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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45955
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/45955
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

# You absolutely can do this

What is appropriate or not is entirely a matter of your own personal style. How you handle character deaths is part of that style, and it may separate good works from the great ones. There are a couple of different broadly-generalised way to handle the death of a POV character.

### Hand that subplot over to another POV

This is possibly the most common approach. It has the benefits of allowing you to tie up lose ends and gives the readers closure over the death of that character. However if done badly, it can be jarring or even detrimental. For example:

> In _Allegaint_, the final book in the _Divergent_ series by Veronica Roth, the POV character dies toward the end of the novel. However to set up the transition of POV, Roth includes a second POV from the start of the third novel. This somewhat gave away the ending. Additionally the distinction between the two POV is poor and it often feels as if the POV didn't change at all.

If you do choose to transition to a different POV to finish the subplot ensure there is a meaning distinction between the POV. You can show this by varying the narrative voice you use in these chapters.

### Jam the subplot into an unrelated POV

Sometimes authors want to kill off characters, but they also want to finish their story. To achieve both without introducing a new POV they will sometimes find an arbitrary reason for the loose ends of the subplot to show up in another characters arc. Often this doesn't make a lot of sense or feels forced.

It can be done well though, and if so it does provide a good way to provide closure to another arc. If you take this approach try to ensure that the segue makes sense. Don't have an unrelated character suddenly run into your dead characters widow just to close the arc.

### Drop the arc entirely

This is the method you are proposing. Not only is it appropriate it is far more common than you might think. The most prominent example is:

> _A Song of Ice and Fire_ series by G.R.R. Martin. In it characters arcs simply end with their death. The unanswered questions, loose ends and related minor characters simply disappear. Occasionally there will be mention of it in another POV's chapter but usually only in passing and rarely does it clear up the entire subplot.

The consequences of this approach are the frustrations for your readers. _"But I wanna know what happened..."_ If you do this right thought you can use that frustration to make each death far more meaningful. Readers will be far more invested in the lives of their favourite characters if they know their death will mean an unfinished story. I believe this is part of what made the example so successful.

Original score: 3