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Protagonist's Journey to Villain: Difference between revisions
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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Those who have tasted the light of goodness and justice and turned away make the foulest villains."''
|'''''[[Dungeons & Dragons]] Third Edition''' Dungeon Master's Guide'', on fallen paladins who become [[Black Knight|Blackguards]].}}
The '''Protagonist's Journey To Villain''' is a plot in which the protagonist, who starts out well intentioned, turns into a monster. In other words, it's the making of the [[Villain Protagonist]]. Sometimes this plot can be backstory, perhaps overlapping with [[Start of Darkness]].
For example: Bob, [[Ideal Hero|the happy idealist and doer of good]], loses his morals through a series of battles with evil, and becomes just the opposite of what he once was. He is now a cruel, amoral evildoer.
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This is a subtrope of [[Fallen Hero]], in that this is the journey of the Protagonist. Related to [[Tragic Hero]], [[He Who Fights Monsters]], and, of course, the [[Fallen Hero]]. Compare and contrast [[Start of Darkness]], where a previously established villain's backstory is revealed. Contrast [[Redemption Quest]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== [[Anime]]
* ''[[Black Lagoon]]'', As the series goes on "outside" character [[Nice Guy|Rock]], who is [[Character Development|quickly turning into]] [[Action Survivor|something]] [[Guile Hero|else]]. The opposite is true of [[Villain Protagonist|Revy]], who has actually [[Defrosting Ice Queen|eased up]] thanks to Rock's optimism.
* ''[[Death Note]]'' is this for Light. He starts off just killing dangerous criminals, but it's only a few episodes before he convinces himself that [[Utopia Justifies the Means|since his intentions are noble]], and the police are trying to stop him, it's perfectly acceptable to murder them as well. And from there, things go [[From Bad to Worse]].
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== [[Fan Works]] ==
* In ''[[Code Geass:
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20130214093309/http://flummery.livejournal.com/26300.html This] quite amazing fanvid about the [[Doctor Who|Tenth Doctor]]. The scariest part is that the song (which is also an example of this trope) actually does fit his canon personality to a T.
== [[Film]] ==
* The ''[[Star Wars]]'' prequels are pretty much Anakin's fall from grace. The original trilogy is, of course, [[Redemption Quest|his journey towards redemption.]]
** [[Chekhov's Boomerang|Done exactly the same way]] with Anakin's [[In the Blood|grandson]] in [[Legacy of the Force]]. Minus the redemption.
* Harvey Dent / Two-Face in ''[[The Dark Knight]]''.
** Page quote, [[Foreshadowing|foreshadows]] his own future and ends up having this as his character theme.
* Fred C. Dobbs in ''[[The Treasure of the Sierra Madre]]''. He starts off as our main character, but our allegiance gradually switches to his partners as he comes down with [[Gold Fever]] and eventually goes bad.
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** [[Word of God]] is the Scorpion King in ''The Mummy Returns'' is actually Mathias's [[Identical Grandson]].
* ''[[My Best Friend's Wedding]]'' is a rom-com variation of this, although the film is clever enough to hide it under the usual Julia Roberts tropes for the first half of the film.
* ''[[The Godfather]]'' trilogy is all about Michael Corleone's transformation from [[White Sheep]] of a crime family to its ruthless leader, and subsequent doomed attempts to [[The Atoner|atone]]. Initially he's not supposed to be involved in the family business at all, as his father genuinely wants someone in the next generation to leave their criminal past behind, but Michael is drawn in in order to protect him from assassination and ends up being the only real candidate to succeed him. He starts out promising his wife that he too intends to make the family legitimate, and his justification for everything is that he's protecting his family. But it turns out he thinks the best way to do that is by consolidating his power and taking out all his enemies in one fell swoop, {{spoiler|who happen to include his brother-in-law}}. The second movie takes the paradox
{{smallcaps| [[Literature]]}}:
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** Mad, yes, but she never gets around to much actual evil (apart from neglecting the kid who is probably hers) because she's busy being insane and broken-hearted and bitter as hell.
** She is implied to (and attempts to) commit murder multiple times over the novel, for increasingly petty and unjustified reasons.
* Feanor's whole arc in ''[[The Silmarillion]]'' is his descent from hero to [[Anti-Hero]] to psychotic, obsessive [[Villain Protagonist]].
** So is Maeglin's, though he of course had the excuse of being caught and tortured by Morgoth.
* In Livy's ''[[The History Of Rome]]'', which is a record of real events, embellished where the author felt it necessary, this is a major theme for more than a few of the kings and consuls of early Rome.
