He's Just Hiding: Difference between revisions

But sometimes, the anticipated resurrection doesn't happen yet; the reaction to this forms this trope.

This trope is loathed by some, but thought of as perfectly normal [[Wish Fulfillment]] by others. Like most tropes, it's all in how it's handled.

{{examples}}

== Anime and Manga ==

* Alto Saotome, the hero from [[Macross Frontier]]. Movie-verse only. It is unclear whether the person died or survived, but at the end of the movie Ranka told a comatose Sheryl that she will wake up when Alto comes back. At that moment, Sheryl's mouth twitched and her earrings glinted.

* <s>Jiro Yamada</s> Gai Daigouji from ''[[Martian Successor Nadesico]]''; lampshaded with both an [[Identical Stranger]] and a subversion of [[Back From the Dead]].

** Naturally, in many ''[[Super Robot Wars]]'' games he really ''is''.

** The [[The Movie|live-action adaptation]] actually [[Sure Why Not|uses one escape theory]]: When Rem tries to kill L and Watari to save Misa, L actually escapes death -- because he'd already written his own name in the Death Note to die at a later date.

** And that's not to mention the [[Misaimed Fandom|deluded fangirls]] who are convinced that Light somehow made it. You know, despite having Ryuk write Light's name in his Death Note, just like he said he would in the VERY FIRST EPISODE, which is pretty damned final by the standards of pretty much everyone else.

*** Madara, too.

*** Turns out Madara is actually dead, since Kabuto revived him via Impure World Resurrection as well. Tobi was lying.

** Of course, he was then replaced in the second season with his twin brother who takes on the same code name. Though he doesn't mirror his brothers motivations.

* ''[[Gundam Seed]]'' had the planned death of Mu la Fraga, at the end of a season. Anyway, since fans were revolting, he was decided to be brought back, with amnesia. Even his lone helmet in space which was originally shown, was removed, to make his survival possible. The fans did it! (In 00 it didn't work, though.)

** And Sabo. Though other characters reported him as dead, the only evidence we've seen of it is a floating hat. No body, no proof of death, as far as Oda's verse is concerned.

** The Alabasta arc has two egregious examples of this. First, Igaram is caught in a massive explosion that converts a galleon to scrap-wood, mourned over for the entire arc, and then wanders back in at the end to be supportive. Even worse, Pell carries a bomb with a reported blast radius of five kilometers, which was supposed to kill every living thing in the capital city, high enough into the sky that it doesn't even char the buildings; he's not only caught in the blast, he's actively carrying the thing (and doing nothing to defend himself). After that, he must have fallen the, oh, ''three miles'' to the ground. He walks back to the capital on crutches, apparently with no permanent injuries, and in fact wearing the same clothes, which are hardly dirty. Both cases ruin a perfectly good [[Heroic Sacrifice]].

** Fans of Ulquiorra have even more to be worked up about now. [[Word of God]] pointed out in a recent interview how surprised he was by the worldwide [[Alas, Poor Villain|response to Ulquiorra's death.]] He refused to confirm whether that was the last of Ulquiorra.

** Gin Ichimaru is theorized to be alive by some based on his fan-favorite status, the fact that he was still alive when he was last seen (his last words in his head were "great, now I know I can leave things to him," but it's not made clear if he means he can trust Ichigo to take down Aizen after his death or after he's no longer in any condition to fight), and the fact that Orihime showed up just a few chapters after his apparent death. There's also the fact that after the saga is over, Rangiku laments that Gin is gone, but never mentions if he's dead or if Orihime ''did'' heal him and he just took off somewhere.

* The ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' fandom for ''[[The Movie|Conqueror of Shamballa]]'' has an actual ''holiday'' for when Alphons (Heidrich) dies. He gets shot in the back, but we don't see the shot actually hit him. They call it Denial Day, and it's November 8th (or 9th).

** And, of course, Maria Ross in the original series.

* ''[[Guyver]]'' fans keep hoping very much that Purgstall will come back from the dead. He was a commonly suggested suspect of Appolyon's idenity.

* Akai Shuuichi from ''[[Detective Conan]]'' is an interesting example. Immediately after his death, people declared him to be alive, due to the numerous inconsistencies around his death, as well as some notable differences between two shots of the body. Even though that, due to this, there was never much of a doubt in the community that he wasn't dead at all, there are a lot of arguments on ''who'' he is - is he Scar Akai, who looks just like his mirror image, but seems to have lost his memory? Or is he in fact the scary Okiya, who displays a lot of [[Red Herring|non-obvious similarities]] to Akai? Or is he even someone else? Only time will tell.

