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* ''Literature/TressOfTheEmeraldSea'': Laggart always knew that he was a merciless, ruthless bastard, but what he never realized was that it was possible to be something else, that there were people who genuinely meant what they said when they talked about kindness and mercy. When Tress shows him mercy after he abused her and in a situation where she could not conceivably benefit from being hypocritical, it finally causes him to understand that there is such a thing as real kindness and mercy, and for the first time in his life he really understands the despicability of his own actions.
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* ''Literature/UniversalMonsters'': The version of Herr Henry Frankenstein from book 6 seems has already undergone his, and begs the teens and Detective Turner to help him stop Dr. Pretorius. Subverted when it turns out to be an act and he turns on the teens as they arrive at Goldstadt Mansion.
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* ''Literature/UniversalMonsters'': The version of Herr Henry Frankenstein from book 6 seems has to have already undergone his, and begs the teens and Detective Turner to help him stop Dr. Pretorius. Subverted when it turns out to be an act and he turns on the teens as they arrive at Goldstadt Mansion.
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* ''Literature/UniversalMonsters'': The version of Herr Henry Frankenstein from book 6 seems has already undergone his, and begs the teens and Detective Turner to help him stop Dr. Pretorius. Subverted when it turns out to be an act and he turns on the teens as they arrive at Goldstadt Mansion.
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* In ''Literature/PosterGirl'' the protagonist Sonya Kantor is the former poster girl of the Delegation, a tyrannical regime, having lost everyone close to her to the rebellion that overthrew it she starts the story very much still believing that the Delegation were the good guys. As the story progresses she realized more and more just how evil the regime truly was [[spoiler: and the role her own father played in it specifically.]]
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* ''Literature/TheMisfitOfDemonKingAcademy'': Emilia Lud(o)well looks down on hybrids, refusing to acknowledge how powerful they can get (such as series protagonist Anos) and attempts murder on several of them, claimingthem to be knowledge thieves who eavesdrop on her classes. [[spoiler: Following her ForcedTransformation into a half-demon, a group of pure-blooded students assault her, claiming she's a vulgar hybrid with vulgar thoughts. This is one factor in Emilia's realization of how biased her prior beliefs towards hybrids were]].
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* ''Literature/TheMisfitOfDemonKingAcademy'': Emilia Lud(o)well looks down on hybrids, refusing In ''Literature/HeraldsOfRhimn'', Atevia turns face as she realizes that the fey that she’d helped to acknowledge how powerful they can get (such as series protagonist Anos) arrest never had [[{{Glamour}} glamour magic]] to begin with, and attempts murder on several weren’t ever a danger to the general population. The final chapter of them, claimingthem to be knowledge thieves who eavesdrop on her classes. [[spoiler: Following her ForcedTransformation into a half-demon, a group of pure-blooded students assault her, claiming she's a vulgar hybrid Book Three begins with vulgar thoughts. This is one factor in Emilia's realization of how biased her prior beliefs towards hybrids were]].quietly revising her personal code of honor, understanding that she and her colleagues are no longer on the same page.
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* ''Literature/TheMisfitOfDemonKingAcademy'': Emilia Lud(o)well looks down on hybrids, refusing to acknowledge how powerful they can get (such as series protagonist Anos) and attempts murder on several of them, claimingthem to be knowledge thieves who eavesdrop on her classes. [[spoiler: Following her ForcedTransformation into a half-demon, a group of pure-blooded students assault her, claiming she's a vulgar hybrid with vulgar thoughts. This is one factor in Emilia's realization of how biased her prior beliefs towards hybrids were]].
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* ''Literature/TheMisfitOfDemonKingAcademy'': [[spoiler: Following her Forced Transformation into a half-demon, a group of pure-blooded students assault Emilia Lud(o)well, claiming she's a vulgar hybrid with vulgar thoughts. This is one factor in Emilia's realization of how biased her prior beliefs towards hybrids were]].
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* ''Literature/TheMisfitOfDemonKingAcademy'': Emilia Lud(o)well looks down on hybrids, refusing to acknowledge how powerful they can get (such as series protagonist Anos) and attempts murder on several of them, claimingthem to be knowledge thieves who eavesdrop on her classes. [[spoiler: Following her Forced Transformation ForcedTransformation into a half-demon, a group of pure-blooded students assault Emilia Lud(o)well, her, claiming she's a vulgar hybrid with vulgar thoughts. This is one factor in Emilia's realization of how biased her prior beliefs towards hybrids were]].
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* ''Literature/TheMisfitOfDemonKingAcademy'': [[spoiler: Following her Forced Transformation into a half-demon, a group of pure-blooded students assault Emilia Lud(o)well, claiming she's a vulgar hybrid with vulgar thoughts. This is one factor in Emilia's realization of how biased her prior beliefs towards hybrids were]].
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** Also happened to [[spoiler:Snape]] after [[spoiler:his actions resulted in Lily Potter's death]]. [[spoiler:Snape]]'s realization came a year earlier, when [[spoiler:he realized that Voldemort's reaction to the prophecy Snape had brought him would include killing Lily]],
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** Also happened to [[spoiler:Snape]] after [[spoiler:his actions resulted in Lily Potter's death]]. [[spoiler:Snape]]'s realization came a year earlier, when [[spoiler:he realized that Voldemort's reaction to the prophecy Snape had brought him would include killing Lily]],Lily.]]
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* ''Literature/ACourtOfThornsAndRoses'': Lucien refers to himself as "the villain in [Feyre's] narrative," upon seeing how she lives in Night Court.
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* ''Literature/SevenYearsAwesomeLuck'': [[spoiler: Kester]] does some serious soul-searching after getting a taste of his own medicine from [[spoiler: his son Landon]], and reflects on his life with growing dissatisfaction. [[spoiler: He ends up freeing the people he's turned into animals and then giving up using magic entirely.]]
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* ''Literature/SevenYearsAwesomeLuck'': [[spoiler: Kester]] does some serious soul-searching after getting [[ATasteOfTheirOwnMedicine a taste of his own medicine from [[spoiler: medicine]] ([[spoiler:from his son Landon]], Landon]]), and reflects on his life with growing dissatisfaction. [[spoiler: He ends up freeing the people he's turned into animals and then giving up using magic entirely.]]
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* In the novelette "ElInquisidorDeMexico", after Sara dies, Don Domingo realises how he had acted like a fanatic and gives up his job as an inquisitor to instead become a good Catholic, helping the poor and the sick.
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* In the novelette "ElInquisidorDeMexico", "Literature/ElInquisidorDeMexico", after Sara dies, Don Domingo realises how he had acted like a fanatic and gives up his job as an inquisitor to instead become a good Catholic, helping the poor and the sick.
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* In the novelette "ElInquisidorDeMexico", after Sara dies, Don Domingo realises how he had acted like a fanatic and gives up his job as an inquisitor to instead become a good Catholic, helping the poor and the sick.
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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 [[AlienInvasion Lizards]] won the war. Like Skorzeny, he was willing to do anything to keep that from happening. Unlike the SS man, he wasn't willing to believe that everything he did was fine and virtuous.\\
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Soldiers didn't commonly had have 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 [[AlienInvasion Lizards]] won the war. Like Skorzeny, he was willing to do anything to keep that from happening. Unlike the SS man, he wasn't willing to believe that everything he did was fine and virtuous.\\
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* In ''Literature/MiracleCreek'', Elizabeth realizes how much the overcrowded schedule must be stressing Henry out. She cancels all his therapy appointments and decides that the next HBOT treatment will be the last. Since she continues to emotionally abuse him on the way to the session, it seems unlikely that the realization would have stuck even if he hadn't died there.
