History Main / UncertainDoom

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Archer}}'' toys with this quite a bit. A lot of the recurring characters we thought dead like the head of the Yakuza, Conway Twitty and especially Barry are revealed to still be in the picture.
* ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' examples:
** Princess Yue's {{jerkass}} fiancé Hahn is last seen being thrown into the freezing ocean by Admiral Zhao after a failed AssassinationAttempt against Zhao. It's unclear if he survived. Some fans have actually pointed out that the confrontation took place on the ''upper deck'' of the ship, meaning there was a ''solid steel deck'' right below them. [[WhatDoYouMeanItsForKids Maybe his doom isn't]] [[RailingKill so uncertain]] [[DisneyVillainDeath after all...]]
** Because of the [[Creator/{{Nickelodeon}} network]] the show aired on, they [[NeverSayDie couldn't]] be as blatant as they'd have liked about Jet's death, since he's last seen badly wounded in the Dai Li's hideout under Lake Laogai. It's heavily implied that he's dying, though, as when Jet insists he will be fine, [[LivingLieDetector Toph]] says "He's lying" as the Gaang are escaping. This is [[SelfDeprecation referenced]] in the [[LampshadeHanging lampshade-filled]] episode "The Ember Island Players", when the characters see a play of their lives:
--->'''Zuko:''' Did Jet just...die?\\
'''Sokka:''' Y'know, it was really unclear.
** Along the same lines are Jet's friends Longshot and Smellerbee, who are left alone with him. They are never seen or mentioned again after this scene, where they're left in an enemy base that was later destroyed. ''ComicBook/AvatarTheLastAirbenderThePromise'' shows that they survived.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanBeyond'': The show tends to use this a lot for its villains, in part to get past the censors and so that they could have plausible deniability to bring them back in future episodes (even if it was something no one realistically could have survived). It helps that villains are often shown [[UnexplainedRecovery returning from apparent death without any explanation]].
** The fate of the Terrific Trio from "Heroes". 2D Man and Freon were sucked into a ventilation system (the latter notably coming apart due to her body being vapor) while Magma was hit by water and solidified. Considering there were plans for 2D Man and Magma to return in the comic tie-in to restore Freon, the implication, despite how horrifying it is, is that they did not die (the only reason they didn't return was because DC was afraid Marvel might sue, since the Terrific Trio were a very obvious, [[CorruptedCharacterCopy and very unflattering]], parody of the Fantastic Four).
** Dr. Cuvier is turned into a grotesque amalgamation of mutilated animal parts and caught in a massive fiery explosion. His accomplices are shown being arrested by the police, but his fate is not elaborated on. The tie-in comics had him survive, although [[ReportsOfMyDeathWereGreatlyExaggerated he was thought to be dead by everyone else]] until he showed up again.
** Patrick the Ratboy; the barrels of toxic waste under his subterranean lair are ignited, causing an explosion so big that it travels through several city blocks of sewers. He and his rat minions are last seen frantically fleeing the flames just seconds before the explosion, but it isn't clear if they actually managed to escape. The tie-in comics show that he did indeed survive however.
** Bullwhip kidnapped a skilled doctor's wife and promised to return her if he gave him and his friends weaponized prosthetics. The doctor eventually discovered his wife was in on the kidnapping the whole time and cheating on him with Bullwhip, but Bullwhip didn't know that he found out. Bullwhip returns to the doctor after escaping a fight with Batman and tells him to make him even more powerful and [[TemptingFate not to hold back]]. The episode ends with the doctor, in full TranquilFury, putting him under sleeping gas while lowering a power drill down. Bruce muses they probably won't be seeing him again.
** Blight is last seen going critical overload in a VillainousBreakdown, blowing up the submarine he was hiding on, and sinking it to the bottom of the sea. However, salvage teams searching the wreckage NeverFoundTheBody, and Batman doubts he's really gone, but it was his last appearance in the cartoon regardless since the writers thought they had done all they wanted with the character. Once again, the tie-in comics showed that he survived, but he suffered severe amnesia, although he ended up genuinely KilledOffForReal in one issue.
** Charlie "Big Time" Bigelow is apparently killed in his second appearance [[DisneyVillainDeath when he plummets]] off a suspension bridge into the foggy river below. Although considering villains have survived far worse fates in the series, including in Big Time's introductory episode, where another criminal suffers a very similar fate, yet survived, it's plausible that he could have lived. It was his last appearance either way though, since his story arc had concluded.
* In Season 3 of ''WesternAnimation/CarmenSandiego'', two different V.I.L.E. operatives end up caught by the police and then taken away by the Cleaners: Neal the Eel and Roundabout. While V.I.L.E.'s protocols for dealing with this seem to be to just [[LaserGuidedAmnesia mind-wiping]] the captured operative and returning them to a normal life, we don't see what ends up happening to them or if there's a different protocol in place for members of V.I.L.E.'s inner circle, in the latter's case. Season 4 reveals their fates: since the mind-wipe technology was on the fritz, they're sent out on another mission to see if they can make up for their failures. Naturally, Carmen ends up defeating them; Neal the Eel realizes what's going to happen and [[ScrewThisImOutOfHere flees on a fishing boat]], while Roundabout is locked up in the dungeons of V.I.L.E.'s new base until A.C.M.E. raids the place in the series finale.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'': In the GrandFinale "Operation: I.N.T.E.R.V.I.E.W.S.", the villains Knightbrace and Potty Mouth are last seen at the mercy of a Queen Tie, but it's not clear whether the Queen Tie killed them or simply turned them into accountants like what happened to Vin Moosk and Froggy [=MacDougal=] in "Operation: K.N.O.T."
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'': The final fate of [[BigBad Vlad Plasmius]]. He's last seen getting hit by the Disasteroid, which was made of an anti-ghost material that would hurt him on touch. WordOfGod claims he survived and was taken by aliens.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamousFred'': While in the book, Fred is confirmed to be dead, in the cartoon short, it's a little more ambiguous. He still got the cat flu, and he ''appeared'' dead, and was even apparently buried, yet Kenneth is under the impression that CatsHaveNineLives and Fred still has one left. At the end of the short, a ginger and white cat is seen walking away, though that may have been a different one.
* ''WesternAnimation/FantasticFourWorldsGreatestHeroes'': The penultimate episode, "Doom's Word is Law", ends with Doctor Doom getting caught in an explosion. It isn't clear whether or not he survived. While Johnny does mention Doom as if he were still alive in the final episode "Scavenger Hunt", one can make the argument that Johnny simply wasn't aware that Doom was killed.
* ''WesternAnimation/FinalSpace'':
** [[Characters/FinalSpaceCelestialEntities The Gatekeeper]] of Bolo's mind. What happens to him following Bolo's death in Season 3 is unclear.
** [[Characters/FinalSpaceTheTeamSquad Mooncake]] in the cliffhanger ending of Season 3. He's violently drained of his powers by a corrupted Ash whilst the rest of the Team Squad reluctantly escape, and it's unknown he's dead or he's merely de-powered and marooned in Final Space. Eventually, Olan Rogers confirmed on Twitter that Mooncake is alive, but imprisoned.
* ''WesternAnimation/GIJoeARealAmericanHero'': The FiveEpisodePilot of the Creator/DiCEntertainment continuation had Serpentor turned into an iguana and chased by the Dreadnok Gnawgahyde when Cobra Commander regained control over Cobra. Because it was mentioned that Serpentor's transformation was temporary and he is never seen or heard from again in the series, it isn't clarified whether Gnawgahyde had killed Serpentor or if Serpentor managed to evade the Dreadnok and merely never returned because of the experience giving him shame and disgrace.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeagueUnlimited'': Invoked at the end:
-->'''Batman:''' I doubt that either of them[[note]]Lex Luthor and Darkseid[[/note]] died.\\
'''Superman:''' We ''saw'' it this time.\\
'''Flash:''' [[DeathIsCheap You saw it last time, too]].
* ''WesternAnimation/LooneyTunes'':
** Invoked in the Coyote and Roadrunner cartoon ''Gee Whiz-zzzzzz''; as Wile E. Coyote falls for the last time, he holds up a sign asking that the cartoon end before he hits. As the screen begins to IrisOut, he holds up a second sign saying "Thank you."
** In the gangster spoof ''WesternAnimation/RacketeerRabbit'', Hugo takes Bugs Bunny "out for a ride". Bugs Bunny comes back without Hugo.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyAndFriends'':
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyAndFriendsE10TheEndOfFlutterValley10 The End of Flutter Valley, Part 10]]", the witches were last seen being blown away by the Flutter Ponies, but it's never specified where to or what was done with them.
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyAndFriendsE14TheGhostOfParadiseEstate4 The Ghost of Paradise Estate, Part 4]]", it's unclear what actually happens to Squirk and Crank -- the receding floodwaters drag them away into a maelstrom and down a hole, but their actual fate after that is unclear. It's not shown if they died, but they don't return to bother Dream Valley ever again.
** In "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyAndFriendsE46TheRevoltOfParadiseEstate2 The Revolt of Paradise Estate, Part 2]]", Beezen is last seen being chased down by his angry and animated wand, and it's not shown what happens to him afterwards.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In "Marge vs. the Monorail", the plane [[TheBarnum Lyle Lanley]] is on unexpectedly lands in the town of North Haverbrook, whose inhabitants he'd previously scammed, and is immediately attacked by a mob of the townsfolk who come onto the plane when it touches down. Since he makes no more appearances afterwards, not even as a cameo (save for a flashback in a clip episode), it's entirely possible that he was killed, but this is never made explicit. Though if he did die, [[KarmicDeath it would be hard to call his fate undeserved]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SkullIsland2023'': In [[Recap/SkullIsland2023S1E8YoullNeverCatchAMonkeyThatWay the season finale]], it's uncertain whether or not the Rock Bug that Kong throws at the Kraken survives being violently slapped out of its trajectory by the Kraken's tentacle, and falling into the sea a good distance by the Rock Bug's standards away from the shore.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'':
** Season 14 ends with [[TokenEvilTeammate Cartman]] pulling a YouHaveFailedMe moment by slowly approaching a helpless [[TokenGoodTeammate Butters]] with a deadly allergen. At the time, many fans seemed to legitimately believe that Butters was KilledOffForReal, though Season 15 quickly disproves that.
** "Dead Kids" ends by revealing, in a deliberately anticlimactic way, that [[TheEveryman Stan]] got shot off-screen. Again, you had fans either seriously or jokingly talking about his death, though one week later we see he just has his arm in a sling.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'':
** [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS3E15ThroughImperialEyes "Through Imperial Eyes"]]: Lieutenant Lyste is [[FrameUp framed]] as being Fulcrum by the real TheMole, Agent Kallus. He is last seen being dragged away while protesting his innocence. Kallus says that treason by an Imperial officer is punishable by death. At the end of the episode, Thrawn deduces from other evidence that Kallus is actually Fulcrum, but he and Yularen keep this a secret in order to FeedTheMole, leaving the unfortunate Lyste's ultimate fate uncertain.
