History Main / BackupFromOtherworld

* ''Manga/CardcaptorSakura'': Sakura's mom, Nadeshiko, catches Sakura after an illusion (of Nadeshiko, go figure,) tricks her into walking off a cliff. Nadeshiko reappears at the end of the episode long enough to see Sakura off to school before vanishing again.
* In ''Manga/NegimaMagisterNegiMagi'', Jack Rakan forces himself back into existing by sheer willpower, and snaps Negi out of his SuperpoweredEvilSide. With his fist.

* ''Manga/{{Appleseed}}'' (2004). While Deunan is trying to deactivate the attacking robots at the end of the movie, her dead mother finishes entering the abort code for her and saves the day.

* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureDiamondIsUnbreakable'': Used twice in the part. When Rohan is trapped in the Ghost Alley with Cheap Trick, he uses the hands of the dead that drag you to an unknown location or fate to force the little gremlin off of his back and into Hell itself (with the help of his Heaven's Door ability). Used again at the end of the part when [[spoiler:Yoshikage Kira is transported to the same Ghost Alley after he is, well, ''half''-defeated. However, Reimi and Arnold get their revenge on the killer and give him the ending he deserves by getting him to turn around and ultimately get caught by the ghost hands, presumably all of his victims.]] [[spoiler:Later, instead of going to hell, he becomes a ghost hitman featured in his sort of redemption arc, ''Dead Man's Questions.'']]
* In ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'':

* How Mato found Yomi when she went to the Otherworld in ''Anime/BlackRockShooter''; through the help of the eponymous being; if one goes by the "BRS is a spirit" interpretation.
* In the climax of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitZetaGundam Zeta Gundam]]'', Kamille uses his PsychicPowers (with a boost from the Zeta's [[AppliedPhlebotinum Biosensor]]) to call for help from the spirits of his slain friends and allies, which shuts down Scirocco's HumongousMecha and allows Kamille to [[RammingAlwaysWorks ram it]].
** Done again at the end of ''[[Anime/MobileSuitGundamzz Double Zeta]]'' when the spirits of various deceased characters gives Judau's ZZ Gundam a power boost to use against Haman.
* Shep from ''Anime/{{Interstella 5555}}'' dies rescuing the band, and comes back to save them from an EldritchAbomination attacking their ship in the climax.
* Uchiha Obito from ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', in a example which would make Goku proud, [[spoiler: dies saving Kakashi, his body turning to ash. He then uses his [[PortalCut Kam]][[InterdimensionalTravelDevice ui]] ability to teleport out of the Otherworld, without a physical body, to give Kakashi's all of his chakra and abilities, which turns to be essential in Kaguya's defeat.]]
* Heartbreakingly {{Subverted}} in ''Anime/DigimonTamers'': [[spoiler: In a final, desperate attempt to break through the D-Reaper's barrier and rescue Jeri, Beelzemon uses Fist of the Beast King, the attack of Jeri's Digimon Leomon...who Beelzemon himself had killed right in front of her. It succeeds in destroying the barrier, but Beelzemon finds Jeri frozen at seeing her beloved Digimon's attack used by his murderer: she's ultimately paralyzed long enough for the barrier to re-seal itself, and Jeri's emotional wound has been freshly opened for the D-Reaper to keep feeding on her despair. Ultimately, Leomon's help, if it truly ''was'' him lending his strength from beyond, served to make everything worse.]]
* ''Franchise/SailorMoon'':
** [[PlayingWithATrope Played with]] when the Senshi visit the ruins of the Moon Kingdom. In all continuities, the late Queen Serenity appears to them and provides backstory to the Moon Kingdom and the girls' past lives. However, she's not really a spirit, but an interactive holographic projection of the [[{{Magitek}} Moon Kingdom computer databanks]]. The nature of her apparition is more ambiguous later on, when she visits Usagi's subconscious to grant her new powers and give her a pep talk [[note]]That's anime-only, though; the manga has no such scene, and in the final arc it's outright stated that Queen Serenity had returned to the Galaxy Cauldron upon her death[[/note]].
** In the [[Anime/SailorMoon 90s anime]], the Inner Senshi die one by one, but their spirits appear to comfort and encourage a distraught Sailor Moon, giving her the strength to go on and face the Dark Kingdom. Later on, when Moon faces [[OneWingedAngel Super Beryl]], their spirits appear again and lend her the strength to use the Sylver Crystal to win the battle.

