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{{trope}}
{{quote|''"Angels are [[Light Is Good|bright]] still, though the brightest fell."''|'''Malcolm''', ''[[Macbeth]]'', Act 4, Scene 3, alluding to the [[The Devil|Lucifer]] story.}}
When the good guy leading by example rebels and does a [[Face Heel Turn]], and others continue to follow his example and turn to the "dark side" along with him.
[[The Paragon]] isn't just a good guy, he's ''the'' good guy. Everyone looks up to him. He's at the forefront of every battle, gives the [[Rousing Speech
What happens when someone like that [[Face Heel Turn|turns evil]]?
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Compare [[Fallen Hero]], [[Broken Pedestal]]. See also [[The Paragon]].
{{examples}}▼
▲{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* Popular background for newly created villains, particularly in Shounen series. Naruto has used and is using (and playing with) it with the Uchihas, [[Yu Yu Hakusho]] has a prior Spirit Detective in the Chapter Black arc, and it
* Sailor Galaxia in ''[[Sailor Moon]]'', though in the anime it's explained because she simultaneously [[Anatomy of the Soul|extracted her own star seed]] and absorbed elemental chaos. She just got corrupted in the manga. And she cast it out to protect it from Chaos.
* Orochimaru in ''[[Naruto]]'': while lacking anything regarding morality, he certainly was considered one of the brightest minds of his generation. He pulled a [[Face Heel Turn]] prior to the start of the story. Later on, {{spoiler|Sasuke}} does the same thing.
** The anime delves a little more into Orochimaru's backstory, wherein he starts as an orphan, developing into an obsession with rebirth and a desire to overcome death. It even adds a small moment where old Orochi is there when Tsunade learns about her little brother's death.
** {{spoiler|Itachi}} could be considered an inversion - {{spoiler|in this case, [[The Paragon]] was the only one to ''not'' rebel.}}
*** {{spoiler|Itachi}} did, however, betray his {{spoiler|own clan, the Uchiha, by being loyal to the Konoha government. As such, this is also an example of playing it straight, since the Uchiha considered Itachi to be their best.}}
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* In ''[[Saint Beast]]'', Lucifer refuses to stay as number two and takes Gabriel to hell with him. History then repeats itself with Judas and Luca, their students, whose motives are better but who also fall from the highest rank to ruling hell.
* Sosuke Aizen from ''[[Bleach]]'' was once the greatest and most beloved of the Gotei 13 Captains.
** Played straight when revealed, but subverted later with flash backs. He was evil before hand. He cultivated the paragon persona and reputation to throw people off his trail.
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** [[Quicksilver]] and the [[Scarlet Witch]] turning on [[Magneto]] seems to be a villainous version of this, since they're by far the most competent of his original Brotherhood.
* [[Irredeemable]] is ''all about this.'' {{spoiler|And with the rise of The Survivor, it appears to be doing it again.}}
* [[Captain America (comics)]], the most respected hero in the Marvel Universe, rebels against the US government in [[Marvel Civil War|Civil War]]. Notable in that the majority of fans agreed with him and disliked his supposed [[Heel Realization]].
* [[Omnicidal Maniac|Mandrakk the Dark Monitor]] in [[Final Crisis]] was once {{spoiler|Dax Novu, the greatest of all the Monitors. To make the [[Satan]] parallels even clearer, Novu was once known as "The Radiant One."}}
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* In the theatrical cut only, Deckard in ''[[Blade Runner]]'' is allegedly the greatest Replicant killer around but becomes a [[Defector From Decadence]] by the end.
* John Travolta's character in [[John Woo]]'s ''[[Broken Arrow (1996 film)|Broken Arrow]]'' is a hotshot army combat instructor before he turns on his own country.
* Happens in the movie ''Gabriel'', which is all too appropriate considering the movie is about angels and demons. Michael betrays his fellow angels and assumes the identity of the fallen angel Sammael with the intent of making the souls in the purgatory dimension they're fighting over into his own kingdom with which to battle Heaven and Hell.
* [[Green Street]] Hooligans
* {{spoiler|Agent 23}} in the 2008 film ''[[Get Smart (film)|Get Smart]]'' {{spoiler|is CONTROL's best agent.}} Naturally {{spoiler|he's KAOS's [[The Mole|Mole]]}}.
* The villain of the film ''[[First Knight]]'', Prince [[Meaningful Name|Malagant]], used to be [[King Arthur]]'s greatest champion before his greed and ambition made him question the Round Table's equality.
