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{{trope}}
[[File:angel goku.jpg|link=Dragon Ball Z|frame|[[Death Is Cheap|This is from the second time he died.]]]]
[[Exactly What It Says on the Tin]]. May or may not herald a [[Downer Ending]]. This trope is an aversion of [[Decoy Protagonist]], [[Our Hero Is Dead]] and [[Not Quite Dead]]. May or may not be [[The Bad Guy Wins]]. Also note that the Hero doesn't have to die in order for the Bad Guy to win.
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'''<big>No, seriously, if you don't want to be spoiled,</big>''' '''''<big>turn back now!</big>'''''
{{deathtrope}}
{{endingtrope}}
[[You Have Been Warned]].
{{examples}}
== [[Anime and Manga]] ==▼
* In the finale of the first ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' anime, Ed is killed by Envy. Al, who is the new Philosopher's Stone, transmutes himself a few moments later to revive him.▼
▲== Anime and Manga ==
▲* In the finale of the first [[Fullmetal Alchemist]] anime, Ed is killed by Envy. Al, who is the new Philosopher's Stone, transmutes himself a few moments later to revive him.
* This counts for the second death of Yusuke Urameshi in ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', not in the beginning when he's [[Dead to Begin With]].
* Jonathan Joestar dies at the end of the first part of ''[[JoJo's Bizarre Adventure]]'', sacrificing himself to take Dio with him. It isn't until part 3 that we find out that his death was in vain, as Dio's head took his body and used it to revive himself.
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* Ash is killed by Shin's brother in the final chapter of ''Banana Fish''.
* Spike from ''[[Cowboy Bebop]]'', though he may actually be a subversion. While there's a boatload of evidence that Spike is walking up the stairway to heaven, [[Word of God]] is that Spike's status is completely open to interpretation.
* ''[[
** He didn't plan it from the very start of the series, but as [[It Got Worse]] and his actions caused or helped cause countless deaths, he has a [[My God, What Have I Done?]] moment and decides that the only way he can truly up for all the tragedy he caused is with his own life.
* Aya was ''supposed'' to die in the final episode of ''[[Weiss Kreuz]] Gluhen'', but a manga sequel was greenlit and they retconned it so that he survived.
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** Along with [[Everybody's Dead, Dave|the entire]] [[The End of the World as We Know It|human race.]]
* Though inconclusive, the nameless Gun God, the main character of ''[[Angel Notes]]'', which is part of the [[Nasuverse]], is possibly dead.
* In ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'', the titular Chrono's source of his powers is [[Cast
** The anime version still uses this trope, but in a different way - due to having used up so much of her life during the final battle, Rosette's life span is shortened to the point where she only has months to live. Rosette and Chrono both go into hiding, getting their own log cabin to live the rest of their short lives together in peace before dying. Leaving the series here would have made is a [[Bittersweet Ending]] - however, it's then revealed that the villain may still be alive after all...
* ''[[Phantom of Inferno]].'' In the anime, both Reiji and Ein die at the very last scene.
* ''[[The Sky Crawlers]]''. The anime film's Hero goes one-on-one with, and dies at the guns of, [[
* ''[[Witchblade (anime)|Witchblade]]''. In the anime, Masane performs a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to destroy the Witchblade and every single I-Weapon that crowded around her.
* ''[[Toward the Terra]]'' ends with [[The Hero|Jomy]] dying side by side with [[Anti-Villain|Keith]]. Except then there's [[Distant Finale|the coda]]...
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* Madoka from ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica|Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica]]''. Several times. She eventually manages to [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]].
* The main character in ''Millenium Actress'' dies after telling her life story in an interview.
* ''[[Kimba the White Lion]]'' has this happen at the ending of each of its adaptations with the exception of the [[Spared
* In ''[[Bakuman｡]]'' no one dies in the main story but, Nanamine's Classroom of Truth and the main characters' Reversi kill off their main characters. The former is a [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog]] example, in which even he fails to escape the survival tournament for his class. The latter combines is a case of [[Dying as Yourself]], and is seen in-universe as a fitting conclusion to the story.
* The manga ''[[Claudine]]'' finishes with the main character
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
* ''[[V for Vendetta]]''.
