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Sorting Algorithm of Deadness[]

Using the scientifically Infallible power of the Sorting Algorithm of Deadness, who do you think is the next in line for being brought back from the great Bus in the sky?

To use the Algorithm, simply add the Column's "Death Value", and divide by the number of applicable rows.


Relative deadness factor Deader Than Dead Maybe Back Later Be Back Soon Death? What's That?
Death Value 4 3 2 1
Cause of death Irony, Bridge Drop, Overkill, Stuffed in The Fridge, Ret-Gone Redemption, Sacrifice, Bus Crash, Mortal Wound Reveal No One Could Survive That, just plain killed in battle Jumping
Audience Expectation Anyone Can Die, Kill'Em All Killed Off for Real, Tonight Someone Dies Disney Death Back From the Dead, Death Is Cheap, Nobody Can Die
Body Found? Dead and Buried
Only Bits And Pieces
At The Morgue Never Found, Frozen, Petrified Left for Dead
Reaction Montage, Bond One-Liner He's Dead, Jim It's Personal Faux Death
Last Words Crap, Killed Mid-Sentence, Carry on men, His Name Is Catch Phrase, Famous Last Words, Final Speech, Obi-Wan Moment "Fly, you fools!" "Piece of cake" "My Death Is Just the Beginning"
Characterization Red Shirt, Loved One, Mauve Shirt Recurring Character, C-List Fodder Regular Protagonist, Archvillain
When did they die? 10+ years ago, Series Finale 5-10 years ago Same year Same arc
"Died" and come back? Not yet Died once, but got better Twice I've lost count

If the character hasn't died yet (but seems likely to), see Sorting Algorithm of Mortality. All of this is trumped by the First Law of Resurrection.

Currently, Shirley from Code Geass and the real Caulder from Advance Wars: Days of Ruin have scored 4, the highest possible. The latter is more notable by having 4 in every category instead of getting the CLAMP bonus that the former got. No characters have got the lowest possible score of 1 yet, but Davros and The Master are joint leaders in the death defying derby at 1.75, even beating South Park's Kenny.


Baseline Example: The death of Superman.

  • Cause: Heroic Sacrifice, so he's not coming back from that too quickly, or the sacrifice will be cheapened. 3.
  • Genre: It's a comic book, so Death Is Cheap. 1.
  • The Body: Deader Than Dead, a Pieta Plagiarism too for supes sake! So no chance of Faking the Dead. 4.
  • Reaction: Really Dead Montage, uh-oh. 4.
  • Characterization: Protagonist. 1.
  • When did he die: Same year, so 2.
  • Come Back?: This was a first, so 4.
  • Average: So add it up... we get a pretty high score, 19! Since it's not a videogame, divide by 7, and we get... 19/7 = 2.7, meaning supes isn't coming back for at least a few months, maybe even years. In actuality the Death Of Superman happened in January 1993 and he came back some time before May 1994.

Now let's make a prediction with the recent death of Batman in Final Crisis.

  • Cause: Heroic Sacrifice, give or take. 3.
  • Genre: Comic book, so Death Is Cheap. 1.
  • The Body: Dead and buried, but it's a little more complicated. Still, it's a 4.
  • Reaction: He's Dead Clark, plus "Whatever Happened to the Caped Crusader?" probably counts as a Really Dead Montage. 3.5.
  • Last Words: "Try Me." 3.
  • Characterization: It's The Goddamn Batman, people. 1.
  • When did he die: Same year, so 2.
  • Come Back?: This would be the first time, so 4.
  • Average: 21.5/8= 2.7. A semi-high score, and DC seems to be sticking to this one for a while. Still, he'll definitely be back, likely before the end of 2010 at the latest. CORRECT!


Note: This sub-page is for Web Original examples only. Please ensure that you put new examples in the correct Sorting Algorithm of Deadness sub-page.


