Oh, the horror. Oh, the trauma. Like any year in fandom, this one too brought stories that lit up Hypable readers with excitement, disappointment, and other extreme adjectives.

Below are twelve stories we believe were the most shocking of the year. Break out the tissues, the head-shaking, and the “scared for the future” look on your face – these stories will invoke all of your emotions.

The shocking Downton Abbey death. In October, out of the blue, a critical character on Downton Abbey passed. We’re not spoiling it here (see the link for the answer and analysis) because it has not yet aired in the United States. Needless to say, it truly shocked Downton fans and was one of the most memorable episodes of the season!

Disney purchases Lucasfilm, announces new Star Wars films. If you had told us at this time last year that Star Wars Episodes 7 – 9 were actually going to happen, we would have laughed at you like C3PO does when R2D2 makes a funny. The announcement truly came out of nowhere, with not so much as a rumor in advance. The news was worrying to some given Episodes 4 through 6 were not as good as 1 through 3. On the other hand, with Lucas himself out of the picture and a new creative team on hand, the best could be yet to come for the franchise.

Peter Jackson announces The Hobbit will become a trilogy. It was surprising enough when Jackson decided that Tolkien’s Hobbit book would become two films. Afterall, he spent just one film on each of the books in The Lord of the Rings trilogy. But when we learned in July he had decided to turn The Hobbit into a trilogy, it shocked, saddened, and pleased Middle Earth dwellers. It’s yet to be seen whether or not this was a good decision, but splitting a single book into multiple films has definitely become the “in” thing to do as of late.

Gary Ross leaves The Hunger Games franchise, replaced by Francis Lawrence. We were so proud of the great job Gary Ross had done with The Hunger Games. The film was warmly received by critics and fans of Suzanne Collins’ story alike because it was loyal, heartfelt, and well-acted. It helped that Ross was a huge fan of the book series. While promoting the film in March, he was already speaking about his plans for how he’d adapt Catching Fire. That all changed when he took a look at the production schedule and didn’t like that he’d have to rush the script and shooting to ensure they were wrapped by the end of 2012. So, he decided to leave and was eventually replaced by Francis Lawrence. Josh Hutcherson had spoken with Ross after the decision was made, and he said the director was “dejected.” It was a sad but necessary decision.

Summit planning Twilight franchise spin off? Twice now, rumors have surfaced stating that Twilight studio Summit is planning a spin off of the franchise. Edward, Bella, and Jacob’s story appears to be over, but reports say the studio hopes to create a TV show or film based on one of the wolves or vampire clans. The news has been met with audible groans from haters, but fans of the vampire series would likely be thrilled to see a spin off with “The Twilight Saga” stamp on it. You can’t knock Summit for considering the idea; Twilight has been an incredible, profitable success. And if the fans want it, then why not?

The Great Gatsby’s release delayed from Christmas to Summer 2013. After realizing the movie schedule in December was as packed as a Hobbit home full of Dwarves (This is 40, Django Unchained, Zero Dark Thirty, The Hobbit and others), Warner Bros. decided to delay the release of Baz Luhrmann’s The Great Gatsby until Summer 2013. Leonardo Dicaprio, Carey Mulligan, and Tobey Maguire star in the highly-anticipated film. In response to the Christmas Day slot being made available, Universal decided to move Les Miserables from early December to the coveted holiday.

Fifty Shades of Grey dominates the best seller lists. Who would’ve thought a once-Twilight fan fiction featuring an incredible and inspiring amount of erotica could do so well on store shelves? No one did until it happened, and E.L. James’ Fifty Shades Trilogy was a huge success. It stayed on top of book sales charts for much of the year and to date has sold 60 million copies worldwide. The link above goes to our story on Amazon UK announcing that Fifty Shades had outsold Harry Potter (in the United Kingdom store). Amazon.com announced on December 15 that Fifty Shades Freed was the number one selling book of the year.

Whitney Houston dies. The legendary singer was found unconscious in her bathtub at the Beverly Hilton hotel in Beverly Hills, California. The cause of death was drowning, which was led on by “effects of atherosclerotic heart disease and cocaine use.” She was 49 years old and born in Newark, New Jersey.

Her death came days before the Grammy Awards and sent shockwaves through the music community. You can see video of her final public performance on February 9.

Matthew Vaughn exits X-Men: Days of Future Past, replaced by Bryan Singer.
Back in 2011, everything was coming up X-Men due to the release of X-Men:First Class, which managed to successfully revitalize interest in mutants whose names didn’t begin with a “W”. When the inevitable sequel got a release date, many had hoped that Vaughn would be back in the director’s chair. In fact, negotiations with Vaughn, the studio, and actress Jennifer Lawrence eventually caused so much scheduling conflict and high-school drama that Gary Ross was forced to step down as the director of Catching Fire because of Lawrence’s obligation to the comic book franchise. All of that bad blood eventually came down to nothing when Vaughn unceremoniously left X-Men:First Class, probably in favor of a project that has a release date that’s a little more…erm…far far away. X-Men director Brian Singer has taken back control of the franchise, casting oldies (but goodies) like Sir Patrick Stewart and Sir Ian McKellen to reprise their original roles.

Merlin canceled by the BBC.
So MAYBE some of the Merlin fandom saw this one coming– after all, it’s been a well known fact that creators and executive producers of BBC’s hit fantasy drama, Johnny Capps and Julian Murphy have said they had a five year plan for the show from the beginning. So why did the news come as such shock? Well, it probably has something to do with the fact that the BBC kept tight lipped about season 5 being Merlin‘s last until well over half way through the show’s current season. Merlin‘s story will draw to a close in what fans have been promised will be a ‘spectacular conclusion’; the final episode airs this Christmas Eve on BBC 1.

Boy Meets World spin off Girl Meets World in the works, Ben Savage and Danielle Fishel will star. Much of Hypable’s audience is made up of people who grew up with Boy Meets World in the 90s, so pure joy was felt when it was announced that a spin off was in the works entitled Girl Meets World is in the works. Even better was the news that Boy stars Savage and Fishel have signed on to play the parents of a daughter whom the show centers on. The two stars are very passionate about making sure the show pleases the original fans, and we can’t wait to see it hit the Disney airwaves.

Shocking Hollywood splits. Will Arnett and Amy Poehler. Justin Bieber and Selena Gomez. Katy Perry and Russell Brand. Arnold Schwarzenegger and Maria Shriver. These are just a few of the major Hollywood break ups in 2012. Though we shouldn’t be surprised because these things happen all the time, the perfect couple that was Will Arnett and Amy Poehler was particularly saddening because we loved their comedic and romantic perfection.

What stories did you think were the most shocking of 2012?

Additional reporting by Jimmy Bean and Selina Wilken