Exactly What It Says on the Tin. A character who remains alive in a work of fiction dies in the adaptation.
Both a death trope and an adaptation trope, this comes in two variations:
More commonly, a character who did not die in the source material is killed off in the adaptation.
Alternatively, a character who did get killed at some point in the source material is killed off a lot sooner in the adaptation.
The reasons for doing this vary. Perhaps the crew wanted to surprise everyone, including fans of the source material. Perhaps they personally viewed the unfortunate character as The Scrappy and wanted to get rid of them. Maybe Executive Meddling required this change to be made. Maybe the character in question was a villain, and in grand movie tradition, the villain had to die at the end of the movie, even if he or she was a recurring villain in the source material. Whatever the reason, the result is the same: a character you did not expect to die met their end. Frequently a cause of They Changed It, Now It Sucks and is actually one of the cases where that can be a very valid complaint.
Despite the above hypothetical example being a movie, this trope is hardly limited to book-to-film adaptations, as you'll see in the examples.
Compare with Schrödinger's Cast where a character's fate is different from the source material, but the source material is still ongoing (which may create the need for a drastic rewrite if the character in question becomes important later on in the source material) and Superhero Movie Villains Die for when death in adaptations is more permanent than the source.
Contrast with Spared by the Adaptation where a character who died in the source material does not die in the adaptation.
Not to be confused with Doomed by Canon.
Warning: This is a death trope and will contain unmarked spoilers. Read the examples at your own risk
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Examples where the character did not die in the source:
Anime and Manga
If you consider the main Death Note series as an adaptation of the pilot chapter, then both L and Light are this for their Pilot counterparts (Inspector Yamanaka and Taro Kagami, respectively)
Taro could also be considered the Pilot counterpart for Mikami due to them looking exactly the same. Either way, the trope still applies.
Mogi in the second live action film, in place of Ukita in the manga and anime.
In Magic Knight Rayearth, Presea chooses to complete the Knights' weapons instead of escaping Ascot's first monster attack. She dies soon after finishing, once the place collapses.
In Magic Knight Rayearth 2, the Autozam Commander Eagle Vision survives the Pillar's Trial and goes into deep sleep (but remains aware of his surroundings via Psychic Link,) and it's heavily implied that the new Cephiro will help him make a speedy recovery. In the anime, he battles Nova alongside the Magic Knights and rescues Lantis... and is then killed by Debonair.
The OAV is even more cruel. Aside from a Type II regarding Zagato, Lantis and Ascot meet their end. Especially jarring since Ascot was turned into a full-blown bad guy for the OAV.
The character Duclis from Slayers has completely different roles in both novels and anime but fall under this trope nonetheless: in the novels, he is the leader of a cult praising the Dark Lord Shabranigdo and is eventually slain by Lina; in the anime he is a friend of the prince Pokota; he attempts a mass murdering spree in the name of his and Pokota's kingdom and is nearly absorbed by a beast, but manages to survive. In the manga adaptation of the anime season he appeared in, though, he is killed by Shabranigdo.
In an odd meta-example, minor character Rubia was dead to begin with in the anime and was the subject of an attempted resurrection by her lover. In the original novels, she is still alive and assists Lina and Gourry up until the Mazoku Saygram kills her.
Amelia's uncle, Randionel, dies in the middle of the first season of the anime, whereas he dies in the first Slayers Special novel, which is, mind you, the prequel to the regular novel line, so he dies far earlier there.
Doctor Marcoh, Scar, Izumi Curtis, Selim Bradley, and Yoki in the Fullmetal Alchemist2003 anime.
Satella and Fiore die near the end of the anime, but in the manga were merely frozenin crystal and revived in the 1990s.
Shader is killed by Father Remington after the battle of the carnival in the anime, but survives the final battle in the manga (and is, in fact, implied to be the one that revived Satella and Fiore).
Chrono is a possible example—his fate is left vague in the manga (he returns to Rosette in the end, but there's some debate that he's possibly just a vision or a ghost welcoming Rosette into the afterlife), but he's definitively, absolutely dead in the anime's ending.
Dominic and Eureka herself in the Eureka Seven manga.
The novelization of Mobile Suit Gundam kills off Amuro Ray when the Gundam is shot in the back by a Zeon mobile suit's bazooka.
The novelization of Mobile Suit Zeta Gundam somehow manages to have more of a Downer Ending than the original series, where the main character Kamille's suicide is heavily implied.
Partial example: Straight Cougar's s-CRY-ed fate is ambiguous in the anime (we last seem him sitting in a chair when his limbs appear to go limp) but he quite unambiguously died in the manga adaptation.
In the official manga adaptation of Neon Genesis Evangelion, Touji Suzuhara dies outright after the 13th Angel takes over his Evangelion. In the anime, he "merely" loses a couple limbs.
Depending on your interpretation of End of Evangelion, he might be a type 2 example!
