What Fictional Death Gutted You?

[AnaKhouri]

Stolen from reddit, and there were many interesting answers so I thought I'd throw it up here and see if anyone salutes.

Obviously this is spoiler-heavy, so be nice and post what properties you're spoiling at the head of your reply. Thanks!

Spoilers for Memory, Sorrow and Thorn, Stone Fox and Clone Wars (of all things).






Maegwin in Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series. It was so damned unfair, they never even got to hook up, and she's dead. I felt like she'd been used and thrown away. I hate you Tad Williams. Not really.

I had never really watched the Clone Wars TV show but my husband persuaded me to watch some episodes with him, knowing Obi-wan Kenobi has been my favorite since Alec Guinness played him. He assured me these episodes would make me love Obi-wan even more. Then he made fun of me for a week for crying when Duchess Satine died. It hit him hard too though, he just already knew it was coming.

Oh, and anyone who ever read Stone Fox by John Gardiner...tearing up just thinking about poor Searchlight.

[Aragarthiel]

Brom and Glaedr/Oromis from Eragon were big for me, and Catelyn on Game of Thrones. There were also several characters from Harry Potter that I never expected to die, and now that I'm a parent myself I find it more heartbreaking than it originally was that Tonks and Lupin died.

I've had too many minor heartbreaks to count, I've read so many books over the years, but I honestly don't think a book is very good if there isn't one totally unexpected and heartbreaking death.

[Ghel]

The most recent and most memorable character death that gutted me was from The Fault in Our Stars. I won't say who died, but if you've read it, you know. I read the book in 6 1/2 hours and spent almost the whole time crying. I was actually afraid to stop reading it, for fear that I wouldn't be able to focus on anything else until I finished it.

I would recommend TFIOS to everyone. It's about how young people face illness and death, and how it affects those who love them.

The movie is a pretty faithful representation of the book, too.


... Damn. Now I need to read the book again.

[Jetfire]

The first one I remember hitting me was ages and ages ago, when I was reading the Dragonriders of Pern books. When Robinton passes on, it hit me hard at that age and as one of the first major character deaths I've encountered in fiction.

The other one was in the Young Wizards series; in The Wizard's Dilemma when Nita's mother is fighting cancer, that entire story hit me hard, in a good way. It was an emotional wringer for me to read regardless.

[Kogarashi]

Robinton was a big one for me too (probably one of the first).

More recently...spoilers for Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn trilogy.




At the end of Hero of Ages (the third one), Vin and Elend (two main characters I'd been rooting for the entire time) die. It worked for the story, but at the same time I still wanted to throw the book out a window for a bit.

[XCashier]

I felt very sad for that poor wolf in Terry Pratchett's Witches Abroad.

The Harry Potter series is full of sad deaths: Cedric, Sirius, Dumbledore, Dobby, Fred, etc.

[April]

in the Distant Past-The kid in the movie My Girl just about killed me. I still cry now if I were to watch it

Old Yeller I saw when I was a very little child. I cried for days, and have never, EVER watched it again

Bridge to Terabithia (book, not movie)

where the Red Fern Grows

these days, Marley and Me was a rough one

The Horse Whisperer (book, not movie) is one of the first books that I can remember that REALLY tore me up.

[Aragarthiel]

Oh, dog movies reminded me.

Hachi. The absolute saddest movie we've ever seen and based on a true story.

[Aria]

Well.. I know I'm probably one of the few people to feel this way... but Coyote Starrk from Bleach.

He had such a compelling past and his death was incredibly pointless. I hate that he was thrown away like that.

[Teysa]

The death of Beth from Little Women still makes me tear up. The same with Matthew from Anne of Green Gables. Walter's death from Rilla of Ingleside hits me the hardest though.

I should reread those books. Little Women and Anne of Green Gables are two childhood favorites I like to revisit from time to time.

[Ophbalance]

Our teacher, 5th or 6th grade if memory serves, read where the red fern grows during class. The embarrassment of being the only boy to cry in class just about did me in. I'd like to go back and read it again someday but dog deaths are my Achilles heal.

[dawnfire]

another one for Robinton .

[MoonCat]

Rhys Thurin in Katherine Kurtz's Deryni books. I put the book down and could not pick it up for three days.

When I met Kurtz at a con a few years later, I asked her Why??

She said, "Because that's the way it happened."

I get it now.

[Kittish]

In written fiction, Doc Webster's death left me crying. In video, Wash dying came as a horrible shock, though that one enraged me as much as saddened me. There was no damn SENSE to it.

[morgana]

Spock.

Do I have to say more than that?