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Basic Trope: A character who is clearly still living is asked if they made it out of a situation alive.

  • Straight: Alice is telling a story of a dangerous adventure. Bob asks Alice if she survived.
  • Exaggerated: When the story gets to a dark point, Bob insists that there's no possible way Alice could have survived. To Alice.
  • Downplayed: Alice is in pristine condition. Bob asks her if she was badly hurt.
  • Justified:
  • Inverted: Alice is dead, and Bob is asking her corpse if she survived.
  • Subverted: "Oh man... did you die?" "Actually, yes." Turns out Alice is undead now!
  • Double Subverted: "Wait, wait, the undead aren't real in this setting." "Oh? ... Oh, right. I guess I didn't die."
  • Parodied: "And then I stubbed my toe, and —" "OH MY GOD DID YOU DIE?" "What? No! I just tripped and —" "DID YOU DIE THEN?" "I'm not dead! I didn't die at any point!"
  • Zig Zagged: Alice has memory problems and resurrection and/or undeath are possible in the setting, so she genuinely doesn't know whether she died or not, and keeps updating as the story continues.
  • Averted:
    • Bob doesn't ask, because the answer is obvious.
    • Alice wasn't or didn't tell a situation that risked her life.
  • Enforced: "Our Invincible Hero isn't allowed to die, but the Licensed Game we're making needs a failure condition. Put in a Framing Device, and whenever the player dies, add a little kid asking if the hero seriously died, and the hero admitting that wasn't how it actually happened."
  • Lampshaded:
  • Invoked: "So there I was, totally surrounded. No way out. Now I know you have one question on your mind. Go on. Ask it."
  • Exploited: ???
  • Defied: "Did you-" "I'm not letting you finish that sentence because I can't bare such stupid questions."
  • Discussed: ???
  • Conversed: ???
  • Played For Laughs: Bob asks Alice if she survived. Alice goes quiet for a moment, pats herself down to confirm that she is, in fact, alive, and responds with a Dope Slap.
    • “Did he kill you?” “Sadly, he did. But I survived!”
  • Played For Drama: Bob asks Alice if she survived. Alice responds, "No. I didn't."


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