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* In the ''Literature/VitaNuova'', Beatrice dies young as [[HumbleHero her humility and magnanimity]] made her too noble to suffer life on fallen Earth. Instead, she passed into [[{{Heaven}} the realm of the angels]] as was befitting her.
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* In the ''Literature/VitaNuova'', ''Literature/LaVitaNuova'', Beatrice dies young as [[HumbleHero her humility and magnanimity]] made her too noble to suffer life on fallen Earth. Instead, she passed into [[{{Heaven}} the realm of the angels]] as was befitting her.
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* Tiny Tim in ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' by Creator/CharlesDickens. His presence inspires goodwill and faith in a way that can only be compared to christian allegory and the possibility of his untimely death removes the last emotional defenses of an already largely remorseful Ebenezer. Except that, at the end of the story, Scrooge's knowledge of the future allows him to prevent Tiny Tim's death.
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* Tiny Tim in ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' by Creator/CharlesDickens. His presence inspires goodwill and faith in a way that can only be compared to christian allegory and the possibility of his untimely death removes the last emotional defenses of an already largely remorseful Ebenezer. Except that, at the end of the story, Scrooge's knowledge of the future allows him to [[DefiedTrope prevent Tiny Tim's death.]]
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** In Literature/TheCasteelSeries, Leigh (known as "Angel") suffers a tragic life and is eventually raped by her stepfather. She succumbs to DeathByChildbirth at the tender age of just 14.
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** In Literature/TheCasteelSeries, the Literature/CasteelSeries, Leigh (known as "Angel") suffers a tragic life and is eventually raped by her stepfather. She succumbs to DeathByChildbirth at the tender age of just 14.
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* Dido from ''Literature/TheWolfDenTrilogy'' is the youngest of the she-wolves (brothel slaves). Despite her brutal circumstances, she is sweet, innocent, and ethereally beautiful. At the end of the first book, she is fatally stabbed by a man who meant to kill her abusive owner Felix, proving that the good die young while the bad survive. Her memory hangs over the protagonist Amara for the rest of the series.
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* Dido from ''Literature/TheWolfDenTrilogy'' is the youngest of the she-wolves (brothel slaves). Despite her brutal circumstances, she is sweet, innocent, sensitive, and [[BeautyEqualsGoodness ethereally beautiful. beautiful]]. At the end of the first book, she is fatally stabbed by a man who meant to kill her abusive owner Felix, proving that an innocent killed in the good die young while the bad survive.crossfire of two warring criminals. Her memory hangs over the protagonist Amara for the rest of the series.
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* Dido from ''Literature/TheWolfDenTrilogy'' is the youngest of the she-wolves (brothel slaves). Despite her brutal circumstances, she is sweet, innocent, and ethereally beautiful. At the end of the first book, she is fatally stabbed by a man who meant to kill her abusive owner Felix, proving that the good die young while the bad survive. Her memory hangs over the protagonist Amara for the rest of the series.
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* ''Literature/UncleTomsCabin'' contains a particularly egregious example. When Little Eva falls sick, the author treats us to a whole page of waxing lyrical about children who die young because they are too good for this world, then there is a deathbed scene during which Eva has literal visions of heaven and preaches to the rest of the cast about them. Then there's a funeral scene in which Topsy, the little slave girl cries out that she wishes sh had died too, as she can't bear losing Eva.
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* ''Literature/UncleTomsCabin'' contains a particularly egregious example. When Little Eva falls sick, the author treats us to a whole page of waxing lyrical about children who die young because they are too good for this world, then there is a deathbed scene during which Eva has literal visions of heaven and preaches to the rest of the cast about them. Then there's a funeral scene in which Topsy, the little slave girl cries out that she wishes sh she had died too, as she can't bear losing Eva.
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%%* One of the best-known examples is Evangeline St. Clare, alias Little Eva, of ''Literature/UncleTomsCabin''.
%%** Also from Alcott is Ed from ''Jack and Jill''. He dies from typhoid because he's basically a male, less-known Beth and too good and pure for the world.
%%* ''Literature/TheLittlePrince''.
%%** This was rather scathingly [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] by the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''.
%%* Remedios "The Beauty" Buendia from ''Literature/OneHundredYearsOfSolitude.'' ... while Fernanda watches horrified as she is taking the clean sheets away with her.
%%** Remedios Moscote, Colonel Aureliano's wife, also received this treatment, since she was married and died [[{{Ephebophile}} horrifically young]] (we're talking ''ten'') due to [[DeathByChildbirth a risky pregnancy]]. (The agreement had been that she'd marry him when she began menstruating. She started at nine, so that was that.)
* Tiny Tim in ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' by Creator/CharlesDickens. His presence inspires goodwill and faith in a way that can only be compared to christian allegory and the possibility of his untimely death removes the last emotional defenses of an already largely remorseful Ebenezer. Except that, at the end of the story, Scrooge's knowledge of the future allows him to prevent Tiny Tim's death.
** Played straight with Scrooge's little sister Fan, his sole living relation based on mutual affection, whose DeathByChildbirth is offscreen and only alluded to, but clearly instrumental in driving Scrooge to detach himself emotionally from the rest of the world. (We only think it's in the book because it's shown vividly in the [[Film/Scrooge1951 1951 Aleister Sim film]]).
%%* Also from Dickens, Little Nell Trent from ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' exemplifies the Victorian fascination with this trope. Creator/OscarWilde's opinion on the trope in general and Little Nell, in particular, was that "one must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without [[{{Narm}} laughing]]."
%%* Melanie from ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' is yet another example.
%%* Yalith in Creator/MadeleineLEngle's ''Literature/ManyWaters'' is a possible example, when she is whisked away by God to avoid death by the Flood.
