History Main / NotSoInvincibleAfterall

** At first, Charlotte Katakuri, the strongest of the Sweet Commanders, seems to be nearly unstoppable, having the highest bounty revealed at that point in the story, subjecting SuperSoldier Ichiji to an offscreen CurbStompBattle, killing a guest who was attempting to assassinate his mother before he even got to see her, seemingly being immune to Armament Haki (which should normally bypass his ElementalShapeshifter abilities), and subjecting ''[[TheHero Luffy]]'' to an utter NoHoldsBarredBeatDown, doing all of it while remaining untouched... [[spoiler:Until it turns out in Chapter 884 that he's actually just using his [[CombatClairvoyance Observation Haki]] and ElementalShapeshifter powers (which turn out to be Special Paramecia abilities, ''NOT'' Logia) together to pull his body out of the way when he's "hit", so that all that his enemies touch is air. And once Luffy manages to break his focus, which is necessary for his Observation Haki to work, and later, match his Observation's power, leaving it unreliable, he's as vulnerable to getting hit as everyone else]].

** Big Mom herself is an interesting example. While normally NighInvulnerable, there is one circumstance where her MadeOfIron body can be damaged; if something happens to a portrait she keeps of someone named Mother Carmel. When the portrait simply fell with no damage, Big Mom let out a huge scream and scraped her knee, causing it to bleed. Bege, recounting this event, commented on how strange it was to see that Big Mom had red blood. [[spoiler: In the Battle of Onigashima, Kid and Law use their Awakened Devil Fruit powers to [[ArmorPiercingAttack overcome or bypass Big Mom's physical defenses]] and start doing serious harm to her, shocking bystanders. Kid even points that no one is completely indestructible, and the fight ends with [[RingOut Big Mom being blasted out of Onigashima]].]]

** One of the other Emperors, Kaido, is so NighInvulnerable, he basically treats suicide attempts like a hobby and is known as the "strongest ''creature'' in the world", as almost nothing can even pierce his skin and a leap from cloud height only left him with a bit of a headache. However, in the past he has received one scar, from the legendary daimyo Kozuki Oden (a man who clashed equally with Whitebeard), and in fact was nearly killed by him. In the present, he tanks [[TheWorfBarrage a sustained barrage]] from [[SuperMode Gear 4]] Luffy without a scratch, but [[spoiler: when Oden's closest followers come to assassinate him, he's actually shocked that their blades are able to hurt him and he screams in pain. Luffy later demonstrates his improved Haki mastery when he punches Kaido -without Gear 4- and actually draws blood. As the other members of the Worst Generation jump in, Zoro, Law, Kid and Killer all show that [[ArmorPiercingAttack they have ways of bypassing his invulnerable skin]], [[VillainRespect amazing him]]. And as [[AntagonisticOffspring Yamato]] points out, another sign of him weakening from the battle is that the cloud flames he created to [[OminousFloatingCastle hold Onigashima in the air]] begin to [[NoOntologicalInertia disappear]]]].

* ''LightNovel/{{Durarara}}'''s Shizuo Heiwajima is presented as pretty much damn near invincible for most of the series -- so when Horoda manages to demonstrate that he's not as immune to bullets as he is to blades, it comes as quite a shock. [[spoiler:It's then subverted in the following episode when Shizuo shows up at [[BackAlleyDoctor Shinra's]] place bloody and tremendously annoyed, but not particularly close to death.]]

** One of the other Emperors, Kaido, is so NighInvulnerable, he basically treats suicide attempts like a hobby and is known as the "strongest ''creature'' in the world", as almost nothing can even pierce his skin and a leap from cloud height only left him with a bit of a headache. However, in the past he has received one scar, from the legendary daimyo Kozuki Oden (a man who clashed equally with Whitebeard), and in fact was nearly killed by him. In the present, he tanks [[TheWorfBarrage a sustained barrage]] from [[SuperMode Gear 4]] Luffy without a scratch, but [[spoiler: when Oden's closest followers come to assassinate him, he's actually shocked that their blades are able to hurt him and he screams in pain. Luffy later demonstrates his improved Haki mastery when he punches Kaido -without Gear 4- and actually draws blood. As the other members of the Worst Generation jump in, Zoro, Law, Kidd and Killer all show that [[ArmorPiercingAttack they have ways of bypassing his invulnerable skin]], amazing him. And as Yamato points, another sign of him weakening from the battle is that the cloud flames he created to [[OminousFloatingCastle hold Onigashima in the air]] begin to [[NoOntologicalInertia disappear]]]].

