Dropped a Bridge on Him: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

When a character is permanently written out of a show, especially killed off, in a way that is unexpectedly anti-climactic or mundane, they Dropped a Bridge on Him.

To compare, take the ''[[NYPD Blue]]'' death of Det. Bobby Simone (Jimmy Smits) versus the death of Det. Danny Sorenson (Rick Schroder). Smits dies of [[Soap Opera Disease]] with a [[Tear Jerker]] sendoff. Schroder left the series, so his character is [[Bus Crash|killed off-screen]], between seasons.

 

 

 

 

{{deathtrope}}

{{examples}}

== Media in General ==

** Alice Hardy, the heroine of ''[[Friday the 13th (film)|Friday the 13 th]]'', who is quickly killed off in the opening scene of ''Friday the 13th Part II''.

** Paxton, hero of ''[[Hostel]]'', who is quickly dispatched in ''Hostel: Part II'''s opening.

** In ''[[Final Destination]] 2'', its mentioned Alex Browning, the protagonist of the first film, was killed... when a brick was dropped on him.

** In ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]] 6: The Curse of Michael Myers'', Dr. Loomis is simply killed off-screen by the [[Big Bad]]. Quite the ending, one can say, for a character who has been ceaselessly trying to stop the crazed killer since the beginning of the series. However, it should be noted that his death is much more of a case of [[Real Life Writes the Plot]] after the very real death of actor Donald Pleasence.

*** Laurie Strode's death in ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]]: Resurrection'' is particularly egregious. Namely, She's reduced to a mental patient at an asylum, and Michael Myers chucks her off the roof of the building. So much for over twenty years of character development and constantly evading and defeating the [[Big Bad]]. Given the prior mention of the death of Dr. Loomis, it's safe to say that this series has been pretty notorious for simply killing off its best protagonists in the worst possible ways.

*** That isn't the only bridge dropped on the Halloween series with that movie alone. And its not even close to being [[I Know Mortal Kombat|the worst]].

** Randy in ''[[Scream (film)|Scream]] 2'' is pulled into a van, hacked to death, then mostly forgotten, although he makes a posthumous appearance on video in the third movie.

** Cotton was [[Ascended Extra|promoted to a major character]] in the second film, only to become the [[Sacrificial Lamb]] of the third.

 

* Although ''[[Ginga: Nagareboshi Gin]]'' manages to make most of its deaths impressive in one way or another, the manga-only wolf arc manages to make some exceptions:

** The Empire's eight warriors are supposed to be extremely dangerous fighters and they certainly show the ability to back this up. Later on, cue Raiga arriving to the scene and [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomping]] ''[[Curb Stomp Battle|at least three of them]]'' [[Curb Stomp Battle|with a single attack]].

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'': In the [[Gecko Ending]] of the first anime series, Negi's father Nagi, the legendary "Thousand Master", for whom Negi has been searching the entire series (and most of his life), is casually disposed of by shoving him through a dimensional portal so that Negi can get to the real business of the show's [[Grand Finale]], which is retconning the bridge dropping of ''another'' character.

* Vanessa Rene in ''[[Madlax]]'' is killed off in such an anti-climactic way that some viewers haven't even realized she is dead until another character starts burying her. Madlax ''is'' shown to grieve over her though, which makes it even more puzzling why in the end she [[Karma Houdini|runs off with the woman who killed her]].

** Vanessa's death may better fit a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] or [[Taking the Bullet]]. The foundations were well set up in the proceeding episodes, it is definitely a very in-character sacrifice and not an arbitrary, collapsing bridge in the jungle. True, she didn't expect to die ... but her belief doesn't make it an unrealistic turn of events. She put herself in front of a sniper's bullet. She then earned her heartwarming reward, to be reunited in spirit with her Mother and Father ... pretty much making it clear she didn't miraculously survive the shot.

* In ''[[Queen's Blade]]'', Shizuka is brutally [[Stuffed Into the Fridge|fridged]] in a [[Family-Unfriendly Death|cruel, drawn out manner]], literally for no other reason than for Tomoe to get even ''more'' powerful than she already was.

* Offscreen, but in [[Fullmetal Alchemist (anime)|the 2003 anime version]] of ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'', Izumi dies somewhere between the end of the series and [[The Movie]]. Justified that she was quite sickly but still.

 

== Comic Books ==

** [[Bucky Barnes]], Cap's replacement, showed up out of nowhere in ''[[Fear Itself (Comic Book)|Fear Itself]]'' only to be manhandled by the new Red Skull. She slaps him around with his own severed bionic arm before being impaled by a magic hammer.

** When he dies, only [[Black Widow]] and [[Nick Fury]] seem to be affected. Stark makes a surprised comment. Thor doesn't even look at the body. And Cap is [[Status Quo Is God|suited back up and carrying the shield]] a little too soon. That's because it turns out he's [[Not Quite Dead]] and only Widow, Fury and Cap [[Faking the Dead|know about it]].

