Sinister Scythe

From Tv Tropes

File:Ninja Gaiden Scythe.jpg
You reap what you sow.
"With scythe as your sword, you must fight 'till the end of time"
-- Sonata Arctica, "Picturing the Past"

The scythe is just one of the weapons an Improbable Weapon User is likely to use. Likely to mark the special or dangerous enemy, as well as the macabre touch brought on by evoking The Grim Reaper.

Scythes look good, but in reality are impractical weapons; Both the blade and the point face inward, making it impossible to hit an enemy from a distance. Further, traditional agricultural scythes have a somewhat curved shaft with handles mounted on the sides, further decreasing the range. See Wikipedia's article for pictures. However, scythes have been used as polearms before, though this usually involved reforging the blade. Most modern day depictions of scythes have double edges or angle the blade further upward so that the scythes can be swung in the same manner as an axe, with the added bonus of being able to cut an opponent in half after you've impaled them. Scythes with energy blades, though almost certainly only designed for aesthetics, are actually somewhat more viable, since an energy blade should be theoretically able to cut along any edge.

Generally speaking, actual farmers are rarely depicted using scythes (perhaps because the death connotations have overidden the long-obsolete agricultural ones), so pitchforks are their melee weapon of choice in most armed-serf situations. Indeed, scythes, because of the aforementioned impracticality have rarely been weaponized in the real world, unlike most other farming tools. (But see Real Life examples below.)

A sub-trope of Weapon Of Choice.

