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{{trope}}
[[File:
{{quote|''"It is such a quiet thing, to fall. But far more terrible is to admit it."''
|'''Kreia'''|''[[Knights of the Old Republic|Knights of the Old Republic II]]''}}
Few things are [[Villainous BSOD|more crushing]] than realizing [[Obliviously Evil|that you're one of the bad guys.]] You exclaim "[[My God, What Have I Done?]]?" and perhaps shed [[Tears of Remorse]]. Or in some cases, you realise you're even worse than you thought you were. Either way, it's [[Epiphany (trope)|the moment you know you're in the wrong]].
It may lead to [[The Atoner]], a [[Redemption Quest]], or [[Redemption Equals Death]], or, if the author is feeling particularly vindictive, to [[
Common when [[The Dark Side Will Make You Forget]] or when [[Big Brother Is Employing You]].
Compare [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]] and [[Unwitting Pawn]]. Contrast with [[Knight Templar]] (who never realizes he's a villain) and [[Card-Carrying Villain]] (who never thinks he's a good guy in first place). Also see [[Tomato in
For the opposite, see [[You Are Better Than You Think You Are]] where the character fails to see they are nobler than they give themselves credit for.
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* ''[[Magical Project S]]'', Misao Amano is shocked to find out she is Pixy Misa (the evil magical girl that has tortured practically every main character, including her parents and her best friend). While it was initially thought her evil side was due to brainwashing, it was in fact her repressed self, despite having no memory of her actions.
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** A strong case of [[Wrong Genre Savvy]]- had he been in a [[Gundam]] series ([[It Makes Sense in Context|or given the situation so far]], a show like [[Evangelion]]) he'd have been the "right" one.
*** More a case of [[Values Dissonance]] between the two shows.
* Happened in several arcs in ''[[Higurashi no Naku Koro
** Of note is the [[Heartwarming Moments]] in ''Tsumihoroboshi-hen'' when Keiichi {{spoiler|recalls the events of ''Onikakushi-hen'', and he realizes that ''he'' was the insane one, not them.}} Cue Keiichi hugging Mion. D'AWW.
* Ken of ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' realizes that the Digital World is not a [[Video Game Cruelty Potential|video game with good cruelty potential]], that the Digimon are alive and sentient, and that sadistically [[Cold-Blooded Torture|torturing]] them as an [[Evil Overlord]] is in fact ''bad.'' He undergoes a [[Heel Face Turn]] soon after... if you can say he was a [[Heel]] to begin with. He honestly [[Obliviously Evil|didn't know what he was doing]] until later in the arc, at which point he went into Dark Spore aided denial.
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* In ''[[Code Geass]]'', Suzaku had one in R2, right as he was about to use Refrain on Kallen to get her to admit who Zero was. In his mind, this makes him just like the Geass-using Lelouch. [[Hypocrite|Never mind that he'd sworn fealty to a man who he knows to also use Geass and is much worse about it than Lelouch]]. He has an even bigger one when he realizes the futility of trying to value means above results when he accidentally nukes the Tokyo settlement.
** Lelouch has one in the first season after he's forced to [[Shoot the Dog]] {{spoiler|and kill his sister Euphemia}}. Although upset over his actions, Lelouch realizes [[Ignored Epiphany|he's gone too far to turn back.]]
* In ''[[Berserk]]'', Griffith is made to realize at the Eclipse that rather than being the beloved leader that everyone thinks he is (including himself at times), [[Ambition Is Evil|he is an ambitious man]] who will do anything to realize his dream and uses people to that end, even into death on the battlefield. It's his spite for Guts' being the one person he couldn't control that sends him over the mother of all [[Moral Event Horizon
* {{spoiler|Sadakiyo}} from ''[[
** Also hilariously averted by Yanbo and Mabo: they never realized they were bullies to start with, and yet they manage to {{spoiler|realize a [[Heel Face Turn]]}} without noticing.
* [[Suzumiya Haruhi]] in ''Sigh'', when she finally gets called out by Kyon on her treatment of Mikuru. Directly after this is one of her biggest [[Pet the Dog]] moments, and she becomes much nicer after this. Made more obvious in the anime rendition, where she looks away from Kyon as he calls her out and it's clear [[Cry Cute|that she's at the verge of tears]].
** In the 11th book, {{spoiler|Kyouko Tachibana}} has one of these.
* In ''[[Ga
* In [[Tegami Bachi]], Sara has this realization after seeing the memories from the Shindan Lag used to finish off the Gaichuu. They had pretended to be part of the anti-government faction Reverse (with Hunt presented as the "Man Who Could Not Become Spirit" to prevent people from mistreating him because of the monster arms sewn onto him), and while keeping up that act, decided to prevent letters from coming to Honey Waters. A man took it upon himself to deliver the letters, but was attacked by the Gaichuu, lost his heart and died. After realizing that their lie caused his death, Sara turns over all the money they received to the villagers, and sets out with Hunt to start anew.
* In ''[[Kurogane no Linebarrel]]'', after Kouichi Hayase's selfish use of [[Humongous Mecha|Linebarrel]] gets one of his friends killed, he realizes he's been a [[Designated Hero]] and resolves to be a proper good guy.
* A major theme of the Black Moon Clan in ''[[Sailor Moon]]''.
* ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]''. Most of these moments are in flashbacks, as soldiers in Ishval realize they're acting as [[Punch Clock Villain
* In ''[[
** In [[Turn
* The comedy series ''[[
** [[Played for Laughs]]: This trope is the entire point of ''High School Boys and Panties'' — peeping at a girl's panties does not make a guy feel good, but guilty and depressed... especially when you tricked a [[Ditz]] into unwittingly flaunting her panties. Motoharu slipped into a [[Heroic BSOD]] so hard ''he skipped school for three days''.
** [[Played for Drama]]: {{spoiler|[[Retired Outlaw|Habara]] always ends up crying whenever her past as the legendary [[Bully]] "Archdemon" is brought up.}}
** [[Played for Drama]]: {{spoiler|Yanagin was in Habara's gang as well, but she did a [[Heel Face Turn]] due to [[Scars Are Forever|what happened to Karasawa.]]}}
* The final climax of the 2003 version of ''[[Astro Boy (
* ''[[A Certain Scientific Railgun]]'': When Accelerator first gained his powers, he killed many people without intending to. He later participates in a project with the goal of increasing his power, so that no one would dare challenge him again and get hurt. Said project consisted of slaughtering thousands of Sisters (clones of the third-most powerful esper). At the end of his fight with Touma, Accelerator realizes that the Sisters he'd been slaughtering for power are also human. This eventually leads to his [[Heel Face Turn]] and becoming a main protagonist.
