Summary
Deaths and video games go together like salt and vinegar. From tragic accidents to heroic sacrifices to villainous takedowns to even natural causes, many video game characters are often best remembered for their deaths and the lasting impact they had on players and the franchise as a whole, andBethesdais no exception.
Bethesdagames and their franchises are hardly the type to shy away from death and all its implications. Their expertly-crafted death scene lingers in the player’s mind, long after they put down the controller. They can also inspire the player to pick the controller backupand continue playing to avenge the fallen.
Games developed or published by Bethesda will be considered, so titles by id Software or Machine Games will also be included.
If anything can be learned from theJohn Wickmovies, it’s this: if an action-hero protagonist has a pet, it’s best to leave them alone. Villains who decide to kick the (proverbialandliteral) dog are just asking for the hero to go on a rampage. So it was whenthe silent Doomguyat the end of the originalDoom. After slaying the spiderdemon, he returns to Earth, patting himself on the back for preventing Hell’s forces from attacking Earth, only to find a razed hellscape left in their wake. To punctuate the loss and destruction the demons have spread, he finds the head of his dear pet rabbit, Daisy, impaled on a spike.
The cruel and needless death of this one innocent bunny is all the motivation Doomguy needs to keep slaying demons for all time. Daisy’s presence even continues to haunt him in later installments, appearing as hallucinations in one of thebestDoomgames,Doom Eternal, the last fragment of peace in Doomguy’s war-torn psyche.
The originalDoomwas not published by Bethesda, but it is being mentioned here since the franchise now falls under the company’s umbrella.
The assassination of the Empress of the Isles catapaults theplot of theDishonoredfranchise. She struggles against the assassin Daud with no concern for her own life, fiercely protecting her daughter, Emily. As if it weren’t bad enough for Corvo Attano to watch as his boss (and secret lover) is stabbed to death, he’s soon simultaneously framed for her assassination and charged with Emily’s rescue. It’s an emotional gut punch for the former Royal Protector, to say the least.
The tragedy of Jessamine’s death only gets worse inDishonored 2, when her spirit appears for one final conversation with her paramour. At least they both got to exchange those last unspoken words before she surrenders herself to the Void.
The Lone Wanderer spends themajority ofFallout 3searching for their missing father, James, the head physician of Vault 101. However, there isn’t much room for happy reunions in this nuclear wasteland. After finally reuniting with James, his research center is flooded with Enclave soldiers, with Colonel Autumn demanding that James hand over his hard-earned research. Rather than give in to such demands, James instead floods the room with radiation, killing everyone inside, including himself.
What sets James' demise apart is the sheer calmness and stoicism he adopts in his final moments. He remains unphased by the soldiers waving guns in his face, addressing Autumn in a steely, even tone pulled off to perfection by Liam Neeson’s voice acting. He even convinces the colonel he’ll acquiesce to his demands, just long enough for him to hit the switch the springs the radiation leak. His calm demeanor only drops an inch as he begs his child, safe behind the glass, to run.
As the founder and leader of the Kreisau Circle, Caroline earned therespect of freedom fighters far and wide. That fact is likely the reason why Irene Engel carried out her execution as cruelly and with as little dignity as she could muster. After she and B.J. Blackhowicz are captured during the Ausmerzer attack, Irene takes every opportunity to gloat over her victory, threatening the paraplegic woman with a fire axe before ultimately allowing her daughter Sigrun to have the honors. However, Sigrun is unable to deliver the deadly swing, sparking a heated verbal lashing from her angry mother. It’s not only uncomfortable to listen to Irene deliver insult after insult over her daughter’s weight and eating habits, it’s downright humiliating that Caroline’s execution is treated like an afterthought to this childish domestic dispute.
After Irene finally brings down the axe herself, B.J. and the rest of the crew are only able to recover Caroline’s body to provide a final sendoff. However, even without her head, her final words continue to echo in B.J.’s mind as he continues the fight in her honor. “Never give up, Blackhowicz. Never give in to these people.”
The opening scene ofFallout 4sets the record for how quickly an idyllic suburban life can be blown to bits. The player character and their spouse’s domestic bliss with their infant son is cut short when the alarms start going off across town, and they’re suddenly shepherded into Valut-Tec’s fallout shelters. When the lovebirds are pressured into stepping inside the cryogenic containment units, it’s almost romantic that their pods are facing each other. They can gaze into each other’s frozen eyes in safety for as long as it takes the radiation above ground to subside, right?
Well, most players already know the answer to that question. The protagonist’s decades-long slumber is interrupted when they’re unfrozen just long enough to watch helplessly, as mysterious figureskidnap their sonand mercilessly shoot their spouse. It’s quick, it’s brutal, and utterly heartless. And while it easily establishes the player’s motivations for the rest of the game, it’s difficult to imagine what those final moments must have been like for their spouse. To have their child ripped away by heavily armed strangers, with seemingly no one who can help or even know what just happened, is an unsettling thought for any parent, to say the least.
