Trope Talk: Character Deaths

[@cleothehermetichermeticist8391]

“Fakeout character death” *Glares at Loki’s corpse*

[@gigabyteguru2452]

Which one?

[@accordingtoshane]

and body, (The Avengers) and body, (end of Thor: TDW) and body (Thor: Ragnarok/technically the middle of Endgame, if you count time travel before he had proper character development from The Avengers)...

[@Akalim]

We're alllll waiting

[@basementgoblin6178]

no resurrections this time

[@BBGirlSamus]

HAHAHAHHAHA

[@f.w.3823]

Following the "if you´re stuck kill a character" advice led me to a severe lack of characters at the beginning of the second chapter.

[@avivastudios2311]

😁😅😅

[@belisarian6429]

It also seems like George R. R. Martin gets stuck a lot :)

[@fabulouschild2005]

The heroes walked through the forest, and then they were attacked by a group of bandits and like most of them die 😂

[@mr_indie_fan]

A severe lack of characters? Leave one alive with ptsd and make him the main character while killing the other one, that way you get him running into a new party and getting flashbacks and being insanely brutal in fights because of it. That's what i'd do anyway.

[@ultramadscientist]

Turn it into one of the penultimate chapters instead of the first boom problem solved

[@JNDThePeanutGallery]

Any character: I've been thinking of retirement. Me: Shit.

[@ThePCguy17]

"I'm gettin' too old for this shit."

[@edansabah9153]

Any side character: Shows family pictures for the first time Me: Shit

[@revolvingworld2676]

Medium: Starts inexplicitly showing a characters backstory. Me: Shit

[@juanrodriguez9971]

Side dude: *acts so charmy and cool talking about his family and how much he wants to help our protagonist* Same side dude: *starts to cough* Me: _Shit!_

[@Jinx-iw6zb]

Narancia just wanted to go to school.

[@panlis6243]

Writing classes: "If you're stuck, kill a character" Me working on my autobiography:

[@DrgoFx]

You okay bud?

[@someguy1365]

Wait. *Response is a month old* Either this person is dead and commenting, or they're about to die, and both those outcomes are disturbing.

[@veryevilclown]

@@someguy1365 or they killed someone

[@shelbybayer200]

It means Fictional bud

[@BEANSBEANSBEANS404]

Biography time

[@onyxalyx6065]

The Fakeout Death: Loki's Deaths Loki: *Dies for the millionth time* Thor: *Looks at Loki's "dead" body* Loki: ............ Thor: Loki, I know you're alive, I can hear you snickering. Loki: YOU'RE NO FUN ANYMORE.

[@carbunky6098]

that's what the entertainment industry calls "corpsing"

[@jazzypaffy]

Fool. Thor would cry every time even if he knew it was fake.

[@pengfeidong5268]

Isn't Loki like really dead now tho

[@onyxalyx6065]

Reformed Loki is, but when his "Evil" version stole the Tesseract during the Time Heist in Endgame, he made an alternate timeline for himself. So you could say he is, AND he isn't. It's confusing to explain...

[@l30ng62]

@@onyxalyx6065 schrödingers loki

[@legolassanimelover]

Was watching this in the living room and my mother came over and said "You know what the best fake-out death was? Jesus"

[@oliviamcneil3101]

She’s not wrong!

[@maxgalli9063]

That is brilliant!

[@maxgalli9063]

True

[@thatonethatslikeyeahtotlyt1077]

TRUTH

[@TheEndiPL]

Is God a Mary Sue?

[@brycerichardson3687]

"His daughter can't even understand death and keeps asking how Dad is supposed to get any work done if they bury him" Jesus that's depressing

[@thearcanehunter2736]

Yeah, the whole show had some depressing moments. Love it to death though.

[@DioBrando-yk5up]

@@thearcanehunter2736 it will never top the original for me but god was it a powerful ending

[@quincy9908]

Sad not depressing. Your using the word wrong.

[@andromalius9595]

Ugh! My Feelings! It hurts so much seeing manly men crying at a funeral.

[@Azazreal]

@@quincy9908 OK first it's you're. The sentence is ''You ARE using the word wrong.'' Great start. Second lets check those definitions shall we : Sad : feeling or showing sorrow; unhappy Depressing : causing or resulting in a feeling of miserable dejection Shock! The op was correct and YOU are wrong. A depressing scene will lead to feeling sad. I wouldn't normally be so aggressive but people like you get under my skin.

[@Vanillastump]

There's a rule in comics: Only Uncle Ben and the Wayne's stay dead. It's not quite true, but it's close.

[@samuelbarber6177]

And even sometimes the Waynes come back for alternate timeline deals like that one storyline: “The Gift” where Booster Gold’s wedding present to Batman (long story) was to show him the night his parents died and something something alternate universe... also Thomas Wayne is Batman in Flashpoint

[@shino4242]

I believe Gwen Stacey and Barry Allen used to be part of that list They aren't on that list anymore 3 guesses why.

[@samuelbarber6177]

@@shino4242 apparently Jason Todd was also on that list until Under the Red Hood happened

[@UrpleSquirrel]

Death by Origin Story is the most permanent form of comic book death.

[@Vanillastump]

@@UrpleSquirrel And even then, with multiple universes/earths, and with time-travel always a possibility, even that's flexible.

[@domesticcat1725]

How to convince your audience that the protag is actually dead: "I promise I'm gonna be okay, [love interest]"

[@godofmaddness5416]

Dreamy Cat that’s actually a good point. Very often when a character affirms their safety they die. Granted I’ve also seen the “I told you so scenes,” but they’re not as common.

[@jean-paulaudette9246]

[love interest]: You'd better be, since we are new parents! I love you darling, I hope your last week to retirement goes well!

[@Janx14]

That trope only works for people who aren't the main character. If the main character does it it just means there's the big final battle happening and they *might* get injured.

[@ChaosWolf1982]

Ah, yes, "Don't worry, I'll be fine...", AKA the Last Lie.

[@OGrupxe]

@@jean-paulaudette9246 Another way to write "The last nail in the coffin":

[@RoryOwenT]

my favorite version of this trope is when the protagonists try to bring back someone and they fail. that hits deep

[@thearcanehunter2736]

I can't think of a story that does this that I've watched off the top of my head, but I sure imagine it does.

[@beckyginger3432]

Buffy - when dawn tried to being back Joyce

[@WaywardVector]

@@thearcanehunter2736 fma

[@thearcanehunter2736]

@@WaywardVector Ah, how could I not think of that? FMA(B) Is my favorite anime.

[@Lunar_Crescentfall]

Fullmetal Alchemist comes to mind

[@wiseausrs]

Don't be a coward. If you're going to kill a character: 1. Make it real. 2. Make it hurt. 3. Make it change everything. (without destroying the narrative)

[@aidanpaulflemingramsey5950]

Yes crusader father

[@NewtypeCommander]

I think some of the better examples utilizing these guidelines are the character deaths that show up in the various Gundam stories. For me personally, the best example has to be the death of Ryu José from the original Mobile Suit Gundam. Not only was his death impactful, but it hurt so deep with both the characters and the audience. Here we have the jovial, good-natured mentor that has been with the White Base crew at the start of the series and acts as the glue between the unprepared junior officiers (Bright, Oskar, Marker) and the pressed-into-combat civilians (Amuro, Hayato, and Kai) that about halfway through the series very suddenly gets killed in the middle of battle, and each of the crew have to figure out how to come to terms with this. Bright Noa has step up as commander and how to effectively communicate to his subordinates, while Amuro, Hayato, and Kai have to step up their skills as Mobile Suit pilots as loosing Ryu means they are down one less pilot in an already stretched thin crew.

[@Jack-kx5rf]

Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans does it well. it spends the entire show with a will they won't they love triangle. They decided on polyamory but the hero dies in the final fight and the two women get married and raise his son. Ends with Kudelia talking about how even though he sacrificed his life to save the lives of millions no one will remember his name.

[@darkestlune9580]

Yellow fang

[@johaku99]

Very true

[@gradeagamer6423]

Remember kids, if your favorite side character gets a lot of screen time and back story in one or two episodes it’s time to say goodbye

[@g.r.4459]

to the things we loved and the innocence of youth

[@RinRin72769]

How the time seems to fly From our carefree lives and the solitude and peace we always knew

[@sirenianlegend2779]

Of all the places I thought I’d find a RWBY reference

[@RinRin72769]

@@sirenianlegend2779 me too

[@LanieMae]

As a danganronpa fan I feel personally attacked

[@lovelandfrog5692]

How to convince the audience that your character is dead: Have him played by Sean Bean.

[@lilypond5158]

Lol this is gold.

[@HaloFTW55]

Wrong. Sharpe is still alive.

[@MrInternetHermit]

@@HaloFTW55 Every rule has an exception. If it doesn't, then you should worry.

[@gamersinacontainer]

It worked in Goldeneye.

[@nont18411]

or 2019 Scarlett Johansson

[@adamuffoletto7869]

"Certain audiences have gotten so used to fakeout deaths that they almost assume that any and all potential deaths will be corrected within the space of a few minutes." It's okay you can say Supernatural

[@CT--ko8js]

Oh supernatural wishes it could match marvel or DC

[@NutmegBGB]

@@CT--ko8js I'm pretty sure dying at least once is just the hazing ritual for comic book characters

[@lizabethhampton4537]

Laughs in soap operas.

[@Gothi_6]

Yeaaaah... XD

[@claraphillips7900]

Is that show still going on?

[@willferrous8677]

"It's a terrible day for rain" "What do you mean? It's not raining." "Yes... it is" ""... Oh... So it is."

[@lmbusiness5300]

T-T

[@soopperson5953]

F for respect Hughes😭

[@hetzer5926]

Oh the feels

[@cloudeddaze9502]

Hhhhhh noooo

[@shibetrinidad2854]

IM SORRY BUT IS THAT FULL METAL ALCHEMIST?!?! :O

[@Silverwind87]

How to foreshadow the death of a companion character: "Hey [protagonist], I think I wanna go home."

[@WoeUponThee]

Narancia: **sweats in Italian**

[@Pablo_Martin_aa]

@@WoeUponThee true

[@paper_nezu7571]

Thanks I’m using this

[@razkable]

I'm about to retire

[@angryboi595]

“I’m gonna go out there alone. You must stay safe for me. I must do this”

[@KaiTenSatsuma]

"Nightcrawler escaped death by teleporting *back to life* " Nightcrawler: "I don't need to put up with this, I'm _LEAVING_ :BAMF:"

[@clayxros576]

I'd defend that nonsense, but comics in general have a bad habit of this, so I wont.

