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6%% This list of examples has been alphabetized. Please add your example in the proper place. Thanks!
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14%% All examples must explain how the trope applies to the work beyond just stating a character name; any examples that fail to meet this low, low bar, will be commented out so no one will have to waste their time and read them.
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16* The first Visser One, Jara Hamee, Tom (and his Yeerk), ''all'' of the auxiliary Animorphs and Rachel from ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}''. That last one is the impetus of many a FixFic. As is the very possible death of all the main group except Cassie.
17* Commander Root in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'', although he gets a TimeTravel cameo in The Time Paradox. Commander Raine Vinyaya also gets it in The Atlantis Complex. Clearly, this is not a good rank for the LEP.
18* In ''Literature/{{Firewing}}'', while the villain Goth returns from the dead, Shade ascends to the true afterlife.
19* In "The Grey Griffins: The Clockwork Chronicles," during the end of the first book, a boy named Robert gets killed, without any chance of coming back, after his spirit's host, a large war robot, is disassembled.
20* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': The White Council killed Heinrich Kemmler ''six times'' and confirmed it, boot on body, every time. Kemmler, being a necromancer of near-divine power, was little more than inconvenienced. When he died the seventh time, after the Council disrupted one of his rituals, it was in no way implausible that he would bounce back that time too. However, WordOfGod has it that the last time the White Council managed to make it stick, and that Kemmler is finally and permanently dead.
21* Lots of characters die in fairly straightforward ways in the ''Harry Potter'' books but the demise of Sirius Black in ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheOrderOfThePhoenix'' - knocked through a magic portal during a battle with the Death Eaters - left some wriggle room to bring him back. Nope - no ghost, no magic portrait, no talking diary - he's gone for good.
22%%* Kisten Felps dies in ''Literature/TheHollows'' series by Kim Harrison. Also: Matalina, Piscary.
23%%* Erin in the ''Literature/{{Hidden}}'' epilogue, this is confirmed in ''Revealed''.
24%%* In ''Literature/TheKingdomsOfEvil'' a whole bunch of characters die.
25%%** Bloodbyrn's dad.
26%%** Pon.
27%%** The Paladin.
28%%* ''Literature/TheLastDragonChronicles'': Liz Pennykettle.
29* Creator/GuyGavrielKay's ''Literature/TheLionsOfAlRassan'' builds up the hope that when Ammar ibn Khairan and Roderigo Belmonte duel, they will both survive. That is not what happens, and one of them dies (with the other receiving a permanent wound, but otherwise getting a pretty happy ending). Quite a few other characters are permanently killed as well.
30* Valentine in ''Literature/CityOfGlass''. Thank you, Raziel.
31* A meta-example; defied and averted by Creator/TerryPratchett's editor for ''Literature/MovingPictures''. At the end of the book, he wanted Gaspode and Laddie to stay dead, but his editor urged him to change his decision.
32* In ''Literature/PresidentsVampire'', president Curtis is ''definitely'' killed in ''Red, White and Blood'' after a bit of HaveYouToldAnyoneElse.
33%%* Sisters Grimm, which uses every fairy tale trope possible... Brier Rose, despite True Love's Kiss.
34%%* Literature/TrappedOnDraconica: Kazem and Jenna were killed in the same arc they were introduced and both of them by {{mooks}}.
35%%** In the sequel, ''Literature/LegacyOfTheDragokin'', All the Kthonian Knights, up to and including Kthonia herself, are dead by the end of the book.
36%%* Mason Ashford is killed by the Strigoi Isaiah in ''Literature/{{Frostbite}}''.
37* In ''Literature/TheCampHalfBloodSeries'', multiple characters die and don't stay dead- Jason is charmspoken back to life in The Lost Hero by Piper, Nico lived despite being trapped in the jar without food, water, or air for five days, and Percy and Annabeth come back from Tartarus alive but when Jason Grace dies the second time in ''Literature/TheTrialsOfApollo'', he stays dead.
38* In the ''Literature/RedDwarf'' book ''Last Human'', Rimmer is fatally shot in the light-bee by the alternate Lister. He manages to survive long enough to get Kryten to infect him with the Oblivion Virus, passing it on to The Rage to save the rest of the crew, killing it and himself in the process.
39* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', most of the cats who die either end up in [=StarClan=] or the Dark Forest, but they're dead all the same and are unable to [[DeathIsCheap come back to life]], even though some of the dead cats can interact with the living.
40** {{Subverted|Trope}} with the leaders, who have nine lives. If they die once, they lose a life, and so on. However, when they lose their last life, [[PlayedStraight they still are killed off for real]].
41** Also subverted with Cinderpelt who gets reincarnated.
42** Hollyleaf returns in ''The Forgotten Warrior'' but was [[BackForTheDead killed off this time]] in ''The Last Hope''.
43* Balefire in ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' combines this trope with short-term RetGone (the extent of its effects determined by how much power is used). Even the Dark One can't resurrect someone killed by Balefire. However, it can be destabilizing - too much retconning will ''literally'' unravel the "threads" of reality.
44* Most Americans are unaware that Geralt was Killed Off for Real at the end of ''Franchise/TheWitcher'' novel series (mainly because only the first book has been translated from Polish). [[VideoGame/TheWitcher The game]] {{retcon}}ned this to an UnexplainedRecovery.
45* {{Invoked}} in one of the sideplots of ''[[Literature/ThursdayNext Something Rotten]]''. The author of the wildly popular Emperor Zhark sci-fi series has grown so sick of being asked to write Zhark novels (he originally wrote the novels as a parody of bad sci-fi, but it ended up becoming [[MagnumOpusDissonance far more popular than his more serious works]]), that he has decided to end his latest book by having Emperor Zhark publically executed on-page and explicitly spelling out that he is dead, just to make ''absolutely sure'' that nobody can ''ever'' ask him to write more Zhark novels.

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