Death's Scythe

The origins of the Grim Reaper's scythe are a bit muddy. It could be derived from Cronus's sickle, and there is also an association between Odin and sickles. It's also not surprising for Death to take someone's good idea and patent it to become soul-ly his. Others create it, and he reaps the benefits. Heh!

We, now-a-days, see a scythe and we think Death. We think Grim Reaper. As far as I know, the imagery of the Grim Reaper with his scythe goes back to the start of the Middle Ages. Either way, the scythe is his now, and it hangs ceremoniously, possibly on the wall or above a mantel in one or maybe all of his many mansions. The item itself reaps souls. But also, Death doesn't need a scythe in order to reap souls. He does it by existing.

In this way, Death can be argued to be a primordial god. He is death. Death is him. He doesn't have to physically walk up to a dying person and take their soul. There are too many human souls, not to mention trees have souls, bugs have souls, rocks have souls- if you're an animist, that is. So, if you think of Death as a single being or entity that exists in one place and one time, think again. Like Desire, like the Darkness, like Dream, Death is everywhere, everything all at once. He is also him, and he has a scythe, but it hangs on a wall to be admired by him for just having existed in the first place.