History Main / OurHeroIsDead

* In ''Manga/FullmetalAlchemist'', Ed is impaled by a metal beam after a fight with Kimblee, and collapses from blood loss, while, miles from there, Al collapses, saying he can feel his soul being pulled away. The chapter ends with a shot of both brothers unconscious while Winry yells Ed's name.
** ''Anime/FullmetalAlchemist2003'':

* About halfway through the ''Manga/SoulHunter'' manga, Taikoubou is killed by Choukoumei. The chapter even ends with ClosingCredits (apparently written by Choukoumei, seeing as how he's listed as the hero). Then the next chapter begins with a new manga series (also written by Choukoumei) until the remaining good guys put a stop to it. It later turns out Taikoubou wasn't killed, and another villain sacrificed himself to save him.
** It happens again towards the end of the series, with Taikoubou dying during the TournamentArc. Really this time. He comes back a few chapters later by [[FusionDance combining with one of the villains]].
* Yusuke Urameshi of ''Manga/YuYuHakusho'' during his fight with Sensui. Turns out he's part demon. [[DeadToBeginWith Yusuke also died at the beginning.]]

* The anime of ''Anime/DevilMayCryTheAnimatedSeries'' plays this trope, like many others, as absolutely straight as possible. Dante is shown [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice brutally impaled]] in a CrucifiedHeroShot as the credits roll silently over the end of the second-to-last episode of the show. However, it ''continues'' to invoke it all the way through to the last third of the final episode, even unto having [[AdorablyPrecociousChild Patty]] deliver a truly [[TearJerker heartwrenching]] [[PleaseWakeUp plea]] to Dante's apparently lifeless body, set to a reprisal of [[NostalgicMusicBox the music box theme]] from the first game that damn near makes you wonder if...
-->'''Patty''' - "Dante! Wake up, run away! No way you'd die from a little wound like this, right? Please wake up and take down the demons like you always do!... I'm sorry... I'm so sorry!.."
** Of course, the audience is fully aware that [[spoiler: she's [[HealingFactor completely]] [[ClimacticBattleResurrection right]] ]].

So, it's getting near the end of the episode, and the FiveManBand is in a heated battle against the forces of evil. Sure, it's a tough fight, but you know the team will pull through. RightMakesMight, and because of that, the villain doesn't stand a chance, but then, out of nowhere, TheHero gets hit with a devastating blow and collapses in a pool of his own blood. His faithful companions, thinking "NoOneCouldSurviveThat" belt out a collective BigNo. [[CliffHanger Cue the credits!]]

This trope is when an episode ends with the main character appearing to have been killed. This is supposedly a very dramatic event, so writers typically save this one for late in a season. Problem is, while the TrueCompanions and the BigBad will think Our Hero Is Dead, [[LikeYouWouldReallyDoIt the audience isn't fooled]]. Contrary to popular belief, most viewers know that if the hero died, the story would be over. But even knowing the hero isn't as dead as he looks, it can still be shocking, and sure enough, in the next episode, we learn that the hero's PlotArmor saved him. The rest of the band rushes to his side, finds out he still has a pulse, and the team retreats with the fallen hero slung over the shoulder of TheBigGuy to get him some [[AfterActionHealingDrama desperately needed medical attention]]. Then all the hero needs is some time to rest up, and they'll be back to fight another day.

* In ''Literature/{{Pact}}'', [[spoiler:Blake Thorburn gets into a fight with a demon and loses, being made an {{Unperson}} in the process]]. There's a denouement chapter of various characters reacting to the sudden absence, with his DistaffCounterpart Rose Thorburn becoming his successor as Thorburn Heir, before the narrative abruptly shifts to [[HeroOfAnotherStory Goblin hunter Maggie Holt]] for seven chapters. After that, though [[spoiler:The next chapter takes place from Blake's point of view, revealing that instead of being eaten he's fallen into an EldritchLocation called The Drains, which serves as the CantRefuseTheCallAnymore moment for his [[TheHerosJourney Hero's Journey]]]].

* Phobia, at the end of ''Webcomic/GastroPhobia'', chapter 6, fell from the top of a tree and was knocked unconscious. And Klepto couldn't wake her up. Then night fell and, according to the AltText, she was eaten by wolves.

