Lady Death

Lady Death is the Curator of Souls and ruler of the afterlife who oversees the safe passage of recently departed souls to their final resting place. Two years ago, she put the Graves Twins under a contract to help her eradicate the Nothing.

The Grim Lady
Godmother of Souls
Overseer of Shadows
Curator of Souls (official title)

Ageless

Female

Death Doll ("son", creation; deceased)
Canarie Graves (subordinate by contract)
Andrew Graves (subordinate by contract)

Curator

The Curators

Good

Active

6'3'' (190 cm)

Curator

Lady Death takes the appearance of a beautiful adult woman with long, wavy dark purple hair tied into a braid. She has white skin with patterned markings resembling a mexican calavera and wears various jewelry on her neck and hands. Her ears are covered by orange flowers.

She is dressed in a long purple dress with a slit on the right side, exposing her leg. The dress is adorned with yellow and purple details. She wears a bright orange scarf over her shoulders and flows behind her. Her most prominent feature is her large hat which has gained her the nickname "The Lady in the Hat". Her hat is adorned with orange flowers and green feathers along with two skulls.

In her "younger" appearance (millions of years ago), she looked similar to a grim reaper. She wore a long black robe with a hood that covered almost all of her face. Her sleeves and the ends of the robe were slightly torn.

Lady Death, as an individual, is stoic and benelovent, generally appearing cold and indifferent in any situation. She very rarely shows any emotions and is said to make decisions based on logic, as well as being extremely direct and commanding towards her subordinates. Because her job is to "curate" death, she takes it very seriously.

She doesn't seem to think highly of herself; in fact, she is extremely humble and reserved despite her infinite power and influence on humanity. As the personification of death, she firmly states that everything is bound to die and she would be the last being on the earth. Lady Death also despises the Blot and wishes to eradicate it, referring to it as "a twisted form of death and an extension of life that cheats it". She also said that because of the Blot, she had to close the gate connecting the land of the Living to the afterlife, which meant that the deceased were unable to visit their living relatives.

Although Lady Death is described to be emotionally dispassionate and distant, people who knew her personally said otherwise, especially the Dollmaker, who said that although she is truly cold and blunt in her manner of speech, she is a well intentioned person who showcases her kindness through her actions. While she generally reveals her gentle nature towards the souls she guides to the gateways of the afterlife, her kindness extends to living humans as well, an instance of which being when she often visited Yolotli, after the latter's body remained frozen for 500 years by the Death Doll's preservative smoke, so he wouldn't feel lonely. Out of all the Curators, she seems to know humans the most. Because she knows they are bound to die at some point, she treats them all with an air of neutrality.

Despite her calm and emotionless demeanor, Lady Death isn't unfeeling and seems to care for the Graves twins, whom she feels sympathy towards because of their situation almost in a motherly way. She displays some degree of care for her underlings, however, she does not hesitate to reprimand them when they make mistakes. She is also very kind-hearted when she guides souls to the gateway to the afterlife, to the point where souls of dead children cling onto her as if she was their mother.

In the past, Lady Death had a special connection with the Dollmaker that stood out amongst the rest of the Curators, who pointed out that her cold and stern face softened when she conversed with him. According to the Candleman, because she isn't someone who was interested in idle chat and desired the company of others, it was strange to see her interact naturally with him.

When it came to the Death Doll, though he was a failed attempt at creating beings which would aid her in bringing souls to the afterlife, she refused to destroy him and viewed him as her own child. However, she was often very strict, and never attempted to properly explain how grief worked, something that she once said was a "fatal mistake". When the Death Doll asked her if he could attempt to be amongst humans, she reluctantly allowed him to, but only from afar. She warned him not to make personal connections because humans were fragile.

