Character Deaths
Jun. 24th, 2003 03:02 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
tarotgalNO HP5 SPOILERS, I promise. I suppose a bit of a Stargate SG1 spoiler for episode 'Meridian' but that was seasons ago... and a spoiler for HP4... and Highlander season 2... lol
I've been thinking a lot about character deaths since I read the new HP book. I cry my heart out for these characters... yesterday, today... and so many times in the past. I still sob when Tessa on Highlander is killed and Duncan looks back.
But really, in a way, I'm crying because I feel for the characters they leave behind, not for the dead characters themselves. Some of the Harry Potter lists I'm on have had people crying and mourning, wearing black ribbons and making banners for the fallen character, etc. But I don't really feel that that character- or really any of the fictional characters- are dead. Not to say that I did not wear a black armband after Nick on Forever Knight died. But I suppose I am simply more in tune with what character deaths mean in the grand sceme of things now.
I really don't feel like the characters are dead. I mean, every time I watch early Highlander episodes, there's Tessa alive again. And every time I watch Stargate repeats, there's Daniel alive and well... and though I SOBBED when Jack said to pull the plug... and I'm getting tears in my eyes right now just typing this up... still, he's immortal.
The characters don't go away when they die... they can be reread and rewatched countless times. They can live in so many ways- not to mention fanfiction(though I've never been a big AU fan, a lot of prequals are always fun). It's the characters that they leave behind which make me cry the most, I suppose.
I kill off one of my favorite characters in a "novel" I'm writing. I love him to death, and so does my main character... but he just got a sword run through him and there's nothing I can do about that. Interestingly enough, his death brought so many changes and SO many benefits upon the story and characters that as much as I love him, I could never write it any other way.
I guess what I'm saying is, everyone dies in real life... and apart from some immortals, technically it's the fate of every fictional character to die as well. Sometimes it happens within the scope of a book or movie and when that happens, well, it's sad. But if the writers mean it to happen- and the CHARACTERS mean it to happen, there's no stopping it. But the characters live on in the past, in immortality... and their deaths contribute something. Even Cedric's contributed something... even if it was an off-hand "kill the spare" death- it still made so many changes that it was important and necessary.
Anyway... I'll continue to love and continue to cry... but there's no anger in my heart. I understand that when things happen they happen. But I'll always have the character in previous books or episodes or movies to look back on and love. And my love for them will never fade or change just because they are dead. Afterall, what's literary present tense for? :-)
I've been thinking a lot about character deaths since I read the new HP book. I cry my heart out for these characters... yesterday, today... and so many times in the past. I still sob when Tessa on Highlander is killed and Duncan looks back.
But really, in a way, I'm crying because I feel for the characters they leave behind, not for the dead characters themselves. Some of the Harry Potter lists I'm on have had people crying and mourning, wearing black ribbons and making banners for the fallen character, etc. But I don't really feel that that character- or really any of the fictional characters- are dead. Not to say that I did not wear a black armband after Nick on Forever Knight died. But I suppose I am simply more in tune with what character deaths mean in the grand sceme of things now.
I really don't feel like the characters are dead. I mean, every time I watch early Highlander episodes, there's Tessa alive again. And every time I watch Stargate repeats, there's Daniel alive and well... and though I SOBBED when Jack said to pull the plug... and I'm getting tears in my eyes right now just typing this up... still, he's immortal.
The characters don't go away when they die... they can be reread and rewatched countless times. They can live in so many ways- not to mention fanfiction(though I've never been a big AU fan, a lot of prequals are always fun). It's the characters that they leave behind which make me cry the most, I suppose.
I kill off one of my favorite characters in a "novel" I'm writing. I love him to death, and so does my main character... but he just got a sword run through him and there's nothing I can do about that. Interestingly enough, his death brought so many changes and SO many benefits upon the story and characters that as much as I love him, I could never write it any other way.
I guess what I'm saying is, everyone dies in real life... and apart from some immortals, technically it's the fate of every fictional character to die as well. Sometimes it happens within the scope of a book or movie and when that happens, well, it's sad. But if the writers mean it to happen- and the CHARACTERS mean it to happen, there's no stopping it. But the characters live on in the past, in immortality... and their deaths contribute something. Even Cedric's contributed something... even if it was an off-hand "kill the spare" death- it still made so many changes that it was important and necessary.
Anyway... I'll continue to love and continue to cry... but there's no anger in my heart. I understand that when things happen they happen. But I'll always have the character in previous books or episodes or movies to look back on and love. And my love for them will never fade or change just because they are dead. Afterall, what's literary present tense for? :-)
