You know what’s a hell of a thing? Looking at something you clearly, fully remember writing recently, like maybe a couple years maximum, and then seeing that the date stamped on it is from a real, actual, whole, full-on fucking decade ago. Holy shit.
But hey, if I’m gonna be struggling to come to terms with the knowledge of just how horrifyingly fast I’m hurtling towards my mortal end anyway, I may as well do something useful with that fixation, right? So let’s take this opportunity to give this rant its first proper tuneup in 10 years, and expand it a bit! New and improved on the old 25, these are the 35 greatest deaths in RPGs!
To save you time, if you've read the old list and want to just concentrate on the new content, numbers 35, 34, 33, 32, 30, 29, 26, 11, and 4 are all new entries. Additionally, 31 and Honorable Mention 1 are entries that had originally been on this list, but had been pushed off at some point, and are back again, so you may not have seen them. Lastly, 18 was added just last year, so it's somewhat newer.
Anyway:
Death scenes. While they’re a universal part of storytelling, there’s no denying that RPGs are very fond of killing characters off over their story’s course, perhaps more so than most other vehicles of artistic expression. I see some deaths in cartoons, a good portion in movies, plenty in anime, and a few in television shows (although that number’s risen substantially in the last decade thanks to Doctor Who and Game of Thrones), but I probably couldn’t name a full 20 RPGs I’ve played in which there wasn’t at least a single tragic character death to keep the plot moving, at least not without sitting down to think long and hard about it. I’d say the only media form that’s got more wholesale character carnage per capita would be comic books--although I’m not sure that really counts.
So which ones are the greatest of all? Which deaths are the very best? Well, I’ve put together a list here of the ones I find most impressive. Perhaps you will agree with some of them. Perhaps not. Doubtless someone or other will be shocked that I’m lacking such classic death scenes as (GRANDIA 2 AND FINAL FANTASY 7 SPOILERS ALERT) Mareg from Grandia 2 or Aeris from Final Fantasy 7, among many others. But, well, it’s my blog, so you’ll just have to deal with it either way. Neener neener neener!
As a couple of notes before we start. First of all, it has to actually be a death scene. It can’t be a scene where a character appears to die but we learn later that they did not. Don’t get me wrong, there are some absolutely amazing fake-death scenes out there, such as the ones (SUIKODEN 2 AND GRANDIA 2 SPOILER ALERT) for Nanami in Suikoden 2, and Aira in Grandia 2 (well, that was a supposedly irreversible coma, but I reckon that’s good enough). If either were really gone when it appears they are, they would SO be on this list. But it turns out that Nanami survived her wound and Aira awoke, so they don’t count. Now, this does not necessarily mean that a death scene can’t count if the character is later resurrected somehow, or if the death only stays permanent by one route of the story. But it DOES have to be one HELL of a great death for that to count, because I’m a stickler for death being, well, death.
Lastly, it should be patently obvious, but SPOILERS in a major way. In the interest of fairness, I will tell you in advance which games will have plot points spoiled for you, and let you decide on whether you want to risk reading ahead, in alphabetical (NOT below-listed) order: Breath of Fire 2, Breath of Fire 4, Children of Zodiarcs, Disgaea 1, Final Fantasy 6, Final Fantasy 10, Fragile Dreams: Farewell Ruins of the Moon, Grimm's Hollow, Lufia 2, Mass Effect 3, Mother 3, Nier: Automata, Omori, Planescape: Torment, Rakuen, Shadow Hearts 2, Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Summoner: Soul Hackers, Shin Megami Tensei: Digital Devil Saga 1, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 3, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona 4, Shin Megami Tensei: Persona Q1, Suikoden 5, Tales of Berseria, Transistor, Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume, and Wild Arms 3.
In the further interest of preventing spoilers, I’m going to change the way I usually list these for this rant, and each entry will state the game first, character dying second, the latter of which will require you to highlight it to see. This way, you can see which game each entry is from before seeing the name of the character who dies in it, and can thus skip ahead if you don’t know the game. I don’t want to spoil any of these scenes for you guys. And I’ll trust you guys not to let yourselves be spoiled, too--when you see a game listed that you haven’t played, don’t read that entry! These moments are all too great and powerful to be experienced for the first time through my insufficient words alone.
And now, on with things.
35. VALKYRIE PROFILE: COVENANT OF THE PLUME
Thyodor
This is assuming the B Ending, but that's the canon one anyway.
For his brief time onscreen, the magnitude of Thyodor's suffering is some heavy shit. The man has watched in horror as his son becomes a murderer as Wylfred plunges into a misguided quest for vengeance, using Thyodor himself as the standard of Wylfred's destructive and heretical private crusade. And now, at the end of the game, Thyodor must stand against Wylfred in combat to protect Thyodor's godly liege, and find that his pleas for Wylfred to give up on this madness are in vain. It's only when Thyodor himself falls to Wylfred's sword that the son comes to his senses, and Thyodor's pleas for Wylfred to accept the world as it is rather than poison himself with hatred for it are heard...and even then, he discovers it's too late to save Wylfred's soul, as the being he sold himself to arrives to collect. Noble and self-sacrificing to the end, Thyodor pushes Wylfred out of the way, and is taken to suffer the torments of a frozen hell for the rest of time in Wylfred's place. It's fitting and a relief that Thyodor, the unwilling cause of Wylfred's suffering and sins, is the one to finally save his son from himself and restore the divine balance, but what a sobering and unfair tragedy it is that this sinless and noble man should have such an undeservedly tormentful fate.
34. TRANSISTOR
Red
We assumed Red had been fighting for survival against the all-consuming scourge that began with the death of the man she loved. But as she stands at the beginning and end, her world silent and solitary, and the echo of her beloved begs her not to, we realize that Red was simply finishing the task she had set out to do, and that she now intends to join the first victim of this tragedy. And the worst thing is, when we realize that life past this moment would be to exist alone in a silent world with the voice and no more of the man she loved left to her...we don't blame her in the slightest for her decision to join him.
33. TALES OF BERSERIA
Laphicet and Velvet
And so ends the terrible tragedy of Velvet and Laphicet Crowe, a sister who lovingly devoted her life to her brother's health, a brother who betrayed her by giving up that life out of the very same love for her, and the conflict between them that almost saved and almost doomed the world in equal and combined measure. It is both the worst and the best possibility that ToB ends as it does--with Laphicet and Velvet forever lost to the world, we feel an aching loss and sorrow, and yet it's a profoundly fitting end that they find, locked forever in a shared dream of travel, adventure, and excitement, a representation of all they had yearned for in life. This death-equivalent is somehow dismayingly less than Velvet deserves and more than Laphicet does, while yet also exactly what each is owed. It's tragic, rewarding, and so very artful.
