WARNING: By its nature, this thread will likely be very spoiler-heavy. Proceed at own risk. (maybe spoiler tags would be a good idea?) Title says it - could be a character from a book, movie, TV show, etc. Who were they? What did they do for the story? What impact did their death have on you? Why did it affect you so much? I'll start: Spoiler: The Newsroom (TV show) For me it would have to be Charlie Skinner in The Newsroom. The Newsroom is about a fictional TV news channel. Charlie Skinner was the company's president. He was a great guy who was proud of his work, loved his employees, and gave them the recognition they deserved. He was the best advocate for his employees, constantly arguing with his superiors on their behalf. When the company was sold to new ownership, he fought and argued so hard in defense of his employees and his company that he worked himself into a heart attack and died. The show only lasted for 25 episodes, yet by that point, I felt as if Charlie Skinner was a friend. It was incredibly sad when he died, but the funeral episode was the perfect send-off and it made me love him even more.
Well, if we're including film I'd say Goose in Top Gun. Every time I see that movie I think maybe, just maybe, he's going to miss the canopy this time and be okay. I hear they're doing a sequel to it now. I suppose calling it Top Gun 2: Goose Lives might be too much to hope for.
Maybe a bit of a stock answer, but Sirius Black. I was ten when Order of the Phoenix came out, very much of the age to be super invested in the series, and Prisoner of Azkaban was (well, still is) my favorite HP book, in large part because of Sirius and Lupin. I've always been a sucker for found families, and I think I was especially into the tragedy of Sirius really wanting to play father to Harry, who plainly needed it, but not being able to. At that point I guess I still hoped it might actually happen, and I remember being in complete disbelief that Sirius wasn't coming back. I honestly can't think of any other book that made me cry.
Hoo boy. Let's begin then: Buffy the Vampire Slayer: Spoiler 1. Joyce: She was never a favorite character of mine but damn it her death hit hard. More specifically it was the way her death was handled that made it so heart breaking. First she was in a very good place in her life: her relationship with Buffy was at it's best, she was dating and had already been declared tumor free. The fact that her death was due to a completely mundane cause and not supernatural reasons, somehow made it all the more tragic. For all her power there was nothing Buffy could do. Which brings us to to 'The Body'. One of the greatest hours of television I've ever seen and one of the most heart-breaking. I've never seen a more real and rawer depiction of death and how people respond to it. It's an episode designed to hit as hard as it can and it's hard to watch. I swear even thinking about it makes me cry. 2. Tara: Unlike Joyce, I actually loved Tara a lot. She was such a lovely and sweet character, so pure an innocent. And she deserved better. Such a good and amazing character. Her death was super tragic and came out of nowhere. Fuck You Warren! Harry Potter: Spoiler 1. Fred: need I say more? I'm still not over it. It's one of the most tragic and heart-breaking deaths in any media for me. More tragic still is what George must've gone through having to go on with his life knowing he would never again see his twin. I'm tearing up just typing it. 2. Dobby: 'Here lies Dobby, a free elf.' Serenity (the Firefly movie): Spoiler 1. Wash: Firefly is one of the greatest shows of all time imo and Serenity is one of the best Sci Fi movies I've ever seen and a fitting and worthy conclusion to Firefly. And Wash...oh man Wash. Such a good character. He's death hit me so hard (even though I was spoiled on it), shocking, unexpected brutal. 'I am a leaf on the wind...'. A Song of Ice and Fire (Game of Thrones): Spoiler Ned: I'm speaking about the books here though it's just as tragic in the show, just because I first experienced it in book form. ASOIAF is a grim story full of deaths and brutality, but Ned is the first. The very first real, major death. Almost everyone reading the books considered Ned one of the main characters of the series if not the main character. He couldn't die, not so soon, he had so much to do; a family to protect, Lannister asses to beat. But this wasn't how this world and GRRM worked, this wasn't a story of heroics and happy endings. And Ned's beheading was the moment we came face to face with that truth, the first warning by GRRM that this wasn't gonna be a happy ride. I, personally, never saw it coming, I loved Ned as a character despite some very stupid mistakes on his part, I still do. And I kept hoping he'd be rescued somehow, it wasn't until the axe actually came down and he's head came toppling to the ground that I finally accepted the reality. And then only barely Agents of Shield: Spoiler Holden Radcliffe: This one's a it odd, since while he is a great, well-written, well-acted and complex character, I wouldn't have been really heartbroken over his death had it happened in any other manner. As it is I'm not sure if I'm necessarily heartbroken about, but he's death it was an upsetting and deeply moving scene. Radcliffe was such an interesting character and had a really good and complex arc in season 4, from his betreyal of the team in the name of science and greater good to his eventual realization of the harm he had caused and his sacrifice in order to save everyone. He redeemed himself in my eyes. And his death scene, has got to be one of the most brilliantly-done, poignant and sad ones I've ever seen. sitting at the beach in the dying, digital, alternate reality that he himself had built, with a bottle of expensive whiskey (I could be wrong about the type of the drink though), making a final, beautiful toast and speech and then...nothing. He doesn't simply die but is literally erased from existence. Arrow: Spoiler 1. Moira: Oliver and Thea's mom had a lot of flaws but sill she loved her children thoroughly and was equally loved in return. Seeing her cut down by Slade in front of her children and them unable to do anything about it was one of the most horrifying moments in the show. 2. Laurel Lance aka Black Canary: A great character who wasn't treated badly by the writers and the show runners, her death was unnecessary and seriously pissed me ( a lot of other people) off.
