Post by thanatos on May 2, 2007 22:19:36 GMT -5
THANATOS
“Your thoughts reach higher than the air;
You dream of wide fields' cultivation.
The homes you plan surpass the homes
That men have known, but you do err,
Guiding your life afar.
But one there is who'll catch the swift,
Who goes a way obscured in gloom,
And sudden, unseen, overtakes
And robs us of our distant hopes—
Thanatos, mortals' source of many woes.”
Thanatos, with his brother Hypnos.
“Your thoughts reach higher than the air;
You dream of wide fields' cultivation.
The homes you plan surpass the homes
That men have known, but you do err,
Guiding your life afar.
But one there is who'll catch the swift,
Who goes a way obscured in gloom,
And sudden, unseen, overtakes
And robs us of our distant hopes—
Thanatos, mortals' source of many woes.”
Thanatos, with his brother Hypnos.
Name: Thanatos
Other Names: Ker, Mors, Mortis, Letus (Death); Akherontis (Woe Bringer), Agonistes (Struggler).
Epithets: Pale-visaged, black-winged, gloomy, cruel, dismal, insatiable, ruthless, remorseless, threatening, fearsome; with blood-stained visage, with greedy teeth, with wings of night, of the black robes, of the land below, of the House of Hades, master of dead men, son of Night, brother of Sleep, messenger of Doom, sword-girt harbinger of Death.
Gender: Male
Age: Ageless. Appears 16.
Position: Neutral.
Status: God, Daimon Personification of Death and Mortality.
Progenitors: Nyx (Night), Erebos (Darkness).
Progeny: None.
Siblings: Hypnos (Sleep), Moros (Doom), Momos (Blame), Oizys (Pain), Nemesis (Retribution), Dolos (Treachery), Apate (Deception), Philotes (Affection), Geras (Old Age), Eris (Strife), Kharon (Taxation), Eurynomos (Decay), Lyssa (Frenzy), Koalemos (Foolishness), Hybris (Insolence), Adikia (Lawlessness), Epiphron (Shrewdness), Anaideia (Ruthlessness), Sophrosyne (Restraint), Eleos (Mercy), the Hesperides (Twilights; Aigle [Radiance], Erytheia [Redness], Arethousa [Swiftness]), the Keres (Demises; Anaplekte [Swift Demise], Akhlys [Mist of Demise], Iskhnasia [Wasting Demise]) the Oneiroi (Dreams; Morpheus [Shape], Ikelos [Semblance], Phantasos [Apparition]), the Erinyes (Furies; Alekto [Relentless], Megaira [Jealousy], Tisiphone [Avenging Murder]) and the Moirae (Fates; Klotho [Spinner], Lakhesis [Alotter], Atropos [Unturning]).
Appearance: Thanatos is eternally young; an adolescent on the cusp of manhood, though he has the height of an adult. His androgynous beauty and slender, deceitfully fragile build do little to mollify the fearsome aura that surrounds him. His voice is bleak, hollow and sepulchral, a remote echo from the fathomless depths beneath the earth. His features deceive the eyes, as he embodies both everlasting youth and the cold embrace of the grave at once. He is a twisted union of the heart-breaking beauty of Eros and the bone-chilling monstrosity of Khaos. A walking paroxysm of Life and Death. Immortal and inexorable, lustrous and lifeless. All-encompassing and All-consuming.
His flesh is luminously pale, soft as ash and cold as snowy winter. His hair falls to his shoulders in wavy locks and tangles of tousled silver, framing a face of austere, idyllic youth. He would seem a statue carved from alabaster, but his pallid visage stands in stark contrast to the black feathered wings that branch strikingly from between his shoulders. In the darkness between those tenebrous plumes, there are subtle glimmers of pale light, a flickering firmament of distant stars. This is magnified a thousand fold in his eyes, which are smoldering pools of nothingness - but for the twin pinpoints of dying starlight that serve as his pupils. Staring into those cold eyes is like staring into the very heart of darkness.
Death dresses in simple black robes and tunics, often fashioned from threads and stitches of woven shadow. He prefers plain and versatile garments which allow him the greatest freedom of movement, as opposed to the opulent finery that other immortals fancy. He very rarely wears any trinkets beyond what is necessary, and that usually only consists of a plain silver brooch to fasten his tunic. He either wears strapped leather sandals on his feet, or simply goes barefoot. A scabbard is always belted at his waist to sheath his sword.
While collecting souls he drapes a tattered death shawl over his head to obscure his features, the better to make a more terrifying impression.