Examples

Contents

Anime and Manga

  • Bleach has Shuhei Hisagi's Zanpakuto Kazeshini, which is a pair of chained together sickle-like weapons. He specifically states that he actually dislikes the weapon for its Sinister Scythe connotations.
    • There is also Nnoitra. His original weapon isn't really a scythe so much as a pair of opposite-facing crescent blade stuck to the end of a long pole. It's a truly impractical weapon. However, after powering up he grows six arms and his own strange scythe-like weapons becomes six double bladed scythes, that he wields all at once. That can be regrown and shot out of his arm. Rule Of Cool obviously applies.
    • In the third movie the younger sibling Shizuku wield one of these that was later passed on to Rukia after the siblings fused with her.
  • The Digimon Phantomon (Digimon Adventure) and Metal Phantomon (Digimon Savers) wielded scythes.
  • Tsutomu Nihei (the creator of Blame) made a one-shot manga called Digimortal. The protagonist was a merc in a super-powered black armor with a toothy grin and skeleton-like features. Weapon of choice? A Scythe.
  • In Durarara, Celty can manipulate the darkness flowing from her neck to form a scythe.
    • As expected from something based on the Grim Reaper. Or a CYBORG Grim Reaper...
  • The Gundam Deathscythe (*cough*) in Gundam Wing wields a Beam Scythe. Its pilot, Duo Maxwell, even refers to himself as the Shinigami. When his mecha is upgraded in the TV series, it gets a double beam scythe; The Movie's version gets a scythe with a bigger blade.
    • Duo has a personal beam scythe he pulls out ONCE in the series to use as a helicoptor after breaking Heero out of a really tall building.
    • The Okawara-designed incarnations actually avert many of the potential problems with using a scythe as a weapon by having the beam emitter mounted on a pivot, allowing its angle to be adjusted, though this only comes up in the show once.
    • Other Gundam scythe-users include the Abigor from V Gundam (two beam scythes which combine into a double-ender) and the Forbidden Gundam from Gundam SEED (metal scythe).
      • The Forbidden's successor, the Abyss, is also equipped with a metal scythe. Their pilots, Super Soldiers Shani Andras and Auel Neider, are two of the craziest characters in their respective shows.
  • Zorin from Hellsing. Evil Nazi with a scythe.
  • Kohaku's weapon of choice in Inuyasha is a kusarigama made of demon bones; its blade is closer to the crescent curve of a western scythe.
  • Fate's Bardiche from Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha has an energy scythe form.
  • Both of Fumi's incarnations in Mai-HiME and Mai-Otome use a scythe as their primary weapon.
  • Dominikov in Murder Princess. He is a Shinigami too.
  • Hidan from Naruto? Three. Bladed. Scythe. On the end of a retractable cord that lets him swing it around in an incredibly unpredictable manner to attack and deflect projectiles.
    • Justified in that its purpose is merely to draw blood for his ritual; he even admits that it is not very good for inflicting fatal injuries.
    • Also, Temari's summon wields a scythe, it being a kamaitachi (a "sickle-weasel").
    • Hanzo wields a traditional Kusarigama.
  • Kamatari of Rurouni Kenshin is a scythe wielder. Notably, he usually uses it not to cut, but rather to smash enemies, and the sheer weight of the weapon is actually used effectively in battle.
    • FYI, this is actually a subtle pun. He calls his weapon an ogama, and a common Japanese word for a gay man is okama. (Kamatari is a very feminine transsexual in love with a man.)
    • Also, most of the smashing was done with a large ball and chain on the other end of the pole, making it kind of a giant, mutant kusuri-gama.
  • Umanosuke, leader of the three brothers trailing Mugen in Samurai Champloo had a kusarigama with an Absurdly Sharp Blade. Mugen actually beats him by getting in really close and manipulating the chain into cutting the guy's head of.
  • Aleksander Nikolayevich Her's (of Seikon No Qwaser) preferred weapon is steel molded into scythe.
  • The eponymous character of Soul Eater is a white-haired, red-eyed human who can turn into a Sinister Scythe. Another example is his wielder's father, Spirit Albarn who is also a scythe and, appropriately enough, the personal Weapon of the Shinigami. Incidentally, the highest-ranked Weapons in Shibusen are referred to as 'Death Scythes' (Spirit is in fact called this), but in practice the group contains a variety of Weapons.
    • And one cannot forget the wielder of said eponymous character and main protagonist of the series, Maka Albarn. Although the scythe is supposed an impractical weapon to use, Maka is able to swing, spin and slice all things possible with apparent ease and agility (this also being a contributing factor to the fact that Soul Eater is very popular for its fight scenes). Incidentally, "Maka" is also an anagram of "kama", which a kind of sickle-like weapon.
      • Not to mention in the anime, because of her parentage she can also turn into a scythe.
    • And Stein, who pulls off an impressive display in a Big Damn Heroes moment, without actually cutting his target. Later on, he gets a chance to cut things up and is wonderfully, horrifyingly, enthusiastic about it.
  • Gilmer in Transformers Super God Masterforce is armed with a small, double-bladed scythe.
  • Abel Nightroad, also known as Crusnik 02 from Trinity Blood wields an especially wicked, multi-bladed scythe. Made of his own blood.
  • Yuki eventually gains one in Vampire Knight. Somewhat subverted in the fact that she only uses it to help people.
  • Sizer from Violinist of Hameln wields a giant scythe with her name engraved on the blade and a flute embedded in the handle.
  • In Yaiba there are some scythe users, including Kotaro Fuuma who used a kusarigama, Basho Matsuo who wielded a large scythe with some kanji written on the handle and last but not least Diamond. In her case is justified since her scythe was an EnergyWeapon and thus able to cut almost everything.
  • Elise from Dai Mahou Touge wields a huge, menacing-looking scythe. Strangely, she hardly uses it for actual combat, which is very unwise against the protagonist of the show.
  • The Grim Reaper (natch) in Hell Teacher Nube. It even has "Death" engraved in lovely cursive letters on the blade.
  • The title characters of 07-Ghost each carry a BFS (Big Fucking Scythe).
  • Ikuto from Shugo Chara turns his violin into a big scythe when transformed into Death Rebel.
  • At least one incarnation of Getter Robo carries as its main weapon a curious type of double-edged poleaxe with one blade that extends into a scythe-like shape with a more conventional axe-head behind it.
  • Once Aoi House gets around to parodying action/horror, Elle Mathers gets a scythe... and immediately makes an extremely corny pun.
  • Alice from Pandora Hearts, when in B-Rabbit form. Later on, Oz learns to summon the scythe and instinctively knows how to use it. In both cases, you probably want to stay well back.
  • A scythe gets major use as a murder weapon in Ookami Kakushi.
  • Doc Q of the Blackbeard Pirates in One Piece wields a scythe. A double-bladed scythe. Appropriate, as his epithet is "ShiniGami"
  • Dead Master wields the black Dead Scythe in Black RockS hooter.
  • In Katekyo Hitman Reborn manga, this is current Big Bad Daemon Spade's weapon of choice-as opposed to the anime only episodes, where he used a gentleman's cane-like Simple Staff.
  • The cover art of the Death Note manga show Light Yagami wielding a scythe. Also several minor Shinigami characters, though one of them might BE Light.
  • Kneesocks of Panty And Stocking With Garterbelt transforms her socks into a pair of large golden scythes for combat.
  • Haqua in The World God Only Knows proudly wields a sinister looking scythe that has three spikes at the back of the head.

