Saddest Fictional Character Deaths

[Rob_Royale]

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Oh yes. I've had players take a character death like a train wreck. A grown man sobbing on my couch.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Rogue One. I'm a sucker for heroic sacrifices.

The third murder in Minghella's version of The Talented Mr Ripley. Not so much for that character as for what it represents for Tom.

Gorman and Vasquez, in Aliens. Gorman's one of the less sympathetic characters in that film; he fucks up badly and gets several of his command killed through poor judgement and indecision. But in the end he's no Burke, just an inexperienced commander out of his depth, and when he sees a chance to atone for his mistakes he doesn't hesitate. Also I might have a slight crush on Vasquez.

A major character death near the end of Gideon the Ninth. If you've read it you'll know the one.

The Little Prince. Still can't fully articulate that one.

I guess music videos can qualify: the implied death in Coil's Tainted Love, because it stood for so many real-world tragedies.

King Kong. I saw the Jackson version shortly after losing somebody, and although they weren't a giant gorilla, nor did they fall off the Empire State, it still hit a few chords.

 

[Kraken_96]

Oh we're not ready to talk about Grave of the Fireflies yet are we?

 

[AwkwardMD]

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Too soon

 

[Kittenheels54]

Opie’s murder on “Sons of Anarchy”

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

Gandalf when he sacrificed himself on the bridge at the end of book 1 followed by Boromir at the beginning of book 2. I lost all hope in the fellowship.

Ellie from Up. That scene of Carl holding the balloon fucking crushed me.

Old Dan and Little Ann in Where the Red Fern Grows

Leslie Burke in Bridge to Terabithia

Little Foot’s mother in Land before time

Mufasa in the Lion King.

Rogue One. Cassian and Jyn gazing into each other's eyes at the end

Artax disappearing into the swamp of sadness in the Neverending Story

 

[SimonDoom]

The death of the little girl, Ofelia, in Pan's Labyrinth, was a gut puncher.

 

[SimonDoom]

Okay, Neil Perry's death in Dead Poet's Society was another soul crusher. A poor movie choice on my part for a first date.

Not a good first date choice, but I might have it beat. I took a first date to see the movie Taps, and the title kind of said it all.

 

[Plathfan]

Opie’s murder on “Sons of Anarchy”

Yes, that scene was brutal, but there were so many glorious bad-guy endings to make up for it. I wonder how many fans realized the series was a modern adaptation of Hamlet.

I miss Gemma...

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

though losing Aral Vorkosigan was very sad.

Yay, another Lois McMaster Bujold fan!

 

[WhiteTailDarkTip]

Ellie from Up. That scene of Carl holding the balloon fucking crushed me.

The first ten minutes of Up are brutal

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Just a general one - Game of Thrones. Character after character...

 

[SimonDoom]

The death of Piggy in Lord of the Flies. He didn't deserve that.

The death of Dave Boyle in Mystic River. He DEFINITELY didn't deserve that. You could see it coming the entire movie but it was still terrible when it happened. So unfair.

The death of Roy Batty in Blade Runner was moving. Rutger Hauer apparently improvised and made up some of the character's final lines -- the "tears in rain" line. He was a murderous replicant, but you could still feel for his predicament.

 

[Comshaw]

Enemy at The Gates
When major Konig kills the young boy Sasha and hangs him up by the neck as bait to bring the soviet sniper Vassili out so he can kill him.


Comshaw

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

How about deaths we've written ourselves? The main character in Life and Death of the She-Wolf is a ghost, so obviously she dies. And I know how, because I wrote it. But still, it gets to me every time I reread it.

Most of the cast in both Charli and Aunt Nancy

 

[12oclocktales]

Dustin Hoffman in Jon Voigt's arms on the bus to Florida at the end of Midnight Cowboy. The harmonica music adds greatly to it.

 

[Coquetteprincess]

Fred Weasley, obvs!

I cried… and Dobby. And Sirius Black

 

[gunhilltrain]

How about Anna Karenina? Frankly, if she had to self-delete, it was kind of, ah, unthoughtful not to consider the train crew who had to be the first to deal with her mangled body. I'm not just speculating about that. What is true in modern America also had to be true in 19th Century Russia.

 

[burgwad]

The little sister in Grave Of The Fireflies, or Sarah in The Last Of Us.

 

[Cuckwannabe111]

Just a general one - Game of Thrones. Character after character...

I didn't read the GoT books prior to watching the show. Drawing from my experience of main characters having plot armor in shows, I assumed Ned Stark would be saved at the last minute. I was completely shocked when he was beheaded. My wife couldn't believe it either. Then, I thought "man, this show is going to be awesome. No characters are off limits" which was true for a bit, until all the main characters got plot armor in the later seasons

 

[StillStunned]

I didn't read the GoT books prior to watching the show. Drawing from my experience of main characters having plot armor in shows, I assumed Ned Stark would be saved at the last minute. I was completely shocked when he was beheaded. My wife couldn't believe it either. Then, I thought "man, this show is going to be awesome. No characters are off limits" which was true for a bit, until all the main characters got plot armor in the later seasons

I read the books, and for the longest time I was convinced that Ned wasn't actually dead, that there'd been a switch.

 

[Cuckwannabe111]

I read the books, and for the longest time I was convinced that Ned wasn't actually dead, that there'd been a switch.

That would have been a great plot twist

 

[SimonDoom]

Just a general one - Game of Thrones. Character after character...

I thought the saddest death in that series was Ygritte. She stirred my inner wildling.

 

[Britva415]

Aerith Gainsborough

 

[TarnishedPenny]

The death of Roy Batty in Blade Runner was moving. Rutger Hauer apparently improvised and made up some of the character's final lines -- the "tears in rain" line. He was a murderous replicant, but you could still feel for his predicament.

So true. Who in the end was really human?