King Joffrey via Creative Commons

The good, the bad, and the ugly. Every television show has characters that fill these roles, and not all can survive. Here is a tribute to this year’s fallen television characters that we will either miss desperately, or celebrate future moments of the upcoming seasons in which they are absent. 

King Joffrey, "Game of Thrones" 

Let’s be honest. We were all cheering as we watched this insane tyrant choke to death this season after getting poisoned at his own wedding celebration. Not only has he emotionally and mentally abused everyone around him through humiliation and murder, but he has also tortured and killed women on his free time, unbeknownst to most in his kingdom. We are still unsure who actually murdered him (unless you’ve read the books, of course, to which you should keep your mouth shut for the rest of us), and all we can do is wait to see who did it. My guess? Definitely not Colonel Mustard in the dining room with the candlestick. 

James Novak, "Scandal" 

Never has a murder in this show been more upsetting than when James was killed this season. Not only was he a loving and adoring father, but he was a good husband, very intelligent, and just wanted to see the good in people- which was part of his demise. After getting himself into trouble by sharing too much information with the wrong people, B613 came after him with a vengeance, leaving him bleeding to death on the street with bullets in his back. Beyond losing James, we also saw a very lethal and somewhat devastating side to Jake Ballard. While we respect Olivia’s and Fitz’s deep love, or whatever it is they want to call it, we secretly have all been Team Jake since he showed up on the show. Seeing this darker side of Jake may have wavered our support of his pursuit of Olivia, and this, coupled with Cyrus’ meltdown at the press conference regarding James’ death, was devastating this season. 

The Governor, "The Walking Dead" 

After all the carnage that this psycho brought to an already horrifying post-apocalyptic world, nothing made us happier than when Michonne ran her blade through his chest out of revenge for all those he had mercilessly taken from Rick’s group.  Not only had the Governor decorated his apartment with a twisted aquarium full of zombie heads (which was, in all actuality, pretty awesome looking) but he had killed Andrea, Merle when he was finally seeing the less bigoted side of life, Hershel when all he wanted was peace for the two groups, and countless others who just seemed to get in the Governor’s way. While some might say the Governor got it a little too easy with a final gunshot to the head by his grieving girlfriend, we can all just be happy that he’s no longer around to ruin anyone else’s life.

Eric Northman/@cosmopolitan

While we aren’t one hundred percent positive that "True Blood’s" best male vampire did actually die when he burst into flames while basking in the sun in the season finale, the idea of his possible absence is heartwrenching. The loss of a vampire with the depth, complexity, and overall ridiculous attractiveness that Eric has, would be a detriment to the show. Beyond those of us who genuinely love Eric’s character, to those simply watching for his obscenely wonderful abs, his loss would be a reason to stop watching the show- no one will stick around to watch nude scene of Stephen Moyer.  All we can do is sit impatiently and wait for this upcoming season fellow truebies, and pray that we get to see Alexander Skarsgard’s perfection on the screen of our televisions for the show’s final season.

Richard Harrow, "Boardwalk Empire"

While he was an assassin and killed countless people, no one could deny that all anyone wanted was for Harrow to live happily ever after by raising Tommy with his new wife, Julia. Having lived years of his life with half of his face missing from war, Harrow really deserved some real happiness with a family of his own. He has shown, countless times, that he has a good heart and just wants to be happy. Even when he (quite impressively, in all honesty) took out over twenty men with just a handful of guns to save Tommy from his grandmother’s brothel, we all knew that the violence was simply to save an innocent, even if it meant dirtying himself up to take care of the task. He has been a wonderful character, and we all shed a tear when we watched him crawl under the boardwalk in the season finale to die, alone, thinking of his family so far away from him.

Tara Knowles, "Sons of Anarchy"

While Tara might have been annoying for her lack of action in regards to how to protect her children from the club, her brutal death was definitely unnecessary. Tara seemed to be winning in the season finale; she had made up (for the most part) with Jax, he was taking the fall for the guns at the club to get her off for a possible charge of facilitating the murder of a nurse with Otto, and Jax gave her permission to leave with their two children and go wherever she wanted to go. Finally, Tara was free…until she came home to find Gemma in her house, who proceeded to not only attempt to drown Tara in the dish sink, but managed to finish the job with a meat fork to the back of Tara’s head. Tara’s death was a shock to every fan of the show, especially the brutality of it. It also didn’t help that the season finale ended with Jax cradling Tara’s dead body to his chest, sobbing uncontrollably. 

Deb Morgan, "Dexter"

Deb was everyone’s favorite loud, fun, and dedicated character with the mouth of a sailor. We all thought she would be fine and marry Joey after her surgery when she was accidentally shot by the Brain Surgeon, but when she died from complications the show became pointless. Deb seemed to be one of the only redeemable characters of the rapidly declining show, and when she died, it became evident- Dexter was actually over. Not only did Deb’s death hurt so many fans, but her death was also the nail in the coffin for "Dexter."

Reach Staff Reporter Chelsea Hernandez here.