History Main / VillainsDyingGrace

* In ''LightNovel/ToAruMajutsuNoIndex'', Accelerator attempts to invoke this trope on himself when he's faced with the choice of saving a little girl by using his [[SuperpowerLottery vector-controlling ability]] to essentially hack her brain or allowing a bullet shot at his head to hit. He chooses the former... [[CrazyAwesome but survives anyway as he managed to finish his work and deflect the bullet just before it reached his brain]]. Then he doubles it up by saving Yoshikawa after the latter was shot in the aorta from point-blank range by keeping her blood flowing between the ends of the damaged section instead of having her bleed out in seconds, ''while he himself is unconscious and bleeding out from a combination of cracked skull and brain damage due to the previously mentioned headshot''. Result: everyone but the bad guy survives, [[SubvertedTrope including Accelerator]] as a HandicappedBadass AntiHero with the aforementioned little girl as his MoralityChain.

Near death experiences have a tendency to change a person's outlook on life. Knowing you're going to die is no different; however, when faced with imminent death, villains by and large repent nothing and decide that if they're going to die, ''I'm TakingYouWithMe!''

But on rare occasions, the villain will have a HeelRealization where they ask ''"MyGodWhatHaveIDone"'' as, faced with a lifetime of evil flashing in front of their eyes as the CollapsingLair implodes, they decide to do one good thing before they die: save the hero. They may cling to life so that [[LoadBearingBoss their death]] doesn't [[CollapsingLair collapse their castle]], or to hold back a wave of monsters. Perhaps they'll show them where their personal [[VillainExitStageLeft escape passage]] is hidden or briefly become a LoadBearingHero to let them escape. Another situation is where they feel they were beaten by a WorthyOpponent, and therefore the superior one should carry on.

* At the end of the first arc of {{Naruto}} Zabuza, a wanted ninja who previously had both of his arms broken in a fight against Kakashi, decides to use what little he had left in life to kill the BigBad of the arc.

This isn't quite a HeroicSacrifice or RedemptionEqualsDeath -- they would have died anyway -- but at the least it shows they weren't [[CompleteMonster completely evil]] and still retained a measure of nobility as a FallenHero, NobleDemon or AntiHero. Sadly, this is definitely not enough for RedemptionEarnsLife. In a best case scenario, they DiedHappilyEverAfter.

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* An infamous example happened to Lucio Fulci's ''NewYorkRipper'' in 1984. BBFC director James Ferman got creative with the punishment he had in store for the film for potentially violating British obscenity laws of the time. He didn't order any print to be destroyed; rather, he ordered all prints within the UK to be returned to Italy.

Subtrope of GracefulLoser and DeathEqualsRedemption. Not to be confused with CruelMercy. Can be used as a form of RestrainedRevenge.

* In ''[[Film/{{Blade}} Blade: Trinity]]'', Drake/Dracula, out of respect for Blade fighting him with honor, morphs into a copy of Blade for the FBI to take away, tricking them into calling the manhunt off, as they think Blade is dead.

** After getting beaten to a bloody pulp by [[spoiler:[[TheBerserker the zombie-hollow hybrid]]]], one of the last things Ulquiorra does is [[spoiler:break its control over Ichigo]] to save Orihime and Ishida from getting blasted into nothing. He dies soon afterwards.

But on rare occasions, the villain will have a HeelRealization where they ask ''"MyGodWhatHaveIDone"'' as, faced with a lifetime of evil flashing in front of their eyes as the CollapsingLair implodes, they decide to do one good thing before they die: save the hero. They may cling to life so that [[LoadBearingBoss their death]] doesn't [[CollapsingLair collapse their castle]], or to hold back a wave of monsters. Perhaps they'll show them where their personal [[VillainExitStageLeft escape passage]] is hidden or briefly become a LoadBearingHero to let them escape. Another situation is where they feel they were beaten by a WorthyOpponent; and therefore the superior one should carry on.