Comic Books

  • The Hooded One from Bone.
  • Isaac of Reaper 7 wields a scythe, and is even called "Grim Reaper" by mooks for doing so. Later battle sequences seem to indicate that the scythe has an inward and outward blade.
  • Reaper of Marvel Comics has always used one. Even after losing both of his hands.
  • Nekron, the Big Bad of the Blackest Night, wields a scythe that has a Power Battery built in.
  • The Brazilian Comic Book Holy Avenger had a troglodyte character who wielded a scythe... but called it an Axe. Interestingly enough, it was later revealed the scythe had the advantages of both an Axe and a Scythe by D&D rules (as the Comic Book took place in a world that worked under the Rules of Dungeons And Dragons... and Defenders of Tokyo... don't ask). Also intriguingly the character's name was Tork, a reference to Torque, stated below as one of the Scythe's main actual advantages.
  • The weapon of choice for the Reaper, the Big Bad of Batman: Year Two.
  • The Mosaic Man from Hack/Slash used a scythe constructed from the bones of his early victims.
  • The demonic wheat scarecrow wields one in the Wynonna Earp story "Blood is the Harvest".

Film

  • Mitsuko Souma from Battle Royale wielded a small scythe. For starters.
  • In Dracula II: Ascension and Dracula III: Legacy, Uffizi (the vampire-hunting priest) uses something that bears a strong resemblance to a switchblade scythe (along with a whip that can sever limbs or heads).
  • A zombie Etruscan in the So Bad It's Good Italian Zombie Apocalypse film Burial Ground: The Nights of Terror uses a scythe to decapitate a victim.
  • The Frighteners had a villainous ghost disguised as The Grim Reaper, wielding a switchblade scythe. It looked like a relatively harmless, though ominous, wooden staff, though the blade would snikt out when whoever held it thumped the other end on the ground.
  • In Interview With A Vampire, one of the vampires uses a scythe when playing death in a theatre, using it to cut things on stage. It is later used in battle, with lethal effect.
  • The mute Amish man in Diary Of The Dead uses one -- though interestingly enough not to decapitate any zombies, just skewer them.
  • A hand scythe is the Weapon Of Choice for the title character in Behind The Mask: The Rise of Leslie Vernon.
  • A character gets slashed partially offscreen with a scythe in Halloween 5.
  • A sickle is the only weapon used by the killer in HellBent.
  • A character gets killed with a scythe in Unhinged.
  • The killer's main weapon in Mountaintop Motel Massacre.

Literature

  • Commented about in Discworld:
    Although the scythe isn't pre-eminent among the weapons of war, anyone who has been on the wrong end of, say, a peasant's revolt will know that in skilled hands it is fearsome.
    • In this instance, those hands belong to the Grim Reaper who, as you might imagine, has some practice with it.
    • On a possibly related note, the Discworld novel Reaper Man is one of the few, if not only, fictional portrayal of scythes which notes that the traditional Grim Reaper scythe is slightly different from the standard agricultural scythe.
    • And in Mort some special properties of both Death's sword and scythe are explained in classic Pratchett manner.
    • Although in Carpe Jugulum, a vampire lord's Shaming The Mob strategy involves criticising the angry mob's choice of weapons:
      Pitchforks, yes, good mob weapon - but scythes? The way you're waving them about you'll do more harm to each other. May I recomend sickles if you want to go down that route - much more manageable.
  • Dark Sun uses this in the end of book one.
  • Andalites in Animorphs have scythe-like blades built into their tail anatomy.
  • Unsurprisingly, it is the weapon of choice for Zane, the incarnation of Death, in Piers Anthony's Incarnations of Immortality series. His scythe is a switchblade model, with the blade (magically?) concealed in the shaft. It even comes with built-in snorkel.
  • Kronos in Percy Jackson And The Olympians
  • In one of the Dark Sun books, one of the wraiths of Boris' warriors wielded a dual bladed scythe. Wether is a DoubleWeapon or a scythe with two blades on the same side is not cleared.
  • In the Tunnels series, the Styx villains use scythes as their primary weapons.
  • In The Bartimaeus Trilogy, the eponymous character is confronted by an afrit wielding a scythe who uses it to deflect Bartimaeus's magical attacks.

