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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|'''Bart Simpson:''' Ralph, I thought you were dead.
'''Ralph Wiggum:''' [[Hand Wave|Nope]].
|''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''}}
A major character, possibly even a popularly nasty [[Big Bad]], has been [[Killed Off for Real]], pronounced dead and buried. However, the established laws of the [[The Verse|universe]] allow for [[Functional Magic]], a [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien]], [[Applied Phlebotinum]], [[Deus Ex Machina]] or similar agency to intervene and subvert what naturally follows dying. Namely, ''staying dead''. (In some cases, an explanation [[Unexplained Recovery|isn't even bothered with]].)
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Maybe the writers were running short of new ideas and decided to [[Recycled Script|rehash some old ones]]. Maybe the actor has recently acquired some indecent photographs of the producers. [[First Law of Resurrection|Maybe the new writer was devastated his predecessor killed the character]]. Who knows? He is now Back From The Dead.
The form of afterlife can vary pretty widely. They may "simply" be resurrected or [[Reincarnation|reincarnated]] (usually as a sentient pet animal), [[Came Back Wrong|physical or mental alterations optional]]; or we may now have a ghost, or vampire... zombie, angel, godling, demon... haunted car... okay, that last one will be hard to top (except with a [[The Simpsons (animation)|Love-matic Grandpa!]]). Bringing someone back from the dead by supernatural means is generally treated as being a negative thing because of how unnatural it is.
If a character cannot come back from the dead entirely, they may show up as a [[Spirit Advisor]] or [[The Obi
In the ''[[Star Trek
This is exceedingly common in American [[Superhero]] comic books, to the point that whenever a popular character dies, it's a given that they'll be back on within no less than five years. At one time, it was said that "Nobody ever stays dead in comics, except [[Captain America (comics)|Bucky]], [[Spider-Man|Uncle Ben]], and [[Batman|Jason Todd]]." Naturally, since that phrase was coined, Bucky and Jason Todd have since been recalled to life.
See [[Death Is Cheap]] for when this becomes a regular feature of a 'verse, [[Sorting Algorithm of Deadness]] for the odds a particular death will stick, and [[Sorting Algorithm of Deadness/WMG|the accompanying betting pool]] for which modern Lazarus is due back next. See also [[Resurrective Immortality]] for where this is an everyday part of a character's life.
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The character's resurrection from the dead could result in a situation of [[Unwanted Revival]].
{{deathtrope}}
{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* [[Bite the Wax Tadpole|Allegedly]], Pepsi can [[Memetic Mutation|bring you ancestors back from the dead]]. According to a Super Bowl commercial, so can Doritos.
== [[Anime]]
* ''[[Rozen Maiden]]'' Suigintou pulls a Back from the Dead after getting killed in the last episode of Season One and several are revived in ''Traumend''. And damaged "normal" animated doll brought back by Jun (almost accidentally).
* ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'': The [[Killed Off for Real]] members of Team Suzaku are brought back as [[Spirit Advisor
* ''[[Gekiganger 3]]''
** [[The Lancer|Joe Umitsubame]] comes back from the dead, piloting the original Gekiganger 3 robot, to help the rest of the team defeat the show's [[Big Bad]]. A character watching this episode comments on the fact that people [[This Is Reality|in real life]] (like the [[Killed Off for Real]] Gai Daigouji and Tsukomo Shiratori) don't come back from the dead, another example of the show's contrast of ''Gekiganger'''s idealistic worldview and the "reality" of ''Nadesico''. Ironically, in that very same episode, the apparently-dead Admiral turned out to be [[Not Quite Dead]].
** Parodied in Nadesico's non-canonical-by-virtue-of-[[Time Paradox|ontological-paradox]] [[Recap Episode]] (the explanation appears to be found in [[Framing Device]] nowadays):
{{quote|
'''[[Killed Off for Real|Gai]]''': Relax! It's a guy thing. }}
* ''[[
** Muhammed Avdol of the third part was shot in the head by Hol Horse (giving Polnareff a lesson about not being a selfish prick, and working together), but came back in a later chapter (where it was revealed that the bullet bounced off his skull). The kicker here is that he's killed off only a few chapters later by Dio's Dragon, Vanilla Ice.
** Before him, in the second part, Stroheim blows himself up with a grenade in an attempt to kill Santana, who is crawling into his wounded leg. Some twenty chapters later, he returns as a cyborg.
* Everyone in ''[[
** In the anime version ''[[
* ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]'' takes a page from ''Sailor Moon'' and kills off the whole cast in the [[Grand Finale]], only to bring them back with a single Mew Aqua and [[True
* The Bronze Saints in ''[[Saint Seiya]]'' seem to suffer from this, considering they "die" (or at least, they're dealt fatal blows) by the end of each saga. The series [[Hand Wave
** There's also Ikki, Saint of PHOENIX. As his name implies, he keeps coming back all the time...only stronger.
* The Book of Darkness, the Wolkenritter, and the [[Enemy Without|corrupted self-defense program]] from ''[[Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha]]'' are able to perform this repeatedly thanks to the Book's Rejuvenation Program. You can rip off their very life force and obliterate them without a trace using a weapon that distorts the fabric of time and space, but as long as the Rejuvenation Program is active, they will eventually be revived. The only known method to actually stop the Book of Darkness for good is to ''freeze'' it. No direct destruction will ever keep it from reappearing.
* Ayanami Rei of ''[[
* ''[[Inuyasha]]''
** Kikyou was brought back from the dead early on, while still staying dead. She just had her soul transferred into a clay doll body instead.
** [[Death Is Cheap|Rin, Jaken, Kohaku and the Band of Seven]]. Only Rin and Jaken (and later Kohaku after his shard is removed) are really alive though, the rest are just kept "alive" by [[Applied Phlebotinum|Shikon Jewel shards]] that if removed will make them die again instantly.
* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'', Yami Bakura does this twice:
** In the Duelist Kingdom arc, he is defeated and sent to some sort of "Card Graveyard" dimension, seemingly at the mercy of the Reaper of the Cards. Somehow, he escapes and menaces the heroes again in the last episodes of the arc.
** In the Battle City arc, he is defeated by Yami Marik and swallowed into darkness (taking regular Bakura with him, unfortunately); at the end of the arc, Ryu manages to return with no immediate sign of his dark side, but the Spirit reappears later as the final (sort of) antagonist of the series.
* In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX]]'', practically the entire cast dies in Season Three, only to be randomly resurrected at the end of the arc, because [[Death Is Cheap|they were just trapped in another dimension]]. Then there's Kaiser Ryo, who ''dies of heart failure'' but comes back later anyway under [[Fridge Logic|unexplained]] [[Unexplained Recovery|circumstances]]..
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! 5D's]]''
{{quote|'''Rex Godwin''': Dark Signers are the souls of the dead who have awakened to their abilities. In other words, they are no longer of this world.}}
* Happens in the ''[[Pokémon (film)|Pokémon]]'' anime movie, ''[[Pokémon: The First Movie|Pokémon the First Movie]]''. Mewtwo and Mew are duking it out and prepare to use their ultimate attacks when Ash steps in between them to stop the fight, only be hit by the attacks at the same time. He collapses and his body turns colorless. Pikachu tries to revive Ash with his electricity several times, but then realizes that Ash is dead. Pikachu begins to cry and then all the Pokemon and the clones begin to cry as well. [[Swiss Army Tears|The power of the Pokemon tears]] is what brings Ash back to life.
* Much of the cast of ''[[Gantz]]'' usually die before their involvement in the story. If they die during a hunt, then someone could spend 100 points to bring them back.
* In ''07Ghost'' the main character's [[Heterosexual Life Partners|Heterosexual Life Partner]] Mikage is killed by the [[Big Bad]] to prove a point and is reincarnated as a baby dragon, apparently solely to alleviate the pain of his death. He has done nothing in the plot so far but sit on Teito's shoulder and look cute. And bite a couple of people.
* [[Church Militant|Rosette]] [[Action Girl|Christopher]] from ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', using ''[[Determinator|sheer willpower]]'' and a little help from Maria Magadalena, and probably guided by the Apostles to return to her body, just in time to give [[Big Bad|Aion]] a powerful shot that shatters his prized sword.
** Mary herself counts, considering Aion killed her but she's later revealed to have been a ghost and watching over Chrono and Rosette the entire time.
* ''[[
* The aptly named Lifebringer in ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''. The exact mechanics are unknown as of yet, but its heavily implied that he's come back somehow.
