Week 7 Storyplanning: Bhishma's Invisibility Cloak

Since Bhishma was granted by the Gods the power to choose the day of his death, it reminded me a lot of "The Tale of the Three Brothers" in Harry Potter. One of the brothers was given an invisibility cloak made from the clothing of Death. It granted the person wearing it everlasting protection from Death and made him invisible from the eyes of all.

I want to write a story where Bhishma was given this cloak by the gods somehow and how Death was about to take his life but failed due to the magic of the cloak. Then when he chose to die, he would take it off and tell Death what had happened. Death would then express regret for ever making it in the first place.

The brother taking off his invisibility cloak and being taken away by Death. 

Source: Tumblr.

More information on Bhishma: 

• also known as Devavrata
• the 8th son of Ganga and Shantanu
• made a pledge of celibacy for his father's happiness
• Bhishma = "One who incites fear"
• He rejected Amba, who then swore to kill him for rejecting her
• I think it would be interesting to write a backstory on Amba, who purposely came back to life (as a man since she exchanged her sex with a demon) to get Bhishma back and fulfill her vow
• He died during the war
• "The next day, confronted by Sikhandi, Bhishma refuses to fight a woman, and he abandons his weapons. Against the rules of war, the Pandavas strike the unarmed warrior with thousands of arrows. There is no space on his body thicker than two fingers that is not pierced. He falls from his chariot, and lies fully supported by the arrows, with no part of his body touching the earth. Bhishma does not actually die until much later, at his choosing. He remains lying on a bed of arrows until the end of the battle.

Sources: 

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling. 

The Mahabharata Synopsis by Larry A. Brown