History Main / FallenHero

* In the JackieChanAdventures fanfiction ''Fanfic/QueenOfAllOni'', Jade becomes this after a spell reawakens her Queen of the Shadowkhan persona.

* Or they'll be like a fusion of the first and second example and decide that killing/destroying everything is the ONLY way to save EVERYONE from the pain/pointlessness of existence, often becoming a StrawNihilist.

* ''VideoGame/MassEffect'' seems fond of this trope.

** The second game also gives us [[spoiler: Rael'Zorah. Tali specifically fears her father being seen as this by the quarian people after he chooses to run weapons test on active geth prisoners in order to advance the cause of retaking the homeworld.]]

* [[spoiler: Fain, of the Red Masque]] from ''{{Lusternia}}''. A brilliant and popular leader amongst the [[PhysicalGod Elder Gods]], he resorted to [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope increasingly extreme]] measures to combat the [[EldritchAbominations Soulless Ones]]. Ultimately, he and his co-conspirators began ''devouring'' other Elders to imbibe their essence and power, and were banished to the Void. Driven [[AxCrazy insane]] by thousands of years of isolation, he is ''profoundly'' unhappy by the time he returns to the real world.

* Or they'll be like a fusion of the first and second example and decide that killing/destroying everything is the ONLY way to save EVERYONE from the pain/pointlessness of existence.

* Blackarachnia of ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated''. Getting abandoned on a hostile planet and suffering nasty TransformationTrauma involving a GiantSpider or twenty would make ''anyone'' a little bitter.

* Although many people forget this part of her backstory, Meredith from ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' was also this trope, as she became Knight-Commander after the previous viscount of Kirkwall, Perrin Threnhold, tried to expel the templars from the city. (While not everyone looks upon the templars fondly, Perrin Threnhold is generally regarded as a tight-fisted tyrant who attacked the templars first.) Her paranoia over blood magic [[SanitySlippage drives her utterly mad]].

** In the first game, [[spoiler:''Captain Blue'' is the one masterminding to escape from Movieland to take over the real world, having lost his stride ''twice''. In the real world, he was hailed as revolutionary director, having created several good movies, but then he lost all of that. He just wanted to create more heroes. He was then somehow sucked into one of his films, and he lived all of the great adventures he wanted, but then he figured something out: the world was TooGoodToLast, he started to want revenge against the people of the human world.]] Thankfully, he got some sense knocked into him.

* Sensui from ''Manga/YuYuHakusho''. [[spoiler:Was a Spirit Detective, and a damn effective one, until he saw [[HumansAreBastards the Black Black Club torturing demons for their own amusement]], got his hands on [[PostHistoricalTrauma Chapter Black]], and went [[NietzscheWannabe insane with the desire to get rid of all of humanity]].]]

* About a million alternate future stories depict either {{Batman}} or {{Superman}} as this, frequently with the other one trying to pull them out of it.
* ''TheLongHalloween'', the series that inspired Nolan when he was writing the script for ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', has a Harvey Dent that worked alongside {{Batman}} and Commissioner Gordon. [[spoiler:We later find out that Harvey may not have even been responsible for some of the deaths, it may have been his wife trying to end all the terror that was happening and trying to get Harvey to come back. A closer inspection reveals plot holes with this revelation, and it's vague whether she did it or was just crazy.]] This is only one version of ComicBook/TwoFace's origin, but all the ones worth mentioning show him as working with Batman before turning into Two-Face.

* ''ComicBook/AstroCity'' has El Hombre, an {{Expy}} of {{Batman}} from Los Angeles. Though he became prominent in the super-hero circle, he became upset at his lack of respect from the populace and his love interest's marriage to someone else. [[spoiler:He then hired a super-villain to build a robot to attack the city so he could stop it in a high-profile fight. He was betrayed by the villain, and when it was later revealed that El Hombre commissioned the attack, he became a wanted fugitive and disappeared into his civilian identity.]]

** In fact, the KND seems to have a problem with traitors ''a lot''. That may be the whole reason they inflict LaserGuidedAmnesia on operatives when they retire. On a positive note, [[spoiler:both Chad and Maurice were FakeDefectors, subversions of this Trope, although in Chad's case, the revelation didn't make Numbuh One like him much.]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/ChallengeOfTheGoBots,'' Cy-Kill was once one of the High Protectors of Gobotron.