Television

  • Although frequently referred to as such, the mystical "Scythe" in the last season of Buffy The Vampire Slayer is technically an axe.
  • The demonic warrior Wolfram and Hart summoned in Angel possessed the ability to pull scythes out of Hammerspace. Eventually Angel killed him using one of the scythes he'd discarded.
  • Loosely parodied in Blackadder, with Nursie believing lots of ideas make one's foot fall off. This is due to a friend who had the "good idea" to cut his toenails with a scythe, causing his foot to fall off.

Manhwa

  • In the first of many Unstoppable Rages, Ivan Isaacs of Priest decimates a horde of zombies with an ordinary farm scythe.

Real Life

  • Although a normal Scythe is a terrible weapon to arm armies with, due to its size and awkward handling that would make a scythe wielder a hazard to his allies, it has some physical properties that would actually make it a lethal weapon for smaller-scale battles, with a few modifications (like strightening the pole and double-edging the blade, besides increasing the blade's angle and modifying the size). Due to the fact that it gives you a decent reach with a pole for defense that, unlike the spear, can be used to cover yourself WHILE attacking, is a nice prospect. Also, the shape of the blade, added to the fact it will be swung with the strength of both arms with a heavy lever-effect and torque thanks to the way it is handled, make it sure to pierce most armors and cause mortal wounds regardless of how it hits, as long as it does (think of the piercing force of a pickaxe, with an optimal handling and increased piercing potential thanks to the slim blade). It still wouldn't be very good against large quantities of enemies, because the way it should be used to cause harm would also make it stuck sometimes, not to mention that it'd be a tiresome weapon to be used for lenghtened periods of time. Also it'd require a kind of training that, simply put, wasn't invented.
    • Actually combat training for scythe was invented. A fellow by the name Paulus Hector Mair preserved mysteries of this art for us in his fencing manual. It also contains techniques for sickles (though, unfortunately, no hammer).
    • That guide pretty much takes advantage on how a scythe can screw enemies hard simply due to its shape which makes it unpredictable. You can parry a sword and an axe, but since the scythe's blade is away, getting pierced and hooked by a scythe is a very real possibility. As for the halberd comment above, some halberd heads actually do look like shortened version of scythe blades. Then again, those blade heads look like Swiss Army Blade On A Stick; one for any kind of battle situation on the battlefield.
  • The museum in Dumfries, Scotland has a couple of war scythes dating from 1715. They're similar in shape to a japanese naginata, but with the cutting edge on the inside of the blade. These were basically Improvised Weapons that were made by taking the blade from a scythe and sticking it on the end of a stick, making it rather similar to a fauchard. When you needed to arm a bunch of troops that were also farmers quickly it was a cheap and pretty effective away. Plus they were scary. See The Other Wiki for marginally more.
  • The Polish kosa bojowa (meaning just "combat scythe"), was used as a weapon in several Polish uprisings. It involved modifying the blade so that it extends upright and outward from the pole, making it an improvised glaive. Nowadays "setting the scythe upright" is an expression used metaphorically to symbolise militancy.
  • The Chinese used a weapon in the bronze age that was effectively a scythe for the foot soldier. It was called a ge (戈) and consisted of a bronze blade attached to a pole at 100°. It allowed for axe like slashing attacks and hooking moves to an enemy's weapon. National Geographic had a demonstration here.
  • The Japanese scythe which is a tiny, one-handed scythe sickle, and was used to harvest rice, and later adapted by peasants during a revolt; the fighting style used with these weapons use a "hook, reap, and impale" take, using the weapon's unusual design to catch, entangle, and sweep limbs and weaponry (most fiction depict scythe fighting in much the same way). In fiction, it's often seen in the hands of Ninja. A kusarigama is a scythe with a long weighted chain attached.
  • Bec de corbin, meaning "Crow's Beak". A pole weapon designed specifically for armor-piercing, which was an oversized pikeaxe on a 7 feet handle. Developed in Poland. They like this trope.
  • Computer cooling solution company Scythe has a product named Kama. Kama is Japanese for scythe.
  • Along with the flail, a modified scythe was a staple weapon used by the Hussites due to it being easy to manufacture.

