Ooh, this is gonna be a biggun. I'm running out of awesome ideas, so I thought of this on the fly. Might as well rank each death I found in the Suikoden games, because believe me, they have all been quite memorable. Note that because I haven't played Suikoden 5, or Tierkreis if you want to count that as a Suikoden game, I am not gonna include it, not yet at least. In the future I will play that game and probably edit this post, but well, here we go, the deaths from the first four games and Tactics ranked.
There's a bit of ambiguity to all this, so be warned. I will only include characters who die in the
plotline. I will not include characters that have the chance to die in war battles, or in Suikoden Tactics, as these are characters whose deaths may be permanent, but can be preventable with good play. I will also not include characters that you have the choice to execute, like Milich or Kwanda in Suikoden 1 or Snowe in Suikoden 4. There's also the matter of plotline deaths that can be either reversible (Gremio) or preventable (Nanami). I will actually include these, because of potential circumstances involved. There's 34 character deaths mentioned here (updated this post on 9/28/2018, adding three Suikoden Tactics deaths I missed).
34. Han (Suikoden 2)
Well, there's not much to say about Han. He was a friend of Genkaku, again despite being on opposite sides, and in the ensuing duel Genkaku decides NOT to kill him, obviously because Genkaku knew that his master had poisoned his blade. In the end, Genkaku passed away a broken man while Han continued to work for Highland, this time dueling Genkaku's young protagonist and dying in the ensuing duel. Not much to say about it, he was just a boss to get past.
33. Heinz (Suikoden Tactics)
Heinz dies rather unceremoniously near the end of Suikoden Tactics. He's never a particularly likeable character either, since he shows up to Kyril's group as someone watching them, tags along, but is still in the mood of what Walter was originally employed to do, with no idea why Walter was after the rune cannons himself. He hatches two awful plans to ruin Kyril's conquest of the rune cannons, one to take them back to Scarlet Moon, and to kidnap Corselia. Neither of which are democratically approved in any case. Heinz then leaves before being killed offscreen by enemy soldiers. We don't get to see it happen, but we do get to read his thoughts. Still, he's not a rather likeable character.
32. Ralph (Suikoden Tactics)
Good
lord is this a terrible death. I'm surprised it was even shown in this game, all in a scene that almost feels like a sidequest but is still part of the game as a whole. So the story is Ralph and Nohl are employed to do some work and they screw it up. The merchant boss berates the boys, but then
kills Ralph in front of a crowd. Seriously? I can't really explain just how terrible an unnamed side character turned out to be, by killing a kid with an audience watching him.
31. Nohl (Suikoden Tactics)
And yes, Nohl does die as well, but it's much later. Apparently he gets an offer from a new merchant (another unnamed guy, but presumably working for Iskas), but his fate is sealed after that. We then see a group of fish monsters in a future scenario, where Corselia finds out that it was the boy she gave the handkerchief to. It's a sad fate, but Nohl never really got the chance.
30. Yun (Suikoden 3)
I still hate this death. It's very sad how the clairvoyant one decides to be the sacrificial lamb just to break the seal on the True Water Rune. I'm not one for sacrifices, and hell, Chris in this chapter isn't one for it either. It really was a waste of space, even if the ritual was briefly interrupted by Luc's group.
29. Solon Jhee (Suikoden 2)
Unfortunately for Jhee he's only made to be a one-off general, without a whole lot of substance to him apart from his hairstyle and his gung ho attitude for being a general. He's executed by Luca obviously for his failures. There could have been a lot to his character. He at least managed to execute Granmeyer and win against Muse beforehand, though.
28. Granmeyer (Suikoden 2)
And speaking of Granmeyer, his death wasn't much, especially since it's another offscreen kill. But him being beheaded and his head placed on city hall was enough to put him ahead of Jhee, even if we don't see it at all.
27. Neclord (Suikoden 2)
This is an interesting case of a character. For whatever reason, after being presumably defeated by the Star Dragon Sword in the first game, apparently Kahn Marley reveals that it was just a clone. His whole goal in his afterlife is to kidnap young girls, make an army of zombies, and just generally being villainy. It's not amazing at all. The fact that he made enemies of Viktor, Kahn, and ANOTHER vampire (Sierra) was pretty much his death knell. Even if it had an epic conclusion, I still hold the belief that there really was no point to the quest to take him out.
