When we see our favorite characters on the screen or read of their adventures in books, they seem nearly invincible, which is why if tragedy strikes, their death comes as a complete and utter shock. If you need some examples to help understand what I am talking about, “Harry Potter” has quite a few, and a more recent example would be “Star Wars: The Force Awakens.” Perhaps these do not have to be your absolute favorite character in the story; however, the deaths of characters, particularly good ones, can still momentarily stop the hearts of audiences.
However, these deaths are much more than mere plot devices, contrived to move the story forward or instill character development. They do something much simpler, something that may slip right under our radar. The deaths of these beloved characters ground the story in reality and give a sense of gravity.
In many ways, this is set up in the death of the mentor—a trope derived from the Joseph Campbell’s hero’s journey concept. Often times, the protagonist of a story needs a mentor of some sort in order to achieve a goal. However, this is the hero’s story, not the mentor’s. The mentor must in some way leave in order for the story’s hero to take center stage.
In the seventh installment of the “Star Wars” saga, Han Solo, who aids Rey and Finn, the film’s protagonists, through the latter half of the movie, is killed by Kylo Ren, his own son. If you didn’t know, Solo is one of the protagonists from the original trilogy. He is, without a doubt, a beloved character who swooned audiences with his cowboy charm and swagger. Constantly avoiding certain death and slinking his way out of danger, Solo was invincible to many, which is why his death shocked audiences. Other than serving as a motivator for the movie’s protagonists and a character arc for Kylo Ren, Solo’s death serves to remind audiences that even the legendary can die.
In another way, the death of a character is the unsuspected innocent secondary character or one who seemingly does not deserve it. In “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows,” Dobby, a house-elf and friend of Harry Potter, is killed while escaping Malfoy Manor and saving Harry and others. As opposed to Solo, Dobby is a secondary character and only makes scattered yet significant appearances throughout the books (and subsequently, the movies). Yet, despite his secondary presence, Dobby has still managed to capture the hearts of audiences with his innocence. Regardless of the abuse he received as a house-elf under the Malfoys, Dobby remains kind-hearted and a fierce protector of his friends, which makes his death heartbreaking. His death serves to remind the audience that death does not shy away from the innocent.
For both Han Solo and Dobby, their legend and innocence accordingly make them cherished characters and seemingly invulnerable from death, but their stories would see to it that they too die. Importantly and most powerfully, their deaths ground their stories in reality and set a unique tone of gravity. One’s status or innocence does not protect them from death. This can be seen in the death of David Bowie, Alan Rickman, or Prince, and the seemingly gratuitous suffering of innocents around the world. The reality is that no one is safe from death. The same is true in fiction. In fact, it would seem almost nonsensical for death to be absent in a world where there are more dangers (blasters and lightsabers and magic) and bad people who use these dangers to their advantage. It seems like a pretty bleak conclusion, but what the audience member may miss is that the introduction of death into the story creates urgency for the character who can die.While worlds and stories can be created where death is not necessarily an issue, the ones that where death is a very real issue have much more depth. Where death is real, the stakes are much steeper because it creates finiteness, which is something we all share. Death then becomes a motivator in itself. The phrase "do or die" becomes seriously real for the characters because no one is safe from dying. It truly brings the audience and the characters on a closer level of connection because of the reality and motivation of death.
