Disney Death: Difference between revisions

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See also [[Sorting Algorithm of Deadness]], for how likely this is to happen, and [[Our Hero Is Dead]], for when this is used as a [[Cliff Hanger]]. If used comedically, may overlap with [[Unexplained Recovery]]. If done on a massive scale, it's a [[World-Healing Wave]].
 
Not to be confused with [[Disney Villain Death]], which refers to a villain falling from a very high place, such as a cliff. Also not to be confused with [[Walt Disney]]'s actual death.<Ref>Unless he comes back.</ref>
 
{{deathtrope}}
 
{{examples}}
== Disney Examples ==
 
=== Comic Books ===
* In the revival of ''[[Darkwing Duck (comics)|Darkwing Duck]]'', {{spoiler|1=GosmoDuck (Gosalyn in the GizmoDuck armor)}} pulls a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to stop the [[Big Bad]] {{spoiler|Taurus Bulba}}, but after blacking out for a few moments, she turns out alright.
* ''[[Fables]]''. The more popular fairy tale entities gain this ability. Storywise, Disney is -causing- these Disney Deaths (at least for the characters they write about). For example; Toto is seemingly eaten by a lion. This infuriates his captors ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]) not because he is dead, but only temporarily dead and thus will return in some form out of their territory.
 
 
=== Films -- Animation ===
* Arguably, the first instance of this trope is the death of Disney's ''[[Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (Disney film)|Snow White and The Seven Dwarfs]]''. The scene is pretty well dragged out so that you still feel like she's dead even though, if you've been paying attention, you know she's really only asleep.
* ''[[Pinocchio (Disney film)|Pinocchio]]'' has a Heroic Death rescuing Gepetto from the whale. He seems gone, but surprise! He's a real boy now and fully alive.
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* Disney did this in the ''[[interquel]]s'' to ''its own movies'', at least twice (''[[The Little Mermaid]] III'' and ''[[Bambi]] II''). [[Doomed by Canon|It's hard to get involved in The Great Prince mourning Bambi's demise when the first movie reveals that Bambi grows up happily to have fawns of his own.]]
* More Robot Disney Death in ''[[Meet the Robinsons]]'': Doris skewers Carl through the chest, leaving him splayed across the grass, showering sparks. The next morning, he's good as new.
* Clever variation in ''[[WALL-E]]''. {{spoiler|The title character is almost crushed to bits in the climax, but EVE knows how to fix him; the real tension is that once she has, he doesn't remember anything about the 700 years of his life, including her. His acquired sentience appears lost. * sniff* He then gets it back a few minutes later... only after she "kisses" him, of course}}.
* Played with in ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story2]] 2'' when Zurg falls off the elevator shaft, then comes back alive moments later. He's last seen having a good time with New Buzz as father and son, just to show there were no hard feelings between the two.
** Played straight with {{spoiler|Buzz and the Little Green Men}} in ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story3]] 3''.
* In ''[[Mulan]] 2]]'', Shang takes a terrible fall and everyone believes he is dead, but he turns out to be just fine. One of the tracks on the film's soundtrack is even called "Shang Lives."
* In ''[[Lilo and Stitch]] 2: Stitch Gets a Glitch]]'', Stitch dies because of his body being unstable. He gets better. The movie even admits that this is technically impossible.
* In ''[[Tangled]]'', Flynn gets stabbed by Mother Gothel and gives up his chance to be healed so he can cut Rapunzel's hair, [[No Immortal Inertia|killing Gothel]] but losing his chance to be healed. Luckily, it turns out [[Eleventh-Hour Superpower|that Rapunzel's tears can heal too]]. Cue emotional kiss and "Happily Ever After" ending montage!
* ''[[Gnomeo and Juliet]]'': Gnomeo {{spoiler|and the racer. Averted with Gnomeo's dad}}.
* Happens to [[Cars|Mater]] in the [[Pixar Shorts|Pixar animated short]] ''El Materdor'' as a result of the bulldozers (resembling bulls) burying him in the sand at one point, as if they were burying him in a grave and sticking a piece of wood with a poster of him on it, giving it the appearance of a tombstone.
* In ''[[The Little Mermaid]]'', after Ariel saves Prince Eric from drowning after the initial shipwreck scene. Scuttle declares him dead (it doesn't help that he is listening for a pulse in Eric's ''foot''), but Ariel sees him breathing and realizes he is only unconscious.
* Kida at the end of ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire|Atlantis the Lost Empire]]'', just right after separating from the Crystal. Adding to this was the fact that her mother, the Queen, actually died as a result of her being exposed to the Crystal too long at the very beginning of the film.
 
=== Films -- Live-Action ===
 
=== Films -- Live-Action ===
* ''[[Homeward Bound: The Incredible Journey]]'' actually has two Disney Deaths. First, Sassy the cat goes over a waterfall and is presumed dead; she is found by a kindly human and nursed back to health. Second, at the end, the old golden retriever Shadow falls into a ditch and tells the others to go on without him. They make it back to their owners without Shadow, and everyone assumes he's dead, but guess who then comes over the ridge? (In slow motion, of course...)
** And in the sequel, Chance appears to be run over by a truck, but is then shown to have ducked just in the nick of time.
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=== [[Literature]] ===
* Tinker Bell in the original [[Peter Pan]]; Peter invokes the [[Ur Example]] of [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]. (Note that Tink doesn't do this in the Disney version. It does happen in "Return to Neverland "though)
 
 
=== [[Live-Action TV]] ===
* In ''[[Once Upon a Time]]'' Regina bakes up a "special" apple turnover (she's the Wicked Queen from Snow White) to get rid of Emma, the biological mother of Regina's adopted son. Henry (the son) prevents Emma from eating it, and succumbs to the effects. Queue both his mothers freaking out and [[Enemy Mine|making a truce]] to try and save the kid...which doesn't work. In the end, Emma's farewell kiss beings the kid back ''and'' breaks the curse holding the entire town!
 