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* In ''Literature/MiracleCreek'', Elizabeth realizes how much the overcrowded schedule must be stressing Henry out. She cancels all his therapy appointments and decides that the next HBOT treatment will be the last. Since she continues to emotionally abuse him on the way to the session, it seems unlikely that the realization would have stuck even if he hadn't died there.]
* ''Literature/WhenTheAngelsLeftTheOldCountry'': At the end, [[spoiler:Solomon Boaz]] realizes what a terrible person he's been, confesses his sins to the rabbi, and [[spoiler:sells his factory to the workers]].
* ''Literature/WhenTheAngelsLeftTheOldCountry'': At the end, [[spoiler:Solomon Boaz]] realizes what a terrible person he's been, confesses his sins to the rabbi, and [[spoiler:sells his factory to the workers]].
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* In Literature/BattleGround2020 Harry (and by extension the readers) get a harsh reminder that despite how awesome some of them like Vadderung are and the humanization that the likes of Mab have gotten, that they are called MONSTERS for a reason. During the post-battle meeting, Harry looks around and realizes none of them give a damn about the dead and it finally hits Harry that Ramirez was right that, while not one himself and not completely by choice, Harry has found himself aligned with the inhuman members of The Accorded Nations.
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* In Literature/BattleGround2020 Harry (and by extension the readers) get a harsh reminder that despite how awesome some of them like Vadderung are and the humanization that the likes of Mab have gotten, that they are called MONSTERS for a reason. During the post-battle meeting, Harry looks around and realizes none of them give a damn about the dead and it finally hits Harry that Ramirez was right that, while not one himself and not completely by choice, Harry has found himself aligned with the inhuman members of The Accorded Nations.
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** Has one of these that he confesses to the avatar of his consciousness when [[spoiler: a photocopy of the Fallen Angel Lasciel takes residence 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, Harry and Michael discuss this somewhat.
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** Has one of these that he confesses to the avatar of his consciousness subconscious when [[spoiler: a photocopy of the Fallen Angel Lasciel takes residence in his head]]. His consciousness subconscious 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, Harry and Michael discuss this somewhat.
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* In ''Literature/TheQueensThief'', Attolia Irene is known as a tyrant who hangs traitors upside-down from the walls of her palace in order to maintain sovereign rule over her patriarchal country. When she captures Eugenides in her palace at the beginning of ''The Queen of Attolia'', she follows the suggestion of her Mede ambassador to apply the ''traditional'' punishment for thieves rather than execution. It does not provide her with the satisfaction she'd hoped, she refuses to let anyone in her court mock his pain around her, and eventually she asks herself outright when she had sunk so low that she cut off a boy's hand.
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* ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is essentially one long heel realization by Scrooge.
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{{Heel Realization}}s in {{Literature}}.
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* ''Literature/AlmostPerfect'':
** Logan has two. The first is when he realizes how much he overreacted when Sage came out to him as transgender. He realizes that she didn't really lead him on or do anything to deceive him besides hiding her assigned gender, which he had no right to know anyway, and which she told him as soon as their relationship started to move past platonic. Later, he [[spoiler:dumps her when Laura finds out she's trans because he's afraid word will get out and people will think he's a faggot, which leads to her getting violently beaten and hospitalized by a transphobic boy]]. Logan is angry at himself for jerking her around and resolves to stand by her no matter what.
** Sage's dad [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent never accepts her as a woman]], but he does eventually feel guilty about how horribly he treated her, and especially for telling her that he'd rather see her dead than wearing a dress.
** Logan has two. The first is when he realizes how much he overreacted when Sage came out to him as transgender. He realizes that she didn't really lead him on or do anything to deceive him besides hiding her assigned gender, which he had no right to know anyway, and which she told him as soon as their relationship started to move past platonic. Later, he [[spoiler:dumps her when Laura finds out she's trans because he's afraid word will get out and people will think he's a faggot, which leads to her getting violently beaten and hospitalized by a transphobic boy]]. Logan is angry at himself for jerking her around and resolves to stand by her no matter what.
** Sage's dad [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent never accepts her as a woman]], but he does eventually feel guilty about how horribly he treated her, and especially for telling her that he'd rather see her dead than wearing a dress.
* ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is essentially one long heel realization by Scrooge.
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* ''Literature/AlmostPerfect'':
** Logan has two. The first is when he realizes how much he overreacted when Sage came out to him as transgender. He realizes that she didn't really lead him on or do anything to deceive him besides hiding her assigned gender, which he had no right to know anyway, and which she told him as soon as their relationship started to move past platonic. Later, he [[spoiler:dumps her when Laura finds out she's trans because he's afraid word will get out and people will think he's a faggot, which leads to her getting violently beaten and hospitalized by a transphobic boy]]. Logan is angry at himself for jerking her around and resolves to stand by her no matter what.
** Sage's dad [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent never accepts her as a woman]], but he does eventually feel guilty about how horribly he treated her, and especially for telling her that he'd rather see her dead than wearing a dress.
** Logan has two. The first is when he realizes how much he overreacted when Sage came out to him as transgender. He realizes that she didn't really lead him on or do anything to deceive him besides hiding her assigned gender, which he had no right to know anyway, and which she told him as soon as their relationship started to move past platonic. Later, he [[spoiler:dumps her when Laura finds out she's trans because he's afraid word will get out and people will think he's a faggot, which leads to her getting violently beaten and hospitalized by a transphobic boy]]. Logan is angry at himself for jerking her around and resolves to stand by her no matter what.
** Sage's dad [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent never accepts her as a woman]], but he does eventually feel guilty about how horribly he treated her, and especially for telling her that he'd rather see her dead than wearing a dress.
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** Logan has two. The first is when he realizes how much he overreacted when Sage came out to him as transgender. He realizes that she didn't really lead him on or do anything to deceive him besides hiding her assigned gender, which he had no right to know anyway, and which she told him as soon as their relationship started to move past platonic. Later, he [[spoiler:dumps her when Laura finds out she's trans because he's afraid word will get out and people will think he's a faggot, which leads to her getting violently beaten and hospitalized by a transphobic boy]]. Logan is angry at himself for jerking her around and resolves to stand by her no matter what.
** Sage's dad [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent never accepts her as a woman]], but he does eventually feel guilty about how horribly he treated her, and especially for telling her that he'd rather see her dead than wearing a dress.
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* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[spoiler:Bonesaw]] realizes just how screwed up she is thanks to some well placed words from [[spoiler:Contessa]] and [[spoiler:two years away from Jack]].
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* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[spoiler:Bonesaw]] realizes just how screwed up she is thanks to some well placed words from [[spoiler:Contessa]] and [[spoiler:two years away from Jack]].Jack]].
* ''Literature/AlmostPerfect'':
** Logan has two. The first is when he realizes how much he overreacted when Sage came out to him as transgender. He realizes that she didn't really lead him on or do anything to deceive him besides hiding her assigned gender, which he had no right to know anyway, and which she told him as soon as their relationship started to move past platonic. Later, he [[spoiler:dumps her when Laura finds out she's trans because he's afraid word will get out and people will think he's a faggot, which leads to her getting violently beaten and hospitalized by a transphobic boy]]. Logan is angry at himself for jerking her around and resolves to stand by her no matter what.
