Death

Death (デス, Desu) was the death god and great old one of order who founded and served as headmaster of Death Weapon Meister Academy, acted as the third meister of Spirit Albarn, and fathered both Death the Kid and Asura.[2] Around eight hundred years ago, Death maintained order throughout the world himself and by leading an an elite guard squadron known as the Eight Shinigami Legions until one of his elite guard and first son, Asura, betrayed him and managed to become a Kishin. Eventually, Death confronted Asura and was forced to seal him away to contain his madness and sacrificed his mobility. To this end, he founded Death Weapon Meister Academy shortly after for centuries.[16] In the current era, Death served as the headmaster of the academy with the Death Scythes, the academy, and his second son, Death the Kid, as allies to help maintain world order and prevent the rise of another kishin.[16] He is one of the major supporting characters of Soul Eater. Called a "god without arrogance" by Franken Stein,[17] Death himself is a kind, wise, and benevolent figure, often showing care for those within the DWMA[18] as well as optimistic. This is shown when Kilik Rung became frustrated with the situation during the anniversary eve of the DWMA with Death reassuring that there was nothing wrong with being "used" to peace and how that makes the world a peaceful place.[19] Despite his background and powerful position within the school, he tends to speak in a silly voice and wear a different outward appearance from before so as to not scare children.[20] He's also capable of sympathy and compassion, even for Witches, as is demonstrated when he unconditionally allows members of the DWMA to do what they can to help Angela Leon, a notion in which surprised some members of the DWMA so much they wondered If he was even taking them seriously.[21] In addition, Death has an easygoing nature to the point that even after facing Stein, Marie, and Spirit in their plan to let Stein go despite being wanted, he let all of them off with only an apology.[22] Despite his benevolent and easygoing nature, even Death himself has a far more serious side. He's next to intolerant on Spirit's drunken and silly behavior at times[23] as well as to inappropriate behavior.[24] He's also not above punishing others, such as Maka when she borrowed the Book of Eibon's Manuscript using Spirit's I.D Card and was also openly critical of Spirit's irresponsibility in letting her do so and was nearly adamant about punishing Maka,[25] though this attitude seemingly stemmed from the fact he was set on rescuing his son. Azusa Yumi also described him as being pushy, a trait in which has passed to his son as well.[26] Despite having shown support in his son when he claimed the Witches will assist, it was shown that even he was doubtful of their appearance. This was shown to even cause him to be angry when he assumed they were attacked, calling them "bitches" and suspected they would attack and was surprised to see it was Excalibur who had arrived.[27] When he disapproves of various actions from individuals, he will even issue Shinigami Chops. While normally DWMA students or staff are issued these chops, he's shown to even take the opportunity to strike and chop those whom have caused issues such as Medusa Gorgon. In the anime, He's shown to be confident in his own overwhelming power, claiming that Asura's defeat was decided when he became trapped in the Death Room prior to their battle.[28] However, even with his status Death possesses a few flaws on his own. Death has admitted that both humans and gods have weaknesses[29] as well as having showcased guilt for being the one to create Asura to the point he felt he couldn't speak ill of Medusa Gorgon's own treatment of her child as an experiment and expressed further frustration in having to leave the problems he created to others such as his son and his companions.[30] In the anime, he is also known to be reckless by both Death the Kid[31] and Asura.[28] Death himself possesses some eccentricities: He gives out short greeting speech,[32] at times puts his students in dangerous but fabricated situations for the sake of bettering them,[33] and enjoys telling expositions.[34] In the anime, he can get homonyms mixed up at times such as "pause" and "paws" or "Mandolin" and the last name "Manheling" and cannot "handle" coffee-enthusiasts such as Joe Buttataki.[35]