Easily Forgiven: Difference between revisions

{{quote|''"I trust you implicitly, thieving child."''|'''Joey''', ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!: The Abridged Series|Yu-Gi-Oh the Abridged Series]]''}}

 

 

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]].

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

** 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.

*** 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.

* Shizuru in ''[[My-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.

** 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)}}.

** 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.

** 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.

** 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>but not before trying to force Luffy to make a [[Sadistic Choice]]</ref> Luffy seems to forgive her within seconds.

** 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'' easily forgive and she harbours no hate towards Jinbe or any other fishmen.

* 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 from the Scrappy Heap|rescuing him from the Scrappy Heap]]. It could be a ''subversion'', since {{spoiler|Soma might have forgiven Andrei... but Andrei will never forgive ''himself''. Now that he knows Sergei ''did'' try to do his best to reach for him, the fact that he killed his dad as the ultimate rejection of him and the guilt coming from such a fact will certainly haunt Andrei ''forever''.}}

** 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.

** 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.

* 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.

* 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 Extant—not even Atom Smasher, who arranged his death.

* [[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.]]

 

* 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 Easily Forgiven occurs in most L x Light [[Slash Fic]].

* 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.

* 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.]]

== [[Film]] ==

* Sandman in ''[[Spider-Man (film)|Spider-Man]] 3''. Apparently, the fact that Sandman has a sick daughter and didn't ''mean'' to {{spoiler|''kill Uncle Ben''}} is enough to get forgiveness from Spidey.

* 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.

== [[Live Action TV]] ==

* Subverted in ''[[Farscape]]''. Some things - {{spoiler|like Chiana cheating on D'Argo}} - are not forgiven fully for more then a year, much like they would be in real life. In fact, one episode is all about the others being unable to forgive Aeryn for {{spoiler|executing Moya's previous pilot years before she met them. She nearly leaves the ship over it, and is also nearly killed by the current Pilot.}}

** 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}}.

* 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.

"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]] ==

{{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]] ==

** 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]].

* 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...).

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* Particularly in the early strips, the cast of ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'' was surprisingly tolerant of Aylee's human eating tendencies and Bun-Bun's general sociopathic tendencies. They do eventually put their foot down on Aylee eating people and convince her to quit, but Bun-Bun still gets a mostly free pass for all the violent and manipulative things he's done, does, and will do. Of course, that might just be because he'd kill them all if they tried to get tough with him. [[Token Evil Teammate|Better to keep the switchblade-wielding bully on their side]].

** 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]].

* 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 OddParents]]'', Mark Chang goes from Timmy's enemy to a good friend after his [[Heel Face Turn]]. This is despite the fact that Mark has threatened to slurp out Timmy's brain through a bendy straw, <s>kidnapped his babysitter</s> (he ''liked'' that), tried to kill him in death combat, and launched a weapon that he thought would destroy the Earth.

* 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.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==