History Main / SparedByTheAdaptation

* ''WebAnimation/GamingAllStars Remastered'': VideoGame/{{Vexx}}, [[VideoGame/InFamous Cole MacGrath]], and [[VideoGame/Sonic3 Knuckles the Echidna]] all survive for a longer period of time here than they did in ''The Ultimate Crossover''. They still, however, perish in the finale along with the remainder of the cast.

* ''ComicBook/TheBatmanAdventures'': In Issue #15 of The Batman and Robin Adventures, Dick Grayson foils the attempt on the life of Boston Brandt a.k.a. Deadman.

* In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'', every named character who died in the backstory of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' (plus the entire civilain population and most of Hyrule's army) manage to survive thanks to Terrako's involvement creating an AlternateTimeline where EveryoneLives.

* ''WebAnimation/GamingAllStars Remastered'': VideoGame/{{Vexx}}, [[VideoGame/InFamous Cole MacGrath]], and [[VideoGame/Sonic3 Knuckles the Echidna]]]] all survive for a longer period of time here than they did in ''The Ultimate Crossover''. They still, however, perish in the finale along with the remainder of the cast.

* The NES and PC Engine versions of ''[[VideoGame/DoubleDragon Double Dragon II: The Revenge]]'' has a rewritten storyline with a [[RevisedEnding different ending]] where Billy's girlfriend Marian, who is murdered before the start of the game, is [[BackFromTheDead restored to life]] after the Lee brothers defeat the Mysterious Warrior, a martial artist with supernatural abilities. In the original arcade version she is simply gunned down by Machine Gun Willy, the returning antagonist from the first game (there is no Mysterious Warrior), and she remains dead in the end, with the ending sequence simply being a photograph of the Lee brothers and Marian during happier times where she sheds a tear forming the words "The End". Similarly, the manual for the microcomputer ports by Binary Design describes that the Lee brothers are capable of performing Shinto ritual to restore her to life by defeating Willy's gang, despite the fact that these ports are based on the arcade game and the ending plays out the same way.

* The NES and PC Engine versions of ''[[VideoGame/DoubleDragon Double Dragon II: The Revenge]]'' has a rewritten storyline with a [[RevisedEnding different ending]] where Billy's girlfriend Marian, who is murdered before the start of the game, is [[BackFromTheDead restored to life]] after the Lee brothers defeat the Mysterious Warrior, a martial artist with supernatural abilities. In the original arcade version she is simply gunned down by Machine Gun Willy, the returning antagonist from the first game (there is no Mysterious Warrior), and she remains dead in the end, with the ending sequence simply being a photograph of the Lee brothers and Marian during happier times. Similarly, the manual for the microcomputer ports by Binary Design describe that the Lee brothers are capable of performing Shinto ritual to restore her to life after the, despite the fact that these ports are based on the arcade game.

* The NES and PC-Engine versions of ''[[VideoGame/DoubleDragon Double Dragon II: The Revenge]]'' has a [[RevisedEnding new ending]] where Billy's girlfriend Marian is [[BackFromTheDead restored to life]], whereas in the original arcade version she remained dead. Similarly, the ZX Spectrum port had the Lee brothers enact a Shinto ritual to restore her to life according to its manual.

** LJN's release of ''VideoGame/Terminator2JudgmentDay'' completely changes up the ending that both subverts this trope and plays it straight: after the T-800 knocks the T-1000 into the molten steel, but rather than dying the T-1000 actually ''merges'' with it and is fought as a final boss. The T-800 then truly kills it, and then with its mission of saving John Conner complete proceeds to teleport back to the future ([[DeusExMachina somehow]]).

* The novelization to ''Film/{{Constantine}}'' says that Chaz ends up getting resurrected as a half-breed angel.

* ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'': Almost all the main characters were killed off in ''Literature/MostlyHarmless'', but were spared in radio show's Quintessential Phase (yes, that DOES include Marvin). (This gets more complicated later when ''Literature/AndAnotherThing'' reveals the characters didn't die in ''Mostly Harmless'' after all, but references a scene similar to the radio show's return of Marvin as a hallucination. The Hexagonal Phase follows this ... and then adds ''another'' scene in the final episode establishing that Marvin's still around.)

** ''VideoGame/StarWarsEpisodeIJediPowerBattles'' loosely tells Episode I's story as an action game, but with two notable differences. The first is Mace Windu and some other Jedi are fighting alongside Obi-Wan and Qui Gon the entire time. The second? Qui Gon ''lives''.
** Mace Windu vanishes from ''VideoGame/LegoStarWars'' after General Grievous' flagship crash lands on Coruscant.

* In ''Anime/SwordArtOnline'', Yuuki has AIDS and passes away at the end of ''Mother's Rosario''. The game ''Lost Song'' set in the AlternateContinuity, however, has Yuuki's condition improve and her lifespan increases. She even makes a triumphant return in the sequel ''Hollow Realization'', as full of life and cheer as ever.

* ''WebAnimation/GamingAllStars Remastered'': VideoGame/{{Vexx}}, [[VideoGame/InFamous Cole MacGrath, and [[VideoGame/Sonic3 Knuckles the Echidna]]]] all survive for a longer period of time here than they did in ''The Ultimate Crossover''. They still, however, perish in the finale along with the remainder of the cast.

