History Main / YouCantKillWhatsAlreadyDead

* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]] in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Undead are just as susceptible to {{Hit Point|s}} damage as anyone else, but their lack of bodily functions makes them immune to {{Critical Hit}}s, [[BackStab sneak attacks]], and other effects that rely on the target's anatomy -- only gross physical damage gets the job done. They also often have some form of DamageReduction, making certain weapon categories less efficient. There's also the sheer amount of damage required to put a standard human zombie down. A normal human has around four hit points. In Fifth Edition, a zombie typically has twenty two hit points and can have up to thirty-three - around eight times the hitpoints. A typical sword blow will kill a normal human, but it it will take ''eight'' of these to put a maximum hitpoint zombie down for the count.

** Parodied in "Make Love, Not Warcraft" where one overpowered {{griefer}} is dominating the title game and going around whacking players to their recognized detriment -- visually represented in person as an obese nerd whose sole focus is the game before him -- and the question about how to stop him is phrased (with a JapaneseRanguage accent) as "How do you kill what has no life?"

* ''Franchise/EvilDead'': Deadites are ''very'' tough, generally shaking gunshot wounds and loss of limbs. In general, it takes something major, like RemovingTheHeadOrDestroyingTheBrain or outright dismembering the body, to put them down for good; on multiple occasions in ''Series/AshVsEvilDead'', Ash and co. chop up the bodies of slain Deadites to [[MakeSureHesDead make sure they stay down]].

[[quoteright:350:[[Literature/TheZombieSurvivalGuide https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zombie_attack_0.jpg]]]]

* This was the intention of Thriller Bark in ''Manga/OnePiece''. After his original living crewmates were killed by the Yonko Kaido, Warlord Gecko Moria decided to make an army of the undead. His logic is that zombies FeelNoPain and can't really tire out, so therefore they were superior. Even if the stolen shadows animating the corpses were removed, replacements can be found later on. Indeed, in order to defeat the Special Zombie Oars, the Straw Hats had to completely pulverize his spine, paralyzing it.

* In ''Anime/SailorMoonCrystal'', Calaveras says this when Sailor Venus attacks Petz's ghost. The attack simply goes right through her incorporeal form.

* ''VideoGame/PathfinderKingmaker'': Party member Jaethal is an elf {{revenant|Zombie}} who serves Urgathoa, goddess of undeath, as an inquisitor. Being undead, she's immune to death effects and ability damage, meaning she's great to bring along to the "Varnhold Vanishing" chapter and can use two pieces of cursed equipment with no ill effects. On the flipside, however, ReviveKillsZombie so she has to be healed using ''inflict wounds'' spells (the devs added potions of them to the game specifically for her in an ObviousRulePatch).

* In the ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' games, the protagonist is [[WhoWantsToLiveForever cursed with a form of]] ResurrectiveImmortality that means that they revert to their undead "[[RevenantZombie Hollow]]" form and teleport to the last [[CheckPoint Bonfire]] they used upon death. They cannot be killed in a way that matters, although [[GameplayAndStorySegregation canonically,]] they'll go insane if it happens too often ([[NintendoHard probably the point where the player chucks the controller through the nearest window]]).
* In ''Franchise/DeadSpace'', the Necromorphs, the host creature are already dead, and the pieces of meat usually connecting the sharpened limbs are the [[PuppeteerParasite parasitic tentacle creatures]] that animate the body.

* Becomes a recurring theme in a two-part episode of ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' when, after the events of [[WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut the movie]], Satan has dumped Saddam Hussein and killed him ([[ItMakesSenseInContext don't ask]]). Of course, since Saddam was already dead and in Hell, he pops up the very next day right as rain, much to Satan's chagrin:

* In ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'', Stands usually operate on the logic that if their user dies, they die, and vice-versa. Come ''Vento Aureo'', and we're introduced to Notorious B.I.G., a Stand that activates ''after the user dies.'' The Stand itself is nigh-untouchable, and it's stated to have infinite durability on its stats page.

* ''Film{{Creepshow}}'': Shown in the ''Something To Tide You Over'' segment; after Richard has his wife Becky and her lover Harry buried up to their necks on the beach, leaving them to drown when the tide comes in, they return as completely unkillable revenants who don't even flinch when Richard tries to shoot them. After getting revenge on Richard by burying him the same way he did to them, they return to their watery graves.

* ''TabletopGame/Rapture:TheEndOfDays'': The Walking Dead are dead bodies being animated by a demon or satanic cultist. Being dead, they can only be stopped by completing destroying the body, or defeating the controlling entity.

* Vamp in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid2SonsOfLiberty'' likes to gloat that he can't be killed because "he's already died once" and "Hell had no vacancies". However, [[DoingInTheWizard he isn't actually undead]] and painfully learns the hard way that he absolutely ''can'' die in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid4GunsOfThePatriots'' when he's injected with something that shuts his nanomachines off...

