Death (Puss-in-Boots)

**Death**, also known as **Big Bad Wolf**, **Bounty Hunter**, **Death the Wolf**, **El Lobo**, **Lobo** and **The Wolf**, is a character from the *Puss-in-Boots* series.

Death is savage wolf who is after Puss loses the eighth out of his nine lives, the Wolf shows up attempting to claim his final life, with Puss believing that he's a bounty hunter who's after the reward on Puss' head.

## **Appearance**

Death is a large grey wolf. His sclera is red and has black irises. He wears a long black cloak torn at the edges. Death is a large, silvery-white, bipedal wolf with an elongated snout, gray "mask" marking on his face and sharp teeth. He has bright red sclera and black irises that glow when he's excited. He wears a black riding cloak with a built-in hood, and brown trousers under the cloak.

## **Personality**

Death is a cunning and sinister individual whose sole purpose is to take the souls of the deceased. Although he waits in the shadows for people to die naturally, if someone angers or offends him enough, he will physically manifest in order to attempt to take their life by force.

Death is sadistic and thrill-seeking, as he takes a degree of pride and pleasure in his job, and openly admits that he enjoys striking fear into his victims. This is shown by the pleasure he took in scaring and provoking Puss in Boots with his taunts, eerie whistling, and his very presence, and how he got especially excited when he managed to draw blood on the cat. Death also admits to having a dislike of cats and the fact that they all have nine lives, finding the very idea to be "absurd".

Despite Death's sadistic and sinister nature, he does have a sense of honor and nobility, as his main reason for pursuing Puss in the first place was to punish the cat for arrogantly squandering his eight lives with reckless abandon, concluding from this that it would be best to kill Puss before he wasted his final life. Not to mention Puss often declared that he "laughed in the face of death", therefore Death was insulted and disrespected by Puss by his words as well as his deeds in wasting his lives. This indicates that despite representing the end of mortal life, Death holds life sacred and is disgusted by those who don't treat their own lives with true appreciation or care. He also has a sense of fair play, as he always gives Puss the chance to fight back whenever they encountered each other, even giving Puss's old sword back to him for their final duel on the Wishing Star. This suggests Death prefers to give fair fights for those who challenge him, but his comments about how much he would enjoy taking Puss out from the realm of the living seems to indicate that he may have brought him his sword back just for sport, finding it more entertaining to see Puss fight rather than just surrender.

When Puss finally stops running from him and instead fights him while promising to respect his final life with his friends, Death, although initially enraged that Puss has changed and thus "ruined his hunt", quickly calms down and recognizes that killing him now would be pointless and unethical. Thus, Death honorably decides to let Puss live out his final life, respectfully biding the cat to live his last life well. However, he does warn Puss that they will meet again eventually when Puss's life finally comes to a permanent end. This all but proves that Death isn't unbeatable, even if he is unavoidable in the long run.

Overall, Death is best described as a harsh, but fair and reasonable individual who takes his job seriously and enjoys a thrilling challenge, but doesn't kill just for the sake of doing so and is able to respect and spare those who prove him wrong.

## **Warriors of the Multiverse: United We Stand**

### **History**

In Chapter 8, Death made his presence before Eddy Skipper McGee on the eighth floor of the Hidamari Apartments where he revealed to Eddy that the ex-scam artist was suppose to die long time ago but something is keeping him alive and after being warned by him to value his life, Eddy agreed before running away in horror, much to his amusement. It is later revealed by Marco Diaz that he resides in Hidamari Apartments to which Eddy fainted in response upon learning of the revelation.

In Chapter 9, Death is seen entering his room. He is later mentioned to have attended the welcoming party for Eddy Skipper McGee from the previous night alongside getting scolded by Hiro Gotou for scaring Eddy.

