Not Quite Dead: Difference between revisions

** Don't forget {{spoiler|Guilford, whose mech for all intents and purposes was within the blast radius of a weapon that disintegrates everything in its path, yet lived to appear at Cornelia's bedside in the last few episodes.}}

** In a more extreme example, {{spoiler|Empress Marianne actually ''was'' killed, but managed to transfer her mind and soul to another person before her physical body died.}}

* This happens to Shuda in ''[[Rave Master]]''. While character in the manga do have a tendency to survive insane amounts of damage and be up and about as if it hadn't happened only two days later (which made it so weird when one of them actually did have to spend time in a hospital), cutting off your arm and falling at least 2000 feet into a forest is over the top. No explanation is given for how he survived too (not that one ever is).

* Thief King Bakura, from the final season of ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' gets locked in a tomb and supposedly falls into a deep dark pit... only to somehow escape and sneak back into the city.

* A footnote in one of the [[Ciaphas Cain]], '''[[Ciaphas Cain|HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!!]]''' books reveals that Cain has been listed as "killed in action" so many times that the Munitorum eventually gave up trying to keep track and decided to keep him on the payroll regardless - even long past his confirmed death, and burial with full military honors.

* In ''Hardwired'' by Walter Jon Williams, one character, Reno, is killed when his home is the target of a missile attack. He later makes a series of telephone calls to the hero. Turns out that he was a wirehead and was "jacked into the net" when the missiles struck. He spends pretty much the rest of the book as a disembodied mind, wandering around the equivalent of the Internet, looking at everyone's most secret files.

** In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''False Gods'', when Horus is felled by his injuries, the word on the ship is that he died; Mersadie and Karkasy go to see the arrival, and Karkasy notices that apocetharies are still tending him, so he must be alive.

* In the ''[[Dragonlance]] War of Souls'' novels, Tasslehoff's death is retconned with the use of a magical time-travelling device given to him by a god. He's cheated death many other times also.

* Voldemort, the main antagonist of the ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]'' books, blew himself up by accident a decade before the story begins, and only managed to survive as a soul because of {{spoiler|[[Soul Jar|Horcruxes]]}} .

* At the end of ''[[Matador Series|The Man Who Never Missed]]'', Emile Khadaji has zapped 2388 [[The Empire|Confederation]] soldiers (with paralyzing darts) before they found out who he was and [[Never Found the Body|imploded his hideout]]. And then they found he'd used ''exactly'' 2388 darts. The commanding officer is not pleased, because he knows this one-shot-one-paralyzed soldier legend will be a headache for the Confederation, but at least they've killed him. And then the narrative finishes:

{{quote|And, of course, Over-Befalhavare Venture didn't know the half of it.}}

* During the course of ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', several of the major characters are thought to be dead at one point or another—and some come a lot closer than others. But the [[Big Bad]] of the series, Sauron, actually ''does'' get killed off, several thousand years before the series begins. But he doesn't stay dead, because he has the One Ring as his [[Soul Jar]].

** If you include the First Age and the Second Age, it happens to Sauron often enough to border on [[Joker Immunity]].

* The ''[[Shadowrun]]'' 4th Edition handbook advocates gamemasters using this trope:

{{quote|"In general, if you as the gamemaster aren't ready for a [villain] to die yet, you should exploit any opportunity to cast doubt on the certainty of doom. ... As the old movie trope goes, if the heroes can't find the body, then the villain isn't necessarily dead."}}

** Of course, in 3.5 the lost level is a problem, as is the cost. Low level Resurrections require an intact, fresh body and several thousand gold worth of Diamonds, higher level spells have an even heftier pricetag. And if the DM wants you to stay dead, then there are ways to make sure that dead you stay. Such methods include certain abilities and spells that prevent a characters resurrection by anything but Miracle/Wish, and even then only with a 50% success rate; making it so that the character doesn't want to come back (Resurrection spells can only pull back someone willing); trapping or outright destroying the soul; animating the body as an undead which limits what will raise the character to the highest spells possible unless the undead can be destroyed; and more.

** In D&D 4th edition several epic destinies have level 30 powers that cause a "dead" character to get back up there next turn/at the end of the fight/the next day.

*** Which was re-retconned in ''[[Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles]]'' as showing Wesker being impaled by the Tyrant, rising from the dead as a superhuman, and being highly pissed the place was about to blow.

*** Also in the original ''[[Resident Evil 1]]'', if certain conditions were met, instead of Wekser being killed by the Tyrant, you can find his body decapitated by a Chimera in the self destruct control room. The Battle Game in the Saturn version even had a zombie Wesker. Seems he was going to be [[Killed Off for Real]] but Capcom changed their mind and saved that for ''[[Resident Evil 5]]''.

*** Even in that same game, about five minutes after this happens a shadowy female tosses down a rocket launcher to Leon while he's fighting the final boss.

** Jack Krauser in ''[[Resident Evil 4]]'' has this as well. It would appear that he was [[Killed Off for Real]] in the final battle with Leon, only for him to appear and be killed at least three more times in Ada's mini game that is taken as canon. Fans still believe he's alive.

