Equipment Files: The Grim Robe

The signature black robe of the reaper is the second of the three most iconic features of a reaper, with the first being their scythe, and the third being their skeleton face. (By the way, if this is your first readthrough, then you are becoming a skeleton as you read this very sentence. Well, the skeleton was in you all along, but… you know what I mean. It gets explained later.) The Grim Robe became standard issue for Reapers because it is a very practical piece of equipment with several uses. Its first use is that it’s highly fashionable. Mortals have a habit of saying that “pink is the new black” or “orange is the new black” or whatever, but they’re lying. Black is the once and future black, now and forever, to have and to hold, ‘til death do us part, amen. I may always wear green, but make no mistake; black is my favorite color. I just wear green because no one can tell us apart unless we color-code ourselves like freakin’ Power Rangers, and [Atropos] called dibs on black. Anyway, black stuff is cool, and stuff doesn’t get much blacker than The Grim Robe. Stained with the blood of Nyx herself, (sorry mom) it is darker than the cold, disappointed stare of Erebus. It’s actually darker than the mortal eye can process, lending the Reaper some degree of invisibility. That’s not to say that a mortal can’t see you, they just can’t look at you, if that makes any sense.

The robe is also rather durable, despite its near weightlessness, so it can protect you from some injury. However, if you have reason to suspect that you will be fighting, you’re better off wearing something else more suited to that. In addition to protecting from physical damage, (even in death, breaking a bone kinda sucks) the robe offers all-important defense from The Scourge, which, as the former spirit of a mortal, you are otherwise vulnerable to. For this reason, it is strongly advised that you not leap out of your robe as a spooky skeleton to frighten mortals in their last moments, no matter how hilarious or awesome such a prank would be.