# Characters authors kill, why? (Spoilers!) **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [March 30, 2002, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-authors-kill-why-spoilers/100888 "2002-03-30T07:06:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/b2d939/32.png) [@C\_K\_Dexter\_Haven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/C_K_Dexter_Haven)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-authors-kill-why-spoilers/100888/21 "2002-03-31T15:24:51Z")
Well, Leaper, I’m not sure how clear it is that Agatha Christie hated Poirot. Christie in fact created a character who spoofed herself – Ariadne Oliver, who appeared in several books, beginning with _Cards on the Table_ in 1936. Mrs Oliver writes detective stories that feature an eccentric Finnish detective named Sven Hjerson. Mrs Oliver herself comments: > [@](#): > > “Why a Finn when I know nothing about Finalnd? Why a vegetarian? Why all the idiotic mannerisms he’s got? These things just _happen._ You try something – and people seem to like it – and then you go on – and before you know where you are, you’ve got someone like that maddening Sven Hjerson tied to you for life. And people even write and say how fond you must be of him. Fond of him? If I met that bony, gangling, vegetable-eating Finn in real life, I’d do a better murder than any I’ve ever invented!” Poirot dislikes Mrs Oliver’s books because “the long arm of coincidence is far too freely employed.” I’m not sure if we can project Mrs Oliver’s hatred of her Finnish detective on to Mrs Christie’s reaction to her Belgian. In any case, and back to the main point, _Curtain_ was the novel in which she killed Poirot off. It was written (I think) in the late 30s or early 40s, but was tucked away and (on her instruction) not published until 1975-76, after Agatha Christie’s death. IIRC, it’s not clear when _Curtain_ is set, reading it gives one the impression that the setting is the 1940s, but Poirot is obviously active and detecting in other books in the 1950s, 60s, and early 70s. I highly recommend Anne Hart’s book _The Life and Times of Hercule Poirot_ ---
**Author:** ![poohpah\_chalupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/91b2a8/32.png) [@poohpah\_chalupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/poohpah_chalupa)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-authors-kill-why-spoilers/100888/22 "2002-03-31T15:56:07Z")
John Irving’s **A Prayer for Owen Meany** The whole story wouldn’t have worked if he _didn’t_ die. But thank goodness we as a society have tragedies…otherwise might as well watch reruns of “Full House” and “Charles in Charles” on the tube. ---
**Author:** ![Drastic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Drastic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drastic)\ **Post date:** [March 31, 2002, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-authors-kill-why-spoilers/100888/23 "2002-03-31T16:32:00Z")
Neal Stephenson, **Cryptonomicon**. Bobby Shaftoe. Damn, I was saddened and angry to see him go. ---
**Author:** ![Riboflavin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Riboflavin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Riboflavin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 8:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-authors-kill-why-spoilers/100888/24 "2002-04-02T08:05:59Z")
In Babylon 5, JMS killed off some characters because of the actors. (Definate spoilers) The most amusing one was the general who was head of the resistance before he died. They mention him in the episodes beforehand, then when his ship shows up his second in command is actually in charge and says that he’d just been using the name. What actually happened is that the actor double-booked (there’s suspicion the ‘double-booking’ was a snubbing) for the time when he was supposed to shoot the episode, and decided to go with the other shoot, so JMS decided to kill off the character to explain why he didn’t show up. There’s an outtake somewhere where they joke around about it. Talia Winters was originally supposed to have the storyline that Lita did, but her actress decided to leave the series, so her character pretty much died. Marcus was originally supposed to be around during season 5, but the actor had made other committments when it looked like S4 was going to be the last one, so JMS wrote him out by having him die to save Ivonova. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-authors-kill-why-spoilers/100888/25 "2002-04-02T13:49:36Z")
In Phillip Farmer’s Riverworld books, everybody has already died once before it starts, and some of them die several times thereafter. I’d much rather have beloved characters die than have all fiction be the kind where you can rest assured nobody you like is going to die or even have anything really horrible happen. ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2002, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-authors-kill-why-spoilers/100888/26 "2002-04-02T18:28:14Z")
> [@](#): > > It’s often different when an author kills off a series character, such as Conan Doyle throwing Sherlock Holmes off the waterfall… of couse, Doyle eventually repented and brought Holmes back to life. In a similar vein, I seem to remember Ian Fleming’s killing off James Bond at the hands – well, actually, at the feet – of a female SPECTRE higher-up. (Was this maybe at the end of **From Russia, With Love**?) He ended up bringing him back later, of course. RR Bond. James B\ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/characters-authors-kill-why-spoilers/100888.md?page=1)