The Michigan Daily — michigandaily.com
Arts
Monday, April 15, 2019 — 5A

Tonight is the highly anticipated premiere of “Game of Thrones” 
Season 8, which has been a great topic of conversation over the 
last few days (weeks, months). From a storytelling standpoint, 
“Game of Thrones” has become a stand-in example for a number 
of categories, perhaps the most common among them being brutal 
TV shows with merciless rates of character death.
“Game of Thrones” is unforgiving, and that’s something those 
of us who watch the show seem to love about it. All these recent 
conversations about season 8 have carried a similar trend of 
excitement that verges on betting: Who will live? Who will die? 
It’s gotten me thinking about why this is something we care about 
so much in fiction, and how many different forms death can take 
and roles it can fulfill in a fictional setting. Is character death a 
fun plot twist, or the exciting climax of an action-filled scene? Is 
it a beautiful send off to a beloved character? Is it grueling and 
horrifying? Is it cheap, or is it dark and serious, something meant 
to truly affect us on a deep emotional level and propel us to think 
about our lives?
The through-the-roof total of different deaths so far in “Game of 
Thrones” makes it the perfect case 
study for exploring these questions 
because really, death isn’t one of 
these things; it’s all, or any, of them. 
So, in the spirit of the season, here is 
a list of the wonderful possibilities 
of death in fiction, and why, in spite 
of their awfulness, they appeal so 
deeply to audiences and draw us 
back in again and again.
*Major Spoilers Ahead*
Plot Device:
This is by and large the biggest 
reason, and the one we probably 
care about the least. Did anyone 
really shed a tear when Robert 
Baratheon got attacked by that 
boar, or when Jojen Reed was killed 
by a wight in season 4? I only even 
remember those because I looked up 

a list of “Game of Thrones” deaths before writing this.
But they moved the plot forward, which was nice. If Robert 
hadn’t died, we never would have gotten to see his awful son 
Joffrey as king, and then where would we have been?
Advancing Another Character’s Development:
We all remember Khal Drogo, but from the beginning, he 
was clearly only there as one rung in Daenerys Targaryen’s long 
ladder to world domination. His death was an example of one less 
important character being offed in order to aid in the development 
of a much more significant character, by moving her along to the 
next stage of her journey.
“Game of Thrones” has a lot of examples of this — Shae is 
another one. Her’s is an interesting case compared to Drogo, in 
that their likeability progressed in opposite directions leading up 
to their deaths. Drogo started out as a complete villain, assaulting 
Daenerys in the first episode, but leading up to his death, the 
show took care to show the two of them bonding so that his 
eventual death felt like more of a personal sacrifice or milestone 
for Daenerys. Shae, on the other hand, was very sympathetic and 
likeable during her early relationship with Tyrion Lannister. The 
decision later to have her betray Tyrion later on feels like a primer 
to make her death more favorable and digestible, in addition to a 
spur motivating Tyrion to move on.

Keeping the Energy Up:
This might sound callous, but on the other hand, there’s a reason 
the Red Wedding is still one of the most talked-about events of 
the show, coming up on five seasons later. A big part of watching 
the show is exactly that: We like the excitement of tuning into 
an episode and not having any idea what to expect, knowing that 
anything could happen.
We Like Getting Our Hearts Broken:
Why else would Ygritte have to go like that? There’s no other 
explanation.
Genuine Emotional Consequences:
Death is really heavy. There’s no way around it, and it can’t 
always be a box to check off or a wild, out-of-nowhere thrill. One 
of the first genuinely memorable deaths was that of Ned Stark: It 
wasn’t the first death in the show, but it established the overarching 
precedent of “Game of Thrones” that no one is safe. It remains one 
of the show’s most powerful moments, and there was no fanfare, 
no extra or unnecessary drama. It was cold and surprising and 
relatively quiet. At its core, this is where the emotional investment 
of the show comes from: We see characters go through very real 
suffering and loss, like the rest of the Stark family, and we want to 
know that they’ll make it out of it at the end.
Of course, on the other hand, we also want to see the tables turn.
Sometimes Deaths Are Just 
Satisfying:
Joffrey Baratheon being poisoned 
at his wedding! Ramsay Bolton 
being eaten alive by his own dogs! 
Arya Stark killing Walder Frey, 
and later Littlefinger! It’s almost 
hard to remember a time when one 
character killing another by pouring 
hot gold over their head would have 
felt completely out of nowhere, 
but Viserys’s demise in season 1 
was only the first in a long line of 
characters who just plain needed to 
die. Sometimes that’s what we need 
out of fiction — when we sign on for 
all of its darkness and gruesome 
horror, we’re going in with the hope 
that eventually that darkness will 
work in our favor.