## **Abilities**

Being the physical embodiment of death itself, Death possesses great physical and supernatural abilities. He is an exceptionally skilled and powerful fighter, being able to hold his own very well against the legendary swordsman Puss in Boots, and is one of the very few that can match the cat's speed and agility. In fact, Death is the only known individual who has ever managed to draw blood on Puss with a blade.
Death is very strong, being able to smash crystals with his blades with no effort at all, and has some amount of control over fire, which was shown by him conjuring a ring of fire around himself and Puss for their final duel. He can go anywhere he likes, which is shown by him being completely unaffected by the Dark Forest, appearing inside a crystal trap that isolated Puss in Boots and effortlessly passing through the star wall. He has the ability to turn invisible and reveal himself only to those whom he chooses. This is shown how Death appears various times and no one could see him except Puss in Boots; until the final battle when Death finally revealed himself to everyone inside the star.

* **Superhuman Strength**: Death is shown to be very strong, being able to smash large crystals with his blades with no effort at all, and physically overpower Puss during their fights, even effortlessly restraining him with just one hand.
* **Superhuman Durability**: Death is also shown to be very durable, taking two direct attacks from Puss In Boots without injury.
* **Superhuman Speed/Superhuman Reflexes**: Death is as fast as he is strong. His reactionary speed is great to where he is one of the very few that can match the Puss' speed and agility, having outpaced him and even mocked him for his efforts during their first confrontation.
* **Sickle Proficiency**: Perhaps is trademark ability is his skill with the dual sickles he wields. In battle, he swings his sickles with lethal force, able to cleave through wood and metal with little effort. He can also combine his sickles into a dual-headed glaive whenever he faces a worthy opponent. Death not only matches, but also exceeds Puss' swordsmanship. In fact, Death is the only known individual who has ever managed to draw blood from Puss with a blade.
* **Omnipresence**: Being the embodiment of death, Death is everywhere both symbolically and physically. Although he shows at the end of one's life, as stated to be there each of Puss' lives, he is free to move to any location of his choosing as he's not bound to the laws of the physical realm. He was even able to traverse through the Dark Forest, appear with the Cave of Lost Souls that isolated Puss in Boots, and effortlessly pass through the star wall that wiped whoever touched it out of existence. He can reveal himself only to those whom he chooses. This is shown how Death appears various times and no one could see him except Puss in Boots; until the final battle when Death finally revealed himself to everyone inside the star.
* **Fire Manipulation**: A minor but effective ability, Death has some amount of control over fire, which was shown by him conjuring a ring of fire around himself and Puss for their final duel.
* **Soul Reading**: Being the harvester of souls, Death has the power to peer into a person's soul and see who they truly are, however they might deny it or are ignorant of their own true natures, as he saw for himself that Puss in Boots, whom he had labeled an "arrogant little legend who he thought he was immortal", but no longer saw that in Puss at the end of their last duel.
* **Immortality:** Being the literal embodiment of death means that he would have to existed from the very beginning of life. This makes it clear that Death possesses the trait of immortality and cannot grow old or fall ill and has roughly existed for eons. Typically in most immortal beings, the only way they can die is if they are killed by someone else, but for someone like Death, It is unclear if anything can actually permanently kill him because death cannot be avoided one way or another leading those to believe he may be a completely unkillable character.
* **Intimidation:** Due to his appearance and power shown throughout the movie, Death is feared literally and figuratively by mortals. He is the first character to make the legendary and "fearless" hero Puss in Boots feel fear for the very first time. Due to his love to feel fear from his victims, he uses his powers to torment Puss the entire movie. One of his most prominent choices of fear tactics is done by what is referred to as "Death's Whistle." Death's infamous whistle is eight beats long, mirroring how he's already taken eight of Puss's lives. During his fight with Puss when he summons the ring of fire, this melody lasts for nine beats until he starts talking instead, showing how Death is fully intent on taking the cat's last life.
* **Weapon's Transmutation:** Death's main choice of weaponry is two sickles he carries. When facing a worthy opponent, he has the ability to combine his sickles into a dual-headed glaive which replicates a spear.

