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{{quote|''"I trust you implicitly, thieving child."''|'''Joey''', ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]''}}
They [[Betrayal Tropes|betrayed]] you, they tried to kill you, in some cases they really did kill you. But within the space of an episode or two, you find it in your heart to [[Forgiveness|forgive]] them. After all, [[As the Good Book Says...|"To err is human, to forgive is divine."]] As long as they're a fellow series regular.
Usually an instance of [[Plug N Play Friends]]. If the unmasked traitor was an active party member or contributing part of the team, and ''remains'' an active party member or contributing part of the team, it's [[Welcome Back, Traitor]].
If some sort of [[Hand Wave]] is given for this, then it's a case of [["Get Out of Jail Free" Card]]. Such easy forgiveness may be given after an insincere [[The Grovel]]. The kinds of people most likely to easily forgive are [[The Messiah]], the [[Friend to All Living Things]] and those who prefer to [[Turn the Other Cheek]], although more cynical characters may take a [[Restrained Revenge]]. If no such excuse exists or "apology accepted" speech occurs, then it's a [[Karma Houdini]]. Compare [[Welcome Back, Traitor]] and [[
{{examples}}
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
*
** Duke Devlin is possibly the most blatant example, but the reasons are far more clear in the manga version of the story, where the true villain is his insane father.
** Seto Kaiba repeatedly tried to kill the protagonists in the early manga, including Tristan's year old nephew who just happened to be with them at the time. One of the ways was locking them in a house with a child mass murderer. They do hold a bit of a grudge for a while, but still forgive him far too quickly.
***
▲**** Because it happened before the second anime begins, it seems nobody even remembers Mokuba is an attempted murderer and serial cheater (which, in the Yu-Gi-Oh world, is practically worse.) He's just Seto's [[Morality Pet]].
*** Kaiba does get a bit of a pass on the strength of the fact that during their second fight Yugi ''destroyed his heart'' (as in "Mind crush!") and left him to rebuild it properly without all the deformity that resulted from years of abuse, so in theory he's morally a different person whose previous misdeeds are irrelevant. Since he's still a [[Jerkass]] who's completely willing to kill people if they're party to an attempt to kill him first, this policy may need reexamining, but it's based on sound magical theory.
*** Both Kaiba brother's Easy Forgiveness rests on a ''foundation'' of Mokuba's Easily Forgiving Seto for emotionally mistreating him and, shortly before Mind Crush II, ''torturing'' him with the Mind Crush I simulator he'd built to use on Yugi after beating him. Yugi&Yugi take pity on them both for their evil adoptive father and screwed-up relationship that ''used'' to be all [[Big Brother Instinct]], and fix Seto. Violently. From then on, Yugi is focused on continuing to fix Seto during most of their interactions.
** Pegasus and Marik, in a case of [[Defeat Means Friendship]].
*** Marik at least had the excuse that he believed the Pharaoh was responsible for [[You Killed My Father|killing his father]] and enslaving his family, and once he realises his error (and sees his [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]) he helps Yugi win his duel against said Evil Side and resolves to atone for his actions.
** Joey towards Espa Roba. After learning that Espa is a cheater, it's hard for Joey to stay mad at him after finding out that [[Promoted to Parent| he's raising his younger brothers on his own]], something Joey sees [[Not So Different| as very similar to how he is trying to protect Serenity.]] Mokuba counts here too; he initially intends to disqualify Roba, but lets it slide after Roba's siblings plead with him not to.
* Shizuru in ''[[Mai-HiME]]'' is [[Easily Forgiven]] by by Natsuki ([[Draco in Leather Pants|a good number of the series' fans too]]) for the things she did as a [[Psycho Lesbian]]. Haruka and Yukino weren't quite as easily convinced, though.▼
** In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! Zexal]]'', nobody seems to hold anything against serial cheater and [[Snake Oil Salesman]] Flip Turner; he continues to be [[The Friend Nobody Likes]] despite them having to bail him out of trouble many times.
** In ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V]]'', Yuya's willingness to forgive Sora is a ''little'' understandable, as he knew the guy for a long time, and nothing Sora did was directed to Yuya personally. Dennis, however, was far more sinister and deceptive, not to mention sadistic, but the Lancers still offered him clemency - which he rejected.
** Grace and Glory were downright sadistic bullies before falling out of favor of Duel Academy, were supposedly willing accomplices to the genocidal purge of the Xyz Dimension, and never truly showed any signs of wanting to reform, but were still welcome among the Lancers later.
▲* Shizuru in ''[[
** Same thing with Mikoto, who was directly responsible for killing two of Mai's Most Important People. Mai, however, realizes she was [[Brainwashed]] the whole time ({{spoiler|and it was actually Shiho who was responsible for Takumi's death}}), and decides not to hold it against Mikoto{{spoiler|, even telling her up front that she loves her (though [[Hide Your Lesbians|probably not]] in ''that'' way)}}.
** {{spoiler|Everyone forgives everyone at the end, whatever terrible things they'd done.}} Given how much of a [[Dysfunction Junction|clusterfuck]] the Carnival was, though, it's fairly justified.
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** Arika also has no reservations about fighting alongside the Aswad, who attacked her during the survival exam and {{spoiler|killed her mother}}.
* Kouga in ''[[Inuyasha]]''. He started out by slaughtering Rin's entire village, and to top it off, kidnaps Kagome, falls for her, and tries to force her to be his bride. He falls into [[The Rival]] role, and the only person who distrusts him even slightly (aside from Rin, who rarely confronts him) is Inuyasha, and that's treated like a schoolyard dispute.
