History Main / FallenHero

* FallenHero/

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* ''WesternAnimation/AdventureTime'' has a few fallen heroes:
** [[spoiler:Simon Petrikov/The Ice King]]. As a human, he was a scholar, a loving fiance, and a ParentalSubstitute to a little girl who had been abandoned during the middle of WorldWar3. But [[spoiler:[[ArtifactOfDoom the Ice Crown]] [[TheCorrupter mentally warped him]] until he was unable to remember himself at all, leaving the insane husk that Finn and Jake know presently. He later returns to his original self in the series finale "Come Along With Me" thanks to his fiancee Betty Grof however.]]
** [[spoiler: Marceline The Vampire Queen. She used to dedicate her life to protecting humanity from vampires. However, after being turned into a vampire herself, being forced to abandon her human group, and realizing the ciclical nature of history, she has become too jaded to continue caring about heroics.]]
** Later at the end of season 7, [[spoiler:Fern is created after the Grass Sword fuses with the Finn Sword and Finn's alternate self and acts as a more violent version of Finn. Throughout Season 8, Fern attempts to find himself and tries to do Finn's job while he is away from Ooo, only to fail when the Elemental wave spread throughout the land. During the last two episodes of the season, the curse of the Grass Sword manages to take control of the alternate Finn and causes Fern to attempt to replace Finn and take over his life. After getting into a brief right Finn accidentally [[AccidentalMurder shreds Fern]] and becomes traumatized by the incident.]]
* A dark version in ''WesternAnimation/AvatarTheLastAirbender'' is [[spoiler:Hama]], a [[CoolOldLady seemingly nice old woman]] from the South Water Tribe living in the Fire Nation. In her youth, she was one of the best waterbenders of the tribe and fought unceasingly to protect it from the Fire Nation invaders. After repeated skirmishes to capture the waterbenders, [[SoleSurvivor she was the only one of them left in the tribe]] and ultimately got captured and thrown into prison with the rest, [[TailorMadePrison kept away from any water source]] and [[PoWCamp left to rot for the rest of her life]]. While imprisoned, she [[EurekaMoment discovered a simple but revolutionary truth]]: [[spoiler:living things are made of water, and [[PowerUp during full moons]], she can use the empowered bending to [[PeoplePuppets control them]]]]. She improved her bending in secret until she was ready to escape and [[HeWhoFightsMonsters terrorize the people of the nation that made her life hell]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TheBatman'': Ethan Bennett is an honest cop and a close friend of Bruce until (already under stress due to an argument with Chief Rojas) he becomes the victim of MindRape by the Joker and is then exposed to the villain's Joker Putty, turning him into a clay-like monster. The whole experience drives him mad and turns him into this continuity's version of Clayface, who is more than capable of murder.
* ''WesternAnimation/BatmanTheAnimatedSeries'': Before his [[FaceHeelTurn transformation]] into [[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE10TwoFacePart1 Two]]-[[Recap/BatmanTheAnimatedSeriesE11TwoFacePart2 Face]], Harvey Dent is a regular character in the show, an ally of Gordon, and [[TearJerker Bruce Wayne's closest friend]]. In the series' final episode, "[[Recap/TheNewBatmanAdventuresE24JudgementDay Judgement Day]]", Dent becomes [[spoiler:an AntiVillain known as the Judge and actually tries to kill the Penguin, Killer Croc, and various other hardened criminals... including himself (of which his two previous personalities are unaware)]]. Thus, does he (somewhat) gain his redemption.
* In ''WesternAnimation/ChallengeOfTheGobots'', Cy-Kill was once one of the High Protectors of Gobotron and Leader-1's best friend.
* ''WesternAnimation/CodenameKidsNextDoor'':
** [[CreepyChild The Delightful Children from Down the Lane]] are recurring antagonists who serve [[BigBad Father]]. [[spoiler:They're formerly the members of Sector Z, but they were captured and delightfulized by Father into what they are today. What makes this tragic is that the delightfulization process was so thorough that they could only break out of it temporarily before reverting back to their brainwashing.]]
--->'''Delightful Children From Down the Lane:''' ''[as they're reverting back]'' Tell the Kids Next Door... we miss them.
** There's also Cree Lincoln, Numbuh Five's sister and once [[TheAce the best operative the KND had]], who later became one of their worst enemies. Also counts as a BrokenPedestal and a case of CainAndAbel in Numbuh Five's case.
** In fact, the KND seems to have a problem with traitors ''a lot''. That may be the whole reason they inflict LaserGuidedAmnesia on operatives when they retire. On a positive note, [[spoiler:both Chad and Maurice were {{Fake Defector}}s, subversions of this trope, although, in Chad's case, the revelation didn't make Numbuh One like him again]].
** Minor villains Mr. Wink and Mr. Fibb used to be a part of the Cowboy Kids Club, a group similar to the KND. They later grew up to become evil adults.
* ''WesternAnimation/DannyPhantom'' finds this as his [[BadFuture future]]. He did some pretty disturbing things in that future, including murdering his ''human self'' along with probably hundreds of others and doing millions in property damages...at least. Quite shocking, given the otherwise childish, campy tone of the series. Danny, upon seeing this, is [[FutureMeScaresMe extremely horrified by his actions]].
* In a BadFuture episode of ''WesternAnimation/DarkwingDuck'', Gosalyn winds up traveling to the future when trying to stop Quackerjack and Megavolt from doing so. Upon arrival, they find out that Darkwing became "[[DarkerAndEdgier Darkwarrior Duck]]", complete with [[RedEyesTakeWarning red eyes]], out of grief over Gosalyn having "run away". He became nigh-catatonic until he saw [[YouRemindMeOfX a girl resembling Gosalyn]] getting her doll stolen, losing his moral compass in the process, to the point that he threatened people for ''eating unhealthily'' and dismissing Launchpad when the latter suggested arresting criminals prior to executing them.
* ''WesternAnimation/JusticeLeague'':
** The Justice Lords, following the death of their Flash, became {{Knight Templar}}s and transformed their earth into a metahuman-ruled {{dystopia}} where dissidents and supervillains were lobotomized. [[Quotes/FallenHero The Superman quote]] from the episode "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E11And12ABetterWorld A Better World]]" is given just before the Superman of this parallel world crosses the line and kills his Lex Luthor, who was responsible for the death of this world's version of The Flash, with his heat-vision:
--->''"I did love being a hero. But if this is where it leads, I'm ''done'' with it."''