32. CHILDREN OF ZODIARCS
Brice
Pester's death was an awful, tragic misunderstanding, and that was difficult enough to live with. But Brice's is gut-wrenching in its horrible, violent suddenness, and what it signifies. Brice looked up to Nahmi, idolized her, clearly latching onto her as a way to have some love and loyalty in a harsh life otherwise defined by broken trust...but because Brice won't listen, can't allow herself to change the bleak view of the world that has been inflicted upon her in her short life, Nahmi is forced to kill her. Maybe there was another solution, but in the heat of the moment, Nahmi only knows of 1 way to stop Brice from giving them up, because life has only ever taught her violence as a means of resolution. Brice believes she's been emotionally betrayed by her only friend, and a moment later, she forces that friend's hand and dies, shocked, at the hand of the one she loved and idolized. And for Nahmi...she's been forced to kill her most loyal friend in trade for saving Xero, a representation of the idea simple goodness can still exist. Nahmi even says moments before this that Xero is like herself, back before hatred and the world's cruelty had made her what she is now. The irony is as black and painful as burning tar--in order to protect a symbol of innocence like she once had, Nahmi's forced to further plunge herself into its opposite. It's hard to watch.
31. FINAL FANTASY 6
Cid
Keeping Cid alive is no easy task, and at least as dependent upon luck as understanding what you’re doing. And though the player can, through Celes, nurse Cid back to health successfully, I’d almost say that it’s better not to (sorry, Cid). The scene of Celes’s discovery of Cid’s death is excellently done, a portrayal of not just incredible sadness at the loss of one she’s close to, but also the only known fellow survivor of the world’s end. Her grieving disbelief is realistic, but even more hard-hitting is the hopelessness that Cid’s death breeds, such that Celes, overcome by the grief and doom of a lifeless world, attempts to take her own life. We feel that anguish with Celes, understand how the loss of Cid has been the last straw in this destroyed world, and that’s why Cid’s death is remarkable.
30. GRIMM’S HOLLOW
Lavender
Going on the best ending, Grimm’s Hollow is essentially the story of Lavender’s passing, a telling of how in the final moments of both her life’s and her afterlife’s story, she chose her brother over herself, and what an incredible person she is for that fact. Their parting as she returns him to life, and his reminiscing gratitude to her as the ending plays, is deeply moving, and though I know it may speak to me especially personally in some ways, I’m confident that Lavender’s death is nonetheless objectively 1 of the most powerful, yet deeply uplifting, to be found in RPGs.
29. NIER: AUTOMATA
Pascal and the Children
I hate this moment. It is raw and it is horrifying, and there is only tragedy and despair to be felt from it. Pascal’s hope and joy have been ripped from him in a room of children’s corpses, and the sheer, insurmountable pain and despair leaves the only recourse he can bear a plea to A2 to grant him a merciful death, whether it be destroying him or erasing his memory (which is the same thing as death, and turns out to somehow be even more horrific afterward). Plenty of deaths on this list are devastating, but there’s still something admirable, reassuring, or otherwise positive to take from them--even the Children of Zodiarcs death, at the very absolute least, served the purpose of protecting someone else. Pascal’s end, however, offers only misery. It sits within you and hurts forever after, and there is nothing that makes it better. At most there is a lesson to be taken about the terrible consequences of emotion and indulging in it without adequately understanding it, but it’s not enough and it only makes the tragedy of the machines’ efforts to achieve humanity more cutting. I hate it, and if I could prevent any death on this list, it would probably be this one. Yes, even over the Omori one.
But there is simply no denying that even if it’s a horrible feeling, the deaths of the children and subsequently Pascal are powerfully affecting, and remain with you. That this scenario is grim even by the standards of our subject doesn’t change how expertly this is executed, nor the impact it has upon a player who, make no mistake about it, has already gone through some heavy shit just to reach this point. That I hate Pascal’s death, that it makes me feel awful even now, years later, is by design, not accident, so it fully deserves whatever honor a placement on this list is worth.
28. SUIKODEN 5
Roy
It’s funny--most players won’t see this event, because it only happens when you’ve made the wrong choices in the story; Roy will live and the circumstances of his death will never come to be in a proper playthrough. On the one hand, it saddens me a bit that this is the case, because Roy’s death is easily the greatest moment in this otherwise largely phoned-in Suikoden title. On the other hand, I’m happy that canonically he gets to live, because I like Roy a lot (mostly, paradoxically enough, because of the person he reveals himself to be in his death scene).
Roy goes out like a champ. Knowing that reinforcements are on the way to save the denizens of the lake castle in which all the heroes are holed up under siege, Roy, who serves as a body double for the game’s prince protagonist, takes advantage of the enemy commander’s demand to face the prince in a duel, hoping to buy more time for the rescue of all his comrades--Lyon in particular, who he (for some inexplicable reason) is sweet on. Roy goes out and faces the enemy leader in battle, and defeats him, but is betrayed as another enemy leader (thinking that Roy is the protagonist) has his archers take aim and fire a volley at him. Roy valiantly tries to fend the arrows off, but can’t stop them all, and is fatally wounded a dozen times over. Meanwhile, the prince that Roy is protecting struggles to run out to help him, but Roy’s friend strikes him and shakes his head with finality--Roy has made his choice, the choice to die in the prince’s place, and to reveal his deception now would make his death for naught. Collapsing as the life drains out of him, Roy catches sight of something in the distance, and grins in triumph--he bought just enough time for the reinforcements to arrive. He dies, satisfied that his sacrifice has been worthwhile and has saved the lives of his friends, and the life of the girl he loves, Lyon, whose image is the last thing Roy sees in his mind before he’s gone. It’s sorrowful, yet an inspiring sacrifice, particularly when it comes from a character who has until now been a scoundrel and ne’er-do-well. It transforms Roy from a mildly appealing scamp to a noble, selfless hero, and it’s beautiful.
27. LUFIA 2
Maxim and Selan
And I mean the REAL Lufia 2, not SquareEnix’s abhorrent remake.
Well, they both die in close proximity of one another, and the moments that make their deaths so great are all done as a couple, so we’ll double this one up. Tragic yet inspiringly heroic, Selan dies pitting the strength her soul against the souls of malevolent gods in order to prevent the destruction of all the world, and Maxim drives himself to fatal exhaustion after doing the same, then having to use what remains of his spiritual energies against the device that seeks to crash the floating Doom Island down onto his home to destroy his son, in the end so weak that he can only strike the final blow by resonating his energies with the those of the infamous Dual Blade. Maxim and Selan both die heroes defending the lives of innocents. What makes their deaths all the more tragic than they even normally would be is that they leave their infant son Jeros parentless...yet this death is not just purely sad; it is also uplifting. Maxim and Selan’s spirits fly over the world they gave everything to save, observing the places and friends that their sacrifice preserved, visiting their son one last time, before they’ll finally rest in peace, knowing their work is done, and done well. And finally, we see Maxim’s oldest friend Tia, weeping without consciously knowing why. It’s a powerful scene and one of the greatest endings of RPG history, poignant yet satisfying, sad yet so happy, combining some of the most important parts of a great ending (being shown the results of the heroes’ work for all the places and people of import to the tale) with an already greatly touching death.
26. RAKUEN
Sue
It won’t be expected. You won’t realize what’s happening, at first. And then you’ll know. And the wonderful beauty of seeing Sue and the Boy visit each of her marbles’ worlds won’t be enough to keep you from sobbing at the gut-wrenching sadness of knowing that Sue didn’t make it. Sue’s passing is a hauntingly poignant reminder of the joy of having known a finite life, the amazing capacity for each of us to be entire worlds unto ourselves, the incredible gift it is that our worlds can meet and be forever affected by others...and the tragedy of our exit from this life, particularly when that end comes too terribly soon. A sobering reminder, too, at how suddenly someone can be taken from us.
