Basic Trope: Character can't die in a prequel since it was established that they are alive in a previous story that took place in the future.
- Straight: In The Great Story, Bob is alive, therefore, in the upcoming Before The Great Story, Bob won't die.
- Exaggerated: Before the Great Story introduces no new characters and none of the characters in it are dead in The Great Story. Therefore, Nobody Can Die.
- Downplayed: Bob is a vampire in The Great Story and Before the Great Story is set so far in the past that he wouldn't be alive if he was a mortal. Thus it isn't a question of if he will survive as a vampire but when he will become one.
- Justified: Bob doesn't have resurrection powers, he appears in The Great Story, Before the Great Story is set, well, before The Great Story, so it's only logical that he doesn't die.
- Inverted: Doomed by Canon.
- Subverted: Bob dies in Before The Great Story, his twin brother takes his place and name.
- Double Subverted: Bob didn't really die, and eventually regains his name and place.
- Parodied: "Don't worry about Bob's safety, he is in the next show".
- Zig Zagged:
- Bob was killed, resurrected, really killed - we promise this time, and his brother took his place for a while, before time travel was used to solve the problem.
- Triple Subverted: Bob dies and his brother Bot takes his place, but then Bob comes back to re-assume his place. Then, after the recurring villain Annihalatron dies in the ending, Bot is tortured by The Man Behind the Monsters and forced to take its place.
- Averted:
- Bob doesn't appear in Before The Great Story.
- Before starting, Before The Great Story is explicitly declared an Alternate Universe prequel - thus anything can happen.
- Bob dies in Before The Great Story without explanation as to how he was alive in the work set after it.
- Bob is known to be only living Vulture Clan member and the prequel features them shortly before the end and several people who could wind up becoming him.
- Enforced: Making a spin-off often means you aren't armed with canon, but you have to follow it.
- Lampshaded: Bob goes on the front line, because "he is too important to die".
- Invoked: Bob seeks out an unfailing accurate vision of the future with something to set the date far in the future so if he sees it be she will survive the war no matter what.
- Exploited: The king constantly has Bob doing the dangerous jobs, because prophecy said he won't die.
- Defied: The Great Story was themed around the ubiquity of deceit and had every viewpoint character be an Unreliable Narrator. Bob being Dead All Along without being a Legacy Character or having an imposter fits without any plotholes.
- Implied: There are some signs in the original that Bob was a nominally Posthumous Character who communicated through hidden messages, but in-story they note his knowledge which seemed too recent, and the prequel leaves him in Uncertain Doom.
- Discussed: ???
- Conversed:Viewer 1: "Oh no! Will Alice be OK?!"Viewer 2: "Why are you concerned for Alice but not Bob?"Viewer 3: "Because Bob appears in the original, but Alice doesn't!"
- Deconstructed: When making a prequel, we can't have as many surprises since the fans know what will follow.
- Reconstructed: Bob has a lot to live up to in The Great Story, so we will just make a prequel instead.
- Played For Laughs: Bob is constantly told to "Brush it off" any time he gets hurt.
- Played For Drama: Everything good that Bob did in The Great Story is shown to be for an even bigger evil in the prequel.
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