Face Heel Turn: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

[[File:arthasx2b250 1777.jpg|link=Warcraft|frame|Arthas: from a nice person to [[An Ice Person|An]] [[A Worldwide Punomenon|Ice]] [[An Ice Person|Person]]. ]]

 

In [[Professional Wrestling]], a "good" wrestler (a [[Face]]) is occasionally tempted by [[The Dark Side]], or just gets fed up, and becomes a [[Heel]]. Magazines and other promotional material from the various wrestling "leagues" frequently comment on various wrestlers' changes in "alignment" (in wrestling's fictional plotline known as [[Kayfabe]]) nearly as frequently as they actually cover events in the ring themselves. (They even actually use phrases like "Face Heel Turn", though the shorter "Heel Turn" is more common)

{{noreallife|Calling real-life people evil is an extremely bad idea. Also, it is too subjective to proclaim that someone has joined the "dark side" in real life.}}

 

 

* Char Aznable in ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam]]: [[Chars Counterattack|Char's Counterattack]]'', goes from a father figure to fucking insane.

* Yui in ''[[Fushigi Yuugi]]'', and most other instances of [[Rival Turned Evil]].

* The Uchiha Bros. (tm) from ''[[Naruto]]'' might be taken into account, though their Heel turns were not really an alignment change. Maybe except for Sasuke's latest.

** The defection from Konoha wasn't really an alignment change, but Sasuke [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|swan dived off the slippery slope]] after finding about Itachi's real motives. On the other hand, Itachi was just a [[Fake Defector]] all along.

* ''[[Bleach]]'' has the infamous revelation of the main villains {{spoiler|Aizen, Gin, and Tousen}}, and the second filler arc also has third seat Kifune of Squad 3.

*** Concerning the former three, {{spoiler|Aizen was [[Evil All Along]] and was just putting on a facade so no one would suspect him. Gin is revealed to be a [[Fake Defector]] who only went along with Aizen to stop him when he was at his venerable. The only one that truly fits is Tousen, who willingly joined Aizen's side to take revenge on the Soul Society for letting a shinigami get away with killing his best friend.}}

* Wonrei joins the Faudo revival cult in ''[[Gash Bell|Konjiki no Gash Bell!!]]'' when his bookkeeper is placed under a curse that will kill her if Faudo is not revived. However, this Face Heel Turn is fairly temporary, as expected given the nature of the series.

* {{spoiler|Megumi}} in ''[[Gate Keepers]]'', after {{spoiler|her envy towards Ruriko reaches its peak.}}

* {{spoiler|Mikael}} from ''[[Tenshi ni Narumon]]'' does a Face Heel Turn {{spoiler|in the last episodes of the series which ends in an epic breakdown. He gets better}}.

* Shinobu Sensui in ''[[Yu Yu Hakusho]]'', following an EPIC [[Freak-Out]] {{spoiler|[[Go Mad from the Revelation|when he stumbled upon]] [[Black and Gray Morality|humans torturing demons]] [[For the Evulz]]}}. Incidentally, Koenma (who sent Sensui on the mission that caused his alignment change) considers this [[My Greatest Failure|his greatest failure]].

* In ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'', {{spoiler|every witch counts as this due to [[The Corruption|how magic works]] in the general universe}}, the most prominent in-series example being {{spoiler|Sayaka becoming Oktavia Von Seckendorff after her Soul Gem darkened completely and turned into a Grief Seed}}.

 

== Comic Books ==

* ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]'': If you believe that the pro-registration side was "evil", then Tony Stark, [[Iron Man]], fits the bill. The same goes for the anti-registration heroes.

* Hal Jordan, ''[[Green Lantern]]'' poster child, underwent a psychotic turn into a being that wanted to reshape all of existence. Later explained and retconned, but still heavily controversial.

** Well, at least [[Cassandra Cain]] is back to her old self now. It is a very good thing she had a lot of fans who were quick to rise to her defence and show DC just how much they care about her.

* [[Shazam|Mary Marvel]] provided an interesting contrast as a Golden Age teen amidst modern comics characters. Unfortunately DC decided to make her turn evil. Her clothes [[Paint It Black|even turned black]].

* A very big one few years ago was [[X-Men]] longtime member Bishop - after years of looking for a mysterious traitor who was supposed to kill X-Men, he betrayed them himself, for the same reason he joined them in the first place - to stop a [[Bad Future]] from happening.

