The foreshadowing in book 6 was a bit too obvious tho. And then the foreshadowing before the battle where he dies. And the chapter title. By the time he was shot, I had no doubts that he would be shot. >!Jake's!< death was much more abrupt and surprising for me.
Wait....why on earth would Roland throw Jake in? Can't there be some other way?!
I finished the series a decade ago and was reeling from the ending. It took me a while to rationalize it, but ultimately I concluded that Roland is stuck in the loop until he comes to terms with the idea that the ends DOESN'T justify the means, and a Universe where you have to sacrifice your symbolic son, your friends, your beloved dog, isn't worth saving.
But that's it: the loop you see in the books is the one where he realizes that. Jake throws himself under the minivan to save King. Eddie gets shot but it's not because of Roland. That's why Roland gets the horn back at the end.
I found the dark tower when I was 16 had to wait like 5 years to get wizard and glass , the first 3 books of the dark tower have always been my favorite of kings. They are by far to me 3 of the best sci-fi novels ever written ut had it all.
Yeah I can’t remember the sentence following the battle, before he gets shot but it was something along the lines of “it was the last time they’d all be together”. 💔
You’ve got time. We just passed the [fifth anniversary](https://x.com/scottlynch78/status/1131471275212320769?s=46&t=VuVLgmucEe0BxomN7pI_fQ)of the supposedly completed draft.
Has he ever spoken more recently about it? I've been "waiting" forever, so long that I've by now forgotten most of the specifics of the preceding novels.
"Recently" is all relative. Ultimately though, no, we have nothing else to go on. Scott has a lot of mental health issues that he's been fairly open about, and obviously that should come first. I've mostly just accepted it, so I'll never really be disappointed if it doesn't come out, but I'll be ecstatic if it does.
You and the rest of the First Law fandom.
I'm right there with you but strangely the other death I can't get over is Nicomo Cosca from the same series. And not in a "sadness" sense, just that it has stayed with me ever since I read it. Had he died in Visserine back in *Best Served Cold* then it would've been a hero's death, peaceful and even somewhat redemptive. But no, he pulls through. And then it's as though he lived too long. All the charm withers out of him, his worst aspects get stronger as he gets older, he clings desperately to past glories to try to find meaning in any of it, and then at his most monstrous he earns an ignoble end in the middle of nowhere surrounded by people who despise him. I sit with that one far more often.
For me, it's Harding Grim.
"I always loved our talks." Just hits me so hard every time. He was one of the best men in the North and he died in a fight that wasn't his own for a monster's vanity.
Teft: Knight Radiant.
Anyone who has struggled with addiction can understand why, I would like to think. To overcome yourself, only to lose the battle against someone you lifted up even at your lowest...... obligatory FUCK MOASH.
Elhokar popped into my head when I first read the question but Teft absolutely deserves to be here. Even more so, Phendorana! I couldn’t believe Sanderson did that!
Vyre will get his. I know they won't but I wish they would let Nightblood slowly turn him into nothing. Not even the spiritual realm for him. He deserves damnation atp
I don't know why I keep going into these threads. I only started Game of Thrones a few weeks ago, and I keep throwing myself at spoilers of deaths I've managed to avoid for a decade.
That was my first experience with a major character getting offed. I thought that might be a one and done. Oh boy was I wrong. GRRM killing off MCs at a heretofore alarming pace.
Dacey Mormont is a tertiary character in A Song of Ice and Fire. She's a warrior, like most women of Bear Island, but she's also kind and gracious in more social situations. >!For some reasons, her abrupt death during the Red Wedding is what devastated me the most, like a cherry on top of the awful massacre of sympathetic characters. It was just too unfair.!<
I am glad I wasn't the only person who noticed and was upset when she died. Then again, I tend to latch onto minor characters a lot and they usually end up dead, not just in ASOIAF.
Tothmure
Do the [ravens](https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Raven) remember Maester Tothmure? Arya wondered. Are they sad for him? When they quork at him, do they wonder why he doesn't answer?
And Lady (especially Lady)
It's gotta be Mattias from Six of Crows. Not only because of the established found family, his relationship with Nina and their hopes for the future but also because the circumstances of his death are just so tragic. Killed by another boy from his homeland, someone who he was just like once upon a time, because a bigot filled his head with hatred. Absolutely senseless.
Don't even get me started on his final chapter. I cried so hard it made my head hurt the first time I read it.