%%* Diamond in Creator/GeorgeMacDonald's ''Literature/AtTheBackOfTheNorthWind''.
%%* The protagonists of ''Literature/TheBoyInTheStripedPyjamas''.
%%* Creator/CliveBarker's Literature/{{Abarat}} series: Princess Boa. [[spoiler: Averted as of ''Absolute Midnight''.]]
* Creator/VCAndrews:
** In Literature/TheCasteelSeries, Leigh (known as "Angel") suffers a tragic life and is eventually raped by her stepfather. She succumbs to DeathByChildbirth at the tender age of just 14.
** A variant in ''Literature/{{Celeste}}'': the rather bratty and annoying Noble does not fit the usual image of this trope, but his mother certainly considers that he does, and when he dies suddenly she forces his twin sister, Celeste to dress as a boy and "replace" him.
%%** The saintly Laura Logan from ''Literature/MusicInTheNight''.
%%** Gabriel(le) Landry in ''Literature/TarnishedGold''.
%%** Eugenia Booth in ''Literature/DarkestHour''.
* Almost literal in ''Literature/{{Awakened}}''; Jack is killed by Darkness because Neferet needed to give Darkness a soul she could not taint (as payment for trapping Kalona's soul). Later, when Nyx appears to the crowd at Jack's funeral, she tells his boyfriend Damien that he is one of the happiest souls she's known.
* In Eddings's ''[[Literature/TheBelgariad Belgariad]]'' series there is mentioned (very briefly) to be a member of the good guy army who is a young, brain-damaged lad with a transcendent musical talent, playing songs of exquisite beauty. He sits and plays one of the most lovely songs the world had ever heard during a battle and is killed by an enemy ignoring it. This is presented as an indication of how cruel war is.
* Georgiana, from Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Literature/TheBirthmark", had a birthmark on her cheek. When her MadScientist husband eventually removes it, she dies, going directly to heaven since she has no other flaws separating her from being an angel. At least, in this case, it is clear from the start that Georgiana and her husband Aylmer are allegorical figures rather than realistic human beings. Often mistaken on superficial readings as a ScienceIsBad, the story actually deals with obsession and hubris; for modern readers, the story works as an allegory for the often-fatal obsession with cosmetic surgery.
* {{Subverted|Trope}} in the ''Literature/BrotherCadfael'' novel ''A Morbid Taste for Bones''. In the end, the monks assume that this is what has happened to the beautiful and saintly Brother Columbanus. In fact, Columbanus was a murderer, and after his KarmicDeath Cadfael [[MagnificentBastard fakes his assumption into Heaven to stop the other monks asking awkward questions]].
* Invoked in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' to explain why boy babies are so often stillborn. It is more likely to be due to [[GaiasLament environmental issues]], but the characters have no idea and thus look for a supernatural explanation.
* ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': Tommy Ross is easily the nicest character in a story [[WorldOfJerkass full of assholes,]] and he dies due to a [[UndignifiedDeath bucket falling on his head.]] This happens in all the film adaptations as well, and in 2013, it's what ultimately sets Carrie off, even more than getting covered in blood.
* In ''Literature/TheCastleInTheForest'', UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's sweet youngest brother, Edmund, dies of an illness in childhood. His father takes it very hard.
* [[spoiler: Roy Meritt]] from ''Literature/{{Daemon}}''. In ''Freedom'' Loki/Gragg muses that his idealism and nobility were too far at odds with the nature of the world.
* Briana in ''Literature/TheDeadAndTheGone'', a book about an asteroid hitting the moon. She gets adult-onset asthma due to the ash in the air from volcanoes. She never stops believing that her parents are alive, despite Alex and Julie's warnings and prays for everyone. One day, when the electricity comes back on, she goes down to their old basement apartment to write her parents a letter. As she is going back up, the power goes out and she dies in the elevator. Alex and Julie find her 3 days later.
* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', this is averted with Ciarra. She's a CuteMute, born that way, acts like a twelve-year-old although she's sixteen, doesn't like shoes, is the only one who can see the family ghost, and is the [[spoiler: go-to option gods use when they need to take over someone to talk to the protagonists.]] Seems like she's in danger of becoming this trope, doesn't it? However, the longer she stays away from castle Hurog, with which something is ''seriously wrong'' the more she looks and acts her actual age of sixteen instead of twelve, and is in the middle of the novel seen being as much of a LittleMissSnarker as she can be, considering that she's mute.
* In Edith Pattou's ''East'', the main character, Rose, was born to replace her dead older sister Elise, her mother's favorite child. In one of the sections, Rose narrates: "Mother was always telling me about Elise -- how good she was, how she always did as she was told, how she stayed close by, and what a great help she was to Mother in the kitchen."
* Creator/DavidEddings's ''[[Literature/TheElenium Elenium]]'' series gave us a minor character named Sir Parasim, a young knight stated by the (male) main character [[EvenTheGuysWantHim to be beautiful]], with a singing voice to match. The words "clear" and "pure" are used to describe him more than once. Turns out, he's the youngest of 12 knights destined to give their lives to help keep the Queen of the kingdom alive. You know the rest... This turn is heavily foreshadowed by Eddings, who has his ''characters'' actually discuss Parasim with language like "He's too good for this world" and "God will probably call him home very soon." It's actually a comfort to Sparhawk when he finds out (after the fact) that Parasim's death was in a good cause. What's especially notable in that this reveals more about the other characters than Sir Parasim himself. As old professionals, they've seen the good ones die young often enough to recognize the signs.
* In ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'', The triplet sons of Agape are all doomed to short lives despite being the kindest and most functional family we see in the story. They fight for others, never quarrell amongst themselves, and only seek to adventure to help others, yet the Fates decided their mother should live to watch each of them die in youth.