25. MOTHER 3
Hinawa
The funny thing is, you don’t actually see Hinawa’s death, you only hear of it from a villager who discovered her with a monster’s fang through her heart. But the reaction that Flint has to his wife’s death is so real, so powerful, so full of hurt and confusion and rage, that it hits you and it hits you hard. It’s also, I think, the first moment in Mother 3 that shows how truly effective and penetrating you can make an emotional scene when you’ve presented it with a modicum of the quirky, humorous nature that Mother 3 and Earthbound are known for--Hinawa’s death is related to Flint in the form of an “I’ve got good news and bad news” statement, which prepares us for a quick chuckle and then slams us over the head with a 2-by-4 of anguish. Mother 3 is a game full to the brim with this narrative style, using quirky nonsense as a means to get us from one emotional powerhouse scene to the next, both helping us to cope and making it all the harder to do so each time. Finally, Hinawa’s death is powerful for the legacy it leaves behind--its after effects are felt keenly throughout the game, tied to the main plot, with the grief and loss dominating the actions and development of Flint, the protagonist Lucas, and his brother Claus. This is no death to be felt keenly and then dropped--this is a loss whose significance is portrayed through Flint’s utter devastation, and which lasts for the rest of the lives of Hinawa’s sons and husband, haunting them every step of the way. Powerful stuff.
24. SHADOW HEARTS 2
Alice
While Alice’s death before the game starts has strong consequences upon all of the game’s story and in particular its main character Yuri, I actually refer here to the scene in the game where Yuri and Roger try to bring Alice back from the dead, but fail. So technically I guess this means she’s not actually dying here, as she’s already dead and hasn’t been brought back to life properly, but it still more or less counts, I think. All the same, since it’s technically not a “death” so much as it is a reaffirmation of death, I’m putting it lower than it might have been otherwise.
Anyway, this scene is one of the most heartwrenching that I have ever witnessed in an RPG. It brought me to tears the first time I watched it, and I still get pretty choked up every time I’ve watched it since. This scene brings to Yuri and the player a moment of hope as the process begins, and Alice’s body begins to materialize from the ether...and then so, so cruelly rends that hope to shreds as the process goes wrong, and Alice’s body begins to dissolve back to nothingness. To see the failure, to know how what it means to Yuri, who’s been able to live for nothing since the loss of Alice, is hard enough, but then, in the final moments, Alice...damn blasted watery eyes make typing hard...Alice opens her eyes, and tells Yuri that she loves him, and he, tears streaming down his face, returns her love with his own, pain and remorse twisting his face. It’s as beautiful as it is tragic.
23. MASS EFFECT 3
Miranda
I don’t even really like Miranda. Honestly, my logic has to keep reminding my emotion that she’s actually a reasonably okay character, because everything in her demeanor, appearance, and personality just scream of a mediocre, shallow character created solely for fanservice.
But man, if Shepard doesn’t give her the resources and heads-up that she needs to avoid dying by that loser Kai Leng’s attack...Miranda’s death is just incredibly heartfelt and genuine. She gives her life to keep her beloved sister Oriana safe, reinforces how great her love for Oriana is as she spends her last words speaking of how much she wanted Oriana to have the good, normal life that she herself never could...very, very touching and genuine, all of it. It’s incredibly sad, but at least we can see that Miranda dies with the satisfaction of knowing that her sister is safe.
You know I’m quick to lash out against the bad parts of Mass Effect 3, but I’ll give it this--it really, really knows how to tug on your heartstrings as a crucial character dies...as will be evidenced again before we’re done.
22. MASS EFFECT 3
Legion
Right now, I mean. ME3’s knowing how to tug on your heartstrings as a crucial character dies will be evidenced again right now.
By this, I mean Legion’s death under the circumstances of the Quarians being convinced into a cease-fire by Commander Shepard, and Tali being alive and present. Although the variations of this scene, including those involving the VI reconstruction of Legion, are pretty much all emotionally potent.
It sort of comes out of nowhere, which is why it’s not higher up, but Legion’s sudden realization that he can only complete the transfer which will raise his people to the height of artificial life that they’ve always yearned for by disseminating his own programs into them, effectively dissolving his own existence, is a sudden and painful loss to have to bear, just when things were finally looking up. But what makes this scene so profound and beautiful is what Legion says, how he acts, and Tali’s words to him. In his expressionless non-face you can genuinely see his regret as he explains with true sorrow and apology to his friend Shepard what he must do in order to see this through and bring his people into a new state of liberty and self. He refers to himself as an “I” instead of a “we” for the first and only time--in his final moments, Legion is more than an AI consensus; he is a person. And Tali, representative of the Quarian people whom the Geth’s rebellion against had earned the seemingly eternal enmity of, steps forward, and answers the original question of centuries’ past, “Does this unit have a soul,” with the simple, all important answer of “yes.” And Legion thanks her, and tells her that he knows already.
Just...I can’t commit to words the gravity and power of these final words, how immensely grand a gesture it is for Tali to say this to Legion, how epic a thing it is for Legion to acknowledge its own identity as an individual, how amazing it is that we, the audience, have been brought to care for this artificial mind as much as we have, and how great a loss it is to us for him to die...and yet how great, how monumental a moment this is for the Mass Effect universe, for any science fiction storytelling of the created trying to understand, become like, and win the respect of its creator, while keeping its essence as something different intact. All I can say is that this is a truly great scene, and Legion’s end is not one I’ll soon forget.
21. SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: DIGITAL DEVIL SAGA 1
Jinana
I dunno what to say about this one, really. It’s an incredibly poignant and tragic end, one which truly injects our first real, powerful element of emotion into this game as Argilla weeps over her dying friend, and they both awaken to their humanity through their coming to fully recognize and feel the power of affection and camaraderie for one another, only just as this newfound connection is ripped away from them by the ravages of war and senseless brutality. The loss of Jinana is felt by Argilla for the rest of both SMTDDS titles, not only by her conscious remembrance but in every act of decency and kindness, every gesture of goodwill, made by Argilla. Argilla’s loss, Jinana’s happiness at being cared for and close to Argilla in these final moments, Argilla’s awakening to her humanity in this loss, the sorrow of the whole thing...this scene really hits you, and hard.
20. BREATH OF FIRE 2
Daisy
This scene starts as party member Rand is caught in a trap, a wall trying to crush him to death against another. He manages to hold it at bay with his great strength long enough for his friends to get out of the way, but cannot push it away entirely, and cannot move out of its way without losing his grip, which is the only thing keeping it from killing him. He begs his friends to leave, not wanting them to watch him die. They do so, and he stays behind, gradually losing strength, the wall bearing down on him bit by bit. It’s looking bleak...when Daisy, Rand’s mother, comes on the scene. Scolding him harshly for letting himself be caught in such a way, she tries to help him push the wall back, adding her own considerable power to his...but it’s no use. Rand is at his limit, and she can’t stop it on her own. He tells her to leave, and she backs up...then rushes forward and slams into him, knocking him clear and leaving her in his place. He tries to get back in as the walls begin to crush her, but she tells him to stay away.