** Sage's dad [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent never accepts her as a woman]], but he does eventually feel guilty about how horribly he treated her, and especially for telling her that he'd rather see her dead than wearing a dress.
* ''Literature/AlmostPerfect'':
** Logan has two. The first is when he realizes how much he overreacted when Sage came out to him as transgender. He realizes that she didn't really lead him on or do anything to deceive him besides hiding her assigned gender, which he had no right to know anyway, and which she told him as soon as their relationship started to move past platonic. Later, he [[spoiler:dumps her when Laura finds out she's trans because he's afraid word will get out and people will think he's a faggot, which leads to her getting violently beaten and hospitalized by a transphobic boy]]. Logan is angry at himself for jerking her around and resolves to stand by her no matter what.
** Sage's dad [[WhyCouldntYouBeDifferent never accepts her as a woman]], but he does eventually feel guilty about how horribly he treated her, and especially for telling her that he'd rather see her dead than wearing a dress.
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* In ''Literature/FengshenYanyi'' the last emperor of Shang, King Zhou, spends the entire novel victim of his temper and his desires and, when corrupted by the Vixen Spirit inside Daji, spirals into a cruel and wasteful edonist whose petty wickedness ends up uniting his own subjects against him, supporting the virtuous King Wu of Zhou instead. By the time the Zhou armies have reached his palace and managed to subdue and kill Daji and the other two evil spirits, a distraught King Zhou wanders the courts of his palace, assaulted by the ghosts of the people he tortured and killed until he eventually realize the full extent of his cruelty and how he brought ruin upon himself and the empire. Having realized the full extent of his errors, he [[FacingDeathWithDignity puts on the full imperial garments, enters his personal mansion and orders to a loyal officer to set the building aflame, with him inside]]. Such gesture is so surprising and solemn that King Wu has a genuine AlasPoorVillain moment and King Zhou's soul is admitted among the 365 souls in the Fengshen List to become a deity.
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* In ''Literature/FengshenYanyi'' the last emperor of Shang, King Zhou, spends the entire novel victim of his temper and his desires and, when corrupted by the Vixen Spirit inside Daji, spirals into a cruel and wasteful edonist whose petty wickedness ends up uniting his own subjects against him, supporting the virtuous King Wu of Zhou instead. By the time the Zhou armies have reached his palace and managed to subdue and kill Daji and the other two evil spirits, a distraught King Zhou wanders the courts of his palace, assaulted by the ghosts of the people he tortured and killed until he eventually realize the full extent of his cruelty and how he brought ruin upon himself and the empire. Having realized the full extent of his errors, he [[FacingDeathWithDignity [[FaceDeathWithDignity puts on the full imperial garments, enters his personal mansion and orders to a loyal officer to set the building aflame, with him inside]]. Such gesture is so surprising and solemn that King Wu has a genuine AlasPoorVillain moment and King Zhou's soul is admitted among the 365 souls in the Fengshen List to become a deity.
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* In ''Literature/FengshenYanyi'' the last emperor of Shang, King Zhou, spends the entire novel victim of his temper and his desires and, when corrupted by the Vixen Spirit inside Daji, spirals into a cruel and wasteful edonist whose petty wickedness ends up uniting his own subjects against him, supporting the virtuous King Wu of Zhou instead. By the time the Zhou armies have reached his palace and managed to subdue and kill Daji and the other two evil spirits, a distraught King Zhou wanders the courts of his palace, assaulted by the ghosts of the people he tortured and killed until he eventually realize the full extent of his cruelty and how he brought ruin upon himself and the empire. Having realized the full extent of his errors, he [[FacingDeathWithDignity puts on the full imperial garments, enters his personal mansion and orders to a loyal officer to set the building aflame, with him inside]]. Such gesture is so surprising and solemn that King Wu has a genuine AlasPoorVillain moment and King Zhou's soul is admitted among the 365 souls in the Fengshen List to become a deity.
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* Lord Wyldon, the training master in ''Literature/ProtectorOfTheSmall'', undergoes this in the third book when two misogynist squires he had favored fail their Ordeal of Knighthood, with [[spoiler:Vinson being exposed as a rapist and Joren dying because he was so inflexibly bigoted the Ordeal ''shattered'' him]]. Wyldon knows he had a hand in their failures by not correcting their flaws, on top of which, he realizes that history will mark Keladry's tenure as his greatest achievement--when he had fully intended to send her home unjustly after her probationary period, and his sense of honor only just won out. Faces with these facts, he immediately resigns as training master.
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* In ''Literature/MiracleCreek'', Elizabeth realizes how much the overcrowded schedule must be stressing Henry out. She cancels all his therapy appointments and decides that the next HBOT treatment will be the last. Since she continues to emotionally abuse him on the way to the session, it seems unlikely that the realization would have stuck even if he hadn't died there.
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* In ''Literature/MiracleCreek'', Elizabeth realizes how much the overcrowded schedule must be stressing Henry out. She cancels all his therapy appointments and decides that the next HBOT treatment will be the last. Since she continues to emotionally abuse him on the way to the session, it seems unlikely that the realization would have stuck even if he hadn't died there.there.
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[spoiler:Bonesaw]] realizes just how screwed up she is thanks to some well placed words from [[spoiler:Contessa]] and [[spoiler:two years away from Jack]].
* In ''Literature/{{Worm}}'', [[spoiler:Bonesaw]] realizes just how screwed up she is thanks to some well placed words from [[spoiler:Contessa]] and [[spoiler:two years away from Jack]].
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* This is the central point in ''Film/TheWave'', where a teacher wants to show his class how UsefulNotes/NaziGermany came to be... and it all [[GoneHorriblyRight goes horribly right]] as they ''really'' begin to resemble Nazis. Various people have their Heel Realizations throughout the book, [[spoiler:including the whole class at the end]].
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* This is the central point in ''Film/TheWave'', ''Film/TheWave1981'', where a teacher wants to show his class how UsefulNotes/NaziGermany came to be... and it all [[GoneHorriblyRight goes horribly right]] as they ''really'' begin to resemble Nazis. Various people have their Heel Realizations throughout the book, [[spoiler:including the whole class at the end]].
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* ''Literature/AChristmasCarol'' is essentially one long heel realization by Scrooge.
* ''Literature/AdventureHunters'': Ryvas wanted to use golems to end the loss of human life in wars. [[spoiler: When he discovers that the golems are just as alive and sentient as himself, he surrenders and peacefully goes to jail]].
* At the end of ''Literature/TheAmyVirus'', [[spoiler:Cyan's mother admits she was too scared to stand up to her emotionally and financially abusive husband. She gets a divorce, takes full custody of their daughter, and promises to make amends to the people she's hurt.]]
* Rachel of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' has one after she threatens to kill David's parents.
* Lale fights this with all her might for awhile in ''Literature/TheAssassinsOfTamurin'', until the crimes she realizes "Mother" has committed get [[ItsPersonal personal]].
* In Creator/AynRand's ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'', James Taggart is helping to [[ColdBloodedTorture 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 a man to die screaming in pain'', even knowing that the man in question is the only one that can keep Taggart alive when civilization finally collapses -- it dawns on him that he himself is evil; not just [[SelfishEvil irresponsibly selfish]], mind, which is a trait that is treated with [[WorthyOpponent grudging sympathy]] by the novel's morality, but actively [[StupidEvil bite-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face self-destructively malicious]]. At this point, [[GoMadFromTheRevelation he goes insane]].
