History Main / UnexplainedRecovery

* Averted with UsefulNotes/RasputinTheMadMonk, who was simply shot in the head and thrown in a lake. All the rumors and exaggerations about the allegedly numerous attempts to kill him were invented by his assassins years later while in exile in France.

* In ''ComicStrip/PearlsBeforeSwine'', Whale, a killer-whale character who was killed off via packaged explosive in 2006, inexplicably returns in a 2008 strip for a baseball game. When Rat confronts [[AuthorInsert author Stephen Pastis]] about this, Pastis just [[ShrugOfGod casually answers]] that Whale had "undied". Partially subverted in the next day's strip, when Rat takes Whale off their team for being "technically dead". The irony is that the excuse of "[character] undied" is something ''Rat'' first used. He periodically writes a story called "''The Adventures of Angry Bob''", which invariably ends with the protagonist dead (most memorably after being assaulted while expressing happiness via a kazoo: "Many toots-for-joy later..."). To explain how he could write sequels, he started the first one with, "Angry Bob undied." (Goat reacts as one would expect.)

'''Reflector:''' ...And then thrown out into space?\\

* ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' manages to get away with this trope due to it's [[NoFourthWall lack of having a fourth wall]] and RuleOfFunny:

** Bennet the Sage appears out of nowhere after his apparent death at the hands of Ask That Guy, much to his surprise.

** The same thing happens in ''WebVideo/{{Kickassia}}'' with [[spoiler:[[WebVideo/TheSpoonyExperiment Spoony]] being turned into Dr. Insano, sent after the Nostalgia Critic, and showing up later as Spoony again]]. This might be due to a dropped plot idea wherein [[spoiler:it's really Insano pretending to be Spoony to get the jump on the reviewers]].
* ''WebVideo/BadMovieBeatdown'': Film Brain's ''Film/MissionImpossibleII'' review starts with him on to Doug Walker (playing the BadBoss), who tells him his phone [[ThisPageWillSelfDestruct will explode in five seconds]] and it explodes in his hand. He's fine, musing after the titles that [[HandWave his beard saved his face]]. And the rest of him?

In other words, the only reason the character is still whole and alive is because StatusQuoIsGod and the writers invoked the FirstLawOfResurrection: they just didn't want him to [[SortingAlgorithmOfDeadness remain dead]]. Alternately, the writers [[SeriesContinuityError just plain forgot]] the character died/was injured.

* ''WesternAnimation/IceAge'': Diego's "[[DisneyDeath death]]". He [[TakingTheBullet takes the bullet]] to save his friends from the other sabertooths and seems to succumb to his injuries, but [[DownplayedTrope limpingly]] rejoins his friends at the end. His response?

[[folder: Tabletop Games]]

* PlayedForLaughs in the WebAnimation/YouTubePoop [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hv3AgmaAohk "The Tragedy of Darth Sand"]]. In the previous short, "The Rise of Darth Sand", Obi-Wan Kenobi finally kills General Grievous by [[ThereIsNoKillLikeOverkill repeating shooting him in his unarmored chest, flash-frying his organs]]. When we meet up with Obi-Wan in this short, Grievous springs back to life, kicking Obi-Wan, declaring "Kenobi! I'm back!"

* The plot of the ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' fan comic ''WebComic/GrowthSpurt'' hinges on [[spoiler: Asriel Dreemurr]] not only being restored to normal, but given an inexplicable AgeLift to boot. How either of these happened is never explained.
* ''FanFic/HomestuckHigh''; Karkat allegedly kills himself at the end of the first chapter, for no reason. He turns out to be alive, albeit injured, and [[CrackFic inexplicably turns into Tavros]].
* In Fanfic/LightAndDarkTheAdventuresOfDarkYagami, some of the characters returning to life are explained as being due to the Life Note being able to bring people back to life, but some, such as Blud, come back from being killed with no explanation.

* WebVideo/SailorMoonAbridged has Molly’s Mom as the first MonsterOfTheWeek (with her monstrous appearance hand-waved as alcohol-induced rage) and thus, the first victim of Sailor Moon’s [[FinishingMove Moon Tiara Magic]]. However, she shows up alive and well as soon as the plot calls for her to return.

* ''Radio/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' ended its first radio series with Zaphod, Trillian and Marvin being eaten by a shape-shifted alien. The Christmas special that launched the second series brought back Zaphod and Marvin (and changed Trillian's fate to PutOnABus). Zaphod's first words in the episode were "I've recovered." Marvin had lost an arm shortly before getting eaten; as this was never referenced again, it presumably got better too.