** One of the other Emperors, Kaido, is so NighInvulnerable, he basically treats suicide attempts like a hobby and is known as the "strongest ''creature'' in the world", as almost nothing can even pierce his skin and a leap from cloud height only left him with a bit of a headache. However, in the past he has received one scar, from the legendary daimyo Kozuki Oden (a man who clashed equally with Whitebeard), and in fact was nearly killed by him. In the present, he tanks [[TheWorfBarrage a sustained barrage]] from [[SuperMode Gear 4]] Luffy without a scratch, but [[spoiler: when Oden's closest followers come to assassinate him, he's actually shocked that their blades are able to hurt him and he screams in pain. Luffy later demonstrates his improved Haki mastery when he punches Kaido -without Gear 4- and actually draws blood. As the other members of the Worst Generation jump in, Zoro, Law, Kidd and Killer all show that they have ways of bypassing his invulnerable skin, amazing him. And as Yamato points, another sign of him weakening from the battle is that the cloud flames he created to hold Onigashima in the air begin to disappear.]]

** Big Mom herself is an interesting example. While normally NighInvulnerable, there is one circumstance where her MadeOfIron body can be damaged; if something happens to a portrait she keeps of someone named Mother Carmel. When the portrait simply fell with no damage, Big Mom let out a huge scream and scraped her knee, causing it to bleed. Bege, recounting this event, commented on how strange it was to see that Big Mom had red blood. [[spoiler: In the Battle of Onigashima, Kidd and Law use their Awakened Devil Fruit powers to start doing serious harm to Big Mom, shocking bystanders. Kidd even points that no one is completely indestructible, and the fight ends with Big Mom being blasted out of Onigashima.]]

* ''Anime/{{Naruto}}'' gives us the example of Kimimaro, an extremely powerful member of the Sound Five, who nearly kills Gaara and Lee, only to succumb to his fatal illness.

** Also, now revealed is [[spoiler: Nagato, the real person behind Pain. While the bodies he possesses are incredibly difficult for even Jiraiya and Naruto to defeat, Nagato is extremely thin and weak looking. Due to summoning some kind of demon statue which resulted in giving him the ability to manipulate the other bodies of Pain.]]

* Madame Souza of ''WesternAnimation/TheTripletsOfBelleville'' is a virtual ImplacableMan who crosses the Atlantic in a pedal boat and manages to wipe out the French Mafia with no more aid than three other elderly women and an incredibly fat dog. The ending implies that she died of old age sometime after the events of the film proper.

-->'''Chris''': He thought he was invincible...

** The U.S.J. Arc is Class A learning a whole about the pro heroes they look up to as their teacher Eraser Head and the hero Thirteen are both badly beaten by the League of Villains, who overwhelm Eraser Head with numbers and then a creature designed to beat All Might while Thirteen gets ambushed via a portal trick while trying to help some of the students get outside to get help. Seeing the injuries Eraser Head incurs ends up terrifying Izuku, Tsuyu, and Mineta, and the whole class leaves the experience realizing just how tough the pro heroes have it and the sort of things they're being trained to hopefully survive because they're ''not'' invincible, no matter what the public thinks.

* Creator/MarvelComics' version of ComicBook/{{Captain Marvel|MarvelComics}} died not from a supervillain battle, but from cancer. (Admittedly, it was cancer caused during a supervillain battle, but.)

** In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Izumi Curtis is the Elrics' teacher, a brilliant alchemist and one of the few people they're truly scared of. (Ed and Al often build up the courage to fight a villain with the line "He's not as scary as our teacher!") However, she also suffers from an IncurableCoughOfDeath and BloodFromTheMouth. Van Hohenheim introduces himself to her by noting her alchemy-induced cough and cures her by ''[[spoiler:jabbing his hand into her midsection and rearranging her organs]]''. In ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemistTheConquerorOfShamballa'', [[spoiler:it's revealed that she finally succumbed to her illness.]]