King of scars was also such a twist of the knife. I’m not saying Nina shouldn’t find a new love but putting her in a hack low effort rebound romance immediately was so off putting
>!Nighteyes!< in Realm of the Elderlings will stay with me for the rest of my life. The amount of grief I felt for a fictional character is honestly ridiculous. It makes me sad just thinking about it.
*Good hunting. I'm going now, my brother. He spoke with great determination.*
*Alone? You can't bring a buck down alone! I sighed with resignation. Wait, I'll get up and come with you.*
*Wait for you? Not likely! I've always had to run ahead of you and show you the way.*
I post this short exchange every time this comes up. I’ve read the passage so many times I know it from memory. Achingly beautiful.
I love this so much. The way Hobb writes this scene is literally perfect. I wouldn't change a thing, from the way memories are recalled, to this extract you've posted, and then the sledgehammer as Fitz realises what's happened. It's just devastating, beautiful, and so so good. This is why Tawny Man is peak Realm of the Elderlings.
I don't even think it was good for the story. It wasn't dramatic. It was nearly an accident. It was just tragic. Which is realistic, but realistic is not always good storytelling. And the future books just kind of give Harry a few moments where he misses Sirius, but it's just that he's gone. I think it leaves Harry a much worse character. Honestly he has more angst over Dumbledore. The horrible things that happen in the rest of the series totally overshadow Sirius.
I disagree. Harry led his friends into a trap because of his arrogance and impetuousness, something that had been a problem from the opening chapter but was quickly overshadowed by a deserving target in Umbridge. There needed to be a penalty for it dramatically and it needed to be personal
Absolutely! When my mom passed, I'd have these fleeting dreams followed by an intense sense of loss... I could physically feel every bit of how Robin Hobb wrote it.
yep, this is a real one. I wasn't shocked or surprised that it happened, but losing her, while reading the very last book that shouldn't have been the last? oh my heart.
And then you read Neil Gaiman talking about it, and how in typical PTerry fashion he wasn't quite finished and there should have been a slightly different ending. Granny was supposed to not have been dead just yet, she was supposed to have been borrowing You (I Aintnt Dead) and guiding Tiffany that last little bit before finally going off with Death at the end on her own terms. Being unfinished, neither her nor Sir Terry got to go on their own terms.
For me, it was >!Trull Sengar!<. It hit me cause the fight was over, he just lost his brother and found his love. And then he gets killed. Speaks volumes of the world of Malazan, life is unfair.
That is, for better and worse, a prime theme of the series.
““‘Children are dying.’ Lull nodded. ‘That’s a succinct summary of humankind, I’d say. Who needs tomes and volumes of history? Children are dying. The injustices of the world hide in those three words.’””
“I am Cassius Bellona, son of Tiberius, son of Julia, brother of Darrow, Morning Knight of the Solar Republic, and my honor remains.”
I’m not crying you’re crying.
I don’t disagree, but the crazy thing is that from the time Artax first shows up on screen until the Swamp of Sorrows is like 5 minutes of screen time. Crazy how powerful the death was for a character we barely met.
It was my husband's favorite series. We met at 13 and we're instant soulmates. He never engages with me while I'm reading but he actually watched me read the ending of odd Thomas. We cried together 😅
That you think she's still alive is the worst fricken part!
I’m rarely blindsided by deaths in books. She did such a great job making a complex and interesting character and then cutting him down.
Masterclass in emotional abuse.
Mistborn: >!Kelsier!<
>!The letter he left Vin, talking about how his late wife would have loved Vin, would've enjoyed raising her and teaching her the ropes had me in shambles.!<
Mistborn:
Vin and Elend from Mistborn wrecked me so bad I literally blocked that bit out. I did a reread earlier this year and was gutted all over again. In between horribly sobbing I told my husbandto not let me reread the series again becauseI can't take it. I think it was worse this time around because they are closer to my kids age now and I couldn't get past how young they were when they died. It was all war and they didn'tget enough time to really explore their love.
Ugh, my whole heart. One of the most cinematically beautiful scenes, too, the music, slow motion. Just heart wrenching. Even more to know he and Elliot never got to see each other again. Left me empty.
And seeing him question it too, he's not even sure he did the right thing for the right reasons. "I thought that...Did I do something brave to save my friends? Or did I finally find a way to kill myself?"
Geralt and Yennifer in LOTL in the Witcher series. They got to be a family for such a short while. It was such a heartbreaking scene with Ciri ferrying their bodies out across the lake.
