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Comic Books
"YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE BROUGHT ME BACK!"
— Undead Thomas Edison, Atomic Robo
"What exactly do you think you're doing? [...] Young man, I am dead. I was killed in what, for me at least, were fairly unpleasant circumstances. It hurt. It was deeply upsetting and painful. However, it happened. I am dead. If you bring me back to life, my death will have no meaning... I lived a good life, and it ended. Would you take that away from me?"
-— Fiddler's Green, The Sandman (1989)
"Has anyone stopped to consider the fact that [Kraven the Hunter] shot himself in the head? How do you know he wanted to come back?"
— Chameleon, Spider-Man
Fan Works
"And in that moment, I had never hated anything as fiercely as I did her."
— Shirou regarding the woman who resurrected him, The Hill of Swords
Yuzuki Yukari: You ungrateful bitch! I reformed you from scattered Soul, and you come after me to hunt me down?
Calne Ca: You pulled me from peace with intent to aid you! And then you saw my form, and dismissed me!
Yukari: Peace!? You think cessation of existence is peace!?
Calne Ca: Erasure was a blessing! There was nothing. No sadness, no cause for hurt. In erasure, one cannot see one's mistakes, or the dreams that failed to be. And you dragged me back to this corpse, only to cast me aside when you saw me without the burden that earned me the mockery of Calne Cantus!
Yukari: The title of Cantus is given to Game Masters who are willing and able to strike down any Players before them! What part of that is a burden!?
Calne Ca: Move your feet! Close your hands! And imagine what it is to be un-a-ble to! Cantus is the Game Master's last resort! An existence condemned to Noise frequency! A form not one's own! The position of Game Master is a sentence to death in DIVA. But no Reaper had dared to risk the transformation before I took the stigma. And no Reaper has dared to risk the transformation since!
Yukari: That just proves you're the better Reaper! You chose to become Cantus rather than be erased!
Calne Ca: I chose to become Cantus rather than be alive! Look at me! Less of my limbs are whole than those of Noise! In the Realground, I am forgotten! In the Underground, I am shunned! My mind... My body... My heart... It hurts. It hurts. It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!
Calne Ca: You pulled me from peace with intent to aid you! And then you saw my form, and dismissed me!
Yukari: Peace!? You think cessation of existence is peace!?
Calne Ca: Erasure was a blessing! There was nothing. No sadness, no cause for hurt. In erasure, one cannot see one's mistakes, or the dreams that failed to be. And you dragged me back to this corpse, only to cast me aside when you saw me without the burden that earned me the mockery of Calne Cantus!
Yukari: The title of Cantus is given to Game Masters who are willing and able to strike down any Players before them! What part of that is a burden!?
Calne Ca: Move your feet! Close your hands! And imagine what it is to be un-a-ble to! Cantus is the Game Master's last resort! An existence condemned to Noise frequency! A form not one's own! The position of Game Master is a sentence to death in DIVA. But no Reaper had dared to risk the transformation before I took the stigma. And no Reaper has dared to risk the transformation since!
Yukari: That just proves you're the better Reaper! You chose to become Cantus rather than be erased!
Calne Ca: I chose to become Cantus rather than be alive! Look at me! Less of my limbs are whole than those of Noise! In the Realground, I am forgotten! In the Underground, I am shunned! My mind... My body... My heart... It hurts. It hurts. It hurts! It hurts! It hurts!
Film — Live-Action
Bruce: The world needs Superman... and the team needs Clark.
Alfred: And what does Clark need? Maybe he's at peace.
Bruce: ...He'll get over it.
Alfred: And what does Clark need? Maybe he's at peace.
Bruce: ...He'll get over it.
Superman: You did this.
Batman: I had to.
Superman: You won't let me live... You won't let me die...
Batman: I had to.
Superman: You won't let me live... You won't let me die...