* ''[[One Piece]]'':
** Subverted in
** Subverted again during the Impel Down arc when Luffy comes across Crocodile. Crocodile offers to help in exchange for being let out of his cell, but Luffy turns him down cold because of all the things he did in Alabasta. {{spoiler|Luffy is convinced to let him out anyway, though, because Ivankov assures him that he knows something about Crocodile to keep him in line.}}
** Played straighter with Bon Clay (a.k.a. Mr. 2) at the end of the Alabasta arc. Affable as he was, Mr. 2 DID directly take part in framing the king to incite the rebels to full-blown warfare, but after an [[Heroic Sacrifice]] to distract the Marines away from the escaping Straw Hats, he's been considered a friend of the crew ever since. He only briefly complains about Mr. 2 being with Baroque Works when Mr. 2 contacts him again.
*** Luffy is also relatively friendly toward Buggy and Mr. 3, despite the former trying to kill him (almost succeeding in Loguetown) and Nami and the latter almost turning Vivi, Nami and Zoro into wax figures.
** Played straight with Boa Hancock. Despite the fact that she turned several of her people to stone just for speaking up on Luffy's behalf and her sisters tried to smash those people just to hurt Luffy, after he defeats her sisters and she agrees to restore her petrified victims<ref>
** Also played with in regards to Nami and Jinbe after Jinbe apologizes for indirectly allowing Arlong to terrorize her hometown. Jinbe was even willing to accept any punishment as necessary but Nami explains that Arlong was the one who she will ''not''
** Played ''very'' straight with Shirahosh from the Fishman Island Arc. A kindly soul who can't seem to hate or condemn ''anyone'', she even tries to make peace with Vander Decken IX (a [[Yandere]] who stalked her for over a decade and eventually tried to kill her) and Hody Jones (who brutally killed her mother, Otohime and tried to destroy Fishman Island).
** In fact, this seems common for merfolk in general. [[Warrior Prince|Fukaboshi]] (Shirahosh's sister) goes so far as to tell Hody he doesn't hate him for his mother's death, while [[The Good King|Neptune]] himself (the siblings' father and king of the Ryugu Kingdom) is willing to consider clemency for Jones once it's obvious he is no longer a threat. Even ''Otohime herself'', as she ''lay dying from Jones' assault'', pleaded that her children and followers show mercy to him, which in a way, made Jones' defeat inevitable.
* Rokudo Mukuro from ''[[Katekyo Hitman Reborn]]''. He manipulated Lancia into killing all of his friends, beat up Tsuna's friends and used them as hostages, beat Tsuna up quite a bit during their fight, revealed his plan was to [[Grand Theft Me|possess Tsuna's body]] so he could destroy the Mafia and turn the world into a sea of blood, and [[Fighting Dirty|generally fought dirty]]. He is shown to be entirely unapologetic about the whole thing the next time he meets Tsuna, even stating that he plans to take over Tsuna at the next opportunity. However, when he {{spoiler|became Tsuna's guardian}} and showed Tsuna the vision of his body in prison, Tsuna quickly develops sympathy for him, and it becomes obvious that Tsuna has already forgiven him for the whole ordeal (much to Reborn's chagrin). Tsuna even goes so far as to excuse his unapologetic proclamation as him just being [[Aloof Ally|stubborn and shy]].
* Andrei Smirnov in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]'' counts very much here. He {{spoiler|committed patricide on his own father Sergei Smirnov, his adopted daughter Soma Peiries hunts him down with extreme vengeance}}. But in the latest episode, thanks to a certain [[Deus Ex Machina]] device... he is forgiven. Thankfully, said [[Deus Ex Machina]] comes with him ''finally'' [[My God, What Have I Done?|realising how much]] [[Heel Realization|of an ass he was]] [[Character Development|and getting rid of what makes him annoying]], thus somewhat [[Rescued
* ''[[Mars (manga)|Mars]]'' has two [[Egregious]] instances. In a [[Cliff Hanger]], Harumi escalates her bullying of [[Shrinking Violet|Kira]] to an unthinkable level by threatening to smash Kira's fingers with a small barbell. She doesn't follow through, but it's jarring when Harumi become's Kira's closest and most supportive female friend not two volumes later. An even worse instance is when Kira's mother, stricken by [[Soap Opera Disease]], takes back the stepfather who {{spoiler|''raped her daughter''}}. Kira's mother may forgive, but Kira certainly ''[[Improvised Weapon|doesn't]]''.
* ''[[Umineko no Naku Koro ni]]'' has Beatrice, the main antagonist of the series. {{spoiler|A supposedly all-powerful witch who the protagonist has seen kill his family repeatedly in grotesque and horrific ways, she plays up a [[Heel Face Turn]] to specifically lead Battler into forgiving her, and even coming to like her... and then proceeds to troll the Hell out of him and reveal it was all an act just for the sake of toying with his emotions.}}
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** Eh, your mileage may vary there. Android 18 (the version the Z Fighters meet, not Trunk's alternate universe version) does nothing bad but steal a car and beat the Z Fighters up in self-defence. Piccolo, the one who's not forgiven, actually has an excuse for the evil due to the fact he is an entierly different person - other than physical apperance - to King Piccolo, and the worst thing he personally did was try to kill Goku in a fight, something Goku doesn't see as any different than a handshake. Buu has no excuse though, so played strait there.