** [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E13FamilyReunionAndFarewell "Family Reunion]] [[Recap/StarWarsRebelsS4E14FamilyReunionAndFarewellPartII -- and Farewell"]]: Thrawn himself suffers this when Ezra has a fleet of [[SpaceWhale Purrgil]] forcibly drag his Star Destroyer into hyperspace, destination unknown. Ezra was onboard as well and is implied to have survived, but there is no word on Thrawn's status and whether or not he's still around for rescue.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsResistance'': The last time we see Commander Pyre in the GrandFinale, he's been knocked out and left in a burning hanger on a Star Destroyer. Said ship blows up not long after, but we're not shown if Pyre was still onboard or woke up and evacuated offscreen. The other half of the BigBadDuumvirate, Agent Tierny, is ''[[PsychicStrangle quite]]'' explicitly shown to die, while Pyre's fate is left more ambiguous (albeit leaning towards dead).
* ''WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries'': The boat that Bruno Mannheim is fleeing in gets swamped, but not destroyed, by the explosion, leaving his fate unclear.
* ''WesternAnimation/SuperMarioWorld'': The second-to-last episode, "A Little Learning", ends with King Koopa trapped in his bedroom which is rapidly flooding with lava. His only appearances in the finale, "Mama Luigi", are in {{flashback}}s. Since this was the last AnimatedAdaptation based on ''Super Mario Bros.'', this makes Koopa's ultimate fate unknown.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2003'':
** In "Sons of the Silent Age," the flashback scene shows over a dozen merpeople revolting against the Y'Lyntians, but only five journeyed to Manhattan. It's unclear whether the other merpeople all died or if they went elsewhere in their own small groups. The merwoman speaks as if her race's survival depends on her eggs hatching, but she could have just meant her specific tribe.
** The ultimate fate of the Utrom Shredder's Foot Elite is left in the air. They manage to live far longer past the "City At War" story where [[SparedByTheAdaptation they originally died in the source material]] but during the fifth season, they're taken down by the Tengu Shredder during the "New World Order" two-parter and are never seen again, not even during ''Fast Forward'' or ''Back to the Sewers''. Whether they died or not is never adequately answered.
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'': During the Season 4 finale, Baxter Stockman is [[BroughtDownToNormal demutated by the Turtles]], and last seen knocked out by Mikey before the Shredder sets his mansion on fire with a {{Molotov cocktail}}. He's not shown amongst the surviving members of the Foot in the next season, but his death remains unconfirmed.
* ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaWorldTour'' ends with the characters fleeing from ChekhovsVolcano, with Heather in particular about to be crushed by a rock. A lot of fans hated this, especially since a new cast had been announced for the next season, though TheCameo in the first episode proves that the Gen 1 cast survived. However, this trope happens ''again'' at the end of ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaAllStars,'' and this time we really don't know what happened to about half of that season's contestants.
* ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'': Ultra Magnus is last seen lying on the ground badly beaten after Shockwave's attack on him. While he's later mentioned to have been put on spark support, it's not clear if he pulls through or succumbs to his injuries. For what it's worth, [[WordOfGod The AllSpark Almanac]] states that he eventually dies, but whether the Almanac should be taken as canon is debated.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros''
** Red Death leaves minor villain (but major {{jerkass}}) Blind Rage in a situation like this after giving his history lesson on the "gentleman villain" -- he's left [[ChainedToARailway tied to a train track]] on a railroad bridge that a train is coming down. Whether the train's coming down the track he's tied to is never made clear; Red Death suggests it might be coming down his track or some other, and he leaves before the audience can tell.
** Red Mantle and Dragon's backstory heavily implies that the two are actually Music/BuddyHolly and Music/TheBigBopper respectively, who were kidnapped prior to getting on the plane that killed them in real life. What this says about Music/RitchieValens (who was also on the plane that killed them) in this universe is unclear.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheWackyAdventuresOfRonaldMcdonald'': The fourth video "Birthday World" ends with Professor Pinchworm being [[ExitPursuedByABear chased by his own robot dog Cogster]] after the destruction of his Babe-O-Matic Ray turns himself into a helpless toddler while Ronald and friends are restored to their normal ages. Since he isn't seen again afterwards, it's unclear whether Pinchworm made it out of Cogster's pursuit unscathed or met his demise.
* In ''WesternAnimation/WinxClub'', three of the Season 4 antagonists, Ogron, Anagan, and Gantlos, are frozen, and then fall into a crevice. It is unclear whether they suffered a DisneyVillainDeath or simply remain frozen forever at the bottom of the abyss.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/AllTomorrows'': A race of technologically advanced aliens called the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Qu]] wage war against humanity and decide to genetically modify the humans they capture and/or bring under their rule, turning most of them into mindless, animalistic creatures before departing. Ages later, when the races of sapient [[{{transhuman}} Posthumaninity]] reform into a new intergalactic government, they at some point reencounter the Qu. The text states that the Qu were "subdued", but what this actually means isn't elaborated upon. It's entirely possible that what Posthumanity did to the Qu in vengeance was so [[FateWorseThanDeath horrifically unspeakable]] that the author is trying to subtly skip over it.
* ''Literature/AmericanPsycho'': The apparent death of {{yuppie}} Paul Owen is an example of this trope resulting from an UnreliableNarrator. While his coworker [[VillainProtagonist Patrick Bateman]] seems to murder him with an axe, when Bateman confesses his crime to his lawyer, the latter insists it's impossible because he had lunch with Owen ''after'' the murder supposedly took place. Since Bateman is [[ThroughTheEyesOfMadness insane]] and prone to bizarre delusions and {{hallucinations}}, it's possible he only ''thinks'' the murder happened; on the other hand, members of Bateman's social circle being easily confused with each other is a RunningGag, so it's also possible Bateman's lawyer mistook one of his client's other colleagues for Owen, an interpretation given extra credibility by the fact that he believes he's talking to somebody other than Bateman in the conversation that establishes this.[[note]]This fact also suggests a third possibility: that Bateman confused one of his ''other'' coworkers for Owen, which would mean the real Owen is still alive but somebody else died in his place.[[/note]] By extension, this also casts doubt on the other murders Bateman supposedly committed, especially since nobody else ever seems to notice that they happened despite some of them not exactly being discreet.
* ''Literature/AnimalFarm'': Snowball is last seen being chased off the farm by Napoleon's dogs. Whether he managed to escape or was killed by them is never made clear; while Napoleon insists he's still alive, he never gives any evidence to support the idea that Snowball survived and his claims could just be so he can use him as a boogeyman and a scapegoat. The animated movie adaptation makes it all but explicit that he dies, however.
* ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'':
** Esplin 9466 Lesser, a fugitive [[PuppeteerParasite yeerk]] inhabiting the body of tech billionaire Joe Bob Fenestre, has figured out how to survive without Kandrona rays by cannibalizing other yeerks. A disgusted Jake reluctantly agrees to let him live on the condition that he never leaves Fenestre's mansion. Then the mansion burns down a few days later under suspicious circumstances; while the fire is said to have not caused any fatalities, it's not clear if Esplin will live much longer, and his ultimate fate is never mentioned.
** The final fate of [[SixthRangerTraitor David]] is left ambiguous. [[MercyKill He asks Rachel to kill him]], because a few more years of being [[ShapeshifterModeLock trapped as a rat]] is too much for him. Rachel contemplates her role as the Animorph who does the team's dirty work, and wonders what the right thing to do is. David is never seen again after this.
** The ending of the series ends with the remaining Animorphs doing a suicide charge in a spaceship into another spaceship, cutting off before it mentions the result of the action, leaving their ultimate fates unknown. On one hand, ramming a spaceship with your own is logically going to cause your death the majority of the time, but on the other, it mirrors a separate character doing the same stunt earlier in the series and living.
* ''Literature/TheBlackArrow'': During the Battle of Shoreby, Dick Shelton catches a brief glimpse of Lord Risingham and Richard Plantagenet squaring off. Dick does not see Risingham again, but he firmly believes the man got killed in battle.
* In ''Literature/BloodMeridian'', this happens to two of the last survivors of Glanton's gang, Tobin and the Kid. Tobin and the Kid split up in San Francisco intending to meet back up, but the Kid is never able to find Tobin again and eventually stops looking for him. Many years later, the Kid (now the Man) encounters [[BigBad Judge Holden]] again, and Holden later catches him by surprise in an outhouse. All that seems certain is that ''[[TheUnreveal something]]'' horrible ends up in the outhouse which shocks onlookers, and Holden walks away from the encounter [[KarmaHoudini scot-free]].
* ''Literature/BoonesLick:'' Grandpa Crackenthorpe gets washed off the riverboat one night and is never seen again. He probably drowned but may have just been separated from the others.
* ''Literature/CiaphasCain:'' Happens sometimes with minor characters unique to a single book.
** Grenbow in ''Death and Glory''- A unit he's commanding is swarmed and butchered (presumably but not explicitly to the last man) by the Orks but Grenbow himself isn't specifically shown being killed, unlike other named characters who were with him.
** Sergeant Freel in ''Cain's Last Stand'' is this twice. Freel's last seen alive but panicked over a vox in the middle of a fight with Tyrannids and while his death isn't confirmed, Cain doubts that anyone could have survived long enough to make it back to where reinforcements were waiting. If Freel somehow did make it back to his own lines alive it's mentioned that most (although not all) of his unit was killed anyway in another engagement a couple days later.
* ''Literature/ColdMountain:''
** In the book, although not in the film, when Teague and his men encounter Stobrod and Pangle on their way to hunt down another group of deserters hiding in the nearby caves. When they reappear for the final battle, one of the deserters is accompanying his group, having apparently undergone a FaceHeelTurn. It is unclear if the others were wiped out, but it's likely that at least some fell to the Home Guard's guns.
** In the film, although not the book, Ingram spots a large group of escaped slaves in a field. They go down a road and a few seconds later there's shooting and screaming and Ingram has to run himself to avoid some Home Guard men riding that way. It's unclear all of the escaped slaves were killed, some were shot and others just recaptured, or some of them might have managed to escape while the others were being shot and/or recaptured.
* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' played with this in ''Literature/ThiefOfTime''; on the Disc, characters know what awaits them after death. But in this story, the [[ArtifactOfDoom Glass Clock]] will kill you if you get near, but what will happen to you ''afterwards'' is uncertain. One of the characters gets too near...
* ''Literature/DresdenFiles'': In ''Literature/BattleGround'' no one is sure what the hell happened to Chandler. He was hit by a teleport spell no one recognized and doesn't show up again even when everything is over. Additionally, Gregori Cristos of the Senior Council does not have his survival confirmed after the FinalBattle and was last mentioned being badly wounded.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter'':
** In ''Literature/HarryPotterAndTheDeathlyHallows'', Lavender is last seen on the ground with [[FullyEmbracedFiend Fenrir Greyback]], despite being in human form, [[ImAHumanitarian trying to eat her]]. Hermione fights him off of her, but we never find out if Lavender is dead or merely injured, as she's not mentioned with the other fatalities. For what it's worth, [[DeathByAdaptation she's clearly dead in the movie]].
** One of Harry's visions about Voldemort cuts off as he's forcing his way into Gregorovich's old house, quite possibly but not definitively killing the family that now lives there.