*** Averted with Sabbat's zombies in the ''Judgement Day'' storyline: "Bullet seems to work."

* In ''Literature/TheZombieKnight'', it's almost impossible to kill a [[CameBackStrong reaper servant]] because their brain and body are sustained entirely by their connection to the reaper, with actual life processes strictly optional. Pain can be deferred until a later date, wounds can be casually regenerated, muscles and neurons function regardless of blood supply, and even a headshot won't keep them down for long. At one point a servant flatlined due to poison, and didn't even notice until hours later, at which point he was mildly annoyed.

* In ''Literature/TheZombieKnight'', it's almost impossible to kill a [[CameBackStrong reaper servant]] because their brain and body are sustained entirely by their connection to the reaper, with actual life processes strictly optional. Pain can be deferred until a later date, wounds can be casually reconstructed, and even a headshot won't keep them down because the reaper can regrow them from scratch. At one point a servant flatlined due to poison, and didn't even notice until hours later, at which point he was mildly annoyed.

* The very first ''WesternAnimation/CasperTheFriendlyGhost'' actually does this. Casper, depressed that all of his attempts to make friends just scare everyone away [[DrivenToSuicide decides to lay down on the railroad tracks when he sees a train coming.]] Of course, the train just passes right through him.

* [[ZigZaggingTrope Zig-Zagged]] in ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'': Undead are just as susceptible to {{Hit Point|s}} damage as anyone else, but their lack of bodily functions makes them immune to {{Critical Hit}}s, [[BackStab sneak attacks]], and other effects that rely on the target's anatomy -- only gross physical damage gets the job done. They also often have some form of DamageReduction, making certain weapon categories less efficient.

[[folder:Real Life]]
* A non-zombie version is used in metallurgy to prevent some metals (notably titanium and aluminum, which is actually ''flammable'' in Earth's atmosphere) from oxidizing. By deliberately oxidizing a thin layer of metal on the surface, further corrosion is greatly slowed: the oxide, being, well, already oxided, won't react to further oxygen atoms, and even a few microns is thick enough to make it difficult for the oxygen to get through and bond with the metal behind (and the oxide has sufficiently similar properties to the metal that the overall performance remains the same). While the same principle applies to iron, iron oxide has nowhere near the same properties, so different measures involving inserting more reactive atoms like chromium to deflect the oxygen need to be used.
[[/folder]]

--> '''Temple Posting''': "Turn back if you value your life. You can't behead the headless, our swords and pikes do nothing."

* ''Manga/RosarioToVampire'': As a [[ChineseVampire jiang-shi]], Ling-Ling Huang is NighInvulnerable and has no fear of life-threatening feats; a RunningGag is that she can casually [[LosingYourHead remove her own head]], and pointing out that she's can't be harmed because she's already dead is her CatchPhrase.

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' has a variant when a {{basilisk|AndCockatrice}} with a DeadlyGaze is prowling [[WizardingSchool Hogwarts]] but miraculously only manages to Petrify people (which is reversible). The trick here is that your eyes have to directly meet the monster's gaze for it to actually kill you--which did happen once in the backstory. But at the time the book takes place, the only character to look this thing in the eyes is the FriendlyGhost Nearly Headless Nick, who gets Petrified by default because the guy can't exactly die ''again''. (The other victims include a student who glimpses the basilisk through Nick's translucent form, another student who observes it through a camera lens, and a few students--and a cat--who see the creature's reflection.)

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' has a variant when a {{basilisk|AndCockatrice}} with a DeadlyGaze is prowling [[WizardingSchool Hogwarts]] but miraculously only manages to Petrify people (which is reversible). The trick here is that your eyes have to directly meet the monster's gaze for it to kill you--which did happen once in the backstory. But at the time the book takes place, the only character to look this thing in the eyes is the FriendlyGhost Nearly Headless Nick, who gets Petrified by default because the guy can't exactly die ''again''. (The other victims include a student who glimpses the basilisk through Nick's translucent form, another student who observes it through a camera lens, and a few students--and a cat--who see the creature's reflection.)

* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' has a variant when a {{basilisk|AndCockatrice}} with a DeadlyGaze is prowling [[WizardingSchool Hogwarts]] but miraculously only manages to Petrify people (which is reversible). The trick here is that your eyes have to directly meet the monster's gaze for it to kill you--which did happen once in the backstory. But at the time the book takes place, the only character to look this thing in the eyes is the FriendlyGhost Nearly Headless Nick, who gets Petrified by default because you can't exactly kill the guy ''again''. (The other victims include a student who glimpses the basilisk through Nick's translucent form, another student who observes it through a camera lens, and a few students--and a cat--who see the creature's reflection.)