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6->'''George Smiley:''' In my time, Peter Guillam, I've seen Whitehall skirts go up and come down again. I've listened to all the excellent arguments for doing nothing, and reaped the consequent frightful harvest. I've watched people hop up and down and call it progress. I've seen good men go to the wall and the idiots get promoted with a dazzling regularity. All I'm left with is me and thirty-odd years of cold war without the option.\
7'''Peter Guillam:''' So what does that mean in little words?\
8'''George Smiley:''' It means that if a rogue elephant, to use Saul Enderby's happy phrase, charges at me out of the thicket of my past and gives me a second shot at it, I intend to shoot it dead -- but with the minimum of force.
9-->-- ''[[Literature/TheQuestForKarla Smiley's People]]''
10
11Sometime in the past, a character has suffered through MyGreatestFailure. In the present, that character is faced with an opportunity that will cause said character to face the thing the character failed at again. This usually happens in a couple of ways:
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13* Something happens to remind this character of the past event, and the character takes the second chance as a challenge and engage in a quest to complete the task properly. If time travel is involved, this can overlap with SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong but in a much more [[ItsPersonal personal]] way.
14* Something happens that is ironically similar or closely related to the thing the character failed at the first time. The old failure may haunt said character and be a source of shame someone or something the character cares about/is responsible for is at stake; it may be a DieOrFly situation. The character often must overcome this self-doubt to deal with the issue.
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16Can be the motivation for planning OneLastJob, an opportunity for dealing with ThatOneCase, or the thing that brings a character out for MandatoryUnretirement.
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18Whether a character succeeds at a second chance depends on the tone of the work and/or the demands of the plot. Failure to overcome the challenge may result in a DownerEnding and push the character into severe depression. Sometimes the character will succeed in the attempt but fall prey to RedemptionEqualsDeath. Sometimes said character will succeed spectacularly, cue the celebration and the end credits. The FailureKnight exists to try to bring the good outcome of this about. A CareerBuildingBlunder is usually part of this process. Related to HistoryRepeats and HisStoryRepeatsItself.
19----
20!!Examples:
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22%% Examples on this page are in alphabetical order within the media sections. Please add new examples within that ordering scheme.
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26[[foldercontrol]]
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28[[folder:Anime and Manga]]
29* ''Anime/AngelBeats'': The main characters of the series are people who died with regrets, and are trapped in the afterlife until they can come to terms with it, which commonly takes the form of a situation with similarities to something from their life.
30** During the baseball episode, Hinata (the second baseman) receives a game-deciding fly ball, which is hard to see due to the sun. This situation more-or-less exactly mimics his high-school baseball team's final game in the national championships, where he failed to catch the ball. [[spoiler: He also fails in the afterlife, because Yui tackles him from behind as revenge.]]
31** In the ending of the series: [[spoiler:Yuri graduates from the afterlife, satisfied that she led the people under her command well, as opposed to her life, where she felt responsible for her younger sibling's deaths. Hinata feels satisfied that he was an asset to the team, as opposed to his life where he ended up being a liability. Naoi becomes satisfied that Otonashi was proud of him, as opposed to his life, where he never accomplished anything until the death of his brother, at which point his father only ever saw him as a replacement for his brother.]]
32* In ''Manga/AssassinationClassroom'', Koro-sensei is primarily motivated by [[spoiler: Aguri Yukimura's death, which made him realize that he never applied his talents in assassination in order to help others. When Aguri's sister Akari/Kayano nearly dies in a similar manner, this time Koro-sensei knows what to do.]] Furthermore, his teaching stint with Class 3-E is also fueled by the fact that [[spoiler: it's his second time to do so. Because the last time he taught someone the art of assassination, his inability to empathize and to instill it to his first student lead him to be betrayed by the latter, leading his student to live a life full of killing and treating everything as mere targets, and to his eventual death.]]
33* ''Anime/TheCastleOfCagliostro'': Lupin III got his ass kicked 10 years before trying to infiltrate the castle and discover the source of the famous counterfeit Goat Bills. His and Jigen's heist of what turns out to be counterfeit money from a casino and the attempted rescue of Clarisse sets him on the task again.
34* ''Manga/HajimeNoIppo'': The story about Date Eiji revolves around this trope. Back when he was young, he fought against the undefeatable world champion Ricardo Martinez but lost in the second round. After that, he quit boxing, until his wife pulled a [[WhatTheHellHero What The Hell]] [[strike:[[WhatTheHellHero Hero]]]] [[WhatTheHellHero Husband]] on him because she could see he was bored and depressed with his life as a salaryman and urges him to step back into the boxing ring. He does, and becomes Japanese champion. After [[spoiler:''winning'']] against Ippo, he once again challenges Ricardo Martinez. It's shown that he surpassed his old self, [[spoiler:however, he does fail to win against Martinez yet again and retires forever.]]
35* Three from ''Anime/{{Hamatora}}'' sees protecting his partner Honey as this as he once failed to protect a group of orphans during times of war.
36* ''Manga/{{Kaiji}}'': One of the major driving forces for Kaiji to keep gambling in about six occasions to date. Lampshaded when [[spoiler:he tries to get a Greatest Third Chance and the debt collectors simply tell him that people that deal with them only get two chances.]] The next part, of course, [[spoiler:has some more people offering him a ...fifth chance?]]
37* In the second half of ''Manga/MagicKnightRayearth'', this is essentially why Hikaru seeks to find a way to become the Pillar of Cephiro - because she refuses [[spoiler:to let anyone else suffer the same fate as Princess Emeraude.]] She even openly defies the rules to become the Pillar when she rescues the man who was trying to do the same thing but in a TakingYouWithMe fashion.
38* ''Anime/MobileSuitGundamWing Endless Waltz'' implies that Heero considers protecting Relena his second chance to make up for an incident in his past where an attack on a military base went haywire and destroyed an apartment building, killing many, in particular a little girl and her dog whom Heero had met the day before. The connection is drawn with the symbolic use of teddy bears; the little girl's bear was found in the ruins of the building (and is in fact the one Relena sees in the TV series' first opening sequence), and at the end of the TV series, Heero gave Relena a teddy bear for her birthday.
39* ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': During the FinalBattle, two people who had wanted to become heroic but, because of circumstances, became villains, achieve this.
40** Gentle Criminal had been a hero student, until his attempt to save a falling person instead caused that person and a hero to get hurt, getting kicked into the street by his parents and expelled from the hero school, forcing him to turn to villainy for survival. His fight with Midoriya ends up causing him to hit his HeelRealization, putting him on the path to redemption. [[spoiler:Then, at the beginning of the Tartarus Escapees Arc, he chose to stand against all the other superpowered prisoners and single-handedly prevented them from escaping, allowing him to contribute to the FinalBattle by using his Quirk (empowered by La Brava's [[PowerOfLove Quirk]]) to save U.A. and thousands of people when the flying school begins to drop.]]
41** Lady Nagant had been a hero used by the HPSC for the purposes of dealing with any DirtyBusiness, which led to her becoming a BrokenBird who killed the HPSC President, being thrown into Tartarus, and eventually used by All for One as part of his plot to bring down Midoriya. But her encounter with Midoriya reignites her faith that true heroes exist, [[spoiler:and even after being nearly killed by All for One's trap, she manages to help during the fight by shooting Shigaraki, preventing him from releasing a Decay Wave]].
42* ''Manga/SlamDunk'': When Professor Anzai suffers a heart attack as he oversees Sakuragi's training, Sakuragi quickly calls for an ambulance to rush him to the hospital and calls the others to let them know. At the hospital, Akagi, Kogure, and Ayako remark how unusual it is that [[HotBlooded someone]] [[JapaneseDelinquents like him]] acted so quickly to save Anzai's life. Sakuragi then recalls when, back in middle school, his father suffered a heart attack and he tried to get him help, but he ran into four guys he'd beaten up before and who brought four more friends to get revenge. It's all but stated that the fight delayed him so much that his father died before he could receive help, and Sakuragi didn't want the same to happen to Professor Anzai.
