History Main / AllDeathsFinal

* ''ComicBook/{{PS238}}'' followed this trope, until it brought an OnlyMostlyDead character back to life. Canonically, the extremely rare ability to restore the dead marks someone as a "Messiah"-class healer, which causes all kinds of ethical problems.

* This is what Creator/ChrisClaremont intends for his book ''ComicBook/XMenForever''.
* When Creator/JoeQuesada took over as Editor-in-Chief of Creator/MarvelComics, he instituted a "Dead means dead" policy. It didn't last very long because, by his own admission, it was like closing the gate after all the horses have already escaped. And one of his first acts was to try to retcon Gwen Stacy back into ComicBook/SpiderMan, before the writer rebelled.

%% The whole point of the ''Comicbook/{{Hellblazer}}'' story ''Son of Man''.

* ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' had this as company policy from the outset, the only exceptions being when resurrection was an integral part of the character (vampires, for example, were explicitly exempt). While the rule has not been universally followed, ''ComicBook/TwoThousandAD'' has [[KilledOffForReal genuinely killed off]] several fan favorite characters.

* This is why [[spoiler:Esmeralda]] stays dead at the end of ''WebVideo/AnastasiaQuasimodoWeHitAWall''. Anastasia and Quasimodo's FairyGodmother can't bring dead people back. Magic doesn't work that way.

* Magic in ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'' can't bring people back. When attempted it simply drains energy from the caster until they die or stop the spell, assuming they were smart enough to [[ExactWords word the spell in such a way that they can stop it]]. It's brought up in ''Inheritance'' that magic can physically repair a dead body, but there is no way to restore their mind, so everyone considers it better to leave them in the ground to avoid [[CameBackWrong certain issues.]]

* In ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'', the Art cannot bring back the dead. In fact, one character's [[{{Necromantic}} false hope that this is possible]] is what drives the disastrous events of the main story, as it allows him to be tricked into becoming the UnwittingPawn of the BigBad.

* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
** While many things can be Healed with the One Power, death is considered final. Other ailments once considered unhealable have since been Healed, but the series goes out of its way to establish a finality with regards to death. There are a few loopholes that can be abused, but none of them are practical:
** All dead souls are eventually reborn as the Wheel of Time spins them out into the Pattern again; this is on a metaphysical level, however, and, a handful exceptions aside, is a largely academical distinction.
** [[RetGone Balefire]] erases someone retroactively, causing their actions to have never happened during the time spanned. The strength of the balefire weave affects how far back someone is erased; if timed right, and strong enough, it can prevent the death of someone who died at the hands of the erased person. Mat, Aviendha and a large part of the Aiel force invading Caemlyn are restored to life by balefire stretching back half an hour.
** The Dark One can reincarnate people who died, but another body is needed, the procedure is only possible for a very short time after someone dies, and balefire in anything but [[WordOfGod very small amounts]] will render the operation impossible. As The Dark One is the BigBad of the series, this is reserved for the Forsaken - his strongest underlings - and is considered an undesirable way of returning to life.
* In the ''Literature/{{Shannara}}'' franchise, characters can be healed from the brink of death. They can survive crippling wounds that would kill a normal person. There are loads of cases of NeverFoundTheBody. But if you actually die? That's all you get. You might come back as a Shade, but even then, you're an immaterial ghost who can spend a maximum of a few minutes in the world of the living before returning to the land of the dead. Coming back really doesn't appear to be an option.
* In ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'', this only applies to mortal creatures, in most cases Men, aka humans and Hobbits. Unlike most examples of the trope, this is actually seen as a good thing. Well, to [[WhoWantsToLiveForever everyone who's not mortal, at least.]] Specifically, Men are given the gift of death, the ability for their souls to depart from the circles of Arda to somewhere unknown, though the wise reassure us it's definitely to somewhere or something, and not oblivion. As for everyone else, they are sent to the Halls of Mandos where he judges them, and if found worthy, they can be reincarnated. The problem is that while Elves seem like they're getting the benefits while Men get the short end of the stick, they must stay in Arda until the world's end. Elves sometimes call Men the Guests for this reason, to be free of the burdens of a world in decline while Elves, Dwarves, the Valar and Maia must remain where their fates are more uncertain. The exception is Luthien, who managed for the first and only time in existence to beg for her human love Beren not to depart without her. She was made mortal instead, and they died together. Their descendants, the Half-Elven have the choice to become mortal if they so choose. Tuor and Turin are also interesting cases, as Turin's soul is burdened with Morgoth's curse and the many sins in his life, he's doomed to stay in Arda until the end of time where he'll kill Morgoth for good, and Tuor, who sailed to the Undying Lands with his Elven wife Idril, and the legends saying he was counted among them.

