Wilbur's resurrection

"I'm burning in the rain right now, and just - Tommy, I want you to bring me back to life."

Wilbur's resurrection was a series of multiple attempts to resurrect Wilbur Soot through the death of Ghostbur. The first resurrection attempt occurred on January 10, 2021, and was organized by Philza and Eret at a shrine built by Eret in L'Canyon, where the button room once was. They both failed, due to no totems of undying being used in the ritual, according to Phil. During the first session, Ghostbur was affected in an unknown way by the "death", seemingly coming into contact with the departed spirit of Schlatt. He caught a glimpse of the Afterlife both times, seeing both Schlatt and another unknown person without realizing.

The second and final resurrection attempt occurred on April 29, 2021, when Dream killed Ghostbur in the main holding cell of Pandora's Vault after Sam refused to set Dream free, resurrecting him at the button room.

History
After the events of the Doomsday War, Ghostbur logged on to be met with the aftermath of L'Manberg's destruction. He confronted Phil about what he and Technoblade had done, saying that the destruction of L'Manberg could not be justified as sending a message and screamed at Phil for allowing friend to die. He returned to the survivors of the conflict, completely crushed, stating he'd changed his mind about being a ghost, and that he wanted to be brought back to life as Alivebur. Initially, he believed that Dream was the only one who could bring him back, but after discussing it with Quackity, he realized that Dream's power was probably not enough and decided to look for someone else who could do it for him.

The two encountered Eret, and hoped that he could help their situation. However, it turned out that his power was relatively superficial. Ghostbur also contacted BadBoyHalo who was unable to help as well. Eret then proposed that Phil, the one who killed him in the first place, may be the only person capable of reviving him, and so they got into contact with Phil to see if he could help, Ghostbur having forgotten his involvement in the Doomsday War. Phil was already researching necromancy to bring Wilbur back and also had the sword he used to kill Wilbur. Since Ghostbur described revival as a ghost's death, he proposed that Phil would need to kill him in the same way he was killed the first time - with the same sword in the button room.

Ghostbur selected the 10th as the date of the resurrection attempt. Though he toyed with it being the 16th, Wilbur's two-month death anniversary, he favored the sooner date to bring back Wilbur faster. Phil initially voiced concern at the plans, having not managed to finish his research yet, but Ghostbur insisted. After settling the details, the group split up for the day.

Initial preparation
Before the resurrection was set to go ahead, Eret decided to make a shrine to increase the chances of the resurrection working, as the button room had been completely destroyed in the events of the Doomsday War. He gathered items that would be valuable to Wilbur such as a L'Manberg flag, TNT, buttons, gold, salmon, brewing stands, and blue to build the shrine.

Shortly after the start of the shrine's construction, Phil and Ranboo arrived, and Eret began to explain his theory to them as work on it continued. Phil, Ranboo, and Ghostbur went off and found a respawned friend some distance from L'Manberg's ruins for the event.

First attempt
The group gathered at the shrine in order to begin the event. Ghostbur and Phil decided to go through the scene of his death on November 16, word for word, in order to start the resurrection process. Tommy walked in on the scene just before the process began. He offered to lend a hand, playing the role of himself. They went through the process of the event, but Ghostbur voiced his fears about going through with it, stating that he didn't want to go. Torn, Ghostbur asked Tommy if he wanted Wilbur back. Tommy replied that Wilbur "wasn't so poggers".

Despite his fears, Ghostbur stated that he needed to be strong, and the only way that he could be strong was to die so he requested for Phil to do it. Phil went through with it, and Ghostbur disappeared. Tommy immediately grew worried, and the group wondered if it had worked, or if they'd accidentally killed Ghostbur for good. Tension ran high as Phil and Eret called their research into question.

A minute later, Ghostbur returned. In his perspective, everything went dark, and he felt the pain of being stabbed, but he stayed as a ghost. He reportedly met two people in his temporary state of death (likely the Afterlife), but couldn't identify them as he didn't have enough time to look at their faces. Although one of them was later confirmed to be Schlatt, the other is still unknown (likely either Wilbur or Mexican Dream).

