The 50 Greatest Fictional Deaths of All Time
July 21, 2022 9:57 AM Subscribe
We’ve assembled the 50 greatest fictional deaths of all time—the most moving, most funny, most shocking, most influential scenes from books, movies, TV, theater, video games, and more. Slate brings us a list from Medea to Scrappy-Doo, with comments from some of the creators (not Euripides). Spoilers, of course.
No Paul Reubens' Amilyn from the Buffy the Vampire Slayer movie? Hmmm...
And to abuse the edit window: Wallace Shawn's Vizzini from The Princess Bride.
posted by indexy at 10:16 AM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
And to abuse the edit window: Wallace Shawn's Vizzini from The Princess Bride.
posted by indexy at 10:16 AM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
Scrappy-doo died? Damn.
posted by theora55 at 10:17 AM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by theora55 at 10:17 AM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
Jude the Obscure should be no.1
Also, Grave of the Fireflies.
posted by Balthamos at 10:20 AM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
Also, Grave of the Fireflies.
posted by Balthamos at 10:20 AM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
Some great picks in there. I like the deep cut of Intolerable Cruelty when the easy obvious choice would be Brad Pitt in Burn After Reading.
For my money the biggest glaring omission is Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the early 90s Robin Hood. It just goes on forever.
posted by mannequito at 10:22 AM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
For my money the biggest glaring omission is Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the early 90s Robin Hood. It just goes on forever.
posted by mannequito at 10:22 AM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
Samuel L. Jackson in Deep Blue Sea
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:23 AM on July 21, 2022 [14 favorites]
posted by 1970s Antihero at 10:23 AM on July 21, 2022 [14 favorites]
I didn't expect to see Darckense on the list. But Darckense.
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:23 AM on July 21, 2022 [6 favorites]
posted by GCU Sweet and Full of Grace at 10:23 AM on July 21, 2022 [6 favorites]
bill murray in zombieland hit post
posted by logicpunk at 10:30 AM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by logicpunk at 10:30 AM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
William "Rocky" Sullivan (played by James Cagney) in ANGELS WITH DIRTY FACES. I literally cannot recount the plot without weeping: my friends did not believe this, so I demonstrated at dinner.
Oh, I guess spoilers for this 1938 movie!
Anyway, he is a super-tough gangster, scared of nothing and no-one, all about the reputation and front. Some street kids idolise him. So his childhood friend, now a priest, persuades him to go to the electric chair as a coward, weeping and crying with fear, so the children will no longer follow his bad path.
And he does.
See, I'm crying a bit now just from typing that. And I haven't seen it since I was eight!
posted by one more day at 10:33 AM on July 21, 2022 [11 favorites]
Oh, I guess spoilers for this 1938 movie!
Anyway, he is a super-tough gangster, scared of nothing and no-one, all about the reputation and front. Some street kids idolise him. So his childhood friend, now a priest, persuades him to go to the electric chair as a coward, weeping and crying with fear, so the children will no longer follow his bad path.
And he does.
See, I'm crying a bit now just from typing that. And I haven't seen it since I was eight!
posted by one more day at 10:33 AM on July 21, 2022 [11 favorites]
The Little Prince didn't die. He's living on my animal crossing island.
posted by bleep at 10:33 AM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by bleep at 10:33 AM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
“Lt. Colonel Henry Blake’s plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spun in. There were no survivors.”
posted by Windopaene at 10:34 AM on July 21, 2022 [38 favorites]
posted by Windopaene at 10:34 AM on July 21, 2022 [38 favorites]
Henry Blake's death was huge, and it probably helped a little to end the war in Viet Nam. That war was so present on the tv and print news. The US military learned, and news about wars since then has been carefully managed, and the tv shows that I don't watch are lies about glory.
Gary's death in 30something was shocking and devastating to my little demographic.
It's a very well done list with great commentary.
bleep, I wanna visit.
posted by theora55 at 10:35 AM on July 21, 2022 [9 favorites]
Gary's death in 30something was shocking and devastating to my little demographic.
It's a very well done list with great commentary.
bleep, I wanna visit.
posted by theora55 at 10:35 AM on July 21, 2022 [9 favorites]
Spock. So what if he got better?
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:35 AM on July 21, 2022 [19 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 10:35 AM on July 21, 2022 [19 favorites]
Walter White in Breaking Bad. Killed the skinheads and freed Jessie, his only redeeming act. Every other act of “redemption” in the finale don’t quite measure up, I think.
posted by glaucon at 10:36 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by glaucon at 10:36 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
I heard that if you want to dream of Little Prince's new home you just have to decide to dream of a place called New B612 where Lil Prinz resides.
posted by bleep at 10:41 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by bleep at 10:41 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
I would like to add my personal favorite to that list: the death of the Galactica after ramming a Cylon Base Star. The moment she reappeared in space and you could see the ship flex. Everything after that was just … winding down, I guess.
It’s silly and stupid, but I had a lot of emotion invested in that show. It’s remarkable how much a fictional object in a fictional universe can come to have so much meaning in our lives.
So there’s that.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 10:42 AM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
It’s silly and stupid, but I had a lot of emotion invested in that show. It’s remarkable how much a fictional object in a fictional universe can come to have so much meaning in our lives.
So there’s that.
posted by JustSayNoDawg at 10:42 AM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
When I was a little kid, the death of Dinobot on Beast Wars: Transformers stuck with me. I loved that the former villain went out as a pure romantic, defending primitive humans and quoting Hamlet.