** Shayera Hol a.k.a. Hawkgirl is considered this after it's discovered that she's TheMole during the Thanagarian invasion in "[[Recap/JusticeLeagueS2E24To26Starcrossed Starcrossed]]", which causes her to leave the League, though Alfred begs to differ. However, upon rejoining the Justice League, she becomes a hero again, but discards the name "Hawkgirl" due to the lies, disgrace, and treachery that the name carries. Therefore, as of ''Unlimited'', Shayera considers her alter ego to be a fallen hero.
* Shego in ''WesternAnimation/KimPossible'', according to her backstory. She was part of the superhero family "Team Go" alongside her brothers, but she became annoyed with her brothers' quirks and left, becoming a supervillainess. However, it's implied there's more to the picture since their parents are absent and Shego was hostile with her brothers even back then.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheLegendOfKorra'' has [[Characters/TheLegendOfKorraKuvira Kuvira]], the BigBad of the final season. Originally Suyin's protege who helped save Korra's father, she leaves to attempt to help stabilize and unite the weakened Earth Kingdom following the events of Zaheer's anarchist uprising. Over the next three years, she rose from her position as a city's guard captain to a highly respected and [[TheDreaded feared]] public figure. Desiring to keep the Earth Kingdom safe and united, and seeing the monarchy as obsolete, she usurped the Prince and reestablished the Earth Kingdom as the Earth Empire, which she ruled with an iron fist. [[spoiler:Once Korra saved her life, she was able to make Kuvira see just how far she'd fallen from her previously noble intentions, convincing her to surrender willingly]].
* Alpha from ''WesternAnimation/MenInBlackTheSeries'' was the first head of the organization and mentored K, but then power got into his head and he went rogue.
* ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic'': [[Characters/FriendshipIsMagicPrincessLuna Princess Luna]], the very first villain of the series, is an Alicorn goddess who, alongside her older sister Celestia, once co-ruled Equestria, managed the day-night cycle and fought to defeat the MadGod [[RealityWarper Discord]] and the tyrannical King Sombra. A combination of perceived ingratitude on the part of her subjects and a vaguely-defined dark force corrupted her into the vengeful "[[SuperpoweredEvilSide Nightmare Moon]]", and Celestia was forced to [[SealedEvilInACan seal her away in the moon]] to prevent her from [[OmnicidalManiac bringing about global extinction]] through TheNightThatNeverEnds, but when she escapes, she's ultimately redeemed rather than killed. The second season's HalloweenEpisode focuses on her attempts to [[TheAtoner atone]] -- it's difficult to be accepted as good when you represent TheSacredDarkness in a society which you yourself helped to convince that DarkIsEvil.
* ''WesternAnimation/OKKOLetsBeHeroes'': Professor Venomous is revealed to be one in the episode "Big Reveal". Back when he was the hero [[spoiler:Laserblast, he was a vital member of his team and had a loving and supporting girlfriend, but suffered from crippling self-esteem issues in regards to his powers, which he felt were unimpressive compared to those of his teammates. He took to experimenting in secret in order to improve them, but his lab was discovered by Greyman, and the rest of the team -- believing it belonged to an unknown villain -- decided to have it destroyed. In what would eventually become known as the Sandwich Incident, he went into the lab first to try and save his works and destroy any links to him, but accidentally caused an explosion that gave him a permanent DePower and made it look like he was dead. To top it off, he heard his girlfriend say something that made it sound like all her support for him had been false, which ultimately caused him to flee the scene in shame, not wanting to face her or his teammates. Over the years, he tried to get his powers back with no success; however, he ''did'' end up finding great success in marketing to villains, turning him into the CardCarryingVillain he is in the present.]]
* ''WesternAnimation/RickAndMorty'': {{Implied|Trope}} to be what happened to [[Characters/RickAndMortyRickSanchez Rick Sanchez]] in the past. When talking to Beth (or a clone of Beth?), Rick states that he had a 'hero phase' that he grew out of.
* ''WesternAnimation/SouthPark''
** Heidi Turner, who was one of the leading heroic characters in Season 20, becomes Eric Cartman's DistaffCounterpart by the next season, with all her kindness turning into complete jerkassery.
** Mr. Hankey manage fall even further going from the boys' occasional savior to a self-destructive asshole by Season 22. At least Heidi was able to [[HeelRealization realize how far she fell]] before reverting back to her old self. Mr. Hankey on the other hand outright [[NeverMyFault refuses to acknowledge fault]] for his own actions blaming his obnoxious behavior on Ambient leading to the townsfolk to force him out of South Park.
** Randy Marsh managed to fall even worse than the above. In Season 22, he started off as a noble owner of a small weed business who stood up and fought against corrupt businesses. However, by Season 23, the success of his weed business turned Randy into a CorruptCorporateExecutive committing amoral acts, such as blowing up people's homes and killing Winnie the Pooh, to keep his business afloat. Luckily Randy does get a HeelRealization after getting arrested in "Season Finale".
* Over the course of ''WesternAnimation/StarWarsTheCloneWars'', Barriss Offee turns into this, due to being increasingly embitered on how corrupted the Jedi Order has turned in the last few years, and leads her to fall into TheDarkSide. It culminates on her doing a bombing on the Jedi Temple's hangar that she frames Ahsoka Tano for, and while she's discovered and arrested, her actions ultimately plant the seed that leads to the fall of the Jedi Order as a whole. Ironically, Barriss failed to realize that she was doing exactly what she accused the Jedi Order of: falling to the Dark Side without even realizing it, then becoming too corrupted to be ''capable'' of realizing it.
* ''WesternAnimation/StormHawks''