* The first chapter of the Gearing Up arc in ''FanFic/KyonBigDamnHero'' ends with Kyon being shot. The scene's effect is diminished by having in a previous scene a future instance of him telling Koizumi [[StableTimeLoop this is a predetermined event]].

* [[spoiler:Ichigo]] in ''FanFic/SoulChess''.

* ''Fanfic/{{Game Theory|LyricalNanoha}}'' ends with Precia and all her allies, including Nanoha, falling into Imaginary Space. [[spoiler:Except that they didn't; Precia actually collapsed the Garden of Time into Imaginary Space to [[FakingTheDead fake their deaths]], and had already successfully revived Alicia without traveling to Alhazred.]]

* In the 11th volume of ''LightNovel/HighSchoolDxD'', [[spoiler: Issei Hyodou]] apparently dies in an alternate dimension and the only clues that were given were the [[spoiler:eight [[ChessMotifs pawn pieces]] returned to Rias]].
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' had its twelfth episode, "Jupiter Jazz pt. 1", end with Spike getting shot. The following one revealed he'd been hit with a tranquilizer.

* Happens twice in the {{Light Novel|s}} versions of ''LightNovel/ACertainMagicalIndex''. First at the end of Volume 1, when Touma's memories are erased permanently, as Touma is essentially a different person now. Then, at the end of Volume 22, [[spoiler: when Touma vanishes without a trace after defeating ArchangelGabriel]]. He comes back safe and sound at the end of the next Volume.

** Speaking of Sonic, this is also essentially the tagline behind the visual novel ''VisualNovel/TheMurderOfSonicTheHedgehog'', with the blue blur being seemingly murdered. [[spoiler:The gang initially just brushes it off as part of the murder mystery game they were playing for Amy's birthday (and indeed, Sonic ''was'' the designated victim), but an outside interference means that Sonic was actually hurt for real, though by the end of the game, it was revealed that he was OnlyMostlyDead, and he does recover in time for the final confrontation.]]

-->WE'VE HEARD ALL OF YOUR FEEDBACK\\

* In ''ComicBook/SonicTheHedgehogArchieComics'', Sonic himself had dealt with this trope more than once in the early issues. #125 was the most dramatic, but he survives as well at the very end. [[spoiler: He was catapulted across the galaxy and returned to Mobius. Everyone thought he was dead for ''a whole year''.

** In [[Anime/FullmetalAlchemist the 2003 anime version]], Ed is killed moments after Envy's true form is revealed. There was one more episode that followed, showing Al sacrificing himself to bring Ed back to life, and then Ed doing the same for Al, leaving the two brothers on opposite sides of The Gate.
** And before that, Ed, in his alternate universe counterpart's body, is killed when a [[DeathFromAbove WWI zeppelin crashes into him]]; this is what brings him back to save the day.

* Subverted every which way in ''Film/DeadMan'', in which William Blake (Creator/JohnnyDepp again), whose heroism itself is arguable, is shot early on. [[spoiler:It is indeed fatal, and he spends the rest of the film trying not to get killed while he is, in fact, in the process of dying. It's implied that the film ends with his very last breath.]]

* In ''Film/{{Black Panther|2018}}'', King T'Challa is [[spoiler:defeated in ritual combat by the [[BigBad Big Bad]], Killmonger, and thrown from a high waterfall, supposedly to his death. Killmonger takes over the throne, as well as the Black Panther powers. However, when his family visits the Mountain Tribe in an act of desperation, their ruler reveals that T'Challa was found by their fishermen, nearly frozen. Giving him the last [[MacGuffin Heart-Shaped Herb]] revives him and restores his powers, allowing him to face Killmonger again in a super-powered [[FinalBattle Final Battle]]]].

* Played straight in ''LightNovel/FullMetalPanic''. Sousuke is apparently killed in a rocket blast while hiding behind water faucets in the school yard. The next episode reveals that he simply jumped into one of the classroom windows without so much as a scratch.