* A rare in-character one happens in ''[[X-Factor (Comic Book)|X-Factor]]''. Siryn is informed her father, Banshee, has died, and she just sort of blinks and goes on with her day, convinced he's not really dead because X-Men die and come back ''all the time''.

** Characters treat this as a bad case of denial, and so far Banshee has not come back after several years (several years in [[Real Life]], [[Comic Book Time|not in-universe]]), but in Siryn's defense, ''someone else in the room with her when she got the news had been presumed dead and got better''.

** There's also Gambit, who was [[Killed Off for Real]] but nobody wants to believe it, because he's [[Badass|GAMBIT]].

* [[Neil Gaiman]] knows this trope, to the point that he said the true revolutionary aspect of ''[[The Sandman]]'' is that when someone dies they are dead. Even if they get some new incarnation it is distinctly different, and pointed out to be so. This trope is also the reason he has been so enthusiastic about being offered the chance to write "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?", which, like how Alan Moore's "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" is the "last Superman story" before the retcons of Crisis on Infinite Earths took place, is the "last Batman story" for the retcons of Final Crisis.

* Despite being a minor member of ''[[Spider-Man (Comic Book)|Spider-Man]]'''s supporting cast and a normal human who died from ''a shotgun blast at close range'' at the beginning of a story arc titled "The Death Of Jean DeWolff", fans ''still'' refused to believe DeWolff was dead, and came up with all sorts of loopy theories as to why she wasn't.

{{quote| '''Molly:''' Chase probably saw the missile and jumped out of the way and then he... would... fall and then -- Old Lace! Old Lace would jump down a dinosaur jump and, and -- ...and she would grab the building with her claws and '''''SKREEEECH!''''' Save Chase from falling with her mouth!}}

** Not much later, Chase returns and says that that is ''exactly what happened''. Molly points out that this was exactly what she said, and asks why the others aren't [[Malaproper|awesomed]] by her.

** The strongest evidence supporting the theory that Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis are alive and well is in Chapter 1, page 25, middle-left panel. In the restaurant, two men are holding hands and are the focus of the panel. The main characters, Dan and Laurie, are in the background. Nowhere else are the main characters placed in the background while their dialog is the focus. The men resemble older versions of Hooded Justice and Captain Metropolis, assuming Justice is the strongman. A final detail is their bow-ties. Their ties have white markings on them, making them resemble domino masks. The waiter beside them is wearing a bow-tie as well, yet it is flat black. While the other indicators are rather vague on their own, the addition of the bow-ties seal it for some. There is no way, in a book whose art is so incredibly detailed, where everything has a purpose, that these men have bow-ties resembling masks by accident. And given that Hooded Justice and Metropolis died in ways that leave bodies difficult to identify, were gay lovers, and resemble the drawn men who steal the focus of the panel, it could be true. If you really want to get crazy, Laurie's dialog ("Me and Jon? Oh, yeah yeah, everything's fine. Couldn't be better.") that is present in the panel could be juxtaposed purposely with the men and the relationship of HJ and Nelly. Laurie and Jon's relationship is public, with no privacy, physical intimacy or affection, while HJ and Nelly's was secret and private, and the two men are obviously very intimate with each other. Or it's just a load of crap.

** Word of God, well one of the Gods (the artist) is that it's unintentional, but he likes the idea so [[Sure Why Not|why not?]]

** Aayla Secura, a very minor ([[Ensemble Darkhorse|in the films, anyway]]) Jedi killed onscreen during the Order 66 sequence, has attracted speculation that she may have survived. This in spite of the fact that the film goes to fairly great lengths to show her being shot [[In the Back]], collapsing, then [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|continuing to be shot for some time]].

** Similarly, Shaak Ti, another minor Jedi, has a habit of surviving not only situations that ''should'' have killed her, but also two that actually '''did'''. She was filmed dying ''twice'' in ''Revenge Of The Sith'', at the hands of both General Greivous and Darth Vader, but both scenes were dropped. She was last seen falling into a Sarlacc pit in ''[[The Force Unleashed]]'', and we ''all'' know [[No One Could Survive That]]...

** They've recently been killing off all sorts of characters. There's a whole genre of fanfic dedicated to Anakin (Solo) and Mara getting better. And many believe Luke's going to survive even into ''Legacy'', but for some reason he has to appear to Cade as a blue ghostie.

** The official ''[[Star Wars]]'' board had a joke movement saying that the background character [http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/San_Hill San Hill] is still alive and well because he is never shown being killed in the movie and his body isn't there after Anakin kills the Separatist council. [[Word of God]] by a continuity manager squashed this, though this doesn't explain the appearance of ''another'' San Hill in the same position in the game ''Force of Corruption''.

