Does Death Have Feelings? (Was: Susan, a Likeable Characte..

Note: Spoilers for Reaper Man



















that expendable guy <godot_showed_up.DeleteThis@justice.com> wrote in message news:<bj9070tjue24jrv9jrpik3ncgss01llkcd.DeleteThis@4ax.com>...
 > On Tue, 30 Mar 2004 03:03:39 GMT, "Stacie Hanes"
 > <house_damodred.DeleteThis@yahoo.com> wrote:
 >
  > >Daibhid Ceannaideach wrote:
   > >>> From: Baba Yaga spamdump.DeleteThis@phonecoop.coop
   > >>> Date: 28/03/2004 23:14 GMT Daylight Time
   > >>> Message-id: <6eje60966odqu82li6ss4bt9upmqco8edc.DeleteThis@4ax.com>
   > >>>
   > >>> that expendable guy <godot_showed_up.DeleteThis@justice.com> wrote, in
   > >>> alt.books.pratchett:
   > >>>
   > >>>>
   > >>>> Speaking of glands and hormones, Death has none, as I think has
   > >>>> been pointed out on a number of occasions. Does Death know
   > >>>> genuine love? Can he without glands and hormones? He's constantly
   > >>>> described as mimicing and not really being the things he seems to
   > >>>> yearn for, and so often getting it "wrong." My sense is that some
   > >>>> may be granting equal status for the yearning for something and
   > >>>> the thing itself. It's hard not to, when Death is so obviously
   > >>>> sympathetic.
   > >>>
   > >>> It's an interesting point, 'though I take "loving" to be about
   > >>> action as much as about emotion,
   > >>
   > >> It's the emotion that leads to the action, shirley? You have to
   > >> have feelings for someone to love them.
   > >>
   > >>> which might (or from Susan's persective, and
   > >>> depending on the moment, might not) throw a spanner in the works.
   > >>> However, how might one yearn, without glands and hormones?
   > >>
   > >> That's another interesting question; it's cutting very close to
   > >> Star Trek territory, in fact; being something that's always bugged
   > >> me about Lieutenant Commander Data, whose longing for emotions
   > >> always struck me as an emotion. Similarly with Death.
  > >
  > >I think you can want intellectually. It is, however, tricky territory.
  > >What's the word for a desire based on intellect rather than emotion?
 >
 >
 > I had Data in mind when I first posted this. Funny how it went down
 > the same path. I'd say this last is the critical question. Possibly
 > the broadest verion of this question would be, "Why would a creature
 > without any emotions even want to necessarily to persist, to continue
 > to exist?" That's a desire, too.
 >
 > But I think Reaper Man may answer the question for Death, now that I
 > think on it. It's when he saves the child's life--and gives her half
 > of his precious time.
 >
 > We don't know from Death's own teeth what was in his mind when he did
 > this. If we make guesses, we have to predicate them on what we know
 > goes through a human's mind, not [an] anthropomorphic personification's.
<snip>

I think there is probably a difference between a "robot", if you will
(my apoligies if that isn't technically what Data is), and an
anthropormorphic personification. The latter, like the Hogfather, is
what people believe he is. If enough people believe that Death can
sometimes be compassionate, then he doesn't really even have a choice
in the matter. He has to be capable of compassion. And if you've ever
lost a loved one to a painful, prolonged, terminal illness, I'm sure
you'll agree that Death was certainly welcome in the end (after all,
he's not in charge of how long it takes you to die, he's just there to
collect you when it happens). So, my theory is that Death is given the
ability to feel certain emotions via our beliefs about death but,
because we don't all agree on any one particular condition under which
he gets to feel them, he has a certain amount of control over that
aspect of his emotions.

Yours ever,
Pighooey<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->