History Main / DeathOfAChild

Related is OutlivingOnesOffspring, where the offspring is often (but not always) a child, and TragicStillbirth for when a fetus's death causes the family trauma. Can overlap with OffingTheOffspring if the child's parents are the cause of death. See also WouldHurtAChild, which is used to show how completely beyond the pale a villain is by targeting children (though it doesn't have to end in death). Naturally, this is one of the most common forms of AdultFear.

** In #173 ''[[http://www.sacred-texts.com/neu/eng/child/ch173.htm Mary Hamilton]]'', Mary drowns her newborn baby. She's caught and executed.

* ''VisualNovel/YourTurnToDie'' has this [[PlotBranching possibly happen]] [[spoiler:in the climax of the second chapter. Specifically, the player is presented with a SadisticChoice on whether to kill the 14 year old Kanna, the young adult Sou, or save the otherwise doomed college student Nao while condemning everyone else to their deaths, including Kanna and the 12 year old Gin]].

* ''WebComic/WeaponBrown'': Cal V1-n has absolutely no qualms about killing children right in front of their parents. His casual apathy for infants [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120326094917/http://www.whatisdeepfried.com/2011/03/07/weapon-brown-217/ can be]] [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120326125218/http://www.whatisdeepfried.com/2011/03/09/weapon-brown-218/ witnessed]] [[http://web.archive.org/web/20120326080957/http://www.whatisdeepfried.com/2011/03/14/weapon-brown-219/ here]].

This trope is most often done for RuleOfDrama. After all, ChildrenAreInnocent, and thus their deaths are often something people can hardly accept - "they're too young to die", "they still have a lot of things they could do/achieve", etc. Hence why the trope is more common in serious dramas and stories farther on the cynical side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVsCynicism. For instance, this trope is distressingly common in most CrapsackWorld settings to illustrate just how horrible the world in question is. It's also frequent in war stories, especially if [[ChildSoldiers the children are themselves combatants]]. Other times it's used for shock factor, especially in horror; the monster is shown to be especially dangerous since it underlines that [[AnyoneCanDie no one is safe]]. More rarely, it's used for BlackComedy[[note]]In fact, that particular trope used to be known as "Dead Baby Comedy"[[/note]], since this is serious CrossesTheLineTwice material — it's rarely if ever part of a HilariouslyAbusiveChildhood.

* ''Webcomic/ImTheGrimReaper'': thankfully not shown on-screen, but the first case that Chase and Scarlet investigate is of a missing boy, who is confirmed to have been killed. [[spoiler: His mother strangled him, cut him into pieces, and flushed him down the toilet to hide the evidence.]]

-->-- '''Monaka''', ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls''

'''This is a {{Death Trope|s}}, so ''beware of unmarked {{spoiler}}s!'''''

* In ''WesternAnimation/VoltronLegendaryDefender'' , Romelle's younger brother Bandor was among those "chosen" by Lotor to be taken off to a special village to be cleansed of his life. We then cut to later on, where he managed to escape, tell Romelle she was right, and then die in her arms as a withering husk.

Related is OutlivingOnesOffspring, where the offspring is often (but not always) a child, and TragicStillbirth for when a fetus's death causes the family trauma. Can overlap with OffingTheOffspring if the child's parents are the cause of death. See also WouldHurtAChild, which is used to show how completely evil a villain is by targeting children (though it doesn't have to end in death). Naturally, this is one of the most common forms of AdultFear.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}'': When the heroes walk through the ruins of a village that was raided by Shan Yu's Horde of Huns, a single doll is found, as a G-rated signal that there were children killed here.

'''As a {{Death Trope|s}}, expect unmarked {{spoiler}}s!'''

!!Examples:

* [[DeathOfAChild/LiveActionFilms Film — Live-Action]]

[[folder:Film — Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Mulan}}''. When walking through the ruins of a raided village, a single doll is found, as a G-rated signal that there were children killed here.

[[folder:Mythology and Religion]]

[[quoteright:296:[[Film/{{Frankenstein1931}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/child_characters_dying.jpg]]]]

-->-- '''Monaca''', ''VideoGame/DanganronpaAnotherEpisodeUltraDespairGirls''

* ''Radio/{{Dragnet}}'' Features one such death in the episode "The Big Children."

[[quoteright:297:[[Film/{{Frankenstein1931}} https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/child_characters_dying.jpg]]]]

While many stories feature children that [[ImprobableInfantSurvival survive miraculously through any incident]], others seem to go out of their way to subvert the SortingAlgorithmOfMortality when it comes to children. Here children can die [[AnyoneCanDie just as easily]] as adults, or perhaps even easier given their relative lack of experience and inability to defend themselves. There are few ways to make a CharacterDeath more impactful than if it's a child or baby.

* ''Webcomic/ImTheGrimReaper'': hankfully not shown on-screen, but the first case that Chase and Scarlet investigate is of a missing boy, who is confirmed to have been killed. [[spoiler: His mother strangled him, cut him into pieces, and flushed him down the toilet to hide the evidence.]]

** As Chatta noted, Darkar needed to keep them alive to find out where their village was, so it's possible that the remains of other pixies were just a ploy to scare them. As mentioned, this implication is ruined in the 4kids dub, which addressed one of the unfortunate pixies by name and had Darkar mock them for missing their friend.

* ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}} Mask of Arcadius'' has a graphic example. When Solar Alliance soldiers launch a heavy-handed operation to rescue Kayto Shields and Kryska Stares from the SpacePirate Cosette Cosmos and bullets are flying left and right, a little girl that the two of them met earlier picks up a knife to defend herself with and is promptly gunned down. The shock of seeing a child killed right before his eyes [[BadDreams leaves Kayto with nightmares]] for the rest of the game.

* ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'' has a borderline example when the Pixies are being held hostage by Darkar, and realize the other captive Pixies are gone, leaving behind only their clothes, heavily implying they've been killed. We never actually met the unfortunate Pixies (4kids named one of them "Charmy"), so they could have been adults, but the Pixies are a child-like race, anyway.