43* ''Anime/{{Trigun}} (anime)'': In a flashback, it is shown that Vash's {{Mentor}} figure, Rem, had once tried to talk down a crewmember who had gone insane and killed his girlfriend. Another crewmember stepped in and forced the offender [[ThrownOutTheAirlock out of an airlock]] before the situation could be resolved otherwise. Much later, after Vash has been pushed past his DespairEventHorizon, he is captured by some locals who blame him for all of the horrible events that have happened throughout the series and plan to kill him in revenge. Until Meryl steps in. Citing an almost identical speech about the immorality of killing no matter the circumstances, and holding an [[CrucifiedHeroShot identical pose]], she convinces the group's leader to lay down his weapons, helping to restore Vash's faith in humanity and snap him out of his HeroicBSOD.
44* ''Anime/WolfsRain'': This is the motivation behind Tsume's attachment to Toboe.
45[[/folder]]
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47[[folder:Audio Drama]]
48* ''AudioPlay/BigFinishDoctorWho'': As its title implies, "Second Chances" is built around one of these. While travelling with the Doctor and Jamie, Zoe tried and failed to save the lives of a space station crew. Now she's reached those same events again via TheSlowPath and wants to have another try.
49[[/folder]]
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51[[folder:Comic Books]]
52* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'': A special story featured in ''Detective Comics #500'' featured Batman and Robin sent to an alternate universe where they have the option to prevent the murder of Thomas and Martha Wayne. However, they're warned that by doing so, [[DeathByOriginStory they risk removing that universe's Batman from existence]]. At the end, Batman beats up the would-be murderer and saves the Waynes from a tragedy. However, despite this, [[InSpiteOfANail the young Bruce would still go on to become Batman]] out of gratitude and tribute to the masked man who saved his parents.
53-->'''Batman:''' Not this time -- you hear me? This time you're not going to win!\
54''(...)''\
55[[MyGreatestFailure This time...I didn't fail them...]]
56* ''ComicBook/CaptainAmerica'': For Steve Rogers his greatest failure was the death of Bucky Barnes his sidekick and war buddy. When he discovered Bucky was alive but brainwashed, Steve quickly did everything in his power to save Bucky and make sure he stays a good man.
57* ''ComicBook/SpiderMan'': This has come up a few times, wherein Spidey must save someone who is falling off a bridge and gets a chance to atone for what happened to Gwen Stacy. In a ''ComicBook/WhatIf'' comic (v2 #86), he uses impact webbing instead of a regular web-line to save MJ and their daughter. In another, he tells Mary Jane that he's replayed Gwen's fate in his head so often that he knows ''exactly'' what to do should it happen again.
58-->'''Spider-Man''': It was the single line that did it. Too much force and weight held in a single line. I'm not taking any chances this time. Hit every major joint.\
59'''Mary Jane''': ''[coming to after the fall]'' ...Peter..?\
60'''Spider-man''': ''[relieved]'' Thank god...
61** In ''ComicBook/UltimateSpiderMan'', Peter viewed his failure to prevent Uncle Ben's murder as this. [[spoiler:He dies happy because he was at least able to prevent Aunt May's death.]]
62[[/folder]]
63
64[[folder:Fan Works]]
65* In the ''Anime/PokemonTheSeries'' fic ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/3228846/1/The-Beginning-of-a-New-End The Beginning of a New End]]'', after Ash wins the Hoenn League, he decides to go travelling through Kanto again and see if he can do better than his previous attempt. Accompanied by Misty and using a mix of his old Pokemon, he is shown defeating the Pewter, Cerulean, Vermillion, and Fuschia Gyms, but the fic concludes as he prepares to face the Saffron Gym again.
66* ''Blog/BetterBonesAU'': Done twice with Brackenfur regarding his failure to save Snowkit, the cat who he wanted to make his apprentice, from being taken by a hawk. The first is preserved from canon ''Literature/WarriorCats'': he saves Marshkit from a similar incident with a bird of prey, though here it's no longer ShootTheShaggyDog because Marshkit [[SparedByTheAdaptation doesn't die shortly afterwards.]] The second is having a chance to train another deaf apprentice, Whitepaw.
67* ''Fanfic/BlackenedSkies'': After failing to put an end to [[VisualNovel/DanganronpaV3KillingHarmony Monokuma's last killing game]], Kaede unexpectedly finds herself thrown into a new one with several other students, only a handful of which she remembers from the last go-round. Despite all her questions about how this is even ''possible'', she's determined to do things ''right'' this time and prevent further tragedy.
68* ''Fanfic/BloodSisters'' features Bo Dennis meeting her long-lost younger sister, Bella Swan, just after Bella has learnt about her true nature as a succubus. Bo reflects that she sees a lot of herself in Bella, to the extent that Forks reminds Bo of the town where she grew up, and is looking forward to using her own experience to help her sister avoid some of Bo's own mistakes when learning about their abilities, such as giving Bella actual lessons in what they can do where Bo had to learn the fine details the hard way.
69* After Zuko's supposed death in ''Fanfic/{{Deadshots}}'', Iroh sees that Azula needs his support badly and resolves to guide, support, and protect her from Ozai as best he can.
70* ''FanFic/HeroesOfTheNewWorld''; after the FinalBattle in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', Izuku Midoriya is transported to the world of ''Manga/OnePiece'' and washes up on the shores of Onigashima, where he's found and nursed back to health by Yamato. After listening to her story, he vows to help her escape Onigashima and live a life of freedom, citing it as a chance to make up for his failure to act when he encountered Eri (who was suffering from a similar scenario of abuse from Overhaul) and his failure to save Tomura/Tenko from All For One.
71* In the ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' fic ''Fanfic/ICanAlmostHearTheHounds'', the entire plot serves as this for Yang. She blames herself for letting Ruby [[FaceMonsterTurn "die"]], and sees finding The Hound as one last chance to right her wrongs.
72* ''Fanfic/ItsOverIsntItItsOnlyJustBegun'': Gran Torino regards taking in Shimura Tenko as this. In his eyes, he failed to do right by Tenko's grandmother ''and'' her chosen successor, and sees this as a chance to learn from his past mistakes and make amends.
73* In ''Fanfic/AKnightsTaleAsInquisitor'', Arturia very much views her journey as the Herald of Andraste and saving Thedas from its [[TheWorldIsAlwaysDoomed most recent crisis]] as her chance to succeed where she failed Camelot.
74* ''Fanfic/LovedAndLost'': When [[spoiler:Twilight flees to Ponyville to help her [[HeroWithBadPublicity dishonored loved ones]] defeat [[TheEvilPrince Jewelius]], they see it as a chance to [[MustMakeAmends properly reconcile with Twilight and make up for mistreating her at the wedding rehearsal]]]]. During the final battle, [[spoiler:the heroes go through with Twilight's plan to defeat Queen Chrysalis. It is this show of renewed trust that allows Shining Armor and Princess Cadance to expel the Changelings and save the day as per canon]].
75* ''Fanfic/MidnightStarTheFrozenEmpire'': Once Midnight Star regains her old memories, she sees her current life as a chance to live the way she couldn't before, as well as preventing this Equestria from going down the same path hers did.
76* ''Fanfic/TheMoonCriesInReverseNaruto'': Jiraiya once condemned Orochimaru as swiftly and easily as everyone else, swept up in their fears about his intelligence. After the snake sannin left Konoha, however, he came to realize that their fears were a SelfFulfillingProphecy: one of the main motivations behind all of Orochimaru's experiments was trying to convince the village that he would do ''anything'' for their sakes. Upon learning that Shikamaru is going through [[HistoryRepeats the exact same treatment]] alongside his teammates [[TeamMemberInTheAdaptation Naruto and Sakura]], Jiraiya becomes determined to ensure things don't turn out the same way.
77* ''Fanfic/{{Odaliaverse}}'' has this as its premise: After suddenly [[BackFromTheDead coming back from the brink of death at the Day of Unity]], Odalia Blight decides to take this second shot at life seriously and ensure she suffers the same downfall she had in her previous life.
