Nerd in Another City

5 Fandom Deaths I’m Still Upset About

Fair warning! This post contains many spoilers because one cannot talk fandom deaths without actually mentioning who it is that died. So if you haven’t watched Doctor Who, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, LOST, The Walking Dead or Game of Thrones than don’t look. Don’t be spoiled. Go watch those shows and come back…see you in a few months or a few years if you aren’t that dedicated to getting through them all.

Thanks to The Nerdy Girlie and Super Space Chick for creating 5 Fandom Friday.

Here goes…

#1 – Amy and Rory from Doctor Who

OK, so the fans knew this one was coming. Karen Gillan and Arthur Darvill were set to leave the show. It was either die or stop time traveling all together and Amy Pond would never have quit her raggedy man if she could help it. So they died. Death by old age, so not a bad way to go. But to be ripped from your own timeline by a Weeping Angel…no thanks. This episode still causes major waterworks every time I watch it. I’ll never get over losing Amy and Rory!!

#2 – Tara from Buffy the Vampire Slayer

There are quite a few upsetting deaths on BtVS (I’m looking at you Joyce and Jenny.) Even Buffy herself bit the bullet, not once up twice. But Tara’s death still manages to shock and upset me the most. When you see that blood splatter on Willow’s crisp white peasant blouse…Tara’s blood. Tara who was sweet and innocent and Willow’s lobster. Torn away from the mortal coil by a gun shot to the chest. This one stings because it smacks of reality. In a fantastical world like Buffy, to have died from something so human as a gun shot…well, it just sucks. We live in a world where this is far too common. And Tara’s death still feels completely unjust. Warren deserved the flaying that he got, if you ask me!

#3 – Charlie from LOST

DANG! Charlie!! This one stings every time I think about it. You LOST fans know the keen loss. The pain still smarts! I never saw this one coming. I guess I should have. By season 3, people were being picked off like flies. I guess I still thought the core cast (the ones I like most) would be safe. Of course, we’d come to find out that no one is truly safe on LOST and it is Charlie’s death that really taught us that lesson. The words “Not Penny’s Boat” still haunt me. Charlie went out saving lives. The perfect symmetry to how he entered our lives. He began as a selfish, drugged out rock star and truly became a fan favorite (or at least this fan’s favorite!)

#4 – Ned Stark from Game of Thrones

I’m a GOT book reader. I’ve read books 1-4 so I knew it was coming, but it still didn’t prepare me for the sadness of losing the Stark patriarch. Ned Stark was a man of justice and integrity. He kept the monarch in line and his own family. Tough job, especially when you have Lannisters against you. He was domed from the beginning because on Game of Thrones, the just and the moral get punished.

To be fair, there are more shocking and more horrifying deaths on Game of Thrones (see: Rob Stark, Catelyn Stark, Jon Snow, Ygritte, Khal Drogo, Oberyn Martell, etc.) but it’s Ned’s death that sets the tone for the series in season 1. It’s Ned’s death that sets the Lannisters up for their reign of power and ultimate downfall. And it’s Ned Stark who could have stopped the evil from spreading through Westeros. We miss you, Ned! (Please stop killing Sean Bean off of things I like!)

#5 – Hershel from The Walking Dead

The Walking Dead is another show where death is rampant and usual. It’s rarely surprising anymore (except if Darryl were to die… that would be shocking and surprising and completely upsetting…Don’t do that, AMC!) But I admit, Hershel’s death got me. I literally screamed when it happened. (That’s what happens when you watch TWD alone in your apartment with all the lights off.) Hershel was another example of someone who kept the balance. Being a good guy is a really tough business on TV. No one cared when Angela died or stupid Dale. It’s the good ones that truly rip the heart out. And Hershel’s death was my least favorite one (though Beth’s came pretty close.)

Honorable Mention – Tasha Yar from Star Trek: The Next Generation

I want to give a shout out to one of the earliest fandom, TV deaths, Tasha Yar. Star Trek killed off Tasha way before it was cool to kill off characters. And no one saw that one coming because the internet wasn’t what it is today… or even a thing at all. So there were no rumors surrounding her upcoming death. Or fan theories about. She was an upstanding crew member who went on an away mission to a planet with a tar monster. She was taken by the tar monster…goodbye Tasha Yar.

If this post has left you feeling a little depressed and nostalgic for characters long gone, then definitely don’t go back and watch the happy times before they died. I tried that with season 1 of Game of Thrones…trust me, it only made things worse.