=== Video Games ===
* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]'', Goofy is believed to have given his life to save Mickey from a falling rock, but since this is partly a Disney property, it later turns out he's okay (though not before Sora and company [[Foe-Tossing Charge|tear their way]] through an army of Heartless). Also, aside from Sora, [[We Cannot Go on Without You|whose KO'd would bring a game over,]] nobody else in your party can die for real, human or cartoon characters.
** Following that is Donald's [[Heartwarming Moments]]...where he [[Funny Moments (Sugar Wiki)|smashes Goofy's foot with his staff]] and angrily tells him to never do that again.
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=== Western Animation ===
* Disney Deaths also sometimes come up in the company's TV shows as well. The ''[[Darkwing Duck (animation)|Darkwing Duck]]'' episode "Dead Duck", in which Darkwing seemingly dies when he crashes through a brick wall, stretches this trope out to the whole episode's plot. It then turns out at the end that it was [[All Just a Dream]].
** Prior to that, there's the climax of the pilot, which is not only a Disney Death for Darkwing, but also, as later revealed in the second season, the episode's villain, Taurus Bulba.
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* [[Phineas and Ferb]] go through this after being stepped on by a giant boss monster based on Buford in the episode "Gaming the System". Of course, since they were inside a video game at the time, they merely lost one of their extra lives.
* Even actual historical figures are not immune to the Disney Death. Railman Casey Jones died in the massive railroad crash that made his name a legend. Yet somehow in Disney's animated version of the story, Casey managed to survive the crash.
* In the episode "Future Tense" of television series ''[[Gargoyles]]'', almost the entire cast is slain in a struggle against a deranged {{spoiler|Lexington}} and his Xanatos program. The events are ultimately revealed to be part of an illusion cast upon the protagonist, Goliath, so {{spoiler|he'd give Puck the Phoenix Gate, as the rules of [[The Fair Folk]] say Puck can't just take it}}.
** Numerous other episodes in the series, including the season 3 finale "Hunter's Moon", showcase other seeming deaths (or near-deaths) of primary characters.
* [[Timon and Pumbaa]] once got bitten by a bug that they read had poisonous venom that couldn't be cured, and so they spent the next 24 hours making the most of their last day (Pumbaa goes on a shopping spree and goes sky-diving, while Timon gives away his possessions). At the end, they end up not dying because it turned out the bug's venom has no effect on meerkats and warthogs.
** Another episode had Timon actually die from eating a poison bug and being told that he needed to perform one good deed to get into meerkat heaven, and then spending the rest of the episode trying to avoid doing that in order to keep living. Eventually, he does get into meerkat heaven and actually ends up enjoying it there, but it then turns out the whole thing was [[All Just a Dream]].
* There was an episode of ''[[Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers (animation)|Chip 'n Dale Rescue Rangers]]'' that had a fortune teller predict that Chip would have a trunk fall on him. They spend the episode trying to keep Chip away from a stuffed elephant head, but the trunk is actually a treasure chest. Everyone thinks Chip dies, but it turns out he took cover in a depression in the ground.
* Believe it or not, ''[[The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]]'' has one. Long story short, Rabbit adopts a baby bird, as she cannot fly yet. Sometime later, he lets Tigger take her out for a walk, or rather, bounce, and she dares him to bounce up a tree. This tree happens to be on a cliff, and is unstable. It falls over with Tigger and Kessie still on it. Rabbit hears Kessie's cries for help and comes to help, asking Tigger to throw her up to him, catching her. Barely. She then falls from his grip. There's about half a minute between the next sound playing, which is her screaming for help, and Rabbit ready to jump to save her, Tigger then stops him, saying, remorsefully, "She's... She's gone." {{spoiler|Owl catches her and brings her back to Rabbit.}}
** Also, in the Piglet Movie, both Piglet and Pooh seemingly die when the rotten log they are on plummets down a giant waterfall. After the other characters cry a bit, it turns out they really had hidden inside a hollow part of the log that stayed attached to the land. (this is a bit similar to ''[[Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade]]'' where Indy goes off the cliff in a tank)
* XR from ''[[Buzz Lightyear of Star Command]]'' was intentionally ''created'' for purposes of the robotic version. He was designed to be virtually impossible to truly destroy so that he was utterly expendable. XR even stands for "eXpendable Ranger."
* In the episode "Merit-Time Adventure" of ''[[DuckTales (1987)]]'', a sea monster winds up eating a sailor at the very beginning, and later in the episode it makes off with Scrooge. Later on, it turns out that the "sea monster" is really a mechanical crane attached to a submarine, and that the sailor {{spoiler|was actually a criminal who faked his death and used the "monster" to steal cargo}} and Scrooge was taken hostage when he started snooping too much. Thus this counts as a Disney Death for both of them.
** Additionally, Gizmoduck receives this trope in the 5-part ''Super Ducktales''. Scrooge, Launchpad, and Gizmoduck head onto a planet of robots to recover the Money Bin after they steal it for its metals. Gizmoduck has Scrooge and Launchpad escape while he fights the robots. As Scrooge looks back on the robotic planet and the whole thing ''explodes''. Later on the robot's ship chases after Scrooge and Launchpad, but turns out it's actually piloted by a battered but still alive Gizmoduck with Money Bin successfully saved. The cause for the explosion was because he'd pressed all the buttons on his suit (which as shown earlier in the episode, results in a pretty crazy attack).
** Speaking of Launchpad, in one episode he seemingly commits suicide by crashing his helicopter into a bridge when the Beagle Boys set him up to look like a criminal and had taken Doofus hostage to blackmail him into not revealing the truth. However, he had actually set it on the automatic pilot, as he wanted to fake his death so the Beagle Boys would assume he was dead and that way he could rescue Doofus on his own.
 
 
== Disney Exceptions ==
 
=== Comic Books ===
* Averted multiple times in ''[[Paperinik New Adventures]]'', the series about a superhero version of [[Donald Duck]] (it was [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|a big hit in Italy. Serious.]]) where a number of secondary characters AND a main one get killed fighting or sacrifice themselves for the greater good. But it's still a Disney comic after all, so whenever violence against intelligent enemies is depicted in the foreground it is slapstick and cartoonish.
 
 
=== Films -- Animation ===
* Disney itself wasn't always stuck on this syndrome. ''[[Bambi]]'' is a Disney movie that stayed more or less faithful to the books from which they were made, and dead does mean dead.
* Another nice exception: ''[[The Lion King]]''. Pulling a Disney Death wouldn't make sense in a movie about the cycle of life and death (not to mention inspired by ''[[Hamlet]]'', which is about [[You Killed My Father|avenging death]]); as a result, Mufasa gets killed in a massive stampede near the middle of the film, and when he dies, he [[Killed Off for Real|dies for real]].
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* The seldom-seen Disney short ''John Henry'' stays true to the original legend by having {{spoiler|the titular character work himself to death}}.
* The short ''The Little Match Girl'' (Yes, '''that''' [[The Little Match Girl|Little Match Girl]]), stays true to the original story by {{spoiler|having the aforementioned match girl freeze to death. It's even more [[Tear Jerker|heart wrenching]] when you think they pulled off this trope, but it's the soul of her grandmother taking her with her.}}
* ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]''. {{spoiler|Ray gets [[Killed Off for Real]] and even gets a funeral to drive the point home. But, [[Died Happily Ever After|he gets to be with his beloved Evangeline]] afterward, so he's fine}}.
* In ''[[Treasure Planet]]'', {{spoiler|the kindly First Mate Captain Arrow gets killed-by a black hole.}}
* ''The Jungle Book 2'' hilariously subverts ''and'' averts it. {{spoiler|It appears that Shere Khan falls into a pit of lava, but he actually lands on a small ledge, and it shows he's alive. Then the head of a statue lands on top of him. Moments later, his head pops out from an opening in it, showing he's still alive.}}
** {{spoiler|[[Fridge Horror|And then the vultures come...]]}}
* In ''[[Atlantis: The Lost Empire|Atlantis the Lost Empire]]'', there are three notable examples. {{spoiler|The King of Atlantis dies a slow and painful death after Rourke punches him in the stomach (implied internal bleeding, probably coupled with his old age), which results in his daughter, Kida becoming [[The High Queen|queen]]. Then, during the battle in the volcano, Rourke is turned into a crystal monster version of himself ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]) and is crushed up in the propellers of the flying craft he's on. Helga looks like she played the trope straight, barely surviving a fall from a great height, but we never see her again and the ending says she died ("Well, we lost her when a flamin' zeppelin came down on her")}}
* Toward the end of ''[[Pocahontas]]'', Kocoum is shot by [[Christian Bale|Thomas]], and is never coming back.
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=== Films -- Live-Action ===
* In the ''[[Bridge to Terabithia]]'' adaption, {{spoiler|it kept true to the source material. Leslie drowns, and doesn't come back. [[Tear Jerker|And cue the waterworks.]]}}
* Ram dies for real in ''[[Tron]]''. What? It was a Disney movie!
** [[Tron: Legacy|The sequel]] kills off {{spoiler|Kevin Flynn and Tron}}. Though, [[Never Found the Body|it may not stick]] on that second one.
*** Or even the first one, since it happened {{spoiler|to a digitized version, so if any back-up copies exist...}}
* In ''[[Honey, I Shrunk the Kids]]'', the kids come across an ant they dub "Anty", and use him as a steed to get back to the house. When nightfall came, a scorpion attacks them, and Anty tries to fight it off, but gets fatally poisoned in the process, which makes the kids ward off the scorpion themselves.
* Artemus Bradford at the start of ''[[Inspector Gadget (film)|Inspector Gadget]]''. His death sets the plot in motion as John Brown goes after the killers, gets blown up by a victory cigar bomb, and becomes Inspector Gadget, playing the trope straight twice in the course of the film (including once as a Robot Disney Death).
 