## **Trivia**

* Death is the second antagonist to be an anthropomorphic wolf with supernatural powers Puss faced off with, the first being Bloodwolf.
* Death is based on the folkloric character of the Grim Reaper, whereas the tune he whistles is based on The Silbón, a legend associated with the Los Llanos region of Colombia and Venezuela.
	+ Since the Grim Reaper/Death is normally portrayed as a humanoid skeleton, it's possible that Death can shape-shift and specifically chose to take the form of a timberwolf, since the individual he is targeting, Puss in Boots, is a cat who notoriously has a fear of dogs and wolves. In ancient times, the wolf was often considered the embodiment of death by certain cultures, mainly because of its savagery and fury.
* While it’s implied, Death is never seen or shown killing others.
* In order to not spoil Death's true identity, which isn't revealed until much later, he is credited as the "Big Bad Wolf" (or at least "the Wolf") in promotional material, although he is never referred to as such in the film. Death himself does not have any connections with the original original Big Bad Wolf from the *Shrek* films.
* The Dual Sickles Death wields are likely a reference to the aforementioned Grim Reaper's Scythe, both being farming equipment.
* Contrary to appearance, Death is not a bounty hunter, but instead this is just what Puss mistook him for until he revealed his true identity later on.
* Death admitted that he hated that cats have nine lives, considering it to be absurd and he held a personal contempt for Puss, who arrogantly squandered eight of his lives, in reckless abandon all the while claiming he "laughs in the face of death". This basically means that Puss was insulting Death every time he said this remark.
* When Death crosses his sickles on his chest, it makes him appear similar to Anubis, the Egyptian God of the Dead. Fittingly, they are both canines and embodiments of death itself.
* Death is the only character completely unaffected by the Dark Forest, appearing inside a crystal trap that isolated Puss in Boots and showing the ability to effortlessly pass through the star wall. This is because he is not a mortal being, but instead the personification of death itself, the end of mortal existence.
* There are several subtle hints about Death's true identity throughout the film:
	+ The numbered cards during the death montage have a hooded wolf with sickles at the four corners.
	+ Death makes his very first entrance by suddenly appearing right next to Puss with ghostly silence.
		- Prior to that, Death could be seen in the top left corner of the screen in an alleyway as the camera pans over the villagers of Del Mar watching Puss as he battles the giant. Unlike everyone else, he is not cheering for the cat and is instead ominously staring at him.
		- This also proves Death's claim of witnessing every single one of Puss's deaths at least partially true.
			* In the short: The Trident, Death can be also seen on the quarterdeck of the ship in a different attire beside the mast when Puss is in the cannon before wasting one of his lives, further verifying that he may have indeed present whenever Puss will lose a life.
	+ Death's weapons are a pair of sickles, and his attire is a pitch-black cowl, which bare a strong resemblance to the Grim Reaper's scythe and cloak respectively. Also, his appearance as a silvery-white, bipedal wolf with gray mark on his face is likely a reference as Death is usually depicted as a berobbed skeleton.
	+ During his first encounter with Puss, the Wolf notes that "Everyone thinks they'll be the one to defeat me. But no one's escaped me yet", referencing the fact that everybody dies one day.
	+ When Puss once makes another crack at death, the Wolf scratches his wanted poster, hinting why he's actually here.
	+ When Puss, Kitty and Perrito escape from Big Jack Horner's henchman, the Wolf puts two stray coins over his eyes as he watches him leave, making him look like a corpse. This is also a reference as to how Ancient Greeks buried the dead with coins over their eyes so they would have money for passage to the Underworld.
	+ When Puss sees the Wolf for the first time in the Dark Forest, the scenery surrounding him looks like a skull.
	+ The Wolf keeps appearing out of thin air with seemingly no one but Puss (initially) able to see him. This is a pretty clear indication that the Wolf is no mere bounty hunter.
	+ Death knew about Puss's quest for the Star despite never mentioning it to him, and he appears anywhere Puss goes, including the Dark Forest, proving to be both omniscient and omnipresent.