▲== Comic Books ==
* ''[[
* David Knight in ''[[Starman (comics)|Starman]]''. Not much of a spoiler, since he dies in the first few pages of issue 1 and the rest of the series is about his brother Jack's time as Starman.
* [[Blue Beetle]] in ''[[Countdown To Infinite Crisis]]''.
* Sgt. Rock is killed by the last bullet fired in [[WWII]].
* ''[[Sin City]]'' does this in two major stories and a few of the short stories.
* ''[[Ultimate Spider-Man]]''
* And now ''[[Hellboy]]''...
* [[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]], who died in his eponymous comic at the end of the [[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]].<ref>Well, for at least three years, anyway...</ref>
* ''[[The Death of Superman]]'' (sometimes called ''The Death and Return of Superman'') due to his coming back.
== [[Fan Works]] ==
* John Freeman dies in the final chapter of ''[[Half Life:
* The main character dies in the ''[[Pokemon]]'' fanfic ''[[No Antidote]]''.▼
* Ronan of ''[[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]]'' <ref>admittedly a [[Designated Hero]], but still the protagonist</ref> [[Death Is Cheap|dies three times during the story]], but it actually ''sticks'' when he dies a fourth time in Benji's ending.▼
* In ''[[A Sad Story]]'', [[Harry Potter]] dies.▼
==
* Ellen Ripley in ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]] 3''. [[Back
▲* John Freeman dies in the final chapter of ''[[Half Life: Full Life Consequences|Half Life Full Life Consequences]]''. He gets a [[Our Founder|statue]] out of the deal, and his son becomes president.
▲* The main character dies in the Pokemon fanfic No Antidote.
▲* Ronan of [[Naruto Veangance Revelaitons]] <ref>admittedly a [[Designated Hero]], but still the protagonist</ref> [[Death Is Cheap|dies three times during the story]], but it actually ''sticks'' when he dies a fourth time in Benji's ending.
▲* In [[A Sad Story]], [[Harry Potter]] dies.
▲* Ellen Ripley in ''[[Alien (franchise)|Alien]] 3''. [[Back From the Dead|She gets better.]] [[Came Back Wrong|Sort of.]]
* Neo and Trinity die at the end of the last ''[[The Matrix|Matrix]]'' film, though it isn't a downer ending, since he fulfilled his purpose successfully.
* Nada (played by Rowdy [[Roddy Piper]]) from ''[[They Live!]]''. At the end, he dies giving the camera the finger. Arguably a metaphor for the whole movie.
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* Lester from ''American Beauty'' tells us that he's dead in the beginning of the film.
* Ah Jong of John Woo's ''[[The Killer]]'' dies without fulfilling his promise to have Jenny's eyes fixed. The [[Big Bad]] is finished off by Inspector Li Ying, the other primary hero, but Li is arrested by his fellow officers afterward because he did it in cold blood right in front of them.
* ''[[300
* The captain, the sub, and a whole load of the crew in ''[[Das Boot]]''.
** In fact {{spoiler|the captain survives. We see him hurt, not dead, and according to [[Word of God]] he lived (and so did the real person he is based on).}}
* In both the book and the movie of ''[[Cold Mountain]]'', Inman dies after making it home to Ada and fathering a child.
* ''[[
* ''[[No Country for Old Men]]'', in particular the movie, takes full advantage of this trope. Not a [[Kill'Em All]], but definitely a [[The Bad Guy Wins]] and a [[Downer Ending]].
* The ''[[3:10 to Yuma]]'' 2007 remake ends with the death of the protagonist. ''After'' he had survived all the obstacles, too. Not a case of [[The Bad Guy Wins]], though, as even the self-styled heartless villain was touched by his [[Heroic Sacrifice]] and [[Determinator|stubborn determination]].
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* ''[[12 Monkeys]]''.
* ''[[Children of Men]]''.
* The Australian film ''[[Gallipoli]]''.
* Curtis in ''[[Operation Crossbow]]''.
* Possibly Nina in ''[[Black Swan]]'', who stabs herself with a mirror shard, thinking she has killed Lily, and completes the performance while bleeding profusely.
* Bruce Lee's character in ''Fists of Fury/The Chinese Connection''.
