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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Now, the only problem with the [Cowardly] Lion is that if he dies only once, he never comes back!"''
|'''[[The Angry Video Game Nerd]]''', review of ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]'' [[The Problem with Licensed Games|for the Super NES]]}}
...also known as Permadeath. Beyond [[Non
Note, this is usually separate from [[Plotline Death]] via [[Cutscene]]. No, you the player were either not good enough or not lucky enough. Hope you saved your game, unless the game doesn't let you do that.
[[Roguelike
This is a video game trope; the equivalent of this in fiction is [[Deader Than Dead]]. The inverse of this is [[Death Is a Slap
{{examples|Examples:}}▼
== Action Adventure ==▼
▲=== Action Adventure ===
* As mentioned by the AVGN, in ''[[The Wizard of Oz]]'', if the Lion dies, he's dead for the rest of the game.
** Not just him: Scarecrow and Tin Man too. Though you can pick up lives for all 3 of them, they are pretty rare in comparison to Dorothy's.
* ''Friday the 13th''. When they're all dead, "You and your friends are dead, [[Game Over]]''.
* The SMS port of ''[[
* The [[Buffy]] [[
=== Adventure Game ===
* ''[[Heavy Rain]]'' is a defining example of this trope: at several points throughout its plot, any one of the four playable characters can get themselves into a situation during which they can die. It's possible to survive the encounter every time it happens, but if they don't, though, they stay dead, and the game keeps on going. Two of them can't die until the final showdown, though.
** It's even possible to [[Kill
* ''[[Maniac Mansion]]'' operates on this principle, but since the only ways to actually ''die'' (being spotted just gets you stuck in a [[Cardboard Prison|Cardboard Dungeon]]) are either [[Guide Dang It|so convoluted as to be nearly impossible to accomplish by accident]] or [[Too Dumb to Live|require such a lapse of thought on the part of the player]], [[Subverted Trope|one might not even realize it until after a couple of plays through]].
** ''[[Zak McKracken and
* ''[[One Chance]]''.
=== Beat Em Up ===
* In the NES version of ''[[Double Dragon|Double Dragon III]]'', the player starts off as Billy Lee (and Jimmy if a second player is present) and gains two additional fighters (Chin Seimei and Yagyu Ranzou) after the second and third stages. The player can change characters once they gain the other fighters, but each of them has exactly one life. This can be problematic since a death during the first two stages means an instant [[Game Over]], and with all four characters shared by both players in co-op mode, an unskilled player will become a handicap if he wastes the other characters before his partner can use them. There's only one continue in the whole game and it's only usable after Mission 3.
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* The [[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]] Fangame ''Grief Syndrome'' starts with all five of the main cast, but if any of them die they're gone for good. {{spoiler|And if Sayaka dies before the final boss you're forced to fight her witch form.}}
=== Driving Game ===▼
▲== Driving Game ==
* If all of your cars are impounded in ''[[Need for Speed]] : Most Wanted'' or ''Carbon'', you must start your career from the beginning.
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* in ''Xpand Rally'', in case of a really disastrous crash the pilot can die and the career must. Obviously, restarted from scratch with a new one.
=== Edutainment Game ===▼
▲== Edutainment Game ==
* ''[[Oregon Trail]]''.
* This is {{spoiler|the entire point of}} Jesse Venbrux's ultra-short freeware game ''Execution''.
** To elaborate on this, You start the game looking at a man tied to a pole through your scope. Shooting him yields the message: 'You Lose'. {{spoiler|Attempting to play a second time starts the game with 'Your actions have consequences, it is already too late'. If you try to play, the man will still be dead.}}
=== Fighting Game ===▼
▲== Fighting Game ==
* In some deathmatch-style games, there may be options to give each player only one life per round, or use a communal batch of "tickets" that can only decrease in number. Neutralizing all the respawn points in "control point" matches can also cause enemy deaths to be final.
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* In the [[Fighting Game]] ''[[Weapon Lord]]'', you can continue after losing a match normally, like almost all fighting games. However, if the opponent defeats you with a [[Finishing Move]], you will not be given this chance, and you'll have to start all over.