* The ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars'' franchise is the king of this trope. While many characters are usually brought back to life as hidden characters, there are a few who actually live due to this trope. Amongst those are [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam Amuro Ray]], who is saved from his HeroicSacrifice in ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack'' during ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsAlpha 2'', and [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED Flay Allster]], whose lifepod was intercepted by the protagonists instead of the Earth Alliance, completely averting the events that led to her death in ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsW''.
** There is one guy who just can't make up his mind on if he wants to live or die in these games: [[Anime/MartianSuccessorNadesico Gai Daigouji]], who, in seven games the Nadesico series has shown up in (''Advance, Reverse, Judgement, Impact, MX, W, BX''), two he lives all the way through, three he's an optional character and two he STAYS dead!
*** The Evangelion cast has a much much happier and better existence in SRW, and most of the sympathetic characters live. Ritsuko always dies in any game that finishes the End of Evangelion plot. Only in L was she spared because L only used the plot of the first two Rebuild movies. Kaji also usually doesn't make it, although he, too, survived L for the same reason, and unlike Ritsuko he made it through MX. Gendo always dies, but he arguably deserves it. Misato, and at least one of the Reis always make it, and the Bridge Bunnies always survive, although they're never seen again after getting Tanged in Alpha 3. Third Impact is always averted, and in a way that doesn't end with Shinji and Asuka alone in a world of Tang.
*** In ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Super Robot Wars Original Generation 2]]'', Lee Linjun dies aboard his ship when he stupidly tries to use it to take down the Kurogane. In the [[VideoGameRemake Enhanced Remake]], ''Super Robot Wars Original Generations'', his ship is merely crippled in the same scene, not destroyed, which allows him to escape. TheAnimeOfTheGame, Super Robot Wars Original Generation: The Inspector, also spares him by keeping him from having his FaceHeelTurn.
*** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Gaiden'' features a lot of these and an eventually subverted [[DeathByAdaptation inversion]]. When they chose to adapt the OVA into game form in the bonus section of Original Generations, the segment ended in Lamia, who survived the OVA, getting shot down dead by [[BigBadWannabe Wilhelm von Juergen]] and thrown off to space, left for the dead, making her seemingly an inversion of the trope. The actual game later revealed that she actually survived, picked up by Duminuss then BrainwashedAndCrazy to play the [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Master Asia]] part of [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsReversal Reversal]]. She gets better... and later, the game plays it straight for some of the ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact3 Compact 3]]'' cast, including Fernando Albark, Alion Lucada, and Maysis Mark, when you compare to the original where every original except Folka died. And the game also pulls a surprise one in form of Reversal's Despinis, one of the QuirkyMinibossSquad that you fight in Reversal, resulting her pulling a HeelFaceTurn for good.
*** And then ''2nd Original Generations'' inverts this: In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsDestiny'', Perfectio is impossible to kill and only defeated when [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Treize Khushrenada]] pulled a HeroicSacrifice to seal him off forever. They went along with this plot point, and picked Ventus, who was promoted from SecretCharacter into an automatic-join (and no longer exclusive with fellow secret character Glacies), to take Treize's place in the HeroicSacrifice of sealing and defeating Perfectio. Also previously in ''Destiny'', Rim gets to keep her two personalities throughout the game. In OG, one of them, the NiceGirl one, Chris... VANISHED, lost forever, and leaving Rim with just one personality, and she is ''not'' happy about it.
** ''VideoGame/ShinSuperRobotWars'': Heinel, Master Asia, Amuro, Char, and Julia Asuka get to live due to various reasons.
*** After Domon's last fight with him, Master Asia ([[MakesJustAsMuchSenseInContext who is an alien in the game]]) needs to return to his homeworld and enlist aid. Domon, moved nearly to tears, praises Master Asia's dedication to peace and freedom, and the two exchange manly martial words before Master Asia's departure.
*** When beaten in the final battle against Neo Zeon, Char [[SoreLoser will furiously say]] that Amuro wouldn't have even had a chance if he hadn't leaked info to the Federation about the Psychoframe, noting further that Amuro wouldn't have even been worth killing in the RE-GZ (the mobile suit Amuro piloted before the Nu Gundam). Amuro figures that Char is doomed to look down on others for all eternity. Nanai will then go over and fish Char out, saying that he's indispensable to Neo Zeon AND to her, and ignoring his pleas to stay out of it.
*** Once Zuhl and the Skullrook is eliminated in an Earth Route scenario, Heinel decides to go on a little journey, on which Katherine insists on accompanying him. Kazuya figures that the two of them will be happy together.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsZ series'':
*** [[Anime/CodeGeass Euphemia li Britannia, Shirley Fennete and Rolo Lamperouge]] in ''Saisei-hen'', provided the player picks the right route. Also, Anew and [[Anime/ShinMazinger Lorelei]] are {{Secret Character}}s. Averted due to ''Jigoku-hen'' defaulting to the Zero Requiem route.
*** [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Nia]] is spared this go-round in ''Jigoku-hen''.
*** [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Wang Liu Mei]] survives what should have killed the character in the show for ''Saisei-hen'' if the normal route is taken, [[AvertedTrope only to be abandoned on the exploding Damocles by Emperor Lelouch]].
*** [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Lordgenome]] averts HeroicSacrifice against the FinalBoss in ''Jigoku-hen'' and returns to being a bio-computer aboard the [[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann Cathedral Terra]].
*** [[Anime/Gundam00AWakeningOfTheTrailblazer Graham Aker]]'s death can be avoided during scenario 50 of ''Tengoku-hen'' if the requirements are met. Otherwise, he sacrifices himself to clear a path for Setsuna like in the original movie.
*** When [[Anime/GargantiaOnTheVerdurousPlanet Ledo]] fights Striker during the ''Gargantia'' finale, Chamber K6821 ejects Ledo to safety, hoping to [[TakingYouWithMe destroy Striker in a suicidal attack]], but [[Anime/MacrossFrontier Alto]] picks up Ledo and puts him back into Chamber to continue the fight with another, sparing Chamber's fate from the series.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsUX'' gets a bit meta about it. If you manage to unlock every single SecretCharacter (17 of them, which actually requires at least a NewGamePlus playthrough to pull off), most of which died in their original shows, you'll get an extra scene before the final battle where they discuss how their survival feels like a miracle and a testament to humanity's ability to ScrewDestiny.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsV'':
*** [[SecretCharacter Black Might Gaine, the beloved EnsembleDarkhorse from the series gets to survive and become a playable unit once players can successfully trigger and complete the secret scenario.]]
*** Averted with the plot of Anime/Zambot3. Though Celestial Being stopped it early, Kappei's grandparents and his dad are still dead. His older brother Ichitaka, however, remains alive to pursue engineering and publicize a utility for Bealian technology, thus justifying the use of the [[WaveMotionGun Ion Cannon without the King Beal.]]
*** [[Literature/MobileSuitGundamHathawaysFlash Hathaway Noa]] reads about the exploits of his New Correct Century counterpart and vows to avoid ever becoming Mufti Nabiyu Erin.
*** [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Chan Agi]] survived Char's Rebellion thanks to the Axis Shock happening just as Hathaway was about to shoot her. She eventually reconciles with Hathaway and helps upgrade his Xi Gundam.
*** Thanks to the ELS being DemotedToExtra (see above), [[Anime/Gundam00AWakeningOfTheTrailblazer Graham Aker]] survives by default. The same goes for everyone killed by the ELS in the movie, since the ELS aren't in the same universe as the Gundam 00 world.
*** [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Both Daguza and Marida]] survive by default, marking the first ''Unicorn'' appearance where Marida isn't a secret character.
*** Though she never appeared on screen, Tessa mentions that [[LightNovel/FullMetalPanic Nami]] has been taken into protective custody by Mithril after ARX-8's debut.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsX'':
*** Both Nia and Lordgenome (as a head) live on after the finale of ''[[Anime/TengenToppaGurrenLagann TTGL]]'' thanks to Nadia's Blue Water. Averted with Kittan who still dies just like his canon.
*** Black Might Gaine lives. Only this time, he doesn't do any [[StupidSacrifice Stupid Sacrifices]] and takes out his brainwash through ''pure will of justice''.
*** Jill survives by default this time with no secrets needed. Meanwhile, Irma and Tanya, pilots of the ''Eirene'' and ''Victora'', also survive. However, their machines are destroyed during their escape from Embryo and thus unplayable.
*** Provided the players fulfill the requirements, Todd, Glemy, Kia, Mashmyre, and Bizon live.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsT'':
*** Black Might Gaine survives off-screen, since ''Might Gaine'' is given a PostScriptSeason, and after being saved, he was sent to train with the [[Anime/GunXSword El Dora Five]] team. If the requirement is fulfilled, the El Dora team deemed him ready to return, otherwise he stays. But it's still confirmed that he survived.
*** [[Manga/MagicKnightRayearth Eagle Vision]] survives the events since Debonair didn't execute the sudden attack that killed him before, nor is he rendered into a coma due to not being chosen as the Pillar in the manga. In the same time, while the events is based on the anime, Presea also survived the events, since Ascot, along with Caldina, was dispatched by Zagato earlier and then made to pull a HeelFaceTurn in the same time, so Ascot didn't have the time to summon the monster that would've originally killed Presea, so there is no BackupTwin involved this time. Unfortunately averted with Princess Emeraude and Zagato, [[PlayerPunch their tragedy still has to be played straight.]]
*** PlayedWith when it comes to [[Anime/CowboyBebop Spike Spiegel. During the ending of the default game, it's mentioned that he confronted Vicious and the Red Dragons alone, and [[BolivianArmyEnding it just ended there with no clear conclusion]], staying true to the original anime where the ending was really ambiguous. If the Expansion Pack is installed, the story takes place after the events of ''T'', and Spike pops back out, turns out he survived that.
** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWars30''
*** The backstory has the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Axis Shock]] happen, Amuro and Char both disappear, and even mentions [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Full Frontal]] who in canon could not exist without Char dying due to having a part of Char's soul, but both of them just.. turn up alive with no explaination on how they survived. Both of them are even both suprised the other one is still alive.
*** ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'' has an interesting example with Katejina, who even if you complete the prerequisites you explicitly do get to decide if she survives. Even more so, Usso's mom is spared her gruesome fate as she's saved by Van.
*** This game is one of the few that Musashi Tomoe doesn't die in the cockpit of a Manga/GetterRobo, since the ''Getter Robo Armageddon'' storyline is mostly removed and given to the ''Getter Robo Devolution'' cast.