* This is something that happens in one of the later books of ''Literature/TheSupervillainySaga'' as the protagonist, as Champion of Death, must decide whether or not to put an end to the BackFromTheDead revolving door that has been affecting both superheroes as well as supervillains.

* ''Literature/HeWhoFightsWithMonsters'': In theory, resurrection is easy. Souls flee to the deep astral on death; if you manage to draw a soul back to a world, it will instinctively create a new body for itself. The problem is that the Reaper, one of the Great Astral Entities, does not like this, and trying to resurrect people is likely to get its attention. While mortals likely couldn't do this reliably anyway, the Reaper is the only reason the other Great Astral Entities don't just constantly resurrect their followers.

* In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', raising the dead is the one thing that magic can't do. As Rumplestiltskin says several times, "Dead is dead". [[spoiler:[[Literature/{{Frankenstein}} Doctor Frankenstein]]]] is able to raise two people by combining magic and science, or at least [[Film/HammerHorror his world's]] version of [[LightningCanDoAnything science]], but only as tortured, undead monstrosities.

* An enforced policy in ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', to make death means something[[note]][[GamePlayAndStorySegregation In spite of the fact that the game itself has plenty of resurrection spells]].[[/note]]. This is why characters like Yawgmoth and Urza aren't running around, and why each death in the modern era is all the more tragic. There is one possible exception in [[spoiler:Elspeth]], given the unique circumstances she is in, but even then Creative tells to hold no breath,

* In ''TabletopGame/ArsMagica'' raising the dead (in a manner other than the classic zombie) is a boundary that Hermetic magic can not overcome. The closest thing is a costly ritual that gives the dead body a simulated life. And in the best it dissolves into a puddle or becomes a shadow without a will (the spell name is The Shadow of Life). At worst a demon possesses the body or the creature becomes a psychopathic murderer who hates the living.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Timemaster}}'': If you are a time-traveler, your death ''cannot'' be prevented by time travel. This even applies to temporally-displaced people; one published adventure included a chapter where a general and several soldiers from UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar wound up on a dangerous alternate world/timeline. Normally, if they died, the [=PCs=] could alter events to save the soldiers. But since they aren't in their native time, should they die in that chapter the death is specifically noted to be permanent.
* ''TabletopGame/{{Alternity}}'''s Gamemaster's Guide notes: "No game mechanic exists for restoring life to the dead." It then goes on to note the FirstLawOfResurrection, and the consequences thereof.
* In ''TabletopGame/{{Continuum}}'', this is not an inherent law of the setting, but it ''is'' enforced by the Continuum. If your death has been revealed to you, you are expected to willingly go to your death (though you can put this off nearly indefinitely), and any situation in which a spanner dies twice [[TemporalParadox frags the spanner to hell and back]]. [[spoiler: However, it's entirely possible to use temporal shenanigans to create another explanation for a death, such as using a clone body or a parallel-universe self. It's illegal for Continuum spanners, but Narcissists do it all the time.]]
* The ''Star Wars Roleplaying Game'' lets a trained healer try to revivify someone within seconds of their death, but failing that, the occasional [[OurGhostsAreDifferent spectral blue cameo]] is all they get.
* Despite all the other comic book tropes it gleefully embraces, in the ''TabletopGame/SentinelsOfTheMultiverse'' setting, death is ''not'' [[DeathIsCheap cheap]]. There are only a tiny handful of ways to come back to life, most of which have absolutely mind-blowing costs. In canon, only two characters have come back from the dead: Spite (who had to strike a [[DealWithTheDevil deal with Gloomweaver]], the closest thing to the Devil the setting has) and Mr. Fixer (who was brought back by the unfathomably-powerful Zhu Long and ''still'' CameBackWrong because that's how Zhu Long's powers work).