Tabletop Games

  • Scythes are pretty effective weapons in Dungeons And Dragons as well, although they are specifically stated to be redesigned.
    • Their effectivness has been rather reduced by the changes in critical damage rules in 4th edition.
    • But they have become awesome in Pathfinder where they have a x4 Critical. Most common weapons just deal double damage on a critical hit. Some weapons, like a bow, deal triple damage. but a petty farmer with a Scythe (and they indeed depicted the farmer with one in the core rulebook) can cut almost anyone in half with a critical hit.
  • A number of champions of the Chaos God Nurgle in Warhammer and Warhammer 40000 wield scythes, notably the special character Typhus, who swings a nasty weapon called a Manreaper. Lord Bale in Dawn of War wields one as well. The Nightbringer also tends to carry a scythe, although his is purely ornamental. Many of his Necron minions, however, are armed with Warscythes, which are very powerful close-combat weapons. Technically, though, the warscythe is a glaive, not a military scythe.
    • That's more due to their blades phasing in and out of existence as needed. They are however shaped like the above mentioned kosa bojowa rather than normal scythes... did I mention kosa bojowa translates to battlescythe or, oh, warscythe?
    • Wizards of the amethyst order in Warhammer often carry scythes. In this case they are purely for show, functioning like magic staffs instead of melee weapons (the wizards of the order specialize in death magic, and the scythe has the usual connotations with the grim reaper).
    • The Spyrer Matriarch in Necromunda uses a Chainscythe. Yes, as in a scythe with a chainsaw blade. She also wields it one-handed, carrying a monomolecular sword in the other hand.
    • The Tyranids are particularly fond of adding scythes to their biologically-constructed arsenal. So much so that most Tyranids carry a pair! Or two pairs!
  • And of course Exalted brings us the scythe version of the BFS, creatively called Grand Grimscythe.
  • In Scion Japanese Shinigami are shown to wield massive scythe whose blades are nearly the three-quarters the length of the actual handle, and are mentioned to cut not with actual blade-edges, but with the literal supernatural essence of death-- Making the act of hitting one with his own weapon entirely pointless, as they are already dead.
  • SLA Industries gives us the 'Dynamic Precision Blades' company's product, the 'flick scythe' - a staff with an extendable scythe blade that oscillates for extra damage
  • The Skeleton monsters in the board game Hero Quest wield scythes in combat. Possibly justified by the fact that Skeletons are mindless warriors who don't need more sophisticated weapons.
  • Scythes in GURPS are equally lethal and ridiculously unwieldy.
  • The warlock Moshar the Desertwalker from Hordes has himself a nasty looking scythe.
  • In Demon The Fallen (from the World of Darkness), Lucifer fends off Michael with a scythe because it's what's on hand when Michael comes down to break up the fallens' agriculture lesson to the humans. Yes, Michael the Arch Angel, with a sword, was beaten by Lucifer, with a scythe.
    • Part of that was the symbolism - angels were very big on that sort of thing, and a scythe freely given to defend oneself from oppression carried a lot of weight. The scythe in question appears again in the sourcebook Houses of the Fallen, where it's gotten significantly stronger because Lucifer touched it.

