History Main / FauxDeath

* Any version of "Literature/SleepingBeauty" (see [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sleepingbeauty/other.html here]] for a list of many) will feature some variation of this. In most versions, the princess pricks her finger on the spindle of spinning wheel and falls into a deep sleep, waking after a prince kisses her.
* This happens in just about any version of "Literature/SnowWhite" ([[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sevendwarfs/other.html see here]]). In most versions, she eats a poisoned apple given to her by her WickedStepmother that leaves her comatose. Everyone mistakenly thinks she's dead, though luckily they can't bear the thought of burying her and instead craft her a glass coffin to keep watch over her. Depending on which version you read, she wakes up either when the piece of apple is dislodged when the prince accidentally drops her coffin, or when the prince kisses her.

** The right amount of pufferfish toxins can cause a person to appear to be dead to even doctors. There have been several cases where people have been declared dead and returned, especially in UsefulNotes/{{Haiti}}, where this method factors heavily into local [[VoodooZombie zombie lore]]. But presumably it doesn't actually ''work'' most of the time, as calculating the right dose is quite difficult (none of the samples of "zombie powder" studied by scientists have enough of the compound to be effective), and the prospective zombie would likely need artificial respiration to survive.

** The right amount of pufferfish toxins can cause a person to appear to be dead to even doctors. There have been several cases where people have been declared dead and returned, especially in UsefulNotes/{{Haiti}}, where this method factors heavily into local [[VoodooZombie zombie lore]]. But presumably it doesn't actually ''work'' most of the time, as calculating the right dose is quite difficult, and the prospective zombie would likely need artificial respiration to survive.

* ''Fanfic/TheArithmancer'': Introduced in Chapter 61 of the sequel ''Lady Archimedes'', Hermione invents a spell that can put the victim in a deep coma by intervening with their nervous system regulation, and can't be woken up with anything but the specific counter-curse. Its incantation is [[ShoutOut based on]] the original Grimms' fairy tale title for ''Literature/SleepingBeauty''. She first uses it on two captured Death Eaters in lieu of executing them (as that would be a war crime in the non-magical world), then casts it on another Death Eater in the sequel ''Annals of Arithmancy'' because he's too dangerous to be kept around.

[[folder:Film - Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SnowWhiteAndTheSevenDwarfs'': The evil queen tricks Snow White into eating an apple dipped in a "Sleeping Death" potion, that causes her to fall into such a deep sleep she'll appear dead, and the only cure is true love's kiss. The queen assumes that the dwarfs will [[BuriedAlive bury Snow White alive]] due to believing her truly dead, but they instead craft her a glass coffin and keep vigil over her side, enabling the prince to revive her by kissing her.

[[folder:Film - Live Action]]

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the Spy can pull this off regularly with the use of his Dead Ringer watch.

** DHCA is a surgical technique that induces deep medical hypothermia. It's used when blood circulation to the brain must be stopped because of delicate surgery within the brain, or because of surgery on large blood vessels that lead to or from the brain. It's is a form of carefully managed clinical death in which heartbeat, breathing and all brain activity cease. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deep_hypothermic_circulatory_arrest]]

* After Wolfram's heart is stopped in ''LightNovel/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.

** The right amount of pufferfish toxins can cause a person to appear to be dead to even doctors. There have been several cases where people have been declared dead and returned, especially in Jamaica, where this method factors heavily into local Zombie Lore.

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

* Played for laughs in an episode of ''Anime/BlackButler'' Grell, a GrimReaper, took a nap in a field and woke up at the Undertaker's. Noting afterwards that she probably should remember to breathe next time.

* This trope was used to bring Franchise/{{Batman}}'s butler Alfred back from the dead after he was supposedly KilledOffForReal in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}. It turned out he was actually in a deathlike trance before being transformed into the supervillainous Outsider.
%%* Many adaptations to ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' would change Superman's death to this trope.