* In Creator/HGWells' ''Literature/TheInvisibleMan'', Colonel Adye is being held at gunpoint by Griffin. An attempt by Adye to grab the gun ends in either it going off or Griffin just flat out shooting him (Wells is unclear). He is described as falling down and not getting up. Kemp later tells Adye's men, "He's killed Adye. Shot him anyhow." So even Kemp, who witnessed the actual shooting, is uncertain if Adye is dead or not. He's never brought up again after this, until the epilogue involving Thomas Marvel; Adye is mentioned as having questioned him about the whereabouts of Griffin's notebooks, but Wells isn't clear if this happened before or after the shooting.
* At the end of ''Literature/ISitBehindTheEyes'', the eponymous Entity [[GrandTheftMe takes Emily over completely]] and destroys her soul. It is left ambiguous what happens to someone when this happens. All that is known is that she can no longer interrupt her possessor's sentences by calling out for help. There are three possibilities; she is either dead, [[CessationOfExistence erased]] or [[AndIMustScream trapped forever inside her own mind and body]]. Luckily, she was a [[TheSociopath nasty piece of work]], and the few people who are aware that she is now under new management could not care less what happened to her.
* ''Literature/IslandInTheSeaOfTime'': Iphigenia is last mentioned well before the downfall of Walker's empire, and it's never mentioned what happens to her and the child they have. Althea is referred to as "The last scion of the House of Wolf" shortly after other members of the family are killed, but that may just refer to her own knowledge.
* ''Literature/JohnnyCatbiscuit'': The first book does this with Philip, the retired superhero formerly known as Animal Protection Man. The villains note that he "told us where [a potion] was just before he 'went'", yet at the end, a man who looks suspiciously like him congratulates Wayne and says, "I knew you could do it!" even though Philip is apparently the only good guy who knows that Wayne is Johnny.
* Shel Silverstein's ''Lafcadio, The Lion Who Shot Back'' ends with a battle between a group of lions, led by the elderly lion who warned Lafcadio about humanity, and a group of hunters, led by the circus owner Finchfinger, who made Lafcadio a CivilizedAnimal. Lafcadio has an identity crisis and leaves, and the outcome of the battle is unknown. At least one of the hunters had to have survived the battle in order to tell the narrator Shelby what happened, though, since he explicitly says he never saw Lafcadio again.
* ''Literature/TheLastDaysOfKrypton'':
** The surviving {{mook}}s and aristocratic younger sons from Zod's army are last mentioned as being kept under guard after his defeat. Whether any of them are confined to the Phantom Zone between Zod's trial and Krypton's destruction is unknown.
** Gal-Eth and Or-Om are last mentioned as having joined No-Ton's failed HomeworldEvacuation efforts. However, they aren't mentioned in No-Ton's last scene, leaving a slight possibility that they may have gone to Argo City to seek the protection of its forcefield.
* The original book ''Film/TheLastValley'' was based on has a couple examples:
** Stoffel the bugler (one of the men the Captain leaves at the village in the book) just disappears one day. Presumably he was murdered, but since the villagers didn't bother to hide the body of the other man left behind once he was killed (and because Stoffel had married a local girl) they may have just left him tied up some place.
** The mercenaries in general in the book. The Captain returns to the valley at the end saying mortally wounded in battle and saying everyone who left with him was killed but given the likely chaos of the battlefield it's easy to question how he could have known that for sure, especially given his own need to quickly get out of there.
* Heavily downplayed in ''Literature/LoveYouForever'': The book ends with the mother in the hospital either dead or very close to death; the only ambiguity is if she's still alive right ''now''.
* ''Literature/MobyDick'': At the end, the titular whale sinks into the depths after being harpooned, famously dragging Captain Ahab down with him. Whether his wound is fatal is never made clear.
* In the Creator/HarryTurtledove short story "Must and Shall," the villains burn down the strip club where Lucy (one of the protagonist's informants) works, killing almost everyone inside. The protagonist feels certain that she must have died in the fire, but her body isn't specifically identified.
* ''Literature/ThePowerOfFive'': Several of Holly's fellow villagers, such as Sir Ian Ingram and the Flint's, aren't killed onscreen during the massacre, although it's heavily implied she was the only survivor.
* At the end of the penultimate ''Literature/RollOfThunderHearMyCry'' sequel, ''The Road to Memphis'', Jeremy Simms, the only white child to be friends with the Logans, leaves to fight in World War II and it is mentioned that they never saw him again, implying that he died, but the book itself leaves his fate open-ended as it's perfectly possible that he simply didn't return to the South afterwards. In the GrandFinale of the Logan saga, ''All the Days Past, All the Days to Come'', however, it's ultimately subverted when it's revealed that Jeremy did indeed die during World War II.
* ''Literature/RWBYFairyTalesOfRemnant'': In ''The Warrior in the Woods'', when the hero finds the Warrior's home has been destroyed, he can't tell if it was destroyed by Grimm or humans. Her weapon has been left behind, but there's no sign of her. He never finds out what happened to her and doesn't know if she's alive or dead.
* In the prologue of ''Literature/TheSecretRunnersOfNewYork'', [[PursuedProtagonist Becky]] is trapped in the BadFuture and left terrified that her pursuers are about to kill her. Still, she isn't killed onscreen, and other characters survive in the post-apocalyptic world for long periods.
* ''Literature/ASeriesOfUnfortunateEvents'':
** ''The Penultimate Peril'' ends with just about every single supporting character left in the Hotel Denouement, which has just been set on fire. Every single character is blindfolded at the time, and the majority of them can't decide whether or not to believe the Baudelaires when they say there's a fire. All the book says is that some of them will escape, and some of them will die, but any specific fates are left up to the reader.
** In ''The End'', the islanders are last seen infected by a deadly mushroom and Kit Snicket reveals that the Quagmire triplets, Hector, Captain Widdershins, Fernald and Fiona were caught by "[[TheSpook The Great Unknown]]" but given its mysterious nature, it's unclear what happened to them. At the end, the Baudelaires themselves decide to leave the island with Kit's baby but Lemony Snicket lost track of them afterward and doesn't know for sure if they reached the mainland or died at sea.
* ''Literature/ShadowChildren:'' Jen's chatroom pals Yolanda, Pat and Sean all showed a little reluctance at attending Jen's rally and it's unknown if they did attend and die with everyone else or just kept their heads down afterwards, although the fact that none of them answered when Luke checked Jen's chatroom afterwards implies the former.
* ''Literature/TheSisterVerseAndTheTalonsOfRuin'' implies this throughout the story. The villain has essentially become a god at the end, and you get the sense that there's very little hope that Singer's plan will actually work, given that the reader knows they're all trapped inside [[TomeOfEldritchLore the Sister Verse]].
* The ultimate fate of Major Len Creighton in ''Literature/TheStand'' is never revealed. His last "appearance" in the book is being heard over the radio talking to one of his officers as the United States starts collapsing due to the spread of TheVirus. In the television mini-series adaptation his fate is less enigmatic as one of the soldiers at the base is obviously ill with the superflu... but even here Creighton is not sick the last time he is onscreen, raising the possibility he was one of the 0.5% immune to Captain Trips.
* ''Literature/TheSupervillainySaga'': In "Merciless vs. Sidekick Girl", the eponymous supervillain wannabe (who had previously made a deal with an EldritchAbomination), is pulled out of sight by otherworldly forces after being knocked out in a fight with the heroes. However, is is unclear whether she is being DraggedOffToHell or her otherworldly patron is rescuing her from imprisonment for another battle.
* ''Franchise/StarWarsExpandedUniverse'': ''Literature/FromACertainPointOfView'' short story "Laina" is about a Rebel soldier, stationed on Yavin 4, who decides to send his young daughter, the titular character, away from the moon with her aunts for her own safety. Their destination? [[EarthShatteringKaboom Alderaan]]. The story ends with no confirmation as to whether or not the three actually made it to the planet before the Death Star or not.
* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
** ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'': [[GiantSpider Shelob]] is last seen retreating to her lair after being badly wounded in a fight with Sam. The text never makes it clear whether she managed to recuperate or succumbed to her injuries. Mount Doom's [[ChekhovsVolcano eruption]] not long afterwards only raises further questions as to her survival.
** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'':
*** Eluréd and Elurín were abandoned in the forest. Maedhros tried to find them but couldn't. No one knows what happened to them, but since they were only about six years old their chances of survival don't look good (though in one version of the story the forest animals led them to safety).
*** Maglor and Daeron, two of the greatest Elven minstrels, independently wandered off, WalkingTheEarth and singing laments. It's unknown what happened to them after the First Age; neither ever appears again.
*** Mablung, one of Thingol's captains. He may have died when the Dwarves attacked Doriath, or he may have survived that and the Second Kinslaying only to die in the Third Kinslaying, or he may have survived all of the above; we just don't know.
** ''Literature/BerenAndLuthien'': [[OurVampiresAreDifferent Thuringwethil]] is an odd case. She herself never appears; Lúthien steals her skin to follow Beren. Whether this means she's dead, or whether she's still around somewhere is uncertain.
** ''Literature/TheFallOfGondolin'': Salgant is last seen bunkering in his home when the battle begins. As the refugees are fleeing towards the hills, Ëarendil asks where is Salgant, since the man used to play with him and even tell him tales. But nobody knows what happened to him: Maybe he was burned to death inside his own home, maybe he was captured and made a slave.
--->But none could say where Salgant was, nor can they now. Mayhap he was whelmed by fire upon his bed; yet some have it that he was taken captive to the halls of Melko and made his buffoon – and this is an ill fate for a noble of the good race of the Gnomes. Then was Eärendel sad at that, and walked beside his mother in silence.''
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', there are a couple times when a character is mentioned as "lying motionless" during a battle, one of the most notable being Cloudtail in ''The Last Hope'' -- a somewhat major character. There's also the case of the elders who stayed behind instead of going to their new home. Did they eke out a life in [=RiverClan=] territory, accept food from humans, or die from starvation or the humans' machines?
* ''Literature/WetDesertTrackingDownATerroristOnTheColoradoRiver'':
** As the Crawfords travel down the draining Lake Powell, they encounter a capsized boat with an empty life jacket. There is nobody to be seen and Julie is sure the boat's passengers are dead.
** When David, Afram and Judy can no longer hold on their raft, it and the other passengers are swept off the cliff where it had stranded and down the Colorado river towards Granite Narrows where the flood has probably formed a large waterfall. Keller and the others try to control the raft for some moments more before he is thrown off in a waterfall. The text ends with a mention of how he falls into the water and loses his senses. It is later revealed that their bodies and life jackets were found beneath Granite Narrows.
* ''Literature/WhenWorldsCollide'': In addition to the four rockets confirmed to have made it to Bronson Beta and the doomed French rocket, the first book mentions that China, South Africa, Australia, Argentina, and Italy are all working on evacuation rockets. Dr. Hendron estimates that a total of five rockets would probably survive, but none of the others appear on Bronson Beta. While the heroes speculate they were all destroyed, some of them might have made it and simply landed too far away to be immediately detected.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/BendyAndTheInkMachine'' has [[PlayerCharacter Henry]] visiting the studio he used to work at, on request of his old friend Joey Drew. Game play ends with the player activating the cut scene that begins by him killing [[BigBad Bendy]], but it's unclear of whether he actually made it out of the studio -- especially with the GainaxEnding.
* ''VideoGame/BuckshotRoulette'': The entity stays down after you win the final round, having cut off its own life support to raise the stakes. Your prize money is given to you by a machine, but the fact that two ominous red lights briefly glow in the darkness before the suitcase appears suggests that it is still alive.