This list is pretty good, as far as lists designed to spur reactions and arguments go. Was happy to see Estraven there. I still think of that book often.
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 10:53 AM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
This list is pretty good, as far as lists designed to spur reactions and arguments go. Was happy to see Estraven there. I still think of that book often.
posted by TheKaijuCommuter at 10:53 AM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
Snowden's secret in Catch-22 has to rate.
posted by philip-random at 10:57 AM on July 21, 2022 [11 favorites]
posted by philip-random at 10:57 AM on July 21, 2022 [11 favorites]
Crono's death kind of hit me in Chrono Trigger. It's funny cause he's such an obvious self-inset blank slate player avatar stereotype, the invincible spikey-haired mute from every 90s RPG, that when he just goes and dies in the act of doing something heroic, the other characters seem so genuinely shocked. Like they knew the score too; they follow this dude and together they slay increasingly large monsters until they all save the world. But now he just went and died and all bets are entirely off.
The player's relationship to everything changes. The world opens up to freeform exploration. All the characters immediately go from colorful side-kicks to an ensemble of heroes in their own rights, with a whole new series of powers they can do together as trios.
I don't know if it'd hit quite as hard these days but for a video game in '95 or whatever it was a pretty deft storytelling move. I should play that one again.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 11:01 AM on July 21, 2022 [6 favorites]
The player's relationship to everything changes. The world opens up to freeform exploration. All the characters immediately go from colorful side-kicks to an ensemble of heroes in their own rights, with a whole new series of powers they can do together as trios.
I don't know if it'd hit quite as hard these days but for a video game in '95 or whatever it was a pretty deft storytelling move. I should play that one again.
posted by Phobos the Space Potato at 11:01 AM on July 21, 2022 [6 favorites]
The death of Atreyu's horse, Artax, still haunts me.
posted by emd3737 at 11:03 AM on July 21, 2022 [28 favorites]
posted by emd3737 at 11:03 AM on July 21, 2022 [28 favorites]
They should combine the Macbeth entry and the Seven Samurai entry into a the "Death by a Thousand Arrows" scene in "Throne of Blood".
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 11:17 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by AlonzoMosleyFBI at 11:17 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
I can't read about half of these without an upwelling of grief. Estraven? No. Not while I'm at work, dammit.
A few I'd add:
+ Lucy Knight on ER
+ The characters in the tiny game Passage
+ Leslie in Bridge to Terabithia
+ Vivian in Wit. God, the scene where her professor reads her The Runaway Bunny?
posted by Caxton1476 at 11:17 AM on July 21, 2022 [10 favorites]
A few I'd add:
+ Lucy Knight on ER
+ The characters in the tiny game Passage
+ Leslie in Bridge to Terabithia
+ Vivian in Wit. God, the scene where her professor reads her The Runaway Bunny?
posted by Caxton1476 at 11:17 AM on July 21, 2022 [10 favorites]
Bill Cipher's death in Gravity Falls.
Hey, look at me! TURN AROUND AND LOOK AT ME YOU ONE-EYED DEMON! You're a real wise-guy but you made one fatal mistake: YOU MESSED WITH MY FAMILY.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:26 AM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
Hey, look at me! TURN AROUND AND LOOK AT ME YOU ONE-EYED DEMON! You're a real wise-guy but you made one fatal mistake: YOU MESSED WITH MY FAMILY.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:26 AM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
My suggestions:
+The death of Hector in the Iliad. Not just for Achilles' mutilation, but that whole scene of Priam begging for the return of his son's body.
+Mufasa in The Lion King. Like Ellie's death in Up, traumatizing an entire generation of children.
+The Girl in the Red Dress in Schindler's List. All the horror of the Holocaust concentrated into one unforgettable indelible image.
+Lennie Small in Of Mice and of Men. A mercy killing and also the greatest betrayal. "We're going to have a farm...."
+Leslie Burke in A Bridge to Terabinthia
posted by LeRoienJaune at 11:30 AM on July 21, 2022 [15 favorites]
+The death of Hector in the Iliad. Not just for Achilles' mutilation, but that whole scene of Priam begging for the return of his son's body.
+Mufasa in The Lion King. Like Ellie's death in Up, traumatizing an entire generation of children.
+The Girl in the Red Dress in Schindler's List. All the horror of the Holocaust concentrated into one unforgettable indelible image.
+Lennie Small in Of Mice and of Men. A mercy killing and also the greatest betrayal. "We're going to have a farm...."
+Leslie Burke in A Bridge to Terabinthia
posted by LeRoienJaune at 11:30 AM on July 21, 2022 [15 favorites]
Paul Reubens in the Buffy feature film (1992) stays in mind.
posted by ovvl at 11:31 AM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by ovvl at 11:31 AM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Are they all Sean Bean?
posted by kokaku at 11:31 AM on July 21, 2022 [27 favorites]
posted by kokaku at 11:31 AM on July 21, 2022 [27 favorites]
Star Blazer's death of Captain Avatar (YouTube link) and Nova's recovery, just as the Star Force have radiation scarred Earth finally in sight, should be here.
It still makes me tear up seeing it.
The juxtaposition with Nova's recovery, and the doctor's speechlessness....
Star Blazers, Space Battleship Yamato in its original Japanese release, was heart expanding for me when I saw it in the early 80s.
posted by kmartino at 11:32 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
It still makes me tear up seeing it.