* Tai Lung in ''[[Kung Fu Panda]]'', oh so ''very'' much.
* [[Star Wars|Anakin Skywalker]].
** It's strongly suggested in ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'' when Yoda refers to Count Dooku as "my old padawan".
** Given Yoda's instruction of a classful of younglings in ''[[Attack of the Clones]]'', it would appear that ALL Jedi are Yoda's padawan at some point. Except Anakin, of course.
** IIRC it's explained in the novel ''Dark Rendezvous'', while Thame Cerulian was Dooku's Master when he was a Padawan, he appears to have also trained with Yoda to some extent during this time. The line in the movie is still inaccurate but this goes some way to explaining its use.
*** A Padawan is more of a direct apprentice, where the younglings he taught were just students.
* Harvey Dent in ''[[The Dark Knight]]''. The film emphasizes his status as "the brightest and best", "Gotham's white knight" (even ''Batman'' looks up to the guy) so that his eventual transformation into Two-Face is all the more tragic.
== Literature ==
* Morgoth in ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]''. Explicitly the strongest Valar, and decides to weave evil into Eru Illuvatar's creation.
** A bit subverted, since the first thing that Melkor did when he obtained free will was to attempt to bully the rest of the Ainur and even Eru into making things HIS way. So he is not a Fallen Paragon since he was never good to begin with.
** Saruman as well. He was the chosen the leader of the five Maiar and the white council sent to defend Middle Earth from Sauron, but defects to Sauron's side.
** Hell, even the Kings of Numenor could count in this. They were the Greatest Kingdom of Man before their fall.
* ''[[The Silmarillion]]'':
** Melkor was the greatest of the Valar, and when he fell, he dragged a number of the Maiar with him.
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* In ''[[Stationery Voyagers]]'', Luminarod was about to be the Paragon. But no sooner did [[The Nicknamer|Dolondri]] offer him the title of Prociot than the gears in his head immediately snapped; and he began to question the Definition Essentials. When he didn't get the answers he wanted, he immediately tried to overthrow God; and became the codifier of all evil. Martarel, who would have been the Duciot, receives the title of Prociot immediately after expelling Luminarod from Alto and clogging the Chasm Tube connecting Alto to Darko, so that it would become the Great Chasm. [[Captain Obvious|Sort of a compromise]] between what's left unstated in [[The Bible]] and what's made explicit by Dante.
* Ambrosio, from ''[[The Monk]]''. An extremely devout monk. The progress of the novel chronicles his fall from innocence and virtue to complete evil.
== Tabletop RPG ==
* In ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' Fantasy, the High Elven king Malekith. His followers became the Dark Elves.
* In ''[[Warhammer
* [[Biblical Bad Guy|Lucifer]] in ''[[Demon: The Fallen]]'' was canonically the most powerful and wise of the Elohim, second only to [[God]] Herself. However, in this case, his "[[Face Heel Turn]]" was not caused by suddenly growing evil but by him shifting priorities from loving God to loving humans, ''just as God ordered him in the first place''. Of course, this being the [[Old World of Darkness|World of Darkness]], [[It Got Worse]] and Lucifer remains a [[Hero with Bad Publicity]].
* In [[Points of Light]], Asmodeus was the greatest angel leading the strongest army in the war between the gods and the [[Eldritch Abominations|primordials]]. However, after a while he [[He Who Fights Monsters|stopped caring about the innocents that got between him and the enemy]], and after arguing with his boss about it, was cast down. He then took a [[Artifact of Doom|rod crafted of pure evil]] and struck down his master with it, but in doing so was imprisoned within his master's domain for all time, transforming it into [[Hell|the Nine Hells.]]
* In the 3rd and 3.5 editions of [[Dungeons
* When Lucifer, the powerful Archangel of Light, rebels in [[In Nomine]], about one-third of Heaven rises up with him. Tragically, this includes such shining examples as the Archangel of Love (who becomes the Prince of Lust) and the Angel of Laughter (who becomes the Prince of Dark Humor).
== Theater ==
* Henry "Hotspur" in ''[[Henry IV]] part 1''. Probably the greatest fighter in England, Hotspur and his father were on Henry IV's side in ''[[Richard II]]'', but become disillusioned sometime between the events of the two plays and rebel against the king. Notably, King Henry thought of Hotspur as the son he should have had (his own son, Hal, is a listless
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* While not exactly a Paragon (he is more on the Renegade side), Saren Arterius in ''[[Mass Effect]]'' was one of the best [[Heroes-R-Us|Spectres]] before his [[Face Heel Turn]].
