Heel Face Turn: Difference between revisions

[[File:GrinchEvilToGood 3380.png|link=How the Grinch Stole Christmas! (animation)|frame|The [[Misunderstood Loner with a Heart of Gold|Grinch]] [[The Unfettered|before]] (above) and [[Heartwarming Moments|after]] (below) a wondrous change of heart.]]

 

 

 

It doesn't just happen in [[Professional Wrestling]], either. In other genres, it means "bad guy turns good." This usually makes for a good plot, for three reasons:

The many reasons and the probability for a turn are listed in the [[Sorting Algorithm of Face Heel Turning]]. A very common [[High Heel Face Turn|fate]] for a female character in any evil group. But beware, some authors knows the stereotypes of Heel Face Turning and will subvert it willingly.

 

 

This is the opposite of a [[Face Heel Turn]] and is generally found in stories with [[Black and White Morality]]. It has two subtropes: [[Heel Face Brainwashing]], more or less the opposite of [[Brainwashed and Crazy]], and [[High Heel Face Turn]]. See also [[Mook Face Turn]] when the bad guy doing it is a [[Mook]], and [[Heel Race Turn]] when an entire faction does it.

** This is a [[Defeat Means Friendship]] show. Mostly. Exceptions are made for particularly impressive psychos and the lead, who does not betray his principles when defeated. Which is good, because he loses enough early on that it would have become a fascinatingly schizophrenic series if he had.

*** That actually sounds kind of cool. You could set it up a little like [[Jojo]]'s.

* In ''[[Outlaw Star]]'', the evil Anten Seven's leader Hazanko sends elite assassin Shimi (a.k.a Leilong) to eliminate Gene Starwind when he is considered a threat to his plans. Gene faces a much weaker assassin and impostor of the real Shimi but barely wins. The real assassin converses with Gene in a bar as Leilong and you can tell he is thinking about making a serious change in his life while not revealing his true identity as an assassin to Gene. Later on, Leilong engages in a [[Curb Stomp Battle]] against Gene and his crew. Gene the last one standing of his crew agrees to a gun duel to the death which has Leilong get "killed" because of his faulty gun. Turns out the whole battle was orchestrated by the assassin to fake his own death, and to leave the Anten Seven. [[Word of God]] states that Shimi was actually a Dragon and his power was SECOND to Hazanko's level, so if Shimi didn't have that Heel Face Turn the Outlaw Star crew (who were much weaker at the time) would have been killed off before the hunt for the Galactic Leyline.

* In the original English language manga ''[[Amazing Agent Luna]]'', Timothy Hyatt, upon learning Elizabeth Westbrook is to be killed, switches sides and helps her escape. He later returns to deal with his former partner, Martin Williams.

* {{spoiler|Crow}} in ''[[The Tainted Grimoire]].''

* [[SpongeBob SquarePants|Plankton]] going through this trope and his journey of self-redemption are the main plot points of ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/8063013/1/Planktons_Eye_View Plankton's Eye View.]''

 

** Shiela does one after [[My God, What Have I Done?|inadvertantly triggering hell on Earth]]..

* Diego in ''[[Ice Age]]''.

** In the spin-off animated series, each episode focuses on Lilo and Stich's attempts to Heel Face Turn-ify one of the other 624 escaped experiments. {{spoiler|Captain Gantu}} has one in the [[Grand Finale]].

* {{spoiler|Molt}} in ''[[A Bug's Life|A Bugs Life]]''.

* Inspector Javert in ''[[Les Misérables]]'', whose world view explodes with the sudden realization that Jean Valjean is simultaneously a criminal and a good guy. To let Valjean go free would be unlawful, while arresting him would be immoral. Javert removes the problem by removing himself from the problem. He drowns himself in the river Seine.

