How Do You Kill Off a Character?

Oasilhael · Mar 18, 2008

In my novel in the working, my protagonist has banded together with several misfits who are against the local tyrant for their own reasons. Over the months, I have become progressively frustrated with one of these characters who I now feel should be cropped out of the story entirely. However, he does have many lines and serves as a mentor figure to the other main characters, so if I erase him from my fantasy world, I will have the burden of assigning these lines and tasks to other characters. This will give extra weight to some characters while leaving others with comparatively small importance, creating an uneasy imbalance among my protagonists.

What do I do? I clearly can't take him out because of above reasons. I also can't make short work of him and have him die in some fiery explosion later on, because that will prompt the stereotype of "the old mentor dying to protect his students", and I want to avoid all possible stereotypes. Does anyone have good ideas on how to deal with this annoying guy most feasibly?

While I'm at it anyway: have any of you had similar problems and if so, how did you solve them?

mscelina · Mar 18, 2008

I killed him. Spectacularly. And I enjoyed it so much that I invented a way to kill him again. Even more spectacularly.

You know what's really funny about this response? It's true. *grin*

Mythica · Mar 18, 2008

Yea...you definitely want to avoid that cliche.

I think if you did something a little different with his death, you could get past it. Maybe you could throw in a twist where he ends up betraying his students, make it appear as though he did, and then kill him off only for his students to find out later that he didn't really betray them.....??? lol I don't know anything about your character so that was probably the worst suggestion ever. I say just play around with ideas. Good luck!

*edit* Oh! To answer the last question...I'm killing off one of the main characters in my series in book 5, but it is a spectacular scene.

Be as surprising as possible

chevbrock · Mar 19, 2008

Don't kill him - just injure him so he is incapable of walking and leave him in a village full of Amazons where he will live happily for the rest of his days!

William Cook · Mar 19, 2008

I recall a trilogy by Michael Moorcock 'Count Brass' he chose to kill off his hero's by devoting single line epitaphs - 'Count Brass died thus ..

The sheer fact he bought them all back later on is neither here nor there

zornhau · Mar 19, 2008

Trim him and hive off the bits...

Make him old or maimed, so he can mentor but not follow the party.

Meanwhile, give the other aspects of his personality to somebody else - all the better if they conflict.

yappo · Mar 19, 2008

Permanently

Sten

RJK · Mar 19, 2008

Alternatives to killing him

He gets injured and must be left behind
He gets sick and must be left behind
He gets sent on a side mission and is out of your story for as many chapters as you want.
He steps in front of a bus and is in a coma for the rest of the story
Lots of things could happen that would get rid of the character for any amount of time you like.

Wolvel · Mar 19, 2008

Fear takes over him as he runs away your protagonist kills him from behind like the coward he was in the end.

DeleyanLee · Mar 19, 2008

Merge him and another character you are keeping into a single character, a best friend or something instead of a mentor. Maybe look around and see if there's three characters you can mesh together and strengthen the story line instead of just two. Do a rewrite. It's not that bad, really. I've done it more than once and the book's always been better for it.

sportacus · Mar 19, 2008

If it applies to your situation, make him a villain that had his own selfish reasons for helping. Have him attempt to kill the MC in his sleep, and the MC kills him, not knowing who it was.

Or something like that. That's how I'd handle it.

Dreamer3702 · Mar 19, 2008

I had this problem with one of my chars. I had to get rid of him... so he couldn't help the MC with the scenes to come. I didn't kill him off. He got a message that he had to go home immediately. He doesn't have time to talk about it and leaves immediately, promising to send a letter when/if he can. This got rid of him and gave my MC another thing to worry about.

The reason why he left might turn into a side plot later or a plot in itself. Or he might just come back saying his aunt was dying... I don't know yet, but it left open endless possibilities.

Stew21 · Mar 19, 2008

I've removed characters whose insight and mentorship was required. I merged them - attributing their good dialogue and conflict to one completely different character. It is doable.
I also like the option of the mentor not being physically present. Mentoring them before the journey (if they are on one). Your protags could talk about him often in a "What Would Mentor Do?" sort of way, keeping the spirit of the good stuff around, but the issues with the character not.
as for killing him:
Making him an obstacle the characters have to overcome - making him burdensome and difficult to deal with - you could still provide them with all of the things they need all while making him unlikable enough that his death is a relief to the audience and the protags.

hammerklavier · Mar 19, 2008

Food poisoning, malaria, etc.