** [[Joss Whedon]] has said that this is what he fully intended the reaction to be, to an extent; he knew that the fandom would not react favourably to the death and in this way made the connection with the character all the stronger by proving that they were genuinely sad that he was gone.

** And then there's Data. It seems that every single Data fan has a fanfic detailing what happens after ''Nemesis'' to bring the beloved android back to life. Of course... he ''is'' an android in the first place and the movie did hint at Data's possible rebirth through his brother B4, so it's slightly more believable than a lot of other instances of this trope... even if it will never happen in canon (Brent Spiner himself has said he's getting too old for the role).

{{quote| '''McCoy''': He's not dead....not as long as we remember him.}}

* Harvey Dent/Two-Face in ''[[The Dark Knight]]''. He wasn't moving after he hit the ground and there was a funeral, but some fans say that they "saw him breathing" after his fall. The fate of the character was addressed in a recent interview where Aaron Eckhart revealed that Harvey did in fact die and that he had to ask the director if the character was really, truly dead from the fall. This, of course, has led to fans pointing out the [[Exact Words|possible loophole]] that while ''Harvey'' might be dead, ''Two-Face'' might have survived.

** A lot of the speculation was likely also because Heath Ledger's death left a void in what would (presumably) have been the main villain of the next movie, leading some fans to believe that Two-Face's death might be retconned even if it had been intended as final.

** John Krammer [http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/news/20075 is back in Saw VII/3D]. And, as the interviewees point out, he was filming new scenes. So it looks like he was, in fact, hiding.

** A fair amount of the fandom calls this on Flynn and/or Clu as well.

* Prince Charming was speculated to have survived the events of Shrek the Third by the window falling on him after the huge realistic prop tower was knocked onto him by Dragon.

** And, of course, Holmes himself, for some reason, actually is hiding.

== Literature ==

** Sirius Black. The denial of his death has become an international meme known as "Sirius denial". The name comes from one of the [[Epileptic Trees]] planted by the manner of his death - literally going beyond the veil separating the world and the afterlife, leaving him [[Deader Than Dead]].

** The death of Albus Dumbledore set off an equally large reaction, if not larger. This despite the fact that there were no less than three factors to the death, any one of which would have killed him on its own. Four factors, if you've read ''Deathly Hallows''.

*** Finally, of course, Dumbledore himself confirms that he's dead towards the end of ''Deathly Hallows''.

** Parodied in ''Deathly Hallows'', when Mad Eye Moody dies off-screen and the characters spend several minutes debating if he was really dead or not. Ron remains unconvinced even after Hermione pointed out that what would have had him survive, well, pretty much the same things that killed Dumbledore, required stunning leaps of logic. The nail in the coffin comes when Harry sees his magic eye implanted in Umbridge's door.

** And then there's Bran and Rickon, who really WERE just hiding after Theon apparently killed them in A Clash of Kings.

** Syrio Forel. Given how he easily disarmed several armed men using a stick and his actual death wasn't shown on-screen, some deny his death, even going so far as to claim he's actually Jaqen H'ghar. [[Word of God]] says he's dead, that men-at-arms are one thing and a well-trained Knight of the Kingsguard in full plate armour is something else entirely.

* Rudolf Rassendyll in ''Rupert of Hentzau'' (the little-known sequel to ''[[The Prisoner of Zenda]]'') is an early example of this phenomenon, as is Fuchsia Groan of ''[[Gormenghast]]'' fame. In both cases made particularly ridiculous by the fact that they had ''on-page state funerals''.

* [[Stephen King]] [[Hangs a Lampshade]] on this trope in ''[[Misery]]''. When [[Loony Fan]] Annie Wilkes finds out that Paul Sheldon killed off her favorite character in his most recent novel, she forces him to write a sequel in which Misery is shown to be still alive. When she reads Paul's first draft, which revises the ending of the previous book, she accuses Paul of [[Retcon|cheating]].

* Many fans of ''[[The Underland Chronicles]]'' refuse to believe that Twitchtip is dead, mostly because Gregor (and the audience) only found out about her "off screen" death through a bit of intercepted information. Some say she faked her death and is out running in the Underland somewhere while others say the rats were just lying to each other.