** The Dark Ace of the [[TheEmpire Cyclonian Empire]] was once a member of the original Storm Hawks, the greatest team of Sky Knights in all of Atmos, and the co-pilot of the leader, Lightning Strike. They fought to free Atmos of the terror of Cyclonia and united the free people of Atmos against them in what was to be their greatest triumph. However, tempted by the offer of power and glory from the [[PredecessorVillain previous Master Cyclonis]], the Dark Ace betrayed his fellows and personally struck down Lightning Strike, allowing Cyclonia to win and him to reap the rewards of his betrayal. By the present day, the Dark Ace is now the most dangerous member of the Cyclonian army and TheDragon to the current Master Cyclonis in her bid [[TakeOverTheWorld to conquer all of Atmos]], a station he holds with pride.
** Carver was once the leader of the Red Eagles, considered the greatest Sky Knight squadron since the original Storm Hawks, and a national hero with legions of fans. He was so respected that his team had the honor of being the guardians of Terra Atmosia, the bureaucratic center of the free terras and home base of the Sky Knight Council and the powerful [[ArtifactOfDoom Aurora Stone]]. However, like the Dark Ace before him, Carver became tempted by the power of the Cyclonian Empire and betrayed his fellows to steal the Aurora Stone to give it to Master Cyclonis, only to be barely stopped by Aerrow and imprisoned. In "Second Chances", he gets a chance to redeem himself when evidence becomes uncovered that he was actually under mind-control and joins the Storm Hawks to help them become better heroes and celebrities [[spoiler:only for it to turn out that not only was he NotBrainwashed, he's been trying to kill Aerrow out of revenge for his previous defeat, squandering the faith the people had in him and being thrown back in jail]].
* ''WesternAnimation/SuperRobotMonkeyTeamHyperforceGo'' has Mandarin. Once, he was the leader of the team but was consumed with a desire to rule those weaker than him, eventually driving him to become TheDragon to the [[BigBad Skeleton King]].
* ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans2003'' had Terra, who started off as a good-natured girl with unstable powers, but was eventually drawn to becoming [[BigBad Slade's]] apprentice in exchange for him teaching her to control her powers, leading to her betrayal and becoming a villain.
* One of the villains in the ''WesternAnimation/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012'' {{Elseworld}} three-parter [[Recap/TeenageMutantNinjaTurtles2012S5E18RaphaelMutantApocalypse "Raphael: Mutant Apocalypse"]] sees one of the BadFuture's warlords, Maximus Kong, be revealed to be [[spoiler:an even further mutated [[TheLeader Leonardo]].]]
* ''Franchise/{{Transformers}}'':
** ''WesternAnimation/TransformersAnimated'':
*** Blackarachnia. Getting abandoned on a hostile planet and suffering nasty BodyHorror involving a GiantSpider or twenty would make ''anyone'' a little bitter.
*** Wasp, who, after being falsely accused of being a traitor, spends over 50 years in prison and goes insane. [[JerkassWoobie Poor]] [[TheChewToy guy]]. He's a DarkerAndEdgier take on the ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' comic relief character, talking normally in flashbacks but more like his past counterpart in the present as SanitySlippage has fully taken hold. When he is altered to fully become Waspinator, he's a massive, powerful, unkillable engine of revenge. However, that's not to say that he was a decent guy before. As Bulkhead put it, "You may not have been a traitor, but you were never a good bot."
** Wheeljack from ''Anime/TransformersArmada''. After believing that Hot Shot abandoned him and left him for dead, he does a FaceHeelTurn and joins the Decepticons. He comes back for revenge.
** An earlier one: [[spoiler:Rhinox]] from ''WesternAnimation/BeastWars'' becoming [[spoiler:Tankor]] of ''WesternAnimation/BeastMachines''.
** Depthcharge was apparently a model Maximal before Rampage wiped out Colony Omicron, turning him into a grim and obsessed hunter.
** And Megatronus Prime, the thirteenth original Transformer. You should know him as the Fallen, with his original name being taken by Megatron, who in most continuities idolized him enough to take his name.
** Megatron himself generally follows this in most continuities this side of the IDW comics expanding his backstory. What usually happens is, at first, the Autobot regime is corrupt and dictatorial, and Megatron rebels against that, being a genuinely heroic revolutionary fighting for social change (often for the sake of a highly oppressed working class). Indeed, he often starts off as a member of one of the ''lowest'' working classes such as a miner or gladiator. Then right around the time he actually manages to get rid of the 'bots responsible to the point where the Autobots have enacted the change he wanted and become a genuinely morally upstanding society, the stress and thrill start driving him to become even eviler and power-hungry than the ones he was fighting, and so the civil war he started continues with the "good" and "evil" labels having switched somewhere along the way.
* Surprisingly and hilariously, ''WesternAnimation/VeggieTales'' parodies the story of David, Uriah, and Bathesheba. David is Larry, Uriah "only" becomes crazy, and Bathesheba... is a rubber duck. That is somehow better than any other rubber duck, and greed for it is why David, instead of minding his own business, sends Uriah away. When Uriah comes back, he's too insane to know his duck is gone.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{WITCH}}'' has Nerissa, a former Guardian who was corrupted by power and [[spoiler: killed a fellow Guardian]], was imprisoned, and returned to become the BigBad of Season 2.
* [[KnightOfCerebus Chase Young]] of ''WesternAnimation/XiaolinShowdown'' used to be a heroic monk under Grand Master Dashi, until [[TheCorrupter Hannibal Roy Bean]] convinced him to trade his soul for an immortality potion. Since then, he's been one of the world's greatest evils.
* In Season 2 of ''WesternAnimation/YoungJustice2010'', after a TimeSkip, we have [[spoiler: Aqualad, now [[MeaningfulRename Black]] [[OverlordJr Manta]] [[LegacyCharacter II]].]] The worst part is that [[spoiler: he was ''TheLeader'' in Season 1.]] The cause of this was [[spoiler: [[LoveMakesYouEvil blaming the team for his love interest dying]]]] ''and'' [[spoiler:finding out [[LukeIAmYourFather his real father was the supervillain Black Manta.]]]] Viewers can only hope for a HeelFaceTurn.
** Later revealed that [[spoiler:he didn't really go to the dark side. He's TheMole and Dick, Wally, and Artemis are in on ThePlan.]]
*** However [[spoiler: Aquagirl really did die, and he really was genuinely devastated by the reveal of his true parentage, to the point where Wally isn't totally confident Aqualad won't end up becoming this for real in the end after all, especially since he's growing a genuine bond with his father, while becoming more and more detached from the team.]]
*** "[[WhamEpisode Before the Dawn]]" reveals that [[spoiler:Blue Beetle II, Jaime Reyes,]] becomes this in Bart Allen's future and [[spoiler:apparently plays a key role in initiating the apocalypse -- Jaime is the main reason Bart traveled to the past in the first place.]]
[[/folder]]