[@chrono-glitchwaterlily8776]

Is he immortal?

[@SorowFame]

Chrono-Glitch WaterLily it seems he can just opt out of the afterlife so, probably? I guess?

[@jackdavis5380]

X men has an almost comical habit of bringing back dead characters, you can probably count on one hand the number of X men that have stayed dead. I think Charles Xavier put it best “ In mutant heaven there are no pearly gates, but instead revolving doors.”

[@mariokarter13]

In the Negima manga, there's a point where a bunch of people are erased from existence, one wills himself back.

[@kalerug]

To quote Grif from Red vs Blue: "Every time. Nobody stays dead. Why doesn't anybody die and stay dead?"

[@jean-paulaudette9246]

Pro Tip: When that happens, you're inhabiting a fiction.

[@SorowFame]

Unfortunately a certain character/characters have stayed dead to my knowledge.

[@roguerazac7071]

Me still thinking about Pyrrha Nikos from RWBY season 3

[@FastJohn443]

@@roguerazac7071 I thought the RWBY already died since season 3.

[@FuriousKitten9501]

RWBY's currently working on S8

[@Obi-Wan_Kenobi]

I remember when I died... It was pretty emotional.

[@newrecru1t]

Remember when your -girl- _"friend"_ died? Yea, Clone Wars didn't pull shit on your arc with Maul...

[@sumoshiine]

I'm waiting for darth vader to comment

[@caityreads8070]

tell me about it

[@theomegapotato370]

Well you could say that you're still alive. From a certain point of view.

[@221b]

+Mecha Leo He passed fully into the Force during Heir to the Empire. He's dead.

[@MouseMask-p1z]

There was one book I read where the prophesied hero screwed up and died before the first page, and the story was from the perspective of the runaway thief who stumbled on their corpse, stole their stuff, and immediately got thrown into “hey, bad stuff is happening, fix it!” The thing is, because they aren’t the person who’s supposed to be fixing it, half the characters supposed to be helping them hate them instead, so they have to try to piece together a broken prophecy. Character shenanigans and an abysmal romance subplot meant I never finished the book, but it was certainly an interesting premise.

[@chainsawlightning4515]

Sounds interesting, what's it called?

[@MouseMask-p1z]

@@chainsawlightning4515 I think it may have been called “the book of deacon” but I’m not sure.

[@levonmartyr1443]

If you're interested in manga and ok with ecchi, " The Legendary Hero is Dead" has a similar premise. In the first chapter the hero dies by falling into a pit trap made by a farm boy who was trying to protect his village from demons. The farm boy gets put in the hero's body thanks to the hero's companion, and is forced to finish the quest.

[@rubixcube3774]

@Shine Martyr a really good book with the same idea is She Who Became The Sun

[@tyruskarmesin5418]

Very similar to Fox’s tongue and Kirin’s bone.

[@elementalturnip]

Gotta hand it to Red for her wonderful illustrations. Plus this brilliant line: "Any last words?" "How about 'I think the f--k not!'" 11/10 would watch a show if Red wrote it

[@SupremeCaptainBlaze]

eh

[@canine8284]

I mean there's a comic she does now.....

[@glowtz]

@Nikki the Creator Yep. The website is comicaurora.com

[@TheDiplomancer]

I always enjoyed the XKCD version of this. "Any last words?" "Apollo retroreflectors."

[@Chatterbox1237]

Can you give me a time stamp of the moment?

[@psychronia]

Note to self: Have an antagonist swap teleporters with disintergrators in a sci-fi setting at some point.

[@grasshopper801]

Have you watched the Young Justice episode: failsafe?

[@BatmansFunDay]

Psychronia Minor heroes: let us go you fiend! Villain:....okay H:....wait....really? V: Yeah, go ahead, teleportater's right there. H: wow....uh....thanks *heroes go to teleporter and activate it* *immediately gets disintegrated* Random henchman: Didn't you replace the teleporters with disintigrators a week ago? Villain *smiles in troll* Yes...yes I did...

[@psychronia]

I was thinking more along the lines of... Hero's Allies: We'll regroup with you at X. Best of luck. *uses teleporter* Days later... Hero: Why aren't my friends here yet!? Villain: Who, them? I switched their teleporters with disintergrators ages ago. They died right in front of you and nobody ever realized.

[@sanfransiscon]

I could see this easily and hilariously backfiring when the villain forgets about the switch

[@Jasonwolf1495]

New addition to the rules for evil overlords: swap name signs on the incinerator and the teleporter, and make sure all staff know (or at least those I consider worth keeping alive for now)

[@amanofnoreputation2164]

"If you're stuck for ideas, kill a character." There's an exoteric meaning to this statement and and esoteric one. Ostensibly, it is what it says: kill. a. Character. But if you remember that a character isn't a person, you understand that, godlike entity within your own story though you may be, you *can't* kill them because they never existed to begin with. To kill a character in this sense is to kill your idea of them. Say you have a protagonist, but it turns out he was hiding something in a way that develops his character contrary to all previous expectations. Your initial perspective on him is now "dead" but a new perspective has been "born" to take it's place. So put simply, what the saying really means is, if you're stuck for new ideas, discard the ones you already have. Approach your own work without judgement and you'll find a curious thing happens. You can't help coming up with ideas.

[@lmbusiness5300]

OwO

[@Aniimefaan]

Super educational and well thought out comment... the first reply is a weeby meme, gotta love the internet

[@Recoil1808]

@NihilisticEntropy To be fair, that was mostly a pacing thing. She was always ruthlessly pragmatic and had about the same sense of justice as a Hellenic Fury, but they tried squeezing it into a period of time far too short to work. Remember how many times she had suggested acts most would consider rash or cruel, to be called out by Tyrion. Remember how she put getting an edge in her civil war by getting The North *above* stopping the White Walkers, literally an existential and external threat threatening her as much as her foes, but that she only agreed to commit forces to dealing with if Jon Snow knelt. Remember that even early on she had considered the "I have dragons, I will burn it" option to King's Landing, uncaring as to potential civilian casualties. The action was in character, but botched by less than ideal writing. She was *never* the paragon some make her out to be. Merely charismatic enough to seem it.

[@Recoil1808]

@NihilisticEntropy My bad, I'm far less knowledgeable about the book, though my point still holds up about the writing not exactly being the *best* for that part.. :p

[@mediatorraptor3349]

I wish some authors would take this advice. I seen so many authors kill off characters just because they didnt know what to do with them. One example is warrior cat series. They literally faked the death of one of the main character they couldn't think for power for the characters. They brought back the character only to kill her off in the end.

[@hamshankscps1049]

Idea, do a fakeout death and then when the characters are like "Oh God, you're going to be okay. Let's get them to a hospital!" have an arrow fly in out of nowhere and hit them in the neck, actually killing them. I call it the fakeout fakeout

[@Tree_-wp5zn]

That's horrible... I love it.

[@hamshankscps1049]

@@Tree_-wp5zn I had completely forgotten about this, thank you for commenting

[@dreamingahopefuldream4439]

That's so evil. //takes notes

[@radiclestheepic6950]

dude, I am writing a book series right now. this is the prefect for the second book. spoiler warning for the Starfall series by W. A. Adams. (I have no clue if anyone will end up reading it, as a just in case I will put it here. it's likely it will never be published) so this series is about the cost of power fantasy. What would happen if some random person was grated a super power by wishing on the starstorm (alternate name for a magic meteor shower). I have powers from teleportation, a dog named burnie who wished to be able to talk, and someone that is just sans but impulsive and quick to rage. All of the powers cost something proportional. the smaller one's you just become a social outcast, the larger ones the death of a family member or best friend. I have this character who is a healer, but I have had a hard time finding a good introduction for them. it just so happens that the second book has a death just to show how power hungry the killer is. so the guy gets almost killed, the healer makes the wish for his powers, and a unknown force kills the guy. and the healer is powerless. the question is do I use that death in a part of the series final arc, or leave it as a plot hole? because the plot hole is funny

[@calebcomet1868]

The only time I remember a fakeout-fakeout-death happening was in Jujutsu Kaisen where a new character was introduced and fleshed out only to die in a ‘probably reversible way’, he was in the opening where he was shown with the main cast whom he hadn’t all met yet so of course he isn’t gonna die, he’s gonna be a side-protagonist right? No. He fucking dies and stays dead.

[@paperl9328]

You could make an "unrealistic" real death on purpose, so that it slowly dawns on the audience that no, that character ISN'T alive, and won't suddenly become alive. It could be a creeping realization instead of an instant point of DRAMA. Um. Yeah.

[@matt0044]

Yeah, much like how in real life, you don't believe it until it's staring your right in the face and even then, it takes time to sink in fully.

[@Korokorokorokoro4662]

Like RWBY

[@swordfish1929]

Or the death of Tasha Yar in Star trek: The next generation

[@JasonLudeli]

I hate it when the realization is delayed because then i don't feel like i processed it well and get mad that when i should have been sad i was skeptical.... Shit actually that parallels almost all of the death I've experienced irl..

[@NEWahn]

I wish more stories did that, cuz that would be great.

[@amethystseaeggos5510]

SPOILER ALERT Shapeshifter: Maybe if I change into his dead best friend he won’t set me on fire as much Roy Mustang: **PK DIE**

[@adamkaris]

*Proceeds to set on fire 80 times harder*

[@Ahsoka_Hyrule]

Mwahaha, a see you are an individual of culture

[@GippyHappy]

You know saying spoiler alert doesn’t really help if you don’t say what you’re about to spoil....

[@richardgibson8403]

Amethyst Sea Eggos PK FIRE

[@clayxros576]

If Roy could somehow cast Finger of Death, he'd be casting it on the skeletal corpse for about 5 days after just to drive the point home

[@whyareallmynamestaken1382]

The fourth Percy Jackson book also did the fake out death thing, when Percy landed on Calypso's Island after blowing up Mt St Helen, he ended up crashing his own funeral, but we didn't know that the camp thought that he was dead until later becuase that whole book is told through Percy's perspective

[@potatogaming7044]

I found 2 demigods so far That scene was hilarious

[@thegloriouskingkronk8422]

Leo did the very same thing in the final book of Heroes of Olympus, except this time he blew up Gaia

[@whyareallmynamestaken1382]

@@thegloriouskingkronk8422 yeah! I made this comment before I'd read that part otherwise I would've included it. Also why did it happen in an explosion both times?

[@thegloriouskingkronk8422]

@@whyareallmynamestaken1382 Likely because explosions, deadly as they are in real life, are the easiest thing for characters to have fakeout deaths in because you don't expect to find a body. And if there's no body, the character's not dead.

