Death


 * "Grim" redirects here. For the realm, see Grim Underworld.

Harold "Death" Esquire, better known as simply Death or the Grim Reaper, is a legendary Guardian of Guthix who is responsible for the passing of souls in Gielinor. He has also been the main figure of most Halloween events. During these events, the player had to perform various tasks to satisfy the Reaper.

Death is extremely powerful, and in his role as the regulator of life he is responsible for claiming souls and escorting them to the Grim Underworld, the underworld of Gielinor. This is quite similar to the work of Icthlarin, the Menaphite god of the dead, but their relationship is currently unknown. Contrary to popular belief, Death cannot kill or revive people on a whim, as he is only capable of killing people whose time has come in order to ensure balance. He seems to take pleasure in his job, enjoying reaping people's souls, but takes it very seriously nonetheless and obeys Guthix' commands.

In combat, Death is a fearsome adversary. His massive scythe is able to slice several foes at once apart and he has an arsenal of magical spells at his expense. He has been seen to use a blue spell that sucks life out of a victim, as well as creating lethal spirit balls which inflict fatal damage when touched. He usually defends himself instead of actively trying to kill, due to his vow to maintain balance.

He also acts as a "Death Tutor"; his office is accessed when new players die for the first time. He will explain about death, item losses, and gravestones. The player may exit at any time through the exit portal. One's gravestone's timer is paused whilst one is within the dimension of the Reaper. The player is, at this time, "dead". The player is only allowed this one time, the first time they die, though they apparently pass through this every time upon death. The player may walk around in the death dimension but they should talk to him. Death has also featured in the 2007, 2009, 2010 and 2011 Hallowe'en Events.

The Temple Knights appear to have written a dossier concerning him, which was published in Postbag from the Hedge #35. The complete dossier can be found here.

History
Harold Esquire was the first human to die in Gielinor, presumably meeting his end during the First Age. After his demise, he became Death, the guide of souls to the underworld.

During the Third Age, he became a Guardian of Guthix, appointed by Guthix to protect him while he cast the gods out of Gielinor. After Guthix finished this, he departed back into the ground to go resume his sleep, Death resumed his duties as regulator of lie and death.

Protecting Guthix
In 169 of the Fifth Age, Harold Death accompanied his fellow Guardians (minus Ocellus and Cres) and other Guthixians to Guthix's Cave after an adventurer had triggered the alarm system. The party arrived shortly after Zilyana and K'ril Tsutsaroth left, unable to open a giant door. Death explained their purpose and formed an alliance with the adventurer, not knowing that they were secretly working for the Zarosians on Sliske's "request". The adventurer managed to solve a locking mechanism for the door and unlock it, allowing passage for the Guthixian group.

At the other end of the door, they met with Cres, another Guardian of Guthix who had been placed to guard Guthix's cave with his automatons. After the adventurer was uplifted to become the newest Guardian by Guthix, Cres concluded that the other factions were about to storm the central room and kill Guthix, so the adventurer was placed as the leader of the group. The attacks indeed begun shortly after, with Bandosians and Zamorakians attempting to penetrate the storage wings. The adventurer aided Death in deterring the fearsome demon K'ril and his forces before dealing with Enakhra and her posse. After she had been dealt with, Zilyana invaded the room with her army of Saradominists, who swarmed the Guthixians. Death managed to easily hold his own in the ensuing battle. Zilyana proceeded to sent forth troops in an attempt to kill Juna, who had barricaded the passage to Guthix, while duelling Cres herself. Her troops were vanquished by the adventurer, but Zilyana, thinking the automaton to be Guthix, stabbed Cres in his torso, killing him. At that point, a small party of Zarosians arrived, having avoided all combat by trailing Zilyana's legion. The three parties all pleaded for the adventurer to aid them in protecting Guthix (Guthixians), killing him (Saradominists) or bargaining with him (Zarosians). Death was convinced the adventurer would pick their side, but was devastated and betrayed if they didn't. At that point, Sliske, concealed in the Shadow Realm, broke the seal to Guthix and made his way to the god.

The adventurer attempted to pursue him, but was held back by attacks from Death and the Valluta (in case they didn't side with the Guthixians), who had lost trust in them, or Char and Nex. They survived, however, and witnessed Sliske breaking his promise and killing Guthix using the staff of Armadyl. Guthix then took the adventurer in confidence and took them to a projection of his memories, explaining his history and why he wants the gods banished, before dying. By that time, all factions had arrived to see Guthix's body and, his death having abolished the Edicts, witnessed the arrival of Saradomin to the world. To avoid more battle, he teleported the Mahjarrat, Char and Nex away before leaving with Zilyana to make plans. If the adventurer betrayed them, the Guthixians forgave them, for they had been chosen by Guthix, but Death concluded that the events of the day were "just a taste of what is to come".

Leisure time
When not reaping souls, Harold Death lives in his Mansion, where he has employed butlers to help him with the upkeep. His touch of death, however, has resulted in hundreds of accidental deaths over the years, despite supposedly only being able to kill people whose time has come. When his 999th servant Alfonse was killed when Death patted him on his back in gratitude, he contacted the Servants' Guild for a new worker and got 10% off due to them being number 1000. While waiting for the servant's arrival, his house became an utter mess, as he is unable to take proper care of himself. Despite his loyalty towards balance and his vow to only reap people whose time has come (refusing to remove a spider from his bathtub because his touch would kill her untimely), he does not seem to mind the many deaths of servants he has caused. Apparently, Death once had a mentor, whose eyeball he keeps in his living room.

