Never Say "Die": Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

* ''[[4Kids! Entertainment]]'' became synonymous with this trope in the anime fandom.

** ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'': Like DBZ, almost every mention of death is switched out for "sent to the Shadow Realm" in the 4Kids translation. Which makes it sound even worse if you know the concept of Heaven and Hell and think of "send to the shadow realm" as a euphemism for "condemn to Hell" body and soul.

* [[Lampshaded]] in ''[[Clannad (visual novel)|Clannad]] After Story'': in a sexually G-rated series where married couples never kiss, rarely hold hands, and sleep in separate beds, it's a bit surprising when a main character turns out to be pregnant. When her father asks how she got pregnant, even suggesting the stork story, her husband wonders if she'll say it before she exclaims "we are doing dirty things!"

** In the dub she actually says verbatim: "We have sex, and sex makes babies!"

 

* In ''[[The Avengers (Comic Book)|Avengers: The Initiative]]'', this is specifically mentioned. Cloud 9 is shocked when she blows up an enemy plane, saying that "I mean in cartoons when that happens you see the guy bail out with a parachute..."

* In the ''[[W.I.T.C.H.]]'' comic book, the rather violent and quite graphic death of [[Big Bad]] Nerissa is described as her being "destroyed".

 

{{quote|"I'd say 'look after yourselves'," she remarked, "but given that you're all dead anyway, that seems a bit silly."

"We're not dead, we're battling evil in another dimension!" Sokka insisted.

"''And'' dead," Toph put in.}}

 

* The film ''[[Muppet Treasure Island]]'' [[Playing with a Trope|plays with the trope]]: Billy Bones' death after getting the Black Spot (a) is totally overblown for comedic effect, and (b) gets a reaction of "He's dead!? [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|But this is supposed to be a kids' movie!]]" along with, "Guys... we are standing in a room with a dead guy!" There's also a "character" (just a skeleton wearing a pirate hat) named Dead Tom (introduced in succession after Old Tom and Really Old Tom). This was taken further when a pirate is crying over a recently shot Dead Tom until another pirate patiently explains he was already dead. That's why he's called Dead Tom. The bereaved pirate unceremoniously drops the skeleton and moves on.

* This is spoofed in ''[[Looney Tunes: Back in Action]]'', where the villainous Acme Chairman orders one of his henchmen to "Destroy the duck! And when I say destroy the duck, I mean KILL HIM! Messily and painfully!"

* In ''[[The Warriors (film)|The Warriors]]'', the slang terms "waste" or "wasted" are always used instead of "kill" or "die." This was probably done to make the violence seem casual to the characters, rather than soften it for the audience.

 

* Subverted in ''[[Animorphs]]'', most notably in #22. Rachel initially ''wants'' to say she's going to 'destroy' [[Sixth Ranger Traitor]] David, but that's a 'weasel word' and she admits to herself (and the reader) that she wants to kill him. Badly. {{spoiler|While Cassie comes up with the only safe alternative to killing David,}} Rachel is stuck struggling with her violent tendencies for the rest of the series.

** Again subverted when a family of campers gets caught up in a battle between Yeerks and free Hork-Bajir, who have, until this point, stubbornly refused to believe that the battle was real no matter what evidence they'd shown. They'd ''appeared'' to believe, but we find that they didn't really get it until this scene happens: (Paraphrased)

** Also, assassins don't kill people. They are "inhumed".

*** That's really a case of [[Blue Blood]], because the Assassins' Guild is just too classy to say they kill anyone.

* Although this is averted in ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', which features death on a regular basis, there are a few instances when main characters are dying where death is referred to as "going to hunt with StarClan" or something similar for poetic effect.

** Similar to the ''[[I Love Lucy]]'' example above, the word "pregnant" is never used, regardless of how often characters have been pregnant throughout the series. They simply say "bearing kits" or something similar. This can be somewhat justified, because that could actually be how cats talk, similar to the series' use of [[Gosh Dang It to Heck]].

* From [[Jorge Luis Borges|Borges']] "Narrative Art and Magic": «Saracen historians, whose works are the source of José Antonio Conde's ''Historia de la dominación de los árabes en España'', do not write that a king of caliph died, but that "he was delivered into his final reward or prize" or that "he passed into the mercy of the All-Powerful," or that "he awaited his fate so many years, so many moons, and so many days."»

 

* ''[[Sesame Street]]'': Averted famously in the "Goodbye, Mr. Hooper" episode that opened the 16th season. Will Lee, who played longtime "Grandpa" figure and crumedgeony storekeeper Harold Hooper, had died in December 1982, while filming for the 1982-1983 season was still ongoing. The remainder of his episodes were aired in early 1983, after which his character is absent and no mention is made of either that or why he is missing ... the subject not dealt with until that fall. Several options on how to explain why Mr. Hooper was missing were debated, including him having retire and leave Sesame Street, before the definitive episode on explaining death to a child became the final product. [[The Character Died with Him|The producers decided to make it part of the show that Mr. Hooper died]] and, on the advice of child psychologists, they pulled no punches. Big Bird is told that Mr. Hooper died (not "passed away," not "moved on") and will not be coming back. Big Bird is confused and angry, and the adults (with actors not attempting in the least to hide their tears - many holding hands throughout) tell Big Bird that's it's okay to be sad and to miss him. One of the best moments in the history of TV.

