mrissa | Men die, cattle die, even the series protagonists themselves must one day die.

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I have been thinking about protagonist deaths in fiction, when they work for people and when they don't. I would particularly like to hear more about what works for you in the comment section, with specific and potentially spoilery examples, so read the other comments with care if you are spoiler-sensitive.

[Poll #1727111]

PS No, I am not thinking of killing off Carter. As far as I know, Carter does not die. Bullets can't...wait, that's something else.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

From:

moiread

I appear to be one of the few people who was okay with Wash's death and who does not hate Joss Whedon for killing off one main, much-beloved character of an ensemble cast, at the end of a series, after effectively putting them through a small war. Did I adore Wash? Yes. Did I want him to die? No. Did I think it was nevertheless appropriate that one of the characters died? Yes. And while I was sad about it, I think it was well-done.

(I know Book died too, but he always felt like more of a secondary character than a main character. The fact that most people I talk to seem to actively forget that he also died tells me that many people felt the same way about him.)

From:

aedifica

Book didn't die. I know this because if he did, there'll never be a follow-up where we find out his Mysterious Past.

(Ignore the multiple logical fallacies there, including my complete disregard of what happened in the movie. It's my belief and I'm sticking to it!)

From:

hypatia-j.livejournal.com

Look for "The Shepherd's Tale" by Joss in comic stores near you.

From:

dd-b.livejournal.com

Eh; it's perfectly realistic for somebody to die; in fact, for all of them to die in the first couple of episodes. :-).

But killing one of them suddenly right near the end, and picking the one who's least useful in a ground war, just felt cheap and manipulative to me.

From:

moiread

That's fair. I still personally don't agree, though, and if you want to, you can scroll further down the page for my explanation of why it felt right to me even if it made me sad.