Character Killoffs

[Danny, Goomba face]

Debate character killoffs here.

[Danny, Goomba face]

It might come as a shock to some, but I LOVE charactr killoffs. Pretty much every plot I envision in my head includes the death of at least one important character. They keep the story unpredictable, realistic, and emotional.

[[deleted user]]

That would be funny, to see what you envision :P

[Taggerung, Fickle Maiden]

I LOVE it when a character gets killed, provided its done well. If I really like them, and their death was emotionally tugging to the point where I'm brought to tears, it's extremely enjoyable. And I know that sounds weird but come on bad things happen to good people that's all there is to it. They do not all make it through. I think the only character kill off that I actually hated was (view spoiler)[Finnick Odair's because it was poorly written. I would have lived if it had make me actually feel anything, but.....it didnt, so I'm mad about that. (hide spoiler)]

[Jonathan]

The Mighty Katara wrote: "I agree about Finnick's death. I didn't even catch that he died. I think it was a little later when Katniss mentioned how he was dead, that I was like, "What???" I had to reread that part.

But on ..."

I'd forgotten any of those characters died. Hahaha, I actually tend to like a good character kill off. See Warbreaker for an example of a fascinating bunch of interesting character deaths. Or G.R.R Martin's books are interesting for that too.

[[deleted user]]

The Mighty Katara wrote: "I agree about Finnick's death. I didn't even catch that he died. I think it was a little later when Katniss mentioned how he was dead, that I was like, "What???" I had to reread that part.

But on ..."

I agree with all of the character kill-offs listed, they were pretty heart breaking and had me in tears for a while. But sometimes when the author kills of one of my fave characters I get ticked. Like the whole (view spoiler)[killing off Finnick, (hide spoiler)] thing. How was that necessary?! He was just so...awesome. Oh well. Anyways my thoughts are there's a 50/50 chance that the kill-off is a good decision and a 50/50 chance the author failed miserably.

[[deleted user]]

Okay, maybe we do agree on some things;)

[Jasmine]

Sometimes I'm good with killing off a character. Sometimes I do occasionally wish the main character would die so then it would be interesting. It's like when a character is in danger, but you know they'll live because there's another two books in the series... It kills the suspense when you know they'll make it.

[[deleted user]]

JazzyJams wrote: "Sometimes I'm good with killing off a character. Sometimes I do occasionally wish the main character would die so then it would be interesting. It's like when a character is in danger, but you know..."

Yeah, that is one of the unfortunate things of a story being told in the first person, so if you know that there is more books to come then you know they will survive. Sometimes I wish they would just die and the rest of the book be told from someone else's view. :)

[Jasmine]

Emily wrote: "JazzyJams wrote: "Sometimes I'm good with killing off a character. Sometimes I do occasionally wish the main character would die so then it would be interesting. It's like when a character is in da..."

Haha, I know the feeling. It would definitly be a change. Although sometimes the author can't make the main character die without being attacked by fans. It's like at the end of Harry Potter. You know the guy will live because if Harry's dead, there is no story, and millions of fans would be like "WHY!?!" It would be worse than when a much-loved minor character dies...

[[deleted user]]

Like a multiple POV book but the main character tells the first half of the book, and then they die and the next character takes over for the rest :)

[[deleted user]]

Jonathan wrote: "The Mighty Katara wrote: "I agree about Finnick's death. I didn't even catch that he died. I think it was a little later when Katniss mentioned how he was dead, that I was like, "What???" I had to ..."

I really liked Warbreaker, even though sometimes the multiple POV thing got a bit too much :D

[Jonathan]

I love multiple POV and follow them easy enough so that was fine for me. yeah Katara Warbreaker is that novel with the immortals who don't know who they are. And yeah a sort of tragic ending but not too bad.

[Charity]

I always struggle with killing off a main character. You don't want to ruin the book for the reader, but you don't want anyone's survival to be guaranteed.

I have a weakness for using false deaths--where the reader believes a character is killed (like with Gandolf in LOTR) but then the character comes back later. Does anyone else do this?

[[deleted user]]

Just going to say it...I am the Queen of killing of my characters lol. I mostly kill off my main character, and I do it because the story just leads me there to be honest.