Love Redeems



""Love doesn't lead to the dark side. Passion can lead to rage and fear, and can be controlled, but passion is not the same thing as love. Controlling your passions while being in love, that's what they should teach you to beware, but love itself will save you, not condemn you.""

- Jolee Bindo, Knights of the Old Republic

Love is a potent force. The Power of Love is not just a tangible universal constant, but oddly enough, it's also an emotion that is amazingly inimical to a rational, happy life: it can make you crazy or very, very dumb. It can also make an otherwise normal, moral Nice Guy / Nice Girl turn into a Stalker with a Crush, because Love Makes You Evil.

Despite all these obvious reasons to avoid any and all romantic entanglements, Love is very nearly as (or more!) addictive than The Dark Side. These two forces interact very curiously, Love can just as easily lead a Knight in Shining Armor into the Dark Side, as it can drag the most committed, bloodthirsty, puppy-kicking villain kicking and screaming into being redeemed. Whether they're a Fallen Hero who starts Dating Catwoman, a Career Killer who fell In Love with the Mark, or the Necessarily Evil who gains a Morality Pet that gives him something to live for, love tends to corrode evil like lemon on popcorn (and it tastes so good!) even if it frightens at first. By and large, Love tends to subvert rather than aid evil, Unholy Matrimony not withstanding. If it isn't Heroic Resolve it's Heroic Willpower, making even the most soul corrupting evil as weak as a Sickeningly Sweet kitten.

Of course, Redemption Equals Death. Alternately, a spurned evil genius is that much more likely of Jumping Off the Slippery Slope and Nuke'Em. If the villain manages to hold on to enough of their evil (or love), they become an Anti-Villain. Sometimes, this comes about when the villain ends up Becoming the Mask, the love she gets so freely sorely tempting her to change sides and do a Heel Face Turn.

It's worth mentioning that this is what the Love Martyr wants to happen, as does the Monster Fangirl and many shippers who put Draco in Leather Pants. In Real Life, this attitude often leads people to the Jerry Springer show; "But he really loves me! Those bruises will heal!"

If the redeemer dies, it's possible their memory and lessons they taught their beloved will stick. On the other hand, the deceased could have been simply holding back the person's evil and they now revert with a vengeance. And of course, we would be remiss if we didn't mention the possibility that instead of curing them, love may very well never change or addict the intended beneficiary. And then, of course, there's what happens when both are evil...

It should be noted that romantic love isn't the only type of love that can redeem someone. Familial and Platonic Love are both capable of this.

