History Main / ReviveKillsZombie

* Not undead per se, but in ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', [[spoiler:the Dark Avatar]] is killed off using a form of spiritual waterbending that infuses water with [[LightEmUp light]], which as far as it is known it can only calm down and/or cleanse spirits.

** The FinalBoss of ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyMysticQuest'' can be destroyed with two or three Cure spells from the Hero.

* ''MagicTheGathering'' does this a few times, only it's usually enchantment removal that kills zombies. (But since enchantment removal and damage prevention are both green and white abilities...) AnimateDead lets you do it to one of your creatures in your graveyard. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=202483 Lich]] reduces your life total to zero, turns lifegain into cards, and life loss into sacrificing permanents. If you can't sacrifice one, you lose. Also, if it's removed from play, you lose. [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=29952 Nefarious Lich]] is identical, except that it has exiling cards in your graveyard. Finally, we have [[http://gatherer.wizards.com/Pages/Card/Details.aspx?multiverseid=8875 Transcendence]], which has that damage heals you but ultimately kills you, and all that healing causes you to lose the game.

* On ''AdventureTime,'' [[OurLichesAreDifferent the Lich]] is hurt by [[spoiler:Guardian blood, which has healing properties. It causes flesh to grow over his bones and seems "reboot" him into living, an apparently harmless, baby]].

* In the third ''Series/WayOfTheTiger'' book, ''Usurper!'', you are attacked by [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Ringwraith]] [[{{Expy}} expies]], the only way to kill one happens to be scrolls of raise dead. Holy water and other attacks merely drive them off.

* In the third ''[[Series/WayOfTheTiger]]'' book, ''Usurper!'', you are attacked by [[Literature/TheLordOfTheRings Ringwraith]] [[{{Expy}} expies]], the only way to kill one happens to be scrolls of raise dead. Holy water and other attacks merely drive them off.

*** No they aren't even true resurrection fails to revive someone whose been turned into an undead until the undead has been destroyed.

** In the Warcraft tabletop RPG, it is stated in the rules that using resurrection spells on undead creatures won't work, or if the undead has been "killed", return it back to unlife. This is apparently because resurrection spells return the being's soul to their body, and the undead still have their soul, it's just bound to the undead body (making undeath their "natural" state). Light-based healing should still damage the undead since they're powered by the antithesis of the Light.

* In ''The Black Mountains'' by FredSaberhagen, Som the Dead, a local viceroy of a vicious empire, has made himself immortal and invulnerable by becoming a living dead. Any attacks against him wound the attacker. He is finally destroyed when, mistaking him for someone horribly wounded and gangrenous, Draffut throws a measure of concentrated liquid life force at him.

** Evrae Altana in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'' takes two or three. Final boss [[spoiler:Yu Yevon]], while not a zombie, is vulnerable to zombification (unlike most boss monsters); coupled with his habit of casting a very powerful cure spell during any turn in which his life is not at maximum, this makes it fairly easy to trick him into killing ''himself''.

** One of the odder monsters of the old-school D&D games was the Nilbog, a goblin that could not be killed with regular attacks and spells, as such attacks would heal him rather than hurt him. The only way to kill him was to use healing spells.

* ''Night on Mispec Moor'' by LarryNiven. An alien plant reproduces by infecting newly killed corpses and rallying their bodies for one last lurch. On a battlefield an off-worlder is cornered by these plausible zombies. He's in deep trouble until, in desperation, he tries spritzing one with his [[AppliedPhlebotinum pan-spectrum cure spray]].

[[folder: WebOriginal]]

* In ''Series/{{Noob}}'', the main group's healer accidentally heals enemies on a regular basis, which is quite annoying for his guildmates... except when they happen to be dealing with undead enemies.

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* In ''{{NetHack}}'', the Finger of Death spell, one of the most powerful spells in the game, resulting in an instant kill if the target is not an undead or any monster that can resist the spell, only serves to ''heal'' Death, who is one the Riders (three of the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse appeared; specifically, Famine, Pestilence, and Death; [[spoiler:it is assumed that the player is War]]), while Pestilence, another Rider, can be healed by potions of sickness and damaged by potions of healing, because TheDevTeamThinksOfEverything.

* Hitting an undead enemy in ''[[{{Videogame/Minecraft}} Minecraft]]'' with a potion of healing will cause them to take damage. A potion of harming will restore their health.

* Done and given an EvilCounterpart in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'': The Paladin spell Holy Shock harms undead and heals the living, while the Death Knight spell Death Coil harms the living and heals the undead.

-->'''White Mage:''' And then we zapped enough white magic to bring down a vile god of chaotic energy.
-->'''Priest:''' Which he was.
-->'''Healer:''' So, that worked out.

* In ''Series/{{Noob}}'', the main group's healer accidentally heals enemies on a regular basis, which is quite annoying for his guildmates... except when they happen to be dealing with undead enemies.

* In ''{{Homestuck}}'' [[spoiler: Jane's [[TheTrickster Trickster mode's]]]] life powers kill the undead enemies that inhabit her world.

* Interestingly played with in ''VideoGame/{{Warcraft}} III'': A Paladin healing spell kills undead and heals the living, but a Death Knight spell kills the living and heals the undead.
** Strangely, its MMORPG successor ''{{World of Warcraft}}'' ignores this so that undead [=PCs=] can be revived by living teammates. This caused [[http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2004/04/23 some philosophical problems]] for the boys at ''PennyArcade''.

** Also in WoW: one of the Paladin's spells, Holy Shock, has an effect along these lines. If targeted on a friendly, it'll heal them; if targeted on an enemy (including but by no means limited to undead), it'll do damage. Priests have Penance (single target) and Holy Nova (area of effect), which do the same. Some veteran priests use a targeting macro on their Smite and Flash Heal spells so that the same key press will cast the correct spell depending on the target. This makes the same button press kill enemies and heal allies.
** During [=WOW's=] original beta spells on Undead [=PCs=] did indeed work the way they do in [=WC3=], but it was found to be too broken (A paladin could kill swarms of undead players in [=PVP=] with little effort.) so they were reclassified as humanoid.