Faith Heel Turn: Difference between revisions

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== Anime and Manga ==

* The [[Psycho for Hire]] Akabane of ''[[~~Get Backers (Manga)|Get Backers~~]]'' (AKA [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|"Doctor]] Jackal") used to be an actual doctor who saved people, but failed to save the son of a good friend. That is the origin of his current personality.

* The [[Psycho for Hire]] Akabane of ''[[GetBackers]]'' (AKA [[Morally-Ambiguous Doctorate|"Doctor]] Jackal") used to be an actual doctor who saved people, but failed to save the son of a good friend. That is the origin of his current personality.

* In ''[[~~Weiss Kreuz (Anime)|~~Weiss Kreuz]]'', [[The Psycho Rangers|Schwarz]]'s resident [[Ax Crazy]] [[Knife Nut]] Farfarello started out as a devout Catholic child, but when he learned that he was adopted and that the nun who was his teacher was his biological mother, he had a psychotic episode and murdered his entire adopted family. As an adult he claims that his desire is to kill God, and spends his spare time torturing priests to death.

* In ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'', [[The Psycho Rangers|Schwarz]]'s resident [[Ax Crazy]] [[Knife Nut]] Farfarello started out as a devout Catholic child, but when he learned that he was adopted and that the nun who was his teacher was his biological mother, he had a psychotic episode and murdered his entire adopted family. As an adult he claims that his desire is to kill God, and spends his spare time torturing priests to death.

* In the ''[[~~Soul Eater (Manga)|~~Soul Eater]]'' manga, {{spoiler|Justin Law}} pulls an ultimate Faith Heel Turn {{spoiler|and kills BJ}} because of imposed insanity from The Clown.

* In the ''[[Soul Eater]]'' manga, {{spoiler|Justin Law}} pulls an ultimate Faith Heel Turn {{spoiler|and kills BJ}} because of imposed insanity from The Clown.

* ''[[~~Rurouni Kenshin (Anime)|~~Rurouni Kenshin]]'''s Yukyuzan Anji is a particularly heartbreaking example, though he's not an awful person by any means. He turns from an extremely kind, devout, and physically unimposing [[Good Shepherd|Buddhist priest]] to the hulking [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|fallen priest]] that he is in the Kyoto arc when the children under his care are trapped inside his temple and burned alive, due to his landlord being a dirty [[Jerkass]].

* ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'''s Yukyuzan Anji is a particularly heartbreaking example, though he's not an awful person by any means. He turns from an extremely kind, devout, and physically unimposing [[Good Shepherd|Buddhist priest]] to the hulking [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|fallen priest]] that he is in the Kyoto arc when the children under his care are trapped inside his temple and burned alive, due to his landlord being a dirty [[Jerkass]].

** Actually, it's worse: that wasn't 'his landlord'; it was the village head, hoping to curry favor with the new government and its emperor-centered Shinto. [[Kick the Dog|So he had the village burn down a Buddhist temple full of orphans.]] Based on actual history, after the Meiji cut off government sponsorship of temples to promote their new standardized form of the 'native religion.' The orphans are kinda a stretch, though.

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== Films ==

* In ''[[Bram ~~Stokers~~ Dracula ~~(Film)~~|Bram Stokers Dracula]]'', Dracula is originally a very pious nobleman, until one day, while he is busy fighting off the enemies of the Church, his wife kills herself. The priest tells him that, sorry, suicides are damned for all eternity, nothing to be done about it. Dracula does not take this news at all well.

* In ''[[Bram Stoker's Dracula|Bram Stokers Dracula]]'', Dracula is originally a very pious nobleman, until one day, while he is busy fighting off the enemies of the Church, his wife kills herself. The priest tells him that, sorry, suicides are damned for all eternity, nothing to be done about it. Dracula does not take this news at all well.

* Salieri in ''[[Amadeus]]'' does this after continually being upstaged by the boorish, spoiled, conceited, but vastly more talented Mozart, ultimately deciding to steal his work and drive him to his death, because he couldn't stand that God had made Mozart more gifted than he. Inverted in that even beforehand he was really a [[Jerkass]] whose faith in God was basically an extension of his personal vanity.

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* ''[[The Sparrow]]'': Emilio Sandoz seems to have at the beginning of ''[[The Sparrow]]''. Much of the book is finding out what exactly happened.

* An inversion, but not a heelFaithTurn, occurs in ''[[Elantris]]'' with {{spoiler|Hrathen}}, whose growing doubts over his religious faith cause him to turn ''against'' the [[Big Bad]]. From the villain's perspective, this would be a straight example.

