Deathfic

Deathfic is fanfiction that focuses on the death of a character, usually a beloved canon character. Generally the term is reserved for stories where the death is a major plot element. Deathfic may be darkfic in which the focus is on the tragedy or horror of the character's death, or may focus more on elements of hurt/comfort or the angst and grieving process of the characters. Afterlife stories are a type of deathfic that focuses on what happens after death.
Deathfic is often ironically a mark of fans' affection for a character, and elaborate descriptions of funerals and grief-stricken friends (and sometimes enemies) are common. However, it may also be an outlet for fans' dislike for a character if the death has humorous overtones ("Isn't it jolly good fun that this character's dead!"). Deathfic written mainly for the opportunity to kill a character the author hates is often perceived as character bashing.
Many fans feel they should be warned for deathfic, although this usually only concerns major canon characters. The death of background characters or OCs that the reader does not already have an emotional attachment to is generally not considered disturbing enough to warrant a warning. Other fans feel that obligatory death warnings significantly spoil stories where the death is meant to be a surprise. A fan in 1997: "For me, a warning about an impending character death would spoil the suspense, even if I don't know who is going to die. Yeah, I like to be surprised, but I've also written stories in which major characters die. The last one I posted here involved a *lot* of deaths, and the feedback I received regarding these deaths was positive, although a few were more than a
bit shocked from it. If I had put the CD code in the disclaimer, I don't think the build-up and subsequent tragic scene would have had the same kick." -- death stories (Oct 25, 1997) In some instances these warnings are technically accurate but misleading; for example, the "major character death" tag might appear to be satisfied by the death of a moderately important character early in the story, with a much more important character killed later without further warning; it might also herald the death of every significant character in the fandom, or the extinction of the entire human race, as part of the story.
Death fanart published in print fanzines rarely carried the type of warnings that most fans demand today.
Presumed Deathfics are stories in which the supposedly dead character either turns out to be alive after all, or returns to life.
The phrase "partner failure" (as in the death of a partner is the failure of the other partner to keep him/her alive and/or the failure of the dead partner to keep himself/herself alive) was coined by James Walkswithwind in 1996 on the Virgule-L mailing list.Morgan Dawn's personal notes accessed November 3, 2012.
==Different Fandoms and Their Sort-Of Deaths==
Stargate SG-1 and Daniel's various ascensions, Star Trek and Spock's death/katra, the temporary nature of death in the Buffyverse and many comics books...
See also Presumed Dead.
==Is Every Story a "Death Story"?==
==A Right, or an Infringement on TPTB?==
In 1981, a fan comments: "Killing a Lucas character raises the question of our responsibility as 'secondary' creators toward 'primary' creations, and their author. Are they, in fact, Lucas' characters, or have they become 'our' characters through their public distribution in the movies. How major a change in characterization, motive, etc., can we legitimately make in them (and death is about a major a change as we can get, one would thing)? ... I think we would all agree it is a moral issue that every fannish writer has to take some sort of stand on..." from Jundland Wastes #2
==When and How -- The Details==
Some fans like or tolerate certain kinds of deathfic and but not others.
Often, a badly-written death story often doesn't have the same effect as a well-written one: 
Having two characters die together in as a heroic part of the job may be considered better than having one character "left behind." Other fans do not object to death (preferably together!) of two characters after they have enjoyed a long and happy life or if one character finally joins her or his beloved: 
==Variations on a Theme==
In 1996 Sandy Herrold posted the following question to the Virgule-L mailing list:Quoted with permission.
In response, Michelle Christian wrote:
Jan Levine rounded out the discussion:
==Death Stories: Love Them==
 
==Death Stories: Loathe Them==
==Popularity/Acceptance in Different Fandoms==
Stories dealing with the death of major characters are more popular in some fandoms than others.
Forever Knight:
Although fix-its are the most popular response to the series finale, in which most of the characters are killed off, there are also several Last Knight stories that deal with the aftermath of canon events: e.g., survivor reactions, funerals/wills, police investigations. Another common trope, ignoring canon, is futurefic in which Nick Knight, having long since left Toronto, returns years later to attend the funeral/deathbed of one of the mortal characters, most commonly Natalie Lambert.
Katekyo Hitman Reborn!:
As the main characters of this manga are members of the mafia, even though the manga itself tends to treat violence and serious injury in a comic fashion, the more serious works in this fandom often feature character death. For the pairing Yamamoto/Gokudera, for example, it is not uncommon for fanfic to feature one surviving half of the couple (usually Gokudera) looking back on their relationship and wishing he'd been more open about his feelings.
Pokémon Anime:
Death fics were common among Ash/Misty and RocketShipping authors, the most common plot involving one half of the couple dying and the other realizing how much they loved them. Fics such as these were fairly popular, especially among Rocketshippers, but some found them clichéd and trite after multiple readings. The Ash deathfic trope is far less common these days due to the anime proving that the boy is more or less made of iron.
