Grim Reaper

When I thought of the title for this post, I was thinking of the Grim reaper in the form of death. A perfect discussion considering I write crime fiction and murder. It wasn't until I actually started reading about the Grim reaper that I realised what a massive subject it actually its. It's far too long and complex to go into a comprehensive discussion on an A to Z challenge blog post which are meant to be short so people can get through them and on to the next blogger. See here if you are unaware what the A to Z challenge is.

The Grim Reaper has a solid history, but it also has it's differences depending on culture and religion which play big parts in what people perceive the Reaper to be.

It's natural for humans to be concerned about the unknown and what could be more unknown than death itself. A place people never return from, so no solid accounts are available on what happens at point of death. We needed a face. Someone to be there to guide us through the experience. Initially the people who were with us at the point of death were Valkyries, females with friendly faces who guided us to Valhalla.

It wasn't until the great plague that death took the dark form that we now commonly associate with death, the Grim Reaper with his dark clothing, skeletal face and large scythe. A brutal horrific time to live through so not surprising that death came in such a dark form.

So, does the fact that my victims face a brutal death mean they also face the Grim reaper, or, as I'd like to hope, they paid their price in the story, so a friendly face is the one to guide them through death, whatever that may be?