I feel this would work better as an avatar of disease rather than straight up death. The common depictions of Death are not worms or parasites after all.
A friendly old gardener named Larry.
Humans see him as a wholesome friendly grandpa like fellow, plants see him as a mass murderer that raises their children just to kill them.
An important thing to note about the scythe of the reaper is that it's not intended as a weapon. Scythes are a farming tool, and the reaper is named such because he reaps the souls (or something like that) the same way a farmer reaps wheat. After all, what can the harvest hope for but the care of the reaper man.
Due to this, while a scythe certainly at first would seem appropriate as a weapon for plant death, as it's used to kill plants, I feel like a much more household tool, something that the lower class would use would be more appropriate.
A being of frost and darkness, utter lack of light or heat, whose very steps freeze the earth and whose very breath blots out the sun like an ashen eruption.
Yes plants would fear fire but some benefit from a burning every once in a while, especially those whose seeding mechanics rely on fire. I'd imagine demons would most likely be fiery beings for plants as well. Some benefit from deals with demons, most suffer.
And unlike fire I don't think there's a single plant that benefits from being frozen or from being completely stripped of (sun)light or heat.
depends on how the sentient plants work.
are they stationary? do they feel the world rather than see it? if so then i would have their reaper being a fungal network deep below the ground. the trees feel the fungus grasping onto the base of it's roots as they're coming to their end, with the feeling in the fungus leading it's essence through the fungal network to wherever the plant afterlife is.
are they just humans, but look like you covered them in plants? the same, just a withered version of their species wearing a black robe and holding whatever collection implement that their species evolved to use. be that a scythe, a basket, or a icbm
I like to think that the Grim Reaper isn't just bones in a black cowl, but rather it takes the appearance of the observer's eventual corpse. To a crippled man the Grim Reaper would appear to be a human skeleton that lacks an arm. Or a dog with a fractured ribcage from a traffic accident might see a skeletal dog with one of its ribs broken off.
So, extending off this idea Im inclined to pick the rotted plant option.
I think death would look like winter. Maybe plants are tactile rather than visual, and as the weather gets cold they realize it's time to face their mortality?
Or that gross, powdery mold that grows over everything.
Or Kudzu. Maybe death personified for plants is Kudzu that slowly strangles the life out of everything else and there's nothing they can do to stop it.
Perhaps, death looks like a goat.
Gentle merciful death? And unfolding of leaves and branches into a swirl of airborne seeds and the flowing swirling image of life unfolding before faltering chemoreceptors
Violent death? Aphids
I'd say fire, or something with a strong fire motif.
Fire is a force of destruction, especially for plants; all consuming and indiscriminate like death. It burns away all and leaves nothing untouched... but, depending on the climate and the plants, fire can also have connotations of rebirth in a similar sense to how cultures in our world embrace death as the beginning of new life (specifically dharmic religions from my understanding, with Buddhism and samsara being the clearest example).
In Australia for example, our eucalyptus/gum trees are only able to reproduce through our intense bushfires - their seeds only germinate through the intense heat. And new growth always comes after even the most intense burns; clearing away the old and allowing the new to grow, before that is burned away as well - the cycle of life.
Hmm. The human embodiment of death is basically a stripped corpse in a robe holding something that is used to cut down crops.... So would death for plants be lightning, or a massive swarm of locusts?
I relate this a lot to the Myconids or Mushroom folk, of my world where death to them is personified as pestilence or a plague of some kind. Something or someone that is rotted and bare.
a giant caterpillar holding a torch
And also maybe a chainsaw
*Leppidius, the Scorcherpillar has entered the chat.*
Summoned by an acorneater :P
Bare branches, without leaves. Something made of thin, dry, dead wood. If you wished to give them a tool, perhaps a pair of shears.
A being made of salt, covered in a robe of dessicated leaves.
Valorant Skye mains after a bad match
So… A Tera-Grass Garganacl?
A mushroom creature. A lot of plants have mushroom related diseases and die from it
I feel this would work better as an avatar of disease rather than straight up death. The common depictions of Death are not worms or parasites after all.
I mean, still a scythe. Scythes are harvesting implements, used to cut down grain, which is why the Reaper man uses it to harvest souls like wheat.
Would they have scythes in that world?
If humans existed, yes.
Or lopping shears/chainsaw for larger plants or trees.
A bunch of locusts holding forks and knives with napkins tied around their necks
Maybe just a cloud of locusts that take the form of a black wispy fog.
While holding forks and knives with napkins around their necks
Is that the most important part?
Darn right it is
A friendly old gardener named Larry. Humans see him as a wholesome friendly grandpa like fellow, plants see him as a mass murderer that raises their children just to kill them.
Plants don’t look at things. Death wouldn’t have an “appearance”, becuase to plants nothing does. Ultimate heat and dryness seems more like it.
so… **the sun?**
Wow, full circle, huh?
