Sometimes the characters we love just don’t get what they deserve.

When we watch a show or a movie, there are certain characters that we just can’t help getting attached to. It can become hard to remember that they are just fictional when we’re so invested in their world. Unfortunately, some characters don’t always get what we feel is best for them. 

Here are a few examples that I am still upset about to this day: 

*spoilers ahead 

Finnick Odair- The Hunger Games Series

One of my personal favorite tropes in a story is a character who you go from hating to loving throughout the course of the series. Finnick Odair is a perfect example of this.

When we are first introduced to him in Catching Fire, it’s easy to see him as an arrogant, cocky guy. However, this soon changes when we see how much he cares for Mags, the 80-year-old woman from his district. 

Throughout the rest of the movies (and books), we see Finnick constantly helping Katniss and Peeta in the arena and in their fight against the capitol. In fact, Peeta would literally be dead if it wasn’t for him. He becomes one of the only people they can trust. 

Needless to say, his death at the end of Mockingjay was extremely devastating to watch. The author of the series, Suzanne Collins has even been reported saying that she regrets killing him. I wish we could’ve seen Finnick live happily ever after with his new bride Annie and their newborn son. 

Lexie Grey- Grey’s Anatomy

Grey’s Anatomy has a well-earned reputation of having the most gut wrenching deaths of some of their most beloved characters.

Lexie Grey’s death in the season 8 finale was no different. What makes her death especially tragic is that fact that she was so young and had so much potential. 

Fans loved her for how sweet, smart, empathetic, and driven she was. She was always there for her friends and her sister Meredith. 

As if her death wasn’t sad enough, Mark Sloan also died from the same plane crash. I rooted for Mark and Lexie from the first episode their romantic relationship was introduced. It was one I never saw coming, but it’s hard to deny that they were perfect for each other. It was painful to watch their deaths and know that they didn’t get to live out their happy ending while they were still alive. 

Alex Karev- Grey’s Anatomy

It’s hard not to include more than one character from this show. When a television series runs for as long as this has, it is inevitable that some characters don’t get what they deserve.

Alex Karev has one of the best character arcs throughout the series. He goes from a selfish, angry, jerk to someone who is reliable, hardworking, and caring. Viewers grew to love him even more when we saw how good he was with kids. 

For a long time, he and Meredith were the only two left from the original cast of interns, and this caused their friendship to grow so much stronger. His relationship with Jo that led to their marriage was also one of my favorites. We got to see someone who could never commit eventually fall in love and settle down with their perfect match.

It’s hard to believe that he would just throw his old life away and leave his best friend and wife for Izzie, a character who left the show in its early seasons. It was a cheap way to write Justin Chambers out of the show, and it completely goes against anything his character would have done after all the growth he’s had. 

Emily Fields– Pretty Little Liars 

I could argue that all the main characters in Pretty Little Liars deserved better because throughout its seven seasons, we saw the liars constantly have their lives ruined by A. From family problems to near death experiences, they all went through more than anyone should.

However, Emily Fields always got the short end of the stick. 

Romantic relationships play a significant part in the storylines of this show, and Emily definitely had the worst luck when it came to that.

Her first girlfriend, Maya (arguably the best one in my opinion) ends up getting murdered by a stalker named Lyndon James. A few seasons later, Lydon pretends to be Maya’s cousin who ends up kidnapping and attempting to kill Emily and her new girlfriend, Paige.

Speaking of Paige, before they ever got together, she tried to drown Emily because she was threatened by her swimming abilities. Not the best start to a healthy relationship.

At the end of the series, we finally see Emily and Ali together as a recently engaged couple. Emily has always loved Ali since they were teenagers, so fans were extremely happy for her when it finally worked out. However, in the show’s spin-off Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, it’s revealed that the two end up getting divorced. Some fans were pretty upset when they found out their seemingly happy relationship at the end of PLL was over, especially since the spin-off was canceled after the first season. In the end, fans never got an update on where their relationship stood.

Kira Yukimura- Teen Wolf

It’s pretty common for Teen Wolf to write out characters without giving them a proper ending, so I shouldn’t have been surprised when they did that to Kira after season 5. 

When viewers were first introduced to her in the second half of season 3, I immediately loved her. I found her awkwardness very relatable, and she was someone who was hard to dislike as she always just wanted to help her friends. 

Additionally, her kitsune powers were so cool, and I loved getting to watch her be this fierce fighter as well as a sweet, soft- spoken teenager. As an Asian- American, I enjoyed seeing some representation on screen as a one of the main characters. 

She even became Scott’s love interest, and I was rooting for their relationship after the death of Allison Argent. When they left her storyline open- ended in the season 5 finale, I was expecting her to come back in the show’s final season. However, she never did, and we never even got a reference as to where she could be. I would’ve hoped for a more satisfying ending for such a significant character.