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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"I once thought that I was impervious to the allure of the Dark Side. [[The Reveal|I was mistaken.]]"''|'''Ulic Qel-Droma''', ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars|Star Wars the Clone Wars]]''}}
Not all [[Villain]]s are born. Some are made, and none are more [[Tragedy|tragic]] than the '''Fallen Hero'''. As the name implies, the '''Fallen Hero''' used to be a [[Heroes|Hero]] before doing a [[Face Heel Turn]]. They may even have been an [[Ideal Hero]] or another equally optimistic [[Archetypal Character|archetype]], up until the moment when they [[Trauma Conga Line|suffered]] [[Freudian Excuse|something bad enough]] for them to [[Despair Event Horizon|lose all faith in good and idealism]], be it [[Dead Little Sister|the loss of a loved one]], too many [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished|good deeds]] coming back [[Being Good Sucks|to bite them hard]], [[Et Tu, Brute?|betrayal]] by [[Big Bad Friend|someone they trusted the most]], too much [[Divided We Fall|distrust from those who should have been allies]], or some other faith-shattering event. It might even be a drawn out process of seduction to [[The Dark Side]] or fall from grace.
What they choose to do about it determines what they become:
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Usually revealed in a [[Not So Different]] moment. Almost always gets a [[Start of Darkness]]. Christopher Booker's [[The Seven Basic Plots|sixth basic plot]], [[Tragedy]], uses this character arc, with the '''Fallen Hero''' as main character. Compare [[Face Heel Turn]], [[The Dark Side Will Make You Forget]]. See also [[Fallen Angel]], [[Tragic Monster]]. [[Super-Trope]] to [[The Paragon Always Rebels]], in which the character has such influence over other good guys that they fall with him or her.
{{examples}}▼
If you were looking for the ''Adventure Time'' fanfic by this name, see [[Fallen Hero (fanfic)|''Fallen Hero'' (fanfic)]].
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Gendo Ikari from ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]'', as once {{spoiler|Yui dies, he retreats into himself and becomes a [[Dark Messiah]]}}
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* ''[[Sin City]]'' has {{spoiler|Jack Rafferty}}, who was once a hero cop but eventually degraded to the level of an alcoholic [[Bastard Boyfriend]]. [[Word of God]] states that his story will eventually be told.
* In ''[[All Fall Down]]'', {{spoiler|Pronto}} gradually becomes this for the climax.
* From Marvel's [[The Golden Age of Comic Books| Golden Age]], there was Thomas Halloway, the original Angel. In those times, he was a hero who fought the Nazis alongside the Sub-Mariner and the original Human Torch. But in modern times as an elderly man, he started to take morally questionable means of fighting criminals, financing and running the murderous vigilante group Scourges of the Underworld, which has assassinated a large number of lesser supervillains. (The true tragedy is, while he ran the group, the the Scourges [[The Man Behind the Man| ultimately reported to the Red Skull]], someone all the heroes of the Angel's time opposed.) The USAgent confronts him eventually in his mini-series; the former hero is wounded and arrested, as are many Scourges, but Halloway himself was released for lack of any concrete evidence, and was assumed to have resumed a quiet life. Still, the heroic Angel lives on in the form of [[Legacy Character| his grandson Jason]], who was given his costume during ''The Marvels Project'' limited series.
== Film ==
* Anakin Skywalker of ''[[Star Wars]]'', who got three whole movies of [[Start of Darkness]].
** Anakin may have been the most infamous Jedi to turn evil, but he was hardly the only one. Count Dooku (the [[Dragon-in-Chief]] in Episode II, portrayed by professional villain-actor [[Christopher Lee]]) is another good example, being Padwan to Yoda himself and regarded as his finest student. For over 70 years he was one of the most famed and respected of the Jedi, until his his idealism leads him to become disillusioned towards both them Republic as a whole; the death of his own Padwan - Qui-Gon Jinn - was the breaking point that caused him to succumb to the Dark Side. Also, [[Expanded Universe]] books often feature "Dark Jedi" as villains, many of whom were formerly real Jedi who survived Order 66 at the cost of their sanity; these are too numerous to list.