== Comic Books ==
* In ''[[Y:
* The ''[[Superman]]'' nemesis Manchester Black thought of himself as a "realist", operating as an anti-hero (i.e. killing without remorse). He perceived Superman's boy-scout morality to be a facade bordering on stupidity. In an attempt to give Superman [[One Bad Day]], he created a telepathic illusion of Lois Lane being murdered to provoke a homicidal response out of Superman. When it failed, and he saw the depth of Superman's dedication, Black realized that he had been a villain who had been lying to himself all along, and there was such a thing as a Good Guy. He then promptly killed himself. Sort of. Poor little [http://www.comicvine.com/sister-superior/29-6199/ Vera].
* The titular character in issue 1 of the ''[[Transformers]]'' comic book mini-series ''Megatron: Origin''. However, he concluded that [[Necessarily Evil|it was the only path he had to walk]], turning him into the universe-conquering Decepticon we know and love.
* Magneto has one of these in ''[[X-Men|Uncanny X-Men]]'' #150, after he almost kills Kitty Pryde with an electric shock. He's so disturbed by it that he actually reforms (and stays reformed for a hundred and twenty-five issues), and eventually becomes the headmaster of Xavier's school.
* This is basically what ended the Marvel Comics ''[[Civil War (Comic Book)|Civil War]]''. After the final battle causes lots of destruction calls in the rescue workers and he notices civilians begging to him not to kill [[Iron Man]], [[Captain America (comics)]] realizes that he's putting innocent people in physical danger by his actions and country wants and has basically become one of the villains he usually fights against. Unwilling to become an [[Anti-Hero]] and force his ideals on the public he promptly orders his side to stand down.
* In the Marvel ''[[Dark Reign (
** The Sentry's case throughout ''[[Dark Reign]]'' (and even before) might also count, as he was constantly in doubt of his actions - 'course, the Void may be to blame for the most part, but let's not forget that Bob Reynolds himself is an extremely neurotic and superpowered individual. As he said in the first mission of the Dark Avengers, after ripping off Morgan's head: "What did I do? Was it good or bad?"
* ''[[Enemy Ace]]'', a series about an honorable German pilot flying in World War One, had [http://asylums.insanejournal.com/scans_daily/1002136.html a more recent series] where the same pilot, now a gray-haired veteran, flew in World War Two. He was much unhappier about this war. At some point he got shot down and parachuted to safety near Dachau, saw one of the death camps, and underwent a textbook
* Of all people, [[Superboy]] [[Complete Monster|Prime]] seems uh, primed, for one of these in ''[[Blackest Night]]''. Then again, he has been looking at his monstrous actions from a different perspective {{spoiler|aka ours}} over and over again for months on end.
* Happens twice in the [[Iron Man]] Armour Wars saga, once at the beginning when he realises his technology may have been responsible for some of the worst criminals in the Marvel Universe, {{spoiler|and again at the end when he questions the extreme measures he has used in trying to solve the problem.}}
* Nite Owl II in ''[[Watchmen (
* This is played with in an issue of ''[[Nemesis the Warlock]]''. The villain calls himself Torquemada, and in many ways models himself on the Spanish inquisitor of the same name. They meet through time travel, and the villain explains to the inquisitor what his philosophy has led to. It's the ''[[Even Evil Has Standards|inquisitor]]'' [[Complete Monster|who's horrified]].
* In ''[[Elf Quest]]'', [[Knight Templar]] Rayek suffers a ''massive'' and acute
* In ''[[Scott Pilgrim]]'', the entire point of {{spoiler|Negascott}} is to get Scott to recognize his own faults as a person and to understand that he's played a part in the failures of his past relationships rather than just blaming others.
* Paradoxically, inverted in [[The Flash]], after one of Flash's friends accuses [[Reed Richards Is Useless|Flash of not using the full extent of his abilities to help people.]] The friend then realizes the best way to make the Flash a better hero is to become a villain who'd push him to be one.
== Fan Works ==
* {{spoiler|Trian Aeducan}} has one in ''[[
** {{spoiler|King Endrin Aeducan}} is a sort of aversion because he knows what he's doing is wrong from the get go. Still, his {{spoiler|deathbed scene}} finally has him putting it into words, but it's far, ''far'' too late by then, or so he thinks. {{spoiler|It actually wasn't, since everything had gone according to one of the DN's plans, but Endrin actually ''chooses'' to die because he didn't want to face his second son when he came back.}} It's just a very small point in his favor that {{spoiler|part of the reason for his decision to give up on life before the second eldest prince has a chance to return is the fact that he doesn't want to put Raonar through the experience of having a second parent die in front of him.}} Needless to say, {{spoiler|the second son in question quite rightfully calls him a stupid old man when he finds out.}}
* In ''[[
* In the ''[[Babylon 5]]/
== Film ==
* A pretty funny example from ''[[Machete]]''. One of the [[Mook
* In ''[[The Elephant Man]]'', Dr. Treves is shaken by the Head Nurse's observation that the arrangement he set up for John Merrick, which include receiving respectable callers, means he is still being treated as a freak on display, albeit in a high class cushy style.
{{quote|
* James Norrington of the ''[[Pirates of the Caribbean]]'' films realized only too late what side he was on in allying himself with Beckett, and promptly sought to [[Heroic Sacrifice|make amends]].
* Undercover news reporter Babe Bennett has one in ''[[Mr. Deeds]]'' when she finds herself falling in love with Deeds after lying to him in order to gather information to slander him with.
* ''[[Falling Down]]'' with Michael Douglas has this exchange near the end, after the [[Villain Protagonist]] [[Ubermensch]] is confronted by the retiring detective (well, sergeant) {{spoiler|[[Retirony|who lives!]]}}
{{quote|
'''Sergeant Prendergast:''' Yeah.
'''Bill Foster:''' How did that happen? }}
* In ''[[American Beauty]]'', the middle-aged protagonist spends the majority of the movie fantasizing about a slutty teenager, and even starts working out to impress her. But when he finally gets a chance to fulfill the fantasy, he realizes that statutory rape laws are there for a reason: {{spoiler|She's just as insecure and immature as any other teenager, and is actually still a virgin.}} He opts to be a [[Chaste Hero]], not that [[Redemption Equals Death|it helps much]].