Anime and Manga

 * Subverted in Yu Yu Hakusho: villain Sensui still tries to do nasty evil things despite being in love with Itsuki. Yusuke remains a jerk through most of the series even though he's in love with Keiko... though you could argue that Yusuke might be on the level of the villains without Keiko's mix of nagging and affection.
 * You could say it was played straight platonically with Kurama and his human mother, Shiori Minamino. He fused with her unborn baby and then planned to abandon her once his injuries were fully healed, but seeing her care for him is what made him one of the good guys.
 * And with
 * In Sailor Moon, the dark general Nephrite grew to love Naru, best friend to Sailor Moon. Though at first he wondered What Is This Thing You Call Love?, he started to reciprocate her feelings and, since Redemption Equals Death, died of a Heroic Sacrifice to save Naru.
 * "It seems...we are not gonna have our milkshake." Saddest moment of my childhood EVER.
 * This repeated itself in Sailor Moon R with Saphir and Petz, though Petz was already a redeemed villainess.
 * And Petz herself was redeemed because of the love of her younger sisters Beruche, Cooan and Cadaberas. In fact, except for Cooan, all the Ayakashi sisters had their Heel Face Turns as their siblings tell them that they're not alone and they can hace a peaceful life as humans.
 * In Princess Tutu, Dark Magical Girl Rue eventually turns against the Big Bad Raven because of her love for Mytho. Of course, that was the reason for her evil actions in the first place...
 * The gentlemanly nihilist Celestin in Ah! My Goddess was redeemed, not by anyone loving him directly, but by feeling the love between Keiichi and Belldandy (he'd used Grand Theft Me on Keiichi, at the time). Knowing such a thing could exist, he regained faith in existence and ceased his attack on reality.
 * Yu-Gi-Oh!: The love between Seto and Kisara saved Seto from accepting the lure of The Dark Side and later from being possessed by his father.
 * Sara from Mermaid Melody Pichi Pichi Pitch is an odd case.
 * Brutally subverted in season two of Code Geass, when
 * The cruelest part?
 * And at the same time used straight with
 * Which in a cruel twist of irony Which, along with, may make it another subversion.
 * This is the reason why the Wolkenritter weren't the cold-blooded weapons that the Space/Time Administration Bureau remembered when they appeared in Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Because Hayate loved them so and treated them as her family, the Wolkenritter gained personalities with kind hearts. Even the Book of Darkness was affected, with the love she had for her mistress having grown so strong.
 * Plays a major role in all parts of Robotech/Macross series: The Zentraedi, Meltrandi, Robotech Masters and even Invid make a Heel Face Turn upon discovering love.
 * Used in Fist of the North Star repeatedly, often crossed over with Redemption Equals Death. Especially obvious in the case of
 * In Cowboy Bebop, the implication is that once upon a time Spike and his Evil Counterpart Vicious were the same until the love between Spike and Julia turned Spike good.
 * In Fruits Basket Kagura confesses that she pursued Kyo because she thought that loving him would cancel out some cruel and selfish behavior toward him, but now she realizes that it was as selfish as the original actions.
 * Both Kyoko and Kyo became happier, nicer people after Katsuyo and Tohru respectively entered their lives, as those were the first people to treat them so well.
 * In the Fatal Fury first movie, young Lily Maguire was a pawn in Geese Howard's plan to murder his old rival Jeff. She grew up into a gorgeous and flirty Femme Fatale, but could never forgive herself for her role in Jeff's death, until she met Jeff's eldest son Terry and gradually recovered her hope in life.
 * Digimon Adventure - Yamato usually only gets a grip and starts acting like part of a team after someone else (specifically Taichi, but there are other examples - Yamato was a bit slow on the uptake) nearly gets themselves killed trying to help him and his Crest activates. He has a few snap backs until finally getting the hang of the whole thing, at which point there's the whole holding hands and being shot with arrows of concentrated love thing...
 * And it doesn't stop with the first series. There's also Ken. It was the Heroic Sacrifice of Wormmon(who continued to believe in Ken constantly going though a whole tonne of crap while Ken was the Kaiser) that woke him up to how much of a git he was being and the fact that he was killing real creatures. Later, it was Daisuke's absolute refusal to give up on trying to be friends with him (plus the odd slap in the face) that resulted in their hearts becoming literally syncronized, allowing their Digimon to Jogress evolve.)
 * Brutally averted in Jin-Roh: The Wolf Brigade, where the protagonist's loyalty to his pack proves stronger than his love for the girl.
 * Similar to the Princess Tutu example, the final episode of Prétear has This selfless act saves them both from the dark power they'd been possessed with—but considering they both ended up that way because of their unrequited love in the first place...
 * Given the series's emphasis on The Power of Love, it should come as no surprise that this trope shows up in Eureka Seven. Though it takes almost the entire series,
 * Yu-Gi-Oh! GX Once Juudai remembers his vow to always love Yubel, it's that love that leads him to choose Super Fusion to add to her hand, giving him the chance to fuse their souls together, purging her of the Light of Ruin, redeeming his mistakes and hers as well.
 * Boa Hancock of One Piece starts off as an absolute dog-kicking bitch. However, after falling in love with Luffy, she begins to turn around, and eventually becomes an overall nice person (to her allies, anyway). Not to say that Luffy returns her feelings, but still.
 * What manga were you reading? Sure, she's nice to Luffy, but she's still just as much a dog-kicking bitch to every other person.
 * Done in a very low-key but realistic manner in The Weatherman Is My Lover, where both of the lonely Stepford Smiler characters help each other change for the better through The Power of Love.
 * Vegeta sacrificed himself in Dragonball Z in order to save his loved ones in a Redemption Equals Death way. Goku later used his feelings for Bulma as a way to get him to use the fusion earring.
 * While it never really convinced them to become permanent good guys, Pokémon's Team Rocket care enough for their Pokémon (and each other) that they go out of their way to help them in times of trouble. (see "A Poached Ego" and "Crossing Paths" for some excellent examples, although you should also bring a tissue)
 * In Bleach,  looked to be guiding   this way...   (Don't tell his creepy and rabid fans, though.)
 * In Fairy Tail, as the Tenrou Island Arc begins to wind down,.