* ''Literature/{{Atonement}}'' gives one to Briony, the ''narrator'', upon the realization that her actions sent an innocent man to prison.
* A mild version occurs in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' when Ren explains to Jerin that [[spoiler:he is allowed to say 'no' to women]]. She mentions that she probably sounds "quite the hypocrite", as she [[spoiler:was quite insistent in her efforts to seduce Jerin]].
* Creator/TerryPratchett's ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'':
** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', [[spoiler:Lily Weatherwax]] ruled with an iron fist in order to make fairy stories come true (up to and including imprisoning a toymaker who serially failed to whistle as he worked) and didn't realize that this made ''her'' the bad one until her final confrontation with her sister. She goes to her [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream not quite death]]]] still insisting she's the good one, but Granny's insistence otherwise has rattled her. Granny, though, has on multiple occasions made a point of saying that only people who don't know better can be bad; if you know the difference between right and wrong, you can't choose wrong. A position that is, incidentally, cribbed wholesale from Socrates.
** Subverted in ''Literature/WyrdSisters'' when Granny Weatherwax forces the monstrous queen of Lancre to see her TrueSelf. 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 a KarmicDeath...sort of]]. Which would make the above point "if know the difference... and are sane..."
** This is also a theme in ''Literature/GoingPostal'', which focuses on the redemption of the main character, Moist von Lipwig, a professional conman. In the process, the novel subverts the trope LoveableRogue by constantly pointing out to Moist that his past crimes were just that: crimes, with far-reaching negative consequences for many people, up to and including [[spoiler: his love interest, who lost her job at a bank as a result of one of his cons]].
--->That ''had'' been a good day, Moist thought. At least, up until now it had been a good day.
* The eponymous Harry Dresden of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' 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 takes residence 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, 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 Literature/GhostStory]], 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]].
* ''Enemy Coast Ahead'' by Guy Gibson, leader of the bombing raid made famous by ''Film/TheDamBusters'', contains a downplayed example. Gibson didn't consider himself to be a villain, but he certainly had his doubts about being entirely in the right:
--> The fact that people … might drown had not occurred to us. But we hoped that the dam wardens would warn those living down below in time, even if they were Germans. No one likes mass slaughter and we did not like being the authors of it. Besides, it brought us in line with Himmler and his boys.
* Mrs. Granger in ''Literature/{{Frindle}}'', after overreacting to a student's creative attempt to invent a new word, realizes that her actions have placed her in the role of the villain and uses this status to help the new word along.
* "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield is about the main character, Laura, having one of these and realizing just how privileged her life is.
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Golden Transcedence]]'', Gannis realizes that while he is technically not guilty of any crimes, his behavior has been petty, underhanded, deceitful, and disloyal, and he will be -- quite justly -- shunned for it.
* Scarlett O'Hara has many moments like this in ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'' -- after her second husband is killed and she realizes what an awful wife she was, after her daughter is killed and she realizes that she's alienated all her old friends and has no one to turn to, and after Melanie dies and she realizes she's been an awful friend to her (aside from being thoroughly oblivious and/or ungrateful to all that Melanie has done for her, every nice thing she did for Melanie was to curry favor with Melanie's husband Ashley), and when she finally realizes that Rhett loves her and what an awful wife she's been to him as well. Unfortunately, it's always too late for her to make amends to anyone -- Frank and Melanie are dead, and Rhett finally gives up on trying to win her affections.
* In ''Literature/GoodOmens'', Adam Young realizes he's done something terrible when he [[spoiler:uses his powers on his friends to make them obey him]]. Thankfully, this helps him to [[spoiler:ultimately become an AntiAntiChrist]].
* ''Literature/TheGunsOfTheSouth'' has Nate Cauldell pull a heel realization when after teaching a black man and realizing that the man is both extremely smart and wants to better himself he realizes that his landlady, who's both illiterate and dumb as a post could buy the man in a heartbeat. As Nate himself says "Damned if there's any justice in that." The south as a whole has one when they find books showing how the civil war really went and learn that not only were blacks just as capable as whites but that they'd be seen as the villains in the future.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter''
** This happened to [[spoiler:Dumbledore]] after the 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]]. [[spoiler:Snape]]'s realization came a year earlier, when [[spoiler:he realized that Voldemort's reaction to the prophecy Snape had brought him would include killing Lily]],
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'':
** Jack [=McBride=] in ''Torch of Freedom'' comes to the conclusion halfway through the book that promoting slavery and plotting to take over the known galaxy is bad, [[spoiler:and reacts by setting up a defection by a major researcher and then blowing up the Gamma center]].
** 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.
* ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas''; after seeing the Whos still happy after he stole all their presents and decorations, the Grinch "puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore" until the TrueMeaningOfChristmas finally hits him.
* This is the [[TitleDrop source of the title]] of ''Literature/IAmLegend''. [[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'']].
* The ''Literature/InDeath'' series: 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 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 Heel Realization, where he realizes that ever since he joined the cult he's been having blackouts...and in one of those blackouts, the cult member in the photos was murdered in a sacrifice! Who knows what else happened in those blackouts? He ends realizing that he is in big trouble, and decides to pull a HeelFaceTurn... only to get murdered shortly afterward.
* In the novelization of the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' story ''Urza's Saga'', we have the KnightTemplar archangel Radiant, whose last words are the startled "''I'm'' the mad one!"
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'' :
** Jean Valjean had his Heel Realization after unthinkingly robbing a small child, right after Bishop Myriel had given him everything he'd owned, which got him to [[TheAtoner start taking his oath to the bishop seriously]], and, ... [[{{Doorstopper}} you know the rest]].
** Much, much later, Javert has his own Heel Realization when Valjean rescues him from certain death at the barricade. Javert subsequently witnesses this ''criminal'' attempt to save Marius' life and offer himself willingly as Javert's prisoner. He realizes that the world isn't as black-and-white as he had believed. He [[DrivenToSuicide doesn't take it so well]].
* In ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'', Humbert finally realizes just how terrible his treatment of Dolores was when he meets her again as a pregnant, married teenager and realizes that he robbed her of the chance to have a normal, happy childhood. In what appears to be a rare moment of genuine guilt on his behalf, he just gives her the money she asks him for without demanding anything in return.
* A halfway one from ''Literature/TheSecretRiver'': Thornhill says that he is "not a bad man", but is doing "something only the worst of men could do".
* ''Literature/SevenYearsAwesomeLuck'': [[spoiler: Kester]] does some serious soul-searching after getting a taste of his own medicine from [[spoiler: his son Landon]], and reflects on his life with growing dissatisfaction. [[spoiler: He ends up freeing the people he's turned into animals and then giving up using magic entirely.]]
* ''Literature/SirAproposOfNothing'' 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, he [[FaceHeelTurn falls into the evil well]] [[JumpedAtTheCall 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.
* Literature/SisterhoodSeries by Creator/FernMichaels: Roland Sullivan in ''Lethal Justice'' apparently experienced this after Alexis Thorne was sent to prison. The good news is that it left him pretty wrecked up. The bad news is that it was an IgnoredEpiphany for him.