* Quite a few old-school fans of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] refuse to believe that [[The Thrawn Trilogy|Grand Admiral Thrawn]] was killed at Bilbringi, to the point that it's a [[Fandom Specific Plot]] that he survived his [[Bodyguard Betrayal]] due to armor embedded under his skin/nanites/[[Bizarre Alien Biology]], despite the fact that all media set past that point makes no sense if Thrawn lived. This plot featured in some of the "[[Fix Fic|Zahn fixes]]" that came up in reaction to some of the events in the EU. [[Timothy Zahn]] semi-addressed this in the ''[[Hand of Thrawn]]'' duology and ''[[Outbound Flight|Survivor's Quest]]''; Hand of Thrawn has a clone, the [[Big Bad Duumvirate|Big Bad Triumvirate]] creating the illusion that he was [[Back From the Dead]], ''and'' [[Homosexual Reproduction|Grodin Tierce]]. ''[[Survivors Quest]]'' just hints rather strongly and has Luke and Mara speculate that there was another clone.

* In ''[[The Dresden Files]]'' short story ''Aftermath'', this trope is invoked at the end, when Murphy says, "There's this voice inside me that keeps pointing out that we haven't seen a body. Until I have, I can't believe [Harry] is dead."

*** Of course, she has no way of knowing that he was resurrected less than an hour later.

* Weirdly inverted in [[Catch-22]]. Due to a bookkeeping error, Doc Daneeka is recording as having been inside of a plane that crashes. He's marked down as dead, and the administration refuses to correct the error, even though he is standing right in front of them, clearly alive.

** A more straightforward example is Orr, who is presumed dead when he disappears in combat, but has actually fled to Sweden.]]

* Most Fanfics for [[Bridge to Terabithia]] fall into two categories: "What '''If''' Leslie didn't die?", and " Leslie '''didn't die''', ''period''".

== Live Action TV ==

** Also confirmed in the more-or-less canon short story "Space, Time, and the Incurable Romantic", where Marcus is revived several hundred years later and lives happily ever after with a cloned Ivanova.

* In the first ''[[News Radio]]'' episode after actor Phil Hartman's death, his character Bill McNeal is said to be alive but hiding in an increasingly ridiculous series of stories by his friend Matthew.

** There are rumors on the internet that Joss Whedon intended to bring Tara back, but Amber Benson wasn't available. These rumors might be true. Amber Benson herself has stated that she wanted her character to stay dead.

*** The story goes that Whedon's idea for the return of Tara was that she would be one of the "ghosts" in "Conversations With Dead People", and would in fact turn out to be The First. After hearing the idea, Benson decided not to come back on 8the grounds that she felt it was a bit disrespectful to both the character and the Willow/Tara relationship.

** Janet, Martouf and Jacob Carter/Selmak are on a super sekrit mission together.

** Daniel Jackson died and was resurrected so many times he wouldn't stay dead even if he was shot in the face at point-blank range with an Asgard beam weapon. Fans don't even bother with this trope when he dies.

*** Done in universe by O'Neill when he refuses to have a funeral for Daniel after one of his many "deaths."

** Actually Tony's return was a bit of [[Fridge Brilliance]]. We never actually saw him declared dead in season five and, more importantly, there was no silent clock. Much lesser characters who died much less dramatic deaths got the silent clock so the fact that Tony didn't made many fans say right away that he wasn't dead and would surely be brought back.

* A version of this happens on ''[[Veronica Mars]]'' -- Logan doesn't believe his mother killed herself; he thinks she faked her death and ran away. Unlike most fans, however, he lives in the "real world", and after his last ounce of hope is stolen, breaks down.

** Michael and Jin were both on a boat when it exploded. The latter was shown to have survived in this explosion. The former's fate is still up in the air.

** But Jin was on the deck and could've [[Pun|jumped ship]]. Michael was next to the bomb when it exploded.

** Theories regarding Donna's Time Lord memories/self/whatever and how she can regain them are similarly endless.

** In the commentary for "Journey's End," producer Julie Gardner expressed her belief that Harriet Jones, former Prime Minister wasn't dead and had escaped through a trap door.

* Professor Maximillian Arturo was shot near the end of Season 3 of ''[[Sliders]]'', and his body was apparently obliterated by a [[Makes Sense in Context|pulsar]]. But, since there was an episode in Season 2 where the Professor fought his double, many fans speculated that the "real" Professor was still alive, and the evil Professor had travelled with the heroes for a year before being killed off. It also seemed possible that Jonathan Rhys-Davies would reappear as another version of the Professor.

** IIRC, many years post-cancellation [[Word of God]] finally stated that it was the evil Professor who slid (and died). Not that it matters now.

* In the [[Sherlock|BBC series Sherlock]] episode "The Reichenbach Fall" Sherlock jumps to his death from the top of St Bart's, but is almost immediately revealed to be alive as we see him at his own grave.[[No One Could Survive That|How he has survived this]] we still do not know.