* ''Sacred Hearts'': Serafina fakes her death to escape the convent. She drinks a potion (given by a nun) to make her appear dead. Her coffin gets smuggled out and she reunites with her lover.
* ''The Glassblower of Murano'': Corradino fakes his death to escape Venice's Council of Ten. He drinks a vial that makes him appear dead. He's buried in a sack, and manages to dig his way out.

* In Creator/NeilGaiman's ''Snow, Glass, Apples'', a {{Grimmifi|cation}}ed PerspectiveFlip where Literature/SnowWhite is a bloodthirsty vampire, the evil queen is a [[ReasonableAuthorityFigure benevolent ruler]] who [[SealedEvilInACan put Snow White into a deep sleep to protect the populace]], and the prince who accidentally woke her is a necrophiliac.

* A state that Granny Weatherwax enters in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' whenever she's [[MindControl Borrowing]]. It had caused her enough unnecessary embarrassments (being a very old woman who lives alone) that she now wears a small cardboard sign with the words "I Aten't Dead".
* ''Little, Big'' draws on the legends that [[KingInTheMountain German emperor Friedrich Barbarossa]] is asleep under a mountain by having him ''wake up.''
* In''[[Literature/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.
** In the [[Film/JohnCarter Disney movie]] [[spoiler: John uses pufferfish tetrodotoxin to lure a Thern spy out of hiding so he can steal his medallion and use it to return to Mars.]]
* In Creator/ArthurConanDoyle's ''The Poison Belt'', [[spoiler:people start dropping like flies as the Earth passes through the poison belt]]. Literature/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 Creator/RobertEHoward's "Literature/TheDevilInIron" Franchise/ConanTheBarbarian finds a castle appearing where he knew there had been a ruin, and inside, a woman who has just woken up, thinking that historical events were just last night.
** In "Literature/JewelsOfGwahlur", Yelaya.
* The immortals of ''Literature/TheMadnessSeason'' have a technique that allows them to impersonate a walking corpse. The most skilled ones are able to temporarily stop their metabolic functions. The hero's father ultimately died when he went too far in his corpse transformation. Daetrin himself almost wound up doing the same.
* A number of characters in stories by Creator/EdgarAllanPoe were prone to catalepsy (see RealLife, below), such as Madeline in "Literature/TheFallOfTheHouseOfUsher".
* In Creator/RuthFrancesLong's ''Literature/TheTreacheryOfBeautifulThings'', when the nix steals her soul, Jenny. The forest folk lay her out on a bier, like Literature/SleepingBeauty.
* After the titular character of ''Literature/TheSagaOfDarrenShan'' was turned into a half-vampire Mr. Crepsley faked his death by carefully breaking his neck without severing his spinal cord and drugging him so that he seemed dead. Later digging him out of his grave.
* In Lawrence Block's ''The Canceled Czech'' Evan deliberately triggers Kotacek's catalepsy in the hope the Stern gang members who want to execute him for Nazi war crimes will believe he had a heart attack. While the ruse succeeds, the disappointed members decide to emulate the Bible by removing Kotacek's foreskin.
* ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'': When Mrs Norris the cat is found still and unresponsive, it's initially believed she's dead but the Hogwarts staff quickly deduce she's actually Petrified; she's still alive but unable to move or react (it's further indicated those who are Petrified are essentially unconscious too). Several students suffer the same fate and can't be cured until the school's mandrakes have matured enough to be made into a restorative potion. [[spoiler:It's revealed a Basilisk is responsible; looking a Basilisk directly in the eye will kill a person or animal, but if someone looks only indirectly (such as via a reflection or through a camera) they just get Petrified instead]].
* ''Literature/NightWorld'': Those who are successfully turned into vampires appear physically dead for the final stage of the transformation, before they revive. James takes advantage of this when he turns Poppy; he makes it seem she died of the terminal pancreatic cancer she was recently diagnosed with so as to keep the Night World a secret while still saving her. Poppy even likens it to Juliet in her tomb; she herself is unconscious and dreaming in this state. James does have some obstacles to overcome; he has to mind control Poppy's parents and the funeral staff into not doing any autopsies or embalming, and ensuring they choose burial over cremation. He also has to sneak into the cemetery late at night to dig up Poppy's coffin [[spoiler:with her brother's help]].
* Starting with the novelization of ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'', this trope has been used to explain how Superman somehow survived his devastating battle against Doomsday while the rest of the world believed he had died. In the novel, it's explained that Superman had drained so much of his solar power reserves battling Doomsday that he went into something of a "power saver" mode that required just some time in the sun to fix. However, the humans all believed Superman had died-died and put him in a grave that could have made the death permanent had it not been for Project Cadmus.