Video Games

  • The Tall Man in the Chzo Mythos series by Ben Croshaw carries around a sinister spike with four very wide scythe blades.
    • He uses it more like a club than anything else. That, or he just stabs things with the other end (which basically acts like a spear)
  • The Pokemon Scyther and Kabutops have scythes for hands. Naturally, they're considered to be two of the more badass Pokemon.
    • Absol has one on it's head.
  • Lots of demons in Diablo II use scythes as primary weapons and scythes are available as equippable weapons, powerful but not that effective.
    • Also, some of the Uniques aimed for the Necromancer were Scythes adorned with skulls. And the lack of effectiveness from the scythes come more from the fact that slow weapons with heavy damage being largely useless in Diablo, due to the fact it means you take a long time to recover and thus being incapable of effectively dodging insta-kill attacks (like some creatures' ability to cast an uber powered version of the Sorceress inferno, and some bosses' attacks). Still, it is said a Concentration specced Barbarian would be able to pull it off...
    • Scythes (particularly War Scythes) are effective weapons for Druids since they get a Fast (or Very Fast) attack speed. They work especially well with the Shapeshifting skill tree.
  • Also in Blizzard's Starcraft II, it is fitting to see on the macabre-sounding Protoss Dark Templar unit a particularly wicked double-scythe as the weapon of choice.
  • Magus from Chrono Trigger.
    • Lynx from Chrono Cross. Although when you switch bodies with him, outside of one battle, you use your swallow.
  • Testament from Guilty Gear; his has an unusual look to it and may actually be part of him.
    • The blade is his blood.
  • Zasalamel and Abyss of Soul Calibur. Astaroth's ultimate weapon in SC 2 was also a scythe (appropriately named Thanatos), although all his other weapons were axes and the occasional hammer.
  • Haseo in the Dot Hack GU Games has a scythe as his special weapon. "Ticking Death". Subtle, eh? (His badass AI alter ego, Skeith, uses one too.)
    • Despite so, in-game, scythe-wielders are just a job-class. In this game, scythes are actually defensive weapons, with a respectable range (behind spears and guns) and can take on multiple enemies to boot. A player would swing it in a circular arc, thereby affecting any enemies caught in its swipe. Charged attacks would throw enemies away before they can get too close, hence the class's name, Flick Reapers.
  • Although somewhat expected of Death in Castlevania, his main unique method is to make mini-scythes appear from nowhere and rain down on you.
    • Played straight in Aria of Sorrow and Dawn of Sorrow, where you can equip Death's Scythe. It's insanely powerful but very, very awkward to use, and often difficult to score a hit with.
    • Shanoa, via the Falcis series of glyphs, can use sickles as a weapon in Order of Ecclesia. By magically combining two of them, she creates a large enough scythe to make Death envious.
    • Although in some games Death does use the scythe for melee attacks, or even turns it into a spinning buzzsaw that he sends after you.
    • You get to use one in Curse Of Darkness, but you have to create it yourself.
      • Another hatchet-type weapon is Zaghnol, which is described as a war pick, but looks like a small scythe.
  • Thanks to relatively realist approach concerning weapons in Demons Souls, the scythe-weapon in this game is aptly named "War Scythe". The weapon is an exact reproduction of the Polish Kosa Bojowa, being treated more like a polearm than anything. See Real Life entry below.
    • Dark Souls, on the other hand, plays this trope entirely straight with the Great and Lifehunt Scythes.
  • Marluxia from Kingdom Hearts.
    • It's worth it to mention that his scythe is not only huge and sinister-looking, but also that the blade is color:pink: PEPTO-BISMOL PINK.
    • Marluxia also backed this with some serious pink thumb flower magic. Originally it was specifically Cherry Blossoms, which also angled his power towards death, fitting of his weapon. Later versions changed this to Roses.
  • Lady Harken from Wild ARMs and its remake.
  • The Dis Astranagant from Super Robot Wars Alpha 3. Naturally, the Gundam Deathscythe also makes a number of appearances throughout the series.
  • In Lunar Knights Lucian is able to get the scythe Hel, which can split into four blades forming a claw that he can use in a spin attack.
  • Like the Gundam Deathscythe and Dis Astragant, most of the Specineff-class Humongous Mecha in the Virtual On series wield scythes that can release energy-based Razor Wind attacks.
  • Serene from Riviera The Promised Land is best with scythes. Some other characters can use them, too, but they're not quite as proficient.
  • Prometheus of the Mega Man ZX series uses the energy scythe variant.
    • He was preceded by Sigma in MegaManX 4, while disguised as a Grim Reaper, and Red of X7, who had a double-ended scythe.
  • Noob Saibot used a scythe in Mortal Kombat IV. Moronically, he was given a hammer when he returned in Armageddon.
  • Gig from Soul Nomad And The World Eaters. Being the master of death, he has the ability to morph his arms into scythes as well, should he wish to.
  • There are a few scythe weapons in Phantasy Star Online, notably Soul Eater and Soul Banish. Naturally, they're sinister, cursed weapons that drain the user's health over time, but possess powerful special attacks such as a ranged one-hit-kill spell, in the case of Soul Banish.