** Also a [[Sesame Street/Awesome|Crowning Moment Of Awesome]] for the Children's Television Workshop and PBS, and a [[Sesame Street/Heartwarming|Crowning Moment Of Heartwarming]] for the show, [[Tear Jerker|despite the sadness of the moment.]]

* On ''[[That '70s Show]]'', they rarely said exactly what it was they were smoking, calling it "the stash" instead. In some cases it wasn't too awkward, such as when they were around adults.

 

* Similar to the Goonies example, [[Black Sabbath]] wrote a song insisting that you "Never Say Die," and named the album after it. Averted in which the title was not picked for the sake of euphemism, but instead, it is to give a message of optimism to listeners.

** ''[[Iron Savior]]'' would also like to remind you to "Never Say Die".

* [[The Cheetah Girls]]' song "Girl Power" contains a literal example of this trope, as the phrase "Never Say Die" is actually in the refrain.

* "Bronte" by [[Gotye]], about a friend's dog that had to be put down, never mentions death outright, [[Tear Jerker/Music|and it's for the better]].

 

* In the ''[[Mage Knight]]'' miniatures game, a critter is explicitly dead when its dial is turned and three skulls appear in its stat slot. In [[Hero Clix]], by the same company, there are no skulls - instead, three big red 'KO's appear, and the rules specifically refer to such as state as being 'defeated'.

* Kissing up to 1980s action cartoons, ''[[Cartoon Action Hour]]'' follows this trope with a capital N--unless of course, you playing [[The Movie]].

** This is because "destroy" is the term for sending a card from play to the graveyard via damage or "destroy" effects, and includes things that aren't alive such as enchantments and lands. There's no reason to create a separate term for the same game mechanic when it's applied to creatures. Traditional Planeswalkers meanwhile are incredibly difficult to actually kill, their physical bodies simply being a [[Fighting a Shadow|projection of their will.]]

** Recently changed in the ''Magic 2012'' expansion; while cards still "destroy" creatures, the creatures themselves are referred to as dying.

 

== Theme Parks ==

* At [[Disney Theme Parks]], it's mentioned that "Big Thunder Mountain Railroad" is haunted because it's built on a "sacred place" to natives. Obviously, an [[Indian Burial Ground]].

** That's strange, since at New Orleans Square they have an attraction whose very ''concept'' is death ([[The Haunted Mansion]])! And the theme song "Grim Grinning Ghosts" explicitly starts out with "When the ''crypt'' doors creak...."

 

== Toys ==

** Even ''HF'' seems to be veering away from this slowly.

 

* In the ''[[Halo]]'' franchise, Spartans are persistently rumored to be immortal as a form of psychological warfare against the Covenant, and to boost morale in the UNSC. Thus, even when they really do die, they are never listed as "KIA", only "MIA" or "WIA".

* In ''[[Soul Blazer]]'' for SNES, the characters repeatedly say people "passed away." YMMV, but the phrase "passed away" does not imply, "turned evil and got detonated by a suicide bomber."

* R. Scott Campbell of Interplay tells [https://web.archive.org/web/20130811171609/http://www.nma-fallout.com/article.php?id=60789 this story] of how a SNES game based on ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'' was originally rejected. Nintendo would not let them include the line "Nine for mortal men doomed to die". They seriously considered changing it to "Nine mortal men doomed to cry".

 

* A ''[[Bonus Stage]]'' episode in which Joel learns, from the book ''Do-It-Yourself Standards & Practices'', how to retool the show for a child audience, we hear this exchange (words in brackets being obviously dubbed):

{{quote|'''Phil:''' Wh--... what just happened?

'''Joel:''' It's been a week, dude. You came back from the [hurt] after I [destroyed] you and sent you to [Hades]. That stuff was, uh, cut... for, uh... time. }}

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* One of the oddities of language in ''[[Erfworld]]'' is the use of "croaked" instead of "dead" or "killed" (and "uncroaked" instead of "undead"). However, this is clearly done by the characters and not the author, because Parson ''does'' refer to it as death and takes note of how completely inappropriate death seems in this otherwise [[War Has Never Been So Much Fun|cute and cuddly setting]].

 

* An episode of ''[[Animaniacs]]'' has the Warners escaping from a boring man, exclaiming "Free at last, free at last, thank G-" at which point they are cut off by the man reappearing.

** Another episode featured Slappy Squirrel guarding the apple in the Garden of Eden. She claims she was given the job by "Mr. Big".

* Parodied in a ''[[Johnny Bravo]]'' episode; Johnny, as a superhero, saves a falling passenger plane... solely to eat the peanuts that fall out of it, then he tosses the plane beyond the mountains where it explodes in a fireball. Then the passengers' offscreen voices assure the viewer: "We're fine!"

 

* Note this quote, popular among some computer programmers:

{{quote|"C programmers never die. They are just cast into void."}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Cyclic Trope]]

[[Category:Censorship Tropes]]

[[Category:Children's Show Tropes]]

[[Category:Language Tropes]]