Hypnos and Thanatos

Thanatos

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  Θάνατος

  
  

  

  
  

  “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—
  Death, mortals' source of many woes.”
  —Neoptólemos, Diodorus Siculus

  
  

  

  
  

  Name: Thanatos. Nature: Personification of Death and Mortality. Apparent Age: Ephebe (young adolescent). Gender: Male.

  Spouse: None. Lovers: None - Death is an enemy of Eros (Love). Progenitors: Nyx (Night), Erebos (Darkness). Progeny: None.

  
  Siblings: Hypnos (Sleep), Akhlys (Mist of Demise), Anaplekte (Swift Demise), Iskhnasia (Wasting Demise), Morpheus (Dreams), Phantasos (Fantasies), Ikelos/Phobetor (Nightmares), Kharon (Taxes), Momos (Blame), Oizys (Pain), Eurynomos/Septos (Decay), Lyssa/Mania (Madness), Epiphron (Shrewdness), Koalemos (Idiocy), Hybris (Insolence), Anaideia (Cruelty), Nemesis (Retribution), Dolos (Treachery), Apate (Deception), Philotes (Affection), Eleos (Mercy), Sophrosyne (Restraint), Geras (Old Age), Eris (Strife).
  
  Epithets: Acherontis (Woeful), Paian (Healer/Striker), Leukokhrotos (White-Skin); Thanatus, Mors, Letus (Latin names).
  Titles: Pale-visaged, black-winged, gloomy, dour, grim, 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 fate, sword-girt harbinger of death.
  
  

  "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

  
  Appearance: Death is no skeletal spectre or withered wraith. On the contrary, he presents himself as a callow youth, a dark reflection of comely Eros. Thanatos embodies at once the transience of childhood and the all-encompassing embrace of the grave. Slender and fair, his skin has the pallor of alabaster, and in stillness he appears eerily statuesque. His ivory hair is unshorn and uncared for, cascading to the nape of his neck in tousled ashen curls. His eyes are dark and cold, gazing out under heavy, bruised eyelids. Feathered wings of night arch from between his shoulders, framing him in black. These wings drape about his shoulders like a cloak of feathers when at rest. He is seldom without a solemn and aloof disposition. Rarely does his expression betray his character, as he prefers to remain inscrutable. When he deigns to speak his voice is soft and sepulchral, with a timbre that insinuates both youth and agelessness. He walks with quiet footfalls, gathering silence about him like a shroud.
  
  Thanatos dresses in simple robes of black, or more rarely white or crimson. He is commonly seen in a simple exomis or khiton, more rarely a himation, preferring plain and versatile garments to the opulent finery that other immortals fancy. He hardly wears ornamentation beyond what is necessary, and that usually consists of a brooch or leather thong to fasten his tunic at the left shoulder. He binds his feet in strapped leather sandals, or simply goes barefoot. A leather cord girdles his waist, and he wears a baldric slung over his right shoulder with a scabbard to sheathe his sword. Whilst collecting souls he typically drapes a death shawl over his head to obscure his features, giving him an air of menace and mystery. Occasionally he will allow his younger twin to crown him with a flower wreath of poppies or asphodels, lending him a somewhat more tender countenance.
  
  

  "The gate of death was not dark for thee: gentle was thy passing. A tranquil unconsciousness and Thanatos that counterfeited Hypnos set free thy soul, and bore thee to Hades under the false semblance of repose."

  —Statius, Silvae

  
  Personality: Thanatos is in every way the embodiment of Death—solemn and detached, indiscriminate and inescapable. A creature of cold logic, his grim duty has hardened his heart to the suffering he must inflict upon the world. He looks upon himself as a fundamental part of nature, ultimately a necessary evil. He is the great equalizer, entropy itself, without which there can be no change, growth or propagation. A fatalist to the core, Thanatos considers himself an instrument of the Fates, bereft of his own agency. He alone can bear the burden of consecrating the living with his blade; beggar and king, youth and elder, righteous and wicked, all alike. Neither man nor god can persuade him otherwise. Unlike his soft-spoken twin, Thanatos possesses a keen tongue for clever speech, which he uses to bitterly denigrate and provoke the other gods when they dare to oppose him. His penchant for debate has been used to outwit him or cheat him at his own game in the past, but triumphing over Death is as rare as it is fleeting.
  
  Being the incarnation of mortality itself is one of the more demanding of divine responsibilities, allowing Thanatos scarce little in the way of respite. The little time he does have to himself is usually spent wandering in the land of shades, attending to his liege lord Hades, visiting his mother and younger siblings, or accompanying his twin brother Hypnos. It is in the latter moments that glimpses emerge of his less foreboding childhood self. Beyond that sense of brotherly love and familial loyalty, however, Death appears to be utterly dispassionate. As far as he is concerned, emotions are little more than attributes under the province of other spirits, ill-suited to his own nature. He prefers to focus only on that which is under his purview. The necessity to carry out his appointed function is motivation enough for Death, and nothing less than the order of Zeus, Hades or the Fates themselves can sway him from it.
  