The juxtaposition with Nova's recovery, and the doctor's speechlessness....
Star Blazers, Space Battleship Yamato in its original Japanese release, was heart expanding for me when I saw it in the early 80s.
posted by kmartino at 11:32 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Cntrl-F "Artax" 0/0
*tosses list aside*
posted by The otter lady at 11:39 AM on July 21, 2022 [8 favorites]
*tosses list aside*
posted by The otter lady at 11:39 AM on July 21, 2022 [8 favorites]
Little Nell, ha. I'm glad some of these characters died! Glad, I tell you. Where is Tess of the d'Urbervilles??
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:41 AM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 11:41 AM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Bambi’s mom belongs there. Not just as a “well, Up was better” aside
Anna Karenina
surely Severus Snape
Agree about a lot of the others already posted, but how do you ever narrow down to 50?
I’m just shocked that there were only a couple listed I hadn’t already seen/read/heard.
posted by Mchelly at 11:44 AM on July 21, 2022 [6 favorites]
Anna Karenina
surely Severus Snape
Agree about a lot of the others already posted, but how do you ever narrow down to 50?
I’m just shocked that there were only a couple listed I hadn’t already seen/read/heard.
posted by Mchelly at 11:44 AM on July 21, 2022 [6 favorites]
For my money the biggest glaring omission is Alan Rickman as the Sheriff of Nottingham in the early 90s Robin Hood. It just goes on forever.
Also Alan Rickman in Die Hard. Actually this list could probably be filled with Alan Rickman and Sean Bean alone.
posted by TwoWordReview at 11:47 AM on July 21, 2022 [19 favorites]
Also Alan Rickman in Die Hard. Actually this list could probably be filled with Alan Rickman and Sean Bean alone.
posted by TwoWordReview at 11:47 AM on July 21, 2022 [19 favorites]
I'm surprised Ben Parker was on the list. He really needed to die in order for Peter to become the character he is. I would have said Gwen Stacey's fate was much more shocking and unexpected.
On the DC side of the aisle, I think Jason Todd's death needs to be on this list. That was the trigger point that drove Batman into the grim-dark mode that we haven't really been able to esxape from since. Plus, killing a Robin, even if he wasn't the original was really a HUGE deal.
posted by sardonyx at 11:48 AM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
On the DC side of the aisle, I think Jason Todd's death needs to be on this list. That was the trigger point that drove Batman into the grim-dark mode that we haven't really been able to esxape from since. Plus, killing a Robin, even if he wasn't the original was really a HUGE deal.
posted by sardonyx at 11:48 AM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
Also, as a Canadian, I have to say, Matthew in Anne of Green Gables should have been at the top of the list.
posted by sardonyx at 11:51 AM on July 21, 2022 [15 favorites]
posted by sardonyx at 11:51 AM on July 21, 2022 [15 favorites]
“Lt. Colonel Henry Blake’s plane was shot down over the Sea of Japan. It spun in. There were no survivors.”
"I have to go now. My planet needs me" [Note: Poochie died on the way back to his home planet]
Colonel Blake and Poochie are the two greatest and most diametrically opposed deaths on television.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:52 AM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
"I have to go now. My planet needs me" [Note: Poochie died on the way back to his home planet]
Colonel Blake and Poochie are the two greatest and most diametrically opposed deaths on television.
posted by RonButNotStupid at 11:52 AM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
Not too many non-English sources there....
The death of Hector in the Iliad. I'd add Patroclus' useless death, too, but Hector gets more build up.
Genji's death in The Tale of Genji happens in a chapter with no text, just a chapter heading. Which is pretty modern for something 1000 years old.
Nameless's death in Hero is quite moving (there are a lot of moving deaths in the film).
I guess we technically don't see Jung-won die in Christmas in August, but it's quite the tear-jerker (even if he's kind of a jerk himself).
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:52 AM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
The death of Hector in the Iliad. I'd add Patroclus' useless death, too, but Hector gets more build up.
Genji's death in The Tale of Genji happens in a chapter with no text, just a chapter heading. Which is pretty modern for something 1000 years old.
Nameless's death in Hero is quite moving (there are a lot of moving deaths in the film).
I guess we technically don't see Jung-won die in Christmas in August, but it's quite the tear-jerker (even if he's kind of a jerk himself).
posted by GenjiandProust at 11:52 AM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Ben Parker is an interesting case. At first it probably was pretty sad. But now we've seen it so many times, we're all "hurry up and kill gramps so some more interesting stories can be told".
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:52 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by The_Vegetables at 11:52 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Where is Charlotte? What, is the list limited to humans only?
posted by SPrintF at 11:56 AM on July 21, 2022 [42 favorites]
posted by SPrintF at 11:56 AM on July 21, 2022 [42 favorites]
I knew Holmes had been brought back from the dead by popular demand, but I've never thought of it in terms of what's routinely done in present-day comics. So is Sherlock Holmes the first retcon?
posted by Sing Or Swim at 11:57 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Sing Or Swim at 11:57 AM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
How does Billie Joe McAllister not make this list?
posted by Thorzdad at 12:00 PM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 12:00 PM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
T-Rex toilet lawyer.
posted by AlSweigart at 12:05 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by AlSweigart at 12:05 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
Given that the authors included so many forms of media, limiting the list to fifty makes it inevitable that some memorable deaths would be left out. But using up one of those 50 spots for Pac-Man? Really?
posted by TedW at 12:09 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by TedW at 12:09 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
Just rewatched The Iron Giant and I would have to add the eponymous hero to my personal list. “I go. You stay. No following.”
posted by Ishbadiddle at 12:09 PM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by Ishbadiddle at 12:09 PM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
Henry Blake's death was huge, and it probably helped a little to end the war in Viet Nam.
