Top 10 Movie Characters I Didn't Want to Die
Hello, Toby Gold here, and welcome to another Top 10 List. Today I'm going to tell you my Top 10 Movie Characters I Didn't Want to Die. For this list, I've chosen movie characters I loved so much that their deaths hit me very hard. While some of the characters on this list appear posthumously, characters who are resurrected are excluded. Also, I'm excluding Mufasa from The Lion King because while his death was very heartbreaking and traumatizing, it was necessary in order to cement the film's theme of the Circle of Life.
10. Dr. Grace Augustine - Avatar (2009)
In James Cameron's 2009 sci-fi blockbuster Avatar, humans navigate the toxic atmosphere of the planet Pandora using Avatars, genetically engineered bodies resembling the Na'vi, a race of humanoids indigenous to the planet, with the mind of a remotely controlled human. Xenobiologist Dr. Grace Augustine is the head of the Avatar program, and she advocates for peaceful relationships with the Na'vi, having set up a school to teach them English. However, by the time the film takes place, the peace is falling apart. Serving as a mentor to paraplegic former soldier Jake Sully, Grace helps him adjust to life as an Avatar, and after it is discovered that the richest deposit of the valuable mineral unobtanium also happens to be the Na'vi Hometree, Jake and Grace are imprisoned after being revealed to be human spies. Human forces attack the Hometree, inflicting heavy casualties on the Na'vi, but Jake and Grace flee in a gunship. During their escape, human Col. Miles Quaritch fires at them, wounding Grace, who dies before the Na'vi can transfer her human body into her Avatar with the aid of the Tree of Souls. Grace's death was a problem for me because I was hoping that the film would end with humanity and the Na'vi finding a way to co-exist, but with Sigourney Weaver's pro-Na'vi scientist dead, all hopes of peace were dashed.
9. Sam - I Am Legend (2007)
She may not be human, but I was still sad to see her go. Robert Neville and his pet dog, Samantha "Sam," live in inhospitable conditions in New York City, which has been overrun by vampiric mutants called Darkseekers. At night, Neville barricades himself and Sam in his highly fortified home to protect themselves from the Darkseekers. After creating a cure for the virus that destroyed humanity, Neville is attacked by a group of infected dogs. He and Sam manage to take them out, but Sam is bitten in the fight. Neville uses the cure on her, but when she shows signs of infection, he is forced to put her down. Now, I was sad when my fish tank froze during the Christmas holidays, but at least I wasn't all alone afterwards.
8. Gwen Stacy - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
As far as the films have portrayed, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, has always been able to save his loved ones from bad guys. However, in the 2014 sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, Spidey was ultimately unable to save Gwen Stacy. Throughout the film, the web-slinging hero battles Electro, a human electric generator, but things get more complicated when his wealthy frenemy Harry Osborn reenters his life. After the latter kidnaps Gwen, Spider-Man and the Green Goblin fight atop a clock tower, but the former's webbing breaks, causing Gwen to fall. Spidey tries to save her, but she falls to her death and dies instantly. Peter is so upset over her death that he retires from superhero work. She was planning to go to Oxford, so she had her future all planned out, but that fateful battle threw it all away.
7. Harry S. Stamper - Armageddon (1998)
Bruce Willis is tough, but he's not invincible. In Michael Bay's 1998 disaster film Armageddon, Willis stars as Harry S. Stamper, an oilman who is hired by NASA to use a drill to blow an asteroid in half before it annihilates Earth. Among the crew is A.J. Frost, played by Ben Affleck, the boyfriend of Harry's daughter, Grace whose relationship Harry disapproves of. Once the drilling is completed, the crew draw straws, and when A.J. has to manually detonate the nuke, his father-in-law-to-be sends him back to Earth before blowing up the asteroid himself, thus saving humanity. Cue Aerosmith.
6. Draco - Dragonheart (1996)
Sean Connery is an amazing actor, best known for playing James Bond. However, one of his lesser known roles is that of a dragon. In Dragonheart, Dennis Quaid stars as Bowen, a disillusioned dragon-slayer who teams up with Connery's Draco, the last dragon in existence, to defeat Bowen's former prospect, now King Einon. Now, the reason Bowen hunted dragons to extinction was because long ago, a dragon gave half of his heart to Einon, who subsequently turned evil. Wait. Did I say he turned evil because of the dragon's heart? Sorry. He was always evil, so therefore, Bowen committed dragon-cide for nothing. Also, the dragon who shared his heart with Einon was Draco himself. Any pain inflicted on one is felt by the other, so unfortunately, both dragon and king had to go. As a result of this, no one can talk about Dragonheart without crying. I personally cried because Draco's death led to the extinction of his species (unless you watch the sequels, which, in my opinion, suck).