Raikou from Nabari No Ou dies in the anime after his Heel Face Turn. In the manga he still has his Heel Face Turn and comes close to dying once, but ultimately survives.
Shigure in YuYu Hakusho lives until the end of the manga, but in the anime, commits suicide after losing to Kurama.
One of the more notable changes in the adaptation of Macross to Robotech was the written-in deaths of the Macross/SDF-1 bridge crew. In the final episode of Macross, Global, Claudia, and the Bridge Bunnies survive the final assault to the battle fortress; their Robotech counterparts aren't so lucky.
Macross Frontier does this in the movie, with a twist. In the series there is a scene where Alto goes missing and Sheryl falls into a coma from despair and her illness. Now in the series they both get better, but in the movie Alto is missing and most likely dead (at least his survival chances are very low) and Sheryl, while healed from her illness, still lies in a coma (though she begins to stir just as the movie ends). There is hope for both (less for the former, more for the latter), but compared to series, this counts as possible death.
And in The movie-centered manga Kiss of the Galaxy, Vol. 2, Sheryl is outright killed by Brera. As the scene takes place way before final confrontation she will most likely end Only Mostly Dead, but still...
Gankutsuou: The Count of Monte Cristo kills off Franz d'Epinay, Danglars, and the Count himself, while they all survive in the original novel. Franz's death is particularly noteworthy, as it occurs about 3/4 of the way through the series, and provides the catalyst for Albert to grow up and wise up.
At the end of the Ookami Kakushi, Kaori defeats Sakaki by throwing both of them off a cliff; in the VN's true end, they both live (Sakaki being defeated by non-lethal means), but it's implied Kaori will eventually die from her illness.
In the Mai-Otome manga, Rad, Nagi and Sergay Auguste Taiki die.
In Pokémon Special, Pryce, Maxie, Archie, and Steven Stone die when they don't in the original games.
Ends up subverted with Pryce as of the HGSS chapters. Though, to be fair, they Never Found the Body, and he was only trapped in time. And Steven is brought back to life. However, Maxie and Archie stay dead.
Bleach ended its anime before it was revealed that Tier Harribel, Emilou Apacci, Cyan Sung-Sun, Franceska Mila Rose, Menoly Mallia and Grimmjow Jaegerjaquez were alive and that the souls of Ginjo, Tsukishima and Giriko have made it over to the Soul Society.
Trigun: Late in the anime Brad is assassinated by one of the Gung-Ho Guns and dies with Vash crying over him. In the manga, he survives the entire series.
Phantom ~Requiem for the Phantom: The anime mainly follows the "Ein" path from the original visual novel. In that ending, both Reiji and Ein live. In the anime ending, in the very last minute Reiji is shot and killed by another assassin and Ein commits suicide over his death.
In the original Yu-Gi-Oh! manga, Isis was the only other member of the Priests that served under the Pharaoh save Seto to survive the battle with Zork. In the anime, she dies as well.
In the early manga chapters, Yugi's grandfather has an archeologist friend named Yoshimori who is targeted by Shadi for disrupting an Egyptian tomb. Just as he is about to kill him, Shadi discovers that he knows Yugi and instead decides to brainwash him into becoming his servant who attacks and tries to kill Yugi's friends as a distraction while he tests Yugi's other half, and after his eventual defeat, Yoshimori is freed from control and ultimately spared. In the anime version, Shadi kills Yoshimori, and brainwashes Honda instead.
Dakki in Houshin Engi. In the manga she lives and becomes part of the world and even saves the main character's life. In the anime, her depth is non-existent and she gets a normal All Your Colors Combined death.
Another has Kazami who was thought to have been killed by Teshigawara, but survives, only to really die later on. The anime, in general, killed off more students than did in the manga or light novel versions.
Dr. Regal dies in both Manga and Anime continuities of Mega Man NT Warrior. In the former, he's killed when Bass blows up his submarine; in the latter, he is aged into a skeleton by Duo. In the video game, he's mind wiped by Lord Wily and turns good.
Comics
Dr. Robotnik in Archie Comics Sonic The Hedgehog, although he's a rather odd case: the comics treat Ivo Robotnik and Eggman Robotnik as two separate characters, then Ivo was Killed Off for Real and Eggman took his place. Splitting him into two characters is pretty much the only thing that prevents this from falling under Schrodingers Cat.
Chaos in Sonic the Comic is eaten alive, but in the games, he's dragged to a safe place.
Ken Masters in Malibu Comics Street Fighteris brutally beaten and scalped by Sagat after already dealing with Balrog and a handful of Shadaloo gunmen.
Inverted by Shane Walsh who becomes the leader of the Atlanta group following Rick's death.
Reconstructed when, despite Rick's death the group continues into a harsh winter and eventually winds up in The Prison just like their canon counterparts.
