The Angel of Death

The Grim Reaper is probably the most universally recognised entity in all of myth and folklore.

"He" has many names and is portrayed differently in different folklore.

In Jewish mythology he is the Angel of Death or also called Malakh ha-Mavet, Mar Mavet, Malach Ahzari, he is god's agent of death and the most feared of all beings.
At first he was mentioned only as Mavet ha-Mashchit meaning "The Destroyer", and also as Malach-Adonai meaning angel of the lord
“The Angel of the Lord went out and attacked the Assyrian camp; One hundred eighty-five thousand(185 000). And when they arose in the morning, they were all dead bodies.” (Isaiah 37:36)
In Judges 13:22-23 it was applied that seeing the Malach Adonai would bring death.
According to some texts there are actually six angels of death: Gabriel over kings; Kazfiel over youths; Mashbir over wild animals; Mashchit (the angel responsible for the tenth plague) over children; Af and Chemah over man and domestic beast (Beit ha-Midrash, 2:98).
Malach ha-Mavet's appearance is horrid, he is full of eyes that see everything, and according to the Testament of Abraham he appears with seven dragon heads. There are many speculations on when Death was created. Some say that it was created on the first day at the same time as darkness, and some say that he was created after the first sin.

                                         

                                                        “The end of man is to die” (translation)

In Hellenic folklore death's name is Thanatos. Greeks thought of death as an inevitable part of life so it was not an evil spirit or hideous monstrosity as shown in other folklore. Instead it is a male, often shown with a beard and wings. His job was to take the deceased's soul to Charon who then takes him through the river Acheron to the land of the dead.

                                                         
The Celts  called him Ankou. The Ankou is the spirit of the last person that died in the community. He appears as a tall figure with a large hat and long white hair, and sometimes as a skeleton that can see everything everywhere. His eyes have been taken out by an angel because he tried to take the soul from an innocent man. He drives a wagon or a cart that’s piled up with the corpses of the dead.

                             

Nordic Folklore speaks of Death as an old woman called Pesta which means plague hag. She could fly and she wore a black robe.

Death is represented as a woman in Baltic folklore also, they called her Giltine which means "to sting", and according to the legend she was a young beautiful woman until she got trapped in a coffin for seven years thus leading to her becoming the “Giltine”. She was described as an old, ugly woman with a long blue nose and a deadly poisonous tongue.

In Hindu scriptures the ruler of death’s name is Yama, he carries a lasso which he uses to take the souls to his world called Yamalok or the Underworld. There the balance of good and bad deeds helps Yama decide where a soul is going to reside in the next life. Yama or sometimes known as Dharmaraj is more of a personification of justice rather than death, dead or alive all are judged equally by their karma.

Nowadays the mainstream personification of Death is the classical Grim Reaper with a black robe, a scythe and a skeletal face. Analyzing the various forms of The Grim Reaper we see that he is both the personification of Death itself but also brings ultimate judgment to all.

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