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There is one who remembers the way to your door:
Life you may evade, but Death you shall not.
You shall not deny the Stranger.
T. S. Eliot, Choruses From The Rock

Character Death is a major event in stories. No, no... it is a really big deal. Really. Except when it isn't.

Obviously, this trope will lead to Spoiler Central, so, due to the nature of these tropes, the spoilers are unmarked to avoid having to highlight them constantly.

This is the inverse of Birth Tropes. Also see Indexitis, Injury Tropes, Breaking and Destruction Tropes. This index is often (though not always) related to Violence Tropes, which has quite a bit of overlap.


Tropes

    open/close all folders 

    Subcategories and Trope Indexes 
  • Afterlife Tropes: Tropes about what happens to people after they die.
    • Mistaken for Afterlife: Someone thinks they have died and gone to an afterlife.
    • Rebirth and Reincarnation Tropes: Tropes about reincarnation (the endless cycle of being born into, living and dying in one life after another).
    • Resurrection Tropes: Tropes about dying and then returning back to full life.
    • Tropes of the Soul: Tropes about the soul or spirit that is believed to continue existing after the death of one's physical body, thus allowing entrance to the afterlife.
    • Undead Index: Beings that have died and are supposed to stay dead, but now they're (poorly) trying to act like they're alive again.
  • Big Trope Hunting: Tropes about chasing down and killing other living creatures, whether for food or sport.
  • Choosing Death: Tropes about suicide, the act of killing oneself.
  • Dead Body Index: Tropes about decaying, rotting corpses.
  • Disaster Tropes: Tropes about major catastrophes (both natural and artificial) that can result in a lot of deaths.
    • Apocalyptic Index: Whenever the world as we know it is ending, by necessity this means that (almost) everyone on the planet will die.
  • Funeral Tropes: Tropes about giving proper respect for the deceased.
  • Grief Tropes: Tropes about mourning losses, usually of people who have died, but not necessarily.
  • Last Words: There are many ways to express your final thoughts at the end of life.
  • Meat of the Index: The flesh of dead animals, especially when eaten as food.
    • I'm a Humanitarian: Cannibalism, especially (but not limited to) the consumption of dead human beings.
  • Murder Tropes: Tropes about homicide, which is when people (intentionally) kill other people.
    • Execution Tropes: Tropes about killing captive people (especially, but not limited to, capital punishment for condemned criminals in prison).
    • Genocide Tropes: Tropes about the systematic, targeted mass murder of large groups of people.
    • Murder in the Family: Tropes about the act of killing one's own kin.
  • This Index Is Expendable: Various types of Stock Characters who have a high chance of dying in the story.
  • This Index Will Kill You: Various things that are able to cause death.
  • This Index Will Live Forever: Cheating death so that one may live forever (or at least indefinitely).
    • Immortality: Various ways that a character is unaffected by death.
  • Will and Inheritance Tropes: Private property that dead people have left behind for their living heirs to claim.

    Tropes A-C 

    Tropes D 

    Tropes E-K 

    Tropes L-O 

    Tropes P-S 

    Tropes T-Z 


Alternative Title(s): Death Trope, Dead Herring

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