History Main / UndeathAlwaysEnds

* In all endings of ''VideoGame/ShinMegamiTenseiIVApocalypse'', the undead protagonist Nanashi will lose his ResurrectiveImmortality. Right after his death at the start of the game, he can refuse to make the DealWithTheDevil that makes him undead, and will be treated to a NonstandardGameOver. He can do this at any point in the game by refusing to be resurrected. The Law ending has [[spoiler:Nanashi die for good when he sides with an angel who wants to wipe out Tokyo with a black hole generator, himself included.]] The Chaos ending has [[spoiler:Nanashi take a demonic body upon siding with Lucifer.]] The Bonds ending has [[spoiler:Nanashi be granted a completely human body by the [[KillAndReplaced killed and replaced clone]] of the being who resurrected him in the first place.]] The Massacre ending has [[spoiler:Nanashi become God.]]

* ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'': During the Battle of Minis Tirith, Eowyn manages to kill the Witch-King, a disembodied spirit occupying a human suit of armor who used to be a mortal man, presumably destroying him for good.

** Averted with zombies, most of whom have jobs like policemen and lawyers. One exception is Windle Poons who becomes a zombie at the start of ''Reaper Man'' and dies at the end.

* Averted in the early ''Literature/HarryPotter'' books [[spoiler:but then played straight with all but the house ghosts, and they probably ''wish'' they could get this treatment.]]
** Harry Potter has kind of a [[SortingAlgorithmOfDeadness sorting algorithm of (un)deadness]] going on. Almost every form of cheating death (being a ghost, unicorn blood, Horcruxes, [[spoiler: the Resurrection Stone]]) has at least one major drawback to the user or those around them. The Philosopher's Stone is the only exception - and even then, its users simply [[WhoWantsToLiveForever grow tired]] and choose to see what comes next.

** In ''TabletopGame/PrometheanTheCreated'', the Created want to end their undying, unliving nature by [[HumanityEnsues completing the Great Work and becoming human]], but frankly, [[BlessedWithSuck can you blame them?]] Even then, Mr. Verney, FrankensteinsMonster, is still going after several centuries, much to his regret. Note that, although Prometheans generally only get a couple centuries, "going to the wastes" (complete isolation from humanity and their powers) can extend this clock, which many take advantage of to extend their deadline to complete the Great Work; WhiteWolf leaves it open whether Verney and the other Progenitors (founders of Promethean lines) are truly immortal or just punctual about going to the wastes.

* ''Literature/{{Xanth}}'' has the Zombie King. His power is to create zombies. They nearly always remain zombies, unless it's changed since I stopped reading the "Trilogy" after book 27. Oddly, the Zombie King is not himself a zombie; he was for a while, but he recovered.

* Kanoe Yuuko, the titular CuteGhostGirl from ''Manga/DuskMaidenOfAmnesia'', has been "haunting" her school for half a century, but due to GhostAmnesia, doesn't remember why, and is [[AngstWhatAngst surprisingly carefree]] about her situation. When she meets [[OrdinaryHighSchoolStudent Teiichi]], a boy who doesn't realize she's a ghost at first, they have a conversation that leads the two to form the [[JapaneseSchoolClub Paranormal Investigation Club]] to look into the school's various ghost stories and try to figure out the circumstances behind Yuuko's death. [[BoyMeetsGhoul They gradually fall in love.]] [[spoiler: Eventually, they discover the [[BreakTheCutie horrible truth]] behind [[CruelAndUnusualDeath Yuuko's death]] and Teiichi helps her come to terms with it. Unfortunately, the traumatic memories and dark emotions she had been repressing were anchoring her in the world of the living, and the closure she gains causes her to begin fading away, just as her relationship with Teiichi was getting serious.]]

* [[ColdfireTrilogy Gerald Tarrant,]] aka The Hunter, got ''nine hundred years'' of undeath thanks to a [[DealWithTheDevil bargain with The Unnamed.]] But by the end of the third book, he [[HeroicSacrifice sacrifices his life]] to defeat Calesta, and then the Mother of the Iezu restores him to human life for complicated reasons. And then he has a heart attack, but Damien heals him. And ''then'' his [[IdenticalGrandson great-great-great-grandson]] goes after him for [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge murdering his family,]] cuts off his head and throws it on a bonfire. [[spoiler: [[FakingTheDead It was a trick,]] and he walks away in the end.]]

* The [[ArmyOfTheDead undead army]] in ''Literature/AnArmyOfTheDead'' return to their dead state just after they finish killing their enemies and [[DigYourOwnGrave digging their graves]].

* Averted in the EddieMurphy vehicle ''Film/VampireInBrooklyn''. Early in the film Murphy's vampire recruits another character as a "ghoul" (basically a sentient decaying zombie) to serve him. After Murphy has been "destroyed", his body turns into mist and floats away. The "mist" laughs and drops his ring to his limo, flying off into the night. The ghoul, who is sat in the back of the limo, tries the ring on. This turns him into a vampire as well. So he is still undead by the end of the movie, but has received a complimentary upgrade to Undead Deluxe.

