Characters you fear for the lives of

For me, any character is expendable, even main ones. I wouldn't suggest doing it in the first novel if it is a series, but any character can be killed off. I love all my mcs and can't conceive every killing them off. But, on the other hand, I may get tired of some of them. Of course, that would change the whole perspective of your work, but you never know.

I'm currently reading A Song of Ice and Fire and I must say, I'm frightened for everyone's life! I've heard all about George R.R. Martin's reckless slaughter of characters, and I'm brave enough to say I have a few favourite characters already.

It depends on how well the characters evolved and now much they prove to be dynamic characters that learn from their past screwups. Characters who are genuinely struggling in an environment where they are not treated with the respect they have clearly earned while simultaneously dealing with their own flaws are gonna be much more likely to make me fear for their safety and not see them as expendable.

JFitchett92 said:

I have a few favourite characters already.

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Spoiler: They die.

Unless you're the type of person who cheers for Hannibal Lector, Jabba the Hutt, or Malfoy, that is.

Seriously, I don't know what anyone sees in those books. Martin has some serious sadistic tendencies (toward his audience and his characters). You'll need a bottle of beta blockers just to finish the series.

Also, the threat to the north which seems so pressingly important gets completely ignored except for the occasional reminder that it's still important for at least the first three books (that's about where I'd had enough).

Calliea said:

Watching a final episode of one show (not to say, because spoilers) got me wondering:

What are the types of characters that you're just so used to dying that you fear for their lives basically from the moment you begin to like them?

What are the types of characters that you just expect to die, that are NOT the main antagonists of course. Cause many times they're main job is to actually die.

Are there are features a character can have that you feel are "doombringers"?

Are there things they say? Is there something they do that just makes you think, "Damn, this dude/gal is done."?

^^

I can surely say, not only in the show that jump started my ponderings, but also in many others - if a character suddenly gets more mushy screentime or says the L word more than they normally would, well, I don't keep my hopes up. Solitary car rides in great mood also seem pretty damn dangerous. Especially if a cameraman is nearby. Don't ever do it

Novel-wise, for me it must be that damned lovable sidekick/mentor I've seen heroically die more times than I'd wish :c The more lovable the char, the less chance of survival it seems!

Unlike those pesky protagonists I wouldn't mind seeing in the grave. Looking at you Harry Potter and Sirius.

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Besides the redshirt characters that Cornflake indicated...

Characters that I find are most often to die are the mercenary-type characters that the main antagonist hire. Once they have served their usefulness, all to often, the main antagonist kills them to show his evilness. Or, maybe the main antagonist abandons them to save his/her own life. (I confess I'm guilty of that one.)

Also, characters that start out working for the main antagonist, but turn around and start helping the protagonists.

Drachen Jager said:

Spoiler: They die.

Unless you're the type of person who cheers for Hannibal Lector, Jabba the Hutt, or Malfoy, that is.

Seriously, I don't know what anyone sees in those books. Martin has some serious sadistic tendencies (toward his audience and his characters). You'll need a bottle of beta blockers just to finish the series.

Also, the threat to the north which seems so pressingly important gets completely ignored except for the occasional reminder that it's still important for at least the first three books (that's about where I'd had enough).

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Not to mention the fact that I've been waiting over eight years for the darn series to continue!!! I was so excited when the last book came out, then was disappointed when it just turned out to be a "recap" of the previous book, in a different prospective. I understand he's been busy with the t.v. series for it, but what's he going to do after season five of the series is done? Perhaps, then finally provide the next book for his readers? Sigh.

Calliea said:

Are there are features a character can have that you feel are "doombringers"?

Are there things they say? Is there something they do that just makes you think, "Damn, this dude/gal is done."?

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Hmm... good question. It is funny when you watch a show or read a book, and somehow you just "know" that a character is about to die. Not sure that there's anything specific that I look for or notice though, until it happens, lol.

Depends on the genre, I suppose.

