Touching Character Deaths (SPOILERRIFFIC!)
 

In a work of fiction where drama is a major component, it is inevitable that a character will die, or the subject of death will be faced. There are, personally, several character deaths in literature and other media that have touched me, and I'd like to see what ones have touched yours.

Because of the nature of this thread, spoilers are a given and, thus, I wouldn't necessarily say spoiler tags are a necessity. However, there is one I will be using a spoilertag for, as I only know about it due to scanlations of the manga series as it hasn't been published that far in America. In cases such as that, I would suggest using spoilers.

Boromir (Lord of the Rings)
Obi-Wan Kenobi (Star War Episode IV: A New Hope)
General Leo (Final Fantasy VI)
Spoiler Below

There are others, but I'd like to see everyone elses thoughts before I go on.

For me, it was Harry Morant (Breaker Morant) and Hazel (Watership Down).

The death of Aeris from Final Fantasy VII will always be a classic scene. And I agree about General Leo. His death was touching because it was just so dirty and underhanded. The deaths of Grey Fox and Sniper Wolf from Metal Gear Solid are very powerful too.
I think Chrono Trigger had one of the best character deaths, though. Who could ever forget Chrono's heroic defiance of Lavos. And The 1986 Transformers death of Optimus Prime was very touching. Who didn't cry when everyone's favorite transforming big-rig past on?

anyone ever watch "The Perfect Storm"?

holy crap :( true story, too

i thought that aerith's death in ff7 was kinda touching, but i belive that its also kinda overrated (like the rest of the game :) ) other than that, id have to say mufasa from the lion king and uncle ben in spiderman.

I find the death of Boss in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater to be the most powerful scene, and also a turning point in Big Boss' character. In fact, I kinda feel sorry for him to do that to his mentor.

Metal Gear Solid, Sniper Wolf's death. It's one of the saddest scenes in a video game, and I always get choked up seeing it.

Definitally (Don't highlight unless you read Harry Potter 6!)

Spoiler Below

Nephlite, in Sailor Moon, Episode #24. Redeemed at the end by Molly's love, Nephlite's death hit me pretty hard. I'd never seen anything like that in a cartoon before, and it lost none of it's power when I viewed it again not too long ago. If anything it was even more moving because I had a greater understanding of what was going on and a greater appreciation of the emotions the characters must have been feeling.

I totally remember that scene, it was an excellent scene for Sailor Moon. One of the most touching moments from the early Moon episodes.

Mufasa's death in "The Lion King" was a pretty hurtful moment for me. There's nothing sadder then seeing someone not understand the concept of death, and then trying to "wake them up" like they were sleeping. Seeing Simba treat death like it was sleeping was a devastatingly painful and hurtful thing for me to see.

In "Shawshank Redemption", Brooks Hadley, the old man who was the book keeper and friend to Andy (Tim Robbins). His death and the music around that scene still pops into my mind. But probably the biggest fictional death that ever really got to me was from Trigun: Spoiler Below That was a beautiful but deeply saddening character death.

I really didn't see it coming and I don't think the series would be as pivotal or amazing as it is without that death scene.