Spared By The Adaptation / Fan Works

Instances of characters being Spared by the Adaptation in Fan Works.

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The following have their own pages:

• Earth-27

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Crossovers

• In the Doctor Who New Adventures/Sherlock Holmes crossover novel The All-Consuming Fire, Kate Prendersley is the first victim. In the Nu Who/Sherlock fanfic The All-Consuming Fir, she's briefly mentioned at the end, alive and well.
• In Anime X Marvel, several characters would survive their canon deaths.
  • In Naruto Mystic Adventures, characters like Haku, Zabuza, Jiraiya and even Itachi would live and play major roles in the other arcs.
  • In Highschool DxD: The Spirit of Vengeance, Raynare is spared from death, allowing her to perform a Heel–Face Turn and join Rias's Peerage.
  • In Demon Slayer: Dark Fury, Venom's Healing Factor is what allows Kyojuro Rengoku to survive his fight against Akaza.
  • In Jujustu Kaisen: The Spider's Curse, Junpei using the Power Of Hate not only prevents his death but also turning him into the Spot.
• In the Attack on Titan/My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic crossover story Attack on Titan: The Ponies from Afar, Petra and Auruo were rescued from their canonical deaths thanks to Spike and Rainbow Dash respectively. Less importantly, a minor character, Dieter's friend Ivan, isn't killed thanks to Applejack and Twilight Sparkle and the dead bodies aren't left to be abandoned.
• In the Marvel Cinematic Universe/Star Wars crossover fic Avengers: Infinite Wars:
  • Pietro was never killed in the Battle of Sokovia on Earth, and the Clone Troopers guarding the near-Kamino outpost all survive the Separatist attack thanks to the assistance of War Machine.
  • This, in turn, allows Ima-Gun Di to survive, as Quicksilver's intervention prevents him from needing to sacrifice himself and his troops to protect the Twileks.
  • Chapter 21 reveals that Ultron escaped his death by remaining dormant in at least one of his destroyed heads, which was subsequently salvaged by Hydra and left in a position where he was transferred to Coruscant along with the Avengers, allowing him to trick Padme and Threepio into providing him with a new body.
  • During the Battle of Jabiim, Mak Lotar and Kass Tod survive thanks to Spider-Man helping them fight off Ultron.
• In Ben 10: Unlimited, because of the Ultimatrix's genetic repair ability, Ben is able to fix the genetic issues of the Ulti-Men, preventing them from dying early.
• By the end of the events of Volume 3 for BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant, Pyrrha and Penny are still alive, in contrast to the main series, where they were killed during these events.
• In The Boys, Blue Hawk was killed by being basically dragged to death. In the fic The Boys: Real Justice, he is instead outed as a racist by Mr. Terrific and Martian Manhunter. He loses his place in the Seven, his fame, and gets further humiliated when he tries to attack Ashley and gets a Green Lantern baton to the face.
• but i wrote the words to the swan song: The premise of the fanfic is that Juliet Capulet is still alive, instead of being Driven to Suicide in Romeo and Juliet. In fact, she happens to be immortal as well.
• Code Geass: Paladins of Voltron:
  • A reply to a question posted by a reviewer stated that Euphemia would not die in this story.
  • Due to taking the role of Pidge's father and brother, as well as Rai getting his Geass from the Galra Druids instead of a Code Bearer, Rai's mother and sister avoided their canonical death by Geass.
  • Since Lelouch used his Geass to deal with Haxxus, Rover is still functioning.
  • Due to Kallen not using the Guren at Narita, Jeremiah is spared from being fried by the Radiant Wave Surger (granted, he survived that, but only by being turned into a cyborg).
  • It's also implied that Shirley's father was spared, as the landslide that killed him never happened.
• Code Prime:
  • The author has explicitly stated he has no plans to kill Shirley off at any point in this story. He's also confirmed Cliffjumper will be alive, at least for the immediate future. While Shirley will still live, Cliffjumper ultimately meets his end in Chapter 35 via Heroic Sacrifice.
  • The end-of-chapter notes for Diverging and Intersecting Paths adds Euphie to the list of people the author intends to spare.
  • Sadly Played for Drama in Chapter 17, as (while he does survive Narita) Shirley's father is found by Soundwave and Shockwave and taken aboard the Nemesis. And because his lab coat with his family name is the only thing they're able to find, he is presumed dead by Shierly and her mother.
  • The JLF survives the Battle of Port Yokosuka, as Lelouch has no interest in deposing of them to obtain political support since he has the backing of the Autobots. In fact, they end up joining the Black Knights.
  • As opposed to having his Code taken by Charles and dying from fatal injuries, V.V. outlives his brother, who is killed by Megatron. Of course, it is left in the air how long that will last.
  • Naomi Inoue survives the Black Rebellion, but she loses her right leg during the battle.
• Cor Autem Aurora:
  • In Kingsglaive: Final Fantasy XV, Luche assassinates Crowe offscreen while she's on a mission to collect Lunafreya from Tenebrae. Here, Sora arrives in Eos just in time to accidentally thwart the assassination, sparing Crowe's life. Luche, on the other hand...
  • Riku manages to nab two in one: Suspicious at how long Sora's been gone, he and Kairi take the Gummi Ship to go find him...only to drop right into the middle of the attack on Insomnia. Riku finds Nyx at Cor's behest—just in time for Drautos to reveal himself to Nyx as The Mole. Riku's interference in the ensuing battle causes Drautos to retreat with the Ring of the Lucii, which prevents the duel between Drautos and Nyx from occurring, saving both their lives.
• Cycles Upon Cycles: In this Mass Effect cross with StarCraft, Nihilus survives the battle on Eden Prime as does Jenkins. Nihilus then becomes the Normandy's quick pass through Citadel space and Jenkins becomes head of their Piranha force. And as of Legacy of the Void Zeratul as well.
• Date a density: At the end of her movie, Mayuri faded into nothingness once her powers were sealed. Here, Shido saves her by forming a Master/Servant contract with her to give her a steady supply of his Mana to keep her alive. Shido does not experience a Death Montage of the Nibelcoles repeatedly killing him and forcing Kurumi to undo it with time travel because he can adequately defend himself. Mio Takamiya doesn't kill all the Spirits and force Shido to undo it with time travel, and she also survives the final battle with Wescott, meaning Tohka and Tenka don't disappear.
• Dedicated Hearts made Fullmetal: The intervention of the Elric brothers ends up saving several characters who died in canon:
  • Mina Carolina becomes the first person they save, and she goes on to become a major supporting character, even turning into the new Female Titan after devouring Annie, and later on having a son with Alphonse.
  • Thanks to Alphonse using his alchemy to patch up the walls around Utgard Castle, most of Squad Mike manages to survive the battle and following the battle of Shiganshina Nanaba gets an Automail arm.
  • Erwin Smith ends up receiving the Titan serum after the battle for Shiganshina, and becomes the Colossal Titan in lieu of Armin. Also, about a third of the troops who died in the suicidal charge against the Beast Titan end up surviving, including Marlowe Freudenberg who starts an Official Couple with Hitch Dreyse.
  • During the attack on Liberio, Edward manages to distract Eren from transforming until after Wily Tybur leaves the stage, preventing Eren from killing him. His sister Lara is also captured alive before Eren has a chance to eat her to gain the Warhammer Titan's powers.
  • Due to Edwards' intervention and time spent within the Liberio internment zone with Udo; he manages to convince the young Warrior Candidate to not attend the festival, allowing for him to survive.
  • Sasha Braus only gets a graze in her arm instead of being fatally shot in the chest by Gabi thanks to Petra Taking the Bullet for her.
• The Demented Verse sees Kevin Tran, Gadreel, and Charlie Bradbury surviving thanks to the Winchesters' new associations with the Wizarding World.
• Trisha Elric in Doctor Who: The Manga
  • And According to Word of God, Pip Perrup and Chef wind up getting this Trope, and also his universe Kills off Scott Tenorman through human transmutation, ya little crybabies.
  • Don't worry about the girl who saves her. In the retitled remake, The Truth takes care of the Mary Sue once and for all. He even Regressed the mom to her pre-teens to match the Elrics' age for Chi-Chi to seemingly adopt them into her currently husbandless family. (Did we mention that Hoenheim is the Fourth incarnation of Goku?)
• Fate/stay night: The Dragon of the Seventh Heaven: Tamamo-no-Mae is summoned in time to stop Raynare from murdering Issei Hyoudou, meaning Issei doesn't have to be revived as a Devil and remains human. Tamamo later cripples Raynare instead of killing her.
• Dueling Zero: Risei Kotomine, Aoi Tohsaka, and Maiya Hisau survive the Fourth Holy Grail War. Instead of the Fuyuki Fire happening, the less destructive activity of two giant robot rampages happens, so although Shirou still becomes an orphan, there are less casualties. Gilgamesh never appeared and Kirei pulled a Screw This, I'm Outta Here at the end of the war, so no orphans end up captured and turned into mana batteries.
• The crossover between Ranma ½ and Sailor Moon Fist of the Moon does this with one-third of the Earth's population. Advancements in technology save billions of lives in the Great Freeze.
• Haku and Zabuza both survive in Fly Free. So far, the story seems fairly lighthearted, though the advent of the Chunin Exams arc seems like it may change that.
• In the Torchwood & The Sarah Jane Adventures crossover fic The Fury of a Storm, Ianto Jones and Steven Carter survive thanks to the Bannerman Road gang assisting Torchwood Three, as Luke is able to create a cure for the poison used by the 456 before Ianto and others are dead ‘by every Galactic standard’, and later takes on Steven’s role of transmitting the final signal, with Luke's unique physiology allowing him to withstand the strain of the transmission so that he is only in a coma for a few days rather than dying.
• In Attack on Titan canon, Ilse Langnar was just a one-shot character who immediately killed off to provide important insight of titans' behavior. However, in the crossover fic with Gate, Freedom's Ring she becomes a central character who plays an important role in connecting Paradis with the United States and later managed to survive her fated encounter with the Talking Titan thanks to US Army soldiers and Survey Corps scouts who were with her. Other canonically killed characters who've also managed to survive all the way to the end of fic are including Marco Bodt, Sasha Braus, Mina Carolina, Petra Ral, Eld Djinn, Hange Zoë, Mike Zacharias and his team, Hannes, Floch Forster, Bertholdt Hoover, Kenny Ackermann, Keith Shadis, Zeke Yeager, Theo Magath, General Calvi, the entire Tybur family, Dina Yeager and last but not least, Eren Yeager himself.
• Guardians, Wizards, and Kung-Fu Fighters: In the cartoon, it was implied that Lothar was murdered by the Mage in the late Season 1 episode episode "The Stolen Heart". In this story, he's still alive by the end of Season 1.
• Hunters of Justice sees Pyrrha, Penny's original body, and Ozma's Ozpin form survive (along with Yang keeping her arm) thanks to Brainiac crashing the Vyyal Festival before Cinder could enact the Fall of Beacon.
• Honoka's Bizarre Adventure, which takes place in 2013, has Yoshikage Kira, Aya Tsuji, Noriaki Kakyoin, and Mohammed Avdol all surviving past the canon years of their respective death.
• In Ice Fury, Stoick’s life is saved by Elsa, although at the cost that he must avoid prolonged contact with heat sources due to her ice magic keeping him alive.
• If Wishes Were Ponies: Due to Harry Potter stumbling through a portal found in a tree in Little Winging and winding up in Equestria, when he convinces the faculty at Hogwarts to also send letters for the Cutie Mark Crusaders to accompany him; it leads to a derailed steam-train of events from the original story:
  • Book I has The Crusaders and most of Gryffindor House using an Equestrian spell to bring Myrtle back to life again, and from this one act: the Equestrians were able to learn about the Basilisk beneath the school; which after an intense fight by Princess Luna managed to contain the beast and sends it to Tartarus. Later on after learning more info about the Horcruxes and the dangers they pose, Dumbledore wastes no time in having the Gaunt Ring Horcrux destroyed. Afterwards; Twilight Sparkle completely dubious of the Kangaroo Court case that caused Sirius Black being incarcerated in Azkaban left with Dumbledore in order to free Sirius after confirming his innocence that leads to his exoneration and reinstatement as the Black Family Seat in The Wizengamot. The Unicorn that Voldemort was feeding on in The Dark Forest manages to survive it's encounter due to the intervention of Equestrian forces deployed by Twilight Sparkle, who managed to airlift the Unicorn to Hogwarts for healing; and helping it safely give birth to a Unicorn Foal. The Philosopher's Stone is stolen from the Mirror of Erised by a Ellie; completely unintentionally, who keeps it within her personal collection and therefore it's not destroyed. Near the end of Book I, Peter Pettigrew is discovered due to "Scabbers" trip through the portal to Equestria turning him into a Pony, and is detained in Equestria for the crimes of being an "illegal alien". He offers up his knowledge and services to help the Equestrians track down other hiding Death Eaters.
  • Book II expands further as when Remus Lupin after traveling through the portal to Equestria; discovers that it's a Full Moon on the other world but due to his new Pony body preventing his Lycanthropy from activating, the Werewolf curse destroys itself and leads to a cure method for other reluctant Werewolves. It's revealed by Sunset Shimmer the Equestria Girls world has Harry Potter as a work of fiction there, and that she shares the entirety of the Book and Movie series over the 1992 Winter Hols. Armed with this new knowledge: Twilight and Dumbledore scour the world to try and erase the last vestiges of Death Eater influence and actions. Thanks to Peter Pettigrew being imprisoned in Equestria, and Voldemort being destroyed in Book I, Twilight offers to Frank Bryce; the groundskeeper who was killed in Goblet of Fire a paid-for condo in the Bahamas and medical treatments for his leg. All the while Hermione Granger tries to find some way to get Gilderoy Lockhart sacked; and manages to eventually do that without having Lockhart losing his memory. Unfortunately, the Diary Horcrux containing the fragment of Tom Riddle manages to return to life and gain a body of his own; having finished the soul-draining technique on Gregory Goyle, along with staging it to make it look like Goyle was killed by a Vampire while Tom quietly leaves Britain for either France or Germany.
• Infinity Crisis:
  • Hope van Dyne and Sif are spared the dusting when Ant-Man and the Wasp and Word of God confirm that they were both killed by the snap in canon. Likewise, as Avengers: Endgame would confirm, Shuri was Dusted but she is spared in the fic, and Natasha and Tony survive the final battle (as well as the present Gamora being brought back to life rather than being 'replaced' by a younger alternate version of herself).
  • The ending reveals that Loki once again faked his death.
  • In the tie-in story Infinity Crisis: The Inhumans, which focuses on the titular characters and what they were doing during the main story, it's revealed that Minn-Erva survived the events of Captain Marvel, but ended up marooned on Earth for decades.
  • Different Strokes establishes that Quentin Lance survived his canon death because, thanks to Oliver adopting a more ruthless approach following Felicity's post-Dusting epiphany, he was able to kill Diaz before the crime lord could cause Quentin's death.
  • A unique version in Distant Cousins as Lex Luthor indicates that Ben Lockwood changed his anti-alien viewpoint when an alien saved his son after Ben and his wife were dusted. Thus, Ben never becomes the alien-hating Agent Liberty and his wife is still alive.