* ''VideoGame/CallOfDuty'' is a violent series where AnyoneCanDie, which makes it all the more conspicuous when characters disappear without explanation. Weaver, Nevski, Brooks, and Crosby from the ''Black Ops'' subseries are notable examples.
* With the exception of the ending where you try escaping through the backdoor of the cafe, ''VideoGame/TheClosingShift'' has two endings that end ambiguously. [[spoiler:The protagonist either escapes her stalker through the air vent or dropping a brick on him and later finds him waiting for her in either her car or her apartment. The game ends as he either climbs over the car seats or coming out of the nearby closet with no clear indication of the poor woman's fate.]]
* ''VideoGame/DeadRising2'': In [[MultipleEndings Ending A]], Chuck Greene, the protagonist, ends up trapped in an elevator surrounded by zombies, with the last shot of him lying on the ground as one of the horde goes in for the kill. The follow-up, ''Case West'', actually opens immediately after that shot: Frank West suddenly shows up and saves him.
* ''VideoGame/{{Deltarune}}'': At the end of Chapter 2, when returning to the Light World [[spoiler:after having completed the Weird Route, Berdly doesn't wake up]], and exactly why this is isn't made clear. On the one hand, [[spoiler:the Snowgrave spell is explicitly described as "Fatal"]], but on the other hand, examining the graveyard in the Light World implies that monsters still turn to dust when they die, and that hasn't happened in this case. Either way, the character in question isn't seen or mentioned again for the remainder of the chapter.
* ''VideoGame/EccoTheDolphin'', reboot, ''Defender of Future'' has Ecco escape from a giant Morey eel. Once Ecco manages to escape, the rocks are shown falling. It isn't clear if they directly killed an eel but even if they didn't, the eel could be presumed to be trapped there and starve.
* In ''Franchise/TheElderScrolls'' series backstory, Emperor of Tamriel Uriel Septim V launched an invasion of [[{{Wutai}} Akavir]]. Despite initial successes, he would fail to conquer Akavir, and was reported dead after he personally led the tenth legion in covering the retreat of the rest of his forces. His death was reported by Imperial soldiers who weren't close enough to the scene to see if the arrow barrage actually killed him. Besides which, the Imperial soldiers were {{Unreliable Narrator}}s given that they only told their stories much later in life and were in the middle of a panicked rout when they supposedly saw him fall. If he did survive, it could mean the Septim bloodline might still exist in Akavir and his line would have a better claim to the throne than the Mede dynasty in Tamriel.
* A lot of the hunters in ''VideoGame/{{Evolve}}'' fall victim to this. Markov, Hank, and Val may or may not die facing the Phantom Wraith, Parnell, Sunny, Emet, and Bucket might die or remain trapped in the monsters' dimension after the final battle, and Torvald, Jack, Lazarus, Slim, and Crow never had their roles in the story finalized and may have died anywhere from their time on Shear to the final battle.
* Follows-Chalk, a companion in the ''Honest Hearts'' DLC add-on for ''VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas'' has a strong case of wanderlust, wanting to see what the world is like beyond the cliffs of Zion Canyon. He is however utterly naive as to what is actually out there. The Courier can either persuade him to remain in Zion with his tribe and family, or feed his wanderlust and convince him to strike out and learn for himself. If the latter, Chalk is happy, but is forced to sneak out at night against the wishes of his beleaguered family. The narration makes a point of saying that he is "never seen again," leaving it up in the air if he's merely never seen in Zion again or he ends up disappearing entirely, ending up dead or worse...
* Cahara from ''VideoGame/FearAndHunger'' has this fate due to [[VideoGame/FearAndHungerTermina its sequel]] [[MergingTheBranches adapting several of the preceding game's endings]] -- it's never outright confirmed if he was the one to [[spoiler:have helped the God of Fear & Hunger ascend, dying in the process]], but with implicit confirmation of the fates of all of the other playable characters, the aforementioned scenario is likely.
* ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXVI'':
** This is the ultimate fate of [[spoiler:the protagonist, Clive. After saving the world, he's left lying on a beach, with his arm becoming infected with the Bearers' curse of petrification that comes with overuse of magic. That said, it's been shown to be possible to live with the curse long-term, with the [[TheMagicGoesAway loss of magic from the world]] further casting doubt on his fate. It's left ambiguous whether Clive dies then and there, survives with a shortened lifespan, or lives a long and happy life with Jill.]]
** The matter of if [[spoiler:Clive's brother Joshua survived the events of the game or not is left unclear. While he does die thanks to Ultima performing a ChestBurster, Clive goes over to his corpse and heals his wounds with the power of the Phoenix. On the one hand, it's stated that the Phoenix can heal, but not revive. But on the other, the final scene of the game shows the story's events chronicled in a book... written under the name of Joshua Rosfield. Whether this means that Joshua ultimately survived, or someone else wrote the book under his name is never definitively answered.]]
* ''Franchise/FireEmblem'':
** The fate of Sigurd's army in the end of the first generation of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemGenealogyOfTheHolyWar'', as they were ambushed by Arvis and his forces in an event known as the Belhalla Massacre. The only directly stated fate of his forces are Sigurd himself (who was executed by Arvis), Quan and Ethlyn (who left the army earlier and were later killed in the Yied Massacre), Finn (who also left with Quan and Ethlyn and was left behind in Leonster where he became the mentor of their son, Leif), the women (who at least survived to have children after the Massacre though Ayra is implied to be a casualty herself), Claud (who was confirmed killed in ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThracia776''), and Lewyn (killed by Manfroy, but got better).
** In ''VideoGame/FireEmblemTheBlazingBlade'', major villain [[TheVamp Sonia Reed]] survives her encounter with the party but is badly wounded. This is followed by a scene where she's found by her immediate superior [[TheDragon Limstella]], who rather than help her, insults her for her failure and then leaves. We never learn Sonia's exact fate, but she's never seen or mentioned again. If you skip Sonia's sidequest, Limstella explicitly confesses to killing her in a cutscene.
** On the Conquest route of ''VideoGame/FireEmblemFates'', Orochi and Reina are defeated during Chapter 13, and the enemy forces are massacred by Hans after the battle ends. It's never confirmed if they were among the dead, but neither is mentioned again and as the survival of other named characters tends to be made more explicit, it's easy to assume they died.
** ''VideoGame/FireEmblemThreeHouses'':
*** Students who run out of HP in [[FinalDeathMode Classic Mode]] during Part I are written off in such a way that they [[NonLethalKO don't die]], but suffer a GameBreakingInjury that puts them out of action for the duration of the game. During the WhereAreTheyNowEpilogue, any student taken out during Part I is given a description of why they weren't able to reunite at the beginning of Part II. While most of these epilogues for casualties explains that they had died between Parts I and II, others are more ambiguous. Some examples: Dorothea is last seen going into hiding with her opera troupe, Mercedes is forced into an arranged marriage, Marianne disappears with a single horse (with the implication that she was DrivenToSuicide), Bernadetta falls ill and isolates herself, Petra returns to Brigid, and a handful of other students go missing.
*** This is the fate of Gilbert, Rodrigue and most of the Blue Lions after Chapter 17 on the Verdant Wind and Silver Snow routes. Dimitri is explicitly KilledOffscreen in the former and heavily implied to be dead in the latter, but the fate of the others is unknown, although as their army lost that battle badly and they're never mentioned again, it's unlikely they survived. On Verdant Wind, Annette claims that her father Gilbert was last seen leaving Gronder Field with Dimitri's body if she was recruited, while Felix mentions not having heard from his father. On Silver Snow, Dimitri (who may be a ghost or a hallucination) tells Byleth that Rodrigue and Gilbert died alongside him.
*** Rhea at the end of the Verdant Wind route and the [[VideoGame/FireEmblemWarriorsThreeHopes Scarlet Blaze]] route. In Verdant Wind, she's badly injured and at the end is implied to have died of her injuries, but it's never explicitly stated that she did, with the possibility left open that she might have fallen into a ConvenientComa to heal. Scarlet Blaze sees her fall into a canyon alongside [[BigBad Thales]]; Edelgard states that NoOneCouldSurviveThat but given that Byleth does in canon, it's entirely possible that she could have survived with injuries that would require a few years to heal.
%%* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoIII'': It is unknown if Claude killed Maria in the final scene of the game.
* ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoChinatownWars'': Hsin Jiaoming ends the final mission laying in a pool of his own blood after Wu Lee [[ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks throws]] the [[MacGuffin Yu Jian Sword]] at him. [[DirtyCop Wade Heston]] arrests him on trumped-up charges ("...well, I guess I'll think of something really heavy on the way to the station"), but whether Hsin survives past this is unknown.
* Poor, poor Mr. K in ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAutoV''. He is subjected to brutal ColdBloodedTorture (including [[GroinAttack getting hit in the groin]] with a [[WrenchWhack wrench]], having [[TheToothHurts his tooth pulled out]] with pliers, being [[ElectricTorture electrocuted]] and [[WaterTorture waterboarded]], with no medical attention aside from an adrenaline shot should he give out), and after the deed is done Trevor simply dumps him at an airport where he proceeds to fall down a flight of stairs. He is never seen or heard from again.
* ''VideoGame/HalfLife2'':
** At the end of the game, Gordon Freeman destroys the dark-energy teleporter Dr. Breen intended to use to teleport himself out of Earth, the platform that was lifting Dr. Breen then collapses and thus seems to fall to his death. However, in the sequel ''Episode One'', a recorded conversation between Dr. Breen and one of the Combine's Advisors (which is also briefly seen before the Final Boss fight in the previous game) implies he transferred his mind into an Advisor.
** At the end of the chapter "We Don't Go To Ravenholm", Father Grigori disappears into a crypt behind a wall of flames while shooting at zombies. Whether he survives or not is left ambiguous.
* In ''VideoGame/HonkaiStarRail'', [[spoiler:the "Tingyun" accompanying the party for most of the ''Xianzhou Luofu'' arc is revealed to be the Lord Ravager Phantylia puppetering a body and claiming to be Tingyun. However, the fate of the real Tingyun, or if there even ''was'' a real Tingyun to begin with, is rendered inconclusive]].
* Biker in ''VideoGame/HotlineMiami2WrongNumber''. The game ends in [[NukeEm nuclear fire]], but his location is not shown being nuked.
* ''VideoGame/TheHouse'' have you investigating the titular HauntedHouse, and uncovering the true circumstances of what caused the death of the previous family living in it - as it turns out, the wife realized she was dying of a fatal disease, pulled a PaterFamilicide on her husband and kids, and died. As you explore the house you're confronted by the ghosts of the kids, the husband... and the last ghost you encounter is the wife's, as she traps you in a dead end. The game ends abruptly after that.
* Volga in ''VideoGame/HyruleWarriors''. While he does collapse after his final defeat, he doesn't have a unique death cutscene like Wizzro and Cia have, nor does the game ever outright ''say'' he's dead, leaving his ultimate fate up in the air.
* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyroDawnOfTheDragon'': At the end, Malefor is pulled into a crystal core by spirits of ancient dragons, rays of light are shown shining from the core as it breaks apart, and he is never seen again. Was Malefor [[AndIMustScream sealed inside the core forever]] or was he [[TechnicolorDeath destroyed inside it]]? Or was he simply DraggedOffToHell? No mention is made as to whether Malefor appeared or didn't appear in the book that gets a page for every dragon that dies.