** One of the other Emperors, Kaido, is so NighInvulnerable, he basically treats suicide attempts like a hobby and is known as the "strongest ''creature'' in the world", as almost nothing can even pierce his skin and a leap from cloud height only left him with a bit of a headache. However, in the past he has received one scar, from the legendary daimyo Kozuki Oden (a man who clashed equally with Whitebeard), and in fact was nearly killed by him. In the present, he tanks [[TheWorfBarrage a sustained barrage]] from [[SuperMode Gear 4]] Luffy without a scratch, but [[spoiler: when Oden's closest followers come to assassinate him, he's actually shocked that their blades are able to hurt him and he screams in pain. Luffy later demonstrates his improved Haki mastery when he punches Kaido- without Gear 4- and actually draws blood. As the other members of the Worst Generation jump in, Zoro, Law, Kidd and Killer all show that they have ways of bypassing his invulnerable skin, amazing him. And as Yamato points, another sign of him weakening from the battle is that the cloud flames he created to hold Onigashima in the air begin to disappear.]]
** For much of the first half of the series, [[ElementalShapeShifting logia Devil Fruit powers]] seemed utterly broken, with the MadeOfAir aspect allowing their users to let attacks pass right through them. However, when fighting Crocodile and Eneru, Luffy would stumble upon the ElementalRockPaperScissors that would allow him to fight them on an even keel, much to the amazement of bystanders. Blackbeard first showed off his Dark-Dark Fruit powers by using them to attack Ace directly. A fighter trained in [[KiAttack Haki: the Colors of Armaments]] could also affect logias by attacking their bodies directly. When the rookie pirate Caribou, who had the power to turn into mud and became a living bog, tried attacking the New World pirate Pekoms, Pekoms used his Haki to take Caribou down in one shot, noting that logias who think they're invincible have short lives.
** For the people of Nami's island, the fish-men of the Arlong Pirates were unstoppable monsters only the Grand Line Navy could handle. Even when Cocoyashi decide to rebel, they know that they're just throwing away their lives. Then Luffy and co. step in, and begin systematically taking down the fish-men. In Saobondy, Nami is surprised to learn of the FantasticRacism fish-folk and merfolk suffered, as they always seemed so powerful to her.

* This trope is the reason why Makoto Shishio died on ''Manga/RurouniKenshin.'' It isn't because he was burned alive (though this incidentally was the cause), shot in the head, took a tremendously powerful blow to the head, took several more extremely powerful blows to the body, was shot through a wall, and was hit dead on by arguably the most powerful attack in the series but because he "surpassed his limit", which caused him to spontaneously combust due to all of his sweat glands being melted.

* The "Invincible" Tubba Blubba from ''VideoGame/{{Paper Mario|64}}''. His invincibility is the plot point of the chapter: you know he has a weakness, you just don't know what it is or where to find it. [[spoiler:It's his heart, separated from his body, which is still very vulnerable. After defeating it, it flees and rejoins its owner, making him not only vulnerable but weak enough to take out in one turn.]]

* In many Mario games such as ''VideoGame/SuperMarioBros3'' and ''VideoGame/SuperMarioWorld'', even while you're powered-up with the [[InvincibilityPowerUp Invincibility Star]], you can still get [[DeathThrows killed]] by jumping into lava or being crushed by a wall and platform.

* ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog'':

-->-- '''Duke''' on Ivan Drago, ''Film/{{Rocky IV}}''

* ''Anime/MegamanNTWarrior'': Slur's status as InvincibleVillain was finally revoked from her when [[spoiler:Bass promptly attacked and killed her in revenge for a previous defeat.]]

* In ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex'', Accelerator is considered one of the most powerful espers ever and pretty much invincible thanks to his ability to modify the vectors of anything that closes in on him. Cue [[TheProtagonist Touma Kamijou]] and his [[AntiMagic Imagine Breaker]] punching the daylights out of him and shattering his image of invincibility.