* ''[[
* In the ''[[
* In the anime [[Daisuke Bu Bu Cha Cha]], a toddler's pet dog comes back from the dead in the form of a toy car.
* Gaara, Kakashi, Shizune, and many others in ''[[
** The crowning achievement award for this trope should go to the ''Naruto'' series, due to Kabuto's bringing back from the dead any Shinobi whose remains he could get his hands on, including such favorites as Haku and Zabuza. Those who wanted to see Jiraiya back to hope for a Jiraiya-Naruto bout have had their hopes crushed however...
** A bit of explanation is needed here. For Gaara, someone with a special technique that was developed to bring life to a puppet as a black ops project. They found out that it cost the user his/her life, and the project was abandoned. Chiyo still knew the technique, and in the end she sacrificed her life to bring Gaara back. It was hinted at well ahead of time, avoiding an [[Ass Pull]]. As for Kakashi and that bunch, it was
* '''[[
* In the ''[[Magic Knight Rayearth]]'' anime, Presea dies early in Season 1, but is revived by the beginning of Season 2, apparently by Princess Emeraude's final prayer. Subverted in that it is revealed that Presea was [[Dead All Along|never revived]], and the person posing as her is actually her twin sister. (In the manga, Presea never died, thus Presea was herself the whole time.) This was an [[Author's Saving Throw]] on the part of the production team, who thought they could safely kill off Presea, but were wrong.
* ''[[
* Marco Owen in ''[[
* ''[[Angel Beats
** This is both played straight and averted because everyone's dead at the start of the series and end of episode returns don't count toward the trope. It's played straight at the end however when Otonashi and Tenshi are seen back to life for real. [[What Happened to
* In ''[[Fairy Tail]]'' the beloved little sister Lisana died two years before the story began. They ''found'' her body. They even ''buried it''. [[Death
* Yakushiji Tenzen from ''[[Basilisk]]''. He shares his body with his twin brother, who comes forth only when Tenzen is wounded to heal his injuries. Tenzen survives death a total of four times, before Oboro cancels his resurrection technique with her [[Anti
* [[Roseanne (2018 series)|The 2018 revival of ''Roseanne'']] does this for Dan, who allegedly had died during the "real" final season of the original run, after they revealed that the final season everyone saw was [[All Just a Dream]]... [[Or Was It a Dream?]] (Ironically, Roseanne herself was [[Killed Off for Real]] after [[Roseanne Barr]] was fired over a racist comment she posted on [[Twitter]].)
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in ''[[X-Factor (comics)|X-Factor]]'', where Siryn gets the news that her father, Banshee, one of the X-Men, is dead. She simply doesn't believe it; the X-Men come Back from the Dead more than anyone else in the [[Marvel Universe]] (once the entire current team sacrificed themselves only to be resurrected at the end of the issue), so she's sure he's just [[He's Just Hiding|pretending to be dead]] as part of some plan.
* Lampshaded in ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|Astonishing X-Men]]''. After Kitty finds out that Colossus isn't really dead, she warns him that if he's a clone, robot, ghost, or from an alternate universe, she's okay with that, but if he's a shapeshifter or an illusionist, she'll kill him. Obviously, this happens a lot.
* In ''The All-New Atom'', when Jason Todd, Donna Troy and Ryan Choi go to a (most likely fake) Heaven, they meet [[Blue Beetle|Ted Kord]], who comments, "The recidivism here is shocking. Sometimes I think me and [[Batman
* A story arc of ''[[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Fantastic Four]]'' doesn't even bother with the [[Killed Off for Real|pretense]]. A few pages before the end of an issue, the Thing is killed; the cliffhanger of the issue is Sue receiving a call from Reed about how he intends to bring him back to life. Naturally, a few issues later, the Thing is back as usual.
* Mr. Immortal's power is a parody of this; his only major power is that he will always come back to life a few seconds after dying.
* And who can forget the classic storyline and graphic novel ''The Death of [[
** Is it the mysterious black-and-blue colored Superman with the thick shades? Nope! He's a hyper-advanced clone/golem made from marble, controlled by the Eradicator, and powered by Superman's "corpse".
** Is the half-''Terminator'' Cyborg Superman the real deal? Nope! He's Hank Henshaw, the DCU equivalent of [[Fantastic Four (Comic Book)|Reed Richards]], using stolen genetic material and Kryptonian alloy stolen from Superman's birthing matrix. [[Retcon|I mean rocket ship]]. Also, he's the only one who's actually evil.
** Is the Metropolis Marvel Superboy who claims to be a clone the real deal? Nope! He's a... well, [[Exactly What It Says
** Is the mysterious armored Steel the new Superman? Nope! He's John Henry Irons, the DCU equivalent of [[Iron Man]], and never really claims to be the new Superman, though some reporters think he's the only one deserving of it.
** So, in the end, Superman was actually resuscitated soon after his "death", spent some time in a coma, and eventually was woken up by androids. So nobody was Superman, Back From The Dead! Don't you love happy endings?
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* In ''Journey Into Mystery'' (''Thor'' after Thor had died at Onslaught's hands), the Norse gods discover they are targeted by Set, the Egyptian God of the Dead. They travel to his country and are attacked by two people Set's mooks had killed. They bring one, Red Norvell, back to the land of the living by the expedient of grabbing him and dragging him back with them.
* Parodied in [[Peter David]]'s ''[[Incredible Hulk]]''. Rick Jones' fiancee Marlo is dead. He goes to [[Doctor Strange]] and points out that everyone in the room has returned from the dead.
{{quote|
'''Wong''': Well, yes.
'''Rick''': And Doc, have you come back from the dead?
'''Doctor Strange''': Yes, but I AM a professional. }}
::Eventually he [[Deal
* In Incredible Hulk #434, following the death of Nick Fury at the Punisher's hands, several of Fury's old "Howling Commandos" buddies laugh, drink, and jokingly float numerous theories involving android duplicates, alien intervention, and the like until they reach the casket at the graveside. They're still sitting there speechless and shocked even after the rest of the attendees have left.
* [[Depending
* Half the cast of ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' were supposedly killed in the original novels.
* In ''[[Preacher]]'', Jesse's girlfriend, Tulip, is brutally murdered in front of him. [[God]] brings her back to life as a sort of a bribe, because He's scared of Genesis, which has taken up residence inside Jesse. [[God]] figures if He gives Jesse back his girlfriend, maybe he'll leave Him alone.
* The comic ''[[
* Parodied in ''[[
* In ''[[The Warlord]]'' the villain Deimos kept coming back, but each time worse than before: first time he had the sword scar across his face; second time, his body was fused with the dog that killed him; third time he was a head on a hand; final time he was a skull in a magical golem body.
* This is usually subverted in any ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' stories where previously killed characters return in later stories. In other words, they tend to be anything from a parallel dimension, an imperfect clone, a family descendant of the deceased character who is doing exactly what his/her parent used to do, a robotic replicant, etc. ... but NEVER actually turn out to be the original character back from the dead. Characters who have indeed returned from the dead in coordinance with this trope, however, include the Dark Judges (though, technically, they're already dead to begin with), the Angel Gang (except for Link Angel), and PJ Maybe.
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* [[BPRD]] agent Ben Daimio is introduced desperately cutting his way out of a body bag. We later find out that he and his entire platoon were killed by a jaguar demon in South America. Daimio was the only one who came back, due to the demon possessing part of his soul.
* Actually a multiple media example, but [[Ensemble Darkhorse|Boba Fett]] first reappeared after [[Return of the Jedi|being eaten by the Sarlaac]] in [[Dark Empire|Dark Empire II]] and went on to appear in many, many, ''many'' stories after that.
* Marvel badguy Mysterio has the misfortune of being resurrected by the power of poor editing. Learning he's dieing from side effects of his gadgets, he torments [[Daredevil]] before killing himself to deny Murdock closure. Unfortunately a comic released latter ''that same month'' featured him as a random [[Jobber]]. Rather than just say this comic took place before he killed himself, Marvel came up with increasingly convoluted reasons to explain it, forcing them to undo the death.
* Thomas "Toro" Raymond, the sidekick of the original robot Human Torch, was killed in 1969 in ''Prince Namor the Sub-Mariner 14''. A "Mr. Raymond" with flame powers appears in the final issues of ''[[Power Pack]]'' in 1991 with his last appearance telling us we haven't seen the last of him... before he's never seen or referenced again. In ''Avengers / Invaders 12'' Bucky wishes him back to life from the 1969 death. The implication is that over 20 years Marvel simply forgot Raymond was dead (understandable in the pre-internet days, as the character was widely used in works set in the 1940s during those 20 years) then another 20 years latter forgot about this appearance (less understandable with the internet existing) and resurrected him with no mention of "Mr. Raymond".
