History Main / RevivalLoophole

* The season 1 finale of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' has Buffy beat a prophesied death this way; the later appearances of slayers Kendra and Faith serve as further confirmation that her "death" really did count as such in a mystical sense.

* In ''Film/TheMatrix'', the Oracle declares that Neo has the potential to be [[TheChosenOne The One]], but he's waiting for something. "Perhaps [his] next life." At the end of the movie...

** Averted in ''[[Film/PiratesOfTheCaribbeanAtWorldsEnd At World's End]]''. Despite Jack claiming that his debt with Davy Jones was settled after being taken to Locker, being brought to the living world didn't exempt him from it.

->'''Giles:''' It doesn't matter how long you were gone, Buffy. You were physically dead, thus causing the activation of the next slayer.
->'''Kendra:''' She died?
->'''Buffy:''' Just a little.

* In ''[[Creator/ChoiceOfGames Choice of the Deathless]]'', a game about magic lawyers, the PlayerCharacter and a fellow lawyer named John Smith are summoned into the demon realm at the end of the game. The summoning is basically a contract defining what the people being summoned are within the rules of the world. [[spoiler: Smith arranges to have himself killed, which breaks the contract. When his resurrection amulet brings him back, he has near-infinite power because none of the rules apply to him anymore.]]

* In ''Manga/DeliciousInDungeon'', [[spoiler: Marcille's ancient magic allows her to sidestep several of the limitations of normal revival, such as the conditions of the body. Unfortunately, it comes with its own slate of issues, such as soul meld.]]

* ''WebVideo/DragonBallZAbridged'': Before heading to Namek, Krillin took out a large life insurance policy. After he was killed and subsequently revived by the Dragon Balls, he claimed the money while pretending to be his own nonexistent brother. [[spoiler: He loses all the money when his GoldDigger girlfriend turns out to be a government agent who busts him for insurance fraud. Seemingly the law just assumes Krillin faked his death, [[RightForTheWrongReasons though he committed fraud either way]].]]

* ''Manga/JujutsuKaisen'': Okkotsu [[DeathFakedForYou fakes executing Yuji]] by [[AttackOnTheHeart stabbing him in the heart]], thus fulfilling his [[MagicallyBindingContract binding vow]] to kill him, and then immediately [[HealingHands healing the injury]]. Okkotsu was confident Yuji would survive because he'd already come BackFromTheDead before, but for that same reason didn't expect the ones who demanded his execution to be fooled indefinitely.

* In [[Creator/ChoiceOfGames Choice of the Deathless]], a game about magic lawyers, the PC and a fellow lawyer named John Smith are summoned into the demon realm at the end of the game. The summoning is basically a contract defining what the people being summoned are within the rules of the world. [[spoiler: Smith arranges to have himself killed, which breaks the contract. When his resurrection amulet brings him back, he has near-infinite power because none of the rules apply to him anymore.]]

[[folder:Web Comics]]

* This is invoked in ''Literature/TheCurseOfChalion'' by Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold. To break the titular curse, someone has to "lay down their life three times". One of the attempts to do this involves repeated drowning; [[spoiler:unfortunately, the second time around they can't revive the drowned man, and the end of the book reveals that they were thinking about the curse in the wrong terms anyway.]]

* Inverted in ''Webcomic/GirlGenius.'' There are many, many ways to bring the dead back to life in that world. However, in the noble families of Europa, even a short-term death severs all rights of title or inheritance. E.g., if the duke dies, their heir becomes duke, and stays duke, even if the dead person comes back. Similarly, if the eldest child of the count dies, their next-youngest sibling is now the heir, and if the eldest is revived, all they're entitled to is the charity of their family, if that. It's implied that many nobles (and sometimes even heirs) circumvent this rule rather than stay dead or give up their titles, but keep it as quiet as they can.

* Basically the entire plot of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}: Miracle Day''.

* On ''Series/TheMagicians2016'', the thrones of Fillory are cursed with paranoia; anyone who sits on them will try to kill all the other kings and queens of Fillory, and then themselves. Eliot, Margo, Alice, and Quentin fall under the curse. Penny deals with it by fetching four syringes of potassium chloride to stop their hearts, and four of adrenaline to revive them again afterward.

* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': The Night's Watch oath says it "will not end until my death." Jon has died and come back, therefore he declares his watch has ended.

* In the ''Series/{{Charmed}}'' episode "The Power of Two", the MonsterOfTheWeek needs to be defeated by a spell that can only be said by someone on the astral plane -- meaning that SomeoneHasToDie in order to say it. Prue uses a potion that stops her heart in order to say the spell and then be revived by CPR.