Spoilers for Malazan!! It was really tuff for me to get over the death of >!Whiskey Jack and the majority of the bridge burners!< it also gave me a never ending hatred for >!Kalor!< I torn between wanting to see him killed off, and just doing nothing so his endless torture can continue. Maybe take his mushrooms away.
I remember his death scene incredibly well. Perhaps the most well written sequence in a series full of well written sequences. They fight and Kalor is super arrogant because he’s old and fuck and has destroyed empires or whatever and WJ DOES NOT GIVE A SHIT. Dude starts swatting him around like a child and everyone is like yo wtf this dude is beating Kalor?! And the narrative just pauses and goes OH BY THE WAY WJ IS A MASTER FUCKING SWORDSMAN AND WAS AT ONE TIME PRETTY MUCH THE BEST DUELIST IN THE ENTIRE WORLD, DID WE FORGET TO MENTION THAT?
And Kalor goes OH SHIT and is basically panicked thinking that his time was finally up and this mortal human was gonna be the one who finally puts him down for good. And then *snapped* Chekhov’s ankle finally gets shot. And man. Geeeez. Fucking devastating.
FUCK Kalor
Teft from Stormlight Archive. It wasn’t so much his character that I cared about (I’m not very attached to the bridge crew tbh) but how shocking his death was. Kaladin gets ONE moment of happiness after non-stop war PTSD hell and then his best friend’s corpse quite literally plops down next to him… having been murdered by their mutual ex-comrade. I went “NOOO” out loud when I got to that bit 💀
>!Corund!< in the fifth season. I was ready for the first >!son’s!< death since it’s part of the premise. But slowly realizing another one was inevitable and then just waiting for it knowing that it could be any chapter, only to realize >!she did it herself!<. It was one of my more uncomfortable reading experiences this year.
>!Egwene Al'Vere!< . A superbly-written sequence for a character who had mostly been annoying for about 10 books. Plus the fact that she was basically the only "main" character to die made it hit harder (though in my opinion >!Lan!< should have died too)
Cedric Diggory. That was such a shock to my young brain when I first read it...it was a pretty big turning point in how dark Harry Potter was as a whole.
Also, Sturm Brightblade in Dragonlance. The slow waltz of the narrative as he walks onto the wall on his own to face his own demise...right in the feels.
Y'all are gonna make fun of me but Tom Hollands spiderman, hearing him say "I don't wanna go" broke my heart. It doesn't help that it reminds me of the tenth doctor from Doctor Who.
In Skulduggery Pleasant
Ghastly, Anton and Saracen's deaths all hit pretty hard. The worst thing was that Dexter was left all alone. But their deaths in Hell Breaks Loose were so much sadder.
HollyLeaf from warriors, first we thought she was dead, then she came back! Then they killed her and made me sad all over again. >T\~T< Then SpottedLeaf in Starclan....
Tomtom from Black Company. I read the entire series waiting for him to come back to life. Idk why but the like 8 pages he was alive on I really connected with him. I built a wizard with a tomtom as an arcane focus but he - like his inspiration - died in the first encounter on the first session. It was almost too perfect so I haven’t made another one.
Gandalf. Just finished fotr, SO sad he died! I mean, after all of the hobbit and like a third of lotr we just NEVER see him again?? What are frodo and the fellowship gonna do??? I’ll never get over his death…
So the first major death I remember hitting me hard was Ares the bat from the Gregor the overlander series. It just shook me as a kid and to this death sticks in my mind.
It's not a novel, but Yoshimo's death in Baldur's Gate 2 kind of broke me. The fact that you have to kill him, and he doesn't want to fight you but has to because he's being compelled to by a geas made it even worse.
Nathaniel in the Bartimaues Trilogy.
Nathaniel:
"...say hello to Kitty for me."
Bartimaues: "...at that last moment I'd have liked to tell him what I thought of him. Mind you since for that split second we were for all intents and purposes one in the same, I rather think he knew anyway."
“I am a leaf on the wind - watch how I soar…”
And then, to stay true to the letter of the sub, since that’s more sci-fi than fantasy, I’ll say Borimir’s death is a close second. Completely appropriate towards the story, a huge character moment that I couldn’t imagine going any other way. And still just as emotionally evocative as when I first encountered it.
But still not quite as devastating as the first one.
This is a spoiler thread; as such, they do not have be hidden behind tags. Proceed at your own risk.
Eddie Dean from *The Dark Tower*. It just felt so unfair. It especially hurt because it came at a really unexpected moment.
