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Easily Forgiven: Difference between revisions
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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. 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 [[All Is Well That Ends Well]]. Contrast [[Reformed but Rejected]], where the bad guy ''does'' want to be forgiven and works for it, but doesn't get accepted. See also [[Protagonist-Centered Morality]].
{{examples}}
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* Done in ''[[Project ARMS]]'' with pretty much all of Ryo's allies, since virtually all of them met via being sent by the Egrigori to kill him (or were trying to kill him to rebel against the Egrigori...or just trying to kill him). Hayato even comments on it after a group of Egrigori mutants kidnap them and try to kill them, only to be perfectly friendly after the battle is over. One of the mutants points out that all of them are on the Egrigori's hit-list, so they'd best put aside differences if they want to survive. It helps that most of those easily forgiven were also tricked, or horribly brainwashed since childhood and quite happy to give up their dangerous lives.
* ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'': The Juppon Katana are a band of deadly killers who followed Shishio in his attempt to overthrow the government and rule in a very [[Social Darwinist]] manner. And then, after they are defeated, they all get very generous deals from the government with the [[Hand Wave|explanation]] that they have talents that are very useful. Admittedly, Henya and Soujiro (who was never captured) were able do things that probably no one else on earth could, but the rest aren't unique. Cho was a good sword fighter, Kamatari and Fuji are both somewhat sympathetic, but nothing they could give the government as spies (or, in Fuji's case, a defending soldier) is so incredible that it outweighs what they've done all the capital crimes they've committed.
** It is averted with Anji, who despite being probably the most sympathetic of the lot got sentenced to life imprisonment. Also, for some of the group, this is more an example of the authorities extending a literal [["Get Out of Jail Free" Card]] than it is an example of the protagonists readily forgiving villains. It's worth noting that while Shishio was a nut, the series gives some credence to his accusation that the government was totally cynical and amoral, and the pardons could be considered supporting evidence.
* Any protagonist in ''[[Eureka Seven]]'' who meets [[Anti-Villain]] Dominic quickly sees him as [[Friendly Enemy|a really nice guy]] even when knowing his ties to the world's corrupt military. Upon first meeting him in a particular scene in Episode 45, the Gekkostate crew are at first wary of him joining forces with them against [[Big Bad|a common enemy]], but decide to trust him implicitly when he states his reasons for doing so are [[Love Martyr|to protect the girl he loves]], which immediately makes him openly comparable to main protagonist Renton.
* In ''[[Code Geass]]'' Villetta is easily forgiven by Ohgi for shooting and incapacitating him during the Black Rebellion. And, of course, the whole racist Britannian agent thing.
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* In ''[[Hothouse Flower and The Nine Plants of Desire (Literature)|Hothouse Flower and The Nine Plants of Desire]]'', Armand puts Lila through numerous meaningless, life-threatening tasks until she finds a certain plant. When he tells Lila about this, she just laughs it off.
* Jane of Charlotte Bronte's ''[[Jane Eyre]]'' silently forgives her fiance Rochester when he begs it {{spoiler|even though he didn't tell her that he was already married to the [[Madwoman in The Attic]] Bertha who was hidden in the same mansion.}}
* ''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
* In ''[[Warrior Cats (Literature)|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 (Literature)|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.
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** And, in "Cyberwoman", we find out Ianto's been hiding a dangerous [[Killer Robot|Cyberman]] in the basement. He endangers the whole planet, tells the main character he wants him dead and is forgiven by the end of the episode.
** In "Exit Wounds", Captain Jack forgives his brother, Grey, for burying him alive for almost exactly 1900 years. By 'alive' we mean that he suffocated to death and then revived every couple of minutes for nineteen centuries as the city of Cardiff is established above him. Mind you, this is after Grey has John Hart systematically blow up Cardiff, in addition to stabbing Jack in the back (literally!) when they're first reunited. To be fair, though, Jack blames his own failure to protect his brother for being the root cause of all this. And he didn't know what had happened to Owen and Tosh until after the forgiving.