* In DC Comic's ComicBook/InfiniteCrisis while The Flash (Bart Allen iteration) is battling Superboy Prime a rift in the speed force opens up and from it emerge Max Mercury, Johnny Quick and Barry Allen to help him pull Superboy Prime in.
* ComicBook/{{Wolverine}} once had to face several of his foes that had gone to hell, and received help from [[ComicBook/XMen Colossus]]. Though since then Colossus has been retconned to have ''never died in the first place'', this is not brought up ever.

* In ComicBook/TheReturnOfBarryAllen, it is implied that Barry Allen's spirit is watching over his successor Wally West against the imposter. During the final battle with the imposter intent on ruining Barry's legacy, Wally is given an opening when a lightning bolt strikes the ground in front of the villain. West smiles and whispers a "Thank you" to the heavens.

* In ''Fanfic/AGrowingAffection'', the Reaper sends the first four Hokages back to capture Orochimaru for her. Earlier, Orochimaru calls back a bunch of souls to fight Naruto for him. Unfortunately only one of the five actually interested in killing Naruto.
* A thousand years into the [[BadFuture Dark World]] of the ''Fanfic/PonyPOVSeries'', the spirits of the Mane Six's loved ones begin appearing to them to help [[HeelFaceTurn redeem them]]. Some have more luck than others.
** Also pops up during the fight with [[OneWingedAngel Odyne!]]Fluttercruel; after her body is destroyed, the spirits of Fluttershy (who died 500 years earlier) and Pinkie Pie (who died recently) show up and prevent her spirit from [[BodySurf possessing]] anyone else long enough to blast her with the Elements of Harmony and banish her from the mortal plane.
** During the FinalBattle with [[TrueFinalBoss Nightmare Paradox]], Discord distracts the Nightmare to give Twilight time to power up the final spell to defeat her once and for all. By calling her on Anarchy's cellphone from the afterlife. And {{Troll}}ing her until she's so enraged she forgets she's in the middle of a battle.
* ''Princess Twilight's 505th Birthday'' is set centuries in the future, where Twilight and Rarity are immortal, but the rest of the mane six died of old age. During the big climax, Twilight escapes the bad guy by astral projecting into the fabric of magic itself--then returns with her four deceased friends in tow. They stick around just long enough to blast the bad guy with the Elements of Harmony, then zip back off to the Elysian Fields.

* ''Film/ConanTheBarbarian1982:'' Valeria appears just in time to save Conan from being killed by Rexor, Thulsa Doom's lieutenant.
-->'''Valeria:''' Do you want to live forever?
* In the remake of ''Film/{{House On Haunted Hill|1999}}'', the last two characters are trying to escape from the evil presence, but there is a gate which they can't open. Before they are consumed, a ghost from a character that had entered the house with them under the same pretenses but had died earlier appears and opens the gate for them.
* ''Film/TheRiseOfSkywalker'': When Rey proves no match for Palpatine on her own, she manages to call on the Jedi that came before her to even the playing field. What follows is implied to be a battle between not just them, but all the Sith and Jedi who ever lived.
-->'''Emperor Palpatine''': You are nothing! A scavenger girl is no match for the power in me! I am '''all''' the Sith!
-->'''Rey''': And I... am all the Jedi.
* ''Film/GhostbustersAfterlife'': The deceased Egon Spengler returns as a ghost to help his family and fellow Ghostbusters take down Gozer one last time.

* In ''Literature/AlternateRoutes'' by Creator/TimPowers, the ghost of the protagonist's late wife intervenes to help him a few times during the climactic struggle. [[spoiler:Thanks to one of the stranger features of the afterlife featured in the novel, he also gets assistance from the ghost of their daughter who never existed in the first place.]]

