: Re: "The more fleshed out the character is, the more the reader will care about him". Always true? I have a problem with the protagonist of one of my stories. In the story he's in, he dies at

@Cooney417

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I think that there are some points to take into account when fleshing out a character :

Reader's expectations : when you introduce a character, people will have some kind of expectation on the part they will play in the story, especially when it's about the protagonist. As seen in Game of Thrones most notably, killing off a character for whom the reader had lots of expectations can be really impactful. On the other hand, if your character has had a lot of time to accomplish what the reader expected him to do, he won't have the same felling of loss. This is probably why in the Hero's Journey, the "death" occurs before the climax and the final resolution of the plot. If the plot has been resolved, who cares what happen to the hero ? Of course this doesn't necessaeily apply to all stories but it's good to keep on mind.

Evolution : a way around the previous point I mentioned is to introduce a flaw to the protagonist, which prevents him from acheiving his goal. The "death" part of the Journey could then be when the character fails to overcome that flaw. The climax could be the ultimate struggle against both the antagonist and this flaw, eventualy leading to the self-sacrifice. Seeing the hero succeed where he previously failed can be very compelling and the sacrifice will reinforce the threat posed by the antagonist, raising even more the stakes which is always a good thing to get a reaction from the reader.

External viewpoints : as your main character dies, the reader can only rely on remaining characters to experience the remaining of the story. Therefore, giving more strength and meaning to your character's sacrifice could be done through an emphasis on the reactions of other characters. Like reaction shots in movies or stories with multiple narrative arcs decribing different "periods" with a new hero each, living in the world left behind by the previous protagonist (the Chronicles of Amber for example).

Symbolism : Now for how your secondary characters can have more impact even though they have less development in the story, it's just that less details often leads to idealisation from the reader. Which leads them to see these character as symbols : your character could be seen as "the Protector", Gandalf in the Moria is "the Guide", etc.
Watching those characters die brutally is assimilated with the symbol they represent : your characters lose their protector, leaving them vulnerable ; the Fellowship loses its guide and will get lost (death of Boromir, separation, etc).

I really don't know how much all of this apply to your story, or if it seems trivial but well, hope it helps.

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