#The Hamartia Arc

[kateis-cakeis]

rewatching bbc merlin really has me like buzzing in my mind with so many thoughts. Like I'm kinda watching it backwards atm going from S5 to S4, I think I will jump around 3, 2, and 1 but just,,,, there is so much especially in S5 that makes me !!!!!!!

Honestly, I feel like this fandom has to give the writers more credit. Like they did a damn good job, and to me, it's such a good tragedy. Especially how S5 plays out, it takes everything and just tears you down, and down, and down. It's perfect, perfect with flaws! But still perfect

[onlyhereforangst]

CHARACTER ARC (n): the transformation of a character over the course of a story, sometimes enriched with hamartia to explore the complexities of human nature and endow a sense of authenticity as a character's flaw leads to their ultimate downfall.

being a police officer is my future. i love this job. i love it. i get to help people. i don't feel like a hero. at all.

[thorinsghivashel]

Thorin Oakenshield can be considered a tragic character.

Analyzing Thorin Oakenshield as a tragic character through the lens of Greek tragedy provides a deeper understanding of his narrative arc and character development. Here’s a detailed analysis based on the principles of Greek tragedy:

Characteristics of Greek Tragedy

Noble Stature:

Greek tragedies typically feature protagonists of noble birth or high status.

Thorin's Noble Stature: Thorin is the rightful heir to the throne of Erebor, which establishes his noble lineage and royal status.

Hamartia (Tragic Flaw):

A tragic hero possesses a flaw or makes a mistake that leads to their downfall.

Thorin's Hamartia: Thorin's tragic flaw is his overwhelming greed and obsession with reclaiming the treasure of Erebor, particularly the Arkenstone. This greed blinds him to reason and leads to irrational decisions and conflicts.

Hubris (Excessive Pride):

Many Greek tragic heroes exhibit hubris, an excessive pride that often leads to their downfall.

Thorin's Hubris: Thorin's pride in his lineage and destiny to reclaim Erebor contributes to his downfall. His refusal to share the treasure and his stubbornness in negotiations with other parties reflect this hubris.

Peripeteia (Reversal of Fortune):

The hero's fortunes change dramatically, usually from good to bad.

Thorin's Peripeteia: Thorin's initial success in reclaiming Erebor turns sour as his greed alienates allies, causes internal strife, and leads to the siege of the Lonely Mountain. His fall from a respected leader to a paranoid and isolated figure marks this reversal.

Anagnorisis (Recognition):

The hero realizes their flaw or the true nature of their situation, often too late to avoid the consequences.

Thorin's Anagnorisis: Thorin experiences a moment of clarity on his deathbed, recognizing the destructive power of his greed and seeking reconciliation with Bilbo and others he wronged.

Catharsis:

The audience experiences a purging of emotions, particularly pity and fear, through the hero’s journey.

Catharsis in Thorin's Story: Thorin's tragic arc elicits pity for his internal struggle and ultimate downfall, and fear of the destructive nature of unchecked greed and pride. His redemption at the end provides a bittersweet closure.

[artemisia-black]

Sirius’s arrogance about his intelligence is his fatal flaw/hamartia . Both in his secret keeper plan and the way he taunts Bellatrix before his death.

Taking his intelligence away actually derails his canon arc- James wouldn’t ask him to be a secret keeper, he wouldn’t have become an animagus and consequently escaped Azkaban etc.

[nemo-in-wonderland]

bloody hell, with this all Shay/Dora thing that I have going on, I can finally introduce Thea properly.

She came so late into the game (as a concept, she existed since 2020 - Thea and Dora were always going to be twins- but as a character, I basically developed late 2022, early 2023?) that I NEVER thought about the possibility of making her Dottie's literal wingman and bff (again, in Syndicate Dorothea was an only child).

SWEET, SWEET DELICIOUS POSSIBILITIES THAT HAVE JUST OPENED UP IN FRONT OF MY EYES.

AM DELIGHTED.

(am basically moving all the Starrick family back into 1700s for the Rogue arc lololol).

SO HERE YOU HAVE THEDA BEING A LITTLE SHIT WITH DORA.

I will blabber more about them on my sideblog (which is @house-of-hamartia. But be mindful that it's a Rogue-centric blog, where I also post smut so, if you are minor, nope, stay the freak away from there lol)

hope you will like this!

