Anyone Can Die/Fan Works

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


  • The Sun Soul, a Pokémon fic, fits this trope in every way possible. The author spares no pains in developing a character, making the audience identify with them, then ripping the character away in a brutal, often jarring, manner.
  • It is confirmed by Word of God that anyone in Poke Wars can die.

Cornova: Keep in mind that any of the characters in this fic can die. Even if they're main characters. I think I already proved that with Sabrina.

  • The fanfic Pedestal. Human or Pokemon, Original or Canon Character. Anyone could be next.
  • The discontinued flash series Final Fighting Fantasy has so far featured thirty-nine Final Fantasy heroes. Eight of them are still alive. Enough said.
  • The Command & Conquer fan-novelization Tiberium Wars makes it a point to often, suddenly, and repeatedly kill off well-developed characters. Some characters get less than a scene to their names before they get slaughtered, and you've really got no idea if a character is going to survive until they bite it.
  • Crossover series Both Syllables has so far killed off three fairly major characters. Two of these were solely because the author is irritated by the amount of Disney Deaths in the source material.
  • In Enemy of My Enemy, a fair number of major good-guy characters die throughout the story, to provide and maintain Emotional Torque. Of course, there are a choice few Disney Deaths; one guy has two.
  • In Future Tense, it starts with three characters dying within the first few paragraphs and only goes downhill from there.
  • The Ace Attorney fic Law Plus Chaos has many characters killed off, most of them in VERY brutal ways, such as one person being cooked into pies.
  • A fair number of the characters encountered by the narrator in Travels Through Azeroth and Outland end up getting killed.
  • Pretty much anyone, including the protagonists from Hetalia, can die in the Brutal Series. Justified in that it is a crossover with The Hunger Games.
  • Downfall takes a sharp turn from the original source, where deaths are unheard of; or at least, don't stick. Though several characters start out alive and kicking, when in canon they were dead and buried long before the series started, the second major engagement in Unohana's war sees Rukia dead.
  • The Dangerverse. Similar to the original series, though by the end of book 4 it nearly rivals the whole series. Quirrell, Lockhart, Siss, Andromeda, Cedric, Marcus, Umbridge, Frank Longbottom, Penelope Clearwater, a little girl not even in Hogwarts yet, Hagrid, and the last book isn't done yet.
  • Soul Chess thrives on this. The biggest examples include Aizen, yes, that Aizen, and Head Captain Yamamoto.
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender Revised firmly established itself as possessing Anyone Can Die from the beginning, with the passing of Sai's friend Xin Fu, Sakodi's friend Enri, and numerous Kyoshi warriors, among others, in the first book alone. By the end, Ain, Hakoda, Teo, Azul and Aizo are dead, and Zotu is Faking the Dead.

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