Examples where the character did not die in the source:
Animorphs- All Assorted Animorphs AUs:
- Many chapters kill off Alloran and/or Visser Three (usually together) and/or Eva and/or several non-Rachel Animorphs.
- Marco kills Erek, in revenge for draining the Pool Ship's weapons, at the end of "What if James, not David, became the seventh Animorph?"
- Mertil and Gafinilan die at the start of "What if Elfangor and Loren raised Tobias?".
- The ending of "What if they saved Jake's family?" strongly implies that Jake, Eva, Toby, and Sam Doubleday are killed, along with Arbron.
- Eleutherophobia: In the last Animorphs book, Efflit 1318 survived to become a herald to The One. In How I Live Now, it's killed as soon as it exits its host.
- Absolute Trust:
- Jet died in the original (though not explicitly stated in the show, Word of God confirmed he did indeed die), but it happens quite differently here: Jet's prejudice against Alec leads him to capture and torture him. After Alec is freed and Jet loses all support for what he's doing, Jet attempts to strangle Alec to death, and Alec stabs in the heart with Smellerbee's knife.
- Hahn, the pride-filled Northern Water Tribe warrior who was Yue's fiancé. After harassing Alec and Alec threatens to press charges against the future chief, the current chief calls off the engagement. Hahn goes hunting after an arctic hippo alone to try to reclaim his honor, and the search party only finds half of his corpse.
- The Rough Rhinos mercenary group, the ones who killed Jet's parents. In Chapter 21, due in part to anger from Jet torturing him, Alec kills one of them and gets Avatar Kyoshi to kill three more. The leader is left alive only so he can pass a message on to Azula, though when he initially proves uncooperative, Alec cuts off his hands to coerce him, effectively putting an end to the Rough Rhinos.
- Elua, the royal maid from The Search, died in her sleep of old age four years before the story began. The reveal that Ursa actually poisoned her to death is hardly surprising.
- After imprisoning Long Feng doesn't work, Kuei sentences him to death, to be carried out after they retake Ba Sing Se. The only question is whether they'll carry out that sentence before or after Ozai kills him for erroneously claiming that he killed Azula.
- Hama, the creator of bloodbending. Alec had every intention of ending her life and never allowing the knowledge of the art to become known, and the rest of the Gaang other than the pacifistic Aang supports that decision after finding hundreds of corpses whom Hama had mummified alive by bending their blood out of their bodies.
- Of all characters, Yon Rha's mother is killed, and implied to have been by Yon Rha himself; he disposed of her corpse by dressing it in Kya's clothes and burning it while delivering Kya to Water's Wail, alive.
- BioShock: Right Place, Right Time, Wrong Guy:
- Atlas/Fontaine is killed in the middle of the story after being tricked into going into a tinkered bathysphere that breaks down as he's escaping, allowing Ryan's torpedoes to lock onto him. This is likely because since Jack was his Ace in the Hole but died before carrying out his mission. There was no use for Fontaine anymore since his gambit had ultimately failed.
- As it is alternate take on the story with a new protagonist, Jack dies at the beginning having gotten impaled on part of the airplane after forcing it down in his mind controlled stupor.
- In Alabaster Orchestra Shunsui Kyouraku is gunned down like a dog by his opponent when he allows Yamamoto's death to distract him.
- Vow of the King:
- The Gillian from the hollow hunting contest is killed rather than merely injured.
- Ichigo kills Mayuri Kurotsuchi in Soul Society.
- The supplementary material states that Yhwach is well and truly dead, and has in fact died and reincarnated multiple times over the centuries.
- As Dordonni was more thoroughly healed and his zanpakuto wasn't broken, Rudbornn dies trying to execute him.
- Uryu is killed by a surprise attack by Nnoitra while fighting Tesra.
- In the Buffy the Vampire Slayer fic All These Things That I've Done
, when the Scoobies curse Angelus with a soul for the first time in 1998, Angel helps Buffy kill the rest of the Scourge, killing Penn and Drusilla while Buffy stakes Darla and Spike.
- In Code MENT, Jeremiah dies when his Knightmare Frame explodes. The anime it was based on reveals he survived after receiving medical attention.
- Both of Kallen's parents are lynched in Darwin due to the far more bloodthirsty Carine being made viceroy of Area 11 rather than Clovis.
- Ice And Fire: Carine ne Britannia survived to the end in canon, but she's assassinated by Sayoko on Lelouch's orders before the start of the story's events.
- Bad Alert: The Extreme: Courtney Gears, though off-screen. Her death was inspired by the Birth by Sleep example below.
- BlazBlue Alternative: Remnant (BlazBlue & RWBY): In RWBY canon, the Wyvern Grimm was frozen in V3 by Ruby awakening her Silver Eyes, but still alive and drawing Grimm to Vale by its presence. In this fic, it's confirmed in Chapter 17 via a fairy tale and the author's notes at the end that Hakumen killed it singlehandedly long before the start of the events of the story.
- Can a monster act like a hero? (Fate Series & To Love Ru):
- Instead of merely getting flushed down a toilet and then warped away into space, Ghi Bree is sliced to pieces by Shirou after angering him by threatening to rape Haruna, Lala, and Luvia and then turn them into sex slaves.
- When Lacospo unleashes his pet giant frog Gama-tan to use its The Nudifier slime on Yami and Lala, Shirou guts Gama-tan before knocking Lacospo out.
- Code Prime (Code Geass & Transformers):
- In canon, the Glaston Knights all survived the events of Season 1, while in R2 Claudio was the Sole Survivor, with Alfred and Bart dying during the battle at the Chinese Embassy, and David and Edgar dying during the Battle of Tokyo. Alfred, Bart, and Claudio however all die during the Battle of Narita here. Alfred gets fried by Kallen, Claudio is sliced in half by Tohdoh, and Bart is blown up by Bulkhead. David and Edgar end up dying in the battle of Port Yokosuka, ending the Glaston Knights.
- Skyquake is a Posthumous Character here, not even getting a single present sequence alive.
- In canon, Charles survived until near the end of R2. Here, he's killed during the climax of R1.
- Cornelia and Euphemia's mother Victoria, who was only mentioned in supplementary material, appears in the first chapter of R2 and is killed by Airachnid.
- Kallen's stepmother and Milly's mother both meet their ends with the Black King when Thunderhoof drops them into molten metal for attempting to revolt.
- The Devil Fruit Hero: Izuku's father, Hisashi, is mentioned to have died rather recently in the first chapter.
- In Dedicated Hearts made Fullmetal, Annie Leonhart meets her end when, after being captured and trying desperately to escape, she's fed to a titanized Mina Carolina, who devours her and becomes the new Female Titan.
- Hammerhand (Mass Effect & Warhammer 40,000): Commander Shepard dies on Horizon, causing the Illusive Man to look to the newly arrived Space Marines for help.
- A Hero's Dream (Fate/stay night & RWBY): When the prospective students are launched into the forest during Beacon Initiation, nobody tries to help Jaune Arc. Without an awakened Aura, he dies on impact with the ground.
- The Dragon and the Bow:
- In canon, Mor'du dies by being slammed into a menhir by Bear!Elinor hard enough to bring it down on top of him. Here, Merida and Hiccup try to kill him in a similar manner, but it doesn't work, and he just cripples Angus with the menhir before snapping his neck. Instead, Mor'du is ultimately killed by Hiccup putting an arrow laced with black powder into his eye and blowing it up.
- The dragon that failed to bring enough food. In canon, the Red Death ate it up in one bite. Here, Mor'du is the one who killed it by breaking its neck, and then fed it to the Red Death.
- In Fate-Ground-Zero by Aburg76 has notably Kotomine Kirei and Emiya Kiritsugu are killed off. The former is relatively early in the story while the latter is killed after the event with Caster. The Author did this on purpose, to show the difference.
- Heroic Myth (Is It Wrong to Try to Pick Up Girls in a Dungeon? & Fate/Grand Order): In the source material, Zanis Lustra's ultimate fate was imprisonment. Here, he gets killed by Caster.
- Jaune Arc, Lord of Hunger (RWBY & Star Wars):
- In canon, Team ABRN survives the Battle of Beacon. Here, they are all killed by Darth Nihilus shortly before the Battle of Beacon begins.
