History PlayingWith / LosingYourHead

** Alice's head and body both survive.

** Having a brain outside of the head means decapitation is nonlethal, but renders the person blind, deaf, unable to speak, eat solid food, or breath unassisted. To most people, living without a head is a FateWorseThanDeath.

** Alice survives a getting her [[NeckSnap neck broken]], being crippled for a few days before her spine heals and she regains her ability to walk.
* '''Justified''': Alice is a robot, or some kind of creature that can survive decapitation.

* '''Parodied''': Alice's head can regenerate, and the severed head and regrown head emd up an odd instance of MultipleHeadCase.

* '''Parodied''': ???

* '''Deconstructed''': Alice can survive being decapitated, but it's a traumatic experience, especially since it leaves her stuck as a severed head.
* Alice's head is surgically reattached but it she is incapable of walking or coordinating herself for a long time due to all of the nerves being severed.

* '''Discussed''': "You think my head would survive if it were chopped off?" "I doubt it. [[RealityEnsues This isn't some lame TV show!]]"

* '''Implied''': Alice's head is only ever shown on her body, but in one episode, Charles tells Bob, "Alice's head sure had a lot to say today." The fact that he referred to Alice's ''head'' implies that it is detachable.

** Having a brain outside of the head means decapitation is nonlethal, but renders the person blind, deaf, unable to speak, eat solid food, or breath unassisted. To most people, living without a head is a FateWorseThenDeath.

** Having a brain outside of the head means decapitation is nonlethal, but renders the person blind, deaf, unable to speak, eat solid food, or breath unassisted. To most people, living without a head is AFateWorseThenDeath.

** "Wow! And I thought 'LosingYourHead' was just a figure of speech!"

* '''Inverted''': Alice is normally headless, but occasionally has a functional head sewn on.

* '''Justified''': Not applicable. (The lack of an InUniverse explanation is a vital part of this trope.)

* '''Subverted''': Alice is a robot, or some kind of creature that can survive being beheaded.

** Alice can detach and reattach her head easily with no ill effects.

'''Basic Trope''': A character survives having their head cut off.
* '''Straight''': Alice ends up decapitated by accident, but her head is inexplicably still alive afterward.
* '''Exaggerated''': Alice gets caught in an explosion [[LudicrousGibs that completely destroys her body]] but throws her head clear of the blast. When it lands (after a fifty-foot drop!), it turns out that Alice's head is not only still intact, but alive as well.
* '''Downplayed''': Alice can detach and reattach her head easily with no ill effects due to being an android or other construct.
* '''Justified''': Alice is a robot, or some kind of creature that can survive being beheaded.
* '''Inverted''':

* '''Subverted''': Alice's head seems just fine after it's cut off, but it turns out she can only survive without her body for a short while.
* '''Double Subverted''': Alice's head can only survive without her body for a short while, but AppliedPhlebotinum exists that will let her survive like that indefinitely.
* '''Parodied''': Alice's head is cut off after [[RubeGoldbergHatesYourGuts an improbable series of events]], and then launches into a lengthy musical number showing off just how alive she really is.
* '''Zig Zagged''': Alice is frequently decapitated in a show with NegativeContinuity; her head ''sometimes'' survives afterwards, but not always.
* '''Averted''': [[OffWithHisHead Decapitation is lethal, pure and simple.]] Alice gets her head chopped off and dies.

* '''Lampshaded''': "Wow! And I thought 'LosingYourHead' was just a figure of speech!"
* '''Invoked''': Alice is scheduled to be executed by guillotine, but with some magical help, she comes up with an unorthodox escape plan: the execution is carried out and Alice is beheaded, but her head is left alive and is easily smuggled to safety.
* '''Exploited''':
** Alice is non-lethally decapitated in order to render her helpless.
** Alice and the rest of the group take advantage of her ability to allow her to spy on people who wouldn't look somewhere that a whole human body can't fit in.
* '''Defied''': The ability to survive being decapitated is common enough that [[WhyDontYaJustShootHim most people use guns instead of swords.]]
* '''Discussed''': "So you can survive having your head cut off? [[RequiredSecondaryPowers You can stick it back on afterward, right?]]"

* '''Reconstructed''': Alice has a cybernetic body built for herself, allowing her to easily shrug off future decapitations.
* '''Plotted A Good Waste''': Alice's seemingly throwaway ability to survive decapitation on a regular basis leads to a source of existential angst for her [[TomatoInTheMirror as she's forced to confront the question of whether she's really human or not.]]
* '''Played For Laughs''': Alice's head gets chopped off OnceAnEpisode, and HilarityEnsues as her severed head ends up [[DisasterDominoes in one sticky situation after another]], possibly with her headless body in hot pursuit.
* '''Played For Drama''': A magical spell allows Alice to shrug off being beheaded, but when her head is stolen before it can be reattached to her body, then it becomes a quest to reunite her head and body before the spell wears off and Alice dies for real.

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%% Optional items, added after Conversed, at your discretion:
%%
%%* '''Implied''': ???

* '''Justified''':
** Alice is a robot, or some kind of creature that can survive being beheaded.
** See Reconstructed below.

** Alice is immortal as long as she's headless, which is useful because she's suffering from a terminal illness - reattaching her head would kill her.

** Alice is normally headless and can live without one, but dies after it is attempted to graft one onto her neck.

* '''Inverted''': Alice accidentally gets her head chopped off, and her still-alive body carries on like nothing happened.

** After [[DamselInDistress capturing Alice.]] The BigBad chops her head off because he knows that she'll survive and without her body she can't escape.

* '''Exploited''': ???

* '''Downplayed''': ???

* '''Deconstructed''': Alice survives being decapitated, but is horrified to find that she's lost her body.
* '''Reconstructed''': Alice is just a head. The body is just something that allows her to move. Which would explain why both head and body are still alive.

* '''Deconstructed''': Alice survives being decapitated, but is horrified to find that she's lost her body.
* '''Reconstructed''': Alice is just a head. The body is just something that allows her to move. Which would explain why both head and body are still alive.

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* '''Justified''': Alice is a robot, or some kind of creature that can survive being beheaded.

* '''Reconstructed''': The main thrust of the story is Alice's search for a means to reattach her head to her body.

* '''Lampshaded''': "Wow! And I thought 'LosingYourHead]' was just a figure of speech!"

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