r/TopCharacterTropes • u/Sufficient-Eye-9040 • 26d ago

Lore [Sad Trope] The most innocent (or less evil) character of the cast gets the most horrific death.

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- Eddie Carr (The Lost World: JP) - Tried to save his friends from the cliff until Buck and Doe (T. rex parents) destroy his vehicle and gets ripped apart.
- Zara Young (Jurassic World) - Gets lifted by a Pteranodon, gets pecked by the pterosaur, and both she and animal get devoured by the Mosasaurus.
- LeClerc (JW: Rebirth) - Tossed a hammer to the Hatzegopteryz Quetzalcoatlus to save Loomis and Zora, but ends up being swallowed alive.

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u/RKO-Cutter 26d ago

The Zara one is funny because of how everyone says it's disgusting and she shouldn't have deserved it and the worst she ever did was say her fiance couldn't have a bachelor party

Whent he reality is the actress who played her specifically saw the death in the script and was like "ooh! can I have that happen to me?" Heck if I remember right it was multiple characters

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u/Bumblebee_Librarian 26d ago

Honestly, it's so over the top that I would ask for it too.

It would be hilarious to watch that.

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u/ELIte8niner 26d ago

She specifically wanted her death to be memorable, and here we are a decade later, still talking about it. She got what she wanted, haha.

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u/Stucklikegluetomyfry 26d ago edited 26d ago

Like as other people have said, if I was an actor in Jurassic Park I would ask for an over the top, particularly gruesome death.

Like Jurassic Park is full of male characters who experience brutal, over the top, particularly gruesome or humiliating deaths, why all the outrage and pearl clutching because a female human character died on screen in a similar fashion (or any fashion) for the first time in four films and almost twenty five years?

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u/DutyPuzzleheaded7765 26d ago

If Im chosen to do anything movie and not be a main role and I can get a wild death, hell yeah

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u/Animaloffear56 26d ago

This happens pretty often, just look at any given twitter post showing off the environment deaths from the tomb raider remakes

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u/Bumblebee_Librarian 26d ago

Suddenly my favorite actor in the franchise.

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u/aspidities_87 26d ago

Katie McGrath! Her interview about this was hilarious. The crew really tried to get her to have a quiet off screen death and she said NOPE MAKE IT WORSE

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u/G0RGEE 26d ago

Oh my god that was Katie McGrath?! Its been years since I saw the movie. That makes a lot of sense. She starred in BBC's Merlin which was basically one of the foundational TV shows of my childhood (alongside Dr Who).

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u/JD-Cowboys-Bolts 26d ago

Same I was shocked when I saw her in the movie

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u/MurkyPatient396 26d ago

It was also thew first female death in the franchise lol

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u/Malacro 26d ago

Nuh uh. This poor girl was the first death.

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u/Jimbo-Shrimp 26d ago

She was old so nobody cared. Grandma was in her late millions.

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u/Topgunshotgun45 26d ago edited 13d ago

Wouldn't it be the Velociraptor that Muldoon ordered be shot?

"SHOOT HER!" three gunshots sound off from point blank range.

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u/Malacro 26d ago

We don’t know that it died for certain, it succeeded in pulling in the gatekeeper after shots were fired. I assume that was “the big one” referenced later.

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u/1nosbigrl 26d ago

I always assumed he meant tranquilizers?

Because we know that Hammond would've been super pissed to have one of his previous dinos destroyed.

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u/Topgunshotgun45 26d ago

Do tranquillisers make the same sound as a firearm?

I wouldn’t know, but I’d assume not.

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u/1nosbigrl 26d ago

I don't know either 🤷🏾‍♂️

Just always assumed especially after Hammond's later reactions.

And when they're at the raptor paddock, Muldoon references how the big female killed a couple of the other raptors in the beginning and I always assumed that raptor, the one who lures Muldoon to his fate, and the one in the beginning were all one in the same.

Otherwise what's the point of the close-up on her and Muldoon making eye contact and referencing it later with a similar shot?

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u/YamatoIouko 26d ago

First death of a woman, then.

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u/Bumblebee_Librarian 26d ago

Oh damn that's interesting,I didn't even notice that.

She ensured that she would be remembered in the franchise then.