  • In History Lesson-51, a tie-in story that relays the new history of Earth-51 (The DCEU) thanks to the actions of the Wild Card in the story Another Side of the Glimpses, it's established that in the new timeline, a young Clark Kent was able to save Jonathan Kent from the tornado that killed him in Man of Steel, and Nora Allen was never killed by Professor Zoom, preventing an adult Barry Allen from causing a multiverse-breaking Flashpoint.
• Khaos Omega executes a big one: Anise's parents Garam and Masara survive the mine collapse that canonically kills them. It's thanks to the efforts of their friend Dorgengoa sending Zegram to make the save; Anise doesn't discover this until after ending the threat of the Rune, where she finally learned why she couldn't sense a power level from Zegram (Soldum, as Stanley, still got an infant Anise out before Zegram's arrival, and she gave the clearly-robotic Steve a pass for a lack of power level). A second case in another multiverse was orchestrated by King Boo acting before Zegram could, inspired by a RWBY-based story called "Ruby's Mansion" where King Boo's canon Mario painting instead houses Summer Rose.
• Kingdom Hearts: Grand Order:
  • Sora prevents Lev from hurling Olga Marie into a miniature sun and preserves her Heart until she can be revived in a Replica body.
  • Sora assists Marie Antoinette in her battle with Sanson, so she survives.
• Kings of Revolution: Clovis, who instead has his experiments exposed to the public, giving him a 0% Approval Rating. He's sent back to the Homeland and replaced by Cornelia.
• The Last Seidr: Coulson is still stabbed by Loki, but this time Harry Potter managed to throw off Loki's aim via an Expelliarmus followed by Petrificus Totalus. With the help of the Sorting Hat, he manages to perform magical first aid and saves the agent's life.
• The legendary Saiyan in a fairy's world:
  • Rob manages to escape the Tower of Heaven and go back to Fairy Tail with Erza, becoming her mentor. However, in exchange, most of the people in the Tower die when Broly blows it up.
  • Broly stops Zoldeo from stabbing Grammi and then Lucy and Grammi make him have a Heel Realization and leave.
• LIBERI FATALIS: The Therianthrope Chronicles, a Albedo: Erma Felna EDF, Katmandu and Ace Combat crossover, the narrative spares many characters who died in their original canons:
  • From the Albedo: Erma Felna EDF storyline, during the ILR attack on planet Derzon, a Feline mother with all her children were murdered by a random ILR soldier in order to escape from Erma and the EDF. Here, while the mother is still killed by that soldier, her children were spared in the fanfic.
  • From the Katmandu storyline, Kayce Men-tir-son, Kebec's elder sister-cousin, was originally killed by an arrow shot by one of Arn's men through her heart when trying to invade the Highland tribe, the tribe she belongs to. In the fanfic, while she isn't killed and survives the attack, she was raped by one of Arn's men instead.
• The Little Pony Legend:
  • While most of the comings and goings are replicated note by note, there are 2 characters whom the author decided to give life to rather than death: Queen Hou-Ting, and P'Li.
  • The author also allows the Makorra ship to stay afloat from the end of Book 2 onward.
• A Man of Iron and its sequels have had several examples:
  • Thanks to Tony's presence at Ned and Jaime's fight, Jory Cassel is spared his early death and is then able to escape the Stark purge after Robert's death.
  • Ned does not get killed by Ilyn Payne, due to Iron Man's intervention. However, Sansa is accidentally killed by Joffrey as he tries to keep her from escaping with them.
  • Thanks to the advice of Jane Seaworth, Shireen is able to convince Maester Cressen not to confront Melisandre, as if the Seven exist they surely will detect he's a true believer no matter his actions (and that when it comes to immortal beings of limitless power, the Gods probably don't care all that much about their effigies being burned, or they would have died out long ago).
  • Shireen herself doesn't end up becoming a Human Sacrifice to Rh'llor, because Thor, Jane and Davos/Loki kill Melisandre/Amora beforehand. Her parents still die, but under different circumstances.
  • Jeor Mormont overhears the Black Brothers preparing to mutiny against him at Craster's Keep and flees, surviving but being captured by Mance afterwards.
  • Mandon Moore never has a chance to attempt to kill Tyrion during the Battle of the Blackwater, so doesn't get killed by Podrick in defense of him and is still alive post-battle.
• The Matrix Rewinds:
  • In Life Is Strange, Rachel was killed by Mark Jefferson and most of the first game's plot is Chloe and Max trying to find her. Here, she was rescued by Max/Noir and an inactive Bot with her likeness was used to fake her death.
  • While Chloe's father William died in a car accident in canon, here he was freed from the Matrix and joined New Zion as Raven, captain of the Chrysalis, his death faked by the machines to keep up the illusion.
  • Morpheus had died in the destruction of Zion between the events of The Matrix Revolutions and The Matrix Resurrections. Here, he is alive and well as a member of the high council in New Zion.
• Aliens/Once Upon a Time fanfic Monsters: In the original continuity, Hicks and Newt die before they can get back to Earth, but here their stand ins Emma and Henry are spared and make it to Earth.
• The Mountain and the Wolf: Though thoroughly unaware of it, the Wolf's interference has saved quite a few people from their canonical deaths:
  • At the Battle of Winterfell:
    • Theon gets sent away from Bran and is turned into a Champion of Chaos by the sorcerer he was supposed to be guarding.
    • Thanks to a Norscan berserker charging into a group of wights, Beric Dondarrion survives (and is given further instructions by Melisandre).
    • The presence of tough-to-kill Nurglite mercenaries lets Lyanna Mormont kill the wight giant without it being a Mutual Kill.
  • The Wolf kidnaps Euron and replaces him with an imposter before killing him, meaning Missandei isn't among the hostages killed by Cersei, though her fate isn't known yet.
  • When Varys is caught trying to poison Daenerys, the Wolf's sorcerer abducts him away and the punishment is meted out to him instead. Both Varys and the sorcerer are seen alive and well later.
  • During the siege of King's Landing:
    • When Jaime tries to sneak into the city, he's caught by Theon disguised as Euron and brought back to the Wolf.
    • While Sandor confronts his brother, Cersei and Qyburn are abducted by the Wolf. He then steps in after Sandor fails to kill Gregor and orders Qyburn to keep Sandor alive, impressed by his showing against the zombie Mountain.
    • Daenerys still flies around setting King's Landing on fire, but because this time it was due to outside forces, she hears the bells ringing, comes to her senses and flees, leaving most of the city still standing.
  • Subverted with Oberyn Martell: though spared his horrifying death at the hands of the Mountain (he does get the Wolf to deliver the "Elia Martell." lines), he's mentioned to have been poisoned offscreen by Cersei for failing to get killed by Gregor, and the war with Dorne is presumed to have happened as per the series, since Elia Martell is found in the Red Keep's dungeons next to her daughter's corpse.
• In Neither a Bird nor a Plane, it's Deku!, Harrison Wells is alive and well (albeit wheelchair bound) and the proud head of S.T.A.R. Labs along with his alternate universe counterparts Harry Wells and H.R. Wells. In the Arrowverse, he's murdered by Eobard Thawne, who proceeds to steal his identity to mess with Team Flash.
• The New Recruit: Once again, Coulson (despite still being stabbed) gets medical care in time and lives. Who could have expected this from an Avengers fanfic?
• New Stars: Any clone that wasn't killed in the Clone Wars or killed in self-defense by the Jedi during Order 66 was decommissioned and left to fend for himself (which led to many of them living in poverty). In this fic, the clone Maxx is spared from this fate because, during a Clone Wars battle, he was accidentally teleported to the universe of The Orville. After learning about the control chip in his head, he decides to remain with the Orville and becomes a member of her crew.
• New Vegas Showtime:
  • Goro Akechi's canonical Uncertain Doom didn't seem to occur in this continuity, as they appear in the Mojave alongisde the other Phantom Thieves.
  • Barton Thorn (the guy near Goodsprings source that lied about geckos trapping his girlfriend) survives his encounter with the Courier, which isn't an option in canon... assuming the Courier didn't lie about letting him live to not upset Akira.
  • Neither Jacklyn nor Tomas (the two people near Nipton fighting over star bottle caps) die; Akechi recognizes Tomas is innocent and leaves him be, and when he tries to shoot Jacklyn in self-defense, he blasts her gun out of her hand and scares her away. Canonically, if the player won't intervene in their fight, one will die shot by the other, and if Jacklyn survives, she attacks the player character afterwards and dies for it.
• The Phineas and Ferb/Jurassic World crossover story Phineas and Ferb Visit Jurassic World! saves several characters and animals that were killed in the film.
  • The pig that was eaten by Echo in the film gets instead carried to safety by Buford (who falls into the Velociraptor paddock instead of Leon).
  • Ellis is saved by Perry from being devoured by the Indominus rex, then sent flying out of the paddock by the hybrid.
  • Hamada, along with the troops, do not get killed by the Indominus due to Doofenshmirtz tagging along and causing a mishap involving his Chicken-inator.
  • The Apatosaurus escape from being slaughtered by the Indominus due to Zach and Gray, accompanied by Candace and Stacy here, staying in Gyrosphere Valley instead of discovering the broken-down perimeter fence.
  • Masrani jumps out of his helicopter along with Hamada and Doof right before the pterosaurs destroy it, and all three are saved by Perry mid-fall.
  • Charlie doesn't get blown up due to her going after Phineas, Ferb, and the gang in their Sphere-a-raptor, and she, Echo, and Delta all survive the final battle against the Indominus.
  • While Zara and the Pteranodon still get eaten by the Mosasaurus, they both end up getting regurgitated after the final battle.
• In Rabbit of the Moon, Gascoigne's daughter is spared her grisly fate at the hands of Iosefka's impostor or a Maneating Boar due to Bell personally escorting her to Old Oedon Chapel as an act of repentance for being forced to kill her father.
• The Red Dragon's Saber:
  • Because of Artoria Pendragon's interference, Asia Argento is able to escape with Issei and doesn't end up killed by Raynare and forced to be revived as a Devil by Rias Gremory.
  • Because they fight Artoria instead of Rias' peerage, Raynare, Dohnaseek, Kalawarner, and Mittelt end up crippled instead of dead.
• Remnant's Mightiest Heroes, a Recursive Fic inspired by Hunters of Justice, sees Pyrrha survive, though since the villain of that story is Kang the Conqueror, known for time traveling, the fact Pyrrha only escaped her canon fate because of his actions is implied by Kang initially ignoring her to go after RWBY and JNR.
• SAPR:
  • Roman and Pyrrha both survive past the Battle of Beacon.
  • Amber used to be an example of this, but she ended up being killed by Cinder in the finale of Part 1.
• Senki Zesshou Symphogear: WXD Unlimited spares some characters who died in canon.
  • Because the Gungnir was lost when Leviathan attacked Kyushu, the Earth-Bet counterpart to Kanade is alive and well as an Idol Singer.
  • In a reflection of XDU's Innocent Sister event, Maria died sealing the Nephilim while Serena survived.
• Sparks Among The Stars:
  • Pyrrha escapes the Battle Of Beacon, alive though not unscathed, due to her Planeswalker Spark Igniting.
  • To the surprise of many, Bo Levar turns up alive and well on Dominaria, despite canonically dying in the Weatherlight Saga.
• Super RWBY Sisters:
  • Due to the Vytal Festival getting postponed, both Pyrrha and Roman remain alive.
  • Dino Piranha, instead of being killed off, is saved by Viridi.
  • At the end of Partners In Time, the remaining Shroobs are spared due to the heroes learning about just why they invaded in the first place.
  • Since Adam is dealt with before he can kill her, Sienna Khan is still alive.
• Survive the Night: Jamie Lloyd survives the events of Halloween: The Curse of Michael Myers because while fleeing from Michael, she runs into Clark Kent, who fights Michael off and gets her and her baby to a hospital.
• There Was Once an Avenger From Krypton:
  • The Saiyans and their homeworld are still intact by the present day, which includes Bardock, Gine, Raditz, and King Vegeta III.
  • Tadashi Hamada doesn't die in the Institute fire thanks to Tony Stark's presence at the time and the latter pushing him out of the fire.
• In Touhou Odyssey, The Emperor from Akame ga Kill! is not guillotined and after apologizing to Night March after Honest is killed by getting stabbed by Sakuya's knives and being blown up by a bunch of explosives. In fact, the Emperor even gets the honor of delivering the fic's last words: "Now then, let us rebuild!"
• Transposition F: Blake, Sun and Bulma manage to infiltrate the White Fang's headquarters and save Sienna Khan from Adam's coup.
• The Ultimate Big Brother:
  • While Sayaka seemed to be dead, Katakuri realizes that the knife stopped the bleeding and is thus able to save her life, though gives her a blistering "The Reason You Suck" Speech regarding her murder attempt on Leon when she recovers.
  • Junko never attempts to murder Mukuro out of boredom or to prove herself as the one in control since she tried to use Katakuri as a Sacrificial Lion.
  • In canon, no one was able to help Leon after his battering after The Thousand Blows due to the fence separating them from him but here, the much stronger Katakuri rips the fence that separates him from the Ultimate Baseball Star and saves his life, though he is left comatose.
• Unlikely Heroine opens with Carrie White surviving the night of her prom massacre, with Phil Coulson finding her and acting as her guardian, to the extent that he and Fury arrange for her to join the other Avengers.
• The Vasto of White:
  • In canon, it is never explained what happened to Masaki Kurosaki's soul after Grand Fisher ate her and then he was killed. Here, Shirou kills him while he was in the middle of eating her and she become a Hollow and then an Arrancar.
  • Every named character survives the Battle of Karakura Town.
  • While Yhwach slices Yamamoto in half like in canon, he is forced to retreat before he can nuke his body, allowing Orihime to restore him.
  • Retsu Unohana, Jushiro Ukitake, Nemu Kurotsuchi, Jugram Haschwalth, Askin Nak Le Vaar, and Gerard Valkyrie survive the Thousand Year Blood War.
• Voyages of the Wild Sea Horse has Eric the Whirlwind, who in the anime died trying to get revenge on the Straw Hats, instead meet the Nerimans. After killing his boss, Eric proposes the Nerimans and him stop fighting to go their separate ways, and they agree.
• A wand for Steven:
  • Since Steven was the one chosen to be Hogwart's Triwizard Tournament Champion, Cedric was saved from his unkind fate at the hands of Voldemort.
  • Thanks to Sapphire's future vision, the team was able to prevent the deaths of Sirius and Dumbledore.
  • Using his healing spit, Steven ended up reverting Voldemort into an innocent child. Whether or not it was worth the trouble considering his damaged soul is left up for debate.
• What would have happened if Goku fell into the world of Shuumatsu no Valkyrie: In this Dragon Ball Super and Record of Ragnarok crossover, Goku defeats Lu Bu and takes his place in the match against Thor, winning easily by knocking Thor out. This means Lu Bu and his Valkyrie weapon, Randgriz, don't die. Goku, impressed by Adam's skill and determination, interferes before Zeus can finish him off, meaning Adam is disqualified, but he and his Valkyrie weapon, Reginleif, survive. Vegeta takes Sasaki Kojiro's place and knocks Poseidon out instead of Poseidon dying to Kojiro. Gohan takes Jack the Ripper's place and knocks Hercules out instead of Hercules dying to Jack.
• Yu-Gi-Oh! 5Ds A Live: Yusei Fudo becomes the Dark Signer of the Whale, meaning Greiger escapes his canon fate of dying.