* The manikins in ''[[Dissidia Final Fantasy]]''. While in the original game they were just Mooks, in the prequel ''Duodecim'' it's revealed that anyone killed by a manikin isn't revived for the next cycle in the [[Groundhog Day Loop]]. {{spoiler|This is why Lightning, Kain, Yuna, Laguna, Tifa, and Vaan weren't in the original. They got overwhelmed by manikins after closing the rift that they were spawning out of.}}
* There are no continues in ''[[Kinnikuman: Muscle Fight]]'''s arcade mode. The player has to beat every foe in a [[No Damage Run|No Continue Run]] in order to get the ending. If they lose a match, they get to see a shot of a burnt Choujin Prophecy page as the [[Game Over]] screen, meaning their character was [[Ret-Gone]] out of existence.
=== First Person Shooter ===
* ''[[Call of Duty]]'' series: Sometimes fallen [[Redshirt Army]] characters can be healed with medkits, but if their name turns red, they are dead for real. Inverted with major characters, who are invincible except for [[Plotline Death]].
* In the ''[[Rainbow Six]]'' game series, at least the PC games up to Raven Shield, if any of the named characters are "KIA"'ed during a campaign, they are dead for good, and you have to make do with the reserve agents.
** In later games, NPCs can only be [[Non
* ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' and its sequel has this for the finales. If a survivor dies in the final map, they are dead for good and get an honorable mention in the credits. The sequel does avert this if someone is carrying the [[Magical Defibrillator]].
=== General ===
* There were some old floppy-disk games where if your character died, the whole game would erase itself, ie game over forever, unless you shell out the dough for a new copy. Some online or downloadable games do this as well.
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** Any [[Arcade Game]]. Ever.
*** Unless you've got [[Bribing Your Way to Victory|lots of quarters]]!
** ''[[Wasteland (
** There's a game for Mac OS X (''[[Schmuck Bait|Lose/Lose]]'') that deletes a file in your Home folder everytime you kill an enemy. When you lose a life, the game deletes itself. Not only is it a
* This gets inverted in the MSX game ''[http://vault.digitalmzx.net/show.php?id=1273 The Short-Lived Adventures of Hobo Dan]'' - you can die as often as you want, but after you actually ''beat'' the game, it ''erases itself''.
=== Hack And Slash ===
* ''[[Diablo]] II'', already quite similar to [[Roguelike
** Quoth the game manual:
{{quote|
** ''[[Diablo III]]'' continues the tradition.
* So, too, does independently-designed ''[[Diablo]]'' clone ''[[
===
* There's a longstanding debate over permadeath in MUDs and MMOs. Most of these games have no permadeath and the trend has been in the opposite direction by increasingly making it so that [[Death Is a Slap
** In ''[[
** In ''ThunderDome'' MUDS, death from loss of Constitution below 4 resulted in permanent Condeath. The mechanics associated with aging made this inevitable, no matter how much Con could be bought back.
** Many roleplay-intensive MUSHes have a permanent policy on character death; one life, one death. This is more often determined by player agreements and/or moderator judgment than by game mechanics.
** LPMUDs have always averted this, but a player who chooses to retire a character may remain a ghost, removing themselves from play but retaining communication.
** Ultimate Mode in the MMORPG ''[[Shaiya]]'' allows you the most character points in the game, use of all the skills, and use of the best items. But if you die and are not resurrected within three minutes, your character is deleted.
** Some players of ''[[Dungeons and Dragons Online
* Spoofed in ''[[World of Warcraft]]'' with the April Fools Day announcement of Wisps as a new player race. They would have the ability to explode, permanently sacrificing the character in exchange for draining 50 mana from all units nearby (the ability wisps had in ''[[
* ''[[
=== Platform Game ===
* The true extreme is ''[[You Only Live Once]]'' a flash platformer which is [[Exactly What It Says
** In its sequel, ''The Execution'', the player commands a firing squad aiming at whichever between Pink Lizard or the hero had been arrested, depending on the ending gotten in the first game. Execute them, and that's it. They're dead.