26. Agares (Suikoden 2)
Oh man, a one-scene wonder. Agares never had much of a chance to show his worth as king. He's apparently that bad in-story according to his son Luca that his wife's death after bearing his daughter was enough to be extremely despised by his son. The orchestrated plan to kill him was quite the kicker, and also the main reason why Kiba and Klaus would eventually switch sides.
25. Steele (Suikoden Tactics)
What can I say, defeating Steele is certainly satisfying, but he manages to take out Edgar with him, and Walter beforehand as well. Like what Brandeau and Glen would do in Suikoden 4, he would naturally use his life-ending rune to completely blow everyone out of the water, although he wasn't completely successful, the impact it had by killing Edgar and then transferring the rune to Brandeau was more than enough.
24. Culgan and Seed (Suikoden 2)
And here's two more bosses the party just gets past. Except they are a bit more tragic, since unlike Han who dies shortly before them, they have been with us since near the start of the game. They're not even villainous in any way, they love their country, right or wrong, but obviously aren't completely allied to the madness of Luca or the Beast Rune. Naturally, they die for their country when fighting our party, but in the end they actually had
fun, the fact that they say this puts them well above other characters on this list.
23. Walter (Suikoden Tactics)
Walter is an example of a man in pursuit of something that eventually kills him. His search for the rune cannons proved fatal when he reached one himself, then getting turned into a fishman, with no human control over himself. He was practically mercy killed in order to save his son Kyril, who would continue the search after his death. The whole scene was just tragic, since he's not the only one to die by then.
22. Iskas (Suikoden Tactics)
The moment I saw this guy in Suikoden Tactics I pretty much HAD to imagine him being a villain, and it turns out I was completely right. Dude was obviously a manipulative bastard, to the point where he turns people into mindless fish monsters just to achieve his goals, which of course involve having power in the Kooluk region over the family imperials. And he always seems to have plans too, while he can seduce Miranda, Kyril would be protecting Corselia so he stages that Kyril is her kidnapper instead. But even when that fails, and even after Miranda attacks him, he still has enough juice to become a massive fishmonster himself. Honestly it's sillier than it should be, but this guy's importance to Tactics' plot cannot be understated, so it's yet another death I'm proud happened in the game.
21. Gorudo (Suikoden 2)
Gorudo is the kind of member of the city-states who is the equivalent of a frat boy hoarding all the beer for himself. He's the true douchebag of them all. But what makes him more villainous is that his actions caused the (preventable) death of the main character's sister. And he quite frankly could care less if he targets either the Dunan army leader or the Highland army leader. He's that territorial, only surrendering to highland for autonomy, and his true colors were even waivered well before this event, when he decides not to let refugees on Matilda's borders. In the end, the fight with Riou and Jowy was a most deserving end for him there.
20. Windy and Barbarossa (Suikoden 1)
I put these two together since they practically die together. Or so it seems? Windy was naturally an evildoer, seeking power since it's the only way to do justice according to her. Which is why she goes after true runes as well, even manipulating Emperor Barbarossa, who takes her in due to her resemblance of his late wife. Barbarossa himself seems to be a good guy, as shown when Futch raids the garden, but his manipulation is what eventually costs him his empire. It's especially concerning when you recruit the generals and they all take notice of this. In the end, he leaps off Gregminster Palace with Windy, and in this case the bodies were surprisingly never found. So what happened?
19. Graham Cray and Elenor (Suikoden 4)
Well here we have yet another case of epilogue fever with a man and a woman seemingly perishing in something I'm pretty sure no mortal is capable of surviving, but are listed missing in action. Like Windy and Barbarossa, you are left wanting more of their history together, although this isn't a case of lovers this time, it's a case of former student and former master meeting. In the endgame, one thing you do is control a dispatch party, with Elenor as the head, and Graham Cray is the boss there. What's amazing about the final exchange after the final boss is defeated is that upon being asked his reasons for wanting the Rune of Punishment back, he decides to keep it all secret. In the end, no one really knew. Perhaps if we had known this, Cray would have been a better Suikoden villain?
