Why Omid's death was so brilliant...
First, I'd just like to clear up any misunderstandings- I liked Omid as a character, he was definitely in my top five characters from Season 1. I couldn't think of a better title for this thread, so if there's any misunderstandings then I accept full responsibility and apologize for misleading you.
Anyway, as we all know Omid is killed off within the first ten minutes or so of Season 2 Episode 1. I know a lot of people really hated his death and complain about it- some call it stupid, some call it depressing...and these are actually both reasons why his death is so well done. It sets to tone for the entire series and really hits you hard in a way that most other deaths in S1 and S2 did.
Obviously there are a bunch of emotional deaths, like Lee's or Kenny's or (in my opinion) Alvin's. But Omid's death hits you in another emotional way that really hits you hard, maybe harder than the deaths I just mentioned. It leaves you in shock, empty, depressed. And that sort of emotion runs through the entire of S2.
It successfully sets the themes for S2 brilliantly. Right from the off, we know that there isn't any messing around- no one is safe, people are going to die when you don't expect them to and there's nothing you can do to stop it. It sets the environment Clementine is surviving in incredibly well, and the player knows that (or, at least, is meant to feel) anything can happen at any time, and what decisions you make will have sometimes dire consequences (though this isn't the case in the end). We're meant to feel that this is serious- there are no heroes, only survivors. And, for all Omid's great qualities, he was dead within a split second.
The whole death is unfair, depressing, some would say stupid. And in that sense again, his death portrays all the elements of an apocalyptic situation perfectly: you can never drop your guard, you are never safe, one little slip up gets you and others killed. Everyone is on the cusp of oblivion, and all it takes is a little push and they're gone. And, of course, his death feels like a total waste of a brilliant, funny, likable person- it is, and it just goes to show how anyone can die at any moment, no matter how good or bad a person they are. As I said, there are no heroes or villains- only survivors.
Now I'm sure a lot of people will disagree a lot with me here, as every so often in other threads I see people commenting very negatively about Omid's death. I've shared my views, what are your own? Do you agree/disagree?
Comments
Omid was the kind of person to freeze under any large amounts of pressure. This is necessarily bad, it's just who he was.
In Season one, Omid freezes up on top the bridge for a few seconds once the train starts to move. Those few seconds simply put him in a fatal confrontation and those seconds were what it took to kill him.
He was simply unlucky.
Agreed. Omid's death set the game up in more ways than one. To be brutally honest, I think Telltale needed him to die in order for Clem to start her journey. It pushed the story in a direction where Clem and Christa would have hardly anything except each other. His death leads to things going downhill for Clementine kinda like a snowball effect. After he dies, Christa is constantly pissed/upset, one less person in the world Clem trusted/knew, no comedic relief anymore, less manpower, and the list goes on.
He didn't just get killed off willy nilly either. Omid tried to save Clem and then bad stuff happened, just like it always does in this series. Some people might be worried that Kenny/Jane will get the same treatment when season 3 begins, which is why some will complain how bad it is and they do not want to see it again. Maybe Telltale has something different cooked up this time. Who knows?
That's true, but to be fair to Omid he didn't freeze in that situation (though why he didn't have his gun I'll never know
). Plus, the whole death sort of sets out how random or unlucky death can be- one moment everything seems fine, the next your dead. I think that sets out the whole season excellently.
I agree with you mostly. But it would've been nice if Omid stuck around a little longer.
The way I saw it was, he left his gun with Christa thinking nothing bad was happening, went to check on Clem, saw what was going on and instead of leaving Clem alone for a moment at gunpoint Omid cautiously tried to sneak attack the girl unarmed, and the rest is history.
I agree with you completely. I loved Omid, but his death served a great purpose for the game in that it helped set up the overall tone of the season quite well. We lost the most humorous character and, as a result, helps make the overall tone of the game much more serious and depressing as a result.
No, I can see that too. But he was just standing still too long for it to be sneaking. maybe he was thinking of a strategy and was just caught off guard by that evil scheming door... who knows.
Either way, his death did serve more of purpose than most season two deaths, it set a harsh unfair tone that shit can happen and that sometimes bad things happen to good people.
And you could say that there's some cleverness in his death, given that Omid means 'hope'
Hope dies at the very beginning of the game, and you see the effects of that straight afterward. Sitting in the dark, cold and raining, with a measly fire that is barely managing to stay lit.
