Character Profiles: Death

What is it about the concept of death that intrigues us as readers and viewers? Mainly, because we are mortal; as humans, we have very short lives (especially compared to other fantasy races that have much longer lifespans), and as such we have to make the most of our time here. From how we choose to spend our allotted time to the careers we make a living off of, we can see many reasons why we are encouraged to make the most of our lives by doing what we love…because we never know which day will be our last.

From a wide range of perspectives, many mediums explore the concept of death and mortality. Zombies are a very common icon that not only confront us with death seeing death before our eyes, but also force us to think of what truly would happen to your soul or spirit in some form of an afterlife. Is that thing before you still the same person trapped inside, like the voodoo zombies from Haitian culture, and could they somehow be saved? Or is their body merely a shell of what is left, with the soul of the person long gone akin to the ghouls from George A. Romero’s “Night of the Living Dead”? These questions incite responses through other mediums like video games, television shows, and books, and there’s good reason why themes revolving around death speak to us and give that sense of…morbid curiosity to explore the subject.

On a similar note pertaining to the afterlife and death, religion is a critical subject to the human condition. Often, religion and faith present some of the only answers to our questions of what lies ahead after we pass on. Every major and minor religion has their own interpretations of how this happens. In Western religions like Christianity, death is viewed when your soul or eternal spirit separates from the physical body. Contrast this to other Asian religions like Hinduism, where death is simply the absence of life and vitality. Your own soul is reincarnated from one body to another depending on the deeds you did in life and is very cyclical in nature. Culture provides wildly different interpretations on your perspective of death and the afterlife can be presented in fiction.

Enter the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse. If you’ve ever read or watched material about an apocalyptical or end of days scenario, at some point or another you’ve probably heard about these edgy icons. They originate from Christian myth in the book of Revelations and are part of a heralding of the end times. They are named in this order as each seal broke to release the respective rider:

• Conquest: Rider in white, bow in hand, given a crown, went out conquering and to conquer
• War: Rider in red, greatsword in hand, granted to take peace from earth and that men would slay one another
• Famine: Rider in black, pair of [balance] scales in hand, a quart of wheat for a denarius and three quarts of barley for a denarius, but do not damage the oil and wine
• Death: Pale rider (depicted in green), usually depicted with a scythe, and Hades followed with him, authority was given to them 1/4 of the Earth, to kill with sword and famine and pestilence and by the wild beasts of the Earth

Each aspect of the Horsemen can be interpreted in many different ways. The act of conquering could be seen as spreading the word of God across the world. The pair of scales in history was typically used to weigh bread during times of famine. In the end, each of these evocative themes still relate to us to this day. We still see examples of disease, of war, of death, and famine throughout our own lives; the ugly sides of humanity that don’t truly represent the best of us. These themes, however, embody humanity at its worst, the inevitable fate that awaits us for allowing problems like famine and pestilence to run rampant in our society, or declaring needless wars in the name of religion or ideology. In the end…death that awaits all of us if we don’t act.

Interesting little fact: Often the first Horseman is sometimes renamed as Pestilence, the infection and disease that always permeates through our world. In a way, this makes some sense as to many the acts of Conquest and War have very similar themes, so making that distinction between the two can seem redundant. Even in the quotes when Death is summoned “…to kill with sword and famine and pestilence” would even reaffirm this as it seems structurally like the writer is naming all the previous Horsemen that came before Him, but pestilence is not a named Horseman before this. It’s all up to interpretation at the end of the day, but sometimes you will see modern interpretations include Pestilence instead of Conquest for this reason.

Strangely enough, Death is the only Horseman that is actually named, while the others are only described. Maybe that’s fitting that this Horseman is the one I focus on as the main antagonist in my own novel.

