History TheAtoner / FanWorks

[[AC: WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender]]

[[AC: Franchise/{{Batman}}]]

* ''Fanfic/ButDoctorIAmPagliacci'' start when the Joker is restored to sanity. Jack Napier ''really'' doesn't like thinking about how high of a body count he racked up as the Joker and hates the fact that people still call him Joker. The memory of now-[[RetGone RetGoned]] Batman, however, is what drives him to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, convincing other villains and anti-heroes to take up the fight against [[spoiler:the Lex Luthor-[[GrandTheftMe possessed]] Superman]].

[[AC: WesternAnimation/BuzzLightyearOfStarCommand]]

[[AC: Literature/TheChroniclesOfNarnia]]

[[AC: VisualNovel/{{CLANNAD}}]]

[[AC: ''Anime/CodeGeass'']]

** During their childhood, Nunnally was [[InfantSiblingJealously jealous of]] [[AgeLift her younger brother Lelouch]] taking up the attention of their mother as well as their half-sisters Euphiemia and Cornelia. She, as described in her words, [[BigSisterBully acted horribly to him, making sure that Lelouch was distrustful around people and taunting him about his weak physique]]. This changed after their mother's death and Lelouch getting paralyzed and blinded in the crossfire, and on the plane to Japan he mutters how sorry he was for being too weak to stop the disaster. [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone Guilt-struck over how she acted towards him]], Nunnally vowed [[BigSisterInstincts to make sure her little brother will never be sad again]].
** The author notes mentioned that Guilford originally served under [[TheCalugia Princess Carline]], but was unable to stop her tyranicall and bloody rule over Area 11. After the control of the area is passed to Princess Euphie, Guilford seeks to make up for his failure serving under Princess Cornelia.

[[AC: CrossOver]]

* ''Fanfic/PeopleLikeUs'': Travis is deeply ashamed over his behavior and actions back in '76, and rather than acting like a crusader in the present he'd much rather keep a low profile while occasionally helping people through small gestures of kindness, hence why he gives Arthur a hand in the beginning.
* ''Fanfic/CindersAndAshesTheChroniclesOfKamenRiderDante'': Hoshi, prior to the beginning of the story, wrote a fanfic about his OriginalCharacter beating up minions of an organization called Re:Shocker that represented people who harassed a departed friend of his. He soon ends up receiving the power of his character and soon finds out about what he wrote. This, along with creating a villain based off another friend who he was angry with at the time, led to him realizing his role in the conflict and vow to defeat Re:Shocker. To that same end, a major character arc is [[Anime/ReCreators Souta's]] attempts to atone for his role in Setsuna's suicide and, to a lesser extent, Hoshi's involvement in the battle and [[spoiler:Mamika's death]].

[[AC: WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom]]

** By the end of "Trapped", Star helps Danny when Dash pushes him in his locker and stands up to the JerkJock. Later, when she sees Mr. Lancer unfairly give Danny detention because he favored Dash, she privately talks with him and threatens to have her father sue him and the school for turning a blind eye to the harassment students receive from the A-Listers unless Mr. Lancer stops favoring them and does his job. Mr. Lancer agrees, apologizes to Danny, rips up his slip, and gives Dash detention. Finally, Star publicly sits with Danny and Valerie, ends her friendship with Paulina, and publicly quits the A-Listers for good.

[[AC: Manga/DeathNote]]

* [[Manga/DeathNote Light]] is this in [[AlternateUniverseFic AU]] ''Fanfic/RagnarokSkeptikitten'', even though he's never acted upon his impulses he realizes he very nearly went insane as a teenager and was "a future SerialKiller in the making" and works to make up for it every day.

[[AC: Franchise/{{Digimon}}]]

[[AC: Franchise/DragonAge]]

[[AC: Anime/DragonBallZ]]

[[AC: Franchise/FinalFantasy]]

[[AC: ''Franchise/{{Godzilla}}'']]

[[AC: Literature/HarryPotter]]

[[AC: ''WesternAnimation/JackieChanAdventures'']]

[[AC: VideoGame/JustShapesAndBeats]]

[[AC: Franchise/KungFuPanda]]
* ''Fanfic/ADifferentLesson'': Tai Lung doesn't start out this way -- when he's not still being his arrogant, nasty, egotistical self, he's settled into a cross between VillainousBSOD and DespairEventHorizon over the ruin his life has become and his humiliating defeat by Po. But once [[HeelRealization he realizes everyone was right about him]], and [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone it truly sinks in what all he has done]] (and in the end, for nothing), the guilt and shame do urge him to follow this trope. Late in the story he proves he's come to understand what most Atoners do, when contemplating Xiulan, a woman whose husband he killed during his rampage: "He would spend the rest of his life trying to make it up to her."