* Due to [[Executive Meddling]], this was the fate of all of the Dead Universe Transformers in Simon Furman's [[Transformers Generation 1|Transformers]] comics for IDW. Grindcore, Straxus, Cyclonus, Bludgeon, Thunderwing, and Monstructor were all destroyed (or presumed to be destroyed/deactivated) offscreen after the Autobots managed to deactivate the machines keeping them from disintegrating in the Live Universe. While this was probably going to be the case anyway, it felt like a Bridge Dropping because these characters had all of ''four issues'' to terrorize the Autobots, and it was left unclear whether the mind-controlled Decepticons died or were defeated offscreen.

** Later stories revealed that Cyclonus, Bludgeon and Monstructor all survived, but confirmed the deaths of Grindcore and Straxus. Thunderwing's still up in the air.

* A few years ago, Harbinger, one of the heroes of ''[[Crisis on Infinite Earths]]'', was abruptly killed offscreen by Apocalpytican forces in the pages of Superman/Batman when she tried to prevent them from kidnapping Supergirl from Themiscyra, a role that could have easily been filled by any generic Amazon. Can't ''anybody'' from that story get a happy ending?

* This happened to Ryan Choi, the second Atom in the pages of DC's ''Titans: Villains For Hire'' at the hands of [[Deathstroke]] to make Slade seem like more of a threat. The fact that this is the ''second'' Asian character to get killed by DC to make a villain seem more dangerous in as many months (the first being Lian Harper) has ''not'' gone over well with fans.

* This happens to Ethan Rayne in the comic adaptation of ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer]]''. He's shot by the bad guys while imprisoned, prompting him to disappear from a dream sequence he's helping Buffy with. She walks into his cell, taunting him, only to find him dead.

 

 

== Films -- Animation ==

 

== Films -- Live Action ==

* [[John Carpenter]]'s ''[[The Thing (film)|The Thing]]'' had a bridge dropping so egregious we didn't even get to ''see it!'' In the original script towards the ending, one character, Nauls, was supposed to hear The Thing making noises in an underground basement area and wander off until he saw the legs of a dead character...and then get attacked by the title monster. We would then see him partially assimilated begging Kurt Russell's character, MacReady, for help before being split in half. The scene started with Nauls wandering down the hallway and then...that's it, he's gone. It immediately cuts to MacReady asking how things are coming along and notices the alien noises, and after the alien appears, Nauls is nowhere to be found... No gruesome horrible death for Nauls, he just drops off the face of the Earth. The scene was partially filmed, but because the staff ran out of budget, it couldn't be completed. In the novelization, we get to read the death of the character, although the whole last part of the story plays out completely different.

* The character of Tank was killed between the first and second ''[[The Matrix]]'' films after the actor, Marcus Chong, was involved in an especially messy contract dispute. An alternate interpretation averts this trope if one chooses to believe that Tank died from the injuries he sustained during the first movie, thus turning his [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] into a [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

* In ''[[Burn After Reading]]'', while sneaking around in the CIA agent's house, Brad Pitt scares the guy who's sleeping with his wife, who quickly shoots him in the head. Of course, this all fits with the Farcial Black Comedy of the movie.

** Not to mention, his death comes as especially shocking, because it's a well-known trope that the "stupid but well-meaning goofball" almost NEVER dies.

** Which is all well and good until you realize it doesn't make much sense to do it at that time in Roger Moore's fifth outing and just as many films since Blofeld's last appearance.

** He isn't listed in the credits. [[Fanon Discontinuity|It isn't Blofeld, it isn't Blofeld,]] [[Madness Mantra|it isn't it isn't it isn't...]]

* ''[[Scott Pilgrim vs. the World]]'' had a strange one when rival rock band Crash and the Boys were unceremoniously killed off by Matthew Pattel (in fact they were the only non-villians killed off) even though they had a larger role in the [[Scott Pilgrim|comic]].

* Particularly blatant example of both this and [[Kick the Dog|"Kick the Dog"]]: Sarah's death at the end of ''The Crow: City of Angels''. A highly sympathetic ''child'' character in the previous film, ostensibly returning as a [[Love Interest]] for [[The Hero]], killed in passing by the [[Big Bad]] in a meaningless, pointless anticlimax that added too little to the plot to even be called a [[Senseless Sacrifice|"sacrifice"]], and without even the closure that would be provided by, say, showing her spirit [[Together in Death|joining]] the [[Resurrected for a Job|temporarily-resurrected]] protagonist's when he's shown [[Died Happily Ever After|returning to the afterlife and rejoining his murdered son]].

* One would expect the extremely badass Ironhide from ''[[Transformers (film)|Transformers]]'' to go down in battle guns blazing but in ''[[Transformers: Dark of the Moon|Dark of the Moon]]'', he's shot in the back by Sentinel Prime's cosmic rust gun and dissolves into a pile of rust.