Near death experiences have a tendency to change a person's outlook on life. Knowing you're going to die is no different; however, when faced with imminent death, villains by and large repent nothing and decide that if they're going to die, ''I'm {{taking you with me}}!''

* Altena does this at the end of ''Anime/{{Noir}}''. Kirika has pushed herself and Altena into the {{lava pit}}; Altena has Kirika's arm, and Mireille has Altena's. Altena somehow throws Kirika into Mireille's reach to [[TakeMyHand take her hand]] at the expense of falling herself. Interestingly, Altena in no way was wanting "redemption"; she never had malice towards them in the first place. There was no way that Mireille could pull both of them up; and whether they would be True Noir or not, there was no reason for Kirika to die too.

* In ''[[ThursdayNext First Among Sequels]]'' [[spoiler: evil Thursday]] saves Thursday's life when her own life is doomed.

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* Subverted in a DoctorStrange story, where Baron Mordo uses what he thinks will be his last act to send one of Strange's associates to safety. They all live, but she is somewhat smitten with him, which he manipulates to his own advantage for some time. It ends with a minor PetTheDog moment which reveals he's not ''entirely'' evil.

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', Psycho Mantis, the Psychokinetic badass responsible for [[FourthWall smashing the fourth wall into thousands of teeny tiny pieces]] has a merciful revenge moment after you defeat him. He explains essentially, that his life is shit, everyone's life is shit, and we're all a bunch of horny buggers focused solely on doing the nasty. The only reason he wanted to join Liquid, was to find an excuse to kill as many people as he could. After reading Snake's mind and [[ChasteHero discovering that no naughty thoughts are going on in there]] he decides to help by levitating a bookshelf out of the way, allowing you to continue. As he takes his last breath he utters these final words "This was the first time I've ever used my powers to help someone. Funny... [[GoodFeelsGood It feels... kind of... nice]]."

* The not-really-so-much villain of TheRock both speaks words mentioned in article and directs protagonists towards last [=WMDs=] he bluffed with before expiring.

* The not-really-so-much villain of TheRock both speaks words mentioned in article and directs protagonists towards last WMDs he bluffed with before expiring.

* In ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'', Psycho Mantis, the Psychokinetic badass responsible for [[FourthWall smashing the fourth wall into thousands of teeny tiny pieces]] has a merciful revenge moment after you defeat him. He explains essentially, that his life is shit, everyone's life is shit, and we're all a bunch of horny buggers focused solely on doing the nasty. The only reason he wanted to join Liquid, was to find an excuse to kill as many people as he could. After reading Snake's mind and [[ChasteHero discovering that no naughty thoughts are going on in there]] he decides to help by levitating a bookshelf out of the way, allowing you to continue. As he takes his last breath he utters these final words "This was the first time I've ever used my powers to help someone. Funny... It feels... kind of... nice."

* ''{{Bleach}}'': In a WorthyOpponent example, Dordonii Alessandro Del Socacchio fends off his own compatriots to allow Ichigo a way out of an otherwise deadly situation, in return for not holding back in their fight.
* In an early episode of ''CaptainHarlock'', an enemy captain did an extreme form of this after losing a ship-to-ship duel.
* Altena does this at the end of ''{{Noir}}'', Kirika has pushed herself and Altena into the {{lava pit}}; Altena has Kirika's arm, and Mireille has Altena's. Altena somehow throws Kirika into Mireille's reach to [[TakeMyHand take her hand]] at the expense of falling herself. Interestingly, Altena in no way was wanting "redemption"; she never had malice towards them in the first place. There was no way that Mireille could pull both of them up; and whether they would be True Noir or not, there was no reason for Kirika to die too.
* The ''ReadOrDie'' OVA had Nancy do this at the end.
* Capricorn Shura in ''SaintSeiya'' has a HeelRealization while flying to outer space due to Shiryu's DangerousForbiddenTechnique, and after Shiryu faints he pulls out his armour, puts it on Shiryu and kicks him back to earth so that he survives while Shura dies upon reaching space.
* [[MagnificentBastard Suitengu]] in ''SpeedGrapher''.
* In ''GingaLegendWeed'' the minor villain Blue's last act is to save the hero's life, when the hero risks it trying to save Blue.
* In ''ToAruMajutsuNoIndex'', Accelerator attempts to invoke this trope on himself when he's faced with the choice of saving a little girl by using his [[SuperpowerLottery vector-controlling ability]] to essentially hack her brain or allowing a bullet shot at his head to hit. He chooses the former... [[CrazyAwesome but survives anyway as he managed to finish his work and deflect the bullet just before it reached his brain]]. Then he doubles it up by saving Yoshikawa after the latter was shot in the aorta from point-blank range by keeping her blood flowing between the ends of the damaged section instead of having her bleed out in seconds, ''while he himself is unconscious and bleeding out from a combination of cracked skull and brain damage due to the previously mentioned headshot''. Result: everyone but the bad guy survives, [[SubvertedTrope including Accelerator]] as a HandicappedBadass AntiHero with the aforementioned little girl as his MoralityChain.

