***PLEASE MARK FOR SPOILERS WHEN DISCUSSING ANY CHARACTER DEATHS. For example... "I hated one particular death in [STORY TITLE]" [hit Enter] [hit Enter] [hit Enter] [hit Enter] "When [CHARACTER] died, I was frustrated because..." Also... Making these videos require a ton of time and effort, so please remember to like, share, and subscribe. Thanks! And please consider supporting the channel on Patreon: www.patreon.com/WriterBrandonMcNulty
I hated multiple particular deaths in Jujutsu Kaisen There isn't really any specific ones, almost none of the deaths are well executed. Most relevant and intereting characters are killed off for shock value like Gojo, Yuki and Nobara. A lot were interesting and should've been explored more but the creator overestimates shock value which is the only card he can really play.
I hated a particular death in Lost when Jack Shepherd died, I was frustrated because he was hyped up to the Island's protector. But instead it's wasted and it goes to Hurley who didn't really deserve it.
I'm trying to find an exception but I can't because all his deaths are great... or at least in great movies because his death acting has not always been that golden.
Not only is it a terrible idea, but the execution was just so apathetic. Chewie "dies," Rey and Finn scream, then they run away and never really address it again, and in the NEXT SCENE we find out Chewie is alive and well. Absolutely worthless fakeout.
The way Eren's mom covers her mouth and says "don't go" makes that scene 10x more impactful and shows so brutally that while the sacrifice was noble, it is no less terrifying for the person making it
Yeah I remember that I wasn't feeling that bad about her (was just a generic mom for me) til she said that.. then I felt terrible. That reaction of the character was soo real
It’s genuinely SO GOOD. Most often, you see characters be all stoic/amused and brave while choosing to sacrifice themselves, as if they’re not afraid to die. But fear is what makes it a heroic thing in the first place; Carla doesn’t want to die and is terrified, this is shown, but she still does it. It’s just a phenomenal scene.
@@kiaru86 And then we see her in flashbacks later on and realize she wasn't a generic mom at all, she was her own person with her own aspirations and her own philosophy on life. They characterized her beautifully, and it's all the more tragic for what happened to her son later on.
If you look at that part where she was held by the titan, she was kicking, which means her legs are fine, and just said that so eren and mikasa can live
@ShinGallon The Kents in the Snyderverse are so antithetical to who they are in every other version (except one version of John in the early 2000's). The Snyder version of the Kents couldn't raise Superman. He would become *something* but it wouldn't be Superman. None of what they show him or say to him teaches him what it is to care for others more than yourself. The core aspect of who he is.
Ned Stark's death in GOT Season 1 and character deaths in the red wedding were emotionally impactful and shocking The deaths also had ramifications for the villains
Not merely "ramifications". These two deaths were ultimately the MOST major of the whole story so far. Ned's death isn't what started the conflict, but they are what made the conflict completely and utterly impossible to solve via an exchange of prisoners, which is what was expected to happen. The war became something that would devour the whole continent for the next decade, and everybody basically knew it. After this point, EVERYTHING goes sour. One spoiled little brat essentially kicks off all the major problems on the continent with a single, devestating, brilliantly idiotic decision. Ned's death is ruminated on, basically by every single major character in the story. It is a visibly emotionally stirring death for all involved, whether for their pleasure or their pain. This was Martin essentially writing a tragedy the way it's supposed to. By making it truly inescapably tragic, unjust, and consequence-ridden. The manner in which Rob is then killed has MAJOR rippling effects on the continent as well. The war didn't end there, it became a guerilla war between diehard loyalists to rob's cause and the opportunists that changed side. Once again most major characters ruminate on it, the manner of his death, the gruesomeness of it, the consequences of it, etc... Once more it's a deeply tragic death for a beloved hero. It dramatically shapes our remaining heroes in a darker way as well. If fighting the lannisters was an achievable goal of vengeance once, it's now a neccesary act to root out fundamental evil. Our own heroes have to grow up because of it, destroying that part of themselves that was more naïve, and embracing the cruel nature of the world they inhabit, while adapting to it. We see this especially for Arya and Jon Snow, both of whom grow, and not neccessarily in a way that can be seen as positive. All in all, great deaths with great build-up, great pay-off and great consequences. A masterclass in how to do this.
People like to say that it was an incorrect statement since Frodo and Sam simply walked into Mordor, but no, there was nothing simple about their entry into Mordor (Frodo got attacked by a fucking giant spider). That's what makes that scene from this video perfect. Boromir was killed, but there was nothing simple about how it was done, it's complicated.
And with that it leads pippin into pledging allegiance to Denethor. This one deathe sscene from the first part impacts the characters actions and motivations all through the second and third part. And don't forget about Faramir!
Agreed to Faramir. He questions Frodo deeply in Ithilien about his “vision” of Boromir lying in the boat and Frodo is worried about all of his friends. He has no idea any are alive until after the ring is destroyed.
It goes deeper than that. Boromir isn't supposed to be there. Faramir is well known as being the diplomat. Faramir was supposed to be at the conference, with Boromir leading the defense of the realm. Denethor sent Boromir instead.