== [[Fairy Tales]] ==
* In "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/117.htm The Death of Koshchei the Deathless]", after Koshchei chops the hero into little pieces, throws them into a barrel, and throws the barrel into the sea, his brothers-in-law retrieve the barrel, use the Water of Death to put him back to together, and the Water of life to bring him back to life.
* In [[The Brothers Grimm (
* In [[The Brothers Grimm (
* In [[The Brothers Grimm (
* In [[The Brothers Grimm (
* In "[
* In "[http://www.mythfolklore.net/andrewlang/392.htm The Golden Mermaid]", after the [[Green
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In ''[http://fav.me/d4a27sp Super Milestone Wars]'', Princess Euphelia and Emperor Charles from ''[[Code Geass]]'', Kamina & Nia from [[Tengen Toppa Gurren Lagann]] and a whole bunch of deceased villains from different parts of fiction.
* In ''[[The Man With No Name (fanfic)|The Man With No Name]]'', Mal ends up being killed by the [[Big Bad]]. He's revived by the very same [[Big Bad]] [[My God, What Have I Done?|after a breakdown]], oddly enough.
* Happens no less than ''three times'' to the main character of ''[[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]]'', once to Sakura and once to Atni. Other deaths are explained away as not actually having happened.
* This is the ''entire freakin' point'' of ''[[Rise of the Galeforces]]''. [[All There in the Manual|To make a long story short,]] a '''LOT''' of the late Supers from the Golden Era are [[Our Clones Are Identical|cloned]] by [[Portal (series)|Aperture Science and Technology]] in [[People Jars]], but a good number of them are broken out by the Parr family so they can start a new life in the current timeframe of the story.
* In the ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'' ''[[1983 Doomsday Stories]]'' AU, it turns out that {{spoiler|Hungary}} came back for both Austria and {{spoiler|their}} daughter despite having died [[After the End|from the chaos of Doomsday]]. While there's also a nod to the Roman Empire's after-death appearances in canon, it's lampshaded by Austria himself that it's ''not at all'' normal or logical.
* ''[[The Darker Knight]]'' has this happen to damn near every character....except [[Miley Cyrus|Hannah Montana]].
* ''[[My Immortal]]'' -- of course. This happens several times in the infamous fanfiction, once memorably when Draco commits suicide by slitting his wrists and then miraculously comes back with no explanation whatsoever. Again when the author became angry with her real-life friend Raven and killed off her avatar character, Willow. [[Bread, Eggs, Milk, Squick|(And had Professor Lumpkin rape her dead body...)]] Willow reappeared and seemed to slip back into Goffik Hogwarts life normally.
* In the [[In-Universe]] book ''[http://www.accessdenied-rms.net/forums/attachment.php?aid=425 So You Just Arrived from a Parallel Universe]'' from ''[[My Apartment Manager is not an Isekai Character]]'', co-author [[Azumanga Daioh|Koyomi Mizuhara]] blandly notes that the process which deposits interuniversal refugees in the timeline called Refuge "has also had some weird effects, like the dead coming back to life." Those displacees who have found themselves [[Spared by the Adaptation]] have no reason to complain.
==
* [[The Spock|Spock]] was [[Killed Off for Real]] in ''[[Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan]]'', but came Back from the Dead two years later in ''[[Star Trek III: The Search For Spock]]''. Lampshaded by Spock himself in ''[[Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country]]'':
{{quote|'''Spock:''' She doesn't know... ''(after mind-melding with Lt. Valeris)''
'''Scotty:''' Then we're dead.
'''Spock:''' I've been dead before. }}
* Parodied in ''[[
* ''[[The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen (film)|The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen]]'' offers a double whammy of this, although one is only suggested, presumably as a setup for a sequel that never got made. First, the villain of the movie turns out to be Professor Moriarty, nemesis of [[Sherlock Holmes]], who everybody thought got killed at Reichenbach Falls a few years before the time of the film. Then, at the absolute end of the movie, a witch doctor is performing a ritual at the grave of Allan Quatermain, the League's leader, and the skies darken and the ground trembles. This was the supposed sequel set-up.
* [[Hammer Horror|Dracula Has Risen from the Grave]] (Again!)
* In addition to the title undead, ''[[The Mummy Trilogy]]'' gives us an instance of a character, Evie, being brought Back from the Dead thanks to her [[Chekhov's Skill|son's ability to read ancient Egyptian]].
* Played hilariously straight (though unintentionally) by ''[[Space Mutiny]]''. A woman is dragged to the [[Big Bad]] by [[Random Mooks]] and shot dead. The next scene shows our heroes discovering the body and tailing the bad guys in...um...a golf-kart. The next scene shows the same woman typing in the background as an extra.
** That's not "back from the dead", that's "worst continuity ever"
* The film ''[[Godzilla
*'' [[Transformers Film Series|Transformers: Revenge of The Fallen]]'' has it happen thrice in the same movie. First with Megatron, who died at the end of the first movie. Then with Optimus Prime, who is killed [[Crowning Moment of Awesome|after fighting Megatron, Starscream and Grindor]] and Megatron stabs (and blasts) him from behind. He is resurrected later so he can go kick [[Big Bad|The Fallen]]'s ass. Then Sam, who temporarily goes to [[Fan Nickname|robot heaven]], so he can save Optimus.
* Lampshaded in ''[[Soap Dish]]'', in which the assistant producer wants to irritate the main star so badly that she'll quit (so the second banana "actress" will sleep with him), so he decides to bring back an actor the main star didn't like who was [[Killed Off for Real]]
* From ''[[Sherlock Holmes (
* ''[[
* In the ending of the J-Horror film ''[[Tomie Vs Tomie]]
* ''[[Halloween (
** Admittedly, this was intentional on the makers' behalf. Not counting the first film, they always made sure to "kill off" Michael just in case one of the movies bombed and didn't warrant a sequel. They didn't count on the franchise's popularity, which ended up spawning eight movies and two remakes.
* Ripley in ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien Resurrection]]'' (it's in the title, even), through the miracle of cloning.
{{quote|
'''Ripley:''' Yeah, I get that a lot. }}
* [[Rebel Leader]] Karakol in ''City of Craftspeople''. And he even isn't a hunchback anymore...
* Flynn Rider/Eugene Fitzherbert from ''[[Tangled (2010 film)|Tangled]]
]]''. From the time that he says in the [[Spoiler Opening|opening]], "[[Oh, and X Dies|This is the story of how I died]]," it only leaves the viewer guessing until the climatic part, when he is fatally stabbed [[In the Back]] by Mother Gothel's [[Knife Nut|dagger]] and, rather than let Rapunzel risk her freedom for his life, cuts off her hair with a broken mirror shard in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] before [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|breathing his last in her arms]]. Thankfully, Rapunzel's [[Swiss Army Tears|magic tear]] brings him back to life. This is justified, since in the original tale, Rapunzel healed her beloved prince's eyesight with her tear.
* Io in the ''[[Clash of the Titans]]'' remake. Because Zeus said so.
== [[Literature]] ==
* [[Neil Gaiman]] examples:
** ''[[
** ''[[Neverwhere]]'': The Marquis de Carabas was [[Killed Off for Real]] but had the foresight to arrange his resurrection in advance, letting him come back with useful information because people talk in front of the dead.
* In Kay Hooper's ''Hiding in the Shadows'', [[Dude, She's Like, in
* [[Robert Jordan]]'s ''[[The Wheel of Time]]'', because it deals with a [[Reincarnation]] mythos, has an interesting variation on this trope: people who die don't stay dead (if they serve [[Big Bad|the Dark One]]), but return to life in entirely new bodies. So not only does the reader get to engage in the guessing game of "who did this new character used to be", and in at least one case a fun [[Gender Bender]] takes place, this also means that none of the other characters will recognize the resurrected Forsaken. A side example is the case of [[Temporal Paradox|balefire]], which instead of resurrecting a dead character, changes the timeline so that [[Reset Button|they never died in the first place]]. This becomes an important plot point later.
* In Julie Kenner's ''Kate Connor, Demon Hunter'' books, Kate's first husband Eric (another [[Demon Slaying|demon hunter]]) has died before the start of the series... but he manages to bring himself back in another guy's body. This is awkward for Kate because she adores/adored Eric, but has remarried and had another kid in the time it took him to come back.
