Death approaches...

[TheokinsJ]

We all know that in any good fantasy, a few of the 'good guys' have to die by either being blown to bits, burnt alive or taking an arrow for the team. If they aren't killed then they have to come very close to it, and it is this aspect I want to focus on. My main character doesn't die (Surprise!) but I don't want the reader to think that I love him so much that I wouldn't cut his throat given the chance.
A great many of his companions die in the epic struggle, but he remains throughout the whole thing. For that reason, I've been thinking of what things could make it seem like he comes really close to the edge, something that happens to him that takes him to the brink of living, and where death approaches... A first thought was he loses a few fingers, perhaps his mind slightly, perhaps he breaks all his limbs ect.
Anyway, I just want to hear what you guys what mean things you have done to your characters, in order to keep the reader thinking that they may not make it. And if you don't have any examples of your own, feel free to share examples from books and movies and other stories.

 

[advait98]

Well, I think a really good example would be that of Harry Potter. That guy should have died a thousand times, but he didn't, surprise. We didn't really notice it, because, I think Rowling framed his fights and near death experiences so well, that the reader didn't dwell on his, um, life. I think a good way to go about this would be to give a good reason as to why he is alive. What did he do to get out of it? Is it believable? Was it that easy?

Of course, losing a few bones would be one way to go about it, and a permanent handicap, indicating that the writer doesn't feel that strongly about the character.

It wasn't a problem for GRRM, was it? But still, some of his characters still escape miraculously, so another way to go about it would be to make some other main characters die to take the attention off of that one. But this one is just pure conjecture...

Anyway, this is what I do, and what I have seen so far in my brief and nonexistent career. I hope it helped.

 

[Nihal]

Harry Potter isn't really a good example for what he's trying to achieve. I think I was eleven when the first book came out and I grew up with them. I knew he wouldn't die. I didn't even fear for his life. All I felt was "okay, what happens next?".

But GRRM managed to make me fear for his characters. I saw the first death coming a long way before it actually happened, and it didn't have a great impact on me as it had when I saw on TV, yet it was very effective to make me think "Well... no one is safe. He won't flinch from killing anyone at all.". Because of this death I ended believing in others deaths that didn't actually happen. Now I'm a little skeptic, but I still believe that yeah, there is always this possibility, "who will be the next?".

From this I can gather 2 conclusions:

1. Killing a well developed, important character will make your readers believe that you won't avoid killing others.
2. After the former crippling your MC while facing a life-or-death situation, making he lose a limb for example, in a way his life won't be same again, will be very effective to mislead your reader, making him believe for some moments that this character will die as well.

 

[wordwalker]

Here's another method: give the MC a curse, poison, etc that's slowly killing him. He might find a cure but you put so much emphasis on his courage in pushing on and in trying to put his affairs in order, the reader senses you don't need him to survive past this and the only reason to save him is the author's kindness. (Trouble is, it can backfire and make him surviving seem like a weaker ending...)

 

[Ayaka Di'rutia]

My current MC has been tortured and almost "died" spiritually due not just to the physical pain, but the moral pressures around her. She's been starved heavily trying to save people, she was almost crushed to death after helping to destroy a massive pillar that turned into heavy dust (which then almost crushed her). She's had the femur of her right leg broken by a monster and was on a cane for at least a year before she could walk normally. She's been beat up heavily during a military initiation and other military drills. She was drained of both magical and physical energy after a big fight, and then couldn't even fight another enemy to save her loved one (who killed the monster, and she barely had enough strength to carry him unconscious back to her people).

One thing is for certain, beating up my MC has made her a stronger character in my eyes; because of all the things she's been through, she's actually a kinder person than she used to be, because she knows what it's like to feel evil inflicted upon her, and she doesn't want to be that way.

 

[Caged Maiden]

I torture several characters. One, I actually put into a dungeon and physiclly and mentally tortured. of course, it was in chapter 5, so I hope peopel don't think she dies there. then there'd be no book.

Another time, I had two MCs who loved each other. I made the girl go to the boy's house one day and see him.. but his sister was crying and she told the girl that the boy had been taken by armed, mounted men. The girl is crushed and when money begins arriving to the sister, the girl punches the sister in the face, looking at her new dress. "You don't relly believe he's out there sending you money, do you? That's his weregeld you're spending on clothes! Aarin's dead!"