The timing isn't right. All US military units had been out of Vietnam for two years already when that episode broadcast.
posted by Galvanic at 12:10 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
The timing isn't right. All US military units had been out of Vietnam for two years already when that episode broadcast.
posted by Galvanic at 12:10 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
Where is Charlotte? What, is the list limited to humans only?
Grumpy, cynical, nearly 60-year-old me is getting dusty-eyed remembering that one.
Bill in Kill Bill was good, if kind of expected. But then again, Tarantino seems to have tried to make a career out of memorable deaths, so 🤷🏼♂️.
Real life deaths would be interesting, if morbid.
posted by TedW at 12:18 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Grumpy, cynical, nearly 60-year-old me is getting dusty-eyed remembering that one.
Bill in Kill Bill was good, if kind of expected. But then again, Tarantino seems to have tried to make a career out of memorable deaths, so 🤷🏼♂️.
Real life deaths would be interesting, if morbid.
posted by TedW at 12:18 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
George and Martha's son in "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". I mean, the death is shocking, but the reveal after is mind-boggling.
posted by Gorgik at 12:23 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
[Click for spoiler]
He's not real, and turns out to have been made up in response to the couple's infertility, and used as a prop to torture each otherposted by Gorgik at 12:23 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Lara Flynn Boyle’s character on Las Vegas.
Oh wait, are we being serious? Maddy Ferguson’s murder on Twin Peaks. Laura arrived safely dead and tidily wrapped in plastic; Maddy was not the first on-screen murder on the show, but it was the first to acknowledge the brutality, the resilience, the terror, the despair, the compulsion, and the innate wrongness of one human wasting the life of another.
It was also the longest, most realistic, and most brutal TV violence I’d ever seen in my life up to that point. Maybe I’m biased.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:26 PM on July 21, 2022 [6 favorites]
Oh wait, are we being serious? Maddy Ferguson’s murder on Twin Peaks. Laura arrived safely dead and tidily wrapped in plastic; Maddy was not the first on-screen murder on the show, but it was the first to acknowledge the brutality, the resilience, the terror, the despair, the compulsion, and the innate wrongness of one human wasting the life of another.
It was also the longest, most realistic, and most brutal TV violence I’d ever seen in my life up to that point. Maybe I’m biased.
posted by infinitewindow at 12:26 PM on July 21, 2022 [6 favorites]
Also, Seymour Glass in A Perfect Day for Bananafish. I first read that back in high school and was utterly not expecting such an abrupt, out of nowhere, ending. I just sat there in a bit of stunned silence.
posted by Thorzdad at 12:26 PM on July 21, 2022 [8 favorites]
posted by Thorzdad at 12:26 PM on July 21, 2022 [8 favorites]
Nina's death in The Americans 😢
posted by kingless at 12:27 PM on July 21, 2022 [9 favorites]
posted by kingless at 12:27 PM on July 21, 2022 [9 favorites]
It would never make this list but my favorite death scene has to be Wesley Snipes in King Of New York. Laughing to the bitter end as Christopher Walken pumps him full of lead
posted by hoodrich at 12:27 PM on July 21, 2022
posted by hoodrich at 12:27 PM on July 21, 2022
Fredo
posted by TedW at 12:31 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by TedW at 12:31 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Granny Weatherwax. COME ON.
posted by cooker girl at 12:36 PM on July 21, 2022 [18 favorites]
posted by cooker girl at 12:36 PM on July 21, 2022 [18 favorites]
I just reread Watership Down (I feel like I am always rereading Watership Down). Hazel's death always, always makes me cry.
posted by zoetrope at 12:41 PM on July 21, 2022 [10 favorites]
posted by zoetrope at 12:41 PM on July 21, 2022 [10 favorites]
What about Little Ann and Old Dan, the dogs in "Where the Red Fern Grows":
I have tears welling up even now!
posted by wenestvedt at 12:45 PM on July 21, 2022 [8 favorites]
The dogs prove their loyalty in a number of ways throughout the story, but their ultimate display of loyalty comes at the end when they sacrifice their lives to save Billy from a mountain lion. Billy says, "I never saw my dogs when they got between the lion and me, but they were there. Side by side, they rose up from the ground as one. They sailed straight into those jaws of death, their small red bodies taking the ripping, slashing claws meant for me." After Old Dan dies, Little Ann loses her will to live. In one final act of loyalty, she uses her remaining strength to drag her small body to Old Dan's grave where she dies.source
I have tears welling up even now!
posted by wenestvedt at 12:45 PM on July 21, 2022 [8 favorites]
Oh, OK.
Actually this list could probably be filled with Alan Rickman and Sean Bean alone.
Special mention: Alan Rickman's character in Truly, Madly, Deeply, whose death happens off-screen and before the film begins. Just watch it, you'll get it.
The Death of Captain Marvel, the original Mar-Vell from the comics, and Jim Starlin's finest moment.
The 2001 sequel, 2010, doesn't seem to get a lot of regard, but HAL's "Will I dream?" really got me.