@@Rocketsongthe books and the movies have two wildly interpretations of Boromir and Faramir. In the movies they feel nearly interchangeable but in the books you understand that as much as it should have been Faramir in the fellowship, not his brother Boromir went because that's what was needed. His personality and flaws created the only winning scenario and as traffic his death is it saves the world
Cedric Diggory's death in HP Goblet of Fire is one of the best deaths in my opinion. It was an absolute shock because you went into the book thinking it was a whimsical kid's story and suddenly a likeable character dies a real death with real mourning. And the acting in the film really sold the pain! Not many character deaths have felt like such a blindsided gut punch.
yes, his death hurt me more than dumbledore's, i don't remember the movie but the that's in my opinio the best hp, i remember being terrified reading it, sirius death was good too
His death led to Molly giving him (Harry) a hug that made him feel what a mother’s love felt like for the first time as well. It was a very emotional scene in both literature and film, though I prefer the book.
I agree, it really set the stage for how dangerous Harry’s adventure really was. The BEST wizard student at Hogwarts snuffed out instantly by “real world” magic murderers. This was NOT class anymore. No more safety net.
Season 8 of Game of Thrones should be a lesson to every writer in how to destroy your own work and credibility. It's a master class in epically failing the ending of a show or written work.
The worst part is when people defend the decisions made...in all honesty it wasn't all bad, but it didn't have the build up to make it work. People who try to defend it just don't understand writing
It was a nice touch how you kept saying "Superman" instead of Clark because that just constantly reemphasized the fact that he is freaking SUPERMAN and easily could have saved everyone there. The mark of a true writer
I call it manipulative, because he's not Superman yet. He's still a kid (even if they got Cavill to play him for this scene). Clark isnt ready to be superman, or have a full grasp of his powers, even in much of the present day scenes, let alone in the midst of his teen life.
I haven't seen the movie, but watching this clip, it's pretty obvious he could have saved everyone including his father AND keep his true nature a secret. Heck, I think a normal human in peak physical condition could have pulled it off.
@@ludovico6890 Exactly. Being a young, healthy guy, he could've easily done better than Jonathan in that situation without tapping into any of his powers.
@@ludovico6890 Yeah it's not just the writing that let that scene down but also the directing too. It looked like Jonathan Kent wanted to die, just standing there for a few seconds waiting to be consumed. From the audience perspective, a logical character would be struggling to survive so he can spend the remaining 20 years of his life with his wife and son. But the way it was shot was very awkward, it looked like Jonathan Kent had enough time to limp to safety and Clark had enough time to carry him without using superpowers.
It wasn't just the killing of the Ice King that was a problem, but the killing of Cersei. Both major villains are therefore killed without any sort of emotional impact.
I picked Cerci dying in Jamie's arms as the world crumbles around them a season earlier. The Hound and the Mountain will kill each other - fire will somehow be involved. John Snow will kill Daenerys just before she plunks down in the world's most uncomfortable chair. 8th season gets a lot of hate. I just found it predictable. Thought Hot Pie would end up as king though.
@@marvcollins7842 I think her killing was satisfying and books were leading to her being an anti-villain (ditto with Tyrion who for some reason became a hero in the show). The problem wasn't the way she died but the nonsensical lack of buildup. There were plenty of ways her burning down Kings Landing would have been logical (her last dragon dies, or Greyworm is killed or Cersei is hiding among the small folk, or the bell gets broken), but it was like 'I've won and I'm evil now, lol'.
The character death I found most impactful was that of the Iron Giant, with “you are who you choose to be” echoing one last time. The Iron Giant chooses to be Superman, a hero who chose to “use his powers for good; never for evil”. And even though he was tagged as a dangerous, evil being from outer space, Iron Giant proves that perception wrong by deciding to sacrifice himself to save Hogarth’s town. At least that’s how I’ve always understood it, and then some😊
Bonus it doubles as a great fake out death! And one of the reasons it actually works as a fake out death is because they foreshadowed his self repair ability a lot ahead of time. The Iron Giant is an all-around great movie, but that scene really makes it. Sad he did superman so much better than superman.
I agree with everything you said about Arya and the Night King, but I think it's symptomatic of a much bigger problem. The stakes in a story are supposed to escalate, not diminish, but GoT season 8 basically has everybody coming together to stop the apocalypse, and then immediately after, it's back to petty politics. It's hard to even care what happens to King's Landing.
I think the biggest problem with that whole season is that there was no satisfying conclusion to ANY of the plots/subplots. Everything ended in disappointment.
Yeah, I was really surprised they chose to have the battles in that order, it seems like the obviously wrong way to do it. Dany would have had a much more interesting & believable justification to roast all those people if she was expecting they were going to get turned into ice zombies, and the Winterfell battle could have been much more tense in the context of that having just happened but everyone left needing to work together afterwards.
Especially since it's rather clear that GRRM is leading up to something big happening in King's Landing _first_ with the Invasion by The Golden Company and 'Prince Aegon'.