* The "grandchildren" level of ''VideoGame/LifeTheGame'' has the kids get electrocuted, poisoned, and set on fire if you lose, but they're never confirmed to have lived or died.
* ''Franchise/KingdomHearts'' at one point had an example from the original ''Chain of Memories'' before it got conclusively confirmed in its remake years later. Organization member Zexion gets attacked by Riku in a cutscene, but unlike his cohorts, he's too much of a coward to engage in an actual battle and flees. When he returns to his base, Axel is there to greet him with the Riku Replica. Wanting to finish off the rest of the Castle Oblivion crew at this point, Axel orders the Riku Replica to kill Zexion and steal his power. The screen fades to black as Zexion pleads for his life and then slashing sounds are heard. No mention is made of him after this, but oddly enough the Riku Replica displays none of Zexion's abilities when he's fought later. In the follow-up, ''Kingdom Hearts II'', Sora visits the graves of the Organization. The red graves signify the dead members and the blue graves signify the living ones, but Zexion's is purple and broken -- likely because the developers hadn't thought of a weapon for him at the time (since the graves prominently show each member's weapon). This looked highly suspicious and made some fans question whether he had actually died or not. The remake dispelled any ambiguity [[PowerParasite including the nature of why the Replica ends up with some of Zexion's powers]], when he's very explicitly shown going limp and fading away in the Riku Replica's hands.
* ''VideoGame/MidnightFightExpress'': At the end of the game, [[spoiler:Babyface and Droney are both wounded (with Babyface being shot, and Droney taking damage from using their energy) at the top of the collapsing and burning building. They live long enough to see the sunrise, but their fate from there is unknown.]]
* The Parkour Assassin, [[spoiler:Celeste]] in ''VideoGame/MirrorsEdge'' [[NeverFoundTheBody vanishes]] after their confrontation with Faith when the latter blows up a gas canister between them. Since they are never seen nor mentionned again, it's unclear whether or not they could have escaped like Faith did. Cut dialogues from the BigBad would confirm their demise in the explosion but the canonicity is dubious.
* In ''[[VideoGame/{{Gradius}} Nemesis 3: The Eve of Destruction]]'', if the player fails to pick up an important shielding item during the game, the bad ending will commence. David Burton is attacked by Venom while trying to time-travel back to the present. However he can't use his ship's built-in shield while warping at the same time (whereas the shield item can be used in conjunction with warping), so he drops out of warp in hopes of defending himself. What happens to him next is not made clear; instead the game cuts back to black and shows an event log stating that David is missing in action. The last shot of the game is of Venom laughing at the player.
* ''VideoGame/NintendoWars'': In ''Advance Wars: Days of Ruin'', Davis vanishes following the events of ''Salvation'', with his last words on screen being him panicking about not wanting to die (as he had contracted symptoms of the Creeper).
* The third entry of ''VideoGame/OrcsMustDie'' has an ancient rival of [[BigGood Master Cygnus]] reappearing with the ability to summon rifts... an ability that, explicitly, only the oldest living war mage is able to use and which previously belonged to Cygnus. Since Cygnus would have been incredibly old at the time the game began, the protagonists assume that he must have passed away. However, this is [[NeverFoundTheBody never confirmed in-game]], and the BigBad talks as though he is certain that Cygnus is still alive. Then again, [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity the years have not been kind to him.]]
* ''VideoGame/PapersPlease'':
** When detaining an entrant, they're escorted off never to be seen again, with the sole exception of Jorji Costava, a recurring character who keeps coming back to try to enter the country again and again.
** When you first meet M. Vonel, if you make the mistake of handing him the EZIC symbol document, you are arrested for your alleged involvement with EZIC and the game narration explains that your recent activities will be audited. Whether this means imprisonment or death for you is not made clear.
** Several bad endings remark that "the fate of your family is unknown", most notably endings where you are executed and endings where you flee Arstotzka but leave some family members behind.
* In ''VideoGame/Persona5'', Black Mask isn't definitively showing dying, but their fate is left very up in the air. After saving the Phantom Thieves from his cognitive self in Shido's palace, Goro Akechi is never seen again. Futaba claims she cannot detect his presence anymore, the police has labeled him as "missing" and the general public has pretty much forgotten about him. ''Royal'' has Black Mask come back in the Third Semester, but Maruki claims that this is a result of his reality, which has resulted in people who were confirmed dead (Wakaba, Okumura, the Niijima sisters' father and one NPC's dog), and that if the world were to go back to normal, Akechi would disappear. Akechi is never seen again after Maruki's defeat, and is assumed dead, but the player character catches sight of someone wearing Akechi's uniform at the end of the game.
* In ''VideoGame/PokemonScarletAndViolet'', this is the fate of Ogerpon's friend. When she left the cave they were living in, she later returned to find it empty, and three of their masks were stolen. The Loyal Three had the masks, but Ogerpon's friend was never found afterwards. Considering Ogerpon's reaction was to beat the Loyal Three to [[NotQuiteDead (near-) death]] and she's been alone for as long as she has, it's likely her friend was killed, but his fate is never stated for certain.
* James Sunderland from ''VideoGame/SilentHill2''. There's no canon ending to the game and thus his ultimate fate is left ambiguous at best. Following entries in the series only gives us passing mentions of what could have happened to him [[labelnote:note]]Douglas Cartland from ''VideoGame/SilentHill3'' mentions he was involved in a case involving a man who went missing in Silent Hill and was never found and James' father Frank Sunderland in ''VideoGame/SilentHill4'' claims that his son went to Silent Hill and never returned.[[/labelnote]] but nothing truly concrete.
* Near the end of ''VideoGame/SonicForces'', Eggman drags Infinite back to base and relieves him of his Phantom Ruby after he [[YouHaveFailedMe loses to the heroes for the last time]], which is the last we see of him. Given the Ruby was embedded in his chest, it's unclear if removing it would kill him or not.
* Thomas Holman ''[[VideoGame/SyphonFilter Syphon Filter 2]]'' gives up information after being interrogated by Lian Xing. Gabe Logan later hears that Holman was also interrogated by his fellow agents afterwards. [[YouHaveFailedMe It is unlikely that he will be left alive given what a liability he was]].
* ''VideoGame/TarzanUntamed'': Oswald and his crew are last seen being caught in a rush of collapsing elephant bones. It's unknown if they survived or were crushed to death.
* Both Luke fon Fabre ''and'' Asch the Bloody in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss''. Both of them end up in situations requiring them to perform a HeroicSacrifice -- Asch is mortally wounded while holding off an army of soldiers, while Luke releases Lorelei, a process that will result in him ceasing to be -- but one of them returns to Tear in the epilogue. Fandom still debates to this day about which one of them is dead.
* Medomai in ''VideoGame/TelepathTactics''. Emma can't find her in the end, and Tarion heavily implied he planned to kill her in an earlier scene. But they NeverFoundTheBody, so it is possible she survived.
* ''VideoGame/WeHappyFew'': The final DLC, "We All Fall Down", culminates in Victoria blowing up Haworth Labs. Dr. Verloc repeatedly shouts at her through the PA system as she plants bombs, and is last heard lamenting the impending destruction. It is never shown if Verloc escapes Haworth Labs before its destruction, but it is noteworthy that he has an escape pod in his office and he has ample time to get out after the bombs are planted.
* At the end of ''VideoGame/{{Wandersong}}'', Audrey Redheart disappears completely after she is seen delivering the final blow to the Nightmare King. She's not even seen after that in the PlayableEpilogue. When fans asked [[WordOfGod A Shell In The Pit]] about her fate, they responded they didn't know what happened to her either, but told fans that [[WhatCouldHaveBeen originally in development]], Audrey was confirmedly going to die, but the amount of effects on the screen made it hard to tell what was happening. Also, the team felt like her dying would be out of place in a game like ''Wandersong''.
[[/folder]]

* [[UncertainDoom/LiveActionFilms Films -- Live-Action]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* ''Series/TwentyFour'' is infamous for leaving the fate of some of its characters unanswered.
** In Season 2, Lynn Kresge fell down a flight of stairs, and was last seen being wheeled away in an ambulance after suffering significant injury.
** In Season 4, Behrooz Araz is last seen being taken away by terrorists during a hostage swap.[[note]]A DeletedScene would have shown Curtis rescuing him just before he's executed, then bringing him back to CTU, where he learns of his mother's death.[[/note]] This led to anyone who suffered a similarly ambiguous fate to be said to be "[[PersonAsVerb Behrooz]]ed".
** Also in the fourth season, John Keeler barely survived a plane crash and was last seen in the hospital. His fate was left open-ended, supposedly because the production team didn't want to show the death of a sitting President in a television series.
** Season 5 has Evelyn Martin, the aide of First Lady Martha Logan, along with her daughter Amy Martin. The last time the two are seen, Evelyn is recovering from a leg injury in a hotel room when [[TheDragon Christopher Henderson]] bursts in, kills the paramedics treating her, and demands to know where [[TheHero Jack Bauer and Wayne Palmer]] are. Their fate after this is unconfirmed. While Henderson is ruthless enough to have likely killed them, there is a possibility that they were spared after giving up the information.
** Season 6 has long-time character (and sitting President) Wayne Palmer collapsing due to injuries sustained after a bomb blast, with his prognosis left up in the air. His fate was never addressed, though there is some debate whether a prop newspaper seen in the ''Redemption'' TV movie (which mentions that the character is dead) is canon or not.
* ''Series/{{Andor}}'':
** During the Aldhani heist, Cinta is left holding the commandant's family hostage, with orders to kill the hostages if he attempts to interfere with the heist in any way. While he doesn't, the events that follow and a lack of communication with the rest of the team might lead Cinta to ''think'' that he did. Their fate is never seen or discussed, but some fans believe that when Cinta makes her escape from the garrison later she looks sad and regretful, leading to speculation that she went through with killing the hostages.
** The only way out of the prison on Narkina 5 is to jump into the ocean and swim to the shore. Kino can't swim, and Cassian is knocked into the water before he can figure out a way to help Kino. This means that Kino's likeliest fate is that he either jumped into the sea and drowned or was recaptured (unless he decided to go down fighting rather than be recaptured), and executed for his role in the breakout, but regardless we don't see what became of him. This also applies to most of the prisoners who are shown swimming away from the facility, because while at least hundreds out of the thousands of prisoners made it to the water, at the end of the episode only Cassian and Melshi are shown on the shore together. Other prisoners might have gone in another direction or made it ashore somewhere else, but none of that is shown to the audience. In the following episode Melshi openly wonders if they were the only ones who survived the escape, and the uncertainty motivates him to try to do anything he can to spread news of the prison's conditions to the galaxy.
* Eve from ''Series/{{Angel}}'' is last seen in the final episode being told by Angel to run as the Wolfram & Hart building collapses. She just asks "Run where?" and she is never seen again.
