History Main / DeathIsCheap

* This trope is pretty evident in the world of {{Blazblue}} whereby some of the key characters like Terumi and Trinity Glassfield can still linger around in spirit form after their deaths and possess bodies (Kazuma and Platinum respectively) given the opportunity, even Nu who died in the first game can come back to life on the 3rd game thanks to her life-link with Ragna.

--> ''"Persistence or .asinineity? It matters not. Let this be a lesson learned, mortal!"''
** Even more recently {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by an elemental in Deepholm, who, when you kill him, more or less exclaims "[[BigNo NOOOOOO!]]...not again!" because so many people have killed him, and when it first came out, there used to be lines of people waiting to kill him. He would just keep respawning and getting killed over and over again. Even more hilarious, when you level an alt, you really ARE personally killing him again. He also talks like a .asinine five year old child before his death. His only normal line is the "not again!" line, pretty much proving that it was an intentional lampshade on Blizzard's part.

* Fairies in ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'' exist as long as [[AnthropomorphicPersonification the aspect of nature they represent]] exists, and are [[OneHitPointWonder highly fragile]] and [[TooDumbToLive deeply .asinine]]. Hence they have a tendency to fly head first into dangerous situations, explode, resurrect soon afterwards, then go on their way, usually [[TheFogOfAges forgetting what happened]] soon afterwards so they can do it again.

** An interesting feature of this show is that even dead characters aren't necessarily gone. Many characters that were KilledOffForReal, including [[spoiler:Mary and John Winchester, Jessica, Ash, Pamela, Uriel, Ellen and Jo, Rufus, and Bobby,]] have had brief reappearances thanks to time travel, {{AlternateUniverse}}s, communication with spirits, travel to the afterlife, [[JourneyToTheCenterOfTheMind journeys into memories,]] etc.

** An interesting feature of this show is that even dead characters aren't necessarily gone. Many characters that were KilledOffForReal, including [[spoiler:Mary and John Winchester, Jessica, Ash, Pamela, Uriel, Ellen and Jo, Rufus, and Bobby]] have had brief reappearances thanks to time travel, AlternateUniverses, communication with spirits, travel to the afterlife, journeys into memories, etc.

* Kenny in ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'' thrived on the trope. Every time he dies, he just appears in the next episode without any explanation while no one questions it. [[LampshadeHanging Gets lampshaded by the boys a few times on how Kenny dies a lot]]. The trope was subverted when Kenny is KilledOffForReal from an illness, only to magically reappear in the following season like nothing happened.

* Played with constantly in ''Franchise/MetalGear''. Three of the main characters in the series are clones of another main character, and they intentionally abuse this aspect of their identity. To put it simply, a man and his three clone-sons are ALL believed to have been dead at some point in the series, while still being alive in some form or another.

* This happens a lot in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' and the Franchise/{{Buffyverse}}: it has been established that people who died by magical means can potentially be resurrected, and otherwise there are other methods of brining people back. Buffy has died twice, though the first time she was only technically dead and brought back by good old-fashioned CPR. Spike is burnt up in the GrandFinale of ''Buffy'', comes back as a ghost in ''{{Series/Angel}}'', and then comes back to life. Darla dies a total of four times: as a human turned into a vampire, staked in the first season of ''Buffy'' and resurrected as a human in ''Angel'', made vampire again by Drusilla and then died as a vampire again. Staking Dracula will result in him simply reforming again. And in the ''Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season 8'' comics, it turns out Warren didn't stay dead when he ''had the skin ripped off his body''.

* Happens so often in the ''Franchise/PiratesOfTheCaribbean'' franchise, that in ''At World's End'' Tia Dalma had to {{handwave}} why a certain character ''couldn't'' come back. That this trend gets started in the second movie is part of the reason some {{Contest|edSequel}} the [[FirstInstallmentWins Sequels]].
** It happened twice total, and a god was involved both times.

** Also, late in the series, both Hiei and Shigure (his mentor in swordsmanship and the man who implanted his Jagan) are effectively both killed in their battle, Hiei by blood loss and decapitation, and Shigure by having his head chopped in half. Mukuro revives both of them and reattaches their bodies through some sort of machine.

* In ''Webcomic/GirlGenius'', if your brain is intact, any sufficiently-skilled MadScientist can bring you BackFromTheDead - it is their purpose in doing so that may be the issue. (Note ''intact''. Brain damage sets in quickly, so unless you die in a lab you're probably out of luck.) Then there's the fact that most of them [[CameBackWrong come back mad]]... like really mad. [[MadScientist Worse than when they started]].
** If someone of royalty dies however, they lose their status and are considered 'dead' in the line of succession.

** When Voll brings the leader of defeated army to Dr. Sun for medical attention, he only brought his severed head. The doctor's response: 'I've seen worse.'
*** The severed head is later shown as a BrainInAJar, catching up on his reading, because, well... there aren't many other things to do when you're a severed head in a jar.

--> ''"Persistence or stupidity? It matters not. Let this be a lesson learned, mortal!"''
** Even more recently {{lampshade|Hanging}}d by an elemental in Deepholm, who, when you kill him, more or less exclaims "[[BigNo NOOOOOO!]]...not again!" because so many people have killed him, and when it first came out, there used to be lines of people waiting to kill him. He would just keep respawning and getting killed over and over again. Even more hilarious, when you level an alt, you really ARE personally killing him again. He also talks like a stupid five year old child before his death. His only normal line is the "not again!" line, pretty much proving that it was an intentional lampshade on Blizzard's part.