- Cinder, Mercury, and Emerald all die during the Battle of Beacon — Nihilus kills Emerald and Mercury himself, while Cinder kills herself to prevent herself from being enslaved by Nihilus.
- Qrow also dies during the Battle of Beacon after he's caught in an explosion caused by a crashing airship and is impaled by a giant piece of the airship's shrapnel.
- Jaune commits suicide during the Fall of Beacon in order to keep Nihilus from being able to continue possessing his body.
- Justice League: The Spider (DC Animated Universe & Ultimate Marvel): The series opens with the deaths of Aunt May, Mary Jane, Harry Osborn and the Green Goblin/Norman Osborn, and Web of Cadmus ends with Doctor Octopus killing Amanda Waller.
- J-WITCH Series (Jackie Chan Adventures & W.I.T.C.H.):
- The Larvek from "Revelations" (the canonical episode "The Princess Revealed") is killed instead of entrapped by the heroes.
- Cedric is killed by the resurrected Shendu in "A New Dawn".
- Kingdom Hearts: Sabrina's Story: Ghetsis is beaten to death by his Pokémon after he had tortured them into Heartless and Rosa and N were able to get rid of the corruption.
- The legendary Saiyan in a fairy's world (Dragon Ball Super: Broly & Fairy Tail):
- Most of the prisoners and guards of the Tower of Heaven except for Erza and Rob are killed when Broly vaporizes the Tower.
- Broly vaporizes Bora when he is arrested and vows revenge.
- Bobo of Galuna Island is unfortunate enough to run into Acnologia, who instantly kills Bobo just for trying to talk to him.
- Acnologia then kills Angelica and Yuka.
- Acnologia finds the ice that Ur had been turned into and eats it. The author clarified that this means Ur is truly dead now.
- Miraculous Knight (Batman & Miraculous Ladybug): Features one of the Riddler's traps killing Chloé Bourgeois and the Joker pulling a successful Starscream on Hawk Moth.
- On the Run (The Fast and the Furious & Smallville): Opens with the reveal that Martha Kent died in the plane crash caused by Dark Thursday, and is followed by the Jor-El AI in the Fortress being destroyed by Lex Luthor (who has learnt Clark's secret) and the Martian Manhunter being killed by the would-be Bizarro in the body of Raya. Later in the fic, Hobbs kills Lex Luthor after Lex's actions led to the deaths of most of Hobbs' team when he manipulated them into going after Clark.
- Pokémon Crossing (Animal Crossing & Pokémon): Several characters are dead:
- Leopold, a former Gym Leader, was brutally murdered by Team Cottage.
- Sunny, an explorer, was killed and cannibalized by her exploration team.
- Rosie killed herself due to several factors, notably the stress of being in the entertainment industry
- PONY Legacy (TRON: Legacy), APP (Tron) is killed by RBD.
- Spark (Quorra) stays behind in the grid and gets derezzed when the corruption reaches her.
- The Grid itself is destroyed when Rainbow pulling off a Sonic Rainboom causes it to become corrupted.
- Rebel King (Star Wars Rebels & XCOM2): Has Jedi master Oppo Rancisis who survived Order 66 in canon and his fate after that was never revealed. Here he’s confirmed to have been killed by the Grand Inquisitor on Garel.
- Later on Senator Trayvis is killed by stray shot from a stormtrooper during the escape through the sewers.
- Many Spider-Man crossovers have May Parker killed off with her husband so that Peter can be raised by characters from other franchises (if not someone from the Marvel Universe).
- The Silver Raven (The Owl House and Devil May Cry): In The Owl House, the Selkidomus escaped with her child thanks to Eda and Luz. Here, in Chapter 18, she's sacrificed by the Rogues to summon the Leviathan.
- Stallion of the Line (One Piece & Ranma ½): both Basil Hawkins and X Drake are killed long before they become Supernovas. Hawkins is killed by Luffy/Ranma while Buggy is the one to kill Drake.
- This Is What You Are (Genshin Impact & Warframe): Asmoday disappears from the plot of Genshin after starting the plot of the game. Here, Ayatan reveals that they killed her sometime after they first entered Teyvat.
- Through the Looking-Glass (Battlestar Galactica (2003) & Firefly): Hot Dog, Erin Mathias, Seelix, and other members of Kara’s crew on the Demetrius are killed in the accident that led to them crash-landing before they make contact with Serenity.
- Two Halves (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) & Trollhunters): In canon Xever survives until the end of the series, here Karai kills him while rescuing Donnie.
- The Vasto of White (Bleach & Fate/stay night):
- Byakuya Kuchiki is killed by As Nodt.
- All five of the Royal Guard are killed by Shirou.
- Voyages of the Wild Sea Horse (One Piece & Ranma ½): Whereas Gasparde from Dead End Adventure canonically gets a Disney Death when Luffy Gum-Gum Bazookas him into an approaching cyclone, in this fic Ranma instead freezes him solid with an experimental frigid ki blast technique, whereupon he breaks into pieces that then fall into the ocean. To emphasize his death, his Devil Fruit even reincarnates aboard Ranma's own pirate ship.
- A New Hope (Danganronpa): Yasuhiro, Sonia, Maki, and Himiko are all killed in this story, although Sonia later comes Back from the Dead.
- Danganronpa Class Swap:
- Part 1:
- All canon survivors, barring Hajime, die over the course of the killing game. Fuyuhiko is the first victim. Sonia is the second culprit, Akane is the third victim and Kazuichi is executed as the fourth culprit by a technicality.
- Technically speaking, while Hiyoko and Nekomaru died as the 3rd and 5th victims of the killing school trip, they still survived overall due it being inside the Neo World Program, here, since they die as participants of the killing school life, which takes place in the real world, they're dead for good. Similarly, in spite of lasting longer than in their respective killing games, Peko and Teruteru both are Killed Off for Real here.
- Part 2:
- As of midway through Chapter 4, Yasuhiro, Toko (actually Genocider Syo), and Kyoko are killed as the 1st victim, 4th victim, and 3rd culprit respectively. Aoi also dies of natural causes midway through Chapter 4.
- Sakura and Hifumi die as the 1st culprit and second victim, unlike in canon, where they are the 5th victim (and 4th blackened), and 4th victim respectively.
- Part 1:
- Danganronpa Class Switch: Due to the low survivor count of the source, there are a lot of examples of the trope.
- Himiko and Maki die as the 3rd victim and 4th blackened respectively.
- Kirumi, Korekiyo, Kaito, Angie, Kiibo and Kokichi, are killed as the first victim, first blackened, second victim, second blackened, fourth victim and third blackened, respectively. When, in canon, they were the second blackened, third blackened, fifth blackened, third victim, final death, and sixth victim. It then turns out that Kaito is the Mastermind and that the one who got killed in chapter 2 was actually Tsumugi cosplaying as Kaito, meaning that Kaito outlives his canon self while Tsumugi (who dies as the mastermind in the original game) doesn't.
- I'd Trade My Life For Yours promises that there will be three different survivors than in canon. As such, this trope ends up happening to the three canonical survivors.
- Shuichi ends up being executed in Kaede's place during the first trial.
- Himiko is murdered in Chapter 3.
- Maki is the culprit of Chapter 5. Except not; she and Kokichi are actually cooperating to create an unsolvable murder. In reality, they faked her death and Maki broadcasts to the world that Kokichi was wrongly executed and the game has been delegitimized; she is then mortally wounded by Monokuma, and dies offscreen.
- A New Hope (Danganronpa): Canonical survivors Toko, Yasuhiro, Sonia, Himiko and Maki are all killed at some point during the story. Sonia is later revived, but the other four stay dead.
- The PreDespair Kids has the deaths of Hiyoko, Nagito, Kazuichi, and Maro (a.k.a. the Ultimate Imposter), all of whom were revealed to have survived by the end of Danganronpa 3. However, the sequel reveals that two of them are Back from the Dead thanks to the despairs.
- Date A Re:Live Kills off Elliot Woodman, Karen Mathers, and Ellen Mathers during the Mukuro Arc.(Ellen does come back to life later, but dies for real after that.) In canon, all three are still alive.
- All Because of Uncle Gary:
- Wesley Stringer is found dead in the ballpit at Corny's, while he made it to the end of The Third Wheel alive.
- Manny ends up dying in the process of Abigail and her cronies getting turned into boys.
