History Main / DeathbyOriginStory

** ''Literature/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation'' began with Rudeus spending his last moments saving a couple of kids from getting hit by a truck, only to get hit himself in the process.

** The main premise of ''Literature/KonoSuba'' is that main character Kazuma dies from the shock of ''possibly'' being run over by a tractor, and is resurrected in a fantasy world.
** In ''Literature/SoImASpiderSoWhat'', Kumo's old self and her former classmates were killed in an explosion before being reincarnated into various fantasy RPG characters.

* ''ComicBook/{{Xombi}}'': David Kim's backstory involves the death of his assistant Kelly Sandbourne.

** Issue 4 of ''Heroes'' has Iota reveal that the accident that gave her the power to shrink also killed her husband.

* ''ComicBook/Hardware1993'': Deathwish's origin involves his wife and son being raped and killed in front of him before their rapist proceeded to violate him as well and leave him to die.

** ''WesternAinmation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'' reveals that this trope is Enforced across the multiverse as a "Canon Event" that has to happen in the story of a Spider-Person, or else their universe ends up collapsing in on itself. [[spoiler:A huge part of the story, though is several characters realizing that this is not an absolute fact and there are ways to subvert Canon Events without risking universal destruction.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManIntoTheSpiderVerse'' establishes this as an unfortunate multiversal constant for those who take up the Spider identity. All the Peter Parkers lost their Uncle Bens, Peni Parker lost her father, Gwen lost her best friend (another Peter), and Miles loses not only his universe's Peter ([[MentorOccupationalHazard five minutes after the man offered to train him]]) but [[spoiler: his uncle Aaron, aka Prowler.]]

* In both the LightNovel and Anime versions of ''LightNovel/LoveChunibyoAndOtherDelusions'', Rikka's father in both the anime and light novels died years before the story takes place, and is a motivating factor for Rikka to [[MsImagination take up the Wicked Eye and search for the Unseen Horizon]].

* ''LightNovel/IsThisAZombie'': Ayumu dies at the start then becomes a zombie. The driving force behind the first third of the anime is finding his killer.

** And then, in [[ComicBook/ThePunisherKillsTheMarvelUniverse an alternate-universe story]] where Frank Castle's family were killed during an alien invasion, he blamed the X-Men and Avengers and went on to hunt down meta-humans. It didn't help that the superheroes weren't very willing to accept responsibility for the deaths that their superfight caused, though Castle's actions in this What If comic were portrayed as nothing less than extreme.

* ''ComicBook/RomIDW'': The Annual reveals that Rom lost his [[HasTwoMommies mothers]] and his younger brother to the Dire Wraiths before becoming a Space Knight.

* Hanzo Hasashi's family is slaughtered by the Lin Kuei, specifically, by a warrior named Bi Han (AKA Sub-Zero). After Hasashi himself comes back from the dead, he vows to avenge them and kill Sub-Zero. To symbolize himself as a new person, he starts calling himself [[VideoGame/MortalKombat1 Scorpion]] (also see below).

* Arguably almost all the Cullens in ''Literature/{{Twilight}}'', if you count "between life and death, only turning them into a vampire can save them now" as death.

* Most of the main characters in ''Manga/InuYasha'' are motivated at least partly by dead relatives or acquaintances, either before the beginning of the series or shortly after their introduction. Inuyasha's girlfriend Kikyo and Sango's brother Kohaku come back, sort of (''very'' complicated in Kikyo's case). Inuyasha's mother, Shippo's father, Miroku's father, and the rest of Sango's village stay dead.
* The ''Anime/IronMan'' anime series shows the classic origin story with Dr. Yinsen (see the Comic Book and Film entries below) ...then subverts it by not only having Yinsen ''survive'', but become the BigBad of the series.

-->-- ''WebVideo/BestOfTheWorst'' watches ''Film/{{Supergirl|1984}}''

* LightNovel/GoblinSlayer's beloved older sister was among the many women of his village to be raped and then killed by the goblins that destroyed it long ago. This horrible event would set him down the road to vengeance, killing every last one of the little green bastards he could find.

* In ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'':

* In ''LightNovel/AnotherNote'', all the audience is told of A is that he [[note]]Actually, A isn't even [[AmbiguousGender given a gender]] in the original Japanese, though given the relative lack of prominent female characters at Wammy's House, it's likely that A was a boy.[[/note]] was being groomed as a successor to [[GreatDetective L]], was good at math, and was eventually DrivenToSuicide due to the pressure he was under. It can be inferred, too, that he meant ''something'' to [[VillainProtagonist B]], [[MoralityChain since A's suicide spurs B on a]] RoaringRampageOfRevenge. Other than that, we know nothing about A.

* Issei from ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDXD'' dies in the first episode, but is reincarnated as a devil by his new master, Rias Gremory.

** ''LightNovel/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation'' began with Rudeus spending his last moments saving a couple of kids from getting hit by a truck, only to get hit himself in the process.

Usually, the in-story rationale for why they can't be brought back involves a FantasticAesop about not meddling with death because of the possible [[CameBackWrong dire consequences]]... conveniently [[BrokenAesop ignoring]] that the hero, the villain, and a score of other [[PopularityPower popular]] characters have ''already'' cheated death – probably more than once – with no major consequences.

Compare DeathByNewberyMedal, LastOfHisKind, DyingToBeReplaced, ConvenientlyAnOrphan, PlotTriggeringDeath. If the death of a loved one causes a character to become a ''villain'', instead, that's a variant of the StartOfDarkness. Might result in ForgottenFallenFriend. Frequently involves a PosthumousCharacter.