Comic Books

 * In Aquaman, the post-Brightest Day origins of Mera, Aquaman's wife. Once the princess of Xebel, an ancient penal colony of outcasts and rebels from Atlantis, she was born, bred an raised as a tool to find, infiltrate and destroy Atlantis from within, starting with the then current king. While feigning closeness to Orin, however, she started to get real feelings for him, eventually defecting from Xebel and becoming a powerful heroine on her own.

Fan Works

 * In The Sun Soul, fight against Team Rocket goes from a quest for revenge against the former teammates that tried to kill  to an outright Heel Face Turn because of love for/from.
 * In the Oneiroi Series, Redcloak's love for Vaarsuvius and Tiasal makes him Heel Face Turn where even the death of his brother couldn't. To a lesser extent, Vaarsuvius's love for him smoothed out the edges and made her considerably less on the evil side of neutrality. With any luck, love for her family will redeem Tiasal before she goes too far down a dark road...
 * In The Legend of Spyro a New Dawn
 * Fluttercruel in the Pony POV Series, of the Parental Love variety. She is technically Fluttershy's and Discord's daughter, or at least considered such by herself and Fluttershy, despite that they're Sharing a Body. At first she behaved like Discorded!Fluttershy, but Fluttershy's maternal love ultimately turns her into a much better pony.
 * Subverted hard with

Film
""I don't want to get too sentimental here, uncle Luke, but don't underestimate The Power of Love. It's pulled two family members back from the Dark Side already. Ben's sixteen, but he's not a fool.""
 * Mandatory Star Wars example: Darth Vader, after a tense scene where he balances the death of his only son against his long-held dreams of power, makes his choice, abandons everything he has worked for, and sends the Emperor hurling down the Death Star reactor shaft. He then dies, redeemed. Ironically, love both redeemed and corrupted him, as he joined The Dark Side because of his love for his wife, whom he had prophetic dreams of death about. Too bad about the Prophecy Twist, really.
 * Love did not corrupt him, fear of losing Padme corrupted him.
 * And Leia's love for her brother redeems him in Dark Empire. And while Jacen gets stuck with a Deadly Change-of-Heart, there are hints that his love for Tenel Ka and Allana redeems him. Making this trope obligatory for the Skywalker family.
 * Speaking of that, in Fate of the Jedi, Luke's son Ben, has a Sith Apprentice girlfriend. Jaina's response:


 * In the classic Beatles animated film, Yellow Submarine, the group is able to free Pepperland from the Blue Meanies. However, they immediately offer to forgive the Meanies if they join together in peace. True to the spirit of the times, the Meanies sincerely accept the offer and everyone celebrates with the music of the band.
 * In Unforgiven, William Munny (Clint Eastwood), known in his youth as an infamous gunfighter, murderer and bandit, has since retired having forsworn his criminal ways through the influence of his late wife.
 * In Salt,
 * If The Deaths of Ian Stone is any indication,
 * In the original, silent The Thief of Bagdad, the thief magically gets into the palace and falls in love with the princess, leaving without taking more than a token. Then he disguises himself as a prince and tries to win her, and gives that up because it's lying. He is in despair until receiving the advice to become a prince to win her. He then sets out to win her properly.
 * The villain in Care Bears Movie II: A New Generation is turned from being an entity of pure evil into a human after he realized what he felt for a human girl.
 * Sorsha in Willow; while Madmartigan's affection towards her was an accident caused by a Love Potion, it caused her to fall in love with him for real and turn against her mother.
 * Sorsha in Willow; while Madmartigan's affection towards her was an accident caused by a Love Potion, it caused her to fall in love with him for real and turn against her mother.