** The same reaction, but earlier, came from Gabriel's death and is still quoted by many fans. The Pepsi commercials don't really reject the argument, nor do the constant rumors that the writers are trying to work out how to bring him back.

* An episode of the 1990s revival of ''[[Flipper]]'' featured a man convinced that his dead son was alive and would return home "soon". He went so far as to buy a present for each birthday his son missed, saving them all for the day the boy would come back. He was rather creepily casual about the whole affair, acting as though the fact that his son has been missing for years was absolutely nothing to be concerned about. Surprisingly for a family-oriented show, the son did not turn out to be alive and the episode ended with the man learning to move on.

== Theatre ==

* [[Phantom of the Opera]], even though technically, the phantom doesn't die at the end of the play, just simply disappears--this might actually be a literal example of this trope. Sure enough, numerous fic writers have him resurfacing to wreak more havoc in Christine's life.

== Video Games ==

* Aerith from ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''.

** What are you talking about? She was hiding! In [[Kingdom Hearts|Hollow Bastion!]]

** And in a similar vein, Zack Fair is totally in Hawaii. Just ask Rainbow Serenity.

* An extremely similar plot twist could be found in ''[[Phantasy Star]] II'', released eight years before ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]''. Female lead Nei dies halfway through the game and cannot be revived.

* Sam's daughter in ''[[Splinter Cell]]'' literally.

* Zero of ''[[Mega Man X]]'' was originally designed to appear only in the first game, and was killed off at the end. However, [[Ensemble Darkhorse|fans liked him so much]] that the developers decided to bring him back -- his recovery and resurrection comprises the entire plot of ''X2'', and all subsequent games featured him as a playable character. This would happen countless times over the course of the ''X'' series, even stretching to his own [[Spin-Off]] series.

** Notable in ''X 5'', which was meant to be the last in the series, according to creator Inafune. Alas, ''X6'' was created, in which Zero was literally hiding the entire time up until he returns from the dead.

* ''[[Devil May Cry]]'': Vergil's last [[Canon|canonical]] appearance saw him outright exploding. His sword and part of his powers were passed down to his spiritual successor in the fourth game, further indicating that he's probably gone for good. Despite this, some fans still insist that he's just hiding or 'in hibernation.' According to this theory, soon his consciousness will awaken within said spiritual successor, and he'll manifest as an energy-being, and then he'll get a material body again.

** Except DMC 4 made it clear that wasn't Vergil's body that exploded. It's was either his soul or a false body that his soul was trapped in.

* A fan theory exists in ''[[Fire Emblem]]: Geneaology of the Holy War'' that after the first generation was massacred, [[Action Girl|Ayra]] still lives and just wanders off to places unknown. Even after being rebuked at the sidequel (''Thracia 776''), whereas survivors of the massacre were gathered together and turned to stone, which may possibly include her. Fans still don't buy it and merely list her as "just wandering off". [[Ensemble Darkhorse|"Because she's just too bad ass to be turned to stone"]], or so they say...

** There's a similar theory for Gheb.

* Before the release of ''[[Persona 3]]: FES'', many fans claimed that the Main Character hadn't died in the end (despite the [[Cast From Hit Points|100% HP cost]] from The Great Seal and that he just fell asleep for no apparent reason...) Needless to say, they were all pissed off by "The Answer".

** The lyrics for the song "Memories of You" at the end of the game pretty much confirmed his death before FES was even in development.

** Big Boss dies again in MGS4, along with his comrades Eva and Ocelot. However, given these characters massive popularity, fan theories have cropped up by the hundreds claiming that all three are still alive and well and their supposed 'deaths' were just a way of hiding themselves from the various militaries and governments who want to abuse them.

** Solid Snake himself has this trope in an odd way... The ending of MGS4 pretty much outright states Snake will die and very soon. But, he doesn't technically expire within the game itself, leading some to assume that Snake lives on in spite of his body's decline.

* The initial teaser trailer for ''[[Mass Effect]] 2'' indicated that Commander Shepard, the protagonist of the first game, is considered killed in action. The fanbase immediately began coming up with explanations ranging from "Shepard is [[Faking the Dead]] to go undercover" to "Shepard has been [[We Can Rebuild Him|converted into a geth]]". [[Trailers Always Lie|Given that it's only a one-minute teaser]], of course, it was all a ruse, as Shepard dies at the start of ''ME2'' but just gets brought back to life two years (and four billion credits) later.