* Franchise/StarWarsLegends in general is full of PunchClockVillain Imperials who are conscripts or professional soldiers, who become appalled at various Imperial atrocities and decide that they didn't sign up to murder civilians. The destruction of Alderaan was a major driver for this.
** In ''[[Literature/StarWarsAllegiance Allegiance]]'', a stormtrooper [[WouldNotShootACivilian refuses to fire on unarmed civilians]], deliberately shooting to miss. Later he thinks back on how much he looked up to the Empire as a kid, when it came down on the SpacePirates who used to raid his homeworld, and how he joined the stormtrooper corps and served for ten years because it meant making that same kind of difference. But the Empire itself seemed to sour--there was that time he and the other stormtroopers forced a town to stand out in the pouring rain while their identities were checked and rechecked, there was that fanatical obsession with finding and killing Rebels which let other problems go unchecked, there was the promotion of murderers like Tarkin, there were things like the [[StateSec Imperial Security Bureau]], and there was [[MoralEventHorizon Alderaan]]. After [[DamnYouMuscleMemory sort of accidentally killing an ISB officer]], he and his TrueCompanions steal a ship and go on the run, and end up helping people and finding that GoodFeelsGood as they try to figure out what to do. But they don't stop being stormtroopers, and they don't join the Rebellion.
** In the novel ''Literature/ChoicesOfOne'', these stormtroopers are kidnapped by Thrawn and end up in his offshoot, the Empire of the Hand. The Empire of the Hand, judging by ''Literature/SurvivorsQuest'' and the short story "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.
** ''Literature/DeathStar'' has most of its viewpoint characters, all of them on the Death Star, realize this either slowly or after [[MoralEventHorizon Alderaan]]. One of whom is [[AscendedExtra the head gunner]]. His arc is a powerfully moving tragedy.
** The novelization of ''Literature/RevengeOfTheSith'' features Anakin post-scarring confronting what he's done since turning to the dark side, having previously convinced himself [[NeverMyFault it wasn't really his fault]]. It causes him to fully go over the DespairEventHorizon and [[ThenLetMeBeEvil internalize himself as Darth Vader]].
--->''You remember the dragon that you brought Vader forth from your heart to slay. You remember the cold venom in Vader's blood. You remember the furnace of Vader's fury, and the black hatred of seizing her throat to silence her lying mouth—-and there is one blazing moment in which you finally understand that there was no dragon. That there was no Vader. That there was only you. Only Anakin Skywalker.\\
That it was all you. Is you. Only you.\\
You did it. You killed her.\\
You killed her because, finally, when you could have saved her, when you could have gone away with her, when you could have been thinking about her, you were only thinking about yourself... it is in this blazing moment that you finally understand the trap of the dark side, the final cruelty of the Sith-—because now your ''self'' is all you will ever have.''
** In ''Literature/DarthPlagueis'', Sith records speak of a Dark Lord of the Sith sometime between the Battle of Ruusan[[note]]From the ''Literature/DarthBane'' trilogy, where the Republic defeated the Sith Empire for good, in large part due to Darth Bane turning on the Brotherhood of Darkness because he thought they weren't ruthless enough.[[/note]] and the prequel period named Darth Gravid, who became disillusioned with the Dark Side of the Force and planned to forsake the Sith for the light side. To that end he started destroying the Sith Order's records and got pretty far before his apprentice Darth Gean killed him. Darth Plagueis estimates that Gravid's actions set the Sith back by centuries.
** In ''Literature/TalesFromTheMosEisleyCantina'', stormtrooper Davin Felth is appalled at the murders of the Jawa tribe and the Lars family (and then the flippant killing of a Jawa who attacks them in the street with a nonfunctional blaster by a squadmate). During the hangar firefight, Felth shoots his own CO in the back when the latter draws a bead on Han Solo, and starts making plans to defect to the Rebellion.
* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'':
** Szeth-son-son-Vallano is made Truthless for the crime of claiming that the Voidbringers have returned. As Truthless, he is granted a magical weapon of astonishing power but forced to obey the orders of whoever holds his Oathstone. Before long, he has been forced to kill ''thousands'' in the service of his master and has started wars that will kill millions more. Then, at the climax of the second book, he learns the awful truth: he was right. The Voidbringers ''are'' returning. Szeth is ''not'' Truthless. And all those numberless deaths are absolutely ''his fault''.
** In ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}'', upon seeing the Everstorm create the Voidbringers, [[spoiler:Nale]] realizes that the Desolation has already come and in his attempt to prevent it, he's been trying to destroy what might be humanity's last hope of survival. He doesn't take it well, to put it mildly.
* In ''Literature/TheSwordOfGood'', [[spoiler:this forms the climax of the story. Hirou is confronted with the fact that his allies have committed murder and torture, that the status quo is blatantly unequal, and that he has ''no good reason'' to rule the realm other than that a wizard told him his parents were royalty. The so-called "Lord of Dark", on the other hand, is actively trying to make things better, not just for the so-called "Bad Races" (actually victims of FantasticRacism), but for ''everyone''.]]
* ''Literature/TillWeHaveFaces'' 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]].
* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'': WideEyedIdealist TheProfessor Aronnax is truly happy to travel in the ''Nautilus'' making submarine research, but after he witnesses Captain Nemo crossing the MoralEventHorizon, Aronnax realizes the true price of his travels with Captain Nemo:
-->''"He had made me, if not an accomplice, at least an eyewitness to his vengeance! Even this was intolerable."''
* Ian Hunter of ''Literature/TheUnicornChronicles'' 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.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Traitor General'', [[spoiler:Sturm]], his memory partially recovered, regards himself as deeply injured by his treatment at the hands of the Imperial forces. However, as he recovers, he realizes that [[AmnesiacDissonance he had forgotten his acts that inspired it]] and that he [[RedemptionEqualsDeath deserves to die]]. (Which is more than he realized, with all his memories, at the end of ''Necropolis''.)
** In Creator/BenCounter's ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novel ''Galaxy In Flames'', after [[spoiler:Abaddon and Aximand]] set out to lure [[spoiler:Loken and Torgaddon]] to their deaths, [[spoiler:Torgaddon]] points out to [[spoiler:Aximand]] that he has doubt in his eyes -- which doesn't keep him from killing him, but he [[TearsOfRemorse sobs]] afterwards and speaks of how they had been their brothers. [[spoiler:Abaddon]] thinks he needs to be watched.
** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''Fulgrim'', Fulgrim realizes how great his betrayal is when he is fighting [[spoiler: Ferrus Manus; his [[EvilWeapon sword]] gets him to kill Ferrus Manus anyway, saying he will kill him otherwise, and then, when Fulgrim says "WhatHaveIDone", 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 ''Literature/SoulDrinkers'' (another Creator/BenCounter work) comes to the terrifying realization at the end of ''Soul Drinker'', upon finding out that his Chapter have essentially become Chaos Marines (although, had it not been for Chaos mind-befuddling, the mutations would have provided a pretty damn big clue). Having realized this, Sarpedon hauls himself and his Chapter back from the brink of Chaos just in time and kills the Daemon responsible.
** In Creator/JamesSwallow's ''Literature/BloodAngels'' novel ''Deus Sanguinius'', Sachiel comes into [[spoiler: Inquisitor Stele]]'s rooms when forbidden, and realizes the man is working for Chaos, and so Sachiel and everyone else has been Chaos-tainted. (Nothing LaserGuidedAmnesia can't fix, though.) During the single combat between Rafen and Arkio, he realizes it again, and this time [[spoiler: Inquisitor Stele]] murders him.