During the Trojan War, Death stalked the battlefield clad in iron armor. He donned a fearsome helm and wore a protective breastplate and greaves, and carried a round iron shield emblazoned with skeletal designs. Upon his shoulders was fastened a ragged mantle, black as the starless pitch of night, writhing with disembodied hunger. To mortals he walked unseen, though his presence was felt everywhere. To the gods he was a fearsome sight, in spite of his meager stature and scrawny physique.
"Sluggish stands the mere with black abyss, and, when Thanatos, pale-visaged with greedy teeth, has brought countless tribes to the world of shades, one ferryman transports those many peoples." - Seneca, Hercules Furens 554.
Personality: Thanatos is in every way the embodiment of Death; cold, detached, indiscriminate and inescapable. He suffers very little emotion, considering it irrelevant and unsuited to his nature. He prefers action to contemplation, and function to whim. He views his existence as an essential aspect of reality, and devotes himself utterly to a duty that he believes is a necessary evil. He is the equalizer of the cosmos, the essential destroyer, without which there can be no propagation. If there is no death, there is no change. For new things to come into being, old things must be unmade. A pragmatic, almost pessimistic outlook on life, but it is his personal philosophy and the central pillar of his conviction.
The God of Death has always been detached, remote and enigmatic. He does not make friends or allies, does not give charity and does not hold grudges (with two exceptions; Sisyphos and Herakles). He distrusts the gods for the way they so impulsively meddle with fate, and he is disillusioned with mortals because of their fear and hatred of him. He is wary of his siblings, the children of Nyx, and prefers to leave them to their own Daimonic devices.
The only beings with whom Thanatos associates freely are the underworld deities associated with death. He answers to Moros and the Moirae, who weave the intricate tapestry of fate that Death adheres to. He respects and reveres Hades, the Lord of the Underworld, and sees him as something of a father-figure. He maintains a professional acquaintance with his brother Kharon, the Boatman of the river Akheron. He also works closely with some of his other siblings, the Keres, the Erinyes, Nemesis, Eurynomos, and Geras. He is rather fond of Kerberos, the hound of Hades, and treats the monstrous three-headed dog as a pet. But most of all Thanatos treasures the company of his beloved twin brother Hypnos.
Thanatos also has his fair share of enemies among the gods. He absolutely despises Eros, the God of Love. While Eros hates him back, their rivalry is more professional then personal. Nemesis and Thanatos are often embroiled in sibling rivalry, as her sense of justice and righteous punishment conflicts with his indiscriminate taking of lives. The Olympian god Apollon has also developed something of a grudge for Thanatos - the two often find themselves working against each other’s interests. The god of Death deeply resents the demigod Herakles for thwarting him in the past.
“Funereal gods, murky Khaos and shadowy Hades’ dark dwelling-place, the abysses of dismal Thanatos, girt by the banks of Hades.” – Seneca, Medea 740.
Likes: Being the personification of Death is definitely one of the more demanding of divine responsibilities, and as such Thanatos has very little time to take pleasure in anything beyond his duty. What little time he does have to himself, he usually spends wandering the underworld aimlessly, or accompanying his twin brother Hypnos. He especially enjoys any time he can get with his parents or his twin, and it is in these rare instances that small glimpses of his former, happier self emerge. In light of this, perhaps the only thing that Thanatos really cares about is his immediate family. Truly, if they asked him, he would do absolutely anything within his power for any one of them, regardless of personal expense.
Thanatos’ sacred flower is the Asphodel (Asphodelos) and his sacred tree is the Ebony (Ptelea). The Jackal (Thous), Butterfly (Psyche) and Locust (Akris) are his sacred animals, and his sacred birds are the Raven (Korakas) and the Crow (Kourouna) – all can be used as means to invoke his power. Black (Melos) is his holy color. As a Khthonic deity, Thanatos only accepts sacrifices of black animals in sunken ditches (Megaron), as opposed to the typical offerings of white animals sacrificed on raised altars to the Olympian gods. However, sacrificial offerings to him are in vain if they are made only to postpone his coming.
“Thanatos loves not gifts, alone amongst the gods.” – Aristophanes, Frogs 1360.
Dislikes: Thanatos has never bothered to understand petty human inhibitions such as fear, hatred and anxiety, much less experience them. He does feel an overpowering need to carry out his duty, and anything that gets in the way of that duty will trouble him greatly. Death is single-minded, utterly humorless and completely insensitive, all of which are traits that can be used to outwit him or cheat him at his own game. He is unused to human emotions and has difficulty dealing with them. He cannot interpret expressions or tones, and does not distinguish between sincerity and sarcasm. He has never been able to figure out completely why mortals dread and loathe him with such intensity, and so he had hardened his heart to them. He is bewildered when the occasional human actually treats him with courtesy or even amicability, and behaves noticeably friendlier to such mortals.