--Nemo

[greenerteacups]

If there was one major plot element that you could change in the original canon what would it be?

The Marauders' deaths. With the exception of James, I don't think any of the Marauders die in a way that's narratively suitable — or, to be more particular, they die in a way suitable for a narrative I don't like very much. James is an acceptable (though, obviously, tragic) death to me because it completes his arc: he's an obnoxious, arrogant bully who grows into a selfless soldier on the side of the light, and lays down his life as a final gesture of abnegation. It's not Proust, but it's good, right? His death represents a symbolic triumph over Voldemort because it's something Voldemort would never do.

None of the others make the same kind of sense for their subplots. Sirius dies at the Ministry because Harry fucks up and lets his abandonment issues override his judgment, and while that's a compelling moment for Harry — whose hamartia is a trauma-forged combination of hot-headedness and desperate fear of losing people — it's not for Sirius. Sirius's problem in Book 5 is that he's emotionally stunted by his years of imprisonment and refuses to grow up, because he's clinging to the life he thinks — rightly — he should have gotten to have. This is made painfully clear in the Department of Mysteries, wherein some of his last words to Harry are "Nice one, James!" He refuses to treat Harry like the child he is, and he keeps acting like he's this fun-uncle type, blowing off rules and pissing off Mom (Molly), because that's the dynamic he should have had with Harry if Lily and James had lived. Sirius doesn't want to be Harry's guardian and role model. He wants a brother and a nephew, and he's trying to force Harry to be both, because he's all he has left of that family. His death doesn't tie any of those threads; they're left dangling. That's a valid narrative move — every death cuts a story short, and you can't give everybody an arc — but I loved Sirius. Giving Harry the "grieving loss of a parent" arc that was originally meant for Ron (Arthur was the original Big Death of the OOTP, in JKR's drafts) also means that Ron spends a lot of Book 6 without anything to do, whereas Harry goes through what's essentially a more intense version of the grieving-and-recovery arc he did after Cedric's death.

Remus, on the other hand, is just — first off, a Mess, I agree with so few of the choices made with Remus in the later books, but let's say he's deep in the trauma, the grieving, and whatever living among werewolves as a spy does for your mental health. So he gets into this will-they-won't-they with Tonks, gets married, tries to abandon pregnant wife, then goes back and gets to be with his wife and son for about half a year before dying, with said wife, in battle. Okay. So like:

I think the Remus Weirdness in Book 7 is actually an attempt to close a plot hole, which is that the Horcrux Hunt happens completely without adult supervision, despite the fact that there are lots of adults the Golden Trio could and should ask for help. Harry's insistence that he doesn't want to risk anyone's life except for Ron and Hermione's is, while understandable as a character move, utterly ridiculous, because the other Order members are risking their lives anyway. One of the biggest holes is Remus and Tonks, who are (a) both already targets for Voldemort because of who they are, and so have nothing to lose, but also (b) both care for Harry on a personal level, and would never accept his reasons for pushing them away. So Teddy Lupin is conceived in order to bench Tonks, who's safely out of commission while pregnant. But that leaves Remus, who probably in fact would have super complicated torn-loyalty feelings about the situation, and who is scarred and traumatized and probably has enough abandonment issues to try and walk out, but — in my view — never resolves any of those things. He doesn't suddenly realize that he loves Tonks and wants to be with her, or feel a sense of duty to his son; when Harry's justly furious at Remus abandoning his kid in Harry's name, Remus gets pissy about it and goes "well, if you don't want my help, fine," and leaves. Which is, again, fine, a character flaw, it's childish, he's allowed to be, and he is, in fact, similar to Sirius and James — but it left a bad taste in my mouth, because that's one of the last conversations we get with Remus, and it's such an impoverished vision of his bonds with others. It doesn't delve deeply into why he loves Tonks or Harry, or the substance of his conflict between them; like always with the Marauders, he just invokes James, and Harry throws James's name right back at him, and it ends there.

And then he dies, so that baby Teddy Lupin can be an orphan, and we can do a parallel to baby Harry Potter. Even though we don't see Teddy Lupin on the page ever, so we have no idea what that comparison means, or how their experiences compliment or contrast one another, or literally anything more substantive than the series beginning and ending on the same event. Which: great. Okay. To quote a Roger Ebert review that I think about, on average, once every thirty-six hours:

"J.K. Rowling has learned from better novels that authors sometimes create narrative parallels, but she has not learned why."