* In ''[[Sonic the Comic]]'', Nack the Weasel is introduced as a member of the heroic Chaotix - but by the end of their introductory story he's sold them out to the Brotherhood of Metallix, an army of spectacularly evil robotic copies of Sonic. Admittedly a loose example, as a) he'd clearly already turned before the story started and b) the character was always a villain in the Sonic games, so seeing him as a hero first is the unexpected bit.

 

== Fan Works ==

** Trixie starts out the story as [[The Atoner]], who wants to learn true magic from Twilight in order to make up for her boastful and arrogant past. When Twilight turns, she talks Trixie into helping strike at the other Elements of Harmony... then Trixie sees [[In Love with Your Carnage|how powerful Twilight is]], and performs a full turn herself in order to convince Twilight to keep her.

** In a rather [[Shocking Swerve]], {{spoiler|Sweetie Bell and Scootaloo}}, who join up due to a combo of [[More Than Mind Control]] and not seeming to be fully aware of what's happening.

 

== Film ==

* {{spoiler|Sentinel Prime}} in ''[[Transformers Film Series|Transformers 3: Dark of the Moon]]''.

* The trope image gets lampshaded in ''[[Muppets from Space]]'' where Rizzo the Rat tries to plead with Hulk Hogan by saying "What will your fans think?" The response: "Hey, I'm a bad guy now."

* In ''[[The Incredibles]]'', Buddy Pine's career as Incredi-Boy is short-lived when he is rejected by his idol, Mr. Incredible. But Mr. Incredible learns the hard way that some people can't handle rejection when he goes up against Syndrome, who is actually Buddy all grown up and out for revenge.

 

== Literature ==

* David in ''[[Animorphs]]''. He starts out helping the team, then goes evil and [[Sixth Ranger Traitor]].

* In ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (novel)|The Hunchback Of Notre Dame]]'', Archdeacon Claude Frollo is a compassionate man in the beginning, but after seeing [[Hot Gypsy Woman|Esmerelda]], he goes mad with [[Lust]] and slowly becomes evil, desiring to either have her for his own or kill her if she won't become his.

 

== Live Action TV ==

* {{spoiler|Londo Mollari}} begins the ''[[Babylon 5]]'' [[Myth Arc]] as the human commander's closest ally, but effectively becomes [[The Dragon]] as the series progresses. In fact, he [[Face Heel Revolving Door|vacillates between good and evil repeatedly]] as the series goes on.

** Also Talia Winters, once her (utterly psychotic) "sleeper" personality was unlocked.

* Half the cast of ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]''. Double-agency was a big part of the premise of the show, so it is to be expected.

** Perhaps most notable was {{spoiler|Lauren, Vaughn's (first) wife}}, which was probably supposed to be a big surprise, but which everyone saw coming anyway.

** In the best surprise on either show, {{spoiler|Cordelia}} does a face-heel turn in the middle of Season 4 of ''[[Angel]]'', awesomely and dramatically revealed when she {{spoiler|cuts Lila Morgan's throat}}.

*** That's more of a subversion, really, seeing as {{spoiler|Cordelia herself never changed sides -- she was possessed by [[Eldritch Abomination|Jasmine]] at the time}}.

* Jake Straka, for some reason, near the end of ''The Guardian''.

* Tyr on ''[[Andromeda]]'' - though we all knew it would happen sooner or later, as Tyr was always [[Magnificent Bastard|playing his own game]].

* Every character on ''[[Charmed]]'', at some point or other.

* Agent Lee on ''[[NCIS]]'' appears to be [[The Mole]], faking a relationship to gain access to a private area (of the complex, you pervs) and killing another agent to protect herself. {{spoiler|She's actually being forced to do it by [[I Have Your Wife|her niece's kidnappers]]. Naturally, [[Redemption Equals Death]] for Agent Lee.}}

* Undersheriff McKeen on ''[[CSI]]''.

** Kes was supposed to be upset over being talked into leaving all of her people and life behind to travel to the middle of nowhere with Voyager's crew, and the episode's plot was about her trying to go back in time and convince her younger self to bail while she still had the chance. Given her [[Ascended to A Higher Plane of Existence]] exit in "The Gift," it was likely a case of [[With Great Power Comes Great Insanity]].