18. Troy (Suikoden 4)
In contrast to Cray, Troy isn't the kind of person to do so much destruction as to achieve their goals, stuff that Luc and Luca Blight were also trying to accomplish in their games. He still goes under the "my country right or wrong" flag, alongside his pal Colton. Naturally he's been touted as one of the greatest, but even the greatest shall fall, and even if you decide to make him join to save his life, he pretty much knew his fate was sealed. A bit lame, but not too shabby.
17. Glen (Suikoden 4)
The Rune of Punishment sure catches a lot of characters, and Glen isn't an exception. I won't bother getting into the characters who got the rune before Steele, but I'll list them: some guy in Obel ruins, the Queen of Obel, Graham Cray and his son, and a guy who was married to Rikie. So yeah, not a whole lot until you see the backstories when your main character passes out during the story. Glen isn't all that amazing of a character, while he likes Lazlo, he sees Snowe as incompetent, only really allowing him a position in the military because of Snowe's father. Glen's death comes upon a pirate invasion, where he uses the rune to destroy them at the cost of his own life. It's the choices you make sometimes. On the other hand, the choices made post-mortem sure weren't pretty. Glen wouldn't have allowed it.
16. Jimba/Wyatt (Suikoden 3)
It's so weird how the seal on the True Water Rune is in one area, while the rune itself ends up being somewhere else completely. Yun obviously hints that Chris's father is obviously alive, and none other than Jimba, who's really Wyatt Lightfellow. He ends up dying at Cyndar Ruins, but not before managing to wound and also expose Luc and his plot to take the runes. In the end, he gives his soul to give the True Water Rune a new owner in Chris (or if she's the chosen Flame Champion, Hugo). Not much else to it, other than the fact that you barely ever get a chance to play as this guy since he's either doing story stuff after the paths merge or in some lucky cases if Hugo's your main character he can join the party. And of course, he was Chris's father, the one she never even had known until that moment.
15. Kiba (Suikoden 2)
In Kiba's case, he's a considerable stonewall general in Highland, defecting to the Dunan forces due to the circumstances involving Agares' death and his sworn loyalty to the former king. His death unfortunately is another offscreen death, but at least he faces it with dignity, acting as a decoy to take the old mercenary fortress from Leon Silverberg's forces, a mission that clearly was described as a suicide mission. He was a Highlander with true patriotism instead of madness.
14. Odessa (Suikoden 1)
This is one of those I both love and hate. I love the fact that Odessa dies protecting a child. I hate the fact that she was basically the face of the revolution against Scarlet Moon, as well as Flik's lover, and she dies as a woman and not a revolutionary like she basically had became because of the death of her former lover. Where did that kid even come from? Her post-mortem was considerably a lot more influential, giving Tir the leadership, as well as the fire spear plans, so that works out in her favor.
13. Martin and Julius (Suikoden Tactics)
You cannot expect to just rush headlong into a trap alone, because that will get you more than killed. Which is what happened to Martin. Making it worse is that it directly echoes Walter's death from well before this occurs, except now it's Kyril killing the fish-Martin to keep Corselia safe. I'll put Julius in this item as well, since he dies shortly after despite having barely any role in the plot. He pretty much dies without any combat involved. It's real bad that both had to suffer a fate like Walter did, and it's even worse considering how Corselia is going to handle her whole family perishing.
12. Miranda (Suikoden Tactics)
Oh where was I? Oh right, Corselia's whole family. Miranda perishes near the end, but before that, you can only really see her as a bad mother, due to her having some affair with Iskas and always being seen with him. It really does suck though, because Iskas was taking full advantage of her just to get to Corselia, and Miranda was basically forced to stay by his side. Well, until she decides she has had enough and stabs Iskas, but in retaliation is killed by a spell. But with her death, Corselia's whole family is practically dead, and that sucks for her the most.