* Death Knight Lord Soth from the ''{{Dragonlance}}'' books was [[HumanityEnsues turned Human]] and subsequently killed in the War of Souls trilogy.

* [[{{Gungrave}} Beyond the Grave]] is an undead protagonist, has been undead for almost twenty years (though most of that time was spent {{s|ealedBadassInACan}}leeping), and stays undead throughout both games. The animation ends quite differently: [[spoiler: he and Harry perform mutually-assisted suicide after realizing the flaws that led to their downfall]].

* This is a major plot point of ''{{Tsukihime}}''. Dead Apostles, even though they're vampires, will eventually die sooner or later, so some of them have to get creative to extend their lifespans. Nrvnqsr Chaos does this by fusing with different beasts, Michael Roa Valdamjong does this through reincarnation, and Night of Wallachia does this by manifesting himself as a materialized fear or rumor.

* Averted in any and all depictions of ''CasperTheFriendlyGhost''.

* Literature/TheBible, of all things, inverts this. Many references to the souls of the damned make have them with corpse-like attributes (i.e. worms going through them) and this will be retained after the Great Resurrection. On the other end, Heaven is very explicitly referred to as both "life after death" and "everlasting", so another big inversion there. Arguably played straight with the saints, who will resurrected as immortal humans.

* In ''VideoGame/DeadCase'', ghosts can pass on to the next life, but they need to perform a ritual involving the cooperation of various ghosts in the area. [[spoiler:The protagonist attempts this, but fails because he still had unfinished business he needed to take care of. It's also subverted at the end, when the other ghosts stay behind and find purpose amongst the living.]]

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* At the end of ''{{Preacher}}'', the vampire Cassidy makes a deal with God to help him take out Genesis. In return, he made God promise that he and Jessie would live no matter what. After Cassidy immolated himself in sunlight, he reappears completely fine...watching a sunset as a human.

* In ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'', "uncroaked" units last for only a limited time before they decay. I don't know offhand whether that's a mechanic from any of the games that provide the general concept, but I wouldn't be surprised.
** Many strategy games give newly created undead a limited "lifespan" as a game balance thing - otherwise the side who can turn all casualties undead would get an unfair advantage in the long run.
** This is later averted by [[spoiler:Prince Ansom and other "Decrypted" created by the arkenpliers]].
*** Which, of course, proved it [[JustifiedTrope justified]] in the first place, as in Book 2, [[spoiler:Wanda and her decrypted army are marching across the world nearly unopposed.]]
*** This is literally a game changer for the story. The "uncroaked" retain no memories or skills of their former selves, decay after a few turns (depending on how much juice was spent for their "unroacking") and mostly used as cannon fodder. The "decrypted" however have their memories, skills, bonuses (if they had any) require no upkeep (a big deal) and are unquestioningly loyal to their new side. [[spoiler:Or rather everyone (even themselves) think they are loyal. At first.]]

* ''Manga/XxxHOLiC'' and ''TsubasaReservoirChronicle'' example- [[spoiler:Yuko Ichihara.]] A full explanation would require an eight paragraph course in semi-made-up-by-CLAMP-mysticism, [[MindScrew confusingness]], [[GambitPileup multiple overly-complex-plan pileups]], and would leave you more confused than educated. The short version is that a RealityWarper effectively made the universe ignore her death for several hundred years.
* Goes with the territory of the ''KurosagiCorpseDeliveryService'' -- the main character's power allows him to temporarily coax the recently dead to talk (and move) again in order to finish business they left on earth, but this effect's length can usually be measured in minutes before they're done and pass on again. [[spoiler:Other characters who can revive the dead also exist, but their powers are equally temporary -- though in one girl's case it's because her powers cause the dead enormous pain and they become unreasoning monsters who must be put down.]]
* Manga/{{Bleach}}'s afterlife is a bit messy and it's a little hard to say exactly how it fits into this trope. For starters, there are Pluses, good spirits. They have three possible outcomes: A) Be sent to Soul Society by a Shinigami, B) Get eaten by a Hollow, or C) Become a Hollow yourself. For Hollows, you A) Get killed by a Shinigami, sending your now pure spirit to Soul Society, B) Get killed by a Shinigami, sending your evil-as-a-human spirit to Hell, C) Get killed by a Quincy, AKA, [[CessationOfExistence end of the line]], D) Get eaten by another, stronger Hollow, or E) Eat other Hollows and eventually become stronger forms of Hollows (and still run the risk of losing control to one or more of the other Hollows that've been eaten). It becomes even more confusing when you get to the Soul Society, and it remains unclear exactly what happens to souls eaten by a Hollow after a Shinigami purifies the Hollow that ate them (ie do all of them end up in Soul Society separately or does the purified Hollow arrive as a composite of all the souls it ate?)...
* Happens ''by the wazoo'' in SaintSeiya's Hades Saga. [[spoiler: To both good guys ''and'' enemies.]]

* Played with in ''MyLovelyGhostKana''--[[spoiler:Kana is still a ghost at the end of the manga, but her time with [[BoyMeetsGhoul Daikichi]] has made her ''feel'' more alive than ever, which is why she shows no desire or need to leave the world.]]