History AnyoneCanDie / Literature

* In Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy, Creator/BrandonSanderson has no qualms about killing plenty of unnamed commoners and noblemen, the occasional minor character, and at least one main character per book. He's killed off quite a few {{Mauve Shirt}}s in Literature/TheStormlightArchive as well, and has hinted repeatedly that the main characters are not guaranteed to survive the series, and given that the end of the first book sets up an impending conflict between several main characters....

* The ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'', more and more lately.
** In the ''XWingSeries'', we lose a number of Rogues and other characters in the Stackpole books, but since he never got us to make an emotional investment there's not much impact. When AaronAllston writes the Wraiths, each character is individual and interesting, and their deaths are more shocking and saddening. Jesmin Ackbar, Falynn Sandskimmer, Eurssk "Grinder" Tri'ag, Ton Phanan, Castin Donn.
*** We do have some apparent deaths in Stackpole's mains, but they rapidly get better, usually by the end of the book (I'm looking at ''you'', Lieutenant Horn).
*** Chewbacca's death in ''Vector Prime'' is the epitome of this trope in the StarWars EU.
** Characters first introduced in ''TheThrawnTrilogy'' are dying left and right recently. Zahn [[http://gabri-jade.livejournal.com/206266.html#cutid1 mentions]] that he's told that this is more realistic, and he admits that it is, but this is StarWars, and he prefers entertaining to realistic. He's a bit higher on the "idealistic" side of the scale.

** Anakin Solo
** There's a rule for the EU that Luke, Leia, and Han can't be killed. Everyone else is fair game.

* David Drake's military fiction (particularly his ''Literature/HammersSlammers'') makes David Weber's Honor Harrington look like a piker. Only a handful of characters have relative immunity to this trope, though one apparently gets the axe, only for us to later strongly suspect it was faked.

* Creator/DavidWeber's ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' series doesn't kill off memorable characters very often, but it is always a possibility. This can extend to characters who were present for several books of the long, ongoing series, such as Alistair [=McKeon=], and to a lesser extent Jamie Candless. [[strike:Rumor has it that]] Weber very seriously considered killing off the titular ''protagonist'' at one point a few years ago, but later decided against it.

** The ''Word Bearers'' trilogy does this remarkably well. While most of the main characters amongst the Word Bearers themselves are safe until the very end of book 3, every book manages to introduce characters fleshed out characters, and then at one point just kills them and never goes back at them. Of note is the character Varnus, an ordinary enforcer in the middle of the invasion. Roughly a third of the book is seen from his point of view, and then as an establishing moment for the series, he is killed off while one would expect him to join the main character. Aside from that (and this being 40k), there are many point of view switches with characters that you just ''know'' will die.

* ''Literature/TheMazeRunner'' kills off Chuck, who was arguably a SacrificialLamb, but then Alby which hits hard. The third book also takes out Newt, as well as Teresa. PlotArmor my ass.

* "Literature/TheFaith" does this quite suddenly and frequently as you get deeper into the series, especially surprising considering that the book is a {{Romance Novel}}. Although, Amanda Tilbrook, the author, is a fan of both {{Buffy}} and {{A Song of Ice and Fire}}.

** Similarly, by the end of Abnett's ''{{Eisenhorn}}'' series for [=WH40k=], the eponymous character is the only one that survives all the way from the start. The rest are all dead or severely incapacitated.

* The ''{{Redwall}}'' series has it lose several [[MauveShirt Muave Shirts]] and at least one minor character in every book. When asked about this, Jacques responded with "that's life". That everyone else has PlotArmor so thick you could hang pictures on it is apparently a minor point.
** The major exception to the main character's PlotArmor is in ''Martin the Warrior'', in which [[TheHero Martin's]] girlfriend, Rose is killed by [[BigBad Badrang]] (Yes, the BigBad is actually called [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Badrang]]) at the end of the book.
** Rose wasn't the only exception. To be fair, a lot of the older books had no problem averting PlotArmor. The original ''Redwall'' book, ''Mattimeo'', ''Salamandastron'', ''The Bellmaker'', and ''Outcast of Redwall'' all killed off ''at least'' one major or main character. ''Salamandastron'' and ''Outcast of Redwall'' went as far as killing off the main character ''on the front cover of the book''.

* In the ''ChungKuo'' series by David Wingrove, leaders on both sides of the revolution have a tendency to die

----

* In Creator/AlastairReynolds' ''Revelation Space'' trilogy, the main character of Revelation Space is killed off in the second book, and pretty much everyone else introduced in the series prior to the last book dies. Only two of the characters survives the trilogy.

* Creator/MercedesLackey, author of several series of novels, most notably, the ''Heralds of Valdemar'' series, makes use of this trope. It is lampshaded several times throughout the series, with characters noting that it's rare for the titular heralds to die of old age, as they most often die in service to king(or queen) and country. Also, given that the series lasts for over two thousand years (from ''The Black Gryphon'' to ''Owlknight''), anyone who doesn't die in action will die of old age anyway.

* The norm in the ''Left Behind'' series, where cast members are constantly dying and replaced. And to rub salt in the many wounds, most of them die completely random and pointless deaths. By the climax of the series, not one of the original cast introduced in book one is still alive. But they all got better in the end.

* David Drake's military fiction (particularly his ''Hammer's Slammers'') makes David Weber's Honor Harrington look like a piker. Only a handful of characters have relative immunity to this trope, though one apparently gets the axe, only for us to later strongly suspect it was faked.