** Zig-zagged with the character Headman, who originated in the Creator/DiCEntertainment continuation of ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'' as the villain of the two-part episode "The Greates Evil", where he ended up dying from a lethal overdose of his own drug spark. When he appeared in ''ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroMarvel'', his final appearance in the comic had him captured alive, but [[ComicBook/GIJoeDevilsDue the Devil's Due continuation]] mentioned in the 31st issue of ''America's Elite'' that Headman was killed by Tomax. The Devil's Due comic has since been rendered [[CanonDiscontinuity non-canon]] due to being supplanted by Creator/IDWPublishing's [[ComicBook/GIJoeARealAmericanHeroIDW own continuation of the Marvel Comics series]], which has yet to feature the Headman and presumably has him still alive and incarcerated.

* Due to being aimed at young children and running on RuleOfFunny, the ''LEGO Star Wars'' adaptation of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' glosses over most of the deaths from the movie. In a notable example, the SignatureScene of Anakin murdering the younglings at the Jedi Temple is changed to him merely locking them in cages while they loudly complain.

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', this time around, it is explicitly shown that Biggs survived the Sector 7 plate collapse. Wedge also survives the plate drop only to face UncertainDoom in Shinra HQ, and the circumstances surrounding Biggs' survival make it very plausible Jessie could have survived as well. [[WhamShot Perhaps most incredibly though]], Zack actually survived his heroic LastStand and made it to Midgar with Cloud, performing the second-biggest CosmicRetcon in the world of ''Final Fantasy VII'' short of reversing Aerith's death and making clear that this is an alternate timeline to the original game's BadFuture.