* In the finale of the third series of ''[[
** This is however by far the worst punishment the Doctor could bestow on the Master. Remember, the man's plan is just as much "Make the Doctor my bitch" as it is "Take over the Universe" (Some would say that his plan was "Take over the Universe ''[[Foe Yay|in order]]'' to make the Doctor my Bitch"). By forgiving the Master in such a off-handed way, he proves his complete and utter failure in that.
* ''[[Degrassi the Next Generation]]'' does this to a ridiculous extent to justify the current [[Heel Face Turn]]. Here are some things Degrassi villains have done, all of which were forgiven promptly by the victim after the turn:
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* 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.
* In ''[[The Vampire Diaries]]'' Damon. Over and over again. He murders people on a whim, uses his [[Mind Control]] powers to [[Double Standard Rape (Sci Fi)|effectively rape people]], torments his brother and murders his best friend, [[spoiler: it's strongly implied he was about to force himself on Elena when her brother interrupted them, in response he murdered him and within a few episodes they're acting as he's just one of the team. When he does something that isn't ''reprehensible'' they act as though he's done something laudable, as opposed to adhering to minimum standards of acceptable behavior.
** A lot of times, it seems that they're not so much forgiving him as giving up on him ever being a reasonable human being. Then he does something not-horrifying, and it makes everyone think "well, maybe he can change..." and then he kills someone [[Kick the Dog|just to prove that he's still evil]]. The only reason they haven't killed him is because he's Stefan's brother (and he can't bring himself to kill him), not to mention the best fighter.
* "[[The Big Bang Theory|I forgive you, let's go home]]."
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** 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.
** ''[[Final Fantasy VII]]'' also has Yuffie committing (literal) [[Wutai Theft]] and Cait Sith {{spoiler|acting as a spy for Shinra since the time you meet and kidnapping hostages}}. Each one is [[Welcome Back, Traitor|welcomed back]] more or less unchanged.
*** In Cait Sith's case, he actually was ''not'' welcomed back; the {{spoiler|hostages}} were his way of ''forcing'' his way back onto the team. Still, Aeris seems pretty broken up when {{spoiler|he is about to sacrifice his robotic self}} shortly afterward (for all the difference it didn't make in the long run.)
* Nobody commented on Kain from ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' yet? Not only he turns from Face to Heel and back [[Heel Face Revolving Door|at an alarming rate]], each time he comes back to the good side everybody welcomes him with open arms. Curiously enough, when he finally turns good for real, the only one to distrust him is Edge, who has seen him betray the party only once.
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* In ''[[Knights of the Old Republic]]'' {{spoiler|Revan starts a bloody violent war against the Republic, all in the name of putting in place a stronger government to fight against the True Sith he has had a vision of. Then he loses his memory, gets retrained as a Jedi, kills the guy who picked up the mantle after his supposed death, and gets a medal and is hailed as a hero. It's almost justified by how Revan's identity is kept a secret... but then Vandar declares him 'Revan, the Prodigal Knight' at the celebration following the Sith defeat in front of hundreds of Republic officers.}}
** Bastila is also pretty easily forgiven for going to the dark side ([[Being Tortured Makes You Evil|She was tortured!]]) and using her Battle Meditation to allow the Sith to kill hundreds, if not thousands, of Republic officers. And then she acts surprised and somewhat disgusted that Revan attempted to redeem and forgive Malak, despite her getting the same treatment not even an hour before.
*** To be fair, Malak was the one doing most of the torturing in her case. It's not like most people would behave rationally around the one responsible for their complete [[Freak
* Subverted and played straight in the first ''[[Devil May Cry]]'' game; even if he saves Trish just because ''she looks like his mother'', Dante is enraged by the discovery that she is working for Mundus, and threatens to kill her if they meet up again. That is the subverted part. Now for the played straight part, he ''finally'' forgives her after defeating Mundus. Though by that point Trish had taken a spear in the chest for Dante and gave him the powerboost he needed to beat Mundus, so his forgiveness is somewhat understandable.
* In [[The World Ends With You (Video Game)|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.
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[[Category:Heel Face Index]]
[[Category:Easily Forgiven]]
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