A little while ago, Reddit users u/RIGORR_MORTIS and u/squeezeday asked about the saddest character deaths of all time. Here are some of the heartbreaking responses: Warning: Spoilers obviously ahead!
1. Rosie from Jojo Rabbit "It took me a while to realize why Jojo was crying about the hanging victim he'd bumped into...and then it fucking hit me. That one was absolutely brutal."
—u/CrypticBalcony
Fox Searchlight Pictures 2. Opie from Sons of Anarchy "Opie's death was the hardest in the show for me to watch. I love that after his funeral, SAMCRO all have an 'In memory of Opie' patch on their cut."
–u/ UnsureOutlaw
"Effing devastating. I'm a grown-ass man, and I cried like a baby that episode. I even almost refused to watch after that...almost!"
— u/Big_Toe_Baelish
FX 3. Rue from The Hunger Games "Rue getting speared and having Katniss sing to her. The 12-year-old me couldn’t handle that trauma."
— u/Aerialchinook1
Lionsgate 4. Andrea Cantillo from Breaking Bad "That’s the worst moment in Breaking Bad . It’s one of those moments that’s so awful, you almost resent the writers for putting it in there. In a way, it shows you how Jesse would feel, just wishing it wouldn’t have happened. That show always blows my mind with how they're able to make you feel such strong emotions."
–u/ BDady
AMC 5. George O’Malley from Grey's Anatomy Scott Garfield / ABC / Courtesy: Everett Collection 6. Joyce Summers (Buffy's mom) from Buffy the Vampire Slayer "This was the most traumatic and saddest. When she says, 'Mommy?' Ugh. And it wasn’t supernatural, just super sad."
–u/ BobbieLS
20th Television 7. Shireen Baratheon from Game of Thrones "'It will all be over soon, Princess' and the music. Fuck, it makes me want to barf. The series is full of scenes that are truly painful to watch, but the burning of Shireen is the worst."
— u/tortugastation
"Seeing Davos’s reaction when he realized who had been burned was heartbreaking."
—u/holyheckigotwrecked
"I mentally block that scene from my memory. Her screams...absolutely haunting stuff."
–u/ shocksalot123
HBO 8. Seymour the dog from Futurama "I normally skip 'Jurassic Bark' as I know I can't handle it. But upon a recent rewatch from beginning to end, I decided to put on a brave face, knew what I was getting into, braced myself, and watched it along with all the other episodes. I had to stop watching because I couldn't see the TV through my tears."
–u/ LittlestSlipper55
"He waited and waited and waited like a good boy."
–u/ pushing-rope
20th Television 9. John Coffey from The Green Mile "I’m a grown man, and his death makes me ugly-cry every damn time. Too much time thinking about it makes me tear up."
—u/Graphics_Nerd
Warner Brothers / courtesy Everett Collection 10. Ben Sullivan from Scrubs "When JD says, 'Where do you think we are?' That was one of their best episodes, but I have to be in the right frame of mind to watch it, or I get all blubbery."
–u/ Sephonez
Disney-ABC Domestic Television 11. Glenn from The Walking Dead "Such a genuinely good guy, too. Even to the very end, he was keeping an eye out for Maggie."
–u/ Chozo-trained
"This absolutely messed me up and was pretty much the end of TWD for me. Glenn. That hurt so, so bad."
–u/ smokylimbs
AMC 12. Fred Weasley from Harry Potter "The twins may have annoyed some people with their pranks, but their ultimate goal in life was to have fun and bring joy to their friends. They were generous and brave and clever and pure. To kill Fred and permanently tear them apart was the WORST! Especially when George had already been injured! You didn’t think they could be at risk anymore now that one of them had gotten hurt. They weren’t on my radar during the Battle of Hogwarts. I remember the moment I read it the first time. I was inconsolable."
—u/yojothobodoflo
"Fred Weasley was the most devastating death to me. I have a twin sister, so it hit extra hard for me. Picturing life without my twin is not a life at all."
— u/kasmarina
Warner Brothers / courtesy Everett Collection 13. Sarah Lynn from BoJack Horseman "God, just the fact that her last words were 'I wanna be an architect.' Her wish since she was a child, but that her mother took away from her. And that BoJack could've saved her but waited 17 minutes to call an ambulance and tried to set everything up so that he wouldn't get blamed."
–u/ aosjcbhdhathrowaway
Netflix 14. Adriana La Cerva from The Sopranos "It’s one of the most heartbreaking, cruel death scenes I’ve ever seen on a TV show. Just brutal and sad and shocking."
–u/ GlassOnionMan
HBO 15. Ellie from Up "Up 's intro sequence was so beautiful: It told the story of a couple's life together. Real life with all of the difficulty and broken dreams along with it. And it shows the deep and incredible loss Carl felt with her death. This short sequence imbues the film with a deeper sense of meaning, using almost no words at all, and gives Carl a profound gravitas you cannot find in many other films."
—u/zaogao_
Disney 16. Maes Hughes from Fullmetal Alchemist "FMA was my introduction to anime, and Maes's death shook me a lot. It's such a raw, emotional scene."
–u/ mothman_luvr
"First time I ever got truly sad and angry about a fictional character's death. He was the best man."
—u/thebardass
"This is the only thing in this comment section that can actually put a burn behind my eyes just from reading it. Blows any other character's death out of the water."
–u/ Octorokpie
JNN 17. Poussey Washington from Orange Is the New Black "I cried for days. I love the character and the actor, and I wanted Poussey to get out of there so much. She really didn't deserve to be in prison. It breaks my heart that she died trying to help her friend. Really shows how many people get lost in the system."
—u/icyhot09
"That one broke me."
–u/ katiejim
Netflix 18. Cedric Diggory from Harry Potter "This one gets me more now than when I first saw it. Then, as probably a lot of people do on their first read/watch, I looked at it from the perspective of Harry. His friend died needlessly, and it hurt.
Now, older and a father, I can’t help but look at it from Cedric’s dad’s perspective: proud and supportive of the man his son is growing into. And it’s all taken away in that horrid moment that they Apparate back."
— u/DontWorryImADr
Warner Bros. 19. Lady Sybil from Downton Abbey Joss Barratt/PBS / courtesy Everett Collection 20. Prim from The Hunger Games "Unlike most character deaths, hers wasn't in the midst of the action/excitement. It was after they'd won. It felt so spiteful and unnecessary. Fuck Coin."
—u/dipshit8304
Lionsgate 21. Brooks from Shawshank Redemption "It was so sad seeing that old man just trying to be normal but realizing his normal was within the cell walls and prison halls. It really bothered me when he was working at the grocery store, and everyone was bitching at him while he was bagging people’s groceries. It truly goes to show that society will fuck you if you don’t keep up. RIP."
—u/3pointstonibbadore
Columbia Pictures / courtesy Everett Collection 22. Boromir from The Lord of the Rings "First time I ever cried during a movie."
—u/vinaigrettchen
"'I would have followed you, my brother. My captain. My king.' As a kid, Legolas was so cool. As a high school/college kid, Gimli was the party/fun dwarf. As an adult, Boromir. I understand him."
—u/ZapIsMyZeldaSaveName
New Line Cinema 23. And finally, Marley from Marley and Me "I got this movie and thought Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson, a comedy! Needless to say, when Marley died, I cried so hard that I had snot coming out my nose."
—u/tutorgurl07
20th Century Fox Which character's death broke your heart? Let me know in the comments below! Some responses have been edited for length and/or clarity.
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