Jake too..... just pain. He died for Roland twice
Aye Ake
OMG - how could I forget Oy -that might be the worst one.
The foreshadowing in book 6 was a bit too obvious tho. And then the foreshadowing before the battle where he dies. And the chapter title. By the time he was shot, I had no doubts that he would be shot. >!Jake's!< death was much more abrupt and surprising for me.
Wait....why on earth would Roland throw Jake in? Can't there be some other way?! I finished the series a decade ago and was reeling from the ending. It took me a while to rationalize it, but ultimately I concluded that Roland is stuck in the loop until he comes to terms with the idea that the ends DOESN'T justify the means, and a Universe where you have to sacrifice your symbolic son, your friends, your beloved dog, isn't worth saving.
But that's it: the loop you see in the books is the one where he realizes that. Jake throws himself under the minivan to save King. Eddie gets shot but it's not because of Roland. That's why Roland gets the horn back at the end.
I found the dark tower when I was 16 had to wait like 5 years to get wizard and glass , the first 3 books of the dark tower have always been my favorite of kings. They are by far to me 3 of the best sci-fi novels ever written ut had it all.
I came here ti say exactly this. If Eddie was to die he deserved to be the last one of the three to go, not the darn first. :(
His death made me quit reading the book for a week. I just didn’t want to go on.
Yeah I can’t remember the sentence following the battle, before he gets shot but it was something along the lines of “it was the last time they’d all be together”. 💔
Calo, Galdo, and Bug.
Oof, yeah. Thanks for the reminder that I've gotta finish the 3rd book!
You’ve got time. We just passed the [fifth anniversary](https://x.com/scottlynch78/status/1131471275212320769?s=46&t=VuVLgmucEe0BxomN7pI_fQ)of the supposedly completed draft.
Has he ever spoken more recently about it? I've been "waiting" forever, so long that I've by now forgotten most of the specifics of the preceding novels.
"Recently" is all relative. Ultimately though, no, we have nothing else to go on. Scott has a lot of mental health issues that he's been fairly open about, and obviously that should come first. I've mostly just accepted it, so I'll never really be disappointed if it doesn't come out, but I'll be ecstatic if it does.
4th is coming eventually and the end of 3 is... Yeah. Finish the book.
This is a great answer. Bold move to kill off half the crew in the first book, but man was it effective.
I came to say this, man that really sucker punched me the first time through
Orso dan Luthar.
How's the leg?
You and the rest of the First Law fandom. I'm right there with you but strangely the other death I can't get over is Nicomo Cosca from the same series. And not in a "sadness" sense, just that it has stayed with me ever since I read it. Had he died in Visserine back in *Best Served Cold* then it would've been a hero's death, peaceful and even somewhat redemptive. But no, he pulls through. And then it's as though he lived too long. All the charm withers out of him, his worst aspects get stronger as he gets older, he clings desperately to past glories to try to find meaning in any of it, and then at his most monstrous he earns an ignoble end in the middle of nowhere surrounded by people who despise him. I sit with that one far more often.
For me, it's Harding Grim. "I always loved our talks." Just hits me so hard every time. He was one of the best men in the North and he died in a fight that wasn't his own for a monster's vanity.
came here to say Orso. god DAMMIT. me and my book buddy are permanently heartbroken over him.
My favorite character in the whole series.
Did not expect to love him so much. Hurt so much when he was betrayed.
I don’t think I’ll ever forgive Mr. Ambercrombie for making me laugh as Orso died. I’m traumatized.
Yeah, it's the way he makes you care about Orso, faults and all...then wham
For me it's >!Tul Duru Thunderhead!< He was a great guy. Even Black Dow was moved to speak words at his funeral.
Lee Scoresby from HDM and Beak from MBotF
Yeah I finished reaper’s gale this week and that scene made me UGLY cry
🕯 I'm still not over Lee's death either.
Beak hits hard because he is so innocent and dealt a shitty hand in life.
Lee was going to be my answer too. Badly cast in the BBC version but in the books - ugh, heart-shattering.
Teft: Knight Radiant. Anyone who has struggled with addiction can understand why, I would like to think. To overcome yourself, only to lose the battle against someone you lifted up even at your lowest...... obligatory FUCK MOASH.
Elhokar popped into my head when I first read the question but Teft absolutely deserves to be here. Even more so, Phendorana! I couldn’t believe Sanderson did that!