* Necromancers in Kelley Armstrong's ''Literature/TheOtherworld'' series often get assistance from the dead, usually in the form of [[SpiritAdvisor advice]] or spying, although in one book a poltergeist (telekinetic ghost) provided some more direct assistance.
* In ''Literature/SplinterOfTheMindsEye'', the very first novel of ''Franchise/StarWarsLegends'', it's not actually ''stated'' that Obi-Wan Kenobi briefly possessed Luke Skywalker in order to fight off Darth Vader, but considering the sudden dramatic uptick in Luke's dueling skills and the fact that he told the Sith "I am Obi-Wan", [[EpilepticTrees this is generally what fans assume happened]].

* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''
** In Book Three, Harry is being hunted by a ghost who vastly overpowers him. So what does he do? He DIES. But he has someone resuscitate him so he can then team up with his ''ghost''. (In the ''Dresden Files'' universe, ghosts are spiritual "imprints" of the dead, not the dead themselves.)
** In Book 13, he ''is'' the backup, [[spoiler:after having arranged his own death.]] And then he arranges for ''more'' otherworldly backup when he has to [[StormingTheCastle storm the castle]], in the form of an army made up of hundreds of ghostly murderers and serial killers.

* In ''[[Literature/AuntDimity Aunt Dimity's Death]]'', Dimity helps Lori get rid of an unwelcome visitor (Dr. Evan Fleischer, an obnoxious college classmate) who invites himself to her cottage. She literally slams the door in his face, makes the cottage turn strikingly cold when he enters anyway, fills the living room with smoke from the fireplace, and causes him to break a tooth on one of Lori's oatmeal cookies (which "contained nothing more tooth-threatening than some chewy raisins.")
* In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheGobletOfFire'', the "ghosts" that spring out of Voldemort's wand during the ''Priori Incantatem'' effect rush Voldemort when Harry breaks the connection. While they can't actually harm or restrain Voldemort, their ghostly forms obscure his vision for a few seconds, allowing Harry to escape.
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Harry uses the Resurrection Stone to bring back the ghosts of his parents, Sirius and Lupin to give him moral support when he confronts Voldemort.

* ''Literature/TheLockedTomb'': In ''Harrow the Ninth'', the ghosts of a number of characters who died in the first book help the still-living Harrowhark fight off an attack by a malevolent ghost, then head off to join another character's battle against a [[UndeadAbomination Resurrection Beast]].

* ''[[Series/Charmed1998 Charmed]]'':

** In Season 7, [[spoiler: Sam and Dean's surrogate father Bobby dies, but he sticks around as a ghost for multiple episodes, helping them defeat the Leviathans before the brothers put his soul to rest. A few seasons later, Bobby helps Castiel break Metatron out of Heaven.]]

* The deceased Lirum in ''VideoGame/LostOdyssey'' revives her children Cooke and Mack after a [[TotalPartyKill crippling defeat]] at the hands of BigBad Gongora so they can in turn heal the rest of your party.

** [[StalkerWithACrush Only by the loosest definitions of the word.]]
* After her death in ''Franchise/AceAttorney'', Mia Fey's job is mostly to lend moral support and helpful advice. However, when Maya is kidnapped she shuttles between possessing Pearl and Maya in order to carry messages between the two parties.

* Kane in the original ''VideoGame/ShiningForce'' game, summoning a lightning strike to stop the BigBad from possessing the main character.

* In the final battle of the A path in ''VideoGame/ValkyrieProfileCovenantOfThePlume'', Ancel, who you have to sacrifice in the game's opening, shows up to lend a hand.

