How do you resurrect a character while keeping the emotional impact of their death?

I hate when they resurrect someone basically for free, like dragon ball Z or most western comic books that just negate everything to go back to the status quo.

I agree with those that say is better if it has consequences. For example, naruto had some resurrection jutsus, but at least they cost one life in exchange, either the caster or someone else. This means is not something that can be spammed.

Or other media resurrect a character, but they never came just as they were, maybe now they are half-demon, or their mind is changed.

I prefer very specific consequences, such as love interest had moved on or children refusing to accept the resurrected character as their parent, or all of their memories being gone and NOT restored, and their relationships rebuilding very differently, etc. Or someone else had to die in their stead, and they have to live with that sacrifice.

I guess, it could also be a permanent deformity that makes them truly unattractive, such as a smell of decomposition and rotting flesh sticking to them permanently or a coating of maggots or something else that causes revulsion.

Finally, resurrection can be short-lived for a clearly defined task with an exact deadline. This is a borrowed time, and it makes it poignant.

I would say the character would have changed so much (physically, personality, etc) they can't really go back to their former life and needs to move on (sort of Lelouch from Code Geass)

Yeah, there need to be consequences. Pretty much what everyone else already mentioned.
The only example I can think of at the moment that do this interestingly are the reanimations in Naruto. While they are resurrected shinobi they still are not the same as their prime counterparts and they are controlled by the jutsu caster who revived them.

I'd like to offer a suggestion that may have not been mentioned in yet. You could always go the route of creating an alternate universe version of said dead character and have them assume the role of their universal counterpart. DC Comics did this with Superman during the last year of the New 52 run. Essentially, Superman was dying of Kryptonite poisoning, and with some dimension meddling, the Superman from the pre New 52 era and New 52 Superman teamed up to defeat an overpowered Superman clone.

The New 52 era Superman passes on, and in his place, the pre New 52 Superman took his place. There are repercussions because this "old" Superman has no recollection of this Superman's life, so the other heroes treat him a little differently. You could copy an example like that and that would technically be "resurrecting" your character. I don't that's downplaying or cheapening the impact of death in that respect either.

As much as I'd love to go into details of what I do- I must admit that I and many others overthink this element. Because most fiction isn't aiming for that kind of "realism" and want that kind of escapism. There are too many countless big works that do resurrection cheaply and it has not stopped anyone from loving the works. Warning next paragraph for a 30+ year old spoiler-

Spock died in a cool film called Wrath of Khan. Spock then returns in The Search for Spock and overall most people would consider that film a meh. Despite this, Wrath of Khan is still beloved. The following films after Search are not considered weaker for having Spock back like nothing happened. Voyage Home, the film right after Spock's return is just an outright comedy and is also considered one of the best Star Trek films.

People love Spock so much and his dynamic so important to the cast people just hand wave how meh his return was. Wrath of Khan is still recommended and praised. People will mention how Spock's death and funeral still makes them cry. As much as I consider myself harsh on resurrecting characters I too handwave Spock's fumbled return.

So I would say the real answer is make the death super cool and have it happen to the character the audience apparently cannot live without. People can and will forgive plot fumbles in exchange for the promise of more fun stories.

Lots of tears, drama, and slaps never hurt anybody (despite the irony). I don't know in what context this character is resurrecting in, but whenever a lot of heartbreak and pain has occurred from their death, it is best to demonstrate just how much that death has impacted the other characters, by doing do, even if the character is resurrected, it will make it hard for them to be accepted back into the newly built reality of the other characters. I would assume they all moved on and built new lives so to backtrack in such a way will always cause emotional conflict and old wounds being torn open back up. Just make it a big, dramatic ordeal, death is never easy, but it's worse when apparently the person isn't actually dead. Resurrections are always ridiculous since they play with everyone's feelings so pay respect to those feelings and address them fittingly.

I personally would never resurrect a character from the dead. It effectively destroys any depth of meaning behind a death unless of course it was always the plan to bring someone back in a believable way. If I were you perhaps plan out a serious event like that ahead of time.

Uh I wish Tony Stark could come back. 🥺

I agree with a lot of the people here. I personally would never bring a character back from the dead, because that essentially destroys any emotional impact the original death scene had. And there isn't any bigger emotional impact than a loved character dying and never coming back. But I think in some stories it could work. I'm gonna use RWBY Penny as an example because hers is like, the textbook definition of what not to do when resurrecting a character.