* ''Series/BetterCallSaul'': A non-fatal variant. In the second-last episode of the series, Kim confesses the truth about Howard's death to his widow, Cheryl. Although it's very unlikely she can be prosecuted for covering up his murder, since there is no physical evidence, no body, and no other living witnesses to the crime they could contact, Cheryl could file a civil suit, taking everything Kim has and will ever make in perpetuity, potentially leaving her homeless and penniless, a fate Kim feels like she deserves. Whether or not Cheryl actually does so is left ambiguous, the last episode only goes as far to say that she's "out lawyer shopping", although the fact Kim dragged Howard's name through the mud before his death gives her ample reason go ahead with the lawsuit.
* ''Series/BlackMirror:''
** From the episode "Hated in the Nation" It's unclear if Scholes' plan killed everyone targeted, given that, if warned, some people may have been able to hide their faces or try and get somewhere the bees wouldn't pursue them. This is especially true of Nick, who, from working on the case, may have had the knowledge and context to do both.
*** Also applies to Scholes himself, who is last seen being followed by Coulson, who sends Parkes a message reading "Got him" -- however it's unclear if she intends to kill him or bring him in, although the former is more likely.
** Matt in "White Christmas" may or may not have been killed by that guy at the end who looked like he was about to attack him.
* ''Series/BreakingBad'':
** In "Green Light", Walt hears over the car radio that Donald Margolis has been rushed to the hospital after attempting to commit suicide (which isn't too surprising, considering his only daughter died of an overdose and he accidentally caused the deaths of 167 people in a MidAirCollision). Walt gets uncomfortable ([[MurderByInaction since Donald's daughter dying was partly his fault]]) and quickly switches it off, so we never find out his ultimate fate.
** In "I.F.T.", the Cousins are shown menacingly approaching an elderly woman getting into her wheelchair van. It then cuts to them using the van, with its plates removed, to transport their wheelchair-bound uncle. The fate of the woman is never mentioned, but considering previous and later episodes show the Cousins mowing down innocent civilians without a second thought, it doesn't look good (an unused version of the scene in the episode's script more heavily implies that they killed her).
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'':
** The last we see of Eddie (owner of the local BadGuyBar), was when he was found beaten and bleeding after being attacked by the Sisterhood of Zhe in "The Zeppo". He is not in season 5 and its unclear if he died or not.
** In the finale, Amanda falls to the ground a moment after a snapping sound is heard in the background, but it isn't clear whether that sound is her neck snapping or if she's only been momentarily knocked out (some blood on her face could indicate the latter).
** When the Watchers Council headquarters is blown up, it is a bit ambiguous if this takes place right after Travers' RousingSpeech or a little later, when some of his people might have had time to leave the building.
* ''Series/TheDefenders2017'': [[ColonyDrop The Collapse of Midland Circle]] leads to a lot of this due to it supposedly being enough to [[TotalPartyKill kill everyone who was there]], yet Matt Murdock turning up alive later. There are some characters with a higher likelihood of survival than others however.
** [[spoiler:Elektra Natchios is the most likely survivor. She was in the arms of Matt Murdock, the only confirmed survivor, while it happened. She also had the supernatural powers of the Black Sky, which made her ability to physically withstand it much greater than Matt's. Finally, Matt was brought to a healer by someone unspecified, which almost certainly would have to have been Elektra.]]
** [[spoiler:Madame Gao is the second-most-likely survivor. She had the supernatural powers that came with being a Finger of the Hand, and was unscathed by the battle beforehand. Not to mention she was there to seek out a death-defying healing substance in the first place.]]
** [[spoiler:Murakami is the least likely to have survived, as he was already heavily injured to the point of being unable to move and bleeding out of his mouth while it happened. Still, he had the same powers as Madame Gao and was trying to get the same healing substance that she was, so his survival isn't impossible.]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'': [[Recap/DoctorWhoS30E10Midnight "Midnight"]] uses this to add just a bit more NightmareFuel to the ending, because while ''Sky'', the woman possessed by the [[EldritchAbomination entity]], was thrown out into the killing rays of Midnight's sun, the entity itself could clearly already survive on the surface somehow, so it's unclear if this actually destroyed it. Even the Doctor isn't sure, and taking no chances, he convinces the authorities to seal the entire planet off to prevent anything like this from happening again.
* ''[[Franchise/ASongOfIceAndFire Game of Thrones]]'' universe:
** ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
*** Syrio Forel. The last we see of him is when he is about to fight Ser Meryn Trant with a broken practice sword. We hear his battle cry and the sounds of a fight before the scene cuts away. Trant appears later, unscathed, but Syrio's fate is never addressed.
*** Daisy, the prostitute that Joffrey forces Ros to torture. It's never stated if she survived the ordeal or not as she's never seen again after the incident.
*** This one is only in the Dance of the Dragons lore found on the Blu-Ray disc. Unlike his book counterpart, Prince Aegon Targaryen (who later became King Aegon III) disappeared during the Dance of the Dragons as his ship fled to the Free Cities. His younger brother Viserys stayed behind and became King Viserys II.
** ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': The ending of "The Green Council" in Season 1 has Larys Strong send his agents to burn down the brothel run by Mysaria. While a pair of hands can be seen banging against the window as the flames engulf it, it's unclear whether it's her or not. It's possible she escaped or wasn't present, but only time will tell.
* ''Series/HarpersIsland'': Lucy is last seen still alive, thrashing around while on fire, but isn't engulfed to the point where she couldn't have put out the flames by stopping, dropping and rolling. Even if she did survive the initial fire though, she would have spent days exposed, suffering from her burns, days in which no one found her, making her survival unlikely.
* ''Series/HomicideLifeOnTheStreet'': Det. Douglas Jones is last seen being taken to the hospital in an ambulance after being shot by his wife, with a paramedic saying he was in critical condition. It's left ambiguous if he died or not; he never appears again, but Pembleton doesn't mention him as one of the dead members of the unit in the GrandFinale.
* Celeborn's fate in ''Series/TheLordOfTheRingsTheRingsOfPower'' in quite the mystery. Galadriel mentions that he has been missing for centuries, since the last war against Morgoth. Dead or alive, nobody knows where are his whereabouts.
* ''Series/MonarchLegacyOfMonsters'': The Mother Longlegs and the Mantleclaw who fight each-other in [[Recap/MonarchLegacyOfMonstersS1E1Aftermath the very first scene of the series]]. They're last seen toppling off a ledge into the seas around Skull Island while grappling each-other, which saves Bill Randa's bacon who was caught in the crossfire, but it's unknown if they died in a MutualKill via drowning or mauling each-other underwater, or if one or both of them survived and swam ashore. Note that the Mantleclaw is basically a giant rock crab, and it lives on Skull Island's coastline, making its survival in the sea likely if the Mother Longlegs didn't maul it to death.
* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': In "The Ghost of Queen's Park," [[ScoobyDooHoax Lorraine]] probably won't face the noose (or any charges) because the deaths she caused were unforeseeable. But due to her exposure to radium, she's suffering from some OminousHairLoss, although it's unclear just how sick she is.
* ''Series/OurFlagMeansDeath'': Though we never see a body, [[spoiler:Lucius]] is thrown overboard in the season finale, and he isn't accounted for before the credits roll.
* ''Series/PersonOfInterest'':
** It's not certain if Reese killed Andrew Benton, Peter Arndt or the bounty hunter responsible for a man he was protecting in Season 2 dying. In each case, Reese is last seen confronting the man, alone, with some frightening and threatening dialogue, and Peter at least is said to have disappeared afterwards. However one episode implies that Reese may have sent at least one of them to be locked in up in a Mexican prison while ImpersonatingAnOfficer.
** Mayor Thompson from "M.I.A" decides to stay in town to [[FaceDeathWithDignity "quit her job"]] after Samaritan's plans are foiled again.
* ''Series/PrincessAgents'': The series ends with Chu Qiao and Yuwen Yue falling through the ice and sinking in a frozen lake. Yuwen Yue pushes Chu Qiao away and sinks deeper while Chu Qiao floats closer to the surface. It's possible both of them survive, but there's no official confirmation either way.
* ''Series/RedDwarf'': With WordOfGod confirming that the Rimmer seen from "Back To Earth" onwards is the one who left to become Ace in Series VII, this makes the nanobot-created Rimmer (introduced in Series VIII) an example of this, since he's last seen trapped on a self-destructing Red Dwarf and hallucinating Death itself. This also extends to the nanobot-created crew introduced that series as well, since they're last seen fleeing the ship in Blue Midgets and Starbugs.
* ''Series/{{Rome}}''. Pompey is murdered in front of his family. Whether or not they were also killed is never made clear.
* The last time Doug Murphy is seen in ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' is being locked in a morgue drawer. After this, he disappears and no mention is made of it.
* ''Series/SevenStarFightingGodGuyferd'': Masato is last seen holding up a pillar so Gou can pass through, and Gou is last seen destroying the [[DoomsdayDevice Gaia Net]]. We don't see what happens to the explosion, and Gou's friends choose to cling to the possibility he survived, but the last shot in the series is of Gou and Masato [[GoIntoTheLight walking towards the sun]] and looking back.
* ''Series/SomedayOrOneDay'': [[spoiler: [[GayngstInducedSuicide The real Wang Quan Sheng attempts suicide]], but thanks to [[MentalTimeTravel Li Zi Wei's consciousness entering his physical form]], his body survives but no mention is made of his soul remaining trapped in the body]] unlike the explicit scenes of Chen Yun Ru stuck inside her own body while [[IdenticalStranger Huang Yu Xuan]] is [[MentalTimeTravel controlling her]] [[spoiler: and [[FightingFromTheInside Xie Zhong Ru's voice]] interrupting [[FamilialBodySnatcher Xie Zhi Qi]]. In the final episode when Zhi Qi's wrongdoing is undone, preventing Yun Ru and Zi Wei's deaths, no mention is made of what happened to Quan Sheng.]]
* Infamously, the final scene of ''Series/TheSopranos'' ended with a mysterious SmashToBlack. Many fans believe this, along with various other contextual clues, was meant to imply Tony's death in a hit, but it's unclear from the canon material, and debate among the fans has raged on over the years.
* ''Series/TheSopranos'': Infamously, the series ended on a very abrupt SmashToBlack as Tony looked up at someone walking into the diner, which many viewers have interpreted as Tony being suddenly shot dead by a hitman. WordOfGod has variously hinted that this probably happened (including referring to it as a "death scene" in a 2019 interview, before subsequently backtracking), but [[TeasingCreator refuses to give a definitive answer]].
* ''Series/SquidGame'': Most of the [=VIPs=] are a KarmaHoudini who leave the island. The only one who seems to have gotten comeuppance is VIP Number 4 who has tried to molest one of the workers who unfortunately for him turned to be a cop in disguise and far stronger than him, and crushed his genitals and put him at gunpoint and knocked him out. Later, when another worker found the VIP unconscious and unmasked, he said he was fine. However, the VIP 4 never returns afterwards, even long after he should theoretically regain consciousness. It seems likely that DeathlyUnmasking rule applies to [=VIPs=] as much as it does to the guards, so he was likely executed. And also, it's slightly possible that the cop disguised as a guard actually killed the VIP and the guard said he was "fine" to avoid creating panic for other [=VIPs=].
* ''Series/StargateSG1'': Robert Kinsey, long-time political enemy of the Stargate Program, was last seen having become host to a Goa'uld on a ship that was subsequently destroyed by the ''Prometheus''. It was set up in a manner that made it possible Kinsey was able to teleport to safety before the destruction, but it was never explicitly confirmed either way.