* TheGirlWhoCircumnavigatedFairylandInAShipOfHerOwnMaking features [[spoiler: Mallow/Marquess]]

* ''TheLongHalloween'', the series that inspired Nolan when he was writing the script for ''Film/TheDarkKnight'', has a Harvey Dent that worked alongside {{Batman}} and Commissioner Gordon. [[spoiler:We later find out that Harvey may not have even been responsible for some of the deaths, it may have been his wife trying to end all the terror that was happening and trying to get Harvey to come back. A closer inspection reveals plot holes with this revelation, and it's vague whether she did it or was just crazy.]] This is only one version of Two-Face's origin, but all the ones worth mentioning show him as working with Batman before turning into Two-Face.

* Aga Mbadi from [[Battle Angel Alita]]: Last Order, he was once a renowned hero around the solar system for hunting down a dangerous terrorist, after [[Spoiler: being forced to watch the only woman he ever loved slowly die in his arms and acquiring his insane nemesis's brain chip]], he has turned into a [[ManipulativeBastard]] and [[NietzscheWannabe]] who considers everyone but himself lower than dirt.

* Big Boss of ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'' was originally a quirky, cheerful, affectionate, paternal sort of man, who ends up going through a major BreakTheCutie routine in ''Snake Eater'', ''Portable Ops'', and ''Peace Walker''. He [[spoiler:then ends up creating The Patriots with other "fallen heroes", Major Zero, Sigint (a.k.a. DARPA Chief, Donald Anderson), and Para-Medic (aka Dr. Clark, the head of the Les Enfants Terribles project and the one who turned Grey Fox into the Cyborg Ninja), along with [[MagnificentBastard Ocelot]] and EVA]] and creating Outer Heaven and Zanzibarland to plunge the world into eternal war before meeting his end at the hands of his "son", Solid Snake, which was prophesized by The Sorrow and Elisa.

* ''AstroCity'' has El Hombre, an {{Expy}} of {{Batman}} from Los Angeles. Though he became prominent in the super-hero circle, he became upset at his lack of respect from the populace and his love interest's marriage to someone else. [[spoiler:He then hired a super-villain to build a robot to attack the city so he could stop it in a high-profile fight. He was betrayed by the villain, and when it was later revealed that El Hombre commissioned the attack, he became a wanted fugitive and disappeared into his civilian identity.]]

** Sephiroth in ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII''. Especially evident during ''[[VideoGame/FinalFantasyVIICrisisCore Crisis Core]]'' and its glimpses of Sephiroth's pre-fall personality -- although cool and aloof, he was actually [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=feQQ_OUqbXE a pretty nice guy]] and hero-grade material before the Nibelheim Incident. His ''[[VideoGame/DissidiaFinalFantasy Dissidia]]'' [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SqW58sxUyGk opponents]] ''will not stop talking'' about this in their pre-fight quotes, especially in Duodecim. The crazy thing is that Sephiroth will alternate between calling himself one or declaring himself a general destroyer of life. "Taste the blade of a hero.", indeed.

* Princess Luna, the very first villain of ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'', is a [[PhysicalGod physical]] [[FallenAngel goddess]] who, alongside her older sister Celestia, once co-ruled Equestria and fought to defeat the [[GodOfEvil evil god]] [[RealityWarper Discord]] and the tyrannical [[CompleteMonster King Sombra]]. A combination of perceived ingratitude on the part of her subjects and a vaguely-defined dark force corrupted her into the vengeful "[[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]]," and Celestia was forced to [[SealedEvilInACan seal her away]] to prevent her from [[OmnicidalManiac bringing about global extinction]] through TheNightThatNeverEnds, but when she escapes, she's ultimately redeemed rather than killed. (The second season's HalloweenEpisode focuses on her attempts to [[TheAtoner atone]]--it's difficult to be accepted as good when you represent TheSacredDarkness in a society which you helped to convince that DarkIsEvil.)

* [[spoiler:Griffith]] of ''{{Berserk}}''.

->''"You either [[HeroicSacrifice die the hero]], or you live long enough to see yourself become the villain."''