In most Nuzlocke Comics from Pokemon Red And Blue (or the third-gen remakes), Gary's Raticate dies. This is because of a popular fan theory: Raticate's no longer on Gary's team when he asks you about dead Pokemon at Lavender Tower, so it's possible he was there in mourning. The games themselves never quite mention what happened to Raticate, though it's possible Gary just stored it in a PC box to make room for something else.
The very nature of Nuzlocke challenges is this trope. Instead of simply "fainting", any Pokemon who lose in battle are killed, and must either be released or placed in a PC box reserved for dead Pokemon.
In Perfection Is Overrated, Yukariko and Ishigami die like they did in canon, but they stay dead in this story, because Miyu is destroyed near the end of the story before she can be awakened, meaning that she cannot smash the pillars. As a result, Alyssa does not come back from the dead, either.
Hrothgar in the 2007 Beowulf. In the poem, we don't see him again after Beowulf kills Grendel's mother and the story skips to Beowulf as a king in a different country. In the film, once Beowulf claims to have killed her, Hrothgar gives him his throne and commits suicide out of the shame for being a fraud who fathered Grendel in the first place.
Metallo in Superman Batman Public Enemies. In the comic version, outside of a mention that he might've been involved in the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne that turned out to be a Red Herring by Lex Luthor to keep Batman away, his subplot didn't have anything to do with the main plot; In the movie version, he was killed by Major Force (under orders from Luthor) to frame Superman.
The Sphere in Flatland: the Film, but not in Flatland: the Movie (another adaptation that was, oddly, released the same year).
In the film Brest Fortress, the narrator in the end says that "Anya Kizhevatova was executed along with all families of the Fortress' defenders." Anya was indeed executed, but most of the families (including other girls Anya's age ) actually survived.
In the original The Hobbit, only three of the thirteen dwarves (Thorin, Fíli, and Kíli) die. In the Rankin Bassversion, besides Thorin, five of them die, including Bombur.
Quasimodo's mother in The Hunchback of Notre Dame. In the original book, he was Switched at Birth with Esmerelda and then abandoned because of his ugly appearance before being adopted by Frollo who took pity on him. In the movie, she loved him, but Frollo killed her and made him think that his mother abandoned him as a baby.
In Animal Farm, Snowball is simply run out of the farm by Napoleon's dogs and Napoleon will probably rule the farm for the rest of his natural life. In the 1954 Animated Adaptation, it's heavily implied the dogs actually killed Snowball and the film ends with all the other animals attacking Napoleon and the other pigs while his dogs are too drunk to defend them.
In the DC comics, when Bolphunga the Unrelenting discovers that Mogo is a living planet, he flees from him fast. In Green Lantern Emerald Knights, Mogo kills Bolphunga before he could get away.
Film (Live Action)
Gennaro and Muldoon in Jurassic Park. In the former's case, it may be because he was effectively a Composite Character with someone who did die in the book. Interestingly, Gennaro is mentioned as having Died On A Bus in The Lost World novel, perhaps to get things more consistent between the novels and films.
Dr. Frock in The Relic, particularly jarring as he plays a central role in the novel's sequel, Reliquary, as the Big Bad.
The same goes with scientist Greg Lee (Kawakita in the novel). Although he dies in between the events of the two books, his actions are actually what kick the sequel off and lead to Frock becoming a villain, as he begins recreating the plant the created the monster with the intention of selling it as a drug.
Inspector Legrasse in the 2005 silent film adaptation of The Call of Cthulhu
Ben in the 2003 version of Willard, whereas in the 1971 movie and the original proposed ending, he kills Willard and survives, injured, but shrugging it off.
Everybody except for Bastian and the Empress in The Neverending Story. They get better.
Dick Halloran in The Shining. In the novel he takes a beating with a roque club, but makes it out alive with a broken jaw. But in the film, he is killed by an axe to the chest.
Haldir in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings. (In the book, the elves don't even show up at Helm's Deep). Also the Mouth of Sauron, whose fate in the book is unknown.
Sauron himself doesn't technically die in the book, as he is said to be "maimed forever" when the ring is destroyed. In the movie, he is destroyed along with it. And how. Though his spirit could still be present.
Oddly enough, Carmine Falcone is still alive in this universe while dead in the comics. But he is permanently driven insane with fear in Batman Begins, so maybe death was a better option.
Cyclops dies off screen unglamourously in X-Men: The Last Stand. The characters who die by adaptation in the X-Men films could probably fill a whole damn page. Lady Deathstrike, Psylocke, Kestrel, Agent Zero, and (apparently) Toad are notable examples.
This happens to several characters, actually: Griphook (massacred along with the rest of the Gringotts staff by Voldemort), Scabior (falls to his doom when the bridge he is standing on blows up), Pius Thicknesse (killed by Voldemort for being annoying), and, it's implied, Lavender Brown (attacked by Fenrir Greyback, may or may not have survived) and Fenrir Greyback (defenestrated by Hermione in turn).
