Best character deaths?

SubrosianDimitri

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This is an odd thing to post about, isn't it?

Exactly what it says on the tin, which character deaths in any anime/game/movie/book/whatever had the most impact on you, and why?

Also, considering the nature of this kind of topic, please put all entries in spoiler tags, some people may not have seen one of the series you might be listing yet, and consideration is always nice.

Anyhoo, my (current) choices:

Ushio and Nagisa's deaths are two of the most well-known in all of anime, and watching them still gives many people the feels. However, I've never seen the anime (not the whole thing, anyway), and instead I experienced them through the original VN (well, the HD steam re-release, but close enough). However I will say that, at least in terms of the presentation in the VN, Nagisa's hit me harder, probably because after going through her route a second time and then going through after story, I had about 20 hours of attachment to her, and seeing her die after all that time is something the anime isn't able to do because it doesn't have enough time to deal with that (being an adaptation of almost all of the routes and all).

However, the anime version of Ushio's death is far more powerful than in the VN to me, mainly because of Tomoya's verbal pleas and body language. By the point it happens, Ushio has been sick for a while and Tomoya realizes she has very little time left. In the game he just stays there holding her and then we cut back to the Illusionary World. In the anime, he is openly grieving and calling out for some kind of god/spirit/whatever to save his daughter, much like Akio did for Nagisa when she was a child. At that point, you can either say he died of a broken heart, or he just laid down and let himself freeze to death.
I'm not even sure if I should call this a death, since everyone in the show is already dead and all, but it comes close enough. Yui was a fun character right from when she made a splash in episode 4 by accidentally lynching herself, being one of the most energetic members of the cast. The reason why this one hit me so hard is because of why she's so energetic. She was rendered quadriplegic by a car accident as a young child, and dreamed of doing the athletic things she saw on TV. Otonashi spends the entirety of episode 10 helping her enjoy the activities she never got to in life, and the last step needed to help her move on comes from Hinata (who she spent a large amount of time fighting with) as he promises to marry her when they meet again in their next lives.

And to make the punch even more powerful, the montage shown before she disappears is not of the past or of the "good times." It's a montage of what Yui is looking forward to in her next life, seeing Hinata again and ending up with him. Helped immensely by the piece in the background, My Most Precious Treasure.

If you want to see the scene in question, here are the subbed and dubbed versions:
 

Avering

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The ending of Project Horizons. I'm not saying anything specific to evade spoilers (*ahem*Dumbledore dies*ahem*), but I don't think anything else managed to have so much impact on me.
 

D96

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The ending of Project Horizons. I'm not saying anything specific to evade spoilers (*ahem*Dumbledore dies*ahem*), but I don't think anything else managed to have so much impact on me.
The entire last section of that story was rough. Even after how dark the rest of the story was, the end still managed to get to ya.

The first death that came to mind for me was from Mass Effect.
Say what you will about the third game, but I thought that Mordin's death was really tough to get through. It didn't help that he was one of my favorite characters, but the entire lead up and the conclusion of his character arc just made it a really powerful moment. Once I knew it was coming it got really difficult to keep pushing through.
"I am the very model of a Scientist Salarian...":(
 

Invader TAK

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Seems like this should refer to "saddest" deaths, but I guess it could go for characters who had epic deaths or deaths that made you happy. So I'll just use those categories. Also there's no real order.

I'm gonna be predictable and go with Pyrrha. I mean yeah, she's alive and well in the Chibi universe, but still!

On the Good Karma/Canon side, Cole's sacrifice hit me pretty hard. Not only did he die, but he had to take a good chunk of the Conduits with him. Obviously there are other Conduits, as Second Son revealed, but it was still sad to see it happen. At least it helped save the world.

On the Evil Karma/Non-Canon side, Zeke's death made me feel horrible. It wasn't bad enough that it wasn't in a cutscene, oh no. Not only are you forced to kill him, you're limited to your simple lighting bolt attack! You have to to zap him three times to bring him down.

It's obvious, and I knew it was coming so I wasn't as saddened by it (because this is basically the Anime version of "Aeris Dies"), but I have have give a mention to Kamina. He avenged his own death. How many characters can claim that?

Also gotta mention Kittan's death, which I didn't know was coming. His Heroic Sacrifice was also pretty epic. On that note, poor Yoko.

Another obvious one, but Joffrey's death put a huge smile on my face.

Also, Ramsay Bolton's death was nice and karmic. Idiot should have expected that to happen after starving his hounds for seven days.
 

AidanofVT

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Unsurprisingly, Bill's death at the end of Kill Bill was pretty great.
 

Avering

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Strider in L4D2.... He was so brave saving me and Rich Jammer *Sniff* Oh yeah, and Zoey died too, but she was a bot. No one cares about bots.
 

D96

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Strider in L4D2.... He was so brave saving me and Rich Jammer *Sniff* Oh yeah, and Zoey died too, but she was a bot. No one cares about bots.
Ha, that reminds me of this one time my cousin and I were playing L4D. We were playing...Blood Harvest? (The foggy farm one) Anyways, we were on the finale, and we set up a bunch of propane tanks and gas cans all along the route to the final escape vehicle. Once it showed up, we made a mad dash, all the while turning back to shoot the tanks. Out of the fog a Smoker tongue flew out and snatched away the Francis not into the firey zombie-infested fog, with him screaming all the while. We both just died laughing, it was too perfectly clichè.

Poor Francis bot.
 

Rocketknightgeek

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I'm just going to say 'Joss Whedon' and you can name your favorite whatever he's done. Chances are at least one character you loved died horribly for their crime of having their shit together.
 
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