Deanimated Object

All things must eventually die, and that includes what may not conventionally be considered "living". We humans feel the pain, as we have a habit of getting attached to objects that are not "alive". That is where the Deanimated Object trope comes to play.

Animate Inanimate Objects are often brought to life by, or powered by, external means. For example, a witch's broomstick may become a Silent Snarker when gaining sentience, or an action figure might think they're the real deal when meeting some magic. When that power goes away, they will naturally revert back to their standard, inanimate self. If Played for Laughs, it can remind viewers of how humans get attached. but if Played for Drama, it can be quite a Gut Punch.

May require an act of selfless sacrifice by the object in question if good, or deliberate destruction by the hero in the case of villainous artefacts.

What this means for their soul is anyone's guess, though it may be better not to think about it.

Compare and contrast Living Weapon, a tool of combat that should be inanimated but for some reason definitely is alive, for good and/or evil.

Comic Books

• Smiley the Psychotic Button will, if separated from Evil-Ernie long enough, eventually revert back to an ordinary novelty pin.
• The 1988 Marvel comic book event Inferno involved several objects in New York coming to life thanks to Magik and Madeline Pryor's actions resulting in demons invading New York. Everything went back to normal after Pryor died and Magik was turned back into a child.
• While Wonder Woman being made out of clay doesn't come up often, one issue had Clayface attempt to eat her to enhance his shapeshifting powers, attempting to invoke this trope. He succeeded in eating a bit of that clay, causing her to shrink and resemble Donna Troy aka the original Wonder-Girl. Diana went to Donna for help, and they conspired to steal back Diana's essence by using their new resemblance to fool Clayface. Fortunately, Donna didn't have the same weakness, meaning when she dresses in Wonder Woman's costume, Clayface has to spit her out when trying to absorb her.

Film

• The Disney version of Beauty and the Beast has this hanging on the head of the inhabitants of Beast's castle all the time: if Beast doesn't become a better person before the last petal of a rose falls, they will become completely inanimated. Forever.
• The Iron Giant discusses this: can you have free will if you are built as a weapon of destruction? Hogarth explains to the titular character about souls and death after they see a deer shot in the woods, and that souls allow you to live after death. His friendship with the Giant means the latter overcomes his programming during a conflict with the military, and pulls a Heroic Sacrifice to save the town from a nuclear missile. His last words before the missile disintegrates him? "Superman!"
• Aladdin shows the Carpet suffering this fate after it attempts to steal the lamp from Jafar; Jafar spitefully turns it into unraveled thread and fabric. (Carpet gets better after Aladdin tricks Jafar into becoming a genie.)

Live-Action TV

• In the first episode of the revived Doctor Who, the Autons are controlled by the Nestene Consciousness. When it is destroyed, all the plastic creations stop moving.

Oral Tradition, Folklore, Myths and Legends

• In the Book of Genesis, it is said Adam, the first human, was animated from clay. When he died at the age of 931, he obviously went back into being an inanimated object.

Theatre

• The stage version of Beauty and the Beast has Cogsworth and Lumiere discuss this. Some of the servants are already turning into inanimate objects, and they don't know who is next. Their only hope is Belle and the Beast falling in love to break the curse, but Mrs. Potts wisely notes that the "Master" didn't exactly make a good first impression on her.

Video Games

• They player can quite easily stop the protagonist of No One Can Stop Mr. Domino! by running out of time, which causes Mr or Mrs Domino to revert back to a standard domino.
• The Subspace Emissary story in Super Smash Bros. Brawl shows that once a character is defeated, they return to being a collectable trophy.
• The Blades of Xenoblade Chronicles 2 start their lives as inanimated crystals, called core crystals. When someone able to be a Driver touches them, they gain physical bodies with weapons that they give to their Drives to wield while they offer support from the sidelines. If the Driver is killed or, more dramatically, their core is shattered, they turn back into core crystals. Of course, they can only become animated again if a Driver touches them and their core is intact. This also applies if the Driver's heart stops beating but he is resurrected later, so even the necessity of killing the Driver is relative.

Western Animation

• In The Simpsons Treehouse of Horror VI, the giant advertising mascots that were brought to life by a storm are rendered inert by simply ignoring them. They will, however, regain their powers if someone looks at them again. Cut to commercials!
• The rat talisman of Jackie Chan Adventures can animate an object into life if the object is shaped into the image of a living thing, but you just need to remove physical contact between it and the object to make it inanimated again. Interestingly, that is not how it works for Shen Long, the original owner of the object: he still needs the tiger talisman to balance his chi so he can move. This must has to do with the fact Shen Long is still alive even without the talisman.
• In The Magic School Bus Holiday Special, this plays out to a Nightmare Fuel effect. Previous episodes have established the bus is sapient, and as a result can become The Chew Toy depending on the plot. When Wanda wants to see a world with no recycling, Liz turns the Bus into an un-recycling machine and they see the consequences firsthand. Wanda then accidentally compels the Bus to shoot itself, reducing it to recycled plastic, metal and glass parts while the grinning skeletal structure remains. The kids have to remake all the bus parts with Miss Frizzle's help to fix things.
• In the Wallace and Gromit short A Grand Day Out, the moon is home to a coin-operated robot. Inserting a coin buys the robot a limited amount of life, and when the credit runs out, it freezes in place.