@@SilentFlatulence if characters are written well, and if the writer(s) stays true to how the characters are written, then it doesn't matter if everything ends in disappointment. The good guys don't always have to win; they can lose, and lose well, as long as they stay true to their character in doing it. The problem with the conclusions to practically all the characters' arcs is that the show didn't stay true to what had been built over the better part of 6+ seasons. The Dany who arrives at Dragonstone in the first episode of S7 is NOT the same Dany who sailed for Westeros at the end of S6. And that's just one example. They assassinated too many of the characters and made some (very) sloppy plot choices, and it HURT watching everything implode after having been built up so well.
@@dawnieb.7394 I think you misunderstood me. The "disappointment" has nothing to do with whether the characters win or lose, and in fact, I love to see characters lose. The real problem is that foreshadowing had no conclusion. Stories that were built up over seasons had no conclusion. The stories that were concluded seemed to have results that came out of nowhere, as opposed to something that seemed to be coming for some time. I can forgive season 6 for being misguided, and even season 7 beyond that, but season 8 got so stupid that I have drawn a line there.
As always, fantastic examples of good and bad options, Brandon. Doc Brown's "death" near the end of the original "Back To The Future" made me cry when I first saw it. Until I realized he was wearing a bullet-proof vest. That unexpected plot twist worked for me.
GoT S8 also did many fake-out deaths too. In The Long Night, we dimly see main characters being enveloped by wights. A few scenes later, they turn out to be fine. From memory, this was especially egregious with Brienne, because she screamed so amazingly as the wights enveloped her. As DaveGibson said, Cersei and Jamie being crushed by falling bricks was dull. Like you, I was inordinately impacted by the way GoT turned into Marvel phase 4. It gutted me to see characters I loved so mistreated. Poor "Adolph" Danaerys! Alas Tryion and Varys! Poor Cersei was reduced to a tipsy spectator on the balcony, and Jon "She's muh queen" Snow ended up truly knowing nothing. Oh, the pain, the pain.
Damn..Just thinking off all that wasted potential because of season 8 kills me. I always say it's like the writers to the Sansa/Arya bickering from season 7..and how unearned Littlefinger's death was...(unearned as in the setup for it sucked...he totally earned death...but deserved far better setup)...and decided..yeah..we need more of that.
The ending of Das Boot is amazing from a "good" death standpoint . . . . . . where the entire crew survives a harrowing submarine journey just to be killed in a British air raid right after they returned home. It's a reminder that in war, death comes for the "heroes" unexpectedly and at any time
Great example. I hated that movie the first time I saw it because of the ending. As I got older and my understanding of irony (and the horror of war) became more mature, I respected the movie much more. It is now one of my most favorite war movies of all time. Cheers from Boston ☘️
First saw it when my parents rented the VHS (The Boat). I couldn't get with the ending. Then I grew up a little. About ten years later my parents gave me the complete Das Boot mini-series on VHS for Christmas. Wow. So much more. Of everything. It was like that with The Third Man. I really didn't think much of it and hated the score when I was forced to watch it as an English text. Today it's my all-time favourite film. Anyway, Das Boot is amazing from beginning to end (also, Stalingrad is great).
i watched a russian movie that was not very good but had a similar good scene. the soldiers heroically defend the trenches for so long against the germans in a 15 minute scene of intense fighting and when they are celebrating they are getting carpet bombed and almost everyone dies.
Best death was probably [spoiler] in JoJo Rabbit. When Scarlet Johansson is caught and killed, and JoJo is left only with the person he has been told is his mortal enemy, and the most terrifying thing in Germany.
@@thomasdurfee7157Easier to recognise it was her in the very moment. Easier to predict? I don't remember if I predicted her death while watching for the first time. Are shoes a symbol of death, am I missing something?
@@JR-sx3gl Yeah, it worked perfectly for me. Didn't see it coming, nor was I surprised, knowing how dangerous her actions were during the war. I thought very well done, like everything, pretty much, in that movie. So many interesting characters. Rockwell did his usual exceptional job and Rebel and that tall dude were funnier than they should be as nazis. Undoubtedly some will have a problem with "funny nazis", but I'm older and grew up with WW2's memory still fresh 60s-70s. I read the Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich and understand how deadly serious the fascist Nazi were- but the movies humour did not lessen or make light of them. They were funny yet still horrible as Nazi (Rebel giving the kids rifles and later hand grenades. Funny and awful). Great movie.
Me being a Tolkien geek- I'm under contract to say that Gandalf did die, both in the movie and the books. It was explained better in the books, that he died and went back to Valinor, but was asked to return and complete his mission. While he was the same spirit, he was allowed to use the same powers that Saruman had previously, so he was kind of a different person.
@@elishamorgan The anguished scream Viggo made in that scene? It was real, He broke his toe when he kicked the armor. It was so emotional they left it in.
Maybe it does add a sense of realistic chaos, in the fact that random and crazy events can happen, but it is a great example of where you need to show restraint as a writer lol. It was such a terrible scene.
Thomas Jane and L L Cool J are my two favorite characters of that movie. Even my first time watching it, I somehow knew Samuel L. Jackson’s character would die, but even then I was still surprised how he died too suddenly.
@@Doctor.Trolling Do they ever stop having endless interminable dialog scenes about royal bloodlines? Because I couldn't be paid to care less about that.
That first death is brutal. Sends the message of how the shows is going to be. And, then we have when the new recruits has their first mission and is almost a total failure.
