>Can I make a side-rant how since Game of Thrones, it seems to have become an expectation that characters must be killed off? Apparently readers are (expected to) be so desensitized that nothing below "the main party that is the main reason you're reading this story can die at any moment" registers anymore.

The opposing view is weirder, why should characters be preserved for consumption by the audience? Death is something that can happen, let it happen. I quite like KJ Parkers 2 of Swords, where most PoV characters are dead by the end of the trilogy. Theres a real bittersweet note where, 2 of the remaining characters, one is basically trying to get killed and the other keeps bending the law and releasing him, unable to stomach even one more, no matter how deserved.

> The opposing view is weirder, why should characters be preserved for consumption by the audience?

I don't see how characters are "consumed" by the audience, unless the audience is vampires.

But my answer would be: Because the entire story exists for the audience. There isn't actually a separate universe that lives on independently of the people watching or reading the story.