[@whyareallmynamestaken1382]

@@thegloriouskingkronk8422 ok yeah that makes sense

[@varia2354]

"Remember us. Remember that we once lived." This was the death of an antagonist and we still cried because most of the time he wasn't directly opposing us, we just got to deal with his actions a hundred years before we got there. Actually, he was at times helpful ("What color was her soul again?") and a generally likable character, just to prove the point of "You can make anyone's death sad if you try". We cry again at the death of his kin. Even sadder is both die at our hands. I wanted to go for the kin because it was more recent but I wanted the quote of their last words and I couldn't remember the name nor "The rains have ceased and we have been graced with another beautiful day. But you are not here to see it.".

[@ikebirchum6591]

What is this from?

[@varia2354]

@@ikebirchum6591 FFXIV.

[@TigerheartFire]

I was searching in the comments for a single, "A smile better suits a hero," to make myself sad. But now I'm just sad for a different reason altogether.

[@ReverendLeRoux]

@@ikebirchum6591 it's the last words of a major antagonizing force in FFXIV. it also completely throws the warrior of light off balance and fucks them up for the rest of the expansion.

[@zeehero7280]

@@ReverendLeRoux Well, that's up to the player to decide, the words clearly move them, but fucking them up theres no evidence for. it just shows us that the "bad guys" were only thus due to their ideal solution being doom for us, and not caring what happens to the puny modern mortals.

[@Epicmonk117]

How to successfully kill a character when you're stuck: Establish a character early-on who can resurrect after death (like a lich), then just repeatedly kill him off in increasingly ridiculous ways.

[@JovanaSanchez000]

Oh my God, they killed Kenny!

[@tendigitnumber]

You know, this sounds like the great premise to dramatic series. Or comedy if that's how you want to style it. This poor dude is immortal somehow and just keeps trying to find ways to die, only to be alive and well again by the end of each episode/chapter/arc/whatever. I think Mermaid Saga (Rumiko Takahashi Manga) had a premise like this actually, though the series itself was short-lived.

[@chrono-glitchwaterlily8776]

@@tendigitnumber Deadpool yo

[@im_tired1439]

Epicmonk117, this is actually a funny idea for a story. A character/villain that is constantly killed off by the protagonist(s) just to be resurrected and have to be killed off in even more ridiculous ways. 😂

[@musicmaniac5246]

Jack Harkness, or just the whole episode of Supernatural called “Mystery Spot”

[@mallows9779]

"You can't kill off a protagonist" *Hirohiko Araki would like to know your location*

[@substituteaccount1915]

Allow HIROHIKO ARAKI to use Location?

[@rosemary3029]

Kaede

[@Ajehy]

Since he did it at the end of the first arc, he basically pulled the gloves off & has been fighting bare-knuckle ever since. I’ve only seen the first 3 seasons of the anime (about to start Diamond is Unbreakable), but so far the ratio is roughly 3 fake-outs : 7 real deaths.

[@LittleDP05]

@@Ajehy hehehe, get in for a world of hurt

[@Ajehy]

Little DP - *Grabs tissues and cuddly cat* I am prepared for grief.

[@PGESTELAR]

How to convince a character is dead: 1. Kill it 2. Never shows up again 3. *Confused audience noises*

[@potatogaming7044]

Mine is 1.Have them survive 2.Kill them a page later anyways

[@acertainpigeonman9064]

Jiraiya

[@enigmatic3194]

@@potatogaming7044 Yes, I am!

[@theunknowman12]

@@potatogaming7044 a fortune teller from Egypt wants to have a talk with you

[@Zer0Main43]

@@potatogaming7044 avdol moment

[@PopLadd]

The "Sam and Dean's top 10 deaths" thing killed me lmao, watching that show turned into a waiting game to see how long it took each one to come back. It lost any and all emotional impact really early on.

[@afellowpotato]

I'm just replying so you can see how much likes you got

[@PopLadd]

@@afellowpotato thank you lol

[@daviddaugherty2816]

I have one rule for character deaths for just this reason. Resurrection: not even once.

[@gerstein03]

Dean did eventually die for realsies and didn't come back which was good

[@stormylemon]

ngl i personally didn't mind the death-resurrection cycle with sam and dean, maybe though this was just bc i watched it after it already ended and i knew that they were gonna be in the show till the end, so for me it was less about losing that character and more about seeing what flavour of fucked up they're gonna be when they come back

[@Orangeyouglad870]

“Super advanced tech or even a little bit advanced tech will bring back a character no problem.” Major Von Stroheim: ... German science... is the greatest in the world.

[@weebalo_]

It's hard explaining to my family one of my favorite characters is a nazi.

[@YataTheFifteenth]

To be fair he did die at the end. Off-screen, but Stalingrad became his cold grave.

[@weebalo_]

@@YataTheFifteenth Or he was moved to a better place where people can be like "Wow, that guy was a robot Nazi* and continue on.

[@YataTheFifteenth]

@@weebalo_ or that. Come on at least make his death sound a bit poetic will ya.

[@matthewmcmullan4832]

bbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbbrrackkcaaaaa!!!!!!!!! moruka! German science is the greatest in the world!

[@tbeedi]

*reading Magnus Chase* Me: Lmao we are only 50 pages in! He ain't dead *a few moments later* Me: oh shit nvm fam he dead

[@ender4344]

Ikr lol. I was kinda shaken when that happened, then I read the next paragraph

[@tbeedi]

@@lightknight6749 read the books they are soooo good

[@lightknight6749]

@@tbeedi I have read them, I just wrote incorrectly for my answer before . I was saying how when I first picked up the book it was interesting

[@tbeedi]

@@lightknight6749 ohhhhhhhh lmao. Anyways those books 👌

[@lightknight6749]

@@tbeedi those books are awesome and I like the fact that the main character is a healer. Healers are underrated

[@dakotalee6990]

I remember a character dying in an old anime I watched, and I was so used to characters not actually dying that I spent the rest of the show waiting for him to come back. And he never did. When the show ended, I about bawled my eyes out because he finally actually died to me. It was terrible, but great at the same time.

[@thebookworm5048]

I did that with a book. I did not accept the character's death until the very end, and then I finally cried for her. Although, now the author has written a sequel, so...

[@ultimatepunster5850]

Yeah, I have a very unpopular opinion that a show with NO death at all is kinda boring. But only for certain stories. If it's say, something like Reck-It Ralph, it's a thing meant for kids that can also be enjoyed by adults, so it's perfectly okay for there to be no death or anything. I mean, It's Disney so it's gonna happen anyway, but it could've done just as well without. I'm talking about Dramatic stories like a Shonen or maybe even some form of fanfic retelling of an existing story, like The Elder Scrolls has plenty of fanfics that perfectly encaptualte the Elder Scrolls space and perfectly retells the stories of the games, and even adds to it with well written OC's to act as companions to our MC. In stories like those, with big fights and high stakes, I personally can't connect if no one dies. I mean that as in, if you go the whole way refusing to kill anyone, even in situations where they logically should, and even from a story perspective, it would work perfectly and make sense if you did kill them in this moment, then it ruins the drama for me and causes everything to end up predictable because it has just proven that the author is afraid of making the stakes that high. I tend to enjoy downer and bittersweet endings because I can't predict them, their so rare that they're never obvious so when it happens I find it awesome, vs the usual dime a dozen happy ending where the good guys win. If you kill off a main or central character, it gives you the feeling of "oh God they can actually die..." and thus it leaves you in suspense that maybe the hero might not make it, and when they do you feel relieved and suddenly the happy ending feels good, way better than it otherwis would've been. A perfect example of the best death in fiction, in my opinion is JoJo's Bizarre Adventure Part 1: Phantom Blood. Spoilers ahead so stop reading this comment now if you care; *[FINAL SPOILER WARNING]* At the very end of Part 1, our main hero, Jonathan Joestar, nicknamed JoJo, has finally done it. He beat the villain, his adoptive brother, Dio Brando, he married the love of his life, and he's on a cruise ship to America to celebrate his honeymoon. Dio's minions are all dead and gone, and Dio himself is dead. The End. Or is it? Suddenly, the cruise ship is infected and turned into Zombies thanks to one of Dio's minions who Jonathan never killed, and Dio himself announces that he is, in fact, alive and ready to kill. Jonathan gets mortally wounded thanks to a surprise attack and the rest of the episode is just a downhill slope of JoJo trying to figure out how to win. Before realizing that he can't. But instead of crumbling, he had rendered the ship useless as he stopped the main piston with the last of his ability and so thus the engines are now blown, and the boat will now explode. Instead of a triumphant heroic sacrifice, JoJo gathers his nerves, gathers his strength, and then... he hugs Dio. Proclaiming that despite all of the evil he committed, he still thinks of Dio as his brother and even in death holds no ill will, he's commited to trapping both himself and Dio in the bottom of the ocean under the wreckage of a destroyed cruise ship. Our final scene of Jonathan is Dio desperately trying to appeal to Jonathan into making him let go only to realize, in a shockingly distraught tone for Dio, that it's too late, he's dead, one final top-down panning shot of his corpse, and a ship finally exploding, and Part 1 is over, but there's still hope because JoJo's love interest, Erina, who managed to escape the ship exlosion and is now floating across the ocean Titanic style, reveals that she was pregnant, so the series ain't over yet folks. That scene was so emotional and powerful, and so unexpected that it instantly caused the show's status to go from something I enjoy watching, to something I LOVE watching, JoJo's death elevated my opinion of the show and made me excited to tune in to the next season. My overall point is that character deaths are important for true drama, if you skirt away from it, you're essentially ruining the drama by inadvertently proclaiming that your hero can't die and so thus there's no reason to be invested in this final big fight scene because you already know the outcome, so why bother anymore? It's just not suspenseful anymore to me, so I stop watching. TL;DR: I'm a masochist and I love bittersweet endings and character death.

[@storyteller5215]

@@ultimatepunster5850 ngl spongebob is kinda boring, I'd kill Pearl

[@Pyre]

Old show, called Ronin Warriors in its dub. One of the most powerful minion villains menaces the heroes multiple times, is defeated, is saved by the helpful old mystic, takes on the role of the mystic after *he* dies. Becomes good, devoted friends with the heroes. Makes it almost to the final battle, when he's shown that to save the character they *absolutely have to save* , he has to invoke his old scary power again. Does it, kicks ass, gets *horrifically* hurt for a relatively bloodless show. And falls facedown into a shallow stream after. And does not get up again.