* Fairies in ''{{VideoGame/Touhou}}'' exist as long as [[AnthropomorphicPersonification the aspect of nature they represent]] exists, and are [[OneHitPointWonder highly fragile]] and [[TooDumbToLive deeply stupid]]. Hence they have a tendency to fly head first into dangerous situations, explode, resurrect soon afterwards, then go on their way, usually [[TheFogOfAges forgetting what happened]] soon afterwards so they can do it again.

** A dead character appeared to be resurrected in the "New Titans" series. Although Marv Wolfman intended both characters to be separate, there was Terra II, a heroic doppelganger of the villainous Terra. Towards the end of the series, the editor Pat Garrahy ordered Wolfman to link the two characters closer together, and a story showed that the original Terra's grave was ''empty''. Geoff Johns and Ben Raab wanted to head in the direction of both characters being the same, with Geo-Force discovering that both girls had identical DNA. Before Terra II could be made aware of this, [[FinalDeath she died]] [[DyingToBeReplaced to be replaced with a "Terra III"]].
*** Though it has since been [[AssPull explained away that Terra II was indeed a separate character who was given surgery and DNA alteration to resemble the original (similar to Wolfman's original intent).]]

* In ''Webcomic/RustyAndCo'', [[http://rustyandco.com/comic/critical-missives-19/ averted and explained in one of the critical missives]].

** A dead character was actually resurrected in the Teen Titans series. The infamous villain Terra was resurrected as Terra 2, who turned out to be a hero. At first they offered a different story but eventually it was confirmed she was resurrected. Before they could tell her [[FinalDeath she died]] [[DyingToBeReplaced to be replaced with a "Terra 3"]].
*** Though it has since been [[AssPull retroactively declared that Terra 2 was indeed a separate character who was given surgery to resemble the original.]]

[[folder: Film ]]

* In Disney/WreckItRalph, since all the characters are video game characters, death is only permanent if a character dies outside their game. This is shown early on when Fix-It Felix is crushed by a falling ceiling only to revive near-instantly.

** In "The Name of the Doctor", Jenny is killed by the Whisper Men during the conference call. Minutes later, she is revived by Strax via an electro-cardio restart. Later, she vanishes from time due to the Great Intelligence re-writing the Doctor's timeline, thus the Doctor never saved Jenny during some incident years ago, and Strax is killed by Vastra out of self-defence, because Strax has now never served a penance to the Doctor and as such never became friends with the Paternoster gang. Moments later, they are both restored.

** In "The Name of the Doctor", Jenny is killed by the Whisper Men during the conference call. Minutes later, she is revived by Strax via an electro-cardio restart. Later, she vanishes from time [[due to the Great Intelligence re-writing the Doctor's timeline, thus the Doctor never saved Jenny during some incident years ago]], and Strax is killed [[by Vastra out of self-defence, because Strax has now never served a penance to the Doctor and as such never became friends with the Paternoster gang]]. Moments later, they are both restored.

* [[Film/{{X-Men}} "Don't you people ever DIE?!"]]

* In ''{{RuneScape}}'', played straight for players; according to a [[KnightTemplar Temple Knight]], [[{{God}} Saradomin]] catches you when you fall and return you to life to fulfil your destiny. However, subverted for NPCs - very few (non-attackable) NPCs are resurrected. One exception is [[spoiler:Zanik]], who was brought back by the tears of [[AllPowerfulBystander Guthix]], who had wept at the destruction of the [[ForeverWar God Wars]], so it was sufficiently climatic.

* ''Manga/DragonBall'' and its sequels are notorious for playing this trope to death. Everybody and their grandmother dies and is resurrected at some point. Much of the show is in fact motivated by collecting the Dragonballs to be able to wish somebody back to life. By the time ''Dragon Ball Z'' ended, only Mr. Satan the FakeUltimateHero and a few gods ''hadn't'' died at least once. Counting ''GT'', [[OvershadowedByAwesome Krillin]] died ''four times''.

* ''Manga/ShindereShoujoToKodokuNaShinigami'' takes place on an island that has a legendary association with resurrection. Wakanae Akira manages to die in the first chapter and afterwards receives a crash course in the practice. It's a good thing, too, since she dies often enough in the first two volumes to be a supporting character in ''DragonBall''.

* In ''{{Manga/Bleach}}'' a number of people did in fact die (though only villains. Heroes' [[NoOneCouldSurviveThat apparent death scenes]] almost always result in someone being NotQuiteDead), but the fun twist is that most characters of ''Bleach'' are technically already dead, since a huge portion of it takes place in the afterlife. As well, one character has the power to make things like death unhappen. This later becomes a key plot point.
** If the rules of the afterlife in this show are understood correctly, the regular world and the afterlife are really just two regular worlds, souls essentially go back and forth between two different worlds, and once a soul has died in both, unless they become a Hollow or have their soul destroyed, they continue to live as something. It seems death is originally cheap to begin with but then regularly sold at a major discount price in the ''Bleach'' universe.

** Amy and Rory have been given so many ''on screen'' [[DisneyDeath "deaths"]] and actual deaths that it became a RunningGag for them (quoth Rory in "Night Terrors": "We're dead! Again!"). Poor Rory is even called "the man who dies and dies again" by the Silence; it's considered to be ''his'' RunningGag, but really, everyone gets in on the action. Newcomer Clara is fitting right in so far: she's appeared twice, died both times, and will be back.
*** In "The Bells of St. John," Clara technically died twice, although one was incomplete and they're both fairly debatable as "deaths." But if you count them both, that leaves her with four "deaths" in three episodes. Not even Rory can match that.