It always has pissed me off but I have also thought the same; To set the tone for Season 2 with no Hope
Omid = Hope
Omid's death was one of my main gripes with All That Remains. Killing a fan favorite wayyyy too early to send a message was stupid. All hope is gone? We realized that during Lee's death in the end of Season 1. Killing Omid just to get him out of the story was ridiculous I get the message but it should have happened later at the hands of Carver as I would want him and Christa to replace them. It would be like Negan and Glenn and Carver killing Omid would have had a larger impact while still sending the message. Omid's death remains one of the worst deaths in gaming imo
Might want to asterisk out the title. Someone will complain, you know?
I disagree though. I hate his death more than I hate Arvo.
Agreed.
I was more fond of Omid than Christa. But I didn't have a problem with the way Omid went out. Omid, Carver and Walter were the only ones that didn't have a stupid death and far too many died in season 2 in unlikely and irrational ways, its like most characters either went missing or died stupidly. Well....Season 2 in general was far more irrational than season 1....... Well actually on second thought Omid did die stupidly as well. If he knew Clem was being stuck up at gunpoint then he should have quickly retrieved the rifle from Christa. If he didn't know then he likely would have barged in thinking all was honky dory and gotten shot immediately upon walking in. So probably about at least 80% of the characters died preposterously.
Does Omid actually mean hope? I didn't actually know that. Thanks for informing me
I hated his death too, but that's just part of why it's so well done- as I've said, it sets out the whole premise for S2 brilliantly, and leaves the player frustrated about the waste of life, especially someone who was a good guy. Hating him more than Arvo is going too far though, nothing is worse than Arvo
Kenny tries to help Omid and then gets beaten by Carver? I think that would be great.
Maybe killing him at the hands of Carver would've done more justice to his character, but the whole point of his death is to emphasise how quickly life can be lost and, it doesn't matter who you are, you can die at any given second.
Maybe they could've substituted Kenny getting beat down to Omid, and Omid actually dying. That would be pretty good (well, not good, but you know what I mean), but it would sort of undermine the whole message S2 tries to send to the player. Plus, Omid was the type of character who wasn't likely to survive too long anyway- Christa was the independent survivor, but could Omid have taught Clem the skills she needed like Christa did (in the 16 months between Omid's death)? No. I liked Omid too, but the guy wasn't a survivor through and through and by keeping him alive it would've undermined to just the themes of S2 but also the realism of TWD.
TT better not just kill Kenny/Jane off immediately. I've got a feeling that if she choose Jane she might run off for some reason if things go south (she is more of a survivor, after all), whilst Kenny would probably try to protect Clem and die doing so.
It was a decent prologue til he died. I wonder how did Clem find them
Tbh, I think Lee's death achieved that in season 1 already. If people haven't got the message by that point that this universe doesn't care who you are and that anyone can die, they're either blissfully ignorant or have simply not been paying attention. It's not as if they have to drill this point in deeper with Omid.
Some have rightfully pointed out that Omid and Christa could have easily replaced Rebecca and Alvin, which would have been fitting ends to their characters, Omid in particular. For me, his death was to make way for the new ones to be introduced.
It make me hate Carver a lot more. A lot more.
But it wouldn't explain why Carver would be following them.
For me, the weakness of the writing is that its boringly predictable. The fact that you can predict its about to happen very easily means any emotional impact is significantly reduced.
Someone else from cabin group being chased maybe, with him claiming Christa's unborn child as his own. Omid, being against this, shows bravery and a badass side by standing up to Carver. Finally going out in a blaze of glory to protect Clem one last time. The effects on Christa are then seen fully in the next episode, rather than being glossed over in a time skip. And dying from exhaustion after giving birth, ultimately exchanging her own life for the life of her child. Nearly the same thing as we had, but instead for the characters that it should have happened to. Feels... Everyone's sad. Telltale mission accomplished.
There is a fine balance to be struck between realism and a good story. I think this scenario is realistic and would have made for a better story.
Yeah, like the music trying to build suspense just before he gets shot. There was no guessing for me at that point, I knew Omid's time was up. They should have just had it happen out of the blue for true shock value.
I found the death extremely unrealistic, I mean i would never leave my gun lying on a sink, its always on the side of my hip or in my hand. Maybe lee didn't Teach her gun safety, I'm not sure. I would think he would of taught her how important it is for self protection, and the value of a gun in a dangerous situation, obviously not right.