* ''[[St. Elsewhere]]'''s Dr. Peter White winds up being a serial rapist.

** Earlier on in the series, {{spoiler|Boomer [[Heel Face Revolving Door|appears]] to have joined Cavil's side in the Cylon civil war, later helps the final Cylon escape from exploratory brain surgery and gives her lover a literal [[Imagine Spot|Imagine]]/HopeSpot then steals her "twin's" daughter only to [[Pet the Dog|bond]] with her "niece" and give her back and is finally killed by her "sister"}}.

* Shane Vandrell in ''[[The Shield]]'', more than once.

* ''[[24]]'' embodies this trope. Most seasons have at least one of [[The Mole]] at some point. Sometimes this turns out to be misleading, with a few [[Fake Defector]]s, but there are several infamous true face heel turns. Going back to the first season was {{spoiler|Nina Myers, who turns into a recurring villain for two more seasons}}. Most recently was the even more drastic {{spoiler|Tony Almeida, whose [[Heel Face Revolving Door]] led the audience to be surprised by the (second) revelation that he was a villain, despite the fact that this was technically common knowledge months before the season even began}}.

* {{spoiler|Allan}} in season 2 of the new ''[[Robin Hood (TV series)|Robin Hood]]'', at least until {{spoiler|his [[Heel Face Turn]]}} later on in the season.

* ''[[Doctor Who]]'''s own 10th Doctor went a little overboard (shall we say) in the episode "The Waters of Mars" when he finally realized he was the only Time Lord left in the Universe and didn't have to follow their rules anymore. He became megalomaniacal, the "Time Lord Victorious!" until the episode's heroine corrects his mistake. {{spoiler|By killing herself.}}

** This is played straight with the Time Lords, led by [[Department of Redundancy Department|Lord President of the Time Lords]] Rassilon, turning into [[Omnicidal Maniac|Omnicidal]] [[Knight Templar]]s with the Time War, leading to the destruction of most of the Daleks as well as the Time Lords, [[Earthshattering Kaboom|including Gallifrey]], by the Doctor.

* In season 6 of ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'', the Big Bad of the season, to whom both {{spoiler|Crowley and Eve}} played [[Disc One Final Boss]], is revealed to be {{spoiler|Castiel, who has decided that to defeat Rafael and put Heaven on the right track, anything is acceptable - in this case, taking on a million souls. The Winchester boys do their best to stop Castiel throughout the final episodes of the season, while he continues to plead for them to accept him and his reasons for evil}}.

* Duncan MacLeod does this for two episodes in ''[[Highlander the Series]]'', while he's possessed by the Dark Quickening. His good and evil sides finally battle after Methos drags him into a magical hot spring, and his goodness wins, enabling a [[Heel Face Turn]].

 

== Professional Wrestling ==

** The one exception at that event was [[Rob Van Dam]]. As one of the ECW invaders, he behaved like a [[Dirty Coward]] in his Ladder Match with [[Jeff Hardy]] for the Hardcore Championship but got cheered anyway - and won!

** On the other side, all WWF superstars were supposed to be faces. They forgot why X-Pac [[X-Pac Heat|has his own trope]] and he was booed in his match with Kidman. He quickly blamed the fans and so at Summerslam every match was WWF vs. Alliance except his.

 

== Religion/Mythology ==

*** Why do people blame God for Judas's actions? Also, Judas is recorded as commiting suicide in at least one of the gospels. Acts just restates the event. I'm pretty sure there was no plan. Prophecy, yes. Plan, no.

* Loki, the trickster God of [[Norse Mythology]], had one which has been re-written tons of times in order to make him more villainous. Originally, Loki was a harmless trikster and best friends with Thor and Odin, often going with them on adventures. He caused some trouble (sometimes on purpose, sometimes completely unintentionally), but more or less would fix everything in the end, usually with something bad happening to himself and the other gods getting a gift (such as, when he cut off Sif's hair, Thor and Odin ended up with their future signiture weapons amonst other treats while he ended up with his mouth stitched close, or the time he agreed to letting a man use his horse to help work on building a wall which nearly meant the Gods had to pay him for it, and ended up with Odin's multi-legged horse and him being raped by a stallion and giving birth to said multilegged horse), but always ment well. Then, they didn't invite him to mead, and began talking about him behind his back. Loki got mad and invited himself, and began insulting the others in their faces, until Thor arrived as he was insulting Sif, [[Dispriportunate Retribution|and in retaliation for nonstop insulting Thor,]] [[And I Must Scream|Loki was bound naked to some boulders with the entrails of his own son]] [[Fate Worse Than Death|while a snake dripped venom into his eyes]], driving Loki insane. When Loki gets free, he will orchestrate Ragnarok in retaliation, leading the the death of all life in existance.