* The Operative in ''[[
* [[Jim Carrey]] has an excellent one in ''[[Liar Liar]]''. Since he is [[Can Not Tell a Lie|magically compelled to tell the truth]], what he thinks is a rant on his child-raising techniques opens with him saying "I'm a bad father!" His [[My God, What Have I Done?|expression]] indicates that this is perhaps the first time he has admitted that to himself.
* Subverted in the [[Bill Paxton]] film ''[[Frailty]]'': {{spoiler|Fenton's father locks him in a cellar with minimal food and water until the boy comes to the realization that the family is destined to be God's warriors on earth, killing demons. Fenton later does have an epiphany... that he is one of the demons. He summarily kills his father with his own axe and instructs his brother Adam to bury him in the same rose garden all of the other demons were buried in, when the time comes for ''him'' to be killed.}}
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* In ''[[The Fox and The Hound]]'', the [[Big Bad]] has one at the end when Copper prevents him from shooting Tod, despite the fact that Tod saved both their lives only two minutes earlier.
* The expression on [[The Captain|Captain]] [[Crimson Tide|Ramsey]]'s face when the EAM is read looks like this.
* [[Tron: Legacy
* Sybok from ''[[Star Trek V:
* In ''[[12 Angry Men
* A mild case with {{spoiler|Jason}} in ''[[Mystery Team]]'' after Kelly chews him out for trash mouthing {{spoiler|Charlie and Duncan}}.
* The audience has one of these in [[Attack of the Clones]]; there is a scene at the end where troops ships are taking off from Coruscant to fight in the Clone
* "[[Spider-Man (
* Jack's realisation in ''[[The Nightmare Before Christmas]]'' crystallises in the song "Poor Jack".
* ''[[Cars]] 2'' has Mater having a dream where he sees his activities over the past few days and finally realizes what an embarrassing jackass he's been to Lightning McQueen.
* ''[[Bjarnfredarson]]'' is all about this ''finally'' happening to the titular character, who failed to realise this over three whole series of comedy.
* In ''[[Dogma]]'', Loki has a moment like this when he hears Bartleby claim that God unfairly favours humans over angels and that therefore they are entitled to kill a bunch of them if that means they get to return to Heaven.
{{quote|
== Literature ==
* Ian Hunter of ''[[The Unicorn Chronicles]]'' spends the first book, plus a great deal of flashback, being on the side of his great-great-and so on- grandmother, who is trying to destroy luster and the unicorns, all to 'rescue' his daughter. Upon finding her, she yells at him for hurting her friends, and after he gets dumped in the middle of nowhere, he realizes that Beloved is a monster and he's been on the wrong side for the past ten or so years.
* A halfway one from [[The Secret River]]: Thornhill says that he is "not a bad man", but is doing "something only the worst of men could do"
* In [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[
** She goes to her {{spoiler|[[And I Must Scream|not quite death]]}} still insisting she's the good one, but Granny's insistence otherwise has rattled her somewhat. Granny, though, has on multiple occasions made a point of saying that only people who don't know better can actually be bad; if you know the difference between right and wrong, you can't choose wrong.
** Subverted in ''Wyrd Sisters'' when Granny Weatherwax forces the [[Complete Monster|monstrous]] queen of Lancre to see her [[True Self]]. Instead of repenting, the queen declares that given the chance to start over she would've done everything the same, only harder. {{spoiler|She then suffers [[Karmic Death]]...sort of.}} Which would make the above point "if know the difference... and are sane..."
* In the book ''[[Wicked (
* ''[[Sir Apropos of Nothing]]'' has a variation: he's not the villain, but instead he's the weird side character to someone else's journey. {{spoiler|He eventually kills the hero and takes over his duties, to disastrous results.}} Then in ''The Woad to Wuin'', when he wakes up from a coma, he realizes what ''"he's"'' done while he was "sleeping" and is scared out of his wits. When he realizes the same force that controlled him then makes him indestructible... well, [[Face Heel Turn|he falls into the evil]] [[Jumped At the Call|well face-first]].
** Though he'd been dangling just over the abyss to begin with, really. Kind of a self-serving-but-not-completely-evil-bastard/heel turn.
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* Lale fights this with all her might for awhile in ''[[The Assassins of Tamurin]]'', until the crimes she realizes "Mother" has committed get [[It's Personal|personal]].
* This is the [[Title Drop|source of the title]] of ''[[I Am Legend]]''. {{spoiler|The protagonist is indiscriminately killing the vampires who have reformed and learned to control their urges and realizes at the end he has become a monster to ''them''}}.
* In [[Harry Turtledove]]'s [[Alternate History]] ''[[Worldwar
{{quote|
Soldiers didn't commonly had to make that distinction. Jäger hadn't worried about it, not until he had found out how the Germans dealt with Jews in the east. Since then, he hadn't been able to look away. He knew what sort of disaster awaited the world if the [[Alien Invasion|Lizards]] won the war. Like Skorzeny, he was willing to do just about anything to keep that from happening. Unlike the SS man, he wasn't willing to believe that everything he did was fine and virtuous.
That made for another subtle distinction, but he clung to it. }}
** Another Turtledove book late in his [[Timeline-191]] series features a character who has become a guard at what is basically Auschwitz in the extermination of American Southern blacks, and considers himself doing vital work for the safety of his country. When he eventually realizes, basically through the simple decency of one of the prisoners, that blacks are * people* , [[Driven to Suicide|he is overcome at the evil he has been helping enact and kills himself]].
*** This is especially poignant, as earlier in the series the character somewhat identified with blacks (though in a way that only made him dislike them more). He himself was of Mexican descent, and commented more than once that in the eyes of most Confederates, he was at most only one step away from blacks.
* In [[Ayn Rand]]'s ''[[Atlas Shrugged]]'', James Taggart is helping to [[Cold-Blooded Torture|torture]] {{spoiler|John Galt}}, and admits the latter's refusal to cry out is making him upset. When he realizes the significance of this, that he wants the man to be tortured to
* Reverend Hale in ''[[The Crucible]]'' has one of these and spends the rest of the play trying to make amends - by encouraging victims of the witch-hunt to confess and live rather than die for continuing to deny witchcraft.
* In [[Dan Abnett]]'s [[
* ''[[Atonement]]'' gives one to Briony, the ''narrator'', upon the realization that her actions sent an innocent man to prison.
