# Death and his scythe **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 14, 2026, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-his-scythe/1030072 "2026-05-14T17:20:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Telemark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telemark/32/372_2.png) [@Telemark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telemark)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-his-scythe/1030072/21 "2026-05-14T20:47:24Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Which is why trees are a poor substitute for human lives in this specific metaphor. What you want is a feller buncher: [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/1_710r5V7PU/maxresdefault.jpg "Feller Buncher: Ultra-Fast Tree Cutting Machine!") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1_710r5V7PU) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-his-scythe/1030072/22 "2026-05-14T21:06:16Z")
> [@beowulff](#): > > In _Sandman_, Death is an extremely attractive, very kind woman. In _The Twilight Zone_, Death is an extremely attractive, very kind man. > **[Remembering Robert Redford's Appearance on a Classic Twilight Zone Episode...](https://www.syfy.com/syfy-wire/robert-redford-appearance-classic-twilight-zone-episode-nothing-in-the-dark)** > > Learn more about Robert Redford's appearance on The Twilight Zone, in which he played a benevolent embodiment of Death an episode titled "Nothing in the Dark." ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2026, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-his-scythe/1030072/23 "2026-05-14T21:14:43Z")
Benny Hill gag: BH and the little bald guy are looking for work when they see an advert and Benny says **Aw, they’re looking for tree fellers and there’s only two of us**. ---
**Author:** ![glee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b5a626/32.png) [@glee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/glee)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-his-scythe/1030072/24 "2026-05-15T11:08:56Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > Death takes you by touching you, I thought. May I ask - where did this belief come from? ---
**Author:** ![Lucas\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lucas_jackson/32/303_2.png) [@Lucas\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lucas_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2026, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-his-scythe/1030072/25 "2026-05-15T14:47:13Z")
> [@glee](#): > > May I ask - where did this belief come from? There is no actual personification of death. It’s an invention. So to presuppose that there is an actual method by which “Death” takes lives is folly on the surface of it. However, in media that I’ve experienced - film, print and TV - more often than not, Death takes you by touch. I’ve never seen a depiction of Death using a scythe taking out swathes of people, or even single souls for that matter. Not that it doesn’t exist, I’ve just not seen it. [Example.](https://www.reddit.com/r/videos/comments/1nijtmn/robert_redford_as_death_in_the_twilight_zone/) ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2026, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-his-scythe/1030072/26 "2026-05-16T12:56:47Z")
> [@Lucas\_Jackson](#): > > It got me thinking - why carry a scythe? Because it’s badass? Other way around. Scythes are badass because it’s what the Grim Reaper wields. > [@Miller](#): > > The point of the scythe imagery is that it shows Death taking hundreds of lives at a stroke, just as a skilled scythe user can cut hundreds of stalks of grain with a single swing. “That’s an interesting technique you have there, cutting one stalk at a time.” “WHAT OTHER WAY IS THERE?” ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [May 16, 2026, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-his-scythe/1030072/27 "2026-05-16T15:59:23Z")
In Holbein’s rendition of the Dance of Death, he seizes the pedlar by his pack, he cuts the string of the blind man’s dog, causing his master to fall into the open grave, he pierces the soldier with a lance. ---
**Author:** ![Snooooopy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ee7513/32.png) [@Snooooopy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snooooopy)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2026, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-his-scythe/1030072/28 "2026-05-28T18:13:14Z")
I think that Death should wield a rake. When he wants to take you, he just throws it out in front of you, you step on it _a la_ Sideshow Bob, and you end up dying of embarrassment. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/death-and-his-scythe/1030072.md?page=1)