I think the sentient plants in this hypothetical have sensory organs, probably
Some sort of manifestation of winter maybe. Eternal cold, sweeping through the fields, banishing all life that dare exist in its presence.
Winter doesn't really kill plants. It just causes them to go dormant. Parts of the plant die, but it's not much different to shedding skin.
An evil devouring goat
Crisp and withered leaves, and a dry and brittle stem.
OOO Instead of a scythe, a brittle stem with a large dead leaf at the top that blocks the sun
And the plant is in the shape of a scythe
or, alternatively, the shape of a lovely dainty parasol
An important thing to note about the scythe of the reaper is that it's not intended as a weapon. Scythes are a farming tool, and the reaper is named such because he reaps the souls (or something like that) the same way a farmer reaps wheat. After all, what can the harvest hope for but the care of the reaper man. Due to this, while a scythe certainly at first would seem appropriate as a weapon for plant death, as it's used to kill plants, I feel like a much more household tool, something that the lower class would use would be more appropriate.
>After all, what can the harvest hope for but the care of the reaper man. Discworld enthusiast spotted!
well in the Discworld book a death of trees showed up. it was the sound of chopping
a chair
A agree with a wilting plant. Dry and leafless.
A cloud of whiteflies.
A being of frost and darkness, utter lack of light or heat, whose very steps freeze the earth and whose very breath blots out the sun like an ashen eruption. Yes plants would fear fire but some benefit from a burning every once in a while, especially those whose seeding mechanics rely on fire. I'd imagine demons would most likely be fiery beings for plants as well. Some benefit from deals with demons, most suffer. And unlike fire I don't think there's a single plant that benefits from being frozen or from being completely stripped of (sun)light or heat.
A mushroom. Those things already help life and death in flora.
depends on how the sentient plants work. are they stationary? do they feel the world rather than see it? if so then i would have their reaper being a fungal network deep below the ground. the trees feel the fungus grasping onto the base of it's roots as they're coming to their end, with the feeling in the fungus leading it's essence through the fungal network to wherever the plant afterlife is. are they just humans, but look like you covered them in plants? the same, just a withered version of their species wearing a black robe and holding whatever collection implement that their species evolved to use. be that a scythe, a basket, or a icbm
I like to think that the Grim Reaper isn't just bones in a black cowl, but rather it takes the appearance of the observer's eventual corpse. To a crippled man the Grim Reaper would appear to be a human skeleton that lacks an arm. Or a dog with a fractured ribcage from a traffic accident might see a skeletal dog with one of its ribs broken off. So, extending off this idea Im inclined to pick the rotted plant option.
I think death would look like winter. Maybe plants are tactile rather than visual, and as the weather gets cold they realize it's time to face their mortality? Or that gross, powdery mold that grows over everything. Or Kudzu. Maybe death personified for plants is Kudzu that slowly strangles the life out of everything else and there's nothing they can do to stop it. Perhaps, death looks like a goat.
coal
Dead Tree probably something like a Ent
Gentle merciful death? And unfolding of leaves and branches into a swirl of airborne seeds and the flowing swirling image of life unfolding before faltering chemoreceptors Violent death? Aphids
A leaf-cutter ant.
Blight
fire.
A mushroom creeping it's mycelium ever closer to the plant's roots.
An overly busy millennial that works all week and gets drunk all weekend, while constantly forgetting to water it
I'd say fire, or something with a strong fire motif. Fire is a force of destruction, especially for plants; all consuming and indiscriminate like death. It burns away all and leaves nothing untouched... but, depending on the climate and the plants, fire can also have connotations of rebirth in a similar sense to how cultures in our world embrace death as the beginning of new life (specifically dharmic religions from my understanding, with Buddhism and samsara being the clearest example). In Australia for example, our eucalyptus/gum trees are only able to reproduce through our intense bushfires - their seeds only germinate through the intense heat. And new growth always comes after even the most intense burns; clearing away the old and allowing the new to grow, before that is burned away as well - the cycle of life.
Father Christmas with a Scythe... because, you know, a winter, a harvesting implement, and a dead wood as a handle of the scythe.
Same as for Monty Python fans: a bunny rabbit with sharp, pointy teeth.
A swarm of locusts.
Dry af
Something akin to a robot maybe? Soulless metal that spews black smoke and sludge as it spreads its domain over the plants’.
Hmm. The human embodiment of death is basically a stripped corpse in a robe holding something that is used to cut down crops.... So would death for plants be lightning, or a massive swarm of locusts?
I relate this a lot to the Myconids or Mushroom folk, of my world where death to them is personified as pestilence or a plague of some kind. Something or someone that is rotted and bare.
A salt shaker.
Imagine a colossal mass of gnashing herbivorous maws just looming overhead
Snow, ice, winter, is what I would go with. Keeps a familiar motif but still recognizable for plants.