* After completing the main quest in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', you obtain the Call of Valor Shout, which allows you to summon one of the legendary heroes from [[WarriorHeaven Sovngarde]] for a while. And in the Dark Brotherhood questline, you get the Summon Spectral Assassin power, which summons EnsembleDarkHorse Lucien Lachance from ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', who helps out in battle and gives advice on your current contract.
* King, from ''VideoGame/CaveStory'', returns in ethereal form if the player maxes out the Blade, inflicting heavy damage to whatever happens to be in the way - and around the way.
* ''VideoGame/BrothersATaleOfTwoSons'': After losing his older brother, Younger Brother in the final segment finds himself conquering his fear of water and a couple other tasks that he previously could only accomplish with the help of his older brother. The gameplay enforces this as you need to press Older Brother's interact button to make this happen.
* In the final battle of ''VideoGame/EternalDarkness'' the ghosts of all the characters who died at the hands of the darkness come back one by one to take one last swing at the BigBad. Except Edward, he instead binds the [[AlwaysABiggerFish bigger fish]] that Alex summoned.
* During the DarkestHour in ''VideoGame/DreamfallChapters'', Zoë is trapped in Storytime once again, where she meets the spirit of Crow (who has just had his {{neck snap}}ped by the Prophet) on his way to the afterlife. Crow's ghost lingers long enough to help Zoë put together the puzzle of the Prophet's EvilPlan, then she manages to wake herself up, while he is approached by April's ghost (who somehow lingered in-between for over two years) and the two leave for the afterlife.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/DishonoredDeathOfTheOutsider'', Billie learns that the Outsider's mark is actually his original, human name and returning it to him will strip him of his divinity. Unfortunately for her, only the dead can read said name, but she runs into the lingering spirit of her late mentor Daud in the Void and can persuade him to whisper the Outsider's name to him instead of straight up stabbing the Void deity dead.
* A terrific example in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsIII''; at the Keyblade Graveyard, the Demon Tide grows to absolutely titanic proportions. When Sora goes to dive into it directly, he is greeted... by [[VideoGame/KingdomHeartsX Ephemer]], [[UnexpectedCharacter of all people]]. Cue the fallen Keyblades scattered around the Graveyard rising up of their own volition, Sora mounting a Starlight in the storm for the ride, and a massive string of Situation Commands ''named after the players of Unchained χ[chi]/Union χ[cross]''.
* ''VideoGame/MediEvil'': The final battle between [[BigBad Zarok]] and [[TheHero Sir Daniel Fortesque]] culminates with Fortesque calling forth all the dead spirits of past heroes from the [[WarriorHeaven Hall of Heroes]], doing battle to liberate Gallowmere from the sorcerer's foul grip and finally grant Sir Dan the rest of the grave.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'': after freeing a [[HumongousMecha Divine Beast]] from Calamity Ganon's control, the spirit of the Champion who piloted it will set the Divine Beast in place to attack Calamity Ganon when Link goes to confront it. Each Champion also provides Link with some of their power, appearing by his side when he uses them: Mipha's Grace [[AutoRevive tops off Link's hearts (plus a little extra) when they run out]], Urbosa's Fury [[ShockAndAwe conjures lightning in a wide area around Link]], Revali's Gale [[InASingleBound creates a powerful updraft that lets Link ascend from the ground quickly on his paraglider]], and Daruk's Protection [[DeflectorShields creates a force field that renders Link impervious to harm]].
* When you confront the FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/JadeEmpire'', he petrifies you with his new divine powers, boasting how [[ExactWords no living soul]] can break out of that enchantment. Cue the ghost of [[spoiler:Sagacious Zu]] (who died by HeroicSacrifice earlier in the plot, but his spirit lingered due to the on-going blockage of the path to the afterlife) arriving in the nick of time to break you out and to let you continue the fight.