Until now, Daisy has only ever been harsh and critical of Rand, insulting him, smacking him over the head at times, and forcing he and his friends to interrupt their own (pretty important) business to labor for her. She hasn’t been so cruel as to seem like she doesn’t love him at all, but at the same time, it’s clear that she’s never been encouraging or kind to him. Yet now, at the end, as she has given her own life for his, she speaks gently to him, kindly, telling him that he’s a good boy, a good son, and that good sons listen to their mothers, and she tells him to leave her behind, to save himself. It breaks your heart to watch these final moments of a mother who could never properly express her love for her son until her dying words, but who made the ultimate sacrifice out of that love for him. Just...damn, what a tear-jerker.
19. FRAGILE DREAMS: FAREWELL RUINS OF THE MOON
Personal Frame
It really hadn’t ever occurred to me when I first played this game that the Personal Frame might not always be with Seto when he first found it--I figured the PF was going to be this game’s version of the Fallout series’s Pip-Boy 3000. So maybe part of my being so affected by the dying of the PF’s batteries comes from the fact that it surprised me...but I think most of it simply is that it’s a deeply moving scene. The death of the PF is the death of the first friend Seto’s ever had, the first thing he’s found in this silent world that has been gentle, conversational...alive. Their time together was so sadly short--as is obvious, perhaps in a painful way, by how limited the PF’s recollections of the memories she’s shared with Seto is--but it’s clear that it truly meant the world to her to have met him, to have been able to spend the last hours of her existence having experiences with a friend, instead of alone. His intense sorrow, contrasted to her gentle acceptance, her final question to him of his name as she fades away and his answer, the fact that Seto buries her as one would any person deserving such respects...this is a death that grabs your heart and squeezes mercilessly, makes you want to go find your friends and give them a hug.
18. OMORI
Mari
The loss of Mari is...well, it’s basically the Mother 3 one on steroids. It’s another case where the power of her passing is in the legacy of pain and mourning it creates, a grief round which the entirety of the game revolves and pivots. The power of Mari’s death, the exploration into how her loss echoed painfully within those who knew and loved her in such varied but very real ways, hits the player over and over. Blows of empathy stun us as each new dimension of Mari’s death is revealed to us over the course of Omori, from the plain and outright pain it caused, to the grief-stricken shock and reeling confusion its apparent method created, to the devastation that its true nature wreaked. There are a few great RPGs whose stories are founded upon the loss and legacy of 1 irreplaceable person, such as Shadowrun Dragonfall, Torment: Tides of Numenera, and, as mentioned above, Mother 3, but the depth, layers, and power of Mari’s death is truly sewn into every fiber of Omori’s fabric in a masterful portrayal of the human mind and heart.
17. WILD ARMS 3
Werner
I haven’t mentioned how wonderful Wild Arms 3 is for a while. It’s incredible. Go play it.
Alright, with that obligation out of the way...the death of Werner (the AI hologram of him, that is, the “real” Werner died long before the game’s opening, but for all intents of the plot and his daughter Virginia’s mind, this is as much her father as the one who is deceased) is a fantastic moment between he and Virginia. It’s sad, certainly, but more than that, it’s a moment of clarity and distinction for Virginia, the moment in her life that everything, her youth, the gift and responsibility of ARMS that her father gave her, her character development over the course of the game, all that we’ve seen of Virginia, has led up to. This is the moment of heroism and self-empowerment, the final goodbye to her father in all ways, that she has been building up to. To save the world’s memories, Virginia must shoot and destroy the machine that maintains Werner’s existence--she must, in essence, end this memory of Werner, with her own hands. As a metaphor both for the child leaving the safety of the parent to stand on her own, and for the necessity of moving beyond memories of the past in order to stand in the present and walk to the future, this scene is top-notch. As a cumulation of everything Virginia is and shall be, this scene is top-notch. I love how strongly you can feel their love for one another, I love how Werner explains that the reason he gave Virginia ARMS was so that she could understand and better care for life by knowing exactly how easy it is to harm and end it, I love that their final interaction is to shake hands as equals, I love the way that Virginia does not shy away from what she’s doing at all--she doesn’t just shoot the machine while Werner watches, she shoots the machine that is behind Werner, meaning that in her eyes, in her line of sight, it is her father she’s shooting. I love everything about this scene just as I love everything about this game. Yes, it’s sad and it stays with you, but more than that, it’s empowering, inspiring, a satisfying conclusion and first step into a new way of life.
16. SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: PERSONA 4
Nanako
No, no, Nanako DOES count here. Yes, if you play the game normally to the Normal or True Endings, then she does live, yeah. But, if you make the wrong choices during the scene with Namatame immediately after Nanako dies, her death is real and permanent, and you get the Bad Ending. It’s not like the one from Suikoden 2 I mentioned at the start of the rant--with that one, even if you have Riou pursue the ending in which he never knows that the individual survived, that doesn’t change the fact that they did--Riou was just never told, presumably because he dedicated his life to serving the state, and as such, his important duties never ended, and the "dead" person specifically requested that Riou only be told of her survival when Riou’s work was done, since he otherwise was distracted from it by them. I guess. Regardless of whatever the reason he wasn’t told in that ending, the events were exactly the same leading to her being wounded, and immediately after it, so unless directly evidenced otherwise, we must assume the person lived. Nanako, on the other hand, is very definitively deceased for real during SMTP4’s Bad Ending.
Anyway, enough quibbling over details. Nanako’s death is devastating, both to the game’s cast and to the player. Watching her gently fade away in her hospital bed, before her father can reach her to be present for her final moments, tears your heart out and stomps it into mush. But in addition to that, like the Mother 3 death as we discussed earlier, it’s the immediate aftermath that drives the intense, unreasoning sorrow and anger home to us. Rise sobs helplessly, Kanji slams his fist into the wall in helpless rage, Yosuke alternates between anger and sorrow, and Dojima, in a grief-stricken fog of anger and even madness, goes to find the room of Namatame, the man (supposedly) responsible for Nanako’s death. The rest go after him to stop him from recklessly doing the unthinkable...yet when Dojima is restrained and removed by police guards, and they’re all alone with Namatame, the Investigation Team’s grief and anger overpowers their rationale, and they begin to seriously consider ending Namatame’s life themselves, knowing that they have the ability to do so without being caught or stopped. Unconcerned with guilt beyond reasonable doubt, unconcerned with the process of the law, the team debates with growing fervor the merits of taking the matter into their own hands, making sure themselves that this man will never take another life. Their reason is so lost in grief over Nanako’s passing that they, themselves, are getting closer and closer to becoming murderers. The protagonist can manage to talk them down (in order to pursue the Normal and True Endings), or step back and condone this vigilante justice. But either way, seeing the emotional extremes to which the death of Nanako has pushed her friends and family is enough to truly sell just how painful and wrong and terrible her loss is.
Y’know...just in case you’re an inanimate object that isn’t already teary-eyed over this state of affairs.