“As for myself, though Thanatos still shudders at the sight of me, I have the feeling that the coming year will see me in the grave.” – Apollonius Rhodius, Argonautica 1.690.
Powers: Thanatos is immortal, and consequently he cannot be killed or destroyed, nor does he suffer the effects of aging, disease, or dementia. He does not require food or drink to survive, but constant physical exertion can and does fatigue him. Like all deities he consumes nectar and ambrosia to sustain his strength, and his power is replenished when humans make sacrifices to him. His feathered wings render the use of flight, and endow him with incredible speed. Like all gods, he can change into any form, alter his size to titanic proportions, and afflict mortals with curses or bestow his blessings upon them. He is spatially and temporally cognizant, knowing at all times exactly where he is and what the time is.
As the God of Death, Thanatos may kill at will with a touch, a stare, or even an utterance. This ability can be something of a double-edged sword however, akin to the Touch of Midas. If he is not mindful of his powers, then he can inadvertently kill anything he is near. He has also inherited various powers from his parents, including the ability to manipulate darkness and shadows, the ability to enter and shape dreams, and the ability to see perfectly in absolute darkness. He is invisible to humans while he is carrying out his function, save for the dying and the dead.
It is a well-kept secret that Thanatos’ power extends even over the lives of immortals. He can bring death to gods just as his brother brings sleep to gods (in fact, it can be argued that the only difference between mortals and immortals is that Death has claim over one race and not the other). While he is capable of killing a god, he is prevented from doing so by his eldest brother Moros, the God of Doom, who ensures that the balance of life and death in the universe is kept.
“If Hades offered life to mortals for gold, then I would persevere in hoarding it, so that if Thanatos came he could take some and pass on.” – Greek Lyric II, the Anacreontea Fragments 36.
Attributes: Thanatos wields a straight-bladed sword, nearly weightless and razor sharp. The sword is fashioned from darkened iron and inlaid with onyx. The hilt is perfectly balanced and always cold to the touch. The blade is roughly twenty-five inches long, and half a centimeter thick. It bears Thanatos’ power to slay the living with any wound it inflicts, even a glancing scratch. Its slightest touch numbs the skin and prolonged contact can paralyze, or even render a mortal comatose. The sword is powerless in mortal hands, however.
When on duty, Thanatos usually bears the Torch of Erebos, a pronged torch fashioned from ebony and iron which burns with a cool blue-white flame. The self-sustaining flame can illuminate the darkest of environments, dispelling even the murky gloom of the Underworld. It acts as a beacon for lost souls, drawing them to their fated judgment. Extinguishing the flame will blanket the surrounding area in Erebos’ inky shroud of darkness.
Thanatos can summon an array of unbreakable iron chains from any nearby shadow, and control their prehensile movements. He normally uses them to bind troublesome spirits that attempt to escape him, but they can be directed as lashing weapons against physical threats. They tighten or disperse at Thanatos’ command and they restrain the powers of their captives. The chains cannot be broken, not by Thanatos or any other, and he can no longer control them if he himself is shackled by them (he learned this the hard way during an embarrassing incident with a certain king).
"Pleasant lives droop and fail, Thanatos with his sword cuts through the Sister’s threads, and hurries the stricken city to the shades." - Statius, Thebaid 1.632.
Servitors: As his brother Hypnos is accompanied by the Oneiroi, so too does Thanatos possess his own aides; the Keres. Where Thanatos is the embodiment of peaceful death, these three daughters of Nyx are bloodthirsty spirits of violent death, haunters of the battlefield. The Keres appear as pale, spectral maidens, flying with tattered black wings and clothed in bloodstained robes. Their gnashing teeth are jagged and their fingers are clawed. Their eyes burn with bloodlust beneath their tangled, gore-spattered hair. They are drawn like vultures to slaughter and massacre, restrained only by the command of their brother Thanatos. Their names are Anaplekte, Akhlys and Iskhnasia.
Anaplekte is the Ker of swift, painful demise, the bringer of slaughter and calamity. She personifies the anguish and impotent rage of death through slaughter or folly. Akhlys is the Ker of the mist of demise that descends over the dying, and personifies the misery of death through suicide or grief. Iskhnasia is the Ker of slow, wasting demise, spreader of entropy. She embodies the withering degeneration of death through sickness and madness.