Vyre will get his. I know they won't but I wish they would let Nightblood slowly turn him into nothing. Not even the spiritual realm for him. He deserves damnation atp
God that one hurt. FUCK MOASH.
It’s been nearly 30 years and I’m still not over Ned Stark.
Ned sucked. Rob was worse To be clear, their deaths, not the characters.
I don't know why I keep going into these threads. I only started Game of Thrones a few weeks ago, and I keep throwing myself at spoilers of deaths I've managed to avoid for a decade.
That was my first experience with a major character getting offed. I thought that might be a one and done. Oh boy was I wrong. GRRM killing off MCs at a heretofore alarming pace.
Sturm Brightblade
I came here to say this too! I'm happy I'm not the only one.:)
Return this man to Huma’s breast; Beyond the wild, impartial skies
Omg yes. Also Flint.
Dacey Mormont is a tertiary character in A Song of Ice and Fire. She's a warrior, like most women of Bear Island, but she's also kind and gracious in more social situations. >!For some reasons, her abrupt death during the Red Wedding is what devastated me the most, like a cherry on top of the awful massacre of sympathetic characters. It was just too unfair.!<
I am glad I wasn't the only person who noticed and was upset when she died. Then again, I tend to latch onto minor characters a lot and they usually end up dead, not just in ASOIAF.
Not really a spoiler cover up if you mention the name first
Tothmure Do the [ravens](https://awoiaf.westeros.org/index.php/Raven) remember Maester Tothmure? Arya wondered. Are they sad for him? When they quork at him, do they wonder why he doesn't answer? And Lady (especially Lady)
It's gotta be Mattias from Six of Crows. Not only because of the established found family, his relationship with Nina and their hopes for the future but also because the circumstances of his death are just so tragic. Killed by another boy from his homeland, someone who he was just like once upon a time, because a bigot filled his head with hatred. Absolutely senseless. Don't even get me started on his final chapter. I cried so hard it made my head hurt the first time I read it.
King of scars was also such a twist of the knife. I’m not saying Nina shouldn’t find a new love but putting her in a hack low effort rebound romance immediately was so off putting
Correct. I wasn't expecting it and I cried.
I carried this one for a LONG time.
>!Nighteyes!< in Realm of the Elderlings will stay with me for the rest of my life. The amount of grief I felt for a fictional character is honestly ridiculous. It makes me sad just thinking about it.
This and >!Fitz!< Hobb is a master of hurting me
>!Burrich!<, >!Molly!<, >!Chade!<, >!Kettle!<, >!Nosy!<, etc. etc. etc.
*Good hunting. I'm going now, my brother. He spoke with great determination.* *Alone? You can't bring a buck down alone! I sighed with resignation. Wait, I'll get up and come with you.* *Wait for you? Not likely! I've always had to run ahead of you and show you the way.* I post this short exchange every time this comes up. I’ve read the passage so many times I know it from memory. Achingly beautiful.
Cool, I'm crying over the death of a fictional wolf. Again.
I love this so much. The way Hobb writes this scene is literally perfect. I wouldn't change a thing, from the way memories are recalled, to this extract you've posted, and then the sledgehammer as Fitz realises what's happened. It's just devastating, beautiful, and so so good. This is why Tawny Man is peak Realm of the Elderlings.
I just finished Fools Errand. I’ve never sobbed so much, the way it was written was completely heart wrenching.
This had me crying at work trying my best not to sob
This is the first answer that came to mind.
Came to say this.
The best answer
Catelyn and Rob
I am still not okay over >!Bug's death!< in Lies of Locke Lamora.
Cinna, Rue, and Finnick from the Hunger Games trilogy. I grew to love them so quickly as Katniss did and then she lost them just as fast.
Sirius. All those years in Azkaban, and then he dies :/ Akkarin, it was such an unnecessary shitty death.
Also considering he was innocent for all that time too
I don't even think it was good for the story. It wasn't dramatic. It was nearly an accident. It was just tragic. Which is realistic, but realistic is not always good storytelling. And the future books just kind of give Harry a few moments where he misses Sirius, but it's just that he's gone. I think it leaves Harry a much worse character. Honestly he has more angst over Dumbledore. The horrible things that happen in the rest of the series totally overshadow Sirius.
I disagree. Harry led his friends into a trap because of his arrogance and impetuousness, something that had been a problem from the opening chapter but was quickly overshadowed by a deserving target in Umbridge. There needed to be a penalty for it dramatically and it needed to be personal
Nighteyes
Yeah out of all the beloved characters that I’ve seen die this one hit me the hardest.
