Discussion Main / AnyoneCanDie

"That is not dead which can eternal lie. And in strange aeons, even Death may die." -H.P. Lovecraft, "The Nameless City"

how can 24 be an example of "anyone can die", its the best example for the exact opposite.

Jack Bauer is the main character with a changing cast around him, "anyone BUT the hero can die", but that just is the exact opposite. You expect that the supporting cast gets killed, killing the main character would make this trope valid.

Spooks is an example of anyone can die, EVEN the hero - may all of them rest in piece :-)

Yes, a bunch of characters in Harry Potter died, but:

How is Cedric Diggory an example of "anyone can die"? He's only mentioned a few times, and only in the one book in which he dies, he's completely unimportant to the plot and within his universe, has no relationship with any of the heroes, and was only brought into the light to die - in other words, your typical red-shirt. (Mauve shirt if you insist.)

The only character who might possibly qualify is Dumbledore as he is rather important both for his universe and for the main hero personally, but a) as a mentor figure he was bound to die anyway, and b) I don't think suicides should count as the trope. Same with the meaningless summary execution of several supporting characters (Lupin, Fred Weasley, Tonks etc.) in and around the final battle.

In my humble personal opinion, it would be "anyone can die" if Ron kicked the bucket, or Mc Gonagall had a fatal heart-attack (or ended up in the place of the red shirt Charity Burbage), a Dursley got run over by a lorry, or Voldemort got mad at and killed Draco. Interestingly enough, even if an author kills off characters by the dozens cuz she's dark, got it, dark, it doesn't mean that in her books "anyone can die".

Edited by Tannya Hide / Show Replies

The trope image. It does show dead people, sure, but there's no proof they're the main characters too. (P.S.: I've not seen Firefly)

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This doesn't mention that, regardless how much cynical jaded "Genre Savy" love this trope. People who have been lucky enough to avoid picking apart every movie is less in love with this trope.

Edited by KageNara Hide / Show Replies

A lot of these aren't valid here. It's not anyone can die since the main protagonists have Plot Armour.

Death Note - Light doesn't die until the last episode. Wonder Woman - Steve Trevor dies, but not her. Does Judge Dredd ever die? Jason Bourne Last of the Mohicans doesn't fit. Serenity. Ok. But not the captain. Blade doesn't die. Batman doesn't die in Dark Knight. The Boondock Saints don't die, come on now. Harry Potter. Ron. Hermione. Harry (even with his little afterlife moment, he's not GONE.) Bourne Identity Lord of the Rings. Not Frodo because he's the protagonist. Deadwood. Once it's rolling, Al's not gonna die, neither is Bullock. Tony Soprano was safe. Halo. The main characters survive.

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Does Homestuck really count, seeing as it's possible to bring characters back to life, and how there aren't really that many major characters dead yet? None of the eight kids have been permanently killed off — every time, they have been revived or it was something like doomed timelines or dreamselves. Half of the trolls are still alive, and out of those that are dead, two of them are jokes and two of them were borderline background characters. If anything Vriska would make the comic a contender but she never even spoke (well, typed) until Act 5.

I mean, counting Homestuck just because of having a major character die in some way is like counting Simpsons because "This Treehouse of Horror killed off Homer oh and also Maude died in canon." Yes, there are some deaths of the main characters, but it isn't in the traditional sense of actually writting them out of the story from that point. I mean, I wouldn't count being in dream bubbles as not being dead since it's basically like getting shoved into the sidelines and the closest thing a kid/troll can get to a perma-death becides being wiped out of existance, but if a dreamself dies it's barley worth mentioning.

Actually wait. Treehouse of Horror is on here. That should be looked into too.

Edited by greatpikminfan I write stupid crap about naked people.

Generally I always find this Trope more Pseudo then real, once either the Sacrificial Lamb or Sacrificial Lion is killed it's easy to decipher who will or won't live with few rare exceptions. Yes even A Song Of Fire And Ice aka Game Of Thrones.

So, what's the difference between Anyone Can Die and Dropped a Bridge on Him?

Oh, Equestria, we stand on guard for thee! Hide / Show Replies

"The Deus Ex series. The player can kill any character they can get to, provided they also have access to their weapons at the time, no matter how plot important they are. It's actually kind of fun to kill everybody you can and see how the plot adapts. Invisible War even Lampshades this a bit, by way of an Easter Egg that brings the character to a special room populated by any character that hasn't been killed." This isn't true at all for the first Deus Ex. Most plot important characters can eventually end up dead by the player's actions, but you don't get to just outright kill them just by shooting them as this implies. How should this be edited to be fixed?

I'd like to make a suggestion for the Feast movies but I don't feel comfortable editing the main page. I think the trope is pretty justified by the first 5 minutes or so of the first movie where the hero (or so claimed by the movie caption) lasts only 60 seconds before being offed. The rest of the movie and the two sequels continue the trend.

Edited by 71.169.150.13 Hide / Show Replies