Death

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This article is about the conditions that will kill Isaac. For the Death tarot card, see Cards and Runes. For the boss, see Death (Boss).

Death occurs when Isaac runs out of health. There are multiple ways to cause this.

As long as Isaac has health of any type (Red, Black, Soul, Bone, Rotten, or Coin hearts) left, they will not be killed, except if Isaac only has an Eternal Heart, though this is impossible.

Extra Lives

Typically, when Isaac dies, the game over screen appears; however, there are certain revival items, characters, and abilities that can resurrect Isaac after death. It is possible to obtain extra lives throughout a run by picking up various items. When Isaac dies (on most occasions), they will be revived in the previous room under the new life. Below is a list of these items and special death / extra life conditions that they bestow; take note that reviving as a different character than your current one gives any further Completion Marks to the new one, and the transformation may change stats if the new character has different base values. The order of revives is independent of order of item pickup, determined by the list below from highest to lowest placing:

(in Repentance and Repentance+)Soul of Lazarus

When a Soul of LazarusSoul of Lazarus is used, Isaac immediately dies and is revived in the same room at half a heart and given some invincibility time. Alternatively, if Isaac dies while holding the stone, it is automatically used upon taking the fatal hit, acting as another life (still has the same effect as if it was used manually). If used manually, it does not count as taking damage, so any positive or negative effects associated with taking damage are not triggered.

1up!

The Collectible 1up! icon.png1up! grants Isaac an extra life. Upon death of the previous life, Isaac will be revived with full Red Heart containers. If he lacks any, he will revive with one Half Soul Heart. For characters that can't use Red hearts, they will respawn with 3 of their respective heart type (Soul Hearts for Character ??? (Character) icon.png???, Character The Soul (Character) icon.pngThe Soul, Character Tainted ??? icon.pngTainted ???, Character Tainted Soul icon.pngTainted Soul, and Character Tainted Bethany icon.pngTainted Bethany, Black Hearts for (in Repentance and Repentance+) Character Dark Judas icon.pngDark Judas and Character Tainted Judas icon.pngTainted Judas, and Bone Hearts for Character The Forgotten icon.pngThe Forgotten).

Lazarus and Lazarus' Rags

While holding Collectible Lazarus' Rags icon.pngLazarus' Rags or playing as Character Lazarus icon.pngLazarus, the player will be revived as Character Lazarus Risen icon.pngLazarus Risen with 1 Red Heart container. Note that unlike other items, the Rags will revive Isaac on the spot with brief invincibility, as opposed to in the previous room.

Dead Cat

Collectible Dead Cat icon.pngDead Cat grants Isaac nine extra lives. Isaac will be revived with one Red Heart container unless playing as Character ??? (Character) icon.png??? or Character Tainted Judas icon.pngTainted Judas, where he will be revived with one soul heart/black heart.

(in Repentance and Repentance+)Inner Child

Collectible Inner Child icon.pngInner Child grants Isaac another life. Upon death, Isaac respawns in the same room with half a heart left, a massive size down, and +0.2 speed. If Isaac has any heart containers, he will respawn with half a heart container filled; otherwise, he will respawn with half a soul heart.

Guppy's Collar

Collectible Guppy's Collar icon.pngGuppy's Collar grants Isaac a 50% chance to be revived with one Red Heart container half-filled. If he lacks any, he will be revived at half a Soul Heart instead. If the collar fails to activate, any other items after Guppy's Collar will be checked. The revives from Guppy's Collar are seeded per death.

Ankh

The Collectible Ankh icon.pngAnkh revives Isaac as ??? with 3 Soul Hearts.

Broken Ankh

When held, Broken AnkhBroken Ankh has a 2/9 chance to resurrect Isaac as ??? with 3 Soul Hearts. The revives from Broken Ankh are seeded per death.

Judas' Shadow

Collectible Judas' Shadow icon.pngJudas' Shadow revives Isaac as Character Dark Judas icon.pngDark Judas with 2 Black Hearts.

(except in Rebirth)Missing Poster

While holding this trinket, Isaac will be revived as Character The Lost icon.pngThe Lost and Missing PosterMissing Poster will be removed. If already playing as The Lost or (in Repentance and Repentance+) Character Tainted Lost icon.pngTainted Lost, Isaac will respawn as normal in the previous room.


Unlockable Achievements

Bugs

Bug Bug! Quitting the game before the death animation is completed does not allow the player to continue the run, but does not add a death on the stats screen.