The way Amycus and Alecto Carrow lay on the ground after being defeated by McGonagall suggests that they're also dead (McGonagall used the same spell Harry later tries to kill Nagini with) while in the book they are imprisoned in a net by McGonagall at Ravenclaw Tower.
Arthur in the 2005 movie of Tom Brown's Schooldays.
The musical Little Shop Of Horrors ends with the monster plant Audrey II surviving to conquer the world. When it came to the film version of the musical, test audiences took against the conquer-the-world ending, and it was replaced with one in which Audrey II was successfully killed off.
Also doubles as Spared by the Adaptation, since both Seymour and the original Audrey survive in this version.
Menelaus in Troy is killed by Hector to save Paris near the start of the siege, while in the original Paris is saved by Aphrodite, and Menelaus actually ends up going home with Helen.
Not only was this a throwaway line from a promotional "newsletter" and wasn't even in the movie proper, but it's retconned away when Leon Kennedy finally, finally makes an appearance in Resident Evil Retribution.
In Resident Evil Retribution Barry finally makes a appearance as well, but dies while trying to buy time for the other heroes to escape. In the games, he's still alive though likewise hasn't been seen since Nemesis
The gym teacher, renamed Mrs. Collins, in the first movie version of Carrie. Ditto for Norma who gets this by virtue of Adaptational Villainy and Fire House-Guided Karma. The book implies there are a good few survivors of the promo who got out through the fire doors before Carrie closed them but all of the students at the prom appear to die in the fire.
And the tv remake gives us Tina who survived in the book,amusingly enough she and Norma escaped together in the book, and the girl that was given Adaptional Villainy would fall victim to this trope, depending on the version.
Thanks to the Hays Code, Rhonda in The Bad Seed is struck by lightning at the side of a pond. Her mother, on the other hand, survives.
While in the Scott Pilgrim comics, Crash and The Boys help out against third-ex Todd Ingram, they get flash-fried by first-ex Matthew Patel in Scott Pilgrim vs. The World.
In the comic version of Road to Perdition, John Looney is merely sent to prison. In the movie, John Rooney is gunned down by Michael Sullivan Sr.
Kronsteen in From Russia With Love, although it's possible his literary counterpart was also executed for his plan's failure.
In Queen Of The Damned, Mael and Pandora were both killed, despite being rather important figures in the books (particularly Pandora, who was actually the protagonist of one of the sequels).
There wasn't much of a final battle in the book, with Maharet's twin sister (excluded from the film) Mekare pushing Akasha through a window, which gets Akasha beheaded.
At the end of My Side of the Mountain, Frightful the hawk gets shot and dies. In the book, she not only lives, but ends up with three sequels focusing on her.
LaBoeuf lived through the original novel True Grit, but died pulling Mattie and Cogburn out of the pit in the 1969 movie version. In the 2010 movie version he survives again.
Angier in The Prestige; in the book, he actually became immortal.
The Ra'zac in Eragon, despite the fact that them surviving is a major plot point in later Inheritance Cycle books.
In Anne of Green Gables: A New Beginning, it's revealed that Gilbert died while serving as a medical doctor overseas during World War II.
In the books Anne and Gilbert's sons Jem, Walter, and Shirely serve in World War I so this is a major generational time shift.
In Congo, Kahega dies early on, despite being a much more important character in the book, and the survivor from the first expedition the heroes find in a tribal village.
The Red King from Alice in Wonderland. It's implied that his wife, the Red Queen (who is the film's Big Bad) killed him prior to the events of the film.
Captain Walker in the 1975 adaptation of The Who's Tommy. Also Nora Walker (Tommy's mother) at the end of the film.
James "Thunder" Early in Dreamgirls dies of a drug overdose in the film, while he just disappears in the stage show.
Dr. Copper and Norris survive the events of Who Goes There?. In The Thing (1982), Norris is replaced by the titular monster and Cooper is killed by said duplicate.
Irene Adler in Sherlock Holmes A Game Of Shadows. Although, there's some debate about her status in the canon. She's referred to, at the beginning of the one story she appears in, as "the late Irene Adler", but this could simply allude to the fact that she changes her name. At the very least, the way she dies was invented for the movie.
Dracula had a few, which is not surprising when the main story been done so many times and they want to spice it up.
In Horror of Dracula Harker stakes the vampire bride but the sun goes down before he can get to Dracula himself and is killed and turned, leaving it to Helsing to stake him.
In Dan Curtis's version of Dracula, Harker is caught while trying to escape the castle and thrown into the vampire brides' chambers where they make a meal of him. Not surprisingly near the end of the movie when Helsing and Holmwood are tracking Drac through the castle. They find an undead Harker in the same area. He nearly succeeds in trying to bite Helsing but is knocked into a spike pit by Holmwood and killed for real.
In the 1979 movie, Mina trades places with Lucy. Becoming Dracula's first victim, being turned into a vampire, and having to be staked by her father (albeit accidental). Helsing also dies during the final battle against Dracula. He uses his final strength to kill him, however.