* Played for laughs in ''Film/GoldenEye'', where [[PlayfulHacker Boris]], after being the last survivor of the [[spoiler: collapse of Alec Trevelyan's lair (other than Bond and Natalia of course)]], jumps up and hollers his CatchPhrase: "Yes! I AM INVINCIBLE!" A split second later, three tanks of liquid nitrogen explode and flash-freeze him to death.
* In the movie ''Film/RockyIV'', Drago is initially pounding Rocky completely, until one of Rocky's punches actually cuts Drago below his left eye. The odds begin to shift in Rocky's favor from then on out. Simultaneously [[InvertedTrope inverted]]: while Duke is excitedly pointing out Drago's vulnerability to Rocky, Drago is in the opposite corner flabbergasted that his opponent just won't stay down.
--->'''Drago''' ''(in Russian)'': He's not human. He's like a piece of iron.
* ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar''
** Thanos is pretty much an InvincibleVillain. He beat up Thor before the movie even started, [[CurbStompBattle curb stomps]] ''the Hulk'' in the opening moments, and casually laughs off the assault of the Guardians of the Galaxy. Until the Battle of Titan, where Iron Man, Spider-Man, Doctor Strange, and half of the Guardians actually manage to briefly overpower and restrain him together. Unfortunately, a fatal mistake by Star-Lord costs them their victory. An all-out attack from Iron Man shortly after manages to give a cut across the cheek. Subverted, or perhaps ''inverted'', in that instead of a moment of triumph Thanos immediately taunts him on how it took so much to accomplish so ''little''.
--->"All that for a drop of blood."

* In the movie ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'', after Neo stopped a hail of bullets, the Merovingian's mooks pick up swords and start fighting him. When Neo stops a sword with his outstretched hand, a drop of blood from his hand hits the floor. The Merovingian then says "See! He's just a man!" Cue Neo taking swords off the wall and defeating the mooks.
* In the 1953 film adaptation of ''Film/{{The War of the Worlds|1953}}'', the alien tripods lay waste to the human military without breaking stride. However, they all are defeated [[spoiler:by bacteria--against which they are not immune]].
** In the [[Film/WarOfTheWorlds 2005 adaptation]], the Tripods are assumed to be untouchable, but once [[spoiler:their [[DeflectorShields shields]] are down, they fall easily to grenades and the like, even before the bacteria ends their invasion.]]
* When they find evidence that the titular Film/{{Predator}} didn't escape their barrage of gunfire ''completely'' unscathed, the soldiers realize they're not dealing with an invincible supernatural threat, just a very, very dangerous mortal one. Cue one of the film's more famous quotes:

* ''Franchise/{{Terminator}}''
** The eponymous killing machine in ''Film/TheTerminator'' is finally shown dragging his heavily damaged leg after being [[TheresNoKillLikeOverkill flattened by a semi]]. In this case it's not so much to show that there's hope of defeating him, but rather to show that he absolutely [[TheDeterminator will not stop]] so long as he's still functioning.

* ''Film/TheMist'' plays this trope completely straight. The creatures found in the mist are terrifying and unstoppable...against frightened, trapped civilians armed with makeshift melee weapons. Against trained soldiers with automatic weapons and flamethrowers, who use infantry tactics and have both armor and air support, they're easily slaughtered wholesale. This should be noted as one of the very few films where a modern-day military is shown to be more than a match for the threat.

* “Literature/TheFableOfTheDragonTyrant”: For centuries, a kingdom lived under the shadow of a man-eating dragon that was immune to every attack thrown at it, from regular weapons to magic spells, to poisons. Eventually a scientist invented a material sharp enough to pierce the dragon’s scales, enabling the kingdom to fashion a weapon to kill the dragon.

* Porthos, the giant member of our band in "The Three Musketeers" and "The Man in the Iron Mask"-- so big and strong that he can't even kill himself by hanging (though it does cure his impotence which is why he was doing it)-- is killed holding up a huge rock in "Thirty Years After."

* The death of the alien invaders in ''Literature/TheWarOfTheWorlds'' is a classic case, although not a very well foreshadowed one[[note]]most adaptations tend to make it even less foreshadowed -- in addition to the famous introductory paragraph there ''is'' an info-dump about midway through the book that in passing mentions an apparent lack of a Martian immunity system amongst other biological facts since learned -- but it is clunky enough that adaptations tend to leave it out.[[/note]]. Earlier in the book, there is the Martian attack on Shepperton, which applies this to the Martian tripods by showing that human heavy weaponry ''can'' destroy them... just with so much effort that the invasion still seems unstoppable.
** The problem was that the Martian tripods were well-armoured enough that anything a human soldier could lift in 1898 wouldn't so much as scratch them and contemporary artillery couldn't adjust quick enough to hit them without some degree of luck. HMS ''Thunder Child'', a torpedo ram, could move while firing and use ramming to take down a tripod and damage two others before being destroyed. Set the story in the 21st Century [[TankGoodness where we have our own]] LightningBruiser [[TankGoodness war machines]], and the tripods will definitely prove not so invincible, which is why subsequent adapatations of the story usually give them indestructible forcefields.