Red vs. Blue Reconstruction: Church:

  • Cause: Heroic Sacrifice. 3
  • Genre: Reconstruction has been very much Anyone Can Die. 4
  • Body found: No, just Left for Dead. 1
  • Reaction: We don't see direct reactions. However, Caboose still seems to be hopeful. Possibly Faux Death, but we don't know. Call it a 1.
  • Characterization: Protagonist. 1
  • When: Last episode. 1
  • Died and Came Back: Sort of. He's an A.I. so he's never actually died before despite it looking like it. 4
  • Average: 2.14. Not very likely to stay gone long.

Wash:

  • Cause: Once again, Heroic Sacrifice. 3
  • Genre: Anyone Can Die. 4
  • Body found: Nope. Left for Dead, 1
  • Reaction: None seen. Could be Faux Death, but we don't know. 1
  • Characterization: Protagonist. 1
  • When: Same, last episode. 1
  • Died and Come Back: From Almost Dead, yes. From Dead for Real, no. 4
  • Average: Same as above, 2.14. No chance he's dead for real.
    • Who's to say he died, anyway? He was a human, and he set off an electromagnetic pulse. Unless he had a pacemaker, I don't see how that would have killed him.
      • He just got shot. Granted, he's taken more damage in the series, but with the EMP having gone off, he wouldn't be able to use healing units anymore.
    • Back as of Episode 4 of Recreation.

And, as of the newest miniseries Sister

  • Cause: Pretty much unknown, just casually mentioned. Gonna go with an average 2
  • Genre: Death is cheap, at least for main characters (church dies in what, the third episode?) 1
  • Body Found: Left for Dead. 1
  • Reaction: Grif thinks it's a Faux Death on her part, everyone else thinks She's Dead Jim, let's go with an average of 2
  • Characterization: Somewhere between C-list fodder and a mauve shirt 3.5
  • When did they die: Same year, 2
  • 'Died' and come back: Once, but got better, according to Grif, 3
  • For a total of 14.5, divided by 6 = 2.41, probably back in the next series.

From Out of Mind, York

  • Cause: Shot on his blind side, Death By Irony. 4
  • Genre: It switched to Killed Off for Real upon his death, not sure that counts. We'll call it a 2 to be optimistic.
  • Body Found?: Dead and...well, exploded, but that counts as Buried here. 4
  • Reaction: Optimistically, It's Personal from Tex. 2
  • Last Words: Killed Mid-Sentence, more or less. 4
  • Characterization: Practically the definition of a Mauve Shirt. 4
  • When did they die?: Over a year ago now, but not yet five. 2.5
  • "Died" and come back?: Not yet, 4
  • Total score: 26.5/8 is about 3.3. That's pretty dead.

At the end of Reconstruction, Delta

  • Cause: No One Could Survive That, 2
  • Genre: Killed Off for Real, 3
  • Body Found?: ...Um. That's kind of complicated, going to have to say N/A.
  • Reaction: No real time for one, N/A.
  • Last Words: Final Speech, 3
  • Characterization: Mauve Shirt, 4
  • When did they die?: Same year, 2
  • "Died" and come back?: Once, from Out of Mind to Recovery One. 3
  • Total score: 17/6 is 2.8. Still possible, but he might be gone.

Let's try Tex now:

  • Cause: No One Could Survive That, 2
  • Genre: Between her apparent death and the current series, it's shifted from Disney Death to Killed Off for Real. Say 2.5
  • Body Found?: Yes, but she doesn't need it. n/a
  • Reaction: As close to It's Personal as you'll ever get from Church. 2
  • Last Words: As of Reconstruction, Oh Crap. 4
  • Characterization: Regular, 2
  • When did they die?: More than a year, less than five. 2.5
  • "Died" and come back?: I've lost count, but only twice that anyone really thought she was dead. Say 1.5
  • Total score: 16.5/7 is 2.36. She'll be back.
    • Back as of Revelation. Maybe.