*** Buu does have an excuse in that he was basically a child who was specifically designed to kill more things than possible. When given the proper moral guiding, Buu just accepts that killing is wrong and promises not to do it anymore.
* Subverted in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist (manga)|Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. Winry didn't forgive {{spoiler|Scar}} for killing her parents. {{spoiler|Although it didn't stop her for treating his wounds, on the principle that her parents would have done the same.}} One strong theme in this manga is how to deal with sins, forgiveness, and cycle of hatred.
** Also subverted with the Ishbalan people after nearly getting wiped out in a genocide. Scar's master says that they should not forgive the Amestrians, because good people ''should'' be outraged at injustice, but they do need to ''endure'' it and not continue the cycle of hatred. The result is a rare middle ground between forgiveness and vengeance.
** Subverted ''again'' when Izumi forgives Edward and Alphonse for disobeying her repeated warnings to not attempt human transmutation ... but still expels them as her students. They now consider each other peers rather than master and student, though.
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* ''[[Bleach]]'' After their first encounter Ishida doesn't seem to have that many problems with Mayuri for killing off the last of his people and ''torturing their souls''.
** No, he did have a problem with it, however in that arc he was far more concerned with the rescue of Orihime than to worry about his vendetta against the [[Mad Scientist]].
* Of all people, Goldie Musou, the main antagonist of ''[[Gunsmith Cats]]'', gets
* Subverted on ''both'' Manga and Anime of ''[[Elfen Lied]]'' {{spoiler|Kouta does '''not''' forgive Lucy for killing his little sister Kanae and their father. However, even though he never does forgive her, in the anime, he openly declares that he will always love her; while in the manga, while he is much more bitter and hateful, he offers her a [[Last Second Chance]] to live peacefully with him and the rest of the cast, then takes a bullet fully intended for her because he ''refused'' to let another family member of his die ever again, after which Lucy [[Superpower Meltdown|sacrifices her body integrity]] in a last bid attempt to save him, leaving her in crippling agony; Kouta then [[I Cannot Self-Terminate|kills her purely out of love and mercy after she begs him to do so]], and afterwards still visits the spot they promised to meet each other as children, desperately waiting for her to come [[Back
* ''[[Naruto]]'' had the Sand Village ninjas (particularly Gaara and company) start off as murderers conspiring with the current [[Big Bad]] to try and overthrow and destroy the Hidden Leaf Village. The plan fails, but {{spoiler|the third Hokage still ends up dead}} in no small part thanks to the Sand Village's assistance and at least tacit approval. Later on, the Sand Village as a whole, and Gaara, Temari and Kankuro specifically, are close allies with the Hidden Leaf Village and friends of the protagonists, mostly just because Orochimaru became a common enemy when he killed the Kazekage.
** More than that, it was revealed the Kazekage had been killed before the war even began. It's a bit easier to give a large group of what amounts to soldiers the benefit of the doubt if their hierarchy is completely compromised.
*** And they were already allies at the time the war
*** It's implied that Konoha, weakened after the conflict and shorthanded, decided not to hold the Sand Village responsible in order to get a chance to recover.
** Naruto's willing to {{spoiler|forgive Sasuke for all the chaos he's caused since he joined Akatsuki. Although, after being introduced to [[Cycle of Revenge]] and [[Not So Different]] in an earlier arc, he's realized that he and Sasuke easily could've been on opposite sides of the same conflict.}}
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* An unintentional example in the ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' [[Expanded Universe]] manga ''Ravenpaw's Path''. During ''Shattered Peace'', Ravenpaw and Barley are chased off the farm they live on by the farmer because he is tricked into thinking they killed his chickens. The farmer says that if he sees them again, he'll shoot them. However, when they come back and defeat the rogues who took over their home in ''The Heart of a Warrior'', the farmer doesn't care, despite still thinking they killed his chickens.
* The second princess of England in ''[[A Certain Magical Index]]'' is easily forgiven despite committing {{spoiler|treason in an attempted ''coup de tat'', because her actions were those of a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] looking out for her homeland}}.
== [[Comic Books]] ==
* When [[Green Lantern|Hal Jordan]] came back from the dead he was ''not'' Easily Forgiven. In this case it makes no sense as he was possessed by a cosmic being that they all know is completely real.
** The problem was while the Earth heroes more or less forgave Hal (even Batman), the [[Green Lantern|Green Lantern Corps]] which Hal decimated was much less so. Especially when a sizable group of them were left for dead in space by Hal and were captured by Manhunters for years. It's more of a "Why didn't you do better trying to stop that cosmic being, Mr. Willpower?" than anything.
* Similarly, the Marvel heroes have never really forgiven Spider-Woman for [[Misplaced Retribution| being imitated by the Skrull Empress.]]
* Speaking of [[Spider-Woman]], another odd example is the Night Shift, a gang of criminals led by the Shroud (a hero who pretends to be a villain) in Los Angeles, most of them Jessica's former enemies. There are no less than two reasons for ''several'' of them to hate each other: Dansen Macabre once tried to murder the Shroud, while Tik-Tok worked for the vigilante [[The Jailer| Locksmith]], who had once held Macabre and Gypsy Moth prisoner. Oddly enough all this ''never'' comes up in stories featuring the Night Shift, and Macabre is even Shroud's [[Number One]].
* Now that the ''[[Brightest Day]]'' has brought back Hawk, nobody at all seems inclined to mention the deaths he caused as Monarch and
* Moonstone is still a regular ''[[Thunderbolts]]'' member despite (amongst other things) murdering random civilians to distract [[Ms. Marvel]] in the middle of a fight. Admittedly the purpose of the team is to give supervillians a chance at redemption, but at what point do you give up on trying to redeem an unrepentant serial killer?