"All through the tangle of that desperate fray stalked slaughter and doom. The incarnate Onset-shout raved through the rolling battle; at her side paced Thanatos the ruthless, and the fearful Keres, beside them strode." - Quintus Smyrnaeus, Fall of Troy 1.306
Background: Thanatos is the God of Death, who came into this world long before the Olympian Gods rose to power. He was conceived in the union between Nyx and Erebos, along with his twin brother Hypnos. Hypnos was born with smoky grey skin and dark hair, while Thanatos was deathly pale with equally ashen hair, but they were otherwise identical. The twins grew up in the shadowy land of Erebos, named for and created from their father. They were reared by their mother Nyx, who favored the twins above her other offspring. Nyx doted on them and protected them from the jealous reprisals of their monstrous brothers and sisters. They enjoyed a carefree youth, frolicking amidst the Asphodel flowers that grew in the meadows and glades of their gloomy homeland. Thanatos was a curious and cheerful boy, blissful in his ignorance of what he was to become. But there was always a sense of feyness about him, a looming shadow of melancholy.
It would be the emergence of fragile humanity that saw Thanatos take up his grim mantle as the God of Death. This occurred during the reign of the Titanes, when Kronos fashioned the Golden race of Man, who were beautiful and ageless, but mortal. Thanatos took to his calling with naïve enthusiasm. He put them into a peaceful sleep when he came for them, like his brother Hypnos. They would never waken from this slumber and their bodies would dissolve, becoming one with nature. The Golden race neither feared nor begrudged Death, but unfortunately their race could not reproduce and over time they disappeared completely. Thanatos was deeply saddened by this, feeling that he was partly responsible for the end of the Golden Age. After the Titanomakhia the Olympians came to power, and Zeus created the Silver race of Man. These mortals aged like modern men, but at a much slower rate. Unlike their peaceful and respectful predecessors, these mortals were arrogant and did not acknowledge the gods, so Zeus eventually punished them with destruction. The spirits of the Golden and Silver races became invisible guardians of the Bronze race of Man, who were creations of the titan Prometheus. And it would be this third race which came to abhor Death so greatly. They spoke his name in fearful whispers and struggled desperately to postpone his inevitable coming. Thanatos began to realize what he represented to them - the end of life, and all its pleasures. They hated him, they feared him, and he despaired. Over time, bitterness ate away at all the warmth and affection in his soul, until he truly became what mortals saw him to be. Dismal, sinister, foreboding Death. Merciless and relentless; the black-hearted hunter of men’s souls.
It was during the Titanomakhia that Thanatos and his Daimon siblings constructed Hades, the land of the dead, from the body of their father Erebos who dwelt beneath the Earth. After the Fall of the Titanes, the children of Erebos pledged their servitude to Hades, who by the decree of Zeus was appointed the Lord of the Underworld. Thanatos’ duty, as before, was to bring Death to mortals when their allotted time was ended and their life-threads sheared. But also, he would deliver the souls of the deceased to the entrance of Hades’ Kingdom, at the banks of Lake Avernos. He handed the shades off to the boatman Kharon, who rowed them down the river Akheron into the land of the dead. While performing this function, Thanatos was permitted to toil beyond the laws of Aion and Ananke, allowing his presence to exist in several places at once and collect scores of souls in a matter of seconds.
Admetos was a just and noble king in favor with the god Apollon. Wishing to reward the king, Apollon visited the Moirae with a plea to postpone the Kings fated death. He managed to get the Sisters of Fate drunk, and convinced them to extend King Admetos’ lifespan. But dour Moros, who could not be swayed so easily, demanded the life of another in exchange. Admetos accepted Apollon’s gift, but he could not find anyone willing to sacrifice their lives for him. He had assumed that either of his parents, who were elderly already, would trade their life for his but they were unwilling. Ultimately it was his loyal wife Alkestis who volunteered to die for her beloved king, but Admetos could not bear the pain of living without her. Herakles, the legendary half-human son of Zeus, was a guest in the house of Admetos at the time, and the demigod offered to rescue Alkestis from the clutches of Death. On the night of the queen’s demise, Herakles made a sacrifice to Death in order to summon him. When Thanatos arrived to accept the offering and take Alkestis to the underworld, Herakles sprang upon the god and wrestled with him. Thanatos was overpowered by mighty Herakles, who squeezed the god in his arms and crushed his bones. In agony, the god relinquished his claim on the queen’s soul. Thanatos fled without his quarry, and ever since he harbored a bitter hatred of Zeus’ favored son.