* Most RogueLike games. If any character dies, including the one you're controlling, they're gone forever. While there are typically magic items of resurrection, they usually take place right after "death", making them more of a saving throw.

* In the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series, this is one of the cardinal rules of magic. Even bringing someone back from the brink of death can be [[YourDaysAreNumbered problematic]]. There are walking corpses and other zombies, but these are usually just dead bodies possessed by demons (which is why the [[TheChurch Chantry]] advocates cremation). There ''have'' been two cases when the (very) recently killed people were brought back: Wynne and Evangeline de Brassard in ''[[Literature/{{Asunder}} Dragon Age: Asunder]]'', but in both cases, it was the work of a very powerful spirit, who may or may not be TheMaker himself, and the end result is more akin to LivingOnBorrowedTime: the moment said spirit leaves the resurrected body, the person dies for good. Also, it's possible for a Fade spirit to impersonate someone so well that nobody ever knows the difference, but metaphysically, the original Leliana stays dead if killed in the first game.

* The ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'' games ''usually'' have this. [=KO=]s can be cured with phoenix downs and magic, but death cannot be cured by anything, as shown in the fifth game.

* ''VideoGame/OneChance'' goes beyond the normal definition and tries to prevent the player from even restarting the game.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}'' there are Lazarus Devices capable of reanimating the dead by jump-starting the brain, as well as a number of conversations discussing their limitations. While it has some capacity to heal the body while reanimating it if they died from age, if the body is too damaged to function even if the mind is restored, or if they were dead too long, their brain will simply spark back to life before immediately dying again.
* ''VideoGame/DarkestDungeon'' abides by this trope zealously. It doesn't matter how your character dies (critical overkill, deathblow by scratch damage, heart attack while insane, bled out or melted, fell down a trap, starved, cut their finger while digging through debris, suffered lethal damage in the middle of camp), they stay dead. [[note]]A patch allowed ''one'' way to revive the dead, and it's an extremely rare Town Event that can only revive one of your heroes - if it really is them, seeing as they've lost most of their skills and gear.[[/note]]
* An indie game on UsefulNotes/{{Steam}}, called "RussianRoulette: One Life", allowed the user to virtually play the titular game with the twist that, if you lose, you will ''never be able to play again.'' As in the game in real life, you get exactly one death and it's for keeps![[note]]There was a DownloadableContent option offered to pay $5 and attempt the game more than once-- as a ghost, with your score on a separate leaderboard from the main game.[[/note]]

* ''Webcomic/ClanOfTheCats'' goes with the EquivalentExchange version: either someone has to die, or the world has to be changed for the better on a very broad scale; the one time it was accomplished was by ending a [[ElvesVsDwarves magical cold war]].
* At the start of the third incarnation of ''[[Webcomic/{{Eightland}} Road Waffles]]'', [[NoFourthWall the author]] warns the main character that AnyoneCanDie at any time, and no one will come back, killing some talking birds to make the point. True to his word, she dies anticlimactically about two-thirds of the way into the strip, trying ([[SenselessSacrifice and failing]]) to save her original {{Foil}} while the rest of the cast regroups.
* This is a rule in ''Webcomic/{{Erfworld}}'' with the holy Scripture saying that when someone dies there is no way to return. However, the Scripture also ''forbids'' people from coming back to life, as though it were possible. This causes some confusion regarding Wanda's new [[BackFromTheDead Decryption powers]] from using a Divine artifact and whether what she's doing is heretical (by violating the commandment) or not (because her use of an Arkentool implies the Titans permit her actions).