* ''Series/{{Jane the Virgin}}'': Rose, aka Sin Rostro, gives Jane’s husband (Michael) tetrodotoxin to slow his heart rate down making it seem like he died. She had her personal EMT drivers take him away and went on to blackmail the morgue pathologist to sign his death certificate. There's an emotional funeral. Four year later it’s revealed that Michael is alive. But he has amnesia from electroshock therapy.
* ''Series/PrisonBreak'': Michael is forced to work for Poseidon. He fakes his death to protect his family. We see his "corpse" in the season 5 premiere. When Lincoln digs up Michael's grave, his body is gone.
* Series/{{Queen of the South}}: Teresa is shot to death. We see her body in the mortuary. But nothing is as it seems: she faked her own death to escape drug criminals.
* ''Series/{{Days of Our Lives}}'':

* ''Series/{{Passions}}'': Sheridan Crane's death was faked (to escape criminals who were pursuing her) and she was buried to continue the ruse. Unfortunately, plans to rescue her immediately were hindered when the criminals in question kidnapped her would-be saviors, leaving her in considerable peril (Sheridan's claustrophobia didn't help matters much). Although she was ultimately rescued at the end of the "day", the scenes played out for over a ''month''.
* ''Series/{{General Hospital}}'': Jerry orchestrated the abduction and faked death of Robin Scorpio Drake. Patrick finds Robin in a tomb and kisses her. Robin wakes up and reveals she faked her death by taking a drug to slow her heartbeat.
* ''Series/{{Lost}}'': Paralyzed by spider bites into a death-like state, a couple are buried alive. They died rich, though, so it wasn't a complete downer.
* Jack Bauer in the season 4 finale of ''Series/TwentyFour'', when he found it necessary to fake his own death in order to prevent being KilledOffForReal. Coupled with his being clinically dead for several minutes during season 2, it inspired the [[MemeticBadass Jack Bauer Fact]] "Jack Bauer died for his country and lived to tell about it. Twice."

* Happens at ''least'' once to Sloane on ''Series/{{Alias}}'', which also featured many other examples of FakingTheDead.