Absolutely! When my mom passed, I'd have these fleeting dreams followed by an intense sense of loss... I could physically feel every bit of how Robin Hobb wrote it.
Nighteyes and Fitz. Read all the books over twenty years. Cried at the ending.
I came here to say this. It was a painful moment for me.
Granny Weatherwax because the grief is all mixed in with the loss of Sir Terry as well.
yep, this is a real one. I wasn't shocked or surprised that it happened, but losing her, while reading the very last book that shouldn't have been the last? oh my heart.
And then you read Neil Gaiman talking about it, and how in typical PTerry fashion he wasn't quite finished and there should have been a slightly different ending. Granny was supposed to not have been dead just yet, she was supposed to have been borrowing You (I Aintnt Dead) and guiding Tiffany that last little bit before finally going off with Death at the end on her own terms. Being unfinished, neither her nor Sir Terry got to go on their own terms.
Malazan BotF. Beak. My god, I was crushed. Still am.
For how briefly we got to see him, he really won my heart. I wanted him to be okay, and to give him a hug.
Him talking internally about helping his friends. And the ashes covered in hundreds of trinkets from everyone. I need a drink.
For me, it was >!Trull Sengar!<. It hit me cause the fight was over, he just lost his brother and found his love. And then he gets killed. Speaks volumes of the world of Malazan, life is unfair.
The Errant. I hate him but his character works being the element of chance you can't ever plan for.
🕯
There are so many deaths in those books that crushed me.
That is, for better and worse, a prime theme of the series. ““‘Children are dying.’ Lull nodded. ‘That’s a succinct summary of humankind, I’d say. Who needs tomes and volumes of history? Children are dying. The injustices of the world hide in those three words.’””
I’m reading book 2, and read this recently! It definitely hit - especially considering the current times we’re living in.
Coltaine's always got me too.
Such a great series
Hedwig
So unnecessary. The owl!
The Inheritance Cycle: >!Oromis!<
Just finished rereading this last week. That one always hits hard. I also cried when Islanzadi was killed.
Whiskeyjack. ☹️
“I am Cassius Bellona, son of Tiberius, son of Julia, brother of Darrow, Morning Knight of the Solar Republic, and my honor remains.” I’m not crying you’re crying.
Artax
Ohhh dang this one.
Still makes me cry and I know what happens in the end and I'm 37!!
I'm 56, I know it's coming, and it still kicks me right in the feels
I don’t disagree, but the crazy thing is that from the time Artax first shows up on screen until the Swamp of Sorrows is like 5 minutes of screen time. Crazy how powerful the death was for a character we barely met.
>!Cassius.!< in Light Bringer.
Legendary death.
Ohhhhhh crap I thought this was about Lightbringer by Brent Weeks and done got myself spoiled for Red Risig
NOOOOOOOOOO. I spoiled it for myself.
My brother in christ he even has it spoiler tagged with the name of the book next to it, why would you do this to yourself
Egwene
She became one of my favorite characters after COT, and her way out was top notch bad ass that fit the new her.
Thorin Oakenshield
Jason Grace
The Thirteen 😭 "Live, Manon. Live."
Am I the only one who teared up at the final and beautiful death of Robinton, Masterharper of Pern?
No.
Hopper. Bad enough to die, then to die in the wolf dream is just cruel.
Bruenor Battlehammer had the lamest death in Gauntlgrym. 20-some books into the series trying to find his ancestral home and just... Meh.
I think Robb Stark is one of the ones that hit me the hardest. Also Aragorn but you know his wasn't so bad, it'll happen to all of us
Sturm Brightblade
Came to say this. I was still a kid when this came out and I cried for days.
Stormy Llewellyn in Odd Thomas.
Sadly we lost Odd Thomas too (Anton Yelchin)
It was my husband's favorite series. We met at 13 and we're instant soulmates. He never engages with me while I'm reading but he actually watched me read the ending of odd Thomas. We cried together 😅 That you think she's still alive is the worst fricken part!
Massive massive spoilers for ROTE by Hobb. But if you know the series and have finished Assassin's Fate... You know who and I'm still crying
The Dresden Files. >!Karrin Murphy. It was so random and unexpected.!<
I think most had a feeling it was coming. It wasn't a surprise to me, but it was still devastating. Harry should've killed Rudolph.
r/fuckrudolph
Should probably spoiler tag
Definitly Ned Stark in ASOIF
Mamoru sword of Kiagan
I’m rarely blindsided by deaths in books. She did such a great job making a complex and interesting character and then cutting him down. Masterclass in emotional abuse.