15. FINAL FANTASY 10
Tidus
At this point in our list, things begin to take a turn. Though we’re not done with intensely sad and moving death scenes, this is when much (not all, though!) of our list is going to be more than just sorrow-inducing...this is the point where we’ll be more often seeing character deaths that are, though still sob-worthy, more satisfying, inspiring deaths that for all their sadness are nonetheless moments of triumph, where the passing of the character is for the better, and uplifting, and celebrates them and their work in some way, or is otherwise for the greater good. This, I feel, is even more an important part of a great death in fiction than sorrow for one’s loss. To be satisfied with one’s life at its end is important; indeed, it is perhaps the greatest thing we should hope to achieve, to be able to look back or around at one’s legacy and accomplishments and be pleased, and/or to die in a way that makes a positive difference. Death can and should be a good moment in one’s life, when one can, in his/her final moments, look back and see that their existence made a difference, that it mattered in a good way to the people and ideas that they cared about, that the world is better for having had them in it. To be sure, many of the previous characters on this list have deaths with elements of this to them...but going forward, we’ll be seeing many deaths where this positive aspect, this focus on a life well-lived and/or a death for great purpose, is the defining note of the death scene.
Tidus is the perfect way to kick this off. Although Auron, too, is lost at the end of Final Fantasy 10, Auron is already dead, and took upon himself this quest (indeed, he engineered it) with the full understanding and intent of its ending with his being laid to rest. It is Tidus, however, who has gotten caught up with a journey to his own death without having known it at first, Tidus who has convinced his beloved Yuna to follow a different path in defeating Sin, a path where she will not have to sacrifice herself, and no one else ever will, either...save for Tidus himself, who, composed of the same ethereal essence as Sin, must be ended as well to keep Sin from returning. He has taken Yuna’s sacrifice as his own to keep her safe and sound, to protect her, and to guarantee that none shall have to follow her. He dies so that she may live...and though it hurts him to leave her and to accept his own death, and it hurts his friends, and it devastates her to have to watch it happen--to have to make it happen!--he leaves, after a final, loving embrace, with a smile, leaping into the afterlife where his father and Auron await, knowing that he’s succeeding in saving the woman he loves and preserving the world she lives in. This is a death that is incredibly sad, incredibly touching, but also, rewarding, satisfying, a death in which one has found purpose to one’s existence, and followed that purpose through fully, leaving the world a better place for those that one loves.
14. FINAL FANTASY 6
Rachel
Locke has lived for one purpose for years: to find a way to revive Rachel, who perished during an Imperial attack on her town with his name on her lips. Though he had been driven away from her at the time by the belief that being around her as she struggled to restart a life she didn’t remember would make the process more difficult for her, Locke blames himself for her death, believing that he should have been there to keep her safe, that he could have stopped her demise. This loss and determination defines nearly every aspect of his personality in the game; he is a man obsessed with making right by what he considers his unforgivable mistake, both by searching for an item to revive Rachel and by protecting the innocent he encounters with dogged persistence.
Once Locke finds the Magicite of Phoenix, he gets his chance to bring Rachel back...but even then, it’s only for a few minutes, and even that much shatters the magical stone to shards. But these minutes are beautiful, as Rachel reassures him of her undying love for him, of how happy he made her. Most importantly, she urges him to understand that he is not to blame for her passing, that he must not let himself be further burdened by it, that he has to move on and live his life well, and find happiness again. It’s heartrending, yes, but at the same time, Rachel uses this second chance at her final moments to save the man she loves from his own guilt, to release him and give him another chance to enjoy his life. In her final words, she gives Locke one last gift, bringing Phoenix’s Magicite back together so that he may use its powers for good. It’s sad, sure, but more than that, this scene is cathartic, emotionally uplifting, a scene of goodbye but also of a fresh start with a clear heart. Yes, I would say this is the greatest death scene in the entire Final Fantasy series, without question.
13. BREATH OF FIRE 4
Elina
Taking a quick break from uplifting deaths with this one, but it certainly does earn its place in the upper half of this list.
The sweet relief and victory of finally finding Princess Elina, the sister of Nina and Cray’s lover, the seeming final, victorious ending to the long quest of protagonist Ryu’s closest friends, turns to ashes in your mouth as the incalculably evil Lord Yuna reveals what he has done to her, that in seeking an ever more devastating Carronade--the already horrifying weapon of mass destruction he oversees which uses negative thoughts as fuel--he has transformed Elina into an immortal monster, planning to use the the fact that he can torture her eternally and as painfully as he wants because she cannot expire. Having asked to be alone with her beloved Cray, Elina begs him to take the Dragon Slayer, the only weapon capable of killing an immortal, and end her suffering. After all this time journeying to find her, the sacrifices he’s made and the difficulties he’s overcome, Cray has finally found his love only to have to become her executioner. A mercy killing by one’s lover...Elina is happy that she can be relieved of this painful existence by the man she loves, and we the audience feel that, but far more do we feel the soul-shattering anguish of Cray as everything he’s worked for the entire game--everything all the party has worked for--is killed by his own hand. And when we shift to see Nina outside, waiting, unknowing, but, as she narrates to us against a screen of black, somehow realizing when she sees Cray emerge from Elina’s room that she will never see her sister again...the terrible finality in that moment has stayed with me ever since I first saw this scene years ago.
12. SHADOW HEARTS 2
Yuri
Yuri must make a decision at the end of Shadow Hearts 2. The curse of the Mistletoe, ever eating away at his mind and soul, cannot be stopped, and it is not long now before it will finish its terrible work, and he’ll lose all his memories, everything that makes him who he is--including his memories of his beloved Alice. And he CAN choose to allow that to happen--but the true ending of the game is the one in which Yuri stays behind in the collapsing realm beyond time, and allows himself to die, impaled upon a rising spike of rock. Yuri chooses to die, rather than stay alive and lose who he is, and more importantly, who he loved. Death as himself is better than living a life not knowing everything that he ever did, all that ever mattered to him. It’s tragic, but at the same time, it’s right, fulfilling even, to see him choose to remain himself, true and whole, no matter what the cost, not to sacrifice his memories of his friends, his accomplishments, and his love out of fear of death. As we see his soul gently pulled from the Mistletoe’s engulfing bark by the soul of Alice, come to bring him to her, we know that the right choice was made: death for Yuri, release from an existence without Alice and escape from an existence where he has forgotten himself, is not a bad thing here. For Yuri, he has chosen wisely--he has chosen not the curse of the Mistletoe, the curse of existence at the cost of soul, but rather the blessing of a peaceful, satisfied end. And he’s rewarded for it, for all the good that he’s done, with a second chance--his soul is moved through time, and brought back to the first moments of Shadow Hearts 1...the moments when he first met Alice, and came to find meaning joy in life thanks to her. The best time of his life.
11. RAKUEN
The Boy
Rakuen is the story of a child who is forced to confront his mortality all too tragically soon, and come to terms with the fact that he is dying. And it’s the story of the horrible, unthinkable tragedy of a mother likewise having to come to terms with the fact that her child is dying, live with that fact, and still stay strong enough that she can give him courage and comfort. It’s a story that so many people have to live through, tragically real and simple and direct, regardless of the pretty fantasy world that accompanies it in Rakuen. When the end finally comes for The Boy, as his mother hugs him goodbye forever before his final, too-early voyage to an unknown we all must face, it will in many ways tear you up inside.