[st-just]

So I saw your hot take, and I'm just curious, what do you think character development should mean? If a character stays a shitty, pathetic, borderline abusive asshole no one is going to like them, because who would like them IRL? They suck. Thats why they have to be better (although I gotta admit, sometimes they deserve to just die rather than go through redemption arc i.e abusers)

re: (or I mean, I'm assuming)

I'm going to be honest, going off this ask I think we might just want and expect fundamentally different things from fiction.

But to try and answer your question, 'character development' imo just means the character changing in personality or priorities over the course of their arc - it's an entirely amoral term. The tragic hero being consumed by their hamartia until they destroy everything they care about falls under the heading as much as some degenerate sinner having a Damascene conversion (or secular equivalent thereof).

(I ran out of fire emojis to respond to, but: my related hot take is that works/fandom treating being a good friend or devoted romantic partner or being willing to sacrifice and suffer for the sake of your child as being automatic proof that you're fundamentally a good person is both aesthetically boring and morally repugnant)

[jjanewillow]

the question

my latest affliction

a question found in Hamlet

trying to decide which

the obvious answer is to remain

to experience the fullness of life

appreciating what I've got in the present

no guilt for the past

no anxiety for the future

whatever comes with the decision

to be

cerebration has become an unruly creature

hamartia, my arc may be over

seeking something tangible to prevent me

from inflicting this upon myself

looking for a God, I will settle for an angel

tell me, do not be afraid

keep me from determining

things may be better if I were no longer

stop me from choosing

not to be

[vinnie2757]

Vincent has reached a turning point; stay, or leave. He knows which he needs Lucrecia to do, but convincing her is the hardest part. [Vincrecia au; she leaves the Jenova Project while pregnant, leapfrogging off of hamartia's pregnancy arc]

‘We need to leave,’ he tells her again, cups her face in both hands.

‘I can’t go,’ she says, her eyes hazy and unfocused. ‘I have work to do.’

‘It’s going to kill you.'

Her skin is clammy, her cheeks cold.

‘No,’ she assures him, with a lazy smile that is too soft, too vacant, for her usual knife’s edge. ‘It’ll be fine. Pregnancies are hard, Vincent. I’ve done the reading.’

He scoffs, and lets her go only long enough to wet a cloth to clean her face of sweat and blood. Gast cannot come quickly enough, he finds himself thinking, waiting on her to brush her teeth and get herself dressed. She is finding it difficult to do her trousers up; he will have to take her further afield to purchase new ones. Perhaps that is how he gets her out. He spirits her away under the guise of maternity clothes. Once they are gone, they can just not go back. She can’t drive, so she wouldn’t be able to stop him.

No, that is an unfair thing to do.

[psychotomy]

Thinking abt the daze mv again and the song lyrics in general. I’m just rambling here

I feel like if you imagine the harlequin to be the visualization of “Hamartia” and his land of luxury portrayed in the video as the sorta “masquerade for people at the peak of life”, and the girl that drives away as a “tragic heroine” it all sort of comes together.

Since Hamartia means “the trait that leads a traditional hero from their glory to their downfall” (…or sth close to that!) it makes sense for it to appear as a coy fancy harlequin being a secret host for a party. People being close to Hamartia means being close to (or one’s already reached) the state of glory in their character arc, and Hamartia’s there to play a passionate yet cruel joke on the unaware hero.

If one’s there they’ve got three options:

1 stay at the party.

2 driving away.

3 being lured by the harlequin

Option 1 leaves you dazed and stuck forever in this illusion-like trance, losing oneself in the glory so to speak. Option 2&3 both means that you’ve embraced the element that takes you away from the peak, with 2 meaning a voluntary acceptance to absolution and a firm turn-away from the illusion (a tragic end but a lesson learned), and 3 meaning you were lured to take that fatal fall (tragic end, but it ends with passion)

-

That’s the MV part. The lyrics make it seem like the harlequin itself speaking out, trying to get the listener into option 3..

“And you can give me everything I need this way” only when the hero unknowingly takes the fall due to their flaw, can Hamartia be brought into existence.

“We’ll be loving till the first light of the day” then Hamartia becomes one with the hero, and only for the short moment of their fall can they bond intimately

“Set the world on fire… let the whole world burn” sounds like a bittersweet final call to the world; a carefree feeling resulting from acceptance of their own destruction, they’ll be laughing till the end as they disappear in a flurry of gold and flames.