[@laurynwalton]

Spoiler alert for Artemis Fowl! . . . . . : . . , . . . . . Me with Root’s death. Until TLG ended, I was convinced he was coming back. Especially when Opal killed her younger self and everything in the intervening years poofed back into existence. Root should have too-change my mind.

[@wormsdonthaveeyes2888]

Just watched that episode of FMAB. Damn, they really did just follow up his death with a scene of Ed, Al, and Winry talking about how great he is and how they’ll have to figure out a way to thank him when they get back. That hit harder than any drawn-out “nooooo” ever could.

[@jasperdrawings]

That’s not even touching on the “he retired to the country,” BS Mustang pulled like Hues was a dog and the Elric brothers were two. It’s basically the only time we ever see Mustang try to shelter the brothers but I agree with Hawkeye- that was incredibly cruel. And the guy punch when Ed talks to literally the next person he runs into and puts it together is incredible. Man FMAB literally made me morn the same character twice.

[@helarki4309]

That one guy in Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood literally shocked me. THat is an example of a good, convincing death scene. It transformed the narrative and even gave the characters a boost for what they were trying to do.

[@mattbenz99]

FMA:B also had a really good death fake out.

[@snowshower4415]

Which one guy?

[@nevermore7285]

Snowshower's Show I would assume Hughes

[@snowshower4415]

@@nevermore7285 yeah I'd guess so.

[@archmage1015]

I was actually convinced at first that Hughes couldn't be dead, cause he felt like too much of a main character. Took a while for me to understand that FMAB was playing by different rules than I was used to.

[@sidharthmak]

Avdol : *Dies Also Avdol : *Dies again

[@Milkcake00]

Works the same with Loki

[@revui834]

*"the bullet grazed me"*

[@cody-vt2vg]

ikr? I was like: "They wouldn't have brought him back just to kill him again, right? ...Right?!"

[@rockhistoria2537]

Araki to Avdol: I'm going to kill you... and then kill you again

[@lavans5721]

@@rockhistoria2537 snapcube reference appreciated

[@aes2621]

So since we all die.... *Are we the trope?*

[@grasshopper801]

Don't you go breaking the 4th wall now. This is real life.....

[@melissabautz2346]

There was a previous comment by Obi-Wan. Maybe you should ask him.

[@coldcovoi5408]

Gamer Queen DUN DUN DAAA

[@terry2788]

Fucking plot twist

[@ferns800]

Holy.....why are you.messing with my HEAD!

[@ianesgrecia8568]

"like my brother who NEVER LISTEN TO SPOILER WARNINGS!" I died there XD

[@kiekebe1341]

Are you sure? I'm not quite convinced

[@potentpotassium5776]

@@kiekebe1341 underrated comment

[@phantomkitten73]

Villain: "You know what this is like? It's like those Shounen Anime's I love. Now I'm going to give you a whole speech on something evil, and then I'm going to find some absurd and convoluted way to kill you, and you'll find an equally convoluted way to come back to life." Hero: "Sounds good to me." Villain: "Well this ain't that kind of show." Villain: *Simply shoots hero directly in the face.* Supporting Cast: "NOOOOOOO!"

[@temporaneo617]

Nice kingsman quote!

[@gpearce11]

This is literally exactly what happens in Kingsman, THEN THEY WENT AND BROUGHT HIM BACK FOR THE SEQUEL! That being said, there is probably no better way to convincingly fake kill a character then for him not to come back until a sequel.

[@fantasyshadows3207]

Hero: *comes back* ow that hurts, wait how am I alive? Villain: dang it

[@DaDunge]

Would ahve been great in highlander... *five minutes later* Hero:"That really hurts you know"

[@trevinodude]

New Hero defeats Villain: Villain: Is this the part when you boast about the Power of friendship giving you strength for revenge? New Hero: This isn't that type of anime. **New Hero finished off Villain** Villain's last thought before he dies: Perfect

[@TheMetamorphoses2003]

"If they dissolve into sand" *I don't feel so good*

[@Korokorokorokoro4662]

mR. sTArK

[@icantcomeupwithagoodusername]

*i dOn’T wAN’t tO gO*

[@atotallyrealhuman8780]

**thanos does the take the L emote**

[@sauravsaha7465]

That doesn't count because a lot of people know that the Disintegration event that kickstarts the Infinity Gauntlet Comic event explicitly gets reversed. Also, "Killing half the freaking universe" can't stick in a comic book cinematic universe that is virtually minting money for a major studio.

[@arthpande1840]

It's coarse, and gets everywhere.

[@NSluiter]

I feel like there's a book series out there where at the end of vol. 1 the protagonist seemingly dies. And vol. 2 starts with "Hey you, you're finally awake."

[@YataTheFifteenth]

"You were trying to cross the border, right?"

[@schwellenangst1605]

"Fucking hell Dave, this is the 3rd time this week"

[@Turtlefightclub]

@NotYourGreatestPlan Skyrim bud

[@benoitdot3756]

Avatar books 2 to 3? But we know he never dies

[@Spades20XX]

FF8 disc 1 ending leading up to Disc 2 is this

[@starnotee]

[Bojack Horseman spoilers] Sarah Lynn's death is one of the best I've ever witnessed. It isn't explicitly shown but you understand what's going on, and they keep bringing up her and the consequences of her death all the way until the penultimate episode, 3 seasons later. Not to mention, you continue to learn additional circumstances surrounding it for a long time as well. Totally harrowing but it's amazingly done.

[@Epicmonk117]

*Writing Teachers:* "If you're stuck, kill a character." *Me:* _Looks at Dark Souls_

[@talongreenlee7704]

I think a good way to make a convincing death despite any level of “I don’t buy it” would be to have the fact that the character is dead come to light slowly. The character’s death is something that one of the other main characters won’t buy too, and so they try to find them, but after going through several leads, the fact that they died is something that they have to come to terms with. You don’t have to make it convincing AT ALL. Anything that the audience can come up with to deny the death is a lead that that character can follow up on. After going through enough of these “leads” the character ends up feeling manic, looking for some way that they could have survived, some place that they could be hiding out in, etc. and eventually the other surviving characters have to pull the disbelieving character back down to earth and have him work through his trauma. You get some serious sad, and so long as you take it far enough past reasonable, you can gradually ease everyone that isn’t ready to believe it into the idea that they’re actually dead, and maybe get the audience to start going “He’s dead. He’s not coming back” before the other characters do

[@boobah5643]

Joel Rosenberg kinda did this in his _Guardians of the Flame_ series. The previous book had ended with our protagonist dying in a blaze of glory that didn't leave a body; the next book was centered on his wife (and son? Been a while) trying to cope with the loss by tracking down some persistent rumors that seemed to indicate that the protagonist had survived.

[@ceciliaxx]

Didn’t this happen to an extent in the Sherlock series? I watched it quite a while ago, so memory’s a bit hazy, but at the beginning of Season 2 Oh wait Sherlock spoilers - although how you managed to avoid Sherlock defeats me. It’s pretty disappointing though, if that’s any consolation. all his ‘friends’ were searching madly for him, thinking of every possible way he could have survived. Then, once they finally accept he’s gone, voila, the detective’s back from Somalia or something.

[@Motorata661]

They did that in Justice League, Batman keep searching for ways to Superman to survive until he gived up

[@eliburry-schnepp6012]

They did that with Church in Red vs. Blue, and it HURT

[@davidcharron8890]

Eli Burry-Schnepp And with Pyrrha Nikos in RWBY. I will NEVER get over that.

[@hannahwicks7197]

JJ Abrams should've watched this video. 'Somehow Palpatine has returned'

[@Oxtocoatl13]

When you're so set on just recreating The Return of the Jedi that you literally bring back a villain who's been dead for 30 years without explanation in the damn opening text crawl. Also the endless fake-death-resurrection spinning wheel that is the entire climax of the story. When you do it enough many times in ten minutes it just gets repetitive as hell.

[@aaronmelgar7116]

No one's ever really gone.

[@CesarAnthony001]

He did come back in Legends tho

[@Pyre]

@@CesarAnthony001 This is basically a mix of the sheer screeching hypocrisy of the dedicated fanbase and the blissful ignorance of casual fans. Nothing *at all* in the sequels (save freezing blaster bolts and reaching across space and time) hadn't appeared and/or been done to a much, MUCH more ludicrous scale in books that a majority of the ridiculous, pitiful 'hardcore fans' adored. Many things in the sequel trilogy were actually taken from the books and done much, MUCH better (you know about Legends, take your pick there). But if you weren't aware of them to begin with, or if you were just a bad person, then they could feel like they smacked you in the face from nowhere.

[@totalwar1793]

@@Pyre Yeah, it's kinda sad how *badly* they did a Dark Empire reboot. Like, it was hated by most fans who knew the source material, why do it again? They also have the audacity to go, 'We didn't have enough material from the EU'

[@Somber_Knight]

Assassination classroom, unfortunately yet predictably, has true death in it. Probably my favorite example.

[@seqka711]

Every time I rewatch that show I ugly cry at the end.

[@blade7y156]

It is not predictable, it is established. And that's where it is genius : we KNOW, from the beginning, that this character will die at the end of story. But as long as we get attached to him, we kind of forget it (and the others characters too). And when we are at the maximum attachment to him, when we want to continue with him for a very long time, it brutally comes back : he HAS TO DIE, and the dead line is very close. But it's not over, no no no. The others characters refuse to let this happened, and managed researchs and a whole plan to save him. And it succeed ! And we want to believe in this success, because we love this character. But another menace come, and the death is coming back. But we believe that he can survive, and all the pthers characters too, and everyone do the maximum to make him survive. Buthe can't. And finally he let (and kind of force) the protagonist to kill him, and he died. I would not named this "predictable".

[@ReblazeGaming]

@@blade7y156 Yeah exactly, it's not predictable if they literally tell you

[@AderuMoro]

I was so used to fakeout deaths from certain animated movies that the one in How to Train Your Dragon 2 almost seemed like a fakeout until...well, yeah. Kudos to that movie for following through.

[@anhtuphan3170]

AderuMoro still sad about that one

[@Kntrytnt]

That was honestly one of the best written deaths I have ever seen in an animated movie.

[@AderuMoro]

I left the theater with my sis like, "WHOA, THEY ACTUALLY DID IT"

[@xoersummoner1336]

Thx for opening that closed wound again T-T

[@user-xb5bz4fu9o]

yeah, for once we get a sequel that was actually really good

[@emmae2520]

6:27 "My dog isn't going to know what happened to me..." Congrats, as a blink-and-you-miss-it throwaway gag, you have made one of the saddest final thoughts I've ever read.

