Easily Forgiven: Difference between revisions

 

{{examples}}

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

* Duke Devlin on ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]''.

* 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.

* Bombshell from ''[[Teen Titans (Comic Book)|Teen Titans]]'' is allowed membership on the team, after she betrayed them prior, had tried to kill them, and tried to frame two other (innocent) members of the group as the real traitor. Sure, Ravager was also allowed on the team, but she was [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] when she was their enemy... Bombshell has no such excuse.

* [[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.

* [[Ace Combat: The Equestrian War|Fluttershy]] holds no grudges against Firefly when she initally berates the timid pegasus for not fighting the griffins. When Firefly apologizes for her behaviour, Fluttershy [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|gives her a hug]].

* [[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]]s her in an [[It Makes Sense in Context|attempt to make her]] [[Serious Business|like Tea.]]}}

== [[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 ''[[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]]ing result in an accident that killed his best friend. Lampshaded in the ''[[How It Should Have Ended]]'' spoof, where [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_2Nn4wAVNOg&t=1m45s Maverick punches out Iceman] after the climatic battle because "My real best friend is dead because of you!"

== [[Literature]] ==

* ''[[Fingerprints]]'': A major villain from the first six books suddenly joins the heroes in the seventh. The reason for the [[Heel Face Turn]] makes sense; the speed with which the main character accepts it does not. The villain even admits to being baffled by the hero's easy forgiveness.

* 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.}}

* 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]] ==

* Parodied in one strip from ''[[Calvin and Hobbes]]'' when Susie decides to forgive Calvin for some nasty things he said that made her cry. He's so overjoyed that she immediately rethinks this decision:

** In another strip, Calvin causes the family car to roll out the driveway and fall down a ditch across the street. He and Hobbes hide in a tree, but is confused to find his parents are more concerned about whether he was safe than about the car (which, incidentally, wasn't damaged.)

* 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.

== [[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 [[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]], [[All of the Other Reindeer|are frequently mistrusted by other faces for having a mysterious agenda]].

== [[Theater]] ==

* [[William Shakespeare]]'s plays have several examples:

** 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.

* 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]].

* {{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.

* 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]] ==

* Reputedly, [[Alexander the Great]]'s relentless pursuit of ex-emperor Darius III of Persia was not because he wanted to kill him, but because Alexander recognised Darius' genius and wanted to recruit Darius to govern Persia in Alexander's name.