Animorphs

• Many chapters of All Assorted Animorphs AUs involve Rachel and/or Tom and/or some/all of the Auxiliary Animorphs and/or the 17,000 Yeerks on the Pool Ship surviving the war. The premise of "What if Elfangor and Loren raised Tobias?" also allows Elfangor to survive past the first book.
• Dæmorphing:
  • Saddler was never hit by a car, so David doesn't have the opportunity to Kill and Replace him.
  • Jara Hamee almost dies on the Pool ship, but unlike in canon, he pulls through.
  • Since Tom is freed halfway through, the chain of events that would've led to Rachel going on a suicide mission to kill him never gets started.
  • Some of the Campsite Rule (AKA the Auxiliary Animorphs) survive the war because they never joined the front lines in the first place.
• The premise of the Eleutherophobia series is that the real Tom survived the final battle. THX 1138 reveals that some of the Auxiliary Animorphs survived, then How I Live Now reveals that Rachel was alive the whole time; her canonical death has been referenced, but not shown.
• Elfangor's Folly is an Alternate Universe Fic where Elfangor didn't die during the events of the first book.
• In What Tomorrow Brings, Ax is able to save Elfangor's life by tricking his brother into morphing each other so that Elfangor will be stuck in the Dome underwater, Tobias subsequently helping Ax fake his death so that they can escape the crashed fighter.

Arrowverse

• To Hell and Back (Arrowverse):
  • Robert Queen and Sara Lance never join Oliver Queen on the Queen's Gambit, sparing them both from their eventual fates.
  • Akio Yamashiro, who is injected with the Mirakuru, saving him from the Alpha-Omega virus.
  • Bette Sans Souci.

Avatar: The Last Airbender

• The Blood of the Covenant:
  • When Lu Ten was gravely injured in the siege of Ba Sing Se, Iroh made a deal with the spirits; he'd work to restore balance to the world in exchange for Lu Ten's life. As such, Lu Ten is alive and well (other than walking with a limp) by the time the Avatar returns.
  • The day Yon Rah comes to the South Pole, Kallik saves his aunt's life by discovering his firebending and defending her until Hakoda arrived. As such, Katara and Sokka never lost their mother. It was Kyra, Bato's wife and Kallik's mother, who was killed.
  • Zig-zagged with Azulon; he lives longer than in canon (as Ursa didn't have to poison him to save Zuko's life) and lives until Azula's in her teens. However, he still dies from being poisoned (this time as part of a coup led by Ozai).
• Forced to Be a Family: Amon survives the first story; instead, Korra defeats and depowers him, followed by his arrest. This doesn't save him, however, from being sentenced to death at his trial.
• Fractures: Lu Ten and Kya are revealed to be alive. Lu Ten survived the assassination attempt ordered by Ozai, and Kya was imprisoned in the Fire Nation prison for waterbenders.

Batman

• In Dance with the Demons, Jason Todd doesn't get crowbarred to death upon meeting the Joker.

BattleTech

• Along Came a Spider has Dave Jewell survive as Kai’s aide de camp, as the canon battle on Alyina never occurred. He did spend several months out of action recovering from injuries from a different battle, but survives the Clan Invasion.

BioShock

• BioShock: Right Place, Right Time, Wrong Guy: Langford died in the game after Ryan found out she was working with Jack and gassed her office, suffocating her. In this story, which is an alternate re-telling with a new protagonist, she survives thanks to Mark having the foresight to realize how paranoid Ryan is and reaching her office in time just as the gas was being turned on. Using his weapons to blow a hole into her office and pull her out. Elizabeth, following her role in the BioShock Infinite DLC game Burial at Sea, somehow survives her last meeting with Fontaine, whereas at the end of the game he brutally beat her to death with a wrench.

Bleach

• Many Bleach works both play this straight and invert this, mostly due to the seeming immortality of the main characters while often sparing fan-favorite villains like Ulquiorra. Starrk and Lilynette, nine times out of ten, will survive their canonical deaths even if it's not the fic's main point.
• Downfall and Hammered Down are interesting examples because the former has a large percentage of the backstory characters alive and well, others die, though - Hammered Down starts plays this somewhat straighter.
• Vow of the King:
  • Because Yhwach is long-dead in this continuity, he never performs Auswählen to restore his powers. Uryu's mother Kanae is alive and well in the present day as a result, but Masaki is still killed at the hands of the Grand Fisher.
  • Dordonni survives his fight against Rudbornn due to having been more fully healed and his zanpakuto not being damaged.

Bloodborne

• Childhood's End (Bloodborne) features the Gascoigne sisters, Laure and Adele, being escorted to safety by Eileen The Crow before the Player Character of the game even reaches them. However, due to their worry for their mother, they end up back in the heart of Yharnam with Djura the retired hunter and everything goes downhill from there.

Bridge to Terabithia

• Pretty much the entirety of the Bridge to Terabithia fandom, which is called "LDD" or "Leslie Didn't Die". Where the alleged demise of Leslie is usually retconned either by having Never Found the Body, or She is Just Hiding, or with some more ridiculous elements thrown in like Time Travel (see A Life Rescued) or Terabithia being real after all. Although there are some realistic ones that retcon her fate using real-life logic instead of resorting to supernatural elements, in order to keep up with the theme of imagination while being grounded in reality as seen in the original novel and movie adaptation.

Castlevania

• Turning Point: Lisa's death at the hands of the Bishop of Targoviste was what kicked off the plot of the original series. Here, Dracula makes it in-time to sire Lisa before her burn wounds kill her.

Code Geass

• Kallen Stadtfeld, Countess of Britannia: Naoto isn't killed by Britannian forces.
• Mosaic takes place in an alternate universe where the Chinese Federation invaded Japan, only to be defeated with the help of Britannia. Since Japan is still free, Kallen's older brother Naoto was never killed resisting an occupation.

Command & Conquer

• Nihlus in Renegade. Since the MacGuffin on Eden Prime is a Tacitus, rather than a Prothean beacon, Saren is carrying it around with him; Nihlus notices and is about to turn and ask Saren about it when the latter tries to shoot him in the head. Thanks to the movement, though, it's not as deadly as it "should" have been.