** Perhaps a much stranger example from the second game is {{spoiler|the [[Companion Cube]]}}.

* In ''[[Super Mario Galaxy 2]]'', the final fight with Bowser seems to be just like the previous two fights, only with more attacks from Bowser. You beat him, he falls into the darkness, and he loses the Grand Star just like in his previous battles. {{spoiler|Before Mario can claim the star, Bowser quickly rises up and EATS IT, becoming more massive than he ever had been in his history! Epic battle ensues as Bowser tries to fly closer to Mario and punch him while Mario leaps from meteorite to meteorite and smashes Bowser with a few of them.}}

** In ''[[Mario & Luigi: Partners In Time]]'', Elder Princess Shroob is defeated, and turns into a mushroom. At the end of the game, she is eaten by Bowser, and the two become the final boss of the game before Elder Princess Shroob's spirit is finally destroyed.

** In ''[[Super Paper Mario]]'', {{spoiler|Dimentio}} seemingly blows himself up in what appears to be an attempt to kill one of the protagonists. {{spoiler|It turns out he was setting him up so he could possess him and become the final boss of the game.}}

* Happens in ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'' quite often. {{spoiler|Klo comes back from oblivion for no reason, as did Celesto who on top of a similar oblivion, escaped an alternate dimension that is normally unescapable. The Infernomancer also escaped this dimension after being banished there. The return of both Celesto and the Infernomancer is explained: when the souls of the Chosen were detonated by Karnak, it breached the planes, allowing them to return.}}

* [[Lampshade Hanging|Lampshaded]] in [http://www.webcomicsnation.com/shaenongarrity/narbonic_plus/series.php?view=archive&chapter=21513#80756 this] ''[[Narbonic]]'' strip.

* This is one theory among many as to how Oasis keeps returning from the dead over and over again in ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]''.

* ''[[No Rest for The Wicked (webcomic)|No Rest for The Wicked]]'': The Boy finds Prince Ricardo right after the "fall off the cliff" part. Not too startled when he surges to attack—then he is [[Fearless Fool|The Boy Who Set Out to Learn What Fear Was]]

== Western Animation ==

* Kenny in ''[[South Park]]'' does this often in Season 1, only to be killed seconds later.

** No Baxter Stockman? Its been lampshaded lots of times and he has practically died at least 5 times.

*** Done and averted in [[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles 1987|the 87 cartoon]]; Baxter was supposedly killed once. Later it became more of a running gag for him to get stranded and not killed. Even his last appearance had him in a fate worse than death: [[And I Must Scream|stranded forever in interdimensional limbo]]. [[Alas, Poor Villain|And he was pretty]] [[Jerkass Woobie|sympathetic, too]].

** Also, in the similarly non-canonical Treehouse of Horror VI story "Nightmare on Evergreen Terrace," Martin Prince falls asleep during class and is strangled to death in his dream by Groundskeeper-Willie-gone-Freddy-Krueger. As his body is being taken away, Martin reanimates into a crazed zombie and is about to attack Ms. Krabappel's class but is sedated and prevented from harming them. Groundskeeper Willie himself fits this trope, given it's a parody of ''[[Nightmare On Elm Street]]''. But Willie's death, reanimation and vowing of revenge are not even mentioned until after Martin's death and reanimation at school.

* Occurred quite often in ''[[Swat Kats]]'', especially in the season 1 finale "Katastrophe", where four of the major recurring villains are caught in a massive warehouse explosion. They all get better by unknown means.

* [[The Phantom Menace|Darth Maul]] has been revealed to have survived his encounter with Obi-Wan Kenobi and makes his debut in [[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]] episode "Revenge." But judging by the ending, {{spoiler|Darth Maul looks like he's here to stay for the next season.}}

 

** He also had his belly sliced wide open in a previous assassination attempt, eliciting a cry of ''[[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|"I have killed the Antichrist!"]]'' from his would-be murderer.

** [[But Wait! There's More!]]! It turns out that when they cremated his body, they forgot to cut the appropriate tendons in his body, thus, the heat caused them to contract, causing him to ''sit up''.

* [[Simo Hayha]]. Finnish sniper in WWII had over seven hundred confirmed kills of Soviets, 505 with his sniper rifle and two hundred or so by submachine gun. They tried everything up to Artillery strikes to kill him. He finally took a bullet to the jaw and it exited the left side of his face taking most of it. His buddies commented half his head was blown off. He woke up a few weeks later and lived to the ripe old age of 96, dying in April 2002.

* A famous case in Belleville, Illinois. A teenager was attacked by the teacher she was friends with (and may have been having a relationship with) who broke her neck and then strangled her with a belt before dumping her body in the woods. Thirty hours later, in a driving rainstorm, the police found her body. Only she had somehow survived (her attacker pleaded guilty and went to jail for 20 years). I won't name the people involved, but look up Miracle Girl.