** There is a much simpler way to restart the game, however.
** It may seem like there are a number of death sequences, but actually, the death scenes remain fairly static - the only thing that changes is the location and circumstances of your demise (which are sometimes alluded to by the paramedics). Otherwise, it's precisely the same sequence... unless you beat the game, in which case
* ''[[Mega Man X]] 3'' is notable for that. If you play as Zero and Zero dies, that's it, he's DEAD FOREVER AND YOU CAN'T USE IT ANYMOAR!! ...actually he is just "really badly damaged and therefore can't help you anymore", but the idea is still there.
** But you can
* In the NES ''[[Star Wars]]'' game Luke can collect up to 7 extra lives (as well as having 10 continues), but if either Han or Leia dies they're gone for good unless you have Obi-Wan in your party, since he can use the Force to revive them, but only about 7 times total.
* Survival Mode in ''[[Prince of Persia]] Classic''.
=== Real Time Strategy ===
* Many [[Real Time Strategy]] games have a kind of
** ''Lords Of The Realm 3'' is also notable, and along those lines. Aside from a few infinite [[Red Shirts]], all of your knights are actually drawn from a finite pool specific to the scenario you're playing. Knights are often able to retreat safely, rarely die even if felled, and high-tier or [[Hero Unit]] knights have a "luck" attribute that makes them even less likely to die in battle. However, if the knights ''are'' killed, or are captured and deliberately executed (as opposed to being honorably ransomed), they're dead for good. Killing certain knights is a victory condition in some scenarios.
* In [[Real Time Strategy]] game ''[[Sacrifice]]'', souls are essential for monster-summoning and, for certain sides, resurrection. Unfortunately the battlegrounds are giant floating islands, and if a monster falls off the edge, its soul(s) are lost forever. One particularly nasty spell cuts the ground out from under their feet. Conversely, one side's monsters can use ''friendly'' souls to [[Powered
* In the multi-platform game ''Cannon Fodder'', all of your troops only had one life. The more you killed, the more populated your graveyard would be with gravestones. Although the basic idea was that you'd be sending a few hundred troops to their deaths, it still stung when your current Lt. or General "Witty Name" got taken out by a spear trap.
* In ''[[Warhammer Dark Omen]]'' you are given a set number of regiments at certain points: Have one wiped out (as opposed to routed) and it's gone for good. (especially annoying with your [[Squishy Wizard
* ''Warlords Battlecry 2'' has an "Ironman" mode which deletes the save profile if the players hero dies. (Essentially the same as the Diablo example above)
* Some bosses in ''[[Patapon]]'' can perma-kill your soldiers.
=== Roguelike ===▼
* Closer to it are [[Roguelike]] games, such as ''[[Nethack]]'' and ''[[Angband]]'': If your character dies (and you can be ''very'' [[Everything Trying to Kill You|sure]] that [[Nintendo Hard|they will]]), ''your saved game is erased.'' Some versions of these games try to
▲== Roguelike ==
** The presense of
=== Role Playing Game ===▼
▲* Closer to it are [[Roguelike]] games, such as ''[[Nethack]]'' and ''[[Angband]]'': If your character dies (and you can be ''very'' [[Everything Trying to Kill You|sure]] that [[Nintendo Hard|they will]]), ''your saved game is erased.'' Some versions of these games try to detect -- and reject -- copies of the deleted save file, but most simply put in finger-wagging messages.
▲** The presense of [[Final Death]] makes roguelike games stressful, of course, but it can also make them more exciting: when the Ancient Blue Wyrm can actually kill your character off for real, the thrill of actually defeating it [[You Can Barely Stand|with a single HP left]] is indescribable.
