Top 5: Traumatic Deaths

Good movies, games and stories make us connect with groups of characters and emphasise with their situation, sometimes killing one of them off can be harsh and emotionally jarring but can also add an immense depth to stories and provide an unexpected turn.

When I was making this post I had a lot of candidates, I’m not sure whether that indicates I’m a bit soft when it comes to stories, have watched way to much or  like watching things with main character deaths in, I suspect its a combination of all three. I can’t honestly say I cry a lot at these kinds of things but I often do feel like crying because it gets pretty upsetting.

Here are my top 5 traumatic deaths, characters that I generally didn’t expect to die, didn’t want to die or that just died in plain upsetting ways.

 

At 5: Hoban “Wash” Washburne

From: Serenity/Firefly

Fatality: Impaled

Death Style: Brutal/Unexpected/Shocking

Special Because: Geek favourite and all round amazing show Firefly did a pretty good job of making us love the crew. Joss seemed to put almost all his energy into building the characters up and almost every actor/actress is flawless in their portrays, cheeky pilot Wash is no exception. While he’s not my favourite Serenity crew member I still loved his character, he’s the Xander of the Serenity team, fun, able and supportive. From his first appearance he is portrayed as someone who understands the balance between responsibility and fun and has one of the best character development lines in the series. The episode where Mal and Wash are captured is one of, if not the, best episode of Firefly and it’s mainly Wash and Mal on screen talking for 40 mins.

Tudyk is a gifted actor and plays a lovable character and most importantly the one which most of the audience can relate too (he is really the crew geek) so when he bites the bullet in Serenity it’s like having your presence in the crew torn out. Not only does Wash die which is bad enough, but the nature of his demise is also traumatic. After an especially amazing space combat scene where Wash bravely pilots our favourite cowboy spaceship through a war zone he lands to let the crew continue with the mission. Immediately shit kicks off, no warning, no hint just BAM! Wash is dead with a spike through him.

It’s genuinely jarring and as the crew rush to him it’s only made worse by the face they have to keep moving, no prolonged death scene, no final words to his wife. Nothing. Joss really did do an excellent job of shocking the audience with this one and I don’t know a single person who didn’t find this death scene at least a bit shocking.

 

At Number 4: Musafa

From: The Lion King

Fatality: Trampled by Herd of Wilder Beast

Death Style: Violent/Worrying

Special Because: I’m from the Lion King generation, this means that when I was a kid (I was gonna put youngling but couldn’t bring myself to do it), I begged Mum & Dad to see the new big Disney movie, The Lion King. Shameless rip off as it later turned out to be the Lion King was, and still is one of the best animated films Disney have put out. It features fantastic voice acting, crisp visuals and one of the best soundtracks to any movie ever. The characters are amazingly easy to relate to, I literally felt I was Simba when watching this for the first time and that’s what makes it so shocking.

Musafa is the  kind of Dad an older person knows is the best a Dad can be. He is firm but fair, wise and caring and a fucking awesome King. When Simba acts like the spoilt little dick he is any causes a shitload of trouble it’s up to Musafa to save the day. Somehow you feel like everything is gonna be alright, he’s Simba’s Dad right? He’s the Lion King right? What could go wrong?

Well he could get brutally trampled to death on screen by a herd of charging wilder beast.

The death scene itself followed by Simba nudging and pawing at his dead Dad is enough to permanently scar anyones mind let alone a bunch of young kids. Having previously emphasized with Simba (only as a child, adult me still blames Simba for his fathers death) his Dad’s death is like a sledgehammer, only moments ago we were singing “Just can’t wait to be King”, we were laughing at Mr Beans voice and the Monkeys bum. Now we are left cold and alone and scared and goddamn it all to hell it’s our fault.

I don’t know a single kid form my generation who would disagree with this making the top five.

 

The best Team Edward

At Number 3: Edward Bloom

From: Big Fish

Fatality: Illness

Death Style: Emotional/Tear-Jerker/Double Kill

Special Because: I will never forget the first time I watched Tim Burton’s hidden gem Big Fish. I had picked it up for a few quid ex-rental and trundled home to watch it, I was living with my parents at the time but they were away and I had the house to myself. I put the DVD in expecting something a bit fantastical and entertaining and for the most part I got just that. What I did not expect was for Big Fish to kick the shit out of my emotions and essentially end it by reducing me to tears, something very, very few movies have ever done.

For the [many] people who have not seen Big Fish it’s essentially a film about a man telling the story of his life on his death bed. Nothing original there. Burton however takes this idea and weaves his own special brand of macabre fairytale nonsense into it in an almost flawless way. Young Edward (played by Ewan McGreggor in a truly award deserving performance) wins our hearts over easily with his crazy adventures and even though you should hate his smug, almost Mr. Perfect attitude, he’s simply too nice a guy. Albert Finney plays current day Bloom and also puts on a stunning performance meaning it becomes almost impossible to not be in love with the Legend that is Edward Bloom.

It’s clear from the off set however Bloom isn’t going to make it so what makes his death so special? Put simply it’s the Father-Son bonding and the willingness to live a life as big as Bloom’s. A critical point in the story is that Edwards son is fed up of hearing these bullshit tales of his fathers life, one story he tells is how a Witch told him the way he would day and lying in bed wasting from oldage and illness isn’t it. Bullshit his son thinks, the doctor says he’s dead, he gets rushed to hospital, its just a story. But then Edward coxes his son into telling a story that he never gave to him, the way he would die and we are left with an amazingly tear jerking )if not fantastical) scene where they escape from the hospital, collect some lost friends and end up at an important story location as mighty Edward Bloom becomes the Big Fish he has always been. If this scene isn’t enough to make you cry the following few are.