* ''[[Fallout 3]]'''s much-maligned "Good" ending results in your character's [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. It screamed [[But Thou Must!]] so hard the walls of the Jefferson Memorial should have exploded. Bethesda wrote the [http://fallout.wikia.com/wiki/Broken_Steel Broken Steel DLC] to fix their mistake.

** [[Navel Gazing|Even if we're not told they're dead, are they any more alive after 10 years of nonexistence?]]

** There's even more evidence in the words of Joshua, the [[Big Bad|Composer]], who states he's been well aware of Minamimoto's [[The Starscream|Starscream]] status the whole time but keeps him around because he thinks Sho's crazy betrayal plots are [[Magnificent Bastard|amusing]]. This suggests he left Minamimoto alive on purpose.

* Since almost every single recent ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' game ends with The [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] (or [[The Scrappy|Navi]]) somehow being irreversibly separated from the main characters, naturally fans keep coming up with the weirdest [[Wild Mass Guessing]], about how "Character X will return, because he/she is awesome enough to open the portal sealed by the gods/come [[Back From the Dead]]!!" Common targets of this brand of ''Zelda'' WMG are [[Twilight Princess|Midna]], [[Phantom Hourglass|Linebeck]] (who actually came back, sort of, in form of an [[Identical Grandson]]) and, the newest and yet ''worst'' offender, [[Spirit Tracks|Byrne]].

* Joe in ''[[Mafia II]]'', possibly because it was never shown that he was killed (or the acts of killing him), only implied.

* Duncan from ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]'' has met with this due to his death being, while strongly implied, not directly shown onscreen, and the player [[Never Found the Body|not finding his body]] in the Return to Ostagar DLC (despite them finding Cailan's, who would only have been a few meters away from Duncan, along with Duncan's weapons in the corpse of the last Darkspawn he killed). [[Word of God]] is that he is indeed dead.

== Webcomics ==

* Brian Clevinger, the creator of ''[[8-Bit Theater (Webcomic)|8-bit Theater]]'', was so annoyed by his audience's refusal to accept the death of Black Belt that he wrote a strip (entitled [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2005/11/10/episode-622-now-shut-up/ "Now shut up."]), just to permanently close the door on a persistent [[Epileptic Trees|fan theory]] on how he could be brought back.

** The reason for this is more that Frohman apparently went from living to dead ''without taking damage'', which can't happen in the game.

** It was so pervasive, that recently, a fan created a comic titled ''Concerned 2: A Concerned Ripoff-The Continuing Adventures of Gordon Frohman.'' In the first strip, Frohman was revived by ''[http://aconcernedrip-off.webs.com/apps/photos/photo?photoid=11205247 Reloading from the last checkpoint].''

** This differs from the norm for this trope in that nobody denies Miko is dead (OotS's format makes that impossible, as any character who dies has their eyes turn into a pair of "X"s), but many in the fandom expect her to come back anyway. But then, OotS ''does'' take place in a [[Dungeons and Dragons|world]] where [[Death Is Cheap|death need not be permanent]], and where coming [[Back From the Dead]] is so routine, the heroes have actually recommended imprisonment over execution for a recurring villain because they figured his eventual resurrection was more likely than his escape from jail.

** In the same vein, Belkar's predicted death has plenty of people wondering if he'll become undead or some kind of sentient construct, despite the Oracle's ramblings and direct statements. So not so much He's Just Hiding, so much as He Will Be Hiding.

** Earlier in the comic, Dave was originally intended to die in his first encounter with [[Satan]], but fan outcry meant an [[Author's Saving Throw]] in the form of a holy shotgun.

* ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' actually managed a kind of cruel subversion of this, even though it's an audience reaction trope. For years, the central cast was protected by [[Plot Armor]], so when it appeared that someone had finally very dramatically died for real, a large proportion of readers insisted that they were just hiding. However, when it was revealed that they were in fact alive, and further revealed just [[And I Must Scream|what state they were in]], some turned around and said it would be better if they ''were'' dead, even hoping for that to happen.

* Everyone thought Sir Reginald Derby had died in a colossal explosion of his landship but in fact he was seen to be [http://www.jaydenandcrusader.com/2010/11/01/page-172/ just hiding] in the wreckage

** A whole lot of people seemed to think that Jade's dreamself survived the destruction of Prospit, judging by fans' reactions to said event containing a whole lot of "ifs" in reference to her being dead. This was despite the fact that her dreambot was clearly shown being destroyed, and, you know, having ''a goddamn moon'' dropped on her. Thankfully, Andrew showed the corpse shortly after and clearly showed and referred to her as dead, putting an end to this. She came back anyway.

