Character Death

[Mezrin]

Death.

It's an inevitable thing. When we role-play, it sure as hell doesn't feel that way. We become completely attached to our characters, and see them as immortal extensions of our will. We see them, we become them, and we grow with them. We think of them even when we're not playing them. To others, they're a character. To us, they're... well, they're us. That's why we want them to live forever, and die when we die.

We don't want to lose them.

However, as previously stated, it's inevitable. From the second the idea pops into your head, your character's clock is ticking. Eventually, they will need to die. They're character development is over, they've accomplished their goals, they've defeated their enemies, and they've secured a legacy. They have a reputation, everyone knows them by sight, and they are now a household name. That is why they need to die.

Character death is often the most awful thing in a newer role-player's life, and even in some experienced role-players' lives. For me, it's something that I have no issue with. When the opportunity presents itself, and it's a logical conclusion to a scene, the character will die, regardless of if I'm done playing them or not. Other times, I feel I've finished the character's warranty, and it's time for them to kick the bucket. For those who knew him, Kagrune is my example here. He met his end in a glorious way (too glorious now that I look back on it), and it was a planned death. Other characters I have have died prematurely. After three days of playing my namesake, Avon, he was brutally killed. No planned end. No finished character development. He didn't even have any IC friends yet. He was wiped out by another character, and forgotten.

Avon and Kagrune both have something in common, though. They've both died. Kagrune permanently, but still plays a role. Avon came back with the restart. They're both still there, Kagrune in spirit form and only visible and audible to his son, Gorzan Citysacker, and Avon is flesh again. On CotH, death isn't the end for our characters. But maybe it should be (that's not going to earn me too many friends, but whatever).

I don't really have a point in this post. I just wanted to ramble a bit on character death and say... well, that death needs to be used more often, and used permanently. Make the life of them real by making their time limited and able to end unexpectedly. It adds to the character development so much.

So, uh, yeah.

I like to hit the enter key a lot, I've noticed.

Avon out.

[muhaha8]

I read this, and I'm reminded of a tale I once heard, of Old Man Henderson, the only man I've heard tell of to ever win Call of Cthulhu.

Old Man Henderson had no first name. He was a joke character, with his '92 Buick, AA-12 in the passenger seat. He made many acquaintances, but the drunken man who slurred with a Scottish accent had no true friends. He only had one mission in life: to rescue his dear lawn gnomes.

Old Man Henderson had many misadventures, and racked up a large body count, both friend and for alike. He gunned down an entire cult with his shotgun, as well as another player or two. He stole a tanker truck full of gasoline and blew it up by ramming it into a cultist headquarters, killing all of the cultists, and almost all of the group. His misadventures were many, but even the drunken, Scottish-accent-slurring man had an end.

Yes, even Old Man Henderson must die. Old Man Henderson's end came after he found his most treasured possession: his lawn gnomes.

Why do I say all this? Because even the most amazing, well thought-out, insane, badass characters have an end. It's sad for the player, and often for those he knows, but it's going to happen to everyone, sooner or later.

To read more on Old Man Henderson, please feel free to read his 1d4chan page.

[flammos200]

See, I'm more of a fairytale fan myself. I tend to put characters in -insanely- difficult situations, and urge them to figure things out over extremely long periods of time, with storylines spanning IRL years.

All of that, just so they can earn a happily ever after. I'm a big fan of earning a happy ending - but it will be one, rather than a death, as once more, I tend to judge a character as forming a cohesive "Story of their life", and all the build-up, and the development and the overarching meta-plot has to lead to some sort of conclusion befitting the scale of the tale. Much like I said in the Mass Effect 3 thread, I liken stories to love-making, and there must be that release, that moment of rapturous joy at the end, which justifies all the effort and the build-up, and either leaves a few trailing ends for post-story stuff, or ties the knots together, answering all the questions.

Death is not an instrument I enjoy using to bring about the finale of a character's tale. It seems to me far too brusque, too abrupt and sudden to be meaningful, and though oftentimes, quick brushes with it in particularly deadly situations are something I enjoy - there must always be the factor of suspense and danger, otherwise all the work the characters put forth is for naught - death itself as a means to an end could easily be avoided, by use of common sense in-character, or perhaps cleverness, or strength of arms.

I believe that in order for death to become more meaningful, it should not be used more - with people dying left and right - but instead, used less. Rarity breeds value - the more rare something is, the more meaningful it becomes, though in my conception, death is far too much of a Game Over screen, and far too little one of those delicious epilogues.

At worst, retirement. At best, a true ending. I find little use for death.

And, Old Man Henderson rocked. But there are even better stories on /tg/ than that.

[Aadora]

See, that's why I play Draenei. Because death is in fact not inevitable for them! At least not in my lifetime. Aadora can live out a happy life in Nagrand long past the day that I myself die IRL. And just because a character reaches the point where they can develop no further... why is death the only option? I think it's much more interesting to have them leave on some kind of journey or something. Leave it with them going off to "Find what's next in their life." Or if the time comes I can do no more with Aadora... I am going to leave her to a long happy life with her mate, not just kill her...

Death while yes it should be permanent when it does happen, seems a bit harsh. If there is a great character, killing them is... well, killing them. You kill a character because you feel they have reached their end, then that's it. No going back. Leave it off with them leaving to find further purpose of their life that not even you as their player knows what they will find? Some day, they could return. A hero that dies is a hero that dies. But a hero with the promise of someday returning is a whole different story... which in fact it may very well bring about.

[Aphetoros]

It's even a worse problem when the character himself notices that he's run out of development and motivation.

I've been playing Astus since I first joined CotH, and I often wonder if I should just let him fade into the background and die, permanently.

