16 Gut-Punch TV Deaths That We're Still Mourning

Perhaps no television show in history has been so devil-may-care with the lives and wellbeing of its characters, central or otherwise,  than HBO's Game of Thrones. The program epitomizes the “no one is safe” ethos, and that includes pure, innocent characters like Shireen Baratheon (Kerry Ingram). Shireen, the daughter of clan leader Stannis Baratheon (Stephen Dillane), is afflicted with a tragic and rare disease that gives her skin the mottled and hardened quality of scales. She is kind and loving, and totally enamored with her father, which makes her eventual fate all the more terrible to bear.

Faced with the possibility of his army's defeat, Stannis enlists the help of morally dubious enchantress Melisandre (Carice van Houten), who convinces him to sacrifice his only child for a magic ritual that may stave off the harsh weather. Though Shireen is a minor character, her death scene is absolutely haunting as she cries out for her parents while she is burned alive. This barbaric sacrifice is also hard for those within the show to swallow, as a large portion of Stannis's army leaves him after this horrible act.

The Walking Dead isn't a light watch to begin with, seeing as its central focus is life in the aftermath of an apocalyptic zombie-inducing viral outbreak. Furthermore, the series has established a reputation over the years as being relatively merciless with the lives of its main characters. No other demise carries the same manner of harrowing weight as the violent departure suffered by fan-favorite Glenn Rhee (Steven Yeun).

In the first episode of Season 7, Glenn gets brutally dispatched by the newly introduced villain, Negan (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) and his baseball bat wrapped in barbed wire (affectionately named Lucille). Negan first kills Abraham (Michael Cudlitz), which prompts Daryl (Norman Reedus) to leap up and fight back. Negan is furious at this display of resistance; in order to establish his authority, he wheels around and attacks Glenn, who is sitting behind him, without warning. Glenn's sudden and vicious death, which is shown in some horrifying detail as Negan laughs at the damage his bat does to Glenn's face, is one of the crueler fates suffered by any character on the already very cruel show. Even sadder is that his wife, Maggie (Lauren Cohan), watches it happen without any power to stop it.

Ben Sullivan (Brendan Fraser) is Jordan's (Christa Miller) brother and Dr. Cox's (John C. McGinley) best friend in Scrubs. In the Season 3 episode “My Screw-up,” Ben returns from an around-the-world trip following a leukemia diagnosis, following Dr. Cox around for an entire day. Ben is a positive influence, encouraging Cox to forgive J.D. (Zach Braff) when a patient passes away under his watch and Cox furiously sends him home.

The truth is heartbreakingly revealed near the climax of the episode: Ben is actually the patient who passed away under J.D.'s watch, and his presence after that is merely an imagined coping mechanism as the normally sardonic and stoic Dr. Cox tries to avoid the crushing reality of grief. The final scene of the episode hits incredible hard as Cox finally gives into his emotions and allows his colleagues to comfort him at Ben's funeral.

David Tennant quickly became a fan favorite with his portrayal of the Tenth Doctor on long-running British science-fiction series, Doctor Who. Although it's a well-established fact that the Doctor periodically “regenerates” as a new personality, it's still emotional for the characters and fans alike when one actor's time playing the Doctor comes to an end. Tennant plays his incarnation of the titular doctor as lively, outgoing, and charismatic, despite facing constant tragedy and an innate fear of his own mortality, which makes the Doctor's eventual fate even more heartbreaking than it might be otherwise.

To cap it all off, confronted with the knowledge that his time had finally come to an end, literally and figuratively, all of the bravado of Tennant's Tenth Doctor sloughs away to reveal the scared, childlike soul at his center, when he mutters that he "doesn't want to go." Thankfully, though, the Tenth Doctor is given the opportunity to briefly revisit all of his beloved (many believed to be lost) companions before he's gone for good. 

HBO's The Last of Us pulls no punches when it comes to heartbreaking story turns. Prime amongst them? The slow and shattering turn - and eventual demise - of young Sam (Keivonn Montreal Woodard), the kind, deaf pal of fellow child survivor Ellie (Bella Ramsey). The two bond over their shared love of funny literature and superhero comic books, only for Sam to suffer a bite from one of the infected clickers.

Ellie tries to calm his nerves and potentially save him by rubbing her immunity-possessed blood on his wound and promising to stay awake and by his side throughout the course of the night. Of course, the disease overtakes the boy, leaving him a danger to Bella, Joel (Pedro Pascal), and his own brother Henry (Lamar Johnson). Even more heartbreaking than the mercy-killing Henry levies on his young sibling? The instant inability to continue afterward, which leads Henry to end his own life, too. 

Mark Greene (Anthony Edwards) spends the first eight seasons of medical drama and cultural phenomenon ER as the central protagonist, yet he becomes the only of the core group of characters to pass away. His death is the product of aggressive brain cancer.

In keeping with the show's form as a medical soap, Mark battles the cancer valiantly, only to eventually die in his sleep in the penultimate episode of Season 8. Audiences are used to characters leaving long-running shows, both ceremoniously and unceremoniously, but watching the main character who has been essential to its success and emotional impact- leave forever, is a truly distressing and saddening experience. On the brighter side, Mark is able to spend his final days reconnecting with his family, finding the most peace that he can in light of an unrelenting illness.