* FallenHero/

[[folder:Literature]]
* ''Literature/TheAbles'': Mr. Charles was once a well-respected hero, before he turned on his partner Thomas Sallinger in battle. [[spoiler:However, the true Fallen Hero was not Mr. Charles but Thomas Sallinger, who was growing increasingly power-hungry and would survive to ruin his grandson's life in his quest to rule the world.]]
* By the end of ''Literature/{{Animorphs}}'' [[spoiler:Jake]] has become one of these. It's stated in the epilogue that the only reason he's not being tried as a war criminal is that he fought for the side the won the war.
* Crudgeon in ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' was [=LEPrecon=]'s golden boy and best friend of the DaChief. In book 1 AmbitionIsEvil put him in a TraumaCongaLine and he became one half of the BigBad of book 2.
* In the ''Literature/TheBelgariad'', Zedar, TheDragon, used to be Belzedar, one of Belgarath's sworn brothers and a servant of the god Aldur. When Torak, the BigBad of the series, struck Aldur and stole the Orb, Zedar headed out to confront him...and found himself overwhelmed by Torak's power. Faced with TheDarkSide, he gave in to his barely-suppressed lust for power and swore fealty to Torak.
* Gerald Tarrant[[spoiler:/The Hunter]] in the ''Coldfire'' trilogy. Sorcerer, philosopher, and Prophet of the One God, until the religion he had created excommunicated him, at which point, he killed his wife and children as a part of a [[DealWithTheDevil bargain with Dark Powers]].
* ''Literature/TheCosmere''
** ''Literature/MistbornTheOriginalTrilogy'': [[EvilOverlord The Lord Ruler]] was originally Alendi, [[TheChosenOne The Hero of Ages]] meant to save the world...but also had large armies allowing him to take it over and rule as a despot. [[spoiler: Massively {{Subverted}} thanks to the reveal that the Lord Ruler isn't Alendi, he's Rashek, a companion of Alendi who murdered him and assumed his identity...because he was trying to save the world from [[DestroyerDeity Ruin]], a goal that Rashek has never deviated from, with his plans being invaluable in defeating Ruin. Rashek turns out to be somewhat of an AntiHero.]]
** ''Literature/{{Warbreaker}}'': [[spoiler:Denth]] was one of the [[spoiler:Five Scholars]] that made many discoveries in the past. Then [[spoiler:one of the Five Scholars, Vasher, murdered another Scholar, Denth's sister, Shashara because she was trying to create weapons that could devastate the world. Denth has been on the path of revenge ever since.]] By the time of the story they are a FauxAffablyEvil torturer who is willing to [[spoiler:manipulate a princess into bringing war onto their own country, all so Denth can get revenge.]] Notably, [[spoiler:Denth]] is self-aware about how far they've fallen, hating themself for it.
** ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'': The Heralds were sworn to protect Roshar against Odium, and founded the Knights Radiant, but eventually their resolve broke, and they abandoned one of their own comrades to kick the can down the road. They don't return to their old heroism when Odium comes back. The two most striking examples are [[spoiler:Ishar who is now an insane GodKing conducting horrific experiments, and sees everyone against him as being on Odium's side, though he seems to be BrainwashedAndCrazy]], and [[spoiler:Nale who outright joined Odium and took his whole order of Knights Radiant with him.]]
* In the ''Literature/DilvishTheDamned'' stories by Creator/RogerZelazny, it's stated that the BigBad Jelerak used to be good many hundreds of years ago. But he crossed the MoralEventHorizon long ago.
* ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles''
** [[spoiler:Agent Denton]], who is also HeWhoFightsMonsters. When Harry soulgazes him, he sees that he used to be a genuinely good man, but his methods (most notably, his use of [[spoiler:the Hexenwulf belts]]) made him just as bad, if not worse, than the people he's trying to take down.
** The Corpsetaker was once a member of the White Council.
* In the ''Literature/HarryPotter'' series, Bartemius Crouch Senior is generally seen as this by the wizarding world by the time Harry meets him, mainly due to Crouch sentencing his own son to Azkaban. While Crouch was considered a hero of the war against Voldemort, when Crouch's son was sent to trial Voldemort had been gone for a couple of years, and the Wizengamot had to endure the sight of a nineteen year-old boy being viciously disowned by his father, while his mother cried and fainted beside him, particularly when available public evidence suggests some ambiguity about whether Junior was actually a Death Eater or just in the wrong place at the wrong time. The public attitude towards Crouch, Sr. soured, with some speculating that the reason Junior went astray and fell in with the Death Eaters was because of Senior's neglect, and his popularity was shattered, costing him his bid for Minister of Magic. Approximately a decade later, Crouch has been shunted into a rather useless posting as the Head of International Magical Cooperation, and no one particularly likes him, save his current assistant Percy Weasley. That said he never actually turned to Voldemort's side or the Death Eaters and fought them to the end.
* David Gemmell loves subverting this trope. Waylander is a war hero. Then his family is slaughtered, and he makes sure none of the assailants "takes less than an hour to die", and finances his vengeance by becoming a professional killer. Then he seeks redemption, gets it somehow, his family gets killed again, vengeance ensues, redemption again, and then he dies a stupid death by the hand of the son of the man whose death was the reason for his first face heel turn toward good. Gemmell does not like black and white.
* ''Literature/TheGirlWhoCircumnavigatedFairylandInAShipOfHerOwnMaking'': [[spoiler:The Good Queen Mallow]] became the Marquess due to her anger at being returned to the mundane world. She still considers herself the hero.
* Marth in the ''Literature/HeirsOfAsh'' books, complete with also being Tristam's WhatIf EvilCounterpart.
* ''Literature/InheritanceCycle'': The series' BigBad King Galbatorix was once a Dragon Rider (proper noun), an order of Elves and humans who rode dragons, serving as peacekeepers throughout the land of Alagaësia. Galbatorix was driven mad by the death of his dragon and demanded another one from the Council. When denied his request, Galbatorix convinced himself that the Riders were responsible for the loss of his dragon. Some years later, Galbatorix recruited and corrupted 13 other Dragon Riders later known as the Forsworn, subjugated the Elves, Dwarves, and Humans, wiped out all but a few Dragon Riders who opposed him, and declared himself ruler of Alagaësia.
* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'' has Lanre, who was once a great hero but went mad with grief when he was unable to use his power to resurrect his beloved.
* Ineluki, the Storm King of Creator/TadWilliams' ''Literature/MemorySorrowAndThorn'', started out as a hero of the Sitha, but he took his people's racist tendencies to the extreme and when Asu'a was sacked, he turned from defending his people to killing everyone else. Also an example of MotiveDecay.
* ''Literature/OneOfUsIsLying'': "Hero" might be a strong word, but Simon started his gossip blog (a few years before the book) to impress his aloof former best friend Jake and expose a sleazy jock who was anonymously sending girls unsolicited [[IntimateTelecommunications sexting messages.]] Before long, though, he was exposing harmless personal secrets and gleefully ruining people's lives just so he could feel important.
* Satan in ''Literature/ParadiseLost'' was once a glorious angel, but he falls from grace and becomes evil. In the story, he's ironically given the trappings of an epic hero, [[WrongGenreSavvy which he clearly believes he is]].
* Luke Castellan from ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. Really, a good amount of Kronos' troops are made up of demigods who resented their godly parents for various reasons (the big one is feeling like they were unwanted).
* In ''Literature/ShadowOfTheConqueror,'' Daylen Namaran started out as [[TheParagonAlwaysRebels a hero]] of [[TheNightThatNeverEnds the Fourth Night]] and the overthrower of [[AristocratsAreEvil the aristocracy]], but after said aristocracy [[StartOfDarkness murdered his entire family]], he over time became a far, ''FAR'', worse leader than they ever were.
* [[spoiler: Yun]] from ''Literature/TheShadowOfKyoshi''. He was [[ThePoorlyChosenOne incorrectly identified as the Avatar]] and was trained as such for several years, until his true status eventually came into question. When Kyoshi was revealed to be the true Avatar, Yun was [[LeftForDead left for dead]] by his former mentor in the hands of a malevolent spirit who whisked him into the Spirit World. Against all odds, however, Yun survived his encounter with Father Glowworm and was able to return to the physical world. However, the knowledge that he was not the true Avatar, along with the world's lack of gratitude towards him for all he has done for them during his tenure as the Avatar, caused Yun to snap and, for the next year and a half, go on a murderous crusade to take revenge upon those who lied to him about his Avatarhood, starting with his former mentor, Jianzhu, who had been the one to falsely identify him as the Avatar and abandon him once the truth was out.
* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'': There's so many throughtout the history of Westeros that it is prudent that it gets [[FallenHero/ASongOfIceAndFire it's own page]].
* Implied to be the fate of Captain Housework in the ''Literature/{{Superheroes}}'' anthology when he realizes that lacking any more supervillains to fight, his life is going to be an endless parade of socialites calling him to clean their houses before parties and not even being grateful enough to keep said houses clean. His StartOfDarkness is reducing one such socialite's party to a house full of perfectly polished skeletons.
* ''Franchise/TolkiensLegendarium'':
** ''Literature/TheSilmarillion'': Fëanor. He was the mightiest, most skilled, most puissant of all the Elven race... and the source of their greatest woes. Also a major case of YouCouldHaveUsedYourPowersForGood. Notably, he also managed to bring his entire tribe-the Noldor-down with him. His sons, particularly Celegorm, Curufin and Maedhros as well as Celebrimbor (Curufin's son) all end up squarely in neutral territory as well. Not that Fëanor was ''solely'' responsible for this state of affairs: the rift between him and his younger half-brothers was being manipulated by Morgoth, and Celebrimbor was manipulated by Sauron in disguise. Also, it should be noted that none of the Fëanorians goes outright evil. They are just no longer good enough to hold the Silmarils, the holy gems that were Fëanor's greatest creation.
** Morgoth is a fallen Vala and this universe's equivalent of {{Satan}}, which as noted above is one of the oldest examples there is, so he counts. Sauron too, he used to be a Maia which were like angels.
** Then there is Saruman the White, greatest of the Istari (Wizards), in ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings''.
* ''Literature/TrappedOnDraconica'': Pre-series [[spoiler: Kazebar]] was Draconica's number 1 humanitarian. To reward his good work [[spoiler: Dronor granted his son the power to travel between worlds, believing that if any human deserved this honor it would be Kazebar's family line.]] Whether he was tempted by this power or if he was EvilAllAlong is not made clear.
* [[spoiler: Hollyleaf]] from ''Literature/WarriorCats'' eventually becomes this, when [[spoiler: her love of the warrior code makes her turn murderous.]] But then [[spoiler: she has a HeelRealization.]]
* Many of [[QuirkyMinibossSquad the Forsaken]] from ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'' were this. Demandred, Sammael, and Be'lal were all great generals on the side of Light (and all three of them turned to the Shadow out of rivalry with the Light's ''other'' great general, [[TheChosenOne Lews Therin Telamon]]); Graendal was a famed ascetic who went bad after deciding that no one could possibly measure up to her extreme moral standards; Ishamael was considered the greatest philosopher and theologian of his age, but learned one too many ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow and [[GoMadFromTheRevelation went mad from the revelation]], becoming in essence TheAntichrist. Subverted with Semirhage, who though a renowned healer was always a sociopath and sadist deep down and turned to the Shadow early on upon realizing that the Dark One would let her use her talents in [[ColdBloodedTorture ways]] that society would never accept.
* [[spoiler:Kalthused]] of ''Literature/WithinRuin''. He starts out as a heroic leader fighting for the independence of his country but when [[spoiler: his wife Ankaa dies]] he falls into a spiral of despair. He forsakes all his old morals and plunges the country into futile wars for centuries in order to [[spoiler: [[AlwaysSaveTheGirl bring Ankaa back to life]]. ]]
[[/folder]]