* In [[Ben Counter]]'s [[Warhammer
** In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''Fulgrim'', Fulgrim realizes how great his betrayal is when he is fighting {{spoiler|Ferrus Manus; his [[Evil Weapon|sword]] gets him to kill Ferrus Manus anyway, saying he will kill him otherwise, and then, when Fulgrim says "[[What Have I Done]]", it lets him realize the depths of his crime, and that his view of Ferrus Manus had been formed by spiteful misinterpretation of his deeds.}}
** While we're on this, Sarpedon of the ''[[
* In [[James Swallow]]'s [[Warhammer
* In the novelization of the ''[[Magic:
* ''[[Star Wars]]'' novel examples:
** In ''[[Star Wars
*** [[Word of God]], and supposedly the upcoming novel "Choices", holds that these stormtroopers eventually get kidnapped by Thrawn and end up in his offshoot, the Empire of the Hand. The Empire of the Hand, judging by ''[[Survivors Quest]]'' and the short story [[Outbound Flight|Fool's Bargain]], is apparently exactly what the stormtroopers used to think that the Empire was. Given that both of those feature stormtroopers who think for themselves and can make moral decisions, it's not surprising.
*** They end up forming a sort-of vigilante group that hunts down pirates and ends up helping Mara Jade expose corruption within the Empire. They called themselves the Hand of Judgment until Mara Jade saved them from getting killed for treason, then told them that there was only one Hand in the Empire, and it was her, the Emperor's Hand. They lost the name, but haven't quit hunting lawbreakers yet.
** ''[[Death Star]]'' has most of its viewpoint characters, all of them on the Death Star, realize this either slowly or after [[Moral Event Horizon|Alderaan]].
* ''[[A Christmas Carol]]'' is essentially one long heel realization by Scrooge.
* This is the central point in the ''[[
* Jack McBride in ''[[Honor Harrington
** In other examples from the Harrington-verse, Alfredo Yu realizes what kind of sociopaths the Masadans he's been ordered to assist really are and wants nothing more to do with it (nor evidently do a good portion of his fellow Havenite crew). This eventually becomes a recurring theme with other Havenite characters until their second revolution and the overthrow of the Pierre dictatorship.
* Pyotr Fursenko from the [[Dale Brown]] novel ''Warrior Class'' serves as the lead aerospace engineer for the [[Big Bad]] Pavel Kazakov. Detached from the atrocities by his distance from the fighting, the evil of his boss finally sinks in when he acts as [[Guy in Back]] on a bombing run {{spoiler|on the German embassy in Albania, complete with civilian protesters surrounding it.}}
* In [[John C. Wright]]'s ''[[The Golden Oecumene
* In George Bernard Shaw's play ''Saint Joan,'' after Joan of Arc is captured, the English chaplain John de Stogumber pushes relentlessly for burning her at the stake; when he actually sees it done, he literally goes insane with remorse.
* In ''[[Harry Potter]]'', this happened to {{spoiler|Dumbledore}} after the [[Dead Little Sister|death of his sister]].
** Ditto on {{spoiler|Dudley, who realizes exactly what he has become when attacked by Dementors in book 5}}
** Also happened to {{spoiler|Snape}} after {{spoiler|his actions resulted in Lily Potter's death}}.
* Valjean in ''[[Les Misérables]]'' had his
* [[Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea]]: [[Wide
{{quote|
* ''[[In Death]]'': There is this one lawyer in ''Ceremony In Death'' who defends one of the Satanic cult leaders that Eve is trying to take down. This lawyer happens to be a cult member himself. When Eve shows crime scene photos of a murdered cult member, the cult leader acts all "Meh", and the lawyer can only sit there and stare at the photos. Eve pretty much tips him off that she knows about his involvement and that he should think long and hard about what to do next. Later, when the lawyer is by himself, he ends up experiencing a
* "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield is about the main character, Laura, having one of these and realizing how unbelievably shallow her life is.
* Mrs Granger in ''[[Frindle]]'', after overreacting to a student's creative attempt to invent a new word, is [[Genre Savvy]] enough to realize that her actions have placed her in the role of the villain and uses this status to help the new word along.
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* [[Till We Have Faces]] spends its second half working towards this, with Queen Orual gaining revelation after revelation that complicates her perceptions of herself. {{spoiler|It culminates in her long-awaited chance to read her accusation against the gods ... but it comes out the way her inner self ''meant'' it, not the way she wrote it.}}
* The eponymous Harry Dresden of the [[Dresden Files]] has this a few times:
** Has one of these that he confesses to the avatar of his consciousness when {{spoiler|a photocopy of the Fallen Angel Lasciel in his head}}. , his consciousness points out that Harry really doesn't have a choice, and that taking the high road means everyone dies. He then pointed out that Harry has the capacity to do good with the evil he agreed to working with. Later, on the same note, Harry and Michael discuss this somewhat.
** Then, {{spoiler|Lasciel's copy}} has one of these. {{spoiler|To emphasize, Harry is so stubborn that he got the ''shadow of a Fallen Angel'' to turn back to good.}}
** Later, when Harry {{spoiler|is dead in Ghost Story}}, he realizes what his decisions in the previous book did to his friends, especially Molly. {{spoiler|It turns out that accepting a devil's bargain in front of your partially-reformed warlock wizardling apprentice is a ''bad'' idea, and that she learns from your example.}}
* In one of the [[Iron Warriors]] short stories, the renegade [[Space Marine]] Ardaric Vaanes realises that yes, he's become a Traitor Marine. At first, however, he doesn't ''care''.
== Live-Action TV ==
* The gang in [[Angel]] have kindof a [[Will They or Won't They?]] relationship with this trope in season 5.
* Iris Crowe in ''[[Carnivale]]'', tells her foster-father Norman Balthus that she knows she's evil:
{{quote|
* ''[[That Mitchell and Webb Look]]'' had a [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JEle_DLDg9Y sketch involving a pair of Nazis starting to wonder if they were the bad guys]: the were, after all, wearing black uniforms with skulls on them.
{{quote|
* In ''[[The Middleman]]'' episode "The Obsolescent Cryogenic Meltdown", {{spoiler|former Middleman}} Guy Goddard realizes that he's the villain when he finds himself saying the villainous [[Once an Episode]] [[Catch Phrase]] "My plan is sheer elegance in its simplicity."
* Nicely played out in the ''[[
** This also doubles as a [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero]] given what Dukat would go on to do after Sisko basically goaded him into embracing his darkside.
** Also occurs in the Original Series episode, "Changeling", for certain values of "hero" and "villain", as Kirk reveals to NOMAD that it has made an error. NOMAD realizes that it, too, is Faulty and Imperfect, and therefore must be Sterilized.
** ''Also'' in "The Return of the Archons", again in the Original Series. Kirk must have studied Logical Judo in Starfleet.
