Basic Trope: A character appears to have died, but is later revealed to be alive.
- Straight: Walter performs a Heroic Sacrifice so that Lilly can escape the Collapsing Lair. However, he was saved at the last second by a pixie they had helped earlier.
- Exaggerated:
- Walter gets turned into a fine red mist courtesy of Emperor Evulz, only to spontaneously develop the power to heal From a Single Cell.
- Walter inexplicably comes back in one piece even though it was clear there was no possible way he could've survived the carnage he went through.
- Walter is decapitated, has his limbs torn off, has his heart torn out, and has his soul sealed in an unbreakable safe by Evulz to ensure Walter will never come back to life again. Lilly cries on the safe, and Walter is brought back to life.
- Downplayed:
- Walter survives what should have been a killing blow, but loses his memories, which never fully return.
- A few important characters believe Walter is dead, but a few other characters and the audience know otherwise.
- Justified: Walter had previously created a copy of himself with all his memories in case of such an event.
- Inverted:
- Lilly and Walter escape the collapsing lair, and just as it seems that all is well the monster grabs Walter by the ankles and drags him down. No One Could Survive That!
- Lilly tries to resurrect Walter after he meets an unfortunate end, but epically fails.
- Villainous Example: Evulz dies in the climatic battle with Walter and Lilly. However, he is saved at the last second by a mook.
- Subverted:
- It turns out Walter is actually Evulz shapeshifting as Walter.
- Alternatively, Walter seems to be dead, only to turn out alive... and then he dies anyway.
- Double Subverted:
- Then the real Walter appears and beats up the shapeshifted Evulz.
- It turns out that it wasn't Walter who died, but a clone of him that was programmed to believe it was the original. Once he realizes what's going on, he creates a new, non-degenerated clone.
- Parodied:
- Walter dies often, only to come back unharmed. He even has an intimate knowledge of five different afterlives because of it.
- It's actually quite obvious that Walter isn't dead, though his friends are unaware of that and still weep dramatically anyway.
- Evulz believes that a Disney Death would apply to him, so he jumps off from Walter's clock tower during a duel, what awaiting him turns out to be a Disney Villain Death.
- Zig-Zagged: Walter survived the gun shot, but just barely, except it was poison tipped. However, Lilly administers the antidote just in time, allowing Walter to survive the poison... only for both to realize Walter has lost too much blood, as he dies in her arms.
- Averted: Walter dies in a very definitive way, with no ground for misinterpretation.
- Enforced:
- It's a children's work, so everyone who dies (not including Evulz necessarily) comes back later.
- The creators want the work to have drama, but are unwilling to permanently kill off one of the major characters to provide it.
- Lampshaded: "Golly gee Walter, you never seem to get hurt! You must win the lottery every time you buy a ticket, you're so lucky!"
- Invoked:
- Walter knows he's going to die, but to keep Lilly from losing hope he acts as though he'll come back later.
- Alternately, he notes that in stories like this, the brave character nobly sacrificing himself usually turns up fine later, and wouldn't it be a shame if the Moral Guardians found out otherwise?
- Defied:
- Walter wants to die for whatever reason, and intentionally goes out with a bang to make sure the threat is taken care of and he doesn't come back.
- Walter dies in a way that destroys a machine/magical device that would have been able to revive him.
- Exploited: This becomes a hint that Walter can easily fake his death.
- Discussed: "Walter, we don't live in one of your children's stories where no one ever dies! If you do something reckless or stupid to be heroic, you'll really die!"
- Conversed: "You'd think that with everyone turning up alive or being resurrected, no one would ever be afraid of death."
- Deconstructed:
- Lilly becomes overly protective of Walter, who in turn has a nervous crisis over having been very close to permanently dying.
- Walter doesn't appear until weeks later, and his friends assuming the worst, prepare a funeral for him. During the funeral, however, he returns. Cue a number of people complaining about the money it took to prepare the funeral, the pointlessness of it all, and how much time was put into their eulogies (the one who said it only gets out a sentence and starts crying).
- Reconstructed:
- The Grim Reaper takes note of the imbalance in fates books, and demands a life for a life.
- Walter is more willing to be heroic, since he knows that morally upright people never truly die.
Go back to Disney Death to revive the fallen Troper.