* FallenHero/

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* [[spoiler: Jack Bauer]] in ''Series/TwentyFour''. First seven seasons? Someone who pushed himself ten times beyond the brink both physically and mentally to repeatedly ensure the safety of the country and world. Final season? After his latest mission winds up going horribly wrong and ends on a tragic note, he winds up embarking on a personal crusade of [[RoaringRampageOfRevenge revenge]] that ultimately causes an international crisis and nearly instigates a war that would lead to the deaths of millions of innocent people, just barely stopped himself after [[HeelRealization realizing]] how bad those repercussions would be. Rivaling him would be [[spoiler: Tony Almeida]] who went from protecting people to threatening them all to avenge the murder of his wife... [[spoiler: and unlike Jack he never had a HeelRealization, at least before he went through with the last stage of his plan.]]
** [[BigGood President Allison Taylor]] in Season 8, coinciding with and being the final straw for Jack's above turn, gets hit hard with the SunkCostFallacy after seeing what was supposed to the grand achievement of her presidency utterly fall apart after losing her entire family in the process. Combined with the ill-advised move of turning to [[TheCorrupter Charles Logan]] for advice, she insists on pushing forward with the sham of a peace treaty at all costs. It's only an eleventh-hour HeelRealization from her that prevents the masterminds of the season from achieving a full KarmaHoudini victory.
* In ''Series/The100'' Season 1, Finn was probably the most moral and idealistic of the teen characters; he was the one actually trying to make peace with the Grounders rather than assuming violence was inevitable. By Season 2, though, the traumatic experiences he's been through and a belief that his LoveInterest is in danger drive him to increasingly violent ends to get her back, ultimately [[spoiler:slaughtering a Grounder village, killing 18 innocent, unarmed people; he's executed for his crimes shortly afterward]].
* ''Series/{{Angel}}'' plays it straight with Daniel Holtz, Season 3's BigBad. He was once a force for good, but Angelus and Darla destroyed his life, slaughtered his family, and reduced him to a [[RevengeBeforeReason revenge-driven]] monster. At his best, he is a NobleDemon, at his worst he's a petty old man willing to sacrifice the lives, happiness, and even sanity of people who love him in order to have his revenge.
* ''Series/{{Arrow}}'':
** Slade Wilson was originally Oliver Queen's mentor, friend, and (eventually) [[BashBrothers sworn brother]], but losing Shado, the love of his life, and the insanity brought upon by the Mirakuru caused him to turn evil. Blaming Oliver for Shado's death, he is set to return the favor by conquering Starling City, which Oliver holds dear.
** Oliver himself seems to undergo this fate in season 3, when he agrees to succeed Ra's al Ghul in exchange for saving his sister's life. Then subverted since he ultimately wants to topple Ra's from within, but he comes dangerously close to the territory.
* Jon Mitchell from ''Series/{{Being Human|UK}}''. He tries hard to fight his vampire urges and tries to be an example of reform, but [[spoiler: he falls off the wagon in Season 2 and slaughters a train of 20 people. He never really gets back to normal after that and commits suicide.]]
* Willow Rosenberg of ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' became the CardCarryingVillain version of this trope after witnessing [[spoiler:the death of her girlfriend]]. Magic high also leads to her becoming this. Luckily, the transition was temporary in the TV series. There was also an Alternate Universe book trilogy (''"Wicked Willow"'') that explored what would have happened if she had stayed that way.
** The canonical ''Season 8'' comic books state she is still this; specifically the "Time of Your Life" arc, which [[CrossOver crosses over]] with ''ComicBook/{{Fray}}'', a BadFuture where Willow becomes an EvilSorceror and the BigBad (though she tries to prevent it by avoiding BlackMagic).
** In the ''Season 9'' comics, we learn that while she is holding it together around Buffy, Willow is hell bent on bringing magic back, believing the world is going to end and she has to save it. Faith also took the CardCarryingVillain route after accidentally killing a human, also temporary-ish (though it's acknowledged in-universe that her actions, while she was a villain, went too far to just be forgiven and forgotten).
* In ''Series/ChinesePaladin'', [[WarriorMonk Jiang Ming]] was TheParagon of Mt. Shu, on track to become the BigGood before it's revealed he's having an affair. He snaps when ordered to kill his lover, [[OmnicidalManiac massacres the entire population of the mountain]], and becomes a vengeful ghost who, a hundred years later, is so powerful none of the monks dare enter the Demon Pagoda.
* ''Series/{{Dexter}}'': [[spoiler: [[Characters/DexterDexterMorgan Dexter Morgan]] has near fully surrendered to his compulsive need to kill by the conclusion of ''Series/DexterNewBlood''; he kills [[NiceGuy Logan]] solely to effect his escape, and in a previous encounter, was reaching for a knife to kill [[HeroAntagonist his]] [[NiceGirl girlfriend]] [[DaChief Angela]].]]
* ''Series/DoctorWho'' has had '''the Doctor''' come to or near this point twice, but also reconstructed the trope in both cases.
** When the Eighth Doctor, barely saved from death, is convinced to fight in the Last Great Time War rather than just try and help those caught up in it, he decides to give up his principles and title to do so and regenerates into what comes to be known as the War Doctor. He does the opposite of a healer's work as a warrior and finally decides to destroy both the Dalek forces massing around Gallifrey '''and''' Gallifrey and his people (including billions of innocent children) to end the war. His later lives deliberately try to forget this incarnation for committing such a wicked act. However, in the 50th anniversary special "The Day of the Doctor", Ten and Eleven come to an understanding of his side of the story and how [[IDidWhatIHadToDo he did what he had to do]]... and then in the climax, [[spoiler:at companion Clara's behest, they and all of the other incarnations of the Doctor figure out a way to SAVE Gallifrey yet end the Time War at the same time]], thus reconstructing the trope spectacularly!
** The Twelfth Doctor undergoes a TraumaCongaLine in the climactic stretch of Series 9. In "Face the Raven", he is lured into a trap and betrayed by [[spoiler:Ashildr/Me]], but even worse, because his beloved companion Clara takes a daring risk to save someone, [[spoiler:she accidentally condemns herself to death]]. In "Heaven Sent" he is trapped by, as it turns out, [[spoiler:the Time Lords (his people!)]] in a giant torture chamber. By the time he escapes it, he has been DrivenToMadness by rage, anguish, grief, and torture, and become TheUnfettered. In the finale "Hell Bent" he uses his legendary cleverness to [[spoiler:pull Clara out of time at the moment of her death]], an act that threatens to '''destroy the entire universe''', all because he can't take the pain anymore. In the end, [[spoiler:Clara herself]] triggers a HeelRealization and he realizes he must give up his TragicDream and "be a Doctor" once again.
** As for Rassilon, the founder of the Time Lords, he was always revered despite being a bit of a genocidal maniac, but the War pushed him off the crumbling remains of his pedestal.
* [[DirtyCop Sheriff Rosco P. Coltrane]] from ''Series/TheDukesOfHazzard'' used to be a man of justice. Until his pension was vetoed, leaving him to either retire without a penny to his name or [[FaceHeelTurn join in Boss Hogg's scheming.]]
* ''Series/{{The Flash|2014}}'': Savitar [[spoiler:is actually Barry Allen from a timeline in which he was shunned by his friends and family for failing to save Iris [[TemporalParadox from himself]]]].
* ''Series/{{Forever|2014}}'': What Adam claims to be. He says he was once "a good and decent man" just like Henry, whose first death came trying to save someone's life. After over two thousand years of living, he's become jaded and uncaring, a casual killer who torments Henry just for the novelty (and possibly to try to prove that he's right that his own fall was inevitable).
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'':
** Stannis Baratheon was once the honorable commander who held Storm's End for days without food. However, repeated snubs and disrespect forces him to rely on the blood magic of Melisandre, which has slowly caused him to compromise all of his ideals.
** Daenerys Targaryen starts out waging war against slavers in Essos, freeing slaves and upon coming to Westeros helps fight the White Walkers and Army Of The Dead, playing an important role in saving the world. After a number of close, personal losses, she ends up losing her mind and burning many thousands of innocent civilians in King's Landing.
* ''Series/HouseOfTheDragon'': Alicent Hightower was once a kind, dutiful and loyal daughter and friend. However, a combination of her anxiety, her unhappy marriage to an older man, her abusive ManipulativeBastard of a father, and Rhaenyra lying to her about losing her virginity with a Kingsguard, corrupted her into becoming a bitter, paranoid AntiVillain.
* ''Series/HerculesTheLegendaryJourneys'' features Gilgamesh in Season 5's "Faith" and reveals him to be this during the climax. Like Hercules, he couldn't depend on the gods to protect his family and lost them in a senseless act of violence. However, whereas Hercules treated his tragedy as a motivation to never stop fighting for others, Gilgamesh became TheDragon to the BigBad.
