I swear there are some fictional deaths I've sobbed over more than ones in real life.
And I know I'm not alone in that.
I'm an avid soap opera fan and there are deaths that have left me bereft and triggered.
There is just something about the connection we make to great characters and stories that leave an impression for life.
We're finding these characters in the greatest and worst moments of their lives and we bond.
It's intimate, we see ourselves in them.
So when they die, it becomes a wound that never heals. Because it's a story we can't change.
Redditor rendice_1011 wanted to have a deep chat and discuss fiction's most heartbreaking endings by asking:
"Who is that one character whose death you just can't get over?"
On the Water
"Wilson from Cast Away. I know it's not really a death but Chuck having to choose between his raft (and his own safety) and saving Wilson traumatized me as a kid." ~ GirlWhoReads90
Giphy"Ben"
"Ben from Scrubs holds the world record for the quickest-set sympathy for any character ever." ~ NerdismOfficial
"It’s because Brandon Fraser is quite possibly the most lovable person on earth and an incredible actor." ~ brandee95
"This is an episode I wish I could go back and see for the first time again. Everything up to that moment… the same picture at each of his tourist spots… the wanting a posed picture when he was so against them… everything about that episode was perfect." ~ brain89
Made of Steel
"Shelby in Steel Magnolias. I will forever be a mess no matter how many times I watch. Sally Fields did such an amazing job in that scene, it gets me every time." ~ Sylverpsyche
"This was my favorite need a good cry movie (the funeral scene kills me) and I haven't watched it since my baby sister was diagnosed with Type 1 at age 9. I just can't do it." ~ szg5057
Can't Watch
"Piggy from Lord of the Flies. He didn’t deserve that." ~ RehabValedictorian
"When I read that in HS, we watched the movie after. My teacher replayed the scene like 10 times because he thought the effects made it hilarious." ~ Much_Improvement_987
Baby Tears
"The Iron Giant, no matter how many times I watch it even though I know he actually survived I bawl like a baby at Superman..." ~ Singewulf
GiphyCast Away and Steel Magnolias?
Don't get me started.
Not without vodka.
Down
"The wife from UP." ~ smorgasfjord
"I sobbed through the first fifteen minutes of that movie, wept quietly through the next 80, and then sobbed again at the end. Pixar will f**k you up." ~ billionairespicerice
disney love GIFGiphyPoor Mouse
"The freaking mouse from Flowers For Algernon." ~ Aware_Style_7445
"What got me was the ending. The guy slowly losing cognitive functions, yet not regaining his previous naiveness."
"He knows now that everyone uses him and laughs at him. I'm never reading that book again." ~ lumiere02
Brutal
"Old Dan and Little Ann. I was a sick, snot covered mess of a sixth grader on my first read through of Where the Red Fern Grows." ~ fadedblossom
"I recently picked up a copy of Where the Red Fern Grows from a little free library and reread it. I remembered the broad strokes of the story and that the dogs die, but not all the details."
"I am in my forties. I was a sick, snot covered mess of a human when I finished it. The end of that book is brutal." ~ Glaggies
Bye Mom
"Littlefoot's mom. 5 year old me was all choked up at the theater." ~ Taladrac
"Wanna know something even more f**ked up? She didn't need to die to continue the plot."
"She could have just been separated like Littlefoot's grandparents and everything in the film could have happened the exact same. They killed Littlefoot's mom to traumatize an entire generation." ~ ubertraquer
The Original
"Charlotte, in the original version of Charlotte's Web." ~ MasakoChance
"Damn you, I buried that memory long ago." ~ Cosmic_Prisoner
Spider Web Halloween GIFGiphyCharlotte... another OG death.
This list makes me sad.
But what great writing and storytelling.
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