== Tabletop Games ==

* Crovax and Ertai of the Weatherlight crew in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]''.

** And for that matter, Blackguards, the prestige class the Antipaladin is based upon from ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' 3E and 3.5. In particular, the worst kind of Blackguard, and by far the most powerful and feared, is one who [[Fallen Hero|was once a paladin]]. A fallen paladin who becomes a Blackguard gains extra abilities, and the more levels of paladin they had, the more powerful they become as Blackguards, and if a particularly high-level paladin goes bad this way, he or she can trade in ten levels of their former paladin class to become a fully-powered Blackguard with all abilities, as well as extra abilities based on how many levels of paladin they have left after the Face Heel Turn.

* [[God of Evil|Asmodeus]] in the various ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]'' settings is generally recognized as having started as a force for good before becoming [[He Who Fights Monsters]], appropriate considering he's the single straightest analogue for [[Satan]] in D&D. On the other hand, having a [[Multiple Choice Past]] and all, a few origin stories state that not only was he always evil, he is in fact one of the original, primal forces of evil from the beginning of the universe.

 

== Theater ==

* Arguably Elphaba from ''[[Wicked (theatre)|Wicked]]'' fits this trope, after having everything she tries spectacularly backfire on her, and having everyone she loves die all around her, she snaps during the song 'No Good Deed' dedicating herself to a lifetime of evil. Almost immediately subverted when she is shown to be just very, very pissed off, but not actually evil a mere song later.

* In the back story of [[Euripides]]' ''Hecuba'', Achilles, hero of ''[[The Iliad]]'', defected to Troy after falling in love with Trojan princess Polyxena. And then his would-be brother-in-law Paris shot him in his [[Achilles' Heel]] ''at the wedding'', and everything went pear-shaped for the Trojans.

 

== Video Games ==

* The supposed Face Heel Turn of Ralgha "Hobbes" nar Hhallas in ''[[Wing Commander (video game)|Wing Commander]] III'' didn't work for many fans of that series who have only played the PC version (the console versions used bigger CDs than computers of the time, and could thus fit the explanation cutscene into the game; the [[Novelization]] also covers the explanation). In this case, he was an (unwitting) [[The Mole|mole]].

* Sorbet in ''[[Magical Starsign]]'' fakes one as part of an elaborate plan to trick the Big Bad, and it's so convincing that even your party falls for it...unfortunately, you waltz in just as her plan is about to come to fruition.

*** Orson from ''[[Fire Emblem]]: The Sacred Stones''.

* In ''[[Super Robot Wars Original Generation]]'' and ''[[Super Robot Wars Alpha]]'' {{spoiler|Ingram Prisken, leader of the SRX team and Ryusei's mentor, reveals halfway through the game that he is an alien spy who was trying to strengthen the earthlings so they would make better weapons for the Balmar. He afterwards becomes [[That One Boss]].}}

* Jerry Ying from the [[John Woo]] game ''[[Stranglehold]]'', who starts out as Tequila's partner and ally inside Wong's Dragon Claw syndicate, only to {{spoiler|[[Going Native|go native during the Chicago History Museum stage]] and carry out Wong's orders to kill Tequila and [[Offing the Offspring|Billie, Wong's own daughter]]. Tequila survives, but Billie isn't so lucky, setting up a furious showdown between partners as Tequila seeks vengeance for Billie}}.

* ''Everybody'' in ''[[Warcraft]]''. The only creatures who were evil from the start are the [[Eldritch Abomination|Old Gods]] of Azeroth and some of their servants. Everybody else started good and was corrupted by some means.

* Sialeeds in ''[[Suikoden V]]''.