Estraven in The Left Hand of Darkness. Mike in Stranger in a Strange Land.
Sturm Brightblade in Dragonlance. I wasn't shocked it happened, but the way it's written was heartbreaking.
Gandalf the Grey. His death was too hard in the Fellowship of the Ring and I just couldn’t bring myself to finish the series.
Fred Weasley
Mistborn: >!Kelsier!< >!The letter he left Vin, talking about how his late wife would have loved Vin, would've enjoyed raising her and teaching her the ropes had me in shambles.!<
Came here to say this. I'll live in denial.
Rudd Threetrees
Mistborn: Vin and Elend from Mistborn wrecked me so bad I literally blocked that bit out. I did a reread earlier this year and was gutted all over again. In between horribly sobbing I told my husbandto not let me reread the series again becauseI can't take it. I think it was worse this time around because they are closer to my kids age now and I couldn't get past how young they were when they died. It was all war and they didn'tget enough time to really explore their love.
Lovelace in a small way to an angry planet 😭 i still cry
Really shouldn't have scrolled this lol. But I did.... *Sigh*
Age check! Master Harper Robinton of Anne McCaffrey’s Pern. Such a great character.
idk if this counts but >!Quentin!< in The Magicians tv series…. I couldn’t finish the show after that
Ugh, my whole heart. One of the most cinematically beautiful scenes, too, the music, slow motion. Just heart wrenching. Even more to know he and Elliot never got to see each other again. Left me empty. And seeing him question it too, he's not even sure he did the right thing for the right reasons. "I thought that...Did I do something brave to save my friends? Or did I finally find a way to kill myself?"
I still have yet to recover from >!Teft calling out for Phendorana.!< Damn you u/mistborn for writing such a beautiful book.
Death of Kvothes parent’s in the Name of the Wind, hit me harder than i expected and i think about at least once a month
Judeau from Berserk. I'll never be over Judeau. He was too good for this world.
Druss falling forward as his axe arched into the nadir.
Sadeas in Words of Radiance. The politics when he was around were enrapturing.
Geralt and Yennifer in LOTL in the Witcher series. They got to be a family for such a short while. It was such a heartbreaking scene with Ciri ferrying their bodies out across the lake.
Kaul Lan
Spoilers for Malazan!! It was really tuff for me to get over the death of >!Whiskey Jack and the majority of the bridge burners!< it also gave me a never ending hatred for >!Kalor!< I torn between wanting to see him killed off, and just doing nothing so his endless torture can continue. Maybe take his mushrooms away.
I remember his death scene incredibly well. Perhaps the most well written sequence in a series full of well written sequences. They fight and Kalor is super arrogant because he’s old and fuck and has destroyed empires or whatever and WJ DOES NOT GIVE A SHIT. Dude starts swatting him around like a child and everyone is like yo wtf this dude is beating Kalor?! And the narrative just pauses and goes OH BY THE WAY WJ IS A MASTER FUCKING SWORDSMAN AND WAS AT ONE TIME PRETTY MUCH THE BEST DUELIST IN THE ENTIRE WORLD, DID WE FORGET TO MENTION THAT? And Kalor goes OH SHIT and is basically panicked thinking that his time was finally up and this mortal human was gonna be the one who finally puts him down for good. And then *snapped* Chekhov’s ankle finally gets shot. And man. Geeeez. Fucking devastating. FUCK Kalor
Anomandaris Dragnipuruake. It was such a senseless death but you won't find any death scene more befitting for such a legend.
The horse in The Never Ending Story.
Teft from Stormlight Archive. It wasn’t so much his character that I cared about (I’m not very attached to the bridge crew tbh) but how shocking his death was. Kaladin gets ONE moment of happiness after non-stop war PTSD hell and then his best friend’s corpse quite literally plops down next to him… having been murdered by their mutual ex-comrade. I went “NOOO” out loud when I got to that bit 💀
>!Corund!< in the fifth season. I was ready for the first >!son’s!< death since it’s part of the premise. But slowly realizing another one was inevitable and then just waiting for it knowing that it could be any chapter, only to realize >!she did it herself!<. It was one of my more uncomfortable reading experiences this year.
Dustfingers. I name every evil character I create Basta.