* [[Literature/TheSeaWolf Wolf Larsen]] remains undefeated in physical (or verbal) confrontation -- right up until an apparent brain tumor does him in. Foreshadowed by his unthinkably painful headaches at various points before the end.
* In the [[Literature/HonorHarrington Honorverse]], the Solarian League's navy is more than ten times the size of any other, so it's been able to bully most potential opponents for centuries, without even having to actually fight. Then one of its ships gets popped in a fight with the Manties. The Sollies repeatedly double down to restore their reputation for invincibility, with generally lamentable results.
* After spending 8000 pages worth of story and 10 years real-time being almost untouchable to the main characters, Lord English is finally defeated in ''Literature/TheHomestuckEpilogues''. After his status as TheOmnipotent is revoked by the destruction of the Green Sun, Davepeta carries him into the resultant black hole, which he survives, but throws him into an alternate timeline where he is [[EatingTheEnemy devoured by Alt!Calliope]].

** Buffy was brought low by a bout of flu in "Killed by Death". [[ContrivedCoincidence Handily]], this gave her a reason to investigate a series of deaths in the local hospital.
** After all of his plans were ruined, Warren simply [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim walks onto Buffy's backyard with a pistol]] and shoots her. She's still human, after all. Unfortunately he also killed Tara, and her girlfriend [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Willow]] was not [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge happy about this.]] Dark Willow did have time to save Buffy's life before going on a rampage though.

* The teaser of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'''s third season finale is pretty simple. Two Borg cubes (and only one of them was needed to wipe out 39 starships and 11,000 Starfleet lives in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'') appear on the screen, delivering their CatchPhrase. While they're saying it, beams of energy shoot out and blow them up as they reach the line 'Resistance is futile." The whole episode is about how ''Voyager'' can go up against something that is able to do that to the Borg.

* Gai Yuuki/Black Condor in ''Series/ChoujinSentaiJetman''. One full year of fighting Vyram, extraterrestrial invaders, and he survived them all! Cue 3 years later, a random mugger kills him with a mere stab.

* In ''VideoGame/{{Iconoclasts}}'', the agents are invincible, extremely long-lived agents of the One Concern. When not one, but ''two'' of them are killed in quick succession, it terrifies the rest of them.

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Izumi Curtis is the Elrics' teacher, a brilliant alchemist and one of the few people they're truly scared of. (Ed and Al often build up the courage to fight a villain with the line "He's not as scary as our teacher!") However, she also suffers from an IncurableCoughOfDeath and BloodFromTheMouth. Van Hohenheim introduces himself to her by noting her alchemy-induced cough and cures her by ''[[spoiler:jabbing his hand into her midsection and rearranging her organs]]''.
** In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version's]] [[TheMovie movie]], [[spoiler:it's revealed that she finally succumbed to her illness.]]

* Alduin from ''VideoGame/TheElderScrollsVSkyrim'' is assumed to be completely deathless. The only thing that does him in is fighting a dovahkiin in the Nord afterlife, and even that ends ambiguously. So it comes to a complete shock to him when ancient heroes managed to create a [[LanguageofMagic shout]] that actually hurt him.

* The trend continues in ''VideoGame/AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'', where [[TheProtagonist Trigger]] goes up against Mihaly A. Shilage - the infamous "King of the Skies", who according to source material ''mentored'' Yellow 13. He comes with his own Yellow Squadron-Expy, Sol Squadron, whose pilots are every bit as dangerous as the Yellow pilots were. [[TheDreaded Mihaly]] himself stands out as an in-universe LivingLegend whose presence strikes fear into the hearts of his opponents who dreaded going up against him. Every time he shows up, he claims at least one of your allies' lives. It gets to the point that [[spoiler:Mihaly's flight data was used by the enemy scientist as a template for super combat A.I. that, after it goes rogue, ''threatens all of humanity's existence'']]. Throughout the story, it's made clear and clear that only [[AcePilot Trigger]] could stand up against him. He's the first to be able to land some hits on the mighty ace pilot in all of his career, would've actually beaten him in the second encounter [[spoiler:were it not for the satellite disaster, and finally beats him for real even with Mihaly flying a SuperPrototype plane to up his odds. Not only that, Trigger also proves to have what it takes to defeat ''two'' of the aforementioned super A.I. drones in the final battle as well]], showing once and for all that there's always a better ace pilot out there.

