"...and the good thing is, he's not dead for long — I GET TO KILL HIM AGAIN!"
— The Master (on Captain Jack Harkness), Doctor Who, "The Sound of Drums"
Magnus the Red: Vulkan?! Why are you alive?!
Vulkan: Why am I alive? Why would I want to be dead? Being alive is fun! All my friends are here!
Vulkan: Why am I alive? Why would I want to be dead? Being alive is fun! All my friends are here!
The Salamanders: Vulkan is dead! Again! Nooooooo!
[a couple of minutes later]
The Salamanders: VULKAN LIVES!
[a couple of minutes later]
The Salamanders: VULKAN LIVES!
"Oh, look. Vulkan is alive again. Good."
— Corvus Corax, If the Emperor Had a Text-to-Speech Device
"If ever your flesh should fail, your flesh shall be made anew. This is my covenant with all cerebrates."
— The Overmind, StarCraft
Jim: Didn't we kill you?
Slippery John: Yeah, you did. Slippery John remembers you now, creature of twilight. You were the one who kicked Slippery John in the goolies and threw Slippery John into that big pit with all the rats.
Jim: The rat pit.
Slippery John: Yeah, you should probably think about clearing some of the bodies out of that thing. Slippery John saw five of his old ones down there.
Jim: How many times have you been killed?
Slippery John: In this fortress? Coming up to about twelve, Slippery John guesses. Turning out to be a really hard quest, Deadgrave's book.
Jim: So... wait a minute, every time you die you come back with a new body?
Slippery John: Don't you?
Slippery John: Yeah, you did. Slippery John remembers you now, creature of twilight. You were the one who kicked Slippery John in the goolies and threw Slippery John into that big pit with all the rats.
Jim: The rat pit.
Slippery John: Yeah, you should probably think about clearing some of the bodies out of that thing. Slippery John saw five of his old ones down there.
Jim: How many times have you been killed?
Slippery John: In this fortress? Coming up to about twelve, Slippery John guesses. Turning out to be a really hard quest, Deadgrave's book.
Jim: So... wait a minute, every time you die you come back with a new body?
Slippery John: Don't you?
— Mogworld
At the Battle of Schwarthafen, Vlad was cut down by Jerek Kruger, leader of the Knights of the White Wolf, and the army of Sylvania was defeated by the forces of the Elector of Middenheim. Yet within a year, Vlad von Carstein was leading another army, and Kruger's smashed and bloodless body was found at the foot of the Middenheim spire. At the field of Bluthof, von Castein fell with five lances through his body and the Count of Ostland's Runefang blade lodged through his heart. Three days later, he was seen ordering the crucifixion of prisoners outside the town gates. At Bogenhafen Bridge, a lucky cannon shoot took von Carstein's head off. Within the hour, the cannon crew were dead and the village was overrun. The soldiers of the Empire were gripped with terror in the face of so seemingly invincible a foe.
— Warhammer: Undead Army Book (4th edition)
As the crowd howled and hollered around him, Lord Commander Cyrius caught his laughing opponent by the throat. Grinning a mirthless smile, he pounded Lucius into the scarlet sands of the arena until there was nothing left but a red ruin of broken bone. The Emperor's Children had lost their favoured duellist, but gained a memory to be savoured for years to come.
Over the next few weeks, Lord Commander Cyrius underwent a hideous transformation. His mane of hair fell out in clumps, his eyes changed colour, and the copulating figures that decorated his armour writhed and flowed to depict a host of laughing Daemons. To the commander's mounting horror, dark lines appeared under his flesh, pushing outward with each passing night until they formed a maze of scar tissue. His screams were a source of great interest to his fellow Emperor's Children, but none came to his aid. In the Lord Commander's fate they saw the hand of Slaanesh at work. Some swore that Cyrius' shrieks changed in tone, becoming ever more like maniacal laughter.
The next gladiatorial event saw Lucius stride the sands once more, his power armour adorned with the tortured, moaning face of Cyrius. The heavily scarred swordsman had been reborn, and the Lord Commander had been taken in his place.
Over the next few weeks, Lord Commander Cyrius underwent a hideous transformation. His mane of hair fell out in clumps, his eyes changed colour, and the copulating figures that decorated his armour writhed and flowed to depict a host of laughing Daemons. To the commander's mounting horror, dark lines appeared under his flesh, pushing outward with each passing night until they formed a maze of scar tissue. His screams were a source of great interest to his fellow Emperor's Children, but none came to his aid. In the Lord Commander's fate they saw the hand of Slaanesh at work. Some swore that Cyrius' shrieks changed in tone, becoming ever more like maniacal laughter.
The next gladiatorial event saw Lucius stride the sands once more, his power armour adorned with the tortured, moaning face of Cyrius. The heavily scarred swordsman had been reborn, and the Lord Commander had been taken in his place.
— Warhammer 40,000: Champions of Chaos
Winding round
Over and over again
Fated to wander
Strike me down
Over and over again
To come back stronger
Over and over again
Fated to wander
Strike me down
Over and over again
To come back stronger
"The question is how much you can cut out of a Bee before they expire and reconstitute themselves. We make it as painless as we possibly can, and the deaths are only temporary, but it's getting to me, Keyes."
— Walter Neff, The Secret World
"She's using her own death as the sacrifice required to summon herself?! If so, then similar to Akari: she can't be killed!"
— Menou after killing Pandaemonium and seeing another undamaged copy spawn from inside the first's body, The Executioner and Her Way of Life
"Change-ed and unlike, this fleshling. Where is your rot? Your buddings? Do you grow? Do you wither? No. No, no... A lifeless beast are you, but no... For you die and die. Not lifeless, but deathless. A flesh-haunted thing."
— Carnán, Middle-earth: Shadow of War
"My tests have proved conclusively you have retained the ability of retrometabolism. A bullet will make you bleed, you will feel the pain, but after a few hours, even a fatal wound will heal completely. Captain Scarlet, you are still virtually indestructible."
— Doctor Fawn, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons
"You can't kill him. He'll just be reborn. He's forced to return to the state he was when he was killed. You can't kill a ghost."
— Reverend Zombie on Victor Crowley, Hatchet II
☆Dullahan shone!
Now, All Might was not incompetent (at least not in this retrospect) and was, in fact, completely aware that Midoriya's demise was entirely possible. However, after spending several months training the boy, he had come to the conclusion that this was not a problem. Not because he disliked Midoriya, quite the opposite, but rather because Midoriya was immortal so him dying was entirely okay and actually really normal.
"Interesting. Like me, you have an immortal demon soul. You cannot truly die. Instead, your soul will make its way to the Twisting Nether. There, you will wait until you can find a suitable body to inhabit. Now get back into your corpse while there is still time and bring me the keystone!"
— Illidan Stormrage to The Slayer should they decide to sacrifice themself instead of Sevis Brightflame during the Demon Hunter Starting Zone, World of Warcraft