I agree that I thought Omid's death was fitting for the opening. That being said, I don't necessarily like how Omid's death was executed....
When Christa and Omid asked Clementine to get cleaned up a separate bathroom from them...I thought, "WTF?! You're really going to let her explore and de-zombify the bathroom ALONE?!" and "really, 8/9 months pregnant Christa is really trying to get her f*ck on right now?"....and it always bothered me that Clementine wouldn't think to grab her gun after getting startled like that....but also...why would she get startled in the first place...you'd think that she'd have thought that it was Christa and/or Omid....I can't remember, did she hear Michelle's voice or something as Michelle walked in the bathroom? But with Clementine leaving her pistol on the sink...but I think that we have to remember to keep in mind that at this point she's still learning survival as it's been about 6-7 months since Clem lost Lee and found Omid and Christa (I always thought that Christa was around 2-3 months pregnant when the gang meets the couple)
No, it was the water bottle she was using fell onto the floor and rolled under the bathroom stall. She walked away about 5-10ft. away from her gun in an empty, cleared out room. lol I have no doubt that most people were screaming at the t.v./monitor "grab the gun!" since it's a game where bad shit can happen at the most worst/convenient of times.
I agree with what others are saying about how this is established when Lee dies. Personally, I think it would've made the story better if he died when those men found Clem and Christa, that way after he was shot, they could've ran in diff directions, making it even more dramatic; Omid killed by the men and us not knowing what happened to Christa. To be honest, we don't learn much about the girl who killed Omid either. They wasted her character as well.
True, but with Lee's death the player got to say goodbye- he got a heroes send off (and rightfully so). But with Omid it was so sudden, and over so quickly...it was an injustice to his character, which hits the player harder than Lee's death. It was more raw, more real- Lee's was more emotional, but we knew Lee was going to die anyway (though that didn't stop his death being sad). Omid's death just came out of nowhere.
She's a little girl, she won't know what the consequences of her actions could be (at that time). I wouldn't say the death was unrealistic because she left her gun, as any little girl would be likely to do that- the death was pretty realistic, but as I've already said the fact Omid didn't have his gun left me a little bit confused. And of course it was a huge coincidence that Clem had only just left her gun out when someone entered the bathroom, but things like that happen and to be fair TWD doesn't actually have as many coincidences in it compared to other games.
...ly cheap.
I liked Omid a lot more than Christa and didn't really like Christa at all and I was really surprised, angry and sad over Omid's death, but reading this put me in another perspective of Omids death and I want to thank you for putting me into that position.
Have a nice day
To me Omid's death was a good idea even if I didn't like it (Omid is my 3rd favorite character; I wish he had stayed longer). His death was so emotional, he's the one I was the saddest to see dying. I felt this was so unfair because he's a such kind and funny character, and it could have been avoided so easily ! Once the shock and sadness were over, I thought "What was the point to bring him back in season 2 if he doesn't even last 10 minutes ?" But indeed that was a good idea to kill him in the introduction because it puts us directly in The Walking Dead atmosphere, showing that everyone can die anytime. It gives you a feeling of insecurity as soon as you start playing, and that feeling continues right after when these guys in the forest attack you (and all along the game).
And to be honest, I prefer Omid shot and dead in Christa's arms than Omid being eaten alive or killed savagely by Carver. At least his death was not painful (compared to others) and he was with people he loved.
I strongly disagree OP, i hear all your points but i think your giving the writers way too much credit....heres my stance on it..why not just follow on the story from season 1 when clem is on her own? it's simple,required no timeskips,Omid could of been killed helping clem and Christa and it would just feel like a continution of season 1's greatness but no..we don't get no emotional payoff seeing them reunite...or seeing them search for each other...or how they got down from the building/made it out alive.....it felt cheap and nasty writing,out of character for Omid,and set season 2 on it's way with a continual negative vibe from fans.
I did not understand why Michelle held up Clem for so long. It made me think she may have been a drug user. She could have just grabbed the bag and bounce outta there. And if Clem was not the protagonist she could have shot her then and there.
As someone who's probably never had any fighting experience and given his size, I thought Omid's death made sense. What I don't get is why he wouldn't bring Christa's rifle with him when he went to check on Clementine.