-->'''Gilgamesh:''' When I lost my family, I did lose my faith. And in my deepest despair, I heard the voice of [[GodOfEvil Dahak]]-- a voice so pure, so true, I knew I had found salvation.
* ''Series/{{Heroes}}''
** Linderman. His low-key, evil approach is made all the more monstrous when viewers realize that, having the ability to heal most injuries, he chooses to have people killed, kidnapped, and crippled instead.
** Adam Monroe. He is introduced as Takezo Kensei, the ''literal'' hero of legend. Despite trouncing all the fantastic tales attributed to him in one fell swoop, Kensei proves himself a true hero many times over during his time with Hiro -- only to do a FaceHeelTurn when Hiro steals away the woman he loves right out from under his nose. Four hundred years later, his heartbreak has driven him to seek a 'second chance' by [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds wiping out 93% of the world's population.]]
* In the French fantasy dramedy ''Kameloth'', the Knight Lancelot start out as the noble and charismatic hero we expect him to be, but he has always been ideologically opposed to the libertarian policy of Arthur (who he considers a proof of weakness) and considers himself more worthy of the holy mission given to his king. After the spoofed-legend-opposed-got-away-with-Guinevere-part, he [[spoiler:openly rebels against Kameloth's order and became the tool of a dark sorcerer named Melangeant, who presents himself as {{The Chessmaster}}ing ''answer of the gods'' to Arthur's failure in his mission]]
* ''Franchise/KamenRider'':
** ''Series/KamenRider555'': Yuji Kiba spends most of the series as an Orphnoch who wants to protect humans, albeit Kusaka sabotages his friendship with Takumi. After Yuka's death however, he becomes the head of Smart Brain to only ensure Orphnoch's future at the expensde of humanity's.
** ''Series/KamenRiderDouble'': Katsumi Daido and his allies in NEVER are presented as straight villains in their first appearance as the antagonists of the ''Forever A to Z'' movie, aside from some dialogue indicating that they were driven mad by their RevenantZombie status. The ''W Returns: Kamen Rider Eternal'' side-story movie details how they used to be a group of antiheroes, and the events that led Katsumi to descend into villainy.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGaim'' sees Mitsuzane Kureshima go down this route. He starts off already something of a ManipulativeBastard, but employing those tendencies in service of helping protect his friends. Learning the truth of the Helheim Forest leads him to become irrationally focused on keeping his friends out of the loop, before [[MotiveDecay losing sight of even that]] and becoming a full on villain concerned only with keeping Mai to himself. It's not until the show is essentially over that Mitsuzane realizes the error of his ways, but the epilogue gives him one last chance to redeem himself.
** ''Series/KamenRiderExAid'': Taiga Hanaya/Kamen Rider Snipe was once a kind and optimistic doctor, but being selected as the first user of the Gamer Driver six years before the start of the series eventually cost him his medical license, his health, and his spirit. By the time of the main series, he's become a bitter mercenary who fights the other Riders just as often as he treats the patients, in an effort to drive them away from the dangerous profession so they won't share his fate.
** ''Series/KamenRiderZeroOne'': The final arc deals with Aruto falling into despair after his closest friend is murdered by a villain he'd tried to reason with and redeem, which leads him to accepting an offer to use the Ark Driver and going from AllLovingHero to vengeful AntiHero.
** ''Series/KamenRiderSaber'': Every wielder of the Sword of Darkness has become one of these in recent years, and it takes the third hero to pick up the sword and fall to explain why: among the Sword's many powers are that it shows the wielder not just one but every possible future, and ''all of them'' show the world ending in just a few weeks.
** ''Series/KamenRiderRevice'': Daiji Igarashi/Kamen Rider Live purging his [[JekyllAndHyde inner demon]] from his body has the side effect of throwing his personality off balance and leading him to become an increasingly unstable KnightTemplar. In this state it requires barely any pushing from the BigBad to get Daiji on his side, and he turns against his former allies with zeal.
** ''Series/KamenRiderGeats'': Keiwa Sakurai starts out as one of the most heroic and selfless Riders in the cast, yet due to the death of his sister [[MoralityChain Sara]], who has him suppress his cynical bitterness to create a peaceful world for her and keeps him falling into despair, forces said cynicism to the surface, making him care less and pursue vengeance and extremism to get what he wants.
* Numerous times on ''Franchise/LawAndOrder'' and its various spin-offs as a revered sports star or actor will be revealed as a killer, pedophile, rapist or worse.
** When she and a rookie cop bust a boxing champ as a pedophile, Rollins tells the rookie "Stay on this job long enough, you watch all your heroes die."
* Eli David in ''Series/{{NCIS}}'' seems to be this. In a way, he's reminiscent of [[Literature/LordOfTheRings Denethor]].
* Some of the best episodes of ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' deal with this happening to Dr. Cox. While the fall is temporary, the sight of the normally caustic and extremely confident physician in tears is very heartrending, to say the least.
* ComicBook/LexLuthor from ''Series/{{Smallville}}'' is a great example. He started off as nothing more than a good Samaritan friend to Clark Kent. As time went on, he became nastier and more cynical at the world, and possibly became Clark's worst enemy.
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}'':
** Sam and Dean Winchester often qualify as anti-heroes. They may hunt monsters, save a lot of people, and a few times save the world, but they support themselves with credit card fraud and pool hustling. On top of that, they have a demon-killing knife which, while useful, also kills the person being possessed by the demon. Plus they have a habit of making deals with and dealing with demons. They try to be good, but they often fail.
** At the end of Season 5, [[spoiler: Sam completely qualifies as an anti-hero. He's addicted to demon blood, has a demon lover, and is willing to kill and drink the blood of an innocent nurse if it will help him stop the apocalypse. It's too bad for him that his demon lover is manipulating him and he actually causes the apocalypse to start.]]
** John Winchester is a full-blown anti-hero, so obsessed with avenging his wife that he raises his sons (see above) to be monster-hunting child soldiers. [[spoiler: He dies in a HeroicSacrifice to save Dean, but that only makes Dean more screwed up.]]
** [[spoiler: The higher-up angels fall squarely into anti-villain territory. They want to bring about paradise on earth, but they don't care how many humans die in the process. Lower-tier angels, like Castiel, are kept in the dark about their plans so they won't rebel. When Castiel discovers the truth, he does rebel and joins the human side.]]
** In Season 6, [[spoiler: Castiel has a FaceHeelTurn into an anti-villain. His motives are sincere in that he wants to stop Raphael from restarting the apocalypse, but he winds up working with Crowley, getting DrunkOnTheDarkSide, and declaring himself God. He eventually repents and becomes TheAtoner.]]
** In Season 10, [[spoiler: Dean becomes a demon. Rather than going on some sort of rampage, he quits hunting and engages in hedonistic pursuits with Crowley, landing himself in the heroic neutral zone.]]
* [[spoiler:Buredoran/Brajira]] from Series/TensouSentaiGoseiger. [[spoiler: It's revealed that he used to be a Gosei angel who turned on the rest of his team and stole their powers killing them. He uses an experimental power to travel 10,000 years into the future to enact his grand plan to remake the world and become its messiah and savior.]]
* ''Franchise/UltraSeries'': Ultraman Belial qualifies this trope, for being [[spoiler:corroded by the power of the Plasma Spark]], which would subsequently cause his exile, in Planet Golgotha, he becomes even more corrupted after merging with [[spoiler:the blood of a murderous alien race, the Reiblood]] by this point, Belial can't go any deeper down the rabbit hole, right? Well, you'd be WRONG! because [[spoiler: by the second movie, Belial decides to absorb the energy of a powerful crystal, transforming himself into Arc Belial]], by this point he barely even resembles an Ultraman anymore, and [[LaserGuidedKarma he has turned into what he swore to destroy:]] [[EldritchAbomination a Kaiju himself]]
* In ''Series/{{Westworld}}'', [[spoiler:William]] first arrived at the park as a milquetoast and moral guest looking for meaning in his life. He seems to find meaning in Dolores, [[RidiculouslyHumanRobots a Host]] who he falls in love with. Unfortunately, over the course of the first season, [[spoiler:William]] is pushed toward brutality by his business partner [[spoiler:and brother-in-law Logan]], destroying his moral code piece by piece. [[spoiler:William]] snapped after a BreakingSpeech from [[spoiler:Logan]], and he began to mercilessly slaughter Hosts who stood in his way. His turn to evil is cemented [[spoiler:once he finds out that Dolores had her memory wiped]]. [[spoiler:30 years later, William becomes the Man in Black, a violent, raping sociopath who's obsessed with finding the true meaning of the park.]]
[[/folder]]

