Would you kill off your "MC"?

[Tanako]

So after speaking with a friend i really started to think about it and honestly i'm not quite sure how i feel about it. one of my friends is working on a comic and the comic is doing well. has a pretty decent number of subs and he's really excited about the direction of the comic and the engagement of the readers however, he wants to add a trusted plot. He, wants to kill off his main character. I advised him not to because most readers get attached to the main character and sometimes they relate with them. Even though this is what he feels like doing, he's scared that he will loose some of the readers and posiblaly Patreon fans because of this and he can't seem to make up him mind about it.
-so my question is, would you kill off your main character? weather the character is good or bad?
The main character of his story is not a bad guy at all but he's just misunderstood. anyway, i won't to know you guys intake on it.
EDIT: i apologize for any typos in the post.

[joannekwan]

I'd only kill them at the very end of the story, give them a hero's death etc.
Now if they were killed mid-story, then yeah I'd see people getting mad.

[Demy]

Depends on how it would contribute to the story.

But yes if it served a purpose. No if it didn't.

[SleepingPoppy]

No, largely because that's just not a story I'd enjoy telling. While I enjoy stories that head for happy endings and prefer characters I like not die, I don't necessarily have a problem with a lead being killed off if it serves the story.

Yes, it's very possible that will alienate some readers, even patrons, but it might also gain him some. If the death is for shock value, don't do it. If the death contributes to an over all more interesting story, do the thing!

[Kura]

I mean... at the moment the main character's death is pretty much the plot that starts off my current story so yeah eventually.

[feuersichel]

I had the same problem with my main chara at the end. Storywise it would totaly make sense if my chara dies but me myself, I hate to kill them off. So I decided to make some sort of a split ending. Like it looks like she died but with enough evidence there is still life. So the reader can decide over life and death.

[rmdooley]

With an ensemble cast, killing off a main character can be done without completely changing the story and pulling the rug out from under the audience.

So absolutely heck yeah I would

[ar-ninetysix]

Depends on the story.. I have a comic in the works where the death of the MC is planned to be near the final chapter from the beginning. You have to know what the intent is behind the death, you can't just throw one in for shock value. It's gotta be either dramatic, ironic, thematic, or it's gotta have a huge impact somewhere along the line. Death isn't something people are supposed take in as like "oh, ok we're doing this now."

Even if does alienate people, I can't be mad if they stop reading further afterwards! It just shows me how attached they became to the character.. which is a total compliment to the time and effort that went into planning and writing them in!

[silverraven0]

I killed my MC before, all with a reasonable reasons or if it is decided that they'll die in the middle or end of the story because they're not the actual main focus if the story or some other reason.

If you decide ot kill them just for the sake of shock value though, I advise you not to because that would looks cheap, in my opinion.

But yes, I will kill them for the story.

[SilverLugia456]

For me I wouldn't kill off my MCs from my stories but that is because its my personal preference when I'm writing stories. If anything I would set it up where characters in the story think that the MC is dead but then the MC would come back. So it would be like a 'temporarily death' then they come back or revive. As long as it made sense with the story that I was writing and wouldn't be randomly placed.

As a reader I can answer that I don't like it when MCs are killed even at the end of the story because I like the characters and its just sad that at the end they die. Even when stories have open endings where its up to the audience to interpret it and there is a chance that the character could be dead makes me sad. However, choosing to kill off the MC at the end of the story doesn't make me hate a story or anything. Its sad sure but sometimes when that happens the audience may become more attached to the character through emotion.

As it was said many times above in the other posts, if there is going to be a MC death it should be done with emotion and purpose. If the death seems too random or its just there to be there then it defeats the purpose of drawing your audience in and have them become emotionally attached to the incident and the MC's fate.

[beta1042]

For my current story heck no. I'm just not writing that type of story. But I'm not opposed to the idea of killing an MC, I think it really just depends on the story and how that death helps push the story.

[mariusthered]

I am the main character! that would be suicide lol

joking aside, yes if the story was good enough for the supporting characters to hold up the story, killing the main guy/gal can be a powerful thing. it worked in Elektra and in Buffy (to a point). it really dose depend on the story. (and hell I just let a little boy get chomped by a man eating plant in my comic so everybody is at risk if the story demands it!)

[Raven_C]

Nah, I'm basic and I want my MCs to live at the end, even if it's not necessarily a super happy ending. I definitely will make them suffer throughout the story, though. As a reader, I don't mind when MCs die (but I will be VERY sad, mind you). But it has to make sense and serve the narrative well.

[jpnakashima]

Man, that's tough. I feel like your friend should do what they're excited about. If they wants to kill their MC and think this will make for the story they wants to tell, I tend to say ''hell yeah, do it''.
But when you put it that way, with money on the way... Man, tough break. There can also be the possibility in that they wanted to kill their MC so now they won't and the story might suffer for it, you know? Man oh man...

Either way, as for myself, I would. If I don't watch myself, I do tend to write stories focusing on ensembles rather than one single main focus. But either way, I would. I personally love good stories that kill MC and continue on without them, even if for a brief period of time. I remember (watch out for this 30 year spoiler!) renting Chrono Trigger from my rental store when I was a child and loading up a save file to find out that ''...what? Crono... died?!'' I loved it.
I'd also add that I'm not opposed to either leaving the MC dead or resurrecting him someway. My main series now is a super hero one so yeah, you know how it goes...

[nessiefynn]

I killed off my MC in my first chapter and I'd totally do it again. Death is interesting, when characters die it gets readers riled up wondering what's gonna happen next. I'd only do it at the end of the story if death was a fitting end for the MC's arc, but killing the MC mid-story can be very fun.

[indigodrawing]

If there was a good reason to beyond shock value? Sure, why not? As Nick Meyer said in response to being told he couldn't kill off Spock: Of course you can kill him off, you just have to do it well.

[Kann]

I made my MC suffer too much in planned plot to have him killed off. XD

[shazzbaa]

I don't think it's an issue of whether the character is good or bad. That doesn't matter to me. The question is whether or not the character is intended to die. Like. I'm making this comic because I have a story I want to tell. If the main character dying serves that story and is important to that story and rings true, then I would kill them no matter what. If the main character dying would not serve that story, or rings false, then I wouldn't do it, no matter what.

Like, if you just wanna shock and horrify people, then nah, I wouldn't kill 'em. I think the "anyone can die!!!" tension is extremely overrated and not actually a good thing in some cases, and it's a big waste if people can tell you're just trying to tug on heartstrings. But if you have something important to say with this character's death, then how could you not kill them? Leaving them alive just because readers might not like it...... it's almost like being dishonest, because you know that the real and most honest version of the story, the thing you really want to do, is the story where they die, and you're telling some fake alternate story to appease readers. I honestly can't understand being able to do that.

[Dreambrush]

Usually a main character will drive a narrative, so if he is killed off before the ultimate end of the story, I can't see it avoiding some major backlash, and for good reason, I would assume. I enjoy killing off characters that are not expected to die, but as for THE main character? Only if it's at the end, if at all.

[Zhengo]

A main characters death should serve some kind pf purpose in the story, and if they die in the middle of the story, the effects of their death should still be felt in the plot and characters long after their death. Like others have said, killing of a main character just for shock value can be very cheap.

On the other hand, I don't think making a main character live through ridiculous amounts of plot armor is also the right choice (unless if it's in a plot where this is expected like most shounen action series). You mention a "trusted" plot so I'm guessing that maybe the main character at one point has a high probability of dying. If this is, for example a serious drama where the main character has a terminal illness with no cure at all, then it would also feel cheap to let them live because of a magical cure at the last minute or some other plot convenience.