* ''Manga/{{Astroboy}}'': The finale of ''The Blue Knight Saga'' ended with Astro losing his head & half his upper torso in a HeroicSacrifice to protect the evil Count Burg from being killed by the Blue Knight's final desperation attack in his own death-throws. The subsequent "''Astro Reborn''" arc had several failed attempts to revive him before Dr. Tenma finally resurfaced & pulled it off, but with Astro losing all his memories & briefly doing a FaceHeelTurn.

* The second-to-last episode of the first season of ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' ends with the Major's [[YourHeadASplode Asploding]]. Good thing she wasn't in the body at the time. The Tachikoma do one in each season, although more for philosophical reasons than for dramatic ones.

* The 12th episode of ''{{LightNovel/Baccano}}'' is titled "Firo and the Gandors Fall to Murderous Bullets," [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin which they totally do]]. Of course, [[ForegoneConclusion anyone remembering the first episode]] ([[AnachronicOrder set a year after]]) knows that they don't stay that way.

* Both played straight and averted in ''Manga/{{Pluto}}''. Being a retelling of a famous ''Manga/AstroBoy'' story, one can't actually expect Atom to ''stay'' dead and, sure enough, it looks like he's finally back. Of course, as this is also a [[KillEmAll Tezuka story]] written by [[AnyoneCanDie Naoki Urasawa]], anyone else is free game [[spoiler:including Gesicht, the ''main character'' -- although that's likewise a ForegoneConclusion to anyone who read the original story]].

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31E1TheImpossibleAstronaut The Impossible Astronaut]]" (within the first 15 minutes!) we watch a scene of an astronaut apparently killing a future version of the Doctor. Amy and co. carried on adventuring with a past-Doctor. [[spoiler:As it turns out, the Doctor was a MobileSuitHuman with a miniaturized Doctor riding inside. ItMakesSenseInContext.]]

** In "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS31ETheImpossibleAstronaut The Impossible Astronaut]]" (within the first 15 minutes!) we watch a scene of an astronaut apparently killing a future version of the Doctor. Amy and co. carried on adventuring with a past-Doctor. [[spoiler:As it turns out, the Doctor was a MobileSuitHuman with a miniaturized Doctor riding inside. ItMakesSenseInContext.]]

-->-- '''Lina Inverse''', ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}''

* The quote above comes from late in the first season of ''LightNovel/{{Slayers}}'', as Lina narrates over her NotQuiteDead body.

* Happens to the title character of ''LightNovel/ShakuganNoShana'', late in the first season.

* ''{{Anime/Maburaho}}'' plays with this; the entire second half of the season deals with the {{Harem}} trying to bring him back to life from ghost-hood.

* At the end of ''[[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire A Dance with Dragons]]'' [[spoiler:Jon gets stabbed by several other members of the Night's Watch]]. We've yet to see whether he survives or not. Whether or not it is obviously an example of this trope depends on how essential you think [[spoiler: Jon]] is to the overall plot.

* ''[[Machinima/RedVsBlueTheRecollection Red vs. Blue: Reconstruction]]'' ends with [[spoiler:the death of the series' protagonist, Church]]. Played with, in that [[spoiler:Church really does die and stay dead]], but in the next season [[spoiler: aversion of him comes back in the form of a LivingMemory]].

* Creator/PeterDavid did this to ComicBook/{{Aquaman}}. He was planning to keep him dead for a while, but had to settle for one issue since he was leaving the title.

* The anime of ''VideoGame/DevilMayCry'' plays this trope, like many others, as absolutely straight as possible. Dante is shown [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice brutally impaled]] in a CrucifiedHeroShot as the credits roll silently over the end of the second-to-last episode of the show. However, it ''continues'' to invoke it all the way through to the last third of the final episode, even unto having [[AdorablyPrecociousChild Patty]] deliver a truly [[TearJerker heartwrenching]] [[PleaseWakeUp plea]] to Dante's apparently lifeless body, set to a reprisal of [[NostalgicMusicBox the music box theme]] from the first game that damn near makes you wonder if...

* At the end of ''VideoGame/ShadowsOfTheEmpire'', Dash is apparently killed in the Skyhook explosion, but [[EasyModeMockery on Normal and higher difficulties]], an additional cutscene reveals that he escaped into hyperspace at the last second.