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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"To die without leaving a corpse... that is the way of us Garo."''|'''Garo Robe''' ([[Last Words]]), ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
Something dies, as it is prone to do. After it takes its last breath, the body dissolves for no apparent reason. Often dissolves into smoke that wisps away as the body dramatically falls to the ground. Why this occurs is generally never explained and no character bats an eye at it happening. Often used in media to [[Family-Unfriendly Death|avoid showing the kiddies a corpse]].
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== Anime & Manga ==
* In ''[[
* Whenever anyone dies in ''[[
* Plenty of examples in ''[[
** Nephrite is probably one of the more well-known examples, although it happens constantly to both villains and heroes. The latter obviously come [[Back From the Dead]] in season finales.
** [[Averted Trope|Averted]] in the first season finale: When the [[Sphere of Destruction]] from Sailor Moon's final attack starts consuming the area around the Dark Kingdom, the bodies of the four Senshi are shown still laying in the same places they fell.
* ''[[Digimon]]'': The Digimon dissolve as soon as they die. Though occasionally they'll revert to digieggs for plot-related purposes.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh (
** Happens in ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!
** In the third season of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! GX (
** Worth noting that in both series [[Unexplained Recovery|they got better]].
* In ''[[
* The homunculi from ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (
* ''[[
** Whenever someone dies as a result of the HiME battles, the victim's heart stops, then their body's color fades, finally ending with slow dissolution into green sparks. {{spoiler|Haruka, because she's a [[Badass Normal]], simply refuses to "just die", preferring to get in a parting shot at Shizuru after [[What the Hell, Hero?|calling her out]] on her "disgusting behavior".}}
** In the [[Elseworld]] sequel ''[[
* The Zoanoids in ''[[
* {{spoiler|Carrossea}}'s body in ''[[
* ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[Dragonball Z]]''
** Goku fades away when he dies. Kami has taken it to the other world so that Goku can have his body in the afterlife for training. Otherwise, people usually stay put when they died.
** Later, when Vegeta [[Taking You
* Naturally shows up in ''[[
* In ''[[
* Anything that dies in ''[[
* In ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro
* [[Dangerous Forbidden Technique|Kira]] users in ''[[
* Late into the Magic World arc in ''[[
* ''[[Panty
* In ''[[
* This happens to {{spoiler|Nia Teppelin}} from ''[[
* In the ''[[
* When a robot dies in ''[[Casshern Sins]]'' it turns to dust.
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== Films -- Animation ==
* In [[Anastasia]], Rasputin's body turns to dust and blows away as soon as his [[Soul Jar]] is destroyed.
* The Rankin/Bass version of ''[[The Hobbit (
* In ''[[Sleeping Beauty (Disney film)|Sleeping Beauty]]'', Maleficent [[Scaled Up|becomes a dragon]], [[Impaled
== Films -- Live-Action ==
* In ''[[This Island Earth]]'', the Mutant dissolves after being killed. This is given a [[Hand Wave]] as its body being obliterated by the change in pressure as the ship approaches Earth.
** ''[[
* ''[[Star Wars]]''
** [[The Obi-Wan|Obi-Wan Kenobi]] in ''A New Hope''.
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*** An exception for the Sith is Darth Nihilus, whose body very visibly crumbles quietly away under his robes once the Exile turns his back.
* In ''[[Blade]]'', vampires collapse into ash when killed.
* In ''[[
** In fact, the comic comments on this when {{spoiler|Gideon Graves}} and those in the audience get hit in the head with the showering coins.
* In ''[[Elektra (
* ''[[Captain America: The First Avenger
* ''[[Harry Potter (
** This is how [[Big Bad|Voldemort]] dies in the [[Harry Potter (
** The movies apparently like this trope, if the deaths of {{spoiler|Professor Quirrell and Bellatrix Lestrange}} are any indication. Well, at least for villains. Good guys seem to leave behind bodies when they die (well, except for {{spoiler|Sirius}})).
* The standard fate for most ''[[
* This is what happens to {{spoiler|Darwin}} in ''[[X
* The probable first appearance of this in film (and the definite first appearance of the [[Stop Trick]] that enabled it) was in ''[[A Trip to
* In a new movie called ''The Darkest Hour'', the main "aliens" can shred a human body into dust in a slightly disturbing manner.
* At the end of ''[[The Rock (
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== Literature ==
* ''[[
* Likewise justified when embodied Auditors die in ''[[Discworld
* In the ''[[Dark Tower]]'' series, we meet {{spoiler|Father Callahan from Salem's Lot}} who finds that, when vampires die, they helpfully follow this trope.