** In one of the ''Literature/IronWarriors'' short stories, the renegade SpaceMarine Ardaric Vaanes realizes that yes, he's become a Traitor Marine. At first, he doesn't ''care''.
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', Ivypool realizes what the Dark Forest -- which she's been training with and working for -- is all about after seeing Tigerstar talking about destroying the forest.
* Pyotr Fursenko from the Creator/DaleBrown novel ''Warrior Class'' serves as the lead aerospace engineer for the BigBad Pavel Kazakov. Detached from the atrocities by his distance from the fighting, the evil of his boss finally sinks in when he acts as GuyInBack on a bombing run [[spoiler: on the German embassy in Albania, complete with civilian protesters surrounding it]].
* This is the central point in ''Film/TheWave'', where a teacher wants to show his class how UsefulNotes/NaziGermany came to be... and it all [[GoneHorriblyRight goes horribly right]] as they ''really'' begin to resemble Nazis. Various people have their Heel Realizations throughout the book, [[spoiler:including the whole class at the end]].
* In the book ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'', Elphaba eventually picks up on her WickedWitch role.
* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's AlternateHistory ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' series, this happens to [[ThoseWackyNazis Panzer Commander of the Wehrmacht]] Heinrich Jäger when an old Jewish man shows him the bullet hole in his neck and tells him the story of how he got it. Heinrich had heard the rumors before then, but he hadn't believed in them. The third book sums it up nicely:
-->What Skorzeny didn't get and wouldn't get if he lived to be a hundred - not likely, considering how the SS man lived - was that ''what we were supposed to do'' and ''what our superiors ordered us to do'' weren't necessarily the same thing.\\
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 [[AlienInvasion Lizards]] won the war. Like Skorzeny, he was willing to do 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 ''Literature/Timeline191'' series features a character who has become a guard at what is Auschwitz in the extermination of American Southern blacks and considers himself doing vital work for the safety of his country. When he eventually realizes, through the simple decency of one of the prisoners, that blacks are ''people'', [[DrivenToSuicide 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 ''Literature/ThatPrinterOfUdells'', most of the people of Boyd City ignore its homelessness problem until, in the dead of winter, a man dies of hypothermia on the steps of a closed church. This spurs them to create a welfare house.
* In ''Literature/MiracleCreek'', Elizabeth realizes how much the overcrowded schedule must be stressing Henry out. She cancels all his therapy appointments and decides that the next HBOT treatment will be the last. Since she continues to emotionally abuse him on the way to the session, it seems unlikely that the realization would have stuck even if he hadn't died there.
* ''Literature/AdventureHunters'': Ryvas wanted to use golems to end the loss of human life in wars. [[spoiler: When he discovers that the golems are just as alive and sentient as himself, he surrenders and peacefully goes to jail]].
* At the end of ''Literature/TheAmyVirus'', [[spoiler:Cyan's mother admits she was too scared to stand up to her emotionally and financially abusive husband. She gets a divorce, takes full custody of their daughter, and promises to make amends to the people she's hurt.]]
* Rachel of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' has one after she threatens to kill David's parents.
* Lale fights this with all her might for awhile in ''Literature/TheAssassinsOfTamurin'', until the crimes she realizes "Mother" has committed get [[ItsPersonal personal]].
* In Creator/AynRand's ''Literature/AtlasShrugged'', James Taggart is helping to [[ColdBloodedTorture 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 a man to die screaming in pain'', even knowing that the man in question is the only one that can keep Taggart alive when civilization finally collapses -- it dawns on him that he himself is evil; not just [[SelfishEvil irresponsibly selfish]], mind, which is a trait that is treated with [[WorthyOpponent grudging sympathy]] by the novel's morality, but actively [[StupidEvil bite-off-your-nose-to-spite-your-face self-destructively malicious]]. At this point, [[GoMadFromTheRevelation he goes insane]].
* ''Literature/{{Atonement}}'' gives one to Briony, the ''narrator'', upon the realization that her actions sent an innocent man to prison.
* A mild version occurs in ''Literature/ABrothersPrice'' when Ren explains to Jerin that [[spoiler:he is allowed to say 'no' to women]]. She mentions that she probably sounds "quite the hypocrite", as she [[spoiler:was quite insistent in her efforts to seduce Jerin]].
* Creator/TerryPratchett's ''{{Literature/Discworld}}'':
** In ''Literature/WitchesAbroad'', [[spoiler:Lily Weatherwax]] ruled with an iron fist in order to make fairy stories come true (up to and including imprisoning a toymaker who serially failed to whistle as he worked) and didn't realize that this made ''her'' the bad one until her final confrontation with her sister. She goes to her [[spoiler:[[AndIMustScream not quite death]]]] still insisting she's the good one, but Granny's insistence otherwise has rattled her. Granny, though, has on multiple occasions made a point of saying that only people who don't know better can be bad; if you know the difference between right and wrong, you can't choose wrong. A position that is, incidentally, cribbed wholesale from Socrates.
** Subverted in ''Literature/WyrdSisters'' when Granny Weatherwax forces the monstrous queen of Lancre to see her TrueSelf. 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 a KarmicDeath...sort of]]. Which would make the above point "if know the difference... and are sane..."
** This is also a theme in ''Literature/GoingPostal'', which focuses on the redemption of the main character, Moist von Lipwig, a professional conman. In the process, the novel subverts the trope LoveableRogue by constantly pointing out to Moist that his past crimes were just that: crimes, with far-reaching negative consequences for many people, up to and including [[spoiler: his love interest, who lost her job at a bank as a result of one of his cons]].
--->That ''had'' been a good day, Moist thought. At least, up until now it had been a good day.
* The eponymous Harry Dresden of ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' 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 takes residence 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, 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 Literature/GhostStory]], 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]].
* ''Enemy Coast Ahead'' by Guy Gibson, leader of the bombing raid made famous by ''Film/TheDamBusters'', contains a downplayed example. Gibson didn't consider himself to be a villain, but he certainly had his doubts about being entirely in the right:
--> The fact that people … might drown had not occurred to us. But we hoped that the dam wardens would warn those living down below in time, even if they were Germans. No one likes mass slaughter and we did not like being the authors of it. Besides, it brought us in line with Himmler and his boys.
* Mrs. Granger in ''Literature/{{Frindle}}'', after overreacting to a student's creative attempt to invent a new word, realizes that her actions have placed her in the role of the villain and uses this status to help the new word along.
* "The Garden Party" by Katherine Mansfield is about the main character, Laura, having one of these and realizing just how privileged her life is.
* In Creator/JohnCWright's ''[[Literature/TheGoldenOecumene The Golden Transcedence]]'', Gannis realizes that while he is technically not guilty of any crimes, his behavior has been petty, underhanded, deceitful, and disloyal, and he will be -- quite justly -- shunned for it.
* Scarlett O'Hara has many moments like this in ''Literature/GoneWithTheWind'' -- after her second husband is killed and she realizes what an awful wife she was, after her daughter is killed and she realizes that she's alienated all her old friends and has no one to turn to, and after Melanie dies and she realizes she's been an awful friend to her (aside from being thoroughly oblivious and/or ungrateful to all that Melanie has done for her, every nice thing she did for Melanie was to curry favor with Melanie's husband Ashley), and when she finally realizes that Rhett loves her and what an awful wife she's been to him as well. Unfortunately, it's always too late for her to make amends to anyone -- Frank and Melanie are dead, and Rhett finally gives up on trying to win her affections.