* Looks to be what happens to most of the cast of the first ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' film in the sequel, ''[[G.I. Joe: Retaliation|G.I. Joe Retaliation]]''. Marlon Wayans, the actor who played Ripcord in the first film, jokingly mentioned that Ripcord was killed offscreen by friendly fire.

 

== Literature ==

* Possibly the Ur Example is Shakespeare's Falstaff, the fan favorite [[Butt Monkey]] of his two ''Henry IV'' plays. Falstaff unceremoniously dies offstage in ''[[Henry V]]'' without uttering a single line. Readers and critics speculate that Shakespeare was probably worried about Falstaff upstaging his main character (as he arguably does in the other plays).

* [[Alastair Reynolds]]'s ''[[Revelation Space]]'' series is frequently accused of this. In one case, a minor arc of one novel involved one of the protagonists falling in love with another character, who was subsequently killed off ''between'' novels in an apparently random accident.

* Something similar also happened in ''[[The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy]]'' series between ''So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish'' and ''Mostly Harmless''. Arthur Dent's love interest Fenchurch is taken from him because of some technicality that doesn't really make a whole lot of sense even in context. The author later apologized for this and blamed it on the fact that he'd been having "a thoroughly miserable year" when he wrote the latter book.

** To say nothing of the ''Empire Trilogy''. Ayaki, right at the ''beginning'' of the third book, anyone?

** Not to mention Miranda in ''Rides a Dread Legion'', whose throat was ripped out by a random demon that jumped on her back after the big bad was dealt with.

* The death of Annalina Aldurren in the last book of the ''[[Sword of Truth]]'' series seems particularly mean spirited. After trying (in vain) to convince another character to do something that ''everyone else in the book'' had just finished deciding was a bad idea, she gets a hole blasted through her chest, and the killers go so far as to destroy her body so nobody would know what happened. Later on, the man who had in previous books admitted he loved her, after briefly mourning, is seen with a couple of young women in his arms.

* In the final book of ''[[The Dark Tower]]'' series, several main characters die suddenly and anticlimactically, but the one that angered fans the most was actually a villain: The Man in Black (aka Randall Flagg, who has appeared several of King's novels). After being built up as a character of incredible intelligence, cunning and mysterious power for seven books straight (not to mention being Roland's nemesis), he makes a random appearance in the last book and is killed off quickly and suddenly by Mordred.

* In [[Tom Clancy]]'s ''The Bear and the Dragon'', Robby Jackson has become Jack Ryan's Vice President, and therefore the first black VP of the United States. Either this was [[Harsher in Hindsight|too controversial]] or Clancy needed an excuse to bring [[Strawman Political|Strawman Liberal]] Ed Kealty back, because in ''Teeth of the Tiger'', Jackson has been assassinated by white supremacists completely offscreen and with no more than a passing mention in the novel itself.

* Inverted in ''[[The Chronicles of Narnia|The Last Battle]]''. The (previously major) character of Susan does not appear, and is abruptly dismissed within a couple of paragraphs as having had an offscreen change of character, causing a lot of fan resentment. The inversion comes when it turns out that she's the only major character who ''isn't'' dead, everyone else having died in a train crash and therefore being eligible to enter the Narnian afterlife.

* Arthur Conan Doyle's stab at killing off [[Sherlock Holmes]] might not have caused such a massive [[Author's Saving Throw|fan revolt]] if he hadn't gone to such pains to make it clear that even if he ''hadn't'' killed him off, he wouldn't have any more stories to write - no, not even from Watson's old files.

* The death of Tiger Cub in the second ''[[Night Watch]]'' book is narrated by an enemy and consists of only slightly more than "So I killed her." Justified, since he barely knew her, but the readers did.

* Due to the [[Loads and Loads of Characters]] in the [[BattleTech]] fiction, this was bound to happen at some point. Notable examples include [[Magnificent Bastard|Hanse Davion]] in the early days of the Clan invasion, [[Knight in Shining Armor]] Arden Sortek towards the end of the Civil War, and more than a few major characters from prior novels in the course of the Word of Blake Jihad, including mercenary commanders Jamie Wolf, Wayne Waco, and Daniel Allard.

** If you pay attention to the Blood of Kerensky novels, he had been showing signs of heart trouble, and had died of heart failure at the end of the last of the trilogy. A more apt choice would be Morgan Hasek-Davion in the Twilight of the Clans series, who was assassinated with poisoned whiskey while en route to Huntress and the assassin's employer, to this date, still has not been discovered. To make it more egregious, said employer must have been grasping a new toy: the [[Villain Ball|Villainous]] [[Idiot Ball]]! Since the only two groups (Word of Blake and Katrina Steiner) who could possibly have motive/opportunity to kill him would be Inner Sphere factions, and thus, I don't know, would want to keep one of the best generals in the Inner Sphere alive to stop the Clans?

