History Main / KilledoffForReal

In some kinds of stories, [[DeathIsCheap character's death doesn't carry much weight.]] Maybe [[BackFromTheDead resurrection is commonplace]] or some sort of magical alternate universe [[OpeningACanOfClones has a spare copy to borrow]]. Maybe [[NegativeContinuity the format]] [[ResetButton of the show]] makes any sort of death meaningless and temporary. Maybe for some reason people [[MadeOfIron never die when they should]]. Sometimes, even in these stories, a character dies and they ''stay dead.'' No fake out, no magical return from the dead, [[WeCanRebuildHim no rebuild]], no {{retcon}} and no cop-out. They're dead and they're staying that way.

* In ''LetsPlay/DreamSMP'', DeathIsCheap for the most part, but during the final battle of the L'Manburg Civil War, Jschlatt dies of a heart attack (or stroke, depending on who you ask) and Wilbur has Philza kill him as a SuicideByCop, and neither of them come BackFromTheDead. However, Wilbur did wind up coming back as an amnesiac ghost, and was eventually revived for real in Season 3.

** The ''VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}'' Let's Play series "Ya Dead Ya Dead" uses the same principle. The series starts out with nine Achievement Hunters in a new Minecraft world, playing on Hardcore Survival mode. If someone dies, they're out - for the rest of the series.

* Zigzagged in ''WebVideo/CriticalRole'' with Mollymauk Tealeaf in Campaign 2. With no one who could revive him at the time of his death, it was widely assumed that Molly was permanently dead, in spite of the [[BackFromTheDead suspicious]] [[BuriedAlive circumstances]] surrounding his backstory. However, when the party returned to his grave almost ninety episodes later, they found it empty, and learned that he had been revived by his previous companions. After the Mighty Nein caught up with him though, it immediately became clear that it was [[SplitPersonalityTakeover Lucien, not Mollymauk]], who was brought back, and that Molly as the Mighty Nein knew him is [[DeathOfPersonality truly dead]] - a sentiment which was repeated multiple times [[ThatManIsDead by Lucien himself]]. That said, when Lucien is fought as the FinalBoss, there's hints that Molly was FightingFromTheInside, helped along by the Mighty Nein [[IKnowYoureInThereSomewhereFight trying to get through to Molly]]. When Lucien goes down and the Nein apparently bring Molly back, [[DeathAmnesia he can't remember anything about his time as Mollymauk]] and takes the name "Kingsley" instead. So while it's unclear exactly what happened to Molly over the course of the story, he's well and truly gone for good at the end of the campaign.

* ''WebOriginal/FortniteTheMovie'': Killed Off for Real: Nearly every character in the series ends up dying one way or another, so we'll just go through the most important deaths.

* ''Part Timers'': At the end of episode 19, "First Kiss Fail", Mads seemingly falls off of the roof to her death, [[HopeSpot but actually lands safely on a pile of car wash rags.]] [[MoodWhiplash Immediately afterwards, she is struck and killed by a car.]] The final episode, [[ILoveTheDead "Ghost Sex"]], [[TearJerker ends with her ghost moving on to the afterlife,]] [[BittersweetEnding confirming that Mads is indeed gone for good.]]
* In ''Literature/{{Pyrrhic}}'' so far Chase Traviss, Zelda Swift, Tina King, Sonny Chance, Xenia Daugman, Tom Tucker, and Benjamin Rogers have died. Being that this is inspired by ''Literature/BattleRoyale'', it's likely the list will continue to grow.

* The ''Website/SCPFoundation'' zigzags this trope. There is no definitive canon, so no matter how dead someone is, someone will probably write a tale about them later. Mostly played straight with Dr. Kondraki, who's author left the wiki due to unfortunate circumstances. Most readers and writers consider his death in ''The King is Dead'', where he was assassinated by Gears on orders from the O5s or ''Portraits of your Father'' where he commits suicide to be canon.

->'''Krusty:''' Poochie's dead! ''[kids cheer]'' Now, kids, we all know that sometimes when cartoon characters die, they're back again the very next week. That's why I'm presenting this sworn affidavit that Poochie will never, ''ever'', '''''ever''''' return!\\

'''Naturally, as a DeathTrope all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. ''Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!'''''

* In the finale of ''WebAnimation/BattleForDreamIsland'', Flower destroys the Master Recovery Center and dooms everyone to a permanent death, including herself. Those who died in the finale don't return to ''Battle For Dream Island Again''. Subverted when a Hand-Powered Recovery Center is created and everyone starts reviving their dead friends. Woody is the last contestant to remain dead until [=IDFB=].

* In the finale of ''WebAnimation/InanimateInsanity'', [=MePhone5=], [=MePhone4=], and Bow fall off the Crappy Cliff into a river, which permanently shuts down the former two and electrocutes the latter. [=MePhone4S=] downgrades himself to bring [=MePhone4=] back, getting rid of his own personality in the process. In the second season, [=MePhone=] shows that he can't revive Bow because she died while he was dead, so he never got the notification to recover her. In that same episode, Dough is introduced and killed, and [=MePhone=] can't bring him back because he never created a Life Icon for him.