11. Governor of El-Eal (Suikoden 4)
Looking back at Suikoden 4, you'd be surprised at quite a few of the plot twists, while expecting some in return. Being the manipulative bastard he is, Cray puts the governor out as a pawn for his own schemes, having some successes in the first few moments of the game. Eventually due to how aging he was, he was eventually put in prison to die. In truth, it was thanks to him and a stroke of luck that Ramada, one of the spies, was there to seal the fate of Cray, as he gives away a map and a letter which ends up being delivered to the Island Nation Army eventually. What a difference it makes.
10. Anabelle (Suikoden 2)
It says something about a looming war when a major political figure in a region gets assassinated just to further create more chaos. What makes things worse is that all of Anabelle's best moments happen well before the events of Suikoden II took place, helping to prevent a war between some city-states. Here, her attempts to unite all the city-states against Highland end in failure, although this actually isn't her fault anyways due to everyone else's unwillingness. And then she would have had some talk to Riou and Nanami about Genkaku, but was murdered by the manipulated Jowy, potentially in an effort to keep his own life, I guess. The whole thing is just harrowing for all parties involved, and her last words were just to let her allies flee. How unfortunate that was.
9. Ted (Suikoden 1)
From the moment you no longer have Ted as a party member, you just knew he was going to bite it at some point. Especially considering he's the Soul Eater's bearer before Tir. For some reason, despite a nice cameo in Suikoden 4, he doesn't have much else to show besides being an amazing party member past his sidequest. In Suikoden 1, we see he's certainly not the kind of character with the mysterious and aloof demeanor, but the friendship abruptly ends upon the Scarlet Moon empire finding out about his rune. He later gives it to Tir, who doesn't see him again until at Seek Valley. Lady Windy apparently kept Ted alive, but under her control using the Conquerer Rune. What makes this a rather sad death was how Ted does in fact manage to break her rune's powers, but to command his former rune to consume his soul as well. It's real sad how it ended up like that for him.
8. Edgar (Suikoden Tactics)
Pirate King Edgar was another one of the sadder deaths during the Steele arc of Suikoden Tactics, probably the saddest of the bunch, giving Kika's reaction afterwards and of course, how it happened. Steele's usage of the Rune of Punishment manages to kill Edgar, while simultaneously transferring it to Brandeau and making him a broken man.
7. Lulu (Suikoden 3)
All of the deaths that are at least onscreen deaths of good characters pretty much show that the dying character is shown giving their last...speeches...with...ellipses...hanging...on. And in a way I actually hate it. Lulu's death isn't one of them. You might be surprised by his high ranking too, especially considering he was quite an annoying character in Hugo's first chapter of Suikoden 3. But this is because of two factors. One, is that he ends up getting killed instantly, without muttering any last words, even though his fall after being struck was done in agonizingly slow motion. The second comes from the fact that his killer is Chris, a character you also play as in the game. You get to see Lulu's death in both Hugo's perspective, watching as his close friend dies, as well as Chris's perspective, obviously she wasn't in the mood for what had been going on but had to protect herself somehow, yet obviously feels remorse for killing a child. It's quite a complex death, which is why it's so high up.
6. Brandeau and Peck (Suikoden 4)
Again, two characters who die in short order, but really, they are only here because of what happened in Suikoden Tactics, and I bet everyone who has only played Suikoden 4 will be wondering who the heck is Peck and why this is so high up. Anyways, yeah, Brandeau was another RoP bearer, before Glen, he's only seen as a rune-bearing plot device and a grizzly antagonist in Suikoden 4, dying of course after using the rune in a last-ditch attempt at perceived villainy. It's until you play one of the early chapters in Suikoden Tactics how you see how Brandeau ended up with the rune, and how his accomplice Peck got horribly disfigured. It's a price to pay with no longer going back home for fear of the accursed rune taking the lives of your fellow pirates, but Brandeau and Peck had to make do. It does really suck that you have to die a broken man and an antagonist to pretty much everyone else out there.