 
== Other Examples ==
 
=== Anime & Manga ===
* [[Hayao Miyazaki]]'s ''[[Nausicaa of the Valley of the Wind]]'' pulls this with Nausicäa ''herself'', who dies being launched into the air by a stampede of monstrous insects.. before said insects realize she was trying to tell them she had safely returned their lost baby, began empathizing with her and healed her, inducing a trippy hallucination/resurrection scene in which Nausicäa manages to get back to life.
* ''[[My-HiME]]'' {{spoiler|pulls off over a dozen Disney Deaths in one fell swoop.}}
** {{spoiler|At least the story worked up to that one. There are also roughly half a dozen spread throughout the series where the character just walks back into the room, resulting in a few surprised looks, but no explanations asked or given}}
** In the manga, {{spoiler|Takumi}} appears to die at one point, but it turns out that he is actually not dead, and is in fact, {{spoiler|ascending as the Obsidian Lord}}. In the final battle, the Obsidian Lord tries to kill {{spoiler|Mai, Natsuki and Yuuichi, after Mai turns on him}}, but they are saved by Mashiro, and {{spoiler|Haruka, Yukino and Midori}} seemingly pull a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], but later turn up alive, at a mock funeral Shizuru is holding for Haruka.
* During the second-to-last episode of the second season of the ''[[Slayers]]'' anime, the demonic general [[Big Bad|Fibrizo]] entices [[Redheaded Hero|Lina]] into casting the [[Fantastic Nuke|the Giga Slave]] spell (a spell that calls upon the powers of the series' [[Guardian of the Multiverse]] which could destroy the world if miscast) by [[Your Soul Is Mine|destroying the souls of all of her companions one by one.]] All of them are revived in the final episode when {{spoiler|said [[Guardian of the Multiverse]], the Lord of Nightmares, kills Fibrizo herself.}}
* Basara Nekki actually DOES die near the end of ''[[Macross 7]]'', but comes back to life through the [[Power of Rock]] because the [[Big Bad]], in his words, "Needs to listen to my song!"
* Possibly the cheapest example ever was from ''[[Witch Hunter Robin]]''. About halfway through the series, an episode ended with a [[Cliff Hanger]]: all but two of the main characters were gunned down, on camera, by the bad guys. In the next episode, it is revealed that the "killers" were using nonlethal weapons, and the only consequence is that one guy is on crutches.
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* ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' (sort of): {{spoiler|in the last episode, Lucy apparently gets killed in a [[Bolivian Army Ending]]; however, if you sit through all the ending credits, you can see a silhouette standing in a doorway that looks a bit too much like Nyu}}.
** The manga plays it straight with {{spoiler|Bandou}}.
** {{spoiler|The nameless Agent also has one, she's surrounded by Diiclonii, and the view point shows a [[Gory Discretion Shot]], but she shows up later, no worse for wear, because the ground had given way and she fell into an underground cavern}}
*** Nousou is a {{spoiler|subversion, he embraces his diiclonius experiment, and then is crushed under a flaming helicopter, but it turned out she protected him, and the previously mentioned Agent, dug him out. when he releases a mind controlled device on the daughter, however, she decapitates him}}
** There's also {{spoiler|Nana getting dismembered by Lucy, with the end of the episode implying that she died. A few episodes later, though, she's back, and with a set of [[Artificial Limbs]].}}
* Watch ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' and try to keep track of how many times Bakura is beaten and manages to come back somehow. Some of his revivals are justified - most are not.
* ''[[Vandread]]'''s second season: {{spoiler|Gascogne rams a Harvester in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and her ship explodes. The characters angst over it for a full episode, then move on. However, several episodes later, it's revealed Gascogne not only survived but took control of the damaged Harvester. She then... doesn't do anything particularly special for the last two episodes, which even removes the excuse of "we needed her/the Harvester to win the final battle". ''It did'' give Barnette an excuse to wear her skimpier outfit again, but that's incidental.}}
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*** Said {{spoiler|unspecified kickass power (flight, more or less) was apparently just a feature of the intact "Temple of the Sea," as the whole cast is shown zipping 'round the Temple afterwards.}}
*** Hell, in the 8th movie, ''[[Pokémon: Lucario and The Mystery of Mew]]'' the humans, namely Ash, May, Max, Brock, Team Rocket, and Kidd Summers all get eaten by the giant tree's immune system. Then Mew tells the tree they're not enemies and the tree regurgitates them.
** In ''[[Pokémon: Zoroark: Master of Illusions|Pokémon Zoroark Master of Illusions]]'', {{spoiler|Zoroark}} get's a [[Tear Jerker|truly heartrending one after]] {{spoiler|Kodai brutally electrocutes and mortally wounds her. After a [[Please Wake Up]] and lots of tears from her heartbroken son, Celebi manages to bring her back to life with the Time Ripple's power.}} Disney Death or not, it was well done and very emotional.
* {{spoiler|Mitsumi and Hareta}} have this happen to them in ''[[Pokémon Diamond and Pearl Adventure]]'', since they're trapped inside a falling building. Luckily one of their friends comes in and saves them. The formers Disney Death was {{spoiler|a suicidal version of [[Redemption Equals Death]], since she wanted to stay inside the building}}.
* In ''[[Last Exile]]'', {{spoiler|during an assault to capture the Guild's Claudia Units, which keep Anatoray and Disith's airships aloft, a character is shot and fatally wounded, and his ally/love interest's reaction is deliberately portrayed to mean that he has died (including [[Big No|a gut-wrenching scream]].) Two episodes later, during the epilogue, he shows up perfectly fine, and playing with the love interest's younger sibling, with no explanation whatsoever.}}
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* In ''[[Kanon]]'', both the 2002 and 2006 versions {{spoiler|Yuichi remembers near the end of the series that Ayu fell off a high tree and presumably died seven years ago. However, by the very last scene of both versions, Ayu is shown to be alive after coming out of her coma, though the 2006 version ends with her in a wheelchair while she recovers.}}
** Of course, {{spoiler|Makoto doesn't come back, although there's a suspiciously familiar fox in the background of the last shot.}}
** In ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]]'', Nagisa {{spoiler|actually dies, but by virtue of Ushio and the Light Orbs, Tomoya is sent back in time and prevents this.}}
* In ''[[Gundam Seed Destiny]]'', Kira Yamato gets stabbed through the cockpit of his Mobile Suit by one pissed-off Shinn Asuka. The Mobile Suit is more or less completely destroyed—Kira Yamato? He's fine, and shows up later to steal the spotlight away from the alleged main cast.
** The reason he was fine? {{spoiler|[[Ass Pull|He managed to turn off the Nuclear reactor that powered Freedom at the last minute.]]}}
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* Towards the end of Season 2 of ''[[Kyo Kara Maoh!|Kyo Kara Maoh]]'', Wolfram {{spoiler|has the key in his heart literally ripped out by Shinou. His heart stops, as it can't function without the key, and he dies.}} BUT, OH WAIT, WHAT'S THIS? {{spoiler|The moment the key returns to his heart, he is magically alive and kicking again, as if nothing ever happened.}}
* ''[[Tokyo Mew Mew]]''. Remember... the anime where everyone died at the end? The manga did the same as well. Of course, that Mew Aqua is some powerful stuff...
* In ''[[Eureka Seven]]'', Holland's LFO got split into half and exploded at the hands of Anemone in episode 42, but later turned up still alive and didn't suffer any form of injury at all. In the final episode, {{spoiler|Eureka was presumed dead by everyone, including Renton. However, Anemone told everyone that Eureka was still alive, which gave Renton hope of saving her.}}
* In the final manga volume of GTO, Onizuka was presumed dead in the hospital bed when his heart stopped beating. However, he later miraculously recovered and able to ride a bike to save the principal of his school from a fire.
* In ''[[Angel Beats!]]'', {{spoiler|Yuri is assimilated by the shadows. Unlike Takamatsu, though, she barely escapes with her soul.}}
** The series practically defines this trope, since anytime someone dies, they come back to life a few hours later.
* ''[[Kara no Kyoukai:|Kara no Kyoukai]]'', seventh movie: {{spoiler|both Mikiya and Shiki. Mikiya's Disney Death (though Shiki and us did not know it was the case at the time) finally goads Shiki into killing Lio for vengeance, but she then lays down to die after losing Mikiya (and a large quantity of blood). We then see Mikiya still alive, limping, and then ''crawling his way to Shiki'', and find out that he arrived just in time.}}
* ''[[Mawaru Penguindrum]]'' loved this trope, the most notable example being Himari, who {{spoiler|died at least 3 times but was brought back each time and ultimately lived in the end. Masako also died twice only to be brought back both times, and Kanba was severely injured by bullets in episode 21, but was okay with a few bandages by episode 22.}}
 