There are, however, some characters who ''stay'' dead. These are the [[FriendlyTarget loved ones]] who suffered [[TitleDrop Death by Origin Story]], and play a vital role in the motivations of the hero. Their death can be (in)directly the hero's fault (ComicBook/SpiderMan, Uncle Ben), not their fault but still a huge motivation (Franchise/{{Batman}}, Thomas and Martha Wayne) or simply there to add some drama (Franchise/{{Superman}}, Pa Kent). Similarly, ScarsAreForever when they represent an important event for a character (for instance, [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Barbara Gordon's]] lower body paralysis. [[note]]Except in ''Series/BirdsOfPrey2002'', where she got some spinal implant or something that allowed her to walk again to a limited extent, and again in ''Comicbook/TheNew52''.[[/note]])

Sure, bringing them back is always possible and could take the story in exciting new directions, and deeply change the FallenHero when his dead little sister returns... or it just might be in bad taste, get poorly handled, nullify [[CrusadingWidow their motivation]] and lead to a {{Retcon}} or AuthorsSavingThrow that "[[OpeningACanOfClones they were really]] a [[ReplicantSnatching robot]] ShapeShifting Alien [[CloningBlues clone]]... [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot ninja]]" and promptly getting killed or forgotten. This is why StatusQuoIsGod.

Usually, the rationale for why they can't be brought back involves a FantasticAesop about not meddling with death because of [[CameBackWrong dire consequences]]... [[BrokenAesop except]] the hero, villain, and a score of other [[PopularityPower popular]] characters have ''already'' cheated death with no major consequences.

There are, however, some characters who ''stay'' dead. These are the [[FriendlyTarget loved ones]] who suffered [[TitleDrop Death by Origin Story]], and play a vital role in the motivations of the hero. Their death can be (in)directly the hero's fault (ComicBook/SpiderMan, Uncle Ben), not their fault but still a huge motivation (Franchise/{{Batman}}, Thomas and Martha Wayne) or simply there to add drama (Franchise/{{Superman}}, Pa Kent). Similarly, ScarsAreForever when they represent an important event for a character (for instance, [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Barbara Gordon's]] lower body paralysis. [[note]]Except in ''Series/BirdsOfPrey2002'', where she got some spinal implant or something that allowed her to walk again to a limited extent, and again in ''Comicbook/TheNew52''.[[/note]])

** Also, the protagonist's mother and true father died long time before the game events, but their cause of death are strictly tied to the main character hidden nature and subsequent story.

[[folder:Light Novels]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]

There are, however, some characters who ''stay'' dead. These are the [[FriendlyTarget loved ones]] who suffered [[TitleDrop Death by Origin Story]], and play a vital role in the motivations of the hero. Their death can be (in)directly the hero's fault (ComicBook/SpiderMan, Uncle Ben), not their fault but still a huge motivation (Franchise/{{Batman}}, Thomas and Martha Wayne) or simply there to add drama (Franchise/{{Superman}}, Pa Kent). Similarly, ScarsAreForever when they represent an important event for a character (for instance, [[ComicBook/{{Batgirl}} Barbara Gordon's]] lower body paralysis. [[note]]Except in ''Series/BirdsOfPrey2002'', where she got some spinal implant or something that allowed her to walk again to a limited extent.[[/note]])

** In the continuity of the ''ComicBook/New52'', it has been established via retcon that Helena Bertinelli, the post-Crisis ComicBook/{{Huntress}}, was killed as a young woman and had her identity usurped by Helena Wayne, her pre-Crisis counterpart.

** Superman's home planet Krypton doesn't self-destruct and he leaves the planet as an adult, with his origin instead having him intending to rack down a criminal who murdered his wife.

* ''Fanfic/AbraxasHrodvitnon'': Besides the Own Death by Own Origin Story...
** [[Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019 Dr. Serizawa's death]] can also be seen as a Death by Origin Story for Vivienne Graham when the latter is reborn as [[TwoBeingsOneBody half of Monster X]]. It's implied that learning of Serizawa's death influences Vivienne's SiblingTeam bonding with San. Vivienne also believes Serizawa couldn't be resurrected if she and San tried, since his body was vaporized by a nuke.
** The death of Alan Jonah's daughter which drove him into [[MisanthropeSupreme supreme misanthropy]] is brought up, and [[spoiler:it's revealed in Chapter 13 that Jonah's experiments on Viv and San and with Ghidorah's DNA are at least partly motivated by [[LoveMakesYouEvil the belief he can use their regenerative and resurrective powers to bring his daughter back]]]].

** ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'': [[Characters/MonsterVerse Monarch Nathan Lind]]'s brother David died attempting to enter the Hollow Earth before the events of the film, leading to quite a bit of uncertainty and (described in the novelization) confidence issues for Nathan.

* ''Anime/WeissKreuz'' enjoys playing with this one. Three of the four members of Weiss are motivated at least in part by someone else's death: Aya by the deaths of his parents, Yoji by the death of his partner Asuka, and Ken by the death of his friend Kase. Kase and (arguably) Asuka ''both'' turn up alive again, only for Ken and Yoji to be forced to [[KilledOffForReal kill them for real]].

** ''[[ComicBook/GrantMorrisonsBatman Batman Inc.]]'' introduces two more characters with similarly tragic pasts. Mr. Unknown, the future Batman of Japan, took on the role after his friend and mentor was tortured and killed in a very gruesome manner. Batwing is a former child soldier from Congo whose parents died of AIDS when he was a boy.

** The main premise of ''LightNovel/KonoSuba'' is that main character Kazuma dies from the shock of ''possibly'' being run over by a tractor, and is resurrected in a fantasy world.