78* A mild example in ''Fanfic/PokemonResetBloodlines'': Ash is determined to reunite with every single one of his Pokémon, but [[PutOnABus his Primeape gets sent]] [[ATwinkleInTheSky blasting off into the air by Paul]], with possible fatal results. This failure haunted him for a while, but later on [[spoiler:it's revealed that Primeape survived and was captured by Sabrina to use as bait for Ash to challenge her gym. As soon as Ash finds out Primeape is alive, he jumps on the chance to rescue him at any cost]].
79* ''Fanfic/RecommencerMiraculousLadybug'':
80** While Chloé outed herself as Queen Bee during her disastrous debut, her [[AdaptationalNiceGuy efforts to improve herself]] impress Ladybug enough that she decides to give her another chance, offering her a different Miraculous and allowing her to try her hand at superheroics again, provided that she continues working on her behavior.
81** Along similar lines, Adrien is given another chance after Chat Noir is forcibly retired; at Marinette's suggestion, when Master Fu retrieves the Black Cat Ring, he leaves another Miraculous in its place, providing Adrien with a fresh start. As with Chloé, this is contingent upon him recognizing where he went wrong and changing his ways for the better; Adrien had his JerkassRealization right ''before'' the replacement, and embraces the opportunity to start from scratch.
82* Essentially features in the ''Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse'' fic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/37186546/ Tingle]]'', which features Peter Parker post-''[[Film/SpiderManNoWayHome No Way Home]]'' beginning a three-way relationship with Yelena Belova and Kate Bishop. When [[spoiler:Peter has to make a choice between saving the girls as they fall off a building or stopping their current enemy, he is able to trust that his current lovers are able to catch themselves without his help, thus preventing him driving them away for the same reasons that he didn't make contact with MJ and Ned]].
83* In the ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' PeggySue fic ''Fanfic/WhatTomorrowBrings'', Marco assumes that Jake is "over the moon" because he has a chance to save Rachel and Tom this time.
84[[/folder]]
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86[[folder:Film -- Animation]]
87* ''WesternAnimation/DespicableMe1'': Following immediately from telling the girls in the climax that giving them up to Miss Hattie was the worst mistake he ever made, Gru swears that he'll never abandon any of them again. Between continuing to fight with Vector to save Margo and even leaping from his plane to rescue her, he stays true to his word.
88* ''WesternAnimation/{{Tarzan}}'': Kala is unable to save her baby from Sabor. When she discovers a baby Tarzan, the lone survivor of his family (also killed by Sabor), she quickly takes a shine to him. Then Sabor strikes again. ''This'' time Kala is able to save her new child.
89[[/folder]]
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91[[folder:Film -- Live Action]]
92%%* ''Film/AceVenturaWhenNatureCalls'' parodies the situation from ''Film/{{Cliffhanger}}''.
93* ''Film/{{Aliens}}'': Ripley wakes up from cryosleep after being adrift in space for more than half a century, and by the time she wakes up, she learns that her biological daughter had died during her absence. But then she finds Newt, the SoleSurvivor of a colonial massacre who lost her family as well.
94* In ''Film/BatmanVSupermanDawnOfJustice'', [[ComicBook/{{Batman}} Bruce Wayne]] sees saving [[spoiler:ComicBook/{{Superman}}'s adoptive mother Martha Kent]] as making up for being powerless to save his own mother, Martha Wayne, [[DeathByOriginStory when he was a child]]. Also, at the end of the film, Bruce realizes that by allowing his [[FantasticRacism fear and mistrust]] of the superpowered Clark to turn into hatred and cruelty, he in turn allowed ComicBook/LexLuthor to manipulate him, leading to [[spoiler: Clark's death]]. To [[TheAtoner make amends]], he decides to reach out [[ComicBook/WonderWoman to]] [[ComicBook/TheFlash the]] [[ComicBook/{{Aquaman}} other]] [[ComicBook/{{Cyborg}} metahumans]] he knows about in friendship, [[Film/JusticeLeague2017 bringing them]] [[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague together]] to protect the world, [[spoiler: especially from the [[ComicBook/{{Darkseid}} darkness]] that's coming now that Superman is dead]].
95** In both the [[Film/JusticeLeague2017 theatrical]] and [[Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague director's cut]] of ''Justice League'', Batman's relationship to [[ComicBook/TheFlash Barry Allen]] has several shades of this, as he acts as a mentor to the young aspiring hero. As the previous movie revealed the Joker murdered Robin, it's easy to see why Bruce is just as eager to jump on the chance to make up for that failure as well.
96* ''Film/TheBestOfTimes'' (1986, Creator/RobinWilliams and Creator/KurtRussell): The main characters' greatest failure was a football catch they blew in a big high school game; they obsess over it so much that years later when they're in their 30s and out of shape, they plan a rematch game. HilarityEnsues.
97%%* ''Film/{{Cliffhanger}}''
98* Some time before the first ''Film/DieHard'', Officer Al Powell accidentally [[ShootHimHeHasAWallet shot a kid waving a fake gun]]. He hasn't been able to bring himself to draw his service weapon since. [[spoiler:Until the end, where he takes down the last terrorist.]]
99* The Creator/JetLi action film ''Film/HighRisk'' has a DownerBeginning where Li failed to disarm a TimeBomb, resulting in the death of his wife, son, and over twenty children, resulting in Li quitting the force and spiraling into depression. But a year later, he gets to re-confront the terrorist leader responsible for his family's death, and disarm a bomb exactly identical to the first, this time strapped on his new LoveInterest Helen.
100* ''Film/InTheLineOfFire'': Frank Horrigan has a second chance to save the President of the US from assassination after he was not able to protect JFK in Dallas.
101* ''Film/LastActionHero'':
102** Mr. Benedict, TheDragon, has lost many times to Jack Slater, the titular action hero in the world-within-the-movie. When they cross over to the real world where the chance to die is real, suddenly he comprehends the concept of "WhyDontYaJustShootHim"... [[spoiler:It almost works.]]
103** In the real world, Jack is able to save Danny from a fate matching that of his own son.
104* Franchise/MarvelCinematicUniverse:
105** In ''Film/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy2014'', when he was a child, [[ComicBook/StarLord Peter Quill]] visits his dying mother in hospital. He's clearly terrified about what's going on, and when his mother begs him to hold her hand just before she dies he hesitates, and she passes away before he can. At the end of the film, when [[spoiler: he holds the Infinity Stone]], he gets a vision of his mother begging him to hold her hand, and this time he does so, saving his life [[spoiler: as it's Gamora's hand he's holding, allowing the power of the Infinity Stone to be shared with firstly her, then with [[ChainOfPeople the rest of]] the ComicBook/GuardiansOfTheGalaxy, preventing the Stone's power from instantly vaporizing him]].
106** In ''Film/AvengersEndgame'', after the five-year timeskip, the surviving heroes spend a good chunk of the film lamenting their [[Film/AvengersInfinityWar failure to stop Thanos from killing half of the universe]] and decide that their only option is to learn to move on. Given that it's been five years, and many people, including civilians, still haven't gotten over their losses, it's clear they're not doing too well. However, once [[Film/AntMan1 Scott Lang]] shows up at the Avengers facility to present a plan to undo the snap via time travel, many heroes see this opportunity as this trope.
107** In ''Film/SpiderManNoWayHome'', [[spoiler: [[Film/TheAmazingSpiderManSeries Peter-3]] gets this. Back in ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'', [[ILetGwenStacyDie he failed to rescue Gwen when she fell to her death]] and he admits it's haunted him ever since. When the Green Goblin damages scaffolding, causes MJ to fall, and then stops Peter-1 from saving her, Peter-3 dives after her and snatches her, and fires a web line to slow their fall, thus redeeming himself for his failure, in his eyes. A more [[DownplayedTrope downplayed]] example is [[Film/SpiderManTrilogy Peter-2]] preventing the death of ComicBook/NormanOsborn after he let him die in ''Film/SpiderMan1''. He stops Peter-1 from killing him, [[StrikeMeDownWithAllOfYourHatred which the Goblin wanted to happen, anyway]]]].
