Psychopomps are spirits or similar beings who escort the dead to the afterlife, both in Gunnerkrigg Court and in the mythologies of many cultures in the real world. Though usually invisible to the living, mediums (and possibly others) such as Surma have the ability to see and interact with the guides, a trait that her daughter also possesses.
Antimony first encountered the guides as a child while living in Good Hope Hospital. Muut was the first one she ever met. She would join them when they visited dead or dying patients, although she did not initially realize the true nature of their job. Eventually, Annie would come to help them in their duties by acting as a mediator, much as her mother did before her. Now that she lives at Gunnerkrigg Court, Annie still sees the psychopomps from time to time when a death brings one of them to the area.
Muut
Muut is a psychopomp with an owl's head, inspired by the personification of death in Cahuilla mythology. He is the first psychopomp that Antimonymet. He goes around with no shirt on and thinks nothing of it. Kat had a bit of an interest in him because she's heard he has a bird head (her first crush was a boy-bird, Alistair) and does not wear a shirt. Muut gives Antimony a blinker stone via Mort, so that she can further help then with stuck spirits.
Ketrak
Ketrak is one of the psychopomps with whom Annie is acquainted. He and Annie have a short conversation at the beginning of Chapter 16: A Ghost Story when a spider kills a fly in the tree Annie is sitting under. The reader doesn't hear Ketrak's side of the conversation and never actually sees Ketrak, but if Kat's reaction is anything to go by, he is fairly horrific-looking.
Moddey Dhoo
A psychopomp that first appeared in Chapter 16. He is a black dog with glowing red eyes.
Mallt-y-nos
Mallt-y-Nos (Matilda of the Night), first seen in Chapter 16, Page 11 is the crone psychopomp that was in dispute with Moddey Dhoo over the fate of a boy who did not know he'd passed on. She is a Welsh spirit said to be a member of the Wild Hunt.
Agni
Agni is one of the psychopomps shown in Chapter 9: Questions and Answers, Chapter 9, Page 7. Agni is a major Hindu deity.
Ankou
Ankou is one of the psychopomps shown in Chapter 9: Questions and Answers, Chapter 9, Page 7. Ankou is a personification of death in Breton mythology. There are many tales involving Ankou, who appears as a man or skeleton wearing a cloak and wielding a scythe, often atop a cart for collecting the dead. According to some he was the first child of Adam and Eve. Other versions have it that the Ankou is the first dead person of the year (though he is always depicted as adult, and male), charged with collecting the others before he can go to the afterlife. [1]
Hermes
Hermes or Mercury is one of the psychopomps shown in Chapter 9: Questions and Answers, Chapter 9, Page 7. As a crosser of boundaries, Hermes Psychopompos' ("conductor of the soul") was a psychopomp, meaning he brought newly-dead souls to the Underworld and Hades. In the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, Hermes conducted Persephone the Kore (young girl or virgin), safely back to Demeter. He also brought dreams to living mortals.[2]
Neith
Neith is one of the psychopomps shown in Chapter 9: Questions and Answers, Chapter 9, Page 7. She is the ancient Egyptian one.
Veles
Veles is one of the psychopomps shown in Chapter 9: Questions and Answers, Chapter 9, Page 7. He has two horns and the lower half of a serpent. Ancient Slavs viewed their world as a huge tree, with the treetop and branches representing the heavenly abode of gods and the world of mortals, whilst the roots represented the underworld. And while Perun, seen as a hawk or eagle sitting on a tallest branch of tree, was believed to be ruler of heaven and living world, Veles, seen as a huge serpent coiling around the roots, was ruling the world of dead. This was actually quite a lovely place, described in folk tales as a green and wet world of grassy plains and eternal spring, where various fantastic creatures dwell and the spirits of deceased watch over Veles' herds of cattle.[3]