Psychological studies confirm that mourning for the death of fictional characters isn’t unfounded grief
Warning: This contains spoilers to the “Avengers” series, “Game of Thrones,” “Grey’s Anatomy,” “The Fault in Our Stars,” “Harry Potter,” and “Star Wars”
And evidently, I’m not alone in post “The Rise of Skywalker” sorrow as I witness fans go through the stages of grief in realtime: denial of the surfaced leaks before the film even hit theaters, anger found in stan Twitter as they expressed their grievances, and bargaining through the form of the trending tag #BringBenSoloBack.
, psychiatrist Robert Rowney explains that there’s a scientific reason why viewers—especially those active in fandom space—get attached to fictional characters, and as a result, have an intense reaction when these characters are placed in danger.. “You’re exposed to different aspects of the characters’ lives—their losses, their loves and their own griefs, everything that goes into the human condition—and you eventually begin to empathize with them and form an attachment.