But, bittersweet though this may be, it will also leave you feeling warm, and hopeful, and inspired. Because The Boy has managed to make peace with his pain; as much as this is a story about the tragedy of the death of the young, it’s also a story about how wonderful life is even when it’s short, and the legacy you can still leave as someone who bettered the lives of those around you, raising them out of their worst moments even in the midst of yours. And as much as this is a story about a mother having to stay strong for her son in his final days in spite of her own unfathomable grief, it’s also a story of how she, in turn, is made stronger and able to carry on because of the bravery that he has returned to her. To hear her tell The Boy that he’s her little hero, to see her able, in the ending, to pull herself from her grief and bravely stride forward thanks to the love and courage from and for her son that she’ll carry with her forever...it’s incredible, and powerful, and something you’ll take with you forever, I think.
10. SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: PERSONA 3
Makoto/Kotone
For the sake of clarity in my mind, I will refer to SMTP3’s protagonist as Makoto, but obviously this applies to both he and his female counterpart. Also, I include him on this list currently because right now, his exit from the world is essentially the same as death--his soul is dormant, holding back Nyx the Destroyer from being summoned once more. This may, however, change in the future, as further SMT Persona games may wind up having him freed from this task and returned to life by Elizabeth. It’s kind of been hinted in SMTP Arena (from what I’ve heard; haven’t actually played the game myself) that this will be the case in the future. If that happens, I’ll have to decide at that point whether it counts as a resurrection or a “didn’t really die” moment, and whether he’ll qualify for this list. But for now, I’m keeping Makoto here.
Makoto’s death is essentially a long, drawn-out affair. It starts with him rising to meet Nyx head-on, given the power of the fully enlightened human being to do so. He draws upon the connections he’s forged with the many people whose lives he has bettered in the past year, who will forever remember him as someone very dear to them, and is empowered by their emotional ties. He has found the true wisdom of this journey, that life is made rich and meaningful by the connections that one forges with the people around one, and in so doing, Makoto has become a Messiah, one who has reached a level of enlightenment above the regular condition of humanity, one who serves to show the path to all others of how life should be lived.
But in vanquishing Nyx as this avatar of the best of humanity’s soul, Makoto exhausts himself, and (perhaps unknowingly) binds his soul to Nyx to ensure that he’ll be able to keep it from ever returning. It is this moment of triumph that is also the moment of his end. From that point on, Makoto’s time on Earth is limited. He manages to make it to the final days of school, growing more and more tired with every passing day, and on those final days, as his life draws to a close, he goes out into the city he’s lived in for this past year, among the many people he forged deep relationships with, checking upon each of them one last time--a silent farewell to those he’s cared for and those who cherish him back. Seeing the good he’s done for them, Makoto manages to live long enough to see the final day of school. He enjoys the beautiful day from the roof of the school, head in the lap of Aigis,* she who loves him most of all, listening to her gently reminiscing about the great thing they’ve done, and speaking about the beauty of life and friendship. Remembering now their adventure together, the rest of Makoto’s allies and friends all rush to the rooftop to find him, to celebrate their victory with him, and he closes his eyes one final time, surrounded by the loved ones he fought alongside and gave everything to give a future.
Incredibly tragic. Tender beyond words. And also so, so very satisfying even in its sadness, uplifting in his being surrounded by all that he loves and all that he has achieved as he passes on. It’s one of the most beautiful and touching endings I’ve ever seen, one of the most incredible passings of a beloved character, so inspiring...and if you’ll excuse me a moment, I need to compose myself, because just having thought about this scene has gotten me choked up pretty badly. You should’ve seen me the first time I saw it. Bawling like a baby.
9. PLANESCAPE: TORMENT
The Nameless One
This one’s interesting because it’s almost completely devoid of sadness, at least to me. Yes, I’m sorry to see The Nameless One die to a certain extent, but the truth is, I’m more happy for him than anything. For The Nameless One, death is the proper end of his journey to discover himself and end his eternal suffering and confusion--he has conquered his own mortality, The Transcendent One, and forced it back into himself; what other conclusion could there be but to die? After living for so long, and causing so much havoc in the universe through the actions of his past selves, to die is a goal, a blessing, a righting of what was wrong with the universe and himself. To end centuries of living in fear and confusion, of traveling across the multiverse and sowing chaos with every step, to finally be whole and himself once again after untold ages of the torment of a half-existence, to no longer have to see the lives he’s ruined, leaving so much destruction of every kind in his wake that the only individuals that he can gather to himself now are those nearly as broken and anguished as himself...no, death is a small price to pay indeed, and even the afterlife’s punishment for his deeds is looked to with hope and satisfaction. The Nameless One’s death is everything that could be wanted in a conclusion to his long journey, and gives glad closure to his tale.
8. MASS EFFECT 3
Anderson
The death of Anderson is quiet yet incredibly emotional. As the staunchest supporter of Commander Shepard throughout the series, the first and loudest voice to lend encouragement to and trust in Shepard’s abilities and decisions, Anderson fulfills a role not just as a superior officer, but also of a mentor, friend, and father figure. In many ways, the struggle against the Reapers unwittingly began with Anderson, and the struggle to save the people of the universe from the Reapers and all their forces has always been as much his own to bear as Shepard’s. It is thus so fitting, so right, that here, at the end of this epic galactic conflict, Shepard shares the stage with Anderson. The death of the man who ultimately made possible every heroic feat that the great Commander Shepard has performed, the man who has always perfectly walked the line between being a gentle guide to Shepard while forever respecting and backing up Shepard’s independence and autonomy...it really hits you hard and deep.
But as Anderson and Shepard talk in these final moments, taking in the battle around them as Anderson reflects on how tired he is, there’s a certain overwhelming sense of acceptance from Anderson. You can feel that he’s prepared for this moment, and now that he and Shepard have succeeded, he’s alright with having earned his rest. Certainly doesn’t make it any less moving to watch, of course, but this is a quiet, peaceful heroic end that one can look back at later and respect, feel satisfied by, despite the sadness of losing Anderson. There is a certain level of joy that an audience can feel at witnessing a calm, peaceful acceptance of one’s end, and that certainly is the case here. And to seal the deal of how meaningful and touching this scene is, Anderson’s last words are that Shepard has done well, and that Anderson is proud of our hero. Ever the loyal, encouraging father figure even to the end--there could not be a better death scene for David Anderson.
7. FRAGILE DREAMS: FAREWELL RUINS OF THE MOON
Crow
Ohhh, so that’s why Personal Frame died earlier in the game--to give you a practice run for how it’s gonna feel when the game later rips your heart out of your chest and stomps on it with cleats. Seriously, I can’t...there’s nothing I can say about the tenderness and the sorrow of this scene, as Seto finds his brief best friend again only to have to say goodbye to him, reassuring Crow of his humanity and their friendship in his last moments, Crow’s mind fading as his battery runs out. And that last line…
“Mm...Come on, he shut down.”
“You’re wrong...he died.”
Oh God where are my tissues I need my tissues.