- This novelization of Injustice 2 has Catwoman killed by Grid in her and Cyborg's part of the story, and Grid in turn has his head smashed in by Cyborg. In the game proper, Catwoman simply disappeared after Brainiac collected Metropolis and Grid just vanished after Cyborg or Catwoman defeated him. Captain Cold, Scarecrow, and Cheetah all bite the dust in Chapter 13, and a de-powered Superman commits suicide by willingly falling to his death in Chapter 19. Chapter 9 also heavily implies that Hawkgirl committed suicide prior to the events of the story.
- Digimon Adventure 02: The Story We Never Told: Being a much darker version of Digimon Adventure 02, this fic has Wormmon being Killed Off for Real after sacrificing himself to power-up Magnamon instead of being reborn as a Digiegg (When Ken attempts to head to Primary Village, he got kicked out by the baby Digimons), the same applies to Ken himself later on in the story thanks to Oikawa.
- Wolf in the Streets, Sardine in the Sheets:
- Des X died alongside Mrs. Kazamatsuri in the lab accident.
- In "Lost and Accused", it's revealed that Goldion and Lieze were both Killed Off for Real.
- Nala: My Father's Madness: Sarafina is attacked by an angry Zira. She quickly dies of her injuries.
- The Pride That Never Was: It's mentioned that Simba's mother Sarabi died a few days after his twins were born.
- The Bugger Anthology: Jack Robertson allies himself with the Death Squad Daleks in "Revolution of the Daleks" and manages to make it to the end of the episode alive. In "Not My Daleks", he gets exterminated almost as soon as he starts talking to them.
- In the fanfic Middle Of Nowhere Arl Eamon dies. The consequences of this are as yet unknown.
- Dragon Ball Z Abridged
- Captain Ginyu; in DBZ, Ginyu ends up in a Namekian frog's body and Vegeta considers stepping on him, but ultimately decides to leave him to his fate. In the abridged series, Vegeta seems to consider it, then stomps the frog anyway while declaring "Psyche! Eight for eight!"note . As a result any of Ginyu's appearances after that point are edited out. This was a Type 1 example originally, but a few years after that episode was released Dragon Ball Super brought Ginyu back during the adaptation of Dragon Ball Z: Resurrection 'F', only for Vegeta to kill him.
- Icarus, Gohan's pet dragon from the movies/filler, dies almost every time he appeared, and the one other time it is still deemed non-canon. The two times that he appeared in the flesh, he wound up getting eaten. He also appeared early on in the flashback of episode 10, part 3, where he exploded.
- In the source material, the Garlic Jr. saga ends with him being imprisoned in the Dead Zone for eternity. In DBZA, he makes the mistake of crossing nigh-Eldritch Abomination Mr. Popo, and the Garlic Jr. saga lasts all of twenty seconds before Popo apparently absorbs his soul.
- Piiza, Piroshki and Caroni get blown up by Cell before they can even land in their helicopter. For good measure, what is likely Caroni's charred corpse lands in front of Mr. Satan, though they're presumably revived by Shenron along with everyone else Cell killed. In DBZ, Piroshki and Caroni fight Cell, get beaten around, but survive, and hang around with Piiza and Mr. Satan for the rest of the Cell Games and even put in a few appearances in Dragon Ball Super.
- In The Plan to Eradicate Christmasnote , Vegeta mentions that he accidentally killed his kid brother Tarble while trying to shoot down Santa's sleigh. Tarble's only appearance was in the 2009 special Dragon Ball: Yo! Son Goku and His Friends Return!!, but nothing bad happened to him and he returned home to space safe and sound (with Bulma even name-dropping him in Dragon Ball Z: Battle of Gods). This is then subverted with The Reveal that Dr. Lychee and Hatchiyack’s Composite Character in this version is actually Santa Claus, and he’s royally pissed off at Vegeta for the hole in his sleigh, meaning Tarble’s pod was never hit as was previously believed.
- The Episode 60 Epilogue has a scene where Future Android 17 shoots and kills an old man just before Future Trunks arrives to destroy them once and for all. This is an odd example, as while it’s Death by Adaptation in regards to the anime footage being edited to make the scene, said footage was an example of Spared by the Adaptation where Trunks arrived in time for the old man to survive, unlike the original manga version of the scene where he dies, making the abridged version Truer to the Text in this case.
- Ducktalez: Honker and Gosalyn have died before the events of Ducktalez 6, as their costumes are seen in Darkwing's collection.
- Magma Dragon King:
- Trinity Raven all meet their ends at the hands of Natsu and Co. at the Tower of Heaven this time around. To boot:
- Vidaldus gets a case of fatal alcohol poisoning after breathing in the alcoholic mist from Cana's attacks, which is made up of pure alcohol that, as Cana puts it, is extremely toxic to the human body.
- Fukuro is blown up by Lisanna after she casts Dragon Slayer Secret Art: Crimson Lotus: Exploding Flame Blade on him.
- Ikaruga gets subject to the iron maiden treatment after Mirajane traps her with Forest Dragon's Bramble Thicket, with the assassin Impaled with Extreme Prejudice by the spell's thorns.
- Jellal gets turned into a Torso with a View by Natsu's Secret Art, Pyroclastic Obsidian Blade.
- Trinity Raven all meet their ends at the hands of Natsu and Co. at the Tower of Heaven this time around. To boot:
- Everywhere at the End of Funk: Fated to happen to Boyfriend, as he is already in the late stages of dementia.
- Dæmorphing (Animorphs & His Dark Materials):
- In canon, the Animorphs interrupted Edriss-in-Eva before she could kill Darwin. Here, Esplin forces Aftran-in-Eva (who he thinks is Edriss) to kill him to prove she's still loyal to the empire, which Aftran does. The Animorphs aren't present in that scene.
- Alloran survived the war in canon, and was responsible for getting the Andalite Fleet to listen to the Animorphs. Here, his brother unceremoniously kills him, so the Animorphs have to find a different way to get the Andalites to surrender.
- Melissa was a pretty minor character in canon, but we have no reason to assume she didn't survive the war. Here, she joins the fight and is eventually killed in battle.
- A Man of Iron (Marvel Universe & A Song of Ice and Fire): Given that Anyone Can Die in the world of Westeros, several characters die sooner instead of later:
- Syrio/Mystique kills Ser Meryn Trant.
- Gendry crushes Janos Slynt's head to prevent him from capturing Mystique and Arya.
- Obadiah Stane-who is not the Iron Monger in this story- gets killed by Gregor Clegane when the Mountain visits Iron Pointe to fight Iron Man.
- Gregor Clegane himself dies by getting blown to pieces battling Iron Man and Centurion.
- Sansa Stark herself dies in King's Landing instead of her father when Iron Man shows up to try rescuing them both, and Joffrey's attempts to use her as a Human Shield results in her falling over and cracking her head open on the steps of the Great Sept. Later on, she Came Back Wrong when the Night's Queen possesses her body, but then she Wargs her spirit into the resurrected body of her direwolf, Lady, so she's back again.
- Logan (a Dothraki version of Wolverine) captures Khal Jaqo and carries him onto Daenerys' bonfire on his metal claws to burn him.
- Ramsay Bolton, Reek, Myranda, and the Bastard's Boys are all killed horrifically by the vengeful Ironborn Vanko, who kills Ramsay with his electric whips.
- In chapter 26 of book 2, Jonos Bracken is killed by Asha Greyjoy after learning Renly hired her to kill Tony and Robb Stark.
- In that same chapter, Theon Greyjoy fights Dagmer Cleftjaw and kills him, while seeking revenge for Jonos.
- Melisandre/Amora the Enchantress kills Selyse Baratheon by stabbing her right before the Battle of the Blackwater when Selyse refuses to sacrifice her daughter Shireen.
- Selyse's husband Stannis also dies during the Battle of the Blackwater from injuries given to him battling Thor in the Destroyer Armor.
- Melisandre herself (otherwise known as Amora) dies a suitably horrific death, long before her death of old age in Game of Thrones canon. And boy, does she deserve it.
- There Was Once an Avenger From Krypton:
- Azmuth was killed by Tetrax long ago before the start of the series, and the entire Galvan and Galvanic Mechamorph race are long since extinct.
