Protagonist's Journey to Villain: Difference between revisions

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* 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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** 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 Trans Tech]]'' story "I, Lowtech" is the first-person perspective story of a [[Corrupt Corporate Executive]] trying to figure out why he seems to [[Grand Theft Me|no longer be in his real body]]. While he was not exactly ''good'' to start off with, he ''was'' (technically) law-abiding and never caused direct harm. Until a combo of his first violent act done in self-defense and nobody taking his claims of a body swap seriously makes him realize [[Evil Feels Good]]/[[Evil Is Easy]] and causes him to start going insane and degenerating into a rampaging serial killer who kills just because it's convenient/for revenge.

* 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}}.

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** 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]]'' could basically be described as "heroic moral center" to "[[Brainwashed and Crazy]] [[The Dragon|Dragon]]" to "[[Big Bad]] in her own right".

** ''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.

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[[Category:Evil Tropes]]

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[[Category:~~Heel~~ ~~Face Index~~]]

[[Category:Plots]]

[[Category:Protagonist Journey to Villain]]

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[[Category:Corruption Tropes]]