* In William King's [[Warhammer
* George R.R. Martin's ''[[A Song of Ice and Fire]]'' has had a few characters engaging in post-demise activity. Interestingly, the ones whose resurrection is most straightforward return in whatever state they were in when they died, to the point that one resurrected character, {{spoiler|Catelyn Stark}}, is referred to by fans as {{spoiler|unCat}} since her resurrection.
* [[Our Vampires Are Different|Vampires]] on [[
* ''[[
** It's implied that Gandalf really was dead (as in "pass out of Eä the same way as Men" dead) and that it took the [[Divine Intervention|intervention]] of [[God|Eru]] to send him back.
** In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', Beren is killed by a werewolf, and Luthien [[Death
* While [[Dungeons
* At the end of the most recent book in ''[[The Pendragon Adventure]]'' series, this happens to every single traveler that has died over the course of the series, including a few that had died just a few chapters before.
* Both Tasslehoff Burrfoot and Raistlin Majere in Dragonlance. being literally crushed under the heel of a [[Cosmic Horror]] isn't enough to put the kender down for good, and as for Raistlin, being killed by the goddess Takhisis and eternally tormented, only to first come back temporarily to chat to his nephew, to, after returning to that afterlife, coming back again sans magic to save the world and then to die again, this time promising that he will move on to the afterlife and [[Killed Off for Real|never come back]], and then to come back a third time to lead the gods back to Krynn, and promise, once more, that ''this time'' he's not coming back. We can only hope.
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* David Zindell's ''Silver Sword''. Alphanderry comes back as an amorphous energy being after his [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and gradually returns to just like he used to be. On the other hand, Valashu dies and is brought back on the next page good as ever.
* In [[Atlanta Nights]], one character dies midway through the story only to show up in one of the last chapters. Given the amount of [[Anachronic Order]] going on it's not that jarring, but then it becomes obvious that this chapter has to take place after the one where he died. And then he dies ''again''.
* [[Robert E. Howard]]'s [[Conan the Barbarian]] story ''The Hour of the Dragon'' opens with a reviving of Xaltotun.
{{quote|
* In ''[[
* At the end of the ''[[The Dresden Files|Dresden Files]]'' novel ''Ghost Story'', Dresden is brought back to life by Queen Mab and Demonreach. (Exactly ''how'' dead he was is open to debate, as it turns out that Mab and Demonreach had been keeping his body on magical life support while his soul was running around separate from it, but it's close enough for the trope regardless.) A large portion of the story prior to that also revolves around him trying to stop a villain he killed in a previous book from finding a way back to the world of the living.
* Happens again and again and again to Duncan Idaho in Frank Herbert's [[Dune]] sextet. The first time, it's the original body revivified and with its memories (eventually) returned by a healthy dose of Phlebotinum. Most if not all of the subsequent Idahos are clones grown from a cell line. The last thing the remember when their memories are restored to them is the death of the original, from whose body the cell line was taken. Depending on who does the memory restoration, how, and what happens afterwards, their personality development ranges from degeneration into psychosis and treason (most of them die attempting to assassinate their near-immortal and almost invulnerable boss) to (in one case and arguably two) something integrated and more or less healthy.
* ''[[Sherlock Holmes]]'', by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, presumably died in "The Adventure of the Final Problem" (1891) and reappeared in "The Adventure of the Empty House"—as "the Great Hiatus" (1894).
* The [[Tortall Universe]] has Alanna having killed Duke Rodger right after she was made a knight but Alanna's arrogant brother Thom, in an effort to prove to the haughty Lady Delia of Eldorne that he is the strongest and most powerful sorcerer in the realm, has raised Lord Roger from the dead.
* ''[[Harry Potter and
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[
* In [[Devon Monk]]'s ''[[Age of Steam
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
* ''[[The Tonight Show]]'': During the Johnny Carson era, a Carson Players skit humorously played up the concept in a spoof of the era's E.F. Hutton & Co. commercials. (The commercials for the stock brokerage firm usually had two people having a conversation and one of them would remark that their broker was E.F. Hutton; that caused everyone around them to stop all conversation to listen to him. Following would be the firm's tag line: "When E.F. Hutton talks, people listen."). The skit had two people gathering at a funeral visitation when the conversation turned to finances. Once the young man said "E.F. Hutton," all conversation stopped and began to listen ... even the corpse (Carson), who sat up in his casket(!) to hear what the professional had to say.
** That could have been Tommy Newsome instead. He once played a dead guy in a coffin for one of the Tea Time Movie skits.
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** In the episode where Apophis dies the first time, the Stargate team turn his dead body over to his enemy Sokar in order to keep Sokar from attacking Stargate Command. Just as they do so, one character notes that Sokar can resurrect Apophis an unlimited number of times so that he can keep torturing and killing him. In all likelihood, Apophis died dozens of times off-screen.
** In ''[[Stargate SG-1|SG-1]]'', Lieutenant Kowalski is killed in the second episode. Whenever an [[Alternate Universe]] is visited, we are treated to a counterpart of his, who proceeds to die again (except for one time).
** In ''SG-1'', Daniel Jackson has come Back from the Dead (twice through [[Ascend to
{{quote|
*** Though the one time he was given a funeral he actually [[Not Quite Dead|wasn't]] really [[Never Found the Body|dead]], it was the first season and they hadn't caught on yet.
** Jackson even manages to turn it into a sort of [[Badass Boast]]. Someone asks if he'll ever stop fighting, and he responds, "Not till I'm dead." Then after a beat, adds, "Sometimes not even then."
* ''[[My Mother the Car]]'', in which the main character's mother is reincarnated as an old car.
* Averted three times, with three of the principal characters, in ''[[American Gothic]]'': in the very first episode, Merlyn Temple is murdered by Sheriff Lucas
* John Sheridan from ''[[Babylon 5]]''. (Complete with the [[Monty Python and
* [[Buffy the Vampire Slayer
* Villains of ''[[
**
{{quote|
'''D'Argo''': Perhaps we should just take your head off. Worked for Durka. }}
* ''[[Prison Break]]'', Sarah is decapitated in the second ("SONA") season, then magically is alive in the fourth season. This was because Sarah Wayne Callies, the actress, quit the show before the second season, then two years later changed her mind.
* The all-time king of Back from the Dead is Murdoc, ''[[MacGyver]]''{{'}}s [[Arch Nemesis]], who died at the end of (almost) every episode in which he appeared, usually by falling off a cliff and exploding while shouting an enraged "MacGyver!"
* In ''[[Star Trek
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''
** John Winchester (played by Jeffrey Dean Morgan) pulls this off by dying in the season 2 opener "In My Time of Dying", and then charging out of the gates of hell in the season finale.
** This happens a lot in the show. Mary Winchester makes an appearance in "Home" and "What is and What Should Never Be." Jess also comes back for the latter episode. To be fair, this is a show about the ''supernatural''.
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** And as of 5x18, [[Long Lost Sibling|Adam]] is now included in this group, meaning that even ''illegitimate'' Winchesters somehow manage to pull this off.
** As of Season 6, their grandfather Samuel Campbell pulls off the same trick. Guess even Mary's side of the family has the immortal males gene.
* Frequently done on [[Soap Opera
* The main character of ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' has this power. He can touch someone and bring them back the dead for one
* In series 8 of Red Dwarf the dead crew members are rebuilt by nanobots
* In The Brittas Empire Gordan Brittas is crushed by a falling water tank and goes to heavan but is returned to life on Earth because St Peter considers him to annoying to stay in heaven but not bad enough to go to hell
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* Jordan Collier ([[What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic|like those initials?]]) from ''[[The 4400]]''.
* Bobby in [[Dallas]]. Resolved by making an entire season turn out to be [[All Just a Dream|a dream]] How original.
* In ''[[Due South]]'', Benton Fraser's dead father, Bob Fraser, proved so popular that he returned to the show as a spirit guide to his
* And then, there's [[The Bionic Woman|Jamie Sommers]]. In her debut episode in ''[[The Six Million Dollar Man]]'', she suffers a cerebral clot during her debut mission, goes berserk, and dies at the end of the episode. [[Popularity Power]], however, made ABC to do some [[Executive Meddling]] to retcon this death so that the characters in the show would work on a way to repair the clot while Jamie is kept in suspended animation. She, however, suffered [[Laser
* ''[[Star Trek
{{quote|
* ''[[Witchblade (TV series)|Witchblade]]'' the television show had one of these per season: Danny in season one and Kenneth Irons in season two. In both cases the character was clearly dead, but stuck around all season in a less concrete capacity.