** Moonstone is more tolerated than forgiven; most of her shenanigans didn't actually interfere with an official mission after all. Songbird, for one, would happily drop kick her over the horizon if given half an excuse.
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** In "Greed," Kelli essentially tricks an old man into making her his heiress by preventing him from hearing from his relatives, then not giving him medication until he dies. After she converts and dies of cancer, some of the relatives are set on not forgiving her ([[Double Subversion|although one changes her mind after hearing she will get her share of the estate after all]]), ''and this is played as a bad thing'', with it suggested that they will not be forgiven for their sins.
** In "Baby Talk" Eric dumps his girlfriend when he learns that she is pregnant, but then accepts Christianity and, after preventing her from being forcibly taken to get an abortion, promises to help her raise the baby and gets back together with her. At no point is she shown to be angry with him.
* For some reason the Asgardians have no problem forgiving Loki. And then ''trusting'' Loki. Of course, to be honest, they were like that a lot in the original Norse Mythology too, up until [[This Is Unforgivable!| he actually killed Baldur.]]
** Played with. A lot of the time in recent comics, they don't ''actually'' trust him, he's just a [[Manipulative Bastard]] who really is ''that good'' at what he does. For the moment, thanks to causing the destruction of Asgard (not what he was going for, either: he wanted them to ''win'' but underestimed The Void), only Thor has forgiven Loki and most find his [[Heroic Sacrifice]] in trying to save Asgard to be worthless. The fact that the trope has been Averted ''now'' means that he's in trouble, since he's stuck as his child self and therefore pretty defenseless unless Thor protects him.
* Subverted when Rogue has a [[Heel Face Turn]] and wants to join the [[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]. They threaten to disband if she is allowed on the team and she has to work to earn their trust.
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* [[Superman]] has gotten shafted plenty of times by his tendency to extend this too freely. In fact, in a 1960s imaginary story, Luthor dupes Supes into becoming his best friend after publicly renouncing evil, then [[Tear Jerker|promptly slaughters him with Kryptonite]] [[Moral Event Horizon|while laughing derisively at Superman's dying expressions of heartbreak and betrayal.]]
▲== Fan Fiction ==
* The "easily" part is averted in [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4004316/1/Windows_of_the_Soul Windows of the Soul], in which Natsuki acknowledges the severity of {{spoiler|Shizuru's}} misdeeds and her flaws as a person, but nevertheless forgives her. Much of the fic involves {{spoiler|Shizuru's}} inability to forgive {{spoiler|herself}} for what {{spoiler|she}} has done.
* The ''[[Death Note]]'' [[Fanfic]] ''[[Constant Temptation]]'' dials this [[Up to Eleven]] when L forgives Light a.k.a. [[Serial Killer|Kira]] the guy who's killed hundreds of people (''by the first episode''). And Kira is not just forgiven by L but also the very Police Taskforce assigned to catching him (because he is now [[Slash Fic|dating L]] and has [["Well Done, Son" Guy|Daddy Issues]]. [[Make Room for the New Plot|There's also an]] [[Enemy Mine]] [[Make Room for the New Plot|excuse.]]) But to be fair Kira being
* Pick any fanfic containing a [[Mary Sue|Mysterious New Girl]]. Chances are that the only person who won't instantly forgive her all her misdeeds (no matter how severe they were) the minute she makes it obvious she wants them to is the Mary Sue herself -- or the obvious villain of the piece.
* Many [[Naruto]] fanfics have Naruto being beaten within an inch of his life only to forgive them as well as Hiruzen's (Third hokage) Bullshit excuses for letting it happen.
* Done to Demona in [http://tgs.gargoyles-fans.org The Gargoyles Saga], Demona gives up trying to destroy humanity, and becomes one of the good guys all because Angela waves a finger in her face. Less than two months after attempting mass genocide of the human race, Demona is eating Christmas dinner with the heroes.
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* In the [[Professor Layton]] fanfic [http://www.fanfiction.net/s/5769377/1/bbleeding_b_at_the_bsped_b_of_bSound_b bleeding at the sped of sound], the main character, a [[Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot|cyborg vampire]], wants to eat Layton and plans on killing Luke first. After luring him away and announcing her intention to kill him, Layton catches her, but she cries, causing him to forgive her and declare his love for her.
* In ''[[Light and Dark - The Adventures of Dark Yagami|Light and Dark The Adventures of Dark Yagami]]''- Dark's punishment for trying to ''destroy the world?'' [[You Are Grounded|He gets grounded.]]
* ''[[Ace Combat: The Equestrian War
* ''[[Princess Celestia Hates Tea]]'': Despite [[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic|Twilight']]s wild accusations of being a changeling queen that got Celestia attacked by her own staff, getting blasted by the Elements of Harmony, getting her room exploded, and nearly getting her banished to the moon for a thousand years, the old goddess is surprisingly cordial with Twilight in the upcoming mess she caused. {{spoiler|And then Twilight [[Mind Rape
* One of the [[Fanon]] interpretations of Albus Dumbledore among ''[[Harry Potter]]'' fan writers turns him into a hypocrite willing to give Death Eaters and others of their ilk unlimited chances to "come back to the Light" (while standing ready to accuse anyone on his side who doesn't follow his every command of "going Dark").