* Don't get too attached to characters in Ian Irvine's ''Three Worlds'' cycle. Mauve Shirts on the verge of getting character upgrades? Fan favourite cameos? Plot-important characters? '''Main characters'''? It's one of the most brutal examples of EarnYourHappyEnding ever seen.

* Several major characters die in Guy Gavriel Kay's ''Fionavar Tapestry'' series.

* This trope appears in David Clement-Davies's ''Literature/FireBringer'' and ''The Sight''.

* In Simon Green's ''Deathstalker'' series, after 1.2 million words, Owen is cut down in a simple street fight-- and when he's dead they even steal his boots He does get better in the sequel series, but a lot of other and protagonists don't.
* In ''Seven Men of Gascony'' by R. F. Delderfield, everyone died except the soldier Gabriel and the camp-follower Nicholette whom he marries and retires into civilian life.

* Also present in Suzanne Collins' other series, ''The Underlander Chronicles''.

** A notorious example is in ''Literature/The Stand'' where a number of prime protagonists die after almost a thousand pages of writing. Rumor has it that King himself didn't know where to take the story and realized only something this dramatic could kickstart it.

* Literature/HarryPotter, especially in the last few books, with the last one taking it UpToEleven.

* Series/HarryPotter, especially in the last few books

** A notorious example is in the stand where a number of prime protagonists die after almost a thousand pages of writing. Rumor has it that King himself didn't know where to take the story and realized only something this dramatic could kickstart it.

* In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' most of the main characters get killed at various stages during the war against Morgoth. Fëanor, the greatest Noldo (Deep-Elf) who ever lived dies in the *first* battle against the Orcs (after accidentally killing one of his own sons in a fire, according to a very late story published in "The Peoples of Middle-Earth"). Of his half-brothers and nephews, who are the main protagonists of the Exile, the only one to survive is Galadriel, the future ruler of the Galadhrim. Only one out of the seven Sons of Fëanor might have been able to stay alive by the end of the First Age (his fate is actually unknown).

* In AlastairReynolds' ''Revelation Space'' trilogy, the main character of Revelation Space is killed off in the second book, and pretty much everyone else introduced in the series prior to the last book dies. Only two of the characters survives the trilogy.

* Unusually for children's books written in the 1960s, Lloyd Alexander had quite a few major, popular characters die in the final volumes of his ''[[PrydainChronicles Prydain]]'' and ''Westmark'' series (but the protagonist and the leading female character were safe).

** The major exception to the main character's PlotArmor is in ''Martin the Warrior'', in which [[TheHero Martin's]] girlfriend, Rose is killed by [[BigBad Badrang]] (Yes, the BigBad is actually called [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Badrang) at the end of the book.

* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books: [[SacrificialLion Cedric Diggory's]] death in ''GobletOfFire'' managed to blindside the entire readership and served notice that no one was safe for the rest of the series. A message that the readers were further reminded of with Sirius's death in ''OrderOfThePhoenix'' and [[ItWasHisSled Dumbledore's death]] at the end of ''Half-Blood Prince'', and which was tragically driven home by Fred's death, among many others, in the final book.
** Hedwig, Mad-Eye Moody, Colin Creevey, Tonks, Remus Lupin, Fred Weasley, Snape and Dobby in [[HarryPotter/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows book seven]]. (And that doesn't count the bad guys.) The film version [[DeathByAdaptation adds even more]], because apparently it wasn't a big enough bloodbath already.
** Arguably, even Harry dies at one point.
*** It was Dobby that really epitomises this trope, especially given that even Mugglenet gave 100:1 odds on the death.

* Subverted in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Gandalf, the second-most important character in the story, bites it halfway through the first volume, which is a huge caesura in the plot. Next, Boromir, another member of the Fellowship, dies in the first chapter of the second volume. Then, however, Gandalf comes back halfway through the second volume, and in the end the Fellowship and the other major characters on the good side -- though they may experience various life-threatening situations, and [[RedShirts side characters]] drop right and left -- come out of a cataclysmic world war pretty unscathed; only old guys like Theóden and Denethor die. Interestingly, Tolkien at one time considered having Pippin and/or Sam die, as well as letting the Witch-King kill Eowyn, but he never had the heart to make it real.
* The characters in Tolkien's lesser-known novel ''Literature/TheChildrenOfHurin'' fare far worse than those in ''The Lord of the Rings''. By the end of the tale, Turin (TheHero) is dead, in addition to his sister Nienor, mother Morwen, best friend Beleg, comrade Gwindor, rival Brandir, kinda-sorta love interest Finduilas, and a boatload of other minor characters.
* In ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'' most of the main characters get killed at various stages during the war against Morgoth. Feanor, the greatest Noldo (Deep-Elf) who ever lived dies in the *first* battle against the Orcs (after accidentally killing one of his own sons in a fire, according to a very late story published in "The Peoples of Middle-earth"). Of his half-brothers and nephews, who are the main protagonists of the Exile, the only one to survive is Galadriel, the future ruler of the Galadhrim. Only one out of the seven Sons of Feanor might have been able to stay alive by the end of the First Age (his fate is actually unknown).

* ''MalazanBookOfTheFallen'' sees a lot of characters killed off. Unfortunately, the use of LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters and FourLinesAllWaiting means that some characters are out of sight for four or five books and get no character developement. When they show up again and get killed, the reader doesn't really care.