* Done to death (no pun intended) in the 5th season of ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]''. First, Iolaus was dead, then he was a ghost in a cave in Ireland, then an avatar for Dahak the Evil God, then a "Guardian of the Light", then a jester from an alternative universe until he became a merman then alive for real.
* An episode of ''[[
* In the ''[[Tales
* In the original pilot episode of [[ER]], Julianna Margulies' character Carol Hathaway overdoses on pills and alcohol. Although she's technically still alive at the end of the episode, the other characters dialogue indicate that her chances of survival are slim. This was the original plan, but the actress proved popular with test audiences, who were also intrigued at the hints of a relationship with Doug Ross. Therefore, in the second non-pilot episode, she is back and recovering from her "suicide attempt."
* [[The X-Files]] loves this trope; only very few characters actually stay dead.
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** An alternate universe Doggett died in order to restore the original universe Doggett and Reyes to life (who had had her throat cut)
** Walter Skinner died in Vietnam when his unit was ambushed. He later woke up in a hospital having witnessed his body on the ground as well as his friends.
* ''[[
** The team leader Jack Harkness is killed on a regular basis and often proclaimed dead-at-the-scene [[Immortality|but fortunately for him it never sticks]].
** Owen Harper is killed halfway through series two and is resurrected using the Risen Mitten. Unfortunately he comes back as an unbreathing, unconsuming, un-you-know-what-ing effective ''zombie''. He is not pleased. He also temporarily plays portal for the Grim Reaper to invade the Earth and start hunting down the people of Cardiff. Also Owen will spend the rest of the series as [[Blessed
** At the conclusion of ''[[Torchwood
* Several times in ''[[Star Trek:
** In "Return To Tomorrow", Spock is killed ''twice'' (once in spirit, once in body) to ensure the eradication of a malevolent alien that has possessed him, and then returned to life by [[Sufficiently Advanced Aliens]] of the same species.
** The Changeling kills Scotty, and then 'repairs the unit' after Kirk expresses his displeasure.
** What Are Little Girls Made Of gives us Doctor Roger Korby, a scientist that used [[Alien Tech]] to make an android clone of himself as he was dying. The episode ending is ambiguous on this point, as android!Korby commits suicide when he realizes he is no longer human, and Kirk says later that Roger Korby had already died before they arrived.
** In By Any Other Name, the aliens can turn people into lifeless cubes of gray chalk, which can be
* ''[[Power Rangers Lost Galaxy]]'': Kendrix Morgan (the season's first Pink Ranger), who had left the show via [[Dying Moment of Awesome]] when her actress [[Real Life Writes the Plot|had to leave to undergo leukemia treatments]], is brought back to life at the end when returning the Quasar Sabers to the stone restores the people of Mirinoi. This was done to acknowledge the success of the treatments.
* Gamel and Mezool were the first of the Greeed in ''[[Kamen Rider OOO]]'' to be killed. However, Uva, outnumbered and outgunned against Kazari, farms a massive amount of Cell Medals and retrieves several of their Core Medals in order to bring them back to life. Comically, Gamel doesn't really seem to notice he died and came back to life, [[Crowning Moment of Funny|being too focused on finding candy]].
* Becoming an Orphnoch is usually what this trope entails in ''[[Kamen Rider Faiz]]''. When someone dies, there is a very slim chance that the person will be revived as an Orphnoch.
* ''[[Doctor Who]]'' has made a career on this, exclusive of The Doctor himself, who, conveniently enough, [[The Nth Doctor|has his own trope]].
** Outside of mere regeneration, there have been numerous times where [[The Master (trope)|The Master]] has seemingly been [[Killed Off for Real]] and come back for more. At least twice (Anthony Ainley's Master and John Simm's Master) the body has been assumed to have been burned to ashes, and yet there that particular incarnation was again for more mischief.
** Peri was stated to have been killed by [[Brian Blessed|King Yrcanos]] during the ''Trial of a Time Lord'' arc. Later in the same arc, it's stated that she survived and married Yrcanos.
** [[Steven Moffat]] pulled a coup by essentially having the entire known universe come back from not only exploded, but erased from all history. This included Rory, who was killed in a previous episode, erased from history and replaced with an Auton clone, then brought back as a human properly in a rebooted universe.
* In ''[[Father Ted]]'', Father Jack 'died', and left a substantial estate to Fathers Ted and Dougal. Either out of respect, or tradition, or as a condition of the will, they spent the night in the crypt with Father Jack's body. In the middle of the night, Father Jack comes back to life. It was later determined that Father Jack appeared to die because he had drunk too much Toilet Duck.
* Happens multiple times to Kim on ''[[Eureka]]''. First she comes back from the dead, only for Carter to realize that Henry had time travelled to save her from dying the first place. Second, she comes back from the dead only to be sentient AI that had adopted her form.
* ''[[
== [[Music]] ==
* [[Blaze Ya Dead Homie]], according to his lyrics, is a reincarnated [[Gangsta Rap|gangsta rapper]] from the 1980s, which is why much of his music sounds like late-1980s gangsta rap.
* [[Insane Clown Posse]] refers to this a number of times, including the song "12" and a brief reference in "Piggie Pie" ("Axe in hand / I rose from the dead")
* The entire premise of the Schoolyard Heroes song "Cat Killer"
{{quote|
''I think I know how this ends
''I saw this in a movie once
''While hanging with sofa friends
''A pet dies and comes back to life
''He gets gross as he kills everything in sight
* In ''[[Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny (
== [[Oral Tradition]], [[Folklore]], Myths and Legends ==
* [[
** Jesus, the one that everyone knows even if they're only [[The Theme Park Version|Theme Park Scholars]].
** Lazarus, resurrected by Jesus.
** According to the Book of Revelations, this will happen with everyone after [[The End of the World
** The prophet Elijah performed one and Elisha did two, one posthumously.
** In Ezekiel 37:1-3, Ezekiel is shown a vision of an ''entire army'' brought back to life with just their scattered bones for a starting point.
* Dionysus (known to the Romans as Bacchus) from [[Classical Mythology]] pulls this one off as a baby in the Cretan version of the myth (which has Dionysus as the son of Zeus and Persephone, not Semele). Hera in a subversion of [[Infant Immortality]] sends the Titans to kill Dionysus as a baby, which they do, eating all but his heart. Zeus plants the heart in Semele's womb, where it grows back into the infant Zeus.
* In [[Norse Mythology]], Balder and his blind brother
* In ''[[Classical Mythology]]'', before Sisyphus 'died', he told his wife not to do any burial rites. Then, when in the Underworld, he appealed to the queen of the underworld, Persephone, and asked if he could go back up to earth to haunt his wife for not giving him the proper rites. She agreed and he came back from the dead.
* The god Osiris in [[Egyptian Mythology]]. He was killed and dismembered by [[Chaotic Neutral|Seth]] and the parts of his corpse were scattered all over the world. Then Osiris's wife Isis gathered the parts of her husband and resurrected him.
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* [[The Undertaker]] has been killed and brought back to life lord know how many times in all the years he's been around.
== [[Radio]] ==
* Just as [[Douglas Adams]] made the ultimate [[Kill'Em All]] in ''Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy'', a radio play pulled a very big Back from the Dead: the series' multiverse.
== [[Tabletop Games]] ==
* As in many Tabletop Games trends, ''[[Dungeons
* In ''[[
** Also in the [[
** A substantial portion of World of Darkness characters ''are'' undead, so...
** And then we have one of [[Church Militant|Malleus Maleficarum]]'s Benediction from [[Hunter: The Vigil]]. Boon of Lazarus allows you to raise someone from the dead. Unlike the Promethean example above, they are restored to fully human status. Unlike the Geist example above, no one will die to balance Death's books. In a setting where most deaths are supposedly final, this is the only '''true''' resurrection power. That said, dying is a traumatic experience regardless, and the resurrectee would gain a derangement as a result.
* This is generally how Abyssals get [[
* ''[[Magic:
== [[Theatre]] ==
* A fallen knight returning to life is a common feature of [[Mummers]] plays, usually with the aid of a miraculous cure-all.
* ''[[
== [[Video Games]] ==
* From ''[[Marathon
** The other Marathon AI, Leela, as well as the Pfhor and S'pht races come back from the dead in the games' epilogues.
* The epitome of Back From The Dead would be [[Dracula]], who has been killed continuously in movies, novels, and shows. In the ''[[Castlevania]]'' video games, Dracula has been resurrected over 20 times!