I watched the first series and found it infuriating as it kept looking like it was subverting the normal anime tropes but then revealing that it actually wasn't. When the main character is apparently killed I was hooked, but it was not to be.
I love the story of how Christopher Lee, former WW2 commando, corrected Peter Jackson regarding how a man reacts to being stabbed in the kidney regarding Saruman's death scene in the LOTR movie. Jackson started to argue with him, then remembered who he was talking to, LOL! By the way, Mr. McNulty...my favorite obscure space opera is a show called Farscape. I hated it when it came out but rewatched it a few years back and truly fell in love with it. Been applying your analyses to it as I rewatch again and it's so fun! Free on RU-vid. Several main character deaths there... Keep up the great work.
Padme in Revenge of the Sith is one of the worst case of killed by the writer. She’ s healthy but she has to die because we know from the original trilogy that she died shortly after giving birth to Luke and Leia, so “she lost her will to live”. For me, that’s right up there among the stupidest lines in Star Wars, after of course “somehow Palpatine returned”
And childbirth is dangerous, even in the far future of super space technology. They didn't have to make her die because she was sad. She could have died from a uterine rupture during some space fighting and because she was sad.
The daft thing is that, there is actually no reason for her to die at all, she just needs to be gone 20 years later for A New Hope. And Leia has vague memories of her. I appreciate George didn’t want to have her die offscreen but…..
Yeah it's not like she just had 2 children, thus giving her a reason to go on living or anything... And I see people now defend the prequels like they weren't also written horribly.
One of the funniest character death scenes I’ve ever seen is in the Obi-Wan Kenobi show. Tala’s death was so hilarious because they played such dramatic music for a character who was mostly just a plot device with little development and no personality.
I was more sad about the robot that has zero lines dying than her 😂. I'll never forget the way she lightly punched a stormtrooper in the helmet and it disoriented him so much he couldn't even fire his blaster.
But what about WADE?! He was a true hero of the not-rebellion, a brave soul, and a deep and thoughtful character. His loss was totally felt in one of the shows of all time.
@@rollinghouse7140 You're right. Wade was truly one of the characters in Star Wars history. I remember seeing his death and thinking his wounds were surely mortal. He did indeed die in that show.
You could have used Braveheart for every good example each death is meaningful from Wallace's father dying in a failed attempt at freedom, to William's climactic death bringing the Bruce's arc to fruition (I know the history is fuzzy I don't care) but the death that haunted me was Muron, the pivotal moment is accentuated by Wallace's belief that she made it to safety only for her to be executed while he thinks he is on his way to meet her, you have a great attachment to her character and her death feels almost too real, and the reaction is definitely appropriate and it pushes Wallace to the action he was reluctant to take
Totally right on all counts. From a storytelling standpoint Braveheart is in the mold of classic historical epics of the 60's-70s. As to the history, weeeell, we all know 😅...look on the bright side though, it lead many of us to learn about the real history of the Medieval period. My WIP wouldn't exist without seeing Braveheart. I have a love/hate relationship with it.
@@JamesRDavenport my view on historical accuracy in fiction is that it's nice but rare, if a movie like Braveheart gives you a basic general overview of the actual history and especially if it inspires one to look deeper into the real history it has done its Job
@@johntabler349 The problem, rather obviously so comment not meant for those who can see the obvious, is the majority of muppets who quote the film as historical truth. Like the "we don't have the facilities to take you all prisoner" line in A Bridge Too Far. The majority, whether vast or not, are not interested in research or learning, only being spoon-fed. To them "based on a true story" means "every moment is true" and at a party, during a discussion, they force you to make yourself look like a pedantic wanker while explaining historical reality and "bringing the mood down".
Wait, you mean Ridley Scott doesn't strive for historical accuracy in ANY if his historic epics? Say it ain't so! Oh. Mel Gibson directed? Argh! Why isn't it historically accurate! Argh!
@@James_Bee why isn't the Robe historically accurate, why isn't Last Samurai, Kingdom of Heaven, Gunfight at the OK Corral, or the hundred more I can think of? Why does it bother people with some of these and not others? Valid question I think
@HandSoloRecords Really? I think it's my favorite ( although i didn't watch 3 :P ) But yeah, i think Yondu is my favorite part of it. The soundtrack also
Re: Man of Steel. Another contrivance is that Clark's father takes on the more dangerous tasks even though Clark, even if he weren't Superman, was the better choice. He was younger, stronger and faster. If Clark was still a child or even a teen, it would make sense, but he was a strapping adult man who was more than capable of carrying a child or dog. Re: Walking Dead. What added insult to injury was... ...that they killed Glenn a couple of episodes later, after milking yet another cliffhanger. It was clear the writer's were playing with the audiences emotions. I stopped watching the show after that.
One thing I see _annoyingly_ often is people minimizing the impact of a character's death _on purpose,_ to give some hamhanded supernihilism moral, like "This character's death means and changes nothing, and that's the point. His life meant and changed nothing, just like YOUR life and death means and changes nothing. Haha aren't I so hashtag DEEP."
I always enjoy when Brandon notes Empire Strikes Back/Vader is Luke's father spoilers. I always imagine someone saying "wait, Darth Vader is his father????"
