I need help deciding which character to kill

[Rask]

So I just wrote a battle scene and I'm in the middle of the aftermath, my survivors are gathering up the wounded. The battle was against magical beings that do not kill instantly but leave there victims conscious and seemingly unaffected for a few hours before they become the vessels of a dark gods power. All this to say I killed a few extras and I can't decide which named character to kill. Both my options currently in training with my MC to join the special force dedicated to fighting the afore mentioned evil beings. I would love you input! 

Hear are the two choices. 

Character #1. She is an experienced warrior of a few years, a partially fleshed out personality. Her main defining tribute at this point is her willingness to help and teach the more inexperienced trainees. She has recently transferred form the regular city guard to the special force.

Character #2. He is an older teenager, definitely set up as the funny one of the group, but the group can still be quirky and interesting without him should the need arise. He has several relatives in the story who haven't shown up yet but could become important weather or not he dies.  

Partially this is a question of who's death scene sounds more interesting. I like them both and plan on giving them a nice blaze of glory no matter who ends up having to go. 

This is still early in the story so this character death won't be earth shattering but I do want it to mean something. I am a discovery writer and this is draft 1 so I can totally end up taking either of them in cool and interesting directions, it's still early days. Thank you very much for you input and suggestions, and let me know if you have any follow up questions. 

[+Invocation]

Character 1. She's helpful and a teacher. The fall to being a vessel would corrupt that and make the impact more potent.

I'm a sucker for causing character suffering.

[Kureshi Ironclaw]

Think carefully about how each death would affect the story you are trying to tell. Killing character 2 could be useful for setting the tone of the story because it seems like he is a bit of a comic relief character, and killing comic relief character lets the audience know the story is going to be dark and gritty and no characters are safe. You can also think about each character's relationships with other characters and how their deaths would affect that. Do characters 1 and 2 know each other? Are they close? Would character 1's death shock character 2 out of their comedic role in the cast and encourage character growth? Was character 1 training character 2 and would character 2's death make character 1 feel responsible and negatively affect their work?

The point is that character deaths shouldn't happen in a vacuum, and when trying to decide what characters to kill off you should consider the effects on the story and the other characters first and foremost. 

[Rask]

Thanks for the responses! You guys gave me some food for thought. I actually briefly considered just killing both of them but in the end decided on Character #2. We will see how it goes and I can always rewrite! 

Thanks again for the suggestions and good luck on your own projects! 

[Karger he/him]

ALL OF THEM!  Sorry could not resist.  Saw subject line.

On 12/13/2019 at 6:50 PM, Rask said:

Character #2. He is an older teenager, definitely set up as the funny one of the group, but the group can still be quirky and interesting without him should the need arise. He has several relatives in the story who haven't shown up yet but could become important weather or not he dies.  

Killing him off would up the seriousness of the narrative.  Remember when you kill someone off you are not just killing off the person but also what it represents to your MC.  By killing character #2 you are also killing MC's sense of humor and fun.

On 12/13/2019 at 6:50 PM, Rask said:

Character #1. She is an experienced warrior of a few years, a partially fleshed out personality. Her main defining tribute at this point is her willingness to help and teach the more inexperienced trainees. She has recently transferred form the regular city guard to the special force.

Killing off a mentor figure is a classic choice.  This ups the seriousness of the situation for the MC and it also damages their sense of support and safety.

Basically from what I can see it is the choice of making your MC sad or scared.

[+Ark1002]

Both of these I like a lot, for the idea of killing.

(That sounded really sadistic, wow.)

 

The first would be very interesting in her roles as a mentor, and what happens with that.

But the second...

The funny member of the group, the well fleshed out one... I would kill the second one. The blow will be bigger. 

 

Ooh, you chose #2! Good!