History Main / FauxDeath

* In Creator/RobertEHoward's "Literature/TheDevilInIron" ConanTheBarbarian finds a castle appearing where he knew there had been a ruin, and inside, a woman who has just waking up, thinking that historical events were just last night.

* Was used to bring Franchise/{{Batman}}'s butler Alfred back from the dead after he was supposedly KilledOffForReal in the SilverAge. It turned out he was actually in a deathlike trance before being tranformed into the supervillainous Outsider.

* On one episode of ''Series/TheMaster'' (a.k.a. ''MST3K'' stalwart ''Series/MasterNinja''), McNinja master [=McAllister=] (Creator/LeeVanCleef) reveals that he can accomplish this by meditation; this turns out to be an example of ChekhovsSkill.

* A number of characters in stories by Creator/EdgarAllanPoe were prone to catalepsy (see RealLife, below), such as Madeline in ''The Fall of the House of Usher''.

* ''VideoGame/{{Hitman}}: Blood Money''. A special drug used originally in mission 3, to get a target out of a rehab clinic without actually killing him. The second time it is used[[spoiler: is on 47 himself, courtesy of Diana. Admittedly, to she does this to save his life.]]

* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''[[JohnCarterOfMars The Master Mind of Mars]]'', Ras Thavas does this to preserve the bodies he swaps (or swaps parts of). When Valla Dia is in danger, Ulysses Paxton resorts to it as the only way to hide her safely.

When Creator/WilliamShakespeare put Juliet into a death-like state in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', he was probably using a trope that was already lying around. He may have grabbed it from an old [[CelticMythology Celtic precursor]] of ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''.

* On one episode of ''Series/TheMaster'' (a.k.a. ''MST3K'' stalwart ''MasterNinja''), McNinja master [=McAllister=] (Creator/LeeVanCleef) reveals that he can accomplish this by meditation; this turns out to be an example of ChekhovsSkill.
* There's a grand tradition of this in XenaWarriorPrincess, dating all the way back to Xena's "death" by poisoning towards the end of the first season. (Since the trope was still fresh at the time, the resulting mourning process among her friends is [[TearJerker thoroughly affecting]].)

* After Wolfram's heart is stopped in ''KyouKaraMaou'', his body is put in a nice little magical life-support box until his [[AccidentalMarriage fiancé]], Yuuri, can defeat the BigBad and get him going again. It's kind of up to interpretation if he was actually at any point dead or not, but Yuuri certainly has a strong opinion that he wasn't.

* Even after the heart stops beating and the lungs stop breathing, the brain is still functional for a few minutes. That's why CPR sometimes works -- [[CleanPrettyReliable not often]], well below 5% according to some assessments, but there's still a chance if you try.
* A person can survive 40 minutes or longer in freezing water, because everything slows down. They appear quite dead and frozen, but if they can be pulled out,oxygen gotten to the brain, and the effects of hypothermia counteracted, they can still be revived sometimes.

* In Sir ArthurConanDoyle's ''The Poison Belt'', [[spoiler: people start dropping like flies as the Earth passes through the poison belt]]. ProfessorChallenger [[spoiler: uses bottled oxygen to keep himself and the other protagonists conscious for a few hours so that they can observe the death of humanity before joining it in death]]; they're all very surprised [[spoiler: to wake up and find that they're alive]]. [[spoiler: And even more surprised to find, some twelve hours later, that everyone else wakes up too! (Well, except for the ones who'd been killed in the accidents and fires that occurred when everyone first passed out.)]]

* In GrahamMcNeill's TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}} Literature/{{Ultramarines}} novels, Roboute Guilliman is seen in his stasis tomb, and we are told of legends that he is healing from his wound and will arise again.

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* After Wolfram's heart is stopped in KyouKaraMaou, his body is put in a nice little magical life-support box until his [[AccidentalMarriage fiancé]], Yuuri, can defeat the BigBad and get him going again. It's kind of up to interpretation if he was actually at any point dead or not, but Yuuri certainly has a strong opinion that he wasn't.

* In ''{{Superman}} Returns'' Everyone laments [[spoiler: Superman's]] apparent death. But when Lois and Jason go to see him, there a (very clear) faint heartbeat on the monitor. He hasn't even died!

* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo''? in fact, that entire romantic subplot between Maximilian and Valentine was a rather obvious ShoutOut to ''Romeo and Juliet''. Except it had a happy ending... sort of.

* In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's ''The Poison Belt'', [[spoiler: people start dropping like flies as the Earth passes through the poison belt]]. Professor Challenger [[spoiler: uses bottled oxygen to keep himself and the other protagonists conscious for a few hours so that they can observe the death of humanity before joining it in death]]; they're all very surprised [[spoiler: to wake up and find that they're alive]]. [[spoiler: And even more surprised to find, some twelve hours later, that everyone else wakes up too! (Well, except for the ones who'd been killed in the accidents and fires that occurred when everyone first passed out.)]]

* TekWars tried fooling an AI with the HumanPopsicle trick, because it detected the Cryo virus to still be active. Said AI figured they were finally killed by the stronger-than-normal setting of the Cyro tube.

* Zabuza Momochi in Manga/{{Naruto}}. Also FakingTheDead, because Haku used this trope to protect Zabuza from Kakashi and his squad.

* In Creator/RuthFrancesLong's ''Literature/TheTreacheryOfBeautifulThings'', when the nix steals her soul, Jenny. The forest folk lay her out on a bier, like SleepingBeauty.

* On one episode of ''Series/TheMaster'' (a.k.a. ''MST3K'' stalwart ''MasterNinja''), McNinja master [=McAllister=] (LeeVanCleef) reveals that he can accomplish this by meditation; this turns out to be an example of ChekhovsSkill.

* The origin story of TheSpirit.

* A state that Granny Weatherwax enters in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' whenever she's [[MindControl Borrowing]]. It had caused enough unnecessary embarrassments that she now wears a small cardboard sign with the words "I Aten't Dead".

* Happens to poor Frodo in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings: The Two Towers'' (or ''Return of the King'' in the Jackson-films) when Shelob stings him. His death-like state is convincing enough for Sam, at least, until the point when the Orcs take Frodo and explain that he's still alive in Sam's earshot, at which point Sam decides to follow them to get his {{Big Damn Hero|es}} on.

When Creator/WilliamShakespeare put Juliet into a death-like state in ''Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet'', he was probably using a trope that was already lying around. He may have grabbed it from an old [[CelticMythology Celtic precursor]] of "Literature/SleepingBeauty".

** Fun fact: the toxin of puffer fish and blue-ring octopus is one and the same; both groups of creatures obtain the substance through commensal bacteria.