*** The Guardians gets hit hardest with this, as the Trolls who've died still are around in their Dream afterlife.

* In ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', if a character is designated to die, and people like him and refuse to believe that he's going to die, there's a special system designed to save them (albeit at the cost of one of your own characters).

** In v3 many handlers suspected that the characters killed off in the inactive clearing were still around Faking The Dead and plotting against the terrorists. However, this was actually proven to be canonical. In v4, some handlers have speculated that the STAR escape group did not die in a fiery boat explosion as the terrorists claim, but for now they're treated as dead by most people.

* Death in [[Red vs. Blue]] is rare, but on the few occasions that it's happened, the fanbase tends to react this way. In particular, regarding the deaths of Lopez, Alpha!Church, and the original Tex. The arguments for Lopez and Tex are fairly reasonable (Lopez did mention having backups, and it's never explicitly said the original Tex "died" anyway), but the justification for the original Alpha!Church are a little more contrived, especially because his death [[[[Word of God]] has been confirmed by the creators.

== Western Animation ==

** Played straight with Homer's mother, in her second appearance. She flies off a cliff in a prison van, and explodes. Homer then tries to find a hidden message from her in the newspapers a la [[A Beautiful Mind]], but he doesn't find any. Although, he did find something he thought was a message (I M OK), it just wasn't the lengthy and detailed one she'd really left. She's actually alive.

** Among the things that got fans theorizing otherwise: that Katara didn't use [[Forgotten Phlebotinum|(or even think of using)]] [[Chekhov's Gun|her healing water]] [http://mad-sniper.deviantart.com/art/Forget-Something-43181126 on his injuries].

** Believe it or not [[Draco in Leather Pants|Zhao]] often suffers from this. Apparently, getting dragged underwater by the Ocean Spirit [[Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?|he just pissed off]] doesn't count.

** Many think Combustion Man [[No One Could Survive That|survived]] ''blowing himself up'' just because we don't see the body directly, even though we ''do'' see his prosthetic arm ''falling into the abyss''. Just in case, [[Word of God]] has spoken to the contrary.

** All of this, incidentally, is [[Lampshade Hanging|lampshaded]] the ''hell'' out of in a [[Show Within a Show]] [[Recap Episode]], when Sokka complains about how ambiguous the portrayals of Jet and Combustion Man's deaths were.

** A very popular fan theory states that a small portion of Air Nomads and Airbenders mangaged to escape the Fire Nation genocide and went into hiding somewhere. This theory was confirmed only by a non-canon card game.

*** This even applies in-character; when Aang is told that the Air Nomads were wiped out, he is initially insistent that the Fire Nation could never have accessed the Air Temples, and suggests that they've been in hiding for the last hundred years. It's only when he discovers the remains of several Fire Nation soldiers surrounding the skeleton of his closest friend and father figure that Aang accepts that he is [[Title Drop|the last airbender]].

** Prime's death in the ''G1'' movie had such a profound effect, it actually caused an aversion in another Hasbro toy based movie; protests over it caused the creators of the ''[[G.I. Joe]]'' animated movie to turn Duke's death near the end into a coma.

*** Which is even more ironic when you find out that apparently, the idea to kill off the leader originally came from the guys writing the GI Joe movie. The Hasbro execs liked it so much [[Merchandise-Driven|as a way to clear old stock off of shelves]] that they suggested the Transformers movie do the same. Then the GI Joe movie got delayed, Optimus Prime died, and the rest is history.

*** This is also an in-canon rumor about the single, unnamed SAW Viper who notoriously killed four Joes before being hunted down by Snake Eyes in revenge.

* In the same vein as [[Draco in Leather Pants|Zhao]], [[Big Bad|Tai Lung's]] ambiguous fate at the end of ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'' has led to many, '''many''' a [[Fix Fic]].

** To be fair, [[Word of God|the directors' commentary]] made it clear that the makers never intended to reveal Tai Lung's actual fate. [[Obfuscating Stupidity|Whether this was a canny move on their part]] to prevent it being obvious he'd appear in a sequel will only be revealed in time. But with the exact words being 'Nobody knows what happened to him, it's just a mystery', they clearly don't mind if some fans believe he's only hiding, and may even be encouraging it.

* Thanks to his death occurring in a [[Gory Discretion Shot]], fans of ''[[The Lion King]]'' believe the villain Scar to have survived and is in hiding somewhere far, far away from the pride. The fact that he's a [[Draco in Leather Pants]] ''and'' he makes several cameos in the questionably-canonical animated series doesn't help matters any.