* The ''Literature/{{Fallocaust}}'' series pulls this with Finn in ''Garden of Spiders.'' He's specifically chosen to be Elish's sengil due to being sweet and kind and gets [[spoiler:gunned down after refusing to abandon Elish during an assassination attempt as a reward.]]
* ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'':
** Augustus alludes to this, saying, "Like, are you familiar with the trope of the stoic and determined cancer victim who heroically fights her cancer with inhuman strength and never complains or stops smiling even at the very end, ''et cetera''?"
** [[spoiler:"According to the conventions of this genre, he kept his sense of humor until the end, did not for a moment waver in his courage, and his spirit soared like an indomitable eagle until the world itself could not contain his joyous soul. But this was the truth..."]]
* John Coffey of the book and movie ''Literature/TheGreenMile'' is a stellar example. Although not a child, he is a childlike GentleGiant on death row for a crime he couldn't reasonably have committed, with magical healing powers and rather obvious SignificantMonogram.
* Raamo in Zilpha Keatley Snyder's ''Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy''. Even by Kindar standards, he is quiet, humble, and completely without a violent bone in his body. Snyder killed him off at the end of the trilogy...but then realized she made a mistake with that and inverted the trope with possibly the first ''canonical'' video game sequel to a book.
* The "twist" death of Willow in Creator/JodiPicoult's ''Literature/HandleWithCare'' has strong overtones of this -- several reviews have mentioned that the character was so wise and saintly that the story felt unrealistic.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter''. If you are a kind, loving, sympathetic, well-liked character chances are YOU WILL DIE. This happens to [[spoiler: Cedric, Dumbledore ([[TheAtoner In his later years anyway]]), Hedwig, Dobby, Fred, Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks]]. The only obvious aversion/subversion is [[spoiler:Hagrid]], who appears to be killed off a couple of times but manages to survive until the end.
* Quasimodo and Esmeralda are the most sympathetic of the cast in ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. They both die tragically due to Paris' injustices.
* [[spoiler: Prim]] in ''Literature/TheHungerGames''. Another beloved, sweet, and innocent [[spoiler: little sister]], as well as a [[spoiler: natural healer and FriendToAllLivingThings]].
* Murder victim Susan Althorp in ''Literature/IHeardThatSongBefore'' is treated as such by the media and even her mother views her this way; a beautiful, clever, charming eighteen-year old with her whole life ahead of her, until it was cruelly cut short. As it turns out, the truth is [[PlayingWithATrope less rosy]]; [[spoiler:it's revealed that Susan was addicted to cocaine and tried blackmailing a man for money when her father Charles cut off her allowance, in a futile attempt to control her addiction. Charles explains he concealed this information from his wife because he didn't want to tarnish Gladys's image of her as a perfect child. Drug addict or not, Susan definitely didn't deserve what happened to her, though]].
* ''Literature/InDeath'' series: Poor Marlena Kolchek. She was beautiful, innocent, and pure. Unfortunately, a gambling syndicate that Roarke was in a rivalry with kidnapped her, and performed a torture-murder on her that involved breaking her kneecaps and raping her. When they were done, they left her body on Roarke and Summerset's doorsteps. Her father Summerset wanted them punished, but the Inspector who was called in was a DirtyCop in the syndicate's pocket, and he made sure the investigation led to nowhere. What a horrible thing to happen!
* Invoked in ''Literature/InTheTimeOfTheButterflies'' by Julia Alvarez (based on the true story of the Mirabal sisters from the Dominican Republic). Mama says that she thought Patria was going to die at a young age because she was such a good child.
* Helen Burns, Jane's best friend in ''Literature/JaneEyre'', dies of tuberculosis right before a typhoid epidemic kills many girls in the BoardingSchoolOfHorrors. But Helen still has time to impress on Jane the importance of dedication to God and trusting in her own conscience more than the love of others.
* When Princess Sophia dies in ''Literature/KingdomOfLittleWounds'', the kingdom acts like this is the case, going so far as to call her "The Perished Lily."
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'': Hugo seemed to have a thing for beautiful [[WideEyedIdealist idealists]] who are exposed to the realities of this cruel world and die tragically young.
** Fantine is driven by her love for Tholomyes and later Cosette. She lives in awful conditions and prostitutes herself to provide for Cosette, and eventually dies when she learns she won't get to see Cosette.
** Enjolras [[IncorruptiblePurePureness does not allow any vice to distract him]] from his fight against oppression. His beauty and courage in the face of certain death make enemy soldiers hesitate to kill him, but not for long.
* The title character of "Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl" by Creator/HansChristianAndersen carries it off. Well, the narrative does not so much carry this trope as flamboyantly juggle it while singing the complete score to Handel's Messiah. Few works treat a little girl freezing to death as such an unequivocally wonderful thing.
* ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'', by Hans Christian Andersen, subverts this trope. The innocent and sweet mermaid who sacrifices her undersea life for love ends up giving up the boy she loves and sacrificing herself instead. However, the story makes it clear throughout that she doesn't have a soul -- and upon her death, she is given a purgatorial afterlife where she might, with hard work and dedication, win a soul and go to heaven. So after her death, she begins to work her way ''up'' to Too Good For This Sinful Earth. Depressing, but not hopeless -- which could well be the point.
* Beth, the sweet, saintly doomed March sister, from all the various iterations of ''Literature/LittleWomen'' is extremely saintly and pure, and since she has no ambitions other than to be at home with her sisters, adulthood just isn't going to happen for her.
* Simon from ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' is the purest of the boys, who is senselessly murdered by the others. Subverted, however, in that Ralph is the only one of the group who actually cares... and aside from Piggy, seems to be the only one who ''notices'', or at least, be willing to admit noticing. Simon was a full-fledged [[MessianicArchetype Christ figure]]. Seriously, there have been professional literary critics who've written essays on this very point.