* In ''BladeRunner'', AntiVillain Roy has AntiHero / VillainProtagonist Decker in a literal cliffhanger but is dying himself. At the last moment, Roy saves Decker's life, and is rewarded with an ObiWanMoment.
* In the second ''{{Spider-Man}}'' movie, Peter is able to make Dr. Ock come to his senses and the kindly doctor-turned-monster decides to perform one last good act before he dies.

* In ''{{Dracula 2000}}'', the title character, as he dies, releases Mary from her vampirism.

* In ''[[{{Blade}} Blade: Trinity]]'', Drake/Dracula, out of respect for Blade fighting him with honor, morphs into a copy of Blade for the FBI to take away, tricking them into calling the manhunt off, as they think Blade is dead.

* ''KingLear''. After the deaths of Goneril and Regan, a dying Edmund is moved to try and stop the killing of the third daughter, though it's too late.
* AndrewLloydWebber's ''{{Phantom of the Opera}}''. In the end, as his lair is collapsing, the Phantom realizes what he's put his love through and helps both her and her lover to escape; although the rose on her grave several years later suggests that he may not have died after all.

* The ending of ''FinalFantasyIX''.
* In ''MetalGearSolid'', Psycho Mantis, the Psychokinetic badass responsible for [[FourthWall smashing the fourth wall into thousands of teeny tiny pieces]] has a merciful revenge moment after you defeat him. He explains essentially, that his life is shit, everyone's life is shit, and we're all a bunch of horny buggers focused solely on doing the nasty. The only reason he wanted to join Liquid, was to find an excuse to kill as many people as he could. After reading Snake's mind and [[ChasteHero discovering that no naughty thoughts are going on in there]] he decides to help by levitating a bookshelf out of the way, allowing you to continue. As he takes his last breath he utters these final words "This was the first time I've ever used my powers to help someone. Funny... It feels... kind of... nice."

* ''DeadRising2'' has an example of this after beating [[GoingPostal Carl Schiff]]. After beating him, Chuck takes a package of Zombrex from his mailbag, explaining that he needs it for his daughter. The mortally-wounded Carl signs for it himself, then arms his last mailbomb for a very special delivery.
* In ''[[FireEmblem Fire Emblem: Radiant Dawn]]'' (10), all three levels leading up to the last level have bosses like this; of course, [[NintendoHard they all fight tooth-and-nail]] before that point.

* ''{{Bleach}}'': It probably happens quite a bit in this anime, but the most recent example in the English dub was Dordonii Alessandro Del Socacchio's fending off his own compatriots to allow Ichigo a way out of an otherwise deadly situation, in return for not holding back in their fight.

* ''{{Persona 3}}'': After defeating Jin, the level of Tartarus that the heroes are on is swarmed by shadows. Rather than allow them to save him, Jin tells them to go on, draws the shadows towards himself... and then blows himself up.