History Main / EasilyForgiven

* Zigzagged with the ''Website/YouTube'' personality [[LovableAlphaBitch Shoe0nhead]]. While she [[ReformedBully used to be a pretty big jerk and cyberbully, she's gotten a lot nicer and tried to make up for most of the mean things she's done.]] While most of ''Website/{{Breadtube}}'' has been rather welcoming to her, and she's now friends with many of them (including ''WebVideo/ContraPoints''), there are some who still think she hasn't really changed, or hasn't done enough to make up for her past actions.

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* In 1978, notorious Australian criminal Mark "Chopper" Read tried to kidnap judge Bill Martin in order to force him to release his friend from prison, but Martin and his friend Ernie Trotter were able to hold him off until the police arrived. Read served 12 years of a 16 year sentence. He wrote to Martin while inside to apologize, and Martin wrote back saying he "[[NothingPersonal knew it wasn't personal]]". In 2013, when Read had stage 4 liver cancer, Trotter said "I bear him no ill will, and regret his state of health."

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[[caption-width-right:350:Artwork by [[https://twitter.com/Idolomantises @Idolomantises. Used with permission.]]]]

[[caption-width-right:350:Artwork by [[https://twitter.com/Idolomantises @Idolomantises]]]]

See also KarmaHoudini (when the offending character is forgiven without as much as "a sorry" or any sort of punishment), ForgivenButNotForgotten (where the hero is willing to forgive, but ''not'' if it happens a second time) and GoAndSinNoMore (when granting forgiveness ''is'' the punishment, with the assumption that the offender will make amends). Contrast ReformedButRejected, where a villain ''does'' want to be forgiven and works for it, but doesn't get accepted. If a victim does not take revenge because they think someone else is more entitled to it, that's ThisIsNotMyLifeToTake. EasilyCondemned, RejectedApology, ThisIsUnforgivable, and MinorFlawMajorBreakup are the opposite tropes. Not to be confused with FlippantForgiveness, which is more insulting than gracious.

KarmaHoudini occurs when the offending character is forgiven without as much as "a sorry" or any sort of punishment. See ForgivenButNotForgotten, where the hero is willing to forgive, but ''not'' if it happens a second time. For when granting forgiveness ''is'' the punishment (with the assumption that the offender will make amends), see GoAndSinNoMore. Contrast ReformedButRejected, where a villain ''does'' want to be forgiven and works for it, but doesn't get accepted. If a victim does not take revenge because they think someone else is more entitled to it, that's ThisIsNotMyLifeToTake. EasilyCondemned, RejectedApology, ThisIsUnforgivable, and MinorFlawMajorBreakup are the opposite tropes. Not to be confused with FlippantForgiveness, which is more insulting than gracious.

* In 1978, notorious Australian criminal Mark "Chopper" Read tried to kidnap judge Bill Martin in order to force him to release his friend from prison, but Martin and his friend Ernie Trotter were able to hold him off until the police arrived. Read served 12 years of a 16 year sentence. He wrote to Martin while inside to apologize, and Martin wrote back saying he "[[NothingPersonal knew it wasn't personal]]. In 2013, when Read had stage 4 liver cancer, Trotter said "I bear him no ill will, and regret his state of health."

* In 1978, notorious Australian criminal Mark "Chopper" Read" tried to kidnap judge Bill Martin in order to force him to release his friend from prison, but Martin and his friend Ernie Trotter were able to hold him off until the police arrived. Read served 12 years of a 16 year sentence. He wrote to Martin while inside to apologize, and Martin wrote back saying he "[[NothingPersonal knew it wasn't personal]]. In 2013, when Read had stage 4 liver cancer, Trotter said "I bear him no ill will, and regret his state of health."

* EasilyForgiven/{{Fanfiction}}

* At the end of the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, a 4-year conflict that resulted in over 600,000 deaths, the defeated Southern states were brought back into the Union without any sanctions or harsh measures. While some parts of the South would be occupied by federal troops for years, no members of the confederate military or government were ever put on trial for treason[[note]]though some of them were exiled and died without a country; all had their citizenship posthumously restored[[/note]] -- a handful were tried for other crimes committed in the process, with seven men ultimately being executed (three for espionage, two for being guerrillas, and two for war crimes), but no one was punished for the actual act of turning against the country, and the vast majority were not punished at all. Likewise, the vast majority of Confederate veterans returned home to become peaceful productive citizens of the United States, despite spending the last four years viewing the US as a mortal enemy. This was in keeping with the wishes of President UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln, who in his 1865 inauguration speech stated "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