* The "Gone" status from the classic ''[[
▲== Role Playing Game ==
** ''[[Class of Heroes]]'', a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[
** In ''[[Wizardry: Labyrinth of Lost Souls]]'', the character that you select as the "[[Main Character|Leader]]" is [[Plot Armor|exempt from this]], and will automatically be taken back to the Temple and revived with one HP if you party doesn't find a way to resurrect him/her before then. Created characters (or anyone originating from the Guild) can still be [[Killed Off for Real]] if you're unlucky.▼
▲* The "Gone" status from the classic ''[[Wizardry (Video Game)|Wizardry]]'' is just that: You tried twice to resurrect someone, and it didn't work.
* In most ''[[Suikoden]]'' games, someone's squad falling in a war can randomly result in either [[Non
▲** ''[[Class of Heroes]]'', a [[Spiritual Successor]] to ''[[Wizardry (Video Game)|Wizardry]]'', operates the same way.
* In the ''[[Fallout]]'' series, dead is dead when it comes to your companions (though as a player you can reload if you die). In this first game, this was baad news, thanks to [[Artificial Stupidity|your companions having no survival instinct whatsoever]] and they couldn't equip any armour. It's possible, but extremely difficult, to beat the game with
▲** In ''[[Wizardry Labyrinth of Lost Souls]]'', the character that you select as the "[[Main Character|Leader]]" is [[Plot Armor|exempt from this]], and will automatically be taken back to the Temple and revived with one HP if you party doesn't find a way to resurrect him/her before then. Created characters (or anyone originating from the Guild) can still be [[Killed Off for Real]] if you're unlucky.
** The 'Ironman' mode in Tactics makes reloading even more costly, as you can only save while in a BoS bunker. If a companion dies you have to make a hard choice whether to accept it as Final or roll back all progress before even setting out on the trip. If your main character dies, [[We Cannot Go
▲* In most ''[[Suikoden]]'' games, someone's squad falling in a war can randomly result in either [[Non Lethal KO]] or [[Final Death]].
** [[Fallout: New Vegas|New Vegas]] has ally permadeth only in "Hardcore" mode.▼
▲* In the ''[[Fallout]]'' series, dead is dead when it comes to your companions (though as a player you can reload if you die). In this first game, this was baad news, thanks to [[Artificial Stupidity|your companions having no survival instinct whatsoever]] and they couldn't equip any armour. It's possible, but extremely difficult, to beat the game with companions -- most can be left outside dangerous areas but keeping Dogmeat alive is very challenging.
* The RPG ''[[
▲** The 'Ironman' mode in Tactics makes reloading even more costly, as you can only save while in a BoS bunker. If a companion dies you have to make a hard choice whether to accept it as Final or roll back all progress before even setting out on the trip. If your main character dies, [[We Cannot Go On Without You|you don't even have that option]].
* In ''[[
▲** [[Fallout New Vegas|New Vegas]] has ally permadeth only in "Hardcore" mode.
▲* The RPG ''[[Vampire: The Masquerade (Tabletop Game)|Vampire: The Masquerade]]'' actually [[Trope Namer|uses the term "Final Death"]] as the only death that a vampire will not come back from. This is usually death by "Aggravated Damage" -- fire, sunlight, or getting mauled by another variety of supernatural critter.
▲* In ''[[Baldurs Gate]] 1'' & ''2'', whether or not party members can die the final death is configured by difficulty. On the "easy" and "normal" settings, dead characters can always be resurrected; on "core" and "hard" it's possible for them to be permanently killed if enough damage is done to them in one turn, or if an instant death spell is cast on them. As an exception to this, being the target of a successful disintegration effect or being petrified and then having the statue damaged will always kill a character completely dead, but petrification is at least reversible by applying a ''Stone to Flesh'' effect on the statue. And as an exception to ''all'' of this, having the protagonist killed or Imprisoned is an instant game over, even if you could have technically "gotten better" at the hands of your party members if it had been a tabletop game.
