History Main / MoralityPet

->''"Right now though, I'd have to say you're probably the person I hate the least."''
-->-- '''Anna''', ''VisualNovel/AngelsWithScalyWings''

->''"All those times I said 'Kill all humans', I'd always whisper 'except one'. Fry was that one. And I never told him so!"''
-->-- '''Bender''', ''WesternAnimation/{{Futurama}}''

[[caption-width-right:350:He may be a VillainProtagonist who wants to TakeOverTheWorld, but he is an absolute softie to his daughters.]]

* In Wrestling/{{WWE}}, long-running ForeignWrestlingHeel Wrestling/WilliamRegal was assigned by Eric Bischoff to baby-sit and team with his "special" nephew [[Wrestling/NickDinsmore Eugene]], a mentally-challenged man who was, despite his handicap, a capable wrestler. Regal quickly grew fond of Eugene, to the point where Wrestling/TripleH's cold, cynical manipulation of Eugene served as a catalyst for a rare HeelFaceTurn for Regal.

** ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'': [[Characters/MonsterVerseHumans Alan Jonah]], the movie's resident human BigBadWannabe, is a ruthless and utterly genocidal MisanthropeSupreme who is all too happy to engineer millions of global casualties in the name of his EcoTerrorist cause (and when that comes apart, [[NotSoWellIntentionedExtremist in the name]] [[ItsAllAboutMe of himself]]). However, the movie implies and the official {{novelization}} more explicitly confirms that Jonah genuinely cares about his MookLieutenant Asher. Jonah cries out in a rare show of raising his voice when Ash is killed in front of him, and the novelization explicitly shows that Ash is just about the only living person whom Jonah genuinely gives a damn about, and his death severs Jonah's last remaining link to humanity. The novel also states that Jonah had a daughter in his backstory, and her part in his life stalled Jonah's descent into darkness until her grizzly murder marked the turning point.

[[CaptainObvious Villains are evil]]. They [[KickTheDog kick dogs]] instead of [[PetTheDog petting them]]. What if they started petting one dog in particular, and thereby showed some kindness, sympathy, etc. other qualities not part of their villainous persona? That dog is the villain's morality pet.

Villains are evil. They [[KickTheDog kick dogs]] instead of [[PetTheDog petting them]]. What if they started petting one dog in particular, and thereby showed some kindness, sympathy, etc. other qualities not part of their villainous persona? That dog is the villain's morality pet.

Villains are evil. They kick dogs instead of petting them. What if they started petting one dog in particular, and thereby showed some kindness, sympathy, etc. other qualities not part of their villainous persona? That dog is the villain's morality pet.

* In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy'', Peter Quill is this to adoptive father and amoral SpacePirate Yondu Udonta. Several Ravagers note that Yondu immediately becomes "soft" when Peter's involved and even refused to hand Peter over to [[spoiler:his birth father, [[OmnicidalManiac Ego the Living Planet]]]]. Yondu's love for Peter is pretty much his only redeeming quality, and the one thing he does selflessly is [[spoiler:to sacrifice his life to save Peter from suffocating in space]].

** Maybe played straighter with Sweeney and Anthony. He's a non-threatening, innocent young character, whose puppy love for Johanna might reflect the young Sweeney's for Lucy. Subverted by the fact that is hinted at in the movie and openly stated in the musical: [[spoiler:Sweeney's plan to get Johanna back involves murdering Anthony]]. Johanna may be Sweeney's real morality pet, but given that [[spoiler:he nearly kills her as well by accident]], being Sweeney's morality pet is not the best way to stay alive

* In ''VisualNovel/YourTurnToDie'', [[spoiler:Kanna acts as this for Shin. Despite him seeming not to care for anyone else much, he cares enough about Kanna to offer to sacrifice himself for her. If you vote for Kanna anyway, he will express that he hates you and wants you dead.]] Subverted in the case of [[spoiler:Real Sou, who talks a lot about how he just loves Shin, and also [[{{Sadist}} enjoys seeing him in pain]], and has some of his worst traits shown to the audience [[{{KickTheMoralityPet}} by that attachment]].]]

