Does "anyone" have to really mean anyone? Just looking at the first few examples, you know Jack Bauer is never going to die unless it's the last ever episode. The chances of the title character dying in Angel were equally unlikely, partly because the character was originally from another series (even if it ended before Angel did). Do final episode deaths really increase a show's "Anyone can die" credentials? To me, unless deaths actually affect the show they're not very meaningful, and in a final episode they are just one of many ways to end the story.
Another question is whether or not this applies in retrospect. If a character is killed off halfway through the first season, a viewer at that point might think "Wow, anyone can die." But does that still apply five seasons later, when the character's presence has been reduced to 10% of the show's run?
Even Game of Thrones, perhaps touted as one of the biggest examples of this trope, has a few characters with apparently impenetrable plot armour. The show badly wants us to think anyone can die, but it seems clear this is not truly the case. Now we've had six seasons, the way I see it is less that anyone can die and more that viewers were simply misdirected as to who the main characters are. In some ways, everything up to Ned Stark's death could be seen as a "prologue" in the same way we look at the actual prologue of the series: Three characters are introduced and two are quickly killed off (the third following soon after). It's possible viewers briefly became invested in these characters, but you soon realise they are not the main characters.
This ties into a bigger question of what a work is really about. Do we necessarily have to wait until the work is complete to decide what it is about? Using Game of Thrones again as an example, a viewer watching episode 1 might think Ned Stark is a big part of what the show is about. But where the show currently stands, it's appears it was never really about Ned Stark. Up to a point it didn't seem to be about magic, dragons or White Walkers either, but the further into the story we get, the more it seems these are some of the real themes. Was the show ever about Ned Stark, or were we simply misdirected?
The biggest counter-argument I can think of is that, unless the story really goes nowhere, it might be unreasonable to consider characters who die before the ending to have never really been main characters. Of course the show must go on without them, and it would be pretty boring and pointless if someone else couldn't pick up the plot and treat a character's death as just something that continues to drive the story. This is bordering on philosophy, but although my perspective leans towards the view that Ned Stark had to die because otherwise certain events would never have happened, they of course only happened because Ned Stark died - once something has happened it appears to have been inevitable.
The other problem with this perspective is that it means there is really very little that would qualify as "Anyone can die". Ensemble casts would be required for the trope to really work, unless the makers are prepared to replace THE main character (as opposed to A main character).
Does "anyone" have to really mean anyone? Just looking at the first few examples, you know Jack Bauer is never going to die unless it's the last ever episode. The chances of the title character dying in Angel were equally unlikely, partly because the character was originally from another series (even if it ended before Angel did). Do final episode deaths really increase a show's "Anyone can die" credentials? To me, unless deaths actually affect the show they're not very meaningful, and in a final episode they are just one of many ways to end the story.
Another question is whether or not this applies in retrospect. If a character is killed off halfway through the first season, a viewer at that point might think "Wow, anyone can die." But does that still apply five seasons later, when the character's presence has been reduced to 10% of the show's run?
Even Game of Thrones, perhaps touted as one of the biggest examples of this trope, has a few characters with apparently impenetrable plot armour. The show badly wants us to think anyone can die, but it seems clear this is not truly the case. Now we've had six seasons, the way I see it is less that anyone can die and more that viewers were simply misdirected as to who the main characters are. In some ways, everything up to Ned Stark's death could be seen as a "prologue" in the same way we look at the actual prologue of the series: Three characters are introduced and two are quickly killed off (the third following soon after). It's possible viewers briefly became invested in these characters, but you soon realise they are not the main characters.
This ties into a bigger question of what a work is really about. Do we necessarily have to wait until the work is complete to decide what it is about? Using Game of Thrones again as an example, a viewer watching episode 1 might think Ned Stark is a big part of what the show is about. But where the show currently stands, it's appears it was never really about Ned Stark. Up to a point it didn't seem to be about magic, dragons or White Walkers either, but the further into the story we get, the more it seems these are some of the real themes. Was the show ever about Ned Stark, or were we simply misdirected?
The biggest counter-argument I can think of is that, unless the story really goes nowhere, it might be unreasonable to consider characters who die before the ending to have never really been main characters. Of course the show must go on without them, and it would be pretty boring and pointless if someone else couldn't pick up the plot and treat a character's death as just something that continues to drive the story. This is bordering on philosophy, but although my perspective leans towards the view that Ned Stark had to die because otherwise certain events would never have happened, they of course only happened because Ned Stark died - once something has happened it appears to have been inevitable.
The other problem with this perspective is that it means there is really very little that would qualify as "Anyone can die". Ensemble casts would be required for the trope to really work, unless the makers are prepared to replace THE main character (as opposed to A main character).