Danganronpa

• Alternative Class Despair:
  • Played straight by Chiaki (human version killed by Junko before the Killing Games while the AI was the fifth culprit), Mahiru (second victim), Nekomaru (fifth victim), Ibuki (fourth victim), Peko (second culprit), and Nagito (sixth victim) who all survive the killing game along with canon survivor Kazuichi.
  • Outside of the killing game, Chisa (first victim of final killing game), Jin Kirigri (killed by Junko before the beginning of the Killing Game), and Yasuke Matsuda (murdered by Junko) are all still alive as well.
  • Downplayed by Hiyoko who becomes the culprit of the case she was a victim of in canon.
• In Dangan Ronpa Another IF, Sayaka, Mukuro, Chihiro, Mondo and Celeste all end up surviving.
• Danganronpa Class Swap:
  • In the first story, where Hajime and co. are the ones trapped in Hope's Peak Academy, Mahiru (the canon second victim), Ibuki (the canon fourth victim), Mikan (the canon third culprit), Gundham (the canon fourth culprit), and Nagito (the canon sixth victim) join Hajime/Izuru (a canon survivor) and Ryota (who was never in the killing game and only appeared in the anime) in escaping. Meanwhile, this is downplayed by the Imposter (goes from the first victim to the first culprit), Peko (goes from the second culprit to the third), Teruteru (goes from the first culprit to the fifth victim) and Chiaki (goes from her human version being killed by Junko before the Tragedy while her AI self was executed by Monokuma as the fifth culprit to being executed as the mastermind).
  • In the second story, where Makoto and co. are the ones trapped on Jabberwock Island, Sayaka (goes from the first victim to the second culprit), Mondo (goes from the second culprit to the third victim) and Celeste (goes from the third culprit to the fifth victim) downplay this. Meanwhile, Mukuro (canonically executed for a rule violation in Chapter 1), Leon (the canon first culprit), Chihiro (the canon second victim) and Kiyotaka (the canon third victim) all live past their canon deaths and are all alive as of the end of the third chapter. However, considering that the killing game takes place in the Neo World Program, it's implied that they all will count.
• Danganronpa Class Switch:
  • In the first story, Rantaro (the canon first victim), Kaede (framed as the canon first culprit), Tenko (the canon fourth victim), Miu (the canon fifth victim), and Gonta (the canon fourth culprit) all survive the killing game alongside Shuichi (a survivor in canon).
  • Downplayed by Ryoma (second victim to fifth) and Kaito (who goes from being executed as the fifth culprit to being executed as the mastermind).
• In Danganronpa Re:Programmed, Chihiro, Mondo, Taka, and Mukuro all join canon survivor Kyoko in surviving the Killing Game this time around. Meanwhile this is downplayed by Sayaka (goes from first victim to first culprit) and Celestia (goes from Chapter 3 culprit to Chapter 4 victim).
• Danganronpa: Yakuza Arc:
  • Hajime saves Natsumi Kuzuryu from being killed by Sato. In turn, Sato isn't killed in revenge for Natsumi's murder.
  • Due to him not becoming Izuru Kamukura, half of the Student Council survive. Also due to him not becoming Izuru, Nagito successfully kills Junko, saving Chiaki Nanami and everybody else she ended up killing in the games through her despair inducing brainwashing.
• Harmonic Souls An Alternate Continuity:
  • This is the premise of the fic itself, as the story is essentially a What If? detailing what would’ve happened in the actual game if Kaede remained the protagonist from the start. As such, the true culprit of the first case is executed, and Kaede survives to the very end.
  • Kirumi (the canon second culprit), Angie (the canon third victim), Miu (the canon fifth victim), Kokichi (the canon sixth victim), and Kaito (the canon fifth culprit) also survive the killing game, and it is also implied in the last chapter that Keebo (who sacrificed himself to destroy the killing game, as in canon) could even be brought back to life, too.
  • The Gonta Alter Ego, thanks to Usami and the Chiaki AI, ends up surviving the execution he has alongside his real-life counterpart, and plays an essential part in bringing the killing game to an end.
• I'd Trade My Life For Yours:
  • The very plot summary promises that three different survivors will stumble out of the rubble. When the dust settles, Kaede (framed as the first culprit in canon), Ryoma (the canon second victim), and Tenko (the canon fourth victim) are all still standing. The mastermind Tsumugi is also spared as a form of Cruel Mercy.
  • Downplayed examples:
    • Angie goes from the victim of Chapter 3 to the killer.
    • Miu goes from the victim of Chapter 4 to the killer.
    • Kokichi goes from the victim of Chapter 5 to the killer.
• The Immersive Learning Program series, which mixes the cast from the main series games, allows for many characters to survive past their respective canon chapters.
  • In ''The Immersive Learning Program, Sayaka, Mukuro, Mondo, Celeste, Teruteru, Mahiru, and Kaede have survived to the fourth and final chapter.
  • By the start of the fifth chapter of Academy of Discontent, Leon, Peko, and Angie are still alive, while in their canon games they died in the first, second, and third chapters respectively. Meanwhile, Miu ends up being a downplayed example as she goes from being the victim of Chapter 4 to the (supposed) culprit of that chapter.
  • In Semester of Hell, Rantaro is no longer the first victim of a killing game.
• A New Hope (Danganronpa) is, by all accounts, an all-time heavyweight champion in the trope. Out of the 20 Ultimates who survive the Hope's Peak Killing Game, ten of them died in canon: Mukuro, Chihiro, Celeste, Kaito, Kirumi, Miu, Chiaki, Mikan, Kaede, and Kokichi.
• A few cases in System Restore
  • The fic's entire premise is based around Togami tripping while rushing over to prevent the first murder, resulting in Hanamura killing Komaeda.
  • On a lesser scale, Koizumi has survived through Chapter 2, when she was murdered in canon, and when the murder victims of Chapter 3 are discovered, neither are the canonical victims; Mioda and Saionji.
• Three-Point Shot:
  • Straight examples:
    • The premise of the fic involves Kokichi throwing the shot put ball that was the first chapter's murder weapon onto the bookshelf, thus enabling Shuichi to realize that it didn't actually hit Rantaro, and Kaede couldn't have killed him. As such, they're able to uncover the true murderer, and Kaede survives.
    • Ryoma (the canon second victim) also survives the killing game, and a line in the last chapter implies that Keebo (who canonically sacrificed himself to destroy the killing game) may be alive, too.
  • Downplayed examples:
    • Kirumi goes from the killer in Chapter 2 to the victim in Chapter 4.
    • Angie goes from the victim of Chapter 3 to the killer.
    • Miu goes from the victim of Chapter 4 to the killer.
    • Kokichi goes from the victim of Chapter 5 to the killer.

Date A Live

• Date A Re:Live: Despite the Darker and Edgier premise, several characters who expired in the source material either survive or get revived here:
  • Mio Takamiya sacrificed her life to kill Westcott and stop him from destroying the world. Here she's still alive.
  • Sawa Yamauchi/Saya Yamada gets brought back to life as a normal human, unlike in canon where she remains a Posthumous Character.
  • In her movie, after kissing Shido, Mayuri faded away as a result of being only made of spirit mana. Here she lives to be adopted by the Takamiya Family.

The DCU

• Hellsister Trilogy: Lex Luthor of Earth-Two, killed off by Brainiac in the canonical Crisis on Infinite Earths, survives thanks to Darkseid blasting Brainiac first.
• Kara of Rokyn: The titular character moves to Rokyn -a world inhabited by other Kryptonian survivors-, creating a split timeline where Kara doesn't get killed off by the Anti-Monitor in the Crisis.
• With this Ring... (Green Lantern): In mainstream Green Lantern canon, Katma Tui was murdered by a Predator-possessed Carol Feris. In this story, Katman helps Carol to expel out and destroy the Predator.

Digimon

• Digimon Adventure 02: The Story We Never Told has an in-universe example: TK's initial draft of his recounting of their adventures (aka what was shown in Digimon Adventure 02) has Ken Ichijouji survive and enjoy a successful career. In reality, they were murdered by Oikawa right before the Digidestined escaped from the Dark World.

Dragon Age

• Many Dragon Age fanfics do this for Hawke's younger twin siblings, Bethany and Carver. In the game, one is always killed during the prologue (which one is determined by Hawke's class), but it's not uncommon for fic writers to have them both accompany their elder sibling to Kirkwall. There's actually a tag on AO3, "Bethany and Carver Hawke Live," for such stories. Some of them have someone else die instead, such as Hawke or their mother Leandra, but others have the entire family survive together.
• Skyhold Academy Yearbook does this for Felix Alexius, whom the authors like too much to allow to die.

Dragon Ball

• Dragon Ball Z Abridged reveals via Cutaway Gag that the Kanassans, a psychic race that were killed off in the original show (and the main reason Bardock could see the future), managed to miraculously repopulate.
  • Also, while Nappa stayed dead in the actual series, he's accidentally wished back along with everyone killed by Freeza and his minions at the end of season 2, and becomes a Hollywood producer. The Buu Bits segments reveal he would die a second time from auto-Erotic Asphyxiation, right before Buu's Human Extinction Attack was executed, meaning the Exact Words that brought him back to life last time screwed him this time. At least he went out on his own terms, though.
  • Nail and Kami also receive this - while they effectively ceased to be after fusing with Piccolo in the series proper, here they still exist as voices in Piccolo's head.
  • In a manner of speaking, Android 16. He did die, and remained dead, but in canon he had no soul, and simply stopped existing. Here, he actually did have a soul that went to Heaven, as the final credits shot for episode 60 demonstrated. Parodied in Z Kai Abridged Episode 3.5 where, because Gohan goes Super Saiyan 2 through the thought of waiting a year to fight Cell, Android 16 is never killed and casually walks across the screen to let the viewers know so at the very end.
  • Future Dr. Briefs is stated to be dead in The History of Trunks. In Team Four Star's version, he's instead spent years in space fruitlessly searching for New Namek so he can use the Namekian Dragon Balls to fix the mess on Earth.
  • Dr. Wheelo from The World's Strongest gets this as well, as well as an upgrade from evil Mad Scientist to good Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds. He's eventually wished a new body to live his life in peace. Though subverted later as during the Broly adaptation, it's revealed he died of brain cancer since...well they gave him a body but his brain was still too big.
  • In Dragon Ball Z Kai Abridged Episode 2.9 which adapts the Garlic Jr. Saga, Vinegar decides to leave the scene after the other Spice Boys are killed by Gohan. In The Stinger, he's shown having become a best-selling author. Of course, it was All Just a Dream in Gohan's head, but it counts nonetheless.
• Masako X - Dragon Ball What-If have many examples, including:
  • The villains in the various "X Turned Good", such as What if Nappa Turned Good? and What If Raditz Turned Good? of course have the titular villain surviving to make their turn and exploring how these new allies to the Z Warriors affect the story going forward. Played with in What If Cell Turned Good?, where instead of sparing the main incarnation of the character, who was from an alternate timeline, The Z Warriors instead spare the one from their own timeline, who was killed in his test tube by Krillin and Trunks.
  • What If Gine Went With Goku to Earth? obviously has Gine (Goku's mother) surviving the destruction of Planet Vegeta after accidently being knocked in her son's pod. Having her around also results in Grandpa Gohan surviving Goku/Kakkarot's Ozaru transformation and living well into the events of Z before finally passing away of old age during The Cell Saga and the first meeting between Goku and Raditz ending peacefully, sparing both of them in the process. Master Roshi and technically King Piccolo survive the King Piccolo saga, thanks to having Grandpa Gohan and Gine their to help the former re-imprison the latter. But Roshi would have been brought back anyway and King Piccolo is still effectively out of the picture. But this also has the consequence of Piccolo Jr. never coming into existence in this timeline and Kami never giving up his own existence to fuse with the former.
  • What If Bardock Convinced The Saiyans has Bardock and a contingent of Saiyans escaping the destruction of Planet Vegeta.
• In The Warrior's Daughter Goku survives the final battle against Cell.

EDENS ZERO

• Witch Eraser
  • The main premise is that Witch doesn't die in a Heroic Sacrifice protecting her crew, instead her damaged body gets tossed into space by Shura during his and Shiki's battle. Witch is found by the Interstella Army, and when Eraser is fatally injured in the fight against the Nero empire, she volunteers to let the doctors transfer his Ether into her body, allowing both personalities to survive in her repaired form.
  • Eraser's quick attack on the Sea Serpent saves the Oasis member Furena from being caught in the battleships attack.
  • Shiki, reaching his Rage Breaking Point to Shura, uses an Overdrive gravity attack that shakes city and causes Jesse to stumble before he could shoot Creed or Homura, allowing Creed to imprison him with his Ether Lock instead of dying by Jesse's hand in canon. Likewise, a combination of Creed's survival and Shiki destroying the All-Link System that both Shura and Ziggy were planning to use means Shura doesn't get killed by the anti-matter bombs on Nero 66, and he gets arrested by Creed for his crime.
  • Unlike in canon, Laguna is able to snap Ijuna from her Stockhold Syndrome with Shura, so she doesn't choose to die with Shura and instead allows herself to be arrested by the Interstellar Army.

Elfen Lied

• The Butterfly Effect (Elfen Lied): Aiko Takada survives and is taken in by her mother, unlike canon. Ultimately subverted with Kaede's puppy, who nonetheless lives far longer than he did in the original manga.

Encanto

• In canon, it was Pedro Madrigal's sacrifice that led to the creation of the candle, the miracle, his family's magical gifts and everything else in the Encanto. In Returning Home, they only think he died. Instead, he winds up separated from his family and finds himself living in a village outside of the mountains.

Final Fantasy

• Us and Them:
  • Shinra never gets around to dropping the plate here, so Jessie and the rest of AVALANCHE don't meet grim fates trying to prevent it.
  • Aerith does not meet her fate in the Forgotten City either, and she lives to have several children.

Fullmetal Alchemist

• build your wings on the way down: Nina Tucker is spared when Edward manages to reverse her chimera transformation and return her back to normal. She is then Happily Adopted by Maes and Gracia Hughes, since her father died.

Goblin Slayer

• In Mulligan, Goblin Slayer is able to save Priestess's first party, though Warrior lost his sword arm as well as the All Female Steel party at the Abandoned Elf Fortress. This results in all seven young women becoming attracted with Goblin Slayer.

Godzilla

• AbraxasVerse: The Timeline reveals that Skull Island's ecosystem and (most of) the Iwi are spared being wiped out by a Perpetual Storm after Kong's battle against Camazotz, implicitly due to Monster X's intervention.

Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation: Mo Dao Zu Shi / The Untamed

• By Any Other Name spares Qin Su, who then goes on to become Jin Ling's regent.
• Everyone Lives With Knives has the Qiongqi Pass incident go differently, with Wei Wuxian killing Su She and ensuring the survival of Jin Zixuan. In turn, Jiang Yanli, Wen Qing, and Wei Wuxian himself survive. It's hinted that Nie Mingjue has also outlived his canon end.
• Forget-me-not (don't leave me behind) has Madam Lan, long dead by the time canon begins, still alive as of the Cloud Recesses study arc in the fic.
• The Same Moon Shines:
  • And Time Is But A Paper Moon applies this to the Wen Sect as a whole, which isn't wiped out at the end of the Sunshot Campaign. Instead, Wen Ning becomes the next Sect Leader and the sect undergoes some rebranding.
  • Sail Away Sweet Sister spares Su She.
• A line in the epilogue of Where There's A Will, There's A Road applies this to Jin Zixuan and Jin Zixun, as the massacre at Qiongqi Path doesn't happen.
• Xiang Gong:
  • A very rare candidate for this is the Jin Captain Meng Yao murders early in canon. He gets off with only a leg wound.
  • Also applies to Nie Mingjue in a different chapter. Jin Guangyao plays the Song of Clarity for him instead of the Song of Turmoil.

Harry Potter

• The Chosen Six:
  • As a result of the new routine in her life caused by the new school, Luna saves her mother by drawing her away just before the potion Pandora is working on can "backfire" and kill her.
  • Neither Mrs. Norris, Justin Finch-Fletchley, Nearly-Headless Nick, nor Penelope Clearwater are petrified. Sally-Anne Perks, Myrtle, Luna, and Pansy are instead petrified in the latter three's place. Those who do get petrified are also quickly cured thanks Sirius donating a large supply of Mandrake extract to the school, eliminating the school's need to grow their own Mandrakes.
  • Frank Bryce will seemingly not be killed by Voldemort, as the latter hides the Riddle House from Muggles by casting an altered Fidelius Charm that makes everyone think the house was torn down, then has a wall built around the plot for good measure, making it unlikely that Frank will run into Voldemort.
• Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality: Peter Pettigrew, who here really was the Cowardly Lion that the Wizarding World thought him to be, survives to the story's end.
• Per the premise of How Friendship Accidentally Saved Magical Britain the piece of Tom Riddle in the Diary Horcrux survives the events of Chamber of Secrets on account of not being a murderous git, as does the basilisk, simply by Harry asking it to stop petrifying people, at which point it returns to its nest without complaint and stops petrifying people, leaving further action unnecessary. Additionally, Cedric survives the events of Goblet of Fire on account of the lack of Triwizard Tournament, Fred survives the defeat of Voldemort, and since Voldemort was killed for good mere hours after his revival at the end of Harry's fourth year, he was unable to break into the Department of Mysteries or take over the Ministry and Hogwarts, meaning Sirius and everyone else who dies after Goblet of Fire due to Voldemort's actions is spared, too.
• In Kaleidoscopic Grangers, due to the differences in circumstance, at least nine characters are spared; these include Cedric Diggory, as the Triwizard Cup was not a Portkey and he never even touched it anyway due to insisting Ariadne take it, Alastor Moody, because an equivalent of the Battle of the Seven Potters is averted, Dobby, because the skirmish at Malfoy Manor happened differently and off-screen, Bogrod, due to changes to the Gringotts heist, Lavender Brown, due to having been rescued by Ron and Hermione and living on as a werewolf, as well as Dirk Cresswell, Gornuk, Edward Tonks, and Nymphadora Tonks, who all survived because the Battle of Hogwarts happened three months early; the first three never got caught and killed, and the latter was still heavily pregnant and did not go.
• In New Blood (artemisgirl) Diary Riddle lives past his original canon death as he helps Hermione frame Rookwood and a Medallion as the cause of the Chamber Openings/Attacks.
• The Rigel Black Chronicles has many characters who didn't survive in canon, or didn't exist in canon because they're the children of characters who didn't survive, because Tom Riddle went into politics instead of war. James and Lily raised Harry, the Longbottoms are healthy, Aldon Rosier and Edmund Rookwood and Alesana Selwyn are at Hogwarts, Gideon and Fabian Prewett are mostly off-screen but doing fine.
• Seven Favours For Harry Potter sees the survival of Quirrell, who after Voldemort leaves him is temporarily turned into a satyr statue by Lady Vidia, with the promise that she'll revive him sometime in the future so he can have a "second chance."

Helluva Boss

• Helluva Dad: Chaz, who was killed in his debut for attempting to scam Crimson, survives here, as his money was completely legit and he was only broke because he needed to get married in order to have access to it.

Henry Stickmin Series

• Begrudging Assistance Requests: In the original Toppat Civil Warfare route, Reginald Copperbottom perishes, but here, he's instead imprisoned by the government.

Honkai Impact 3rd

• In Snippets of Sirin Shariac's life Sirin and Cecilia Shariac survive the Second Honkai War.

Horizon Zero Dawn

• The whole plot of Choosing Life Verse hinges on Elisabet surviving to present day, rather than dying before the events of the first game.

House

• In the House fanfic "Its-It's", Amber doesn't die because the bus crash never happened, the garbage truck hit a parked car instead.

The Hunger Games

• In Life Through Sea Green Eyes Finnick survives his encounter with the Mutts in the sewers due to Beetee's upgraded trident and an old sponsor of his. His survival is kept a secret and he is sent as an ambassador to other countries by Plutarch.

Infinity Train

• Down And Out: Simon, though the Grom that would have killed him is repeatedly noted to still be lurking right outside one of the exits, and Simon himself isn't exactly happy that he's still alive.

JoJo's Bizarre Adventure

• The Twilight Man
  • The premise of the series is that Kars and Esidisi were unable to wipe out their people when they protested against Kars's experiments with the Stone Mask.
  • Due to being a Decomposite Character with Wamuu (who takes up his role as The Mentor for Jonathan and the others), William A. Zeppeli does not die during the events of Blood Obligation. Chapter 6 of Let the Good Times Roll shows him in his 70s and taking in his wayward grandchildren, including Cesare.
• X in X Minutes: Jojo's Bizarre Adventure: Stardust Crusaders (Part 2) in 9 Minutes has Iggy walk away from the group just before they enter DIO's mansion once he realizes what kind of story he's in, which prevents him from getting brutally killed by Vanilla Ice. This pays off when he shows up during the final battle to destroy DIO by farting on him.

Jurassic Park

• It's not the Raptor DNA:
  • In canon, the Indominus rex is devoured by Jurassic World's Mosasaurus. Her, Owen Grady is able to stop her rampage by (inadvertently) discovering her sentience. In addition to the hybrid surviving, the raptors Echo and Delta also survive (as in this story, the final battle of the film never occurs thanks to Owen managing to get through to the I. rex).
  • The park itself doesn't shut down following the incident (though it's hit with a plethora of lawsuits and bad PR), and after some repairs and adjustments reopens to much acclaim, and is even doing better now with a hybrid T. Rex/raptor attraction and the I-Rex (now named Elise) making a successful debut.
• Jurassic What If...?:
  • Both Simon Masrani and Vic Hoskins avoid dying during the downfall of Jurassic World in the timelines of Episode 1 ("What If The Atrociraptors Were In Jurassic World?") and Episode 6 ("What If The Mosasaurus Escaped BEFORE Jurassic World?").
  • In the timeline of Episode 5 ("What If The Indominus Rex was in Jurassic Park?"), Dennis Nedry and Ray Arnold both survive the downfall of the original Jurassic Park.

Kung Fu Panda

• Shen vs. Kai: At the story's end, the Wolf Boss, who spent most of the story turned into a Jombie, is alive and well for the time being. Downplayed with Shen and Kai — one of them technically dies, but both their souls get to reincarnate.
• The Vow: In the aftermath of the alternate events of Kung Fu Panda 2, both Zhan (the Wolf Boss) and Shen are alive, although it still looks to most of the world like the latter died his canon death.

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen

• League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Tempest Rewrite: At least one of the Star Fems saved Ripley and Newt from a crash landing.

Life Is Strange

• Bloom: Rachel Amber, who was Dead All Along in the game, is alive and well, because the person responsible for her death was Adapted Out.

Little House on the Prairie

• A common scenario in fanfics is "Sylvia lives", in which Albert Ingalls' tragic love interest from the eponymous episode is given a Happy Ending. Due to their tragic trajectory and especially the conclusion (Sylvia dying from injuries of a fall after trying to escape her rapist, who'd previously impregnated her), Albert x Sylvia is a Fan-Preferred Couple, fueled by What Could Have Been.
  • In Sylvia Webb, the most common scenario is played: her demise in the final scene turned out to be Disney Death, she got better and her father moved from town with her afterwards; it's also revealed that not only Sylvia, but her unborn Child by Rape survived the fall. Albert's grandson tells his own grandson how they met again years later, and Albert reconnected and married her, becoming her daughter's father figure. Albert himself counts, as his blood disorder turned out to be a misdiagnosis.
  • In ''Sylvia Strikes Back'', the Point of Divergence is that during the climatic confrontation at the Atkins Place, Albert manages to hit her rapist in the head, knocking him unconscious, and holds the ladder Sylvia was climbing before she fell, getting her down safely. As a result, not only does she survive, but the rapist is captured alive instead of being shot dead (though Charles has to keep Hector Webb from shooting him right there and then).
• ''The Silver Coin Saloon'' has the existence of the eponymous saloon avoid one of the biggest tragedies in the History of Walnut Grove: Thanks to Albert's involvement with the saloon activities, he never sneaks into the Blind School with a pipe, so the school fire never happens and Alice Garvey (and presumably Mary's baby Adam Jr.) are still alive years later.

Love Hina

• In the original series, Sarah's mother died prior to the story. In Reunion, she not only lives until the present day, she tracks down Keitaro and rapes him.

Lucifer (2016)

• In "The Devil and His Urchin", rather than burn his real wings in front of Amenadiel, Lucifer burns the fakes from the auction so that he can keep the real ones in secret, his relationship with his new daughter Trixie inspiring a greater interest in his celestial side after Trixie's own wings manifested.

Lucky Star

• In the Lucky Star fanfic, Missing Piece, Kanata Izumi, the deseased mother of Konata, is alive. However, she was still abstent for most of Konata's life due to being kidnapped when Konata was still a little baby.

Lyrical Nanoha

• Game Theory (Lyrical Nanoha): Precia and Alicia Testarossa. Although the latter is not so much spared as brought Back from the Dead. And Precia is still terminally ill, so her reprieve is temporary. It should also be mentioned Linith is still alive in the story.

Mandela Catalogue

• The Mandela Magazine: Rather than turning his gun on himself like he does in Mandela Catalogue, Mark uses the weapon to threaten the Alternates that won't leave his house in Mandela Magazine. While the Alternates escape, Mark ends up repeatedly shooting his mother because he mistakes her for one.

Marvel Cinematic Universe

• Calling You Out!: In prompt 50, Tony Stark survives using the Infinity Gauntlet due to Quill getting all of the heroes to form a chain, splitting the burden between dozens of people rather than just one, though Tony's arm is still damaged to the point of requiring amputation.
• The Devil's in the details: The Vision survived Thanos' invasion, the Blip and the following Endgame battle that followed.
• In Every Right Thing Will Find Its Right Place, Thanos spares Wanda when he triggers the Snap, but only because he has realised that she is pregnant with the Vision's twins, intending to recruit them into his new Black Order in the future.
• Not only are Richard and Mary Parker alive and well in Lies of omission, they're the bad guys!
• letmetellyouaboutmyfeels' MCU Rewrites: In this rewrite of Avengers: Age of Ultron, Pietro Maximoff/Quicksilver survives in the Final Battle against Ultron. It's subverted in New Avengers, he is killed by Tomi Shishido/Gorgon.
  • Also, in New Avengers the final scene shows that Wanda and Pietro's father is still alive and is in fact Magneto.
• Numerous fics go out of their way to spare Agent Coulson from being killed by Loki. Some include time-travel, intervention by other characters, or even just him stepping out of the way in time.

Marvel Universe

• In FIRE! (DarkMark), Gwen Stacy is spared from being murdered by Norman Osborn thanks to Human Torch's prompt intervention.
• In The Side Effect, Uncle Ben survives. This is because Gwen ended up getting superpowers as well, and because of that, Spidey's a good deal more selfless in his early superpowered days. As a result, he decides to apprehend the hoodlum who robs the sleazy fight promoter, meaning he never gets anywhere near Ben.
• In Ultimate Sleepwalker, Spider-Man successfully saves Gwen Stacy when the Green Goblin throws her off the bridge. Sleepwalker's intervention prevents the Goblin from killing them both.
• In The Web of The Spider-Man, Uncle Ben is spared from his usual fate of being Peter's Death by Origin Story catalyst. Instead, Peter is such a nerd for fiction tropes that he Jumped at the Call to be a superhero.
• In X-Men 1970:
  • Angel's girlfriend Candy Southern doesn't get murdered.
  • Thanks to their early retirement, neither Jean Grey nor Scott Summers go through their many canonical deaths.

Mega Man

• Burning Stickman Presents... Something!: Iris and Colonel get this treatment invoked on them by one of the main characters. Said protagonist is Trapped in a Video Game and is well aware of exactly which game he's in, so he takes steps to prevent their deaths and knocks the games' plot Off the Rails in the process.

