Death of Boromir
Way back on January 30th, 2103, I wrote a posted entitled ‘Boromir, We Hardley Knew Ye‘. This was two months after I started blogging so I got no comments and very few likes on it. It was about killing characters and I wrote it while having only 3 books written under my belt. I would go on to create a few more death scenes and now I’m on the verge of doing it again. Or I already did it because this is a scheduled post and I ended up getting more writing time than I expected. Either way, a character has gone the way of so many others. I wonder if my opinion on this matter has changed. Wait while I read the old post:
DUM DA DUM BA DUM DUM LA DE DA
I was all over the place there. Now I do realize that it isn’t wrong to mention that a character will die in a book. That’s my choice to announce as long as I don’t give a name or specifics. After proving that I’m in trouble no matter what I do, I should do whatever I feel is right. Besides, I’ve declared several times over the years that I’m going to kill characters from time to time. Not at the rate that some people have wanted, which would mean I’d have an entirely new cast by the fifth book. Seriously, that’s just bloodthirsty and doesn’t help in creating series long character arcs.
This is becoming a revisit post because I had no idea how people would react to the death of a character. When I finally did finish off a character, I expected some type of reaction, but not the messages that I made people cry. Thankfully, there was no rage. Only sadness, questions about resurrection, and requests for prequels that showcased the deceased. It is interesting how people react to such a thing, especially when they can get the ear of the author. Some characters earn cheers while others drive readers to almost beg for a rewrite that returns their favorite to life. Who would have thought reading could be such a dangerous hobby?
So now I prepare for writing the death scene or focusing on the one that may occur in the next book. The further I delve into Legends of Windemere, the more I have to start cutting down characters. I still haven’t decided who out of the Big 7 will make it out of the final battle. One has already been slated for a death scene while another two are being considered. I wonder how many people will try to guess or make a wish in their head about who lives and who dies in this series? Either way, I’m sure to have some people upset.
So what do you think about character deaths?
Legends of Windemere 
The loss of a character you have grown to like can be traumatic but if it furthers the story line then it is necessary. Like life a good story will evolve.
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What about the characters you’ve grown to hate? 🙂
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ok we might celebrate their death but only if it serves the story. Sometimes the bad guys win.
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I agree with quiall. Deaths show the cost of war (ala LOTR and Harry Potter). I usually kill someone off. Sometimes, I might get halfway through a story before I realize that the story will end in that character’s death. But those scenes are hard to write, especially since I really like the characters I kill off.
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Interesting how you mention ‘cost of war’. I agree with that, but what about a story that doesn’t involve a war? Does the same thing go for an adventure or quest? In real life, you don’t always lose someone when you go grocery shopping or job hunting. Though those don’t typically involve monsters unless you have a really nasty HR interviewer. So is it possible to do an epic quest without killing a character or does everyone surviving automatically mean unrealistic?
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I think death is necessary in books. The characters are living and breathing on the page; they are alive inside our heads. Death is part of life. To me, when characters die in books it makes the book seem all the more realistic. It puts everything into perspective. You, as the reader, feel as though you lost someone very close to you in real life and isn’t that what the author is trying to portray? They want the readers to relate and become close with their characters. I read Deathly Hallows for the first time and whenever someone died, I cried right along with the other characters who were mourning, even though I knew what was coming. So I have to say that J.K. Rowling did her job correctly on that front.
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I’ve heard a few people criticize her finale because they wanted more than supporting characters and villains to die. That does bring up another part of the character death writing. What about an author who never kills a main character and simply goes after their supporting cast? Does that come off as ‘cowardly’ as some would put it or can that still work?
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Um… I wouldn’t say it comes off as cowardly. I think overall the main trio made a great team. They had their own strengths and weaknesses, but they cancelled each other out and were able to survive. Does that make sense?
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It does and I have to agree that certain hero teams would prevent one of them from dying. I’m guessing the complaints come more from people that really want to see a final body count with impact.
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I think if J.K. Rowling killed off one of the main trio, I would have been angry with her, lol.
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It would depend on how she does it for me. I can handle a main character death if it isn’t done solely for shock value.
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If it’s for shock value, then that’s just not fair. The death needs to have a purpose.
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I can think of a few authors and movie directors that need to learn that. 😛
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By impact, I mean make people cry with the force of a waterfall.
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Character death can be a double edged sword. A small number of well placed deaths of main/supporting characters will help the readers emotionally connect to the story, but too many risks annoying the readers.
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I would think too many could cause people to not even attempt to get attached to characters. There would always be some distance.
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Hehehe… think of George RR Martin. His byline should be ‘Don’t get attached.’ Now that’s one set of ebooks I wish I could get my money back on. There IS no satisfying denouement because everything’s basically the same at the end as it was at the beginning. 😀
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I haven’t read them, but I have a friend that warned me ‘everyone character you love will die’. Sad to hear that things never seem to change in that series. I wonder if all of the characters will die at the end.
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I think maybe a main character death is OK as long as they don’t really ‘end.’ What I mean by that is that the story grows and develops because of the death. Remaining characters build on the horror of losing that character by growing themselves; sometimes in unforeseen ways so that the shock of the loss enriches the tale.
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So having another character step up to take the place of the main one? It’s a hard thing to pull off because you can have fans get really angry about the switch. Funny how people want character death, but will get upset in some cases.
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Maybe not a new character or any one character replacing them. Nobody can do that in real life and I’m pretty sure it couldn’t be done in a book either; although with fiction I suppose the character could be reincarnated!. The pain and loss never really leave but facets of that person may develop in other characters which may not have developed if the dead character was still alive.
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I guess I’m thinking of adventures and roles that need to be filled. If nobody steps up to finish the plot that the main character was involved in then it’s basically the end of the story and the bad guys win. So even if the person isn’t exactly the same, another hero would arise from somewhere if the story continues.
Sadly, I have seen instances of people being replacement in real life. Happens all the time in office work.
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In the world of your making I can’t imagine no deaths as normal. You have created a dangerous place and readers need to suck it up.
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True. Though I think they should also reason that if people have a society here then Death won’t be showing up every chapter for a new playmate. Hard to find the balance sometimes.
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I read a Historical fiction on WWII recently and there was one character who I thought should become besties with the protagonist…then he died. At first I was miffed. For them to remains friends who mean an alliance between Britain and America. I wrote the author. “Such is war!” He says. And that is so true. Brings home the horrors of war a bit better to lose what might have been.
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It seems like that happens a lot in war stories. Though I agree that it’s the nature of the beast. One step in the wrong direction and you die, especially in the older days.
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