His ridiculous amount of deaths and revivals made him a joke, anyway.

He ended up getting so depressed at his lack of motivation and drive that he almost jumped from a building in Tranquillien and killed himself. But then, a wild paladin appeared and talked to him for a bit. Astus's fear of death became too great once more, and outweighed his depression. And so he's still alive.

Should I just kill him...?

[SachikoMaeda]

I have Aendron's death planned for the right time. He's come to accept his mortality after centuries of coping with his disabilities and just runs off wanting to (amazingly) keep his family happy. I think he's the only one I'm okay leaving in the grave given the proper circumstances. Won't be a heroic death. I've never been a fan for those. I just want his story tied up with a nice bow and ribbon.

Kirolan's end is also planned out. Depending on how his progression leads him and what happens to JTJP770's Exarion are important to his end.

I like permadeaths, but it has to be at the right time. I think I can happily work with a "Two strikes and you're out" rule.

[Aadora]

Spoiler:

Just gonna slap this in here for some theme to this post!

A character that is depressed and kills them self is lost forever until you have to remake them. Because if they came back, they would just kill them self again.

But if they leave to find reason for their life? A chance for the character to change and for the player to have a break from the character. Is it really the end, or is it just time for something to change them? A good character shouldn't die. They should always be around, even if the player doesn't play them anymore. If a character has lost all purpose to their being? Then death is the way.

But what if your character just needs a change? A chance to find something that even you as their player can't give them. That no one around them can give them. Something they alone, as a character have to find. Something that even as the creator of their story you don't know what it is. So they leave. To return someday with a new found purpose. And maybe someday they will return, maybe not. The end of their story may be right there, at their leaving everything they know behind. Or it could be the start of something new for them.

Little random fact... the song in the spoiler is a version of a song called "Death and Transfiguration" Go figure!

[Harmonic]

IC death is always a topic here. It's either handled with grace and acceptance, or, it's just... thrown around as an excuse to move story along, or it's utterly ignored and replaced with an unwavering want for the player to see their character thrive forever, due to them being attached.


Little known fact. There is currently a Star Wars book, where Chewbacca dies. He is infact... killed. The writer received death threats from readers, who felt as if he was killing their bestest wookie friend. J.K. Rowling had stated before that she almost had one of the major three characters die off early on in her novels, however she -feared- backlash from her readers, so instead continued to have them live on.

Now, put yourself in the shoes of the writer. Imagine the attachment they have to their creations, to their characters that -always- take inspiration somehow from the writer. It's hard to kill off what feels like part of your personality. The best way to do this, in my opinion, is to just... accept the fact that it's writing. In game, it's just a "character". You are still the same person you were before and after they were made, and really, you can continue playing here on CoTH without consequence. You may miss writing things from the perspective of who's their face, and so-and-so, but other than that, you don't own your creations any sort of commitment. I've always felt... as flammos has said, stories can have an end. Sometimes, it can be an end that's provided to you, and it can impact other people greatly.

And here's an idea. Have said character remain dead. See how people react to your death. If you're worried about going out with a whimper... it's something that could happen. Doesn't mean it's bad, either.

This is not for everyone. It requires a bit of detachment from your roleplay, one that not everyone can do. There was a time and a place where I thought this was the -only- way to play characters, but really, it's all about your own personal flavor. If you want to hold on to your character... then there isn't something wrong with it. Neither way is "Right", but also, neither way is wrong either.

[Aadora]

Neither way is "Right", but also, neither way is wrong either.

Either way is simply just that... a way.

[Bovel]

I've never made a resurrection on CotH, in any RP really. Cause to me death is soooo important. No movie nor book nor series and whatnot would be what they are without death. Some even become crueler when death is made into the least painful option (Doctor Who has that theme a lot). And I don't plan my characters death at the end of some progress cause that just makes the character cheap.

Death should be a punchline in a story, when a character of mine dies those around him will be happy or sad, have failed or succeeded and so on. Not just "I was tired of the old elf and a gnoll got him."...

[raerae]

Never done an RP-res. If a character dies, their story and journey ends there. The old makes way for the new.

[Aadora]

I have only had one character die and that is because she was pretty much -ruined- for me. Too depressed to do anything so... killed herself.

Haven't had a single character die since.

[SachikoMaeda]

I'll admit to two resurrections.

Aendron because his family brought him back and I was just starting to dip my toes into his story. There was IC reason for him to be brought back since the option was there for them ICly.

Doran because, well I'll admit it, I'm very much so attached to Doran. He's the last I would ever want to throw away. I want to see him get through all those rough patches he's been handed. I want to see him succeed at something. I want him to be happy. And most of all, I actually want him to have a "happily ever after" type of ending when I do decide to shelve him like I did to Rinwen. Though he hasn't forgotten his death and his resurrection, those he lost, and how they impacted him. It has made him stronger and brought him closer to those he holds dear. If I wasn't so close to this character OOCly, he would be gone. He would be in a river with an unmarked grave where Dalikan had left him. But he was my first "successful" character to have a story (I think) others have taken interest to and probably didn't want it to end that way either.

And he happens to be friends with a few priests that can revive people....

[Dascki]

I've had three characters die and no resurrections.

I'm a believer that if your character dies, he/she is dead. End of story. You can pick and choose to put your character into that situation and whether they die or not is 90% in your hands. Life shouldn't be just thrown around, since it basically makes your character immortal. Why worry about death, when your buddies will just bring you back?

I see the other side, but it doesn't feel right to me. /shrug

[CappnRob]

Me, I just play it by ear. If a death feels right, then sure. If not, they come back. I got better things to worry over!