History Main / ResurrectedForAJob

* [[PlayingWithATrope Played With]] in the case of the fourth game of ''Franchise/FatalFrame'': [[spoiler: Choushiro Kirishima is DeadAllAlong but the spirit of Sayaka contacts him to aid Ruka when she returns to the island. He's still dead, but it breaks the loop his spirit was trapped in, and later he can join the others in heading to the afterlife.]]

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' novel ''Literature/GhostStory'' plays with this trope. The person in question would have died (having been shot through the heart). However, the person is kept from death due to a DealWithTheDevil made in an earlier novel, solely to perform the job agreed to in the deal. Also, the other party was GenreSavvy enough to know the person would try to back out of the deal.

* ''RollToDodgePrincessCelestia'' has Teddy Roosevelt do this.

* Locke D'Averam from ''VideoGame/{{Revenant}}'' is a general from the ancient times who has been resurrected by TheKingdom to wage war on the Children of Change and rescue the king's missing daughter from them.

* In Michael Moorcock's Eternal Champion series, the protagonist is a hero who is magically resurrected, as different people, on different worlds to wage war. He is VERY good at it.
* In ''TheHeroesOfOlympus'', the Doors Of Death have opened, meaning that no one stays dead for long. While this can be good (as when Gwen gets speared during a combat exercise) it also means that Gaea can resurrect deadly monsters and giants to help her defeat the Olympians.

* ''Comicbook/TheCrow''

* ''Comicbook/TheCrow''.

%%* Similarly, Franchise/{{Robocop}}.

* In the new series of ''Series/DoctorWho'' the Time Lords try this with TheMaster, thinking his underhanded deviousness would make him a great soldier for fighting the Time War. However they forgot his [[DirtyCoward natural tendency towards self-preservation]] and when he was confronted with the horror of the Time War, he immediately decided to [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere leg it]].

* ''Comicbook/DoomPatrol''s Robotman is a borderline case, being resuscitated as a robot after a crash, in order to join the Doom Patrol.

* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' ''opens'' with Link being resurrected [[spoiler: when the Calamity Ganon, sealed for 100 years, is about to break free of its seal and ravage Hyrule once again.]]

* In ''{{Rift}}'', this is [[PlayerCharacter your]] situation.

* A related concept appears in Charles Sheffield's story "Out of Copyright" -- past geniuses are cloned and recruited as research scientists. Under the "copyright" rules referenced in the title, only people dead for seventy-five years may be cloned and only one clone per person may be created, leading to a corporations competing for their services in a manner resembling a sports draft.

* Kevin Landwaster is brought back in ''Literature/TheChroniclesOfThomasCovenant'' to fight Lord Fowl. It turns out to be a really, really bad idea.

** Similarly, Franchise/{{Robocop}}.
* Billy Butcherson from ''HocusPocus''.
* Captain Barbossa from the ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' series, brought back to life by Tia Dalma so that he can sail to hell and get Jack out.
** This also goes for Jack himself. He even pokes fun at this trope:

* It is mentioned in the Literature/EarthseaTrilogy that one wizard used to summon souls of ancient kings and wizards for royal council. It ended up with him being exiled, since, apparently, the advices of the dead are of little use to the living.

* Kay Dutch in Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/LineOfDelirium'' is killed at the beginning of the novel by teenager as revenge for accidentally killing the boy's sister. While DeathIsCheap (as long as you can afford the price) in this 'verse, Kay has not yet paid for his resurrection (must always be done up-front). He is amazed to find himself alive and finds out that it's because of this trope. The owner of the [=aTan=] Corporation (who has the monopoly on resurrection) brings Kay back to life in order to escort his son and heir to a remote planet on a secret assignment. The guy was specifically looking for a professional bodyguard who dies without paying for a resurrection.

* ''[[TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild]]'' ''opens'' with Link being resurrected [[spoiler: when the Calamity Ganon, sealed for 100 years, is about to break free of its seal and ravage Hyrule once again.]]

* In the new series of ''Series/DoctorWho'' the Time Lords try this with TheMaster, thinking his underhanded deviousness would make him a great soldier. However they forgot his [[DirtyCoward natural tendency towards self-preservation]] and he [[ScrewThisImOuttaHere legged it]].

[[folder:Webcomics]]
* ''Webcomic/{{Homestuck}}'': This is basically what the Kernelsprites are for. Kernelsprites, when properly prototyped, will be capable of functioning as guides to the player, as well as a CrutchCharacter. Prototyping is done by chucking objects into the Kernel, and by an unspoken rule at least one of these items ''should'' be the remains of a dearly departed. The resulting Sprite takes on characteristics of everything that was thrown in, but failing to include something capable of speech, or at least something sentient, will result in a largely ineffectual guide, as well as a missed opportunity to reunite with a loved one.
* ''Webcomic/CaseyAndAndy'': Happens to Casey's fantasy world counterpart, the court wizard, who was killed while trying to take over the world. The queen decided he was a shoe-in for the job as Evil Vizier (which mandates scheming, backstabbing and attempts at usurpation).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* ''RollToDodgePrincessCelestia'' has Teddy Roosevelt do this.
[[/folder]]

* ''MortalKombatDefendersOfTheRealm'' has Shao Kahn resurrect Shang Tsung because of a magical orb that increases in power depending on how evil the user is.

* [[GreenGoblin Norman Osborn]] brings back ComicBook/{{Hawkeye}}'s brother [[CainAndAbel Barney Barton]], also known as [[EvilCounterpart Trickshot]], from a morgue, [[FridgeLogic despite being dead for several years]] both in RealLife and ComicBookTime, [[DeathIsCheap just to show how Comic Book Death works]], in order to join up with a new team of ComicBook/DarkAvengers.