-

The concept of harmatia was first introduced to me while I was learning myths in a writing course years ago. I forgot this word but was lucky enough to come across it in potf’s lyrics and GOD am I so happy. And linking this concept to myths and gods makes it perfectly reasonable for Daze to be the kickstarter song of the “Jealous Gods” album, boy it’s one hell of an awesome metaphor / message, harmatia exists 🎵 for the fates are devious by heart 🎵

-

Also the song’s a complete banger even without all this interpretation. It carries a complete meaning and has great “fated romance” vibes.

[bbnibini]

To commemorate the success of the exchange program and your official enrolment as a regular student in RAD for the upcoming school year, Diavolo invites the House of Lamentation and Purgatory Hall to a slumber party! What better way to celebrate than playing video games? Unfortunately, one such game among them called “Olympus Moon” is more than just a game: it is said to be cursed by an evil spirit! By a terrible stroke of luck, you and everyone else had somehow been transported inside the game, at the mercy of the rumoured curse out to kill you all!  Will you and your friends be able to get out of the game? Or will he get to you first? (part 5 of the Hamartia series) ~bannerart by alvimint

Pairing(s): "Aphrodite" x MC, "Aphrodite" x Reader

T/w: Graphic depictions of violence and gore, major and minor character deaths

coming soon

Song: Aquarium by Megumi Nakajima Artist: Alvi Rough translations/lyrics/edit: BBnibini Gdoc srt: To be shared on the release date

carrd (WIP)

masterlist (you are here)

original AO3 version (WIP)

gallery (wip)

ARC 1: EVERYONE'S APHRODITE (release date: December 9, 2024 GMT+8)

Optional PSISLY branching route

Day 0

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

ARC 2: OCEAN AND HEARTH (release date: early 2025)

coming soon

ARC 3: TO LOVE WITH SOUL (WIP)

coming soon

ARC 4: WIP TITLE/it's spoiler so I'll put it as wip for now lol

coming soon

Arc 5: FINAL ARC/THE LITTLE MERMAID

coming soon

[stringcage]

a while back i made this post about adam parrish and max caulfield being really similar characters and lately i've been thinking about that a lot and i think it really has to do with the duality of their relationships with supernatural power and autonomy.

both of their character arcs are very reliant on receiving supernatural abilities at the beginning of their series and the aftermath this has on their self esteems. both of them gain confidence as time goes on and they master their abilities, with adam becoming the magician and max using her rewind to help bring people to justice. the confidence that comes with this power helps both of them to overcome their hamartia (adam, learning to ease the chip on his shoulder and accept help from others when the situation calls for it; max, becoming comfortable with interacting with the world around her and take some control over her own life as well).

but even though we can see that what their power is doing to them is a net good for their own personal growth, it offsets the balance of the world around them. the universe seems not to believe that they should wield this power. we see adam get possessed by the demon through his bond with cabeswater, and the reckoning of max's tampering with time causing the storm that can only end in death. i think it says something really interesting about sacrifice, which is also a huge part of both of their characters down to literal word choice in the narrative.

and of course this is resolved in a way befitting of the cyclical nature of time that is prevalent in trc and lis: even though their powers are what got them to this pivotal point against the universe in the first place, the way that their relationship with magic helped them grow as a person allows them to be capable of getting themselves out of this situation (adam letting his friends help him when he gets possessed and max being able to make a choice, one way or the other, to save someone, no matter who it may be, instead of shying away from any sort of autonomy). the universe grants them a hubris of sorts, punishes them for possessing it, but that hubris allows each of them to save themselves in spite of it all

[nonbinaryphantom]

roleswap danny’s arc hits very similar to a tragedy where he’s the tragic hero but due to his own hamartia he’s leading his own downfall he even has a revelation on his own self and his relationships which leads to him getting Worse. but unlike a lot of tragedies he’s. not a high status person or a great hero he’s just a kid who just got lucky/unlucky to become half-ghost and everything that comes with growing up snowballs

[jumpscaregoose]

lyserg diethel in hell is neat basically

lyserg's always had my favourite arc out of the main five guys and I wanna talk about it but mostly the culmination of that arc when he goes to hell. because it is neat and I get to sound ridiculous

lyserg is different from the other main characters in that instead of following a more linear character progression he hits absolute rock bottom and winds up only a few steps ahead of his introduction by the end of the manga. this fucking slaps and I love it.