5. Nanami and Jowy (Suikoden 2)
Well, here's one a lot were waiting for. Two mutually inclusive
preventable deaths, in other words, they can be prevented, but only under special circumstances, and one cannot really live without the other. Obviously, as described with Gorudo, his group was responsible for shooting an arrow, hitting Nanami and putting her on the brink of death. The sprite detail done in the cutscene even shows this perfectly. Later on, you have the option of not ruling the city-states at the epilogue of the game, meeting Jowy at the rock that got carved at the very beginning, where one final duel can seal his ultimate fate. That is, of course, all things assuming that Nanami had a good defense rating prior to her fall, 108 Stars of Destiny were collected prior, and to have selected *any* dialogue option during the arrow shooting (meaning that Riou will pose to fight as well), and during the duel with Jowy, just defend through until you're almost defeated, then reject his rune. Doing all these things prevents BOTH characters from dying, the first through the arrow and the second through his rune. Failing to save either of them actually gives you the sense of potential failure at an amazing conclusion to a fine game, leaving one out of three main characters alive at the end. And although sad endings are not uncommon, especially in the Suikoden series, god forbid you don't prevent these two from dying.
4. Gremio (Suikoden 1)
Now, Gremio's death is of course reversible as I had just said, but unlike others here, it's not
preventable. It will happen, no way of actually stopping it. For those who play Suikoden 1 with the obvious intent of keeping all the characters alive, the fact that Gremio's name will always be grayed out on the tablet is sure to make at least one heart lurch. And let's take into account how he ends up dying, by being
eaten alive by spores. That's NOT a way to go in any setting. Gremio's actually sacrificing himself, knowing the complex nature of Soniere Prison's doors and the trap that Milich sprung for his group. To make this death so much higher on the ranking, it actually is a death that gives you an incentive to execute Milich when you finally catch up with him. Which of course, as tempting as it is, is not the right answer to this all, but the game manages to entice you to try it due to Gremio being consumed and all.
3. Teo (Suikoden 1)
Yeah, I put this on the Greatest RPG deaths. It's always something you see in a JRPG, a character's parent goes missing or rogue, and the child has to fight them. And Teo's not any different. Surely, he's one of the toughest examples of a father, since his status as a general means he's got power, and he's definitely not afraid to show it off, as Armored Calvary is certified to potentially make YOU lose a Star of Destiny, most likely Pahn for first time players in the duel after the war battle. But then you not only fight him with your main character in his own duel, but actually end up killing him. How? Who knows. But the circumstances are quite evident. The son has bested the father. And the sad thing is, this is what Teo wished for. Sure, they fought on opposite sides, and even Teo offers his lieutenants Grenseal and Alen to Tir's side then. It's a death that's simultaneously heartbreaking and heartwarming at the same time.
2. Luc and Sarah (Suikoden 3)
Obviously, for all those who achieved 108 stars, you all get to see Luc's plan, his extreme actions all start to make sense, his desire to screw the destiny that he would become. It's a very Thanos-esque plan, to balance out the world by rendering it lifeless via the usage of the runes, he would hide his true identity, start rumors of a new Fire Bringer, and get the Grasslands to go to war. It of course ended up having the opposite effect. Now Sarah ends up being taken into Luc's care at some point, unseen during the events of the first two games, and only fully supporting Luc's plans in the third. Her trickery is certainly harrowing towards getting Luc to his goals, despite not fully agreeing to see everyone die, she's doing it out of love, and sometimes, it's those kinds of things that matter. Of course, all this you will see in Luc's secret chapter, the sad story of two lovers trying to balance out things in a way that ends up failing. Who could be considered a true villain of Suikoden 3?
1. Luca (Suikoden 2)
Well, duh, of course this is gonna be the number one death in this one. Again, circumstances. Everyone wants the mad prince to die, no matter what part of the game he is currently in right now. He's quite the human being given his evil nature. Jowy, while staying close to his side, is orchestrating his eventual murder, despite sacrificing his freedom and a few other lives in the process, eventually getting Riou's army to pull in, shoot tons of arrows, fighting his group with three of the Dunan army's main groups, and then in the end he still has some juice to attempt a final duel to the death. And then he practically laughs off his last moments, claiming he's killed thousands, and he knows it too. Even in death, he's left the iconic blood trail.
So yeah, there you have it. It's most likely inaccurate, but some of these I can barely even remember apart from a small lookup. Either way though, considering how I haven't played Suikoden 5 yet, this list obviously isn't complete until I experience that. It's still a fantastic RPG series showcasing how bad character deaths can be.