  

  "O Death, the healer, reject me not, but come! For thou alone art the mediciner of ills incurable, and no pain layeth hold on the dead."

  —Aeschylus, Philoctetes

  
  Associates: Death has always been enigmatic, even among gods. He does not court friendships or allegiances, does not offer charity and never forgives a slight. 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. While he is subject to the will of Zeus like all the gods, his loyalty lies more closely with Hades, the king of the dead, under whose regency he serves as a divine minister. He also answers to the Moirai, the three Fates who weave the threads of mens’ lives and determine the day of their deaths. Ares, the bloodthirsty god of war, has earned Death’s grudging respect after having once rescued him from the captivity of wily King Sisyphos. Hermes, messenger of the gods and fellow psychopomp, is also something of a professional acquaintance.
  
  The only beings with whom Thanatos associates freely are fellow deities of the underworld. Most of all he cherishes the company of his twin brother Hypnos. Sleep is a fleeting Death, and Death an eternal Sleep: thus their natures are intertwined. Thanatos is more wary of his other dour siblings, preferring to leave them to their own devices. Of his brethren he is closest to Eurynomos, Geras and the Oneiroi. Among his sisters he assorts with Eris, Oizys and the Keres. He also maintains a curt accord with his brother Kharon, the Boatman of the river Akheron, to whom he passes over custody of the shades of the dead. Nemesis, the avenger of the gods, is often embroiled in sibling rivalry with Thanatos, as her sense of accountability and righteous punishment conflicts with his indiscriminate ending of lives. His brother Momos also tends to antagonize him, as can be expected from the spirit of blame and mockery.
  
  Thanatos has his fair share of enemies on Mount Olympos. The gods dislike Death, preferring not to dwell on the ugly reality he represents. He has a long-standing perfunctory rivalry with his Olympian counterpart Eros, the god of Love. The god Apollon has also cultivated a more personal grudge with Thanatos, as the two came to bitter dispute over the fates of Admetos and Alkestis. He deeply resents the hero Herakles for thwarting him in the same incident, and for the apotheosis which subsequently placed the demigod beyond his vengeful reach. But his most hated adversary by far is not even a god. The trickster Sisyphos was the only mortal man to have ever cheated Death. Much to Thanatos’ satisfaction, Sisyphos is now condemned to eternal torment in Tartaros.
  
  

  "Thanatos let loose from Stygian darkness exults in the air of heaven, and hovers in flight over the field of battle, and with black jaws gaping wide invites the heroes; nought vulgar doth he choose, but with bloody nail marks as victims those most worthy of life, in the prime of years or valour."

  —Statius, Thebaid

  
  Accomplices: As Hypnos commands the Oneiroi, Thanatos commands the Keres; Anaplekte, Akhlys and Iskhnasia. Where Thanatos prefers an untroubled transition into the afterlife, his three younger sisters are bloodthirsty spirits of violent demise, 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 wickedly clawed. Their eyes burn cold with bloodlust beneath tangled, gore-spattered hair. They are drawn like vultures to the slaughter, swooping down upon the fallen and tearing their souls from their lifeless bodies. They are restrained only by the command of their brother.
  
  Akhlys is the foremost Ker, who fogs over the sight of the dying with a black mist of demise. She slakes her thirst upon the fresh blood spilled over the fields of war, and as Ague, she brings delirium to the dying. The second sister, Anaplekte, is the Ker of swift and painful demise. Also called Phrike the horrifying, she is a harbinger of murder, slaughter and calamity. She personifies the anguish and the impotent rage of death through violence or folly. Where she treads, shields splinter and metal blades sink deep into yielding flesh. The last sister, Iskhnasia, is the Ker of slow and wasting demise, the spreader of miasma, entropy and pestilence. Also known as Phthisis the putrefying, she embodies the torment of a withering death from illness, infection or injury. Blood congeals, wounds fester and fever takes root in her grisly wake.
  
  

  "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

  
  Powers: Paradoxical as it may seem, Death is himself deathless, an immortal spirit of nature. He cannot be killed by any means, nor does he suffer the ravages of aging, hunger, dementia, disease, poison or the elements. Exertion does fatigue him, however, and to replenish his strength he dines on ambrosia and nectar, the food and drink of the gods. His power is strengthened when humans make sacrificial offerings to him, although he is disdainful of worship and hardly a popular object of veneration in any case. Thanatos, like all gods, can appear to mortals in such guise as he sees fit, or he can deign to move unseen and unheard. He can send visions or prophecies, afflict mortals with curses or bestow his blessing upon them. While most deities travel by chariot, Thanatos soars on feathered wings, which endow him with matchless agility.
  
