Killing Off Characters

It has always been a monumental part of plot. I've done this myself, quite a few times. Now, you should be growing used to my over-thinking and over-analyzing. So today while I was baking cookies I began to wonder, Do we kill off characters because it's realy essential to the plot? Because we hate this character we've created? To mess with the reader's mind? Or just because we love that we can? 

And then – again, a result of having too much time on my hands – I went over a big portion of the books I've read recently and made a tab. Least I can figure, there's a death in every one, or very close to it, anyway. Death is a big part of our lives, yes, so is this what makes us tip our all-powerful typing hands?

How many of you have killed off a character? Was it a character you loved? Why did you do it? Just curious. I've examined my own reasons and I come to this conclusion: I kill off beautiful men. Why? Because I'm all about the drama. Which seems odd, right, because I'm always hosting a campaign against drama? Maybe writing is my outlet. I stay away from drama in real life but when it comes to my stories, I let it all out.

Or maybe I'm just bitter against beautiful men! Eh. Too deep for me as of right now.

Have a great week, guys.