the crux of his character is similar to the concept of aristotelian hamartia, or a downfall based on a morally neutral fatal flaw (the most pretentious series of words I've ever written). lyserg's parents are killed by hao, he wants revenge, he winds up in the echo chamber of the x laws for a while and spirals. the way lyserg differentiates from a class tragedy is in that he doesn't crash and burn but instead quietly returns to around where he started (but not exactly. like 4 steps ahead).

unlike the other main guys, lyserg doesn't get a big bombastic culmination of his arc (well he does, but considering the rest of them all went to hell at the same time I don't think it counts). his is a lot more understated. and I like that because I'm a loser who likes going over this manga with a fine toothed comb.

for a bit of context as to where lyserg is as a character before this scene we're busting out these scans I have again

^ this scene is about as fucked up as he gets. for most of the second half of the manga the angst is more subdued ^

at his lowest point, lyserg's #1 priority was his revenge on hao. he was willing to do a significant amount of murder and other fucked up shit for this goal. the niles match is this mentality crystallized.

when he's not being put in situations where he can kill people to further his revenge, lyserg is more... quietly depressed. just sitting in the corner all 😔. he is There

and then we get the mastema hell scene (what do you even call it). the character's individual hells are clearly meant to demonstrate traumas/important stuff in relation to the character (the tao mansion, a flooded forest, mount osorezan, and a dante's inferno reference I think?). lyserg's is in london. the area around big ben specifcally. the last moments of happiness he had before his parents' deaths

and actually the big ben thing was a lie. he spawns in next to this building

I'm assuming it's meant to be a church but given how busted it is it could be something else. church is my first guess based on the christian imagery of the x laws as a group. if we take this building as a church meant to represent the x laws, it's also of note that it's broken, like the current state of the group with almost all its members dead

out of all five hells, we only see two significant demons. the first is oh-oni in yoh's, clearly calling back to the osorezan arc. the second is mastema in lyserg's. the demon being named mastema is significant because, at least according to my googling, the name mastema means hatred in hebrew. it's also explicitly stated as a symbol of hatred in the text

my absolute favourite part of this scene is this part though

(my absolute favourite part got bodied by my phone scan rip)

ALSO if this RANDOM BRITTANIA FACTOID is true MISSED OPPORTUNITY FROM TAKEI

six wings for fire and you give the fire guy four. ok. kind of hope this isn't true so we didn't lose anything in the divorce

back to the actual scene, I think the angel form is meant to represent the justice of the x laws as a crutch for actual personal growth. it isn't possible for lyserg to defeat his hatred with the holier-than-thou ideology he's been living with, so he nearly gets crushed

the rest of the scene is significantly less interesting but the cliffsnotes version is that Cool Character Development is implied but happens mostly offscreen in a Takei Moment. read it for yourself if you want the details there because I don't wanna write about them

this next pages makes me feral though

mastema dolkeem. flames of hatred. love it so much. roses are red violets are blue mastema dolkeem has nothing to do with you. yeeessss my boy work on overcoming your need for revenge and grow as a person yesssss

obnoxiously long lyserg rant over thanks for coming

[seokjinsonlyone]

OPEN DISCUSSION IS OFFICIALLY OPEN!!!DELUSIONAL HOURS COMMENCED!! the topic on tonight’s table?

u gotta pick a member of your choosing and then create a 7 song bts playlist about ur relationship tell me why you chose each song and how it relates to your relationship as always i’ll go first

the member i choose is OF COURSE✨ seokjin ✨ gotta keep the flame alive while my baby doing his thing gotta let the hoes know he still accounted for 🤧 GOTTA SPEAK OUR TRUTH

FIRST SONG UP IS embarrassed/blanket kick!!! like we would just have soooo much pining in the beginning to be honest but like lowkey pining not lowkey enough that the people who know us best are oblivious but lowkey nonetheless and like we’d be acting awkward around each other tryna figure out who gon make a move first (not me) and like the timing just gon be off for a bit and there’s gonna be the subtle flirting until he goes for it <333

next up is butterfly and i know what you may be thinking like DANG ALREADY???? like THESE LYRICS????