[[AC: VideoGame/TheLegendOfSpyro]]

* In ''Fanfic/TheBlueDragon'', Malefor feels guilty of the things he did in the past, and throughout the story, atones for them.

[[AC: Franchise/MegaMan]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug]]

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/49345363/chapters/124519987 Soul Eater]]'': The protagonist [[OriginalCharacter Andrew Gregas]] in his old school was originally caught under the sway of a ManipulativeBastard classmate's lies about other kids bullying him, and while Andrew never went after the targets violently (even interfering with those that did) he did join in the jeers in distrust until he overheard the bully threatening one of his target, [[CaughtOnTape which he recorded and exposed to the school]] along with apologizing to the bully's victims, though he's still racked with guilt. When he moves to Paris, Andrew [[IHatePastMe despises his old self]], with these feelings coming back to haunt him when he witnesses Chloe and Lila's reign of terror at Dupont. These feelings motivate him to try and record evidence of their actions to take them down, but when they threaten to ruin both his reputation with his classmates and his parents' career, he falls under akumization and become Soul Eater, plotting to take down evil more than "pathetic" Andrew ever could.
** In Chapter 11, Nathalie, fearful of how far Gabriel is willing to hunt down a deakumatized Andrew and the [[TargetedToHurtTheHero heroes' loved ones]] after [[spoiler:his SecretIdentity was exposed]] along with [[YourDaysAreNumbered how she is dying from using the damaged Peacock Miraculous]], decides to tell Adrien the truth about his father's plans and motivation to get the Miraculous at any cost, plus how to defeat him akuma self and free his Sentimonster Tracker from his control . She also tells him [[spoiler:that he and Kagami are Sentimonsters while handing him his amok so Gabriel can't use it against him]], and warns him that Kagami's mother Tomoe is one of Gabriel's allies and another threat they must vanquish.

* [[spoiler: Marinette herself]] has become this by the time of ''[[Fanfic/TruthAndConsequences Mending Warped Designs]]'' for [[spoiler: her FaceHeelTurn]] in the previous story. How much the heroes are willing to accept that apology... varies, though [[spoiler:she's]] not EasilyForgiven by ''any'' of them.

[[AC: Anime/MobileSuitGundamSEED]]

[[AC: Manga/MyHeroAcademia]]

* In the ''Franchise/FridayThe13th'' crossover fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13107480/1/Deku-s-Retribution Deku's Retribution]]'', Bakugo is horrified when Deku actually does jump to his death, and starts changing his attitude.

** Aizawa, meanwhile, learns that he was LockedOutOfTheLoop because of his history of dismissing students based on his estimate of their potential. Nedzu assumed that if he knew about Izuku's past, he'd have kicked him out for his inexperience - and given that Aizawa was already planning to boot him out on that first day for being 'reckless' with his Quirk, he can't entirely claim that he was wrong. Aizawa also discovers that his tendency to call Izuku 'Problem Child' reinforced his student's surety that he was no different from the teachers he was used to dealing with - that he sincerely despised and wanted nothing to do with him.

[[AC: Anime/MyHime]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic]]

* ''Fanfic/LEGOEquestriaGirls2'' [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/245599 here]]: Sunset Shimmer became this after the events of the previous story. It starts to show early on, when she was the only one who did not escape from her prison when she was given a chance to. Only the Canterlot Master Builders are willing to give Sunset a chance. In a fit of {{irony}}, despite not wanting to, she later has to do actions her old self would do since, due to the entire Lego World being under the Dazzlings' spell, the Master Builders are considered bad guys to the Lego World.