5. Dr. King Schultz - Django Unchained (2012)
Racism is a terrible thing, and in Django Unchained, the only white character who is not a racist is a German, of all people. Christoph Waltz wins his second Oscar for playing Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist and bounty hunter who frees the titular slave due to his knowledge on a pair of outlaws he's been searching for. In exchange, Django asks Schultz to help him rescue his wife, Broomhilda von Shaft, from brutal Mississippi slaver Calvin Candie. However, Candie's loyal right-hand slave, Stephen, gets suspicious of the duo and informs his master that they are here to rescue Broomhilda. Schultz shoots Candie, and is killed in turn by the latter's bodyguard. Had he lived, he probably would have secured Django and Broomhilda's freedom papers.
4. Caesar - War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
After the human-hating bonobo Koba provoked a war between his fellow apes and humanity, ape leader Caesar sets out to avenge his wife and older son, who had been killed by human guerrillas (and gorillas). He is eventually captured and put to work in a prison camp along with the rest of his clan. When the apes finally escape, Caesar stays behind to get revenge on Colonel McCullough, the human leader who killed his family. After this is done, he is shot with an arrow by one of the soldiers. Like Moses before him, Caesar survives long enough to lead his people to safety before dying in peace. At least the apes are safe, but with Blue Eyes dead as well, the only member of the ape royal family left is Caesar's younger son, Cornelius, who is far too young to rule.
3. Sirius Black - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
To be clear, the Harry Potter series killed off many beloved characters. This includes Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore and free house elf Dobby, but the death that hit me the hardest was Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. Though he at first appeared to be a villain (the fact that he's played by Gary Oldman doesn't help), he was revealed to have done nothing wrong and becomes the closest thing the boy wizard has to family. In the series' fifth instalment, Sirius supports Harry in his campaign against sadistic Ministry of Magic official Dolores Umbridge. However, when Harry and his friends are surrounded by Death Eaters at the Ministry, Sirius and several other good guys arrive on the scene, triggering a battle which results in Sirius being thrown through the archway between life and death by his insane cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. Had he survived, he would have lived as a free man under the leadership of a new Minister. However, he only got his pardon after he died. And besides, he was the only family Harry had left, now gone thanks to He-Who Must-Not-Be-Named's deranged girlfriend.
2. Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver - Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
In this action-packed Marvel sequel, Earth's mightiest heroes face off against rogue AI Ultron and super-powered twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. Pietro can run at breakneck speeds and Wanda has telekinesis and can get inside people's minds, causing a lot of problems for the Avengers. Eventually, Pietro and Wanda side with the Avengers and aid them in battling Ultron's robots. Ultimately, Pietro proves himself to be a true Avenger when he uses his own body to shield Avenger Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye and a young boy from Ultron. In the aftermath, Barton names his newborn son after the fallen speedster. Had he lived, he and his sister would have both become Avengers, though they may have been on opposing sides during Captain America: Civil War.
Before I reveal my top pick, here are some honourable mentions.
- Han Solo - Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
- Maggie Fitzgerald - Million Dollar Baby (2004)
- John Coffey - The Green Mile (1999)
- Léon Montana - Léon: The Professional (1994)
- The Terminator - Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
1. Boromir - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
If Sean Bean is in a movie, then he is guaranteed to die. One of his most famous death scenes was in the first entry in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Bean plays Boromir, the son of the Steward of Gondor, who accompanies Hobbit hero Frodo Baggins on his quest to destroy the One Ring. However, Boromir tries to take the Ring from him with the intention of using it to defeat the Dark Lord Sauron, who originally forged the ring. He subsequently feels bad about this and more than makes up for it by taking three arrows to the chest in order to save Hobbits Merry and Pippin from an army of Uruk-hai. Now, while Boromir did betray his oath and assault the Ring-bearer, his reason for doing so was for the good of his people, not for personal gain.
Do you agree with my list? Which movie characters did you not want to die? This is Toby Gold, bidding you farewell until another day.