* Speaking of vampires, the Count of Groundsoaking Blood in ''[[
* Bowser, while he rarely truly 'dies' in a game, played this trope straight in ''[[New Super Mario Bros
* In the ''[[Quest for Glory]]'' series, the final confrontation with Ad Avis in the second game has him plummeting off the railing. Good news is that the fall kills him. Bad news is that he rises from the grave a vampire Hellbent on revenge. And in the final chapter of the series, the hero can ressurect one out of two people from Hades.
* The Lucasarts [[Adventure Game]] ''[[The Dig]]'' features a ruined alien civilization so advanced that they could even bring the dead back to life using 'life crystals', which becomes a central point of the story, as it turns out there's more to the crystals than just resurrection...
* When sentient beings die in ''[[
* The protagonist of ''[[Gungrave]]'' was murdered by his best friend thirteen years prior to the beginning of the game. He was revived as a product of [[Playing
* ''[[
* Happens with Liane in ''[[Jeanne D
* ''[[Final Fantasy Tactics]]
** [[Jerkass]] [[The Scrappy|Scrappy]] Algus/Argath came Back from the Dead in the PSP remake but he did not change his personality, and thus only came back so Ramza can kick his ass again, now straight to hell. Considering how much hated Algus is, him coming Back from the Dead to get his ass kicked again can be considered a non-sexual [[Fan Service]]
** At the end of Chapter 3, [[The Scrappy|Marach]] takes a bullet for his sister [[The Scrappy|Rapha]]. The character dies and stays dead for a while afterwards, until the [[McGuffin|Zodiac Stone/Auracite]] channels power from... ''[[God|somewhere]]'' and resurrects him, proving that the auracite itself isn't evil, it's just the Lucavi using it for evil purposes.
* In ''[[Planescape: Torment]]'', not unlike Mr. Immortal (see Comics, above), this is the main character's whole power. You're actually trying to find out how to ''stop'' doing it in a way that is spiritually satisfying. (If you want, you can get a [[Nonstandard Game Over]] by pissing off the Lady of Pain or other being of deific might.)
* ''[[
* ''[[Resident Evil 2]]'': In Leon's first scenario, Ada gets shot by Annette and falls off a ledge, in which case it's a [[Never Found the Body]], so she would be [[Not Quite Dead]]. In Leon's second scenario, she is clearly [[Killed Off for Real]] in front of him, blood loss and all. In both scenarios, however, she apparently comes back in a [[Deus Ex Machina]] moment during the penultimate battle with Mr. X, to throw a rocket launcher to the player character. Either way, she comes in ''[[Resident Evil 4]]''.
* Liquid Snake in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty]]'' comes back from the dead by possessing Revolver Ocelot. However, by [[Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots|the fourth installment]], it's all a ruse. That is, he apparently really did possess Ocelot in 2, but Ocelot removed the possessing limb and then brainwashed himself to appear possessed to fool his enemies from then on.
* In ''[[
* The ''[[Shining Force]] [[Gaiden Game|Gaiden]]'' games do this with the [[Big Bad]] from the first returning as a vengeful ghost near the end of the second.
* Even though Link and Zelda are [[Legacy Character|legacy characters]], Ganondorf is the same guy in each of the games. He has died five times in various branches of the timeline, with no clear explanation as to how he comes back each time, although both ''[[Zelda II:
* Occurs in the ending of ''[[Ninja Gaiden
* ''[[Metroid
* Occurs in ''[[
* A boss in ''[[Fire Emblem]]: [[Fire Emblem Akaneia|The Dark Dragon and the Sword of Light]]'' (and its remakes), Camus who was victim of [[Honor Before Reason]] and [[My Country, Right or Wrong]], appears as Sirius, who can be recruited to your side in ''Mystery of the Emblem'' (curiously, the player doesn't really need to kill him in the Super Famicom version to complete the level, its possible to just distract him and [[Instant Win Condition|seize the gate]]).
* The main story of ''[[
* Over the course of the semi-sequel ''[[Tsukihime
* Kotomine Kirei is still around in ''[[Fate/stay
** Shirou dies in ''Heaven's Feel'' ending, but is revived by Ilya via Third Sorcery in the True End.
* In the NES version of ''[[Double Dragon
* Used in ''[[Super Robot Wars]] Original Generation Gaiden''. Alfimi dies in OG 2, but comes back by merging with Axel Almer, who is mortally wounded and dying. This causes them to both come back as half human, and half Einst. Axel also had a [[Heel Face Turn]] during this.
* In ''[[Super Robot Wars Compact]]'', [[Daitarn 3|Don Sauzer]] (who also does this) revives [[Dancougar|Emperor Muge Zolbados]] so Emperor Muge Zolbados could use the surface invasion forces, cause terror and force the Earthnoids to move into space. The Einst do this to Emperor Muge Zolbados and Shpiro Keats in ''[[Super Robot Wars Compact 2]]''
* A staple scenario in ''[[Tekken]]''. After being thrown to the ravine and thought to be dead, Heihachi Mishima turned out to survive, climbed back up, beat the one who did this to him (his son Kazuya), and threw him to the volcano. But Kazuya [[No One Could Survive That|still manages to come back to life, because some researches retrieved his remains and gave him a new body]]. And finally, the fifth game, Heihachi was thought to be killed after he was nuked... (''Heihachi Mishima is dead'', or so ''Tekken 5'''s prologue states) but he still came back! Even the resident ninja Raven [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] this.
* ''[[
* Krista and Mr. Whittlebone in ''[[Twisted Metal]]: Head-On'' reappear from the second games as ghosts.
* In the indie RPG series ''Vacant Sky'', the main character dies in the first half hour of the game. But then she got better. It's implied that dying is in fact the prerequisite to becoming a badass.
* Joshua of ''[[
* Though death and resurrection are nothing more than game mechanics for players in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'', for story characters death is usually more permanent. Nevertheless, there are many exceptions. Typically it's done with major villains, such as Kael'thas, Mal'Ganis, Balnazzar, Teron Gorefiend, Anub'arak, and all of Naxxramas, who are brought back to serve as loot pinatas again. However, in a rare heroic example, Muradin Bronzebeard, who was thought killed in ''Warcraft III'', is revealed to be alive and well in Northrend, though initially amnesiac.
* Just before the final battle in ''[[Breath of Fire II]]'', the [[Big Bad]] brutally murders Ryu's party members one by one, taunting him all the while. Ryu resurrects them almost immediately afterwards.
* In ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', the main character Commander Shepard dies during an ambush from an unknown alien starship at the start of the game. The commander's body is recovered and re-built by the enigmatic pro-human group Cerberus, leading to the game starting two years (and one very confused Commander) later.
{{quote|
* A main plot point in ''[[Jade Empire]]'', the main character is killed by their master-turned-evil-mastermind Li, and has to fight through the afterlife to come Back from the Dead.
* Albedo from ''[[
* Paul Denton may die in ''[[
* [[
* At the beginning
* In ''[[Little Big Adventure]] 2'', Dr. Funfrock, who Twinsen supposedly killed at the end of the first game, pulls a [[Hijacked
* ''[[Kanon]]'' features Kawasumi Mai
* Done for the players themselves in ''[[Left 4 Dead]] 2''. You can sometimes find a [[Magical Defibrillator]], which has the power to bring back dead players on the spot, despite how they died (whether it would be being crushed by a Tank, having a Tank plow a car over the player, falling 10 stories down to the ground, ripped to pieces by a Witch, etc.)
* All of the Ascended (read: [[Player Character|player characters]]) in ''[[Rift]]''. In the case of the Guardians, it's because the gods needed you alive again; in the case of the Defiant, it's thanks to years of [[Magitek]] research.
* A running gag in the ''[[Monkey Island]]'' series, where villain LeChuck is dead even before the series begins (he is a ghost in the first game). Even though hero Guybrush kills him at the end of every single game, he always comes back at the beginning of each new game to be the villain again. Further parodied in that he [[Came Back Wrong|comes back wrong]] in a slightly different way every time, leading to names like The Demon Zombie Ghost Pirate LeChuck.
** Though it is parodied by Guybrush's twice [[Faux Death]] in ''[[
* Tezkhra in ''[[
* Raikoh, the hero of ''[[Otogi: Myth of Demons]]'', is revived no less then FOUR times over the course of the game and it's [[Sequel]]. The only other people that come back from the dead only do it once. Raikoh just has more importent things to do then staying dead.