* In ''VideoGame/SamuraiJackBattleThroughTime'', [[HundredPercentCompletion collecting all 50 Corrupted Emperor's Kamons and defeating Aku unlocks the GoldenEnding where, unlike the GrandFinale of [[WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack the show]], Ashi survives being erased from existence, allowing her to marry Jack and live peacefully with him in the past]].

*** PlayedWith when it comes to [[Anime/CowboyBebop Spike Spiegel. During the ending of the default game, it's mentioned that he confronted Vicious and the Red Dragons alone, and [[BolivianArmyEnding it just ended there with no clear conclusion]], staying true to the original anime where the ending was really ambiguous. If the Expansion Pack is installed, the story takes place after the events of ''T'', and Spike pops back out, turns out he survived that.]]

* ''WebAnimation/GamingAllStars Remastered'': VideoGame/{{Vexx}}, [[VideoGame/InFamous Cole MacGrath, and [[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Knuckles the Echidna]]]] all survive for a longer period of time here than they did in ''The Ultimate Crossover''. They still, however, perish in the finale along with the remainder of the cast.

** "Mr. Z" ([[spoiler:Imran Zakhaev, who (in this continuity) also appears in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsColdWar'' as a young man]]) dies in 2011, long before the events of the first game in the series, meaning that the intended casualties caused by the confrontation in the original ''Modern Warfare'' mission "Game Over" (in which Griggs and Gaz are killed on a bridge) never occur.

* In the Big Finish ''Series/DoctorWho'' audio "[[Recap/BigFinishDoctorWhoTEAS6E2DaughterOfTheGods Daughter of the Gods]]", a collision in the Time Vortex [[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan diverted the First Doctor’s TARDIS from Kembel]], resulting in Katarina surviving past the date she was meant to die… until the Second Doctor crash-lands on the same planet, explains what should have happened and [[ResetButton puts things back]] to stop the current Dalek invasion.

* Saurod is never killed in [[Creator/MarvelComics Marvel’s]] adaption to ''Film/MastersOfTheUniverse''.
* Marvel Comics had a lot of fun with this with Baldur, the Norse god who was made invulnerable to everything but mistletoe, only to be killed with it by Comicbook/{{Loki}}. In the Marvel version seen in ''ComicBook/TheMightyThor'', [[AdaptationalBadass (where he is a warrior-god called Baldur the Brave)]] Baldur's death would trigger Ragnarok, so preventing his death is high on Odin's priority. When Loki slays him with the mistletoe arrow, he's OnlyMostlyDead, and Odin prevents true death by creating a shield around Baldur's pyre, preventing his soul from departing; then, after most of the Asgardians die at the hands of the Celestials, Thor brings all of them, Baldur included, back to life with potions of life energy they donated. (This would not be the last close call for Baldur, but curiously, [[spoiler:he's one of the few surviving deities left at the present time, after the villainous Mikaboshi broke into the Celestial Axis and waged an assault on every Earth pantheon.]]

* In ''Perry'', after the death of Thora, Literature/PerryRhodan entered a [[OfficialCouple permanent relationship with]] Auris of La-Thor, which lasted until the end of the original comic book series and beyond. In the original pulps, her model Auris of Las-Toór and Literature/PerryRhodan felt attracted to each other, but she was killed (in the fifth issue in which she appeared) before they could get anywhere romantically.

* In the comic adaptation of ''Film/X2XMenUnited'', Jason Stryker actually lives whereas in the movie [[spoiler: he's left for dead when the dam begins to collapse]]. Comicbook/JeanGrey also never has to perform her HeroicSacrifice and escapes with the other X-Men on the Blackbird, much like in the novelization.

* The Disney WesternAnimation/SillySymphonies short “Chicken Little” ended with Foxy Loxy successfully tricking Chicken Little and the rest of the barnyard fowl into hiding in his cave when he caused them to believe the sky was falling, he traps them inside and eats them, the comic adaptation ends with Foxy Loxy luring them over to his cave but Chicken Little trips over a rock and causes a boulder to trap Foxy Loxy inside his cave and they escape.

** Some storybooks based on ''WesternAnimation/Cars2'' actually leave out the deaths of [[spoiler:Rod "Torque" Redline, Leland Turbo, and Tony Trihull.]] Also, one Franchise/{{Lego}} playset based on that movie had [[spoiler:Leland Turbo]]'s cube drawn in a way so it now shows his pitiful eyes, suggesting that [[AndIMustScream he is still alive even as a cube.]]
** In fact, a lot of tie-in Disney storybooks tend to leave out the deaths of important characters, which occasionally result in {{plot hole}}s, especially if the death is related to the plot. An inversion would be in some tie-in storybooks based on ''WesternAnimation/AtlantisTheLostEmpire'', [[spoiler:[[Creator/LeonardNimoy King Kashekhim Nedakh]]'s]] death is not mentioned at all, yet we still see his daughter ____ as [[TheHighQueen a Queen]] at the end.

* The junior novelization of ''Film/JurassicWorld'' spares one [=ACU=] trooper who gets killed in the movie. [[spoiler:In the film, he's shooting at ''Indominus rex'' but she keeps coming at him despite him unloading his assault rifle into her and eats him. In the book, his gunfire successfully drives her away and he survives.]]

* Zig zagged when it comes to Eurydice in ''Theatre/{{Hadestown}}'' since it’s ambiguous if the people in Hadestown are really dead. Hermes describes her as “dead to the world anyway“, but the Fates said that she was given “everlasting life”. It’s still played straight with Orpheus, [[TearJerker who has to walk the earth without his other half.]]