Mobile Suit Gundam SEED

• Mobile Suit Gundam SEED Paradox: In the source material, Flay Allster is killed when one of the Providence's DRAGOONs shot down her shuttle during the final battle, killing her and remnants of the Dominion crew. Here, the Paradox Gundam interfered with the battle between Kira Yamato and Rau Le Creuset, allowing Kira to safely rescue the escape shuttle and consequently diverging the Cosmic Era timeline by allowing the Paradox to destroy the Providence.

Monsters vs. Aliens

• God Help the Outcasts: Gallaxhar escapes the explosion of the ship after Susan gets the Quantonium back.

My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic

• Aftermath of the Games: The Human version of Applejack's parents are alive and well. She and Human Apple Bloom were horrified when they discovered from Princess Twilight that their pony counterparts were dead.
• In The Sunsetverse, Applejack's mother is still alive.
• Slice of Velvet and Pear has Twilight Sparkle and her mother, Twilight Velvet, meeting Pear Butter and Applejack when Twilight and Applejack are still children. Leading to a butterfly effect that Pear Butter surviving to into the events of The Mane Series.

Naruto

General Examples:

• Particularly popular is sparing Haku — Zabuza is spared half the time too, but not as often and almost never without Haku.
• Following Neji's death in the 4th Shinobi World War Arc, fans have started to spare him in fanworks; Shikaku, Inoichi, Ao and Mabui are harder because of circumstances (and require a vaster plot changed), but Neji can be saved if someone else is Taking the Bullet in the scene where he dies.
• Some also spare Asuma from his death at Hidan's hands - Dead Garden became a Dead Fic before it reached his point of death,, but Hidan's death in the first story arc has ensured that if the story had continued then Asuma's potential death would be very different to canon anyway.
• Kushina and Mikoto (Sasuke's mother) have also been treated to this trope, whether the work in question covers the canon timeline, is set in a universe where one change to the plot altered the continuity, or is set in a whole different universe altogether. Both of them are alive and well in the High School AU fic Kitsune no Ken: Fist of the Fox, Kushina is alive but crippled in Dead Garden (where the Kyuubi was sealed into Sakura instead of Naruto), and Mikoto is the main character of One Small Kindness (set around the time of the Uchiha Massacre).
• While Sarutobi has survived in a number of stories that cover the canon timeframe, these are rarely serious stories (Lucillia usually spares him in her more comedic narratives, but he usually dies in the dramatic ones) - outside of the need for drama, his death in canon leads to Tsunade's succeeding him, and fanfic writers have commented that giving both characters a role in the story after this point is difficult (which is probably why, for instance, Team 8 forces him to retire so that Tsunade can succeed him anyway).

Specific Works:

• Androgyninja's A Drop of Poison: The Uchiha Massacre is avoided, as Danzo is unable to turn public opinion and suspicion against them in the wake of the Kyuubi's rampage.
• Dreaming of Sunshine spares a number of characters aside from Haku and Zabuza, including Hayate, Sandayu from the 1st Movie, and more recently: Tayuya, Sakon & Jirobou.
• Ffreire's NaruFox AU:
  • The Kannabi Bridge incident unfolded differently; while Obito was still injured, and still donated his left eye to Kakashi, both he and Rin survived and are alive and well at the start of the series proper.
  • The Uchiha Massacre never happened here. However, Fugaku and Mikoto both passed away around the time that the incident would have happened, and Itachi became Sasuke's guardian.
  • Zabuza and Haku survive the Wave arc; Zabuza is a mercenary whom Kakashi knows and is more than willing to work with to resolve matters off-screen while Haku hangs out with the genin.
• Hakumei:
  • The Uchiha clan aren't massacred; instead, Danzo secures their loyalty to him once he takes over Konoha.
  • Haku avoids being picked up by Zabuza, instead joining the main kids; neither one is killed off on the bridge.
  • Kimimaro's terminal illness is caught early, with Tsunade curing him.
• Obito-Sensei: Due to Obito surviving in Kakashi's place, a wild number of things have changed, including a lot of canonically dead characters surviving into the present:
  • Rin is still alive because Obito used Kamui to save her, rather than the imperfect chidori.
  • Itachi had to perform the Uchiha Massacre without "Madara's" help, so only half the clan was killed, rather than the whole, with his and Sasuke's mother surviving.
  • Because Obito never caused the Nine-Tails attack, Kushina and Minato are very much alive, and Minato is still the Hokage. Minato was, in turn, able to root out Danzo and ROOT's corruption, purging the organization and sending the survivors into exile.
  • Without Danzo, the original Akatsuki are never killed by him and Hanzo the Salamander, leaving Yahiko alive and preventing Nagato and Konan's Start of Darkness (though they tip ever closer to being Well-Intentioned Extremist).
  • Zabuza and Haku, in turn, joined their reformed Rain Village, as two of the many rogue shinobi the Akatsuki recruit, so the Land of Waves arc never happens in this timeline, and the two are very much alive.
• The Somewhat Cracked Mind Of Uchiha Itachi:
  • The entire Uchiha clan, due to a Point of Divergence (Itachi met and befriended Kisame long before he did in canon and brought him back to Konoha, causing Hiruzen to hint he wanted Itachi as his successor) causing the massacre to never happen. The planned coup goes off later in the story, but it's more of an Uchiha civil war, and Sasuke's immediate family all oppose it and survive.
  • Deidara never joins Akatsuki because the lack of Itachi to recruit him meant that Hidan went for it, and in the ensuing fight he was saved by Onoki and bonded with him over Dust Release. And Sasuke is far more mentally stable thanks to growing up with his family, and so wouldn't try to kill him anyways.
  • Rasa is canonically killed to provide a disguise for Orochimaru, but here Konoha's increased strength thanks to the presence of Kisame and the Uchihas made him wary of killing off such a powerful ninja, which leads to...
  • Hiruzen survives because Rasa hired Akatsuki for extra backup, and they hated Orochimaru enough to attack him on sight when they met him, resulting in Orochimaru being too exhausted to perform Edo Tensei.
• Son of the Sannin:
  • During the introductory timeframe arc (Pre-Part I), Hizashi Hyuga, Shisui Uchiha and Yashamaru get spared from their respective deaths. Zabuza and Haku, who are introduced much earlier, become ninjas of Konoha by the time the story enters Part I and remain as major characters throughout.
  • Hayate Gekko is also spared from being killed in the Chunin exams, as there's no conspiracy during it. Likewise, since Rasa doesn't make make any deal with Orochimaru, he remains the Kazekage by the beginning of Part II.
  • On the bad guys' side, Orochimaru's genin trio, Zaku, Kin and Dosu, survive by the end of Part I, ending up as prisoners of Konoha and under the custody of Anko Mitarashi.
  • Fu, the Nanabi Jinchuriki, was killed in canon during the timeskip by Akatsuki. In this story, she evades capture and continues to be a major supporting character.
  • Jiraiya, who was killed in his confrontation with Pain, survives the encounter, and even accompanies Naruto and Tsunade to confront Nagato in his real body after the invasion ends.
  • Gaara survives with a sliver of chakra when his Tailed Beast is extracted thanks to the ritual being interrupted at the last second, so Naruto and Hinata are able to stabilize him before he dies. This also means that Chiyo doesn't end up using her Sacrificial Revival Spell to bring him back.
  • Asuma doesn't fall in battle against Hidan (partially by virtue of his team not being sent on that mission) and he's still alive and well by the time his daughter is born.
  • Crossing over with Abled in the Adaptation, Itachi's terminal disease is caught when the symptoms first start to manifest and he's in good health by Part II. The fact that he isn't forced to become a Fake Defector also means that he never arranges for Sasuke to kill him.
  • Konan staying in Konoha as a prisoner after the Akatsuki invasion (combined with Nagato's Rinnegan being removed from his corpse before it's returned to Amegakure for burial) means that Obito doesn't end up killing her.
  • Speaking of the Akatsuki invasion, the death toll among named characters is significantly lower than the Invasion of Pain in canon (and none of them were among the original casualties), mostly because the author expected all the readers to know that they'd just be revived at the end of the arc anyway.
  • Ameyuri was already dead by the time of her introduction in canon as an Impure World Ressurection zombie. Here she is still alive at that point, having been introduced a lot sooner during the Kirigakure Civil War arc.
  • Neji isn't killed by the Ten-Tails in the final arc, though this doesn't keep Naruto and Hinata from naming their firstborn son after him.
  • The epilogue revealed that both Kagero Fuuma and Ajisai are alive, the former being Hebimaru's wife and the latter as the new leader of Amegakure.
• Haku and the Third Hokage (at least so far) in Team 8. However, in the latter case, he lost an arm and was forced to step down as Hokage.
• War of the Biju:
  • Haku is dead like in canon and revived by the Edo Tensei, but Kakashi transporting him into his personal Kamui dimension manages to break the control seal on him, essentially reviving him like Itachi.
  • Rin. Since Obito was never designated as Madara's successor and never became Tobi (and was even killed by this story's Tobi), Madara never arranged the events that led to her death in canon. Unusual for this trope, Rin was still considered dead In-Universe — her death was faked during the Kyuubi attack after Danzo saved her, and she was subsequently press-ganged into joining ROOT as his personal medic. She joins the main forces during the war after Danzo dies and reunites with Kakashi after his battle with Edo Tensei!Obito.
  • Kushina has been living as Tobi's prisoner since the day of Naruto's birth, and finally manages to escape during the war.
• White Eyes is an Alternate Universe story in which the Hyuga clan is massacred instead of the Uchiha clan, which means that the latter clan is the strongest clan in Konoha by the time the story begins. Consequently, Sasuke grows up significantly more mentally balanced than he was in canon (whereas Hinata is the one to become the avenger and messed up in the head).

Nasuverse

• Fate Crazy Knights, being a Denser and Wackier adaptation of Fate/Zero, has several characters avoid their deadly fate (with the exception of Caster, Ryuunosuke, plus a Death by Adaptation for Zouken). Noticeably, Assassin survives right past the final fight against Caster (and even the first Hassan clone avoids being killed by Gilgamesh), Diarmuid is healed by his self-inflicted injuries with his healing sword Beagalltach, and Merlin stops Kiritsugu from killing Kayneth and Sola-Ui.
• Fate: Sword Order:
  • Olga Marie Animusphere and Ophelia Phamrsolone both survive the bombing of Chaldea because Shirou Emiya detected the bomb and tackled Olga away, in turn alerting Ophelia that something was wrong and letting her partially escape the blast radius. This means Olga doesn't end up thrown into a sun by Lev and Ophelia recovers after a while in sickbay.
  • In the Fuyuki Singularity, Saber Alter makes a contract with Shirou and joins the group in Chaldea instead of being killed. Archer EMIYA also survives and somehow escapes the Singularity, eventually meeting the group in the Orleans Singularity and joining Chaldea.
  • In the Orleans Singularity, Marie Antoinette survives to the end, the group cures Saint Martha of her Madness Enhancement instead of killing her, and Shirou convinces Jeanne Alter to stand down and make a contract with him, allowing the later two to join Chaldea.
  • In the Septum Singularity, the group convinces Julius Caesar to make an alliance with them instead of killing him in their first encounter.
• Little Ritsuka and her Loving Family: In the Fuyuki Singularity, Ishtar and Ereshkigal save Olga Marie from Lev throwing her into a sun and Ereshkigal becomes a Pseudo Servant with her to allow her to survive leaving the Singularity. Caster Cu Chulainn makes a contract with Ritsuka allowing him to join Chaldea instead of fading away.

Neon Genesis Evangelion

• Evangelion fan manga RE-TAKE does this with Touji. As Shinji knows that Touji will die if he's hesitant when Unit-3 is taken over, he manages to cripple the Eva without kill Touji. However, Touji is still Put on a Bus for the next two chapters because his injuries. Kaji also survives, though it's not made clear if Shinji's actions had anything to do with it or he survived in this timeline's series of events without Shinji doing anything.

NieR

• Due to Character Development Nier underwent in Tower of Babel, he’s much more willing to talk and resolve things peacefully rather than jump straight to murder, which spares the lives of multiple Shades. It really helps that Shadowlord is now on his side and equally unwilling to kill people without a good reason.

One Piece

• In Coby's Choice, Franky and Galley-Law are able to save Merry by converting her keel into a heart, letting her take on a human form.
• This Bites! also avoids one of the most tragic deaths in the series, by having the Straw Hat Pirates' first ship, the Going Merry, eat a Devil Fruit and become human instead of receiving a Viking Funeral. And then later on averts another major tragic death when Luffy manages to successfully save Ace from his execution.
• Though a Bird Can't Fly, That Doesn't Mean It Never Will is an Alternate Universe Fic for One Piece where Zoro's childhood friend Kuina is struck blind (and becomes a Blind Weaponmaster) instead of suffering Death by Falling Over.