In full-on survival horror, it's every character except the main one or two. We might call this the Ripley syndrome.

In a war story, it's any secondary character who gets unexpected good news after a string of bad news/ bad luck. Just as things are looking up for poor old Johnny, blam! along comes the grim reaper.

Not always guaranteed, but in fantasy it's often the "like a brother" character. That helps to show how manly and complex the main character is. Apparently. Boromir, Goose, more than 50% of the Magnificent 7.

In a domestic drama, anyone old who seems to be able to last forever. Sometimes this is the matriarch or patriarch whose passing allows the next generation to develop and move on up. Don Corleone and Mother Abigail?

In a Shakespearean tragedy, anyone remotely interesting. Plus Rosencrantz, Guildenstern and Paris, who weren't.

Naturally, any bad or evil character plus assorted (named) henchmen. Named henchmen seem more at risk than unnamed henchmen. All named henchmen seem to die, but only most of the unnamed henchmen. The role of unnamed henchmen is to die throughout the film or book, but as there is a seemingly endless supply of them, logic would suggest that at least some will survive. Named henchmen die either in (a) the next to last scene (so that the bad guy is killed last) or (b) in the "just when you think it's finished" scene right at the end.

In a James Bond story, all 00 operatives except 007. Oh, and any woman that 007 sleeps with apart from the last one in each film/book, with an honourable exception for On Her Majesty's Secret Service.

Any basically good character with a flaw where their death is a chance to redeem themselves. That's Boromir again, I'm afraid.

In a war film, the main character's commanding officer, conveniently giving them a chance for insta-promotion even if they are only freshly out of a blemished time in the academy and don't seem to have been shaving for very long.

The hero's sidekick for sure. Especially if said sidekick is not white.

Any soldier who pulls out pictures of and talks about his girl/wife/kids waiting at home while he's on the way to battle. Seriously guys, don't do that.

Anyone who was a bad guy or morally ambiguous, but comes through for the right side and acts heroically in the end. Heroic death apparently is the best redemption.

Any woman who sleeps with Sam Winchester.

Gay characters.

Anyone played by Sean Bean or John Hurt.

gothicangel said:

My favourite books are the type in which anyone-can-die.

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My favourite are the ones where no one can die.
Anyone-can-die is for real life.

I distinctly remember two moments from the first series of UK spy drama Spooks. [Unmarked spoilers as this is over ten years ago now].

A major character was offed in just the second episode. The character was played by one of the more well-known actors in the series, and had been in all the pre-show publicity, so it was a major shock. Anyone can die, it said. The rest of the series was spent nervously looking over characters' shoulders to check they weren't about to cop it.

The first series ended on a cliffhanger with the hero's family trapped with a bomb. We sat watching with mouths agape, fully expecting the characters to die - not for the hero to rescue them.

That was all because they'd established early on that they weren't playing by the standard rulebook. It meant the tension of the final plot line was real tension, not the false tension of waiting for the hero to be heroic while a timer ticks down.

If you're expecting a character to be knocked off because of the way they're written, that suspense doesn't exist.

Nemo's Mum. Now that was a shock.

LJD said:

My favourite are the ones where no one can die.
Anyone-can-die is for real life.

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You see, that would bore me (hence why I love action/thrillers.)

Whoever has the most to live for.

Also, Sean Bean. Always Sean Bean.

And Bill Paxton.

Seconding Sean Bean lol. Great actor but definitely don't want to be standing next to him in any situation.

Anyone close to the MC, namely parents, but also close friends, lovers, etc.

I spent all of Harry Potter convinced he would die in the end (and I was 11 when it came out so certainly not an adult's perspective playing on my ideas.

Excellent question OP. I even asked my beta readers to list every central character in my books they thought would die by the end and the opinions were pretty varied. I also asked if there was any character I couldn't kill or they would stop reading and all of them agreed that unless I do something like "Giant meteor falls from sky, everyone dies" they are prepared for anyone to suddenly eat it.

