Fantasy vs Science-Fiction
Writers use many methods for bringing characters back from the dead. These range from frighteningly realistic to absolutely absurd, depending on the context of their plots. A method that works in one genre may be completely ridiculous in another. Fantasy leans towards the unrealistic, highly imagined worlds that writers create. Meanwhile, science-fiction stories need a scientific, reality based explanation for their actions.
Magic
Magic is most often used in fantasy stories. Bringing a character back from the dead with a spell couldn't be easier, but side-effects are common. This method is very popular in video games because it allows one to return with minimal ill effects, but still requires some sacrifice.
For instance, in the popular multi-player game World of Warcraft, there are several ways of reviving a dead character. The most common is running all the way back to your corpse, but this takes time. They explain why this must be done, "We need to have a death penalty of some sort, otherwise death itself becomes meaningless" (Blizzard). You can also revive yourself at a graveyard resulting in extra durability loss. Another player can also bring you back by using their resources.
While spells work well in fantasy-based realities, it doesn't have a place in science-fiction. There is no scientific basic for magic.
Ghosts
Another common way writers bring back characters is to have them appear as ghosts or spirit guides for the living. Sometimes the characters are insane and they just believe they're talking to a dead person. Other times, we are supposed to believe that there are actual dead people walking around talking to the living.
While ghosts tend to be most popular in horror-based fantasy stories, they have a place in science-fiction as well. Insanity obviously is reality based, but many people do believe that ghosts are real.
An experiment was done where a medium did readings for people over the phone. "All the information came to the medium though dead people whom the sitter had been close to" (O'Connor, 63). The experiment was regarded as a success. There was no way the medium could have known who the person was. The information she provided about the deceased was correct over 90% of the time. The medium was even able to cite facts the sitter didn't know (O'Connor, 63-70).
The only thing science fiction needs to keep from losing its audience is scientific evidence. These sort of experiments provide such evidence.
The Undead
The undead are most often used in horror movies because creatures that are hard to kill, generally make good villains. But vampires have also been made into heroes. Yes, they feed on the living, but we love them anyway. They're mysterious, sexy, and most importantly, they'll stay that way forever.
Fantasy deals mainly with vampires based on accounts of vampire sightings years ago. People actually dug up bodies and put stakes through the hearts of what they thought were vampires. This was mostly due to the vampire-like qualities of the decaying bodies that science, later on, showed was normal. Paul Barber notes, "yes, a body would 'cry out' if you drove a stake into it, because doing so forces air past the glottis -- but this is not because the body is still alive."
Science fiction deals mainly with people who believe themselves to be vampires. Oddly enough, they base their identities on fictional stories rather than actual accounts (Barber). Science-fiction vampires generally aren't taken too seriously and are mostly there for comedic effect.
Villains
Besides the undead, many other horror movie villains come back to life. If they didn't, you couldn't make a sequel. Many famous horror movies use a very simple concept: they were never really dead. It's a technique that is common across genres because it's easy to do and has a strong basis in reality.
In the X-Files episode, "Leonard Betts," an EMT, Leonard, is decapitated, but is able to regenerate his head. Anne Simon points out that several animals have such an ability to regenerate limbs. Blastema, "masses of unspecialized cells," are found in such animals when this phenomena is occurring. "[It's possible] Leonard's innate ability to regenerate comes from the ability of his cells to easily lose their identities, form blastema, and then gain new identities" (155).
A more common explanation, unfortunately, involves people being buried alive. Due to the limitations of science years ago, it was sometimes hard to tell when someone was really dead (Mikkelson). In order to keep watching, we must at least accept the possibility these villains can return. True accounts of similar happenings give us a reason to think, maybe it could happen.
Doubles
More scientific ways tricking your audience include time travel, alternate dimensions, cloning, or dreams. A character dies, we mourn, we find out 30 minutes later that it wasn't really them. We accept it because we're happy the character isn't dead and these are all somewhat plausible explanations for our deception.
Travel through time and alternate dimensions is theoretically possible under the right circumstances.
The sort of cloning used usually relies on some sort of super advanced cloning or accident that. Rather than cloning the person, they're duplicated. The two share the same memories and can be seen as the same person.
Dreams are obviously very real and very possible.
Cryogenics
It's often used as a device for transporting characters to the future. Fictional scientists have also been able to bring people back from the dead who were previously frozen. This is common across genres, but occurs mostly in science fiction. If a character happens to drown in freezing water, you know you haven't seen the last of them.
Interestingly, we're given a scientific explanation and we accept that it's possible, but it's really not. "Although storing a human embryo for birth a million hence now appears a practical possibility, scientists remain a long way from the technology that would permit the freezing and later revival of a fully developed human being" (Time Life Books, 113).
Brain Transplantation
Some people have just their brains frozen in the hope they will get a new body one day (Time Life Books, 116-118). So, if a character's body dies, why not just put their brain inside someone else's? It sounds far fetched, but Dr Ian Pearson believes it may be possible. He believes some day soon, we will be able to download the human brain into a computer (Smith). Usually this method is only used in stories that take place in the future or at least in some alternate dimension.
Guidelines
Bring a character back can't be easy. Resurrecting a character from the dead has to be at least somewhat difficult or everyone would do it. Death must have a price.
It also has to be believable in the context of its genre. Science fiction and horror stories need to keep people thinking that maybe, what they're telling their audience is possible. People just aren't going to buy the story otherwise. If Captain Kirk were to die and Spock did a spell to bring him back, it just wouldn't seem right. In the same way, if Harry Potter's head was frozen and later his brain was downloaded to a computer, it would be equally disturbing.
Finally, audiences can't feel cheated. Telling everyone that an entire season of a show was just someone's dream in order to revive a character, is not a good idea.
When done correctly, bringing a character back can add excitement and drama to a dull story.