I really liked Kevin Stacey's death in LA Confidential. It kind of came out of nowhere, but the way it impacted White's and Exley's rivalry in a way that made them come together and work out who was the big bad was in their investigation was great. I love that film.
Glen's fake death was a major series turning point for me. It wasn't the moment that killed the show for me entirely, but I lost a lot of respect for the writing. Like Game of Thrones, TWD is a show that hit massive highs, making the downturn all the more frustrating.
Favourite character death: Stoick the Vast from How To Train Your Dragon 2. The villain Drago Bloodfist wants to conquer the world with an army of dragons. The main character Hiccup tries to convince Drago to stop and that dragons are creatures of unity, not weapons of war. Drago doesn’t listen and Hiccup’s father Stoick sacrifices himself to save him. Drago wins and takes all the dragons, their best shot at defeating him. Hiccup is devastated at his dad’s death, as half an hour ago they finally reunited with their mother and were talking about being a full family again. Hiccup found his lost mother and it came with the price of his father. It also leaves the characters lost and powerless as they are left without a leader and their dragons, so with Hiccup’s newfound understanding that some people out there are just straight up bad people, he stands up to take his father’s role as chief of their tribe, and makes a plan to avenge his father’s death, and defeat Drago.
Spoiler alert for the Star Wars sequels (not that anyone needs it): I'm not even a Star Wars fan and the deaths of the 3 protagonists, Luke, Leia and Han, were still insulting to me.
Han's death wasn't terrible just incredibly unnecessary given what they did with it in the next two films (spoiler nothing). Leia's death was added on after Carrie Fischer died and they didn't really give it a good send off. Luke was one of the biggest bullshit things I've ever seen in my life.
Actually, old Han Solo is an insult to the fans of young Han Solo in every possible ways. Once a general of the victorious rebellion and husband to a quasi monarch, now he's the same bum he started as back in the beginning of ANH. I didn't want to see an old favorite character with that kind of un-development.
Arya surviving a sliced gut and five stab wounds to the gut while jumping into the water and stumbling across the entire city to the one person she knew in the city without any consequence was the worst non death of all time. Only to set up her killing off a guy who just needed to watch everyone continue to die just to win the battle.
Wait are you saying that having multiple stab wounds and a sliced gut and jumping into the shit-filled water in a medieval city is somehow dangerous? Inconceivable!
One of my favorite meaningless deaths is from Burn After Reading. Brad Pitt’s death is so shocking, out of nowhere, and so tonally different from the rest of the film it becomes darkly hilarious. And aside from Clooney’s character fleeing the country, it doesn’t impact the story at all. As the final scene of the film tells us, none of the events make rational sense and we learned nothing at all. I love that movie.
I have two examples, both from Supernatural. The good example, the death of Charlie Bradbury. ***In her final episode, Charlie goes to bring The Book of the Damned to Sam, but she is intercepted by two members of the Styne family. Over the phone, Sam and Dean both tell her to just give them the book so they don’t kill her. But she chooses not to listen to them, and she died fighting to protect the book and to save Dean. It's emotional because it sent Dean on a revenge murder spree.*** My bad example is how they killed off Abadon. ***In the big confrontation, Dean is immune to Abadon's demonic powers. And when she tries to hit him with a wind forcefield, it fails. Her response is to try it again: to the point of Abadon trying the same useless attack three times and just standing there as Dean runs up and stabs her. She wasn’t being restrained, she could have thrown a punch or a kick, but instead, she just stood there and watched him run up to her. It’s extremely underwhelming because they spent all of two seasons building her up to be superior over all the other demons. And the end result left me shaking my head in disbelief.*** Also I don’t know if the spoiler tags will work or not.
One of the worst fake out deaths was Jon snow in GoT. When they brought him back from the dead, it felt momentarily euphoric but whatever Jon snow did felt empty afterwards.
Agreed. It had zero consequences because the writers didn't like dealing with magic elements too much. It was disappointing and amazing to me that such a pivotal thing should just be memory holed for the most part.
@@KatAdVictoriam They initially alluded that he would be weaker so he wouldn't have infinite lives. But the weakness failed to materialize. It had no impact on any story line. If he had lost a battle that he would have previously won/ had a brain fart at a pivotal moment or change character and become reckless, it would have added credence to becoming weaker. Nope, Jon snow just kept marching on just the same.
@@KatAdVictoriam actually it was because the story's actual writer, George R.R. Martin, didn't finish writing his last book and left the showrunners high and dry with no more material to work with. And sadly, they did an extremely poor job of "finishing" the story themselves.
@dawnieb.7394 It's a "both and.." situation. D&D were only into the Night King and Dragons. The line in S8 from Davos about R'hllor "fucking off" said everything. They kept it simple for normies to understand and could've cared less.
I haven’t seen it mentioned yet, but Jurassic Park has some iconic death scenes, from the park worker in the opening, to the lawyer, to Muldoon’s “clever girl” moment… however, I’d give the award to Dennis Nedry’s death scene… it’s important to the plot, involves consequences and the end of a character arc, it’s suspenseful, and the way he screams when he’s blinded by the Dilophosaurus venom is so visceral and chilling, I could never watch that scene as a kid for that reason…
One of the most impactful deaths that affected me a lot when I was younger was Ol' Yeller. Animal deaths as well can be very important to a story, and as well done very badly.