** You own un-resurrectability is justified: {{spoiler|Children of Bhaal instantly turn to dust upon death, their essence going towards fueling the resurrection of the dead god, as seen in BG 1's final cinematic with Sarevok. This still leaves a few strange issues, such as why it doesn't happen to Imoen as well, but those are probably just engine limitations.}}
** Also, if your love interest gets petrified or imprisoned in the second game, the romance is considered broken even if you do restore them afterwards. Guess they are angry about you letting this happen to them... :-)
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** In the demo there was only one way to get arrested: refuse to pay your fines and you'll get convicted. This is somewhat humorous since hacking into your ultimate employers computers (the titular Uplink corporation) would only get you disavowed. This is probably why it got taken out, along with the clash with the new identity never culpable theme.
* Anyone, save Welkin, Alicia, Rosie and Largo (who are all main characters and therefore have [[Plot Armor]]) in ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' will die for good if you don't get a medic to help them within three turns of losing the most important HP (or if the enemy gets to them first). Even during skirmish missions and side-story battles, they can still be killed permanently if you're not careful.
* In ''[[Sweet Home (
** To clarify, there were no reviving party member tricks, and only a limited number of inventory healing items throughout the game and one minor cleric.
*** And said cleric only healed status effects, not health.
* Unusually for what's essentially a [[Mons]] series, ''[[Geneforge]]'' does this with any and all slain party members in games 1, 2, 4 and 5. 3 has your [[
* ''[[Final Fantasy IV:
* In ''[[Mass Effect]]'', if Wrex, Kaidan, or Ashley dies in Virmire, they stay dead in ''Mass Effect 2'', they don't come back as a burn victim, they don't come back as a badass, they stay dead. And anyone who dies in ''Mass Effect 2'' stays dead, and won't come back in ''Mass Effect 3''. One of the endings even has Shepard dying, and if Shepard dies, you can't import that save for ME3. All of the above fall somewhere between this trope and [[Plotline Death]], since all deaths take place in cutscenes integral to the plot, but you can still affect some of them thanks to the non-linear story ({{spoiler|though either Ashley or Kaidan ''[[Sadistic Choice|must]]'' die on Virmire}}).
* ''[[Valkyrie Profile: Covenant of the Plume]]'' is partly merciful: just letting an ally fall in combat won't finish them off. Sacrificing their life through dark magic to increase your power? ''That'' means
* In ''[[Unlimited Adventures]]'' (based on ''[[Dungeons
** Death of old age is also fatal... [[Game Breaking Bug|to the game itself; it makes it crash.]]
* The [http://bulbapedia.bulbagarden.net/wiki/Nuzlocke_Challenge Nuzlocke] ''[[Pokémon]]'' runs work like this; if one of your Pokémon faints during a battle, it is considered "dead" and can never be used again. It must either be released or permanently placed in a PC box.
* The Flying Men in ''[[
* ''[[The Witcher|The Witcher 2]]'' has this for ''you'' on [[Harder Than Hard|insane difficulty]]. If Geralt dies, all your saves from that playthrough are rendered inaccessible and you must start over.
=== Shoot Em Up ===
* The ''[[Escape Velocity]]'' series has a checkbox marked "Strict" for character creation that will delete your character file if you die ingame. While you can eject from a blasted ship if you bought pods, you'll lose your current identity and fail all of your missions.
* In the original ''[[Star Fox (
=== Simulation Game ===
* In one of the [[Crack
* The ''[[Wing Commander (
* In the ''[[Monster Rancher]]'' games, your [[
* [[Creatures]] series embodies this - a creature, be it Norn, Grendel or Ettin, that dies, dies for good. There are ways to stall death indefinitely but once a creature dies, there is no way to reverse it. The game uses a save system that prevents simply reloading the game and injecting a [[Chemistry Can Do Anything|ton of various chemicals]] in the creature's system to stall death.
* In ''[[Shadow President]]'', depending on the actions that you take throughout the game, your advisors may resign due to policy disagreements, be assassinated, or be caught up in a scandal. These advisors do not come back, making your job as President very difficult, as they're able to provide many of the facts behind other countries including military capabilities, population statistics, and financial standings.
