Tags
arthurian legend, doctor who, fictionaldeathsiwillnevergetover, firefly, joss whedon, king Arthur, serenity
Lately, the hashtag #FictionalDeathsIWillNeverGetOver has been trending on Twitter. As soon as I saw that, I immediately thought of characters—whose deaths I will never get over. I could not let it pass and so I must tell you all about the imaginary deaths which shall haunt me forever.
The Tenth Doctor
Though there had been a prophecy given to the Doctor that “your death will knock four times,” I was totally shocked when I realized that he was actually going to die. One of the Doctor’s best qualities is his uncanny ability to get out of “certain death” situations unscathed. I thought for sure that he would be able to thwart fate once again. Though he regenerated as Matt Smith, after seeing the heartbreaking finale, I laid awake late into the night, staring up at the ceiling, feeling devastated, and unable to cry.
Wash
Wash, the ship’s pilot in the series Firefly, is the comic relief for much of the series. Though not much of a fighter himself, his wife Zoe is a real Amazon and her brooding sense of seriousness coupled with his light-hearted outlook made for a cute and dynamic duo. In the spin-off film, Serenity, the crew are being chased by Reavers with their ship badly damaged. Wash does the impossible, landing their ship without engines. Everything had just turned out okay when it wasn’t supposed to, but suddenly, a Reaver harpoon breaks through the windshield and skewers Wash to his seat. What the—?!?!?!?!?!
King Arthur
Yes, yes, yes, I know Arthur dies or goes into (nearly) perpetual sleep in just about every single freaking retelling of the story, but if a book is written right, I still get all sad and depressed at the end. For instance, in Gerald Morris’ The Squire’s Tales, my favorite rehashing of the Arthurian tales, the end was almost too much to take. Though 86% of the good people die, they are all gathered up to go into the Realm of Faerie, but my point is—they DIE. I was very much saddened by their fate, in spite of the ultimately happy outcome, and the death of King Arthur and the other characters of the Arthurian legends will continue to haunt me.
Thus concludes my list of Fictional Deaths I Will Never Get Over. To all these characters who have sacrificed their lives for the sake of plot or a writer’s fancy, I’ll never forget you! 😥
Inkspelled Faery 