 
=== Comic Books ===
* In ''[[Omaha the Cat Dancer]]'', Omaha's best friend Shelly gets shot in the first issue. A couple of issues later, we find out she [[Not Quite Dead|wasn't quite dead]].
** Also, Chuck was told by his (insane) dad that his mother had died when he was young. Guess who shows up in the middle of the story?
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=== Fan Works ===
* In ''[[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]]'', Ronan is killed off twice. The first time, Madara shoots him with a bazooka at his wedding, but he revives with the help of the tears of the guests. The second time, he is shot dead by an agnostic, and Sakura revives him with da cooger's help. He lampshades it the second time, noting that he is dead "for now".
* In ''Mortality'', the first book of the ''[[Deliver Us from Evil Series]]'', [[Sherlock Holmes]] is believed to have been killed by his [[Arch Enemy]], [[Diabolical Mastermind|Professor]] [[Big Bad|Moriarty]]. It isn't until a few chapters later that the reader knows for certain that Holmes is still alive, but the heroes themselves don't know for sure until [[Inspector Lestrade]] and [[The Hero|Dr. Watson]] overhear [[The Dragon|Moran]] confirming it.
 
 
=== Films -- Animation ===
* The eponymous robot in ''[[The Iron Giant]]'' is shown reassembling himself after a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] against an incoming nuclear missile. (A rare example of a ''good'' Robot Disney Death, meaning both that it is very satisfying to the audience and that it was set up properly—the Giant's self-repair ability was [[Chekhov's Gun|demonstrated earlier in the film]].)
* ''[[Titan A.E.]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|hung a lampshade on this]] when the character Gune was "killed" by an explosion and claimed, as he passed out, that he "Must have nap...". Later he returned and saved the day proclaiming, "I finished my nap!"
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* {{spoiler|Astro}} in the 2009 ''[[Astro Boy (film)|Astro Boy]]'' film—twice! {{spoiler|The first time, Dr. Tenma removes his Blue Core, but has a change of heart in time to revive him, acknowledge him as his son, and allow him to escape at Tenma's own risk. The second time, Astro pulls a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to defeat Peacekeeper, only to be revived by Zog.}}
* ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|How to Train Your Dragon]]'' has one near the end. After the final battle, {{spoiler|the other vikings look for Hiccup, but the only one who can be found is Toothless. That combined with the dragon's forlorn look is taken as a Very Bad Sign. But then Toothless reveals he's been shielding Hiccup with his wings, but the tension remains until Stoick checks for a heartbeat. And finds one, of course.}} However, {{spoiler|Hiccup does leave the film's climax minus the lower half of his leg}}.
* Heather the possum, in ''[[Over the Hedge (animation)|Over the Hedge]]'', who gets kicked against a wall by antagonist Gladys Sharp and appears to be killed upon impact, much to the horror of her father {{spoiler|the twist being that she's a possum, and is merely faking}}.
* Both {{spoiler|Stanley}} and {{spoiler|Rosie}} in [[Don Bluth]]'s ''[[A Troll in Central Park]]''.
* There's a ''very'' brief one in ''[[Nine]]'' After defeating the BRAIN, 9 tries to run away as the machine breaks down, and is nearly crushed. At some point it really does look like he got killed, but he wakes up about two seconds later.
* {{spoiler|Played with}} in ''[[Megamind]]''. {{spoiler|Minion's water-helmet shatters in the final fight, and afterwards he appears to be dying. He and Megamind share a few words, and Minion... puts on an overdramatic display of dying. At which point Megamind casually tosses him in the fountain, where he laughs and says he feels much better}}. "What a drama queen!"
* ''[[Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs]]'' has this at the end of the movie. {{spoiler|Everyone thinks Flint died from stopping the machine, but a few moments later, he's carried down by his [[Chekhov's Armory|Ratbirds]], looking no worse for wear too.}}
* Insectosaurus, the giant insect in ''[[Monsters vs. Aliens]]'', looks dead when blasted by an alien spaceship and wrapped lifeless and unmoving in a cocoon. But he was simply metamorphising into a butterfly, and later comes [[Back from the Dead]] just in time to be used as a [[Deus Ex Machina]] to save the day.
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* Happens to both title characters of ''[[Tom and Jerry: The Movie]]''. Because it wasn't ripping off Disney enough already.
* ''[[The Rugrats Movie]]'' plays with this. Spike sends himself and a [[Big Badass Wolf]] into a river at the film's climax. Moments later, Stu shows up to rescue the kids, who mistake him for a wizard and ask to bring Spike back to life. Spike walks over soon after.
* In the ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy]]'''s [[The Movie|Big picture show]], {{spoiler|the trope was deconstructed. Both Ed and Eddy appeared to be sinking in quicksand, but it was only just mud that happened to looked like quicksand, and it was one of the many jokes they pulled after they went to the gag factory. This ticks off Edd, and almost left the other two to faced the consequences over the [[Noodle Incident]] that led to the events of the movie. This made Eddy realize how serious the situation actually was, and that he probably had gone too far}}.
* In [[Don Bluth]]'s ''[[Anastasia]]'', Dmitri is hit in the head with a stone in the climax and appears to have died from the blow. But he's okay—he was just knocked out. He groaned and sat up '''immediately''' after Anastasia turned away from his "lifeless" body to cry.
* In another triumph for Don Bluth, Petrie does this in ''[[The Land Before Time]]'', getting seemingly devoured by Sharptooth just before drowning
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* It happens to two of the characters in ''[[The Legend of the Titanic]]'' one with an electrocuted mouse and other one with an octopus who didn't move out of the way from under the ship after he couldn't hold it up any longer.
* Some villagers from ''[[The Return of Hanuman]]'', including Minku's father and Maruti's father, were thrown into a volcano by the village gangsters. By the end of the movie, Maruti turned into [[Superhero]] Hanuman and released all of the victims after he defeated a monster formed out of the volcano.
* {{spoiler|Nigel}} from ''[[Rio]]''... sort of... {{spoiler|Even though he's a villain, he is SUCKED INTO A PROPELLER OF A FREAKING PLANE, showing feathers flying out, too}}, and is thought to be dead until the ending, where he is {{spoiler|stripped of his feathers on the forest floor, and Mauro (the Monkeys' leader) takes embarrassing pictures of him naked,}} leading into the credits.
* Kate from ''[[Alpha and Omega]]''.
* This happens in ''[[Shrek]]: The Final Chapter''. At the end of the movie Shrek fades out of existence, as he gave up the day of his birth to Rumple Stillkin in exchange for a day to live his life the way he wanted to as an ogre, but gets one last chance to tell Fiona how much she means to him before he dies. They exchange one last kiss and Shrek disappears... only for the entire reality that Stillkin had created to fade out of existence as well. As it turns out the contract was to be made null and void if Fiona and Shrek exchanged a kiss between two lovers, as Fiona had fallen in love with Shrek in the alternate universe then the contract ends and the universe with it. Shrek is returned to his original universe with his friends and family surrounding him at his children's birthday party. Shrek gets his happily ever after.
* In ''[[Puss in Boots (animation)|Puss in Boots]]'', {{spoiler|Whenwhen Puss is trying to save his friend Humpty and the Golden Goose and it's mother and Puss is holding on to Humpty with only a thin rope on a broken bridge, while the Golden Goose is dangling above the far-below ground with its mother also close to falling to its death. Humpty sacrifices himself to save the Golden Goose, it's mother, and the town while Humpty supposedly fell to death and cracked open. However, in the credits, it is revealed he came out alright.}}
* The [[Jonny Quest]] [[Made for TV Movie|TV movie]] ''[[Jonny Quest vs. the Cyber Insects]]'' has a particularly silly example. During a space battle caused by Jonny recklessly charging into the midst of some enemy fighters, an exploding control panel somehow injures Race in such a way that his heart literally stops beating. Not even two scenes later, Race inexplicably revives with no ill effects. The scene does serve a narrative purpose though - it's a rather sobering moment for Jonny, who blames himself, and after this is when he starts acting like less of a selfish, impulsive [[Jerkass]].
 