* ''[[
* On ''[[Dollhouse]]'', Mellie/November gives Ballard a creepy speech indicating (between the lines) that she's been programmed with low self-respect, and he responds with a dose of rough sex. The next morning she asks if he'll be looking for Dollhouse clients, and he mutters, "I found one."
** {{spoiler|Topher begins to have this realization, and tries to fight it off with noble goals, such as saving Priya from a lifetime of sex slavery. Nonetheless, his scientific progress leads nowhere good, he holds himself responsible for the destruction his discoveries cause, and he goes insane.}}
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** And Harry Maybourne as well, from slimy weasel to convicted traitor to grudging ally to beloved king of an alien planet.
** Tomin has one early in "The Ark of Truth". The Priors have a collective one after the Ark is opened.
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' has an odd version in season five when Dean realizes where his current path leads after he's sent into the future and [[Future Me Scares Me|meets himself.]]
{{quote|
'''Future!Dean:''' No. Absolutely not. (leaves)
'''Dean:''' What a ''dick''. }}
** The moment at the end of season four after Sam has killed Lilith and Ruby revealed {{spoiler|that Lilith ''was'' the final seal, not the one who was going to break the final seal,}} is Sam's [[Downplayed Trope|moment]] when he realizes he's just an [[Unwitting Pawn]] who [[Nice Job Breaking It, Hero|screwed up big time]] {{spoiler|and brought about the apocalypse}}. [[Heroic BSOD|His face]] during Ruby's triumphal and extremely ill-advised [[Evil Gloating|monologue]] conveys complete devastation. He's barely even paying attention when he and Dean subsequently kill Ruby.
** In season seven, after getting [[Drunk
* As ''[[The Wire]]'' winds to its conclusion, McNulty finally realizes that being a [[Cowboy Cop]] did ''not'' make him a hero after his plan to get more funding for the police via a fake serial killer story blows up in his face.
* In ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', the agents of SD-6 are ''not'' happy to learn they've been working for the enemy all along.
* Third Season of ''[[Breaking Bad]]'' features Jessie realizing that he's 'the bad guy'
{{quote|
'''Walter:''' And who are you?
'''Jesse:''' I'm the bad guy. }}
* ''[[
{{quote|
** The Doctor himself had one in "[[Doctor Who
{{quote|
** How about this one, from a ''Dalek'' to the ''Doctor''!
{{quote|
* Sebastian the Vorlon Inquisitor in ''[[Babylon
{{quote|
'''Sheridan:''' Chosen?
'''Sebastian:''' I was found by the Vorlons. They showed me the terrible depth of my mistake, my crimes, my presumption. I have done 400 years of penance in their service. A job for which they said I was ideally suited. Now, perhaps, they will finally let me die. }}
** Also from ''[[Babylon
* Done rather nicely in [[
* ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' had an episode with two unrelated stories about this. One centered arounnd reuinion between Leonard and a former bully, during which time he began to realize how much he'd hurt Leonard {{spoiler|until he wakes up the next morning fully sober up and reverts to his older self}}. The other centered around {{spoiler|Penny}} realizing that she used to be a bully and trying to overcome her guilt upon realizing how much she hurt her classmates.
== Music ==
* Happens twice in ''[[
* The second half of [[David Bowie]]'s "Cygnet Committee," wherein the second narrator first gleefully describes the violence he and his allies have turned to, but slowly sees it to be antithetical to his ideals.
* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VyuJI73Uxns "The Truth beneath the Rose"] by [[Within Temptation]] seems to be about this.
{{quote|
''It had a hold over me
''Blinded to see
''The cruelty of the beast
''Here is the darkest side of me
''(Forgive me my sins)
''The veil of my dreams
''Deceived all I have seen
''Forgive me for what I have been. }}
* Bob has a small one in [[Zombie Apocalypse|"Re: Your Brains"]] by [[Jonathan Coulton]], which doesn't seem to effect him much.
{{quote|
''Well, [[Elite Zombie|technically I am]]
''I guess I am. }}
* Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds song "The Curse of Milhaven"
{{quote|
''they've been saying I was evil
''that if bad was a boot then I'd fit it
''that I'm a wicked young lady,
''but I've been trying hard lately
''Oh fuck it! I'm a monster! I admit it! }}
* "I Was Wrong" by Social Distortion.
{{quote|
''[[Jerkass Facade|I hid behind anger, held back the tears]]
''It was me against the world, I was sure that I'd win
''[[Break the Haughty|But the world fought back, punished me for my sins]]
''I felt so alone, so insecure
''I blamed you instead, made sure I was heard
''And they tried to warn me of my evil ways
''But I couldn't hear what they had to say
''I was wrong, self-destruction's got me again
''I was wrong, I realise now that I was wrong }}
* Happens in the middle of [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tKQYZUU63QM "Crusade"] by [[Voltaire (
{{quote|
''{{'}}Twas then I heard a whimpering sound
''A dragonling to his father clung
''Who only fought to protect his young. }}
== Religion ==
* According to Christianity, acknowledging one's own "fallenness" is the first step to receiving salvation.
** A specific example would be Saul, a notorious persecutor of the earliest Christians, who was knocked to the ground and struck blind by a vision of God on the way to Damascus (''"Saul, Saul, why do you persecute Me?"''). He converted within the week to Christianity and found his sight restored, and "the road to Damascus" would become a popular metaphor for the
* [[Older Than Feudalism]] in ''[[
** "Truly, [[Jesus|this man]] [[Bullying a Dragon|was the son of God]]."
** In the New Testament, when Judas Iscariot realizes that he's betrayed Jesus, he gives back the thirty pieces of silver, and hangs himself. (The other account for his death averts this trope.)