** There's [[spoiler:Fluttershy, after her time as [[BigBad Princess Gaia/Nightmare Whisper]], and Fluttercruel, who [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally turned her into Nightmare Whisper in the first place]]. They make no effort to make excuses, taking full responsbility for their actions and any punishment they've earned for it. It's made quite clear in their final scene that, although a lot of good ''did'' come from their actions, they both still regret their actions and will live with a lot of guilt]].

* The Blog/ReadingRainbowverse version of ''Trixie'' was very legitimately traumitized by her experience with [[BrainwashedAndCrazy the Alicorn Amulet]] and is, apparently, now trying to redeem herself. Somehow.

[[AC: Manga/{{Naruto}}]]

[[AC: Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion]]

* ''Fanfic/{{HERZ}}'': Gendo tries to atone for being a bad father with being a good, doting grandfather when he is allowed seeing his granddaughter Akiko.
* ''Fanfic/OnceMoreWithFeelingCrazy88'': Neither Misato nor Hikari understand why Shinji is so determined to and obsessed with making everyone happy. They do not know that Shinji feels inmensely guilty and is trying to make amends because in the original timeline he left Rei alone because she "scared" him, let Misato die because he was wrapped up in his grief, defiled Asuka and abandoned her -which led to her very bloody and gorey death- and wished that everyone died because he thought nobody loved him.

** On the other hand, Shinji endured whatever Asuka did to him because he thought that he deserves it after his actions (never helping her when she needed him, leaving her alone after her MindRape, masturbating over her comatose body, leaving her alone as she fought for her life before losing and getting quartered and eaten alive, trying to kill her twice...).

* Shinji and Asuka subvert this in ''Fanfic/TheSecondTry'', surprisingly. At the beginning it looks like they're trying to save the world after going back to the past because they let it die in the original timeline. However, it becomes more apparent as the story goes on that they've largely come to terms with their failings, and they're not motivated by regret and/or guilt.

[[AC: Series/OddSquad]]

[[AC: Manga/OnePiece]]

[[AC: Other]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation/TheOwlHouse]]

[[AC: Franchise/{{Pokemon}}]]

* ''Brave New World'' by Creator/Ri2 has multiple atoners. [[spoiler: Father Yamari was actually a homocidal mercenary before dying. He's spent his entire afterlife attempting to atone]].

[[AC: WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}]]

[[AC: WesternAnimation/SheRaAndThePrincessesOfPower]]

[[AC: Literature/SherlockHolmes]]

[[AC: Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire]]

* ''Fanfic/TheNorthRemembers'': Much of Theon Greyjoy's character arc is spent trying to redeem himself for betraying the Starks by accompanying a band of Wildlings to Winterfell in order to rescue Mance Rayder and kill Ramsay. Later [[spoiler: as Stannis lays siege to the Dreadfort, Theon and Asha agree to exchange themselves for Davos, whom Ramsay had captured and taken prisoner, in order to get inside the castle and retrieve the real Lightbringer sword in Ramsay's possession. Once inside, Theon exacts revenge on his former tormentor, only for Ramsay to reveal he had drunken some of Davos' blood, which had been poisoned by an Other blade, and rises as an Other-like being. This finally culminates in Theon killing Ramsay again by using his and Asha's blood to rekindle Lightbringer]].

** Harpy's actions during the chapter 6 finale, where she risks her own life to get an attempt at killing [[spoiler:Maron Mullendore, the real Butterfly]] are a version of this trope, as she underwent this risk because she was convinced that the situation leading up to it has been entirely her fault for [[spoiler:killing the fake Butterfly two chapters ago]]

[[AC: ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark'']]

** Nichole admits to Kyle that her reasons for helping Kyle is to atone for not listening to his advice and mocked Heidi anyway resulting her going back to Cartman and becoming his DistaffCounterpart leading to Kyle getting Canada nuked.

[[AC: Franchise/StarTrek]]

[[AC: Franchise/SuperMarioBros]]

[[AC: Franchise/TouhouProject]]

[[AC: Franchise/WarcraftExpandedUniverse]]

[[AC: Literature/{{Worm}}]]

[[AC: Franchise/XMen]]

[[AC: ''Anime/YuGiOh'']]

* ''Fanfic/{{Hecate}}'': Despite not being personally responsible for Pandora's actions, Cadeline feels the need to apologize to Yugi for what he did out of obsession over her.