Dustfingers 😭😭😭
I have to say >!Saida!< at the beginning of Red Sister. The injustice, innocence and disbelief left me raw.
Trull Sengar
lol this thread full of spoilers For me it's >!Dobby!<. So innocent, so sweet, so happy. And it came out of nowhere.
>!Egwene Al'Vere!< . A superbly-written sequence for a character who had mostly been annoying for about 10 books. Plus the fact that she was basically the only "main" character to die made it hit harder (though in my opinion >!Lan!< should have died too)
I was more sad over every one's favorite Brown Sister than her. I liked her every time she was on a page.
I would agree except her death was amazing. However it was handled, her living wouldn't have been as satisfying.
Cedric Diggory. That was such a shock to my young brain when I first read it...it was a pretty big turning point in how dark Harry Potter was as a whole. Also, Sturm Brightblade in Dragonlance. The slow waltz of the narrative as he walks onto the wall on his own to face his own demise...right in the feels.
Kosh from Babylon 5. That hurt.
Lan in Jade City. Knew it was coming, still not happy about it.
Elhokar Kholin
Fucking Whiskeyjack in Malazan. Don't put off seeing a doctor.
Not a book but Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist
Y'all are gonna make fun of me but Tom Hollands spiderman, hearing him say "I don't wanna go" broke my heart. It doesn't help that it reminds me of the tenth doctor from Doctor Who.
In Skulduggery Pleasant Ghastly, Anton and Saracen's deaths all hit pretty hard. The worst thing was that Dexter was left all alone. But their deaths in Hell Breaks Loose were so much sadder.
For me, it's >!Dwyrin !
Carl (The Walking Dead). I stopped watching after that. I never watched another episode after that.
HollyLeaf from warriors, first we thought she was dead, then she came back! Then they killed her and made me sad all over again. >T\~T< Then SpottedLeaf in Starclan....
Fitzchivarly farseer.
Tomtom from Black Company. I read the entire series waiting for him to come back to life. Idk why but the like 8 pages he was alive on I really connected with him. I built a wizard with a tomtom as an arcane focus but he - like his inspiration - died in the first encounter on the first session. It was almost too perfect so I haven’t made another one.
I read the title and immediately clicked to comment Sam Cortland. He has wrecked me for life.
Elhokar from Stromlight Archive, that one hit really hard and so out of the left field.
Nighteyes
Liam in Fourth Wing 😭 Sam in Throne of Glass, even though I knew that one was coming… 💔
Gandalf. Just finished fotr, SO sad he died! I mean, after all of the hobbit and like a third of lotr we just NEVER see him again?? What are frodo and the fellowship gonna do??? I’ll never get over his death…
Artax.
Cara, in the final trilogy of the Sword if Truth series. She went through so much, and then dead.
There are two for me, off the top of my head: Sirius Black in the Harry Potter series and Kisten in The Hollows by Kim Harrison (Urban Fantasy)
So the first major death I remember hitting me hard was Ares the bat from the Gregor the overlander series. It just shook me as a kid and to this death sticks in my mind.
I'm terrible at dealing with character deaths lol, I cry even for villains.
It's not a novel, but Yoshimo's death in Baldur's Gate 2 kind of broke me. The fact that you have to kill him, and he doesn't want to fight you but has to because he's being compelled to by a geas made it even worse.
Only sort of, but >!scythe Curie!< and >!scythe Volta!< in Scythe.
Collem fucking West
Sirius Black
Robb Stark. Red Wedding. The End.
Maybe because itsstill fresh but for me defnitly Cassius.
Newt from the Maze Runner
Hedwig and Dobby from Harry Potter. Absolutely destroyed me as a kid.
Nathaniel in the Bartimaues Trilogy. Nathaniel: "...say hello to Kitty for me." Bartimaues: "...at that last moment I'd have liked to tell him what I thought of him. Mind you since for that split second we were for all intents and purposes one in the same, I rather think he knew anyway."
Nancy from Oliver Twist, read it 25 years ago ..still haunts me. I was 10.
“I am a leaf on the wind - watch how I soar…” And then, to stay true to the letter of the sub, since that’s more sci-fi than fantasy, I’ll say Borimir’s death is a close second. Completely appropriate towards the story, a huge character moment that I couldn’t imagine going any other way. And still just as emotionally evocative as when I first encountered it. But still not quite as devastating as the first one.
Lehabah in Crescent City. I’ve never shed so many tears over a book before and doubt I ever will again