* ''Series/StargateAtlantis''; Lt Ford, who went rogue during Season 2 and was last seen on an exploding Wraith ship. He was never explicitly confirmed to be dead, and Shepherd even lampshades that such scenarios are survivable (with many characters on the show having survived similar incidents multiple times), but he never appeared in the series again.
** Ultimately [[spoiler:resolved in the spin-off novels, where he was revealed to have been rescued by the Travellers, taken through withdrawal from the enzyme, and become a key threat to the Wraith; a new treaty between Atlantis and the Wraith allows Sheppard to take Ford back to Earth on condition that he never return to Pegasus]].
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': Geordi's mother. She was last seen on a ship called the ''Hera'', which disappeared, but there were no bodies or debris found. In "Interface", in which she disappears, Geordi thinks he's seen her, but it turns out to be an alien, so he gives up. While the books explain what happened to her, they're non-canon, so it's still a mystery.
* ''Series/StarTrekDiscovery'': Tarka has a plan to use the explosion of Book's ship (which he's aboard) to power a device that will beam him not just to safety but to the alternate universe he has been trying to get to all season, to be with his [[PseudoRomanticFriendship ambiguously platonic life partner]] Oros. It's deliberately left ambiguous whether or not he succeeds (possibly as a way for the show to skirt BuryYourGays yet again).
* In ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'', Archangel Gabriel is believed to be killed by Lucifer in [[Recap/SupernaturalS05E19HammerOfTheGods "Hammer of the Gods" (S05, Ep19)]], but seemingly returns to aid Castiel in [[Recap/SupernaturalS09E18MetaFiction "Meta Fiction" (S09, Ep18)]]. However, Castiel realizes that Gabriel is only an illusion. Castiel asks this Gabriel if he is really dead, but he only receives an eyebrow raise with a smirk as an answer. A definitive answer is finally provided in Season 11, when his death is confirmed by God.
** Even the literal word of God is shown to be wrong in Season 13 when Gabriel is shown to be alive and well, having faked his death in Season 5. Then a few episodes later, he's killed AGAIN. It seems to be the real deal this time, but given that he's already cheated death at least once, who knows if he's still out there?
* ''Series/TrueDetective'': In Season 1, Hart and Cohle watch a video of the evil cult doing ''something'' to a 10-year-old girl named Marie Fontenot. [[NothingIsScarier It's never directly stated whether the tape shows Marie being raped, killed, tortured, or some combination of the three, but whatever was on the tape horrifies both detectives.]]
* ''Series/WhiteLotus'' Quentin's friend who jumps off the boat could be an example of this. It's unclear how far he was from the coast. If he was a decent swimmer, he might have been able to make it to the beach or get the attention of a nearby boat.
* The end of Season 2 of ''Series/XCompany'' finds Mirri is acting as a sniper, picking off German soldiers from a nearby tower. The last shot of her has her facing down the barrel of a rifle, looking rather sheepish. However, since Mirri is pretty much an all around badass ActionGirl, it's not unreasonable to wonder if she got away.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
* ''Anime/AfterWarGundamX'' gives us one with the pirate villain Dorza Baroy in Episode 17. Witz manages to defeat the pirate by firing shots on his ship at the end of the episode. The room of the ship Dorza is in takes damage, looking like it is about to explode. One crew member panics and says that they won't make it, while Dorza say "Damn, is this the end?!" The shot cuts away to Garrod destroying three of their mobile suit soldiers that were hiding in the water, and then we see that Dorza's ship has been wrecked, but not completely destroyed and is floating in the ocean. We don't see any rescue boats sailing away, but there is no way to tell is Dorza died or not, and he is never seen again for the rest of the anime.
* ''Manga/{{Arachnid}}'' has an open ending involving the use of a ZombieApocalypse on Japan as a DepopulationBomb after a CarnivalOfKillers GoneHorriblyRight. Several characters are abruptly written off towards the end, [[SavedForTheSequel leaving]] the ''Manga/{{Blattodea}}'' sequel to elaborate on their fates 5 years later.
** Imomushi, the protagonist of ''Manga/{{Caterpillar}}'', participates in the Arachnid Hunt but is suddenly backstabbed and knocked unconscious by Suzumebachi. She isn't seen again until her spinoff confirmes that Hanakamakiri took her back home, and ''Blattodea'' shows that she's survived the zombie apocalypse through the following year.
** Dinoponera is tossed to the rape zombies while paralyzed and isn't seen again for the rest of the story... until ''Blattodea'' actually brings her back [[BreakoutCharacter to great effect]] by establishing its protagonist Chiyuri as Dinoponera's OnlyFriend and having Dino overcome the infection to help Chiyuri.
** Like Dinoponera, both Kamadouma and Geji are lost offscreen in the zombie outbreak, and Gokiburi assumes in an offhanded scene that they were probably raped and infected as well. By the second volume of ''Blattodea'', their status hasn't been confirmed.
** Characters like Riokku and Amenbo are just forgotten about before the zombie outbreak even starts. Minor villain Jigabachi actually comes back in ''Blattodea'' to save Sasori after he's [[DisneyVillainDeath blown high off Shouran High]] by Kabutomushi, handily explaining how his pupil Anabachi also didn't die when Kabuto smashed his head against the floor.
** ''Arachnid'' ends with Alice [[BolivianArmyCliffhanger facing a horde of rape zombies on her own]] and, an unspecified amount of time later, Kabutomushi and Gokiburi looking for her. ''Blattodea'' confirms Alice's survival and reintroduces Gokiburi sometime later, but conspicuously doesn't show Kabuto together with her.
** In ''Blattodea'', Yamato gets overwhelmed by the zombies while trying to keep them from rushing towards Chiyuri and Dinoponera. She is forced to leave him behind, but his fate is left unclear.
* In ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' a few of the characters who are only in one arc and who didn't join Gut's [[TrueCompanions party]] or go the Griffith's [[FalseUtopia Falconia]] are classified as this.
** Theresia from the ''Black Swordsmen arc'' swore revenge on Guts for getting her monster father killed -- but she has never been seen again. More tragically, Jill in the ''Lost Children arc'' has to return to her abusive home life as Guts refused to let her go with him as she would be in danger, but since the entire world of Berserk is now [[CrapsackWorld dangerous]] if she didn't travel to Falconia she'd likely be killed by the numerous creatures that roam wild.
** Nina and Joachim from the ''Conviction arc'' they survived the destruction of Albion and went off alone together to make themselves better people, unfortunately we don't see them in Falconia and as said above there are monsters everywhere so their chances of survival are minimal (especially as Nina was already dying).
* ''Manga/BlackJack'': In the anime, Nadare the deer survives being shot by his human friend and limps his way back to the forest. The episode ends with the other characters wondering whether Nadare was KilledOffscreen.
* ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'':
** Harribel gets captured when the Wandenreich invades Hueco Mundo, and is never seen again, even after they are defeated. It was only in the light novels released later that would reveal she was rescued and assumed leadership of Hueco Mundo.
** Cang Du and [=BG9=] receive punishment from Jugram for losing in their fights. Jugram is able to NoSell Cang's abilities and kill or at least badly injure him, but the scene cuts away before we see what happens to [=BG9=]. Neither are mentioned again following this. [[note]]In the manga, at least. The anime shows, in no uncertain terms, that Jugram killed both of them.[[/note]]
** At the end of their fight with Askin, Urahara and Yoruichi are apparently unable to escape when their opponent unleashes a final "Gift Ball" on them. While Nel is seen trying to rescue them, they are never mentioned in the ending. Like the Harribel example, it was up to the light novels to reveal Nel rescued them.
* ''Anime/BurstAngel'': Jo's body wasn't found by Meg in the rubble at the end of the anime.
* ''Manga/CellsAtWorkCodeBlack'' has the Red Blood Cells discuss this in regards to the fate of the Sperm Cells they helped released, with one of [=AA2153=]'s superiors telling him not to get his hopes up at the idea of them successfully fertilizing an ovum, considering they all function independently from the rest of the body, so they have no idea if they will be even successful in their mission, [[MasturbationMeansSexualFrustration and that's assuming their host wasn't simply relieving pent up tension by themselves]]. However, considering almost immediately after [=U1196=] announces that Gonococcus has managed to invade the body, it's safe to assume not a single sperm managed to come close to completing their mission.
* ''Anime/CowboyBebop'' [[Recap/CowboyBebopSession26TheRealFolkBluesPart2 ends]] with Spike collapsing from his injuries, but it's left unclear whether he died or simply passed out. The series' creator Shinichirō Watanabe has said that he himself doesn't know, and once joked in an interview that Spike at the end "might be just sleeping".
* ''Anime/CyborgKurochan'' often uses this for minor one-off villains. For major characters, NeverFoundTheBody is used instead.
* ''Manga/DragonBall'': Monster Carrot and the Rabbit mob, after defeating them Goku takes them to the moon via [[MagicStaff Power Pole]] and forces them to make Mochi for the kids of Earth for a whole year and then he promises he come up and bring them down. However, Master Roshi [[EarthShatteringKaboom destroyed the moon]] in the World Martial Arts Tournament to revert Goku from his [[KillerGorilla Great Ape]] form. So some fans assumed they were killed, but then Toriyama (when asked) stated that Monster Carrot and his henchmen are [[DramaticSpaceDrifting drifting through space]].
* In ''Anime/EsOtherwise'', Kai Kudo is not seen alive or dead after the explosion in the final episode.
* In ''Anime/GaoGaiGarFINAL'', The entire crew, minus Mamoru and Kaido, is left in a collapsing universe, sacrificing their only (known) way out to save the kids.
* ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' Part 3 does this with some of the Stand users. While some are confirmed dead (including Gray Fly, Fake Capatin Tennille, [[KillerGorilla Forever]], Devo, [[TheSociopath J. Geil]], N'Doul, Pet Shop, and [[TheDragon Vanilla Ice]]), some are confirmed alive ([[EnfanteTerrible Mannish Boy]], Boingo and Oingo, Mariah, and Hol Horse), and there are some whose fates are uncomfirmed. Among those whose fates are unconfirmed, there are two of them who are highly implied to be dead as they don't get up. They are Steely Dan (whose been punched even more times than Forever and did not get up) and Rubber Soul.
* A lot of villains from ''Anime/KaiketsuZorro'' get this treatment because there's no doubt that Zorro won't hesitate to cut down the villains who attack him. But whether or not he outright kills them or just wounds them badly enough to incapacitate them is left in the air. In some episodes, Zorro does explicitly kill his enemies, such as the time he slew an Indian assassin who murdered his friend Teo and had found out about his secret identity earlier. At other times Zorro will cut down enemies but either ties them up or drags their prone bodies away from impending explosions, implying that he hasn't killed them and will more than likely leave them to the authorities to imprison. More than often, though, Zorro will usually cut down a villain and their deaths will be neither confirmed nor denied, making the situation much more ambiguous.
* ''Anime/KanColle'': Shouhou is last seen in a great fire, with her final fate never laid out clearly.