* From ''[[
** Another factor was that a young girl that looked [[Suspicously Similar Substitute|very similar to his own daughter]] prayed in front of his now stone remains. He faced is positioned right in front of her and because of her capture, he literally revives himself on his anger, albeit now much MUCH weaker than what he previously was.
* The Darksign of the Undead in ''[[
* Alduin in ''[[The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim]]'' has the power to revive any Dragons that were "slain" in the past as long as he has access to their immortal Aedric souls. Even Dragons that have been buried for centuries and reduced to skeletons can be revived to full strength in moments by Alduin. The Dragonborn is the only one who can permanently "kill" Dragons because he/she can absorb the Dragons' souls upon their "death". Granted, because Dragons are immortal Aedric spirits that exist beyond time, they can't truly
* In ''[[Dominions]]'', Pretender gods can be called back, immortals only die permanently outside of your dominion and spells can be used to revive commanders who made it into the Hall of Fame.
* In ''[[Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning]]'', the Fae respawn to relive their lives in an endless cyc;e whenever they "die" thanks to their strong connection to the Weave of Fate. This makes fighting the Tuatha Deohn a [[Zero Sum Game]], since any Tuatha "slain" in battle respawns in their home kingdom. To even the odds, the gnomes attempted to create the Well of Souls, a device capable of bringing mortals back from the dead. The player character is the only successful resurrection. As a side effect, he/she is also [[Immune to Fate]]. This also means that the player character is the only one who can permanently kill a Fae since he/she can sever their connection to the Weave.
* In ''[[Prototype]]'' Alex is shot dead just as he releases [[The Virus]] and then comes back to life without any memories. It later turns out that {{spoiler|Alex is dead, and you are actually [[The Virus]] in Alex's form}}.
* Elven paladin
==
* Roy in ''[[The Order of the Stick]]'', but not before it's [[Played for Laughs]] as his disintegrating corpse is dragged around for months because the team has been split in half, with the people who could perform Raise Dead in the half ''not'' in possession of the corpse.
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20090201135339/http://drmcninja.com/page.php?pageNum=41&issue=4 This strip] of ''[[The Adventures of Dr. McNinja]]'', we see Dr. [[McNinja]] arguing with Death over whether he is really dead.
* ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]'': In addition to [[Chess with Death]] usually working out in favor of the not-quite-deceased, Death's politics have resulted in several characters' deaths being short-lived.
* The Cyborg ninja in ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]'' was both killed and resurrected by Mantis.
* ''[[Terror Island]]'': After being dead for over a hundred strips, Aorist is [[Ass Pull|suddenly resurrected]] by Bartleby.
* ''[[Narbonic]]'': Helen, being a [[Mad Scientist]], has no problem resurrecting Dave after her mom kills him. It does have stages, though:
* Roast Beef, Ray, Todd and Téodor from ''[[Achewood]]'' have all gone through this at least once through the comic's run, and Molly managed to come back to Earth from heaven after hundreds of years. It remains to be seen if Little Nephew can attempt the same feat.
* In ''[[
* Starscream does this on a regular basis in the ''[[Insecticomics]]'' (see the Transformers entry below). Thrust has also done this twice, once after being crushed to death by Unicron in ''[[Transformers Armada]]'', a resurrection that was never really explained despite the fact that he's mentioned it more than once and once after being killed by the Fallen, then dragged back to her body by Starscream's ghost.
* Oasis from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' has come Back from the Dead no less than five times, and her "sister" Kusari at least once. How Oasis does this is unknown (even to her), and since they usually [[Never Found the Body]], her simply being [[Not Quite Dead]] remains possible. As of more recent arcs, not only has the body been found, it has been found while Oasis is up and kicking in a new one.
* Initially subverted in ''[[Concerned]]: The Half Life and Death of Gordon Frohman,'' in which the title character [[Exactly What It Says
* In ''[http://www.unionofheroes.com Union of Heroes]'' there is a girl named [http://www.unionofheroes.com/comic-navigation/charaktere/lynn.html Lynn], who is also called "The Eternal Victim". She is cursed to die instead of other people returning from Death afterwards.
* And then there is [[Bob and George|Ran Cossack]], who is pretty much a parody of this trope. He is made of ''really'' cheap Soviet parts, and could be killed by any kind of impact. However, his creator (Kalinka Cossack from ''[[
* ''[[Slightly Damned]]'' features a rare example where [[To Hell and Back|phisically getting out of Hell]] is used for this purpose.
* In ''[[
* Happened at least twice in ''[[Ansem Retort]]''
** Matt, a demon Marluxia killed in Season One, came back in Season Two to referee the murder-off between Axel and Cloud.
** Arguably, [[Star Wars|Darth Maul]] also invokes this trope, as he's made a comment about Obi-Wan getting in a "Hollywood cheap shot".
** Riku implied in the season six finale that he has done this as well, and promises to explain later.
* In ''[[Horndog]]'', Freddy is shot by a sniper, briefly dies, but returns to life. He is [[Killed Off for Real]], [[Rise
* ''[[Bob and George]]''. No one stays dead
* ''[[MS Paint Adventures]]'' has a few instances of this. In ''[[
** Aradia in ''[[
** The kernelsprites also count, since they're all prototyped with the remains of dead person that was important to the character. This gives the sprite the personality and all the memories of that dead person.
** And now Kanaya is back from the dead too, [[Friendly Neighborhood Vampire|altough she's not exactly alive either.]]
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** Further, once a character is a God Tier, they can only be killed if the death is Heroic (they die accomplishing something heroic) or Just (they are corrupt and are killed by a hero). So far two God Tiers have died: John, who came back because his death was neither, and Vriska, {{spoiler|who's death was Just, likely due to all those people she killed, near redemption notwithstanding.}}
* In ''[[Kagerou]]'', Mindi, an Old One, can bring people back from the dead. It's even played for laughs once, when a nearly dead person is killed just so she can bring them back to life free of injuries.
* In ''[[The
* In ''[[Sinfest]]'', a boy Baby Blue had [[Childhood Friend Romance|a crush]] on can raise a frog, [
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', a few prominent villains and heroes have returned to life. The most notable ones are [[Our Liches Are Different|Drishnek]], [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Jemuel]], [[Spoony Bard|Leon]] and the [[Sibling Team|Silverbranch brothers]].
* The Screamsheet's [https://web.archive.org/web/20120217185804/http://screamsheet.wordpress.com/fights/ Fights Section] has the entire ''planet'' come back from the dead after its been destroyed in a previous battle. Multiple times, no less.
* ''[[The Mad Scientist Wars]]'': Hoo, boy. Let's see, Andrew Tinker pulls this way back in the Redneck war, So It Begins, thanks to a series of backup personality copies and god cloning, pulled this off a ''lot'', and David was not just killed, but ''erased'' from his own body by his evil sentient mechanical Arm. He ends up making a case for his own existence, and makes it back. Also, Erik Tinker makes a deal with the devil. Sadly, the man he died killing, one of the most dangerous men ever, may well be back too....
* Subverted with Sayasuke, aka 'the Saya demon', who was never technically ''alive'' before he died. Sill won an award for it, 'tho. Head hurt yet?
* Doctor What from ''[[Alternate History: The Series]]'' has supposedly come Back from the Dead many, many times, although we've only seen two or three on-screen. Most of the others involved fatal cunnilingus - which, bizarrely, was [[Based on a True Story]].
* In the ''[[Epic Tales]]'' 'verse David Wilson died in the first Shadow Hawk story only to become the Astral Controller.
* In ''[[The Spoony Experiment]]'', The Spoony One was killed by Squall after reviewing ''[[Final Fantasy VIII]]'' [[Atop the Fourth Wall|Linkara]] later cloned him using his protoplasmic remains and essentially brought him back from the dead.
* In ''[[Darwin's Soldiers]]'', the Dragonstorm [[Big Bad]] was found dead in the first RP. He later reappears in the sequel, with the explanation that the first one was a body double.
* ''[[Homestar Runner]]'': Homsar was ''invented'' just to die in one of the early sbemails. Then for some reason...he comes back. We never know quite how.
* Anna Demorah dies in the comic that marked the beginning of ''[[Felarya]]''. Then the author announced that she had been resurrected "[http://karbo.deviantart.com/gallery/#/dm4j77 due to some weird distortion in space, time or whatever]". She remains one of the main characters.
* This was actually one of the powers possessed by the heroic Mister Easter in the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]''. As his name might imply, he would arise from the dead after three days. (His powers were all based on the miracles Jesus was explicitly shown performing in [[The Bible]], including the resurrection.)
