwaysABiggerFish: Even TheGrimReaper himself answers to someone even bigger, in this case the Death of Universes. Also inverted where there are [[OddJobGods Death of Rats, Fleas...]]

** A sign of his CharacterDevelopment in ''Maskerade'' when Granny Weatherwax challenges him to a hand of poker to settle the fate of a newborn child, he concedes the game to her as she has four Queens, whereas all he has are four "ones" [[note]]Ace beats Queen in most hand combinations in Poker. Also note that that was ''Granny's'' first hand, and she tricked him into taking it. Depending on your interpretation, either she tricked him into conceding or he willingly let her win. It should also be remembered that he is physically incapable of ''losing'' a game.[[/note]]

* DarkIsNotEvil: The Discworld is full of these, but he's definitely a standout given the combo of black cloak and compassion. According to Terry Pratchett, he sometimes received very nice letters from [[TearJerker people who knew they were due to meet the Reaper]] (specifically, terminally ill children), and hope that Pratchett has got him right. Such letters caused the author to stare at the wall for a while.

* HumanityIsInfectious: Death has developed a fascination with humanity and is shown to have moments of sympathy towards them. His daughter Ysabell has gone on record for saying that Death doesn't feel emotions, rather thinks of emotions and how to act on them.

* NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast: He may be an example of DarkIsNotEvil, but titles like "Harvester of Mankind," "Swallower of Oceans," and so on aren't exactly the most comforting.

* QuintessentialBritishGentleman: Or the Ankh-Morporkian equivalent (he is, after all, sometimes adressed as "Your Lordship"). And as ''Thief of Time'' points out, he fits much of the criteria; he owns land (his own country), he's polite, and always punctual. It means he's got membership at the local gentleman's club in Ankh-Morpork, for when he feels the need to put his feet up.

* ResignedToTheCall: He accepts his role as the reaper because it's the role that's integral to the cycle of life. He doesn't take pleasure in the deaths of others or taunt their fate, in fact, he's offended by the idea of him killing people. Death insists that reapers must care for humanity in order to do their jobs.

* TomSwifty: Death has been the object of such puns in ''Literature/TheLightFantastic'' and ''Literature/SoulMusic''. In the former, he's just been summoned by the Rite of [=AshkEnte=]. He adds, a shade reproachfully, that "[he] was at a party". In the latter, it's used in combination with a ShoutOut to [[RockAndRoll Music with Rocks In]] --"Thank you", said the [[RedundancyDepartmentOfRedundancy grateful Death]].

During ''Literature/ReaperMan'', Death's forced holiday resulted in the creation of all sorts of little deaths. The big guy subsumed all of them... but one. [[note]]Well, technically two, but the Death of Fleas isn't important.[[/note]] The Death of Rats is something like a sidekick or a pet, and Death allows him it to continue existing independently just because it amuses him. When he isn't off collecting ill-fated rats, gerbils, hamsters, mice, and the odd particularly rodent-like human, he runs some of Death's errands, particularly those regarding harassing Susan. His sidekick/transport is the talking raven Quoth..

* TheUnintelligible: All he ever says is "'''Squeak.'''" Since he's just a rat skeleton. Usually has to be translated by Quoth the raven.

* CleverCrows: Clever ''[[Administrivia/TropesAreFlexible Ravens]]'' in this case. Not, as it turns out, the only talking raven on the Disc, but definitely the brightest and most eloquent one (the other talking ravens, who hang around Unseen University, usually limit themselves to simple sentences like [[Literature/NightWatchDiscworld "Whatcha doing, mifter?"]])

* TheArtifact: As noted above she is technically a Duchess because of her backstory (her father was given the title in ''Literature/{{Mort}}'') a status she presumably still has but never comes up, outside of a brief mention in ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''. Since part of Mort's punishment for changing reality was merging the Sto Plains kingdoms as history intended, it's possible that Sto-Helit merged into Keli's Sto-Lat and it's just a courtesy title with no responsibility - that, or the estate is managed by someone else.

* FallenPrincess: Possibly. Her parents were still a duke and duchess when she was sent to boarding school and were regularly doing business travels. When they died, Susan was allowed to finish her education but we see that she became a governess and later a schoolteacher rather than do anything official as a Duchess. It's implied that Mort causing a merged timeline to save Queen Kelli's life had something to do with this, and it's quite probable that once his political work was done, the estates would have left her as one of the IdleRich, so she decided to get a job.
* FlatEarthAtheist: Literally. Her parents raised her as such to try and keep her away from her grandfather -- not so much out of dislike towards him, as a desire to give her a normal life, especially after she demonstrated inclinations towards the occult (and since both her parents had seen what a human with Death's mantle could be like -- her father, as Death's Apprentice -- they were understandably scared witless). In her first appearance in ''Literature/SoulMusic'' she doesn't believe in all this "Death" nonsense despite the events occurring or the fact that her grandfather is Death himself, her father was his apprentice, and her mother is his adoptive daughter. She tries it again rather half-heartedly at the start of ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}'', in respect to the Death of Rats and Quoth, but stops bothering.

* IJustWantToBeNormal: Mainly in her early appearances. Note that Susan's version of 'normal' is not actually all that normal for the Disc. Also note that the Disc's version of normal is not "normal" either. However, manipulating your boarding school teacher's mind so they can't see you or remember you're there is odd even for a world with the Ramtops and Unseen University in it.

* BreakoutCharacter: Started out as just a RunningGag for when character's died, but Death gradually grew into being the most beloved character in the franchise, and Pratchett's signature creation, with multiple books about him.

* CreativeSterility: Death can't create life, and he can only really copy things. He also doesn't quite understand the purpose of the things he makes or how they work, so he may build pipes but forget they're supposed to be hollow, make towels with no idea they're supposed to be fluffy and absorbent, or make a swing in a tree by removing the trunk, leaving the rest of the tree in place -- still growing. [[note]]It should be noted though that his work being twisted forms of their original function indicates that he's making holds some spark of originality, even if it doesn't function properly (if it functioned properly it ''would'' be just a copy).[[/note]]

* AlmightyJanitor: Death is (understandably) offended when he's accused of killing people. Death's job as the reaper is more of a public service than outright judge, jury and executioner. In fact, he can be quite readily compared to a sanitation worker of sorts. In the same way a sanitation worker doesn't create the garbage he shows up to collect, people die on their own, and Death's role is to usher them into the next world; he's not evil by nature, he's just fulfilling his designated role.