* ''WesternAnimation/KungFuPanda'': Tai Lung. Adopted by Master Shifu, he was groomed to become protector of the Valley of Peace and the Dragon Warrior. However, it turned out that he was not, in fact, the Dragon Warrior, causing him to lash out. Master Oogway managed to put him down and send him to a prison, but Tai Lung vowed that he will escape one day to claim a right he saw as being denied to him.

* ''ComicBook/{{Irredeemable}}'' centers around [[Characters/IrredeemablePlutonian The Plutonian]], a Superman-like superhero who snaps violently after a long and thankless career and proceeds to become the irredeemable BigBad set to obliterate the world that he once protected. Inversely, there's the spin-off ''Incorruptible'', which focuses on former Supervillain Max Damage who, in the wake of The Plutonian's rampage of destruction, decides to [[HeelFaceTurn become a hero]]. The title reflecting Max's belief the he has to be ''perfectly'' heroic, that anything less would result in a backslide into evil.

* ''ComicBook/{{X-Men}}'': Hank [=McCoy=]/the Beast was once one of the most stalwart and heroic members of the X-Men and Avengers, but following Cyclops' schism of the remaining mutants, he began doing more morally unethical acts and was unrepentant over it. This continued once [[ComicBook/XMenTheKrakoanAge Krakoa was established]], going so far as to make numerous Wolverine clones to do his bidding.

* ''Fanfic/TheChaoticMasters'': The titular tricksters had a habit back in the day of seducing various heroines into their harems, at which point they'd help destroy their own kingdoms and aid the Masters in their rampages.

* Marth in the ''Literature/HeirsOfAsh'' books, complete with also being Tristam's ForWantOfANail EvilCounterpart.

** Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish was just like Sansa Stark once: a WideEyedIdealist who believed in heroics and romances found in songs and stories. However, he became an ''extremely'' jaded person after failing to court the woman he loved and being humiliated by her husband-to-be and family. Jaded enough that he has no qualms to [[spoiler:betray her and start the War of the Five Kings]]. Since Sansa has undergone a TraumaCongaLine herself and is being taken by Littlefinger as a protege, time will tell if she will become the same psychopath as him, or keep her ideals.
** Catelyn Stark, the woman that Littlefinger lusted after, becomes this herself after [[spoiler:she is killed and resurrected as a zombie. She is hellbent on making the Freys and Lannisters suffer for having killed her, her son, and her house, even if they are only tangentially connected. She even orders the execution of Brienne of Tarth, who once swore an oath to her, because she refuses to kill Jaime Lannister.]]

* ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'':

* Wrestling/RomanReigns spent a lot of the 2010s being regarded as a classic example of a star babyface that simply wasn't working, with him being treated as the big loveable hero of the company even as the audience became increasingly sour and critical towards him for his generic persona and lackluster skill. After many matches ending in boos and jeers, he took a hiatus due to, of all things, a leukemia diagnosis. When he returned, all that heroism had been drained out in favor of a violent and brutal persona, the Tribal Chief, who took over his family and ruled over them as a tyrannical mob boss. His value system shifted from the rather undefinable goodness of before to being built around the idea that, effectively, only ''he'' should be the champion, because he's the one who has suffered hardest for it and he knows better than anyone just what a poisoned chalice it can be.

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]

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