History Main / DyingForSymbolism

As a DeathTrope, expect some '''unmarked spoilers'''.

* ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'': King Tar-Palantír's death at the end of season 1 signifies the end of the Golden Age for Numenor, and the start of Pharazôn ascending to power and ultimately, Numenor's self-destruction.

* Slightly more literal in ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' - the characters ''are'' the nations, so the death of a character is the fall of a nation (e.g. Rome). If the nation gets into dire straits (economic crisis, social strife etc.), the nation gets sick.
* In ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Aizen tries to kill Head Captain Yamamoto (regarded as the history of Soul Society) to symbolise the defeat of the Gotei 13. He fails. [[spoiler: However, later on, Yhwach succeeds where Aizen failed and does indeed kill Yamamoto to symbolise the defeat and destruction of the Gotei 13.]]

* Spock's death in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' is supposed to symbolise that to TakeAThirdOption in a hopeless situation can still have dire consequences, in the film's continuing deconstruction of TheKirk.

* ''Film/JurassicWorldFallenKingdom'': The Death of the ''Brachiosaurus'' represents the end of Isla Nublar, the setting where the original ''Jurassic Park'' took place.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': The death of Sansa's direwolf Lady signaled the loss of Sansa's innocence, and foreshadowed the cruel life she would soon be forced to live within King's Landing.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': Gandalf's sacrifice to save the party marks the nadir of the hero's morale, his death symbolises the progress of evil forces in Middle Earth, and his resurrection and color upgrade (from Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White) announces the necessity, at the end of the opus, for the hero to go meet death at the Grey Havens.
* ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'':
** The makeshift society gradually goes into chaos, and when Simon dies, it represents the death of the innocence of the kids on the island.
** Even more powerful is Piggy's death. Simon's death was sort of an accident. Piggy's death shatters any remnant of civilized order among the boys and represents the death of reason.

* There's a pretty direct example in ''Literature/ClocksThatDontTick''. Guess what happens when Hope (The girl) dies? Hope (the concept) dies as well.
* ''Literature/DonQuixote'': The titular character's death signifies the death of Chivalry.
* ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'': Scarlett arrives home after fleeing the burning Atlanta to find that her mother has died and father has [[TheLostLenore lost his mind because of it]]. This marks the true end of Scarlett's pampered, privileged life and how she'll have to take charge to provide for Tara.

* ''Theatre/KingLear'' features a major character death in Cornwall at the end of Act 3. It symbolises the kingdom slowly unravelling through the madness that has ensued, as it coincides with Edmund taking charge, [[spoiler: the two sisters turning on each other and Albany finally standing up for himself]]. Cordelia also returns to the play after this scene.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Metal Gear Solid 4|Guns of the Patriots}}'', Solid Snake's advanced aging and [[spoiler:terminal illness (ending the game knowing he will die in a few months)]] is used to hammer home the creator's message that the series is a FranchiseZombie.

* ''Series/YTheLastMan'': As the {{Gendercide}} hits, the blood of the President washes over a map of the United States to show how the plague is sweeping the world.

[[quoteright:255:[[WesternAnimation/TheLordOfTheRings https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gandalf_3354.jpg]]]]
[[caption-width-right:255:When the Grey has to die for the sake of the White.]]

* ''[[Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion End of Evangelion]]'' Really, all of these are up to anybody's guess, but [[spoiler: Kaworu's death possibly represents the death of Shinji's sanity, Asuka's death could mean the death of Shinji's hope, Misato's death could represent the death of Shinji's love (Gendou might count), and the god-like Rei's death at the end is symbolic of who knows what.]] This movie is virtually the definition of Mind Screw, so you may have a different interpretation.

->"''I never took the Kobayashi Maru test until now. What do you think of my solution?''"
-->-- '''Spock''', ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan''

* Slightly more literal in ''Webcomic/AxisPowersHetalia'' - the characters ''are'' the nations, so the death of a character is the fall of a nation (e.g. Rome). If the nation gets into dire straits (economic crisis, social strife etc.), the nation gets sick.

