Back from the Dead/Playing With

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Playing with a Trope: Back from the Dead

Basic Trope: A character dies, but then comes back to life.

  • Straight: Bob is killed, but then he's resurrected by the Phlebotinum.
  • Exaggerated: Bob was shot, hanged, stabbed six times, gutted, decapitated, then thrown into the river to make sure he's Deader Than Dead. He comes back anyway.
  • Justified: The character in question is a Messianic Archetype or even the Big Guy Upstairs himself. Did you honestly expect him to stay dead?
  • Inverted: Everyone is a zombie. Bob gets revived, but then dies again.
  • Subverted: Everyone expects Bob to come back; nothing can kill him, right? Nope, he's really dead.
  • Double Subverted: Everyone expects Bob to come back to life, and are severely disheartened when he doesn't, only to be overjoyed when he suddenly appears alive and well in the third act.
  • Parodied: Bob has been killed and come back so many times that killing him loses all meaning. The villains don't even bother anymore.
  • Deconstructed: Bob comes back from the dead, but not in the way he was supposed to.
  • Reconstructed: Bob came back from the dead, but he has to pay some price for the resurrection in order to satisfy Balancing Death's Books.
  • Zig Zagged: Everyone expects Bob to come back, and are disheartened when he doesn't. They're overjoyed when he shows up alive and well in the third act, but he Came Back Wrong and is now being controlled by the villain. The rest of the heroes are forced to fight against him, killing him for good this time. However, killing Brainwashed Zombie-Bob causes Bob to come back to live as his normal self, restoring the status quo.
  • Averted: Bob ain't coming back.
    • Alternatively: Bob is not killed.
  • Enforced: Bob is the most popular character on the show, and killing him would defy common sense.
  • Lampshaded: "How many times do I have to kill these people?"
  • Invoked:' A character makes a Heroic Sacrifice and invokes the power of the Phlebotinum to bring him back.
  • Defied: "We'll burn his body and bury his ashes deep underground so he stays dead!"
  • Discussed: "You can't die, Bob! This is only the first act."
  • Conversed: "Do you notice how the heroes never stay dead?"
  • Exploited: A character is chosen for his likelihood to return from the dead and is killed in order to deliver a message to the afterlife and return with an answer.
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