Why dose "Death" use a scythe?

[Naoto Shirogane]

i wasn't sure if this should go here or the sleeping forest. i put it here to be safe.

In Basically almost every creation of Death/Grim reaper. he uses a scythe.

why? It's iconic that Death uses a scythe. but for what reason. is it there for flashiness?

why dose Death use a scythe? would he be able to use any other weapons? i just don't understand why it's a Scythe he uses.

So.. Discuss/Explain?

 

[Will Graham]

Name one apart from the classic Grim Reaper and you may have a point, a scythe is used for reaping a harvest. She/he is the Grim Reaper

 

[Naoto Shirogane]

That makes Sense. and i guess he's Harvesting the souls that go to hell/whatever.

Ok. why dose Death harvest souls or whatever? can he do it without a scythe? while i now understand that his scythe references Harvesting/Reaping. Is that all's it for? besides symbolism is there any actual use for the Scythe on Death rather than symbolism/religon?

 

[Will Graham]

Well you harvest at the opportune moment to maximise yield and crop growth for the next year, so in the same vein you could say he is reaping life. This is pure conjecture, I am at a loss as to why you haven't just googled

The scythe is pretty fuckin' cool, so there's that

 

[Dionysos]

As stated, death / rebirth is quite often connected to harvesting and / or the seasons in myth and religion. The myths (and cults) of Demeter and Persephone, and also of Osiris – to give two examples off the top of my head. There are many examples of myths and cults which follow the same principles, and others that can at least be interpreted in a similar way.

Harvesting is often associated with death. The cycle of ploughing the field and planting seeds (reproduction and pregnancy, etc), caring for a growing sapling (childhood), ripening (adult prime), then being cut down (death) – or whither away (for those that reach old age) - is comparable to the human lifecycle (or indeed any lifecycle). Then it all starts again, just like with humans. Generations are born, raised, ripen and then die, but not (generally speaking) before sowing their own seeds.

Basically the idea stems from an association of the human life cycle with that of the crops and harvest – crops and the harvest themselves being essential givers of life for a human being. Humans are a bit like the crop of the Earth, and when we die our souls are harvested by chthonic deities, beings or entities.

The Grim Reaper is another (albeit a darker, eerier, and damn terrifying) expression of that idea, combined with other ideas. He carries a scythe because it could be used for harvesting, but also could easily be turned into an instrument of death and be used to kill a man. As a tool, it is quite scary-looking itself, and easy for accidents to happen, so it is not a surprise to me that this tool came to be associated with the Grim Reaper and Death.

 

[Rydia]

The posts above were informative. I was just going to reply "Because it looks cool" XD I never thought about the scyth being connected to the harvest.