View source for Family-Unfriendly Death

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{{quote|''So the mother wiped the axe and laughed.''|'''The Rose Tree'''}}

Normally, death is kept well away from children's sensitive eyes. If it can't be [[Never Say "Die"|avoided all together]], it is made family friendly. Heroes make [[Disney Death|miraculous recoveries]], villains [[Disney Villain Death|expire off-screen]], and [[Bloodless Carnage|never a drop of blood is seen]].

Sometimes though, writers break this rule in the grand style, depicting deaths so gruesome they leave adults shaken, and children quivering wrecks.

Sometimes caused by [[What Do You Mean It's Not for Kids?|unrealistic expectations]]. Those familiar only with [[Bowdlerise]]d [[Fairy Tale]]s—and still more [[Disneyfication|Disneyfied]] ones—may find the more explicit versions of fairy tales shocking. The [[Happily Ever After]] often lavishes considerably more detail on the death of the [[Wicked Stepmother]] or other villains than on the happiness of the hero and heroine. Psychologists hypothesize this is a way of assuring the children that the villain really is [[Deader Than Dead]]. (On the other hand, it does not necessarily preclude [[Back from the Dead]] for heroes.) Often used with major villains.

This is one type of [[Nightmare Fuel]]. For violence without death, see [[Family-Unfriendly Violence]]. For examples that come from less-than-family friendly fare, see [[Cruel and Unusual Death]]. Obviously [[Truth in Television]].

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[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Fairy Tale Tropes]]