by Jim
This is something that has been irking me for some time now. It’s a recurrent theme in most fantasy fiction, in stories, comics, and in movies. No matter what happens in a fantasy universe, there is always a way to bring a character back. No matter what. If the character is popular, there will always be an incantation, or special portal, or some sort of God creature that can resurrect a dearly departed member of your cast.
This has been done over and over again. In Marvel, Jean Grey aka Phoenix, aka Marvel Girl has died multiple times, and multiple times been brought back by the Phoenix force. Superman’s death has been emulated and repeated many times, and even in other stories, characters die off only to be brought back a few stories later. Probably the most glaring example is Spock being brought back from his intense radiation burns in Star Trek 3.
People… please don’t do this. This is a trend that needs to stop. Why? Honestly because it takes all the weight out of death. In the first Dark Phoenix Saga, Jean Grey sacrifices herself to save her friends. It’s powerful, it causes ripples in the Marvel Universe, and was considered one of the best and most powerful stories in Marvel History…
Yeah… too bad it was completely undone a few years later by retconning the whole incident saying that Jean in fact had not been killed. It was the Phoenix in her form. The result of this was a previously well-liked superhero, Cyclops, having to suffer an extreme character assassination when he leaves his wife and baby to find Jean, it turns said wife who was also a well-liked character into a bad guy… and it left one hell of a mess on Marvel that has never been fully cleaned up. Perhaps the biggest crime here is that it took all the weight out of her original death and has continued to be diluted more and more with each time she’s resurrected.
The same can be said for Superman’s death or any other character in these universes. Any time in fantasy we see someone die, it never effects me anymore… not even in Game of Thrones. I just wait and see because it seems like very few deaths in Fantasy are ever permanent.
I’ve seen this attitude surrounding death in most fantasy worlds from readers and viewers alike. They don’t take it seriously and it has no lasting impact. Good story-writing makes you feel something for a character, it’s supposed to bring out emotions and make you react.
Example (SPOILER ALERT!!!): in Christie Golden’s fantastic novel; Star Wars Dark Disciple, she writes about a character that I truly love; Asajj Ventress. I’ve watched her go from a ruthless killing Sith Apprentice to an honorable loner bounty hunter, and in this story, though she still flirts with the dark side, she’s as close to a Jedi as she ever gets. I can honestly say that when she dies, it’s unexpected… and yes, my eye surrendered a tear.
That is what is supposed to happen and it doesn’t anymore, which is too bad. These deaths are met with indifference.
Why does this happen?
Honestly, often it’s poor story writing where the writer has backed themselves into a corner or fan outcry over the character’s death.
(SPOILER ALERT!!)
But wait, YOU DID THIS! You brought Lia’na back in your novel, Gravestalker!!
Yes I did… I admit it. However, her death was never intended to be permanent. I killed her off so that one of my other characters would attempt to bring her back using ancient magic that he shouldn’t even be attempting and inadvertently triggers a zombie apocalypse as a result. I want to make this clear, her death was NEVER meant to be permanent. Even so, a part of me has regretted doing this.
So then isn’t it possible that a lot of these are doing the same thing?
In some cases, yes. I will acknowledge that a fake-out death is a good plot device if used properly. That’s not what I have a problem with. My problem is with characters that were clearly meant to remain dead, and even admitted so by their writers (Phoenix, Darth Maul), and those who continuously use the fake-out deaths to keep their stories going… even HISHE touched on this in their Captain America review:
Honestly, it’s just weak story-telling and really needs to stop. But that’s my opinion. Am I way off or dead on? Let me know below!
Readers,
Do you have a question about writing, publishing, my stories, etc? Please feel free to post a comment or email me.
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Thanks friends!
Catch you on the flip side!
-Jim
James Harringtons Creative Work 
Only one writer picked up on this in the Marvel ‘Fear Itself’ cross-over; this one involving the Secret Avengers. Black Widows goes furious at an on-line blogging group commentating on the death of Bucky Barnes, claiming they’re doing it just to raise their profile. One blogger gives as good as she gets.
The best bit is where the two protagonists argue over Death. The blogger asserting it’s OK for heroes because they come back. Black Widow’s counter is based of the trauma of returning. Neither really won the argument; but it was the best thing about the whole series.
This aside I agree, it has been clichéd to banality.
(That and Marvel’s Obsession with Villains mind controlling heroes, and threatening to bore everyone to tears with their endless chatter about how powerful they are)
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These days it seems the norm but breaks any tension as a well known character can come back with a bit of simple plotting. I find it disappointing in books, even Game of Thrones succumbed to it…well in the TV show at least as I haven’t read the book. Should we blame Tolkien for it perhaps? Maybe it is the author’s inability to create any more strong characters, either way, I agree it has to stop. It would be a lot more fun to have the audience expect certain characters back and then be shocked when they remained mouldering somewhere.
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I don’t know if the 1988 movie Roger Rabbit was the first to put forth the idea that, “You can’t kill a toon”
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In the Avalon series, I have had a couple of people disappear in circumstances where they might or might not be dead. I am not saying they will all come back. The other travelers certainly count them as dead, but I feel a question mark is better than a mangled body. Death and resurrection leans too heavily in the direction of the dreaded cliché. “It’s okay, Bobby Ewing. It was all a dream.”
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I haven’t read the examples because of spoiler alert but yes, I get what you’re saying. Sometimes it takes the worth out of a death, other times I could really use it because I’ve been really heartbroken by some deaths which remained such.
I have to say though that some not-really-deaths can have a very strong impact too, even when you know/suspect that it’s going to be true. I seriously cried for the “death” of Eleven in Doctor Who, even if here we could discuss whether this actually was a real death.
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I’d never thought about this before, but it does seem to be an over used crutch of the fantasy world. Perhaps that’s why Dumbledore’s death actually made the books better, in my humble opinion.
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Honestly, I cover Dumbledore in my ‘Character Complexes’ post. He’s what I called an ‘Obi Wan Kenobi.’ He had to die, otherwise there was no way for the main character to progress. Had they tried to bring him back… the story would have collapsed.
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Now that you point it out, I see what you mean about character progression. Makes sense =)
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I like that: “because it takes all the weight out of death.” Great line.
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So true. Death is absolute. Using this idea for the first time would have been imaginative but not now.
I had never thought about this aspect about Dumbledore’s death. I had always thought it was necessary otherwise Dumbledore could have killed voldemort as he was portrayed so powerful , then there would have been no need to create Harry.
And thanks for visiting my blog.
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As far as comic books, the endlessly retconned deaths is just a symptom of something going on way, way too long for its own good. Like Spider-Man getting molested.
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Awesome read!
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Yes! This is so true. I hate cheap reincarnation tricks. I recently watched “Gotham” on Netflix, and that really cemented in my feelings about this. How many death scenes has each character had??? Either from being brought back to life, or from not completely dying in the first place. It’s just irresponsible writing and it cheapens the fantasy genre as a whole.
The only time I find it acceptable is when the character comes back to life in a non-human form, like a phoenix or a tree or something.
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