Nothing ever has sucked quite as much as Jonathan Kent's death in Man of Steel. Superman does not stand by and watch his father die, never. On the other hand, the Darth Vader demise is one of the greatest character arcs in film history.
The fake out death is by far the worse because it's so common nowadays. It's gotten to the point where I can't take any death or even injury seriously because the character always shows back up again. Heck, sometimes they treat a fatal wound like it was just a scratch and the character is up and fighting again in a few days.
Spoilers for Buffy. The show had plenty of meaningful character deaths, but surely the demise of Jenny Calendar in S2 and Joyce dying in S5 hit all the marks of "good character death", from emotion to impact to other characters.
You could make a whole series of comparing good versus bad just from Game of Thrones. Seasons 1-4 great, 5-7 meh to bad, 8 so horrific that I've almost forgotten that GoT exists. As for best and worst, I would say as far as emotional impact Boromir was both. It really hit me in the feels, yet it was so well done. Of course, speaking of shows that go back and forth, you could also do a whole series on Supernatural, comparing the good seasons to the bad. There's no clear-cut division on that show, but it waxed and waned over its entire 15 year run.
SPOILERS DARK KNIGHT RISES A great example of an anticlimactic death is Bane in the Dark Knight Rises. Batman repeatedly struggles to defeat him, and he does do some damage but Bane ends up dying instantly to a gunshot from cat woman and the movie moves on in 5 seconds. Its a bummer cuz Bane was great except for this.
Even a big guy dies from a gun wound, that's ok. The comic thing there imo was that the whole street went into fist fighting, in order to not kill any plot armored character too early.
My favorite character death in a movie was in L.A. Confidential. The sudden death of Jack Vincennes in the kitchen of Captain Dudley Smith was utterly shocking to me. It was a twist that I didn't see coming. It was incredibly well acted by Kevin Spacey. It was completely believable, intensified the stakes of the plot, and became the catalyst for everything that followed. It looked like Vincennes was on a redemption arc, and that was stolen away from him, yet his last words sealed the fate of his killer. The entire movie had great writing, but that scene in particular stands out. Not to mention that I had just seen James Cromwell in Babe, so I could not conceive of him as the villain.
In GoT we waited for 8 seasons for Cersie to die a horrible death. We also watched Jaime's 180 character arc. Both arcs are ruined by a cheap, wholly unclimactic death for both of them.
An oldie but goodie is Dr. Janet Frazer on Stargate SG-1. After eight or so seasons of being the quintessential doctor giving everything to look after others, she died doing exactly that, helping others to survive on a battlefield off-world. The sacrifice was meaningful and true to her character, and yet still unexpected and shocking.
That 2-parter was so good, with the very well handled death fake-out as well, and the emotional impact of the real death on the guy filming the documentary.
@@Sparkykueken Yeah, I remember the first time I watched the first part, knowing that someone (but not who) was going to go and thinking it was a really cheesy way to get rid of a character. By the end of watching the second part, I felt like I'd been punched in the gut.
Best villain deaths: Big Trouble in Little China - Thunder explodes - Storm impaled after a bad ass sword fight with Wang - Lightning gets a statue dropped on his head out of nowhere by Egg Shen, who explained how he got it up there with "It wasn't easy" And of course, the death of Lo Pan: "It's all in the reflexes."
Good death example from Cabin in the Woods was spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler spoiler Marty's fake-out death. He is presumed to die off-screen at the hands of some zombies. I didn't feel cheated when it is later revealed that he lived because all other character deaths were shown on-screen, foreshadowing Marty's survival.
I have watched that movie easily five times - one of my favorites! And each time I marvel when I see how completely fair they were to the audience with the fake-out, and also how much his fake death affects the plot while he's off screen.
Maybe I'm strange, but sometimes I kind of like character deaths that are out of left field and what some might consider pointless. I find those interesting because that's just how it happens in real life sometimes. Sometimes people die from totally random tragedy. BUFFY THE VAMPIRE SLAYER SPOILERS ARE AFOOT.... The deaths of Joyce and Tara have a huge emotional impact on the stories in BTVS. Both are the result of somewhat random things, like a stray bullet with Tara, an aneurism with Joyce (which was something they were warned COULD happen so it's just partially random). Fans didn't like those deaths, but not because they were pointless, not in the execution of the story, but because they were beloved characters. But the death of Anya in the final episode of the show, most fans really hate that one, because it was random, sudden, and brutal, and kinda pointless. But hey, I didn't hate it, because it do be like that sometimes. Especially if you're right in the middle of a huge battle, which they were.
The Glen fakeout death in the Walking Dead is the reason I stopped watching the show. As soon as he was "alive" again, I turned the T.V. off and never watched another minute of the show.