108* Franchise/MonsterVerse: In ''Film/GodzillaKingOfTheMonsters2019'', [[Characters/MonsterVerseRussellFamily Mark Russell]] profoundly regrets not being there for his daughter Madison after his son Andrew died, or when Jonah and his goons took Madison and Emma, and he wants to make sure it doesn't happen again by finding and reuniting with her above all else. [[spoiler:At the movie's end, Emma's death has effectively left Madison in Mark's custody]]. {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in ''Film/GodzillaVsKong'', which reveals that Mark, having learned very little from the previous movie's events, has been [[ALessonLearnedTooWell overcompensating]] for his past mistake by [[MyBelovedSmother smothering and helicoptering Madison]], simply swinging from one parental extreme to another.
109* ''Film/NightAtTheMuseum: Battle of the Smithsonian'': Custer (actually a wax model of him) got a second chance to be a leader.
110* In ''Film/OnTheWaterfront'', Terry Malloy's greatest failure was [[ICouldaBeenAContender throwing away his boxing career]] years before by letting the Mob (and his brother) fix the fights. The movie offers him a second chance to finally stand up to them.
111* ''Film/ReadyOrNot'': As a child, Daniel encountered a wounded man who was being [[HuntingTheMostDangerousGame hunted by his family]]. Despite the man begging him for help, Daniel revealed his location to the rest of his family, leading to the man being sacrificed. His actions as an adult, [[spoiler:going against his family and helping Grace escape]], are implied to be (at least in part) a result of him trying to do now what he should have done then.
112* Every member of the replacement team in ''Film/TheReplacements2000'' has played football in the past (although, in one case, it's a different kind of football), and it ended up not working out for him. The football strike is this trope for them. However, they all know it's nothing more than a chance to play (and, hopefully, win) several pro games before the real multi-million-dollar players return. Indeed, in the end, there is nothing waiting for them (no promotional offers, no parades) but a return to their former lives (in one case, prison) with the knowledge that they succeeded in this trope. The same is true for the head coach, who is stated to have been one of the greatest in his day, but who was fired for butting heads with egotistical multi-million-dollar players, forcing the owner to get rid of him. He knows that the same fate awaits him after the end of the strike. {{Lampshaded}} at the end of the film by the coach.
113-->"Every athlete dreams of a second chance: these men lived it."
114* In ''Film/ShredderOrpheus'', after failing to save Eurydice the first time, Orpheus jumps at the chance to risk his life in a game to save her again. [[spoiler:Unfortunately for Orpheus, there's no way he can win this one.]]
115* ''Film/TheSixthSense'': Malcolm meets a boy who seems very similar to the one he failed to cure, and sees this as a chance to redeem himself.
116* In the climax of ''Film/{{Spectre}}'', Blofeld locks Madeline Swann (Who James has fallen in love with) in a building set to explode and gives Bond the choice between saving her and letting her die. Ultimately Bond manages to save Madeline in time.
117* ''Franchise/StarWars'': Luke is Obi-Wan's (and to a lesser extent Yoda's) second chance at saving the galaxy from the Sith after their failure with Anakin.
118-->'''Yoda''': "No. ThereIsAnother..."
119** The situation where Vader chooses to [[Film/ReturnOfTheJedi save Luke]] [[PlotParallel is almost identical]] to the situation where [[Film/RevengeOfTheSith he chose to save Palpatine]] for his own selfish reasons rather than doing so for good ones.
120** HistoryRepeats in ''Film/TheLastJedi'': Luke is convinced that he's failed his task in restoring the Jedi, because of his fleeting moment of weakness that caused young Ben Solo to fully cross into the Dark Side. It takes some convincing, but soon enough he accepts Rey as his heir and helps set her up to restore the Jedi.
121* ''Film/Tremors2Aftershocks'': Earl Bassett reluctantly accepts a well-paying Graboid-hunting job because all of his attempts to cash in on his first encounter with the creatures went belly up. In ''Tremors 3'', it's mentioned [[spoiler: the second time around he succeeded, and is now running a successful Graboid theme park.]]
122* ''Film/{{Vertigo}}'': [[spoiler: After Scottie discovers Judy to be the same Madeline he loved, but apparently failed to prevent from jumping out of a bell tower, he drives her to the tower. He then forces her to help re-enact the incident, except allow him to stop her from leaping. Scottie even calls this his second chance.]]
123[[/folder]]
124
125[[folder:Literature]]
126* The protagonist of ''Literature/TheBeginningAfterTheEnd'' views his second life as Arthur Leywin as such. While in his past life as King Grey he earned his position at the top through his fighting prowess and leadership, it came at a severe cost to him. He had lost his surrogate mother Vera Willbeck at a young age, [[spoiler:was tricked into striking down his ChildhoodFriendLoveInterest Cecilia (leading to his other childhood friend and Cecilia's fiancé Nico swearing vengeance upon him), and upon becoming king declared war on the nation that had masterminded his surrogate mother’s death which led to the deaths of countless innocents who had nothing to do with Grey's vendetta]]. To prevent such a tragedy from happening again, Arthur vows to become strong enough to prevent what happened to his loved ones in his past life from happening again. Unfortunately for him, [[spoiler:he had been reincarnated at the whims of Agrona, an evil deity who sought to conquer Arthur's homeland of Dicathen in pursuit of his own vendetta against the Asuras of Epheotus who had exiled him. As such, Arthur's desire to not repeat what happened in his past life ends up being all for naught as he loses people he held dear to him to Agrona's vendetta such as his father, Sylvie (though she gets better), and the Eraliths. Making matters worse is that Agrona had also reincarnated Nico and Cecilia as well and had them both ReforgedIntoAMinion, meaning even if Arthur wished to completely forget about his past life Agrona would not let him. With the events of his past life coming back to haunt him in his new one, Arthur desires not just to protect his remaining loved ones from the same fate, but to right his own wrongs]].
127* The ''Toys/{{Bionicle}}'' franchise had a series of stories, one of them being "The Kingdom", who centers around Takanuva ending up in an AlternateUniverse where Matoro didn't commit a HeroicSacrifice and save Mata Nui. This story ends with that world's Matoro, who was disgusted with the consequences of his own selfish thinking, deciding to set right what should never have gone wrong in the first place, resulting in his demise and his world's salute. A statue was erected in his honor, reading "Matoro, the Toa who had been granted that rarest of commodities: a second chance to make things right."
128* ''Literature/CodexAlera'': [[spoiler:Fade/Araris]] [[FailureKnight blames himself]] for Septimus's death and considers [[spoiler:protecting his son Gaius Octavian]] his second chance.
129* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'': It turns out that [=McCoy=] [[spoiler:taught Harry's mother before she ran wild]] and so regards Harry as his second chance. Oh, and [[spoiler:Harry's mother was also [=McCoy's=] daughter, so he's Harry's grandfather, too]].
130* ''Literature/TheFarawayPaladin'': The protagonist, Will, was reincarnated into his new world with only faint memories of his previous life. What little he does remember--[[{{Hikikomori}} a dim room with a flickering screen]]--fills him with such regret at the wasted time and potential that he swears not to make a hash of it this time around.
131* ''Literature/ForeverGate'': Guilt-ridden by allowing his daughter to be revised(i.e. brainwashed) Hoodwink takes the heat for a bombing she committed to make up for it. Then he climbs the Forever Gate because his inner PapaWolf won't let him ever miss an opportunity to keep his daughter safe.
132* After the startling failure of the previous Receiver-in-training, ''Literature/TheGiver'' is determined to do right by Jonas.
133* ''Literature/TheHeroIsOverpoweredButOverlyCautious'': The mission to save the world of Gaeabrande turns out to be this for Seiya and Ariadoa. [[spoiler:Aria previously summoned Seiya to save Ixphoria, but in his haste to save the world, he tried to fight the Demon Lord while underprepared and failed as a result, dooming that world to the Demon Lord's tyranny. In a bizarre coincidence, Seiya's lover from Ixphoria reincarnated into the goddess Rista, who later summons him to Gaeabrande. Seiya, having learned from his mistakes, goes on to save Gaeabrande using the most cautious measures possible, just to ensure he doesn't fail again. Aria, while not officially in charge of this mission, supports Rista and Seiya by finding loopholes to allow Seiya to train more efficiently.]]
