How To Resurrect A Character (and not suck!) | On Writing

What the BEST/WORST example of resurrection you can think of? And be sure to mark SPOILERS! Check out BRILLIANT at my link brilliant.org/HelloFutureMe/ where you can learn well... whatever you choose to! That's the brilliant thing about it ~ Tim

"What makes us human?" The ability to 'Please select all images that contain a cow'

"My death has been greatly exaggerated"

Yes, Buffy's resurrection explores a whole new character arc for Buffy. She has to try and pretend to be grateful to her friends for bringing her back to life - which she realises, in their minds, they did out of love for her. But later on she confesses to Spike (a vampire who got his soul back, so he can sort of relate to her on some level,) that they actually wrenched her out of Heaven, where she was HAPPY and finally free to live her life without the burden of being the Slayer. So a part of her is angry as hell with them for ruining her shot at true happiness just because they didn't want to live without her - but another part still loves them as friends, and feels guilty for her anger and resentment towards them.

"You don't have to kill a character" Man, I wish more folks understood this. Death is often the most boring of stakes.

Maul in The Clone Wars is one of the better examples I've seen because it gave them the opportunity to actually flesh out his character. If you can get past the silly robot legs, I think bringing him back was worth it because we got to see better stories and more depth to that character than we got in The Phantom Menace.

Okay, suggesting that resisiting/overcoming death doesn't HAVE to be a twisted thing, and comparing it to society's advances in health, is one of the coolest nuanced philosophy-x-writing takes I've ever heard

I think the story of Orpheus and Eurydice is my favorite resurrection tale. I think having the power to resurrect someone but getting overtaken by doubt and losing them again is very compelling. I think failed resurrections are even more interesting then resurrection stories because it forces you to realize that there are some things you just can’t do.

Jon Snow's resurrection in GOT holds a special place for me. After dedicating his life to an organization until his death, he gets resurrected and walks away from the organization with the words, "And now my watch is over." Brilliant.

Somehow, HelloFutureMe returned.

28:00 this is why Buffy's resurrection hits so hard, the revelation that she was in Heaven, she was happy and complete and in peace only to be brought back to life and expected to fight again, to raise a child alone, to pay the bills that had accumulated in the months that she is been dead, and to be happy to be alive is a shock to the audience Buffy died a hero's death, sacrificing herself to save her sister and the world and her friends took away her reward, life feels meaningless to her, she is depressed and low key suicidal but because she knows they did it out of love she doesn't want to tell them the truth, insted she puts on a happy face around them and acts grateful so she doesn't hurt their feelings all the while feeling like life doesn't compare to what she felt when she was dead, she is so off her game that three idiots get the better of her and her friend dies in the crossfire

That joy on his face when he said “I’m not done with you, get your ass back in there” just warmed my heart and made me smile. Take care of yourself Tim, you’re a gift.

When you opened with that clip of Poe saying "Somehow, Palpatine returned", I thought you were gonna pull a Cosmonaut Variety Hour and edit in Peter Griffin from Family Guy saying "Who the fuck starts a conversation like that?! I just sat down!"

I love resurrection in Delicious in Dungeon, the fact that it only works in a dungeon, most adventurers died many times but it's still not a pleasant experience, that there are people whose jobs is retrieving bodies and resurrecting people, and that even though the dungeon is the one place where it's possible, it might not always work if the body has been damaged too much. It gives the show an interesting mix of stakes and also makes me wonder about the world outside of a dungeon.

A lot of people ask about why Gandalf’s resurrection isnt treated as a horrible plot device. The answer is cost and effect. (Note: primarily working off movies here but relevant to books) Gandalf’s death leaves the fate of the fellowship uncertain. Gandalf being gone sets off a series of irreversible events including the death of another character and the breaking of the fellowship. His return also provides a powerful emotional response that makes his return affect the story as well.

Re:Zero is a great resurrection story, that specifically explores the mental horrors of knowing death, its pain, and trying to avoid it for those you love.

Hades does a fun thing with resurrection. It justifies it. Games always give you a chance to start over or respawn, but Zagreus is literally in the Underworld so of course when he dies, he just gets sent back to his father. It's less like a big loss (unless you were having a good run) and more a source of frustration. The only thing he and the player can do is learn from their failures and keep trying.

Palpatine's return would have mattered, had it started a quest to find out how and prevent it recurring again. To learn he is doing the force ghost thing and possessing a special clone in a darkside twist. BUT THEY DIDN'T do anything with it. Which makes it more cheap.

Gandalf is a classic resurrection, but even Gandalf the white is different to Gandalf the Grey, he's more sharp, that softness seems to have gone. In comic books when Superior Spider-Man/ Otto Octavius died to help resurrect Peter Parker back into his body (over simplification) is was a satisfying redemption for that character.

The main issue for me with Palps coming back is that we're then expected to believe he's truely dead despite him being brought back with no explanation in the same movie. Maybe if he'd been brought back in a similar way to the master in The End of Time it'd be better where his body was decaying and dying & he'd need to keep taking people's life force to stay alive. Would tie into how corruptive the dark side is too