Ellen Ripley.
"The Reach", one of Stephen King's most atypical stories, in which a woman who's lived on an island off the coast of Maine for her entire life decides to finally visit the mainland.
Valerie, from V for Vendetta.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:46 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
Actually this list could probably be filled with Alan Rickman and Sean Bean alone.
Special mention: Alan Rickman's character in Truly, Madly, Deeply, whose death happens off-screen and before the film begins. Just watch it, you'll get it.
The Death of Captain Marvel, the original Mar-Vell from the comics, and Jim Starlin's finest moment.
The 2001 sequel, 2010, doesn't seem to get a lot of regard, but HAL's "Will I dream?" really got me.
Ellen Ripley.
"The Reach", one of Stephen King's most atypical stories, in which a woman who's lived on an island off the coast of Maine for her entire life decides to finally visit the mainland.
Valerie, from V for Vendetta.
posted by Halloween Jack at 12:46 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
I'll never forget the first time I saw Macbeth. I must have been twelve or thirteen when my drama club went to see a production at a nearby university. It was a little black box theater; the first two rows were practically onstage. They had made an incredibly realistic replica of Macbeth's head - must have been from a life mask of the actor - and brought it onstage on a pike, dripping with blood. I'd never seen anything like it.
I can't rewatch that episode of M*A*S*H without crying. And I can't rewatch that episode of Futurama AT ALL.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:47 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
I can't rewatch that episode of M*A*S*H without crying. And I can't rewatch that episode of Futurama AT ALL.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:47 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
“Take her to the Moon for me, okay?” -- Bing Bong, Inside Out
posted by vverse23 at 12:49 PM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by vverse23 at 12:49 PM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
Any talk of Little Nell makes me need to go and reread Bret Harte's "Dickens in Camp," written on the occasion of Dickens's own death.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:51 PM on July 21, 2022
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:51 PM on July 21, 2022
Scrappy Doo died in fan fiction. Does that really count?
And what about Wash in Serenity?
posted by spilon at 12:54 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
And what about Wash in Serenity?
posted by spilon at 12:54 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
Dude, Scrappy Doo beat out Old Yeller?
posted by Chuffy at 12:55 PM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
posted by Chuffy at 12:55 PM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
"“Take her to the Moon for me, okay?” -- Bing Bong, Inside Out"
I think I may have told this story here before, but I'll never forget seeing Inside Out in a crowded theater on opening weekend. It was a multigenerational audience, and we were all having a great time. When The Thing Happened, the entire auditorium went completely quiet. Then, a tiny litttle voice piped up somewhere behind me, just loud enough for everyone to hear, "Mommy? What happened to Bing Bong?" You could feel as well as hear the collective intake of breath. I'm not sure what the mother's reply was, as the sound of the movie picked back up, but I think a lot of us were having Bambi flashbacks.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:55 PM on July 21, 2022 [12 favorites]
I think I may have told this story here before, but I'll never forget seeing Inside Out in a crowded theater on opening weekend. It was a multigenerational audience, and we were all having a great time. When The Thing Happened, the entire auditorium went completely quiet. Then, a tiny litttle voice piped up somewhere behind me, just loud enough for everyone to hear, "Mommy? What happened to Bing Bong?" You could feel as well as hear the collective intake of breath. I'm not sure what the mother's reply was, as the sound of the movie picked back up, but I think a lot of us were having Bambi flashbacks.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 12:55 PM on July 21, 2022 [12 favorites]
Also Alan Rickman in Die Hard
Part of what makes that moment so great is the expression Rickman has on his face...which isn't acting. They dropped him earlier than they had told them they would in order to get that reaction.
posted by nubs at 1:05 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
Part of what makes that moment so great is the expression Rickman has on his face...which isn't acting. They dropped him earlier than they had told them they would in order to get that reaction.
posted by nubs at 1:05 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
Where is Charlotte?
The fact that you only had to give a first name and I immediately felt sucker-punched with so
much grief… I think maybe you just invalidated the whole list.
posted by Mchelly at 1:28 PM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
The fact that you only had to give a first name and I immediately felt sucker-punched with so
much grief… I think maybe you just invalidated the whole list.
posted by Mchelly at 1:28 PM on July 21, 2022 [13 favorites]
Major T. J. "King" Kong in Dr. Strangelove
posted by tinker at 1:52 PM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
posted by tinker at 1:52 PM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
'....Ive....seen things you people wouldn't believe......'
posted by Mintyblonde at 1:55 PM on July 21, 2022 [23 favorites]
posted by Mintyblonde at 1:55 PM on July 21, 2022 [23 favorites]
If M*A*S*H had ended with Henry's death it would've been the greatest show in the history of television.
posted by kirkaracha at 1:57 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by kirkaracha at 1:57 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
Sorry, no Optimus? No credit to the list.
posted by symbioid at 2:02 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by symbioid at 2:02 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
Like most of these lists, it does a pro forma handful of entries from the rest of human history and then spends 90 percent of the time in the last century, thus including some rather obscure entries. Not terrible, but I did bail out by the 1990s.