134* ''Literature/JourneyToChaos'': Basilard's second team of novices are a chance for him to move past his first team, who died horrifically while on a mission. He is extremely protective of them.
135* ''Literature/KazeNoStigma'':
136** The first arc motivates Kazuma a great deal since he's called upon to save his younger brother from being sacrificed to a demon... just like his beloved Cui Ling was sacrificed to a demon while he watched helplessly, years ago...
137** Over the entire anime, it's almost outright stated that Ayano is his second chance at finding true love.
138* The protagonist of ''Literature/MushokuTenseiJoblessReincarnation'' takes this view of his {{reincarnation}} as Rudeus Greyrat. He wasted his first life by turning into a {{Hikikomori}} {{NEET}} and eventually became such a disgusting person that he was disowned and thrown out by his siblings, but as Rudeus he can make something of himself.
139* ''Literature/ThePeoplesChoice'': After the death of the Republican president-elect less than a week after the November primaries, The defeated Democratic candidate's campaign manager seizes upon the opportunity to get his candidate elected again by convoking the electors not to swear in the Republican running mate.
140%%* ''Literature/TheQuestForKarla'': This is the driving theme; see the page quote.
141* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' has this for a number of characters as the series goes on (being the series it is, very few people have nothing they regret failing at and wouldn't mind fixing in some way). Most notably are those who failed the Targaryen Regime the first time, and are trying various methods to help reinstate it. Ser Barristan Selmy is one when it comes to helping [[spoiler: Daenerys]] after being "dismissed" from King's Landing. [[spoiler: Jon Connington trying to get Aegon on the throne is another.]]
142* ''Literature/SpaceWolf'': Within the FramingDevice of ''Sons of Fenris'', when Tor has unwisely led his forces into an ambush, Ragnar [[CareerBuildingBlunder chooses him to lead the attack]] on a [[CoolGate warp portal]], because when he had been a young Space Wolf, he had been permitted a second chance, to reclaim the Spear of Rus after losing it while foiling a plot of the Thousand Sons. He explains that Tor:
143-->''Needs an opportunity to redeem himself, Ranulf. Redemption requires two things, desire and opportunity. I know this better than most.''
144* ''Literature/Timeline191'': At the end of the series, General Clarence Potter, a leader of the Confederacy, [[spoiler:who have just been overwhelmingly defeated in UsefulNotes/WorldWarII, encounters an angry and disgruntled Confederate soldier intent on revenge. Potter tells the man to move on, accept the end of the war and get on with his life and then reflects that he wishes he'd said something similar to Jake Featherston, whose anger at the Confederacy's previous defeat to the USA turned him into this world's version of UsefulNotes/AdolfHitler]].
145* ''Literature/VorkosiganSaga'': Miles Vorkosigan thinks he gets one while escorting his hostess Ekaterin Vorsoisson around town in ''Komarr''. Haunted for years by his failure to prevent the death of Sergeant Beatrice, who fell out of a shuttle under fire while Miles ''just'' missed his grab for her hand, he manages to grab Ekaterin's hand as she slips over a small cliff into a pond... and abruptly discovers that the laws of physics don't care about heroic intent, and since she weighs significantly more than he does[[note]]Miles is something under five feet tall due to teratogenic damage in the womb[[/note]] and he's not anchored, he is dragged after her and they both fall into the water. When the realisation that the same thing would have happened with Sergeant Beatrice finally hits, he nearly has a stress seizure and she realises that, if Miles had made his grab, he would have died with her that day ''because he could not have made himself let go.''
146* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'': This sort of [[EpiphanyTherapy epiphany]] is what [[spoiler:breaks Rand out of his "Grr arrgh gotta be hard and bastardly!" funk at the end of book 12.]]
147[[/folder]]
148
149[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
150* The Franchise/{{Arrowverse}}'s fourth annual crossover, ''Series/CrisisOnEarthX'', [[spoiler:has Martin Stein sever the connection between him and his partner, Jefferson Jackson, in order to save the latter's life after Stein was shot. Stein's decision was motivated both out of parental love for Jackson and as atonement for the death of his first partner, Ronnie Raymond, who he was unable to save during the Singularity that nearly destroyed Central City in the Season One finale of ''Series/TheFlash2014'']].
151* ''At Home With Julia'' features this in what appears to be a parody of ''Film/InTheLineOfFire'': one of Julia Gillard's security team was on duty the day Harold Holt disappeared and [[MyGreatestFailure regrets that he failed to save him]]. So when Julia is late to a public appearance, he thinks this is his chance at redemption. (It turns out she just locked herself in the Lodge bathroom).
152* In ''Bangkok Hilton'', Hal Stanton's deepest regret is that, during World War II, [[ShootTheDog he informed on a plan by Allied troops to escape a Japanese-run prison in Thailand]], on the basis that, if the breakout succeeded, the Japanese would have executed dozens of the remaining prisoners. Making it worse is that the war would have ended before any reprisals could have been carried out. Hal's second chance comes over 40 years later when his long-lost daughter is held in the same prison awaiting the death penalty for drug trafficking charges, and he is able to help her escape through the same tunnels that the prisoners had planned to use.
153* Similarly, a season 6 episode of ''Series/ColdCase'' has a debate professor bond with a young prodigy because he reminds him of himself in his younger years, before he had to quit debate after a serious loss he blames on his partner. Thing is, [[spoiler:he was responsible for his own loss and was in denial about it, and when the prodigy moves to quit and calls him out on his selfishness, the teacher kills him in a berserk rage.]]
154* ''Series/DoctorWho'':
155** The Fifth Doctor's last story, [[Recap/DoctorWhoS21E6TheCavesOfAndrozani "The Caves of Androzani"]]: The Doctor and his companion, Peri, are exposed to a deadly but slow-acting poison early on in the story, and the Doctor spends the rest of it giving his all to save Peri. Having been unable to save Adric back in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS19E6Earthshock "Earthshock"]], he felt even his own life was not worth sacrificing Peri's, and after spending four episodes looking for the antidote and escaping more imminent death, he gave the only dose that survived to his companion. Even his last thought, "Adric?", indicates he felt this was a "second chance" of sorts.
156** Implicitly suggested in [[Recap/DoctorWhoS27E13ThePartingOfTheWays "The Parting of the Ways"]]. It's been gradually revealed that the Doctor ended the Time War of the backstory by committing double genocide, destroying the [[ScaryDogmaticAliens Daleks]] at the cost of his own people. In this episode, he has to make a similar choice, with the opportunity to press a button and produce an energy wave that will eliminate the new Dalek fleet, while also destroying all life on Earth. This time, he can't go through with it.
157*** This parallel is made more explicit in [[Recap/DoctorWho50thASTheDayOfTheDoctor the 50th Anniversary Special]], where the past Doctor is shown preparing to press a BigRedButton and end the Time War. [[spoiler:And then the two most recent Doctors join him in preparing to press it with him... and then the current one experiences a EurekaMoment, changes his mind, and applies the trope triumphantly by finding a way to SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong.]]
158* PlayedForLaughs on ''Series/Girls5eva''. When this group of middle-aged {{One Hit Wonder}}s try to stage a comeback twenty years later, they track down their old songwriter, the ridiculously successful and ReclusiveArtist Alf Musik, who agrees to help them because they were his only clients who failed to make it big.
159* ''Series/{{House}}'': In the episode "All In", House has a young boy patient dying of something in a case similar to an earlier one with an old woman whose death came about because of his failure to diagnose it. He insists on taking the case even though the boy's case may not be alike at all.
160* ''Series/LawAndOrderCriminalIntent'': Goren's mentor seizes on the fact that the latest case resembles his ThatOneCase and forces his way into the investigation. Goren suspects that he committed the murder and staged it to save face, however the inevitable twist reveals that [[spoiler:his daughter did it, as he spent his entire childhood talking to serial killers instead of paying attention to her]].
