Jeff Winger, played by Joel McHale on the NBC cult-classic "Community," once said: "What makes humans different from other animals? We're the only species on earth that observes Shark Week. Sharks don't even observe Shark Week, but we do. For the same reason I can pick up this pencil, tell you its name is Steve and go like this..." He proceeds to break the pencil in half, to the extreme horror of the study group. We associate with fictional characters, sometimes more than real people, because we see something in them that deserves our attention and and deserves our love.
This goes without saying, but, WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD.
Reddit user, u/[usernamedeleted], wanted to hear how your heart broke when they asked:
What characters death made you cry?
When A Character Is The Manifestation Of Your Own Childhood And You Have To Let It Go...sob...
GiphyBing Bong from Inside Out.
I watched Inside Out with my siblings recently. Stop reopening fresh wounds.
Why Did You Go To The Rope Bridge Alone?!?
Leslie from Bridge to Terabithia
im surprised no ones said this before me
kid me and even adult me cries like a b-tch evertime watching that movie
Rachel: "BETH. DIES."
Maybe it's my age, but I've scrolled through this entire thread and I recognise only a handful of the characters mentioned. I've also been struck by the lack of literary references. I've sniffled my way through many a film's ending, but the character death that really gets me every time is from a book.
It is Beth in 'Little Women' - or to be strictly correct Beth in 'Good Wives'. I first read Louisa May Alcott's series of 4 books when I was 12 or 13. The copies I read had belonged to my mum when she was that age. I was inconsolable when Beth died. I think it was because I didn't see it coming as I was young and hadn't seen or read many character deaths to this point. To this day I will cry when she dies in every version of the story (I've seen every film and TV version going) and I reread the books for a good wallow as well.
Honourable mention:
The death of DS Freya Graffham in the novel 'The Various Haunts of Men' by Susan Hill. I read a lot and this is the only time I can remember having the rug totally pulled from under my feet at the death of a character. Absolutely unexpected as she was one of the protagonists of the book. Brilliant writing.
When Your Mental Preparation Isn't Enough
Glenn' s death for the walking dead
He was my fav character but I had read spoilers for it so I had like months to mentally prepare to i braced myself and somehow did not cry.
I did cry at his fake out death a season or two before until ten min into talking dead when I realized it was a sham!
Go To The Great Valley...
Littlefoot's mom from The Land Before Time
Same! I was fine when I saw it as a kid, but as an adult? Sobbing mess every time.
Time Is A Passive Enemy
Fry's dog, Seymour.
Saddest scene in a goofy tv show. Futurama had some really good episodes and some that really hit you like a truck.
Sip A Cup Of Tea And Have A Good Cry
GiphyNot an onscreen character death, but Iroh mourning his son never fails to make me blubber like a baby.
There is so much emotional depth to that show, even for a Nickelodeon show that is 15 years old. Leaves from the vine gets me every time. And as I did more research into ATLA, I actually realised that Zuko's redemption arc reflected Iroh's, in a way, and also what Iroh wanted his son to achieve.
Although the episode "Tales of Ba Sing Se" was technically a filler, Iroh's tale was 4 minutes of pure perfection. He helped a small child, a young boy, and a young man, reflecting what he wished he could have had with Lutein before the war had taken him. Love ATLA so much.
Here's The 14th Reason
As dumb as the show can be, Justin Foley from 13 Reasons Why. He struggled with an absent mother, addiction, and homelessness. It made me cry even more when he called Clay his brother. The only family he pretty much ever had
FAIL
Jenna's death from The Vampire Diaries.
Elena tried her best to keep Jenna out of the supernatural vampire world, and only in the end to be used as a sacrifice for Klaus. As I watched the scene, Jenna felt so confused and scared and I cried when Elena told her to "turn it off".
*whistling sound
Rues death in the Hunger games. She didn't deserve that pain. I also sobbed profusely at Prims death, hunger games again.
Man...Suzanne Collins really likes cutting off characters that are loved by everyone. Kind of reminds me of another famous author.
A Ride Home You'll Never Finish
Most recently, Henry Blake from MAS*H. I knew it was coming because I got into the show via ladyknightthebrave's YouTube documentary/essay, but that might have made it more potent.
