Too often people shy away from death. Admittedly it is not a fun subject, but it is an unavoidable fact that people die. Not only is it unavoidable but I believe that it is essential, especially in storytelling.
Death is part of the mythic cycle, and as in any cycle you can't get to the next step in the cycle without experiencing the previous. The next step in this case would be rebirth, and rebirth in its entirety. Those who die are reborn as something greater. Death can be a necessary action for salvation. It can also be a method of inspiration. We see examples of this many times in literature.
In Lord of the Rings, Gandalf the Gray falls to his death only to come back as the more powerful Gandalf the White. In Harry Potter both Lord Voldemort and Harry Potter are destroyed and both comeback more powerful than before. In The Lion the which and the Wardrobe Aslan dies to save Edmund from getting the punishment he has earned himself.
In the movie Star Wars Obi-Wan Kenobi allows himself to be killed and is reborn through Luke Skywalker. In the movie Donnie Darko Donnie's death is necessary to save the human race from destruction. In the Nolan version of the Batman series the deaths of Thomas and Martha Wayne inspired Gotham city into saving itself from being torn apart by desperation and poverty.
One even sees this pattern played out in life. Jesus died to save sinners, his death was necessary in connecting people to God and saving people from hell. By that same token, in order to accept Jesus' offer of salvation we must "die unto ourselves", transforming ourselves from the old sinful nature we were born in, leaving it behind to be reborn into our new Christian identity. In order to enter heaven, our reward for letting our old evil nature die completely and being reborn as a person of God, we must literally die. Our souls are reborn in paradise perfect and blameless.
To ignore the importance of death would be offensive. Death is essential to life and this fact should not be forgotten.
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