As someone who has been an avid reader and TV show enthusiast for the majority of my life, there are many fictional deaths that have stuck with me throughout the years. These deaths completely changed the trajectory of my life, as insane as that sounds, and have left me changed both in good and bad ways. However, before we start, I do want to give a quick spoiler warning. I will be talking about the Harry Potter series, the Percy Jackson series, and the The Hunger Games series, so if you do not want to be spoiled for any of those, please leave and come back at a later date.
Fred Weasley
Starting off with a strong one, Fred Weasley. When I tell you, this death absolutely changed the trajectory of my life when I was 11 reading the Harry Potter series for the first time. I will never forget how unexpected it was to read the words that Fred had died, especially since it was within the last 100 pages of the book. To be fair, when I first got to the Battle of Hogwarts, I knew that a lot of important people were probably gonna die. A lot did, like Remus, Tonks and Snape, but I never thought that Fred was going to die.
I did think that there was a good chance that a Weasley was going to die — I mean, there’s literally nine of them — but I thought it was either going to be Arthur or Percy, not one of the twins. I also think about the way he died so often because not only did he die jumping in front of a curse aimed at Percy but also because Harry describes him as having “the ghost of his last laugh still etched upon his face,” absolutely heart-wrenching. This death, to me, is probably the saddest in the entire series, and as someone with siblings who mean so much to me and I couldn’t imagine losing them, I just knew that it broke the hearts of the rest of the Weasley siblings.
Another thing that makes Fred’s death so much more impactful for me is how the actors who played Fred and George speak about it. Oliver Phelps, who played George, has said that it was really hard seeing his brother like that, even though he knew that it was fake. James Phelps, the actor for Fred, said that while reading Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, he was shell-shocked to find out that his character had died. And just as it shocked James, it shocked the Harry Potter fandom, who started to add more headcanons about his death, making it even sadder. Like saying that George could never cast a patronus again because all of his happy memories were with Fred or that George hated working at Weasley Wizarding Wheezes without Fred so much that he stopped going there for a few years.
I don’t think I will ever be able to stop thinking about this death. Fred was just so young, joyful, and important to Harry and the other Weasleys. I think that being so emotionally attached to characters like Fred sets you up for the biggest heartache because if they are killed, you will be completely blindsided by it.
Bianca di Angelo
The second death on this list belongs to Bianca di Angelo, who appeared in Percy Jackson and the Titan’s Curse, which is the third novel in the series. Bianca is a child of Hades, one of the Big Three, but unlike Percy, she isn’t forbidden. Bianca, along with her brother Nico, was born before Hades, Poseidon and Zeus agreed to stop having demigod children. After Zeus kills their mother, Hades sends his Fury, Alecto, to get Bianca and Nico to erase their memories and then settle them at the Lotus Hotel and Casino, where time moves slower than it does on the outside. So, while Bianca and Nico believe they only spent months in the hotel, they had actually spent 70 years there.
Bianca, along with her brother, Percy, Annabeth, and Grover are saved by the goddess Artemis and her hunters. This makes Bianca fall in love with the hunters and what they stand for: strong, powerful, and independent women who fight alongside Artemis, and she gets the opportunity to join them. The only issue is that the Hunters of Artemis are willingly chaste women who stay far out of the company of men, and this would include Nico. After much consideration, Bianca decides to join the hunters and follows the general Zoë on a quest to save Artemis.
During this quest, the group encounters the Junkyard of the Gods, which they are all informed by Aphrodite not to take anything from. Bianca shows a lot of interest in all of the things inside of the junkyard, which causes Percy to be a little cautious of her, especially when the group is attacked by Talos, a huge metal giant made by Hephateus to attack thieves, a clear sign that someone had taken something from the junkyard. Percy quickly thinks that the thief is Bianca, and later when the two are hiding together, she admits to having taken a Mythomagic figurine for Nico, who collects them. Bianca decides to then sacrifice herself, asking Percy to give the figurine to Nico, and saves the rest of the group from Talos.
The reason that this death hit me so hard was because I have a little brother myself, and I would do absolutely anything for him. Nico truly loved his sister, and when Percy breaks the news to him about Bianca’s death, he breaks down and has no idea how to manage the world without her. I cannot imagine what would happen if I died and how that would affect any of my siblings. Bianca’s death also has probably stayed with me for so long because as the series continues, Nico’s character development is based so greatly on Bianca’s death. Sometimes, I would wonder how different he would’ve been if Bianca hadn’t died. And finally, Bianca’s death is constantly on my mind because that is the name of my older sister as well, and once again, I genuinely couldn’t, nor do I want to, imagine life without my sister.
Finnick Odair
Finally, next on the list is the death of Finnick Odair in the Hunger Games trilogy. For this one, I will say that I haven’t read the books (they’re on my list though!). So this is based solely on the movies, but either way, Finnick’s death hasn’t left me since the first time I watched Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 2.
Listen, I genuinely think that Finnick has one of the saddest story arcs of any fictional character. He was put into the Hunger Games at just 14 years old, won his games, and then afterwards was basically used as a prostitute by the Capitol for years. This story is so sad to me because Finnick was truly just a kid, and just because he was conventionally attractive, the Capitol decided that he was meant to be used for his body, both in the games and outside of them. The only solace that Finnick has is Anne, a fellow District Four victor and soon lover, and Mags, his mentor and also fellow District Four victor. Then, in the events of Catching Fire, he loses Mags and Annie is captured by the Capitol. And, of course, Finnick blames himself.
Then Finnick gets the tiniest bit of happiness after District 13 is able to save Annie from the Capitol. They are quick to marry, but instead of staying where it is safer and enjoying his time with Annie, Finnick volunteers to join Katniss and Gale during their mission into the Capitol to kill President Snow because he is just that selfless. It is during this mission that the group gets attacked while in the sewers by a group of mutations sent by Snow to kill them. Finnick stands as the final guard, fighting the mutts to give the rest of the group more time to escape, and right before escaping himself, he gets dragged back down by one and starts to be murdered viciously by them. Katniss sees this, so to grant him a quick death, she uses the Holo’s self-destruct feature and throws it down, blowing up the mutts as well as Finnick.
This death is so sad to me for a multitude of reasons. The main one of course being that Finnick did not have a happy life. Yes, he had riches and lots of material items, but he wasn’t happy. From a young age, he had been used by Snow, and it is so sad that Snow is also the reason for his death. On top of all of that, he had just married the love of his life, and she was pregnant with their first child at the time of his death, but Finnick had no clue. That is so sad to me because of how much Finnick loves Annie and how much he wanted to start a family with her, and just when that is all finally starting to happen, he dies.
I also fully believe that Finnick was one of the characters in this series who deserved the happy ending that Katniss and Peeta were able to get. He fought so hard and for so long that it truly isn’t fair that he wasn’t able to get all of the good things in life that he deserved. He deserved to see the birth of his son, live a long life with Annie and live in a world where the games are a distant memory. He deserved to live until old age like Mags had, and it is so terribly sad that he didn’t receive any of that. To this day, I will never forgive Susan Collins for killing my sweet baby Finnick.
These are only a small amount of fictional deaths that I think about daily. It is so hard for me not to connect strongly emotionally with characters that I find myself relating to, liking, and wanting only the best for. I understand that authors, especially in fantasy novels, need to kill off some characters to drive the plot and add suspense, but these characters didn’t deserve that, and I will delusional believe that they are still alive and happy somewhere because that is how their story should’ve ended.