* Creator/LMMontgomery:
** In the ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' series, Walter, the poetic, sensitive, whimsical second son of Anne and Gilbert, is killed in action during World War I.
** In Montgomery's ''Literature/EmilyOfNewMoon'', there is a Murray cousin who died young. This trope is invoked, almost by name, and the young boy is described as being more handsome and more virtuous than anyone. Ever. So naturally, he had to die.
* In ''Literature/{{Odtaa}}'', Carlotta de Leyva, who is DoomedByCanon to be dead by the end of the book, is a young woman of remarkable beauty and grace, loved by all who meet her. (Except the villains, of course.)
* Little Nell, in Literature/TheOldCuriosityShop, is a all loving angel who wastes away of an unknown disease.
* The book and movie ''Film/PayItForward'', where the little boy at the story's center is killed while performing his third and final good deed... and is all but canonized by ''everyone else in the story''.
* So many of the women from Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's stories and poems. Poe himself wrote: "The death then of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world"-"The Philosophy of Composition" (published 1846).
* Joshua in Creator/SidneySheldon's ''Rage of Angels'' dies at the age of seven after a blow to the head during a vacation. He was not only a perfect little boy (incredibly intelligent, good at sports, insightful, said the darndest things, etc.) but didn't lose his cheerful disposition despite being kidnapped and almost murdered -- his mother Jennifer was so desperate to prevent it that she asked a ''Mafia prince'' to do everything he could to rescue him, up to and including killing the kidnapper. Jennifer sees his ultimate demise as karmic payback for, during the aforementioned trip, spending a night with his father Adam (the boy was the product of an illicit affair).
* PlayedWith in ''Literature/TheScarletLetter'': The congregation believes Dimmesdale's health is declining because God wants to take such a good man to his eternal reward, but the actual reason for his coming death is his inner torment over hiding an affair.
* In ''Literature/ASeparatePeace'', the main character Gene reflects on the death of his best friend Finny and comes to the conclusion that Finny had to die because he was too good-hearted to be able to live during a war.
* In ''Literature/SharpObjects'', Marian was one of the sweetest little girls in Wind Gap, and dies tragically in childhood. The trauma of her early death is acutely felt by her family and loved ones decades later.
** PlayedWith [[spoiler: for Ann and Natalie. They were also little girls who died in horrific ways, and they both had loved ones who miss them terribly. However, they were both regarded as being tough cookies with tempers and not just sugar and spice, with Natalie in particular having violent behavioral issues her family was working to control]].
* In ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar'', Otto is undeniably the kindest and most compassionate of the ChildSoldiers. His offscreen death comes as a total shock later in the book.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' and its TV adaption ''Series/GameOfThrones'', Eddard Stark is a naive idealist who is horribly out of place in the DecadentCourt that makes the Westeros aristocracy. Naturally, [[RhymesOnADime Ned loses his head and ends up dead]].
** Elia Martell as well. She was a DelicateAndSickly girl who was married to the handsome and beloved crown prince and secondhand accounts of her recall she possessed a sort of "sweet wit" that made her endearing to many in the King's Landing court. In the series' GreatOffscreenWar backstory, she ended up suffering a horrible and gruesome death at the hands of a pair of [[PsychoForHire the most brutal and bloodthirsty attack dogs]] of the noble family that held a grudge against hers, a fate everyone agrees was one she ''really'' didn't deserve.
* The characters in Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/SpeakerForTheDead'' speculate the pequeninos are ritually killing the humans that did the most good as an act of gratitude that will free them from a world of suffering and malice.
* In ''Literature/{{Spin}}'' after [[spoiler:Wun Ngo Wen, the man from Mars]], gets killed by highway bandits, people start to see him this way. He would probably have disapproved.
* Creator/HenryDarger's ''[[Literature/InTheRealmsOfTheUnreal Story of the Vivian Girls]]'':
** The book includes a subplot about a turbulent, half-mad girl named Jenny, who is killed (in a weather disaster, naturally) at the very end of the story. She lingers for a time, saying lovely Little Eva-like goodbyes to everyone. Her final words (and the last words in the book) are ''Oh, I see God!...''
** Henry's got boatloads of characters like this. Six-year-old Jennie Anges, who is "already marked for heaven", snatches consecrated communion hosts out of a church tabernacle to protect them from enemy soldiers who would desecrate them. Naturally, she gets desecrated instead.
* Creator/JohnGrisham's ''The Testament'': Rachel Lane, a beautiful, saintly missionary doctor and long-lost daughter of tycoon Troy Phelan, dies of dengue fever and malaria in the penultimate chapter.
* Subverted in Jerome's ''Literature/ThreeMenInABoat'' with the narrator's dog Monmorancy. When the narrator first got the dog, he was sure it was so good and fragile it would die shortly... until he witnessed the fox-terrier's aggressive nature.
* [[spoiler: Jenny]] in ''Literature/TheTruthOfRockAndRoll'': “And that was good. That was right. [[spoiler: Jenny]] was made for another time and another place. She never fit in here.”
* In the ''Literature/VitaNuova'', Beatrice dies young as [[HumbleHero her humility and magnanimity]] made her too noble to suffer life on fallen Earth. Instead, she passed into [[{{Heaven}} the realm of the angels]] as was befitting her.
