Reapers

Reapers
Seasons	All
Species	Celestial Wraiths
Status	Active
Related Species	Angels
Titles/Aliases	Angels of Death
Description	Wraith-like celestial beings that serve Death and send souls to their final resting place
Family	Death (creator)

“	That, my friends, was no ghost. That...was a Reaper. [...] No, no, no, it's not "the" Reaper, it's "a" Reaper. They're wraith-like entities that have the power to take a humans life through touch and take their souls to their final resting place. They are amongst the foulest creatures ever to exist. There is Reaper lore in just about every culture on Earth, they go by more than 100 different names, and there's more than one of them. Reapers possess the power to stop time. And you can only see them when they're coming at you.	„
	— Rayne, about Reapers

Reapers are wraith-like celestial beings that are servants of Death. They assist in maintaining the Natural Order and used to be thought as completely neutral, aligned with neither Heaven nor Hell nor Purgatory, although now that it is shown that they are angelic-like celestial beings, it is assumed they work for, or at least, with Heaven. According to Oracle, Reapers will sometimes appear in mass gatherings in prelude to a great disaster such as the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii. Because they serve Death, they have been known literately as "The Angels of Death".

Being the servants of Death, Reapers are one of the most recurring supernatural creatures in the series.

History

Creation

After the defeat and imprisonment of the Darkness at the hands of God, Aurora, Eve, Oberon, Titania, and the Seraphim, the other Primordial Beings created beings of their own. Death created the Grimm Reapers when the first angels were killed during the Rebellion, taking them to their final resting place as a means to reap angels whenever the winged celestial beings died. Since then, Grimm Reapers have aided Death in maintaining the Natural Order of Things. Also, if absolutely necessary, the Grimm Reapers would also aid in battles, but because they remain neutral, they almost never do.

Eventually, when humankind came into being and started to spread throughout the Earth's, Death realized he needed to create more reapers. Thus, he created the second generation of reapers and from that day forward, the Grimm Reapers not only reaped humans but other powerful supernatural creatures as well. This makes Reapers as old as humanity. And since then, they have maintained a neutral relationship with both life and the afterlife, such as places like Heaven, Purgatory, Avalon, and even Hell as well as the Empty.

Characteristics

Reapers are required for death to occur, they wait until a person meets the end of his or her life (either through accident, or simply the natural endpoint of that person's life) and then touch the person causing them to die, they then escort their souls to Heaven, Hell, or Purgatory. They do not, however, possess the power to force souls to go with them. It's unknown if they are required for death to occur to all beings or simply humans and monsters.

Reapers are completely neutral beings, not caring for deals, fate or even each other at times, all they care about is maintaining "Natural Order" of life and death. Although sometimes uncaring, Reapers generally sympathize with their victims but refuse to make allowances, regardless of who or why. As they can't force anyone to go with them, Reapers must convince the souls to leave with them, which they normally achieve by forewarning the fate of the souls if they refuse: transforming into vengeful spirits trapped on Earth.

In some cases, the dead soul may choose not to accompany the reaper and will remain in the veil as a ghost eventually to become a vengeful spirit. When a vengeful spirit is forcefully put to rest, Reapers will then deliver their souls to their final resting place.

Reapers are also impartial in other ways, and rarely interfere in any manner other than performing their duties, and although they have the power to, they do not kill people before their time. However there is one possible account of a Reaper ignoring the Natural Order when that one Reaper who had been bound was freed, he quickly turned on and killed the person who bound him. This is the only known occasion of any Reaper ever being the cause of a person's death. As the person in question had forced the Reaper to go against the natural order by taking those in the place of others whose times were up, this can be excepted.

Some Reapers do break these trends however, Rogue Reapers do exist. Unlike normal Reapers, these rogues ferry souls out of their afterlives and take them to a different one, for the purpose of profit, and usually work for higher beings. They also ferry living mortals and at least one still ferried souls, at least those of ghosts put to rest, but on at least one occasion took a soul to the wrong place on his boss' orders. Other rogue Reapers are sent to hunt Oracle down, though they have to use conventional methods to do so.

Despite appearing stoic at times, Reapers are apparently as capable at experiencing emotions as humans, as on many occasions Reapers have shown sorrow, annoyance, compassion, and anger. They also appear to have free will, although they rarely act upon it.

It is implied Reapers have a similar opinion of Death as angels do with God. Death created them in the image of God's angels.

Upon Death's release, hundreds if not thousands of Reapers flocked to meet, and receive orders from him. While dozens followed him around in Chicago. Likewise, their relationship is described by Tessa as "He calls us, we don't call him."

It seems the Reapers have no sole shape, as some of them appear as ghost-like beings, with a humanoid shape and are covered in dark hooded cloaks of long, ripped black cloth, making them closely resemble wraiths. Its body is greyed and decayed looking, like a decomposing corpse, and its breath sounds rattling, like it is trying to "suck more than air" out of a room. Its hands are "glistening, greyish, slimy-looking, and scabbed".

They also appear as beautiful women or elder or young men in mortician wear or suits. Commonly though, they appear as elder men in mortician wear, often black. Despite this, they do have genders, as Tessa was repeatedly referred to as female - even by Death himself - though she has stated that "Tessa" was just "one of my names."

Reapers are able to possess humans. This may be how a few are shown to be able to manifest physically for humans to see them rather than being invisible to all but ghosts and angels. However, when they possess a human, they are vulnerable to angel blades, and can no longer only be killed by Death's scythe. They also seem to be able to become visible if they wish to humans without possession.

Species

All in all, there are only two different types of Reapers.

Grimm Reapers

The Grimm Reapers are immensely powerful celestial wraiths that possess the ability to reap angels, pagans, fairies, and demons. Far more powerful and dangerous than Soul Collectors, Grimm Reapers wield their own scythes and are said to be strong warriors.