* ''Series/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.
* It is rather unclear whether ''Series/BabylonFive'''s [[spoiler:Captain John J. Sheridan]] really died on Za'Ha'Dum or if Lorien kept him suspended in a state near death (between tick and tock). Lorien says "He was dying, he was dead" but he has a tendency to be vague. Zack Allen doesn't know anymore, and Michael Garibaldi is skeptical. In either case:
-->'''Drazi Ambassador:''' We thought you were dead.
-->[[spoiler:'''Captain Sheridan:''']] I was. [[BackFromTheDead I'm better now.]]
** And later:
--->[[spoiler:'''Captain Sheridan:''']] Death! [[DeadpanSnarker Been there. Done that.]]
* Cameron gets one in the ''Series/StargateSG1'' episode "Babylon", in order to get out of a revenge duel to the death.
* Captain Kirk, from ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', had a rather 'Romeo and Juliet'-esque faux death in [[MateOrDie "Amok Time"]], that was caused by [[TheMcCoy the Doctor]]...of all people.
* On ''Series/{{Heroes}}'', Sylar tricks the Company's doctors into removing his restraints by stopping all of his vital signs.
* Inverted in legendary fashion in the [[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Parrot Sketch.]]
* Fraser did this on ''Series/DueSouth'' with an Inuit concoction that slowed his body down.
* Arthur did it on ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' to lure his father into crying the tears of true remorse needed to break the troll magic spell. He did, however, require an antidote to stop the potion he took killing him for real.
* In ''Series/DoctorWho'', the Time Lords have the ability to temporarily suspend their life functions, making them appear to be dead. The Doctor does this on more than one occasion and Romana uses this trick to escape from the Daleks' slave mines in "Destiny of the Daleks".
* In the ''Series/MiamiVice'' episode "Tale of the Goat," a voodoo chief uses tetrodotoxin to fake his death so he can be smuggled into Miami. Later, cultists inject Tubbs with the poison, almost killing him.
* ''Series/FatherBrown'': Happens to Father Brown in "The Wrath of Baron Samedi" when he is drugged with a poison that lowers his heart rate to the point where he appears to be dead.
* ''Series/{{Legacies}}'': Dana is bitten by Arachne, a giant spider. Her body is found in the woods, seemingly dead. A few moments later, she gets up and leaves. Unfortunately, the poison liquified her from the inside. She literally pukes out her guts, vomiting herself to death (for real this time).
* ''Series/{{Thriller}}'': an aging millionaire survives being buried alive, but his devilish fiancée plans to take advantage of his next cataleptic seizure, by marrying him and then making sure he stays in his grave.
* ''Series/SilentWitness'': At the end of "Trust: Part 1", the forensic pathologists receive what appears to be a dead body of murder victim. However, he was actually just paralysed from pufferfish venom. In the next part, he wakes up and walks right out of the morgue, grabbing a scalpel in the process. It's just as well, because he was due to be autopsied next.

* [[Theatre/RomeoAndJuliet Juliet]], of course. Friar Laurence gives her a potion to make her look dead. She's buried in the Capulet tomb. She woke up to a dead husband. Ouch. There goes the honeymoon.

* Naked Snake in ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' has a pill that can induce this state to [[FakingTheDead fool enemies into believing him dead.]] If you let him go too far before using the revival pill, however, he really will die.
* ''VideoGame/KingsQuestVIHeirTodayGoneTomorrow'' allows protagonist Alexander to fake his death with a potion that actually does kill him, but then wears off after a few minutes. The in-game purpose of this is to fool a spy into reporting to the BigBad Vizier in order to lower the security at the castle you inevitably have to infiltrate, but the ''actual'' purpose (because the security is the same either way) is to [[spoiler: trigger a cutscene in which you can see the genie's lamp, so that you can replace it with a fake one later on]].
* ''VideoGame/HitmanBloodMoney''. 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, she does this to save his life.]]
* ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsIVOblivion'' features this as part of an Assassin's Guild quest - the player needs to cut the target with a poisoned dagger to fake his death in front of someone who is trying to kill him for real.

* In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the Spy can pull this off regularly with the use of his Dead Ringer watch.

* In ''[[http://www.roomies-comic.com/cgi-bin/roomies.cgi Roomies]]'' Codrus tried to get his former superiors in the Fox Empire off his back by faking his death with a potion. Unfortunately, it temporarily turned him into a zombie when he revived early.

* [[https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Theatre/Cymbeline Imogen]]: not feeling well, takes a potion given her by Pisanio, thinking it's a medicine. The potion puts her into a deathlike trance.

Supertrope of KingInTheMountain. Related to DisneyDeath, where the other characters/the audience is led to believe a character has died only for them to turn out to be alive after all, and they frequently overlap. It may lead to ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated.

* ''Film/TheIllusionist'': Sophie fakes her death as part to trick the police. After a drunken argument, the Prince "kills" Sophie, and after a search, police and Eisenheim find her body in the river. She used fake blood and a potion to appear dead.