** Another Biblical
== Tabletop Games ==
* In [[Ravenloft]], having a
▲== Theater ==
* The stage version of ''[[Little Shop of Horrors]]'' climaxes when Seymour Krelborn realizes what he's aided and abetted for a little fame and a shot at the woman of his dreams. Confronting [[Man-Eating Plant|Audrey 2]] he damns them both, [[Not So Different|"You're a monster, and so am I!"]] {{spoiler|He is then [[Downer Ending|promptly eaten]].}}
* Valjean and Javert in ''[[Les Misérables (
== Video Games ==
* In ''[[
** About two thirds of the way through ''[[Tales of Vesperia]]'', the party (which has to this point skirted the line between heroism and villainy, [[Vigilante Man|Yuri]] in particular) has a plan to defeat the newly-arrived [[Man Behind the Man]], but it will involve {{spoiler|[[The Magic Goes Away|destroying every blastia in the world]].}} The crew considers this for a moment and decides they need to get the permission of the world's leaders for such an act {{spoiler|which they get! Now the only problem is stopping resident [[White-Haired Pretty Boy]] Duke from sacrificing every human life on the planet in HIS attempt to destroy the Adephagos.}} Oh yeah, and {{spoiler|after you beat the snot out of Duke, he plays this trope absurdly straight, even to the point where he survives.}}
* In ''[[Valkyria Chronicles]]'' one of the Imperial generals, Yeager, realizes that even though he's fighting to liberate his own country, his participation in the invasion of Gallia makes him a hypocrite. Inspired by the zeal and dedication the Gallians show in defending their homeland, Yeager decides to abandon his post and leaves the Imperial army.
Line 277 ⟶ 271:
** It's worth noting that Atris wasn't Darth Traya, or at least not the ''original'' Darth Traya. In the version of the game that shipped, which had quite a bit of story cut for time, Atris doesn't get a Sith name. The full story, including the bits that got cut, seems to be canonical, though. It's also hinted that Kreia went through the same realization sometime in her past, as well as Atton Rand, whose story you can find out more about.
** And then there is the original ''KotOR'', where at tho-thirds point in the game you learn that {{spoiler|you were the amnesiac Sith Lord all along}}.
* ''[[
* White Knight Leo from ''[[Lunar 2 Eternal Blue Complete|Lunar 2: Eternal Blue]]'' is a [[Knight Templar]] who's really a [[Knight in Shining Armor]] at heart...which is why he [[Heel Face Revolving Door|flip-flops between Heel and Face]]. By the time he's mostly sided with Hiro, he's had to accept that {{spoiler|the Althena he served was a fake goddess, put into position by the real dark god, Zophar. Oh, and that he's slaughtered an untold number of other innocent people by unquestioningly following the orders of his false goddess.}} It's a tough pill to swallow.
* [[Infocom]]'s ''[[
* ''[[
* [http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=198344&site=pcg This] "[[Let's Play]]" of ''[[Galactic Civilizations]] 2'' was intended to be a peaceful attempt at attaining galactic superiority through advanced culture. Half way through comes the realization that something has gone terribly wrong:
{{quote|
* At the end of ''[[Mass Effect]]'', it's possible to talk {{spoiler|[[The Dragon|Saren Arterius]] into this, making him realize that he's been [[Brainwashed and Crazy]] all of this time. After this, he proceeds to [[Driven to Suicide|take a pistol and shoot himself]], thanking Shepard with his last words.}} This is approached somewhat differently than usual, as he's already figured out he's the bad guy, but thought it [[Necessarily Evil|to be the only way for anyone to survive the Reaper invasion]]. The player's contribution is to get him to realize that that's the [[Mind Control|indoctrination]] talking.
** Of course, anyone who has read the ''Mass Effect: Revelation'' prequel book will know that he was an asshole with an agenda even before his {{spoiler|indoctrination}}. He would abuse his {{spoiler|Spectre}} status and openly lie to prevent Anderson from becoming the first human Spectre.
* This is how the [[Talking the Monster
* Also in ''[[Fallout: New Vegas]]'', Joshua Graham, co-founder of [[The Horde|Caesar's Legion]] underwent this after his attempted execution. After he [[Implacable Man|survived]], he became a Mormon once again (albeit very [[Kill'Em All|militant]]) and rejoined his church.
** One way of [[Talking the Monster
{{quote|
* If you spare {{spoiler|Loghain}} in ''[[Dragon Age]]: Origins'' and increase his approval, he will eventually go through one of these. His last words {{spoiler|if you allow him to slay the Archdemon}} make it clear that he knows his past actions are unforgivable, and all he wants is a chance to atone for them.
* Cecil in ''[[Final Fantasy IV]]'' is loyal to his king at the start of the game, having been raised like a son by him. However, he draws the line when he's [[Unwitting Pawn|unwittingly used]] to [[Kick the Dog|burn down an entire village of innocent summoners.]] The next part of the game involves him trying to [[The Atoner|atone]] for the awful things he did as a Dark Knight in Baron's service.
* In ''[[God of War (
* Throughout ''[[Persona 4]]'', {{spoiler|Namatame (manipulated by the real killer) has kidnapped people he saw on the Midnight Channel and thrown them into the TV to protect them from a [[Serial Killer]]. He sincerely believes that the TV is a safe place, and he can retrieve them once the killer's found. What he doesn't realize is that they can't escape on their own, and once the fog lifts, they will be killed by Shadows. Once he himself enters the TV to escape police pursuit, it hits him just how wrong he was, and he does everything he can to assist the party as atonement... assuming you aren't cruel enough to kill him.}}
* Quite possibly the entire reason [[Jerkass Gods|Raiden]] attempts to change history in ''[[Mortal Kombat]] 9'', coupled with [[The Bad Guy Wins|Shao Kahn's victory]]. His revival of Liu Kang is one of the key events shown in the flashback message he sends to his past self.
* Inducing this in the game is how you win ''You Find Yourself In A Room''. If you mention hatred or anger as emotions you will be better off without, the game realizes that it is not the superior emotionless being it thought, as it it is ''filled with hatred and anger.'' [[Villainous BSOD|This drives it into a despair in which it simply lets you go, finding no more meaning in its tortures.]]
* In ''[[Back to The Future]]: The Game'', {{spoiler|Edna Strickland}} is hit with one of these in the fifth episode, after admitting that {{spoiler|she accidentally burned Hill Valley to the ground when trying to destroy a saloon in the 1800s.}}
{{quote|
* In ''[[
* In ''[[Asura's Wrath]]'', Yasha spent the last 12,000 years going along with the plans of the same people who killed his sister and his brother-in-law, enslaved his niece, and regularly slaughter people for their souls. All for the sake of the "cause"
=== Visual Novels ===▼
▲== Visual Novels ==
* In ''[[Tsukihime]]'', Akiha route, you can, at one point, kill Ciel ({{spoiler|thus, failing her test of Shiki's humanity}}), prompting Shiki to assume he IS a natural-born killer, after all, and give in to [[The Dark Side]]. Needless to say, it's a bad ending game over.