* {{spoiler|Hollyleaf}} from ''[[~~Warrior Cats (Literature)|~~Warrior Cats]]'' [[Go Mad From the Revelation|freaks out]] upon learning {{spoiler|her true parentage, promptly switching sides and going on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]].}}

* {{spoiler|Hollyleaf}} from ''[[Warrior Cats]]'' [[Go Mad From the Revelation|freaks out]] upon learning {{spoiler|her true parentage, promptly switching sides and going on a [[Roaring Rampage of Revenge]].}}

* A [[GK Chesterton]] mystery story involves the puzzle of why one person would murder another on the grounds of ideological ''agreement''. In the story, a [[Hollywood Atheist]] has been trying to convince a [[Wide Eyed Idealist]] that [[Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions|all morality is merely subjective]]. {{spoiler|He succeeds, so the idealist loses his faith and [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|concludes it's not immoral to murder the atheist]], whom he hated. Ergo, their ideological agreement led to murder.}}

* A [[G. K. Chesterton]] mystery story involves the puzzle of why one person would murder another on the grounds of ideological ''agreement''. In the story, a [[Hollywood Atheist]] has been trying to convince a [[Wide-Eyed Idealist]] that [[Outgrown Such Silly Superstitions|all morality is merely subjective]]. {{spoiler|He succeeds, so the idealist loses his faith and [[Jumping Off the Slippery Slope|concludes it's not immoral to murder the atheist]], whom he hated. Ergo, their ideological agreement led to murder.}}

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** In his case it was an unfortunate case of [[In the Blood]], though.

* Averted (or perhaps inverted) with Father Dougal of ''[[Father Ted]]''. While Dougal often makes comments which would perfectly fit this kind of character (e.g. something like "Todd, we're not really supposed to believe in that Jesus stuff, are we?"), he is [[The Ditz]] and presented as a [[Dumb Is Good|better person]] than the more faithful Ted.

* ''[[Star Trek Deep Space Nine]]'' has a bit more gradual version: Kai Winn was always jealous of Sisko for being the one the Prophets chose as their Emissary, and the fact that they didn't communicate with her wore on her more and more. Then the Prophets' rivals, the Pah Wraiths, ''do'' show her some attention, and by this point, that's enough to drive her over the edge into true villainy as their servant, working alongside Gul Dukat.

* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'' has a bit more gradual version: Kai Winn was always jealous of Sisko for being the one the Prophets chose as their Emissary, and the fact that they didn't communicate with her wore on her more and more. Then the Prophets' rivals, the Pah Wraiths, ''do'' show her some attention, and by this point, that's enough to drive her over the edge into true villainy as their servant, working alongside Gul Dukat.

** Just so you non-Trekkies are clear here, the Prophets of this religion are very active figures, and it seems relatively easy to get a chance to contact one of them and receive knowledge. The highest member of the religion should certainly get this blessing from the Prophets, but Kai Winn never did. Ever. Probably because they see the future and know what she'll become.

*** Unless you count Orb Experiences, (which outside the wormhole seemed more vision and less communication), I'm not sure how active the prophets actually were.

*** [[Self-Fulfilling Prophecy|...which happened in large part because they did that...]]

*** Winn was an ass ''before'' the Pah Wraiths got involved; she got the job as Kai not because she was particularly devout, but because she had the political know-how to eliminate better candidates from the election. The Prophets probably ignored her because they realized she wasn't really in her position for the right reasons; to the Pah Wraiths, however, she (along with {{spoiler|Dukat}}) made an ideal [[Anti Christ]].

* An example where the person doesn't turn evil, but still gives up on life, occurs in the ''[[Star Trek Voyager]]'' episode "Mortal Coil", where Neelix dies and is brought back to life. He has no memory of experiencing the Talaxian idea of the afterlife (where you go to a forest in which you're reunited with dead loved ones). Because he lost his whole family in a war, that belief was the only thing keeping him going, and it takes Chakotay to talk him out of suicide.

* An example where the person doesn't turn evil, but still gives up on life, occurs in the ''[[Star Trek: Voyager]]'' episode "Mortal Coil", where Neelix dies and is brought back to life. He has no memory of experiencing the Talaxian idea of the afterlife (where you go to a forest in which you're reunited with dead loved ones). Because he lost his whole family in a war, that belief was the only thing keeping him going, and it takes Chakotay to talk him out of suicide.

* Ryan Hunter from ''[[Joan of Arcadia]]'' apparently suffered one of these (of the [[Smite Me Oh Mighty Smiter]] variety) prior to his first appearance, leading to his becoming a church vandalizing, puppy-kicking anti-theist. Had the show survived for a third season, Ryan would've been Joan's [[Evil Counterpart]].

* An early episode of ''[[Stargate SG-1]]'' had a religious guy go crazy and take over another planet with intense UV radiation as its [[A God Am I|god]]. What's particularly ridiculous about this is that no less than two of his teammates joined him. The one that didn't showed up in later episodes a few times, while the rest all died. Someone really fucked up the selection process for that team.