As it turned out, the Death Doll became corrupted because of his sensitive heart, and his corruption would ultimately lead to killing the Guardian Beast of Tletonatlan, the city's destruction, the deaths of her fellow Curators and nearly ending humanity. Despite knowing what the Death Doll did, Lady Death still cherished him deeply, but knew she had to kill him in order to end his massacre and took away his heart. She said that the events were primarily were her fault, remarking that her first mistake was never teaching him about grief. Even though Lady Death isn't one to be burdened by the past, she once remarked that she was surprised that she felt sadness over losing the Death Doll, something she hadn't felt for thousands of years.

One of the reasons why Lady Death chose to help Andrew and Canarie to find a way to turn the former into a human again is because she saw that the Death Doll, her son, was "reborn" into Andrew, and sympathized with Canarie because they both lost their loved ones due to their actions. She also knew of the fact that Andrew and Canarie were the children of her son's human friend, but she simply called it a coincidence. Because the Death Doll lives on through Andrew, she wants him to interact and be amongst humans, as he had once wished in his last moments.

Though she acts stern and indelicate with them and refers to her ways of helping them as a contract, she shows significant concern for the twins, such as asking them how they've been whenever they meet. Despite her "motherly" behavior towards them, Lady Death does not think of herself that way, claiming that she “wasn't deserving of that title anymore”. Furthermore, she also promised that once the Nothing is permanently stopped, she wants them to meet the souls of their parents.

October-November (months in which she is celebrated)

Lady Death is quite possibly one of the most powerful characters in the series and is often referred as being akin to a God due to her being the embodiment of death itself. As one of the oldest Curators to be active, she has seen various sides of humanity, with her presence always looming over them as she continually reminds them of their eventual fate. She was able to gain god-like power through humanity's belief in her, which is said to have existed ever since the start of time.

As the Curator designated to oversee souls and guide them to the afterlife, her duty is to cleanse the path from impurities and soul-devouring creatures. At some point, during the Cataclysmic Calamity, she went out of her way to teach humans rituals to send off spirits safely. She also created the Zenpazochil flower, known for its toxic and destructive properties to Dolls.

Touch of Death: Lady Death possesses the ability to kill anything and everything no matter what it is, including Dolls, which are essentially revived corpses, as well as the flesh-rotting bacteria. Seemingly "lifeless" things aren't exempt from her touch either, due to the fact that manmade things were provided with "life" by humans upon creating them, and as a result, the object slowly fades away. Because of this, she transferred her power to the scythe she wields.

Wisps: She is capable of creating small green and purple balls of fire, which look like wisps, and control at will with words and gestures. They symbolize Lady Death's true emotions, which is why they have the ability to express "emotions" every once in a while. She can use them to monitor the twins' movements as a sort of communication device. In battle, they can also enhance the twins' fighting prowess and resistance, a process known as "undead marking", as well as using themselves to shield them from incoming attacks they can't react quickly to.

Soul Guardians: Referred to as her "eyes", they are colorful creatures under Lady Death's command who act as her servants and are ordered to protect passing souls from the Nothing. She created them using the Dollmaker's knowledge, which gave them a conscious. They are eternally loyal to her and refer her as "Her Highness" as a term of endearment. She can send out some of her guardians to the Living World as well, but they take the form of normal animals. They are based on nahuales.

Afterlife Gate: She is capable of summoning a gate that leads to the Afterlands which she often uses to summon the Graves twins. She also created a plane of existence that separates itself from the living and the dead, similar to Limbo, and uses it to hold meetings between her and the Graves twins.

Time Stop: Once Lady Death steps in a certain area, all objects and living things come to a halt, though the area itself is unaffected and goes on as usual. She can choose whoever is affected, such as when used this power to freeze everything around the Graves twins except them.

• She is based on the Aztec goddess of death Mictecacihuatl.


• The Calavera Festival was created in her honor by her believers and descendants of the first people to perform cleansing rituals, who were all taught by Lady Death herself (in a disguise).


• According to elderly people in the city, Lady Death actually comes to watch the festivities from the cemetery. Lady Death confirmed this, but she only does it every once in a while (100 years) to see how humans were faring.


• Her emissary is a giant colorful jaguar whom she calls Oze.