* In ''Literature/GoodOmens'', Adam Young realizes he's done something terrible when he [[spoiler:uses his powers on his friends to make them obey him]]. Thankfully, this helps him to [[spoiler:ultimately become an AntiAntiChrist]].
* ''Literature/TheGunsOfTheSouth'' has Nate Cauldell pull a heel realization when after teaching a black man and realizing that the man is both extremely smart and wants to better himself he realizes that his landlady, who's both illiterate and dumb as a post could buy the man in a heartbeat. As Nate himself says "Damned if there's any justice in that." The south as a whole has one when they find books showing how the civil war really went and learn that not only were blacks just as capable as whites but that they'd be seen as the villains in the future.
* ''Literature/HarryPotter''
** This happened to [[spoiler:Dumbledore]] after the 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]]. [[spoiler:Snape]]'s realization came a year earlier, when [[spoiler:he realized that Voldemort's reaction to the prophecy Snape had brought him would include killing Lily]],
* ''Literature/HonorHarrington'':
** Jack [=McBride=] in ''Torch of Freedom'' comes to the conclusion halfway through the book that promoting slavery and plotting to take over the known galaxy is bad, [[spoiler:and reacts by setting up a defection by a major researcher and then blowing up the Gamma center]].
** 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.
* ''Literature/HowTheGrinchStoleChristmas''; after seeing the Whos still happy after he stole all their presents and decorations, the Grinch "puzzled and puzzled till his puzzler was sore" until the TrueMeaningOfChristmas finally hits him.
* This is the [[TitleDrop source of the title]] of ''Literature/IAmLegend''. [[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'']].
* The ''Literature/InDeath'' series: 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 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 Heel Realization, where he realizes that ever since he joined the cult he's been having blackouts...and in one of those blackouts, the cult member in the photos was murdered in a sacrifice! Who knows what else happened in those blackouts? He ends realizing that he is in big trouble, and decides to pull a HeelFaceTurn... only to get murdered shortly afterward.
* In the novelization of the ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'' story ''Urza's Saga'', we have the KnightTemplar archangel Radiant, whose last words are the startled "''I'm'' the mad one!"
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'' :
** Jean Valjean had his Heel Realization after unthinkingly robbing a small child, right after Bishop Myriel had given him everything he'd owned, which got him to [[TheAtoner start taking his oath to the bishop seriously]], and, ... [[{{Doorstopper}} you know the rest]].
** Much, much later, Javert has his own Heel Realization when Valjean rescues him from certain death at the barricade. Javert subsequently witnesses this ''criminal'' attempt to save Marius' life and offer himself willingly as Javert's prisoner. He realizes that the world isn't as black-and-white as he had believed. He [[DrivenToSuicide doesn't take it so well]].
* In ''Literature/{{Lolita}}'', Humbert finally realizes just how terrible his treatment of Dolores was when he meets her again as a pregnant, married teenager and realizes that he robbed her of the chance to have a normal, happy childhood. In what appears to be a rare moment of genuine guilt on his behalf, he just gives her the money she asks him for without demanding anything in return.
* A halfway one from ''Literature/TheSecretRiver'': Thornhill says that he is "not a bad man", but is doing "something only the worst of men could do".
* ''Literature/SevenYearsAwesomeLuck'': [[spoiler: Kester]] does some serious soul-searching after getting a taste of his own medicine from [[spoiler: his son Landon]], and reflects on his life with growing dissatisfaction. [[spoiler: He ends up freeing the people he's turned into animals and then giving up using magic entirely.]]
* ''Literature/SirAproposOfNothing'' 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, he [[FaceHeelTurn falls into the evil well]] [[JumpedAtTheCall 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.
* Literature/SisterhoodSeries by Creator/FernMichaels: Roland Sullivan in ''Lethal Justice'' apparently experienced this after Alexis Thorne was sent to prison. The good news is that it left him pretty wrecked up. The bad news is that it was an IgnoredEpiphany for him.
* Franchise/StarWarsLegends in general is full of PunchClockVillain Imperials who are conscripts or professional soldiers, who become appalled at various Imperial atrocities and decide that they didn't sign up to murder civilians. The destruction of Alderaan was a major driver for this.
** In ''[[Literature/StarWarsAllegiance Allegiance]]'', a stormtrooper [[WouldNotShootACivilian refuses to fire on unarmed civilians]], deliberately shooting to miss. Later he thinks back on how much he looked up to the Empire as a kid, when it came down on the SpacePirates who used to raid his homeworld, and how he joined the stormtrooper corps and served for ten years because it meant making that same kind of difference. But the Empire itself seemed to sour--there was that time he and the other stormtroopers forced a town to stand out in the pouring rain while their identities were checked and rechecked, there was that fanatical obsession with finding and killing Rebels which let other problems go unchecked, there was the promotion of murderers like Tarkin, there were things like the [[StateSec Imperial Security Bureau]], and there was [[MoralEventHorizon Alderaan]]. After [[DamnYouMuscleMemory sort of accidentally killing an ISB officer]], he and his TrueCompanions steal a ship and go on the run, and end up helping people and finding that GoodFeelsGood as they try to figure out what to do. But they don't stop being stormtroopers, and they don't join the Rebellion.
** In the novel ''Literature/ChoicesOfOne'', these stormtroopers are kidnapped by Thrawn and end up in his offshoot, the Empire of the Hand. The Empire of the Hand, judging by ''Literature/SurvivorsQuest'' and the short story "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.
** ''Literature/DeathStar'' has most of its viewpoint characters, all of them on the Death Star, realize this either slowly or after [[MoralEventHorizon Alderaan]]. One of whom is [[AscendedExtra the head gunner]]. His arc is a powerfully moving tragedy.
** The novelization of ''Literature/RevengeOfTheSith'' features Anakin post-scarring confronting what he's done since turning to the dark side, having previously convinced himself [[NeverMyFault it wasn't really his fault]]. It causes him to fully go over the DespairEventHorizon and [[ThenLetMeBeEvil internalize himself as Darth Vader]].
--->''You remember the dragon that you brought Vader forth from your heart to slay. You remember the cold venom in Vader's blood. You remember the furnace of Vader's fury, and the black hatred of seizing her throat to silence her lying mouth—-and there is one blazing moment in which you finally understand that there was no dragon. That there was no Vader. That there was only you. Only Anakin Skywalker.\\
That it was all you. Is you. Only you.\\
You did it. You killed her.\\
You killed her because, finally, when you could have saved her, when you could have gone away with her, when you could have been thinking about her, you were only thinking about yourself... it is in this blazing moment that you finally understand the trap of the dark side, the final cruelty of the Sith-—because now your ''self'' is all you will ever have.''
** In ''Literature/DarthPlagueis'', Sith records speak of a Dark Lord of the Sith sometime between the Battle of Ruusan[[note]]From the ''Literature/DarthBane'' trilogy, where the Republic defeated the Sith Empire for good, in large part due to Darth Bane turning on the Brotherhood of Darkness because he thought they weren't ruthless enough.[[/note]] and the prequel period named Darth Gravid, who became disillusioned with the Dark Side of the Force and planned to forsake the Sith for the light side. To that end he started destroying the Sith Order's records and got pretty far before his apprentice Darth Gean killed him. Darth Plagueis estimates that Gravid's actions set the Sith back by centuries.