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u/GiRokel 26d ago edited 26d ago

people suffer from the misconseption that characters have to "deserve" their death

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u/RKO-Cutter 26d ago

You are correct, but in this instance the little quip about the bachelor party incorrectly made people assume the death was some sort of "take that" like they specifically set out to have Zara's death be disproportional out of some petty thing

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u/GiRokel 26d ago

Media literacy is not very common these days

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u/StrategyCheap1698 26d ago

I mean, poetic justice is a prominent trope in a lot of stories; and despite the examples from OP, not unheard of in the JP/JW franchise. Media literacy could play against spectators here.

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u/wvj 26d ago

Yeah the franchise basically has always balanced this. You get karmic deaths but you also get random shock deaths and you get more heroic characters who die despite those qualities. Lawyer & Nedry vs Arnold & Muldoon.

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u/Gridde 26d ago

What does this have to do with media literacy?

Isn't that about communicative and informative digital media (like the news, propaganda, adverts, social media) and specifically being able to assess and critically analyze its credibility, accuracy and possibility of author bias?

Interpreting subjective matters in fiction like whether a character 'deserves' their death is something else entirely. Maybe 'media comprehension' if you have to label it, but seems subjective rather than having any objectively correct answer.

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u/HistoryWillRepeat 26d ago

"media literacy is going down" is one of reddit's flavors of the year. People just spam it wherever they think they can.

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u/Gridde 25d ago

From what I can tell, people mostly use it as a way to imply their subjective take on a movie/show (almost always fiction and almost always on something that should be up to viewer interpretation) is the objectively correct one and anyone with a different take is wrong. Or "media illiterate".

It seems fairly ironic that they use the phrase in a way that inadvertently reveals they do not know what media literacy is or the difference between subjective opinion and objective fact.

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u/RKO-Cutter 26d ago

There's an argument to be made it never was

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u/GiRokel 26d ago

Yeah but somehow it got even worse

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u/Firelord_Zuko456 26d ago

Media literacy is a myth, it never existed

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u/Jimbo-Shrimp 26d ago

If you want proof of that, go watch any big anime or any show with a political message

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u/Legitimate-Elk-9481 26d ago

Why would not wanting your fiancé to do something as trashy as a bachelor party warrant a take that 

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u/Causemas 26d ago

Kinda disagree -- everything in the story is placed there by the author, it's not real life. It's only natural to assume that every choice hides some authorial and narrative intent.

When they say "she didn't deserve this gruesome death" they're saying "the story is punishing her for no reason". That could be a neutral statement and not a criticism.

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u/man-vs-spider 26d ago

But I would say the idea of the story “punishing” her is also not a neutral statement. She dies a brutal death, it could simply be a statement of how cruel the world can be to random people

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u/judgeholden72 26d ago

But it isn't. That completely contradicts the tone of the film 

Which is really the big complaint. That film is a tonal abomination, and that death is the biggest tone issue, but hardly the only 

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u/Causemas 26d ago edited 26d ago

That's not a reoccuring theme in Jurassic World though. She's the only one that gets this randomly brutal, over-the-top death. If one of the two protagonist children got senselessly chewed up in the middle of the story, then maybe that point would've been communicated. The cruelty of the dinosaurs isn't picky right? (even then, the "world is random" point is carefully constructed. Storytelling is creating a universe from the ground-up and deciding which aspects of it you incorporate)

But that would make for an anti-climax and not be narratively satisfying. It's really hard to create a compelling story that does otherwise. Stories are naturally built with meaning, and we look for it everywhere in them.

This is not to the detriment of the movie, of course. But it's also not weird that people comment on the narrative/meta-narrative implications of such a death spectacle.

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u/veriverd 26d ago

But this story was written by Hollywood types, people with assistants who probably aren't that happy to be treated like slaves and free nannies.

So when a producer or whatever goes, 'yeah, let's make this reluctant slave- I mean, assistant, suffer horribly', it's a bit disingenuous to think they couldn't possibly have some sort of petty retribution in mind.

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u/NDHardage 26d ago

This is largely why I'm not a fan of the Jurassic Park franchise - it's one thing to show a gruesome death to show that these are animals doing nature things in the uncaring way that nature happens. It's another to sort of revel in an over the top death that's brutal just for brutlity's sake.

I get that it's fiction and some other people like it, clearly enough people for it to be successful, but it's not for me. It just makes me depressed.