Literature

 * In the Harry Potter series, it's revealed in Deathly Hallows that
 * A milder example in the same book occurs when
 * This is pretty much the defining trope of Harry Potter. If a character truly loves another, then they become at least somewhat sympathetic. Inversely, pretty much all of the characters who don't love are complete monsters.
 * In Piers Anthony's Apprentice Adept series, the evil Tania falls in love with the protagonist Bane and has a Heel Face Turn (and a serious personality change), though she ends marrying someone else as Bane is already married.
 * This trope is a biggie in the eighteenth-century novel Pamela by Samuel Richardson, a book that intended to be about proper conduct. A young waiting-maid's mistress dies, and so the household is given over to her son, Mr. B, who quickly sets his sights on Pamela's "virtue." She manages to refuse his advances despite his hostile behavior and attempts to full-out rape her, and eventually decides to quit and return home. Only the carriage meant to take her home kidnaps her to one of Mr. B's other estates, where she is held prisoner with her virtue as the ransom. She endures more of his advances, until finally Mr. B reads the letters she's been writing detailing her imprisonment and just then realizes what a terrible human being he's been. He lets her go, but Pamela realizes she's in love and accepts his marriage proposal. And suddenly Mr. B has been supporting an illegitimate child all this time, so he's really a good guy, honest!
 * In Tad Williams' Memory, Sorrow and Thorn series, Rebellious Princess Miriamele attempts to invoke this trope to bring her father, Unwitting Pawn Elias, back from the brink of releasing the Sealed Evil in a Can Storm King. It doesn't work, but.
 * Miriamele also uses this on Shell Shocked Senior Cadrach earlier in the story. It doesn't prevent The End of the World as We Know It, but does set Cadrach up for a.
 * In the Dragonlance Legends trilogy, priestess Crysania believes that she can pull this off for dark wizard Raistlin. The actual redemption comes at the last second, in the form of Raistlin's estranged twin brother.
 * This is heavily implied in the case of Richard and Alec's departure in The Privilege of the Sword.
 * In the Sword of Truth series, both  and   are redeemed by their love for Richard Rahl. Neither of them actually gets to be with him, as he was already with Kahlan, but   died shortly afterwards and   clearly stated that I Want My Beloved to Be Happy.
 * Many fans of Tales of the Frog Princess by E.D. Baker theorize that this happened to Garrid. When you think about it, it actually makes sense. Pre-Li'l: Cold, cunning, a liar, and something of a Jerkass. Post-Li'l: Funny, relaxed, Friendly Neighborhood Vampire, very helpful ally to have around. Depending on your view, he could also have qualified as a Jerk with a Heart of Gold all along—it just took Garrid falling for Li'l for it to show.
 * In Death: Eve and Roarke certainly experience this from their relationship.
 * Played With on an ongoing basis in the Dresden Files - love can save a White Court Vampire before their first feeding, but once their demon has asserted itself, love is merely dangerous. Harry tries to invoke this for, his apprentice. He tries to avert the romantic aspect of that as much as possible (for obvious, squicky reasons), but seems to have failed as of Ghost Stories.
 * Turns out that it was true for  as well, redeemed by her love for her husband.
 * Brutally averted for,  , and the Denarians.
 * Turns out that the Knights of the Cross exist to fulfill this trope, turning the hosts of the Denarians against their Fallen Angel. One of their swords is even named "The Sword of Love". Yeeesh. Don't think that they wont work with the occasional wizard who knows how to deliver the alternative for great justice.