* In the backstory of ''VideoGame/{{Blasphemous}}'', there was a girl named Tentudia whose hair grew as a succession of long thorns. While this sort of suffering would normally be seen as a sign of the Miracle's grace, she was instead denounced as a heretic and sent to a convent, only for the nuns of the convent to murder her. [[PlayerCharacter The Penitent One]] can find her scattered remains and bring them together for a proper burial; if he does so, then brings Cleofas back to Albero, he receives the prayer "Tiento to Your Thorned Hairs". While this prayer is active, if the Penitent One would take damage from anything other than a spike trap, Tentudia herself briefly appears and blocks the hit.
* At the climax of ''VisualNovel/{{Sunrider}} 4: The Captain's Return'', Kayto Shields tries to pull off a SpaceshipSlingshotStunt to escape from the PACT navy, but the Maray's engines aren't powerful enough to escape the gravity well of the rapidly expanding new star that it's diving towards. In desperation, Kayto prays to the ship's namesake, his deceased sister Maray, asking her to be patient because he's not going to rejoin her today. In response, Maray's spirit appears before him and supercharges the ship's Twin Drives, giving it just enough power to pull off this stunt.

* Prowl pulling Optimus Prime out of the Allspark field in ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''.
** In ''Anime/TransformersCybertron'', recently deceased Vector Prime lets Optimus borrow his sword from beyond. It becomes physical when Optimus takes it, and he finishes the final battle against Galvatron in victory.
** In the previous season, ''Anime/TransformersEnergon'', Superion's fallen brother appears to briefly help him in the final battle with Bruticus Maximus.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{ThunderCats|1985}}'':
** "The Ghost Warrior": An ancient spirit is menacing the team. It can hurt them (because of its Thundarium Mace), but they can't touch it. The Sword of Omens summons Jaga, the deceased mentor, to wield it in a ghostly battle in the sky.
** "[=ThunderCats=] - Ho! Part V": Jaga needs to obtain a sacred item to help Lion-O. The ancient spirit once again faces him -in space!
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''

* In ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'', Hamato Yoshi's spirit returns to aid the Turtles during their battle with the Demon Shredder, striking a finishing blow that cleaves the tengu in half.
* In ''WesternAnimation/GIJoe'' Cobra Commander tried using supernatural forces to call upon the restless spirits of three warriors; his first mistake was thinking he could control them. The second was summoning three who were more likely to side with the Joes' interests. (One of them was even an ''American'' World War I pilot.) Lady Jay even made light of the situation when the three spirits changed sides, saying, "I never thought we'd be getting backup from the netherworld."

* In the series finale of ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'', [[spoiler: the past queens of Mewni manifest in assisting Star, Moon and Eclipsa in destroying the realm of magic.]]

!!'''As a DeathTrope, all Spoilers will be unmarked ahead. Beware.'''

* In ''Film/WhatLiesBeneath'', a ghost appears to terrorizing the female protagonist, but as the story progresses, it becomes more evident that she's actually trying to ''warn'' her--[[spoiler: she was murdered by the woman's husband and is trying to prevent her from being his next victim. During the climax, her corpse actually reanimates and outright saves the woman's life]]

* Episodes 5 and 6 of ''Series/ZyudenSentaiKyoryuger'' introduce Ramirez, a Kyoryuger from Europe's Dark Ages, returned from the dead to grant the new team the use of his mecha, [[DropTheHammer Ankydon.]] He even gets to morph like they do!

* ''Film/Ghost1990''. Sam Wheat was murdered and became a ghost. At the end of the movie he saves his girlfriend from being killed by his murderer by accidentally causing the villain's death.

* In ''VideoGame/YakuzaLikeADragon'', [[SummonMagic summoning]] Daigo Dojima has him appear on the battlefield, along with the spirits of past figures from the Tojo Clan: Souhei Dojima (his father), Futoshi Shimano, Osamu Kashiwage, and Shintaro Kazama. Together, they draw their pieces and [[BlastOut unleash hot lead into their enemies]].

* After completing the main quest in ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim Skyrim]]'', you obtain the Call of Valor [[MakeMeWannaShout Shout]], which allows you to summon one of the legendary heroes from [[WarriorHeaven Sovngarde]] for a while. And in the Dark Brotherhood questline, you get the Summon Spectral Assassin power, which summons EnsembleDarkHorse Lucien Lachance from ''[[VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion Oblivion]]'', who helps out in battle and gives advice on your current contract.