** Hell, Star Wars tends to use this one so frequently, it should get an award of some kind. Exar Kun, Ullic Qel-Droma, Revan and Malak, Vader, and even Luke fell down this rabbit hole more than once, and while he crawled out, {{spoiler|his nephew sure didn't}}. And THOSE are just the ones making "Sith Lord" status!
* {{spoiler|Harvey Dent}} in ''[[The Dark Knight]]'' definitely counts, after he {{spoiler|becomes Two-Face}}. Formerly idealistic, he grows steadily more cynical in the face of {{spoiler|the Joker's crimes and, after the Joker's [[Hannibal Lecture]], turns into a [[Nietzsche Wannabe]] who believes that Chance is the only fair law.}}
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* In the French fantasy dramedy ''Kameloth'', the Knight Lancelot start out as the noble and charismatic hero we expect him to be, but he has always been ideologically opposed to the libertarian policy of Arthur (who he considers a proof of weakness) and considers himself more worthy of the holy mission given to his king. After the spoofed-legend-opposed-got-away-with-Guinevere-part, he {{spoiler|openly rebels against Kameloth's order and became the tool of a dark sorcerer named Melangeant, who presents himself as [[The Chessmaster]]ing ''answer of the gods'' to Arthur's failure in his mission}}
* Some of the best episodes of ''[[Scrubs]]'' deal with this happening to Dr. Cox. While the fall is temporary, the sight of the normally caustic and extremely confident physician in tears is very heartrending, to say the least.
* Eli David in ''[[NCIS]]'' seems to be this. In a way, he reminds me of [[The Lord of the Rings|Denethor]].
* Jon Mitchell from ''[[Being Human (UK)]]''. He tries hard to fight his vampire urges and tries to be an example of reform, but {{spoiler|he falls off the wagon in season 2 and slaughters a train of 20 people. He never really gets back to normal after that and commits suicide.}}
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== Professional Wrestling ==
* [[Hulk Hogan]]'s infamous [[Face Heel Turn]] and transformation into Hollywood Hogan in [[WCW]]'s ''Bash at the Beach'' was born of the realization that he was "old new", and that the fans he had lived his whole life to please weren't really interested in him anymore, which he just couldn't stand. After all, he's Hulk Freaking Hogan, the biggest icon in wrestling! Maybe the fans didn't ''deserve'' to cheer for him! Maybe they deserved to have him and his buddies from [[
* Similarly, [[Chris Jericho]]'s recent [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]] [[Face Heel Turn]] was fueled by the fans' continued cheering for [[Shawn Michaels]]—who was not only a lying, cheating hypocrite, but was unrepentant for having retired the great [[Ric Flair]]. In Jericho's mind, it's not him that turned heel; it's the fans.
* Speaking of [[Shawn Michaels|HBK]], he's been this several times (all versions at different points), including presently.
** Specifically, he was the outright villainous version during his initial turn after turning on Jannetty, the anti-hero version for parts of the initial [[D Generation X|DX]] run, the anti-villain in his crusade against [[Hulk Hogan]], and the retired/disinterested version during his various retirements and sabbaticals.
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== Tabletop Games ==
* The Blackguard class from ''[[Dungeons
** Could also be [[Fridge Brilliance]]. A Paladin attempting to interact with an evil outsider peacefully would likely develop into a much sneakier character than a normal Paladin, something so unusual, considering their training, that it would be difficult for them to learn.
** The idea is more that a character won't go straight from Paladin to Blackguard, but will instead "fall" as a Paladin (losing all their Paladin-specific abilities but retaining their raw stats) and then choose to [[Face Heel Turn|pursue the path of the Blackguard]] instead of redemption, summoning an evil outsider to [[Deal with the Devil|teach them how to do so]]. The most awkward pre-requisite for a fallen Paladin is still the five ranks in Hide, however.
