Resurrection of characters.

[RepresentingWrath]

We talked a lot about death of characters here. How it is a powerful but tricky tool, whether we will drop a story or not if an author kills a certain character, and so on. But I don't remember any threads about doing the opposite.

What is your opinion on bringing back dead characters? I understand it's the same as killing a character, tricky tool that heavily relies on execution(hehe). But what I ask is slightly different. I want to hear your personal thoughts and experience. Do you like it, or do you hare it, and why? Did you do it yourself, or did you not? Maybe you are planning to do it. I think it's an interesting tool that is rarely used. Everyone are so hellbent on killing characters, they forget that characters can be revived, and it can be done well.

A small example. Imagine fantasy world with no ressurection magic that has necromancy. Imagine MC is in love with someone. That someone dies, and MC can't cope with it. MC desides to use necromancy, but instead of a hot vampire lady, or gentleman, they get a living body that hates MC fot what he or she done. They hate MC since they were already in this world's version of heaven, but they got ruthlessly grabbed from there, and now they won't be able to return. I think instead of making MC cope or taking revenge, this is a way more fresh and unique development. It will add different nuances and layers to the story that you can't have otherwise. I don't think it is better or worse than simply killing a loved one, but it is definetely more unique.

Anyway, tell your thoughts about it.

 

[Corty]

I did that in one of my books; it was the payoff for a happy ending, and it wasn't a cop-out because there was a lead-up to it in the last volume, and the whole system for it was established since the beginning.

So, if it is done right, like, for example, how the Pirates did, I'm all for it.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

It depends on how it is done and how impactful the death was. The more impactfull the death to the reader, the less they should be brought back.

 

[xuduxixi]

I think what's dead should stay dead, but if the character really want to revived himself or someone, he/she should suffer a fate beffiting with it.

 

[melchi]

Depends on the setting. In a high fantasy world why not? In a video game world it should be expected.

But in a realistic world it could cause problems.

 

[Succubiome]

I think if the character getting revived is a clear possibility to the other characters, then it should be acknowledged as soon as possible-- people won't have the same intense grief, maybe, but they'll have anxiety type grief if it's not certain, like when someone was in a potentially deadly accident and is now in the hospital, or something.

If it's absolutely certain that they'll be revived, it shouldn't be treated like we treat death at all-- yeah, dying still sucks, presumably, but not in the same way.

 

[Sola-sama]

in my view, anything that went beyond the laws of physics or the laws of causality should be possible, but with an appropriate price.

There's a manwhwa (chinese colored comics, idk what it was called) where the mc is a tree and have groomed various beasts as its subordinate. I was fond of it until the end of a certain arc where the humans, which was the enemy, dropped a nuke on the mc. Naturally, plot armor blocked the lethal fallout, allowing him to survive but his beast companion-cum-subordinate were mostly dead as they were a tad weaker than the human experts.

Then, in a single chapter, a higher entity simply 'I will help you this time in exchange of you helping me in the future' and resurrected all of MC's dead companions.

I was able to tolerate the manhwa's dogshit power system and bad writing, enjoying the media as I turned my brain off.
However, that chapter was the straw that broke the came's back. After the mass resurrection, I lost interest.

It's not that I hate resurrection as a concept.
If resurrection is cheap and readily available where foes and friends is capable of resurrecting the dead, then that's ok. What I abhor from this is the fact that the MC was given a 'second chance' to resurrect his army without costing anything meanwhile other faction has no access to resurrection in the first place.

 

[HelloHound]

I heart came back wrong trope a la buffy

 

[Haku45]

Dorohedoro. good example. there resurrections work for the plot, and do not break the world system. You continue to worry about your favorite characters. Because no one has plot defense. only what works for the plot

 

[Jerynboe]

I had a major supporting character die and get resurrected specifically so that I could explain how resurrection works.
Resurrection in this world is a service you can buy, but it’s a specialized kind of magic with a time limit. Most resurrectors have a backlog, and charge a lot. An entire arc served primarily to show that while resurrection was possible, it wasn’t something to be flippant about.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

We talked a lot about death of characters here. How it is a powerful but tricky tool, whether we will drop a story or not if an author kills a certain character, and so on. But I don't remember any threads about doing the opposite.

What is your opinion on bringing back dead characters? I understand it's the same as killing a character, tricky tool that heavily relies on execution(hehe). But what I ask is slightly different. I want to hear your personal thoughts and experience. Do you like it, or do you hare it, and why? Did you do it yourself, or did you not? Maybe you are planning to do it. I think it's an interesting tool that is rarely used. Everyone are so hellbent on killing characters, they forget that characters can be revived, and it can be done well.

A small example. Imagine fantasy world with no ressurection magic that has necromancy. Imagine MC is in love with someone. That someone dies, and MC can't cope with it. MC desides to use necromancy, but instead of a hot vampire lady, or gentleman, they get a living body that hates MC fot what he or she done. They hate MC since they were already in this world's version of heaven, but they got ruthlessly grabbed from there, and now they won't be able to return. I think instead of making MC cope or taking revenge, this is a way more fresh and unique development. It will add different nuances and layers to the story that you can't have otherwise. I don't think it is better or worse than simply killing a loved one, but it is definetely more unique.

Anyway, tell your thoughts about it.

