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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46172
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/46172
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

# Don't tell. Show them

It does not matter how many times you tell the reader that something is or that it is not. Telling is so detached from the internal image that readers build about the story that it will not affect the picture. On the other hand you can add elements to the picture to seal a fact for good.

In your example you may wish to establish as a piece of lore that a certain evil being is gone, never to return. In order to do so, you could embed this information in your worldbuilding. Some suggestions:

- Show the tombs and fallen temples of all the fools who tried to revive it, and failed. 
- Show it as a part of the world idiomatic language "...parted like EVIL BEING", indicating something that is never going to happen again. 
- Show that the law does not worry about deeds such as trying to revive the evil being, or even worshipping it. The punishment is light, if there is any at all: if it is dead there is nothing left to worry about.

Alternatively, you could confirm it in the plot. For instance:

- ([as LordMatt suggested](https://writing.stackexchange.com/a/46131/28528)) use it as a red herring, where it becomes evident that someone is relying on the evil being to come back in order to complete their goal, and, surprise!, it is truly irrevocably dead.
- show the lack of worry and of conflict of MC when faced with the possibility that the evil being may return. This should wash off the possible tension arising from such a thought.

Original score: 3