** Which is hinted to be a case of [[More Than Mind Control]] from a certain [[Eldritch Abomination]]. According to the [[All There in the Manual|prequel novel]], he started the [[Face Heel Turn]] that got him brainwashed in the first place due to rampant speciesism; humans killed his brother in the First Contact war and he thought that nifty giant warship he came across would be perfect in getting his revenge. Then it brainwashed him.
** Actually, the books show Saren as he was before the [[More Than Mind Control]]. In case you're wondering, he's pretty much an [[Anti-Hero]] Type V at best, and a [[Complete Monster]] who happens to be on the Council's side at worst. Regardless, he crosses the [[Moral Event Horizon]] without a moment of hesitation.
** Benezia might be a clearer example: she was a wise and respected Asari Matriarch before she was corrupted by Saren.
** You could, also, play [[Player Character|Shepard]] this way.
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** A somewhat literal example lies in the story of [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|Branka]], the dwarf Paragon whose obsession with the Anvil of the Void led her to commit [[Moral Event Horizon|unforgivable atrocities]]. Although it is implied that she was a pretty bad person long before she found the Anvil. The Anvil just helped things along.
* Several sources cite [[Carmen Sandiego]] as one of these, having once been the best Acme agent in the world [[Victory Is Boring|before growing bored with it]] and [[For the Evulz|deciding becoming the criminals she was assigned to catch would be more of a challenge.]]
* [[Devil May Cry|Sparda]] was the Paragon of [[The Big Good]] and humankind against Mundus and the unleashed forces from Hell. After his death, their sons should [[Take Up My Sword|find and take up his sword]] to be able to do the same. Dante did this. Vergil did ''not''.
** Also a subversion: Sparda was previously the Hell's Paragon, and then rebelled against them.
* In [[Star Wars]]:[[The Old Republic]], this happens with {{spoiler|Havoc Squad}}. It can also happen to Republic player characters who turn to the dark side.
** Republic players on Nar Shaddaa are sent into Shadow Town, an Imperial prison for war criminals, to free {{spoiler|a legendary Jedi by the name of Ako Domi}}. Guess what they find.
* To round out the Bioware examples: Jon Irenicus from ''[[Baldur's Gate]] II'' was {{spoiler|Suldanesselar's}} greatest, brightest, and most powerful mage before he went power-hungry and {{spoiler|attempted to drain the tree of life to fuel his bid for godhood}}.
* The ''[[Warcraft]]'' universe gives us Sargeras, who was once the titans' greatest champion. However, when they sent him to [[He Who Fights Monsters|fight the Nathrezim]], he fell into despair at the depth of theirthe demons to undo all the Titans' creation.
** A case can also be made for Illidan Stormrage. His amber colored eyes were considered a mark for great deeds from him. He gained recognition and admiration in the early stages of the War of the Ancients for his gifts. When his craving for power and losing Tyrande Whisperwind's affection rendered all that not good enough, he switched to the Burning Legion.
*** Played with a bit in that Illidan betrayed the bad guys too. In Warcraft III, he proved that he still cared for his people and Tyrande, but when the heroes decided [[What the Hell, Hero?|they still would have none of him]], he was left on his own until he lost a fight to save the world, causing him to go insane before forming his own side, antagonistic to the heroes ''and'' villains.
** Also Prince Arthas Menethil of Lordaeron. An up and coming Paladin and top disciple of Uther the Lightbringer, he let his desire for justice turn into a craving for vengeance and became the main servant of the Lich King (and eventually become the Lich King himself).
== Web Comics ==
* Beluosus in ''[[Earthsong]]'' is a planetary consciousness that has decided to become a [[Planet Eater]] by eating the soulshards of other planets in sentient beings.
== Western Animation ==
* Rhinox in ''[[Beast Machines]]''. To quote Cheetor, "He wasn't just one of us... he was the best of us!"
* Alpha in the ''[[Men in Black (animation)|Men in Black]]'' [[Animated Series]] was once [[The Men in Black]]'s greatest agent, but went bad when he started adding alien parts to his body in a bid for power and immortality.
* Kyodai Ken in ''[[Batman: The Animated Series]]''.
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