How to kill off important characters en masse?

[IOSboicool]

Like the titles says, how would you correctly write a scene where many important characters die?

 

[Corty]

There is so much to this that there is no definitive answer:

• Backgrounds
• Past events and the leadup to their predicament
• The main storyline
• The villain(s)
• When it happens within the story
• The true importance of their characters

And I could go on. This is not something that can be answered so easily. It needs nuance, proper leadup, and planning to pull it off properly.

Or, you know, make them blow up. That works too.

 

[Tim_Saian]

Really depends on your story but for inspiration look no further than Game of Throne's Red Wedding.

 

[Glitched]

Have a war. Make a major battle. Trade important lives. Corty has the most important thing to know. Need context to give a definitive answer.

 

[QuercusMalus]

Terrorist attack or other major wartime event, pandemic or natural disaster. Depending on your story setting/genre this could determine how this looks.
But regardless, unless it's a military story where the deaths are kinda expected, you're risking alienating alot of readers.

 

[3guanoff]

Genre shift to Lovecraft. One Eldritch horror is all it takes.

 

[QuercusMalus]

Genre shift to Lovecraft. One Eldritch horror is all it takes.

Or, given what site this is, make it an Eldritch Whore and get multiple genres covered.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

Carefully

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

Aside from not knowing the backgrounds of these characters, I suggest several ways to approach the topic:

1) Author stops writing. It will automatically kill off the characters en masse for less effort, but will also kill off reader enthusiasm and confidence in the author's consistency.
2) Have them all die in battle. A glorious, and romantic, end.
3) Have them die in a plague or some sickness. We can now focus on each and everyone of them for a more 'bittersweet' effect on the readers.
4) Have them die for stupid reasons, like in Scary Movie. For comedy purposes.
5) Have them die for stupid reasons, but trying to make it serious, like in Final Destination. An even more comedic undertone.

 

[Tsuru]

Mushoku Style

Big surprise event. Like "teleportation event" in mushoku.
Basically the "unexpected" trope.
Movie : Dining. KABOOM. BIG EXPLOSION IN DINNING ROOM. *Ringing noise in ear*
Or JJK, BAM HEADSHOT.

Warning, its hard to make it likeable. Warning backlash.

 

[3guanoff]

Aside from not knowing the backgrounds of these characters, I suggest several ways to approach the topic:

1) Author stops writing. It will automatically kill off the characters en masse for less effort, but will also kill off reader enthusiasm and confidence in the author's consistency.
2) Have them all die in battle. A glorious, and romantic, end.
3) Have them die in a plague or some sickness. We can now focus on each and everyone of them for a more 'bittersweet' effect on the readers.
4) Have them die for stupid reasons, like in Scary Movie. For comedy purposes.
5) Have them die for stupid reasons, but trying to make it serious, like in Final Destination. An even more comedic undertone.

That reminds me of the author who killed the fan favorite, protagonist's best friend because "life isn't fair kids".
Since statistically, a lot of people die by car accident or by slipping and hitting their heads in the shower, one might think readers would welcome such a realistic approach. However, I did not. I sent that book to my second cousin to use as compost.

It was the last book of a series.

 

[greyliliy]

Large, chaotic events with casualties usually work.

See Transformers: The Movie for an example when the series wanted to swap out the main cast. Lol.

 

[NotaNuffian]

That reminds me of the author who killed the fan favorite, protagonist's best friend because "life isn't fair kids".
Since statistically, a lot of people die by car accident or by slipping and hitting their heads in the shower, one might think readers would welcome such a realistic approach. However, I did not. I sent that book to my second cousin to use as compost.

It was the last book of a series.

Well, the author can shove the last book up their own ass.

I get that pandering to the readers might not be fun. But as a reader myself, I read to run away from reality, not to get hit in the face by it.

 

[Thraben]

Like the titles says, how would you correctly write a scene where many important characters die?

Sensibly. As in, fabricate a scene wherein in makes sense in universe for a bunch of the characters assembled to die. Then, kill them.

 

[BearlyAlive]

Explosion!

 

[NotaNuffian]

Whelp, I hate this thread now.

An author at the end of the first arc decided to end it in a bang.

So the time period was hinted to be victorian, news of war was rampant nearing the end of the first arc but everyone thought that there were trenches and a frontline.

MC wanted to kill an entire noble family, so he warned his close friends to leave town and never return. This was a major red flag I missed.

As MC done his deed, the first few bombs dropped. It turned out to be like WWII Britain with biplanes and zeppelins.

The opposing forces just marched in, killing everyone in sight. MC watched his friends die in chases, MC watched his friends executed by firing squads, MC dug out more and more corpses of his friends in piles and piles of rubble.

Revenge was the only thing MC could ask for as always, but the pain is still there even after he had torn all the ground troops to pieces.

And we just lost three characters who were in MC party and up to ten other characters that are decent people.

 

[Zagaroth]

If you can kill off a lot of them, then they weren't actually important, they were merely propped up to look important.

IMO anyway. In short, I would never kill a lot of important characters at once, it degrades their value and devalues the importance the audience will assign to any future characters as they will always be waiting for them to be killed off too.