* The trend continues in ''AceCombat7SkiesUnknown'', where [[TheProtagonist Trigger]] goes up against Mihaly A. Shilage - the infamous "King of the Skies", who according to source material ''mentored'' Yellow 13. He comes with his own Yellow Squadron-Expy, Sol Squadron, whose pilots are every bit as dangerous as the Yellow pilots were. [[TheDreaded Mihaly]] himself stands out as an in-universe LivingLegend whose presence strikes fear into the hearts of his opponents who dreaded going up against him. Every time he shows up, he claims at least one of your allies' lives. It gets to the point that [[spoiler:Mihaly's flight data was used by the enemy scientist as a template for super combat A.I. that, after it goes rogue, ''threatens all of humanity's existence'']]. Throughout the story, it's made clear and clear that only [[AcePilot Trigger]] could stand up against him. He's the first to be able to land some hits on the mighty ace pilot in all of his career, would've actually beaten him in the second encounter [[spoiler:were it not for the satellite disaster, and finally beats him for real even with Mihaly flying a SuperPrototype plane to up his odds. Not only that, Trigger also proves to have what it takes to defeat ''two'' of the aforementioned super A.I. drones in the final battle as well]], showing once and for all that there's always a better ace pilot out there.

* ''Webcomic/KillSixBillionDemons'': GodEmperor Solomon David holds a regular tournament where the Multiverse's strongest fighters will fight each other to face Solomon in the final round; [[VictoryByFirstBlood anyone who can so much as draw a single drop of blood from Solomon]] can have ''any'' boon from him he's able to fulfill, up to and including his Empire or his Magus Key. In the centuries he's hosted the tournament, Solomon has met hundreds of challengers and has never lost, even when he's JustToyingWithThem. At the end of ''King of Swords'', [[spoiler:82 White Chain becomes Solomon's opponent and their duel leads to White Chain grazing Solomon's cheek and giving him a small bruise. While this does not qualify as a victory per the rules, merely seeing the GodEmperor touched by an opponent leads to the audience declaring White Chain the winner.]]

** In a few modern Sonic games, a select few enemies have proven to be powerful enough that they can, through power alone, harm Super Sonic or other characters in their Super Forms. Notably, the Egg Salamander from ''[[VideoGame/SonicRushSeries Sonic Rush]]'', Solaris from ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2006'' and Dark Gaia from ''VideoGame/SonicUnleashed'' are three such examples, though in the case of the former, only a select few of the Egg Salamander's attacks can harm Super Sonic or Burning Blaze.

** Sephiroth of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. WordOfGod is that he's the most powerful character in that game's verse. An ordinary grunt still managed to kill him by stabbing him in the back with a huge sword while he was distracted and later using Sephiroth's own sword which he was impaled on to throw Sephiroth into the Lifestream. Despite coming back to life ''twice'' with more power each time, Sephiroth is still killed again and again for his troubles. By that very same grunt no less.

* Alduin from Skyrim is assumed to be completely deathless. The only thing that does him in is fighting a dovahkiin in the Nord afterlife, and even that ends ambiguously. So it comes to a complete shock to him when ancient heroes managed to create a [[LanguageofMagic shout]] that actually hurt him.

This can actually apply to both heroes or villains, although most examples tend to be the latter. For sports or combat opponents who already have an established unwinnable reputation as part of their background, then see DefeatingTheUndefeatable, a subtrope.

Alduin from Skyrim is assumed to be completely deathless. The only thing that does him in is fighting a dovahkiin in the Nord afterlife, and even that ends ambiguously. So it comes to a complete shock to him when ancient heroes managed to creat a [[LanguageofMagic]]shout that actually hurt him.