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Took a Level In Kindness: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|''"And what happened then? Well, in Whoville they say, that the Grinch's small heart grew three sizes that day."''|''[[How the Grinch Stole Christmas (novel)|How the Grinch Stole Christmas]]''}}
A [[Jerkass]] softens over time, and becomes either a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] or not a jerk at all. Usually this can be due to [[Character Development]]. [[Badass Decay]] and [[Heel Face Turn]] may be involved as well. In some cases this may be a case of [[Characterisation Marches On]]; as the series progresses, the writers realised that a nicer character fit the changing tone better than the original idea.
If done over the course of one episode or short-story, this may have been to set up an Aesop.
Naturally, the [[Counter Trope]] of [[Took a Level in Jerkass]]. Compare to [[Defrosting Ice Queen]], which focuses on a specific Love Interest bringing a character out of their shell.
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== Anime and Manga ==
* Sakura Haruno from ''[[Naruto]]''. She goes from a [[Jerkass]] [[Tsundere]] who beats up Naruto and swoons over Sasuke, to a more vulnerable but quite more kind-hearted [[Combat Medic]]. To be fair, she showed signs of [[Character Development]] even ''before'' she got her iconic [[Important Haircut]]: a scene in the Haku and Zabuza arc has her giving candy to a [[Street Urchin]] and then cries [[Tender Tears]] when she learns how Tazuna's home is due to Gato and his group.
** After his [[Defeat Means Friendship|defeat]] by Naruto, Neji goes from an [[Jerkass]] [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]] who [[Kick the Dog|harshly beat his cousin Hinata]] to a generally nice guy who shows concern when she is injured and supports her crush on Naruto.
** Kankuro also qualifies, starting off as an arrogant, [[Hot-Blooded]] [[Jerkass]] and becoming noticeably kinder in Shippuuden, partly due to his improving relationship with Gaara.
* Piccolo from ''[[Dragonball Z]]'' went from a raving, sadistic psychopath and a literal ''Demon prince'', to one of the most levelheaded characters, all thanks to the kindness of a single child!
** Granted, this is probably because he only turned after he [[You Killed My Father|fulfilled his revenge against Goku]].
* Ken from ''[[Digimon Adventure 02]]'' after his [[Heel Face Turn]]. Particularly appropriate in that Kindness was always intended to be his Crest from the beginning.
** Also Rika from ''[[Digimon Tamers]]'' gradually becomes less cold-hearted and friendlier towards Takato, Henry, and the other games.
* Syaoran Li of ''[[Cardcaptor Sakura]]'' evolves from an [[Arrogant Kung Fu Guy]] with [[Tsundere]] qualities to [[Shrinking Violet|meek and soft natured]] [[Dogged Nice Guy]] for Sakura. Meiling of the anime adaption goes through a similar evolution. Both cases are largely due to Sakura's own increasingly [[Friend to All Living Things|empathic]] and [[Moe|innocent]] aspects (though granted, she was already rather sweet natured by the start of the series' run).
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* Kyouko from ''[[Puella Magi Madoka Magica]]'' starts as an [[Ax Crazy]] [[Jerkass]]. But after learning {{spoiler|the [[Awful Truth]] about what ultimately happens to magical girls}}, she starts showing her [[Hidden Heart of Gold]], more specifically towards {{spoiler|Sayaka Miki}}.
* Guts of ''[[Berserk]]'', upon finding Casca again and gaining new [[True Companions]], has begun abandoning his cold, ruthless and vengeful Black Swordsman persona in favor of something resembling his original nature for the first time since the Eclipse. Mind you, he still has a rather nasty [[Enemy Within]] to deal with due to the vendetta that he was on for two years.
** Even better would be Farnese, who was once a cold, [[Knight Templar]], [[Pyromaniac]] who wanted nothing more than to burn people at the stake for her own satisfaction and to see Guts dead. But after the events at the Tower of Conviction, and wanting to [[The Atoner|atone for her past actions by following Guts]], she has grown considerably kinder and is even shown to being [[Kuudere|sort of naive and manipulable]].