Live Action TV

 * Spike from Buffy the Vampire Slayer. Unlike Angel, his feelings for Buffy are evident even while still a soulless vampire, making his redemption arc more difficult.
 * Also Angel, Anya, Andrew (more friendship), and Cordy (more bitch than evil, but still).
 * Also Willow - in this show if Love Makes You Evil, then some more love will set things right.
 * In a Real Life example from Survivor, Jonny Fairplay was recently invited back onto the show for its latest season, Fans vs. Favorites. Fans who remember Fairplay from the season he previously appeared on, Pearl Islands, remember him as a deplorable bastard who went so far as to lie about his grandmother's death to win an immunity challenge. During Fans vs. Favorites, however, he was noticeably subdued, mentioning his girlfriend and his unborn child several times, and then getting himself voted off the island so that he could return and be with them.
 * In Battlestar Galactica, Athena was supposed to seduce Helo into impregnating her so her race could get their hands on a human/cylon hybrid. However, she switches allegiances when she realizes that she had fallen in love with him. Caprica-Six starts a movement to change the Cylon plan because she's in love with Dr. Baltar.
 * In The Plan, we see that the titular plan of the Cylons unraveled because so many of them fell in love with humans and switched sides.
 * In "The Armageddon Factor", the Season 16 finale of Doctor Who, only Romana is able to stop the Doctor from doing a Face Heel Turn after gaining the MacGuffin Cosmic Keystone. The Shadow's reaction is epic. (Don't worry if you have no idea who or what the Shadow is. He's there to be defeated by Romana's love. That's all you need to know.)
 * This trope is supposedly what caused the Ninth Doctor to not be totally depressed/suicidal/batshit insane after the Time War because he met Rose.
 * It is because of how strong Amy and Rory love each other that
 * Damon Salvatore.
 * Kamen Rider has a few examples:
 * In Kamen Rider Double, Ryu Terui loses his craze for vengeance partly because of his love for Akiko.
 * Kamen Rider Ryuki's Ren/Knight claims that his fiancée is the reason he gave up his previous life of delinquency and petty crime. He ultimately enters the Rider War to save her.
 * In Kamen Rider Decade, Natsumi's influence over Tsukasa is a major reason why he ultimately

Tabletop Games

 * Exalted gives us the Abyssals, the result of what happens when Solar Exaltations are corrupted to serve the cause of death by the Neverborn. There's just one small problem—those Solar shards still have bonded Lunar mates. And where an Abyssal usually picks up Resonance from engaging in "lively" activities (e.g., siring children, having sex with the living), they accrue none of it if they're with their Lunar mate. Oh, and since the Neverborn stripped out the Great Curse to make way for Resonance, if the Lunar manages to actually redeem the Abyssal back into being a Solar... they now have no psychological limitations that would directly drive them towards being nanners. Good show, dead gods.
 * Return of the Scarlet Empress also suggests that the Yozis will run into a similar problem with their corrupted Solars, the Infernals. Once their work gets underway, odds are likely that quite a few of them are going to rediscover their bond with the Lunars and turn their back on the Reclamation.

Theatre
"[SEYMOUR] Tell me this feeling lasts 'til forever Tell me the bad times are clean washed away
 * This is the theme and subject of the song "Suddenly Seymour" from Little Shop of Horrors -- Audrey, a woman with low self esteem who is happy to be the plaything of a sadistic dentist, discovers that transformative power of Seymour's love:

[AUDREY] Please understand that it's still strange and frightening For losers like I've been it's so hard to say

[AUDREY & SEYMOUR] Suddenly, Seymour (Suddenly, Seymour) He purified me (He purified you) Suddenly, Seymour (Suddenly, Seymour) Showed me I can (Yes, you can!)"