161* One episode of ''Series/{{Motive}}'' {{Deconstruction}}s this: An [[AbusiveParents abusive mother]] learns that her [[LoserSonOfLoserDad son]]'s girlfriend is pregnant, and latches onto the notion that her grandchild could be this for her. However, the girlfriend refuses, calling out her selfishness: rather than treating her son right, she'd rather start over with a new kid. This leads to [[spoiler:the mother becoming the VictimOfTheWeek, murdered by the girlfriend in order to protect her child's adoptive family]].
162* ''Series/MurdochMysteries'': In "Unfinished Business", Murdoch plays a recording of a man's deathbed confession of murder, and Dr. Ogden recognizes the details of an unsolved case the two of them worked on early in their careers. As she retrieves the case file, Dr. Ogden [[ThatOneCase expresses regret that she couldn't find enough evidence to solve the woman's murder.]] Later, Murdoch re-investigates the woman's husband, who objects to the scrutiny along with his equally indignant brother. It turns out [[spoiler: the brother made a murder pact with the confessed killer to kill his sister-in-law]] and Murdoch sincerely apologizes to the widower for suspecting him.
163* ''Franchise/PowerRangers'':
164** In the first season, Jason failed to stop the green candle from burning so Tommy lost his Green Ranger powers. [[BigBad Lord Zedd]] [[NeverRecycleYourSchemes made candles for the other Rangers]] in Season 2.
165** ''Series/PowerRangersZeo'': Subverted, where we learn Jason still has not gotten over failing Tommy personally and vows to not let it happen for a second time.
166* ''Second Chance'': The show is about a man who was sent back in time by Saint Peter to make sure his younger self (Matthew Perry) got set on the straight and narrow so he could get into Heaven.
167* ''Franchise/StarTrek'':
168** ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'': The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekS2E13Obsession Obsession]]", in which Kirk encounters a monster he failed to destroy 11 years ago; he felt that his earlier hesitation at the ship's phaser console cost 200 crewmen and the ship's captain. He's determined to make up for that failure no matter what the cost. Along the way, it turns out that the creature is not affected by phasers and Kirk realizes firing on time on the creature in the earlier encounter would have made no difference.
169** ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'':
170*** The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS6E14Tapestry Tapestry]]" has Q take Picard back in time to stop himself from getting in a fight which left him with an (about to kill him in the present) artificial heart. What he doesn't realize is [[NecessaryFail how influential that old failure was in creating]] TheCaptain character he became.
171*** The episode "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS7E11ThePegasus The Pegasus]]": 12 years previous a fresh-from-the-academy Riker, in the name of following orders, kept quiet as part of the cover-up for an illicit Starfleet experiment that got most of his crewmates killed. When the man in charge back then puts him in a similar situation in the episode (trying to restart the experiments), he disobeys orders in order to uphold his principles and save his crew.
172*** In "[[Recap/StarTrekTheNextGenerationS1E8TheBattle The Battle]]", the Ferengi [=DaiMon=] Bok is still bitter with Picard over their defeat by him at the Battle of Maxia, spends years plotting his revenge. More specifically revenge for [[spoiler: [[ItsPersonal his son]]]]. The episode portrays him as overreacting (as do the other Ferengi, because [[BlueAndOrangeMorality there's no profit in it]]).
173** ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'':
174*** In [[Recap/StarTrekDeepSpaceNineS05E19TiesOfBloodAndWater Ties of Blood and Water]], flashbacks show that Kira's father was shot by Cardassians during the Occupation. Despite staying by his side for hours, she left to attack the Cardassians who did so, leading to him DyingAlone. She later admits she couldn't face him dying and was looking for any excuse to leave. The storyline in the present has her interacting [[ParentalSubstitute Tekeny Ghemor]], a Cardassian ironically enough, and while she initially leaves him as well, she returns to sit by his side until the end.
175---->'''Kira''': "I owed to it him. I owed it to my father, to get it right this time."
176** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'':
177** In the SeriesFinale "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS7E23Endgame Endgame]]", Captain Janeway, many years in the future, recounts how it took over 20 years and too many deaths to bring Voyager home; when offered the chance to go back in time and SetRightWhatOnceWentWrong, she jumps at it.
178** Another episode, "[[Recap/StarTrekVoyagerS5E6Timeless Timeless]]", Voyager was destroyed due to a mistake of Kim trying to fix a quantum drive so they could get back home quicker. He and Chakotay were the only survivors and managed to make it back to Earth. However, he blamed himself and set out to fix the damage by sending instructions to the past. [[spoiler: Subverted the first time as it plays out the same. It seems YouCantFightFate is in effect but The Doctor (who still going as he's a hologram) suggests trying to avert the disaster rather than adjusting the drive. This time it works and good thing too as their future selves are killed just as they save their past selves.]]
179* ''Series/TwiceInALifetime'': A celestial judge gave a recently deceased person a second chance to go back in time and try and convince their younger self to make the right decision at a crucial point in their lives. Their original failure to make the right decision is what doomed them to a miserable life and ultimately got them killed.
180[[/folder]]
181
182[[folder:Podcasts]]
183* In ''Podcast/InterstitialActualPlay'', Criss sees [[spoiler: Ennora's restoration]] as a chance to have a genuine friendship with [[spoiler: Roxanne]] rather than an acerbic teacher-mentor relationship. He recognizes she's a different person, but the emotional resonance is still there for him.
184[[/folder]]
185
186[[folder:Sports]]
187* Basketball player David Robinson saw the Dream Team in 1992 as this, after being part of the 1988 US squad that only won the bronze medal.
188* Robinson wasn't the only member of the 1988 team that got a second chance at gold. Mitch Richmond cashed in on his second chance with Team USA in 1996.
189* The top four scorers for the Soviet team that defeated Team USA and went on to win gold in 1988—Valdemaras Chomičius, Rimas Kurtinaitis, Šarūnas Marčiulionis, and Arvydas Sabonis—got a different kind of second chance in 1992. You see, all four were Lithuanians... and with the collapse of the Soviet Union, they got a chance to represent their once-again-independent homeland. While they didn't stand a chance against the Dream Team (who could?), they did pick up a bronze medal—and had the added satisfaction of beating the Unified Team, made up of most of the post-Soviet states, in the third-place game. And three of the four (Chomičius having retired) came back for another bronze four years later.
190[[/folder]]
191
192[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
193* ''TabletopGame/{{Exalted}}'': this is often the basis for the DealWithTheDevil by which heroic mortals become Green Sun Princes. After suffering MyGreatestFailure, a mortal who would have otherwise been a worthy candidate for Exaltation is contacted by a demon bearing an Infernal Exaltation, who offers them the power to correct their mistakes and accomplish everything they ever dreamed of...so long as they agree to serve [[EldritchAbomination the Yozis]].
194[[/folder]]
195
196[[folder:Video Games]]
197* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'': In an optional side-quest, Lucca is given the opportunity to travel back into her own past (via an unexplained, uniquely red time portal) to prevent her mother from being maimed in an accident.
198** In a way, Magus' [[spoiler:finding himself in the kingdom of Zeal just before the disaster that wiped it out]] could qualify as this too. [[spoiler:Sadly, his efforts to prevent said disaster don't work.]]
199* ''Franchise/FinalFantasy'':
200** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVI'': Locke fails to save his girlfriend, Rachel from falling down a pit in a cave when the bridge they're crossing collapses. A similar situation is set up during the escape from Kefka's collapsing tower at the end, but he manages to save [[DefrostingIceQueen Celes]] this time around.
201*** Likewise, Rachel was afflicted with EasyAmnesia due to the concussion from the fall and was later killed. Locke sees some obvious parallels when he meets Terra, who suffers from an unrelated amnesia and promises not to leave her side until her memory returns. (He doesn't quite manage to live up to the letter of his promise, but does play a crucial role in helping her regain her memories.)
202** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyVII'': Cloud failed to save Aerith. He was helpless to even move when Zack was killed before the game even started. When he finds out that Denzel and Marlene have been kidnapped in ''[[Anime/FinalFantasyVIIAdventChildren Advent Children]]'', it takes some chewing out from Tifa for him to get over his fear of failing again and take that second chance.
203** ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyX'': The entire pilgrimage is [[spoiler:Auron's second chance to end Spira's cycle of death after giving in the first time, allowing his two best friends to die for nothing]]. It's also [[FailureKnight Lulu's]] Greatest Third Chance to actually participate in a successful pilgrimage.
204* ''VideoGame/LiveALive'' has a chapter set in TheWildWest, starring an outlaw named the [[TheTropeKid Sundown Kid]]. [[spoiler:He used to be a lawman who took great pride in his gunslinging skill, which led to outlaw after outlaw coming to challenge him. Unfortunately, this culminated in a group of outlaws [[DoomedHometown razing his hometown and killing everyone there]]. [[DeathSeeker Wracked with guilt, Sundown put a bounty on his own head and spent his time looking for a good place to die.]]]] Then his travels take him to the small town of Success, which is being harassed by a gang of outlaws called the Crazy Bunch. With some help and some cleverly-placed traps, he takes on the Crazy Bunch [[spoiler:and wins, protecting the townspeople. In the end, he even turns down their gold, [[GoodFeelsGood saying that the chance to do something good was all the payment he needed.]]]]
205* The entire premise of the kooky British platformer ''VideoGame/MediEvil''. You play as reanimated [[DemBones skeletal]] knight Sir Daniel Fortesque, who in life was a [[FakeUltimateHero lowly knight who became the head of the kingdom of Gallowmere's royal army through embellished stories about slaying dragons]] just in time for the evil court wizard Zarok to try to seize the kingdom with an undead army. Dan was ignobly slain via [[EyeScream arrow to the eye]] [[UndignifiedDeath in the first charge]] and his plucky second, [[AChildShallLeadThem a mere boy of sixteen, had to lead Gallowmere's army to victory without him]]. Embarrassed that he fell for a charlatan the King of Gallowmere spun up a completely bogus story about Dan's "gallant" death, quickly interred his body into a tomb fit for a hero, [[ForgottenFallenFriend and then forget all about him and tried his best to ensure everyone else did too]]. Zarok and Dan's exploits fade into legend only for Zarok to return a century later and cast a dark spell over Gallowmere, enslaving the living and the dead and inadvertently reanimating Dan in the process, giving Sir Arrow Fodder a chance to save the day for real this time, and maybe -- just maybe -- even earn himself a place in the [[WarriorHeaven hallowed Hall of Heroes]] in the process.
206* ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid'': Metal Gear REX and [[spoiler: his father being DrivenToSuicide]] were [[GuiltComplex Hal]] [[OccidentalOtaku "Otacon"]] [[MissionControl Emmerich's]] greatest failures. Philanthropy is his (and Snake's) second chance.
207* In ''VideoGame/DeadSpace2'', this is how Isaac eventually comes to view [[spoiler:Ellie. When they finally make it to the gunship (their only way off the Sprawl), Isaac overrides her control of the gunship and remotely launches it, leaving him trapped on the station.]] The {{Irony}} of the situation is this is exactly how [[spoiler:Ellie views Isaac.]]
208--> '''Isaac:''' [[spoiler:I need you to be rescued. I couldn't save Nicole, but I can save you, Ellie. So, uh... bye.]]
209* In a sidequest in ''VideoGame/BaldursGateII'', it's possible to help a Paladin grieving for his deceased adopted son whom he failed to protect by introducing him to an orphaned little girl who needs someone to raise her.
210* ''VideoGame/MassEffect3'':
211** The Quarians and the geth face off for the first time since the war that drove the Quarians from their homeworld. [[spoiler: Shepard can broker understanding between the groups, leading to peace and preventing either side from attempting another genocide.]]
212** If Wrex is still alive and [[spoiler:the genophage gets cured]], he views the krogan alliance with the turians and humanity as this to the krogan, their way of reshaping their reputation to the galaxy as more than just mindless brutes.
213* In ''VideoGame/{{Lisa}}'', this is, initially, Brad's core motivation for raising Buddy in secret as opposed to giving her to the warlord Rando: As a child, he was forced by his abusive father to raise his younger sister Lisa, and as such blames himself continually for her suicide, and sees raising Buddy as a chance at redemption for this.
214* ''VideoGame/{{Undertale}}'' has Asgore, the King of Monsters, who had [[spoiler:declared war on humanity after said humans had killed his son. He vowed to have 7 humans killed in order to harvest their souls and use their power to break the barrier imposed on his people so that they can escape, destroy humanity, and live in peace. After calming down, Asgore realizes that he doesn't have the heart to go through with his plans, but feels like he has no choice but to do so or his people would lose all hope. Asgore's actions cause his wife Toriel to abandon him due to her being disgusted at the idea and the fact that Asgore couldn't kill the humans himself since he had others do it for him. In the TrueEnding, the barrier is destroyed without needing to kill any more humans beyond the initial 6 that were already killed, and the monsters are finally freed from the underground. All the monsters make peace with the humans and both races live together in harmony. Asgore takes the opportunity to atone for what he had done and the peace between humans and monsters gives him the second chance he sorely needed.]]
215* This is the intention behind the Reformation Program in ''VideoGame/CriminalGirls'' and ''VideoGame/CriminalGirls2PartyFavors''. The delinquent girls who end up in the program are sinful girls but have yet to commit a sin irredeemable enough to damn them to Hell. The Reformation Program is designed so that the girls confront their sinful past and become better people before allowing them to return to life. [[spoiler:This ends up going double for Miu in the first game and Sui in the second as both of them had previously failed the program]].
216* ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaBreathOfTheWild'' has this for both [[spoiler: Link and Zelda]]. They failed to defeat and seal [[BigBad Calamity Ganon]] years ago, which resulted in him causing TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt. The entire game is basically the two of them getting a second chance at finishing what they started.
217* ''VideoGame/SpecOpsTheLine'': [[WordOfGod In Walt William's book, "Significant Zero"]], there were talks of an additional DLC covering Adams surviving his LastStand with the Damned 33rd. His face was significantly scarred from the fight, allowing him to disguise as a 33rd member. During the DLC, he meets another soldier named Sgt. Pozza who reminds Adams of Lugo. Somehow, [[ThePollyanna Dubai hasn't broken Pozza]] as it has with the 33rd or Delta, so Adams takes it upon himself to [[MyGreatestSecondChance save him.]] Everything goes well until the last moments of the DLC...
218-->'''Pozza:''' [[WhamLine You lied to me.]]\
219'''Adams:''' Yeah, I did. So what?\
220'''Pozza:''' So ''what?'' You ruined everything. This is your fault.\
221'''Adams:''' It's everyone's fault.\
222'''Pozza:''' We were trying to help.\
223'''Adams:''' So were we. Things got outta hand.\
224(''[[DramaticGunCock Pozza cocks his gun]]'')
225-->'''Pozza:''' You destroyed the water. You killed those people at the Gate.\
226'''Adams:''' Not arguing that.\
227(''Adams lowers his gun and throws it away. His shoulders sag. He is weak, tired. His eyes stare at the ground'')\
228'''Adams:''' Go home to your family. Be better than what happened here.
229-->'''Pozza:''' The hell are you doing? This some kinda trick?\
230'''Adams:''' No trick. Just calling in your debts.\
231(''Adams pulls out Lugo's dog tags out of his pocket. He tosses them in the sand between him and Pozza'')\
232'''Adams:''' Those belonged to Staff Sgt. John Lugo. [[DueToTheDead Make sure they get to his family.]] That's number one. Number two...\
233(''Adams lifts his head just enough to look Pozza in the eyes. He points to the left side of his chest, below his heart but near his lung'')\
234'''Adams:''' [[DeathSeeker Aim here.]] It won't be fast, but that's all right. I'll bleed out before the medevac arrives. Tell them I was injured during our escape. You tried to revive me, but I was too far gone.\
235'''Pozza:''' ... Why?\
236'''Adams:''' [[DespairEventHorizon 'Cuz I can't do this anymore.]]
