We Hardly Knew Ye: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

[[Friendly Target|Some characters]] have it rough, be they [[Chew Toy]], [[Butt Monkey]], or [[Creator's Pet]]. However, some characters never have "it" ''at all,'' they're [[Killed Off for Real]], [[Put on a Bus]], or [[Chuck Cunningham Syndrome|otherwise kicked out]] almost as soon as they join. Too little time for the audience to get attached to them (assuming, of course, [[Creator's Pet|there's something worthwhile there]] to attach to). In rare instances, these characters are tragically brought [[Back for the Dead]] or have someone [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|drop a bridge on them]]. Sometimes writers will reassign their arc to an existing character or to a [[Suspiciously Similar Substitute|totally new character]].

* In ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', {{spoiler|Mami Tomoe dies two and a half episodes in, although she does recur in alternate timelines.}}

* In ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]'', this happened to Quartum, Quintum and (maybe) Sextum Averrunci. Although they may be [[Not Quite Dead]].

* In the [[Birdy the Mighty]] anime, Tute, Birdy's police partner, {{spoiler|dies by the third episode of the first season.}}

* In [[Tegami Bachi]] Lily Confort is introduced, given a small backstory, suggested as another love interest for the main character... {{spoiler|and then has her [[Fate Worse Than Death|Heart eaten by a Gaichuu]] over the course of four chapters.}}

* Chojiro Sasakibe from ''[[Bleach]]'', despite being the vice-captain of Division 1, is usually relegated to a background character that does nearly nothing major. And then {{spoiler|at the very beginning of [[Wham! Episode|Vandenreich invasion]], he's actually [[Killed Off for Real]]. The Soul Society member may have known him for so much to respect him and mourn for him at his burial, but the audience... not so much.}}

* Heine Westenfluss in ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]''. [[The Typical Gundam SEED Destiny]] notices that his voice actor was probably very expensive.

 

== [[Literature]] ==

** [[Chekhov's Gunman|All of these characters were known of and played some part in the series well before they actually appeared.]]

* The narrator of the prologue chapter in every book in the ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' series is doomed to die. Out of five books, only one of those narrators has actually survived beyond the prologue. {{spoiler|And he sure as hell doesn't make it to the end of the book.}}

== [[Live-Action TV]] ==

* The source of the page quote; even with a spot in the opening credits Warren Keffer was not slated to live past the second season of ''[[Babylon 5]]''. Created because of [[Executive Meddling]] after the end of the first season, Straczynski never found much appeal in the idea of a Starfury ace pilot character and killed him off at the end of the second season. Reportedly, when JMS finally did get rid of the character the executives had forgotten that they had ever asked for him in the first place and did not care that their orders [[Writer Revolt|had been circumvented]].

* William Boone on ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]''. He was actually supposed to be brought back; his absence (along with that of the plot) was one of the reasons many fans believe the show [[Jumped the Shark]] after the first season. He came back in the final season for a couple of episodes, only to be [[Back for the Dead]] after they [[Dropped a Bridge on Him]].

* Tasha Yar on ''[[Star Trek: The Next Generation]]''. Even though she was [[Killed Off for Real]] in a [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|pointless way]], the actress returned as her [[Half-Human Hybrid|Half Romulan]] [[Identical Grandson|daughter.]]

** Because the [[Executive Meddling|meddling executives]] at Hasbro waffled on whether they wanted to [[Merchandise-Driven|sell his toy]] or not. They eventually did, well after his death.

** Also, the many [[Last-Episode New Character|Last Episode New Characters]] in ''[[Transformers Generation 1]]''. Lord Zarak, the new co-[[Big Bad]], would have been especially awesome to have seen more of, the calm, cool-headed [[Affably Evil]] partner of the crazed, bellowing Galvatron. Behold the last lines of G1 ''ever'' and imagine the awesomeness that season four could've been:

'''Zarak''', ''still'' oh so calmly: "We shall see, Galvatron. We shall see..." }}

** There's also the Autobot Punch, the spy, who becomes the Decepticon Counterpunch. Sixshot has six modes. Mindwipe is a giant bat who can [[Mind Control]] anyone, and talks all spookily about the powers of darkness. The rest [[Loads and Loads of Characters|came and went too fast]] to really leave a mark, seeing how this three-parter introduced more characters than the entirety of season three.