8 Main Character Deaths That Killed Great TV Shows

If ever there was a character who didn't deserve their fate, it would be Buffy the Vampire Slayer's Tara Maclay, the love interest of Willow who was unceremoniously shot dead by violent big bad Warren Mears.

Meeting her end in the supernatural drama's controversial season six episode Seeing Red, Tara is killed almost as an afterthought, shot through the heart by a stray bullet after reuniting with Willow for what seems like their happily ever after.

It was a callous and horrible end for such a lovely, innocent character, put in place only to push Willow into her long-teased villain arc. Worse than this ultimately lazy character manipulation, though, was the fact that Willow and Tara were the only same-sex couple on the show.

Buffy never overcame Tara's death or the horribly dark events that followed it (Willow tries to end the world and flays Warren alive), which linger over the show for the rest of its run. It's a death that you can't forget or forgive, and the show's final season fails to justify or move on from it.