The Season 9 time jump shows Tara in a place of power. She is, essentially, the leader of Hilltop after Maggie leaves. And she comes into her own.

She is also still fair enough to not be totally blinded by power when it comes to leading her people. But she ends up a casualty of the Whisperer War.

Although Tara doesn't live long enough to actually fight in the war, which ravages both Alexandria and Hilltop, she is killed because of it.

In order to make a border between the land of the survivors and the Whisperers, Alpha kidnaps several members of the communities. She kills them and places their zombified heads on stakes to mark the border.

Tara's head is one of them.

Tara's death happens off-screen, but it is still a monumental moment in the series. While she wasn't necessarily an untouchable (read: Daryl or Carol), she was a big part of the show.

She had been with the other survivors for several seasons, and she was in a leadership position. Her death was another that showed that almost no one is safe on The Walking Dead.