Video Games

 * Knights of the Old Republic contains both straight and subverted examples:
 * A male protagonist can redeem  more easily if they've fallen in love during the game. However, if you fail, she tells you that her feelings for you helped to hasten her fall to the Dark Side. However, if the male protagonist chooses to go Dark Side then him and  go on to become a happy little Sith couple, thus subverting the trope again.
 * Meanwhile, if a female protagonist turns to the Dark Side, Carth attempts to offer her a Last Second Chance. The official version of the game subverts the trope at this point, as the PC can't be redeemed through Carth's love and the player's only options are to have the PC kill him herself or to allow to cut him down. A third option cut from the official release, however, would have allowed the PC to be redeemed.
 * This is also (in a more subdued manner, due to cuts fueled by Executive Meddling) shown in the sequel with Atton and the female Exile, if she's Light-Sided. Of course, if she's not Light-Sided...
 * The sequel also contains Visas, who starts as a Sith apprentice and ends up abandoning her Sith ideology if the player is light-side. This is an example of the Power of Friendship if the player is female, though.
 * Jolee's backstory subverts this trope. All the same, though, he maintains that love will save you, not condemn you; it's unrestrained passion that is dangerous.
 * Neverwinter Nights contains an example near the end with . That scene is so similar to the one mentioned in the Knights of the Old Republic section that it seems like they just rewrote some of the dialogue to make it make sense in the Star Wars context, in addition to recycling the character.
 * Neverwinter Nights 2 has something like this with Neeshka if a male player has enough Influence with her in the ending sequence of the main campaign.
 * And in Mask of the Betrayer, love is the primary thing that gives people the strength to challenge the monsterous injustice of the Wall of the Faithless.
 * And the cut conclusion for Bishop's romance arc.
 * Jaffar in Fire Emblem 7 was a heartless killer until he met Plucky Girl Nino. His newfound ability to feel led him to rescue her from assassins and (if they get enough support conversations) eventually fall in love with her.
 * One of the protagonist's love interests in Baldur's Gate II is Viconia DeVir who, being a drow, has an evil alignment. However, a non-evil protagonist can eventually convince her to change her alignment to True Neutral in Throne of Bhaal.
 * Tragically averted in Breath of Fire IV.
 * Inverted and then played straight in Fate/stay night. Played straight in that she gets better because Shirou and even Tohsaka don't abandon her.
 * in Tsukihime when you finally find out how messed up she is and then get the chance at her path. She almost lampshades it at the end of where she notes rather calmly that if Shiki hadn't  she would have called off her plan.
 * Super Robot Wars Original Generation give Wodan Ymir  redemption in this manner. He originally was given the mission of protecting "Magus" as a way of tethering his persona and keeping him under control, but when he actually fell hard for her, his creator, Lemon, more or less told him to follow his own will and do what he thought was right. As a result, he does a Heel Face Turn, joins up with , and together kick an EPIC amount of ass, with
 * In Yo-Jin-Bo, Ittosai is slowly redeemed by your love for him if you choose his path.
 * Zevran Arainai in Dragon Age.
 * But subverted for Morrigan. She sees this trope coming and backpedals desperately to stay a bitch.
 * The sequel
 * Jack/Subject Zero in Mass Effect. Golly, BioWare loves this one.
 * There's also Thane Krios, although he was aware of this trope before he meets Shepard, with his wife, who dies. Although it can be presented to him again, if a female Shepard decides to romance him.
 * Virgil from Xenosaga. What makes this interesting is that the person that made him have a case of Love Hurts (Febronia) is also the one that redeems him.
 * in Super Paper Mario actually ends up saving the world more or less thanks to this. After being reunited with his true love that he previously thought was dead, he pulls a Heel Face Turn.
 * In Paper Mario Thousand Year Door, Tech falls in love with Princess Peach. After spending most of their subplot trying to study this phenomenon, he decides to betray his creators and help her escape.
 * In the DS remake of Dragon Quest IV, beating the boss at the end of the Bonus Dungeon for the first time allows the player to obtain a Yggdrasill flower, which is used to
 * Implied to be the reason why Richard Ames allowed Nastasha Romanenko to live through the operation as well as supply evidence against the Patriots in Metal Gear Solid 2: Sons of Liberty's in-game novel: In the Darkness of Shadow Moses: The Unofficial Truth. Suffice to say, he also ended up paying for it dearly for it in the game when the Patriots decided to off him during the Big Shell Incident.
 * A probably platonic example may be found in the Ace Attorney series with Phoenix and Edgeworth. Phoenix's devotion to and faith in Edgeworth is what prompts the latter's Heel Face Turn.
 * Played straight and subverted in Red Dead Redemption, as John Marston's love for his family ultimately leads him to  knowing that they won't be safe until it's over. Subverted in that   was corrupted by the time he spent with John, using the lessons he learned to become a man like.
 * In Radiant Historia, the true ending of the game has
 * In Dark Souls Eingyi was a nasty little joker, and is implied to be the reason why the swamp below Blighttown is poisonous. However, after meeting the Fair Lady and her saving his life at the expense of her own health, he happily resigned himself to serving the Ill Girl faithfully and carrying her eggs for her.