Harker again in the 2012 Italian adaption. He gets bitten not once, but three times. Once by Dracula's bride, Tania. And twice by Dracula himself. Helsing comes across his coffin while chasing after Dracula and there's a bit of a Hope Spot as he seems to climb out of it weakly...before he hisses, barring his fangs. Helsing promptly stakes him.
In the 2011 adaptation of The Whisperer In Darkness, Noyes and George Akeley are killed by the Mi-Go - Noyes when the ritual is disrupted, and George when he tries to deliver the Black Stone to Wilmarth on his father's request. Neither character dies in the original short story: George never leaves San Diego, and Noyes is a Karma Houdini.
Mia's father, Philippe, in the film version of The Princess Diaries. In the books, he is very much alive only reveals to Mia that she's a Princess because he has testicular cancer and can no longer have any kids, making the illegitimate Mia his only heir. In the film they kill him in order to brush past testicular cancer in a Disney movie.
Redd White is poisoned while in prison in the Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney movie, but is never seen again after his arrest in the game.
The Nome King is accidentally destroyed by a chicken egg in Return to Oz, a composite adaptation of The Marvelous Land of Oz and Ozma of Oz. In the books, he survived all his appearances only to get turned into a cactus in the later book, Handy Mandy in Oz.
Where Eagles Dare: Weissner dies in a car crash whereas he survives in the novel. Colonel Kramer, General Rosemeyer, Anne-Marie Kernister and Major von Hapen are all gunned down by Smith and Schaffer in the dining room along with a guard, unlike in Alistair Mac Clean's book where they're injected with nembutal (including the guard), which puts them to sleep for several hours. The same holds true for other Nazi characters. Except for the three traitors Thomas, Christiansen and Berkeley, almost all of the Nazis who die in the film survived in Mac Clean's original novel.
Cee Cee Bloom's father is said to have died offscreen in the 1988 film of Beaches, while her mother lives. In the novel, Mr. Bloom outlives his wife but is estranged from his daughter. He would later feature more heavily in the unadapted sequel I'll Be There.
In Infernal Affairs, Lau Kin-ming survives the story without anyone realizing him to be the Triad mole. His counterpart in TheDeparted, Colin Sullivan almost gets away with it, but he's shot in the head by Dignam.
In Dick Tracy, Lips Manlis gets the bath under orders of Big Boy Caprice. His comic strip counterpart reformed early on, even renaming himself Bob Honor. Two more reformed baddies, Littleface and Influence, are also killed. The former dies in the opening massacre by Flattop, the latter by Tracy in the final shootout.
Literature
Everyone except the protagonist from the book adaptations of the Baldur's Gate games.
Chief in the Disney Read-along record/picture book version of The Fox and the Hound (he is simply never seen, heard, or mentioned again after being hit by the train, which implies his death). Interestingly, he died in the original novel as well, making the Disney film the only adaptation where Chief survives.
Some tie-in storybooks based on the Disney movies actually changed how the villains are defeated: For example, one out-of-print storybook based on Robin Hood had Prince John, Sir Hiss, and the Sheriff of Nottingham all simply disappear after the castle fire at the end, "and were never seen again" is what the book stated of their fates, implying that they were burned alive in that fire; while some storybooks based on The Lion King had Scar simply die after being thrown off a cliff by Simba, despite in the actual movie Scar survived the fall but is instantly killed by his own hyenas on the way down.
In the novelization of the 3rd film, Mirage is killed; in the film, he survives.
Skids and Mudlap also appear in the novel, apparently so they could get Rescued from the Scrappy Heap without having to appear in the film. They both get killed by Sentinel Prime, just right after he kills Ironhide.
The novelisation of the Doctor Who story The Curse of Fenric apparently decided that the Kill 'em All ending didn't go far enough, so Vershinin and Bates, practically the only guest characters to survive the TV version, get shot dead by Commander Millington.
Likewise, the novelisation of the next story, "Survival," makes a point of having Derek, one of the few survivors, killed by the Master.
There is actually is a pro-hurting educational book out there called Little Jake And The Three Bears that has the titular Little Jake off one of said bears and Bambi's father, because this will totally make kids want to be ethical responsible hunters. As if kids weren't traumatized enough by Bambi's mother's death.
While Luthor averts this in the movies, both of his recent live action television incarnations have died. However, after being killed off, Luthor was resurrected in the final episode of Smallville.
Carter Hall/Hawkman in Smallville. Of the several Justice Society of America characters who died, he's the only one who wasn't dead in the comics.
While original to Power Rangers, Flurious was pretty much a substitute for High Priest Gajah. But whereas Gajah ended up sealed away, Flurious was destroyed by the Red Sentinel Ranger.
A curious example in the Sharpe television series adaptation of Sharpe's Battle: The novel promotes Ben Perkins, one of the riflemen introduced for the series, to Canon Immigrant, only for the television adaptation to kill him off. (He's killed by O'Rourke, who also qualifies after falling victim to Adaptational Villainy.)
