CALLING ALL SPARKLERS: Which Fictional Death Hurt You the Most?

Like most of you, I was raised on a healthy diet of books, network television, and staying inside. And for the most part, it was pretty great. I spent countless hours in my bedroom immersing myself in the world of fiction and hissing whenever sunlight had the gall to freckle my pale epidermis. I had a good time. Until I experienced my first fictional loss, that is.

I don’t actually remember the first one. It was probably Where the Red Fern Grows or something similarly filled with cold-blooded puppy murder. But the one that ripped my heart out, stomped on it, set it on fire, and then danced on the ashes? I sure remember that one. I’ll remember it until the day I die, full of bitterness and regret as I stare down the business end of a broadsword.

It was Sirius Black. I kid you not: I loved that man. He was the rakish murderer-turned-godfather I never had. I literally couldn’t believe it when he went through the veil. I think I cried for three whole days. When did the sadness tome that was Order of the Phoenix even come out? 2003? So I was ten. I was ten years old when I learned the ways of this callous, unforgiving world and vowed to never love again.

So I’ll put it to you guys: who hurt you? Which fictional mortality made you realize how terrible it is to love something that death can touch?

OMG WE HAD TOTALLY BLOCKED OUT WHERE THE RED FERN GROWS, but that book definitely did a number on us. And we will not even get INTO the heartbreak of Sirius Black. Which death haunts you to this day?