“It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There’s a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive.” Miracle Max.
(Warning: The following contains spoilers. You have been warned. Don’t blame me if your world comes crashing down around you when you find out your favourite character is not actually dead).
Have you noticed that more and more characters in television and books aren’t staying dead? This has been the case in the world of comic books for years now. “Announcing: The death of Superman in the next issue!” Of course five issues later, “Announcing: The Superman re-boot!” You think Spider-man is dead? Guess what? That wasn’t Peter Parker, it was some clone who only thought he was Peter Parker. Has there been a single comic book superhero who has actually stayed dead?
And, now, it seems that this ‘ha-ha fooled you’ phenomenon has kicked into high gear in the shows and books that I read.
Image via Wikipedia
All Dead: Buffy died twice. The first time she was revived with CPR after she drowned. The second time, she was very very dead, having fallen from a scaffold. She was dead. She was buried. She was given a pretty headstone. She still came back. Or how about Spike? He died and turned to dust saving the world from the hellmouth that was opening. And what happened? Because he was a fan favourite, the amulet that helped him save the world resurrected him on the Buffy spin-off Angel. And lest you think that it is just the heroes in the Buffy-verse that come back, let me tell you about Darla. Darla, a vampire, gets dusted, gets resurrected as a human, gets turned back into a vampire, gets pregnant by another vamp (Angel), and then stakes herself to give birth to her human (yes human) baby. (Whew. Did you get all that?)
Image via Wikipedia
Mostly Dead: In this category, it’s not quite the Miracle Max, mostly dead, but it’s more the ‘everyone thinks you’re dead, but then it turns out you’re not.’ This was big in Alias. Sydney Bristow‘s mom was supposed to be dead. Instead her death was a cover for her extraction. Sydney was supposed to be dead. Instead her death was a cover for the fact that she was abducted by an evil organization called the Covenant, to become their brain-washed assassin. Michael Vaughn was supposed to be dead after being riddled with a million bullets, but he healed up in Tibet and came back. Even the bad guys come back. Sloane was executed by the US government, but not really. Instead he was given a shot that slowed his heart-rate to basically death; only to be revived when the antidote was administered.
Should Be Dead: “And the axe came crashing down on her head.” End of chapter. Several chapters later: “Wow that was something, on with the adventure.” Repeat over and over (and over and over) again and you’ve got the Song of Ice and Fire series by G.R.R. Martin (aka A Game of Thrones, for those of you who have only heard of the HBO television adaptation). In the beginning Martin was all about killing off the hero to show that no one is safe in his universe. Sadly, that didn’t last. Brienne of Tarth, Arya Stark, Asha Greyjoy, are examples. Their chapters end with it looking like they’re killed, only to find out later on, that even though they were about to get their skulls bashed in, they survived. By the time we get to the newest book, A Dance with Dragons, the reader knows that no one is actually dead, especially not a POV hero. ‘Just leave ‘em dead!’ I shouted at the book when I got to the end. That would be more of a shock and surprise. But no, Martin is not going to kill off a fan favourite. He should, but he won’t. At least not yet. It’s gotten so tiring and cliched, that part of me wants the final book in the series to kill off all the ‘heroes’, so that the only two characters who survive are the schemers: Petyr Baelish and Varys the Spider.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for exploring the theme of death and resurrection. But enough is enough. A cynic could say that this isn’t about storytelling, but is instead about the ultimate ‘cha-ching’. Could say? Oh wait, I just did say. The First Law of Resurrection says: “If the creator wants to bring back a dead character, then that character will come back.” It’s time to banish this law from the mortal realm.
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