Wolvel · Mar 19, 2008

Stew21 said:
Making him an obstacle the characters have to overcome - making him burdensome and difficult to deal with - you could still provide them with all of the things they need all while making him unlikable enough that his death is a relief to the audience and the protags.

+1
Totally agree.
Make the character hated so when the axe falls the reader will enjoy the momment with a purpose, if you don't build up to the death the whole scene and character death will suffer.

Jenan Mac · Mar 19, 2008

Stew21 said:
Making him an obstacle the characters have to overcome - making him burdensome and difficult to deal with - you could still provide them with all of the things they need all while making him unlikable enough that his death is a relief to the audience and the protags.

I like this one, or the "double agent" thing. A twist on Double Agent would be that another minor character could realize he was really a bad guy first and have to kill him, quickly, without consulting Our Hero. Then Hero refuses to believe Minor Character was acting for good and not evil, and casts him aside over the murder, thus complicating things even more.

Mr Flibble · Mar 19, 2008

Wolvel said:
+1
Totally agree.
Make the character hated so when the axe falls the reader will enjoy the momment with a purpose, if you don't build up to the death the whole scene and character death will suffer.

Make him so hated one of your protags gets terminally annoyed and strangles him, to a round of applause from the rest.

Ervin · Mar 19, 2008

You could simply have him take a separate path, maybe an issue comes up and he has to go elswhere. This way you can bring him back whenever you need him again.

Jaycinth · Mar 19, 2008

Simple ABC's of character death....

Alien Attack
Belladonna
Cannibals
Defenestration
Exsanguination
Flailing
Gutting
Helium Bath
Icepick
JuJu (bad variety)
Knives
Lightening
Mulcher (Municipal size)
Night Hags
Oleander
Poaching (like an egg)
Quartering
Rats
Suffocation
Trampling
Umbrellas
Vindictive Vampires
Wild Walrus
X-rays
Yog Sothoth
Zamboni(run-away)

For more ideas see Haggis....

josephwise · Mar 19, 2008

Suicide.

And I do not mean he should simply sacrifice himself for the good of others. It would be far more interesting than any other death, to have the mentor quietly spiral into depression and quietly slit his own wrists.

When does that ever happen, in a fantasy story? Probably not often enough to be a cliche.

If he's truly unbearable, he's probably aware of it. It's probably eating away at him.

geardrops · Mar 19, 2008

Candlestick. In the Conservatory.

WriteKnight · Mar 19, 2008

Suicide is not a bad idea. I say this because, in real life two of my own mentors did commit suicide, as odd as that might seem. One of them, was distraught over the death of his wife a year earlier, and took his own life. The other, highly respected and widely loved by the community - actually killed a woman, then took his own life.

In both cases, those of us left behind were faced with dealing with the questions about "Did we miss the signs of this?" as well as "You never really know what a person is capable of." Also, the legacy the mentor leaves behind - the good advice, the good works - will be viewed by your other characters as either TAINTED because of -or MORE PRECIOUS in spite of - the change at the end of the life. Something that could develop into tension between the remaining characters.

Shadow_Ferret · Mar 19, 2008

Have him die in an unexpected and surprising manner, one that seems rather anti-climactic.

Like he pricks himself on a poison plant, realizes it and says, "I must leave you now." Ack!

Phaeal · Mar 19, 2008

Just keep writing the story with this character left out. When you're finished with the entire draft, you'll be in a better position to go back and figure out what, if anything, you need to retain of the character's words and deeds and where you can fit it in.

Oh, and love the ABCs above. Yog-Sothoth is my favorite death mechanism. As one of the Outer Gods, it can manifest anywhere in the universe, including all fictional milieus, and so you could have it pop in and engulf the annoying Mentor any time you want.

lute · Mar 19, 2008

dempsey said:
Candlestick. In the Conservatory.

That was amazing.

I think you have to remember that if you are considering publishing this, somewhere along the way, he will be a favorite character to somebody (even villains are favorite characters to some). That's why if you kill him, whatever you do (suicide, 'double agent,' etc.), do it well. As one of the main characters, his death should be justified and fit in with the rest of the novel. It should mean something. There's nothing I hate more than a character who dies for no reason or are removed merely as a plot device. Have it make sense with the rest of the book and it will work out nicely.

With all that said, I'm all for the suicide route.

(that smiley face doesn't belong in this paragraph) I think you would gather a lot of sympathy with it (even though suicide is selfish, etc., etc.) because you can feel for the character greatly. Having had suicide prevalent in my family history, I would. And I don't think it's off-the-wall or unbelievable either.

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