* [[Too Good for This Sinful Earth|
* Luke in ''[[Cool Hand Luke]]''.
* Professor Immanuel Rath in ''[[The Blue Angel]]''
* Donnie in ''[[Donnie Darko]]''.
* Rooster Cogburn dies of old age in the remake of ''[[True Grit]]''.
* In ''[[L: Change the World]]'', to capture Kira L writes his own name in the [[Death Note]], giving himself 23 days to live. The film is about how he chooses to spend them.
* In ''[[The Book of Eli]]'', Eli has succumbed to his gunshot wound by Carnegie and died upon reading all the contents from his memory of the King James Bible to Alcatraz press company.
* Firefighter Jack Morrison in ''[[Ladder 49]]''.
* Jack Sparrow, at the end of the second ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' movie. He gets better.
== [[Literature]] ==▼
▲== Literature ==
* [[Sherlock Holmes]] in "The Final Problem." [[Retcon|It didn't stay "final" for very long.]]
* ''All Quiet on the Western Front''.
* ''[[Dresden Files
* The novelization of the original ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]'', aside from many other differences from the plot of the anime, has Amuro Ray die several chapters before the end of the book. Despite [[Yoshiyuki Tomino]]'s reputation as "[[Kill'Em All]] Tomino", he said that he only did it because he thought it would be a single complete story and that if he had planned on making sequels from the start, Amuro would have lived.
* ''[[Nineteen Eighty-Four
* ''[[Outbound Flight]]''. [[Outbound Flight|Lorana Jinzler]] died in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]]. She was the only unambiguously good character in that half of the novel. The other major characters, who might be called heroes, survived—but Thrawn and Car'das and Doriana weren't entirely good people.
* In ''[[Firewing]]'', Shade the Bat kills himself in the Bat Underworld to give his son, Griffin, and his friend, Luna, life force to feed on and become living, breathing bats again. In the end, he still survives, but in the form of the foliage of the forest floor. When he's dead, he flies around the world and can be anything he wants to be.
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* In The Last Chancers last novel, Kage, possessed by a Slaaneshi daemon, decides to commit his first ever act of altruism and jumps off a cliff to his death, taking the corrupt governor with him.
* Parrish dies at the end of ''[[Parrish Plessis]]'', commiting suicide when she realizes even her [[Heroic Willpower]] isn't able to hold off [[The Corruption]] any longer.
* David dies at the end of the third ''Dragons'' book, ''Firestar,'' by Chris D'Lacey. Initially, this looked like it would be the end of the series, making it an unusually harsh ending for a book aimed at the 8-12 bracket. The series ''did'' [[Trilogy Creep|creep on,]] and David came [[Back
* Nathaniel dies in the third and final book of the ''[[The Bartimaeus Trilogy]]'', resulting in a [[Bittersweet Ending]], [[Tear Jerker]] and [[Heroic Sacrifice]] all in one.
* ''[[Uncle Tom's Cabin]]'': Tom is whipped to death by the plantation owner.
* Jerry Westerby in ''The Honourable Schoolboy,'' the second volume of [[John Le Carre]]'s ''[[The Quest for Karla]]'' trilogy.
* Speaking of [[John Le Carre]], Leamas in ''[[The Spy Who Came in from the Cold]]''.
* Antony and Galen in the second and third books, respectively, of Marie Brennan's ''[[Onyx Court]]'' series. Technically, all the mortal heroes of the series could count, as given the large time skip between books, the hero of the previous one is always dead by the time the next one comes around, but Antony and Galen get special mention for dying during their respective stories.
* In ''[[George MacDonald|Phantastes]]'', this is the ''happy'' ending.
{{quote|''I was dead, and right content.''}}
* ''[[The Boy in The Striped Pyjamas]]''; both Bruno and his Jewish friend Shmuel die in the concentration camp. The last scene focuses on Bruno's father, realising he [[Hoist by His Own Petard|basically caused his own son's death]], and crying.
* Elend
▲== Live Action Television ==
* Jack Shephard dies in the final scene of ''[[Lost]]'', and we even get to see him moving on to the afterlife.
* [[Xena]], after "dying" several times throughout the series, dies for the [[Killed Off for Real|final time]] in the series finale.
