Lord Death

Lord Death is the founder of the DWMA academy and one of the main characters in Soul Eater.

Grim Times
At an unknown time, Shinigami had visited the Lost Island, an area Witches had used as a construction facility for Demon Tools. As it turns out, Shinigami was lured to the island by witch Arachne. After she had obtained Eibon's blueprints, she planned to blow up the facility along with everything related to Brew and presumably kill Shinigami. Somehow, Shinigami survived/escaped the explosion.800 years prior to the start of the series, the Shinigami wore a normal skull mask, black claws, with his signature written on one, and had a deep, menacing voice.

Later, Shinigami fought and hunted Arachne after she had killed a member of her kind and used the soul to join a human and weapon together to create the first Demon Weapon. Arachne escaped by separating herself into small spiders and spread across the lands.

Later in the story, it's revealed that, 800 years ago, Shinigami removed "fear" from his soul to create another shinigami with the purpose of ruling alongside him. Asura was born from the "fear" of his soul.Before the start of the series, Shinigami lead a group of 8 Meisters and Weapon partners, known as the Eight Powerful Warriors, to hunt down witches and prevent Kishin from being born. Among the group was his son, Asura. He had created him from the fear within his soul in an effort to become a more "perfect" Shinigami. He was regarded as the strongest, as well as the most feared and suspicious, of the group. Overwhelmed by fear, Asura became addicted to power and followed the path of the Kishin, leading him to consume his own weapon and numerous pure souls without regard. This ultimately led to Shinigami ripping all of his skin off and sealing Asura away inside a bag made of it. The process of sealing Asura forced Shinigami to root his own Soul to the ground ultimately preventing him from leaving the general radius of the spot. Afterward, he built what is now known as Death City and Shibusen to prevent the birth of another Kishin.

Post Kishin's Sealing
Under his rule, there are currently 8 active Death Scythes in the world. 7 of 8 are normally stationed in different parts of the world, as Shinigami's eyes, ears, and if need be, on call support Weapon for himself or a highly trained Meister. The strongest Death scythe (ironically the only one that is an actual scythe other than Soul) stays with him at Shibusen. That Death Scythe being Spirit, Maka's Father.

Personality
In most cases, Shinigami comes off as a bit of a joker with a cheerful demeanor. He also prefers to be optimistic and treats every situation as such. He also has a great sense of humor.

Azusa once mention that Death was also stubborn, a trait which is seen also in his son. In the anime during the Battle between Death City's mech and Baby Yaga's Spider Mech, Kid's comments suggest that he is also somewhat reckless.Shinigami also seems to be a understanding & lenient individual, contrasting to the the general people thinking of him as a strict person who is bound by rules. Many people are surprised at his reactions to serious matters and anticipate him to be more strict. During the discussion on how to deal with Angela, he was surprisingly okay with proposals on how to deal with her potential Sway of Magic and seem to have no problem helping her out, to the surprise of Kim, Tsubaki, and Jackie. In another instance, he only demanded a apology after Stein and Marie confessed to "breaking regulation" and Spirit being a accomplice, and then letting it go. However, he does have a limit. He wasn't above punishing Maka for using a Level 4 book and after Crona killed the Deathscythe and his miester stationed in Russia, he put him on his list of those to can be executed, despite Maka's pleas.He has a special move called a "Direct Noggin Shinigami Chop" (which is normally shown when Shinigami shows his large flat four-fingered hand appearing from his robe; often called Shinigami Chop for short). This move is normally administered on Spirit whenever Shinigami refuses to put up with the Death Scythe's antics when it comes to Maka or her progress. He has a habit of giving warnings to people about to be punished with it after the punishment was carried out. He also seems to take on a more playful attitude when talking with his son (he says the stripes in his son's hair are cute), but at the same time thinks he can be quite the handful and is glad that Patti and Liz look after him. As the headmaster of Shibusen, he is highly respected by teachers as well as students, not only because of his great power, but for his desire for peace in the world. It is for this reason, that Shibusen was created. Despite his past and his powerful position in the school, he tends to be kiddish and joyful as to not scare the children.

In the past, Shinigami spoke in a deeper and far scarier tone and was far more violent than he is today. This can be seen when he was fighting Asura. Also, his new personality is the complete opposite of his own son.