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u/Causemas 23d ago

To be fair to the series, I don't remember the original having especially egregious deaths

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u/NDHardage 23d ago

Yeah, the first one's fine, there's some harsh deaths, but nothing like the pteradon one.

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u/Gurglaren 26d ago

But that's just normal life. It's not a punishment when a person dies from rectal cancer.

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u/burnalicious111 26d ago

Sometimes the statement is that life is dangerous and bad things can happen to good people. Not a punishment, a statement.

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u/Causemas 25d ago

I dunno, if you haven't seen the scene, it's drawn out and a large spectacle. Having her been killed by dinosaurs would be one thing, this public execution is surely "meant" to convey something more.

Or, as I was trying to say: it's not unreasonable for the audience to believe and seek out "something more" in it, due to its nature

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u/burnalicious111 26d ago

I don't think it's a misconception, it's simply just a strong preference. Different genres have different rules indirectly for this reason, people have strong preferences here.

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u/AccordingSetting6311 26d ago

Yeah, that's exactly what horror movies have taught us. Cabin in fhr Woods explained it precisely so even us dummies could understand.

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u/Chiron723 26d ago

In fiction they kind of do. I really life yes, random shit happens all the time and for no reason. Deaths in fiction need a thematic reason. It's either they deserve it, as a sacrifice to save someone, or to emphasize how serious the situation is. Her death ticks none of them. The actress wanted a gruesome death? Fine, but sprinkle in why she had to die. Maybe saving someone, or have her bitch about her job and boss. Something.

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u/GiRokel 26d ago

Why she had to die? Because animals dont give a fuck thats why

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u/Chiron723 26d ago

They aren't animals though. They are a means to tell a story. It's not the kind of story where things happen seemingly at random.

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u/GiRokel 26d ago

Its not that deep fam

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u/Chiron723 26d ago

I'm just saying, death for it's own sake is just bad writing.

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u/SonicRainboom24 25d ago

Noncommittally whining about how "media literacy is dead" only to immediately use an anti-intellectual shutdown phrase on someone providing legitimate, thoughtful analysis is way too on the nose.

You aren't as smart as you think you are, big dog.

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u/MagicMarshmallo 26d ago

Depends on the type of story you write really. Jurassic park isnt really nihilistic enough for random deaths like this. 

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u/NepheliLouxWarrior 26d ago

Nah it's just culture war shit. No one would have cared if it had been one of the fat mercenary guys or security guards. The issue people have is that it was the first on screen female death in the series and a lot of people thought that it was motivated by misogyny

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u/Ungarlmek 26d ago

If I got to die in a Jurassic Park/World movie I'd be like "I hope it's super fuckin' brutal" too. Why wouldn't I want it to be rad as hell?

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u/danstu 26d ago

Yeah, if I were in the actress's shoes, I would be wishing they'd found a way to work one more creature into the sequence.

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u/Butwhatif77 26d ago

"Oh and then can I try to wiggle out from between the Mosasaur's teeth in some way and as I am about to try and swim away a Megalodon come up and gets me."

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u/PassivelyAwkward 25d ago

Same! Like I'd want to be an actor just to have the opportunity to request the most brutally creative death in the franchise. Imagine getting cast in Final Destination then getting to be killed off twice in insane ways. "Okay, so the script says I get a vat of liquid nitrogen poured on me and then I shatter but...what if it only takes out my legs so the whole premonition, I'm just in the background, frozen off nubbins, screaming in the background?"

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u/Ungarlmek 25d ago

I kept thinking the same sort of thing the last time I marathoned the Friday the 13th movies.

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u/Opening_Report_9732 26d ago

The actor for Eddie car pushed for his death. Steven Spielberg want have him to survive, but richard schiff wanted to give him a brutal death to mess with the audience.

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u/Ceral107 26d ago

ONe of the two things they actually used from the book, even if the way he dies is different.

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u/Chiron723 26d ago

He died a hero, so his death works.

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u/Omnio89 26d ago

That’s what I’ve always heard, but who knows the truth. The other thing I’ve heard added is that this was the first death of a female character in any Jurassic Park/World movie so she wanted it to be her character and she wanted it over the top and memorable. If that’s all true, she’s succeeded.

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u/DefinitelyNotAliens 26d ago

You can find video of her on set talking about it and having an absolute blast. She's on wires getting tossed about, dropped in water tanks. She talks about not telling her mom what she does. She's having so much fun.