* ''[[Buffy the Vampire Slayer
** A minor example—in the [[Alternate Universe]] episode "The Wish," Cordelia Chase, the episode's central character and [[Be Careful What You Wish For|the one who wished the universe into existence]], is killed halfway through. The rest of the main character (besides Oz and Giles) are later [[Kill'Em All|killed in quick succession]] before the original universe is restored.
* When Flower died on ''[[Meerkat Manor]]'', the show was completely shattered. Next Generation with Rocket Dog just wasn't/isn't the same... She was their star and the pillar that held the show up.
* Victor "I don't believe it!" Meldrew was stuck down by a car in the finale of ''[[One Foot in the Grave]]''. Noticeably, the climax of the episode wasn't his death, but rather his wife's reaction to it.
* Nick Cutter is shot midway through the third season of ''[[Primeval]]''
* ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'' dies at the end of the third season, joining his wife Marian who had died at the end of the previous season. Despite attempts to set up for a forth season, the show was inevitably cancelled.
* ''[[Farscape]]''{{'}}s John Crichton (one of the twinned two, anyway) died a hero's death at the end of Season 3's two-parter ''Infinite Possibilities''. Luckily, there was a backup "copy" on Moya.
* In the ''[[Doctor Who]]'' episode "Turn Left", the Tenth Doctor is killed in the parallel universe created by Donna's mind after he floods an abandoned Torchwood base with him inside it, creating all sorts of chaos and havoc.
** In "Father's Day", the Ninth Doctor is consumed by [[Clock Roaches]] after Rose created a paradox saving her father. After her father fixes this error, he and everyone else on Earth returns.
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* In ''[[The Sarah Jane Adventures]]'' story ''Whatever Happened to Sarah Jane'', the Trickster makes a deal with Sarah Jane's friend and switches places with 13-year-old Sarah Jane, making her fall to her death. She later relinquished her deal, causing time to return to normal.
* ''[[Earth: Final Conflict]]'' is a rare case where the hero died at the end of the first season, but the show still continued without him.
* ''[[Torchwood]]'':<!--
** Captain Jack
** Owen Harper is shot by the leader of The Pharm, Aaron Copley, is made undead, and presumably dies again after being trapped in a nuclear plant control room flooded by radiation.
** Toshiko Sato is shot by Jack's brother Gray.
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*** Rex Matheson is shot by an agent of the Families, but gains Jack's healing ability.
** The team fall under the category of this trope because they are all heroes (at least by series 2), and get roughly the same amount of screen time.
* Shinji Kido, the titular Rider of ''[[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]''. Got better by way of [[Reset Button]] in the finale.▼
▲<!-- %% Rhys' temporary death in series 1 doesn't qualify, as he doesn't even know about Torchwood at that point, let alone being a hero of the story. -->
▲* Shinji Kido, the titular Rider of [[Kamen Rider Ryuki]]. Got better by way of [[Reset Button]] in the finale.
** Also, his [[Kamen Rider Dragon Knight|American counterpart]], Kit Taylor. Unlike Shinji, he [[Never Say "Die"|didn't actually die]]—he was just sent to the Advent Void. He also got better.
* Jonah Gabriel from ''[[The Shadow Line]]'' was killed off in the final episode of the series.
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* ''[[The Sopranos]]'', according to some.
== [[Theatre]] ==
* Willy Loman in ''[[Death of a Salesman]]'', obviously since he's the salesman.
* Bobby Strong, the hero of ''[[Urinetown]]'', dies midway through the second act.
* [[Antigone]] commits suicide out of spite.
* [[Hamlet]]. Granted, he [[Kill'Em All|doesn't go alone]].
** Also [[Macbeth]], [[King Lear]], [[Othello]], [[Julius Caesar]]... essentially, the title character of every Shakespearean tragedy (although how heroic they are is a matter of some debate in each case).
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* [[Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street (theatre)|Sweeney Todd]], although he's more of an [[Anti-Hero]].
* ''[[Repo! The Genetic Opera]]'' kills off its title character, the Repo Man Nathan Wallace, near the end of the play.