=== Sports Game ===
* In a non-death example, the latest ''[[Punch
=== Stealth Based Game ===
* The PSP game ''[[
** This is made more annoying by the fact that soldiers can die for good even with full LIFE - if they run too hard for too long without eating anything, their Stamina empties and they pass out - forever.
* And speaking of ''[[Metal Gear]]'': ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' includes the infamous torture scene, where Ocelot [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|goes out of his way to warn Snake that there are no continues]], and if Snake can't stand the torture and kicks the bucket, the game is ''over''. Of course, this is all there to give players an incentive to submit to Ocelot's torture if they can't keep up ([[Memetic Mutation|And don't even think about using auto-fire, or he'll know!]]), when the [[Multiple Endings|ending of the game]] depends on how well the player does at the torture scene.
* In ''[[Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
=== Survival Horror ===▼
▲== Survival Horror ==
* The relatively unknown PSX game ''Hell Night'' had you fleeing through an [[Absurdly Spacious Sewer]] with a partner. If the monster caught up with you, your partner would die permanently and instantly. You'd be on your own until you found the next one.
* ''[[Obs Cure]]'' gives your four (later five) characters to play as. If any of them dies, the game continues on without them, until [[Kill
=== Third Person Shooter ===▼
▲== Third Person Shooter ==
* In the first ''[[Star Wars Battlefront]]'' game, when using a Jedi Hero NPC, he respawns whenever he's killed... until your troop levels drop below a certain amount, at which point he'll simply fall down dead and stay that way.
=== Turn Based Strategy ===▼
▲== Turn Based Strategy ==
* In ''[[Tactics Ogre]]'', deaths are permanent, unless the character is resurrected during the battle in which they died. Note that the resurrection spell is not found until late-game and is very expensive [[Mana Meter|MP-wise]]. Few alternatives exist, and those are found even later.
* ''[[
** Various games in the ''[[Final Fantasy]]'' series have stages called "Jagds," which always lack some vital mechanic of the game. In ''[[
* In the ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' series, a slain character is gone for the duration of the game. Plot important characters are considered to have sustained a crippling injury so that they can never fight again (allowing them to interact with other characters during cutscenes), while lesser characters just simply die. (The ''main'' character's death will send you straight to [[We Cannot Go
** Both NES entries allow for limited resurrection: The first allows one character to be brought back near the ending of the game with the Aum staff, while in ''Fire Emblem Gaiden'' dead characters can be revived if you travel to a resurrection spring (which are often difficult to reach, involving multiple encounters). A dead leader still ends the game.
** The Aum staff returned in ''Fire Emblem: Mystery Of The Emblem: Book 1'' and ''Fire Emblem: Shadow Dragon'', both of these being remakes of the original game. It is not usable in ''Fire Emblem: Mystery Of The Emblem: Book 2'' however.
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** Characters who die in a chapter can be brought back by restarting the chapter of course, but the game (some of them, at least) will keep track of how many times each character died in battle, just to remind you how much you suck.
** The DS version of ''Mystery of the Emblem'' has a "Casual Mode" to turn off permadeath. Characters who die in battle will be usable again for the next battle.
* ''[[Critical Mass 1995 (
* ''[[Warhammer 40000 Chaos Gate]]''- once a Marine is dead, he's dead. You only have limited Terminators too and can't move them over.
* Unlike every other game in the series, the original ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' on the [[Game Boy]] has permadeath. It can get away with it because it has [[Excuse Plot|the bare minimum of plot]], compared to the series' modern trend of [[Massive Multiplayer Crossover|mixing tons of plots together]].
=== Turn Based Tactics ===▼
▲== Turn Based Tactics ==
* In ''[[Jagged Alliance]] 2'', ALL deaths are final. This ranges from a bullet, to a knife in the gut, to, in one frustrating example, an unlucky swimming skill check. Down to Davy Jones' locker, Ira!
