Death is the second of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse to be mentioned in the show. Of all the riders, he is the only one to whom the text itself gives a name. His existence is hinted at by Alastair when he performes one of the rituals to break the 66 seals. He claims an "old friend" loaned him the weapon, and "between you and me, he doesn't ride a pale horse, but he does have three amigos". Death does not make a physical appearance in "Abandon All Hope...", but his presence was released from its prison in this episode. Lucifer released Death with his ritual. After the ritual is complete, viewers get what is apprently Death's point of view as he rises from the ground in front of Lucifer, who responds, "O hello, Death".
Death is considered the father of all reapers and the creatures who are normally neutral, since death is impartial, all gathered in the town where Lucifer was going to release Death in order to serve him. To date he is the only Horseman who has knowingly served both sides. In the past he served Heaven during the time of the Great Flood and now he serves Lucifer in the Apocalypse. It is unkown if this makes him a neutral force or if he simply serves whoever releases him from his imprisonment.
Normally Death is kept locked and chained in a magical coffin 600 feet under the Earth as his power is apparently too dangerous to allow him to roam freely. Heaven only released him when God had something major planned such has the Great Flood, or as Bobby Singer put it "The last time they hauled him up, Noah was building a boat!".
In recent promotional pictures, he is revealed to be played by Julian Richings. Much like his Reaper offspring, Death is dressed in a dark business suit, though his do not appear rotted. He also carries a steel tipped cane and is indeed very thin like Bobby's wife described (his clothing appears to hang off him somewhat). He also appears to have overly large pupils that expand like the sockets of a skull depending upon his mood. His ring is pure silver and has a white stone set in it.
History
Abandon All Hope...
Death, as he appears in Bobby Singer's copy of the Book of Revelation.
Death is the main topic during "Abandon All Hope...", as Lucifer is going to summon him. Because of this, numerous Reapers gather, ready to take his orders when he appears. Lucifer claims while he is releasing Death that the requirements for the summoning are very demanding, and he also appears to have some degree of respect for the Horseman. this is revealed in later episodes that this is due to Lucifer possibly being less powerfull and younger than Death.
Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid
In "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", Death arrives in Bobby's hometown and proceeds to revive the dead in the local cemetery. While still unseen, his presence is heralded by fierce lighting storms. As revealed by Bobby's wife, he appears before her to tell her a message to Bobby: The entire incident was organized to attack Bobby, as he is one of the few remaining elements keeping Sam from saying "yes" to be Lucifer's vessel.
Those who are revived by Death appear normal at first, but after five days, the revived devolve into a stereotypical zombie behavior, developing a craving for human flesh after a high fever.
Two Minutes to Midnight
Dean makes a very costly bargain with Death.
Death appears fully in Two Minutes to Midnight, where he is shown to drive what appears to be a white Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz with the license plate "BUH BYE". He walks through a street filled with people. A man who is not looking where he is going shoves past him, and Death turns to look at the man while brushing the side of his coat where the man touched him. He then watches as the man falls down, dead
Death arives in Chicago, Illinois to start a large storm chain that will trigger massive global weather events and mass death in the process - killing millions. Death, unlike his brothers, appears to have a habit of wandering off from his assigned area to the annoyance of Lucifer, who only allows it because of Death's usefulness and to keep his three brothers in line. (it is also later suggested that this is rather in fact due to Lucifer has only a limited amount of power over Death given him by his spell - Death is in fact, far more powerful than Lucifer).
Dean and Crowley track him to a pizzeria were Dean attempts to sneak up on him with Death's scythe (used by Alaistar to kill two reapers). However, the scythe begins to burn hot in Death's presence forcing Dean to drop it, alerting the Horseman to his presence. Rather than act hostile like his siblings, the Horseman thanks him for returning the Scythe before asking Dean to join him at the table. Death then reveals that he has been waiting for a while to talk with Dean despite Dean's skepticism. This offends Death who calmly states that Dean has a very high sense of his own importance. He then establishes that he is the eldest of the Horsemen and very old to begin with and that everything around him, from people to the whole universe and even god, is still in its infancy. So he would appreciate if Dean, who to him is little better than a bacterium, would cut the snark. Also, unlike the demons and angels who see Dean as an important tool in the war, Death doesn't care that much and finds him to be insignificant in the grand scheme of things.
When Dean asks him how old he is, Death admits he can't really remember anymore and guesses he is as old or older than God himself and neither can remember anymore. He surmises that he has been alive since life itself began and someday he will even reap God, to Dean's surprise. Death just states God is a living being like any other and someday he too will die; it's just the way things work.
Dean then asks the important question as to why he is still alive; Death answers simply "The leash around my neck off" before going on to explain that he never agreed to work for Lucifer and that he - and possibly the other Horsemen as well - is bound to Lucifer by a spell. He goes on to explain that he has power beyond that Dean can ever understand and Lucifer, whom he describes as "a bratty child", is using him like a simple weapon, creating massive disasters and raising the dead. This indicates that Death, like his children, has some care for the natural order of things and Lucifer's genocide against Humanity is upsetting things. He goes on to explain the binding spell prevents him from going to Dean so he simply had to wait for Dean to catch up.
Dean then asks what he wants him to do and Death says first to take the bullets out of Lucifer's gun. He then willingly takes off his ring indicating that unlike his brothers he can possibly survive without it or they don't become catatonic if they willingly remove their rings. He tells Dean he is inclined to give him the ring if certain conditions are met. He tells Dean not to worry about Chicago, as he likes the pizza, so he will stop the storm. His conditions are that Dean must do everything in his power to assure that the Devil is put back in his cell. While Sam will be the one to bring the Devil back to the cage, Dean is the one who must imprison him even if it means killing Sam by letting him jump into the cage. Dean reluctantly agrees while Death warns him to hold true to his word by saying he can't cheat Death, he then gives Dean the instructions on how operate the rings that combine to form a key-like device.
Later, Dean and Bobby discuss the plan and while Dean is skeptical Bobby says that Death probably has a larger view of things than they do and they should have more faith in Sam.
Family
- Reapers (Kindred)
- Famine (Brother)
- Pestilence (Brother)
- War (Brother)
- Lucifer (Leader)
Powers
- Indestructible - As stated by War and Famine, one cannot kill a Horseman of the Apocalypse, only weaken them by separating their rings - however this also appears not to be the case with Death. In "Two Minutes to Midnight", Dean tries to approach him from behind with Deaths Scythe, though it is unlikely it works.
- Resurrection - Death has the power to bring anyone and anything he wishes back to life.
- Omnipotent - Death states he can reap God and the universe - this would make him all powerful and more stronger possibly than god himself. he is also seen as creating natural disasters to cause the deaths of millions of people - he suggests however that this level of power is beneath him, and is but petty parlour tricks compared to his true power. As seen in "Two Minutes to Midnight", Death is capable of killing a person, (and possibly anything he wishes - as hinted by his claim that he can reap Gods creations and the universe) instantly.
- Immortality - death is older than time, the universe and even god. he states compared to him our galaxy is still in its diapers. as our galaxy - the milky way is 13.2 billion years old (in united kingdom billions this equals, 1 billion = a million millions )
- Omniscient - due to deaths endless age and power, it is certain he would be all-knowing.
- Omnipresent - Death is present throughout the cosmos.
- Teleportation - Death can go anywhere he chooses in the universe.
Appearances
Season 5
- "Abandon All Hope..." (unseen by audience)
- "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid" (mentioned by Bobby's wife)
- "Two Minutes to Midnight"
Trivia
- Death's license plate reads "BUH BYE", which translates to "bye bye", an allusion to the power he wields over life and death.