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Someone's in the way.
A character is more skilled than the hero, more awesome than the hero, has the job that the hero should have, or has the love interest the hero should have (or else is a love interest the hero shouldn't have). Or else has to die so that the story can be over.
It would take time and characterization to have the hero deal with it, so ... the plot removes the complication by killing it. Problem removed, and the plot goes just as planned.
The Doomed Hometown provides both Parental Abandonment and the desire for revenge. Hey, ties to stay home just get in the way of the plot. It's practically in the definition of The Obi Wan to get killed off, because it wouldn't do for him to defeat the villain. Also, if there's corruption among the human hero's good guy organization, it's...messy to have a civil war or rebellion; especially if the corruption isn't full out Card Carrying Villains. It's much cleaner to have the "real" villains kill them off or convert them fully, and then have the heroes take care of said less nebulous villains.
Death Of The Hypotenuse is when this is used as a way of Cleaning Up Romantic Loose Ends. For a nonlethal version, see Deus Exit Machina. Diabolus Ex Machina is when someone dies at the end just for the sake of a tragic ending. See also Too Cool To Live. Stupid Sacrifice occurs when the writers can't be bothered to think of a better way to kill someone off, but don't want to Drop A Bridge On Them.
And of course he's responsible for Plotline Death.
Examples
Anime and Manga
- In the third season of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha, it is revealed that there's quite a bit of corruption among the higher-ups in the Time-Space Administration Bureau. This would get very messy if the cast had to pick sides. Nope! The villains kill them all off.
- Kamina in Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann has the bad luck to be Too Cool To Live, and thus far more popular than the actual main character, Simon. Thus he gets impaled in the eighth episode. On the plus side, he does get a city named after him post-Time Skip.
- Whitebeard from One Piece is going through this as we speak. Of course it is inevitable as the character's existence is standing in the way of not only the main character's ambitions but 70% of the extended casts' hopes and dreams too.
Comics
- This is ridiculously common in comic books, but the most egregious is probably the New X-Men. At the end of House of M, when 90% of Earth's mutants lost their powers, the depowered students at Xavier's were Put On A Bus home for their safety (even though many of the kids had nowhere else to go). And then the bus was blown up by Reverend Stryker. One could argue that the death of all those students at once, coupled with the book's already-high mortality rate, was simply because the writers didn't know what to do with all those students.
- Because, you know, putting them on a bus to go home and lead uneventful (or eventful but not eventful enough to be in comics) lives and maybe come back later repowered or seeking revenge or as supporting characters or not coming back ever, well that sort of thing just wouldn't do for an X-Book.
- Also, this sums up how Jean Grey inexplicably dies at the end of Grant Morrison's X Men run. An editorial proclamation was made from on high to get rid of her in order to make Cyclops "more interesting" by having him date Emma Frost.
Films
- Star Wars - Luke Skywalker's aunt and uncle who only existed to die. They didn't want him to leave the farm; they had to be removed. Particularly obvious when Luke, who is completely obsessed with a father he never knew, never once mentioned the couple who raised him from infancy ever again.
- Not just his father, Luke responds to Obi-Wan's death with a Big No and at least one scene of grieving. Yes, the guy Luke met a day earlier gets more sad screentime than his adoptive parents.
- The fact that Ash Darklighter's fan fiction elaborates on their importance in Luke's life (by raising him as they did) is why this Troper recommends his works.
- Luke knew Obi-wan before he saves him from the Tusken Raiders, as Luke mentions old Ben Kenobi to his uncle, and recognizes Obi-wan. However, his uncle Lars didn't approve of him, so Obi-wan probably wasn't around enough to be considered a mentor.
- The movie cuts away from Luke staring in horror at his aunt and uncle's bodies to him returning to Obi-Wan in the speeder. Hours could have passed, he could easily have had a mini-Heroic BSOD. This troper chooses to believe that he forced his grief down, and it came back up again when Obi-Wan died.
- Two variations of this trope were considered for Casablanca, both dismissed: Victor dying and Rick dying.
- The Plot Reaper claims the Chinese man who owned Gizmo early on in Gremlins 2 so that Gizmo will end up being reunited with the protagonists.
Literature
- In the last three Harry Potter books, damn near EVERY older male Harry has come to rely on, or could ask advice of, gets offed. It starts with his father, then Sirius, then Dumbledore, "Mad-Eye" Moody, Remus Lupin. It's dangerous to mentor The Boy Who Lived. The exceptions, however, are Arthur Weasley, who makes it through the last battle relatively unscathed (but Arthur Weasley surviving caused Rowling to kill Tonks — she was in Lupin's blast radius), and the other exception is Rubeus Hagrid, because around Book 5 it became Harry and friends' job to parent Hagrid, rather than the other way around.
- In Lois Mc Master Bujold's novel Komarr, Ekaterin's unlikeable, abusive, and all-around Jerk Ass of a husband dies just as she has decided to leave him, freeing her to be courted by Miles Vorkosigan. Unfortunately, he dies in such a way that fewer than a score of people in the Barrayaran Empire have a high enough security clearance to be able to satisfy themselves that Miles didn't kill him out of jealousy. Which causes problems for Miles all throughout the next book...
