Characters dying at the end of books.

Fenreil

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I think it can be good, but only every once in a while.

The way they made the main character sacrifice himself at the end while still ending off with a generally positive result worked pretty well. It did make me a bit depressed though...
 

Treefingers

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A good story needs at least one good death of a likeable character. Doesn't have to be the main character. But someone needs to die somewhere along the line.
 

voodont

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[/quote] Winston... John Winston... Winston Churchill... Fraklin D. Roosevelt... Barrack Obama... MY GOD! They are going to kill the President of the United States at midnight![/quote]
MY GOD! We have to get to the emergency escape elephant! HURRY!


As for the main chars dying, personally, I quite like the idea. Most books/movies have the generic "good" ending, and I've had so much of that its pathetic, and I don't like it in most cases.

One good series though that has both the "good" and "Bad" ending in the Bartimeaus Trilogy. Read it. Its incredible.
 

mornal

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Whether or not someone's death makes a book better really depends on the novel and character. If a character is killed off just for the shock factor and to make the book seem deeper, it's not a good death. But there are definitely stories where someone dies and it really makes sense. Usually the feeling is the book would'nt have felt complete if the person didn't die.
 

Daveman

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Jan 8, 2009
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I cried at the end of Mostly Harmless... there I said it.

Yet I didn't cry when Bambi's mother died. I was like "AWESOME".
 

Daniel Cygnus

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Heppenfeph said:
Harry potter comes to mind. Mainly the 7th book.
Harry should have died. It would have made a lot more sense and that's where it was heading anyway. Than the writer chickens out
Truth.

I love when the main character dies at the end, especially if it's not built up and it comes as a surprise. It adds a lot of emotional punch.
 

D.C.

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shwnbob said:
I've noticed that most books end with a happy ending and I've got to ask this: If the main character died at the end would the book be better? Hear me out. Let's say your reading a book and you grow really attached to the character and you want them to leave happy. Then at the end they win or don't win, I don't know, and then they die. I honestly think that would make the book better because it makes the book dramatic, sad and plus it's a twist ending. So what do you all think? Killing off people in books, awesome or not?
Try reading the Soldier Son Trilogy.. that ending will really mess up the perception of your question.

ReincarnatedFTP said:
You should read the Black Library books for 40k and WH Fantasy.
Normally half of the main characters who have been given background and personalities are wasted before you're 2/3rds through the book.
They usually end with the Imperium/Empire "winning" in the sense that they're alive to get killed off in the sequel and most of what they cared for is dead.

Unless you're Gaunt. Then you're just too badass to die.
Or Cain who's too smart and cowardly to die.
 

meepop

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It's a very good thing; in "Tuck Everlasting", the girl (whose name escapes me) dies at the end instead of choosing immortal life and while this is a story for another day, she chose mortality over living forever. And the guy she like LOVED was immortal but she didn't love him that much even though they spend practically half the book emphasizing it under dialogue and story elements. So yeah, characters dying is a good way to have a happy ending, as long as it was a truthful or just thing to do.
 

Paddin

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D-Mic said:
Heppenfeph said:
Harry potter comes to mind. Mainly the 7th book.
Harry should have died. It would have made a lot more sense and that's where it was heading anyway. Than the writer chickens out
Truth.

I love when the main character dies at the end, especially if it's not built up and it comes as a surprise. It adds a lot of emotional punch.
I hated the harry potter books ending, it made it seems so "yay everyones happy and love each other very much and live happily ever after" which is not fitting with the tone of the rest of the book.

I think that a main characters death is a good ending to a book because it is the ending. Theres no "what happens next?" factor, the story actually ends. ALTHOUGH sometimes, its best to let them live rather than kill them off in a way that just seems cheap.
 

CounterAttack

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Hubilub said:
Depends if the book is good or not. I read a book (Which I can't say the name of, because that would spoil the entire fucking thing) that did it, and it was really, really good.
I read one like that as well. Did the same thing, and it fit perfectly with how I imagined it to end. I still got a shock then they were killed, though.

Maybe we read the same book...
 

LorChan

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Brent Weeks' Night Angel Trilogy.
Maybe I'm just thinking about it because I'm on the escapist today to send a message to a fellow fan of the books, or the fact that I finished the second one maybe five minutes ago, but if that sucker had killed off as many lovable character in this one as he did the first, I'd have hunted him down and killed him.

In the first book, everybody I like goes fine all the way to the last, say, five chapters (and chapters are fairly short in this book) and then everybody I liked either dies, almost dies, or SPOILER ALERT ASKDFGEOAFGKOWENVWO

But if they hadn't died, I wouldn't have loved the book like I did. I cried, for like, a day over one of the characters, and it really stayed with me.

And without it, I couldn't see the book with the same respect, honestly. It made me feel sad, and I think South Park said this once, but my being so sad just proves that what was there before the character died must have been really amazing.

EDIT: Actually, it's worth noting that the main character comes out alright, but I didn't like him much compared to the other character who were just as - if not more - important to the plot.
 

chromewarriorXIII

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Oct 17, 2008
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I think that some books would be better if the main character died. One of my favorite trilogies would be a good example. If the main character had killed himself at the end of the first book and there hadn't been any sequels.
 

child of lileth

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Jun 10, 2009
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I've read a few where it happens. Sometimes it's good, sometimes it's not. It all depends on the series.

It could be like "When the Higurashi Cry", and the main characters die over and over, but due to the story, it's never finalized anytime they kill each other or themselves. You have to read it to get what I mean. The ending was great though. It kept me guessing for most of the series.
 

Avatar Roku

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Hugh Mann said:
Anybody read the Dune series? People die by the droves and they just keep coming back, sometimes exactly the same, and sometimes in crazy new bodies
Well, it's really only the same person who's brought back as a ghola for thousands of years, unless you're referring to the several preborn characters' memories.
 

Hugh Mann

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Methos12 said:
Delock said:
SuccessAndBiscuts said:
Hugh Mann said:
Anybody read the Dune series? People die by the droves and they just keep coming back, sometimes exactly the same, and sometimes in crazy new bodies
Ive read the whole series as far as I remember, and I honestly have no idea what you are on about.
I'm pretty sure he's talking about the newer stuff by the son. Seriously, if you establish any form of connection or preference for a character THEY WILL DIE. Except for one person I think. I couldn't go on after awhile.
Actually, I think he's referring to old books and the whole Ghola thing with certain swordsman.
Yeah Idaho a billion times over once with cool robot eyes, then the Baron possesses Paul's sister, then Scytale comes back later on in the original series, Miles Teg comes back as a little kid and is killed again, and then towards the end pretty much every character gets a ghola body