Thinking again about Ursula K. LeGuin's last earthsea book "The Other Wind" and Alder's death scene in particular, and what moves me so much about it is that it genuinely leaves room for grief.
Alder was meant to die. He was doomed as soon as he was touched by the dead, long before the book even starts. His death is portrayed as a mercy and a reuniting with his deceased wife and his teacher. It's a relief that is painless. All things considered the cleanest kind of death one could wish for, and yet it does not do anything to lessen the sadness of it all.
Tenar weeps as she holds his corpse's hand because despite it all, this is still a loss. Where a different story may focus on the freedom from pain that death provided to Alder and would have characters solemly nod at the sunset, mabye a little bit sad but ultimately knowing he's at peace, The Other Wind makes a point that even a death this clean, this painless and swift, leaves wounded hearts and tears shed and grieving people in it's wake. That even the simplest of deaths is still complicated.
And ultimately, that is okay.
