Oh, wow, I have a bunch of these. Johnny and Dally from The Outsiders immediately come to mind. Don’t even get me started on Old Yeller.
People on AskReddit shared the fictional deaths that hit them right in the gut.
What characters have died in books, movies, or TV that really affected you? Share your thoughts in the comments.
1. The Green Mile.
“John Coffey, The Green Mile. A sweet and innocent soul, blessed (or cursed) with the gift of sight. Sight into people’s hearts and minds. He was accused of murder having come across the bodies of two murdered children (whom he had tried to save). He healed and eased others suffering by taking it into himself.
The scene where he is in the electric chair, terrified, and everyone is watching with accusatory eyes. The guards know of his innocence and are heartbroken because there is nothing they can do. That scene gets me every time. Michael Clark Duncan was a magnificent pick for that role.”
2. That is sad.
“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.”
3. That is a difficult one.
“Brooks in Shawshank Redemption :’( .”
4. No spoilers back then.
“Spock. Saw it in the theater. Didn’t know it was comin. No internet spoilers back then, lol.”
5. Didn’t see that coming.
“Sweets from Bones.
Did not see that coming.”
6. All choked up.
“Charlotte in Charlotte’s Web. It’s been forty years and I still can’t even think about it without getting choked up.”
7. Upset about this one.
“Prim. Threw the book across the room. What was this all for?”
8. “I was inconsolable.”
“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.”
9. Poor Opie…
“Opie in Sons of Anarchy.”
10. Was rooting for him.
“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 drug lord if you were a DEA agent IRL. That would have to be awful and embarrassing.”
11. Shocked by this one.
“Ned 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.”
12. Still sad about it.
“Sam the onion picker in Holes.
My man just wanted that lady to be his wife so they could live together in onion and peach filled bliss, and goddammit she wanted it too.
Still makes me sad to this day.”
13. Now and then.
“As a kid it was definitely Mufasa, that part of the film haunted me for months.
Now Yondu’s death makes me bawl, Romanoff’s makes my heart break and Danny’s death in Pearl Harbor is a very poignant one for me.”
14. Hits you hard.
“99, a deformed clone trooper who couldn’t serve in the clone wars and just worked as a janitor instead. When he sacrificed himself, that hit me.”
15. Too sad for me, can’t do it.
“The dog from Marley & Me.”
Ack… would you think less of me if I revealed that ALL of those got to me?
I just don’t like to see anybody suffer. So, that makes me a good guy, right?
Which of these affected you?
Let us know in the comments