posted by tavella at 2:12 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by tavella at 2:12 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Great article with some properly deep cuts. A few others from my personal collection of sad media deaths:
Huey from Silent Running
Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (although, you know, Steinbeck did a bunch of death pretty heartbreakingly)
Everyone in Red Dwarf (they're dead, Dave. They're all dead. Everybody's dead)
posted by onebuttonmonkey at 2:26 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
Huey from Silent Running
Lennie Small in Of Mice and Men (although, you know, Steinbeck did a bunch of death pretty heartbreakingly)
Everyone in Red Dwarf (they're dead, Dave. They're all dead. Everybody's dead)
posted by onebuttonmonkey at 2:26 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
no Roy Batty?????
posted by supermedusa at 2:49 PM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by supermedusa at 2:49 PM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
Nate from Six Feet Under (if not the closing montage)
The kid who ODed in BraveStarr
posted by rhizome at 3:05 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
The kid who ODed in BraveStarr
posted by rhizome at 3:05 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
I'd never read The Little Match Girl, until as an adult, I read it out loud to my four-year-old nephew and by the end, I was sobbing so much I could barely choke out the last sentence. Not traumatizing at all.
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:06 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
posted by TWinbrook8 at 3:06 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
I'll begrudgingly accept Old Dan and Little Ann being lumped in with every other dog but where are Seita and Setsuko from Grave of the Fireflies?
posted by The Hamms Bear at 3:23 PM on July 21, 2022
posted by The Hamms Bear at 3:23 PM on July 21, 2022
Dobby. (I cried, oh man!)
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 3:35 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by ThatCanadianGirl at 3:35 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
the guy in Blue Velvet who's been shot in head, but his nervous system hasn't got the message yet so he's still standing
posted by philip-random at 3:44 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by philip-random at 3:44 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Catelyn and not Nedd? Come on, dude. Spoiler alert, Catelyn doesn't even stay dead!
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:54 PM on July 21, 2022
posted by kittens for breakfast at 3:54 PM on July 21, 2022
And I can't rewatch that episode of Futurama at ALL
Oh, Christ. I love that show, rewatch it often, and have never rewatched that episode…ever. I tell folks new to the show it’s amazing but to be prepared.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 4:09 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
Oh, Christ. I love that show, rewatch it often, and have never rewatched that episode…ever. I tell folks new to the show it’s amazing but to be prepared.
posted by Insert Clever Name Here at 4:09 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
No ASLAN? (╯°□°)╯︵ ┻━┻
posted by apparently at 4:11 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by apparently at 4:11 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
Oddly, in another post today on the site, I mentioned The Rapture; the most haunting fate is that of the one character who does not die.
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:30 PM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:30 PM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
I know that Wedon has shown himself for a creep, but Joyce's death in the Buffy TV series. Actually showed how people handled death and grieving in different ways.
The best deaths are from characters who, in the words of Ursula Vernon "come to you carrying their deaths with them"
It's from a web comic, but the death in Digger is the one that hit me the hardest.
posted by Hactar at 4:33 PM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
The best deaths are from characters who, in the words of Ursula Vernon "come to you carrying their deaths with them"
It's from a web comic, but the death in Digger is the one that hit me the hardest.
posted by Hactar at 4:33 PM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
“P’Li!”
posted by Mister Moofoo at 4:34 PM on July 21, 2022
posted by Mister Moofoo at 4:34 PM on July 21, 2022
I know that Wedon has shown himself for a creep, but Joyce's death in the Buffy TV series. Actually showed how people handled death
Whedon has written a lot of quippy dialogue and occasionally some solid dialogue, but to my mind, by far the most affecting dialogue he ever produced is three words: “Mom? Mom? ... Mommy?”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:44 PM on July 21, 2022 [17 favorites]
Whedon has written a lot of quippy dialogue and occasionally some solid dialogue, but to my mind, by far the most affecting dialogue he ever produced is three words: “Mom? Mom? ... Mommy?”
posted by ricochet biscuit at 4:44 PM on July 21, 2022 [17 favorites]
I don't know how they can possibly quantify "greatest" death, and there are an awful lot of fictional deaths to choose from, so this list is necessarily incomplete. I do think they have made some interesting choices.
I will throw in my vote for Selma Jezkova in 'Dancer in the Dark'.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 4:44 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
I will throw in my vote for Selma Jezkova in 'Dancer in the Dark'.
posted by Multicellular Exothermic at 4:44 PM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]
I was also wondering about the whereabouts of Jude the Obscure (granted, my students normally respond to That Reveal less with tears and more with WHAT THE).
Speaking of Kurosawa, Lady Kaede's death in Ran.
posted by thomas j wise at 4:51 PM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
Speaking of Kurosawa, Lady Kaede's death in Ran.
posted by thomas j wise at 4:51 PM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
The timing isn't right. All US military units had been out of Vietnam for two years already when that episode broadcast.
Thanks, Galvanic. MASH helped crystallize lack of support for the war in Viet Nam, though it was set in the Korean War. I was in high school, demonstrated, etc., one brother was an AF pilot who was wounded in combat, another brother resisted the draft. The contrast with the war in Afghanistan, which most Americans seemed to ignore, was pointed.
posted by theora55 at 4:56 PM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
Thanks, Galvanic. MASH helped crystallize lack of support for the war in Viet Nam, though it was set in the Korean War. I was in high school, demonstrated, etc., one brother was an AF pilot who was wounded in combat, another brother resisted the draft. The contrast with the war in Afghanistan, which most Americans seemed to ignore, was pointed.
posted by theora55 at 4:56 PM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
Rosamund in The Doomsday Book.
posted by Emmy Noether at 5:12 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Emmy Noether at 5:12 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
Sorry, no Optimus? No credit to the list.
