Meme-ful Musings: Character Deaths

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Meme-ful Musings: At the end of the month I’ll post a book-related meme that I think brings up an interesting discussion about books. Feel free to join in by making a comment below or linking back!


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(Meme from: https://www.pinterest.com/goosenavarre/great-books-that-might-have-made-me-cry/)

For some people this may be an embarrassing subject and they refuse to talk about it. I know that it is for me because I am definitely one of those people who cry over fictional characters. Whether they are on TV or in books it doesn’t matter: I will cry over their death if they are one of my favourite characters.

I’m going to keep this post as spoiler free as possible but some comments I might make may insinuate spoilers. So if you want to read the following book series (Beautiful Creatures, Firelight, The Infernal Devices, Mortal Instruments, Nightshade and Vampire Academy) without any spoilers/insinuations, I suggest you vote in my poll and then skip down to the bottom to leave a comment 😉

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Crying/tearing up from characters was something that started during my anime phase as a teen. I can still remember this one episode where one of my all-time favourite characters unexpectedly died and I just sat there in disbelief. The same thing happened in another series–and to this very day I refuse to believe that he is actually dead.

When it comes to books I find it noteworthy when a book makes me cry: whether it is through character death or another circumstance (I admit that some romance novels make me cry That’s one too many embarrassing admissions for the day). Not that it really takes much to make me teary (I sometimes cry over minor character’s deaths) but some books are able to elicit tears from me while other’s do not and that influences my ratings/review.

Vampire Academy’s Shadow Kiss is the first time I remember really being truly upset over a character’s death. I had been reading the books non-stop over March Break and quickly became attached to the characters. So when this unexpected plot twist came along and BAM!–the water works began. I didn’t even know how to fathom what was going to happen next! The worst part was that I didn’t have the 4th book at my disposal to read so I had to wait two days (I know that is nothing compared to the months others had to wait for the next book because I was in the same boat for the next two books) before I could make it to the library to pick it up! Actually, no, the worst part was trying to hide my tears from my mom who walked into the room just as I was reading the ill-fated chapter: talk about embarrassing!

Luckily, I had better luck company wise when I was reading Beautiful Creature‘s Beautiful Chaos: my roommates had left for the weekend so I was alone. I was literally sobbing when I was reading this book and the crazy part was I knew it couldn’t possibly be true but it still broke my heart to read about.

And while I was definitely attached to the characters in those two series, I have never been more attached to characters than I have with the Infernal Devices/Mortal Instruments. These books always cause a bucket of emotions to run through me but what always surprises me is how I never knew how attached I was to a particular character until they are no longer with us.

That is the same with some other series as well. Even when I wasn’t totally loving the story, a certain character’s death can change everything. While the fan in me doesn’t often appreciate it, the literary critic in me can understand the greater purpose of a character’s death. There is no denying that sometimes a certain character’s death can push the series in the direction it needs to go plot-wise (take for example Legend and the death of June’s brother right at the start of the novel). Other times though, I think it is just simply for shock factor and solves no other purpose than ending a love triangle in a more definitive way **coughNightshade/Firelightcough**.

Regardless, character deaths are inevitable–it’s just how we react to them that can vary. Thanks for reading!

So, do you cry when fictional characters die? Do they have to be a major character or a part of a longer series for you to shed a tear? Does it depend on the circumstance?

Let me know by leaving a comment below!

Comments 2

  • You’re certainly not the only one, Lauren! My friends joke all the time that I’m someone that seldom cries in real life but when something emotional happens in a fictional world? Buckets of tears. I couldn’t agree more about Shadow Kiss. I actually picked up VA when Blood Promise wasn’t released yet and that cliffhanger was agony. And yes! A lot of the Clare books made me cry (CP2 was just omg). T.T

    • I cry even over amazing things in Cassandra Clare’s books–man, I get so attached to those characters it’s bananas!

      I can only imagine the agony that was waiting for Blood Promise–waiting for the rest of the series almost broke me but that cliffhanger after Shadow Kiss was by far the worst cliffhanger of the entire series.

      I’m like you, I keep it together most of the time but fictional characters just hit me in the tear ducts it seems!

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