 
=== Films -- Live-Action ===
* ''[[D.A.R.Y.L.|DARYL]]'' features a classic Robot Disney Death as part of its climax/denouement.
* In ''[[Lethal Weapon|Lethal Weapon 2]]'', a [[Smug Snake]] diplomat shoots the [[Mel Gibson]] character, who falls into a pit. In response, the Danny Glover character shoots the diplomat. Then he goes down into the pit to check on Mel Gibson. And guess what? He's fine! Well, mostly fine, anyway.
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* One of the most mind-boggling examples is in ''[[Hudson Hawk]]'', when a friend of the [[Bruce Willis]] character, who seems to have died in a car fire shortly before, shows up again and explains, "The sprinkler system turned on!" This in spite of the fact that the car careened off of a cliff and exploded upon impact with the ground (but it is a parody/comedy).
** Since the line immediately following is, "yeah! I bet that's what happened!" its mind-boggling improbability can be chalked up to the [[Rule of Funny]].
* In Broken Lizard's ''[[Club Dread]]'', Sam appears to have drowned in mud, but {{spoiler|turns out to be not only alive, but also the actual killer}}.
* In a particularly pointless version that removes the very last bit of pathos from the film, Snails in [[The Movie]] of ''[[Dungeons & Dragons (film)|Dungeons and Dragons]]''. Especially [[Egregious]] is that this ending was apparently at the behest of focus groups, who didn't like the original graveside ending where Snails is still clearly dead. The original scene was the closest thing to respectable dignity the movie could manage, but even that got stripped away.
* In ''[[Jurassic Park]] III'', Alan Grant's assistant Billy [[Redemption Equals Death|redeems himself]] for putting them all in danger by stealing raptors eggs by making a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save the [[Kid Sidekick]] from pteradons and is last seen being pecked to death by a number of them. Except about half an hour of screen time later, when the survivors are picked up by a rescue chopper, they inexplicably find him already onboard, with noticeable but apparently not life-threatening injuries.
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=== Literature ===
* ''[[Discworld]]''
** In the ''[[Discworld]]'' novel ''[[Discworld/Moving Pictures|Moving Pictures]]'', Gaspode the Wonder Dog apparently makes a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to save the Disc from the Things from the Dungeon Dimensions. In the first draft he was [[Killed Off for Real]], but this was rewritten following reader feedback, and Gaspode went on to become a recurring character. And, given the theme of the book, and the method used to revive Gaspode... possible [[Lampshade Hanging]]?
** In ''[[Discworld/Lords and Ladies|Lords and Ladies]]'', it looks like Granny Weatherwax has given her life to help defeat the Queen of the Elves. When Nanny Ogg and Magrat go through Granny's personal affects, they find an envelope with a piece of card in it: Granny's old "I ATEN'T DEAD" sign. Nanny realizes this means Granny wasn't dead, but off Borrowing (in this case, a swarm of bees).
** Maurice and Dangerous Beans both die in the finale of the first ''Discworld'' children's book, ''[[Discworld/The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents|The Amazing Maurice and Hishis Educated Rodents]]''. Maurice survives because [[Cats Have Nine Lives]], and Dangerous Beans survives because Maurice offers ''two'' of his lives to [[Balancing Death's Books|Balance Death's Books]].
* In ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Deathly Hallows (novel)|Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows]]'', Harry is struck by a Killing Curse, but {{spoiler|does not really die due to unknowingly becomingbeing an extra Horcrux. However, his friends back at Hogwarts do not know this at first and fear that their hero is gone for good.}}
** {{spoiler|Hagrid}} also gets one in the Battle of Hogwarts - he appears to succumb to an acromantula attack, but later turns up with the Death Eaters in the Forbidden Forest as a prisoner.
** Ginny also gets this toward the end of ''[[Harry Potter and Thethe Chamber of Secrets (novel)|Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]]'' via [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|being imprisoned in the Chamber and having the life force sucked out of her]]. Harry manages to undo that by destroying {{spoiler|a Horcrux}}.
* In ''[[The Night Land]]'', after the hero has been through hell and back to bring his beloved home, and despite the best efforts of the Redoubt's finest doctors, {{spoiler|she dies anyway and has a tremendous funeral attended by the entire human race. Then she comes back to life without explanation}}.
* In Voltaire's ''Candide'', roughly every few pages a character is "brought back to life".
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** This also happens to {{spoiler|Ozzie}} in the twelfth book. For such a sunshine and rainbows series, it manages to pull off this trope amazingly convincingly.
* Every version of ''[[Peter Pan]]'', including the [[Peter Pan (Disney film)|Disney]] one, has Tinkerbell pulling one of these off. [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]] in fairies!
* Cruelly played with in ''Deeper'' of the ''[[Tunnels]]'' series. {{spoiler|The hero's brother Cal appears to [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|get a bridge dropped on him]] halfway through. However, he is later discovered to be [[Only Mostly Dead]] and is able to recover. He rejoins the other heroes for the climax... only to be [[Killed Off for Real]] in a hail of bullets at the end.}}
* In R.A. Salvatore's ''Drizzt'' novels set in the ''[[Forgotten Realms]]'', this happens a lot. Out of the [[Five-Man Band|five heroes]], Regis is the only one of them who hasn't been presumed dead at least once.
* The Chinese novel ''Heaven Sword and Dragon Sabre'' has one of [[The Hero]]'s love interest, Yin Li, is killed off by another [[Love Makes You Evil|love interest who turns evil]], and even get buried under the sand after the protagonist finds out the following morning, but she survives, and reappears around the later part of the novel.
* The rat in one picture book of ''The House that Jack Built''.
* In ''Dance of Death,'' part of the [[Agent Pendergast]] novels, the character of Margo Green, who was the main character in the authors' first two books, is stabbed and apparently killed by Pendergast's brother Diogenes. The very end of the novel reveals that she survived and Pendergast allowed the rest of the world to believe her dead so that his brother would not attempt to target her again. {{spoiler|As revealed in the next book, this fails, but she still lives anyway.}}
 