* In ''[[Dragonlance]]'' a death knight is a disgraced [[Knight in Shining Armor| Knight of Solamnia]] who was cursed with undeath for some terrible crime, like treason or murder. For example, Lord Soth was the most famous Death Knight, cursed for the murder of his wife and child after failing to prevent the Cataclysm.
* ''[[Yu-Gi-Oh!]]'' gives us the [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gigobyte Gigobyte]/[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gagagigo Gagagigo]/[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Giga_Gagagigo Giga Gagagigo]/[http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Gogiga_Gagagigo Gogiga Gagagigo] cards, which describe a young troublemaker who has a [[Heel Face Turn]] upon having his [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/My_Body_as_a_Shield life saved], and in trying to gain enough power to help repay his debt, he acquires [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Level_Conversion_Lab cybernetic upgrades] which eventually [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul|eat his soul]] and drive him mad. It's a surprisingly detailed story told not only in the flavor text of his own cards, but in illustrations for other cards that otherwise have nothing to do with him. It's only natural that his story gets played out in one of the video games. Said video game had him realising the error of his ways. This almost certainly qualifies him for [[Face Heel Revolving Door]].
* While there are many in ''[[Magic: The Gathering]]'', the one that stands out the most is Crovax. When the love of his life (an angel) died, he ended up going over to [[Big Bad|Yawgmoth]]'s side to get her back. [[The Captain|Gerrard Capashen]] [[Not So Different|followed for a similar motive]], but realised that it was a con and ended up [[Heroic Sacrifice|giving his life to take down Yawgmoth]].
** Glissa Sunseeker fought against [[Mad Scientist|Memnarch]] to save Mirrodin. Awesome, yeah? Too bad that it directly resulted in her [[And Then John Was a Zombie|becoming a Phyrexian]].
** Avacyn in Shadows Over Innistrad. Also {{Spoiler|Nahiri, if the flavor text of Structural distortion is anything to go by.}}
* [[Warhammer
** The [[Ultimate Evil|Chaos Gods]] showed Horus a vision of a terrible future where the Primarchs are gone, the ideals of the Great Crusade are forgotten, and the Emperor is worshiped as a god in a brutal fascist dictatorship. Horus [[Deal with the Devil|dealt with the Chaos Gods]] and turned on the Emperor (the man who saved humanity and rebuilt civilisation after a horrific dark age that lasted ''thousands of years'') to save humanity from this dark fate. The Horus Heresy results in the Imperium becoming increasingly authoritarian due to its paranoia over Chaotic rebellions like Horus's, and the final battle leaves Horus dead and the Emperor in a coma, unable to steer the Imperium onto a more enlightened path. Fast forward ten thousand years, and Horus's actions have caused the Imperium to become a brutal fascist dictatorship where the Emperor is worshipped as a god and the Imperial Truth (the atheistic rationalism which the Emperor personally believed) is thought of as heresy, [[Irony|since it offends the immortal God-Emperor]]. [[Downer Ending|Just]]… ''[[Downer Ending|damn]]''.
** What about Fulgrim, [[Demonic Possession|possessed]] by his [[Evil Weapon]] while trying to commit suicide after [[My God, What Have I Done?|murdering his brother for the Chaos Gods]], or Alpharius, who [[Utopia Justifies the Means|joined Chaos to kill Chaos]] and may in fact have been following a false vision of the future in the first place?
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** The Scarlet Crusade, which started out fighting to protect humans from the Scourge in Lordaeron, and gradually became increasingly paranoid to the point that anyone not a Crusader was deemed tainted. [[It Got Worse|Then their leader was outright corrupted by the undead.]]