* ''Literature/UncleTomsCabin'' contains a particularly egregious example. When Little Eva falls sick, the author treats us to a whole page of waxing lyrical about children who die young because they are too good for this world, then there is a deathbed scene during which Eva has literal visions of heaven and preaches to the rest of the cast about them. Then there's a funeral scene in which Topsy, the little slave girl cries out that she wishes sh had died too, as she can't bear losing Eva.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': Badgerfang mainly exists to both be a tragic example of a cat who [[DeathOfAChild died too young]] and to show how evil Brokenstar is. Badgerpaw was a three-month-old kitten who was [[ChildSoldiers forced to become an apprentice]] three months too soon. He was accidentally killed in battle. In [=StarClan=], he was renamed "Badgerfang" because that would have been his warrior name if he had survived into adulthood.
%%* [[spoiler: Celia]] in the novel ''Literature/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''.
* The poem "Ye xu" ("Perhaps") by Chinese poet [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wen_Yiduo Wen Yi-duo]], written as an elegy for his young son.
-->''Perhaps you've tired from your cryings.\\
Perhaps, perhaps you need a sleep.\\
...\\
Perhaps, listening to the earthworms burrowing\\
The root-tips of young grass seeping water\\
Listening to the music of such\\
Is better than the curseful sound of humanity.''
* Lennon Rose in ''Literature/GirlsWithSharpSticks'', with her HairOfGoldHeartOfGold, her sunny disposition, and her flowery name. So of course she's the first one to go missing after breaking down in tears during the open house.
* [[NiceGirl Berenice Hollis]] and [[CoolOldGuy Jacques Deberiue]] are the only two genuinely decent human beings in ''Literature/TheBurntOrangeHeresy''. Berenice winds up beaten to death with a tire iron by her cruel boyfriend, while Jacques is sent to a nursing home by [[AmoralAttorney Cassidy]] where he dies only a year after being admitted.
%%** Also from Alcott is Ed from ''Jack and Jill''. He dies from typhoid because he's basically a male, less-known Beth and too good and pure for the world.
%%* ''Literature/TheLittlePrince''.
%%** This was rather scathingly [[{{Deconstruction}} deconstructed]] by the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' novel ''Literature/{{Hogfather}}''.
%%* Remedios "The Beauty" Buendia from ''Literature/OneHundredYearsOfSolitude.'' ... while Fernanda watches horrified as she is taking the clean sheets away with her.
%%** Remedios Moscote, Colonel Aureliano's wife, also received this treatment, since she was married and died [[{{Ephebophile}} horrifically young]] (we're talking ''ten'') due to [[DeathByChildbirth a risky pregnancy]]. (The agreement had been that she'd marry him when she began menstruating. She started at nine, so that was that.)
* Tiny Tim in ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' by Creator/CharlesDickens. His presence inspires goodwill and faith in a way that can only be compared to christian allegory and the possibility of his untimely death removes the last emotional defenses of an already largely remorseful Ebenezer. Except that, at the end of the story, Scrooge's knowledge of the future allows him to prevent Tiny Tim's death.
** Played straight with Scrooge's little sister Fan, his sole living relation based on mutual affection, whose DeathByChildbirth is offscreen and only alluded to, but clearly instrumental in driving Scrooge to detach himself emotionally from the rest of the world. (We only think it's in the book because it's shown vividly in the [[Film/Scrooge1951 1951 Aleister Sim film]]).
%%* Also from Dickens, Little Nell Trent from ''The Old Curiosity Shop'' exemplifies the Victorian fascination with this trope. Creator/OscarWilde's opinion on the trope in general and Little Nell, in particular, was that "one must have a heart of stone to read the death of little Nell without [[{{Narm}} laughing]]."
%%* Melanie from ''Film/GoneWithTheWind'' is yet another example.
%%* Yalith in Creator/MadeleineLEngle's ''Literature/ManyWaters'' is a possible example, when she is whisked away by God to avoid death by the Flood.
%%* Diamond in Creator/GeorgeMacDonald's ''Literature/AtTheBackOfTheNorthWind''.
%%* The protagonists of ''Literature/TheBoyInTheStripedPyjamas''.
%%* Creator/CliveBarker's Literature/{{Abarat}} series: Princess Boa. [[spoiler: Averted as of ''Absolute Midnight''.]]
* Creator/VCAndrews:
** In Literature/TheCasteelSeries, Leigh (known as "Angel") suffers a tragic life and is eventually raped by her stepfather. She succumbs to DeathByChildbirth at the tender age of just 14.
** A variant in ''Literature/{{Celeste}}'': the rather bratty and annoying Noble does not fit the usual image of this trope, but his mother certainly considers that he does, and when he dies suddenly she forces his twin sister, Celeste to dress as a boy and "replace" him.
%%** The saintly Laura Logan from ''Literature/MusicInTheNight''.
%%** Gabriel(le) Landry in ''Literature/TarnishedGold''.
%%** Eugenia Booth in ''Literature/DarkestHour''.
* Almost literal in ''Literature/{{Awakened}}''; Jack is killed by Darkness because Neferet needed to give Darkness a soul she could not taint (as payment for trapping Kalona's soul). Later, when Nyx appears to the crowd at Jack's funeral, she tells his boyfriend Damien that he is one of the happiest souls she's known.
* In Eddings's ''[[Literature/TheBelgariad Belgariad]]'' series there is mentioned (very briefly) to be a member of the good guy army who is a young, brain-damaged lad with a transcendent musical talent, playing songs of exquisite beauty. He sits and plays one of the most lovely songs the world had ever heard during a battle and is killed by an enemy ignoring it. This is presented as an indication of how cruel war is.
* Georgiana, from Nathaniel Hawthorne's "Literature/TheBirthmark", had a birthmark on her cheek. When her MadScientist husband eventually removes it, she dies, going directly to heaven since she has no other flaws separating her from being an angel. At least, in this case, it is clear from the start that Georgiana and her husband Aylmer are allegorical figures rather than realistic human beings. Often mistaken on superficial readings as a ScienceIsBad, the story actually deals with obsession and hubris; for modern readers, the story works as an allegory for the often-fatal obsession with cosmetic surgery.
