History Main / LeftForDead

* ''Film/TheRevengers'': After [[spoiler:Chamaco]] shoots Benedict, the six examine him and conclude he is dead. They go their separate ways with Joe leaving behind money for the saloon keeper to see that his body is dealt with properly. However, when the keeper and his daughter collect the body, they realize he is still alive and take him to Nurse Elizabeth.

* Shishio's backstory in ''Manga/RurouniKenshin'' had him stabbed, shot, and ''set on fire'' by the Meiji government after he [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness outlived his usefulness]] at the end of the revolution. He then turned up te years later, covered in third degree burns and ''pissed off''.

* Literature/{{Parker}} is left for dead when he is betrayed by his wife and his partner after TheHeist in ''The Hunter''. He wakes up inside a burning house. managing to escape, he goes on a RoaringRampageOfRevenge.

* In ''{{Disney/Frozen}}'', [[spoiler:Hans leaves Anna to die from a curse turning her into ice by locking her in a cold room.]]
* [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''Disney/TheLionKing'': Simba is Left For Dead in the middle of a burning desert, only to be later saved by Timon and Pumbaa. Simba was supposed to have been finished off by the hyenas, but they blundered this (as usual) -- and weren't going to tell Scar about their failure.

[[AC:For the video game, see ''VideoGame/Left4Dead''.]]
[[AC:For the 2007 western-horror film, see ''Film/LeftForDead''.]]

->''"You were DEAD!"''\\
''[[UnexplainedRecovery "I got better!"]]''
-->-- '''Captain Sheridan''', ''Series/BabylonFive''

* In TheFilmOfTheBook of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', Aragorn plunges off a cliff during the warg battle in the Two Towers and is left for dead by his companions since NoOneCouldSurviveThat.

* The robbers of the pharmacy in the ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'' season 8 finale do this to Mac after shooting him InTheBack. Naturally, he survives, although it's his team that hunts the shooter down since he's unable.

* In ''Film/Revenege2017'', Richard shoves Jen off a cliff, and she is ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice on a tree on the floor of the canyon. Assuming she is dead, the trio go on their hunting trip and plan to return that evening and dispose of her body. However, when they get back, Jen is not there.

!!Examples

* ''Franchise/StarWars'': ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'':

* ''Series/DoctorWho'': In [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones "Smith and Jones"]], the Doctor is left for dead by an bloodsucking alien after she drained his blood. She was unaware that the Doctor possesses [[BizarreAlienBiology a dual vascular system]], so in fact she'd only gotten half his blood, leaving him weakened but ready to pop up and save the day.

* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'' - ''Born Under A Bad Sign'', if [[DemonicPossession Meg!Sam]] had actually checked that Dean had actually drowned instead of checking and then leaving, s/he could have enjoyed Sam's body for a hell of a lot longer.

* Kusari [[http://beta.sluggy.com/daily.php?date=010304 leaves Oasis for dead]] after their first battle in ''Webcomic/SluggyFreelance''. Oasis actually ''does'' die from her wounds, but dying has [[DeathIsCheap never slowed her down much]].

* In ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'', the title character actually died after being Left for Dead. It's not really an aversion, though, given that she still manages to be a main character and all.

* In ''{{Disney/Frozen}}'', [[spoiler:Hans left Anna to die from the ice curse. Justified because he couldn't afford to strike the killing blow himself (since that would expose his lies to the other officials), and because he couldn't afford to wait for the ice curse to finish Anna off (since Elsa was the greater threat).]]

->''"You were DEAD!"''
->''[[UnexplainedRecovery "I got better!"]]''

[[folder:Film]]
* In ''Film/RevengeOfTheSith'', Clone troopers shoot at Obi-Wan -- who falls into water and is left for dead (despite knowing that Jedi can both fall any distance and breathe underwater (via what Kevin Murphy calls "his trusty 'air-monica'" in ''Rifftrax''). The clones simply remarked (literally): "[[NoOneCouldSurviveThat No One Could Have Survived That.]]" Their GenreSavvy commander told them to continue searching. In the novelization, said commander at the same time laments that the order to kill Obi-Wan hadn't come just one minute sooner, ''before'' he'd returned Obi-Wan's lightsaber.
** Had Obi-Wan just force-pushed the limbless Vader into that lava pit, the entire original ''Franchise/StarWars'' trilogy would never have happened. Of course, that would have been worth several Dark Side points for Obi-Wan, so it's somewhat justified that he wouldn't.
* 006 in the pre-credits sequence of ''Film/GoldenEye''
** This is a [[PlayingWithATrope weird example.]] 006 was shot point blank in the head by [[TheDragon Ourumov]], so Bond was really only leaving a dead body behind in the explosion. [[spoiler:Or so he thought. 006 had Ourumov fake his death, a plan which almost went off the rails when 007 not only escaped, but set the timers on the planted explosives for three minutes instead of six, nearly killing them both. In the end, 006 was only LeftForDead by accident and unknowingly on Bond's part.]]