10. Dr. Grace Augustine - Avatar (2009)
In James Cameron's 2009 sci-fi blockbuster Avatar, humans navigate the toxic atmosphere of the planet Pandora using Avatars, genetically engineered bodies resembling the Na'vi, a race of humanoids indigenous to the planet, with the mind of a remotely controlled human. Xenobiologist Dr. Grace Augustine is the head of the Avatar program, and she advocates for peaceful relationships with the Na'vi, having set up a school to teach them English. However, by the time the film takes place, the peace is falling apart. Serving as a mentor to paraplegic former soldier Jake Sully, Grace helps him adjust to life as an Avatar, and after it is discovered that the richest deposit of the valuable mineral unobtanium also happens to be the Na'vi Hometree, Jake and Grace are imprisoned after being revealed to be human spies. Human forces attack the Hometree, inflicting heavy casualties on the Na'vi, but Jake and Grace flee in a gunship. During their escape, human Col. Miles Quaritch fires at them, wounding Grace, who dies before the Na'vi can transfer her human body into her Avatar with the aid of the Tree of Souls. Grace's death was a problem for me because I was hoping that the film would end with humanity and the Na'vi finding a way to co-exist, but with Sigourney Weaver's pro-Na'vi scientist dead, all hopes of peace were dashed.
9. Sam - I Am Legend (2007)
She may not be human, but I was still sad to see her go. Robert Neville and his pet dog, Samantha "Sam," live in inhospitable conditions in New York City, which has been overrun by vampiric mutants called Darkseekers. At night, Neville barricades himself and Sam in his highly fortified home to protect themselves from the Darkseekers. After creating a cure for the virus that destroyed humanity, Neville is attacked by a group of infected dogs. He and Sam manage to take them out, but Sam is bitten in the fight. Neville uses the cure on her, but when she shows signs of infection, he is forced to put her down. Now, I was sad when my fish tank froze during the Christmas holidays, but at least I wasn't all alone afterwards.
8. Gwen Stacy - The Amazing Spider-Man 2 (2014)
As far as the films have portrayed, Peter Parker, aka Spider-Man, has always been able to save his loved ones from bad guys. However, in the 2014 sequel to The Amazing Spider-Man, Spidey was ultimately unable to save Gwen Stacy. Throughout the film, the web-slinging hero battles Electro, a human electric generator, but things get more complicated when his wealthy frenemy Harry Osborn reenters his life. After the latter kidnaps Gwen, Spider-Man and the Green Goblin fight atop a clock tower, but the former's webbing breaks, causing Gwen to fall. Spidey tries to save her, but she falls to her death and dies instantly. Peter is so upset over her death that he retires from superhero work. She was planning to go to Oxford, so she had her future all planned out, but that fateful battle threw it all away.
7. Harry S. Stamper - Armageddon (1998)
Bruce Willis is tough, but he's not invincible. In Michael Bay's 1998 disaster film Armageddon, Willis stars as Harry S. Stamper, an oilman who is hired by NASA to use a drill to blow an asteroid in half before it annihilates Earth. Among the crew is A.J. Frost, played by Ben Affleck, the boyfriend of Harry's daughter, Grace whose relationship Harry disapproves of. Once the drilling is completed, the crew draw straws, and when A.J. has to manually detonate the nuke, his father-in-law-to-be sends him back to Earth before blowing up the asteroid himself, thus saving humanity. Cue Aerosmith.
6. Draco - Dragonheart (1996)
Sean Connery is an amazing actor, best known for playing James Bond. However, one of his lesser known roles is that of a dragon. In Dragonheart, Dennis Quaid stars as Bowen, a disillusioned dragon-slayer who teams up with Connery's Draco, the last dragon in existence, to defeat Bowen's former prospect, now King Einon. Now, the reason Bowen hunted dragons to extinction was because long ago, a dragon gave half of his heart to Einon, who subsequently turned evil. Wait. Did I say he turned evil because of the dragon's heart? Sorry. He was always evil, so therefore, Bowen committed dragon-cide for nothing. Also, the dragon who shared his heart with Einon was Draco himself. Any pain inflicted on one is felt by the other, so unfortunately, both dragon and king had to go. As a result of this, no one can talk about Dragonheart without crying. I personally cried because Draco's death led to the extinction of his species (unless you watch the sequels, which, in my opinion, suck).