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

* In ''Film/SherlockHolmes2009'', Lord Blackwood faked his death. He was seemingly executed by hanging, but used a harness to survive. Watson was in charge of checking Blackwood’s pulse and declaring him dead, and Blackwood was able to fool him thanks to a potent toxin taken from a Turkish plant that suppresses the pulse and induces the subject into a comatose state. Blackwood was later able to break his own grave by having it shattered before and then glued together with an adhesive made of egg and honey that can be washed away by the rain.

* [[spoiler: Ventus]] in ''VideoGame/KingdomHeartsBirthBySleep'' appears to die after defeating Vanitas at the [[spoiler: Dive to the Heart]]. Of course, [[spoiler: while his body lies dormant in the Castle Oblivion, his heart survived the battle and is currently being looked after by Sora]].
** [[spoiler: In ''VideoGame/KingdomHearts3DDreamDropDistance'', Sora is lured into a nightmare version of The World That Never Was, where his heart is slowly being overtaken by the darkness as per Master Xehanort's desire to use the teen's body as one of his thirteen clones. Upon the defeat of Xemnas, Sora is killed when his heart finally gives in and shatters]]. Whether or not [[spoiler: Sora's death]] is this trope or a DisneyDeath is intentionally left ambitious, though in the end, [[spoiler: he is revived by Riku]].

* The origin story of ComicBook/TheSpirit.
* Was used to bring Franchise/{{Batman}}'s butler Alfred back from the dead after he was supposedly KilledOffForReal in UsefulNotes/{{the Silver Age|of Comic Books}}. It turned out he was actually in a deathlike trance before being transformed into the supervillainous Outsider.
* Many adaptations to ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' would change Superman's death to this trope.

* ''Film/JohnCarter'' [[spoiler: When John is banished back to Earth, he takes puffer fish toxin that puts him into a death-like sleep to throw the Therns off his trail.]]

* In ''Film/SupermanReturns'' 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! It's visible as Jason and Lois leave the Daily Planet that Perry White has two templates of the front page prepared ahead of time: one announcing Superman's death and the other announcing his recovery.
-->'''White:''' Always be prepared.

* ''Film/TheIllusionist'' Sophie fakes her death as part to trick the police. After a drunken argument, the Prince "kills" Sophie, and after a search, police and Eisenheim find her body in the river. She used fake blood and a potion to appear dead.
* The male lead in ''Film/CirqueDuFreakTheVampiresAssistant''. After Darren takes a drug to make it look as if he's dead, Crepsley finishes the job by snapping the boy's neck and pushing him off a rooftop. Darren is buried, and Crepsley dugs up his grave. Now Darren can start his new life as a vampire.
* ''Film/{{Ophelia}}''
** While fleeing an angry mob come to burn her as a witch, Mechtild drank a potion containing snake venom that caused temporary paralysis and collapsed near the edge of the forest. She appeared dead to the mob, who dumped her 'corpse' in the woods, enabling Mechtild to drink the antidote once the effects began to wear off and go into hiding.
** [[spoiler:Ophelia fakes her drowning death by ingesting the same potion, taken from Mechtild's hovel. She looks dead to everyone save Horatio, who had figured out the truth and digs up her coffin after the funeral as she instructed. In Ophelia's case, she took a little too much and needs Horatio to help her get to Mechtild in time to drink the antidote]].
* ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crime_of_Dr._Crespi The Crime of Dr. Crespie]]'': Doctor Andre Crespi hates Stephen Ross, who married his ex-sweetheart. Ross must undergo surgery and Crespi, sensing an opportunity, seizes it. Ross appears to die, but Crespi has given him a drug that induces a state of apparent death. Ross retains all of his senses and is buried alive. The other doctors become suspicious. They exhume the body and return to the hospital to prove he was poisoned. Ross awakens from the drug while on the autopsy table.
* ''[[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Premature_Burial_(film) The Premature Burial]]'': Guy Garrell is consumed with the fear of being buried alive. His worst fears come true. He goes into a cataleptic state, and is declared dead. His family thinks he died of a heart attack. He's buried in the cemetery, but is miraculously dug up by grave robbers.

