Deaths

Now Everest reaches the final factor of the deceiver archetype, which is death and horrible fate. Everest fully reveals its true character with the death of Jon's friends and teammates. Jon is traumatized from the death of the other climbers (some are shown in the picture below). An example of this is when Jon hears about the death of his close friend, Doug Hansen, his response to his death is: "Confronted with this tally, my mind balked and retreated into a weird, almost robotic state of detachment. I felt emotionally anesthetized yet hyperaware, as if I had fled into a bunker deep inside my skull and was peering out at the wreckage around me through a narrow, armoured slit" (Krakauer 516). This is one of the horrible fates that stay with Jon forever.

Andy Harris

Andy Harris is the most important character of the ones who died, as he leaves Jon with guilt that follows him forever. Jon had left Andy on the south summit by himself while Andy was suffering from hypoxia. Jon believes this to be the cause of his death and blames himself for it throughout the rest of the story. "My actions – or failure to act – played a direct role in the death of Andy Harris" (Krakauer 568). This is the other fate that stays with Jon forever, Guilt.