[@chrisschoenthaler5184]

Emma TriesToSmile All too true. Nobody can explain what happened to your pet, so they will never understand that you died elsewhere and are never coming back.

[@gpearce11]

...and now I’m thinking about Red Dog... and I’m sad.

[@Snow-sx5ev]

... And then there is Dragonball

[@darthrevan3342]

I am searching teh drgaon ball moments...

[@atalanticbow]

Lol yes dragon ball. Don't take the death seriously

[@shealupkes]

And marvel, especially now

[@timothymclean]

I think it's more the MCU fans that aren't taking death seriously. The movies seem pretty dead-set on keeping corpses dead right now.

[@shealupkes]

Timothy McLean you mean like Loki, Bucky, coulson, Loki again, groot, fury, Janet, Bucky again, Loki again, and groot again?

[@wolfwoodphreak]

I also loved that scene where deku is near death apologizing to his mom and all might for not being strong enough to be a true hero... likely one of my favorite episodes

[@hecc7906]

Yeah but deku isn't gonna die lmao

[@xjmasterx0907]

Oh was this what she was talking about

[@lick28]

@@xjmasterx0907 the green and red outline didn't give it away? It was the muscular scene to be specific.

[@juliefarrell6688]

Did something similar. Protagonist is sure that she's about to die. The world is fading and she's bleeding, laying on the ground. And she spends her time fighting to stay alive as she apologizes to her sister and cousins for not being strong enough, and making them promise to be strong, even without her. Protagonist wakes up in her bed but still made me tear up writing it. Not crying, but tears.

[@yurimizuki8995]

Thank god I wasn't the only one who thought that was the scene she was talking about

[@Haidyss]

I love the story that Scott McNeil told about when Dinobot Dies. He came out of the booth and instantly asked the director "So when's he coming back" "He's not Scott, he's dead." Scott "ya I know he's "Dead". "No Scott he's DEEEAAAD". They had to tell his a few times before he finally believed them.

[@russellmarch4983]

I feel like with Transformers, especially back in the era of the original continuity, the easiest way to see the odds of a character's survival was to look at their presence on toy store shelves. *laughs in cosmically powered Starscream*

[@thegloriouskingkronk8422]

I mean, he did "come back" in the form of a Clone. Who also died.

[@rhyperiorhunter7339]

@@thegloriouskingkronk8422 no that wasn't him it was his clone the two are seperate entities the original never came back

[@thegloriouskingkronk8422]

@@rhyperiorhunter7339 Yes, but in stories a clone can serve as a sort of replacement for a dead character, making them "come back" into the story. They are a copy of them after all, so in that sense, Dinobot did "come back" and Scott McNeil got to reprise his role You know, until that Dinobot also died

[@rhyperiorhunter7339]

@@thegloriouskingkronk8422 ok yes many clones can be considered resurrection but in beast wars it is not as dinobot 2 until the last episode acts nothing like the original

[@izzy1221]

I have a love-hate relationship with fake deaths...it always seems like such a cop out but my favorite character comes back as a result! I am pathetic.

[@serenepastel]

Same, I always feel simultaneously like garbage for cheering, cause it usually takes away from the character development, and great, cause yay my baby is back! I wish the fake death trope would explore the characters' reactions to the fake death as a means of further development. Like "I've mourned and grown but now you're back and I'm happy but have these complex emotions that I can't really explain but they are valid." If that makes any sense.

[@alicecooper8438]

A great example of this is in Criminal Minds, when Emily Prentiss fakes her death to get someone off her back. Spencer Reid was absolutely devastated, and when she came back, he was initially happy, but then he was actually angry at her and JJ for hiding it from him, and he had trouble working with them.

[@thefvguy5648]

And this is a flaw Dragonball Z has that everyone seems to ignore.

[@laraa739]

Yeah I just assume that it's just supposed to show how THEY react. Like with Fairy Tail in that scene I was like: "Yeah they always handle it better than thi,s they're not even trying, it's just so Doranbolt can save them and repay them for Tenrou so he'll FINALLY move on." At least I think that was the point. That's how I find the point in most fakeouts I mean. Sometimes it helps character development too in the "this will never happen again" way. I like that one, I think FT actually got that one right.

[@Djorgal]

As for me, that's not a love-hate relationship. It's pure unadulterated hatred. A dead character should remain dead. That's why I used to like GoT so much, they would'nt shy away from killing a character, even in the middle of his character arc. The resurrection of Jon Snow was very painful to me and it killed the show for me. If you don't want one of your characters to die, then don't kill him in the first place...

[@inquisitordragon6827]

Viking burial, that usually means they are actually dead.

[@kendallonian9753]

Maybe viking funerals were originally instituted just to make sure that this guy is actually well and truly dead.

[@martinprados8932]

What if he's not dead?

[@kendallonian9753]

@@martinprados8932 Then he either wakes up when the flames touch him, or he is now.

[@christiancrusader9374]

Except Superman. In the Leigon of Superheroes, he was killed and they shot his body into the sun. I don't think i need to finish the story.

[@atlantefou566]

@@christiancrusader9374 For Superman, the sun isn't fire, it's a healthy snack. Doesn't count as viking burial :p

[@013aanikhfds]

“Oh my god! They killed Kenny! You bastards!”

[@christopherfleetwood5252]

Oh wow yeah, the one show where death is cheaper than DBZ.

[@aMulliganStew]

Christmas reprieve.

[@mr.orangesky882]

Main characters work the same way as Schrodinger’s cat, if you can’t observe it’s dead it’s not dead

[@reachthroughreality]

So, it wasn't really fiction, but the best death scene I've ever read was in The Things They Carried, in the chapter "Lemon Tree." It's a book about the Vietnam war, and the death is sudden, relatively unexpected, and treated as just something to deal with. The character/person that dies stepped on a landmine. There was no slow motion nonsense, nothing epic. Just Boom, dead. That's it. And it's phrased just like that, the normalcy, the quickness, is highlighted. "Just boom, dead," is repeated over and over again. Some people just keep walking, not even bothering to wipe what used to be Private Lemon from their brow, some screamed. One started whistling a song called "Lemon Tree" because most of the poor sap named Lemon ended up hanging from a tree. It wasn't emotional in the least, but it hit so much harder because of that.

[@epicthecandydragon6079]

That book does an incredible job of portraying the reality of death and conflict. In a stupid, pointless, and devastating war, the deaths are just as stupid, pointless, and devastating. Plus, in real life there’s little to no chance of people coming back.

[@hogndog2339]

Oh god that book was great, I remember the ptsd scene actually made me start breathing really heavily and panicking, really good writing

[@jpatel0398]

Shoutout to JoJo for pulling this off almost consistently effectively

[@atypicalinternetdweller4997]

Jimmy Patel Seriously The only characters that returned from death either needed a vampire's blood to do it or were dead but just too determined and full of resolve to go down permanently

[@stefanryan9469]

Jojo when show the main character is never ever off limits to death in the first season

[@bakugi97]

Spoiler Avdol just got nicked by a bullet. And hell even Joseph had a fakeout

[@jakelege3359]

"the bullet only grazed me" This part really angered my friend

[@yonatanyonatano1192]

marc nunley Yeah, but Avdol got an even quicker death doing the same exact thing he was doing the first time and that one stuck And Joseph’s survival was the actual surprise since the expectation was that he’d go out like his Grandpa

[@valenciageode25]

I had something very strange happen with character death. I have only killed like, four characters that I remember. Two were the same story. No heroes, and all but one were meant to feel cathartic. Let’s talk about the one. So I responded to this writing prompt on Reddit. Something along these lines: “I won’t deny that I’m evil, maybe even irredeemable. But I find harming a child completely deplorable.” There’s basically only four characters. One is our evil protagonist. Another is the child, who spends most of the story hiding under the protagonist’s cloak. The third is the antagonist, and the fourth is already dead when the story begins. What happened was the protagonist, antagonist, and the dead character worked together in various villainous schemes. The one who dies had multiple children, and was being hunted. He entrusted his accomplices with taking care of them. The story starts a few days after he died, and the kick of is that the antagonist intended to vivisect one of his (non-human btw) children for experimentation. The protagonist argues with her and we see how much he cared about the dead character. The story ends with the implied death of the antagonist. But later on, I wrote more short stories involving these characters, before the one died. I developed him more, wrote interactions between him and the protagonist, how much he loved his kids and trusted his friends, etc. So now, I’m attached to this character *whose whole purpose was to die*. I went backwards. I guess that means I did a good job?

[@airacummins5076]

Start your story earlier, done

[@RocRolWriter]

I mean, I've got a couple of stories in my head that I've technically started towards the end; none of them have character deaths yet but do have a whole bunch of other horrible things happening to the main characters and having to struggle through the aftermaths. When I actually get around to writing these things down, I'll have to start with the scenes I came up with first (because that's what I have) and then connect them together and write the stuff that leads up to those scenes...and I already know that when I start writing the "prequel" parts, I'll have a lot of dramatic irony in my head that I'll have to try and keep from coloring the story too much.

[@mayu277]

"...or they dissolve into sand or something." *SPOILERS* (kind of) Thanks to Infinity War, I don't think this works anymore

[@ReddwarfIV]

That's superheroes, which as mentioned, has a load of ways to reverse character deaths.

[@a.morphous66]

Mayu How do you know it doesn’t work? For all we know, these guys might be straight-up DEAD. Although that probably won’t be true, because Spider-Man is just too damn precious to be let go so quickly. (Yes, I’m a heterosexual male, why did you ask?).

[@KyanbuXM]

@@a.morphous66 Well that and Spoiler the actor who plays the current Spider-Man, spoiled that he survived. Along with the new Spider-Man movie being set after infinity war. And the comics it's based on, also give a way how it's probably going to be undone in the movie.

[@gamelikers]

@@KyanbuXM yay....?

[@dankestmemes9843]

They'll remain dead but other versions of them will replace them Rick and Morty style

[@julianzabala9010]

My rule is: if you want to kill a character but actually dont want to, Disable them. Make that near death or resurrection situation have consequences, which is basically what the video is saying, but I'm like, talking about the character that "dies". One of my characters is now paralysed, another one is blind, two of them are amputees, and one of my favourites is now mute, they all still kick some serious ass. The concequence can also be mental, like PTSD. Take Agent Phil Coulson for example, the consequence of his resurrection was brainwashing, and in season 2 he goes mentally ill for half the season. He then gets over it, but he never really recovers from the trauma that was TAHITI (it's a magical place), until season 5. Either that, or you can give them a new ability or power but in that case everyone is thankful that character died. Or you could use it for character development, as in the near death experience caused them to face some of their troubles.