* ''Theatre/TheKingAndI'' combines this trope with AdaptationalNameChange. The King's head wife and Prince Chulalongkorn's mother, Lady Thiang, is a prominent character throughout and [[spoiler: eventually outlives her husband]]; the real Chulalongkorn's mother, Queen Ramphoei, actually died when her son was just nine years old, the same year Anna Leonowens first arrived in Siam. Phannarai, the real Thiang, was the senior consort, not the queen but a woman of extreme importance. She did outlive Mongkut and died in 1909.

* In ''Theatre/LesMiserables'', Madame Thénardier lives and [[KarmaHoudini gets off scot free]]. In the original novel, she died in prison.
* As in most adaptations, Fagin survives in the musical ''Theatre/{{Oliver}}'' and also escapes; in the original ending he decides to clean up his act, although the alternate ending (used for the movie) has he and the Artful Dodger decide to continue their life of crime.
* In ''Theatre/TheOresteia'', written Creator/{{Aeschylus}}, the plot starts with King Agamemnon being forced to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia to appease the angry goddess Artemis, which leads to the CycleOfRevenge that ensues for the rest of the series. In Creator/{{Euripides}}'s adaptations ''Iphigenia At Aulis'' and ''Theatre/IphigeniaInTauris'', it is revealed that Artemis saved Iphigenia from actually dying, and took her away to be her priestess in Tauris. When Orestes is acquitted of murdering his mother Clytemnestra, Apollo orders that he has to atone by traveling to Tauris, stealing the statue of Artemis and bring it to Athens. Orestes and his friend Pylades are captured by the Taureans, but Iphigenia recognizes her brother, who she thought was dead. Iphigenia helps Orestes and Pylades steal the statue of Artemis, and accompanies them back to Athens.
* Emilia doesn't get killed in the Verdi-Boïto opera ''Theatre/{{Ot|hello}}ello'', mostly because its CompressedAdaptation of Shakespeare's text leaves no time for minor characters to have death scenes. Some productions have Iago stab her as she flees, though nothing remains in the libretto to suggest this.
* In Kotone's version of ''Theatre/Persona3TheWeirdMasquerade'', both [[spoiler:Chidori and Shinjiro]] survive where they die in the original games and Sakuya's version.

** ''Brünnhilde'' survives. She never intends to die at all and gives birth to a baby daughter. There is a reason why the production is often called the Feminist Ring.

* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'': [[spoiler: Prince Dimande]] dies in the manga ''and'' both anime adaptations, but lives in the [[Theatre/SeraMyu Musicals]], depending on the show. Averted by [[spoiler:''Petite Étrangère'', which not only kills him off, but reveals that he [[TomatoInTheMirror has been a Droid all along]]. A furious Dimande still [[DiesDifferentlyInAdaptation defies Saphir's order to kill Sailor Moon]] and gets [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness eliminated.]] His role in trying to smash the two Silver Crystals together and annihilate the universe is given to Saphir instead.]]

* ''Theatre/{{Wicked}}'': [[spoiler:Elphaba, the protagonist, and Fiyero, her love interest, are spared their grisly deaths from the book and live "happily ever after" at the end of the musical. Also, FunnyAnimal goat professor Doctor Dillamond, escapes his death, instead turning into an ordinary, non-sentient goat, while antagonist Madame Morrible is merely imprisoned in the end rather than killed off. In fact, almost everyone in the book who dies either lives or never existed in the musical.]]

* ''VideoGame/AliensColonialMarines'' explicitly changes the plot of ''Film/Alien3'' to ensure that a major character survives -- [[spoiler:Corporal Dwayne Hicks, who is woken out of hypersleep in the ''Stasis Interrupted'' DLC by colonists from the USS ''Legato'']], fights his way through enemy forces to broadcast a DistressCall, and is captured by Weyland-Yutani forces for several weeks before being rescued by USCM soldiers.
* In the [[VideoGame/TheAmazingSpiderMan2 video game adaptation of]] ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'', Aunt May mentions that Gwen Stacey broke up with Peter Parker some time after the events of [[VideoGame/TheAmazingSpiderMan the previous game]]. [[spoiler: She never appears onscreen, so she isn't there for the battle against the Green Goblin, where she died in the film]].

* ''[[Manga/CaptainTsubasa Captain Tsubasa: Rise of New Champions]]'' heavily implies that Karen, Stefan Levin's fiancée (who in the original manga died by being run over by a truck), is alive and well in the ''Episode of New Hero'' mode timeline. The player can unlock a Rank Up scene where he accidentally overhears Levin talking through his cellphone, and while she's not mentioned by name, he does refer to her as his girlfriend.
* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings: VideoGame/TheBattleForMiddleEarth'': First, Gandalf faces off the Balrog and ''wins'', continuing down the road alongside the rest of Fellowship. Then, possibly because of that, Boromir '''survives''' the skirmish on Amon Hen and accompanies Aragorn, Gimli and Legolas throughout Rohan, Helm's Deep and eventually returns home to Minas Tirith. Then Théoden can survive the battle of Minas Tirith and will continue leading Rohan's army.

* Subverted with Grimmjow's [[QuirkyMinibossSquad Fracción]] in ''VideoGame/BleachThe3rdPhantom''. All five of them survive their assault on Karakura Town that originally ends in them dying -- however, D-Roy and Nakeem are killed when the five of them join Grimmjow in a raid on the Soul Society. Shawlong, Edrad and Ilford escape this, only to later be killed trying to defend Las Noches near the end of the game.
* The UpdatedRerelease of ''VideoGame/TheCaligulaEffect'' has Shadow Knife survive his DisneyVillainDeath on the Musician route; however, this comes at the cost of [[spoiler:either Eiji's exile from the Go-Home Club or Kotaro's death.]]
* In the original ''ComicBook/CivilWar'' comic book, Goliath was famously killed by the Clone Thor killed during a battle with the Pro-Registration forces. In ''VideoGame/MarvelUltimateAlliance2'', Goliath is merely knocked out and taken into custody. Also, ComicBook/CaptainAmerica isn't assassinated.
* The Wii release of ''VideoGame/DeadRising'', ''Chop Till You Drop'', lets you save the gun shop owner Cletus, whereas in the original game you had to kill him as part of a boss battle. Likewise, ''Dead Rising 2: Off the Record'' has a divergent plot from the original ''Dead Rising 2'', [[spoiler:where Rebecca Chang becomes Frank's love interest and survives the game, whereas Stacey turns out to be the BigBad and is killed in the finale]].

