Death, Personified (Feat. Lindsay Ellis) | It’s Lit! | PBS Digital Studios

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Death as a character reveals how we process one of life’s greatest mysteries, and there’s a lot more breadth to how the grim reaper is depicted than you might think.

It's Lit! is part of THE GREAT AMERICAN READ, a eight-part series that explores and celebrates the power of reading.

Written by Lindsay Ellis, Angelina Meehan, Elisa Hansen, & Antonella Inserra
Directed by Andrew Matthews
Animation by Dano Johnson
Fact Checked by Elisa Hansen
Produced by Amanda Fox
Executive in Charge (PBS): Adam Dylewski

[whitherwhence]

This is a strange remake of the Loose Canon episode

[firiel]

"Yep, it's time to talk about Terry Pratchett."

Bless her for knowing we were all waiting for this

[Joyride]

I was going to make a joke about how Lindsay already covered Death in her Loose Canon series but at the end when she started talking about Terry Pratchett and the kids who would send him letters I almost started to cry. So here's a wholesome comment instead wishing you all well lived and satisfying lives.

[thehopeofeden]

This is just giving me flashbacks to her Loose Canon episode on Death. I miss that series.
And Terry Pratchett.

[CoffeeCakeNation]

I mean, ill take a book version of that loose canon episode

[danielallen]

Did you . . . consciously do a Velma cosplay for this episode?

[thehopeofeden]

I'm not having a particularly good day, and then Lindsay descends from the clouds in her critical godliness to bestow unto me this gift.


And what a happy subject too…?

[MariaVosa]

I did NOT tear up seeing the last tweets on Terry Pratchett's account.
Not at all.
Excuse me, I have to go remove a twig that was thrown into my eye by a ninja wearing onions

[HaveanIcedaymx]

I'm not sure if there is an english translation. But in Jose Saramago's "Las intermitencias de la muerte", a country suffers a great problem when death just decides to stop working and in the end becomes a woman. It's one of my favorite books ever.

[AcolytesOfHorror]

I just read The Book Thief last month. Such a damn good book.

[foehammer]

Couple of things on Death in Terry's books; he was able to prevent his daughter's death, she and Mort refused his offer of immortality. Also he does know what happens after SOME deaths; he knows when people are going to be reincarnated or ghosts but he doesn't know what lies beyond the black desert that serves as Pratchett's representation of purgatory, which people cross to reach the other side.

[fantasyfiction]

Flashes back to when Lindsey did a loose canon on death. I like that she added more on that topic in literature.

[ethanspearman]

I'm so glad Lenore got a mention! I spent a period of my early adolescence slightly obsessed with that poem, and almost nobody knows about it.  

Like...I memorized it.  

In two languages.

[lamcb.]

Oh God. I never saw that Twitter feed. That legit made me cry. Because it was only recently that I decided to take the plunge and fell in love with Discworld. And the first book I bought, was the Hogfather. Because the idea of Death, a being who “takes”, giving something to humans instead was such a novelty for me, I couldn’t put it down in the book store. The pretty cover illustration by Joe McClaren didnt help either

[lunaproductions]

Honestly, I think one of the reasons Book Thief ended up being my favorite book is because I love that particular personification of Death so much.

[LordofBroccoli]

Death in Discworld was my favorite. R.I.P. Terry, I hope you and Death are having a good time full of laughs together :)

[tecpaocelotl]

Mictlan - Meek-tlan - one of the underworlds.
Mictlantecuhtli - Meek-Tlan-Te-ku-(asperation h)-tlee - Male personified ruler of the underworld.
Mictecacihuatl - Meek-te-ka-see-watl - Female personified ruler of the underworld.
Nahuatl - Na-watl

I have tons of videos that I make Nahuatl easy. I usually overstress my lips when I pronounce it since many native speakers don't do that, but hard for a non-native speaker to pick up the sound.

Update: I uploaded on how to pronounce them on my YouTube channel.

[lucrezia]

one day I’ll stop tearing up every time someone mentions Terry Pratchett but today is not the day

[presidenttogekiss]

Its weird for me to see death being refered to as a He, because in Portuguese, Death is a female noun.
In latin literature, death is almost always portraited as a woman, usually sometimes seductive, like in Marvel and DC comics.

[Feasco]

"LORD, WHAT CAN THE HARVEST HOPE FOR, IF NOT FOR THE CARE OF THE REAPER MAN?"