Faking the Dead: Difference between revisions

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** Also happens in {{spoiler|Matsuribayashi-hen, when the [[True Companions]] decide to fake Rika's death so as to make Takano think that her research was wrong and give up on it, thereby saving Rika.}}
* Happens in ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'', where Enishi is forced to {{spoiler|kidnap Kaoru and fake her death, because Enishi can't bring himself to harm or kill any young woman, due to being traumatized by his beloved sister Tomoe's death.}} Enishi was ''very'' [[Genre Savvy]], though, so [[The Plan|he hatched a plan]] in base to this... and it worked ''horrifyingly well'' on Kenshin. {{spoiler|By making his [[Mad Artist]] henchman build a flesh mannequin looking ''exactly'' like Kaoru beforehand, kidnapping Kaoru, replacing her with said doll * and* impaling the mannequin to a wall with Enishi's sword before he leaves it for Kenshin to find, he pretty much [[Heroic BSOD|destroys Kenshin's will to live]] for quite a while.}}
* In the ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' manga, {{spoiler|Colonel Mustang helped Maria Ross fake her own death when she was framed for murder.}} It was pretty convincing, too--hetoo—he created a phony corpse with alchemy and burned it beyond all recognition, then faked the dental evidence to remove any doubt that the body was real. And, in case that didn't work, he asked the doctor in charge (an old friend of his) to overlook the possible mistakes.
* Occurs in ''[[Black Butler|Kuroshitsuji]]'', in which {{spoiler|Sebastian}} appeared to be deceased. {{spoiler|It was false, and Ciel, although aware the whole time, was dang convincing in his seeming grief}}.
* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', {{spoiler|Toguro faked killing Kuwabara by stabbing him just around the heart, barely missing it, in order to give Yusuke the motivation to defeat him.}} Kuwabara played along for the same reason, only revealing himself to have been faking after the fight was finished.
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* Rokudo Mukuro from ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]'' pretended to have suicided by shooting himself in the head. Turns out he shot himself with a special bullet that allows him possess others, and tries to surprise attack Tsuna using other people's bodies.
** {{spoiler|Future Tsuna}} also does the same thing, as part of the gigantic [[Xanatos Gambit]] that is the future arc.
* Once he learns that the Queen of Midland and her nobles want him dead, Griffith of ''[[Berserk]]'' blackmails Foss, the head of the conspiracy, into helping him set up a [[Batman Gambit]] involving [[Faking the Dead]] that ultimately leads to the Queen and her nobles being locked into a burning castle to die.
* Briefly in ''[[Darker than Black]]'': {{spoiler|When Hei was fighting Wei, he intentionally got his own blood on his mask and fell off the edge of a building. Wei smugly headed down to kill Alice and [[Hannibal Lecture]] Kirihara, and was rather unpleasantly surprised when the Black Shinigami [[Dynamic Entry|smashed in through the window, kicked him in the head]], and electrocuted him half to death through the blood he'd gotten all over the floor.}}
* Inverted in ''[[Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade]]'' where a witness to a government scandal is [[Killed Off for Real]] to guarantee she'll never be found by the opposition. As long as they believe she's still out there somewhere, they can't move against the protagonist's unit.
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* Laurie Strode [[Continuity Reboot|fakes her death]] after ''[[Halloween (film)|Halloween]] 2'' to escape her evil, murderous brother.
* In ''[[Bullitt]]'', the police investigation ultimately uncovers a mobster's plot to fake his own death and escape scot-free. {{spoiler|Johnny Ross embezzles money from [[The Mafia]], then cuts a deal with a senator to [[The Stool Pigeon|testify against the Mafia]] in exchange for a pardon and witness protection. Ross then tricks an innocent man into going to San Fransisco in his place, where he's killed by the mob hitmen sent to silence Ross.}}
* ''Extreme Prejudice'' (1987). A govt black ops team is made up of people who supposedly died in action or training accidents. Unfortunately they go up against a sheriff in the United States who can access military records -- thisrecords—this is something of a [[Fridge Logic]] moment, as a more plausible means of establishing deniablity would be to have the ex-soldiers [[Rogue Agent|fired under made-up disciplinary charges]].
* In ''[[Easy Money]]'', {{spoiler|Rodney Dangerfield's mother-in-law fakes her own death to trick him into changing his lifestyle in compliance with the terms of her will}}.
* In ''[[The Quick and the Dead]]'', this is done {{spoiler|by the Lady}} to gain an advantage on Herod, who cannot be beaten in a straight fight by anyone except for Cort, who is handcuffed most of the time and unwilling to kill except to save his own life.