Why we love watching people die, according to ‘GoT’

LITERATURE COLUMN

LAURA DZUBAY
Daily Literature Columnist

A stage name is special. 
Oftentimes, 
it’s 
a 
unique 
representation of a creative 
identity that an artist feels 
his or her given name does not 
properly personify. While some 
pseudonyms 
are 
randomly 
generated 
nonsense 
(i.e. 
Childish Gambino), an analysis 
of many stage names can 
inform the art associated with 
them, helping us consumers 
further 
personalize 
the 
creations we consume. With 
this idea in mind, we’ve decided 
to take a dive into the world of 
fake names, exploring where 
they come from and what, if 
anything, they’re supposed to 
represent.
— 
Mike 
Watkins, 
Daily 
Music Editor
When people hear the term 
“stage name,” they typically 
think 
of 
pop 
superstars 
like Elton John, Drake or 
someone of similar acclaim. 
These figures chose their 
stage names so they could 

make 
themselves 
more 
recognizable, while also being 
simple enough for anyone 
to 
remember. 
However, 
in the black metal world, 
specifically in the infamous 
Norwegian scene in the 1980s, 
stage names serve an entirely 
different purpose.
In Norwegian black metal, 
stage names are chosen to 
advance a band’s aesthetic 
and 
sound. 
How 
could 
someone be in a band with a 
name like Darkthrone and 
be named Leif Nagell? They 
couldn’t be. To combat this 
issue, the members of these 
bands started to adopt stage 
names, 
some 
more 
over-
the-top than others. None, 
however, could beat Dead of 
the band Mayhem, not even 
his fellow bandmates, with 
names like Euronymous and 
Necrobutcher.
Sure, “Dead” isn’t the most 
creative name, but it fits the 
atmosphere and attitude of 
Mayhem so well. Dead’s story 
is complex and troubling, 
after all: He was allegedly 
announced to be dead for 
several minutes as a young 
boy, but his story is also 
easily researched. However, 

what needs to be explained 
is exactly why his name fit 
Mayhem’s music so well. Dead 
was the Mayhem’s frontman 
and lyricist. He wrote the 
lyrics 
for 
bone-crushing 
tracks like “Buried by Time 
and 
Dust” 
and 
“Freezing 
Moon,” in which Dead utters 
the 
scene-defining 
lines, 
“Everything here is so cold / 
Everything here is so dark.” 
Dead’s 
signature 
tortured, 
inhuman growl was also the 
defining voice in the entire 
Norwegian scene. No one 
else could replicate Dead’s 
sound, his lyrics, nor his 
stage presence. In fact, for 
many fans, Dead was black 
metal. His every move, from 
his on-stage self-harm to his 
use of “corpse paint,” was 
deployed by other bands. He 
wasn’t trying to be cool or 
pure. He was doing exactly 
what he felt he needed to 
do. Dead truly believed in 
Norway’s 
scene, 
and 
his 
suicide changed its course 
forever. Without him, there is 
no black metal, which is why 
Dead is the most important 
pseudonym in the genre.
— Jim Wilson, Daily Arts 
Writer

MUSIC: PSEUDONYM WEEK
Pseudonym Week: A look
at Mayhem & black metal

Is character death a fun plot twist, or the exciting climax of an action-filled 
scene? Is it a beautiful send-off to a beloved character?