* At the end of the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, a 4-year conflict that resulted in over 600,000 deaths, the defeated Southern states were brought back into the Union without any sanctions or harsh measures. While some parts of the South would be occupied by federal troops for years, no members of the confederate military or government were ever put on trial for treason[[note]]though some of them were exiled and died without a country; all had their citizenship posthumously restored[[/note]] -- a handful were tried for other crimes committed in the process, with seven men ultimately being executed (three for espionage, two for being guerrillas, and two for war crimes), but no one was punished for the actual act of turning against the country. Likewise, the vast majority of Confederate veterans returned home to become peaceful productive citizens of the United States, despite spending the last four years viewing the US as a mortal enemy. This was in keeping with the wishes of President UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln, who in his 1865 inauguration speech stated "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

* At the end of the UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar, a 4-year conflict that resulted in over 600,000 deaths, the defeated Southern states were brought back into the Union without any sanctions or harsh measures. While some parts of the South would be occupied by federal troops for years, no members of the confederate military or government were ever put on trial for treason[[note]]though some of them were exiled and died without a country; all had their citizenship posthumously restored[[/note]]. Likewise, the vast majority of Confederate veterans returned home to become peaceful productive citizens of the United States, despite spending the last four years viewing the US as a mortal enemy. This was in keeping with the wishes of President UsefulNotes/AbrahamLincoln, who in his 1865 inauguration speech stated "With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation's wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations."

** Subverted when Susie decides to forgive Calvin for some nasty things he said that made her cry. He's so overjoyed that she immediately rethinks this decision:

* Notably subverted between Wrestling/ShawnMichaels and Wrestling/DGenerationX. After betraying them by costing [[Wrestling/SeanWaltman X-Pac]] the WWE Championship and trying to get the New Age Outlaws to defect to Wrestling/TheCorporation, he would rejoin DX after being fired by Wrestling/VinceMcMahon. However, he would find himself set up by them to be assaulted by the Corporation. X-Pac even mentions, "What goes around, comes around."

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', when Ilia offers to stand with Blake at Haven to protect the humans from the White Fang, Blake immediately forgives her and accepts her offer despite Ilia being complicit in the plan to kidnap Blake and assassinate her parents. This is continued in Volume 6's first episode: Ilia is shocked at the fact that she's been essentially forgiven despite the things she did while with White Fang. {{Inverted}} with Blake, however. While she's easily forgiven by Team RWBY for leaving them at the end of Volume 3, she does not feel the same way and seeks to [[TheAtoner try and make up to Yang, who she hurt the most with her abandonment]].

* Upon learning that the Human Torch's dialogue in ''Film/FantasticFour2005'' was ad-libbed by Creator/ChrisEvans, [[WebVideo/CinematicExcrement The Smeghead]] yells at a picture of Evans as Johnny Storm. Then the picture shifts to Evans as [[Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse Captain America]] and the Smeghead says he can't stay mad at Evans.

* At the end of WebVideo/ShipwreckedComedy's ''The Case of the Gilded Lily'', [[spoiler:Roger is revealed to be blackmailing his wife, using the money to pay off a gambling debt, because he was too proud just to ask her for it and risk her divorcing him. She immediately forgives him, but her best friend Fig doesn't, and as they're having their dramatic make-up, she slides by in the background, giving Roger a DeathGlare.]]

* In ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'', when [[spoiler:Ilia]] offers to stand with Blake at Haven to protect the humans from the White Fang, Blake immediately forgives her and accepts her offer despite [[spoiler:Ilia being complicit in the plan to kidnap Blake and assassinate her parents.]]
** This is incredibly zig-zagged in Volume 6's first episode: [[spoiler:Ilia is shocked at the fact that she's been essentially forgiven despite the things she did while with White Fang, yet Blake ''isn't'' forgiven by Team RWBY for abandoning them at the end of Volume 3]].

[[folder:Myths & Religion]]

* "Crasher-Vania" by ''Music/{{Starbomb}}''; Dracula is rather quick to forgive Simon for [[spoiler:killing all of his friends]]

* Merle of ''Podcast/TheAdventureZoneBalance'' seems almost incapable of holding a grudge. He very quickly forgave [[spoiler: Lucretia for erasing their memories, forgave Kravitz for crystallizing his arm, and even made amends with John, despite him personally killing him 50+ times and chasing his friends across all reality.]] The only grudge he seems to have is with [[spoiler: Magnus, who chopped off his arm to save his life, though he probably only does that to mess with him.]]