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** Agent Fornell {{spoiler|faked his own suicide to find a mole in the FBI, and clear his own name.}}
** Agent Gibbs {{spoiler|faked being shot, as part of a sting against a crooked ATF agent.}}
* In ''[[Malcolm in the Middle]],'' Hal is recognized by a woman who thought he was dead. Years ago, he faked his death--involvingdeath—involving blowing up a phone booth--tobooth—to avoid repaying her the $400 he'd borrowed from her.
* In ''[[Babylon 5]]'', an entire ship of people was captured by the Shadows. The ones who agreed to serve them got this (the others suffered a [[Fate Worse Than Death]]).
* The [[Korean Series]] ''[[Shining Inheritance]]'' has the father, Go Pyung Joong, hiding after after a body found in a gas explosion is thought to be him. He did this to give his family the insurance money.
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* ''World of Warcraft'' has Feign Death as an ability of the Hunter class.
** Moreover, in classic ''[[EverQuest]]'', the Feign Death skill was the hallmark of the Monk class (though some other classes eventually received weaker versions of it) and was the most effective countermeasure for a number of the game's more tedious and frustrating [[Scrappy Mechanic|mechanics]].
* In ''[[Suikoden II]]'', the main character's not-quite-biological sister fakes her own death in order to avoid distracting him from his important task of ending a war -- shewar—she's tired of all the fighting and wants to leave the war behind, but knows that he'd never leave her alone if he knew she was still alive. All this only happens in the [[Multiple Endings|good ending]], however -- ifhowever—if you make even the slightest misstep, before ''or'' after her apparent "death", she was actually [[Killed Off for Real]].
* In [[BioShock (series)]] {{spoiler|Atlas is actually mobster Frank Fontaine who supposedly died in a shootout with Rapture police forces 2 years before the game is set.}}
* Solid Snake fakes his own death in ''[[Metal Gear Solid]] 2'', in order to escape being witch-hunted as a terrorist. Interestingly enough, he does this by dressing up the corpse of his [[Evil Twin|identical twin]] and presenting him to the authorities. Thus, later in the game, when the body is exhumed for a DNA test, it passes as genuine.
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** In Zeetha's opinion, however, this "perfect plan" [http://www.girlgeniusonline.com/comic.php?date=20050207 had a flaw].
* Renard/Reynardine in ''[[Gunnerkrigg Court]]'', as he phrased it himself, "[http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=107 had the perfect disguise]". Whether [http://www.gunnerkrigg.com/archive_page.php?comicID=57 this happened] mostly by coincidence or was planned by the mythological trickster himself is perhaps the biggest [[Flame War|point of disagreement]] in the fandom.
* In ''[[Beyond the Canopy]]'', Greliz and Jojo plan to do this as part of a confidence scheme. They organize a prize fight and serve as bookkeepers for the gambling. Their plan is to fake a fire before the fight ends, escape to the caves underground with all the gambled money, and then blow up the building after them--convincingthem—convincing all onlookers that they and the money went up in smoke.
* In ''[[Spacetrawler]]'', Dmitri uses holograms to make his attempted assassin (and the government that hired her) believe the assassination was successful.
 
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* The second season of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' ends with [[Healing Hands|Katara]] pulling [[Kid Hero|Aang]] back from the ragged edge of death after the latter was struck down by Azula. Come the third season premiere (three weeks of unconsciousness later)...
{{quote|'''[[The Smart Guy|Sokka]]''': Yep, the whole world thinks you're dead! (''stands up and raises his arms triumphantly'') Isn't that great?!}}
** There's also Zuko at the end of the first season--heseason—he survives an assassination attempt in which his ship is completely destroyed, but he and Iroh pretend that he did die so that he can stow away on one of the ships to the North Pole and catch the Avatar there.
* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Homer has a dummy of himself made and tosses it off a cliff into a river where it falls over a waterfall, has its limbs crushed by rocks, is attacked by beavers, and ultimately is sucked into a turbine while his coworkers watch in horror... in order to get out of an afternoon of community service. "Best 600 bucks I ever spent!"
** What makes the scene hilarious is the [[Comedic Sociopathy]] of it all: rather than thinking to ''help'' Homer, all his co-workers think that all they have to do is say "Oh no! He's hit the rocks!" "Don't worry, those beavers will save him." "Oh no! The beavers are taking his clothes!" No one thinks to, you know, move and ''help'' him.
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