* ''LightNovel/MyNextLifeAsAVillainessAllRoutesLeadToDoom'': Atsuko enters Catarina's mind to awaken her from her magically-induced coma, though she arrived from her reincarnation's subconscious rather than the afterlife.

** Played straight in the [[Anime/SailorMoon 90s anime]] with the Inner Senshi: after dying one by one, their spirits appear to comfort and encourage a distraught Sailor Moon, giving her the strength to go on and face the Dark Kingdom. Leter on, when Moon faces [[OneWingedAngel Super]] [[FusionDance Beryl]], their spirits appear again and lend her the strength to use the Sylver Crystal to win the battle, in one of the [[SignatureScene signature scenes]] from the anime.

** Dead relatives of the Charmed Ones pop up quite often ([[RealLifeWritesThePlot with one]] [[PutOnABusToHell notable]] [[McLeaned exception]]) to assist, give advice both on magical and mundane problems, and sometimes outright defeat the [[MonsterOfTheWeek Demon of the week]]. Grams often uses her [[MindOverMatter telekinesis]] from the afterlife to flip the pages of the Book of Shadows and help her granddaughters without manifesting herself. She's also the one who's summoned the most by the Sisters. Patty appears to Prue first and Piper then while they're about to drown, to help them overcome their fears – of drowning itself and of leaving her baby motherless respectively – and save themselves.

** The first and perhaps most iconic instance, though, is when the Charmed Ones summon their ancestor from whom their bloodline and the Charmed Ones prophecies: Melinda Warren. Notably, she manifests as a corporeal entity and has a lot of magical and familial interactions with the Sisters.

* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', the Last Hope, which was originally intended to end the series, the Dark Forest, effectively Cat-Hell, [[spoiler: invades the world of the living, and the clans are only saved when Star Clan and the Tribe of Endless Hunting, the Cat-Heavens, join the fray]]. Every cat who has died over the course of the series is fighting either for Cat-Heaven or Cat-Hell in the final battle. However, given the LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters trope, most go unmentioned aside from the most prominent personal encounters.

* ''[[Series/Charmed1998 Charmed]]'' just ''[[UpToEleven loves]]'' this trope and spins it in several different ways:

** Phoebe comes up with a spell she believes is powerful enough to vanquish the [[BigBad Source of All Evil]]: it involves calling upon the magic of the entire Warren line of Witches to assist them. [[spoiler:It works]].

*** The Warren ancestors are also called upon to assist with the wiccaning of the Charmed Ones' children, with Grams's spirit officiating the ceremony.

* ''Series/RandallAndHopkirkDeceased'': The late Marty Hopkirk comes back to help his detective partner Jeff Randall, who's the only person who can see him except for the odd psychic or drunk. This help includes some limited ability to manipulate objects. In the 2000 version his abilities stretch further, including being able to possess the living for short periods of time.
* ''Series/VeronicaMars'' season one: the late Lilly Kane is a major motivator in the solving of her own murder. Her ghost appears to Veronica and to her brother Duncan, metaphorically. Or is it? She shows up in season two to save V's life.

* In ''Series/KamenRiderOOO'', Ankh performs a HeroicSacrifice to enable Eiji to use [[MidseasonUpgrade [=TaJaDor=] Combo]] one final time against the BigBad, giving up the Medal containing his existence in the process. As Eiji fights, Ankh's spirit appears and begins assisting Eiji in the fight, even helping to fire the FinishingMove.

* In ''Series/TwinPeaks'' when Laura Palmer visits Agent Cooper in a dream in the beginning of the second season. She whispers the name of the killer in his ear, except he cannot remember what she said.

* Uchiha Obito from ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'', in a example which would make Goku proud, [[spoiler: dies saving Kakashi, his body turning to ash. He then uses his [[PortalCut Kam]][[InterdimensionalTravelDevice ui]] ability to teleport out of the Otherworld, without a physical body, to give Kakashi's all of his chakra and abilities, which turns to be essential in Kaguya's defeat.]]