Concept art of The Four Horsemen (wallpaperflare.com)

The Four Horsemen in my books are not named the exact same as the historical precedent, as I’ve redubbed them to Pride, Corruption, War, and Death, each having their own unique traits and influences on why the Lands are as ruined as they are today:

• Pride takes hold of the ruling and nobility classes of the mortal races. She ensures that even those in power are not above putting their own self-interest and personal gain at the expense of those they rule. She wants vain rulers to lord over their nations, causing isolation and greed to stir the hearts of the nobles. Above all, She wants nations that only see themselves at their embodiment of nationalism, where their self-destructive intentions force entire peoples to be swayed and coerced into thinking that they are on their own.
• Corruption possesses a mortal’s soul to turn them into Demons, spreading disease and distortion to the very land with every step He takes. He wants not just to see the Lands burn…he wants to see its people bend before His might and pervert every image that the Prime Gods sought in their mission to create the world.
• War envelops all in constant strife and turmoil, regardless of moral motivation or logical reason. He is responsible for the creation of races like Orcs and Trolls that seek battle with the Free Peoples (our idea of the more relatable races which include the Humans, Dwarves, Elves, and Halflings), and spur them to bloodshed just to watch entire nations tear each other apart…and have them thrive in constant battle. He wants the Lands to always fight, and always conquer one another, for there’s no fun to be had in times of peace.
• Death takes hold of all souls one day, and He is the last face a soul will see if they were despicable or heinous enough in their twisted life. He has sought to unravel the mysteries of the cycle of life and death, so much so that He is responsible for even shattering noble souls from entering their respective afterlife, turning their bodies into undead puppets for His will alone to control. For Him, these Lands need to be undone and remade in his image…

In my setting, the Four Horsemen are essentially demigods, not as strong as the Pantheon of Gods and Goddesses of my universe, but much stronger than any mortal being. They were always jealous of the power that the Prime Gods wield: Being able to create entire races of creatures on a whim, holding control over the very fabrics of reality, making all of the rules for how life, death, and balance all function. Always being treated as lesser than by the Pantheon. The Four Horsemen were demeaned for their corruption of the works and deeds of the Prime Gods. But for the Horsemen, it was time for a change in leadership. It is unclear to most philosophers of the fantasy world on how they manifested into the material realm, but the Horsemen personally went to work creating their own horrid monstrosities to directly oppose their elders’ creations. The biggest example being War’s creation of the Orcish race to takeover the rule of the Humans, an attempt to create a form to rival one of the originating races of the world.

In my books, Death is one of the first antagonists that gets introduced to the readers. Through Ni’ala’s flashbacks, you’ll understand more context of how the Horsemen went to war against the mortal realms known as the War of the Beings: a conflict where the Gods and Demigods clashed together through the material plane. As the Druid Order was the bridge between the Gods and the mortals, they were prime targets for the defense of Eriath against the Four Horsemen. But try as they might, the Four Horsemen combined their strengths and forces and attacked the Order’s stronghold in the Aerondal Trail in a surprise attack. Only through sheer luck were the Gods and Goddesses able to intervene that day and banish the Four Horsemen to the Stellar Plane…but at a grave cost. The entire Druid Order…save one…was obliterated. If the Four Horsemen did return, there would be nothing standing in their way of a total reorigination of Eriath. This is the threat that Ni’ala faces, and this is the fate that awaits us all if nothing is done to stop their inevitable return of retaliation.

If you all read my post from last week, you’ll understand that Death fits a similar image to the Dark Lord trope. And while I understand how the Four Horsemen can be seen to fit that similar mold, even bordering on cliché, there’s more to this than meets the eye…Every motivation has layers that can be deconstructed, even for higher powers, and the Horsemen are no exception. For Death, He doesn’t want to destroy the Lands, for that would mean there is nothing left for Him and the other Horsemen to rule over. No, for Him, he wants to remake them in His design. And He’ll start with the cycle of how life, death, and undeath are all intertwined…

Lots of speculation to discuss, I’m sure, but I can’t give away everything! You’ll have to read that when the book’s chapter is finalized. Thanks for joining this week. As your weekly question: Are there any other mediums (hah!) that dwell on topics of death that you enjoy? Horror genres in particular love this concept, but there are many other possibilities in fiction. Or do you shy away from such morbid topics? Why or why not? Let me know down there in those comments. Until next time, cheers!

-J.K. Denny