Of course they are also completely against the idea of nobody important dying (how better to raise the stakes?).

Years ago, I saw a movie with my brother in which three astronauts talked to their wives and saw them on a screen as they talked. One of the astronauts touched the screen as he talked to his wife. My brother turned to me and said, "That one's going to die." He was right. I hate having it so predictable.

The tertiary characters given one touching scene to make the reader sympathise with them.
(Although I recently watched a show where the detective two days from retirement didn't die at the end of the episode!! Some days I can be surprised!)

Actually, I think it's more the work that makes me think certain characters will die. I mean, tone tells you a lot about a book - I can often start a book saying "in this book, nobody will die" or "In this book, most of the characters will die", and go from there.

But yeah, seconding most of the characteristics above. Plus, in certain series, the sickeningly innocent one.

FEAR FOR THEIR LIVES:

Ivan Vorpatril. First time Bujold put him in mortal danger, I was all prepared to be mad if he got killed off.

In GRRM, Tyrion and Brienne, tho one suspects Tyrion is THE survivor. I also became unaccountably fond of the Hound.

Ba'al on Stargate:SG-1.

Gul Dukat.

Anyone wearing a red shirt. Oh wait, they're zombies anyway. Never mind!

The basic reason here? I think what most catches me is character-in-transition. Frex, when last we see the Hound, he's on the edge of recovering who he might have been. Ba'al and Dukat are ambiguous and could "go either way".

PLEASE DIE HORRIBLY:

Danyraes.

In the Matrix Reloaded (or whatever the 3rd one was called)... I saw it at a tech conference (for some bizarre reason an antivirus vendor thought this bunch of professional IT types should see it after they fed us lunch) and anyway there's a scene where some dude and his love interest (who we're already supposed to be sympathetic with) are trapped and she's injured and dying. And they do this maudlin weep-wail thing and it goes on and on and ON, and suddenly there's this chorus from the audience: "Just DIE already!!"

The basic reason? character that seems to be going only one way, or is frankly boring.

"YOU'RE GOING TO KILL WHO?"

My Epic started off as a shared project. One day my partner in crime calls me up and says, "I want to kill off FMC. I'm tired of her." And I'm like, "We can't do that, MMC still needs her!" Fast-forward a few years, and... "Hey, you know how you wanted to kill off FMC? well... I did."

The basic reason? the story needed it.

Becky Black said:

Anyone who was a bad guy or morally ambiguous, but comes through for the right side and acts heroically in the end. Heroic death apparently is the best redemption.

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Han Solo would like a word with you.

I kill MCs with reckless abandon. Even the narrators, which I still think is a bad idea, though that hasn't stopped me yet.

Parent figures in action/adventure stories. The parents are ALWAYS dead by the end of the first act, sometimes even before the story starts. Heck, parental figures aren't safe in ANY genre, but action/adventure seems to be the worst.

I've also noticed love interests are known to bite the it on a fairly regular basis.

Also, the dog. Just the dog.

Drachen Jager said:

Spoiler: They die.

Unless you're the type of person who cheers for Hannibal Lector, Jabba the Hutt, or Malfoy, that is.

Seriously, I don't know what anyone sees in those books. Martin has some serious sadistic tendencies (toward his audience and his characters). You'll need a bottle of beta blockers just to finish the series.

Also, the threat to the north which seems so pressingly important gets completely ignored except for the occasional reminder that it's still important for at least the first three books (that's about where I'd had enough).

Click to expand...

Even "everyone might die" becomes predictable, doesn't it? I've stopped caring about any characters because I can't be bothered feeling bad when they inevitably die. And when they do, there's no shock value, because he's set up an expectation that yeah, pretty much everyone dies eventually. It's lost its impact, for me.

Most of the books I read don't have a lot of death in them. Or where they do, it's the sick and the elderly who are dying. In TV, I fear for the partners of main characters. They seem to cop a lot of collateral damage.