* Jean Valjean in ''[[Les Misérables (theatre)|Les Miserables]]''. Also, pretty much everyone else in the cast... except the lovers Marius and Cosette, and the two most horrible people in the entire play - The Thenadiers - who become rich in addition to living. Pretty dramatic example of the trope.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* Kratos from ''[[God of War (series)|God of War]]'' dies many times throughout the franchise, only to come back out of Hell every time. In the ending of the third game, he stabs himself with the Blade of Olympus to end his life for good. It is actually up to speculation whether he is truly dead or alive, since [[Never Found the Body|his body goes missing]] after the credits roll.
* Those who have played ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' will know [[Doomed by Canon|how things will end]] for Zack in in the prequel game ''[[Crisis Core]]''.
** Was supposed to happen to Terra in [[Final Fantasy VI]], but was left out of the final game.
* ''[[Jade Empire]]''. [[Back
* Zero makes yet another [[Heroic Sacrifice]] at the end of ''[[Mega Man Zero]] 4''. This time, [[Killed Off for Real|it's permanent]]. [[Mega Man ZX|Mostly]].
* ''[[Betrayal at Krondor]]'' ends with the [[Heroic Sacrifice]] of Gorath, who, if not necessarily the ''main'' protagonist, is still undeniably ''the'' hero of the story.
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** It's been implied that the bad ending of ''Silent Hill 2'' (James driving his car into the lake) actually ''is'' the canon ending.
* One possible ending of ''[[Dragon Age]] Origins'' involves the [[Player Character|Grey Warden]] performing a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to kill the [[Big Bad|archdemon]].
* ''[[Mass Effect 2]]'', twice, [[Back
** {{spoiler|This also happens in [[Guide Dang It|most]] endings of ''[[Mass Effect 3]]''.}}
* You literally go into ''[[Lufia]] 2: Rise of the Sinestrals'' [[Doomed Protagonist|KNOWING that Selan and Maxim will die at the end of]], [[Doomed by Canon|due to it being a prequel]] of Lufia & the Fortress of Doom, which starts off with a 100 years in the past flashback of their deaths.
* The end of ''[[BioShock (series)|BioShock]] 2'' always involves Subject Delta dying, though it's his influence on Eleanor that determines how things end up and several of the endings involve her taking his essence so that he live on through her as a [[Spirit Advisor]].
* Possibly the ending of ''[[Driver|Driv3r]]'', where Tanner gets shot by the [[Big Bad]] and [[flatline]]s.
** Subverted. He shows up alive and well in ''Driver: San Francisco''.
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* Possibly the epilogue of ''[[Syphon Filter]]: Logan's Shadow''. Since the series has apparently been terminated, we may never know.
* ''[[Ikaruga]]'', by [[Heroic Sacrifice]].
* Michael Beckett, the protagonist of ''[[First Encounter Assault Recon|FEAR 2]]'' is killed near the end of
* In ''[[Fire Emblem Jugdral|Fire Emblem 4]]'', the main character, Sigurd, is betrayed and killed at the end of the first half of the game, along with most of his army, in [[Tear Jerker|one of the most depressing scenes in gaming]]. The second half of the game centres on his son, Celice.
* Soki did a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in ''[[Onimusha]]: Dawn of Dreams''.
* In ''[[Call of Duty]] 4: [[Modern Warfare]]'', [[Rocks Fall, Everyone Dies|a nuclear explosion kills the American protagonist and his entire squad]], [[Shoot the Shaggy Dog|as well as rendering their accomplishments moot]].
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* The final story mission of ''[[Red Dead Redemption]]'' has John Marston walk out to face his doom at the bullets of an army, [[Heroic Sacrifice|in order to give his wife and son a chance to escape and live better lives]]. Widely considered to be a [[Dying Moment of Awesome]].
* Ash Crimson, the protagonist of ''[[The King of Fighters]] XIII'', [[Ret-Gone|erased himself from existence]] when he eliminated the [[Final Boss]], his ancestor Saiki.
