The Sacrifical Lamb

[Princeroth]

I think my first exposure to this trope was in GRRM's A Game of Thrones and really opens up the door to The Anyone can Die trope, and usually makes you want to scream "MARTIIIIINNNNNN!!!". Basically you start a book, a film, or a game, with a character that appears central to the plot and gets killed off early.

I am wondering how people feel about this. Starting off a book with a really cool character who you really get into and then suddenly they die. Does it rustle your jimmies? Do you feel like putting down the book? Is it effective at drawing you into the story?

The reason I ask is because I am planning on using a young boy as a sacrificial lamb to introduce the main protagonist from a third person perspective and then to get killed by the main antagonist.

I also want to set a precedent of main characters dying later on in the book.

 

[Zalz]

I would be careful not to under-write these characters.

It becomes very tempting to salvage parts that you feel are interesting and parts that you want to keep in the story.

In the back of your mind you think 'ooh, he is gonna die anyway, shouldn't waste my best material on him.'


GRRM's deaths aren't just disturbing because they happen to main characters.

When Ned Stark dies, why is it unexpected? Is it because he is a main character?


Actually, no. There are a lot of situations in which the audience expects, or finds it justified, for a main character to die.

In the grand end struggle it is perfectly oke for a main character to die, but still achieve his goal.

But what makes the deaths so disturbing are the effects they have on the story.


When Ned Stark dies, it isn't just surprising because he is the main character. It is surprising because it completly overthrows our expectations of what course the story should take.

Suddenly we are confused.

Hang on, he can't die. He was supposed to escape and fight the Lannisters, this isn't how the story should have went! This isn't fair! This isn't what we agreed on!


So, if you want to have a shocking death it needs two things:

1) The character needs to be well established. He can't just be a poorly written character that nobody cares about.

In the time that I am writing this post, thousands of humans have died. Old age, murder, disease, starvation. Every second someone dies.

Someone dying isn't a magical way of plucking at the audience's heart strings. You need to make the audience know that character. Ned Stark was like an old friend to most of us when he lost his head.

If you do 1 correctly, it will invoke emotions.


2) The death needs to alter the story in a serious way.

If we imagine the plot to be a straight line, then the line needs to divert to the side as a result of the death.

When Ned Stark died, the plot that people expected fell apart and drastically changed.

If Frodo had died when he threw the ring into Mount Doom, would the plot change? No, it would just be a tragic death, but it would not alter the plot.

If you do 2 properly, it will be a surprising death.


GRRM's deaths are notorious because they combine both 1 and 2, creating a sense that every character can be killed.

It takes more than just murdering a ton of characters.

 

[MrBF1V3]

I agree. The death of a throwaway character doesn't do anything for the story.
You have to play fair with the readers, sure, any one of us could get hit by a car crossing the street, but if you put something like that in a story the readers may rebel. I should be something that could happen, that they could have maybe avoided, and that will change how/what the other characters are doing.

Be aware, you may be accused of writing a 'snuff' story. IMHO it isn't unless you go into graphic detail including blood and pain, which doesn't do anything for the story anyway. The reactions of the other characters is more compelling.

My two cents.

B5

 

[N. E. White]

Great advice, Zalz. That's going in my writing tip folder.

Be aware, you may be accused of writing a 'snuff' story. IMHO it isn't unless you go into graphic detail including blood and pain...

No offense, B5, but by that definition pretty much everything I've read this year would be considered 'snuff'. And Martin would definitely be in that category.

Which he isn't...right?

To answer the OPs questions:

Does it rustle your jimmies?

Yes. But if done right (like Martin and how Zalz described), it can be a powerful motivator to keep reading to see what the hell happens.

Do you feel like putting down the book?

That would depend. Since you used Martin as an example, I'll stick to his story. I was never into Rob or Ned Stark. I thought they were great characters, but my favorites are Jon (yes, I know, he's dead now too), Tyrion (may the Imp live a thousand lives), Arya (she will be the best assassin yet in all of genre history, mark my words), and Brienne (sp?). So, yeah, the story changed dramatically after their deaths, but it didn't make me feel like putting down the book because I was/am completely invested in all these other characters.

Is it effective at drawing you into the story?

See answer to first question.

Does that help?

 

[Princeroth]

Yeah, you have all been a great help.

I've decided to turn my sacrificial lamb into another protagonist (second main), but I am still going to kill him. His character however will still live on in another form.

I'm excited now. I don't know if I can sleep tonight with all these ideas swirling around in my head.