** Scar also had the trope similarly invoked on him in ''Kingdom Hearts II''. Despite his being dead, there were a few hints that Scar, even after his Heartless was defeated, still lived on as a ghost hive and later the Earthshaker, and he might have even created a Nobody of himself as the result of his transforming into a Heartless, going by several heavy implications of what happens to people when they become heartless. Plus, if what is implied to have happened to Master Xehanort/Terranort after Kingdom Hearts II is anything to go by, destroying both his heartless and nobody would most likely bring Scar back to life.

** As of the end of the series, he's still not back. But the above image, plus the fact that existing Transformer sparks can be transfered into the bodies of healthy protoforms, makes hope spring eternal.

** It doesn't help that Starscream's [[Back From the Dead|resurrections]] by an Allspark fragment opens the door to the possibility of it happening to others.

* The first episode of the ''X-Men: Animated'' series introduced the character Morph, only to kill him off in the first episode. This was supposedly done to prove to the audience that this show had balls. Apparently, his brief appearance made him popular enough to bring back in the second season, where it was revealed Mr. Sinister resurrected and brainwashed him.

* Some ''[[Winx Club]]'' fans believe that Nabu may still be alive. Since Morgana promised to look after him until he wakes up again, some think that he is just in a coma. The last two episodes still seem to suggest that he really is dead, though... [[Mind Screw|Maybe the writers put that line in just to confuse us,]] at least that's what I'm starting to think.

* This is what many [[Generator Rex]] fans prayed was the case with resident [[Ensemble Darkhorse]] Breach. Turned out she was just hiding. [[And the Fandom Rejoiced|And there was much rejoicing]].

** Though many fans heavily believe that the leader of G3 is in fact Lance's father. Even the episodes he is in highly suggest this.

* Batman seems to be the in-universe version of this trope in an episode of ''[[Justice League]]''. After Superman's is apparently vaporized by a massive energy blast, Batman is the only member of the League that seems openly resistant to the conclusion that Superman's dead. He searches for evidence to disprove it and even forgoes the funeral "because he's not dead." However, it's later shown that he was apparently just in denial, and in a heartwrenching scene, he finally comes to accept it. Of course, it turns out he had it right the first time.

** Of course, as [[Mock the Week|Frankie Boyle]] pointed out, [[Michael Jackson]] ''might'' have something of a hard time hiding out after his "death." B.I.G. as well.

*** In MJ's case the sheer amount of dedicated [[Promoted Fanboy|impersonators]] would probably get people to [[Cloning Gambit|assume]] he's only just [[Actually a Doombot|a really good tribute artist]] if he went out in public.

** The notion that Tupac is still alive was spoofed in a [http://www.comedycentral.com/videos/index.jhtml?videoId=71416&title=tupac-lyrics Chappelle Show skit].

** And then there is ''[[Bubba Ho-Tep]]'', where it was actually an Elvis impersonator who died. Elvis himself lived to a ripe old age.

** A Kit Kat advert from the 1990s showed a figure wearing Elvis' trademark outfit watching a news report about this trope. He eats a Kit Kat and says, in full Elvis accent: "I'm not dead baby, I'm just having a break."

* [[Bruce Lee]], according to some, faked his death in order to escape his rapidly ballooning fame, retreating into the mountains to meditate and train.

* Mitch Hedberg's death was questioned, due to the fact that his death was ironically announced on April Fool's Day.

* The Nation of Islam apparently believe that former leader Elijah Muhammad and founder W. Fard Muhammad aren't dead and have instead ascended on a high-tech craft [[Muggles]] refer to a UFO. Apparently in it, they can extend their lives well beyond 100 years...

* There were Nero sightings throughout the eastern provinces of the Roman Empire for about a century after his death, with people believing either that he had somehow survived, or had come back from the Elysian Fields to usher in a new age of imperial greatness.

* There are people who genuinely insist that JFK didn't die. Forget the fact that most theories regarding his death border on the insane, there are mountains of evidence (mostly logical and scientific in nature) that suggest that yes, JFK DID die on November 22, 1963. Not to mention that it would be pretty hard for the president of the United States to run away and live a normal life. Which makes me question why these people don't just latch onto the many theories regarding his death.

** Such people like to ignore the film footage WHERE HIS HEAD EXPLODES FROM A GUNSHOT.

* There are so many premature obituaries that [[The Other Wiki]] has a long article about them.

* This actually ''was'' the case for [[The Tourettes Guy]], who was largely believed to be dead for two whole years, even by the [http://www.thetourettesguy.tv official website]'s owner. The official website now claims he was in prison the whole time and [[Series Continuity Error|mentions nothing about the death rumors at all]].