* In the ''[[X-COM]]'' series you can hire recruits cheaply and easily. Usually most of them will suffer perma deaths before they're experienced enough to stop being [[One
* While not "turn-based", ''[[Ogre Battle]]'' is tactical, and sometimes, if a human dies, they ''permanently'' change class into an angel or a zombie. The angel's nice, but only happens to [[Game Preferred Gender|female]] characters who were extremely lawful in life. The zombie class can happen to any human, and is exceptionally [[Spoony Bard|spoony]]. (However, they could upgrade to a passable skeleton, only to turn into an even spoonier ghost.) In some games, there was a zombie dragon for dragons.
=== Wide Open Sandbox ===▼
▲== Wide Open Sandbox ==
* Likewise, ''[[Survival Crisis Z]]'' has Hardcore mode, where player death is final. Real Men play Hardcore.
** Your allies will also die permanently if they get bitten too many times, even on normal.
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* ''[[Minecraft]]'' has Hardcore mode where you are stuck on Hard difficulty and dying means your save for that world ''gets erased from your computer!''. Not recommended for players who want to build and/or explore.
** Terraria, the "Minecraft if it were 2-d and more combat based" game, has hardcore difficulty. If you die, the character you made is gone. As multiple characters can go through your worlds, it's not a total loss if you stored items regularly. You still lose that inventory and HP/MP gained on the character.
** ''[[Subnautica]]'' also has a hardcore difficulty setting where if you die, your progress is gone. To add some more peril, you are no longer informed if you're running low on oxygen.
== Non-video game examples ==
===
* In ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', Yusuke and his friends are forced to play in an actualized version of a video game titled "Goblin City" against a young kid known only as the Gamemaster. The Gamemaster takes the role of the game's final boss the Goblin King, not realizing that the Goblin King is killed off after the player completes the game, whereas the player can revive as many times as he wants since the game has unlimited continues. As a result, the Gamemaster dies for real when Kurama completes the final stage.
=== Fan Works ===▼
* Being ''devoured'' in the board game ''[[Arkham Horror]]''.▼
▲== Fan Works ==
* A particular ''[[Pokémon]]'' horror story features [[Yandere|Mew]] doing this to all its trainer's pokémon.
* This is the underlying point of the [[Nuzlocke Comics|Nuzlocke]] [[Self
* Draco Malfoy, acting on Voldemort's orders, attempts to destroy the ghost of Usagi Tsukino with a shard of stone imbued with the power of Death in the ''[[Harry Potter]]/[[Sailor Moon]]/[[Ranma ½]]'' crossover fic ''[[The Girl Who Loved]]''. He doesn't succeed, although he does destroy Nearly-Headless Nick and Peeves; in fact, his attempt ultimately results [[Nice Job Fixing It, Villain|in Usagi's resurrection]].
=== Film ===
* In ''[[Coco]]'' when a spirit is completely forgotten in the Land of the Living, they vanish completely in the Land of the Dead. It's even called the Final Death. [[Word of God]] says they end up in a more permanent afterlife.
=== Literature ===
* The novel ''Sword Art Online'' is about the world's first Virtual Reality MMORPG in which the creator tries to increase its realism by taking out magic and also adding the fact that if you die in game, your headset will microwave your brain making death final. The story ends with about 4000 people dying.
* Used in ''[[Otherland]]'' in a fictional MMORPG, where character death is permanent. After losing his high-level character due to the interference of the titular network, [[Serious Business|Orlando's driving goal is to find out why]].
=== Tabletop Games ===
* In ''[[Dungeons
▲== Tabletop Games ==
** There are ways around even that. An Elan ([[The Order of the Stick
▲* In ''[[Dungeons and Dragons (Tabletop Game)|Dungeons and Dragons]]'', the [[Final Death]] is that of old age. Any sentient creature, even if [[Deader Than Dead]], can be brought back by a ''true resurrection'' spell, unless dead of old age. Certain spells such as ''trap the soul'' can prevent resurrection at the GM's discretion, but using a ''wish'' to bring someone back to life can trump even that. Just make sure the wish isn't being granted by a [[Jackass Genie]]...
▲** There are ways around even that. An Elan ([[Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|no relation]]) has no maximum age. The Green Star Adept [[Prestige Class]] confers agelessness, although it otherwise isn't that good. And depending on the DM, "Reincarnate" might be interpreted as a loophole, as it explicitly creates a young body.
