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Plot Armor and Character Death

Plot Armor, this is a word used to describe just about any protagonist in just about any novel. It's the assumption that your main character is likely not going to die. They probably won't be horribly wounded either, in general. Plot armor can protect you from physical harm, but also mental and emotional trauma as well. And no writer in their right mind is going to take their main character and suddenly break them in the middle of the book. If your point of view character dies, how are you going to continue your story?

This doesn't necessarily mean that they might not get killed off near the end, but generally, a protagonist is protected from any significant harm. That's not abnormal. Most of us want to see our protagonist survive the entire story. Most of us also want our protagonist to have a happy ending. Most of us don't like surprises, especially when those surprises completely rearrange how the rest of the story is supposed to go. No one likes to get attached to a protagonist only to have someone play switcheroo on the main character.

However, the byproduct of this mentality is plot armor. You can't surprise us, because the reader knows that no matter how messed up things get, the protagonist will probably survive. How can you enjoy a scary story or a thriller, when you know your protagonist will make it to the end? How can you create suspense and dread, if the plot dictates the MC will have to come out on top? Maybe you can make the climax suspenseful, after all, killing off a character in the final book (Harry Potter anyone?) or killing off a character at the end of the story is still viable... until that story comes out with a sequel, and a sequel to the sequel, and then everyone reading your story knows the character has to survive to be on the cover of the next book.

While reading Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, at no point are you ever left wondering if Harry will get out of it. He has plot armor a mile thick, and there isn't a chance he's going to get hurt until at least that final book. The reader knows it. The writer knows it. So the question becomes, how do you create emotion, worry, suspense, and anticipation when we know from the get go that some characters are always going to be alright?

Plot armor has become so prevalent in fiction that stories that lose even a little bit of that plot armor (Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead) are heralded for their open stance on "anything goes". However, even these shows are always slathered in plot armor. In Game of Thrones (book, not tv show), being a stark seems to be pretty safe. Most of the characters that are always dying aren't main characters. With the exception of a certain wedding, I can't say there was a single "surprising" death in that entire series. The plot armor is so thick that even after a certain character dies in the last book, no one believed for a second he wasn't coming back. He was so instrumental to the way the plot was set up, his psych out death barely even phased anyone. Then look at walking dead (the comics). Lots of people die, but even a comic/show known for its willingness to kill ANYONE still has the Carl and Rick alive and well. For that matter, the TV execs know they'll get a riot if they even think of killing Daryl, so his plot armor might as well be made of adamantium.

So do I have an answer on how to deal with plot armor? Not really. I have ideas on how to minimize plot armor. I also must go on record and say that a lot of people don't like stories without plot armor. I like to know that my main character is going to survive alright. I don't like the thought of reading characters I like brutally die one after another. That's just depressing to read. There are plenty of stories where plot armor is the best part. So here are my five tips and explanations on Plot Armor, but the first thing you need to understand is that...

Every story doesn't need to be about people dying

Quick, tell me a story from your life. Any story of something memorable that happened to you. Did it involve someone dying? We all might have one or two stories when we lost a loved one, and when we get older, we might have a few more stories, but in general, I'm betting most of the stories you could tell don't involve the loss of someone close to you.