-->'''Wuertz:''' "[[spoiler:Dent]]! I thought you were dead!"
-->'''[[spoiler:Harvey Dent]]''': ''"Half."''

* In ''Film/{{Interstellar}}'', [[spoiler:Dr. Mann]], who has [[GoMadFromTheIsolation gone mad from the isolation]], does this after [[spoiler:admitting to Cooper that he lied about the planet being habitable and plans to hijack their ship and maroon him and the other two scientists there in favor of finding the next Earth on his own. He discards Cooper's radio to keep him from calling for help, then cracks his helmet so that he'll eventually die from the poisonous air. Luckily, Cooper manages to get his radio back and call Brand]].
** [[spoiler:Also, though Mann does manage to kill the third scientist on the team, Romilly, his attempt to steal the spaceship--and leave Cooper, Brand, and the robots stranded--fails when he accidentally blows himself up due to docking improperly]].
* In TheFilmOfTheBook of ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'', Aragorn plunges off a cliff during the warg battle in the Two Towers and is left for dead by his companions since NoOneCouldSurviveThat.
* Danny in ''Film/BlondieJohnson'', leaving one to wonder how he could've survived.
* In ''Film/TheBookOfEli'', the hero is left to die in the desert with a gut shot... [[spoiler:but he got better]].
* At the start of ''Film/RoboCop1987'' the bad guys pretty much dismember officer Murphy in a brutal fashion and leave him to die with a gunshot in his head, believing (quite understandably) he's dead. Even though the quick medical response can't save him in the end, he only dies at the hospital. They do not know that OCP has new experimental technology that can bring him back as the titular cyborg policeman.

* When five of the cast in ''Film/DayOfTheAnimals'' find their way into a lumberjack outpost, the peace they think they have reached is broken by a pack of dogs. They take shelter in one of the cottages, but the dogs' attack is so relentless that two of them is left behind to be mauled by them as the other three flee for the river.
* Desconocida shoots El Topo and leaves him for dead in the desert and the end of part 2 of ''Film/ElTopo''.
* In the original fake trailer of ''Film/{{Machete}}'' in ''Film/{{Grindhouse}}'', the narration says about [[Main/CharacterTitle Machete]]: "Set up, double-crossed, and left for dead."
* In ''Film/TheMummy1999'', Ardeth leaves Rick to die in the desert. He's impressed when Rick makes it out alive and the two eventually become friends.

* In ''Film/CrimeDoctor'', Emilio slams Phil Morgan over the head and throws him out of a moving car, leaving him for dead on the side of the road.

[[folder:Live Action TV]]

* In the ''Series/{{Heroes}}'' season 1 finale, Sylar is Left for Dead after being run through with a samurai sword... and at the very end, no one seems to notice his body has suddenly disappeared, with a trail of blood leading to an open manhole nearby.
** This happens again in the Volume 3 finale, after he gets stabbed in the back of the head which supposedly nullifies his regeneration powers. Even though there is no sign this time that he escaped, (trapped in an exploding building, after all) [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt No one (in the audience) believed this death would stick]]. The fact that just seconds before they had just built up a storyline for Sylar to track down his true parents helped reinforce this belief in the audience.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': In "[[{{Recap/BuffyTheVampireSlayerS1E12ProphecyGirl}} Prophecy Girl]]", the Master catches Buffy deep in his subterranean vampire lair, drains her, and dumps her face-first in a pool. What more needs to be done? Besides making sure Xander doesn't man up, go into an underground vamp playpen, and perform [=CPR=] on the Buffster, that is. The Master lives to regret it. About half an hour. In fairness to the Master, she ''was'' dead, just not brain dead.
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' Series 3 episode [[Recap/DoctorWhoS29E1SmithAndJones "Smith and Jones"]], the Doctor is Left for Dead by an bloodsucking alien after she drained his blood. She was unaware that the Doctor possesses [[BizarreAlienBiology a dual vascular system]], so in fact she'd only gotten half his blood, leaving him weakened but ready to pop up and save the day.
* The third season premiere of ''Series/{{Merlin|2008}}'' had Morgause decide that the best way to keep Merlin from foiling her plan to conquer Camelot was to leave him in magical chains to be killed by poisonous beasts while she went on her way. Of course, the titular character of the show escapes, much to her surprise.
* The robbers of the pharmacy in the ''Series/{{CSI NY}}'' season 8 finale do this to Mac after shooting him InTheBack. Naturally, he survives, although it's his team that hunts the shooter down since he's unable.
* Happened a lot on ''Series/{{Highlander}}'', by people who didn't know a character was immortal and only killable by beheading. The immortal would then come back to hunt them down. Duncan in 'Bad Day in Building A' is a prime example.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

