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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/12841
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

It's definitely possible to do this without losing the reader. The New Testament is a story where the "protagonist" dies towards the end. I'm sure plenty of readers are quite satisfied with that.

Much like the Gospels, **killing the protagonist is advisable only if it really means something**.

Emphasis on the **really**. Even if you make your character a martyr whose death brings about a sweeping social change that lasts for centuries and cleanses you of your sins, it doesn't mean anything if your reader doesn't care. Does your reader sob when the protagonist finally breaks the chains of his oppressors and dies a free man? Does your reader smile at the earnest deathbed confession of your protagonist, who has finally come to terms with his life and family after all those years of struggling? Can your reader not stop thinking of the warrior who bravely held her ground until the very end? Does the death of the salesman point out the futility and meaninglessness in this world and brings up philosophical questions in the reader's mind? Does your reader understand why the death had to happen (even if they wanted a happy ending for the character)? Then you can kill your main character. Delicately. Carefully. Probably with the intent from the very beginning that you're going to kill this protagonist off and that is the definite culmination of their entire purpose or character arc.

Even if their death is at the beginning of the story and the entire rest of the fiction is just flashbacks, it has to mean something and it has to be their purpose. Don’t just shuffle them out of the way by saying, “Oh yeah, and then she fell down the stairs, how tragic, oopsie daisy,” because that's when readers start feeling ripped off.

And there are plenty of stories out there (besides the New Testament) you can look at that pulled this off successfully. I’m afraid to bring any up because, hello, spoiler alert, but I can think of a good one where the death is the main point of the piece. One of my favorite short stories is ["Bullet in the Brain"](http://pov.imv.au.dk/Issue_27/section_1/artc2A.html) which is a quick read that handles the death of the main character in an interesting way. I think this is a good example of how you've really got a lot of options out there for where and when to kill off the protagonist. It just depends on how you want the story to flow and what kind of meaning you want to give to said death.

Original score: 43