* ''WebAnimation/FiveNightsAtFreddysTheStories'': In "The Great Escape", Bonnie gets stabbed by Nightmare's sword. The Puppet tells Toy Chica that he, Golden Freddy, and Springtrap cannot revive Bonnie because they [[BroughtDownToNormal lost their powers to Nightmare]]. This later happens in "Time Traveler" when Toy Chica senses that Foxy was killed.

In some kinds of stories, CharacterDeath [[DeathIsCheap doesn't carry much weight.]] Maybe [[BackFromTheDead resurrection is commonplace]] or some sort of magical alternate universe [[OpeningACanOfClones has a spare copy to borrow]]. Maybe [[NegativeContinuity the format]] [[ResetButton of the show]] makes any sort of death meaningless and temporary. Maybe for some reason people [[MadeOfIron never die when they should]]. Sometimes, even in these stories, a character dies and they ''stay dead.'' No fake out, no magical return from the dead, [[WeCanRebuildHim no rebuild]], no {{retcon}} and no cop-out. They're dead and they're staying that way.

** Shockingly, Norm himself is killed off in the second last episode of The Norm Show during his battle with White Skull.

* ''WebVideo/FortniteTheMovie'': Killed Off for Real: Nearly every character in the series ends up dying one way or another, so we'll just go through the most important deaths.
** Dirt, Jokeman Ranch, The Clown and Bigmouth all die in Fortnite the Movie 9: The Day of the Clown.
** The Demon in Dance with the Devil.
** Shockingly, Norm himself is killed off in the second last episode of The Norm Show during his battle with White Skull.
** Jesus in Jesus vs Rampage: Yawn of Justice.
** Fortnite the Movie 8: Enemy of the Clown features two. Jeane, the supposed protagonist of the Supremacy trilogy ends up dying before the opening titles. The Cowboy is also killed off in this film by Bigmouth.
** The Spyman in Spyman Unleashed: Devil May Spy.

* ''WebVideo/FortniteTheMovie'': Killed Off for Real: Nearly every character in the series ends up dying one way or another, so we'll just go through the most important deaths.
Dirt, Jokeman Ranch, The Clown and Bigmouth all die in Fortnite the Movie 9: The Day of the Clown.
The Demon in Dance with the Devil.
Shockingly, Norm himself is killed off in the second last episode of The Norm Show during his battle with White Skull.
Jesus in Jesus vs Rampage: Yawn of Justice.
Fortnite the Movie 8: Enemy of the Clown features two. Jeane, the supposed protagonist of the Supremacy trilogy ends up dying before the opening titles. The Cowboy is also killed off in this film by Bigmouth.
The Spyman in Spyman Unleashed: Devil May Spy.

'''Naturally, as a DeathTrope all spoilers will be unmarked ahead. ''Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned.'''''

* The ''Wiki/SCPFoundation'' zigzags this trope. There is no definitive canon, so no matter how dead someone is, someone will probably write a tale about them later. Mostly played straight with Dr. Kondraki, who's author left the wiki due to unfortunate circumstances. Most readers and writers consider his death in ''The King is Dead'', where he was assassinated by Gears on orders from the O5s or ''Portraits of your Father'' where he commits suicide to be canon.

* KilledOffForReal/WebComics

* ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' is where DeathIsCheap, but an epic intraplanar Assassin's guild called [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast The Garrote]] makes this their modus operandi. Long story short, they're known for getting the job done and making it ''stay'' done. Not even DivineIntervention nor RealityWarping can bring back a person thoroughly disposed by The Garrote.

* ''Machinima/RedVsBlue'': Church and Tex both fall victim to this thrice. The original Church and Tex, also known as Artificial Intelligence Programs Alpha and Beta, were destroyed when Washington activated the EMP at the end of season 6. Both returned in different forms: Church as Epsilon, the fragment of Alpha that contained his memories, and Tex as the memories of her that Epsilon removed from his head. Epsilon-Tex was "forgotten" by Epsilon at the end of season 9 and was erased from existence. Epsilon-Church destroyed himself at the end of season 13, fragmenting himself into the memories of the other A.I. that once formed the Alpha in order to be able to power the modified Meta suit worn by Tucker. Finally, to really put the nail in the coffin Doctor Leonard Church, the base for the Alpha and Beta (the latter as a by-product of the memories of his deceased wife Allison) committed suicide with his daughter's pistol at the end of season 10. Church and Tex are both effectively DeaderThanDead.

May lead into PersonalEffectsReveal, MeaningfulFuneral, ToAbsentFriends, and DeadGuyJunior. See also TonightSomeoneDies, NotSoSmallRole, ReallyDeadMontage.

** ''KilledOffForReal/UltimateMarvel''

** This was later [[{{Retcon}} explained]] by a "three canon lives" system, where deaths pivotal to character development and the plot (usually planned ahead of time) are considered "canonical" and thus subtracts the death from each character's canon life count, and people who lose all three of their canon lives are permanently deceased. However, exceptions have been made for this, with Tommy being brought BackFromTheDead using the book on revival during the lockdown of Pandora's Vault, and Jack Manifold dragging himself out of the Afterlife [[ResurrectionRevenge out of sheer vengefulness]] during the Doomsday War, giving him all three of his canon lives back. As a result of these special cases, the only characters who are dead and have stayed dead are Schlatt and [[SouthOfTheBorder Mexican Dream]].