Fans Are Sharing Fictional Character Deaths That Hit Them Hard (25 Pics)

It’s easy to get emotionally attached to our favorite fictional characters while binging a show, and when someone dies, it’s like losing someone you know. Some fictional character deaths hit harder than others.

Fans are sharing the fictional character deaths that hit them hard in this viral AskRerddit thread.

Many of them are common knowledge at this point, but SPOILERS AHEAD.

#1

Mufasa. Goddammit, Mufasa. I still fast-forward through the stampede scene.

#2

The horse Artax in NeverEnding Story.

#3

Sirius Black…Cried while reading the book and watching a movie

#4

Littlefoot’s mom. My first actual confrontation with death as a child. Really screwed with me (or so my mom says).

#5

Brendan Fraser in Scrubs.

“Where do you think we are?”

#6

How to Train Your Dragon 2, when Stoick died. It hits especially hard now that my own dad has passed away, but even when it first came out I found it hard not to tear up

#7

Brooks and Tommy in Shawshank Redemption. They’re both so tragic.

#8

Bing Bong.

#9

Joyce Summers from the episode “The Body” of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.

It hit real close to home. Like Buffy, my mom died when I was young, she died unexpectedly, and I was the one who found her body and had to call 911. It’s the most accurate depiction of death I have ever seen in any film or TV show before or since (at least according to my experiences, since it’s different for everyone).

The way Buffy reacted was so accurate. How the paramedics were trying to talk to her but their voices just faded away. How her friends tried to comfort her but she just shut down. How it didn’t hit her until later. It was so familiar and didn’t feel like it was overly dramatized in order to make a good story, just felt real. It wasn’t part of some huge story arc or anything, and for a show where a lot of people died fairly regularly, Joyce’s death was just like “this happens sometimes. People die for no reason and it sucks.” It’s the hardest episode to watch yet it’s my favorite.

#10

Sarah Lynn from Bojack Horseman.

#11

When Leslie dies in the Bridge to Terabithia. All good feelings up until the end of the movie, and then whamo! Sad now you little shits? Good.

#12

Dobby from Harry Potter. He didn’t even need to die, what a pointless death to such a lovely creature.

#13

Boromir.

#14

Chidi Anagonye.

Clearly, it was time, but there was a profound sense of loss. And emptiness when he steps through the arch.

#15

Ned Stark.

#16

Maes Hughes. Just a kind, goofy guy doing goofy things, starting a family, and then he tries to do the right thing and gets tortured to death over it.

#17

John Coffey. The Green Mile.

#18

Bob in Stranger Things.

#19

Piggy from Lord of the Flies.

I started empathizing with him immediately after his glasses got broken. I hate not being able to see clearly. His death was really sad.

#20

The dog in I Am Legend.

#21

Glenn, The Walking Dead. Hit him pretty hard too.

#22

Optimus Prime 1986.

I cried like a 7-year-old (because I was 7).

#23

Ellie from UP

#24

The Iron Giant.

#25

Arthur Morgan.

Nate Armbruster

Nate Armbruster is a stand-up comedian and writer based in Chicago who is likely writing a joke as you read this. Find him online at natecomedy.com.