Jeff Winger, from Dan Harmon's cult classic series Community, once said, "For the same reason I can pick up this pencil, tell you its name is Steve and go like this (breaks pencil) and part of you dies just a little bit on the inside, because people can connect with anything." While it's true many people who consider themselves part of a "fandom" can find a true connection to a character, be it for their quirks or personalities, it's the surprise deaths out of nowhere that resonate with you for a long time.
WARNING: Spoilers incoming for a multitude of shows and movies and books!
Reddit user, u/ItsaMe_Rapio, wanted to know what pencil broke your heart the most when they asked:
Which fictional death hit you the hardest?
"You have to forgive yourself for everything that went down the other day."
GiphyBrendan Fraser in Scrubs
"Where do you think we are?"
No Happy Ending, After All
Remus Lupin, he just had a sad life and he died right after life seemed to be looking up for him.
And then his kid became an orphan!
To Keep The Harry Potter Train Rolling...
GiphyI was really sad about Fred Weasley. The fact he was a twin made it worse.
Out of all the HP related deaths, his hit me hardest, too, for the same reason. They weren't just twins- they did EVERYTHING together. I always wondered how George managed afterwards.
That's What We Call Growth
Hank from breaking bad. Dude started the series as a stereotypical meathead that I thought I was gonna hate, but had one of the biggest character arcs besides Walt and Jesse. By the end I was rooting pretty hard for him. Imagine finding out someone close to you was a major druglord if you were a dea agent irl. That would have to be awful and embarrassing.
Where The Red Fern DIES
I read Where the Red Fern Grows as a teen. When the dog Old Dan died after saving Billy from a mountain lion .Followed by the other dog Little Ann of a broken heart. I was inconsolable.
We read that book in school. Teacher had to have us read that chapter because she couldn't do it. It had been part of the school book list like forever. She had to have read that book like twenty times, and still couldn't hold it together.
"Then Little Foot knew for certain he was alone."
GiphyLittle Foot's mom in The Land Before Time.
I posted this recebtly [sic], but when I first saw it as a kid it was the first time that I realized that my parents could die. That thought had never even really occured [sic] to me at that point.
Even now as an adult that scene where he thinks he sees her but it's just his shadow and the narrator says, "Then Little Foot knew for certain he was alone." still gets to me.
Spoiler: DEATH
Well, not going to spoil it, but if you've seen Bridge to Terebithia, you know what I'm referring to.
The trailers made it seem like a fun fantasy movie but what we got was a depressing pile of depressing
Always With The Sean Bean
GiphyNed Stark. You watch the entire first season of GOT thinking he will be the main character and then he gets his damn head chopped off. It shocked me
Believing that Sean Bean would survive a series was your first mistake
...*cries harder
Bing Bong from inside out. Idk what was up with that movie but that was the first time I nearly cried while watching a movie
Lion King? shrug
Red Dog? doesnt affect me
A Goddam chILDRENS MOVIE THAT I DIDNT EVEN WATCH ALL OF f-cking heart breaks
As someone who deals with depression, that movie hit me hard. It was so nice to see a movie portray a lot of the stuff about depression that doesn't get talked about. I was on the verge of tears for most of the movie, but Bing Bong dying was like the floodgates opened.
Even The Most Imaginary Fictional Characters Count
When I was a small child, my father invented stories about a truck that worked hard and drove challenging roads all over the world
Then, he ran out of stories, and sent the truck to the junkyard
Made me very sad as a small child who loved trucks
At age 66, makes me sad to remember
"I am a leaf on the wind."
GiphyWash in Serenity.
"I am a leaf on the wind"
The hardest thing about that one is that it's all so sudden. He's dead before you even realise what just happened, and suddenly they have to gtfo of there cos the reavers are coming. Mal has to drag Zoe away cos she's in total disbelief and trying to get Wash out of the chair.
@PreetBharara/X
@RepBrendanBoyle/X
@twesq/Bluesky
@christopherharris/Bluesky
@evangelinewarren/X
@FrankC164/X
AMC