I feel like the way to make the writing better (because again, I don't recommend bringing back characters, especially fan-favorite ones, if you want to go for emotional impact) is to give the character some sort of consequence or side-effect of being brought back. After all, the emotional "oomph" of the original death scene doesn't really exist anymore, so it's best to make a new one. Maybe the character suffers from memory loss upon being brought back. Maybe there are some things this character can't do anymore, such as magic, or they're too weak to lift up a sword.

Maybe have the resurrection affect other characters too. Maybe the person who brought back the dead character slowly goes insane, maybe they start dying. Maybe resurrecting the dead is considered taboo, the resurrector has to pay the consequences while the resurrectee tries to help them but realizes they can't. Bringing back a character is a HUGE deal, so treat it as one.

As someone who did watch it (I'm gonna use vague terms to avoid spoilers), my personal issue with it wasn't so much that she came back, because as you say it makes some sense. The issue was less that she was normal, given you know, her situation. But more the others reaction to the return. There are plenty of reasons she could be ok and the same (differing concepts and views on death based on situations/beliefs is a fascinating subject not covered enough), but everyone else's reactions were sorta five seconds of "omg you're alive" and hugs and then carry on as normal and I think that cheapened it for me more than anything else.

If you can find Akira Toriyama, a man who literally made story arcs which amounted to Goku trying to resurrect his allies making us realize death means nothing and STILL made some of us cry when they the characters died ... you will get your answer.

Honestly, I promised myself I wouldn't do resurrections because yes, I think it cheapens the whole point of the character's death. The whole point of a character dying is for the other characters and the reader to appreciate the moments that character was alive. If you resurrect him, you somewhat destroy that feeling.

Especially in epic stories, I think that death serves the purpose of letting you realize the sense of loss. Yes, you won, but AT WHAT COST? If dead characters come back, what was the cost?

It honestly depends what purpose this characters death had in the narrative.

For example: if the purpose for this characters death was to make their friend grow into their own person, then perhaps that friend could end up regressing their development and start relying on this character again as a result of them coming back to life.

Or if this character sacrificed themselves, then maybe they would feel bitter and empty. As if their sacrifice was kind of in vain.

It all depends on the circumstances of the death, the character themselves, and the overall themes of the narrative. Death is just another tool to tell your story. You shouldn't feel intimidated by the prospect of reviving a character as long as it coincides thematically with the rest of the story.

If I were to revive a character, I'd bring them back, but have something be off. Like they lost their memories, they are no longer themselves or they come back weird, like a zombie, animal, monster. But, I'd do it only if bringing them back to life like this makes the story more interesting than them staying dead.

Honestly, Joss Whedon, writer and creator of Buffy the Vampire Slayer does this extremely well and actually managed to do it multiple times in the series.... It's an old show but it's still one of the best written. Mostly, though, what he does is parody very vividly all the consequences of someone's death and doesn't shy away from the discomfort of having to adjust again to being alive. Breaking with the obvious too, we assume people are going to be happy with someone's return but it's never that simple. Let things get complicated.

I don't, they are dead if I kill them. If i want to keep emotional tensions high, I keep them injured and fighting to keep up with the injury. kind of putting the thought into the reader's mind "they are hurt, they are falling behind." leaving it unclear if they are dead of passed out. yes these injuries can be life changing. IDK what you are planning on, but it can be a possibly. Then as a juxtaposition I may also write from the dying/injured person's perspective. Although you can't see the example in my comic is yet, the script is very tense. I have in injured person blacking out, with very select images to inform the reader of what is going on. The panic on the people's faces, voices, gestures, contrasted by a calm, disoriented point of view. If you can switch points of view, the select first person and be so powerful, even if they are just observing.

I like tragedies so make them a husk of their formal self. They lost their humanity through death and all that's left is a mere imitation of their previous life. Many times this happens to people who experience near death situations anyway, they either are mentally or physically not the same. Like imagine the thoughts that go through someone's mind knowing they really did die and now living just isn't the same.

I just sort of thought about Gandalf’s death in LOTR when I read this. I think if you leave that death hanging for a while it gives people time to really feel the death and mourn the loss. Then, when you bring them back unexpectedly with a impactful twist to the plot (like if their storyline contributes and brings new excitement - and doesn’t dull) people will be excited to see their return. And as people have mentioned above - a difference in the character so the character almost feels new.
Other than that, I think bringing back a character with not much to give to the plot would just sort of fall flat.