History Main / SympathyfortheDevil

* In ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'', Master Shifu faces Tai Lung when the latter makes his way to the Jade Palace. During their battle, Tai Lung angrily calls out Shifu for pushing him to train so hard his bones cracked, filling his head with dreams of becoming the Dragon Warrior, and turning his back on him when Oogway denied him the Dragon Scroll. Exhausted and beaten physically and emotionally, Shifu acknowledges the part he played in Tai Lung's descent and apologizes for failing him. Unfortunately, [[IgnoredEpiphany Tai Lung just wants the Scroll]].

* In ''Manga/DeathNote'', after [[spoiler:shooting and almost killing Light]], Matsuda is shown to feel a degree of pity for him, as does Aizawa in the anime (ironically, he tells Matsuda he ''shouldn't'' feel pity for [[spoiler:Light]] in the manga). In the spin-off manga chapter starring Near, Matsuda does freely admit though that [[spoiler:Light]] was "an evil person".

* ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'': In "[[Recap/RWBYV6E3TheLostFable The Lost Fable]]", Ruby's face and posture is visibly empathetic after she watches the Brother Gods curse Salem to [[CompleteImmortality never reunite with her beloved Ozma in the afterlife]], purely because Salem tried to dupe them into resurrecting him in her raw grief.

** Zuko and Katara's silent but all too visible reaction to [[spoiler: [[Characters/AvatarTheLastAirbenderPrincessAzula Azula's]]]] VillainousBreakdown in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' invokes this trope. 's

** In "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS1E17WingItLikeWitches Wing It Like Witches]]", Eda wins her grudgby bet with [[Characters/TheOwlHouseLilithClawthorne Lilith Clawthorne]], then when the latter responds to her victory with terror at the thought of the consequences of returning to the Emperor empty-handed yet again, Eda feels bad enough to give Lilith her ring. Willow also shows signs of this when [[AlphaBitch Boscha]]'s team ask Willow if she wants to join them due to her skill, and Willow glances and notices Boscha's expression of terror before politely turning down the offer.

* Fittingly, this trope kicks off "FanFic/SympathyForTheDevil" as XCOM Commander Eliza O'Leary realizes from her time as the ADVENT Psychic Network Hub that the Chosen are basically badly abused kids and decides to make a go at saving them from the Elders.

* ''VideoGame/HaloInfinite'': The Master Chief cradles Escharum's head as he dies, allowing the Brute to pass on with some dignity. Another character present demands to know why Chief would show any kind of respect toward a genocidal alien, but the Chief responds that Escharum "was just a soldier. Hoping he'd done the right thing. Questioning his choices."

** While learning about Voldemort's BackStory, Harry is so merciful that he expresses a twinge of sympathy when Dumbledore reveals [[spoiler: that his mother chose to die in childbirth, rather than save her life with magic and raise him alone]]. Dumbledore doesn't share the same feeling and shows the belief that Voldemort didn't suffer at all emotionally and it was just his own inhumane nature that made him what he is. Seeing as Harry is himself an orphan who was bullied worse than anything we see happen to Voldemort as a child (nothing much really considering that he was the one shown to bully and intimidate everyone around him and enjoying it), Harry should by that logic have just as easily [[ForWantOfANail become as bad]] rendering by his mere existence, on the other end of the spectrum, the whole point moot.

** Zuko and Katara's silent but all too visible reaction to [[spoiler:Azula]]'s VillainousBreakdown in the last episode of ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' invokes this trope.
** In ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'', after hearing [[spoiler:[[CorruptPolitician Tarrlok]] and [[BigBad Amon]] / [[KnightTemplar Noatak's]] backstory]] Korra says that it's one of the saddest stories she has ever heard. In Season 2, Korra is the only one who feels bad about [[spoiler:not being able to stop Unalaq without killing him. Unalaq was such a terrible person that even his own children don't regret his death.]]

* ''WesternAnimation/DuckTales2017'': Throughout the series, Magica De Spell was a vile evil sorceress and a abusive parent, then in the episode "[[Recap/DuckTales2017S3E21TheLifeAndCrimesOfScroogeMcDuck The Life and Crimes of Scrooge McDuck!]]"when Scrooge was put on trial by the mystic court, it is revealed at her first meeting with Scrooge [=McDuck=] he accidentally turns her twin brother Poe De Spell into a non-sapient crow and doing nothing to help him as Poe flays away. The flashback was surprisingly heartbreaking, with Magica begging for Scrooge's help offering anything to save her brother and Scrooge ignoring her to get some gold. The judge was sympathetic to her, and notably, the Magica case was the only case presented where Scrooge showed remorse for his actions, with his face showing guilt and shame.

** In the episode "[[Recap/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagicS4E26TwilightsKingdomPart2 Twilight's Kingdom -- Part 2]]", the Mane Five are clearly horrified when Tirek betrays Discord and violently sucks his magic dry. Note that this is ''after'' Discord betrayed ''them''; there's not even an ounce of biting sarcasm in Applejack's voice when she returns an IronicEcho over his backstab.