** Jowy in ''[[Suikoden II]]''.

* The Boss in ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]: Snake Eater'', who switches from United States allegiances to the Soviet Union. {{spoiler|It turns out that The Boss was really doing this to help the United States regain The Philosopher's Legacy. ''Naked Snake'' kills her, taking her position as Big Boss, only afterwards learning the truth.}}

** It's more of a [[Fake Defector]] really.

* Jan Kurtas/Medusa in ''[[Odium]]'' was a victim of [[Viral Transformation]] that turned him into a monster, but - unlike all other townspeople - he did not become an insane killing machine. Unless you blunder into the (entirely avoidable) scripted sequence where he finally succumbs and attacks you. (You can get an [[Optional Party Member]] as a replacement afterwards.)

* Nathan Hale in ''[[Resistance]] 2'' in the ending. Though only briefly.

** First, {{spoiler|the Twins, Popola and Devola are initially major allies in Nier's quest, but late in the game turn out to be two of the story's central villains.}}

** Secondly, {{spoiler|In the path to endings C and D (which is only possible by obtaining every weapon on a [[New Game+]]), Kaine's Shade half takes full control over her, turning her into the [[Final Boss]].}}

* No one mentioned perhaps the most famous example? [[Double Dragon]], in which Billy and Jimmy fight side-by-side through everything to rescue the girl, only to find that Jimmy is indeed the [[Big Bad]]

* {{spoiler|Wheatley, after the core transfer with [[GLaDOS]]}} in [[Portal 2]]. In fact, the audio files for these lines have "heel turn" in their names.

** {{spoiler|You don't even go that fair. Just let one of the Martins escape during the final sequence and kick back and watch the fun. You get the same ending either way.}}

* Marty "Monk" Malone is a loyal Corleone enforcer and a good friend of the protagonist in the video game adaptation of ''[[The Godfather]]''. When {{spoiler|his sister is murdered late in the game}} to get at the protagonist, Monk becomes embittered and eventually turns traitor, forcing the player to kill him.

* ''[[Pokémon Mystery Dungeon]]'' has this seemingly innocent line, if it wasn't for its [[Dissonant Serenity|dissonantly gleeful]] delivery:

* Quox, [[The Dragon]] of ''[[The Tower of Druaga]]'', was an ally of Ki in ''[[The Quest of Ki]]'' who turned evil after Druaga split the Blue Crystal Rod.

* {{spoiler|Almalexia}} did this at some point prior to the ''Tribunal'' expansion to ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind]]'', due in large part to loss of access to the Heart of Lorkhan.

* In ''[[FHBG]]'', the Sneakers got bored.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* {{spoiler|Dr. Schlock}} from ''[[Sluggy Freelance]]'', though he'd been straddling the fence for quite some time, anyway.

* {{spoiler|[[The Protomen|Panther]]}} in ''[[Dead of Summer]]'' does this in a [[Nightmare Fuel|very scary scene]], first by {{spoiler|[[Eye Scream|tearing out Dr Light's eyes]] and killing him,}} then by {{spoiler|declaring Doug Fetterman will be the new leader}}.

** {{spoiler|[[Subverted Trope|Though not really]], as it's an [[Evil Twin|evil clone]] of him as part of Fetterman's [[Evil Plan]].}}

** And then, not long after, {{spoiler|Gamzee runs out of [[No Medication for Me|sopor slime pies]] and becomes sane, which causes him to remember his destiny as a murderous Subjugglator. Later on however Karkat delivers a [[Cooldown Hug]] that manages to calm him and return him back to the way he was.}}

* Ellen of ''[[El Goonish Shive]]'' shortly after her creation. Fortunately Dan [[Heel Face Turn|scrapped the idea of her staying evil]].

 

== [[Web Original]] ==

* Any time a previous non-player starts to actively participate in the 'game' in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]''. As you might imagine, this tends to happen a lot.

* {{spoiler|Agent Washington}} of ''[[Red vs. Blue]]''.

 

== Western Animation ==

* {{spoiler|Aqualad/Kaldur'ahm}} in season two of ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'', after he becomes embittered at his former friends for {{spoiler|letting Tula die during a mission gone wrong}} and his own mentor, {{spoiler|Aquaman, for hiding the truth about his real, supervillain father, Black Manta. Kaldur ends up joining him.}}

* ''[[The Clone Wars|Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'': {{spoiler|Captain Argyus, Slick, Pong Krell.}}

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Esoteric Trope Names]]

[[Category:Corruption Tropes]]