237* ''VideoGame/StarWarsKnightsOfTheOldRepublic'' has this happen twice:
238** CoolOldGuy Jolee Bindo in the first game was a Jedi Padawan who trained his Force-sensitive wife despite the Jedi Council's insistence that he wasn't ready, which led to her falling to TheDarkSide and killing many Jedi before dying herself in the Exar Kun War because he couldn't bring himself to kill her. The Council forgave him and offered him a promotion to Knight, but he couldn't forgive himself and left the Order. [[spoiler:If the Player Character considers embracing the Dark Side, he tells them he won't back down this time and either dies fighting them or manages to save them. In the latter case, he then went on to rejoin the OrderReborn and was granted the rank of Master, serving on the Jedi High Council for a time before retiring.]]
239** TheChosenWannabe Mical/Disciple in ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' was a Jedi Padawan who grew up in the Dantooine enclave, and came of age just in time for the Mandalorian Wars. Because so many Jedi left to fight, there was nobody left to continue his training and he ended up washing out of TheOrder and becoming a soldier for TheRepublic instead. However if TheExile [[MutuallyExclusivePartyMembers is female (or a male one has mods installed) he joins the party]] and receives the second chance he always dreamed of. He would then go on to sit on the Council of the OrderReborn.
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242[[folder:Visual Novels]]
243* In ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', one of the benefits of being a Servant summoned to fight in the Holy Grail War is that you meet a magus (your "Master") with a personality very similar to yours but much less age and power. Many Servants use this opportunity to live vicariously through their Masters, guiding them to accomplish the things they couldn't in their own life. Two examples are [[CoolBigSis Rider]], who gives Sakura the familial solidarity she never had growing up, and [[WarriorPrince Saber]], whose chivalric ideals are renewed by seeing Shirou succeed.
244* Whoever he ends up with, the protagonist of ''VisualNovel/{{Melody}}'', who had commitment issues in the past and recently a very long relationship that ended in failure, sees his new relationship as a way to learn from the struggles of his past.
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247[[folder:Webcomics]]
248* ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'':
249** Haley tries to save a Paladin from Tsukiko's domination, explaining that she's trying so hard because of her failure to save O-Chul during the Battle of Azure City.
250** After Vaarsuvius' fight with Xykon, the elf returns while invisible to rescue O-Chul. This is in contrast with an earlier event in the Battle of Azure City, where Vaarsuvius used invisibility to escape, abandoning a group of soldiers to their deaths.
251** Elan failed to save Therkla after she was poisoned by her boss because he never learned "Neutralize Poison". After her death, he learns the spell and later puts it to good use.
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254[[folder:Western Animation]]
255* A one-off bad guy in ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'' committed a theft that escalated out of control and landed him in prison for a wildly excessive seventeen years, leading to his wife and son leaving him. He decides to get revenge by gassing everyone at Gotham's [[NewYearHasCome New Years party]], which he [[TheBadGuyWins succeeds at]] thanks to his unstoppable SaveScumming superpower that lets him rewind the clock by 20 seconds whenever he's stopped. When he finds that his son was among the casualties, he's so traumatized that he manages to reset his life back to before the first life-altering crime, chooses not to go down that route this time, and lives out his life as a mundane but successful clock repairman.
256* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainNTheGameMaster'': In an early episode, Kevin had to walk through a real-life (well, sort of) version of the one game he [[NintendoHard could never beat]], ''VideoGame/TheAdventuresOfBayouBilly''.
257* ''WesternAnimation/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteers'': In "[[Recap/CaptainPlanetAndThePlaneteersS4E1And2MineIsTerribleToWaste A Mine is a Terrible Thing to Waste]]", Wheeler injures his leg during an escape attempt gone wrong and insists the others should leave him. Gi tells her own backstory [[NoOneGetsLeftBehind as she insists on helping him walk]], explaining that she lost a dolphin friend of hers to pollution after being forced to leave her when a company bought the shoreline. She closes by saying she's not letting history repeat itself.
258* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'': In one episode, Arnold's Grandpa Phil finds an old rival who once beat him in a tournament of Chinese checkers. Arnold convinces him to enter the tournament, where he ends up facing the rival in the finals. After a very long game, the pieces land in the very same position as last time, and the rival starts to gloat. Then Phil reveals that since last time he discovered there was one move that could end the game in a tie instead. The rival suffers a breakdown and [[WeWinBecauseYouDidNot Phil leaves with the trophy]].
259* Prince Zuko has two of them in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender''. [[spoiler:He first believes his greatest failure was failing his father, and that his second chance was to help Azula claim Ba Sing Se and return home. Later, after he has his HeelRealization and HeelFaceTurn, he realizes his greatest failure was betraying [[CoolUncle Iroh]]'s faith in him at Ba Sing Se, and that his second chance is giving an epic CallingTheOldManOut during the [[TotalEclipseOfThePlot Eclipse]] and running off to join Aang's ragtag band to teach Aang the final element he must learn: [[PlayingWithFire Firebending]].]]
260** Aang himself comes to see his quest to defeat the Firelord as a way of atoning for having [[RefusalOfTheCall run away]] 100 years previously when the war began.
261** Katara gets a darker version of this when she gets a chance to [[spoiler:avenge her mother by fighting the Fire Nation soldier who killed her. What makes it darker is that she was fully intent on killing the soldier in cold blood but she doesn't go through with it, choosing to find her peace internally]].
262** Iroh's son died about five years before the show started but he gets another chance at being a father with Zuko. He even gets a shot at being a grandfather with Zuko's daughter Izumi and lived until probably her late teens. Since she chose to name her own son after him, he must have been a pretty damn good one.
263* In ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'', Omega Supreme relates to Optimus Prime how he was once tricked into leaving his post by his former friends the Constructicons, who had been reprogrammed and converted by Megatron's Robo-Smasher; as a result, the city he had been guarding was demolished, he had been led into a trap, and though he escaped, "I lived, but, changed. Since then, I feel only hate for the Constructicons." (Whether this was simply out of the pain he felt over the betrayal and his guilt, the brief exposure to the Robo-Smasher, or a combination of both, it's hard to say.) In the present day, the Constructicons dig up an egg of a monstrous asteroid creature and plant it under San Francisco; blinded by a desire for revenge at first, Omega Supreme [[RevengeBeforeReason leaves the creature to its own devices to pursue the Constructicons]]; when he realizes, however, that he's about to make the same mistake again with another city about to be destroyed, he takes the second chance, leading the creature back to its asteroid and fulfilling his duty.
264* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Gargoyles}}'', the Captain of the Guard at Castle Wyvern felt guilty for betraying the castle to Hakon, who [[YouSaidYouWouldLetThemGo broke his promise]] and massacred all the gargoyles there except the Manhattan Clan. When he and Hakon fell to their deaths, his self-loathing kept him shackled in a mystical cave along with Hakon. When Hakon enacted a plan to steal Goliath's life force to replenish their own, the Captain couldn't allow history to repeat and stopped Hakon, atoning for his betrayal and freeing him of his self-hatred, allowing his spirit to finally rest in peace.
265* ''WesternAnimation/WhatIf2021'': [[spoiler:After Doctor Strange Supreme ends up destroying his universe along with everyone in it in his quest to find a way to save Christine from dying, which works for a brief period of time before she dies with the rest of the universe, despite begging Uatu to save the universe. However, when Infinity Ultron becomes a threat to the Multiverse, Uatu reluctantly gives him a chance for redemption, when he is recruited into the newly formed Guardians of the Multiverse. After defeating Infinity Ultron, Strange is given the responsibility by Uatu of being the guardian and keeper of Killmonger and Zola-Ultron's prison, as both of them attempted to take the Infinity Stones for themselves after the fight, to ensure neither of them ever escapes.]]
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268[[folder:Real Life]]
269* ''Film/HomeAlone'' director Creator/ChrisColumbus has revealed in interviews that he was unhappy with how the film propelled Creator/MacaulayCulkin into super-stardom that was ultimately taken advantage of by his [[StageMom stage dad]] and led to his career ending amidst a bitter custody battle between his parents. When he took on the directing and casting duties for the ''Film/HarryPotter'' films, Columbus decided to make sure the same thing would not happen again and cast children with stable home lives for the main roles. Thus far, Creator/DanielRadcliffe, Creator/RupertGrint, and Creator/EmmaWatson have all avoided the worst aspects of child acting.
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