6. MASS EFFECT 3
Charr
Oh jeez. Good thing I just got these tissues, because hoo boy is this a tearjerker. In Mass Effect 2, one of the many memorable, teeny-tiny unimportant NPCs you could encounter was Charr, a lovesick krogan who was head-over-heels for a particular asari woman Eraba. In an attempt to woo her back after she hesitated to deepen their relationship, he was spouting corny poetry, calling her his “Blue Rose of Illium” (Illium being the planet they were on). It was funny and cute, plus kind of sweet. Shepard had the opportunity to convince Ereba to give Charr a chance, or to be a heartless bastard and tell her to stay away from him.
In Mass Effect 3, we see Ereba again on the Citadel, working at a shop whose profits go to the war effort and proudly telling her customers about how her husband is off fighting the Reaper forces. Just regular background NPC chatter, really, nothing you’d think too deeply about. But later on, Shepard goes on a mission to assist a company of krogan commandos investigate what happened to a team that hasn’t reported in for too long. During this mission, it becomes obvious that all the members of the first team died fighting the Reapers’ new ground troops, and by one of the corpses, Shepard finds an audio message, to be delivered to Ereba--a final message that Charr recorded for her once he knew that there would be no returning from his mission. When Shepard brings it to Ereba and plays it for her, we’re treated to a beautiful poem of farewell, as Charr speaks of his love for her, that she will be in his thoughts and heart to the very end, and his pride in having fought to protect Ereba and their unborn daughter. The emotion and the imagery of his poem together in this moment...yup, I cried. Cried hard. What a beautiful, tender moment of loss this is...and like so many of the conversations Shepard can listen in on around the Citadel during Mass Effect 3’s time of war, it feels very, very tragically real to me.
5. DISGAEA 1
Laharl’s Mother
Reincarnating out of one’s stay in purgatory counts as a death, right? Eh, close enough for me, at least in this context.
Well, you can’t ask for much better of a character death than the last one, but it’s still possible to get one all the same. Probably the best part of a game full of excellence, the chapter in Disgaea 1 where you learn of Laharl’s deceased mother, how she ended her own life to save her son’s, and realize that much of Laharl’s resistance to love comes from the pain it caused him at that time, all culminates with the Prinnies, reborn souls working off their sins as menial laborers in the underworld, being taken by the specter of death to properly reincarnate, now that they have atoned for their past lives’ crimes. Though Laharl does not realize it at first, the pink Prinny who looks after the others is his mother, reborn as a Prinny because she must work off the sin of taking her own life. I...damn, I really don’t know how to describe this scene adequately to express why it is so incredible. All I can say is that the sadness of Laharl’s mother leaving just when her son realizes she’s before him, the happiness of knowing that she’s going on to something better, her gladness at seeing that her son is well cared-for and is on his way to being a truly good person, the heartfelt power of a mother’s love, our understanding of how full of both contentment and pain she is in leaving...it all comes together into one of the most touching scenes of farewell I’ve seen in a game.
4. SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: PERSONA Q1
Rei and Zen
Grimm’s Hollow, Rakuen, and now Persona Q1...it’s a little morbid, but there’s no denying that some incredible games have been created whose founding premise is telling the story of a person’s death.
Rei’s passing on at the end of SMTPQ1 covers just about every angle of a truly great death. It’s extraordinarily moving--having earlier invoked a heartbreaking sorrow at Rei’s anguish over her cruelly short and limited life, now it’s poignantly uplifting and fulfilling to see her surrounded by the kind of friends she had yearned for in her life, people who love her and want to reassure her that she mattered and made a difference. The eloquence of Zen and the Persona teams in convincing Rei of her worth is not only inspiringly beautiful, it also speaks to us, the audience, in its heartfelt bid to make us understand that even a small life has value, that everyone makes a mark upon the world in some way, and that life will never be the same thereafter for having had us within it, even for a brief moment. And her death is something to be content with, to view as a good and noble end to her existence, for in her long journey to dying, Rei gave Zen an existence of his own, bringing something more about for him than simply being an unfeeling death god. Not to mention she’s helped refresh the unity and comradeship of the Persona teams, an extra dose of friendship that carries with them past this adventure, even if their conscious memories do not.** I even like to think that Rei’s example subconsciously helped Makoto to embrace his own inspiring end at the conclusion of SMT Persona 3.
And while Rei’s the star of the show, it’s only fair to piggyback Zen on here, for he’s choosing to walk into oblivion with her, hand-in-hand, refusing to ever be separated from his beloved Philei, who is everything to him. The fact that she has moved a god of death himself so much to choose such a thing, the fact that Zen shows the possibility of death not being scary when you’re doing it for something or someone important to you...it adds so much to an already incredibly poignant, meaningful scene. Combined with the fact that Rei is given a final chance to have a good time with her friends and say goodbye to them helps
Rei’s death gives us sorrow and heartbreak, and later acceptance, peace, and even joy. Her passing is an inspirational moment, and in her death, she has made those around her better. She and Zen are able to have good, important moments before they go, they’re able to say their farewells, and their walk to oblivion is one they take together, comforted by one another, holding one another’s hand. The ending of SMTPQ1 checks off practically every box you can for a character’s death to be great...and more than that, it also speaks passionately to its audience. In communicating its heartfelt belief that even a small life is still immeasurably valuable, that even a limited life still unmistakably changes the world forever, and that simply to have lived at all is in itself worthwhile, Persona Q1 gives us valuable wisdom and reassurance about the most frightening and confusing part of life. This death scene is essentially perfect; I can’t think of anything more it could do to be better.
And yet, somehow, it’s still not the absolute best that Persona can give us.
3. MASS EFFECT 3
Thane
This assumes that Thane’s son is alive and reconciled with Thane (thanks to the ME2 loyalty mission), that Thane himself is still alive by ME3 (as in, didn’t die at the end of ME2), and that Shepard is not a Renegade douchebag.
Look, I’m sorry that like a third of all the people on this list come from Mass Effect 3. It’s not my fault. Blame Bioware for killing all their characters off, but in amazingly excellent ways.
Thane goes out like a champ, protecting lives and fighting off the eminently loathsome Kai Leng, keeping up with and scoring hits on the jerk even though Thane is in the last stages of a crippling, mortal disease--because Thane is fucking awesome. Sadly, he still gets stabbed, which is bullshit because A, Kai Leng is actually a weak little shit, B, it really didn’t make much sense for Thane to run straight at a guy with a sword while he himself was still armed with a far superior pistol, and C, Shepard and company are in the midst of a severe case of Voyeuristic Paralysis Syndrome which is always stupid. Still, it’s not the act that kills Thane that puts Thane’s death on this list, but rather the later scene in the hospital as Thane actually passes away.
Thane’s death is...truly epic. He is calm, at peace with his end, knowing that he has, as he had hoped, left the universe a little better than when he entered it. Shepard gets to be there with Thane for his final moments, along with Thane’s son Kolyat, and so Thane is with those closest to him, those that remind him that he has achieved good with his life. Yet Thane feels there is one last thing he must do. In his final act in this world, Thane begins a prayer for forgiveness, which Kolyat and Shepard help him to finish. It’s a beautiful addition of spirituality to the intense emotion of the scene, made all the more poignant when Shepard asks why Thane, who died a hero, would pray for forgiveness...to which Kolyat responds that the wish was not for himself, but rather for Shepard. Even in his final moments, even knowing that his life wrought good for the world, Thane’s final thoughts are for the spiritual welfare of another.