* ''[[Tasakeru]]'': [[Complete Monster|Stalker]] comes back from the dead thanks to a symbiotic fusion with a [[Giant Spider|spider]]. He later brings [[Big Bad|N'Ktane]] back, but the process only gives her a solid body inside the [[Evil Tower of Ominousness|Black Rose Tower]].
* Aughadhail, Queen of the [[The Fair Folk|Fae]] in the [[Whateley Universe]], died along with all her sisters, a long time ago in 'The Sundering', during a war against the [[Cosmic Horror|Great]] [[Eldritch Abomination|Old]] [[
* In the ''[[Anti
* It's become a running gag in ''[[Dark Dream Chronicle]]'' that Vadiir can't stay dead.
* In ''[[The Gungan Council]]'', characters are frequently brought back to life since [[Death Is Cheap]]. Even Kyp and Bane, who both spent a long time dead, were resurrected through some means.
* The Flash animation series ''[[Madness Combat]]'' has three characters who can never truly die: Hank, Jeebus, and Tricky. No matter the cause of their death in the previous cartoon, they resurrect (with appropriate bandages, stitches, or scars) and resume battle in the next one. The creator of the series has declared that the three are doomed to fight each other for all eternity.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Darkseid in the [[DCAU]] was killed by Brainiac's exploding asteroid [[Supervillain Lair]], but gets brought back when Luthor uses Tala against her will in an attempt to restore Brainiac. According to the DVD commentary, Tala did it on purpose just to spite Luthor. [[Woman Scorned|Hell hath no fury, indeed.]]
* In ''[[Duckman]]'', Duckman's two teddy bear secretaries Fluffy and Uranus are often killed in nearly every episode they appear in (usually by Duckman himself) only to be brought back in the next episode.
* In the two-part [[Grand Finale]] of ''[[Harvey Birdman, Attorney
* Sylvester the cat from the classic era of [[Looney Tunes]] died 16 times in 7 different cartoons, one episode ("Satan's Waitin'" (1954)) features him slowly losing [[Cats Have Nine Lives|all nine of his lives
* The cast of ''[[Drawn Together]]'' have died many times with Ling Ling and Toot having the largest death count, only for them to come back either in the next episode or later on in the same episode.
* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''
** From the "Who Shot Mr. Burns" episodes:
{{quote|
{{quote|
"I was!"
* ''[[
** In the first five seasons, Kenny dies [[Once Per Episode|in nearly every episode]] and appears again in the next as if nothing had ever happened. In fact, in the two-parter "Cartman's Mom is a Dirty Slut", after dying at the end of Episode 1, he reappears out of thin air next to his friends at the start of Episode 2. (He goes on to die at the end.)
** There was one season finale where Kenny spends the episode suffering from a rare disease that kills him by the end of the show, and it dealt with how everyone reacted to Kenny being sick and dying. The next season had the kids living without Kenny, exorcising Kenny's spirit from Cartman, and after accepting Kenny's death they had competitions to see who would be his replacement. All this, only to have Kenny show up again one episode like nothing ever happened.
** [[Played for Laughs]] in the Halloween episode where, after Kenny dies, the embalming fluid was mixed with
*** And then dying an additional two more times at the end.
** The movie explains that this phenomenon is not intentional [[Negative Continuity]] -- Kenny does indeed come back to life after dying, as some sort of super-power. Or curse, depending on how you look at it.
* Scooter the light {{color|purple|p}} surfer fish from ''[[SpongeBob SquarePants]]'' has died three times to date: first when SpongeBob asked him to move from his seat he was killed by his smelly breath, drowned after Bubble Buddy buried him in the sand, and exploded after being kicked off a cliff by Mystery the seahorse.
* Although ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2003 series)|Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles]]'' (2003) [[Big Bad]] The Shredder had already become infamous for turning out to be [[Not Quite Dead]], one of these occasions [[Retcon|later turned out]] to actually be a Back from the Dead situation. Given the character, the elaboration was sort of unnecessary, except for the fact that a) said occasion involved being at ground zero of an explosion that atomized a building, and b) it allowed the writers to bring the character back yet again. Also played straight with a couple of other characters, one of which included a nifty sequence in which flesh returns to his skeleton as he is resurrected.
* ''[[Teen Titans (animation)|Teen Titans]]'': The [[Story Arc]] for the fourth season involves Slade, the [[Big Bad]] from the first two seasons, coming Back from the Dead to serve as [[The Dragon]] to the new [[Big Bad]], Trigon. This example is especially notable because with [[Comic Books]] (and therefore their adaptations) the usual resurrection is a [[Retcon]] saying that the character was not truly dead. Slade's death was a [[Never Found the Body]], and Robin's hallucinations of Slade in a later episode proved to be poisoning by someone heavily hinted to be Slade, so the stage was set for it to prove to have been a [[Not Quite Dead]] or one of his many robot duplicates... and then we find that he was very much dead when he appeared to die, and had been revived by the series' version of [[Satan]] as a messenger!
* In ''[[ThunderCats (1985 series)|ThunderCats]]'', Jaga ([[The Obi-Wan]] of the series) dies of old age while guiding the Thundercats' ship towards Third Earth, but he returns as a [[Spirit Advisor]] to team leader Lion-O (and eventually the rest of the team as well). Besides that Mumm-ra is supposedly killed on at least three occasions, but as long as evil exists Mumm-ra lives! The Berzerkers were also killed (by Panthro sinking their ship) in their first appearance. This is confirmed when the ghost of the Captain Hammerhand shows up a few episodes later. Then he comes back with a new look and a new crew in the second season. And there's Grune the Destroyer, who dies then harasses the Thundercats as a ghost.
* Tom of ''[[Tom and Jerry]]'' died six times in six cartoons, (one of them turned out to be a dream though).
* ''[[Transformers]]'':
** In ''The [[Transformers]]: [[The Movie]]'', among the many Transformers killed off include Optimus Prime and Starscream. In subsequent episodes of the TV series, both come back. Optimus Prime initially appears as a [[Spirit Advisor]] when his successor, Rodimus Prime, journeys into the Matrix of Leadership. In "Dark Awakening", Optimus is brought back to life as a [[Our Zombies Are Different|zombie]], only to [[Heroic Sacrifice|sacrifice]] himself again to save his fellow Autobots. In "The Return of Optimus Prime", he is completely revived and restored, and survives the end of the series (only to be [[Killed Off for Real]] in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in the Japanese series ''Headmasters'', although resurrected in the [[Expanded Universe]] story ''Battlestars: The Return of Convoy''). Starscream returns as a ghost in two episodes, "Starscream's Ghost" and "Ghost in the Machine"; in the latter, Starscream receives a new body from Unicron, returning to life, only to get blasted off into space. Starscream's spark makes a return appearance in the ''Beast Wars'' episode "Possession".
** In ''[[
*** Same Series, different character: [[Heel Face Turn|BlackArachnia]]. After being murdered by Tarantulas while her new Maximal comrades were trying to remove her malfunctioning Predacon Programming, she was brought back to life thanks to the Transmetal II Driver, which also turned her into a Transmetal II.
** Also done by Optimus Prime in ''Armada'', and Megatron several times over the course of the Unicron trilogy.
** Overall, Optimus' combination of [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and Back from the Dead in the [[Sorting Algorithm of Deadness]] has become a [http://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_many_deaths_of_Optimus_Prime running gag] in the fandom, to the point where a [[Word Filter]] on the site 7chan [[Unusual Euphemism|replaced 'Jesus Christ' with 'Optimus Prime.']]
** Starscream has this happen a lot too. In addition to the G1 version, he was killed and resurrected on two occasions in the Marvel comic, and in ''[[
* ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'': In the last episode of Season 1 the boys are killed. In the first episode of Season 2 their clones are reactivated and filled with their stored memories. Dr. Venture explains that this is the thirteen time it has happened - and shows all previous deaths.
* In ''[[
{{quote|
** Tragically [[Subverted Trope|subverted]] in Jet's case in [[Avatar: The Last Airbender/Recap/Book
* The two-part season 4 finale of ''[[Star Wars:
==
* Scientists speculate that the ''whole Universe'' may pull this one. If the Universe collapses in the Big Crunch, the concetration of energy may cause another Big Bang; if it dies a heat death, a new Big Bang may occur as a quantum fluctuation in, like, 10^10^56 years.
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[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]
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[[Category:Fairy Tale Tropes]]
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