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

[Jon_Gum]

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.

[Legendofgenii]

Uh I wish Tony Stark could come back. 🥺

[azzy-m]

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.

Spoilers for RWBY volumes 3 and 7 if you care about that

So, Penny was revealed to be a robot around the end of volume 2, and gets killed in a frankly horrific scene in volume 3. Her death was a seriously big deal during the rest of volume 3 - Penny was a beloved character, torn up into shreds in front of a public audience, and so the entire FNDM was seriously depressed. Penny's and Pyrrha's deaths were the most emotionally packed of volume 3, and their deaths kinda seriously turned the story around to be a bit darker and lore-heavy.

So fast forward to volume 7, Penny is a robot right? So it makes sense she is able to come back. Except... she's back, completely normal, same personality. Rendering her initial death scene, a scene fans have mourned over for YEARS, completely meaningless.

Granted, this is based on clips of volume 7 I've seen, because I stopped watching after volume 5, so take it with a grain of salt.

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.

[HGohwell]

Granted, this is based on clips of volume 7 I've seen, because I stopped watching after volume 5, so take it with a grain of salt.

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.

[spadesart]

Spoilers for Final Space

I think final space handled a resurrection arc really well with Avocato. It wasn't done right away (the death happened early season 1, he was resurrected late season 2, so the mcs and audience were allowed time to mourn and develop from it) and Avo's resurrection happened as a result of a last minute decision (characters going back in time to get something, seeing him in the past and deciding to break the laws of the universe to get him back). The resurrection also had consequences where he suffered from amnesia and the main cast had to work through it with him, and to not upset the fabric of time, Gary had to trade places with him in the past and wait for time to catch up again to finally see him (a couple months I believe). Normally I really dislike resurrections but I was alright with how this one was handled.

[Candlebite]

RWBY Vol 7 Spoiler

Penny is.. in an odd area, cause she is a robot so she got rebuilt.

And did technically have a cost, for her creator not her. But its not really something that stands out, cause her creator (who is not a combat character at all) permanently uses up chunks of his aura to rebuild her and that was one of the last times he could do so.

And since that was never brought up before and we don't know how he was doing before he rebuilt Penny, It really feels "eh". I mean it probably would stand out a lot more if that wheel chair he's always in was a result of him using his aura rebuilding her.

[nickolaidas]

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?

[ignika1998]

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.

[CorgsCof]

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.

[Onsai]

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.

[CosmicLeon]

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.

[indagold]

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.

[Maps]

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.