History Main / CessationOfExistence

** During the Horus Heresy, this happens to two people in the span of about 30 seconds, specifically when the Emperor fought Horus in a one-on-one duel and sought to redeem the latter from the Chaos Gods. Horus, however, resisted and committed one last KickTheDog act by making the Emperor's last bodyguard [[DeaderThanDead cease to exist]][[note]]Who the bodyguard was differs depending on which canon you read. The original story has the bodyguard be an ordinary human soldier; other stories change the bodyguard to one of several SpaceMarine legions and/or a [[PraetorianGuard Custodian]][[/note]], which pushed him [[MoralEventHorizon well beyond the moral horizon]] for the Emperor[[note]]Again, the reason for this changes depending on the canon. In the original story, the human soldier posed literally zero threat to Horus and could not harm Horus in any way, which means Horus killed him [[ForTheEvulz just to kill him]]. In the retellings where the guard was a Space Marine, the Marine that Horus kills was one of the Emperor's [[ItsPersonal close friends and confidants]][[/note]]. The Emperor then unleashed such a powerful psychic attack that Horus's very soul was destroyed ([[KarmicDeath much like the bodyguard Horus just killed]]). It's later shown that this was both due to the Emperor's rage and out of practicality; Chaos Gods can resurrect champions so long as their soul still lives (as with the case of Lucius and Kharn, the champions of Slaanesh and Khorne respectively) but Horus's soul was utterly destroyed, meaning that he's even out of the Chaos Gods' grasp. What the Emperor did not count on was that Horus' first captain, Abaddon, was ruled "close enough" by the Chaos gods, nor did it stop Fabius Bile from just [[CloningBlues making a thinking clone of Horus]] with the original's DNA (though Abaddon didn't like that and killed said clone).

In some settings, this is the default state of the dead. In others, it's a violation of the natural order. In still others, it's a fate ''some'' dead are naturally destined for, but not all.

Not to be confused with TheNothingAfterDeath, where you still exist, if only as a mere shade floating between nothing and nowhere. Also not to be confused with FadingAway — that's when you die and your ''body'' ceases to exist.

* In ''Fanfic/{{Luminosity}}'', Edward believes that, because vampires lack souls, they cease to exist post-death, while humans go on to an afterlife of some kind. Bella, while open to the possibility of an afterlife, points out that there's no actual evidence it exists ''at all'', much less that it discriminates between humans and vampires in this way, and so believes this is what happens to ''everyone'' who dies regardless of species -- which is [[ImmortalitySeeker why she's so keen on becoming a vampire]]. The two have several discussions about this, though it's worth noting that Edward isn't particularly good at debating in a perfectly rational field.

* Although souls in ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'' [[OurSoulsAreDifferent demonstrably exist]], they do not appear to be immortal, and instead disintegrate after death just as a person's body decomposes. They can remain [[FateWorseThanDeath "in tact"]] by being [[PoweredByAForsakenChild jammed into]] a PhilosophersStone, but eventually reach the same end state when its power is exhausted. Granted, the assessment of where souls go after death comes from people of the largely areligious country of Amestris. The Ishvallan religion appears to believe in some other afterlife, and the way alchemy treats and views souls may be part of why they forbid it. [[spoiler: However, the manga ends with a sequence showing Trisha and Hohenheim observing the epilogue from the afterlife, ultimately averting this trope for those who die without being devoured by a Philosopher's Stone.]]

'''This is a DeathTrope, so ''beware of unmarked spoilers!'''''

* ''Film/{{M3gan}}'': After learning about death, the robot [=M3GAN=] appears to regard it this way. When Cady asks if the recently deceased Brandon is really in a better place like Gemma says, [=M3GAN=]’s answer is “No. He’s nowhere.”

* In the ''Film/{{Rampage|2009}}'' trilogy, VillainProtagonist Bill Williamson is a firm believer that there is no afterlife, which is first brought up in the second film ''Rampage: Capital Punishment'', where he shoots one of his hostages dead and points out that no soul or spirit is rising from her remains, then later goes on a rant that religion is just a scam because God does not exist and there's nothing more to dying other than your corpse being put into the ground.

* In ''Film/WrathOfTheTitans'', this is what happens when a god dies.

* In ''Literature/OnAPaleHorse'', it's stated that people generally go to an afterlife, but which afterlife depends to some extent on what they believe; one incidental character is a firm atheist who believes that cessation of existence is what happens to everybody when they die, and although he's wrong about the "everybody", it is indeed what happens to ''him''.
* In the ''Literature/NightWatchSeries'' books, the afterlife is only for Others; {{muggles}} just cease to exist. Since the afterlife is the dead existing as ghosts, unable to affect the real world, and always feeling that everything around them is not real, they actually wish for the cessation. Anton grants them this at the end of ''The Last Watch'', but it doesn't stop new dead Others from suffering the same fate.

-->Picture if you will: no struggles, no anxieties or apprehensions, no suffering of the body or the soul, no unhappy accidents, and this on what a scale! Why, even if all the world's evil forces were to join and conspire against you, they would not reach you! Truly, nothing can compare with the sweet security of one who is no more!
* In Creator/PoulAnderson's story "The Martyr", a race of advanced aliens has been systematically steering humans away from research into psychic phenomena to spare them from the knowledge that the aliens have an afterlife but humans don't.
* ''Literature/HisDarkMaterials'':
** Iorek insists that there is no afterlife for his people ("We live and then we die and that is all,"), but it's not clear whether this is true or simply his society's belief.
** Somewhere between this and AscendToAHigherPlaneOfExistence is what happens to the ghosts who leave the afterlife. Well, ItMakesSenseInContext.
* In Creator/VondaNMcIntyre's ''Literature/TheExileWaiting'' a character learns that this is what happens after death, through being telepathically linked to someone at the time of their death.

