Why Characters Should Stay Dead

It's a current popular plot "twist" these days: characters who die but don't stay dead.

(Caution, spoilers ahead for a few movies/books.)

We all know the drill. That character hanging off the cliff lets go...the building gets blown up with someone inside...Bucky falls off the train...and all the other characters are devastated. They cry and mourn and maybe the readers/watchers cry too.

Then the next book/movie comes out (or sometimes you just wait for a few scenes or chapters), and that "dead" character shows up. Maybe they're the villain now. Or maybe they've been tortured by the villain. Or maybe they've been wounded and fending for themselves. Or they just stroll over and act like nothing ever changed. 

They didn't really die. Something cushioned their fall. Something protected them. They planned it from the beginning. It was just a trick.

Or maybe a different character uses magic or whatever is available to them in their world to bring that actually-dead character back.

It happens so much, we've almost come to expect it. The character falls, their friends cry, and while we shed a tear or two, we keep reading/watching, eagerly awaiting their "unexpected" return.

Why can't they just stay dead?

They can and sometimes they should. Other times, bringing them back to life can be good and well. So let's look further into this.

Keep Them Dead Because It's Simply Realistic

As much as it hurts to loose a loved one, we can't bring them back. We may see them again in Heaven someday, but for now, they are no longer on this earth. They're out of the story. No resurrections this time (to quote Thanos on the quite-possible-permanent-death of Loki). It brings a sense of realism to the story. It shows you're serious about this book.

Keep Them Dead to Raise the Stakes

Like I said, show you're serious. Show the readers that your villains really and truly are dangerous. They will kill. People will die because of them. We're raising the stakes here. People have died, people the readers love. It's time to make the villain pay.

In a World of Not-Really-Deaders, Surprise Readers with an Actually-Deader

You wanna stab your readers in the heart? Don't bring that character back. Just...don't. Their story is finished, more or less. It'll make readers continue to think about your book (even if it's only to grow that harboring resentment against you, the author) after they read it. It'll make them go back and re-read the parts with that character because they realize how precious few paragraphs they really have with him/her.

Keep Them Dead Because Deaths Drive Action

Death impacts the other characters. It spurs them into action. They want revenge. They want to make the villain pay. They want to see their friend(s) didn't die in vain. It also serves for a low point in the book, that "dark night of the soul" moment where everything seems black and hopeless.

Of course, we can still get achieve this and then bring the character back later. So let's talk about how to do this correctly.

Don't Bring Them Back Because You Only Killed Them Off to Horrify Readers in the First Place

Marvel brings back a lot of their characters who "die", right? Because those characters are well loved and because Marvel wants to continue making money off of them.

When rewatching the movies, guess which is the only death to make me cry? Quicksilver's death, because he doesn't come back. Bucky falls off the train, and I'm like "Oh, yeah, poor Steve, but he'll find him later. Yeah, Bucky gets captured by Hydra, but he makes it through." But Quicksilver dies, and Wanda looses her brother. Forever. He doesn't return.

Do you want your readers to stop mourning for character deaths because they're 90% sure that character will come back later? If they know you resurrect half your "dead" characters, they won't be so emotional when a character dies.

Kill Them For a Reason

Don't kill that character off simply because you want to make readers cry. And then bring them back later because you actually kinda still need them, or because you want to make readers get all excited and happy.

No. Kill that character and watch readers stare in horror as they slowly realize he/she isn't coming back. Ever. They're gone.

Kill them to show the tough battle they're fighting. To show that there really is danger. To show what the villain is capable of, or that the heroes have to work together before they all die. To show the price of the heroes mistakes.

Make sure every character death is there for a reason. Don't just kill them (and bring them back) just for fun. Every death needs to pack a punch. And keeping them dead will do just that.