- Ben's Diamondhead transformation is confirmed to be the last Petrosapian in existence, meaning Tetrax is dead in this story.
- Because Lena is an orphan, Lex and the rest of her family are long since dead.
- Granted, he died in canon, but he came back because it's Dragon Ball and Death Is Cheap, but since that's not exactly the case here, Frieza is dead for good here since Captain Marvel killed him in the past.
- The Guardians existed in the past, but it's implied that they were wiped out sometime in the gap between Jeanne d'Arc's death, which is the last time that Tikki was awake and could confirm their existence, given their absence in Paris despite what Hawk Moth is up to.
- Played With in regards to Kara Zor-El. While she is obviously still alive in the story, Chapter 33 reveals that Kara is from Earth-16, destined to die along with the majority of Krypton until she was brought to the current iteration of the MCU by Doctor Doom and Reed Richards. This wound up becomes retroactively applied after Young Justice: Phantoms, with the Wham Shot of Kara alive and serving Darkseid in the season finale.
- Wolves and Wild Magic (The Owl House & Wolfwalkers): Tibbles ends up getting eaten by the Owl Beast when he proclaims his intention of keeping King as a pet.
Godzilla / King Kong / MonsterVerse
- In the "Shi AU" notes by tardisspacemug, which are a recursive AU based on Abraxas (Hrodvitnon), Colonel Foster is killed and the USS Argo is completely destroyed, at the Washington D.C. battle. At the end of the notes, the version of San who in Abraxas lived on and became Vivienne's brother is here killed with the rest of Ghidorah, since in this AU his head was never severed and granted autonomy from Ghidorah at Isla de Mara.
- The Berserkers Bride:
- In the original animated series Alvin the Treacherous eventually makes peace with Hiccup and the rest of the Hooligan Tribe. Here though, Hiccup manages to rip his throat out with her teeth right after she gave birth!
- In the show, Oswald the Agreeable went missing, Dagur only claiming to have killed him so that he could become in-charge of the Berserker Tribe in his absence. Here, he really did kill him when he threatened to break off his marriage with Hiccup for his unruly behavior.
- A Thing of Vikings: Several historical characters die sooner than they did in Real Life. Also a few characters from the HTTYD franchise die sooner here than they did in canon.
- Historical characters get killed earlier than their historical death dates: Eiar Thambarskelfir (1047), Sigvatr Tordarson (1044), Argyrus (1042), Mac Bethad (1043), Siward, Earl of Northumbria (1042), Echmarcach mac Ragnaill (1042), Zoe Porphyrogenita (1042), Count Eudon (1042), Conan II (1042), Eochaid mac Niall (1042), Niall mac Eochada (1042), and Kül Bilgä Tengri Khan (1043).
- Thanks to this Tumblr chat◊ we learn that several historical characters died during the attempted attack on Vedrarfjord 1042 in chapter 73: Diarmait mac Máel na mBó, Donnchad mac Briain, Art Uallach Ua Ruairc, and Diarmaid mac Tadgh Ua Ceallaigh.
- HTTYD characters' fates differ in canon:
- Oswald the Agreeable wasn’t killed by his son Dagur, here he was.
- the fate of the Screaming Death post-TV show is unknown; here he is killed by Toothless's sister Fearless causing a volcanic eruption.
- Mildew's ultimate fate was left unknown. Here he was killed.
- The fate of Toothless's Whispering Death rival was also left unknown. Here he was killed.
- Savage's fate post-TV show is unknown; here he is killed by Jacob stabbing him in the back with a sword.
- Historical characters get killed earlier than their historical death dates: Eiar Thambarskelfir (1047), Sigvatr Tordarson (1044), Argyrus (1042), Mac Bethad (1043), Siward, Earl of Northumbria (1042), Echmarcach mac Ragnaill (1042), Zoe Porphyrogenita (1042), Count Eudon (1042), Conan II
- Cheating Death: Those That Lived: Speaking of the aftermath of the Second Rebellion, the fic has President Snow's granddaughter entering the arena as part of a Capitol Games. She's killed at the start where three other tributes smash her head on the pedestal because they believe that Snow's regime is why they're all in the arena.
- Tales of the Hunger Games has a story arc where Capitol supremacists manage to retake Panem. President Paylor is executed over allowing a Hunger Games involving Capitol children and Haymitch is shot while trying to escape District Twelve. Katniss, Peeta, Johanna, and Enobaria are forced into another Hunger Games, where they all perish in it.
- While the conclusion of Tales leaves the surviving characters' fates ambiguous, it's confirmed at the start of Panem Reborn that Rubius Dalton was thrown out a window and ran over by a car following the 101st Hunger Games riots.
- The Victors Project mentions that Johanna dies in a crane accident following the Second Rebellion.
- Infamously, the character Iggins was supposed to die in the episode that introduced him when the elevator he's in falls down its shaft as a result of Gaz's rampage against him, only for Executive Meddling to force the addition of a last-second scene showing his Unexplained Recovery. However, some fics have him actually Killed Off for Real in that fall, and explore the aftereffects of it:
- The Karma Circle: Gaz and the Ghost is based on the premise of Iggins' ghost haunting Gaz in revenge for causing his death.
- The NSFW fic Playing Gaz by D_rissing and nightmaster000 has Iggins' death leading to his Only Friend Perkins spending years plotting revenge on Gaz for causing it.
- The Karma Circle: Gaz and the Ghost
- The Stronger Evil: Soon after getting double-crossed by Shendu as per canon, Daolon Wong tries to murder Shendu's Love Interest Valerie Payne to get even with the Demon Sorcerer. Shendu responds by pummeling the dark wizard to death in blind rage.
- Jurassic What If...?: Multiple episodes see characters whom are still alive in canon killed off during events that their canon selves survived.
- Episode 1: Owen Grady and most to all of the main characters of Jurassic World: Camp Cretaceous are killed by the Atrociraptors during the 2015 downfall of Jurassic World.
- Episode 2: Billy doesn't escape downriver from the Isla Sorna aviary and is instead torn apart, on account of the aviary being occupied by Quetzalcoatlus instead of Pteranodon. In the same episode, Vic Hoskins dies over a decade earlier in the timeline than his canon counterpart, killed while trying to neutralize the escaped Quetzalcoatlus.
- Episode 3: Claire Dearing is killed amid the eruption of Mount Sibo in 2018.
- Episode 4: The original Scorpius rex is killed by Dr. Wu, who in this timeline fulfills his orders to terminate the hybrid instead of secretly putting it in cryogenic stasis, which also ensures that the Scorpius never reproduces and the hybrid species is rendered extinct before it could take off. The original Spinosaurus individual from Jurassic Park III and Camp Cretaceous also dies in the early 2000s during a hectic effort to extract its DNA. Zach and Gray Mitchell are both killed during the 2015 downfall of Jurassic Park.
- Episode 5: Ian Malcolm and Tim and Lex Murphy are all massacred by the Diabolus rex during the downfall of Jurassic Park.
- Episode 8: The Ultimasaurus manages to kill Owen Grady, Barry Sembène, implicitly Blue, and 80% of all animal life, both human and dinosaur, on Isla Nublar.
- Jurassic World (The Geeky Zoologist):
- Gray Mitchell, slaughtered along other civilians by the Indominus.
- Roberta the tyrannosaur, who succumbs to the severe wounds she got during her battle with the Indominus.
- The mosasaur, killed and incinerated off-screen with other animals by InGen as part of a scorched-earth tactic to prevent rival companies from getting DNA material.
The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen
- League of Extraordinary Gentlemen: Tempest Rewrite:
- Mina lost her son Quincey in a miscarriage
- Orlando underwent a sex change while pregnant, and the child from the end of her namesake novel was painfully pulled out of her body and died.
- The Murder of Lila Rossi: As indicated by the title, Lila is murdered, kicking off the plot.
- Spellbound (Lilafly): Lila Rossi doesn't survive for more than a single chapter before The Fair Folk take exception to her behavior and kidnap her to an unspecified but likely gruesome fate. It's not because she was nasty — compared to most fae, she's a saint — but they dislike bragging and outright lies, plus they didn't like the way she talked about Ladybug, whom they believe to be their goddess Danu.
- Ennea Series:
- Mr. Brave (a minor Hero from the manga's Shie Hassaikai Raid Arc) is killed by Overhaul during his attempt to take back Eri from the Heroes.