* Guess what? ''This'' is what happens to those kissed by a [[EldritchAbomination dementor]] in the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, since they lose their soul. The Ministry actually [[DisproportionateRetribution uses this as a form of punishment]]...

** Whether the aforementioned 'fading away' constitutes this or not isn't exactly clear. It is mentioned that [=StarClan=] cats become more and more wispy over time (having "earned their peace"), but even cats who died ''ages'' before the beginning of the series—indeed, [[TimeAbyss long enough ago]] that even a human would struggle to remember them—are shown to still interact with others and [[DeadPersonConversation give advice to the living]]. Dark Forest cats, on the other hand, are outright stated to play this trope straight.

** The series has an afterlife, but according to Goku, if Vegeta (who retained his body in the afterlife to help fight Majin Boo) was killed by Pure Boo, he would cease to exist.

** Some types of fusions are permanent (i.e. Nail and Kami-sama who were assimilated by Piccolo), and apparently even their souls fuse and they stay fused in the afterlife. Similarly, if one of the parts of a fusion is gone, the fused being can no longer be formed (such as with Evil Boo case).

[[folder:Other]]

* Gore's god-killing rampage in ''Film/ThorLoveAndThunder'' is kicked off when his god tells him there's no afterlife and he'll never see his daughter again. Though a PostCreditsScene shows that [[spoiler:[[WarriorHeaven Valhalla]]]] exists.

* In ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'', this is basically what happens whenever one's [[LifeEnergy Power of Existence]] is lost (usually after being consumed by a Crimson Lord). If one's Power of Existence dwindles and fades away, they become increasingly lethargic and slow to react, while their presence starts to go by unnoticed by others. Eventually, they just vanish, [[RetGone and everything continues]] [[InSpiteOfANail as though they never existed at all.]]

* In ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'', this is what Izaya fears above all else. This is why he plans to initiate Ragnarok. His hope is to create a war only he can win, thus earning a place in Valhalla, but he'll take an eternity of torment in Hell so long as it means still existing.

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': The master plan of [[BigBad Bradford Buzzard]] is to get rid of anything he deems "chaotic" or "adventurous" via the "Solego Vortex," which completely erases anything thrown into it (modified from a device that opens portals between dimensions). Bradford's clones and his [[TheDragon Dragon]] Black Heron are thrown in, but the device is disabled before he can erase anything else.

** Supposedly, anyone who dies a second time in Soul Society reincarnates back into the living world. But how do they know? It makes you wonder if it's not just a belief, and they don't really know what happens. In the case of souls destroyed by Quincy, normally a Hollow destroyed by a Shinigami goes to Soul Society, while those destroyed by Quincy don't.

** Supposedly, people in the Soul Society anyone who "dies" a second time reincarnates back into the living world. But how do they know? It makes you wonder if it's not just a belief, and they don't really know what happens afterwards. In the case of souls destroyed by Quincy, normally a Hollow destroyed by a Shinigami goes to Soul Society, while those destroyed by Quincy don't.

** The series has an afterlife, but in anime filler, if someone who kept their corporeal form in "Other World" gets killed again, they are permanently erased from existence. Unknown if the same holds true for disembodied spirits in Hell.

** Super Buu was the result of a FusionDance of Fat Buu and Evil Buu. Super Buu was later reverted to Kid Buu, who expelled Fat Buu from himself before being killed by Goku and reincarnated as Uub. Thus, it is impossible for Super Buu to ever be formed again.

* ''Manga/VinlandSaga'' takes place in the Viking Age and many viking warriors believe they will be taken to the afterlife by the Valkyries if they died in combat. There is big battle in the last third of the story. A {{Mook}} is mortally wounded, already having lost his sight, hearing and the feeling of his body. As he lies dying, we are shown his last thoughts. At first he's calmly waiting for the Valkyries in the silent darkness, but after while he get's nervous and later panics, having lealized there a no Valkyries and no afterlife. As he slowly fades away, he wants to warn his comrades of this, and his very last thought is that he doesn't want to die. Then he is gone.

** Although this has been [[FlipFlopOfGod contradicted]] by certain things that have been suggested in ''Franchise/StarWars'' sourcebooks and elsewhere, such as that the Sith fear death not because it ends all, but because after it (for Sith and Dark Jedi, at least) comes drifting through the Dark Side forever and permanent insanity. When Sheev Palpatine was cloned back to life in the ''ComicBook/DarkEmpire'' comic book series, he remembered at the very least the details of his defeat and death at the end of his previous life, about which he was very, very, ''very'' angry. This extreme anger, combined with the psychotic tendencies induced in his spirit by a mishandling of the cloning process, turned Palpatine into a maniacal nihilist, causing him to lash out at everyone and everything – even, to some extent, his own former Imperials – and try to [[KillEmAll bring about the destruction of every inhabited world in existence]] with his Galaxy Gun, a sort of Death Star on steroids. Though much of this is no longer canon, so it still might be true for dark siders.

* According to [[Music/TalkingHeads songwriter David Byrne]], this trope is what he intended "Road to Nowhere" to be about. "Well we know where we're goin' but we don't know where we've been...We're on a road to nowhere; come on inside. Takin' that ride to nowhere; we'll take that ride. Maybe you wonder where you are: I don't care! Here is where time is on our side...."

* ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'':

* In ''Fanfic/DidIMakeTheMostOfLovingYou'', Laura Roslin states that this is the fate of anyone who dies on Kobol as their souls will fade rather than pass on, making it clear to Tom Zarek after she stabs him that she will ensure nobody remembers him once she gets back to the fleet.