Symbols Of Death For Your Novel

Death is a central theme in literature: universal, inevitable, and rich in symbolism. These symbols don’t just foreshadow demise, they speak to the culture, belief systems, and emotional landscapes of your characters. If you're writing your novel, those symbols can be very useful.

Symbolism of Death in Literature

Writers across eras and cultures have used death as both an end and a beginning. In literature, symbols of death often represent transformation, fear, inevitability, or the unknown.

These symbols are rarely literal, they are metaphoric echoes of our collective understanding of mortality. A raven on a windowsill, a dying flower, or a mysterious number can be far more chilling than a corpse, because they whisper of what’s to come.

In storytelling, death symbolism also helps in setting tone, building tension, and enriching world-building. Using symbolic cues allows readers to subconsciously anticipate events, enhancing their emotional investment.

What Generic Symbols Are Associated with Death?

While symbols vary by culture and context, there are several widely recognized signs associated with death:

• Skulls and skeletons: Perhaps the most overt death symbols, they represent physical decay and the inevitability of mortality.
• Darkness and shadows: Often used to evoke fear and uncertainty, darkness represents the void of the unknown.
• Graveyards and tombstones: These locations signal the boundary between life and death.
• Clocks and hourglasses: Timepieces suggest the finite nature of life and the inescapable passage of time.
• The number 13: Considered unlucky in many Western cultures, it’s often used to foreshadow misfortune or death.

These general symbols can be layered into scenes subtly or overtly, depending on the tone you’re aiming to achieve.

What Are Omens of Death?

Omens are signs believed to foretell death or disaster. They can be personal, cultural, or supernatural in origin. These symbolic warnings can play an essential role in a novel, offering readers suspenseful hints about a character’s fate.

The Ancient Omens of Death

Historically, omens of death ranged from the ordinary to the mystical. In many cultures:

• Breaking a mirror: Symbolized a fractured soul, leading to seven years of bad luck, sometimes death.
• A candle blowing out: If it extinguishes without reason, it was thought to signal a soul’s departure. Perhaps a bit overused in movies, still very effective!
• Dreams of teeth falling out: Interpreted in many traditions as a harbinger of death in the family.
• A knock at the door with no one there: Often seen as Death’s way of calling.

Ancient omens are especially effective in historical fiction or fantasy genres where superstition plays a large narrative role.

Animals Who Symbolize Death

Throughout time, animals have been seen as messengers or symbols of death, especially birds. Their behavior, appearance, or cry can be used effectively in your novel to build a sense of foreboding.

• Ravens and crows: Perhaps the most iconic death-symbolic birds. Often associated with the afterlife and omens, they appear across Celtic, Norse, and Native American myths.
• Owls: Their nocturnal nature and eerie calls have made them symbols of death in cultures like the Romans and many Native American tribes.
• Cats (especially black): In medieval Europe, they were associated with witches and death. In Egypt, they were revered and seen as guardians of the afterlife.
• Moths: The death’s-head hawk moth, with a skull-shaped marking on its back, is an especially potent symbol.

Integrating these animals into a scene, perhaps appearing just before a character’s death, can be a subtle yet powerful touch.

Creatures That Predict Death

Beyond real animals, folklore and myth often include fantastical beings that signal death’s arrival.

• The Banshee: From Irish mythology, her wail foretells death in a family. Hearing her scream is never a good sign.
• The Grim Reaper: A personification of death, often depicted as a skeletal figure cloaked in black, wielding a scythe.
• The Black Dog: Seen in English, Latin American, and even some Asian traditions, this spectral canine often appears to those who are about to die. The most famous example in Western European literature is probably The Hound of the Baskervilles, by Arthur Conan Doyle.
• Valkyries: In Norse mythology, these warrior maidens choose who will die in battle and escort souls to Valhalla.

Including these figures, whether directly or through metaphor, adds mythic weight to your death symbolism.

Flowers Meaning Death

Flowers, while often associated with beauty and life, can also carry strong associations with mourning and the afterlife:

• Lily: Especially white lilies, symbolize purity restored after death and are often used in funerals.
• Chrysanthemum: In many European and East Asian cultures, chrysanthemums are associated with grief and memorials.
• Marigolds: In Mexican tradition, especially during Día de los Muertos, marigolds guide the spirits of the dead.
• Poppy: A symbol of sleep, peace, and death, particularly remembered during wartime remembrances.

Using flowers in a death scene or funeral can enrich your descriptions with cultural and emotional resonance.

Ancient Symbols of Death

Cultures around the world have encoded death in their visual and spiritual symbolism for millennia:

• Ankh (Egypt): Though symbolizing life, the ankh often appears in funerary art as a promise of eternal life after death.
• Yin and Yang (China): Represents balance, with death often symbolized by the dark (Yin) side.
• Memento Mori (Latin Europe): Translates to “remember you will die”. It's quite common in art and literature to remind of mortality.
• Skull and Crossbones: Now a pirate cliché, but once a powerful symbol warning of danger and death. Think about the Catacombs in Paris, for example. Full of skulls and bones, also a great memento mori.

Incorporating ancient symbols into architecture, dreams, or prophecies within your novel can imbue your world with layers of depth and intrigue.

Symbols of Death in Mythology

Every mythology contains death deities and symbols, often shaping how that culture views mortality. You can draw on these for character inspiration, plot devices, or thematic layering:

• Hades (Greek): Lord of the Underworld, his presence often includes symbols like pomegranates, the Helm of Darkness, or the River Styx.
• Hel (Norse): Goddess of the realm of the dead, half alive and half dead herself, a compelling visual metaphor.
• Osiris (Egyptian): God of the dead and resurrection, symbolized by the crook and flail.
• Yama (Hindu/Buddhist): Lord of death and justice, riding a buffalo and carrying a noose to extract souls.

You can repurpose these figures or create mythologies in your fantasy setting that echo their structure.

Symbols of Death in Art

Art has long served as a mirror of society’s fascination with death. Visual symbolism in paintings, sculpture, and design can offer inspiration:

• Vanitas paintings: 17th-century still lifes with skulls, extinguished candles, wilting flowers, reminders of life’s transience. You could find some blood in there as well.
• Hourglasses and clocks: Frequently used in Renaissance and Baroque paintings to symbolize the fleeting nature of time.
• The Dance of Death (Danse Macabre): A medieval allegory showing skeletons leading the living to the grave, emphasizing that death unites all.

If your characters are artists, priests, or philosophers, they may reference or interpret such imagery in powerful, personal ways.