Oh man I can't believe I forgot about Sirius. Fuck that hit hard. His death is why Order of Phoenix is so hard to read for me and my least favorite book of the series, eventhough it's very well written. Everything about the ending of that book is horribly heartbreaking.
I'm going to disregard anything having to do with A Song of Ice and Fire and the Game of Thrones show, because those are kinda obvious and I want to dig a little deeper. Spoilers ahoy, naturally. Most Upsetting: I had to chew on this for a good long while. Jimmy Darmody in Boardwalk Empire pretty much made me stop watching the show out of spite, so there's that. Pryce in Mad Men was pretty upsetting also. I really liked him. Jane in Breaking Bad. The list goes on and on. I'm going to give the award to The Green Mile (movie). I was very young when I watched it, and I just tore up watching the guy with the pet mouse get fried. That whole scene was just overpowering. And, of course, there's John Coffey later on. Most Surprising: Omar Little, The Wire. I did not see that one coming. The place, time, and way it went down all caught me with my pants down. On the one hand it was awesome, because it pretty much flung me out of my chair in an outrage, but I was sad to see such an awesome character go. The Wire is a lot like Game of Thrones, that way, with characters being offed left and right, only with less ceremony and word of warning. Absolutely stellar show, that, which I know is hardly a controversial opinion. Most Recent Outrage: Clarisse McClellan, Fahrenheit 451 (book). God damn it, why couldn't they just let her live? She never hurt nobody. I know she was never confirmed dead, and I'm firmly in the "Clarisse made it out" camp.
Spoiler: In Buffy The Vampire Slayer Joyce, Buffy's mother. I loved Terra to bits and I was so upset she died, and when Glory sucked on her brains but I have to say Joyce because of the episode "The Body." It was just... Those moments of silence when you thought you'd accidentally muted your tv, staring at Joyce, staring at her on a slab, her dead eyes looking up at you... And they know that's how to make you uncomfortable because they know you're waiting, you're waiting for something to happen and you're just left to stare at this woman who was once so full of life and you look at her and no one's home. Everybody seems to hate silence in conversations. I don't. But when it was silent and I had to stare at Joyce's body... That was something. Because I had no choice but to think about her, to look at her. And then suddenly after whats feels like centuries but is only seconds, you hear the sound come flooding back, people pushing Joyce back into her drawer and it just makes you feel so cold inside because everything is so robotic and unreal. I think it's the one of the only episodes of something I've ever cried at. Spoiler: Sala Samabojcow Okay, so I forgot the mc's name, but just him crying for his mother at the end of the story... The person he'd been turning away the entirety of the stories, screaming at his parents to get out his room and leave him alone and that's who he ends up crying for with his dying breath. And he's a child again, and he deserves so much more than to die in a mangy bathroom filmed by a load of drunk kids that are too busy laughing and videoing him to call 999. Choking on pills that he downed and... Ohh no. I didn't enjoy all aspects of this movie. A lot of it felt like it was trying to romanticize mental illness, or maybe it was the girl he met online that was trying to do so, however, this ending still really hit me. Spoiler: Life is Strange Chloe. Oh my god, Chloe. Not the first time when Mr Jefferson shoots her in the head, or the choice you have to kill her in the alternate timeline where she got into the car crash (I never picked that choice, though.) The one at the end. Because... I had spent most of my time trying to save Chloe. Heck, it was how I discovered my time travel powers! And despite everything, despite literally being some kind of magical being or time lord, I could not save Chloe. All those times when she died, it didn't matter because it hurt but I knew that I could get her back. But this? There was no coming back from this, and there was no way I was letting a whole town become obliterated just because of me. And that's not even what hurts worse! Most of the other times Chloe was hurt, it wasn't directly my fault. But this? This was literally going back and killing her! The very event I had tried multiple times to stop. Chloe died thinking that her best friend had abandoned