== [[Film]] ==
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* In ''[[From Dusk till Dawn]]'', Seth Gecko's reaction to his brother having raped and murdered their hostage while he was gone quickly fades from disgusted to 'don't do that again' and then hugs him and forgives him... sort of justified because we're apparently ''supposed'' to be shocked at the mildness of his reaction. It it also used to show Seth's blind love for his brother, as well as the fact that Seth is also a psychopath, if not a rapist.
* In ''[[Bad Lieutenant]]'', the [[Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil|rape of a nun shocks even the hardened eponymous character]]. {{spoiler|He is prevented from exacting brutal revenge on the perpetrators when the nun herself forgives them. In his only redeeming action of the film, he instead puts them on a bus out of town.}}
* In ''[[Top Gun]]'' while Iceman did apologize for what happened to Goose, Maverick seems awfully willing to forgive a guy whose [[Glory Hound
* ''[[Back to The Future]]''; yeah, it's feasible that Marty's dad could forgive Biff and hire him as a handyman even after all the bullying, but the idea that he'd forgive him for an [[Attempted Rape]] of his wife - or anyone - stretches it.
== [[Literature]] ==
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* ''Sisterhood'' series by [[Fern Michaels]]: Hoo, boy! This trope certainly pops up. For example, Charles sends presidential men with gold shields to scare Jack Emery, but the men ''misconstrue'' the orders and give Jack a [[No-Holds-Barred Beatdown]] in the book ''Payback''. Jack Emery knows that Charles is responsible for this, but after the book ''Free Fall'', in which Jack becomes an honourary member of the Vigilantes and is revealed as this to the entire group, it seems that Jack has pretty much forgotten about the whole affair. Also, Jack and Ted Robinson start out as friends, become enemies by the book ''Free Fall'', but once Ted more or less becomes a member by the book ''Collateral Damage'', it's all cool now. Although Jack did say that they are trying to take it one step at a time.
* In ''[[Warrior Cats]]'', during the fifth book of ''[[Omen of the Stars]]'', {{spoiler|1=Hollyleaf returns to ThunderClan and nobody cares about her crimes, even when they find out that she killed Ashfur.}}
* In ''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (novel)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]'', all the Whos down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot, but the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did not. So he stole all their Christmas accoutrements and '''all their food'''. But [[Easy Evangelism|he gave it back after]], which apparently justified making him the guest of honor at Christmas dinner.
** Grinch gives it back when he finds out the Whos are completely unfazed by the fact that all their stuff is gone. He got the message of the spirit of Christmas after that, and the Whos are so happy he learned to be good and appreciate other people that they honoured him.
** This is, in fact, very common in [[Dr. Seuss]] books; Geisel was not big on stories with retribution towards antagonists.
* This happens a lot in the ''[[Land of Oz]]'' books; for example, Ozma gave the Nome King several chances to reform, and never gave him a lasting punishment. The biggest example may be the Wizard. The second book revealed he was not only a humbug, he was an usurper, kidnapping Ozma (the rightful heir to the throne) and taking her to the hag Mombi, who used her dark magic to turn Ozma into a boy and take him as a servant, allowing the Wizard to rule in her place. Ozma was restored to her true form by the end of the book, but in subsequent appearances, the Wizard was never punished for what he did, and was in fact, welcomed into Ozma’s court, becoming one of the few citizens allowed to use magic.
** Mombi herself zigzags this; in the aforementioned book, her only punishment was losing her ability to use magic, which would be redundant, as Ozma would outlaw use of magic by anyone without her permission. (The reason for this would become obvious, given that most villains in the series are magic-users.) But in the third-party ''The Lost King of Oz'' (which explores what happened to Ozma’s father) Mombi’s “probation” is revoked for additional crimes, and Ozma actually orders her executed, the sentence carried out via being doused with water.<ref>As noted, this book is third-party; Baum likely would not have approved of Ozian capital punishment.</ref>
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
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** And Tara, with the blindness thing. And Xander with the musical demon. And Buffy, with the psychological institution one. And Angel, with {{spoiler|the whole second half of Season 2}}. It's safe to say that just about everybody got one of these, at least.
** The Scoobies generally forgave those who were close to them more easily than those outside their inner circle. Faith had to work harder for forgiveness. Amy was particularly pissed that the gang took ''3 years'' to transform her from a rat back to human, and then very quickly cast her out. They never forgave her, but easily forgave Willow who {{spoiler|tried to kill all of them, and then tried to end the world}}.
* Amusingly subverted in an episode of ''[[Firefly (TV series)|Firefly]]'', where Simon figures out that Jayne had sold out both River and himself in a previous episode. Simon doesn't forgive Jayne, but he does point out they have way too many mutual enemies as it stands, and that constantly being at each others' throats over this would be pointless and stupid. Then, as he leaves, River sticks her head in, looks directly at Jayne, and warns him that "I can kill you with my brain."
* In ''[[Torchwood]]'', Captain Jack is shot dead by Owen. Despite the fact Owen was unaware that Jack would resurrect, Jack easily forgives him.
** In that same episode, the team mutinies against Jack and unintentionally releases a giant monster that steals the life force of anyone its giant shadow falls upon. Jack manages to destroy it by letting it feed of him. However, the effort leaves him dead for three days, which is the longest to date that he's ever stayed dead. He still forgives the team, minutes after reviving. It might be subverted, given that he ran off to find the Doctor a few scenes later.