* {{Subverted|Trope}} in the ''Literature/BrotherCadfael'' novel ''A Morbid Taste for Bones''. In the end, the monks assume that this is what has happened to the beautiful and saintly Brother Columbanus. In fact, Columbanus was a murderer, and after his KarmicDeath Cadfael [[MagnificentBastard fakes his assumption into Heaven to stop the other monks asking awkward questions]].
* Invoked in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' to explain why boy babies are so often stillborn. It is more likely to be due to [[GaiasLament environmental issues]], but the characters have no idea and thus look for a supernatural explanation.
* ''Literature/{{Carrie}}'': Tommy Ross is easily the nicest character in a story [[WorldOfJerkass full of assholes,]] and he dies due to a [[UndignifiedDeath bucket falling on his head.]] This happens in all the film adaptations as well, and in 2013, it's what ultimately sets Carrie off, even more than getting covered in blood.
* In ''Literature/TheCastleInTheForest'', UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler's sweet youngest brother, Edmund, dies of an illness in childhood. His father takes it very hard.
* [[spoiler: Roy Meritt]] from ''Literature/{{Daemon}}''. In ''Freedom'' Loki/Gragg muses that his idealism and nobility were too far at odds with the nature of the world.
* Briana in ''Literature/TheDeadAndTheGone'', a book about an asteroid hitting the moon. She gets adult-onset asthma due to the ash in the air from volcanoes. She never stops believing that her parents are alive, despite Alex and Julie's warnings and prays for everyone. One day, when the electricity comes back on, she goes down to their old basement apartment to write her parents a letter. As she is going back up, the power goes out and she dies in the elevator. Alex and Julie find her 3 days later.
* In ''Literature/DragonBones'', this is averted with Ciarra. She's a CuteMute, born that way, acts like a twelve-year-old although she's sixteen, doesn't like shoes, is the only one who can see the family ghost, and is the [[spoiler: go-to option gods use when they need to take over someone to talk to the protagonists.]] Seems like she's in danger of becoming this trope, doesn't it? However, the longer she stays away from castle Hurog, with which something is ''seriously wrong'' the more she looks and acts her actual age of sixteen instead of twelve, and is in the middle of the novel seen being as much of a LittleMissSnarker as she can be, considering that she's mute.
* In Edith Pattou's ''East'', the main character, Rose, was born to replace her dead older sister Elise, her mother's favorite child. In one of the sections, Rose narrates: "Mother was always telling me about Elise -- how good she was, how she always did as she was told, how she stayed close by, and what a great help she was to Mother in the kitchen."
* Creator/DavidEddings's ''[[Literature/TheElenium Elenium]]'' series gave us a minor character named Sir Parasim, a young knight stated by the (male) main character [[EvenTheGuysWantHim to be beautiful]], with a singing voice to match. The words "clear" and "pure" are used to describe him more than once. Turns out, he's the youngest of 12 knights destined to give their lives to help keep the Queen of the kingdom alive. You know the rest... This turn is heavily foreshadowed by Eddings, who has his ''characters'' actually discuss Parasim with language like "He's too good for this world" and "God will probably call him home very soon." It's actually a comfort to Sparhawk when he finds out (after the fact) that Parasim's death was in a good cause. What's especially notable in that this reveals more about the other characters than Sir Parasim himself. As old professionals, they've seen the good ones die young often enough to recognize the signs.
* In ''Literature/TheFaerieQueene'', The triplet sons of Agape are all doomed to short lives despite being the kindest and most functional family we see in the story. They fight for others, never quarrell amongst themselves, and only seek to adventure to help others, yet the Fates decided their mother should live to watch each of them die in youth.
* The ''Literature/{{Fallocaust}}'' series pulls this with Finn in ''Garden of Spiders.'' He's specifically chosen to be Elish's sengil due to being sweet and kind and gets [[spoiler:gunned down after refusing to abandon Elish during an assassination attempt as a reward.]]
* ''Literature/TheFaultInOurStars'':
** Augustus alludes to this, saying, "Like, are you familiar with the trope of the stoic and determined cancer victim who heroically fights her cancer with inhuman strength and never complains or stops smiling even at the very end, ''et cetera''?"
** [[spoiler:"According to the conventions of this genre, he kept his sense of humor until the end, did not for a moment waver in his courage, and his spirit soared like an indomitable eagle until the world itself could not contain his joyous soul. But this was the truth..."]]
* John Coffey of the book and movie ''Literature/TheGreenMile'' is a stellar example. Although not a child, he is a childlike GentleGiant on death row for a crime he couldn't reasonably have committed, with magical healing powers and rather obvious SignificantMonogram.
* Raamo in Zilpha Keatley Snyder's ''Literature/GreenSkyTrilogy''. Even by Kindar standards, he is quiet, humble, and completely without a violent bone in his body. Snyder killed him off at the end of the trilogy...but then realized she made a mistake with that and inverted the trope with possibly the first ''canonical'' video game sequel to a book.
* The "twist" death of Willow in Creator/JodiPicoult's ''Literature/HandleWithCare'' has strong overtones of this -- several reviews have mentioned that the character was so wise and saintly that the story felt unrealistic.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter''. If you are a kind, loving, sympathetic, well-liked character chances are YOU WILL DIE. This happens to [[spoiler: Cedric, Dumbledore ([[TheAtoner In his later years anyway]]), Hedwig, Dobby, Fred, Sirius, Lupin, and Tonks]]. The only obvious aversion/subversion is [[spoiler:Hagrid]], who appears to be killed off a couple of times but manages to survive until the end.