* The ''Fanfic/AzulaTrilogy'' has Azula become this gradually. At the start of the fic she is as selfish and arrogant as ever upon regaining her memory, though she slowly begins to develop a conscience when she allows the two Fire Nation peasants who found her after escaping the asylum to escape. [[spoiler: Her CharacterDevelopment continues when she convinces Zuko to allow her permission to find their missing mother, culminating with her giving a ShutUpHannibal moment to her hallucination of Ozai, representing the darker half of her conscience. Azula's HeelFaceTurn is then complete when she aids Team Avatar in liberating Ba Sing Se from Jian Chin's forces and resisting the temptations of the Spirit of War [[TheCorrupter Zhan Zheng]]]].

* ''Fanfic/DannyPhantomStranded'': After befriending Danny and leaving the A-Listers, Star feels great remorse for how bad she used to treat him and makes great strides to make up for her past behavior.
** By the end of Trapped, Star helps Danny when Dash pushes him in his locker and stands up to the big bully. Later, when she sees Mr. Lancer unfairly give Danny detention because he favored Dash, she private talks with him and threatens to have her father sue him and the school for turning a blind eye to the harassment students receive from the A-Listers unless Mr. Lancer stops favoring them and does his job. Mr. Lancer agrees, apologizes to Danny, rips up his slip, and gives Dash detention. Finally, Star publicly sits with Danny and Valerie, ends her friendship with Paulina, and publicly quits the A-Listers for good.
** In Sunk, hoping to make up for her past rudeness to her new boyfriend, Star insists that she and Danny go out to the water park. Despite Dash, Paulina, Kwan, and Colette trying to ruin their time and Sam and Tucker spying on them, they had a great time with Star forcing Dash to apologize to Danny and Star, giving him a model shuttle that Dash broke in the past.
** In Stuck, Sam and Star are forced to work together when they are accidentally sent away and stuck at the abandoned Camp Skull and Crossbones. Despite originally fighting with each other because they dislike each other, the two girls eventually work through their differences after saving each other's lives and finding shelter. While the two sit down at a campfire and talk about their problems with each other, Sam points out that while Star is dating Danny and is nicer to ''him'', she has, at best, tolerated her and Tucker and never apologized to them for how she used to treat them when she was an A-Lister. Star, realizing that Sam is right, genuinely apologizes to the goth girl, and by the end of the story, they make a truce for Danny's sake. Afterward, Star has treated Sam and Tucker better, and Sam, to an extent, is respectful to her relationship with Danny from then on.

* ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/49345363/chapters/124519987 Soul Eater]]'': The protagonist [[OriginalCharacter Andrew Gregas]] in his old school was originally caught under the sway of a ManipulativeBastard classmate's lies about other kids bullying him, and while Andrew never went after the targets violently (even interfering) he did join in the jeers in distrust until he overheard the bully threatening their target, [[CaughtOnTape which he recorded and exposed to the school]] along with apologizing to the bully's victim, though he's still racked with guild. When he moves to Paris, Andrew [[IHatePastMe despises his old self]], with these feelings coming back to haunt him when he witnesses Chloe and Lila's reign of terror at Dupont. These feelings motivate him to try and record evidence of their actions to take them down, but when they threaten to ruin both his reputation with his classmates and his parents' career, he falls under akumization and become Soul Eater, plotting to take down more evil than "pathetic" Andrew ever could.

[[AC: WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda]]

* ''Fanfic/OnceMoreWithFeeling'': Neither Misato nor Hikari understand why Shinji is so determined to and obsessed with making everyone happy. They do not know that Shinji feels inmensely guilty and is trying to make amends because in the original timeline he left Rei alone because she "scared" him, let Misato die because he was wrapped up in his grief, defiled Asuka and abandoned her -which led to her very bloody and gorey death- and wished that everyone died because he thought nobody loved him.

** After nearly getting Shinji killed Asuka spends the whole fic trying to atone for her behaviour and earn his forgiveness.
** On the other hand, Shinji endured whatever Asuka did to him because he thought that he deserve it after his actions (never helping her when she needed him, leaving her alone after her MindRape, masturbating over her comatose body, leaving her alone as she fought for her life before losing and getting quartered and eaten alive, trying to kill her twice…).