Soul Collectors

The Soul Collectors, more commonly dubbed Reapers, are the species of reapers that only collect the souls of humans and monsters alike. Once collecting souls, they transfer them to Heaven or Hell and rarely Purgatory. And for monsters, generally to Purgatory and rarely Hell.

Powers and Abilities

As the children and servants of the Horseman Death himself, Reapers are quite powerful and have extensive abilities, despite their frail appearance. These abilities make reapers one of the most powerful supernatural beings in all of creation.

• Cosmic Awareness: Reapers have an incredible amount of knowledge of the universe, they know when a person is supposed to be born and die. They also understand many concepts, including the limits of power.
  • Supernatural Perception: Reapers can see ghosts, fairies, angels, and demons.
• Immortality: Reapers are immortal creatures and as such are not subjected to hunger, disease, or age.
  • Invulnerability: Reapers are highly resistant to pain and only extremely high-tier beings, such as God or Death, and supernatural weapons, like Death's scythe and an angel blade, can kill a reaper.
• Vast Power: Although frail wraith-like beings, Reapers nevertheless are endowed with a vast amount of supernatural power. Being creations of Death, one of the Primordial Beings, Reapers are one of the oldest and most powerful beings in all of creation, said to be powerful enough to inspire fear into most other entities.
  • Astral projection: Reapers can project their astral frail form.
  • Banishing: Reapers are able to banish souls into the Empty, a place from where nothing can come back.
  • Biokinesis: Reapers can manipulate human biology, one angry Reaper, once infected a person with a mental condition, giving them an early death in revenge.
  • Chronokinesis/Time manipulation: Reapers are able to stop time, causing objects that measure time to permanently break.
  • Disease/Death Transference: Reapers can use their powers to heal disease and injuries, however they have to give the injury or disease to someone else.
  • Electrokinesis: A Reaper was able to cause a car to lose power and stop.
    • Electromagnetic Interference: The appearance of a Reaper can cause lights in a room to flicker or go out.
  • Flight: In their true form, they can hover or levitate.
  • Geokinesis: Reapers can shake rooms just by being present.
  • Hypnosis
  • Intangibility: In their true form or in vessels, reapers can pass through anything physical on Earth without any injury.
    • Extending Intangibility: A Reaper was able to throw Sidney through a door.
  • Invisibility: Reapers can become and are naturally invisible to the naked-eye and physical universe and can only be seen if or unless they are dealing with the deceased or if they choose otherwise to. However, powerful spiritual beings, like angels, ghosts, and demons, can see them with supernatural perception.
  • Killing Touch: Reapers can kill humans by touching them.
  • Memory Manipulation: Reapers can make mortals forget things and can also restore memories.
  • Possession: Reapers can manifest on their own or use a vessel, as shown when one did to get close to Oracle.
  • Resurrection: Reapers can and are capable of resurrecting/reviving the dead/deceased humans, though their dedication to the natural order usually prevents them to so the generally don't.
  • Shapeshifting: Reapers can shape-shift from human form to their more frail wraith appearance.
    • Perception Altering: Reapers can perceptually alter how humans perceive them, appearing in apparently anyway they want to be perceived. They do this to spirits to hide their more frightening form, enabling the reapers to communicate more effectively with their targets.
  • Soul Control: A Reaper displayed the ability to pull 200,000 souls from the Veil into a crystal as part of the Soul Bomb.
  • Super Stamina: Reapers do not grow tired, and will nag their victims incessantly, unless a supernatural event disturbs them. However they do sometimes eat for pleasure.
  • Super Strength: Being a part of the celestial species, Reapers possess this ability, sufficient enough to overpower humans. One was able to easily subdue Rayne and Mia.
  • Telekinesis: Reapers can move objects/beings with their minds.
  • Teleportation: Reapers can just appear anywhere they choose, teleporting from one place to another anywhere in the universe instantly. They can travel to any afterlife realm easily. It is also possible for them to take living humans with them, although it runs counter to their role in the natural order, and is therefore offered only by rogue reapers.
    • Dimensional Access: Reapers can access Heaven, Hell, Purgatory, the Veil, and Avalon. They can also take others with them as a spirit, a soul or even alive.
  • Wind Manipulation: A reaper's arrival can cause sudden gusts of wind.

Weaknesses

Despite being quite powerful beings, Reapers do possess a few weaknesses:

• God: Being the most powerful being in the universe and the creator of everything, God can kill even the Grimm Reapers.
• Death: They are completely under their master Death's control. As Tessa puts it, "He calls us, we don't call him". As such, Death is the only known being who can stop Reapers permanently.
• Angels: As beings who's powers are second only to that of God himself, even the normal angels can kill Reapers. However, only the Higher Angels rival or surpass the Grimm Reapers.
• Higher-tier Demons: Powerful demons like the Greater Demons can overpower Reapers, and in Azazel's case, even possess them. However, against the Grimm Reapers, even the Greater Demons can't defeat them.
• Magic: Reapers can also be imprisoned, and warded off by spells (Enochian runes or symbols), however nothing other than Death or God can permanently stop them (except for killing them). Certain spells can also bind them, however this is very old, very dark and very powerful magic. Rayne compares it to, "putting a dog leash on a great white."
• Death's Scythe: Like other beings, they are vulnerable to Death's scythe with or without a vessel.
• Reaper Trap: A Reaper Trap will hold a reaper (or even some reapers) in place and prevent its escape and depowered them. A pair of cuffs branded by reaper trap also capable to depower a reaper into powerless state.
• Angel and Archangel Blade: Since Angelic blades can kill all but the archangels, it can kill Reapers.