** Part of Kohaku's route {{spoiler|has her realize much quicker than in Hisui's route that maaaaybe she should have picked a different hobby than plotting the utter annihilation of the Tohno family, even if Makihasa wasn't [[Complete Monster|the world's nicest guy after his Inversion Impulse began]].}}
* Part of Kotomine's [[Backstory]] in ''[[Fate/stay
* In ''[[Phoenix Wright]]: [[Ace Attorney]]'', Miles Edgeworth starts to have "doubts" after you demonstrate two defendants to be innocent, but it's not until he's the defendant in {{spoiler|two murder trials in a row}} in which he's innocent that he really decides that forging evidence to get every single defendant found guilty is a bad thing. Furthermore, he finds out that although he became a prosecutor because of {{spoiler|the fatal shooting of his father}}, it turns out that {{spoiler|the real killer is the senior prosecutor who he works with - the one who taught him how to forge evidence!}}
** Also, in the fifth case, Edgeworth finds that {{spoiler|he's already guilty of using forged evidence, and the forged evidence was used to give a death sentance to a serial killer.}} He wasn't aware of it at the time ({{spoiler|he himself didn't forge the evidence, and he was convinced at the time that it was the real deal}}), but it really came to bite him in the ass when people found it out and started to call him out on it. Even when they find out {{spoiler|who forged the eivdence and why, sort of clearing his name a bit}}, he couldn't forgive himself for it...and it's implied that {{spoiler|it's one of the many things that pushes him to leave the prosecutors office for a year, leaving what appears to be a suicide note}}.
* In [[Katawa Shoujo]], in Act 4 of Shizune's route, {{spoiler|she realizes that she has been taking those closest to her for granted and pushing people close to her away. She thus resolves to, with Hisao's help, repair her friendship with Misha, and also says she will be less competitive in the future}}.
== Web Comics ==
* In ''[[Exiern]]'', Tiffany hates Theresa for several bad reasons: They are both under a [[Gender Bender]] spell (and Theresa doesn't share Tiffany's whiny attitude about it), the guy Tiffany tries to tell herself she's not in love with seem interested in Theresa, and they (Tiffany & Theresa) are equally bigoted against each other's culture. After [[Love Interest|Denver]] give her the appropriate "[[What the Hell, Hero?]]", Tiffany finally realize what a bitch she has been to Theresa. See page illustration above.
* Happens in ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20100617164342/http://shadesofgrey.rydia.net/comic.html Shades of Grey]'': the [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] angel dude after he meets two nice - but traumatized - demons and freaks out.
* Subversion: Cale'anon of ''[[Looking for Group]]'' believes he has turned evil {{spoiler|after killing a little boy}} and tries to act accordingly, but really, he [[Poke the Poodle|isn't made of the right (or wrong) stuff]].
* Parodied in ''[[Ansem Retort]]''.
{{quote|
'''Marluxia:''' Larxene did that.
'''Axel:''' Well, what about that plane that got hijacked?
'''Marluxia''': ''You hijacked that plane.''
'''Axel:''' Okay, but there was that corrupt government.
'''Marluxia:''' That was, and still is Zexion.
'''Axel:''' Wow, we're [[Jerkass|assholes]]. }}
* Parodied in ''[[Girl Genius]]''.
{{quote|
[[Beat Panel|[beat]]]
'''Agatha:''' -And you know what? ''I can work with that!'' }}
** In fact, multiply parodied: Baron Wulfenbach gets a few lovely moments too - mostly in the vein of knowing he's the "bad guy" and being all right with that.
** At one point, Gil Wulfenbach goes into a huge rant about how he always tries to be a [[Nice Guy]] but all that does is make people think that [[Extreme Doormat|he is weak and that they can take advantage of him,]] and so the only time he can make people listen to reason is by beating the crap out of them first. And then he realises, to his horror: "This must be how my father feels ''all the time!'' "
* ''[[
{{quote|
** Ironically, Sarda doesn't seem to realize or care that he is the one that enabled them to do so much damage in the first place. Stable time loops are delicious like that.
* Though not a villain, [[The Japanese Beetle]] had a moment where he realized he's a creep, and set about [[Character Development|trying to become a decent person and a real hero]].
* In ''[[Darths and Droids]]'', the PCs have always been skirting the border between merely [[Off the Rails]] and [[Obliviously Evil]], casually trashing the GM's carefully scripted story and messing things up far worse than they were originally. The GM loves to point this out to them, but it isn't until [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0454.html #454] that Pete finally gets it. Of course, his reaction subverts the trope: "So we're the bad guys now? Cool!"
** Played a little more seriously in [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0571.html #571,] where Anakin slaughters the younglings. Jim can [[Moral Event Horizon|no longer sympathize]] with Anakin, thinking him to be a [[Complete Monster]]. {{spoiler|In this continuity, he's probably right.}}
*** And then that one also gets subverted (at least, on Jim's end) in [http://www.darthsanddroids.net/episodes/0576.html #576]. Apparently, [[Lawful Evil]] is OK.
*** Interesting about this one is that Anakin's character arc has been mirroring something similar in Annie's life, and realizing what Jim thinks of Anakin gives Annie a nasty shock when she realizes that somehow she's taken playing an increasingly evil character as a pass to be amoral in real life.
* Parson arrives at this fairly quickly after arriving in [[Erfworld]] (what with his side having all the classic evil minions like dwagons, gobwins, twolls, and giant spidews), but gets chewed out by his new boss and told that the whole "Good Guys/ Bad Guys" concept is just stupid. Comes up again after the climax of the Battle of Gobwin Knob, when the full impact of his plans and actions (tens of thousands of Erfworlders are DEAD) hits Parson and he has to wonder how much he was influenced by the spell that summoned him and how much by his own free will and genuine desire to command a battle.
** King Slately, too.
{{quote|
Don said nothing.
"You never would listen to me about Royal ideals," Slately said, frowning. "Honor, sacrifice, dignity, decorum, station...loyalty, bravery... You were too polite to me, Don. You couldn't simply say I was no Royal ideal myself."'' }}
* In ''[[Dominic Deegan]]'', after spending most of an arc in denial ("I am a good man!"), Bulgak finally realizes that he is [https://web.archive.org/web/20110303192800/http://www.dominic-deegan.com/view.php?date=2010-11-24 "a selfish, damned fool."]