Literature
"It began as a soft pulling sensation, and grew violently in strength. The light went away fast. The world was speeding back towards me, a gigantic custard pie hurled by a universe determined to make me the butt of some cruel, cruel joke. I scrabbled for purchase with my astral fingers, desperately clawing for something to cling to, anything that would mean I wouldn't have to go back down there.
But no. The universe refused to see things my way, and my spirit returned to my body like a punch in the gut."
But no. The universe refused to see things my way, and my spirit returned to my body like a punch in the gut."
— Mogworld
Live-Action TV
"I was happy. Wherever I was... I was happy... at peace. I knew that everyone I cared about was all right. I knew it. Time... didn't mean anything. Nothing had form. But I was still me, you know? And I was warm. And I was loved. And I was finished. Complete. I... I don't understand theology or dimensions, any of it really... but I think I was in Heaven. And now I'm not. I was torn out of there. Pulled out, by my friends. Everything here is... hard, and bright, and violent. Everything I feel, everything I touch... this is hell. Just getting through the next moment, and the one after that... knowing what I've lost..."
— Buffy Summers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
"You think you're my saviour. My — my brother, the hero; you swoop in and, even when you mess up, you think what you're doing is worth it because you've convinced yourself you're doing more than good than bad. But you're not. I mean, Kevin's dead, Crowley's in the wind, we're no closer to beating this angel thing. Please tell me, what is the "upside" of me being alive?"
— Sam, Supernatural
Samuel: You murdered those people. They came to me to be healed, and you murdered them. Why? After I gave you back your life?
Vance: (Holding out his burned hands) You call this... life?
Vance: (Holding out his burned hands) You call this... life?
— The X-Files, "Miracle Man"
Music
I don't want to be buried in a Pet Sematary,
I don't want to live my life again.
I don't want to live my life again.
Tabletop Games
You will learn to earn death.
— Volrath, Magic: The Gathering, "Reanimate"
As I died, I rejoiced. I would see my family again. But then I woke up back on the battlefield. Back in Kamigawa. Back in hell.
— Kenzo the Hardhearted, Magic: The Gathering, "Yomiji, Who Bars the Way"
Why do I still live? What more do you want from me? I gave everything I had to you, to them. Look what they've done to our dream. This bloated, rotting carcass of an empire is not driven by reason and hope, but by fear, hate and ignorance. Better that we all burned in the fires of Horus' ambition than lived to see this.
— Roboute Guilliman, Warhammer 40,000: The Gathering Storm III
Video Games
Merak: Haah... This sucks... Nova told me I had to stop you if you showed up here. Nova brought me back to life, so I kinda owe the guy one, y'know?
Gunvolt: "Back to life"...?
Merak: Yuuup. I mean, dude, you did kinda kill me after all. [...] Maaan, I was already working harder than I wanted to... Oh well... I'm done with our chit-chat anyway. Talking to you is so... unbelievably exhausting.
Gunvolt: "Back to life"...?
Merak: Yuuup. I mean, dude, you did kinda kill me after all. [...] Maaan, I was already working harder than I wanted to... Oh well... I'm done with our chit-chat anyway. Talking to you is so... unbelievably exhausting.
"Because, I... was just brought back to life... and I'm hungry... so hungry... ah, it can't be helped... because of you, I'm living in my own personal hell..."
— Stratos, Azure Striker Gunvolt
"I'm back! Wait, I'm back!? Dammit."
— General Knoxx-Trap, Borderlands
"The first time I saw this flower... was the day I died. Now I'm just a corpse being kept alive by the flower's magic. A corpse. My brain, my heart, my body - it's all being kept in motion by the flower. I'm no longer alive in any real sense of the word.
This flower is a calamity that threatens the entire world. It's growing. Feeding off me. Eventually, it's going to consume me entirely, and once that happens? Once it's fully grown? ...It's going to destroy everything.
Heh. Pretty shit deal, huh?"
This flower is a calamity that threatens the entire world. It's growing. Feeding off me. Eventually, it's going to consume me entirely, and once that happens? Once it's fully grown? ...It's going to destroy everything.
Heh. Pretty shit deal, huh?"