5. Dr. King Schultz - Django Unchained (2012)
Racism is a terrible thing, and in Django Unchained, the only white character who is not a racist is a German, of all people. Christoph Waltz wins his second Oscar for playing Dr. King Schultz, a German dentist and bounty hunter who frees the titular slave due to his knowledge on a pair of outlaws he's been searching for. In exchange, Django asks Schultz to help him rescue his wife, Broomhilda von Shaft, from brutal Mississippi slaver Calvin Candie. However, Candie's loyal right-hand slave, Stephen, gets suspicious of the duo and informs his master that they are here to rescue Broomhilda. Schultz shoots Candie, and is killed in turn by the latter's bodyguard. Had he lived, he probably would have secured Django and Broomhilda's freedom papers.
4. Caesar - War for the Planet of the Apes (2017)
After the human-hating bonobo Koba provoked a war between his fellow apes and humanity, ape leader Caesar sets out to avenge his wife and older son, who had been killed by human guerrillas (and gorillas). He is eventually captured and put to work in a prison camp along with the rest of his clan. When the apes finally escape, Caesar stays behind to get revenge on Colonel McCullough, the human leader who killed his family. After this is done, he is shot with an arrow by one of the soldiers. Like Moses before him, Caesar survives long enough to lead his people to safety before dying in peace. At least the apes are safe, but with Blue Eyes dead as well, the only member of the ape royal family left is Caesar's younger son, Cornelius, who is far too young to rule.
3. Sirius Black - Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (2007)
To be clear, the Harry Potter series killed off many beloved characters. This includes Hogwarts headmaster Albus Dumbledore and free house elf Dobby, but the death that hit me the hardest was Harry's godfather, Sirius Black. Though he at first appeared to be a villain (the fact that he's played by Gary Oldman doesn't help), he was revealed to have done nothing wrong and becomes the closest thing the boy wizard has to family. In the series' fifth instalment, Sirius supports Harry in his campaign against sadistic Ministry of Magic official Dolores Umbridge. However, when Harry and his friends are surrounded by Death Eaters at the Ministry, Sirius and several other good guys arrive on the scene, triggering a battle which results in Sirius being thrown through the archway between life and death by his insane cousin, Bellatrix Lestrange. Had he survived, he would have lived as a free man under the leadership of a new Minister. However, he only got his pardon after he died. And besides, he was the only family Harry had left, now gone thanks to He-Who Must-Not-Be-Named's deranged girlfriend.
2. Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver - Avengers: Age of Ultron (2015)
In this action-packed Marvel sequel, Earth's mightiest heroes face off against rogue AI Ultron and super-powered twins Pietro and Wanda Maximoff. Pietro can run at breakneck speeds and Wanda has telekinesis and can get inside people's minds, causing a lot of problems for the Avengers. Eventually, Pietro and Wanda side with the Avengers and aid them in battling Ultron's robots. Ultimately, Pietro proves himself to be a true Avenger when he uses his own body to shield Avenger Clint Barton, aka Hawkeye and a young boy from Ultron. In the aftermath, Barton names his newborn son after the fallen speedster. Had he lived, he and his sister would have both become Avengers, though they may have been on opposing sides during Captain America: Civil War.
Before I reveal my top pick, here are some honourable mentions.
- Han Solo - Star Wars: The Force Awakens (2015)
- Maggie Fitzgerald - Million Dollar Baby (2004)
- John Coffey - The Green Mile (1999)
- Léon Montana - Léon: The Professional (1994)
- The Terminator - Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991)
1. Boromir - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring (2001)
If Sean Bean is in a movie, then he is guaranteed to die. One of his most famous death scenes was in the first entry in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings trilogy. Bean plays Boromir, the son of the Steward of Gondor, who accompanies Hobbit hero Frodo Baggins on his quest to destroy the One Ring. However, Boromir tries to take the Ring from him with the intention of using it to defeat the Dark Lord Sauron, who originally forged the ring. He subsequently feels bad about this and more than makes up for it by taking three arrows to the chest in order to save Hobbits Merry and Pippin from an army of Uruk-hai. Now, while Boromir did betray his oath and assault the Ring-bearer, his reason for doing so was for the good of his people, not for personal gain.
Do you agree with my list? Which movie characters did you not want to die? This is Toby Gold, bidding you farewell until another day.
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