Second try
Phil proposed that they needed a totem of undying for the resurrection to work. At the time, only Technoblade had one and he likely wouldn't part with it. Unsettled by the developing situation, Tommy left the group, who decided to go and find friend, desperate for things they might have missed. Ranboo voiced concerns about doing the ritual over and over, but Ghostbur dismissed the concerns. Phil also raised his own concerns, specifically about the two people Ghostbur saw in his death state.

Fundy and Tubbo then encountered the group, who explained what was going on to them. Ranboo raised his concerns about Fundy, but Ghostbur greeted Fundy with warmth, allowing his son to join them as the group finally found Friend. Deciding not to worry about name tagging, they immediately headed back to the shrine in order to speedrun through the ritual again, condensing the interaction further.

After going through the death procedure completely, with Ghostbur screaming at Phil out of panic in the final stages, Ghostbur disappeared, and Schlatt's voice rang out. Schlatt voiced that he did not want to come back to the server, also stating he was busy jacking off.

The resurrection failed once more, and Ghostbur remained a ghost. However, Ghostbur saw something different during his absence. This time, in the afterlife, only one person was there. The group, alarmed, decided they needed a totem of undying for the ritual. Schlatt's spirit also seemed unsettled by the resurrection, and he kept speaking through Ghostbur. Ghostbur appeared to be shaken by the revival and had to leave to lie down, clearly feeling unwell.

Left to theorize in the aftermath, the group decided to theorize on the identity of the last person that Ghostbur saw. Tubbo guessed that it was Mexican Dream, the only other person who had lost all of their canon lives. Fundy wondered if it might be Wilbur and questioned if it was worth messing it up. He worried about their separate identities, as if Ghostbur's spirit was torn away from Wilbur. Phil, Eret, Ranboo and Tubbo went off to get totems for their next attempt.

Preparation for a third attempt
The group traded for a map to a woodland mansion, intending to gain one with that method since raids don't work for totems on the server. They eventually found the mansion, securing multiple totems. They burned the mansion down, disappointing Tubbo, after securing what they needed and found extra loot, including an enchanted golden apple. Unfortunately, that enchanted golden apple went to Dream, as Phil owed Dream the apple for the trident he was given.

Second attempt and revival
On April 29, 2021, Ghostbur went to Pandora's Vault to visit Dream as Tommy followed Ghostbur in secret. However, as Ghostbur reached the main prison cell, Tommy accidentally showed his netherite axe and was caught by Sam. Sam immediately ordered him to come back, leaving Ghostbur across the lava next to Dream's jail cell. After a heated argument with Sam about breaking into the prison, Sam activated the lava in front of the cell right before Dream killed Ghostbur. Tommy exited the prison alone and told everything to Tubbo and Ranboo. They ran to the resurrection shrine and found a revived Wilbur, numb and in shock from his years in the afterlife. Wilbur saw the group and exclaimed in happiness, eventually realizing that he had been revived. Tommy attempted to bring back Ghostbur, asking Wilbur where he was. He gave him his sword and tried to give him some Blue but Wilbur refused to take the Blue. Wilbur said he knew Ghostbur. The group stood in shock, having heard about Wilbur's mindset in the afterlife, while Wilbur rejoiced at having escaped and called Dream his hero for saving him. Wilbur said his afterlife was standing on a train platform, when after a decade, a train arrived with Dream as the conductor, and Ghostbur getting off. Wilbur got on the train. He eventually left very excitedly, saying he had been given a second chance at life and that he needed to start planning immediately.

Trivia

 * During the first attempt, Wilbur kicked his router halfway through, leading to him disconnecting during the event by accident. The group turned it into a joke, calling it canon.
 * During the event, Ghostbur persistently forgot the key line of "It was never meant to be."
 * Ghostbur seemed to have forgotten Sally, despite having previously known of her, and ate a salmon representing her. He went on to say that salmon is his favorite food, and that there had never been a salmon he came across that he didn't eat.
 * Something done in the first resurrection weakened the barrier between life and death enough for Alivebur to reach through and contact living people for a short period.
 * While Ghostbur was asking Tommy to resurrect him, Tommy was struck by lightning which killed him. Although this was thought to be a coincidence, it was later revealed to have been done by Dream. It is also joked by many to be canon.

Resurrección de Wilbur