* In ''VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse'', Guldo manages to outlive Burter, Jeice and Recoome in the altered timeline. [[spoiler:Bardock also survives the destruction of Planet Vegeta by being sucked into a wormhole, and he also survives in [[VideoGame/DragonBallXenoverse2 the sequel]] thanks to being pulled from time and brainwashed into the Masked Saiyan.]]

* In ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIIRemake'', [[spoiler:this time around, it is explicitly shown that Biggs survived the Sector 7 plate collapse. Wedge also survives the plate drop only to face UncertainDoom in Shinra HQ, and the circumstances surrounding Biggs' survival make it very plausible Jessie could have survived as well.]] [[WhamShot Perhaps most incredibly though]], [[spoiler:Zack actually survived his heroic LastStand and made it to Midgar with Cloud, performing the second-biggest CosmicRetcon in the world of ''Final Fantasy VII'' short of reversing Aerith's death and making clear that this is an alternate timeline to the original game's BadFuture.]]
* The DS remake of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemMysteryOfTheEmblem'' allows you to save and recruit [[spoiler:Michalis]], who only lived long enough to deliver the Starlight tome in the original.

** [[spoiler:The first major deviation is the fate of Monica, another student at the Officer's Academy. In the original, she was kidnapped and replaced by the assassin Kronya; in ''Three Hopes'', Kronya's hideout is discovered early and Monica is rescued, with players fighting Kronya on the way out to drive the point home that this is the real Monica.]]
** A few other characters who suffered {{Plotline Death}}s in ''Three Houses'' can survive to the end of their given route depending on your choices: [[spoiler:Imperial generals Randolph and Ladislava, Felix's father Rodrigue, and most surprisingly of all, Jeralt, whose fate in ''Three Hopes'' determines whether or not Randolph and Rodrigue stay alive]].

* ''VideoGame/FistOfTheNorthStarLostParadise'' is set in an AlternateContinuity and as such, two characters defy their canonical fate from the Manga. [[spoiler: Rei survives as he never confronts Raoh, which led to the injury that would claim his life, and Yuria is cured of her radiation poisoning by Sphere City's medical pod and goes on to live with Kenshiro]].
* ''VideoGame/FreddyFazbearsPizzeriaSimulator'' features ([[TheFaceless well, kind of]]) Cassette Man, who is implicitly [[spoiler:Henry]], a character who had [[CanonForeigner previously only existed]] in ''Literature/FiveNightsAtFreddysTheSilverEyes'', which is set in an AlternateUniverse. There, he was DrivenToSuicide before the 90s, but here he's still around in what seems to be [[TwentyMinutesIntoTheFuture 2023]].

* In ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriorsAgeOfCalamity'', [[spoiler:every named character who died in the backstory of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' (plus the entire civilain population and most of Hyrule's army) manage to survive thanks to Terrako's involvement creating an AlternateTimeline where EveryoneLives.]]

** ''VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureEyesOfHeaven'' not only has [[spoiler:Kakyoin, Avdol and Iggy]] survive the events of the game, but also strongly implies with its ending that ''[[spoiler:[[EverybodyLives EVERYONE who died over the course of the series is now alive]]]]''.

** In the manga adaptation, the Riku Replica survives to go on a journey of his own to find his purpose in life. [[spoiler:He returns in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII'']].

* There is at least one ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' LicensedGame where you can save Kaworu Nagisa, [[spoiler:who dies in his first appearance]]. He pilots Unit-04, which arguably also falls under this trope.

* In ''VideoGame/OnePiecePirateWarriors 2'', both [[spoiler:Ace and Whitebeard]] are still alive since Marineford never happened in the [[Manga/OnePiece original story]].
* Among the characters who died in the original version of ''VideoGame/Persona3'' were [[spoiler:Chidori and Shinjiro]], both of whom developed [[EnsembleDarkHorse strong fan followings]]. When the game was remade as ''Persona 3: FES'', a sidequest was added to allow you to save the former, then when the game was remade ''again'' for the PSP, ''another'' sidequest was added to save the latter. The frustrating thing is that both of these are pure GuideDangIt and the latter is only possible if you chose the female main character, so it's [[PermanentlyMissableContent missable]] from the ''very first choice in the game''.

* The NES ''Franchise/{{Rambo}}'' game based on ''First Blood Part II'' allows the player to save Rambo's Vietnamese love interest Co from the grasp of death by [[spoiler:ignoring her completely after Rambo escapes from the Vietnamese prison camp. It makes sense from a gameplay standpoint, though, since talking to [=NPCs=] serve as save points.]]
* In ''VideoGame/SamuraiJackBattleThroughTime'', [[spoiler:[[HundredPercentCompletion collecting all 50 Corrupted Emperor's Kamons and defeating Aku]] unlocks the GoldenEnding where, unlike the GrandFinale of [[WesternAnimation/SamuraiJack the show]], Ashi survives being erased from existence, allowing her to marry Jack and live peacefully with him in the past]].
* Historically speaking, the famous samurai [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ryoma_Sakamoto Ryoma Sakamoto]] was assassinated before the Meiji Restoration began. In ''VisualNovel/ShallWeDateNinjaShadow'', his fictional counterpart Zeyo Sakamoto is one of the PlayerCharacter's love interests and lives through the events of the game itself.

*** ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsOriginalGeneration Gaiden'' features a lot of these and an eventually subverted [[DeathByAdaptation inversion]]. When they chose to adapt the OVA into game form in the bonus section of Original Generations, the segment ended in Lamia, who survived the OVA, getting shot down dead by [[BigBadWannabe Wilhelm von Juergen]] and thrown off to space, left for the dead, making her seemingly an inversion of the trope. The actual game later revealed that she actually survived, picked up by Duminuss then BrainwashedAndCrazy to play the [[Anime/MobileFighterGGundam Master Asia]] part of [[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsReversal Reversal]]. She gets better... and later, the game plays it straight for some of the ''[[VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsCompact3 Compact 3]]'' cast, including Fernando Albark, Alion Lucada, and Maysis Mark, when you compare to the original where every original except Folka died. And the game also pulls a surprise one in form of [[spoiler:Reversal's Despinis, one of the QuirkyMinibossSquad that you fight in Reversal, resulting her pulling a HeelFaceTurn for good.]]
*** And then ''2nd Original Generations'' inverts this: In ''VideoGame/SuperRobotWarsDestiny'', Perfectio is impossible to kill and only defeated when [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Treize Khushrenada]] pulled a HeroicSacrifice to seal him off forever. [[spoiler:They went along with this plot point, and picked Ventus, who was promoted from SecretCharacter into an automatic-join (and no longer exclusive with fellow secret character Glacies), to take Treize's place in the HeroicSacrifice of sealing and defeating Perfectio.]] [[spoiler:Also previously in ''Destiny'', Rim gets to keep her two personalities throughout the game. In OG, one of them, the NiceGirl one, Chris... VANISHED, lost forever, and leaving Rim with just one personality, and she is ''not'' happy about it.]]

*** [[Anime/CodeGeass Euphemia li Britannia, Shirley Fennete and Rolo Lamperouge]] in ''Saisei-hen'', provided the player picks the right route. Also, [[spoiler:Anew and [[Anime/ShinMazinger Lorelei]]]] are {{Secret Character}}s. Averted due to ''Jigoku-hen'' defaulting to the Zero Requiem route.

*** [[Anime/MobileSuitGundam00 Wang Liu Mei]] survives what should have killed the character in the show for ''Saisei-hen'' if the normal route is taken, [[spoiler:[[AvertedTrope only to be abandoned on the exploding Damocles by Emperor Lelouch]]]].

*** [[spoiler: [[SecretCharacter Black Might Gaine,]] the beloved EnsembleDarkhorse from the series gets to survive and become a playable unit once players can successfully trigger and complete the secret scenario.]]
*** Averted with the plot of Anime/Zambot3. [[spoiler:Though Celestial Being stopped it early, Kappei's grandparents and his dad are still dead. His older brother Ichitaka, however, remains alive to pursue engineering and publicize a utility for Bealian technology, thus justifying the use of the [[WaveMotionGun Ion Cannon]] without the King Beal.]]

*** Thanks to the ELS being DemotedToExtra (see above), [[Anime/Gundam00AWakeningOfTheTrailblazer Graham Aker]] survives by default. The same goes for everyone killed by the ELS in the movie, since [[spoiler: the ELS aren't in the same universe as the Gundam 00 world]].

*** Black Might Gaine lives. Only this time, he doesn’t do any [[StupidSacrifice Stupid Sacrifices]] and takes out his brainwash through ''pure will of justice''.
*** Jill survives by default this time with no secrets needed. Meanwhile, [[spoiler:Irma and Tanya, pilots of the ''Eirene'' and ''Victora'', also survive. However, their machines are destroyed during their escape from Embryo and thus unplayable.]]
*** Provided the players fulfill the requirements, [[spoiler:Todd, Glemy, Kia, Mashmyre, and Bizon live.]]

*** [[Manga/MagicKnightRayearth Eagle Vision]] survives the events since Debonair didn't execute the sudden attack that killed him before, nor is he [[spoiler:rendered into a coma due to not being chosen as the Pillar in the manga]]. In the same time, while the events is based on the anime, Presea also survived the events, since Ascot, along with Caldina, was dispatched by Zagato earlier and then made to pull a HeelFaceTurn in the same time, so Ascot didn't have the time to summon the monster that would've originally killed Presea, so [[spoiler:there is no BackupTwin involved this time.]] Unfortunately averted with [[spoiler:Princess Emeraude and Zagato, [[PlayerPunch their tragedy still has to be played straight.]]]]
*** PlayedWith when it comes to [[spoiler:[[Anime/CowboyBebop Spike Spiegel]]. During the ending of the default game, it's mentioned that he confronted Vicious and the Red Dragons alone, and [[BolivianArmyEnding it just ended there with no clear conclusion]], staying true to the original anime where the ending was really ambiguous. If the Expansion Pack is installed, the story takes place after the events of ''T'', and Spike pops back out, turns out he survived that.]]

*** The backstory has the [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamCharsCounterattack Axis Shock]] happen, Amuro and Char both disappear, and even mentions [[Anime/MobileSuitGundamUnicorn Full Frontal]] who in canon [[spoiler:could not exist without Char dying due to having a part of Char's soul]], but both of them just.. turn up alive with no explaination on how they survived. Both of them are even both suprised the other one is still alive.
*** ''Anime/MobileSuitVictoryGundam'' has an interesting example with Katejina, who even if you complete the prerequisites you explicitly do get to decide if she survives. Even more so, [[spoiler:Usso's mom is spared her gruesome fate as she's saved by Van]].

* ''WebAnimation/GamingAllStars Remastered'': [[spoiler:VideoGame/{{Vexx}}, [[VideoGame/InFamous Cole MacGrath]], and [[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Knuckles the Echidna]]]] all survive for a longer period of time here than they did in ''The Ultimate Crossover''. [[spoiler: They still, however, perish in the finale along with the remainder of the cast]].

