creative ways to kill your characters in a fantasy.

I've always wanted to have a character be stabbed with a big icicle.

ChaosTitan said:

I've always wanted to have a character be stabbed with a big icicle.

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That happened to a couple of the characters in Harlan Ellison's "I have no mouth and I must scream".

I got one of my MC's to stab another one. Does that count?

It was all in a good cause, honest

A complete random way to die for my characters is kill them ordinarily. I had one character trip and bust his head wide open on a rock in a fantasy story me and my cousin wrote.

Best death ever: Jump off the top of a very steep mountain, get struck by lightning on the way down, get impaled on spikes when you land, and then your body slides down into hot lava. Oh, and you have a heart attack, a stroke, and lupus on the way down.


What? I know I'd want to go that way.

One word: Killdozer

An anaphylactic reaction to mosquito bites.

katzenjammer said:

Best death ever: Jump off the top of a very steep mountain, get struck by lightning on the way down, get impaled on spikes when you land, and then your body slides down into hot lava. Oh, and you have a heart attack, a stroke, and lupus on the way down.


What? I know I'd want to go that way.

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Really?
I'd like to go mid-coitus.
But hey, different strokes for different folks.

Smiling Ted said:

Really?
I'd like to go mid-coitus.
But hey, different strokes for different folks.

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I'd rather go post-coitus, personally.

A hopeless disease. No cure. Endless suffering. Pain, agony, horror, hallucinations, fever, spasms, weight loss, death. Then corpse gets re-animated. (Inferi anyone?)

a) dysentery.

b) they don't die in battle, but they get wounded. though the wound isn't that serious, since they lack antibiotics in the medical system of this pseudo-medieval world, the character dies of infection. gangrene, staph, etc.

c) trench foot.

Aristophanes said:

a) dysentery.

b) they don't die in battle, but they get wounded. though the wound isn't that serious, since they lack antibiotics in the medical system of this pseudo-medieval world, the character dies of infection. gangrene, staph, etc.

c) trench foot.

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b did happen in a prominent fantasy series.

Nivarion said:

in a lot of series characters die and even if they don't die in the book, you know it happens eventually. but I'm starting to get tired all of the characters and MC's making it to the end, or dying in a battle. what are some creative ways you have thought of to kill your guys.

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While I haven't come that up yet in writing (scenes like this are being worked on by me in SF story, including getting shot, getting burned alive to good old spacing), here are some fantasy ideas:

- Drop a (draw) bridge on them. Often played for comedic effect in cartoons.
- Deadly traps in a dungeon (D&D has quite a few traps developed by professional writers and GMs). Spikes, poison, giant blades, snake pits.
- Magic. From the magic fireball to disintegration spells. Again, D&D has quite a few deadly spells, as does any RPG with fantastic elements (Shadowrun, Trinity, Aberrant, probably Rifts, too).
- Siege engines. From the ballista to the catapult to the siege tower (a variant of bridge-dropping). LotR: Return of the King (movie) has Gondor's defenders drop rocks on the orc army with predictable results with the help of trebuchets.

Being a first-aider gives you lots and lots of ideas about how people can die. I was tempted to train as an EMT just to get even more ideas, but that could be seen as a little callous.

Instead I just pick my other half's ex-policeman brain. He's seen some nasties on the job!

In my first book (Unbinding the Stone), a priestess was eaten by her temple. It wasn't on camera, though. An army of undead was consumed by a veil of burning plasma.

SPMiller said:

I'd rather go post-coitus, personally.

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Most adults do go post-coitus.
Just find the right person, and it'll happen for you, too.

The usual ways.

Battle.
Poison (although the kingdom thought the King was dying of consumption)
Tortured.
Turned inside out and eaten by a demon, intestines sucked up like spaghetti.
Mashed like grapes by demon.

ChaosTitan said:

I've always wanted to have a character be stabbed with a big icicle.

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this was in a movie or a book or something...the perfect weapon because it just melts away.

Smiling Ted said:

Really?
I'd like to go mid-coitus.
But hey, different strokes for different folks.

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Was "strokes" a pun there?

Oooo! Let's see how corny we can get! Thatswhatshesaid!

Alpha Echo said:

this was in a movie or a book or something...the perfect weapon because it just melts away.

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Die Hard 2, actually. An icicle right through the eye. Talk about brain freeze..

And the game Dungeon Siege has Ice Swords (dunno if they are called exactly that) as weapons.

I admire series, such as A Song of Ice and Fire, in which the author makes it quite clear that no character is safe from death. However, I also admire series where the author goes out of his or her way to establish certain characters as "off limits" and then promptly kills one or all of these untouchable characters. When done in a manner that isn't too predictable, it's a nice surprise.

In science fiction, my favourite can be summed up like so: "I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I--" and then a totally unexpected death that left many people surprised, angry, and confused.

Tachyon said:

In science fiction, my favourite can be summed up like so: "I am a leaf on the wind. Watch how I--" and then a totally unexpected death that left many people surprised, angry, and confused.

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Ah, but coupled with an earlier death, it made the final battle that much more intense. Because in the backs of our minds, we knew no one was actually safe from death.

CynicalRyan said:

Die Hard 2, actually. An icicle right through the eye. Talk about brain freeze..

And the game Dungeon Siege has Ice Swords (dunno if they are called exactly that) as weapons.

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Now that's what I call a classic action movie line.

I have one of my character's killed by a rampant obelisk. Does that count?