Optimus’ death was sad, but even, I think, as a kid, it was clear to me that it was to say “things *matter* now, this story is important. It was sad, but it was also the beginning of the movie.
Maximus Prime’s death hit me a lot harder, pleading with the matrix of leadership (or whatever it was) to open for him, knowing it wouldn’t. He wasn’t the leader everyone needed, and knew it. He did the best he could, though he knew it wouldn’t ever be enough. His death hit me harder than Optimus, and I’d literally only just “met” him in the movie.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:17 PM on July 21, 2022
Optimus’ death was sad, but even, I think, as a kid, it was clear to me that it was to say “things *matter* now, this story is important. It was sad, but it was also the beginning of the movie.
Maximus Prime’s death hit me a lot harder, pleading with the matrix of leadership (or whatever it was) to open for him, knowing it wouldn’t. He wasn’t the leader everyone needed, and knew it. He did the best he could, though he knew it wouldn’t ever be enough. His death hit me harder than Optimus, and I’d literally only just “met” him in the movie.
posted by Ghidorah at 5:17 PM on July 21, 2022
I knew Holmes had been brought back from the dead by popular demand, but I've never thought of it in terms of what's routinely done in present-day comics. So is Sherlock Holmes the first retcon?
Myths were retconning themselves all the time. The Greeks and Romans were nice enough to write the conflicting versions down so we have so many examples. "Iphegenia? No, she wasn't actually sacrificed at Aulis. Cause we have sequel rights baby!" A wiki entry for a Greek mythological figure has a lot of similarities to one for a super hero, with multiple versions of origin, super powers, and death.
Also, not exactly a retcon, but the first five books of the Odyssey totally reads like Marvel asked someone to reboot the Iliad thing after the whole epic cycle flopped, so please put in some fan service about everyone's favorite characters but also only Nestor, Menalaeus and Helen are available, and them just for one day of filming each.
posted by mark k at 5:38 PM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
Myths were retconning themselves all the time. The Greeks and Romans were nice enough to write the conflicting versions down so we have so many examples. "Iphegenia? No, she wasn't actually sacrificed at Aulis. Cause we have sequel rights baby!" A wiki entry for a Greek mythological figure has a lot of similarities to one for a super hero, with multiple versions of origin, super powers, and death.
Also, not exactly a retcon, but the first five books of the Odyssey totally reads like Marvel asked someone to reboot the Iliad thing after the whole epic cycle flopped, so please put in some fan service about everyone's favorite characters but also only Nestor, Menalaeus and Helen are available, and them just for one day of filming each.
posted by mark k at 5:38 PM on July 21, 2022 [7 favorites]
"That story is not true,
You never sailed in the benched ships,
You never went to the city of Troy."
posted by clew at 8:27 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
You never sailed in the benched ships,
You never went to the city of Troy."
posted by clew at 8:27 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
I agree that Where The Red Fern Grows is absolutely heartbreaking. I’m not even especially a dog person, though I like them okay, but I remember as a fifth grader reading the book so I could do a book report for school, just absolutely bawling my eyes out trying to get through the end of that book.
posted by Night_owl at 8:32 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Night_owl at 8:32 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Okay yes, I am one of the (few) people of the world who absolutely loves Intolerable Cruelty, and I think the death of Wheezy Joe is freaking hilarious. I'm thrilled that it makes the list!
His death is only topped by what precedes it: George Clooney is searching for a guy named Wheezy Joe, doesn't know who he is or what he looks like, but knows where he could possibly be found. He goes there, he sees a big, hulking dude whose breathing sounds like a squeaky bellows, and asks, with that perfect version of inanity that Clooney and the Coens do so well, "Are you Wheezy Joe?" Fucking kills me every time.
(That movie is horrendously underrated. Bonus shout out to anyone who loves Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy.)
Lastly: Fry's dog? The saddest thing on the list by far.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:23 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
His death is only topped by what precedes it: George Clooney is searching for a guy named Wheezy Joe, doesn't know who he is or what he looks like, but knows where he could possibly be found. He goes there, he sees a big, hulking dude whose breathing sounds like a squeaky bellows, and asks, with that perfect version of inanity that Clooney and the Coens do so well, "Are you Wheezy Joe?" Fucking kills me every time.
(That movie is horrendously underrated. Bonus shout out to anyone who loves Heinz, the Baron Krauss von Espy.)
Lastly: Fry's dog? The saddest thing on the list by far.
posted by BlahLaLa at 9:23 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Like most of these lists, it does a pro forma handful of entries from the rest of human history and then spends 90 percent of the time in the last century, thus including some rather obscure entries.
I bet kids today can’t even name three dramas written in the 11th century!
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:42 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
I bet kids today can’t even name three dramas written in the 11th century!
posted by ricochet biscuit at 9:42 PM on July 21, 2022 [2 favorites]
The maybe-not-but-you-know-really death at the end of Villette is up there for me.
posted by clew at 10:01 PM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by clew at 10:01 PM on July 21, 2022 [3 favorites]
Shelby in Steel Magnolias
I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.
Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars
You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Deep Throat in X-Files
Trust no one.
posted by TrishaU at 10:14 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
I would rather have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing special.
Ben Obi-Wan Kenobi in Star Wars
You can't win, Darth. If you strike me down I will become more powerful than you could possibly imagine.