** it might be easier to just say that ''every'' Warcraft villian fits into this trope.
* And, of course, {{spoiler|Sarah Kerrigan}} in ''[[
** It was more like her sense of morality and compassion were surpressed, allowing the darkness within to become dominant. Blizzard confirmed that Heart of the Swarm's arc will be about whether she will fall to darkness forever or transcend it and achieve redemption for her sins. So far, the trailer shapes her to be an anti hero.
** The Overmind itself, which was long ago taken over by the Dark Voice.
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* The cast of [[Last Scenario]] is littered with heroes and wannabe-heroes who are used, deceived and broken in various ways, so naturally one of these ( {{spoiler|Castor, the game's [[Big Bad]]}}) would come out of it, while the game details his descent down the [[Sliding Down the Slippery Slope|slippery slope]], until even his most loyal allies join the other side in an attempt to bring him back..
* Whether Abysswalker Artorias is this or a [[Defector From Decadence]] is the subject of much debate in ''[[Dark Souls]]''. Artorias was one of Lord Gwyn's four great knights, making him one of his top lieutenants. An unknown number of years ago, the Darkwraiths (Humanity devouring dark knights of the darkness) appeared. They were so [[Godzilla Threshold|dangerous]] that it eventually resulted in outright sacrificing an entire city. Artorias was charged with hunting the Darkwraiths, but instead joined them for reasons that are not known.
* The Five Dastardly Bombers' characterization in ''[[Bomberman|Super Bomberman R]]'': originally created to protect mankind, loved and admired by humans just like the Bomberman Bros, they got scrapped for unknown reasons and [[Big Bad|Buggler]] revived them, wiped their memories and manipulated them into believing humans grew tired of them and threw them away like worthless junk. Plasma Bomber in particular openly expresses his utter disdain of organic lifeforms and [[Kill All Humans|his desire to eradicate them]].
== Visual Novels ==
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* Smilling Man from ''[[The Crossoverlord]]''. Once the greatest hero of his universe, after the death of his beloved wife, he turned into a [[Complete Monster]] and [[Multiversal Conqueror]].
* Both Miko and Redcloak in ''[[The Order of the Stick|Order of the Stick]]''. While neither of them were ever truly heroes, both were, at the bare minimum, decent people, before their [[Moral Event Horizon]]. The former actually fell, losing her paladin powers.
* Kore in ''[[Goblins]]'' is heavily implied to be one: he is a paladin, meaning he was originally [[Lawful Good]], but something along the way turned him into an incredibly cruel and heartless [[Knight Templar]] [[Black and White Insanity|who sees evil around every corner]]. {{spoiler|What we get from his backstory involves being the last victorious survivor of a battle against a godlike demon and suffering a terrible curse as a result.}}
== Web Original ==
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* [[Creepy Child|The Delightful Children From Down The Lane]] in ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''. {{spoiler|Formerly the members of Sector Z, they were delightfulized by Father, into what the are today.}}
* In Season 2 of ''[[Young Justice (animation)|Young Justice]]'', after a [[Time Skip]], we have {{spoiler|Aqualad, now [[Meaningful Rename|Black]] [[Overlord, Jr.|Manta]] [[Legacy Character|II]].}} The worst part is that {{spoiler|he was ''[[The Leader]]'' in Season 1.}} The cause of this was {{spoiler|[[Love Makes You Evil|blaming the team for his love interest dying]]}} ''and'' {{spoiler|finding out [[Luke, I Am Your Father|his real father was the supervillain Black Manta.]]}} Viewers can only hope for a [[Heel Face Turn]] to put things right.
* Discussed in ''[[Rick and Morty]]''; in the episode ""Star Mort Rickturn of the Jerri", [[Villain Protagonist]] Rick Sanchez tells his daughter Beth (or possibly her clone, hard to say) that he had a "hero phase" when he was younger that Beth is going through now, telling her "you'll outgrow it".
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Tragedy]]
[[Category:Evil Tropes]]
[[Category:Villains]]
[[Category:Fallen Hero]]▼
[[Category:This Index Has Had a Hard Life]]
[[Category:Corruption Tropes]]
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