** This deserves more of an elaboration. Ash Crimson, being an [[Gorgeous George|effeminate]] [[Bishonen|pretty boy]] who was toted as the new protagonist of the current saga (The Tales of Ash, which began with ''KOF 2003'') [[Replacement Scrappy|did not hold well with the fandom]] ([[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|the Japanese notwithstanding]]). [[It Got Worse]] when Ash started upstaging '''EVERYONE''', not by means of skill, but by having better flame powers than anyone else and giving ''zero'' effect in battle. He simultaneously hit [[Villain Protagonist]] and [[Creator's Pet|Creator's Pet-dom]] [[Brought Down to Normal|by stealing the powers]] of Chizuru and Iori. Then came ''XIII'', where it's revealed that he's a [[Fake Defector]] [[Guile Hero]] with a [[Jerkass Facade]] whose plans were carried out to protect [[The Rival|Elisabeth]], his older sister figure and the ''one person'' he cared about. With his [[Go Out with a Smile|smile-wearing]] [[Heroic Sacrifice]], he's gone... ''[[Cosmic Retcon|for good]]''. In a series where only the main villains die. [[Wham! Episode|No one was expecting it to end this way]]. ''No one''. Ash got an [[Alas, Poor Scrappy]] treatment from the majority of the fanbase, earning him some major [[The Woobie|Woobie]] points and possibly [[Rescued
* Noble Six dies in a [[Last Stand]] at the end of ''[[Halo: Reach]]''.
* ''[[Medal of Honor]] 2010'': Rabbit is captured by the terrorists and mortally wounded, and his rescuers encourage him to hang on while the rescue chopper arrives, with the first person view periodically blacking out, but he ultimately expires.
* Nathan Hale in the ending of ''[[Resistance 2]]''. Though he had just succumbed to [[The Virus]] he'd been struggling with the whole time, so he technically wasn't a hero when he died.
* Nariko from ''[[Heavenly Sword]]'' succumbs to the curse of the title sword and dies at the end. Though not before taking [[Big Bad|King Bohan]] with her in a final showdown.
* Although [[Catch Phrase|he is]] [[Arc Words|only a man]] and not really a hero per se, Commander Video [[Suicide Attack|rushes to his death]] to stop the Mingrawn Timbletot once and for all at the end of ''[[Bit.Trip|BIT.TRIP FATE]]''.
* Martin Septim from ''[[The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion]]'' dies to summon the God Akatosh in order to kill Dagon. He may not be the player, but Martin is arguably [[The Hero]].
* The silent protagonist Anon from ''[[Tron Evolution]]'' died protecting Quorra from a huge falling aircraft.
* In ''[[
* In ''[[The 3rd Birthday]]'', depending on how you look at it, {{spoiler|Aya Brea was revealed to be Eve all along throughout the whole game that you play as her. In the ending, Aya and Eve switched bodies, with Aya in Eve's body doing a [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to be gun down to prevent dooms day, leaving Eve alive using Aya's body. Aya was the protagonist from the first 2 [[Parasite Eve]] games while Eve was the heroine of the 3rd game, thus the outcome kinda [[Mind Screw|mind screws]] you regarding this trope}}
* Ending D of ''[[
** In case you don't know exactly what that means, the D Ending of ''Nier'' is the last ending you can possibly get in ''Nier''. It is the last ending because getting it erases your entire save file piece by piece as Nier himself is erased from existence. It's pretty hardcore.
* In ''[[Fahrenheit (2005 video game)|Fahrenheit]]'', Lucas died from the fall caused by the Oracle when he is saving his ex-girlfriend Tiffany. However, he [[Unexplained Recovery|got better]].
* If you play the good Karma final mission against the beast in ''[[Infamous (video game series)|In Famous]] 2'', Cole's actions will led to every conduit's as well as his own demise. The people of new Marais will honour and remember Cole as a hero for his deeds.
* {{spoiler|The lone wander}} of ''[[Fallout 3]]'' dies if you take the 'good' path, this was fixed by the add on ''broken steel''.
* One [[Multiple Endings|possible]] ending to ''[[Deus Ex:
* If you choose to fight the emperor, Starkiller in ''[[Star Wars: The Force Unleashed]]'' will die fighting the emperor to buy time for the resistance to escape. Though he "indirectly" [[got Better]] in the sequel.
* [[All There in the Manual|According to the official timeline that was released in the artbook Hyrule Historia]], there are three splits in ''[[The Legend of Zelda]]'' timeline. One split eventually leads into the NES games, and involves Link from ''Ocarina of Time'' dying instead of fulfilling his destiny.