* ''[[Walkyverse|It's Walky!]]'': [[Dark Action Girl|Sal's]] fall from grace has led her to retrieve an [[Amplifier Artifact]] which she is [[Moral Event Horizon|poised to use to destroy about 2/3rds of the world with]]. Walky brings her back from the brink by presenting her with her ex-boyfriend Danny, who is pretty much the only person she will still let herself care about. Her tough-girl persona collides with her desire for Danny to think well of her and [[Villainous BSOD|she collapses into a crying heap in Danny's arms]]. Afterwards, she becomes [[The Atoner]] for the next few story arcs, resolving to willingly serve out her prison sentence [[Play
** Her
* In ''[[Endstone]]'', when about to [[Mind Rape]] her [[Parental Substitute]], [https://web.archive.org/web/20120625182359/http://endstone.net/2009/06/15/issue-1-page-22/ Cole wonders why she is doing these terrible things -- for a panel].
* ''[[Bobwhite]]'', during a summer story arc, Cleo realizes, [http://www.bobwhitecomics.com/?webcomic_post=20090707 "I'm such a terrible employee that I made a child cry."]
* In ''[[Order of the Stick]]'' Varsuvius not too long ago made a [[Deal
* ''[[Devil Bear]]'' had plushies from Gener-ahh-city [http://www.thedevilbear.com/comics.php?p=257 trying to explain] their plan. «Huh. Ya know, when I say it like ''that''…»
== Web Original ==
* Steve in ''[[Kate Modern]]'', when he realises his religion is actually a [[Religion of Evil|murderous cult]], which he has been serving blindly.
* Bobby Jacks in ''[[Survival of the Fittest]]'', who realizes he's one of the bad guys very early on but then decides that now that he's killed somebody there's no going back. Lenny Priestly also arguably fits this, although he is less somber about it.
** In ''v4'', Reiko Ishida has one of these after {{spoiler|strangling resident [[Wide
* Cracked.com offers a helpful list of [http://www.cracked.com/article_15021_5-signs-that-youre-villain-in-hollywood-action-movie.html 5 Signs That You're The Villain In An Action Movie], including details like acknowledging one's own [[Red Right Hand]] and the possibility of being an [[Evil Brit]].
* The ''Escapist'' series ''Doraleous and Associates'' had an episode where the titular heroes-for-hire realized they were working for the bad guys. They immediately switched sides.
* In [
* The original Dove was a vigilante crimefighter from the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'' who was active between 1989 and 1995. He considered himself a hero helping to defend ordinary people from street criminals. His usual modus operandi was to hunt any criminal whom he thought "got away with it"; that is, whenever he disagreed with a "not guilty" verdict. When captured, he was confronted with the fact that he wasn't a defender of the public, but rather just another serial killer and the idea horrified him to the point that he hung himself while awaiting trial.
* Phase of the [[Whateley Universe]] is a fourteen-year-old who was kicked out of the richest family on the planet, the Goodkinds, when he turned into a mutant: the Goodkinds are notoriously anti-mutant, supporting the [[Knight Templar|Knights of Purity]] and the semi-governmental Mutant Commission Office (MCO). Goodkinds, including the boy Phase used to be, have supported the MCO with billions of dollars over the years. Phase has defended the MCO to his new (mutant) friends at [[Super
* Throughout ''[[
** "Now the nightmare's real; now Dr. Horrible is here...."
== Western Animation ==
* Played with thoroughly (perhaps enough to count as a deconstruction) in one episode of ''[[The Venture Brothers]]'' where Dr. Killinger, a villain adviser who previously made massive changes/improvements to both The Monarch's villain career and personal life, shows up to advise Dr Venture. Killinger saves Venture Industries and helps Venture face his numerous childhood issues, especially about his father, but at the end produces two papers, one of which would officially make Venture a [[Super Villain]], the other would dismiss Killinger and the "[[A Worldwide Punomenon|Venchemen]]" that Killinger had assembled to be Venture's army of [[Mooks]]. The semi-sociopathic Venture eventually chooses not to become a villain, but is left deeply shaken by the whole encounter.
{{quote|
'''Dr. Venture:''' I... I don't know. He thinks I'm a... Brock, am I a bad person?
'''Brock:''' (pauses, then rocks his hand in a "kind of" gesture) Ehhhh..... }}
* In the final regular episode of ''[[Daria]]'', Daria has a painful flashback memory about a loud argument her parents had over her. At this, Daria is wracked with guilt that she had been an unfair burden to her parent when she thought she was being herself. However, her parents make it clear that as much as they tried to encourage a more social attitude from her, they also accepted that her loner and iconoclastic ways were worth the price to have a daughter who is admirably intelligent, perceptive and principled.
* Adora in the ''[[She
* Judge Frollo has one of these at the beginning of the Disney adaptation of ''[[The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney film)|The Hunchback of Notre Dame]]'', when the Archdeacon makes him realize that dropping a deformed baby down a well after killing its mother (in front of a cathedral, no less) might just damn his eternal soul to Hell. It lasts long enough for him to spare the child, but he [[Ignored Epiphany|doesn't seem to realize that all the OTHER horrible things he does would ALSO damn him to Hell]] and thus reverts back to his [[Knight Templar]] self for the rest of the movie.
* In ''[[Megas XLR]]'', Coop tries to protect the Earth, though it's usually his fault, and he does far more damage than anyone else. The S-Force and ''their'' evil nemesis, [[Names to Run Away From Really Fast|Ender]], spend an entire episode pointing this out to him (aptly titled ''The Bad Guy''), and nearly everyone else does at some point. In the series finale, {{spoiler|an AU version of him actually ''was'' the bad guy. It was intended to be revealed at some point that he created the Glorft on accident, too.}}
* In an episode of ''[[
** Another episode, an inmate stabbed himself to feel what it's like to be a victim. After doing this, he comes to the conclusion on his actions and prison is where he belongs.
* In ''[[
* Not an easy process for Zuko of ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', but he eventually gets there: "[[Heel Face Turn|I'm good now]]. I mean, I thought I was good before, but now I realize I was bad..."
* In the film version of ''[[All
{{quote|
'''Superman:''' "If it had ''mattered'' to you, Luthor, you could have saved the world years ago."
'''Luthor:''' "... you're right." }}
* In the ''[[
* In "The Glass Princess", an episode of the original ''[[My Little Pony]]'', [[Vain Sorceress|Porcina]] has been turning Ponyland and the ponies there into glass at the encouragement of her [[Dragon
* In ''[[
{{quote|
* In the episode "Secret of my Excess" of ''[[My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic
** Fluttershy in "Putting Your Hoof Down." After becoming more and more violent and then proceeding to tell off her own friends and make them cry, after looking into a puddle and seeing her own rage face she's horrified at what she's become.
== Real Life ==
Line 395 ⟶ 386:
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Narrative Devices]]
[[Category:Internal Conflict Tropes]]
[[Category:
[[Category:
▲[[Category:Trope]]
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