Web Comics

 * In the final part of Demonology 101
 * Of all comics, Sinfest looks to be going this route with
 * And it continues.
 * Baby Blue gets on her case, it's so noticable, but Good Feels Good, and she wants to feel better about herself.
 * Earlier, though, the angels had mistakenly seen it in Slick.
 * Arthur, King of Time and Space gives a glimpse of this in the science fiction arc when one strip follows Morgan down the years in her plots to tear Arthur's kingship apart. She eventually realizes
 * Vriska got this in her conversations with John. According to some fans, at least.

Web Original

 * Supervillainess Sahar in the Whateley Universe. She has a psychic ability to - once she's seduced a Psi - get so close that she can learn to copy that Psi's best 'knacks'. This makes her a ruthless femme fatale, until she falls in love with a mark, Zenith. She doesn't know how to handle that. So it takes a different kind of love - friendship - to get her to finish her Heel Face Turn. And she gets Zenith back.
 * In Survival of the Fittest, John Rizzolo pulls a Heel Face Turn when the lover he's been after the whole time, Emma Babineux, kisses him.
 * Played rather straight in A Very Potter Musical with, but when it comes to , it may qualify as a Zig-Zagging Trope.
 * My Immortal has Enoby  in order to invoke this trope. Subverted when she gets Satan and   back together.

Western Animation

 * In Avatar: The Last Airbender,
 * To a lesser extent, the Kevin Levin from Ben 10 Alien Force. According to his character profile on Cartoon Network's new MMO, Fusionfall, his fondness for Gwen is keeping him in check.
 * Beast from Disney's Beauty and the Beast is cursed to look horrible by an enchantress. He doesn't get the respect of Belle until he starts acting kinder to her and the others, and ultimately their love is what breaks the curse on him.
 * Gargoyles ' David Xanatos started his lengthy path to redemption (or at least relative neutrality) after admitting his love for Fox.
 * His love of his and Fox's son Alexander also plays a part; after Goliath saves his son from Oberon, he becomes determined to repay the gargoyles for their help.
 * In addition to Becoming the Mask, in Lion King II, Kovu is redeemed by his love for Kiara.
 * The Venture Brothers: Word of God has stated that The Monarch and Dr. Girlfriend are meant to be a subversion - they are still irredeemably evil even if they do have a loving, functional relationship. The fandom, however, tends to ignore their Moral Event Horizon moments and assume that this trope is in effect. It helps that said moments are usually absolutely hilarious.
 * In |Hercules, Broken Bird Megara worked for the villain for two-thirds of the movie and only changed her ways out of love for Hercules, eventually even sacrificing her life for him (don't worry, She Gets Better).
 * Interestingly, the movie has that this was subverted in her backstory - she sold herself to Hades and her former lover promptly ran off with another girl.
 * Ken in Toy Story 3 pulls a Heel Face Turn after falling in love with Barbie
 * The basic moral of Despicable Me
 * ReBoot. Matrix's love for AndrAIa is really the only thing that kept him from becoming a complete psychopath during the Time Skip in the games. Shes also the only person that can reliably get him to calm down when his short temper gets the better of him.
 * In the series finale of Spider-Man: The Animated Series, the Omnicidal Maniac Spider-Carnage regains his sanity for a brief moment when he meets the Uncle Ben of another alternate universe (all of the alternate universes have critical differences in Peter's life, in this one the big difference is that Ben didn't die). Sadly, the Carnage symbiote's grip on his mind is too strong, so he throws himself into another dimension separate from all others to keep his bomb from destroying all reality.
 * The Joker in Harley Quinn gets this via both spousal and parental love; while still evil by the end of the series, his relationship with Bethany and her children makes him far less of a cruel sociopath than before, showing genuine concern for others, including both Harley and Poison Ivy. Unlike the version the comic story Batman: Legends of the Dark Knight (where something similar happens) he never has a relapse that turns him back into a homicidal monster. While Harley is unwilling to forgive him, she is willing to let him be and scrap her series-wide plans of revenge.