* Gary Oak/Shigeru in ''[[Pokémon (anime)|Pokémon]]'' becomes much nicer to Ash around the Johto arc after his [[Break the Haughty]] phase in the Kanto arc. By the end of the Johto arc, he and Ash finally become friends again after so many years to being rivals (which sticks when they meet again in Sinnoh).
* This is the driving force behind the plot of ''[[Onani Master Kurosawa]]'': A cynical jerk who sequesters himself from the rest of the world softens over time, beginning with {{spoiler|his falling in love for the first time}} and ultimately culminating in {{spoiler|him becoming [[The Atoner]] after he [[My God, What Have I Done?|realizes that he's badly hurt one of his few friends.]]}}
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== Fan Fiction ==
* ''[[Calvin and Hobbes: The Series|Calvin and Hobbes The Series]]''' iteration of Calvin is much more likely to do the right thing than [[Calvin and Hobbes|his comic counterpart.]]
* In ''[[The Best Night Ever]]'', a core focus of the story is Prince Blueblood [[Character Development|taking several levels in kindness]].
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* Ebeneezer Scrooge from ''[[A Christmas Carol]]''.
* [[Handsome Lech|Prince Garrid]] from Tales of the Frog Princess, a [[Ladykiller in Love]], became a genuinely better person [[Love Redeems|so he could be with Li'l.]]
* Eustace in ''[[The Voyage of the Dawn Treader]]''.
* Happens a lot in the ''[[Chalet School]]'' series. Girls who start off as bitchy, sulky or standoffish will often come to learn the error of their ways and become nicer people after being introduced to the ways of the school, or getting a good ticking-off from one of the mistresses. And if that doesn't work, there's always a handy accident; for instance, Eustacia Benson injures her back after running away from the school, is confined to a wheelchair for some time and becomes a much nicer person.
* ''[[Peter Pan]] in Scarlet'' takes it for granted that Slightly, formerly a condescending, cowardly little snob, grew up to be kind, sensitive and "as gentle as a lamb". Of course, the original novel and the various drafts of the play implied that Slightly had his ego brought down to size after the boys left Neverland, and in ''Peter Pan in Scarlet'' {{spoiler|he's recently been widowed}}, so suffering probably sweetened him a little.
* [[Harry Potter (novel)|James Potter]] started out as [[The Bully]] and then eventually became[[Class Representative|Head Boy]] in his seventh year.
* Matteo in ''[[Someone Else's War|Someone Elses War]]'', who goes from a snobby, condescending brat to a loving young man who will risk his life and compromise his ideals if it means saving his friends.
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* Luke on the O.C
* [[Star Trek]]: The Klingons went from bad guys to [[Good Is Not Nice]] between TOS and TNG. The final TOS movie shows us how. However, it's disputable how much they've changed ''really'' when it comes to conquering: they're chummier with the Federation, but they may well be no different to other races.
** From TOS, Elaan from ''Elaan of Troyius''.
* Albert Rosenfeld, ''[[Twin Peaks]]''
* Waldo Geraldo Faldo, ''[[Family Matters]]''
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** Note that the Jerkass persona can be chalked up to [[Early Installment Weirdness]]: the Doctor is only downright malicious in his first three stories and softens up afterwards, and his negative traits almost entirely disappear by the end of his first series. William Hartnell spends most of Season 2 playing an eccentric loveable grandfather figure who is constantly giggling and calling people "my dear boy".
*** As evidenced in "[[Doctor Who/NS/Recap/S4 E16 The Waters of Mars|The Waters of Mars]]," nasty things happen when the Doctor doesn't have a companion. Maybe the Doctor needed Ian and Barbara's influence to take a level.
* Ziva David from ''[[NCIS]]'' has in the past couple of seasons evolved softer qualities including a [[Big Brother Instinct|big sister instinct]] for McGee. Though it may be those aspects of her personality were always there and she needed to feel at home on the team.
