Why Do Directors Love To Kill Sean Bean?

Sean Bean dies. A lot. I'm not sure what it is about him that screams "Please Kill Me!" to directors but it's obviously something. (Spoilers Ahead) When I heard that he was going to pay Ned Stark in Game of Thrones, my first thought was, "Oh, that's perfect casting! A grim medieval lord that dies violently is Sean Bean's specialty." I thought the same thing about him playing Boromir in The Lord of the Rings. I wrote (Spoilers Ahead) above which is sort of pointless because if Sean Bean is in a movie you know he is going to die. I wonder if when a casting director reads a script and sees that someone is killed horribly if they just turn to each other and say, "Get me Sean Bean's agent!" Or does the instruction come from Sean himself. When he is considering projects does he make his decision based on how grizzly his on-screen death is? It's hard to say.

What I do know is that he dies well. Here is a mash-up by Harry Hanrahan. It shows Sean Beans 21 deaths in all their bloody glory.