  • Aunas' Clone from Romancing Sa Ga 3 has a one-hit-kill move: Deathgod Stove, Naturally there is an Evade skill that can be learned for it; Death Sickle Evade.
  • Piastol from Skies Of Arcadia Legends.
  • Present in Resident Evil 4. While the villagers wield small sickles, many monks in the castle have scythes as their weapon of choice. Unusually for this trope, they aren't really very good with them, as their attacks (even more than the other Ganados) are quite easy to predict.
    • Although if you get hit by one at that's been thrown a shoulder height, well, hope you weren't too far from a save point.
  • Scythes are the weapon of choice for the Dervish class in Guild Wars Nightfall.
  • Ryu Hayabusa in the Xbox remake of Ninja Gaiden can use a pair of kama chained together nunchaku-style and known as the "Vigoorian Flails". Probably the only reason why he isn't cutting himself up with them by accident, given their actually high usefulness, is because he is a Charles Atlas Superpowered Highly Visible Ninja Badass. Ninja Gaiden II, the 360 one that is, sees a proper Big F-ing Scythe in Ryu's hands, as well as a kusarigama.
  • Menardi and her sister Karst both use scythes in the Golden Sun games: this may be standard practice among female Fire Clan warriors. These scythes even have their own Unleash powers, although the player can't obtain enemy weapons.
  • Komachi Onozuka, Touhou's resident Shinigami. However, she usually attacks by firing coin danmaku at you. In the second fighting game, however, Komachi DOES use her scythe occasionally, especially when forced into physical combat. In the PC-98 era, Elly from Lotus Land Story, who actually threw the scythe at you like a boomerang. Worth mentioning that Elly's scythe is curved around herself and that it's one of the few things in the series that can destroy your bullets.
    • Komachi is in fact so good with her scythe that she can do Razor Wind attacks with it. Which is clearly impossible to do with that kind of weapon.
  • Dark Knights in Final Fantasy XI have this as one of their best rated weapons (the other, also rated A+, is Great Swords). A running joke in the Final Fantasy community about Dark Knight accuracy is largely because Scythes have high damage but very high delay, so a single miss means it takes a long time to get a hit in, compared to other classes using faster weapons: a one-hand sword can hit four times in the time it takes a Scythe to hit twice, with the advantage that missing one of those four attacks reduces damage output by 25% instead of 50% for the Scythe.
    • Ark Angel TT gets a special mention for wielding a scythe that's bigger than he is. Bonus points for materializing it in the boss fight cutscene.
  • In Grim Fandango Manny Calavera, being a Grim Reaper carries a retractable scythe throughout the game. However for the most part he's not all that great at using it in combat, using it mostly as a tool to solve puzzles instead.
  • In Dead Rising you can find a scythe as one of your various Breakable Weapons. It is a favored melee weapon due to it's high durability and it's ability to one shot zombies (you hook their neck on the blade and then pull, cutting their head off and earning bonus PP) and do crowd control. However, it is less useful against cultists and soldiers due being unable to one-shot them.
    • Makes its return in Case West and Dead Rising 2: Off the Record with it's instant kill and crowd control capabilities still intact. But with the added bonus of combining with the katana to make one of the deadliest combination weapons in the game. Aptly named: Reaper.
  • Dynasty Warriors includes the Dagger Axe, the Real Life "ge" in the game.
  • The Joker species from Monster Rancher uses scythes. However, their scythes tend not to resemble actual scythes so much as enormous, hooked axes, since they're bladed on all sides and are considerably thicker than real scythes.
  • Vanessa, the Witch of Immolation, uses scythes in Luminous Arc
  • Some enemies in The Legend Of Zelda series wield scythes, including the miniboss Gomess in Majora's Mask and the Poes in Twilight Princess.
  • In Heroes of Might and Magic V, wights and wraiths wield scythes. Also, in Heroes of Might and Magic 3, the Devils and Archdevils wield scythes.
  • The final boss of Metal Slug 5 wields a scythe so large, its edge is as wide as your character.
  • Devil May Cry 3 features a large number of enemies with scythes, including one Laserblade and one made of fire
    • The original Devil May Cry also featured these guys; first their was the sin scythe, a ghost wielding one scythe. It's bigger brother is the Death Scythe, who usually uses one but will often quadruple wield scythes.
    • There's also Nevan, an electric guitar scythe that shoots bats and lightning.
    • Also, the Sparda sword transformed into a scythe when you threw it.
    • Dante has this as one of his main weapons in the reboot.
  • The Horned Reaper from Dungeon Keeper wields one. In the intro to the second game, it's revealed to be a switchblade scythe. Badass.
  • A class quest in World Of Warcraft allows one to gain a Scythe. Different then most in that it's a class quest for Warlocks and it functions as a magic staff.
    • Other classes can get a frost-themed scythe from the seasonal Bonus Boss Ahune. Like the warlock scythe, it's also classified as a staff.
    • Also, there is a polearm version of the Warlock scythe/staff, wieldable by the Hunter, Death Knight, Warrior, Druid, and Paladin classes.