-->'''[[spoiler:Pyrrha:]]''' Hello again!\\

'''[[spoiler:Pyrrha:]]''' What do you mean?\\

'''Nora:''' NOPE! Everything's fine! ''[[spoiler:Pyrrha]]'' is ''fine!'' [[PunctuatedForEmphasis Nothing bad. Ever. Happened.]] ''[[[BreakingTheFourthWall turns directly to the viewer]]]'' Evveeeeerrrr.

** Arthur himself, depending on how dead you consider Arthur to be in the myths. In the Space Arc, he isn't even wounded when the Ladies of Avalon retrieve him from the Stag King planetoid (but probably can't return to British Space, hence his journey to Avalon). And, again in ''Three Faces'', it's revealed that the contemporary equivalent is [[spoiler: [[http://www.arthurkingoftimeandspace.com/3faces/bbny.htm Arthur opening Avalon Links Golf Course]]]].

** Lucy herself, Dracula manages to reach her crypt in time and allows her to escape before the hunters can stake her [[spoiler: By the end, she and her mother flee into the night once Dracula and the brides are killed.]]
** Lucy's mother, here named Minerva, survives the novels events whereas in the book she died via a heart attack due to Dracula invasion of her house. This is due to the fact the event doesn't happen here [[spoiler: as Minerva has to leave the house on an out of town errand when Dracula comes to claim Lucy. Though likewise an inversion as Dracula's brides intercept Minerva's carriage and and her vampiric daughter later bites her and turns her into a vampire, meaning she ''does'' die but comes back as an undead. Like Lucy, she remains as such to keep vampirisim alive at the end of the story.]]
** [[spoiler: Quincy is likewise an inversion. As in the book, he dies in the final confrontation, but is bitten several times during it. His friends think he was spared the curse due to killing Dracula before Quincy passed on. But when his body is shipped to Texas for burial, he rises as a vampire himself and the end of the story see him starting his own "kingdom" via a ranch he owned.]]
* ''Webcomic/DumbingOfAge'' is basically a [[HighSchoolAU College AU]] of the creator's Webcomic/{{Walkyverse}} comics. Since the latter involved battles with aliens and several deaths, this will presumably happen a lot. WordOfGod has specifically said that [[AmbiguousDisorder Dina]] is safe, and [[TheLostLenore Pamela]], a PosthumousCharacter from ''Webcomic/{{Shortpacked}},'' is known to be working at Galasso's Pizza.
* In Megan Kearney's ''Beauty and the Beast'', [[spoiler: Beauty's mother Elise is NotQuiteDead. She sacrificed her mortal life to save Beauty's when the later was gravely ill as a child; but because she was really an immortal swan maiden, she couldn't die. Instead, she became a part of the castle's magic, and spends the entire story watching unseen over Beauty and the Beast and working to bring them together.]]

** "[[Literature/JackAndTheBeanstalk Elan and the Beanstalk]]": Falling damage can't kill a giant – and the giant is reasonable once people actually try talking to him.

* ''WebVideo/RhettAndLink'''s Middle School Musical version of ''Breaking Bad'' falls under this trope. Having [[GeckoEnding an original ending made before the final season]], they save [[spoiler:Hank, who arrests Walt, implying he falls under this trope as well.]] The musical can be found [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nWjNgV_6yc here.]]

* Due to being aimed at young children and running on RuleOfFunny, the ''Lego Star Wars'' adaptation of ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'' glosses over most of the deaths from the movie. In a notable example, the SignatureScene of Anakin murdering the younglings at the Jedi Temple is changed to him merely locking them in cages while they loudly complain.

* In ''Victorian Undead II'' which somewhat adapts the ''Literature/{{Dracula}}'' novel. Lucy Westenra actually survive the entirety of the book due to Arthur betraying the heroes and helping Dracula move her body after he finished feeding on her, allowing her to turn safely and develop her powers to be a vulnerable threat. Even in the final confrontation between with the hunters and backed by Dracula's brides. She manages to escape by killing the last bride for them under the condition they leave her be to enjoy her immortality. And indeed the book ends with Dracula dead but the vampriric Lucy still at large.

* The Creator/HarryPartridge short ''Saturday Morning Watchmen'', in keeping with its premise of showcasing the hypoethical changes there would be if ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' was adapted into a lighthearted cartoon for children, depicts Edward Blake being saved from falling to his death by Adrian Veidt (even though Adrian was the one responsible for his plummeting in the original comic) as well as Rorschach petting the dogs he cut up and killed after realizing they were used to dispose of the body of a murdered girl.

* The Creator/HarryPartridge short ''Saturday Morning Watchmen'', in keeping with its premise of showcasing the hypoethical changes there would be if ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' was adapted into a lighthearted cartoon for children, depicts Edward Blake being saved from falling to his death by Adrain Veidt (even though Adrian was the one responsible for his plummeting in the original comic) as well as Rorschach petting the dogs he cut up and killed after realizing they were used to dispose of the body of a murdered girl.

* The Creator/HarryPatridge short ''Saturday Morning Watchmen'', in keeping with its premise of showcasing the hypoethical changes there would be if ''ComicBook/{{Watchmen}}'' was adapted into a lighthearted cartoon for children, depicts Edward Blake being saved from falling to his death by Adrain Veidt (even though Adrian was the one responsible for his plummeting in the original comic) as well as Rorschach petting the dogs he cut up and killed after realizing they were used to dispose of the body of a murdered girl.

* The NES version of ''[[VideoGame/DoubleDragon Double Dragon II: The Revenge]]'' has a [[RevisedEnding new ending]] where Billy's girlfriend Marian is [[BackFromTheDead restored to life]], whereas in the original arcade version she remained dead.