Cori Falls, however, was of the opinion that any kind of deathfic in Pokemon was inappropriate.https://www.kuwagatamushi.net/sarajaye/Badfics/Cori%20Falls/Rants/To%20Denounce%20the%20Evils%20of%20Bad%20Fanfics.txt
Real Ghostbusters:
In 1997, a fan comments on death stories in The Real Ghostbusters: "I used to read a lot of The Real Ghostbusters fanzines (still would, except there don't seem to be many new ones coming out these days, and I'm pretty short of cash anyways). Anyway, the 'zines were filled with hurt/comfort and angst- but there were NEVER any death stories. There were, however, a LOT of stories where a Ghostbuster appeared to be dead, only for it to turn out he wasn't. I began to want to read a real-live, honest-to-goodness death story. Eventually, I wrote one. And searched, and searched, and searched for a home for it. But no one would actually publish a RGB death story, much to my annoyance." from a fan on FanFiction.Net
Sailor Moon:
Death was surprisingly common in this fandom. The Kunzite/Zoisite had the well-used-to-the-point-of-cliché standby involving Zoisite's very memorable death scene and Kunzite's emotional pain as he struggles to go on without him, but Senshi deathfics were quite popular, too. Rei Hino/Sailor Mars was a common victim, either killed in battle to protect Usagi/Sailor Moon or committing suicide over unrequited feelings for her.
The genre was also used as a cheap ploy to get Mamoru Chiba/Tuxedo Mask out of the way so Usagi could fall in love with Rei, Seiya/Sailor Starfighter, or whoever else the author chose. Sometimes it had nothing to do with shipping and everything to do with the fandom's hatred of Mamoru.
Stargate Atlantis:
In Stargate Atlantis fandom, one of the stories that had an enormous impact on the fandom and is held by widely differing fans to be (one of) the best fanfics in the fandom or the best fic in any fandom they have ever read is synecdochic's post-deathfic Freedom's Just Another Word For Nothing Left To Lose. Other deathfics are less popular.
In Stargate SG-1 fandom, Mary Jane's deathfic Willemakee (link) is considered a must-read classic."This story made me sob. It's justly famous, and unique, in the fandom. I ordinarily do not enjoy sad, sad, sad stories like this, but the writing is just so excellent that I couldn't stop. Daniel goes on a quest to understand Jack's last words, and what he finds will break your heart in the good way, the best possible way. This story, also, is in a class by itself." from My SG-1 Rec List of Doom: M-R post by princessofgeeks. (Accessed 31 Jan 2012)Willemakee is also recced in the category angst in Stargate SG-1 fic recs for the newbie by green grrl. (Accessed 31 Jan 2012)
Star Trek:
From a submission request for a zine that never made it off the ground, "Return the Day" by Wendy Rathbone "A new K/S with an old idea. Remember the classic days of K/S? Remember all that hurt and comfort and death? Well, here's your chance to return to the good old days."
Star Wars:
One fan in May 1981 writes in an issue of Jundland Wastes that she can only think of three deathfics in the Star Wars fandom and goes on to list them. Another fan in the same issue of this zine writes: "I am not eager to see such stories. Many of us are 'graduates' of ST fandom, and it seemed to me that after a while every other ST fan story was about 'Kirk dies and Spock goes off his logical rocker,' or 'Spock dies and Kirk just can't bear to live any longer,'... The overkill of this kind of relationship story... got to be way too much."
==== Voltron: Legendary Defender: ====
After the series finale saw Princess Allura sacrifice herself to repair the shattered realities, fandom developed an extreme hatred for sad endings and death fics and did everything in their power to subvert the ending. Before then, deathfic wasn't exactly a beloved trend, but it wasn't too looked down upon either.
==Example Fanworks==
* Avatar: The Last Airbender: The Festival of Four by Supercat. "Six years after his health starts to fail, Avatar Aang has a vision of a woman in the Water Tribe. He knows what it means, but he isn't ready." Aang's death.
* Avengers/Kingsman: The Secret Service: #standbylegion by Esama. "V-day takes out the Avengers. JARVIS copes, one tweet at a time." Deals with the death of most of the Avengers and several million others.
* Blake's 7: In My Hands by Hafren. Vila after Avon's death, with elements of a fairy tale. Widely recommended.
* Buffy the Vampire Slayer: The Twelfth Sister, The Twelfth Sister Revisited by Rowan. Faith AU. Buffy has many examples of well-regarded deathfics that are very dark.
* Forever Knight: Dorothy Elggren's "All The Rest Is Silence" deals with the immediate aftermath of the series finale.
* Hanson: the stories Burn and Lived both deal with the aftermath of Zac's fictional death
* Marvel Cinematic Universe: by illwynd (2013)
* by plastic_cello (MCU, 2016)
* Pros: the circuit story, Endgame
* Pros: the fanzine Angel in the Dark
* Psych: A Whisper to the Living by xparrot, gen, futurefic. Shawn Spencer returns to Santa Barbara ten years after Gus and Henry are killed. A widely admired story that gets a lot of 'I don't like deathfic but -' comments.
* Star Trek: TOS: the 1981 zine One Last Wish Fulfilled & A Promise Kept generated much discussion about deathfic and the creator's "duty" to warn readers
* Star Trek: TNG: Past Duties by shalott. Like many well-loved deathfics, here death is just the beginning for Picard.
* Starsky & Hutch: Crab Sandwiches by Dawnwind "Starsky and Hutch deal with a devastating diagnosis."
* The Fighter Still Remains by Dargelos (1981)
==Thematic Lists for Deathfic==
* 
* The Professionals
==Meta==
* The Appeal of Death Stories by Anonymous
==References==
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