— Zero, Drakengard 3
"You. I sent you away. Nothing to see here, I remember telling you that. This was the only dream I really wanted. They offered me Gaia and I took her because I didn't have a choice. But she chips, chips away at us. Can't you feel it? Don't you know what she's taking from you? You can't feel it, can you? You don't even know... And now you're going to bring me back. I don't want to go. I don't want to be back there. This was the only way..."
— Lorraine's ghost, The Secret World
Web Animation
"KNOCK IT OFF."
— Hank J. Wimbleton after having been revived for the fifth time, Madness Combat
Tex: Hey, I didn't ask to come back. Apparently somebody decided they couldn't live without me.
Church: I thought you would be happy, you know, being alive is typically better than being dead.
Tex: Yeah. Everybody always seems to know what's best for Tex.
Church: I thought you would be happy, you know, being alive is typically better than being dead.
Tex: Yeah. Everybody always seems to know what's best for Tex.
— Red vs. Blue: Revelation
Webcomics
"I... what did you do... what did you do??? WHAT DID YOU DO??????"
— Jadesprite, Homestuck
Western Animation
Spellbinder: But I don't understand... How is this possible?
Charmcaster: I did it daddy! I studied for years and I found the secret spells and talismans. I sacrificed every living thing in Legerdomain all for you!
Spellbinder: [aghast] You did what?
Charmcaster: I had to daddy, it was the only way!
Spellbinder: I gave my life so you could be free of all this! How can you even conceive of something so evil?
Charmcaster: But I did it for you!
Spellbinder: I thought if I could just get you away from Legerdomain, you might have a chance at a normal life. Instead, you became a worse tyrant than Addwaitya ever was!
Charmcaster: Daddy, no...!
Spellbinder: [gently touches his daughter's face] I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me, Hope. But I can't stay here knowing my life was bought... at the cost of so many others. Goodbye, my daughter. I love you.
Charmcaster: I did it daddy! I studied for years and I found the secret spells and talismans. I sacrificed every living thing in Legerdomain all for you!
Spellbinder: [aghast] You did what?
Charmcaster: I had to daddy, it was the only way!
Spellbinder: I gave my life so you could be free of all this! How can you even conceive of something so evil?
Charmcaster: But I did it for you!
Spellbinder: I thought if I could just get you away from Legerdomain, you might have a chance at a normal life. Instead, you became a worse tyrant than Addwaitya ever was!
Charmcaster: Daddy, no...!
Spellbinder: [gently touches his daughter's face] I'm sorry I wasn't there when you needed me, Hope. But I can't stay here knowing my life was bought... at the cost of so many others. Goodbye, my daughter. I love you.
Stockman: I-I don't understand. What's happened? What have you done to me?
Bishop: I had your brain recovered from the bottom of New York's East River after your misguided sabbatical. While I could do without your personality, I do need your brain. The outbreak is getting worse by the minute, and I expect you to use that powerful mind of yours to clean it up.
Stockman: I-I... I can't believe... I can't believe you brought me back like this. Why? Why?! (collapses) Why couldn't you let me finally rest in peace?! WHHHHYYYYY?!
Bishop: I had your brain recovered from the bottom of New York's East River after your misguided sabbatical. While I could do without your personality, I do need your brain. The outbreak is getting worse by the minute, and I expect you to use that powerful mind of yours to clean it up.
Stockman: I-I... I can't believe... I can't believe you brought me back like this. Why? Why?! (collapses) Why couldn't you let me finally rest in peace?! WHHHHYYYYY?!
— Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, "Adventures in Turtle-Sitting"
Yoketron: Prowl... what have you done?
Prowl: I brought you back!
Yoketron: You must not sacrifice a piece of the future to bring back the past. Someday... when your time comes... you will understand.
Prowl: I brought you back!
Yoketron: You must not sacrifice a piece of the future to bring back the past. Someday... when your time comes... you will understand.
— Transformers: Animated, "Five Servos of Doom"