* Obviously, any version of "Literature/SleepingBeauty" (see [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sleepingbeauty/other.html here]] for a list of many), or "Literature/SnowWhite" ([[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/sevendwarfs/other.html see here]]).
** In ''Snow White'' she eats a poisoned apple that leaves her comatose. Depending on which version you read, she wakes up either when the piece of apple is dislodged when the prince accidentally drops her coffin, or when the prince kisses her.
** The ''Pentamerone'' has a GenderFlip [[http://www.surlalunefairytales.com/pentamerone/1introduction1911.html variant]] as its FramingDevice.

* In Creator/EdgarRiceBurroughs's ''[[Literature/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.

* In Literature/ArthurConanDoyle's ''The Poison Belt'', [[spoiler:people start dropping like flies as the Earth passes through the poison belt]]. Literature/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.)]]

When intentional, it's a kind of FakingTheDead. Maybe the character is trying to get out of a bad situation. Or protecting loved ones. If someone is merely sleeping the sleep of the dead, but life can be discerned, see DeepSleep. Occasionally overlaps with AngstComa.

* Series/TheBlackList: In order to disappear from Reddington's watch, Liz has her ex-boyfriend (who is a doctor) use a certain drug to slow down her heart rate. The drug gave a very convincing illusion that Liz was dead after giving birth to her daughter. There was even a funeral. A few episodes later, Liz is revealed to be alive.
* Series/{{Jane the Virgin}}: Rose, aka Sin Rostro, gives Jane’s husband (Michael) tetrodotoxin to slow his heart rate down making it seem like he died. She had her personal EMT drivers take him away and went on to blackmail the morgue pathologist to sign his death certificate. There's an emotional funeral. Four year later it’s revealed that Michael is alive. But he has amnesia from electroshock therapy.
* Series/PrisonBreak: Michael is forced to work for Poseidon. He fakes his death to protect his family. We see his "corpse" in the season 5 premiere. When Lincoln digs up Michael's grave, his body is gone.

* Series/{{Passions}}: Sheridan Crane's death was faked (to escape criminals who were pursuing her) and she was buried to continue the ruse. Unfortunately, plans to rescue her immediately were hindered when the criminals in question kidnapped her would-be saviors, leaving her in considerable peril (Sheridan's claustrophobia didn't help matters much). Although she was ultimately rescued at the end of the "day", the scenes played out for over a ''month''.
* Series/{{General Hospital}}: Jerry orchestrated the abduction and faked death of Robin Scorpio Drake. Patrick finds Robin in a tomb and kisses her. Robin wakes up and reveals she faked her death by taking a drug to slow her heartbeat.

* Series/{{Legacies}}: Dana is bitten by Arachne, a giant spider. Her body is found in the woods, seemingly dead. A few moments later, she gets up and leaves. Unfortunately, the poison liquified her from the inside. She literally pukes out her guts, vomiting herself to death (for real this time).
* Series/{{Thriller}}: an aging millionaire survives being buried alive, but his devilish fiancée plans to take advantage of his next cataleptic seizure, by marrying him and then making sure he stays in his grave.

[[Film - Animated]]
* ''WesternAnimation/SleepingBeauty'':

[[folder:Film]]

In this trope, people who are not dead appear to be dead and, like {{Human Popsicle}}s, do not age. Because they look like that, all kinds of ugly stuff happens, either to them or to the ones they love, up to and including being kissed by princes.

Supertrope of KingInTheMountain. Not to be confused with DisneyDeath, where the other characters/the audience is led to believe a character has died only for them to turn out to be alive after all, though these can occasionally overlap.

* Film/JohnCarter [[spoiler: When John is banished back to Earth, he takes puffer fish toxin that puts him into a death-like sleep to throw the Therns off his trail.]]