* A rare case of this applying to TimeTravel; in ''WesternAnimation/CodeLyoko'', if someone dies, changing the events leading to that death will not save them. That said, no one ever dies in a manner time travel could have prevented, so it's unclear what would happen if they'd tried.
* Downplayed in a bizarre way on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy''. Characters can be and occasionally are brought back from the dead, but death is the only thing which cannot be reversed by NegativeContinuity. The only characters to have come back from the dead are James Woods (who got transfused with someone else's life force), Brian (whose death was erased via TimeTravel), Peter (due to being [[PalsWithJesus friends with the Grim Reaper]]), and Meg, the only character to have come back via UnexplainedRecovery. Despite the show's NegativeContinuity, all other characters who've died have stayed dead.

This doesn't mean that every character ''reported'' dead is, in fact, dead, even when NoOneCouldSurviveThat Even in works that manifest this trope, it's possible that someone is [[DisneyDeath only seemingly dead at the moment]], that others NeverFoundTheBody, that ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated, that the AlmostDeadGuy who was LeftForDead pulled through offscreen, or that someone was FakingTheDead outright. But [[FinallyFoundTheBody when a body]] ''[[FinallyFoundTheBody is]]'' [[FinallyFoundTheBody found]], the only way you're going to see that character again will be as a PosthumousCharacter.

* ''Franchise/FullmetalAlchemist''
** Human transmutation -- trying to bring back dead people through Alchemy -- is forbidden. The whole [[Manga/FullmetalAlchemist manga]] is kicked off when the protagonists try to bring someone back and have a close encounter with Truth as a result. The end result: Truth [[EquivalentExchange takes Al, and Ed's leg, in payment]] for returning [[BodyHorror a barely functional organ pile]] (which, as it turns out, wasn't even derived from the deceased - bringing people back from the dead ''really is'' impossible). Things taken by Truth do not count as 'dead', however, and Ed is able to retrieve Al's soul by sacrificing his arm for it.
** It gets a bit more complicated. Al wasn't just "payment". Al's body was taken by Truth, but since a soul cannot be created with alchemy, Al's soul was put into the thing that was created. The transmutation that took Ed's arm was used to transfer the soul into a more stable host, the armor.
** ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'' further compounds this: Each time an alchemist performs human transmutation, what comes back evolves into a Homunculus - the deceased brought back by human transmutation, just... [[CameBackWrong not totally themselves]]. Also, Alphonse managed to bring Edward, who had just been killed by Envy, back from the dead using himself as the philosopher's stone. Ed managed to bring Alphonse back using himself and ended up in our world instead of dead while Alphonse was brought back with his human body... It can be said that the whole 2003 anime is Ed and Al learned exactly what level of EquivalentExchange is required to return life to the dead - an exchange of body, mind and soul, a full human being for a full human being.
* ''Anime/OjamajoDoremi'' falls into the latter category of this trope; [[SacrificialRevivalSpell using magic to bring the dead back automatically kills the caster upon success.]]

* Played with in ''Manga/CanEvenAMobHighschoolerLikeMeBeANormieIfIBecomeAnAdventurer''. The human adventurers certainly die for keeps. Any unnamed monster who is summoned to do battle and dies, stays dead, and the card they were summoned from is destroyed. A [Named] monster, however, can be brought back by sacrificing monster card(s) of the same species.
* In ''Manga/TowardTheTerra'', the Mu can read thoughts, perform astonishing feats of telekinesis, fly through space unaided, teleport, and do all manner of fantastical mutant stuff. But once a character is dead, they are ''dead''.

* While Miranda Lotto's Innocence power in ''Manga/DGrayMan'' allows her to turn back time (which doubles as a healing ability as she can turn back time on recent injuries), she can't use it to bring back the dead. Not that the revived person would stay alive for long if she could, as everything returns to normal after she deactivates it (she can, however, keep a person alive after they suffer a fatal injury in the meantime).