* Ira, who plays TheChick in a FiveManBand, for RetiredMonster Charlie in ''Film/SuicideKings''.

* ''Franchise/DespicableMe'': Margo, Edith and Agnes for Gru, and trigger his moral improvement.

[[quoteright:350:[[WesternAnimation/DespicableMe https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/despicable_me_m.jpg]]]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe'': Margo, Edith and Agnes for Gru, and trigger his moral improvement.

* Wiki/SCPFoundation:

* At no point in his rampages has ''Machinima/ChristianBrutalSniper'' ever killed the RED Spy.
* [[RobotBuddy ED-E]] plays this role to [[VideoGame/FalloutNewVegas The Courier]] in ''Machinima/CouriersMindRiseOfNewVegas''. The Courier can be quite a JerkAss (and who wouldn't be [[ButtMonkey with the kind of life he's leading?]]), but will typically do the right thing if ED-E bugs him about it.

* Minilla, or Minya, is this for ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'' in the Showa series. And especially in ''Final Wars'', when [[spoiler:Godzilla ultimately decides to spare the humans simply because Minilla asked him to]].

One method of doing this is presenting another character to [[FriendlessBackground befriend them]]. Ideally, this should be someone who could pose no threat or even be demanding, and depending on how the plot goes, the recovering villain becomes fond of this other character and may [[LivingEmotionalCrutch draw stability from their presence]]. The Morality Pet may even be somewhat pathetic (and will be told so), but has often gone through some anguish to which the recovering villain can relate secretly, or reminds the villain of someone they lost long ago. They're usually upbeat, though they might go a little [[TastesLikeDiabetes overboard sometimes]]. If handled poorly, they might become a SatelliteCharacter for the former villain.

Villains are evil. They kick dogs instead of petting them. What if they started petting one dog in particular, and thereby showed some kindness, sympathy, etc. other qualifies not part of their villainous persona? That dog is the villain's morality pet.

* Tip to Oh in ''WesternAnimation/{{Home}}''. While the alien wasn't evil or even straight up jerk (or a JerkWithAHeartOfGold), he didn't know how to show any empathy towards other species, besides his own. Spending time with Tip allows Oh to learn.

* ''WesternAnimation/{{Epic}}'': Mandrake, for his whole EvilOverlord shtick, really does care about his son.

* Archangel Dominic in ''TabletopGame/InNomine'' is often depicted as an insane KnightTemplar. One person's rather popular {{fanon}} solution to this was to give him a [[http://www.sjgames.com/in-nomine/articles/New/netanya.html kitten]] to soften his image. This more or less worked for a large portion of the fandom.
* In ''TabletopGame/MagicTheGathering'', Xantcha serves as Urza's anchor to morality and to sanity.
* Subverted in ''Children of the Night'', a supplement for ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade''. In it is a character profile of Velya the Vivisectionist, who [[MayflyDecemberRomance fell in love]] with a [[{{Squick}} 10-year old girl]] and made her into a vampire. The source of his infatuation with her was her blatant sociopathy, and willingness to manipulate her family into insanity and murder. [[FromBadToWorse But that's not the worst part]]. Even though she was as evil as they came, Elaine Cassidy wasn't mentally equipped to handle vampiric life beside one of the most cold and calculating inhumans in the world, and quickly went batshit insane, ultimately falling to [[EnemyWithin the Beast]] during the 1950s. Velya's response to his "wife's" degeneration was to [[BodyHorror graft her body into his torso]] in order to keep her out of trouble until such time as he could find a cure. Worse still, not only have his efforts been completely in vain, but the connection between the two allows Elaine's Beast to influence Velya, gradually driving him insane.

* When Wrestling/{{WWE}} wants to put Wrestling/AlbertoDelRio through a HeelFaceTurn, their formula is simple -- have a heel assault his loyal manservant, Ricardo Rodriguez, and have Del Rio make with the RoaringRampageOfRevenge against the jerk who did it.