I faced this question a little while back, although not with an actual death/resurrection. It was an incident where the character was
believed to be dead (as in an MIA situation) and then returns--and I was thinking of killing him off for reals soon after the MC rediscovered he was alive. But since he wasn't precisely an MC, I was more worried about the emotional impact his second death would have on the MC. She dealt with the "reality" of his death once already. Would it be easier/harder/weirder for her the second time? More crushing? Less? My guess is, it would depend on the temperament of the person. If she allowed herself to feel complete joy when she found him alive, it might hit her harder when he died next time. But if she hadn't yet brought herself to accept the reality that he was back, perhaps to lose him again would simply be another stunning blow to an already-stunned MC.
The effect any character's "death" has on the other characters will play a large (although not necessarily clinching) part in the effect it has on the readers.
Certainly, for me as a reader, if a character had already "died" once (and the event was already dealt with and in the past) I'm less affected the second time, even when they've died for real. It's a story that's already been resolved, suddenly taking up an unexpected epilogue. And in fact, if the first "death" was emotionally satisfying (self-sacrifice, deserved it, or had a strongly plot-moving effect on the other characters--which is the only way a death really ought to be shown, otherwise it's meaningless for the story) then bringing them back to life can tend to seem...unnecessary. Not always. Sometimes it can be handled quite well. They just can't
ever be dead weight anymore, or even a sidekick just there for the comic dialogue, because now the reader is trusting that you've brought the character back for a good
reason, and not just a gimmick. (And I'm not sure that simply giving them something randomly important to do in the climax is really enough, because I've seen that done, and it still doesn't work--it has to be something that only
that character can do. Something personal, possibly. Just
not something that could have been done equally well by another character in the same place at the same time.)
So--an established purpose, for me, is typically what makes that kind of plot feel right. A real good reason that the story needs the character to live. Some reason they died too
early. That's when resurrection works properly. Leave at least
something unresolved in the "dead" character's story, so that there's something to pick up when they're resurrected. And then, when that thing
is resolved, they're essentially...free to die again, purpose fulfilled. People write ghosts returning with unfinished business all the time, with the idea that they disappear when their business is finished. Second death.
In the end, for my scenario, I decided to make the "death" situation a little more ambiguous, where the MC isn't quite convinced of the reality of the death and is actually working towards verifying it, while everyone else thinks she's just not letting go. But maybe that was the easy way out.
Hmm. Thanks all. There's definitely a reason for the first death not to be permanent and I can get an explanation in for the permanent second death, which would happen in the second book. I just really don't want to write the character again and I think just having them leave is a bit weak.
If you don't really,
really want to write a character into a plot, then I seriously recommend not. It just tends to show.
As for dying, coming back, and then just leaving, I can think of at least one character that happened to (and the behind-the-scenes saga of that character is rather interesting): Carson Beckett, from Stargate Atlantis. The writers killed him off rather pointlessly at the end of the third season, apparently to shake things up a bit, but the resulting fan outcry was massive. They loved the character. They started a huge campaign to get him brought back, and eventually the writers resurrected him as a clone at the end of the fourth season. There was a small plotline about making sure he didn't die again, which they spent almost a full episode on (and in the early fifth season resolved without too much drama)--and then the character just sorta left. Came back in an episode or two, took part in the finale in season five. But both death and point-of-resurrection were rather meaningless as far as the overall plot went (and if you ask me, the character wasn't really that useful in the first place) and so it didn't really end up doing anything except fill up screen time. Which still can be okay, depending on how interesting that particular character is.
Anyway, I suspect if the readers/fans really love a character, then you can probably get away with something like that. If not, all you're doing is inefficiently using space in the story.
Another character in the same show, missing in action around the turn of the third season, was brought back temporarily, as a clone, but it worked because she was there to inform the other characters that the original was dead (which then turned out to be wrong), something they hadn't known before. Something that (kinda) resolved the story. And then that clone died. As an interesting side note, the
actor playing that character eventually decided not to return and play her, because she felt that the writers were simply using the character as a kind of carrot for the fans every season, constantly "killing" her and then bringing her back, leaving the whole issue of her survival hanging in space deliberately without resolution. Also, I haven't watched Atlantis' parent series, Stargate SG-1, but apparently they had a main character who literally died and came back at
least three or four times.
My family has a favorite saying--"Nobody ever permanently dies in sci-fi."
I think, by now, the sci-fi/fantasy audience ought to be able to take a simple little once-resurrection in stride. It sounds like you'll probably be more-or-less okay
whatever you do, unless it's something really stupid. And you're a Chronner, so that's hardly likely.
