Killing a main character

[Nihilium 7th]

Is it possible or smart to not only kill a main character but to also make them increasingly important and present in the story without bringing them back from the dead in any way or form. I don't like bringing back people from the dead just to simply move the story along.

 

[Anders Ämting]

Sure you can. Ever seen Ghost, with Patrick Swayze? The main character dies almost right away and that's the whole point of the movie.

It really depends on what you mean by "bringing them back from them dead," and what "dead" actually is in the setting of your book. Heck, I plan to kill half the main cast in one of my projects, but that's because being dead isn't such a big deal for them at that point. No resurrections, it just doesn't bother them much.

But assuming you mean dead as in "permanently removed from the story," I say it's totally possible. You just need a strong supporting cast so you have someone to take over as protagonist; preferably in a way that seems logical and forshadowed. Other than that it's just a matter of planning, build-up and timing.

The important thing is that the death matters. Don't just do it because it's shocking and unusual for the main character to die, it has to actually be important to the plot.

 

[Saigonnus]

1) I could see them being a martyr for a cause.

2) His companions may not realize the full life he lived until after he dies... maybe he was secretly protecting them from some unknown threat, or perhaps it validates what they only suspected. (For example: Maybe they think he's being pursued by his old guildsmen and upon his murder, realize it's true when they find a token left by one of the assassin's in the guidl's employ.)

3) His tragic and sudden death might act a catalyst for change or for action and through those actions his memory is kept alive until they can manage a ceremony of some type.

4) Perhaps his essence or spirit is trapped in a magical item, making that item an extension of the person (i.e. a sentient item)

5) He becomes a God/ divine entity (like Obi-wan in Star Wars)

6) Perhaps an item is enchanted to allow communication with the dead, specially tuned to the MC... who can see tidbits of the future in his place in the afterlife, thus gives advice on possible options.

 

[Steerpike]

Answer to almost any writing question that begins with "is it possible" is yes. That holds true here as well. I've read books where the main character dies and is never heard from again. As to whether it is smart, that depends on how well you do it

 

[Sheriff Woody]

I feel that any major/primary character that dies should still retain their focus on the story.

In Hitchcock's PSYCHO, the character who dies mid-way through leaves the story never to return, but every major character that plays a primary role in the remainder of the story is focused on discovering what happened to the character who died. Their presence is still there. They are still the focus of the story. That's why this particular example worked.

In GRRM's A SONG OF ICE AND FIRE, several major characters perish, but the are still remembered by other characters, and the deaths often act as a driving force to push the living characters onward, and this makes up for any momentum that died with the characters who died.

 

[Nihilium 7th]

Death in my novel is a big deal in the sense that the circumstances for being brought back are extremely strict and usually take a great sacrifice. I'm probably going to make him dead permanently. The only remnants that are going to be left of him is his unborn child. I also have no plans to replace him in anyway, I want a "hole" to be left so that readers can feel the effects of his death throughout the story.

 

[Sparkie]

The important thing is that the death matters. Don't just do it because it's shocking and unusual for the main character to die, it has to actually be important to the plot.

I agree.

With apologies to Steerpike, I think a decent example of this can be found in the prologue and epilogue of Richard Russo's Empire Falls.

 

[TWErvin2]

Yes, it is possible.

In my first novel, Flank Hawk, a main character dies near the end. In the second novel, Blood Sword, the impact he made in the first novel echoes for several reasons in the second novel. In the third, which I am writing now, although he is mentioned, his influence isn't felt nearly as much.

It all depends on the character that perishes and the story yet to be told, and the surviving characters in that story.

 

[Ireth]

Definitely. My book Winter's Queen ends with the death of the main villain; it is the circumstances of his death, and the repercussions of them, that drive much of the plot of the sequel.

 

[psychotick]

Hi,

Likewise with Ireth. I just finished Days of Light and Shadow and at the end I killed the main villain, and a few chapters before one of the ex but redeemd villains, and I actually felt bad for doing it. I liked Y'aris. He was so brilliantly blind to his own faults that he was a joy to write. Even when he discovered one of his own mistakes he blamed everyone else.

But he had to die. Horribly!

Cheers, Greg.

 

[Penpilot]

Death in my novel is a big deal in the sense that the circumstances for being brought back are extremely strict and usually take a great sacrifice. I'm probably going to make him dead permanently. The only remnants that are going to be left of him is his unborn child. I also have no plans to replace him in anyway, I want a "hole" to be left so that readers can feel the effects of his death throughout the story.

This can definitely work. The trick here IMHO is to have a few characters who know/knew him very well. That way you can make this character's presence felt through them remembering and talking about him and feeling his loss. Flashbacks could be used here but aren't necessary if you build a really rich history between the dead person and the friends who knew him well.

 

[Rullenzar]

The Game Of Thrones <-------------- Read it or watch the show. Hands down one of the best examples of this being done well.