One-Punch Man

• In The Strongest Hero, because the world knows that Saitama is the World's Strongest Man, several villains survive either because they surrender or they pull a Heel–Face Turn.
  • Vaccine Man and the Brain and Brawl brothers surrender the second they spotted Saitama during their rampage.
  • The members of the House of Evolution join the Hero Association because they know One-Punch Man could wipe them all out in a heartbeat. Mosquito Girl becomes part of Saitama Group while the rest of the members are recurring support characters in the story.
  • Geryuganshoop is the Sole Survivor of the Dark Matter Thieves simply because he wisely chooses to escape after seeing Saitama fighting against Boros inside the ship. He becomes Tatsumaki's roommate after Lord Boros is defeated.

Persona

• As of Feburary 2024, there are over eight hundred fics on AO3 tagged with some variant of "Akechi Goro Lives".
• Black Star (Persona 5) has Black Mask survive their final confrontation with the Phantom Thieves, albeit stuck in the decaying cognitive world.
• Since the release of Persona 5 Royal, Kasumi Yoshizawa (the real one) has had a tendency to invoke this trope in fanfics. Typically with Joker saving Sumire from getting hit by a car instead of Kasumi saving her, like she does in canon. However, Joker usually doesn't die instead of Kasumi in these fanfics.
• Hours 'Verse spares several characters. Namely Minato Arisato, Ryoji Mochizuki, Hamuko Arisato, Shinjiro Aragaki, the SIU Director and Goro Akechi.
• Throw Away Your Mask spares Akechi by virtue of the Peggy Sue premise, but it also spares Shinjiro (for a while, anyway) as well as Minato and Ryoji.

Pirates of the Caribbean

• In Dead Men Tell No Tales Redone, a Fix Fic of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, Jack Sparrow sacrifices himself to save Carina Smyth from Captain Salazar's men instead of Hector Barbossa, because he's her father instead of Barbossa. This means Barbossa gets to live to the end of the story, although the loss of his frenemy inspires him to retire from piracy and hand captaincy of the Pearl on to Carina, who proudly proclaims herself Captain Carina Sparrow. Also, Admiral Scarfield survives the Silent Mary destroying his ship and his crew where he didn't in canon.

Pokémon

• Latios from Pokémon Heroes survives the outcome of the movie's events in A New Chance at Life thanks to a soul-bonding technique with Ash and Latias in a First-Episode Resurrection. The rest of the fic deals with Ash traveling the rest of his journey in Johto with the Eon Dragons.
• Ashes of the Past: Molly Hale's Entei and the Latios from Pokémon Heroes both survive the outcome of their respective movies, courtesy of Mewtwo.

Prehistoric Park

• Prehistoric Park: Returned from Extinction:
  • the mother T-Rex (whom the park staff calls "Sue") manages to survive the injuries inflicted on her and is successfully brought back to the present.
  • Additionally, Nigel is also able to rescue the four Mei long were suffocated by volcanic fumes, in part because this time around, the fight is interrupted by the arrival of a hungry pack of Sinotyrannus. He's also able to rescue the Incisivosaurus, when in the original story, it is presumed they died (he never rescued them before the volcano erupted).
  • He also manages to save the second of the female Smilodon's original cubs, as here, he splits off with Saba so that they can rescue the male, female and cubs simultaneously.
  • Let's just put it this way: if the creature is question was alive when it first appeared in the original series and died a tragic death later in the episode it appeared in, it was spared in this series. The only animals not spared are Martha's sister, the juvenile Ornithomimus, the first of the female Smilodon's cubs, and the Parasaurolophus eaten by the Deinosuchus mob.

Psychonauts

• Later, Traitor: While Dogen doesn't die in Psychonauts, he's the first kid targeted to have his brain stolen and thus is essentially braindead for the entire rest of the game. In the fic he manages to avoid having his brain stolen entirely, and Elton and Milka are the first kids targeted by the Lungfish.

The Rising of the Shield Hero

• Family of the Shield has several examples of this happening throughout the story due to Naofumi being immediately wary of Malty and having taken several steps to lessen the pain he felt from the False Rape Accusation that he's arguably nicer to others than his Canon self; enough that he and his newfound Family made up from Raphtalia and Royal Monsters he raised as their Sons and Daughters manages to turn Despair into Hope on many an occasion. By the time Melromarcs' third Wave of Catastrophe rolls around, the Iwatani Family and their Party had grown stronger than before, gathered enough allies to their side, and had a plan of action that the Wave was not only cut an hour shorter than in-Canon: it would also become Melromarcs' first-ever Zero Casualty Wave!

RWBY

• Can One Change Fix All of RWBY? & Fixing RWBY: Roman Torchwick avoids dying on Ironwood's flagship and remains alive past the Fall of Beacon.
• A Rabbit Among Wolves: Sienna Khan avoids getting gutted by Adam, since Jaune (inadvertently) gets him first.
• Children of Remnant:
  • The fact that Salem's plan came to a screeching halt fifteen years ago means that Summer is still alive.
  • Salem no longer requiring Cinder to obtain the Fall Maiden's powers means that Amber never needed to die either.
  • Ren's parents are both still alive, as are the people who would have died in the fall of Kuroyuri had it fell as in canon.
• Professor Arc: Due to Jaune being able to catch wind of some of Cinder's schemes, Pyrrha, Penny, and Roman avoided their canon deaths.
• Relic of the Future, a time-traveling Jaune is rescued by a wandering tribe of nomads known as the Del'Ashari, and uses his semblance to heal a mortally wounded woman among them, before leaving to continue on his journey. It's later revealed that the lady was none other than Summer Rose.
• White Sheep: Almost none of the deaths in the original canon occur here. Penny never dies because Cinder didn't need to use the plan she had in place to kill her (and the tournament gets interrupted a little earlier anyway), Pyrrha never gets killed by Cinder because Cinder stops at the last second and kidnaps her instead (she'd get in huge trouble for killing a girl who is in love with Jaune), Roman never gets killed because he is largely uninvolved with the Battle of Beacon (which wasn't as bad in this version anyway, since Cinder ordered everyone to stand down and Adam attacked without orders), Sienna Khan never gets killed by Adam (because he died at the Battle of Beacon), and Leo Lionheart survives the Battle of Haven (but is arrested for his crimes).

Saints Row

• In Saints Row: The Third (rewrite), quite a few characters are spared from their deaths (or supposed deaths) in canon. Johnny Gat, instead of being killed by the Syndicate (or rather, taken captive by Zinyak after fighting off his assailants), is taken captive and tortured by them until the De Wynter sisters set him free. Kiki De Wynter is also spared, because instead of Killbane snapping her neck when she insults him and tries to leave the Syndicate, a bunch of Syndicate thugs catch her and her sister selling them out and try beating her to death, whereupon Viola pulls a gun on them and gets her to a hospital. Also, Phillipe Loren survives the attack on the Syndicate tower that killed him in canon, because he hired a body double to die in his place. This means he's still alive and in charge of the Syndicate, and he's going to be more than a Disc-One Final Boss.

Saw

• This Mess We're In: Adam from the first movie survives his test, escaping the Bathroom with Dr. Gordon and Marie.

Shin Megami Tensei

• In Mercenaries Of Fortune, a squadron of highly-trained soldiers are able to reach Saki Konishi and get her out of the TV world before the fog clears up, preventing her untimely demise in the original story.

Smallville

• In the Smallville fic New Beginnings (Smallville), when Clark's use of the Legion ring sends him and Lois back to basically the beginning of the series, his advance knowledge allows him to save Ryan James, Kyla Willowbrook, Alicia Baker, Tim Westcott and Wes Keenan, to the point that the latter four become members of the new Justice League while Ryan is receiving training in his growing powers to join the League when he's older.

A Song of Ice and Fire

• The King Nobody Wanted: The Tower of Joy incident does not occur, which leaves all participants alive.
• Purple Days: Following his massive Character Development brought on by centuries trapped in a "Groundhog Day" Loop, Joffrey tries to do as much of this as he can, but sometimes saving certain people has negative consequences and Joffrey has to let them die.
• The main premise of Summer Crowns is that Rhaegar (and his mother, Rhaella) is still alive after the Rebellion, having fled to Essos.
  • Brandon Stark was only imprisoned and tortured by the Mad King, rather than being executed with his father.

Star Trek

• In the Star Trek series "Big Doors" and its sequel "To the Journey", the initial divergence is Tasha Yar surviving her death in the confrontation with Armus, but her survival leads to various other individuals escaping their canon deaths, including Lal (here 'officially' down as Tasha's daughter as well as Data's), James T. Kirk, Tora Ziyal, Jadzia Dax, and Data himself.

Star Wars

• Double Agent Vader: The portions corresponding with the events of Star Wars: Episode IV – A New Hope don't have any major differences, because Vader can't take overt action without blowing his cover, but Biggs Darklighter survives the attack on the Death Star, presumably because Vader isn't trying as hard to kill the Rebel pilots as in canon. When the story moves on to The Empire Strikes Back, Lorth Needa doesn't die but fakes his death with Vader's help as he's about to be exposed as a spy.
• The Desert Storm
  • Master Tahl survives her doomed mission from Legends after Ben advises Yoda to have Qui-Gon accompany her.
  • Ronderu lij Kummar, Grievous's Lost Lenore in Legends, is spared from her original death on Kalee as a result of Ben's scheming and accompanied Jai Sheelal to Tovarskl. She later becomes part of a Ruling Couple alongside Jai Sheelal.
  • Unlike in canon, Ventress survived the Clone Wars in Ben's original timeline. The last time Ben saw her, she was still working as a bounty hunter — though she passed up the chance for the galaxy's biggest bounty (him), buying him a drink as he bought one for her, before they went their separate ways.
  • Master Ky Narec, Ventress's master whose death drove her to the Dark Side, is rescued by Ben and Obi-Wan early on, preventing his canonical death.
  • Because Shmi Skywalker was taken to Coruscant to become a Jedi, she is never killed by the Tusken Raiders on Tatooine.
  • Qui-Gon Jinn survives his duel with Darth Maul thanks to Obi-Wan Kenobi using Nightsister magic to heal his wound but in doing so he loses his connection to the Force.
  • Captain Rozess survives the Yinchorri's attack on the Jedi Temple, albeit heavily injured.
  • Because Ben killed Palpatine before he was able to overthrow his master, Darth Plagueis outlives his apprentice and replaces Sidious as the main antagonist.
• Labyrinth of Evil is one of the most famous examples of this in all of fanedit history, having Padme survive the events of Revenge of the Sith, and is seen holding a newborn Leia on Alderaan.
• This Place Was Home: In Attack of the Clones, Zam is killed by Jango with a poison dart to keep the Jedi from learning any information from her. Here, it is revealed that the character survived — the dart shut down her major systems and brought her vital signs down to almost nothing, so that even a Jedi would not detect her as living.
• The "Vaderline Trilogy" (currently composed of Darth Vader: Hero of Naboo and the ongoing Darth Vader: Shattered Galaxy, with a third fic planned) has multiple examples due to a time-displaced Vader changing things:
  • Darth Plagueis ends up outliving Darth Sidious thanks to Vader's meddling, and is still alive and scheming after the entire Naboo mess is resolved.
  • Qui-Gon never fights Maul, and is thus still alive by the end of the story. For that matter, Maul himself escapes after killing his former master and disappears.
  • Yarael Poof is never killed by Ashaar Khorda, as Vader kills the latter first.

Steven Universe

• Ill Met by Moonlight:
  • In comparison to Faded Blue at least. Because she is a vampire and not a gem in this story, Blue Diamond (here named "Blue") did not have to give up her physical form to give birth to Steven and thus is alive (or undead, given the circumstances) and well.
  • Played straight in the case of Rose in comparison to the original animated series for the same reasons.
• Piece of a Diamond: Instead of undoing her entirely, Steven's birth splits Rose Quartz's gem between them, allowing Rose to live to raise her son alongside Greg and the rest of the Crystal Gems.

Sword Art Online

• Sword Art Online Abridged spares one member of the Moonlit Black Cats, only for Kirito to kill him two episodes later, because said guild member was an NPC whose Artificial Stupidity caused the death of his only real friend up until that point.
  • A Freeze-Frame Bonus at the start of the second season reveals that Kayaba didn't die at the end of the Aincrad arc, and is still playing video games, presumably in hiding after becoming "the most wanted man on the planet".
• Unyielding by Ikell, spares quite a few characters who canonically did not make it through the events of Aincrad and Underworld alive, mostly by having them join the Resolute Renegades in addition of healthy doses of Adaptational Badass. Some of these characters are including Sachi, Keita, Ducker, Yuna, Eugeo, the original Alice Zuberg (who undergoes a Literal Split Personality with Alice Synthesis Thirty) and Bercouli.