 
=== Live-Action TV ===
* A good [[Mutant Enemy]] example is Lorne's head on ''[[Angel]]'' asking for the praising and extolling of his virtues. For whatever reason, his particular variety of demon can survive decapitation—the body needs to be mutilated. The bad guys didn't forget to, though—the Groosalugg, knowing Lorne was Cordelia's friend, switched his body with a soldier.
* In an episode of ''[[Sliders]]'', crooner Mel Torme helps the Sliders with their mission, only to apparently die in a car bomb. He inexplicably resurfaces at the end, though, to wish the Sliders well on their way.
** Another episode had a rather cruel example of Disney Death, the characters land in a world run by the Russians and help the Resistance in one of their operations. During the pull out though female protagonist Wade Wells is shot and mortally wounded. The other main characters start to grieve for her till she suddenly appears right behind them alive and well. Turns out it was her double from this particular alternate earth that got killed not her.
** The same method of death happens in another episode with {{spoiler|Arturo}}. This was just stretched out for years after the show ended. It took the [[Word of God]] to clear things up.
* ''[[Lost]]'''s "All the Best Cowboys Have Daddy Issues" used a very cheap Disney Death, when Charlie was found strung up by the neck, not breathing, and with no pulse, but after a particularly protracted CPR session, Jack was able to revive him. Some fans decided to blame the unlikely event on the possibly magic island (similar to [[A Wizard Did It]]). Shannon suffered a similar death scene in "Hearts and Minds", but the sequence was shown to have been a hallucination suffered by her brother Boone under the influence of an unnamed drug prepared and administered without his knowledge by Locke.
** There's nothing especially remarkable about any Lost examples though because the series runs on [[Death Is Cheap]].
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** Also in the ''Doctor Who'' original series serial ''Survival'' {{spoiler|The Seventh Doctor}} has a head on collision on a motorbike with the enemy, resulting in a huge explosion which we see nobody escape from. Ace begins to mourn his death after she finds {{spoiler|his hat}} and {{spoiler|his umbrella}} laying on the ground. We soon after find out he's somehow just ended up face first in a pile of rubbish with his backside in the air.
** In the finale of series 5/season 31, there are ''two''. {{spoiler|In 1996, Centurion Rory is presumed dead from pulling the Pandorica out of the fires of the Blitz during [[World War II]]. He's actually the night watchman of the museum holding the Pandorica. The Doctor also gets one. He travels back in time a few minutes faking his death from a partially powered Dalek raygun. He uses this as a diversion to travel back to the Pandorica to jump start the universe in a [[Title Drop|Big Bang]] Two. Geronimo indeed.}} <!-- Amy was Only Mostly Dead, but still clinically dead for a few minutes, so it's not this trope. -->
** In "The Doctor's Daughter" {{spoiler|Jenny takes a bullet for the Doctor near the end of the episode. After the Doctor has accepted that she won't regenerate, he leaves her body with her fellow soldiers and goes off in the TARDIS. Suddenly she pops back to life, apparently none the worse for wear (seemingly due to the [[Terraforming]] process that was still ongoing), and takes off in a stolen spaceship ([[Like Father, Like Son|like father like daughter, apparently]]). The Doctor, however, is unaware that she came back to life.}}
** Technically, whenever the Doctor is about to regenerate in front of a companion who doesn't know what he's about to do counts, as they have no idea he's going to be alright, if a bit different.
*** The same applies to Jack Harkness. {{spoiler|And that guy from US Torchwood.}}
** "Let's Kill Hitler" plays this trope straight. The 11th Doctor has been poisoned by a brainwashed {{spoiler|River Song}} to the point of no regeneration. After he's died, {{spoiler|River redeems herself by sacrificing her regenerations}} to bring the Doctor back to life.
* In ''Kamen Rider Dragon Knight'' the term venting is used to describe the disintegration of the losing Rider at the end of a battle. By saying that the Riders were trapped in a void instead of dead, it enabled lost Riders to be pulled back in for the climactic battle at the end of the series.
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=== Music ===
* The 19th century Irish comic ballad ''Finnegan's Wake'' (which also provided inspiration for [[Finnegans Wake|James Joyce's novel of the same name]]) is about an Dublin worker named Tim Finnegan who resurrects at his funeral after some whiskey ([[Rule of Symbolism|Water of Life in Irish]]) pours over him by mistake.
 
 
=== Music Videos ===
* A rather nasty example comes in [[Michael Jackson]]'s ''Ghosts''. His hero, Maestro, asks the mob of kids and grown-ups (the latter wanted to run him out of town) if they still want him to leave; while only the evil mayor does, Maestro agrees to go and smashes himself into the floor, crumbling into dust before the horrified crowd's eyes and reducing one of the boys to tears. The mayor is happy to be rid of him and makes to leave, but then the Maestro (in his ghoul form) appears as a giant face in the doorway, and the mayor runs away screaming, smashing through a window. Turns out Maestro just wanted to scare everybody, and the crowd is happy... except for viewers who realize the [[Fridge Logic]] that the mayor might be ''actually be dead'' or at least horribly injured, and that the hero traumatized everybody just to trick one person who (by that point) had a darn good reason for wanting him out of town—he'd been the victim of magical torture by the Maestro.
 
 
=== Myths & Religion ===
* Well, let's state the obvious. [[Jesus]] dies and comes back. Maybe it was handled in an incredibly gory and un-Disney like fashion, but He does come back. Twice.
** There are also less obvious miracles. Lazarus, Tabitha, and the daughter of Jairus were all resurrected, thus making their first deaths Disney Deaths.
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=== Newspaper Comics ===
* Just about every ''[[Spy vs. Spy]]'' strip contains this trope. A black or white spy gets killed every comic, only to make a return next strip to treat the living spy to a death of their own.
 
 
=== Radio ===
* In an episode of ''[[The Shadow]]'' called "The Blind Beggar Dies, The Shadow suspected that Spike and Marty were setting a trap for him, so he stood behind them and use "ventriloquism" to make his voice sound like it was near the door, tricking them into thinking that they killed him.
 
 
=== [[Tabletop Games]] ===
* In ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' and ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' this is basically what happens to the named characters in most narratives accompanying games - they are knocked out, sent through accidental warp portals, teleported away just before death, badly wounded but recovered by medics after the battle, temporarily banished to the Realm of Chaos or any number of fates that can be recovered from. It even makes it clear in the rules that casualties don't automatically equate to dead. When a character is [[Killed Off for Real]] it's usually a major event or storyline progression and doesn't stop them being used in historical refights, but this is strongly tempered with [[Status Quo Is God]] (as well as the fact that if the characters stay alive, people will [[Crack is Cheaper|keep buying the models]]),
 
