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Beloved Characters that Died (And Why They Had to Die)
We all have that one character we wish would just fucking let the can hit them on the way out so hard they can't get back up and they end up dead. Mine was Susan Meyer, but after trying to suffer through Grey's Anatomy for like, five episodes, I suppose I'd be okay if Meredith Grey went through what everyone around her went through. That girl needs some Zoloft and a book about how she's not the entire world.
We always have that one character who dies that we just feel like they shouldn't have. They were practically sunshine in character form and the actor/actress that plays them is plastered all over our Tumblr blogs. We always say they deserve better than death, but considering the fact the world death rate has been consistent at 100% per year according to The Onion it's just a fact that some of our favorite characters are going to die.
Ever since I went on Tumblr
See, writers want to cause pain. Good writers want to make you feel shit that you normally wouldn't feel in day to day life. While we may hear on the news about some tragic death, chances are most of us aren't going to be crying unless we were there or knew the person personally.
Characters in media are meant to be watched, analyzed, and understood. Characters we relate to we become attached to. We watch or read some of their most precious life moments play out. We see them become the hero or the villain. In good writing, they will be flawed just like real people. We may even see them grow up enough to enter a loving relationship.
Then, you may see some of the most tragic moments of their lives. Lost a child. Divorce. Torture. And unfortunately, death.
We may, as viewers, feel incredibly upset about whatever we are watching when our favorite character dies.
Isn't a good piece of media is to make us feel all sorts of emotions?
So when I see people posting, "Why did x character die when y character is homophobic, sexist, racist, and a horrible person?" I just get kind of confused.
Your antagonist in a piece of media is probably not a full-fledged character. If they die, that ruins a big piece of conflict in the story. A character that is full-fledged is going to get a reaction in universe and out of universe. There's very few storylines where killing your antagonist is going to lead to a full storyline that viewers/readers aren't going to get tired of. If your characters sulk about an antagonist's death too much, is that going to seem out of character? Worst of all, is it going to be so eye roll worthy that the viewers/readers absorbing the media may turn away or close up the book?
Making characters suffer is just part of being a writer. Making them die is also part of being a writer.
Also:
Stop tweeting death threats to writers. These people do not owe you anything for your little SJW fantasies. They do not owe you your happy little story in your little head. They owe an audience a story that is good. If you don't like the way the story is going, complain about it on Tumblr and tag it in the related tags. Get a little mob formed so you all can circlejerk about your feelings together. Don't send death threats to people who have probably worked harder developing these characters more than you. And for fuck's sake, a real person matters more than a fictional fucking character.
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