* Merrick gets an entire ''[[The Vampire Chronicles]]'' book dedicated to her character and transition from a human to a vampire, only for it to end with Merrick deciding to end her life in order to help a spirit "[[Go Into the Light]]."

* In ''[[The Worm Ouroboros]]'' (one of the earliest fantasy novels ever) Lord Gro, a major and probably the most complex character in the book, dies abruptly in the Battle of Carcë. His death is treated very curtly and feels decidedly anticlimactic.

** Ditto for Jillie Djinn in ''Darke'', who expires standing up on Marcia's sofa a moment after the climax, without getting much attention.

* ''[[Twilight (novel)|Twilight]]'': James, the [[Big Bad]] of the first book, corners Bella and prepares to rip her to shreds, but then [[Our Vampires Are Different|Edward]] and the rest of the Cullens arrive. Just when you were expecting some [[Fight Scene|epic combat]], Bella blacks out, and since she's the narrator, the next scene shows her in the hospital, where Edward reveals that James is dead. Er, where's the action? Where's the epic combat? Where's the one part where something ''interesting'' could have happened? GONE!

 

 

== Live-Action TV ==

* In a show notorious for killing off characters, all three of ''[[The X-Files]]'' Lone Gunmen (Byers, Langley and Frohike) made it all the way from the first year of the show until four episodes from the last, when they were killed off trying to stop the spread of a deadly contagion. The failure of the ''[[The Lone Gunmen|Lone Gunmen]]'' [[The Lone Gunmen|spin-off series]] perhaps motivated the writers to kill off the characters for good, but the fact that they were Mulder's closest allies throughout the whole show makes this one a bit mean-spirited. (Of course, the episode was called "[[Jumping the Shark|Jump The Shark]]"...)

** Agent Pendrell of seasons 3 and 4 was killed off in a particularly undramatic fashion, and jarring (if you liked the character). Drunk (out of character), carrying over beers for Scully to celebrate her birthday a night late, he gets shot from behind about one minute after he appears in the episode.

* Perhaps the most unpleasant example: in a season opener of ''[[Sliders]]'', we find out that the character Wade Wells has been abducted by ugly alternate-dimension aliens... for breeding purposes.

** Another unpleasant ''Sliders'' example was Professor Arturo; over the course of one episode he had his brains partially sucked out, was then shot dead, and was then left on an Earth which was destroyed by radioactive pulsars. And all this ''after'' the character came down with a terminal disease leaving him with months left to live anyway.

* Rory Cochrane's character on ''[[CSI: Miami]]'', Tim Speedle, also died nastily after Cochrane asked to be written out of the show. The writers really did a number on him, making Speed out to be careless with cleaning his weapon, which subsequently jammed during a shootout and resulted in his untimely death. Considering his status as a much-loved character, this quite literal character assassination might drive some to accuse the writers of dropping a bridge on the fans instead of their intended target.

** Making this all the more implausible was that in a previous episode, he had almost been killed when he gun jammed for EXACTLY THE SAME REASON - wouldn't he have learned his lesson?

* Romano on ''[[ER]]''. After getting his lower arm sliced off by the tail rotor of a helicopter in the previous season, the character dies when ''another'' helicopter goes out-of-control, explodes in midair, and lands on him. Ladies and gents, this is overkill at work.

** Could be a writer's interpretation of karma or an ironic twist. Also somewhat lampshaded by Pratt suggesting that he must've done something awful to a helicopter in a previous life.

** Though it's of note that Tasha's death was an attempt by the writers to actually ''subvert'' a trope... the one that says that it's always the nameless redshirts that are killed as an example of the evil alien's power. Unfortunately, Tasha's death came off as far ''too'' senseless (not to mention stuck in a really bad episode) and the fan outcry was such that it had to be revisited.

** And later, we learn that Tasha's "do-over" death didn't take; instead she was captured by the Romulans and used as a sex slave for years before finally dying another quite ignominous death. And bizarrely, this was actually the idea of her own actress, who wanted to come back on the show and invented a way that she could play Tasha's [[Identical Grandson|Identical Daughter]].

** And then there was the ''galaxy-scale'' bridge dropped on the Time Lords (including Romana, presumably) before the new series.

*** It doesn't stop them from returning in ''The End of Time''. Then a bridge is dropped again. Sort of. Or it's the same bridge that they're sent to. [[Timey-Wimey Ball|Wibbly wobby... timey wimey.]].

** Retconned in the novels: The entire incident was staged by Section 31, and has not been declassified yet. Oh, the holodeck introduces many, many plot holes.

* [[J. Michael Straczynski]] dropped a bridge on ''every single'' cute kid and robot that appeared in ''[[Babylon 5]]''. He seemed to have a rather [[Anvilicious]] interest in them not ruining the show's "serious" tone.

** Eventually undone when Joey lets go of his ego and begs the producer for another chance. He doesn't get the part of Drake's twin brother Striker, but Striker turns out to be a doctor capable of fixing Drake's brain damage.