- Muscular is killed by a sniper during Shigaraki's prison transfer instead of being arrested after the training camp attack.
- Every fic in the For the Want of a Nail Series has at least one example:
- Mastermind: Strategist for Hire contains nearly a dozen examples unto itself:
- The very first plan Izuku creates leads to Mt. Lady being Killed Offscreen in Chapter 1.
- After Izuku releases murder plans for him, Wash is killed whilst in protective custody, his death being livestreamed.
- The USJ attack ends with Izuku killing All Might with two stabs to his old injury.
- After Stain tries to kill him in an attempt to avenge All Might, Izuku kills him in retaliation. Native ends up bleeding to death during their fight.
- Without Izuku coming to save him, Kouta is killed by Muscular during the Vanguard Action Squad's attack on the training camp.
- As retaliation for attacking his mother, Izuku kills Overhaul and the rest of the Shie Hassaikai.
- After joining the League of Villains, Shouto Todoroki, with help from Dabi and a plan from Izuku, kills Endeavor at a press conference.
- Izuku fatally poisons Giran after his torture by the MLA, suspecting he would give him up to the police.
- After defecting to the League of Villains, Hawks fatally stabs Mera during their attack on the Legacy Feeder Program.
- Deku? I think he's some pro...: After Izuku accidentally turns the League of Villains against him by revealing how he had groomed Shigaraki to become a Villain, All For One suffocates to death fighting them after Shigaraki disintegrates his life support.
- Viridian: The Green Guide: After being kidnapped and turned into a Berserker, Endeavor dies shortly after failing to kill Viridian, with his death reported to be a result of tainted Quirk-enhancing drugs.
- Cheat Code: Support Strategist: After having his Quirk taken by All For One, Mineta stabs Stain to death.
- Mastermind: Strategist for Hire contains nearly a dozen examples unto itself:
- The Norse Hero: Fenrir:
- In-canon, Izuku's father works overseas, hence why we never see or hear from him. Here, he was a pro-hero that died in the line of duty.
- All For One dies in his battle with All Might and Izuku when Izuku reduces his upper half into a literal scorch mark with a Wave-Motion Gun move after his Heroic Second Wind.
- #14 (MHA):
- Izuku commits suicide before the fic begins.
- Tensei Iida is killed by Hero Killer Stain whereas he survived his attack in the manga.
- My Hero Playthrough: Bakugou Katsuki and Sludge both die offscreen in the first chapter. Without Izuku there to buy time and inspire All Might, Katsuki ends up suffocated and partially digested. Endeavour ends up defeating Sludge, and kills the Villain in the process.
- Sheep Go to Heaven:
- Since Iida, Midoriya and Todoroki aren’t in Hosu, Native is killed by Stain.
- A throwaway line in the Training Camp arc implies Sagawa ate Spinner. Word of God later confirms it.
- Those Society Rejected: Overhaul ends up having a fatal heart attack over being in such close contact with so much filth shortly after he accidentally fused himself with the Sludge Villain.
- When Reason Fails:
- Himiko killed Chikuchi Togeike, Tsutsutaka Agoyamoto, Mashirao Ojiro and Bibimi Kenranzaki in retaliation for an attack the group initiated.
- Minoru Mineta is killed and eaten by Himiko because he was dumb enough to be lured into her trap.
- Perfection Is Overrated: Yukariko and Ishigami die like they did in canon, but they stay dead in this story, because Miyu is destroyed near the end of the story before she can be awakened, meaning that she cannot smash the pillars. As a result, Alyssa does not come back from the dead, either.
- Aftermath of the Games (author Died During Production): The decision for Sunburst, Starlight's friend, to die in a lab accident many years ago, was made before trailers for season six came out. Although it's subverted when it's discovered that Sunburst survived the accident, and actually ended up in the Human World instead.
- A Diplomatic Visit:
- Chapter 25 confirms that King Sombra's horn, which survived the events of The Crystal Empire, was destroyed by the wolf Well-Hidden soon afterward to ensure he would never return again.
- In canon, Sunburst's father is never seen outside of flashbacks; the show's supervising director Jim Miller has implied that he's alive in canon, they just had too much other stuff going on in "The Parent Map" (when it would have been logical for him to appear) to give him a real role. Chapter 7 of the second sequel, Diplomacy Through Schooling, notes that Sunspot is deceased in this continuity.
- In the fourth story, The Diplomat's Life, the Umbrum Forces, including Rabia/the Pony of Shadows (once Stygian is freed from them), are ultimately destroyed once and for all, as opposed to just being sealed away again as they were in "Siege of the Crystal Empire" and "Shadow Play".
- In the Dusk Series, Ray possessed by Wrath kills Queen Chrysalis.
- Friendship is Witchcraft:
- Pinkie's backstory is that her parents died in a fire and she was sent to an Orphanage of Fear that caused her emotional trauma. It's unknown if she had siblings.
- The dragon from "Dragonshy" is killed by Fluttershy. He is her father.
- Cadence was killed by Twilight Sparkle for trying to marry the stallion she loves, her brother Francis. She has a Backup Twin at least, as she's a major reoccurring character.
- Gladmane or "Pelvis"note as the narrator calls him in My Little Pony: Totally Legit Recap is stated to have committed suicide off-screen, after his Engineered Public Confession in Viva Las Pegasus ruined his scam and his carrier was destroyed.
- Pony POV Series:
- Queen Chrysalis dies at the end of the Wedding after Cadence defeats her by having her attack powered up by The Power of Love (instead of Shining Armor getting powered up) during their duel for command of the Changelings. Cadence didn't intend to kill her, but Chrysalis succumbs to her wounds. While Chrysalis is Reincarnated as a Zebra-Alicorn hybrid foal, Word of God confirms Chrysalis herself is Deader than Dead.
- In the Dark World Arc, many ponies like Bon Bon, Prince Blueblood and Silver Spoon didn't survive the Day of Chaos due to Discord not being defeated and saving them. Many of them end up being brought Back from the Dead a thousand years later, but many didn't due to not wishing to return.
- The Pieces Lie Where They Fell: The Mane Six, all three Princesses, Shining Armor and Spike were all killed in the destruction of Canterlot Castle that kicks off the plot, and Chrysalis was killed in the war that followed. Garble, the dragon who bullied Spike in the episode Dragon Quest, died about a hundred years before the present day when Blazen Sun set him on fire and caused him to explode.
- Son of the Sannin:
- Hiashi Hyuuga is killed during the Uchiha Insurrection.
- Inoichi Yamanaka is killed in the Uchiha Insurrection, while in canon he survives until the final arc.
- Mizuki, at the end of Part I, is arrested and scheduled for execution. His death is confirmed during the Fourth Ninja War when Orochimaru brings him back as an Edo Tensei zombie (Anko assumes that he only did it because he found it funny).
- Kabuto is killed by an unnamed person in Chapter 82. Deidara implies in Chapter 92 that Zetsu is the one who was responsible, though it was later shown that Hebiko killed him as the start of her rebellion against Orochimaru.
- Toneri Otsutsuki is killed by Hinata in Chapter 113, while in canon he was spared by the protagonists in The Last: Naruto the Movie and still alive by the time of Boruto.
- Choza Akimichi and Tenzo are both killed in Chapter 120 while defending the remaining jinchuriki on Genbu Island.
- Maito Gai uses the Gate of Death to fight off Madara like in canon, but here he isn't saved by Naruto's healing powers.
- Orochimaru ends up suffering from Adaptational Karma when Jiraiya and Tsunade kill him during the Fourth Ninja War, and since Hinata managed to remove Anko's cursed seal he has no way of coming back.
- Team 8:
- Kurenai is killed by Itachi during his incursion into the village in search of Naruto.
- Also Tazuna, who is randomly shot by one of Gato's henchmen during the Land of Waves mission.
- Always Visible: Delia herself dies, and it is also implied that her father also did not survive the accident.
- You're back, Mari: Hero pushes Sunny's mother into traffic following Omori revealing how neglectful and emotionally abusive she was to Sunny, as well as an argument between her and Hero that inflamed the memory. Hero's actions, as well the following cover-up, continue to haunt him for the rest of the summer.