her, fled the bay when Chloe needed her most. She died over some drug deal gone bad, in, again, a mangy bathroom, this Chloe, the only Chloe because there is no other Chloe to remember the time I spent with her.. She died alone. She died without ever meeting me again, without the new memories that we built together. And everybody probably just thought of her as the dropout that got into a little bit too much trouble than she could handle, and not as the hero that willingly sacrificed herself for the sake of her town. And when she kissed me... Oh my god.. It was literally something I had been anticipating this whole time but this was not how I wanted it to happen. I couldn't just drive away with Chloe knowing our town would be obliterated all because of me... But sitting behind that bathroom stall and hearing that one, last, final gunshot was the end of me, seeing Max sob into herself because there's nobody else there to hold her.. I need a moment. I was bummed out for weeks from this game. Also, Rachel Amber, but not because I loved Rachel's character or anything - she was never actually in the first LiS. I just knew that she was missing and Chloe was hellbent on finding her. No. The reason Rachel's death affected me so much was because I know what she meant to Chloe, and seeing collapse to her knees and just hearing her sobbing what kind of world does this.. I need all the moments. Give me all the tissues.
I'm rewatching the show right now, and that first one is about to come up. I forgot about the second one, actually, as it's been a very long time. Not looking forward to revisit either of those. God damn it. Edit: Oh, and seeing @ghostkisses's avatar just now, I was reminded of another prime example. Chloe of Life is Strange fame. That one was really harsh, especially considering you had to "pull the trigger" yourself.
Still miffed about Jenny, to be honest. To the best of my memory, none of my actual favorite characters go down, but then I forgot about everyone but Joyce. I can only pray that Giles will be all right.
Jenny's death was brutal as well but it didn't effect me as much as the other deaths. Passion is such a good episode though, it's i my top 5 if not top three. And Angelus oh boy, one of the best tv villains ever.
@Fernando.C Angelus is, pardon my French, an outright cock. As in, a prancing rooster. Team Spyke 4 Lyfe.
I love Spike, but in what way are we comparing the two? Spike is awesome but Angelus is a better villain just because he's a sadistic fuck, and far more dangerous. Now if we're comparing Angel to Spike then that's an entirely different conversation.
I just think Spike is a better character on every conceivable axis. Angelus is crueller, yes, and probably stronger - I can't really say, not having watched past season 4 in many a year. I seem to dimly remember that the Angelus persona is made more interesting throughout the Angel spin-off series, so I won't dismiss him out of hand. I do think he's entertaining to watch, sometimes, but I kind of want to punch him in the mouth whenever he opens it, or does anything at all whatsoever. Not that I would, obviously, because I'm quite attached to my hemoglobin and my limbs.
Hey, what about Bambi's mother? That's got to be on the original Mount Rushmore of shocking character deaths.
Hot tip: turn the movie off before Didn't Know I'd Love You So Much ends and everything will be fine and you won't die of dehydration from crying so much.
Film? Thomas J. in My Girl. Me and a bunch of my buddies were into seeing films on opening night, pretty much anything we could. For those younger members, My Girl was advertised as a touching youthful romance film starring Macaulay Culkin, who was, at the time, the most bankable child actor in Hollywood. Nobody knew it was coming. The theater was packed with tweens who had come to see Kevin in a romance movie, and I swear it was their Kennedy assassination / 9-11 moment. Books? Hmm, so many deaths, but I guess I'd go with a character whose name I just had to look up. In The Naked and the Dead, Lt. Hearn's death really got me. Honestly, I've forgotten much of the book, but I remember that he's one of the primary antagonists, and gets portrayed negatively through most of the book. Then Mailer lets us into his head, and we see that he's not so bad after all, just doing his best in a difficult situation. Then he gets killed. It fits because it doesn't fit, it's just something that happens in war (yes, I remember the why of the sniper, but that's irrelevant to the way it impacted me). He's just suddenly gone.