During the Trojan War, Death was pitted against many of the Olympian gods, who wished to prevent their mortal offspring from dying in the tumult. Zeus, however, decreed that no god could interfere with the workings of Fate. Even the King of the Gods himself allowed his own son Sarpedon to perish in battle. Sarpedon’s body was rescued by Apollon, which he cleaned and then delivered to Hypnos and Thanatos. Apollon commanded the twins to deliver Sarpedon’s body to Lycos where he would receive his funerary rites. Thanatos refused at first, partially to spite Apollon, but ultimately even he had to obey the orders of Zeus. Sleep and Death flew Sarpedon’s body to his homeland and the hero was given a proper burial.
Sisyphos, a sly Corinthian King, had offended the god Zeus. The King of Olympos commanded that Sisyphos be imprisoned in the hellish abyss of Tartaros. Hades sent Thanatos to capture the king, but Sisyphos was cunning. He claimed that he did not believe Thanatos was genuinely the god of death. Infuriated, Thanatos summoned his indestructible chains and threatened to choke the life out of Sisyphos, but the king mocked the god, calling him a petty fraud. Confident in his authority, Thanatos offered the chains to Sisyphos, challenging the king to try to shatter them by any means and prove him a liar. Immediately, Sisyphos sprung on Thanatos and shackled the god. Thanatos could not break free and Sisyphos held him hostage, taking his sword. He demanded that Zeus absolve him of his crimes and grant him immortality, or he would run the God of Death through with his own blade. Meanwhile anarchy ensued throughout the world, as no human could die while Death was captive. Hades, desperate to restore order, convinced the infamous Warrior Princess Xena to rescue Thanatos. Xena managed to free Thanatos by shattering the supposedly unbreakable chains with her Chakram (which, unbeknownst to all involved, was imbued with the strength of the God of War, Ares, who was annoyed that his battles had no longer become thrilling since nobody died), and Sisyphos was condemned at last to Tartaros. Thanatos was allowed to devise a particularly cruel punishment for Sisyphos: an eternity of frustration, repeatedly rolling a boulder up a hill only to have it crush him and roll back down to the bottom.
There was once a poor man who, carrying a load of wood to his home, grew faint and set the load down to rest. Realizing he would have to shoulder the burden again, the man cursed the name of Death, and was amazed when the god himself appeared, asking why his name was called. The man declared drolly that he needed help gathering his kindling up again. Thanatos, amused by the absurdity of the request and astounded that this mortal was not afraid of him, helped the poor man carry the wood home. Thanatos admired how the man lived life with such good cheer, even in the face of great hardship – but he cautioned that the next time he visited, it would be under less kindly circumstances.
“Hear me, O Thanatos, whose empire unconfined extends to mortal tribes of every kind. On thee the portion of our time depends, whose absence lengthens life, whose presence ends. Thy sleep perpetual bursts the vivid bolds by which the soul attracting the body holds: common to all, of every sex and age, for naught escapes thy all-destructive rage. Not youth itself thy clemency can gain, vigorous and strong, by thee untimely slain. In thee the end of nature’s works is known, in thee all judgment is absolved alone. No suppliant arts thy dreadful rage control, no vows revoke the purpose of thy soul. O blessed power, regard my ardent prayer, and human life to age abundant spare." - Orphic Hymn 87 to Thanatos
Sample RP: It had been a very productive week.
Greece was positively simmering with bloodshed, sickness and calamity. His siblings had been more active then usual, and he was left to pick up after them. The God of Death was exhausted…well, mentally exhausted at least.
Thanatos lay sprawled on a rocky outcropping which verged precariously over the Styx. He leaned against the edge, looking down into the murky, trickling waters of the River of Hate. His raven wings were folded snugly against his back, downy feathers ruffled in consternation. One arm dangled over the riverbank, fingertips languidly brushing the water as it trickled by. The death god stared at his ghostly reflection, which glistened and gleamed on the volatile surface. One moment, his own childlike face stared back up at him, and then it distorted into a leering, grinning skull. The change was subtle, but remarkable. And painfully ironic.
“WHAT ARE YOU?” He whispered to himself. His reflection stared silently back at him, smiling a strange, sad little smile. Thanatos sighed and splashed the image away with a flick of his hand.
Secret Word: A1 steak sauce
What I plan on doing with Thanatos: Thanatos is convinced by his brother to finally take a much deserved break from Soul Collecting. While he's at it, he decides to disguise himself as a mortal youth named Agonistes, and before you know it, he becomes so enraptured with living a human life that he decides not to go back to dull dreary Hades, resulting in a big mess for the underworld (without Death, mortals cannot die).