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** An '''extremely''' obvious one is the recent (apparent) reconciliation with Matt and [[Jeff Hardy]]. Essentially Matt said that he had made a mistake and Jeff forgave him. The "mistake" apparently involved Matt burning Jeff's house to the ground, killing his dog, and trying to murder him and/or end his career at least three times. The forgiveness came only a couple months after the end of their fighting over it.
* ''[[Heroes (TV series)|Heroes]]'' season 3: {{spoiler|Elle seems to forgive Sylar a bit too easily for killing her father.}} It's true, she did try her best to kill him at first, but subsequently it looks more like that was self loathing than hatred. This is even remarked upon by Noah.
** Although it's a little more believable when you keep in mind that Elle's father was something of a [[Smug Snake]] who put his own daughter through [[Training
* Seems to happen quite a lot in the various ''[[Star Trek]]'' series: One of the regular cast spends the episode trying to kill everyone, drive the ship into a black hole or whatever, and is welcomed back with open arms by all concerned.
** This is especially clear in the [[Star Trek V: The Final Frontier|fifth film]]. It's specifically stated that the people the villain converts are ''not'' brainwashed; they're completely acting of their own free will in following him. Yet none of them face any repercussions.
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* First subverted, then played straight on ''[[CSI: Miami]]''. First, it takes the team several episodes to warm up to Natalia again after she reveals that she'd originally been sent there to spy on them by the FBI. {{spoiler|She never said anything bad about them though, and it turned out that someone else had set them up}}. But then a few seasons later, Ryan, WITHHOLDS EVIDENCE from a crime scene because a friend's son has been kidnapped by the Russian mob, which he only tells Horatio, yet despite very realistic anger from the rest of his team when he finally produces the evidence, by next episode, it seems to not only have been forgiven but forgotten too. Sometimes this show is really good about continuity, sometimes it throws it out the window. I kinda wish it'd make up it's mind.
* Played absurdly straight on ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]''. Ask yourself: would you go on a field-trip with the man who brutally slaughtered your wife? Robin does. Made even more idiotic considering Robin doesn't display any such altruism toward Isabella or Allan, whose crimes against him are barely a blip on the radar screen compared to Guy's.
** In her first appearance [[The Scrappy|Kate]] sells out Robin's whereabouts to Guy in order to secure the safety of her brother. You can't says that she's
* Subverted in ''[[How I Met Your Mother]]'', where Ted's friends are upset and furious with Stella who [[Runaway Bride|left Ted]] to be with her ex-boyfriend, only leaving a note to explain her actions.
** Also averted when Lily returned to Marshall after leaving him to go to San Francisco, Marshall doesn't immediately take her back and she spends much of season 2 getting back into Marshall and Ted's good graces.
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* The eponymous bikers of ''[[Sons of Anarchy]]'' are able to forgive each other a lot of crap. Extreme transgressions (like murdering another member's wife) will also be forgiven if they were done for the good of the club. However, betraying the club or failure to back up another member are seen as unforgivable offences and treated with extreme prejudice.
** This is played with in the feud between Tiggs and Kozik. Tiggs cannot forgive Kozik even years after the events and the audience is left to wonder for a long time what was that so bad that it caused such a rift between them. It turns out it was over the death of a dog.
== [[Music]] ==
"A Quick One While He's Away" by [[The Who]]; the girl who is the subject of the song is forgiven by her long-absent boyfriend immediately after admitting her infidelity with Ivor the engine driver. A rare justified example — said boyfriend mentions he wasn't entirely faithful himself.
== [[Newspaper Comics]] ==
* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]''
** Parodied in one strip
{{quote|"On second thought, let's [[The Grovel|see you grovel]] a little!"}}
* Subverted and played straight in ''[[FoxTrot]]'' when Quincy eats Paige's signed boyband picture. Andy bends over backwards to appease Paige, and when Paige calls herself on this, Andy forgives her without a second thought.
* Bill the Cat in ''[[Bloom County]]''. Among the horrible things he's done include, in separate arcs: Espionage against the United States by seducing Jean Kirkpatrick stealing data from her and selling it to the Soviet Union, causing the Chernobyl disaster after being traded to them in a prisoner exchange, shooting up the neighborhood with a machine gun while running for President, selling out the other members of his rock band and ruining their reputation, becoming a televangelist and accusing Opus of "Penguin Lust" on the air (never explaining what that is) and then being caught in a pedophile human trafficking ring. Despite all this, the other characters have a loyalty and admiration towards Bill that keeps him from ever truly being punished; Opus has named him sole beneficiary of his will and he has earned the Bloom Party nomination for President three times. Only Portnoy seems willing to express a dislike for him, trying to do so during two mock retrospectives of the character.
== [[Professional Wrestling]] ==
* Pretty common following the standard [[Heel Face Turn]]: often the reformed heel doesn't even have to earn redemption, as it's enough that he's agreed not to be mean anymore. Lampshaded histrionically by [[Christian]] who was outraged that [[Heroic Sociopath]] [[Randy Orton]] is allowed to do whatever the hell he wants in [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]]. He screamed at [[Triple H]] to do something about the situation in his capacity as Chief Operating Officer, demanding to know something along the lines of "Don't you even care that this man once attacked your father-in-law and brother-in-law and terrorized your wife?!" Well, apparently [[Triple H]] ''didn't'' care.
** This can be particularly egregious in cases of tag-team matches. In these cases, seeing a total monster, who's undergone a [[Heel Face Turn]] teaming up with the same person who's life they completely destroyed a few months ago is not particularly unusual in pro wrestling.