Examples often symbolize something of the work or an aspect of it, be it an event, change in character, or even the franchise itself, though it can reach outside these boundaries. They are deliberate as well, so don't look too far into works lest you find faux-examples as in WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic? They are meant to be fully intentional and occasionally WordOfGod can confirm so. RuleOfSymbolism may be employed in order to convey the symbol, especially in more abstract works.

[[folder:{{Video Games}}]]

* In ''VideoGame/RedDeadRedemption'' [[spoiler:Marston's death is there to reflect the end of the Wild West and the inevitable turn towards civilization.]]

Examples often symbolize something of the work or an aspect of it, be it an event, change in character, or even the franchise itself, though it can reach outside these boundaries. They are deliberate as well, so don't look to far into works lest you find faux-examples as in WhatDoYouMeanItsNotDidactic? They are meant to be fully intentional, and occasionally WordOfGod can confirm so. RuleOfSymbolism may be employed in order to convey the symbol, especially in more abstract works.

[[folder:{{Videogames}}]]

* In ''Series/GameOfThrones''' sixth season, in a desperate attempt to make time for Bran and Meera to escape from the White Walkers and Wights invading the Three-Eyed Raven's hovel, Bran's direwolf Summer charges the White Walkers and wights, but dies fighting. With summer gone, [[ArcWords winter has come,]] and with it, everything takes a turn for the bleak.

* Spock's death in ''Film/StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan'' is supposed to symbolise that sometimes it's impossible to TakeAThirdOption, in the film's continuing deconstruction of TheKirk.

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire''': The death of Sansa's direwolf Lady signaled the loss of Sansa's innocence, and foreshadowed the cruel life she would soon be forced to live within King's Landing.
* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''': Gandalf's sacrifice to save the party marks the nadir of the hero's morale, his death symbolises the progress of evil forces in Middle Earth, and his resurrection and color upgrade (from Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White) announces the necessity, at the end of the opus, for the hero to go meet death at the Grey Havens.
* ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' The makeshift society gradually goes into chaos, and when Simon dies, it represents the death of the innocence of the kids on the island.

* Hedwig's death in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series is supposed to represent the death of what remains of Harry's childhood.

* Don Quixote's death signifies the death of Chivalry.

* Spock's death in ''Film[[StarTrekIITheWrathOfKhan]]'' is supposed to symbolise that sometimes it's impossible to TakeAThirdOption, in the film's continuing deconstruction of TheKirk.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'''s Gandalf might be the ''SugarWiki/MostTriumphantExample'' of Dying For Symbolism : his sacrifice to save the party marks the nadir of the hero's morale, his death symbolises the progress of evil forces in Middle Earth, and his resurrection and color upgrade (from Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White) announces the necessity, at the end of the opus, for the hero to go meet death at the Grey Havens.

* In ''[[{{Deryni}} Camber of Culdi]]'', Cathan [=MacRorie=], Master of Culdi and Camber's heir, begs his king to release the human hostages taken after a tyrannical Deryni lord is murdered. Cathan is Deryni, but he argues for the common humanity and innocence of the hostages. Later, Cathan is literally [[spoiler: stabbed in the back]].

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'''s Gandalf might be the ''SugarWiki/MostTriumphantExample'' of Dying For Symbolism : his sacrifice to save the party marks the nadir of the hero's morale, his death symbolises the progress of evil forces in Middle Earth, and his resurrection and color upgrade (from Gandalf the Grey to Gandalf the White) announces the necessity, at the end of the opus, for the hero to go meet death at the Grey Heavens.
* ''Literature/LordOfTheFlies'' The makeshift society gradually goes into chaos, and when [[spoiler: Simon dies, it represents the death of the innocence of the kids on the island.]]
** [[spoiler: Even more powerful is Piggy's death. Simon's death was sort of an accident. Piggy's death shatters any remnant of civilized order among the boys.]]

[[caption-width-right:255:When the Grey has to die for the sake of the White]]