Is death taking you to heaven? No. Is death taking you to hell? Of course.
Is this the same guy who was hoarding potions on his deathbed?
Or maybe a little dance could satisfy him too
According to the Greeks, yes.
not a tip, that’s the fare
Honestly Hades should just pay a living wage
Yes. That’s why the ancient Greeks buried their dead with a coin over each eye.
Edit: Oops, looks like the burial of the Barathian king in Game of Thrones has infected my memory. The coin goes in the mouth.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charon’s_obol
Edit: And the coin is the fare, not the tip. If you don’t pay, you don’t cross. Make sure your loved ones know about this.
Outside of Game of Thrones, there’s a lot of anecdotal evidence of coins being placed on the eyes of the dead. I saw one example of Polish folklore who believed that when a person died with their eyes open, they were searching for a loved one to drag into death with them, so heavy coins were placed to keep their eyelids closed and protect their living family.
I also remember reading in a 40 year old novel that silver coins were placed on the eyes of vampire victims to prevent them from returning as undead. Obviously that one isn’t a reliable source, but shows the idea has been around for a while.
Hey Papa John, pick one. Delivery fee and actually pay your employees or no delivery fee and I tip. No fucking double dipping.
Wasn’t this “just” the standard payment though to cross the river? E.g. if you can’t pay the fare you don’t cross?
Yes, I do believe you are correct–the coin is the fare and I see no record of a tipping Charon, so you’re probably fine just leaving a positive review.
Historians don’t like when people talk about it, but the tipping coin goes in the ass. Source: pulled it out my ass
We must hang out with different historians!
5/5 would die again.
Yes, you’re supposed to pay the ferryman.
The fact the passenger is on the boat in the first place suggests that he has paid the standard fee (or someone paid on his behalf). Tipping would be extra, which is the basis of the ethical quandary.
My question is, what does Charon (the ferryman) do with all the money?
Nicotine, Valium, Vicodin, marijuana ecstasy and alcohoooolllll…
In Discworld, Death uses his old coins when he’s fucking around in the human world, mostly eating and getting drunk.
“I DON’T KNOW ABOUT YOU, BUT I COULD MURDER A CURRY.”
In “Mort”, when his apprentice asks where the money comes from, “IN PAIRS”.
Death and Charon are, in a way, like Santa Claus and Father Christmas. Often conflated but not actually the same entity.
What one does we can’t say for sure the other also does.
And that doesn’t even consider that Death in one universe might not be the same entity as Death in another, although maybe that’s just “Death / Charon” again at a higher level of meta.
It would be rude if you didn’t.
