Deadly Change-of-Heart: Difference between revisions

 

Less lethally, a [[Quirky Miniboss Squad]] may find they've been effectively chained to the role, and no amount of [[Character Development]] or [[The Woobie|viewer sympathy]] can free them. In this case, they at least don't die, but are still doomed to a lifetime of failure and villainy and ''[[Genre Savvy|realize it]]''. Contrast [[Redemption Earns Life]], [[Karma Houdini Warranty]], and [[Redemption Rejection]]. Compare [[Redemption Failure]], where the character actually goes clean for a while but has to revert back to villainy due to unforeseen circumstances. When it's played lethally, this trope can straddle the border of [[Redemption Equals Death]] or [[Death Equals Redemption]], depending on how close to redemption the character comes before they're offed. May be the result of a [[Last Second Chance]] offer that is later taken [[Off the Table]].

 

 

== Anime and Manga ==

* Near the end in the manga of ''[[Gash Bell]]'' {{spoiler|Zeon Bell}} repents for everything he did in the human world and his ruthless towards {{spoiler|his younger twin brother}} Gash. In the last part of the fight he wasn't trying to make Gash suffer, instead he was testing him to see if {{spoiler|their father, the last king of the demon world}} made the right choice giving the power of Baou to Gash.

* In ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', Zuko, who has been trying to capture the protagonists for three seasons and half-ignoring their insistence that he could be their friend for just as long, finally sees the error of his ways and, guilt-ridden and earnest, tries to join the Aang Gang so he can play a vital role in teaching Aang/saving the world. The protagonists unanimously decide that he's used up his chances and send him away. Then he accidentally injures the only protagonist still in doubt about him. Kid's got bad karma. {{spoiler|All is eventually well though!}}

** More accurately, he chased them for one season, had two relatively neutral encounters, betrayed an almost-not-really-there possibility of alliance, was absent from their lives for about half a season, and ''then'' turned up wanting to be their friend. Special in that he wasn't able to do this until after experiencing the shock of doing the thing that makes them unable and unwilling to trust him. And then the feet-burning thing.

* Taken to ridiculous extremes in the ''[[Fairly Oddparents]]'' [[Made for TV Movie|TV movie]] Channel Chasers. At the end of the movie, Timmy's [[Sadist Teacher]] Mr. Crocker was seen coming out of therapy, cured of his obsession with fairies and decides to turn his life around. He even discovered cold fusion! Then, [[Did Not Eat the Mousse|even though he had nothing to do with the plot]] (in fact his very appearance was probably just to show he's a [[Cosmic Plaything]]), Timmy's wish that nobody remembers anything that happened from when the film began affected him, returning him to his fairy-obsessed self who tosses his cold fusion generator away because he doesn't know what it is anymore.

** Done again in the episode "Crocker Shocker", where Mr. Crocker is put under hypnosis by a desperate therapist to erase his belief in fairies. Among the changes he undergoes, he loses his hunchback look and his ears move from his neck to his head. Unfortunately, it turns out that Fairy Magic is powered by Crocker's fairy believing spazz attacks, so Timmy had to get him to change back to his old self. You know the universe is unfair when one person's sanity has to be sacrificed.