10 Most Heartbreaking Deaths In TV Shows (SPOILERS)

Jurassic Bark
Jurassic Bark

5. Everyone at the Red Wedding – Game of Thrones

Stark death

This one still hurts and someone sending their regards has never been quite as soul-crushing. It was all going SO WELL.

The North was on the way to victory, you sensed the shit-eating Lannisters would be forced to eat actual shit and you envisaged the credits rolling at the end of Game of Thrones with all members of the Stark family enjoying a great bloody hug-off.

No such luck. Robb’s pregnant wife is stabbed to death in front of him before he receives the same treatment. Catelyn’s cries are the same as the audiences and then her throat getting sliced open is exactly how the viewer feels about the whole Red Wedding.

Can we have no happiness, Mr. Martin?

 

4. Ben – Scrubs

Scrubs Ben death

If you were at a tender age when this devastating episode first aired, this might have been your first experience with the foetal position since you were in the womb.

Dr. Cox is a notorious hardass  and his former brother-in-law, Ben, is one of the only people who can bring out his lighter side. So, of course, Ben gets leukaemia because that’s the way television works with the news landing a bullseye on the feels.

Signs are good with Ben’s treatment and he is seen to be his chipper self but in fact, he has already passed away and it’s all in Dr, Cox’s mind. A sympathetic hand from JD on Cox’s shoulder is the final straw for anyone who’s been noping back the tears.

The funeral scene is a truly gutting one and not easily forgotten.

 

3. Opie – Sons of Anarchy

Opie

He looks like Jesus and his self-sacrifice makes me think that he perhaps is actually Jesus. I might have to Google this.

Ope had been on a downward spiral in Sons of Anarchy for a long time, but you were never really expecting him to die as one of the show’s main characters and the sheer amount of misfortune that had befallen his family. Well, Kurt Sutter has a knack for taking all of your hopes and dreams and beating them to death with a lead pipe.

After winding up in prison voluntarily so as to provide protection for Jax, Opie again sacrifices his safety to save the Sons’ leader. Considering how much of an all-round badass Opie is, you were expecting him to beat his way out of the assault staged by the prison’s crooked officers.

Nope.

 

2. Seymour – Futurama

Seymour Futurama

There’s not much to be said about this that hasn’t already been said by every website on the internet.

Instead, whether you’ve seen the scene or Futurama itself before, take a look at the image above and tell me that it doesn’t make you want to die just a little bit.

 

1.  Charlie – Lost

Not pennys boat

You don’t need to say anything to a Lost fan apart from “Not Penny’s boat” and they will collapse to the floor and weep. Oh, how they’ll weep.

During the season 3 finale (incidentally the last credible Lost season), Charlie and Desmond are at an underwater station in a bid to help get the stranded group off the island after Desmond believes he’s managed to contact the estranged love of his life, Penny.

One grenade and one crazy Russian later, Charlie is left fighting for his life in a room quickly filling up with water. By seizing the opportunity to warn Desmond of impending danger rather than trying in vain to escape the room, Charlie’s death is the most emotionally potent on television. Oh no, I just remembered that he left Clare and the baby behind too.

Cue sudden dust in the eyes.

 

Honourable Mentions

Walter White – Breaking Bad

Jin and Sun – Lost

Lane Pryce – Mad Men

Merle Dixon – The Walking Dead

Rita – Dexter

Marissa- The OC

Special thanks to Chris McSweeney for his excellent input.

Did we miss any memorably devastating death scenes out? Let us know below.

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