* ''[[Star Wars]]'': in ''The Last Command'', {{spoiler|Joruus C'baoth's body is consumed by blue energy, presumably based on what appears to befall the Emperor's body in ''Return of the Jedi'' (especially considering the entire final battle draws heavily from the climax of that film).}}
* Justified in ''[[His Dark Materials]]'', where daemon bodies flash out of existence as soon as they or their owners die.
* ''[[
* In ''[[Dracula (
* Draconians in ''[[
* In ''Dragon Weather'', a slain dragon rots extremely fast. [[The Hero|Lord Obsidian]] notes that this is useful for making sure that a dragon is not [[Faking the Dead|faking]].
* In [[Robert E. Howard]]'s ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' story "[[
* The ''[[Halo (
* In [[Dean Koontz|Dean Koontz's]] ''[[Phantoms]]'', a small California town is [[Everybody's Dead, Dave|wiped out]] by an [[Eldritch Abomination]], but most of the residents are never actually found, having been eaten. The few bodies they do find suggest it's [[Nightmare Fuel|better]] that way.
* Almost every monster in the ''[[Percy Jackson
* This also apparently happens to monsters in ''[[The Kane Chronicles]]'', which [[Word of God]] confirms takes place in the same universe as ''Percy Jackson''.
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[The Invaders (TV series)|The Invaders]]'' is probably the most iconic series with aliens disappearing upon death. Note that they could inflict the same thing to humans with their [[Disintegrator Ray|Disintegrator Rays]].
* Lampshaded on ''[[
* In ''[[
** Averted in the third season episode "The Wish". Buffy kills a demon but it doesn't fade away and the Scoobies realise they'll have to bury it. Vampires, as Buffy notes, are so much easier. Stake, dust, no cleaning up.
** In "Hells Bells" a demon attacks Anya during the wedding and is killed by Buffy. When it refuses to go "poof" Willow suggests covering it with flowers.
** Also averted with the Master, who only partially dissolved, leaving a skeleton. Justified because, as an older vampire, he is significantly more powerful. (And it allowed a plotline for the second season premier.)
* Likewise in ''[[
** Except in episode 15 season 5, "The Day the Magic Died", all magic ceased to exist for a day, and the demon they killed left a dead body and green blood stains. They had to quickly hide it in a closet, until magic returned. [[Justified Trope]] in that it's explicitly explained that the demons deliberately set it up so that their body disappears after they die, in order to maintain [[The Masquerade
** [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in episode 8 season 1, "The Truth Is Out There and It Hurts": After a warlock from the future gets killed, he is sucked into a vortex of some kind.
{{quote| '''Prue:''' I love it when they clean up after themselves.}}
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** Also generally used and abused in ''[[Power Rangers]]'', where monsters tend to explode into a fine powder. But averted in ''[[Power Rangers SPD]]'', where the villains use mecha rather than growing, and as such leave behind scrap. One early episode featured the main characters assigned to cleanup duty, picking up the massive debris left behind by the giant robot fight.
** Semi-averted in ''[[Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue]]'' and ''[[Power Rangers Dino Thunder]]'', where exploding monsters do leave chunks of burnt meat, which the villains then juice up to [[Make My Monster Grow|ressurect them at giant size.]] When they get blown up a second time at giant size though, there are (usually) no remains. Also oddly inverted at the end of ''Lightspeed Rescue'', where Diabolico leaves behind an intact corpse for Bansheera to revive, despite his death exposion visibly reducing him to nothing but a wisp of smoke.
* In ''[[
* There are never bodies left to clean up aboard the ''[[Lexx]]'', because said [[Living Ship]] "absorbs" them (along with anything else it thinks won't be missed.)
* In ''[[
* Mostly averted in ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]''. While there are monsters that turn to dust or don't leave anything to prove they existed (especially ghosts), the Hunters know how to cover their tracks, and thus get rid of a body of a monster/demon they killed. Also they don't stay too much in the same place after the "job" for the missing person to be obvious or connected to them. A FBI [[Dying Like Animals|Bloodhound]] (note that this implies some greater professionalism than your typical province sheriff/cop they have to deal with) actually "tracks" the Winchesters for a year or so and all he can put on their record are some grave-disturbing crimes and murders on ordinary people they weren't responsible for.
* ''[[
* In one ''[[Series/Twilight Zone|Twilight Zone]]'' episode, three astronauts from a crashed space shuttle disappear one by one, and they [[Ret-Gone|vanish from everyone's memory as well]], except for the remaining astronauts until they disappear.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* In both ''[[
* Titanspawn in ''[[
* In ''[[
* ''[[
== Video Games ==
* Virtually every video game where you destroy and/or kill enemies has them vanish a short time after being killed. This is largely due to programming and performance issues, plus piled up corpses would get in the way of characters that can't jump or RTS units that can't just walk over the artillery riddled tank. Only aversions, subversions, and extraordinary genre examples or types of fade outs (smoke, liquid, etc.) should be noted here.