Even this isn’t all there is, however. In the Citadel DLC for the game, Kolyat, Shepard, and Shepard’s crew hold a memorial service for Thane, and in my mind, such a ritual of remembrance for the fallen qualifies as a part of the character’s death worthy of note on this list. It’s a strong addition to the game, handled well and respectfully recalling to our mind the fallen Thane, in a much-needed moment of sober reflection in an otherwise overly jovial DLC package.
Thane’s death is an eminently moving one, one which is tear-inducingly tragic, richly spiritual, and shows an excellent combination of the deceased feeling satisfaction with his life and his final act, and being at peace with his end. You can’t ask for much better than this.
2. MASS EFFECT 3
Mordin
Mordin’s death is that of a hero, that of a man satisfied and proud of his accomplishment and his life, and that of a man who knows that his death serves a great and worthy purpose, that he dies bringing hope to the universe and correcting his only great mistake and regret in life. Human or not, Mordin’s death is the picture of victory as a person, a portrayal of man’s only true triumph over death. He does not shy away from it, he does not fear it, he does not even wait for it to come to him--he strides toward it calmly, proudly, because it will be the culmination of his most important work, it will be the salvation of a people that he feels responsible for. He dies in the service of others, he dies at peace with what he has done in his life, he dies knowing that the legacy of his most valued work, of his knowledge, will be the future of an entire race. And perhaps most of all, he dies his own way, satisfied with himself, with a smile on his face and singing a song of triumph. Truly, if a man dies on his own terms and happy with who he is, dies doing good for the world and knows that the legacy of his life’s work was noble and worthwhile, fully at peace with where he is, who he is, and the fact that it is time to end...has he not conquered death in every way we can hope to? Sad though it is for us to have to part with Mordin--it’s definitely no less a thing to grieve over than any other character’s passing--he provides an inspiring example for us, a reassurance that death need not only be the last moment of our lives...it can also be one of our greatest.
1. SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: PERSONA 3
Akinari
Sorry to cop out here, but I’m not going to even try to describe this and explain why it is one of the most incredible things I’ve ever witnessed in fiction of any format. Each and every time I witness the final scene of the Sun Social Link--and, for that matter, the Sun Social Link farewell at the end of the game, where you speak with Akinari’s mother--I just start sobbing uncontrollably. Every. Time. I’ve seen Akinari’s story from start to finish probably a dozen times now, and I weep no less now than I did the first time. Maybe even more! For heaven’s sake, I am getting misty-eyed just thinking about it. The passing of Akinari is monumentally moving, a masterpiece of the art of emotion, beyond words’ ability to describe.
Honorable Mention 1: SHIN MEGAMI TENSEI: DEVIL SUMMONER: SOUL HACKERS
Leader
I’m giving this spot to the death of Leader in SMTDS Soul Hackers because it was this one that gave me the idea of making this list in the first place. I was surprised as I sorted through the list of all the character deaths I’d seen in RPGs that Leader’s so quickly fell below the initial 25th spot, and it still hasn't managed to make it on now that the list has been extended, but I suppose that just speaks all the more for how great the ones that did make the list are. Still, as Leader’s passing was strong enough to make me think of making this rant, it deserves mention. Yes, I know that you can save him in the New Game+, but on your first playthrough, Leader dies, so it’s legit.
The tragedy of this scene hit me hard as Leader awakens from being possessed to find himself mortally wounded, dying after being forced to attack his friends. As Nemissa breaks into tears over the fact that this man is dying--which is touching in itself, to see that Nemissa has grown to care about the people around her so much--Leader is gentle and forgiving, noble to his end, which makes the whole thing even more affecting. What really hits me hardest in this scene is when Nemissa desperately tries to awaken Hitomi (Nemissa is a spirit possessing Hitomi’s body, and Hitomi’s spirit has lately been becoming too weak to maintain consciousness). The desperation with which she rouses Hitomi’s consciousness, her tearful need for Hitomi to be able to say goodbye to Leader...it’s heartbreaking.
Honorable Mention 2: MASS EFFECT 3
Padok Wiks
It wouldn't be right to put Wiks on the main list, since he's basically sharing the same death scene with Mordin Solus (basically, if Mordin didn't live to the end of ME2, then Padok replaces him in ME3 and does the same stuff). But as with everything else about Padok Wiks, his death is pretty damn excellent, far too much so not to give it accolades here. Yes, Mordin's is greater, but Padok's accomplishes much the same when he is the one curing the genophage--showing us what a noble and powerful sacrifice is being made, and having him leave this world satisfied that he has done his part for the good of all, for a greater purpose. And though Mordin's had more time with the player and that adds to the weight of this scene when he's doing it, I have to say, Padok has a far better parting line to Shepard:
"Some souls die in battle, some die in their sleep. And some die for no reason at all! This...is my chance to die for what I believe."
That's a hell of a final line, for a hell of a final scene. This death scene may truly belong to Mordin, but it would be wrong not to acknowledge that Padok performs it with equal excellence, and would absolutely have taken the same spot on this list.
Well. That was fun. And by that I mean it was a nonstop emotional roller coaster as I remembered and re-watched all these great, yet incredibly sad, moments. It was tough to write, too...difficult to keep it from just being 35 repeats of the sentence “It’s really sad.” But I think I’m pleased with this.
You know what was the hardest part of this rant, though? Figuring out which 35 were the best. When I first looked over the RPGs I’d played and started listing out every character death that was particularly good and worthy of note, I figured I’d be making a Top 10 list, 15 at most, and that it’d be easy to separate them all out. That was not the case. My end total of character deaths in RPGs that I felt were especially good was 63, and that was the first time around, something like 100+ RPGs ago. Even with this list being a long 35 slots, I’ve still been shocked and dismayed by how many great character deaths didn’t make the list. I never imagined this list wouldn’t have (SPOILERS) Final Fantasy 6's Leo, The Witcher 3's Vesemir, Infinite Space's Nia, Phantasy Star 4's Alys, Chrono Trigger's Crono--and I could go on. And even once I'd determined the 35 that would be on this list, it was still a devil of a time to try to order them. At first, I thought the Breath of Fire ones would be higher than they ended up being, while my original thoughts were to have the Final Fantasy 6 one much further down the list. I kept rearranging it as I went along, thought deeply about each character’s death, determined just how strongly it made me feel something and just how worthwhile it truly was for both its emotional impact and its message, if it had one.
This was easily the most difficult list I’ve ever written. I really hope you guys enjoy it, if you’ve made it this far. I’m sure I’ll be besieged soon enough with indignant cries of how I could dare not include Aeris, or Earthbound’s Star Fly, or so on, but nonetheless, I do think my choices have been good ones. Hopefully some of you will agree.
* Well, in a New Game+, you can actually have the protagonist here with a different love interest, now. But the first time around, it’s always Aigis, and in my mind, since she is both the one who loves him greatest and also the one to whom he passes the torch of journeying to discover oneself through the love of others, it’s her who should be here, period.
** Which I’m still not happy about, by the way.