* The end of the third season of ''[[Teachers]]'' saw the departure of the last two members of the original cast, who also happened to play fan favourites. As a rather bitter revenge, the fourth season opens on the graves of their characters being pissed on by the school's headmaster.

** Widely noted by the press at the time as Diana Muldaur, the actress playing Roz, "getting the shaft". Perhaps a [[Lampshading]]?

* Valerie Harper lost her self-titled sitcom when she asked for a salary increase after the first season. The producers responded by firing her, having her Valerie Hogan character die in a car crash, and then having her sitcom family mourn off-screen before Aunt Sandy Duncan took over the motherly duties under the new title ''Valerie's Family'' (eventually renamed ''[[The Hogan Family]]''). Three episodes into the new season, all signs of Valerie Hogan literally went up in flames as the Hogan house caught on fire. Harper would later get a [[Take That|sizable settlement]] from Lorimar and the producers for their handling of the situation.

* NBC's ''[[Las Vegas]]'' had a tendency to kill off the Montecito's owners at a rate of about one per season, but none quite so bizarrely as when Monica Mancuso was carried off of the roof of the casino by a strong gust of wind.

* A literal bridge dropping happens to Shane in ''[[Degrassi Junior High]]'' - while a bridge fell on Kirk, Shane falls off of it while tripping on LSD. Shane survives but is brain-damaged, his parents pull him from the school, and the kid who gave him the drugs (and watched him fall off the bridge, doing nothing) [[Karma Houdini|suffers no consequences]]. Shane is basically ignored and forgotten by the rest of the cast, and the show implies that this is poetic justice for how he (mostly) ignored and forgot a girl who he got pregnant. In ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'', his daughter tracks him down, and it turns out that he spent the rest of his life in a wretched [[Bedlam House|sanitarium for the mentally retarded]], abandoned by his family, and weeping over the girlfriend and child he never did enough for and never got to see.

** However, this is a total subversion of the trope: even though it was a senseless death, it was perfectly in line with everything that the show was meant for, i.e., war is hell, and people die indiscriminately, regardless of whether they are important people or not. So his death, though anti-climactic in theory, was not inappropriate or unsatisfying, but very appropriate, well-done, and respected by viewers. Of course, it wasn't respected by viewers in the '70s when it actually ''happened'', but that was because it is the [[Ur Example]] of this trope in TV comedies.

* James Wistler in ''[[Prison Break]]'', who got killed ''out of nowhere'', just so the [[Post Script Season]] plot could be extended even further. Granted, it does give some cool impression of [[Anyone Can Die]], but still...

** Not to mention he loses more precious seconds at the start, when he stops to put on his seatbelt.

** Earlier, Zafar was initially thought to have been killed by being shot, then set on fire, only later for the team to find out he'd actually been sold off to a foreign power, tortured for information, then killed. On the one hand this does show how dangerous the life of a spy can be, but offing likable characters in such a manner still comes across as needlessly cruel. Maybe that's the point.

** What kind of self-defense could she put up when she's taken by surprise by a sociopath with energy-projection powers?

*** This may have been more of a [[Take That]] to Terry Farrell, she asked to be downgraded to a recurring character for the last season and the writers killed her off.

* In ''[[Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps]]'', Jonny is killed off-screen by being eaten by a shark in Hawaii, after trying to jump it (in an entire episode that parodies the concept of "[[Jump the Shark|jumping the shark]]"). This was due to Ralf Little wanting to leave the show to concentrate on his movie career.

** A similar stunt was pulled in an earlier season, when Flo is killed off-screen when she gets hit by a truck. Again, this was due to Beverley Callard having to leave the show to return to her role in ''[[Coronation Street]]''.

** It's lampshaded during the credits of the episode by having the Donna, Fez, and Kelso sitting on the water tower lamenting over Charlie's death. It is mentioned how many times Kelso fell off and what could have happened to him. Kelso responds by saying that they think they're invincible but they really can get hurt. Kelso then falls of the water tower yet again and remarks off screen "Screw that, I'm invincible."

* Parodied a couple of episodes into the latest series of ''[[The IT Crowd]]'', on a non-returning character: "Whatever happened to Richmond?" "He... got... scurvy."

** Somewhat averted (or at least not as bad as it could have been). Executive Producer David Shore said, "this was the story that allowed us to really have the greatest impact on House in particular.... If Penn had come to us and said, "I've been offered this great part on 'CSI' ... then it would have been autoerotic asphyxiation or something like that."

* Similarly, Tippi was [[Killed Off for Real]] in ''[[Satisfaction]]'' as the actor was going overseas to pursue other opportunities. This is not the first time this character had faced death; she was nearly killed by a tranquilizer administered by a mortician with a fetish for dead people.