* There are quite a number of turns in the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' series:

*** Those fit better under [[Good All Along]]; his Heel Face Turn happened before the series started.

** The Malfoy family make a rather big one towards the end of the series; Narcissa makes the biggest change when she {{spoiler|lies to Voldemort that Harry is dead so she can go into the castle and see if her son is alive. By doing this she pretty much saves the battle for the good guys}}. Her husband Lucius has quite a similar turn although he is not as active in his turn as Narcissa. Draco Malfoy's turn happens gradually in the sixth book when he is given a mission by Voldemort to {{spoiler|kill Albus Dumbledore}}. At first he's extremely full of himself but as the year goes on, he buckles under the pressure when he realises that failure means his death. {{spoiler|Dumbledore offers him a chance to officially make the turn and he begins to}} before he is interrupted. He makes another Face Heel turn in the final book but is reunited with his family. In the epilogue {{spoiler|he and Harry appear to have abandoned their differences for good, although [[Word of God]] says that they are "not friends"}}.

*** We catch glimpses of that trope throughout the season, with Castiel frequently deliberating between his orders and his increasing [[Ho Yay|sympathy for Dean]].

* The 1998 ''[[Merlin (TV miniseries)|Merlin-1998]]'' series has {{spoiler|Lord Lot and Lord Ardent}}, who are originally generals opposing the main characters but later become their allies.

* [[Xena: Warrior Princess|Xena]] started off as a villain on ''[[Hercules: The Legendary Journeys]]'' before turning good and getting her own show.

** After a ''loooong'' time, Xena's [[Evil Counterpart]] Callisto has one too.

** An unusual, less extreme example, but it counts. Steiner, even though he's in your party for a greater portion of the game, spends most of his time trying to sabotage the party and deliver Dagger back to the queen. Zidane and the others win his loyalty, eventually.

* Happens in every ''[[Fire Emblem]]'' game, sometimes more frequently than others. Usually you have to talk to the recruitable enemy with a certain character, but sometimes a former villain will automatically join your side. ''Binding Blade'' had Miledy and Douglas, ''Sword of Flame'' had Heath and Vaida, ''The Sacred Stones'' had Duessel and Amelia, and ''Path of Radiance'' had Jill, Muarim, and Ena.

* {{spoiler|Achenar}} in ''[[Myst|Myst IV Revelation]]''

* In the ''[[Persona 2]]'' games, this happens quite a bit, although most of them don't end up joining the party, just being good guys instead of bad guys. {{spoiler|In ''Innocent Sin'', Jun does this after breaking free of Nyarlathotep's influence. As well, Principal Hannya would either die or end up pulling a Heel Face Turn depending on a rumor the protagonist ended up starting with a throwaway dialogue choice. Finally, depending on choices, Anna Yoshizaka would either pull a Heel Face Turn or be replaced by a Shadow counterpart created by Nyarlathotep. In ''Eternal Punishment'', many of the previous villains were forced into Heel Face Turns as part of making a [[Merged Reality]]; however, Tatsuya Sudou was so deranged and irredeemable that he was instead imprisoned in a mental institution... and Ginji's Heel Face Turn doesn't end up sticking as he is pulled back into essentially the same role he played the first time around.}}

* Judge Gabranth in ''[[Final Fantasy XII]]'' sides with [[The Empire]] after believing that his brother, Basch, betrayed them and his men. He even fights the party a few times but near the [[Final Battle]], {{spoiler|he realizes who the true evil is and assists the party for one battle. Gabranth dies after the war is over and Basch lives on in his name, literally.}}

* ''[[Star Wars]]'' ''[[The Old Republic]]'' Elara Dorne a companion for the Trooper class, use to serve the [[Empire|Sith Empire]] before defecting to the Republic.

 

== Visual Novels ==

** He was the first person to befriend the demon Mosp since her transformation, leading her to rebel against Lord Horribus.

** It takes some time and some pretty hefty promises on his part, but Torg eventually gets [[Ax Crazy]], [[Yandere|love-sick]] assassin Oasis to give up killing people ... well, unless she decides they're bad guys. Still, for her, being an [[All Crimes Are Equal|ultra-violent]] [[Vigilante Man]] is a huge step forward.

** Also, Belkar's ''pretending'' to have undergone a face turn after his brush with death. He's still the [[Token Evil Teammate]], but acting good keeps the authorities off his back and lets him [[Mind Screw]] the rest of the party. While Roy and Haley aren't fooled, suspecting it's a scam of some sort, they don't care either {{spoiler|since Roy knows for a fact that Belkar has only weeks left to live. Belkar on the other hand ''doesn't'' know this.}}

** O-Chul also attempts to convince The Monster in the Darkness to turn against Redcloak and Xykon. He seems to have made quite a bit of progress. Then, The Monster is the [[Minion with an F In Evil]].