Deep Throat in X-Files
Trust no one.
posted by TrishaU at 10:14 PM on July 21, 2022 [1 favorite]
Gollum over Boromir. Or Gandalf (who, yeah, got better). That is a choice.
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:15 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
posted by Parasite Unseen at 11:15 PM on July 21, 2022 [4 favorites]
Hard to take a list like this seriously that doesn't include Owen Meany.
posted by Gumshoe Grimshaw at 2:07 AM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
posted by Gumshoe Grimshaw at 2:07 AM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
I about twisted my throat to pieces with one sob when Hood came in person for Beak in the Malazan books.
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 3:55 AM on July 22, 2022
posted by Ice Cream Socialist at 3:55 AM on July 22, 2022
I'd never read The Little Match Girl, until as an adult, I read it out loud to my four-year-old nephew and by the end, I was sobbing so much I could barely choke out the last sentence. Not traumatizing at all.
If it helps, Sir Terry Pratchett included a great bit of fix-it fanfic for this one in Hogfather. Now whenever I hear the original Hans Christian Anderson piece, it just makes me angry.
If it helps, Sir Terry Pratchett included a great bit of fix-it fanfic for this one in Hogfather. Now whenever I hear the original Hans Christian Anderson piece, it just makes me angry.
“Sorry, master. But, look, it’s all right, anyway, because she wakes up and it’s all bright and shining and tinkling music and there’s angels, master.”posted by RonButNotStupid at 5:08 AM on July 22, 2022 [18 favorites]
Death stopped.
AH. THEY TURN UP AT THE LAST MINUTE WITH WARM CLOTHES AND A HOT DRINK?
“Er. No. Not exactly at the last minute, master. Not as such.”
WELL?
“More sort of just after the last minute.” Albert coughed nervously.
YOU MEAN AFTER SHE’S—
“Yes. That’s how the story goes, master, ‘s not my fault.”
WHY NOT TURN UP BEFORE? AN ANGEL HAS QUITE A LARGE CARRYING CAPACITY.
“Couldn’t say, master. I suppose people think it’s more… satisfying the other way…” Albert hesitated and then growned. “You know, now that I come to tell someone…”
Death looked down at the shape under the falling snow. Then he set the lifetimer on the air and touched it with a finger. A spark flashed across.
“You ain’t really allowed to do that,” said Albert, feeling wretched.
THE HOGFATHER CAN. THE HOGFATHER GIVES PRESENTS. THERE’S NO BETTER PRESENT THAN A FUTURE.
[....]
Death scooped up the girl and strode to the end of the alley.
The snowflakes fell like angel’s feathers. Death stepped out into the street and accosted two figures who were tramping through the drifts.
TAKE HER SOMEWHERE WARM AND GIVE HER A GOOD DINNER, he commanded, pushing the bundle into the arms of one of them. AND I MAY WELL BE CHECKING UP LATER.
Then he turned and disappeared in the swirling snow.
Going back to the top of the thread for this one, but I saw “Angels with Dirty Faces” when I was a kid, and that last-mile scene has always stuck with me. I figured it was meant to be ambiguous - Rocky had refused to act scared in that final conversation with his priest friend, so did he change his mind, or was he actually terrified in his final moments? Cagney has been quoted as saying: “In looking at the film, it is virtually impossible to say which course Rocky took – which is just the way I wanted it. I played it with deliberate ambiguity so that the spectator can take his choice. It seems to me it works out fine in either case.”
posted by Epixonti at 7:59 AM on July 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by Epixonti at 7:59 AM on July 22, 2022 [3 favorites]
> Like Ellie's death in Up, traumatizing an entire generation of children.
To an entire generation of middle-aged adults.
posted by lhauser at 4:17 PM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
To an entire generation of middle-aged adults.
posted by lhauser at 4:17 PM on July 22, 2022 [1 favorite]
Really just feel compelled to add to what I think is a decent list , and I don’t say that often.
Zoe in House of Cards. Didn’t see that one coming. Literally.
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 7:43 AM on July 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
Zoe in House of Cards. Didn’t see that one coming. Literally.
posted by MorgansAmoebas at 7:43 AM on July 24, 2022 [3 favorites]
having seen the British original, I very much saw it coming. In fact, I was wondering when the hell it would come because the Netflix remake/rethink delayed it somewhat and I was beginning to think, you bastards better not have weaseled out on this. But once I saw things slow down on that subway platform ...
posted by philip-random at 11:06 AM on July 24, 2022
posted by philip-random at 11:06 AM on July 24, 2022
How can we forget poor little Alex Kintner, memorialized on the internet every June 29th?
posted by TedW at 11:32 AM on July 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by TedW at 11:32 AM on July 24, 2022 [2 favorites]
"Flirting. Laughter. Painting, family. Female... human."
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:32 PM on July 24, 2022
posted by The Underpants Monster at 4:32 PM on July 24, 2022
Morpheus, The Sandman. I can take or leave the artist for that entire arc, but The Page Where It Happens is pretty powerful.
posted by humbug at 1:53 PM on July 25, 2022 [2 favorites]
posted by humbug at 1:53 PM on July 25, 2022 [2 favorites]
"Mom, Dad. It's evil don't touch it."
posted by philip-random at 6:42 AM on July 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
posted by philip-random at 6:42 AM on July 28, 2022 [3 favorites]
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This thread has been archived and is closed to new comments
It was ever thus.
posted by mykescipark at 10:11 AM on July 21, 2022 [5 favorites]