I’m sure that someone, somewhere has written a book or directed a movie where Death is not, basically, a kind hardworking man with a job to do. I’ve never read the books, or seen the movies, though.
This is a comic, but Judge Death from the world of Judge Dredd is absolutely malign and the enemy of all mankind. Then there are also the Dementors from HPMOR.
Death in Supernatural is debatable. He is made sympathetic at some point but in his first appearance he is about to destroy Chicago then changes his mind with the reason “I like the pizza”.
In the Thorgal series it is a complete asshole inventing new ways to put mortals close to being dead without being fully dead, for fun.
Also I think there are various stories and depictions where death is not a character but makes an appearance in some way, maybe purely symbolic, and seems to be evil or to enjoy humans dying. I am sure I have seen many depictions of laughing death as a metaphor of scenes of carnage (the first that comes to mind is a double page in the Darkmoon Chronicles where the burning of cities is illustrated with a laughing/smiling reaper).
So perhaps we could say that when Death is made a real character in stories it is more often than not a “kind hardworking man with a job to do”; but at the same time most depictions of the reaper are not characters but rather use a simple portrayal as a metaphor for evil and slaughter. Somewhat in the spirit of this famous image
If this is correct I think we can see where the friend in the post was coming from
“It’s nice to see a portrayal of Death that doesn’t paint him as some mindless villain, and actually gives him some characterization.”
This is a comic, but Judge Death from the world of Judge Dredd is absolutely malign and the enemy of all mankind. Then there are also the Dementors from HPMOR.
Also Hades in DC comics.
A few others
Death from the Castlevania series is simply evil
Death in Supernatural is debatable. He is made sympathetic at some point but in his first appearance he is about to destroy Chicago then changes his mind with the reason “I like the pizza”.
In the Thorgal series it is a complete asshole inventing new ways to put mortals close to being dead without being fully dead, for fun.
Also I think there are various stories and depictions where death is not a character but makes an appearance in some way, maybe purely symbolic, and seems to be evil or to enjoy humans dying. I am sure I have seen many depictions of laughing death as a metaphor of scenes of carnage (the first that comes to mind is a double page in the Darkmoon Chronicles where the burning of cities is illustrated with a laughing/smiling reaper).
So perhaps we could say that when Death is made a real character in stories it is more often than not a “kind hardworking man with a job to do”; but at the same time most depictions of the reaper are not characters but rather use a simple portrayal as a metaphor for evil and slaughter. Somewhat in the spirit of this famous image
If this is correct I think we can see where the friend in the post was coming from