** In ''Literature/TalesFromTheMosEisleyCantina'', stormtrooper Davin Felth is appalled at the murders of the Jawa tribe and the Lars family (and then the flippant killing of a Jawa who attacks them in the street with a nonfunctional blaster by a squadmate). During the hangar firefight, Felth shoots his own CO in the back when the latter draws a bead on Han Solo, and starts making plans to defect to the Rebellion.
* In ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'':
** Szeth-son-son-Vallano is made Truthless for the crime of claiming that the Voidbringers have returned. As Truthless, he is granted a magical weapon of astonishing power but forced to obey the orders of whoever holds his Oathstone. Before long, he has been forced to kill ''thousands'' in the service of his master and has started wars that will kill millions more. Then, at the climax of the second book, he learns the awful truth: he was right. The Voidbringers ''are'' returning. Szeth is ''not'' Truthless. And all those numberless deaths are absolutely ''his fault''.
** In ''Literature/{{Edgedancer}}'', upon seeing the Everstorm create the Voidbringers, [[spoiler:Nale]] realizes that the Desolation has already come and in his attempt to prevent it, he's been trying to destroy what might be humanity's last hope of survival. He doesn't take it well, to put it mildly.
* In ''Literature/TheSwordOfGood'', [[spoiler:this forms the climax of the story. Hirou is confronted with the fact that his allies have committed murder and torture, that the status quo is blatantly unequal, and that he has ''no good reason'' to rule the realm other than that a wizard told him his parents were royalty. The so-called "Lord of Dark", on the other hand, is actively trying to make things better, not just for the so-called "Bad Races" (actually victims of FantasticRacism), but for ''everyone''.]]
* ''Literature/TillWeHaveFaces'' 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]].
* ''Literature/TwentyThousandLeaguesUnderTheSea'': WideEyedIdealist TheProfessor Aronnax is truly happy to travel in the ''Nautilus'' making submarine research, but after he witnesses Captain Nemo crossing the MoralEventHorizon, Aronnax realizes the true price of his travels with Captain Nemo:
-->''"He had made me, if not an accomplice, at least an eyewitness to his vengeance! Even this was intolerable."''
* Ian Hunter of ''Literature/TheUnicornChronicles'' 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.
* ''TabletopGame/Warhammer40000'':
** In Creator/DanAbnett's ''Literature/GauntsGhosts'' novel ''Traitor General'', [[spoiler:Sturm]], his memory partially recovered, regards himself as deeply injured by his treatment at the hands of the Imperial forces. However, as he recovers, he realizes that [[AmnesiacDissonance he had forgotten his acts that inspired it]] and that he [[RedemptionEqualsDeath deserves to die]]. (Which is more than he realized, with all his memories, at the end of ''Necropolis''.)
** In Creator/BenCounter's ''Literature/HorusHeresy'' novel ''Galaxy In Flames'', after [[spoiler:Abaddon and Aximand]] set out to lure [[spoiler:Loken and Torgaddon]] to their deaths, [[spoiler:Torgaddon]] points out to [[spoiler:Aximand]] that he has doubt in his eyes -- which doesn't keep him from killing him, but he [[TearsOfRemorse sobs]] afterwards and speaks of how they had been their brothers. [[spoiler:Abaddon]] thinks he needs to be watched.
** In Creator/GrahamMcNeill's ''Fulgrim'', Fulgrim realizes how great his betrayal is when he is fighting [[spoiler: Ferrus Manus; his [[EvilWeapon sword]] gets him to kill Ferrus Manus anyway, saying he will kill him otherwise, and then, when Fulgrim says "WhatHaveIDone", 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 ''Literature/SoulDrinkers'' (another Creator/BenCounter work) comes to the terrifying realization at the end of ''Soul Drinker'', upon finding out that his Chapter have essentially become Chaos Marines (although, had it not been for Chaos mind-befuddling, the mutations would have provided a pretty damn big clue). Having realized this, Sarpedon hauls himself and his Chapter back from the brink of Chaos just in time and kills the Daemon responsible.
** In Creator/JamesSwallow's ''Literature/BloodAngels'' novel ''Deus Sanguinius'', Sachiel comes into [[spoiler: Inquisitor Stele]]'s rooms when forbidden, and realizes the man is working for Chaos, and so Sachiel and everyone else has been Chaos-tainted. (Nothing LaserGuidedAmnesia can't fix, though.) During the single combat between Rafen and Arkio, he realizes it again, and this time [[spoiler: Inquisitor Stele]] murders him.
** In one of the ''Literature/IronWarriors'' short stories, the renegade SpaceMarine Ardaric Vaanes realizes that yes, he's become a Traitor Marine. At first, he doesn't ''care''.
* In ''Literature/WarriorCats'', Ivypool realizes what the Dark Forest -- which she's been training with and working for -- is all about after seeing Tigerstar talking about destroying the forest.
* Pyotr Fursenko from the Creator/DaleBrown novel ''Warrior Class'' serves as the lead aerospace engineer for the BigBad Pavel Kazakov. Detached from the atrocities by his distance from the fighting, the evil of his boss finally sinks in when he acts as GuyInBack on a bombing run [[spoiler: on the German embassy in Albania, complete with civilian protesters surrounding it]].
* This is the central point in ''Film/TheWave'', where a teacher wants to show his class how UsefulNotes/NaziGermany came to be... and it all [[GoneHorriblyRight goes horribly right]] as they ''really'' begin to resemble Nazis. Various people have their Heel Realizations throughout the book, [[spoiler:including the whole class at the end]].
* In the book ''Literature/{{Wicked}}'', Elphaba eventually picks up on her WickedWitch role.
* In Creator/HarryTurtledove's AlternateHistory ''Literature/{{Worldwar}}'' series, this happens to [[ThoseWackyNazis Panzer Commander of the Wehrmacht]] Heinrich Jäger when an old Jewish man shows him the bullet hole in his neck and tells him the story of how he got it. Heinrich had heard the rumors before then, but he hadn't believed in them. The third book sums it up nicely:
-->What Skorzeny didn't get and wouldn't get if he lived to be a hundred - not likely, considering how the SS man lived - was that ''what we were supposed to do'' and ''what our superiors ordered us to do'' weren't necessarily the same thing.\\
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 [[AlienInvasion Lizards]] won the war. Like Skorzeny, he was willing to do 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 ''Literature/Timeline191'' series features a character who has become a guard at what is Auschwitz in the extermination of American Southern blacks and considers himself doing vital work for the safety of his country. When he eventually realizes, through the simple decency of one of the prisoners, that blacks are ''people'', [[DrivenToSuicide 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 ''Literature/ThatPrinterOfUdells'', most of the people of Boyd City ignore its homelessness problem until, in the dead of winter, a man dies of hypothermia on the steps of a closed church. This spurs them to create a welfare house.
* In ''Literature/MiracleCreek'', Elizabeth realizes how much the overcrowded schedule must be stressing Henry out. She cancels all his therapy appointments and decides that the next HBOT treatment will be the last. Since she continues to emotionally abuse him on the way to the session, it seems unlikely that the realization would have stuck even if he hadn't died there.