And finally, as of Recreation, Donut

  • Cause: Bridge Drop, 4
  • Genre: Killed Off for Real, thus far. Might shift upward if he's actually dead, but for now that's a 3.
  • Body Found?: Gonna call this n/a because it just happened.
  • Reaction: Cries of disbelief. I'll call it as It's Personal. 2
  • Last Words: Killed Mid-Sentence, 4
  • Characterization: Regular, 2
  • When did they die?: Same arc, 1
  • "Died" and come back?: Once, in the first season, before the drama set in. Still counts. 3
  • Total score: 19/7 is 2.7. Even taking into account that 'got shot and fell down' doesn't necessarily mean 'dead', we may actually lose him.
    • A sponsors-only extended ending shows him getting back up. The way it's done is fodder for more Wild Mass Guessing, but he's definitely back, regardless.

From Gaia Online we have Johnny Gambino.

  • Cause of death: Shot rather messily by an assassin at close range. 4
  • Genre: Back From the Dead 1
  • Body Found?: The police found it. It's since apparently been cremated and the urn is placed at the feet of his memorial statue. 4
  • Reaction: He's Dead, Edmund. 3
  • Last Words: A Final Speech. 3
  • Characterization: Regular, but given his prominence in the plot as a whole and lack of a protagonist, I'll give him a 1.
  • When did they die?: Same arc. 1
  • Died and come back?: Once, if I recall correctly. 3
  • Total: 20/8 = 2.5. There's still hope, but the plot will have to pull off something pretty impressive to bring him back.

Iron Manatee of Zoofights

  • Cause: No One Could Survive That/Sacrifice by way of two nukes and being impaled by a knife the size of a bus, 2.5
  • Genre: Anyone Can Die, and most do, 4
  • Body: Never found, 3
  • Reaction: Everyone was kind of busy at the time, and everyone died anyway, so I'll say 2
  • Characterization: One of the major protagonists and arena champion, 1
  • When: Considering the next one will be called Timefights, who knows, left blank
  • Died and come back: Nope, a few people have and quite a few are saved from mortal wounds; but The Empire's Champion had never even been serious injured. 4.
  • Got a 2.75, which seems rather unlikely since Word of God was that he was definitely dead and when combatants are resurrected its normally through supernatural means, something that he had no truck with. Could be brought back through some other means, but combatants, especially dead ones, don't normally return in another series.

Hmmm... how about Penny, from Doctor Horribles Sing Along Blog?

  • Cause of death: Death ray pieces to the sternum sounds a bit too much like Death by Irony, if you ask me. 4.
  • Genre: DHSAB matches the real world rather closely-- that said, it's unknown whether Mad Scientist resurrection is possible or not. I'll mark it as Killed Off for Real. 3.
  • Body found?: Yes. Oh, yes. 4.
  • Reaction: Well, the bit after it qualifies as a Montage (albeit in a slightly twisted way), so... 4.
  • Characterization: Regular. 2.eserection is pretty much confirmed to be
  • When did she die: This arc! 1.
  • Ever died and come back?: Not that I know of. 4.
  • So, 4+3+4+4+2+1+4 = 22/7 = 3.142857. VERDICT: Dead, not sleeping. Sorry, Doctor Horrible!
  • I'd argue that the Genre allows for a far higher genre score. A) Dr. Horrible is set in a comic based universe B) There is at least 1 undead character, Dead Bowie. C) Dr.Horible is a Mad Scientist you know the ones who pull stuff like cloning and Frankenstein.
    • Yeah, but characterization would more accurately be a 4, and Last Words would probably be a 3. So this would be counterbalanced.

Protectors of the Plot Continuum

Twp'atwt

Agent Nick


Ma-Ti in Suburban Knights

  • Cause: Heroic Sacrifice - 3
  • Genre: Death Is Cheap, - 1
  • Body Found: Cremated - 4
  • Last Words: A Final Speech to the Critic - 3
  • Reaction: Funeral and montage (plus song) - 4
  • Characterization: Recurring - 3
  • When: Same arc - 1
  • "Died" and Come Back: Not that I know of - 4
  • Average: 21/7 = 3.142857. Unless that extra quest to resurrect him succeeds, he's doomed.

---

August Fenwick, AKA the Red Panda in Red Panda Adventures

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