The man was a mess and cheated on his wife a bunch of times, but I started crying when he hugged Radar just before getting in the chopper. He was so excited to see his wife and kids, too.
When You're Aware Of What's Going To Happen, And It STILL GETS YOU
The dad in Train to Busan
My god, I went into this movie thinking "ok it's a zombie movie, don't get attached to any characters because they're all fair game". I still was not ready
Just Point To Any Wizarding Death
Dobby's a free Elf.
sob
Fred made me throw the book. i read it straight through the night i got it at the release, until i got to that point. i thought i had misread, so i went back and reread it, and when I realized I was so mad
He's Mary Poppins, Ya'll!
Yondu in guardians of the galaxy volume 2, the whole funeral scene is so goddamn sad
I thought his death was sad, because you can hear Peter mourn about loosing Yondu, and his last words:"He may have been your father, but he wasn't your daddy, I'm sorry I didn't do any of it right. I'm [damn] lucky you my boy."
An Arc Set Up From The Beginning
Iron man. The whole theatre cried.
it's fitting that he would be the one to close out the infinity saga. i always come back to Ho Yinsen's last words to tony in the cave: "Don't waste it. Don't waste your life."
his entire arc from that moment was defined by those words until the very end.
Here's A Few For The Road
1.) (Hamilton) Phillip Hamilton's death. Stay Alive reprise had me blubbering like a baby.
2.) (Hamilton) Alexander Hamilton's death. very sad. in Who Lives, Who Dies, Who Tells Your Story? just makes it worse too.
3.) (Hamilton) John Lauren's death. They didnt show it, but Lauren's interlude had everyone in the theatre crying. The fact that Alexander lost his best friend ( and quite possibly past lover 😏) is heartbreaking.
4.) (degrassi) campbell saunder's suicide. they didn't show it for obvious reasons, but its quite heartbreaking how we can see the buildup of depression and anxiety and other events that led up to it. one of his mental breakdowns, the one he had in front of Ali tore me into pieces. very sad.
5.) (dragon ball z) Son Goku's second death. It's a hard episode for everybody.
6.) (assassination classroom) Koro Sensei's death. again, hard episode for everyone. assassination classroom gets a bittersweet ending. the kids finally reached their goal, but in order to achieve it and save the world, they lost their lifelong friend and mentor. Very sad.
Great, Now We're All Crying
GiphyCarl's wife, Ellie, in the opening scene from Up.
Their whole lives, it was just them, taking on the world together. Through good times and bad. They were so excited for a baby, but Ellie miscarried and was left sterile. They kept saving up to go to Paradise Falls, but life kept getting in the way. When Carl eventually gets around to buying plane tickets, she falls ill and dies. He then sits there by her casket in the very same church they were married so many years ago. Carl becomes embittered and lonely. What else do you do when you lose your other half? When you lose the one and only important person in your life?
But then years later, he finally looks into Ellie's adventure book that she had given him before her passing. Chronologically telling their story together. From the founding of their club that started it all, all the way up until their last moments together. And there, on the last page, in Ellie's handwriting is a message. "Thanks for the adventure - now go have a new one! Love, Ellie" He gave her more than a childhood promise of exploration, because you don't need to travel the world when the world is right there by your side. But she wanted him to move on and find happiness again, even if that didn't include her.
F-ck, my eyes are leaking.
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Experiencing death is a fascinating and frightening idea.
Who doesn't want to know what is waiting for us on the other side?
But so many of us want to know and then come back and live a little longer.
It would be so great to be sure there is something else.
But the whole dying part is not that great, so we'll have to rely on other people's accounts.
Redditor AlaskaStiletto wanted to hear from everyone who has returned to life, so they asked:
"Redditors who have 'died' and come back to life, what did you see?"
Sensations
Happy Good Vibes GIF by Major League SoccerGiphy"My dad's heart stopped when he had a heart attack and he had to be brought back to life. He kept the paper copy of the heart monitor which shows he flatlined. He said he felt an overwhelming sensation of peace, like nothing he had felt before."
PeachesnPain
Recovery
"I had surgical complications in 2010 that caused a great deal of blood loss. As a result, I had extremely low blood pressure and could barely stay awake. I remember feeling like I was surrounded by loved ones who had passed. They were in a circle around me and I knew they were there to guide me onwards. I told them I was not ready to go because my kids needed me and I came back."