Will you stay by my side/Will you promise me/If I let go of your hand, you'll fly away and break/I'm scared scared scared of that/Will you stop time/If this moment passes/As though it hadn't happened/I’m scared scared scared I'll lose you

but yes <333 we not casual people and all the pining will have gotten to us and it’s gon be like omg 😱 we wanted this so bad what if it doesn’t work? should we just stay friends? i’d rather keep you where you are then escalate this if that’s a possibility like we’re gonna be scared but we finna work through it take the leap of faith

THENNN 21st century girls!!! something cute for the kids something light for the summer time we’ve worked out most of our complexes surrounding the relationship and i just feel like seokjin would have the energy like being my hype man you know like always flirting telling me i’m beautiful encouraging my own individuality this that and the third he’s fun!! he’s a dream!! he’s a man written by a woman!! MY man written for ME specifically 🤨

WE’VE REACHED THE CREST OF BREAKUP ARC in the form of moon like okay you would NOT think that this would lead to our breakup but like FUN FACT!!! i have abandonment and trust issues it’s true 💔 the hot girl’s hamartia like imma get overwhelmed by his affections for me and like how much trust he has in me bc like these lyrics

Though everyone says I'm beautiful/But my sea is all black/A star where flowers bloom and the sky is blue/You are the truly beautiful one/Suddenly I wonder/Are you also looking at me right now? (Oh)/Won't you find out all my painful wounds? (Oh)/ I'll orbit around you/ I'll stay by your side/ I'll be your light/ All for you

LIKE THATS A LOT FOR SOMEONE WITH ABANDONMENT ISSUES AND LIKE and i’d be like woah woah what did i even do to deserve all that we gotta we gotta chill idk if i can do this that’s right i’m the villain of my own story <\3

BUT FRET NOT BC love is not over like at the end of the day he not gon let a good thing (me) go 💁🏾‍♀️ neither of us are tbh it’s gonna take some time to get there tho like we’re both gonna have to take time to evaluate the relationship and ourselves and i feel like it’s gonna be one of those things where it’s like we gonna meet up for closure but end up with us being like why the HECK are we hurting for no reason like if being apart feels like this let’s just be together

and when all that’s said and done we have outro propose 🥳🥳🥳 that’s right guys we’re getting MARRIED!!! 👰🏾‍♀️🤵🏻‍♂️ even tho i’m the earth to his moon he still wants to give me the world the solar system the galaxy it’s true i’m his everything and he’s mine too and we gonna reminisce on our journey and live happily ever after 💕💞💖

SO WE’RE WRAPPING IT ALL UP WITH best of me!!! now let me tell u about this song like it’s just one that always shocks me bc i usually don’t like songs that sound like this like the edm type feel but i’ve ALWAYS really liked this song like every time it would come up on shuffle i’d be surprised about how i genuinely love it but still bc it’s not the usual sound i gravitate toward i don’t typically CHOOSE to put it on so tbh i never looked up the english translation like SUE ME BTS HAS A GAJILLION SONGS AND THEY ALWAYS MAKING MOVES CANT BE ON TOP OF EVERYTHING but when i was looking up the lyrics for this my jaw was on the freaking floor like the DEVOTION held within these lyrics oh me OH MY like need me some of that desperately like if you’ve never looked up the translation or if it’s been a while I SINCERELY URGE YOU TO DO SO like i can’t put everything here but

I used to rain/I used to snow/I stop all the misfortune/ And I bring the heavens/ Don't speak of it so lightly/ There's no me without you/ You're the best of me, the best of me, yeah

like knees on da ground head in my hands world shook aura combusted i can’t believe they was pop locking when they said these words ANYWAY yeah seokjin is like head honcho of both emotional maturity and wanting everyone around him to be happy especially ME once we’re married and all in like we’re gonna give each other our best and be the best for each other

ALRIGHT IVE MADE MYSELF SEEM SUFFICIENTLY CRAZY YOUR TURN IM PASSING THE MIC 🎤

[gloriousmooseman]

I saw a criticism of the Supernatural finale today that Dean's death wasn't as impactful or meaningful because it didn't serve the wider plot, and I am NOT a fan of the ending, but I think that if his death had been incorporated as a season or whole series arc it would have been even less impactful than the rusty nail because it would have given the impression that Chuck won in the end and got his story where the tragic hero is killed due to their hamartia.