[@ShadeSlayer1911]

I find traumatic and disabling injuries to be one of my favorite ways of having characters go through serious development.

[@NEWahn]

I wrote a death in one of my stories where a character who had believed to have been dead before the story starts, shows back up and applies basic logic to how she couldn't have been dead. She's actually pretty mad at her brother for thinking she was. Then later, she dies for real to save his life, and this one there's no recovering from. She gets impaled through the stomach, and the hero team has to stay with her through her final moments. It's very painful, but also bittersweet, because one of the characters she's hated since the beginning, she ends up thanking him for being a good foster brother to her actual brother. She lets go of the past, and then proceeds to gift her weapons to a previously crippled character that she'd befriended. They do try to save her, but it's a futile effort. Her wound was too large, they were miles away from any medical care facility, she's bleeding out, and none of them have any skill or ability to so much as slow her death.

[@arifybush1203]

yeah a bit of mutilation did wonders for jaime lannister’s character

[@meanncat3050]

What about amnesia? I was planning a fake-out death for a character of mine that would LOOK convincing but it turns out they aren't really dead...but they don't return either because of losing their memory. I know I can ask the creator of the video...but I never get responses what do you think fellow commenter?

[@meanncat3050]

@Nick Haymond Yeah I know...but usually when I ask other commentors stuff people tell me to just ask the creator of the video... :/ Anyway thank you for the advice I'm not new to writing, but I am new to putting real effort into writing. XD So I have been struggling...I was gonna show the character pretty soon after the death alive and well, so I can easily just scrap those scenes and just jump into the other stuff I have planned. Only struggle now is when and/how the character is found alive. LOL.

[@kelnhide]

“You can’t kill off a shounen protagonist” Jonathan Joestar would like to have a word with you

[@blinkachu05]

Even then, his body came back as DIO's.

[@charlesswift2598]

Baron Zeppeli, Caesar Zeppeli, Avdol the second time, Iggy, Kakyoin, and many more all want to have word with you as well

[@aerieleah533]

@@charlesswift2598 ...that's a secondary protagonist. Secondary protagonists die all the time. She's talking about main protagonists. It's more like the Eren death fakeouts. Spoiler: I happen to know already that Joleyne and Jotaro both bite the big one on camera. Even if Jotaro gets downgraded to supporting, I'm still willing to count it.

[@jeanpierrepolnareff2356]

You also got to remember that Joseph dies in the enemy and jotaro dies in the manga

[@tally926]

Johnny does too between 7 and 8

[@Raptorman0205]

10:54 "Everyone in the military is shaken" yup _absolutely everyone_ in that scene was emotionally devastated =P

[@abridge2]

not a single person at the funeral of maes hughes was not emotionally moved look i didnt say what they were moved to do

[@coltonwilliams4153]

Every human in the military was heartbroken.

[@FedoraKirb]

Negative feelings were felt by everyone there, yes. What negative feelings by each person? Well, uh…

[@tatwood1123]

One of my favorite comics quotes is "the only people to stay dead in comics is uncle Ben, Jason Todd and gwen stacey."

[@gennybaratta2460]

I mean Jason Is back now so.....

[@tatwood1123]

@@gennybaratta2460 so is gwen, that's kind of the irony of the quote

[@justbny9278]

Uncle Ben never came back but there were a lot of times where Peter got to see him again in other dimensions and shit,so yea

[@eldesconocidosenork5981]

r/agedlikemilk

[@SingingSealRiana]

Actualy lovers and relatives only ever die truely without turning up evil again, if your Spiderman. . . Everyone else in Comics has thought dead people of their past come back . . . Excluding spidey

[@The_Evening_Sun]

Inversely for fire emblem if that character is a dad you know he's dead for good.

[@CT--ko8js]

Same goes for a Disney movie

[@gratedshtick]

Eliwood moment.

[@青雷の戦士]

@@gratedshtick Eliwood survives in Roy's game, doesn't he? Hector on the other hand...

[@sutora9309]

Looking at you jeralt

[@ActionCow69]

@@sutora9309 tbh jeralt stuck around longer than most fire emblem dads. look how many die in the fucking prologue

[@PriyankitaPant]

Sirius Black’s death looked like a fake death, most of us were very confused and since Harry was convinced he’ll come back, we were too only to find out he was super dead 😞 I think that’s one reason why we grieved more for him than say Dumbledore or Fred, like that for me were more expected. The entire 6th book was about Dumbledore’s death : there was foreshadowing & all. And 7th book had a battle so we were bound to see a lot of causality 😶

[@Gandlehoff]

Sirius definitely hit me harder than most of the others; I think the fact that he didn't get much time with Harry is part of why it was so impactful. With Dumbledore and Fred we had known them for a long time and had gotten to explore the deepness of their characters, but with Sirius he had been around for such a short time, and was so mysterious that nobody was remotely prepared for his death. This is very long, I apologize.

[@eliad6543]

Fred was very unexpected for me - it was just a sudden "kaboom" and we didn't even get to know which Death Eater did it. This and the fact that Fred and George were like the masters of fun tricks and whatnot really made me think it's fake. I guess Rowling didn't show dead bodies on purpose.

[@JuriAmari]

Eliad654 considering her personal experience with not being able to see her mother at her funeral, that experience still haunts her to this day and she transmitted that shock to HP. Oftentimes you need that evidence to get closure but some people are never able to see it even with word of mouth or text.

[@YTDariuS-my6dg]

i just dont care for Dumbledore because he was an ass in my opinion, I started to hate him when Harry died because when they had that talk it just came upon me, like "wait... Dumbledore was SUCH AN ASS!"

[@empurress77]

I felt cheated by Sirius's death. 1 because it was a great character wasted. 2 because the Harry Potter world has ghosts as a common occurance and never addressed why no one who died in the series was ever contacted or ever came back as as ghost.

[@JackNick2000]

What about the “Character Revival” trope, where the dead character, you know, comes back to life. You have to justify why you killed the character, why bring them back, how did you bring them back and why can’t you bring any other dead character back in the same way

[@hibikikuze1876]

7:39 Were you describing MHA Deku vs The fiber muscle Guy? Seemed to be spot on and matches the theme.

[@mii6619]

I also really want to know

[@David-rt2oo]

Definitely that’s what she was describing. I just watched the scene again.

[@invisiblefan2387]

I was so excited when I heard the description because it was the first this that came to my mind

[@Iffondrel]

That’s what I thought. It’s suiting and emotional, but we knew Deku wouldn’t actually die because of shounen protagonist armor.

[@invisiblefan2387]

Yeah. But considering his quirk is superpowerful and vague it makes sense in universe. Plus his detetermination comes from helping others. So it made sense

[@keona5560]

Maes Hughes death still makes me cry. After who knows how many years. I still cry. It still hurts and unlike Mustang I don't think I'll be able to move on any time soon.

[@meanncat3050]

I think it's because it was so real. It wasn't even an over the top death, it was a death that happens all the time IRL. And the funeral...all his friends and family there, grieving. And because the audience also grew to love him like they did, it feels like a friend was killed. At least that's why his death still makes me sad...it was like losing that one goofy friend that annoys you but you still love to peices.

[@bluchicken_995]

MeannCat For whatever reason his death hit me way harder on brotherhood than the first series. I think what got me was his daughter at the funeral not understanding what’s happening and yelled things like why are they burying daddy he has work to do.

[@evangedeon2194]

Brotherhood be like: "MAES HUGHES IS DEAD. just in case you forgot"

[@lavendiie_paste]

My siblings and I actually cried for like an hour it was that well done

[@James-ep2bx]

The handling if Hue's death is a fine example of why FMA is such a good series, and why good world building is so important, the death of a well written "joke" character shows a shift to the darker tones, FMA had dark undertones from the start, and provides motivations for further plotlines

[@themightypancake5695]

That is so true! After Hughes died, it felt like the show lost the light-hearted journey aspect to it, and it took on its dark tone. Of course it still had light hearted moments, but nothing felt the same after Hughes was gone. I actually thought back on it when I finished the series and realized just how light hearted Hughes made the first few-ish episodes feel

[@kristofgriffin384]

James Vann When you mentioned FMA, were you talking about the 2003 series or Brotherhood?

[@James-ep2bx]

kristof gergely both, but I do remember the shift wasn't quite the same in them

[@lilylovell7162]

TheMightyPancake And then that fucking funeral, where all our hearts were torn from our bodies cause of his daughter.

[@erin_3569]

The fact that reviving dead ones is established early on in the manga helps establish the fact that he won't come back, i think.

[@rayzersun6705]

7:54 That has *GOT* to be My Hero Academia. Big muscly dude is just Muscular and he's fighting Deku, who's protecting Kota. The green is obvy and u kind of know BNHA

[@kintamas4425]

Yeah that was pretty lit... I kind of dropped the story after the episode of the festival used to try repairing the time power girl’s childhood. Is picking it back up worth it?

[@TheKillerNinja11]

@@kintamas4425 the current arc of the anime is super boring but after that it gets a lot better.

[@somik-i3x]

I didn't like that scene that much. The problem I have with Deku is that he became dumb since he has his quirk. His only solution in every fight is '' I AM GOING TO PUNCH HARDER''.

[@rayzersun6705]

@@somik-i3x You can't really blame him. Most of his childhood is just wanting to be like All Might, almost literal. Before Shoot Style, he only uses his arms and uses AM's super moves

[@somik-i3x]

@@rayzersun6705(Not a fan of MHA, but you do you) Even his Shoot style isn't that different from all might. The arc after that, (I think the Overall arc), his new fighting style didn't help him. He still beat the villain by punching him harder. I think I will like more the story if this aspect of Deku was critize for acting like All-Might while having a fraction of his overall power by others heroes or classmates. At least , that will give him a struggle other than being the best like no ever was.

[@charlesbrooks94]

So, seeing Mayes Hughes (not sure if I spelled that right) die didn’t fuck me up emotionally, what fucked me Up was hearing his daughter say “mommy, why are they burying daddy”

[@hiero-green]

Charles Brooks "Mama, don't let them bury daddy..! He won't be able to fimish his work if they do that..."

[@charlesbrooks94]

Ciara Casey 😭

[@serenepastel]

It's like Mufasa all over again.

