#and obsessively researched as much as I could fill into my head abt it. this is my two cents

[khamomile-kitty]

Ok there wasn’t a reason to actually tag me in this. Idk if you’re new to tumblr or if this is just how you tend to do things but generally unless you’re responding to somebody you don’t need to @. Plus I’m p done w this whole thread lol, the aardvark person got boring very quickly amd most of the rest is just ppl arguing abt character death. Regardless I’m gonna respond bc you @ me amd writing is a hot button interest for me lol but pls don’t do it again.

Anyway, ANYTHING in writing can be done bad. This isn’t special quit bringing that up like it brings nuance to this, it doesn’t. Secondly, character death due to worldbuilding. That’s what that is btw, killing characters bc the world is supposed to be dark and gritty is a part of worldbuilding, it’s there to show you what people in that story deal with, what loss they are going through at every turn, it’s not SUPPOSED to feel gratifying or anything even nuetral. It’s SUPPOSED to feel bad. Often times, it’s done “out of nowhere” for the exact POINT that it came out of nowhere: bc death on that dark gritty world can come around any corner, if characters said that all the time but we never saw it except for one-off characters or non-named characters, it would feel hollow. I promise you, the amount of times that s fully established story, not a fanfiction, kills a character off for no reason is 1%. And half of those are marvel movies that the actor wanted out of their contract. (JOKE! Don’t pick up your tomatoes)

Amd bc either you edited your comment or my memory is just getting worse, I’ll address the other bits of that argument you made. One, yes, it is potentially bad writing if the story has this character that’s built up to be a big role means absolutely nothing other than the BIG role of taking a bullet (or some other death) for the protag. Amd if we’re veering away from that example, having a death that’s focused on period makes them something of an integral role, bc HOPEFULLY, the author has built this narrative to the point that taking out this character death changes the story, or at least changes the tone. IF, however, it is not amd they are not, amd the story treats this character like a minor footnote in the story and never calls back to them again, that’s bad writing. But, as you note later on, that is a problem with the writer. It is not a problem with the trope.

Amd perhaps this character does to something the protag could survive or has survived bc of the simple fact that THEY ARE NOT THE PROTAG. Perhaps to showcase the helplessness and frustration of this death, that it was preventable, that it was stupid, that the protag could have taken the hit. That contributes to the tone of the death and story overall. Generally, try to think of WHY the story might have called for this, and HOW the author wants you to feel from it. There can be nuances to even situations like these.

If you have to ask, “Why did the author do this?” THINK about WHY the author did this. Maybe wait and see if that question is answered, because sometimes, the arc is not done. You just have to read the whole thing, or at least the relevant arc before coming to a final conclusion that the author didn’t think it through. Even on longform content farm shows, there’s SOME level of thought out into the decisions made. Sometimes they aren’t liked! That’s fine! But it’s not necessarily ALWAYS bad writing.

Third, when an author suddenly pays special attention to a side character only to kill them off, that’s SUPPOSED to be frustrating. They were doing that on purpose. Those are the emotions the protagonist feels, they just got to know this person and now they’re dead. The author has you get to know them first bc killing them off (especially in an emotional way like taking a bullet for the protag) is supposed to be impactful. Killing a character the reader barely knows does nothing but make the reader feel bad for the protag. Which is fine, that’s there no matter what usually, but the author wants you not just to feel bad, but to FEEL THEM. Feel what they are feeling, viscerally. If the character wasn’t built up beforehand and that’s the part you’re upset about, a lot of times the author has to pick what takes precedence in the story. Scenes and dialogue and characters have to move the plot along, even when they are just hanging out. Maybe the cast was large, and they had to pick on characters that would make more sense narratively than that one. Maybe it’s near the beginning of the story, and the character dies so soon in that they HAD to do it that way. Maybe they were just using a Very Common trope and hoping it would bring a looming sense of dread. (most readers start getting suspicious when a character suddenly gets a lot of attention or special scenes, and rightly so, bc it is a common narrative trope at this point, and most of the time it is used, it’s expected that the audience will see it coming somewhat, but hope that it won’t, until it does. There’s a book that plays with this concept, literally called They Both Die in the End. I know nothing abt it other than they both die at the end, but I’ve been told it plays w the readers emotions exactly like this. Amd it works. That’s why it’s used.)

In short, you can not like a characters death, you can be angry and frustrated or even not want to consume that media anymore. It doesn’t mean that it’s not a well established amd thought through process.

Also I wasnt using an ad hominem, that implies I was making any sort of argument at all, at the arguer or the argument, amd not just making a joke. (It also implies that was not a joke or not funny, which I and several others can disagree w you on but that’s an opinion. Regardless it was meant as a joke which means it is not an ad hominem, which is specifically attacking the arguer instead of the argument to cast doubt on them.) This was an Appeal to Humor.

im starting to think you guys dont like it when stories make you feel things