- In Garth Nix's Old Kingdom trilogy, it is pretty clear from the beginning that Sabriel's father Terciel is on the verge of Death, and not just in his line of work, but that considering how long he's spent in Death, and the fact that all the signs point to Sabriel inheriting the title of Abhorsen, he is granted, as he himself says, only "a hundred hundred heartbeats" left in life.
- Leino in Harry Turtledove's Darkness series. When his wife Pekka and Fernao, both major characters from the beginning, finally meet at the series' halfway point, they slowly start to fall in love with each other due to both Pekka and Leino kept in total isolation with their colleagues working on top secret projects. Meanwhile, Leino's shagging one of his coworkers (who aside from her looks really has nothing going for her) with far fewer reservations. This could have created a very complicated and messy situation when everyone met, but instead Turtledove kills Leino and his lover at the beginning of the last book. Somewhat played with as news of Leino's death (but not his affair, no one ever finds out about that) initially makes Pekka feel enormously guilty and break off her relationship with Fernao, though eventually they get back together and get married.
- Also, in Turtledove's Worldwar series, A-bomb scientist Jens Larssen is lost and presumed dead after The Race attacks Chicago. When Larssen finally catches up the group that escaped and fled west, his wife is remarried to (and pregnant by) Sam Yeager, a consripted Army sergeant. What might have been a long, awkward, painful process of working things out between the three of them is sorted in short order by Jens going Ax Crazy, trying to defect to The Lizards, and getting cut down by Rance Auebach's squad before he could turn over the info he had on America's atomic bomb project.
- Ygritte from A Song Of Ice And Fire. She exists solely to be sacrificed at the alter of Jon's woobiedom.
- At some point, Tom Clancy decided that his star character Jack Ryan needed to become President of the United States, despite being completely unelectable in the sense of having no political experience to speak of. The solution: have Ryan nominated Vice President as a political gift to replace an ousted Strawman Liberal VP, then kill off the President, most of the Cabinet, most of Congress, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and the Supreme Court in one massive catastrophe. What's amazing is that he pulls it off reasonably straight.
- Which led to an Unfunny Aneurysm Moment when 9/11 happened. Much literal turning of Holy Shit Quotient to 11, jumping up and down the sofa screaming "That came right out of a Tom Clancy novel!" Hijacking of airliner etc etc etc... and we all know how it ended. I always wondered if bin Laden was a fan of Tom Clancy...
- Edgar Rice Burroughs was in love with this trope. He slaughtered rival love interests, partially reformed villains, and other characters whose continued existence would inconvenience his heroes, with gleeful abandon.
- In Charles Dickens' David Copperfield, our hero's first wife (totally unsuitable) has to die so that he can marry his second wife (totally perfect).
- Dickens also brings out the reaper in Bleak House, doing in Lady Dedlock because she cannot remain alive (thanks to Victorian Moral Guardians) once the truth of Esther's parentage comes out.
Live Action TV
- All My Children has recently written itself into a situation in which Tad, a biological father who never gave up his rights, is seeking his daughter Kathy, who was unknowingly adopted by Julia. This could have led to a nasty custody battle, in which many viewers would side with Julia, even though we're "supposed" to side with Tad. So instead they just killed Julia off. Problem solved.
- Hi, Agent Scott! Bye, Agent Scott!
- Colonel Sumner is killed off in the pilot of Stargate Atlantis simply to justify a lower ranking military officer such as Major Sheperd getting command of the entire base.
- One could also include the Icarus planet in the pilot of Stargate Universe. If it hadn't blown up, they could just keep sending supplies.
Video Games
- Happens to Liberty Prime in Fallout 3: Broken Steel, care of a precision nuclear strike from an orbital weapons platform. If it hadn't happened, the otherwise invulnerable robot would curb stomp the everything in the Wasteland with virtually no effort.
Web Comics
- In The Order of the Stick, Vaarsuvius acts as the plot reaper him/herself by quickly killing the villain Kubota after his capture, stating that s/he really doesn't have the patience to deal with what s/he sums up as potential Filler.
- This one act served quadruple duty: firstly ridding us of the villain in a most fitting matter; secondly avoiding more details that keep us from getting back to the main plot; thirdly acting as Vaarsuvius's Jumping Off The Slippery Slope moment; and fourthly cementing Elan's realization that, while a happy ending is assured for him, those around him — even his friends — are not so guaranteed. So, much like Cael'anon from Looking For Group, he's learning that the world around him isn't as idealistic as he once believed... and it may be a while before we see the end result of this realization.
Western Animation
- An entire episode of Frisky Dingo is spent setting up Nearl, Xander Crews' identical twin brother. After an extended monologue in which Nearl explains his life history and various motivations, Xtacle Ronny stands up and simply shoots him in the head. "This plot is complicated enough without all this evil-twin bullshit having."
- It looks like this is being set up for Sentinel Prime in the series finalle. We'll see if it really happens, but it is likely, since season three has been Darker And Edgier than the first two seasons.
- Didn't happen. He just got to look like a fool when Optimus came home with Megatron in chains.
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