* ''Literature/SwordArtOnline'' is about MMO gamers being trapped in the game where player deaths are permanent. If the player's HP drops to 0, the hardware fries their brain. Later an item is found that can revive someone, but it only has a ten-second window between character death and player death. In the later arcs, this aspect is no longer present in the VR games since the newer-generation hardware used to play the games doesn't allow for a kill-the-player-in-reality function. Some characters do die in reality while ''seeming'' to die in-game for other reasons.

* ''Manga/AkameGaKill'' hits all the notes: Idealistic hero, grim mentor, etc. The Teigu characters wield might be powerful, but there is not one that can bring back the dead. The only thing that comes remotely close is Kurome's sword, Yatsufusa, which can control the dead as zombie puppets.

* ''Literature/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'': Sakamoto Takuma plays a video game called ''Cross Reverie'', where resurrection spells are common. Then, he gets summoned to a fantasy world that resembles the game as his character, Diablo. While this world resembles the game in many aspects, he discovers resurrection spells don't exist (or the inhabitants have never heard of them) and the dead stay dead.
* ''Manga/BungoStrayDogs'' has several abilities related to life and death, but none of them can actually revive someone who has already died. Yosano can heal anyone close to death, and Odasaku can forsee his own death and avert it, but so far there has not been any way to revive someone who has previously died. [[spoiler: The Book makes it appear like the dead can be revived, but what it is actually doing is creating an alternate timeline where that person never died in the first place. This is actually the plot to one of the novels, BEAST. At first it looks like it's an AU novel, but it's actually a part of the main canon because of how The Book was used to make it.]]

* ''LightNovel/SwordArtOnline'' is about MMO gamers being trapped in the game where player deaths are permanent. If the player's HP drops to 0, the hardware fries their brain. Later an item is found that can revive someone, but it only has a ten-second window between character death and player death. In the later arcs, this aspect is no longer present in the VR games since the newer-generation hardware used to play the games doesn't allow for a kill-the-player-in-reality function. Some characters do die in reality while ''seeming'' to die in-game for other reasons.

* ''LightNovel/HowNotToSummonADemonLord'': Sakamoto Takuma plays a video game called ''Cross Reverie'', where resurrection spells are common. Then, he gets summoned to a fantasy world that resembles the game as his character, Diablo. While this world resembles the game in many aspects, he discovers resurrection spells don't exist (or the inhabitants have never heard of them) and the dead stay dead.

** Subverted in the finale movie - after dying in the last episode, Megatron is resurrected by Unicron. He survives even after Unicron's essence is removed, but RedemptionEarnsLife and he leaves for parts unknown. Optimus ends the series by giving up his life to fully restore Cybertron, so it's unlikely he'll be back...

** Oddly, that limitation doesn't seem to apply to the doctors at the Speedwagon Foundation, who manage to revive a very much dead Joseph in [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Part 3]] (his soul departed and everything) using a blood transfusion. This is kind of a PlotHole and an egregious case of ArtisticLicenseBiology, but it may have something to do with his blood being taken out of a vampire.

** The ability to come back from the dead or rather the brink of death seems to be dependent upon the willpower and resolve of the individual's soul. As in [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Part 4]] when Okuyasu died, he had a GoIntoTheLight experience but turned back at the behest of his brother and his own resolve. It also helps that Josuke healed his wounds within a short amount of time as well.
** In the case of [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Bruno Bucciarati]] while all of this applies, he was still unable to truly come back from death courtesy of the Stand [[YouCantFightFate Rolling Stones]] which had predicted his death. While his soul had the resolve to return to his body after Giorno healed it, he didn't so much come back to life as much as become a RevenantZombie. He didn't so much inhabit his body as much as pilot it, and the body itself broke down as if it were dead.

-> In ''Series/OnceUponATime'', raising the dead is the one thing that magic can't do. As Rumplestiltskin says several times, "Dead is dead". [[spoiler:[[Literature/{{Frankenstein}} Doctor Frankenstein]]]] is able to raise two people by combining magic and science, or at least [[Film/HammerHorror his world's]] version of [[LightningCanDoAnything science]], but only as tortured, undead monstrosities.