I don't know whether a reader will believe that I killed him. The reality is he's been kidnapped and given a job, but that's just not what someone would assume. Until that is, they turn to the next chapter and see him alive and well. BUt te girl still believes he's dead.

I don't kill a lot of characters. But Once, I made a guy hanging off the edge of a cliff, two enemies loading a gun, ready to shoot him as he's helpless. I make him debate letting go and earning a more dignified death than being shot in the face. He lives, when my werewolf MC catches his hand with four inch claws and hauls him back up... but he doesn't get away from it without scars that last a lifetime.

 

[Ireth]

I've tortured and almost killed several of my characters on various occasions. One was thrown out of a tower window by the villain, and survived by the collaborative efforts of a wind-mage who slowed his fall, and a flock of shapeshifters who took the forms of birds to carry him to safety, while letting the villain believe he had fallen and, well, splatted. Another almost died twice in the same battle, once from a poisoned arrow, and again from bloodloss AND poison when his hand was cut off.

The second guy was also in a similar situation as Ayaka's MC -- originally a cruel, selfish hedonist like most of his people, he once tortured and nearly killed a man out of revenge. Then he himself was tortured by orcs, and realized he was barely better than them, prompting him to change his ways. He tried to influence others to do the same, but his efforts got him exiled by his Queen, even though he was acting for the good of his people.

 

[Androxine Vortex]

You could make your character suffer a serious injury or contact some type of illness. I'm planning on doing both for separate novels to add more conflict and keep a balance of powers as I call it

 

[Feo Takahari]

I'd like to warn in advance that I've never seen a thread along the lines of "What horrible things have you done to your characters?" that didn't eventually get locked. We should probably keep this more in terms of how to create fear for a character.

Personally, I'd approach the fear from a different direction. It's very likely your protagonist will survive at least to the end, so you probably can't fake out your readers in that regard. Instead,

a): build tension that your protagonist won't survive the final battle. Show that he's out of his depth, that the villain knows exactly how to defeat him, that people more competent than him have already lost* . . .

b): Build tension that, even if your protagonist survives, he'll fail at his goal. Exactly how you do this depends on what his goal is, but if there's anything he wants besides personal survival, you can imply that it will be taken from him before he even has the chance to defend it.

*I'm not fond of this last, because it so often involves a well-trained female warrior being defeated and captured so an untrained male protagonist can rescue her, but I figured I ought to mention it.

 

[Ireth]

b): Build tension that, even if your protagonist survives, he'll fail at his goal. Exactly how you do this depends on what his goal is, but if there's anything he wants besides personal survival, you can imply that it will be taken from him before he even has the chance to defend it.

That's exactly what's going to happen with Cadell, the protagonist of my newest WIP. Aside from survival, he wants a lasting peace between the Fae Courts, and between Fae and humans. The trouble with that is, most of his own Court are against it, including the queen he serves with undying loyalty. It comes down to a choice between giving up on his efforts for the greater good, or betraying his queen in the name of it. Either way he chooses will not end well for him.

 

[glutton]

*I'm not fond of this last, because it so often involves a well-trained female warrior being defeated and captured so an untrained male protagonist can rescue her, but I figured I ought to mention it.

It can always be the other way around, a powerful male warrior losing before the heroine steps in.

The biggest fake-out I've done with regard to death is probably when I wrote my Arthurian novel where the heroine is a gender-swapped version of Mordred, and we all know how that story ends... yet it doesn't and she survives Excalibur through her chest. Another novel I did had the female lead get run through, spend the night chatting nostalgically with the hero, and then be buried by him... but then digs her way out of the grave and walks hundreds of miles back to civilization. Probably a repeat reader of mine would soon realize the warrior heroines will never die despite any efforts I make to pretend they might, lol.

 

[druidofwinter]

one way might be to make the MC replaceable, so the readers start thinking "you know the story rely could go on without him/her"
another way that always gets me is when the said character starts talking fatalistically, like: you've been a good friend to me all these year's, and i thank you for that. please look after so and so when i'm gone.
bad example but you get the idea.