"My nurse later said she was afraid she’d find me dead every time she came into the room."
"It took months, and blood transfusions, but I recovered."
good_golly99
Take Me Back
"Overwhelming peace and happiness. A bright airy and floating feeling. I live a very stressful life. Imagine finding out the person you have had a crush on reveals they have the same feelings for you and then you win the lotto later that day - that was the feeling I had."
"I never feared death afterward and am relieved when I hear of people dying after suffering from an illness."
rayrayrayray
Free
The Light Minnie GIF by (G)I-DLEGiphy"I had a heart surgery with near-death experience, for me at least (well the possibility that those effects are caused by morphine is also there) I just saw black and nothing else but it was warm and I had such inner peace, its weird as I sometimes still think about it and wish this feeling of being so light and free again."
TooReDTooHigh
This is why I hate surgery.
You just never know.
Shocked
Giphy"More of a near-death experience. I was electrocuted. I felt like I was in a deep hole looking straight up in the sky. My life flashed before me. Felt sad for my family, but I had a deep sense of peace."
Admirable_Buyer6528
The SOB
"Nursing in the ICU, we’ve had people try to die on us many times during the years, some successfully. One guy stood out to me. His heart stopped. We called a code, are working on him, and suddenly he comes to. We hadn’t vented him yet, so he was able to talk, and he started screaming, 'Don’t let them take me, don’t let them take me, they are coming,' he was scared and yelling."
"Then he yelled a little more, as we tried to calm him down, he screamed, 'No, No,' and gestured towards the end of the bed, and died again. We didn’t get him back. It was seriously creepy. We called his son to tell him the news, and the son said basically, 'Good, he was an SOB.'”
1-cupcake-at-a-time
Colors
"My sister died and said it was extremely peaceful. She said it was very loud like a train station and lots of talking and she was stuck in this area that was like a curtain with lots of beautiful colors (colors that you don’t see in real life according to her) a man told her 'He was sorry, but she had to go back as it wasn’t her time.'"
Hannah_LL7
"I had a really similar experience except I was in an endless garden with flowers that were colors I had never seen before. It was quiet and peaceful and a woman in a dress looked at me, shook her head, and just said 'Not yet.' As I was coming back, it was extremely loud, like everyone in the world was trying to talk all at once. It was all very disorienting but it changed my perspective on life!"
huntokarrr
The Fog
"I was in a gray fog with a girl who looked a lot like a young version of my grandmother (who was still alive) but dressed like a pioneer in the 1800s she didn't say anything but kept pulling me towards an opening in the wall. I kept refusing to go because I was so tired."
"I finally got tired of her nagging and went and that's when I came to. I had bled out during a c-section and my heart could not beat without blood. They had to deliver the baby and sew up the bleeders. refill me with blood before they could restart my heart so, like, at least 12 minutes gone."
Fluffy-Hotel-5184
Through the Walls
"My spouse was dead for a couple of minutes one miserable night. She maintains that she saw nothing, but only heard people talking about her like through a wall. The only thing she remembers for absolute certain was begging an ER nurse that she didn't want to die."
"She's quite alive and well today."
Hot-Refrigerator6583
Well let's all be happy to be alive.
It seems to be all we have.
Trying to lose weight is a struggle understood by many people regardless of size.
The goal of reaching a healthy weight may seem unattainable, but with diet and exercise, it can pay off through persistence and discipline.
Seeing the pounds gradually drop off can also be a great motivator and incentivize people to stay the course.
Those who've achieved their respective weight goals shared their experiences when Redditor apprenti8455 asked:
"People who lost a lot of weight, what surprises you the most now?"
Redditors didn't see these coming.
Shiver Me Timbers
"I’m always cold now!"
– Telrom_1
"I had a coworker lose over 130 pounds five or six years ago. I’ve never seen him without a jacket on since."
– r7ndom
"140 lbs lost here starting just before COVID, I feel like that little old lady that's always cold, damn this top comment was on point lmao."
– mr_remy
Drawing Concern
"I lost 100 pounds over a year and a half but since I’m old(70’s) it seems few people comment on it because (I think) they think I’m wasting away from some terminal illness."
