A Map of Ladies Death

My husband and I were at MoMA PS1 in 2021 when I go out her : Niki de Saint Phalle ’s interpretation ofDeath . It was one of thesmall modelsof her gargantuan Tarot Garden instalment that resides just outsideRome . Here wasDeath : a skull - faced woman , toothsome and gold - pare , rid a cavalry made of the midnight sky . The joy of it , the life of it , the bursting mantrap of its color and the dynamic nature of the posture , sandbag me .

It remind me of meeting the expiry card in aDay of the DeadTarot pack of cards . All the figures of that pack of cards were correspond by underframe , except for Death . She was , instead , a significant charwoman .

InNnedi Okorafor’sWho Fears Death , violence and nascence , death and maternity , and above all transformation abound , with the violence and vivid colour of a Niki de Saint Phalle sculpture .

Image: Rebellion Publishing

Okorafor ’s supporter , Onyesonwu Ubaid is an Ewu young woman , a child of force : particularly , of the weaponized rape of a Nuru soldier of her Okeke female parent . Onyesonwu — from whose name , “ Who Fears Death , ” the Good Book takes its deed — is a condition - record changer ( one of her shapes is that of a vulture ) , and a sorcerer who can pull wires matter and resurrect the dead . Upon the murder of her lover and the conception of their fry , Onye works a dandy magic : killing all the prolific men in its radius and impregnate all the fair sex . For this ( coddler ! ) , she is caught and stoned to death .

Or is she ? In re - writing the populace , Onye also re - write her own dying , and alternatively transforms into a fire - spitting Kponyungo , a dragon - like wight of the desert . ( Okorafor submit in a tweet that she take over the Kponyungo ’s material body from a funeral mask . ) Onye is not , perhaps , an obvious incarnation of Death , but she does seem — in Okorafor ’s far - future , post - apocalyptic scientific discipline phantasy — to embody many of the contrast complexities of the ancient fertility rate / death goddess found at the beginning of many world religions .

One of the most recognizable , modern depictions of a distaff Death isNeil Gaiman’sDeath of the Endless , a recurring character in hisSandmangraphic novels . Her idiosyncratic look — goth - black clothes , silver ankh , and mark near her right center — make her fantastically easy forSandmanfans to cosplay ( and therefore embody ) demise . In the recently releasedaudiobook , Death is voice with joie de vivre ( and a scratchy , sisterly , reassuringly warmheartedness ) by actor Kat Dennings . Elsewhere on Twitter , Neil Gaiman fan prompt me of his “ Lady on the Grey , ” the personification of Death in the Carnegie Medal and Newberry Award - winning The Graveyard Book .

Image: Rebellion Publishing

Image:Rebellion Publishing

In Rebecca Solnit ’s City of Women from her atlas vertebra projection Infinite Cities , all stops of the New York City underground organization are renamed for nifty women in chronicle . I feel that should some future map maker ever make a underground map of all the female - presenting Death number of the fancy literary genre , then Terry Pratchett ’s character Susan Sto Helit from hisDiscworldseries would be just one stop away from Neil Gaiman ’s Death of the Endless — not too far from Gilly the Perky Goth from Dork Tower ! Miss Susan ( “ Susan Death ” ) is the adopted granddaughter of Death , who — at least for the plot of ground of Soul Music — takes up Death ’s own mantle . On our Map of Ladies Death , Death of the Endless and Susan Death would be two edge neighbourhood , two tike - girl psychopomp laid out side by side : underweight , of pale expression , with a lordliness beyond their twelvemonth .

The next stop after Susan Death might be Calliope Reaper - Jones , Amber Benson ’s champion in the series of the same name , Death ’s daughter , and CEO of Death , Inc. , who fag power suits and works intemperately to stave off the zombie apocalypse . ( And if she is Mister Death ’s girl , then the necromancer protagonist of my own novel , Saint Death ’s Daughter , might be the next stop on our fanciful nether subway line … Although Lanie Stones is n’t literally Death ’s daughter , just Her beloved acolyte . )

There are more Ladies Death and decease - contiguous female figures in phantasy than I can name , so I become to social media . Friends cue me to advert Sabriel , Liriel , and Clariel , of Garth Nix ’s Old Kingdom series , Nancy from Seanan McGuire ’s Wayward Children serial — specially Every Heart a Doorway , where she come at schooling after spend several geezerhood in the Halls of the Dead , Queen Achren from Lloyd Alexander ’s Chronicles of Prydain ( one of my favorite puerility villain ! ) , Lady Taranis from Susan Cooper ’s Seaward , and Greer Gilman ’s Annis from Moonwise .

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Though there are plenty of deadly females in fantasy films and TV who are , each in their way , decease - Bringers , there are not many who are Death personified . Santa Muerte on Penny Dreadful : City of Angels ; the Mago in Hotel del Luna ; the Princess in Jean Cocteau ’s Orphée .

But the 80 ’s gives us deal of wiggle room , if we ’re looking body Death in a sealed kind of female manikin . There ’s the Widow of the World Wide Web in Krull , who controls the Crystal Spider with her hourglass . There ’s the Sorceress - Queen Bavmorda in Willow , with her gaunt frame , skeletal expression , priestess robes , and spiked iron crown , who rules over ruthless U. S. Army and terrifying destruction dogs , and has no compunction sacrificing child . There ’s Mombi in Return to Oz ( played by the same actress , Jean Marsh , who played Bavmorda ) , who require brain for her collection and wears them interchangeably depending on her mood . Let us not forget the the Force - witch Charal in the Battle for Endor , who can shape - change into a raven ( I signify , iconic ! ) , or Disney ’s own Maleficent ( from the cartoon , I intend : pre - buyback ) , who takes her last variant as a black dragon .

We would be neglectful if we did not mention a few of the more eldritch female shape lurk in fable , myth , and urban fable . While they are not perhaps strict personifications of expiry , they nonetheless prompt us of the tattered veil between our world and the Land of the Dead . There are those who lure passersby to their last by trickery or enthrallment . There are those who are , themselves , dead — often from violence or desperation . There are those who come along at roadsides , or lost in the wood : mere hauntings , reminding us of our own mortality .

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Imagine stops on our subway map named : Rusalka , Pichal Peri , La Llorona , Lamia , Empusai , Succubi , La Dame Belle Sans Merci . And , lest you fear we are running out , we can always move around to the aforementioned Death Goddesses of religious belief and myth , who have their own alphabetical listing on Wikipedia , from Akka to Tuonetar : a whole hare warren I am always eager to explore .

C.S.E. Cooney is the source of World Fantasy Award - winning Bone Swans : story and the Tor.com novelette Desdemona and the Deep , among others . Find out more atcsecooney.comor on twitter @csecooney .

Saint Death ’s Daughter by C.S.E. Coney is out now in the U.S. ; you could set up a copyhere .

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