- Boy With a Scar: Luffy is still the Idiot Hero we know and love, but due to his Dark and Troubled Past, he's less inclined to show mercy to anyone who really makes him mad.
- Don Krieg's attitude reminds Luffy too much of the Celestial Dragons. As such, he doesn't survive their fight.
- After Nami finally begs Luffy to help her with Arlong, he begins the fight with a promise to rip the fishman's heart out. We soon see that he was actually serious about it.
- Mr. Five grudgingly draws his gun against Luffy after he breaks the former's nose. With guns being a Berserk Button for him in this story, Luffy subsequently beats him to death.
- Coby's Choice: Many of the villains who survived in One Piece don't survive their fight with the Straw Hats this time:
- Don Krieg is left to drown by Luffy and Sanji.
- Kuromarimo is killed in battle against Coby.
- Enel is beaten and killed by Gin. This allows his Devil Fruit to reincarnate into one of Nami's Orange.
- Doctor Hogback is executed by Brook for his part in making the zombies of Thriller Bark.
- Thanks to his strength, Zoro isn't stopped in time by Bonney, and he kills Saint Charloss for trying to shoot him.
- Dosun and Daruma are killed by Coby and Merry, respectfully, during the showdown between their crews.
- Hody Jones is critically wounded during his Final Battle with Luffy and Rum, and dies from a combination of his wounds and overdosing on the Energy Steroids.
- The Minister of the Left dies from wounds inflicted by Hody.
- Weevil was killed by the New Whitebeard Pirates during the Time Skip for claiming to be Whitebeard's son.
- On Punk Hazard, Brownbeard is disassembled by Law as he prepares to betray Caesar, and is then finished off by being frozen by Monet, who wants to use Law's betrayal to cover her own.
- A Crew for a King: On Little Garden, Mr. 3 traps the Unluckies in wax so they can’t return to Crocodile and reveal the agents failed to kill Vivi. As a result of being trapped, they're unable to escape when Broggy and Dorry decide to eat them.
- A Gamer In South Blue: In canon, 'Gashed' Albion was a ruthless pirate from the South Blue whose bounty nearly hit 100 million, who tried joining the Fake Straw Hats in Sabaody. Here, Jack goes out of his way to kill him before he grows into his prime, even when Albion is begging for his life.
- The Logia Brothers: A Darker and Edgier fic, has multiple examples of this:
- Because the Straw Hats are much more ruthless when fighting their enemies, most tend to not survive fighting them. This list currently includes (in order of death) the entirety of the Black Cat, Kreig, and Arlong Pirates (save for Hachi, whom Nami specifically asks be spared), the Unluckies, Wapol and his minions, Crocodile, Lassoo, Mr. 4, Miss Merry Christmas, Mr. 1, and Miss Doublefinger.
- Nezumi is hanged by the Marines after his corrupt dealings with Arlong are exposed.
- Mr. 5 is killed at Whiskey Peak by Nanashi, an agent of the Kuro Kari, a criminal organization that specializes in killing Devil Fruit users and collecting their powers for re-sale.
- Mr. 3 dies on Little Garden when Broggy and Dorry crush him for launching a sneak attack on the Straw Hats.
- Pell kills Mr. 7 and Miss Father's Day when they try to snipe Vivi and Koza to keep the fighting in the plaza going.
- Luffy's Mother is WHO?
- Judge Vinsmoke bites the dust after Sanji beats the hell out of him and Reiju gives her father a poisoned kiss as the coup de grace.
- Jack is killed by the Kozuki Retainers on Zou to avenge Kanjironote instead of being incapacitated by being tossed into the sea.
- New Game Plus:
- Out of necessity, Luffy kills Don Krieg.
- Zoro kills Mihawk at the end of their duel.
- Too much dawdling before going to take out Arlong results in the deaths of Chabo and Genzo.
- One Piece, Two Piece, Red Piece, Blue Piece:
- Mohmoo and the Unluckies both end up eaten.
- Enel is killed by Sabo for acting like his powers make him superior and threatening to abduct Bluejay to bear his children.
- Second Wind: Mr. 13 the otter and Miss Friday the vulture. Luffy knocks them out with his Haki in Whiskey Peak, and the next day they're the main course for the Straw Hats' lunch.
- This Bites!:
- Variant – in-story, Big Mom's 27th daughter is Charlotte Macarron, who dies two years before the events of the story. Her canon counterpart is Charlotte Joconde, who is alive and well, and debuted in the source manga about six months after the release of the chapter in which Macarron's status was given. Word of God explains this away by saying that as of Macarron’s death, Linlin and her family pretend that she never existed to begin with.
- In the Sabaody Revolution arc, as in canon, Human Auction House owner Disco outlives his usefulness to Doflamingo. Unlike in canon, though, Disco initially seems uncharacteristically confident and competent throughout the arc, before and especially during the Straw Hats' invasion of his business. Then the truth comes out: it was one of Doflamingo's Black Knights, and the real Disco is hanging in his office.
- Koala assassinates Vice-Admiral Strawberry in his hospital bed during the Summit War.
- Watashitachi wa Roger Kaizoku Desu (We Will Stand Proud): Both Kizaru and Akainu are killed during the Paramount War by Buggy of all people. The former was already mostly dead when he got a haki imbued knife to the jugular and the latter was shot in the head with a seastone bullet.
- Dead Men Tell No Tales Redone, a Fix Fic for Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales, has Jack Sparrow sacrifice himself to save Carina Smyth's life, because he's her father instead of Barbossa.
- Hours 'Verse:
- Everyone from Hamuko's timeline aside from herself and Shinjiro die, due to Nyx bringing about the Fall after Izanami starts spreading her fog outside of Inaba.
- While his fate past his arrest is never elaborated on in the original game, in Butterfly Cascade Shido explicitly receives the death penalty for his crimes.
- Late in My Kingdom for My Heart, Maruki is killed as a result of Azathoth's possession.
- Pokémon Reset Bloodlines has several examples:
- Brock's parents, Flint and Lola, died some time prior to the beginning of the story.
- Misty's parents, while not shown in the anime proper, were stated to have abandoned her and her sisters in Pocket Monsters: The Animation. Here, they are confirmed to be dead.
- Characters of the Day Dario, Melvin and Seymour are all killed by Sabrina.
- Possibly Cilan and his brothers, albeit it's not confirmed yet.
- Sabrina's mother was alive in the anime (albeit turned into a doll). Here, she died of an illness when Sabrina was two years old.
- Koga's sister Aya died in childhood.
- Shudo cross Modern Ash: The Professor Who Observes his Charges
- Cross died in the chaos on Mount Tensei.
- Giovanni dies in the stories' equivalent of "Showdown at the Poke Corral". The author notes Suede's point about explosion proof suits and does not apply it.
- Too Many Ashes: One of Ash's clones is implied to have drowned during the sinking of the S.S. Anne, as one of the cutaways showing what the clones are up to is merely the cruise ship's bubbling wreck.
- Wasted Years: Both Trent and Elsa from Power Rangers: Dino Thunder are revealed to have died before the story starts. Elsa had her entire life force stolen by Mesagog while Trent used both his unstable dino-morpher and his Dragozord to destroy Zeltrax and his giant Zord in a fiery blast.
- In Razputin Vodello AU, Ford Cruller and Nona Aquato/Lucricia Mux both die of natural causes a year before what would have been the events of Psychonauts 2.
- Children of Remnant: Jacques reveals that, shortly after Weiss was captured, Willow drank herself to death.
- The Fallen Maiden: The premise is that Jaune Arc dies in the Battle of Beacon rather than Pyrrha Nikos.
- Unlike in canon, Sienna catches on to Adam Taurus’ plans of usurping her, and executes him.
- Later, Pyrrha kills Mercury after setting up an ambush on Cinder Fall.
- In the Battle of Haven, Tyrian, Emerald, and Cinder are killed by Raven, Ruby, and Pyrrha respectively.
- White Sheep: As in RWBY canon, Adam cuts off Yang's arm at the Battle of Beacon (volume 3). While in the show he survived to volume 6, here Yang's boyfriend Jaune summons a Grimm dragon who promptly eats Adam.
- Chasing Dragons:
- Gregor Clegane falls during the fighting against Myr.
- Balon, Aeron, and Euron Greyjoy, as well as Rodrick Harlaw and Smalljon Umber, all die during Balon's Rebellion.