He is often accompanied by his skeletal pet dog, Muncher, for whom he cares deepy, although he is not happy when he disobeys his orders. Death has often had trouble with pets in the past due to his touch of death, which resulted in his pet bunny exploding when he tried feeding it a carrot. As such, Muncher, being undead, is the perfect pet for him. Aside from Muncher, he is experimenting with undead fish to keep him company (he attempts to achieve this by killing them, then undoing the act with his magical hourglass).

Death also has a taste for music, being a big fan of bands such as Adamantite Damsel and Ping & Pong. With the latter two he has an agreement that, should they die early, he will reverse time so they can make more music for him, although he is saddened by this, as he would much rather have them with him. Death is also one of the five founders, and the leader, of a clan known as The Horsemen. He has organised two events which has clan has hosted known as "Deathcons" in their citadel in the sky. In addition, Death enjoys crochet and embroidery, stating that it keeps his skeletal fingers flexible.

Like all beings, he was bound by the Edicts of Guthix, which dictated that he must always have black robes, a scythe and spiderwebs in his house. He was forced to maintain the quality of these items as well, often needing to sharpen his scythe or to clean or even replace his robes should they get stained with blood (causing havoc in Varrock when he would go to Thessalia's Fine Clothes to purchase new robes). Despite Guthix's death, he still respects the Edicts and continues wearing his apparel.

The guardian is not known to have many friends, although as mentioned before he runs a clan known as The Horsemen. He also has an acquaintance known as the Soggy Teabag On The Bench Gremlin, who places soggy teabags on benches. They both use the alias 'Nigel'.

2007 Halloween Event
During the 2007 Hallowe'en event, Death owned a house located through the Dark House Portal south of Falador. He ordered the player to do his house chores because his servant has recently passed away from his death touch. One of the first tasks the player had to do was to find the skull of the servant in his Garden. The next task was to reorganise his items in the correct spot in the western room. By using his diary, the player could effectively put his items in order. Afterwards, he told the player to try out his obstacle course on the second floor, used to keep his servants on their toes. The player had to do this twice, and after that, he had to talk to the Grim Reaper to receive the Grim Reaper Hood and a new Zombie Hand emote.

Web of Shadows
In 2009, Death's house was revisited again. He would tell the player he had a spider in his bath, and wanted it removed. If players refused, he would kill them and they would appear outside the portal with all of their items. After travelling into the Spider Realm (Grim Reaper appears to own a portal leading to this realm) and speaking to the Spider Queen, the player was ordered to place cobwebs into Death's house. After putting cobwebs into the Grim Reaper's house, the Spider Queen would reward you a Web Cloak and Eek the Spider.

Partying is Such Sweet Sorrow
During the 2010 event, Death was in need of help of preparing a party. After completing little tasks around his house for the party being held, players were rewarded with a Bone brooch (which when used would morph you into a pile of bones) and the Puppet master emote. During this event, it became clear that Death is a big fan of Zabeth Corvid, and begged the player to fetch an autograph.

Deathcon II
In 2011, Death revealed to be the owner of his very own clan, with its very own citadel. The player was asked by Frank to help prepare the Citadel for a "DeathCon" event. The player had to perform tasks for Beauty, Frank and Infinity. After this was done, the player had full access to the citadel (with a Deathcon lanyard) and got a Deathcon t-shirt as a souvenir. The player also unlocked the Living on Borrowed Time emote. The Grim Reaper, along with Muncher, received a graphical update with the release of this event.

Death
During Hallowe'en events, Death appears when a player dies to escort them to their respawn point. He stops appearing at the end of each holiday event. When he appears, he proclaims a random phrase, a list of which can be seen below;


 * Let me escort you away, (player name)...
 * (Player name) is mine!
 * Now is the time you die, (player name).
 * Muahahahahaha!
 * There is no escape, (player name)...
 * Beware Mortals. (Player name) travels with me now.
 * I claim (player name) as my own.
 * Your time here is over, (player name).
 * I have come for you, (player name)!

Trivia

 * Death's examine text during the 2010 Halloween event was 'Do not fear the Reaper', a reference to the song of the same name by Blue Öyster Cult.
 * A Postbag from the Hedge later revealed that Death has the catch phrase, "Gotta reap 'em all." This is a pun on the catch phrase "Gotta catch 'em all" from Pokémon. In the same Postbag from the Hedge it was said his customary black robes act as the legendary Reaper skillcape, although this was likely a joke.
 * During Halloween 2007, if a player read the Varrock Herald it would mention a man in black robes wandering around RuneScape stealing peoples lives.
 * According to the dossier, the Grim Reaper was the Champion of a Belltolling contest, but nobody survived. The only witness was a "zombie" about to terrorise the near town.
 * After completing the 2010 Halloween event, Zabeth Corvid tells the player to tell Grim that "every rose has its thorn", a reference to the song of the same name by Poison. This is also a reference to "Bill and Ted's Bogus Journey" when they are asked what the meaning of life is, Death says the line "Every rose has its thorn".
 * After completing the 2010 Halloween event, if a player asked about 'every rose has its thorn' they would get a reply saying it happened '...a long time ago, in a dimension far, far away." This is a reference to Star Wars: 'A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away."
 * Death has a mother, who looks exactly like him, as shown in the drawing in his dossier.
 * Death has many aliases, including Grim Reaper, Nigel and Destroyer of Life, as stated in his dossier.
 * When encountered in his office, he is voiced by the same voice actor as TokHaar-Hok.