History Main / RaiseHimRIghtThisTime

Sometimes, a person's spirit is just too corrupted to redeem. Maybe he committed despicable acts, maybe he became one of TheHeartless, maybe he just had extraordinarily bad luck. Regardless, there's simply no hope of redemption.

%% This page has been alphabetized. Please add new examples in the correct order. Thanks!

** The ''Literature/DoctorWhoNewAdventures'' novel ''Timewyrm: Revelation'' ends with the Timewyrm put into the form of a baby and given to the nice young couple who got dragged into the plot to raise. We learn how well they did in ''Happy Endings''.

** Failing this test is a recurring element with Ganondorf. After his death in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'', he was reincarnated. Despite the Gerudo tribe's best efforts, he still became evil and used the Trident of Power to become Ganon and serve as the villain of ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaFourSwordsAdventures''. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTearsOfTheKingdom'' features a new Ganondorf who, despite starting out as a renowned warrior, became even more evil than his past incarnations and earned even more of the Gerudo tribe's contempt.

** Played with in ''[[Anime/DragonBallZBattleOfGods Battle of Gods]]'': The Pilaf Gang got their hands on the Dragon Balls and wishes for youth, turning them into children. They're still evil and try to steal the Dragon Balls again, until they realize just how far the SortingAlgorithmOfEvil has left them behind. Meanwhile, Trunks introduces Mai as his girlfriend, and they seem to be hitting it off by the end of the movie.

* ''Franchise/DoctorWhoExpandedUniverse'':

* At the end of the ''ComicBook/OurWorldsAtWar'' crossover event in 2001, Lena Luthor -- who'd been taken to the future and raised/warped into an evil cyborg by Brainiac 13 -- is reverted back into infancy, and one of the last scenes of the crossover is Comicbook/{{Superman}} giving her back to her father, ComicBook/LexLuthor, and begging Lex to [[RaiseHimRightThisTime Raise Her Right This Time]]. A few years later, after Lex goes goes insane, is kicked out of the Presidency, and goes on the run, Lena is put up for adoption to more fit parents. [[ChuckCunninghamSyndrome She hasn't been seen or mentioned since.]]

* The manga adaptation of ''VideoGame/LegendOfMana'' softens the ending of the Faerie Arc by having this happen to[[spoiler: Matilda and Irwin]] with [[spoiler: Daena]] resolving to be the parent.

* Later episodes of ''Anime/YuGiOhArcV'' show how [[spoiler: Zarc]] was purified of his evil and split into four innocent infants through magical cards. The presence of good parents and / or friends ensured three of said kids turn out relatively good, as originally intended by the one who stopped [[spoiler: Zarc]]. Unfortunately, a twisted upbringing and lonely life turned the 4th into a psychopath just like his old self. Those 4 kids are [[spoiler: Yuya, Yuto, Yugo and Yuri.]]

* ''ComicBook/TheSandman1989''

* In the story ''[[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/3119367/1/When-Jutsu-Go-Wrong When Jutsu Go Wrong,]]'' this happens to Orochimaru when, during a battle, he does hand symbols wrong and is turned into a baby. He is raised by his less-than-thrilled former student Anko who has Iruka help her out, and naturally HilarityEnsues as the village thinks he's their baby. It only gets worse for her as his first word just so happens to be Mommy. Sadly the story hasn't been updated in four years so who knows how the plot was going to fold out.
* Another ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fanfic, a ''Series/DoctorWho'' crossover called ''Fanfic/TimeLordsAndTerror'', mixes this a bit with AndYourRewardIsInfancy as this is the fate of the only one of the villains to show any qualms about what they were doing, acting primarily out of loyalty to her mother.
* The ending of Fanfic/ADifferentLesson implies that [[spoiler: [[BigBad Heian Chao]] will one day be reincarnated and given a second chance]].

** Played with in regards to [[BadFuture Dark World]] [[DaddysLittleVillain Fluttercruel]]. After having a VillainousBreakdown and partial HeelRealization, the Elements of Harmony manage to banish her spirit (reduced to a mentally broken foal) to the spirit world, where Fluttershy [[spoiler: (now the Alicorn [[TarotMotifs Queen of Cups]])]] decides to raise her properly and teach her to use her powers for the benefit of others. [[spoiler: Then the other Alicorns decide she hasn't been punished enough for her crimes, and she's sentenced to be sent back in time and [[IronicHell live as one of her own victims]] with [[AmnesiacDissonance no memory of her past existence]]; after eventually dying again, the horror she experienced finalizes her HeelFaceTurn.]]