– dee-fondy
"Congrats on the weight loss! It’s honestly a real accomplishment 🙂"
"Working in oncology, I can never comment on someone’s weight loss unless I specifically know it was on purpose, regardless of their age. I think it kind of ruffles feathers at times, but like I don’t want to congratulate someone for having cancer or something. It’s a weird place to be in."
– LizardofDeath
Unleashing Insults
"I remember when I lost the first big chunk of weight (around 50 lbs) it was like it gave some people license to talk sh*t about the 'old' me. Old coworkers, friends, made a lot of not just negative, but harsh comments about what I used to look like. One person I met after the big loss saw a picture of me prior and said, 'Wow, we wouldn’t even be friends!'”
"It wasn’t extremely common, but I was a little alarmed by some of the attention. My weight has been up and down since then, but every time I gain a little it gets me a little down thinking about those things people said."
– alanamablamaspama
Not Everything Goes After Losing Weight
"The loose skin is a bit unexpected."
– KeltarCentauri
"I haven’t experienced it myself, but surgery to remove skin takes a long time to recover. Longer than bariatric surgery and usually isn’t covered by insurance unless you have both."
– KatMagic1977
"It definitely does take a long time to recover. My Dad dropped a little over 200 pounds a few years back and decided to go through with skin removal surgery to deal with the excess. His procedure was extensive, as in he had skin taken from just about every part of his body excluding his head, and he went through hell for weeks in recovery, and he was bedridden for a lot of it."
– Jaew96
These Redditors shared their pleasantly surprising experiences.
Shopping
"I can buy clothes in any store I want."
– WaySavvyD
"When I lost weight I was dying to go find cute, smaller clothes and I really struggled. As someone who had always been restricted to one or two stores that catered to plus-sized clothing, a full mall of shops with items in my size was daunting. Too many options and not enough knowledge of brands that were good vs cheap. I usually went home pretty frustrated."
– ganache98012
No More Symptoms
"Lost about 80 pounds in the past year and a half, biggest thing that I’ve noticed that I haven’t seen mentioned on here yet is my acid reflux and heartburn are basically gone. I used to be popping tums every couple hours and now they just sit in the medicine cabinet collecting dust."
– colleennicole93
Expanding Capabilities
"I'm all for not judging people by their appearance and I recognise that there are unhealthy, unachievable beauty standards, but one thing that is undeniable is that I can just do stuff now. Just stamina and flexibility alone are worth it, appearance is tertiary at best."
– Ramblonius
People Change Their Tune
"How much nicer people are to you."
"My feet weren't 'wide' they were 'fat.'"
– LiZZygsu
"Have to agree. Lost 220 lbs, people make eye contact and hold open doors and stuff"
"And on the foot thing, I also lost a full shoe size numerically and also wear regular width now 😅"
– awholedamngarden
It's gonna take some getting used to.
Bones Everywhere
"Having bones. Collarbones, wrist bones, knee bones, hip bones, ribs. I have so many bones sticking out everywhere and it’s weird as hell."
– Princess-Pancake-97
"I noticed the shadow of my ribs the other day and it threw me, there’s a whole skeleton in here."
– bekastrange
Knee Pillow
"Right?! And they’re so … pointy! Now I get why people sleep with pillows between their legs - the knee bones laying on top of each other (side sleeper here) is weird and jarring."
– snic2030
"I lost only 40 pounds within the last year or so. I’m struggling to relate to most of these comments as I feel like I just 'slimmed down' rather than dropped a ton. But wow, the pillow between the knees at night. YES! I can relate to this. I think a lot of my weight was in my thighs. I never needed to do this up until recently."
– Strongbad23
More Mobility
"I’ve lost 100 lbs since 2020. It’s a collection of little things that surprise me. For at least 10 years I couldn’t put on socks, or tie my shoes. I couldn’t bend over and pick something up. I couldn’t climb a ladder to fix something. Simple things like that I can do now that fascinate me."
"Edit: Some additional little things are sitting in a chair with arms, sitting in a booth in a restaurant, being able to shop in a normal store AND not needing to buy the biggest size there, being able to easily wipe my butt, and looking down and being able to see my penis."
– dma1965
People making significant changes, whether for mental or physical health, can surely find a newfound perspective on life.
But they can also discover different issues they never saw coming.
That being said, overcoming any challenge in life is laudable, especially if it leads to gaining confidence and ditching insecurities.