* Subverted more often in [[TNA]], where it's more common for there to be tension between two tag-team partners when one of them has recently undergone a Heel Face Turn. Even characters who weren't evil to begin with, such as [[Sting (music)|Sting]], [[All of the Other Reindeer|are frequently mistrusted by other faces for having a mysterious agenda]].
== [[Theater]] ==
* [[William Shakespeare]]'s plays have several examples:
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** Claudio from ''[[Much Ado About Nothing]]'' {{spoiler|reveals Hero's (untrue) unfaithfulness at their wedding -- depending on the director, possibly physically abusing her as well -- and when Leonato tells him that Hero died of grief, he acts like a total dick about it and doesn't care in the slightest until he discovers that Hero was telling the truth. Of course, when Hero finally appears after faking her death, the two are together in literally seconds}}.
* In Aphra Behn's ''The Rover'', at one point or another just about all of Belvile's friends try to rape his love interest Florinda, in some cases after mistaking her for a prostitute. But then they find out Florinda is Belvile's love interest and not a prostitute, and all is A-OK. Florinda's sister even marries one of them.
== [[Video Games]] ==
* The ''[[Dead or Alive]]'' series of fighting games are so thoroughly removed from the [[Guilty Pleasures|terrible-but-somehow-great]] ''Xtreme'' [[Spin-Off]]. The best example is that Christie murdered Helena's mother, but buy her a couple of gifts and suddenly she'll pair up for volleyball matches and mutual sun-tan oil application. With the woman who murdered her mother. Covering her in her mother's blood. While they were both on stage in an opera. In an opera house that then caught fire.
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* ''[[Tales of Legendia]]'' is a prime example of this. {{spoiler|Shirley ("So who cares if our only experience with you is the part where you tried to destroy the land and kill millions of people? You're part of the ''team'' now."), Chloe ("Guys, we have to save the chick who just ran me through with a sword!"), Jay ("Well, obviously he had a ''reason'' for kidnapping her."), ''Alcott'' ("Sure, you killed hundreds of people and served as general to an evil regime, but it was all for your sick daughter, so we forgive you."), and Maurits (...let's just not go there.)}} Granted, in the game itself, this comes off more like an example of the party's endearing-if-stupid idealism than anything else, but ''still''.
* Gaspard in ''[[Dark Cloud]] 2''. Yes, he's a [[Noble Demon]] with a [[Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds|tragic past]], but the main heroine Monica forgave him surprisingly easily after this was made clear even though she spent most of the game prior hating him for [[You Killed My Father|killing her father.]]
* The transition of the Turks from fairly serious (albeit [[Quirky Miniboss Squad|quirky]]) villains in ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' to comic relief, [[Heel Face Turn
** To be fair, there is also a "just doing our jobs" scene in ''Crisis Core'', where Tseng (one of the Turks), {{spoiler|lets a village be bombed to erase evidence and doesn't show remorse over it}}. Zack does not take that lightly, and spends the rest of the game remembering it.
** The Turks were hardly taken seriously in the original game, despite the Sector 7 collapse. Every time you fight them they toss comments around leisurely, you see them outside of battle quite a bit lounging around, and there's an entire sidequest in Wutai involving them and their "[[Punch Clock Villain|just doing our jobs]]" stuff.
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* In [[The World Ends With You]], Neku and Beat don't hold {{spoiler|Rhyme's erasure}} against Kariya and Uzuki at any point. Granted, Kariya and Uzuki did risk their safety by giving them a keypin that is vital to their quest, but the incident in question made Beat quite angry with the Reapers at the time.
* In ''[[Dragon Age]]'' ''Awakening'', Nathaniel Howe will express disbelief if you offer to conscript him into the Wardens instead of hanging him for scheming to kill you. You can respond by claiming that some of your best friends are people who tried to kill you in the past.
* In ''[[Rune Factory]]'', [[The Dragon|Lynette]] is responsible for wiping Raguna's memory and throwing him into a monster infested village (which she is responsible for infesting) all for the purpose of [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|using Raguna]] to help unleash a dragon god on the kingdom. After the plan fails, [[You Have Failed Me...|and she's banished from her kingdom for it]], Raguna forgives her virtually instantly (she's even eligible for marriage at that point). Raguna never even asks Lynette to tell him about his past, even if he marries her.
* In ''[[Ace Attorney]]'', Phoenix Wright is surprisingly determined to reach out to and "save" Miles Edgeworth, especially when Edgeworth is on trial as a murder suspect. What is amazing is that Phoenix is doing this even though Edgeworth ruthlessly and relentlessly used every tactic he could, including some very underhanded ones, to get Maya and then Phoenix himself convicted for the murder of his beloved mentor (Let's face it; Edgeworth is not stupid. He HAD to have realized who Mia Fey's REAL murderer was...).
* In the Crimson Flower route of ''[[Fire Emblem: Three Houses]]'', {{spoiler|the Black Eagles are ''very'' forgiving of the crimes Edelgard committed as the Flame Emperor pre-timeskip, which include the attempted murder of Claude and Dimitri by way of hired bandits, enabling Those Who Slither In The Dark to commit horrible atrocities such as the Remire Village tragedy and the forced transformation of students into demonic beasts, and Jeralt's murder at the hands of Monica/Kronya}}. In fact, {{spoiler|a lot of Edelgard's shadier actions are swept under the rug so she can look better than she really is, with the most standout example being Petra's love and admiration of the woman allowing the empire to keep her as a political hostage to keep her home country in line, which REEKS of stockholm syndrome}}.