* ''[[Grey's Anatomy]]'': Guess it seemed like having George [[Put on a Bus]] wasn't enough for the showrunners, so they decided to throw him under it as well. Literally. Didn't see that one coming.

** Also the death of gunnery sargeant Erin Matthias due to an accidental ignition in a Heavy Raider's fuel system. Starbuck gives a speech afterwards about how death is meaningless, stupid, and random.

* Zev from ''[[Lexx]]''. In the second episode of the second season, the lone female on the Lexx spacecraft is caught on a medical station when her friend and captain, Stanley, has to go for an operation. She is tortured for the majority of the episode by a doctor who is trying to steal the Lexx's activation key from her, but she escapes and [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifices herself]] seconds later to save the life of the undead assassin, Kai, with whom she is deeply in love. She ends up as a pile of goo, and [[The Nth Doctor|eventually reforms into Xev (played by Xenia Seeberg)]]. Eva Habermann (who played Zev) wanted out of the show due to wishing to persue other projects, but her death scene was a particularly mean-spirited way to go.

* A sort of inverse on ''[[Fresh Prince of Bel Air]]''. In this case a character was killed off after he '''dropped off a bridge'''. Hilary's anchorman boyfriend Trevor decides to propose to her while bungee jumping on live television. Unfortunately his bungee cord was a little '''too''' long.

* In ''[[Highlander the Series]]'', Duncan rescues Tessa from the renegade watcher Pallin Wolf. [[Not Quite Saved Enough|Immediately after that]], she's shot by a mugger and dies.

* Near the end of Series 4 of ''[[Skins]]'', Freddie is suddenly beaten to death with a baseball bat by Effy's [[Stalker with a Crush|crazed psychiatrist]], who was introduced in the same episode. Chris's death in the earlier series was actually believing and heartfelt, while Freddie's felt abrupt and mean-spirited. Not to mention that the series ends just after Cooke discovers his death, with no chance to see the others' reactions.

* Eddie LeBec from ''[[Cheers]]'', one of Carla's most recurring love interests then husband. Though never being a cast regular, he was permanently written off the show when he (offscreen, of course), was run over ''by a Zamboni'' trying to push a fellow cast member of the ice show he worked at out of the way. On the ''very same episode'', it was revealed he had a mistress whom he also got pregnant and married (despite already being married to Carla obviously), leading an enraged Carla to reuse the name Tortelli. The producers of the show explained this turn of events at the time as [[Executive Meddling|test audiences not liking]] [[Status Quo Is God|Carla being married]], until almost two decades later, both Jay Thomas (who played Eddie) and [http://kenlevine.blogspot.com/2006/07/kiss-of-death-for-eddie-lebec.html one of the writers] revealed this was actually the result of the former being fired due to making an insulting remark about Rhea Perlman (who played Carla) on live radio (while Rhea happened to be listening, no less).

** Avoided in the season 5 finale. Lucifer explodes Castiel with a click of his fingers and then breaks Bobby's neck, but they were resurrected. For a moment though, it looks like the show has just killed off two of its most popular characters in the blink of an eye.

** Season 7 has seen this trope rather brutally applied to Castiel - after his big [[A God Am I]] moment in the Season 6 finale seemed to set him up as the [[Big Bad]] for Season 7, he spends one single episode going kill crazy, starts to worry about his own rapidly deteriorating mental state, releases all the extra power he absorbed, and just when you think he's going to be okay, he promptly gets possessed by the actual [[Big Bad]] who then informs Sam and Dean that Castiel is dead. And since this happened, his name has barely come up, despite the fact that he was pretty much the closest and most loyal friend the Winchesters had after Bobby. Of course, fans [[He's Just Hiding|are adamantly clinging to the belief that he's not really gone]] and since he's died twice in the past and got better the possibility is there.

* Lieutenant Bracegirdle in the ''[[Horatio Hornblower]]'' series. A fairly major character in Series 1, disappears for Series 2 but is reintroduced as an important character for the third series ... only to have the boat he was in get hit with an exploding shell and kill everyone on board.

* Between seasons 1 and 2 on ''[[Fringe]]'', Charlie is killed only to be replaced by a shapeshifting imposter.

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

** Vince McMahon himself would later fall victim to this trope, as the 6-11-2007 episode of Monday Night Raw, which the chairman had dubbed "Mr. McMahon Appreciation Night", ended with a stricken, dejected Vince entering a limousine, which promptly exploded. (Perhaps, in a medium known for phony "firings" and "retirements", Vince felt he needed a more dramatic method of writing himself off of television).

*** Ironically, they were going to resolve the "who killed Vince McMahon" storyline on the RAW after the Vengeance: Night of Champions pay-per-view, if I recall correctly, but then Chris Benoit died in real life. The storyline was quietly dropped, with Vince admitting the whole thing was faked.

** Rumour has it that Mystra, greater deity of magic and [[A God Am I]] [[Canon Sue]], got killed by getting hit on the back of the head, along with numerous other [[Canon Sue]] characters, though most of them departed in ways that imply they can be brought back *groan* .

