Death might be something that hangs over all our heads in real life, but in the world of fictional TV, some characters don't have to worry about it. Death may be a part of the TV worlds they inhabit, but they've been blessed with immunity, thanks to the writers giving them what's sometimes referred to as "plot armor."
Essentially, this refers to the invisible, metaphorical armor that a character wears, protecting them from death because their survival is essential for the story to continue. Such characters will often cheat death, or survive things that would kill a person in real life, or prove fatal to a less important character. It's a writing tool that can be used or abused, and all the following characters have it to some extent, with each instance of plot armor ranked from mild to extreme.
The following contains mild spoilers for the TV shows discussed.
Guts from 'Berserk' (1997-1998)
A brutal fantasy series that represents 1990s anime at its best, the 1997-1998 adaptation of Berserk only tells part of the overall story, yet still proves tremendously impactful. Its protagonist, a lone mercenary named Guts, joins a mercenary group called the Band of the Hawk, befriending its mysterious leader, a powerful warrior named Griffith.
The world of Berserk is a constantly dangerous and violent one, with Guts and the other characters finding themselves in near-constant peril. This is especially true towards the end of the anime series, when things get exceedingly dark and gruesome. Yet Guts always manages to survive, though the physical and emotional scars he receives throughout show that his "plot armor" protects only his life, and he's vulnerable to just about anything that won't completely kill him.
Most of the police force in 'The Wire' (2002-2008)
The Wire presents an interesting example of plot armor. Though the streets of Baltimore as depicted in the show are brutal and deadly for most characters - due to gang warfare, territorial disputes, and violent crime - the police characters are largely safe from mortal danger, even if they're often in dangerous situations.
One rule that the non-police characters go by is that you can't kill any police officers, because the retribution would be too damaging. As such, only one main character who's a member of the police even comes close to dying, and that's in the first of five seasons. The police may not often prove victorious in their efforts, thanks to the cyclical nature of crime and conflict in Baltimore, but they are at least spared from violent deaths in a realistic, fairly mild example of plot armor.
Buffy Summers from 'Buffy the Vampire Slayer' (1997-2003)
Buffy Summers is the protagonist of what's arguably among the greatest shows of all time, Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She spends seven seasons fighting vampires, demons, and other creatures from a literal Hellmouth below her town, all the while dealing with high school drama (in the first three seasons) and the struggles of being a young adult (in the last four seasons).
Buffy is remarkably skilled when it comes to combat, making it understandable why she usually dodges death. She comes close many times though, and technically did die at two points in the series, though in each case, it was temporary. When a character's name is in the show's title, plot armor does feel more excusable.
Arya Stark from 'Game of Thrones' (2011-2019)
There were so many characters who died on Game of Thrones that it initially feels wrong to suggest the show ever gave anyone plot armor. Westeros was shown to be a terrifying place to live, with constant warfare, plenty of violent betrayals, and invading supernatural forces, meaning anyone who survived all eight seasons of the show had to have luck as well as strong survival skills.
Arya Stark certainly had plenty of the latter. She began training with a sword as a child in season 1, and then spent many of the show's middle seasons continuing her training, eventually learning to become an assassin. Still, she cheated death more than most of the surviving characters in the show. While it usually made sense, getting stabbed multiple times in the stomach and thrown into a dirty river and then recovering remarkably fast in season 6 did feel a little too implausible.
Angel from 'Angel' (1999-2004)
While Buffy Summers cheated death a ton, her ex-boyfriend and title character of Angel - Buffy's spin-off - arguably did so even more. The two got into a similar number of fights, sure, but Angel was a vampire, and therefore had certain physical vulnerabilities that Buffy never did.
He may have been strong and skilled as a fighter, but the numerous slain vampires throughout both Buffy and Angel show that one stake through the heart can kill a seemingly immortal creature in an instant. Also, vampires aren't great with sunlight, and Angel relocated to the often sunny city of Los Angeles for his spin-off show, so he was kind of playing with fire there, too.
The main kids from 'Stranger Things' (2016-2022)
Stranger Things is a show known for putting all its characters in constant danger. There are a few breather episodes here and there, but many revolve around fighting powerful supernatural forces from an alternate dimension, and less important characters drop like flies. Numerous one-off characters have perished violently, and there'll usually be at least one supporting character death per season.
However, the main group of kids - Eleven, Mike, Will, Lucas, and Dustin - are all in danger the most, are the youngest of the main characters, and have so far cheated death the most. Whether they'll survive season 5 is yet to be seen, but their plot armor has held up well for at least the show's first four seasons.
Hans Moleman from 'The Simpsons' (1989-2023)
Maybe plot armor isn't the best term to use when looking at how Hans Moleman from The Simpsons seems to continually cheat death. It might better be described as "joke armor," because Moleman continually having the worst luck in the world and getting hurt in darkly funny ways is what the character's best known for.
He's seemingly died over 40 times throughout the show's run, but it's never permanent. It's unlikely anyone would have a problem with Moleman's immunity though, because as ridiculously powerful as he seems to be, that just makes the fact he never stays dead all the more hilarious.
Jon Snow from 'Game of Thrones' (2011-2019)
The Starks didn't fare well in the early seasons of Game of Thrones, but most of them got much better at dodging death in the show's back half. This was demonstrated by Arya's training/decent plot armor, Sansa's ability to avoid physical conflicts through using her wits, and Jon Snow's remarkably powerful plot armor.
Yes, Jon Snow was skilled at combat, and did technically die once. But that death didn't stick, and once he was granted a second chance at life, he continued to get involved in almost all the show's biggest battles, continually coming out unscathed at the other end. For as great as the "Battle of the Bastards" episode was, most would have to admit that it's where Jon's plot armor really started to show, given some of the reckless things he did throughout the titular battle.
Kenny McCormick from 'South Park' (1997-2022)
Perhaps the most famous running joke from South Park is killing Kenny off in some ridiculous way, only for him to inexplicably return by the next episode. This was most common in the show's earlier seasons, where it would essentially happen once an episode.
It was toned down as the show went on, especially in later seasons which aim to have more realistic continuity and overarching stories that span multiple episodes. Still, he's seemingly died almost 100 times throughout the TV series, meaning that even if it's a comedic example of plot armor, it's still worth mentioning.
Jack Bauer from '24' (2001-2010)
24 was a show that took itself very seriously, yet as a result, could sometimes be quite funny. The death-defying nature of Jack Bauer, its protagonist, arguably became comical as the seasons went on, with the counter-terrorism agent continually shrugging off things that would kill an ordinary person, sometimes more than once an episode.
Bauer is constantly tested and hurt in non-fatal ways throughout, meaning that even if the character is physically invincible, he's faced countless other hardships. And to the show's credit, its death-happy writers didn't grant plot armor to any other character... but then again, this makes Bauer's mighty plot armor stand out all the more.