* Quasimodo and Esmeralda are the most sympathetic of the cast in ''Literature/TheHunchbackOfNotreDame''. They both die tragically due to Paris' injustices.
* [[spoiler: Prim]] in ''Literature/TheHungerGames''. Another beloved, sweet, and innocent [[spoiler: little sister]], as well as a [[spoiler: natural healer and FriendToAllLivingThings]].
* Murder victim Susan Althorp in ''Literature/IHeardThatSongBefore'' is treated as such by the media and even her mother views her this way; a beautiful, clever, charming eighteen-year old with her whole life ahead of her, until it was cruelly cut short. As it turns out, the truth is [[PlayingWithATrope less rosy]]; [[spoiler:it's revealed that Susan was addicted to cocaine and tried blackmailing a man for money when her father Charles cut off her allowance, in a futile attempt to control her addiction. Charles explains he concealed this information from his wife because he didn't want to tarnish Gladys's image of her as a perfect child. Drug addict or not, Susan definitely didn't deserve what happened to her, though]].
* ''Literature/InDeath'' series: Poor Marlena Kolchek. She was beautiful, innocent, and pure. Unfortunately, a gambling syndicate that Roarke was in a rivalry with kidnapped her, and performed a torture-murder on her that involved breaking her kneecaps and raping her. When they were done, they left her body on Roarke and Summerset's doorsteps. Her father Summerset wanted them punished, but the Inspector who was called in was a DirtyCop in the syndicate's pocket, and he made sure the investigation led to nowhere. What a horrible thing to happen!
* Invoked in ''Literature/InTheTimeOfTheButterflies'' by Julia Alvarez (based on the true story of the Mirabal sisters from the Dominican Republic). Mama says that she thought Patria was going to die at a young age because she was such a good child.
* Helen Burns, Jane's best friend in ''Literature/JaneEyre'', dies of tuberculosis right before a typhoid epidemic kills many girls in the BoardingSchoolOfHorrors. But Helen still has time to impress on Jane the importance of dedication to God and trusting in her own conscience more than the love of others.
* When Princess Sophia dies in ''Literature/KingdomOfLittleWounds'', the kingdom acts like this is the case, going so far as to call her "The Perished Lily."
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'': Hugo seemed to have a thing for beautiful [[WideEyedIdealist idealists]] who are exposed to the realities of this cruel world and die tragically young.
** Fantine is driven by her love for Tholomyes and later Cosette. She lives in awful conditions and prostitutes herself to provide for Cosette, and eventually dies when she learns she won't get to see Cosette.
** Enjolras [[IncorruptiblePurePureness does not allow any vice to distract him]] from his fight against oppression. His beauty and courage in the face of certain death make enemy soldiers hesitate to kill him, but not for long.
* The title character of "Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl" by Creator/HansChristianAndersen carries it off. Well, the narrative does not so much carry this trope as flamboyantly juggle it while singing the complete score to Handel's Messiah. Few works treat a little girl freezing to death as such an unequivocally wonderful thing.
* ''Literature/TheLittleMermaid'', by Hans Christian Andersen, subverts this trope. The innocent and sweet mermaid who sacrifices her undersea life for love ends up giving up the boy she loves and sacrificing herself instead. However, the story makes it clear throughout that she doesn't have a soul -- and upon her death, she is given a purgatorial afterlife where she might, with hard work and dedication, win a soul and go to heaven. So after her death, she begins to work her way ''up'' to Too Good For This Sinful Earth. Depressing, but not hopeless -- which could well be the point.
* Beth, the sweet, saintly doomed March sister, from all the various iterations of ''Literature/LittleWomen'' is extremely saintly and pure, and since she has no ambitions other than to be at home with her sisters, adulthood just isn't going to happen for her.
* Simon from ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' is the purest of the boys, who is senselessly murdered by the others. Subverted, however, in that Ralph is the only one of the group who actually cares... and aside from Piggy, seems to be the only one who ''notices'', or at least, be willing to admit noticing. Simon was a full-fledged [[MessianicArchetype Christ figure]]. Seriously, there have been professional literary critics who've written essays on this very point.
* Creator/LMMontgomery:
** In the ''Literature/AnneOfGreenGables'' series, Walter, the poetic, sensitive, whimsical second son of Anne and Gilbert, is killed in action during World War I.
** In Montgomery's ''Literature/EmilyOfNewMoon'', there is a Murray cousin who died young. This trope is invoked, almost by name, and the young boy is described as being more handsome and more virtuous than anyone. Ever. So naturally, he had to die.
* In ''Literature/{{Odtaa}}'', Carlotta de Leyva, who is DoomedByCanon to be dead by the end of the book, is a young woman of remarkable beauty and grace, loved by all who meet her. (Except the villains, of course.)
* Little Nell, in Literature/TheOldCuriosityShop, is a all loving angel who wastes away of an unknown disease.
* The book and movie ''Film/PayItForward'', where the little boy at the story's center is killed while performing his third and final good deed... and is all but canonized by ''everyone else in the story''.
* So many of the women from Creator/EdgarAllanPoe's stories and poems. Poe himself wrote: "The death then of a beautiful woman is unquestionably the most poetical topic in the world"-"The Philosophy of Composition" (published 1846).
* Joshua in Creator/SidneySheldon's ''Rage of Angels'' dies at the age of seven after a blow to the head during a vacation. He was not only a perfect little boy (incredibly intelligent, good at sports, insightful, said the darndest things, etc.) but didn't lose his cheerful disposition despite being kidnapped and almost murdered -- his mother Jennifer was so desperate to prevent it that she asked a ''Mafia prince'' to do everything he could to rescue him, up to and including killing the kidnapper. Jennifer sees his ultimate demise as karmic payback for, during the aforementioned trip, spending a night with his father Adam (the boy was the product of an illicit affair).