** Also pulled on a vast array of characters. See also [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies]].

 

 

== [[Toys]] ==

* The standard way for a ''[[Bionicle]]'' character to go, if they happen not to play a very ''very'' crucial role, probably to show off how [[Darker and Edgier]] the story has become. Reached the status of a [[Running Gag]] for the fandom.

** Ancient's fate could well be the worst example of this in the franchise's run. Just read his entry [[They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot/Toys|over here]].

 

 

** Also, Chris Avellone and the Black Isle dropped a bridge on the Wannamigos in the Fallout Bible, having described their sterility, genetic clock and an onslaught of a [[The Chosen One|travelling tribal]].

* When Eric Chahi created ''[[Another World]]'', he had no intention of making a sequel, preferring to let the ambiguous ending (Buddy loading Lester's broken body into a pterodactyl and flying it to safety) stand alone. [[Executive Meddling|Interplay wasn't about to have any of that.]] So when ''Heart of the Alien'' was made, it became clear there was no feasible way of sending Lester back to his home world. Thus, Lester dies saving Buddy and the game ends with his cremation.

** Nomura states in the Japanese Character Report book that Axel was originally supposed to die in the Prologue final battle. This probably accounts for his expanded role feeling [[Demoted to Extra|reduced]] and [[Saved by the Fans|tacked-on.]]

* This trope is played for laughs somewhat in ''[[Drakengard]]'s'' fifth ending, in which Caim and the dragon, having defeated the [[Ultimate Evil]] after following it through a rift in the space time continuum, are shot down by Japanese Air Self-Defense Force fighter jets. It's unbelievably anticlimactic to the point where after everything that has preceded it, you have to laugh.

** Sounds like a [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]].

** Plus, actually ''beating'' this boss is downright [[Nintendo Hard]].

* A version of this is in the pseudo-ASCII game ''[[Dwarf Fortress]]'', where one has the ability to construct drawbridges. If you lift the drawbridge and then send it back down over ''anything'', it will be vaporized - and I mean ''anything'', from small inanimate objects to dragons and colossi. (Lovingly referred to as the "dwarven atom smasher".)

** Though in later versions, certain enemies, like demons, are actually immune to the drawbridge effect, causing the bridges to break.

* ''[[Nethack]]'' allows dropping a drawbridge on yourself.

* Aldo Trapani, the protagonist of the EA adaptation of ''[[The Godfather (video game)|The Godfather]]'', gets abruptly sniped dead in the opening level to allow for new player character Dominic to take his place.

** Which is especially odd considering that the final battle at the end of Brood War wasn't even over Kerrigan (who is on Char with the rest of the Broods). The three strongest armies in the game converge on that platform to kill but one cerebrate: You.

* Played for laughs ''and'' drama in obscure adventure game ''[[Shadow of Destiny]]'', in which the entire goal of the game is to travel back in time and prevent your own murder; some deaths are dramatic, some are just plain funny. In the C ending in which the player does the bare minimum to win, Eike finally prevents his own murder, lies down on the road to contemplate his own existence, and, after a soulful monologue, ''gets run over by a drunk driver''.

* Cid in ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' dies from eating bad fish. Which you, the player character, fed him, you jerk. What makes this especially infuriating is that there is a way to ensure he ''doesn't'' die, but [[Guide Dang It|you're unlikely to figure it out without a guide]] the first time around. Granted, [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|letting him die]] actually leads to a much more touching and emotional scene, but it's still a pretty random way to go out.<ref>Only catch the fast-moving fish; leave the slow ones alone entirely.</ref>

** Shadow's death is similarly done. If you don't wait long enough as the floating continent is destroyed, Shadow dies. This changes the ending.

* In ''[[Mortal Kombat 9]]'', this happens to nearly everyone who dies. Granted, [[Word of God]] isn't even denying that they'll all be back but that doesn't make it any less annoying.

** And not to forget the original ''Red Faction'', where the room Hendrix is in <s>randomly explodes and he catches on fire</s> is attacked, since the [[Big Bad]] lured him there to kill him.

* ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]] Gaiden'' appeared to have bridge-dropped Lamia while after just addressing how glad she was that she had friends...she was unceremoniously shot down and all signs show that she's [[Killed Off for Real]]. Then, several chapters later, it's revealed that the bridge didn't really completely splatter her, and [[Super Robot Wars Reversal|Duminuss]] lifted that bridge up, ensuring her survival.

** Hell, ''everyone who wasn't a playable character'' had a bridge drop happen when Raccoon City gets nuked at the end.

** Of course, pretty much all the named NPCs in this game (not counting zombies) were dead well before the end. Mikhail [[Action Bomb|blows himself up]] in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], Dario is discovered and eaten by zombies, Nikolai is either bridge-dropped by Nemesis, escapes in the chopper, or you shoot him down.

