The Walking Dead, Game of Thrones, and the Fake-out Death

Controversy has surrounded the two biggest hits in cable history with something I like to call the "fake-out death." AMC's zombie apocalypse drama, The Walking Dead, as of Sunday night, ostensibly killed off one of their major characters since the start of the show: Glenn Rhee. In the season five finale of HBO's fantasy series, Game of Thrones, the final moments of the show displayed the murder of one of their central characters, Jon Snow. In both cases however, dead does not seem to be dead. With fan conspiracies and hints from the show-runners running rampant, it seems that both Jon and Glenn will be very much alive upon their next appearance. Should this be proven true in either show, a bond will be broken, and one of the tenets of good screenwriting, in my opinion, will be shattered. If this were a high school essay, the thesis would be clearer: those who perform the fake-out death on their show should be thrown out of office, like a President who is a crook. 

Let's begin with the recent events, those fresh in our mind. In season six, episode three of The Walking Dead, Glenn, played by Steven Yeun, gets himself cornered with a man named Nicholas. The two climb on top of a dumpster, surrounded by thousands of walkers on either side. As the dead hands claw at the two men, Nicholas, a minor character, doesn't have it in him to keep going. He puts a gun to his head, thanks Glenn for his kindness and understanding earlier, and fires, toppling into the horde of walkers, and bringing Glenn down with him. Though it seems Nicholas landed on top of Glenn, there are thousands of walkers. They tear into the fresh meat like it's Thanksgiving dinner, and we watch as guts and blood spill everywhere, the camera zooming in on Glenn's pained face before an act break. Sounds like Glenn died, right?

Wrong. As more and more clues and speculation come out regarding the possible death of Glenn, it seems that he may not be dead at all. The current theory stands that as Nicholas landed on top of Glenn, the walkers bit into Nicholas's body, spreading the dead man's entrails upon Glenn. Once smothered in blood and guts, the walkers assumed that Glenn too was a walker, and didn't bother to even try one bite to make sure. Then, apparently, Glenn was able to walk through the enormous horde, hide under the dumpster, or somehow wade through the legion of dead to survive the close call. Never mind that this has never happened in the history of the show, as usually when two people topple into walkers they're both dead, Glenn is a main character! Thus, he can survive! 

On to point B: Mr. Jon Snow.

In the season five finale of Game of Thrones. Jon Snow, commander of the Night's Watch, has upset his constituency. Due to his softhearted policies when it comes to the Wildlings, the other defenders of the wall have decided that Jon cannot continue his rule. However, at The Wall, there is no such thing as impeachment. Much like the Supreme Court, the job ends when the holder of the position does as well. The only option for the men is to assassinate poor Jon. And, in the closing moments of the season, they do just that. Leading him to a signpost in the middle of Castle Black, Jon is ambushed by all of his men, being repeatedly stabbed until Olly, a young boy whom Jon had taken a liking to, delivered the final blow. The season ends with Jon's cold, dead stare at the heavens. Sounds like he died, right?

Immune to knives

Wrong. At the same time that Jon Snow was assassinated, the army of Stannis Baratheon attacked Winterfell, ending with a clean sweep of the army and a beheading of the King himself. Melisandre, the sorceress accompanying Stannis, retreated back to Castle Black with Davos Seaworth to gather reinforcements. Conveniently, the Red Lady, someone said to be capable of resurrection, shows up the same exact day that everyone's favorite Jon Snow has been slain. Never mind that everyone else in the history of the show who has been stabbed repeatedly have been dead, Jon is a main character! Thus, he can survive!

The death of a major character is sacred. When killing off an integral part of a long-running story, the impact should be enormous. Think about any of the great series. At the end of Breaking Bad, in the legendary "Ozymandius" episode, Hank Schrader is slain. He was one of the central characters since the very first episode. The shock and impact of his death is felt immediately, adding another level to the already fantastic conclusion of the show. Every character on the show is bound to be affected by the death in some manner. However, the death is final. We never see Hank again after that moment. He's dead and gone. We see this kind of kill-off time and time again. Charlie's death in Lost is an excellent example. Stringer Bell in The Wire. The list could go on and on. 

The essential problem with Jon and Glenn's death is a matter of cheating as a writer. In Stephen King's Misery, Annie Wilkes, the antagonist of the book goes on an angry rant to Paul Sheldon, the protagonist. Paul, a writer, is tasked with bringing back to life Misery, the main protagonist of a series he has written in which Misery was killed at the end. When he shows his work to Annie, she gets extremely angry and says the following line:

Annie sums it up better than I ever could. The writers cockadoodie cheated! They earned the emotional impact of killing a character without suffering the consequence of dealing with their death. The twitter-verse nearly exploded Sunday night when we saw the supposed death of Glenn. Should he be brought back to life miraculously, or should Jon Snow be resurrected, it would be preposterous. It would be... cheap. And for shows that value their quality so highly, it would be extra cheap. If a writer wants to kill off a central character, do it, and make it count. Don't cheat the viewers.

To conclude, I can hope that this entire angry article will be looked back upon as unnecessary. Perhaps Glenn has been sadly disemboweled by zombies, never to be seen again. Perhaps Jon still lies cold on the ground of Castle Black, Melisandre's powers never reaching him. I, however, fear the worst. I believe they will both be alive and well in not too many episodes. If that is the case, the writers have some serious apologizing and making up to do. Not only will they lose credibility, but they may lose viewers. I'd be a fool to think either show will go off the air because of such tomfoolery, but I'd be shocked to learn that at least a few upset viewers didn't abandon the programs. 

Thus, I leave all television writers, novelists, and any other storyteller with these words of wisdom: fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, your show should be cancelled.