Supernatural

• In The Corrupted Innocent, not only does Castiel rescue Bela Talbot from Hell, but Deanna Campbell is pulled into the future rather than killed by her possessed husband. Later, Ellen and Jo Harvelle survive the confrontation with Lucifer because Bela was able to free Castiel from the holy oil circle and let him teleport them to safety. The epilogue sees Sarah Blake in a situation that all but confirms that she won't be killed by Crowley as she was in canon, and the Winchesters are able to save Henry (and possibly Josie) from Abaddon.
• In The Emma [Winchester] Gospels, not only does Dean's Amazon daughter Emma return with him from Purgatory, but her presence helps others survive. Most notably, Samandriel escapes his death at the hands of a brainwashed Castiel and goes into hiding for a time by leaving his Grace with Emma, with the result that he retains his wings after the Fall as he technically wasn't an angel at the time.
• In Straight Trade, Jess is saved from her canon death when Sam is able to 'trade' himself to die in her place, resulting in Jess joining Dean as they hunt the yellow-eyed demon, Dean teaching Jess about demons in the process.

Tales of Xillia 2

• In A Different Path, Alternate Milla survives her canon demise, at the same time Ludger endures a lot more suffering in order to attain a MUCH better conclusion than what the normal True Ending had in mind for him.

Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012)

• Unlike in canon, the Shredder didn't kill Tang Shen in Hamato Clan Kunoichi.
• Tang Shen in Heroes in the Shadows lived to raise her children in America.
• In Shards of a Memory, while Tang Shen's canon counterpart died by Oroku Saki's hand when he reformed the Foot Clan and attack the Hamato Clan's estate, here her husband Hamato Yoshi (known as "Master Splinter" in the parent-series) was the one who died instead.
• While Tang Shen died in a killing blow meant for her husband in canon, in Turtle Kittens that killing blow meant for him landed and he bled out in her arms. Considering everything else that happens to her afterward, saying that Tang Shen was "spared" is being very generous.

Tolkien's Legendarium

• The Heart Trilogy: Smaug is mortally wounded by Bard's Black Arrow, but the magical outside intervention of his Love Interest Kathryn saves him while turning him into a human. He eventually learns to shift between his true form and the human form, becoming involved in the War of the Ring sixty years later.

Total Drama

• Candy for Your Thoughts? spares Cody's alien clone, of all people. He becomes the antagonist of the Area 51 episode and appears a few other times in the story, as a hammy, super-powered villain with some of Cody's personality traits.

Transformers

• The Beast Wars fic "New Beginnings" has a technical variation of this; after Cheetor decides to remain on Earth rather than return to Cybertron, he discovers that Tigerhawk's destruction somehow resulted in Tigatron and Airazor being restored as separate Transformers (albeit now 'upgraded' to Transmetal bodies).
• One of the installments in the Black Crayons series, A Child's Innocence (which is a rewrite of Transformers: Dark of the Moon) has Ironhide, Megatron, Starscream, Wheeljack/Que, and Soundwave surviving their fates from the movie.
• While Transformers Til All are One (a rewrite of the 1986 movie) has plenty of characters who survived the movie killed off, at least two are spared their canonical fates: Brawn, who survives the shuttle attack and is rebuilt into Outback, and Wheeljack, who's spared from being killed during the attack on Autobot city.

The Tudors

• Handmaid: Because Anne Boleyn becomes a handmaid (essentially, Henry VIII and Katherine of Aragon's surrogate) instead of Henry's second wife, the fates of Henry's six real life wives (with the exception of Adaptational Villain Jane Seymour) are much better. Most notably, neither Anne nor Katherine Howard are executed, Anne eventually becomes Princess Consort upon the birth of her son Edmund and lives happily with Henry and Katherine until she dies from a broken heart a year after they do, and Katherine Howard avoids the sexual harassment of her youth, marries Thomas Culpepper, and becomes a lady in waiting to Queen Cecily of England, Anne's oldest daughter who marries Philip of Spain.

Undertale

• Asriel is the most popular target for this in Undertale Fix Fics since he suffers a sad, irreversible fate even in the Golden Ending, with many fan works having him fully restored to his true form, with his soul back. Also happens pretty frequently with Chara or Dr. Gaster, though it's not as widespread as it is with Asriel.
• If We Fall Down: Suggested to happen in the future, with Frisk trying to find a way to resurrect Asriel and Chara in the sequel. The six fallen humans DO come Back from the Dead in Chapter 13 of the sequel.
• In Inverted Fate, Rudy Holiday is shown to still be alive despite his Undertale counterpart being revealed in side content to be dead, with the author explaining that with Toriel as Queen, the Underground had better education which led to better healthcare, so he survived his illness. Also, while Chara is dead to start with, the remains of their SOUL ended up attached to Frisk's (explaining their "narrator" role), and they later get permanently separated from them and brought back to life in their own body after Asriel gets his god-like power back.
• Thanks to Storyshift being a Role Swap AU, Asriel and Chara never died in backstory — that's become the fate of Napstablook and Mettacrit instead. The preboot did contain a bonus chapter of Chara's voicemail from a possible Neutral ending that subverted this, showing what was happen if Shifty killed Asriel in his boss fight (along with killing a number of other monsters) and ending with the implication that it drives Chara to suicide offscreen.
• Like Storyshift, TS!Underswap Chara and Asriel didn't die in this world due to a role swap, with Asriel even grown into a young man and Chara as the protagonist of the game.

Underworld (2003)

• In the Underworld AU fic “The Vampire Leader”, the initial divergence is that Sonja survived that fateful night when they were caught by Viktor rather than Lucian (although she miscarried her child due to injuries sustained in her escape), and later Amelia is spared death as the lycans had no reason to attack her for a blood sample.
• While various Underworld fics explored the idea of Lucian surviving the final battle, "Knowledge Burns" took it a step further by sparing Singe as well.

The Venture Brothers

• Girl Adventurer: Thanks to Sarah, some characters get to avoid their canonical deaths.
  • Because Sarah is there to stabilize his condition, Agent Red Bannon survives his injuries.
  • Android Mike is salvaged by Sarah, although he is reduced to only a head. She keeps him around so that he can contribute the robotics expertise the original programmed into him, and in exchange, she occasionally gives him access to a robot body so that he can actually do things. After he has an epiphany from talking with Dr. Killinger, he gets a permanent body and becomes an ally of Team Venture.
  • D-19 is found by Sarah, who treats him with kindness and sees him as just another brother. As such, when he finally makes himself known to Team Venture, he gets to part with them on good terms as he decides to live on Spider-Skull Island with their uncle JJ.

Voltron: Legendary Defender

• Allura in many fanfics that take place after the Grand Finale or fix fics that ignore it completely.
• Lotor in fanfics that take place after season 6 or fix fics that ignore the controversial Face–Heel Turn twist.

The Walking Dead

• Deconstructed in the fic Better Angels when Shane Walsh outlives Rick Grimes following the Walker Invasion at Hershel's farm. Shane kills Rick and the only people alive suspicious of him are Glenn, Daryl, and Lori. Accusations against him combined with grief over murdering his best friend put Shane at odds with Daryl and Lori, but he is still forced to take over Rick's role as leader when the group begins a journey into Season 3's setting, the prison. Rick's death prevents the group from learning the truth about reanimation and Shane's ruthlessness inevitably puts the group on a darker path than when Rick was alive and Shane wasn't.

Warhammer 40,000

• In the universe of Brighthammer 40,000, there was no Horus Heresy. As a result, the Emperor isn't stuck inside the Golden Throne, perpetually on the brink of death.
• Nobledark Imperium:
  • The Squats were besieged en masse by the Orks when the Imperium arrived with backup, were all too happy to join the Imperium when the dust settled, and have so far survived till the 41st millennium. It's also worth noting that the version of the Squats seen here are the "original" Squats before they were eventually Rewritten into the current Leagues of Votann.
  • A number of alien species and human civilizations that in canon were wiped out during the Great Crusade, such as the Kinebrach, Interex and Diasporex, still exist as members of the Imperium. The Olamic Quietude are also still around, as a deeply hostile pocket empire.
  • In canon, the Saruthi are utterly corrupted by Chaos, body and soul, down to the last individual and their very genetic code. Here, much the same was assumed in-universe until the 41st Millennium, at which point small squads of primeval, uncorrupted Saruthi started appearing out of nowhere, methodically and mercilessly destroying Chaos forces, and then vanishing again.
  • The Poctroon are barely more than a footnote in canon; they were the first species the Tau absorbed before they were wiped out by a plague. Here, the timely intervention of an Imperium Bio-Priestess saved 2% of their species — the Tau couldn't figure out how to do it on their own since the plague was created by Nurgle cultists and they had basically no knowledge of Chaos at that time.

The Witcher

• The Accidental Warlord And His Pack:
  • Nearly every Witcher, most of whom were doomed in canon—other than Geralt, Eskel, and Lambert—is saved when Geralt's plan draws the schools together again and they start going out in groups and gaining a better reputation.
  • Renfri flees Stregobor and becomes a protected ward of Geralt's flegling court.
  • Pavetta's untrained magic helped her escape, and she's survived by hiding under a diferent name.
• Wolfblood: Aiden survives Jad's betrayal, though badly scarred and missing an eye.

Worm

• Atonement: In Worm canon, Noelle lost herself completely, attacked Brockton Bay as the antagonist of the Echidna arc, and was mercifully killed by Sundancer. Here, she is able to get rid of her uncontrollable powers, gets new powers, and joins the Undersiders.
• In canon Pelter/Stefanie dies during the Endbringer fight, in Wolf Spider she lives and becomes a recurring character.

X-Men Film Series

• The Fires of Resurrection opens with the revelation that Scott Summers survived Jean/Phoenix's attack on him in X-Men: The Last Stand, although he is in a coma for three months, his clothing so damaged that there was no ID for anyone to confirm his identity.

Yu-Gi-Oh!

• Author notes in A Mother's Touch reveals that Professor Marco never gets carded by Shun, which also means that Masumi, Yaiba, and Hokuto will never get their memories wiped because Masumi won't be investigating Marco's disappearance.

Young Justice

• Many fanfics set after the Grand Finale of the original run give this treatment to Wally West.
• With This Ring: Paul's presence results in Red Inferno and Red Torpedo narrowly surviving the fight with Red Volcano (ie their minds are recoverable, although their bodies need to be entirely rebuilt). He knows that they're Alan Scott's old friends, and doesn't want to let them go, which strengthens his Greed-based power ring.
  Paul: For Alan.
• Young Justice: Darkness Falls uses the explanation of Wally being covert zeta beamed off planet by Darkseid as a way to gain metas for his control.
• In Young Justice Titans Aquaman's son is alive and well in Atlantis, and old enough to interact with others, as opposed to being killed by Black Manta.

Unsorted

• The Fight we Chose:
  • For real-life events, John F. Kennedy since the Gate opening at Dallas prevents him from being assassinated by Lee Harvey Oswald, who in turn uses his firearms against the invading Empire and dies a hero.
  • While King Dulan of Elbe never gets killed in any adaptations of Gate, he is spared a painful defeat and losing An Arm and a Leg when he and his vassal army abandons the rest of the Allied Armies during their futile attempts at charging Anlus Hill.
  • The United States Military rapidly mobilizes to spread out from Alnus Hill to nearby settlements and towns; including Italica, where after arriving there and setting up basecamp in the city to deter invaders, the three-day siege is instead cut down to a single bloody night. Because the contingent of Rose Knights stationed there were backed up by more US Soldiers and Marines, Rose Knight Norma Co Igloo manages to survive and shows up several chapters later.
  • Tuka's father survives the Flame Dragon's onslaught at the elven village, as the Force Recon Marines who managed to stay one night earlier manages to drive the dragon away saving more lives than in canon. This implicitly spares Tuka the PTSD from losing her father, as they are both seen happily sitting together during President Kennedy's inspection of magic-sensitive individuals.
  • The Thierry noble family were evacuated right before the US Air Force's first strike on the Imperial capital, thus saving Sherry the trauma of losing her parents to the future threat of Zorzal's Oprichnina from canon.
• Freedom's Ring by the same author as The Fight We Chose above also features a few Attack on Titan cast members who managed to survive longer than they did in canon thanks to US military intervention in the story. Examples including Ilse Langnar, Marco Bodt, Mina Carolina, Petra Ral, Eld Jinn, Kenny Ackerman, Mike Zacharias and his squad, Hannes, Ian Dietrich, Mitabi Jarnach, Ragako villagers and Dina Fritz.
• A Thing of Vikings: A few historical characters live longer in this fic then they did in Real Life.
  • Theodora Porphyrogenita will die in 1068, twelve years after her historical death date.
  • Downplayed with Harthacnut who in Real Life died on 8 June 1042. Here he survives for an additional 3 days.
• The Reactsverse:
  • Weiss Reacts: Due to the author's known distaste for it and the fic having been written since Volume 1, Pyrrha, Penny and Roman survive to the present day. On a lesser note, Yang keeps her arm.
  • Corrin Reacts: Scarlet and Izana are spared, despite having died on the Revelation route the fic is set after.
• Remember the old bull Liopleurodon who died from suffocation after being beached in Walking with Dinosaurs? Well, in Prehistoric Earth, he ends up getting saved by humans from the distant future.
• In Worldwar: War of Equals, both Osama bin Laden and Muammar Gaddafi live much longer than they did in OTL.