** In the Sahuagin City side quest, if you choose to help Prince Villynaty against King Ixilthetocal after reaching the prince, King Ixilthetocal has two of the people who suggested that you go talk to the prince executed for reasons unrelated to your decision.

* In ''Winback'', nearly all of Jean-Luc's teammates unceremoniously have bridges dropped on them over the course of the game. Jake's death was the biggest [[Player Punch]] , since he survives until near the end of the game, to get you attached to him, then Bang Bang he's dead.

* Bridges are dropped all over in the last route of ''[[Fate/stay night]]: Heaven's Feel''. Caster, Assassin, Lancer, Berserker, Archer, Gilgamesh and Saber.

* ''[[Call of Duty]] 4'': All the SAS members except Soap and Captain Price are unceremoniously executed at the end of the game. The latter of which has been confirmed to return in ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2''.

** Speaking of ''[[Modern Warfare]] 2'', all of TF-141, again barring Soap and Price, are killed off by General Shepherd.

** The final level negates all [[Plot Armor]] (again). Special mention goes to what happens if you don't upgrade your ship at all. Three characters ''will'' die before you even get onto the ground. Potentially, your entire squad can die as well. All of the deaths featured are very sudden. This does prevent the finale from being bogged down in melodrama, but it is a little disjointing if your love interest happens to get gunned down in front of your eyes with little in the way of a reaction.

** This pretty much happens with Shepard in the ending of ''[[Mass Effect 3]]'', unless you get pretty much the maximum level of War Assets and then choose the "Destroy" ending.

* This happens to the main character in [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/532044 Riddle School 4] about 3 seconds after you start the game, but is ultimately [[Ret Conned]] in [http://www.newgrounds.com/portal/view/532179 Riddle School 5].

* Bill in ''[[Left 4 Dead]] 2'''s DLC chapter "The Passing". What makes this a particular odd choice is that the death in question was announced by Valve well ahead of time and given plenty of limelight... and then the actual event was limited to a single line on-screen: "A good man died today."

* ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'', a ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' parody webcomic. It takes place immediately before the events of the first MGS game, and the last handful of comics show the lead-up to Shadow Moses. [http://www.gigaville.com/comic.php?id=498 Comic #498] has Liquid Snake grinning like a kid in a candy store, exclaiming "It's happening. it's happening.... it's finally happening" just as Solid Snake is about to get his Tactical Espionage Action on. [http://www.gigaville.com/comic.php?id=499 Comic #499:] Dead Decoy Octopus disguised as Anderson, dead Baker, dead Psycho Mantis, dead Sniper Wolf, Vulcan Raven eaten by his ravens, broken Metal Gear on top of dead Grey Fox, dead Liquid Snake. It's not called "The Last Days of Foxhound" for nothing, after all. Of course, Liquid got better...

{{quote|'''Liquid:''' That sucked.}}

** And then there's [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/05/07/episode-1125-unexpected/ this.]

* In ''[[Kevin and Kell]]'', the fly headmaster of Caliban Academy is killed by a sheet of glass falling from a truck in his second appearance in the comic, enabling Fran Caudal to take on his position.

*** And then there's Galvatron, who survives being at the center of the destruction of Cybertron, only to apparently be [[Killed Off for Real]] by having an ''iceberg'' dropped on him (there wouldn't happen to be a bridge frozen somewhere inside that iceberg, would there?).

** In order to facilitate the [[Merchandise-Driven]] nature of the show, this happen often. The deaths of Terrosaur and Scorponok (originally Waspinator as well, before the writers realized that his lovable if illfated nature made him a fan favorite) in ''[[Beast Wars]]'' are especially obvious: Megatron's Transmetal transformation made them slip up with the hover-carts they normally used and fell into the lava pit they normally go over, killing them instantly to never be spoken of again after Blackarachnia and Megatron's later conversation confirms their death.

*** This was also done in the series finale, in which Megatron shoots Quickstrike and Inferno with the Nemesis' guns while attempting to kill the protohumans, who survive mysteriously unharmed. To add insult to injury, the very last scene shows the protohumans cooking and playing with the pieces of their corpses.

** The Maximals weren't immune to this trope either. When Tigatron and Airazor were moved to [[Beta Couple]] status shortly after the arrival of Silverbolt and the beginnings of his crush on Blackarachnia, they were almost immediately [[Put on a Bus]]. This turned into a borderline [[Bus Crash]] with the appearance and death of their combined form, [[We Hardly Knew Ye|Tigerhawk.]]

* ''[[Frisky Dingo]]'' is full of bridge drops, with the later part of season two having at least one per episode.

* In the finale of ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'', the combination of Killer Frost and Darkseid's return drops a bridge on roughly two-thirds of the Legion of Doom, including established and well-characterized (if secondary) villains such as the Shade, Parasite, Copperhead, and Weather Wizard.

 

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