If I had been told five years 
ago that Nike Air Force 1s 
would ever become too basic 
to purchase, I would have 
laughed in your face. How 
could oversized, clunky shoes 
that strayed a bit too much 
from the status quo ever 
become the new normal? 
I could not have been more 
wrong.
In the past half decade, 
and especially in the past 
year, Nike Air Forces (as 
well as their cousins, Adidas 
Superstars) 
have 
taken 
college campuses and the 
wallets of Generation Z by 
storm. Their utterly basic 
style is truly unlike any 
other shoe and yet that is its 
greatest appeal. The shoes fit 
absolutely anyone, regardless 
of gender identity or atheltic 
status — their versatility is 
unmatched.
How did people begin to 
see them this way as opposed 
to 
weird 
shoes 
that 
the 
hipsters wore at school? The 
answer lies in the effect of 
mob mentality.
In the ’80s, Nike Air Force 
1s achieved fame due to their 
widespread popularity among 
basketball players. Nike was 
the provider for basketball 
players 
both 
professional 
and amateur, and to promote 
their new shoe, they called 
upon the power of six stars of 
the time: basketball players 
Moses 
Malone, 
Michael 
Cooper, Jamaal Wilkes, Bobby 
Jones, Mychal Thompson and 
Calvin Natt. This marketing 

campaign was so iconic that 
it was emulated on the shoe’s 
25th anniversary in 2007 — 
with the more contemporary 
stars LeBron James, Steve 
Nash, Paul Pierce, Rasheed 
Wallace, Chris Paul and Kobe 
Bryant, among others. 
However, just as trends 
come and go, this one faded 
out in the next decade as new 
sneakers came out that could 
replace the old.
History 
in 
the 
fashion 
world has demonstrated this 
theme to us on countless 
occasions: Trends rise and 
fall. Though trends disappear, 
many of them make a return 
later on. Oftentimes, trends 
return about a decade later, 
causing people to forget the 
demographic group of which 
they originated from.
At 
the 
onset 
of 
their 
return, Air Force 1s were 
worn by people who wanted 
to stand out. This was largely 
due to the industry that 
reintroduced 
them 
— 
not 
basketball this time around, 
but rap music. Industry greats 
like Jay-Z and Fat Joe donned 
the shoe, and their rejection 
of what was “popular” at the 
time seeped down to their 
young fans. Diverging from 
the traditional sneaker of 
choice was a risky move that 
would 
instigate 
comments 
of 
shock 
and 
primarily 
judgement. 
Breaking 
the 
status quo was a risky move 
in high school unless one 
truly embodied the “I don’t 
give a fuck” persona.
It 
wasn’t 
until 
this 
headspace became something 
that people strove to embody, 
rather than a unique quality, 

that this aesthetic became 
basic — and, therefore, so did 
Air Force 1s.
The funny thing is that 
the 
people 
that 
brought 
Nike Air Force 1 sneakers 
back are no longer wearing 
them 
today. 
The 
areas 
where Nike Air Force 1s 
found 
their 
popularity 
— 
basketball and hip hop — are 
industries 
associated 
with 
and dominated by the Black 
community. This “trend” of 
Air Force 1s isn’t a trend at all, 
but rather another element 
of youth culture, alongside 
things 
like 
popular 
slang 
terms or musical methods, 
started by and stolen from 
the Black community. The 
trend started among Black 
artists and industry leaders, 
as adopted by Black teens and 
eventually was appropriated 
by white influencers and teens 
until the trend expanded and 
became accepted by a greater 
percentage 
of 
the 
young 
population until they became 
a staple.
Air Force 1s aren’t the 
only trend in on this theme. 
Oversized hoodies. Sneakers 
worn 
as 
formal 
wear. 
Scrunchies. The list goes on 
and on. They have always 
been around — it’s just that 
white people weren’t into 
them until recently.
Therefore, it is fair to make 
the case that the majority of 
recent trends are not new in 
actuality. They are merely 
revamps of clothing from 
another 
decade 
that 
has 
notably become of interest to 
a new demographic. Perhaps 
we should start giving credit 
where credit is truly due.

Looking unique to basic: 
The rise and fall of trends

STYLE NOTEBOOK

SOPHIA HUGHES
Daily Arts Writer

History in the fashion world has demonstrated this 
theme to us on countless occasions: Trends rise and fall.

SEASON OF MIST

MIKE WATKINS
Daily Music Editor

JIM WILSON
Daily Arts Writer