* ''[[Diablo (
* ''[[Resident Evil]]''
** ''[[
** The ''Resident Evil'' remake leaves behind killed zombies for good reason: Unless you [[Kill It
* In ''[[Crysis (
* ''[[Doom (
** Averted in the first two games, where corpses remain as 2D textures.
** Played straight in the third game, for the performance reasons listed above. Power gamers, annoyed that their rigs weren't being used to their full potential, rapidly modded the game to force bodies to stay put.
* Averted in ''[[Primal]]''. Corpses remain permanently, unless Jen is killed before passing the next Checkpoint. Then the corpse vanishes when its monster is respawned. There aren't enough monsters per area create an overload of corpses. Corpses also have energy for Scree to drain and may contain objects necessary to continue.
* Oddly, this happened more often as the ''[[Tomb Raider]]'' series went on, despite the technical progress; in ''[[TR 1]]'' and ''2'', enemies pretty much never disappear, ''3'' had them disappear after you had turned away for a little while, in ''4'' and every subsequent game corpses always disappear right in front of your eyes after a few seconds. However, ''Underworld'' has been confirmed to be averting this.
* In ''[[
* Since ''[[
* Both played straight and averted in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 4 Guns of the Patriots]]''. When killed, the elite FROG soldiers immediately dissolve into dust. However, when a normal soldier is killed, his body remains and must be disposed of to keep other soldiers from discovering it.
* Spaceship wrecks in ''[[Eve Online]]'' last for about two hours before vanishing.
* ''[[Baldur's Gate
* ''[[Golden Axe]]'' is possibly the oldest game that doesn't do this: in the arcade version, every enemy you defeat fades to gray and remains on the floor like that. In most ports, however, the enemies do disappear, probably because of memory constraints.
* The first few ''[[
* In ''[[Total Annihilation]]'', destroyed units leave behind beaten shape of themselves, blocking way for other units and fire. Fortunately, they are easy to destroy. Or they can be recycled for resources, but this takes a lot more time.
* Averted in ''[[
* ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]''
** Mostly played straight in ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
** Also, in ''[[The Legend of Zelda:
{{quote| '''Garo Master:''' Die I shall, leaving no corpse. That is the law of us Garo.}}
* Averted in ''[[No One Lives Forever]]'', because disposing of the bodies without detection is a major gameplay mechanic.
* ''[[
* ''[[Giants
* Averted in ''[[Thief (
* Played particularly bizarrely in ''[[
* Nonhuman enemies in ''[[
* Subverted in ''[[Vagrant Story]].'' On the island of Lea Monde, where the main game takes place, everything ''does'' fade as part of the black magic infiltrating every part of the ruins. In the prologue to the game, which does not take place on Lea Monde, the bodies of enemies do ''not'' disappear.
* Averted in ''[[Far Cry]] 2'', corpses tend to stick around until you leave the area far behind; then the area resets, removing corpses, replenishing supplies and guards, etc. The most obvious handwave is that the next patrol comes by, cleans up, and calls in reinforcements to restock the place, though you never see this happening. The game would quickly become [[Easier Than Easy|super easy]] if everything you destroyed stayed destroyed.
* Played with in ''[[Parasite Eve
* A weapon in ''[[
* Due to censorship, this is cranked up to eleven in the Australian version of ''[[
* Both averted and played straight in the ''[[
* Tank and vehicle hulls in ''[[
* ''[[Destroy All Humans!]]'' gives us the disintegrator ray and the Ion Detonator.
* Averted in ''[[Dragon Age Origins]]'', once you kill someone/something their corpse/skeleton will lay in the place you killed them for the rest of the game. Except for Abominations, they explode after you kill them, and Rage Demons and Shades, they disappear somewhere. Played straight in ''[[
* Whenever someone dies in ''[[
* In ''[[Alan Wake]]'', the Taken dissolve when they're killed. Alan gets freaked out by it.
== Web Comics ==
* ''[[
** [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0455.html Why illusions have to fall over the wall.]
** The Demon-Roaches disappear when killed, as seen [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0654.html in this strip], since they are extraplanar creatures from the Abysses.
* In ''[[
== Web Original ==
* In ''[[Darwin's Soldiers
== Western Animation ==
* In ''[[Justice League (
* ''[[
** The monsters explode when killed, and whatever debris they left behind quickly vanish. There is one enemy that does this a little differently. Creepers don't just explode, but also partially ''melt'' before vanishing completely.
** The heroes also disappear when "devirtualized". Of course, this is inside a virtual world.
* When Jaga dies in the first episode of the original ''[[
* In ''[[
{{reflist}}
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