  • In Patapon the Zigoton boss Gong wields a powerful scythe, which can be retrieved when he is defeated. In Patapon 3, Ravenous uses a very ornate and oversized magical scythe.
  • Gaspard in Dark Cloud 2 used to wield a blood-red sword, but after being defeated by Monica he took the blade and attached it to a pole, giving him even greater range. The skull at the base only adds to the menace.
  • In Dragon Quest VIII, scythes are one of the weapon types Yangus can use. Building his skill with them lets him learn stealing techniques, for some reason.
    • Also the Dark Druids enemies can summon a red scythe made of energy to attack.
  • Being the Arcana of Death in Arcana Heart, Dieu Mort naturally has one that he uses for his Arcana Blaze.
  • In Shining Force III, Basanda one of the powerful leaders of the antagonists, has an oversized red scythe but with a short handle making it no longer than a sword in artwork, she's a magic user through so rarely will she attempt to hit you with it. In addition Lizard Men use scythes with enlarged blades much like an axe.
  • In the Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni fighting game, Daybreak, Rika Furude's standard weapon is a standard hoe. However, in the expansion, she can switch to a scythe, which gives her a number of magical attacks as well as being very quick.
  • In the Sengoku Basara series, Akechi Mitsuhide wields two of them. He's a pretty damn creepy character in this series, possibly reflecting his status as betrayer of Nobunaga.
  • If we're letting kusari-gama in, then Earthquake's rig from the Samurai Shodown games belongs here. Of course, a sickle for him is about scythe-sized for the rest of the cast. Even doubly odd, his seems to be sharpened on the outside of the curve, given the animation of his heavy slashes.
  • Blaz Blue's Ragna has a BFS that unfolds into a scythe for his ultimate attack.
  • Hiro from Spectral Souls particularly stands out because of that fact that, perhaps in homage to the fact that they're so impractical, she's the only character in a cast of 45 playable characters that can actually use them.
    • It's explained in other Neverland games that scythes are weapons made of material native of the demon realm, which is why only demon units can use them, and not even all of them. Humans will literally die if they use one of those, and they deal damage because of their alien, demonic nature rather than because they are effective weapons. Hiro's trademark scythe in particular, Gate of Hell, can rip an opponent's soul out instantly and send it straight to Hell when used on someone with an evil heart.
  • Yue Ying wields a fairly viable-looking scythe in Dynasty Warriors 4 and 5, as (at lower levels) it's simply a short staff with a small perpendicular blade at the end. Higher level weapons fall towards the trope, as the blades get progressively larger and more, well, scythe-like.
    • It starts out as a Chinese weapon called the dagger-axe, which is basically an L-shaped blade with the bottom of the L stuck on the top of a stick. Like this: __|___________
    • In Samurai Warriors, the Ninja Hanzo Hattori wields a kusarigama, which combines sinister scythe and EpicFlail.
    • In the crossover series Warriors Orochi, Orochi (and Orochi X) wields a massive scythe.
    • And now There is Kiyomasa Kato, whose weapon is called "steel halbeard" but it's clearly a scythe with a straight handle and a spear tip.
  • In Painkiller, both the Devil Monk and Psycho Nun monsters use scythes.
  • One of these becomes a vital weapon in Clive Barkers Undying, both for plot reasons and as an emergency healing source (it's a vampiric weapon). You probably won't use it unless you have to, though.
  • In the Deadly Rooms Of Death series, the second game introduces Slayers who use these (called "hooks" because of graphical constraints on the area they can occupy). The first Slayer you encounter is the second boss-class enemy in the series, and the very first enemy that's actually a serious threat one-on-one. Despite being (like you) a One Hit Point Wonder, Slayers are the puzzle game's version of a Perfect Play AI.
  • In Dante's Inferno, Dante defeats Death and takes his scythe as his personal weapon.
  • Yeager in Tales Of Vesperia uses a scythe where the handle is also a gun. It can also collapse into a crossbow.
  • In King's Quest VI, Alexander makes use of a scythe for its intended purpose: to cut down foliage -- in his case, a regenerating bush.
  • Yggdra Union makes scythes incredibly powerful--they're strong against all other melee weapons. Two characters use them, of whom one's the BigBad, Gulcasa, and the other is Nerfed with a mere garden scythe. She's a housewife.
  • Anesha from Cross Edge favors this kind of weapon.
  • Margaret (Is greek, you geek / it means "a pearl"...) from No More Heroes Desperate Struggle has two anti-tank rifle scythes.
  • Paula from Arc Rise Fantasia wields a rather awesome one.
  • Dark Age of Camelot has the Valewalker, a fighter-mage who specializes in the use of the war scythe.
  • Kureha Yamisaka from the game Daemon Bride.
  • Mad Monarch Dryst from Brigandine
  • The Executioner from Alice Madness Returns chase the eponymous heroine with a gargantuan scythe, swinging it at a ludicrous speed and chopping even his own minions in the path.

Visual Novels

  • Umineko No Naku Koro Ni has Erika Furudo, who wields a scythe of Truth. As in, literally made out of Truth. Her master has a similar one herself, with the ability to reap miracles.

Web Original

Western Animation

Others

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