In the latest Bridget Jones book, author Helen Fielding has decided to kill off one of her major characters.

The popular Bridget Jones sequel kills off Mark Darcy. 

In the third book of Fielding's book series, in which the eponymous Bridget Jones is main character, Mark Darcy--who had charmed his way into the hearts of the audience as Bridget Jones' romantic interest and later, husband--has died, leaving Jones a widow and with two children. 

Mark Darcy, who was portrayed in the movie by Colin Firth (who had also played Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice leading man Mister Darcy in a BBC adaptation, which launched him to heartthrob status), was a brooding lawyer character, who Bridget Jones--loved by fans as the everywoman of their generation--ends up falling for. At first he is critical and stern but is later revealed to have had feelings for Bridget all along. Later on the two get married, with Darcy proposing to Jones towards theend of the second book. The second book ended on a high note, with fans closing the book with happy sighs, but upon reading the online excerpts which were released in The Sunday Times UK, the beautiful illusion of a happy ending suddenly cam crashing down upon them.

[Read "Bridget Jones Online," the candid little excerpts with Bridget sorting out her dating life without her husband.]

The upcoming sequel, titled "Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy," Bridget Jones is now 51 years old, a widow with two children after her husband Mark Darcy having passed away five years prior to the beginning of the story. 

[Read "Bridget Jones" online and relive the days when Darcy was still alive and charming]

Fans have expressed complete outrage over the kill-off, with many of them feeling his death did nothing to further the story whatsoever, and feel that it had been used as an easy excuse to incorporate dating on online social media sites into the Bridget Jones plot. 

It does seem like the death is a metaphor for something, especially now that Bridget Jones has a much younger boy-toy in tow, and lamenting about skinny jeans, not having followers on twitter, drunk texting...as well as her usual rants about her weight and calories, of course. 

"Do not text when drunk," Jones is quoted as saying in an excerpt from the Bridget Jones sequel, "A text is gone at the brush of a fingertip, like a nuclear bomb or Exocet missile."

Must Darcy's death mean that old traditions are dying and must pave way to pay more attention to...younger, newer things? 

"Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy," is to be released in October, and will be published as an e-book and audiobook as well.