So, I'm writing a space military story, and my team is about to go into their first major combat. I think it would be fitting if one of my named characters died either in this encounter, or as a result of injuries in this encounter. I'm just not set on who. I've developed a couple of the characters more than others, but I don't want to off someone just because I haven't fleshed out him/her very much. I could easily go back during editing and give the doomed character more scenes to bring them up to par emotionally with the rest of the cast. It's still relatively early in the story, and I don't feel like I've invested too much in any of them. I mean, three of them just have placeholder names taken from a YouTube channel I follow. Alternately, they all have potential, and I don't really want to squash that potential before it has a chance to grow. But for the sake of the story, it would probably be best if someone died.

Soldiers Cunningham, Jones, and Anderson all have plot immunity right now, so that leaves me with five other options. Here are the pro's and con's of killing each one right off the bat:

Hicks - pros: kind of a flat character at the moment, so I won't have to invest too much into his character. Cons: kind of cliche, as he's the only one with a family "back home"

Floyd - pros: a bit inconsistent/indecisive, so his death could serve to underline the importance of being decisive and committing to a course of action. cons: I'd like him to be my sniper at some point in the future, BUT I could easily introduce another character to fill that role.

Evans - pros: shaping up to be kind of annoying. Cons: could also be a good comic relief / foil character

O'malley - pros: the least motivated of the group, so killing him could "thin the herd" so to speak. cons: also shaping up to be good comic relief, also shaping up to be the only devil's advocate type character. Also, kind of cliche to kill him because he is the "lone wolf" of the group

Natsu - pros: everyone likes her, so her death could put real strain on the team's working relationship. cons: She's one of two women on the team, and I kind of had plans for her in the future, BUT, like with Floyd, I could reassign that role to another character.

I'd like to get a few opinions on who should bite the bullet this round and why. Alternately, someone could just get hurt really badly, and have that injury affect their future development. So, yeah. I have decisions to make, and I'd like input... Thanks.

I vote do both. Have Evans die and Floyd get hurt. Evans, currently, could create a sort of moral issue in the characters, especially if he's annoying to them. Someone actively thinking, damn, why is he with us, he should get leave / die / get out of here. Then, when it happens, this level of guilt for even thinking it and a question of 'did I do everything possible to save him or did I have a part in this because I didn't like him?'

And, if Floyd gets hurt, he could end up unable to be 'in the fray' on something in the future and can set him up for sniping as he can hang up and set up a nest somewhere on a mission when he otherwise would've been heading off into the thick of it with the rest of them.

My vote is for Evans to die. While I like the idea of making it emotional by killing off Natsu, I would regret seeinga female character die, especially when she's only one of two ladies on the team. Evans' death could get O'malley to rededicate himself to the mission, even if only to keep himself alive. The rest of the crew could actually miss Evans' annoyingness and whatever humor he contributed, so it would still have an impact, even if it wouldn't be as emotional.

I could also see it being Floyd in that it could get everyone to understand that they have to be decisive. But I chose Evans because you might not need two comedic relief characters. I do like Squiddish's idea about killing one and hurting another though.

Welp, looks like Evans gets voted off the island this round. Thanks, guys! And Squiddish is right. It probably would do me well to injure one of the others; then I could add survivor guilt to my growing list of character development points.

As an evil alternative, you could have one of your "flat" feeling characters accidentally kill off the character you have decided to kill, i.e., "friendly fire," heat of the moment, etc. That would give you all sorts of angst and problems with the team working together. I realize that is kind of cliche also, but hey, it's a first draft after all. And who knows what it would reveal about your characters?

Yeah, I'm building up for it to be indirectly related to the actions of one of the other characters. I think what's going to happen, is that one is going to set up some instant cover (think foam grenades from the most recent Battlefield), but it doesn't deploy correctly, which leaves Evans and the other exposed and the thrower thinks there was something s/he could have done differently.

Also, bonus points because I've now made Evans so annoying, one of the other characters (Jones) literally wished he would die.

Even more guilt and angst! Brilliant!