 
=== Video Games ===
* ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker]]'' has this with Paz. Even though she was ejected from an exploding Metal Gear Zeke that she hijacked into the Caribbean Sea, Paz can still be seen in the Personnel files. Snake even hints at the possibility that Paz survived, as he noted to Chico in a briefing file that she took scuba gear with her when she was ejected.
** And Snake at the end of ''MGS 2'''s first act, Raiden in ''MGS 4'', as well as Big Boss himself earlier in the series.
* Near the end of ''[[Star Fox (series)|Star FOX]] Assault'', quite a few Disney Deaths ensue in the build-up to the final battle.
** Heck, just about every death in ''Assault'' other than {{spoiler|the Aparoid Queen}} ends up being this. Even {{spoiler|Pigma and Oikonny}}, who were seemingly [[Killed Off for Real]], came back in ''Command''.
*** {{spoiler|It should probably be mentioned that Pigma didn't exactly come back as a person, but more of some kind of mechanical, borderline [[Eldritch Abomination]] thing, and he seems to have died at the end of ''Command.''}}
* In ''[[Super Mario Sunshine]]'', the robot pump FLUDD is seemingly destroyed in the final battle, and guess what? He/she/it comes back.
** {{spoiler|The Lumas}}, and to a much lesser extent, {{spoiler|Mario/Luigi, Peach, and Bowser}} at the end of ''[[Super Mario Galaxy]]'', as a result of the universe being destroyed and recreated due to Bowser's galaxy collapsing.
* A largely ignored Robot Disney occurs in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. [[Talking Animal]] Cait Sith agrees to remain inside the [[Lost Technology|Temple of the Ancients]], 'solving puzzles' to make it shrink so it can be picked up and taken by the characters—naturally, this means anyone inside will be crushed. But Cait Sith is actually a robot, with a backup copy lurking nearby in case of disaster, which was why he agreed so readily (although his pre-death speech suggests he is genuinely able to feel sad about dying, even knowing a duplicate will come along). The temple shrinks, Cait is crushed, and 'Cait Sith Number Two' approaches, identical to the first - and naturally arrives at the worst possible time. It's been theorized that the game does this to increase the shock of the death of another main character later on. Note that this copy is not only at the same level as the one that just died, but also has all of his equipment, which is completely impossible.
** Completely impossible? When nearly all the armors and weapons can be found readily in stores? You may have a point about the materia, but presumably they removed it from him before he went in.
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*** In fact, despite the large number of [[Plotline Death]]s, only two characters are ever [[Killed Off for Real]]. Many of the others don't rejoin the party, but even the pair that gets [[Taken for Granite|turned to stone]] makes an appearance by the end.
* ''[[Final Fantasy VI]]'' also has one of these moments, depending on how you play the game. If the player decides to {{spoiler|kill Cid}} in the World of Ruin then {{spoiler|Celes will commit suicide by throwing herself off a cliff}}, an idea conceived after being told others had effectively ended their lives in this manner. However, {{spoiler|we find her waking up on the beach after having been nursed back to health by a bird!}} ...who just happens to {{spoiler|have Locke's bandanna bandaging it's wing}}, signifying there ARE others also alive after {{spoiler|the apocalypse of their world.}}
** Also, Shadow has one of these after {{spoiler|Kefka kills Leo}}. Rather than being unconscious, though, he's gone missing {{spoiler|(to the [[Disc One Final Dungeon]] to take on the baddies, even though he is injured, because he is a [[Badass]] [[Ninja]])}} and, since his dog Interceptor is injured, your party assumes he is dead. Serves as revenge fuel against the Empire, as if there wasn't already enough of that. Of course, he will {{spoiler|[[Killed Off for Real|die for real]] if you don't wait for him during the [[The End of the World as We Know It|Apocalypse]].}}
* A little over halfway through ''[[Chrono Trigger]]'', {{spoiler|Crono is killed off by an attack courtesy of the planet-destroying monster Lavos, leaving the game without its main character for an extended period of time. In the meantime, the remainder of the party sets to work on reviving him using judicious use of time travel and a clone won in a carnival game.}}
* In ''[[Shadow of the Colossus]]'', {{spoiler|the protagonist's faithful steed apparently falls to his death when a bridge gives out, only to return during the ending alive, but with a broken leg... [[Downer Ending|which is usually a death sentence for a horse anyway]].}}
** {{spoiler|[[Only a Flesh Wound|It's just a bad sprain!]] [[He's Just Hiding|Agro is fine, dammit!]]}}
* Subverted in the first ''[[Disgaea]]'', when the robot Thursday is saved by the ghost the main characters have put to rest... only to be immediately broken again by Flonne.
** Later, just before the [[Final Boss]], {{spoiler|Flonne is turned into a flower by Seraph Lamington for what appears to be an incredibly stupid reason.}} In some of the [[Multiple Endings]], this death is for real; in others, it turns out to be a Disney Death.
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** Also seen in ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'' with the same character. (Early game spoilers) {{spoiler|Shepard's ship is attacked, despite being in the "undetectable" stealth mode. Shepard gets the majority of the crew out alive but is unable to get in an escape pod before the ship blows, and then goes through the ship exploding, the space suit failing, and the massive heat friction endured by entering a planet's atmosphere. Shepard actually does die from the experience, but a certain organization from the first game invests a lot of time, effort, and a hell of a lot of money in restoring body and brain to life.}} It takes two years, but they do it.
* ''[[Kirby Super Star]] [[Video Game Remake|Ultra]]'' not only manages to retcon {{spoiler|Marx}}'s death into this trope but also uses it as the explanation for his power boost in the True Arena ({{spoiler|What's left of Nova merge with him.}}). And then he dies for good.
* Any time ''[[Mega Man X]]'s'' Zero gets blown to pieces. Don't expect it to last long. {{spoiler|Then he actually does get [[Killed Off for Real]] at the end of ''[[Mega Man Zero]] 4''.}}
* Speaking of, in ''[[Mega Man Star Force]]'', {{spoiler|Luna gets blown up and the next part of the game is focused on bringing her out of this state. It's played around with since the last entity that was fixed is [[Came Back Wrong|completely devoid of personality]], implying that or something worse might be Luna's fate. Of course, Luna makes a full recovery and is back to her campaign in the very next portion of the game.}}
** The credits show that {{spoiler|Ace is also alive and well, despite the whole self-destruct thing}}.
** Actually both cases are justified, {{spoiler|It is due to the brotherband between the characters and Luna that the power of the brotherband had helped save Luna. Ace became noise and he was sent to Meteor G by King. This lead to them getting his data and recreating him like Luna}}.
* Played straight and averted in ''[[Star Wars]]: [[The Force Unleashed]]''. Played straight when {{spoiler|the apprentice gets thrown out the window of a star destroyer}} and when something similar happens to {{spoiler|Rham Kota (sic)}} and adverted with {{spoiler|PROXY}} and {{spoiler|the actual death of The Apprentice}}.
* Done in ''[[Lufia 2 Rise of the Sinistrals]]''. Dekar, the world's strongest man, has an entire temple dropped on him, with a miniboss holding him with magic so he can't get away. He eats it, and comes back in the end, clearing a path for your dirigible to reach Doom Island.
** And then subverted in the ending, which hit [[Tear Jerker|especially hard]] if you hadn't played the first Lufia.
* In ''[[Snatcher]]'', {{spoiler|Metal Gear}} uses himself as a target for a [[Kill Sat]] beam. He comes back, but {{spoiler|in the form of whatever console the version of the game you're playing is on}}.
* The {{spoiler|Jumi arc}} in ''[[Legend of Mana]]''. ''In spades.'' You don't find out until the very end, though, by which point {{spoiler|they've invoked the sister trope [[Our Hero Is Dead]]}}. It's [[Player Punch]]-eriffic!
* The ''MassMouth 2'' [[Game Mod]] for ''[[Doom (series)|Doom]]'' gleefully parodies this trope, with nearly every major character returning to life at least once. Lampshaded in one boss fight:
{{quote|'''Linguica:''' You fag! I'll kill you for killing me!
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* Albert Wesker gets impaled and apparently dies on-screen in the first ''[[Resident Evil 1]]'', yet continues to operate from the shadows in later games. The on-screen death is sort-of retconned in the [[Nintendo GameCube]] version, but only after ''[[Resident Evil Code: Veronica]]'' was released.
** Ada Wong also "dies" in both of her scenarios of ''[[Resident Evil 2]]'', only to return to throw the player a rocket launcher during the penultimate battle. She lives on to be one of the driving forces behind ''[[Resident Evil 4]]''.
* In ''[[The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past|The Legend of Zelda a Link To T He Past]]'' {{spoiler|Link's uncle gives a speech about his and Link's time together before he passes out. During the end credits it shows that he's alive and well in the house}}.
** Well, Link ''had'' just {{spoiler|been granted unlimited wishes by the Triforce, and bringing his uncle back from the dead wouldn't be a surprising choice for one of them}}.
** Let's not forget {{spoiler|Midna}} in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess|Twilight Princess]]''.
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* In ''[[Portal 2]]'' co-op whenever one of the robots "dies" they just come back through a vent.
* Originally subverted in ''[[Fallout 3]]'' (Either you or a NPC had to die to finish the main quest), but the ''Broken Steel'' DLC changed this sacrifice into a 2 weeks coma.
* Gabriel Belmont from ''[[Castlevania: Lords of Shadow]]'' is killed by {{spoiler|Satan}} right before the final battle. His wife, Marie, resurrects him.
* In ''[[King's Quest VI|King's Quest VI Heir Today Gone Tomorrow]]'', {{spoiler|Alexander pulls this one off by [[Faux Death|feigning suicide via the heart-stopping powers of the "Drink Me" potion]], making him appear dead to [[Shapeshifting|Shamir]] [[Genie in a Bottle|Shamazel]] and the Pawn Shop Owner. While Shamir runs off to report to [[Big Bad]] Alhazred, the potion's effects wear off, and Alex revives to the owner's surprise and [[Honor Before Reason|explains the whole gambit]] for re-entry into the castle where Cassima is}}.
* In the first episode of ''[[Sam and Max]]'': Season 1, Max throws Jimmy Two-Teeth out the window to his (presumed) death. He later re-appears in their office unharmed.
** There's a much more notable example in the third season that's also a slight subversion. {{spoiler|In the final episode, Max becomes a giant monster and eventually has to be destroyed. Sam wanders around the city aimlessly mourning the loss of his best friend all the way through the end credits. Then suddenly, a Max from an alternate timeline (from the previous season) appears, and reveals that in his universe the same events happened although in his world Sam was the one that became a monster and died. This Max then takes the previous one's place. So although the Max of this world actually is dead, we technically still have him since the alternative universe is pretty much the same character with just a few slightly different experiences.}}
* Unless you screw up quite royally, this is Nanako's fate in [[Persona 4]]. If you do screw up, [[Killed Off for Real|well...]]
 
