525a: This is doubly true if they fell off a cliff/are in a burning building.
525b: If a character remarks that “there is no way they could have survived”, then the character who “died” has a 100% chance to come back in a dramatic scene.
528: If somebody (specifically the possible love interest, childhood best friend, new guide, or some other side character that could have a dramatic reveal) is acting oddly, they are likely one or more of these things:
1. possessed by the evil force (even if there is no prior indication that the evil force can possess anybody. This does not matter. See #6)
2. a spy/traitor (if you catch them in the act and their explanation of why they’ve been spying doesn’t add up, they are possessed by the evil force as well. This is especially true if, when you go through their bag, they are in possession of some strange device or artifact that even the mentor character does not recognize. Alternatively, if they claim to not recognize the device, then they are either lying, framed by somebody else, or there was no spy except for the unknowing main character/person who accused them. In any case, assume #6 is true.)
3. an evil twin/clone/imitation of the actual person in some way (especially if there is mentions of them acting odd on different days. The main character will not question this at all until it’s too late to stop the dramatic reveal and classic “what did you do with the real <insert character>?!” scene. If it is some clone or artificial life, know that it does not matter if there has been no mention of technology or magic capable of doing something like this. The Big Bad has their ways. See #6.)
4. secretly sick/wounded (this will be revealed in a dramatic way. If their symptoms are odd, they may be possessed by the evil force as well. It does not matter if they are dying. The main character will not know this until it is revealed. See #6.)
5. a total red herring to throw off the readers (but if this is true then one of these things will happen: another character with no signs will be the traitor, the main character will not trust the red herring to their own detriment, or the red herring will become one of the above later on, making the red herring event a red herring. It doesn’t matter if this doesn’t make sense. See #6.)
6. something totally random to shock the readers (this may apply to any of the above reasons or more. Cue “it’s a twist!!”)
529: If a mentor character dies very obviously in an emotional scene, there is a 14.57% chance that they will have a secret twin that is the actual mentor/that they’ve been switching out with.