** Even after all the evil (and unforgivable [[BrokenBase if you ask some of the fanbase]]) stunts she pulled, Twilight Sparkle ''still'' pitied Starlight Glimmer after learning her entire motivation was being left a BrokenBird after her close childhood friend moved away. Twilight's forgiveness and offer to help her rediscover the meaning and value of friendship is what triggers Starlight's HeelFaceTurn.

** In "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS1E17WingItLikeWitches Wing It Like Witches]]", Eda wins her grudgby bet with Lilith, then when the latter responds to her victory with terror at the thought of the consequences of returning to the Emperor empty-handed yet again, Eda feels bad enough to give Lilith her ring. Willow also shows signs of this when [[AlphaBitch Boscha]]'s team ask Willow if she wants to join them due to her skill, and Willow glances and notices Boscha's expression of terror before politely turning down the offer.
** In "[[Recap/TheOwlHouseS2E9EclipseLake Eclipse Lake]]", Eda briefly expresses pity when observing Kikimora's SanitySlippage of paranoia. Amity empathizes with [[NerdInEvilsHelmet Hunter]] when she realizes how similar their situations with AbusiveParents are, and even King feels bad for Hunter when watching him dig his own grave in manic despair.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': In the episode "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish," Homer is visibly concerned for Mr. Burns when he sees the old man pitifully [[https://frinkiac.com/img/S02E04/435129.jpg crying]] in his car. He even stops to ask him if he's alright.
* On ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'', Eric Cartman is TheFriendNoOneLikes and probably the closest thing to a recurring villain the show has. Kenny outright admits in his will that he downright ''pities'' Cartman because nobody in that town actually likes him:

** Despite Hordak being responsible by the "deaths" of Glimmer's parents (Angella's was accidental [[spoiler: and Micah has survived, though Glimmer doesn't know]]) and having tried to kill her personally, she is horrifed when she sees Horde Prime pick him by his neck and erase his memories.

*** Catra herself was hated by the Rebellion, and with good reasons. Glimmer and Bow, personally, had a long story with her, from all those moments when she kidnapped/tried to kill them for being friends with Adora. Not to mention that it was Catra whom opened the portal, causing reality to be destroyed and forcing Angella to commit a HeroicSacrifice. Yet, after Adora saves Catra from Horde Prime and has to bring her back from the dead, both Glimmer and Bow cry. Even Entrapta, whom had her life ruined by Catra (she manipulated her to enter the Horde, used her knowledge in techs, then sent her to die in Beast Island and after being rescued Entrapta was ocstracized by the princesses) agrees into "forgiving" Catra with a friendly pat on the latter's head, though they're not friends anymore.
* ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsRebels'': Despite suffering more at Maul's hands than anyone else, Obi-Wan is still able to feel compassion and sympathy for him, knowing they've both lost everything and they're not that different. In the end, he kills Maul only for the pain he could cause if allowed near Luke, not the pain he has already caused, and even performs CradlingYourKill.
* ''WesternAnimation/StevenUniverse''. In the episode "Earthlings", long-time villain Jasper becomes corrupted and [[SanitySlippage slowly loses her sanity]]. During this, she reveals how lonely and insecure she actually is, as she states that "Nobody I fuse with ever wants to stay" (referring to Lapis and the Corrupted Gem she fused with earlier). Steven tries to heal her, but she furiously refuses his help, eventually [[FateWorseThanDeath fully corrupting]] and being poofed by Peridot. The part where this trope applies is where Amethyst walks forward with a sorrowful look and falls to her knees next to Jasper's gem, before delivering one of the most [[TearJerker tear-jerky]] lines in the show so far.

This occurs when the hero realizes that a villain they are fighting is either [[AntiVillain not so bad]], after all, has relatable (if still wrong) reasons for doing what they have done, or at least they just sees a vulnerable side in them which makes them empathise to an extent. This sentiment generally is easier to justify in stories with morally ambiguous characters like WhiteAndGreyMorality, GreyAndGrayMorality, and even BlackAndGrayMorality. [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools Used well]], it can make for greater emotional value and added depth to the villain. If neither of those are the case, it can still show the kindness of the hero who feels bad for their foes, because they know that [[BeingEvilSucks the villain will always be unhappy and unsatisfied in their cruel lives]]. When used badly, however, it will make the sympathy feel unwarranted and add needless {{Wangst}}. Often the story will have a worse villain to contrast with the sympathetic one and act as a HateSink for the audience.

--> Eric, I never really liked you. But then, nobody does. You have no ability to feel, and you are going to die alone and miserable. It is only because I feel so sorry for you that I leave you my [[UsefulNotes/{{PSP}} Sony PSP]].

* ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'': Sisko feels sympathy for Dukat after he loses his grip on reality when [[spoiler:his daughter Ziyal is killed]].