=== Western Animation ===
 
=== Western Animation ===
* ''[[The Smurfs]]'': At least two examples:
** "Stop and Smurf the Roses": Chlohydrous, annoyed at the Smurf's beautiful woodelf (and mute) friend, Laconia, sets out to kill Laconia by destroying her very life source: flowers. Indeed, Laconia does "die" after Chlohydrous casts a spell, growing sick as the flowers die off in groups. The other Smurfs do come to rescue Laconia (along with Papa and Natural), but even after they defeat Chlohydrous, it may be too late for Laconia. The other Smurfs prepare for Laconia's funeral, laying her on a lilypad ... but then, she is revived after Papa Smurf reverses Chlohydrous' spell.
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* Parodied in the [[Christmas Special]] ''Robbie the Reindeer in Hooves of Fire'': Robbie's mentor, Old Jingle, appears to die tragically [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|in his arms]]. Then Jingle starts snoring.
* ''[[Danny Phantom]]'' had the main character's destabilized [[Opposite Gender Clone]] die literally by turning into goo even after he used the antidote to cure her. Cue hero mourning over the bucket of goo, then her head pops out and eventually her whole self—now stabilized.
* In ''[[Invader Zim]]'', Zim {{spoiler|Throws piggies into the past to ruin Dib's life. Replacing the defibrillator with pigs appears to seal Dib's fate, complete with a flat line. Cue Professor Membrane fixing him, not only keeping him alive but provoking a [[We Can Rebuild Him]] moment where Zim's plan backfires.}}
* In the episode of ''[[South Park]]'' with the hippie music festival, the mayor shoots herself in the head when she finally realizes the gravity of her folly. She later reappears when they're using the giant drill with a bandage on her head, ready to take command at mission control.
** For some reason headshots are often non-fatal in ''South Park'': see also Bill Gates (shot in ''[[South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut|South Park Bigger Longer and Uncut]]'', reappears with a Band-Aid on his head in "The Entity"), [[Britney Spears]], the scientist in "Night of the Living Homeless", and of course Kenny.
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** In "Dude, Where's My Karma?", the kids thought Fred ate something poisonous, but turns out he was only sleeping.
** In "The Good, The Bad and The Goofy", Joe thought Sam and Fred drowned in a rapid river turns out they were alive.
* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' episode "One Fish, Two Fish, Blowfish, Blue Fish" Homer eats fugu which is poisonous if cut incorrectly. When Dr. Hibbert is unable to determine for sure whether Homer indeed ate toxic portions of the fish – he merely accepts the word of the sushi chef –  he tells Homer that he has 22 hours to live (24, minus the two hours it took to perform tests and contact the chef). Homer is left to make a list of things to do before he dies. That night, Homer falls asleep in an armchair while listening to the Bible-on-tape ... although with his head suddenly drooping and arms falling limp, plus a dark music cue to underscore the moment, the viewer is led to believe that he possibly did succumb to the poison. The next morning, Marge finds Homer and fears the worst when she sees him lying still in the armchair; she begins to cry and caress him ... only to touch his drool, which is still warm, making her realize her husband is still very much alive. Homer realizes this too when he is awakened by his wife holding him.
* One episode of ''[[Dragon Tales]]'' did this with a caterpillar.
* In the first ''[[The Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes|Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes]]'': During the first episode in which the Avengers fight [[Killer Robot|Ultron]], Ultron appears to disintegrate {{spoiler|[[The Mighty Thor]]}} during a battle, much to the shock of the other heroes. Actually, {{spoiler|[[Dark Magical Girl|Amora the Enchantress]] teleported Thor to Asgard less then a second before Ultron's beam could hit him}}. The next episode has the remaining Avengers hold a small funeral and swear to avenge {{spoiler|Thor}}, although {{spoiler|he}} returns well before the episode's end.
* [[Zig Zagged]] with ''Jaga in [[Thundercats 2011|ThunderCatsthe (2011)]] ''ThunderCats'' series]] Jaga. [[The Obi-Wan]] and [[Court Mage]] of Thundera, initially performs a [[You Shall Not Pass]], seemingly dying in the attempt, allowing Thundera's young king Lion-O and his allies to flee as the city is invaded by the forces of [[Big Bad]] Mumm-Ra. Jaga is soon revealed to instead be Mumm-Ra's prisoner, tortured for information on a mystical [[Great Big Book of Everything]]'s location. Mumm-Ra eventually forces the issue by performing a [[Your Soul Is Mine]], imprisoning [[The Disembodied]] Jaga in a [[Soul Jar]] that will lead them to the book. In a last-ditch effort to prevent Mumm-Ra from getting it, Jaga performs a magical [[Heroic Sacrifice]] that shatters his soul jar, dissipates him, and sends Mumm-Ra fleeing, leaving Jaga's allies to grieve his loss ''again''. Soon after, when Lion-O closely examines the book, it is revealed as [[Magitek]] that draws Lion-O's soul inside, where he meets Jaga, now serving as a [[Spirit Advisor]]/[[Virtual Ghost]]. When Lion-O asks if he's alive, Jaga gives an [[Cryptic Conversation|opaque non-answer]].
* Grimmel the Grisly, the [[Big Bad]] from ''[[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|''How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World'']]''. He plummets into the ocean after a fight with Hiccup while riding Toothless, he is presumed dead. He tried to drag Hiccup down with him, but mistakenly grabbed Hiccup's prosthetic leg, which Hiccup simply detached. A [[Karmic Death]] given how proud he was of his skill as a [[Dragon Rider]].
* In [[Puss in Boots (animation)|''Puss in Boots'']], Humpty Dumpty, appropriately, dies via falling.
* Grimmel the Grisly the [[Big Bad]] from [[How to Train Your Dragon (animation)|''How to Train Your Dragon: The Hidden World'']]. He plummets into the ocean after a fight with Hiccup while riding Toothless, he is presumed dead. He tried to drag Hiccup down with him, but mistakenly grabbed Hiccup's prosthetic leg, which Hiccup simply detached. A [[Karmic Death]] given how proud he was of his skill as a [[Dragon Rider]].
 
==Spoofs==
 
== Spoofs =Advertising===
 
=== Advertising ===
* A "[[Crosses the Line Twice]]" computer-add showed how horrible a businessman's life was before he got his new computer, including a staff member shouting "Business is terrible!" before jumping out though the window, and being called that his wife left him and his dog died. After he gets his computer, his wife calls him that she's back and the dog was pretending, and the businessman comes back in a wheelchair and bandages, saying how business is picking up.
 
=== Films -- Animation ===
 
=== Films -- Animation ===
* Near the end of the ''[[Animaniacs]]'' movie ''[[Wakko's Wish|Wakkos Wish]]'', Dot gets hit by one of King Salazar's cannonballs and [[Died in Your Arms Tonight|dies in Yakko's arms...]] then she says "I'm feeling better now" right when Wakko reaches the wishing star. Yakko says her acting lessons must really be paying off....
* ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' plays this straight... for about two seconds.
{{quote|'''Shifu:''' I'm ''NOT'' dying, you idiot!}}
** Before that, done straight for about two seconds.
 
 
=== Films -- Live Action ===
* Many characters in ''[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail]]'' receive what ought to be fatal blows, only to keep on coming. Most memorably seen in the Black Knight ("It's [[Only a Flesh Wound|just a flesh wound]]!"), but repeated in variations throughout the movie by other characters ("I'm not dead yet!")
* In ''National Lampoon's [[Loaded Weapon 1]]'', the Jon Lovitz character (modeled after the [[Joe Pesci]] character in the ''[[Lethal Weapon]]'' films) dies early on, only to return a few scenes later. When asked how he got back, he replies, "I thought this was the sequel!"
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'''Chosen One:''' ... oh. }}
 
=== Newspaper Comics ===
 
=== Newspaper Comics ===
* Done with bears in ''[[The Far Side]]''. In the middle of a funeral, the "corpse" sits up and berates the mourners, "I was hibernating, you idiots! Don't you ever check for a pulse?"
 
=== Puppet Shows ===
 
=== Puppet Shows ===
* In ''[[Muppet Treasure Island]]'', [[Tim Curry|Long John Silver]] tells Samuel Arrow, played by safety fanatic [[The Comically Serious|Sam the Eagle]], one of the boats may not be safe, and tells him to go out to sea to make sure it is safe. He then tells Kermit (The Captain) that he was lost at sea. He comes back some time later and tells Jim, Gonzo, and Rizzo "Not to trust that Silver fellow."
{{quote|'''Gonzo:''' Now he tells us....}}
 
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Disney Death{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Tear Jerker Tropes]]
[[Category:Action Adventure Tropes]]im
[[Category:Writer Cop Out]]
[[Category:Disney Death]]
[[Category:Alliterative Trope Titles]]