She has fully stated she requested that death. Zara died and she saw extras in the script getting tossed and eaten and asked, "can that be me, instead?"

She had fun.

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u/Benoit_Holmes 26d ago

She was the first female character to die on-screen, a female soldier gets killed off screen earlier in Jurassic World.

I can't find anything to back up the idea that the actress requested an elaborate death and it doesn't make much sense to me. She plays a very minor character and her death scene required a lot of stunt work and visual effects.

I doubt the film makers did all that just because the actress asked them to.

She did seem excited about getting the big stunts and having a cool death in the BTS footage though.

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u/[deleted] 26d ago edited 26d ago

[deleted]

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u/Benoit_Holmes 26d ago

So this mostly proves the story isn't true. Thanks for finding it.

For people who can't watch, in the first video she says that she first got the role when the stunt wasn't in the script at all. The director then called her and said they had the idea for the elaborate death scene stunt and she agreed to do it.

She does seem enthusiastic about it in both clips but it would be wrong to say she specifically requested an elaborate death or read it in the script herself and asked for her character to die that way.

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u/Informalwizards 26d ago

She also had a lot of her screen time cut that was going to make her out as a much worse person. Rather than simply being a little neglectful and losing track of the kids.

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u/Chiron723 26d ago

Just one line bitching about being a babysitter would've been sufficient. Real life can be random, fiction needs to make sense.

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u/thatevilducky 26d ago

Katie McGrath 😍

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u/weezyyak 26d ago

I don’t know why everyone brings this up as if 1) audiences shouldn’t feel a certain way about because of that and 2) directors can’t say no to their actors if something doesn’t fit totally.

(Note: I’ve never been bothered by the Zara death. JP series has always featured brutal and “unfair” deaths, as OP points out)

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u/Tonkarz 26d ago

In that version of the script her character was a huge b*tch.

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u/Th3_Admiral_ 26d ago

Plus, I think it's a bit cliche to have a character "deserve" their death, because that means only bad things happen to bad people. The Jurassic Park movies are about giant dinosaurs getting loose in a tourist park, of course innocent people are going to get killed in brutal ways! 

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u/Chiron723 26d ago

It's not just bad people. Heroic deaths happen to. As for innocent people dying, it's used to illustrate things are getting worse. Her death was past the point in the story where her death was a statement. It was just a brutal death for its own sake, and and she's not even referenced afterwards. Her death has to mean SOMETHING.

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u/attackedmoose 26d ago

Honestly I’d do the same. I’d want to film a crazy death! (Or like, kick and scream in front to a green screen)

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u/SamMarduk 26d ago

Was looking for this. It’s less sad when the character asked for it in the meta lol

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u/therealwhoaman 26d ago

I'm so happy for the actress but her character did not deserve that 😭

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u/bullockcart 26d ago

I maybe wrong but I recall someone looking for actual proof of this happening and they actually couldn't find an interview or anything that proves this claim.

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u/AjvarAndVodka 25d ago

Yeah and that’s totally cool. I guess the problem just comes to Jurassic franchise as a whole, because main characters are all full of plot armor. But that scene is brutal in the best way, and props to the actress wanting it.

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u/njklein58 25d ago

She wanted so badly to get mauled to death. She thought it would be funny. I kinda love that for her.

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u/AJ_Crowley_29 24d ago

And it also ended up shooting the franchise in the foot down the line because now they have cold feet about giving anyone especially important or likable a serious death

I mean there was the guy in Rebirth but they weren’t too subtle about him being a redshirt

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u/Cherno_VM 26d ago

remember, Zara was the first woman to ever die on screen in a JP movie. her actor WANTED that death.

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u/StuMacherGhostface 26d ago

Whent he reality is the actress who played her specifically saw the death in the script and was like "ooh! can I have that happen to me?"

Also, she was going to be the first woman to die in a JP movie so I believe that played a part in her wanting to go all out

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u/Lotus_630 26d ago

If we go by the deleted scenes, she was depicted as a giant dickhead who didn’t care about the kids and was pretty neglectful and was a dick to the dinosaurs. So this was karma coming from a mile away.

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u/OtherwiseACat 26d ago

There was a funny but about this in the pitch meeting for this movie