** The ability to come back from the dead or rather the brink of death seems to be dependent upon the willpower and resolve of the individual's soul. As in [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Part 4]] when Okuyasu died, he had a GoIntoTheLight experience but turned back at the behest of his brother and his own resolve. Josuke also healed his wounds within a short amount of time as well

** In the case of [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Bruno Bucciarati]] while all of this applies, he was still unable to truly come back from death courtesy of the Stand Rolling Stones which had predicted his death. While his soul had the resolve to return to his body after Girono healed it, he didn’t so much come back to life, as he did become a RevenantZombie. He was not so much inhabiting his body as much as piloting it, and the body itself broke down as if it were dead.

** In the case of [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureVentoAureo Bruno Bucciarati]] while all of this applies, he was still unable to truly come back from death BecauseDestinySaysSo courtesy of the Stand Rolling Stones which had predicted his death. While his soul had the resolve to return to his body after Girono healed it, he didn’t so much come back to life, as he did become a RevenantZombie. He was not so much inhabiting his body as much as piloting it, and the body itself broke down as if it were dead.

** The ability to come back from the dead or rather the brink of death seems to be dependent upon the willpower and resolve of the individual's soul. As in [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable Part 4]] when Okuyasu died, he had a GoIntoTheLight experience but turned back at the behest of his brother and his own resolve.

** The ability to come back from the dead or rather the brink of death seems to be dependent upon the willpower and resolve of the individual's soul. As in [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondOsUnbreakable Part 4]] when Okuyasu died, he had a GoIntoTheLight experience but turned back at the behest of his brother and his own resolve.

** Oddly, that limitation doesn't seem to apply to the doctors at the Speedwagon Foundation, who manage to revive a very much dead Joseph in [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Part 3]] (his soul departed and everything) using a blood transfusion. This is kind of a PlotHole and an egregious case of ArtisticLicenseBiology, but it may have something to do with his blood being taken out of a vampire. What helps in Joseph's case was that he was only recently deceased, having only been dead for roughly a few minutes by the time he was carted into the ambulance. It wasn't so much the blood transfusion but that and a combo of jumpstarting his heart with Star Platinum to make the blood flow. Sort of a heart massage without using a rib spreader.
** The ability to come back from the dead or rather the brink of death seems to be dependent upon the willpower of the individual's soul. As in [[Manga/JojosBizarreAdventureDiamondOsUnbreakable Part 4]] when Okuyasu died, he had a GoIntoTheLight experience but turned back at the behest of his brother.

** Oddly, that limitation doesn't seem to apply to the doctors at the Speedwagon Foundation, who manage to revive a very much dead Joseph in [[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureStardustCrusaders Part 3]] (his soul departed and everything) using a blood transfusion. This is kind of a PlotHole and an egregious case of ArtisticLicenseBiology, but it may have something to do with his blood being taken out of a vampire.

The fact that it can't (or shouldn't) be done also makes it an [[ForbiddenFruit excellent]] MacGuffin: It's pretty common for an idealistic hero grieving over the death of a friend or loved one to search out ways to bring them back -- and usually give up after deciding that [[FantasticAesop the dead are not meant to be resurrected]]; if they don't, something usually [[CameBackWrong goes wrong]], like [[MonsterFromBeyondTheVeil something else coming back instead]]. Alternatively, perhaps bringing someone BackFromTheDead is possible, but due to [[EquivalentExchange the nature of the power at work]] (whether or not it's actually forbidden) it almost never happens anyway. (Meaning that if there are multiple instances of people being resurrected in this kind of world, the mechanism for doing so will almost certainly become a/the focal point of the the story.) Much like ReedRichardsIsUseless, this is usually an AuthorsSavingThrow against trivializing death in a world where it would otherwise be a minor inconvenience.

* As soon as someone dies in ''VideoGame/SweetHome'', that's it, and they take their personal item to the grave with them, complicating things even more. Predictably, as soon as all of the FiveManBand are dead, GameOver.