You see, the thing is, it’s still a story, Bloom does die weak in a bed gripped by age and illness, and even though his son making the connection he’s always wanted is a moment of pure triumph it’s almost instantly taken away. Even worse we are treated to the actual funeral scene with hints and clues about the real stories of Bloom’s life.

 

Autobots! Roll Out!

At Number 2: Optimus Prime

From: Transformers: The Movie

Fatality: Unfairly Tricked & Shot up

Death Style: Traumatic/Prolonged

Special Because: Let’s get one thing clear, we’re now getting in the last two, Optimus Prime dying was a big fucking deal. When I was around 6 I had 2 heroes in my life, Egon Spengler and Optimus Prime, he was a shining guardian of justice and power and watching the 1986 (and largely agreed best) Transformers Movie will also stick in my mind forever. I was too young to catch it at the cinema but imagine this scene.

It’s my Birthday, I get up early and open my gifts, WOW the Transformers movie on VHS!! Damn I have to go to school but Mum assures me I can have the TV after dinner as a special treat and watch the movie then. I spend a frantic day at school getting excited and looking forward to the film, none of my friends have seen it, boy am I lucky, THE FIRST to watch it! I get home, wolf my dinner down and then excitedly bug my Dad to finish watching the news. 2 hours later I am a husk of a child, a bunch of the main Autobots (at least 7-8 I can remember) are fucking dead. One of the is Optimus Prime. Sure the Autobots have a new leader and they kinda won but it all feels hollow because Optimus, the mightiest warrior the Universe have ever seen, is dead.

The death scene itself comes after an epic battle where Prime truly kicks ass and only pointless flame coat Autobot twat Hot Rod tips the scales causing Optimus to take a few critical blaster bolts. He fucks Megatron up with his last ounces of strength and collapses. The Decipticons escape and we cut to AutoBot HQ where Prime lays dying on a table. Surrounded by his fellow Autobot and human friends Prime remains noble to the end and imparts the leadership Matrix to Ultra Magnus, who frankly is 100x the Autobot Hot Rod could ever be. Then to hammer the point home Prime fades out to black and grey and dies. Not only is he dead they ruined his beautiful image.  I don’t remember crying but I probably did. If I didn’t it was shock value alone.

FYI I never forgave Hot Rod. What a fucking dick. Just follow orders next time.

 

Why? Just Why?

And Number 1: Aeris Gainsborough

From: Final Fantasy VII

Fatality: Stabbed

Death Style: Shocking/Traumatic/Cold

Special Because: Rightfully regarded as a crowning moment of the decades best game, Aeris’ (as she is called in the UK version so don’t give me bullshit) death is the most traumatic death scene I have ever come across. Not only does it come completely out of the blue but it’s brutal, unforgiving and pivotal to a complex and fantastic story.

At this point so few other games had gotten me as emotionally entwined as Final Fantasy VII, like many people I was going home and playing it every single night, loosing myself in one of the best plots to any medium ever especially gaming. I had played FF:V and FF:VI but I don’t feel either of them offered this much emotional involvement, I think it was massively helped by the graphics and spectacular soundtrack but by the time we got the this point I was more hooked into FF:VII than anything before it ever.

Aeris is essentially an awesome woman, she’s beautiful, she’s clever, she’s got magic powers, she’s independent and cheeky but in a good way. I was in love with her from the start and always pursued her in the games relationship options. I dutifully trained her, advancing her more than any other character (bar Cloud who has to be in the party a lot of the time), she was my healer and summoner and her awesome Limit Break saved me from many an awkward death. Then she was gone.

“No” I cried, “We must find her!” Ignoring all other sub-plots I rushed off to the forest (DAMN YOU LUNAR HARP!)  and chased after her. After a few frustrating sessions I finally catch up with my Aries, “What’s she doing?” I ask myself. “What’s this a cut scene!?”

Then the world shatters. Aeris is dead, Holy is lost. I am not ashamed to say I cried. I cried for Cloud’s loss, I cried because she was my favourite girl character, I cried for the time I had sunk into getting her limit break and weapons.

The death scene itself is amazingly well done. From the blocky lead in where you have to stop yourself killing Aeris to the (then) stunning FMV of lead bastard Sephiroth dropping from the sky and nailing Aeris with that bad ass sword while his epic One Winged Angel overture runs in the background. Move to the Holy Materia bouncing down the stairs to Aeris’ Theme while you sat their in shock wondering WTF? Move onto an incredibly well done scene that most people overlook (out of shock) where Cloud literally voices your current emotions.

My figners are tingling.
My mouth is dry.
My eyes are burning.

While Sephiroth preaches his religious bullshit then lays down some of the puppet storyline that’s only just coming in.

What does the game do next? A bit of relaxing dialogue to comfort you? Time to absorb? No. Boss fight. Sephiroth throws a Jenvoa hybrid at you and fucks off leaving you to battle a boss bleary eyed while the heart wrenching music continues to play in the background. Afterwards we get a goodbye scene to ensure you are full emotionally drained.

It’s been said before but Aeris death is a pivotal point for many people as well as gaming history and very few movies will ever come close to building you up and knocking you down like this did.

OK that’s all, if you’ve not seen all these moments I hope you put some time aisde to at least watch some of the movies. Got some suggestions of your own? Let me know in the comments!