Heh, lots of deaths in this thread that I also think were Iconic.

One that shocked me the most, although I'm not a big anime fan, was L in Death Note.

 

He deserved to die and everyone knew it was coming, maybe a bit anticlimatical, but not iconic.

 

Leslie Burke - Bridge of Terabithia : This is probably one of the earliest deaths I've experienced while reading fiction.
Rachel - Dark Knight : First time seeing a superhero lose, totally broken and it was one of the scenes that still resonate the most with me whenever I watch the movie again.
Jack - Alex Rider : It was surprising for a fairly lighthearted series. Alex watching Jack die and knowing he led to her death plus the bit with the bad guy measuring the emotional pain.
Primrose - Hunger Games
Stephen Bartowski - Chuck
Ned Stark - Game of Thrones : I had to reread the part a few times and still did not believe the author decided to kill off the main character in the first book of the series.
Lois Lane - Injustice Gods Among Us : The look on Superman's face when he realized he killed both Lois and the unborn child says enough.

 

Some that have not been mentioned so far:

Angel Beats: Yui and the last episode in general. Both had me getting dust in my eyes.

Fate Zero: Lancer's death. I knew a lot of servants were going to die but his was just too cruel.

Lies of Locke Lamora:

Spoiler

Nazca Barsavi

I know this character wasn't a major one, but I really liked her and hoped to see more from her and seeing the gruesome end was rather shocking.

Second Vin, Thorin, Filli and Killi, the Red Wedding and Maes (and probably a lot more)

 

I wouldn't call the deaths in the Red Wedding iconic. The scene stands out to me because of its importance to the overarching plot, not because of the people who died.

 

Similarly, Achilles in The Illiad, though his death is rather iconic, a final divine smackdown for the greatest hero.

The Kid in Cormac McCarthy's Blood Meridian. Good God Almighty.

General Woundwort in the animated version of Watership Down, which I saw as a child. For some reason, the memory of the scene spooks me out to this day. Also, Hazel's death at the end of the novel is elegantly done.

 

I apparently posted this to the wrong thread but I'll throw it in here.

One of the most iconic to me was

Spoiler

Maeve

particularly for the effect of the death on Dresden. It was like, "well shit."

 

My signature says it all for me.

 

Brandon from Gungrave.

Roach and Ghost from MW2.

 

There's a scene in a movie called The Fall that's brilliant. It's a film about a crippled stuntman trying to pursuade a young girl to get him some morphine (so he can overdose and commit suicide) by telling her a story and, when the morality of what he's doing starts to get to him as he gets to know the girl, he kills off all the characters in the story. It's brilliantly tragic.

And also McMurphy in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest. Not only his actual death but the death of his character when he's lobotomised.

 

I definitely second a lot of the deaths already mentioned, but I don't know if I've ever seen or read anything more devastating than Robin Hobb's Farseer Trilogy (Assassin's books).

Spoiler

First his dog Smithy, and then his wolf Nighteyes.

Bah, I've never cried so much.

 

There are lots of deaths that I've cried about, but there are three movie deaths that completely changed the way I watched/read death scenes.

Boromir's death at the end of Fellowship was the first time I saw a character die in tragic redemption, and I was in tears.

(I would also say Gandalf had a major impact on how I handle death, but he came back, so I don't think that really counts; I dislike it when dead characters come back.)

Jack Dawson's death in Titanic. My very favourite film, I first saw in the cinema when I was eight, and I was bawling like a baby at the end. It was the first "real" death I saw (I'd seen animated Disney movies before, but Jack was the first live action one).

John Coffey's death in The Green Mile. Being put on the electric chair by the guards he'd made friends with. Good grief, it's the only movie I refuse to watch again, solely because of this. Just thinking about is making me choked up.

 

I'm guessing this entire thread has a spoiler/read at your on risk thing going on?

Ace from One Piece, I was in tears man
Neji in Naruto, honestly did not see that coming
Grey (kinda) in Fairy Tail

ASoIaF: Ned and Robb Stark definitely,
(spoiler for books that tv series hasn't gotten to)
Tywin, especially in how he died.
Joffrey. just because of how happy I was after it happened.

Les Miserables,
Garvouche, Javert, and Eponine.

Disney
Scar
The hunter from tarzan who gets hung
Bambi's mom as others have mentioned
and Megara from Hercules, ....until hercules saes her of course.

 

...Her name's Megara?

 

Yea, that's the actual name from mythology and I'm pretty sure the movie mentions it but she goes by Meg cause...disney I guess.

 

william wallace in braveheart

hector in the iliad

sohrab in shahnameh

and joan of arc

 

Glen Bateman "The Stand TV-series"
"It´s all right Mr. Henreid, you don´t know any better" Link.
Oh, that Scene still makes me cry.

 

Sydney Carton at the end of A Tale of Two Cities.

"It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done; it is a far, far better rest that I go to than I have ever known."

 

I second Mustafa in the Lion King. IMO, it is the greatest movie Disney has ever produced in any format, and that is the most powerful scene. Second William Wallace, as his death is the most powerful scene of that movie. Also second Jack Dawson in Titanic, and I'd like to mention Leo's character in Blood Diamond as well -- an even better example of Boromir's "redeeming sacrifice" that EkulTeabag mentioned.

When Tommy admits he'd do anything to see Andy Dufresne get out of prison in Shawshank Redemption, and then gets murdered by the warden and his thug captain. Gives me chills every time I watch it (and believe me, I've seen it way too much).

In the Lord of the Rings, somehow, I think Smeigel's death is more powerful than Gandalf's, though it was supremely badass for him to stand up to that demon.