* In ''Film/SupermanReturns'' 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!
** It's visible as Jason and Lois leave the Daily Planet that Perry White has two templates of the front page prepared ahead of time: one announcing Superman's death and the other announcing his recovery.

* In Sherlock Holmes (2009), lord Blackwood faked his death. He was executed by hanging, but used a harnas to survive. Watson was in charge of checking Blackwood’s pulse and declaring him dead, and Blackwood was able to fool him thanks to a potent toxin taken from a Turkish plant that suppresses the pulse and induces the subject into a comatose state. Blackwood was later able to break his own grave by having it shattered before and then glued together with an adhesive made of egg and honey that can be washed away by the rain.

* Ophelia fakes her drowning death in the 2018 movie "Film/{{Ophelia}}". She does this by ingesting a potion given to her by Mechtild that only makes her appear dead; it actually causes temporary paralysis. Horatio digs up her grave, like she instructed.
* ''The Crime of Dr. Crespie'': Doctor Andre Crespi hates Stephen Ross, who married his ex-sweetheart. Ross must undergo surgery and Crespi, sensing an opportunity, seizes it. Ross appears to die, but Crespi has given him a drug that induces a state of apparent death. Ross retains all of his senses and is buried alive. The other doctors become suspicious. They exhume the body and return to the hospital to prove he was poisoned. Ross awakens from the drug while on the autopsy table. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crime_of_Dr._Crespi]]
* ''The Premature Burial'': Guy Garrell is consumed with the fear of being buried alive. His worst fears come true. He goes into a cateleptic state, and is declared dead. His family thinks he died of a heart attack. He's buried in the cemetery, but is miraculously dug up by grave robbers. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Premature_Burial_(film)]]

* [[KingInTheMountain King Arthur is sleeping]] until his return -- hence "The Once and Future King".

* ''Literature/TheCountOfMonteCristo'': the count gives Valentine a pill that makes her appear dead. She's buried in the family cript. The count then carries her off to the island of Monte Cristo. For a month, Maximilian believes that Valentine is dead. Which causes Maximilian to long for death himself. Monte Cristo then reveals that Valentine is alive. The lovers are reunited.
* Sacred Hearts: Serafina fakes her death to escape the convent. She drinks a potion (given by a nun) to make her appear dead. Her coffin gets smuggled out and she reunites with her lover.
* The the Glassblower of Murano: Corradino fakes his death to escape Venice's Council of Ten. He drinks a vial that makes him appear dead. He's buried in a sack, and manages to dig his way out.

Supertrope of KingInTheMountain.

* Many adaptations to ''ComicBook/TheDeathOfSuperman'' would change Superman's death to this trope

* The male lead in "Cirque du Freak: The Vampires assistant". After Darren takes a drug to make it look as if he’s dead, Crepsley finishes the job by snapping the boy’s neck and pushing him off a rooftop. Darren is buried, and Crepsley dugs up his grave. Now Darren can start his new life as a vampire.
* Ophelia fakes her drowning death in the 2018 movie "Ophelia". She does this by ingesting a potion given to her by Mechtild that only makes her appear dead. Horatio digs up her grave, like she instructed.
* The Crime of Dr. Crespie: Doctor Andre Crespi hates Stephen Ross, who married his ex-sweetheart. Ross must undergo surgery and Crespi, sensing an opportunity, seizes it. Ross appears to die, but Crespi has given him a drug that induces a state of apparent death. Ross retains all of his senses and is buried alive. The other doctors become suspicious. They exhume the body and return to the hospital to prove he was poisoned. Ross awakens from the drug while on the autopsy table. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Crime_of_Dr._Crespi]]
* The Premature Burial: Guy Garrell is consumed with the fear of being buried alive. His worst fears come true. He goes into a cateleptic state, and is declared dead. His family thinks he died of a heart attack. He's buried in the cemetry, but is miraculously dug up by grave robbers. [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Premature_Burial_(film)]]