MU Handbook Entries:
What Is death? Clinically speaking, it is the cessation of bodily functions for such a period of time that there is irreversible damage to living organic tissue. Mystically speaking, it is the permanent separation of a being's astral self from his or her physical self. This astral form has been described as a being's "spirit," "soul," "ilfeforce," "life essence" or "consciousness." (Certain adepts like Dr. Strange and Professor X are even able to project their astral selves from their physical selves without dying to do so.) What happens to the astral self or spirit of a being who dies has never been determined. Certain occult or cosmic entities have been able to trap select spirits at the exact moment of clinical death and even hold on to them for a time. Other entitles have been able to mystically or cosmically preserve their own life essence in some way after the death of their physical bodies. The astral forms of the Asgardians, Olympians, Eternals, and other gods and immortals, are categorically hardier than those of mortals. A god's life force possesses such intensity that it remains cohesive long afler the death of the physical body. Some immortals such as the Eternal Chronos have existed sons without a physical body. But these are the exceptions. What happens to the overwhelming majority of souls liberated from the physical bonds of their body at death is still a vast mystery.
Further compounding the mystery of death is the fact that in the Marvel Universe the concept of Death can take a perceptible, personified form. Death and the being called Eternity, together comprise the mystical essence of the universe: Eternity embodies the principle of life, and Death embodies the principle of mortality. All of the universe's creations must eventually surrender to Death. Even the Eternals and Asgardians age, although they do so very slowly, and will someday die. The Olympian gods do not age, but can be killed by a sufficiently powerful force. Eventually Death may claim everything that lives and the entire universe may succumb to entropy.
Death and Eternity can manifest themselves as sentient beings, and have spoken of themselves as siblings. They have always appeared in humanoid form, although presumably they appear in alien form to aliens. Eternity generally appears in the form of a male but it is probable that it could just as easily appear in female form. Death usually manifests itself in female form, as here, but this is because Death is usually seen in attempts to seduce men into doing its will. Presumably women might see Death in male form. When Death presented itself once to Dracula as a rival rather than as a seducer, it took male form. While Death can take the guise of a living human, it more often appears to living beings as a hooded, robed skeleton, as shown here.
The personification of Death at times seems to possess fathomable motives. Death seems to seek new conquests, and manipulate mortals with or without their knowledge in order to gain them. Death once attempted to destroy the vampire-lord Dracula through human pawns because Dracula was depriving it of conquests by creating vampires who were neither truly alive nor truly dead. Death failed on that occasion, but Dracula eventually fell victim to permanent destruction. Although Death ordinarily seems content to maintain a balance in the universe between its power and Eternity's, Death will seize opportunities that arise to achieve dominance over Eternity. Death once appeared to Thanos in the form of a woman with whom he fell so much in love that he was willing to destroy the universe in order to please her. Death also apparently works in partnership with Galactus, the destroyer of worlds, who represents some type of balancing force between Death and Eternity.
Death's ultimate goals are unknown. There may be a master plan guiding its movements or nothing more than random, inexorable chance. The relationship between Death and the so-called Death Gods of the various pantheons Is also very hazy. Death Gods like Hela and certain demons like Mephisto seem to receive certain undefined powers from Death and even rule over extradimensional realms seemingly inhabited by the souls of deceased mortals. But whether they are Death's pawns or pretenders cannot be determined.
In short, Death, as both a state of being and as an abstract entity, remains the Great inevitability as well as the Great Mystery in the Marvel Universe.
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