  Thanatos has absolute authority over death. He may end a life at will with a touch, a stare, an utterance or a gentle brushing of his wings. The shadow of Death falls over all the mortal creatures of the world, reaping the harvest of brief lives. In the night he soars through the sky with his mother’s entourage, and the souls he has loosed flock to his torch like moths to a flame, whereupon he shepherds them into the lightless land of shades. As a son of Nyx and Erebos, Thanatos can influence the properties of night and darkness. He can manipulate shadows, gather or disperse them, enshroud himself within them, and traverse distances by passing through them. If he wishes, he may dim or extinguish all sources of light in his immediate vicinity, except for sunlight.
  
  

  "Alone of gods Death has no love for gifts, Libation helps you not, nor sacrifice. He has no altar, and hears no hymns; From him alone Persuasion stands apart."

  —Aeschylus

  
  Attributes: Thanatos’ sacred plants are the asphodel (asphodelos) and the white poppy (anemone). The wolf (lykos) is his sacred animal, the butterfly (psykhe) and locust (akris) are his sacred insects, and his sacred bird is the raven (korakas). As a Khthonic deity, Thanatos accepts sacrifices of black animals in sunken ditches. However, sacrificial offerings to Death are in vain if they are made only in an attempt to to postpone his coming.
  
  His most prominent symbol is the sword he wields, a straight-bladed Xiphos fashioned from imperishable adamant. The weapon might be considered inelegant for a divine instrument, but as a dealer of death it certainly performs to the satisfaction of its owner. The hilt and blade are perfectly balanced, with a simple guard reminiscent of the letters theta and omega. The sword slays the living with any wound it inflicts, even a glancing scratch. Injuries dealt by the sword are always painless, however; the slightest touch of the weapon numbs the skin and prolonged contact can paralyse.
  
  In his role as an agent of the underworld, Death bears the Torch of Erebos, a brand made of ebony and adamant which burns with a cool blue-white flame. The self-sustaining torch 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 in the form of spectral butterflies. When Thanatos has gathered the fluttering souls of those who have died that day, he passes through the Gates of the Setting Sun, turns the torch upside down and extinguishes it against the ground.
  
  In times of war, Death stalks the battlefield clad in fearsome armour. Around his narrow chest he dons a close-fitting breastplate of adamant. A girdle of black leather pteryges hangs from his waist over a knee-length robe. A tasseled pauldron guards his left shoulder, while over his right shoulder he fastens the fleece of a black ram and a hooded mantle of sable. He wears an adamantine Corinthian helmet over his hood, crested with outstretched wings upon his temples. In these grim trappings, Thanatos is a fearsome sight to dying mortals and meddling gods alike.
  
  

  "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

  
  Dwellings: Thanatos abides in Erebos, the part of the underworld beyond the borders of Hades. The House of Death stands alongside the House of Sleep, and between them the somnolent river Lethe flows. Thanatos’ domicile is an immense mausoleum, filled with columned passages and vaulted chambers. No breeze seems to trespass within, yet the air is deathly cold and thick with fog. Stairways and promenades arch over vast gulfs. Ghostly flames flicker within braziers of iron, providing little real illumination. Furnishings are elaborate, yet devoid of comfort, warmth or colour. Stone chairs are cushioned with velvet coverlets and banquet tables are draped with curtains of sable. Urns and amphoras exhibit funerary motifs, while the walls are carved with frescoes depicting scenes of tragedy and doom. The river Lethe runs through the gardens of the household, and along the murky banks grow somnolent flowers, exuding their drowsy vapours. Lost souls flutter through these sombre groves in the form of ghostly butterflies. The dwelling of Death is filled a thousand-fold with statues. His likeness can be found in every shaded alcove, atop every dais. Most depictions brood alone in the gloom; elsewhere they stand in silent conversation with other dread divinities.
  
  Thanatos has no home in the mortal world, but he does have a retreat of sorts in the mountains of the Kaukasos, north of Skythia. Amongst the snowy ridges, there is a ledge where a cleft opens into the recesses of the mountain. Thanatos keeps a sparsely furnished study in one of the cavernous chambers within, which he shares with Limos, the personification of hunger, and Boreas, the spirit of the wintry north wind. The Keres also share his dwelling, where they pursue their function as the Nosoi, the bringers of pestilence. The most notable feature of Thanatos’ study is the uncountable myriad of wax candles lining the walls and resting atop rocky precipices. Some of these candles are lit with ghostly flames, while others flicker low, and the rest are conspicuously extinguished. Once, the candles represented the lives of every living mortal, but mankind has long since multiplied far beyond Death's capacity to enumerate them. Now they only signify the lives of people whose destinies are significant in the scheme of the Fates.
  
  

  “Funereal gods, murky Khaos and shadowy Hades’ dark dwelling-place, the abysses of dismal Thanatos, girt by the banks of Hades.”

  —Seneca, Medea