** In {{spoiler|the Silver Snow route however, the weight of her atrocities lead to her becoming something of a [[Broken Pedestal]] to all of them... except, of course, for [[The Dragon|Hubert]]}}.
* In ''[[Might and Magic]]'', the only game that seems strict with lawbreaking players is the third game, where unsuccessfully trying to steal from a store will give you a year in jail (and being ''falsely'' accused of murder in the second game gives a life sentence, where you serve five years before being cleared). The sixth game has some repercussions for evil deeds, but even if you murder the entire population of a town, you can restore your reputation quickly by making donations to the local temple. Even if you are arrested (due to Notorious reputation) after slaughtering hundreds of civilians, you’ll only get a year in jail, and upon release, your Reputation will be set to Average.
** The seventh game downplays this: one crime that is truly unforgivable is betraying your employer during the Human Elf War, which will cause you [[Nonstandard Game Over|to be executed]] should you confess to it; also, giving in to the Mercenary Guild's demands and stealing from your allies, they will not forgive you for a full year (game time) and will arrest you if you try to talk to them. Anything else (including murdering civilians or the town guard) can be excused by paying fines at the town hall, and failing to do so will, again, only result in a year in prison.
== [[Web Animation]] ==
* Lighthearted example, the famous [[Food Fight]] scene in ''[[RWBY]]''. The students wreck the cafeteria in what would be, to most onlookers, [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3yhmrFN6A-g a brutal and deadly free-for-all], but they don't even get detention for it, their only punishment being [[Badass Teacher| Goodwitch]] sternly telling them not to "play with their food." Possibly justified, as given the [[Training from Hell]] nature of [[Academy of Adventure| Beacon Academy]], the occasional brawl between students might be seen as having benefits.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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* {{spoiler|Gamzee Makara}} in Homestuck is welcomed back with seemingly open arms after his his brief stint of semi-genocidal madness wherein he {{spoiler|successfully murdered several people and seemed bent on getting rid of every other troll before being calmed down. He also directly and deliberately contributed to the creation of a being bent on destroying any universe it is allowed into, the prior creation of a similar omnicidal creature being seen by other characters as akin to a [[Moral Event Horizon]]}}. This quick forgiveness particularly comes out of character for Terezi who had just a few minutes prior (in-story) been ready to kill someone else over suspicion for the same exact murders.
** Kanaya is not so forgiving, and would be happy if she never saw him again. Fortunately, {{spoiler|Gamzee}} seems to be ''afraid'' of her and also avoids her.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Raimundo in ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'', after willingly turning evil and then back again. Omi does express suspicion about him from time to time.
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** Also, given the fact that afterwards Omi kept falling into Chase Young's traps to be prepared for his ally he really couldn't say that he didn't know what Raimundo did.
* Subverted in ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' with Hawkgirl. At first glance, it seems that the team will sweep her assignment from the Thanagarian Empire under the rug at the end of the episode because she's one of the [[True Companions]], but she resigns from the team. She spends a season mostly off-camera doing some soul-searching and still has to save the world a few more times before Wonder Woman's fine with having Hawkgirl in the Justice League again. It remains a sore spot for her and detractors of the Justice League still bring up that the League let Hawkgirl back on the team after what she did... a sore spot that Lex Luthor is [[Magnificent Bastard|notably willing to exploit]].
* Over the course of two sequels, [[Cinderella (Disney film)|Cinderella]] manages to forgive her two stepsisters; after all, they're still family, and never portrayed as more than [[Punch Clock Villain]]s compared to their cruel mother. She even manages to play matchmaker for Anastasia.
* Every "villain" in ''[[Horton Hears a Who!]]!'' The directors bring this up a couple times on the DVD commentary, justifying it by saying it stays true to the spirit of Dr. Seuss' works, as Seuss "was not in the comeuppance business." There was originally a more clear comeuppance for the Kangaroo when everyone turns their back on her, but it was taken out for this reason.
* On ''[[The Fairly
* In ''[[Gargoyles]]'', Goliath readily forgives anyone who stops attacking and tries to undo whatever they've done. Even if two minutes before that they were roaring at each other and fighting tooth and nail. It's most apparent in that lengthy section in season two where he and a few others were being sent all over the world by Avalon. Of course, those few times when he ''wasn't'' attacked right off the bat and tried being friendly first didn't work that well...
** One theme of the show was that holding grudges didn't work out, and that things like revenge only made things worse. Probably a message there.
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* Fungus in ''[[Monsters, Inc.]].'' had been Randall's henchman, aiding him in his evil plot, yet at the end he is seen cheerfully working alongside the others, as if there had never been any bad feelings between them.
** [[Subverted Trope]]. Well, Sully DID put him in the Scream Extractor, and it is implied often that he was coerced into helping them.
* In ''[[Family Guy]]'', it's often difficult to believe Peter is forgiven for a ''lot'' of the crummy things he does, but the biggest example is when Cleveland actually forgives him for ''shooting his son''. Even if Peter did seem genuinely sorry for doing so, it's kind of a stretch.
* In the ''[[Futurama]]'' episode "Lrrreconcilable Ndndifferences", Leela seems to hold no grudge whatsoever against Lrrr [[Large Ham| (RULER OF]] [[Running Gag| OMNICRON PERSEI 8!)]] even though he tried to ''eat'' her in "The Problem With Popplers"; Leela [[Call Back| even mentions that incident]] to him here but doesn't seem upset about it when she does.
== [[Real Life]] ==
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