* Wrestling/ChristopherDaniels, Wrestling/ChrisHero and Wrestling/KevinSteen all got off pretty light in Wrestling/RingOfHonor, considering each one of them led a movement to destroy it. For reference, Wrestling/LowKi was banned for life when he allegedly broke the [[Wrestling/JimCornette commissioner's tooth]] despite at least nominally being against the Wrestling/{{CZW}} invasion. For that matter, Wrestling/BryanDanielson for betraying ROH to CZW just to screw over Wrestling/SamoaJoe also got off pretty easily. Wrestling/RoderickStrong called out the audience for cheering Steen while he was still in the process of burying the company. Despite the prevalence of this in the promotion, there was a major aversion in the cases of Wrestling/JimmyJacobs, Steve Corino and Wrestling/MattHardy's S.C.U.M. involvement at least.
* In Wrestling/{{WWE}}, this seems characteristic of Wrestling/PaulHeyman's regime. Never mind what an asshole he was, how many times he betrayed, lied, extorted and so forth, Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys, Wrestling/TheBigShow and Wrestling/BrockLesnar all ended up going back to Heyman.

* Played straight in Wrestling/{{TNA}} with Wrestling/TheBeautifulPeople, at least when it comes to the two founding members, Wrestling/AngelinaLove and Wrestling/VelvetSky. Though "[[WrestlingDoesntPay Velvet Love Entertainment]]" keep reuniting against all sense, third member Wrestling/MadisonRayne did end up washing her hands of the group after one slight too many.

** This is incredibly zig-zagged in Volume 6's first episode: [[spoiler:Ilia is shocked at the fact that she's been essentially forgiven despite the things she did while with White Fang, yet Blake ''isn't'' forgiven by Team RWBY for abandoning them at the end of Volume 3.]]

* Reputedly, UsefulNotes/AlexanderTheGreat's relentless pursuit of ex-emperor Darius III of Persia was not because he wanted to kill him, but because Alexander recognized Darius' genius and wanted to recruit Darius to govern Persia in Alexander's name. This was pretty much Alexander's Modus Operandi, {{Curb Stomp|Battle}} the enemy on the battlefield and then make him his vassal. It is one of the reasons as of why his empire disintegrated once he wasn't around to keep them in line.

* In his last day in office, former Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin pardoned numerous hardened criminals, including one who filmed his gang rape of a teenage boy to share with the internet, a murderer whose family donated $25000 to Bevin's campaign and a mom who left her newborn to die. Outrage promptly ensued across Kentucky and the nation as a whole.

KarmaHoudini occurs when the offending character is forgiven without as much as "a sorry" or any sort of punishment. See ForgivenButNotForgotten, where the hero is willing to forgive, but ''not'' if it happens a second time. For when granting forgiveness ''is'' the punishment (with the assumption that the offender will make amends), see GoAndSinNoMore. Contrast ReformedButRejected, where a villain ''does'' want to be forgiven and works for it, but doesn't get accepted. EasilyCondemned, RejectedApology, ThisIsUnforgivable, and MinorFlawMajorBreakup are the opposite tropes. Not to be confused with FlippantForgiveness, which is more insulting than gracious.

** Creator/BishopBarron comments on this and how in general, this may be/should be subverted, reading biblical forgiveness not as dismissing that evil was done, but loving someone in spite of all the horrible things they did, no matter if they deserve that love or not. The problem is that this is not done "easily," it is the most difficult thing imaginable.

* In his last day in office, former Kentucky Governor Matt Bevin pardoned numerous hardened criminals, including one who filmed his gang rape of a teenage boy and posted it online, a murderer whose family donated $25000 to his campaign and a mom who left her newborn to die.

They {{betray|alTropes}}ed you, they tried to kill you, [[DeathIsCheap really did kill you]], and [[ArsonMurderAndJaywalking even]] [[KickTheDog kicked your dog]]. Despite all this, you find it in your heart to {{forgive|ness}} them. After all, [[AsTheGoodBookSays "To err is human, to forgive is divine."]]

This trope describes a situation where forgiveness comes quickly after a character has committed some foul act. Within a season or maybe even an episode, foes become friends and whatever evil the forgiven character did is swept under the rug and forgotten. Whether or not this appears ''too'' easy from the perspective of the audience is not the point. [[TropesAreTools Like all tropes]] it can be used well or poorly and played with in a number of ways. The character who committed the deed/s may be sufficiently apologetic to warrant forgiveness, or the latter character learning AnAesop may be considered punishment enough, or maybe ThePunishmentIsTheCrime. Sometimes, showing a bit of trust to a former villain who doesn't seem to deserve it can lead to them becoming a reliable ally. Forgiving someone for their crime without their having earned it may inspire them to become TheAtoner so that they can earn forgiveness. Conversely, forgiving too easily can be a character flaw [[TheFarmerAndTheViper that bites them in the ass]].

* This was part of UsefulNotes/{{Jesus}}'s shtick. Even for those who crucified Him: "Father, forgive them, they know not what they do." And after resurrecting, He forgave Peter's denial.