** Inversely, there are also ways of making sure someone stays out of the way forever, too. Certain spell effects or monster special attacks have a 50% chance of essentially destroying the soul of the victim as well, meaning that there's nothing to resurrect. Also, the spells for resurrection require the soul being brought back is willing so if they're happy being dead, then dead they shall stay, and finally, there are alternate rules for the DM who wants death to be a wee bit more enduring then a nap in the dirt.
** In the splatbook ''Tyrants of Nine Hells'' states that Lawful Evil souls end up as sickly, pathetic soul-maggots in the eponymous place. The devils can then legally torture those soul-maggots to extract some evil divine-energy from them. And after nothing is left, the maggot can be crushed for a last drip of power, this act remove said soul from the multiverse, forever.
** In 4th Edition, resurrection is handled as the person in question having an "unfinished destiny" and being able to come back. Thus, if the [[Game Master]] deems an NPC's death as [[Plotline Death|"important to the plot"]], then he won't be able to be brought back. PCs can always be brought back by resurrection spells, though([[Killer Game Master|unless the GM is a dick]]).
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Vampire: The
* You get three tries to bring someone back with the only resurrection spell in ''[[Rifts]]''. It's ''very'' high-level. If you fail all three times (you have a 45% chance to succeed), one other mage may make three attempts. If the other mage fails thrice, the dead person is gone.
▲* Being ''devoured'' in the board game ''[[Arkham Horror]]''.
=== Web Original ===
* The form without an option even to restart the entire campaign, seen in ''You Only Live Once'' or ''Sub Mission'' above, is parodied in a ''[[Cracked
===
* TV example, sort of: ''[[Captain N]]'' could survive death in the video game world a few times, but if his "extra lives" ran out, he'd "go to the big game-over in the sky" (Also a [[Never Say "Die"]]).▼
▲* The form without an option even to restart the entire campaign, seen in ''You Only Live Once'' or ''Sub Mission'' above, is parodied in a ''[[Cracked (Website)|Cracked]]'' Photoplasty. It's called the [http://www.cracked.com/photoplasty_381_22-terrible-ideas-that-would-have-ruined-great-video-games/ #22 terrible idea that would have ruined] ''[[Super Mario Bros (Video Game)|Super Mario Bros]]''.
▲* TV example, sort of: ''[[Captain N]]'' could survive death in the video game world a few times, but if his "extra lives" ran out, he'd "go to the big game-over in the sky" (Also a [[Never Say Die]]).
* The [[Avatar: The Last Airbender|Avatar spirit]] itself would suffer this if the current incarnation of the Avatar is ever killed while in the [[Super Mode|Avatar state]]. Otherwise it would just reincarnate into the next part of the cycle after his/her death.
* In ''[[Code Lyoko]]'', most of the heroes would not die if they were killed in Lyoko, losing all their life points would cause them to rematerialize in the real world. Aelita, however, was not so lucky for most of the show's run. Until season 4, she would cease to exist if it had happened to her, the reason the others tended to act as a [[Hero Secret Service]] detail for Aelita.
=== Real Life ===▼
* As near as we know, most living beings suffer this when they die. [[No One Could Survive That|Some have managed to survive events that by all accounts should have killed them]], [[Only Mostly Dead|there may be a window for revival]]; and it can be [[Reincarnation|subverted]], [[Back
▲== Real Life ==
▲* As near as we know, most living beings suffer this when they die. [[No One Could Survive That|Some have managed to survive events that by all accounts should have killed them]], [[Only Mostly Dead|there may be a window for revival]]; and it can be [[Reincarnation|subverted]], [[Back From the Dead|inverted]], or [[Afterlife Tropes|ignored]] depending on what you believe. This may become a [[Discredited Trope]] in the future as [[Immortal Life Is Cheap|technology improves]].
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[[Category:Video Game Difficulty Tropes]]
[[Category:Final Death]]
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