I inadvertantly mischanned/mavved/xchanned (all the same deal) about contrived/meaningless death and about how it would probably kill my future muse to carry on. More so, though, it is the emotional connection through that specific character that I would miss (even though I would be really upset about having lost a dear part of my own self, too).
I have not lost many of my own PCs (a rare few who were mostly jokes and had not yet made meaningful connections), but what I have lost are those amazing people like my own muses like Famous Outlaw (about whom @hobos recently wrote).
Way back in the ye olden days (MUD/RPI times), I used to generally cop a badass/hardcore attitude and totally deny my personal feelings -- and sometimes do whenever I am covering up and just being 'too macho' -- about these things, but deep down and when being more self aware: it all really hurts.
Right now, I am -- after more than a season's time -- still grieving the unexpected disappearance of a PC's SO after 8 years of being RP pardners. Cannot go a full week without a sudden cry at least every other day or so.
We were building up to eventually tackle background/family matters, but one day, they were suddenly gone. Right after their PC's birthday.
Although I still play my own PC, it is emotionally difficult for me because their other half is currently missing in an OOC sense (but still together in an IC one because I do not really move on very quickly, and it is highly unlikely that this one ever will due to the sheer longevity of that IC pardnership).
Anyway, the main point is that it is seriously painful to lose characters (worse than reading Old Yeller or Where The Red Fern Grows) after the strong bonding to both your own character as well as Famous Outlaw(s).