Major Dunnett in Sharpe's Rifles: The adaptation has him killed in a French ambush whereas in the book he is merely captured and reappears in Sharpe's Waterloo. Father Hacha in Sharpe's Honour receives a You Have Failed Me death from Ducos; in the book, he survives.
The midseason cliffhanger of season 2 of The Walking Dead reveals that Sophia, who's still around in the comics, had been turned into a Walker sometime during the season.
The third season finale kills off Andrea, one of the few long-running characters in the comic who's still alive.
Sgt. James Doakes dies at the end of the second season. He lives in the rest of the books, but gives up a couple of extremities and his tongue.
Brian is Dexter's serial-killer big brother, and the Big Bad of both the first novel and the TV show's first season. In the books, though, he survives and becomes a recurring minor character. No such luck on the small screen.
In the second season, Irri and Pyat Pree are killed off. Both are still alive in the novels, although Pree hasn't been seen since the second book. This is most likely the case with Xaro Xhoan Daxos, last seen being locked in an impenetrable vault with no means of escape.
This happens multiple times due to the Composite Character trope, but Season 2 was particularly subjected to this during the Qarth arc - most likely to create drama lasting ten episodes, as very little happened during that story arc in the novels.
Lord Tony Dewhurst lives in the original novels (all of them) and in the film adaptation. In the 1999 mini-series, he dies a tragic death in the very first episode after he tries to save the Pimpernel, who would have very probably made it without his help as well. A sad case of Kill the Cutie.
Marguerite Blakeney dies at the beginning of series two, giving birth to her daughter.
The Duck in "Weird Al" Yankovic's version. The original Russian folktale and most of its adaptations (including the Disney version) had the Duck survive the fight against the Wolf.
The hunters in Neil Torbin's version, Peter and the Werewolf.
A notable staging of The Merchant of Venice had Shylock stab himself before exiting the court scene.
In As You Like It, Orlando comes to Arden with his Old Retainer, Adam, who's elderly, starving and close to death. Searching for food, Orlando stumbles upon the banished Duke Senior, who's feasting with his lords. The Duke, who was a great friend of Orlando's father, immediately sends Orlando to bring Adam to the table and feed him. However, Adam is conspicuously absent for the rest of the play, which has led some directors to imply that he died anyway. The 1996 RSC production went so far as to show a grave covered in flowers. Whether or not Shakespeare actually intended Adam's death, killing him off would be a case of this trope, since As You Like It is itself an adaptation of Thomas Lodge's novella Rosalynde, in which Adam lived to the end.
Schaunard, the musician, survives to the end of La Bohčme. His counterpart in Rent, Angel Dumott Schunard, does not.
Interesting case with Higurashi No Naku Koro Ni. When the game was ported to PS2, the original ending was changed into one where Hanyuu gets Killed Off for Real. Other adaptations used the original ending. Curiously, the author claims that the PS2 ending is the "True" ending while the "normal" ending is the "Good" ending.
This is probably because traditional, route-based Visual Novels frequently have two endings to each route (aside from bad ends). The True ending is typically bittersweet, while the Good ending ensures everyone lives happily ever after. It's not to do with one being canon, as the PS2 ending certainly isn't.
The Coachman in the video game version of Pinocchio, and ONLY in the video game version. In the movie, he was a Karma Houdini.
In the adventure game Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Indiana himself can be killed in one of the Multiple Endings. The characters would lament it and the game would display the normal victory credit and score screens.
In Bandit Kings of Ancient China, which is based off of The Water Margin, Gao Qiu is executed by the player's winning hero in the game's Golden Ending, which revokes his novel counterpart's Karma Houdini.
In the 1982 Interactive Fiction of The Hobbit, you can 'kill Gollum with sword'. Okay, Gollum's dead! You just derailed the plot of The Lord of the Rings! Gollum survived the source novel of The Hobbit, and took an important role in the sequel.
Web Original
Captain Ginyu in Dragon Ball Abridged. In the source material, Vegeta considers stepping on him after he ends up in a frog's body, but relents. In the abridged series? "Psyche! Eight for eight!" SQUISH.
Icarus, Gohan's pet dragon from the movies / filler, suffers this in the Lord Slug movie. When Slug causes planet-wide winter, Chi-Chi cooks him.
In the source material, the Garlic Jr. saga ends with him being imprisoned in the Dead Zone for eternity. In DBZA, the Lookout Tower that he attacks in the source material is the home of resident nigh-Eldritch Abomination Mr. Popo, and the Garlic Jr. saga lasts all of twenty seconds before Popo apparently absorbs his soul.