- Randyll Tarly and Stannis Baratheon die from The Plague that hits King's Landing at the start of the Fourth Slave War.
- Yohn Royce is killed during the Mountain Clans' rebellion.
- A Dragon's Roar:
- Petyr Baelish is killed during the attack on Daeron's convoy by the Kingswood Brotherhood.
- Howland Reed is executed after taking the blame for being the Knight of the Laughing Tree.
- Grand Maester Pycelle dies of supposedly natural causes shortly after the civil war begins.
- Randyll Tarly and Mathis Rowan both die during the Battle of Goldengrove.
- Varys is killed by Rhaella and Alister during their coup against Rhaegar's court at the end of the war.
- My Father's Son: Given this is the world of Westeros, this does happen in unexpected ways compared with the sources.
- Jon Fossoway is killed off by Bronn due to a cowardly action trying to overturn a lost Trial by Seven.
- His cousin Tanton also dies here, albeit offscreen, presumably at the Battle of the Bells.
- Mace Tyrell commits suicide rather than face up to how he dishonored the Tyrells and lost Wilas during Rhaegar's Rebellion.
- According to Varys, as part of Aerys II's newfound obsession with dragon eggs, Varys was forced to carry out a hit on Illyrio Morpitas.
- Wyman Manderly meets his end during Euron's raid when he's currently still alive in the books.
- Rodrik Harlaw AKA Rodrik the Reader is sadly killed during the navel battle at Arbor.
- Single Parents Night: Vanilla died a few months ago, leaving her baby to be adopted by her god-mother Amy.
- Chapter 201 of Sonic the Hedgehog: Heroes of Mobius, fittingly titled Eggman's Last Stand, ends with Eggman suffering a Disney Villain Death.
- What You Already Know:
- Instead of surviving the collapse of the Goa’uld Empire after Anubis’s final defeat, Ba’al is captured in a raid on his palace and is killed when he tries to take Daniel as a host a year before the Battle of Dakara.
- Where Kinsey was last shown in a position that left his fate ambiguous in the TV series, here he is shot while giving a speech and clearly bleeds to death in front of a hundred witnesses.
- In a sense, this applies to Anubis in the What You Already Know series; rather than being trapped in eternal battle with Oma, Anubis is forcibly returned to his original body by Daniel (who explicitly notes that the mind of the host is gone and only the mind of the symbiote is left), and is then killed by Oma.
- Sword Art Online Abridged:
- In the original Sword Art Online, Rosalia was simply arrested for her crimes. Here, her neck is sliced by a very pissed off Kirito after she pressed all of his Berserk Buttons.
- Pina is killed in both the original and abridged version of the story. However, while Kirito and Silica were able to revive them in the original, the abridged version has the time limit for their revival ultimately expire and they were unable to bring them back.
- Grimlock's canon counterpart was arrested for the murder of his wife and was confirmed a survivor of SAO. He wasn't so lucky here as his former teammates of the Golden Apple get revenge by beating and murdering him behind a tree.
- Lind, a character Demoted to Extra in the anime, is demoted even further to a nameless mafia member whom Kayaba deletes when he talks back to him.
- Turtle Kittens:
- While Tang Shen took the killing blow meant for Yoshi in canon, here that killing blow reached its target, Yoshi bleeding out in her arms.
- While Shredder raised Miwa as Karai as revenge against her birth-father, here he drowned her while she was still an infant so that Tang Shen could "start fresh" with him.
- New Tamaran features the deaths of Dr. Light, Mumbo, Mad Mod, Silkie, Joker, Supergirl, and several Honorary Titans.
- In the sequel Justice Returns, Wonder Girl reveals that Kyle Rayner had been murdered by Cheshire.
- In Aqualad's origin, Tula dies before she can become Aquagirl.
- Legacy (Total Drama): Gwen was murdered by the escaped killer, rather than fending him off.
- Despair Island reimagines the reality show in which the campers are participating as a Deadly Game, with anyone who gets voted off being killed in front of their team-mates. As a result, though all the campers survive in canon, the fic ends with all but five of them dead, the survivors being Bridgette, Duncan, Geoff, Justin and Noah.
- Turning Red: The Panda Conspiracy: Ming and Tyler are killed, leaving Mei to deal with the grief while being hunted for a crime that she didn't commit.
- "A Different Kind of Moon" sees Victoria kill Jessica and Lauren while trying to draw Bella and the Cullens out. She also turns Mike Newton and abducts and tortures Angela Weber, forcing Bella to kill Mike while Edward turns Angela to save her life.
- In Storyshift (the preboot and the reboot), this applies to Mettacrit and Napstablook as a result of being placed in the roles of the first-fallen human and Asriel. Why it happened was still pretty much the same, though the details changed slightly as a result: rather than Chara committing suicide by poison to give Asriel their soul and the two dying from humans attacking them on the Surface, Mettacrit absorbed the soul of his friend (the first human who fell in Storyshift), was killed by humans, and Napstablook died on their own afterward out of grief over their cousin.
- As a Role Swap AU Fan Game, TS!Underswap switches the First Human's and the Human Child's roles, and Asriel's and Monster Kid's. As a result, it's implied that the Human Child (the player character in Undertale) and Monster Kid (a friendly little NPC you can't normally fight or kill in Undertale) have been dead for a very long time. Because of the implications of the role swap however, fans believe that Monster Kid (and possibly the Human Child too if a popular fan theory proves true) will be revealed that he Came Back Wrong in the full game.
- Underverse:
- Underverse was created to bring characters from different beloved fan-made AUs together, most prominently Underfell and Underswap. 0.4 is such a Wham Episode in large part because it killed off the entire cast of Underswap and Underfell, with Swap Chara and Swap Papyrus dying in their empty world, Outertale Sans Killed Offscreen mere moments after he meets Classic Sans, and Swap Sans and Fell Sans impaled by X-Gaster in short order. Since it's canon that alternate timelines exist for these worlds, there's hope that there are at least other versions of Underswap and Underfell out there... as long as they weren't part of those worlds Error destroys in the same episode.
- OWNERS reveals that the Undertale version of Flowey was killed by Sans and Frisk/Chara sometime before Season 1, and is seemingly staying that way.
- A Ruinous Gift:
- Sophia is beaten to death by Danny Hebert when she attacks Taylor in their home.
- Skidmark is killed much earlier than canon when one of his suborned minions shoots him for threatening Taylor.
- Dinah Alcott has a fatal aneurysm from her Shard trying and failing to analyze the chaos energy Taylor produces.
- Wolf Spider: During the battle with Behemoth a lot of people died, quite a few either survived canon worm or died at a latter time.
- Didn’t die in canon: Glory Girl, Brandish, Laserdream, Flashbang, Lung, Labyrinth, Armsmaster, Assault, Shadow Stalker, Cache, Ursa Aurora, Dispatch, Exalt, Tecton, Cuff, and Narwhal.
- Died at a latter point in canon: Othala, Hookwolf, Clockblocker, Rime, and Revel.
- With This Ring: Paul's presence on the Team results in several villains being put down for good, when in canon they survived.
- Ra's al Ghul loses all his resources and followers, and the other members of the Light consider him a loose end, which they proceed to tie off. It's later revealed that they used high-end incendiaries to ensure there would be nothing left to put in a Lazarus Pit.
- Klarion has his connection to the Plane of Chaos hijacked and his power stolen, leaving his body comatose. What's left is executed by China.
- Queen Bee attempts to use her pheromone control on Teth Adom, but he's resistant to it due to his divine blessings — and he was already incensed at her due to the recent assault on his country, agreeing to their meeting only very reluctantly. When he senses her pheromones, he proceeds to tear her in half on live television.
- Ocean Master gets captured, executed, then resurrected by the villains and killed again.
- In the Renegade timeline, all of the Light except for Lex Luthor are killed and/or turned into orange construct slaves (which is suspected to be Soul Eating and thus a Fate Worse than Death).
- Broken By Humanity, Healed By a Dragon:
- Asuka dies from being stabbed with a sword in a flashback.
- Fubuki is mentioned as having died either during the war or prior to the start of it.
- Yuma's sister, grandmother, and parents were killed when the Barians attacked his village.
- Yuya's parents die prior to the start of the fic.