* ''[[Bob and George]]'': [http://www.bobandgeorge.com/archives/011110 Here].

* [[Dominic Deegan|Jacob Deegan]] has a pretty surprising Heel Face Turn in one of the most recent story arcs of the series, and actually manages a pretty heroic moment to boot.

* {{spoiler|Gamzee}} in [[Homestuck]],{{spoiler|after Karkat shoosh paps him.}}

* [http://headtrip.keenspot.com/d/20120220.html Mal Jedi character] in ''[[Head Trip]]''... maybe a ''little'' too early.

* Gross Sword does this at the end of [http://www.rogermwilcox.name/ADnD The Sick Kids], but only because his lawful-good siblings nearly kill him.

* Bogdan from ''[[Water Human]]'' does that after he develops a liking for a prisoner that his partner tells him to kill. He proceeds to attack his own partner.

* [[Our Demons Are Different|Spiro]] of ''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'' pulls one after refusing to kill a Demon Bunny for his master's dinner. He's banished from his homeland for showing mercy, and ends up as the [[Token Evil Teammate]] in the Fellowship.

** {{spoiler|The King of Thieves and Assassins}} reforms after hearing the Harp of Remorse.

* In ''[[The Gamers Alliance]]'', a bunch of antagonists eventually switch sides and become more heroic. Some examples include [[Colonel Badass|Dalthas]], [[Anti-Anti-Christ|Jemuel]], [[Anti-Villain|Kagetsu I]] (he joins the Alliance because they saved his wife, but he still more or less pursues his agenda albeit with different means while being bound by his oath to the Alliance), [[The Atoner|Omaroch]], [[Harmless Villain|Titaniel]] and [[Love Redeems|Viirsa]].

 

* Raimundo in ''[[Xiaolin Showdown]]'', though that's after he did a [[Face Heel Turn]]. He actually does suffer some consequences and trust issues afterwards because of it.

** {{spoiler|Mai and Ty Lee}} follow suit in "Boiling Rock". {{spoiler|Mai's}} especially was epic, showing up like a [[Big Damn Heroes|Big Damn Hero]] and pulling off a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]], while {{spoiler|Ty Lee's}} just came straight from behind a tree (though {{spoiler|disabling Azula}} is still awesome).

** In a minor case, by the time that [[Gondor Calls for Aid]], The Boulder and The Hippo had decided to quit working for Xin Fu and join the army. What weird is it's a Heel Face Turn from two heels that ''played'' faces in their world's equivalent of [[Professional Wrestling]].

* Rogue in ''[[X-Men: Evolution]]''. The episode where she does this is one long [[X-Men: Evolution/Awesome|Crowning Moment Of Awesome]] for her.

* In ''[[The Raccoons]]'', this trope is at the soul of the [[Character Development]] of Cyril Sneer who gradually evolves from a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] to a more sympathetic character.

** Wouldn't you switch sides if your enemy put you back together after your boss sent you to the front lines to get destroyed by ''his sister'' simply to get rid of you?

* In ''[[Liberty's Kids]]'' Sarah went from a fierce Loyalist to an American Patriot after seeing firsthand what the Americans went through in their fight for liberty.

* Rubberband Man in ''[[Static Shock]]''. Near the end of the series, when {{spoiler|a cure to the mutagen gas has been made}}, so do {{spoiler|Aqua Maria}} and {{spoiler|Talon}}.

* In ''[[Popeye (comic strip)|Popeye's Voyage: The Quest for Pappy]]'', Bluto is jarringly [[Out of Character]]. He doesn't have a single mean bone in his body, he's best friends with Popeye, and when a hypnotised Olive makes advances towards him he adamantly turns her down.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Tropes of Legend]]

[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

[[Category:Professional Wrestling]]

[[Category:Betrayal Tropes]]

[[Category:Esoteric Trope Names]]

[[Category:Redemption Tropes]]