** [[spoiler:Discord's final fate: he allows his persona to be destroyed along with [[TrueFinalBoss Paxphobia]] and his Dissy personality to successfully pull a SplitPersonalityTakeover, who is then reincarnated through Pinkie Pie. Unlike most examples, this is intentional on his part, as he viewed it was for the best.]]
* PlayedWith in ''Fanfic/IfThemsTheRules'' as [[PeggySue Harry goes back in time]] to invoke this trope with Tom Riddle, who's already showing sociopathic tendencies. The results are mixed as Tom cares for [[MoralityChain Harry enough to resist his darker urges]], but on the other hand he simply plans to make [[DontTellMama sure that Harry never finds out.]]
* In the ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'' fanfic ''FanFic/InsontisII'', a very downplayed example occurs. Kirk doesn't avoid the Vulcan training Spock went through the first time, but he hopes that, by being more accepting of Spock's humanity, he'll feel more relaxed.
* Used in the ''Series/DoctorWho'' / ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' fic [[http://archiveofourown.org/works/1012904 Purgatorio]]. After "Children of Earth", Jack starts having dreams of the Master offering him a way to revive Ianto. Jack, understandably suspicious, builds the machine but uses it to revive his grandson. He's not surprised when it turns out to be the Master in the kid's body, and proceeds to erase his memory and arrange for his adoption. [[spoiler: He ends up becoming Professor Yana.]]
* In [[Fanfic/{{Dangerverse}} Dangerverse]] [[spoiler: Elladora Gamp]] turns herself into a baby and gets passed off as her illegitimate child, to be raised by her blood-traitor sister and husband.
* ''FanFic/{{crawlersout}}'': TimeTravel variant. Fem!Harry travels back in time and creates an alternate timeline where she takes in a young Tom Riddle with this as her goal. Harry, knowing that Tom's very nature will draw him to TheDarkArts, is content to give him a more...''liberal'' education, as long as he turns out happy and not a rampaging Dark Lord like Lord Voldemort.
* ''FanFic/ABridgeOnceBroken'' is a ''WesternAnimation/{{Wakfu}}'' {{crossover}} with ''Film/{{Avengers}}'', in which the OC dragon/eliatrope pair turns out to be [[spoiler: Shinonome's attempt to replace Quilby and herself with someone who wouldn't go nuts like Quilby has]]. So far, it's successful.
* ''FanFic/InnocenceAndExperience'' plays a villainous variant: when he learns how a grown-up Tim Drake utterly humiliated and one-upped him, Ra's concludes he would rather have such intelligence serving him and arranges for the abduction of seven-year-old Timmy. Alas for him, the Justice League disagreed with little kids being groomed as villains.
** [[spoiler: Played straight with Damian Wayne. After observing his future self, Talia realizes she wants her son growing up ''happy'' and entrusts him to his father.]]
* [[Tropers/KenyaStarflight Kenya Starflight's]] ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' fic ''[[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/7915586/1/Lost-and-Found Lost and Found]]'' has Wheeljack working on a new and improved version of his Immobilizer weapon, but it doesn't work as planned -- instead of slowing time around the target, it was set too high and ''reversed'' time for them, accidentally reducing Megatron to a sparkling. Optimus ends up renaming him Metronix and raising him as an Autobot. [[spoiler:Much later, when Decepticon High Command kidnaps him and tries to turn him back into Megatron, Metronix turns the Immobilizer on them and reduces Starscream, Shockwave, Soundwave and his six cassettes to sparklings as well. A later one-shot sees the Stunticons also reduced, but on purpose this time, so they can have a new start too.]]
* ''Fanfic/WhatIfGokuLandedAtCapsuleCorp'': After learning that King Piccolo has been reborn as his son Piccolo jr., Bocksa and Mark convinces Kami that rather than seal him away, they could give him a good upbringing so he wouldn't become as evil as his previous self. Mark and Miguel, with help from the other Z-Fighters, raise and train Piccolo jr. for the next three years and teach him morales like mercy. By the time Piccolo faces Bocksa in the next tournament, Piccolo is more interested in testing his strength against the Saiyan rather than killing him to avenge his father as in canon.

* ''Film/SkyHigh2005'': [[spoiler: Inverted. Royal Pain was regressed to a baby by her own Pacifier device, then raised by her henchman to be evil again. Royal Pain intended to do this with ''all'' the heroes, raising them to be villains under her command.]]

* In ''Literature/TheCandyShopWar,'' the main villain is hunting for a FountainOfYouth which will allow them to become young again, because magic works better on the young, but most magicians, being old, [[NoSelfBuffs cannot use it on themselves.]] [[spoiler: She also gives the main characters a tablet that causes LaserGuidedAmnesia, intending for them to use it on her main enemy. Instead, the main characters keep it, and drop it into the FountainOfYouth so that when she becomes young, she also loses her memory. She then gets adopted by said enemy and raised properly.]] The "fixed" villain becomes one of the main characters in the sequel.

* In the Season 3 finale of ''WesternAnimation/StarVsTheForcesOfEvil'' this trope is invoked when [[spoiler: Eclipsa defeats her half-monster daughter Meteora, who is then turned into a baby. In this case, Eclipsa never raised Meteora at all since she was imprisoned when her daughter was just a baby.]]