Similarly, Code MENT. Jeremiah dies when his Knighmare Frame explodes. The anime it was based on, Code Geass, reveals he survived after receiving medical attention
Both Tom Sawyer (Bart Simpson) and Huckleberry Finn (Nelson Muntz) in The Simpsons version of Mark Twain's The Adventures of Tom Sawyer. Their version ends with both Tom and Huck jumping into a river as an attempt to escape a mob of angry townsfolk, but the townsfolk were waiting right at the bottom. A funeral is held for them, where at first we see both Tom and Huck hiding in the rafters of the church said funeral is held in, as if they had survived and faked their deaths like in the original story, but then it is revealed that they both actually died when it was time for "the lowering of the bodies into the coffins."
Huitzil in the Darkstalkers cartoon is blown to smithereens and it sticks.
The special Garfield: His 9 Lives changes up the ending segment from the book. In the book's version of "Space Cat", it turns out that the ship Garfield is on is actually just a simulation video game he's been playing, while in the special, it's all real, and when the ship is destroyed he and Odie both get killed. Of course, this being a family special for prime time, it isn't permanent: after the two go to Heaven Garfield's able to convince God to give the both of them a second chance.
Captain Smollett is killed by Pew in the finale of the loosely based The Legends Of Treasure Island cartoon, while Long John Silver, who had already died once and revived himself from hell previously, was dragged back down for cheating Death.
Examples where the character died a lot sooner in the adaptation than in the source:
Anime and Manga
In the Bokurano anime, the order of the main character's deaths were altered and some (such as Koyemshi) ended up dying well before their original time of death. In the manga, Koyemshi survived until the end of the game, and served as another Earth's Kokopelli; the manga ended with him about to set out on the battle to teach the new group how to fight, which would end with his death regardless of whether he won. In the anime, he dies a few episodes before the end, as a result of Youko shooting him dead to stop him from entering Kana into the game.
In the manga, after the first three pilots (Kokopelli, Waku and Kodama), Daiichi and Nakama went next, followed by Kako getting killed before he got to pilot and Chizu taking his place. In the anime, Kako and Chizu are the first after Kodama, followed by Daiichi and Nakama. On a relatively small-scale example, Komo and Anko's death order is switched around; Komo dies just before Anko in the anime, and just after Anko in the manga.
It could be argued that Gorobei dies around the same time as in the original movie. The "sooner" part comes here because it was before Heihachi.
Chrono Crusade has an additional four characters that fall under this category:
In the anime, Steiner (Satella's butler) is killed at the carnival when he tries to protect Azmaria. In the manga we don't see him again after Satella leaves (alone) to go to Pandaemonium, but he's implied to survive the events of the final battle (since he was keeping a photo safe that another character is later seen with). Since the epilogue is set in the 1990s and he was an old man in the 1920s he's obviously dead by then, but we never see him die on screen.
The anime version has Rosette die when she's about 16, only a few months after the final battle. The manga epilogue says that Rosette lived until she was 23, about 7 or 8 years after the final battle.
In the manga, Viede and Genai survive until the final battle. The anime has both of them killed before Aion rolls out his final plans.
In Macross, Roy Focker dies at the mid-point of the series, just after the Macross reaches Earth. In the film, he dies before the Macross reaches Earth, battling Quamzin Kravesha note Who himself is an example, as he dies in series during the finale aboard Vrlitwhai's ship.
By the time the Macross does reach Earth in the movie, Boddole Zer's bombardment of Earth and its population had already taken place. In the TV series, it takes place in Episode 27, just before the Macross's final battle with Boddole Zer's fleet.
In Fullmetal Alchemist, Greed, after being recreated, survives until the last chapter. In the 2003 anime version, he dies a few episodes after introduction and is never recreated.
In Death Note, Mikami goes mad and dies in prison. In the anime, he commits suicide just after Light gets busted by the SPK.
This trope is not as common as Spared by Adaptation in Oda Nobuna No Yabou, but there's still one example: Konoe Sakihisa was killed in 1571, 41 years before his historical death in 1612.
In Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the Queen dies dancing in red-hot shoes at the Wedding of Snow White and the Prince. Her Disney Counterpart never makes it that far: immediately after poisoning Snow White, she's pursued by the Dwarfs and their animal friends. She falls to her death while trying to kill them with a boulder.
Film (Live Action)
Gríma Wormtongue and Saruman in the extended cut of The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, since the Scouring of the Shire, where they die in the books, was cut. In the theatrical cut, they don't die at all... although they remain locked in a tower and their fate is ambiguous.
Agamemnon in the Troy is killed by Briseis during the final battle in the Trojan War, whereas in the original mythology he survives. He returns home, and is murdered by his wife ... thus setting off the events of The Oresteia.
Gennaro from the Jurassic Park is arguably an example of Type II as well, as although he has the name of a character who survived in the book, his characterization and role are much closer to Jerkass PR guy Ed Regis, a character "removed" from the film. Said character died in the book as well, but a bit later — after the dinosaurs get out, he's caught off-guard and killed by the baby T-Rex, which was entirely removed from the film version.
Of course, seeing as how they're alive again (and in the former's case actually had been brought back by the time of the movies), YMMV on whether they should count as the first type or the second type.