[[folder:Web Originals]]

* [[Franchise/DisneyAnimatedCanon Disney's]] ''Disney/TheLionKing'': Simba is Left For Dead in the middle of a burning desert, only to be later saved by Timon and Pumbaa. Simba was supposed to have been finished off by the hyenas, but they blundered this (as usual) -- and weren't going to tell Scar about their failure.
* In ''{{Disney/Frozen}}'', [[spoiler:Hans left Anna to die from the ice curse. Justified because he couldn't afford to strike the killing blow himself (since that would expose his lies to the other officials), and because he couldn't afford to wait for the ice curse to finish Anna off (since Elsa was the greater threat).]]
* Peter Griffin's fights with the giant chicken in ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' end with Peter finally triumphing over the chicken and leaving. Then the camera zooms in and the chicken opens one eye over a {{sting}}. Peter never thinks to wring its neck and make a chicken dinner (though they did make peace and [[GoKartingWithBowser have dinner together]] at one point, but [[HereWeGoAgain then they started fighting over the check]]).

* In ''WesternAnimation/CorpseBride'', the title character actually died after being Left for Dead. It's not really an aversion, though, given that she still manages to be a main character and all.
* In ''WesternAnimation/TransformersPrime'', Shockwave was left for dead on Cybertron after he was caught in an exploding space bridge. He managed to repair himself and continued his research in isolation until some Decepticons returned to the planet on an unrelated mission. Safe to say, he wasn't happy to see [[TheStarscream Starscream]] when he finally came back, demanding to know why he had been left there to scrap and only backing down when Starscream fearfully and quickly explained there was no sign he had survived the explosion so everyone had wrote him off as dead. He accepted the logic behind the statement.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheSecretOfKells'', Abbot Cellach is so badly wounded in the Viking attack that they don't bother finishing him off. He survives to live to old age.

* Season 1 finale of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': The Master catches Buffy deep in his subterranean vampire lair, drains her, and dumps her face-first in a pool. What more needs to be done? Besides making sure Xander doesn't man up, go into an underground vamp playpen, and perform [=CPR=] on the Buffster, that is. The Master lives to regret it. About half an hour. In fairness to the Master, she ''was'' dead, just not brain dead.

* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'': This happens a lot. The problem stems from hollows and shinigami only being confirmed dead by cutting off the head. As a result, they can potentially (but not always) survive ridiculous injuries if this step isn't taken. More often than not, antagonists and protagonists will not take this last step, causing this trope to kick in. Lampshaded in-universe by Zommari who was a firm believer in cutting off heads to avert this trope and Hitsugaya who lectured Luppi on not following through when Luppi assumed he'd killed Hitsugaya. Aizen himself wasn't a fan of following through except on three occasions where he really did want his opponents dead and even then, one of his targets still survived (Yamamoto). Most of the time it seems that Aizen is just too egotistical to care; he's already proved that these people are no threat by [[CurbStompBattle curbstomping them]], so what difference does it make if they manage to survive?

** To be fair, usually when Shinn stabbed someone through the cockpit (and the suit exploded), they don't usually (read: NEVER) live. On top of that, the Freedom had a friggin nuke engine that went critical. The two were not so much left for dead, but rather lived through an extremely lucky scenario. I mean, who lives through a point-blank Nuclear Explosion!?

* What Gin and Vodka do to Kudou Shinichi in the first chapter/episode of ''Manga/DetectiveConan''. Not suspecting the seven-year-old is him is one thing, but seriously? Walking away like that just because you'd fed him an 'untraceable poison?' You're supposed to be super-professionals at this game.
** And that's not even getting into how they clearly just sort of stuck the pill in his mouth and made no effort to actually force-feed him. Seriously, the anime shows the water they pour in to wash it down running straight out the other side again! Except he obviously did swallow it since [[ItWasHisSled he shrunk]].

* ''Film/TheRevengers'': After [[spoiler:Chmaco]] shoots Benedict, the six examine him and conclude he is dead. They go their separate ways with Joe leaving behind money for the saloon keeper to see that his body is dealt with properly. However, when the keeper and his daughter collect the body, they realize he is still alive and take him to Nurse Elizabeth.

** At the end of "Up is Down and Black is White" arc, Frank catches up with Nicky Cavella, a mafioso who [[BerserkButton desecrated his family's graves]]. Frank shoots him low in the stomach, leaving him in the woods to slowly bleed out or die of infection. In a subversion of the usual course of this trope, Cavella does indeed die.

* [[spoiler:Agent Phil Coulson]] from ''Film/{{The Avengers|2012}}''.