Killing Characters

         This is just my own opinion that I feel needed to be addressed, but why do the writers of shows have to kill off main characters? You know the feeling regardless of what type of media you are into. Let me set the stage. You’re invested in a show, movie, or book for that matter. You've somehow become attached to a main character. He has resolve, he’s good looking, and he’s a man’s hero. Or perhaps she's outgoing, beautiful, calm and adjusted. You've officially decided that you want to model the rest of your life around this character, until you're done with that book/movie/show, of course. Just when you decide, “it’s okay to assume this character will make it to the end of this show/movie/book,” he gets about a million arrows shot through him before he utters his last breath.

          This is NOT okay. Specifically in any show, because this blogs about television. More specifically, in shows that kill off main characters like it’s nobody’s business. I’m talking about you, “The Walking Dead” and “The Game of Thrones.” I get the fact that writers want to make their story line dramatic, but does that mean they have to literally kill off the whole plot line they've just spent the past sixty minutes of my life developing.

Isn't that extremely counter-productive, though? I don’t spend hours painting a picture in which a newly-wed couple discovers their pregnancy, excited for their new life together, then set the canvas on fire! You've pretty much just destroyed everything you've been working so hard on. Why would you excite me with the idea of the couple visiting their child’s oblivious grandmother, to excite her with the news, and then as the care-free couple happily trudge along their quest, have the wife stabbed in the womb? I’ll repeat that, STABBED IN THE WOMB. That's just brutal. This turned out to be a lot more specific than it needed to be, but the point remains.

The worst part of all of this is that I keep coming back to the shows. It’s like that terrible relationship you have. You know, the one that no matter how many times you break up, it just doesn't seem to actually end. You've been with this person for so long, you were happy with them at one point, and you hold onto those memories. However, something changed along the line (maybe he became a psychopath who kills off everyone you care about) and you got into a big argument. But he’s kept calling you back to him. He seems changed with each new call. He acts like he used to be when you first started up your relationship, like he’s learned his lesson. There’s something about his voice that says “I won’t kill everyone you care about, I promise.”  So you take him back. THEN HE GOES AND KILLS EVERY NEW PERSON YOU STARTED CARING ABOUT. I guess there’s something about killing off these characters that draws the viewers in.

 If you’re going to kill a main character, at least let it be a villain. If you just HAVE to kill off a good guy, at least let it be at the end of the show, so we have sentimental feelings for that character that stay with us.“Breaking Bad” got it right; they only killed off villains while the show was running. That was a pretty successful show, too. I swear if Daryl Dixon, Jon Snow, or Jaime Lannister gets killed off, I’m done with television.