When I think of resurrections, I think two things:
1) Death of Superman
2) Death of Palpatine
Note that I read neither storyline (and only know SW through memes)
Basically, when an author brings back a dead character, they should either make it with a character who for all intents and purposes cannot die - their death is but a setup for their eventual revival and the reader understands it.
Or they should do it to a character for whom it would not be out of character to come back - like an adversary so cunning and intelligent, that their death may as well have been fake, or when the readers would not put it past this character to plan their own revival.

In case of your example, I would kill the resurrected-to-be character in the beginning and make it the setup for the rest of the story, the resurrection being the main quest for at least the first half.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

In case of your example, I would kill the resurrected-to-be character in the beginning and make it the setup for the rest of the story, the resurrection being the main quest for at least the first half.

It was one of many examples to illustrate my point. For some reason, people missed it.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

It was one of many examples to illustrate my point. For some reason, people missed it.

But I did write "in case of your example" as for it illustrating your point of resurrection being a powerful tool, I simply changed in a way that I felt illustrated my point

 

[Succubiome]

If resurrection is cheap and readily available where foes and friends is capable of resurrecting the dead, then that's ok. What I abhor from this is the fact that the MC was given a 'second chance' to resurrect his army without costing anything meanwhile other faction has no access to resurrection in the first place.

I feel like only the MC having access to resurrection could work-- if it was what the story was based around. But introducing it via the literal deus ex machina of an omnipotent entity descending to take care of things sounds pretty unsatisfying.

 

[CrimsonGenius]

Establish the revival plot item early and the difficulty to retrieve it and the conditions. Will the character lose half of their lifespan if they bring their best bro back?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

But I did write "in case of your example" as for it illustrating your point of resurrection being a powerful tool, I simply changed in a way that I felt illustrated my point

My bad.

 

[georgelee5786]

I don't like bringing the dead back. If you're going to do it, just make sure it is a very hard thing to do, not something you can do willy nilly. If you mishandle it, death essentially becomes meaningless in the story and I don't like that

 

[owotrucked]

Certain settings like Xianxia makes respawning fine. Especially, in settings where you can have unreasonable deaths, and if it has been foreshadowed or mentioned early. Like, if you can kill someone with an unreasonable curse without ever exchanging a glance or some instant kill traps without counterplay, it doesn't feel too cheap that there are method to respawn. And in xianxia, if a character loses their power, they might as well be dead lol

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I think what's dead should stay dead, but if the character really want to revived himself or someone, he/she should suffer a fate beffiting with it.

I think if the character getting revived is a clear possibility to the other characters, then it should be acknowledged as soon as possible-- people won't have the same intense grief, maybe, but they'll have anxiety type grief if it's not certain, like when someone was in a potentially deadly accident and is now in the hospital, or something.

If it's absolutely certain that they'll be revived, it shouldn't be treated like we treat death at all-- yeah, dying still sucks, presumably, but not in the same way.

I don't like bringing the dead back. If you're going to do it, just make sure it is a very hard thing to do, not something you can do willy nilly. If you mishandle it, death essentially becomes meaningless in the story and I don't like that

Certain settings like Xianxia makes respawning fine. Especially, in settings where you can have unreasonable deaths, and if it has been foreshadowed or mentioned early. Like, if you can kill someone with an unreasonable curse without ever exchanging a glance or some instant kill traps without counterplay, it doesn't feel too cheap that there are method to respawn. And in xianxia, if a character loses their power, they might as well be dead lol

You all miss the point, and talk about one side of bringing back a character to life. It is my mistake for phrasing it wrognly.

I'm not talking about spell resurrection. I'm talking about bringing back a character to life, doesn't matter how. You wrote how this guy got decapitated, and after 50 chapters he is back as a vampire. He was not resurrected as is, in a pristine condition.

Example of another side of bringing back a character to life. MC is on a task to kill the main villain. MC has a crew. One of MC's crewmates dies in a fight. In the next big fight MC and remaining crewmates see that the dead one was brought back to life via necromancy. Now they have to fight their own comrade that was deemed to be dead.

 

[BearlyAlive]

"Somehow Palpatine returned" Peak Writing right there. It was foreshadowed since The Old Republic, but it was subtle enough nobody ever noticed it. And the execution was just a masterpiece even Shakespeare would be jealous of! /deadpansarcasmyesimnotseriousimeanwhoeverwatchedthetrainwrecksdisneynamedstarwarsknowshowbadandbotchedthestorywasbuteventhenthistakesthecakeforthebestunintendedjokeevertold

I'm fine with rezzing up dead/fridged characters. The only times it shouldn't be allowed is if it breaks both tone and setting or if it's just so you can have a cheap and easily redeemable antagonist and "emotional" impact. I still hate Guilty Crown (the first half was really good and had a perfect chance for the perfect ending halfway) with a passion for not only unnecessarily resurrecting a character that went through their whole character arc and personal story ending, but also butchering every effing character in the second half while at it.

Or how some Korean or Chinese stories/manwhore (manwha/manhua?manohwhat?) kill and rezz a main character for that sweet little NTR-esque feeling of betrayal and to pann the story for the few arcs the main cast needs to "heal" that character while the rezzed one bothers them with their insider knowledge...

Otherwise, I'm fine with people spawning quicker than Zergs.