* In ''[[Grand Theft Auto: Vice City]]'', Victor Vance, the protagonist of Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories is killed during an ambushed drug deal in the opening cutscene.
* The titular character of ''[[Asura's Wrath]]
** {{spoiler|However in the end with the source of mantra destroyed he cannot continue to exist and dies for good. [[Go Out with a Smile|He takes it well enough, since he finally]] [[Papa Wolf|saved his daughter,]] [[Heartwarming Moments|is about to see his wife again, and is no longer angry]]. He is hinted, that along with rest of the Deities, to either [[Ascend to a Higher Plane of Existence]] and reincarnate eventually.}}
* An interesting case in ''[[Xenoblade Chronicles]]''. {{spoiler|The protagonist Shulk was technically dead since long before the story began, only being kept alive by the god dwelling within him, who was also the one who killed him in the first place. When said god leaves his body, he becomes truly dead, but has his life force restored by a more benevolent god shortly after.}}
* ''[[Final Fantasy XIII]]'': {{spoiler|[[Tall Dark and Bishojo|Fang]] and [[Stepford Smiler|Vanille]] end up as [[Taken for Granite|crystals]] [[Heroic Sacrifice|to save the world.]]}}
** {{spoiler|[[The Cutie|Serah Farron]]}} in the sequel.
== [[Visual Novel]] ==▼
▲== Visual Novel ==
* Shirou dies at the end of the Heaven's Feel route of ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' ([[Unexplained Recovery]] in one ending). Saber dies at the end of the route she's the heroine in, after being sent back to her own time and giving up on the Grail.
* The ''[[Yarudora]]'' game ''[[Sampaguita]]'' has, in Good End 3, the protagonist [[Taking the Bullet]] for his lover Maria. What makes this a Good Ending (unlike Normal End 2, which follows the same sacrifice pattern, but doesn't include the following), is the protagonist [[Our Ghosts Are Different|awakening as a ghost]] two years later, and finding that Maria is now safe, and living happily with [[Someone to Remember Him By|the baby boy born from her and the protagonist, conceived during the time they were cohabiting]]. The baby is able to see him, and he manages to make Maria aware of his presence via a power outage.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
* Captain Kaff Tagon and Seargent Schlock in ''[[Schlock Mercenary]]'' (arguably the two primary characters) are killed and stripped of all memories/former self, respectively. Averted via time travel.
** ...eventually. The strip ran for quite a while looking like leadership of the Toughs was going be by Kevyn, with a degree of awkward mentoring from Tagon's father. Technically, the time travel was mostly required to avert the death of ''everyone in the galaxy''.
* John Egbert's physical self in ''[[Homestuck]]'' ends up getting killed by Jack Noir. He gets better when his Dream Self replaces him, and in fact this event allows him to reach the [[Came Back Strong|god-tiers]]... and then his god-tier self is ''also'' easily killed by Jack Noir. Fortunately, god-tiered characters have [[Karmic Death|condi]][[Heroic Sacrifice|tional]] [[Resurrective Immortality]].
** All of the kids and all of the trolls die at least once. As of the current plot a lot of people have died twice, and most of these second deaths have proved to be permanent.
** Act 6 invokes this trope with the apparent death of a newly introduced main character. After about a month, it turned out that she actually did not die, but the fact that the event came out of nowhere certainly [[Wham! Episode|shocked readers]].
* ''[[Irregular Webcomic]]''. Twice.
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', quite a few prominent heroes end up [[Anyone Can Die|dying]] over the course of the story arcs.
* ''[[Broken Saints]]'' ends with two of our four heroes committing [[Heroic Sacrifice]]s
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* Maddison Atkins and Adam Wilmott died in the original version of ''[[Maddison Atkins]]''.
== [[Western Animation]] ==▼
▲== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Transformers: The Movie]]''. Optimus Prime dies.
** And that's just the ''first'' example. [[Legacy Character|Optimus]][[In Name Only|es]] die a ''[http://tfwiki.net/wiki/The_many_deaths_of_Optimus_Prime lot]''...
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[[Category:Death Tropes]]
[[Category:Ending Tropes]]
[[Category:
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hero Dies, The}}
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