12 Movie Deaths You Knew Were Coming (That Still Broke You)

Okay, so not every kid watching The Lion King is familiar with Shakespeare’s Hamlet, as some parents (for some inexplicable reason) insist on introducing their children to this cartoon classic before showing them Kenneth Brannagh’s seminal unabridged adaptation of the Bard’s best work from 1996. But the clue is once again in the title here—Simba is our young hero and even if it weren’t for the intervention of Jeremy Irons’ all-time great villain Scar, Mufasa would need to pass on into the clouds before the protagonist could assume the eponymous position.

Despite this, there are few screen deaths more crushing (geddit?) than Mufasa’s ignoble end at the hands of a herd of stampeding wildebeest. Simba’s tearful desperation in the wake of his death says it all—we may have all known it was coming but damn, did they really have to go through with it?