I think many of the problems with Zack Snyders Superman comes from Objectivism. You know, the philosophy of Ayn Rand, of whom Snyder is a fanboy. According to this theory Superman should live to realise his own happiness and achievements, and helping others merely because it is nice for them is morally suspect. That's why his dads keep insisting that he shouldn't go out of his way to act altruistically. It's a ... bad fit for Superman. It could have been interesting in another superhero who ultimately decides to reject his father's philosophy and be a hero. (Invincible, for instance.) But Snyder hasn't thought it through, so he's trying to make Clark live up to the morals and examples of his dads, and also be Superman. There are cool essays on Steve Ditko's (arguably) failed attempts at writing and justifying a truly objectivist superhero. Mr A and The Shadow. Check it out. Cheers
The worst death I have ever seen is not in a movie, but in a video game. In the last of us 2 Joel's death was so forced and convenient that it literally gave me a stomach ache. It took me about two weeks to completely get over it. Great video by the way, as a newbie writer your videos help me a lot. Keep it up, because it's great content, one of the best RU-vidrs of this type that I know.
I didn't love that death scene , but I didn't question the decision for Joel to be killed. Hard to imagine a more evil villain than Joel when you consider Abby's perspective.
They did him so dirty. What ruins it for me is primarily that he acted completely out of character - trusting total strangers in a world where it's been repeatedly shown you ABSOLUTELY CANNOT TRUST STRANGERS. Remember - Joel is the person that didn't even slow down his truck and actually tries to kill them when someone was injured and needing his help, because he thought it was a trap, AND IT WAS. It was also horrible to watch him not even get a chance to fight - he's just gimped, tied up, beaten, and killed. Fine, maybe it's "realistic" in the sense that not everyone gets a chance to fight their killer, even heroes, but in terms of fiction it was disgusting and at odds with the general behaviours of every other character that gets to fight everything, even they are eventually killed in the battle.
@@XYouVandal If my dad's job was to perform scientifically dubious experiments on brains removed from living children, I don't think I'd avenge them being killed by the child's guardian. Abby's motivations and trying to portray her as sympathetic, and her dad as some tragic victim she needs to avenge, are at best contrived and at worst completely moronic and insulting to anyone who has an above primary school level understanding of biology or logistics. It's like feeling sorry for the orcs in LoTR because they're just trying to get Sauron back his property and trying to introduce order into the Middle Earth. Literal Russian logic.
@Eagle3302PL you talk about moronic logic while completely twisting the facts to support your argument lol. Describing what her father was doing ad " performing scientifically dubious experiments on children" is a complete misrepresentation of the truth and you know it. Comparing Abby's relationship to her Dad to the orcs and Sauron is so dumb that it's not even worth discussing .
Man of steel (and the whole DCEU for that matter) as such trash and a treasure chest for terrible writing to avoid. DC and Warner should truly be ashamed of themselves for screwing up so bad.
What’s sad about Arya killing the Night King is man…honestly a really cool idea for fight choreography was wasted. The move of Arya having her hand caught then dropping the weapon into her free hand is so *her* and fits her character so well and was just such a slick piece of fight choreography but it was wasted on a conflict that wasn’t hers. Imagine if she had instead killed The Mountain like this! That’s her fight, that fits so well thematically with the tiniest fighter outsmarting the largest one, and there was an opportunity for a great moment where The Hound struggles against his brother The Mountain and Arya joins the fight to pull a sick move like this and show The Hound one last time that she does love him. The ending of GoT was just a nonstop shitshow of missed opportunity.
Also one note about the death scenes in Man of Steel and AOT, Superman's father's death was meant to set up Superman's reasons for being a hero but fails meanwhile Eren's mother's death sets a dark path for Eren and it works.
A good anti-climatic death is the book version of Voldemort. Their final stand-off with Harry is anti-climatic in a sense that it’s not a flashy wizard-duel, it’s a duel of words. Harry realizes that he has all the cards and Voldemort doesn’t know that he has none. All the cruel and evil things he’s done set up a path for faliure, not greatness. Because of his ignorance towards love, friendship and family, he has to fail. It is a battle not of skill, but of values, and when he raises his wand, his curse bounces back and kills him. It fits perfectly into the theme that good will win against evil and tyrants create their worst enemies.
not read it but there's something about the 'anti-climax' not just with deaths, any anti-climax ending, that really stays with me - john carpenter does it well in his films, 1984 probably the best literary example.
@@valutaatoaofunknownelement197 Because it's not a duel really, at that point the battle was over, the plan worked, Voldemort already lost but he didn't know it yet. All that was left was for Harry to discredit Voldemort, to show everyone that Voldemort is nothing more than a petty, scared, ignorant, weak, and evil man. So Voldemort's death may be anticlimactic in the action sense, but it's amazing in the storytelling sense, he flops to the ground like anyone else that gets hit with the killing curse, and all get to see this feeble, deformed man die. And his legend gets destroyed, he is no longer this great villain he built himself up to be, he is exposed and brought down to Earth by Harry loudly boasting how and why Voldemort has failed. It's very climactic in the narrative sense imo. Much better than the movie version where he turns to dust with no witnesses or explanation.
Best death in Arcane S1 Silcos Death hit all the major check boxes for a good death you have mentioned in the video: - Masterfully executed scene lives up to the build-up - Personal arc ultimately concluded. Not exactly redemption but you know what I mean - High emotional stakes for the audience - Immediate impact on other another major character and on the whole story - Believable death. Someone had to die to resolve that standoff
Bad death example: Joel from The Last of Us Part 2. Fans waited 7 years for their favourite character to die in the first hour of the game, and then for the half the game we play as the killer.
