How To Fake a Death 101

I need to fake a death.

This plot device, while I realize that it's hopelessly cliche, will wrap up many problems in my story. The problem is... it's Thanksgiving and I have zero ideas. So I just need some help, some wild options, crazy, stupid, whatever. Anything to spark my brain.

The setting is, a futuristic Roman Empire. Therefore no pirates, ninja, or warlocks. And preferably no gods coming out of the machine. After that, anything goes! Have fun!

Fake drowning is definitely my favorite. I have used it do many times. You can either have the character fake a suicide or, if someone else is in charge of faking their death, kidnap them and then make it look like they drown. I'm using variations of fake drowning in all three of my NaNos and I've used it before, too...

How futuristic?

Cosmetic surgery or good slave selection to create a body double to be killed. Preferably in a way that leaves less evidence to be tested like a fire or drowning off of a boat (lost at sea during a storm)

Holographic double to take the fall.

The more I know the more advanced or simple I can suggest to fit the available technology.

I really like the body double. It would have to be a little different to fit the techno, but the basic idea is great. Thanks!

Um, I've never really pinned down my time period, partly on purpose, because I'm not strong on planning out hi-tech machines and names and technologies. But, thinking about it more, it might be less of a future world and more of an alternate world. They have radios, airplanes, guns, but also use horses and swords when necessary. So steampunk? I've been writing it more as a Hunger Games type dystopia, anyways. I don't know if that's helpful.

A friend actually gave me the idea of a sting operation. I'd like to be able to work in a betrayal, a love story, and a coup all at the same time. My MC is leader of a rebellion against the Roman Empire; she's trying to depose the emperor and set up her own man in his place. But her lieutenant betrays her to the Empire. That's all I've got so far, but tentatively, I was thinking that she could give herself up and sign an armistice, if the Empire will agree to peace and crown her man. She has friends in the government, so what if they somehow smuggle her out? That's where your body double could come in. Or it could be a true sting, convincing the people to throw out the current Emperor.

I really like that, but it might be too convoluted and complicated. I don't know. I'm not writing any of it yet, so it is subject to trashing or changing.

Mine isn't futuristic or Roman, but I used the old standby - a fire and explosion so no trace of the body could be found. Everyone assumed she was inside, the death certificate read blown to bits, and neither she not the people who helped her escape and assume another identity ever said otherwise.

By the way, she's hiding in plain sight, still iving near the neighborhood where she allegedly died a decade earlier,w ith her father and another man in serving time for the crime. Of course, it all hits the fan when her father finishes his sentence and is released.

I love being mean to some characters.

I had my character take a personal force field and jump off a building into a flowing moat. He got away and nobody expected to find his body anyway

I once fake-killed a bad guy by having him fall off a waterfall, only to land on a ledge six feet down. He then climbed to an underwater cave and escaped from there. He made it look like he had died on the rocks below by throwing a scrap of his shirt down and maybe one of his weapons. Everyone is assuming he's dead and the body was washed away.

Yay! These are excellent! Thanks, everyone! (I just had a fire explosion, but it's reverse cliche; even though the minor character is dead, they keep looking for him)

Reichanback fall :D (sorry cant spell >.<)

Large catastrophe, character is present. Everyone dies, so of course they assume that character is dead as well.
Character later pops up not even knowing that happened, since he wasn't actually there, and left to do something shady right before the bad stuff happened to everyone else.

The main problem with faking one's death is if they think you are dead the first thing they are going to do is look for a body. So you have to either A. give them a reason not to expect to find a body or B. make a fake body that will fool everyone long enough to disappear.

In a place with futuristic technology making a body double might be harder then you think. If they have the person's medical history a basic examination could easily show it's not them. I guess you could always bribe the coroner or something but given the choice i would rather not leave anything behind.

Maybe they were in the middle of a big building that burned down completely leaving next to nothing. It would make sense why there isn't a body to be found, but that could be difficult to arrange.

In Count of Monte Cristo, I'm pretty sure everyone thought that Edmond was dead because the guy who sent him to prison told his fiance and his father that he'd been executed. So maybe you could have someone in a position of legal authority tell everyone he's dead.
And not to make another Monte Cristo reference, but in the movie I think Edmond switch his body with the body of the dead priest to escape from prison. Basically, he knew they were gonna throw the body into the ocean, so he switched places and escaped before they realized that the real body, the priest, was back in Edmond's cell.
These aren't really examples of "faked" deaths per se, but they might provide some inspiration.