* In the ''[[Mistborn]]'' trilogy by [[Brandon Sanderson]] this is the supposed backstory. A thousand years ago a champion, the 'Hero of Ages' rose up to defeat an (unspecified) evil known only as 'The Deepness' but upon his victory he took possession of the world as its Lord Ruler.
{{quote|"For a thousand years the ash fell and no flowers bloomed. For a thousand years the Skaa slaved in misery and lived in fear. For a thousand years the Lord Ruler, the “Sliver of Infinity,” reigned with absolute power and ultimate terror, divinely invincible."}}
** The heroes of this story find an old logbook written by the man who would become the Lord Ruler which shows how he began his quest as a humble, earnest man trying to save the world. In the end the truth becomes far more complicated as the Lord Ruler's motivations are slowly revealed throughout the trilogy. The short version is that {{spoiler|the hero, Alendi, was duped by prophecies being altered by Ruin, an [[Omnicidal Maniac]] deity trapped in the Well of Ascension who would be released if the hero reached the Well and "released" the power. When the scholar who originally prophesized the hero learned the truth, he had his allies pose as guides and murder Alendi when he reached the Well. Then one of the guides named Rashek took the power in the Well and kept it, keeping Ruin trapped and becoming the Lord Ruler. He was driven insane over time by Ruin, becoming a [[Well-Intentioned Extremist]] [[Evil Overlord]]}}.
* The ''[[Transformers:
* The ''[[Horus Heresy]]'' has done this for {{spoiler|Horus, Fulgrim and Lorgar}} so far, and seems to be in the process for {{spoiler|Alpharius Omegon}}.
* Clandish "Cybomec" Consto in ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'', not exactly a good guy to begin with, [[Go Mad
== [[Live Action TV]] ==
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* The alliance campaign of ''[[Warcraft|Warcraft 3]]'' does this with prince Arthas and the [[Trauma Conga Line]] that leads to him becoming The Lich King.
** To a lesser degree we have Illidan, Sylvanas, Maiev Shadowsong, Kael, and Grom Hellscream, though admittedly several of these became [[Anti-Villain|Anti Villains]] while Grom redeemed himself via [[Heroic Sacrifice]].
* Sarah Kerrigan's plot-arc from ''[[
** ''Starcraft 2'' {{spoiler|appears to have retconed this so that the brain-washing was practically another person. It's generally implied that Sarah Kerrigan is not the same person as the Queen of Blades, and that her infestation had left the good Sarah trapped inside her own mind.}}
* The ''[[Metal Gear Solid]]'' prequel games - ''[[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater|MGS3]]'', ''[[Metal Gear Solid: Portable Ops|Portable Ops]]'' and ''[[Metal Gear Solid Peace Walker|Peace Walker]]'' - are this for Naked Snake/Big Boss.
* ''[[Heroes of Might and Magic]]'''s first ''Heroes' Chronicles'' campaign details the rise and fall of Tarnum, a barbarian whose only goal is to free his people from the tyrannical rule of the Bracadan wizards to re-establish the glorious barbarian empire of old. Throughout the campaign, various events cause him to grow more paranoid and ruthless, with the tipping point being his poisoning of all his generals, whom he suspected of treachery. He is eventually ended by King Rion Gryphonheart, the first Erathian king, in a [[Combat by Champion]]. The remaining campaigns detail his redemption after he is not admitted to the barbarian afterlife. His final redemption comes in the barbarian campaign of ''Heroes of Might and Magic IV'', where he guides a young barbarian named Waerjak in uniting the scattered tribes in a story mirroring his own, minus this trope.
* Jin Kazama in ''[[Tekken]] 6''. Regardless of his [[Utopia Justifies the Means|reasons]] [[Knight Templar|for]] [[Batman Gambit|doing]] [[Evil Versus Evil|it]], he plunged the entire world into war and nearly cruelly executed his uncle (it's not like he wasn't enjoying it) based on selfishness and ''a theory.'' Jin himself recognizes what his actions have turned him into, even though he's the only one who could have done what he did.
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* In the ''[[Global Guardians PBEM Universe]]'', the general opinion is that this started for Terry "Mister America" Benedict when he testified during the McCarthy hearings as a friendly witness.
** There's also The Dove's slow descent from street-level hero to serial killer, all in the name of fighting crime.
* ''[[
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Evil Tropes]]
▲[[Category:Heel Face Index]]
[[Category:Plots]]
[[Category:
[[Category:Character Development]]
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