	+ While every other major character is introduced with a wanted poster (sans for Perrito, who has an "unwanted poster"), Death isn't. This lampshades how Death is not a criminal and merely wanted to hunt down Puss specifically for wasting his lives.
	+ During Puss's visit to the vet, his death is emphasized to him by the vet blowing out a candle. Likewise, shortly before Death appears in the bar, one of the candles on the chandelier above extinguishes, foreshadowing him coming to end Puss's life.
	+ When Death appears while they are fighting The Baker's Dozen and Goldilocks and the Bears at The Dark Forest, the scenery forms with him a shape resembling a skull.
	+ Later on, when the Wolf reveals his true identity, right before the purple crystal representing one of Puss' past lives behind which the supernatural entity is standing shatters, cracks forming in front of his face start forming a wolf skull.
* Death is considered one of the most powerful villains in the *Shrek* franchise and the most terrifying character in the *Puss in Boots* franchise, due to cutting Puss and causing him to bleed, all while saying “I love the smell of fear”.
* Death, despite his major role in the series, has the shortest amount of screen time of any antagonist, at only around 7 minutes.
* There are a few indications of Puss in Boots’ nine lives being wrecked by the potential presence of Death in the bar scene:
	+ Before Death even suddenly appears at the bar next to Puss, the bell in the background of the bar toils 8 times, referencing Puss’ past 8 lives, the last one wanting to be taken by Death.
	+ While Puss is at the bar sipping one of his cups filled with milk, 8 other finished milk filled cups can be seen at the bar counter, referencing that Death is about to come for Puss’ 9th life.
* Death’s whistle is regarded one of the most realistic elements for Death up-to-date, as Death’s whistle is a nod to the fact European villages hold a mysterious creature known as “The Whisperer.”— because of this, villagers would lock their doors and stay in at night. Since the whistle is used as a metaphor for the call of actual death.
* Death's infamous whistle is eight beats long, mirroring how he's already taken eight of Puss's lives. During his fight with Puss when he summons the ring of fire, this melody lasts for nine beats until he starts talking instead, showing how Death is fully intent on taking the cat's last life. Likewise, when Death spares Puss and leaves the whistle's notes are higher, giving it a less menacing tone as he now respects Puss and wishes to let him live his life well
* Death set out to kill Puss because he was "an arrogant little legend who thought he was immortal". While he didn't kill Puss in the end, Death ironically succeeded in ending the flawed being Puss was before his adventure for the Wishing Star because everything he learned helped Puss become a better person with a true respect for the importance of life and death and a promise to cherish his last life.
	+ In addition, Death did manage to sort of succeed in his hunt. While his target for most of the movie was Puss, in the end after Death leaves, Jack Horner ends up dying as the Wishing Star falls apart. Jack Horner, being a known nursery rhyme character and owner of a large baked goods factory, thought himself unstoppable due to the numerous magical items he had collected over the years, and was arrogant and sadistic to anyone who was not himself. So while Death did not walk away having killed Puss, he did end up with "an arrogant little legend who thought he was immortal" in the form of Jack.
* During Puss' fight with the giant, Death can be seen standing in an alleyway among the crowd watching the fight in contempt.
* Puss addresses him as "Lobo" near the end, as *lobo* is both Spanish and Portuguese for "wolf".
* As he is the living embodiment of Death and speaks Spanish a few times in the film whose events started in Spain, Death can be seen as an evil counterpart to Santa Muerte, a Spanish folk character who also personifies Death. The difference is that Santa Muerte is depicted as a benevolent figure, while Death is sadistic and resentful.
* Death's quick rant in Spanish (POR QUÉ DIABLOS FUI A JUGAR CON MI COMIDA!?) roughly translates into English "WHY THE H\*LL DID I PLAY WITH MY FOOD?!?", likely showing his disappointment in toying with Puss over the course of his journey instead of killing him when given the chance.

## **External Links**

* Death at The Adventures of Puss in Boots Wiki