* In the ''Franchise/DragonAge'' series, this is one of the cardinal rules of magic. Even bringing someone back from the brink of death can be [[YourDaysAreNumbered problematic]]. There are walking corpses and other zombies, but these are usually just dead bodies possessed by demons (which is why the [[TheChurch Chantry]] advocates cremation). There ''have'' been two cases when the (very) recently killed people were brought back: Wynne and Evangeline de Brassard in ''[[Literature/{{Asunder}} Dragon Age: Asunder]]'', but in both cases, it was the work of a very powerful spirit, who may or may not be TheMaker himself, and the end result is more akin to LivingOnBorrowedTime: the moment said spirit leaves the resurrected body, the person dies for good.

*** Doctor Doom, seemingly killed at the end of Ultimatum by The Thing, was later brought back for the series Ultimate FF, with the one killed in Ultimatum being retconned as an impostor.
*** Then again, given that it's [[CrazyPrepared Doctor Doom]], it's entirely possible that the writers planned for the other Doom to be an impostor from the start.

This doesn't mean that every character ''reported'' dead is, in fact, dead, even when NoOneCouldSurviveThat Even in works that manifest this trope, it's possible that they NeverFoundTheBody, that ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated, that the AlmostDeadGuy who was LeftForDead pulled through offscreen, or that someone was FakingTheDead outright. But [[FinallyFoundTheBody when a body]] ''[[FinallyFoundTheBody is]]'' [[FinallyFoundTheBody found]], the only way you're going to see that character again will be as a PosthumousCharacter.

** The [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist 2003 anime version]] further compounds this: Each time an alchemist performs human transmutation, what comes back evolves into a Homunculus - the deceased brought back by human transmutation, just... [[CameBackWrong not totally themselves]]. Also, Alphonse managed to bring Edward, who had just been killed by Envy, back from the dead using himself as the philosopher's stone. Ed managed to bring Alphonse back using himself and ended up in our world instead of dead while Alphonse was brought back with his human body... It can be said that the whole 2003 anime is Ed and Al learned exactly what level of EquivalentExchange is required to return life to the dead - an exchange of body, mind and soul, a full human being for a full human being.

Compare HealingMagicIsTheHardest, contrast DeathIsCheap. See KilledOffForReal for when this is applied to ''individual'' deaths (where resurrection in general could otherwise happen). Possible subtrope of EquivalentExchange. Contrast DeaderThanDead where only certain types of death are final. See FinalDeathMode, {{Permadeath}}, and SingleAttemptGame for the video game versions. Not to be confused with EveryoneDiesEnding.

Compare HealingMagicIsTheHardest, contrast DeathIsCheap. See KilledOffForReal for when this is applied to ''individual'' deaths (where resurrection in general could otherwise happen). Possible subtrope of EquivalentExchange. Contrast DeaderThanDead where only certain types of death are final. See FinalDeathMode, {{Permadeath}}, and SingleAttemptGame for the video game versions. Not to be confused with KillEmAll.

* The Genie in ''{{WesternAnimation/Aladdin}}'' lists trying to bring back the dead as one of the four things he can't do. He implies that he ''can'' bring someone back, but with [[CameBackWrong unpleasant results]] ("it's not a pretty picture, I don't like doing it!"). ''WesternAnimation/AladdinTheSeries'' and other ''Aladdin'' movies show that there are few ways to use LoopholeAbuse with a few of the other genie rules -- for instance, a genie can't kill anybody, but they could put them into a situation where it's very likely that they would die. Also, Aladdin gets around using one of his three wishes by tricking Genie into doing something without technically wishing for it. However, the plot point that a genie can't revive the dead remains solid throughout the entire saga, as it's the one rule that never gets worked around or broken.

Compare HealingMagicIsTheHardest, contrast DeathIsCheap. See KilledOffForReal for when this is applied to ''individual'' deaths (where resurrection in general could otherwise happen). Possible subtrope of EquivalentExchange. Contrast DeaderThanDead where only certain types of death are final. See FinalDeathMode for the video game version. Not to be confused with KillEmAll.