History Main / DeadAllAlong

* ''VideoGame/FiveNightsAtFreddys'':

* ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheSacredStones'': For about half of the game we're lead to believe that Emperor Vigarde of Grado was the one who started the war. When Ephraim reaches the imperial capital and seemingly slays him, his corpse crumbles into dust. Only then he learns from the shaman Knoll that Vigarde had been dead for over a year, and that his son, Prince Lyon, tried to resurrect him using Grado's Sacred Stone, [[CameBackWrong with the result that he just came back as an]] EmptyShell, with the populace [[ElCidPloy still kept in the dark about his death]]. This experimentation resulted in Lyon becoming manipulated by [[DemonLordsandArchdevils The Demon King]] [[BigBad Fomortiis]]. As a result Fomortiis broke free of his prison within the Sacred Stone, and tricked Lyon into using the resurrected Emperor Vigarde as a soulless puppet, to invade Magvel beginning with longtime Grado ally Renais to destroy the other [[RestrainingBolt Sacred Stones]], allowing Fomortiis to be restored to full vitality.

** In season six Laverne is in an accident and declared brain dead. While the other characters come to say their goodbyes, Carla refuses to do so and is followed around by a "ghost" Laverne until she finally accepts the loss. Carla then asks Dr. Cox if he's ever seen ghosts of dead patients. In true Coxian fashion, he tells her "No, but then again, I'm not a crazy person." The writers wanted Ben to show up again then, but Ben's actor was busy doing something else, forcing them to do a much worse joke.

** President Di-Jun Huang in ''VisualNovel/AceAttorneyInvestigationsMilesEdgeworth 2''. The Huang seen during the game is actually his body double, who plotted his murder and took his place 12 years prior to the game's events.

* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', the main character Neku wakes up in the middle of Shibuya and finds out he cannot interact with the real world normally, and has to participate in a week-long game to return back to his normal life. Halfway through the week, he learns that he and everyone else in the game is dead, and must win to be restored back to life. In the same game, this is inverted with Joshua, who is revealed to be alive rather than dead, being capable of playing in the game due to ISeeDeadPeople. In ''VideoGame/NEOTheWorldEndsWithYou'', this is also inverted, which starts off with the previous game's premise only to reveal that the protagonists are alive, having been dragged into the game through the use of special pins set up by the BigBad.

* At the beginning of ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', the main character Neku wakes up in the middle of Shibuya and finds out he cannot interact with the real world normally, and has to participate in a week-long game to return back to his normal life. Halfway through the week, he learns that he and everyone else in the game is dead, and must win to be restored back to life. In the same game, this is inverted with Joshua, who is revealed to be alive rather than dead, being capable of playing in the game due to ISeeDeadPeople. In ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'', this is also inverted, which starts off with the previous game's premise only to reveal that the protagonists are alive, having been dragged into the game through the use of special pins set up by the BigBad.

* Most major characters in ''VideoGame/TheWorldEndsWithYou'' except Joshua.

* ''[[Literature/MiddleSchool Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life]'' contains a variation of this trope. The book initially presents Leo as Rafe's OnlyFriend and the one who encourages Rafe's goal of breaking every school rule. Halfway through the book, Rafe admits to the reader that Leo doesn't actually exist and is Rafe's ImaginaryFriend. The penultimate chapter then reveals that Leo was the name of Rafe's twin brother who died of Meningitis when they were four. Rafe based his imaginary friend on what he imagined Leo would've been like had he lived.

* [[Literature/MiddleSchool ''Middle School: The Worst Years of My Life'']] contains a variation of this trope. The book initially presents Leo as Rafe's OnlyFriend and the one who encourages Rafe's goal of breaking every school rule. Halfway through the book, Rafe admits to the reader that Leo doesn't actually exist and is Rafe's imaginary friend. The penultimate chapter then reveals that Leo was the name of Rafe's twin brother who died of meningitis when they were four. Rafe based his imaginary friend on what he imagined Leo would've been like had he lived.