- Yugi loses his grandfather to a group of bandits.
Unsorted
- Danganronpa: The Immersive Learning Program, which mixes the cast of the three games in the franchise, will death either earlier or to those that survive their canon killing games.
- In the Immersive Learning Program, Makoto, Kazuichi, Sonia, and Byakuya are killed or executed in contrast to surviving. Meanwhile, Korekiyo is killed one chapter earlier than in Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony, while Nekomaru is executed a chapter earlier as a Blackened.
- In Academy of Discontent, Sakura, Tenko, Hifumi, Gonta, and Kokichi are killed earlier than in their canon games, while Hajime, Aoi, Shuichi, and Yasuhiro are no longer survivors.
- In Semester of Hell, Kyoko is the first victim of the killing game.
- Fractures (SpaceDimentio): With the exception of Rose Quartz/Pink Diamond and Bismuth (and a handful of others), every other Crystal Gem from the war has long since been shattered, notably Pearl and Garnet.
- In The Hobbit fic Heart of Fire, Tauriel is killed by Smaug during his attack on Lake-town.*
- The Sam & Cat fic "A Hero's Lament" reveals that Carly Shay (of iCarly) died in a plane crash while she was flying to Italy, leaving Sam devastated as she and Carly were actually engaged and just hadn't told anyone but their closest friends yet.
- In Hunting Decepticons, Starscream is killed in Chapter 2 when Pyrrha uses her semblance to get Starscream's bomb onto his back and then fling him high into the sky and the bomb blows up. This results in Soundwave and Knock Out doing the things Starscream did in the show.
- In Mercury Mrs Tendo, Soun is the Tendo parent who dies prior to the start of the series' events as opposed to his wife.
- A Mighty Demon Slayer Grooms Some Ponies: Queen Majesty (from G1 My Little Pony) is killed off for sake of making the universe more consistent, as she appeared in the toyline and the comics, but not the My Little Pony 'n Friends show.
- She was also killed off in The Elements of Harmony and the Savior of Worlds, where she was murdered by Tirac with the Rainbow of Darkness 20 years before Megan's arrival.
- In most Nuzlocke Comics from Pokémon Red and Blue (or the third-gen remakes), Gary's Raticate dies. This is because of a popular fan theory: Raticate's no longer on Gary's team when he asks you about dead Pokemon at Lavender Tower, so it's possible he was there in mourning. The games themselves never quite mention what happened to Raticate, though it's possible Gary just stored it in a PC box to make room for something else.
- The very nature of Nuzlocke challenges is this trope. Instead of simply "fainting", any Pokemon who lose in battle are killed, and must either be released or placed in a PC box reserved for dead Pokemon.
- In Open For All, Aunt May died suddenly and left custody of Peter over to Tony, having engineered in her will to be buried in Italy. Given the fact that she changed her will the moment she discovered her nephew's real parentage and the suddenness of her death, it may have been a preexisting problem she knew about beforehand.
- Power Rangers Take Flight, an adaptation of Choujin Sentai Jetman, does this with Zephyros. Like his Sentai counterpart, Dryer Jigen, Zephyros is an Ineffectual Sympathetic Villain who gets to live in peace at the end of his episode. Unlike his Sentai counterpart, Zephyros returns a few episodes later, gets provoked into growing and destroyed (re-purposing an Imagine Spot from his Sentai episode for this scene).
- The Rigel Black Chronicles mentions the off-screen death of Arabella Figg, killed by Death Eaters.
- Rosario Vampire: Brightest Darkness: In the original manga, Kuyou, Hokuto, and Kiria survived the final battle with Alucard and managed to rebuild Fairy Tale. Here, all three of them are dead by the end of Acts III and IV.
- In Supergirl story Hellsister Trilogy, Brainiac gets killed off in the gathering of villains which happened in Crisis on Infinite Earths.
- In Blazing Revolution, the sequel to the Sword Art Online fic I Will Not Bow, Sugou Nobuyuki becomes an Ascended Extra; after the events of the Fairy Dance arc, he breaks out of prison on more than one occasion to stir up trouble for Kirito and his friends. When he does so for the final time and loses to Kirito yet again, Kirito decides that he's "fresh out of mercy" for Sugou, especially after every horrible thing he's done, and cuts him down IRL.
- In System Restore, Sonia Nevermind, one of the five survivors of the game, is the murderer in the second case, and is executed.
- In System Restore, there are several cases of this.
- The fic's premise has Togami failing to prevent the first murder, resulting in Komaeda getting fatally stabbed.
- To a lesser extent, Pekoyama is the victim of the second trial, rather than the killer.
- Tsumiki is also a victim of the third chapter, rather than the killer.
- "The Fragility of Time" does this with The Phantom Sisters, Ail (though this one is a Disney Death), Kaolinite, Eudial and Mimete (both of whom are murdered by Rubeus), Rubeus himself, and Death Phantom.
- The sequel offs Fish Eye and Iron Mouse in one chapter.
- Hisashi Midoriya, unseen father of Izuku Midoriya, is dead by a villain attack for years in The Tick vs... MY HERO ACADEMIA!.
- Rick Grimes, one of the main characters in The Walking Dead, in "Better Angels".
- Inverted by Shane Walsh who becomes the leader of the Atlanta group following Rick's death.
- Reconstructed when, despite Rick's death the group continues into a harsh winter and eventually winds up in The Prison just like their canon counterparts.
- Us and Them: Fuhito is killed much earlier in the timeline than in Final Fantasy VII canon.
- While in Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (2012) it was revealed that Miwa survived the night her mother died and was raised as Karai, in Underneath the Sakura Tree Miwa actually died at infancy, Karai a different person according to Word of God.
Examples where the character died a lot sooner in the adaptation than in the source:
- In Star Wars canon, Anakin Skywalker dies over twenty years after the end of the Clone Wars, and only a handful of clones are confirmed to have survived more than a few years past the end of that same war. In By the Sea, Anakin dies in Obi-Wan's arms in World War II (which is not an analogue to the Clone Wars here) prior to the start of the story. (An unnamed Padme is also mentioned, working as a nurse, but she and Obi-Wan were never acquainted here and it's unknown what became of her.) Fives (died in canon near the end of the Clone Wars), Crys (fate unknown but likely didn't make it too far past the end of the Clone Wars), and Bly (survived the end of the Clone Wars to serve in the Empire) are all dead during or possibly even before the merfolk war serving as an analogue to the Clone Wars, and from unknown causes.
- In the original Batman: Last Knight on Earth, Omega, the Big Bad of the story, was revealed to be the still-alive original Bruce Wayne, having survived the torture he suffered during the siege on the Hall of Justice in the backstory only to be killed by a Morally Superior Copy of himself in the climax. The Elseworld chapter of the DC/RWBY fanfic Hunters of Justice that adapted it for a short story depicts Ruby Rose as Omega instead with Bruce actually having indeed died during the siege
- For Better or For Worse (One Piece):
- When Vergo attacking Corazon makes Law cry, Luffy paralyzes Vergo with Haki and then Kinto-Un devours him.
- It's not completely clear what happened to Higuma and his bandits after Luffy and Law went after them for hurting Makino. But if they're still alive, they probably wish that they weren't.
- At the end of Chapter 6, Luffy reaches Ace just in time to see Bluejam shoot him in the chest. He goes completely berserk, and when Shanks finds him, all that remains of Bluejam is four dismembered, scattered limbs and some unrecognizable mush in the middle of a bloody circle.
- In Handmaid both Thomas and Jane Seymour die sooner than they did in real life for way different reasons. Thomas Seymour dies for pushing Anne Boleyn down the stairs and causing her to miscarry the heir to the throne, and Jane died for knowing about Thomas's role in the miscarriage and saying nothing because she felt he was justified in doing so, though she lived long enough to produce Edward, in this timeline a bastard.
- Three-Point Shot mainly has examples of this, since the vast majority of the cast of Danganronpa V3: Killing Harmony dies.
- Tsumugi is executed at the end of the first trial, since unlike in canon, she's exposed as Rantaro's true killer, thus enabling Kaede to live.
- Korekiyo is the second murder victim, rather than the third killer, while Tenko is the second killer, rather than the second victim in Chapter 3.
- Gonta dies as a murder victim in Chapter 3, rather than a killer in Chapter 4.