And the way he died contradicts what we know about him in the first game. He nonchalantly lets his guard down even though he was easily able to see his way through traps in the first game (and nobody say he grew soft there is nothing in the game to suggest that; it’s just a bullshit explanation people use to try to justify the scene). The game rushed through the scene and ignored character consistency to get to Joel’s death, which is a terrible way to kill off a character.
@@connoroboyle6761 The "he Got soft" could work, but as we see, he was still going on patrols, he had 20 years of experience, he wouldn't lose it in 4 years. As Brandon said on his other video "changing a character for plot purposes is one of writers sins" and thats exactly what happend to Joel. A totally different character.
CW literally ruined their entire universe because they couldn't kill a character and have them stay dead for more than a season. Eventually you watched somebody died and were like I give it 5 episodes until they're resurrected.
The worst character death I've ever experienced is from Stephen King's book 'Carrie' Carrie is my favorite Stephen King character, and having her die at the end breaks my heart every time. She was alone her entire life, and that adds to the extra depressiveness to it. she dies in a parking lot, covered in blood and grass and with a knife sticking out of her shoulder. Carrie's death has shocked me like no other could. That's how a good character should make you feel.
@ikmor in a way, yes. She's my favorite book character ever, but she has the saddest death because of it. Stephen King gave me so many emotions for a first book.
Two more good examples of deaths, maybe some of the best, from Last Samurai and Gladiator: Nearly every major death from these movies. I just love them. In Last Samurai of course Katsumoto, but also his son. And also the deaths in battle of the major side characters are not wasted. Not with the same kind of emotions, but also Colonel Bagley is well written. And the same with Gladiator. Maximus and Proximo especially.
@WriterBrandonMcNulty As a half-Japanese person, I really appreciate how much respect you've shown for the movie "Godzilla Minus One" in your videos. The American versions have been ruining Godzilla for years, but "Minus One" was an incredibly moving picture with a well-told story. People forget that the original "Godzilla" was not conceived to be some kind of big action blockbuster but was in fact an allegory for the anxiety Japan was experiencing in the wake of the nuclear bomb. The writers of "Minus One" understood that concept and used it to tell a story about people learning to choose life in the wake of tragedy. I normally hate remakes and reboots of anything, but this movie is one of the few exceptions.
9:46 even crazier is that *spoilers* Eren is the reason why that titan killed his mother. His future self literally made that happen to start his hatred for titans.
@@erakfishfishfish Yeah all the building up towards it (eg his deteriorating relationship with the main characters of that episode) made it totally plausible that he was just fucking with them. Plus the impact on all of the characters in the show for the remaining episodes was done incredibly well.
Since you've opened the door to anime I cannot help but recommend Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood to you. One of the best crafted storylines I've ever witnessed in fiction where almost every single plotpoint has a cathartic resolution later in the story and also has space for deeper meaning, overarching themes and all that good stuff. I would say give it a try and if you're not hooked by episode 10 then the show is not for you. Episode 10 is one of those "rite of passage" ones.
Dr. Romano on ER. They spent a lot of time building up this guy. He could be an A-hole at times sure, but there was always a fairness and professionalism in his approach, a reason for everything he did. He was a good surgeon. He could have been killed off trying to save others. Instead the writers hated this character so much they dropped a helicopter on him for spite. ER consistently favored certain characters who fit demographics and narratives. It was the beginning of the end for me. I didn't finish the following season and never came back.
Yeah but - it WAS really funny when it happened. I mean, talk about poetic justice! :-) Romano did have a tiny bit of a soul back in the day, but let's be honest - after Lucy died, that pretty much went out the window. And he was both extremely unfair and unprofessional, a LOT. I appreciated that the show embraced it wholeheartedly and gave those of us who suffered his character week after week an epic finale for him. (And then they even twisted the knife a little further when practically no one came to his memorial! That's commitment right there.) Reminds me of when they gave Rosalind the good-old empty elevator shaft treatment in L.A. Law. Good times. (And FWIW, you should watch the rest of the series someday. ER's series finale is one of the better ones in TV, and the show as a whole holds up. I miss those days of MustSeeTV.)
Worst - Rey "somehow" kills Palpatine Best - That guy in Arnold's "Total Recall" who's head expands and explodes 😂 ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Z5TqD5xf0ic.htmlsi=ZKAs8QX5p5MOeZ_D
I first watched AOT in 2014 and Karla's death stuck with me to this very day. And it hooked me so much that I couldn't stop thinking about it for months. Great example for a great video, as always.
Spoiler for Wrath of Kahn!!!! Best character death buy far? Spock's death "Wrath of Kahn". Worst death? Spock's death "Wrath of Kahn" when they brought him back.
I am so glad you mentioned Godzilla Minus One. After leaving the theatre I found myself reflecting and sharing your thoughts on Noriko. It helped me realize that there can be merit in fakeout deaths and other "bad" story tropes, so long as it's executed properly and not used as a cheap way to advance the story or induce artificial emotion.