* In the GrandFinale of ''Anime/KirbyRightBackAtYa'', the crew destroys NME's fortress with the NME Salesman still inside and, upon being informed of this, he makes a run for it. In the original UsefulNotes/{{Japanese|Language}} version, he can be heard screaming just before the fortress is entirely destroyed but what makes it qualify for this trope is the UsefulNotes/{{English|Language}} version, which doesn't dub his scream at all and leaves him silent. In both versions, King Dedede attempts to contact him and only gets a static screen in return.
* While Shadow Link dies near the end of ''Manga/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwords2004'', [[spoiler: one of the last panels shows Link's shadow giving a thumbs up. It's left unclear whether he was revived somehow or if it is a new Shadow Link]].
* ''Anime/OnePiece'': This happens a lot to villains in the East Blue arc and a few times afterwards, it's a better alternative than having the Straw Hats (the heroes) outright murder the bad guys, which goes [[ThouShallNotKill against]] their lifestyle. Though Oda did show certain antagonists (like Baroque Works and [=CP9=]) surviving through cover stories, plus many [[HeelFaceTurn former]] villains return in the [[ExtranormalPrison Impel Down]] arc to help Luffy free Ace and fight the Marines.
** Axe-Hand Morgan, the former Marine captain, was thought to be killed by Zoro by one fan until Oda [[WordOfGod corrected him]] by saying he was arrested. Morgan appeared in Coby's cover story where he escaped and then he was never seen again.
** Kuro and the Black Cat Pirates (with the exception of Jango) are also nowhere to be seen after Luffy defeats Kuro and they flee Usopp's village. The anime shows Kuro having returned to his pirate life and reacting dispassionately to Luffy's first bounty poster.
** Don Krieg, Gin, and the other Krieg Pirates don't appear again after the Baratie arc. The arc involved Gin breathing in a lethal dose of poisonous gas and telling Sanji he might have not have long to live but he hoped to see him again on the Grand Line... which didn't happen. The only hint that he's alive is the databook giving him a post-TimeSkip age (however, the story has contradicted the databooks before).
** The Arlong Pirates' fate is left very ambiguous. The anime mistakenly has Arlong accuse Zoro and Sanji of "killing his brethren" after they defeat Hatchan and Kuroobi. A cover story shows Hatchan escaping from the Marine ship that had arrested the Fishmen, but the others on the other hand haven't been seen again outside [[FlashBack flash backs]] nor did they show up in Impel Down with the rest of the incarcerated villains.
** The fate of the Priests in Skypiea is very obscure: Gedatsu fell back to the Blue Sea and opened up a hot springs resort, but the other three weren't so lucky. Satori took Sanji's [[FinishingMove Concasse]] (axe kick) to the skull and is never seen getting up again, in the Funimation dub Sotori and Kotori (Satori's brothers) even say that he was killed and want revenge which further confuses the issue. Shura was blasted by Wiper's Reject Dial to the chest and Ohm was sliced down by Zoro's [[RazorWind Pound Cannon]] and (like Satori) didn't get up again. Even if they survived that, the Shandians banished them and the rest of Eneru's forces to a drifting cloud, which means they will stay on this cloud until they all die or the cloud dissolves and they fall down into Blue Sea (which would kill them as well).
** Yorki, Brook's friend and captain was not killed along with the rest of the Rumbar Pirates as he had fallen ill prior and was last reported traveling across the Calm Belt (which is filled with Sea Kings) but even if he crossed safely, that was at least 52 years ago. So, if Yorki didn't die of his sickness or wasn't eaten by a Sea King, he'd be [[LongLived a very old man]].
** In Zeff and Sanji's combined backstory flashback, the seagoing restaurant where Sanji worked and the pirate ship Zeff commanded are both swept away by a giant rogue wave in a violent storm. Zeff and Sanji survived by being swept onto a deserted island, but the fate of everyone else is left ambiguous; Zeff says that it's possible the restaurant ship survived, because he didn't find any wreckage from it, and he didn't see any bodies from either ship.
** Shiki and the Golden Lion Pirates from ''[[Anime/OnePieceFilmStrongWorld Strong World]]'' have a status of "unknown", but since they fell unconscious from their collapsing island and Shiki at least had a Devil Fruit... they're likely dead. Another variant on this trope is the fact the movie is non-canon, but the character itself ''is'' canon. However, outside of his name being mentioned a few times, his fate in the manga is completely unknown.
** Little Oars Jr. gets subjected to a brutal CurbStompBattle against Doflamingo, Kuma, and Moria at Marineford, and collapses, seemingly dead. It later turns out that he's still alive and even helps the Whitebeard Pirates advance, but his final fate is never conclusively revealed. The only two named characters who are explicitly stated to have died at Marineford are Ace and Whitebeard.
** When Bellamy reencounters Luffy in the Dressrosa Arc, he mentions that he "lost" his crew since they last met. The statement is ambiguous in its wording so that it's not clear if they died (since he states this after mentioning going to the sky island, noted to be an extremely perilous journey) or they simply parted ways.
** Two of Caesar's underlings in the Punk Hazard Arc are the Yeti Cool Brothers, who are defeated by Luffy, Franky (in Chopper's body), and Law. However, while all of the other major underlings are either seen dying or being arrested at the end of the arc, their fate is never mentioned (although the island was gassed with poison, it's mentioned the poison is curable if rescued with 12 hours).
** Charlotte Opera in Whole Cake Island arc had years of his life ripped out by his mother Big Mom for lying about Luffy and Nami's deaths. It's unclear whether he's still alive or not, as Charlotte Moscato was thought to be dead when Big Mom did the same thing to him when on a hunger rampage but was revealed to be alive later. No such luck for Opera though, whose fate is unknown.
** From the same arc, the Vinsmoke Family (Judge, Reiju, Ichiji, Niji, and Yonji) Sanji's father, sister, and brothers) were last seen fighting off Big Mom's forces giving the Straw Hats time to escape and were [[NotSoInvincibleAfterAll shot down]] with special bullets from a [[GatlingGood Gatling Gun]]. It wasn't until the twenty-fifth Cover Story arc ("Germa 66's Ahh... An Emotionless Excursion") that all five were confirmed alive, though Niji and Yonji had been captured by the Big Mom Pirates (and were subsequently rescued by Reiju and Ichiji during the arc).
** Also in this arc, Big Mom's subordinate Pekoms throws his cards in with the Straw Hats due to owing them an unsurmountable debt. He decides to go out fighting to give Luffy a chance to escape the massive army ready to kill him, by transforming into his [[SuperMode Sulong form]] (activated by looking at the full moon). He's last seen being dogpiled by Big Mom's army mid-transformation, who intend to gouge his eyes out so that he never sees the moon again. This is the last we see of him.
** During the final stages of the Wano Country arc, after Big Mom is defeated and knocked off Onigashima, she falls into a huge underground magma chamber that has been exposed as a result of the raid on the island. Later, when Kaido also falls into the chamber, it erupts. A week later, neither Emperor has been seen since and the World Government has declared them to no longer be Emperors, leaving their fate uncertain.
* [[KnightOfCerebus Hunter J]] from ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondAndPearl'' is last seen having her airship shot down by the Lake Guardians and plummeting into a lake below and exploding on impact, presumably killing her and her henchmen still inside in the process.
* ''Manga/TokyoGhoul'' concludes with considerable ambiguity concerning the fates of several characters. Hide is considering a missing person, and last seen with a hallucinating Kaneki who may or may not have eaten him. Aogiri has kidnapped numerous wounded Investigators and will be experimenting on them. Finally, Koma and Irimi were last seen headed to V14, where Arima later slaughters a large number of Ghouls. It is unknown whether or not they were among the dead.
* ''Manga/TomorrowsJoe'' has Joe giving his gloves away to Yoko before [[PostVictoryCollapse collapsing in his corner with a smile on his face]] and noting [[TheFlameOfLife it's all burned away into white ash]]. It's implied this final match has killed him, but the manga ends before his fate is made explicit[[note]]Creator/AsaoTakamori [[WordOfGod stated in his biography that he considered Joe to have died at that point]], but co-creator Tetsuya Chiba [[ShrugOfGod wanted the scene to be ambiguous and leave Joe's fate up to the audience]][[/note]]. The second anime adaptation [[DeathByAdaptation was much less ambiguous about this]], as the reactions of Danpei, Yoko, the crew, the judges [[HatsOffToTheDead and the audience (including Gondo)]] are shown [[PeacefulInDeath before the final shot and makes it clear Joe isn't waking up again]].
* Several victims of Penalty Games in ''Manga/YuGiOh'':
** Goro Inogashira is last seen engulfed in flames when the ice puck containing within a test tube of nitroglycerin cracks in two. While he could have died here, it isn't confirmed either way, and it's possible that he was merely badly injured, though he is never mentioned again in the original series. Spin-offs imply he lived as his name is included on a list of early-manga cameos in a FreezeFrameBonus, but those are of dubious canonicity anyway, and the school festival continues as normal, which is quite unlikely if a student had died on campus.
** Two thugs who harass Hanasaki and extort his father are tricked by Dark Yugi into trapping themselves in a fiery maze, on a high platform on top of the harbor. As soon as they realize it, they jump at least ten meters into the water below. Depending on just how far they dropped and whether they can swim, and how badly the fire injured them, they may or may not succumb to their wounds or drown.
** Hirutani falls off the roof of an AbandonedWarehouse and is never seen again. Note, though, that he had earlier survived electrocution in a previous chapter.
** The Player Killer of Darkness receives a Penalty Game in which he [[PsychicAssistedSuicide is made to hang himself]]. Other characters who suffer similar fates like Bandit Keith are confirmed to be killed, but the difference is they [[BadGuysDoTheDirtyWork are taken out by the villains]], whereas the Player Killer's Penalty Game comes from Dark Yugi, who has already been established to not kill his victims, as Kaiba and Nagumo survived the Experience of Death and getting his soul shattered, respectively. However, the Player Killer is never again seen or spoken of.
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** Red Mantle and Dragon's backstory heavily implies that the two are actually Music/BuddyHolly and Music/TheBigBopper respectively, who faked their death via airplane crash upon joining the Guild. What this says about Music/RitchieValens (who was also on the plane that killed them) in this universe is unclear.

* In ''WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros'', Red Death leaves minor villain (but major {{jerkass}}) Blind Rage in a situation like this after giving his history lesson on the "gentleman villain" -- he's left [[ChainedToARailway tied to a train track]] on a railroad bridge that a train is coming down. Whether the train's coming down the track he's tied to is never made clear; Red Death suggests it might be coming down his track or some other, and he leaves before the audience can tell.

* [[KnightofCerebus Hunter J]] from ''Anime/PokemonTheSeriesDiamondandPearl'' is last seen having her airship shot down by the Lake Guardians and plummeting into a lake below and exploding on impact, presumably killing her and her henchmen still inside in the process.

* At the end of ''WesternAnimation/RobinHood1973'', the [[NeverSmileAtACrocodile captain crocodile]] is never seen, heard, nor mentioned again after the Sheriff accidentally burns down Prince John's [[spoiler: mother's]] castle, and is not even seen being arrested nor sentenced to hard labor as punishment like with the other villains, implying that he may have actually be burned alive and presumably died instead. On the other hand, considering the implications that he was a PunchClockVillain with no particular loyalty to Prince John, it's also possible that he was let off the hook like his compatriots Nutsy and Trigger.