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* Also from the Zelda series is Groose from ''[[The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword|Skyward Sword]]''. He starts off as a typical arrogant and pompous [[Jerk Jock]] who has it in for Link, but at one point he follows Link to the land below the clouds and witnesses Link fighting and resealing the game's [[Sealed Evil in a Can]]. Though he's at first disillusioned over his own apparent uselessness, he comes to respect Link and begins to grow considerably more noble, even becoming a crucial ally to Link in a number of boss battles.
* In the first two games of the [[Mass Effect]] series, Turian Councilor Sparatus is an ass to Shepard and to humans in general. Come the third game, when it's been made clear that Shepard was utterly correct all along, he is the first one of the trio to provide Shepard aid in the form of vital intel, and is the only one of the three who doesn't start off as cold and dismissive toward Shep. Also, the third game has now-Councilor [[The Ass In Ambassador|Udina]], after being such a dismissive jerk in the previous game, being surprisingly supportive and polite toward Shepard... {{spoiler|only to [[Face Heel Turn|orchestrate an attempted Cerberus coup of the Citadel later on]], resulting in his death at Shepard's hands. Though even then, he pulled the attempted coup because he felt that Cerberus were willing to help him save Earth's people where the Council apparently weren't}}.
* Miles Edgeworth from the [[Ace Attorney]] series goes from being the ruthless Demon Prosecutor, concerned only with maintaining his perfect prosecution record even through shady means, to pursuing the truth for truth's sake and being a genuine friend and ally to Phoenix, Maya, and others (most notably, {{spoiler|making an impromptu international flight and taking on the role of defense attorney - something he could get into trouble for if caught - simply because Phoenix needed him}}). By the time we see him in [[Ace Attorney Investigations: Miles Edgeworth|his most recent appearance]], he's willing to risk loss of career and arrest in order to help Kay Faraday.
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** Arguably this evolution had begun since the show's beginning. Even Season One Homer is a far more sentimental and devoted father in comparison to his counterpart in ''The Tracey Ullman Show'' shorts.
** And then there's "Alone Again, Natrua-Diddily", where Homer promises to treat Ned Flanders less like a [[Sitcom Arch Nemesis]], complete with a [[Single Tear]].
*** The one episode where he becomes friends with Flanders, he's back to hating him by the end.
* Prince Zuko from ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'', during season 3.
* Agent Six in ''[[Generator Rex]]'', in the episode "String Theory" where the seemingly mindlessly loyal agent actually defused the nuclear bomb rather than allow millions of innocents to die.
** Cemented later in "Promises promises" when we see how much he had to do with Rex being accepted by the group.
* Due to [[Heel Face Turn|Heel Face Turns]], Kevin Levin in the ''[[Ben 10]]'' metaseries, and later {{spoiler|Charmcaster. To say nothing of the entire Highbreed species...}}
* While more a difference in interpretation than a canonical evolution in personality, Eeyore in Disney's ''[[Winnie the Pooh]]'' [[Animated Adaptation|Animated Adaptations]] was given a much gentler persona in comparison to his original novel counterpart. This evolved to the point that [[The Eeyore|Eeyore]] is distinguished as one of the most recognisable [[The Woobie|Woobies]] in [[Western Animation]].
* Buford from ''[[Phineas and Ferb]],'' who was a bully in his first appearance, a [[Punch Clock Villain]] in his second, and afterward only makes token attempts to pretend he doesn't like everybody else.
* Film historian Leonard Maltin notes that when [[Mickey Mouse]] first arrived on the screens, he was hardly a model of good behaviour. Mickey soon evolved into [[The Everyman]], with the [[Jerkass]] torch being passed to [[Donald Duck]].
* June from ''[[Ka Blam!]]'' became this in season four. She still had some cynical moments, but she became a lot nicer.
* [[Alpha Bitch|Heather]] from [[Total Drama Island]] used to be a mean [[Jerkass]], but due to all the [[Laser-Guided Karma|hell that]] people put her through, she suddenly changes to be nicer, starting with the [[Unpopular Popular Character|unlucky Cody]].
* In ''[[Regular Show]]'', [[Fat Idiot|Muscle Man]] has undergone this. Formerly a [[Jerkass]], he's become a [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]] who views Mordecai and Rigby as friends.
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