* PlayedWith in ''Literature/TheScarletLetter'': The congregation believes Dimmesdale's health is declining because God wants to take such a good man to his eternal reward, but the actual reason for his coming death is his inner torment over hiding an affair.
* In ''Literature/ASeparatePeace'', the main character Gene reflects on the death of his best friend Finny and comes to the conclusion that Finny had to die because he was too good-hearted to be able to live during a war.
* In ''Literature/SharpObjects'', Marian was one of the sweetest little girls in Wind Gap, and dies tragically in childhood. The trauma of her early death is acutely felt by her family and loved ones decades later.
** PlayedWith [[spoiler: for Ann and Natalie. They were also little girls who died in horrific ways, and they both had loved ones who miss them terribly. However, they were both regarded as being tough cookies with tempers and not just sugar and spice, with Natalie in particular having violent behavioral issues her family was working to control]].
* In ''Literature/SomeoneElsesWar'', Otto is undeniably the kindest and most compassionate of the ChildSoldiers. His offscreen death comes as a total shock later in the book.
* In ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' and its TV adaption ''Series/GameOfThrones'', Eddard Stark is a naive idealist who is horribly out of place in the DecadentCourt that makes the Westeros aristocracy. Naturally, [[RhymesOnADime Ned loses his head and ends up dead]].
** Elia Martell as well. She was a DelicateAndSickly girl who was married to the handsome and beloved crown prince and secondhand accounts of her recall she possessed a sort of "sweet wit" that made her endearing to many in the King's Landing court. In the series' GreatOffscreenWar backstory, she ended up suffering a horrible and gruesome death at the hands of a pair of [[PsychoForHire the most brutal and bloodthirsty attack dogs]] of the noble family that held a grudge against hers, a fate everyone agrees was one she ''really'' didn't deserve.
* The characters in Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/SpeakerForTheDead'' speculate the pequeninos are ritually killing the humans that did the most good as an act of gratitude that will free them from a world of suffering and malice.
* In ''Literature/{{Spin}}'' after [[spoiler:Wun Ngo Wen, the man from Mars]], gets killed by highway bandits, people start to see him this way. He would probably have disapproved.
* Creator/HenryDarger's ''[[Literature/InTheRealmsOfTheUnreal Story of the Vivian Girls]]'':
** The book includes a subplot about a turbulent, half-mad girl named Jenny, who is killed (in a weather disaster, naturally) at the very end of the story. She lingers for a time, saying lovely Little Eva-like goodbyes to everyone. Her final words (and the last words in the book) are ''Oh, I see God!...''
** Henry's got boatloads of characters like this. Six-year-old Jennie Anges, who is "already marked for heaven", snatches consecrated communion hosts out of a church tabernacle to protect them from enemy soldiers who would desecrate them. Naturally, she gets desecrated instead.
* Creator/JohnGrisham's ''The Testament'': Rachel Lane, a beautiful, saintly missionary doctor and long-lost daughter of tycoon Troy Phelan, dies of dengue fever and malaria in the penultimate chapter.
* Subverted in Jerome's ''Literature/ThreeMenInABoat'' with the narrator's dog Monmorancy. When the narrator first got the dog, he was sure it was so good and fragile it would die shortly... until he witnessed the fox-terrier's aggressive nature.
* [[spoiler: Jenny]] in ''Literature/TheTruthOfRockAndRoll'': “And that was good. That was right. [[spoiler: Jenny]] was made for another time and another place. She never fit in here.”
* In the ''Literature/VitaNuova'', Beatrice dies young as [[HumbleHero her humility and magnanimity]] made her too noble to suffer life on fallen Earth. Instead, she passed into [[{{Heaven}} the realm of the angels]] as was befitting her.
* ''Literature/UncleTomsCabin'' contains a particularly egregious example. When Little Eva falls sick, the author treats us to a whole page of waxing lyrical about children who die young because they are too good for this world, then there is a deathbed scene during which Eva has literal visions of heaven and preaches to the rest of the cast about them. Then there's a funeral scene in which Topsy, the little slave girl cries out that she wishes sh had died too, as she can't bear losing Eva.
* ''Literature/WarriorCats'': Badgerfang mainly exists to both be a tragic example of a cat who [[DeathOfAChild died too young]] and to show how evil Brokenstar is. Badgerpaw was a three-month-old kitten who was [[ChildSoldiers forced to become an apprentice]] three months too soon. He was accidentally killed in battle. In [=StarClan=], he was renamed "Badgerfang" because that would have been his warrior name if he had survived into adulthood.
%%* [[spoiler: Celia]] in the novel ''Literature/WeNeedToTalkAboutKevin''.
* The poem "Ye xu" ("Perhaps") by Chinese poet [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wen_Yiduo Wen Yi-duo]], written as an elegy for his young son.
-->''Perhaps you've tired from your cryings.\\
Perhaps, perhaps you need a sleep.\\
...\\
Perhaps, listening to the earthworms burrowing\\
The root-tips of young grass seeping water\\
Listening to the music of such\\
Is better than the curseful sound of humanity.''
* Lennon Rose in ''Literature/GirlsWithSharpSticks'', with her HairOfGoldHeartOfGold, her sunny disposition, and her flowery name. So of course she's the first one to go missing after breaking down in tears during the open house.
* [[NiceGirl Berenice Hollis]] and [[CoolOldGuy Jacques Deberiue]] are the only two genuinely decent human beings in ''Literature/TheBurntOrangeHeresy''. Berenice winds up beaten to death with a tire iron by her cruel boyfriend, while Jacques is sent to a nursing home by [[AmoralAttorney Cassidy]] where he dies only a year after being admitted.