[@Somehowstillkicking]

his death fucking shook me, the fact that he would prefer to die than hurt someone looking like his wife destroyed me but I was to hold in my emotionally wrecked heart.... THEN THE DAUGHTER SPEAKS UP AND I JUST LOOSE IT, I AM STILL NOT OKAY GDI

[@umbradens6129]

Darkness13Angel yeah I'm not the shocked by death sort Id been around the deaths of a few dozen people I'd known and liked some family some not before I was an adult even but that scene the desperate struggle the hesitation when confronted with his love used against him the photo then the child's screams... well it's a shame it's raining here.

[@FinalIcharus]

One of the best subversions of this trope was in an episode of young justice. An alien race invaded and basically disinitigrated everyone in the justice league and one main character. Midway through they came to the conclusion that it was actually a teleportation beam and they went on a desperate mission to rescue their comrades. Robin, the leader, even sent a member to a mission with no chance of success, and the member was immediately blasted. THE TWIST occurs when they are mid way through the layer. They find it WASNT a teleport beam and they were essentially just in denial with one exception: robin. He realised that it was indeed a disintigration beam and knew saying that it wasnt was the only way to convince the team to push through and destroy the alien base. While it turns out to all have been a simulation, the consequences are intense, especially with robin who thought he was sending his close friend to his death. Ive always wondered what this would be like if followed through

[@tuftman6092]

Yeah, that would be cool to think about. I really liked that episode

[@jaeg.3806]

FinalIcharus In a way, they did follow through. The simulation affected the entire team's ability to work together and pushed them to examine themselves and their career choice more carefully.

[@FantasyAngel-zj7bw]

Oh, I watched that! It was great! I was so relieved by the ed I didn't even feel like it was a cop-out.

[@turquoisecrow4513]

Don’t forget the therapy afterwards

[@co28158]

They also had an entire follow up episode dedicated to all of them basically getting therapy for the trauma it caused them.

[@matteussilvestre8583]

I still don't buy Loki's death at the hands (or just hand?) of Thanos in Infinity War. Yes, it was pretty explicit with the choking and neck-breaking, and yes, it would be a good end for his story, but so was getting stabbed through the chest while trying to save Thor in The Dark World.

[@Thandiel3791]

Yeah, I'm struggling to accept he's dead due to all the previous fake-outs (let alone the existence of the Time Stone). However in terms of the fallen hero/villain redemption tropes, Loki has kinda come full circle in character growth. I don't see anywhere else to take his character that we as an audience haven't already seen before. Perma-death seems most likely to me. (Although how fucking refreshing would it be if in a future Thor movie, Thor comes across a very familiar looking snake that promptly shapeshifts and says "Gah it's me! Are you ever not going to fall for that?") But nah he dead

[@nanoblast5748]

The hishe on infinity war takes it to a next level. Spoiler if you haven't seen it. But it's golden! Loki enters the villainpub. "Guess who faked his own death. Again!" He points at one-armed thanos "He knows, he was there."

[@mochi_the_weredragon6033]

@@Thandiel3791 if that happens i will cry

[@magnuscolor7186]

Plus Loki can’t die, right? 0-0 idk 5th tho

[@superwonder6411]

Yes, I agree. Lokis death breaked my freaking heart. Hes a good character and he wouldve made so many great changes in the movie. But noooo, they had to kill him in order to prove just how strong Thanos was (as if the destruction of the Asgardian fleet wasnt enough). In my opinion just killing off the portal guy (I cant remember his name but you get the point) and *maybe* Valkerie wouldve been enough.

[@Daves-not-here]

Man, Hughes' death still brings a tear to my eye, his burial scene is something that has burnt a mark on my soul. it's been years since I watched fma and it still hurts watching that scene.

[@venusinverted]

I like playing around with this trope a lot. One of my characters is immortal, technically, but he can actually still die. If he's killed, instead of just *pop* alive again no consequences, his personality and character changes dramatically each time. Think going from peppy and upbeat to downtrodden and serious in an instant. To *him*, he's so used to it that it doesn't bug him, but to *everyone else* it's a very serious problem and they treat it with the gravity and seriousness it deserves. He doesn't understand why everyone thinks it's so bad, and the struggle between "guys, it's ok I can't die" and "you just fucking died and changed completely" is part of both the drama and the comedy.

[@nikki607]

@@8Kazuja8 bingo. That's one of the main appeals of the show, the fact that the character dynamics of the leads change pretty much every season

[@willmanthorpe8437]

@@8Kazuja8 it's also one of my few gripes with the show. Any companion that goes across two Doctors (Sarah Jane, Rose Tyler, Clara, Peri) only seem to have a "you're the same person, but different" complex for an episode, then it's back to being fine.

[@murdomaclachlan]

Latecomer to this discussion, but in Dr Who it's played out differently. Rather than being fine with it like Sora Ark's character, the Doctor (at least in many of the modern incarnations) doesn't want to regenerate because, in the words of Ten, it "feels like dying". Ten's best line in my opinion is his very last one, which is simply "I don't wanna go". He changes so much that, to him, he is dead and, again in his words, "some new man goes sauntering off". Later series mostly aren't written as well as the RT Davies era, but I did like that Twelve flat out refused to regenerate for a while. Although it wasn't so well executed, it was an excellent example of how this is essentially death for the current Doctor. It feels like it for the viewers too, because the character of that incarnation is gone and isn't coming back. The character dies and yet the character lives, and in some cases (specifically Ten's regeneration) it can be more brutal than many actual deaths. I think both Dr Who's and Sora Ark's versions of this "immortality but not quite immortality" are both brilliant ways of examining it. Where Dr Who examines the grief and loss aspects better, Sora Ark explores a more sort of "what if" scenario, in that "what would someone be like if this was just normal for them, and how would that affect the characters around them". It's very interesting to think about.

[@leonader9465]

TL;DR: The difference is that dr. who is afraid of dying everytime he regenerates.

[@megelizabeth9492]

If you guys have heard of the Immortal Hulk, They actually play that for horror. Bruce Banner can die, but when night falls, the Immortal Hulk rises.

[@stephaniejanong4146]

"If they're a central character, ... a lot of your audience is just gonna refuse to believe they're dead." I'm looking at you V3...

[@shikigranbell7608]

Stephanie janong ah i see your man of culture danganronpa it is then.

[@ultimatehope8069]

Hehe... Hehe... Ha... Man, Chapter 1 was a real kick in the d*ck...

[@revui834]

it's a lie!

[@JSmoothieMan]

Thank you for validating my feelings about the Hughes death. I've been saying it's one of the best character deaths in fiction for years (and I refuse to hedge that statement one bit)

[@mattbenz99]

Go watch Legends of the Galactic Heroes. The character death in that show are amazingly handled. When someone dies in that show, it has a lasting effect on everything that happens afterwards.

[@JSmoothieMan]

@@mattbenz99 This show looks dope. New addition to the list.

[@mattbenz99]

@@JSmoothieMan I like to explain this show by saying that it is like if Star Wars was written by George R. R. Martin. Much like Game of Thrones, it is a show with a lot of build up and character development that eventually culminates in an epic battle. There was a recent remake of the anime, but I'd recommend sticking to the old version simply because the remake is doing the seasons thing and is a million years away from finishing.

[@porchcollapse8612]

Yeaa

[@mothysjar]

7:50 "hmmm, I havent watched this trope talk in a long time I wonder if this is a series I know now-" *shows huge reddish character fighting a smaller green character protecting somebody* "Hes a fast thinker in combat but all he could think of was apologizing to his mentor and mother" oh its mha, the series I refused to watch for the longest time which I now love. huh.

[@thefanfictiontitan]

I actually thought she was referencing the Attack on Titan Season 2 Finale.

[@ariesunderground5936]

I thought it was Demon Slayer Mugen Train.

[@yourmotherisaseal5239]

she said the part of the show hadn't been animated yet though??

[@op_jsl]

@@yourmotherisaseal5239 I can imagine that in 2017 MHA was pretty shallow in seasons. Came out in 2016 so I'm assuming that episode wasn't out just yet.

[@ashleybow]

I loathe overused fake out deaths. I regularly watch the show One Upon a Time and a lot of the writing has bothered me as the show has gone on, but the biggest problem for me was when they would do a fake out death. I could live with some of the fake outs if they took the time to actually make their characters learn from the grieving process, but it's like you said where the character can't seem to progress in their grieving and immediately go to get the character back. The show creates all these opportunities for interesting character growth and self reflection but just throws it away every time. It just feels like, what was the point of this whole thing if we're just right back to where we started?

[@keonafolsom5392]

cough cough *the second half of season 5* cough

[@SchultzDorinda]

I agree. The worst example being season 5 obviously. Although I must admit that my biggest problem with OUAT wasn't the Fakeouts but the Hero/Villain thing. The show is too Black & White. And the Heroes ends up being the worst characters of the show.

[@epicotakucherry5280]

When you initially talked about a minor character's death that changed the whole series, especially when you said it was FMA, I was expecting Nina. The Elric brothers never forget her, in either version of the anime (and manga). It happens practically in the beginning of the anime, but its repercussions and the suffering are felt all the way to the end. But then you said Hughes, whose death resonated even MORE in the series. Both deaths just go to show how important it is to develop the living characters in the aftermath and how to make a death of someone the main characters cared about but wasn't very major themselves still feel real. It made everyone feel more and more like real people.

[@김준호-o4t]

Red: killing characters is hard Hirohiko Araki: laughter*

[@dankbudew4830]

Caesar 💔

[@LittleDP05]

@@theholypopechodeii4367 8th, the 7th part ended a long time ago

[@OriginalCreatorSama]

Eiichiro Oda agrees: characters are hard to kill...... so he saves it for the moment that will make the most possible impact. He doesn't just stab you and twist the knife, he makes damn sure that thing is serrated first!!

[@alcabone1126]

Not really. I never thought he would kill bowl cut boy in season 3

[@youwouldntremembermeanyway7410]

@@alcabone1126 who is the bowl cut boy in S3? The only guy in JoJo that has bowl cut that i know is Joshu, and Haruno

[@tparadox88]

"That is definitely the Doctor, and he is definitely dead." Though in this case since the Doctor has plot armor made of light-years-thick adamantium, we were clearly just meant to wonder how the show was going to get out of such an emphatically confirmed death.

[@SkyPerson]

Hey now there’s a backup living with Donna so… They can perma-kill him now!

[@themightypancake5695]

I was actually kind of convinced that Maria Ross from FMA Brotherhood had been killed. I still had my doubts because they didn’t do a proper investigation of the death of Hughes, but it still felt somewhat believable because of how Mustang prepared for it. The fact that he didn’t tell Edward his plan right away, gave the chance to have Ed be emotional about it. Then when it’s revealed how she escaped, we see just how clever Mustang can be when it comes to hiding the truth from people

[@faceoctopus4571]

I remember being so disgusted with and disappointed in Mustang. That was great!