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== Mythology ==

* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: [[The Bible ~~(Literature)~~|The Book of Job]] tests out and then averts this trope. [[Satan]] posits that Job is only a good, religious man because he is prosperous, and that if he suffered, would curse God. Satan attempts to test this theory to destruction. Job refuses to curse God no matter how bad the suffering. As a result, he gets his stuff back twofold. All the friends and family that died horribly around him, not so much.

* [[Older Than Feudalism]]: [[The Bible|The Book of Job]] tests out and then averts this trope. [[Satan]] posits that Job is only a good, religious man because he is prosperous, and that if he suffered, would curse God. Satan attempts to test this theory to destruction. Job refuses to curse God no matter how bad the suffering. As a result, he gets his stuff back twofold. All the friends and family that died horribly around him, not so much.

** It gets more jarring when you realize that the "new" wife, kids, etc. are working as a [[Replacement Goldfish]] for SEVERAL PEOPLE. Unless Job didn't care about which wife and kids he had just as long as he had them, in which case, what a [[Jerkass]]!

** His wife actually ''didn't'' die. Many pastors have joked that her punishment was having ten more kids.

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== Video Games ==

* ''[[~~Grandia II (Video Game)|~~Grandia II]]'' has {{spoiler|Pope Zera}}, who discovers that {{spoiler|God is (literally) dead}} and sets a plan into motion to resurrect the world's equivalent of Satan so he can destroy the world.

* ''[[Grandia II]]'' has {{spoiler|Pope Zera}}, who discovers that {{spoiler|God is (literally) dead}} and sets a plan into motion to resurrect the world's equivalent of Satan so he can destroy the world.

* ''[[Vandal Hearts]] II'' has {{spoiler|Yuri}}, who was intensely religious throughout all of his childhood and most of his adulthood, until {{spoiler|learning about the deception behind the game's major religion}}. It wasn't enough to turn him into a coldly calculating supervillain from then on or anything, but {{spoiler|it did lead to a [[Heroic BSOD]] and eventually made him [[Ax Crazy]] just long enough to attack the party. Whether you kill him or successfully talk him down depends on whether you have [[Hundred-Percent Completion]] on the game's hidden plot-relevant treasures and such.}}

* In the ''[[~~Assassin's Creed (Video Game)|~~Assassin's Creed]]'' series, this is pretty much how the Templars fall after learning that {{spoiler|all miracles and works of God were actually the result of powerful ancient technology}}.

* In the ''[[Assassin's Creed]]'' series, this is pretty much how the Templars fall after learning that {{spoiler|all miracles and works of God were actually the result of powerful ancient technology}}.

* [[The Chessmaster|Krelian]] and [[Body Surf|Grahf]] in ''[[~~Xenogears (Video Game)|~~Xenogears]]''. Oh so very much. While [[Rage Against the Heavens|Raging Against The Heavens]], Krelian claims that, if there is no God, he will ''make'' God with his own hands.

* [[The Chessmaster|Krelian]] and [[Body Surf|Grahf]] in ''[[Xenogears]]''. Oh so very much. While [[Rage Against the Heavens|Raging Against The Heavens]], Krelian claims that, if there is no God, he will ''make'' God with his own hands.

* Related to the Dracula example above, ''[[Castlevania]]'''s Dracula also renounces God after his wife died while he was busy fighting the crusades.

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* In the two-part ''[[Drawn Together]]'' episode "Lost in Parking Space", the devoutly religious Princess Clara is led to believe that the Rapture has come and taken her friends but left her behind on Earth. After she signs her soul away to a man she believes is Satan, she decides that she enjoys being evil and promptly goes on a rampage. When she discovers that the Rapture didn't actually come (her friends just ditched her to go to the mall), she changes back.

** Bob the Cucumber in "Clum Babies" goes on a murderous rampage and kills the entire cast when he is told that the Bible is open to interpretation.

* Played with on ''[[The Simpsons (~~Animation~~)|The Simpsons]]'' when [[Pals ~~With~~ Jesus|Ned Flanders]] loses faith after his wife dies, turning the picture of God away from him and scaring his kids with his decision not to go to church.

* Played with on ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'' when [[Pals with Jesus|Ned Flanders]] loses faith after his wife dies, turning the picture of God away from him and scaring his kids with his decision not to go to church.

{{quote| '''Ned''': No, I'm not kidding. I'm going to sit right here and miss church. You just watch. [[[Smash Cut]] to Ned driving his car and looking Heavenward] Sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry, sorry!}}

** Lampshaded in "Lemon of Troy" when Bart is handing out roles to the members of his team. He designates Todd Flanders "the quiet religious guy who ends up going crazy".