There's also the Burglar that Peter lets escape. In the film, after Peter discovers that he's the same man he earlier let escape the crook then winds up almost immediately falling to his death. In the comics, he was apprehended by the police and then returned in a storyline over a decade later that culminated with Peter revealing his identity to him which in turn led to the Burglar suffering a fatal heart attack from the fear that Spider-Man would kill him, even though the hero was intending to do otherwise.
In The Amazing Spider-Man, George Stacy is killed by the Lizard, rather than Doctor Octopus who has yet to appear.
Maya Hansen is killed in Iron Man 3, despite surviving the story the film was inspired by. At the time of filming, Hansen hadn't even been killed off during the Marvel NOW! relaunch yet.
The Gemini Killer's father in The Exorcist III. Oddly enough, his death in the novel causes the killer to lose his motivation to murder. In the movie, his death does the opposite; The Gemini kills his father and then becomes a serial killer so he can (figuratively) continue to kill his father forever.
In the film of From Russia With Love, Rosa Klebb is shot dead during her final confrontation with Bond. In the book, she is merely taken into custody by the western intelligence services. The next book, Dr No, casually mentions that "she died" (implicitly under interrogation).
Boris in Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy is knocked off in Istanbul instead of after being recalled to Russia. Conversely, Irina survives much longer just so Karla can shoot her in front of Jim Prideaux.
Jim Prideaux himself has - well, possibly the opposite of this version of the trope. It's implied at the beginning, and right up to the somewhere around the middle of the film that the shooting during the botched operation in Budapest left him dead. We then find out that he survived, to be tortured and interrogated by the Russians, and eventually returned to England. This is played more as a plot-point than in the book where it's more generally known, not least by the reader that he survived. Smiley discovering the truth of his fate in the film is the first big confirmation of his suspicions of who the mole is.
John Barton in Looking For Alibrandi, though not by much. The book death occurs in the second half, while the movie death occurs halfway through.
Most adaptations of The Three Musketeers will have the Comte de Rochefort die at some point, though he survived the book and died in its sequel Twenty Years After.
In Death Note: The Last Name, Light and Takada die far earlier than the manga due to the movie resolving its story at L's supposed death.
In Beaches, Hillary Whitney experienced her mother dying in her childhood. Her unseen father is the living parent providing for her (up until his offscreen death). In the original novel, Roberta White's father is said to have died when she was a baby, while her mother features in the plot until she dies of a stroke in her old age.
In Goldfinger, Tilly Masterson is killed by Oddjob only minutes after encountering James Bond during his infiltration of the titular villain's factory, while in the original novel she was held prisoner with Bond for a good while and dies during the climax at Fort Knox.
Live Action Television
Band Of Brothers has an artistic license case with Albert Blithe, who is shot in the neck and said to have never recovered, and died a few years later. After the episode aired, his relatives revealed that he was actually hit in the shoulder and did recover, going on to serve in Korea and attain the rank of Master Sergeant before dying of peritonitis in 1967.
Frank Herbert's Dune: Thufir Hawat, while not explicitly said to have died, is notably absent after the attack on Arrakeen. This is much earlier than in the novel, where dies close to the end.
In the second season of Game of Thrones, Ser Rodrik Cassel dies much earlier than he does in the book, at the hands of Theon Greyjoy instead of those of Ramsay Snow.
Amory Lorch and the Tickler also die a season (or two) earlier thans to each taking a Composite Character role with more minor players. Meanwhile, Doreah is an inversion - she survives her point of death in the book, but dies later on in different circumstances. Rather cleverly though, her initial survival sets off several events which did not happen in the books, showing the writers have a strong awareness of fictional cause-to-effect.
The Walking Dead: Due to his actor leaving the show, Dale was killed off late in the second season. In the comics, he lasted over 60 issues and even managed to survive being bitten once by cutting off one of his legs before his eventual death.
And now there's Laurie, who dies giving birth midway through season 3, while in the comic she survived giving birth to her daughter for a little while longer.
Video Games
In the Nintendo WiiGoldenEye, Zukovsky is killed less than a minute after Bond meets him, instead of living until The World is Not Enough like he does in the films.
Western Animation
Commander Zog from Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, the turtles' Triceraton ally in the original comics is sliced to pieces by the three mutant Shredder clones. In the second cartoon, he is mortally wounded by a stab to the stomach from Shredder and dies in the collapsing lair, taking Shredder with him.
Ferro Lad in Legion Of Super Heroes was around for only three episodes before his Heroic Sacrifice, staying behind to destroy the Sun-Eater machine. In the comics, he was around for about two years before this event and his character was more fleshed out.
Dr. Fate/Kent Nelson in Young Justice. He just can't catch a break!
Dan Turpin died in Superman The Animated Series long before he would die in Final Crisis, though since the DCAU ended before Final Crisis was published, it was a type 1 at the time S: TAS aired.