[@rominarad3984]

TheMightyPancake I know right...

[@solacehealer7589]

It's also a relief to know he doesn't just up and incinerate people who MIGHT have killed his friend.

[@TodosLocosOfficial]

"A comic relief or lancer probably won't die" Challenge accepted

[@thescarletking9433]

Narancha from Jojo died and he was a comic relief character

[@notthegreenranger3726]

"lancer ga shinda !"

[@AoiHeartStranger]

Musashi from getter robo. Probably one of the most influential deaths in manga and anime history.

[@psychodrummer1567]

"I'm a leaf on the wind...Watch how I soar..."

[@Tortferngatr]

@@thescarletking9433 I mean he also died in the Part 5 endgame, which Araki has shown he’s very much willing to kill characters in, main characters included (especially given that the cast mostly or completely resets with each new part, meaning most of the story “this character’s arcs are also dead” problems of character deaths aren’t as big an issue.) There is a better example, but I’m not going to spoil it foe the anime-onlies.

[@davidgold3nrose]

What if a character just fell down the stairs? If you play it right, it could raise a lot of questions, especially if the character is particularly powerful in battle, or if the book is particularly adventure filled. It would come as a shock, people wouldn't believe it. Just like a real sudden death. And eventually people would come to realise the reality of the situation

[@sertaki]

anticlimatic and mundane deaths for amazing warriors are some of my favorites.

[@bobbyh2720]

Isn't this how Zoro's friend died in his backstory in One Piece?

[@davidgold3nrose]

Bobby H AAAAH! Spoilers!

[@codystork3008]

Let's say you find about the bottom of the stairs in a series and conclude that the body was pushed down the stairs and died maybe make it a really who long flight of stairs so it's plausible but at the climax of the story or at some point in the story, You reveal the character was actually murdered and then pushed down the stairs and/or to make it seem like it was an accident thereby giving them an epic death That comes off as cheap and shocking till the reveal

[@davidgold3nrose]

Cody Stork but what if I just wanted it to be sudden and (like a real death) unexpected. With no twist. With nothing out of the ordinary. What if the questions I wanted to raise were about how we are not invulnerable. What if I just wanted the character to die a human death (and explore it's effects on those left behind)

[@zixuan1630]

When you talked about the fakeout character death, I immediately thought about the scheme in Clone Wars where Obi-Wan "dies", Anakin's like "oh no", and then the Jedi reveal that he's actually not dead, which leads to Anakin raging

[@lukeroberson2115]

I feel that works though, as we follow Obi-Wan's perspective, so we're in on it.

[@elianaslivia4405]

@@lukeroberson2115 the fake out isn’t designed for us, but for the characters, which changes the emotional impact from shock to dread. We know the other characters will find out Obi-Wans alive, we know how they will (probably) react, we know it won’t be good. It’s way stronger because of that

[@razkable]

Fakeouts and tricks are better than revivals...I hate people coming back from dead randomly if it's not been established that the can prior and some plot device can do that now

[@DeanRocks-kr7wv]

Like, we know Obi-Wan isn’t supposed to die *yet.* Since, you know, he dies in episode 4. So it’s not necessarily a shock for the audience that he’s still alive.

[@daviddaugherty2816]

Wow, that sounds like a fakeout death that's not just a waste of everyone's time. I knew there had to be one somewhere.

[@synflwr]

“Show a body” Hmm, one of my characters can clone herself and uses this ability to stab the clone and fake their death.

[@kieravermeal9127]

I would pay money to see that as a cartoon/comic.

[@austincote9364]

Kiera Vermeal Steven Universe?

[@BM-ts1yi]

@@austincote9364 oh...yeahh

[@redredredred3240]

You see you are what a gravedigger calls. A fucking asshole

[@mintbrownieangelfish-6114]

I used to believe that main characters wouldn't die, because "the author couldn't do that". I believed that until I was 14. Then I read Divergent and that made me trust things less.

[@gennybaratta2460]

same. What makes the death worse and more unexpected imo is that she wasn't just the MC like Harry she was the narrator. We learned about and understood the world through her eyes.

[@silverstar263]

Great. spoiled. -_- LOL nvm, now I can prepare. And tbh I thought the same, until Akame Ga Kill

[@quackeddiamonds6497]

@@silverstar263 yes

[@imani7979]

@Carolyn Tellier OMG don't even get me started with Enzo's death, I wept the tears Adelina refused to shed (I think I can't remember whether or not she cried). Dante's death was well deserved though.

[@imani7979]

@Carolyn Tellier Nope my school library didn't own the 2nd copy while my local libraries didn't own the series at all

[@weesalikesmilktea4829]

6:27 "When you're leading up to that character death, put us inside that character's head. Show us their fear, the last thing they think of, whatever flashbacks are running through their head." *I IMAGINE DEATH SO MUCH IT FEELS MORE LIKE A MEMORY--*

[@aidanpaulflemingramsey5950]

Is this where it gets me? On my feet several feet ahead of me?

[@aidanpaulflemingramsey5950]

@Rosalind McCollum (929RosMcCo) YEYEYEYEYYE

[@possums154]

Aidan Paul Flemingramsey I see it coming, do I run, or fire my gun, or let it be? There is no beat, no melody

[@aidanpaulflemingramsey5950]

@@possums154 Burr, my first friend, my enemy... maybe the last face I ever see

[@holly3330]

Aidan Paul Flemingramsey If i throw away my shot, is this how he’ll remember me, maybe this bullet is my legacy.

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

Some tips on how to use character death; Don't foreshadow it, do it to a character that it makes sense to die logically, not thematically, and let the other characters be firced to move on, and doubt the character's death as much as the audience. Treat it like real life. Unexpected, happens to anyone, irreversible.

[@theradionicrevival8068]

yeah tho inversely, just because somethings realistic, doesn't mean it will gel well in a fictional story due to unlike real life, the creator does have all the answers, so sometimes it feek gratuitous or a betreyal of trust. it's the same reason a series doesn't show every single time a character goes to the bathroom or wake up in the morning. on a meta narrative level, you assume that if a story repeatedly showed you something like that, it has a point. if the story ends with that going nowhere and was just done, just cause, it'd piss a lot of people off. it's realistic? yeah. but what do we gain from it being there and what do we lose if its not? if there isn't much backing it then maybe it's fine to leave a few of those scenes out tho you're giving tips not steadfast rules.

[@justsomejerseydevilwithint4606]

@@theradionicrevival8068 Right, if it won't work with your story, don't do it. Phineas and Ferb would never be the same if Ferb died one episode and never came back, but a show like Adventure Time is only made better by finn's lost arm being permanent.

[@phantomkitten73]

You know what the best fake-out death was? THE MAN, THE MYTH, THE LEGEND: SCOTT STERLING!

[@mythicalgirl2005]

YESSS

[@thearcanehunter2736]

LOL

[@ProfZoom1998]

"shonen anime is the biggest offender" *laughs in comic book*

[@willieoelkers5568]

It depends how you look at it. If you count any time a character looks like they're about to/should die then anime is at the very least a serious contender, but outright saying someone's dead then going "psyche! jk!" a little later is pretty rare.

[@thearcanehunter2736]

@@willieoelkers5568 True

[@Crazy5711]

Laughs in Soap Opera

[@Ismael-kc3ry]

@Tom Ffrench no

[@manifestasisanubari]

BONUS: Sherlock Holmes' death was real in The Final Problem but Sir Arthur Conan Doyle has to 'fake' the death of this people-beloved character. Even Sir Arthur Conan Doyle hated Sherlock Holmes.

[@manifestasisanubari]

Bernhardinski I meant; ironically, his creator despised him and the fans kept asking for Sherlock Holmes' autograph instead of him lol

[@gamongames]

"even" because by today standards it's a staple of fake death writing.

[@playerexe5101]

advol: dies avdol: hah it bullet actually scaped my fore head avdol later: dies me: you ARE coming back right?

[@annana6098]

His death was so sudden and silent in the anime that I still haven't registered it. Died almost instantly without a fight.

[@mavorenborsteel6765]

@@annana6098 I Heard that his First Death was supposed to be real but fans really wanted him back so they brought him back only to kill him again

[@cockyoin7062]

Avdol: yes I AM

[@amaracaroline9482]

When you think about it, Avdol might still be alive. He hasn’t died, just disappeared from existence.

[@lordsidius99]

@@amaracaroline9482 Without his forearms. And a pint of his blood.

[@Blizzic]

You are doing god's work.

[@platypipope328]

no, god kills real people not fake people

[@genevievelheureux5598]

Blizzic yes

[@-kenik9629]

@platypi pope That is a massive trollbait asspull of a comment. Can't think of a whole lot of Christians(, or Jews for that matter) who'd even remotely agree. And since it's their religion they honestly have a bigger say, regardless of what you or your "experts" say. Not to mention it's massively derailing the actual intent of the initial comment. Don't be that asshole, nobody likes them.

[@platypipope328]

Kenik Kress do you have a sense of humour? like, you do understand i was joking, right? or did god tell you i wasn't

[@-kenik9629]

If you make a joke and somebody doesn't laugh; assuming they don't have a sense of humor is kinda conceited.

[@MajorRibcageIII]

Why kill a character? There's always fates worse than death itself.

[@HonestFarmerLigue1Fan]

Sanguine *D E S P A I R I N T E N S I F I E S*

[@denisnevsky3734]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jGeUnWl3aMRpq6M

[@JG-qg1gz]

going to the Shadow Realm is definitely worse than death...

[@CJCroen1393]

In the immortal words of Jafar, "You'd be surprised what you can live through."

[@ECL28E]

Just watch Black Mirror

[@shadenfroda273]

So true almost cried when azula hit uncle iroh totally thought he was dead

[@Ismael-kc3ry]

That scene gave me a heart attack

[@TheRealEvilkitten3]

ironically, fairy tail is one of the reasons i take writing character deaths so seriously. by the time the manga ended, it had gotten to the point where even the characters looked mildly annoyed by the fakeouts. and it was boring. there wasn't any tension. we know they're going to live and everything will be okay, but the story was still trying to convince us that that was where the drama was. it was just... pointless. so i decided that i won't ever change my mind about a character death without a solid reason. fan backlash isn't good enough - if i kill your fave and you're upset, sucks to suck. corpses gonna corpse.

[@Mayeur000Donz]

You a real one. I dunno if I'd kill people that often in my own work, but I give a solemn oath that if the framing says they're dead, they're dead.