%%* ''Fanfic/LEGOEquestriaGirls2'' [[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/245599 here]]: Sunset Shimmer became this after the events of the previous story. It starts to show early on, when she was the only one who did not escape from her prison when she was given a chance to. Only the Canterlot Master Builders are willing to give Sunset a chance. In a fit of {{irony}}, despite not wanting to, she later has to do actions her old self would do since, due to the entire Lego World being under the Dazzlings' spell, the Master Builders are considered bad guys to the Lego World.

[[AC: VideoGame/JustShapesAndBeats]]
* ''Blog/ShapeShenanigans'': Bass. She's incredibly regretful for harming her family and the world, and is willing to do anything it takes to make it up to everyone.

%%The following examples have no trope pages, and I don't know if that's actually acceptable. So down here they go!
%%* After undergoing a HeelFaceTurn in [[https://m.fanfiction.net/s/3457415/1/Doubt Doubt]], Hordak resolves to be this at the end, planning to travel to each world still subjugated by the Horde and free them. Sadly, no sequel story exists to see how he did.
%%* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/245599 LEGO Equestria Girls 2]]'': Like in the original (see below), Sunset Shimmer became this after the events of the previous story. It starts to show early on, when she was the only one who did not escape from her prison when she was given a chance to. Only the Canterlot Master Builders are willing to give Sunset a chance. In a fit of {{irony}}, despite not wanting to, she later has to do actions her old self would do since, due to the entire Lego World being under the Dazzlings' spell, the Master Builders are considered bad guys to the Lego World.

* In ''Fanfic/CoOpMode'', due to [[GeniusLoci Gaia's]] actions, [[spoiler: Contessa/Fortuna]] becomes [[ForWantOfANail this]].

* In many ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'' fics, Princess Luna, formally Nightmare Moon, becomes this after turning back to good after being banished to the moon for a thousand years which, as of season 2, [[IKnewIt is offically canon]].

* [[Manga/DeathNote Light]] is this in [[AlternateUniverseFic AU]] ''{{Fanfic/Ragnarok}}'', even though he's never acted upon his impulses he realizes he very nearly went insane as a teenager and was "a future SerialKiller in the making" and works to make up for it every day.

* Fanfic/ThisBites has Aokiji becoming this, at the very end of the story. After he decided to follow orders and take Blackbeard alive after the latter captured Ace caused the War of the Best InSpiteOfANail, and reflecting on his passivity over the last twenty years and how he StoppedCaring after Ohara's destruction and his friend Saul leaving the Marines out of disgust, he quietly admits to himself that it's partly his fault that the world is being thrown into chaos, and decides to dedicate his remaining life to fixing the consequences of his refusal to take responsibility, as best as he can.

* ''Fanfic/ShadowsOverMeridian'': Following his HeelRealization, Vathek resolves that once he has helped stop Phobos and Kage, he'll ensure [[CreateYourOwnVillain the mistake with the blue girl's persecution]] won't get repeated and that Elyon's reign won't [[FullCircleRevolution turn into a continuation of her brother's]], whether by his old comrades or anyone else.

%%* ''[[http://www.fimfiction.net/story/245599 LEGO Equestria Girls 2]]'': Like in the original (see below), Sunset Shimmer became this after the events of the previous story. It starts to show early on, when she was the only one who did not escape from her prison when she was given a chance to. Only the Canterlot Master Builders are willing to give Sunset a chance. In a fit of {{irony}}, despite not wanting to, she later has to do actions her old self would do since, due to the entire Lego World being under the Dazzlings' spell, the Master Builders are considered bad guys to the Lego World.

* ''Fanfic/TropePantheons'':
** Some deities who were villains in their home stories even until the end can end up becoming these post-ascension, such as [[Pantheon/VillainousArchetypes Shiro Kanzaki]], [[spoiler:[[Pantheon/TreesAndFlowers Flowey]]]], [[Pantheon/PositiveReaction Draco Malfoy]], [[Pantheon/FearsomeArchetypes DDLC's Monika]], and [[Pantheon/AntiVillains Kuvira]].

* ''Fanfic/TropePantehons'':