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Through some often neglected elements of research on the death drive, the author intends to show a particular path taken by Freud toward the proposal of a concept that he considers to be his most important contribution to the edifice of psychoanalytic theory. The author takes up Freud’s comments on this drive, situating it on an unexpected side of our clinical experience, where it appears to be linked to suicide or murder, whereas it could just as easily be linked to the child’s play. Lou Andreas-Salomé’s recollections reinforce the “amusing” character of the death drive. The analysis of Anna Freud by her father and its implication in terms of a repetition compulsion also serves as a source for the proposals contained in Beyond the Pleasure Principle. Finally, the suicide of Victor Tausk is suggested as a powerful factor in the development of Freud’s text.