In fiction, Death is relative (no, not that kind of relative!) and less than permanent at times. So just like survival is unlikely for some, death is unlikely for others. Perhaps the popular Anti-Hero was Left for Dead in a Heroic Sacrifice that no one could survive, but since they Never Found the Body, and he already had a penchant for Faking the Dead, their survival isn't so far fetched. See also the Wild Mass Guessing Sorting Algorithm of Deadness for the odds of some characters returning. Examples of Inferred Survival include: